LESSONS LEARNED

I've always thought I had a pretty good command of the English language. I attribute much of that to my father, who insisted we use words properly; that we challenge ourselves to broaden our vocabulary. One of his hard and fast rules was that if we didn't know what a word meant or heard a new word, we looked it up. When one of my daughters was in the fifth grade her teacher gave each of her students a button to wear on their shirts or jackets. It was bright yellow with red letters that stated "We never guess, we look it up". I think that was meant to cover reading, history, geography (do they even teach that anymore?) and,of course, English.

I know I'm not the run-of-the-mill language buff. I have a dictionary in the magazine rack next to my chair in the living room and if I come across a word I'm not familiar with, I look it up; there's a dictionary/thesaurus near my desk; and if something comes up on television, or in the newspaper and I don't know exactly what it is or means, I run to the computer and look it up. My gosh, that lesson has stayed with me!

In today's world our word usage has expanded immensely. I have to admit I don't know what some of the new lingo means and when I look it up I don't even understand the technical language, but I try.

Lately, and even though I don't want to get into politics, I have strong feelings about come of the current topics, but what I really want to see is something I call common sense put into place. Can something as simple as this prevail? My most current conundrum is the situation with gas prices which hit and hurt just about everyone in this country and are part of the myriad proposals facing us all. There seem to be many solutions and blame connected with this subject, offered by many people. One of the words bandied about is the word subsidy. It seems big oil companies need subsidies.

Excuse me but just look up the word subsidy. It means; financial support, financial assistance, financial funding, financial backing, grants and subvention. Notice all those 'financial' words. I always thought subsidies were a system used by government at all levels to help a struggling entity, to give a lift to new business or programs, or to help people with real needs.

Now here's the problem I have with this subject. How, I ask, does a company who boasts and posts bigger than enormous profits for one quarter of the year, qualify for a subsidy? What kind of financial help do they need? Are they in need of financial assistance? Financial backing? Grants? Small struggling businesses, businesses that, with some help, could expand thereby picking up some of the people who are looking for jobs, and people and programs in need might qualify for subsidies. But major, giant, thriving businesses don't need subsidies.

I think I might share this with some of our congressmen, maybe even the President. It's one small voice but perhaps we should raise some small voices. It's not against the law to raise a question or prompt a discussion. Subsidies for giant oil companies?

Another lesson my father taught me was that it was a privilege to be an American citizen (he was naturalized) but with that privilege came responsibility. We've always been a nation of responsible, privileged people. We help the poor and downtrodden. We share where we can. Isn't that just common sense?

I think we've all learned this kind of lesson sometime in our life. Lessons we should use.

Progress - is it all that's it's cut out to be?

I just spent a mind-boggling five days getting my latest book, Forgiven, entered into the Florida Writers Association RPLA competition. Two of my previous novels were entered and won some recognition. I love competitions, not only for the opportunities they sometimes provide but also just challenging myself and trying to get into the rush of things. Also, getting feedback from real judges is a great boost to an author. I hope all my writer friends try competitions and/or contests. It doesn't have to be something you think should really be on the New York Times best seller list (and how realistic is that?) but competions are a great writing tool. I tell my students that stretching your writing ability will only produce better writing. For me, I don't really enjoy writing short stories. I need 300 pages and 100,000+ words to get my story told as I'd like it. But I enter short story and poetry contests(another thing I'm not paticularly good at) just to see what happens. Sometimes I've been pleasantly surprised and at other times, I don't even get a response. Must have been pretty bad. But, the stretching part for me is to actually get a short story across in 1500 words. So, when this year's FWA competition opened I planned to enter my latest book.

Now we get to the progress part. In the past I read the instructions, typed up what was needed, crossed every 't' and dotted every 'i', pushed it into a properly addressed envelope with all the other things the competition required and took it to the post office. Easy, right? But, this year we have gone technical. All submissions must be electronic i.e., sent via email. Being totally inept at these mechanics, I studied and studied the instructions. They use language I'm not familiar with. So, I pored through the 20 pages of instructions again so that I would cross every 't' and dot every 'i' but it wasn't the 't/s' and 'i/s' I needed to be worried about. It was the instructions on how to get this into the email with the proper identifications, in the right order and to the right person.

This morning I assembled my submission, checking and rechecking the instructions. By jove I think I've got it. But, and here the heart comes to a slow halt, after I pushed the send button my mind catapulted through those 20 pages of instructions. Had I? Did I? Should I have? Oh, drat. It's gone and I'm hoping it just gets to the right person and gets processed. This is harder than writing the book! I guess it's progress and sometimes I think we as a culture try to simplify things by making them more difficult. One opinion, I'm sure.

This brought me to think about another 'progressive' thing I've experienced in the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago I was at my doctor's office and he thought he found something that needed to be checked. I hadn't planned on this at all. In fact, I was on my way to my hairdresser. But, instead, the doctor sent me to the hospital for a test. Plans changed and I was a bit nervous. Upon arriving at the hospital, and God knows I've been there too often in the past couple of years, I checked in at the front desk. Usually you check in, they take your driver's license I.D. and your insurance cards and then send you off to the proper department. So, being savvy on these things I arrived at the front desk, cards in hand, expecting to follow the usual procedure. But, No. Things have been modernized. They didn't need my cards and I.D. The lovely young woman behind the counter handed me one of those square gadgets you get in restaurants which will alert you when your table is ready. You know the things, they blink inoccuously for a while and then go into a frantic buzzing, flashing and vibrating and you know your table is ready. The lovely young woman directed me to a waiting area and said when the 'buzzing thing' went off I could go into the lab. I did as I was instructed. Did I tell you it was pouring, one of Florida's quick and saturating downpours? Sitting on the chair with a very wet umbrella, the doctor's orders, and my I.D. cards in my hands I was comtemplating this unexpected turn of events when the buzzy thing went off. The umbrelly fell wetly to the floor, my cards flew in several directions and the doctor's orders suddenly became wet and wrinkled. My heart was in my throat; after all this was a bit scary just being there. Is this progress? I really think it would have been a whole lot kinder if I'd just waited my turn and had the lovely young woman call softly to me that it was my turn to go into the lab. I guess I'm just not programed for all this progress.

But, and there is always a but, I passed the test and I'm praying my submission entry flew through cyber-space and has safely landed in the right receptical or in front of the right eyes. Time will tell. We must keep up with progress even if it kills us.

A Fine Line

Sometimes some really good things happen and when it happens to you there is a fine line that must be considered. Is a show of exuberance a bit over the top? Could a lovely compliment be fodder to an inflated ego? Recently, I received an unusual and exceedingly welcome telephone call. When I hung up I ran through the house and told my husband the happy news. Gentle and loving guy that he is, he has to have the lowest level of outward excitement quotient in the world. He was happy and impressed. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Last Friday I received a telephone call from Gwen. I have to admit I didn't readily recognize the voice or the name but the caller continued. "I met you at Office Max and then you spoke to our women's church group in January." Oh, yes, now I remembered Gwen and her quick smile and friendly manner.

"Good to hear from you," I replied, thinking this just might be another speaking opportunity but she had other ideas.

"Remember I bought one of your books, Following Daddy?"

"Yes," I replied. I did remember she purchased a book but wasn't really sure which one it was. It was quite a long time ago. "Hope you enjoyed it."

"Oh, I did and now I've downloaded your latest book, Forgiven, to my Kindle," she continued,"and I love it."

Wow, I thought. That's good news and I thanked her for her continued interest in me and my work and her kind words about Forgiven. Compliments are always welcome and I knew she wouldn't have called if her praise wasn't true. But that wasn't the end of it.

It seems Gwen has just had some surgery and so is confined to bed and home for about six weeks. I commiserated but again, that wasn't the end.

"I'd like to purchase the rest of your books," she said.

It's always nice to hear from a satisfied reader and their glowing comments are manna to a writer, so after the smallest pause, I agreed to provide her with the remaining eight books.

Saturday I delivered the books and we had a nice chat. "When's your next one coming out?" she called as I turned to go.

"I'm working on it," I said.

"I'll be looking for it," she called.

I've said before that writing is at times a lonely occupation but it has it's moments and this phone call was one of the nicest. Now the conundrum is, do I post this blog with the self-serving message or do I just privately consider this event as a pleasant and very special occurrence? Will it be bragging? Will anyone else be impressed and should I care? It was a lovely, personal endorsement from a reader. After a lengthy soul search, I don't know what other authors would do but I think I'll just put that little feather in my cap and post this blog. Let's see what happens.



t

Life is not about…

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass…it's about learning how to dance in the rain. I don't know who said that but I love it. I guess I've been waiting for the storms to pass when I should have been learning to dance.

It seems that for the past few months my husband and I have run the gamut of troubles. We both needed ambulance rides which weren't exactly something we had anticipated but then I guess no one looks forward to a crew of EMTs and flashing red lights.

In March it looked like I was having a heart attack. Me? How ridiculous. I'm strong, healthy and busy. But there I was tooling along the roadway to the ER hooked up to things and stuff and the lights were flashing. Well, it wasn't a heart attack but something called an atria-fibrillation. After four days my heart was stabilized and I was sent home. But, what happened to my pep? Surely those wonderful hospital people forget to reinsert the pep-quotient. I dragged and dragged, complained about being tired all the time and then, low and behold a light at the end of the tunnel. Some changes in meds and I was feeling better.

Don't get too excited. At 2:00 a.m. on May 11th my husband suddenly couldn't stand or walk, even with his walker so another 911 call, another trip in the ambulance, this time I was following it with my reconstituted heart now in my mouth. Well, today I brought Lenny home -- seventeen days later. He is better and the rehab he went through and will continue to avail himself of locally, has strengthened him. This has been another of life's learning lessons. I have learned that these things happen; I have learned that friends and family are capable of enormous amounts of prayers, encouragement and love. I am grateful to an extent I didn't know was in me for these wonderful people in my life. I am humbled by the wisdom, patience and aid available through the medical facilities we visited. I learned that we are not alone and that God guides people in mysterious and magnificent ways.

I also learned that I must learn to dance. It's great to be back and I appreciate each and every one of you who takes the time to check in and see what's going on in my life. There is good news, too. I've received a signed contract on my latest novel, Forgiven. A Christian publisher in Pennsylvania has opted for this book and asked for rights of first refusal on the next! And as to the next, even with all the worry and distractions, I've begun novel number 11. It's a small start but it feels so darned good. Excuse me, I have to dance.

The Unrest and the Results

A couple of months ago I wrote a letter to the editor lamenting the loss of civility in our culture and included it on my blog. Today I continued on that same subject as follows:

Over the past months the lack of civility, respect and common courtesy has deteriorated beyond belief. There are more and more instances of a total disregard for respect in every facet of our lives. It's okay to shout down the President of this country? It's okay to shout out racial slurs and to spit on our Congressmen as they enter the Capitol Building. This terrible situation is actually encouraged by a few of our leaders. It is okay to twist and turn the truth into scare tactics? No, none of this is okay!

People who were once reasonable and respectful have slipped away only to be replaced by unruly mobs carrying placards with terrible statements, using words no decent citizen would utter. There appears to be no shame as to what language is used and where it is used.

These can be troubling times but shouting matches and outright lies will solve nothing. Every American has a right to his or her opinion and a right to voice that opinion but with decorum, respect and responsibility to not only speak, but to listen.

Some of the falsehoods are nothing more than scare tactics. Some of them are very damaging. Just yesterday an announcement was made that the recently signed Bill concerning health care and regulations for the insurance industry was challenged as being unconstitutional. I don't think it is but it certainly is not unreasonable to wait until the parliamentarian and officials research the subject completely. Are there no open minds left? One cause for this premise of challenge is the belief that "it is unconstitutional for the government to force citizens into programs they do not support." Did you know that Medicare would fall into that category? Medicare is essentially compulsory. People who refuse to join Medicare Part A are not allowed to receive their earned Social Security benefits. I haven't heard of many people refusing these benefits mandated by the Acts establishing Social Security or Medicare. (this information was taken from 5 Things that will make your Smarter - Highlands Today, March 24, 2010) I believe this reasoning can be applied to the current Bill and has also been applied to such Acts as the Civil Rights Bill and probably more of the 'government plans' we all enjoy. Do those who make this challenge really want to refuse restrictions on the insurance industry? Do they not see a need for some of the provisions as to pre-existing conditions? There are government procedures that may change some of the provisions but to just toss out the entire Bill doesn't make sense. Kind of like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Since the actions of our government affect many facets of the lives of all American citizens, wouldn't it be wiser to calm down, remember the manners and freedoms that we have enjoyed over the past two hundred years? Our willingness to work together, to respect each other and to continue to enhance and build our greatness as a people who can and do work together is one of the many things that makes the Unites States of America the wonderful democracy/republic it is. A little cooperation, a smidgen of respect and patience and a dash of courtesy goes a long way. Let's work together before the violence like brick throwing and civil violence gets out of hand.