Sunday, February 24, 2013

A Monster's Game on sale at Amazon.com

Amazon is running a sale on books published through Createspace. A Monster's Game is being offered for $5.73 which is 43% off the list price of $9.99. Thought I'd mention it for all you bargain hunters out there who still prefer a book you can hold in your hand.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Interesting article on the history of racism in the Opinionator well worth reading. It's tragic so many people in this country continue to use race and ethnicity as an excuse to abandon those so desperately in need. Do they really believe the value of human life is determined by the color of a person's skin or the amount of money in his bank account? Is it moral to write-off those living in poverty as lazy freeloaders not worthy of saving?

The Convenient  Fallacy of Race 

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Free, quality public education is critical to a democracy. Although any parent has the right to send their children to private secular or religious schools, taxpayers' money should not be used to pay for it. Funneling money from public to private schools that are not accountable to the citizenry and are free to teach any curriculum they chose is simply wrong.

Governor Walker does everything in his power to undermine public education

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

It has been cold in sunny Florida these past few days. On Sunday the high struggled to reach 60 degrees. Played in a golf outing with friends and neighbors dressed in heavy slacks, a long sleeved shirt, sweater, jacket and ski cap. Funny, I remember the times in Michigan when I played golf in weather a lot colder and didn't pile on nearly so many clothes. Perhaps it's true. After a person lives in Florida for a while, their blood thins and they lose their tolerance for the cold.

The good news is I'm golfing again on Thursday and the high is supposed to be almost 80 degrees. While on the golf course basking in the sun, I will give thanks we fled the cold dreary Michigan winters sixteen years ago.

Stay warm you folks up north!

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Great article on the state of the American Dream in the New York Times by Timothy Egan. Here's the link: Timothy Egan - NY Time Opinionator

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Would love to have folks take a moment to preview the short except from my novel, A Monster's Game. Here's the link: https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1119308

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Recommend watching the slideshow on the Huffington Post. Debunks some of the misrepresentations and downright lies told about the state of healthcare in America and the Affordable Healthcare Act. It would be interesting to find out how many opposed to universal healthcare are without health insurance themselves.  Lies & Distortions about the Healthcare Reform Debate. 

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

My stepmother Leona Muller died this week. She was 91 years old and suffered from severe COPD so her death was not a surprise. Although we had planned on stopping in Vancouver Washington to see her the last time we visited our daughter and her family in San Francisco, we headed home instead for what we thought at the time were good reasons. Now we will always regret our failure to make that last visit.

We have many fond memories of the delicious meals Leona prepared for us when we came to California to visit her and my father. The four of us had great fun on the golf course, playing bingo at the Indian reservation casinos and quick trips to Las Vegas and Laughlin.

However, what I am most grateful to Leona for is the way she encouraged my father and I to get to know each other better. Had it not been for her, I doubt I would have ever told him I loved him or heard him say he loved me.

Thank you Leona for you kindness, friendship and most of all for the gift of my father. May you rest in peace.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Authors are never completely satisfied with their work. On rare occasions, however, this dissatisfaction reaches a  level where the author has no choice but to pull a published work from the market. Yesterday, I made the difficult decision to "unpublish" my first  novel, The Neocon Conspiracy. Although I continue to believe it is a good story, the quality of the writing simply does not measure up. In a way, this is a good sign because it means over the years, I have become better at my craft. Thus, I can recognize the flaws in my early works.

Over the next few weeks, I will be working with my editor to evaluate the strengths and weakness of The Neocon Conspiracy. The objective, of course, is to "republish" a work that I can be truly proud of and that readers will enjoy. Wish me luck.
Some say Fox News is at least partially responsible for the "dumbing down" of millions of Americans. I guess this is an example of why. Those of us who really do care about saving the planet for our grandchildren and their descendents cringe when we hear something like this.

Fox News explains why solar works in Germany but won't in U.S.
Hooray! A Monster's Game is finally available in print. It's hard to express the satisfaction I feel over having completed this undertaking. The book is listed for purchase on the Createspace site and will soon appear on Amazon.com and the sites of most other on-line book sellers. My next goal is to have it featured in local books stores. Here's a link to Createspace is you would like to check it out.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

The war on abortion continues to rage. In spite of my personal belief that life begins at the moment of conception, I am pro-choice. The decision to have a child belongs to the mother, not the government, at least until the fetus is viable outside the womb. In my mind, the more rationale approach to reducing abortions is to address the reasons many women seek abortions. Poverty, absence of affordable child care,  violence towards women and lack of access to contraception. As a Catholic, I have always found the church's anti-contraception position bordering on the ridiculous. Clearly if a woman who does not wish to have a child uses contraception, the issue of abortion becomes moot.

The focus of today's post, however, is not abortion; it is universal healthcare. Specifically, the hypocrisy of those who claim to be pro-life but refuse to support making healthcare available to all Americans. During his presidential campaign, Mitt Romney infamously proclaimed on 60 Minutes, “Well, we do provide care for people who don’t have insurance. If someone has a heart attack, they don’t sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care.”  

What should be obvious to all—and what Romney apparently understood when he was governor of Massachusetts—-is those with health insurance have a good chance of receiving care before they suffer a potentially fatal heart attack. Routine healthcare services, including periodic physical, gynecological, eye and skin examinations, laboratory and radiology tests and diagnostic procedures such as colonoscopies, improve the quality of life and increase life expectancy. Those who lack access to these types of services frequently fail to receive treatment until their cancer is inoperable; they suffer a debilitating stroke, a potentially fatal heart attack or go blind.  

The question is not whether America can afford to provide healthcare to our citizens. The question is how can any moral person in this country refuse to do so? Either life is sacred or it’s not. It is the ultimate hypocrisy to fight for the lives of the unborn and not fight just as hard to ensure no one in this country suffers and dies needlessly.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Harold Meyerson link in the previous post has been fixed. Sorry about the problem. It really is worth reading. I've also begun following a few more blogs including CNN news.

Spending a lot of time planning tours for our upcoming European Tour. Don't want to just spend time riding around on a tour bus, but private tours are far too costly so we are trying to come up with alternatives. Will not skimp on tours in St. Petersburg or Istanbul since these are cities everyone tells us are two of the most interesting in the world. Also on the agenda is to attend a opera in Vienna.

With so much to do to get ready for the trip, it's tough keeping my nose to the grindstone so I can get the print edition of A Monster's Game out and do a bit of promotion. Will be sending requests to sites that publish reviews of books by independent authors, but there is a lot of competition in this area. Too many books too few reviewers.

Tonight is bowling night (don't laugh) so it will take my mind off of everything but trying to knock down those darn pins. My goal is to score at least a 100 or more. Sad to say this is the same goal I had when I bowled as a teenager.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Great article in the Washington Post by columnist Harold Meyerson. He offers insight into the true cost in terms of suffering and premature deaths resulting from America's continued failure to make healthcare available to all its citizens. Here's an excerpt:

"...The big question raised by the data in this study is how Americans have allowed themselves to sink to the bottom of so many indexes that measure the quality and duration of our lives. What's truly exceptional about America, it turns out, is the indifference we show to our compatriots, the absence of the kind of national solidarity more evident in the nations that surpass us on all these indexes."

Read the entire column at: American exceptionalism in healthcare is cause for shame

Saturday, February 2, 2013

A Monster's Game print edition is getting closer. I have finally received approval from Createspace for the print edition of A Monster's Game. The biggest problem was the cover. The designer I was working with insisted the cover fit the required specification in spite of repeated rejections by Createspace. The solution was to have him send me a file and allow me to make adjustments.

A review copy is in the mail. If there are no surprises, the book will be on the market in a week or so. This has been along journey. Although I will have to devote some time to marketing, I should be free to work on another project. The dilemma is choosing which one of the half dozen already in the works, I should pursue.
Whichever it is, it will be fun getting back to writing again after spending all my time editing for the past year. 

Friday, February 1, 2013

Blogging again. After an extended absence, I am expanding my presence in the blogoshpere from lurker to writer. With any luck, I will succeed in filling this blog with interesting, funny and sometimes controversial information visitors will find worth reading.

With at least a zillion bloggers worldwide, it took a lot of soul searching to come up with reasons for me to make it a zillion plus one. The most pressing one was some of my more politically conservative Facebook friends and family are threatening to defriend me. Thus, if I want to keep abreast on what's going on in their lives I need another outlet for my occasional rants.

It is not my intention, however, to use this blog as a political and social soapbox. There are plenty of those out there already doing that who are far better at it than I could ever be. When I do stumble upon an article I believe is well written and "on point" I will share links. I will try to keep my comments to a minimum.

In the spring, I will begin posting about my adventures on a two and a half month long European tour my husband and I have been planning for over a year. On April 20th, we will board a 16 day transatlantic cruise on the Celebrity Refection. This will kick off a journey that includes three more cruises and several weeks of independent travel by car.

As an avid reader, I will also be using this blog to review some of the books I have read. Hopefully most of the reviews will be favorable, although I expect some will not, since I'm a stickler for telling the truth.

Finally, I will occasionally share my trials and tribulations as an author. With three books under my belt, I believe I'm getting better at doing what I love most, but that's up to readers to decide.

Wish me luck and if you are so inclined stop by to keep me company. It can get awful lonely in the blogosphere.