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Dear Reader,
When I invited author Marilyn Tam to write a guest column I had no idea that she was a regular reader at our book club. I had just finished reading her book, The Happiness Choice, enjoyed it, so I invited her to share a little happiness with us today.
Marilyn Tam grew up as an abused and neglected child in Hong Kong. She found her life purpose at age eleven when she found out as bad as her life was, she was much better off than her classmate, Rebecca. Wanting to help others and to right the wrongs, she left home as a teen to come to America alone to study.
Marilyn became a business leader (CEO Of Aveda, President of Reebok and Vice President of Nike) and global humanitarian. She shares in her latest book, The Happiness Choice how you can live a life of happiness, health and success. It's her way of giving back to the world for all the blessings she's received.
Email and say hello and enter-to-win one of six copies of The Happiness Choice. You can reach Marilyn at: Marilyn@MarilynTam.com
It's my pleasure to welcome book club member and author Marilyn Tam...
Naked ladies. A long row of them are standing tall on thin stems topped with elegant pink blooms, leafless and proud next to the bordering ground cover of purple lantanas along my driveway. Naked ladies, what a funny and appropriate name for the pink amaryllis lilies in my garden.
Earlier in the spring, long blade-like leaves crowded in the same space the lilies now command. The leaves died off and for months there was nothing but dirt, then suddenly within a week, a parade of lovely lilies are now lining my driveway.
I think writing is like that. I feverishly produce lots of words, and then I drag myself away from the computer. After what seems like months, actually only hours or a day, but with a due date time takes on a different dimension, I come back to the words and voila! I see a pattern, a thread that had mysteriously embedded itself in the greenery, and now I'm ready to tease out the theme and make the garden bloom with a meaningful story.
But I should back up; there must be a bulb or a seed for the leaves to grow from. It is the same for writing. Inside of me is an idea that has found fertile soil, and with nurture it springs forth vibrant and ready to claim its place in the sun. It is something that I am passionate about, that I am yearning to share. The fruitful ground is my computer where my thoughts can be made visible. I am eager to give away the insights and wisdom I've learned from painful experience and wise experts so that others can avoid the misery on their way to love, happiness and success. Why should others have to suffer needlessly? I've already paid the price with my ordeals on the way to inner peace, love, joy and prosperity. After the initial outpouring of expression, a pause sets in--sometimes it is natural and other times I have to create the interruption. Like the lily, the writing has to have a quiet interlude between the leaves in spring and the eventual summer blooming of flowers.
The words look different when I come back to them; they are like the tender flower stalks emerging from the earth. I clear away the dead leaves of excess words, water and fertilize the idea buds, and soon there is a neat procession of words that tell the tale I've been holding inside. Glorious, delicate and strong at the same time, good writing and naked ladies are like that.
--Marilyn Tam
Email, say hello and enter-to-win a copy of The Happiness Choice. You can reach Marilyn at: Marilyn@MarilynTam.com
Visit her website at www.MarilynTam.com
To see photos of Marilyn's flowers, visit our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/DearReadercom/291327524280953
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
AUTHORBUZZ: SILENT ASSASSIN (Thriller) by Leo J. Maloney
Former CIA agent Dan Morgan is pulled in when every other option has failed. His mission: find Nicolai Novokoff, a ruthless KGB officer turned international arms dealer. Locate the weapons of mass destruction that the rogue terrorist is threatening to unleash on the world. And terminate with extreme prejudice. In the world of clandestine ops, where the line between friends and enemies is constantly shifting, Morgan must survive a merciless maze of deceit--and risk everything to stop a madman.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on SILENT ASSASSIN to read more and to email author Leo J. Maloney, you'll get a reply.
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