Bravest Thing (He Ever Did)

Lake Jesper Hasnaoui

I write this "safely" from the welcome home of my own personal blog. No expectations to fulfill here. No wait times for publishing. No need to use every word perfectly and without a hint of waste. No worries of vitriol or going viral; of enduring fame, infamy, and everything in between. Just writing. Writing what's on my mind. Writing words... for the sake of writing words. And the word that's on my mind today as I write is disconnected . No, I don't exactly mean my book. I refer to what it truly means to be dis connected , and then  connected. Disconnected. The great doubled-meaning word. To disconnect from screens is to connect with reality. To connect to screens is to disconnect from reality. It's perfectly simple. It's perfectly impossible. You know, I've quickly found out what I hate the very most about being an author (not that I consider myself an "author"). It's the self-promotion. More specifically, it's the self-promotion on

I have a small favour to ask...  If you have any teacher friends, please pass on the following: I have created a novel study for my book, Disconnected: The Broken Path . The novel study is for grades 5-7. In it I have grammar work, comprehension questions, author insider-information on the book, a health action plan, enrichment activities, crosswords, word scrambles, word searches, and much more! The best part is... it's FREE. Simply go to TeachersPayTeachers to download the novel study. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Disconnected-The-Broken-Path-Authors-Own-Novel-Study-7998771?st=9e55143e201f1d795a106a02cd0ffeeb

  There are at least two reasons why I'm not the right person to slam the new movie, Father Stu . The first being that I don't really like movies. Not many, anyway. I haven't stepped foot inside a movie theatre in nearly twelve years. I believe that was to see Toy Story 3 . Nor do I have any of those Netflix Prime Plus Disney Stack Amazon subscriptions, or whatever they're called. I'd rather watch a football game, or an episode of Alone .  The second reason I ought not to slam Father Stu is because, well, I have never watched it. Nor will I. Why do I say this? You need to check out Austin Ruse's critique of the movie over at Crisis Magazine . The review was... shocking. A few brief snippets: "I cannot express how much I hated the new movie  Father Stu , at least up to a point . Up to that point, I really hated it. I emailed friends how much I hated it. I railed at my wife and children how much I hated it. I shouted down the hallway how much I hated it. Dow

  My initial two-week book launch is completed. Thank you all for your tremendous support. It means the world to me. However, things are far from over… Here’s a little hint of the back-end of selling a book from an indie perspective. You write the book (and get it professionally edited/formatted). Done. Then you release the book with a launch team and try to attain as many Amazon reviews as possible. Done. But then for most authors, you hire ads such as Amazon, BookBub, TheFussyLibrarian, etc. in order to sell as many e-Books as possible. In a sense, they play the market to see which ads work, and which ones tank. I am over-simplifying the process, but you see what I mean. Again, it’s all about the e-Book. But for me this final step is far different. With a youth novel (again, grown-ups will love it as well), it’s mostly about organic growth with a good ole physical copy of a book. Parents need to trust the authors of books for their kids. So it goes as such: A person reads the

  UPDATE: Well, today someone tried to grab my hand while praying the Our Father. This person didn't sanitize three times first. I was horrified, and felt unsafe! Needless to say, I will be running back to the TLM. At least there is no hand-holding there.  See you next April Fool's Day... * * * Months in the making for sure. Particularly since Pope Francis' motu proprio which took a fatal shot at the traditional Latin Mass. Agree or disagree. Whatever. What's done is done. The fact is that since last July I've been to just one traditional Latin Mass. It disappeared on me. God clearly has been calling my family to a different style of worship. Otherwise he would provide the TLM! There are consequences to this. By that I mean, if one is called to a different style of worship, then it is important to embrace it. How else can one find peace? And so, we are back with the folk music, felt banners, and emphasis on active participation. Only this time everything is differen