Best book of the year

Joe's Story: The Book of a Lifetime, I was told recently, is the best book of the year they have read by members of a reading club. I felt quite honored because they read only non-fiction and mostly by well known authors. Yours truly, Joseph A. Cramer with several published articles and a couple of books under his belt hasn't been living under a rock all these years but on the other hand, there are no statues of me placed in any central parks either. To receive a compliment of that caliber from a group of about 25 critics was a real treat.



I had a great time listening to the discussion of Joe's Story at the weekly meeting and enjoyed answering their questions. The "Squirmy Worm Book Club" is a fun group to be with. They heard about Joe's Story through a news article concerning the 30th annual Silver treasure hunt, got their copies through Amazon.com and journeyed by the written word with me through life. They voted it the best book they had read all year and invited me to join them for coffee. Complimentary for the most part some of them did question my reasoning behind leaving grammatical and misspelling errors in the printing of the book. My answer is always that when my memory came back after 2 years of amnesia I was more aware of the imperfections we all have. I felt a perfectly written book would not be a true and honest rendering of my life. I explained that I totally understand there are professional book reviewers that will not go beyond the errors. It is their job to protect the purity of literature. It was my job to write it the way I remembered it, errors and all. I am imperfect, that's what the story is all about: Going beyond imperfections and doing what you can to survive.



Every day brings a new experience since Joe's Story was first published. No matter the hurdles they said, I need to promote and market Joe's Story in any way I can. "There is a wonderful story here. The best book we've read all year." I'm trying to do just that. I'd appreciate you're help getting the word out to everyone you know that loves a good story. Once you read Joe's Story, in a very good way part of it will be with you the rest of your life. There isn't anything wrong with good stuff. click on http://www.joesstory.com/ and check it out. You can help by placeing the books name, "Joe's Story: The Book of a Lifetime" in any subject line on every social network you can. It doesn't cost you a dime and I believe it will help a lot of people find a good read.

Be good to yourself

I am off to a two hour session of renewing my soul. It's time to refresh myself and clear the mind. A few hours of selfishness to regain some positive outlook toward the future. A reward for my efforts. I believe we all need a reward from time to time. All work and no play and all that sort of thing keeps the weight of the world on your shoulders and it can be disheartening at times. I'm about to lift that weight from my own shoulders for a short period and regain the strength needed to forge ahead with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.

I'll let you know how it goes. But, in the meantime I wonder if you just might want to make this a day of renewal for yourself. I am lucky enough to be able to take a full two hours for myself. That is very unusual but I'm certainly not going to turn down this opportunity. If I only had an hour or even fifteen minutes I would still find a way to give myself a bit of a reprieve today. there comes a time when we all need to just take care of ourselves. This is it!

Have a good day, think good thoughts, be good to yourself!..........Joe

Hope springs eternal

Hope flows/springs eternal. I can't remember how old I was when I first heard that phrase. I do know I didn't understand the full meaning. As a kid what I hoped for was a pony, as a teenager it was a drivers license, as a new husband and father the ability to provide a home for my family, as a businessman keeping all my loyal employees working, as a man in a world of contradictions doing the right thing and as I age sometimes I hope for a day without pain. Hope covers a lot of territory doesn't it? Hope represents our dream of a better day no matter our personal opinion of what constitutes a better day. To keep hope alive sometimes we need the help of another. We want to be there when that happens. That's what these little comments about hope have been all about. As we wind it down and move on to other things I'd like to leave you with some ideas I read in Liguorian magazine.

"Lord, today, make my words strong when someone needs some strength, funny when someone needs a smile, careful when someone needs prudence, wise when someone needs wisdom, practical when someone needs to make a decision, and, Lord, help me to shut up and listen when someone needs someone to listen to them."

"May our presence always be a blessing when we walk into any room, even when we trip on the threshold as we make our grand entrance."

"May our sadness be overwhelmed by our gladness; and our gladness be so contagious that the mad and the sad become glad because they ran into us."

Thousands of people have viewed onto this blog about hope. We didn't reach a million but a million starts with 5000 first. We've done that. We can remember that when the days are dark. We can remember the hope that spread around the world because of us...................Joe