Once Upon A Time

If you were writing a story about your life up to this point, how would it begin? "Once upon a time," or "a long, long time ago," or "in a faraway land," or "happily ever after?" Just hearing these words offers a sense of excitement and expectation, a sense of anticipation. A story is about to unfold, and those key words tell all we need to know about the kind of story it will be. As we explore ways to see our lives as one grand story, we're going to realize that all the parts - the good parts and the bad, the trouble and the heartache, the disappointment and the discouragements we face - are important to the story, and, as we already know redemption is coming.

In the latest inspiration novel from best selling author Debbie Macomber, Once Upon A Time, she invites readers to take a journey into their own story, the story of their life. Most of us would never think our own story is worth reading much worth sharing, but that is where you are wrong. As Debbie encourages the reader throughout this book to take a look at different parts of our life, back to our favorite part of growing up, our childhood home, room or town; to look at we loved most about growing up, perhaps a family tradition that even now you carry into your own family, or a memorable time in school you have never forgotten. When we look back at the smaller pieces one at a time, she encourages the reader to pick up a journal and begin to write these thoughts down. Maybe it's a place you love to go for some unknown reason, she encourages you to dig deep to understand what the draw might be. Who were the main characters in your own life? Perhaps siblings, relatives, friends or even a stranger has impacted your life so much you will never forget them.

Working her way through the book chapter by chapter much like writing her own books, she encourages the reader to spend some time looking back at their life. It might surprise you to see just how much amazing details and stories you would have to share. This is the point of this book. To encourage you to begin your own story, a legacy, a way to share what impact you have made in this life, the things that are important to you. What about your name? Who picked it out, why, what significance does your name mean? Does that have any impact on the person you are today or what the desires of your heart are?

Debbie works through this novel with the reader as if you're having an intimate conversation with her. From sharing her own stories or stories that have impacted her own life, you feel as if you're on this journey together. I even love the idea of using this book if you're thinking about writing your own book, fiction or not, to help you through the process of putting ideas together on character development or settings. This is also a great book to encourage you to begin journaling your own family stories, perhaps as a basis to interview your grandparents and see what they have to share. Life stories are important. They are important to God.

"Without memory, we'd have to relearn everything every day. Without memory, we'd forget who we are and where we've been. Without memory, we'd lose faith because we'd forget the faithfulness of God." 

I received Once Upon A Time by Debbie Macomber compliments of Howard Books, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and received no monetary compensation for a favorable one. This one will forever have a permanent home on my library shelf at home because I plan on referring to it quite a bit. My husband and I are even now chronicling our parents lives so we can keep their stories alive long after that have passed away so we can share them with future generations. This book is an exceptional tool to use for just that purpose and perhaps for creating your own personal legacy. I rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars and gives you insight on just how interesting your own life really and truly is. Perhaps there is even a happily ever after waiting just for you!

For more information about Once Upon a Time, Debbie Macomber or where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Once Upon A Time by Debbie Macomber

You can also find Debbie Macomber on Facebook so you don't miss out on any of her latest books.

You can also visit Debbie Macomber at her website by clicking here. 

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Howard Books (May 28, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1451607792
• ISBN-13: 978-1451607796
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches 

You can find this book at your favorite book retailer in Hardcover and ebook formats. 

Guest Post with Author M Thomas Long of Blue Monday

Neil Diamond, Bob and Writing

According to Bill Murray in the movie “What About Bob?”, ‘there are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don't. My ex-wife loves him.’ 

It was just a few minutes before Neil took the stage at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Coliseum in Birmingham, Alabama a few years back when the power of artistic creation hit me in a way that I had never realized before. There was an aura of excitement and anticipation in the air that surrounded you, even soaked into you…whether you were a fan or not. 

As I sat in the upper deck, I looked around the arena and thought about exactly what I was experiencing. The audience of over 18,000 ranged from young teens to men and women in their 70’s, all wearing similar Neil Diamond merchandise. Some had signs. Women in the first few rows down on the floor had bouquets of flowers, stuffed animals and other gifts that they planned present to Neil once the show started and they could get his attention for a few seconds.

Suspended above the stage was over 100,000 pounds of lighting and sound gear worth at least half a million dollars.

Then the most fascinating, incredible aspect of the entire scenario occurred to me. Everything I was seeing and would soon experience was the product of one man’s imagination. More specifically, his art. A seed had been planted in his soul and he had exercised the courage to water it, face the vulnerability to expose it to the light, care for it, prune it and allow it to grow and mature.

Whether you side with Bob or his ex-wife concerning Neil Diamond, you owe it to yourself to experience his classic song ‘I Am…I Said’ in a live setting. The power, the emptiness, the longing and the painful struggle of self-assertion move you in a way that you just don’t experience very often in this life. It moves you. The force and range of emotion you experience is not what you could have imagined just a few minutes earlier looking at inanimate instruments on a dark stage.

That’s why we read fiction; more importantly, it’s why authors write it. The very same experience is what we both are looking for, and it comes from the same place that a Neil Diamond show originates.

It’s where all art comes from that reaches us. Painting, music, film, sculpture, photography, writing and many others all originate in the imagination of an eternal soul inhabiting a body on a journey through this life. Asking questions, finding answers, seeking solutions, sharing, laughing, hurting and healing. 

A single person with an idea, a belief, a story, an experience, and a blank canvass. The brush can take many forms; chalk, oils, a chisel, or words...in the hands of an artist, anything can become a brush.

When a person decides to face the vulnerability and pick up his or her personal brush and make that first stroke, indescribable beauty and power can be unleashed. For a writer, it is often a story that reveals us to ourselves.

For the reader, it’s that feeling you get when you hit page 20 and realize that this one is speaking to you…yes, this one is special. By page 50, you’re a part of a situation, a town, a life, a challenge that calls you back every time you leave to take care of necessities like work, relationships or buying groceries. It’s not just some character in a book who falls in love, wins the lottery, loses a loved one, meets someone special…it’s you doing those things and it’s hard to distinguish where the character ends and you begin.

All the emotion, the introspection, the sheer glee of breaking through, solving the problem, reaching the goal…it all takes place in a most unique, incredible medium.

No words have been spoken. There was no music or special effects to guide the senses. Often, the characters and towns never existed in our world in a physical sense. The writer silently writes or types and the reader silently reads. Only silence and intimacy, and the world changes.

That’s why we write; it’s why we read. ~ M. Thomas Long

Please don't forget to check back tomorrow for my review of M. Thomas Long's latest novel Blue Monday sponsored through Pump Up Your Book Tours. You will definitely LOVE this one!

1001 First Lines

If you are a book lover, like I am, you are bound to have some favorite first lines from your favorite books. What if you could find a book dedicated to capturing all those old familiar sayings in one book, would you be interested?

Well then look no further, 1001 First Lines, was collected and edited by Scarlett Archer just for you book lovers who sometimes will quote your lines but forget where they came from. These are all archived in a wonderful book categorized by genre type. You will find such classic authors as J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, Roald Dahl, Edgar Allen Poe, Arthur Miller, Charles Dickens, J.K. Rowling and many, many others captured inside the covers of this book. Here are just a small sample of what you will find:

"This is my favorite book in all the word, though I have never read it." ~ The Princess Bride by William Goldman

"Where's Papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast." ~ Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

"If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book." ~ The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." ~ Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." ~ A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

"A good first line cracks like a bull whip. A bad first line brings the book to its conclusion long before the last printed page. Sitting around the campfire is where it started, sharing stories with family and friends beneath the stars. In jungles, in deserts, in fields and caverns, in the dark nights and the brightest sun of the dawn. First lines hush a crowd and trigger huddles. They are a striking force that tears through a writer and leaves a wake so wide it sucks them down and won't free them until the last line is written - and even then they only get a single grasp before submerging again." (pg 4).

I received 1001 First Lines by Scarlett Archer, compliments of Pump Up Your Book Tours, for my honest review. As a book lover and writer, I LOVE this book. Sometimes you search high and low looking for that great opening line and in this one, you find that sometimes it just something simple that draws the reader into to your book like a worm on a hook! This is the perfect gift for anyone who is a book lover, writer or even a Literature teacher! I rate this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars and keep this one close at hand whenever frustration rises up and I just need a reminder that it doesn't have to be rocket science to be a great first line!

For more information on 1001 First Lines, Scarlett Archer or where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the link below:

1001 First Lines by Scarlett Archer