College – My Corner

Graduate #TuesdayTidbit #Poetry #Inspiration

Let me read it to you.

Graduate

By Abbie Johnson Taylor

Go out into the world.

Reach for the top.

Aim as high as you can.

Dream as big as possible.

Use your mind, heart, hands,

and know you can do anything.

Trust your instincts.

Energize your life.

***

Back Story

I wrote this poem several years ago when my nephew Dylan graduated from high school. Now, his younger brother Tristan is graduating from college this weekend, and I’m planning to be there.

The above poem is dedicated to him. As you may have noted, the first letter of each line in this acrostic spells the word “graduate.”

Please note that since I’ll be leaving Thursday morning for Colorado, where Tristan will be graduating, there won’t be any posts here for the rest of this week. Lord willing, I’ll be back Monday with another Open Book Blog Hop. Thank you for reading.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to my email list to receive my monthly newsletter and other announcements. This is a one-way announcements list, meaning the only messages you’ll receive will come from me. So, you can rest assured that this list is low-traffic. Send a blank email to: newsfrommycorner+subscribe@groups.io You’ll receive a confirmation email. Reply to that with another blank message, and you should be good to go.

New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

Sixteen-year-old Natalie’s grandmother, suffering from dementia and confined to a wheelchair, lives in a nursing home and rarely recognizes Natalie. But one Halloween night, she tells her a shocking secret that only she and Natalie’s mother know. Natalie is the product of a one-night stand between her mother, who is a college English teacher, and another professor.

After some research, Natalie learns that people with dementia often have vivid memories of past events. Still not wanting to believe what her grandmother has told her, she finds her biological father online. The resemblance between them is undeniable. Not knowing what else to do, she shows his photo and website to her parents.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

Her younger sister, Sarah, senses their parents’ marital difficulties. At Thanksgiving, when she has an opportunity to see Santa Claus, she asks him to bring them together again. Can the jolly old elf grant her request?

To Dance or Not to Dance? #SixSentenceStoryThursdaylinkUp #WritingPrompts #Inspiration

Welcome to another edition of Six Sentence Story Thursday Link Up. The given word is “date.” You can click here to participate in this week’s hop and read other bloggers’ six-sentence creations.

My contribution is an excerpt from the prologue of The Red Dress, in which my main character Eve’s roommate is trying to persuade her to go to the homecoming dance. As the scene opens, Charlene is talking.

***

You really should come to the dance. I know you don’t have a date, but I’m sure Alex wouldn’t mind if you came with us.”

“I really should work on this tonight, so I’m not cramming to get it done tomorrow on top of my other assignments, especially since I have writer’s block. With just about everybody at the dance, I shouldn’t have any distractions, and maybe something will come to me.”

Charlene rolled her eyes and moved to her side of the room, where she switched on her bedside radio, tuned to a soft rock station.

“What was the assignment again?”

***

What was the assignment? Why is Eve using it as an excuse not to go to the dance? Read the book and find out.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description by

Two Pentacles Publishing.

New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Photo Resize and Description by

Two Pentacles Publishing.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

***

Facebook

Website

At Twenty-One #OpenBookBlogHop #MondayMusings #Inspiration

Welcome to another edition of Open Book Blog Hop. This week’s question is: Where were you at 21? How does that reflect in your writing today?

When I was twenty-one in 1982, I entered my junior year at Rocky Mountain College, located in Billings, Montana, about 150 miles north of Sheridan, Wyoming, where I’ve lived since 1973. After attending the local college and living at home for two years, going to school away from home was quite an adjustment. Fortunately, it wasn’t that far away, and I came home weekends when I could get transportation.

I never considered a career in writing at the time. This was probably because my mother, may she rest in peace, rewrote most of my school papers, even when I was a student at Sheridan College. She taught English there and apparently didn’t want her fellow faculty members, from whom I took English, to see my less than adequate writing style. Who knows why she rewrote my high school assignments?

Instead of writing, I pursued a career involving music. Long story short, I became a registered music therapist and worked in nursing homes and other senior facilities for years. I didn’t do any serious writing until my mother passed away in 1999.

How about you? What were you doing at twenty-one? If you’re an author, how has that affected your writing? You can click here to participate in this week’s hop and read other bloggers’ responses.

New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

***

Facebook

Website

Prologues and Epilogues #Open Book Blog Hop #Wednesday Words

Welcome to another installment of fellow blogger Stevie Turner’s Open Book Blog Hop. If you’d like to participate, click here. Her prompt for this week is: ‘Prologues and Epilogues. Yes or no?”

In my opinion, it depends on the story. My young adult novel in progress, Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me, has no prologue. But I felt it necessary to tie up loose ends with an epilogue.

On the other hand, The Red Dress has a prologue that provides the back story through dialog. Since I was able to bring the story to a satisfactory conclusion in the last chapter, I decided I didn’t need an epilogue. So, to whet your appetite, here’s an excerpt from my prologue.

***

“Oh, Eve, don’t tell me you’re going to work on that creative writing assignment now instead of going to the homecoming dance.”

In her dorm room at the University of Colorado, Eve Barry was staring at the blank piece of paper in her typewriter, waiting for her poised fingers to produce something. She sighed and ran her fingers through her long, black hair as she turned to her roommate, Charlene Tucker, who was fresh from the shower, clad only in a black terry–cloth robe, her dark, wet curls plastered to her head.

“I’m really not interested in going to the dance, and this assignment’s due Monday. I went to the game this afternoon.”

“Yeah, wasn’t that awesome? We creamed the Wyoming Cowboys.”

“Wait a minute! You’re from Wyoming.”

“Yeah, but I’m in Colorado, now, and we have something to celebrate. You really should come to the dance. I know you don’t have a date, but I’m sure Alex wouldn’t mind if you came with us.”

***

Eve isn’t just being a goody two-shoes, doing her homework instead of going to the homecoming dance. She has an underlying reason for not wanting to go. If you want to know what that is, I suggest you read the book.

***

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

Image contains: young, dark-haired woman in red dress holding flowers

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.

***

Books

My Amazon Author Page

Facebook

Website

Girls Just Want to Have Fun #Musical Monday

According to Wikipedia, the song I’m featuring today was written by Robert Hazard, who recorded a demo version in 1979. Cyndi Lauper’s version, which appears on her 1983 album, She’s So Unusual, makes the point that women only want to have the same experiences as men. Well, from the lyrics, you’d think otherwise. I never looked at the song from this angle until now.

I’m sure my parents wondered what I’d do with my life when I was in college, but they never asked me, unlike the parents in the song. It took me a few years to decide to go into music therapy. Meanwhile, I wasn’t one of those girls who just wanted to have fun. Although I enjoyed going out with friends, my main goal was to get the best grades possible. I hope you have fun with this blast from the past, even if you’re not a girl.

By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Services 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, and may you always have positive experiences.