Archives for 2011

Congratulations, Nikki Holmes! Nikki won the contest which included answers to the following questions:  How many rooms and where is the secret room in O’Brien Manor? What conquered Conall’s evil heart?  Nikki answered:  Morning Lee, here are my answers: 62 rooms plus one is 63 – secret room is to the right of the attic room and Conall’s evil heart was conquered by the appearance of his mother and her explanation of the truth of what happened to his father and their family home.  Well done, Nikki!  And as you may already know – the truth shall set us free.  Nikki won a gift card from Tim Horton’s, a signed, framed cover of the ebook Wake Me Up Inside, sketched by my sister Cindy Slipacoff, and a handcrafted Himalayan salt crystal lamp from the Salt Mines which neutralizes the air by creating negative ions.  Just a little something for the reader – a cup of tea from Timmie’s, the sketch of the book to look at and positive energy to breathe.  Ahhhhh!  Thanks for entering Nikki and Congratulations again! Lee               Watch Nikki on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tycqs_bbbIE

Last night’s concert was a magical experience for me as some of the fans of my ebook (entitled Wake Me Up Inside) may know that Evanescence’s song initially called Alone, then Bring Me to Life, or best known as Wake Me Up Inside inspired my first book.  It was amazing to see people of all ages at this venue and the best part was when Amy Lee sang her signature song Bring Me to Life.  Everyone, regardless of age, was jumping and singing with hands in the air bringing the whole audience together as one.  It was a room filled with raw emotion and great energy!  For me as an author the words ‘save me from the nothing I’ve become’ is what inspired me the most.  My parents had died and as they moved through their journey a part of you dies inside.  I was also very sick at the time and it was after I heard this song on the radio that I decided to do something about my health and my life not only for my sake but for my family who needed me.  I am thankful to Amy Lynn Lee for releasing this song.  It is amazing to me the power of lyrics and instrumentals and ‘right’ voice forged together can influence so many people in a seemingly positive way.  Congratulations Evanescence – great performance!  5 stars

Once in awhile, someone of scientific significance comes across my radar and this time thanks to my son, Justin, he told me about Dr Bem and his parapsychology research publicized in 2011. It is entitled – Feeling the Future and is found in the  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,  Vol 100, No 3, 407-425.  Now my son and I have had many discussions on perception and consciousness which includes things like ESP, telepathy, precognition and telekinesis.  You see many individuals have said to possess these skills but the majority of  people either think they’re crazy or they’re making it up.  This research done by Professor Bem studies the phenomenon called psi.  And the following description is taken directly from Dr Bem’s words:

The term psi denotes anomalous processes of information or energy transfer that are currently unexplained in terms of known physical or biological mechanisms.  Two variants of psi are precognition (conscious cognitive awareness) and premonition (affective apprehension) of a future event that could not otherwise be anticipated through any known inferential process.  Precognition and premonition are themselves special cases of a more general phenomenon: the anomalous retroactive influence of some future event on an individual’s current responses, whether those responses are conscious or nonconscious, cognitive or affective. Dr Bem recommends The Science of Premonitions by Larry Dossey for further study, and for a more comprehensive view of the science of psi he recommends Entangled Minds by Dean Radin, both available from Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.

I wanted to thank Dr Bem for his courage and determination to research and publish his studies, something many scientists would like to criticize and poke holes in the experimental process.  But more than that, Dr Bem says although he may not believe in impossible things, perhaps there is room for the possibility of individuals with say telepathy or premonition and hopefully his colleagues will agree.  If you remember my blog on Sages and Scientists, they too support the idea of Dr Bem’s research.

Here is the authorized link to Dr Bem’s research article available for download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8290411/FeelingFuture.pdf

In book two of Paige Maddison’s journey, Paige is again battling evil spirits or ghosts whichever term you choose.  And I am so happy Halloween is coming because this celebration is included in the book.  I have been an avid supporter, decorator, and ‘pranksta’ when it comes to Halloween.  Our son and his friends were subjected to many ghoulish, jiggling, characters that are animated and sound spooky.  One of the biggest influences in my life were the Vincent Price movies featuring an Edgar Allan Poe theme.  And the writer that influenced me the most was Stephen King.  I can remember reading the book ‘It’ until my parents came home late one night.  I was so scared I couldn’t turn off the lights until someone was home in the house.  Why do we like to be scared?  A change in physiology perhaps?  Tension or stress in our lives can be released with one good scare especially through the release of energy as we scream in the movie theatres or at home watching DVDs or the SciFi channel.  Why do I write horror?  It’s a question I am often asked.  That one’s easy.  Because I truly believe good wins over evil every time!  Whoops I don’t want to give too much away….  Happy Halloween!  Three weeks and counting….

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  Each year I take a few moments and say aloud the people I am grateful for in my life.  My family members know they are tops on the list for their love and support. But today I wanted to again thank the readers who are buying Wake Me Up Inside.  It means a lot to me.  It’s selling well again and why, I don’t know.  Amazon has been the best supporter in this journey but Sony eReader and Apple iTunes sales are increasing.  Thank you to those readers who are taking their time and effort to read Paige Maddison in her journey! Don’t forget, the second contest is still on – details below. Lee

This is a beautiful Hawaiian word for thank you or gratitude and I wanted to express that to all those people who have contacted me via my website or facebook page.  I love to read your thoughts and opinions and feel lucky to have such a loyal readership.  I tend to post about things I am interested in and hopefully others will be as well.  Sometimes it’s personal but most times it’s of an event or recent research.  As an author of fiction, you are supposed to write about what you know best and I feel I do that.  But within the fiction, must be researched non-fiction facts of which many will be found through-out this website and sometimes incorporated into my writing.  Today my harshest critic read the first third of my second book in the Paige Maddison trilogy and he said it was more exciting and captivating than the first entitled Wake Me Up Inside.  In fact, he said the writing is tremendously better.  Hallelujah!  It’s also a ‘paige’ turner from start to finish, so far.  Keep on posting!  Thank you, again. Lee

A time to return balance into our lives. As day and night become equal and then give way to longer nights, I focus on positive activities. I actually do my spring cleaning in the fall and winter months because we are indoors more and can open the windows, even though it’s a little chilly.  In the past summer months I researched various subjects and am now working hard on writing book two in Paige Maddison’s journey.  However, I also focus my energies on keeping fit physically.  I choose to hula hoop.  You may laugh but try it – a short time in the beginning (if you haven’t done it in awhile) and slowly increase the duration of time.  It’s a great core strengthener!  And this year, I am going to try snowshoeing. Finally, a solution to those of us with asthma performing outdoor activities!  I bought a breathe easy mask to block the cold icy wind.  Fall is a wonderful time to hike and view the ever-changing colourful leaves and winter is a great time of year especially with the beautiful snowfall to look forward to. Expand your mind, trim your body.  🙂

If you ever want to experience a most spiritual journey into a time long ago, please visit Algonquin Park where the wind howls through the trees, the loons call through the day and most nights, and the droppings are there to analyze just what kind of animal is living around the campsite.  For us, it was moose, no Bears!  Of course, we all know they are there living quietly in the distance waiting for the humans to leave and see what is left behind for fodder.  We left our campsite better than when we found it, thanks to my loving husband.  No garbage was left, no bottles of any sort, and wood for the next group to enjoy.  My sister, husband and I had a most spiritual journey canoeing out on our last day.  The temperature dropped dramatically through the night and the wind howled upon arising.  As we canoed home it blew us towards our destination; the mist flowed along the lake, seemingly, in front of us leading the way home.  It was dark and soon to be stormy.  A loon followed us for awhile, another flew overhead and we saw families of loons on the two lakes out and finally a family of mergansers playfully enjoying the lake.  What a signal from above we lived our weekend well and respectfully on Ralph Bice Lake.  Oh yes, and to the bongo players, thanks for reminding us of the passion we humans have for living.