In Memory of Florence Moyer

I was planning to blog about the Toronto International Film Festival today, then I got caught up in organizing my parents’ 50th Anniversary party and thought I’d blog about that, but that then got totally overwhelmed by those same parents moving out of the house they’ve been in for a huge chunk of those 50 years and into a condo… Can you spell exhausting? Then all those ideas were usurped when I received some very sad news.

A good writer friend of mine sadly passed away.

Flo Moyer, aka Florence Case, aka Hayley Gardner, lost her battle with cancer about 10 days ago.

I first came in contact with Flo on a Yahoo loop started by the very fun and talented Misty Simon back in October, 2004. The group sprung out of what was then a chick lit writers loop and the purpose was to simulate NaNoWriMo without having the Nov 1-Nov 30 restriction (I think ours went from Oct 15 to Nov 15), and also letting people work on books they’d started before the official kick-off date. (For those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo is a very cool idea where over a hundred thousand people all write novels during the month of November each year.)

Anyway, we called our alternative NaNo loop Monthtowrite and from the get-go it was a great group — an extremely motivated group of writers, many of whom have gone on to be bestselling authors. I found it inspiring and it was my first experience with writing quickly. In fact, I wrote the last 80% of my first women’s fiction book, the one that went on to final in the 2007 Golden Heart, that month.

After the month of frenzied writing ended, many people dropped off the loop almost immediately, then others continued to trickle off, becoming less and less active, until a couple of years later, we were a very small group of seven writers who had gotten to know each other well. In fact, the loop morphed into more of a support group than a report your word count group, and although we now all know details of each others’ lives that go beyond the professional level, we still hold each other accountable and encourage each others’ writing goals, too.

And we certainly celebrate each others’ successes. A couple of years ago, we were thrilled when Flo sold a book, DEADLY REUNION, to Steeple Hill, Love Inspired Suspense — her first sale after a long hiatus from writing to help raise her son who has autism.

Florence Case -- Deadly Reunion

Then, soon after, she sold another, MISTLETOE AND MURDER, that’s out this November.  I’m sure if cancer hadn’t cut Flo’s life short, she would have gone on to write many, many more. Her readers have been deprived.

Mistletoe and Murder -- Florence Case

I only met Flo once in person, at the Atlanta RWA conference, but both then, and for the five years I knew her online, I found her to be one of the most generous, kind-hearted, and inspiring people I’ve ever known. She’s someone who was dealt many life challenges and she rose to meet all of them with a smile on her face and love in her heart, never feeling sorry for herself.

I am sad about Flo passing. Profoundly. But I’d rather focus on the positive energy she brought to our little group, on the never ending encouragement she gave me, on the wisdom of experience she brought to the table every time someone had a problem.

Flo, you will be missed. We love you. The monthtowrite girly whirlies: Barrie, Misty, Kathy, Danita, Alli and Maureen.