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Of The Silence of Mothers, A Daughter’s Yearning, and Gratitude …

Learning something about a mother, who was not forward in sharing about herself allows deeper insight into those hidden aspects of ourselves as her daughter.

The yearning to know more about a mother who has hidden herself, kept secret her inner life, speaks to our desire to connect, both with our mother and ourselves.

If our mother has died, like mine who passed on nearly two decades ago, we have lost a most direct line of knowledge. But all is not forsaken. Not by a long shot.

The very fact that our mother died keeping all close to her chest speaks volumes. It tells us that we

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× Bahman Farzad Lotus Flower with Red background by Bahman Farzad--2877304479_7078df5f31_b

Of Myths, Beliefs and The Integrity of Our Intent …

We’re not encouraged to say, “I’m sorry,” in America, even when we are wrong, have made a mistake and our mistake has injured another, and or even ourselves.

I’m always taken with how much we often count the need to forgive ourselves for past mistakes when discussing those for whom we would do well to hold compassion.

It’s as if American societal beliefs hold to an erroneous myth that life can be somehow lived in a clear and uninterrupted straight line, that we can avoid any and all detours, those erected by others and those we might take should events become too complicated.

From where did we get this belief, never mind how faulty?

The degree to which we claim to be a progressive society

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Of Scott Pratt, The Writer’s Predicament and Hilary Rosen …

Fellow author, Pamela Samuels Young, recently forwarded, as she did to 30-40 others, the link to an genre author, Scott Pratt’s new blog, The Writer’s Predicament.

While I have not read any of Mr. Pratt’s five legal thrillers I will say that if his novel writing style holds any of the similarities he had exhibited in the few blog posts of The Writer’s Predicament, I will start touting his work. 

Needless to say I am a fan of his blog.

After opening the e-mail containing the link to his blog, I immediate clicked over and began reading his posts.

Scott’s warm, style combined with

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Of Mothers, Sons and Actions that Leave Us Eternally Changed…

Grace…., a photo by Acoustic Soul on Flickr. It always happens this way. A shooting takes place in our nation. A person and/or others are killed while going about their day. Voices cry out, those of the bereaved family members and others in shock and anger. Stories of the incident make a virulent trek across

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Of Books, Tension, and The Mind on the Page…

Presently I am reading Anuradha Roy’s novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing .

As with any good novel, interactions between the main characters are strained.

Tension abounds, but not in a melodramatic way.

The story moves with a nice speed for an opening.

I look forward each evening–a hallmark that I have found a jewel of a novel–to settling into bed,

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Of Supply, Demand, and The Woeful Truth About Publishing and Authors…

Author and publisher, Zetta Brown’s recent blog, “Authors! Can’t find your book in a bookstore? You may be luckier than you think!”, got me to thinking–no pun intended–about the old law of economics, that of supply and demand.

With bookstores and sellers tightly adhering to what seems to me, an outdated mode of purchasing books from publishers, and authors who choose to self-publish–that of retaining, if not demanding, the opportunity to return unsold books they have received from us–I wonder what would happen if publishers and authors began to print less books.

A blog post, “A Woeful Truth About Publishing,” at Champagne Books explains this paradoxical phenomenon in detail.

In short what I’m really saying is, “How would economic market respond if publishers did not make books so readily accessible?”

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Of Mars in Cancer, Courts of Change, and Travels…

Every story is like a court case wherein we, the author, like an attorney, tries a case of our protagonist.

Who is on trial?

Is your protagonist the defendant or the plaintiff seeking judgment and damages for a wrong committed upon her or him?

If she or his had been wronged then what was the crime and the injury inflicted?

Who committed the injustice?

What cries out for change?

Is this injustice still occurring at the outset of the novel?

If so what does the central character need to accomplish to stop the wrongful act?

The story we craft becomes our protagonist’s quest, their journey to achieve justice and survival, a tale of change and transformation.

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