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    288 Chances: Reflections on Everyday Life, One Word, Five Minutes at a Time
    288 Chances: Reflections on Everyday Life, One Word, Five Minutes at a Time
    288 Chances: Reflections on Everyday Life, One Word, Five Minutes at a Time
    Ebook60 pages25 minutes

    288 Chances: Reflections on Everyday Life, One Word, Five Minutes at a Time

    By Brenda J. Otto

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    About this ebook

    5 minutesthe time it takes to brush your teeth, fry an egg, or pay the electric bill. In any given twenty-four-hour period, we all have 288 chances to take five minutes and just stopto think, to feel, allow ourselves time to breathe, grab hold of a thought or a word or a feeling, and capture a moment. 288 Chances is a collection of writings, each with a foundation that began in five short minutes. Open, honest, thoughtful words written from the heart, words that will hopefully engage the mind and the spirit as they relate to the simple, everyday feelings and emotions that we all experience over a lifetime. Love, Loss, Trust, Expectation. Just a few of the hopes and fears, joys and disappointments that might otherwise go unspoken, unshared, until we take the time to write them down. Could you set aside five minutes a day to challenge yourself? Challenge yourself to take one random word and write for five quick minutes, without thought to grammar or punctuationfirst connecting the bare bones, and then going back and adding some flesh and muscle, so your words might inspire, entertain, encourage, or comfort someone who might need to hear them today. Everyday life is full of ordinary moments that should inspire us all to be extraordinary. Sharing these moments with others connects us. Take five. And write it down. For more on this book and the author, please visit 288chances.blogspot.com.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateOct 25, 2013
    ISBN9781490809632
    288 Chances: Reflections on Everyday Life, One Word, Five Minutes at a Time
    Author

    Brenda J. Otto

    An Iowa girl born and raised, Brenda is a wife and mother of two with two young granddaughters. Writing soothes her spirit as photography soothes her soul. If a picture paints a thousand words, so can words paint a picture, and for Brenda, the two are intertwined. Thus, the inspiration behind the premise for her first two books. As an author, Brenda was an invited speaker at the 2014 Iowa Reading Association Conference, a council of The International Reading Association, held annually on the campus of Iowa State University. She presented on the importance of promoting literacy for all, her passion for writing and her belief that writers must first write to express, not impress. With her background in writing and graphic design, she is working on a series of storybooks for her granddaughters. Her love and appreciation for her family, and her faith in God the Father who bestows all blessings, keep her grounded everyday. For more on the author and her writing, please visit brendajotto@blogspot.com.

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      Book preview

      288 Chances - Brenda J. Otto

      Copyright © 2013 Brenda J. Otto.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      WestBow Press

      A Division of Thomas Nelson

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.westbowpress.com

      1 (866) 928-1240

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      ISBN: 978-1-4908-0962-5 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4908-0963-2 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2013917800

      WestBow Press rev. date: 10/23/2013

      Unless noted otherwise, scripture notations are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

      Norman Cousins. BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2013. 1 October 2013.

      Forrest Gump. Dir. Robert Zemeckis. Perf. Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise. Paramount Pictures, 1994. DVD.

      Disclaimer: The contents of this book are the author’s personal writings, images and photographs (unless otherwise credited) and should not be reproduced in any way without the author’s consent or permission. All writings, images and photographs (unless otherwise credited) are copyrighted and protected. This book is for general information, entertainment and inspirational purposes only, and is not intended to render psychological, financial, legal or other professional advice. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

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      Table of Contents

      trust

      tender

      connected

      vivid

      growing

      tired

      backwards

      unexpected

      still

      full

      loss

      motherhood

      empty

      real

      expectation

      deep breath

      every day

      love

      open

      catch

      Dedication

      Writing is like self prescribed therapy. I write because I can and because I have to.

      This book is dedicated to my children, Erin and Tyson,

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