life choices Archives - From the Write Side

August Author of the Month: De’Shawna Yamini

One of the responsibilities of being a writer is giving back to the community that has nurtured me. One of the best ways to do that is to champion new writers when they begin their writing careers. It is always a privilege to discover someone whose passion for a topic had compelled them to write a story that will help others. So this month, I'm so pleased to introduce readers to De'Shawna Yamini. Yamini is a lifelong resident of the Dayton, Ohio, area and a [...]

By irvinjgdm|2023-07-31T15:53:36+00:00July 31st, 2023|Author of the Month|0 Comments

Love Notes

Fab February is here, the shortest and, perhaps the dullest, of the calendar months. Except for the cultural touchstones that keep it interesting -- Valentine's Day, President's Day, National Heart Month, and the birthdays of those we hold dear. For writers like me, the month is an uninterrupted span of days to draft, revise, revisit, and polish existing work and to read and research for future endeavors. There is also, for football fans, the Super Bowl. Now, if my team isn't in it, I have [...]

By irvinjgdm|2023-01-31T17:50:35+00:00January 31st, 2023|Essays|0 Comments

Author of the Month: Celebrity Chef KEITH D. JONES

August 2022...We might be in the dog days of summer, but I'm so excited to feature my first celebrity chef and author, Keith D. Jones, as the subject of this month's author interview. I admit to being a 'food snob,' not in the sense that I have to have gourmet meals, no, but in the vein of healthy, fresh ingredients prepared with love and care and a touch of the creative. That's exactly what Keith brings to his table -- a dedication to eating healthy [...]

By irvinjgdm|2022-07-31T16:28:32+00:00July 31st, 2022|Author of the Month|0 Comments

July Blog: Sometimes I Just Want To Run Away…

READY? What's that old line about "the world being too much with us"? Sometimes the obstacles laid along the road create a wall too high to scale. Sometimes they force us to confront truths we would rather avoid. If you're a little like me, maybe they cause you to contemplate, if only for a moment, running away, and summer provides the opportune moment to try a faux escape. After all, it's July, summer's highpoint in the northern hemisphere. In this month of heat, humidity, and [...]

By irvinjgdm|2022-06-30T15:36:54+00:00June 30th, 2022|Essays|0 Comments

January 2022 Author of the Month: MAGGIE BLACKBIRD

It's a new day in a new year...welcome, 2022, and welcome, as well, to Maggie Blackbird, who writes romance novels set among Canada's indigenous people. About herself, Maggie is an Ojibway from Northwestern Ontario. She resides in the country with her husband and their fur babies, two beautiful Alaskan Malamutes, one of whom is pictured below. "When I'm not writing," Maggie says, "I can be found pulling weeds in the flower beds, mowing the huge lawn, walking the Mals deep in the bush, teeing up [...]

By irvinjgdm|2022-01-01T14:42:22+00:00January 1st, 2022|Author of the Month|0 Comments

September Author of the Month: KEN SCHNECK

For a teacher like me, September has always meant beginnings...the opportunity to meet a bright new crop of young minds and watch them grow. For this journalist, the month also allows me to introduce you, dear reader, to an author and comedian I met virtually during this past year of Zooming. I was so impressed by his presentation and his personality that I invited Ken Schneck to be a guest...and he agreed! Ken wears many hats. He is a tenured professor of education at Baldwin [...]

By irvinjgdm|2021-08-31T14:47:34+00:00August 31st, 2021|Author of the Month|0 Comments

October 2020 Author Of The Month: KATHLEEN AMBRO

I met Kathleen Ambro at a writers' gathering before the pandemic took them all away. She was delightful. We shared information and talked about our writing. I'm always intrigued by the variety of ways we choose to tell our stories. As an author of children's books and of a biographical novel, she has some insights to share with us. As we talked, I knew I wanted to host her on my website because she had a story to share with other writers interested in the [...]

By irvinjgdm|2020-10-08T17:36:31+00:00September 30th, 2020|Author of the Month, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Heads Or Tails: Choosing to Stay in the Moment

The steamy days and cool nights of August whisper that football is coming. Practice fields echo with the rumble of young men wearing cleats, helmets and shoulder pads as they struggle through two-a-days and learn new play routes. Newspapers devote a significant amount of daily sports coverage to the antics of players, on and off the field. August stretches closer to September. Suddenly it's game time. Then the choosing starts. Each contest begins with a coin toss. Heads or tails. Kick or receive. With the wind or against it. [...]

By irvinjgdm|2015-08-13T15:59:20+00:00August 13th, 2015|Essays|0 Comments