Cindy Bauer's Blog: Authors Express Promotion, page 16

A short blog post all authors should read...

A little more info for authors on my earlier post, Authors Beware from a blog I frequent and get great information!

http://www.logikalsolutions.com/wordp...

One Woman’s Journey From A Childhood Hell To An Accomplished Life & Writer - Meet Othello Bach

Cry Into the Wind

“Othello Bach is a force. And this book proves it.”
--Joel Grey, Tony Award-winner

“Cry into the Wind is a page-turner from beginning to end. It is a compelling story of survival and an inspiring testament to the strength of the human spirit and raw determination.”--Dave Pelzer, author of A Child Called It

“Too often, America is portrayed as fantasyland. Cry into the Wind reminds us of the hourly struggle many Americans have to survive and salutes their true grit!”
--Pat Schroeder, former Congresswoman; ex-President, Associations of American Publishers

“Cry into the Wind grabs you by the eyeballs and keeps them wide open until the end. As illustrator of four of Othello’s books, I’m sure that her hilariously inventive take on life must have helped her overcome many obstacles.”--Sandy Huffaker, nationally syndicated political cartoonist, award-winning fine artist and illustrator


Othello Bach’s debut book, a novel called House of Secrets, became a best-seller. Avon Books bought it when she was 24 years old. Her second novel, Satan’s Daughters was published by Zebra Bookstore years later and it also became a bestseller. Her first children’s book, Whoever Heard of a Fird? was another best-seller, as was her second children’s book, Hector McSnector and the Mail-Order Christmas Witch. Additionally, Whoever Heard of a Fird? led to over 100 licensing deals which included a line of toys by Remco and a television development deal with Hanna-Barbera. She also wrote three dozen songs that were recorded by stage and screen stars, including Joel Grey, Tammy Grimes, and Sandy Duncan. It’s hard to believe all of this positive, creative, and inspirational content is the product of someone who didn’t learn to read until the 8th grade.
It’s even harder to believe when you learn how this former minister, licensed hypnotherapist, motivational speaker and advocate for literacy, women, and group home reform almost didn’t survive her nightmarish childhood that was defined by loss, neglect, physical and mental abuse, rape, seeing her mother burned alive, sexually violated by her alcoholic dad and left to fend for herself in a group home while separated from her siblings.
Her stirring memoir, Cry into the Wind, recently acknowledged by the Indiana Public Library Association as being one of the ten best books, reveals her heartbreaking, yet inspirational story of how she rose out of an against-all-odds childhood, one that left her in a two-day coma after attempting suicide.
Bach has come a long way since her troubled youth. She grew into a successful author of dozens of books, launched a hypnotherapy company for 25 years, taught for over 13 years at two colleges and was an ordained minister for a decade. Along the way she’s publicly advocated for women, victims of abuse, literacy and self-improvement. She represents hope in the face of brutal odds against living a happy and successful life.
She is available to discuss:The elements of her unique recovery program that helps others grow beyond painful memories.What can be done to improve the conditions of group homes (orphanages.).How to go from victim-hood to taking control of your life.How one can rise from poverty and homelessness to succeed.How one can go from being illiterate to a best-selling author.What the keys to happiness are.“Everyone has memories that haunt and discourage them,” says Bach. “I want to make them aware of my story and show them how to use their minds more effectively – regardless of their backgrounds.”
Never having read a newspaper and unable to read until her teens, Bach learns to barter for help in exchange for others reading to her. When she discovers the “secret to reading,” she is ecstatic about her new discovery – that letters have assigned sounds – and her life is changed forever.
“The thrill of learning to read was surpassed only by the realization that words not only passed information – they created feelings,” says Bach. “With this priceless information I could literally change my life. I could create any emotion and steer my life in the direction I wanted to go – so I used it. Anyone can. Words are power tools that sculpt our future. If we know how to use them we can transform a monstrous life into a beautiful work of art. If we don’t, we generally create one monstrosity after another.”
She has many stories to share – as well as life lessons and advice.
“I want people to embrace the message of my breakthrough children’s book, which is, that we each need to learn that we can be whatever we want to be, without looking anywhere outside of ourselves.”
Contact Information: Media Connect
Sharon Farnell 518-952-4597sharon.farnell@finnpartners.com
Brian Feinblum 212-583-2718 brian.feinblum@finnpartners.com
 

Othello Bach
A Biography  Othello Bach is an accomplished, best-selling author, song writer, and survivor of a childhood of untold loss, abuse, and horror.
Bach, who was illiterate, until the eighth grade, overcame one of the most challenging childhoods ever. She witnessed, at age seven, her mother burn to death. The night following her mother’s funeral, her alcoholic father, took her to his bed. Poor, and living out of a truck, her dad abandoned her and her three younger siblings. They were put in an orphanage where they were split up, placed in different dormitories, and never allowed to be together again. At 18, after leaving the orphanage and graduating high school, Bach attempted suicide, ending up in a two-day coma. She has published over 30 books, including her memoir, Cry into the Wind, two best-selling novels, House of Secrets (Avon Books) and Satan’s Daughters (Zebra Books) -- and two bestselling children’s books: Whoever Heard of a Fird? and Hector McSnector and the Mail-Order Christmas Witch. (Caedmon Books).
Bach’s also published hundreds of articles, stories, and columns in the Orange County Register, The Looking Glass, The Long Beach Press Telegram, The Orange County News-Times, The Kokomo Tribune and in magazines that included Child Life. Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, True Love, and Jack & Jill. For two decades she held over 600 workshops on Secrets of Successful Writers, and for 10 years she made over 200 speaking appearances at hotels, churches, and community centers about life after trauma and abuse for 17 years she made 230 presentations, Body Designing, a weight-loss program that uses hypnosis.
Some of her media appearances include The Joe Franklin Show on WOR and The Jim Lehrer Show, both radio.
Bach taught creative writing at the University of California for five years, and at Cypress College in California for 13 years. She also owned and operated a successful hypnotherapy clinic for 25 years and worked with hundreds of clients, using hypnosis to help them overcome a variety of problems and challenges.
Bach was a minister for a decade, pastoring her first church in Tustin, California. She also worked for three years with Vietnam veterans at the Anaheim Vet Center in Anaheim, California. She continues to write every day, composing music, and recently has illustrated two of her latest children’s books: Albert and the Monster and Frickart the Different. She is a tireless advocate for literacy, human rights, and speaks out for reform of group homes – the same homes that were once called orphanages.
She now resides in Kokomo, Indiana. She has two sons, and was the legal guardian of a niece and nephew. They are all adults now and she considers them all “her kids.”
For more information, please consult: www.othellobach.com.
 

Othello Bach
Q&A 
1. You witnessed your mother being burned alive. Your alcoholic dad sexually assaulted you. In an orphanage, you suffered untold abuse and mistreatment. You experienced homelessness. Eventually, you attempted suicide. What sustained your spirit? 
Memories of my mother’s love and eternal optimism. She said if I want something bad enough I can have it, and I still believe it.
2. Othello, you have had one of the most challenging and troubling childhoods anyone has endured. How did you manage to overcome this rough start to become a successful writer, pastor, teacher and hypnotherapist? 
When I taught myself to read and realized that the words were affecting my emotions – I knew I had stumbled on a truth I could use to control my life.
3. How does someone who couldn’t write or read until the eighth grade manage to pen so many books? How can we improve literacy in our country? 
I did it because I loved doing it. I love to work out plots… develop the characters and let them speak, interact and perform for me. That’s what makes me happy, so it wasn’t hard. How to improve literacy? It needs funding! Literacy programs generally operate on donations, fundraisers, and by scrambling for grants. This is a sad situation because so many children are dyslexic.
4. Othello, you are an accomplished author of many books, including a successful line of children’s books. What is your newest one about, Frickart the Different? 
Frickart is frog who is bullied because he’s different. He stands, walks, sings, eats berries and wears a vest of flowers. He is also practical; he remains kind but doesn’t try to change himself to please others.
5. What lessons will children learn from this colorful story? 
Most kids feel different in some way. Hopefully, Frickart will show them that it’s okay to be different— and you must be true to yourself if you want to be happy.
6. Your debut children’s book, Whoever Heard of a Fird? was a best-seller and over 100 licensing agreements grew out of it. Did you ever expect people to react so favorably to it? 
When I first wrote it, I did; but after years of rejection slips I had my doubts. After seven years of rejections, I wrote music and lyrics for it, and liked it even better. It still took three more years to sell it, and I was thrilled.
7. Why do you feel its message resonates with so many young readers? 
I’ve heard that every kid, at one time or another, suspects they were sent home from the hospital with the wrong parents. Maybe that was it: the kids identified with Fird.
8. How would you reform the group home system to ensure the abuse you suffered doesn’t happen again? 
Today there are 600,000 kids “lost” in group homes. I have a list of “shoulds” that need to be implemented, including some federal oversight of privately (church) funded homes. In most cases, a driver’s license and GED are all it takes to be hired as a “houseparent” for a dormitory of frightened, abandoned children.
9. You served as a pastor for over a decade. How did faith play a role in rehabilitating your life? 
My rehab began when I sold my first novel to Avon Books and started to believe in myself. I’ve always been a deeply spiritual person and eventually I felt compelled to attend a seminary and try to help others.
10. What tips or advice do you have for others who are struggling with their life? 
Defend yourself with thoughts you love and make you happy. The past is a memory kept alive by choice. The future is nonexistent—an illusion that changes with mere thought. Don’t be afraid to take control in the present.
11. Among your talents, you are a composer and a lyrist with 37 recorded songs by Broadway, TV and Hollywood stars. What was it like to hear Joel Grey, Tammy Grimes and Sandy Duncan sing your words? 
It was glorious! I had the privilege of being in the studio when my work was recorded. At one point, Joel Grey asked me to sing along with him. As I went to him, for the first-and-only time in my life, I thought, “Momma, can you see me now?”
12. Your children’s books spark the imagination of parents as well as children. How did you develop this talent despite the barrage of loss, pain, and conflict in your early life?
I can take no credit for the talent; it is a gift. I just use it, and by doing that, it developed on its own.
13. Cry into the Wind, a Dickensian tale of triumph over tragedy, reveals your story in great detail. What do you hope readers will come away with? 
The understanding that thought has power. Thought controls emotion, emotion creates conviction, conviction prompts action, and action produces results.
14. Can you tell us about the unique recovery program you developed, where you help others grow beyond painful memories? 
It’s a 30-day program included in Cry into the Wind, and sold separately on Amazon as “The Happiness Option.” It gives readers the opportunity to experience the power of their thoughts.
15. As a mom - and as someone with a traumatized childhood – what advice do you have for parents today in terms of how to raise happy, healthy, successful children? 
Children imitate their parents. Be loving and gentle so they will be. Don’t blame others for the ugly emotions you create—especially not your children. By accepting your responsibility to control yourself, you teach your children how to do it.


Keys To Happiness After Trauma
by Othello BachThe power of love that helps you overcome the effects of painful experiences is eternal. It cannot be taken from you, but you can forget you have it. Love cannot be felt until it is given away – and with every thought you think, you are “giving” either love or fear to yourself and everyone around you.Love will always rescue you if you remember to use it, but it cannot rescue you if you choose to remember pain and fear, instead.God is love. Love is always with us and willing to help if we remember to use it.The past cannot hurt you unless you choose to remember it.Memories have no power over you; they cannot alter your decision.Every thought creates a corresponding emotion – so think encouraging thoughts!There are two thought categories: love and fear. Thoughts that make you happy and create a sense of well-being are loving; thoughts that hurt and create doubt are fear-based and will undermine your success.You have a choice between thoughts. Choose wisely.You cannot control others, situations, circumstances, the past, or the future – nor do you need to. You only need to control your responses to them.Pain is an effect created by something that has already happened. What has happened is in the past. All pain is in the past unless we bring it into our present thoughts. Present thoughts of past pain create present pain.Fear is created by thinking of something that might happen in the future. Fear cannot exist in the present unless we are presently thinking fearful thoughts.Fearful thoughts will immobilize you. Replace them immediately with encouraging thoughts.What you believe creates the reality you experience.Denying yourself happiness does not make you “good,” it makes you and everyone around you miserable.There is a Power within you that is sufficient to overcome all obstacles. It doesn’t care what you call it, but it is there and it responds to love – your loving thoughts, your loving your life, your loving others, your loving your dreams and pursuing them. If you will remember to love your life, family, friends, the day, your work – love will empower you, and soon you will love all that you have accomplished. You will also love the truth that you – and only you – control your life.

Buried Threads by Kaylin McFarren

Rachel Lyons and her partner Chase Cohen accept a contract to recover a lost priceless treasure in the Sea of Japan. However, upon arriving in Tokyo, they soon discover their mission is more complicated and dangerous than they originally believed. In order to prevent a natural disaster from striking Japan and killing millions, they must form an alliance with yakuza members, dive into shark-infested waters and recover three ancient cursed swords before time runs out.


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An Axe to Grind by F.M. Meredith

Rocky Bluff PD Series Book 6
Set in a small So CA beach town, an imaginative stalker’s decapitation sends Detectives Milligan and Marshall on an investigation of the stalker’s family, his victim and her family. When Doug strikes out on his own to corner the murderer and no one knows where he went, Stacey frantically tries to find him. She almost comes to a dead end, when his beloved MG is found in the lagoon on the Santa Barbara college campus.
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Flaherty's Crossing by Kaylin McFarren

From Pacific Northwest's award-winning author Kaylin McFarren comes a powerful novel about love, loss, and the power of forgiveness... Successful yet emotionally stifled artist Kate Flaherty stands at the deathbed of her estranged father, conflicted by his morphine-induced confession exposing his part in her mother's death. While racing home, Kate's car mishap leads her to a soul-searching discussion with a lone diner employee, prompting Kate to confront the true reasons her marriage hangs in the balance. When her night takes an unexpected turn, however, she flees for her life, a life desperate for faith that can only be found through her ability to forgive.
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Infinite Exposure by Roland Hughes

BOOK ONE IN THIS SERIES On the road to a bleaker future, is there still a chance to get it right?
An espionage novel written in 2008, the author has predicted stories that are now in today’s news headlines! This heavily researched work of fiction was written shortly after 9/11 and long before identity theft or data breaches were in the news. Read and decide for yourself which is scarier, what it says is coming or how much it has already gotten right?
This work of fiction uses historical information and relevant news stories to draw a line from post 9/11 through the off-shoring of IT jobs and the largest terrorist strike the free world has ever known to the resulting nuclear war.
That, however, is not the interesting part of the story. How we got there is a far more interesting tale indeed. Follow the story from post 9/11 to where it all went bad and see if you can find a way out, not just for yourself, but for everyone.
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Interview with author Lynn Hesse

Readers enjoy learning more about their favorite authors. What brought about your interest in becoming a police officer?

I’m good in a crisis, and I was interested in service to the community. After my divorce, I needed to support my son, Aaron, and obtain an education. I never received child support from my ex. Long story. Law Enforcement Educational Program, L.E.E.P., paid for college tuition for people serving in law enforcement. My interest in a balanced mind, body, and spirit came from my religious and dance background and influenced my decision to remain active in community and not work in an office job.

Was anyone else in your family background in law enforcement?

No. Miners, lumberjacks, storekeepers are in my family tree. Grandmother Hazel Tharp joined the textile union in the 1930s and owned part of the The Tharp Grocery Store in Webb City, Missouri. I hope my genealogy research in my Scottish roots will uncover an ancestor who worked in law enforcement.

How did a gal from Missouri wind up in Georgia?

My dad worked for Toledo Scales -- middle management -- in the early 60s. He was transferred from Toledo to Atlanta in 1963.

Do you have any children? Spouse? Pets?

I have two grown children, Aaron and Nikki. Both of them are married. My husband is a photojournalist for the Hometown News Atlanta. He has two feral cats he feeds.


Where did your idea for the storyline in “Well of Rage” come from?

Two initial sources: I was struggling to decide whether to retire and wound up in Mobile, Al. on vacation. My husband and I were walking on Dauphin St. in Mobile. I noticed a billiard parlor without patrons coming and going in the middle of many busy billiard parlors and bars. This parlor had a u-shaped bar and tables from the 1950s with white geezers smoking and drinking inside. When I looked in the front windows, a chill ran down my spine. If these guys weren’t the remnants of the KKK or a militia group, I’d say they were close. Please realize this novel was written before 2015 and before the policy change occurred within militia/white-supremacy groups seeking mainstream news headlines. The low-key “cells of leaderless resistance” in “Well of Rage” were formed after the Klan declared bankruptcy because of a 7 million civil judgment awarded to Beulah Mae Donald of Mobile in 1987. Her African-American son, Michael, was beaten, strangled, and hung from a tree by Klan members in 1981.

What did you learn after publishing that one that was helpful to you when writing this second book, “Another Kind of Hero”?

Gosh, big learning curve. I was on an authors’ panel at a conference and met a line author/editor with contacts with several small presses. I had the book professionally edited and sent the book to three publishing houses. I understood rejection was a part of the business. I followed the instructions for submissions, easier said than done. One accepted the book. On a practical level, I made “Another Kind of Hero” a novella because I wanted a book with a competitive price, and I realized marketing my first book took time and energy away from writing.


How did you come up with the story idea for “Another Kind of Hero”? 

AKH was half finished when “Well of Rage” was published in August of 2016. The process is complex for me.

After my mother died in 2007, a bird kept flying into the windows of my dining room where I often sat to have my morning coffee or tea. I took this experience and wrote “Bam, Karma” a rejected flash fiction piece, turned it into a short play produced in 2011, and then it became the beginning of AKH. The idea of exploring dissimilar personalities, in this case the Kendall sisters, one wanting to sit and do nothing pitted against the contradictory urge in the other to fix things, interested me. I used these kernels of truth to create the character sketches for the sisters, Mavis and Helen.

Before her death from Parkinson, my mother told me the true story about a biker/ road scholar stopping by her country Methodist church on Johnstonville Road. in Forsyth and asking whether his African-American girlfriend, a trucker, would be welcome. The undercover DEA agent, Dewey Blackmon, and his girlfriend, Cora Justin Dupont came alive for me as I wrote in my journal, and then became three-dimensional characters in AKH.

After you decide what you want your story to be about, how do you go about developing your characters and setting?

I write a scene, document questions in my notebook, add to my on-going outline, and edit the scene the next day before I write another scene. I reread the manuscript. Edit. For an hour or two each day I live in my imagination and a new world builds into story.

I listen as the characters talk to me as they reveal themselves and the plot. Wanda, the ghost, actually woke me up one morning. Her manner and voice were clear and insistent. I hadn’t planned on a ghost being in my story. I like surprises, but this was inconvenient. Several chapters were already written, and the major plot revisions required accommodating this new character. However, I love Wanda’s loyalty, humor, and her matter of fact manner.

I revisited the place if it exists, like Forsyth, Ga. I study my relatives and the local people.

Because I write mysteries, while I write, I am tracking clues and the details of character, place, time frame, consistency of language in the dialogue, the smells, the layers of the stories, subplots, and themes.

What do you feel the benefits are for a writer in joining a writing guild, such as Sisters in Crime, and what do you find helpful about attending writer conferences?

Hum, I am an introvert; conferences and organizations are energy zappers for me, but a must for new authors. SinC helps female mystery and crime writers even the playing field. Male authors still are published and reviewed more often than female authors. I find critique groups the most helpful for the actual writing process.

When you aren't writing, you also belong to some dance groups. When did you become interested in dance? 

I have always danced. Maybe, I’ll be a Broadway star in my next life. I use dance and performance art to work with community and foster peace and social justice. I am in training with community.

For readers who enjoy crime, drama and suspense books, what can you tell them about your books that will spark their interest?

I met some real characters during my police work on the streets of DeKalb County, Georgia. I saw the highs and lows of human behavior in everyday heroes and the destruction wrought by warped individuals.

I understand how humor can change perspective and kindness gains trust. I write about these layers of life.

Are you working on another book now?

Of course, based on genealogy and cave myth research, I am writing a historical novel with a midwife protagonist who’s living in the Boston Mountains in 1870s Arkansas.

Also, I have another novella in the rough draft/ in–progress stage with an anti-hero female protagonist who is part of a Roma trio involved in an art heist at the High Museum in Atlanta. I researched Edward Hopper’s painting for this book.

What is your goal for future books?

To write a book readers can’t put down, and after finishing the book, they miss the characters and realize they have explored something new about the world or themselves.

What can you tell aspiring writers you have learned along your journey to being published that will help them the most on their journey?

Be kind to yourself. Read widely with an open mind. Write, write, and write. If you write 360 words a day, a paragraph, for a year you will have a novel length manuscript and five days to spare for emergencies. Write any way you want, in pencil if that inspires you, but to be published you must learn to use your computer and format for fiction. There are templates available online. Purchase a humorous grammar book. You will need it before buying a style guide. Wading through The Chicago Manual Style of dos and don’t for fiction writers is laborious reading, and the rules are quite different than using APA or MLA. Good Luck.

Is there anything else you'd like to add that your readers might find of interest?

Don’t stop reading and writing. The imagination is engaged in dynamic work during the above activities. Imagination can sustain civilization and foster an understanding of others unlike ourselves.

Where are your books available and do you offer signed copies?

I love signing my books and talking about writing. Please invite me to speak at a book or writing event. Conducting workshops involving the healing powers of writing interest me.     

I will be launching “Another Kind of Hero” and signing books at Tall Tales Book Store on November 4, 2017 from 2-3 p.m. and The Milton Literary Festival on November 11, 2017 at 1 p.m. Invitations to speak about writing, use my improvisational storytelling skills, and sign books are welcome.

Any bookstore personnel may order my books through Ingram. I am online on https://www.amazon.com/Lynn-Hesse/e/B01LKPRAZQ and https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/157464489.Lynn_Hesse

How can your readers contact you for copies of your books or to ask you questions?

https://facebook.com/lynnhesse2
https://twitter.com/lynnhesseauthor
@lynnhesseauthor 
www.lynnhesse.wordpress.com
lynnhesse@aol.com


Do you have a website?

Yes.
https://www.lynnhesse.wordpress.com

Authors: Be on the lookout!

Today I was contacted via my personal email address by someone claiming to have an" inexpensive book tour service". I turned them down and told them why. The response I received back was so vial mouthed, I won't repeat it here.

I wanted to warn you about this because you will not want to use this "service". Obviously.

The original email said "I saw on Goodreads you are looking for book reviews for your newly published book".

The person who contacted me was booksauthors786@gmail.com. The second one who responded to my reply was doedick@gmail.com.

While I am always looking forward to new ideas to help myself (an author) and the other authors I represent in my business (authorsexpresspromotion), I do not like to see anyone spammed, taken advantage of, or spoken to in that kind of language.

So heed my warning if this person contacts you.

Authors Helping Authors
Cindy Bauer

How to Write a Great Story by Othello Bach

This powerful little volume provides a concise yet complete roadmap for both the literary novice as well as the seasoned writer. Packed with clear examples and practical writing assignments, it’s like having an English professor in your pocket. How to Write a Great Story authoritatively answers your questions regarding: • Characterization • Plotting • Dialogue • Action • Transitions • Manuscript preparation and much more!
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Smell of Death by F.M. Meredith

Rocky Bluff PD Series Book 4
A missing child, strange burglaries, and the inexplicable murders of a mother and her daughter disrupt the peaceful beach community of Rocky Bluff, CA. Officer Stacey Wilbur, first on the scene for both murders, assists Detective Doug Milligan with the investigations and finds herself breaking her long-standing rule to never date anyone who works for Rocky Bluff P.D.

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