Life is full of great experiences. But what have you learned frombthem? Are they helping you become the person you want to be? Are any preventing you from accomplishing your dreams? James Quinn uses these provocative questions to guide us through fifteen universal life experiences: Birth Family Love Faith Friendship Service Envy Anger Greed Fear Forgiveness Kindness Joy Hope Death These life experiences help you discover new strengths about yourself that may surprise, or even, shock you. Life experiences are past, present, and future, but regardless of when they occur, they can and do change our lives. The challenge is to use our experiences to grow in healthy ways. Fifteen Real-Life Experiences: A Journey in Christian Living provides down-to-earth advice on how we can use our experiences to guide us in our Christian faith. Book includes questions and action plans for individual and group reflection. "Dr. Quinn has brought before us fifteen life experiences which we all encounter in ways that enable us to come to grip with the value they offer. It is one of the most helpful tools I have seen both personally and for group interaction. Everyone could profit from spending time with his insight." -W.D. "Dub" Rogers, PhD, Family Christian Counseling "Life can become our greatest teacher if only we ask the right questions. James Quinn has applied the teaching style of Proverbs to remind us of the power that God has placed into our world as we pay attention to the lessons life can teach." -Dr. Guy C. Ames, District Superintendent of Ardmore, Oklahoma Conference, United Methodist Church, and Senior Pastor, Chapel Hill United Methodist Church (1994-2006) "This is a reflective, thought-provoking look at how our life experiences and Christian faith shape and should shape who we are as God's children." -Suzann Wade, Diaconal Minister and Christian Educator

It is hard to remember all the experiences I faced during the war years. After fifty-some years, I have now sat back and taken the time to recall my lost memories of the Korean War. It all started in counseling with my VA counterparts. When retelling my experiences to these men who had lived through the same types of tribulations as I had, who now were suffering from shell shock and post-traumatic stress disorder, I found it surprising when they related to me that I was an inspiration. They were impressed I had been promoted to sergeant while still a boy of fifteen. I guess I hadnt realized the magnitude of my accomplishments until a group of my peers, my equals, pointed out to me how amazing my life really was. So now Id like to share my memories of the war through the eyes of a child. In compiling this story I was brought back to my early years when life was both hard and joyful. So if you have the time, I have the story of a fifteen-year-old soldier boy to spin for you.

Wildly original, funny and moving, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is an extraordinary story of a life lived again and again from World Fantasy Award-winning author Claire North. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message." This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

Patti Miller's best-selling Writing True Stories is the essential book for anyone who has ever wanted to write a memoir or explore the wider territory of creative nonfiction. It provides practical guidance and inspiration on a vast array of writing topics, including how to access memories, find a narrative voice, build a vivid world on the page, create structure, use research, and face the difficulties of truth-telling. It first develops a wide range of writing skills for beginners, and then challenges more experienced writers to extend their knowledge and practice of the genre into literary nonfiction, true crime, biography, the personal essay, the diary, and travel writing. It offers inspiration from other nonfiction writers, such as Joan Didion, Helen Garner, Robert Dessaix, and Zadie Smith. Whether you want to write your own memoir, investigate a wide-ranging political issue, explore an idea, or bring to life an intriguing history, this book will be your guide. Writing True Stories is practical and easy to use as well as an encouraging and insightful companion on the writing journey. Written in a warm, clear, and engaging style, it will get you started on the story you want to write – and keep you going until you get there.

In Your Life As Story, autobiography expert Tristine Rainer explains how we can all find the important messages in our lives. Like Mary Karr or Frank McCourt, we can shape those stories into dramatic narratives that are compelling to others. Blending literary scholarship with practical coaching, Rainer shares her remarkable techniques for finding the essentials of story structure within your life's scattered experiences. Most important, she explains how to treasure the struggles in your past and discover the meaning within those experiences to capture the unique myth at work in your life.

Zeke would love to be invisible. His mother is struggling to make ends meet and stuck with a no-good boyfriend. Zeke knows he and his mom will be stuck forever if he doesn't find some money fast. When Zeke starts working at a local pizza place, he meets labor activists who want to give him a voice, and the living wage he deserves for his work. Zeke has to decide between living the quiet life he's carved for himself and raising his voice for justice.