Author: Noreen Lace

Noreen Lace's fiction and poetry have appeared in national as well as international journals. Her latest work, How to Throw a Psychic a Surprise Party, explores love and family with a touch of mystical realism.

Celebrating Jo Rousseau and Translations from the Lost Language of the Universe

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Every now and then, someone comes into your life who shifts the way you see the world—quietly, profoundly, and permanently. For me, that person is my dear friend Jo Rousseau. Today, I’m overjoyed to celebrate the publication of her astonishing new book, Translations from the Lost Language of the Universe. You can find it here.

Jo’s story isn’t just remarkable—it’s extraordinary. In 2006, she experienced what doctors call “sudden death,” a moment that cracked open everything she thought she knew. But unlike so many accounts we hear, there was no glowing tunnel, no welcoming light waiting for her. Instead, she felt an expansive sensation—as if she were floating through space itself, untethered and observing existence from a vast, cosmic distance. That experience transformed her, deepened her awareness, and reshaped the way she understands language, connection, and the invisible forces that guide us.

Translations from the Lost Language of the Universe emerges from that shift. It’s a book that lives at the intersection of poetry and revelation—haunting, luminous, and deeply human. Jo writes as if she carries messages back from somewhere most of us have never touched, and the result is a work that feels both intimate and otherworldly.

I am so proud to know her. So grateful that our paths crossed. So lucky to call this marvelous, amazing, truly special woman my friend. Watching her bring this book into the world fills me with joy and awe.

Please join me in celebrating Jo Rousseau and the incredible gift she has given us. Her voice—shaped by experience, resilience, and cosmic wonder—is one we are fortunate to have on this planet.

The State of Flow

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As a college student, hoping to learn bits of gold from my professors, one of the comments stuck with me long after she was gone.

Dr. Sher (not her real name) was a tiny woman with a outsized presence. She commanded respect and, in some small ways, obedience.

Many a student spent breaks between classes crying in the bathroom. Very few of us lived up to her expectations. But her light of approval did shine on a few.

Dr. Sher hated the word, the idea, the concept of “Flow.” When a student new to her class and methods said the word, we all cringed and waited for the backlash to begin. She would raise her shoulders as if someone scratched the blackboard (for those of you who remember blackboards), and stand up. Yes, she would stand for this tirade.

Every time I hear the word or read the word, I cringe – only because of her.

I, personally, have nothing against the word. I like the word. More so, I like flow. I love when I’m in a state of flow. I feel happy and productive and, like, yes, this is what I am here to do. I have hit the golf stream and I am sailing.

Embrace flow. Embrace the state of Flow and try to live within it. That is what I say to my students, to anyone who will listen.

A new study reports that those in a state of flow feel “substantial happiness and satisfaction” even when the work is challenging or stressful.

The flow state, as many of us know, is when you lose track of time, hunger, the housework, or even the fact that the dogs need to be walked (don’t worry, they get walked!). And even if it is challenging – for me, working and reworking a sentence, paragraph or story – it feels good just to know I’m accomplishing something, I’m getting somewhere. And it doesn’t have to be finished or perfect, but the fact is that I’m getting there – I’m getting to the place where it needs to be or I need to be.

The problem is for many of us is getting to that state of flow – which is sometimes difficult in itself. We don’t know where to begin or we’re overwhelmed, we don’t think we can reach that flow state, or we’ve forgotten what it feels like to be there for any number of reasons.

The State of Flow doesn’t happen those by accident or by luck, it takes the effort of sitting down and starting the work, sticking with it through distractions, and pushing through the feeling of being stuck, but flow does come to those who put in the effort.

The gist of the peer reviewed Psychology Today article is that many people spend more time on easy distractions and accept the feeling of boredom instead of risk the effort of beginning an activity.

Shocking fact from, “Why We Avoid Skilled Activities…”, Gen Z spends 1/3 of the year – ONE THIRD OF THE YEAR – on the distraction of social media. If we’re all being honest, it’s not just Gen Z though.

Choose Flow, people.

Author Noreen Lace Announces Forthcoming Novella Earth to Bella, Releasing This Summer

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Author Noreen Lace Announces Forthcoming Novella Earth to Bella, Releasing This Summer

Acclaimed author Noreen Lace is set to release her fourth novella, Earth to Bella, in the summer of 2025. Building on the emotional resonance and layered storytelling seen in previous works such as West End, this new release promises to deliver a deeply moving narrative that explores the intricacies of human experience.

Lace’s writing is known for its lyrical depth and relatable insight, and Earth to Bella is poised to become another powerful entry in her growing body of work. Fans and new readers alike can expect a story that lingers long after the final page.

More Info to come……

New Release – Dropping This Summer!

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Earth to Bella follows the journey of a young woman grappling with change, memory, and belonging as she reconnects with people—and parts of herself—she thought were lost. With her signature mix of warmth and depth, Noreen Lace once again invites readers into a world that feels heartbreakingly real.

Psychic Surprise Parties

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Noreen Lace asked it first – How do you Throw a Psychic a Surprise Party?

And her answers (read that as stories) don’t disappoint.

The Healer’s Daughter watches her mother change before her eyes and fears for own future.

In Mirror People, a woman tries to save her sister from an obsession which may cost both of them.

The Crier, some people believe, is a miracle worker.

And how does one throw a psychic a surprise party? Find the title story within these pages and discover the answer.

How to Throw a Psychic a Surprise Party is available in print, ebook, and soon to come in audio form.

Noreen Lace is an award winning educator and author. There is a beauty in language that speaks to the soul. It can’t be replicated by AI or articulated on the screen. She live in Language, California with her poe-cat Annabelle.

Hope to see you, in one way or another, at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books!

The Loss of Real Literary Journals and Publishers

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Many of my publications have been in literary journals of one type or another. I haven’t minded the small fee, once in awhile, for submission. 

But I have noticed fees have skyrocketed while many journals have gone online.

What’s worse is the slush pile of new “literary” journals asking for enormous fees. It’s disturbing and disgusting.

Questionable people with little or no credentials offering publication ONLINE. While they don’t guarantee publication, they are asking for fees and then one place even asked for payment for the publication in advance!

Submittable does charge a fee to journals to list their calls, but their fees are not in line with what is being asked by these questionable entities. (I hesitate to call them publishers).

Humans of the World is a website that asks for $6.00 fee to submit to their blog. Authors/writers pay to have their work on this blog? A quick tour of their website offers no publisher information – who is this run by? Who reads the submissions? How are submissions chosen? It appears they’ve been in business since 2022.

Poet’s Choice, based in Mumbai, has a number of calls, one is for word poems. I spotted an error in their call. There appears to be no fee requested – until you get to their submission page. Then they have a whole array of payment selections.

So – why haven’t I published in awhile? Look around – the publishing industry that we once knew is history.

I’m struggling to find reputable places to publish – as are many authors. Amazon takes many liberties with authors and they bought Ingram/Spark. Independent publishing is in question.

Credible journals are being lost. Publishers are extremely selective – they want someone with a large following for guaranteed sales. They do little to no promotion.

I have submitted some poems to a publisher, but then someone else showed me how they submitted an AI poem to the same publisher. I’m wondering if that is what I’m competing with. I’m looking forward to seeing the results of acceptance.

I’m not sure what will happen, where we will go, or where I might land. But I’m a writer. I keep writing.

A New Year State of Mind

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I’ve been asked a number of times, “how was your new year?”

To which my response is: It’s still the New Year, right? It’s still 2024?

No, I’m not being a smart smartass, although I’m certain some see it that way.

The new year is not just about a single celebration followed by a hangover the next day.

The new year is a promise filled with hope and trust. We carry that magical Believe attitude into the future and make plans far beyond the holidays to change, to improve, to love our lives.

We are able to begin anew, fresh starts, new growth and wrangle this next year into what we want to be and what want our lives to be.

Many people give up their resolutions by week 3, and some push into month 3, but what if we can hold on to that New Year state of mind longer.

It is still the new year. I will still call out to you Happy New Year as we pass each other on the trails or in the shops.

The future is upon us. It’s here. Enjoy. Celebrate. Not only did we make it through the last, we’re living the promise.

Happy New Year!

On the Eve of a New Year, Some Thoughts on Change.

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As we straddle yet another old and new year, let’s think of the person we want to be and/or the kind of world we want to live in.

So many complain about the world – the rise of unhappiness and anger which makes us dread interactions.

Each one of us, on our own, have the power to change the world.

Any large change starts small, begins with one, then moves to some; it inspires others, and a movement grows with each new person who joins.

In considering our goals, our resolutions for the New Year, let us add to that list an effort to be kind, be patient.

Hear me out – if we come across someone who is driving like a Manhatter chasing a white rabbit, instead of reacting in anger, whether they cut us off or not, we could react with compassion- perhaps they’ve had a bad day, are upset with something, did not even realize they were driving aggressively.

With any little tresspass, a rude servant, a thoughtless shopper, a random stranger behaving questionably – We can choose to act instead of react. We can choose to walk away or step back.

Smile more this year. Forgive the little things. Give a random stranger a compliment.

To help, to start your day on a positive note, write three things every morning you are grateful for. They can be small things – like birdsong – or big things like health. We rarely think of health or being pain-free until we are ill or injured. Be grateful for what you have. Foster the attitude of gratitude to fill your well and pay it forward in gentle, loving, kindness.

I am thankful for this new year – welcome 2024! May I be better than I was in 2023.

I wish us all love, may we be met with patience when we need it, acknowledge kindness when we see it, and offer thoughtful gestures to those who are working on their own goals.

HAPPY 2024!

The Atomic AI

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Oppenheimer serves as a parallel to what is happening in our world now with AI. They created something to expedite the end of the war, but it was destructive. Once the genie was out of the bottle, there was no putting it back in, there was no containing it or controlling it. The Atomic Bomb changed the world.

AI is changing the world. There is no containing it or controlling it.

The writer’s strike is about so much more than many understand. AI can replace all the writers in Hollywood and beyond. The future of television shows and movies can be/ may be created by AI, but this is about the Actors too. AI cannot only duplicate images but create and manipulate images. The future need for actors is questionable.

Wait, there’s more. AI may displace a whole industry of people. The grips and gaffers, the drivers and all the others who count on making a living around this industry. Beyond them, there’s a whole group of businesses and people that serve these people.

Christopher Nolan didn’t use CGI to replicate the blast of the atomic bomb in Oppenheimer. I wonder if he is a hold out, if he values the activities of creation and replication without the use of computer generated scenes and images. I don’t honestly know.

While I sat in the theater, I wondered what it might like to see a movie in 5 or 10 years without the use of writers or actors; the whole thing created on a computer screen. Would we be able to tell? Would we see the differences between the way humans move and AI generated images move? Would we be enjoying our AI movie with lab grown hamburgers?

Where does that leave writers – novelists and short story writers? I imagine AI can write a novel faster than any of us. A short story might be executed in mere minutes, rather than days, weeks, or months of perfecting.

Will our originality win out? Or will people start preferring what AI can generate? Perhaps readers won’t know the difference.

Does my purpose continue to have place or value? I write. I have always written. I will continue to write. But will it ever see the light of day or will it perish unread and unknown?

The Necessity of Wasted Time

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I treasure the cool mornings in my garden surrounded by the soft sounds of birds twittering with drought tolerant blooms that still have the power to attract butterflies and nourish the bees before we all begin to struggle from the mid-day heat.

This is my time. A time before the day starts. A steaming cup of tea at my side and my cat at my feet. Occasionally, the neighbor’s cats stop by for a quick stroke before they’re off chasing a roly-poly or a grasshopper.

The gardener’s haven’t yet begun their buzzing, blowing, clipping, and mowing, and the traffic sees only a neighbor or two starting their day. It’s serene. Regenerative.

Therefore, when someone recommended I save my “wasted garden time” as a reward for a full writing day, my whole body reassigned itself to the back of the chair as I studied her. I felt profoundly misunderstood.

“It’s quite hot in the afternoon.” I offered. “I can’t really sit outside in the 105 degree heat and feel regenerative.”

She didn’t have an answer to that, but tried to offer another option.

Writer’s, let us be honest, need down time. There are times when things are flowing and we are bleeding words, we sit day and night at the desk or table or in some random chair maybe even at a coffee shop or even in the 105 degree heat in some shaded place in our car while we wait for an appointment and we write and we can’t write fast enough. But there are times, the juncture before those, or the moments after, when ideas percolate.

At times, it may seem we are doing nothing. We are wasting time in our gardens or traveling or walking or doing whatever it is that makes us who we are and fills our well with tranquil reflection. This is the place where our stories lie dormant, waiting for us to give attention to them, offer them life.

Temporary cessation is (sometimes) necessary for regeneration. Consider injuries: Does the doctor tell the athlete, “after you run a few laps, then you can rest it”? Or does the Rest Ice Heat Elevation come before the next laps?

Recreate is to Re Create.