Blog Believe

Word of the Week

I've been hashtagging the word Believe for the past few weeks because of all the words in my dictionary I think this is the most powerful.  American Heritage defines Believe as follows: to accept as true or real and to have firm faith.  This word asks too much of us at times, asks that we believe when hope is gone and the reason to live has been crushed.  Believing isn't for everyone, if it was, believing would be easy.  

There is magic in this word, a simple, undefined sort of magic that lifts wilted spirits and brings us together in the darkest of times.  If for one day we could all believe, just one day, then perhaps it could be the beginning of a new trend, a new kind of hashtag for the planet.

Tweet believing, facebook believing, any kind of social media believing but do it, play it forward, believe.  Wake up on the twenty-fifth of December and make your first affirmation one word: BELIEVE.  See what happens next...

Blog what you see, feel, think, hear, say and believe.

Live each day well...or write a book.

Linda  

Blog Interview with HUDSON CATALINA

1. Who are you and where do live?

My name is Hudson Catalina-no, not the river but the car, a Hudson Jet, 1955 and not the car but the island, Catalina off the coast of California.  The book titled-HUDSONCATALINA-written by fiction author, Linda Merlino, is about me, my story and where I live, Ten Nettles Cove in Gloucester Massachusetts, that’s where we live, me, my family and our dog.

2. What is your story?

I am thirty-eight, a mother of four children, the wife of a loving husband and I have breast cancer.  My story takes place in twenty-four hours during the worst blizzard that Cape Ann has experienced in many decades.  This morning I lost all hope of surviving my disease.  Depressed and cynical I went to my chemotherapy session while my family got snowbound at my mother-in-laws.  I took the old pick up out into the storm after I was dropped off at home from the hospital by my best friend Kathy. I didn’t tell her I was going to buy all-occasion decorations for my daughter’s fifth birthday party tomorrow.  I figured I’d be dead from cancer before Annalise turned six.  Now I’m afraid that I’m dead before she turns five.

3. Are you the hero of your own story?

Readers will have to decide about the heroes in my story.  What I can tell you is that the grocery cart collector that I met at Whales Market –he’s my idea of a hero.  Some people might disagree. They might argue that Willy Wu, that’s his name, isn’t capable of being a hero in the true sense of heroism.  Which to me, means giving up your life for another-pure and simple.  See, Willy is autistic and no one really knows how much he processes, but Ruby Desmond, the market’s owner, she said that Willy was special.  I believe that.  Willy saved my life, I think, I’m still not sure.

4. What do you regret?

I regret that I gave my family such a hard time this morning.  Most of all I regret not telling my husband, Jack Emerald, that I love him and not kissing him before I left for the hospital.  Now I’m not sure whether I’m alive or dead and the thought of not being able to whisper…Jack like the beanstalk-Emerald like your eyes-Jack Emerald I love you, breaks my heart.

5. Who was your first love?

Jack Emerald is my first love, my only love and my one true love.  He is my best friend’s brother.  I had a crush on him when we were teenagers and he played high school basketball.  Kathy and I would go to the games and root for Beanstalk Emerald.  I never knew he loved me too.  Not until later, after college, after his father died out on the ocean like so many fishermen who work on the sea.

6. What, if anything, haunts you?

I am haunted by my demon…death.  He wears a hood and stalks the periphery.  Since I was fourteen he’s been dogging my heels.

7. Have you ever failed at anything or failed anyone?

Today I feel like a failure.  I could line up my whole family starting with my mother, Anna O’Malley and say yes I failed you all by giving up hope.

8. Do you have any distinguishing marks?

I am bald, except for a few stubborn patches of hair on my scalp and the front of me is like the back of me and you can’t tell which end of me is up or down.

9. Do you like remembering your childhood?

Not really-my brother and I had an okay childhood until my mother got sick and my dad brought us to live with our grandparents on Cape Ann.  My brother thought nothing of it, but I was a resentful fourteen year old.

10. Did you get along with your parents?

As a little girl I thought my parents were the best-they were so in love and they passed that on to my brother and me.  When my mother got sick from breast cancer and our world turned inside out, I blamed my father for everything.  Teenagers do that-they are selfish-I was the queen of selfish.

11. What in your past when you like to forget? 

I’d like to forget my mother’s wake.  The way the funeral home smelled of gladiola’s and old people’s stale perfume. 

12.  What in your past had the most profound effect on you?

My mother dying of breast cancer turned into a familial legacy.  Later I found out that her mother died of breast cancer as well, and since I was Anna O’Malley’s only daughter I was sure the same fate awaited me and now I fear the same destiny for my daughter, Annalise.

13. Was there a major turning point in your life?

Yes, coming here to Whales Market changed everything.  Willy Wu, Ruby Desmond and I are hostages of a killer named Buddy Baker.  Nothing will ever be the same again.

Join #imajin authors for Twitter Party Dec 14-16 lots of prizes and #giveaways go to #imajinbooks for more info...

Blog what you see, feel, hear and think...

Live each day well...or write a book.

Linda

Blog a Lunar Eclipse

Word Wednesday

Two words: Lunar – of, involving, caused by, or affecting the moon.  Two words derived from lunar: lunacy and lunatic.  Strange?  Not really, in astrology the moon is symbolic of the ebb and flow of our emotions, some of us are more fluid than others and still more are deeply affected by the cycles putting our sanity to the test once a month.

Eclipse: the partial or complete obscuring of one celestial body by another or, and including, the period of time during which such an obscuration occurs.  Today-Word Wednesday-there is a Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon in the sign of Gemini at 9:46am eastern standard time.  This eclipse is visible in Europe, eastern Africa, Asia, Australia, the Pacific Ocean and most of North America.  It will last or be obscured for a little over 4 hours. 

This phenomenon follows the Total Eclipse of the Sun experienced two weeks ago November 13-14. That lasted about 4 hours as well.  Symbolically for the sun’s obscuration, hours equate to years of an effect on the universe and the moon’s loss of light equals months.  So if you feel a bit crazy and tend to use words and gestures during emotional highs, expect that exaggeration to continue through March.  This applies more to folk born around late May and to those fortunate enough to have their moon in an early degree of Gemini.  Communication will be paramount and you will use any means possible to get your point across or connect with others, go viral! Check out gooddaysnodays on twitter for a daily look at what is happening.

The sun’s totality occurred in the sign of Scorpio.  Be mindful over the next four years of what happens behind closed doors-where there is no light.  Secrets and deceit can fester and grow.  Look for the cracks or the key to opening up closed minds and buried treasure. 

On a personal level this affects folk born around the 4rth-10^th of November and of course anyone else who has heavy Scorpio early degree moon or planets.  The universe will hold its secrets and keep us in the dark for the next four years.  This is not Dr. Doom speaking just a way of raising awareness and staying in the light, being present and in charge, and of remembering who you are and what you are and to get a Gemini person blabbing about it!!!

Blog what you see, feel, hear, think and say…

Live each day well…or write a book.

Linda

Blog Thanksmas

Word Wednesday

THANKSMAS – undefined in both Webster’s and the American Heritage Dictionaries.  Thanksmas – word for Wednesday – a family word, one word from two.  Like a favorite recipe handed down through generations, Thanksmas is a blend of ingredients.  Take a sprinkle of Thanksgiving and a dash of Christmas Eve, mix with a cup of Christmas, stir well and bake with love.

Thanksmas is celebrated once every two years-somewhere around Thanksgiving-a day before, or a day after.  All the hoop-la is forgotten.  No crazy, last minute shopping, no race to bake ten different kinds of cookies and no hurt feelings when the next holiday comes with another set of parents, grandparents and all manner of in-laws and outlaws.  Gifts are kept to a minimum, most for children, not for adults.  A Christmas tree, if the location allows, is hoped for in some shape or form.

Each Thanksmas brings its own delights, its extra chairs, new faces and missed faces.  Engagements have been announced, babies too and the circle of life goes round and round.  This made-up-family celebration has become a tradition of its own.  So much so that others often ask if this is a Thanksmas year.  Yes, it is, and we are grateful to come together in 2012, to create from scratch, another Thanksmas.

Blog what you see, hear, feel, touch, and say.

Live each day well…or write a book.

Linda

Blog a Nor'easter

Word Wednesday

The dictionary defines a northeaster as follows: A storm or gale blowing from the northeast.  That does not in any way say enough about a Nor’easter.  Last Wednesday we here in the tri-state area were just about getting out from under hurricane Sandy when up from the northeast blows that gale.  Let me tell you-seven inches of snow and one dark scary night say a lot more about that bugger than the American Heritage.  No boring details please.  Oh, maybe just a quick retell about me trudging up a long winding hill (my road) to retrieve my car stranded by an earlier road closure. Heart pounding in my chest I walked so fast I had to gulp air that felt hot and cold simultaneously.  Headlights glowed against the snow banks and I jumped wagging my $2 flashlight.  Finally a car driving in my direction stopped and followed alongside me until I reached my car.

Lord bless us and save us-I mean that was one glorious moment barrel butting out of a snowplowed barricade to get back to my house.

No coincidence that HUDSON CATALINA’s story is told during a nor’easter.  Her time frame is twenty-fours and this mother of four, wife and cancer victim must battle a loss of hope and go out on a scary night unaware of what lurks ahead.  The Holidays are upon us, do put HUDSON CATALINA on your list.  You can download the eBook or buy the paperback.  Amazon is user friendly. Stay safe and warm out of harm’s way, keep a shovel handy and upgrade your flashlight.

Blog what you see, feel, hear, and say.

Live each day well…or write a book.

Linda

Blog Power

Word Wednesday

I spent five days without power.  Simple definition in my American Heritage item number 8 – Electricity.  Startling what the absence of this power can do in our daily life.  Picture this- me-carrying buckets of brook water into the house reminiscent of a long ago frontier woman.  Heavy sweaters, gloves, hats, flashlights, wood stove cranking (not to mention hauling in the fuel for that) all very humbling.  Yes, I was inconvenienced but I wasn’t suffering.  Dark at 6pm I had my Kindle going or I found myself at the local Starbucks with other inconvenienced folk checking email.  The power returned on Friday night-I asked the big P if he had a good holiday-told him I missed him just a little.

Power has another definition-eleven all together in my dictionary.  Number one is the ability or capacity to perform or act effectively and number four is the ability or official capacity to exercise control; authority.  On this side of a national election we must become bipartisan even if it sticks in an unmentionable place.  As a country that stands on a platform of freedom we must remember our constitution and respect elected leaders.  At the same time we are in a country of the people-where the people have the power and the elected officials work for us-not the reverse.

Keep the power-play it forward.

Blog what you see, feel, think and hear.

Live each day well…or write a book

Linda

Blog a Paperback

If you are one of those paper people, the ones like myself that believe that books are Ipads made from trees then this post is for you.  Createspace and my publisher, Imajin Books, are promoting Imajin paperbacks from November 1 through December 14.


Take this opportunity to buy holiday gifts you can wrap and give to family and friends.  Each paperback available from Imajin Books has an amzing author behind it.  Check us out on Imajin's website and then go to Createspace and order one for yourself, mom, dad, aunt Sue, Uncle Charlie and all your kids.


HUDSON CATALINA is among the paperbacks available.  During my recent free eBook promotion on Amazon HUDSON CATALINA reached number one in suspense novels by passing John Grisham.  Whew! I still get chills on that one.


Blog what you hear, think, feel, say...


Live each day well...or write a book.


Linda

Blog a Friend

Word Wednesday

The American Heritage defines FRIEND two ways, the first: a person whom one knows, likes and trusts.  Hudson Catalina, the main character in my novel of the same name, learns about friendship while she is held hostage by a killer.  There are two other hostages, Ruby Desmond an elderly black woman, very wise and brave, as well as autistic Willy Wu, the young man who becomes Hudson’s unlikely hero.  In a life or death situation, like the one these three fictional characters find themselves, the word friend is tested and retested.

 

I count myself wealthy in friendships.  What I lack in siblings I have been blessed with in friends.  All of whom I know, like (love) and trust, and even if I had one true friend, I would still be wealthy, for the measure of wealth is not in the tangibles but in the intangibles of human connections.

The second definition for friend is as follows: one who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause or movement.  In recent days I have been promoting my book, HUDSON CATALINA.  Free for two days through Amazon and now to borrow or buy.  So many followers turned into friends of the second definition.  They supported my efforts and shared their friends and in two days of free promoting ten thousand eBook copies were downloaded.  Amazing.  I extend my gratitude to these friends and their friends alike.

  

Although this is the last day in October which has been designated as BREAST CANCER AWARENESS month, please remember that breast cancer awareness needs to be twelve months a year.

Blog what you see, feel, think, and hear.

Live each day well … or write a book.

Linda

Blog a Survivor

Word Wednesday

My mother and my half-sister, survived breast cancer, for each, a courageous battle. October is breast cancer awareness month and survival makes the fight to cure the pink ribbon disease a priority. Webster defines survival as: to remain alive or in existence: to endure. Yes, that is the goal. None of us get out alive, but we would prefer to exit as very senior as possible.

HUDSON CATALINA is the protagonist in my novel of the same name. Her survival is in question-she too has breast cancer and has lost hope of surviving. Her story, although fiction, portrays the need to stay hopeful-to have the will to survive, our Word for Wednesday. Tomorrow the 25th and Friday the 26th the eBook version of HUDSON CATALINA will be FREE to download from Amazon on your Kindle or other reading device. For a Good Read and to find out if Hudson survives take advantage of this special promotion.

Blog what you see, hear, feel and think.

Live each day well…or write a book.


Linda

Blog a Debate

Wednesday Word

Debate, the Wednesday word, is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as a formal contest of argumentation in which two opposing teams defend and attack a given proposition. Hopefully today we are more enlightened by last night’s presidential debate. As citizens of the United States of America we have the ability to vote. We have the freedom of choice. Anyone who cares about the future of our country should take the time to be informed and by doing this each of us can make better decisions for our collective futures.

A debate is also defined with words such as deliberation and consideration-words which can be put into action by each vote cast. Debates are arguments pure and simple-they are not popularity contests. Voters need to sift through the facts of a debate and make decisions based solely on who can do the best job. I f you do not get the job done, then someone else needs to step up and get the job done and so on and so forth until the right person is chosen, until promises are kept and politics become less important and there are jobs and opportunities once again.

The power of debate is something our country should be proud of-allowing opinions and voices to be heard. As voters we need to be deliberate, our own form of debate, we must use the individual power of voting as our forefathers intended it to be used.

Blog what you think, feel, hear, and say.

Live each day well or write a book.

Linda

BLOG A HERO

Wednesday Word

Again I cheated-no blind finger down the page of Webster in search of a word. No. HERO was stuck in my head. HERO is the Wednesday word. The dictionary defines a hero as “a person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose-selflessly brave”. The protagonist in my novel HUDSON CATALINA was interviewed on a recent blog. She was asked about the hero of her story. Hudson said the readers should decide about heroes and went on to talk about Willy WU, the autistic grocery cart collector she meets at Whales Market the night she, Willy and the store’s manager are taken hostage by a killer. Willy is my hero she said. Many might disagree with me, because there is no way to measure how much he processes. Willy Wu is special and capable of saving a life.

There is an author message on the back page of HUDSON CATALINA from me, the author, to you the reader: “The seed or inspiration for HUDSON CATALINA came from a character in the book, Willy Wu. I have long had a fascination with heroes, the idea of heroism in the pure sense of the word, the selfless act of giving your life to save another without thought of anything else beyond that act.”

Today anyone of us could be thrust into a situation that tests our own heroic ability. Thank you to all the heroes that keep us safe and free.

Write what you see, hear, think and feel.

Live each day well…or write a book.

Linda

BLOG about HOPE

Word Wednesday-“To give up hope is to give up life.”

I confess. Here is the truth and nothing but the truth. My finger did not slide down the page of my American Heritage dictionary to land on this week’s word-HOPE. No. Hope, the four letter word, was stuck in my head this week. Webster defines hope: to wish for something with expectation. Page one of HUDSON CATALINA makes a bold hair-on-your-arms-straight-up-statement. Every morning we hope for a good day-a reason to get up and put our feet on the floor. We as a collective are hopeful. Life is a game that we are hopeful to win-there is no getting out alive, but hopeful that nothing awful will happen along the way.

Hudson Catalina has given up hope. She wakes one morning convinced she will die from the disease that has taken her breasts. Hope, for her, is lost. She tells her own story about that day. Twenty-four hours in which hope plays an integral role in deciding who lives and who dies.

My hope is that you will share this message with your friends/followers. Share this message of hope. October is breast cancer awareness month-have you had your mammogram-tell your wife, girlfriend, mother, daughter, sister, friend, aunt or cousin to make an appointment today. Hudson Catalina tells her story, not about breast cancer, but how so many of life’s tragedies can rob us of hope-how life can turn ugly in a blink and of how hope creates heroes and brings us closer to the face of God.

Blog what you see, feel, hear, touch and think.

Live each day well…or write a book.

Linda

BLOG A BUMPER

WORD FOR WEDNESDAY

Woke up thinking of bumpers. Bizarre. Must have been dreaming about bumping my head or having a bumper crop or perhaps a great car bumper like the one I saw on Saturday. I am a fan of vintage automobiles-not an owner; sad to say, but there is always hope of ownership. One favorite is a Hudson made in Detroit some sixty years ago. Its bulbous body has bulldog qualities with a sweet twist of classic beauty.

Word for Wednesday, if you haven’t guessed is BUMPER. Defined by Webster as a drinking vessel filled to the brim, unusually abundant or full and a horizontal bar attached to either end of a motor vehicle to absorb the impact in a collision. Interesting about the cup being full-as I do believe my metaphorical cup is running over right now and abundance is in full throttle mode. Lucky for me that I dreamt about bumpers, because the cynic in my head is just waiting for a collision…huh.

My re-release, HUDSON CATALINA came out on eBook on the 15th of the month, and paperback too. Yes, Hudson was named after the car. No surprise. She is a young wife, mother and breast cancer victim struggling with lost hope. This is one day in her life, twenty-four hours that will change her life forever, the day that fate has other plans for Hudson. Download on Amazon for a train, plane, beach, afternoon, or car ride read.

Blog what you see, feel, hear, think and say.

Live each day well or write a book…

Linda

Blog a Bridge

Welcome to Word Wednesday...

There is a point in our life when we have to take a leap of faith. Hold our nose and jump. My Webster search found the word “bridge” today. Defining this word as a structure spanning and providing passage over an obstacle. I sniff a metaphor here. How many bridges will we cross in a lifetime? Each crossroad requires a bridge to the other side of growing up, moving, having a child, getting married, first job, the death of a parent and the re-release of a debut novel. Bridges long and short, some that span decades are all part of the journey.

One of my favorite poems by Shel Silverstein is “The Bridge” – it begins with: This bridge will only take you halfway there to those mysterious lands you long to see…and ends so poignantly-but this bridge will only tale you halfway there…the last few steps you’ll have to take alone.

Blog what you see, hear, feel, and think.

Hudson Catalina is now an eBook and paperback re-released a few days ago by Imajin Books. Check it out on Amazon-links (bridges) under construction to facilitate navigation and crossing over to where one day can change a life forever.

Live each day well-or write a book.

Linda

Blog a Release Date

Good news travel fast. Imajin Books has given me a release date for my ebook Hudson Catalina (formerly Belly of the Whale). The BIG day is Saturday, the 15th of September. The official launch will be in two weeks at the full moon on the 30th. All things considered this event is most fortunate-I am blessed. For those of you who read the original novel, you will be pleased to know that the text is unchanged. There is a new cover, which makes me very happy. The former cover was a dealbreaker for potential readers. Ah, the stuff you learn when you come to the publishing table.

So with a new title and a new cover this story of a young wife and mother with breast cancer and how her life changes in twenty-four hours, can be read again. Kindle readers download please and for those who like to flip real pages look for the paperback. I will be posting more information as it becomes available. Fridays will be designated book promotion day-get ready!

Dreams do come true...

Blog what you think, feel, see and hear.

Live each day well or write a book

Linda

Blog an Out Word

Just a reminder that this is Word Wednesday. I flipped through Websters looking for an outrageous word. I found outlandish words, and words I outgrew like-outmoded. There are so many "out" words, that I decided to see how many I could incorporate into this Word Wednesday blog.

Some outclassed me, others were outdated, still more outdid themselves. If we could exist on an outer planet, out-of-the-way of mother earth, we would be in outer space wearing an outfit that should be outlawed. This would makes us outsiders who could outsmart and outspend the best of the best.

Perhaps this blog needs an outtake, needs to evaluate how outright outspoken it has become,and even if I've managed to outwit a few, I must out and out quit this nonesense.

Thanks for the outpouring of interest and your outspoken comments. If you consider this outstanding let me offer you an outpatient respite. When the likes out number the dislikes I'll have a better outlook.

Blog what you see, feel, hear, and think.

Live each day well or write a book.

Linda

Blog a Wednesday Word

Words are my passion. Sometimes too many words exit my mouth and get me in trouble. Best to keep the balance by writing. In the past six months I have taken a ticket for a long roller coaster ride which in some ways has left me in limbo. Word for Wednesday, newly created today, is meant to change that. I opened the dictionary, eyes closed, and pointed to "limbo." I am on a path to exit limbo, been there long enough. Question is: do I take a right, a left, or go straight out of limbo?

My instinct is to go left - out of the box-out of that abode for lost souls or as better described by Webster: prolonged uncertainty. Left is comfortable-risky, but comfy. There is so much up ahead as I take that left,so much waiting patiently just for me. There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time for everything. This is my time to write-to be published and read. Adios limbo...

Writing words defines me how about you?

Look for Wednesday Word every week starting today.

Blog what you feel, think, say, hear and see. Live each day well or write a book.

Linda

Blog a Passing

I've been eating canned peaches-childhood comfort food. I have about twenty cans in my storage pantry. They are staples from my mother's kitchen. Reminders of her middle-of-the-night snacks. She's been gone four Sundays and all the days in between. Gone so quick that I still reach for the phone to call her as I did everyday for the past several years. I pass the bedroom she slept in when she stayed with me and I think of the many days I stood in the doorway watching her sleep. Afraid that one morning I might wake to find her kidnapped by one of the many unseen entities she claimed sat on her bed. I dismissed her nocturnal visitations despite my own belief in the existence of such things.

I told her the dark ones were her fears and the others her angels. She said she was afraid to die. I had no comeback-nothing profound to counter such a statement because I am afraid too. Aren't we all? There are those who teach us how to die. Who take on the end of their life with dignity and peace. My mother fought death-wrangled with it like a heavy-weight champion and she won-time after time. When her end came she never knew-that's what I guess-too quick to hit her lifeline-too swift to throw one last punch.

I found a small angel charm on the floor the other day. I didn't recognize it but I looked around and nodded to my own unseen entities and thanked them. My mother is gone but she has surely joined the ranks of my protectors.

Live each day well or write a book.

Linda