** This 'n That on a Thursday Night **

A little of this and a little of that.

Don't forget to comment or ask Margaret a question on today's earlier blog post. They can be left until midnight tomorrow night. (Friday, August 13th) One person will win a PDF copy of Margaret's book, by random drawing. From the portion of the book that I've read so far, it's definitely a page turner. If you don't win the free copy, let's help Margaret as much as possible by either passing the word around and/or buying the book! Thanks to all participating, and hopefully y'all will support me when my book comes out!

When I wrote about my dad yesterday on his birthday, I felt a little guilty that I hadn't written much about my mom on her birthday which was just last week. Unfortunately, it was the same day as another scary day concerning Scott's health, and also my frustrating ranting about AOL and my e-mail problems. Sorry, Mom! I'll post more about her this weekend.

I want to apologize for not getting around to all the blogs I usually read and comment on. I don't know where the time goes, but somehow I'm losing it! ....in more ways than one! Please know I try and I certainly do not forget about any of you. You're all always in my thoughts.

While driving to my see my chiropractor today.....yes, my back is a lot better, but not totally 100% yet....I happened to hear the end of a radio interview on NPR with legendary long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad. The host was taking phone calls and somewhere in the conversation, Diana talked about the word "Commitment"....about how important it is in life to actually "commit" to something significant, whether it's swimming a long distance, finishing the task of writing a book (yeah, she had just spoken to a woman in her 50's and I missed that part!), or being the kind of parent that is devoted to raising their children. I had one of those light-bulb moments. While I drove, I grabbed my ever present pen and notepad and scribbled the word Commitment. At the stop light, I added: A commitment to my writing -- to finishing my book. It's not as if I haven't been committed to completing my book, but hearing those words from someone else, and in the way Diana said them....it was magical. I can't express how wonderful I feel and how much I've written this evening.

One of my favorite musicals, Fiddler on the Roof, has one of my favorite songs, Tradition. I am now singing it, replacing Tradtion with Commitment!!

"The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work. " -- Oprah Winfrey

Blog Interview With Author Margaret Norton

Hello Everyone! Today, I'm having a blog interview with writer, Margaret Norton, about her memoir, When Ties Break (A Memoir about How to Thrive After Loss), which also includes a Give-Away!

1. What made you want to write this memoir?

Initially I did not plan to write a book. I started journaling in 2005 at the suggestion of my counselor as a way to deal with grief I was experiencing from eight deaths the previous year. I shared this with a few people and their reaction was "that's good, you should write a book." I was working away from home and living in a hotel at the time with lots of free time on weekends. Not really knowing where all this would take me I started turning my journal into my life story.


2. How difficult was it to recall and reveal some of the tragic things that happened to you?

It was difficult but also healing. I don't think I realized the connection to all the events in my life until I wrote the book and took a good hard look back. It was difficult admitting that I had made mistakes and some of my misfortune was my own fault. I experienced a range of emotions - feeling sorry for myself, angry with myself, beating myself up, etc. It was especially hard when I wrote about my children and having to come face to face with the reality that my decisions had also profoundly shaped their lives.


3. Did you have to get permission from the people in your life who you included in your book?

I struggled with this for a long time and sought the advice of several published authors. Since I was writing my story I did not ask for permission from anyone but I did change everyones name. People that know me will know who I'm talking about. I did this out of consideration to the people in my book. Even though I was writing my story - which often involved them - I was very aware that some of them did not want their story shared with others. By changing the names people that knew them could read the book without knowing who I was talking about. I wasn't trying to get even with anyone and I didn't make anything up. In fact, I left some things out that I felt were just too personal to share with the whole world. It has generated some interesting conversation from my family and friends.


4. What are some of the major themes you explore in When Ties Break?

Divorce, Adultery, Step Parenting, Single Parenting, Death, Grief, Abuse - physical, emotional, financial & sibling, financial loss, loss of faith in God and family estrangement.


5. How long did it take you to write it?

I wrote the book in six months but then spent one year revising and editing it.


6. What are some of the struggles you've had to overcome in your life that led you to write this memoir?

The struggles that I've overcome are the major themes listed in question #4. Those were all big, major events but I think the real struggle for so many years was to find, understand and like myself. I was insecure as a child, married young to an abusive partner and suffered terribly from low self esteem. As my self confidence increased and I learned how to set boundaries and take care of myself the struggles changed. In some ways they became easier. When I was younger I took everything personal - it was all my fault because I was a terrible person. Now that I'm older my perspective is totally different.

Tuesday, August 3rd was the official release date of Margaret's book. It is available from Amazon, major book stores, from her publisher or autographed copies directly from Margaret.


Attached is the link to Tate Publishing which will take you directly to Margaret's book.

This is a very exciting time in her life, which I can totally relate to!



A little more information about Margaret.  When she lived in this area she was a member of Saturday Writers, which is a marvelous writers' group, and not only because I'm also a member! Now that she lives in North Carolina, she has joined several groups:



Writers' Group of the Triad, Editorial Freelancers Assoc, NC Writers' Network, Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance and Story Circle Network.


Margaret states: "Being a new writer I'm eager to meet as many people in this field as I can and soak up some of their knowledge."

Below are numerous ways to contact Margaret.
Margaret Norton
Personal Life Coach, Writer, Speaker
314 956-2588
To schedule your FREE Consultation
call 314 956-2588 or email me at margaret@margaretnortonlifecoach.com.

http://www.margaretnortonlifecoach.com/

http://www.whentiesbreak.com/

http://www.twitter.com/margaretnorton

Follow me on Facebook, too!


** Okay, here's the part about the "give-away".  Everyone who leaves a comment or question for Margaret, will be placed in a random drawing to receive a PDF file of this book! I started reading it right after I downloaded it, and I can assure you it is a great read! I couldn't wait to read more of it. I've also been told that PDF files of books can be read in some e-readers such as Kindles. Who knew?? Not me!

** Let's do the time for comments and/or questions from Thursday, August 12th at 12:01 am, CDT, until Saturday, August 14th at 12:01 am, CDT.  I'll do the random drawing and announce the winner sometime during the day on Saturday.

I'm very excited for Margaret and I've never even met her! Margo Dill asked if I would like to do a blog interview for her and I agreed. I'm so glad I did, because just from e-mailing back and forth with Margaret (after we got the e-mail goblins to go away!) we've learned that we have quite a bit in common!

Don't be shy! Please leave some comments and/or questions for Margaret!

"Life gives us many chances to start over again, like a cat with nine lives." -- Margaret Norton

* Remembering My Dad on His Birthday *

Today, August 11th, was my dad's birthday. He was born in 1924 and if the math portion of my brain is working at all this morning, that means he would've been 86 years old, but he died on November 30, 2002.

Those of you who've read my blog for awhile, know that my dad left us when I was a young girl. I have many memories, both happy and sad, but I won't go into any of the sad ones today.

This is how I remember my dad in the early 1960's.

I want to highlight his intelligence: His years as a student at Parks College in Cahokia, Illinois, and his years of teaching there, immediately following his graduation. He taught kinetics, which I had never heard of until last year when my husband, Ron and I attended Homecoming at SLU. Parks College has always been part of SLU- St. Louis University, but was in a separate location across the Mississippi River in Illinois, until 1997.  

(photo I took of a wall of memories in the Timeline Exhibit)

(This probably isn't "kinetics", but most math problems look the same to me: a foreign language!)

Parks Air College, as it was known in the beginning, has a wonderful, rich history of aviation.

I'm pretty sure it is still the place to attend for aeronautical studies....in the entire world.

This is my favorite photo from our visit last September. There are several walls covered with former and current professors' and other employees' pictures. I provided this one to be placed on the wall. (That's me, crouched down and pointing at it. I was thrilled to see my dad included among so many. This photo was placed in two separate areas and I was so glad neither was too high for me to see!)

Today, Parks College is known as: Parks College of Engineering, Aviation & Technology. It has such a rich and interesting history. Besides the fact that my dad, James G. Lewellen, attended and taught there, the very famous Gene Kranz of Apollo 13 fame, also went to Parks around the same time as dad.

I took this photo of a huge poster of Gene Kranz.

Ed Harris played Mr. Kranz in the movie, Apollo 13.

Happy Birthday, Dad. Although we spent many years apart, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here today. I wouldn't be the person I have become. I wouldn't be a writer. I wouldn't be me.  

"In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them." -- Johann von Neumann

I just totally threw my back out. I accidentally deleted my previous post. I'm going back to bed.......

♪ Those Lazy,Hazy,Crazy Days of Summer & Wind Chimes ♪

** Thanks to the comment left by Sioux, I changed my previous music for this particular post, to one that makes much more sense! Wind Chimes! Hope you enjoy! **

I don't know if I've ever written anything on my blog about my love of wind chimes.........

But, ever since I was a little girl, I've been mesmerized by them. I especially love to listen to these shell-like ones. They are delicate and have a soothing, summery kind of sound. As you can see in these photos, I have two sets hanging on a floor lamp. The lamp occupies a corner of my upstairs office, which gets really hot in the summer, so a couple of years ago, my husband put in a window air conditioner for me. The lamp stands near the window and when the a/c is on, the air blows toward the chimes ever so gently, and they make just the slightest of tinkling sounds. I find it so soothing. It takes me back to other times in my life and brings me great joy. Isn't it wonderful when something so simple can be so life effecting?

 

 

Can you see the shells swaying in this photo?

Can you hear them, as well?!

"Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy." - Richard Halloway

** Fractured Friday **

How many remember the Fractured Fairy Tales? It was a segment on the Rocky and Bullwinkle TV Show, in the 1960's. That cartoon show was a classic! I guess it was meant to be geared toward children, but the humor was really hip! Each one was loosely based on a "real" fairy tale (isn't that an oxymoron??), but was slighty fractured!

That's what popped into my mind when I thought of a title for today's post. Yeah, my mind works in funny, fractured ways sometimes....groan!

Today was fractured because:

a)  My son, Scott, spent another night in the hospital last night, due to pains and swelling in his abdominal area. I didn't know much for over 24 hours and was quite frantic, to put it mildly. Turns out it's still issues from his ruptured appendix and resulting surgery in June. More tests were done, and so I (guess I)  feel better about it all.....for now, anyway.

b)  Today was my mom's birthday. She's been deceased since 1989. I'm so glad she was able to see Mark a few times before she died. She lived in Iowa and we drove there a few times and she traveled here a time or two, also. She would've been 95 years old today.

c)  I'm really perturbed at AOL. It seems they have decided to LIMIT some of the e-mails we AOL users can send, in a given amount of time! I first noticed it yesterday, when I tried to send an e-mail, I received the following error message: You are blocked from sending email messages. See KW:RATE LIMITS for details.  And, of course, I immediately thought, Huh?...Well, that's obviously a mistake. I'm not on any kind of rate limit on my Aol account. But, when it continued, I put my mail in the "Send Later" folder. After a while, I could go into that folder and click "Send" and off it went.  BUT, this evening, after attempting to send 5 different e-mail.....mostly my "thank you for your comments on my blog" e-mail,  I decided to see if I could find the "rate limits" info. Long story short.....(I know, it's already too long)......It has to do with some kind of spam problems associated with Aol Instant Messaging and Chat Rooms. (which I don't even use)  I then contacted AOL through their Live Chat System and after the usual niceties was told, quote: "Meantime, if you really need to send mail I strongly suggest to use the AOL webmail.On the Internet Explorer address bar please typehttp://mail.aol.com/lite
Sign on with your AOL screen name and password to send the E-mail."

WHAT?? If I wanted to send mail that way, I wouldn't have AOL! Acccckkkkk!!!  I have a new abbreviation for them......SOL

“We have no reliable guarantee that the afterlife will be any less exasperating than this one, have we?” -- Noel Coward

** If It's Thursday -- Part 2 **

Just a couple other things I wanted to mention.

1)  I'm probably going to begin responding to your comments by e-mail, whenever possible, instead of in the comment section. It seems like the logical thing to do, because I can reply faster and directly to the lovely person!

2)  Are you one of C. Hope Clark's blog followers? If you're a writer and you're not reading her blog often, you are missing out on lots of great information. She always has info about Calls for Submissions, Contests, the rights and wrongs of writing, etc. She is also going to be one of the key note speakers at the MWG (Missouri Writers Guild) Conference, in St. Louis next spring.

3)  Another interesting Call for Submissions I came across, and I honestly do not remember where, when or how I saw it....but it's called Shaking Like a Mountain. (And if I've already posted about this, please forgive me, because as you all know, I'm losing my mind!)

4)  And, the ever famous, Chicken Soup for the Soul, has Call Outs for 4 books right now. They pay well, give free books in addition to the money, and it's a quality name that everyone knows and respects.


"There comes that mysterious meeting in life when someone acknowledges who we are and what we can be, igniting the circuits of our highest potential." -- Rusty Berkus

** If It's Thursday, I'm Way Behind On My To-Do List **

Okay! Here are various interesting tidbits, in no particular order.
Nick Nixon: Writer, singer, song writer extraordinaire, is on a local radio station every first Friday of the month. That would be tomorrow. KWRE, 730 ON THE AM DIAL. 3:00 to 5:00PM, CDT. I checked out their website yesterday. They are not streaming online yet, but it's coming soon. You'll definitely want to listen when it's available. And if you live "here", you can listen on your radio and enjoy Nick's easy going ways, good natured jokes, and beautiful singing. Nick is a memeber of Saturday Writers and the Coffee & Critique group. I'm proud to know him and call him my friend. Following are 2 links from the late 1970's (I'm pretty sure!): One is of Nick singing and the other is Barbara Fairchild singing "The Teddy Bear Song", a song Nick wrote. Even though I wasn't a big country music fan at that time, I certainly remember hearing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UugW9yo8Idg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeiA2XTca9g&feature=related 


Robert Brault has a new post on his blog and saying it has been worth the wait doesn't do it near justice! Jump on over there as fast as you can and see what I mean. I read and reread every quote and just savored them all. Thank you, Robert, for sharing your wondrous thoughts and words.

June Freaking Cleaver e-mailed me this morning to notify me of her very first acceptance, anywhere! And what's even better is that this was the first time she ever submitted anything, anywhere! Yay for June! I kept telling her how talented she was and how much I loved her writing, and that she should submit something....somewhere! And gosh, she actually took my advise! Go over to June's blog and congratulate her! I think it's just the start of an awesome writing career.

Patchwork Path has story call outs. I received an e-mail yesterday from the editor about this, plus the news that Treasure Box is being edited and due out this November, as scheduled. (That's the one I have a story in. I'm really looking forward to seeing it.)

Okay, that's going to be all for now. I don't want to make this too long and scare everyone off!

Thanks again to everyone who reads my blog, has become a follower, especially recently. It took me about a year and a half to just reach 50 followers, which was May of this year. In less than 3 months, the number has almost doubled! I am truly in awe of that, and I am touched and honored. Thank you!

And you know I must end with one of Robert Brault's newest quotes:

"Who does not wish to be beautiful, and clever, and rich, and to have back, in old age, the time spent trying to be any of them." -- Robert Brault