First Word

  Today’s topic is about narrative and novels. I’ve been listening to what is a 36-hour audio book titled The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante . I’m a huge fan of autobiographies and biographies, and I love reading about other female authors. The narrator Elena Grecco tells one of the most shocking and compelling stories about her life in Naples.   In discussing this book’s narrative with my friend, he asked me, “Why is it so shocking when she reveals important plot points. You just don’t see it coming.” Ferrante is gifted at telling a story through what I called “immediacy,” which means she tells the story exactly as it unfolded to her. In real life, we don’t have foreshadowing and little breadcrumbs that get dropped when something major is about to happen. We might see hints in a character’s behavior, but that’s all the hints we get in this kind of narrative.   As a result, Ferrante’s life experiences – and many are indeed dramatic and shock...

“I am rolling out of bed now.” “Good because you have to be at the Habitat for Humanity in two hours. You also told me you wanted to pick up Charlie too.” Hearing his name, Ella grumbled, “Oh no. I drunk texted him.” “You texted me a picture with your sister saying you missed me after I had left early,” explained Nancy. “Then you asked if I could give you a raise, which I think you meant to tell me you were going to give me a raise. So spill it girlfriend before I have to rai se the troops here aka kids.” Ella filled her in. “If he didn’t think I liked him before, well…” Buy print version here: http://3lpublishing.flyingcart.com/?p=detail&pid=92&cat_id=0 Ebooks available on Amazon Kindle and Nook.

THE “AGE OF MIND” SHINES LIGHT ON THE MASSES The World Premiere of Me in the spirit of contemporary movies like The Shack takes readers on a tour de force of the power of the mind. May 1, 2018, SACRAMENTO, Calif.—School shootings, negative political news, and an overall heaviness have invaded our society. Sometimes we need to be reminded that these gray clouds hanging over our world don’t have to define our lives. That when we use the power of our minds, we can create anything our imaginations can dream. The power of the mind is limitless – and the new fiction book The World Premiere of Me by Fred Ford suggests we are at the dawn of a new age – the “Age of Mind”. This unique “self-enlightenment” tale is written as a fictional story much like recent movies The Shack or The Alchemist that are simultaneously a story and a nonfiction message that contains “soul nuggets” to inspire readers to use their minds to their fullest. Think and Grow Rich meets The Wizard of Oz...

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The Abused is about eight addicts who go to rehab and one starts murdering the others. The complete novel will be available this summer in an eBook-exclusive release by 3L Publishing (www.3LPublishing.com).  15             After coming out of detox, Kevin was shaken. He had detoxed on his own many weeks before arriving at rehab. He wasn’t really gay. He just liked sex and gender didn’t to matter to him. He thought of himself as more sophisticated than the average guy.   He had never had enough money to go to school, but he had been good with engines and machines and managed all right. When he met his former wife he should have felt lucky to have this educated, beautiful woman want him, but he was arrogant. He thought she was lucky. He bragged to his buddies how this poor desperate chick wanted him. He had always been good with women, acting like their best friends and listening to boring dra...

11             Craig walked into the conference room on the top floor of the rehab center. He had just taken a break and smoked a vape on the outside patio, which was strongly discouraged by the Center. He was stressed and preoccupied today. His wife Sarah had just suffered her fourth miscarriage in one year. When he left for work earlier that day she was sitting on the sofa wrapped in a soft purple blanket and blankly staring at the TV that wasn’t turned on.             Craig was a substance abuse counselor not a bereavement expert. He knew from the literature she was grieving the same way a woman would who lost a live baby. Four deaths though was a lot for his lovely wife to handle – for any woman to handle. When he looked at her she seemed so frail and lost. Her soft blue eyes darkened, her elegant long hands resting in her lap, her light-brown hair ...

6             Derek Pendergrass was a washed-up, small-time politician from the town of Shingle Springs, California. Derek had been the senior-class president and parlayed his mediocre success into an eventual seat on the City Council. Derek was 32, prematurely gray, and so arrogant that most people who really knew him hated him. Yet he put on an impressive bravado of charm and working-class sophistication that people related to. So when he lost his seat on the council he ran for assemblyman in the California State Assembly in the state capital, Sacramento.             Once Assemblyman Pendergrass took office his hubris and arrogance was widely embraced by other politicians whose own egos ruled everything they did. That same year Assemblyman Pendergrass married Leona Thorn, a chief information officer at the California Franchise Tax Board. Leona was blo...