Because You Have To

Part memoir, part handbook, part survey of the contemporary literary scene, Joan Frank’s Because You Have To: A Writing Life is a collection of essays that, taken together, provide a walking tour of the writing life. Frank’s aim is to form a coherent vision, one that may provide some communion about realities of the writer's vocation that have struck her as rarely revealed. Frank offers what she has learned as a writer not only to other writers, but to those to whom good writing matters. Her insights about "thinking on paper" are never dogmatic or pontifical; rather, they are cordial and intellectually welcoming. Original, witty, and practical, Frank ably steers us through the journey of her own life as a writer, as well as through the careers and work of other writers. Her subjects range widely, from the “boot camp” conditioning of marketing work to squaring off with rejection and envy; from sustaining belief in art’s necessity to the baffling subjectivity of literary perception and the magical books that nourish writers. Frank’s personal journey is wonderfully told, so that what in these essays is particular becomes useful and universal.

Remember when you could hear yourself think? Imagine returning your mind to its original clear and healthy voice. This practical, inspirational guide will help you think and reason with a clear mind. It continues to help you with physical and mental exercises to keep your thoughts focused and your productivity level up! All of us have accumulated a life time of mental impressions, beliefs and opinions. We have not always been diligent in discriminating between right and wrong. We have been negligent in choosing the right attitude, thoughts and paths, and we have been avoiding dealing with painful issues. The list goes on and on...

Scripture reveals a God who meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be. No More Faking Fine is your invitation to get honest with God through the life-giving language of lament. If you've ever been given empty clichés during challenging times, you know how painful it is to be misunderstood by well-meaning people. When life hurts, we often feel pressure--from others and ourselves--to keep it together, suck it up, or pray it away. But Scripture reveals a God who lovingly invites us to give honest voice to our emotions when life hits hard. For most of her life, Esther Fleece Allen believed she could bypass the painful emotions of her broken past by shutting them down altogether. She was known as an achiever and an overcomer on the fast track to success. But in silencing her pain, she robbed herself of the opportunity to be healed. Maybe you've done the same. Esther's journey into healing began when she discovered that God has given us a real-world way to deal with raw emotions and an alternative to the coping mechanisms that end up causing more pain. It's called lament--the gut-level, honest prayer that God never ignores, never silences, and never wastes. No More Faking Fine is your permission to lament, taking you on a journey down the unexpected pathway to true intimacy with God. Drawing from careful biblical study and hard-won insight, Esther reveals how to use God's own language to come closer to him as he leads us through our pain to the light on the other side, teaching you that: We are robbing ourselves of a divine mystery and a divine intimacy when we pretend to have it all together God does not expect us to be perfect; instead, he meets us where we are There is hope beyond your heartache, disappointment, and grief Like Esther, you'll soon find that when one person stops faking fine, it gives everyone else permission to do the same.

Because You're Small was created for the do-it-yourself small business owners and non-profit leaders that are looking for proven strategies to implement immediately and not a book full of flowery marketing jargon. If you are drowning in information being shared by various sources, struggling to re-prioritize or just want the solutions to move you ahead, Because You're Small contains the answers you have been waiting on. By the end of Because You're Small previous excuses for not having a stronger presence or failing to impress potential customers are removed and replaced with: - A full marketing plan outline - 10 free to low-cost business marketing tools - 19 proven techniques for immediate implementation - 9 reasons to embrace your current size - The right way to ALWAYS have a marketing budget - A formula to calculate your Social Media Return on Investment - List of 25 Social Media Sites to check out You are just pages away from accomplishing BIG things while you're small.

I am trying to share some lessons learned in life and corporate America so that others can avoid the same mistakes I made along the way and enjoy a more successful and balanced life. How did a regular guy competing around peers with the highest of educational pedigrees in the country rise to the top levels of corporate America? What skills did it take for him to earn millions of dollars working in a company rated "Most Innovative" by Fortune Magazine for six consecutive years? How did he maintain his personal values while sitting on the executive committee of a company that succumbed so spectacularly to scandal and downfall? In Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should: Keys to a Successful Life, author and former Enron employee Mike S. McConnell shares his unique tips for success. He combines specific personal and business lessons, experiences, affirmations, and actions that have made him the person he is today, including: Keeping a journal; writing down thoughts and keeping perspective. Living with an attitude of gratitude and keeping it. Living with passion in everything you do. Keeping a positive attitude in difficult times. Using goals and objectives to achieve success

The ring shout is the oldest known African American performance tradition surviving on the North American continent. Performed for the purpose of religious worship, this fusion of dance, song, and percussion survives today in the Bolton Community of McIntosh County, Georgia. Incorporating oral history, first-person accounts, musical transcriptions, photographs, and drawings, Shout Because You're Free documents a group of performers known as the McIntosh County Shouters. Derived from African practices, the ring shout combines call-and-response singing, the percussion of a stick or broom on a wood floor, and hand-clapping and foot-tapping. First described in depth by outside observers on the sea islands of South Carolina and Georgia during the Civil War, the ring shout was presumed to have died out in active practice until 1980, when the shouters in the Bolton community first came to the public's attention. Shout Because You're Free is the result of sixteen years of research and fieldwork by Art and Margo Rosenbaum, authors of Folk Visions and Voices. The book includes descriptions of present-day community shouts, a chapter on the history of the shout's African origins, the recollections of early outside observers, and later folklorists' comments. In addition, the tunes and texts of twenty-five shout songs performed by the McIntosh County Shouters are transcribed by ethnomusicologist Johann S. Buis.Shout Because You're Free is a fascinating look at a unique living tradition that demonstrates ties to Africa, slavery, and Emancipation while interweaving these influences with worship and oneness with the spirit.

The NIV is the world's best-selling modern translation, with over 150 million copies in print since its first full publication in 1978. This highly accurate and smooth-reading version of the Bible in modern English has the largest library of printed and electronic support material of any modern translation.

How often have you cried out to God, Why? Why is justice perverted? Why don't people understand me? Why do the unjust prosper? The answer: Because you are anointed! Best-selling author T.D. Jakes writes, I used to have the wrong notion that when you are really anointed, you no longer have problems or rough times. But you show me anybody who's really Holy Ghost, knee-jerking, tongue-talking, casting-out-demons, laying-hands-on-the-sick, miracle-working, world-changing, mind-transforming, mind-boggling, head-straightening anointed, and I'll show you somebody who cried in the middle of the night and suffered all night long, wondering where is God. But, my friends, I have to confess that through it all I have learned to trust in Jesus. Through it all, I've learned to trust in God. Bishop T.D. Jakes continually ministers hope and healing to hurting people worldwide. Allow his message of anointing, based on Scripture and personal experiences, to wash over you with peace and quiet your questioning mind. Why? Because you re anointed!