The Blog

“Congratulations!” the email said. “It is a great pleasure to announce that you have been selected as a Book Excellence Award Finalist for the following book and category: Women’s Wisdom: Pass It On! in the Personal Growth/Development Category. There were hundreds of entries from around the world and your book was selected for its high quality writing, design and market …

Have you ever been caught speechless? I certainly have. Even though I taught elementary school, college classes, and conducted business seminars, I was comfortable only as long as I had a lesson plan. But impromptu or socially? My fear of unplanned speaking was limiting my life! I could have saved myself a lot of grief  by joining Toastmasters International decades …

Altruism has been abundantly in view during the Harvey and Irma disasters. People with shallow-draft boats, for instance, went wherever needed to rescue those in danger from fast-rising floods. Kindness was exhibited to scared adults and children alike. Pets were handled gently by those who knew their value to families. Divisions disappeared; there was no room for racial issues for …

I found my life purpose. Have you? Some people are born knowing what they are supposed to do, like my sister, Carol, who always wanted to be a nurse. I always knew I did not want to be a nurse! Our life lines look very different, hers a straight line and mine an upside down pyramid. How did I eventually …

“I lost my purpose after I retired. My children were grown and gone and my husband traveled a lot, so who cared if I started drinking at noon?” After thirty-two years in the workplace, Ava (not her real name) found herself adrift and soon an alcoholic. Her son stopped by the house on his way to work one morning to …

“I had to face my fear,” Alicia said after giving her Icebreaker – or first – speech at Toastmasters this morning. “At least I didn’t throw up on anybody.” She has been in my club for about five months, putting up every excuse imaginable for not tackling the first project. Why was she even in the club? Her boss sent …

Life-changing crisis. That’s the only way to describe what happened to my husband on July 29, 1967. He was off the coast of Vietnam on the carrier USS Forrestal, in a plane on the flight deck and ready for launch. A Zuni rocket from another plane accidentally fired, racing across the deck and hitting the fuel tank of an A-4 …

Rejection is painful. Just because it’s a normal part of life doesn’t make it any easier to deal with, either. Is there anything you can do to help yourself recover? First, rejection is a loss, so allow yourself to grieve. When my “perfect” book proposal was rejected, I quit writing for a week, allowing myself time to absorb the professional …

“Self-worth, that I have value,” Kelly responded quickly. I had asked, “What was most meaningful to you out of the topics we covered?” It was the end of our five sessions together at Pathways for Change, and I wanted a sense of what was important  to the women. Because of drug or alcohol use/addiction, their children were in foster care …

Feeling rejected? Whether professional or personal, I know how painful it is. Professional. When submitting my book’s manuscript to agents in hopes of finding one to represent me, it was difficult to stay motivated enough to continue writing while receiving a steady stream of rejection letters. Or worse, no response at all. When I followed every single step of an …