With the attention being paid to military families during this election season, I’ve been thinking about how important military communities are throughout deployment and afterward. Military families everywhere understand the struggle of saying goodbye to their loved ones as they are deployed. Once Larry received his orders for Vietnam, I tried to brace myself for his departure as much as possible, but nothing could really prepare me for the experience itself. In my memoir, Where the … [Read more...]
A tribute to my “weller than well” group, for National Friendship Day
True friends live in your heart forever, even if you haven’t seen or heard from them for years. That’s how I feel about some of the patients I lived with at the Menninger Clinic. Those relationships were part of the inspiration for writing my memoir “Where the Water Meets the Sand.” As a teenager I had many secrets. I was so ashamed of drinking alone and getting pregnant, I didn't tell even my closest friends. So while we had much in common and had grown up together, I felt very different … [Read more...]
Planning for your encore
The transition from “educator” to “author and motivational speaker” has been an exciting one. It required me to once again become a student learning the ins and outs of publishing and marketing a book as a first step toward fulfilling my mission of helping people struggling with mental illness. My memoir Where the Water Meets the Sand (published in May 2016) has afforded me a tremendous public platform from which to launch my “encore” career. I’ve been asked many times to share the secrets to … [Read more...]
Rhonda Lee: My New Writing Companion
My precious Border Collie mix, Bella, was by my side during the last eight years of my writing process of Where the Water Meets the Sand. She laid at my feet with her paws spread neatly out in front of her like the lady she was, her chin flat on the floor as she patiently waited until I took a break so we could play. I would read her passages as I wrote, and she would sit up because I was speaking to her and lick my hand affirming my writing was just right. During our breaks, I’d feed her, … [Read more...]
Red Rover, Red Rover
Ida Mae and Paul Darling are the two people in my life who had perhaps the most profound impact on my mastery of storytelling. When I was just two years old, my family moved next door to them in Seminole, Texas, so their influence began almost as soon as I learned to talk. With no children of their own, Ida Mae and Paul were like second parents for me and my brother. They loved and supported us during good times and bad. They were especially supportive when I left Seminole to be hospitalized … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- Next Page »
