Ya Gotta Laugh
by Barbara Alldritt
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GENRE: Short Stories, Contemporary
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BLURB:
In "YA GOTTA LAUGH", Barbara Alldritt presents a series of short stories based on her own experiences, and those of others, about living life with joy & happiness, in spite of life's challenges.
While pursuing an academic career, Barbara was hit hard by a debilitating disease. She quickly determined she needed a new direction in life. Always interested in writing, she turned to creating stories about this new path.
These are stories that show that even in trying circumstances, there are still ways to find humour.
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EXCERPTS:
Faith Popcorn, a reputed futurist, author and CEO, coined the catchy term “cocooning” to describe the baby boomer generation’s shift of priorities from work and activism to home and family. This focus on the home, on creating a “cocoon,” Popcorn predicted, would make gardening a hot interest. I never set out to prove her right, but the lure of a connection to the beauty of nature right outside my front door became irresistible.
My tiny hundred-year-old cottage boasted a ragged front garden with large trees and a hedge, but no grass. I had been perfectly happy to let it be colonized by a weed with pretty blue flowers while I worked, but my chronic illness that put me in a wheelchair gave me a lot more time at home.
I began visualizing what my garden could look like without the weeds, overgrown laurels and stumps of trees long gone to the landfill. There was a patinated moss-covered Japanese stone lantern in the garden when we bought the property. The lantern reminded me of the temple gardens we’d seen on a visit to Japan and inspired me to research the essential elements of balance and beauty in a Japanese garden. I was intrigued with the ways they allow one element to represent another, and these thoughts led me to dream of creating a river of rocks flowing across my garden.
I’d need a detailed plan so I could direct someone with good balance and strong legs to execute my ideas since I couldn’t realize them alone while in a wheelchair. I dreamed for three years before I had the full picture and the right help.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Author Barbara Alldritt was born and raised on a farm in Saskatchewan and although there was always work around the farm she preferred hiding behind the couch reading a book rather than be out in the fields hoeing potatoes or washing dishes in the kitchen. After High school she travelled extensively in Western Canada and then set out on a 2-year adventure around the world and met her husband on that trip in Western Samoa. They returned to Canada settling in Calgary. Barbara then returned to higher education at the University of Calgary and completed her Honours Degree in 1988, and was awarded the Faculty of General Studies Gold Medal and the Lieutenant Governor’s Gold Medal for that year.
They then moved to Vancouver, BC, and Barbara entered a master’s program at UBC. In the throes of completing her MA and preparing to start her PhD, MS hit her hard and put a stop to her academic work.
Needing a new direction and given her interest in both research and writing she looked into many options for maintaining her health from taking up aqua-fitness to nutrition and what she should and should not eat.She also became active in the MS Society and produced their newsletter, in which she wrote stories that looked at the humorous side of living with a disability.
Many who read her stories were inspired to contact her to tell their own tales and adventures. She interviewed them and added them to the newsletter, resulting in this compendium of stories.
CONNECT WITH BARBARA ALLDRITT
WEBSITE - https://barbaraalldritt.com/
GOODREADS - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21918420.Barbara_Alldritt
PURCHASE LINKS YA GOTTA LAUGH
AMAZON.COM - https://amazon.com/dp/0228854482
AMAZON.CA - https://amazon.ca/dp/0228854482
AMAZON KINDLE - https://amazon.com/dp/B09HKPLHG2
INDIGO CHAPTERS - https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/ya-gotta-laugh/9780228854500-item.html
BARNES & NOBLE - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ya-gotta-laugh-barbara-alldritt/1140284315
BOOK DEPOSITORY - https://www.bookdepository.com/Ya-Gotta-Laugh-Barbara-Alldritt/9780228854487
SMASHWORDS - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1107091
APPLE IBOOKS - https://books.apple.com/us/book/ya-gotta-laugh/id1588808339
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