Emilie Richards's Blog, page 33

Sunday Inspiration: Martin Luther King

“I still have a dream, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream – one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed, ‘We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal.’” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

For many people Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of the most influential people in their lives, and I include myself. On this weekend in January, I’m always proud to honor his courage and wisdom. One way I achieve that is to watch and listen to his I Have a Dream speech — you can find it here — and it always moves me deeply.

That speech in Washington D.C. in 1963 declared not only Reverend King’s personal dream for America but also the American dream — which should be everyone’s dream — that all people are created equal and should be given equal opportunities and treated equally. I was a freshman in a segregated junior high school in Florida when he stood before a huge crowd to utter these truths, which for far too many people were incomprehensible and even incendiary. Until then I had questioned very little of what I’d seen or heard around me. For the most part questions would come later, in high school and then college, when I began to question everything. But I felt the impact of the speech even then and still feel it all these years later.

Such a seemingly simple ideal, and yet, after all these years, we Americans  still struggle with how to transform that hope into a reality. May we never stop dreaming that dream and working to achieve it. What a legacy for a great man that would be.

The photo above is of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial which was finished just before my husband and I moved away from the Washington D.C. area. If you haven’t seen it I encourage you to make a visit to ponder his words and his life.

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I Can’t Make This Stuff Up!

I’m going great guns on my new book after so much time away over the holidays, so blogging has taken a back seat. But I couldn’t help but think of you as I read my morning paper today, so I’m checking in quickly.

So often I’m asked where I get my ideas. I’ve explained how it works  more than once, but today felt like such an illustration of possibilities, I had to leap in and give you a few. Read along, and if you feel like playing, tell me how you would use the following TRUE stories to help you jump start a plot for your next novel.

All these ideas come from our skinny local section. Since some of the stories are less than friendly to local people and institutions, I won’t elaborate on where my very excellent paper is published. More important please note that I’m just talking about fodder for fiction. It’s possible all these decisions are completely on the up and up and in everybody’s best interests. But they are certainly interesting for a novelist to consider.

Take a look:

1–A local school board has voted to relax their standards for substitute teachers. The board has found it’s particularly difficult to find subs to cover special education and classes in Title 1 schools. (Apparently these students no longer require particularly well-educated teachers to deal with their needs.) Whatever the school board means, the new standards will require only a high school diploma or a GED. Subs no longer have to complete 60 hours of college work to be hired.

In all fairness, the reason that’s cited is that so few teachers are being trained, there aren’t enough qualified substitutes. In fact the teachers in training at one local university are only 1/3 of what they were ten years ago.

Why do you suppose so few teachers are being trained? I have my own ideas, things like an abundance of paperwork, fewer opportunities to be creative in the classroom, and yes, salary.  But let’s hear yours.

And while you’re commenting, think back to your own education and the substitute teachers you once had. Do you think they needed more or less education and training? What would my characters think?

2–A local zoning appeals board reappointed the head of an influential construction advocacy group to the panel, despite concerns expressed by a local advocate who believed the man’s job and his role on the panel might be in conflict. You think that might be a problem? Is that a conflict waiting to happen between characters?

3–Children in foster care are often overlooked as the state of Florida–I’ll reveal that much–counts children for their census. The rest of this article is interesting, too. The state may lose millions from the federal government because of under counting its children. In 2010 Florida had the second largest under counting on record, but despite that, this time we were still one of the last states to launch a committee to look into it, and then only because nonprofits hammered home the need.

Let’s concentrate on the first sentence here. Children in foster care are in danger of being overlooked in our census. Children who are, hopefully, in the state’s records somewhere. It makes you think, doesn’t it? If the state doesn’t know they’re there, who the heck does?

4–This one’s heartwarming, so a good place to end. Bruce Springsteen’s son was sworn in Tuesday as a firefighter with a New Jersey department. A famous rock star and his musician wife. A young man with every possible opportunity who chooses to serve the state he loves doing a dangerous job to protect others. Who wouldn’t want to write that story?

You’ve got to love the newspaper. I can’t make this stuff up, and I promise I didn’t make these up today. All these were contained in an eight page section that also included the TV listings and the weather. But the stories I could make up using some parts of these real life stories? 

Something to think about. 

How about you?

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Sunday Inspiration: The Ebb and Flow of Life

“We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid that it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity… Intermittency — an impossible lesson for human beings to learn. How can one learn to live through the ebb-tides of one’s existence? How can one learn to take the trough of the wave?… Perhaps this is the most important thing: simply the memory that each cycle of the tide is valid; each cycle of the wave is valid…. One must accept the security of ebb and flow, of intermittency.” -Anne Morrow Lindbergh

My husband uses this reading sometimes in weddings he performs to describe the changes that take place in a relationship over the years, changes that aren’t necessarily good or bad but natural and expected. At times patience is needed to await the next transition, or perhaps it’s the courage to follow the wave wherever it might take us. But most important is the ability to stand back and look at the larger picture and to understand the need to have faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships.

Can you chart the tides of your relationships or your life?

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Let There Be Suspects Winner

Congratulations to Shanna H., new winner of a copy of Let There Be Suspects .

Remember this giveaway? We announced it on December 17 and readers were asked to choose which holiday took second place in my newsletter’s Twelve Books of Christmas giveaway earlier in the month. (No surprise, but the first choice was Christmas.) Let There Be Suspects was book two of my Ministry is Murder mystery series, and is rich with Christmas mirth and mayhem.

Shanna didn’t have to be right to win, but she was. As she guessed and so did most of you, Thanksgiving was the second favorite holiday, followed by Independence Day, no holiday favorite, and a tie between Halloween and Easter.

In 2020 I’ll be giving away more books here and at my monthly newsletter. So if you’re not yet on my mailing list, come join us for updates, insider info, and more giveaways.

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The Joys of Research: The Tarpon Springs Epiphany Celebration

https://emilierichards.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/blessing-of-fleet.mp4

I know how lucky I am to make up stories for a living. Of course life for novelists isn’t staring into space with a cup of tea. Tearing out our hair, questioning our sanity, and wishing we had a job that didn’t hover over us during every waking hour–and many hours while we’re sleeping, too–is also part of the profession. But this weekend, I was reminded, as I have been many, many times, just how much I love what I do.

I especially love research that takes me places I’ve never been, for reasons I never imagined. For A Family of Strangers among other trips I visited a kennel in Orlando for a day and had great conversations about training dogs for security and police work. For The Swallow’s Nest, I spent days in San Jose, CA, walking through the streets of Willow Glen and inhaling the lavish perfume of the Municipal Rose Garden. I’ve sailed on Australian pearling luggers (Beautiful Lies), spent a day at a real bar run by three sisters (Whiskey Island), toured stables in Upperville and Middleburg, Virginia (Fox River), and the list goes on and on.

This week I spent a wonderful two days in Tarpon Springs, Florida, during their annual Epiphany celebration. My latest book is set there, and this was my second trip for research, or possibly this was my third trip since I went to Tarpon Springs on a field trip in elementary school and never forgot it.

I made a reservation for Epiphany almost nine months ago, at a Bed and Breakfast within walking distance of both the Sponge Docks and the historic downtown. Epiphany, in the Greek Orthodox church, commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, and thousands come to Tarpon Springs for the celebration.

I ate scrumptious Greek food, saw a bishop bless the fleet as well as bless the boys who would dive for a wooden cross on Epiphany day. I stood outside St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox cathedral for over an hour listening to the service within and chatting with the people standing around me listening, too. I heard Greek spoken everywhere, absorbed more information about the town and its residents, and learned a bit about what it’s like to be raised in a family where Greek is always spoken at home.

More fun than telling you about my experience, is showing you. So enjoy as I did. How will this show up in the new book? I’ll be interested to discover that, too.

After blessing the boys who would dive for the cross the next day, the bishop blessed the boats and then the shops in town. He blessed me as he walked by, too.

No blog about Tarpon Springs would be complete without one photo of food. Here are some of the fabulous treats from Hellas Bakery, some of which are now sitting on my kitchen counter.

54 boys between the ages of 16 and 18 were chosen from five different Orthodox churches to dive for a wooden cross thrown by the archbishop of America into Spring Bayou. Here they are walking to the bayou for the dive. Note they’re barefooted? Part of the tradition. And yes, it was a cold day. I don’t want to think about how cold that water was.

Will one of these boys be the diver who finds a future cross?

There was no shortage of children in Greek costumes, who later danced at the Glendi, the celebration festival in a park near the bayou.

https://emilierichards.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/boys-diving-for-cross-video_Trim_Trim.mp4

At last, after many prayers (Greek and English) and talks about the importance of the moment, a white dove was released to symbolize the Holy Spirit and then Archbishop Elpidophoros threw the cross in the water. Hunter Sakadales of Tarpon Springs, 18, quickly retrieved it, and the tradition says he will be blessed for the upcoming year.

I felt blessed to be there.

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Sunday Inspiration: “Amateurs sit and wait…”

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, 

the rest of us just get up and go to work.” -Stephen King

I enthusiastically agree that to be a serious writer you can’t passively sit back and wait for ideas to fall into your lap.

Our calling is to go out and grab inspiration by the horns.

I believe the same is true for any endeavor, whether we are teachers or garbage collectors or just trying to be the best person we can be.

Success requires the courage to commit ourselves to success, whatever we do and however we define it.

Does that work for you? Did you grab inspiration by the horns in 2019? How will you do the same in 2020?

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Sunday Inspiration: New Year’s Resolutions

“New Year’s Resolutions are a bit like babies: They’re fun to make but really difficult to maintain.” Anonymous

I confess that I’m skeptical about making new year’s resolutions because they are so much easier to make than to maintain. But I do believe that setting realistic goals, whether it’s at the new year or any other time, can be helpful.

My favorite resolutions this year come from Parade Magazine because they’re a bit unique and funny and many of them are actually doable. I also like that there are 55, which means I can make them multiple choice, choosing those that I think will be the most fun and have the best chance of accomplishing.

Some of my favorite — do check out the entire list — are the following:

2. Work out to feel good, not be thinner.

Instead of obsessing over the scale, obsess over how amazing you feel since you started being more active. Numbers don’t mean much.

3. Stop gossiping.

Don’t be that person. Spread positivity. (Emilie’s note: And even if that puts you in a minority, luxuriate in being different.)

4. Give one compliment a day.

You never know—it just might make that person feel a whole lot better.

7. Read a book a month. {This is my favorite, though I suggest at the very least doubling it}

Haven’t you heard? Reading is good for your brain, it can reduce stress, and it can improve your memory and concentration.

8. Go someplace you’ve never been.

Step outside of your comfort zone and do something daring. It’s good for the soul and forces you to learn new things.

11. Reduce your waste.

Some research says that the average American produces over 2,000 pounds of trash every year. Gross. Reduce your waste by ditching paper towels in favor of rags you cut up from old towels and clothes. Another easy switch is reusable grocery bags. It makes a difference!

14. Write down one thing you’re grateful for every night.

End the night with gratitude and you’ll feel better when you lay your head down on your pillow. (Emilie’s note: I got a new desktop planner for Christmas and plan to put this in the commodious notes section. Committing to that is a resolution, too.)

17. Stop multi-tasking.

Multi-tasking can lead to memory problems, it reduces our brains’ grey matter, it hurts productivity and efficiency, and it can even increase stress, anxiety, and depression. Focus on one thing at a time.

18. Talk to yourself with kindness.

We aim to be nice to others but then criticize ourselves relentlessly. Stop! Think nicer things about yourself.

May your resolutions be realistic and enjoyable to accomplish during 2020.

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Sunday Inspiration: The Greatest Light

 

“Hidden in the deepest darkness is the greatest light.

It’s our job to light up a world of darkness,

to reflect God’s light in this world.” -Rabbi Reuven Wolf

 

Hanukkah begins this evening and ends on the evening of December 30 this year.

I picked this quote because it honors Hanukkah, but I think it’s also appropriate for Christmas as well.

Whether we are Jewish or Christian or anything else, our calling is to light up the darkness around us with our compassion and kindness, our joy and passion.

So whether you are lighting Hanukkah candles or Christmas candles, don’t forget that these are reminders to kindle the light within us for this holiday season and for all the days that follow.

Happy Holidays to all of you.

 

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The Twelve Books of Christmas Giveaway

What Twelve Books of Christmas Giveaway?

Those of you who subscribe to my “almost monthly” newsletter know that yesterday was the final day to submit an entry for the Twelve Books of Christmas Giveaway.

Random.org selected winners today and now the books on on their way to the post office via Proman.

All winners have been notified by email. Congratulations to them and thanks to everyone who took the time to enter or just to check in and tell me their favorite holidays.

The results were not surprising. The giveaway required readers to give their address and tell me their favorite holiday. Can you guess which happy day came out on top?

Yep, Christmas, with 154 people choosing it as their favorite holiday.

But which holiday came out second? Can you guess?

Let’s make this the Thirteen Books of Christmas Giveaway, shall we? Make a guess which holiday took second place, and I’ll let random.org choose one more winner. Your answer doesn’t have to be right, you just have to make a guess.

And you do NOT need to add your mailing address with your comment. We don’t want those Grinchy spy bots adding you to their coal-in-your-stocking lists. I’ll contact the winner privately for their address.

A few rules:

You must have a North American address, which you will send me if you’re the winner.
You must make a guess, even a wrong one, for which holiday was #2 of all the entries I received.
One winner will receive a copy of Let There Be Suspects , set at Christmas time and the second book in my Ministry is Murder series. These copies are new, but they were published awhile ago, so they are showing their age.
Random.org will choose a winner on Saturday after 5 PM.

Just one more thing. Everyone who enters must have a happy holiday.

 

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Sunday Inspiration: Loving Others

“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others.

Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?” -Bob Hope

Yes, we could and should love others every day of the year, but this Christmas I would like to place love on the top of my Christmas Tree.

And not just a romantic and sentimental love but love that challenges us to forgive and to seek justice and work for peace.

I would like to put love in every gift I give.

I would like every stocking stuffed with love.

I would like to wrap love around every person I hug.

I want love to be the shining star that guides me through the night of my darkness.

May love be at the heart of your holiday season.

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