GRANDMA’S And GRANDPA’S WORDS Of WISDOM Helping Us To Live Happy Lives 🍂 🍁 By Award-Winning Author Elizabeth Upton
ABOUT THE BOOK:
From the award-winning author Elizabeth Upton comes a special book of sage advice and healing wisdom from grandma and grandpa…
As children, we were taught to “respect and listen to our wise elders.” This valuable advice has been passed down through generations by many grandparents, and it’s the focus of this delightful old-fashioned book. As we become adults, life can present challenges on our journey, but the simple, common-sense stories in this delightful book can guide us and help us lead happy lives in today’s world.
SNEAK PEEK EXCERPTS – Delightful Collection Of Short Stories
WISDOM – HOW RARE THOU ART
Grandma said that if you’re lucky you will meet someone deep and wise, who will teach you the secrets for happiness. She said that wisdom is greater than education, wealth, power or position, and that a life well-lived and strongly felt can make you wise in time.
Wisdom comes from all human experience, from suffering and joy. It comes from love and sharing, from humility and delight. Wisdom makes a lasting connection with your heart and with those you share it with. People blessed with wisdom are those who are able to embrace the world in love with kindness, generosity, and with natural grace. Children are wise, and they speak from innocence, simplicity, and honesty. They look into your eyes with the wisdom that comes from pure hearts. We need the wisdom of children and elders so that in time, with a life well-lived, we too will grow wise.
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FROM THE AUTHOR
Once upon a time, as little children, we knew how to listen from our hearts to those who had lived long years and learned from their experience. In today’s hurry, stress, and worry, we wonder how we could have forgotten so much good common-sense advice, intended to make our lives easier and happier. I feel that if most of us had remembered their wisdom, we would be making more music, dancing in the wind, singing with the birds, and kissing more roses.
Each page offers tasty bits of smart old-fashioned wisdom, reminding us that our lives don’t have to be as difficult as we make it. It’s a matter of slowing down for inner listening and pondering. Wise elders speak from caring hearts. It’s their special way of encouraging us to stay true to ourselves through life’s ups and downs.
Emotionally, we need to be connected to what makes good sense. The insight of elders offers us courage to move forward instead of backward and to keep our heads up rather than down. I have discovered that when we reverence their wisdom, we have a lot more fun in life.
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MORE BOOKS BY ELIZABETH UPTON
NONFICTION Secrets of a Nun: My Own Story
You Are a Sovereign Woman of Strength, Love, and Grace: Embrace Your Journey
The Silver Woman of Fire: Gather Your Nerve and Live
The Mystery of Time Is Who You Are: Answers for Life
The Comfort Prayer Book: A Gift For Your Heart
Become Great Through Love, Forgiveness, & Happiness: Be Brave, Be Bold, This is Your Moment
FICTION Murders in the Lonely Graveyard
The Shaman and The Mafia
The John Callahan Series At Home Among Sinners
The Web of Darkness and Light
Lovers’ Secrets and Revenge
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I invite all my readers to visit and follow Elizabeth Upton on her Amazon Author page and see all her fantastic books…
Having grown up in Fairburn, Kim Carter moved to Newnan with her husband, Julius,seven years ago.
Her writing room is adorned with signed photographs and movie memorabilia from Angela Lansbury and actor Ari Lehman, the original young Jason from “Friday the 13th,” among the multitude of macabre decor. A life-size Michael Myers mannequin leers at Carter from one corner of the room while One-Eyed Willie, the skeleton from the Goonies, sits on an opposite wall, keeping an eye on her writing.
“This is something that my husband had done before he passed away, and I know it’s probably rather creepy to the average person, but there’s a lot of really cool stuff in here. I don’t write horror – I’m not a Stephen King or a Dean Koontz,” she explains. “I just love to collect all the cool things. I have a sound machine, and I’ll cut the lights off, and it’s really inspiring.”
“I think writers are very eclectic, we’re weird people,” she adds. “We write because it’s who we are. It’s what leads us to start fifteen projects at once, even though they may not ever get completed, or even see the light of day.” Carter started writing in 1999. “It was when an illness left me homebound that I turned to writing as a form of therapy,” she says. What started with a sentence, a paragraph, and then a couple of pages turned into a book. “It was my story; it was the beginning of finding myself and retrieving my health,” says Carter.
Friends and neighbors read her first manuscript, which came to them rolled up and held together with rubber bands, and became fully invested in the story and characters. This encouraged her to keep writing. “We all have a story in us. We’re actually living one every day,” she explains.
For her second book, Carter says, “My faithful group came through again and read the book in small sections, rolled up with rubber bands. I had garnered more support by then, especially from my husband, Julius, who was convinced they needed to be published. I’d love to flippantly say, ‘That’s when we were off to the races. But nothing goes as planned. That is one thing of which I’m certain.”
Four books and two publishers later, Carter says her writing career stagnated. “The people who read them seemed to like them, but I wasn’t within reach of a broad audience.”
Losing confidence, writing for deadlines and not for fun, Carter also began experiencing more health problems. “I left several projects incomplete, turned the computer off, and closed my office door. It was no longer therapeutic but too challenging. I was done with writing.” Slipping into depression, Carter says she received a wakeup call from her best friend, Kelly Keylon. Says Carter, “Kelly says, ‘You’re too good, you’re not going to quit – if I have to get these books out there myself, I’ll do it.’ And he did!”
They revisited her older novels and updated them. Re-inspired, Carter says her hands were soon tap-dancing across the keys once again. “My publicist, Catherine Lyon, worked day and night for meager wages, and we secured the talented Keith Saunders as a cover designer,” she says.
Her seventh release, “Dark Secrets of the Bayou,” was released in late November 2020, with over 160+ Amazon reviews. Kim Carter says her eighth book, ” The Root Of All Evil, ” was released as part of the ‘Clara and Iris’ trilogy titled “The Root Of All Evil,” released on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2024. Carter’s new release in the ‘Clara and Iris ‘ trilogy will be available from Amazon on November 1st, 2025, making it a total of nine novel releases to her literary credit.
“Every month, my girl Cat (Townsend-Lyon) calls to tell me where my books have been sold, reaching places I’ve never even visited, the U.K., Canada, Australia, and even Japan and Spain, while also being featured in ‘The New Post!” Carter, who has always loved murder mysteries, goes back to her high school days when she watched “Murder She Wrote” with her family. Reading various mystery authors helped her develop her own writing style.
Previous educator and close friend Juli Simpson has also been instrumental in helping Carter with her writing and ideas. “So many times I will paint myself into a corner and then I’m like, how am I feasibly going to get out of this where it’s believable?”
Kim Carter never knows what will inspire her with an idea for a book.
“It may be a place that’s both beautiful and creepy, or it may be just something that a person says that triggers me,” she says. “I’ve been to the morgue, the medical examiner’s office, cemeteries in the middle of the night, just all kinds of places that inspire me.
Actor Woody Harrelson’s father, Charles Harrelson, and I became extraordinary pen pals when he was in a supermax (prison) in Florence, Colorado.” She also reaches out to people at the GBI, the Atlanta police department, and various homicide departments, which may inspire a new storyline.
Kim Carter advises up-and-coming writers: “I think the key is having your own place to write, surrounded by things that inspire you. Having your own space to write, where you can close it off, is truly instrumental.”
(Interview/image courtesy of writer Jennifer Dziedzic of of the AJC & Newnan-Cowets Magazine) ********************
ABOUT THE NOVELISTKIM CARTER
Novelist Kim Carter is a multi-award-winning author and critically acclaimed writer of gripping suspense, chilling thrillers, and haunting historical mysteries.
Ms. Carter is widely recognized for her vibrant characters in her ‘A Clara and Iris Mystery’ series, which features two overly curious widows who become private investigators. These humorous women are inspired by Kim’s mother and her mother’s best friend. The series now includes books one through four. Book two of this series, Murder Among The Tombstones, was chosen as a Finalist for the 2018 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award and a recipient of the 2017 TCK Publishers’ Readers’ Choice Award.
Her Mysteries and literary works include Sweet Dreams, Baby Belle, When Dawn Never Comes, Deadly Odds (chosen Editor’s Pick in Books Shelf Magazine in 2022), No Second Chances, ‘And The Forecast Called For Rain,’ and ‘Dark Secrets of the Bayou, ‘The Root Of All Evil, in 2024, and her newest ‘A Clara and Iris’ mystery’ Time Did Not Forget’ in Nov. 2025.
“Dark Secrets of The Bayou” has been awarded a Reader’s Favorite Editorial 5-Star Review, also chosen #1 Finalist for Best Historical Mystery from Reader’s Favorite 2021 book awards, and was awarded a 2021 Killer Nashville Finalist for The Silver Falchion Awards. In 2022, “Bayou” was chosen by The Author Shout book awards as a ‘Recommended Read.’
Kim’s writing career started after she suffered an illness that made her housebound for a couple of years. An avid reader of mystery novels herself, she embarked on writing to fill her time. Kim’s health struggles and successes have been chronicled on Lifetime Television in early 2000, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Women’s Day Magazine, and Guidepost.
Now, with nine thrilling mystery titles to her credit, Kim worked in many different capacities in county government. Still, her job as a correctional officer ultimately offered her opportunities to talk and interact with a diverse group of people. Her experience runs the gamut from inspiring success stories to tragic endings as she writes within her mysteries.
Kim began networking and connected with numerous homicide detectives, medical examiners, and prison officials. Her research has taken her to many places, including morgues, death row, and the occasional midnight visit to cemeteries to gain material for her novels. She is a Saint Leo University college graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology.
When she is not writing, she enjoys gardening, is an avid reader, and is a proud mother of four beautiful grown children; she resides and shares her time in Biloxi and Atlanta.
“The Other Shoes of Larry Martin” is a story of transformation; a story of emotional, physical, and metaphysical growth achieved by a remarkable young journalist, Larry Martin. Larry Martin is a young man – the only child of an abusive father – who was unwittingly indoctrinated into the belief system of the Alt-Right.
Larry began his journalism career writing for a right-wing website. After disaster strikes and he becomes homeless and unemployed, he finds the way forward to a prosperous, ethical, and enlightened future by profoundly changing all that he was.
“The Other Shoes of Lary Martin Series”
From Book Two Readers will highly enjoy “On Becoming Laurie Roberts” book 2 of ‘The Other Shoes of Larry Martin,’ a novel series with more political intrigue, family drama, and suspense. Another Best-Seller by Author Pavane Ravel!
Larry Martin in his quiet, kind, and mystical way, continues his journey to a new life, a new vision, and a new understanding. Larry has become a rising star in the world of progressive journalism. While only a few short months after being homeless, jobless, and friendless, Larry has acquired a family and friends. He’s fallen in love with a brilliant and beautiful woman who loves him in return.
Larry Martin, in his quiet, kind, and mystical way, continues his journey to a new life, a new vision, and a new understanding. Larry has become a rising star in the world of progressive journalism. While only a few short months after being homeless, jobless, and friendless, Larry has acquired a family and friends.
He’s fallen in love with a brilliant and beautiful woman who loves him in return. Even though Larry is now the most important journalist for a major liberal website in New York City, he has taken on a second full-time position at a prestigious architectural firm in Atlanta.
Yet, in spite of all his good fortune, this kind, talented, and a generous young man is soon to face insidious lies, outrageous betrayal, and horrific danger in book 2, and that is only the tip of the dramatic iceberg!
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“Larry Martin lives two very different lives, in two different worlds. In Book Three, his personal journey continues in what is now a 2024 PenCraft Book Award First Runner-Up winner of ‘Realistic Dramatic Fiction.’ Additionally, Book Three: The Board Extraction, was awarded a 2024 5-Star Book Review by Reader’s Favorite.”
Book Three Cover Reveal — “The Board Extraction”
As book three opens and Larry’s saga continues in Atlanta, GA, he is known as Laurie Roberts, the adopted son of a famous architect, Sherman Roberts. Laurie is President of Operations in his father’s international firm.
While Laurie grapples with corruption and theft in the Hong Kong office, he learns that Sherman’s life is threatened by an unseen but highly dangerous business consortium. Managing this threat puts both their lives in danger.
In Manhattan, NY, Laurie is an influential progressive journalist. He writes for The Political Standard, a massive digital newspaper using his pen name: Larry Martin. Peter Bennett is the Director of the paper and Larry’s dearest friend.
Trouble comes for Larry…
The Political Standard’s board of directors are extremely upset with him. Larry is forced to fend off another journalist’s unscrupulous intent to destroy him if he doesn’t give her what she wants. And when Peter Bennett is physically assaulted, Larry jumps into high gear and quick thinking to negotiate a delicate situation that is personal to him.
The Board Extraction moves swiftly through nonstop events. And through it all, Larry remains highly tactical, metaphysical, calm, kind, and immensely brilliant… *********
About The Author
Pavane Ravel is an award-winning, acclaimed, influential writer and novelist of literary realistic fiction and author of her introductory novel series, “The Other Shoes of Larry Martin,” with book one released in Oct. 2021 titled “Revelation of Lies,” while book two titled “On Becoming Laurie Roberts” was released in Feb. 2023.
Pavane’s book two won first runner-up placement in realistic drama fiction given by “The PenCraft Book Awards” in October 2023. Ravel’s novels are available from her official website (pavaneravel.com), Amazon Books, Amazon Kindle, and Kindle Unlimited while featured in many fine online bookstores, magazines, and online reader sites.
She has always wanted to be a full-time writer and finally reached the point where that dream is a reality. She has traveled extensively over the years and has seen nearly the entire United States, much of Canada, Europe, and some of South and Central America. Pavane also studied political science and journalism at universities in the United States and Europe.
Pavane is happily married and has raised successful grown children. She enjoys discussing economics after working as a commodities broker. She and her family reside in New York, and she shares her time concentrating on family, close friends, and writing. She also continues to enjoy international traveling.
For Pavane, who is passionate about politics and societal issues, these books and this series are important stories to tell. Larry Martin is a truly complex and fascinating character as a unique progressive hero. Pavane enjoys humor and loves to engage and connect with readers.
She welcomes readers’ thoughts and comments through her website.
CAT is excited to share a cover reveal as our writer Elizabeth Upton is currently working on her next non-fiction book, which will be released in mid-spring and will be titled:
BECOME YOUR OWN HERO BE EMPOWERED TO MOVE FORWARD WITH RESILIENCE, STRENGTH, AND COURAGE.
Here is a small excerpt from one of the ending chapters for you to enjoy!
Only you can lift yourself out of grief, loneliness, depression from loss, and all the manners of suffering that you will experience throughout your life be it great or be it small. This is your human condition and what it means to be a human- being. Life is what you make of it and not always what you think you deserve. Our human existence is sometimes easy and sometimes hard. And your daily challenge is not to lay down and give up, but to lift yourself out and up no matter what is going on in your life.
We carry emotional wounds from our past into our evolving lives. Sometimes, such wounds are healed, but the scars remain. We are called to move forward and upward, no matter how difficult our life journey becomes. There comes a time when you will appreciate how wonderfully brave you have been by overcoming your life’s challenges. This realization increases your resilience by encouraging you to keep moving forward no matter what.
Even earth’s creatures know when and how to give and receive comfort. The great elephants move in closer to each other, rubbing their trunks around their suffering companions. They know how to mourn and go to graveyards caressing the bones of their once-upon friends in slow reflective movements. And one by one they move on.
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NEW BOOK COVER REVEAL
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WE ARE GLORIOUS WOMEN
STRONG AND FEARLESS AS THE SEA
UNTOUCHABLE BY FEAR
FOR WE LIVE WILD AMONG THE MOUNTAINS AND THE TREES
PROTECTED BY EARTH’S CREATURES BE THEM LARGE OR SMALL
WE ARE GLORIOUS WOMEN WITH OUR HAIR
LIFTING HIGH WITH THE SUNSHINES
COME SING WITH US
COME SHOUT WITH US
WE ARE GLORIOUS WOMEN BRAVE AND STRONG
COME LAUGH WITH US LOVING OUR LAND
AND LOVING ALL PEOPLES
REACHING OUT TO YOUR HANDS
IT’S TIME TO SING AND DANCE WITHUS
WE ARE GLORIOUS WOMEN
FOREVER THAT’S WHO WE ARE . . .
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth Upton is an award-winning author and influential writer of gripping romantic thrillers and inspiring self-help nonfiction books.
Her best-selling books, ‘Secrets of a Nun: My Own Story,’ ‘The Silver Woman of Fire’ and ‘The Healing Swords of Love and Innocence’ helped set her firmly within the world’s literary map. With many novels to her credit, her newest fiction book, released in June 2022, titled ‘Lovers’ Secrets and Revenge,’ a gripping romantic thriller, while her new non-fiction release titled ‘You Are a Sovereign Woman of Strength, Love, and Grace: Embrace Your Journey.’
Elizabeth’s favorite book she enjoyed writing was ‘The Shaman and The Mafia,’ she shares, “The creation of this story has been an exciting journey. If possible, I would love to meet all of the characters in this book in real life.” Elizabeth’s nonfiction books and novels are available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle and are featured on fine literary book sites and magazines.
Elizabeth was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA., until the age of sixteen, when she entered a New York State Convent and became a nun for twenty years, but she yearned for a more authentic spiritual life. Elizabeth left the convent and chose to attend and receive her B.A. from Syracuse University.
Returning to her native state of California, she attended and received her M.A. in psychology from Chapman University. The Author began working for over thirty years in family counseling as a social worker and probation officer working with troubled teens and abused children. She is a speaker, spiritual mentor, and advisor.
Elizabeth is happily married and enjoys writing books for all her readers and fans worldwide. When the Author is not writing, she works out with a personal trainer to stay fit and healthy; she loves long walks on the beach with her husband and dog. She enjoys reading good books by some of her favorite authors like Geraldine Brooks, Hanh, Jerry Archer, Joseph Murphy, and Michael Connelly.
Elizabeth and her husband reside in Santa Barbara, California.
Peace begins with loving thoughts. Peace has the power to heal the minds and hearts of people worldwide. The enemy of peace is violence. War is the exterior manifestation of people’s attitudes and emotions. Change these and we can change the world. . .
~Elizabeth Upton Author
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In our constantly changing and evolving world, this is a time for prayers of peace. We can seek peace from within ourselves to soothe the fears and stress that come with the many changes happening like a new incoming president, as well as to support the hopeful ceasefire and the release of hostages in the agreement between Hamas, Palestinians, and Israel, the seemingly constant shootings, the New Orleans and Las Vegas explosions.
We may not be able to control these events; however, we can turn to prayer and peace to help our hearts and the hearts of others feel they are not alone. Supporting one another in unity is the essence of our humanity, capable of overcoming the struggles of war, alleviating our fears of the unknown, and revealing the love we share at our best.
May you find peace and hope by sharing this excerpt from my new book project, which will be my next non-fiction book release coming in the next few months. . .
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God’s Light in a Broken World: The Lighthouse of Hope
Book Project Excerpt:
“Peace begins with loving thoughts. Peace has the power to heal the minds and hearts of people throughout the world. The enemy of peace is violence. War is the exterior manifestation of people’s attitudes and emotions. Change these and we change the world.
Years ago, Costa Rica’s president, a former general, made the courageous decision to dissolve the country’s military because he believed in the power of peace. Since then Costa Rica has been blessed with a productive economy, with most of their resources directed toward education and preserving the rainforest. When I visited this beautiful country, its vibrant energy offered hope that all nations can live with hope and peace.
There have been many times in my life when I’ve had to confront anger in issues of social justice; the mistreatment of elders and helpless people. I’ve been upset about people’s disregard for our planet and the abuse of its creatures. What is good, right, and fair always burns inside me.
Particularly, when I was a nun, I learned that anger can serve as an engine when it’s directed toward positive social action. Anger is emotional energy and how we direct it is in our control. Every form of violence is anger out of control. Peace is not passivity. Peace is purposeful. Peace achieves more because it is reflection. It takes perseverance.
Anger is the master of deception. It hides behind social acceptability, justification, and rationalism.
Peace expands from your heart through the power of love. Peace is transformational. Peace affects everyone and everything. Only peace can dissolve anger. Negative feelings and attitudes are in your control to change. Choose peace. Choose joy. Choose goodwill and you will know what it is to live with grace”. . .
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A universal prayer for peace
“Master of Peace, Creator of all things. May it be thy will to put an end to war and bloodshed on earth, and to spread a great and wonderful peace over the whole world”
