Book signings, Thanksgiving, Christmas, researching, writing, teaching, and newsletters will fill-up this year of 2007 and extend into 2008. The Baxter Bulletin newspaper has provided several pieces relating to local "Authors' Day" at the Baxter County Library 2 December Sunday 2-4 pm. I will be there. This is the time to purchase books for Christmas and check out military books at http://www.militarywriters.com/ and your local bookstore. Thanksgiving is everyday. A holiday is to bring family and friends together which is difficult in this busy world. Diet is a good word to put before me as I prepare for another holiday. We will be traveling where the word dieting may be lost. I guess the best thing is cut-out the deserts or is it the main meal and eat the deserts. Before my active life gets too busy - I want to wish everyone a Blessed Christmas and a exciting year ahead. Write for yourself, enjoy and promote the book or books you have published. I will be researching publishers to find the right one for each of my books and people in specialized fields to read my manuscripts when finish. Submarine Veterans of World War II, Arkansas Diamond Chapter gathering at Eureka Springs has created a couple articles for submarine magazines; hopefully in time for their next issue. As their new editor I have been working on the newsletter I would like to have out by Christmas for it is filled with all the interesting happenings from our gathering. We missed a lot of friends who were unable to be there. Erma who's poem is in my book was unable to be there because of health problems. We missed her energy that radiated excitement and laughter. I try to remind myself to think one day at a time and to take time out to think about other exciting things. Every so often we have to put the writing world to the side to remember the world has many other components to make our live on earth complete.

The League of Sons is a film of The Faith of our Fathers project by Vision Formula Ministry where the children or grandchildren listen and retrace the stories of a family member who was in World War II. Included was a piece titled The Praying Mothers of WWII. This was one of the best shows I have watched on this subject. It was shown on our new local TV Station 19, Life Around the Lake based at Bel' Arco Resort. The research information in my book for family members and students was removed. I regret this. I wanted school children and family members of submarine veterans to be able to search for answers about the "silent service" that very few people know about. Remember to stand up and support the past and present veterans for they have and always will protect us and our freedoms. When they write their stories or someone writes it for them they must not be abused by publishers who charges them an arm and a leg. They already have paid the price. Their stories are important to them and to us, the readers.

Today is a new day at the flip of a coin there is a bright side. Tony Lazzarini, Presidnt of MWSA and his lovely wife Arlene and other authors we sat with for three days reminded me how lucky I was to meet each of them. They were a joy to be with as we promoted our books. Congratulations goes to John Gallegher, Mike Mullins, Richard Merrell, Skip Vogel and other authors on their awards. Please check out all the winning authors at www.militarywriters.com/events/awards. Maybe next year or the next I can be placed on that list. I want to thank Lloyd and Paula King and Tony and Arlene for all their hard work to bring all of us together. We all had a great time aboard the Showboat Branson Belle. Outstanding show and a special dinner. It was cold and windy as we waited for all 750 people to board the boat. Tibor Bierbaum was our driver. He is the author of Our Walk With God who is from Ft. Wayne, Indiana. On the 8th he drove somewhere near Harrison to wander out on a dirt road to meet an old military buddy. Ida Jane and John Gallagher from Mt. Pleasant, SC. They are formerly from West Virginia. He is from Wheeling and she is from near Roane County. I had just received a book from Jack Nida who wrote Roane County for the Images of America series. Ida Jane has published a very interesting non-fiction book Contact with Ancient America. I will share in the future more authors and their military books on this blog so remember to come back and learn more about this wonderful writers group.

It breaks my heart to have to apologize to my friends the Submarine Veterans of World War II that the book they were looking forward to did not honor them as I had written it. The publisher removed the introduction I had written honoring the submarine veterans, which included my husband who served in many dangerous situations. Many things were changed or removed. I was promised when I signed the contract they would not change the substance or do anything to dishonor my friends in the book. If they hadn't agreed to this, I would never had signed the contract. No book is worth anything to me if I hurt anyone. I just wanted the children and civilians to know what they endured while we were sitting at home worrying about food rations. The stories in the book received special comments from reviewers. I thank all the submarine veterans in the book from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to get to know what they encountered during their service for our country.

PATRIOTS' HERALD www.patriotsherald.net a Carroll County Newspaper. Albert Pryor, Publisher/Senior Editor requested an article and photos of the Arkansas Submarine Veterans of World War II meeting in Eureka Spring November 2-4 at the Travelers Inn. The story will appear on their website Friday. The paper comes out on Thursday. We are grateful to Mr. Pryor for honoring our submarine veterans.

Military people taken advantage of and shamed. I learned the hard way how people do take advantage of whose who have served and many gave their lives so we could have freedom of speech. The men and women whose lives were spared bring home and continue to live it - they are never the same -too much brain washing and battle sights to forget. My husband lost friends and gave so much of who he was. Yet, he is so proud of his service to his country. He respects and honors those who served and are still serving. Yet, he was brought out on stage and made a fool of by someone who never served and was in it for personal gain. My brother served in Vietnam. Everyday he carries the horror of war images within loaded with serious health problems from the deadly Agent Orange. He was told to ease his pain by not talking about the war and his experiences then the memories would slowly fade. So, I will speak for him after all these years it has not faded, not even to a grey tint. My ex-brother-in-law needed someone to tell his story to when he returned from Korea, I listen and learned of the hell he endured that gave him screaming nightmares and night sweats. My uncle was shot in the foot had his toes re-attached and later removed. My uncle Gus was shot in WWI where he carried pieces of shrapnel in his hip and was in pain all his life. Beware of publishers who want to control your website, phone, blog, and your life. Beware of e-zines and magazines where they insist you must write (free of course-no pay) for their company while they keep putting off publishing your book or the possibility of publishing your book. We all want to write a book to be published. People who write military books have served in one or more wars or conflicts - war is war - and if the men and women weren't involved in battles their lives have been altered (mostly personality). Many write of their experiences or use it in writing novels. It is a way to release a small amount of the secrets they hold inside and the pain they can't shake. Then, they encounter people who use them for their own person gain. They wine and dine them with sweet talk and when they are of no longer of use they are hung out to dry. If I can help if only in a small way I will keep military persons from being made a fool of after they gave their best to give us the freedoms we enjoy.