It's Nearly Here! by Victoria Chatham

AVAILABLE HERE

OK, I admit it. I'm a sucker for Christmas. Admittedly there have been a few years when Christmas has lost some of it's meaning, but the older I get, the more I appreciate it. 

It's not so much the tree and the trimmings, or the food and the wine, but the realization that without the company of family and friends at this particular time of year we are somehow at a loss. 

My family is far away but I can still see them and talk to them because of Skype.  An e-mail can garner an almost immediate response and Messenger can help reconnect people who may have lost touch. Moving to a new location, whether it be a new house or a new country, often meant that someone's address got lost in the transfer, or maybe they had moved, too, and the notifications crossed in the mail. There could be a hundred and one reasons that people lost touch but now, unless they don't want to be found, that reconnection is not impossible.

Today is my daughter's birthday, so I called her as I usually do. We talked for not too long as she was at work (she manages a jewelry store in the UK) and we briefly discussed the family gathering we had in October when I went home for a visit. My cousin was home from Australia, an Uncle and another cousin were home from France and the cousin who hosted the family get-together and I had not seen each other for thirty years. We talked about our childhood Christmases spent at our grandmother's house when, post-war, we got a stocking

containing an orange, chocolate and nuts, and one or two gifts and thought ourselves incredibly well provided for. 

I think back to other Christmases when my children had so many gifts their father and I had to hold some of them back. The Christmases when someone finished up in tears because they didn't get what they wanted, or someone hadn't done what they said they would do, or the sheer exhaustion of getting everything ready for the table and having the turkey and whatever went with it all served hot at the same time. 

For me, Christmas is not to be found in the stores, but in the hearts of people. It's in the enjoyment of their pleasure and company and the hope of a happier and healthier New Year for one all. 

So enjoy the season, celebrate it as you may, and look forward with hope to what 2018 may bring.

Victoria Chatham

www.facebook.com/AuthorVictoriaChatham

http://victoriachatham.blogspot.ca

http://bookswelove.net/authors/chatham-victoria/

https://twitter.com/vchathamauthor

Perseverance

Perseverance 

CRG Consulting, one of our customers, gifted me a calendar. Not your usual muscle cars or Canadian scenes (beautiful though they are) but a calendar of positive thoughts. I opened it at random to July, which spookily enough was the very page I needed to read:

‘I’m convinced

that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs

from the non-successful ones is

pure perseverance.’

STEVE JOBS

Sourcing something, even an idea, that I need to perform a required task is an intuitive (woo-woo) thing that drives my wife crazy. One day you’ll probably hear of the candle snuffer, but that’s a story for another blog.
Today’s blog, however, is about writing. How many great literary classics that could change lives, or even entire generations, lie on a shelf or in the confines of a computer file somewhere?
Forgotten…
…because the writer never believed in themselves. One or two rejections were enough and they simply gave up.
Sadly, I guess we’ll never know.

Early every morning, steaming coffee in hand, caffeine dancing its merry way around my system as I await its full effect so I can get writing, I sit before a poster entitled, oddly enough, Perseverance. A man sitting before a piano, pages of discarded drafts scattered by his feet, in a room all alone.

“Great works are performed not by strength,

but by perseverance.”

Samuel Johnson.

 If it weren’t for perseverance Stephen King’s "Carrie" would not have seen the light of day, dumped into the trash along with the words, "I give up. I'm going to stick to being a teacher."
Although the perseverance in question was not his but his wife’s. "You tell me you're a writer. Dust off that blown, crumpled and withered ego and put it out there. AGAIN."
The very next publisher accepted the book, otherwise only the children of some Eastern American state would know him at all, and as only a stuffy English teacher to boot.
War and Peace, the great literary classic by Leo Tolstoy, was rejected by over a hundred publishers.
Dr. Suess of Cat in the Hat fame did give up. Fortunately he left his rough draft to be found by a fellow during a house party, who just happened to work at a publishing house. The rest is simply Green Eggs and Ham.
A mother frequents a warm, dry café somewhere in England, nursing one cup of lukewarm coffee. Seven years after graduating from university, her marriage failed, jobless with a dependent child, suffering clinical depression and contemplating suicide she signed up for welfare assistance to try to make ends meet. But despite all this she knew in her heart she was a writer. How easy it would have been to give up and then the world would never have met Harry Potter.
I went through 398 rejections before my first novel got accepted. That’s not giving up (although it is a very humbling experience.)
Joanne Rowling’s soul, like mine and yours, keeps crying out; you’re a writer. You can’t look yourself in a mirror knowing you’ve given up.
For that blank page beckons you, oh so seductively, to keep writing.
And the pen never sleeps.

Purchase At Amazon

Purchase At Amazon

Purchase At Amazon

Sincerely

Frank Talaber

twosoulmates@shaw.ca

Frank Talaber’s Writing Style? He usually responds with: Mix Dan Millman (Way of The Peaceful Warrior) with Charles De Lint (Moonheart) and throw in a mad scattering of Tom Robbins (Even Cowgirls Get The Blues). 
PS: He’s better looking than Stephen King (Carrie, The Stand, It, The Shining) and his romantic stuff will have you gasping quicker than Robert James Waller (Bridges Of Madison County).

Or as is often said: You don’t have to be mad to be a writer, but it sure helps.

Also look for my next novel: The Joining, coming out in early 2018.
Carol Ainsworth goes undercover to the Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC. Where two mafia clans are meeting for a supposed wedding. Only they are waking up all the ghosts in Victoria, and believe me, there's a lot of ghosts in Victoria. You'll also meet hunky Jake Holden and Tony Belleti. Both have the hots for Carol. You'll also meet psychic, Agnes Van Lunt, elderly lady madder than a raccoon on a dog sled.  

My novels on Amazon are at:  https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Talaber/e/B00UC407R0

https://www.facebook.com/FrankTalaber/ (My author's facebook page)

https://www.facebook.com/franktalaberpublishedauthor/  (My facebook short story page)

  http://bwlpublishing.ca/authors/talaber-frank/

My twitter page:   https://twitter.com/FrankTalaber

Travel with Me to the Rose Parade, Pasadena, California by J.Q. Rose

Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose
Mystery, paranormal
Click here to find JQ's books at BWL Publishing

Hello and welcome to the Books We Love Insiders' Blog!

Travel with Me to the Rose Parade, Pasadena, California 

by J.Q.  Rose

All photos taken by J.Q. Rose

In 2013, our Christmas present to each other was a trip to the traditional New Year's Day Rose Parade  in Pasadena, California. On January 1, 2014 the parade celebrated its 125th year. Sit back and enjoy the parade!!

Roses galore

Dreams Come True was the theme of the 2014 Rose Parade. That theme certainly fit our situation because it was our dream to actually attend the parade one day. Finally, in June, my hubby announced he was ordering the airline tickets to Pasadena, California, and to the Rose Parade! This trip was even better than we had ever imagined. The people, places, and even the weather, was delightful. I only wish I could share all 1000 pictures with you, but, um, no, I won't. Only 900?? LOL!

This unique parade did not begin as the elaborate high tech- jaw-dropping extravaganza we now know. Instead this new year tradition began in 1890 by Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club. According to the Rose Parade Guide, "the members wanted to promote the "Mediterranean of the West" so they invited their former East Coast neighbors to watch games such as chariot races, foot races, polo, and tug-of-war under the California sun.

"The abundance of flowers, even in the midst of winter, prompted the club to add another showcase for Pasadena's charm: a parade to precede the competition, where entrants would decorate their carriages with hundreds of blooms".

My favorite flower-roses!

The tradition of floral be-decked entries into the Tournament of Roses Parade continues, but now on a much larger scale. Flowers and natural materials from all over the world cover every inch of the floats. No paint allowed. Only nature's true colors add the excitement and texture to the elaborate designs.

We visited the float building areas and watched the organized chaos of this huge operation mostly done by volunteers. The tedious process of gluing on each petal or seed, yes tiny seeds, boggled my mind. 

Teen volunteers gluing on flower petals to the opening Rose Parade float. All generations work together to decorate the floats. Kids through senior citizens offer their skills.

These folks are tearing up straw flowers.

The volunteer brushes on glue, then sprinkles the petals in the box all over the gluey section.

Three locations offered views of the decorators in action. I was worried the floats would not be ready by step-off time at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, January 1. When we visited the sites on Monday morning, a lot of the seeds and grasses were glued on, but the delicate flowers had to wait till the last minute to be fresh for the parade judges. So, the volunteers work all day and all night. Such dedication. By the way, the floats were all done in time!

Okay, get ready. The parade is about to begin!

The United States Air Force Thunderbirds zoomed down the parade route thrilling parade viewers.

Opening banner to kick off the parade. This is the float the teens were working on in the picture above. Finished it too!!

A salute to a famous dreamer, Henry Ford. Behind is a rendition of the Spirit of St. Louis honoring dreamer Charles Lindbergh. 

City of Glendale Let's Be Neighbors. The float is based on a real bear who kept coming down into Glendale and raiding the trash cans.

The marauding bear earned the name of Meatball because he always ate the meatballs.
He wouldn't stay in the mountains, so they had to move him to a preserve. 
I wonder if they serve him meatballs there.

So Close, Yet Safari Away

TheK9s4Cops dedicated its float to the heroic K9 law enforcement units across America and to those who serve and protect our communities. This non-profit organization donates highly trained dogs to agencies who otherwise could not afford them.

A salute to the WWII Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) 

These cute kitties are riding the RFD-TV float, You Make My Dreams Come True. 

RFD-TV float

Gorgeous, elegant float. Of course, it's Beverly Hills. 

Sea World Park's Sea of Surprises

Adorable candy train

These 3 aliens surprised parade viewers by driving out of the space ship and traveling along the parade route. This was a first in parade history!

Wonderful Indonesia--This float got my vote for the most dazzling and exotic float.

Photos never can give the viewer the complete picture of this amazing design.

Monster truck--Had to take a lot of pictures of this monster truck for the grandkids! 
Made me giggle.

Trader Joes, a grocery store in CA, Relish Your Dreams. It's a relish dish with cheeses and olives, etc.
A pickle followed along behind it. So clever.

Butterflies fluttered among the colorful flowers.

The dogs have stolen the dog catcher's truck in this animated float. 
One of the most humorous floats

Yep, he's running after them. What do you think? Can he catch them??

Have no doubt. Your dreams can come true too.

Thanks for visiting. Do you have a dream that came true? If so, please leave a comment saying yes. If you wish to share the dream with us, please do. 

Wishing you Happy Holidays! from J.Q. Rose