For the past thirty-seven years I have been living a dream. In sixth grade I remember classmates gathered around my writing assignment that my teacher had posted on the classroom’s bulletin board. It was a report about my favorite bird when one of my classmates said, “Mike, you are a good writer!” I’ve always enjoyed a little praise now and then. It’s good for the soul and good for one’s confidence. Thank you, classmate for making that comment as it…..
The announcement came in the mail a month or two ago and it read, “Join us for an authentic Ukrainian dinner. We’ll cast vision and seek support to forge new opportunities for READ Ministries and beyond.” Perhaps not all of you are familiar with my two books, “The Easter Sparrows” and “The First Advent” which have been published by Publishing House Smirna in the Ukraine. READ Ministries were largely responsible for bringing the two books to the Ukraine and having…..
I wrote another book! After I had released “The Easter Sparrows” I stated that would probably be my last book. The key word there was ‘probably’. 🙂 Up to that point I had written Children in the Outdoors, Volume I, II and III followed by Nature’s Christmas Story. An Easter story would round things up nicely or so I thought. Five books would be quite an accomplishment don’t you think? Then there were those other nine holiday stories that I…..
Being an author allows me opportunities to experience things that I would never have had the opportunity to experience. Case and point the email I received last week from an unknown Floridian. When I opened my emails in my iPad, I observed a strange site. Attached at the bottom of the first email was a photo of my children’s book “The First Advent” opened to page 34 on the left while the page on the right, if I’m remembering how…..
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the football coach taking a knee on the football field and having a heart to heart with God after each football game. As a Christian myself I was astonished that so many people would be upset by a coach praying in public. Now if he were out there distributing free beer or pornographic literature that would be a different story. The fact that players would join him because of peer pressure seemed laughable…..
How could an old guy living in the middle of Minnesota have any involvement in the Russian/Ukrainian War you are asking yourself? Well it’s kind of a complicated story so bear with me for a few minutes and I’ll explain how I got involved. In 2010 WestBow Press released my children’s book The Easter Sparrows. At that time I was not planning to have it become embroiled in a Russian/Ukrainian War. My plan was to hopefully have the book produce…..
As I mentioned in my last blog a six year writing stint for Minnesota Out Of Doors became my big break in getting my material published. That experience led to the production of the three volumes of Children In The Outdoors and an opportunity to travel the four state area putting on teacher workshops. But nothing lasts forever. In 1991 the magazine had financial problems and after a discussion with the editor I decided to retire the column. I did…..
I retired from teaching in 2001. After thirty-four years attempting to inspire middle school and high school students and instill in them a love for life long learning I decided it was time to pursue another one of my favorite pastimes, writing. For the next three years I wrote and illustrated a variety of children’s stories. Today three of them have become published books. Nature’s Christmas Story, The Easter Sparrows and Holiday Adventures for Kids are all available on Amazon…..
It seems like I have known Marilyn all my life. We first met when I was seven years old and she was Ms. Allen. You see she was my second grade teacher and then lucky for me she became my third grade teacher also. The moment I met her I knew she was special. I was sure I was ‘teacher’s pet’ until years later when visiting with former classmates I discovered they too thought they were ‘teacher’s pet’. She had…..
I began my first attempt at writing for publication about thirty-eight years ago. Needless to say my written word never made the best seller’s list in those early years and actually it hasn’t made it in the later years either. 🙂 But one good thing has resulted from such a lack of success. I can proudly state that I have earned my degree as a consignment connoisseur. My first three books, Children In The Outdoors, Volumes I, II and III…..