A holiday season with limited joy

The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School has left most of us reeling at this season of holidays.The deaths of those dear little children and valiant teachers and administrators is so terribly sad. I grew up in gun country where all the members of a family would go on deer hunts to supply their winter's meat.But assault rifles like the one used by Adam Lanza are for wiping out, anniliation, not for hunting and don't belong in households. My mother had a 22 pistol that she kept at her bedside as protection until she was well into her 70's.She gave the pistol away when a family friend told her she could never protect herself from intruders at her age.
  There is another issue, that  of mental health that must be addressed. There are people who are born with mental problems that make them a danger to society.But the history of mental health hospitals in this country is not pretty, especially when the workers are as disturbed as the inmates. I do not defend the parent who tries to cope at home with a dangerous child, but I can understand why that parent cannot find the proper professional help.

Not so good memories from long ago

It has taken me many years to get beyond what happend and actually write a story. Of course, it will take weeks and months for me to write, edit, and edit some more. The story I am working on I call "The Ped" and it's based upon something that actually happened years ago when I was a teenager growing up in Vermont. Someone was hired by the local board of education and  that person seemed to be a pedophile. Whether he molested anyone is uncertain as back in those days of the early 1960's, no one talked. If something happened or something was seen, you kept it to yourself.
  I am changing the locale, the people involved and the incidents themselves to protect the innocent and "The Ped" should be in print by the end of 2013.
  The Jerry Sandusky trial and the bravery of the assistant coach who came forward to tell of what he knew made me know that I had to tell this story of brave teenagers and what they did to help a child molester's victims.

My ebooks sold!! Wow!

Hey, just got the good word. My ebooks, The Folksinger and His Songs and Imperfect Past have been sold to several Asian ebooks sources! Thanks to Strategic Book Publishing Group!

Write that memory down NOW!

My next book out will be Without Harry Dean which is my version of a family story. My father's older brother was a crackerjack air pilot back in the early days of flying. Sadly, he was badly injured in an air crash in 1931 and died hours later in Freeman Hospital, Joplin, Missouri.

My father and his siblings are long dead so I had no one to question about my air pilot uncle. So my story is mostly just a made up tale.

That's why I feel it is important for anyone reading this to write down those squibs of memory about an old aunt or uncle, a grandparent and any family member that comes to mind. Put into words everything you know about your family , give it as an insert in a birthday or holiday greeting card. You may never know, but perhaps there's a future family member who will wri
because your memories gave them inspiration.

New Jersey's Pinelands

The Pinelands, or Pine Barrens, of New Jersey are unique. Covering acres of land, long ago they were home to bog iron industries, then their vast bogs and lakes offered a perfect setting for cranberry harvesters. Driving through the Pinelands over a period of weeks, I fell in love with its landscape of pine trees, wild rhodendrons, and hollies, and then with two centuries old brick houses on either end of a small Pinelands town. Hence, my book, Comings and Goings, a Story of the New Jersey Pinelands, began.
Come to New Jersey, drive through the vast Pinelands, and you'll find yourself enchanted with this wild, haunting landscape.

New Jersey stories

My story of a grandmother's special gift to her beloved grandson, Diary Secrets, will be coming out in paperback this winter. It will be available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and will cost approximately $11.50. This is my Civil War story although most of my writings touch upon the Civil War or World War II. The story line goes this way. Young Charlotte Frazier escapes Civil War era Virginia with her special needs brother lest their crazy father murder them. They are taken in by a kind but elderly Quaker abolitionist, and from this safe haven, Charlotte eventually goes on to find love and happiness. She wills her old Virginia homestead to her grandson Ken, hoping that he can restore it and find his own happy life.

Coming out in kindle format in the next few weeks is my other story,The Folksinger, which tells of two childhood friends, Jim McFarland and Ted Peterson, who rise to musical fame in the 1960's . Jim remains beside Ted's side through very dark times, and after Ted's tragic death. Jim drops out of the world of music and devotes himself to saving high-risk teenagers. The Folksinger is definitely not light-hearted comedy, but it is also not dismal and depressing. This is my story of the longlasting effects of childhood sexual abuse and it has an underlying theme of the need to carry on no matter what life brings.

My Website!!!

Okay, it won't get awards for greatness, but I worked on it and now I have a website. It is

http://www.jbdinizo.com. Mostly, it tells about books that I will be publishing in the near future. Remember, you can always reach me at adinizo@hotmail.com.