A Writer's Dilemma

Remember, back in December, I mentioned Kelly Valen and her book “The Twisted Sisterhood: Unraveling The Dark Legacy of Female Friendships”.  Her book caused me to visit her website (http://www.kellyvalen.com/); and it was her genuineness that encouraged me to reach out to her for her guidance.

She suggested that we look into getting an essay or excerpt published somewhere — whether it is in a magazine, newspaper, or wherever.  Something like that may just kick-start things for us, as it did for her.

She mentioned that some of her friends were picked up by Modern Love, which is a segment/column of the New York Times.

So, I thought that it’s worth a try.  What do I have to lose?

Well, I found out, very quickly, what I could lose.

In reading the submission guidelines, I came across the statement:  “Essays must be previously unpublished. Work that has appeared online, on blogs, etc., is considered to be previously published.”

In the same area, they state:  “A book of collected columns, titled "Modern Love: 50 True and Extraordinary Tales of Desire, Deceit and Devotion," is also available at bookstores.”

Those two statements got me to thinking… at the end of all of this, do I retain rights to my own work or am I forfeiting it away to Modern Love?

Well, the only way to find out is to ask them, so I did.  They told me that “We do not acquire rights to submitted material, but we do buy all rights if we offer to publish it.”

OK.  Exactly what does that mean?  That means that whenever someone says that they buy all rights to your work… well, it means just that.  You license away all rights to your work; you forfeit the right to ever use it again.

There are other types of rights as well.  First serial rights means that the writer offers a newspaper or magazine the right to publish the article, story, or poem for the first time in any periodical. All other rights to the material remain with the writer.  One-time rights or simultaneous rights allows a publisher to buy the nonexclusive right to publish the work once.  Second serial or reprint rights gives a newspaper or magazine the opportunity to print an article, poem, or story after it has already appeared in another newspaper or magazine.  There are also electronic rights, subsidiary rights, and dramatic, television and motion picture rights, etc.  The point is to check out all your rights before signing them away…

With the fact that the New York Times buys all rights to my work, I knew I couldn’t send something that I plan to use in one of our books or seminars.  For example, I couldn’t send an excerpt from one of our books, because if they published it, it becomes their property… and we’d have to beg for/pay for permission to use my own creation…

If I wanted to try to get something published by the New York Times, I needed to write something new that was good enough to submit, but something that we wouldn’t want to keep for ourselves.  Yeah… right!

Add to that, I had to come up with something that Modern Love would want to buy from me.

Ummm… I’m afraid what they want to buy isn’t what I’m selling.  I know the simplest answer is to write something that they would want to buy, but that’s just not my style.  I’m working to change reality, not conform to it

And, honestly, until I try, how would I know they wouldn’t want what I’m offering?

So, I’m trying.  I sent it off yesterday.  If I don’t hear from them in four weeks, then I’ll try another publication… maybe Psychology Today.  At first, I thought of some women’s magazine, like Woman’s Day and such, but Woman’s Day works exclusively with experienced writers who have clips from major national magazines (bummer!) and won’t accept anything from anyone else.   The other women’s magazines that I’ve “googled” don’t offer ways to contact them online nor offer their mailing addresses — so…

But, that’s another bridge to cross at a later time.  Right now, all I can do is wait the four weeks, and then see if Psychology Today would be interested.

By then, a book publisher would have come through for us, and Ellen DeGeneres would have called…

No worries….

Letting Go

A co-worked just lost her father.  She came into work today, to help get her mind off of the emotions she’s experiencing.  I sat with her for a bit, to see if there was anything I could do for her.

She asked, “When will I stop crying?  It’s not like I didn’t know this day wasn’t coming.  He’s been ill.  I thought I had prepared myself for it, but when this day finally came… I wasn’t ready...”

When will she stop crying?  There’s no easy answer to that question.  As time passes, the pain will dull; but, then, something will trigger a memory, and she’ll find herself right back to today’s pain. 

Going through the stages of grief takes time.  It’s important to know that and take each day as it comes. 

As long as we know what we’re going through, we can find a way to function through it.  That’s all we can do — function through the grief.

Depending on the type of relationship you had with your loved one, you will experience these stages differently than others.  Usually, when people learn of the loss, they will react with shock and denial.  As the shock wears off, unbelievable pain will replace it.  They may feel guilt and remorse over what they did or didn’t do… what they should or shouldn’t have done.  This feeling of frustration gives way to anger.  They may lash out and blame others for the tragedy.  During this time, they can start to isolate themselves and become depressed.

But, as time passes, you’ll start to adjust to your “new normal” without your loved one.  Things will feel calmer and more organized. Your depression will begin to lift slightly.  You’ll start working through things again.  Your mind will start functioning as it used to.   After a while, you’ll learn to accept and deal with the reality of your situation. 

This doesn’t mean that you will be instantaneously happy, carefree, and untroubled as you were before the loss.  It only means that you are moving forward and defining a new normalcy of life for yourself… after the loss.

Letting Go


I remember you taking me to school
You carried my books part of the way
Your hand patted me on the back
As you pushed me through the door


I didn’t think I was ready but you took no notice
You knew it was time to let go
You slipped your hand away from mine
And let me go on without you


I remember you teaching me to ride a bike
You stayed close to me
Your big hand covering mine
As you helped me steer and balance


I didn’t think I was ready but you took no notice
You knew it was time to let go
You slipped your hand away from mine
And let me go on without you


I remember you teaching me to drive
You sat next to me
Your hand covering mine
As I tried to fit the car into the space


I didn’t think I was ready but you took no notice
You knew it was time to let go
You slipped your hand away from mine
And let me go on without you


I remember you teaching me the hardest lesson
It was on the day you died
When I took your hand in mine
And found out how hard it is to let someone go


I didn’t think I was ready but you took no notice
You knew it was time to let go
I slipped my hand away from yours
And let you go on without me

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Staying Connected

Bummer!  My primary email account has been down for hours, and it could be down for days!

This is a source of great frustration and irritation for me.  I feel out of touch with my friends because of it.  I feel like I’m missing something without it.  I feel like the world is passing me by! 

And that’s the email publishers would use to contact me!!

That’s the email Ellen DeGeneres would use to contact me as well!  What if... ?!

This is just TERRIBLE!  This is HORRIBLE!  I’m disconnected from humanity AND my future!

Excuse me a moment.  I need to take a deep breath and let it out, slowly…

OK.  I’m better now.  I'm back to reality.

Let’s be realistic.  Why would the publishers pick today, of all days, to shower me with offers?  Why wouldn’t Ellen just pick up the phone to call me, if she wanted to reach me?

Disconnected from humanity?! Good grief! 

I have people all around me at the office.  All I have to do is get up and walk the halls to connect with people. 

I have a phone.  All I have to do is pick it up and call someone.

I have other email accounts that are working.  All I have to do is use those.

I’m on Facebook.  I have a car.  I’m able to get in it and drive to wherever there are people.

So, why do I feel disconnected when just one of my email accounts isn’t working today?  Granted, it is the main one, but still…

It’s only one means of communicating.  I’m surrounded by so many others ways of connecting — other ways that are more personal.  I know all of this, but it doesn’t stop me from checking to see if the primary email is back up.

This is because being connected is such a very strong need that we all have.  We have that primal need to connect with someone or someone(s) — whether it is on a personal, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual level.  We need that connection with another person or persons. 

We are social beings and survive hardships with the help of others.  Life isn’t easy, and it’s even more difficult if you try to go through it alone. 

Sadly, with the advent of cyberspace, many have chosen to close themselves off from the real world and hide in the virtual worlds created with computers.

I see teens and “grown-ups” spending hours and hours on their computers and virtual online games — trying to leave the real world behind them.  Many are wasting their lives away behind their computer screens.  In doing so, they have created financial, relationship, and health issues for themselves.

Don’t get me wrong!  Playing and interacting with others on the computer can be a healthy diversion and an educational experience.  It can help develop social connections and even provide a safe training ground for developing technical and social skills needed in the real world — but the point is to transfer those skills to the real world.

The Internet and online games allow us to experience things that we would never have been able to experience in our own little worlds.  We can meet people from around the globe — people we would never have been able to meet otherwise (for example, all of you).

In the right environment, this virtual reality can provide perspective, support, hope, acceptance, guidance, and affirmation that are missing from our physical environment. 

While this experience can help develop social connections, it can also cut you off from interacting with the people around you in the real world — especially if you spend too much time in that other world. 

That other world can also be a very dangerous world.  In this virtual world, it is easy for people to betray you — to pretend to be something other than what they are… predators. 

Just as in the real world, you need to choose your friends carefully.  Be cautious of what you share when conversing with unknown individuals in various Internet chat rooms or online dating establishments, blogs, message boards, games, forums, etc.  Don’t give out personal information to someone you don’t know. 

If those you meet online — or offline, for that matter — tell you not to tell others about them, then they are not to be trusted.  They are not being honest with you, no matter how nice and honest they sound.  Don’t go out to meet these people.  Tell your family, friends, or someone in authority about these people, because their end game is to steal your money, betray your trust, and, possibly, take your life. 

Yes.  This virtual world can be just as dangerous and harmful to us as the real world is. 

Gosh… I have no idea how I got on that soapbox, and I apologize.  I better stop now… and go check to see if my email account is back up yet. 

P.S.  My email is back up... but no emails from publishers and none from Ellen, either. 

  

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It’s In Someone Else’s Hands

I woke up with the weirdest feeling this morning. 

I felt at peace and calm.  I had no excessive energy; no desire to work and any of our writing projects; no feeling that I must check this or that; no need to keep pushing this or pulling that…

I haven’t felt this relaxed feeling for a long time. 

It’s pretty nice.  I highly recommend it to everyone!

What brought on this feeling?  Well, it could be that I started back at the gym last night, and I’m exhausted this morning.

It could be that a publisher asked us to send more of the Silhouette… manuscript.  She said she enjoyed what we sent her and wanted to read more.  Her U.S. editor is on vacation, so she can’t talk to him about it, but she’ll look through the material, in the meantime…

That’s encouraging, to say the least.  At least we have someone in the publishing business actually reading our book and liking what she reads.

We still have the hurdle of whether the editors feel it will be a moneymaker for their company or not... and yes, that’s a HUGE hurdle to get over…but…

I’ve done all I can do, up to this point.  There’s nothing more I can do but wait…

Maybe that’s where the inner peace is coming from — just knowing that I’ve done all I can do; and there’s nothing more I can do… but wait.

It’s in someone else’s hands.



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Wish I Could Whistle!

I woke up singing this morning.  I don’t know exactly why I’m in a good mood this morning; I just am.

No, a publisher hasn’t picked us up yet.

No, Ellen hasn’t called yet.

No, Gayle hasn’t called yet.

No, Barbara Walters, Oprah, Kelly Ripa, etc.  haven’t called yet.

But I still woke up in a good mood. 

Maybe it’s because:

• A friend of mine reached her vacation destination safe and sound and is having a wonderful time;
• Another friend met her work deadline and she’s able to relax a bit now;
• My sister asked for my advice, actually listened to it, and thought the advice was good enough to follow;
• Mom and I had a nice conversation last night; and
• My car started this morning.

I don’t know exactly why I’m in a good mood this morning; I just am. 

I just wish I could whistle!



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Let’s Focus, People!

I woke up, again, with the strongest desire to work on these writing projects, so I’m back at my computer, wanting to write about something… about anything!

This energy — this desire, this obsession, this need — controls my every waking moment.  It’s all I can think about.  It’s all I can focus on…

Don’t get me wrong…other things do get done.  I go through my days as usual.  I function at work; I get my errands done; I manage the house; I meet with family and friends; I continue to give of myself to the teens online; I go to choir practice, etc.

Everything else gets done; everyone else’s needs are met.

I meet all my other obligations; but, all the while, my mind is clicking off thoughts of what I need to do to push me over the next hurdle in my writing career.

I go through my days looking for new ideas for the blog, new subjects for better books, new methods of getting the message out, new contacts, and new ways of getting noticed by publishers…

I have a writing pad by my bed, just in case I think of something in my sleep.  I have a writing pad in my car, just in case I think of something during the drive to work or on my way to various errands.  I don't have a writing pad in the bathroom... well, not yet...

Yeah.  I’m becoming obsessed with this… but I believe that I’m managing my writing addiction quite well.  I don’t think anyone is getting slighted due to it.  It’s just that I’ve noticed how I’m constantly in search for something to do that’s relates to these writing projects…

The MOST interesting thing about this is that Katherine is dealing with the same type of energy, the same type of desire, and the same type of need to work on her personal projects.

Unfortunately, her personal projects are not these writing projects of mine.

We’re back to her self-interest is getting in the way of my self-interest; and my need to put our friendship ahead of my desire to get published.

While all I can focus on is the writing projects; all she can focus on is her personal and family issues.

I understand that.  She needs to focus on those things; and I need to give her the space and time to do it.  She needs to concentrate on redefining her inner core; and I need to give her my support, my understanding, and my friendship to accomplish that.  She doesn’t need additional things to juggle along the way.  She has enough on her plate as it is.

So, when we do manage to get some time together, we don’t talk much about these writing projects.  We talk about what’s going on in her life.

Instead of writing about friendship, we’re living it…

And that’s the whole point, isn’t it?

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Another Burst of Energy

I guess I have to apologize to Katherine… again…

I seem to be having some type of energy spurt today — well, for the last couple of days, weeks, months — regarding this writing project of ours.  I’ve been bombarding her email box with one idea after another…followed by updates and revisions…

The first idea that came to mind was to email Dr. Gail Saltz.  Gail Saltz, MD (http://www.drgailsaltz.com/index.html) specializes in mental health, sex, and relationship issues.  She has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Today Show, Anderson Cooper 360, and The View among others, and is a contributor to iVillage.com and A&E’s Biography program.

I came to “know” her through watching the Today Show.  I decided to reach out to her, to see if she can give us some guidance or suggestions regarding getting our materials out to the public.

I know what I was asking of her is out of her expertise, but it was worth a try.  I didn’t really expect a reply, so you can imagine how surprised I was when she emailed me back within a week!

She was very kind, supportive, and encouraging.  She said that the feedback we are hearing from agents and publishers is pretty much what everyone is hearing at this point. She isn’t sure what she could really do to help.  Because of the way things are, even a quote from her isn’t going to do anything as far as selling our book. But she did say that, as a publisher, she thought we are in a better position than many.

One suggestion she had is to consider doing our book as an e-book.  She said that avenue is becoming quite popular, costs less, and might be something to look into.  She wished us the best of luck and hopes we can see our project to print.

Another very nice encouraging letter of hope!

That added to my energy burst.  Now, I’m searching around for more “celebrities” to reach out to…

Then, Ellen DeGeneres popped back into my head.  I thought I’ll give her another try…

I found her Fan Mail mailing address and am preparing a snail-mail letter to her.  We’ll see how that is received.

I also saw that she’s just announced that she's starting a brand new record label called eleveneleven -- and she's always looking for new talent.  Although we aren’t quite appropriate for a record label, that avenue does allow us to send links to videos, so maybe she’ll look at our audio/video pieces… and Katherine is a professional vocalist/musician…

It’s worth a try.

Another thing that is adding to my renewed focus is that one of our “testers” for the children’s book emailed me back and said that she thought the book was great.  She said that she really liked how explicit Billy's emotions were. She thought that kids will connect with the fact that he has anxiety, regrets, excitement, etc.

So, yeah…encouraging and positive feedback will always get me moving again…


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There’s More Than One Way to Do It!

Well, I went to bed pretty discouraged with the prospects of Ready or Not—Life’s Coming at Ya. 

After all my work, I started to doubt the book’s ability to grab the attention of our intended audience — teens and young adults.

I woke up the next day with an idea that I’d like to pursue… just to see how far we can get with it.

My thought is that, since our target audience isn’t really into reading these types of books, why don’t we transform the material into some form that is more palatable to them?

I got to thinking about the audio/video clips that we’re creating and posting on YouTube.

Teens and young adults spend hours on the computer, playing games and watching videos.  Why don’t we simply use that channel to reach them?

It doesn’t matter what form the message is... just that the message gets out.

Shoot!  If we get the presentations/workshops going, we can copy various pieces onto CDs/DVDs and hand them out to participants.

Once Silhouette of a Friendship... and the children’s book get picked up by a publisher or publishers, then we can offer the teen’s book as a sequel.

Anyway… it’s just a thought…

The next time Katherine and I get together, I’ll ask her what she thinks.




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Self-Doubt

Well, I finished working on Ready or Not—Life’s Coming at Ya…at least for the time being.

This is my third revision of the book, and I’m still not comfortable with it.

I need some outside input on this one.  I need some encouragement from someone.  I need reassurance from someone.

I feel like I’m just talking to a wall… writing with invisible ink… pouring my thoughts into a black hole of nothingness.

There’s no one to listen… to hear what I have to say… to read what I’ve written.

No.  I’m not comfortable with this book, yet.

I’m as unsure and insecure as the character in it.

I don’t know if the book is good enough… if I’m good enough.
 
No.  I’m full of self-doubt with this book.

I need someone to read it for me... to reassure me that I’m on the right track… that it means something to someone.

I’d like to ask my niece and nephew to read the book for me — to get their feedback — but I’m afraid they will only laugh at the thought… and laugh at me.
 
I would like to tell them that the book was written with them in mind — that I wrote it for them.  If I told them that, they would be insulted.  They don’t need any advice from anyone — especially from their old-maid aunt.   Besides, they think they know exactly what they’re doing.

My niece and nephew are in their early twenties; and I would say that they are a fair representation of their generation.  They would be the target audience for the book.

If they have no interest in reading it, what other twenty-something person would?  What teenager would?

Yeah.  I’m full of self-doubt with this book.  I’m uncomfortable, unsure, insecure… I need reassurance.

So, who do I turn to for what I need?  I turn to my adult friends and ask them to read the book.


Is this my target audience?  No

Whether they like it or not, would it make a difference to my target audience?  No

So, why am I bothering them?  For no other reason except that I need some type of reassurance.

Even if it turns out to be a false sense of security, it’s better than the nothingness I’ve been experiencing thus far.  Something’s better than nothing.

I just need something to keep me going… or something to tell me to stop.

No.  I’m not comfortable with this book, yet.  I’m as unsure and insecure as the character in it.  I don’t know if the book is good enough… if I’m good enough.

I need someone to tell me…



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Ellen, You Have No Idea What You’ve Just Done…

I happened to catch the Ellen DeGeneres Show, today.  I’m not usually home during the workweek, but I am today, because I'm waiting for an appliance delivery.  You know how that works.  They give you a four-hour window and manage to come before or after their specified range — so you’re afraid to go anywhere during the allotted time… or before it … or after it … in case you miss them…  

Anyway, I'm home and Ellen's on.

In today’s show, one of Ellen’s “giveaways” is to a home viewer (and her family). Ellen flies the family in for the show as well as give them a luxurious vacation.

Now, the enlightening and inspiring part comes in when Ellen announces how this woman caught Ellen’s attention.  She wrote Ellen 137 times over an 8-year period.  She would write in to try to win various things or get on the show, etc. — and her persistence was rewarded.

Is this simply a coincidence or a mystic message telling me to stay persistent with Ellen and my publishing pursuits? 

Let’s review the facts:

Fact #1:  I’m not usually home during the day to see Ellen’s show.
Fact #2:  I didn’t even have the TV on as the show started.
Fact #3:  I just happened to turn it on just as this particular guest is brought out.
Fact #4:  I had just emailed Ellen the other day to give her an update on our progress.

Is it a coincidence or a mystic message that — through this particular guest — Ellen has just told me that 137 letters/emails will get her attention without getting me arrested?

Yeah, Ellen has no idea what she’s just done.

Only 129 more emails to go…


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Is It Straightjacket Time for Anne Marie?

Back in November (November 19, 2010), I told you about our book, Ready or Not—Life’s coming at Ya… and I’ve been telling you how antsy I’m getting… and about my misadventures with audio recording and creating YouTube videos… and how fearless I am when I’m invisible…

Combine all of that and what do you get?

You get someone willing to create a homemade video of a piece from Ready or Not… and emailing the YouTube link to Ellen DeGeneres, hoping she would like it enough to use it (or at least the concept) in her campaign against teen suicide. 

I’m planning to send it off in a week…giving Katherine the chance to stop me from making a fool of myself — and of her, in the process.  If she can’t talk me out of this, she’ll have time to re-record the piece before I push the email button…






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Throwing More Balls at the Jugglers

Some of you may be wondering how our “book club and/or focus discussion group” is going.  Do they like our book(s)?  Does silence on Anne Marie’s part mean that the group hates the book(s)?  Did Anne Marie chicken out and withdraw her materials from the discussion group?

Nope.  This chicken didn’t get out of it.  She actually jumped into the frying pan… so to speak.

The fact of the matter is that we’ve switched direction again.  Ellen DeGeneres hasn't gotten back to us, and we're afraid her schedule is too busy to meet with us weekly, so...

We’re planning to discontinue the book club for a while and focus on something different… something much bigger… something more encompassing…  

We've let Ellen DeGeneres know that we're simply postponing these book club/discussion meetings until she's able to join us.  As soon as her schedule frees up, we're back on it!  I don't know if she's upset with this plan or not.  She hasn't spoken to us since we broke this news to her... but then again, she didn't speak to us before, so it's hard to tell...

Anyway, the plan is to have the little book club/focus discussion group morph into a full-blown “open-to-the-public” support group that Katherine will facilitate.  The subjects and materials will vary but will revolve around the topic of relationships. 

We’ll move the meetings from my house to the library for more space.  The Monday meetings will last approximately 1½ hours.  We’ll only commit ourselves to an 8-week session.  We want to see how all this flows and how much interest and commitment we get from actual participants before going any further with it.


However this plays out, we’ll get exposure; we’ll make connections with the community; we’ll collect material for blog entries, articles, and more books; we’ll meet more people and will be able to exchange ideas with them; we'll make new friends; and we’ll build a foundation for other group meetings, workshops, and presentations.



So, with the various books we have, the blog, the YouTube videos, the reaching out to celebrities, and now this new support group, we’ve got a lot of irons in the fire.  Trying to manage all of this — along with our full-time jobs and family commitments — is going to be quite a juggling act.


As we go along, I’ll let you know how we’re doing…



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The Bewitching Hour

Well, it’s 3:00am on a workday. 

This is the hour that I’m stirred awake by the drone of a train whistle.
   

This is the hour when everything and anything is possible… except the possibility of falling back to sleep.

This is the hour I think about all the possibilities of the future and the memories of the past. 

This is the hour I think back to this morning… or I should say yesterday morning.

It was great day!

It started off with me irritating an outside contractor who was coming in to videotape his presentation for his book. 

When I let him into the building, he seemed irritable, but many people are like that in the mornings.  We talked a bit.  He seemed quiet, but fine.  When I left him, he seemed fine. 

I had no idea that I had ruffled his peacock feathers when I asked him a question regarding the resources he used for his book — well, not until my supervisor came to me and told me. 

Another co-worker overheard my exchange with Mr. Peacock.  He summed up the encounter like this:  Anne Marie asked a question that required Mr. Peacock to accept accountability and responsibility for his work.  He did not like that, so he threw a tantrum.

Yep.  He went to my supervisor and complained about me.  During that rant of his, he threw in the fact that he was annoyed that he had scheduled this shoot during his vacation.  He was @#$%&*! about that as well.  My supervisor tried to calm things down, but he got upset with her for not understanding why he was so upset with me.

Yeah, it was a great day!

So, to keep this peacock’s ego stroked, my supervisor took me off the video shoot, and she had to do it instead.

Then she had to update her boss, the VP of the company, in case Mr. Peacock decided to complain to him about me.

Then I had to stay hidden in my office, not to accidently run into Mr. Peacock.

Yeah, it was a great day!

When my co-workers saw my supervisor in the shoot — instead of me — they knew something was up and wanted to make sure I was OK…so, I had to tell them what was going on. 

Yeah, it was a great day!

When I told them, they wanted to painfully pluck a couple of feathers from Mr. Peacock’s butt… but because he has several products with us, they could only stroke this doodle bird’s ego instead.  

Even though no one can change Mr. Peacock, it was comforting to see how very supportive and protective everyone was toward me — even the VP.  They recognize that Mr. Peacock was the problem, not me.  He’s the one that came in with a disagreeable and defensive attitude about things.   

Mr. Peacock’s ego may be intact, but what he doesn’t see is that he’s lost all credibility with all those who have to deal with him.  This is what happens when someone doesn’t accept the consequences of his actions and tries to blame others for his bad decisions. 

As for me… because he felt a need to use me for target practice, I don’t have to deal with Mr. Peacock for the rest of his visit… and most probably, will not have to interface with him for as long as I’m employed there.

Yeah, it was a great day!

Getting Ready

Well, with that optimistic email from across the ocean, regarding some possible interest in Silhouette of a Friendship… From the Inside Out, I thought I’d better get back to Ready or Not—Life’s Coming at Ya… in case they ask if we have any other books we’d like to share with them.

Yeah, yeah… I know I’m a dreamer… but … what do I have to lose?!


There was one section that I needed to fill in — regarding the physical, social, emotional, and mental changes teens experience as they transition from adolescence to adulthood.

My thinking is:  If teens knew what was going on within them at that time, they’d feel better equipped to handle it and help those around them as well.

I don’t know if it will help, but I wish some adult had told me what was going on…



If someone had, I wouldn’t have felt so lost, unaware, and unprepared.

Anyway, that’s what I’m working on tonight.

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