The Author Guy Blog by Larry B. Gildersleeve

8th March 2024

Hello out there,

Welcome back. The middle of February, I learned of the death of a high school classmate. Only a few days earlier, she’d been at church on Sunday morning, so her passing was unexpected. With very rare exceptions, no one will know when the last grains of sand in their hourglass of life will find their way to the bottom.

But when I was asked to read a scripture passage (the Beatitudes) her family had selected, and to say a few words of remembrance at her service, I was drawn to a two-sentence verse in the fourth chapter of the book of John: “How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your
life is like the morning fog; it’s here for a little while, then it’s gone.”

We’ve all likely heard the expression “Live each day as if it were our last.” Nice homily, but in my view, impossible. No one would live their life that way – completely devoid of optimism for tomorrow. I prefer my own version: Live each day such that if it turns out to be my last, it would be one of which I could be proud. Proud of the things I did, and the things I chose not to do. Proud of what I said, and of the things I chose not to say.

Until next week … Vaya con Dios.

Larry B. Gildersleeve

Location: Bowling Green, KY, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Author Guy Blog by Larry B. Gildersleeve (Dec 4, 2024)

Image
  4th December 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. My late father was a highly educated man. Two degrees from the University of Virginia and a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. A geologist by profession, he was involved very, very tangentially in the creation of the atom bomb that brought an end to the second world war. Along with my mother, he instilled in me a love of reading, and he delighted in clever puns. These that I recently came across on my author journey would have pleased him greatly. Look Younger  by Fay Slift;  Leo Tostoy  by Warren Peace;  No!  by Curt Reply;  Cliff Jumping  by Hugo First; Holmes Does It Again  by Scott Linyard; and  French Overpopulation  by Francis Crowded. Short and sweet. Until next week … Vaya con Dios Larry B. Gildersleeve
Read more

The Author Guy Blog by Larry B. Gildersleeve

22th March 2024 Hello out there, Welcome back. My previously self-published and award-winning novel Blue by You is moving quickly through the editorial process with my new hybrid publisher Indigo River . I have final say regarding any changes their folks suggest, and mine will be a quick turnaround so that we can move ahead to the publishing phase (new cover design, formatting, etc.). My incredible marketing resource, RJ McHatton of Bend, OR, is in direct contact with Indigo’s marketing team to craft a launch ahead of the book’s availability for pre-ordering. Over the past couple of years, RJ and I have fine-tuned a marketing plan, one focused on the elimination of marginal opportunities, driven by the belief success will come more from what we choose not to do rather than what we actually pursue. Trying not to fall down rabbit holes, if you will. I’m doubly excited that my Indigo relationship (and I can’t say enough great things about them) brings with it the distribution prowess of ...
Read more

The Author Guy blog by Larry B. Gildersleeve

  8 th December 2023 Hey, out there, Welcome back. Today, a word about words. A few weeks ago, the autobiography My Name is Barbra was released. No need to identify the author – who else could it be? But here’s the thing. Isn’t 992 pages a bit much, even for someone with such a stellar stage, film and music career? I think it is. The comparisons I’m about to make are by no means parallel or comparable, but they are, I believe, illustrative about the verbosity trap into which so many people in the public eye are prone to fall. The account of creation in Genisis is told in only 400 words; the Ten Commandments in 313; the Lord’s Prayer in 66. The Declaration of Independence, written in 1776, contains a mere 1,322 words, yet the 2010 Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) extends to almost twelve million words with all of its associated regulations. Whether written or spoken, I believe more words don’t always, or even usually, equate to better.  The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr’s large...
Read more