Just Me

  Every year, I try to do something to celebrate National Poetry Month. I love poetry. I love reading it and writing it! In fact, poetry is the first kind of writing that I started writing with !   For this year’s NPM, I decided to read as many poetry books as possible. I ended up doing something more than just this one thing , but that’s the goal I had for the month, just to get started.   Here is the list of all of the poetry books I read this month. Some of them are books I was happy to add to my personal library. As a book reviewer for Reader Views, I was able to obtain two poetry books to review. Only one of those reviews has been posted as of today and I have included the link to it.   Words Left Unspoken by J.A. McGovern   The World Eats Love by Carol Edwards   My Heart is Like a Singing Bird by Christina Rosetti, Illustrated by John James Audubon   Unspoken: An Anthology of Poetry   Troubled Times Ahead: A ...

 On Facebook, someone posted a request from book reviewers: Share your top 25 reads from last year. I made a list that ran A LOT longer than 25 books so I had to shorten it a bit. Here is my list of the top 25 books I either read or read and reviewed in 2023. Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp The Mammoth Book of Folk Horror: Evil Lives on the Land! Edited by Mike Marshall Smith If You Were Here by Jennie Yarboff The Boy from the Basement by Susan Shaw The Disappearance of Tom Nero by TJ Price Cackle by Rachel Harrison Clefelo by Sarina Policastro Salem’s Lot by Stephen King Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke The Vile Thing We Created by Robert P. Ottone Never Wake: An Anthology of Dream Horror edited by Kenneth W. Cain and Tim Meyer The Levitation Game by Sharon Wagner Cruel Stories by Donald Tyson The Night Weaver by Monique Snyman Her Teeth, Like Waves by Nikki R. Leigh Dracula, the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt The Exor...

So in the work chat today, my boss asked what song was everyone’s favorite. I decided to pass on participating, but as others sounded off on songs they loved, it took me on a trip along Memory Lane. A lot of the songs they mentioned were songs I heard growing up.   And some songs that I REALLY heard before I lost my hearing.   I jumped into the convo saying that I lost my hearing in 1987, but there were some songs that I heard before I became deaf.   Songs such as “Purple Rain” by Prince and Michael Jackson songs such as “Beat It” and “Billie Jean.” (My entire family were fans of Michael Jackson!)   Another song mentioned, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler, is another song I enjoyed before deafness, as well as “The Rose.”   Music was a huge thing in my family. Music was playing in our house every day. We all loved playing and listening to music. I often played music while doing chores. Sometimes we would dance or sing along to song...

“I always have to have two of everything!”   These are the exact words I mumbled when I started writing what I hope to be my second novella of the month.   I wrote two books last month – a children’s book and a novelette – and after I started writing the novella this month, I figured that was it. Nope! I soon got to work writing a second one!   I either can’t make up my mind what I want to write for the month or, as I am beginning to believe, I need to have two of everything for my life this year!   When my kids were growing up, “two of everything” soon became my mantra anytime I shopped for them – because I have two kids. And if I bought one kid something, the other one would fight over it and complain about not having one too. My kids are not twins, but apparently, they both needed to have the same thing! So I started buying two of everything if I bought one kid something. The other one would also get the same thing! And peace henceforth reigned in ...

While out on an errand recently, a thought struck: My life is the way it is now because of certain choices that I made in life. Certain paths which I chose to take. And if I had chosen a different path, I would be a completely different person. My life would be different.   There are many times when we are at a crossroads in life. We are faced with a moment where we must choose whether to follow this path or that path. The path that we choose will lead us in a completely different direction and changes for our lives. Once on that path, and staying on it, our lives will shift and evolve according to the circumstances surrounding that path.   And sometimes it’s not so much about making a decision to start living a certain way or pursuing a new goal in life (a new path), but also about whether we say “yes” or “no” to a new thing or a new opportunity. If we say yes, then certain changes will take place. If we say no, then we stay in our comfort zone and life stays the same...