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Most people don't like to write, and they think it's
hard work. But they fail to believe that those of us who do write for a living are working.
I write because i like to write. And i am good at it. If i was
not good at it, i might go do something i was good at doing better than most other people. I do like to get paid to write,
but the freelance part of the title fools people into thinking freelance writers will write for nothing and so we must not
really work. Writing is in and of itself what i want to do, paid or unpaid, assigned or unassigned, with pen or with a keyboard,
in a chair or on a plane, here or there, i will write anywhere.
| Holding onto to the muse |
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| is not easy. |
Sometimes i write on-line on my BLOG site. You can email me for the blogsite address:
or click here to go to baratin debordant blogsite
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If you like what i write, buy my books and tell
your friends.
Exerpts from
stuff I've written:
Coming soon: "When a Friend has Lost Hope"
A brief overview of what you may need to know to help someone
you know who has lost a sense of purpose and meaning in life. Published by Liguori .
Liguori Publications
"What Teens Should Know About Capital Punishment" - Pflaum Pub.
One Man's Story
Paul sits in one of Missour's high-security prisons and waits for his execution date. He tries not to think too much
about it. He has had a lifetime of practice trying not to think of things that bother him, but this one thing is the toughest.
When he was a teenager, for example, it was easier not to think about how different he felt growing up with a hearing
impairment. Paul was not a good student, and he tried not to think about how other kids and his teachers thought he was stupid.
At home, with his family to help him, Paul could forget about the endless teasing every time he left the house. When
he met Penny, not thinking about the bad stuff was much easier. She accepted Paul for who he was and made him feel like a
whole person, all 260 pounds of him.
Pennys death is something else Paul tries not to think about. When she died, Paul was thirty-two years old and too
young to lose the "light of his life." For three months, his world was only a shadow of the life he had known. Drinking became
an effortless way to forget a lifetime of pain.
Then one day, after too much to drink, the pain would no longer hide in the shadows. Drunk and confused, Paul stumbled
into the home of a sixty-three-year-old woman and tried to rape her. He never meant to kill her.
And now for something completely different!
SERVING OTHERS from Heroes for Kids
- published by Liguori Press
As conditions grew worse after the spring of 1980, the four women
were frightened for the people of El Salvador, and for themselves, as well. They watched as the people from their villages
were forced from their homes, tortured, and executed. The four women and other team members tended to the wounded and to the
bodies decaying on the side of the roads.
On December 2, 1980, the bodies of Jean Donovan, Dorothy Kazel,
Ita Ford, and Maura Clarke were found dead on a road not far from the airport. Military men had arrested them at the airport
and drove them to a deserted field. The four women were then beaten, sexually abused, and shot execution style in the back
of the head.
Clutter Is In the Eye of the Beholder
unpublished as of today
Not only do the most organized among us flaunt their impeccably arranged desks, empty backseats,
and alphabetized spice drawers at the remaining 88% of the NOT so meticulous population, but they have managed to organize
themselves into a recognized professional coalition to abolish all clutter. The New England Professional Organizers came out
of the closet, thanks to Linda Matchans Boston Globe piece (Oct. 24, 2002): "EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE?" This annual conference
of anti-clutter extremists threatens to eradicate the organizationally challenged population. What hope do those of us who
cannot seem to organize our space have against the Feng Shui forces advancing on us to de-clutter our offices, garages, and
even the kitchen pantry with the door that no longer closes?
As I consider my options, I glance down at the stack of books and magazines lying next to
my desk. Peaking out about midway down is a cover that promises "157 Ways Even You Can Get Organized." Like other articles
and books that promise to help me sort it out and have time to spare, this one points the finger right at me. The author has
even resorted to name calling. Maybe I am a "pack rat." After all, some people have garages cleaner than my dining room. You
know the type! They throw away the envelopes from junk mail on the way in from the mailbox, and make a weekly task of eliminating
clothing that is too small, too worn, or too much like last week's fashion statement. Their clutter-free kitchens are featured
on magazine covers.
Clutter? It's not a problem for me. One of the things I do best is collect clutter. And
I know I am not alone. While driving through town, I noticed that one out of five open garages reveals a pack rat. Despite
what the neat-nicks who write these helpful-hints articles label us, I prefer to think of myself as an ant.
What
Is Heaven?
published
by Liguori, Kids Series
Have you ever tried
to imagine what heaven looks like? You may have heard that heaven is beautiful and no one in heaven is ever sad or in pain.
Maybe you have thought about all of the things you will enjoy in heaven. Maybe there is someone you hope to meet in heaven—a
friend, a parent, a grandparent.
Do you wonder if heaven
is a place “up” there somewhere? Why can’t we see it with telescopes or satellites? Who will be in heaven
when we get there? Will we like heaven?
Why is heaven a mystery?
After all, we believe that if we love God and try to live the way Jesus asks us to live we will go to heaven. How do we know
that we will like heaven? What if it’s boring?
People have been asking
these and many other questions about heaven for centuries. The answer is simply that we do not know exactly how to describe
heaven. Jesus, the Church, and our own experiences each tell us something about heaven. If we start with what we do know about
heaven, we will begin to understand what heaven is all about.
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