A Single Act of Kindness

Thursday!

Today's featured guest is

Maggie Singleton

My mom tells me that when I was a little girl I wanted nothing more than to be a vegetarian and care for animals in need.  I practiced my skills extensively on my cats – caring for them… feeding them… clothing them. However, I abandoned my dreams and aspirations of becoming a veterinarian soon after encountering high school chemistry and all things math.  Thus began my quest to discover what I really wanted to do and who I really wanted to be when I grew up.

After earning a Bachelor’s degree in English Education, I dabbled for two painful years as an eighth grade English teacher.  I soon realized that my personality (serious, idiosyncratic, and analytical) just did not mix well with raging hormones! Thankfully not all was lost in my adventures.  In addition to gaining a laundry list of names I would never use for my offspring, I met a young man from a nearby university who asked for my hand in marriage a year later.  God certainly has a knack for turning ugly situations into good.

Eventually I found my niche as a technical editor working for a military contracting firm that has kept me employed for the past ten years.  They were kind enough to keep me on part time when I started a family.  I didn’t realize that this single act of kindness would produce such an exhilarating, yet not-so-steamy love affair between mothering, part time work, and housekeeping (which always feels like the third wheel). Later I began accepting freelance editing, formatting, and writing opportunities which I have thoroughly enjoyed for the past four years.

I have recently discovered something else I want to do when I grow up: be a writer. The desire (obsession?) to write my own work has been such a natural and obvious progression for me.   And being a work-at-home mom (WAHM) of three provides me with MORE than enough subject matter!  Through my blogs, you will get a glimpse into my journey called mommyhood… especially of the WAHM variety.  I am so excited to see where that road might lead.

Although I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job of explaining what I do, that’s only half the story.  I will end with a few things I want to be when I grow up – which I remind myself daily is of far greater importance than what I do.  First and foremost, I want to get reacquainted with the calm person I was before little people entered my life.  I feel like I have a long way to go, but I’m taking baby steps toward it every day.  And I want to be on time for things, too.  If the words “hurry up” could be eliminated from my everyday vernacular, we all would be a happier family.  I also want to be unselfish when I grow up and, for instance, share the entire bag of potato chips with my kids instead of scarfing them behind the pantry door. Well, maybe. And lastly, I want to live in such a way that God shines through the strengths (and weaknesses) that He has given me.

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A Night Owl

I'm feeling like it can do it all these days.

Thanks to all my friends

who've stopped by and shared their incredible stories.

Here's another amazing author,

please welcome, Anderson Maestri

I moved to the United States in 1998, and I never imagined becoming a published author. I always thought that it takes so much time, and I did not think I could wait years to see the completion of any project I may start. My perception of time passing would change drastically as a husband and father.

Without noticing, I spent two years while in college working on my first book “Bilingual Parenting & The Preacher’s First Ministry”. After 10 years, I am revising and republishing it. I believe writing doesn’t conflict with my busy schedule since I am a night owl, and my current job can be a great source of inspiration. For example, one of my latest publications is a collection of short articles I wrote for church members, “Sunday Knowledge”. This work has a very specific audience and no commercial intentions, which changes how you approach the creative process.

I did spend another couple of years researching and writing a non-religious work, “Neither Heads nor Tails”, a self-help style work dealing with balance in multiple areas in our lives. I have a few other ideas that I filed for later, since raising a two year old, working, and trying to promote my current books leave no time or energy for more writing at the moment.

I guess that means my balance is more schedule related than creativity related. It is fairly easy to balance writing and “real life” when I am not fully invested in promoting my work. However, the real challenge is to promote any book without allowing that to consume your life. Pursuing book promotion can become a full-time job, and when my son came along something had to go. Since one full-time job (book promotion) didn’t come with a paycheck, you can guess my choice.

I feel like I have been bitten by the “book publishing bug”. It feels amazing to look at your work fresh off the press, the smell of new books, and feel of the crispy pages as you flip through them. Since, I do all my editing, layout and design, I feel this artistic connection with the final product. It is more than the written material. It is a combination of what was said with how it looks on the page, and how the cover art summarizes the entire content. Therefore, I look forward to writing new materials, so I can format those pages, and create a new cover art. Maybe when my son starts preschool, I will have the little extra time to put more thoughts into paper.

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Since writing his first work in college, Anderson has become an educator, preacher, husband and father. He has added to his bilingual experience, a Master's in Curriculum and Instruction with an ESL emphasis. He has been involved in the education and instruction field for the past 15 years. His fields of expertise encompass a variety of subjects. He has taught all age groups from teaching soccer to 10 year olds to teaching English to 45 year olds, from teaching martial arts to college students to teaching Bible to those above 60. Similar to His teaching experience, Anderson's works broach a variety of fields.You can find more on these three works at the links below:

https://www.createspace.com/3793640

https://www.createspace.com/3784687

https://www.createspace.com/3798770


You can also like us on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Maestri-Books/311456442236983

Thursday's guest

is 

Lucille Rains

As a piano technician and sole breadwinner of my household, the writing came after the children were in bed. Despite hard times, writing kept me alive and in touch with myself. Writing, especially writing humor, softens the harshness of life and transports you to a better world. Then one day a Pulitzer Prize Author of American Humor wrote me that I have talent for Satire. A light bulb went on in my head that led to my book, Ya Wanna Laugh?, a collection of humorous stories. My time is now divided between piano restoration and writing. To me, it is just as miraculous to take a relic of a piano and transform it into a magnificent musical instrument as it is to take a barrel of words and transform them into a meaningful human experience. They are both works of art. I did not pursue writing, writing pursued me. I wrote a letter to the editor and it caught the attention of a mayor. I became her ghostwriter. At the same time, the editor of a local paper asked me to do a column. For the past four years, I have been writing monthly humorous story for a Volvo Newsletter. 

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Lucille Rains was a jazz pianist and bassist in New York City until she became breadwinner of her household and left New York for the suburbs. She had been tuning her own piano right along, so it was inevitable that she would go into tuning to support her family. She happened to write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper that got the attention of the mayor; she became the mayor’s ghostwriter. The local editor also invited her to write a column. This unexpectedly launched a second career for her, in the writing field. Then when a Pulitzer Prize–winning writer put his stamp of approval on her writing, it led to her book of humorous essays, Ya Wanna Laugh? (Xulon Press, 2011). At present, Lucille Rains divides her time between tuning and writing. She can be reached at lucille.rains@gmail.com