Guest Post & Give away ~ Mari McCarthy

Journal Writing: Showing Me My Life

When I lost the use of my body's right side to Multiple Sclerosis several years ago, I was advised to learn how to write with my left hand. So I used daily journaling as a way to practice my handwriting.

At the same time, I read The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron, a book about reconnecting with creativity. Part of the discipline that Cameron suggests is the 'Morning Pages:' three handwritten pages of daily stream of consciousness whatever. NO thinking, NO old English class rules.

I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. For weeks and weeks and weeks. And I began to realize, like a child comes to understand language, that this writing could reveal enormous amounts of new information to me, about me and my soul and my opportunities. I began to write poetry for the first time. I started remembering pieces of my childhood. Best of all, I developed a stronger affection for myself.

After a time, I modified my Morning Pages practice, making it more a dialogue and less a data dump. I asked questions: "Where does that feeling come from?" "Who told me that?" "What's the logic behind that fear?"
The writing practice naturally spilled over into my daily life, so that I began to notice answers to my questions not only in my notebook but while doing dishes, walking in the garden, going to the store.

I'm still writing every day, these many years later; still finding huge rewards in the practice. It used to be that when I suffered, I had nowhere to turn. When life was hard or whenever I just had the blues, there was no way to make sense of it.

Journaling gave me a way to deal with hard times or difficult emotions. But here's the amazing thing: eventually journaling also taught me how to go beyond the control my emotions held over me. No longer did I feel at the mercy of my emotions. My attention shifted and I became enthralled with my own creative potential. Through my journal, I started to build my own happiness.

Journaling shows me how my imaginings can become reality, and how my attitude makes all the difference. Journaling leads me like the gentle, patient teacher that it is, towards a far wiser, more hopeful and peaceful me.

Therapeutic Journaling helps us move out of our head with its highly critical over-thinking and return to living in and communicating (on a first name basis) with our body.

My journal is my number one health resource, my primary care provider, working hand-in-hand with me to achieve my goal of Perfect Health.

About the author ~ 

When a Multiple Sclerosis (MS) exacerbation kidnapped my body's right side, I needed some way to teach myself how to write with my left hand. So I started free writing (stream of consciousness) in a journal notebook. I got more than a functioning left hand! What I discovered (and the discoveries continue) was my true Self, buried under the old, negative, hypercritical baggage (I call it crazycrap) I've been carrying around since childhood.


Working daily with My Journal Therapist, I'm curing my spiritual, mental and psychophysical diseases, like Shingles which we healed in less than 3 weeks. And with lots and lots of daily Journaling, we’re making progress in curing my diseases to achieve my goal of Perfect Health!

My self-therapy journaling helps me revise my thoughts and determine what I want to be, do and have in my life. It guides me in adjusting my attitudes, modifying my behavior and creating a happier relationship with myself. And my Journal is teaching me how to write again with my right hand!

Do you want to stop your self-sabotage, make life changes, solve more problems and achieve your goals but are not sure how to get started?  Do you want to stop your self-sabotage, make life changes, solve more problems and achieve your goals but are not sure how to get started?  Let’s meet (no cost, no obligation) and talk about how ‘Journaling for the Health of It’ ™  helps you create a healthy, happy life write now!

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Email Mari ~ Mari AT CreateWriteNow DOT com

 Mari's book ~ 

Peace of Mind and Body 27 Days of Journaling to Health & Happiness: 27 Days of Journaling to Health & Happiness

The Ultimate Journal Writing Therapy Workbook!

Face down those voices in your head that always hold you back!
Finally leave behind the negative beliefs about yourself you've been carrying around since childhood!
Stop overthinking things that just don't matter!
Explore your creativity
Discover your passions
Are there changes you want to make in your life, but you just don't know where to start? Do you want to be happier in your life, but you can't figure out how to change the way you feel? Do you have a hard time identifying your goals, let alone reaching them?!

Personal growth and development is hard work, but this book makes it seem easy.

The Peace of Mind & Body: 27 Days of Journaling to Health and Happiness guide takes you on a step-by-step journey to identify exactly what it is you want -- and how to get there. In just 27 days, you'll find yourself on a clear path to achieving the peace of mind, health and happiness you want for your life. 

Check out Mari's video on how to get started on journaling ~ 

Thanks to the publicist, I have one (1) copy  of Peace of Mind and Body 27 Days of Journaling to Health & Happiness: 27 Days of Journaling to Health & Happiness to give away.

When filling out the form, please select if you would like the paper copy of the book or the e-copy of the book.

GIVEAWAY Rules for entering:

* This contest is open to residents of USA only.

* Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.

* One entry per person. Duplicate entries will be deleted.

* The contest will end on June 3rd at 11:59PM EST; 1 winner will be selected and contacted thereafter.

* Once the winners are contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).

* Book will be shipped directly from the author.

Guest Post/Virtual Tour & Giveaway - Linda Hubalek - Trail of Thread

Looking Towards the Past

When my husband was transferred to California for a two year project in 1990, I not only lost my job, I lost my identity. Simple as that. What I did defined who I was.

I’m an introvert, and I’ve always poured myself into my work…and then all of a sudden I didn’t have that when we moved. Plus life in California was sooo much different from the Midwest. From the weather, traffic, food— to the neighborhood— I was on another planet, lost in space…

Searching for what I wanted to do next with my life, I decided to look into my past as a project to work on. I started digging up information on my ancestors, which lead me not only the important dates of their lives, but also their stories.

What I realized is that all my ancestors traveled from other places to settle in Kansas when the territory opened up in 1854, or shortly after the Civil War when land was available to homestead.

They were from European countries, leaving family, community and the life they knew behind to start a new and hopefully better life In America.

As I absorbed my ancestors’ stories, I realized they could never go back, hear their parent’s voices again, see the faces of loved ones, or the scenery of their past. But I could call to talk to family, and fly home in this modern age. This realization cured my homesickness and helped me cope with the abrupt changes that cropped up on my path.

This time away from home and loved ones led me to my writing career, and finally back to living on the prairie when my family homesteaded.

Sharing my ancestors’ stories have helped others see what the pioneers did for all of us—a look at the past to appreciate what we have now. I hope you’ll read the Trail of Thread series to get an insight on your family’s history too.

About the author ~ 

In sixth grade we had to write a paper on what we wanted to do when we grew up. My mom had kept it and I found this paper while cleaning through my closet during my college days. According to my dreams back then, I wanted to be a farmer, but my last line was “but alas, girls can’t be farmers.”

 

Well, I got my Bachelors Degree in Agriculture/Horticulture from Kansas State University, did agronomy research for years before starting a wholesale horticulture business. My company, Prairie Flower Creations, grew and dried flowers, ornamental corn, and mini pumpkins for the florist trade.

In 1990 I was featured in Country Woman Magazine, but at the same time, my husband’s job was transferred to California. I sold my business and tried to cope, growing flowers and pumpkins in five-gallon buckets on our “cement lawn”.

I started writing about the family and farmland I was homesick for and started a new career, writing about pioneer women ancestors who had moved to the new state of Kansas and farmed its land.

We eventually moved back to Kansas, bought land next to my family, raised bison and have a garden again. So not only have I fulfilled my dream to be a farmer, I’ve written about past pioneer women that have also tilled the prairie land of Kansas.

Please read and enjoy my book series which are about the family that homestead our family farm, and my pioneer ancestors that homesteaded in Kansas in the 1800s.

Follow Linda on Twitter   (https://twitter.com/#!/LindaHubalek)

Visit Linda’s Website   (http://www.lindahubalek.com/)

Visit Linda on Facebook   (https://www.facebook.com/lindahubalekbooks)

Contact Linda   (linda@lindahubalek.com)

The book!  

Trail of Thread: A Woman's Westward Journey (Book 1 of Trail of Thread Series.)

In this first book of the Trail of Thread series, in the form of letters she wrote on the journey, Deborah Pieratt describes the scenery, the everyday events on the trail, and the task of taking care of her family. Stories of humor and despair, along with her ongoing remarks about camping, cooking, and quilting, make you feel as if you pulled up stakes and are traveling with the Pieratts, too. This series is based on author Linda K. Hubalek's ancestors that traveled from Kentucky to Kansas in 1854. Besides the history of the times, Hubalek weaves quilting facts and quilt pattern sketches in her book series. 

Other books in the series ~ 

Thimble of Soil: A Womans Quest for Land (Book 2 in the Trail of Thread book series) (Trail of Thread Series)

Stitch of Courage: A Woman's Fight for Freedom (Book 3 in the Trail of Thread book series) (Trail of Thread Series)

Thanks to the author, I have one (1) copy of  Trail of Thread: A Woman's Westward Journey (Book 1 of Trail of Thread Series.) to give away.

THIS GIVEAWAY WILL BE FOR THE KINDLE VERSION OF THE BOOK.

GIVEAWAY Rules for entering:

* This contest is open to residents of USA only.

* Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.

* One entry per person. Duplicate entries will be deleted.

* The contest will end on May 30th at 11:59PM EST; 1 winner will be selected and contacted thereafter.

* Once the winner is contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).

* Book will be shipped directly from the publisher.

Guest Post/Virtual Tour ~ Margo Candela

Tea, Writing and Writing about Tea

I’ve been a diligent fiction writer since 2003 when I dropped my kid off at the door of a very good pre-school. It was also around this time that tea became especially important in my life. I was never a coffee drinker and had long stopped guzzling any type of soft drink and a cold glass of water in the morning wasn’t always the best way to start my day. With time to enjoy sipping something instead of having to gulp it down, I decided to give tea try and started out with a very basic box of Celestial Seasonings chamomile tea I picked up at the supermarket.

At first, I didn’t even have a designated mug and would just grab whatever was clean. In fact, I didn’t even have a kettle. For the first few months of my life as a tea drinker I would heat water up in the smallest saucepan we owned and pour it into the cup with mostly non-scalding results.

My husband, being somewhat perceptive and in need of a gift idea for my birthday, surprised me with a teakettle, mug and gourmet tea sampler. And that’s when I took my tea drinking to a new level. Meeting with friends? Let’s have tea! Dinner out? What kind of tea is on the menu?

At home, I have a whole shelf for my tea mugs (both ceramic and glass, tall and short) and a more than of bit of our small pantry is taken up by my many types of tea (from loose to tea in ‘handcrafted’ silk pouches). When I unpack from vacations, it’s not tourist T-shirts or refrigerator magnets, but tea. Sometimes its tea I can get at home, but it’s reassuring when I find it in an unfamiliar city or country.

Tea has also worked its way into my four novels. All of my characters have had at least one cup of tea and one was even a coffee and tea heiress. With my latest book, Good-bye To All That (Touchstone, July ’10), I tried to switch it up. Raquel, the main character is a hardcore diet coke and coffee drinker, but by then end she’s sipping green tea.

I can’t help but include tea in my novels; it’s such a big part of writing routine. I start my writing day with tea, break in the afternoon for another cup and end most nights sipping a cup before bed. Of the many habits I could have, I think this is one of the nicer ones and one I look forward enjoying for the rest of my life.

About the author 

I was born and raised in Northeast Los Angeles and moved to San Francisco to attend college. I ended up staying there for a decade before moving back home in 2005. My first three novels, More Than This (Touchstone, Aug. 2008), Life Over Easy (Kensington, Oct. 2007) and Underneath It All (Kensington, Jan. 2007) are set in San Francisco. More Than This was a Target stores Breakout Book and an American Association of Publishers national book club selection at Borders Books with Las Comadres. My current novel, Goodbye To All That (Touchstone, July 13, 2010) is my first novel set in Los Angeles and is the only novel picked by Los Angeles Magazine for it's 2010 Best of L.A. list

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HER LATEST RELEASE

Good-bye To All That: A Novel

Getting ahead in Hollywood poses a challenge for Raquel Azorian, a lowly marketing assistant at a major production company, and while she has ambition, energy, and smarts, the heroine of Candela's wry latest doesn't have a mentor or even a boss who can hold it together. Determined to chart a course that will save her job and yield a well-deserved promotion, Raquel goes Working Girl, calls on her few friends, and begins making big plans. When a sexy superior takes an interest in her, there's equal potential for success and disaster; meanwhile, her parents and brother have plenty of problems and lean on Raquel for help. Candela (More Than This) combines a cunning wit with a deep understanding of the office politics specific to the entertainment industry to create a frantic atmosphere and a near breathless momentum as the story barrels toward an ending that's anything but your focusgrouped happy fade-out. 

Other books by Margo

Life Over EasyMore Than This: A NovelUnderneath It All