Blog

Young
people need to have an idea of what they
want to do in the future before going to college.

It’s
almost time for the graduation season, and, in that regard, I want to mention
an idea with which I wholeheartedly agree. And yet, just a few years ago I
would have been completely against the idea.

In
Abby Fawk’s USA Today Article “College can wait, but finding your life purpose
can’t,” Fawk opines that American teens facing that jump to a postsecondary
education are often unsure what they want their future to look like, so heading
straight to college is a mistake.

As
a former high school teacher of 20 years, I know Fawk is correct. I have faced
hundreds of children across my desk, and when I asked what they thought their
lives might look like in ten years, I was—more often than not— faced with blank
stares. I would then go into my, What do you want to be when you grow up? spiel.
I’d ask: What do you like to do? What are you good at? What will someone
pay you to do? And again, I often received no reply.

Then
the children graduated, most without any idea regarding what might make them
happy in their business lives. We teachers have hammered into them that the
next stop must be college. (Note that when I say college, I’m referring
to any form of post-high school education.  Wanting to be a carpenter, an
electrician, or an airplane mechanic are equally fine choices as wanting to be
a doctor or a neurophysicist.)

What
isn’t fine is having no idea what you want to study and then plowing ahead to
your college of choice.

That
college education is expensive, so
before you go, have a plan. 

“College
is the single biggest investment we can make in a young person’s life,” Hawk
said. “Four years at a flagship state school can now cost $100,000 and private
college can run three to four times that figure. Yet the vast majority of
students arrive unprepared to make the most of the experience.”

Fawk
believes that it’s time for students to revisit the idea of a gap year. As I
said earlier, I did my best to dissuade kids who wanted to take a year off
before getting additional education, because statistics showed that once young
people start earning money, they are less likely to give up that cash flow and
return to school.

But
Fawk explained that a gap year, if done right, is not about losing forward
momentum and can be a rewarding launch pad to a bright future.

“It’s
to gather experiences and insights that inform everything that comes next,” she
said.

Fawk
is the founder and CEO of Global Citizen Year, a program devoted to giving
young people the chance to immerse themselves in other cultures, to stretch
their comfort zones, and to forge relationships with people who are different
than they are. If this sounds a bit like the Peace Corps, it is. The idea is to
take the year following high school graduation and expand one’s horizons. To
learn more about yourself by living alongside others in a completely different
environment.

A gap year can include volunteer activities such as working with Habitat for Humanity.

But
the GCY project is not the only way students can accomplish these goals. A
stint in the military, the Peace Corps, or volunteering can also help young
people find out who they are and what they want in life.

Studies
show that American teens are growing up more slowly than the generations that
proceeded them. Young people struggle with basic skills like time management,
problem-solving, and navigating relationships. Why then do we shoehorn them
into making decisions that will impact the rest of their lives when many are
clearly not ready?

The
idea is to give new high school graduates a little breathing room before they
make that leap. A well-thought-out gap year just might be the answer.

Please allow me to give you a brief intro to my latest women’s fiction novel for your reading pleasure.

The past and present collide when a tenacious reporter seeks information on an eleventh century magician…and uncovers more than she bargained for.

Anne Montgomery has worked as a television sportscaster, newspaper and magazine writer, teacher, amateur baseball umpire, and high school football referee. She worked at WRBL‐TV in Columbus, Georgia, WROC‐TV in Rochester, New York, KTSP‐TV in Phoenix, Arizona, ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, where she anchored the Emmy and ACE award‐winning SportsCenter, and ASPN-TV as the studio host for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. Montgomery has been a freelance and staff writer for six publications, writing sports, features, movie reviews, and archeological pieces.

When she can, Anne indulges in her passions: rock collecting, scuba diving, football refereeing, and playing her guitar.

Learn more about Anne Montgomery on her website and Wikipedia. Stay connected on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.

Welcome to the -Week Virtual Book Tour Schedule for The Pheeworker’s Oath by Adam Gaylord – SciFi, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery 

March 17-22, 2024)

From Aimee Ogden, Nebula Finalist:

A compellingly alien protagonist, who also
has the deeply-held and familiar belief that a better world is possible. 

In THE PHEEWORKER’S OATH, neither
compassion nor cruelty are traits limited to humankind. There are no easy
answers to the complexities of human refugees building a new home for
themselves on a different world–but it is easy to care about the compellingly
alien Takey, and about his deeply-held and familiar belief that a better world
is possible. 

From Rachael Jones, WFA Finalist &
Tiptree Award honoree:

The Pheeworker’s Oath is a timely science
fiction tale about a stranded human colony dependent upon the Atipok, aliens
with near-mystical abilities that allow them to control their environment and
their very bodies. It is a fascinating examination of how manipulative leaders
harness fear of the other to gain power, and how the only way to break that
power is to find kinship with the very beings you’ve been told to fear. This
adventure story showcases timeless themes and intriguing worldbuilding. Come for
the cool alien powers, stay for the lizardlike Atipok–but don’t you dare call
them Lizards!

Purchase Links:

MIRROR WORLD PUBLISHING:

Paperback: 

https://www.mirrorworldpublishing.com/product/the-pheeworker-s-oath-by-adam-gaylord-paperback-/109

Ebook: 

hhttps://www.mirrorworldpublishing.com/product/the-pheeworker-s-oath-by-adam-gaylord-e-book-/110

AMAZON: 

Meet the Author:

Raisin Sauce

5 – 8 baby or mini carrots per person

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. brown sugar

Dash of maple syrup ¼ cup water

Parsley for garnish, optional

1 orange per person if small, ½ if large

1 cup shredded sweetened coconut

¼ cup orange juice

1 small can crushed pineapple

Peaches a la Mode

1 can sliced peaches in light syrup

Vanilla ice cream

Granola, optional

Maraschino cherries

Cherry juice

March 7-13 was Celebrate Your Name week. Established in 1997 by American onomatology hobbyist Jerry Hill, Celebrate Your Name Week (CYNW) is a week for embracing and celebrating your name.

Before you say, “Why would I want to celebrate my name?” think about this–your name identifies you. It is the one thing that will be in your life now and forever. It can define your ethnicity, your heritage, how you look at yourself, and sometimes how others look at you. If you hate your name you can change it, but the original moniker will still be on your birth certificate. Your name will be used throughout your life to identify you in a myriad of ways: on your driver’s license, bank accounts, health accounts, mortgage deeds, insurance policies, social media accounts, professionally, and friends and family will say your name hundreds of thousands, or even millions of times, over the course of your life.

Think about your name or names if you have a middle one. Do you know what they mean? Do you know how you got them? Do you know how long it took your parents to decide on what to name you? How important was your name to those who named you? Have you ever wanted to change your name, and if so why? How did that change work out for you?

I know the answers to a few of those questions. My birth names mean pure and peace. I was named after both of my grandmothers, whose names at the time of my birth were very old-fashioned. My aunt Ella, on my father’s side, always addressed me by my first and my middle names. I suppose she didn’t want me to forget my paternal grandmother, whom I never met. I can still recall my aunt’s voice addressing me. She was the only one who ever called me by both names and somehow it became extra special to me.

I don’t know how long it took my parents to decide on my name or whether they had chosen it before I was born or after. Back then you had to have male and female options, since the gender was a surprise until the baby arrived.

I do know that it was very important to my mother that people called me Catherine, not Cathy. While in high school I shortened my name to Cathy and introduced myself that way at school. Catherine was too long to write on homework papers and very old-fashioned at the time. I wanted to be hipper back then. At church, and in front of my mother, I was always Catherine.

That dichotomy caused me a lot of problems. Although I cautioned any boy to whom I gave my home phone number to ask for Catherine—not Cathy, they invariably forgot. When Mom got to the phone before I did, which was often since she had a phone beside her easy chair, I’d hear, “Sorry, there’s no one here by that name.” Then she’d hang up the phone and glare at me. I lost a lot of potential boyfriends and dates that way. One icy answer from my mother and they never called back. I think they thought I’d given them the run-around with a wrong number. As the years went by, I grew out of my Cathy phase and now I have to correct people when they shorten my name. I still answer to Cathy at my high school reunions. Mom’s not around anymore to glare at me in disapproval and it’s just easier for those few hours to answer to the nickname.

My grandmother was called Cat by her brothers. I used to think that was a horrible nickname and cringed whenever I heard her addressed that way. When my nieces and nephews came along, Cat was easier to say than Catherine, so I adopted Grandma’s nickname. It shocked the heck out of my family when I gave those babies the okay to call me Cat.  Now I’m Aunt Cat to all of them. I now eschew the high school nickname I gave myself and love the birth name I once hated. Ain’t life funny?

When I began my fiction-writing career, I changed my name again. I kept my first name, because I like it a lot now. I’ve grown into it. I also thought keeping my first name would be less confusing at writing conferences. If someone called me Nancy, I might think they were talking to another person and unintentionally ignore them. That would be bad.  I did, however, choose a different last name—one that would fit easier on a book cover and had a nice alliteration to my first name. My pen name is Catherine Castle. With that name change I became an author of sweet and inspiration romance.

 I still remember the first time a stranger in a bookstore asked, “Are you Catherine Castle?”

Startled, I looked at her and said, “Yes, I am.” No one had ever recognized my author persona before and I wondered how she knew me.

She must have seen the question in my gaze because she said, “I recognize you from your picture on your website.”

I left the bookstore with a big grin on my face that lasted for several hours. A complete stranger knew who Catherine Castle, the author, was! 

Shakespeare wrote, in Romeo and Juliet, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet…” This popular quote is often used to imply that it didn’t matter that Romeo’s name was associated with the house of Juliet’s family’s sworn enemy.

I suggest that your name does matter and that your name affects who you are. A boy named Sue will have a very different life than one named Chauncy. So if you love your name, or are just indifferent to it, embrace it. Take a few minutes this week to celebrate your name. Find out everything you can about your name. Dig into its history. You might be surprised as to why you are named what you are and how your name has made you who you are.

If you need to change your name for some reason, choose wisely. In the Bible, when a name change happened it often reflected some new aspect of one’s life, a thing that changed them and defined their new life paths. Your name can define you, too. So make your new name a good one.

Celebrate name week—Celebrate!

Catherine Castle is very picky about how she chooses the character names for her books. She once wrote an entire book inserting the name Mother 2 into the pages because she couldn’t think of the right name for that antagonist character. Her critique partners thought it was a real hoot, but when she finally came up with Mother 2’s name—Tiberia—they all agreed it fit her perfectly.

In her book A Groom for Mama, she named one of the characters in honor of a dear friend who battled cancer. Here’s a peek at the blurb. 

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes, she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

AMAZON BUY LINK

Multi-award-winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer, she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing, she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter, FB, or her blog.

This soup tastes great and is sure to be a crowd pleaser. It’s a must in our house whenever the weather turns cold.

MINESTRONE SOUP

1 tbsp. butter
4 slices bacon, chopped or ½ lb. gravy beef, minced/ground
1 onion, chopped
½ lb. fresh tomatoes or 1 jar/can, chopped
1 carrot, scraped and chopped
1 potato, peeled and chopped
2 sticks celery or other seasonal vegetable, chopped
½ cup haricot beans that have been soaked overnight, green beans work too
3 tbsp. macaroni
3 tbsp. rice
3 tbsp. spaghetti
½ tsp. salt
Pepper to taste

Melt butter in a frying pan. Add bacon or meat and fry until crisp. Stir in onion and tomatoes.

Carefully pour mixture into a slow cooker or pressure cooker. Fill pot halfway with water. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Cook 2 hours in slow cooker or 15 minutes in pressure cooker.

Here’s a little from my latest romantic suspense. I hope you enjoy it.

Who can you trust if you can’t trust your own mother? Through the clammy fog, Celie Francis hears the chilling message. “I know who you are, Celie. I know where you live.” And in the terrifying aftermath she reconnects with her dysfunctional family in ways she had never imagined.

BLURB:
Abused and abandoned as a child, Célie Francis knows better than to trust anyone. But after she witnesses a murder, she’s placed in the Unit “New Zealand’s witness protection program” where she’s expected to trust strangers with her life.

It’s psychologist Brand Turner’s job to ease witnesses into their new identities, not to protect them, but Célie stirs feelings in him that are far from professional. When it appears someone is leaking critical information that could endanger Célie, Brand will do anything to protect her. But first he has to convince her to trust him.

Adrift in a frightening world, Célie would like to believe the handsome psychologist is everything he seems, but as witnesses are murdered and danger swirls around them, Célie must decide “can she trust Brand with her life?　

Vonnie Hughes is a multi-published author in both Regency books and contemporary suspense. She loves the intricacies of the social rules of the Regency period and the far-ranging consequences of the Napoleonic Code. And with suspense she has free rein to explore forensic matters and the strong convolutions of the human mind. Like many writers, some days she hates the whole process, but somehow she just cannot let it go.

Vonnie was born in New Zealand, but she and her husband now live happily in Australia. If you visit Hamilton Gardens in New Zealand be sure to stroll through the Japanese Garden. These is a bronze plaque engraved with a haiku describing the peacefulness of that environment. The poem was written by Vonnie.

All of Vonnie’s books are available on The Wild Rose Press and Amazon.

Learn more about Vonnie Hughes on her website and blog. Stay connected on Facebook and Goodreads. a>.