Janice Hall Heck
Finding hope in a chaotic world…
Archive for the category “Photo blog challenges”
At the shore…..Thursday Doors – December 7, 2017
Saw this wooden door with a chain link fence in an otherwise average neighborhood. Seemed a bit odd, but it had interesting detail.
A Quest of Another Kind
Simple Definition of quest…Merriam Webster online dictionary
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: a journey made in search of something
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: a long and difficult effort to find or do something
My friend, Bob Ossler, and I set out on a quest more than sixteen months ago: to write his memories of his work as a volunteer chaplain at Ground Zero in New York City after 9/11.
Bob is a talker and a storyteller. He is not a writer. But he joined a writers’ critique group that my friend, Kathryn Ross, and I organized at Cumberland County Community Church, in Millville, NJ.
Bob started telling his Ground Zero stories and stopped us cold. We listened to story after story, spellbound and teary-eyed.
When Bob stopped talking, silence overwhelmed the conference room. Then, almost in unison, the writers in the group said, “Bob, you must write these stories so readers can see a new picture of what happened at Ground Zero. Your stories tell about people with fractured and broken hearts and spirits. They don’t just tell about buildings that crashed to the ground.”
“I can’t write,” he insisted. “I’ve tried and tried. But each time I end up in an emotional mess. I just can’t do it.”
“Can you email?” I asked.
“Yes,” he answered.
“Then write me emails, and let’s see what happens.”
And that’s just what he did. Bob wrote me hundreds of emails of his memories about Ground Zero. We met weekly for three hours, and I plagued him for more details. We wrote and rewrote. Then we found a publisher, Scoti Springfield Domeij of Blackside Publishing, who caught our vision and encouraged us to keep writing.
Fifteen months and ten reams of paper later, our quest ended in a published book. Writing this book was a journey, a long and difficult journey, but we did it. And here is our final product. It was a quest well worth doing, but we are both glad that it is finished. What will our next quest be? Stay turned. We are already working on another brainchild.
Triumph Over Terror is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.
For more on this project see our website and blog at www.triumphoverterror.com
Thursday Doors – September 8, 2016
Thursday Doors – September 8, 2016
Doorway to nowhere, Mykonos, Greece
Weekly Photo Challenge: Sept 11 Mirror
15th Anniversary of attacks on the World Trade Center complex.
This image is especially appropriate for this week. One World Trade Center in New York City mirrors blue skies and white clouds…harmony and peace. One World Trade Center represents the hope, determination, resilience, and strength of Americans in the face of adversity. With this new One World Trade Center as a reminder, we will never forget all those who lost their lives (firefighters, police, emergency workers, and citizens) in the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
See more Ground Zero photos on the Triumph Over Terror website by Ground Zero Chaplain and Janice Hall Heck.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Mirror
About Me
Janice Hall Heck 