Category: Random

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!

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!

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.

Writing with My Eyes Closed

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Emerging from clouds between theta and delta rises the envisage, the essential nature, our souls. Words and ideas and dreams become stories in the writer’s mind.

Lying there, just a little longer, stories grow and take on life.

Horizontal in a chilled room before the first brushes of daylight: creation.

Before the eyes open, before the needs of the day press on, before the lists and media and people of the world take away the single small moments where stories spark –

I wish so much to remain there, just a little longer, in the moments just before wakefulness, eyes still closed, brain sparking connections, tiny fissures of light like small static flares against the blankets, feeling the contented pressure under my spine, the warmth of the down in the darkness, life all around is comforted and quiet.

I occasionally envy those who don’t need sleep, the man who gets only 15 minutes, the man who never rests, but that is some strange day-time illusion of getting more done, being more, having more, more more more. Their lives are shortened, their victories less sweet somehow, as if this time here in the bed in the darkness of deep night for reflection and creation are robbed from them.

This here, the first creation of life, happens in the dark, just before the light,

And, if I could write with my eyes closed, somehow pick up the pen or click the computer keyboard with my eyes closed, I would.

The vestiges of day – light and sound – are thieves making away with quiet thoughts that would have become life – story.

Just a moment longer here, then I’ll be there, with you.

What Beautiful Souls

Published on by Noreen Lace2 Comments

In dusty, breezy classrooms I stand for eight, sometimes ten hours a day, depending on the day. I’m one of the fortunate ones. I don’t have a single classroom, or even a single location. I move from city to city, even on a single day, from school to school, walking across hot blacktop and behind dusty construction. All for the beautiful souls.

I love students, young people, for all their awkward, wonderful, perfect imperfections.

There’s the brave souls who seem to know themselves and push forward in original dress or make up, the shy ones who cower at the back of the class, the jocks, the nerds, the quiet and boisterous, the bright, bouncy, round, and rolling. The variety is marvelous to experience.

There’s the one who know what they want to do every day for the next thirty or forty years of their lives, and the ones who wander lost, stumbling through their education, and the one who thinks they know their sexual power, and the other who hides behind their hair.

They’re all so amazingly beautiful – without really knowing it.

Beauty lies in their movements, in their anxious thoughts, their mistakes and missteps and goals and exceptional struggle to achieve.

Many people are concerned that our future, the future of our planet or mankind is in trouble; but there is hope.

In their clean, fresh faced, pimpled, freckled beautiful souls – earth’s only fountain of youth is our youth.

I sometimes believe I became a teacher by chance, but maybe it was always my fate. In either case, I’m fortunate. One of my professor’s suggested I join the TA program. I didn’t know if I had the time, could afford the low pay. I was certain I’d flubbed the interview. I walked away believing that I would never hear from them. But I did.

And even now, all these years later, I get to stand in front of the class and watch these young people grow and flourish before my eyes. I watch them struggle and see their eyes brighten when they’ve met the challenge. It’s a gift.

I occasionally complain, shake my head. The pandemic and now post pandemic has not been easy. The lack of appreciation. But – the students.

They are not perfect, they are not fully formed, but they are lovely humans just trying to adjust to life. There’s a lot on their shoulders, and they’ve seen so much darkness. Let’s teach them kindness, let’s encourage their open minds and praise their open hearts.

Imperfection, struggle, growth, change, and challenges met create the beautiful souls – and I get to witness that miracle!