Friday, March 18, 2016

I put 3,000 people to sleep!


 The writer's goal is not to put readers to sleep.

But when I teach relaxation that is sometimes my student's goal.  I uploaded my Prelude to Sleep audio to Insight Timer's Free Guided Meditations. Over 3,000 4,000 people have tried it and the reviews are great!
(Not sure how a sleeper can review, but I am not complaining.)

Try Prelude to Sleep
Timer is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. (free or with an optional $4.99 upgrade) 

 Prelude to Sleep is also available 
as audio download track 
and even an old-fashioned CD. 
Buy Links 






   Insight Timer – Meditation Timer

I love this app! The bell quality is excellent. The options to set presets of times and bells is amazing. I can set the time I want to meditate, the number of beginning and ending bells, and choose interval bells - random bells to call my mind back from random thinking. Seeing who in the world is meditating now is nice support if you need reminders that you are not alone.

There’s also a log or journal and statistics available for record-keeping meditators.

Some of the extras are a little odd. Like posting when you’re meditating on Twitter or sharing your milestones on Facebook.
Developers say 3/4 million meditators worldwide call Insight home and every day the community generates over 600 days of collective meditation.
 Insight Timer is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play (free or with an optional $4.99 upgrade)

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Coloring: a story from a long time ago




With all the  current coloring craze, my library writers' group had a Coloring for Grownups party and I added a cake to celebrate my birthday. (See below for the coloring I did that day.) Then I remembered a short short story I wrote about my early coloring days. 

The White Crayon


One rainy July afternoon, the summer I was four, my grandfather bought me three new coloring books and a box of 24 Crayolas.

My mother told him that one book and a 12 color box would have been enough to keep me quiet. “How many colors does she need to color Cinderella, The Three Pigs, and Puss in Boots?” she asked.

I began pulling crayons out of the box, gripping the waxy ends with chubby fingers: Forest Green, Magenta, Sky Blue, Light Violet, Crimson Red, and Pink. Delighted, I examined each one.

All went well until I pulled out the white crayon. I scrunched my nose. Grandpa watched as I snapped the crayon in two and threw the pieces across the floor.

“No good,” I said.

My mother said, “That’s a perfectly good crayon. You have to learn to take care of your things.”

I said, “No good.”

My grandfather said nothing, but his eyes twinkled and he went back out into the rain.

An hour later he returned with a giant 36 color box and waited for me to discover the white crayon.