Category Archives: Building community through partnerships

I Wish Upon A Star

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Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.” -Franz Peter Schubert 

Three years ago, when I moved to a new community, I met a woman my age and her husband and three boys at church. She and her husband were given the responsibility and honor of raising a special needs son. When we first met, she talked with  me about their family’s involvement with the Special Olympics and what their volunteer efforts have meant to their entire family. They have found such enjoyment in the athletic events, the camaraderie felt between Special Olympians and other families with special needs children. She visited our Kiwanis Club and described the mission of the Special Olympics, too. http://bit.ly/oDJ4n3.

As time has gone by our friendship has grown closer. We have had meaningful talks about her special son, and how God has endowed him with the ability to communicate with others about faith in very unique and profound ways. 

The other day, I began to think what an opportune time it is for parents, families and individuals to share stories of special needs children who are making their distinctive mark on the world. The dynamic and growing world of independent publishing provides a fulfilling platform for teaching other families about the lessons and gifts their special needs children contribute to their family’s life. 

I wish upon a star that more families everywhere will find the means and a voice to tell their stories so others will better understand the joys and challenges of raising special needs children. 

 For more information on how ordinary people are telling extraordinary stories by educating, inspiring and informing others through non-traditional books and films, there is a new 18 minute on-line webinar published by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association that discusses the basics of independent publishing. Please visit http://bit.ly/oIkV2g.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Giving Back for Children’s Sake

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“Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.”               ~Anthony Robbins 

I love reading stories of people who have a deep understanding of the value of life and convey that understanding by reciprocating their gratefulness through random acts of kindness or by a creative or a uniquely meaningful approach. 

The other day the August 2011 issue of Kiwanis Magazine arrived in my Post Office Box and I began to read it. I was interested in knowing  about the Kiwanis International  Convention, which was held in Geneva, Switzerland this year. www.kiwanis.org. 

As I browsed the articles, I learned something about actress Jamie Lee Curtis. She was honored at the July 2011 Convention with the World Service Medal for her charitable work for children’s hospitals. She is also a best selling author of children’s books such as and “Tell Me About the Night I was Born” and “I Feel Silly: And Other Moods that Make My Day.” These books are illustrated by Laura Cornell and are geared for young children four and up. 

Philanthropy in the world of entertainment often gets drowned out in the media by the stories of those that create sensationalism of another kind. Entertainment and media “notables” partnering with organizations such as Kiwanis International for the purpose of accomplishing fulfilling missions and goals that make this world a better place inspires ordinary people to become superstars in their own right by volunteering for causes that are near and dear to their hearts.

 All around the world there is a service club and it’s members are “dedicated to improving children’s lives one community and one child at a time” they are tagged as Kiwaniians! I am very happy to be included in this group.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Life in Chapters

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Change your thoughts and you change your world. ~ Norman Vincent Peale (1898 – 1993) 

Three years ago, I made a phone call that was difficult to make. I called my twin sister to tell her that we would be moving from East Coast to the West. Once we resettled, we talked again and again, each time she’d continue to lament about the geographical distance that had grown even further between us. I told her, “I was actually grateful for the change because after much self-searching I decided I would take it as a sign that it was meant to be and I needed to embrace a new landscape in my life –  literally, personally, professionally and in spirit, too.”  

What helped me to adjust and accept change was I began to consider that the move was just the next chapter in my life. My life is a story of non-fiction, lived in stages, filled with realities of what I have learned from my childhood, teen and young adult years, through thirty years of marriage and through the most fulfilling years of my life – raising of a precious, most wanted child. 

Now, three years later into the next chapter of my life, I have found change that I was certain I would find.  The synchronicity between people, place and events all working within the growing and dynamic industry of independent publishing here in Colorado,  has taught me that entering into relationships with a spirit of openness to change, indeed brings about fulfilling metamorphosis. http://bit.ly/dNMMuR.

I have not yet, closed out this chapter of my life. What I have learned along the way is not to rebuff change, let it happen, evolve and good things will come along the way. 

When the next episode of my life comes, I will embrace it once again wholeheartedly knowing that there will be more lessons along the way and they will come in the form of  more wisdom, of that I am sure.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Portrait of a Consummate Artist

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“Romance and novel paint beauty in colors more charming than nature, and describe a happiness that humans never taste. How deceptive and destructive are those pictures of consummate bliss!” ~ Oliver Goldsmith 

Tomorrow, on All Things Fulfilling we will have the honor of interviewing author and actress Mara Purl. I met Mara several years ago when our company, Cornerstone Fulfillment Service, LLC joined the Colorado Independent Publishers Association as a service vendor. www.cipabooks.org. Mara was President at the time. 

The Back Story:

Mara Purl has been fulfilling her life, through her multi-facetted career in the Arts. Her professional accomplishments as an award winning writer-producer-performer include:

  • Author of serial novels, set in her fictitious coastal town Milford- Haven. They are the basis for the first American radio drama ever licensed by the BBC. The series drew an audience of 4.5 million fans.
  • Actress on Days of Our Lives. Mara played the role of Darla Cook.
  • Journalist/staff writer for the Financial Times of London and the Associated Press.
  • Co-authored Act Right with Erin Gray. This book is frequently used by schools of performing arts as an educational tool.http://bit.ly/neZ5tJ
  • Founder of S.T.A.R. – Student Theatre And Radio – a program she has taught in the U.S, and abroad inJapan.
  • Mara Purl was named one of the twelve Women of the Year in 2002 by the Los Angeles County Commission for Women.
  • Musician for Teijo Ito’s CD Watermill. She is accomplished at playing the koto.
  • Mara grew up in Tokyo, Japan. She lives in Los Angeles and Colorado Springs, CO 

    Thursday (tomorrow) I look forward to sharing my interview with Mara and information on the hardcover release of her Milford-Haven book.  Not only will we be discussing books and publishing, we will also be discussing topics of common interest that faithful readers of this blog site have come to expect – such as integrating Art into one’s life for personal fulfillment. 

Come on back tomorrow. Mara is guaranteed to have a lot to say of interest on this matter!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Lightening Loads for Students

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“The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Students today, they have it made in the shade!!! More and more schools are beginning to think “sustainability” and are using e-books to educate their students. Fewer back breaking backpacks to haul around. One little tablet, sometimes with dimensions of as little as six or seven inches, across and down, and an inch or two thick has the capacity to download any textbook a student needs. 

As this e-book phenomenon continues to grow, it will be interesting to see the integration of e-readers into classrooms. The question remains, what is the best e-reader for college needs and can students learn as well using e-readers as those who use books in print? For more information on this issue, please go to this USA Today article. http://usat.ly/cYgxNz. 

School will be starting in another few weeks. I remember each new school year began with trepidation. The new teacher, unfamiliar faces in the classroom, homework, the tests, the term papers…..I never really made friends with any of it until I hit college, and then I really thrived. I became a decent student and enjoyed my classes and studies. But even in college, there was one thing that weighed heavily on my mind and on my back that I disliked about school – carrying the dreaded backpack filled with heaps of books.

I never could reconcile in my mind why after decades and decades of printing and binding textbooks, publishers never figured out a way to make lighter books.  Now they have! 

As far as sustainability goes, e-readers will indeed save backs of children from being stressed by carrying too much weight and lessen the burden and dilemma of what to do with no longer needed textbooks, too. 

Why didn’t someone think of digital reading devices when I was still a  student?

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Mellifluous Monday

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Mellifluous: “Flows like honey, smooth and sweet.” Sounds like a very fulfilling way to live life and an apropos adjective to describe my week ahead. 

The first day of the business week – attending weekly Kiwanis meeting. Always worthwhile because it’s “an organization dedicated to improving the lives of children, one child and one community at a time.” www.kiwanis.org

  • Tuesday – Meet-up at City Café in Steamboat Springs,Colorado at 4pm. Our third monthly meeting of SHe Writes Steamboat. Lots of independent publishing business to tend to this month. Susan Mead, MH will also be presenting her book “Take Back your Body.”
  • Wednesday – stay tuned to the back story of an author and actress who took the stage on The Days of our Lives.
  • Thursday – Come on back to All Things Fulfilling. We will be on a blog tour with an interview of an author and actress whose life converged with mine due to common interests.
  • A music banquet feast at the end of the week. On Friday night Grammy nominated artist Eliza Gilkyson, world-renowned, singer-songwriter  John Gorka (with 11 albums to his name)  and  Winner of Best Pop Album of the year for the Association of Independent Music, Lucy Kaplansky will join forces. Their band Red Horse will entertain at Strings in the Mountains www.stringsmusicfestival.com. I’ll be there to help people to their seats! 

    This summer is slipping away quickly. Kids will soon be back to school. Take advantage of the next few weeks by treating your children to a museum, the theatre, art or culture of your favorite kind. It will broaden your child’s life experience and you may just stir up their  life-long love for the Arts.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Just Sayin’……

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“Patience and fortitude conquer all things.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 

My clients are located in different parts of the country, and I am forever trying to figure out what time it is in different time zones. My husband even printed out a map that outlines the State boundaries for Eastern Time zone, Central Time zone, Mountain Time and Pacific to help me figure it out. The problem is I don’t always have the “cheat sheet” at hand. Sometimes I am calling clients from out of the office on a remote phone. 

A few weeks ago, an author friend of mine taught me a new way of telling time. My husband has decided my friend’s way of telling time makes good common sense.

I contend that Mary’s way of tracking time is good for her, but maybe not for me. Suppose I am in a city like New York?  After all, New Yorkers are on a New York minute, smack dab in the heart of miles and miles of pavement. It just will not work! 

My husband said he doesn’t care what I think.   (How’s that for compassion?) He says ” I should just use Mary’s test of time. He’s gotten tired of sorting out for me what hour it is across mountains and plains and in places like Hawaii, Iowa, Florida, Minnesota, Texas or California.” Now when I ask him what time it is, all he says is “It’s time to make HAY!” What is that supposed to mean? That’s just forecasting. That’s not fulfilling my need to know the accurate time! 

Help me out here folks, we have a royal battle going – all over time telling. My husband thinks he’s clever. I think NOT. He’s  really trying  to lose track of  real time to escape from what takes doing some work!  Next time he asks ME what time it is, I’ll say it is “half past a freckle.”  How’s that?

I’m going to contact Mary! Perhaps she has some other kind of  forecasting cheat sheet http://bit.ly/q15kEt.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Little Things Mean Alot

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My husband has been glued to the news channel, following the ups and downs of the stock market, as well  being engaged in squabbles in politics. The other day, I said to him, “I refuse to get drawn into listening to too much of this. Yes, I have my opinions, but, at the end of the day, I really have zero control in what Washington and the Stock Market does. I am going to disconnect and pay attention to what  I have going in my own life that I am grateful for.” 

This week and next is what matters to me most, right now. They are full of little things that will mean a lot. On Tuesday, I ushered for a Youth and Family concert that tickled my funny bone and warmed my heart. Bill Harley, longtime commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered http://n.pr/qSraRp helped me to recollect my own days of going to school and as well as hilarious moments of parenting a child. Many of his “slice-of-life vignettes” made me realize that many things that I worried about as a child,  really didn’t quite matter at all.

Last night was a special treat, too. Volunteering my time once again brought me perks of getting to see a show that I would not have wanted to miss. Strings Music Festival http://bit.ly/qYxQ5R Director and Conductor Andres Cardenes led a night to remember of a picture perfect program, focused on famous movie musical scores which incorporated classical music. Tunes from Fantasia, Amadeus, Psycho, Platoon, a 2011: A Space Odyssey, Titanic and the God Father brought great pleasure to my evening. 

Next week on All Things Fulfilling will be my interview of an author and actress. The back story will appear on Wednesday, August 17. On Thursday, the interview will appear on this site as well as on the author and actress’ virtual book tour. 

Join us next week as Mara and I discuss how our lives came together and what we find to be mutually important in this big wide world called Life.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

 

Asking for What we Want

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Blogging  is a fickle thing! It is a form of communication that is indirect. Because we are often trying to get a message across in a round about way, careful care and consideration needs to be taken in what we have to say. 

Sometimes, I even manage to amuse myself in my blog writing and then, I still have to put great thought into whether to publish my post or not. “Will I be the only one to get the gist?” I think. 

It happened just yesterday.  I wrote a blog that had subtle innuendos that had no malicious intent what-so-ever in my own interpretation, yet I was concerned that the meaning might be misconstrued. For someone who knew the person I was trying to reach, the obscure message may have elicited a chuckle or two. In the end, I edited the blog out of concern for being misunderstood. 

We’ve all read blogs that perhaps should have been shot down by the blogging police. If I ever have any thoughts of whether my meanings may be taken in the wrong, I usually err on the side of silence, and decide not to post. But, sometimes, I may slip out of naivety. 

For me, troubling moments come when I say something that I later regret. It happens to all of us. When that occurs, I think of those wise, fulfilling words that I have heard so many times before -“God doesn’t give you the people you want in your life, you’re given the ones you need so you can become the person you want to be.”  

Putting words out in cyberspace every day means I must listen to myself and my intuition and pray that if I fail, someone will kindly help me to understand where I have gone astray.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

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Building Partnerships for Community

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“We are not lacking in the dynamic forces needed to create the future. We live immersed in a sea of energy beyond all comprehension.” ~ Thomas Berry, The Great Work 

For those who follow this blog site regularly, you know that I have been curious for some time as to “What Do Men Really like to Write About?”  Weekly, I try to get some insight into this nagging question when I sit in on the Steamboat Writers Group. www.steamboatwriters.com. 

At the beginning of the summer, a new community meet-up group for independent publishers called She Writes Steamboat was introduced. After two consecutive monthly meetings, we concluded that She Writes Steamboat does not fit the description of the group. There are men who want to be involved, too! We’ve changed the name to SHe Writes Steamboat so we will be fulfilling the needs of both genders for independent publishing support.  

On September 9th, SHe Writes Steamboat http://on.fb.me/oOWKWm   will be hosting their first major event. The President of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association, Dr. C. Daniel Miller will be arriving in town. The purpose of this blog today, is to make it clear that SHe Writes Steamboat welcomes anyone who has ever even thought “I Could Write a Book about That!” to attend. In fact, artists, illustrators, independent filmmakers and musicians are also welcomed too. 

Join us one month from today, at the Bud Werner Library www.steamboatlibrary.org  on September 9th beginning at 9:30 am. Find out more about the wonderful support that the Colorado Independent Publishers Association has available through their organization and the e-book partnership they are building with libraries. Stay for the afternoon CIPA College offerings to learn about various options in publishing and the costs involved in independent publishing. Please pre-register by going to http://bit.ly/pdUNxz. 

Building a strong affiliation with the Colorado Independent Publishers Association would be a great asset to our entire community of creatives throughoutRouttCounty. Join in!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.