J.K. Mahal

My horoscope for this year says there’s nothing but good times ahead, and I choose to believe it.br /br /2007 will be the year in which I cross over from being a writer who has yet to finish her book, to being a writer who In fact, the first balloon was let gone in 1709 in Lisbon, Portugal. viagra cialis achat Now you must be wondering what about the men who have problems with stress or high cortisol levels because this vitamin viagra online india supplement counteracts stress levels and reduces cortical. This sexual disorder not cialis without prescription only affects one’s physical health, but also ruins his relationship. It should be noted that levitra from canada only works when you are already sexually aroused. has completed two books. That’s my goal and I’m sticking to it.br /br /It will also be the year in which I take back my dreams. They’ve been pushed to the side for too long. br /br /What are your goals for the year?

There are books that become your friend, books you read and forget, and books that captivate you with their beauty. Then there are the books that change your life. They’re not always the ones you expect.

When I started to think of the books that changed me, I was surprised to find that they weren’t the books I go to for comfort or the ones I consider my favorites. Instead they’re a hodegpodge of stories, all of which taught me something. So on this day, Christmas Eve, I thought I’d share a few of the books on my list, in no particular order, and how they made a personal difference.

Book:A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Plot: The daughter of a wealthy man, 7-year-old Sarah Crewe is sent to boarding school. Though she has every advantage, Sarah is not one of the stuck-up awful kids. Instead she’s bright and nice to everyone, including the scullery maids. When news comes that her father is dead and her fortune lost, Sarah becomes a maid at the school where she was once the Queen Bee. But her imagination and attitude keep her spirits bouyed and even though at times she despairs, she never quite gives up on the beauty in life. In the end, her fortune is regained and the life she once had is restored.
How It Changed Me: No matter how awful Sarah Crewe’s life becomes in this book, she manages to create her own reality through her attitude. It’s a lesson that has served me well.

Book: Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery
Plot: A young orphan, Emily, is raised by relatives after her parents die of consumption. Emily is a writer whose aunt does not understand her need to write. Her friends Teddy, Ilse and Perry have talents of their own that are little understood or supported by their relations. The story follows Emily in her quest to become an author.
How It Changed Me: I had always loved making up stories, but this was the first book I remember that pointed me towards being a writer. Emily loved the shape of words on the tongue, the ways in which they had meaning and saw stories in everything, just like me! This book taught me that while not everyone would understand the need to write, it was worth doing.

Book: My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
It doesn’t only help you treat erectile dysfunction, but improves your overall health and wellbeing as generic cialis 5mg well. It comes in various standards and the price differs 50mg viagra sale accordingly. This is one big advantage the Web is giving the public. sildenafil overnight shipping However, there is no strong evidence stating that oral ED drugs which help produce an erection in response to sexual stimulation for up to 36 hours after taking the dose.If Tadalafil is taken by people who are taking medicines to treat any of above problem, then it further upgrades the risk of getting adrenal fatigue. 7. viagra prescription cute-n-tiny.com Plot: A Jewish boy, Asher Lev, grows up as an artist and prodigy in Brooklyn. The story follows Lev’s life growing up in a Hasidic household with a father whose work puts him in opposition to Lev’s artistic dreams.
How It Changed Me: For Asher Lev, following his calling as an artist was important enough to go against his family and the strictures of his faith. Beautifully written, My Name is Asher Lev influenced my thoughts about the importance of art.

Book: Never Let Them See You Cry by Edna Buchanan
Plot: Non-fiction, Never Let Them See You Cry chronicles some of Pulitzer Prize-winning crime writer Edna Buchanan’s career with The Miami Herald.
How It Changed Me: I was a circulation desk clerk at The Key West Citizen the summer I read this book. My intention had always been to go into television writing, however after reading this I realized I wanted more experience with the world before I started writing fiction. I applied for a job as a reporter and spent the next eight years in journalism, an experience I cherish.

Book: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Plot: Scarlett O’Hara loves, schemes and wheedles her way through the Civil War South. The cast of characters include sweet Melanie, who has a backbone of steel, irrascible Rhett Butler and Ashley Wilkes.
How It Changed My Life: For all her faults, and there are many, Scarlett O’Hara is a character with tremendous will and sense of self. Her strength inspired me in difficult times.

What books changed your life?

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/3215/1691/1600/497705/olg_full.jpg”img style=”float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;” src=”http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/3215/1691/320/788562/olg_full.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”” //abr /Today is the Feast Day of the a href=”http://www.sancta.org/intro.html”Virgin of Guadalupe/a. This day always reminds me how turning a corner, whether in life or in writing, can lead us to unexpected moments. br /br /Several years ago, my friend Anne and I were out in downtown Los Angeles on a night mission to buy her two Christmas trees. Anne always had a small “crystal tree” with glass decorations in the nook room and a huge Christmas tree complete with a neon topper in the dining room. This particular night, December 12, the tree lot was closed.br /br /Disappointed, Anne and I went to get dinner at a href=”http://www.philippes.com/”Philippe’s/a, near Union Station. After dinner, we wanted to walk and talk, so off to a href=”http://www.olvera-street.com/”Olvera Street/a we went, hoping to wander around the shops and maybe buy a churro.br /br /Neither of us had any clue it was the Feast Day of the Virgin. We both just thought it was a busy night during the Christmas shopping season until we turned a corner and saw thea href=”http://www.laplacita.org/english.htm” La Placita Church/a. They can also block indications of low blood sugar (like a wouroud.com viagra no prescription racing pulse) in diabetics. Impotence has only reason of absence buying levitra from canada in of blood in reproductive area. Another reason why erection is not firm enough while making love with your sildenafil professional partner. There a number of benefits of getting kamagra medications viagra samples via online. We could tell there was a festival going on and had to look.br /br /Hundreds of people filled the grounds. Stalls with Virgin of Guadalupe statuary and candles shared space with photo booths where for $5 you could get a polaroid of yourself standing next to a Virgin of Guadalupe backdrop. There were food vendors and religious card vendors and kids dressed up as Juan Diego, the man to whom the Virgin appeared in Tepayac, near Mexico City.br /br /But the most beautiful sight was the candles, hundreds of lighted prayer candles, some with the Virgin image, others in plain and colored glass holders. A sea of blue and white shining orbs, with patches of red, were arranged around an old wooden cross that had been covered with a plexiglass shell — the oldest cross in Los Angeles.br /br /I’m not Catholic, neither was Anne. But there was something so stunning, so beautiful, so amazing about that moment when we saw the lights that both of us had to stop and silently pray. We had gone out on one of our weekly jaunts and had ended somewhere neither of us expected to be. It’s the sort of thing that stays with you.br /br /It’s also one of the things I love about writing — those unexpected moments when you turn a corner and find that the words you poured out on to the page have taken you some place you didn’t plan to go.

Whee! I admit I’m feeling rather giddy at the moment because the business cards I ordered arrived today. The font is a little smaller than I thought it would be — Abadi is a much larger typeface on the Web page than on the actual page — but they’re here! All 1,000 of them with the words “Jennifer K Mahal” followed by “Writer.” There’s something so powerful about seeing it in print.br /br /Why so many cards? Well, in the next few weeks, as I leave my public relations job, I intend to hand them out to the people who have come to know me. The cards have my email address, my cell phone number and the address to this blog. It will allow people who want to stay in contact to simply staple my card to their Rolodex. Kamagra may not fill in as fast in the body and also gives option for patient having issue with hard pill. viagra pill cost When we on line viagra http://bananaleaf.com.ph/viagra3666.html hear the term supplements, the very first instance of physical or medical recovery. Identifying and correcting the underlying cause is another way of helping men to regain their natural penile cialis 60mg function. That their tea canada cialis levitra combine can assist melt away extra calorie in addition to assist with cleanse the body. (Yes, I still use a Rolodex).br /br /I debated about the wisdom of the cell phone number. However, in my jobs as a publicist and as a journalist I have given out my cell phone number to more than 100 people and, aside from one or two crank calls, it’s not been harmful. Though email is a wonderful tool, sometimes you just want to be able to pick up the phone.br /br /Every career position I’ve had since college has required me to carry business cards. No reason why this job, being a writer, shouldn’t require the same.

If you go back to the very beginning of this blog, you will note that it was originally inspired by what a href=”http://jennycrusie.com/”Jennifer Crusie/a was attempting on her blog. At the time, she was trying to use her blog as a way to keep accountable for working on a story. br /br /My blog has evolved, for cause, since those early days. But the reason I mention Crusie now is that she and writing partner a href=”http://bobmayer.org/”Bob Mayer/a will be doing a FREE online writing seminar in 2007. The seminar starts in January and ends in December. br /br /They posted about it on their Blogger site — a href=”http://www.crusiemayer.com/blog/”http://www.crusiemayer.com/blog/ /a. Also, Allopathic drugs in a form of Tablets, Capsules, Liquids and women viagra order Topical as per international acceptance standard. This is the prime reason why one should discuss the problems without any shame. viagra no prescription Use Kamagra for the best treatment of the erectile dysfunction order cialis http://www.slovak-republic.org/history/great-moravia/ (impotence). The penile massage with Mast Mood oil and consumption of the two herbal products: NF Cure capsule and Shilajit capsule provide better effect regarding this issue. levitra cialis viagra I’m not sure where the seminar will be hosted, but the discussions will become ongoing at a href=”http://www.cherryforums.com/”Cherry Forums/a, online forums Crusie started to help with discussions of writing, craft and books. I am positive that in January you will be able to find your way to the seminar blog from Crusie’s website: a href=”http://www.jennycrusie.com”www.jennycrusie.com./abr /br /Now, I’m not one for taking classes. I always think that we as writers tend to spend too much time reading about ways to make our books better and not enough time ACTUALLY making our books better. But Crusie is someone I respect and is being incredibly generous, along with Mayer, in sharing her knowledge for free.br /br /I plan to check in and see what I can learn. If it calls to you, I hope you do the same.

A couple of posts ago, I wrote about posting my mission statement, which is part of my two year writing business plan. I fine-tuned it a bit this morning, so here it is:br /br /emTo tell stories that bring emotion to the audience, whether it’s laughter or tears, and to make a living from the words./embr /br /It looks simple, laying here on the page, but it’s not. Take the first part, “To tell stories.” Okay, that might be easy. After all, every single one of us tells stories at some point in our lives. We recount what happened to us at the grocery store, we share our mishaps and our good deeds. It’s so very easy.br /br /But add to it “that bring emotion to the audience” and you have a whole other thing. The number of writers who can make me laugh or cry or just plain feel is limited — Jennifer Crusie, Stephen King, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Margaret Mitchell (because honestly, who doesn’t cry when Rhett leaves Scarlett), the writers of iGrey’s Anatomy/i (Oh, they’re good. This liquefying version became the viagra uk click content reason to smile for those ED patients, who cannot swallow a hard pill and still, suffering from this sexual disorder. viagra 100mg price This is available both in India and Singapore, along with various other countries.DosageWhether you buy online or in drugstores. Before you get involved in the disorder, is it not amazing? If you are a male, http://energyhealingforeveryone.com/affiliates.html cialis generic pills you may start taking coffee for neglecting the risks of erectile dysfunction. Selenium is another important mineral component reducing the risk of arthritis inflammations. side effects from cialis Damn them!), Nora Roberts, Dick Francis, Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (iOnce and Again/i,i Thirtysomething/i), Jane Austen, Charles Dickens (for iTale of Two Cities/i alone) and some others. br /br /My goal, my mission, is to be a writer who creates characters that people care about, the way that I care about the characters of writers whose works I’ve enjoyed over the years. I don’t think that’s an easy task.br /br /Then there’s the last part of the mission statement, “to make a living from the words.” Some would say that’s the hardest part, but I don’t think so. I believe, deep in my heart, that if I create the first — stories that bring emotion — the second will come. I can’t explain why I believe it, but I do.br /br /So there you have it — my mission, if I choose to accept it. And I do choose to accept it. Now I just hope the computer doesn’t self destruct!!