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Book Review: The Hearing Heart


TITLE: A Hearing Heart
AUTHOR: Bonnie Dee
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 94k)
GENRE: Historical romance
COST: $6.10

Catherine Johnson is the new schoolteacher in the small town of Broughton, Nebraska. When she witnesses a man getting hauled from the saloon and tied to a horse to be dragged through the streets, she races forward to stop them, succeeding in slowing them down long enough to get other locals involved. Jim Kinney is deaf-mute, communicating in only the most rudimentary ways. Most of the town thinks he’s stupid, too, but Catherine sees intelligence in him, and takes it upon herself to try and teach him to read and sign after saving him from the attack. Their friendship quickly escalates, their attraction undeniable, but their difference in social status makes Catherine wonder if they could have any kind of future…

Musings on Coaching

I've been coaching baseball now for 22 years, with a year of coaching little kids in tee-ball before that. That's probably more coaching experience than most people will ever get in a lifetime and something I take more and more pride in as the years go by. It has resulted in some interesting experiences and lessons that I'm always happy to share with whoever asks. And now, I'm gonna share a few thoughts with you.

7 Things You Should Know about Ireland

This article is written primarily for the North American visitor to these shores. It may be of some use to others but addresses specifically those things that I think in my infinite wisdom would be useful for the average American or Canadian visitor to Ireland. These are just a few things you should know before embarking on a vacation here. 

The Children's Hour (A Review with Spoilers)

Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine star in this intense 1961 B&W drama of two friends that run a private school for girls. The movie starts by introducing most of the principal characters. Audrey is Karen Wright and Shirley is Martha Dobie. They have been best friends since they were 17 and are now 28. About 2 years ago they opened the Wright Dobie School, a private school for upper class girls. The school has just gone into the black and hopes are high. They are supporting Martha’s eccentric aunt Lily Mortar a past her prime thespian played by Miriam Hopkins. The two friends have clearly been putting in very long hours. Teaching and caring for their students. They seem to do all the cleaning and cooking too.

Karen (Audrey) is engaged to young Doctor Joe Cardin played well by James Garner who works at the local hospital. He is impatient to marry her and seems a bit sexually frustrated. One of the students is his young cousin Mary played by Karen Balkin. Her Grandmother Amelia Tilford is her caregiver but it is never explained why. She has enrolled young Mary in the school. Amelia is played by Fay Bainter. There appears to be only about 20 students in the school.

Why NaNoWriMo Is Nobody's Friend

Every year, about two weeks before Halloween, people start talking about NaNoWriMo. They began mentioning possible ideas, blog about their plans, start threads on message boards to meet other participants, start asking if others plan to give it a go this year, and generally behaving as though this is a great, fun game. In fact, the concept of writing a novel as a game is so interwoven in this month that there are "winners" and "losers." What do you have to do to win? Finish 50,000 words, of course! That's it. That's all. It actually seems like a rather harmless activity. One that I shouldn't have any issue with. It keeps people occupied and happy and hell, I'm always posting encouragement to writers. I love helping new writers--I'm a writing teacher for God's sake! But I hate NaNoWriMo, and I'll tell you why.

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