Looking Back At 2014

    Well another year has come and gone sad as it may seem. They do tend to fly by quicker after you turn eighteen. Of course the ironic part is that is when you start to treasure them more. At least it was that way for me. But that is not what we are here to discuss today. Today I take a look back at my year in 2014 and see what it was like. Tomorrow will be resolution time on the blog, and then we'll go from there.

    When I started out this year I was trying once again to quit smoking though not fully resolute in doing it. I failed once more, but picked myself up and dusted myself off and said that's ok it's just not time yet. Also as I was coming into this year I was getting more involved with Southern New Hampshire University's Online Social Network called Connect. I've made a good number of friends on there though I have had trouble keeping up with there. I was also getting into some serious writing groups for the first time as well. Some worked out better than others, but that is to be expected.

    I saw a nutritionist as well who got me eating better, mostly by getting a lot of the sugar out of my diet. This stabilized my weight overall and dropped it a little. And while this was going on I got closer to my Connect friends and my writing group friends as well. My grades have stayed steady at As and Bs except for that one pesky C. I also gained a lot of insight into myself as the year went on as well. Plus I grew closer to my Connect friends and my writing friends, who helped me grow not only as a student but a person as well. I have to give a shout out to Jeni, Edi, Sylvia, Amber, Ronnie, and Elle, and if I forgot anyone my apologies.

    As I grew I became more confident and began taking on more responsibility and projects. Working on them diligently along with my school work. I've even started working towards rejoining the work force though that is taking a little more time than this year has to offer me. My friends have become family and I wouldn't trade it for the world. And as this year has been coming to a close I became a published author, which still blows my mind.

    All in all it has been a good year but I still have bigger plans ahead for the next one, and the one after that. I'm not slowing down anytime soon though I'm 33 now. I've got a lot of years left in these bones and I'm going to enjoy them and make the best of them. I've got good company in my two families, and plenty of support. I hope your new year's celebration is a good one like I plan mine to be. And remember when making goals for next year, reach for the stars. *Tips hat and walks slowly out the door.*

Major Announcement: I’m Published!

    Now I know I've been away for a long time, but it has not been in vain. I've been working hard on several projects, and one of them has come to fruition. I'm now published in the anthology, Around The Fire A Collection Of Holiday Short Stories. You can find it on kindle here: http://www.amazon.com/Around-Fire-Collection-Holiday-Anthology-ebook/dp/B00R6RN8DQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419397740&sr=8-1&keywords=around+the+fire+a+collection+of+holiday+short+stories, and in paperback at: http://www.amazon.com/Around-Fire-Collection-Holiday-Anthology/dp/1505465338/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1419397740&sr=8-2&keywords=around+the+fire+a+collection+of+holiday+short+stories. It's published by the Scribes Collective who are a collection of up and coming writers.

    You will be moved by each of our stories to cheer and cry among other things. The anthology is full of heart warming and heartbreaking stories that you are sure to cherish. It's not too late to get an ebook copy for the holidays or even a paperback shipped to you right after the holidays. It is more than worth the price of the book, and remember the proceeds fo to Make A Wish. Yes you heard right the authors are donating the proceeds to Make A Wish. So head on over to the above links depending on your preference of reading style and get a copy today, *Tips hat and walks out the door with a bit of swagger.*

Chasing Clarity Cover Reveal

    That's right my reader you read right I've got the cover reveal of Sylvia Stein's new book Chasing Clarity, and without further ado here is the masterpiece.

What happens when you lose the love of your life and are left to pick up the pieces? Mia Gerard is about to find out.
Mia has just lost Leo Dancy, her best friend and soul mate. His absence seems unbearable, but suddenly, an opportunity that she can't turn down arises. She's offered a teaching position in The New York Dance Academy of Performing Arts. At first, she's overwhelmed, still dealing with the loss of Leo. But eventually, she allows herself to heal when she meets Henry Watson, a painter with aspirations of having his own exhibit one day, or does she?
As Mia and Henry become closer, Henry develops feelings for Mia, but she's still unable to love. When Henry can't have what he wants, he decides to move back to London with his agent and friend, Trina Michaels. Mia may lose him forever, and she's faced with having the clarity to chase after Henry or let him walk away. Which will she choose?

 
Chasing Clarity will be out in February 2015

Author Bio:
Author Sylvia Stein began her path to writing when she joined the Writer's Group on Linked in 750 in 2012.
She continued her journey by creating short stories, which were published, in the Giant tales Anthology series.
While obtaining her Masters degree at Southern New Hampshire University online author Stein built a solid foundation with her colleagues who encouraged her to continue on her writing. That's when Closure was born.
Closure was published this past July 2014. Now author Stein is working hard to bring you her latest YA novel entitled Chasing Clarity. This novel will be out in February 2015. "This will be another one of many books I hope to bring you."

 

Throwback Thursday: Thanksgiving Memories

    Since it is Thanksgiving I figured it's fitting to do a Throwback Thursday about Thanksgiving Memories. But where to begin is the hard part to decide, but I'm sure I can think of a suitable starting point. So as I'm often saying without further ado on with the show.

    My first memories of Thanksgiving are of grand dinners at my grandparents' house, with a ton of hustle and bustle around it. There was a huge turkey and all the trimmings and vegetables associated with it. All the family on my dad's side came to dinner on that day. All my uncles, great uncles, and great grandparents, on top of my dad and grandparents. It was a huge feast and afterward football was always on the TV that afternoon. I usually ended up falling asleep during the game since I was so young and not really into it at that age.

    I remember one year at my grandparents' that my grandmother got the grease for the gravy too hot and it caught fire. My dad couldn't get the cover on, and somehow he mixed up baking soda with baking powder (note: You use baking soda for grease fires). So then being the guy he is, he picked up the flaming grease pot and walked it outside and dumped it in the snow. It was one of the most exciting Thanksgivings ever in my life.

    Otherwise Thanksgiving has been pretty dull for me. Other than switching from my grandparents' to my mom's house as I got older. Up until last year everything had gone smoothly. Last year I was spending a few days at my mom's for Thanksgiving and everything was going smoothly and I was online. So I was online and suddenly I hear from the kitchen it's baking soda right. And I'm like what. And my mom is like the stove is on fire, it's baking soda right. I'm like yes, yes it's baking soda. And my mom put out the stove. Apparently my mom had spilled bacon grease on the stove and it caught the stove on fire. It was crazy, but it was the only crazy thing that happened that Thanksgiving.

    But even as the majority of my Thanksgivings have been dull so to speak they have always been good and spent with family, and that is the important thing to me. Thanksgiving will always be good to me as long as it is spend gathered around a table with people who I love and love me. I hope your Thanksgiving has been a good one and I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. *Tips hat and walks out the door*.

Story Thursday: Dear Professor

 

    Now I know I normally do writing prompts on Friday, but it's been awhile, and I wanted to flex my creative muscles on one right away. So I figured why not share it with you, my readers, even on a Thursday. Today's prompt is dear Teacher I can explain, but I changed it to dear Professor I can explain since I'm in college. I hope you'll enjoy it, and without further ado on with the show.

Prompt: Dear Teacher/Professor I can explain…..

 

Dear Professor,

    I can explain why my final paper has not made it onto your desk honest. You see I'm writing to you from Federal Prison, so I couldn't exactly write up the final paper from where I am. But you're probably wondering how I got here. Well that is somewhat of a long story. You see I was doing the research for the final paper you had assigned us by looking through the University's Library. I have to say it was all pretty boring and mundane to me as I started out going through all those papers. Then one of them caught my eye, mentioning something about a military operation, so I clicked the link for the full paper.

And well somehow I stumbled into a secret CIA file trove that was still classified. I'm still trying to figure out how this happened. Well I was curious so I kept reading, but they must not have been important enough since nothing happened at that point. But then I kept following the files and finding more and more out. I was hooked and just couldn't stop reading. I'll admit I kind of lost track of what I was supposed to be doing since I was so wrapped up in all of these digital files, but can you really blame me.

I mean the files were all pretty straightforward military operations stuff and your standard CIA Operations stuff you'd expect to find. But then the files started getting weird. They started mentioning some town called Roswell, and the number 51 kept popping up a lot. Then the documents started getting more and more technical with scientific stuff that I just couldn't understand.

The warden here says normally I wouldn't be allowed to write any letters to the outside world but since I'm a college student he is making an exception. He says to make sure to tell you that my cell number is 51 and that somehow you'll understand what that means. He says once all the paperwork is done I'll be transferred to advance classes here for some sort of special degree. I'm not sure what that means, but I hope I can do as well as I've done in your class up until now. I want to thank you for being so patient, and understanding with me all these weeks and helping me learn the material.

In conclusion I do apologize for screwing up with the final paper, and hope you can forgive me. And I hope I have not worried the faculty too much. The good news is they let me keep my laptop with some upgrades just no open access to the internet. I think maybe I have to earn that. I hope this letter finds you in good spirits and gives you some peace of mind as well as answers.

Sincerely,

Student 51.

07081947

Sunday Thoughts Yet Again

    So yeah it's been a hectic week of schoolwork or I would have gotten to laying out my plans for the end of the year, and for the beginning of next year sooner. Since I've already laid out the main problem pretty well, but you can expect more emotional posts from me still you can be sure of that. Those will keep coming up as the year finishes up and the new one starts.

    But also I'm going to get my office area in order, and start using my desk for at least a few hours a day starting today, and increasing it by a half hour roughly going forward. Plus I'm going to work on getting my filing caught up and keeping on top of it. I'll do that working with what I have starting today as well, and working in a new filing system after that. As well as personalizing my work area more with some more fun stuff to make it more fun to be sitting there.

    Then starting in January I'm locking myself in my house, and I'm quitting smoking cold turkey. For one month I will be detoxing and cleansing the house of all smoking paraphernalia from the house. It's long overdue and the time is now to get my health back on track. I will then gradually reintroduce myself to the outside world starting in February, still avoiding smoking situations as much as I can since it will be a potential temptation to me even then.

    Also starting in February I'm going to the local YMCA and getting a membership, so that I can start playing basketball at the very least. This way I will be at least doing something for exercise, which will help me to lose weight and further improve my health. As I said above the time is now to get my health back on track. To add to that, it's time to make me the me I want the world to see.

    Now that isn't all I'm doing coming into the New Year either. Coming into May I'm redoing my wardrobe a bit if not sooner. It is time this man went back into jeans where he belongs. It's time to strut my stuff and be proud of who I am and show the world I'm not ashamed of myself at all.

    And all of this is going to be hard I know with my issues of not feeling that I've earned it and not feeling worthy of it. So expect some interesting blog entries. But I also have wonderful friends and family (not necessarily blood to be family either) who are supporting me in this. And I refuse to back down, because I'm not content with my life as it is now. Therefore I have to change it to how I want it to be, and these are the first steps.     So buckle up because it will be a bumpy ride. *Tips hat and walks out the door*

Story Friday Sort Of

    This is a little different than Story Friday it's more like Saturday Thoughts in some sense. There is no writing prompt just a story about me as I express my feelings here. So maybe it is a combination of Saturday Thoughts and Throwback Thursday this week. But I wanted to get it out of my system and onto the paper since realizing it.

    You see I keep putting things off that I need or want to do, and it struck me that for a great many of them it is because I feel I have not earned them. It goes back to childhood where I was always told I had to wait till Christmas time or I hadn't gotten high enough grades to get something. Or I wasn't old enough to earn that right yet. Some of these are normal I know, but they all just sort of snowballed on me. I think the one that did it the most was not having high enough grades for some stuff.

    So now I put off going out to see friends if not enough writing or school work is done because I haven't earned the right to have a social life in my mind outside of my online social life. I put off certain purchases because I haven't earned the right to have it yet. I don't have new furniture because I put it off, because I'm poor I only deserve hand me downs till I can pull my own weight and earn the right to have new furniture. Though this is changing starting with my office. But it is still a battle since I have trouble sitting at my desk partially due to my desk chair and partially due to feeling like I have no right to sit at it because I haven't earned the right to yet.

    Hell I keep putting off redoing my wardrobe and going back to jeans because I feel like I haven't earned the right because I'm close to 400 lbs. so I should be in sweat pants. But I put off getting a gym membership of any sort because only working people have a right to that sort of thing so I haven't earned that right either since I'm only a student. I keep smoking because deep down I don't believe I've earned the right to be healthy like other people, like I'm paying the penalty for some age old crime.

    So now I've seen the problem what do I do about it. I could just roll over and let it be. Or I could crawl into a bottle and let it consume me. Or I can try to fight against it. The only way I will lose is if I give in. I've made a lot of breakthroughs about how and why I think and act a certain way over the last year or so. And thanks to my friend Jeni I've also gained a lot of confidence. I have hope and confidence that this New Year is going to bring about some new changes. So buckle up and get ready for one wild right folks. *Tips his hat and walks out the door*.