Save money on ebooks and audiobooks with no late fees — Ok, I admit it! I own too many books and I’m running out of places to stash them. This fact has not stopped me from perusing Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and my local used bookshop regularly in hopes of finding the next best read. Sigh! However, to avoid sacrificing a…

A story about the lengths one can go to disguise shame and thus miss their blessings — “Everyday Use” was written by author Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple for which she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was first published in 1973 in Harper’s Magazine and also appears in Walker’s book of short stories, In Love and Trouble. About the Story …

These women debut authors share their challenges and… —

The Other by Thomas Tryon Is not only a frightening tale but it broke my heart in two — I don’t like the horror genre. Many moons ago, I declined to go to the drive-in with my family to see The Exorcist. Years later, I thought it would be safe to watch the edited version on television — boy was I wrong. I’m still traumatized by the sight of…

With “found time” you can add more “me time” to your day — Perspective is Everything When hanging off a cliff or trying to explain our complex universe while eating hot wings like Neil deGrasse Tyson, 15 minutes can feel like an eternity. No one wants to spend an entire quarter of an hour under a dentist’s drill or 900 seconds in Negative Nelly’s salon chair…

Get more time to create by saying it, even to yourself — The Power of “NO!” I’m currently reading Influence is Your Superpower by Zoe Chance. The author shares the incredible story of Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, who served in the Soviet Air Defense Forces. His job was to monitor the satellite early-warning network and alert his superiors to any potential nuclear missile attacks against the…

A lesson on what happens when people refuse to think for themselves — That’s the Way We’ve Always Done It Have you ever read a short story that stayed with you long after you put it down? Since my high school days, “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson has been that story for me. Its unsettling message remains relevant: Our inclination to blindly follow tradition and give in to groupthink without…

Prioritize time to let your creative brain explore and innovate — Creating was Once Effortless Remember when you were a kid, and you’d dump out those large Lego blocks onto the floor and just start building? You weren’t sure what would come of it, but you trusted the process until something took shape. Within minutes, a perfect object was formed, and you felt brilliant. If…

A humorous novel about how we can ‘make mountains out of molehills’ to avoid examining the part we play in our troubled relationships — Meet Cara My name is Cara Romero and I came to this country because my husband wanted to kill me. Don’t look so shocked! You’re the one who asked me to say something about myself. Oh! Romero I’ve heard many fans of Angie Cruz’s novel “How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water,”…