If You Could Live Your Favorite Day Over…

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The other day I had an enjoyable lunch with six friends.  It was to celebrate a retirement.  Before we knew it three hours had passed.  We sat on the deck at a beautiful golf course in the sunshine, and had a wonderful breeze.   Both ends of the table had different conversations going on, and it was hard to listen to everything, but fun to hear a little of this and a little of that.  Finally, the retiree began talking about some very special moments she had during her years of working.  They were all pleasant stories, and you could see the pleasure she got from her memories. 

After telling one particular story, she asked us all a question.  She asked, “If you could live your favorite day all over again, what would it be?”  It made me stop and think about that question.  At first, I couldn’t answer, for there were many things I could think of, but not just one special thing.  Actually, only one other person could think of something right away.  Their stories were wonderful, and it made me want to think of some happy memory like that.  When she told the one special moment in her life, I could almost cry myself, for she described it through the eyes of a 32 year old woman as if it happened yesterday.  It was a very happy memory in her thirty-second year of life.

Days later I still tried to think of a special day I would want to live all over again.  It would have to involve my two boys because they are the whole world to me.  But, how could I choose just one day out of all of them?  I couldn’t, so I stopped trying to pick out one favorite memory with my sons.  There would be too many.  My wedding?  I’ve had two of them.  Life when I was a child?  No, childhood was sad, not happy.  If she had asked what sad day stands out in life, I probably could answer that.  It was narrowed down now to either my grandmother, or my first love.   My grandmother was my favorite person as a child, and she tried to protect and spoil me like most grandmothers do.  It usually involved chocolate!  But no, there wasn’t only one special day.

I asked this question to one of my writer’s forums.  There were some happy memories there, and wonderful days to live over.  I went over a lot of memories in my own life, and one finally stuck out from the rest.  It was a time when I was nineteen years old.   Maybe we would all love to live a day over in our 18^th or 19^th year of life.  After all, we had the world by the tail, and there was nothing we couldn’t do.  Or not, right?  But I did choose that year of my life, and one special day to live over if I could.  It doesn’t involve my boys, or weddings.  It doesn’t even involve my grandmother.  It is just me, and the person in my memory, a thunderstorm, and an airport.  Even thinking of that memory evokes a warm feeling that spreads all over my body. 

It’s been so long since that day, and if it still spreads warmth all over me, then it has to be special.   It involves love.  I think that’s all I want to say about it at this time.  It’s only natural that I write romance it seems, because love has always been important to me.  I see it now when I remember this special day that I would live over if I could.   It was love then, and if I let myself think about it this day, it still somehow takes me back to many other memories of love.  

May I ask you?  If you could live one special day over, what day would you choose?  It’s not easy to think of it just like that, now is it?    Take your time, remember…  Bring up your best memories.  Reminisce about the best times you’ve had in your life.  In this day and age, there is a lot of sadness with stress and worry.  Why not take just a few minutes, or as long as it takes, to give yourself a pleasant memory to live over…if you could.   

Feel free to tell me in a comment.  I’m anxious to hear if it was easy for you to decide.

Update on Book Three

The third book in the Enchantment series is moving along. I just started chapter 24, and it’s over 44,000 words now. My goal is to finish the rough draft before going back to work in September.

Addendum to Tattoo’s and Piercings

It’s been awhile since I wrote the post about tattoos and piercings.  Since I wrote that I learned some new things about piercings.  Kids are using something called guages.  Kids at school are wearing these!  They are huge pieces of studs that go in your ear lobe to stretch it.  Personally, I think it’s dugusting.  I asked one of my students if he was going to do it, and he said, “NO, it makes your ears smell bad.”  I think that is probably from infection!    For more information, click on the link.    http://jewelry.about.com/od/bodyjewelry/a/gauging_lobes.htm   

If you’re interested in seeing what some of these guages look like, click on this link:  http://www.mspiercing.com/Group/large-gauge-jewelry-31.aspx  Please don’t think I am encouraging any of this.  These pictures are only to give you an idea of what I am talking about.    Toward the end of the year, the assistant principal issued a warning that they were not allowed to have the “spikes” in their ears during school, and if we saw them we were to make them take them out.  It was said they had the potential to be a weapon, and they were a distraction; this is true, a real distraction.  Even I was distracted when asking about them, or just looking at them playing with their guage, taking them in and out.  A couple of them had scabs, and still inserted the guages.  The warning was a good way to stop them from using them for at least seven and a half hours a day.  

I noticed that some of the boys had long hair, and hid them under their hair.  A good sign was when they were always pulling their hair over their ears.  It was easy to miss them until they started playing with them, or taking them in and out.  There were only a few boys that had these, and I didn’t see any girls with them.  In fact, the girls thought they were disgusting, too.   They will be moving on to high school, and I won’t see them unless they drop by, but I can’t help but wonder what will be their next habit.  I’m actually afraid to even think about it.

Contemporary Moving Along

My newest contemporary romance is moving along. I’m officially on spring break, and planning on getting a lot of pages added to it. This book will probably be submitted to eBook publishers. I’d like to try my hand at that. Ebook publishers seem to be very popular these days. Many of my author friends have eBooks, and seem very happy with that type of publishing. So, when my manuscript is finished, that’s what I’ll be looking into. There are so many to choose from. It will be a quest for me to find one that my story fits. More news to follow as this one moves along.

Tattoo’s and Piercings in weird places

I’m not against tattoos, in fact, I have one.  I wouldn’t mind having another one.  When I got mine, my friend, who already had ten at that time, said, “No one can have only one tattoo.”  I wonder how many she has now.  My tattoo was designed by me.  I still love it, and not everyone gets to see it.  I’m not against piercing either.  I have three of them!  Okay, so it’s just my ears!  My reason for writing this now is because yesterday at work, an 8th grade student told me she went with her mom to watch her get a tattoo.  That’s not so bad, a lot of kids tell me they go to watch their parents get one, probably more then you know.  But, while she was there, she witnessed people getting their gums pierced.  OUCH!  I can’t imagine the pain that went with that.  This student said the guy screamed and blood dripped from his mouth.  Her mom got sick!    I watched this child’s eyebrows pinch together as she told me this.  She proceeded to tell me that the guy didn’t even get numbed up.  You know how much a needle hurts when they numb your gum for dental work?  Can you imagine? 

Well, I was getting nosy by then, so I started giving my opinion, and asking questions.  I asked her how the heck did it stay in?  I had to ask!  She said they drill a hole to put in something like the back of an earring and you just screw it in there.  And you can’t eat with it in.  I wonder if that is just while it’s healing.  It seems kind of bothersome to have to take your gum stud out every time you eat.  I just kept thinking about how painful that must have been.  It also made me wonder how long it would be before this 14 year old student was standing in line for a tattoo or a piercing in some odd place.  The person doing the piercing had three piercings in his tongue!  One on easch side, and one in the middle.  Ouch, Ouch, and ouch again. 

I would like to hear from you if you have something out of the ordinary pierced.  This is for my own curiosity, and nothing more.  Did it hurt?  Would you do it again?   I’m a writer, and you never know when I might need research for a character!  I’d  love to hear from you!

Valentine’s Day Newsletter and Interview with DJ Deppen, Romantic Poet

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Welcome to my first newsletter of 2009., and to another special Valentine’s Day issue. As some of you know, last year I interviewed CJ Hollenbach, romance cover model, and Fantasy Hunk of 2001. (Scroll through the old posts and you can find his interview.) This year I’d like to introduce you to DJ Deppen, a poet of some of the most romantic and sensual words you’ll ever read. Not only that, but he finds just the right picture to go with each poem, and he makes them himself! I hope you enjoy my interview (below) with him.  Here’s a sample for your enjoyment.

I’ve come up with a few suggestions for being alone on Valentine’s Day. You probably wonder why a romance writer would write about singles on such a romantic day. I never had to spend this special day of love alone for many years. Then one Valentine’s day I found myself alone on February 14th. Maybe it helped because I was very sick with the flu. It wasn’t because of that, that I was alone though. I was getting over a bad relationship, so maybe the flu was my escape that year. When I could finally hold my head up, I wrote about how I felt that day. I wasn’t bitter, and I wasn’t hurt, anymore, but I was sad. I was also at peace. The days working up to that day were hard. I knew what ‘he’ would be doing on that day, and that’s the part that made me sad. So, being sick kept me from worrying about being alone on such a special day. Some years have gone by since then, and now I’m married with a whole new life.

This year when I was thinking about another newsletter for Valentine’s Day, I decided to gear it toward being single and being alone. For whatever reason it is, I hope everyone can find something here that you can enjoy or take away with your. Maybe it will be a special quote, or a pleasant thought you found here. In the meantime, I’ll still be writing romance, and putting a hero and a heroine together with some infamous plot and conflict, so don’t think I’m giving up on romance or anything like that. Oh, no, I still believe in love and that everyone is entitled to a fairy tale romance. In fact, speaking of me writing romance, Visions of Enchantment and Enchantment’s Embrace are always available. If you haven’t been introduced to Eryn and Uriah yet, I invite you to read some excerpts on my website. If these two characters can convince you to read their story, then I’ll even give you a discount on an autographed copy. Let me know if you’re interested, and for a limited time, I’ll send it/them with free standard rate shipping.(limited to two books)

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My updates

I’m preparing for a book signing/ Presentation on March 10th. I’ll be discussing the road to publication. It can sometimes be a very long road, and it was for me. When you see all those books on shelves, each one of those authors had to struggle to get there. It doesn’t happen overnight.

I’ve been working on Book Three. As a special surprise, I’m enclosing a small excerpt. I don’t usually do this until I have a book under contract, but just for you, and because it’s Valentine’s Day. What the heck!

In March I’ll also be teaching Romance Writing 101 at a local college. I’m looking forward to that. It should be fun. I was approached by the director of the program I teach in, and she asked if I would do it. Did you know that romance writing has a certain criteria to follow?

And now a short excerpt from Book Three in the

 

 

They drove down PA Rte 8 to Venango Airport which was two miles south of Enchantment. The airport set up a small room for family of the passengers. A PR person from Avis’ travel magazine was there, but had no information.
Uriah held Eryn as tightly as he could, pulling her head against his chest, smoothing her long chestnut colored waves away from his face.
Cole came in with coffee and sat beside Alyce, holding her hand tightly, trying to calm the tremble. So much so that he took her hand and led her to the hall. He held her close against him. “She’ll be okay.”
She held her tears in check, until now. “Cole, she’s a part of me. I don’t know what I’ll do without her.”
“Let’s wait until we hear something, babe.”
“You don’t understand! We’re connected. There hasn’t been a time in our lives that we’ve been apart; we have a bond. She’s my twin, a part of me!”
“I know, babe, I know…”
Uriah opened the door, and came over to them. He held his arm around Alyce, but couldn’t find words of comfort. He patted Cole on the back then went back in to Eryn.

Dinner for One

 

Do something simple. How about Pasta! Treat yourself to your favorite wine. Throw in a slice of garlic bread, after all you don’t have to worry about ‘garlic’ breath! Toss a quick salad,

and they you are!

Valentine’s Day is Saturday. If you want to stay home and watch a movie, and have been sitting around in your sweats all day, then check out Hulu. They have many things to watch there. Or you can go to all the locals like NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS and watch a TV show you might have missed. You don’t have to be alone tonight. Check out WE channel, the Hallmark Channel… the list goes on. Don’t forget to go online and check out your fantasy hero or heroine at their official website. And last but not least call your best friend! Guys, you might like Spike TV, FX, HBO, Discovery, or the History Channel.

Take a hot bubble bath, (Yes, you guys, too!) with candles and afterward smother your skin in your favorite lotion or oil! If you want to get out of the house, get a massage; hot stone massages are awesome. Take a walk, but stay away from places where you’re likely to run into couples holding hands and hugging and kissing. Tonight’s not the night you’ll want to see that. Hit Starbucks with your laptop! Go to the bookstore; chances are couples won’t be hanging out there, but other singles might be. While you’re there pick up a blank page book so you can start a journal. One day you can look back at it and recall all your memories.

Dessert

This sounds so yummy. Don’t want to eat a sweet dessert? Try this!

Mochachino

1 part Kahlua Mocha
1 part coffee
1 part hot chocolate

If you’re interested in Green? 

http://www.naturallysavvy.com/

This is a good time to pull out your favorite book, cuddle up with soothing music, and escape!

Enjoy your Valentine’s Day, no matter what you do!

Love,

Mary

 

And now…

 

Drum Roll Please….

I introduce you to the one and only Male Poet of Romance filled with sensuality and love… D.J. Deppen.

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D.J. Deppen

Interview D.J. Deppen

 

Whispering Moments – “Filled with verses of longing passions for one true love.” Whispering Moments, Undying Love- The sequel to Whispering Moments “is filled with gentle fondness and love in every verse.”

 

Whispering Moments – “Filled with verses of longing passions for one true love.” Whispering Moments, Undying Love- The sequel to Whispering Moments “is filled with gentle fondness and love in every verse.”

 

Young or old, single or in a relationship, you’ll enjoy these sensuous words written from the heart of Mr. DJ Deppen. Come along with me as I interview this writer of romantic poetry.

DJ, I’m excited by your poetry, and I know others will be too. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview.

 

What is the first thing you do to put your random thoughts into passionate words? What do you do to get in the mood to create such beautiful love poems?

I don’t do anything. I could be sitting in restaurant or on a park bench, when my mind is suddenly triggered by something. The words just seem to enter my head. I truly believe God is working through me. The writing, “Undying Love” came as random words sitting in a meeting. I started writing notes and after arriving home put them together. It is one of my most powerful pieces of art. “No wind or storm, not even Satan’s swarms, can change God’s grace for what will be formed.” I read over things I’ve written in the past and don’t know how I could have ever written such beauty.

Where do you get the beautiful graphics that you use to enhance your poems?

I spend hours searching online for one writing, it sometimes takes several pictures to mold and shape together.

What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies?

I ride cross country and enjoy spending time in the country camping and riding on horseback.

Your covers are beautiful. Who designed them for you?

A very special and extremely talented lady has used my descriptions to create them.

Have your poems been published anywhere other than in books? Awards?

No, I’ve never entered them in anything. I never planned on writing. It just happened one day.

What made you decide to publish your poems in a book? Who is your favorite poet?

It was an accident. I never thought about publishing anything. I was using myspace.com as an online journal, and didn’t realize others could read what I was writing. I only moved forward after receiving several reviews and suggestions to contact someone to be published.

You also write for children. Why did you decide to do children’s books?

 

 The book “The Searching Prince” was just a fun thing for me. I would sometimes stare out at the stars and dream about my girl. I would see a shooting star and be all excited, thinking it was a sign she was soon to come. The little boy in the story became me and how I searched for my princess. I would rhyme the story for fun. It took me close to two years to finish a 20 page story. After reading it to my 5 year old niece and seeing how captivated she was from the story, I decided to put it into print. I experimented with boys and girls of all ages and got the same response. A few of them asked me to write another story, so I wrote the day before. “Fairy, Sprites and Moonlit Nights”
The Searching Prince battles a great foe to save the Princess from a terrible fate. Only one thing powerful enough can save them both. That one thing is “Love.”

 

To be honest, I’ve never read any. lol

Do you have any appearances coming up?

NO

How long have you been writing?

2 years

How can someone contact you, and/or purchase your books? Website?

 

 Anyone may contact me through my website www.whisperingmoments.com

I also have a book store, which anyone can order through at this site, with free shipping!

Thanks again for doing this interview, DJ!  I’ve read many of your poems, and along with the graphics you so carefully choose, I know they definitely touch the soul. I wish you all the luck with your endeavors.

 

Please don’t be shy! DJ welcomes your comments. And so do I!

Enjoy your

Valentine’s Day.

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Thank you for taking the time to ask me these interview questions. I had a lot of fun answering them. DJ

DJ Deppen’s beautiful poetry books are filled with romance and sensuality, and written from his heart with words of love anyone would want to hear from their lover. These books are perfect books for anyone who loves romance; whether you’re still searching, or have already found your fairy tale. Whispering Moments and Whispering Moments, Undying Love, are available now. Contact DJ Deppen for more information. Visit DJ’s website for other works, and works in progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enchantment Series

More Snow

Mail won't be delivered unless we clean the snow away from the mailboxes.

This is the third day of February, and our snow fall is above the seasonal average. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m very tired of driving to work every day on bad roads. The snow can be beautiful, especially when it’s layered on tree branches, but come on! I’ve seen all the snow covered branches I want to see this winter! When I pull out of my driveway I need to take my time because I can’t see if a car is coming down the street. That’s how high the snow piles are.  Today, before pulling out onto the highway, there was an instant where the snow pile at the corner caused a blind spot, and I nearly pulled out in front of a car going the posted 55 mph. So, drivers, be careful!

Some of the snow was getting that dirty look, and it looked depressing, but I don’t have to worry about that now because it’s snowing as I write this. It’s probably covered by now, and all fluffy and white again. One positive thing I can say, though, is it makes for some nice pictures. The traffic reports are already showing accidents mounting, and down near the Michigan and Indiana line, they might get a foot of snow. Oh, one other positive thing about a big snow fall. SNOW DAY! To make matters worse, the temperature is only in the single digits and there is a Wind Chill Advisory!  Oh, well. It will soon be spring.

Three Wishes

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Have you ever made a wish?  I bet everyone has one time or another.  Birthdays are the first thing that come to mind.  Even if we don’t want to, our friends practically beg us to make a wish as we blow out our candles.  Think about this for a moment.  Do you expect the wish to come true?  I don’t.  I do it for fun, and to please everyone else.  Well,  let this take a different turn.  What if  those wishes could come true?  Let’s imagine, for a minute or two, that we have three wishes.  These three wishes are just for us, and for our own persnal gain, pleasure, or whim.   Of course, we all wish for world peace, and for the hungry to be full, etc, etc.  We can wish for that in another post!  What would you wish for if you knew that your three wishes were guaranteed to come true, and at no out-of-pocket cosst?   Before I started writing this, I tried to think of three things that would make my life better.  It wasn’t easy to come up with these ideas, after all, it will probably never happen again in my lifetime, so I want to make it right.  Remember, we are to use it for our own personal needs and wants. 

My number one wish would be to have good health. 

With good health, I wouldn’t have to worry about any family illnesses or diseases.  After all, I would have a guarantee that I would remain healthy.  I think in my mind’s eye, my life would be better all the way around if I knew I didn’t have to worry about getting sick.  I could save money on health insurance, which I don’t have now anyway, so that would be a big relief.  Think of all those hours waiting in doctors’ offices!  That would be over!  Medicine?  There would be so much money saved by not buying prescriptions.  I do believe good health would be one of my three wishes.  Now, that leaves me two more.

My second wish would be to have an endless amount of money.

I don’t know where this money is going to come from.  It doesn’t have to be a lot of money all at once.  It has to be money that is always there in my bank account, and it magically appears there as I need it.  Do I want to buy a new house?  No problem, I’ll write a check.  Of course, the house will be large enough to house my immediate family for as long as they wanted to stay.  Did I mention an extended vacation?  Why not?  After all, the money is in the bank for whatever I might need.   I could even purchase a publishing company and publish my own books.  I’d make myself a Bestselling Author!  Never living with an endless amount of money, it’s hard for me to say what I would do with it.  Just think about it….  Endless money!

For my third wish… 

Hmm, do I wish for more wishes?  Would that be greedy?  We all know that it would be.  I think for my third wish, I would wish for a happy family life.  No family quarrels, no family problems, no worrys.  Everyone would live close to each other, and be one happy family.  Oh, I wouldn’t want to stop at my family, for when I got married, I became part of two families.  So, of course, the same thing would go for both sides of the family.   There would always be laughter, love, and trust.  One day when your family is together, sit back and listen.  Is their laughter?  It sounds so good!  Do you feel their arms around you when you get ready to leave?  So warm and comforting, it is.  Trust?  When you have something on your mind, do you tell your sister, your brother, your mom?  Who is more trustworthly than one of your family membesr?  We can’t leave out best friends, though.  No, we can’t get along without best friends.

So, for today, January 29th, these are my three wishes.  Who knows what I might wish for tomorrow, or the next day.  For now, this is how I feel, and I think these wishes fit today.  I invite you to take a minute and think about three wishes.  Remember, this is for you, something you deserve in your life.   Do it for fun.  Go all out and see what you can come up with.  When it comes around to your birthday, and you see the candles burning, get ready–  You  know someone is going to ask you, or I should say, tell you, you need to make a wish.  Go ahead think about it.  We know our three wishes aren’t really going to be granted by some genie or unknown force with the power to do so.  Maybe if we do think seriously about it, we can grant our own wishes.  Maybe it’s impossible to have endless money in the bank, but it is possible to contribute to your own good health, or to a happy close-knit family.  See, there might be ways for some of those wishes to come true.  Try it!  Go ahead, give it a try!  I’d love to hear about your wishes, so please feel free to leave a comment.  

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Vacation in Northern California

Mt. Shasta, California

Mt. Shasta

Arthur Burney Falls

Shasta Dam, Shasta Lake, and Mt. Shasta

Shast Lake at sunset.

It was Thanksgiving.  People say it’s the busiest time of year for airports.  I was traveling through airports at that time, and it’s true.  The majority was busy, for instance, Chicao and San Francisco.  Others must have been too because my transfers were late in San Francisco, coming and going.  On the way home the flight was delayed for two hours;  at the time, I didn’t know why.  The only thing they told us was that we were waiting for another plane because there was something wrong with the plane we were supposed to take.  Eventually, another plane came, and off we went.  The plane was a chartered plane that the San Francisco 49er’s just got off of.   Before take-off we were also told that we had to switch planes because the other one had a broken windshield. As far as I’m concerned, I’d rather wait for a different one.  Anyway, there’s a whole story about my flight home posted at a site where I put a lot of my poetry and random writings.    You can find it at Triond.  The article is entitled Flights and More Flights.  While there enjoy some of my poetry.

My main reason for going to California was to visit with my oldest son.  While there we went to Mt. Shasta, both the mountain and the city.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.   We also visited Burney Falls and Shasta Dam.  In the distance during both trips we always had Mt. Lassen in view.  Mt. Lassen is part of a national park, and a volcano that erupted over 100 hears ago.  I toured that with my son about five years ago.  It’s very beautiful.   Since I had such a good time there, and took a lot of pictures, I wanted to share them with others.  I do hope you like what you see.  Don’t forget to go back and check my article.  I think you will like that.

Last Newsletter

View my last newsletter at

http://www.maryjdresselsnewsletters.blogspot.com