Pamela Q. Fernandes's Blog, page 24

Book-Trailer: THE MILANESE STARS

Today I’m releasing my book-trailer for THE MILANESE STARS. With 7 days to book launch, I’m super excited.

For those who follow me on Facebook, you have already seen this trailer, since I released it first on my Facebook page. 

Now I’ve worked with a number of people to make this book trailer possible. Amanda Pasinski has done the female voice-over work and Sean Smith of Hidden Cabin Studios recorded the male voice.  A big thanks to these people for helping me on this project. I couldn’t have done it without them.

The book-trailer was made by M Anderson. I’m so excited to share it with you. I haven’t done a trailer for a long time. I don’t make them for all my books. But I like the cinematic version of the book, it paints more color to the book blurb. As an indie author, you want to cover all the marketing bases, so I thought why not?

Since a romantic heist has so much potential for cinema and drama I decided to do a book trailer.

STEPS TO MAKE THIS TRAILER

I was a wreck making this book-trailer. Because it had so many elements. First I created a storyboard. Ten sentences which encapsulated my book.

Then I arranged the dialogue, counted the words and looked for voice over artists. This was the hardest part, finding a voice that matches your character. Plus having the artist sync the recording. Amanda was kind enough to do that for me.

Once you record, then you take your storyboard and all the back matter, cover and ideas to your trailer creator (usually a graphic artist) and then he or she does their magic.

You go over the edits and finalize something that you like. All in all, I usually find doing non-fiction trailers easier, like I did for Ten Reminders for the Single Christian Woman. Fiction requires a detailed storyboard and you need to go over it a few times.

The Milanese Stars

The Milanese Stars is out on pre-order. But until my release date of 25th June, 2018 so you can get a free ARC from here. 

Answer this poll, so I know if the trailer makes you want to read the book. I’d like to hear your feedback so I know what to change or make better the next time I create a book trailer. Any input would be super helpful.

What do you think of this trailer?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

 

 

 

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The Milanese Stars 10 days to go.

The Milanese Stars is going to come out in 10 days and I'm so excited.
My book trailer has just come out and I'd love to hear what you think of it!
my link text

The countdown begins: 10 days more to go.

Free Advance Review Copies of THE MILANESE STARS

With two weeks to launch date, I am giving away free advance reviewer copies of my book THE MILANESE STARS. Who doesn’t love free books? 

Fraud at Literary Agencies

If you’ve been following the literary news, you’ll have learned of the fraud that took place at Donadio & Olson’s literary agency. Just for those who don’t know, this agency is home to Mario Puzo, author of the Godfather and Chuck Palanhniuk, author of Fight Club.

Fraud at Literary Agencies

The New York Times broke the story last week and surprisingly many clients of the agency learned of it through the newspaper. That’s just bad management.

Chuck himself explained how his income dried up and how he got fleeced in a sad but encouraging post. 

However if you want a real honest breakdown of what went wrong and how fraud gets perpetuated at literary agencies, you may want to take a look at Kristine Rusch’s post.  And while I understand that literary agents are gatekeepers of the publishing industry, the silence from them about this fraud speaks volumes. Few have come out and pointed out that Kristine is wrong.

Few have said no, we have auditors, we have two or three people overseeing checks, we have an external accountant, or that publishers pay authors directly and us separately. Few have claimed that they have the insurance mechanism in place to prevent fraud.

That silence is scary, especially on social media, where what their dogs and cats do gets discussed to death but something this vital is hardly mentioned. I guess their taking Chuck’s advice to heart, “The first rule about fight club is that no one talks about fight club!” 

26 Mistakes People Make When Discerning Vocations

“Vocation is the overarching call God places on our life. It means that God is involved in our lives.” Tim Glemkowski

Mistakes People Make When Discerning Vocations Image Source: Pexels Pixabay

Tim Glemkowski

Tim Glemkowski is the founder and president of L’Alto Catholic Institute, a not-for-profit apostolate dedicated to helping parishes form disciples. He graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville with a double major in Philosophy and Theology. While teaching high school theology, Tim also received an MA in Theology from the Augustine Institute in Denver, CO. He has served for several years in parish life as both a director of youth and young adult ministry and a director of evangelization and catechesis. His favorite thing to do is hike in the mountains with his wife and daughter, Eva.

This month we’re talking about vocations and what better way than to start than to identify all the mistakes we make during our discernment process. Tim had a very honest post about his own journey of discernment.

And I invited him to share about his own experience with discernment. Tim explains about

-The process of overthinking our vocations

-The need to work with a spiritual director

-How much time one must spend discerning

-Why prayer is important for discernment?

He also explains many other mistakes commonly and how it causes so much anxiety and anguish in the discerning Christian. I hope those who are currently discerning will find it useful.

Vocation is something I discuss in my own book, “Ten Reminders for the Single Christian Woman.” If you’re considering religious life I highly recommend Discerning Religious life by Sr. Clare Matthiass, CFR. 

Discerning Religious Life by Sr. Clare Matthiass

If you want to reach out to Tim Glemkowski, you can find him at his website. He’d be happy to connect with people struggling with the call God has placed on their lives. You can write to him: tim@laltocatholic.com and he’d be happy to respond.

We hope you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to check out our podcast on other mystical saints like Marriage Preparation and Learning about the struggles of Christian Life from St. Augustine. If you enjoyed this podcast, like us, leave us a comment and share our episodes on social media with those who may benefit from it.

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Check out my Facebook Page

I’ve begun to get the hang of Facebook and was quite keen on a Facebook Page especially for my book.  It’s taken me some time, but I hope to hear from readers who are active on the site.

Facebook page for Pamela Q. Fernandes

Since I’m just getting started, it’s all spanking new. I’m doing a giveaway of 10 copies of my book for FREE on Facebook and a tote bag for one lucky winner.  There’ll be fun stuff happening there, polls, contests and other fun stuff.

Why a Facebook Page?

Well my website has plenty going on with the podcasts and the medical stuff. Some of my readers aren’t interested in all of it, so the Facebook Page is for all the book information. My trailers, my new releases, writing news, is going to go there. I hope to get an update feed on the website once I figure it out.  

25 John Bosco and the Heart of the Youth

Whatever you do, think of the Glory of God as your main goal. St John Bosco

The Heart of the Youth

Charles Johnston is a father and husband in Phoenix, Arizona. His conversion journey has taken years, as he felt God pulling him toward His Church but he resisted until he couldn’t take it anymore. He gave in and fell in love with His Church.  He blogs for ‘Now that I’m catholic.wordpress.com’. In this episode, I talk to Charles, about the Apostle Peter, his ministry and transformation from a fisherman to fisher of men.

 

In this episode, Pamela talks to Charles about St. John Bosco.

He speaks about:

-How Don Bosco’s own brush with poverty led to his ministry for the young?

-How vocations do start young

– The service of John Bosco to the youth ministry

Don Bosco is considered the “Friend of the Youth.” His lifelong mission was to serve the poor youth. He started the Salesian society whose main focus today is education and training the youth from schools technical schools, to colleges, orphanages and technical schools, the Salesian community works tirelessly for the young.

If you’re a parent whose  considering schools please look closely at a Salesian school as they begin faith formation early. If you want to read more about John Bosco,  here’s a book that you might enjoy.

We hope you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to check out our podcast on other mystical saints like St Padre Pio and St. Catherine of Siena. If you enjoyed this podcast, like us, leave us a comment and share our episodes on social media with those who may benefit from it.

We are on iheartradio, Stitcher, Itunes, and tunein.com.

We’d love to hear from you. Please rate us so that our podcast reaches out to the people who need to hear it.


Become a Patron!

 

 

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Q 23 HOW GDPR WILL AFFECT DOCTORS?

I had a few questions on the GDPR and thought I’ll add my two bits.

GDPR & Medicine

So this my way of explaining how GDPR will affect you. First this isn’t something new. The GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION was signed in April 2016. They allowed the whole world two years to prepare for this law that comes into effect on 25th May. If you’re just waking up to the party, you’re way behind.

Does it Apply to Me if I Practice in Timbuktu?

This law is to protect the data of every European no matter where he lives. That means that if you’re seeing a European patient, even if you’re living in the Himalayas, this law will apply to your practice and to your business/pharmacy or whatever business you’re running. Its not Euro-centric, its European-centric.

What’s the difference between the old and new law?

The old Data Protection Directive 95/46/ec law wasn’t enough to protect citizens data. We saw how major websites and social media companies were manipulating and selling the data. They’ve also come under hefty fines for this.

In the past many companies failed to warn their customers that data breaches had occurred and there was no law to protect citizens if a breach happened. Now with GDPR, the onus is on the companies to protect data and do everything they can to safeguard the data they collect.

Certain clinical trials and studies are exempt but overall every business that is collecting personal information, such as age, race, ethnicity, and biographical information must now comply with the law. Also if you employ people, and collect their data as part of your recruitment process, this law will apply.

No Implied Consent

Now every time you meet with a patient and collect data you may have to get consent. “These calls are being recorded for training purposes” doesn’t mean consent. If you’re midway talking to a patient on a telehealth portal and they ask you to stop recording their data, you may have to comply.  Consent is now a big deal and has to be expressed rather than implied.

Patients have to be informed about breaches

Depending on the kind of breach, patients have to be notified about any data breach either immediately or within 72 hours of a breach.

Data Storage Encryption

This will apply if you run your own business, but all data henceforth will have to be encrypted. No data can be accessed by a single sign in. Either through tokenization or additional digital keys, data now cannot be matched to an individual. This you’re going to have to invest in if you have your business.

Hiring Data Protection Officers

In case of data issues, you must have a data protection officer who will sort it for you and also plan out your GDPR plan or strategy. This is an essential step in the regulation and companies are facing a shortage to hire these officers.

Data Portability

Patients can request their data be transferred to another company or hospital or practice. You can’t say no. You need to be able to transfer their data securely.

Right to  Access

Patients have the right to ask for the data that you have about them and they have the right to inquire about the purpose for which you’re holding on to the data and what you’re using it for.

These are just some of the steps in GDPR. There are many articles and provisions. I picked the ones that seem to be the most important as far as I’ve read.

What happens if you don’t comply with GDPR? 

You get a hefty penalty to the tune of 2% of the annual turnover or 20 million. Yup they are big administrative fines, which is why, businesses have been racing the clock to get ready this week.

While this regulation may seem frivolous and expensive, I honestly applaud the European Union for protecting data of their citizens and who has access to it. In taking this step, global businesses will be more careful while they have our data and who knows other countries may also follow suit.

Are you ready for GDPR? What steps has your hospital taken to get ready? We’d love to know.

 

 

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Free Cookbook For My Early Readers

This week I’m going to share my cookbook based on my latest book that’s coming out in June.

Yes. I’m getting ready for the release of my romantic heist THE MILANESE STARS with Touchpoint Press. And I’ve been hard at work creating all the pre-release materials.

Along with jewelry, the one thing that stands out in this book is food. So I thought why not share some of the Italian recipes from the manuscript in a cookbook.

Vita’s Cookbook

This cookbook features 7 recipes that include Vita’s chicken pecorino, Alice’s favorite almond pastry and Samuel’s not so favorite salted caramel macaroon.

And you don’t have to pay for it. It’s free. If you’re interested in Italian recipes then fill in this Google form. Along with an Advance Reader Copy of my book THE MILANESE STARS, I’ll send you this cookbook with Vita’s Italian cafe recipes for FREE! Or you can email me at contact@pamelaqfernandes.com.

I’ve spent some time creating this cookbook and even learned a few recipes from my wonderful friend and theater actress, Eleonora Micali. I actually picked up lots of simple Italian tips and culinary advice from her. She introduced me to the pleasure of eating fresh buffalo mozzarella.

Who would have thought that the stuff you get in the freezer section is just old cheese where the protein’s hardened. I can’t tell you how flavorful fresh mozzarella tastes. And we ate it on bread with a drizzle of olive oil. I never eat like that, because I love flavor and spice. But this was just something else. Now I can’t even think of going to frozen cheese! 

24 Teaching Children Faith by Christian Example

“When you’re on an airplane, they say if you’re cabin pressure drops, make sure you put on you’re own oxygen mask, before you help others. I think if we ourselves as parents have a living and active faith, that we’re spending time, growing and developing our own faith walk is going to speak so much louder than any words we might say to our children- Lorelei Savaryn

Teaching Children about our Faith

Lorelei is a passionate Catholic, mom, and wife.. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing, and an M.A. in Education. She loves writing, singing (mostly in church, sometimes at karaoke), reading, fair trade chocolate, and spending time with her family. She was a guest on EWTN’s The Journey Home on December 18, 2017, and Lorelei currently blogs at This Catholic Family.

Lorelei Savaryn

I read Lorelei’s tips on parenting on CatholicStand.com and liked how she described her struggles and solutions about raising children in the faith. I reached out to her and she breezed through the podcast.

In this episode, I talk to Lorelei Savaryn about teaching children about Christianity by Christian example.

She tells us:

-Why it’s important to teach kids about our faith?

-How we need to know our faith before we teach our kids?

-How to answer tough questions from our children?

Lorelei also mentions the book, the Theology of the body and I thought I should include it here since its a wonderful resource for the family.

Growing up my own parents led by example. I watched my father pray the novena to Our lady of Perpetual Succour, every Wednesday and my mother pray in the morning, 3 pm and at night. My parents sat us down everyday for the daily rosary and personal prayer, even though we gave them a lot of grief over it.

Even with my dad gone, we still refrain from meat on Wednesday as its novena day and say the rosary as a family. Though sometimes I prefer to skip the litany (hehe) but its gotten ingrained into us.

Lorelei is right when she says its example that teaches us. My own parents strongly witnessed Jesus and that’s where my roots in faith were built.

We hope you enjoyed this podcast. Check out our podcast on  Marriage and Raising Children of Character. If you enjoyed this podcast, like us, leave us a comment and share our episodes on social media with those who may benefit from it.

We are on iheartradio, Stitcher, Itunes, and tunein.com.

We’d love to hear from you. Please rate us so that our podcast reaches out to the people who need to hear it.

 

 

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