Chris Raabe's Blog, page 4

Bookworm has my books in stock

I just dropped off books at the Bookworm. 8702 Pacific Street in Omaha. 402-392-2877 to see if they have your copy of The New Phenomenon, On the Run, or End Game. The ones i dropped off are autographed.

END GAME is now available! Get the final book of The Phenomenon Trilogy today!

HE IS NOT WHO THEY THOUGHT HE WAS.

Christian, Sam, Ray, and Alexis are in grave danger.  One man will stop at nothing to keep the four teens prisoner forever.

Just when all hope is lost, their world is turned upside down once more.  Help comes from an unlikely source, but have they really regained their freedome, or have they just traded one captor for another?  The danger looming around them is greater than ever before as they risk everything to bring an end to their enemy’s deadly game.

Not in Omaha area – Purchase the book HERE! If you are in the Omaha area, see below for a way to get your autographed copy.

Purchase the ebook for Kindle HERE!

END GAME is available for purchase.  If you live in Omaha and can’t wait for a local book signing later this month, contact Melanie at melanie@chrisraabe.net or you can fill out the form below.

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Book signing in Red Oak for End Game

Saturday, June 29 from 1-3. Come see author Chris Raabe and get the final book of The Phenomenon Trilogy. We will be at the Pudgy Pumpkin for Junction Days. All three books will be available for purchase.

For those in Omaha, we are working on multiple signing so you can get your autographed copy on End Game.

Be sure you have read 1 and 2 before 3 is released this month

Book 1, The New Phenomenon, and book 2, On the Run, are both available on Kindle and in print form.

Click here to get your rereleased print copy of The New Phenomenon.

Click here to get On The Run.

END GAME – coming soon!

 

We are planning a June release for the final installment of THE PHENOMENON TRILOGY.  Remember to get your free download of THE NEW PHENOMENON today. (May 28 only)

 Coming June 2013!

Free download of The New Phenomenon

The New Phenomenon is free to download on Kindle today (May 27) and tomorrow (May 28). Please download now! It is my way to say thanks! Spread the word. Book for all ages. Tell your friends to download The New Phenomenon by Chris Raabe.

Where has the time gone?

  So little time and so much to write.  I can’t tell you how many times since Easter that I have planned to write a blog entry only to realize I was much too tired, worn out, hungry, busy, (blah blah blah).  Since my last entry, we have had so much happen and there has been so much gnawing at me, but alas, the time to write came and went.

  Even though recent events have taught me to slow down, say no, and enjoy those precious to me, I still feel like the hamster in the wheel.  And this weather!  A May Day snow in Omaha was too much. I was in the car with my oldest daughter for the daily trip to school when I said, “Oh, there is something you don’t see every May 1… a snowplow.”

  The weather has made our three daughters wait patiently for their spring sports to begin.  One has missed countless track meets due to rain, sleet and snow. With three meets under her belt, she will head to districts. Another has endured soccer tourney cancellations and league games rescheduled, only to be canceled a second time.

  Our youngest has entered the world of “outs” in softball.  This is the first year that she is either safe or out.  It’s a great lesson.  Life isn’t over when you’re out; it just means you’re out.  It’s a part of the game. Hm… Game (moment for quiet reflection).  I think we sometimes forget that we play sports because we enjoy them. Every kid started playing because he/she wanted to have fun.  A wonderful biproduct is that they teach us all sorts of good things that we should know for life’s journey.  What do sports teach us?

  Be active.  Excercise is good.

  You don’t always win.  There is always someone better than you, and even if there isn’t, you can still lose because on that day they were better than you.

  Never make excuses when you don’t win.  It’s not someone else’s fault.

  Competition is good.  Our country is founded on this principle, and I think we have a pretty darn good country.

  It’s the people that matter.  No one remembers the score a year from now, but the people live with us forever.

  Mistakes are good, if you look at them the right way.  Those who learn from their mistakes are the ones who win in the end.  No one started out playing a sport and doing it right from the start.

  Practice, practice, practice.  If you want to be good at something, it just doesn’t happen over night.  You have to be dedicated and work hard.

  Parents are the only people who can ruin youth sports.  I am going to say this in love… STOP IT!  And I am talking to myself as well.

  “KNOW YOUR ROLE, TO ACHIEVE THE GOAL.”

  Let the officials do the officiating, let the players play, let the coaches coach.  Parents, your job is to spectate, cheer, console, laugh, and help your child overcome failure, and your child will fail, and they will fail over and over and over.  If you don’t let them fail then you are doing your child a disservice.  Thomas Edison failed 1000 times before he got the light bulb right.  He must have played baseball as a first grader.

  I coach second grade girls softball, and most of the girls are actually in first grade.  We wanted to have them play up a division so they could be called out.  I have never seen so much failure in one spot in my life.  It is an hour of 80% failure, 5% success, and 15% dumb luck.  It’s like herding cats, and it is the most wonderful place on earth.  These pools of failure can be found in most parks this time of year.  Look for the kids in the colorful uniforms with team names like the Dragonflies, Battle Divas, or Pink Storm.  Their helmets don’t fit, and everyone has at least one shoe untied.

  The fields are brilliant green because every yellow dandelion has been picked clean by the outfielders.  The snacks and the pregame cheer are just as important as getting to bat, and the laughter from the stands of proud parents watching their children fail miserably floats on the breeze.

  Then something happens as they get older.  We start to keep score.  Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t like participation medals and a ribbon for everyone.  I am quite competitive.  I played college baseball and four sports in high school.  Mydaughters have that same passion. Well, not the first grader, yet.

  But the moment we start to keep score, well, things change, parents change.  Laughter turns to complaint.  Complaint about officials, coaching, playing time, who plays what position, and who made the error.  Parents turn on one another, and friendships fill with turmoil.  Been there, done that.  We as parents need to rise above the fray and lead by example.  Victory with honor is easy.  Losing with honor is more difficult.  Grace, that’s what we need more of.  Even though I am a parent, I still make mistakes, as all parents do.  I ask for grace.  I ask for forgiveness for my part in the negative side of youth sports, and I ask for those who know me to seek me out when I cross that line so I can remedy the situation.  Hey, I’m trying to teach my kids a life lesson. I make mistakes and ask forgiveness and I forgive those who hurt me. We all make mistakes, but not all of us learn from them.  That lesson of life will cost us in the end.

  That’s my two cents. (sorry, a little nostalgia for anyone out there who read my column for my college news paper.)

The Darkest Hour

  “Why do you write?”

  That question was posed to me by a youngster who doesn’t care much for writing.  I laughed and said, “Because the page is blank.  Blank pages aren’t much to look at, so I write on them to fill them up.  Do you like to draw?”  He nodded.  “Well, my style of art is writing.  I like to fill a page with words that paint pictures.”

  “That’s weird,” he responded, but that answer seemed to satisfy my little friend.

  It just so happened that after that conversation, I pulled a book off my shelf by a mentor of mine.  We haven’t spoken in a while, but I often ponder some of the things he taught me.  The book is called Facing the Blank Page, and it is a book of essays.  I know… essays… but if you read blogs, which you obviously do if you are reading this right now, you tend to read essays of some fashion.

  Really, each day is a blank page for us.  Our life is one long book with pages and pages of stories.  Some of the chapters in my book are covered with bright colorful words of great triumph and others are muddled in the gray gloom of hurt and pain.  You might even have a page or two of pitch black, a period of tremendous grief and heartache.

  I have had my share of those pages, more than I care to remember, but there is still something special about those pages.  Those darkest moments in our lives tend to be followed by some of the greatest victories.

  There is a story I hear time and time again about one of those moments in time, a darkest hour.  It involved a man who laid down his life for others.  He was ridiculed, beaten, mocked, and flogged.  Then some soldiers tied him to a cross and drove nails through his hands and feet.  A crown of thorns was placed on his head, probably smashed down onto his head, actually.  He experienced immense pain and suffering for you and for me.  It was the darkest hour of our human history, but… three days later He rose from the grave.  Jesus, my Savior, rose from the dead.  Talk about triumph!

  Very recently, I had a darkest hour.  It was a day that no matter how much I want to forget it, I never will.  And no matter how bad it was, I have to remember that it pales in comparison to what Jesus did on the cross for me.  In fact, my darkest hour has turned into a great chapter of my life, one that I will look back on and thank God for the triumph he established in me.

  I am not perfect, not even remotely close.  Who is?  That is why God sent his Son.  If you have not heard the story of Jesus, it is one that you must hear, and as luck would have it, you are sitting on the doorstep of the best time of year to hear it.  It is the story of Easter, and it is a page turner.  If you could read the pages of my book, you would understand why I am inviting you to seek out the story of Jesus.

  What do you want to write on the next blank page?

Thank you PJH

Great time with my biggest fan at Papillion Junior High. Thanks Ally! I loved visiting your school.

Jason and Andrew, let’s hang out

  I am not sure which was worse, pretending I wasn’t worried about my skin cancer being the bad kind of cancer or grading essays for my school district.  Since the biopsy came back as benign, I am going to go with grading writing assessments.

  Sure, cancer is a horrible thing, but for those of you who haven’t read 100 essays about why PE should be required in school, don’t judge.  I love to see the growth of my students and their writing throughout the year, but I just don’t want to sit and grade it for fourteen hours over two days.

  I do enough grading of writing in my classroom all year.  But… I do it for the district, for the kids, for the country, and for God.  Okay, not sure God is really focused on writing assessments, but I know he wants me to do the best I can at my job.

  Speaking of God, I went to The Story Tellers Tour that came through Omaha.  It was Jason Gray and Andrew Peterson in a small little concert.  I am not really a concert kind of guy.  I love music, but I don’t really care for concerts.  This one was different, hence the name Story Tellers.  They spent a lot of time talking about the songs and joking around on stage.  I think I could hang out with those guys.  They were so real… and humble.

  So Jason and Andrew, if you read this, chris@chrisraabe.net and we can hang the next time you come through Omaha.  I am a not at all famous young adult novelist with a middle school teaching background and an imperfect life.

  Well, that’s it for now.  I need to grade 125 poetry projects in the near future.  Much better than essays.