******************************************************************************* H A P P Y   N E W   Y E A R    !!!!! *******************************************************************************   There is magic in every  thoughtful word.     Never doubt it!   LEARN AND GIVE:  http://www.one.org                           H E L P STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE!::  http://www.angelsthatcare.org OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO WOMEN WRITERS:  http://www.janesstories.org GREAT WRITER'S RESOURCE:  www.duotrope.com   SPECIAL THANKS TO  Persimmon Magazine for accepting a short nonfiction piece of mine recently.   SPECIAL THANKS TO  Thin Line for accepting three short nonfiction pieces for an anthology scheduled for publication in 2013. SPECIAL THANKS TO Creative Thinkers International for featuring blogs that I have written in 2012, and for beating the drum for peace, freedom, and equality. SPECIAL THANKS TO all the editors and publishers who over the decades have published my work or taken the time to make helpful comments.   For all you do for readers and writers!!     Short List of Books that Changed my Life  A Man in Full -- Tom Wolfe  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll All Quiet on the Western Front  -- Erich Maria Remarque Beach Music & The Prince of Tides -- Pat Conroy Body and Soul -- Frank Conroy Cannery Row, East of Eden  & The Grapes of Wrath -- John Steinbeck Far from the Madding Crowd -- Thomas Hardy Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan Middlemarch -- George Eliot Pickwick Papers, Hard Times, & Great Expectations -- Charles Dickens Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen Red Badge of Courage -- Stephen Crane The Heart is a Lonely Hunter -- Carson McCullers The Poisonwood Bible -- Barbara Kingsolver The Great Gatsby -- F. Scott Fitzgerald Billy Budd -- Herman Melville The Good Earth – Pearl Buck The Accidental Tourist – Ann Tyler The Last of the Mohicans -- James Fenimore Cooper The Shipping News -- E. Annie Proulx* To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee

First and Third Prizes, Sensations Magazine, Coney Island Issue.
Second Prize, Sensations Magazine, Cinema Issue.
First Prize in Poetry, Dan Sullivan Memorial Contest {announced June 9th).
First Prize, Mad Hatter's Review {poetry}
Two Special Commendations, firstwriters.com
Notable Entry. Burning the Midnight Oil Contest
{poetry, 2008)
Finalist, New Millennium Writings, Summer, 2008
High Commendation, Margaret Reid Contest {Poetry}, 2007
First Prize, Poetic Liberty
High Commendation, John Reid Contest, 2008
Certificate of Clinical Competence, American Speech Hearing & Language Association [ret.]
Outstanding children and grandchildren.
Survivor, School of Hard Knocks (thus far).