Let's "cut to the chase" and "make no bones about it"-this book will have you "pleased as punch." Sowing your wild oats, throwing in the towel, painting the town red...Harry Oliver reveals the fascinating stories behind these and other strange turns of phrase steeped in the weird and wonderful history and traditions of everyday life. From quirky terms to street and city names and more, this book answers the questions you never thought to ask. ? What ancient empire coined the phrase "green with envy"? ? Who was the first person to "get someone's goat"? ? Which writer first penned, "I'll eat my hat!"

Hey! Oh! Ooooo. You picked me up! How sweet of you.... Oh what, I just wrote this whole thing and you expect me to write more words? Fine. Well inside what you're going to get is honesty and bad jokes. Some tears, fears, and CRAZY years. All rolled up into one insane ride. From shootings to births and mental illness to boot. Cancer, houses burning down, chronic illness... You want it we got it. It's real. It's raw. It's all the stuff nobody wants to talk about with a redheaded attitude, and a really bad sense of humor. But what can you do? This is me. This is my life.

Take a look at life from behind the beverage cart. “They asked me to be groomed, be kind, and show up on time; it was too much pressure.” “It was like being a waitress, only I was hurtling through space and wound up in Paris.” “I thought it would be funny to climb into the overhead bin. How did I know the President of the United States would be on the flight that day?” Where flight attendant Marsha Marks goes, funny things happen, and she tells them all in this hilarious and insightful chronicle of her career as a naive flight attendant and a struggling author. From missed flights to missing uniforms, miracle babies to indecipherable southern accents, Flying by the Seat of My Pants is a laugh-out-loud reminder of what is important and what keeps us steady through the turbulence of life.

Writer Rinker Buck looks back more than 30 years to a summer when he and his brother, at ages 15 and 17 respectively, became the youngest duo to fly across America, from New Jersey to California. Having grown up in an aviation family, the two boys bought an old Piper Cub, restored it themselves, and set out on the grand journey. Buck is a great storyteller, and once you get airborne with the boys you find yourself absorbed in a story of adventure and family drama. And Flight of Passage is also an affecting look back to the summer of 1966, when the times seemed much less cynical and adventures much more enjoyable.

Take a look at life from behind the beverage cart. “They asked me to be groomed, be kind, and show up on time; it was too much pressure.” “It was like being a waitress, only I was hurtling through space and wound up in Paris.” “I thought it would be funny to climb into the overhead bin. How did I know the President of the United States would be on the flight that day?” Where flight attendant Marsha Marks goes, funny things happen, and she tells them all in this hilarious and insightful chronicle of her career as a naive flight attendant and a struggling author. From missed flights to missing uniforms, miracle babies to indecipherable southern accents, Flying by the Seat of My Pants is a laugh-out-loud reminder of what is important and what keeps us steady through the turbulence of life.

With a defective undercarriage, minimum fuel, lousy weather and relying on primitive instrumentation, how do you land a Boeing? 'By the Seat of my Pants: Memoir of a Pilot' is a deeply personal memoir of courageous determination. One man's life of flying adventures; occasionally perilous, often hilarious. An intrepid but humble man refuses to allow his dyslexia and poverty to decide his future. Captain Rosslee tracks aviation history captaining twenty-seven aircraft types from Gipsy Moths to Boeings. During WW2, as a Junkers Ju86 Allied bomber pilot, he contends with makeshift maps, primitive instrumentation and limited fuel over the inhospitable East African bush. He survives three WW2 forced-landings. Landing the first aircraft with passengers at Heathrow, he is later invited to meet Queen Elizabeth. And, with Comet1, doomed to disintegrate mid-air, pure chance keeps him alive. Over the Indian Ocean, two dead engines, the third about to die, where is his closest land?

When it comes to writing books, are you a “plotter” or a “pantser?” Is one method really better than the other? In this instructional ebook, author Libbie Hawker explains the benefits and technique of planning a story before you begin to write. She’ll show you how to develop a foolproof character arc and plot, how to pace any book for a can’t-put-down reading experience, and how to ensure that your stories are complete and satisfying without wasting time or words. Hawker’s outlining technique works no matter what genre you write, and no matter the age of your audience. If you want to improve your writing speed, increase your backlist, and ensure a quality book before you even write the first word, this is the how-to book for you. Take off your pants! It’s time to start outlining.

Formerly published by Peytral Publications These whimsical books capture the rewards and realities of working with students with special needs. The witty and insightful cartoons are perfect for presentations, communication, and personal reflection.

Set in Calgary in 1982, in the wake of the recession that arrived on the heels of Canada's 1980 National Energy Program, The Western Alienation Merit Badge tells the story of the Murray family who are struggling with grief and the very real possibility of financial ruin. After the death of her stepmother Frances Murray is called back to Calgary to help her father, Jimmy, and sister, Bernadette, make the mortgage on the family home. When Robyn, a long lost friend, becomes their house guest tensions are ignited and Jimmy, Bernadette and Frances find themselves increasingly estranged from one another.For the Murrays, history has a way of repeating itself and as each of them wrestles with their own secrets they find themselves unable to forget and unwilling to forgive one another. Part family drama, part queer coming-of-age story, The Western Alienation Merit Badge explores the dynamics of a small family falling apart.