Category: MY LIFE

National Poetry Month: Does a Video Make Poetry Come Alive?
Memories · My Books · MY LIFE · My Thoughts · poetry

National Poetry Month: Does a Video Make Poetry Come Alive?

Larada Horner-MillerLeave a comment

Does a video make poetry come alive? Poetry is meant to be read out loud. Does a video of a poem make it come more accessible? Here’s what I’ve done.

2025 Videos

As I prepared for April, National Poetry Month in 2025, I recorded twenty-five videos of me reading poems from my different poetry books and one from my favorite poet, Mary Oliver. Originally, I planned to post one each day of April, but I got sick and wasn’t able to do all thirty days, but I ended up posting only twenty-five days.

As a poet, I loved reading my poetry and creating the short individual videos. I have posted them all on my YouTube channel, so they are available all year.

2026 Videos

So, this year, I had planned to get a jump on National Poetry Month, but I spent March in the states and forgot about it. I let the first few days of April slip by—I returned to Panamá on April 1st and it took me several days to get adjusted to being here again. Sadly, I didn’t start sharing my poetry videos until April 9, but I doubled up and got all of the missed days shared.

Also, I recorded the missing five days’ of poetry that I hadn’t recorded last year. These are the five poems I recorded this year:

  1. Self-Care Redefined in 2020 from Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better?
  2. Childless from Was it a Dream?: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry
  3. The World I Knew – Villanelle poem from Is My Truth Universal?: A Woman’s Poetic Odyssey
  4. Christmas at the Horners from Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir
  5.  A Storyteller Forever from Was it a Dream?: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry

So, now I have thirty poems recorded from nine of my books (one book hasn’t been published yet) and I added a Mary Oliver excerpt that has become my motto.

This year, I have posted my videos on the following social media sites. Check ‘em out!

You Haven’t Seen All of the Videos

Because you are on my email list, I have not inundated you with daily emails of my poetry video for the day. Last week, I shared three videos of poems in my blog, so you saw them.

This week, here’s three more:

Canyon—A Sleepy Time for Me from This Tumbleweed Landed

Time Measured Out from Time Measured Out!: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry

Age Crept Up on Me! From book #5 in the poetry series, Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry. This book has not been published or given a title yet. You are getting sneak preview!

Finally,

During April for National Poetry Month, I love putting my poetry out there for everyone to see and hear. Do you watch videos of poems read by the poet? Does a video make a difference to you in accessing poetry? Do videos attract your attention? Which poetry video from this week do you like the best? Which one from last week?

Believe me when I say that poetry is for everyone. See the topics above—all over the place, and just maybe a topic of interest to you!

Larada Horner-Miller photo - video
Yes, tell me which poem & video you like the best! I have so many!

Professional Reader

My Newest Books

Time Measured Out!: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry, Book #2 e-book

ISBN – 9798989688654

$3.99 for limited time

is my truth universal? book cover

Is My Truth Universal?: A Woman’s Poetic Odyssey e-book

ISBN – 979-8989688623

ALWAYS FREE

Was It a Dream? book cover

Was It a Dream?: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry, Book #1 – e-book

ISBN – 979-8989688630

 $3.99

Hair on Fire book cover

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir e-book

ISBN – 978-0996614498

$3.99

Buy My Audio Books:

This Tumbleweed Landed

This Tumbleweed Landed audiobook cover

Let Me Tell You a Story 

Let Me Tell You a Story audiobook cover

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Memoir Audiobook

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir audiobook cover

My Super-Busy January—Glad It’s Over!
Blogs · Goals · MY LIFE · My Thoughts · My Writing

My Super-Busy January—Glad It’s Over!

Larada Horner-Miller2 Comments
Super-busy

My super-busy January centered around my participation in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. The agreement was to post every day of the month, and Paul Taubman, the host, offered suggestions every day. You were free use them or do what you wanted. I had to complete four activities after writing the blog—I’ve listed them on the web page I created.

My Choice to Not Include My Email List

Just because I decided to make January a super-busy month, I didn’t want to inundate my regular readers with a blog post every day, so I only included you on Sunday, my regular day to post my weekly blog. I did post them on my Facebook pages though.

I hope that was okay.

Here’s What I wrote Super-Busy!

So, I created a web page with all the posts, except three because I missed three days. Look through the list—I hope you enjoy the vast choices you have to read from this list, if you choose!

This morning I had one regular reader message me about reading all of them, “Larada, you are an encouragement to me. I am in love with reading your blogs. I envy your commitment to work. And I was excited to see what you learned from the challenge. YES. You are a beautiful poet. Looking forward to your new book.” She apparently got them on linkedin.com – https://www.linkedin.com/in/larada-horner-miller-4a313261/

To get to the list of my 28 blog posts and the titles, go here:

Ulimate Blog Challenge, January 2026

Finally—Done with Super-Busy for Now,

Your opinion matters to me. Was I right in not sending you a link every day in the month of January for the Ultimate Blog Challenge? Would you have been offended? Or would you have wanted to receive them? I really need to know your answer, so please respond in a comment below or email me at Larada@laradasbooks.com

I certainly am glad it’s over. Midway through I thought it would never end, but I know I will receive many benefits from having participated—I’ve always been a participator and not an observer. It’s in my DNA!

February will be much calmer, I assure you, but be prepared for my rich, fascinating weekly blog! Also, Paul Taubman encouragedthe participants to post more than one blog a week—what do you think?

I do have an exciting experience coming up on February 17 I will be telling you about!

Larada Horner-Miller meme - super-busy
Whew! Glad it’s over, but what now?

Professional Reader

My Newest Books

Time Measured Out!: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry, Book #2 e-book

ISBN – 9798989688654

$.99 for limited time

is my truth universal? book cover

Is My Truth Universal?: A Woman’s Poetic Odyssey e-book

ISBN – 979-8989688623

ALWAYS FREE

Was It a Dream? book cover

Was It a Dream?: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry, Book #1 – e-book

ISBN – 979-8989688630

 $3.99

Hair on Fire book cover

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir e-book

ISBN – 978-0996614498

$3.99

Buy My Audio Books:

This Tumbleweed Landed

This Tumbleweed Landed audiobook cover

Let Me Tell You a Story 

Let Me Tell You a Story audiobook cover

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Memoir Audiobook

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir audiobook cover

Day 31 – January Ends Today—So What Did I Learn?
Blogs · Memories · My Books · MY LIFE · My Thoughts

Day 31 – January Ends Today—So What Did I Learn?

Larada Horner-Miller7 Comments
January calendar

January ends today, and so does the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Whew! The challenge was to write a blog post each day for thirty-days. Here’s answers to Paul Taubman, the organizer’s questions.

Did you finish the Ultimate Blog Challenge?

I proudly finished the Ultimate Blog Challenge, but I missed three days: 13, 16, and 20. The part that excites me—I don’t feel guilty for missing those three days. The 13th we went to La Fería Internacional de Las Flores y del Café (International Flower and Coffee Festival). We had a blast there enjoying ourselves and seeing Alejandro Torres, a major music star in this area. I was too tired to write that night but I wrote about it for the next day’s blog.

Alejandro Torres & daughters - January
Alejandro Torres & daughters

Again, we returned to the festival on the 16th. I wondered if returning was a good idea because our first time there on the 13th was so magical, but we weren’t let down. We saw dancers from Panamá and from over the world. Again, we stayed late, and I fell into bed exhausted that night. No blog post!

International Dancers - January

As I remember the 20th, I feel embarrassed! When I got up on the 21st, I realized I had completely forgotten to do the blog post. Nothing significant happened—oh, well!

But again, I reiterate—I have no guilt about missing them, and I feel exhilarated today in finishing this challenge. That’s new for this perfectionist! To finish a commitment like this reminds me of my determination. After each missed day, I had to continue—no question asked!

Again, I gleaned ideas from other participants to enhance my blog through this Challenge. The daily assignment of reading two other blog posts in the Challenge helped me see choices, personalities come out in playful and professional ways, and the passions we all have! Thank you to each one who participated!

Have You Accomplished Any Other Goals Recently?

On December 21, 2025, I released my tenth book, Time Measured Out!: Navigating Life’s Journey and am so proud of it. It is the second book in a five-book poetry series. During January, I have been promoting the heck out of it!

Also, I have a marketing plan I’m following, so I have been promoting my first book, This Tumbeweed Landed, the month of January. To be honest, I started a little late, but I have already started my promotions for my second book, When Will Papa Get Home?, and I feel so much more organized than I have ever been.

At the end of 2025, I received notification my book, Was It a Dream?: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry, won a bronze award in the Global Book Awards so I have been also promoting that book. It is the first book in the series.

I’ve scheduled a promotional experience with Let’s Fix Stories on February 17. I sent them the first 10-15 pages of my new book project which is an AutoFiction. The tentative title is Eye Witness to Life/Healing. I’m excited to see what they have to say about the beginning of my book. As we know, the reader either gets hooked by then or drops off! I want professional help on making it the best.

Why Did You Joined the Ultimate Blog Challenge?

In November 2021, I participated in my first Ultimate Blog Challenge, and I wrote every day. I gained so much from that challenge, picking up ideas from the blogs I read like the use of headings and subheadings and the use of coloring them. I have adapted these ideas and use them regularly.

Because my blog is on wordpress.com, each post is scored for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Readability analysis. When I looked at the other blogs, it spurred me on to be more detail-oriented on my blog, so I investigated the relevance of both of these scores. I realized their importance and work hard each blog post to be sure I receive a “green smiley face” instead of a yellow or red one.

Achieving Your Goals

I believe deeply in goals and have used the idea for years. Goals colored my work as a teacher and the computer coordinator at Washington middle school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One year, I asked my committee to dream without limits for the next year—brainstorm the ideas possible. When I typed up the list, it was long and ambitious!

The next year, we achieved every goal on that list, even the outrageous ones! That’s why I believe in goals.

So, set some goals. Do something you’ve never done before like the Ultimate Blog Challenge then follow through. See the follow through is the important part. On my dream list at Washington middle school, we submitted our list to our senator, we canvassed him, we showed why everything we listed had importance—in other words, we did the footwork!

Finally,

January ends today. This is the last blog post for this Challenge, but I have my weekly blog post to do tomorrow. I’ve shared some vulnerable truths here, some fun-filled activities and my life in general. I will return to blog readers refreshed and invigorated by this month of writing, thinking up topics and sharing my life with the world. Yes, it was a commitment—a hefty one, but it fed my soul, because writing does!

Larada Horner-Miller - Janaury
Join me on my weekly blog at https://laradasbooks.com/my-blogs/

Professional Reader

My Newest Books

Time Measured Out!: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry, Book #2 e-book

ISBN – 9798989688654

$.99 for limited time

is my truth universal? book cover

Is My Truth Universal?: A Woman’s Poetic Odyssey e-book

ISBN – 979-8989688623

ALWAYS FREE

Was It a Dream? book cover

Was It a Dream?: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry, Book #1 – e-book

ISBN – 979-8989688630

 $3.99

Hair on Fire book cover

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir e-book

ISBN – 978-0996614498

$3.99

Buy My Audio Books:

This Tumbleweed Landed

This Tumbleweed Landed audiobook cover

Let Me Tell You a Story 

Let Me Tell You a Story audiobook cover

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Memoir Audiobook

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir audiobook cover

Day 30 – Sewing Brings Back Memories: Another Necessary Project
Memories · MY LIFE · My Thoughts

Day 30 – Sewing Brings Back Memories: Another Necessary Project

Larada Horner-MillerLeave a comment
sewing machine

This afternoon, I started a sewing project. I needed to shorten some drapes my husband bought while I was gone. Here’s what happened.

Lin Bought New Drapes—Wrong Length

When we first started furnishing our new home in Panamá, we began with drapes. There were no drapes on any windows, but none on the living room windows made us feel so vulnerable and exposed. We bought lovely green and gold ones and our landlord put them up for us. I thought we were done.

Then we realized we needed more because they didn’t completely cover the large window facing Vulcan Barú. The gap felt ugly and open again, exposed.

While I was gone in November to the states, Lin went to David shopping. He couldn’t find our original green and gold ones, but he found a beige one that worked. He texted me pictures of them choices, and I agreed with him on the beige ones, so he bought two panels to fill the space more evenly. When he got them home and hung, they were too long and drug the floor—4 inches longer than the others.

Larada’s Sewing Project Birthed

After listening to his dismay about his oversight of the length, I assured him I could fix them. See there’s a reason. I started sewing at nine years old in 4-H. When I was in high school, many of my friends and I made our own western pants—skin tight with yokes on our butts and down on the bottom of each leg—they were fantastic in our eyes. In my early adult life, I made all my clothes, but life got complicated when I divorced and went to the university, and they sewing stopped.

On occasion, I have returned to my sewing machine to do simple projects, because the deep seamstress knowledge was long gone.

Today Was the Day for Sewing

So today, my husband, Lin, and I began this project. First, we took the two panels of longer drapes off of the curtain rod. Then, I laid one panel on our bed, folding the top half up so I had the bottom smooth and even. After much discussion about how much to cut off, we decided to cut off 4 inches. So, I marked on the panel every couple inches with a marker so I would cut it evenly.

Lin worried I might cut our bedspread, so he helped me by hold the panel up. I did the cutting, and it worked.

Marking what to cut off - sewing
Marking what to cut off
I wanted to be exact!

Because that worked so smoothly, we cut the second panel immediatley.

The Borrowed Sewing Machine

I didn’t bring my sewing machine with me—we came with only six large suitcases, so there was no way. So, I borrowed one from a neighbor, Ruth Howell. She kindly lent me all of her sewing supplies too.

So, it took a while to find the power switch on the machine. The instructions are in Spanish, so that was not easy because I don’t know sewing vocabulary. My next task was putting thread on the bobbin which was fairly easy, I thought. Then, I threaded the sewing machine and the needle.

Part of the reason I gave up sewing recently—my eyesight and threading a needle. But this time I did really well.

First Stitches

The sewing struggle
It finally worked!

So, I laid out the panel and started the hemming with turning up a ¼ inch hem to make the edge look good. When I began, the sewing machine sewed a few stitches and stopped totally. The bobbin side looked horrible with huge knots.

Then we began to wonder if the drape material was too heavy for the machine. After this debacle, we had almost decided to go to a seamstress in town tomorrow. That would be the easiest—I’m busy. I don’t need to be doing this.

Sewing & My Determination

But I couldn’t stop! I rethreaded the bobbin three or four times and nothing seemed to work. I used Google Translate and translated the instructions for threading the bobbin, but I had done it right. So I wondered if I had threaded the top part right. I looked more closely at the instructions and dove deeper into my memory. I realized I had missed a very important part.

Once, I did that and rethreaded the needle—easily again, I might say, the machine worked like a dream. Luckily, I got the 1/4 inch turn-up done on one panel.

Before we went any further, we decided to measure the green and gold drapes we bought initially. Both of us thought they were 84 inches long, so that’s why we cut off the 4 inches. To our surprise, they are 82 inches long, so I had to change the hem in the beige panels to four inches. I’ve pinned up one panel.

Final Decision

So, tomorrow I’m going to finish this project. The sewing machine took over our kitchen table, but I really want to do this. It stems from a saying my dad repeatedly shared with me my whole life, “Winners never quit, and quitters never win!” Even when it’s a sewing project like this.

What do you do when you face a task like this? Give up? Grit your teeth and jump in? Let me know.

Larada Horner-Miller - sewing
I really do love sewing!

Professional Reader

My Newest Books

Time Measured Out!: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry, Book #2 e-book

ISBN – 9798989688654

$.99 for limited time

is my truth universal? book cover

Is My Truth Universal?: A Woman’s Poetic Odyssey e-book

ISBN – 979-8989688623

ALWAYS FREE

Was It a Dream? book cover

Was It a Dream?: Navigating Life’s Journey Through Poetry, Book #1 – e-book

ISBN – 979-8989688630

 $3.99

Hair on Fire book cover

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir e-book

ISBN – 978-0996614498

$3.99

Buy My Audio Books:

This Tumbleweed Landed

This Tumbleweed Landed audiobook cover

Let Me Tell You a Story 

Let Me Tell You a Story audiobook cover

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Memoir Audiobook

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir audiobook cover