The Last Post?

Fellow blogger Sue Vincent has been battling lung cancer for quite a while, and she’s losing. In what may be her last post, she offers her perspective. Life is too short, and the possibility of death comes when you least expect it.

The Silent Eye

This may be the final post that I get chance to write for the Silent Eye… that decision has been taken out of my hands. I spent much of last week in hospital, having, as many of you know, been diagnosed with incurable small cell lung cancer last September. It has been an interesting and informative journey on so many levels as familiar things have been stripped away and a gift of love left in its place… rather like the tooth fairy leaving something of real value in place of a discarded incisor.

First to go was the illusion of near-immortality that gets us through life, one way or another. We know there is a certain inevitability about life leading to death, but we tend not to apply it to ourselves until we are forced to pay attention. Dealing with the situation that made me sit up and listen meant…

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The Return #Reblog #Friday Fun Reads

Today, I’m featuring someone else’s book review instead of one of my own. Ann Chiappetta is the author of Upwelling and Follow Your Dog. You can click the above titles to read my reviews of these books. I think I may have found my next read. Here’s what Ann has to say about The Return by Nicholas Sparks.

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I found this book, The Return (Grand Central Publishing, 2020) by Nicholas Sparks, entertaining but not quite emotionally riveting. I felt Trevor’s character was a bit flat in places. Perhaps it was the author’s intent to present Trevor as a bit aloof and underwhelming but I found his character lacking somehow. It was like the author scripted Trevor after reading a PTSD treatment manual. The author described, in much detail, Trevor’s behavioral protocols like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). I felt it waded in the weeds of treatment nomenclature and distracted from the story contextually.

 

Click here to read the original post on Ernest Dempsey’s Book Corner.

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By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.

New! The Red Dress

Copyright July 2019 by DLD Books

When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.

Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.

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Class Reunion Rodeo #It’s Six-Sentence Story Thursday Link-Up

This summer, my high school class of 1980 will hold a combined reunion with the class of 1981 in July to co-inside with the annual Sheridan Wyo Rodeo. I’ve never been a fan of the rodeo, but I liked the parade as a kid. One of the reunion activities will be to attend the rodeo. There’s also an ice breaker, a golf tournament, and a late-night bar crawl during the street dance following the rodeo. The icebreaker sounds good, since it’ll be catered by a local Mexican restaurant, but the bar crawl I could do without. I’m definitely getting old.

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Thanks to Girlie on the Edge for inspiring the above with her six-sentence story prompt for this week. If you’d like to participate, click here.

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By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.

New! The Red Dress

Copyright July 2019 by DLD Books

When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.

Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.

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What Hooks Me to a Book #Wednesday Words #Open Book Blog Hop

I don’t judge a book by its cover. When I read or hear about one that sounds interesting, I read the synopsis. If I find the book  on Audible and am not familiar with the author or narrator, I play a sample to get an idea of the style of writing and narration. Because of my limited vision, I have difficulty reading Kindle samples. So, I hope for the best. I never return a book if I don’t like it because I still want to support the author.

Once I start a book, I can’t always guarantee I’ll finish it. If a book contains too much strong language or too many vivid descriptions of sex or violence, I no longer care about how it will end. If a book turns out to be too unbelievable, it’s not worth it for me.

I have a nasty habit of letting myself get too drawn into a story. Over and over, I tell myself it’s just a book and the characters’ tribulations are not my problem, but that doesn’t always work. Sometimes, a story keeps me awake at night, and I can’t let it go. If I have a bad feeling about how a book will end, I don’t finish it because I don’t want to know.

When I was younger, I enjoyed reading mystery, fantasy, science fiction, and even some horror stories. Now, I’m more selective about what I read. Isn’t it interesting how tastes change as we age?

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The above was inspired by Stevie Turner’s Open Book Blog Hop question for this week. If you’d like to participate, click here.

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Today’s the day. I’ll be performing at noon Mountain Standard Time at the Wyo Theater here in Sheridan, Wyoming, as part of our local senior center’s live music streaming series. The event will be held virtually on Facebook, but even if you don’t have an account, you should be able to watch my program live by clicking this link. Please share this information with all your friends. I hope you can come.

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By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.

New! The Red Dress

Copyright July 2019 by DLD Books

When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.

Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.

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When It’s Too Darn Cold #Tuesday Tidbit

Why didn’t Cole Porter write a song about that as well as it being too darn hot in the summer? When it’s too darn hot, you don’t want to snuggle up with your baby, but when the temperature drops, Mr. Adam is definitely interested in being with his madam.

In parts of Texas, where there’s no electricity, heat, or running water, snuggling under blankets is a great way to keep warm. While you’re at it, if you’re with your significant other, it’s a good time for some hanky panky, another way to keep warm this time of year.

Where am I going with this? I don’t know. I guess I’m just grazing.

Speaking of which, here in Wyoming, cattle are, no doubt, miserable in the snow when the temperature is below zero. They eat more hay, so they can put on more body fat to keep warm. Soon, it will be time for calving, and ranchers who help bring bovine bundles of joy into the world will be just as miserable. But the groundhog saw his shadow, which means there will be a few more weeks of this. I don’t know which is worse, being too darn cold or being too darn hot.

Last week, it was my turn to facilitate my Third Thursday Poets meeting. We usually start with a writing exercise for twenty minutes, then share what we’ve written. For this month’s prompt, I read the group the poem, “February 2^nd” by Kay Winters, which you can read here. Then, I suggested that everyone write about whatever in that poem inspired them. The above vignette is the product of some free association on the subject of cold.

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By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.

New! The Red Dress

Copyright July 2019 by DLD Books

When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.

Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.

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