With the snap of my fingers I could have my book available on e-readers all over America and several other countries. We’ve come to a place where the only thing traditional publishing does anymore is printing and distribution. Everything else, including promotion and taxes are up to you. I figure why not cut out the middle man and go straight to Kindle? That is exactly what I did and I haven’t looked back since. My days are spent mailing press packets and finding other ways to shout about my book. All my friends now greet me with, “Yes Louise, I know about your book.” In the words of the immortal Ringo Starr, “I’m going to be in the movies, and all I have to do is, act naturally.”

Go to Amazon.com and type Child of Glass Louise Shelby in the search field

Now and then my father would point to an area of the room and say ” Where did that cat com from?” I’d look where he was pointing and see nothing. After a while he began to understand that he was the only one who could see the black cat. Once in a while he would say “There’s that cat again.” When he went into assisted living the cat followed him and when he passed on the cat went with him into the Sweet-Here-After. I never saw the cat, but I like to think it’s keeping my father company on the other side.

She was vexed by the spot and asked over and over “When are you gonna clean up that spot?” I could have asked her the same question about all the other spots on the floor but I didn’t. She recruited my father who looked down his long crooked nose and very sternly said, “You need to clean up that spot”. As the two of them worked on me I had to remind myself this was all about a spot on a very dirty kitchen floor.

Eventually I took the high road and cleaned up the spot. I left behind a gleaming circle of white that couldn’t help but be noticed. The clean spot radiated with brilliance reminding us of the original color of the floor and showing up the rest of the dirty floor. The clean spot didn’t last very long and within a few days blended in with the rest of the floor. I thought about cleaning random spots all over the floor, or getting a paint brush and painting a portrait of myself in the grime on the floor, but realized it wouldn’t be appreciated.

The teacher assumed everyone celebrates something in December. This boy could have been an athiest, a Jehovas’ Witness, a Buddist, or something else.

Christmas has become the great giant of December, overtaking our schools in a sea of red and green. Trees sprout up in every classroom so children can make a miriad of paper ornaments. Schools have pagents with a Chanukah song, a Kwanza song and a host of Christmas carols. In the classroom the students may cut out menorahs without any explanation of what they are or why they are important. A real menorah may sit quietly in a corner with no hope of being lit. How many kids even know when Chanukah is?

I told a lady at the grocery store about the boy who didn’t celebrate Christmas. She said, “Well, he should have”. I’m starting to think we need to keep our December religions out of the schools and celebrate Winterfest as was the case in old Europe. Winter-fest was intended as a break in the bleak midwinter long before America, or anyone had freedom of religion.

I’m not against Christmas, I love it, but I don’t think children of other religions should be bullied by it. I see too many children set apart at Christmas, because their own celebrations have been dwarfed by Christmas. One thing we can all share is the beauty and wonder of winter and the magic of of the coming spring. Happy Winter-fest Everyone

A student in my science class leaned across the table conversing with a couple of pretty girls. He was smiling as his pants hugged his knees. I said “Hey you with the camouflage underwear, pull your pants up.” He smiled even bigger and raised his butt even higher. He was cock of the walk in his manly underwear.

Does this mean teenagers are buying underwear the way men buy Armani suites? Robin Williams once said, “Fashion should be a statement not a question.” If you ask where all this started, you will be told it began in prison to show a person’s availability, however this answer is archaic. None of the students are thinking about prison, or comparing underwear. They are thinking about girls. So, the question is, what kind of girl wants a guy who shows off his underwear? Would these same girls date a flasher? Certainly not, but the girls are starting to wear their pants down low too. I am left scratching my head and pulling my pants way up.

I’ve been hearing about experienced editors who, because of the recession, are being fired and replaced by less experienced people who don’t command the larger salaries. As a writer this has left me chewing my fingernails down to the quick. I constantly wonder how this will affect my beloved publishing houses. I also wonder what will happen to the matriarch editors, (both female and male). Will they wander away from the herd never to be seen again?

My fears were relieved when I continued the search for an agent to rep my book (a memoir about surviving childhood cancer). As I eagerly looked for new agents, I began to see here and there  former editors, usually overflowing with experience, who are now working as Literary Agents.

It sounded like a herd of elephants stampeding over the hill. Thank God they are still here.

I will go for one more chemo session (2 days) and then we will “rest for a while” to see what the tumor is doing. Then I will get an MRI, maybe a PET scan and we will decide what comes next.

Dr. Kies, my first oncologist whom I’ve seen twice, is stuck in Dubai, and while they say he will be back for my next appointment, they said that for the last too appointments as well. It has become a running joke about when he will be back. I told his nurse practitioner  I could be cancer free by the time he gets back. Either way I feel that I am in good hands

To see my article in Cure Magazine, go to Cure  on the internet and look for readers forum. The magazine isn’t available on the stands because it’s free to cancer patients and their caregivers. Love to all.

Celeste Fine, What are you looking for, (as in genre of books) “Great website and big email lists”

What do you wish more writers understood about you?  ”I’m more entrepreneurial and strategic than book worm”

Why does anyone become a literary agent if they are not a bookworm? This scares me down to the marrow of my bones. I like to think the world is going toward quality writing, not away from it. Fortunately she seems to be the exception not the norm. One can only hope.