uplifting

FEEL GOOD FRIDAYS: Don’t Worry…About A Thing

Donna L

Just when I thought my world couldn’t get any stranger, my local news says there’s possibly a tiger roaming free on the east part of town. They don’t know where it came from and it could be hiding anywhere. Well THAT got the rumor mongers spinning their tales and the next thing I knew, the tiger was seen behind a middle school in the south part of town. Then I heard it wasn’t really a tiger, but a cougar. And then things got really confusing because I thought cougars could be found mainly out in the western part of the country, but what do I know? I guess it could have been just as likely someone telling me they sighted a black bear in their neighborhood and then someone else saying, “Oh no, it was actually a Grizzly on the prowl out west of town!” Grizzlies certainly live out WEST but I don’t think MY town’s “west” is far enough WEST for that!

See how rumors can run wild if you let them?

Then there’s my little friend up above…just sitting in a bird’s nest like it’s only natural for a CAT to be resting there. Does that make it a CATnary?

After nine months of 2020 where anything could go wrong…and it usually did…where every possible punch from Mother Nature could come along…and it has…where so-called experts have tossed around advice on how to deal with the surreal world we now find ourselves in…and most of their “wisdom” is wrong…I’ve decided to listen to the one person who seems to have figured things out…

Bob Marley.

I listened to this song and realized Marley had it right. Why am I tossing and turning at night worrying about things I have no control over? Why have I stopped LIVING because I’m worried about where my LIFE these days will take me?

“Don’t worry about a thing. Every little thing’s gonna be alright.”

So from now on, I’m going to lean a little more on my faith and stop worrying about things I have no control over. And should I forget, I’ll just crank up this song…

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Amelia Earmouse travels back through time to uncover little known events. You may THINK you know your history, but wait until you see what Amelia uncovers in book three of HISTORY’S MYSTERIES.

Eleven-year-old Emma misses her father who’s serving in Europe during World War II. He leaves behind a treasure box with six compartments to be opened during her birthday week. He also tells her to watch for the gris-gris while he is gone. Looking out for swamp creatures and dealing with wartime rationing is hard enough, but now there’s a British refugee staying at the house! How will Emma enjoy her birthday and keep her decision to hunt the gris-gris a secret with a stranger following her around?

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Best-selling, award-winning author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a ‘ninja’ writer of flash fiction, children’s picture books, chapter books, young adult novels and inspirational essays by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of children’s books, and the host of WRITERLY WISDOM, a resource series for writers. Donna is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and Children’s Book Insider. She is a lover of dark chocolate, going to the beach and adding to her growing book collection.

FEEL GOOD FRIDAYS: Sue Bradford Edwards

Donna L

battery

 

(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)

 

Recharging Your Creative Battery

By Sue Bradford Edwards

 

Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, picture books or novels, writing takes emotional energy.  That is why I advise my writing students and critique partners to charge their creative batteries.

To do this, it helps to know your character strengths.  To find out what they are, visit the VIA Institute on Character and take the Character Strengths Survey.  This isn’t a quick Facebook quiz to learn what job you held in medieval Prague or which House the Sorting Hat would assign you. This psychological evaluation rates you on twenty-four personality traits.

My five top strengths are:

  • Creativity which includes artistic creativity and developing new ways to think of and do things.
  • Love of Learning new knowledge and also new skills.
  • Judgement, which might also be called discernment, meaning an ability to think things through and examine them from all sides.
  • Gratitude which includes being aware of good things and expressing thanks.
  • Bravery in acting on or speaking up about what is right. 

Knowing your strengths can help you chose ways to recharge your batteries. One of my favorite things to do is take MOOC (massive online open courses), most often at Coursera.  I’ve taken classes on Osteoarchaeology, The Science of Well-Being, How to Organize an Empire the Assyrian Way, Ancient Marine Reptiles and Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life.  I enjoy myself because I’m learning something new and I very often find new story ideas as well.

I also like to make things.  In the winter, I bake bread and desserts. I bead, knit and crochet. Last year, I bought a loom. That’s been the most challenging of my hand crafts, but I always come away from my weaving ready to write. 

What should you do to recharge?  It will depend on your strengths.

Maybe your top trait is gratitude.  Spend some time thanking people for the things they do that you appreciate.  Write a note to the friend who dropped off a fresh loaf of cinnamon bread.  Send a message to a neighbor whose front garden is a cheery addition to the neighborhood.  Or pass on kind words to someone who put a lot of effort into something that benefited your community. 

Or your top trait might be humor.  Spend some times reading a collection of humorous essays.  Or watch your favorite comedian on YouTube.  Or you could watch an episode of your favorite sit com.  Spend some time laughing out loud and you will discover new energy. 

If kindness is your top trait, practice random acts of kindness.  Or even not-so-random acts. Pick up the litter in your neighbor’s front yard. Give a stranger a compliment. Reconnect with an old friend – this can be as simple as messaging someone through Facebook.

Charging our battery means that you are taking a break in a meaningful way. Find ways to use your strengths every day. Do this and you will keep a positive charge on your creative battery. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I just saw a video on how to make a paper rose. I feel the urge to try something new.

—SueBE

 

roses

 

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hero

 

“?Hidden Human Computers discusses how in the 1950s, black women made critical contributions to NASA by performing calculations that made it possible for the nation’s astronauts to fly into space and return safely to Earth. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Essential Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.”

Available on Amazon and other online retailers.

 

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Sue

 

Sue Bradford Edwards is a nonfiction author with twenty-six books ranging from The Ancient Maya and The Evolution of Mammals to The Who. If you are interested in writing children’s nonfiction, but don’t know where to start, she teaches Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults at Women on Writing and is creating a new class on writing nonfiction for children and teens. To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards, check out her blog, One Writer’s Journey. 

FEEL GOOD FRIDAYS: Heather Kauffman-Peters

Donna L

dog

 

(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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blizzard

 

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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peters

 

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.