Magic exists.

Several years ago, I was a blogging newbie when I noticed a quirky batch of posts from a blogger who called herself Quiall. There were short poems, the occasional prose piece, some beautiful paintings, and those quips. Oh, those quips! There were inspirational or thought-provoking Daily Quips and hilarious Shady Quips like these:

• A good attitude may get you far in life.  A bad attitude may get you shot.
• Smile. It doesn’t cost anything, isn’t taxable and is legal. Now that is a subversive thought don’t you think?
• Bad luck is just good luck with a hangover.
• I have no problem with someone else being in charge, as long as they do what I want.
• If wishes were horses we’d be drowning in horse sh . . . .!
• …and so many more!

One day her blog, Butterfly Sand, had a short Christmas story that I couldn’t resist reblogging. Santa Claus is Dead was one of the more popular posts on my new little blog. Later, as part of a fundraiser for shelter animals, she contributed the story of how she was adopted by her beautiful cat-pals, Quinn and Ally. 

Very quietly and with almost no fanfare, she mentioned recently that she had collected some of her poetry, stories, and poems into a volume called A Collection of Words, published by in most digital formats by Canadian publisher Monsoon Books here, and in print format on Amazon Canada here.  (NOTE: I haven’t seen the print book because I don’t live in Canada. But Monsoon will send a download link to most digital formats. Their pdf reads fine, but the mobi/Kindle file does have a few formatting issues.)

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11 short stories, 11 poems and a smattering of original art work by a woman with a mission: to live life to the fullest!

An itty, bitty incurable disease will not stop me!

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Title: A Collection of Words

• Author: PE Read
• Genre: Poetry/Short Stories/Paintings
• Buy Links/ Publishers: Monsoon Books (Digital) and Amazon Canada (Print)
• Date of Publication: December 1, 2015
• Number of pages: 104
  

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Who is Pamela? Who am I? Some days I’m a child with self confidence issues. Some days I’m a young woman determined to change the world for the better. Some days I’m a hundred and two and wondering what the hell just happened. But isn’t that what life is all about? Each day is a wonder to be fully investigated . Each night is a realm to be thoroughly exploited. And everything in between is where we make our choices. I love to write or rather words flow from my fingertips and hopefully I understand them! I love to paint and I love life, my life. I refused to let an itty, bitty incurable disease interfere with my passions. There is still plenty of future ahead and I’m nosy!
Written for you from the Chilly North: Canada!

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My review of A Collection of Words: All the Stars

I’m completely unqualified to review this book. I don’t know anything about painting, and I’m ignorant when it comes to poetry. None of that matters. What’s important is that reading this little book made me feel good. The upbeat poems, the stories with their gentle twists, the beautiful paintings—these are all the very personal, completely charming, and irresistibly uplifting affirmations from the heart and soul of an artist who has every excuse NOT to be any of those things.

There are many reasons we read. Books unlock the secrets of a mysterious universe, the secrets of an unknowable heart. Books take us on adventures to places we could never go ourselves, and they introduce us to the infinite variety of real and imagined people. And sometimes, if we get lucky, a book will simply speak to us about very small things with very big meanings—what joy and happiness and hope look like. PE Read’s little book, A Collection of Words, was that for me.

As she says in one of her poems,

Magic exists

In the space between the words

In the ideas left unthought

And in the needs left unspoken.

PE Read lives in a world filled with magic, a world undefined by physical limitations and “an itty, bitty incurable disease” like MS. She shares that in A Collection of Words. Because magic exists.