Book Readers Heaven: Thanksgiving Blessings Provided by Ongoing Contributor Dr. Diana Raab... It's Time to Count Our Blessings...

Thursday, November 20, 2025

Thanksgiving Blessings Provided by Ongoing Contributor Dr. Diana Raab... It's Time to Count Our Blessings...

Dear Glenda,

"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and

the thought has found words."

~ Robert Frost

November is one of my favorite months because I believe in the power of gratitude. Although there might be a lot of chaos and unrest in the universe, I believe that it's important we sit still and think about all we have to be grateful for. When times get testy or dark, I can always turn to my writing to help me navigate. This is a blessing I had ever since I was a little girl when my mother gifted me my very own journal.

I'm also grateful for my ability to be creative and that my health is relatively stable. I just finished reading Rick Rubin's book, The Creative Act (reviewed below) which was a reminder of the importance of gratitude.

I also like November because of Thanksgiving and how every year our family comes together. I like it because it's not a materialistic holiday, but a holiday to remember the love we have for one another and to count all of all of our blessings. As the family matriarch, it can be a lot of hard working getting everyone together, and all the food preparation, but the work is so worth it and I never have regrets. My children are old enough to help and my grandchildren are also at the age to begin helping.

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving feast, wherever and with whomever you celebrate!

https://www.dianaraab.com

The Creative Act: A Way of Being

by Rick Rubin (nonfiction)

I picked up this book when on holiday at Nepenthe in Big Sur. I'm not sure that I would have picked it up anywhere else, but everything in that store tends to be so inspiring. After reading it and discussing it with others, I learned how many others have already read and loved it. One comment that kept coming up is, "It's so good; it made so much sense that I could have written it!" Actually, I felt the same way. So many of Rubin's wisdoms are comfortably intuitive. If you're feeling creatively stuck or at a dead end, chances are opening this book to any page will fill you with inspiration and love for the creative process.

I ear-marked so many pages that it's difficult to highlight my favorite passages. However, just to provide a snippet, here are some of his wisdoms. Rubin and other creatives like myself are ritualistic. He wrote about a songwriter who always wrote her music in the same messy room in an old office building. He mentioned Charles Dickens who carried a compass to make sure he was always facing north when he slept (p.325). He believed that the electrical currents of the earth supported his creativity. Dr. Seuss, for example, had a bookcase with a false door hiding hundreds of unusual hats. How's that for inspiration.

What are your rituals? I would love to hear!

!!!

I've been Creative!

"Love, G rief and Everything In Between." (essay) The Good Men Project. September 25, 2025.

"Love Those Legs." (essay). TheRavensPerch. September 30, 2025.

"The Magic of Connecting With Our Ancestors." (essay) Adelaide Literary Magazine. October 16, 2025.

"Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Writing." (essay) Sixty and Me. October 22, 2025.

"Blue Season," and "You Are Here." (poems). The Soliloquist. October 25, 2025.

"Amongst the Trees." (haibun). Haiku Shack. Issue 4. 2025.

"How My Mother's Love For Parakeets Transferred to Me." (essay). Sneaker Wave Magazine. Fall 2025.

~~~~

Here's Some Challenges for your Creativity!

Write about your plans for Thanksgiving this year.
Write about what you're most grateful for.
Write a letter of gratitude to someone.
Write about a Thanksgiving of the past.

~~~~

Diana Raab, PhD
PO Box 5831 |

Santa Barbara, CA 9

www.dianaraab.com | diana@dianaraab.com

Happy Thanksgiving to you Diana

And Thank You for Sharing here at Book Readers Heaven

God Bless Us All

Gabby

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Book Readers Heaven - Have You Noticed?

Some of you may have noticed that I've started writing about books again. But I am not now accepting nor will I return to reviewing books on request. You will perhaps see that has allowed me to write more opinionated thoughts about read books... For instance, I might compare the writing of another author...or just allude to the type of book and how I respond to the topic.And, when appropriate, especially for political books, I use relevant news videos to document what is being said in the post. If I do post as a review, I will not be posting the entire blog article on sales sites. I hope you like hearing my personal thoughts more often and hope you will let me know what you think of the change, the expansion beyond a basic review... Insofar as possible, I try to bring together relevant videos or music that speaks to the issue, or which I've been led to use... In all things, now, I am about my Father's Business. I Speak Jesus--of His Love for all and of His Truth... Comments are always welcomed and will be treated with respect...

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Glenda, Wow, wow, wow! You captured what I set out to say in this work. Thank you for your insight and willingness to bear witness to the truth. HMH Glenda. I think I love you and I am sure Jerry does. We’ve already started the second in the series. Yes, it’s going to be a series—he has a treasure trove of high profile casework. He did Casey Anthony. Worked on the 13 year old who tRump and Epstein raped, and so many others. Thank you again for another wonderful review! You do us proud… This is amazing... I've never seen a review in this depth before, and I'm honored beyond words. Thank you for highlighting the subject matter in this way. ❤Sharon Sala Glenda A Bixler The irony of all of this is that I wrote this book in 2021 and turned it in to my publisher, and look what all has happened SINCE then. The release was also scheduled before all of these most recent, horrific incidents, and such is the way of the world in these times. Thank You for bringing attention to this ongoing travesty and tragedy. ❤ I am Lior, the author of The Milk Moon Assassin. You are the first reader, reviewer, that brought tears to my eyes. You have grasped the heart of my story from the angle it was aimed for. Dear Glenda, Double thanks are not enough. Thanks for following. A second thank you for your uplifting review of Alexa's Gold is hardly sufficient. While I apologize for disturbing your sleep patterns, I'm extremely pleased you enjoyed this fictional read. May God bless. Again, multiple, multiple heartfelt thanks. Donan Just saw your review on Amazon and then visited your site. Holy Smoke! As usual, I was amazed at what a fabulous job you did, reviewing the book and adding in all that related material. I was particularly thrilled that you included the book trailer I put on Utube. You adding it to your review made me very happy. In fact, I had a big smile on my face the whole time I looked at what you'd done. I even listened to the violin concerto and watched the video of Dog Hill. Every year it gets harder and harder to bring a new book to the attention of potential readers. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have you as an ally in that endeavor. Thank you so much for all you do for me and for other writers. There's no-one else like you. And that's no exaggeration.With profound gratitude, I remain, Your Friend, Don Thank you. Your commitment to your craft is wonderful. Whether it's one star or 5, your reviews are detailed, considerate, and most of all, beneficial to the prospective reader. What an amazing presentation. Stellar. I never expected anything like that. Do you have a separate link that I can share? I'd love to post this everywhere I can. You did such a fabulous job.cheers Connie Thank you so much for your glowing review of my new book. Your review really highlighted all the things that I try to incorporate in my books - they're the very things I want as a reader. I'm nearly finished writing the next book in the series - Walker and Munoz are back, and interestingly as you referenced in your review, this time it's personal. Again, thank you. I'd read your amazing review before I looked at my Facebook page and was blessed. Hitting the link you posted, I was surprised for few would have gone to so much trouble, fewer still know that Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perske) was Sephardic and bequeathed a large amount of primary source information about the Sephardim to a university, which I was able to view online when corroborating Naomi's story. Your review stands as one of the highlights of this profoundly dyslexic authors’ life. Thank and bless you heart I thought I'd reach out to you for your heartfelt review on my novel. It was beautiful and brought tears to my eyes that someone was so moved by my tale... That it resonated that deeply with someone. Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone. Signed... Wow, this is the most awesome blog post I've ever seen. Thank you for writing it! grin I was thrilled with the details you offered in my review - like a literary movie trailer built on suspense and intrigue. I'm glad you're still reviewing books by aspiring authors like me. We need people like you! Keep up the good work and maintain that passion, Glenda! Words fail me. Hi Glenda, I visited your review website today and was thrilled to see your marvelous features relating to Ms. Cramer's book. I passed them along to the author, and she is very excited and deeply grateful for your attention. Your review of the book is wonderfully anecdotal and insightful, and it will be helpful I believe as an introduction to readers approaching Ms. Cramer's work for the first time. I found the opening of the review to be quite touching, with a wonderful sense of personal experience that I believe is all too often missing in critical review publications. In the context of the article, your remembrances from childhood add a truly beautiful layer to the photopoem you present.We're very impressed by what you put together using the press kit materials, and we will do our best to provide exposure for your features through our mailing list and other avenues.I do look forward to reading your articles in the future.We appreciate your considering our book and thank you very much for your fine and generous review coverage. Saw the review and treatment of THE BLOOD BETRAYAL on your site. Once again, you've amazed me with what you do. Fantastic, fabulous… No, those words aren't good enough to describe your work and you. I wrote up a short piece about what you did, directing people to your site from mine. That was really interesting and something I've never seen anyone do before. Great job, and I'm glad you enjoyed the novel. Yo, my truly heartfelt thank you for your very generous and kind review! I appreciate very much the time and effort you put into this review for me, and your so graciously posting it in multiple locations. Your blogsite is extremely professional and well-done! What you posted for me there has completely blown me away! Thank you again very much for such a comprehensive and thoroughly entertaining review. It's one of the best reviews I have received and I'm very proud to have it. Most Gratefully, Glenda, You review blew my mind. When I listened to the songs you inserted, they brought tears to my eyes. You added a dimension to my work that was missing. In the attachment I have attempted to answer your question about anger. Thank you so much for your raving review. There are no words in the English language to express the gratitude I feel for you. I wish you a wonderful and blessed day. I've been sitting in my chair for nearly fifteen minutes, stuck in an infinite loop of visual digestion and stunned amazement because of what you put together on your site for The Doppler Affect review. The time alone that you put into crafting the page is humbling, but the creativity and flair adds a layer I've never seen in reviews. Of course, the frosting of your very positive evaluation makes it the best cake I've eaten yet! I was also amazed at how you could step away from any biases due to your preferred genre and frame it for others...thank you. My newest book, Patriot's Point, will be released imminently. The publisher wants to know if I knew of any one in particular who has blogs or review sites that I would want to use. I immediately thought of you. Thanks, Doug Glenda, I am truly in awe of your reviews and your review style. I have never seen anyone do a review as you can do one. I was entertained, informed, enlightened and amazed. There should be awards for creative, insightful and captivating reviews -- and you should be a recipient. Thanks for reviewing my book. And thanks for giving it an aura and image and feel that only your review could give it. I am very appreciative. All the best, Patrick During the period of time that you requested my story, I also had other blog sites asking for the book as well. I had received three reviews prior to yours, and although I am very happy to report that all three were positive and enthusiastic, your entire presentation of the book, from the actual commentary to the ambitious visuals, blew me away and has left me emotionally weak-kneed in gratitude. I am extremely touched by all that you had to say and how you visually presented the concept of the book. Please note that I will place your website on the book's Facebook page which will hopefully bring your blog site more readership. Again, please know how grateful I am for your emotionally thrilling review. You have certainly made my day, Glenda! With much appreciation, Author/The Poe Consequence I wanted to make sure I got a chance to properly thank you for posting the wonderful review of The Medici Boy! It was terrific, not just because you like the book (thank you) but because your analysis was thoughtful and honest. You put your heart into it, (Photos were out of this world) and you wrote like a friend would (we think that’s the very best kind of review). I appreciate your time and passion for literature! We’ve been promoting the site, since you went live, and we’re going to continue to promote your site on Social Media throughout the month. Senior Publicist Blue Dot Literary Dear Glenda, I have to start this response with a BIG WOW! I have been very gratified with my experience as a new writer for both my books now and am working on a third. However, your review is like nothing I've ever seen, and I consider it a great piece of writing and creativity in itself. Thank you so very much for your kind words and treatment of Millstone. Once again, thank you for this review. I plan to pass it on in every venue available to me. My best wishes to you JackH Thank you so much for your glowing review of my new book. Your review really highlighted all the things that I try to incorporate in my books - they're the very things I want as a reader. I'm nearly finished writing the next book in the series - Walker and Munoz are back, and interestingly as you referenced in your review, this time it's personal. Again, thank you. I'd read your amazing review before I looked at my Facebook page and was blessed. Hitting the link you posted, I was surprised for few would have gone to so much trouble You review blew my mind. When I listened to the songs you inserted, they brought tears to my eyes. You added a dimension to my work that was missing. In the attachment I have attempted to answer your question about anger. Thank you so much for your raving review. There are no words in the English language to express the gratitude I feel for you. I wish you a wonderful and blessed day. James Womack WOW! What a beautiful post you did for ALMOST PERFECT ON YOUR I can’t imagine how much time you must have taken to create some thing so imaginative and special. I feel truly humbled and touched and quite unequal to saying how much it meant to me. A real present. You must be a very special person. I wish you were my neighbor and we could have a real chat over coffee. Maybe someday. But meanwhile know how wonderful your work made me feel and buoyed to keep on keeping on! Diane

Thursday, November 20, 2025

Thanksgiving Blessings Provided by Ongoing Contributor Dr. Diana Raab... It's Time to Count Our Blessings...

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