“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.” ― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

I was feeling really down recently. Here in Maine, it's been raining a lot and, although the normal temperature at this time of year is low 80's, we're barely making low 60's most days. (That's Fahreinheit for those of you who need to calculate to Celsius.)

In short, after a long, cold winter, we're having a wet, cold summer, too, it seems...

So I've been cruising Facebook a lot...and I found this lovely photograph that I resposted to my wall:

Now, I personally like this because I have a nephew who spent a LOT of time in the hospital as a baby, and he would have LOVED this....

I'm amazed at the number of people who have liked this on my timeline. I posted it on June 22, and as of today (June 26), it has 450 likes and climbing....and the lovely comments from people who liked it as much as I did has restored my faith in humanity. They mirror my thoughts on this type of person:

These Every Day Heroes deserve SO much more attention than the Reality TV types.....

Of course, now I'm trying to think how I can do some little act like this every day. It suddenly came to me that each time you help that elderly person in the grocery store, or smile at a baby who is being a little fussy and make it smile back, or any little, simple kindness that you do for your fellow man, YOU can be an Every Day Hero!

Here's to the Every Day Hero in all of us! 

May we all find that faith, trust and pixie dust is all we need to make a better world..

One foot in the past and one foot in the present

My current work in progress is one of those "long term" pieces.

It started out in 1989 in a series of notebooks - 5 little 5x7 notebooks, to be exact - written during my breaks and lunches while working at a little place called Yield House in North Conway, New Hampshire. It was the first time a story flowed solidly from end to end instead of popping in as bits and pieces, and my sister-in-law was reading each day's progress while I cooked supper, as she was staying with us for a brief time.

Then I set it aside, wanting to research the time frame to make sure I made no obvious gaffs...

And now all of that research is going into the rewrite....Heaven help us all.....

The story is, in the same format as the prior books published by Northern Bard Publications, already 686 pages....and a LONG way from being finished. The native American side of the story explains so much about the world that the young lass lives in, and presents a real problem for the knight who has been granted land in the New World. As I continue to edit, getting myself caught up to where the story went before the characters started arguing about what happens next about a year ago (when I was typing it onto the computer and adding in the research about the natives), the characters are impatiently waiting for me to get back to where I left them.

For those of my era, there was an old Carol Burnett bit about a playwright (view here, for those who need it: https://youtu.be/KOVOv5WrZWs), and strangely, that's what I think of when I think of Max and Amy, waiting for me to finish the edit and continue with their story. Sir Maxwell, dark haired and dark eyed, in his native American clothing, keeps glaring from me to Amy, with red hair and pale green eyes...and she glares right back....

Some days, I seriously wonder if that skit was true.....

Hating Selfies As Much As All Pics of ME......

For someone who wanted to be an actress when I graduated from high school, I've been told I have a bad attitude about pictures of myself. I'm supposed to be like the people whom I met in the college Theater classes, self-absorbed and so determined to succeed that they were stabbing the others onstage with them in the back, just to get a better part to show them off to better advantage...

It went against every reason I had for wanting to be an actress in the first place.

The crew I was with in high school understood that a production is a group effort. Each member of the "team" has a different role that is very important to the show. No role is more important than the others, because the so-called "star" needs the other people to play off of. How can Scarlett O'Hara win the eye of the man of her dreams without Mammy to tighten her corset to the proper degree?

Of course, there's also the fact that, from a very young age, I seemed to be the one of my siblings to "ham it up" for the camera, doing what my parents called "ruining" every family portrait they ever took. Take, for example, this shot of my siblings and I on our swing set in the early days of colored photographs. The Brownie camera that Dad owned needed the sun behind the photographer's back in order to get a properly lit outside shot. My siblings all managed to look into the sun with just the slightest squint to go along with their smile. Me? Not so much...

Yes, that would be me making that funny face in the little plaid dress - and I started this nonsense of goofing for the camera before I could even walk, as this photo of me and my cousin at the age of 6 months (he was just three weeks younger than me) at Christmas time.

As I've grown older, I've tried to NOT make faces, but even a selfie that I did yesterday (because one of my sisters insists that I post WAY too many photos of other things and not enough photos of me enjoying whatever the thing is I want to share) makes me cringe, because even when I just try on a small smile, I think I look exceptionally stupid. What do you think of me "channeling my inner gypsy" in the skirt I got for my birthday last week?

Suffice to say that I need to get together with someone who will direct me properly in order to get a new author photo like one of my current favorite authors, Sherrilyn Kenyon. She looks like the kind of person who understands romance, doesn't she?

Of course, for all I know, she has the same attitude as my other favorite SK - Stephen King. He also has stated that he doesn't like photos of himself, but puts them on the books just because that's how it's done. Maybe his attitude is the one I should take: People don't care how goofy I look in my author photo as long as the story is good...

At least, I hope people think the stories are good. It's been so long since I got a review from anyone who wasn't there before I published the first novel that I'm not sure what any new readers think. Most of my reviewers are close friends who give me good reviews out of kindness.

Would a better picture, maybe put on the back of the book, make a difference? What are your thoughts on this?

"The hurrier I go, the behinder I get" - Lewis Carroll (and my dad.....)

I heard the quote I've used for today's title my whole life. Dad used it whenever he had a lot of things going on and not enough time in a day to get it all done.

I'm having that same issue myself, complicated by the need to move slowly due to my surgery in April. Six months after the hernia repair, I've been cleared to start putting yoga and weight lifting back into my routine - but with the caveat that I have to listen to the muscles and NOT push to the point they hurt, or at least, not yet. In short, "Feel the burn" CAN'T be part of my vocabulary yet.....

And, for a person like me, who is used to going 'hurrier" than most people around me, thiis is SO thoroughly frustrating!

Among the things I'm getting "behinder" on:

1) My flower gardens, which need weeding, mulching, and fertilizing (though not in that order) so that they look nice for the summer. (The fertilizer and mulch bags are still at the store, since I'm still not allowed to lift 40 pounds yet, and my husband is too busy with the spring fishing trips with his buddies to help me out by at least getting them home for me to be able to just take what I need out of the bag and out it where I need it.)

2) The vegetable garden, which is still waiting for my hubby to borrow the rototiller from the neighbor - and which also needs a few bags of fertilizer to get worked into the soil before I can start putting the veggies in for us to eat later this summer.

3) Getting the kayaks down to our friends camp so that, on those mornings when I'm about to climb the wall because I can't think of more than a couple of things that I'm ALLOWED to do, I can at least go and push my sorry butt around the lake, listen to the loons call, and pretend that I'm all the way healthy again for at least a little while. (Yes, the kayaks are heavier than I'm supposed to lift, but if they made it to the camp, I could viably roll the Tiggershark over and drag it to the edge of the lake.....)

And the list of things that I need to get done but am still not allowed to do goes on.......

On the good side, the editing of "Fireblossom and the Dream Weaver" is going well, at least, even if I'm keeping myself awake until after midnight and getting back up again at 5 a.m. in order to get that work done around my "day job" and the other little chores I'm allowed to do.

For those who aren't aware, "Fireblossom" has been sitting in a desk drawer since before I had my youngest child. She celebrated her 24th year on the planet in December, so the fact thst I STILL haven't completed work on this book is somewhat disturbing. In my defense, I got 687 pages, if the Microsoft program that I've been using to try to set this in the 6 x 9 format of the other books put out by Northern Bard Publications is actually correct, that I'm about halfway done editing before I continue on with the tale. I had made it that far in the transposing the story from the 5 small notebooks I initially used to write it during my lunchtimes at work and adding in the research about native Americans before the characters started to argue about the scene that came next. It seems Sir Maxwell Colburn had one idea of whree the story should go and Amy McCullum had a different idea, so......

This may well be my first 1000 page book by the time all is said and done.......

So, if anyone wants to come by for a visit to help me do some of the things my doctor says I shouldn't, drop me a line. In the meantime, a little prayer or two that I don't tear anything apart while I start work on redoing my strength training would be very appreciated.

And if anyone wants to explain to me what I was thinking when I decided a redheaded woman was going to be the main character for this particular book, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter. That fiery wench can cause more trouble in ten minures than anyone I know can cause in ten days......

Off to try to get less "behinder".......

Singing the blues for a blues legend.....

This one is going to be short and sweet, as one of the greatest blues musicians has gone on to Rock and Roll Heaven.

B.B. King, a true legend in the world of blues music, having influenced millions of today's top guitarists, has passed on. Being a lover of all types of music since before I could walk, this is a very sad day for me, even though I saw that he had gone into hospice care at his home earlier this month...which is never a good sign for anyone who has long-term health problems.

Please join me in singing along with one of the songs this great man made famous....and may his legacy live forever....

"The Thrill is Gone"

https://youtu.be/4fk2prKnYnI

“Knowledge is currency here....” ― Joanne Harris, Chocolat

For those who haven't already figured this out, this blog was initially meant as a marketing technique to get people to buy my books. As a marketing technique, I wouldn't recommend it, as book sales have remained as they always have - slow but steady.

However, as a means of keeping ones thoughts sorted while possibly helping someone else to avoid similar pitfalls, a blog is, indeed, top notch.

Take, for example, a recent experience with Yellow Pages online.

For months now, I've seen advertisements in my Facebook news feed. YP has been advertising a FREE ad, very basic, mind, but FREE nonetheless. I had been to the YP page several times, but kept running out of time before I finished researching.

I finally got to their page with plenty of time last week and clicked the right button to bring me to the page where one puts in all the information. They offer 5 categories for your ad, and I filled in for 5 things that Northern Bard Publications is offering. I clicked the "done" button and, after several days, started taking peeks at YP online to see if Northern Bard was showing yet.

Then I got a phone call from one of the YP salespeople. For a nominal fee, Northern Bard Publications could be GUARANTEED to appear on the first page of the searches that I had put us in for. Overtired, lacking coffee, and trying to get off the phone to get ready for my shift at work, I told the person on the other end of the line that I had to speak with my business partners (aka my "co-conspirators", as they keep referring to themselves) to see if any of us had the amount anywhere in reserve, as the book sales wouldn't support the monthly fee, no matter how nominal. I took his number to call him back.

My biggest mistake was to NOT let him "show" me what a difference the monthly fee would make, according to the lady we lovingly call our "finance director" (although her primary line to keep myself and the art director under control is to say "We can't afford that right now. Maybe if sales pick up.").  She suggested that I go back over to YP and see where, exactly, Northern Bard Publications falls in the categories I put us in for.

Now, as I was told eons ago by my then-publisher, "One has really made it online if one appears on the first page of a search". 

I searched "Publishers in Gray, Maine".

Northern Bard, because there are very few publishing companies in the state of Maine in general and only ONE in the actual town of Gray, came up as number 1. It's rather nice when one has no competition to deal with, right?

I searched "Web Site Design & Services", as I've been taking care of the web site, The Northern Bard, since I was badly damaged in a work related incident and had nothing to stimulate my mind for about two months.  Northern Bard Publications comes up as number 2 in this category, second only to a service that is also in Gray.

I searched "Editorial and Publication Services". Northern Bard Publications came up as number 6 behind 5 other companies from other places that state "serving the Gray area"....but it's still on the first page and, once again, the only such company in the actual town of Gray.

Book and Catalog Covers also lists us as number 1. This one should make the art director feel especially good, as we are, once again, the only one in town.

Writers has the number 6 spot behind several other locals who have been at this longer than I.

Unable to reach the salesperson who had called me direct, I added a little message on my cell phone, as he had called while I was away from the cell, no doubt thinking he was about to make a sale. I suggested in my voice mail that he should actually look at the searches before he calls me back.....

Something tells me he may not call back once he's done his searches.

SO, my advice to those who wish to start a business and pull in some free advertising is simply this: Don't let the salesperson convince you to give an answer right away should someone call suggesting that you should fork over money for your free ad. Run a couple of searches on your own.

And with that advice, I'm offline to (hopefully) get some work done in my flower garden and gently stretch out my stomach muscles, which are still healing from a hernia surgery. Even as I'm thrilling over the idea that some red and black pepper added to the holes when I put in tulip bulbs last fall has resulted in a gorgeous grouping of multicolored tulips, I'm disgusted that, on seeing the flower garden had some bare patches, the maples and the huge, dying oak have tried to help me out by sprouting some trees around my daffodils, lilies, crocus, etc......

I guess you could say that the maples and the oak are sort of like salesmen, trying to convince me that I need THIS in my life right now....

And it will only cost me X amount in American Dollars.......

Maybe I should start insisting that every salesman has to convert the fee to Euros, just to see what happens.

"Opinions of others, voices all 'round"

The title for today's post comes from the first high school play I was ever involved in. The play is called "A Different Drummer", written by Barbetta and Booth, and it talks about the people who were considered outcasts in their day, but who brought about a better world. People like Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Dorothea Dix.....

I was a part of a traveling troop of performers by the name of Madame Sarah Heartburn. During the play, the troop removes the costumes we arrived in (we all wore leotards, natch) and "became" the other people the Story teller was speaking about....

In the song that I pulled the first line from, I was Abraham Lincoln, and the song went:

"Opinions of others
Voices all 'round
Loud playing bands
And cannon shot sound
Screams of pain
Cries for freedom
Blend in a deadly refrain

Is there a place
Where there is not
A thought of unkindness
A man who forgot
His pledge to his brother
Stand with him in trust
Forgive him his trespasses
As He forgives us

Opinions of others
Have we finally put down
The chains of the black man
In a burial mound
End screams of pain
Cries for freedom

Still men complain"

This song is going through my head today, as I go through the steps to put the web site I finally completed while unable to work post-surgery onto the search engines.  (If you're interested in checking it out, the new page for my publishing company is http://galadriel_emmons.tripod.com/northernbardpublications.html) Being unable to do just one thing at a time, I was also posting more information to my family tree pages, and when popping in to touch base with family members who are on my Facebook page, I tagged Ancestry.com's Facebook page. My thought at the time of the post was that, considering the genetic crap storm that I inherited through my mother, it might be nice to have anyone who follows Ancestry to be able to click on the link, see if they're related - and if so, since there are over 100 Canadians in the photograph of a family reunion before I was born, it might allow someone else to understand why they're having similar hereditary issues.

Can we cue a "wrong" buzzer noise here?

Obviously, people want to learn about their OWN family, but it's not permissible to post something about MY family to the Ancestry Facebook timeline! I'm back to feeling like Abraham Lincoln, trying to share the information I've been collecting since 1980 on my own and on Ansong. cestry.com since 2002, but having to listen to the opinions of others.....

I sincerely hope that all of you who come to visit me here and read my words understand one simple concept: If you don't like it, please move on. I don't need to hear "TMI", or that I shouldn't be saying such things, since this is my personal blog and I'm just voicing my own thoughts.

If you have a different opinion and want me to read YOUR thoughts, please give me the link to YOUR site, and I promise to read your words. I'll either agree with you or I'll smile, shake my head, and move along....

Forgive me my trespasses and I'll forgive you yours.

Capisce??

UPDATE May 22: A friend, whom I love dearly, posted a "Turn Back Thursday" picture on Facebook yesterday that made me realize I have a photo of me as Abraham Lincoln for the above song. For those who want to see this: