I live in Mt. Dora, FL. I work close to home. I shop close to home. On Facebook, I have "friends" all over the world. Turns out, one of those friends is an author that also lives in Florida. Leona Bodie is the Vice President of the Florida Writers Association and she shared a touching story with me recently. It is about two other authors from Florida and I wanted to share it with you.....
Hospice of the Comforter and Florida Writers Association Join Forces to Help One Dying Man’s Final Wish Come True
A TERMINALLY ILL PATIENT’S DREAM IS REALIZED THANKS TO THE DEDICATED EFFORTS OF A VOLUNTEER WITH HOSPICE OF THE COMFORTER, DOUG DILLON.
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla… Meet Hospice of the Comforter patient Tony Mancuso. He offers you the best smile he can, given his physical situation while at theGarnet Heart group home in Altamonte Springs, Fla. And meet Doug Dillon, a volunteer with Hospice of the Comforter of Central Florida, whose patient is Tony.
During one of Doug’s visit, he learned that Tony was a writer and before he got sick, published 1,200 copies of his first novel titled, The Lie Catcher, where he uses first names of fa
By: Mark Miller,
on 7/31/2011
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Sat down to the computer this afternoon after a great book signing at Heroes' Landing comic book shop and had a couple nice surprises.
First, check out a new interview with me and a....werewolf? That's right, Harriet Von Lupin (one of John Rose's Monster Grrls
) had the hard hitting questions.
You can read the entertaining Q&A over at the Tales from the Monster Shop blog.
Then to follow that, Valentina (reviewer for You Gotta Read and Midwest Book Review, among others) posted her review of The Fourth Queen
on her blog, Carabosse's Library.
She says, "It's one of those stories that is hard to put down..."
Read her full review at Carabosse's Library.
Get your copy of The Fourth Queen on MillerWords.com, ComfortPublishing.com, Amazon.com or your favorite bookseller.
By: Mark Miller,
on 7/5/2011
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I've been spinning my own webs for a while now. One strand is my site (www.MillerWords.com), another is Facebook (and countless other social sites) and then, of course, this blog.
As the web grows, I seem to be catching a lot of delightful little things. I often find wonderful, positive comments from you, my readers. It really makes my day to see someone respond to my words.
Another neat thing is all the people in "the business" that I connect with. There are so many authors out there trying to do what I am trying to do. I know how busy each one is, yet many take the time to reply to emails and respond to friend requests. Who would have thought I would be "friends" with James Patterson
, Vincent Zandri or Dan Poblocki to name a few. Then there are the bloggers and other people that work extremely hard to make our stories part of your life, like Giovanni Gelati.
I know there are many others that I haven't listed, but thank you to all of you as well. Thank you to Comfort Publishing for giving me the first opportunity to spin this web.
I know this is kind of a random post, but that's the mood I find myself in and that's what blogs are for, right?
And thank you, reader, for getting caught in my web!
By:
Laurel Gaylord,
on 5/22/2011
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The sea heals me.
It nourishes my soul.
Soaked in its essence I become peaceful once more.
Everything is as it should be.♥
acrylic on a tiny 12"x4" canvas which will be sent to a friend who has had a tragic loss.
Painted for Illustration Friday's prompt: soaked
Morning thunderboomers.
CRACK!
BOOM!!
distant rumbling...
Wow, what a storm to wake up to! It's funny how this would have terrified me in the past, but now that I have a needy, frightened little eleven pound bundle of love who has seizures when her world isn't right, I'm somehow comforted as I comfort her.
For more Six Word Saturdays, please click here!
Okay. Here's the story behind this portrait of my dog Emma in a Bruin's get-up.
My nephew Jamie lives in New Hampshire and he's a huge, die-hard Boston Bruins hockey fan. I used to be obsessed with them when I lived here before but other things have taken over my life. He asked that I paint a birthday card for him but I couldn't think of what to do.
I digress. Jamie came to visit us just before Christmas and he gave us a fleece throw with the Bruin's logo on it. It unnerved my sense of decor in a huge way. I came unglued (in my mind) about having that black, yellow and white thing on my sofa in my tasteful red and grey living room. No ugly sports crap on my couch!!!
That's until Emma fell in love with it. If you want her to move, just move her Bruins blankie. She will faithfully follow. She could care less if it 'matches the decor' or not. It comforts her. It makes her feel soft and nestled. I look at her under that blanket heap and I quickly 'get over myself.'
Gifts come in many packages. So do life's lessons ;)
Thank you Jamie. Here's your birthday card from your number one fans, Me, Bri and Emma.
Happy Animal Wednesday!!
I fear the current undisputed record of 3 hours 5 minutes (held by both Lisa Yee and Brent Hartinger) will not only be crushed today, but will be pulverized into tiny tiny fragments that no longer resembles a record as much as it resembles talcum powder. Did that sentence make any sense? No matter, because it's time for our next round of Google Ping. And I have a feeling that our author today is one who Googles himself rather frequently.
Our pinged author of the day is Mr. David Lubar. David Lubar is the author of many good books, his most-recent being True Talents.
For those of you new to Google Ping, it is a game I invented where I type a children's author's name over and over on my blog to see how long it takes him or her to find me by either Googling their name or hearing through the grapevine that they have been pinged. The fastest children's author to comment on my blog and prove they are who they say they are (and not some crazed children's author impersonator) is crowned the current champion of Google Ping.
For those of you keeping track of the game, Ms. Laurie Halse Anderson answered the ping in 20 hours 16 minutes.
So here we go:
David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar, David Lubar.
And the clock has started as of 12:50 on 5/23/2007.
It's time for yet another installment if Google Ping, and today we are pinging Laurie Halse Anderson. Ms. Anderson is the author of many great books for young readers, including her new release TWISTED.
For those of you new to this feature, Google Ping is a game I invented where I type a children's author's name over and over on my blog to see how long it takes him or her to find me by either Googling their name or hearing through the grapevine that they have been pinged. The fastest children's author to comment on my blog and prove they are who they say they are (and not some crazed children's author impersonator) is crowned the current champion of Google Ping.
And I know Ms. Anderson will not have the "Anonymous" issue that another author who shall remain nameless has had over the past few weeks. The judges are still deliberating that issue, Mr. Green.
So, here we go:
Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson.
The clock is ticking, Ms. Anderson. The official start time is 10:50 am Eastern time on 5/16/2007.
Yes, it's time for another Google Ping where we post a children's author's name over and over again to see how long it takes them to either: a) Google themself and find me, or b) find out through the grapevine that they have been Pinged.
We'll see who is the fastest of all the authors to answer the Google Ping. The author must respond in the Comment section of the entry and somehow identify themself as being who they really are.
The current leader is Lisa Yee with 3 hours 5 minutes with John Green's time of 42 minutes still in contention since he posted anonymously. This has been a major issue among the judges, but they have decided that since Friday was his brother, Hank's, birthday tribute video that John gets an extension on his proof. The judges have determined that if John Green acknowledges the Google Ping on Brotherhood 2.0 on Tuesday AND he works the word "rhinoceros" into his vlog that his record time of 42 minutes will stand.
Brent Hartinger, the author of Dreamquest and Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies is the next up.
Here we go:
Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger, Brent Hartinger,
And the clock has begun at 5:45pm EST on 5/7/2007.
Yes, it's time for another Google Ping where we post a children's author's name over and over again to see how long it takes them to either: a) Google themself and find me, or b) find out through the grapevine that they have been Google Pinged.
We'll see who is the fastest of all the authors to answer the Google Ping. The author must respond in the Comment section of the entry and somehow identify themself as being who they really are.
The current leader is Lisa Yee with 3 hours 5 minutes with John Green's time of 42 minutes still in contention as he posted anonymously. The judges have determined that if John Green acknowledges the Google Ping on Brotherhood 2.0 today that the record time will stand.
Markus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief is the next up.
Here we go:
Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak, Markus Zusak,
Since Mr. Zusak lives in Australia and they look at their clocks upside down, I've decided to start this Google Ping in the morning rather than in the afternoon. And the clock has begun at 9:33am EST on 5/4/2007.
Here I am, about to turn 1/2 a century. That's enough to give anyone pause-can I really have been alive that long? I don't feel any older than I did when I was 20. Ok, Ok, maybe when it's really cold or raining and my broken/healed ankle hurts or my fingers feel a little stiff, maybe then I feel my age, but for the most part I wonder who that woman is in the mirror!
I stand amazed at how my body is growing older and my mind/spirit is staying put. How is that possible? Is that how we age and stay "young at heart?" In my mind I can keep up with my grandkids, I can exercise with the best of them, I can hike up the mountain and ride my bike and not get tired out too quickly. In reality, I fade fast, I get winded quickly, my body hurts, it takes days to recover from just a hike in the heat! I don't hold up like I used to. I think I'll stick to my fantasy of not growing old!
I look at my Dad and Mom and wonder how they grew old, in my mind they are the young, active parents who tried so hard to keep up with my sister and brother and I. I still see my Dad in his cowboy hat and black and white custom boots, standing on the mesa looking for all the world like an older James Dean. I see my Mom in pedal pushers (now called Capri's!) and loafers, curly brown hair and a curvy figure, catching the eyes of the guys as she passes by. Those are the parents I remember and still see - not noticing the gray hair and bifocals.
I still have two grandparents alive. My grandchildren have great, great grandparents! They are both weak and feeble and I know in my heart they won't be here long. We truly are a "vapor, a mist" a blip in the grand scheme of things.
How can we make our mark on this world? How do we keep ourselves "alive" in the memories and history of our world when we are not famous, we are not world leaders, we are not in the news, how? We leave a heritage of our children and they carry on our ideals, our looks, our beliefs in God, our past. As long as we remain in their memories, we remain .
I am feeling very mortal this week. We had our sixth grandchild and out of six children two are now estranged. I celebrated the birth of a new life into this world and it hung by a thread. It is still in the balance as I write this. He was born with a serious congenital birth defect and will have surgery on Monday. He was hooked to so many machines I couldn't even hold him. All I could do was stoke his head and sing to him and tell him how much he was loved and to hold on, Jesus was holding him tight when we couldn't. How could I have lived my life for nearly 50 years and this child not even have a chance? I would trade with him.
In heaven we have two grandchildren. I am comforted by the knowledge that I will see them someday and at the same time haunted by the refrain from Sting's song, "Will I know in you in Heaven..." Will I know them?
The Bible tell us we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, cheering us on toward the goal. Who are those witnesses? Angels, family members, people who have passed that know of us but perhaps our verbal history has forgotten them? I don't know. I do know they are there, they are cheering for me and for you. My babies are there, my Grandfather is there, Trace's Dad is there, ancestors that I don't know, and eventually my parents will be there. They will know of my race, they will be at the finish line when I go to meet Jesus. Thank you God. Thank you for letting us know our families know about us, have knowledge even when they have passed over. It is comforting, it is a security blanket that helps me feel OK about growing older and eventually leaving this world for a better place.
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