Growing Up Mostly Normal In The Middle Of Nowhere

This memoir stands out as a beautifully written account of a mostly happy, mostly normal, fully real life at once both ordinary and extraordinary. Sheirer explores intensely personal experiences and relationships with humor, surprise, awe, suspense, and deep insight. With the depth of a memoir and the flow of a novel, Sheirer chronicles how his simple youth of farm, sports, school, nature, and family led him to an unlikely adulthood as an author and college professor.

Organized thematically, this book tells the story of the European encyclopedia from 1650 to the present.

One Bite: Stories for Short Attention Spans, Stolen Moments, and Busy Lives -- John Sheirer's short stories chronicle moments that seem ordinary. A middle-aged man sends his first text message. A simple knee surgery goes in an unexpected direction. An innocently friendly wave invites ridicule. The neighbors' dogs won't stop barking. But, in the hands of a master storyteller such as John Sheirer, these moments become far from ordinary. Sheirer's stories range from "hint" fiction of a few sentences, to "flash" fiction of one to four pages, to a few traditional-length stories. Most of the stories have won awards or been published in print and online literary journals. They are often humorous and occasionally poignant, always showing the trademark wit and wisdom that has made Sheirer's well-received memoirs so popular. Each story from this award-winning writing teacher provides surprise, delight, and an odd take on the world that only sharply written fiction can provide.

PARENTING NEVER ENDS. From the founders of the #1 site for parents of teens and young adults comes an essential guide for building strong relationships with your teens and preparing them to successfully launch into adulthood The high school and college years: an extended roller coaster of academics, friends, first loves, first break-ups, driver’s ed, jobs, and everything in between. Kids are constantly changing and how we parent them must change, too. But how do we stay close as a family as our lives move apart? Enter the co-founders of Grown and Flown, Lisa Heffernan and Mary Dell Harrington. In the midst of guiding their own kids through this transition, they launched what has become the largest website and online community for parents of fifteen to twenty-five year olds. Now they’ve compiled new takeaways and fresh insights from all that they’ve learned into this handy, must-have guide. Grown and Flown is a one-stop resource for parenting teenagers, leading up to—and through—high school and those first years of independence. It covers everything from the monumental (how to let your kids go) to the mundane (how to shop for a dorm room). Organized by topic—such as academics, anxiety and mental health, college life—it features a combination of stories, advice from professionals, and practical sidebars. Consider this your parenting lifeline: an easy-to-use manual that offers support and perspective. Grown and Flown is required reading for anyone looking to raise an adult with whom you have an enduring, profound connection.

Russian immigrant Owen Heron comes to the US to make his fortune in the dotcom boom. When circumstance finds him out of work, he searches for direction in life, and wiles away the hours in the NJ Pine Barrens with his faithful dog. The chance discovery of a small fortune puts Owen back on the path to happiness - or so he thinks. Owen's unwitting & unsavory benefactors are anxious to get their money back, and will risk anything to accomplish their mission -- unless someone or something can stop them.

Siobhan Spencer is a former child movie star, but her past still comes back to haunt her. After a long string of dates who judged her because they knew who she was, Siobhan decided to take a break from dating. That is, until Juliet sets her up with Jacob, who has never heard of Siobhan. How will her insecurities and past get in the way of what could be a great relationship, and how will she make it right again?

Do you have a dream where you freely get to be creative, use your imagination or just express yourself? If you're not dead, then neither is your dream. It's never too late to jump back into or start your creative journey. It's time to start suppressing those inner voices that keep saying, "It's a waste of time" and learn the true benefits that being creative, imaginative and expressive can bring. You don't have to leave everything in your life to start this journey. You just have to accept you already have the creative virus and that is a wonderful thing. With this book, I hope to get you to embrace creativity Michael Joseph is a lifelong artist, DJ, author, dancer, performer, creator and part time robot who can't turn off the creative spark. It took over 50 years and a worldwide pandemic for him to realize he already had what he was looking for: a creative life.

When Lena’s traveling nurse contract takes her back to Nashville, she’s also back under the scrutinizing eyes of her Uncle Conrad, the man who raised her. The one man too dangerous to touch… Jake's the go-to operator for Conrad’s private contracting firm and that makes Lena off-limits. But he has dreamt of her for years and now she’s at his doorstep. Can passions shared in the dark survive secrets coming to light?