Newsletter for August

Baby Boomers Plus 2019 has gone to the printer. The paperback can be ordered from our website. The eBook is available for pre-order on Amazon.

The eBook and the paperback will be released on Amazon 9/1/2019.

We will open Baby Boomers Plus 2020 for submissions on Jan 1, 2020.

Stories Through The Ages Sightseer Saga
 Have you written or do you have a story to tell based on travel? Tell us about an experience you had while traveling, sights you saw and/or people you met. Make it a completely true account, or embellish the truth a bit. This contest is open to any adult. We will accept submissions until we have a maximum of 100 entries. 

Stories Through The Ages Military Experiences
 We are asking for stories or personal essays based on your military experience – beyond that it is open. The story can be from a soldier, a veteran, friend or a family member. In order to encourage people who don’t usually write, we have changed the rules and are allowing co-authors for this contest. If you know someone with a story to tell who isn’t a writer, have them tell it to you and help them write it – then submit it with both your names. This contest is open to any adult. We will accept submissions until we have a maximum of 100 entries. 

Manuscript Submissions
We are accepting submissions for a manuscript to be published by Living Springs Publishers. The manuscript can be fiction or non-fiction. Please submit a document with the first 3 chapters, a synopsis summary of the book and a biography of the author.

Imagination by Dan Peavler

Have you ever lived on top of a cloud? How about taking a ride on a flying horse to Chicago to buy a purple dress—just to find out that the only acceptable purple dresses available are in New York City or Los Angeles. After traveling to California you realize that the purple dress at home is as good as the dresses everywhere else? For the past two years, every Thursday and Friday, I get to leave the ordinary and journey into a make believe world with my now five year old granddaughter. We always travel with our stuffy friends Olaf, Pinky Bear, Big Dog and Scraggles. If not flying on a horse, we have to endure the hassle of checking luggage, getting tickets and going thru security at the airport. Of course during the rush one of the stuffies needs to go to the bathroom and then usually falls into the toilet. Scraggles, a fluffy little bear, always has something in his possession, usually a can of corn, that sets off the alarm when going thru security. Big Dog lately has been receiving calls at the most inopportune time. Listening in on one call we heard him say, “take two aspirins and get some rest”. He thinks he is a doctor. Grandma usually brings us back to reality by insisting we read a book. 
 
Imagination has no boundaries. To imagine a better world, even when you love the one you live in, is worth carrying forward from childhood. Authors throughout time have done a very good job of imagining and writing about a better more caring world. 
 
Living Springs Publishers has given the writers in our contests the freedom to write whatever they wish. The third book in our “Stories Through The Ages Baby Boomers Plus” series is being printed. We are very fortunate to have so many creative writers take part in the contests and it is our desire that the competition continues to grow. Who knows maybe the next Cinderella will be found in our stories. The world will be a better place if we follow her example to have courage and be kind.

A Mother’s Musing by Jacqueline Veryle Peavler

Whenever I hear someone advise us to be kind it reminds me of the school shooting at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, CO in 2013, My daughter Emilee was a senior and niece Breanna a junior there when it happened.

Breanna had her phone and was able to let us know right away that she was okay. Emilee was in a gym class, near where the shooting happened and didn’t have her phone. She sat in a darkened room, on the floor, until the swat team burst in, guns drawn, and escorted the class out with hands on their heads. Hers was one of the last classes evacuated so this was near the end of the ordeal. 

Rationally, when I didn’t know where Emilee was and if she was safe, I knew she was probably just in a situation where she didn’t have access to a phone.  Emotionally it was a whole different story. I cannot describe the terror I felt as I stood outside the school, with my brother and his family, waiting for word on whether Emilee was safe or not.   

Emilee didn’t know Claire Davis, the young lady killed. She was in several classes with the shooter during sophomore year.  It was difficult for her to reconcile the kid who sat behind her in class and was on her Cross Country team with the person who came in with the intent to kill anyone in his path.

How does this remind me of kindness? Every time Claire’s mother was on television, she implored people to be kind to one another.

Emilee and I rarely talk about the shooting. When we do, we remember Claire’s family, but we also remember the shooters family. He had a younger sister who also attended Arapahoe. She changed schools the next year. We especially remember her and hope that she has found peace and happiness.

If we listen to the political news stations we would believe that our country is full of hate.  The people I deal with and meet in everyday life and through our Stories Through The Ages competitions tell me different. The stories we receive do not reflect that either – they are generally stories of perseverance and hope. Because I am a boomer I have lived through many eras and changes. I have seen many ugly things, but I have also seen the beauty of human nature. 

I have confidence that we will endure, as a nation and as a world. We just need to remember to be kind to one another.