Book Review

 

Sunrise

I used to take pictures of beautiful sunsets in California. After I decided to move out of state, I put my house on the market, and it sold a lot sooner than I expected, so I had to rent a place to live in and finish my semester. The apartment I rented had floor to ceiling windows facing west in its living room, and I could see amazing sunsets from inside the apartment during my last few months in California.

From my cabin in Arkansas, sunsets appear like a big fiery ball among the trees. I can't really see the sun set. Early morning, however, I can watch it rise, and its spectacular view starts my days. Here's one:

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Editing

This is me in 2020, the moment I finished reducing my 5,000 pages of scribbles to 200 usable pages. About two months later, I realized those 200 pages had three different themes and would make three separate memoirs instead of one. You have to write before you can edit.

 

Lewis B. Smedes

"To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you." 
Lewis B. Smedes

Reflections

 

Books

 

Book Review

 

                                                                                                                  

Asian Lady Beetle

In Reflections: A Journey of Transformation, I mention Asian Lady Beetles. Here's one with unusual colors.

 

Book Review

 

Naked Lady

 

Book Review

 

Reflections

 Reflections: A Journey of Transformation is now available in paperback!

Book Review

A Cool Map

In Reflections, I talked about my road trip from California to Arkansas. I saw this cool map of the United States on the wall in one of the hotel rooms along the way. It's made with pieces of license plates.

Still #1

I am so grateful for my readers.
After two weeks, my book is still a #1 New Release.

 

Yogi Bhajan

“If you are willing to look at another person's behavior toward you as a reflection of the state of their relationship with themselves rather than a statement about your value as a person, then you will, over a period of time cease to react at all.”

Yogi Bhajan 

Book Review

 

Languages & Life Lessons

 

Book Review

 

reflections

reflections

June 8, 2018

Today, I learned the name of this beautifully brilliant red bird that comes to visit every day. This cardinal’s female counterpart has a different plumage, a subtler tan.

reflections

October 30, 2020

Today I learned more about cardinals — that cardinals don’t migrate, that cardinals are usually the first birds to visit feeders in the morning and the last to visit in the evenings, that during courtship, male cardinals express their affection by feeding female cardinals seeds.

 

Reflections

 

Haruki Murakami

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”
Haruki Murakami 

reflections
a journey of transformation

Cabin in the Woods

I had been mentally preparing for this day for a while — close to a year, first when I made the decision to leave California, and then with every step I took toward that goal: putting the condo on the market, leaving a college where I taught twelve hours a week, donating all my books to local libraries, giving everything else to neighbors, not accepting any new editing jobs, renting an apartment to live in to finish my semester once escrow closed, searching online for a new place in any other state, emailing my official notice everywhere I still worked, finding this cabin and contacting its agent, going through inspections, closing escrow, studying maps for the road trip, finding motels near the highway at the right intervals and booking rooms, taking the dogs to the vet for their vaccines so that I wouldn’t have to worry about that for a while, having my car checked for safety, saying goodbye to my students and colleagues, filling the trunk with a few boxes of basic necessities, and driving through the states while going through the entire spectrum of emotions and imagining infinite possibilities at my destination.

Finally, I was home.

Book Review

                                        

reflections: a journey of transformation

I am pleased to announce that my #memoir 

reflections: a journey of transformation

is now available on Amazon:

Kindle: https://amazon.com/reflections-journey-transformation-Afarin-Rava-ebook/dp/B0B33RN2Z4

Paperback: coming soon...

reflections: a journey of transformation

Coming soon... 

reflections: a journey of transformation

Accused, threatened, homeless, and hunted, Afarin leaves behind her life as she knows it, the life she has worked so hard to build, and goes to the woods to take refuge in the wilderness. Now, she has to learn to survive, and learn she does. Afarin Rava spends four years in the woods and writes about it.

Reader's Choice Awards

If you have enjoyed reading Languages & Life Lessons, click on the link below to vote for my memoir.
You'll have to use the arrows to get to page 6, where the memoirs are, and then scroll down to find my book. You will be asked to sign in with Google, Facebook, or Twitter for your vote to be accepted.

 https://www.tckpublishing.com/2022-tck-publishing-readers-choice-contest-voting-page/

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the oldest language...

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