Dear Readers!
As the new facilitator for A Good Blog is Hard to Find, I have been posting on my literacy endeavors so you will get to know me better. Yesterday, I posted the teaser on my annual Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Club Convention which we call our Girlfriend Weekend Author Extravaganza! I run another book festival too and this one is a total fundraiser for my church, The First United Methodist Church of Jefferson, Texas.
This all began during Hurricane Katrina and Ike. I found my minister waiting tables at the local eatery, The Hamburger Store. I had run over to pick up a sandwich for lunch and there was Pastor Polly, our minister then, busing and serving tables. "What in the world Polly? And who are all these people?" I inquired. Not stopping for a minute, I followed her around as she explained. All the people in the restaurant were displaced families from Hurricane Katrina. The restaurant was feeding the families with the help of donations and volunteers and the place was packed. All these people had lost their homes and were stranded in Jefferson.
You can read all about it in my book, "The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life". To make a long story short, our church depleted it's food bank, all monetary funds and resources, and our church members too to help these families as we converted our Sunday School rooms into shelters for these families. Now I don't have a whole lot of money but I do know how to run a book festival. Books Alive was born with ALL the profits and proceeds going to my church whose sole mission is outreach and mission. This year marks and 5th year and I know it will also grow to be as big as our Girlfriend Weekend.
More authors will be added just waiting on press kits and such but this is what I do. To me it's not just enough to be a reader. We all must pay it forward too. If you read my book, you'll understand that I wear many hats and even a crown when it comes to promoting authors, books, literacy, and reading. That's why being able to help facilitate this A Good Blog is Hard to Find is yet another dream come true.
So here we go on this reading and writing life journey together, please join me, SHARE BIG TIME, and comment! If there is one true thing I have learned in life is life is about our relationships with others. To me it's the stories that make the connections! I am happy to serve all of YOU!
Truly,
Kathy L. Patrick
Author of " The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life"
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs
Beauty and the Book
608 North Polk
Jefferson, Texas 75657
903-665-7520
Books Alive FUMC Jefferson 2010!
I am proud to announce that the Keynote Speaker at our Books Alive, Christian and Inspirational Book Festival, November 12 - 14th will be Sam Bracken with Echo Garrett of My Orange Duffel Bag"!
Sam Bracken grew up in a family best described as a whacked-out version of The Brady Bunch on an episode of Cops, living in rundown apartments and trailers on the fringes of Las Vegas. Mobsters and motorcycle gang members were his role models. Horrifically abused by his wannabe mobster stepfather Leroy and his sadistic older stepbrother, Sam started drinking and doing drugs by age 9.
Sam's love of sports - track and especially football - became his salvation. His dream of being a professional football player led him to a radical decision as a 13-year-old to quit doing drugs and drinking and find a path out of the dark life he was living. Languished in special education classes until an eighth grade teacher discovered his need for glasses. When Sam was 15, his mom, who'd often worked three jobs to support the family, suffered a mental breakdown and abandoned him to become the den mother of the notorious Hessian motorcycle gang.
Miraculously, Sam was awarded a full-ride football scholarship to The Georgia Institute of Technology. He came back from what the doctors said were career-ending injuries and was a critical part of a Georgia Tech team with one of the best records in the school's history. Sam graduated from Georgia Tech in 1986 with honors and a degree in Industrial Management. In 1993 Sam received an MBA with an emphasis in Marketing from BYU’s Marriott School of Management. Sam is a member of the National Speakers Association.
Today the abused, homeless teen in special education classes has grown into a man who lives the American dream, with a beautiful family of his own. He serves as the global director of Franklin Covey Media Publishing, a division of the world's leading training and leadership organization with services in more than 145 countries. He is the co-sounder of The Orange Duffel Bag Foundation, a nonprofit with the mission of helping homeless teens and those aging out of foster care to connect with hope.
"In Sam Bracken's simple, unique, and poignant telling of his life story, he manages to take away all excuses and inspire readers to move past the valleys of hurts and disappointments in their lives. Bracken's uplifting tale is a must-read!"
- RICHARD PAUL EVANS,
#1 The New York Times bestselling author of The Christmas Box
"I spent five years with Sam Bracken at a time of transformation for him. His is a stunning story of courage, resiliency, and servant-leadership. There are two pains in live - the pain of discipline and the pain of regret...we all choose every day. The difference in Sam and those who are gobbled up by our sick society is that he usually chose wisely. We would all do to read, and heed, his powerful message."
- BILL CURRY,
NCAA football coach and former NFL player
"Change is hard. Everyone wants it. So few get it. In this on-of-a-kind book, Same lays out a fool-proof, step-by-step approach to change through sharing his own remarkable journey from victim to conqueror. This book is a must read for everyone who wants to leave their baggage behind once and for all and become the change they seek!
- STEPHEN R. COVEY,
author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness and The Leader in Me
For more on Sam Bracken and his book and not-for-profit go to:
www.MyOrangeDuffelBag.com
www.OrangeDuffelBagFoundation.com
Invited authors who have confirmed their attendance!:
Judy Christy of Gone to Green, Goodness Gracious Green (releases this fall) and the Hurry Less, Worry Less series of books
www.judychristie.com
Missy Buchanan of Living with a Purpose in a Worn-Out Body:Spiritual Encouragement for Older Adults and Talking with God in Old Age: Meditations and Psalms
Sometimes you just know when you've experienced a holy nudge. A stirring of your soul that moves you in a certain direction. For me, the nudge has been to write about life's journey. I am passionate about many things--- faith, family, friends and especially older adults who need a dose of spiritual encouragement. I find my inspiration in real life experiences that involved my elderly mother and others like her. I'm so glad you stopped by my web site.
I hope you'll find it a blessing.
Grace,
Missy
Carla Stewart of Chasing Lilacs: A Novel
There's just somethin' about the Good Old Days
While writing about nostalgic times, I've learned that every era has its wonders and its woes. Humans at their best and at their worst. The good and the bad. Thankfully, we seem to remember the lazy summers, the music that filled our hearts, the carefree and careless days of our youth. We tend to forget the trauma and angst although it is the sum of all our experiences that has molded us into who we are today.
Today, I'm a writer. One who views the world through a lens of why and what if. I've always had a heart for those who've been trampled on in life, so theirs are the stories I write — in the guise of fiction that is.
How about you? What are your favorite memories? Whether your "good old days" were five years ago or fifty, I'm interested. You're the reason I write.
God Bless.
Carla
Karla K. Morton of Redefining Beauty
www.kkmorton.com
Karla K. Morton, the 2010 Texas State Poet Laureate, has been described as “one of the more adventurous voices in American poetry” with good reason.
In addition to her book/CD, Wee Cowrin’ Timorous Beastie (a North Texas Book Festival Awards Finalist), Morton’s poetry has been widely published in literary journals, and she is currently featured in an episode of Veria TV's The Art of Living Gallery for her promotion of poetry as a healing tool for the soul.
Karla's latest book, Redefining Beauty, is now available! It's a unique poetry collection written during Morton's journey through cancer diagnosis, treatment and recovery.
Gloria P. Jaggers of "Give me a Broom to Sweep Away the Cobwebs of my Mind". Gloria Pearson Jaggers was born in 1925. She was a 21 year old and attending The University of Minnesota when she left her Minneapolis home and began her adventures in Tokyo, Japan. She jumped on a n opportunity to move to Guam, and visited Iwo jima in 1946 while the military was still cleaning our Mount Surihachi. Her life as a military wife took her from Guam to Oklahoma, Taiwan, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Louisiana.
Gloria has living children, 8 grandchildren, and two great-grandsons. Gloria retired in East Texas, where she enjoys writing, reading, painting, and reflecting on God's goodness to her.
Patricia Hickman, author of "The Pirate Queen". “I write about family life and the emotional lives of women. My writing is influenced by the music, nature, and culture of the South with its mountain-walled valleys and impulsive rivers. I tell the stories of a people shaped by the yen of land and shorelines. As a girl, I nursed an innate curiosity for finding extraordinary stories in the lives of ordinary people, as was evidenced in my asking each new person I met to tell me their story.” ~ Patricia Hickman
Patricia Hickman, M.F.A., is an award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction whose work has been praised by critics and readers alike. Patricia first studied creative writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and then went on to do graduate studies in creative writing at Queens University. She writes for major publishers and is currently at work on her eighteenth book, a novel set in the North Carolina Piedmont. Her next novel,The Pirate Queen, will release Summer 2010, a story that takes readers journeying from suburban Lake Norman to the sailing villages of the Outer Banks. She has served as a writing professor at UNCC and taught in writing workshops across the country offering her popular “Creating Characters–Giving Story People Life” workshops and courses on fiction. She, along with her hubby, founded a non-profit charity that benefits moms and children with HIV called The Secret Angels Project. Her fiction is known for its depth of understanding of the human condition underscored by redemptive themes.
Books Alive will be November 12 - 14, 2010 as follows:
Friday Night Author Dinner
Saturday All Day Author Panels
Sunday Morning Worship Service
Books Alive is a total fundraiser for The First United Methodist Church and our Early Bird Special for the entire package is $50 which includes:
Friday night Author Dinner
Saturday Author Luncheon
All author events and for the first 200 you will receive a FREE BOOK!
Checks may be made payable to and sent to:
First United Methodist Church of Jefferson, Texas
Please mark: Books Alive!
305 West Henderson Street
Jefferson, Texas 75657
903-665-3268
Price will go up September 1, 2010 and do book now as tickets are limited. After September 1, 2010, the price goes up $50 a month. The FUMC of Jefferson, Texas is a non-for-profit for all monies sent are tax-deductible.
Details are forthcoming on all events so please check the Event page of http://www.beautyandthebook.com/ often!
Tiara wearing, Beauty and the Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder/Executive Director of Books Alive
kathy@beautyandthebook.com
Pastor Allison Byerley
adbyerley@gmail.com
www.jeffersonfumc.com
3 comments:
Kathy, what a blessing to open the blog on Sunday morning and read about your incredible generosity!
What a generous soul you are, Kathy. You have the gift of knowing how to help others.
Thanks Peggy and Anna but I know I should feel flattered by your kind words but this is really what we all should be doing period. And for that reason, I don't want to make this about me, but about all of us! When I wrote my book and literally, spit my coffee across the room when my agent told me my book should be called, "The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life, what did I know about giving advice. You see, I have learned everything I know through my mistakes only now I call them discoveries. I have discovered that helping others is really no better gift than helping yourself. So let's all just join forces to help one another and those that have indeed fallen behind. Because of all of this I bound out of bed in the morning as I can't wait to see what God has in store for me to do! Pretty cool life, huh?
Post a Comment