Being in a Relationship

Here are the things I learned being in a relationship for a bit over a decade:

1. Communication is key. If you can’t share things—good or bad—with your significant other the relationship will not work or evolve. 

2. If something is bothering you about the other person or about what’s going on with you as a couple you have to speak up and let your partner know about it. Without you speaking up things cannot get fixed. 

3. The other person should accept you for who you are and not expect you to change. However, if your habits or actions hurt the other person that should be worked on. The same holds true for you. You should accept the other person for who they are and not expect them to change. But if their habits or actions hurt you they should work on that. 

4. If your relationship has problems you don’t just walk away from the relationship. You should have an open and honest discussion about it and try to fix things, either on your own or with the help of a counselor or therapist. After that if both of you feel that it is best to part ways then do so but not until you gave it your all to fix things and make it work. Especially if the relationship is important to you. 

5. When your partner shares something with you listen and don’t judge or criticize. Make your partner feel comfortable sharing things with you. When you reply don’t raise your voice or talk back in a nasty tone. That will only hurt your partner and make them hesitate to share things with you in the future.

6. Your partner’s feelings are important. Before you do something think about how that will affect your partner. Don’t repeatedly do something that hurts them. 

7. Don’t lie to them or make up excuses about something. If you do it will make it harder for them trust you.

8. If your partner cannot do something for whatever reason, don’t judge or criticize them. Find out what’s going on and help them out by doing it for them, if possible. 

9. Major decisions should be made by both people. One can finalize things but both have to participate in the planning and solving of whatever it is. One person cannot expect the other to do everything from start to finish and then just go along with it. It takes two people to make things work. 

10. It’s ok to have some alone time but when two people spend most of their time apart from each other then the time they can spend together should be spent together and not alone or separately with other people. 

How I Wrote and Published My Debut Novel

Ever since I mastered the English language it was my dream to be a published author with many books to my name. I didn't want to publish just poetry and lyric books. I wanted to write and publish my own novel. It took a while but finally I made that dream a reality. I have brought to life my debut novel called The Secret Life of Ashley Miles, which is now available on lulu.com, Amazon, and barnesandnoble.com.

I wanted to share with you my journey of bringing The Secret Life of Ashley Miles to life. What led me to write the novel, the process of writing it, which involved editing, and finally getting it published into a paperback book. Hopefully, you will find what I share with you useful and will be able to apply it if you are thinking of writing and publishing a novel yourself.

What Led Me to Write The Secret Life of Ashley Miles

Sometimes stories are born from a title or a phrase that pops into a writer's head. That is what happened to me and how my debut novel The Secret Life of Ashley Miles came to life.

A few years ago, as I was walking home from the library one day, the title The Secret Life of Ashley Miles came into my head. I have no idea why it happened, and why that particular title appeared as opposed to another one, but I am sure glad it did because after this title came to me a story idea was beginning to come together in my head. The main character would be Ashley Miles and the story would be about her life after graduating high school. It would include struggles of finding work, moving out on your own, falling in love and establishing a lasting relationship, and making your dreams a reality... something that many teens face and what I had faced as well and was actually facing still at the moment of writing the novel...

Food for Thought

• Let me tell you that while writing the story may be hard, editing the story is even harder. In this step you not only have to make sure that all your grammar, punctuation and spelling is correct, but you also have to make sure that everything flows smoothly and that there are no flaws in the story. You have to sit there reading every chapter, not only with your head but with your eyes and edit it as you read. Then when you are done you have to read the novel again from start to finish and most likely edit some more. It seems like a never-ending process and it is hard to tell yourself that you are finally done and that no more editing is required. You want the novel to be perfect and it can be hard to decide if you got there or if there are still minor things that need to be altered. To help you with all this it is a good idea to get other people to read the novel and offer their feedback. This can help you fix any issues you may have overlooked and improve the story.

• When you get negative feedback for your novel do not get discouraged. If your novel is published don't unpublish it. And if you were planning to publish it don't stop. That negative feedback is just the opinion of that person and does not mean that your novel is of a poor quality and that the story is not good enough to be published and shared with the world. You can't please everyone. There will always be haters. See if you can get something positive out of that negative feedback and then push it aside!

My Journey Writing The Secret Life of Ashley Miles

As soon as I came home that day, I opened up a blank MS Word document and wrote down the title, jotting down the story ideas that had come to me. They included things happening to Ashley and other characters that would be in the story. Doing that I realized that the things I was writing down resembled my own personal experiences. The things that the main character (Ashley Miles) was going to go through were things that I had gone through and experienced in my own life. Now the story would take on a whole new meaning for me because it would be based on what I had gone through and experienced in my own life. I would essentially be sharing a part of myself with the world.

After getting those ideas down on paper I began to write the story. I didn't care about grammar, punctuation, spelling or formatting. All I cared about was bringing the story to life. So, while writing, I focused solely on getting the story on paper and nothing else. The thorough editing would come once I finished writing the story. I will admit though that there were moments where I had written some lines and then rewrote them as I had slightly different ideas or different wording pop into my head right after the original thought. For the most part though I didn't really edit as that wasn't my goal at that moment. Starting and finishing the story was.

Little by little the story began to unfold. Since it was based on my own personal experiences writing the story came naturally and with ease. I was happy with the way things were turning out and how the story was coming together. Unfortunately, about midway through writing the novel I hit a roadblock, which was quite unexpected for me.

It was time to write a new chapter in the story but my mind drew a blank and I had no idea how to proceed further. Whenever I managed to come up with something I ended up rejecting it. I was left with a blank page and had to start all over again. I didn't want to force anything so I put the novel aside and didn't work on it any further for a while. It was after that hiatus, which lasted probably at least a few months, that things started to progress in the story. The words just started coming to me. A new chapter was born and the story continued. After that it was smooth sailing in terms of writing the story until its ending. There were no more roadblocks like that to face.

I am not sure how long it actually took me to write the novel from start to finish, but it doesn't really matter. The important thing was that it was brought to life. All that was left to do was edit it and then I would be ready to share the novel with the world.

Having edited the novel many times I thought the novel was ready to be shared with the world so I chose to publish it with Lulu. I started the book project and was ready to upload the file, get an ISBN for my book, create the book cover, and then complete the rest of the process to get my book published... Before proceeding though I decided it would be best to get some people to read the novel first and let me know their thoughts on it. This way, in the event that I had missed something, whether it'd be typos or minor flaws in the storyline or the flow of the story, I'd be able to get it fixed before publishing the novel.

I didn't want to email people my manuscript, for fear of it being intercepted, so I published the novel on writing.com, made it a private item, and set a passkey for it so it could be accessed by those to whom I sent the link. No one else would have access to the novel but those few people.

The few people (people I knew) that I had asked to read my novel and provide feedback for it gave positive feedback. They told me that they loved the story, enjoyed reading it from start to finish, and that they would not change anything in the story. That made me feel great about the novel and I was ready to get back to my book project on Lulu and proceed to upload the manuscript, create my book cover, and finally publish the book.

Then things suddenly came to a stop when I received feedback from one writing.com member (someone I didn't know whom I had asked to read and comment on my novel). That person gave me negative feedback, which greatly affected me and not in a good way. It made me feel that my novel was not good enough, and not worthy of being published and shared with others. This led me to push the novel aside and delete the book project from Lulu. I almost deleted the actual manuscript from my computer. Thankfully I never went through with it and I am glad I didn't because, now that the negative feedback no longer affects me and I realize that that person's opinion is just one opinion and doesn't mean the novel is bad, I chose to finally publish the novel. It is now available on Lulu, Amazon, and barnesandnoble.com to share with the world.

My Journey Publishing The Secret Life of Ashley Miles

Once the editing of The Secret Life of Ashley Miles was complete I now had to ready the file for publication. I had to turn the MS Word document into an actual manuscript. I needed to have a title page, a copyright page, and an author bio. Then I needed to number the pages, include the title of the novel and author name in the header, set the page size to 6x9 (as my book would be 6x9 size), set the margins and choose the font for the novel. And since I was publishing the novel with Lulu I also had to make sure that the page count was divisible by four and that the last page of the manuscript was left completely blank.

I wasn't done there. Since I was planning to sell the book outside of Lulu, in places like Amazon and barnesandnoble.com, I needed to get an ISBN for my book. (Just selling the book on Lulu doesn't require an ISBN). I didn't want to deal with trying to obtain an ISBN for my book on my own, and didn't even know where to get one, so I opted to get an ISBN directly from Lulu, which was free. All I had to do was start a new book project on Lulu and select the option to obtain an ISBN for the book directly from Lulu. I got an ISBN for the book right away and was able to insert it into the copyright page of the manuscript. This ISBN can only be used with Lulu but it doesn't matter to me. I am not planning on finding another publisher for it.

After getting the ISBN into the manuscript I saved the file as a PDF and uploaded it into my book project. It was then that I had to move on to the next step, which was to create a book cover for my novel. I could have used one of the images and/or backgrounds that were available on Lulu but I didn't want to do that as I wanted the book cover to be unique and not contain images that others may use in their books. So, I had to come with something on my own.

I knew that I wanted a diary on the front cover but I didn't want it to take up the entire page. This meant that I also needed a background image for the front cover and for the back cover as well. I didn't want the background to be plain solid color, so I had to create the background images myself. I didn't have any pictures of my own to use and didn't want to use anything from the Internet as I may have ended up with an image that I wasn't allowed to use or that was used by someone else. That's where my creativity kicked in.

For the diary I took an image of my own leather diary that had a lock and a key hanging from it. And for the background I took a picture of one of my couch pillows. I changed the color of the pillow picture so it was brighter and matched the diary more color-wise. Then I uploaded all the images into Lulu's cover creator and tweaked them until I was pleased with what I saw. Then I added the title and author name to the front cover and the spine, the Lulu logo to the spine, and the book description to the back cover, along with a photo of me and a few words about me. I was done. I clicked to make the cover into a PDF and save it and then proceeded to include relevant book information, choose the price of the book, and hit the button to publish the project. My book was now published an available for sale on Lulu. It is also available on Amazon, and barnesandnoble.com thanks to Lulu's distribution service, which I opted for.

Why I Chose to Publish My Novel With Lulu

• I have total control over how my book cover looks, how my interior looks, and how the story unfolds... There is no one to tell me what to do!
• I can make changes to the manuscript and re-upload the manuscript and fix the book cover, if needed, even after the book has been published and available for sale. 
• I get a free ISBN for my book and I don't have to pay to get my book published as it's free to publish a book with Lulu. 
• I decide how much I make per each book sale and what the price of the book will be. 
• When I buy my own book I pay what it costs to manufacture the book not the retail price of the book, which means that I save money. 
• When someone buys my book I can see when it was bought, where it was bought from, and how much I made for that book. 
• I need to earn as little as $5 to get paid my royalties, which are sent to my PayPal account. The payments are made monthly, not quarterly or longer than that. I don't have to go through the following: search for an agent, suffer through writing a query letter, find a publisher for my book, and face rejection after rejection until hopefully finally finding a publisher who will want to publish my novel into a book.

Writing and Publishing My Poetic Tale Treasure

I am a huge fan of poetry and love when a poem tells a story or a tale, especially one that takes a reader on an emotional and even adventurous journey.

One day I decided to write a poetic tale. I had no idea if I would be able to pull it off, had no idea what would come out of it, but I took a shot. I had nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

It wasn't easy writing this poetic tale because I wanted it to have four line stanzas and I wanted them all to rhyme and in a certain way. I also wanted the tale to be engaging, moving and enjoyable for the reader and I didn't want any part of it to sound forced, especially because of the rhyme scheme that I had to follow.

At one point I even faced writer's block. I didn't give up though. I just took a short break from it and then got back to it with a fresh mind. In the end I managed to pull it off. I had written my poetic tale.

I will admit that it wasn't perfect. My first stanza turned out to be more than four lines and not all the rhymes are perfect rhymes. But all that is not as important as the story itself. It turned out great and the people that had read the story told me positive things about it and that is what is important here.

I was very proud of myself for setting a writing goal and actually achieving it. It also made me feel good inside knowing that I had created something that people were responding to in a positive way. It was an incredible feeling.

I wanted to share my poetic tale not just with these few people but with the world... That's when I decided to publish my poetic tale, not just online on a writing website but as an actual book. I used Lulu to make that happen. I now have a poetic tale published called Treasure that is available in a pocket size paperback and an e-book. It's available on Lulu and on Amazon in both formats. I am very proud of this accomplishment and can't wait to write and publish another poetic tale in the future. Maybe it will even be a sequel to Treasure. I already have a little bit written for it. I just have to pick up where I had left off.

My poetic tale Treasure is about a guy named Fin who sets out to find a land that others deem to not exist. When he finds it it is there that he comes upon a girl lying on the shore. Not knowing her name he calls her Angel. After bringing Angel back to life they set out on many adventures together and she becomes his true love. Of course everything is not perfect. Obstacles come upon them, obstacles that try to tear them apart... Will they be able to rise above and stay together, keeping their love alive? Or will everything crumble and lead them to be apart from each other forever...?

Writing a story or a tale may prove to be a difficult task. Writing one that is in the form of poetry may prove to be even harder.

No matter how hard it may be we should get out of our comfort zones and try new things; we should challenge ourselves by writing and creating something in a different style than we are used to. In this way we can not only become better writers but we can also discover things about ourselves that we didn't know existed, things we never thought we were capable of.

Poetry Anthology Voices of the World

One of the things that I always wanted to do was put together a poetry anthology that featured poets from different parts of the world who wanted to be heard and dreamed of having their work in print. It was always on the back of my mind, yet I never got around to actually going through with it.

I finally decided it was actually time to put together and publish my first poetry anthology. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get enough poets interested to be able to publish a book. With the help of a friend and fellow poet I succeeded and Voices of the World was born.

Since I did not want to have a specific theme for this anthology I left it up to the poets to decide what they wanted to write about and in what poetic style their work would be. This resulted in a diverse anthology of poetry with something for everyone to enjoy.

Voices of the World is a wonderful collection of poetry featuring forty-six poets from around the world (me being one of them). These poets come from such countries as United States, Canada, Ireland, France, Romania, India, and Russia, among others. They showcase their work to the world by sharing two of their poems written in their own unique voices and writing styles.

The poets that are featured in Voices of the World are very passionate in their craft. When they write they leave themselves on the page and it shows through in their work. I think their poetry leaves a lasting impression and leaves us with something to think about.

Every poet deserves the chance to be heard, to be in the spotlight, and my poetry anthology lets them do just that.

I am very proud of this anthology and am happy that I brought the book to life. I will treasure it for a lifetime. I got my own copy and have read it many times. I enjoy the book each time I read it. There is always something new that I discover when I dive into the book. I can't wait for people to get their own copy so they can enjoy all the treasures that lie inside.

For those interested in obtaining a copy of Voices of the World, the poetry anthology is available in paperback format on lulu.com, amazon, barnesandnoble.com, and in other online retailers. Happy reading!

Poetry Anthology Whispers in the Wind

Giving poets the chance to be published in print and among other talented poets is a great feeling. Having put together and published the first poetry anthology called Voices of the World I decided to do another anthology.

While I chose to have the first anthology contain poems on any topic the poets chose to write about, I wanted the second one to have a theme. Nature was the first thing that came to mind as I love nature so much, and write nature poetry myself on many occasions. And that is how Whispers in the Wind was born.

I feel that nature poems can be very captivating with lots of beautiful imagery that readers can vividly picture in their mind. It's like looking at a painting without actually having it in front of you. It lets people, with their unique imagination and visualization, bring the poetry to life in their mind, interpreting what is being described in their own unique way. Nature poems can also prove to be inspiring, refreshing, and can lift the spirits of people too...

Just like the Voices of the World, Whispers in the Wind also has poets from different countries around the world. In this poetry anthology, the poets showcase two nature poems a piece for the enjoyment of readers, sharing their experiences, visions, and connection to nature in their own unique way. With each poetic creation, they paint memorable images with their distinctive vision and creativity, in turn bringing to life enjoyable treats that will engage at least some of the five senses of readers, as well as make readers feel and perhaps be inspired and uplifted in the process.

For poetry lovers and those that enjoy nature this poetry anthology is a great addition to your poetry collection. Reading this book once you will surely want to pick up the book again for another read time and time again. I am proud to have put together and published this wonderful anthology, and to have shared two of my own nature poems in it as well.

Every time I read this anthology I feel my emotions soar, which to me is very important. I also am able to get lost in the words and picture in my mind what the poets bring to life with their words. My creativity soars, and I feel inspired, having a burning desire to write more nature poetry, and poetry in general.

For those interested in obtaining a copy of Whispers in the Wind, the poetry anthology is available in paperback format on lulu.com, amazon, barnesandnoble.com, and in other online retailers. Happy reading!

Time to Get Back into My New Poetry Book

Back in 2021 I had this idea for a new poetry book to be titled Seasonal Memories. It would include four sections, one for each season. The poetry in each section would include nature with memories of the past or something that happened in the past mixed in. 

I’ve stopped working on this book but I don’t want to leave it unfinished. I will have to go back to my manuscript and see how many poems I have left to write. I was aiming for ten poems per section. Seems like a good enough number. If I really feel inspired I may add more poems to the manuscript. Each section doesn’t necessarily need to have the same number of poems in it but I’d prefer it to be the same.

I don’t want to force anything but I do want to make progress so any ideas I may have I will jot them down. I can always edit something or get rid of it altogether if I don’t like what I’ve come up with.

I think it starts with opening the manuscript, going to a blank page, and seeing where that takes me. Just waiting for ideas or inspiration to come may not lead to anything. I’ve got to give myself a push. Perhaps the passing and memory of a fellow poet this summer can help steer me on the path of progress. 

Once I finish writing, I’ll need to proofread and edit. Then I’ll need to format the manuscript and think about the book cover. I will start working on it once I come up with what I want the cover to be. The book will be published with Lulu just like my previous books. Once it’s out there it will become my 13th book, not including the two poetry anthologies I put together and published, featuring poems from around the world.

What Inspired My New Poem

Last week, I was shocked to learn that a fellow poet—someone I met on AuthorsDen and have known for many years—had passed away. I went to his profile on Facebook to see what his last post was about. I knew most likely it would be a poem of his and it was. It was not a happy one however. “I would die for you” was the last line of the sad piece.  

That inspired me to bring a new poem to life. I wrote it June 27, 2025. I chose to title it with the same words he ended his poem with. I’d like to share it with you. Here it is: I Would Die for You 

I Wrote a New Poem

February 4th, I was watching the new season of The Voice on DVR when a few lines came to me. I quickly paused the recording and decided to write down the lines so I won’t forget them. I wasn’t planning on doing anything else but write down those two lines. 

Of course, the universe had other plans for me. More lines started coming to me. One after another, after another. I couldn’t stop writing. And before I knew it I had written a long poem, which I chose to call “My Life”. I chose to publish the poem on my writing blog (Lena’s Timeless Treasures) without editing it. It doesn’t mean that I won’t go back to the piece and edit it but for now it will remain as is.

I’m glad that I decided to write those two lines down. If I hadn’t done that this new poem probably wouldn’t have come to life. 

You can read my new poem here: My Life. 

Poetry on Instagram

I decided to start posting some of my poetry on Instagram. Instead of taking a picture of a page of one of my books I thought it'd be better to create an image that will have my poem on it along with a small emoticon or image where there is no text. 

I have posted five poems so far and will try to post more as the days go by. 

I am using my phone to do this and so far every image I created fits into an Instagram post without having anything cut off.

What I want to try doing next is to create an image on my computer that will have one of my photos I took as the background and then the poem text on it. The challenge will be making the text easily visible if the background is busy. And I also have to figure out how to size the image so it fits into an Instagram post and the text or an important part of the photo doesn't get cut off. 

I also want to try to create an image that has text over some kind of background instead of it being on just a solid background as I've been doing now. My photo editing has that option. It will be fun to play around with different background and effects. 

A New Book: Seasonal Memories

I haven't written any new limericks for my second limerick book but I got an idea for another book. The title will be Seasonal Memories. It will be solely a poetry book. There will be four sections, one for each season. The poems will have nature mixed in with memories of the past or something that previously happened. I am aiming for ten poems per section but may end up having more. I already have some poems written in each section and may edit them as I go over them later. 

Ten of the poems that I already wrote were all written on January 26th, 2021. I did not expect to write anything, especially since I had just gotten into bed. But an idea for a poem came to me and when I was done, more followed. I guess I was hit with inspiration. Had it not been after midnight, me being tired, or writing on my iPhone in the dark, I could've probably written more poems. But I will gladly take those ten.