My book ‘Open Secrets: A Maggie Dahl Mystery‘ was chosen by a local book club several months ago. This past Thursday I was invited to their monthly get-together at a restaurant in Glen Gardner, NJ, where they meet for a meal and discussion. I was treated to dinner and talked about the book and about writing. What a treat!

I’m very excited to be starting a new monthly autobiographical writing workshop on the second Friday of each month, starting September 12, from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm. The location will be the main Hunterdon County Library. You can register at the library’s website once they’ added it to their calendar.

Another summer, another sale at Smashwords. Talk about freedom! You can download all (that’s ALL) my eBooks for free through the month of July.

You can also find dozens and dozens of other free and discounted books by your favorite authors, and ones who’ll soon join your list of must-reads.

FIND MY BOOKS HERE (be sure to click on each one for the freebie) or just go to Smashwords summer sale page and start browsing. Hot reading fun in the summer time!

Narration provided by Wondervox

By Mark McNease

One Thing or Another is a column about life, aging, and the absurdities of it all. 

Midlife Waist Land 

Since this column was first written we’ve seen a revolution in weight loss with the introduction and rapid spread of GLP-1 drugs. I’ve been using one myself for awhile now and I’ve lost 30 pounds. Will they change America’s obesity epidemic, or be another disappointment when we finally stop using them—if we ever do? Only time and affordability will tell. Stay tuned for the long-term side effects.

Whether or not you think your 60s still count as midlife (who doesn’t anticipate celebrating their 120th birthday wheezing out a single candle on a grocery store cake, flanked by an anxious home health aide and an impatient funeral director), the fact remains that age and width are proportionate for most of us. Not all of us, of course. There are those among us who insist they’re only as old as they feel, despite sharp disagreement from titanium hips and birth certificates. You know who you are: you swear by kale smoothies, you’ve never met an elliptical you didn’t want to mount, and you start each day by posting life-affirming platitudes on social media.

Narration provided by Wondervox

By Mark McNease

It feels increasingly like something we can’t get away from even if we want to.

As someone who embraces technology I think it’s important to consider the ongoing  controversies surrounding  AI (artificial intelligence). Forms of it have been around for a long time. Rudimentary applications have been used in everything from self-checkout kiosks in grocery stores, to voice activation and automatic teller machines (ATMs). And now it’s being introduced—imposed?—in ways we often don’t want, from typing Word documents with annoying AI ‘assistants’ popping up on the page,’ to emails and texts that insist on writing themselves. It feels increasingly like something we can’t get away from even if we want to.

As a one-man production studio, I consider AI a tool that helps me accomplish my goals and maintain an output. I would never ‘write’ a novel with AI, but I use it to generate images and to do the sorts of research I used to perform online with key words and a Wikipedia page. It’s my responsibility to make sure that information is correct, but the hunting and gathering is made tremendously easier with AI. I also find the technology exciting in many ways. I don’t think we will ever be replaced by AI, or even if that would be such a bad thing for the planet, but there is a lot of fear around it.

Along with a constant downpour, Saturday brought a successful book reading and speaker event in Lambertville, NJ, at my home-away-from home: Soupcon at Bucks on Bridge Coffee Shop.

I helped Tara Benedetti’s mother, Lynda Young, publish her daughter’s book of poetry and arranged for a reading and speaker on schizophrenia. Shea Dibley, VP of  NAMI Hunterdon, spoke to us after the readings about his own experience living with schizophrenia. It was a true success, and an opportunity be of service.

Some photos

I met Phillip Guirand recently at one of my workshops and he asked me to help him get his book out. It was a pleasure! And it looks great.

“In this stirring and deeply personal narrative, Phillip Guirand charts the harrowing descent and spiritual awakening of a man wrestling with the consequences of his choices. Set against the backdrop of addiction, fractured relationships, and a world quick to condemn, this powerful story follows one man’s fight to reclaim his soul. With raw honesty and emotional intensity, Guirand delves into the pain of brokenness and the long, uphill battle toward forgiveness—not only from others, but from within.

Phillip Guirand brings unmatched authenticity to this redemptive tale. Drawing from real experiences and universal struggles, he offers readers more than a story—he offers a mirror. Through heartbreak and healing, Guirand delivers a message of hope: no matter how far one falls, redemption is always within reach.”

All times are eastern (New Jersey) – 2 Hours in most cases
Register at the links below

IN-PERSON WORKSHOPS IN LAMBERTVILLE
NEW HOPE ADULT WRITERS GROUP
NEW HOPE LIBRARY JOURNALING GROUP
CLINTON ADULT WRITERS GROUP
JULY WORKSHOPS VIA ZOOM
IN-PERSON WORKSHOPS IN SEPTEMBER

ADULT WRITERS GROUPS (ONGOING)

EVERY 2ND  AND 4TH TUESDAY
Adult Writers Group
6:00 – 7:00 pm
Location: New Hope Free Library
93 W. Ferry Street, New Hope, PA
RSVP

LAST WEDNESDAY OF EACH MONTH
Adult Writers Group
6:00 – 7:00 pm
65 Halstead St, Clinton, Clinton, NJ
REGISTER AT THE LIBRARY WEBSITE

MONTHLY AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL JOURNALING
NEW HOPE LIBRARY
EVERY FIRST WEDENSDAY (STARING JULY 2)
REGISTER HERE

SUMMER SESSIONS IN JULY! 

Fiction Writing Essentials (2 hours via Zoom – limit 8)
Monday, July 7 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM eastern ($40)
Explore the ins, outs, and mechanics of writing fiction.
DETAILS AND REGISTRATION HERE

Self-Publishing with KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) (2 hours via Zoom – limit 6)
Monday, July 28 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM eastern ($40)
For anyone interested in the how-to of self-publishing.
DETAILS AND REGISTRATION HERE