Home / My Experience / Page 2
I was invited to help celebrate the 40th birthday of Children’s Therapy Center based in Kent, Washington. CTC has always been on the forefront of multi-disciplinary therapy for children to help them achieve maximum independence. My chance to speak gave me the unforgettable opportunity to publicly acknowledge and thank three people who dramatically changed the
Back in 2011, I self-published my first novel titled, “A Cottage in Donegal, Mary Doherty’s Story.” I am very grateful for the incredible reception that this book has received. The comments from people all over the world have warmed my heart. Since that amazing beginning, I have felt that there was one thing that was
18 months ago I walked into a hotel in Orlando wondering if it would make a difference. It was the night before the 5th Lennox Gastaut Syndrome Foundation International Conference was starting and I had been invited to meet some of the other attendees ahead of the event. I usually shy away from meeting perfect
We follow an Irish girl vocal group called the Henry Girls. They sing a poignant ballad called “How Do You Know?” The main question posed by the lyrics is: How can you tell if an event or a situation is good luck or bad luck? Sometimes we are quick to judge that we are experiencing
Recently I was told that the definition of “hypervigilance” is an enhanced state of sensory sensitivity accompanied by an exaggerated intensity of behaviors whose purpose is to detect activity. It may bring about a state of increased anxiety which can cause exhaustion. The doctors explained to me that this was part of what I have
Although immortalized in John Lennon’s song “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy),” this quote is attributed to Allen Saunders in 1957. It was certainly true in my life last Sunday. I was driving home from a wonderful writing conference. I had spent four days with other writers, attended educational sessions, heard inspirational key-note speakers, and pitched my
Lately my friends are talking to me about trying to reduce my stress. I have been using my own style of stress reducing activities for all of these years, but it seems that the professionals are now saying that sugar can actually cause a stress response in your body. That has not been my experience.
Have you ever tried to read the bridge section of the daily newspaper. It’s in the section with the puzzles and comics. Even when I try hard, I can’t envision what is happening. The author uses words that I have heard before, but not in the same context that I understand, so I am lost.
Nick loves birthdays, especially his own. To him, it is the best day of the year. Last year on this day, the eve of Nick’s birthday, I had a huge paradigm shift. For years, in spite of my usual positive proactive approach to caring for Nick, that one day each year was a dark and
The kindness of strangers transformed my day today. I was feeling under the weather today because I couldn’t get my asthma under control. We stayed in the condo most of the day. We were scheduled to attend a luau this evening and I wasn’t sure how it would go. Not just because of my asthma,
Announcing that I have finished a book with the working title of “The Fairy Fort.” I am currently pitching it to publishers. Keep checking back to watch the progress of my newest novel.
Here is a quick glimpse of the story.
Sarah Doherty is an 18-year-old living in rural Ireland at the tail end of the Great War. Plagued by severe epilepsy, she is protected by her parents and lives a sheltered, secluded, lonely life. The Fae, local Irish fairies, interfere with her life. She falls forward a century in time through the local fairy fort of standing stones. She had a seizure in 1918 and woke up in 2020. The 21st century world includes life-saving prescriptions, physical comforts and the independence and freedom she seeks. The locals are welcoming and Andy Mclaughlin, a handsome young historian, is intriguing. She doesn’t want to return home.
Then a letter arrives from Boston divulging the story of Sarah and Andy’s lives that are deeply entwined in the previous century. They are not yet in love but as they seek to verify the letter through online resources, they feel a growing obligation to their unborn family and to each other. What would happen to their posterity living in Boston if they don’t return to 1918? Even if they do make it back, her parents can never know what happened to her or that would change everything.
This Young Adult time-travel romance explores the question: Do we have the freedom to make choices or is free will an elaborate illusion?
This is my third book. I love reading time travel romances. I am an advocate for epilepsy awareness because my 43-year-old son has intractable epilepsy. As a genealogist specializing in Irish research, I live part of the year in the village where the story is based. I wrote the book to help young adults understand that difficult situations can change your life. Sometimes miraculously.
