FEEL GOOD FRIDAYS: Heather Kauffman-Peters

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(Editor’s Note…If you’re like me, adjusting to a new, COVID-19 world is a bit stressful. Everywhere you look…radio, TV, newspapers, and even the internet…are stories of the latest stats from around the world. Hospitalizations. Unemployment. Social distancing. How do we keep our sanity in the middle of all the craziness? 

BY STAYING CONNECTED WHILE STAYING SIX FEET APART

For the next several weeks, many of my writerly friends will be virtually dropping by to inspire, uplift, and make us laugh as we look for reminders that even the scariest of times do not last forever. I hope you enjoy this FEEL GOOD FRIDAYS series. If you want to know more about me, Donna L Martin, or my books, check out my Story Catcher Publishing website at www.storycatcherpublishing.com)

 

Put Your Imperfect Face(book) Forward

By Heather Kauffman-Peters, author of Blizzard on the Plains

 

Don’t be so hard on yourself has become my mantra during this once-in-a-century pandemic. While those not directly impacted by the virus are posting quarantine accomplishments online – for writers that includes conferences they’ve attended, word counts they’ve added to WIPs, promotional videos they’ve recorded, and poems they’ve written – you may be tempted to feel like a slacker or, worse, a wastrel. I know I have.

During lockdown, I’ve felt compelled to explore the ever-multiplying options for bettering myself and my craft from re-forming a writers group that disbanded years ago, to attending free author seminars, and even writing this blog; but, I’ve also spent days binge watching Legends of Tomorrow and not showering or changing out of my pajamas. Does that make me lazy? A bad person? I don’t think so and I hope you don’t either. Let me explain why.

As a member of my state’s cooperative preschool executive board, I’ve been gathering supportive advice from teachers to share with parents who are feeling overwhelmed. One message keeps coming up – parents don’t have to be perfect. Preschool teachers want to reassure parents that it’s okay to be sad, it’s okay to feel anxious, and it’s okay to forgo any formal learning or school activities during quarantine. In other words, our teachers want parents to be kind to themselves above all. The same sentiment applies to everyone – parents, writers, employees, spouses, students, etc. We may be witnesses to a terrifying and fantastical history but that doesn’t mean we need to accomplish Herculean feats. Instead we can choose to savor extra time with our kids, read, journal, relax, get outside, lie on the couch. Do what we can or do nothing. It’s all okay. History will count us as survivors either way and that’s the most important accomplishment we can achieve at this time.

Available on Amazon and other online retailers.

 

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FREEZING TO DEATH IS NOT AN OPTION WHEN YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEPENDING ON YOU TO SAVE THEIR LIVES… On January 12, 1888, the people of the Dakota territory were enjoying an unusually warm day, the first break from the snow they’d had in weeks. Children walked to school and homesteaders did chores completely unaware that a dangerous storm was barreling toward them. That morning, new immigrants Carl and Carrie arrived at their one-room school house. Carrie was eager to practice English while Carl secretly plotted to return to Norway and leave America and its hardships far behind. He’d been attacked by a wolf, bullied by a classmate, and over-worked by his father who’d insisted Carl help carve the family’s new farm out of the tough prairie sod. But, soon, 14-year-old Carl would face something far worse – the deadliest blizzard in U.S. history. 

Available on Amazon and other online retailers.

 

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Heather Kauffman-Peters is the author of Blizzard on the Plains, an adventure novel for 3rd through 8th graders about a group of one-room schoolchildren who find themselves in the center of a historic and deadly blizzard in 1888. To survive, the children are forced to rely on their pioneering ingenuity. Blizzard on the Plains is available through Amazon, Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. Kauffman’s second book, Fire on the Island, is scheduled for release in January of 2021 and is about a 12-year-old boy and his firefighting mom who battle an unexpected volcanic eruption on the island of Heimaey, Iceland in 1973.

For more information, visit www.firstcirlcepress.com.

Donna L

Hybrid award winning author; aspiring sketch artist; and 4th Degree Senior Certified Taekwondo Instructor. Host of BOOK NOOK REVIEWS. Member of SCBWI. Mom to fabulous son and adventurer delving into the tricky world of indie-publishing.

2 thoughts on “FEEL GOOD FRIDAYS: Heather Kauffman-Peters

  • May 15, 2020 at 11:26 pm
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    Today was a day I needed the beauty of imperfections. Thank you!

    Reply

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