My Talking Heart: An Introduction by Linda Lee Greene

Once upon a time a very long time ago, I had a dream—not the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s overcoming injustice kind of dream, but the kind of dream we have while we are sleeping, when our conscious mind turns off for the day, and the fairies and devils of our unconscious mind come out to play, or to make mayhem, or to implant a message that might be crucial to our lives. Upon awakening, the dream to which I refer latched on to me and wouldn’t let go—not that it hounded me, but it did show up unsolicited from time to time, as it still does. I have the very real sense that it contains a lesson I need to learn, and over the years I’ve entertained various ideas of what that might be, but none that seemed plausible. The dream went like this:

I was at an art show, or an art gallery, or perhaps an art museum. The backdrop isn’t unusual in my case since in my waking life, I am an artist and have occasion to frequent places where artwork is displayed. Although other people were in attendance, I felt completely alone in the room, alone and lost in the paintings on exhibit, as is also normal for me. My spirit took flight from my body and walked barefoot and bare-headed among the grasses and trees of landscapes, dipped naked toes in the cool clear flow of streams and rivers in waterscapes, and sucked sweet juices of peaches and pears arranged in crystal bowls in still lifes. A painting of a man across the span of the room caught my eye—no, it was more than that. I don’t suggest that it called to me, or beckoned me. But I somehow knew I was supposed to go to it and stand before it at full attention.

It was a painting of a holy man, a bronzed face, dark dips and depressions beneath pronounced cheekbones and ancient eyes, near-black beard and hair touching his white tunic. The garment fell from his shoulders and ballooned open at his chest, and caught again in closure at his waist. In the center of his chest sat his exposed heart. I remember thinking in my dream that it was a duplicate of photos I had seen of the Catholic Jesus assuming the same pose—the same face, the same exposed heart.

I am not a Jesus person, or a Buddha or a Mohammad person, nor any other holy-man or holy-woman person. I adhere to no specific genre of religion, therefore I wondered why this particular image caught me so—when suddenly, the heart moved and expanded as if to sigh, and then a pair of lips parted in its center, a mouth that opened and spoke to me. I couldn’t make out the words. I just couldn’t hear them or even to intuit the message that heart had for me. But today, I have an idea of the lesson the talking heart conveyed to me, one I was unable to absorb then, because I wasn’t ready yet. I think the heart said to me, “Talk, Linda. Open up and communicate. Be vulnerable. Tell your story. Let people know you. They are waiting out there, waiting for you to connect with them sincerely.”

This is a tough mandate the talking heart laid upon me. I don’t talk about myself easily, at least not the unmasked me. I’m going to give it my best shot, though, in a series of writings I am calling “My Talking Heart.” Today is the introduction; the next one will be chapter one, and then chapter two, and on and on. I hope you hear me in my musings. And if you do, won’t you let me know, please?     

A Review of the film THE FLOWERS OF WAR

A story unfolding around the six-weeks of the “Massacre of Nanjing,” also known as the “Rape of Nanjing” during Japan’s invasion of China in the Second Sino-Japanese War and a precursor to World War II, transformation of the human spirit is the basis of the Golden Globe nominated film THE FLOWERS OF WAR. Based on true events as depicted in the novel of historical fiction of the same name originally titled 13 FLOWERS OF NANJING by Chinese-American author Geling Yan, the Hong Kong/Chinese film was released in early 2012 and stars Oscar-winner British actor Christian Bale. Having been in my possession for a couple of years, my recent viewing of it was my fourth one, and I assure you, it will not be my last.

The promo on the jacket of the DVD states, “The dangerous streets of Nanjing [China] throw together a group of opposites – a flock of shell-shocked schoolchildren, a dozen seductive courtesans, and a renegade American (Christian Bale) posing as a priest to save his own skin, or so he thinks – all seeking safety behind the walls of a cathedral. Trapped by marauding [Japanese] soldiers, over the next few days the prejudices and divides [among the residents of the cathedral] will fade away as they unite around a last-ditch plan to protect the children from impending catastrophe [at the hands of the soldiers].”

Bad blood exists to this day between Japan and China related to this brutal consequence of a cruel war, an event referred to by some as the “Forgotten Holocaust.” Japanese advocates charge the record to be skewed, propounding the number of slaughtered to be far fewer than the 140,000, or possibly as many as 300,000, as put forth by Chinese historians. While the film enjoyed huge box office success, especially in China, controversy buzzed around it like a swarm of bees, manifesting in fights among Japanese and Chinese actors at work on the film, and in death-threats to its director Lu Chuan. Detractors of the film labeled it nationalistic and anti-Japanese, as Chinese propaganda. And despite its several graphic scenes of gross cruelty, Bale suggested an underlying redeeming quality of the film, stating, “It’s far more a movie about human beings and the nature of human beings’ responses to crisis.”    

It isn’t often that a film inspires me to learn more about a particular subject, as did THE FLOWERS OF WAR. My research revealed that Yan’s inspiration for her novel and subsequent film was built around a story somewhat different than the “literary novel” she wrote, and that was adapted into the film. Rather than a renegade male American posing as a priest, the true hero of the actual story was female Minnie Vautrin, an American missionary on behalf of the United Christian Missionary Society, diarist, educator and acting dean of Ginling College in Nanjing, a position she held during the Japanese siege and massacre, turning the college into a sanctuary for 10,000 women, and through her tireless work, established the Nanking Safety Zone. Called the “Goddess of Mercy” by refugees, she was awarded the Order of Jade by the Chinese Nationalist government for her heroic sacrifices during the course of the Nanjing Massacre.

 While I can’t help thinking that a film depicting Minnie Vautrin’s story would have been as engaging as Geling Yan and Lu Chuan’s altered version of it, I’m heartened by the fact that THE FLOWERS OF WAR portrayed splendidly the heroism of ordinary people facing extraordinarily adverse circumstances. In my opinion, it was artfully and masterfully filmed and acted. In addition, the insight into this pivotal era of world history this film offers is profoundly crucial to its viewers. Finally, THE FLOWERS OF WAR is fare for an enjoyable evening, or, if you are a repeat-viewer like me, several evenings.  – Linda Lee Greene, Author

   

Best-selling author Linda Lee Greene has four novels of different genres to her credit, all of which examine various themes of courageousness of ordinary people facing difficult circumstances. Please log onto https://www.amazon.com/author/lindaleegreene for an overview of her personal story. You can also find her on Twitter at @LLGreeneAuthor, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/LindaLeeGreeneAuthor. An award-winning artist, an online retrospective of her artwork is at www.gallery-llgreene.com.

Books by Linda Lee Greene:

Cradle of the Serpent (Literary Fiction/Contemporary Romance) goo.gl/i3UkAV 

Guardians and Other Angels (Historical Fiction) http://goo.gl/imUwKO

Rooster Tale (Juvenile Fiction) http://goo.gl/vNq32g

(Co-authored) Jesus Gandhi Oma Mae Adams (Murder Mystery) http://amzn.to/VazHFG

Fasting: One of the Most Popular Diet Trends Worldwide by Linda Lee Greene

"Table Setting" acrylic painting by Linda Lee Greene

Yesterday, July 3, 2017, I opened my eyes to a glorious sun-filled summer morning, a day of unlimited potential, unlimited, among many other blessings, because I am free, because I have a nice home, a reliable automobile that takes me wherever I wish to go, a little cache of cash stashed away securely, and a refrigerator and kitchen cupboards filled with food. But then I lowered my feet to the floor beside my bed, and the thoughts that filled my head were anything but sunny and bright—gratitude did not shape my mood, but rather my old companions of regret, disillusionment, apathy, and shame ruled my mind. But yesterday morning didn’t feel the same as normal—it felt as if I had grown some backbone during the night that had propelled me across an important threshold that needed crossing, a threshold that has stopped me tirelessly for years. You see, my underlying obstacle in life is that I am far too over-weight, and because of it my self-worth suffers, my health suffers, my social life suffers, my talents suffer, and no doubt, the people in my life suffer because of it too, because negativity rubs off in myriad ways.

                Yes, I have a thyroid condition that plays havoc with my metabolism, and a compromised digestive system that rebels reliably against certain “healthy” foods. But the brutal truth is that I use those situations as excuses to avoid trying too hard to control the condition of my physical body. Yesterday morning, as usual, I awoke craving my first cup of coffee, but also feeling like I had had just about enough of my weak, bigger-than-big-self, and with that feeling the command to “FAST” popped in my head. And fast I did, and it was simple, and it was easy. And best of all, it gave me a feeling that I have finally taken back control of this part of who I am.

                “Why fasting?” many ask. For me, working gradually into any sort of self-improvement program never works. For instance, when I quit smoking 27 years ago, I quit cold-turkey. The day I quit, I purchased a carton of cigarettes, opened the carton, took out a pack of cigarettes, opened the pack, smoked a cigarette, and then threw the pack and all the other packs in the carton in the trash, and never smoked another cigarette again. I had tried easing off, got hypnotized, got acupressure and acupuncture, got my ear stapled, all in an effort to quit smoking, but quitting cold-turkey is the only thing that worked for me, permanently. At the moment I pitched 399 fresh cigarettes in the trash, my mind crossed the threshold it had been playing tag around for years, and I was finally free. Fasting feels to me like cold-turkey—it feels like seizing a sledge hammer in my hands and demolishing a theretofore impenetrable barrier of bad habits, and tossing away the rubbish that made up the barrier. Today, I am pretty sure I am in the same space I entered in 1990 when I quit smoking.

Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock is aware of the health and social and financial benefits of being smoke-free. It turns out that fasting is good for us in many of the same ways. Studies suggest that intermittent fasting (abstaining from food and drink) can help people to lose weight, and can also lower cholesterol levels, improve blood pressure and insulin sensitivity, all of which are precursors to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and more. Fasting appears to “reboot” the immune system, to clear out old immune cells and to regenerate new ones, a process that protects against cell damage resulting in aging and even chemotherapy. A mere eight hours after ones last meal, fasting causes the body to dip into glucose stored in the liver and muscles to get energy, thereby a passive and easy way of burning calories. Another huge benefit is that fasting rids the body of stored toxins found in fat, and once removed, it begins releasing endorphins called “feel-good hormones,” which impact enormously on ones mental well-being and outlook. According to Dr. Valter Longo and colleagues from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, "The good news is that the body got rid of the parts of the system that might be damaged or old, the inefficient parts, during the fasting.”

                It is recommended that persons guard against dehydration and heartburn during fasting by drinking a lot of fluids (water, juice, clear smoothies), and to relax into it and refuse to allow it to cause stress. Fasting can also lead to disruptions in sleep, and can cause headaches. Persons under the age of 18, or who are underweight, or who are recovering from surgery, or who are experiencing type 1 diabetes, or women who are pregnant, should not fast.

Source: Honor Whiteman for http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/295914.php

Linda Lee Greene’s latest novel CRADLE OF THE SERPENT is available on Amazon and other booksellers. Click goo.gl/i3UkAV  for immediate access to it.

  

Why Should Readers Post Reviews of Books? By award-winning author Dana Wayne

The answer to that question is as varied as the people asking it. The bottom line is, a review is not only gold to an author, it is a valuable nugget for the reader as well. They provide the author with validation that someone besides friends and family appreciate their efforts. Even if the review is less than three stars, it is still beneficial, because, one, not everyone is going to like a specific book, and, two, maybe there is an area to improve upon.

There are literally thousands of new books released each month. When a reader wants something new, they typically start with authors they know, then move to someone they haven’t read before, relying on recommendations from friends, social media or suggestions from online retailers like Amazon to tempt readers with new selections.

Fine, but how do they know what selections to tempt them with? Simple: Algorithms. A fancy word for numbers. Numbers that are derived from multiple places, one is which is reviews. And it’s numbers only; not what you said or how many stars you rated it; just the fact that a review was posted. The more reviews a book receives, the higher up the food chain it goes and Amazon will then boost it with promotion.

While Amazon is not the only spot to place a review, it is the largest. Others like Barnes & Noble, Books a Million and Goodreads are also great places to post a review. Reviews don’t have to be a dissertation; they can be as simple or as in depth as you want them to be. Below are some tips to help you the next time you go to write a review:

1.      It is not necessary to purchase a book from Amazon (or any other retailer) to leave a book review.

2.      Reviews can be posted at any point, months or even years after you read it. There is no deadline to post.

3.      Reviews can be long or short; doesn’t matter. You can say something like “I loved the book and can’t wait for the next one” or go into detail about what you loved.

4.      By the same token, if you really didn’t like the book, take a moment to let the author know. Contact info is pretty much standard today and an email to say what you didn’t care for could help the author going forward.

5.      When leaving less than 3 stars, Please. Be kind, not hurtful. “I couldn’t get into the story” or maybe “didn’t care for this or that character” versus something like “this is crap.”

Writing is hard work. Rarely does it flow like a mountain stream. It takes months or even years to get a quality, finished product to market. And once it’s there, it takes more time and effort to promote. Most readers, myself included, rely on reviews to help us select our next favorite book. Are they the final determining factor? No, but they are extremely important.

So, the next time you reach ‘the end’ and sigh a contented breath because of the joy you found within those pages, take two minutes to post a review. Who knows? That may be the reason the next person picks up that book.

On behalf of writers everywhere, “thank you for your reviews.”

Awarding winning author Dana Wayne is a sixth generation Texan and resides in the Piney Woods with her husband of 39 years (and counting), a Calico cat named Katie, three children and four grandchildren. She routinely speaks at book clubs, writers groups and other organizations, and is a frequent guest on numerous writing blogs.

Her debut novel, Secrets of The Heart, was awarded Best in Texas, Contemporary Romance, 2017 by Texas Association of Authors, was a finalist for the 2017 Scéal Award for Contemporary Romance, a Reviewers Top Pick and on the Top 10 Books to Read This Winter from Books & Benches online magazine. Her second novel, Mail Order Groom was released in April, 2017, received 5-Star Reviews from Readers Favorite and Books & Benches online magazine.

Affiliations include Romance Writers of America, Texas Association of Authors, Writers League of Texas, East Texas Writers Guild, Northeast Texas Writers Organization, and East Texas Writers Association.

She can be reached through her website www.danawaye.com or via email at danawayne423@gmail.com.

WOULD YOUR MARRIAGE SURVIVE INFIDELITY? by Linda Lee Greene

Let me say at the outset that my one and only marriage did not survive infidelity. But my divorce occurred many years ago, and I was a different person then. Given similar circumstances, would I pursue the same course of action now?

                To set the stage for this treatise, I grew up internalizing the American sitcom “Father Knows Best,” in which the wife and mother Margaret Anderson (glamorous actress Jane Wyatt) vacuumed the floors, if she ever did vacuum the floors, while her elegant neck was perpetually encircled by a string of perfect pearls and her slender movie-star silhouette was adorned in haute couture dresses. Her greatest tragedy was likely to be a bad perm day at the beauty parlor, and her adoring and loyal husband Jim’s (actor Robert Young) last nerve was apt to be jangled by a cloudburst on his golf day. “Adultery” was a word absent from their lexicon, and even its causes didn’t exist. Of course, my own parents resembled Margaret and Jim Anderson not even a smidgen, and neither did their “hum-drum” marriage. But I, we of my generation, wanted to believe the TV version to be the “real” thing, and all of us were convinced it was our true and only destiny.

                If you are familiar with the TV series “Mad Men,” you’ll get the picture of the vast differences in male and female relationships that beset my generation by the time we approached marriageable age. Drugs, sex, and rock n roll were cultural tsunamis that rearranged our world, and with the changes came rampant bed hopping, even by married individuals. In my experience, married men more than married women indulged in the sport then, and I was one among the majority who abstained. As with my girlfriends and female members of my family, in my heart of hearts, I remained a version of Margaret Anderson and my husband of Jim Anderson. Boy, was I wrong about him! And boy, was I wrong about me! I just bet, though, that if Margaret and Jim Anderson had been swamped by the swirling, dirty, drowning cultural waters of the 1960s and 1970s, they very well might have been swept into the divorce court, too.  

                It took me several years after my divorce to realize, or actually, to admit, that the infidelity was a symptom rather than its cause. And of course, the fact that it was the “accepted” rationale for breaking up our family blinded me to the truth, as well. I had all the evidence against the continuation of my marriage I needed, so why bother to dig any deeper than the specter of the “other women?” Among the “real” culprits were our unrealistic Margaret and Jim Anderson expectations of married life, as were secrets we hid from each other. Everyday proximity was another. “Familiarity breeds contempt” really is true. Is there anyone whom you hate more than your spouse at times, or maybe all the time to a degree—disdain, dislike, disrespect, disapproval, scorn—all the possible synonyms for hatred of him or her stuffed away somewhere in the sub-basement of your consciousness?  

                Nowadays, we have many more opportunities to be better informed about what it takes to forge and maintain a complimentary marriage, to learn new adaptations, and to stop and contemplate Hemingway’s avowal: “The world breaks everyone, and afterwards, many are strong at the broken places.” But I think he should have enlarged his statement with the actuality that many are left cripplingly or fatally weakened at the broken places. What are your thoughts on this subject? And more to the point, would your marriage survive infidelity?             

Linda Lee Greene’s latest novel “Cradle of the Serpent” explores the causes and consequences of infidelity in the long-term marriage of archaeologists Lily and Jacob Light. Hover your mouse here goo.gl/i3UkAV  to find it on Amazon. Look for her on Facebook and on Twitter @LLGreeneAuthor.   

Best-selling author Linda Lee Greene's latest novel

Best-selling author Linda Lee Greene’s latest novel CRADLE OF THE SERPENT (goo.gl/i3UkAV) is a story whose protagonist is a contemporary North American archaeologist named Lily Light. Her work centers on the “Great Serpent Mound” in Adams County, Ohio, USA. The book is written in the voices of Lily Light and her psychotherapist Michael Neeson. Lily’s therapy is based on her estrangement from her husband Jacob, also an archaeologist at work on a project in Arizona. Early in Lily’s therapy, Jacob is injured in a violent shooting at the edge of the Navajo Reservation there, and is left permanently paralyzed from his shoulders down. Lily also learns that a woman murdered at the scene of the crime was Jacob’s mistress.

During several of Lily’s therapy sessions, she experiences dream-states or time-travels in which she takes on the bearing of a young Indian female, a member of the indigenous clan of the mound’s original architects. Through her remarkable journey through time, Lily finds her way to the other side of her shattered life wrought by Jacob’s infidelity and its numerous catastrophic consequences.

Peggy M McAloon, Author and Activist Talks About Clean Water

I asked my author friend Peggy M McAloon to tell us something about herself we don't know. The following

is her compelling response:

When I retired as the National Account Manager for the National Association of Credit Management in Minneapolis, we sold our cabin and house in Minnesota, and purchased a lake home in Wisconsin. The house is nestled into a beautiful pine forest on the water’s edge with just enough birch, maple, and oaks to make the views nothing short of spectacular.

The first summer we were here, the lake started turning green about the middle of June. The term people here used was “blue-green algae” to describe the waters. Within weeks, I began having difficulty breathing whenever I went out into our beautiful yard. No matter how many questions I asked, I was told it was a form of algae and wouldn’t be the cause of my health decline.

My brother has a PhD in Microbiology, so I sent him two water samples by overnight mail. One sample was directly from the lake and the other was fixed with iodine as instructed. When the samples arrived at his lab, he assigned the project to a student working on her degree. Instead of using the safe tent method to test the samples, she worked on them on an open table.

Five hours later, she was rushed to the emergency room in extreme respiratory distress. The “simple algae” was actually a toxic form of bacteria known as cyanobacteria. It would have been simple to put the house back on the market and move, but I couldn’t do that to someone else. We decided to stay and try to make a difference.

For the past twelve years, I have been actively engaged in working for protections of our water resources.

I joined the lake association and quickly became the person in charge of communication. Newsletters were written and my husband and I became involved in stream monitoring to protect the local lakes.

Eventually, I attended the Wisconsin Lake Leaders Institute hosted by UW-Steven’s Point and the DNR. This commitment was made to help enhance skills and broaden capabilities of people in our lake communities, champion effective and communicative collaboration, and foster responsive and useful networks that support lake citizens.

In 2013, I was awarded the Minnesota State Society of the DAR Conservation Award and also with the National Society of the DAR Conservation Award. That was an enormous honor, as my mother was a DAR Regent in Iowa at one time.  http://chippewa.com/dunnconnect/community/mcaloon-receives-awards-minnesota-dar-presented-both-the-minnesota-and/article_d91fc52a-ce19-11e2-8395-0019bb2963f4.html

We take clean water too much for granted in this country. My five-year-old nearly died of nitrate poisoning from city sources in a Minneapolis suburb. Again water has hit the news in Minnesota as children are being poisoned by lead in the water. We are seeing problems with the safety of our drinking water throughout the nation and yet we continue to ignore and/or reduce safeguards.

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold was gracious enough to answer my request and come to Wisconsin to view our lake when the green and blue foam covered the water. He asked me what the smell was, and I explained the toxins from cyanobacteria can carry in the winds up to a mile inland. That’s when the light bulb went on for him. He turned and looked at me with so much concern in his eyes when he acknowledged I wasn’t simply talking about the Clean Water Act, but that there is a serious problem with the Clean Air Act around affected waters.

There are days still, when I can barely breathe when I leave the house. I feel like the canary in the coal mine, but so far, we have only been able to take baby steps. Each day we fall backwards as profits in business take priority over the health and well-being of our citizens. I grew up in a time when we found ways to make compromises. I hope we can get there again and do what’s best for the greatest number.

Water is our birthright and heritage. We need it to live. I will always be as passionate about our water resources as I am about the protection of our children. They are forever connected and deserve our very best.

Peggy M McAloon is the author of Elle Burton and the Reflective Portals, Missing, Cosmo is Adopted, and Gloriously Gluten-Free Sweets and Treats. She has also contributed to New York Times Best Selling Author Joel Comm’s  So What Do You Do? Vol 2 and An Anthology of Modern Fairy Tales #1.  Peggy says her goal with the Elle Burton books is to inspire kids to be kind and to empower them to stand up to bullying and abuse. The Cosmo book was written for her grandchildren and includes 3 bonus sections, including questions parents can use to help children improve their “feelings” vocabularies.

You Can Connect with Peggy here:

Amazon Author Page:  https://www.amazon.com/Peggy-M.-McAloon/e/B001KCBZZG/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_1

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/peggy.mcaloon

Twitter: @PeggyMcAloon

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pmcaloon/

Website:  https://peggyshope4u.comautho