The Indie Showcase presents, Miriam Hurdle.
Thank you, Richard for featuring me on your website today.
I
grew up in Hong Kong where I spent my childhood, college and early career
years. My dad made a great impact on me for my love of reading. He read every
single day until he had a stroke at eighty-four years old. When I was at the
fourth-grade, I read my dad’s newspaper. We traded sections to read. I read the
horrible news describing the details of crime scenes, read adult fantasy, comic
strips and the Sunday children’s section. In elementary school, my favorite
literature was Aesop’s Fables. I read each story with the anticipation of learning
the moral of the story. This literature has influenced my attitude toward life,
my thinking and writing.
I wrote a diary as a teenager. The lessons in Aesop’s Fables weaved into the diary and I wrote what I thought of the events more so than what happened. As far as writing skills, I remember in the upper grades of elementary school, we learned how to write a story with an opening, middle, climax and ending.
After
college, I worked as a Director of Children’s Department in a literature
company. My job was writing children’s magazine. I worked closely with the
illustrators in the Art Department. In fact, I recruited my artist. When I
taught Chinese as a Second Language at the Baptist University of Hong Kong, he
worked there also and sometimes wrote me notes at the end of the day, signed it
and drew a little cartoon next to his signature. I liked his art so when I
changed job, I remembered him. The comic strips I read in my early years helped
me to communicate with the artists how I wanted to illustrate the stories in
the magazine. The experience I had on this job also helped me to layout and
illustrate my first poetry book forty years later.
I
came to the U.S. for the graduate studies. I got three master’s degrees, then started
working as a counselor for two years, and a teacher for fifteen years. Then I went back to school to get my Doctor in
Education and was promoted to a school district administrative position. I took
retirement in 2010, earlier than anticipated because of recovering from a stage
IV cancer.
A
friend introduced me to blogging, and I created my blog in 2011. I wrote twelve
posts from 2011 to 2014. My blogging didn’t take off until July 2016. At that
time, I was to write about my cancer and recovery experiences. It has become
further and wider than expected. I have been writing short memoir, poetry,
short stories, flash fiction, family stories, travel journey and post
photography.
When
I gained energy during the recuperation, I joined several writing and publishing
groups. The Publishing group has retired professionals help each other publish.
Being around the writers and volunteer helpers was an encouragement for me to
publish the first Book, Songs of
Heartstrings–Poems of Gratitude and Beatitude published in October 2018.
Prior
to publishing the first book, I spent a year to explore the traditional and
self-publishing. The initial contact of traditional publishing discouraged me
with the price they charge and their control of the book. I then purchased a self-publishing
instruction package for $395 to learn the basics from writing, formatting,
publishing to marketing. By the time I prepared to publish the poetry
collection as my first book, I could do formatting, insert photos, design the
book cover and upload to Kindle Direct Publishing.
I took part in an Anthology publication. My article about the cancer was included in the UNDERSTANDING: An Anthology of True and Significant Life Events, compiled by Stevie Turner, which was published in early April 2019.
Songs of Heartstrings, Blurb
Human being has the will power to travel through an exhausting journey, win a tough battle, and heal a deep wound. Strength from hope keeps us going until the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight and striving until the storm is over.
Songs of Heartstrings plays the melancholy tune of the suffering and transcending to the melody of serenity and peace. It is a road travelled with optimism, hope and appreciation amid heartache circumstances and an unpredictable cancer. It also celebrates true love and fulfilling relationships.
Hurdle in her poetry collection includes nine themes: Songs of Nature, Songs of Dissonance, Songs of Physical Healing, Songs of Marriage, Songs of Parenthood, Songs of Tribute, Songs of Reflections, Songs of Challenge, and Songs of Inspiration. Each of these themes covers various aspects of her life experience. Many poems are illustrated with her photos and watercolour paintings.
The poems in this collection are inspiring to the mind, heart and spirit. The readers will echo with these experiences.
The Sun Welcomes Me
Journey
through high and low
amid
worrisome melanoma cancer.
The
sense of mortality heightened, with
no
assumption of
the
survival chances.
My
prayer was to ask
the mercy
of the Maker
granting
me one more moment to live.
Every
new morning was a precious gift.
Cloudy
or sunny the sky might be,
trotting
on the street rain or shine
even
when having no energy
to
pick up my feet.
Hoping
to keep up
the
physical strength
to
sustain through six months of
harsh
chemotherapy.
What
a profound gratefulness as
treatment
fading at the end
when
the sun pierced through
the
clouds to
welcome me.
Rowing
a Boat
I love to go
rowing a boat.
Weather is not
the matter.
The day may be
sunny or cloudy,
windy
or even stormy.
Having you in the
same boat,
I
can go anywhere, everywhere.
We had a rough
day at sea,
almost
dangerous to manage.
Our hearts were
in touch,
hands
were in sync,
same
spirit, same strength.
Your encouraging
words to me, mine to you,
all
the way through.
We strived until
the storm passed.
A day I will
forever remember.
The storm brought
us closer.
I love to go
rowing a boat
when you are with me.
Bio
Miriam Hurdle is a multi-genre writer.
She writes poetry, flash fiction, short stories and memoir.
Music has rooted in her life. Being a soloist as a teenager led her to taking voice lessons and to have ongoing singing engagements. She continues to sing soprano in choral groups. Lyrics have a major influence in the natural flow of her melodic writing. She writes memoir in the form of poetry.
She took photos when the films were black and white. Photography is still her enjoyable hobby. Drawing and painting were fun activities as a child. She resumed drawing and watercolour painting several years ago. In her poetry collection, she includes photos and paintings to illustrate the poems.
She earned a Doctor of Education from the University of La Verne in California. After two years of rehabilitation counselling, fifteen years of public-school teaching and ten years in school district administration, she retired and enjoys life with her husband in southern California. She makes frequent visits to her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter in Oregon.
Amazon Links
Amazon Universal Link: http://smarturl.it/SongsofHeartstrings
Amazon UK Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07K1S47W9
Amazon.com Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K1S47W9
Contact the Author
Website: https://theshowersofblessings.com
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Miriam-Hurdle/e/B07K2MCSVW
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mhurdle112
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/miriam.hurdle.1
Thanks, Miriam, for a very inspiring post. I hope you all enjoyed it.
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Have a great week,
Richard.
The post The Indie Showcase presents, Miriam Hurdle. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..
