A Review I Just Had To Share

Every now and then an author gets to feel like he really made a connection with a reader. It is a good feeling. I got such a feeling yesterday when I found this new 5-star review on Amazon:

By E.McCord on April 26, 2017

Format: Paperback

The Rebecca Pendragon Trilogy is a book for young adults. But is far from being just for young adults. It is a tale of Rebecca, a 12 year old that loses her mother in a car accident and finds herself moving to rural Minnesota to live with Naomi, her grandmother; and finds that magic is real. Gary Green has given the literary world a gift in my humble opinion. A gift on the lessons of life. This book not only deals with the hardships that young people face every day, but also those we not so young adults face. It addresses not “fitting in”, depression, death, creation; but also compassion, truth, tolerance, and love.

Yes, there are Dragons, Elves, Gnomes, and Arthurian characters, but with a twist and wow, what twists! Usually reviews come fairly easy, however I am at a loss to describe this series. It is not only amazing, but important. It has historical events that are accurate, quotes from Lao Tzu, myth and legends, and of course magic. Not just Faerie tale magic, but the magic of life and the human spirit. The magic that comes with the realization that everything is interconnected and without the whole, the Universe is lacking.

I would recommend this book to all ages. It made my heart fill up, so much so it rolled down my face in tears. And I will recommend it over and over again. Please trust me when I say, once you read it it will change your perspective on life. Again, it is for young adults so keep that in mind when reading it. And by-the-way Mr. Green, I have found the magic in all things. Thank you for reminding me that it has been there all along.

You are very welcome, E McCord. And thanks for making my day.

The Rebecca Pendragon Trilogy #1

OK, so I just had to brag about it. The Rebecca Pendragon Trilogy, which is free on Kindle today, has hit #1 in the children’s Arthurian category. You should check it out while it is still free.  Get The Rebecca Pendragon Trilogy Now

In other news: The cleanup of my burned out house continues. Today I looked in the dumpster where they have been throwing unsalvageable furniture–not a good idea. It really hit home to see the accumulated stuff of 30 years all piled in a heap in a dumpster. But life goes on. Tomorrow we sign a lease on the house we will live in until we can rebuild. I am almost finished on the shed I need to put the tools in I will need to farm this year. I fully expect to get back to farming in the next week or so. I continue to be impressed with the kindness we see from others. I guess that just proves that most present moments are OK–even good.

 

My House

For those of you who don’t know, my house burned down on Monday afternoon. It has been a very hectic week, and living in a motel isn’t as much fun as one could hope for.

Having said that, I will also say that I was very lucky. My wife and I were not home when the fire started. We got home to find our house on fire and fire trucks already there. We were worried about our dogs. We have a Westie and a Beagle; and we left them in the house when we went to town. About halfway through the afternoon one of the fire fighters came carrying the Beagle, who was unharmed and very glad to see us. However, by the time the fire fighters were packing up to leave around 7:00 PM we still had not found the Westie. This in spite of the fact that several times I saw a group of fire fighters go into the house with flashlights looking for him.

At that point I left to eat supper. While I was eating supper I decided I had to know one way or another for sure about our Westie, so I resolved to go into the house to find him. When I pulled up to the house our beloved Westie cam running around the corner of the house. Our family was once again complete.

There are many other aspects of this terrible event that I will be blogging about in the days to come. I just want to express my gratitude to all the kind people who have stepped forward to help and to the universe in general for all the good things that seem to be coming out of this disaster.

Giveaways

I am pleased to announce that my Goodreads giveaway of my new book “The Rebecca Pendragon Trilogy” started today. Enter to win one of 5 signed copies. Last weekend the Kindle version reached #2 in it’s category in the Kindle Free Store.

Goodread Giveaway

For those of you who are fans of the Percy Jackson series I am giving away a box-set of the whole series. The winner will be determined by a drawing of all entrants on March 20, so there are still a few days left. To enter, click the link below and enter your email when prompted. I promise to not share it with anyone or spam you or any other nasty business. I will occasionally send you notices about other giveaways and news about my books.

I Want Percy Jackson

I’m #2 Yay!!!

I just learned that “The Rebecca Pendragon Trilogy” has moved to Number 2 in it’s category in the Kindle free store. It is free tonight and tomorrow so be sure to check it out!

Get The Rebecca Pendragon Trilogy Now

Also, I’m giving away a box-set of all 5 Percy Jackson books! I will have a drawing on March 20.  Click here to enter

Changes

This post is kind of a housekeeping thing. First, since the 2 genres I write in have vastly different audiences I have created a web site for the Rebecca stories called RebeccaPendragon.com. Here is the link: https://rebeccapendragon.com/

Second, this blog will henceforth feature articles about mental health, mindfulness, and even though I promised myself I wouldn’t–politics. I have some real concerns in that area and they mostly revolve around one person. I’ll give you a hint: It starts with T and that rymes with P and that stands for president.

That’s about all I want to say for now–except this: If anything I say going forward offends anyone please just consider the facts (actual facts, not alternative facts) before you say bad things about me.

5 Tips for Dealing With Depression

I was recently corresponding with someone who is struggling with depression and I was going to offer some suggestions that I learned from my recovery. Then it occurred to me that others might benefit so I decided to post my suggestions here.

1. In my struggles with depression, I came to view my depression as something separate and apart from me. I came to think of it as a monster that wanted to kill me.  This helped me in a number of ways, but most importantly it helped me to see myself as a person of worth who was fighting for my life against an unseen foe. Not “What’s wrong with me?”, but “What am I fighting?”
2. The monster wanted me to sit and do nothing but ruminate. That made the monster stronger. This was especially bad if I went off by myself and let negative thoughts chase themselves around and around my head. So, I vowed to do the opposite of what the monster wanted–to do something. What I did was less important than the doing of it.
3. The monster lied to me all the time. It told me what a worthless person I was–unlovable, in fact. When I believed that lie I was afraid to reach out to others, so my social needs were not met. So, I discovered I had to act in spite of how I felt and let people know who I really was.
4.  In fact, acting in spite of how I felt became a theme. Feeling like doing nothing? So something. Feeling like isolating? Reach out.
5. I learned about mindfulness and started doing a deep relaxation mindfulness meditation practice. The deep relaxation helped the anxiety that went hand in hand in hand with the depression. Learning to be in the present moment with acceptance helped with everything.

Of course, recovery from depression is hard, scary work. However, these 5 tips helped me and I hope they can help others. It is all about learning, really–learning new skills and practicing them, learning new attitudes and learning acceptance.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) are both effective in dealing with depression. They are all about learning new skills.

You may wonder “What about medication?” Well, medication can be very effective in alleviating symptoms while you do the hard work of recovery. If you make the changes you need you will keep that monster at bay.