Monday, December 30, 2013

TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE

As the old year ends and a new one begins, I often look back and silently chide myself over the time I might have squandered and should have used more wisely.

The New Year is always a great time to say good-bye to all our yesterdays and give a hearty, forward-looking hello to a new start in a new year. It’s a feeling that invades our thinking and whispers, “Your slate is now wiped clean of all the troubles and missteps you’ve experienced. Let’s begin anew.”

So, how will you use this unbiased fellow we call TIME--who credits you every morning with 86,400 seconds in the day? (Or 31,536,000 seconds in the new year?)


Imagine a bank that credits your account with $86,400 each day. It carries no balance over from day to day, and every evening it deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use. What would you do? I believe everyone would agree we’d be foolish not to draw out every cent.

Each of us has such a bank. It’s called TIME. And every morning we are offered 86,400 seconds. Every night, TIME writes off, as a loss, whatever seconds, minutes or hours you have failed to invest in good purposes. There is no balance. There are no overdrafts. Each day TIME opens a new account. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours.

What am I really saying? I’m telling you the clock is running and you must live in the present of today’s deposits. Invest your time so you get the utmost in health, happiness and success. Make the most of today. Treasure and use wisely each moment in both work and play.

To realize the value of one year, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realize the value of one month, ask a returned soldier how he felt during his last four weeks of deployment 
To realize the value of one hour, ask lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realize the value of one minute, ask the person who just missed his plane flight, train or bus.
To realize the value of one second, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of one millisecond, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Treasure every moment you have. Remember, TIME waits for no one!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

The Humble Pines










'Twas daybreak in the forest
The winds blew crisp and cold, 
And snow lay in a white-washed 'guise
On oak trees, staunch and old.

The sky was blue, the drifts knee-deep
As snowflakes fluttered down,
While high above the hemlock sighed
A faint melodious sound.

Across the vale the star of night
Broke through the frigid morn,
And scattered rays of hope and peace. . .
Today, the Child was born.

Then firethorn threw shimmering beads
Amid the sun-kissed laurel;
Bright holly bushes shook their limbs
With shades of sparkling coral.

The birds sang on this blessed day
With wonderous trills and sounds,
The humble pines took time to pray
And bowed their branches down.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

TALKING TURKEY: What I'm Thankful for as a Writer

     Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. It's a special day when we don't have to go into a meltdown mode chasing down the perfect gifts for everyone on our Christmas list. The real gift is simply being able to gather family and friends together to eat, talk, share stories, and enjoy all those tempting dishes—like to-die-for corn bread stuffing, Aunt Jane’s pecan and pumpkin pies with mounds of whipped cream, and the ever-famous turkey baked to a golden brown in the oven or a deep fryer. It’s also a time when I think about why I’m thankful as a writer. Here are my top five:
  •  I’m thankful to be able to be born in a country where I am able to create and write freely without fears of censorship or retribution. I’m thankful for all our service people—the military, rescue squads, firemen, police and many, many more whose occupations are to protect our freedoms and who are dedicated to keeping us safe. We are, indeed, land of the free because of the brave.
  •  I’m thankful for all the fans who purchase our novels and those who make each day just a bit brighter by dropping an email or note in praise of our work. It gives me and other authors a reason to push forward and pursue our dreams.
  • I’m thankful for my spouse, my children, neighbors, friends, family, fellow writers, beta readers, and reviewers who act as sounding boards and who understand the writer’s craziness and the driving need to escape to a favorite spot and put ideas on a blank white screen.
  • I'm thankful for the editors, publishers, artists, and marketing, production and support personnel who take our lumpy claylike creation of words and help us sculpt those words into a smooth, finished work of art called a novel.
  • I'm thankful for all the sights, sounds, smells and tastes around us—like bright sunny days, scarlet sunsets, serene snowfalls, gentle rain, the smell of pine-tinged air, the warble of a song sparrow, the chirping of a cricket, the taste of summer’s first strawberries—and all the wondrous gifts our Heavenly Creator gives us each day to help us to be inspired.  
Happy Thanksgiving from my home to yours!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

A look from. . . UP ON THE ROOF

Recently released in digital and coming soon in print, Up on the Roof and Other Stories is a unique collection of nineteen humorous and serious stories exploring the lives and relationships of the young and old.
Here are some synopses of stories included in the book:

BALD REVELATIONS  
A first grade teacher believes her husband of twenty years is leaving her and their two teenage sons when he purchases ten pairs of new dress socks and starts reviewing their insurance policies. Despite her mother’s assurances, Maureen is further convinced he’s cheating when he starts singing Beach Boy songs and tries to persuade her to buy a sporty red convertible. 

COMPUTER JUNKIE   
 When Rita and Jane decide to start a small woodworking business, they never expect their husbands to get involved. But get involved they do. Mitch and Bill decide their wives need their expert computer advice and their meddling could spell disaster even before the business gets off the ground.

HOOKED ON SILENCE   
Two young professional couples decide to go to the lake to fish. Jerome believes that women are not necessarily equal in all masculine tasks, but Angela, his girlfriend, is about to prove him wrong.

STRAW PONIES  
Brita Larson saved the life of an Arapaho brave, Nitis, who now believes he's indebted to her and routinely brings gifts to her ranch.When she then helps rescue his sister, Onawa, from some evil white men selling guns to the renegades, Britta is certain she will never get rid of this gift-bearing Indian. More importantly, how will she explain him to Deputy Sheriff Wyatt McGee? 

Only $3.99 in digital now at: amazon.com

Saturday, October 26, 2013

FIVE THINGS NEW WRITERS SHOULD KNOW

§  You will waste a lot of paper. Wasting paper and purchasing printer cartridges are part of the trade. When you print your work and find it's beyond help or you need to start over, throw it away and delete it from your computer. Physically throwing it into the trash signifies a new start mentally. Don’t worry about killing trees. Like crops, trees for paper mills are planted, held in rotation until mature, and harvested.

§  Writing is a lonely, solitary occupation. Writing takes time. You will miss being out in the sunshine or watching your favorite television show. You may miss family gatherings with a deadline near. You will miss sleep. Make friends with other writers. They understand your crazy burning need to create.


§  Find a place to write where you feel comfortable and secure. Arm the location with a good collegiate dictionary, The Chicago Manuel of Style, and an unabridged Roget’s Thesaurus. Roget’s has more than ten times the amount of synonyms than any online site. Then, find something that signals routine and the need to sit down and write—like making your bed, drinking that second cup of coffee or tea, or taking your dog for his morning walk—or evening one if you write at night.

§  Never, never send out your first draft to anyone, anywhere. If possible, let your words sit for a while to cool like a hot custard pie. It’s easier to see missing data, mistakes, and grammar problems when you’ve distanced yourself from your work. Having trouble finding your mistakes? If you’re prone to using Times New Roman on your computer screen, print your work out in a different font like Courier, Arial, or Century Schoolbook. Have a friend help you. Intensive editing is part of the writing process.

§  Don’t believe people who say that writing doesn’t have to be as perfect as possible—because that’s what editors are for. Everyday, editors reject dozens of manuscripts. Do you think they’ll accept one with grammar and punctuation mistakes or basic sentence structure problems? Your writing is a reflection of who you are. It’s your first shot at making an impression and getting a toehold into the publishing world. Just like a job interview, you need to make it a good one.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Tempers fly in KEY TO LOVE

        KEY TO LOVE is scheduled to be released in print on Wednesday, October 23rd. Here is one of my favorite interactions between my main characters, architect Elise Springer, and her old friend, Lucas Fisher.
                                                       ~ ~ ~   *** ~ ~ ~
  The first thought crossing Lucas’s mind was that a blue tornado had swooped down without warning.
       Elise Springer barreled through the office door, crossed the distance between them and slammed her fist on the metal desk so hard two pencils did simultaneous jumping jacks before hitting the concrete at her feet.
  “You liar!” she shouted. Vicious claws, still splendidly colored a brilliant red, reached out, clutching the front of his shirt and jerking him by the throat.
       "Having a bad morning?” Lucas asked quietly, thankful he never made it a habit to fasten the top button. “Maybe I should make a pot of coffee?”
         “You set me up, you detestable jerk!” Her hand still held fast even when his came up to cover it. “You never told me about the seventy-five thousand dollars Mike gave you." 
       He pried her fingers loose, and she stepped back, slicing the air with the edge of her palm. “I trusted you, you lowly worm. I went in there on your behalf!” Both hands flew to her temples, massaging her forehead. She stomped to the window and back again twice. “God, what a fool I am.”
     “It’s not what it appears, Liz.” Lucas sat down, leaned back in a chair beside the desk, and hoped Fritz had not lied and this was just one of her twenty-four hour bouts of raving insanity. “Maybe you ought to sit down, and I’ll explain.”
       “You can start spouting an explanation right now, pal, and I don’t need to sit to hear your gibberish!”
       If her eyes could throw darts, he’d be dead man for sure, Lucas decided. He mustered some courage. “If I had told you Mike gave me money from his personal funds to invest for him, you would have gone into the meeting with Pedmo and tried to second guess her, just to defend me. I couldn’t take the chance. You got the kid, right?”

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Fall Festival in Clearfield

I'm excited. KEY TO LOVE, my contemporary romance and mystery, is scheduled for print version on October 23. I’m hoping to have a few books for Clearfield’s Fall Festival on October 12th which is organized by the Clearfield Revitalization Corporation. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. If you’re in the area, please stop to say hello and see all the wonderful arts, crafts and vendors—plus food booths.
                                              Here is a short blurb:

 When architect Elise Springer leaves San Francisco to check on her injured father in Pennsylvania, she is surprised to find Lucas Fisher, an old friend of the family, has returned to the Scranton area to set up an automobile restoration business. What she never expects is that in her quest to help Lucas get custody of his orphaned, four-year-old nephew, she will unravel evidence to prove the death of his brother wasn’t an accident. Elise will also discover that she is falling in love with both Fisher men, the little animal-cracker-eating one and his handsome, technology-challenged uncle. Will she be able to follow her heart on the east coast, manage a career on the west coast, and find the Key to Love that will open the gates to a lifetime of happiness?