Friday, December 1, 2017

Three Things



I think most of us look for fast, quick, easy ways to get through life. Sometimes I think we spend so much time looking for these short cuts that we actually don’t get to live.

There are several Twitter folks I follow that give me slap alongside the head every now and then. One I had to laugh at. “There are several keys to writing. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” Isn’t that the case!

Way back, there were several sitcoms around the concept of family. Family Ties, Cosby Show, Boy Meets World, Full House, The Wonder Years. There were others. Each of them had a commonality: a problem that needed to be dealt with.

The problem was presented. The problem was dealt with. The problem was solved. All nice and neatly wrapped up in thirty minutes with at least two commercial breaks to push the good life.

Have a headache? Take these two pills and they will knock it out quickly and keep it away for 12 hours. Have a stuffy nose? Squirt this once and you’ll be able to breathe again for 24 hours. Upset stomach? Sore back? Anxious? Feeling stressed? Need a fast loan? Your hair thinning out and you’re going bald? Need more bounce and body in the hair you do have? A veritable cure for every and anything. Just watch TV. It has all the answers, right?

I’m not knocking the need for pain relief. I’m not anti-medicine or anti-doctors or any of that.

The thing is, there aren’t any quick or easy fixes in life. I mean, if someone knows something I don’t . . . and there are plenty of folks who know a heck of a lot more than I do . . . please let me know.

Life, at times, is a struggle no matter how you approach it. At other times, it is a joy and a blessing. Hopefully for both you and me, it is more the latter than the former.

But life comes at us in waves. And with each wave, there is the crest and the trough. There is the ebb and the flow. We grab our surf board and we ride it out. Nothing else we can do, really.

I think the thing to remember is that for every night, there is a morning. For every cloud, the sun is still there, but hidden. And even though the sun sets, the moon is there to greet us. Sometimes we forget that.

And I also think that we forget that when you and I have a burden, there is always someone there to help, to listen, to comfort, and to help lift us up. Really, we are never, ever alone. Not really. Even though we may feel that way . . . might feel no one quite understands . . . there are enough of us who truly do. There are enough of us who have been through it before or are going through it now and who will go through it in the future. And if we remember that if two or three help carry the burden, the burden becomes lighter somehow. Doesn’t it?

I want to leave you with a thought, something a commercial pushing the good life won’t tell you. Something that doesn’t come out of a box or a bottle or in a pill.

I think if you’re looking for a quick fix, even though there isn’t one, I ask you to remember and to pass this on when there is a need and the time is right. It is simply this:

“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” Unknown

Kind of powerful, don’t you think? And, something to really think about . . .

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!

To My Readers:

My fifth work of thriller/suspense fiction Caught in a Web will be published by Black Rose Writing in April of 2018. It is currently in the very skilled hands of an editor I especially admire. When she finishes, and I was just told today that she expects to get it to me by Christmas, I fix what’s needed to fix and then I send it to Black Rose. The real work of any writing takes place in the edits, something I both dread and get excited about. I will keep you posted on the progress.

Good News!
I finished the edits on Spiral Into Darkness and I’m working to find an agent for it. It is a thriller/mystery with an attitude.

Please feel free to connect with me at:

Twitter at @jrlewisauthor

Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author                                      

Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /                                   

If you like Thriller/Suspense fiction and are looking for something to read over the winter, check out my novels:

The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:
FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they don’t know one another, the lives of FBI Agent Kelliher and two boys become interwoven with the same thread that Pete Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their lives are in jeopardy as each search for a way out. http://bit.ly/Taking-Lives-JLewis                

Stolen Lives, Book One of the Lives Trilogy:
Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they’ll end up like all the others- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. And the possibility exists that one of his team members might be involved. http://bit.ly/Stolen-Lives-JLewis              

Shattered Lives, Book Two of the Lives Trilogy:
Six desperate and violent men escape. One of them stands in a kitchen facing a 14 year-old-boy with a gun. There are many reasons for the boy to pull the trigger. Mainly, the man had started it all. http://bit.ly/Shattered-Lives-J-Lewis               

Splintered Lives, Book Three of the Lives Trilogy:
A 14 year-old-boy is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. High up on an Arizona mesa, he faces three desperate and dangerous men in hopes of saving his father and his brothers. http://bit.ly/Splintered-Lives-J-Lewis

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Thank you for your comment. I welcome your thought. Joe