Monday Musings

The Merriest of Christmases to you and yours. You can follow the Author on her  Website  or on  X .

2023 has been a productive year, both in volume of work and accolades. I belong to the  High Country Writers  organization in Boone, NC, an excellent source for camaraderie and learning. At the Annual Holiday Party, I was thankful to receive the Juanita Tobin Poetry Award for prolific poetry publication. The Haiku Foundation accepts nominations each year from editors who publish haiku and senryu. Six panel members with expertise in these poetry forms weigh the selected works. The poems are ranked, Long Listed, then Short Listed, and finally award-winning poems are chosen. Even if a nominated poem does not win, it is a great honor to have a haiku submitted for consideration. I am humbled to have three poems put forward for deliberation. And last but not least, for the fourth year in a row, I have published a poetry book. The most recent,  KAR-KU ,  was released last week on December 15th. Exciting news: the book is already moving up the Amazon charts. As the year closes, have you looke

Kar-Ku , my fourth poetry book, will be released on Friday, December 15th . I am humbled to present two lovely book reviews from my  X  poetry colleagues,  Roberta Beach Jacobson  and  Jerome William Berglund . Take a peek at their  X  pages. If you want to obtain a copy of  Kar-Ku , I can suggest three options, all available beginning December 15th. First, go to my Author  Website : a pop-up will contain a link to the  Kar-Ku  page on Amazon; second, go to my Author  X   page, where a post will be pinned at the top of the page with a link to  Kar-Ku ; and third, you can journey to  Amazon  on your own and type  Kar-Ku  in the search bar under the Books tab. I hope you will enjoy  Kar-Ku , and if you do, please be kind enough to leave an  Amazon  Review. Thank you for taking the time to do so. You can follow the Author on her  Website  or  X  (formerly Twitter).

My new book Kar-Ku will be released on December 15. Check back on the 15th for the purchase link.

‘Tis the season to prepare for the holidays: Christmas or Hanukkah. And what better way to complement these activities than background holiday music while you shop, decorate, bake, and wrap. The tunes echo throughout stores and malls, adding cheer and helping reduce tension and stress. There are many tasks to accomplish: dragging in the tree, unpacking boxes, stringing lights, and hanging favorite ornaments. And, of course, sweeping up all the errant pine needles. Or perhaps, setting the Menorah in an honored location and putting out dreidels to delight the kids. Wonderful scents waft through the home as candies, cookies, and breads emerge from the oven. The dining room table is awash with tissue paper, boxes and bows, ribbons, and colorful wrapping paper. Piles of presents grow. All the while, classic carols and contemporary tunes wind through our days and nights. Special concerts and cantatas enhance the experience. You may even participate in caroling through your neighbor to share