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Book Review: Norma Jean’s Sun by Kris Courtney

Gloria Oren — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 14:01:35 +0000

Norma Jean’s Sun
Kris Courtney
Charleston, SC
Harvard Girl Word Services
First edition
2009
287 pages
$19.95
ISBN: 05780205099 or 978-0578020594

“It took every ounce of medical training and experience for
the doctor to summon the courage [to tell the parents] the
circumstances demanded.”

Norma had what anyone could call a normal birthing, but it
was far from being normal. She was frustrated that she
couldn’t see her child. Why? What was wrong with him? Why
wouldn’t they show him to her? It seems that the doctor required
time to contemplate the best way to relate all the medical issues
the infant presented with, not an easy thing for the doctor to do,
sometimes. In addition, he had to consider the parents, how
would they respond to what he tells them.

The doctor presented the following picture of the infant – “a
fetal congenital disfigurement of all external limbs and members
associated,” no extension or tendon in knee and ankle, no toes,
ninety degree inward curved foot, shifted organs, and would
need multiple corrective surgeries. How would you as a new
parent respond to news like this? I would probably have fallen
apart. Not Norma Jean, though, she put all her heart into caring
for her son.

A roller coaster life of surgeries, moves, his dad leaving and a
new dad coming into the picture, yet with all that, after all that
he’s gone through Kris emerged sane and even with a sense of
humor. After all what young lad who had to deal with what Kris
dealt with would set out to sell shoes? To Kris it was excitement
of an additional opportunity. To be able to find the positive in
all things is a virtue and one that Kris bears well.

Kris Courtney is a true artist who paints his world in words. He
wrote this book as a tribute to the grandmother and the mother he
loved. His picture is one of hardship and suffering that would make
many cringe, but amazingly Kris looks on the bright side of life and
the positive side in all things.

I’m honored to have met Kris through his book, and to have the
opportunity to review it. By purchasing his book you will not only
make him happy, but you’ll also be supporting research for
Parkinson’s Disease and Colon Cancer, the illnesses that killed his
grandmother and mother, as a percentage of the sales profit is going
toward these causes.

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Book Review–Mom’s Story: a Child Learns About MS by Mary Jo Nickum

Gloria Oren — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:11:35 +0000

Mary Jo Nickum
Mom’s Story: a Child Learns About MS
Chalet Publishers, 2009, 74 pages, $9.95
ISBN: 978-098408365-7
Fiction

“I found Mom sitting on the floor and I rushed
to her as she started to get up.”

Amy, the youngest child of three children was
worried, scared, and puzzled about what was
happening to her mother. First she had fallen,
then she dropped a plate of food, and complained
of eye pain. Something was wrong, Amy knew
this but didn’t know what.

Kelly and Tony, Amy’s twin siblings were worried
too. They all hoped the doctors could find what
was causing all of these changes in their mother.

Sent to a neurologist for testing, Amy’s mother
was finally given an answer. She had Multiple
Sclerosis (MS) and would have to make certain
adjustments but she wasn’t going to die. This
news was a great relief for all three youngsters
and her husband.

This is a book every parent with MS needs. It
provides a clear explanation which a child can
understand.

Nickum’s style is simple and clear in words a
young reader can grasp. I loved the way Nickum
shows a frightened young child facing the unknown
that is taking place right in front of them. Although
this is a book for children, I learned a lot
about MS.

Red Hot Internet Publicity: an insider’s guide to marketing

Gloria Oren — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:23:52 +0000

Penny C. Sansevieri
Red Hot Internet Publicity: an insider’s guide to marketing
your book on the Internet
Cosimo Books, 2009, 275 pages, $18.95
ISBN: 978-1-60520-724-7
(Nonfiction, publicity, marketing)

“Nowadays, it’s no longer a matter of whether you can
get published, it’s a matter of getting you book noticed.”

Sansevieri covers everything an author needs to plan a
successful publicity campaign. Red Hot Internet Publicity
covers everything from A to Z: from understanding social
media, to taking your book on tour on the Net, to building
an effective Website and all the way to automation.

It is always good to use more than one source as a
reference, but if you can’t afford more than one, this is
the one to get.

Sansevieri tells us that the trick to effective manipulation of
the Net is to find your potential customers by interesting
them in your book because it’s what they wanted to begin
with. Today this is best done by using Web 2.0, the
consumer driven Net. The important thing is to create
consumer buzz, toot your horn in the right places and
the media will catch up with you.

Working on a website and can’t decide what colors to
use? Let Sansevieri solve your problem with the color
guide in her book. Colors send messages so use them
accordingly.

Most important is to remember to take it step by step.
follow the steps in this book and you’re sure to see a
change. Now I’m off to walk the talk, and follow the
traffic driving tasks to increase traffic to my revised sites.

I previously took this workshop topic presented by the
author at the Muse Online Writers Conference and later
at the Willamette Writers Conference. I had to have this
wonderful resource so I could turn to it whenever I have
a question about something related to publicity. I highly
recommend this as the “Bible of Publicity” which should
find a place in every writer’s bookshelf.

Visit Penny Sansevieri at

Thank You Lea Schizas @ Yahoo! Video

As we approach the Muse Online Conference 2009 I’d like to share this

Gloria Oren — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:40:10 +0000

From the 5th annual Readers and Authors Get Together 2009: Agents and Editors share their thoughts on pitching. Enjoy.

Repost: Book Review: Pursuit of Light by Sandy Brewer

Gloria Oren — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:00:07 +0000

Sandy Brewer
Pursuit of Light: An Extraordinary Journey
Peach Tree House, 2007, 224 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 978-0-9796554-4-9
(Self-help, Memoir, Inspirational)

“Every moment is a choice, and every choice reverberates . . .
Every moment presents an opportunity to ‘pay it forward’.”

Abuse is not a chosen lifestyle for the child placed there by
the abuser. Sandy Brewer relates the trauma of rejection and
abuse she lived through as a child, and how she chose to reach
a better life where, eventually, she found love and acceptance.

When faced with a situation, in this case abuse based on
rejection by her mother, the way out is by choice. Either
choosing to succumb to the abuse, or to follow the line of abuse
and grow to be an abuser as well, or to come to terms with
oneself, and choose to overcome the abusive environment to
reach the light, the other way of life—the environment of being
loved and accepted by others. But how is this done? For one, it
demands courage, and lots of it. Sandy was a very courageous child,
who withstood harsh, brutal beatings and verbal abuse from her mother.
To be able to bear it is hard to comprehend.

From being kicked and flung into the wall at the age of two, to
being forced by a father to drink a ‘poisoned’ drink, Brewer’s
willpower to survive pulled her through. Yet with all she went
through as a child, she was able to find the courage and
determination to end the familial cycle of abuse, one she was
determined not to pass on to her future generations.

Brewer uses a technique of flashbacks to take the reader back to
her abusive childhood. By doing so, she is telling two stories
side-by-side: the first story is the one of her horrific childhood living
in an abusive environment, the second her life as an adult and her
journey out of the dark into the light. Brewer is proof that miracles happen.

I liked the way I was drawn to keep reading, the realization of
questioning what else could possibly follow as if this (whatever was
mentioned) wasn’t bad enough. I found a connection to the uncertainty
an adoptee experiences, even in the best stable and peaceful family
surroundings, where Brewer writes, “. . . I was aware of the blank,
missing pieces of my life. I just didn’t know what they were, and I had no
one to turn to, no one to ask about it. . . “

The heavy use of dialogue throughout helps us see the characters
much more in depth than had she chosen to use simple prose. The
combination of lessons Brewer intends to teach the reader weaved
into the story line makes for an easy read of a very disturbing and
otherwise difficult to read subject.

I highly recommend that every new parent read Brewer’s book to
experience the effects of parental abuse on children and hope it will
lead to the correct choice, and an end to parental abuse. The world
will be a better place to live if only this could be achieved.

To learn more about the author and the book visit

www.PusuitOfLight.com.

What do you think–is parental abuse a cycle passed on from
generation to generation? Have you read this book? Leave a
comment or questions for Sandy below.

Till next time,

Gloria

Repost: Writing link: The Etymology Dictionary

Gloria Oren — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:00:17 +0000

Have you ever wondered what lies behind a word, not
just the meaning found in a dictionary, but its history
or story of how it came to be? That’s where etymology
comes in.

Check out the Etymology Dictionary.

For example, take the word “gadget”, this is what it says:

“1886, gadjet (but said to date back to 1850s), sailors’
slang word for any small mechanical thing or part of a ship
for which they lacked, or forgot, a name. . . .”

or “happy hour”–”early evening period of discount drinks and
free hors-d’oeuvres at a bar” is first recorded 1961.”

Hmm . . . Wonder what it was called before 1961. Anyone want
to give a guess? Leave a comment. Also check it out. Find
something you’d like to share, post a comment.

Till next time
Gloria

Repost: Introducing Shechinah Third Temple, Inc. and Jerry Pollock, Ph.D,

Gloria Oren — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:00:49 +0000

My good friend Cheryl Malandrinos asked me to help spread
the word about this new book and organization. Since I was
ill for about a month with pneumonia and am in the last
minute stage of arranging my daughter’s wedding I offered to
post something on my blog in lieu of an interview.

Jerry Pollock, President of the organization, wrote a book called
Messiah Interviews: Belonging to God, which he describes as follows:

“The protagonist must satisfy his biblical interviewers?the angel Gabriel,
Methuselah, Chanoch, Seth, King David, Moses, Jacob, Abraham, and the
prophet Isaiah?and prove that he has the wisdom and character to be the
Messiah. As the tale unfolds, the challenges of the interviews go beyond
the protagonist and become relevant to the lives of each one of us.”

Here is an excerpt from the book:
The Archangel Michael is speaking in Heaven:

“We have deliberately chosen a sinner: you, Yoseph, who has
knowingly cheated in science. Yet, you have publicly repented
and confessed your sins to your Stony Brook University
administration; and sent letters of apology to the former
institutions that you attended. Moreover, you have expressed
your heartfelt remorse and your sincere regrets for all of your
sinful actions in your published book, Divinely Inspired: Spiritual
Awakening of a Soul, for all to see. We have intentionally chosen
someone who has suffered horrifically, yet has the potential through
his suffering to look inside and understand human nature. We also
have especially not chosen a tzaddik, the wisest, most righteous,
and perfect of men. We are testing the potential of a simple imperfect
man. If you succeed in answering our questions, you will become King
Messiah, and return to earth to take your place at the End of Days.
If our assessment of you is that you are not the person, we had in
mind, and then we will have failed once again in finding the true Messiah.”

Profits from the sale of this book will be used for charity. To learn
more visit www.shechinahthirdtemple.org

Till next time,

Gloria

Repost: The English Language and Spelling

Gloria Oren — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:00:52 +0000

Modern science provided us with a universal method of studying
and mastering any subject. This method, highly successful in
music, wasn’t applied to language because there was a fixed
method of language study in existence long before modern
science appeared. The problem with that old system — it was
invented to apply to languages with mechanical systems of
endings, by which word relationships were indicated, not the
case with English.

English depends mostly on the arrangement of words, and the
key is logical relationship. The student of the English language
must master the logic of sentence structure or word relations.
As for spelling, the irregularities of the English language seem to
have driven us to one sole method — memorizing. To memorize
every word in a language is an unthinkable task.

Language is just as much a natural growth as trees, rocks, or
human bodies, and can have no more irregularities, even in the
spelling, than these have. Science would laugh at the idea of
memorizing every single form of tree, rock, or human body. It
looks for fundamental laws, classifies and groups, having a limit
so it can be mastered. Can this be the solution for mastering
spelling?

Grammar has seven fundamental logical relationships, and when
these are mastered with their chief modifications and combinations,
we know the essence of grammar as if we knew the name of every
possible combination those seven relationships might have.

The mastery of the English language is almost the task of a lifetime,
since only a few easy lessons won’t have an effect. We must make
it a habit of study that will grow as we grow.

Mastering English spelling is a serious journey. First, because the one
to three thousand words spelled in irregular ways must be memorized.
The easiest way would be to classify them as much as possible and
associate those in a way that will help us remember them. Second,
homonyms (words pronounced alike but spelled differently) can be
studied only in relation to their meaning, since it’s the meaning and
the grammatical use in sentences that is the key to the correct form.
So studying spelling means going beyond the mere mechanical
association of the letters that make up the word. Third, the list of
exceptions is so big that we get discouraged as most of these
exceptions are words used every day. If so, what is the use of
having rules anyway?

To begin this task one should begin with the common irregular words
and commit them to memory. The problem of how to do so effectively
begins with those writing spelling textbooks. The problem — mixing
regular with irregular words, common with uncommon and inserting
hard, long words that are used less frequently. These books are little
more that lists of words, and anyone can make lists of common, easy
words so a spelling book with such lists wouldn’t seem worth the money.
But teachers seek the easy way out and simply use these books to
teach by assigning the next page on a regular basis. To change this
and improve the spelling of future generations the chief objective should
be to acquire two habits: 1) observing articulate sounds (what happened
to phonics? wasn’t that what phonics did?) and 2) observing word forms
in reading.

Children can be taught to train the ear by giving utterance to
\each sound in a word, by carefully pronouncing words in
reading aloud. So instead of having a parent always read to the
child, why not share the reading so the child has more
opportunities to practice pronouncing words. Don’t let the child
continue after a mispronounced word, correct him/her and have
him/her repeat it. Only then will the child be trained to hear the
word in the right way. Teachers should speak clearly with clear
pronunciation as the teacher is the true medium of the child’s
learning, not the use of diacritical marks in the dictionary.

Adults can train the ear by reading poetry aloud, trying to
harmonize the sense and the rhythm rather than the sing-song
style.

But the most effective way to learn spelling is to train the eye
to carefully observe the forms of the words in newspapers and
books. But how does one do so? The observation of the general
form of a word isn’t the observation that teaches spelling. The
student must observe every letter in a word. But there is a
problem with this too – there’s a limit to the powers of memory.

For example, in spelling books the list of words may contain
words ending in “ise,” “ize.” or “yse.” This doesn’t tell us which is
which or when to use each. If, on the other hand, we’re told that
“ize” is the common ending, “ise” is the ending of thirty-one words,
and “yse” the ending of three or four, we can memorize the few
exceptions only, making the task easier.

When it comes to regular words the laws we can state with
certainty are few — namely doubling consonants, dropping silent
e’s, changing y’s to i’s, accenting certain syllables, and lengthening
or shortening vowels. Teachers who ignore these principles and fail
to teach them and spelling books that fail to address them are the
source of failure to learn correct spelling.

Students should be drilled on these until they become second
nature as is done in math with the multiplication tables. Unless
they are taught what the regular principles are, they can’t know
how a word should regularly be spelled.

What method was used to teach you spelling?

Were the basic principles heavily drilled in school?

Are you a good speller? If not, what words give you the most problems?

Till next time,

Gloria

Repost: Happy Birthday to Me [6-12-08]

Gloria Oren — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:38 +0000

Well today I turn 53 and my daughter graduates from University on Saturday.

Am I feeling old? You bet. Where have all those years gone?

The last four just seemed to whip by in such haste.

Yet I can’t fool anyone, not even myself, the age itself isn’t old, it’s the body’s feeling and what it has had to deal with that makes me feel that way today.

Last June I had a spinal fusion and was out of work for six weeks recovering. A reward for that was a trip to the East Coast (Washington D.C., New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

A month ago I said goodbye to the rest of the teeth on my lower jaw which were replaced with an over denture. It has been a nightmare since. First of all I was supposed to be able to eat normally within two to three weeks, but now, more than a month this is still not happening. I have lost extra weight and am not happy about it. I need to be at least 6 lbs more than I currently am. Second there were supposed to be only two or three adjustments to the over denture but I have been going in on a weekly basis. Seems that once it is adjusted and feels good, I go home and try to eat dinner, the next day or two it shifts again and doesn’t feel right. Third with my daughter’s graduation and a hectic few months ahead I shouldn’t have to be thinking about this.

So remember the song “I’ll cry if I want to”, well with tears of frustration, and of joy, I will allow myself to cry if and when I want to and try to enjoy my birthday as best I can.

Have a great day.

Till next time,

Gloria