Posted by Kimberlee Morrison on Feb 7, 2010 in
Books,
My Life I’ve had several people ask me what is “freedom writing” and what are “Freedom Writers.” It started as a bunch of kids writing their stories in the hopes that someone might read and find hope. Funny thing is that sometimes I have to go back to my own story when I’m looking for hope and motivation to persevere through hard times and achieve my goals. To wit, I share with you this excerpt from The Freedom Writer’s Diary: 10th Anniversary Edition.
Dear Diary,
I was five months pregnant when I graduated from high school. I wasn’t worried, though, because I had a plan. I was going to college and I was going to make something of myself. For a while the plan worked and I worked the plan. Spring semester came around and I jumped in full speed ahead, ready to conquer the world. But as time went on, and the plan didn’t seem to be taking me any closer to my goal of graduating from college, my vision started to grow dimmer and dimmer.
It was 30 minutes before my intro to mass media class; a course from which I was on the verge of being dropped because I was either late or absent on a regular basis. I spent the previous 30 minutes trying to scrounge up a few bucks to put gas in my car. I dumped my change jar and counted almost four dollars in pennies. Then I dug in the couch, under beds, in junk drawers, in my purse, and checked every pants or coat pocket until I had exactly five dollars. I put them in a ziplock bag and headed to the gas station, hoping I could get to class on time.
“I can’t take that,” said the little Asian woman, when I went to hand her the bag. She didn’t even move to it. “How do I know it’s five dollars?” Read more…
Tags: Freedom Writers, Goals, Perserverence, Struggles
Posted by Kimberlee Morrison on Aug 31, 2009 in
Books,
Entertainment 
A while back, author Claudia Hall Christian graced my humble blog on her virtual book tour for her novel The Fey. I hadn’t read the book at the time, but Claudia sent me a copy and, I must say, The Fey was one of the most thrilling books I have read in a long, long time.
From beginning to end, you are pulled into this intriguing story of Alex “The Fey;” a femme fatal intelligence expert, trying to pull together the shattered pieces of her life, while enduring continued psychological torture.
Truthfully, I’ve never been much into mysteries or even fiction for that matter. But The Fey’s quick pace with harrowing details, romantic subplots, and remarkable clarity made it an intensely compelling read.
I couldn’t put it down!
Every time I stopped reading, even for a second, I wandered what was coming next. Once after I had already gone to bed, I was so curious that I turned the light back on to read just one more chapter…
Claudia Hall Christian has a gift for intrigue and for creating intricate yet easy to read story lines. For anyone looking for something fun to read, The Fey is a page turner that will make your heart race and even when it’s over, you’ll want to know more about the dynamic cast of characters you’ll no doubt have grown to love.
You can read The Fey online or purchase a hard copy (don’t forget the discount code: XQGB8SVR). Whatever you do, make sure you set aside a good block of time; once you get started, you won’t want to put The Fey down.
Tags: Claudia Hall Christian, Liturature Reviews, The Fey
Posted by Kimberlee Morrison on Jun 15, 2009 in
Books,
Entertainment When I met Claudia Hall Christian a few months back on a social network, she quickly became one of my favorite people. She put out a call for bloggers to host her on a blog tour for her new book The Fey, and I told her I’d be honored if she’d share her story on my awesomely tiny corner of the web.
I haven’t read the book yet – I’m anxiously awaiting the hard copy. I read online all day every day, a hard copy will be a welcome escape for the internets – but every review I have read thus far has been supremely positive and Mrs. Christian is developing a cult following. She’s done this by using building an online community of both readers and writers and by leveraging the power of social networking.
I asked her about her journey to becoming a successful book author but before we get to that, a few goodies for you my dear readers:
- Win a free copy of The Fey. The lucky winner selected from comments on this post. I don’t get many comments, so anyone who comments has a pretty good chance of getting a free copy of the book.
- Purchase the book from Create Space and get a 10% discount. Just enter this discount code: XQGB8SVR.
And now, without further ado, inspirational words from author, Claudia Hall Christian.
Your blog mentioned giving up everything familiar to pursue your dream of being a writer. What has that journey been like and what have you learned in your pursuit?
It’s been a long and winding journey to become an author. When I started working on the first edition of The Fey, I was simply filling my time on sabbatical with a good story. I figured writing a book was a worthy pursuit for a year long sabbatical. It never occurred to me that writing fiction would become my life. I completed a draft and left for a month long backpacking trip down the Colorado Trail.
Read more…
Tags: Author Interview, Claudia Hall Christian, The Fey
