At last!

It’s a brand new year.  Fresh, unsullied - as pure as the driven snow - stretching out before us into the future. We’re stepping into unknown territory – our future.  It is at once thrilling and terrifying.

Have you made your New Years Resolution?  Have you already broken it?  :) Oh, well!  This year I decided to make a resolution I had a reasonable expectation of keeping.  So no more powdered coffee creamer in my coffee.  So far, so good.  I don't care for any liquid creamers and I think that powdered stuff may actually be plastic and not one bit good for you, so the only resolve is to drink it black.  It tastes a bit better each morning so I'm encouraged.

I wish for you and yours a wonderful year filled with grand memories and prosperity that you have only thus far imagined. Maybe PCH, or the Lottery.  But if not that, enjoy the things that truly matter - family, friends, quiet moments, your favorite drink by the fireside with a new book - maybe mine!

This, Too, Shall Pass is now available on the Amazon website,  Just type my name – Barbara Basham Bostic – into the search window at Amazon and both my books will be listed.  This, Too, Shall Pass and Before The Lake.

You can also try this link.  If you can't click on it, you can cut and paste it into your browser window.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=barbara+basham+bostic

Here's the Editorial Review

Now a mother and grandmother living in Apex, NC, Barbara Basham Bostic is an interesting combination of a woman who grew up in the country in the years immediately following WW2 to become the wife of a U.S. Army officer who served in the Korean Conflict and Vietnam. During those years, she lived abroad and domestically while rearing her three children. Having lost both parents by age 24 and becoming a widow at the age of 34, the single mother worked to support and bring up her children in Charlotte, far from any help she might have received from her sprawling extended family. Believing that her children had already been deprived of too much, she chose to remain in their community so they might continue in their schools with their friends. Right or wrong, it was the decision she made to the best of her ability to see down the road. Many years later, she would return to Central Virginia for another ten years to renew her relationships with her siblings and their families. Feeling the absence of her children and grandchildren, she returned to North Carolina where she continues to enjoy family holidays and gatherings. And also to write.

How Nice To Meet Carlton!

Yes, I know I said the next time you hear from me would be to say the book is available at Amazon. Not yet, but here's a picture - Changes are necessary, but maybe within the next week, I'll be ready to make it available.

I really want to tell you about an experience I had over the weekend.  

I was visiting with my brother who lives on Smith Mountain Lake and we were sitting downstairs just catching up when there came a knock on the door.  My brother recognized his next door neighbor through the glass so he raised his hand to motion the visitor to enter and in comes this really nice looking young man. (I won't use his full name because I don't have his permission to do so).  His frame completely filled the door opening and as he stepped inside, it became obvious here was a lifter, a VA Tech football player and graduate, turned personal trainer. "I just stopped by to return the book I borrowed from you", he said to my brother. In his hand was a copy of my book, "Before The Lake." As we got properly introduced and he told me how much he enjoyed reading it, there was such a feeling that rose inside my chest that it's hard to find the word to describe it.  Not pride, not curiosity, not apprehension. Just the warmest feeling of pure unidentifiable emotion when I recognized my little book in the hands of a total stranger - and a young one at that - who read it and said he enjoyed it.  Since he grew up in Pittsylvania county, one of the three counties that borders Smith Mountain Lake, he's well aware of the area, but since he's only 29 years old he doesn't know much about the lake's history. 

If you need or want a personal trainer, inquire at the West Lake YMCA.

"Before The Lake" is still available at Amazon.com. Just google my name or the book title and you'll find it.  

Now - back to editing "This, Too, Shall Pass".  Later...

Waiting...

I ordered the proof for This, Too, Shall Pass last week.  According to Amazon, it has been shipped and should be received before the end of this week.  Certainly, there will be changes to be made, flaws to be fixed, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have no idea how to go about marketing this one, so...open to your suggestions, if you have them.  The target audience is those who are dealing with depression, drug/alcohol addition and its crippling results, PTSD. Not a happy place and not a happy book, but it's accurate and quite descriptive of the life I once lived.

And, already, bells and whistles for the next one.  Now all I have to do is wait for the story to completely unravel into words and "Ragtop" will be my third attempt to add another tale to the collection.  This will be my first attempt at fiction (based on some real life adventures - actually begun twenty years ago when I was living in Corpus Christi.)  This should be advance notice to you to begin writing down those words and phrases that come drifting unbidden into the recesses of your mind. You never know when the day will come that you have time to drag them out and step bravely (or trepidatiously) between the lines you created back when you didn't know you were creating.

You will hear from me next when I can say the book is available for purchase on Amazon.  If you (or someone you know) are living in darkness, you might consider purchasing a copy.  There has always been, and will always be, light at the end of the tunnel.

Always and Ever,
Barbara

It's been a while...

...and here we are at the end of October.  Summer fades as its foliage deepens into shades of gold and rust and red.  A chill permeates the autumn mornings and we begin to think of hearty soups, pinto beans & cornbread, pumpkin everything.

It's not my favorite time of year but I can still appreciate its beauty and hold my breath as I see the leaves fall from the trees, fully aware that the starkness of winter waits on the threshold.

"This, Too, Shall Pass" has been submitted to Amazon for final review and, hopefully, I'll be ordering a proof copy in the next few days. I had hoped to be at this final stage months ago, but life happened and I just didn't reach that goal.  I'm happy to have it done.  Completing this piece has been cathartic and painful at the same time. More later...

Glory be to God!

As always,
Barbara

Feeling the nostalgia of the ages? Click on the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP9KxqyIpAA

Barbara Basham Bostic: The Lush Green of Summer

Barbara Basham Bostic: The Lush Green of Summer: It's rained all day long here in Apex, NC.  From the looks of things when I awakened this morning, it rained all night.  Flood watch is ...

Barbara Basham Bostic: The Lush Green of Summer

Barbara Basham Bostic: The Lush Green of Summer: It's rained all day long here in Apex, NC.  From the looks of things when I awakened this morning, it rained all night.  Flood watch is ...

The Lush Green of Summer

It's rained all day long here in Apex, NC.  From the looks of things when I awakened this morning, it rained all night.  Flood watch is being posted on television.

As I look out the window, I can tell that the lush green of summer is fading.  Here and there, leaves of yellow and gold mingle with the lush green blanket of summer and, occasionally, one relaxes its watery grasp on the bending limb and drifts slowly to the ground.

The ceiling fan above my head circles slowly, encouraging a cool breeze to enter through the open door to the screened porch.  The only sound I hear other than the rain as it falls upon the trees, slips along the leaves and falls gently to the ground, is the comforting squeak from my rocking recliner. It's Monday.  And, finally, I'm nearing the completion of This, Too, Shall Pass.  By the end of this week, I plan to order my first proof.  Yes, nothing ever seems to happen on the timetable I suggest, but the summer has flown by so swiftly.

Now about that timetable and the best laid plans of mice and.........

I was really looking forward to the Mountain Spirits Festival in Rocky Mount on October 4th. My second book, This, Too, Shall Pass, will be available at Amazon by that time and I was excited to introduce it. But that same date marks my granddaughter's 21st birthday which is being celebrated at ECU's homecoming football game where Mitchell performs with the Dance Team.  It also serves as a WELCOME HOME for my grandson Zack who returns from the Middle East in late September.  So, as much as I would like to have been in attendance for the Mountain Spirits Festival, there's just no way I'm going to miss the grand festivities in Greenville, NC that same date.

So I'll leave you with a bit of poetry from the book.

          LAYER UPON LAYER

I am me, and you are you,

And nowhere on earth is there another like us; as individual as a fingerprint, no two are the same.

Yet we are each a rainbow’s blend of all the world’s people, a potpourri of everyone we know.

When two lives touch, no matter how slightly, they become a part of the other.  If thought is provoked, reaction occurs and,

Layer upon layer, a character grows.  

Touch gently, lest ye bruise.

So treat one another gently.  We are each bearing our own individual burdens.

Best regards,
Barbara