The End

I recently published my first edited book,  Labor of Love: A Literary Mama Staff Anthology ,  with  Small Harbor Publishing . It's an anthology of writing from  Literary Mama  staff over the past 20 years. It's a beautiful collection and I am proud of the writers and proud to share the book.  It seems a fitting moment, as I pondered sharing about the book here on the blog, to reflect on my life as a blogger, and acknowledge that it is time to officially end this blog.   I started blogging in about 2007, when my baby was learning to toddle, when I was learning how to be a mother and stepmother, when I was just starting to see my way as a writer. I needed it back then. I craved it. I had a variety of blog iterations--family, art, creativity, writing things I delved into. There's a freedom in blogging, a casualness, an easy familiarity that's lacking (for me anyway) in other kinds of writing. I loved blogging and the words came pouring out.  Over the years since then, some
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The Hunger Games


Clandestine spur of the moment meetings.  Going to any length for the next dose. Begging and pleading for someone to give more. And total immediate consumption upon receipt. 
No, I have not suddenly taken up a drug addiction.  Unless you call reading The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins, a drug.  A week and a half ago I decided I ought to read this big phenomenon that has taken over the world stage.  I found the first book at the library and after one chapter, I was hooked.  Utterly and completely drawn in to this dark and scary world that Katniss Everdeen resides in.  The whole concept of the book is far-fetched, but being that it has many more truths than one might want to admit, it rings with reality.

So I read on.  I was on the cusp of a cold, so I stayed in bed one evening, and after a late night when I should have been sleeping, I had finished the first book.  It rattled around in my brain like a loose ping pong ball, and kept me awake that night.
The next day I searched the library catalog for book 2.  Nada!  10 copies or so, all out. Not to mention a 40 person wait list!  So I trolled facebook, hoping that some pitying friend would have a copy to loan me.  Still nada.  Days passed, and I wondered if I would have to wait for 40 more people to read it at the library before I got my turn.  Argh!  Finally, one of my critique group partners answered my begging call and told me to meet her downtown that afternoon for a hand off.  It was a long morning waiting for the appropriated time, and I finally headed down the hill to get the next installment.  After not finding her, and wandering aimlessly, hopelessly around the bookstore, I finally found where she was sitting, grabbed the book, and ran home to meet the school bus.  I threw the kid in front of the TV and dived in to Catching Fire.  Ahhh, relief…

Luckily I had already secured a friend with a copy of the third book.  And the next day, having finished book 2 and despite a full blown head cold, I walked the ten minute trail down to her house for 3.  This one took a bit longer to read, since I had upped sleep to a higher priority on the list.  But I enjoyed Mockingjay very much and still, after 2 days it was done. 

Honestly, I’m glad the series is over.  I couldn’t have handled much more of the intensity of it all.  If you haven’t read it (and I can’t imagine there are many of you people left) I wouldn’t recommend starting it, unless you are prepared to become addicted. The Hunger Games however, leaves you with a bit more than a hangover or the stupor of a forgotten night, when you awake the next morning.  You don't read it- it consumes you.  And the consumption leaves you having a new perspective on the human race, questioning yourself and your values, and in the end, remembering just how valuable peace is.

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