by Iona Morrison | Mar 12, 2017
A new contract is signed on another book. A blurb is finished along with the infamous tag line. In every book that I write there is a subject tucked in it somewhere, which is near and dear to my heart. From human trafficking to domestic violence, life constantly dishes up some hard stuff for people to overcome. Because of it there are limitless storylines with everyday people who are the real heroes and heroines.
I’ve often wondered with all the pain, sickness, and suffering that humanity experiences why we are not kinder and more humane in our treatment of one other. The old saying “Do unto others” is something we should consider all the time. You can’t live long on this earth without the need for someone’s compassion in your own life. It seems to me we should go out of our way to make it easier on one another to survive and not harder.
I’m grateful for the many kindnesses shown me. I realize the pull and tug to blame the other for my lot in life is great, but as my mom used to tell me life is what you make it. I do have choices and those choices have consequences which I must take responsibility for. My life is not perfect, but its mine. I’ve made a choice to be kind because I know how kindness has impacted me. I have chosen to reduce my faith to its simplest form…Love God, and love my neighbor as myself. There is so much freedom in living this out. I like to smile at strangers, listen to someone tell me how their life is going, and let go of the wrongs that have been done to me. I find it freeing to enjoy music, dance as way of joyous expression, and glean from the younger generations. The millennials have got a lot of things right. I don’t always get it right, but I keep trying. I’m in competition with myself to be the best version of me I can be.
Life is a veritable smorgasbord with all kinds of things to choose from. Some are life giving and others not so much. Some I choose and others I just get. I may not always be able to control what I face, but I can control my reaction to it.
by Iona Morrison | Feb 5, 2017
I believe that love wins, character counts, and kindness makes a difference in the world. I don’t believe that the ends justify the means. The way you reach the end is just as important as the results. Fear may speak the loudest, but peace rules the day. Leaders may rise on the wave of hate and bigotry, but love has the ultimate power to resist.
I’m not naïve many terrible things have happened because of hate and bigotry, but amazing stories of love shine a light through the troubles of our darkest hours in history. People rise to the occasion when their backs are against the wall. I remember the day I first visited the Yad Vashem (Holocaust Memorial) in Israel. The pictures of the death and destruction of a people simply because of who they were moved me to tears more than once. The stories that emerged of the gentiles who risked all to save some was equally powerful. The Jewish people are almost always first on the scene in disasters, they stand with those being persecuted, they promote life through the arts, because they know what it is to be murdered for simply being who they are.
It is easy to be lulled to sleep in life believing that everything will stay the same. Having fought for something once means you’ll never have to fight again. As long as there is an other you can blame you’ll never have to take the heat yourself. But life has a way of teaching us change is constant and the one sure thing in life. Every generation we’ll have to fight for the things they hold dear because there is always someone who wants to take it away. Eventually, everyone will become the other in the us against them game, and we can easily be swayed by the words of the next leader peddling another brand of hate in a new package.
For me I’ve chosen to love. Trying to figure out who is deserving and who is not is too great of a burden. Some might say I’m not worthy. I’ve decided to go with the tested and true words of one of this world’s greatest leaders. “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
by Iona Morrison | Jan 31, 2017
#IndieAuthorsBeSeen Spotlight on Iona Morrison – Author. Her latest in the Blue Cove Mystery novels just came out and …
Posted by Clara Grace Walker- Author on Sunday, January 29, 2017
by Iona Morrison | Jan 1, 2017
I can remember playing hide and seek as a kid with boundless energy. I loved the part when the counting was done and I could yell out ‘ready or not here I come’. Ah, life was so simple then. My parents did the worrying, and I did all the playing. Somewhere between those young years and early teens I got in a big hurry to grow up. What was I thinking? Freedom! The chance to do what I wanted. No one to tell me what to do. Again, I ask what was I thinking?
“Nothing is ever free” my dad used to say, especially when he thought one of us kids were about to ask for money. There’s a hidden cost somewhere. With it came the lecture of the value of work, and the pleasure of a job well done. I loved when he told me ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’. I knew he had to be wrong because work didn’t seem to make him happy. He counted down the years until he could retire.
My brilliant idea was, he must have chosen the wrong career. I responded by daydreaming and making a plan for my great life. And plan I did. Waiting, I did a lot of that too. Those were some of the slowest years I can remember. Most of those plans never materialized anyway. Life happened instead. You know what I’m talking about, friends, my first kiss, first love, first child and so on. All great moments in time and memories.
My dad was right. Everything cost something. With freedom comes lots responsibilities, ownership of my own mistakes, and of course, people who still tell me what to do. Only now with each passing year I get to do it all in an older body. The years no longer crawl by, but are rapidly speeding by so quickly that ten years ago seems like yesterday. I hear each new year calling out ‘ready or not here I come’ and I’m grateful to be found and to see it come.
What life has taught me is to live in each moment. Time doesn’t stand still for anyone and if you blink you can miss it altogether. Love now, write now, simply put enjoy now. Life can be rough at times, but it can also be amazing. 2017 has rolled in and I stayed up to watch it. No I didn’t party, but I read a good book and waited patiently to cheer its coming with my husband. Happy 2017 may it be a kind year to you and those you love.
by Iona Morrison | Dec 16, 2016
I shared this on Cathrine Goldstein’s blog. She is a great author. You can find her at https://cathrinegoldstein.wordpress.com/
Moments of Magic in the Midst of Ordinary — With Iona Morrison
This week on Nitty Gritty Romance, we are featuring the wonderful Iona Morrison, who shares what Happiness means to her…
From Iona:
Moments of Magic in the midst of Ordinary
My youngest grandson wiggled, hopping from one chair to the next, asking one question after another. I smiled, answering what I could before he bounded off on another topic. A chuckle desperately wanted to emerge as I watched him until I was dizzy and had to look away. A surprising warm feeling of happiness engulfed me as he continued to chatter on turning somersaults across my living room floor while all the ornaments rattled on the tree.
Watching his non-stop motion, I couldn’t help but think of my son, his father, at the same age. He was another big bundle of energy who chattered from the time he opened his eyes in the morning until he closed them in exhaustion at the end of the day. Sunshine wrapped up in a small boy’s body with loads of energy to spare. If I told him once, I must have said it hundreds of times you’ll have a child just like you some day and the little person wiggling around my living room was proof of the power of those words. It was about self-preservation and finding a measure of sanity in the chaos of a moment that I had uttered, those powerful words known as the Mother’s Curse. May I insert right here that I doubt the words are a curse at all, but rather a powerful blessing. My mother never meant more to me than when I was raising my sons. She had many laughs at my expense as I told her stories of another one of their escapades, even as I am chuckling watching my wiggly grandson.
Times like this make me sigh with contentment and remind me what real happiness is. Life is fragile and broken, but beautiful with moments of magic in the midst of the ordinary. I am happiest when I love, and I’m with those who love me; when I give of myself and when I watch my children with their children in the circle of life.
*****
Iona is sharing a blurb and excerpt from her latest release:
Dance with a Devil !
Coming In January and on pre-order now: Dance with a Devil, the fourth book in the Blue Cove Mystery Series.
Blurb:
Jessie is enjoying an evening run, grateful her life is finally back to normal. Starting the incline toward home, a sudden terror grips her. Someone is watching her. She picks up her pace, but he’s hot on her heels—and he means to kill her. She narrowly manages to elude her pursuer and reach the safety of her house. The first one she calls for help is the man she has grown to love, Matt Parker.
Matt already has his hands full dealing with a notorious hitman who’s in the area and a thug who followed a visitor to Blue Cove. Now Jessie is in danger, and Matt will do anything to keep her safe. He can’t lose her now.
When Matt becomes the target, it’s Jessie’s turn to help. She has a few surprises in store as a few ghostly friends come to her aid.
Excerpt:
A bullet splintered the bark of the tree where she had been standing. Jessie ran. She could hear someone crashing through the brush not far behind her. Another bullet missed her, hitting a little to the right, kicking up dirt and leaves on the ground. She ran faster. Up ahead, she could see a branch hanging low, and she did what she had done many times as a kid. She reached out, grabbed it as she ran by, and swung herself up into the tree to hide. She got a foot on a low branch and climbed up further, out of sight, her dress snagging on twigs. Her feet screamed in pain, her palms were slick with blood. Be silent! She crouched, one arm around the main trunk, trying to stifle her breathing. Her heart pumped hard, her ears strained for any sound. She took her gun from the holster, but her hand wouldn’t stop shaking. A branch snapped, and she jerked. Quiet! She covered her mouth with her hand. He was still coming, the hunter hunting his prey. He wasn’t trying to be quiet. Branches snapped, and she heard the thud of running footsteps. Jessie clung to the trunk, still as a piece of tree bark.
It sounds fabulous! Treat yourself to a holiday gift and pre-order today!
Where to buy?
And where can you find Iona?
