Thursday, September 29, 2016

Faith is about Believing.


 
 
 
 
Fifty-three degrees!
Winter weather for this California girl!
 Waking up this morning  warm and toasty in my cozy home on wheels,  I  recall images of growing up in Springfield, Illinois ––  gray  skies with clouds reaching up to the ceiling and stretching  across the horizon like a soft blanket,  and the cold wind blowing enough to make the trees shiver and shake off their leaves. I scoot  up and peer out the window. The change in the landscape excites me, now, just as it did  long ago –– The change of seasons –– Hoping for a snow day.

In my sexy thermal long johns, I snuggle into bed covers, pulling them and the two afghans up to my chin.  Today, just like when I was ten, the weather  promises  a day of freedom to do whatever  I want, to go wherever I decide  and share it with whomever I choose.  When I was  ten, the thrill of making forts and snow angels was all I ever wanted on a day like today. And the place, which drew me, was as close as my back yard, where the fresh fallen snow lay like a  pristine blue ocean in dawn’s first light. Back then it was my sister and my childhood friends, it was my best  high school girlfriend and it was my first love with whom I created the memories.

My sister is gone and the others must travel their own journeys.   
I stretch, careful not to disturb Sportster, my buddy and life partner, who, unlike a dog, does not give unconditional love.  Curled up beside me in the deep folds of the blankets, purring with gratitude, my cat comforts me.   
 
Today, it is only California cold. It is only snowing autumn leaves. It is a beautiful day  to enjoy the freedom to do whatever  I want, which will be writing –– to go  wherever I decide, which is the eight steps  in my PJs from my bedroom to my office. And it is a perfect day to share with Sportster, who reminds me that right here, right now, is all we have –– snow or no snow –– California or Illinois. 
Believe in  change.
 
 

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Change Your Life -- The Great Listen 2016



Change happens on that long stretch of rough road,
after cruising along, sometimes for miles, or years at a smooth, comfortable clip. It happens after the joy resulting from successfully   weathering   the last stormy stretch. You are thinking to yourself, “Life can’t get any better than this.”   

Change hangs around the next approaching bend. It occurs with   one hand on the wheel, as you are leaning back and counting your blessings.   You round the curve, even hold your head up, proud to have come so far. “I have arrived. I’ve reached my destination on the happy road of destiny,” you say.

Nothing stays the same. The straightaway becomes a bend.  The weather cools from balmy summer days to wintery blizzards, or thundering nights.  On a bigger scale, neighborhoods evolve, people move.  Everything is forever shifting –– attitudes, feelings, and perspectives. Reform, repair, revision is   inevitable.

When we are young, we are   like the salmon who swim upstream.  We wanted what we want and we strain against the currents of opposition to reach our goals.

Our willful efforts may exhaust us, but the desire to achieve pushes us. When we were young, we stood our ground. We did not back down.

Fighting the forces challenging us, the effort itself changed us, like the river’s path, and we became stronger, like the saplings in the gales.

 Like past generations,   today’s folks and those to come will face transformations of an epic nature as well as the smallest changes, but all significant. Men and women, even children will maneuver their route with its twists and turns functioning only with the knowledge, which we have imparted upon them. 

I believe in storytelling.  As representatives of history, we must share our experiences with those stepping up to take the wheel.

It is my dream that we all relate our victories and our failures, too, in order that our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren may learn how to   stand their ground and not back down. It is my dream that we teach this next team how to respect values and hold everyone in high regard.  However, these upcoming generations need to know what it was like for us, what happened and what it is like now.

 
StoryCorps.com is a tool to achieve this. Please check out the website and download the app. Interview and record your parents’ experiences strength and hope. These stories will be placed in the archives of the Smithsonian Institute forever. And most importantly, in the process, I guarantee you will discover more and become closer to your family than you could ever imagine –– which just might change your life.






The Great Listen 2016


Books By Judy Howard

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Pray For The Stranger


Pray for the stranger, my friend told me.
Perhaps my friend’s advice came from River Jordan’s book, Praying For Strangers.  The author, River Jordan, tells of her amazing personal journey of uncovering the needs of the human heart as she prayed her way through the year for people she had never met before. The discovery  Jordan made along her  journey was not simply that her prayers touched the lives of these strangers, but the unexpected connections she made with others became a profound experience which changed her life.

Traveling, of course  is an adventure in discovering new and beautiful vistas. It stirs the  soul and fill one   with humility. As the miles add up, the experiences become a part of the adventurer.

But I discovered that something even more profound happens, something  which is not about driving a racecar at every super speedway in the country. Experiencing the physical beauty of this country draws me along, but life I have found, is about so much more than the physical experiences …if I can only see.

In 1999, I lost my daughter. No she did not die. She
and I chose different paths, which neither of us approved. At that time I asked my higher power, which I choose to call God, to watch over her and I prayed for the strangers who would help her on her journey. Our separate journeys stretched over sixteen years with no contact.

The people she and I encountered along our journeys became a part of us, as assuredly as the beauty and ugliness we witnessed along the way. My heart ached, some days more than others during those sixteen years, as I am sure hers did as well.  She and I are reunited now, through miracles, which would require too many pages to explain --if miracles can indeed be explained.

Today I am inspired by a  man named Len whom I met yesterday.  He is a gentle soul, a man, who like so many other Americans I have met along the way,  has lived a simple life. He worked hard and had the love of a good woman.

  But life is a series of   challenges. Life is full of life. The trees learn to withstand the gales, the bear and the deer survive the winters. The love of Len’s life suffered a loss.  She lost a child. The tragedy ripped the heart form her core –– the gale so strong, so deep, even though she struggled against the forces, she became bereft. With nothing left to share with Len, she left him.

Len can’t stop loving her. What they accomplished together, he explained to me beats anything either of them did alone. So now, Len fills his time with his travels. He lives his life with the faith, or at least the hope, that his love will come back to him.

When I miss  someone whom I believe might be  the better half of me, but  beyond my reach , or when  I dream that impossible dream  for that achievement  which  might make my  life complete  –– Faith and Acceptance are the only avenues that will lead me to my goal.

No matter how strong  the gale –– no matter how cold  

the winter –– no matter how often I look out the window, hoping to see the  change come walking down the path that will make my  life complete – No matter what ––  I live my life.

Often acceptance and faith are thin. It is then I pray for the strangers who will intercede.  In the past, the strangers in my life and my daughter’s during those sixteen years of separation, affected us,  made us who we are today, and made us able to love one another again. Our love could never be as deep and rich as it is now, if it had not been for the journey we traveled and  the strangers who led  us here –right here –– right now – at this very moment.

So hang on, Len. The  ride will be amazing. It is my experience,  the more the acceptance, the stronger the faith, the smoother the  ride. 
Today,  with acceptance and faith, I inhale the vistas

and soak up the souls of the places and people  I pass. The ride, whether it be on a Harley, in Winnebago, on a subway or in a car, it is only a preparation for something outstanding and miraculous.

The destination, with the help of the strangers along the way,  will be beyond anything I can imagine.  

Don't forget: Pray for the strangers.

 
 

Pray For The Stranger


Pray for the stranger, my friend told me.
Perhaps my friend’s advice came from River Jordan’s book, Praying For Strangers.  The author, River Jordan, tells of her amazing personal journey of uncovering the needs of the human heart as she prayed her way through the year for people she had never met before. The discovery  Jordan made along her  journey was not simply that her prayers touched the lives of these strangers, but the unexpected connections she made with others became a profound experience which changed her life.

Traveling, of course  is an adventure in discovering new and beautiful vistas. It stirs the  soul and fill one   with humility. As the miles add up, the experiences become a part of the adventurer.

But I discovered that something even more profound happens, something  which is not about driving a racecar at every super speedway in the country. Experiencing the physical beauty of this country draws me along, but life I have found, is about so much more than the physical experiences …if I can only see.

In 1999, I lost my daughter. No she did not die. She
and I chose different paths, which neither of us approved. At that time I asked my higher power, which I choose to call God, to watch over her and I prayed for the strangers who would help her on her journey. Our separate journeys stretched over sixteen years with no contact.

The people she and I encountered along our journeys became a part of us, as assuredly as the beauty and ugliness we witnessed along the way. My heart ached, some days more than others during those sixteen years, as I am sure hers did as well.  She and I are reunited now, through miracles, which would require too many pages to explain --if miracles can indeed be explained.

Today I am inspired by a  man named Len whom I met yesterday.  He is a gentle soul, a man, who like so many other Americans I have met along the way,  has lived a simple life. He worked hard and had the love of a good woman.

  But life is a series of   challenges. Life is full of life. The trees learn to withstand the gales, the bear and the deer survive the winters. The love of Len’s life suffered a loss.  She lost a child. The tragedy ripped the heart form her core –– the gale so strong, so deep, even though she struggled against the forces, she became bereft. With nothing left to share with Len, she left him.

Len can’t stop loving her. What they accomplished together, he explained to me beats anything either of them did alone. So now, Len fills his time with his travels. He lives his life with the faith, or at least the hope, that his love will come back to him.

When I miss  someone whom I believe might be  the better half of me, but  beyond my reach , or when  I dream that impossible dream  for that achievement  which  might make my  life complete  –– Faith and Acceptance are the only avenues that will lead me to my goal.

No matter how strong  the gale –– no matter how cold  

the winter –– no matter how often I look out the window, hoping to see the  change come walking down the path that will make my  life complete – No matter what ––  I live my life.

Often acceptance and faith are thin. It is then I pray for the strangers who will intercede.  In the past, the strangers in my life and my daughter’s during those sixteen years of separation, affected us,  made us who we are today, and made us able to love one another again. Our love could never be as deep and rich as it is now, if it had not been for the journey we traveled and  the strangers who led  us here –right here –– right now – at this very moment.

So hang on, Len. The  ride will be amazing. It is my experience,  the more the acceptance, the stronger the faith, the smoother the  ride. 
Today,  with acceptance and faith, I inhale the vistas

and soak up the souls of the places and people  I pass. The ride, whether it be on a Harley, in Winnebago, on a subway or in a car, it is only a preparation for something outstanding and miraculous.

The destination, with the help of the strangers along the way,  will be beyond anything I can imagine.  

Don't forget: Pray for the strangers.

For Books by Judy Howard
Click Here To Go To Judy Howard's 
Amazon Author Page.
 
 

Friday, September 2, 2016

Ain't notthin out here but me and the road and the radio


Amarillo by morning Amarillo is where I’ll be.

I escaped Kingman before the hot sun barely woke. Williams, Arizona was on my mind. Cooler temperatures and   mountain scenery.


 Grand Canyon Railway RV Resort   became my little piece of pull thru-property for the next two nights.   I took a deep breath and proceeded to unhook the Short Story for the first time on this trip.  My nerves tensed as silly thoughts sprouted inside my head. What if I couldn’t get it hooked back up? What if I drive off and can’t find my way back? The Grand Canyon Railway sounded tis long whooohoo whistle as it pulled out of the depot only a block away and headed for the Grand Canyon to drop off its load of tourist. My heart twisted as I thought of my time on the train so long ago. 

In town, two roads led thru the historic district, which was one block wide and a mile long. I drove a mile north on Railroad Avenue, which was Route 66, thru the historic district and turned left. Route 66 stretched on, taking the traveler to the Grand Canyon, but I proceed back south on the other road. The Traffic was slow and steady and parking was limited but I slipped into a short space where no other car would fit.

All businesses contained the words such as Canyon, Railroad or Route 66 in their titles. I stepped into The Canyon Club Bar to grab a Coke.

I sashayed up to a cowboy and biker, the only ones sitting at the bar.   The cowboy’s black hat sat snug on his head as if he had been born with it. His whiskers, white puffy along his jowls faded to a dirty brown, matching his mustache, as if he just come in off the dusty trial. His kind blue eyes appeared bluer against the whites of his eyes and the bearded face creased from the sun did not mask the man’s   soft smile. When I introduced myself, Albert Beck called me Ma’am.



Albert Beck's  friend reminded me of Willie Nelson, smaller in stature than his cowboy friend he wore bandana tight on his head. A bleached white, short-cropped beard and mustache sculpted his round face.  He reached past his buddy, it seemed on tiptoes to shake my hand when I introduced myself.

I ordered a Coke and we laughed and talked about our lives, where we lived where we had come from.   Seeing the sights on Route 66 was my goal, but talking to locals, like Albert Beck, and listening to their stories intrigues me like a good movie.  When folks tell me their stories it is as if I travel with them back to their roots, experience their adventures and meet their family.

Story Corps. Com is a nonprofit organization who understands this phenomenon I am describing.  The organization was formed to record for history, ordinary people’s stories which otherwise would never be told.  StoryCorps.com then assigns an ISBN number and sends it to the Smithsonian Institute   where the story will be forever a part of history.


Enjoy my first interview using the Story Corp. Meet Albert Beck.
StoryCorps Interview with Albert Beck

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Jacque La Croix-Clayton an artist from Flagstaff,  whom I met at the Visitors Center. It was the story of her husband which  was intriguing. Her husband  who is an author like most of us, had a real job repairing  surveillance cameras.  One day he witness a young girl being kidnapped by traffickers.  It so moved him he wrote, SHADOW IN THE DARKNESS.  He writes descriptively and kept me turning the pages. Please read and pass the message  on to everyone, especially your children.
Claytton's book ties in with Sportster's, first book in The Feline Series,  ACTIVATE LION MODE.

 

I didn’t have a problem hooking up the car. I regretted leaving Williams. It was much more than a tourist stop on Route 66. Williams, Arizona  was hometown America, with townsfolk who knew each other’s names, cared about your business, and would give you a ride to town when your truck broke down.

Back on I-40 I leaned back and turned up the radio.The landscape streamed by, once again overwhelming me –– the scenery, the hum of the motorhome’s engine, and Sportster sleeping on the dash is not a one-time feeling. It happens every time, everyplace, no matter where I travel. Kenny Chesney’s voice chimed in. “Ain’t nothing out here but me, the road and the radio …..
Searching for a feeling I ain't felt in a while."



 

         
GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST
        
In this mystery-romance, widow Judy Howard drives her RV along Route 66, encountering the ghosts of her teenage past when she was drugged, raped, and forced to undergo an illegal abortion.
         Tragedy strikes when Judy is drugged and date raped on a Saturday night in the parking lot of the town’s roller rink. But her high school crush Brad comes to her rescue, helping her deal with the crime perpetrated against her, even going as far as to arrange an abortion for her, though the practice is illegal. Judy must live in fear as the drug prevented her from knowing the identity of her attacker. Racked by guilt over the abortion and panic over the sexual assault, she accepts a college offer in California and flees to West Coast.
         After four decades of marriage, her husband dies and a high school reunion invitation from Brad threatens to shatter her illusory peace. Nonetheless, she summons up the courage to go, loading up her motor home and heading out on Route 66 with her cat named Sportster.
            Judy Howard is a writer whose debut novel is fictional, even if she happens to share the same name as her protagonist. She has traveled alone in her motor home with her cat, Sportster, throughout the country.
 
 
 

Sportster the cat had always envied the huge cats who lived the big life in the jungle until opportunity sends the motorhome in which he travels veering into a roadside ditch. When strangers whisk away not only his Winnebago, but also his chauffer, Judy, he is alarmed. However, once the dust settles, he purrs a happy tune as he discovers he is free! I He is in the wild! And he is in the Olympic Forest!

ACTIVATE LION MODE is just what Sportster does as he spins this yarn in his own words. Living wild and free brings on encounters he never have imagined. The life he dreamed becomes an adventure full of bears, pit bulls, drugs and more. Sportster weaves this story of his incredible journey as only a coddled cat of leisure can do.

 

COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST
When her husband of twenty-five years, Jack, passes away, Howard is faced with an overwhelming sense of loss. She takes to the road in her Winnebago on a journey of self-discovery accompanied by her cat, Sportster, and Jack Incarnate, a life-size stuffed doll she creates with an eerie resemblance to her late husband. During their travels she and Sportster experience the beauty of the land as she resolves her troubled memories through conversations with the doll. She comes to terms with her deep love for her husband despite the abuse that was part of their relationship and discovers how she became a stronger woman for it.

“The book is a narrative, both of physical travel and of emotional and spiritual evolvement,” says Howard. “It leads the reader through the hills and valleys and provides insights to fear and bravery.”

Howard aims to weave an emotionally-charged narrative with humorous anecdotes and a unique perspective on life, engaging and inspiring the reader. She looks to take the readers on a ride into her new stage of life, through the joys of travel, over unexpected bumps in the road with glimpses of the world through her eyes and even the eyes of her cat to a final destination that is hope.


MASADA'S MISSION
Masada, a bumbling golden retriever puppy, struggles through eighteen months of training to become a lifeline for a veteran with PTSD.
As part of her training, the puppy is assigned to prison life, where she matures and adapts to the cold concrete life of confinement and experiences hair-raising risks, tension, and the ache of loneliness.
She forms unusual bonds, first with Roy, her inmate trainer, and in the end, the total prison population as well.  

When she walks point for her veteran down the graduation aisle, an awe of respect silences the crowd.

Will the readers also be led down the wedding aisle?  Brad and Judy, founders of the K9s for Warriors training facility,  who have reunited after a forty-year separation, face monumental responsibilities that test their relationship as they try to build the dog-training program for veterans.

A touching yet educational story, about the world of service dogs who save veteran lives.

 

MASADA'S MARINE
When the subject of our military arose, I proudly stated my patriotic views and gave a blanket, but silent ‘thank you’ to all who lost their lives to keep me safe. My heart twisted in sadness every Veterans Day and Memorial Day. I consider myself an average American.

              When I decided to write MASADA’S MARINE, I imagined it as a nice story about a puppy named Masada who grows up to become a service dog and changes the lives of two men.

              One man, who began his life as a patriotic boy, graduates high school, starts his own family and becomes a gung-ho Marine. The young man has everything to live for until he comes home from his first tour in Iraq with PTSD and loses it all, even his will to live.

              Another man, who began life as the son of a drug addicted mother, learns how to fight a war of survival on the streets and exists inside a life of crime. The pressures of the young man’s illicit career takes its toll, and he ends up in prison, defeated. He, too, has nothing to live for.

              As I penned my story, the characters took on lives of their own and demanded that this not be a nice story about a man and his dog. During hours of research and interviews the characters became people, electric with emotions, and sometimes terrifying, like the firefight that promises only one victor. As I learned more about the invisible disease, PTSD, the story’s heartbeat pulsed out of my control, like the disease itself.

              Masada and her littermates, the real heroes in this drama, matured into valuable service dogs. They changed not only the characters’ lives, but my life as well. I am no longer the silent American. I hope Masada will change your life, too.

Every hour a veteran takes his own life.



 ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Author, Judy Howard’s mailing address is Sun City, California, but you will rarely find her there. Instead, you might find the top ranking Amazon author strapped in at the race track ready to check out the Mario Andretti Racing Experience or cruising  down Route  66. 




Of one thing, you can be sure she is living up to a quote by Henry Thoreau, Howard questions, “How vain is it to sit down and write, when you have not stood up to live?”
 

Ain't notthin out here but me and the road and the radio


Amarillo by morning Amarillo is where I’ll be.

I escaped Kingman before the hot sun barely woke. Williams, Arizona was on my mind. Cooler temperatures and   mountain scenery.


 Grand Canyon Railway RV Resort   became my little piece of pull thru-property for the next two nights.   I took a deep breath and proceeded to unhook the Short Story for the first time on this trip.  My nerves tensed as silly thoughts sprouted inside my head. What if I couldn’t get it hooked back up? What if I drive off and can’t find my way back? The Grand Canyon Railway sounded tis long whooohoo whistle as it pulled out of the depot only a block away and headed for the Grand Canyon to drop off its load of tourist. My heart twisted as I thought of my time on the train so long ago. 

In town, two roads led thru the historic district, which was one block wide and a mile long. I drove a mile north on Railroad Avenue, which was Route 66, thru the historic district and turned left. Route 66 stretched on, taking the traveler to the Grand Canyon, but I proceed back south on the other road. The Traffic was slow and steady and parking was limited but I slipped into a short space where no other car would fit.

All businesses contained the words such as Canyon, Railroad or Route 66 in their titles. I stepped into The Canyon Club Bar to grab a Coke.

I sashayed up to a cowboy and biker, the only ones sitting at the bar.   The cowboy’s black hat sat snug on his head as if he had been born with it. His whiskers, white puffy along his jowls faded to a dirty brown, matching his mustache, as if he just come in off the dusty trial. His kind blue eyes appeared bluer against the whites of his eyes and the bearded face creased from the sun did not mask the man’s   soft smile. When I introduced myself, Albert Beck called me Ma’am.



Albert Beck's  friend reminded me of Willie Nelson, smaller in stature than his cowboy friend he wore bandana tight on his head. A bleached white, short-cropped beard and mustache sculpted his round face.  He reached past his buddy, it seemed on tiptoes to shake my hand when I introduced myself.

I ordered a Coke and we laughed and talked about our lives, where we lived where we had come from.   Seeing the sights on Route 66 was my goal, but talking to locals, like Albert Beck, and listening to their stories intrigues me like a good movie.  When folks tell me their stories it is as if I travel with them back to their roots, experience their adventures and meet their family.

Story Corps. Com is a nonprofit organization who understands this phenomenon I am describing.  The organization was formed to record for history, ordinary people’s stories which otherwise would never be told.  StoryCorps.com then assigns an ISBN number and sends it to the Smithsonian Institute   where the story will be forever a part of history.


Enjoy my first interview using the Story Corp. Meet Albert Beck.
StoryCorps Interview with Albert Beck

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Jacque La Croix-Clayton an artist from Flagstaff,  whom I met at the Visitors Center. It was the story of her husband which  was intriguing. Her husband  who is an author like most of us, had a real job repairing  surveillance cameras.  One day he witness a young girl being kidnapped by traffickers.  It so moved him he wrote, SHADOW IN THE DARKNESS.  He writes descriptively and kept me turning the pages. Please read and pass the message  on to everyone, especially your children.
Claytton's book ties in with Sportster's, first book in The Feline Series,  ACTIVATE LION MODE.

 

I didn’t have a problem hooking up the car. I regretted leaving Williams. It was much more than a tourist stop on Route 66. Williams, Arizona  was hometown America, with townsfolk who knew each other’s names, cared about your business, and would give you a ride to town when your truck broke down.

Back on I-40 I leaned back and turned up the radio.The landscape streamed by, once again overwhelming me –– the scenery, the hum of the motorhome’s engine, and Sportster sleeping on the dash is not a one-time feeling. It happens every time, everyplace, no matter where I travel. Kenny Chesney’s voice chimed in. “Ain’t nothing out here but me, the road and the radio …..
Searching for a feeling I ain't felt in a while."



 
         
GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST
        
In this mystery-romance, widow Judy Howard drives her RV along Route 66, encountering the ghosts of her teenage past when she was drugged, raped, and forced to undergo an illegal abortion.
         Tragedy strikes when Judy is drugged and date raped on a Saturday night in the parking lot of the town’s roller rink. But her high school crush Brad comes to her rescue, helping her deal with the crime perpetrated against her, even going as far as to arrange an abortion for her, though the practice is illegal. Judy must live in fear as the drug prevented her from knowing the identity of her attacker. Racked by guilt over the abortion and panic over the sexual assault, she accepts a college offer in California and flees to West Coast.
         After four decades of marriage, her husband dies and a high school reunion invitation from Brad threatens to shatter her illusory peace. Nonetheless, she summons up the courage to go, loading up her motor home and heading out on Route 66 with her cat named Sportster.
            Judy Howard is a writer whose debut novel is fictional, even if she happens to share the same name as her protagonist. She has traveled alone in her motor home with her cat, Sportster, throughout the country.
 
 
 

Sportster the cat had always envied the huge cats who lived the big life in the jungle until opportunity sends the motorhome in which he travels veering into a roadside ditch. When strangers whisk away not only his Winnebago, but also his chauffer, Judy, he is alarmed. However, once the dust settles, he purrs a happy tune as he discovers he is free! I He is in the wild! And he is in the Olympic Forest!

ACTIVATE LION MODE is just what Sportster does as he spins this yarn in his own words. Living wild and free brings on encounters he never have imagined. The life he dreamed becomes an adventure full of bears, pit bulls, drugs and more. Sportster weaves this story of his incredible journey as only a coddled cat of leisure can do.

 

COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST
When her husband of twenty-five years, Jack, passes away, Howard is faced with an overwhelming sense of loss. She takes to the road in her Winnebago on a journey of self-discovery accompanied by her cat, Sportster, and Jack Incarnate, a life-size stuffed doll she creates with an eerie resemblance to her late husband. During their travels she and Sportster experience the beauty of the land as she resolves her troubled memories through conversations with the doll. She comes to terms with her deep love for her husband despite the abuse that was part of their relationship and discovers how she became a stronger woman for it.

“The book is a narrative, both of physical travel and of emotional and spiritual evolvement,” says Howard. “It leads the reader through the hills and valleys and provides insights to fear and bravery.”

Howard aims to weave an emotionally-charged narrative with humorous anecdotes and a unique perspective on life, engaging and inspiring the reader. She looks to take the readers on a ride into her new stage of life, through the joys of travel, over unexpected bumps in the road with glimpses of the world through her eyes and even the eyes of her cat to a final destination that is hope.


MASADA'S MISSION
Masada, a bumbling golden retriever puppy, struggles through eighteen months of training to become a lifeline for a veteran with PTSD.
As part of her training, the puppy is assigned to prison life, where she matures and adapts to the cold concrete life of confinement and experiences hair-raising risks, tension, and the ache of loneliness.
She forms unusual bonds, first with Roy, her inmate trainer, and in the end, the total prison population as well.  

When she walks point for her veteran down the graduation aisle, an awe of respect silences the crowd.

Will the readers also be led down the wedding aisle?  Brad and Judy, founders of the K9s for Warriors training facility,  who have reunited after a forty-year separation, face monumental responsibilities that test their relationship as they try to build the dog-training program for veterans.

A touching yet educational story, about the world of service dogs who save veteran lives.

 

MASADA'S MARINE
When the subject of our military arose, I proudly stated my patriotic views and gave a blanket, but silent ‘thank you’ to all who lost their lives to keep me safe. My heart twisted in sadness every Veterans Day and Memorial Day. I consider myself an average American.

              When I decided to write MASADA’S MARINE, I imagined it as a nice story about a puppy named Masada who grows up to become a service dog and changes the lives of two men.

              One man, who began his life as a patriotic boy, graduates high school, starts his own family and becomes a gung-ho Marine. The young man has everything to live for until he comes home from his first tour in Iraq with PTSD and loses it all, even his will to live.

              Another man, who began life as the son of a drug addicted mother, learns how to fight a war of survival on the streets and exists inside a life of crime. The pressures of the young man’s illicit career takes its toll, and he ends up in prison, defeated. He, too, has nothing to live for.

              As I penned my story, the characters took on lives of their own and demanded that this not be a nice story about a man and his dog. During hours of research and interviews the characters became people, electric with emotions, and sometimes terrifying, like the firefight that promises only one victor. As I learned more about the invisible disease, PTSD, the story’s heartbeat pulsed out of my control, like the disease itself.

              Masada and her littermates, the real heroes in this drama, matured into valuable service dogs. They changed not only the characters’ lives, but my life as well. I am no longer the silent American. I hope Masada will change your life, too.

Every hour a veteran takes his own life.



 ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Author, Judy Howard’s mailing address is Sun City, California, but you will rarely find her there. Instead, you might find the top ranking Amazon author strapped in at the race track ready to check out the Mario Andretti Racing Experience or cruising  down Route  66. 



Of one thing, you can be sure she is living up to a quote by Henry Thoreau, Howard questions, “How vain is it to sit down and write, when you have not stood up to live?”