Here’s one last look this month at Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better?, my award-winning book. I wrote parts of it as blog posts right here, but I added to it. The format of the book’s chapters enriched it with key parts. I began each of the chapters with a meaningful photo or graphic and quote. Then I ended the chapter with a reflection question(s), wanting the reader to reflect and personalize what she just read. My motto for this book became: Read, reflect and respond!
Key Parts of Each Chapter
One Last Look at the Beginning of Each Chapter
Because I’m a visual learner, I love photos and graphics and used them a lot in this book. So much so, I had to compress the photos before I could publish the e-book. That was quite an experience.
I also know that a lot of readers react and respond to visual stimulus. While I was teaching, I remember watching my students. The majority of them were visual learners, and I have been out of the classroom over fifteen years, but I recall their need for visuals to understand a difficult lesson.
The recent following statistic doesn’t surprise me: “Visual learners – the remaining 65% of the population – need to see what they are learning,. . .”
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=587201
Then I added a meaningful quote in this book that either summarized the theme of the chapter or reflected its message. Again, I wanted my reader to be able to connect on different levels to my writing.
What Happened in the Middle
I don’t write in one genre only; I see the place for prose. I love writing poetry, so the format of the book has a mixture of each.
Sample the format I Used in the Middle
Here’s the last chapter of the book. It only has prose, no poetry but the topic is as relevant today as it was then. You can see the format though:
Chapter Thirty-One
VACCINATED: SHORT, SWEET, & TO THE POINT
“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as one…”
John Lennon
May 16, 2021
Finally, I got vaccinated on Friday morning with my second COVID-19 shot. I received my first one on March 31st. Yes, that’s a long time in-between, but I had conflicts in my schedule. I had no reactions to the first one except for a sore arm.
I got the Moderna, and I’ve heard more people have reactions to it. My husband received the Pfizer vaccine and had no reaction at all. I wasn’t so lucky for the second shot. The rest of the day I felt okay, but my arm hurt where I was vaccinated. Yesterday and today have been a different story. I’ve slept the days away.
Yesterday I had a slight fever, chills, aches like the flu, but nothing too bad. I just slept! Today’s the same. The endless sleeping has been strange—lots of images, not dreams, and noise in my ears! When I wake up, I’m tired and exhausted, ready to go back to bed. My brain feels fuzzy.
For this A-type personality I am, this has been hard on me! I’m usually going ninety miles an hour! I have things to do, people to see, life to live!
My seventeen-year-old cat, Jesse, didn’t like me being inaccessible to him, so he made it upstairs twice yesterday to sleep outside our bedroom door. He doesn’t easily make it upstairs anymore because of his arthritic back legs—you can’t tell me cats don’t love!
This evening has been better—I’m not sound asleep. Today my brain is still fuzzy, and it’s hard to concentrate, but I’ve been able to do this blog, so that’s progress. Hopefully tomorrow will be better! The good news is I’m vaccinated!
What I learned these two strange days from being vaccinated is that you have to listen to your body! I went to bed and slept, and that was probably the best medicine for me.
Chapter 31 Continued
When my two-week waiting period was over, immediately I scheduled a haircut appointment, and Mark trimmed my hair, marveling at how much it had grown. We laughed and caught up on our lives, and he loved my new longer, curly look. It felt so good to be out and not worrying about the coronavirus. Lin and I ate out a couple times, savoring the opportunity to be with others and not fearful. Our state opened up more and provided more opportunities to get out.
Facing the future with the vaccine behind me, normalcy seems a real possibility. I’ve planned a trip to Colorado to see my brother and his children and grandchildren—I expect a bucket load of hugs. I haven’t been there since February because of my cataract surgeries and the restrictions.
The possibility of dancing looms ahead of me—I can’t describe the deep-seated feelings attached with that. Even though I anticipate a hopeful future, I plan to carry with me all that I’ve learned in this intense time apart. I will step towards an unknown future, optimistic because I know I am better, not bitter, for having survived the coronavirus pandemic.
Larada Horner-Miller, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better, (Horner Publishing Company, 20), 281-285.
One Last Look at the Ending of Each Chapter
To end each chapter, I challenged the reader to reflect on a probing question I posed. Again, my teacher side showed up. I knew that this book had the possibility of taking the reader to a deeper level if he/she took the time to respond to my question. So in this way, the book became a journal really.
Here’s the questions I used at the end of Chapter 31:
YOUR REFLECTIONS:
Did you get vaccinated? If so, did you have a reaction to the vaccine? If so, what?
Finally,
One last look this month at my book has reminded me of the power of this book. My premise of the subtitle, Bitter or Better, still stands. I had a choice during the pandemic of becoming either bitter or better. I chose better; I hope you did, too!
FREE OFFER: Download a FREE personal journal of Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better?, featuring the photos/graphics and the reflection questions for each chapter. Let me know what you think about it.
TWO DAYS LEFT: the paperback format of Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? is on sale for $9.80 for two more days. Grab your copy now!
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