Robin E. Mason's Blog: Robin's Book Shelf, page 173

BLOGWORDS – 13 May 2017 – NEW WEEK NEW FACE NEW MONTH NEW ME – SPECIAL EDITION – SWAMP MODE

BLOGWORDS – 13 May 2017 – NEW WEEK NEW FACE NEW MONTH NEW ME – SPECIAL EDITION – SWAMP MODE
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NEW WEEK NEW FACE NEW MONTH NEW ME – SPECIAL EDITION – SWAMP MODE – writing recovery continues

 

Bronchitis is GONE—PRAISE GOD—and RECOVERY MODE

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is now SWAMP MODE,

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aka CAVE TIME

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as in WRITING CAVE, which we writers are notorious for hiding out in to get some words done, as in writing.

 

This story, though, this series, is set in a tenuous, as in fabricated setting, sort of a mash up of river and marsh / swamp, otherwise known as black river which is prevalent in the South. Saisons is a town somewhere between Columbia and Charleston, along the Santee River, close enough to the ocean to host marshes.

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Ergo, SWAMP MODE!! Ergo, WRITING MODE. As in #AMWRITING, gotta make some words.

 

Interviews are back with a fun feature this Thursday (contain your excitement) but Wreading Wednesdays and What’s in Your Kitchen are still suspended. RemApWriMo flopped, sort of, but I have designated June as a second chance, RemJUWriMo!

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Did I mention, IT’S GOOD TO BE INDIE!!!

 

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#Blogwords, Special Edition, Swamp Mode, Writing Recovery, It’s Good to be Indie, RemJuWriMo, Seasons, The Long Shadows of Summer, The Tilting Leaves of Autumn, #AMWRITING

 

BLOGWORDS – Friday 12 May 2017 – FIRST LINE FRIDAY – WHITE OLEANDER by JANET FITCH

BLOGWORDS – Friday 12 May 2017 – FIRST LINE FRIDAY – WHITE OLEANDER by JANET FITCH
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FIRST LINE FRIDAY – WHITE OLEANDER by JANET FITCH

 

 

Reading is My SuperPower   |   Bookworm Mama   |   Singing Librarian

Faithfully Bookish   |   Radiant Light   |   Encouraging Words from the Tea Queen

   |   Fiction Aficionado   |   Bibliophile Reviews

Kathleen Denly   |   Lauraine’s Notes   |   https://joyofreadingweb.wordpress.com/

https://abakersperspective.wordpress.com   |   With a Joyful Noise

http://momentsdippedinink.com   |   http://cjaneread.blogspot.ca

 

  If you’d like to join us on your blog for First Line Fridays, shoot Carrie @ Reading is My Superpower an email and let her know!

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THE BLURB:    

Everywhere hailed as a novel of rare beauty and power, White Oleander tells the unforgettable story of Ingrid, a brilliant poet imprisoned for murder, and her daughter, Astrid, whose odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes-each its own universe, with its own laws, its own dangers, its own hard lessons to be learned-becomes a redeeming and surprising journey of self-discovery.

 

THE FIRST LINE:   

The Santa Anas blew in hot from the desert, shriveling the last of the spring grass into whiskers of pale straw. Only the oleanders thrived, their delicate poisonous blooms, their dagger green leaves.

 

MY THOUGHTS:    

White Oleander is a “journey of self-discovery” which is why it resonated with me so.

 

GENRE:

Contemporary Women’s Fiction

 

STARS:

Haven’t read the book but I saw the movie (ages ago) and it was intense.

 

#Blogwords, First Line Friday, #FLF, White Oleander, Janet Fitch

BLOGWORDS – Thursday 11 May 2017 – AUTHOR DOWN

BLOGWORDS – Thursday 11 May 2017 – AUTHOR DOWN

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AUTHOR DOWN
Blogwords, Author Down

BLOGWORDS – 10 May 2017 – NEW WEEK NEW FACE NEW MONTH NEW ME – SPECIAL EDITION – SWAMP MODE

BLOGWORDS – 10 May 2017 – NEW WEEK NEW FACE NEW MONTH NEW ME – SPECIAL EDITION – SWAMP MODE
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NEW WEEK NEW FACE NEW MONTH NEW ME – SPECIAL EDITION – SWAMP MODE – writing recovery continues

 

Bronchitis is GONE—PRAISE GOD—and RECOVERY MODE

[image error]

is now SWAMP MODE,

[image error]

aka CAVE TIME

[image error]

as in WRITING CAVE, which we writers are notorious for hiding out in to get some words done, as in writing.

 

This story, though, this series, is set in a tenuous, as in fabricated setting, sort of a mash up of river and marsh / swamp, otherwise known as black river which is prevalent in the South. Saisons is a town somewhere between Columbia and Charleston, along the Santee River, close enough to the ocean to host marshes.

[image error]

Ergo, SWAMP MODE!! Ergo, WRITING MODE. As in #AMWRITING, gotta make some words.

 

Interviews are back with a fun feature this Thursday (contain your excitement) but Wreading Wednesdays and What’s in Your Kitchen are still suspended. RemApWriMo flopped, sort of, but I have designated June as a second chance, RemJUWriMo!

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Did I mention, IT’S GOOD TO BE INDIE!!!

 

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#Blogwords, Special Edition, Swamp Mode, Writing Recovery, It’s Good to be Indie, RemJuWriMo, Seasons, The Long Shadows of Summer, The Tilting Leaves of Autumn, #AMWRITING

 

Wednesday Wisdom – MOM

Source: Wednesday Wisdom – MOM

BLOGWORDS – Tuesday 9 May 2017 – HOW IT ALL BEGAN

BLOGWORDS – Tuesday 9 May 2017 – HOW IT ALL BEGAN

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HOW IT ALL BEGAN

written for Lisa Lickel at Living Our Faith Outloud, posted yesterday

 

In the beginning God created…  Okay, not that beginning. Then again, in that beginning God created, and isn’t that what we are? As writers? Creators? (not to dis any other form of art, of course)

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And when God created… ME, He instilled creativity in me. In mega doses, it seems. Fast forward a bit, and skipping over the why’s, for years I [attempted to] shoved that creativity into a nice little box—or cage. It didn’t stay.

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And when I dove headlong into writing my debut novel, Tessa, in the fall of 2013, I realized I was swimming in the pond I should have been in all along. The water was perfect, there were—are—others like me here but not too crowded; we each have our own little eddy of space. And when those eddies coincide it’s a beautiful thing.

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I tried for years to be something I’m not—a conformist. I tried to fit somebody else’s ideal for me. It didn’t fit. It didn’t work. And I was miserable. Then again, that very experience (years of that miserable experience) has given me the very thing I write about—identity. In discovering who I am and more importantly, who I am in Him, I discovered my purpose. And that is to write.

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Interesting thing though. The more I discovered my identity as a writer, the more I discovered who I am in Him—which feeds my identity as a writer, which feeds who I am… Holy Spirit showed me something years ago about Psalm 37 verse 4.

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Because they are tied together. The desires that are in our heart are there because Father put them there.

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He made us that way. Whether it’s writing or singing or engineering or teaching—the thing we yearn for, that stirs within us is His to begin with. Therefore, when we pursue that very thing, we also are pursuing the One who put it there. Or perhaps, more accurately, we are fulfilling the purpose of the One who put it there.

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I read a statement on another blog today, and I paraphrase here, “If my dream is not His dream, and if my dream does not bring honor and glory to Father, then I don’t want it.”

 

 

I’ve deviated from my journey as a writer. But maybe not. When I dove into that pond back in 2013, I truly had | no | clue. I wrote. And that was it. A friend hooked me up with Kindle (otherwise I was going to pay for vanity publishing! AACK!!) and even uploaded my doc for me. I started blogging, “I’ve been thrown into the deep end. Of a deep ocean. In a tidal wave.” That was my first blog. I floundered for several months, and published my book baby in print. After a few queries about a sequel (which I hadn’t considered before) I looked, and what to my wondering eyes did I see? Two distinct places, right there in Tessa, that point straight to Clara Bess. And even Cissy, the third and final book.

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I’m still winging it, but I’ve learned more of the “air currents” of this crazy industry. With each book a read or blog I share, there’s something new to learn, something to apply in my writing or or networking or the dreaded marketing. With each word I write, I’m more selective, I’m writing sharper and tighter—and better. I’ve even ventured to write a couple of lovey-dovey scenes, something I’d not done before… reading plenty of them. (courtesy of Pepper Basham, and others)

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Yeah, I’m in a new pond. And it’s my pond. And I’m swimming bolder and stronger and more confident every day. And I’m here to stay.

 

PS (and this is for Lisa) apparently I work better with a deadline… 

BLOGWORDS – Tuesday 9 May 2017 – AUTHOR DOWN

BLOGWORDS – Tuesday 9 May 2017 – AUTHOR DOWN

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AUTHOR DOWN

 

Blogwords, Author Down

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BLOGWORDS – 8 May 2017 – NEW WEEK NEW FACE – GUEST POST – ANDI TUBBS

BLOGWORDS – 8 May 2017 – NEW WEEK NEW FACE – GUEST POST – ANDI TUBBS

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NEW WEEK NEW FACE – GUEST POST – ANDI TUBBS

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Hi Robin, thanks for featuring me on your blog today. With Mother’s Day just six days away I think a post about Mom’s or Motherhood is in order.

 

In 1966 I was born to a teenage mother who decided that given her age I would be better off given up for adoption. Three days after I was born my mom and dad took me home from the hospital. They were unable to have children and adoption was the way they could have a family. My brother and I always knew we were adopted, it wasn’t a secret. We knew how wanted we were. In fact my mom told me as a child that kids who were born to their parents, their parents were stuck with them, Sean and I were chosen out of a nursery full of babies.

 

My dad was active duty Navy and stationed in Guam when my mom got the call that her mother, my granny was really sick. My mom flew home to Denver to be with her and on her way she stopped in San Francisco and was greeted by my God-Parents. My God-mother, Pat, was a receptionist at a doctor’s office. The day my mom arrived a young pregnant teen had come into the office and filled out paperwork to give up the baby for adoption. My mom went to the office and filled out all the paperwork to adopt this baby who was due in April, and my mom flew on to Denver. A few weeks later Pat called my mom and told her that a young teen had just come into the office and her profile fit her and my dad better, so back to California she went. My dad wasn’t scheduled to transfer from Guam for eighteen months, but with a baby on the way it took an act of congress, letters from commanding officers and friends from their church friends to get him back stateside. While they were in Guam they had been saving to go on vacation in the Orient. Little did they know that the money they had saved would be used in a different fashion, to pay for a baby they so desperately wanted.

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In 1992, when I was pregnant with last child I located and found my birth mother. I never met her face to face. We exchanged letters and pictures. She never forgot about me, she celebrated my birthday every January, and my younger half siblings knew about me. In 2013 I found out more about my birth family, my great grandparents came over from Bologna, Italy. I actually have a ship’s manifest with their names on it. My biological father’s family is of Cajun French decent and are responsible for building the Steel Magnolia house that was in the movie and is now a bed and breakfast.

I have given birth to three amazing daughters, and while I definitely understand the love that caused my birth mother, Angelina, to give me up for adoption, I can’t even imagine doing that, especially at the young age of fourteen.

 

God ordained my birth, and the adoption to my parents, which saved my life. My birth mother was being pressured by her mother to have me aborted. Abortion wasn’t legal in 1966, but she wanted the family doctor to take my life, and my very young mom said No! I am giving this baby life. I am a blessed woman to know my story and to be able to see God’s hand in my life even before I was born.

 

Happy Mother’s Day!

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Hi, I’m Andi. I am first and foremost a follower of Christ. I am married to my best friend, who is great father to all of our children and grandchildren. Together we have 6 kids, and 12 grandchildren. I am an avid bookworm have been since I was 3, and I believe God has allowed certain things to happen in my life to show His steadfast love and faith.

 

http://frommipov.blogspot.com/

https://twitter.com/AndiNewberry

https://www.facebook.com/RadiantLyte/

 

 

 

#Blogwords, New Week New Fact, #NWNF, Guest Post, Andi Tubbs, Mothers, Mother’s Day, Adoption

BLOGWORDS – Sunday 7 May 2017 – FRONT PORCH FELLOWSHIP – NEW THING (repost)

BLOGWORDS – Sunday 7 May 2017 – FRONT PORCH FELLOWSHIP – NEW THING (repost)


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FRONT PORCH FELLOWSHIP – NEW THING

 

It’s been a difficult week for me. I’ve been teetering on a decision I needed to make but it was not a pleasant choice. I addressed the issues (involving another person) and sadly, got the answer I expected.

 

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When you get words like that, it’s never easy. But it had to be done. I did all I could to maintain the connection. Doing so freed me to shake the dust from my feet and walk away with a clear conscience.

 

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Yesterday, after doing all that was in my ability to do, my decision was made.

And lo, a great weight was lifted from me. A weight I hadn’t realized I was bearing. A freedom settled in my spirit.

And the topic for today’s post was clear—Behold, I am doing a new thing.

 

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Father spoke it to me as I drifted to sleep last night. I awoke today (Saturday as I write this) with a renewed sense of excitement and expectation. That’s my Word for 2017, after all.

 

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My season of waiting, long agonized waiting, years of waiting—is over. Promises are being fulfilled. I’ve felt tangled in a spider web and it’s now dropped away. I am free to fly.

 

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Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert.

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I’m ready for a new thing, aren’t you?

 

#Blogwords, Front Porch Fellowship, #FPF, Sunday Devotion, New Thing, Isaiah 43:19, Expectation, Freedom, Flying, Rivers in the Desert

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BLOGWORDS – Sunday 7 May 2017 – FRONT PORCH FELLOWSHIP – NEW THING

BLOGWORDS – Sunday 7 May 2017 – FRONT PORCH FELLOWSHIP – NEW THING
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FRONT PORCH FELLOWSHIP – NEW THING

 

It’s been a difficult week for me. I’ve been teetering on a decision I needed to make but it was not a pleasant choice. I addressed the issues (involving another person) and sadly, got the answer I expected.

 

[image error]

 

When you get words like that, it’s never easy. But it had to be done. I did all I could to maintain the connection. Doing so freed me to shake the dust from my feet and walk away with a clear conscience.

 

[image error]

 

Yesterday, after doing all that was in my ability to do, my decision was made.

And lo, a great weight was lifted from me. A weight I hadn’t realized I was bearing. A freedom settled in my spirit.

And the topic for today’s post was clear—Behold, I am doing a new thing.

 

[image error]

 

Father spoke it to me as I drifted to sleep last night. I awoke today (Saturday as I write this) with a renewed sense of excitement and expectation. That’s my Word for 2017, after all.

 

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My season of waiting, long agonized waiting, years of waiting—is over. Promises are being fulfilled. I’ve felt tangled in a spider web and it’s now dropped away. I am free to fly.

 

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Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert.

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I’m ready for a new thing, aren’t you?

 

#Blogwords, Front Porch Fellowship, #FPF, Sunday Devotion, New Thing, Isaiah 43:19, Expectation, Freedom, Flying, Rivers in the Desert