My novel will be launched soon

 

On Saturday, July 13, 2013, my novel

TOO MUCH LEFT UNSAID

will be launched at a party in Pella, Iowa.

The Write Place is publishing it and I will soon be able to tell you all where you can place orders to buy it.

The party will be at

Second Reformed Church

Gathering Space

612 Union in Pella.

 I will read a bit and sign copies if asked to do so.

Tulip Time in Pella--2013

This was what greeted us on Friday of
this year's Tulip Time Celebration

Today, Saturday of Tulip Time, Pella finally had one of the six parades scheduled for the three day festival. Tonight the lighted parade was to be held in a light rain, but the stage show was cancelled.

Yesterday was snowed out (see the photo at right) and Thursday's activities were rained out.

A year ago I wrote about Tulip Time in Pella that the unseasonably warm winter and spring of 2012 had caused all but a few tulips to bloom in April and people coming in May had missed the beauty.

This year please consider
coming next week
 or even the week after for some beautiful blooms. Tulips actually like cold and snow and generally keep their pretty shape longer.

Perhaps 2014 will find the happy medium. It is always fun to be in Pella.

Many people work hard to make you feel welcome. The weather--not so much.

What's in a wish? Making wishes come true

Last day of April, 2013-

Thinking about wishing--wishing I were thinking more clearly at this moment, but wanting to share some thoughts with those of you who have been pining away waiting for another post from me.

I was raised on fairy tales and early Walt Disney movies: Snow White, Dumbo, Pinocchio, Bambi.

•  A dream is a wish your heart makes...
• When you wish upon a star...
• I'm wishing and I'm dreaming of...
• I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.
• Make a wish and blow out the candles.
• Be careful what you wish for, for it might come true

I'm sure you can think of many other "WISH Sayings" and I invite you to put them in the comments or email me at

Collinsleej@gmail.com

Planning for Summer

Here I sit on the third day of April dreaming of the spring and summer adventures ahead:

•  Family visits on our April trip: son, daughter-in-law, brother, sisters-in-law, niece, daughter and six grandkids..What a joy to look forward to seeing them all.
• Iowa Summer Writing Festival at the University of Iowa in June, a week spent with my college roommate from Wooster's Class of 1956. Could we really be that old?
• Heartland Theater in Platteville, WI, performances of "Fiddler on the Roof" with grandson Quinn in the cast.
• Visit here with my daughter Becky and grandchildren, Lillie and Russell. Other visits from the Wisconsin grands as well, of course.
• Presentations for Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) on Medicare for a local audience.
• Publishing of my book TOO MUCH LEFT UNSAID in June.
• Visits to local bookstores and libraries to promote my book.
• Activities at Church for the 150th Anniversary Year.

And before I know it--Fall, Thanksgiving, Christmas again. 

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Death and Resurrection

Today is Easter, 2013. The Day of Resurrection. Alleluia!

Eleven years ago today, I celebrated this day with my middle child, Russell Grant Collins, who was not feeling very well.  It was only five days before his forty-first birthday and we were concerned that we could not get a diagnosis for his health problems.

The day after his birthday he fell, was taken to Pella Regional Health Center and then flown by helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines where seven specialists tried to discover the source of his illness. The next day, on April 7, 2002, Russell died. An autopsy revealed he had widespread cancer, probably starting in his lungs and then migrating and completely destroying his liver.

This Easter is especially difficult for me because the date of Easter is the same as in 2002 and the week ahead will contain both Russell's birthday and his day of death. My son-in-law Juan, who was born the same year as Russ, died in January this year, at age 52.

But Easter reminds us that Christ is risen, and because he lives we shall live also. Much as I miss Russ and Juan, I know we will meet again in God's good time.

Selma to Montgomery, March, 1963

March 7, 1963
Scene from "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Alabama.

Forty-eight years ago this month, on March 7, 1965, approximately 600 people began a march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital in Montgomery to petition for protection of black citizens who were being kept from registering to vote. After only six blocks they were stopped at the Edmund Petus Bridge by state troopers and local law enforcement personnel who drove them back with tear gas and billy clubs. 

The scene of this "Bloody Sunday" shown on the nightly news was crucial in growing support for the cause of civil rights around the nation.

Two weeks later, after a call for support from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others. approximately 3,200 marchers began the march again. Others joined until four days later when they reached the capital 25,000 people were in the crowd.

Aaron Connors and Dar Jones, two fictional characters in my novel Too Much Left Unsaid, participate and I tell the story of what they felt and how it affected their lives. 

 

My novel will be published by The Write Place, and should be available in mid-June.

If you want to know more about the events of that March march, you can go to the link I have inserted.

Email me at Collinsl@central.edu if you want more information about my book or comment below.

Why being Right might be wrong.

I was in high school when I first realized that
 other people do not think like I do.

Before that moment of enlightenment, I "used to think" that somehow others came to different conclusions from mine because they were not reasoning clearly.

But then I discovered other people
   are starting in a different place
   and seeing the whole situation in a different way.

Seeing the problem from another viewpoint leads to a very different solution.

Mark Putnam, President of Central College, has a blog called Mark My Words that I follow.

Last week, Mark pointed out

   we all view everything from a bias that we might not even notice.

We may be quite right about something from our own point of view,
   but we are wrong if we fail to realize that other viewpoints are possible.

If we hope to dialog with people who come from differing backgrounds,
  we need to do a lot of listening to discover how they are seeing the problem.