Smorgasbord Music Column – The Romantic Ballad Request Show – Part One – Becky Ross Michael, D.G. Kaye, Abbie Taylor, Cindy Knoke, Sue Vincent.

Thanks to DJ Sally for playing our song, my late husband’s and mine. In a post last week, she asked readers to share their favorite love songs. Now, she’s playing several such requests, including mine, on her blog today. Take a listen.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

Last week I featured some of my most played romantic songs through the decades for a Valentine Special and I asked you for your favourite tracks to dance to. Here they are now, so grab the one that you love… or a friend and have a twirl around the room.

The first requests is forBecky Ross Michael originally from Michigan and now living in Texas, Becky’s writing has appeared in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, U.P. Reader, and Mystery Readers Journal. Becky has requested Sky Blue and Black by Jackson Browne – Amazon

The next request is from non-fiction authorD.G. Kaye.. Debby Gies

Debby’s books are available: http://www.amazon.com/author/dgkaye7

Debby has asked for Barry White and Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love…Amazon

Now for a request from author Abbie Taylor who is the author of a romance novel, two poetry collections, and a memoir and is working on…

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Thursday Book Feature: Happiness

Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After

by Heather Harpham

Copyright 2017

 

This is the true story of how one sibling saved another’s life via a stem cell transplant. Heather Harpham’s daughter Gracie was born with a mysterious blood disorder, requiring frequent transfusions. She describes how she and her husband Brian accidentally conceived a second child soon after Gracie’s birth and the long, agonizing, decision-making and transplant process.

At first, I was concerned, not only for Gracie’s welfare, but about what her younger brother Gabriel would need to endure in order for Gracie to have the transplant. Then I learned that since Gabriel’s stem cells were harvested at birth with no pain or discomfort, nothing else needed to be done to him. Maybe the author should have made this more clear from the get-go.

I also didn’t like the way she, at the beginning, switched between scenes with her and Gracie in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) after Gracie’s birth and the story of her and Brian becoming a couple and her subsequent pregnancy. Although the back story about Heather and Brian is important, at the time, I couldn’t have cared less. I was more concerned about Gracie. It would have been better to have a prologue with one scene in the NICU and then start the story at the beginning. That’s how I do it in My Ideal Partner; How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds. Otherwise, I love this sweet story with a happy ending.

 

My Books

 

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

That’s Life: New and Selected Poems

How to Build a better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

We Shall Overcome

My Other Links

Visit my website.

Like me on Facebook.

 

Open Book Blog Hop: Dropping the Mic’

Thanks to Stevie Turner for inspiring this. In her post, she challenges bloggers to write about a time when they dropped the mic’. Dropping the mic’ means experiencing a moment of glory. There are several such moments in my life. One stands out and is mentioned in My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds.

When I published my first book, We Shall Overcome, my late husband Bill was confined to a wheelchair as a result of two strokes. I’d written the book several years earlier. Getting it ready for publication was a great way to escape from the stress of being a family caregiver.

One evening during the summer of 2007, I held my first book in my hands for the first time. Bill was sprawled in his recliner, as I removed one of the fifty author copies I’d ordered from the box. “Wow,” I said, as I gazed at the cover image I’d chosen, then turned it over to see my profile picture on the back.

“Let me see it,” said Bill.

He was totally blind, so of course he couldn’t see it, but he could hold it in his hands and share my pride and joy. I handed it to him and described the cover. Despite my limited vision, I could imagine the shit-eating grin that crossed his face when he said, “My wife, the published author.”

I held him. It didn’t matter that he would never walk again, that he could do little for himself and depended on me for everything. I had a man who loved me and a published book.

What about you? Can you think of a time when you dropped the mic’? Please tell me about it. I look forward to reading your stories either in the comment field or on your own blog with a pingback here.

 

My Books

 

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

That’s Life: New and Selected Poems

How to Build a better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

We Shall Overcome

My Other Links

Visit my website.

Like me on Facebook.

 

READING WITH THE AUTHORS: Trish Hubschman Reviews My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

thanks to Trish, a fellow author in one of my writing groups, for reviewing My Ideal Partner on Campbell’s World. I’m afraid she got one thing not quite right. Bill moved to the nursing home in 2012, not 2010. Otherwise, it’s a good review, and I encourage you to read it and my book.

Campbells World

Author Trish Hubschman Reviews: My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds (Copyright July 2016)

http://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com/

I just   finished reading Abby Johnson Taylor’s book “My ideal Partner”.  It’s a true story of love and courage.   Abby’s husband,  Bill, has a stroke a  few months after they’re married in 2005,paralyzing the left side of his body.   Abby, who is  visually  impaired and petite, does her best to take care of him, never losing her patience or resolve.  Unfortunately, in 2010, she is resigned to put him in a nursing home, though she continues to be with him as often as possible with her always cheery and positive attitude.  Sadly, Bill passes  away shortly  thereafter. The people, story and  writing in this book are incredible. I couldn’t stop reading “My Ideal Partner’ and finished it in three days.

ABOUT TRISH AND HER WORK…

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Song Lyric Sunday: Climb Every Mountain

When I was a kid, I hung out at a friend’s house after school and on weekends where we listened to the sound track from The Sound of Music. At the school for the blind in Arizona, I sang “Climb Every Mountain” with the choir one year for graduation. When I met my late husband Bill, I discovered that The Sound of Music was one of his favorites. You can read our story in My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds. Now, I’m delighted to share a song from this musical in response to newepicauthor‘s theme of mountains. Enjoy!

 

Climb Ev’ry Mountain

Lyrics Courtesy of Google

 

Climb every mountain

Search high and low
Follow every byway
Every path you know
Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
Till you find your dream
A dream that will need
All the love you can give
Every day of your life
For as long as you live
Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
Till you find your dream
A dream that will need
All the love you can give
Every day of your life
For as long as you live
Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
Till you find your dream
Songwriters: Oscar II Hammerstein / Richard Rodgers
Climb Ev’ry Mountain lyrics © Concord Music Publishing LLC

 

My Books

 

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

That’s Life: New and Selected Poems

How to Build a better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

We Shall Overcome

My Other Links

Visit my website.

Like me on Facebook.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Sunday Interview – Getting to Know author Abbie Taylor

Thanks to Sally for allowing me to promote my work on her blog. Not only did she conduct a great interview, but she also played two of my favorite songs. Check it out, and enjoy!

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

Please welcome my guest this week, author and poet Abbie Taylor and let’s find out a little more about her.

About Abbie Taylor

I live in Sheridan, Wyoming, where for six years, I cared for my late husband Bill, totally blind, who was partially paralyzed by two strokes soon after we were married. Before that, I was a registered music therapist and worked for fifteen years in a nursing home and other facilities that served senior citizens. I have a visual impairment, and during this time, I facilitated a support group for others like me. I also taught braille and served on the advisory board of a trust fund that allows persons with blindness or low vision to purchase adaptive equipment and services.

I’m the author of a romance novel, two poetry collections, and a memoir and am working on another novel. My poems, short stories, and essays have been…

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Meet and Greet page: Introduce yourself here!

I hope to incorporate this feature on my blog soon, but for now, why not visit Sam’s Meet and Greet page and introduce yourself? As a blogger, it should get you some more exposure.

Living!

Welcome to my meet and greet page, inspired by some of the first bloggers I followed and I have love that my followers are eager to put their blog posts out there and read the posts shared by others. For this reason I have introduced this page and I will keep returning to it regularly.
I feel my community is now large enough to provide a page for you to promote your blog and get to know other bloggers a little better.

So with that, feel free to introduce yourself here. Who are you and where are you from? I would love to see the diversity here with such an international blogging audience and feel free to link your blog for others to read.

New to this page? Welcome!

Already posted here in the past? Feel free to stop by and say hello anytime.

It is going to be hard…

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