• Daring to Dream

    I have been a journalist for many years, beginning my published career around 1990. Though I haven’t written articles for publication the last year-and-one-half, journalism still runs in my blood and my thoughts. In the early 1990s, I wrote columns for the Winsted Journal, which I enjoyed tremendously. That was before blogging became a part of our culture. The following column is one I wrote in February of 1995 during a tough time in my life. There were struggles in my marriage, and I was about to sell my hobby farm. It is a column of gratitude and acknowledgement of…

  • Interactive Writing Project

    I have a new project for you. Everyone is invited to add a sentence to the story and we will see where the story leads. I’ll start:   The hollyhocks shouted at me with their bright colors, “Come enjoy the peace.”      

  • New Year resolutions started a month ago

    “Happy New Year!” conjures up memories of bubbles floating to the top of non-alcoholic wine in colored stemware, party hats, and noisemakers ushering in the new year while watching the ball drop in Time Square from the comfort of our living room. New Year’s Day is spent curled up on a couch with a notebook rewriting our lives with resolutions to become better people in the coming months.   For me, this year was very different. When my supervisor told me our shift was working on New Year’s Day I realized there was no reason for me not to work.…

  • Exciting week

    Have you ever had one of those weeks where you were so excited you were shaking inside? Tell me about it!  

  • Book Launch Celebration went well

    Wow! The last few weeks have been a whirlwind! (Silence… Staring… Fingers perched on the keyboard…) That just about says it all… Two exciting things happened the week of July 29. Actually, one was not so exciting. I received my first copies of “No Time to Quit” and found out I have shingles. I’m not going to go into all the gory details of shingles in my head and eye, but suffice it to say, navigating through the details of moving forward with the book was much more difficult. I couldn’t even schedule a book launch celebration because of not…

  • Stick a Geranium in Your Hat and Be Happy

    By Barbara Johnson Going through a rough time? Barbara Johnson lets you in on the secret that “Pain is inevitable but misery is optional”. Her book “Stick a Geranium in Your Hat and Be Happy” comes out of four devastating experiences that equip Johnson with the credentials to help others work through their own pain. There are parts in the book that made me wonder how anyone could survive through the tragedies, and parts that made me smile. It is a book that makes one feel. Johnson first takes the reader through her own experiences – her husband’s near fatal…

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