http://tinyurl.com/y8kakux7I'm writing this as encouragement for authors who get dumbed down reviews from mindless readers. Even though I have over (200) five star reviews on my novels Blue Hole and the sequel River's Edge I still get a few reviews like the following. One said, "I haven't stated to read the book yet and not sure i will so I'm giving it one star. Another said, "Not sure if I was able to follow the story I've been on pain medicine, one star. A third said, "I didn't like the book but my husband and our son did, one star." I le ...continued...

I set my briefcase on my gritty kitchen counter and traced the raised gold lettering on the thick ivory card. “You are Invited to a Holiday Cookie Party,” the note read. The invitation was from a fascinating, creative, high–powered executive I had met several months ago. I was surprised and thrilled that she had invited me to such a gathering. Each woman would bring a batch of home-baked cookies, she wrote. We would then get to sample all the cookies and bring a bag of treats home to our families. I adored the idea of getting to bring my teenage dau ...continued...

We are watching the entire United States, but particularly the border states of New York, Connecticut, Maine, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Washington, for any activity relative to banning pesticides. [Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment, 2005 (pesticide/fertilizer lobbying group)] What are the final pieces in America’s multi-billion dollar “grass” trade industry? Weed control ordinances started appearing in the mid-1940s, and over the next fifty plus years they arose in practically every metropolitan area of the U.S. Within a remarkable unif ...continued...

I am just hearing loss at 8 moths, i revied a CI, ( choclear implant ) i am so happy i hear! but that only after when i was 2 years old. I am happy my parents decied to move in USA to live a better life before i was born. i saw picture of me crying at my fave uncle in secrch for my fave dress. I told my dad, where he lived, westover hills rd after he and my mom moved. I am 4 years old, my dad moved to E broad Rock rd. I growing bigger! i have few chores, if my mom ordered. ...continued...

Men invigorated by march - About 300 KC participants in Washington rally return with a messege,... By mister | Posted May 28, 2011 | Kansas City, Missouri <div id="producer-note-block" style="display: ...continued...

Pregnancy is a blissful time. When pregnant with baby number three the blissfulness of it all just runs right through you. Today May 10th, 2006 my son was born. Although it was an emergency c-section he was brought into this world screaming and purple after being almost strangled to death by the umbilical cord. I had my son. My family was ecstatic and my dad was the proudest Papa in the world. Things were hard but I never gave up and always tried to do what was best for my family. I did the best I could with what I had to work with. Around three months old we started noticing freckles all over ...continued...

In order to ward off boredom on a solo trip from Kansas City to Denver, I jotted sights that caught my eye on the steering wheel. At my destination, I turned my scribbles into a poem. I don't recommend writing on the steering wheel--but in Kansas there's not much else going on. KANSAS CITY TO DENVER RUN My Grand AM and I off on early grey dawn journey to a writers conference through short rolling velvet fields shrouded in puffs of fog on I-70. Topeka gas station, fill Betsy's tan ...continued...

The big blow out! Mom entered my room, I can only imagine after grilling my sibling about her weight, spending habits and other things. She was on the war path and it just so happened that I was the nect victim. I heard a knock which lead to her helping herself into my room as though she owned it. To be honest, she pays the mortgage so every room in this house belongs to her. Immediately she went into the amount of pop cans that were all over my bedroom, and the garbage bag which she assumed was filled with crumpled up chip bags and empty pop cans. She wanted to prove that I wasnt as ...continued...

Ariana felt the warm sand sliding between her toes, heard the distant crash of the water smashing on promontory rocks. Not for her the water's edge. The vastness of the ocean was a strange and fearful thing, and creatures lurked beneath it; she'd heard the sailors' tales when she worked the tavern houses and inns, and did not wish to find herself bewitched beneath the waves. And yet, her eyes kept straying there. So beautiful and savage was the sea. Swirling and surging now with a contained rage, blue and green and gray by turns, and powerful, flecked with the gold of a high mor ...continued...

Our 42 hour confinement to our tents was ended today as the storm eased up enough for us to continue north. Our drift over the storm took us further west than we wanted to the 129th Longitude. We ran into many open leads and had to wait until the ice moved back together allowing us to cross. It was incredible to witness and very scary to cross. We gained about 5 miles north today but our progress was halted by thin ice. We made camp and will wait till morning to try and cross. Needless to say that in the north polar icecap there is very little to smell. No plants and so few animals a person ...continued...

In amongst my ‘heaven-like’ existence, there was aching pain and anger and turmoil that was outside of my bubble, not even two steps away from me. To this day I cannot describe exactly what went on around me because I was too young to understand the reasons or the details. All I knew was that we had our patriarch and our entire household revolved around what he wanted and how he wanted it. I could not comprehend it because to me he was loving and yielding and I would never have been able to match the two personalities into one soul. But there were endl ...continued...

We meet again for the second time on the birthday of his closest friend my cousin and cousin is also his bestfriend they are together in playing basketball, roaming around and do stupid stuff... On that day something happened unexpectedly, he is seating beside me, when I'm already drunk I tried to touch him in his private parts... He didnt react he just let me of what I'm doing... I thought he is the kind of guy who wants play with me... But I guess I'm wrong after that drinking session he told me that he wants me to go at the lodge with him I answered him& ...continued...

North Pole ...continued...

Every single day we have to setup our camp and get the dogs settled. Every day we look forward to sitting in our cold tent for some degree of warmth and relative relaxation warming water for drinking and mixing with our dehydrated meals. We realize it is still below zero in our tent (our water will freeze overnight if left in something uninsulated), but warmth at this point is relative, funny how that works. To create our little slice of the tropics here we of course need a tent, and to set our tents up, we have to use an evil little device called an ice screw. See, we cannot use ...continued...

During my freshman year of college Mike and Bobby, two of the active members of my fraternity, invited me to accompany them on a night road hunt. I didn't have a clue what a night road hunt was but the older boys told me it would be great fun. Mike was the president of the fraternity I had recently pledged, and Bobby was the treasurer, so I figurered they must be trustworthy. I knew they were both well respected, both in our fraternity and on campus. I met the pair in the parking lot of the fraternity house after dark. Bobby was armed with a 12-guag ...continued...