I’ve got my thoughts on politics. Lots of them actually. I’ve got tons of opinions on moral code and what ideals should be embraced to make a human being happy.

And holy freaking smokes so do other people!

The latest barrage of politics and moral code has come at a raging shout. Anyone else’s ears ringing? I absolutely do not care where you land on the politics and arguments of today and I won’t share mine here, but overall, have you noticed the full on shout?

One thing is for sure. No one is listening. Not on either side. If you open your ears and eyes, any rational person can see positive and negative aspects of every side. For the most part I think everyone has a solid reason to believe as they do, but the trend right now is to talk louder when another person is sharing those ideas.

The talking over one another thing leads to people picking one line in their rhetoric and then belting it out over and over.

Friendships are being tested, friends are being unfriended, hard feelings are errupting because instead of listening to each other, but still disagreeing (it’s okay not to believe and act the same way as someone with a different set of values as long as there’s no intentional abuse or neglect) people are simply yelling their belief, closing their mind to the oposition and then labeling the other side ‘evil’ ‘wrong’ and ‘stupid’.

This isn’t one sided. It’s obvious in the state of things right now, people are unhappy, they feel like they have little control of their lives and therefore, they are hanging onto the things they can control–their opinions.

So, I’d never tell you what to believe or how to act, but I will say this. If you want to share your opinion, be willing to LISTEN to another person’s opinion and reasoning. Listening does not mean you have to change your mind, but it shows a level of respect and hell, you might learn something. You might see something from a different perspective or see a different solution to a pressing problem. Or that person you’re speaking to might have a change in their life thanks to your thoughtful story.

Whew…and that’s as close to a political rant you’re going to get from me!

Lots of Love,

Gnome Mama

aka Stephanie Beck

As a writer, I come across the need to master my courage every day. For me, writing is a challenge. A huge dare to see if I can extricate the ideas from my brain and deposit them onto the paper… or in most cases, the computer screen.  I’m serious! The words flow so effortlessly in that gray matter occupying my head. The conflicts are spellbinding, the dialogue… sparkling and the description… a picture painted with vivid detail. But when I get down to transferring them all to written form…something gets lost in the translation.

Deep Groan.

Why does this happen to me?             Never mind, I know why. If you’ve read my blogs, you’ve heard me mention the reason time and again. It’s simple, I live in… Ta Da… Writing Fear! As I write this blog, I find I continue to glance at the quote at the top of the page. Do you know what occurs to me? I haven’t mastered my fear yet. I’ve tried! I’ve written my fears down on paper and the solutions, and it’s helped. I’ve named my internal editor and on occasion, I yell for him to simmer down, and that’s helped. And I like to blog about my fears. Blogging helps me because I have to sit and think about the reasons for my fear. All of these kinds of activities have helped me write through my fear. But by no means have I overcome it. But I’m going to have to show fear who the real boss is in this relationship if I want to move forward, right?

So what do I do?  Let’s take Twain’s quote and examine it…

 “Courage is the resistance of fear…”   Okay. Good. I can do that! There are plenty of things I resist simply because I’d rather do something else.  Housework is a great example! I clean the kitchen, dust and vacuum, sure. But instead of getting it all finished first thing in the morning so I can write the rest of the day, I check my e-mails, read the news on the web and look over my writing from yesterday.  Oh, I also text my sister. I have to see how she’s doing, right?  Soon, its mid-to-late morning, I’ve procrastinated enough and there’s no reason for me to dawdle. Why can’t I put my doubts aside and worry about them later? If it works for cleaning the house, it will work for “writing fear” as well.

“…the mastery of fear…”                  Hmmm. I stared at those words for a long time before I came up with a solution for how to begin to master fear. I believe part of the answer lies in having the courage to put substandard words on paper and leaving them alone! I am a pro at sitting at the screen in a stupor as I stare at the words and wonder… “What am I really trying to say?” I swear, I work and re-work and re-work a scene until I can say. “I did it!”Enough already!  Get the words on the paper and move on!!!

“… not absence of fear.”                    Perfect! I nailed that one!

Now I’m going to look at his quote one more time… “Courage is resistance of fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” When you put his quote together, along with my answers you’ll find that it’s a r-e-a-l-l-y nice way to say… “Buttinchair hands on keyboards… Now!”

A funny coincidence happened this morning as this blog rolled around in my head. I turned to a page 63 of Meditations From The Road and found this quote…

 “The unceasing practice of discipline leads to mastery”

 M. Scott Peck, M.D. The Road Less Traveled

Guess I better get at it, huh? I left my hero in a small town… he’s about to get knocked off his high horse. I can’t wait to see what he’s going to do about it!

Until Next Week,

Blazen Mama

Moon Flower: Book 1 of the Convergence Series.  It’s like Al Queda… with dragons.

While serving in the United States Marine Corps, I was involved in an anti-terrorist mission where we were assigned to bring down a high-level terrorist.  I was fortunate enough to assist in the planning of the operation.  Although the operation was aborted at the last minute (aborted by the Commander-in-Chief, no less), I always felt that the event would make a great story.

Small problem: the details of the event were, of course, highly classified–which means that they were all over the news within two weeks.  However, because of my involvement, I had signed a non-disclosure agreement saying I would not reveal that the operation even took place, aborted or not.  Keeping to my agreement, I changed some of the names, locations and circumstances and wrote… a really boring story.

So, I made further modifications, put the event in a fantasy world and thus The Convergence Series was born.  The series will be five volumes all centered on a single event: The Convergence.  I won’t describe the event because that might give away too much, but imagine the Twin Towers bombing on a global level.

I am probably having too much fun writing the series.

Luckily, I have some connections with Mountainland Publishing in Ogden, Utah and they agreed to publish my book.  Their team of designers created a beautifully colored cover for my book and I am very fortunate to have had this relationship with Mountainland.

I believe that establishing connections with publishers and editors is important for any aspiring author.  It allows an “in” to the publishing world that you would not ever have otherwise.  Most publishers, truthfully, rarely publish a book they received from a cold query letter.  Most books are published after several weeks, months, years of developing and maintaining relationships with editors and agents.

If I could offer any advice to new and aspiring authors, it would be to cultivate these relationships now.  They will only help you when your book is finished.

And if your book is already finished, keep writing.  AND start to cultivate relationships with editors and agents.

Moon Flower: Book 1 of the Convergence Series is available in paperback and Kindle.  Currently, Mountainland is planning to release three more installments of The Convergence Series in 2012.  Check out my website at http://www.michaelcombe.com for more information about these releases.

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened     2 cups granulated white sugar     3 large eggs   1 1/2 cups mashed rip bananas (approx. 3)   1 tsp vanilla extract    2 cups all purpose-flour                       1 teaspoon baking soda  pinch of salt.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened    one 8 oz package cream cheese, softened     4 cups sifted powdered sugar     2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar, beat in eggs, bananas and vanilla. In a small bowl, combine flour, backing soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Pour into a greased 15″ x 10″ x 1″ baking pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes 25 minutes, or until bars test done.

Cool. For frosting, cream butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl. Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla; beat well. Spread over bars.

I made these the other night for Bunco and decided they are just right for a get together. Have a book club meeting coming up, slice up a bar.

grandmamma Doree

One book I’ve been reading is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.  He takes the thousands of pages that have been written on the subject of time management and (bless him!) boils them down to one concise line:  Organize and execute around priorities. 

Organize.  Yeah, didn’t we know in our heart of hearts getting everything done on our to-do lists would take organization? 

Priorities.  We need to determine what exactly our priorities are and go after them. 

Execute.  Take action — execute to achieve those things that are important to us.

So, organize, prioritize, and execute.  Easy, peasy, right?  Okay, we’ve been around the block enough times to know that the results we seek aren’t easy to come by or there wouldn’t be all these books on this subject.  But thanks to Mr. Covey, now I don’t need to spend any more of my precious time reading them.  I feel like I have more time already!  

Thanks, Steve!

FOGCUTTER BARS 

Melt

1/2 c      butter

1 sq       unsweetened chocolate 

Mix below ingredients and add to melted butter/chocolate 

1/4 c      sugar

1 t        vanilla

1           egg, beaten

2 c        graham cracker crumbs

1 c        coconut, finely chopped in food processor

1/2 c      pecans, chopped 

Mix above together and press into large jelly roll pan and frost with 

1/2 c      butter

2 T        cream

4 c        powdered sugar

1 t        vanilla 

Top with 

3 sq       melted unsweetened chocolate (When you spread this over the frosting layer it’s very thin and the frosting will show through in many spots, if you want, add another square.) 

Put in fridge and cut into squares before it’s too hard. When they’ve set up I put them into a sealed container. Enjoy! 

Love much, laugh often, live well,

Swan Mama signing off