Picture caption: Cover of Gratitude & No Fairy Tale: Just Her Poetry Book Three by D.L. Finn
What Amazon says
Explore D. L. Finn’s poetic journey, from her newest to earliest works. Part One immerses you in a combination of her photography and symbolic poems. Peaceful winter days, forests, and sunsets illuminate her search for the magic of life. Part Two retraces her journey from her first poems. Her life is revealed through free verse poems and photographs that were featured in her memoir, No Fairy Tale. She discovers gratitude on her path to happiness. Join her as she explores her reality through emotions and nature in this special collection.
Once again, Jake’s platoon spent the day digging. Boredom, the physical effort, and the weather colluded, and the men were edgy and bad-tempered.
“The Tommies broke through the Hinderberg line at Cambrai yesterday,” said Big Mouth.
“I heard the Tommies used tanks for the assault. I’d love to see a tank,” said Joe, his eyes alight with enthusiasm.
“Yeah, I also read they used tanks.” Big Mouth stopped work and leaned on his spade. “The USA 11th, 12th, and 14th Engineer Regiments supported the British troops by doing railway construction work behind the trenches. Lucky bastards.”
As with every stop along the way of the tour, you get a chance at a free digital copy of The Ones Who Stayed With Me just be leaving a comment. So, please don’t leave without saying ‘hello’.
Giveaway
Leave a comment for a chance to win a free digital copy of The Ones Who Stayed With Me By Nurse Sammy One entry per stop.
Winners are chosen in a random drawing.
Sponsored by WordCrafter Press.
About Nurse Sammy
Nurse Sammy has spent her life walking the quiet edges of human suffering and human grace. Long before she ever wore scrubs, she learned how to read a room by the way someone breathed and how to steady a shaking hand. How to listen to the stories people only tell when they think it might be their last night to say them. Nursing wasn’t a career she chose; it was the language her heart was already speaking.
She has worked in places where life is beginning, and in places where life is ending; in rooms lit by hope, and in rooms where grief hangs heavy in the doorway. Rehab centers, memory care halls, pediatric units, assisted living, private homes, wherever someone needed gentleness, she went. She became the one who held vigil, the one who noticed the quiet details, the one who stayed.
Her personal life has carried its own ache, abuse survived, love lost, a marriage that bruised the soul, another built from healing, and a grief that still hums beneath her ribs. She writes from the tender, broken places, from the nights she rebuilt herself alone, from the mornings she rose anyway. Her words are shaped by both the wounds and the resilience that followed.
The Ones Who Stayed With Me is her first published work, a collection of truths disguised as stories, honoring the people who left fingerprints on her life in ways they never saw. Her writing is soft but unflinching, honest but merciful, threaded with the belief that even in darkness, someone is always holding a light.
Nurse Sammy lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she continues to care, to witness, to learn, and to turn the hardest parts of her journey into something that might help someone else breathe a little easier.
Picture caption: Nurse Sammy
Chapter Excerpt Reading of “Is It B.M. or Chocolate Pudding?”, by Nurse Sammy
About The Ones Who Stayed With Me
Picture caption: Cover of The Ones Who Stayed With Me by Nurse Sammy
Chronicles of the journey into the medical field as a young nurse and beyond, told with raw sensitivity and compassion. The Ones Who Stayed with Me offers small glimpses into the world of an L.P.N. put in difficult, often touching or humorous, situations—and Nurse Sammy’s courage, vulnerability, and insight are a gift to us all. In these pages, Nurse Sammy tells her story and that of those she met along the way.
That’s all for today’s stop. I do hope you enjoyed our interview and have a better idea of the amazing young woman who shares her story with raw honesty in The Ones Who Stayed With Me. Join us tomorrow, over at Undawnted, which you’ll be able to find through the link, which will be there once it posts. You can’t comment there, but if you want to get into the giveaway for that stop, Kaye Lynne Booth will reblog it on “Writing to be Read”, and you can leave your comments on that post here.
Tour Schedule
Mon. 12 – Poetry by Mich, Hotel by Masticadores & Masticadores Phillipines
Dora’s prompt is as follows: “For your first poetics challenge of the year, I’d like you to dip your word-brush into Bishop’s poetic inkpot, as it were, consciously incorporating accuracy (detail), spontaneity (immediacy), and mystery (revelation) to write your own original poem.“
I’m a bit late reblogging this episode as I’ve been traveling and in the bush since 2 January. I can repost from Robbie’s Inspiration through Jetpack but this blog does not play the reposting game.
Thanks for sharing episode 12, Nolcha.
“The Soldier and the Radium Girl Part 1: The Bloom of Youth, Chapter 1: Enlist in haste, repent at leisure (cont. 12)” by Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Jake Tanner
9 November 1917
Jake’s platoon was assigned a day of hard labor.
“From now on, men, it’s going to be one day of military training and drilling and one day of hard labor,” Sarge announced that morning. “We’ve all got to do our bit to help get the training center built.”
The troops spent the day digging foundations for the numerous buildings that would comprise the training center. There would be barracks, administrative buildings, hospitals, and Y.M.C.A. facilities. Other infrastructure would also be needed, including roads and telephone wires.
“The training center must be built and up and running before the next lot of recruits start to arrive,” Sarge said during the evening meal.
“I’ll be glad to get back to military training tomorrow,” Beau complained. “It’s easy compared to building.”
“It sure is,” whined Mike, “just look at my hands.” The palms he held out were studded with blisters. “I’ve got handling those five-ton iron and steel beams to thank for these.”
“Mine are the same,” Jake said, “What about you, Joe?”
I am late reposting this. I have been struggling to reblog from my iphone. I have to do it manually on my laptop. Is anyone else having an issue with reblogging?
Thank you, Nolcha, for sharing part 11 of my book.
Jake Tanner
Letter from Private Jake Tanner to his fiancée, Kate Henderson 3 November 1917
Dear Kate
This is just a quick note to let you know my battalion is billeted in a small town in France. I am sharing a barn with the men from my platoon. Joe, Mike, Beau, and Will are still with me, and that’s a comfort.
I am glad we are living in a barn and not tents, as it has rained nearly continuously since our arrival two weeks ago. The barns leak, but the earth floors are high enough not to flood.
The mud here is different from the mud back home. It is a yellow clay which builds up thickly on our boots and must be scraped off. I never thought I’d be spending 30 minutes a day trying to get mud off my boots and uniform.
A lot of the army supplies are still in England or stateside, so rations are a bit of a sore topic. The food is dull and repetitive, with stew and corned beef hash being staples. None of us has much money ,and we pawned just about every trinket we brought with us at the different stores in exchange for tobacco and chocolate. Some of the men resorted to smoking tea, dried clover leaves, and anything else they can get their hands on. Don’t worry, I have not done this. I’ve never been that keen on smoking, as you know.
We have started training even though a lot of our equipment hasn’t yet arrived. I hope the food situation will improve soon, as it is hard to be energetic when you are hungry.
Hi everyone, its Robbie Cheadle with you today and part 2 of my wonderful holiday treat. The multitalented Resa McConaghy is sharing another of her spectacular Art Gowns in celebration of the holiday season.
Happy New Year
Let 2026 begin in the best of spirits and full of cheer!
Thank you to Barbara Leonhard for sharing our Christmas story on MasticadoresUSA.
Enjoy this darling Christmas story. Merry Christmas!
It was two nights before Christmas, a cold and cloudy day When the Roundy Twins thought of a new idea for play Into Sir Chocolate’s Chocolatier, the naughty pair snuck And found his sweet decorating tools; for them a bit of luck
Picture caption: The Roundy Twins
They spent the long winter’s evening having a lot of fun And admired their handiwork when they were quite done They had painted the town with Sir Chocolate’s edible-paint The tubes were all empty, they had painted without restraint
Pictures and graffiti adorned every house in town’s walls They had been to the local market and sprayed all the stalls And the stage in the park, was full of paint and a mess Shocked at their destruction, the twins were a bit stressed
To all my readers who celebrate Christmas – Merry Christmas. This is my re-write of 12 Days of Christmas for the Southern African experience. Thank you to Kaye Lynne Booth for hosting.
roberta-writes.com 