A Day I'll Never Forget

That Tuesday morning in September 2001, I dressed for my school’s first day of classes. Good Morning America aired on the bedroom TV nearby, but I wasn’t tuned in to Charles Gibson. Rather, I focused on reviewing my lesson plans and checking off the mental list of preparations necessary for a successful start of the school year.

At 8:59, the television’s abrupt silence caught my attention. Wondering if the power had failed, I turned from the bathroom mirror toward the screen to witness a rare occurrence: a confused, mute host of a popular, upbeat morning show. Gibson’s too-calm demeanor belied a palpable tension. For a moment, he shuffled the papers on his desk and manipulated his earpiece. I expected the “Breaking News” warning to flash like it had in November 1963, the day of JFK’s assassination...another unforgettable moment in history--the kind of day when you recall exactly where you were, what you were doing, and how you felt.

The difference was that, nearly sixty years before, I had been sitting in my eighth grade math class when the announcement came over the loudspeaker, unable to watch Walter Cronkite’s profound reaction to breaking news until that evening. Like every family in America, my family gathered around our black-and-white TV until bedtime when we lay awake wondering if the world was ending.

Precisely at 9:00 am, a plane headed straight for one of the Twin Towers in New York City not far from Times Square where Charles Gibson sat in his GMA studio. A sickening explosion followed. Somehow, an eye-witness had caught the exact moment of impact. It was happening in real time. Gibson could only try to make sense of what his audience was already seeing. Was it a tragic accident? What actually was happening? Wait! Wasn’t that an American Airlines plane? When a second plane crashed into the South Tower, we knew. Every viewer had caught the indelible image, and fear engulfed a nation.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Just as Gibson began to make sense of the unfolding event, sorting the jumbled messages that surely deluged his earpiece, he learned of a plane crash in Pennsylvania and another plane crashing into the Pentagon. Could they be related? Had war reached our Atlantic shore? Surely not. This is America, after all--“land of the free and home of the brave.” Wars happen in faraway places, not here.

Within moments, President Bush had grounded every American airplane and put the U.S. military on high alert. Eyewitness reports, including photographs and videos taken by reporters and ordinary citizens, alike, flooded news stations. They were surreal; they were grim.

It was just the beginning.

I sank to the bed, paralysis gripping me. Yet I knew I had to go to work. Teachers, parents, and children would converge on the school at 9:30. Children needing reassurance would ask questions I couldn’t answer. I had a ten-minute drive in which to prepare.

On September 20th, 2001, President George W. Bush declared that the United States of America was at war. Life would never be the same.

Cindy L. Freeman is the author of three award-winning short stories, three published novels: Unrevealed, The Dark Room and I Want to Go Home, and After Rain, a book of weekly devotions prompted by the pandemic.  To learn more, visit her website: www.cindylfreeman.com. Her books are available at amazon.com or hightidepublications.com

Words Have Power

Recently, an interviewer asked me who inspired my desire to become a writer. Certainly there have been numerous “writer heroes” whose work I admire, some famous, others more obscure. But one person stands out as leaving the greatest impression upon me. Her name was Mrs. Davis, and she was my seventh-grade English teacher.

From an early age, I knew I would be a singer and a music teacher. That’s what I had studied in college, and, indeed, music education became my long career. But for many years, I set aside another persistent dream. Starting from an early age, I wrote journal entries, poems, stories, and plays. I couldn't help myself. I had a love affair with words and a burgeoning appreciation for the beauty of language.

Mrs. Davis’ job was to teach English to a bunch of pimply faced preteens. I remember her as young--probably straight out of college--beautiful, and kind. Yes, she taught us grammar, punctuation, and the importance of correct spelling, but the most important thing I learned from her was that carefully chosen words have power...the power to influence and the power to stir deep emotions.

Mrs. Davis assigned her students a weekly essay topic. Some of my classmates balked at this assignment, but I couldn’t wait for Mondays when we would see the week’s writing topic displayed on the blackboard in her classroom. I always wanted to get started immediately. Why? Partly because I loved to write but also because Mrs. Davis appreciated my writing. She never graded my essays below an A and always included an encouraging, affirming note. Additionally, she displayed my work on the bulletin board outside her classroom, and, as I learned later that year, she read my essays aloud to all of her classes.

I recall one instance in particular. As she was sharing my essay with the class, she began to cry. I don’t remember the topic, but I will never forget the euphoria I felt in realizing my words had stirred my favorite teacher to tears. That was the moment I realized that words have power.

If, in my teaching career, I have touched even one student as profoundly as Mrs. Davis touched me, it has all been worth it. To have your hero believe in you and admire your work is, indeed, powerful. Through the years, I’ve tried to locate Mrs. Davis...to thank her for her inspiration. Chances are, she is no longer alive, but she lives on in the heart of this "literary late bloomer" who finally fulfilled her dream of becoming an author.

Cindy L. Freeman is the author of three award-winning short stories and three published novels: Unrevealed, The Dark Room and I Want to Go Home. Website: www.cindylfreeman.com; Facebook page: Cindy L Freeman. Her books are available through amazon.com or www.hightidepublications.com. Coming soon: After Rain, Devotions for Comfort and Peace.

A Timely Story

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be homeless through no fault of your own? Suppose you are a teenager looking forward to her senior year with dreams of going to college. Imagine you live with your college-professor dad, your stay-at-home mom and two younger brothers in a comfortable home in an average middle-class neighborhood. Now imagine that idyllic picture, painted with the colors of hope and a bright future, fading to black.

In 2018, when I wrote my novel, I Want to Go Home (click title for Amazon link), I was trying to understand homelessness at its core. I found it challenging to create a plausible situation where Abby, the teenager, and her brothers lost their home and their security. After all, what events could possibly be extreme enough to plunge a comfortable middle-class family of Williamsburg, Virginia into financial ruin and a situation dire enough to compel the children to run away, avoiding foster care and ending up in a shelter in Washington, DC?

Little did I know that only two years later, the events of 2020 with its pandemic, political and racial unrest, and economic nosedive would happen. I could not have predicted that some breadwinners would die of COVID-19, that business owners would suddenly be left without their source of income or that families, many already forced to live paycheck to paycheck, would find themselves in danger of eviction. Had I waited to write I Want to Go Home, my research into the causes of homelessness would have been unnecessary. Now there is clear evidence of how quickly peoples’ lives and livelihoods can change.

On the news, I see a single mother with four children standing outside her apartment house in Chicago, tears running down her cheeks. She has lost her job because the company she worked for had to close. She wants to work; she wants to support her children, not lavishly, but with basic food and shelter. She cannot pay her rent. I see the owners of a popular restaurant in Washington, DC forced to close for three months, unable to pay their loyal staff. The business this couple poured their finances and energy into for twenty-five years is now in danger of foreclosure. It is their only source of income, which means they could also lose their home. These are only two examples from thousands of true stories that reveal how fragile life is and how easily whole families, even in the USA, can become homeless.

Little did I know that my fictional story would be so timely only two years after I wrote it. I was determined to depict a plausible homeless journey, but I was just as determined to end it with Abby’s survival and triumph. I wish I could do the same for my fellow citizens who are experiencing uncertainty, anxiety, and hopelessness. I wish I could guarantee happy endings for them, too. Unfortunately, I have no control over the current situation or their uncertain futures. But there are leaders who do have a degree of control. It’s time they set aside their partisan differences and worked together to create happy endings for real people experiencing real struggles.

Cindy L. Freeman is the author of two award-winning short stories and three published novels: Unrevealed, The Dark Room and I Want to Go Home. Website: www.cindylfreeman.com; Facebook page: Cindy L Freeman. Her books are available through amazon.com or hightidepublications.com. Coming soon: After Rain, Devotions for Comfort and Peace.

Marketing During a Pandemic

We authors are perfectly content sitting in our favorite comfy chairs, wearing our furry bunny slippers, with a cup of coffee nearby, and pecking away on our laptops all day. If truth be told, the pandemic has provided us with a socially acceptable reason to be socially distant.

But, if we want to sell books, we must market them. Marketing is the most challenging and odious aspect of being an author, doubly so during a pandemic or economic recession, triply so--is triply a word?--because, unless our last name is Patterson or Baldacci, most of us can’t afford to hire an agent or distributor.

Without our usual in-person book signings, tours, and festivals, we must rely on Amazon to sell books and keep our publishers happy. And as my publisher, Jeanne Johansen of High Tide Publications, knows, I live to make her heart sing. “Cha-ching” is her favorite song. So, she has been holding Zoom workshops with her authors to help us understand the confusing world of branding, metadata and search engine optimization. Oh my!

I’ve learned that my brand is Cindy L. Freeman, my author name. The key is to use that name consistently in my online presence: website, Facebook page, blog spot, Amazon bio and wherever my name appears on the internet. Okay, that’s not so hard to understand, but metadata is another story. Yikes!

According to the dictionary, “metadata is data that describes other data, as in describing the origin, structure, or characteristics of computer files, web pages, databases, or other digital resources.” Yawn! More simply put--for those of us with more simple minds--it is data about data. I’ll have to trust Jeanne on that one. But now I think I understand how to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to market my books.

Whenever I learn something new--rather, when something finally sinks in--I get excited and have to share. So, here goes. For each of our books, Jeanne challenged us to come up with multiple keywords. Keywords are words that are most frequently typed into Amazon’s search engine by readers looking for books like ours. For fiction, these words might relate to genre, topic, and character type. For nonfiction, they might identify a problem, solution, and audience.

So, my novel, Unrevealed, might come up in an Amazon search if someone entered any of these words or combinations: fiction, intrigue, romance, mystery, secret, heiress, business woman, lost sibling, powerful father, or family conflict. The goal is to optimize the chances of this happening.

My novel, The Dark Room, could be tagged with any of these keywords: fiction, family dynamics, child abuse, domestic abuse, hidden child, abuser, abused women, abused children, dysfunctional family, power and control and others.

Possible keywords for my novel, I Want to Go Home, include but are not limited to: fiction, homelessness, kids alone, teenager, brothers, protector, homeless kids, child protection, homeless shelters, etc. You get the idea.

So, how do authors ensure that our books pop up in searches? We must use the keywords often in our book descriptions, blog posts, websites, and social media posts. In this way we maximize the number of visitors and potential instances of our books being tagged. Okay, as long as I don't have to take off my bunny slippers, I think I can do that.

Wish me luck!

Cindy L. Freeman is the author of two award-winning short stories and three published novels: Unrevealed, The Dark Room and I Want to Go Home. Website: www.cindylfreeman.com; Facebook page: Cindy L Freeman. Her books are available through amazon.com or hightidepublications.com. Coming soon: After Rain, Devotions for Comfort and Peace.

The Best Medicine

“Laughter is the best medicine.” The origin of this quote goes back to Proverbs 17:22 in the Old Testament which says, “A joyful heart is good medicine” or literally “...causes good healing.” It’s true. Scientists have studied the physical benefits of a good laugh and found that laughing can actually strengthen the immune system and promote healing of diseases. There’s even a name for the science of laughter. Gelotology is the term coined in the 1960s by Dr. William F. Fry, a psychiatrist from Stanford University, California. According to Fry, laughter produces chemicals (endorphins) in the body that relieve stress and enhance physical and mental health.

Throughout the four months in which COVID-19 has ravaged the earth, many of us have shared jokes and comic strips with each other via text, email and social media as a way to ease the stress of isolation and quell the worry about ourselves, our loved ones, and our world. At this writing, more than 120,000 Americans have lost their lives to the virus, and while there are areas of our country where the spread of this terribly contagious disease seems to be leveling off, cases are spiking in other areas. That’s no laughing matter, especially to those who are ill or have lost loved ones or watched in helplessness as patients in their care died of the disease.

The second part of that quote from Proverbs is “But a broken spirit dries up the bones.” I’m convinced it is the loss of hope that causes a spirit to break. When someone’s spirit is broken, it cannot be restored by reading a joke or taking a laughter pill. To one who has lost hope, laughter is empty and mocking. To one who is hopeless, people who make jokes seem insensitive and devoid of empathy.

People who are brokenhearted and broken-spirited need time to grieve. Trying to cajole them out of their sadness, trying to make them laugh when they need a good cry serves only to stall their healing. If we encounter someone on a window ledge contemplating suicide, do we tell them a joke? Of course not! Instead, we attempt to offer them a glimmer of hope. Once we have talked them off the ledge, we must allow them time to grieve, time to deal with the cause of their despair. We need to assure them that even in their darkest hour, there is hope, that life is worth living. They might require professional help, but they also need a reminder of God’s faithful promise in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

So, let’s take another look at King Solomon’s proverb. It doesn’t actually say, “Laughter is the best medicine.” Rather it says, “A joyful heart causes good healing.” Yes, laughter promotes the release of healing chemicals. Yes, laughter is good for us, but we can’t expect those whose hearts are broken by suffering and hopelessness to feel like laughing again until first they have walked through the dark valley and shed cleansing tears of grief.

During this pandemic, it’s important to remind each other that our sovereign God loves us and wants to hear us laugh again. When we place our trust in the God of the universe, God infuses our fear and sadness with comfort, comfort that we can share with others. When we feel weak and anxious, God gives us His strength and replaces our hopelessness with joy...if we remember to call on Him...yes, joy even amid problems, disappointments, and seemingly impossible circumstances. Only God can give us a joyful spirit amid tragedy, sustaining our hope until we can laugh again.

Cindy L. Freeman is the author of three award-winning short stories and three published novels: Unrevealed, The Dark Room and I Want to Go Home. Website: www.cindylfreeman.com; Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cindy.l.freeman.9. Her books are available through amazon.com or www.hightidepublications.com 

I'm Ashamed

I’m ashamed; ashamed to be white; ashamed to be American.

I’m ashamed to live in a country where the so-called justice system is blatantly unjust; ashamed of the few white policemen who condone and participate in violence against fellow humans because of their skin color; ashamed of the looters and inciters who would take advantage of a situation for their own selfish gain. As a Caucasian parent and grandparent, I’m ashamed that Black parents must teach their children, for their very safety, not to trust the police, not to wear hoodies in public, not to jog in parks, and not to walk down the street with their hands in their pockets.

After all the gains made in the 1960s by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through intelligent rhetoric and non-violent demonstrations, how is it possible that our nation has scarcely moved an inch closer to sanity or equality?

Where do we go from here? For how long will we, as a country, tolerate the white men and women who think they are superior to anyone who is not white? When will we stop tolerating white people who control because they can; privileged white people who get away with overpowering people of color because they can? When will we stop teaching our children to avoid, shun, or bully non-white children?

When will it stop? When will the legal system, the judicial system, and the penal system finally uphold the Constitution of the United States of America? When will Native Americans and Black Americans and Mexican Americans and Asian Americans and Latino Americans finally be protected from the minority group of racist whites who think they are in charge simply because they are allowed to be in charge?

I’m convinced that nothing in America will change or improve until the sector of honorable, respectful, honest, ethical, just, and lawful white men and women--and there are many--stands up, once and for all, for what is honorable, respectful, honest, ethical, just, and lawful. Honorable white men and women need to take action, to stand up and be counted. Americans of color are weary of fighting battle after battle while white men and women let the war rage on because it perpetuates their position of privilege.

Last Sunday afternoon I attended an inspiring, unifying “Black Lives Matter” rally in Colonial Williamsburg. At least as many whites gathered in front of the Colonial Capitol as people of color. It was organized and led by the Williamsburg Police Department and clergy representing numerous religious denominations. The speakers, both black and white, were articulate, informed, and respectful. It was so uplifting! I wanted to shout, “Finally the message is getting through!” At least maybe it’s getting through in our small community that until Black Lives Matter, no lives matter. But it’s only the beginning. We must keep the momentum going.

Honorable white men and women are the only ones who can affect positive reform in this country. Honorable white cops, business owners, clergy, and elected officials. Why? Because they/we are the “privileged white.” Our communities need confident, brave white citizens who refuse to remain silent, who refuse to be racist or oppressive or abusive, men and women who refuse to tolerate hateful speech and behavior from other privileged whites.

Relinquishing our white privilege does not weaken us. On the contrary, it simply trades white supremacy for mutual respect.

America needs to hear from respectful white men and women who believe that every human is created in the image of God, possessing the absolute, inherent right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” I’m convinced this is how we make America great.

Cindy L. Freeman is the author of two award-winning short stories and three published novels: Unrevealed, The Dark Room and I Want to Go Home. Website: www.cindylfreeman.com; Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cindy.l.freeman.9. Her books are available from amazon.com or hightidepublications.com

Looking Forward

Don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not complaining. BUT! I need to get something off my chest.

I miss... kissing my husband. Yes, he wears a mask in the grocery store. Yes, he washes his hands upon returning, and yes, I sanitize the kitchen counters and door handles, but since asthma puts me at high risk, he’s determined not to expose me to Covid-19, so we settle for air hugs and kisses blown from a safe distance.

I miss... hugging my children and grandchildren. Not that we’re able to be together that often normally, but because both families live in rural areas, virtual options for connecting are limited.

I miss... seeing my students and colleagues. Zoom classes just aren’t the same.

I miss... going out to dinner. These days, our romantic date nights consist of dressing up in our best sweats to cook then eat dinner while sitting in our recliners and binge-watching “Heartland” on Netflix, followed by washing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. But, since there’s no kissing involved...

I miss... going to real church instead of virtual church, being greeted by friendly faces and firm handshakes, and joining in robust hymn singing.

I miss... visiting nursing homes. My heart aches for “my ladies” and others who must be feeling lonely without their usual visitors.

I miss... observing people in public settings where I get my best ideas for stories and characters.

I miss… concerts and baseball games and sharing a glass of wine with friends and neighbors.

No, I’m not complaining. Rather, I’m looking forward to the return of simple, everyday activities. When thousands (maybe millions) are suffering, dying, and mourning, I’m reminded to be grateful for good health, daily walks, family, and this extra time to read, pray, and write.

Until the return of "normal," let’s use this time of waiting to pray for the physical and spiritual healing of our country and our planet, and let’s boost each other’s spirits with hope and faith for a new and better normal.

Cindy L. Freeman is the author of numerous award-winning short stories and three published novels: Unrevealed, The Dark Room and I Want to Go Home. Website: www.cindylfreeman.com; Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cindy.l.freeman.9. Her books are available from amazon.com or hightidepublications.com