There are thousands of phobias and fears in the world. Most of us only have one or two, and they are as individual as we are. I once knew a woman who was petrified of cotton balls. I’m not joking. I witnessed one of her employees trap her in her office by simply putting a cotton ball on the office Read more…
It’s the 1st Wednesday of the month again. That’s when I take part in Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. Thank you to this month’s IWSG co-hosts: Gwen Gardner, Doreen McGettigan, Tyrean Martinson, Chemist Ken, and Cathrina Constantiner! Today I’ll be taking you to the House on the Rock as I answer the optional question of the month:If you could pick one place in the world Read more…
Today, guest blogger Amanda Lasater shares how to become a morning person.No matter who you are or where you live, you undoubtedly have a friend, coworker, or neighbor who seems to absolutely beam in the morning time, as if they were just made for it. Well, the truth is that they actually were made for the morning, as are most Read more…
“Once More unto the Breach” by Meghan Holloway is yet another book in the popular WWII historical fiction genre. But this novel definitely stands on its own. It is as much mystery and suspense as war and romance.The plot of “Once More unto the Breach” was intricate and completely original, as was the cast of characters: Rhys, a Welsh farmer Read more…
Today in our Nitty Gritty Grammar Lesson we will be looking at one of the fun forms of figurative language-Similes! Before we go there, I’d like to share what a Nitty Gritty Grammar Lesson is. Google’s online dictionary defines “Nitty Gritty” this way:the most important aspects or practical details of a subject or situation.“Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of similes!”A Read more…
It’s the 1st Wednesday of the month again. That’s when I take part in Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. Thank you to this month’s IWSG co-hosts for the August 7 posting of the IWSG: Renee Scattergood, Sadira Stone, Jacqui Murray, Tamara Narayan, and LG Keltner! This month, rather than answering the optional question of the month, I will be talking about starting over as Read more…
Do you prioritize your passion? Or do you let other things get in the way of the creative endeavor that fuels your excitement? Today we will be looking at how to prioritize your passion and make time for your dreams. I’ll be sharing the artist/curator who inspired this post with his timely advice as well as how toRecently, I took Read more…
“I’ve Seen the End of You: A Neurosurgeon’s Look at Faith, Doubt, and the Things We Think We Know,” by W. Lee Warren M.D. is a heart-rending book. Part, memoir, part odyssey, “I’ve Seen the End of You,” follows the lives and deaths of Dr. Warren’s patients. Dr. Warren shares the deep struggle he has faced countless times as a Read more…
“The Yellow Lantern” by Angie Dicken is the 3rd book in the True Colors Series. True Colors features “historical stories of American crime.” I’ve been a huge fan of this series starting with “The White City,” and followed up by “The Pink Bonnet.”“The Yellow Lantern” takes place in 1824. It features a ring of body snatchers who steal the bodies Read more…
It’s the 1st Wednesday of the month again. That’s when I take part in Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. Thank you to this month’s IWSG co-hosts for the July 3 posting of the IWSG: Erika Beebe, Natalie Aguirre, Jennifer Lane, MJ Fifield, Lisa Buie-Collard, and Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor! Today I’ll be talking about the inspiration for personal traits in the characters I write Read more…
Today in our Nitty Gritty Grammar Lesson we will be looking at diseases and grammar. Before we go there, I’d like to share what a Nitty Gritty Grammar Lesson is.Google’s online dictionary defines “Nitty Gritty” this way:the most important aspects or practical details of a subject or situation.“let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of finding a job”The Minneapolis Star and Tribune[1] Published Read more…
A year ago, I was asked to speak to our local Rotary Club. My speech topic was, What Not to Say to Someone who has Cancer. I tweaked the speech until I finally felt like it was as good as it would get. Then I practiced this speech several times a day, every day, for a couple of weeks.I am Read more…
“What Does It Feel Like to Die?: Inspiring New Insights into the Experience of Dying” by Jennie Dear may seem like the last book I would want to read only a few weeks after my husband died of Stage 4 lung cancer in our home on hospice. But I am so glad that I did read it. So many questions Read more…
It’s the 1st Wednesday of the month again. That’s when I take part in Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. Thank you to this month’s IWSG co-hosts: Diane Burton, Kim Lajevardi, Sylvia Ney, Sarah Foster, Jennifer Hawes, and Madeline Mora-Summonte! Today I’ll be talking about genre as I answer June 5th’s optional IWSG Day Question:Of all the genres you read and write, which Read more…
Henri Nouwen has a gift for expressing the deep truths of an intimate walk with God, in a very accessible way. So I was very excited when I heard that “Following Jesus: Finding Our Way Home in an Age of Anxiety,” was ready to hit the bookshelves. This is some of Nouwen’s never before published work. It focuses on how Read more…
Accounting is one of the most important parts of running a small business. Unfortunately, so many small business owners leave some of the most critical details of accounting for a time when they are forced to think about them. This can lead to inefficiencies in your business, the mismanagement of finances, and missed opportunities. The following are a few tips to Read more…
After the 1st book in the “True Colors” series, blew me away, I was looking forward to the next offering in the series. I was rewarded! In “The Pink Bonnet,” author, Liz Tolsma, explores the underbelly of Memphis Tennessee in the 1930s when parents dared not to leave their children alone, for fear they may just disappear.Imagine leaving your child Read more…
“Those People” by Louise Candlish is a mystery/psychological thriller set in England that strikes at the heart of where you live. I found it incredibly gripping, similar to the 1990 film, “Pacific Heights,” about a bad renter. Only this was more disturbing, because you don’t have to become a landlord, but you can rarely control who moves into your neighborhood. Read more…
The 2019 A to Z Blogging Challenge didn’t go as expected for me. I spent the months of January and February writing posts for both, Facing Cancer with Grace and Heather Erickson Author/Writer/Speaker. I scheduled them to publish automatically, as I have done in past years, planning to use April to comment on other A to Z bloggers’ posts. In Read more…
“The Sentence is Death” by Anthony Horowitz is the 2nd book in the Detective Daniel Hawthorne Series. The first book in the series is “The Word Is Murder.” What makes this series so unique is how “meta”[1] it is. Horowitz places himself in the story as a writer who is following and working with a disgraced detective turned police consultant, Read more…
