Ten Christmases

It's that very special time of year. Again. Some look forward to it. Some dread it. It brings joy. And it brings sorrow. But it always leaves lasting memories. Each and every one of us makes a mark on the hearts of others. Let's try to leave fingerprints... not smudges.

I always put out this post I originally wrote in 2005 in the hopes that maybe I can help make your holidays a little easier and your memories a bit brighter. Maybe I just need a yearly reminder myself! In any case... here it is. 

Ten Christmases

                                            

Ten Christmases from now

you won't remember
how many lights you put up.

How many cards you got back,

or how many parties you were invited to.

You'll never remember
if it snowed on Christmas Eve,

or if anyone came late for Christmas dinner.

No one will recall how much time and money

you spent shopping, 

or how nicely you wrapped the gifts.

It won't be important anymore
that your house

wasn't neat and tidy 

when company stopped by to visit.

Ten Christmases from now

you'll only remember 
baking cookies with the kids. 
Drinking hot chocolate 

after Christmas Mass,

and stealing kisses under the mistletoe

with the one you love.

You'll still remember visiting old friends, 

reading Christmas stories to the children,

and calling your grandmother
to tell her how much you loved 
the afghan she crocheted for you.

When you close your eyes 
ten Christmases from now

you'll smile when you remember 

the looks on your kids faces
when they woke up and discovered 
Santa had eaten all the cookies 

they left out for him.

Ten Christmases from now 

the only memories you'll cherish 

will be the ones 

you hold in your heart.

The smiles, the laughter, the joy, the singing,

and the hugs.

Christmas is love. Fill your heart with it.

Happy Holidays to all my friends and Readers.

Here's hoping that 2018 will be a great year for all of us!
One more thing...
Happy Birthday to my husband, Bob!
I love you honey!

Good Luck!

Many friends have wished me luck with my newly released children's book

'The Snow Lord and the Spring Fairy'.

I appreciate their good wishes,

and decided to look into this thing

we call 'luck'.

 I wanted to see if there was any way

to get more of it or simply enhance my own.
  
It seems everyone has heard of luck,
believes in luck, hopes for better luck,

but no one has ever been able to prove that luck really even exists.
 

  Apparently there are degrees of luck, 
and some kinds are better than others.  
There's good luck, bad luck, potluck, blind luck, 
sheer luck and no luck at all.
   

  I’ll tell you what I have learned so far…   
Some people are just ‘born lucky’ 
or always seem to have 'beginners luck’.  
Occasionally it's easy to see just how lucky
you are as in ‘sheer luck’, 
but sometimes you can't see it at all 
as in ‘blind luck’.  
There's the macho brand as in ‘hard luck’ 
and ‘tough luck’, 
or the directional kind 
as in ‘down on his luck’.  
There's artistic luck, like ‘luck of the draw’ 
or the culinary variety as in ‘pot luck’.  
Some people enjoy action luck, 
where you ‘press your luck’, or ‘push your luck’, 
or have sportsman's luck 
like a ‘run of bad luck’ or a ‘stroke of luck’.  
There's present tense luck as in 
“this is your lucky day” 
and future tense luck as in “better luck tomorrow”.  
There's possessive luck like ‘my luck’, 
‘your luck’ and ‘our luck’.
  
It’s been speculated 
that luck may have a will of it's own...  
"as luck would have it", or “if luck is on my side”.   
 
If you're curious, you can always ‘try your luck’, 
and if no one believes you deserve 
your good fortune
they will say you have ‘dumb luck’ or ‘pure luck’.
  
Don't get too confident though. 
You may have been born lucky 
but there may come a time
when you ‘run out of luck’.
     Yes ... Luck has always been a politically correct, 
equal opportunity, all occasion greeting.  
We wish other people “good luck” when they give birth or adopt a child, 
go on a blind date or get married, 
get sent to prison or go off to college, 
get fired or get promoted, 
land a new job or finally retire, 
move away or move in, 
buy a lottery ticket or a bingo card, 
go off to war or try white water rafting, 
enter a convent or get placed in a nursing home, 
try out for High School track 
or attempt to break a record 
on the US Olympic Team.
  
It doesn't matter whether you are coming up to bat in Little League Baseball or The World Series … 
we all wish you “Good luck!”  
   
So … 
in the celebratory words of Clint Eastwood…

“Are you feeling … lucky?” 

In any event...
Wish me luck!
Better yet... say a prayer for me!

Shhh! Sneak Preview!

If Santa is good to me this year, my brand new children's book,

'The Snow Lord and the Spring Fairy' 

will be out in time for Christmas!

It will be sold on Amazon.

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to various groups dedicated to saving our precious rainforests.

If your school library would like to have a free copy or you know a child between the ages of 5 and 12 who would enjoy this book

but can't afford it, write to me.

I'll see what I can do.

I always wanted to be one of Santa's elves!

Here's a sneak preview:

After the Paradise Prince lost his princess

in a tragic accident,

he couldn’t bear to live on their beautiful, 

tropical island anymore.

Grief-stricken, he moved to the most desolate place on earth

– the Antarctic.

Now known as the Snow Lord, he lives in an ice castle

 with his only friend,

an albatross named Riley.

Evolet, the Spring Fairy, knew her flowers couldn’t survive

in the Snow Lord’s icy domain, 

but she planted them anyway.

Now she’s his captive – confined to a cage.

She must find a way to escape 

or there won’t be any flowers this spring. How?

She’ll have to rely on the same plucky optimism 

that got her into this mess.

 

And sometimes you're the bug...

When I first started writing this blog years ago my mission statement was that someday I wanted to find my place in the world. Where I wasn't just 'The Occupant' of my domain. I wanted to be the owner. Where 'all the mail was addressed to me'. I came close so many times. I could taste it. Feel it. Now I wonder... how many times does a person have to fall off a bike before they realize that they just can't ride? Apparently many times.

I've been writing and dreaming of becoming a successful author since I was a little girl. My first taste of success was writing a daily blog on AOL back in 2003. I was named 'AOL's Editor's Choice' TWICE! For a few hours on those two days if you signed onto AOL you'd see my picture and a description of my blog (and a link to it) on the opening page! I was actually contacted by a literary agency in New York City who wanted me to re-write the blog and have it published in book form. I was on my way (or so I thought).

Well, AOL decided to stop offering blogs so I moved to Blogger. But without a forwarding address I lost most of my Readers. After talking to the NY agents for a few hours I knew I wouldn't be able to write all about my adventures as a newly divorced, middle aged woman from NJ including all the details they wanted without dredging up quite a few bad memories that were anything but funny and embarrassing my children, so I had to decline their offer.

As a very unusual but exciting Christmas gift my kids purchased a comedy workshop course for me at a local community college. "You're a natural!" they assured me. I did take the course and actually appeared in ten shows in the months following graduation. Although my kids probably thought I was on my way, unfortunately, I discovered that I suffered with an extreme case of stage fright that never got any better so I decided to give up performing in public.

I returned to writing and after numerous rejections I got my first book published with Devine Destinies in 2010.  Signing that contract was every bit as exciting as giving birth to a beautiful child. This time I was sure I was on my way. Alas, 'Passing Whispers' was only available as an Ebook and for some reason it didn't sell. Even my friends preferred a printed version. I put out a book trailer which I hoped would get the attention of the people who produce movies for Hallmark. It would make a wonderful Hallmark Christmas movie! Until it didn't. But I'm still hoping! I didn't renew my contract in 2012 and haven't found another publisher as yet.

In 2015 I found Tate Publishing who agreed to publish my first children's book 'There's a Monster In My Closet!' Much more successful than 'Passing Whispers' I thought I had found my niche as well as my way. Tate also agreed to publish my second children's book 'The Snow Lord and the Spring Fairy'. That book was supposed to be released in March 2017. Once again, fate intervened and Tate Publishing closed its doors before the book ever hit the shelves of Amazon.

Now I know all the stories about other authors like Stephen King, whose wife retrieved his last novel out of the trash where he had thrown it, only to see it discovered by a different publisher who put it out and made King a household name. Or the story about J.K. Rowling who considered suicide after years of depression and failure before introducing the world to Harry Potter, one of the most successful book series of all time.

My problem is I'm already 62 years old and I don't have an entire lifetime ahead of me to find success. Of course if you view that in the 'glass half full' sense, I am closer to the potential 'fame after death' phenomenon like Emily Dickinson, Johann Bach and Vincent van Gogh. Just kidding.
The very thought of leaving behind a legacy of greatness someday makes shopping for a tombstone a lot easier. Dare I say... exciting?

Of course that all depends on whether I'm luckier after death than I was in life. Hmmm. That thought gives new meaning to the phrase "I'm on my way!"

Turn the lights off, will you?

PS: I have a few hundred copies of 'There's A Monster In My Closet!' left that just happen to be available to you at cost. Email me and I'd be happy to sign them for a beloved child of your choice. Not a bad investment especially if I do become famous someday. Your book would be worth a fortune! Just think van Gogh! 
$6.99 includes free shipping for soft covers.
$11.99 includes free shipping for hard cover
Email me at: LisaBrooksBooks@aol.com. And no, I won't sell your information. I can't even sell mine!