Book Blitz Month

According to the B.U. Bridge, January is...

National Book Month and National Book Blitz Month. National Book Month, which is sponsored by the National Book Foundation, invites everyone to take time to read a book. National Book Blitz Month, which was created by a public relations executive to encourage authors to promote their own books, focuses attention on improving the relationships between authors and the media in order to create a best-selling book.

I have been inundated with free for a few days’ e-book offers, now I know why. And before you ask, no these are not from book stealers. These are offers from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. Ihave taken advantage of the opportunity to tryout new to me authors. One thing I have noticed is most of these books are shorter than most of my reads. This works well for me. As mentioned in a previous post, my goal this year is to read 100 books. Books read in 2014 to date = 20. Thanks to Book Blitz month, I am well on my way to meeting my goal. 

I Choose to Focus on the Light

We wake this morning in the wake of yesterday’s events in Boston with a choice; do we focus on the dark of the situation or the light? We can focus on who the bombers were, what their motives were giving the perpetrators exactly what they want… attention. The press is certainly doing that in spades. Or do we concentrate on the victims and the heroes of the day? I choose the latter.

There are scores of heroes who stepped up yesterday in the aftermath of the explosions. The typical first responders; EMTs, Police, Fire & OEM immediately went to work clearing the area, treating the victims and, looking for evidence. Race volunteers bought bandages and wheelchairs to the victims and those treating them. The medical tents set up to aid runners at the conclusion of their races turned into triage facilities. Many of those participating in the race who couldn't reach the official finish line due to the attack, created a new finish line; the local hospitals where they donated blood for the victims. As a BU alum, I was proud to see one of our own athletic trainers, Larry Venis, who ran toward the blast area to help those in need.

And of course there are the victims; the 3 dead, 176 injured and their friends & families. Families have been forever torn apart and many lives changed. May we celebrate the bright lights now dimmed. Especially Martin Richard, the 8 year old little boy, whose last innocent acts were eating an ice cream while watching his dad run the marathon. May the injured heal quickly and find joy in their lives once again. My prayers are with you all.

Note: I wasn't at the Marathon yesterday; I don’t live in the area so I don’t have any potential information that could help the police. For what little help I can give are prayers and sharing & re-tweeting messages from police and OEM; I will. To that end here is some of the information the police put out:

• ·         From MEMA: The FBI has set-up 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), prompt #3, for anyone who has information re: Boston Marathon explosions.
• ·         To find family & friends involved in the Marathon call 617-635-4500
• ·         Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency is posting updates on its website: http://www.mass.gov/eopss/agencies/mema/

I’ll leave the investigating to the authorities and hope they can do so quickly and without a lot of interference.