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The Milford-Haven Novels, Novellas & Novelettes have now won more than 60 book awards!
Prequel Novella
Novelette
#1 Artist AdventureNovella
#2 Artist AdventureNovella
#3 Artist AdventureNovel One of the Pentalogy
Novel Two of the Pentalogy
Novel Three of the Pentalogy
Novel Four of the Pentalogy
Holiday Novelette
Holiday Novelette
Holiday Novelette
PEARLS OF WISDOM
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Mara’s Guide to Small-Town Life
So you’d like to… Live in a beautiful little town!
You’re ready to make the move to that gorgeous little spot you’ve been visiting… Or, perhaps city life is for you, but you want to find the perfect second home. Either way, you’re looking for a HAVEN, a place to restore your soul, enact your dreams, create a more resonant sense of home.
Click here for Mara’s Guide to Small-Town life at Amazon.com
Read Mara’s Blog:
“Discovering a New World”
… Read more
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Serial Novels are the Dickens
A world-wide celebration is under way to celebrate the two-hundredth anniversary of an important February birthday—that of one of the great authors of the English language. It seems to be a bit of a mania with exhibits from the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, to an elaborate puppet show festival in Colorado; from multiple offerings in London to Dickens World in Kent, England. Through the decades, Dickens has found his way onto the stage in more productions than can be counted, and onto the silver screen in 320 films, to date.
My own introduction to Charles Dickens came early, and was so woven into the fabric of my childhood that I can’t imagine my life without the presence of his characters with their failures and triumphs.… Read more
Uni-Tea of Head and Heart
Every journey has its especially sparkling moments, and for my Winter Western States Book Tour, this was it. Elegance and style, generosity and community, connections with old friends and new—a unifying experience for all. The setting—a historic home in the mountain canyons of Santa Barbara; the time—Valentine’s weekend; the opportunity—helping others.
I had the privilege of working with a superb charity in co-creating a fund-raiser/ friend-raiser author tea. This is truly my favorite kind of event because of its synergy—which makes it a win-win-win: for the charity, for the guests, and for the author. In this case, there’s a fourth winner: the community of Santa Barbara, which benefits so directly from the services this charity provides.… Read more
Posted in about issues of the heart, Art and Entertainment, Bellekeep Books, Book Clubs, Book Marketing, Books, California, Connecting through books, energy, familial history, Finding treasures of the heart in books, Heart, Integrating lifes purpose through art, joy, Milford-Haven Novels & Stories, Novel series, Nurturing the soul, Romance Novels by Mara Purl, Santa Barbara, synchronicity, Uncategorized, What the Heart Knows, What the Heart Knows by Mara Purl
Tagged Gratitude, marcia reed, prosperity, The Milford-Haven Books, transformative fiction, Unit y of head and heart, Unity Shoppe, What the Heart Knows, women's fiction, women's fiction novels, www.marapurl.com
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Book Tour-The Amazing Indies
Some tours are accomplished by hopping from city to city by plane. This time it’s a road trip, with the special joy that my husband is traveling with me. True, it’s a lot of driving—about 2,000 miles by the time it concludes. But we’re traveling through some of the most spectacular scenery on the planet. |
Magical Dragon of China
This month I’ve been focusing on the universally iconic figure of the dragon. (See my last two posts: Happy Dragon of Wales and The Dragon and the Heroine’s Journey.) So here’s the third and final musing. Fittingly, today’s offering is about the mythical dragon of China on the actual date of the Chinese Year of the Dragon.
In Asia, the year of the dragon is cause for great celebration, for the dragon represents exuberant, dynamic creativity, as well as potent powers including control over water. And it’s a symbol of strength and good luck. In energy-flow terms, the dragon is yang, with its counterpart being the yin Phoenix.… Read more
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Happy Dragon of Wales
In this new Year of the Dragon, here’s my second musing on this mythological figure that has so many versions in different cultures. This time I honor my own ancestral beast, the happy dragon of Wales. I say “happy” because to me the beautifully exuberant creature emblazoned on the flag of Wales represents courage and energy, and an unstoppable drive to achieve the goal.
One of the qualities of this dragon is surely his magic—he breaths fire, he flies through the air, he journeys through time. So perhaps this sense of magic is one of the things we need to invoke when we have a goal in mind.… Read more
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Tagged british lore, dragon badge, flag of wales, town of cambria, uther pendragon, y ddraig goch
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The Dragon and the Heroine’s Journey
Since this is the Year of the Dragon, I’ve been doing some meditating on this iconic figure. Actually, the lore is so rich, I’ll be writing about it three times this month, beginning today.
The Hero’s Journey always has a specific goal, and a major obstacle: a dragon to be slain. In most Occidental tales, the dragon is quite literal: a fire-breathing reptile with towering strength, powerful wings and fearsome teeth ready to devour.
While I was a college student, I was also working as a performer in New York City, where I had the honor to be part of a production at The Open Eye, a theatre owned by Joseph Campbell and his wife Jean Erdman.… Read more
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My Holiday Story
The holidays richly contain many different kinds of segments. There’s the decorating. Of course there’s the shopping. There’s the cooking. There’s the card-writing. There are outings to visit family or friends. Sometimes there’s travel. Sometimes there are house guests. Whatever the circumstances, there always seem to be elements of excitement and frustration, pressure and relaxation, laughter and sentimentality.
For me, there comes a moment sometime during the holidays when what I long for is the perfect book to read. I prowl the shelves and night stands searching for the perfect volume. If I don’t find it at home, I start searching the bookstore or library shelves—or an e-reader store these days—until the right tale captures my attention.… Read more