Costa Jill

My horoscope nudges me:

“What images would heal and activate my mind?

Full Moon

What scenes would inspire me?”

A full moon,

Its light radiating

From a perfect kiss,

The vibrations

Fusing us together

In a slithery dance

Of mating snakes.

Morning rainbows over the sea.

Morning Rainbow

Blissful faces of the people I love.

Clear splashing rivers with kids and dogs.

Rio Morete

Perfect moments,

To meditate upon now,

To visualize for the future,

To savor in darker times.

My horoscope invited me to visualize five images that would inspire me. The four above inspired the poem. Now I add the fifth. I visualize myself selling my books Free To Bloom. I meditate on it. I savor it. I work at it.

Join me at Books1Sarasota on Main St. for a book-signing with several other local authors on Sept. 20, 2011 from 6 – 8 pm.

I am making a tour of Upstate New York independent book stores at the end of September.

In October I will return to Gainesville for another reading and book signing at Books, Inc. on 13th St. Check here or on my Free To Bloom website.

I’m trying to keep up with this blog and comment on other writers, read Writing  Your Memoir by Hunter that my son lent me on my Kindle, keep up with the latest best-sellers (I’ve got 4 going), attend my weekly writing group, and finish my latest story. Whew!

My challenge for you my faithful readers, is to visualize the five images that would inspire you and let me know what they are. Of course I would appreciate any publicity or suggestions on my book or blog.

Baile Folklórico Casas Viejas

El Porvenir’s Impact on the Community – Spring 2011

At the end of El Porvenir’s 5-day Casas Viejas, Nicaragua construction project the community members of all ages and the volunteers celebrated together in the school yard with a piñata for the children, a local band, students performing folkloric dances, and lots of happiness.

The Casas Viejas community received three new latrines, a handwashing station and a re-connected water line to a school that had been without any of these basic needs for many years. In terms of personal relations even more was accomplished. Although all construction materials and planning was handled by El Porvenir, community members learned to work together and with the volunteers; from Jose, the foreman of the work crew, to his wife, Chepita, who handled all the lunches for the volunteers, to the women and children of all ages who arrived everyday on site to help with whatever jobs were necessary: hauling sand, site clean-up, digging lines, carrying water, etc…

The pride of accomplishment shown in all of us, foreigners and community members alike, as we danced, sang and celebrated the completion of our goals – the addition of basic water needs for the primary school of Casas Viejas.

I’m updating my spring trip with El Porvenir with an impact statement which will appear in the El Porvenir newsletter by Jo Buescher. Thought the rest of you might be interested since I never finished my NIcaragua blog. Sorry.

Next post will continue my struggle with public relations for Free To Bloom.

I open my Kindle to download a little treasure, Bruno’s Dream by Iris Murdoch, and for only $1.99. It’s true she’s old and dead, but one of my favorite authors. Joe Konrath’s  blog Newbie’s Guide to Publishing downloads with it. I immediately click his title ‘Are You Writing?’. Because the answer is ‘No’ I find out I’m an epic failure. Why? I’m reading books, buying new books, reading blogs, doing laundry; anything to keep from writing. And when I finish the article I open my computer and here I am. WRITING. Yea.

OK, It’s not my newest story, High In The Emergency Room, but I’m blogging.

A quick note on my book Free To Bloom. Sales have come to a grinding halt as have my efforts at publicizing it. Can’t seem to get the print edition on Amazon. Book reading and discussion events have dried up, and neither am I visiting my social sites, reviewing, guest blogging nor reading the writer’s news letters that arrive. Sigh.

Playa Hermosa, Costa Ballena, CR our beach from above

Let’s look at a more positive side. What do I do other than writing that makes me feel good?

• On this rare sunny morning in the middle of the Costa Rican Green Season to the tourists, but the rainy season to us, I met my friend Diana at one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Playa Hermosa, to boogie board in the excellent warm waters of the Southern Pacific Ocean.
• When I’m stuck inside, like right now and it’s raining like hell, I like to design and make quilts.I’ve been on a quilt kick for the last couple years and love it. When I can’t do anything else I can usually turn to quilting to pick me up. And finding exotic, beautiful, vintage fabric soothes my shopping urge.
• Melanie’s Quilt

• To renew my soul I take the dogs to the river, but have only gone twice  this trip because of the rain bloated rapids.
• Romping, exploring and playing with my grandkids is high on the list, but they’re all in Florida right now.
• And sex in the afternoon, rain or shine is always wonderful.

Jill's Free To Bloom book signing

I’ve gotten some wonderful feedback from people (mostly friends) who’ve read my book Free To Bloom. Some have written reviews on Amazon for me which I appreciate tremendously. Others have sent me emails or given me their thoughts in person. I thank you one and all for your good reviews helping me get the word out. Here are some samples:

Finished your book and loved it- really. Open, daring, intimate. Your quote at the beginning (And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. Anais Nin) and at the end (Let there be spaces in our togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between us. Kahlil Gibran), are my two all time favorites. N.S.

Jill.  Keep on writing!  I just finished reading Free to Bloom on Kindle.. Seems that I had read somewhere that a successful author writes as though no one else is going to read the words that come from the head and are ultimately put on paper.  You are on a roll and providing pleasure for others.  It must feel good! S.P.

I loved reading this book. It made me feel as though I were right there with Danielle, experiencing her life in Costa Rica and sharing her transitions from the end of a marriage through new relationships. It’s the story of a woman who lives life with creativity and feeling. L.C.

My friend recommended Jill Green’s book Free to Bloom. I absolutely love it. The story is cohesively written and each page enticed me to continue reading until I finished the book. J.M.

I just finished reading Free to Bloom today and really enjoyed it! I read a lot and know what good writing is and think Jill Green is indeed a good writer. Her chapters were well constructed, interlaced with romance and heartbreak, scary moments of nature, ending with personal victories and gaining a tough independence. I would definitely recommend this book to those who love adventure and discovering what life would be like living in the tropics of Costa Rica. It’s a good read! K.P.

“Oh, Jill it made me cry. I loved it. L.A.

“I loved it all, but my favorite story was the last one, Fault Lines.” K.Q.

My son Ray, Alyssa and Nicki

I would like to honor and thank my son Ray, my computer guru and major spark of life behind the publishing of my first book Free to Bloom. Without his constant help it would never have happened. He even was willing to take control of my computer and fix things from afar. “Mom, just keep your hands off the keyboard.” Then I’d watch the little cursor fly around the screen seeking, clicking and fixing in nano seconds. “Ok, mom, all fixed,’ he texts.

And it’s not like he has a lot of time to spare. He has more or less recovered from a debilitating reoccurrence of Meniere’s disease in which he was bed ridden much of the time. He changed his life by following a controversial, but very successful health program for him. He brought his business as CEO of Gator Country Multimedia back to life, changed his diet and lost 100 lbs., meditates several times a day, and takes time almost everyday to walk alone in the woods for balance and perspective, and still finds time to be a wonderful father to Alyssa and great husband to Nicki.

I’ve always said that he’s the best adjusted member of our family, even though on top of everything else he was born profoundly deaf and grew up with all the challenges that entailed.

Ray, I honor you, love you and thank you from the bottom of my heart for being the “spark of my life”.

The Author

On Memorial Day May 30 come on over to Circle Books between 12 – 2 pm on St Armand’s Circle in Sarasota for my final book signing before I’m off to Costa Rica.

If you can’t make it in person you can now buy the print edition online at my website freetobloombook.com .

You can also buy the ebook version for a measly $2.99 online at Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook or Smashwords.

The print edition will soon be available at these sites also.

Enjoy and if you feel literary write me a review at any of these locations.

Thanks everyone, friends and family, for all your help and support.

Reconnecting with an old family friend, Mary Bo, after 30 years, my first memory of her mom,  Issie, who was like a mother to me, awakens.

I’m sitting on her lap, the calm exquisite feeling of her brushing and brushing my hair envelops me.

I follow the memory of touch to my sister Judi and I, before our teens, sharing a room, bed and back rubs in France.Playing scratchies was one of our few quiet times together.

This comfort resurfaces with my own daughter Nicole and is reciprocated, not only making us feel good, but easing our pain.

And now I’ve transferred this great habit on to my granddaughter Alyssa who asks for massages before bed.

May this gift of touch continue in all of our lifetimes.

Alleluia for the sensitivity of women. Happy Mother’s Day to all my family and friends!

Free To Bloom update and events:

• Ebook now available on Smashwords.
• WSLR 96.5 lpfm Tues. May 10 at 9am – interview
• Circle Books on St Armands Circle Sun. May 15 11 am – 1 pm – Book Signing
• Selby Library May 25 11:30 am – 12:30 pm Book Signing and discussion

Free To Bloom

Let me toot my horn. My ebook Free To Bloom is finally published on Amazon and Barnes & Noble for an initial price of only $2.99. Thought I’d give you some background to get you interested in buying it and reading it. The print edition will be published in days. Here’s a description:

Through eleven partially linked chronological stories we follow Danielle as she splits from a long-term marriage to find her way as a single woman living alone in a foreign country. Her search for both physical and emotional contentment and independence leads her to take risks in life and love from jumping off waterfalls, to discovering a gorgeous young caveman, and learning the art of marijuana growing and harvesting. Follow her journey as she intertwines intimate personal insights with wild adventures.

Of Time and the Mountain

The first story Of Time and the Mountain reveals that beginning a new life and building a house in an isolated part of a foreign country, Costa Rica, is rampant with challenges: physical, emotional and personal. The frayed threads of a long term marriage begin to unravel one by one.

Learning a new language, meeting new people, living in a strange culture, subsisting in a primitive environment without basic necessities bring a need for a little respite wherever it can be found. And find it Danielle does, whether it’s going to local festivals in the mountain villages, finding archeological artifacts, or getting to know both locals and expats.

Alligator Dreams

Danielle travels back and forth between the U.S. and Costa Rica finding adventure wherever she is. New relationships blossom, grow strong, wilt, revive or die, but all are worthwhile experiences. With Danielle’s newborn independence, taking risks in both love and life becomes necessity. A U.S. doctor is shocked by her little parasite in My Friend George. A scary alligator plies Florida waters in Alligator Dreams.

God's Caveman

A Costa Rican cave dweller falls in love with her in God’s Caveman.She is horrified by the ‘dog-eat-dog’ world in Puppy Love. At turns she is terrified and exhilarated by conquering the waterfall in Fear of Falling.

Fear of Falling

Getting to Know You -Humboldt County

Getting to know Adrian in California includes experiencing his illegal lifestyle and feeling his paranoia when the cops appear at the pot growing fields in Getting To Know You – Humboldt County.

Join Danielle as she deals with both the highs and lows of her adventurous life; how she deals with conflict, has fun, learns patience and gains contentment as her life blooms into full flower.

Author Biography

Though born in California, and living in France as a child, Jill Green’s formative years were spent on Florida’s Gulf Coast. After college at the Univ of Florida, marriage, two children – one deaf, she started teaching, helped run two businesses and after 30 years, got divorced.

What a turn life took! Now living in two countries, Sarasota, FL and Costa Rica. she forgot her French, but learned Spanish. Living alone took many adjustments, eventually she has become a self-sufficient, adventuresome individual, traveling the world, volunteering with many organizations, climbing mountains, surfing the seas and teaching ESL in Costa Rica and Florida.

The Author

After many years working and bringing up a family she has finally become a published writer with her book of short stories Free to Bloom about life in Costa Rica and the United States, hopefully the first of many. Although she has written stories and essays for small magazines, her next big project is auto-biographical: the trials, tribulations, joys and sorrows of living with and educating a deaf child who after the fact designed and now runs a successful website www.gatorcountry.com, one of the top U. of Florida Gator football websites.

Visit Jill’s personal blog at http://www.costajill.com and her Free to Bloom blog at http://www.freetobloombook.com, where you can buy the book in either format.

Terry & Jill RVing at Wanee

Jill & Cindi

I desperately need to burst outside; leave the home cave, after too many hours inside from taking on the worries of the world, including publishing my book Free to Bloom. I walk out into my yard and start picking fruit. Under an umbrella of mulberries pricked through with sunlight, I pick buckets of sweet luscious berries each facet reflecting a thousand purple insect eyes, the last of the meyer lemons, as big as oranges, one lone papaya from my former tree recently fenced in by the evil neighbors.

I begin to see a different world as my edges smooth allowing the colors, scents, music, smiles and perspective in with the fresh air. Frustration is tempered with fulfillment:

• Verizon has disconnected my phone and internet, but can’t turn it back on. On April Fool’s Day my luck reverses and they work.
• I’m unable to upload my bookcover on Amazon, but successfully upload the book.
• My computer guru son isn’t able to complete my website, but fixes and delivers his RV to us in time for the Wanee Festival, an old hippie extravaganza of musicians running the gamut from headliner the Allman Brothers to Taj Mahal.

Terry & Vilma way down upon the Suwanee

Wanee Music Festival

And Wanee Fest becomes my perfect tension tamer. 30,000 people mill about under 80 acres of trees on the Suwanee River. In our first RV experience, Terry, Vilma, Cindi and I eventually find our way to the campground and set up. We sit under pines and oaks, music on all sides, skin cool after a morning dip in the river. We’re in an isolated world of friendly smiles, great music, perfect weather, cool breezes with nothing to do but dance, eat, sing, play, laugh, and forget the cares of the outside world.

I relax, open up and another gift appears – my ebook Free to Bloom is published on Amazon. Thank you everyone, especially my son Ray, for helping me in so many ways to accomplish this feat.

Robert Plant and Patty Griffin