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Worst Blogger Ever

Published by Autumn Brooke on July 31, 2015

Yup, that’s me!  I spend so much of my day writing and even promoting my blog, but forget to actually write on the actual page.   And to think that when I started the blog I was afraid that I would write too often and bombard the internet world with all of my thoughts and feelings.  Honestly I believe that has been such a fear for me that it is why I avoid the site.  I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve and I don’t assume that many want to hear about the in’s and out’s of my day.  Like at this moment my oldest child, who will be turning 13 in a month, is currently standing in my kitchen making toast with his little brother’s Mickey Mouse mask over his face, simply because he found it on the floor.  Or why the next in line, the 10 year old used hair gel as shower gel in the shower because he didn’t bother to read the bottle and I simply said there was new body wash on the counter.  Yes, that really happened!  The two youngest age 8 and 6 are this minute arguing over butter for their toast.  How do you argue over butter, you wonder, well let me tell you.  The 8 year old, can’t find butter, the 6 year old pulls the Brummel & Brown butter container out of the fridge.  The 8 year old says, “No, that’s yogurt.” The 12 year old chimes in, “It is made with  yogurt.” The 8 year old, “Really, they do that?  Gross!”  Leave it the 6 year old, “If it looks like butter, tastes like butter, It’s Butter!”  All of this within the first 15 minutes of them being awake this morning, and this is how my day will continue.  If I just wrote about the conversations I overhear between these four boys, I probably could feel an entire blog, my mother used to encourage me to do that from the time they were small.  Maybe one day, I will do it, I imagine that it will be a lot more interesting as they get into their teenage years.  For now I will just designate an actual writing day and time to keep up with my blog, unless I am suddenly hit with creative inspiration.  Otherwise I will entertain you with another antidote from my life of living with 4 boys, but I promise, I will try not to do that to you!

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Keeping History Alive….

Published by Autumn Brooke on July 8, 2015

QM LEGO

Commodore Everette Hoard, Queen Mary LEGO Model

Photo Credit: Stephen Russo

It is apparent that I have a passion for History and strongly believe in educating our younger generations on the importance of recognizing that where we come from has an influence on where we are going, and the historic landmarks of our great nation have so many stories to tell.  I love British Literature from the Victorian and Romantic era so it is no wonder that I was fascinated by the Queen Mary, ultimately falling in love with her on my first visit.  Her history is vitally important to the rebuilding of America after WWII and amazingly many do not know her story, many do not even know she exists.  I have written a Children’s Picture Book on the Queen Mary, that led to a series, History Comes Alive,  where I plan to continue to write on iconic California landmarks, using a child’s perspective in giving a brief history behind these treasured places or venues.  My goal is to not only educate but inspire an interest to continue learning, and delving further into the history.  This is why I am so happy with the opening of the Shipyard on the Queen Mary.  A space dedicated to Historic and Archival photos and antique tools.  It is impossible to walk the ship without learning of her history, but the Shipyard has the history right at your fingertips, you can’t help but not learn a little bit by just spending time in this space.  What really draws the crowd is the LEGO model of the Queen Mary built by four certified master LEGO builders, of Britain’s Bright Bricks, that spent four months, 600 man hours, to recreate the Queen Mary with 250,00 LEGO bricks, weighing in at 604 lbs, and 26 feet.  An incredible feat that draws the attention of all, but especially children.  In the last two years, there have been a lot of changes aboard the Queen Mary and my favorite is their focus in drawing the attention of children.  They are in the process of building an interactive children’s museum that will be open in the near future and I cannot wait to see how much fun it will be, because Learning is Fun when given to our younger generations with their thought process in mind.  Our future needs to learn from our past, and it is our responsibility to teach them!

History_Comes_Alive__Cover_for_Kindle

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Song to Her Heart

Published by Autumn Brooke on June 10, 2015

blog

There she sits, total silence except for the occasional slap of water against the rocks.  The sky is still black, although it is technically morning, but across the shore the buildings line the sky and water with light.  This skyline backdrop isn’t your ordinary array of city lights, but filled with a variance of color, making it impossible not to stop and admire.  In many ways the awash of lighted beauty frustrated her as it took her focus away from the water.  The water brought peace to her soul, the stillness in its power completed her, like no other force on earth, and she craved to stand in it’s presence when her thoughts became muddled.  It was hard to describe its soothing effects, all she knew is it worked and she was drawn to the water like a moth to a flame.  This is why the lighted shore frustrated her.  It’s beauty was undeniable, one of the most photographed backdrops she had seen, but it distracted her from being able to enjoy the steady consistency of the water.  If she closed her eyes so the lights faded away she could hear the ripples in the current, a small splash to the right caught her attention in time to see a bird skimming across the surface.  Maybe the shore lights weren’t so distracting because the glare they cast across the water allowed her to see that bird.  Actually, they were all that allowed her to see the water at all, being that it was so dark without the lights causing the water to glisten, she imagined that she wouldn’t see anything before her.  As she stared out at the shimmering reflection, the breeze touched her hair, she took a breath, and just listened to the water Play the Song to Her Heart!

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My Own Personal WarBride…

Published by Autumn Brooke on June 5, 2015

thankyou bookevent

I am choosing to believe that you all have suffered greatly from my lack of blogs and that there will be truth in the statement that “absence makes the heart grow fonder.”  It has been about a week since I have been able to stop and post, although I imagine something new to write daily.  However despite my good intentions, I got caught up in my preparations to meet June Allen, an inspiration behind my first publishing, History Comes Alive Aboard the Queen Mary.  I have mentioned before that I am writing a novel based on the War Brides that sailed across the Queen Mary after WWII and in my research I became associated with June.  Strangely, (and fortunately, because it means my research was up to par) my main character in the novel resembles her life story.  This only increased the bond I felt upon our conversations.  When I learned that she was making a trip to the Queen Mary, I knew I had to meet her in person, and to my surprise I was also able to meet her son, Jim, who was a 1 year old toddler, as they sailed across the Atlantic.  Meeting her will forever be a highlight of my life, a true living legend, an an integral part of our great nations history.  I was happy that I was able to make the children’s picture book that is secondary to my novel, but could give her a glimpse of where I am headed in all that we have discussed.

After this iconical meeting, I came home to the first book launch for History Comes Alive, which although intentionally intimidating, was a success and a lot of fun.  On the event page of the Blog, is the listing for the second event happening on June 14th at Engelmann Cellars, and will be a family friendly event, with live music, a little wine tasting, and tons of outdoor space for a picnic.  I hope you can attend this Meet & Greet of author and illustrator!

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Memorial Day

Published by Autumn Brooke on May 25, 2015

My Birthday is on November 11th, so maybe that is why I have always known the difference between Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day.  My extremely patriotic mother was proud that I was born on an Air Force Base to an Active Duty Military Father and Veteran Mother, and even more so when I followed in their footsteps, serving one term on Active Duty in the United States Air Force, too.  My mother never let me mistake that Veteran’s Day was to recognize all that have served past or present and Memorial Day is to honor those that have served and fallen for this great nation.  To remember their sacrifice and that of their family that loves and misses them everyday so that we may enjoy our freedom with our loved ones.  This lesson was never lost on me and I have made sure to teach my children the difference, unfortunately I have realized that a lot of people have not been taught as I was and today say Happy Memorial Day, or Thank a Veteran for their service.  What is one to do in this situation?  I can write and post that this is not the appropriate response on this day, but do not want to insult the person that was never taught differently.  I guess my goal with this post is to spread the word, as I did with an article on my facebook wall, and hope that the more people I reach will continue to share so we can educate the world one person at a time!  I am sharing a link with a video that will put it all into perspective, a beautiful reminder of the dedication of our fallen heroes and the respect and gratitude we owe them, not just today, but every day of our lives!

http://www.littlethings.com/saluting-marine-rolling-thunder/

 

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Promoting and Marketing

Published by Autumn Brooke on May 20, 2015

I can only hope that maybe you have missed me but I haven’t been far, this is a picture of us (my illustrator, Gabriel and I) with Aisha, a wonderful marketing director at a strategy meeting.  Three minds are better than one as we came up with ideas for promoting and energizing each other for the hard work ahead.  I have to say it was productive as we have two dates and locations in the works for the book launch/signing and meet the author events.  Also hope to announce a few brick and mortar locations that you will be able to buy the book in the near future.  Thank you again for following and although I haven’t posted I have been writing, as always, words from my heart, mind, and soul!!

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The Girl behind the Words

Published by Autumn Brooke on May 17, 2015

This blog began with a biographical post titled Who is Brooke, but it is a generic gathering of words.  It certainly does not get to the heart of who I am, and I strongly believe that when you know an author that you have a deeper understanding of their words and the meaning behind them.  I write with a purpose, or at least I try to, I hope that my words unite people either because they relate to what I am saying, or simply because it is a funny tale that brings a smile to their face.  I know that I haven’t written a post on this blog to make you laugh yet, but my daily interactions with these four boys could give me a lifetime of fodder by just relating the anecdotes of being their mother.  Yesterday was the tenth birthday of my second son, and it was a full day of me running behind, chasing my tail.  Presents to wrap, Balloons to inflate, Decorations to put up, and a trip to the store to buy a cake and cookies for his class.  As I went through the grocery store line, I must have presented that harried image because the clerk asked how I was with an actual concerned tone, that made me answer with the truth, “I am rushed as it is my son’s birthday and I need to get these cookies to the school before his class ends.”  She looked up at me, and said, “At least you aren’t having to bake too.”  It was salt on an open wound, because I was already dealing with the “guilty mom heart” of how I wished that I could bake a cake worthy of his birthday.  I am a decent cook, but baking is not my forte.  I was also feeling bad that I wasn’t delivering cupcakes but cookies to his class, but with 36 kids to feed, cookies were a better option.  The day continued without further incident, and my little one was happy as he thanked me for his birthday and said it was a great day.  I laid in bed that night thinking over the events of the afternoon, and realized that I made everything a bigger deal in my mind than it needed to be, which we tend to do as women.  Gabriel didn’t care about his cake, as long as he had one.  He would have been happy even if I did bake a cake, that was frosted atop the 9×11 pan, and the cookies were a hit, probably because they weren’t the stereotypical cupcakes.  As mother’s, and people, in general, we need to give ourselves a break, and not make things so complicated; and that is the Girl behind the Words.  I stress, over think, run late, can’t bake, or cook from a box, but I can cook a meal with 20 ingredients from a cookbook, and then wonder why my kids ask for pizza.  I take the road less traveled, but I am learning to be proud of it and am actually starting to really enjoy the adventure.  If nothing else, I will have a story to tell when sitting in a retirement home wondering when my boys will come to visit.

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Love & Loss

Published by Autumn Brooke on May 15, 2015

Today is the two year anniversary of my mother’s passing and I have debated all day about posting or what to post.  I didn’t want to write and share only words of sadness.  It was then that it occurred to me that every one has a tale of woe, some much worse or sadder than others, but that is what connects us all as people.  I thought about the response that I received on my Mother’s Day Tribute blog and realized that is where my voice is, what gives me the strength to write from my heart, mind, and soul.  I share, and hope that people identify with what it is that I have to say and maybe it will bring joy or solace to those that read it.  So, with that being said, I found a piece of myself today and may not be nearly as lost in my loneliness as I assume, because we all have loved or lost in some form, some way, at sometime.  I have posted before on my mother’s page that ‘I’m not trying to learn how not to miss you, I’m trying to learn how to live life while missing you’ and that has become a mantra for my life that I would like to give to others dealing with how to move on.  I cannot go a day without something reminding me of my mother and I am okay with that because the things that drove me the most crazy about her are the things that I miss today.  She instilled greatness in me by all the good works she did, and although she set the bar high with her expectations, I will live up to her standard, knowing in all that I do, I follow in her footsteps, hoping that when my time on this earth is done, that I too, leave a legacy for others to follow or learn from.

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Social Media

Published by Autumn Brooke on May 13, 2015

In this process of marketing myself so that I can promote my book, I have gone back to the platforms of social media sites long forgotten to breathe new life into updated profiles.  This brings me to ask; What are your favorite, can’t live without, social media sites?  What are the sites that you don’t care about anymore or haven’t even attempted to use?  I can say that there are sites out here that I did not even know existed and I thought myself savvy on at least being “in the know” even if I never tried it.  I know that people tend to use various sites for different reasons, or to connect with different genres, but when are we “too plugged in?”  It is true that with the push of a button you can now post once and connect to multitude of sites simultaneously but to not be viewed as just a poster, never connecting to your followers, it is important to visit the site and read, comment, like, and share.  All of this takes time.  Time that we are not interacting with the real world, with people right in front of us everyday, the little people that see us, hear their stories while typing or reading at our laptops or phones.  I used to be very guilty of this, especially when I was going to school and doing homework.  I am better now, but know that it still happens more often than not, and I know it happens to many of you too.  So today I challenge each of you to take a moment and turn away from the screen and don’t just hear the person in front of you talking, but truly listen to them.  Look at their facial expression as they speak, and if it is one of those little people, see the smile in their eyes as they know you really see them.  Then tell me about it, as you share your favorite or least favorite social media site! Be it #facebook #google+ #instagram #twitter

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