Flowing and ... Introductions

Today was a very good day. Work flowed well and I find my own self flowing well! I continue to wait for contact from one of the doctors about my scan last Friday. A lot of friends have asked about that, but I have nothing official to report. Still, though, I find myself feeling oddly very much at peace and, really, very happy. Monday I go for a meeting with my surgeon to schedule surgery. Elizabeth, Bliss, Maribeth, and Marjie will accompany me. It's all good, and going at its own pace. Good!

In preparing for this next step in the process, I asked several of my friends who I know are great writers to guest blog for me while I'm away from the computer recuperating from surgery. I expect this will happen the first part of October. So today is a good day to introduce the four friends (and one sister!) who agreed to guest blog while I'm away. You will enjoy their writing and some of them will even offer teachings. They will write as they feel like it, and some will write more than others.

Without further hesitation, in alphabetical order (because I couldn't possibly place them in any certain order), your guest bloggers for October: Dani, Joe, and Taryn. Thanks, guys!

Dani is one of my best friends and also a great writer, songwriter, and singer. She has worked with such Nashville greats as David Malloy, producer for Reba McIntyre, Dolly Parton, and Mindy McCready; Mark Collie, a #1 charting country artist and songwriter; John Jarvis, two-time Grammy winning songwriter; and Skip Ewing, a Grammy nominated country artist and songwriter with over twelve #1's to his credit. She performed often with Elektra recording artist Jason Mraz. Making the move to Nashville in 2002 and inking a deal with Famous Music Publishing, Dani continues to write songs with some of Music Row's top talent. She is also a black belt, to boot, with her photo featured in the September 2007 edition of "Black Belt Magazine"! Dani and I met several years ago at a meditation group, and we quickly became the best of friends.

Joe is my buddy and my friend. I like to call him my Happy Meal guy (he helped invent McDonald’s Happy Meal, no kidding). From there, Joe moved to the Dove Awards, Grammy nominations, and hit records. His songs were featured in the ABC hit comedy "Hope & Faith." Joe has so many accomplishments that it could take up several blogs without any problem. I know Joe, though, as a teacher of the Native traditions and spiritual ways, having first met him several years ago at a local Native American Lakota Sweat Lodge in Portland, TN, where he was named the spiritual advisor to the Inipi, or sweat lodge family. His ancestors include three Native American women who married American pioneers. He spoke earlier this year at the Gandhi-King conference in Memphis. Joe's latest book is “Jesus Would Recycle.” I recommend it.

Taryn is my friend and also happens to be my sister. She is a published freelance ghostwriter with numerous novels, screenplays, blogs, and a recent book award to her credit. Taryn is also a classically trained musician. She performed with the Beaumont and Lake Charles Symphony Orchestras where featured artists included Doc Severinson and other musical luminaries. She was accepted to the University of Texas at Arlington's college level percussion camp when she was 12 years old and auditioned at the famed Juilliard School in New York City at the age of 17. She holds a Bachelor of Music in percussion and counts her musical background as an important stepping stone to her successful writing career. Although she loves music, she discovered that writing was her true passion. Today she has just completed her latest literary effort with her co-writer, Alan Solomon. It is a fiction novel titled “The Mango Tree Café, Loi Kroh Road,” which is garnering rave reviews from readers all over the world. The book was shown at the Beijing, China International Book Fair and is competing for a Pulitzer Prize in the Best Fiction category as well as the best fictional novel hosted by USABookNews.com. She is about to have her fictional thriller, "Glittering Secrets" converted to an independent film with Fast Track Productions. Her other screenplay, "Conversations with Pearl" garnered attention from the Project Greenlight critics and was featured at the Southern Festival of Books in 2002.