Like it Is/Was


Book Description

In over one hundred poems, Bill Sweigard recounts the last heart-wrenching years of life with his beloved wife, Livia, as she battles Alzheimer´s. Often times poignant, these poems depict small day-to-day battles the couple faces as Bill watches and cares for Livia. Moments of hope where Livia can remember a word of phrase are often dashed with entire blackouts of memory and awareness, but through it all Bill sticks by Livia´s side as she slips into the abyss of her own mind, eventually succumbing to the disease.




Telling it Like it was


Book Description

Even though the sermon is the centerpiece of Protestant worship, preachers sometimes fail to capture the imagination of their audiences and communicate the spiritual resources that worshipers need. But David Rogne's messages in Telling It Like It Was provide the living connection that worshipers are hungering for. Rogne introduces readers to an autobiographical homiletic style in which the preacher assumes the identity of a featured character. He shares his method of preparation, describes how to overcome obstacles, and then presents twelve monologues highlighting the experiences of both biblical and more recent personalities. Each presentation is prefaced by a few paragraphs detailing considerations related to that particular individual. Some of the characters you will meet are Pharaoh, Solomon, Herod, John the Baptist, Pontius Pilate, St. Francis of Assisi, and Albert Schweitzer. This book will be invaluable for preachers and seminarians who are interested in expanding their repertoire of sermon styles, as well as for anyone who wants a concise biographical portrait of the people who have shaped our faith. During his 39 years of pastoral service, David G. Rogne served as senior minister at several of the larger churches in the California-Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Rogne received his M.Div. degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and his D.Min. degree from the Claremont School of Theology, where his doctoral project involved first person preaching. Rogne currently writes, lectures, and preaches on special occasions, and is a resident of South Carolina.




Telling It Like It Was


Book Description

This is all about growing up in the south during the 1930s and 1940s and going into the Army in 1953. Childhood adventures, my first real job at the telephone company and hunting stories. This was the south before ¿progress¿ came into our lives.




Like It Was Before


Book Description

This book acts as a pivotal role in my growth as a writer, while it explains the darker themes of life. It proves to be something of a anomaly because of the way it displays my information, which is in the way of later Elizabeth Bishop, with an overuse of alliteration and consonance producing a colorful array of words and phrases. In this way of writing it gives me a formula which acts as an advantage to write better and be a better poet. In other words, this book proves to be one of my best works as a writer and I hope the reader enjoys it just as much as I do.




Addiction What It Was Like Conviction What Happened Redemption What It Is Like Now (A True Story)


Book Description

Dear reader: In this riveting true story, you will be amazed at the devastation, dysfunction, addiction, and finally, success in the life of the author! He has reinvented himself several times in his seventy-five years on this earth. Living his first four years in a city near Trenton, New Jersey, he moved to a small tenant house on a farm in New Egypt, New Jersey, where the dysfunction began. He lived there with his parents and siblings—always feeling poor, hungry, and abandoned! When he was ten years old, he began doing anything he wanted to do and became a juvenile delinquent.His father passed away when he was twelve, and his mother moved the family to Bordentown, New Jersey, where he felt lost and alone. To ease the pain, he began drinking and hanging out with older teenagers because it made him feel older. He was restless most of the time and began to look for adventure in the wrong ways. Drinking was not an adventure anymore, but stealing cars was! Three court appearances later, he had to reinvent himself for the first time.Now fifteen years old, it was time for another reinvention. He thought he would settle down and change his ways if he had a girlfriend. The first girlfriend didn't work, and girlfriends became another addiction over a period of three years. Alcohol and women weren't working either. The early dysfunction was still there!The chaos went on for nine more years before the redemption started; all those in recovery know what the chaos is, but the author lets you know how it works after redemption.Forty-eight years sober, with twenty-five as a licensed addiction counselor, his story will amaze you with hope and inspiration.




What it was like to fall in love with you


Book Description

Love. Reading that word can invite a visceral reaction in almost anybody. What was yours? Disgust. Pity. Joy. Blind curiosity. Ignorance. Yearning. Loss. Pain. An existential “is it even real?” rabbit hole. The truth is, I feel like all of us can relate to those at different parts of our lives. We only hope that we will be able to fall in love with ourselves throughout the process. And maybe--just maybe--someone else too. A delicately-knit quilt of vulnerability, pain, and adoration, What It Was Like to Fall in Love With You puts the narratives that we believe about love on display, following a delicate yet inevitable storyline of growing through heartbreak, individuality, rebellion, abuse, and ultimately: love.




Reagan: What Was He Really Like? Volume I


Book Description

Intimate behind-the-scenes recollections of Ronald Reagan by those who knew him during his early political career in California—photos included! People often wonder: “What was Reagan like privately?” “How did he treat his children?” “How did he handle pressure?” “How did he handle danger?” “How did he treat his staff?” “How did he handle difficult, almost impossible to deal with, legislators?” This book collects reminiscences from those who were there, working in a wide variety of positions, recounting how the former actor, governor of California, and future president of the United States used humor to disarm his most ardent critics and tenacious opponents. In this book, you’ll discover observations about the close bond between Ronald and Nancy Reagan; the gentlemanly character of the governor who “never equated disagreement with disloyalty;” the way Reagan thrived on being underestimated; the untold story behind the secret plan hatched by former Air Force Secretary Thomas C. Reed and a handful of dedicated insiders to launch Reagan’s unequivocal, arguably first campaign for President of the United States in 1968; and much more.




Exactly Like She Was


Book Description

When George’s wife died, ForeverConnected promised him they could make her live on forever in a custom smart home system created from her digital footprint. And they delivered. George hates to admit it, but in some ways, it’s an improvement. Let’s face it, the real Hannah was a bit of a screwup. Now she always pays attention when he talks. She never forgets to warm up his slippers in the morning. She cooks his eggs just right every time. Those strange things she says from time to time? Just glitches. Otherwise it would mean the real Hannah was keeping secrets from him, and he knows that can’t be true. She was too good a wife for that. And now she’s even better. This short story is 11,000 words long. It is also available in Digital Soul, a science fiction short story collection.




Was It Really Like That?


Book Description

Gino Gammaldi has a clear memory of the early beginnings of his family who migrated from Italy to Australia in the mid 1950s and has tried to portray those memories in this book in a manner that is sure to engage everyone’s interest. Much of the earlier parts of this book are written through the eyes of a child, growing up among everything that should probably relate only to those who are adult enough to cope with such hardships, temptations, sorrows, and disappointments. But, as a child, these elements became a part of the simple life that was as normal as anything one could imagine. But, in later stages, Gino also remembers all the good and fun times, and he portrays these beautifully and graphically through the many characters you will encounter in the two volumes of his book. He brings them to life and engages the reader, simply by the humour and by the special qualities that each one of these characters magnifies and how all of these experiences impacted on his own life.




She Was Like That


Book Description

From a highly acclaimed, National Book Award nominee comes a dazzling, career-spanning collection of 12 new and selected stories.