COMING SOON!
SAY YES! TO YOUR CREATIVE SELF
by Mary O’Connor
Self-Help / Creativity
Personal Growth
Motivational & Inspirational
5.25 x 8, Paperback, 132 pages
ISBN: 979-8-9901523-0-4
Think you don’t have a creative bone in your body? Put that myth to rest!
Whether your interests lie in music, dance, culinary arts, handcrafts, gardening, painting, writing, or simply in navigating life’s challenges, creativity is there for all of us to enjoy. Saying “Yes!” to your creative self is a first step towards opening up ways of seeing, of solving problems, of keeping our minds, bodies, and souls active and stimulated.
The pages of Say Yes! to Your Creative Self
• take us through the ins and outs of creativity
• show ways to make it part of our everyday lives
• offer tips and examples linked to our senses, curiosity and emotions
• suggest ways for playing with it, for tickling our creative bones
Writer, poet, painter and lover of nature, Mary O’Connor shares the magic of the commonplace and captures its delight through her joy-centered books: Passing Shadows – Images and Words of Inspiration; Life Is Full of Sweet Spots – An Exploration of Joy, as well as Dreams of a Wingless Child, a collection of award-winning nature and inspirational verses.
Perfect Jumpstart of Joy!
PASSING SHADOWS – Images and Words of Inspiration
Reflective and at times amusing, Passing Shadows will be enjoyed by all who look for ways to pass away the shadows that cloud our lives. Defined by unexpected use of ordinary, everyday objects as means of uncovering moments of calmness, it is filled with poignant three-line haiku poems and beautifully illustrated with surprising photos and watercolor paintings. Its invitation is clear: observe what is close at hand and find light in their interplay with nature, wonder and everyday being. Enjoy their unexpected feelings of “aah!”
Written by the author of Life Is Full of Sweet Spots – An Exploration of Joy and Dreams of a Wingless Child, a collection of award-winning reflections in verse on nature and life, Passing Shadows has a way of finding sunlight in the ordinary and drawing it out in surprising thought-provoking observations. It is this focus on finding the charm and magic of the commonplace and expressing it in words that deliver insight, amusement, peace and calm that defines this book.
All proceeds from the sale of Passing Shadows will benefit Warrior Expeditions, a nonprofit organization that helps veterans transition from their wartime experiences through therapeutic outdoor expeditions. A perfect gift book, especially during these post-pandemic transition days, it is available for purchase now in select local retail shops and on Amazon.com.
LIFE IS FULL OF SWEET SPOTS
Sweet spots, those special places in life that delight and bring us personal joy, fill the pages of this surprising and curious travel guide, Life Is Full of Sweet Spots. Written for anyone wanting to take a closer look at some of life’s most fruitful and well known hiding places of lasting happiness, this helpful guide explores the niches and nuances of the earth, the sea and sky, our bodies, minds and souls, and offers its readers new understanding of life and how its beauty and powers make us inwardly hum.
Written by the author of Dreams of a Wingless Child, a collection of award winning reflections in verse on nature and life, Life Is Full of Sweet Spots combines the author’s reflections and insights with the experiences and images of over 40 artists and individuals from 20 states, Canada and Australia, plus nuggets of insight, supportive research and notable quotes. It takes the reader from places of gardening, stargazing or touching something wild, to learning and loving, listening to the sounds of silence, or just simply being, as means of feeding emotional wellness and cravings for joy.
Published by Abbott Press, Bloomington, IN, and offered in soft and hard cover as well as ebook formats, Life Is Full of Sweet Spots ends with a compendium of listings and Internet links to actual places, activities and resources to support ideas sparked by the book itself.
DREAMS OF A WINGLESS CHILD
The poems found in Dreams of a Wingless Child are presented as an invitation to the reader–an encouragement to find happiness in simplicity, in imagination, in being in touch with whatever lies beyond the obvious.
Drawing on the creatures, rhythms and forces of the natural world as her primary source of imagery, award-winning poet Mary O’Connor looks at such subjects as the split heart hoof of a deer, the flight of hummingbirds and butterflies, and the presumed finality of stone and darkness and turns them into metaphors for the emotions and milestones of life.
It is through this connection, these fleeting moments of insight, that she finds a sense of place, and with it a realization that one need not look far to find an element of peace, of celebration, of the fulfillment of a dream in this inordinate world of which we are a part.
Life Is Full of Sweet Spots 