THANKSGIVING READING

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

To all my faithful readers.

Thank you for your support!

And now, for some

THANKSGIVING READING:

 

TWO THANKSGIVING STORIES:

THE SNITTY CAT LIKES PUMPKIN PIE?

LEFTOVER TURKEY

A THANKSGIVING POEM

 

To read a post about the birthmother in LEFTOVER TURKEY:

PENNSYLVANIA WEDDING, (LAMOINE) MAINE ROOTS

 

THE KILLER KITTEN

QUINTESSENCE

JUST ANOTHER WEEKEND IN PARADISE

“DATING WHEN FIFTY-SOME:” A Guy’s Version

IS THIS “CHEERS?”

ON THE EVE OF 27

LEGS UP

THE WRITING LIFE: There’s a World Out There?

CHILD ABUSE DEFINITIONS

 

THE SNITTY CAT LIKES PUMPKIN PIE?

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

THE SNITTY CAT LIKES PUMPKIN PIE?

 

      Imagine my surprise when I walked into the kitchen on Thanksgiving morning and discovered about a third of a dish of cooked pumpkin pie filling missing—like something had lapped it up! I guess I was naïve—I never knew CATS liked pumpkin pie! But Honey must have yearned to have a Thanksgiving meal.
     The next morning, another third of the pumpkin was gone.
     I determined to discover if the culprit snitching the pie filling was our snitty cat, Honey—although there was no other answer unless my hubby was playing tricks on me, which I doubted.
     That night, I cleared the counter, fetched the cat off the closet shelf where she thought she was hiding, and set her on the counter in front of the dish of partially eaten pumpkin. Sure enough, she began

THIS ARTICLE IS BEING SUBMITTED WHERE?

CAROLYN’S CREATIONS

THIS ARTICLE IS BEING SUBMITTED WHERE?

NOTE: You will notice that I am not mentioning the name of the publication to which I am submitting my article. Nor am I giving any identifying information. This information will be provided at a later date!

     Do not submit articles to major publications when you first begin writing, I warned Theresa.
     As a new, inexperienced writer, never having been published, Theresa wanted to break into the field. She had several pieces she’d written, which were not too bad. However, she showed her innocence in the field by planning on sending them to top notch publications, rather than smaller magazines with less stringent competition. She also did not feel that she had to adjust her writing to meet their guidelines. She expected that they would set their rules aside and, at the very least read her submissions, and that they would be so enamored with her writing that they would publish her work.
     All this jibberish aside, I have to ask the question of myself: Why am I submitting my work to the major publication that is “way over my head?”
     I have been working on a historical journal article, not only for a major publication, but for a high-level competition hosted by this journal. I, a person who studied in the medical and human service field, am entering the world of the historian—the historian at the level of a Harvard University Ph. D. This arrogance flies in the face of

THE SPECTACULAR PENOBSCOT RIVER A Natural Wonder in Maine: Part 1

Last week, I presented a program to fifth grade students in my granddaughter’s reading class, which had been reading The Sign of the Beaver. I had picked the book up when she was visiting, and discovered its setting was on the west side of the Penobscot River. My research has been mostly on the east side of the river, but I had viewed the river from the Penobscot Narrows Observatory in September, and, using the pictures and the results of much of my research, I believed I had something valuable to share with the class. To read my experience in the observatory, click on: THE PENOBSCOT NARROWS BRIDGE AND OBSERVATORY
     The Penobscot River, in Maine, is as spectacular today as it was when David Ingram, Samuel de Champlain and Alexander Baring first explored it centuries ago.
     David Ingram, the first European to sail up the Penobscot River, did so about 418 years ago, in the late 1500′s. In the early 1600s, either 1604 or 1605, Samuel de Champlain also sailed up the river that the “savages” called Pematig, or Pematiq, which later lead to the waters of the bay and river, westward, being named Pematigoëtt, and, finally, “Pentagoët.” 
     “The Penobscot is one of the finest rivers in America and its banks will become the center of

THE WRITING LIFE: There’s a World Out There?

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
THE WRITING LIFE
There’s a World Out There?

      At 4:30 p.m. I closed the word document I was working on. I lifted my head, relieved, and looked around me. The wind was blowing outside. The house was a mess.
     Then it hit me: There’s a world out there!
     Several years ago I was presented with a one hundred year history of an ancestor, who emigrated from France to the Maine territory of Massachusetts, during the French Revolution. Its numerous love stories inspired me to write a historical romance novel. I set the first of January, 2003, as my starting date.
     That February, while playing around on the Internet, I came across an

GEORGE D. SHUMAN: Author of Thriller Books Part 2

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

GEORGE D. SHUMAN: Author of Thriller Books Part 2

 

 

George D. Shuman, author of the murder mystery “18 Seconds,” had his second book in the mystery series released August 7, 2007, and his third, “Lost Girls,” in August, 2008. Check your bookstores or local library to read these books. In honor of his work, the Beanery Writers Online Literary Magazine is reposting a two-part article on Shuman.
Shuman, a twenty-year veteran of the Washington D. C. Metropolitan Police Force, said he would have been a writer no matter what his career was.
“18 Seconds” is his first published book. He talked with members of the Beanery Writers Group at their first anniversary meeting March 9, 2007, about his books and his writing process.
Today’s post is on Shuman’s book, “18 Seconds.” Click on GEORGE D. SHUMAN: Author of “18 SECONDS” & “LAST BREATH” Part 1  to read Part 1 of this article, written about his Background and his Writing Process.

THE BOOK
He chose the boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey, as the “place” for “18 Seconds.”
“I was thinking about the boardwalk. I’ll never forget walking the boardwalk,” he said. “Where you’re beyond the noise, you can hear the hollow (to read the rest of this story click on GEORGE D. SHUMAN: Author of Thriller Books Part 2 )

GEORGE D. SHUMAN: Author of “18 SECONDS” & “LAST BREATH” Part 1

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

GEORGE D. SHUMAN: Author of “18 SECONDS” & “LAST BREATH”  Part 1

Part 1

George D. Shuman, author of the murder mystery “18 Seconds,” had his second book in the mystery series released August 7, 2007. Check your bookstores for “Last Breath.” In honor of his work, the Beanery Writers Online Literary Magazine is reposting a two-part article on Shuman.

Shuman, a twenty-year veteran of the Washington D. C. Metropolitan Police Force, said he would have been a writer no matter what his career was. “18 Seconds” is his first published book.

SHUMAN’S BACKGROUND
As a high school and college student Shuman was not the stellar performer. For whatever reason, he found classes, even literature, tedious. His first jobs following school were in the steel mills in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He was laid off when the industry began to decline. Then he could only find work on the State Road Crew in Somerset County.
Like most youth, he needed to “get out of” his hometown. So he packed and drove to… (TO CONTINUE READING THIS STORY CLICK ON GEORGE D. SHUMAN: Author of “18 SECONDS” & “LAST BREATH” Part 1 )

CHILD ABUSE DEFINITIONS

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

CHILD ABUSE DEFINITIONS

 

     When I was director of a Children’s Trust Fund program in a former community, I discovered that my enthusiastic board members had no idea how to define “abuse.” I think this is a common situation, and not unique to this community.
     The term “child abuse” can be defined on several different levels. The LEGAL definition of abuse is provided by

GUNMAN AT STOCKTON SPRINGS ELEM. SCHOOL: School Threat Ends Peacefully

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

GUNMAN AT STOCKTON SPRINGS ELEM. SCHOOL

School Threat Ends Peacefully

 

     “Not really your typical day in first grade. It’s not something you want to do again.”
     So said my niece in an E-mail with a link to a Bangor (Maine) Daily News report about the events surrounding her day at Stockton Springs Elementary School, which has eighty-five students in grades first through fifth, and eleven teachers and staff .
     Gunman Randall Hofland entered the school about 8:30 a.m., and attempted to coerce two children into