Simon Duringer's Blog, page 17
April 2, 2015
PTSD
It’s been three days since I’ve slept and to add to my misery my doctor told me today to drink three bottles of wine a day for the next week….oh and take the prescribed diazepam. Is it just me or does that sound crazy?
So, today I did… I’m not drunk… why not. I’m back to crying and all those people who jumped from buildings and bridges are haunting me. Why did you do it? Jesus what can be so bad, were you cowards or do you think you were brave. I wish you were alive to tell me. Over a decade of watching people kill themselves. Is it any wonder I can’t sleep…
Swallow diving off a building with the best view in Wales, what was going through your head… I saw you pace the building, climb out of the window. why do you haunt me? I dont even know your name…
Rainbow bridge and the gal that left you in Blackpool, is that my fault? Just fuck off out of my dreams… I don’t know you, couldn’t save you. Yes I watched you jump but was that my fault. you jumped, that was your decision.
So many murders, get out of my head, I didn’t murder you, but it was awful, tragic, I helped the police track your killers, please leave me alone I just want to sleep…
Please…
March 27, 2015
Dakota Franklin
So, whom is my next guest? Let’s find out…
http://simonduringer.com/latest-news/...
March 24, 2015
Dakota Franklin
My next guest on Simon’s 10 Q I has led an incredible life. Born into a family of thoroughbred engineers her career was probably predestined and she did indeed follow in the footsteps of her predecessors. A marriage, a divorce and several award winning books later, she still acts as consultant to engineering companies around the globe. Although now she does this with teenage daughter in tow, whom already speaks several languages and appears convinced that she will break from the mould and make a life outside of engineering.
So, whom is my next guest? Let’s find out…
Of course I am speaking of the beautiful Dakota Franklin, author of the efestival of words winning series of 2012; Ruthless to win.
By the time Dakota was ten she could swear fluently in every European language, and carry on a conversation in all the major ones. A high performer from a young age, was it therefore unpredictable that she would go on to work on cutting edge, high performing, vehicles throughout adulthood?
She attended college at Stanford and MIT, and further postgraduate studies in France, Germany and Italy. During her engineering career she has worked on jet engines for Rolls-Royce, for Ford and Holden before joining her father and grandfather in the family consulting business.
Dakota’s first marriage ended in divorce, which in turn may have been the reason for her picking up the quill back in 1996. She had a few rewrites before hitting the golden formula and releasing the award winning Ruthless to Win series. She also ended up hospitalized for several months, following a testing accident, which held her entry into professional writing back for several months longer. She is a fighter, a battler, just the kind of individual we love to see here on Simon’s 10 Q Interviews. Since becoming a writer Dakota has written no less than eleven books which are available on iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords and Barnes and Noble. She still writes and continues to work as a consultant from her pad shared with her husband and teenage daughter in Switzerland.
I can’t wait to see what Dakota makes of our… *ahem*… rather different questioning technique here on Simons 10 Q I. But one thing I can be sure of is that she will give as good as she takes, this sure is going to be one interview to come back for as this cookie ain’t of the crumbling variety!
So, bookmark this page and in the meantime feel free to visit Dakota’s website where you can find links to the several websites that offer up her books for download. Here is the link to Dakota’s own website to help you on your way! See you all soon…
Dakota Franklin’s Website: Dakota Franklin
Simon Duringer is both a Goodreads Indie author and Independent Interviewer. Simon’s most recent book is The Word: The Best of Simon’s 10Q Interviews
, featuring 28 equally interesting and exciting interviews, with some great names in the literary trade from both sides of the fence (Indie and Traditionally Published). It is available on Kindle
, Prime (#Free) and Paperback
. You can also buy The Word Volume II which is now available on Kindle using the following link – The Word Volume II Simon Duringer
.
Links to Simon’s Amazon Author Page are as follows;
UK Link – Simon Duringer Author Page
US Link – Simon Duringer Author Page
Simons 10 Q Interviews was a Finalist in the U.K. Blogging Awards 2014.
If you enjoy Simon’s 10 Q Interviews why not check out some of the previous interviewees from The Word – Volume 1. Volume 2
is also now available on Kindle from amazon.
March 20, 2015
AuthorsDB Book Cover Contest 2015
Perry McCarthy has now updated, recovered and added some content to his autobiography;
Flat Out Flat Broke: The Original Stig
The cover has gone down very well indeed and has been nominated for the Best Cover Award 2015 on AuthorsDB.
I personally love the cover and fell over laughing whilst reading the book; Flat Out Flat Broke.
Perry probably had more business on a stage making people laugh than in a motorcar on a race track. That said he succeeded in becoming Formula Ford Champion, a Formula 1 race driver and The Original Stig on BBC's Top Gear program. Now he is truly in his element as an after dinner speaker, a highly entertaining one at that!
But the fact of the matter is, his book has, in my opinion, an astonishingly striking cover (for which Tim Booth Photography can take a lot of the credit).
Whether or not you like a goodread, a laugh, in some places potentially a tear, largely due to Perry's consistent run of misfortune during his racing career, I would ask you to consider taking a look at his book cover and if you feel it is worthy of recognition to follow the link below and take a moment to vote for Flat Out Flat Broke as the best cover for 2015...
http://authorsdb.com/2015-cover-conte...
If you want to know more about Perry McCarthy, The Original Stig there is now a Facebook page set up to celebrate his career. Drop by and give it a like to get the updates... Here's the link;
https://www.facebook.com/flatoutflatb...
Rene Schultz comes to Room 42
The one and only Reneeee Schultz! Catch the preview NOW!
http://simonduringer.com/latest-news/...
Rene Schultz (Author)
My next victim… ermmm… interviewee, is a veteran of the website, a former Barnes and Noble Bestselling author with her debut book, but soon afterwards she went Indie… and has never looked back!
Just released is; If I could…. by…. any takers? Let’s find out!
She was one of the first to step forward and allow me the honour of interviewing her after the release of her first offering, Bishop Street
, she went on to write the novels; Done Deal
, Broken Image
and House of Stone
. Behind the scenes she has also been accumulating a number of screenplays. However, I have invited this warm hearted lady to Room 42 today to discuss her new novel.
Of course I am talking about the wonderful Rene Schultz, author and playwright…
These days Rene prefers small community living rather than being the focus of attention in the ritz and glitz of the city. She is divorced and living to the North of Los Angeles where she raised her two sons. Time permitting, and given the number of books published in the last 18 months there can’t be much of it, she enjoys to socialise with friends over a decent glass of wine!
Rene’s speciality are those stories that showcase today’s contemporary lifestyles e.g. rags to riches, Robin Hood
style heroines and characters that survive against overwhelming odds. It’s the common denominator within all her books…
Rene is now launching her fifth novel in 18 months; If I Could…
Not only do we want to know about the book, but also we want to, as per our own common denominator, get inside the head of the wonderful Rene Schultz! We know some already as Rene has appeared on Simon’s 10 Q Interviews and also engaged with me in a Skype interview in the not so distant past…
But what will she make of the new dimensional extra within Room 42? what will she hope to find out there in the big unknown? Several veteran Simon’s 10 Q Interviewees have already taken the plunge and come out smiling… Jake Needham, Doran Ingrham and Jack Hayes amongst them. But now it’s the turn of the ladies! We have Laura Taylor and Rene Schultz already fired up and ready to go…
So, how will Rene tease us to lure us to her Amazon page and what information can we prise from her in advance about the latest offering; If I Could…
Well folks, you’re just going to have to return to see how Rene copes with her interview, so bookmark the page and come back soon to read about Rene Schultz as she enters Room 42!
Before you leave why not get a sneak preview of Rene’s work by visiting her author pages using the links provided below;
For UK Readers: Rene Schultz (Author)
For US Readers: Rene Schultz (Author)
You can also view Rene’s video Teasers…
Simon Duringer is both a Goodreads Indie author and Independent Interviewer. Simon’s most recent book is The Word: The Best of Simon’s 10Q Interviews, featuring 28 equally interesting and exciting interviews, with some great names in the literary trade from both sides of the fence (Indie and Traditionally Published). It is available on Kindle, Prime (#Free) and Paperback. You can also buy The Word Volume II which is now available on Kindle using the following link – The Word Volume II Simon Duringer.
Links to Simon’s Amazon Author Page are as follows;
UK Link – Simon Duringer Author Page
US Link – Simon Duringer Author Page
Simons 10 Q Interviews was a Finalist in the U.K. Blogging Awards 2014.
If you enjoy Simon’s 10 Q Interviews why not check out some of the previous interviewees from The Word – Volume 1. Volume 2 is also now available on Kindle from amazon.
March 18, 2015
ORIGINAL STIG sends shivers of 'Top Fear' through the BBC
The Original Stig, and there can only be one 'ORIGINAL', has made his views clear publicly. True to his friendship he made it known that he supports his friend Jeremy Clarkson and that Top Gear without JC would be like rain without water!
Around 500,000 people who signed the petition to keep JC on Top Gear agree with him...
I wonder if that is precisely why the 'other' guy... you know, the copy... with the apt initials of B.C. showing he's already history, and old history at that, has dissed our TV favourite implying Top Gear would be good without JC?
I support The ORIGINAL STIG, the one who made that iconic figure happen. The man with the personality to carry it off. The man who can seriously handle a car and can also handle people. The man with an incredible sense of humour... Why on earth not? As for the 'other' guy, if it weren't for Perry McCarthy and Jeremy Clarkson in the first place, where would he be today anyway... My message to B.C. can be summed up in three words...
"You ungrateful Git!"
Right, now, rant over... I have more light hearted things to get on with... i.e. introducing the one and only ORIGINAL STIG to Simon's 10 Q Interviews.
So, without further ado...
Today, as Perry McCarthy's autobiography 'Flat Out Flat Broke' sits on the Kindle throne, the number 1 spot, of the motorsport genre in the; US, UK and Australia, Perry McCarthy aka THE ORIGINAL STIG has been busy working out how to respond to Simon's 10 Q Interview.
As always he did not disappoint this interviewer. Pitched wit against wit he came out smiling... If you want a taste of his writing style get across to the website now. I guarantee you won't be disappointed! The Perry McCarthy interview is live NOW!
Please consider sharing this interview using the following pre prepared tweet! Txs.
#RT #STIG races to Simon's 10QI whilst Flat Out Flat Broke takes pole in the UK, USA and Australia http://goo.gl/CWsVL6 #F1 #wkbpromo
March 13, 2015
The Chameleon Collective
http://simonduringer.com/#tcc
The webpage isn't quite complete but we will be posting, news and more about what's happening around Lancashire in the near future.... You will also be able to read more about Adam, if I can ever drag him away from his studio to write out a Bio for us! smile emoticon
March 12, 2015
Featured Writers…. For Readers
Amazing isn’t it… I get 5 minutes spare and whilst my first thought is *Yayyyy* let’s get writing, it is swiftly followed by ermmm… ‘the block’.
But, still with a yearning to write (it’s like a creative disease) and as I’ve just passed a new benchmark of reaching 700,000+ webhits I begin to reminisce. So, I thought I’d write about a few ‘special’ friends of the website and hopefully that dark veil, the block, may become lifted as a result… So, all four of those I will mention have featured on Simon’s 10QI or something similar. All have causes or books I believe should be read by book lovers and readers across the globe. All I consider to be noble and trustworthy and I would like to think they believe the same about me…
The newest of these four friends is Marianne Azizi, whose autobiography made my veins seize in terror. Her sheer determination in attempting to fight governments and lobby the United Nations to get Israeli family laws changed. Laws that allow the government to basically kidnap families. Laws that held her husband hostage in Israel until he eventually lost his mind and she her health following an eight year battle to get her husband back.
The title of Marianne Azizi’s book; Sour Milk and Stolen Honey: One woman’s fight to save her husband held hostage by Israel’s brutal family laws
is a biblical play on words. As things over in Israel allegedly aren’t as Sweet as they may seem to us in the West. People write books for various reasons. Of course there is the element of financial reward, but Marianne has followed through, recovered from the ordeal she writes about and now assists others facing the same plight. Indeed she has recently been assisting pregnant Canadian citizen Hana Gan who is currently trapped by a No Exit Order slapped on her by the state and requested by her very own family. There are many stories about Hana Gan both in the video and Audio interviews carried out on this very site. I suggest not only do people reading this watch the interviews for themselves, but also read the book, available in both ebook and paperback on Amazon. There are givers and takers in this world and Marianne Azizi is certainly a giver and a very special person. Links and covers to all four of these featured friends books are at the bottom of this post.
The second author is foremost an actress and previously a publishers weekly voted; Best female narrator. I call her Godmother. Of course I am speaking of Josephine Bailey. A stranger and unknown to me until almost 18 months ago. She has a lot answer for! If it hadn’t been for Jo I doubt I would be sat here writing today, is that good or bad… I don’t know? Ha! But she has acted like a mentor to me right from the word go when she became my first ever interviewee. She has stood by me through thick and thin, professionally and personally…
Having worked and done voice overs for the likes of Nickleodeon, Jo put pen to paper and wrote from the heart producing the Novel Hotey
. It is a one shoe fits all type of novel and I doubt there is a reader of any age that, having read Hotey, won’t come away with a connection to the book and/or shed a tear along the way. Hotey, by the way is the name of the lead character, a donkey no less! Josephine Bailey also follows through with her convictions and has made generous donations to a local donkey sanctuary, although modest as she is she may not thank me for sharing that. If readers want a good bedtime story for the kids but something they too can enjoy then Hotey is, but is not limited to, that perfect bedtime read. It saddens me that this has not yet been picked up by Hollywood animators as this would certainly make a great big screen animation.
My third author and friend has somewhat monopolised my Facebook pages in the last few days. My Facebook friends will have a very good idea of who I am talking about; The name Perry McCarthy
in itself may not mean a great deal to readers unless they are Motor Sports fans. However, if I were to tag on that Perry, a former Formula 3 Champion and Formula 1 racing driver went on to assist and act out the antics of a masked character who became a global TV icon, it may just spark off those grey cells. I am of course talking of Perry McCarthy – The Original Stig from the BBC television series Top Gear. These days the series is on prime time in over 200 countries across the globe. If it weren’t for Perry, The Stig may have been called The Gimp and his life probably short lived. However, he has embedded himself within Motor Racing history by being The Original Stig.
Perry has broken a lot of bones throughout his career, lost a lot of friends due to the nature of the sport, and battled relentlessly to achieve his dreams in spite of some major knock backs along the way. His autobiography; Flat Out, Flat Broke in paperback has become ranked high in the Top 20 bestselling Motor Racing books of all time and is soon to be released with a dynamic new cover on Amazon Kindle. I first met Perry as a finalist at the UK National Blogging Awards ceremony in London 2014, I the finalist and little did I know he was a judge. After a brief chat, and not knowing who Perry McCarthy was, I realised this bloke had a similar sense of determination as myself. Only later did I discover my new mate was the icon known as The Original Stig. As with the others, and many more whom I fail to mention in this post, he did not desert me in my day of need and was extremely supportive as I hit more than one troubling period during the last 12 months. This is a positive characteristic I have come to find among many of my newfound friends during the last couple of years and has in many ways taken me by surprise. Having read his autobiography Flat Out, Flat Broke from cover to cover, I might add more than once, I realised that this is no simple autobiography and I have read a few. He outwits some of the best comedians in the business as he drags the reader through his life story. But more than that his story is not only compelling, it’s motivational. It demonstrates how to be a winner, how to react at disappointment (and in Perry’s case it was not always well!) but moreover how to just keep banging away at those walls separating a person from their dreams. Perry McCarthy is a book that everybody should pick up and read. But be sure when one does to set aside enough time to finish it, as it’s difficult to put down again! Perry the individual, as we have witnessed in the past few days across National TV and Media, will stick up for his friends through thick and thin, dare I quote #BringBackClarkson and that is why I chose to write him into this. A true gent, even if he is from Essex!
Finally, a promoter and author. A man who has literally been on the scene with me through thick and thin and visited me in hospital, brought me magazines to read, not racing but so racey I had to bury them deep within my belongings so as not to have my 80 + year old co-patients blow a gasket or send their hearts racing a beat too fast! Originally from my own neck of the woods in Devon, John Winstanley is an adopted Lancastrian of more than two decades.
As we like to say in old English, he’s a damned good egg! Another man with an autobiography, but this time focussing on several years he spent as a music promoter. John wrote the book Unsigned Unscene
in the same way I wrote How do I win on a lottery ? The Top 20 Lotto Systems
. More for a matter of record than to gain book sales. However, in Lancashire his autobiography has become a Waterstone’s bestseller and if distributed further afield could possibly become a National Bestseller. Unsigned Unscene charts the career path of many local musicians. Talented folk who never quite made it to the big time. There are a few of them in there that did get signed eventually, but the majority remain as local idols, legends within their own living rooms, but not much further afield. John championed these individuals for several years and became a highly respected promoter in the North West of England. He wrote the book not only for new musicians facing the same challenges today, but also for promoters who may encounter difficulties along the way that he did. John Winstanley is another individual who does not know what the word ‘no’ means. But then he rarely comes across the word as he is naturally charismatic. Any reader who enjoys Indie music or is starting off within the music industry would do as well to read this as any individual who wishes to start racing should read Flat Out, Flat Broke by Perry McCarthy. One day I should introduce them as whilst they have different ways of going about things they share the same end game i.e. To achieve what they set out to achieve. There are thinkers who dream and there are doers that achieve the dream and John, Perry, Jo and Marianne all fall into the ‘Doers’ category and I am proud to call them all friends.
So, readers whilst I admit to having these individuals on my list of ‘people not to lose contact with’, I do so for one reason alone. I have huge respect for each of them, which has been gained by reading their books and getting to know each of them personally. I highly recommend you all do the same and whilst they may be unable to reach out to you all individually, their words do the talking. Below is a short gallery of both authors and covers (Click on any thumbnail below to enter full sized slide gallery) and links to each of their Amazon pages. If you have got this far then I thank you for being patient with me. It’s actually too late for me to do my own writing now, but I feel the thirst has been quenched to tap away at Mrs QWERTY, my partner in crime! Goodnight.
You can Access the Individual Books spoken about using the following links:
Marianne Azizi;
UK Readers: Sour Milk and Stolen Honey
US Readers: Sour Milk and Stolen Honey
Josephine Bailey;
UK Readers: Hotey
US Readers: Hotey
Perry McCarthy;
UK Readers: Flat Out, Flat Broke
US Readers: Flat Out Flat Broke
John Winstanley;
UK Readers: Unsigned Unscene
US Readers: Unsigned Unscene
Simon Duringer;
UK Readers: Stray Bullet
US Readers: Stray Bullet
March 9, 2015
A double interview with THE STIG
Not only is this icon of motor racing undergoing the challenge of Simons 10 Q Interviews, but he also agreed to a radio interview with the very same interviewer....
THE STIG is up for a double whammy... First see the Preview of his Simons 10QI here: http://goo.gl/5kFtlK
Then tune in to Chorley FM (102.8 FM) this Saturday morning between 8-9am (UK time) to hear his radio interview with award winning blogger Simon Duringer. They will discuss the upcoming 2015 Formula 1 Motor Racing Season and Perry McCarthy THE ORIGINAL STIG, will share his tips on who will win the 2015 Driver and Constructor Championship and much more....
Give it up for this global icon of the original series of BBC's Top Gear!
DON'T MISS IT!
