Daleen Berry's Blog, page 4

Florida Friends and Sunshine Welcome West Virginia Author

It’s a two-day trip, but I made it in three.

I arrived in Florida on a Thursday almost three weeks ago, having fled West Virginia two days earlier during a snowstorm that followed me south, where it coalesced into ice-covered roads, forcing me to spend the night in Charleston. Which was nice, since I had dinner with a good friend. The next morning, I stopped to see my dear Aunt Helen and Uncle Les, and then got into my car and headed for warmer climes. It was 18-degrees.

In fact, it was so cold that I didn’t thaw out until Wednesday afternoon, when I stopped at a rest area in Lowgap, North Carolina. It was probably only 45-degrees, but it was sunny! I drove and drove, reaching Columbia, S.C. by 8 p.m. But I couldn’t find a hotel, so I contacted some dear friends two hours away. They sent me to their relative’s house in nearby Aiken, S.C. Finally, after two full days of packing and travel, I had a restful sleep—and gained three new friends!

After leaving Wednesday morning, I managed to locate a car wash. My poor car, covered in road salt and storm debris, was the dirtiest car on the road, so it desperately needed one. Hand wash, mind you, from a local gentleman who’s been in business for 40 years. I could see why: my Prius just gleamed afterward, so clearly he has repeat business. And my little car was never happier.

Then the most wonderful thing happened. I stopped at a roadside convenience store—and met Melissa Moody. As I often do when I paid for my purchase, I asked if she likes to read. She does, so I gave her my business card. Before I knew it, Melissa asked me if I had any books to sell. I did, of course, and she bought one copy of each, gifts for her daughter, Aprail. It was, I predict, the beginning of another great friendship, with writing and books and shared experiences at its core.

By 4:30 p.m. I was at the welcome center in Yulee, Florida, where I snapped some selfies but forgot my complimentary glass of orange juice. An hour later I hit rush-hour traffic going through Jacksonville, and when it finally unsnarled I continued south on Interstate 95, meeting up with a dear writer friend for dinner. On the last leg of my journey, I turned my car west and crossed Florida on Interstate 4. Two hours later I reached my destination: Bradenton.

Where I spent the next two weeks catching up with Linda and Delbert Benson, whom I haven’t seen in several years. The former publisher-editor team owned The Preston County Journal and News, where they gave me my first job and the steppingstones that would lead me to become a New York Times best-selling author. Linda was the best editor (and mentor!) any green reporter (who lacked college training) could ever hope for.

That weekend, Linda joined me at my book signing at the Bradenton Books-A-Million, making it the most enjoyable one to date. (The staff treated us like royalty, which was wonderful.) During my stay, we talked shop and collaborated on a project or two, and basically picked up where we left off in 1991, when I took a job as editor at The Record-Delta in Buckhannon, W.Va.

Another gift came in the form of Brenda Kennedy, a fellow author and romance writer who wanted to, but couldn’t, attend my book signing. But Brenda wanted to meet me and buy my books, so we arranged a lunch meeting. As it turns out, Brenda knows a lot about marketing books, and we had so much fun we spent half the day together. Thanks to her, I saw Florida’s one of beautiful beaches—the first time since 1995.

Leaving Bradenton was harder than I thought; I came away with new friends and yet hadn’t seen many local attractions. Nor did I make it to nearby Sarasota, which I’m told has a lovely downtown. Plus, there’s a book club or two interested in my books. All of which is, I confess, a great reason to return.

I left on Saturday, after Linda’s youngest daughter, Mary, delivered two boxes of Toffee-Tastic, the delicious (and gluten-free) Girl Scout cookies I ordered. Mary was one of the first, and most loyal, readers of my Vintage Berry Wine columns. I will never forget the day she stopped by the newspaper office, shyly telling me how much she enjoyed reading my column about our shared dislike of sunbathing.

I arrived in West Palm Beach Sunday, where the weather couldn’t be better, where the sound of water lapping against the docks is so soothing—and where I am so happy to be, as my Florida book tour continues.

* * * *

My next Florida book event, complete with a discussion about my latest book and why innocent people end up in prison, a Q&A, and a reading, is at 7 p.m. Friday, March 4, at the Barnes and Noble in Wellington. The following Friday, March 11, you’ll find me reading at the open mic at The Stage, right here in WPB, and finally, Saturday, March 12, I’ll be at Barnes and Noble in Jensen Beach. More dates will follow, which you can find on my Facebook page.

My fifth book, Guilt by Matrimony, about the murder of Aspen socialite, Nancy Pfister, was released November 17. My memoir, Sister of Silence, is about surviving domestic violence and how journalism helped free me; Cheatin’ Ain’t Easy, now in ebook format, is about the life of Preston County native, Eloise Morgan Milne; The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese (a New York Times bestseller, with coauthor Geoff Fuller) and Pretty Little Killers (also with Fuller), released July 8, 2014, and featured in the August 18 issue of People Magazine.

You can find these books either online or in print at a bookstore near you, at BenBella Books, Nellie Bly Books, Amazon, on iTunes and Barnes and Noble.

For an in-depth look at the damaging effects of the silence that surrounds abuse, please watch my live TEDx talk, given April 13, 2013, at Connecticut College.

Have a great day and remember, it’s whatever you want to make it!

~Daleen

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”

How to Make Your DIY Book Event a Wild Success

Last week I blogged about how to organize your own book tour. The work doesn’t end there, though, so this week’s blog is about making the book tour productive. Because, to have a successful book event, there is much more to do. More that you, as the author, must do.

After you’ve contacted the bookstore where you want to appear, and the staff has agreed to host you, there are a few tips that can help make it a huge success.

That’s me, speaking at the panel session about “Pretty Little Killers,”
at the 2014 West Virginia Writers’ Conference.

First, talk up your event on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads. Send out emails to your friends. Ask everyone and anyone—your friends, fellow authors, and readers—to share your event with their friends who are in the area. Do this periodically, but don’t bombard people, for fear of annoying them.

Also know that even within a major chain, every bookstore will vary as to the amount of help they give authors. Some staffers will only set up a table for you, complete with a stack or two of books sitting there. Others will go all out, providing large, professional posters which act as a backdrop for your table. These displays look so good one would think a big publisher had a hand in their design.

This is the exception, though, and usually only comes with staffers who have a long history selling books. That’s what I experienced recently at the Books-A-Million in Youngstown, Ohio. Cindy Phillips, the store’s general manager, has spent more than 40 years in this field, and she excels at her job. (She says nowadays it can be difficult to find authors to host, so give her a call. But first, make sure your book meets the proper criteria.)

Because you have no way of knowing how engaging a book display will be until you arrive, I advise you to hope for the best—and plan for the worst. For instance, you can print off copies of flyers containing details about you and your book, because rare is the staffer who will think to do this for you. When they do, consider it a blessing, especially if the staff has been handing them out all week long.

In the past, I designed my own black and white flyers, which fit two at a time on an 8.5” x 11” sheet of white copy paper. They feature my author photo and a few important details about my book—including the title, the date, and location. I’ve even emailed the file to the store where I’ll appear a few weeks before the event, and ask them if they would be willing to print and share the flyers with their customers.

I’ve also designed larger posters with my author photo, a few book details, and a designated white space where the date and time goes. This is good in case the event changes due to unforeseen illness or inclement weather. Most of the time, I mail these in advance directly to the bookstore. This poster is perfect to hang on their front door, where it will serve as a great reminder for anyone who walks through it during the days leading up to your event.

In the final part of the “design a pleasant author table” category, pack up the tabletop poster you’ve framed in acrylic, another stand to display your book, and a decorative bowl. The bowl is to hold individually-wrapped pieces of candy, with which you will adorn your table. The poster and book stand will also help dress up the table, in case the bookstore staff doesn’t.

On the day of your event, arrive early. Allow for a 30-minute window, knowing that traffic or GPS guidance may leave you with only 15 minutes. (I’ve arrived late before, due to not allowing enough travel time. Not good!) Once you arrive, be friendly. Introduce yourself to the staff. Take a personal interest in them and make small talk. In many ways, these employees are your biggest fans, because they can and will recommend your book to the customers who check out. Often, they will even tell you how much they like your work—and ask you to sign their copy of your book. And, when you think about it, it makes sense. Few nonreaders will last long in a bookstore. Most, I’ve found, are avid readers like myself. Likewise, if you’re standoffish or simply too shy to chitchat, they may ignore you.

I also ask the manager (or whichever clerk is assigned to help me) to please announce my event periodically, preferably no less than every 30 minutes. They are happy to do this—but unless you ask, they simply may be so busy they forget.

Finally, when it’s time for you to go “on,” take a seat and a deep breath, and welcome the first customers who come through the door. If you offer them a piece of candy, you may just make some new friends. Or meet potential readers who will like your work so much they begin following your writing career, awaiting your next book.

* * * *

My fifth book, Guilt by Matrimony, about the murder of Aspen socialite, Nancy Pfister, was released November 17. My memoir, Sister of Silence, is about surviving domestic violence and how journalism helped free me; Cheatin’ Ain’t Easy, now in ebook format, is about the life of Preston County native, Eloise Morgan Milne; The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese (a New York Times bestseller, with coauthor Geoff Fuller) and Pretty Little Killers (also with Fuller), released July 8, 2014, and featured in the August 18 issue of People Magazine.

You can find these books either online or in print at a bookstore near you, at BenBella Books, Nellie Bly Books, Amazon, on iTunes and Barnes and Noble.

For an in-depth look at the damaging effects of the silence that surrounds abuse, please watch my live TEDx talk, given April 13, 2013, at Connecticut College.

Have a great day and remember, it’s whatever you want to make it!

~Daleen

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”

The Business Side of Writing—Plan a DIY Book Signing

As I finish packing my car to head south for Florida, I’m recalling my past book appearances. In part because I need to plan accordingly, and also because other authors have asked me how they can do the same thing.

It’s a fact that publishers these days rarely line up book events for their authors. Not unless you hail from New England and your name is Stephen King. (Or from England, like J.K. Rowling.)

Tamarack in Beckley, W.Va., sells books written by state natives, or which are set in West Virginia. I’ve appeared there a few times and, as an author, it’s one of my favorite places to visit.

That’s the bad news. The good news is this: you can do it yourself! And it’s not even hard. It does require effort on your part, so be prepared to work for it. But when that hard work garners you a bookstore appearance, it’s well worth it.

First off, you need a “hook,” something to pique a bookseller’s interest in you. I’m fortunate, because after a long professional writing career, I have awards and some degree of celebrity, having appeared on TV shows like NBC Dateline, 48 Hours, 20/20, Dr. Phil, Discovery ID, and Crime Watch Daily. But even more important, I have a writing style that people tell me they enjoy, which has created a loyal following. An audience, a platform. From early 2011 until November 2015, I’ve also written or co-written five books: Sister of Silence, Cheatin’ Ain’t Easy, The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese, Pretty Little Killers, and Guilt By Matrimony. That’s five books in five years. (Albeit, a better record than my childbearing one, when I gave birth to four children in five years. I have yet to decide which feat was more difficult.)

Book signings are a great way to get your work noticed and meet potential readers, but it’s a well-known secret that you won’t always sell many books. (Unless you are Paula Hawkins.) I’ve sold anywhere from five to more than 50 books at a single event, but the best way to enhance your chances—and draw people into stores to see you—is to do more than sign books. When reaching out to bookstores, offer to give a short talk, either about the writing process or your expertise on the topic, and to hold a Q&A afterward. Tell the bookseller you’ll read from your book, because there is nothing readers like more than hearing the author read a passage aloud.

Yes, if you write a book that ends up on the New York Times Bestseller List, you will find long lines of people waiting to meet you, and read your book.

Be professional.

Call the store at least six weeks in advance, since it can take up to four weeks for some bookstores to order your books. Be prepared to receive an email address when you call, since not all booksellers want to discuss book events on the phone, and get the name of the person you will email.

After the email salutation, in which you address that person as “Dear Ms. So-and-So,” introduce yourself, tell her why her store will benefit from hosting you, and attach a press kit that contains the following:

-A good author photo

-Links to your published work

-Writing awards and professional writing history

-Links to any public speeches or media coverage

Keep books on hand.

Do this because sometimes, things do go wrong. I’ve had bookstores call me to cancel just days before a signing, saying the books didn’t arrive. But when you have your own supply, you can offer them instead. The store can replace yours later, and often will mail them directly to you. It can be the difference between appearing in public with your books—or disappointing your waiting readers.

Promote your event.

Ask any Fortune 500 company: self-promotion is the name of the game. Especially nowadays, when new authors face stiffer competition than ever before. Facebook is a great place for this, where you can even advertise your upcoming appearance. So are Goodreads and Twitter. Don’t bombard people with hourly reminders; just put it out there a few times and let the universe do it for you. You can even ask your friends to share the event—and they are often more than happy to do so.

What if the door still won’t open?

If, after doing all of this, you find booksellers still won’t give you the time of day, there may be a small but easily remedied problem. Especially if your book is well written and readers are reaching out, telling you how much they enjoy your work. If you’re self-published, bookstores may not want you. But don’t take it personally! This is due to a small but easily remedied problem: just make sure your book is returnable. Call or email your distributor and if it isn’t, ask them to change that status. Bookstores cannot afford to purchase books they can’t return, and this is the biggest obstacle (after poorly written books) authors face to gaining entry into bookstores.

Next Monday . . . I’ll blog about how to make your book event a wild success!

* * * *

My fifth book, Guilt by Matrimony, about the murder of Aspen socialite, Nancy Pfister, was released November 17. My memoir, Sister of Silence, is about surviving domestic violence and how journalism helped free me; Cheatin’ Ain’t Easy, now in ebook format, is about the life of Preston County native, Eloise Morgan Milne; The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese (a New York Times bestseller, with coauthor Geoff Fuller) and Pretty Little Killers (also with Fuller), released July 8, 2014, and featured in the August 18 issue of People Magazine.

You can find these books either online or in print at a bookstore near you, at BenBella Books, Nellie Bly Books, Amazon, on iTunes and Barnes and Noble.

For an in-depth look at the damaging effects of the silence that surrounds abuse, please watch my live TEDx talk, given April 13, 2013, at Connecticut College.

Have a great day and remember, it’s whatever you want to make it!

~Daleen

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”

I Will Thrive: Whether From Sea Air or LDA or Some Other Method!

I love sharing. Especially when it has the power to help other people.

I’d like to share something I did Tuesday. I drove to Towson, Md., where I received LDA therapy. That stands for low-dose allergen, a type of immunotherapy. I don’t know if it will help, and it may take as long as one year to determine that, but at this point, I’ll try anything.

The blue ring shows my right arm several hours after receiving a LDA shot for chemicals, and the redness was even creeping toward the crease in my arm. Contrast that with my left arm, where I received a shot for cats, mildew, and dust. It grew no bigger than a minor bee string. My doctor says this shows just how much chemicals bother me.

I’ve been sick with MCS (multiple chemical sensitivities) since the late 1980s. Whether from renovating my pre-Civil War childhood home, breathing in dust from decades old varnish and paint as I sanded the floors to remove it, or from the mildew that seeped through the brick walls as I stripped away wallpaper far more ancient than my grandparents, or from succumbing to the wood and coal smoke that snaked through our house, I don’t know. I just know I changed. My children’s pediatrician told me my system had become overloaded with something that changed it, leading to MCS.

For the most part, I coped well. Then, in 2012, something changed: I had been sick with a respiratory illness before attending a friend’s wedding in Mexico. While there, I was overcome with an allergic reaction to the stargazer lilies throughout the reception hall. When I returned home, new commercial grade carpet that had been installed in the stairwell immediately made me gag. I later drove myself to an emergency room in South Charleston on the way home from a book signing when I couldn’t breathe, and ultimately was confined to my couch for a month. There, I took nebulizer treatments four times a day.

Gradually, I became better—enough that I could resume normal activities. But in the last two years, every essence of my senses are set on sharp alert the second I smell fragrance. It doesn’t matter if it’s a friend’s deodorant or a stranger’s aftershave or even the Jovan musk spray I once wore. The hand cream, hand sanitizer (which contains fragrance), or hairspray that a beloved family member has worn (or shampoo she recently used, but can’t smell herself), my symptoms flare up dramatically.

This is a self-portrait, taken on one of my worst days. Need I say more?

They are—trust me when I say—more prominent than any Arabian stallion’s nostrils you’ve ever seen. From there it’s a rapid descent to all the annoying changes my body undergoes: sneezing, itchy throat, swollen lymph nodes, full ears, headache, cough, phlegm, coughing, wheezing, and moodiness, to name a few. With continued exposure to any such toxins, I will have a full-blown sinus or ear infection within one week. Guaranteed. Maybe even bronchitis.

Along the way, I’ve learned to avoid certain public places. And especially public restrooms, from where, I am sure—between the toilet deodorizers, the hand soap, and the wall-mounted commercial unit that puffs out some chemical every time the door opens—we inhale a plethora of toxins. Among the public restrooms I no longer use are those inside Sheetz, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, Wendy’s, TJ Maxx, and almost all fueling stations and department stores. (Starbucks’ restrooms and most of those inside McDonald’s are manageable.) And don’t get me started on the chemicals I smell the minute I walk into the clothing section of Gabriel Brothers, Target, or Elder-Beerman. Last year I bought a new swimsuit but couldn’t wear it until I washed it five times! And even then, the smell lingered.

All of this to tell you why I’ve spent the better part of the last year researching MCS and any possible treatment for it. (When I wasn’t undergoing bilateral knee surgery or writing my last book.) Some people say there is no treatment, but I no longer believe that. And what I’ve learned is fascinating! For instance, the Centers for Disease Control issued a policy saying its offices are to be fragrance free. This, because scientists now know that fragrance contains toxins. Just because you can’t smell them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. (Which makes me kind of like a canary in a coal mine.)

Until the LDA and sea air help me feel better, there’s always peppermint . . . doTerra to inhale and Lemongrass to rub on my feet. And Lois Foster, who runs Somatic Wellness in Westover, also has a salt room and an infrared sauna, which my new doctor says is amazing for removing toxins from folks with MCS like me!

My research came on the heels of finding a new ENT. He suggested that if the shots for my dust mite allergy and the increased vitamin regimen he recommended didn’t help, I should go see a doctor in Dayton, Ohio, where they treat people for MCS. And that’s how I learned about LDA, which has been around since the 1990s. (Imagine my dismay, when I realized it has “only” taken me 18 years of living with this awful condition to learn about LDA. Why no other doctor ever mentioned it is beyond me!) Especially given that LDA has an 80-percent success rate. (It’s based on the work of a British doctor in the 1960s, then called Enzyme Potentiated Desensitization, or EPD.)

I don’t know if LDA will help, but it certainly cannot hurt! My new doctor says it could take up to one year to find out. He says he’s seen good success with several other families from Morgantown, WV, where I live.

Interestingly, if you’ve had a happy childhood, the treatment is more likely to be a success. However, if you were sexually abused as a child, he says it’s not as easy to treat this condition. Which now makes me wonder if my MCS was triggered—not by the home renovation I carried out—but by my abuser’s love of Irish Spring soap, which he used every single day for the entire time I knew him.

It’s a very interesting question, and one which obviously contains a physiological component. I’ll get back to you on that. Meanwhile, my LDA doctor tells me I should work up a sweat when working out (to help rid the body of toxins), stay hydrated, and use a saline nasal rinse.

I’ll also keep you posted on my progress, since my next dose of LDA comes in two months. Meanwhile, I’m headed to Florida for the southern book tour my readers have patiently awaited since my memoir was released in 2011. That is the primary reason for my trip, but after my Caribbean cruise in January, when I felt better than I have in years, I must admit to being curious about the health benefits someone like me can derive from living by the ocean.

NEXT WEEK . . . I’ll blog about how I set up this upcoming book tour, and how you can do the same in your area or anywhere.

* * * *

My fifth book, Guilt by Matrimony, about the murder of Aspen socialite, Nancy Pfister, was released November 17. My memoir, Sister of Silence, is about surviving domestic violence and how journalism helped free me; Cheatin’ Ain’t Easy, now in ebook format, is about the life of Preston County native, Eloise Morgan Milne; The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese (a New York Times bestseller, with coauthor Geoff Fuller) and Pretty Little Killers (also with Fuller), released July 8, 2014, and featured in the August 18 issue of People Magazine.

You can find these books either online or in print at a bookstore near you, at BenBella Books, Nellie Bly Books, Amazon, on iTunes and Barnes and Noble.

For an in-depth look at the damaging effects of the silence that surrounds abuse, please watch my live TEDx talk, given April 13, 2013, at Connecticut College.

Have a great day and remember, it’s whatever you want to make it!

~Daleen

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”

Cruising the Caribbean: Danger Finds Daleen On the High Seas

***CONTINUED FROM LAST MONDAY . . .

Most of the time aboard the Grandeur of the Seas, I was either walking the track on the upper deck or curled up with a good book somewhere in a quiet corner of the ship. After all, I had all those calories to walk off—and the sun to watch, as it painted the horizon with its bright orange glow each morning. And then again each night. With book in hand, I watched the tossing seas, or enjoyed the gentle rocking which accompanied my reading. Sapphire colored, the endless waves were as soothing as a massage. I felt healthier than I have in years.



And my top “meeting a tall, dark stranger” experience came the morning I woke before 5 a.m. and stumbled up to deck ten to get some reading in before breakfast. Warm ocean breezes kept me company as I read from my iPad on a chaise lounge. Then suddenly, an interruption.

“Is there anywhere to get coffee?” an older man with silver hair asked, as he ambled by.

“It was so early I didn’t look, but if you find some and come back by here, let me know,” I said.

A few minutes later, still absorbed in my book, the same fellow returned. He bore a gift: coffee, creamers, sugar and even pretend sugar, and a stirrer. “I brought you some of both,” he said. It was my most romantic moment of the entire cruise, on land or water, and I was touched by his kindness. I never saw him again.

Night comes to downtown San Juan, Puerto Rico.

An aside: I, and perhaps every woman who waited in the long lines outside movie theatres in 1997 to see Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in Titantic, have always wondered how it felt to be those people, the ones on that ship, those who perished, those who survived. Jack and Rose. I could only imagine, but strains from Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” wafting through the ship lent a helpful air in that department.

Speaking of which, did you know Titantic had its own newspaper, The Atlantic Daily Bulletin? Neither did I. But how fascinating!

A beach scene near Castillo San Felipe del Morro, or “El Morro,” built in San Juan during the early 1500s.

Many people I met onboard tell me that cruising is the perfect antidote to the winter doldrums. One such woman said that before her first cruise, the approaching winter would leave her depressed. Now, twenty years later, she is cured. Apparently, sailing 28 days out of the year in a series of three back-to-back cruises can do that for you, as many people I met do just that.

Meeting new people was the highlight of my cruise. Which is how I learned many of them had been on that same ship last year when it became the SS Norovirus. They said that 2015 experience was far worse than our second day at sea. That’s when the waves were so tumultuous they held many of us captive inside our cabins, until our collective nausea passed. Alas, tt was my first and only negative experience onboard.



Well, except for my near misadventure on the high seas, a week later. It happened the night before we reached the Port of Baltimore, where our cruise ended. I was inside the Palladium Theater with friends who had crowded into balcony seats nearby. I was standing and talking, telling one of them about my bilateral knee surgery. He wanted the phone number for my fabulous surgeon, and I wanted him to have it. So I went to retrieve it from my cabin. Turning and twisting and trying to walk at the same time, so I missed one entire, very large, step. I pitched forward, and somehow managed to catch myself with both hands. My full weight pushed against a plexiglass barrier of sorts, which had been installed above the copper banister for probably that very reason, causing it to burst apart at two seams. The entire episode took mere seconds. My friends watched in horror, and said I came quite close to taking a tumble over the rail.

Well, shiver me timbers!



I say all that fancy footwork and exercises in adept twisting of body parts, albeit without a sword, goes to show what a good pirate I’d make. Captain Jack Sparrow would be proud. So no, I don’t think I’ll be waiting 21 years for my next cruise.

* * * *

My fifth book, Guilt by Matrimony, about the murder of Aspen socialite, Nancy Pfister, was released November 17. My memoir, Sister of Silence, is about surviving domestic violence and how journalism helped free me; Cheatin’ Ain’t Easy, now in ebook format, is about the life of Preston County native, Eloise Morgan Milne; The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese (a New York Times bestseller, with coauthor Geoff Fuller) and Pretty Little Killers (also with Fuller), released July 8, 2014, and featured in the August 18 issue of People Magazine.

You can find these books either online or in print at a bookstore near you, at BenBella Books, Nellie Bly Books, Amazon, on iTunes and Barnes and Noble.

For an in-depth look at the damaging effects of the silence that surrounds abuse, please watch my live TEDx talk, given April 13, 2013, at Connecticut College.

Have a great day and remember, it’s whatever you want to make it!

~Daleen

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”

Crossing Another One Off My Bucket List 21 Years Later

Which story shall I tell you first? The one about how I almost broke my neck taking a tumble from the balcony onto the theatre seats below? Or how it felt to peer up at the underbelly of a jet airplane performing a very low-altitude landing few feet above my head?



This 10-day cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas, one of the vessels targeted by the Centers for Disease Control, and which its passengers nicknamed the “Norovirus ship,” was number 21 on my bucket list. Why 21, as compared to a more general number like 20 or 30? Maybe that’s the logical place to begin.



Once upon a time, there was a bridegroom. I left him standing at the altar in 1995, one week before the wedding—after realizing that no, seven combined children did not us the next Brady Bunch make. He gallantly offered to let me take the cruise alone, but I declined. I had my four children to tend to, and solo sailing didn’t seem wise. I’ve been waiting ever since to walk the gangplank.

Instead, I later ended up studying aviation and getting my private pilot’s license. Which is a great segue into the airport story.

Which came first, the runway or the beach it abuts? I don’t know, but either way, tourists from around the world flock to Maho Beach on the tiny island of St. Maarten. (Maybe it’s a Dutch thing, since the airport is technically governed by the Netherlands, rather than France.) It offers the bold and fearless a feat unlike any other: the chance to be blown into the ocean whenever exhaust fumes from a jumbo jet scorch the faces pressed into the fence behind it.



I wasn’t there long enough to experience that personally, but I did see a little FedEx courier plane take off. And I’ve watched the YouTube videos since then. Trust me, not nearly as exciting. I did stand underneath a Boeing 747 on its final approach to Princess Juliana International Airport, named Number 11 on the “Most Insanely Dangerous Airports Around the World” list. And yes, it was exhilarating. More so for the fellow in front of me, who had an even better view. But still.

For sure, this is not something my flight instructors ever let me do.

Incidentally, our tour guide told us the story about how he once led a little, old man of 80 to that same fence. The fellow was as excited as a child with two fistfuls of candy. Afterward, he said he’d waited decades to cross “feeling the fierce heat of the jet blast at Maho Beach” off his bucket list. It was all he’d dreamed it would be.

I admit, it did rank up there in the “experience of a lifetime” category, far better than the famous Sarafina’s café and bakery, which boasts delicious French pastries and a clean restroom, as well as a rude and rushed French wait staff.

Labadee, Haiti

Among the ports I visited—San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Labadee, Royal Caribbean’s private Haitian island—snorkeling at Cokie Beach at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands was my favorite adventure. Even though I could have tumbled over backwards and perhaps drowned in the rough waves, if not for a local named Bob who suggested I remove my flippers and then led me into the water. There, he offered his arm while I donned them again, followed by my snorkel mask. Hands down, it was best day of my 10 days at sea, and I will forever remember swimming with entire schools of beautiful, shiny fish as they wove to and fro amidst the coral reef.



Of course, all that snorkeling worked up quite an appetite, so afterward I ate Nemo for lunch. He was fried and lathered with homemade hot sauce. The side dish? Johnny cakes, a delicious fried dough known as a local culinary delight. It was well worth abandoning my gluten-free diet in West Virginia just to dine on that one meal. (If you ever make it here, skip the fast food and ask Charlotte at Sun Seekers how to find the fried fish and Johnny cake hut. Charlotte is sweet and helpful, and the food will not disappoint.)



With its brightly colored buildings and rich history, San Juan was lovely, too. Except, after disembarking, it took more than an hour to find a taxi. The hot Caribbean sun made the outside wait unbearable. So I walked most everywhere, and stumbled into Mejunje PR, a friendly family-owned wine bar that features delicious, homemade steak empanadas and fabulous mojitos. And their baños was super clean and clearly decorated by a wine lover. While there, I was serenaded by some local musicians who sang off the cuff, which washed away the frustrations of waiting for a taxi that never came.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

* * * *

My fifth book, Guilt by Matrimony, about the murder of Aspen socialite, Nancy Pfister, was released November 17. My memoir, Sister of Silence, is about surviving domestic violence and how journalism helped free me; Cheatin’ Ain’t Easy, now in ebook format, is about the life of Preston County native, Eloise Morgan Milne; The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese (a New York Times bestseller, with coauthor Geoff Fuller) and Pretty Little Killers (also with Fuller), released July 8, 2014, and featured in the August 18 issue of People Magazine.

You can find these books either online or in print at a bookstore near you, at BenBella Books, Nellie Bly Books, Amazon, on iTunes and Barnes and Noble.

For an in-depth look at the damaging effects of the silence that surrounds abuse, please watch my live TEDx talk, given April 13, 2013, at Connecticut College.

Have a great day and remember, it’s whatever you want to make it!

~Daleen

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”

Listen, Learn and Love: My 2016 New Year’s Motto

It was almost midnight when she made her entrance, the beautiful, fair-skinned blonde with a red flower in her hair. Unlike most of the women I saw on the streets of Morgantown last night, she wore slacks. Not a sequined miniskirt.

Three men, possibly of Pakistani descent, in a nearby booth greeted her, and one of them stood out of what appeared to be a show of respect (perhaps they all did; I can’t recall), of chivalry, and to greet her with a kiss. That was when I knew: they were a couple.



I was at Gibbie’s eating a very late supper as I watched the people around me preparing to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. The trio drank water or soda, which could mean they are Muslim. I didn’t notice her drink, which doesn’t matter anyway. What I did see was the essence of happiness and, perhaps, a twinge of trepidation, before she showed up.

Morgantown is a melting pot, filled with people from around the world who swirl around each other like vegetables in a thick stew. Many, many of them have dark skin, but I’ve never thought a problem. I’m sure most people here don’t.

I hope not, anyway. Not when every interaction I’ve ever had, as a woman, has been positive and even uplifting. Has filled me with awe at the level of respect I encounter—respect I haven’t received from most the Caucasian men in my life. In my intimate life, not my everyday, professional one, where all the men who know me are the epitome of respect.

But I digress. I watched the trio of friends before the red-flowered blonde’s arrival, and couldn’t help but notice that none of them made eye contact with me. I don’t know if that’s “the new norm” for people of Middle Eastern descent during these recent tense days, but I hope not. Which is why I smiled, when one of the youth passed my booth. He did a double take, as if he wasn’t expecting such warmth, and shyly smiled in return.

That’s when I began thinking about what it must be like for Muslims and people who don’t practice that faith but who are nonetheless lumped together, because of the color of their skin. How hard it must be, as it often is for women who are mistreated at home and even in the workplace, simply because of our gender. Because we are different from middle-class, white males whose power and influence can extend well beyond ours.

When the clock struck 12 a.m., ringing in 2016, the four friends raised their glasses in a toast. I heard the handsome fellow who shyly responded to my smile say, “with water,” and laugh. Then, as the quartet took turns hugging each other, the beautiful blonde turned to her bearded beau and they kissed. And kissed. And kissed. As all around them, the world came to a stop. It was not an ephemeral scene. It was timeless.

And it made me wish I could trade places with her, or with any of the four people celebrating in that booth. In spite of their possible troubles, to have that sense of love and happiness—that is what I want in 2016.

For you, for me, for everyone. No matter their gender, their religion, or their flesh tone. Listen, learn, and love, and see all the beauty around you.

This is my New Year’s motto.

* * * *

My latest book, Guilt by Matrimony, about the murder of Aspen socialite, Nancy Pfister, was released November 17. My memoir, Sister of Silence, is about surviving domestic violence and how journalism helped free me; Cheatin’ Ain’t Easy, now in ebook format, is about the life of Preston County native, Eloise Morgan Milne; The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese (a New York Times bestseller, with coauthor Geoff Fuller) and Pretty Little Killers (also with Fuller), released July 8, 2014, and featured in the August 18 issue of People Magazine.

You can find these books either online or in print at a bookstore near you, at BenBella Books, Nellie Bly Books, Amazon, on iTunes and Barnes and Noble.

For an in-depth look at the damaging effects of the silence that surrounds abuse, please watch my live TEDx talk, given April 13, 2013, at Connecticut College.

Have a great day and remember, it’s whatever you want to make it!

~Daleen

An Anniversary I’d Rather Forego

I’ve been struggling with this column for days. I even went into semi-seclusion for a week, without realizing why, until yesterday, when an old friend offered his condolences.

My sister Lisa died two years ago today. The call came in that morning, while I was working on The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese. Trying to meet another deadline. It was BJ, my former brother-in-law. I knew the minute I heard his voice it wasn’t good. I hadn’t talked to him in probably six months, if not longer.



“How are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m okay,” I said. “But you must not be. What’s wrong?”

“Well, I’m okay, but your sister isn’t,” BJ said.

At least, that’s how I remember it. BJ called me first, he said, after their oldest daughter called him with the news. “I knew you’d want to know.”

This past week it seems like it’s been that long, some 730 days ago. At other times, it really does feel like she was standing right there next to me—and then I blinked, and she was gone.

I’m still trying to figure out what to write, even as I carry out the task. Do I talk about my 2011 trip to Tennessee to help her start her life over, after she did a stint in jail? Or how, just a few months later, she jumped bail, sticking me with the tab? Or how, in return for helping Lisa, other sister accused me of killing her? (Funny, I don’t remember being her dealer.) Maybe that’s a starting point, but I’m not quite ready to write that story. Not yet.



What I think I’d like to say is this: until the drugs took over, Lisa was never without a smile, a funny joke, or a way about her that suggested that life was far too short to be taken seriously, so why not enjoy it while you can. She and I were polar opposites: I was quiet and serious; she was loud and rowdy. I liked pencils and books and wearing dresses. Lisa liked to run and climb and scuff the knees of her jeans. We fought like cats and dogs when we were children, but we were also best friends.

“Your graduation picture was on the bathroom mirror the day she died,” BJ later told me at the funeral home. He said it was the only family picture Lisa still had.

When Lisa eloped to marry BJ at age 15, I think she did so because he really saw her. She had become invisible to us; I had already flown the nest and was expecting child number two. Mom was working full-time, so she needed a babysitter for our three younger siblings. Dad was absent. Again.



Lisa liked the excitement marriage to a long-haul trucker driver promised, and she often went on the road with BJ. She also liked the way he pampered her, taking her to car races and concerts, buying her clothes and cars and not one, not two, but four different diamond wedding ring sets over the course of their life together.

Then came the day when Lisa, BJ, and our entire family traveled to Nashville, Tenn., to meet their first daughter, He Young. Lisa had never been happier than when that beautiful little Korean baby doll was placed in her arms. Then came their second little girl, Kang Hee, and it seemed like Lisa’s life could not be any better, richer, or fuller.

Who can say what causes one person to become an addict, while another one turns up his or her nose at the stuff? What forces have shaped our genes, long before birth, predisposing us to addition? And who can say why it’s easier for one person to later kick the habit—cigarettes, liquor, narcotic painkillers—while another person dies an early death from them?

I wish I knew. But I don’t, and I know I’m not alone. From loved ones to medical and psychological experts, there is a large army of people who want the same answers.

Here’s what I do know: Lisa loved our “uncle” Bruce, and at family dinners, those two could laugh loud and long, inspiring a sense of wistfulness in everyone around them. None of us had quite that same relationship. She was an excellent cook, far better than me, and she regularly whipped up a big breakfast of biscuits and gravy, fried eggs and potatoes, and bacon on the weekends. And our three younger siblings delighted going anywhere with her, for she was so ornery and so much fun that she was less like an older sister and more like a favorite aunt.

Lisa was also generous, opening her home to a stray friend in need more than once, letting them live with her and BJ for many months or more. She also loved watching football with our father, especially after the move to Tennessee made their home a perfect pit stop, whenever Dad passed through on his way back to West Virginia.



There was the Lisa from her West Virginia years, and the Lisa she became after moving to Tennessee. Her daughters mostly only knew the second one. I hope they eventually get to know the other one, the girl with the easy smile who loved to laugh and crack jokes and make delicious country meals that many people will only eat if they go to Bob Evans.

Scratch that. That many people today never eat, unless they cook at home, in their own kitchen.

Because that Lisa was the real one. She was my sister.

* * * *

My latest book, Guilt by Matrimony, about the murder of Aspen socialite, Nancy Pfister, was released November 17. My memoir, Sister of Silence, is about surviving domestic violence and how journalism helped free me; Cheatin’ Ain’t Easy, now in ebook format, is about the life of Preston County native, Eloise Morgan Milne; The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese (a New York Times bestseller, with coauthor Geoff Fuller) and Pretty Little Killers (also with Fuller), released July 8, 2014, and featured in the August 18 issue of People Magazine.

You can find these books either online or in print at a bookstore near you, at BenBella Books, Nellie Bly Books, Amazon, on iTunes and Barnes and Noble.

For an in-depth look at the damaging effects of the silence that surrounds abuse, please watch my live TEDx talk, given April 13, 2013, at Connecticut College.

Have a great day and remember, it’s whatever you want to make it!

~Daleen

The Return of the Vintage Berry Wine Gang and Other Big Surprises!

News Flash!!!

I have lots of exciting news to share, but first I really need to apologize to my readers, for keeping you waiting all this time. I have a good reason, several really, why I couldn’t get myself back to blogging, but to be honest, they’re just wimpy excuses. Because when you can, and do, crank out a book in just under three months following major surgery, as I did with Nancy Styler’s book, Guilt by Matrimony, what are a few bumps in the road, in comparison?

Those bumps include being unhappy with my agent’s representation, and, in particular, the portrayal of this latest (my fifth) book on the new TV show “Crime Watch Daily.” That led to a bout with the winter doldrums, which came in October—when it was still warm and sunny, and nary a dark cloud in sight. It was pretty depressing.

A friend was fooling around and came up with this spoof of a book cover for my Vintage Berry Wine columns. I love it!

Until I sucked it up and did what I do best: I began networking. I reached out to everyone I thought could help me and began interviewing them. People at the major TV networks, author friends, people in the publicity world, and so on. I also Googled the problem, and feel so much more empowered now. Especially since there’s a book here somewhere, probably fiction, maybe self-help, for other unwitting authors—even bestselling ones like me—down the road. Time will tell.

Around this same time, I also became ill. In part from being stressed and depressed, but also from the fragrance and chemical sensitivity I fight every day. Then, as if an earache wasn’t enough, my dentist had to place a crown on my lower left molar. My mouth was open for four hours for that visit alone. By the end of the week, I had more pain. Not less. Over the course of the next two weeks, I developed a nonstop headache and pain radiated from my left ear all the way to my throat, which only ended after two more visits to the dentist, a root canal, and a prescription for meds to help relax my lower jaw. I couldn’t talk much, so many phone calls went unanswered. Eating was also a problem, so I sipped soup.

With all of that, you might think it’s been two terrible months. But guess what? It wasn’t. Quite the opposite, in fact!

Because that’s how I choose to view it. I could look at all the negatives, but if I did, where would that get me? Instead, I choose to focus on the positive—because that’s what works! That’s why I’m where I am today, instead of someplace worse.

For instance, while feeling too glum to write much of anything, I reached out to a dear family friend who lost a loved one in death. Turns out that my visit to her home renewed a friendship that had long since withered—but which was as healing to me as it was to her. If not more so, because by giving, I received exactly what I needed, at just the right moment. And that friendship has the potential to bring even more beauty and healing to both our lives and to those around us, as time goes on.

A smile, and a child’s love, makes the coldest day warmer.

I also looked for light and peace in the small places, finding it in the face of Haiden, a little preschooler I have fallen in love with. She is such a joy to be around: polite and well-behaved and smarter “than your average bear.” Haiden is, quite simply, adorable. She is just what I needed to take my mind off the stressors in my work life.

I caught up with some other long-time friends from the law enforcement world, and came away with the certain knowledge that sometimes issues are not as clearly defined as we might believe. Also, there are two sides to every story, but unless we know the backstory, understanding the current topic at hand will be difficult. So, from that visit came another potentially huge project for 2016. It’s timely and perfect for today’s police-phobic and Black Lives Matter society. I think it will garner a lot of attention when I roll it out next year.

Last weekend, while studying topics like blogging and time management and leadership, Diane Tarantini and I came up with a brilliant brainstorm. It may be the biggest idea either one of us has ever had. (In case you’re a new reader and you don’t know Diane, she’s a wonderful writer and blogger whose very presence inspires everyone she meets. We’ve been collaborating for some time now, honing each other’s writing and marketing skills.)

Leslie Pietrzyk, winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, Diane Tarantini, my partner in crime, and me

The idea for this new and top-secret project—which is so hard for me to keep under wraps, my fingers long to tap out the letters right now—was born during our Saturday session. By 3 p.m. Sunday, we called it a wrap. The beauty of this secret? It. Was. So. Much. Fun! There was nonstop laughter (and coffee, since Diane is the java queen!) as we created this amazing new media. We hope you love it as much as we do, when we roll it out right after Christmas.

Now, I’ve saved the best for last: I finally searched through all of my old yellowed clippings and my gazillion computer files. I was surprised to realize that I began working on a compilation of my Vintage Berry Wine newspaper columns in 1995. That was four years after I left the Preston County Journal, and should tell you how long ago my children began begging me to compile their childhood stories into a book. Now, those stories will be available in book form before 2015 ends.

I hope you’ll share this news with your loved ones—and keep coming back for more of the insights I learn and share with you here. I promise next time I won’t leave you hanging for so long.

* * * *

My latest book, Guilt by Matrimony, about the murder of Aspen socialite, Nancy Pfister, was released November 17. My memoir, Sister of Silence, is about surviving domestic violence and how journalism helped free me; Cheatin’ Ain’t Easy, now in ebook format, is about the life of Preston County native, Eloise Morgan Milne; The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese (a New York Times bestseller, with coauthor Geoff Fuller) and Pretty Little Killers (also with Fuller), released July 8, 2014, and featured in the August 18 issue of People Magazine.

You can find these books either online or in print at a bookstore near you, at BenBella Books, Nellie Bly Books, Amazon, on iTunes and Barnes and Noble.

For an in-depth look at the damaging effects of the silence that surrounds abuse, please watch my live TEDx talk, given April 13, 2013, at Connecticut College.

Have a great day and remember, it’s whatever you want to make it!

~Daleen

New True-Crime Book to be Featured on National TV Show

Mum’s the word for another week, I think, before I can say which TV show will air a segment about my next book, Guilt by Matrimony. I can say this: the host is not only handsome, but he asked great questions. The show promises to be exciting and I can’t wait until you see it. (Meanwhile, you can still preorder your copy of this true-crime book and have it before the November 17 publication date.)

My trip to Colorado in late September was a whirlwind, as most of them are. Autumn in Aspen was lovely—except technically, I never made it to Aspen. I was a few miles away in Snowmass, since most of the interviews took place at the Viceroy, a lovely resort where you can ski-in, ski-out. There was no time to sightsee, unless stopping off to grab a few photos in Georgetown, a little mining town along I-70, counts. (Although I practically inhaled a five-star omelet at the Snowbridge Inn. Their chef, and the service throughout, is fabulous!)

Guanella Pass in Georgetown, Colorado

My photos from the trip are largely missing. I only got a few, thanks to my cell phone taking a dip in the loo inside Denver Airport. (No, I did not flush it. Instinctively, I retrieved it. May I just say, “Yuck!!!”) In an instant, I became one of those silly (or not so much, now that I’ve joined their ranks) women who carry their cell phones in their back jeans pocket. Whether from the desire to have it on their person or simply because they don’t want to risk scratching it, I couldn’t say. In my case, it was the latter. I’d been on the phone with tech support for days, trying to figure out a months-long issue with intermittent, empty text messages. The good folks at Apple said it was my carrier, nTelos, who said it was my hardware. Apple finally saved the day, sending me a spanking new iPhone. (Speaking of which, you are far better off to spend $99 on AppleCare, which gives you unlimited tech support and insures your iPhone, than on any cell phone insurance I’ve ever found. Apple’s customer support is second to none!) After transferring all the data from my old phone to my new, voilà, all was well!

Well, almost. The empty text bubbles transferred, too. Making me realize it was my carrier. (This problem has yet to be resolved, since it means spending even more time with tech support.) At that point, I was out of time. I packed up my old iPhone and the case and made my usual middle-of-the-night, mad dash to the airport. Once there, I barely had enough time to make the plane, and in the process, I left the iPhone’s waterproof case behind, on my front seat. A very expensive mistake, I would later learn.



Have you ever tried taking pictures from your AirBook Mac? That little laptop has a great app, Photo Booth, from which I took the only pictures of glowing aspens I was able to get while there. (Except they weren’t glowing very much, being so early in the season.) Of course, the laptop is a little unwieldy, trying to balance it while simultaneously smiling for a selfie without dropping said electronic device. I don’t recommend it. Instead, keep your case on your phone, so you won’t need to put it in your back pocket, and then you’ll have it for all the pictures you want to take. (And all the calls you need to make, so the TV crew and your agent don’t think you were abducted by aliens during the drive from Denver to Snowmass.)

Unlike most visitors to Colorado this time of year, the seasonal colors weren’t the highlight of my trip. Meeting Nancy was. Nancy Styler is everything she seemed to be over the phone—and much more. Kind, far too kind—and forgiving of everyone who turned against her during her and her late husband’s short and tumultuous time in Aspen. I found her, as did many other people I interviewed, generous to a fault. She is also the tiniest thing, about a size 2, and a few inches shorter than me. Lovely on the outside, it is her inner beauty that catches you off guard and makes you think, “Can she possibly be this real?” She is, for sure.

The Viceroy, in Snowmass, Colorado

For instance, I forgot to wear my compression stockings on my flight, so my legs, thanks to the recent surgery, were quite swollen. I couldn’t even see my ankles. The first thing Nancy did was insist that I let her check for edema. Then she made me sit, and propped my legs up on pillows so they were higher than my heart. Nancy then massaged them, pushing the fluid out. Throughout the next two days, she reminded me to take it easy and keep my legs up, whenever I could.

That is this reporter’s objective takeaway, and I was relieved to learn that the impressions I gleaned during our telephone interviews had not been wrong. In fact, after meeting Nancy the first time, I was so taken with her that for the next two days, we had a kind of 48-hour slumber party, where we laughed and talked and cried and laughed some more.

Aside from everything else, Nancy Styler has a killer sense of humor. Yes, I just used that word, on purpose. The woman who was wrongfully charged with murdering Nancy Pfister, of Buttermilk Mountain fame, is guilty of killing in one sense: she can look at all that’s happened and still laugh at life. She can even laugh about some of the times during her wrongful 100-day incarceration. But it’s her ability to laugh now, after the fact, after losing everything she held dear, including her husband, Dr. Trey Styler, that I find remarkable.

Nancy and Joe Tomocik, an old friend and former supervisor at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

I know now that laughter has kept Nancy going strong, alive and hopeful. Like so many of us who, without it, would have been toppled by life’s injustices.

We were laughing a few minutes after we met Saturday in the lobby of the Viceroy, and we were still laughing when we parted company Monday morning in Denver. That’s when Nancy told me what happened the night before, while I was sleeping. I was completely out of it, not having slept much the entire trip. Sleeping so deeply I was snoring.

What she did, after I was asleep, was make sure Trey would forever remain in Colorado, near their son’s childhood home. She didn’t mean to, it kind of just happened that way. When she flew from Boston to Aspen, her carry-on luggage included three bags of Trey’s remains, since his last wishes were for her to scatter some of them there. Before Nancy left, it was too painful for her to scoop them from the mortuary container into the bags, so her sister did it. But that Sunday night, while I was asleep and Nancy was in the bathroom, quietly trying to find something in her purse, what she found instead were Trey’s ashes, all over the place.

They were on her cosmetics, her wallet, her cell phone, and anything else inside her purse. Trey’s ashes had escaped their plastic bag, fallen out, and gotten on everything. Not just a few ashes, either—an entire bag. So Nancy took her pocketbook, dumped it upside down on the counter, and tried “to clean up Trey.” She was laughing so hard, she told me the next morning, she was surprised she didn’t wake me.

As we both were, so hard my ribs hurt. I’m sure hers did, too. She told me how “most of Trey” had gone down the drain.

“Oh, Nancy,” I said, “Trey would be so happy, knowing he will be in Colorado forever, compliments of the public waterworks.” If tears weren’t running down our cheeks by then, I’d be surprised.

Time was short, as we had one last meeting with the TV producers, so Nancy ran an errand. While she was gone and as I did my face, I felt grit beneath my fingers from where my cosmetics sat on the countertop. I looked at my hand, seeing small flecks of ash on my fingertips. I knew what it was: Trey. I scooped everything up, packed it away in my suitcase, and later told Nancy that I hoped she didn’t care.

“I’m taking a little bit of Trey home with me, to West Virginia,” I said, laughing. “I’m sure he’ll love it there.”

* * * *

In one month my next book, Guilt by Matrimony, about the murder of Aspen socialite, Nancy Pfister, will be released. My memoir, Sister of Silence, is about surviving domestic violence and how journalism helped free me; Cheatin’ Ain’t Easy, now in ebook format, is about the life of Preston County native, Eloise Morgan Milne; The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese (a New York Times bestseller, with coauthor Geoff Fuller) and Pretty Little Killers (also with Fuller), released July 8, 2014, and featured in the August 18 issue of People Magazine.

You can find these books either online or in print at a bookstore near you, at BenBella Books, Nellie Bly Books, Amazon, on iTunes and Barnes and Noble.

For an in-depth look at the damaging effects of the silence that surrounds abuse, please watch my live TEDx talk, given April 13, 2013, at Connecticut College.

Have a great day and remember, it’s whatever you want to make it!

~Daleen

Editor’s Note: Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and a recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change. She has won several other awards, for investigative journalism and her weekly newspaper columns, and her memoir, Sister of Silence, placed first in the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. Ms. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country. To read an excerpt of her memoir, please go to the Sister of Silence site. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Ms. Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.”