So Apparently Its My Fault

Hearts Over Mind – It’s Virginia’s Fault!
By: Karina Fabian

I have a lot to thank Virginia for, and not just for hosting me today on the Mind Over All tour. It’s her fault that this trilogy actually ends with a fourth book, a novella called Hearts Over Mind, which is available free with the purchase of the Mind Over trilogy.

The Mind Over Trilogy follows Deryl Stephens, a human psychic whose powers drive him insane. With the help of an intern, Joshua, he learns to control his abilities. Eventually, he recognizes the alien minds that are trying to manipulate him and breaks free of their influence. He travels to their world, falls in love with one, heals and befriends the other, and eventually saves both their worlds. Through it all, Joshua is there to guide him, advise him, and slap some sense into him as needed. They become great friends.

Joshua has his own strong storyline as he falls in love with a nurse at the asylum where he helped Deryl. He and Sachiko have a rocky relationship because of their careers and the secret she kept hidden from him for too long. In Mind Over All, Deryl is horrified to return to Earth to find them in the middle of a fight that might end their relationship. He’s had a premonition that they must be together and help him save his new homeworld or else he will fail. He recruits Joshua, hijacks Sachiko, and on Kanaan, the two are able to heal their relationship. They finally set a date for the wedding – just in time to save the world.

Virginia is not only a good friend, but also likes my books and proofs them for me. When I gave her Mind Over All, she wrote back how disappointed she was that she didn’t get to see the wedding. In truth, I had too many loose ends to wrap up that I could not fit in a wedding scene. I had long had a great idea for a disastrous bachelor party for poor Joshua, but had been content to just imagine it and giggle now and again.

Thanks to her encouragement, I decided to write a short story about the days leading up to the wedding and the wedding itself. It would start with an argument, include the failed bachelor party where Josh falls off a boat, and end with a happily-ever-after wedding and a kiss to rival Princess Bride. However, when it would not work from Joshua’s POV, another friend suggested I try it from the POV of the bride. After all, it was her big day, too. Soon that led to a deeper exploration of the issues they’d faced, her own insecurities, and a whole lot of fun as she deals with everything from a half-drowned fiancé to a wedding kimono that’s psych-ward pink. The short story became a novella, and my publisher was only too happy to produce it.

So thanks, Virginia, for making me do more than daydream about a funny scene.

My response: To let you all in on a bit of the background to this article... I signed up to help Karina with her book tour and asked her for a guest post. I had no idea that I would open this in my e-mail box when she sent her files. I was surprised! Ha-Ha! You are more than welcome Karina, I am thrilled and honored to have inspired you to continue with the story! I can't wait to read it!

Karina is right- I have read her books. I have been entertained by and loved every single one of them! I encourage every one of you to go out and get a copy of all of them! They are fun, family friendly, and an over all sci-fi roaring good time! You WON'T regret it!

Want to find out more? http://karinafabian.com/mind-over-all/ 

Come buy yours here! http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Over-All-Novels-Book-ebook/dp/B011LSN6BE

Karina Fabian

By day, Karina is a mild-mannered reviewer of business software and services for TopTenReviews.com. After hours, she’s a psychic intent on saving the world; a snarky dragon who thinks he saves the world all-too regularly, a zombie exterminator who just wants her world clear of undead vermin, and nuns whose callings have taken them off our world. Needless to say, her imagination is vast, her stories legion, and her brain crowded. When she’s not converting her wild tales to stories, she’s enjoying time with her husband, Rob, their four kids, and their two dogs.    

Find Karina at:

Website: http://fabianspace.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karina.fabian

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/KarinaFabian

Google +:  https://plus.google.com/103660024891826015212

W: Everyone Needs Water- Flash Fiction

“You are weak and worse yet, you do not even realize you are weak!” The Aruk named 12 hissed at a group of children as he marched them along a grueling sandy terrain.

 Back inside the station the Aruk leader, called 1, glared through the window as he watched the children’s progress. 

“Why haven’t they given up by now?” 1 asked his 2nd in command beside him.

 “They’ve only been here for just a short time sir, but we do need to figure out how to break the human species’ spirit soon if we are going to have a chance at winning the war in the future.” 2 replied, his body flickering and never gaining solid form.

 1 huffed. 1 knew, being a temporal histographer, 2 could see how much longer they had if they had any hopes of changing their future.

 “This species gaining our powers is NOT in our best interest. If they fight this hard now to keep going, they would have been an unstoppable foe if they had been allowed to develop to their full potential on their home planet.” 1 said, his voice dark and brooding.

 Outside, the children were growing tired and thirsty. The sun high in the sky burned on their exposed skin. Still the Aruk guards shoved them on.

 A young boy by the name of Nathan stumbled a little in the sand. His guard shoved him and ordered him to keep up. His mind felt like jello, his stomach churned in the heat, his muscled weak from dehydration and yet he continued on.

 I won’t be the one to cause my friends pain because I failed the test, Nathan thought about the rest of his friends still back in the cells.

 If only I had some water!

 Spreading his arms out beside him, being careful not to disturb his fellow runners, he wished for a breeze to take away the heat.

 Or maybe even some rain! 

There was no rain or even the slightest breeze on this desolate planet the Aruk lived on though. Nathan’s eye was suddenly drawn to the forehead of the Aruk guard running beside them where sweat beaded on his purple skin. The guard wiped his three fingered hand across the red and black tattoo’s and flicked the sweat to the ground.

 Water! Nathan’s mind reeled.

He stopped running and held his hands out toward the guard in desperation.

 1 leaned closer to the window and watched in horror as the purple skin of one of his guards faded with almost instant dehydration. The guard stumbled back horrified. 1 waved his hand over the window to open it and called out to his guards.

 “Dispose of him quickly!” He ordered, The children mustn't be allowed to develop those powers!

The guards circled around the children and two guards pulled the kicking and screaming boy from their midst.

 “How, in the midst of all this, did he manage to develop the ability of a healer?” 1 demanded of 2 after he closed the window once more.

 2 didn’t answer. His form flickered even more feverishly now as he scanned the timeline.

 “Don’t dispose of him just yet,” 2 told the guards as they dragged the terrified boy past them. “Sir, the timeline has changed. If we can develop these humans’ abilities we can use them to fight FOR us in the coming war!”

This flash fiction piece takes place before the events of The Alien Mind. Just something I am working on to help me analyze my antagonists motivations and frame of mind. Bear in mind that none of this is edited or finalized- just me doing some free range writing ;)



photo credit: When nothing will do via photopin (license)

Today's post was also inspired by the letter W. W is for:   as part of the Blogging from A to Z April 2015 challenge! Click on the letter to join on in the fun!

Every day (excluding sundays) I will be writing a post about something that begins with the letter for that day. Most of the time you will find a sci-fi flash fiction piece here.


For Readers: I leave you with this quote: The best weapon is your mind. Without it you are defenseless. Without it you are weak and worse yet you do not even realize you are weak.

Tell us about a time that some fast thinking got you out of trouble...

Altering Spaghetti To Accommodate A Toddler

V.L. Jennings' Spaghetti

Growing up in my later years I discovered that I wasn't very fond of spaghetti. It took more work to eat it than most foods- I mean really... who wants to eat half a plate of spaghetti with sauce and the other half with a bland sorta 'no more sauce' taste? A lot of work goes into getting the proper sauce to noodle ratio on each spoon! Then you add in the fact that apparently tomato sauce just tasted really acidic to me, the same reason I dislike ketchup (and yet I LOVE hot sauce... how does that work?).

However, when you are trying to cook family meals on a budget, spaghetti is still awesome in a pinch.

When my husband and I married he came with two kids- ready made family. One was 2 almost 3 when we married and the other was 6. The oldest came with a bunch of medical issues, one of which being fine motor skills. What this boiled down to was having two kids in the house with the dexterity of a toddler.

At first I tried chopping the spaghetti up... yeah that went over well *sarcasm*. Not that they pitched a fit or anything, they just really didn't enjoy eating it. So I took a bite... and discovered that chopping up the spaghetti so fine may have made it easier to pick up but was BLAH as far as chewing texture goes.

Add that into the fact that noodles sliding all over the mouth leaves sauce all over the face... cute to some parents sure- I could see the appeal. Until I discovered that eldest's face would sport a red rash the next morning from the sauce. I thought about nixing spaghetti and pizza all together until I realized that she would only have a reaction if she made a mess of it on her face. If it all made it into her mouth... no problems at all.

Next time I decided to try using elbow noodles instead- SUCCESS!!!

From there, I was even more determined to tweak the sauce recipe to get just the right amount of flavor and enjoyment out of it. Heck, if I'm going to be working over a stove to make this than it better be enjoyable to eat even for the cook!

I was raised on the walmart brand of jar'd spaghetti sauce, it was the cheapest, and I am on a budget so I stuck with that as a base. I also wanted something to cut down on the tang of the tomato taste in the spaghetti sauce. Walking through the spaghetti isle I noticed the jars of alfredo... Why not! Lets try that and see how that tastes!

TONS better!

Fast forward to the end of 2014... hamburger meat is sky high... and strangely enough sausage is CHEAPER than hamburger meat (where before hamburger was cheaper). So to save money on my spaghetti dinner I opted for two lbs of sausage instead of my usual hamburger.

Ok... now I have total yumness!

I may eventually go back to using spaghetti noodles but for now my third child is 3 soon to be four, (*cries* is it really that time already!) and he loves the elbows!

V.L. Jennings' Spaghetti

1- 16oz box of elbow noodles
1- small jar of alfredo sauce
1 extra large jar (66oz) and one medium jar (45 oz) of your choice spaghetti sauce
2lbs of sausage (I like to do one spicy, one regular or one regular, one sage)

Brown spaghetti sauce and boil noodles/drain. Mix sauce, sausage, and alfredo in one big pot. Makes two dinner nights for 5 people!

PS If you are here wondering how my Crock Pot Ham turned out... 

Well I am happy to report that it was, fall of the bone, absolutely AWESOME! I ended up cooking it for 5 hours on high- I had an appointment so I didn't get back till then. However, I believe it may have been done around 4 hours.

It was SO juicy that I could shred it easily with just ONE fork!

Each bite was full of flavor and SO super succulent! It was a big success with my kids and my husband. Plus I even have some left over that I think I will shred into some mac n cheese for tonight's meal!


Anyhow- I hope you enjoyed these recipe's! Stay tuned... there's no telling what sorts of things I will go exploring or altering next!

Do you have a recipe you've altered that you would like to share? Tell us about it in the comments! I love to try new dishes!

Mad Scientist Mac N Cheese and Crock Pot Ham

Crock Pot Ham!

One of the key things about 'exploring human potential' is the desire to learn something new. To create something, to try to figure things out. Here I am, diving into the unknown again with some real world speculating!

Lately I have been experimenting with different recipes, combining the elements I like and subtracting the ones I don't like as I mix different recipes together. It can be tricky mixing recipes together, I always try to take a moment to mentally predict how each ingredient will interact with the others before I jump into the recipe. Now, I did this all on Christmas day... but if you are not that gutsy you may want to make this for a regular meal before you make it for company.

My original OVEN recipe called for just one cup of milk but the noodles were also supposed to be cooked before being added.

The first new crock pot recipe I had called for the elbow noodles to be cooked before they went into the crock pot and I wanted to avoid that. That recipe called for 3/4c of milk and 2 eggs. (The eggs didn't sound appetizing here so I ditched those)

Another crock pot recipe that DID call for uncooked noodles asked for 2.5 c milk and 12 oz of evaporated milk. This recipe also called for cream cheese- which would have made the mixture softer but we preferred the thick cheese texture anyhow. I was also afraid the cream cheese would have made the mixture a bit more sweet then we were used to.

Ultimately I mainly used my original baked mac recipe but added the evap milk and regular milk, as per the other recipes, in order to modify it so that I could avoid pre-cooking the noodles and do the whole thing in the crock pot.

My whole family loved this recipe! It was a big success!

My Crock Pot Mac used:

16 oz of uncooked elbow noodles
two cans of condensed cheddar cheese soup
a lb of shredded cheese
2 and a half cup of milk
and one 12oz can of evaporated milk.

Cook on low for 2.5 - 3 hours in crockpot. May stir at the 2 hr mark to check.

CROCK POT BAG recommended! Makes clean up way easier.



Today I am attempting to cook a Ham in the crock pot.... its an uncooked ham which I've never attempted to cook before.

I put a layer of brown sugar and mustard in the bottom of the crock pot. Set the ham flat side down in the crock pot. Put brown sugar, mustard and on a whim I added some vinegar over the top. Lid on and because I intend to eat it tonight I am cooking it on High and hoping it is done in about 6.5 hours.

*fingers crossed* I'll let you know how it turns out!

Tomorrow... if I remember, I will share with you my alterations for spaghetti!

Just Finished The Final Season Of Star Trek Voyager

Loved this crew!

My husband, my kids, and I have all been watching Star Trek Voyager over dinner on most nights, thank you Netflix for having them all send to our house by disk! So far we have watched the Original Series (Capt. Kirk), Next Generation (Picard), and now Voyager (Janeway). When I was a teen I watched all of the 'Enterprise' (Capt. Archer) episodes as well. I can't say yet with honesty that I enjoy any of the editions over the others yet but I do have one confession to make...

I think the final episode of Voyager season 7 truly takes the prize for best finale ever!

One of my favorite things about watching the Star Trek series' is watching the crews grow, and learn, and discover their own potential. Seven went from being a Borg drone to being completely free of the collective and learned what it means to be human again. The Doctor explored what it means to be a sentient life form in holographic form, and even asked himself whether he would ever want to become human given the chance. Tom grew out of his rebellious ways, and even Tuvok learned to make friends even with the illogical Neelix.

Season 7 wrapped up all the stories from all the main crew members and in the end every story ended in a satisfactory way.  Seven of Nine found someone to have a relationship with. Tuvok got his cure. B'lana and Tom got to have the doctor birth their baby. We find out that Harry Kim may eventually become a captain of his own ship, and the Doctor may eventually pick a name for himself and perhaps even get married; all of this being up in the air of course since they rewrote time again but... check it out and you'll see!

Yeah its all a bit Timey Wimey but we've also been keeping up with all the Doctor Who episodes so we are totally used to all that.

I'd have to say the only thing I was disappointed by is the fact that 7of 9 didn't finish her codiscot game (or however you spell that) with Neelix, AND the fact that they left him behind. I am glad that he found the rest of his people and a family, and I guess if Star Fleet can communicate with voyager on the rare occasion than they can still keep in touch with Neelix too.

So overall, unlike the series finale of 'Enterprise', I was very satisfied with the way Voyager ended.

And I'm not the only one who loves Voyager! Author Travis Simmons has even gone against the typical geek grain and professed his love for Capt. Janeway on his blog along with a pretty well thought out list as to why he enjoys Captain Janeway over the other Star Trek captains!

We've been dipping back into re-watching the episodes of Smallville from the beginning, and Breaking Bad (though the kids don't watch Breaking Bad with us of course). We are also anxiously awaiting the new season of Doctor Who, Green Arrow, and Walking Dead.

Its a great time to be a geek! :P

Expanding Your Pool Potential

photo credit: photosbyflick via photopin cc

Ever wanted to learn how to play pool? This handy piece of technology actually helps show and thereby teach you all the numerous angles and trajectories needed in order to make the perfect shot at the pool table! Not only do you get to play the game but you can show others how you made the shot too!

There was a scene on Star Trek once (I believe) where Spock had managed to send every ball to their pockets all in one shot- because he knew the geometry and the angles needed. I've always wondered if this was actually possible!

Post by Willy Foo - Photographer, Marketer, Technopreneur.

Wrapping Oddly Shaped Presents And Expanding Your Mind

photo credit: Randy Auschrat via photopin cc

You are on your own if you try to wrap a guinea pig!

What better way to exercise your brain and increase your own human potential than to learn some new origami this holiday season! I know how to make an origami frog, which comes in handy when trying to entertain your little kiddos, but this is really useful! Want to wrap that really odd shaped present?

Like, maybe you are that super cool parent that got their kid a model Millennium Falcon for Christmas! (yeah, we know you really bought it so you could play with it too!)

 Look what I found on! The Meredith Vieira Show  This is an awesome way to solve this problem!

Post by The Meredith Vieira Show.

Reviewing Jasmines Got Talent

Book Description:

Jasmine the miniature-schnauzer returns in another dreamy adventure! In this one, she's going to show off her talent and maybe win a prize! Join her as she takes the stage in third Jasmine Dreams book.

***** 5 Stars! Perfectly Delightful! *****

I give Jasmine's Got Talent 5 stars for quality, entertainment, and adorable illustrations!
Jasmine's Got Talent is a charming and delightful story written for young children by author Maria Rochelle. This book features awesome 'squeal worthy' illustrations by illustrator Jo Linsdell. My favorite of the characters was the cat, Diamond! Jasmine will surely inspire your little ones to want to be the star of the show too!



Find out more here!

Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PO3Y3JM

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23593299-jasmine-s-got-talent

Author website: http://writermariarochelle.blogspot.com

Illustrator website: http://www.JoLinsdell.com

Getting to Know Jo Linsdell and Maria Rochelle

Jasmine's Got Talent book tour!

Jasmine's Got Talent and the rest of the Jasmine's Dreams books are all available on Amazon!

~http://www.amazon.com/Maria-Rochelle/e/B00H951JEK

About Jasmine's Got Talent: A miniature schnauzer has a dreamy adventure and dreams she's in a talent contest. 

Maria Rochelle, do you mind if I ask you and Jo a few random just for fun questions? :)

~What was your first job?

My first job was at Chick-fil-A as a cashier, and I also worked in food prep. I had a great time working there my senior year in high school. 

~My first job was a waitress and cashier too- be kind to the food industry workers, you never know what they might accomplish in a few years!

~What is your favorite movie?

Just one....I like so many. Braveheart and Pretty In Pink are two of my favorites.

~Hmm I've never seen 'Pretty In Pink' but 'Braveheart' was awesome!

~Who designed the cover and illustrated the book?

Jo Linsdell designed the cover and illustrated all my books. She has been wonderful to work with. 

~ Jo is awesome! I've been friends with her for quite a few years- its been awesome watching her illustrating talent grow!

Illustrator Jo Linsdell,

~What was the hardest part of working on this series?

Some of the animals were easy to do but with others it wasn't as simple and straight forward. A lot depends on the photo I have to work with. Then there's the simple fact that not all animals are easy to transform into the style used in the series. Certain breeds are easy to identify from the strong characteristics they have. When the animal is mixed breed and has lots of markings it gets more complicated. Those with lots of markings for example are hard to simplify whilst still putting in the details that make them who they are. I then need to add accessories to them to put them "in character". The end product needs to be clutter-free in keeping with the style used. Like I said, not always an easy task ;)

~I always love hearing about everyone's different processes. I absolutely adore your illustrations- even at the pencil sketch phase! Have you ever thought about doing a more realistic story book, sorta like your first round photo like sketches?

~What is your favorite color?

Blue

~NO WAY! Mine too! I like dark blue... well that and fuchsia... I think I have a tie...

~Who is your favorite artist?

Tough question. I love so many of them. Salvador Dali is definitely one of my favorites. I remember when they did an exhibition of his art here in Rome. I went twice and spent hours in there each time. I love how creative and imaginative he was. Eccentric and attention grabbing both in his art and in life. As well as the surrealist work he is most famous for, he was also a very good sculpture, and photographer.

~Oh cool! My personal favorite is Vincent Van Gogh- I ADORE his 'Starry Night'. On the rest of his paintings I love how he uses streaks of color and blends them all together to create the picture! Of course after seeing him 'come to life' in Doctor Who... that was the best!

~Where can people find out more about working with you?

At my website http://www.jolinsdell.com/. On site they can find information on my "work with me" page, read testimonials from people I've worked with, see examples of my work, and find out more about the projects I'm involved with.

~Awesome ladies! You two are major inspirations! Maria I am so honored to get a chance to meet you; and Jo- you are always welcome on my blog! I really enjoyed the inside look into how your illustration projects come together in last week's blog. Keep on inspiring the next generation to reach for the stars ladies!

If anyone has any questions for Jo or Maria, I've been told they may just stop by ;) So ask away!

Rivi- Tangled in Christmas Lights- Short Story

photo credit: bloomgal via photopin cc

A Christmas Mini Story
Featuring the characters from The Alien Mind

Every year I set up our family Christmas decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving. I had just climbed into my attic to drag down the Christmas boxes when I heard the familiar chime of our door alarm. My heart stopped. The door was supposed to be locked, I'd checked it just moments ago!

Thoughts raced through my mind of my three yr old playing Tron on the Wii in his room. I looked around for something in the attic I could snatch up to use as a weapon.

Plastic driveway candy cane? Eh, seems decently hard enough.

"V.L.? Why are you in your ceiling?"
Ugh, I'm still not quite used to the name change! But wait! What's SHE doing here?! She's not even supposed to exist!
"Um- Rivi, is that you? How did you get in here?" I ask, hanging my head through the open attic door.
"I can manipulate matter remember? I just flipped the inside of the lock. I did try ringing your doorbell first." Rivi answered quickly.
By this point I had recovered sufficiently enough from the shock that I was ready to play along with whatever delusion was playing out in my head.
"Oh yeah, I forgot- we still don't have that fixed yet." I grabbed one of the smaller boxes from the top of the decoration boxes stack and dropped it through the attic door, "Catch!"
Rivi caught the box by levitating it mid air and lowered it carefully to the ground.
"Weren't you afraid of breaking the ornaments in there?" Rivi asked. "I mean, I caught them, but what if I hadn't?"
I shrugged before I realized she couldn't see me from down there.
"That one is just a bunch of tangled Christmas lights." I answered.
"Christmas lights?"
"You've never seen Christmas lights? Hold on! You'll love this!" I answered while crawling back over to the attic ladder.
Once I made it down I pulled out the wad of Christmas lights and stuck the outlet end into the wall.

"Oh WOW neat!" Rivi exclaimed as the wad of wire and tiny bulbs lit up in multiple colors. "Want me to untangle them for you?"
"You can try if you'd like. I'll go get the rest of the boxes."
Rivi held her hands over the tangled ball of lights and levitated them off the floor. Back and forth she waved her hands around the ball loosening it little by little. I climbed down the ladder with the second box and looked around for Rivi... she wasn't in the hallway any longer.

Now, my house isn't very big so I didn't have to look far to see her standing in the middle of the living room with a ginormous moving web of lights over her head. She'd loosened the ball, that's for sure but now it was just an even larger unmanageable mess!

"Rivi- Wait!"
"I've got this," She said, "Um, wait, no, Oh NO!"
Rivi lost control of just a few pieces of the unwieldy web and suddenly it came crashing down all around her entangling her in the middle. Lights were everywhere, both of my cats freaked out. One cat darted off down the hallway and the other arched its back and hissed like Rivi was something that now needed to be pounced on.

I couldn't help it, I laughed and laughed and laughed.

"Not funny," Rivi said glumly blowing her hair out of her face from under the tangled web of lights.

"Next time it might help to unplug the strand before trying to unravel them!" I said still laughing.

"I'm sure your system of storing lights could use some improvement too!" Rivi said with a motion toward the box the lights had been unceremoniously shoved into the year before.

She has a point...

***

Hope you enjoyed this little holiday scene- I plan on inviting more of my other characters over for my holiday party this year so don't be afraid to come on over and join the fun!

While we are at it- what is your favorite way of storing those strands of Christmas lights... does your method keep them from getting tangled?

***

Find The Alien Mind on Amazon!

Did you like this post? If so you might enjoy my book!

For adults and teens alike, it is truly a science fiction adventure for the whole family!

If you'd prefer an autographed copy straight from the author you can buy one here as well!
Autographed Copy:$13.00 + Shipping

 

Expanding Your Brain With An Instrument

 photo credit: tamahaji via photopin cc

My post the other day was about the Mind vs. your Genes. Today I ran across a video that has shocked me and really made me reevaluate how I look at music!

 

I've always loved music. I taught myself how to read music and play the piano as a teen. I need to practice playing with two hands more, but I can play with my right-hand alright. My eldest, as you learned in my previous post, has a chromosomal deletion disorder called Di George syndrome. Due to this disorder the areas of visual, audio, and motor functions; short term and working memory;  Visual and auditory attention, are all functioning below where they should be. This is the way it is for MANY children affected with Di George syndrome!

However, if you exercise and stretch a weak muscle it gets stronger right? Low and behold, according to this video- the exact same areas that she is weakest in is the EXACT same areas -playing- a musical instrument works with! Take a look at the 'file system' in the video. She has that issue too! Many times she has learned something but just can't seem to find it in her head again. This is due to processing and recall issues.

Ok- so she's not going to be able to keep up with the faster music. She does ok with slower pieces but the time needed for her to read the note, process the information, and get it back down to her fingers (she plays the flute) is way to long for her to play faster pieces like marches.

Some tips we've been working with:

*Write the letter of all the notes above the actual notes- highlight key areas if you have to- this helps cut down on some of the processing time.

*Her math teacher suggested highlighting only certain notes within a song for her to concentrate on. The rest of the band will play the whole song but she only plays with them when her notes come up. This way she can still play but it lengthens the time between notes to give her a moment to process. (I am SO thankful for the teacher's suggestion on that one!)

*I've found it easier to cut out the "one and two and one and two" stuff- she doesn't get that. Instead, I clap out the beat and point to her on key notes when we are practicing.

This whole realization has been really encouraging to me- and I hope it is to you as well!

So- check the video out. If you have any instrument playing tips put them in the comments for us! And remember- Never stop exploring human potential, always reach for the stars!