I Wish You Sauerkraut and Spare Ribs

“Yuck!” That is the usual response from our kids to the sauerkraut we serve each New Years day. Oh, you don’t hear negative groans from my husband and me. We enjoy the new year’s lucky-food. The green cabbage,  altered and flavored with apples and brown sugar to make it uniquely festive, is paired with the forward-rooting and forward-thinking pig. Flavor and Wisdom are all smothered in the comfort food of mashed potatoes.

Today, don’t resolve to do something you will only beat yourself up over when you fail to follow through for all three-hundred sixty-five days. Instead, vow to live every day of the year, rather than choosing to die little deaths each time you waste an hour of precious life on sadness, anger, and self-recriminations.

For all of you who live to write and those of you who love to read, I wish you highly flavored, zesty books. Choose only the ones that propel you forward with uplifting and positive themes, which bring comfort and food for your soul. Have a blessed, full and Happy New Year!

Doris
Copyright 2014 Doris Gaines Rapp


Escape from the Belfry - www.archwaypublishing.com bookstore;   www.cokesbury.com; www.amazon.com;    www.barnesandnoble.com
Length of Days - The Age of Silence - www.dorisgainesrapp.com
Promote Yourself - an eBook available at www.barnesandnoble.com and www.amazon.com

NaNoWriMo is Finished!

Wahoo! I finished NaNoWriMo on November 20, 2013! The goal of the National Novel Writing Month is to write 50,000 words of a novel in the month of November. I finished on Wednesday and now have about 53,000+. We upload beginning Monday and through November 30. We, meaning all the other 905,000+ novelists from around the world.

Those who know me are not surprised that I'm a Rebel WriMo. Rather than working on one novel, I have completed one upper middle school level novel and am working on two others to complete my count.

Now I want to focus on the Holidays! Read my post on Sunday, November 24, to see what I am planning!

Doris
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp

Kick the Words Down the Road

Some group of researchers or pollsters came up with a list of words or phrases people no longer wanted to hear in 2013. My problem is, they left off the most aggravating! Kick the can down the road. Have we all lost the ability to find new ways of saying things?

I really don't want to kick the can down the road any longer. If we don't come up with another term we will  only be kicking the can far into 2013. If we continue to kick the can, our  vocabulary will be severally limited. Oh gag!

Did you know that our vocabulary is the single best predictor of intelligence? So, for the benefit of those in Congress who have limited vocabulary and possibly limited intelli . . . let us move on.

I would like to propose several alternative phrases that can be used to mean the same thing:

1. punt the puke down the trough
2. drop kick the bowling ball down the lane
3. boot the bilge over the fence
4. jolt the junk to the next trunk
5. send Peter into Neverland
6. postpone the preposterous
7. send Grandma of a mystery trip
8. kick the can into infinity - (borrowing a few words from the trite expression for those who may become anxious over losing their security blanket of words)

You think of a few. Prove what we have all known: words are beautiful, if strung together with purposeful thread.

Doris
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp

Blessings for the New Year

In a few hours we will welcome in a new year. We will have another 365 days to fill with love or hate, joy or anger, boldness or fear. The choice is up to each of us. For this new year, I pray you will:
1. live like this is your second chance at life,
2. work like it is a blessing from God,
3. love like it is food for your soul,
4. and walk through each day as if you were within the light of the Lord.

For this new year, I hope that you will live every day of your life. There is not one day worth throwing away. Learn from your mistakes but don't feel guilt. Realize, when someone is angry with you it is far more about their own fears and much less about you.

You are a valuable light in God's sky and you are the only one who can pull-off being you like you can. Live up to the marvelous person God had in mind when he created you.

Bless you through every moment of the new year, 2013. Make number 13 the luckiest number there is. You have the power to create the "you" you were meant to be.

May blessings flow down around you until they fill your shoes.

Doris
Copyright 2012 Doris Gaines Rapp (8:63 p.m. EST)

WATCH THE TELLS

When Dan Quayle ran for Vice President, I noticed three "tells" (body gestures) when reporters asked questions that made him uncomfortable or angry. He -

1. blinked his eyes three times.
2. tipped his head to the side.
3. worked his jaw muscles.

I don't know if the news person saw the tells or felt the edgy feelings, but when Quayle did those three things, the reporter pounced. He wrote back and thanked me. He said he would give the suggestion to his advisers and they would work on them. I never saw those tells again.

What tells are our candidates leaving today?

• Rick Santorum blinks and sets his mouth in a defensive down turn.
• Mitt Romney has a pleasant expression all of the time, even when he talks about things that worry us and should trouble him.
• Newt Gingrich has great debate moments, then his "Newt the Planner" takes over and he starts planning colonies on the moon, when we need to rebuild what we have. He does this with an arrogant, pleasant smile that says, "Trust me. I know what I'm doing."  
• Ron Paul smiles and jokes about very serious matters, then clips them off with a one-word dig.

I love them all for what they are - a chance to reset our sails. The winner will be the one who can correct their tell and let us know we have been sailing into treacherous waters.

Right now, I am reading their tells and what I see is, "It's all about me." I need to see and hear, "It's about all of us. These are my solutions: one, two, three."

Tell them all, "Drop your tell and tell it straight and clear!"

Doris Gaines Rapp

TEA PARTY OR COWBOY NOVEL

Just catching up to all of you who have found this blog. Thank you so much!

I just posted on a new blog I put up, www.lengthofdays2112.blogspot.com. It was a fun blog post about characters---my husband Bill, a really big character, and those in my novel, Length of Days - The Age of Silence. Check it out!

TEA PARTY BOOK

My book, LENGTH OF DAYS - THE AGE OF SILENCE, was recently described as a Tea Party Book. I can see that. Those who have a like-mind with Tea Partiers would really like LENGTH OF DAYS - THE AGE OF SILENCE. Go2 http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/DorisRapp-1207656-length-ofdays-the-age-silence/ to view a Book Trailer for LENGTH OF DAYS - THE AGE OF SILENCE.
Doris Gaines Rapp