The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons - Donations

Donations -- Free Books are given to High Schools, Retirement Communities, and Veteran's Hospital based on sales.

May, 2011

6 Copies - 3 of each Title

The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons - The Beginning

The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons - The Rose Oisín

Liberty High School 4250 Pleasant Hill Road • Kissimmee, Florida 34746

The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons - The Rose Oisín

http://www.thesecretsofnineirishsons

The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons - The Rose Oisín

The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons - The Rose Oisín

Solivita Arts Festival

Welcome All
Arts Festival in Solivita, Poinciana, Florida open to the public.
Great Gifts for the Holidays. Stop by Booth 22.

http://www.thesecretsofnineirishsons.com

See the above link for HOLIDAY SPECIAL

August 28, 2009 Released by Dan Moriarty, Marketing Director – Inquiries: dan@primelogo.com

Award Winning Writer and former Editor of a scholarly journal on Information Technology at Emory University , Laura Joyce Moriarty Releases a New Novel --- The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons – The Beginning.

From an Irish American who sees modern Ireland as a perpetuating land of ancient mysticism and grand magical people, comes an epic novel about an Irish family whose dashing good looks, charming personalities, and joyous love of life becomes the envy and unquenchable obsession of another family---one very rich, very shallow, and unmercifully corrupt, creating a nightmare that lasts for over twenty years.

The story is set in Aghadoe , Ireland , just a bit west of Killarney where the land is rich and glorious with green meadows and blue lakes. The heroine, Mary Elizabeth O'Malley is more than the mother of nine Irish sons. She is blessed with a supernatural gift, a secret of hers, that becomes the fixation of a vicious assassin whose passionate lust to control her, leads to a deceptive plot that leaves her isolated and abandoned in a deserted drug compound in South America for twenty years.

Accused of murdering her husband in a trumped up trial, Mary Elizabeth O'Malley remains sane by dreaming about her family back in Ireland , while her kidnapper waits for his father to die so he can inherit his fortune and find the woman he believes will help him control a vast criminal empire.

Back in Ireland , her nine sons grow up intent on discovering the truth behind their parent's disappearance. Each grown brother has kept his own clandestine activities secret while developing the skills needed to uncover the needed clues. One day, a fated hint brings the long estranged brothers back to their home where they rediscover their love for each other and hope for their future. Along the way, they discover ruthless and massive corruption and such unspeakable scandals that the CIA, FBI, and Scotland Yard have teamed up to help them uncover a criminal network of massive proportions.

Though just recently released this novel is already receiving five star reviews.
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Laura Joyce Moriarty lived in the Atlanta area for more than 30 years and has recently retired to Florida . She graduated from Emory University and has a Masters Degree from the University of Georgia .

The sequel, The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons II – The Rose, will be available at the end of the year. Progress on its status can be found at the Web site: http://www.thesecretsofnineirishsons.com/
This book can be found at multiple Internet sites including the Target On-Line Store and Amason.com. It can be most conveniently ordered at:
http://www.createspace.com/3363148.

Gorgeous George

Available Nobember 5, 2009
Gorgeous George "The Challenger Intermediate School Series
"The third of a new series of books for children age 7 - 12.

Available November 5, 2009
Gorgeous George"The Challenger Intermediate School Series"The first of a new series of books for children age 7 - 12.

Eleanor's Happiness

Available November 1, 2009
Eleanor's Happiness"The Challenger Intermediate School Series"The second of a new series of books for children age 7 - 12.

Featured Painting -- Classical Music Evening 9-16-2009 Solivita

Available September 5, 2009

Joe's Hidden Treasure
"The Challenger Intermediate School Series"
The first of a new series of books for children age 7 - 12.

Order @ http://www.createspace.com/3363148

Featured Painting of the Day

Featured Painting of the Day.

Featured Painting of the Day.

Featured Painting of the Day.

Creativity and a Correlation with Mental Illness? Doubtful!

   CNN’s reporter Elizabeth Landau recently wrote an article about the perceived correlation between creativity and mood disorders being discussed by some research psychologists. They are thinking and saying mental illnesses, especially “bipolar disorders and depression” are connected to highly creative people. If you are an artist you may object to being called an excessively ruminating or reflective, and, therefore, depressed--or that you have a predilection towards mental illness.

   Regardless of the research, I would like to convince you that the one variable, i.e., being creative may not be a good one to study. In fact, if it were removed from the research completely, and the individuals used in the study were reexamined, I would suspect that other more convincing common depression causing characteristics might be uncovered. Not being a psychologist myself, I can only assume that there are hundreds of accepted  correlating factors, such as abuse, neglect, poverty, physical illness, or childhood abandonment, to name a few. Why?

1. Creativity Is Part of Our Inherited Human Makeup.

   Other mitigating factors aside, my first argument is that creativity is not expressed only in art or even artistic endeavors alone. I believe everyone is creative and is born with a storehouse of creativity as part of their inherited human makeup.

   Those who have expressed their creative side traditionally, i.e., those who really choose the artistic life are often observed with a scant tilt to the eye. Why?--because people often wonder why anyone would choose to live in poverty just to do what they love. In other words, many people know that they have artistic talents but not only find it impossible to financially support themselves with their art, but the idea to try to them is distasteful or stupid. So is the entire notion of reflection or rumination—to them computer games are more fun.

   Are these people as a group somehow mentally more sound than artists as a group? Are they happier? Are their untapped storehouses of creativity important to the rest of society? Do they care?

2. Do The Non-Artistic Hear An Adult From The Past?

   Second, many, many people who do not express themselves creatively are afraid of criticism or rejection and, therefore, may be exactly of the same ruminating ilk as those who do. But who would admit that to a psychologist and how would they be included in the study? Paul Verhaeghen, associate professor of psychology at Georgia Institute of Technology says, as reported in this CNN article,

"If you think about stuff in your life and you start thinking about it again, and again, and again, and you kind of spiral away in this continuous rumination about what's happening to you and to the world -- people who do that are at risk for depression,” …

   I believe that most people who have not expressed their creative treasure, hear an adult from their past. And as time goes on, and he or she reaches adulthood, they shy more and more away from attempting anything artistic. They are the ones who start thinking about what happened in the past and rethink it again, and again, and again, and…and kind of spiral away in [a] continuous rumination of fear and paralysis.

   How many people in a group believe themselves to be non artistic or uncreative and suffer from the same thought patterns? Ask those non-artistic people what they learned from someone else--that something was either correct or incorrect according to some accepted critical analysis—i.e, something that the average person does not fully understand or accept.

   I am always interested in opinions about art, but no matter how revered the source, the real issue is, that no one is God or a true authority on the value of anyone’s creative output. It’s a matter of trends, fads, education, prejudice, and a hundred other factors that become the norm of the moment. The truth is that all creative expressions are just as they should be because they are a reflection of the internal spirit in each of us.

   But when people are taught that something is excellent because it projects a specific technically correct artistic outcome, they suppose that it if they cannot replicate the same technique, they are not good at art. They hear that the sunlight is shining through at the wrong angle or the perspective and composition are unappealing. One friend told me that in first grade, her teacher looked over her shoulder when she was using crayons and said, “Color it solid.” My friend had no idea what solid meant when she was six years old. It terrified her. She never attempted to draw or paint and truly believed herself incapable.

   Think about those people who believe they are not creative or artistic. How do you analyze their depression over their sense of failure and inability to be happy with the fun side or artistic activities? What kind of analysis do they need, when forty years later they are still thinking about the D they were given in art because they didn’t crayon inside the lines, or couldn’t draw the cat that the teacher drew on a flip chart?

   Think of the so-called non artistic people whose parents took away the pictures they drew and redrew them to meet their own standards? How many kids in grade school were made fun of by their friend’s because of their color combinations? When you were a child were you stunned when someone said, “A redhead should never wear the color pink or red?

3. What Percentage of Adults Who Could Be Creative Are Limited by Endless Chores?

   Many people in our society are up to their noodles in responsibilities and work. They cannot even take a few moments a week to explore their God given desire to make something out of nothing. When I grew up I was surrounded by fathers and mothers who had nothing of the material advantages of this generation. And yet, I saw fathers who made Christmas trees out of twigs and tin foil or who built miniature tool cabinets from nothing but a picture in the mind. There were mothers who created double sided aprons for their children without patterns or created new dishes and recipes for local fairs with nothing more than a keen palate. These were people who were reflective and especially ruminating. But then, there weren’t thousands of technical gadgets and inclinations toward time consuming media. It was a time when people could use their imaginations. Times are different now, good or bad and ordinary ruminations may be a thing of past generations.

4. There Is More to Brilliant Creativity Than Painting a Picture, etc.

   Another point--creativity is a hugely under-acknowledged phenomena. Is the person who sits at the loom, following a pattern artistic? Most will say no. But if the person reframes the loom to be more effective or efficient, especially if it is done in a way that allows for experimentation, then that person is creative.

   This type of creativity is part and parcel to almost any job in this extraordinarily innovative country. We in the United States are, typically, not hell bent on ritual and static thinking. This country has thrived on thousands of different types of creativity, and especially, the kinds that demand a great deal of internal thought, analysis, and reflection—and especially rumination. Our history is one of originality, experimentation, advancement, and renewal. Are all of such people depressed or mentally ill? Some are but from a large population of them, more are probably not. And if they suffer a mental illness, such as a Howard Hughes, aren’t there other, as noted above, mitigating variables that make more sense?

   Many people in this country have not learned how to use or express their creative abilities. We are not a Bali, as noted in the article below, i.e., being artistic is not universal. Typically, people in this country do not treasure art or pay for it and its dismissal, can of course, be depressing for any starving artist. Those who have been financially successful may, as noted earlier, have many other mitigating factors that contribute to mental instability.

   It may be more interesting to research the mental stability of those who perceive their art as good and worthy and those who don’t and why. Or it might be more interesting to research the mental stability of a large group of depressed patients who say they are creative against an otherwise similar group of people who are also depressed and say they are not creative.

   I think the study should be reevaluated with the creation;>) of a creativity chart. Hundreds of people should be interviewed to discover their internal definition of creativity. Then they should be asked if they think they offer creative moments to others in their lives. Then they should be asked if they would equate their own sense of creativity to that of a painter, sculptor, musician, etc. You might be surprised with the totality of creativity and artistic endeavors of most of the population…and yes, I would include a mother’s attempt at inexpensive Halloween costumes.

   P.S. Most the artists I know could clean the healthy attitude clock of those who think them a little off!

 

10/15/2008 © Laura Joyce Moriarty

Featured Painting of the Day.

Love the Space You Are In!

Nothing is more peculiar to your sensibilities than someone else’s wild passion for a particular piece of art while you find it boring--or even distasteful. Why, if one person just drools over a Picasso, another would sell it at a garage sale, [if ignorant of the value of course.] Just sit in any art museum for a few hours and watch people’s faces as they pass by various types of art and you can read the most obvious expressions. They are instant, easily deciphered, incredibly unpredictable, and very lively. 

Even children tend to take in art in very specific ways, regardless of their age. When my son was three, I took him to the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, and noticed how very serious his expression was as he took in a wide range of pieces. He seemed to be a big fan of impressionism, a little unimpressed with any still life, but when we passed a Mondrian, I will never forget his surprising remark to me, “Mom that’s not art at all.”  

Agree or not, art is definitely a very personal thing and it either moves a person to a comfortable place or fails to impress. There is a very specific reason for this and that is that all aspects of a person’s taste are unique and complex.  The passion for the things a person loves to have around and that reflect that person’s style, taste, demeanor and more, comes not only from one’s rearing and education but from deep inside each person’s soul.  

Test out the theory on your own sometime. If you go into someone’s home and they tend to dismiss their furniture or art in their surroundings, ask that person why he or she thinks it’s so disagreeable, and you will hear comments like, “I really liked this table and chair set when I bought it, but look at my dining room; it’s so boring—it’s just brown and white and I have no idea how to change it. I tried some dried flowers to give it color, but they looked cheap.” Another person might say, “I have no taste; everyone has always told me that, so I guess it’s true.” Well it’s not true, it’s just a taste that has not been elicited. 

In some instances, people’s interior designs are inadequate because they don’t have the time or the money to construct the right environment for themselves. Hence, the popularity of many furniture stores that sell full room ensembles. And even those are short lived successes, for people tire of the prearranged settings, often wondering why they no longer like something that they spent so much money on. The reason for this is because much more personal effort must be invested to reflect the uniqueness of a person’s soul and make them feel truly at home.  

With a little help, that deep down love of certain colors or a particular design can be elicited and a person’s surrounding can then be easily repaired and really excite the inner spirit each time he or she enters a room. As art and design are explained further, you will learn how to accomplish what you want within your own environment, be it a home, office, or building.  

ADLJM   Page 6   8/29/2008 © Laura Joyce Moriarty

Featured Painting of the Day.