ABOUT THIS COINCIDENCE THING

 

 

The coincidence thing happened again. And in the most unexpected, circuitous manner. Friends of mine at my previous place of employment were e-mailing me, requesting I sign their copies of Agenda 21. The Human Resources department there. . .such nice people!. . .made arrangements for me to come in for a signing so it would be convenient for me and the employees.

Armed with a Sharpie, I was ready to hop in the car and head out. But I checked my e-mail one last time before I left. Okay, I admit it. I'm slightly OCD. There was a new message from my daughter-in-law about service dogs. She has wanted a therapy dog for my 12 year old granddaughter who has mobility limitations and had just heard, that morning, about service dogs specifically for diabetics. Our 7 year old granddaughter, same family, was just diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. That's a tough diagnosis. Actually, it is a life changer, especially for a 7 year old.

 

That's pretty heavy duty. . .2 service dogs for the same family.



 

But, on to the book signing and yet another coincidence. One of the employees, a gentle soul, was grateful that I took the time to come in. So she presented me with a gift. . .a signed copy of Until Tuesday, by Luis Carlos Montalvan. It's the story of "A Wounded  Warrior and the Golden Retriever who saved him." A service dog!

 

A coincidence? I think not. That employee was unaware that I have special needs grandchildren. She simply wanted to give me a signed copy of a book as a thank you. It just happened to be about a service dog. And service dogs were on my mind that day.

 

A sign, if you will, that something poweful is responsible for these events. And I am grateful.

A Short Post for All My Readers

Dear Gailyn and all other readers:

Thank you for your kind comments. I'd be more than happy to respond to your comments or questions but I have no way to contact you! Please e-mail me: helloharriet@comcast.net.

I really want to respond to the kind folks who have left comments, but this baby-blog of mine doesn't have that option. Do I need a better blog? Hmmm. . .maybe.

Harriet

COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT.

The path to publication was paved with blessings. . .from the support of my family, friends, and the wonderful group of fellow writers in Madwomen in the Attic at Carlow University.

It was also paved with what some might call coincidences. Finding a small item in a newspaper or magazine that easily lent itself to being enhanced by my imagination. Meeting a wider and wider circle of fellow writers and making friends with them. Stumbling into history books that described oppressive regimes and the millions of deaths of the citizens of those regimes at the hands of their leaders.

Partnering with Glenn Beck! That was a wow event! I received the first contact from Mercury Ink while on a family vacation with all our children, their spouses, and all our grandchildren. Coincidence? No, a moment to celebrate surrounded by family.

All of that and more. . .coincidence?

It doesn't end there. I was recently at a local book store and I wandered over to the section of new releases. There it was! Agenda 21, Glenn Beck with Harriet Parke. I picked it up and ran my hand over the cover. A man standing next to me said "That's the book I was looking for."

"Really?" I said. "That's my name." I tapped my finger against my name.

He shared with me that he was from a town in Ohio and had wanted to come to the book signing near Pittsburgh but couldn't because he was on the road for his job. He was back on the road again and, according to him, his wife said he had to find Agenda 21 before he came home or she would 'kill' him. (I doubt if she would have actually killed him but he had sought out a bookstore in a sincere effort to please his wife.)

Coincidence? I think not. I hadn't planned to stop at that store while I ran other errands; it was an impulse that made me stop. A man from Ohio is in the Pittsburgh area and finds that particular store. We are at the same spot at the same time. He bought the book. I signed it for him.

Concidence? No. Blessings.

SHOULD AN AUTHOR READ REVIEWS OF THEIR OWN NOVEL?

I did it! I wrote a book and it's been published. Agenda 21, Glenn Beck with Harriet Parke. What's next? Will anybody read it? And more important, will they like it?

Ah, that's the question! Will they like it?

The people who lined up for the book signing with Glenn Beck liked it. But given that they were willing to stand patiently in line for our signatures, well, that's an indication they are fans.

But what about the anonymous audience, those folks who aren't family or fans? The book is selling well, the numbers are good. But do they like it?

With trepidation, I went to reviews. . . .strange sensation, clicking on comments about my own novel.
Quickly, I sorted through the reviews, and there were a lot of them!

Five stars. . .they liked the book for what it was. Fiction, dystopia, a look into the worst possible future, a cautionary tale.

One star. . .they disliked the book, in most cases without even having read it, because of obvious political bias.

The one star reviews are not relevant to the novel. They are just, for the most part, rants. So be it, freedom of speech and all that. They are easy to ignore.

Instead, I celebrate the five star reviews.