Book Review – Educated
“If [J. D.] Vance’s memoir offered street-heroin-grade drama, [Tara] Westover’s is carfentanil, the stuff that tranquilizes elephants. The extremity of Westover’s upbringing emerges gradually through her telling, which only makes the telling more alluring and harrowing. . . . By the end, Westover has somehow managed not only to capture her unsurpassable exceptional upbringing, but to make her current situation seem not so exceptional at all, and resonant for many others.”—The New York Times Book Review
When a book makes the New York Times Best Seller, I take notice. I don’t have the opportunity to read all best sellers, but they are on my ‘to be read list.’ If you are an author or blogger, you know reading is one of the best ways to enhance your writing. Experts tell us to read books within our genre. I’ve read and reviewed several memoirs and Educated ranks high on my list.
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Christmas Short Story Party – Guest Post
One of my previous guest writers has been my good friend for years, Bernadette Inclan. She is one of the individuals who encouraged me to write my memoirs. I have shared several of her pieces, but the latest was back in October of this year entitled “That Particular Night”.
I posted her Christmas short story last year, and it gives me pleasure to share it with you again. It took me back to my childhood sharing the mystery, and the true meaning of Christmas.
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Christmas Short Story Party – Guest Post by Ellen Best
I was thrilled when Ellen Best accepted my invitation to contribute a Christmas Short Story. Ellen is a blogger who I met through Hugh Roberts (Hugh’s View and News). She is a writer and blogger from East Anglia, England in the United Kingdom. She is married, and they live in a converted Victorian school house. In January they are excited to add a rescue puppy to their household. Her husband affectionately told her not to forget to tell everyone she is fun, bonkers, and as mad as a guest at Alice in Wonderland’s Tea Party. They have four adult children who are providing grandchildren at a faster pace than they anticipated.
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Christmas on the Costa Blanca of Spain
by Darlene Foster
Christmas in Spain is a month-long party consisting of numerous fiestas, parades, fireworks, brass bands, markets, and food, lots of food. The first weekend in December is the official start of the Christmas season and it doesn´t take us long to get into the festive spirit. We live near Torrevieja where the season starts with a number of events celebrating the town’s Patronal Fiesta, dedicated to the patron saint, Inmaculada Concepción.
We start the celebrations by meeting a friend at The Casino for a drink and tapas on the first Saturday evening of the month. The Casino is not a place to gamble but rather a social club to meet friends, attend concerts and listen to lectures. It is elegant, comfortable and tastefully decorated for Christmas. It is also central to many of the events.
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THE KEY TO THE SNOWGLOBE
By Forest Riggs
Painfully crawling across the cold, wooden floor, he thought I must get to the trunk. The trunk. If I can just reach the trunk, this pain will end.”
Please allow me to present myself. My name is Osgood Merriweather, yes, one of those oddball names where both sound like last names. It has been confusing for me and for others my entire life, and that is now 62 years! I have lived with this curse of a name since my birth, however, somewhere along the way, I became simply Ozzie. For all practical purposes, it was much easier and afforded less confusion in school and other places where a first and last name are required in tandem.
On this chilly Christmas Eve and while snuggled in my easy chair with a glass of good cognac, I am reminded of a strange incident that occurred some many years ago. I know this to be true because it happened to me. I have never told the story to anyone and for the most part, I have kept it tucked away in the webbed catacombs of my mind, only to surface now and then and usually around Christmas time. The recalling of this buried memory is usually brought about by my hearing a Christmas carol or seeing an image of Santa Claus, but usually, it is the swirling motions of thousands of tiny plastic snowflakes, trapped inside a glass bubble and whirling about some holiday scene when shaken. If I stare deeply into the globe and watch the white droplets fall and highlight the items within, I am taken back to that unusual Christmas Eve many years ago and what I discovered, or should I say, uncovered.
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Short Story Christmas Party
On December 4, I announced I wanted to promote any of my followers and those that had promoted me during the year. I requested that you send me a short story, either original or something written previously. Link to the previous post
I got a few responses and I will begin posting them next week. There is still time to submit something and I urge you to join the party.
To get the party kicked off, I am posting a short story I wrote a few years ago when I was taking an online writing course. It might sound familiar to anyone who has read One Month, Twenty Days, and a Wakeup. It was extracted from the manuscript prior to its publishing.
As always, I value your comments.
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Send Me Your Christmas Stories
Three years ago, I was welcomed into the WordPress writer’s community. I was a novice writer and in my opinion, I remain a novice. Yet I was welcomed into this writer, blogger group of experienced and professional authors and bloggers. An intricate agenda is to help and promote each other’s work. An equal unwritten goal is to provide a source of information and guidance on the multitude of subjects to enhance our skills or marketing of our endeavors. In essence, to be an accepted member of the group, you need to contribute to its success.
The holiday and Christmas season is upon us and I am requesting not only my WordPress community but anyone that follows my website to send me a short story or Christmas blog piece they have written. It doesn’t have to be anything original, it can be something you wrote previously that you would like to share again. I already have a terrific story submitted from a new source, but I need more. It’s my turn to reciprocate to each of you that have promoted my efforts. Allow me to post your writing that exemplifies the Christmas season.
danalatorre.com
Here is a good example I found today. It brought me back to my childhood when we lived in Iowa. Follow the link below for a fun read.
Dan Alatorre’s Christmas Memories
To help me make this simple here are my minimum requirements:
- Try to make the post between one thousand and three thousand words. I won’t reject anything that is under or over.
- Make it relevant to the subject of Christmas/Holidays.
- Along with your story send me an author bio and picture.
- Send my listing and links to your website, books, and social media sites. (You know the drill. All the good stuff to help promote your work).
- Send them to my email address (cljjlk@gmail.com)
I look forward to receiving and posting your writing.
Feature Image is from BookRiot.com
Buy a Book For Christmas
Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord this Christmas season is featuring authors she has previously promoted at her Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore. Today my book is one of the four memoirs she is featuring. If you are looking for an excellent book to give to someone for the holidays, check these suggestions from Sally.
Click Here For Sally’s Post
Technical Support Nightmare
I hope no one has had a similar experience as I had yesterday (11/14). I woke up to my blog site down. I’ve had it happen before, but not since I upgraded to a premium theme. Any time before, the site would be down less than an hour. I always got an email giving me notice.
Yesterday was totally different, and I feared I had lost my site to a hacker or some viral attack. When I attempted to log in, I got a page containing a series of error messages. They looked greek to me, and I quickly panicked.
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My Idea for a New Book
Since June, I’ve been talking about venturing into a new genre with my writing. All three of my books were memoirs even when I promoted them as fiction based on my life events. These books I had promised myself and closest friends I would write. Now that they are completed, it’s time to move on.
August of 2017, I wrote a post based on an actual event from my short career as a mortician. It got plenty of positive feedback and a few requests for additional stories. Through the years, many friends were fascinated when I would share some of the incidents and encounters while in the funeral industry. Many are humorous and some heartbreaking.
In 2001 there was a popular HBO series called Six Feet Under. I watched it not only for the subject matter but the soap opera drama too. Each episode either shocked, humored, or repulsed us. But we kept coming back each week. It was great entertainment and exceptional screenwriting.
Have you guessed yet the storyline of my new book? Yep—another storyline about the funeral industry. As with Six Feet Under, it centers around a family owned and operated the funeral home. As did the TV series, there is an outside storyline alongside the episodes within the funeral home. The intent is to entertain as well as educate you about an industry you can’t avoid.
I haven’t finished the original draft, and I don’t anticipate the book’s release until sometime in 2019. Below is a selection of the opening chapter. I would love to hear your comments and suggestions.
Image from Gifer.com
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