Tag Archives: Books

Excerpt from A Walk up Barrow Hill

29 Sunday Nov 2015

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A Walk up Barrow Hill…

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Reluctantly, Rose slowly opened her eyes…fluttering a couple times. Looking around the room, she felt confused and disoriented. She didn’t know where she was. The stark whitish green walls screamed out to her, making her head pound uncontrollably.

“Hello? Is someone there?” The silence was deafening.
“Hello?”

Footsteps echoed through out the corridor outside her door, until they stopped completely.

Rose sat up in bed, intently watching, as the door reluctantly opened.

“Hello, Miss Rose. How are you feeling today?”

She felt sick as the bile rose up into her throat. She knew where she was, as she screamed out hysterically before collapsing to the floor.

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi
Copyright 2015

Always Remembering 911

10 Thursday Sep 2015

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Always Remembering 911…

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September 11, 2001.  I remember the day as if it were yesterday.  I remember walking into my house around 8:30 am, turning on the television, and watching in horror as the second airplane crashed into the Twin Towers.

The thing that struck me most odd that morning was watching the individual white sheets of paper flutter around the streets of New York, thousands and thousands of paper.  I remembered thinking who had touched them, who had just recently stored them into the filing system, who was missing them?  It was an eerie thought to wonder about these thousands of sheets of papers coming from the Twin Towers.  I do not know why this particular image has stayed in my mind for all these years, but it has.  Perhaps my mind needed to fixate onto something less horrific than watching a city fall apart to an awful bout of terrorism.  The images we endured that day will forever be stuck in our minds.

September 11th is a very special and memorable day to my family and I because we named our second daughter after a Naval Contractor who had died on September 11th in the Pentagon.  We named her Julian Cooper.  She reminds us every year on 911 of the loss, we as individuals, families, and as a nation, had to endure on that fateful day fifteen years ago on September 11, 2001.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi
Copyright September 11, 2012

Why Do We Write?

05 Friday Jun 2015

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Why do writers write?

We write to express ourselves.
We write to tell our personal stories.
We write because we are bored.
We write to teach others.
We write to help others.
We write because we want to be the next Stephanie Meyers.
We write because we don’t know what else to do.
We write because we are writers and that’s what writers do.
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Written By: Ask Ms Mandi

The Fight is Half the Battle

19 Tuesday May 2015

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The Fight is Half the Battle…

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Do we fight harder to keep something we love or do we fight harder to get out of something we hate?

I believe that when gifts are handed to us, it is easier to ease up on the fight until a more convenient time comes around.

However, when push comes to shove and we are fighting for our very survival and what is rightfully ours, then our instincts tend to come out with our claws…fighting harder for what we cherish closest to our hearts.

Written By:  Ask Ms Mandi

Can We Find A Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease

16 Saturday May 2015

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Alzheimer’s Disease

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If anyone is looking to watch a great movie….I recommend “Still Alice”.  It’s a beautifully written movie about a college Professor who develops Alzheimer’s Disease.  It’s a touching story of one woman’s struggles, while losing her memory and eventually her mind.  She has a rare form of the disease that is genetically carried on to her children.

I can personally relate to her story because my grandmother developed the disease when she was in her sixties.  It’s very sad to watch, as a most intelligent mind starts to forget even the simplest task, such as trying finding their bathroom in their own home. They know their  minds are deteriorating, but there is nothing they can do but try to cover it up.

If you or someone you know is severing with Alzheimer’s Disease, please feel free to comment here.  The more we can talk about it, the more we can find a cure to this horrible disease.

Written By:  Ask Ms Mandi

Is Editing Ever Complete…

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

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Is Editing Ever Complete?

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I currently have one of my manuscripts out to an agent, but received an e-mail from another agent that I had submitted to earlier in the month. She had the typical rejection response, “Thank you for your submission, but we are going to pass on your project. It doesn’t fit into our list of projects, but please continue to contact other agents.” However, this particular rejection letter was a little different. It stated, “please continue to edit and submit to other agents.”

This made me laugh out loud. “Please continue to edit.” I guess that was a nice way of stating that my first fifty pages of my manuscript needed continued editing. When is the editing complete? I had read through my manuscript at least three times already. I have to admit that I find an editing error here and there each time I read it, but when will the editing be perfect?

I think this an impossible task. Writing styles change. It’s just like when I use to model. I was never perfect for ever agent. One agent said my eyes were too big and another agent said my eyes were perfect, but my height was too short. Nothing I ever did made me perfect under ever circumstance.

All I can say is to edit your manuscript several times and then put it away. Take it back out and edit it one more time…now submit it to agents. When an agent likes it, they will pick it up…even with a few grammatical or spelling errors.

Good luck!

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi

Breaking into the Writer’s World

16 Thursday Aug 2012

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Breaking into the writer’s world is not as simple as it sounds.  You have written your manuscript and now you need an agent.  You may think that the hard part is over, but it is only just beginning.  Now you need to find an agent and it is not as simple as it may seem.

Children can be so wise, but yet so naïve.  Anything is possible when you are a child.  You have the world in your hands.  It’s not just about youth but it’s also about attitude.  Today, I was helping-out in a fifth grade classroom, when a ten-year old boy approached me.  The teacher had announced to the class that I was a writer.  This ten-year old boy came up to me and asked me how many books I have written.  I told him two.  He was impressed.  He then blurted out that he would buy my book.  Just like that. 

A child’s mind still believes that anything is possible.  As we grow up into adulthood, that innocence slowly disappears with time.  You write a book and you will get it published.  You want to be a doctor and you will be a doctor.  It is magical. 

Breaking into the writer’s world, finding an agent, and struggling to pay the bills, are all a journey of life.  Believing in ourselves is magical.  Do not accept rejection when you send out a query to an agent.  Keep your head up and keep trying.  A New York agent told me once and I quote:  “You will succeed in getting your work published as long as you keep trying, but if you give up then you will miss out on the next opportunity and that opportunity may be an agent that is interested in your manuscript.”

Any comments or thoughts?

Written By:  Ask Ms Mandi