Kathleen Pooler's Blog, page 33

7 Tips to Make Obtaining Book Reviews as Painless as Possible by James Rose

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler with James Rose/@instntpublisher

Photo Credit: adventishistory.org

I’m pleased to finish off  this last week of 2015 with two posts relevant to writers of all genres. Although there is a debate among writers about the true value and validity of book reviews, many writers are pleased to have readers interested enough in their story to leave feedback.  Please join me in welcoming James Rose from Instant Publishers who offers some suggestions on obtaining book reviews. James will return on Thursday with another post for writers.

Welcome, James!

James Rose, writer for Instant Publishers.com

7 Tips to Make Obtaining Book Reviews as Painless as Possible

Obtaining reviews for your book is unfortunately a must. One would hope that the shopper would solely browse based on a combination of factors such as story synopsis, quality book cover design, author reputation, price, etc. However, it has been shown that consumers, whether consciously or subconsciously put heavy weight on book reviews. This is especially true in online marketplaces like Amazon of which they have admitted, does affect the ranking algorithm. Getting good reviews for your book is not as difficult as it may seem but will take some legwork.

Utilize beta readers. You’ve likely already found some at this point and have worked closely with them on structural issues. Go ahead and ask them for a review regarding the overall quality of the story. They’ve obviously already read the book so why not get a review?
Ask your blog readers for reviews. They’re probably already fans so the odds of a good review increase. You can offer incentives like a free copy of your next book in exchange for a review of the current book. Just make it clear on every platform where your fans might engage with you that you would very much appreciate a review.
Seek out reviews from book bloggers. Many of them are already swamped but if you engage them on their blog and on social media for a while prior, they may be willing to move you to the front of the line. Bloggers that are not as popular will likely have more time though, and because part of your goal is not just quality but quantity, try to get as many as you can.
Ask for reviews on the last page of your book. Just like video games back in the day had a “Thank You for Playing” message, give your book a “Thank You for Reading” message and follow with a request for an honest review.
Run giveaway promotions. These can be in the form of an announcement that you will be giving away a limited number of free review copies or a contest with multiple winners. Run these promotions for one day to one week on social media and your own website. Be sure to advertise these free copies ahead of time. Include a stipulation that you expect a review in exchange for the free copy. Not all will leave one but most will. Kindle Direct Publishing has a one week free book promotional program with the purpose of getting your eBook in front of more eyes. This will allow you to get more reviews for your eBook. You could also give away free copies on popular reader communities such as Goodreads.com and Librarything.com.
Pay for reviews on professional review sites. The more scrupulous among these websites will only give your book an honest review so paying for reviews in this manner should not be considered a shady practice. However, I have spoken with many authors who refuse to pay for reviews. This will be a personal decision. You may hear other authors complain about the poor cost to value ratio but this is not necessarily true. You can get a professional review from highly respected names at prices ranging from $150 to $400. Get four or five of these and put them on the actual book, in prominent positions on your blog and anywhere else you can. This kind of vouching can have a positive effect on sales.
Seek out reviewers directly on Amazon. This is the tried and true method used regularly by authors. Find reviewers that have reviewed books similar to yours and send them a request. If they accept, send them a free copy of your book. This will take some repetition as probably only a third of the people you contact will agree or even respond.

You may hear some talk that you need to get Amazon reviews from the top reviewers. While those would be great if you can get them, it is not a necessity. Those top Amazon reviewers are highly backlogged. Most shoppers could care less about reviews for a reviewer. They look at how many reviews your book has and what percentage of those reviews are favorable. Having a review from a top reviewer may have a minor effect on the ranking algorithm so definitely go for it, but don’t sweat it if you can’t get any.

Some key factors to remember:

Go after as many reviews as you can because not all contacts will respond or read your book.
Make sure you’re seeking reviews from the appropriate demographic. Don’t give your thriller to romance fans.
Keep everything organized in a spreadsheet. You’re going to have a lot of names, emails and locations of which to keep track.
Listen to the feedback. If you are getting consistent bad reviews, maybe your book is not ready for launch.

Most importantly, don’t give up. Writing is enjoyable but marketing for most people is drudgery at its finest.

***

James A. Rose is a writer for InstantPublisher.com , a full service self-publishing company that specializes in transforming author dreams into reality. We have been providing exceptional and affordable service to writers for the past 15 years. No matter what type of book you want to create, Instant Publisher will be with you every step of the way to ensure the process is efficient and painless. We’re not happy until you’re happy.

Facebook.com/InstantPublisher

Twitter.com/instntpublisher

***

Thank you James for offering a comprehensive overview of how to obtain book reviews. Most writers are happy to focus on writing but reviews can help with discoverability and can get our books into the hands of more readers. I appreciate these practical tips.

***

How about you? How do you feel about book reviews? Do you think they increase sales? Do you rely on book reviews when deciding about purchasing a book? Do you have any tips to add?

 

We’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~

 

This Week:

Thursday, 12/31/15: 

“Make Time for Writing When Time is Writing You Off by James Rose”

 

Story Strand Series #4: Brought to My Knees, Finding Hope Through Faith

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

“My faith is stronger than my fear.” My mantra during tough times.

Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons. “Rainbow”

Welcome to the fourth and final installment of The Story Strand Series, where I explore a theme in my W-I-P memoir (yet to be titled). This is the strand that ties it all together…how my faith guides me to hope.

As a “cradle Catholic”, I was born into and brought up with the traditions and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic faith. I have, by conscious choice and deepening desire, remained true to these beliefs and teachings, except for a brief period in my twenties when I questioned and even rejected them.

 

As is often the case, my faith did not deepen until I had to face several life-altering as well as life–threatening events. It was then that my religion became my faith and my spirituality, the source of comfort and meaning in my life. Gradually.

Therein lies the story.

Single–parenting after two divorces from abusive marriages, a cancer diagnosis and a son who spirals into substance abuse in his teens are the backdrop for the faith that will grow and guide me through the storms.

Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons

In my first memoir, Ever Faithful to His Lead: My Journey Away From Emotional Abuse, I find my voice but I remain a neophyte in my faith. I awaken to God’s presence in my life, but it is fresh and new and I’m not entirely sure what to do with it…

until I am brought to my knees, simultaneously battling a cancer diagnosis and the addiction of my son to alcohol.

Brought to My Knees,1998

Bald and bloated from Prednisone, I am the Pillsbury Dough boy lumbering through the hospital hallways, clinging to my IV pole and dreaming of better days. The lymphoma has progressed after six months of outpatient treatment and I’m back for another blast of inpatient chemotherapy. Foremost in my mind is Brian, my twenty-two-year–old son who languishes in a rundown apartment on the other side of town. Lost. Impulsive. Addicted. His frantic phone calls leave me feeling depleted and torn.

  “Mom, I need rent money,” he says in urgent, pressured tones during a recent phone call and I know in an instant that he has blown his paycheck on alcohol. I also know from countless Al-anon meetings that I cannot hand him the money. Addiction has a hold on my son while cancer has a hold on me.

The cancer seems to pale in comparison to watching my addicted son sink lower. At least I have options for treatment and feel some sense of control, I rationalize. I have no control over his addiction. It is an ugly beast who has invaded our space and stolen my son. I am stripped naked and helplessly flailing at this monster. My weakened body is unable to match the rage in my heart.

 After  returning to my room, my heart burdened with worry, I  sit at the edge of the bed. My mind won’t stop chattering, Will he survive? Will I survive? How am I going to get through this? I cling to the Al-anon saying,” God loves him even more than you do” but it doesn’t take away the pain of waiting and wondering. My heart hangs heavy in my chest as the chemotherapy drips slowly into my bloodstream. 

As my head sinks into the pillow, I only have the energy for a simple prayer, “Dear God watch over us; keep Brian safe.” I close my eyes and choose to believe that it will happen. I have no choice but to surrender and trust.

  And deep inside, as long as my mother’s heart keeps beating, I vow to never, ever give up hope that God will heal my son and me.

 

***

 The simultaneous battle of a life-threatening illness and the terror of loving and letting go of an alcoholic son have forced me to dig deeper to find the treasures of faith within. 

How I end up finding my way through it all will be revealed in my story. I hope you’ll stay tuned.

***

 

How about you? What helps you get through life’s challenges? How do you hang on to hope during the tough times?

 

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave your comments below~

 ***

From our family to yours, wishing you many blessings of the season, however you celebrate it. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza!

Wayne, Kathy and Grands. We finally got our girl! L-R: Emma Grace, Ethan Wyatt, Jacob, Adam, Ethan Thomas, Carter, Kevin and Brendan.

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENT: Congratulations, Emily. You are the winner of Christine Grote’s memoir, Where Memories Meet:Reclaiming My Father After Alzheimer’s!

 This Week:

December 2015 Newsletter (a week early): “‘Tis the Season”

If you are interested in receiving my monthly newsletter on updates, memoir musings and Max Moments, please check out the right side bar for the email sign-up. I’d love to have you join us!

Next Week:  

Monday, 12/28/15:

 “8 Tips to Make Obtaining Book Reviews as Painless as Possible by James Rose”

 

Thursday, 12/31/15:

 “Make Time For Writing When Time is Writing You Off by James Rose”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Face of Alzheimer’s: Where Memories Meet by Memoir Author Christine Grote

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler with Christine Grote/@cmsmith57

 

“I think I am doing okay with Dad fading away, but the fact that he’s still here and can respond is huge. If that goes away, it really will be much harder. We have still more to lose.” – Memoir Author Christine Grote

 

As a health care provider with years of experience, I have witnessed from afar how devastating a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s can be on families. The families’ grief over the loss of loved ones’ abilities to connect in meaningful ways trumps any physical ailment. It’s as if the person disappears but the body remains. In sharing her story of her father’s decline from Alzheimer’s in her new memoir, Where Memories Meet: Reclaiming My Father After Alzheimer’s, Christine Grote offers us all a vivid and gripping look at the personal toll the disease has on loved ones that no textbook can offer, an insider’s view of the face of Alzheimer’s.

  I am thrilled to feature Christine in this interview about her new memoir. Christine has been a guest before in this post, “How Memoir Writing Helped Me to Grieve My Loss”,where she shared her memoir, Dancing in Heaven, a poignant tribute to her sister Annie and a window into a family’s life with a severely disabled family member.

 My reviews of Where Memories Meet can be found on Amazon,Goodreads, Shelfari,LibraryThings and Riffle.

 Welcome back, Christine!

Memoir Author Chrsitine Grote

 

The Face of Alzheimer’s: Where Memories Meet

  KP: Christine, it’s a pleasure to have you return to Memoir Writer’s Journey to discuss your new memoir, Where Memories Meet. I am struck by the challenges you have had to face within your family and how you have chosen to share your stories so openly with others. What made you decide to share your stories as memoirs?

 

 CG: Thank you for having me, Kathy. Since the beginning of time, we have shared our stories with others for many reasons. Some are for personal gratification. We may want to be acknowledged for what we have accomplished or survived. We may seek sympathy, forgiveness, or understanding. Others are for the benefit of the listener, or reader. We may want to entertain, warn, educate, or form a bond of understanding. I had a couple of compelling reasons for sharing my stories. One was to help others who have a desire to know or to see, as you put it in this case, ‘The face of Alzheimer’s.’ I wanted to educate readers, who may not have first-hand experience with the disease, about some of the challenges we faced. I also wanted to reach out to those who have had, or are having, experience and let them know they are not alone. I think these two reasons are true for both of my books.

 

  KP: Caring for an elderly parent with Alzheimer’s is one of the most painful and difficult challenges faced by adult children. What would you highlight for others dealing with a similar situation?

 

 GG: The very most important thing is to take care of yourself. Give yourself the breaks you need. Find support. Outside of this, the most important thing, and I think I learned this philosophy of life from living with my severely disabled sister as I wrote about in Dancing in Heaven, is to focus on the positive. Try to focus not so much on what someone cannot do, but rather, what he or she can do. It’s interesting. For those of us who have raised children from infants, we regularly and systematically add to their list of abilities. They smile, creep, hold a toy in their hand, crawl, then walk and so forth. With Alzheimer’s, the list regularly and systematically gets shorter and shorter. So we see it as a loss. If we can focus on what someone can still do, it may help us appreciate what we still have while we have it, even to the very end. I recognized this after my mother died. I wrote, “One thing I do know is that being with Dad is now a comfort instead of a sorrow, even though he can’t walk, can’t talk, and may not always know who I am.” He was still a living, breathing human being. I could see him and hug him. That was something.

 

  KP: The structure of your memoir is very intriguing. The juxtaposition of alternating points-of-view between you and your father is very effective in engaging the reader in the process of his decline and your reaction to it. How did you decide on this structure and why?

 

CG: Dad wanted to tell me his life story. I actually started recording his stories before we knew he had Alzheimer’s. Then the disease started revealing itself, and Dad’s memories started to erode. When Dad got to the point in telling his story where I was an adult, he said, ‘You know the rest of the story.’ So I started thinking about our memories. His and mine. And I realized that there was overlap. I was intrigued by the idea of that place in time where our memories met. When I added that idea to the fact that I did not want the book to end at a sad place, the structure I wanted to use became clear to me. I think I took a risk with moving my storyline backwards in time, but it was a priority for me to leave the story with my dad whole and healthy.

 

  KP: Anyone who has written a memoir knows how daunting it can be revealing intimate details about those we know and love. What was the writing process like for you? What helped you, hindered you in telling your story based upon your truth?

 

 GG: Most of the scenes I wrote about being with Dad or doing an activity with him, I wrote very close to the time that they happened. I think this helped me capture the true emotion of the moments. I wrote and finished the story within a couple of years after Dad and Mom passed. My emotions were still fresh. That was both an aid and a hindrance. It helped me convey the range of strong emotions I was trying to work through, but it was a difficult task and overwhelming at times. I had to take several long breaks, months off, at several points during the process until I was able to face it again. The biggest hindrance in telling my truth, was probably in how I portrayed my mother. She struggled. And there were many bad days because of it. I censured myself and left out the most painful memories of her distress. After she died, I got a new perspective on her situation and came to a more generous, and what I believe to be truthful, understanding of her and what she was enduring. That understanding is still evolving.

 

  KP: What is your main “takeaway” for your readers?

 

 CG: I think you stated it well, although maybe you intended a slightly different interpretation of your words when you called the book, “The face of Alzheimer’s.” I think you meant a close-up, real-life look at the disease’s effect on loved ones. Where Memories Meets delivers that. And that was a main motivation for writing the book. But more important for me, was telling the story of the man behind the disease. I wanted to present the challenges we faced, but I did not want to sensationalize the disease. There was a man with a whole life who suffered from Alzheimer’s during his last years. I wanted the reader to see the man. In effect, I want readers to see each man and woman behind the disease.

 

  KP: Your memoir is very relevant in our society as Alzheimer’s continue to take it’s toll with no cure in sight. Your story helps to increased awareness and provides a template for caregivers who may be faced with caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s. Do you have any specific marketing plans for getting the word out and reaching your target audience?

 

 CG: That’s the crux of the problem, isn’t it? I wish I could explain step-by-step a marketing plan to follow. But the truth is, no. Like many others, I am a writer. But marketer? Not so much. I’m trying to find and contact people who blog about this or a related topic, like yourself, who might help spread the word that this book is available. It’s a slow process, but I believe Where Memories Meet will find its way to the readers who will appreciate it. I might be naïve, but I have a certain faith about it.

 

  KP: Is there anything else you’d like to share about Alzheimer’s or about writing a memoir?

 

CG: I hope I am alive to see a cure for Alzheimer’s. I think it can be done. If my book helps, even in an incremental way, to bring awareness to the topic, I will feel satisfied.

  ***

Thank you, Christine for sharing your story so openly. I love your focus on reclaiming your father and all the memories that shaped his life. It left me with a sense of hope that no matter how Alzheimer’s affects a loved one, we can still preserve and honor those precious memories. And as you have said, in the end, love is all that matters. I have no doubt your story will touch many in a positive and uplifting way. You have offered a guide for dealing with loved one who has Alzheimer’s. You also have educated us on the disease and its impact on families. My favorite line is: “If we can focus on what someone can still do, it may help us appreciate what we still have while we have it, even to the very end.”

*** 

Author Bio and contact information

Christine M. Grote earned a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Dayton, Ohio, in 1979. After working for several years in product development at a large corporation in Cincinnati, Ohio, she became a full-time homemaker as she raised three sons and a daughter. In 1999, Christine returned to school at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio, earning a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in Written Communications in 2007. Christine lives in Cincinnati with her husband and their dog Arthur. She enjoys gardening, reading, traveling, and writing primarily nonfiction, human-interest stories.

 

Website: http://christinemgrote.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Christine-M-Grote-201286486589190/

Twitter: @cmsmith57

 

Where Memories Meet—Reclaiming my father after Alzheimer’s is available at:

Amazon

Barnes&Noble

 

 

Brief Book Synopsis:

 

“I never thought it would be like this,” Jerry said a couple of years into his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. The last years of his life, Jerry systematically lost his speech, mobility, independence, memories, and his self to this unrelenting disease.

The eldest son of an alcoholic and mentally ill father, a child during the Great Depression and WWII, and an army draftee during the Korean War, Jerry’s stories breathe life into pages from our history books.

Jerry survived his rocky childhood and overcame his humble beginnings to become a successful business owner. Throughout his adult life Jerry remained a loyal family man and the devoted father of five children, one of them a severely disabled daughter, Annie.

In interweaving her father’s story with her own, Christine moves past memories of the heartbreak of Jerry’s last years and, in effect, reclaims her father after Alzheimer’s.

***

How about you? Have you cared for a loved one with Alzheimer’s? If so, do you have any thoughts to add?

Christine has graciously offered to give away a copy of Where Memories Meet: Reclaiming My Father After Alzheimer’s to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing.

We’d love to hear from you . Please leave your comments below~

 

Next Week:

Monday, 12/21/15

“Story Strand Series #4: Brought to My Knees, The Role of Faith in My Life”

December 2015 Newsletter: “‘Tis the Season”

 

 

 

Six Years and Counting: Reflections on Blogging

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

 

Have you ever stepped into a new activity, not having a clue what you were doing but followed your dream anyway and then have it exceed your greatest expectations?

That is exactly what happened to me in 2009 when I decide to start a writer’s blog.

It’s my sixth anniversary of blogging, and as I do on the birthdays of my children, I reflect on the days of their births. New life. New beginnings filled with anticipation and joy.

The Story Behind the Story…

On December 5, 2009, as I sat at the desk of a fellow nurse practitioner whose schedule I was covering, I looked at the framed quote by Goethe in front of me:

“Whatever you can do or dream you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

I sat back in my chair mesmerized by the words that would eventually power me into starting my own blog.

That evening after work, I signed up for a free Word Press.com blog. At the time, I did it because I was told I needed it for my “author platform”. I was just learning the language and I didn’t even know what social media meant nor did I think it would interest me. My focus was delving into the art and craft of writing, specifically memoir. I knew I had a lot to learn and I felt a “fire in my belly” to make it happen. That fire was the story I yearned to tell, though I had no idea about the specific story or how it would be told…the hope I felt driven to share.

The story that had been bubbling inside me for many years seemed to erupt into a tangible flame that day.

What was I thinking?..

I did not think ahead about what it would mean to start something and keep it going. Nor did I think about having to find topics to write about week after week or the time it would take to maintain it. I took a giant leap of faith and hoped it would all turn out.

And, it did, far greater than any expectation I had at the time.

Where it led me…

Six years later, blogging has become a natural part of my life, an extension of who I am and what matters the most. It has brought me soul-nourishing direction, focus and writing inspiration. I have met many amazing people, both writers and non-writers, who have become treasured friends and highly –respected colleagues, many of whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in person and many others I hope to meet someday.

It has been an endlessly gratifying journey filled with all sorts of pleasant surprises—a publisher’s request for a manuscript, feedback on my writing, seeds for more stories from comments, opportunities to guest post on other blogs. But learning from one another is what I love the most.

Blogging Benefits:

For me, it has been a gradual learning process with a steep learning curve and well-worth the effort. I started my blog because I thought I had to but I have continued blogging because I love the community that gathers together and converses about memoir, writing, life stories, hope.

“Come gather around my kitchen table and let’s talk and learn from one another.”

 Because of this, blogging feeds my creativity and my writing process.

It has helped me define my “brand”. Hope has been powerful force in my life—hope through faith—so my brand is built around the fact that hope matters. Hence, my tagline is “ sharing hope one story at a time” through memoir which is why my posts focus on memoir writing, publishing, life stories, hope….

A brand has to come from within…consistent blogging has helped me to find my authentic voice.

  How Blogging Feeds the Writing Process…

Helps you honor your passion to write and connect with others …as long as you show up.

It involves researching topics which in turn helps you learn about the craft of writing.

Helps you deal with your inner critic. Writing and blogging are games of endurance and require persistence and practice. The more you write, the more confident you become. You are stretching your writing muscles.

Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint.

 

Blogging helps you showcase your writing and enables you to get constructive feedback from others.

My best advice to anyone who is considering blogging is let it come from a place of passion for your writing…and make sure you are having fun!

  Take your own leap of faith and be yourself.

 I thank all my followers for all you do to inspire and motivate me to keep blogging. You are the reason I started my blog and the reason I will keep blogging!

***

Every year, I do an annual survey via Survey Monkey to hear your specific thoughts on what’s working and what needs work. I am always open to how I can make things better for you and look forward to your feedback as I plan my 2016 calender.

Here’s the link to the brief survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RYWW3NS

Your feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

***

How about you? How has blogging influenced your writing? If you have a blog, what keeps you going? If you are thinking of starting a blog but haven’t yet, what is holding you back?

  I’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~

 

ANNOUNCEMENT:

  Congratulations, Marian Beaman. You are the winner of  Pamela French’s memoir, Life Soup!

  Next Week:

Monday, 12/14/15:

 “The Face of Alzheimer’s: Where Memories Meet by Memoir Author Christine Grote”

Interview with Memoir Author Christine Grote about her new memoir, Where Memories Meet:Reclaiming My Father After Alzheimers. Christine will give away a copy of her memoir to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing.

 

 

 

 

Writing the Truth in Memoir Can Set You Free by Pamela France

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler with Pamela France

 

 

The journey from childhood abuse to healing is unique for everyone. Pamela France’s memoir, Life Soup-A Memoir:Testifying to the Healing Power of Jesus Christ, is a gripping and honest story told from a variety of perspectives– the child, the adult and the current research and intervention techniques. I am very pleased to feature memoirist, Pamela France who will share how writing the truth can set you free. Pamela and I met on my dear friend and colleague, Sherrey Meyer’s, blog. 

My reviews of Life Soup can be found on Amazon, Goodreads, Shelfari, LibraryThing and Riffle.

 

Welcome, Pamela!

Memoirist and Educator Pamela France

Writing the Truth in Memoir Can Set You Free

KP: Your memoir, Life Soup is a painfully honest and detailed account of the far-reaching and devastating consequences of childhood sexual abuse. What made you decide to write your story?

 

PF: I like Maya Angelou’s quote: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story within you.” I worked on my memoir for over seven years and it was more a compulsion than a choice. I needed to heal and writing my story helped me to heal. I find it especially interesting that now that Life Soup has been published for over six months, I am amazed at the peace I have found.

 

KP: You write your story from the point of view of the adult narrator looking back. What made you decide to use this point of view?

 

PF: In my process of disclosure and personal therapy I came to accept the existence of my own inner child; telling my story with her as a protagonist recognized what she went through and validated her existence and survival. Author John Bradshaw is an advocate of championing your inner child.

My inner child truly was my champion. I wanted to give her voice and credit.

 

KP: I found the structure of your memoir to be interesting and varied. You interspersed flashbacks, reflections, current research, scripture readings and how-to lists. How did you decide on this structure to tell your story?

 

PF: Telling my own tragic story was not all I wanted to share. I wanted so much to share the helps I had been given in my own process. Fortunately, I received permissions to add those resources. I have great hope that those resources referred to will lead my readers to seek further knowledge.

Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie, has written:

“A memoir should have some uplifting quality, inspiring or illuminating, and that’s what separates a life story that can influence other people.”

I hoped my book would influence those who read it for the good, uplift and bring hope – sharing my own resources provides the reader the same truths that helped me on my own journey to healing. They brought me through, uplifted me and brought me hope.

 

KP: What is the main takeaway(s) of your memoir; what do you hope your reader will gain by reading it?

 

PF: My sub-title expresses it for me: Testifying of the Healing Power of Jesus Christ.

If but one soul would accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Redeemer from reading my book, great would be my joy!

 

  KP: How do you feel writing your memoir and your truth have set you free? Also, how did you find your truth?

 

PF: There is a song, I Believe in Christ that is one of my favorites. In the third verse we find these lyrics :

I believe in Christ–my Lord, my God!

My feet he plants on gospel sod.

I’ll worship him with all my might;

He is the source of truth and light.

I believe in Christ; he ransoms me.

From Satan’s grasp he sets me free,

And I shall live with joy and love

In his eternal courts above.

A few weeks ago I may have answered the first part of your question differently, but today my answer comes from a recent experience. My husband and I took our first recreational road trip this past month. We traveled 6200 miles pulling a small travel trailer. We traveled from our home in Kanab, Utah to Texas then to Michigan and back to Kanab. We visited family and interesting places, but none as significant for me as the cemetery where my parents and grandparents are buried. I share in my book that I was unable to attend my father’s funeral at his passing in 2012. My husband and I were in Helsinki, Finland serving as missionaries for our church at the time. My eldest son attended in my place.

In the years since then I would often say, somewhat teasingly and somewhat vehemently, to my husband that I wanted to visit the cemetery in Michigan where my father was buried alongside my mother, so I could spit on his grave.

We visited the cemetery on a beautiful sunny day. There were no other mourners in the cemetery that day. As I hunted for my parents gravesite, not knowing exactly where it was located, I became a long walk of contemplation. I finally discovered it under a huge ancient oak tree and as I stood and looked at, bending to clean off the debris from the headstone. I felt overwhelmed by emotion, but not the emotions I thought I would have. Compassion filled my soul and I wept for my father and my mother. I wept without malice or anger. Forgiveness washed over me completely. I spoke to them both and hoped that wherever they were now, better choices were being made. Choices leading to goodness, and love. I felt free of a burden that was not mine to carry. Leaving the cemetery that day, holding my husband’s hand and sharing with him these feelings, I felt a freedom and peace that I never thought would be truly possible.

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Pamela at her father’s grave

I found my truth in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It guides my life daily and though I am an imperfect follower, I strive with all my heart to act on the truths I have learned.

  KP:  Thank you for sharing such a heartwarming and uplifting testimony.

Do you have any memoir writing tips you’d like to share with us? The most challenging aspect of memoir writing?

PF: This final question is difficult, because I believe each person attempting to write their own memoir would have a different answer. The challenge for me was not in the writing, but in the organizing what I had written. I belonged to marvelous critique group of fellow aspiring authors who helped me in the process.

Sometimes people who write a memoir have trouble with those in their family that don’t want the story told. My family has been always supportive and encouraging. I know my story has impacted my husband, children, sisters and other relatives, but they remained behind me one hundred percent.

 

KP: Anything else you’ll like to add? 

 

PF: I have kept a journal of my letters sent and received in my self-publishing process. Cards written by some who read my book and found help within its pages are also saved. It contains newspaper clippings from book launches and writing conferences where I have presented. I periodically print my book reviews and place them in my journal. It delights me to look back on the whole process and boosts my sense of confidence in what I have accomplished. I encourage other memoir writers to do the same.

I would like to thank you so very much for having on your blog as a guest and for taking the time to read my book and write your reviews. I thank you for the opportunity you have given me to help me reach out to those who may be suffering and need to know that they are not alone.

 ***

You are most welcome, Pamela. It’s my pleasure to feature you. Thank you for sharing your brave story with us and for encouraging all of us to find our truth through writing. Your faith journey gives us all hope for finding healing and forgiveness in our own lives by facing life’s challenges.

 ***

Author Bio:

Pamela Lynn France is an avid reader and relishes the beauty of words. She enjoys hiking, sewing and swimming. She has been an educator for much of her life, always educating herself along the way. She received her teaching degree at Adrian College in Michigan. She worked for a number of years in Child Protective Service for the State of Michigan. She has worked as the Coordinator of Services at Southern Utah University’s Student Support Services. Obtaining her Master’s Degree from Utah State University, she spent the latter part of her career as an Elementary and Middle School Counselor in the Iron County School System. Pamela lives the retired life in Kanab, Utah with her husband and her little dog Dottie. Mother of six and grandmother of twenty, she finds great joy and loves the challenge and adventure of family. Pamela is a late blooming author. She has completed a seven year project writing her Self-Help/Memoir and having it self-published.

 

Email her at: lifesoupamemoir@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/LifeSoup.AMemoir

 

Brief synopsis of the book:

This is a true story told using the memories of a child—my inner child. It is a story of survival—a love story without romance, but hope. It tells of the age old struggle between good and evil. Jesus Christ has been saving souls throughout human history.

Thankfully He is a part of my story…

 

 

How about you?  Has writing through your pain helped you to find your truth? healing? forgiveness?

Pamela has graciously offered to give away an eBook or paperback copy of her memoir to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing.

We’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~

This Week:

Monday, 11/30/15:

November 2015 Newsletter: “An Attitude of Gratitude”

If you are interested in receiving these monthly newsletters, please use the signup form on the right sidebar. I’d love to have you along!

Next Week:

Monday, 12/07/15:

“Six Years and Counting: Reflections on Blogging”

 

 

 

 

Story Strand Series #3: The View From the Other Side, Nurse as Cancer Patient

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

Cancer is so limited…

It cannot cripple love.

It cannot shatter hope.

It cannot corrode faith.

It cannot eat away peace.

It cannot destroy confidence.

It cannot kill friendship.

It cannot shut out memories.

It cannot silence courage.

It cannot reduce eternal life.

It cannot quench the Spirit.

~~Author unknown

 

Photo Credit: Free Stock Image

The Nurse as Cancer Patient

Welcome to the third installment in my Story Strand Series where I explore one of the themes in my W-I-P memoir…the Nurse as Cancer Patient and the impact of role change for a nurse who has been diagnosed with a life-threatening disease.

 Nurse As Cancer Patient

“You have lymphoma” the ER doctor who had just come on duty said as he sat down by my stretcher, chart in hand and eyes darting from my chart to me.

What he said after that was a blur. My mind was racing through unknown territory to grasp the word. Lymphoma. Hodgkins? I wondered, recalling the gaunt nineteen-year-old patient I had cared for while in nursing school back in the 60s. Did he survive?

“We won’t know what kind you have until we do a lung tap,” he said, “Dr. Patel will be in shortly to examine you and do the tap. Please sign this consent form.”

With that, he walked away to start his shift and I sat on the stretcher trying to grasp my new reality. But I’m the nurse, the one who comforts the other person, I thought. Now what?

It was December 19, six days before Christmas in 1996. Christmas cards had been sent. I was one month into my first job as a family nurse practitioner. I was fifty-years-old.

I had already cried out to God earlier while pacing along side my stretcher, behind closed curtains, asking –begging–for the strength for this battle. After several hours of waiting in silence, I glanced up at the clock, it was 6:45 a.m. I’d better call into work, I thought, and dialed the office number,

“I’ve been diagnosed with lymphoma. I won’t be coming in today or for the foreseeable future.”…

***

I knew I wanted to be a nurse when, in 1959,  at the age of thirteen, I sat in my eighth-grade study hall reading, Anne Snow, Mountain Nurse. I had stared out the window into a sunny March day after finishing a passage and visualized myself doing what Anne was doing. She traveled by horseback into the hill towns of West Virginia ministering to people in their rundown cabins. My heart pounded and I knew without a doubt that I was called to be a nurse.

That dream became a reality in 1967 when I launched a forty-four year career that took me from the bedside to the classroom to the boardroom and back to the bedside. I didn’t ride a horse through any mountains but I experienced a career-long gratification and soul-nurturing satisfaction that can only come from being connected with the work I loved.

I have held hands with dying patients, cried with grieving relatives, held a young mother whose baby girl died in car accident and experienced the pure joy of watching new birth or a family member recover from a serious illness. It has been an honor and privilege to have been there. Encounters with my patients were sacred ground. I loved my patients.

 

Nursing became my best friend, always there no matter what challenges I had to face. My life could be falling apart but I could go to work and concentrate on my patients whose circumstances were often much worse than my own. And my patients were my best teachers, often providing me with solace and peace without even knowing it.

I was less than enthusiastic about relinquishing my nursing role and becoming the patient.

It was a tough transition.

***

Memoir Excerpt from my WIP memoir:

  A Thief in the Night, 1996

We pulled up to St. Clare’s Emergency entrance and I waited as Wayne got a wheelchair. Security escorted me in while he parked the car. Now, I’m the patient. How many times had I wheeled a patient with shortness of breath into a room?

Then the endless list of questions: Are you a smoker? Do you have asthma? When did this start? What brings you here tonight?

No, I don’t smoke and how I wish it was asthma and not the dreaded, unknown diagnosis I sensed I was about to face. I’d not felt right for months, feeling fatigued, and coping with a dry, persistent cough. But I had to finish my nurse practitioner program. The insane summer schedule of traveling to school and clinical sites and working part-time as a nurse in a pediatric unit kept me sufficiently distracted from the ominous symptoms. Allergies, I thought.

Nurses are the worst patients. At least I was. We’re so busy caring for others that we ignore our own symptoms or at least self-diagnose toward a lesser evil. But the shortness of breath became acute that night and I knew I couldn’t deny it any longer. As the nurse wheeled me into the cubicle, I knew my worst fears would be validated, especially after a nebulizer treatment did nothing to relieve my shortness of breath.

After having a chest x-ray, a young doctor with sandy-colored hair and horned-rimmed glasses, came to my bedside, holding the x-ray film in his hand.

“ I have good news and bad news,” he said, asking me in a gentle manner,” which do want to hear first?”

“Give me the good news first.”

“You don’t have a lung tumor” he said, hesitating.

“Go ahead.” I said.

“Your lungs are filled with fluid which explains your shortness of breath,” he said, keeping his calm demeanor.

I pointed to my left sub-clavicular nodes. “I know what this means.” I said, realizing with each passing minute that my worst fears were being confirmed.

He nodded and told me he had arranged for a CT scan of my chest and abdomen to identify the cause of the fluid in my lungs.

***

One of the toughest aspects about being a nurse with a cancer diagnosis was letting go of my role as the caregiver and giving myself permission to let others help me in my time of need. I was so conditioned to being the one who ministered to others.

And cancer didn’t care about the rest of my life. My bills still had to be paid, my current concerns and worries about jobs or family members did not disappear.

Life as I knew it stopped in an instant as I was initially thrust into unfamiliar, uncertain territory waiting for test results and hoping beyond hope that the treatments would be effective.

***

How about you? When we are ill, we face all kinds of role transitions…from being a healthy, capable caretaker of one’s affairs to being dependent upon others for even the simplest needs. How has illness or an unexpected diagnosis affected you? What helped you to cope? 

 

I’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~

 

***

Wishing you and your family abundant Thanksgiving Blessings! 

Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons

ANNOUNCEMENT:  Congratulations, Janet Givens!  Your name was selected at random to receive a free 30-minute meditation phone session with Charlene Jones.

Next Week:

Monday, 11/30/15: “Writing the Truth in Memoir Can Set You Free by Pamela France”

Pamela is the author of Life Soup-A Memoir: Testifying to the Healing Power of Jesus Christ. Pamela has graciously offered to give away a copy of her book to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing.

November 2105 Newsletter: “An Attitude of Gratitude”

If you are interested in receiving my monthly newsletter, please use the sign-up form on the right sidebar. I’d love to have you join!

 

An Easy Guide to Meditation by Charlene Jones

 

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler with Charlene Diane Jones/@charlenejones18

“Before Enlightenment, suffering. After Enlightenment there is suffering but no one suffering.” Gautama Buddha

“If you understood suffering, you would not suffer.” Carl Jung

Photo Credit: Google Images bandarockstar.tripod.com

The recent terrorist attack in Paris serves as a stark reminder of the senseless, horrific tragedies that permeate our world. Barbarism has been around for a long time but we now have instant access via social media to a constant barrage of bad news. The ability to train one’s mind to focus on a specific topic and be present to oneself in the moment when chaos and violence surround us is a skill worth exploring. I am honored to feature author, poet, psychotherapist and life coach Charlene Jones in the post about the basics of meditation. Charlene and I met on The National Association of Memoir Writers Facebook group. Her new book, The Stain: A Book of Reincarnation, Karma and the Relief From Suffering was published on 11.09.15.

 

Welcome, Charlene!

Charlene Jones

An Easy Guide to Meditation

Meditation! It’s everywhere proclaimed as the latest, greatest way to improve brain function while helping you relax.

As a meditator with 45 years of practice, and 35 of teaching meditation, I can testify to both increased relaxation and improved brain function as the outcome of even as little as twenty minutes a day.

Then how? How to meditate follows a very simple understanding which is best kept foremost in your mind: meditation does not stop your mind chatter.

People frequently say, “Oh I tried meditation but I couldn’t stop my mind from going on, chattering, talking…”

The nature of mind is to chatter, to sing, repeat commercials, skim over topics in exactly the way waves appear and disappear on a lake’s surface when the day is fine.

Just little waves, all day and all night. What then is the purpose of meditation?

The purpose of meditation is to increase Awareness. It is Awareness, that most precious of human facilities, that increases both brain function and the ability to achieve and remain calm.

Here’s how meditation works to help improve Awareness:

Start with the same time each day, experimenting to discover if you are a morning or an evening sitter. Evening sitters find meditation slows them down after a long day, easing the way to a deeper sleep. Morning sitters like the calming, but insightful effects of transitioning from sleep into a day time body and mind rhythm.

You will only know which of these you are by trying. If you meditate for a few evenings in a row and find it keeps you awake, then switch. Likewise if you try sitting in the morning and find yourself regaining entry to dream world, change to evening.

Sit for about the same time every time. It’s better to make the commitment to twenty minutes a day and achieve this than to begin with fifteen, move to thirty, feel discouraged and move back to fifteen and so on. You are looking for stability and consistency in your practice before you extend the time, so twenty minutes to start is about right.

Begin your practice always with two or three deep slow breaths, just enough to help you focus and relax.

Whatever meditation practice is yours begin by establishing a moment of awareness of your body. Then allow your mind to rest gently and easily on the object of choice.

Your mind will wander. That is its job, its responsibility, what nature intended for your mind to do. So let it. And when you realize you are wandering, gently bring your mind back to the meditation focus you have chosen.

That’s all.

With practice in Vipassana you will find insights arising. These may not be pleasant as we tend to see the challenges and obstacles in ourselves first. For this reason I encourage beginners to take an object, something you already own that brings you a sense of peace and ease, as your first meditation object. Then watch as your mind wanders, bring it back, it will wander again, bring it back etc.

This is called Shamatha meditation and provides for you the increased calm with which most Western people are best equipped to cope with our fast paced lives.

While Neuroscience has begun studying meditation, what is being extensively examined is Mindfulness Training. Mindfulness does bring an immediate sense of relaxation, as muscles, sinews, tissues follow the increasingly elastic state of Mind toward deeper and deeper presence.

What Neuroscience has not yet begun to study deeply is the Tibetan Meditation Practice of Vajrayana Tantra.

Aligned with the mystic side of Tibetan Buddhism, Vajrayana means “Diamond Path or Vehicle” and refers to the sudden eruption of results that increase cognitive ability and rouse the system from relaxation. Yes, this is the opposite of the results shown by Mindfulness.

These two polar extremes, deepening relaxation and increasing arousal, both rise from the capacity of our minds to focus and grow in Awareness.

Awareness, knowing when to relax and when to gear up for example, allows us to flow more readily and eagerly with each and every day.

***

Thank you Charlene for sharing and enlightening us about the various forms of meditation techniques that have the capacity to help us “flow more readily and eagerly with each and every day.” Any time or way we can distract ourselves from the chaos that surrounds us and be present in the moment is a bonus. Prayer is my form of meditation but I appreciate learning about other methods.

 

***

Book Synopsis:

Three women, their lives bound by a single, horrifying event, replay madness, betrayal, brutality, and loss until one of them finds a way to clear them all from the karmic suffering of The Stain.

Amazon link

Author Bio:

Charlene Diane Jones M.Ed/M.A has published poetry in many magazines including Prairie Schooner, Canadian Women’s Studies, Quills and many more. She co-authored two books of poetry, Uncritical Mass in Consort (out of print) and Bliss Pig and Other Poems with her performance partner Linda Stitt.

Out of her over forty five years of meditation in Tibetan Vajrayana tradition she wrote about Karma and Reincarnation in her novel The Stain.

Her non-fiction book Medicine Buddha/Medicine Mind verges on being released before Christmas 2015. In it Jones explores the seam between the much hailed Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice called Medicine Buddha and Neuroscience. Medicine Buddha/Medicine Mind is available in podcast on iTunes under Soulsciences Charlene Diane Jones.

Ms. Jones hosts and produces her own radio show called Off the Top where she often interviews other writers such as Eva Stachniak, Massimo Marino, Apryl Pooley and Kathy Pooler.

She is about to begin structuring her memoir, called My Impossible Life.

When she is not involved in these activities she uses her understanding of dreams to help people in her psychotherapy practice, enjoys her life mate, and dotes on her two granddaughters.

I hope you’ll feel free to contact me at charlenej@rogers.com

take a look at my website

https://www.soulsciences.net

I’m on fb at facebook charlene.jones.1042

twitter@charlenejones18

Tumblr charlenejones.tumblr.com

StumbleUpon charlenej3

LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com/pub/charlene-jones/46/640/658

How about you? How do you find calm in the midst of chaos?

Charlene has graciously offered a 30 -minute phone consult on meditation to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing.

We’d love to hear what works for you or what questions you may have about meditative practices. Please leave your comments below~

Next Week:

Monday, 11/23/15: “Story Strand Series #3: A View From the Other Side, The Nurse as Patient”

 

 

 

 

 

Mom, Hope and Miracles: A Memoir Moment

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

 

Mom, Hope and Miracles

When I featured Lisa Goich and her memoir, 14 Days: A Mother, A Daughter, A Two-Week Goodbye, about her mother’s final days in this post on November 2, I was in the throes of dealing with my own mother’s sudden, terminal illness. Lisa’s message of celebrating life was foremost in my mind. I felt certain I was traveling the same path and was consoled by her story.

Since I shared my grief with you, it is only fair that I share this update.

Last week, my daughter, Leigh Ann and I drove three hours west to see her in the hospital soon after she was admitted for “lung tumors” which turned out to be lymphoma. She was pale, fatigued and weepy, unable to even sit on the edge of her bed without being short of breath. I remembered it well from my own lymphoma diagnosis nineteen years ago.

As we sat near her bed in silence and watched her frail body struggle to breathe, I felt the full realization of the what was before me. Was this it? She is 92 but she has been so happy and vibrant at Brookdale (Assisted Living) for the past three months, attending all the social activities, making new friends and leading a happy, carefree life. Her favorite part was not having to cook.

It happened so fast. Five days prior to this she had left me a message on voice mail that she had a manicure and pedicure and was getting ready to go on a bus ride through the hills surrounding Corning to view the fall foliage. She had a cough but was being treated for bronchitis.

***

It’s interesting when crisis pays a visit how our minds instantly adjust to the circumstances. My hope that she would pull through this was tempered by the stark reality of her diagnosis and her obvious physical decline. I began searching for consolation in the fact that she had had three good months at Brookdale where she proclaimed her happiness every time I spoke with her.

***

She called Leigh Ann and I closer. Leigh Ann leaned against her side rail and I sat on the other side of her bed. We held hands as she insisted we say our final goodbyes.

“It’s time,” she said, resolved and stoic,” I’ve lived a wonderful life, have no regrets. I can’t live forever. This is my gift to you.”

How does one say goodbye to a mother who has always been there? Lisa did it with grace. So many of you have done it. I’ve had Mom for longer than most and yet why does it still seem incomprehensible? 

We were speechless, tears streaming. I sat there frantically searching for the words to say but all I could muster was,

“Thank you for being such a wonderful mother.”

“Well, thank you,” she said, “that means a lot to me.”

Pausing briefly she then began rattling off a litany of orders,

“Now I want the black sequined dress. It’s in the upstairs closet and NO flowers. I want donations to The Wounded Warriors and St Jude Children’s Hospital.”

She was a Queen on her thrown, orchestrating her final wishes.

“Now, I want to go.” she said, hesitated and shook her head,”I don’t understand why I am still here.”

“But, Mom, that’s up to God.” I said in a moment of clarity.

“Well, I suppose you’re right.”

With that we held hands, asked for the strength to accept God’s will and prayed the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

“OK,” she said, nodding and looking into my eyes, ”I promise I’ll give myself a chance.”

 

***

A few days after that she worsened and we were all summoned to her bedside. We prepared ourselves for the worst but continued to hope for the best.

Over the next few days, by the grace of God, an exceptional and very optimistic doctor, compassionate nursing care, the power of prayer and love and her own strength and resilience, she began to improve.

Mom getting ready for the next chapter…

Eleven days after being admitted to the hospital, she was transferred to a skilled nursing facility for short-term rehab before returning back to her beloved Brookdale where her adoring fans, her new “tribe”, await her return.

In their communication with the skilled nursing facility, the hospital nurse reported,

“She is a 92 year-old in a 70-year-old body.”

***

Every day is a gift and none of us knows when our time is up. We thank God, and her wonderful doctor and nurses for the gift of more time…however long it may be.

Most of all, we thank you, Mom, for giving yourself a chance. You are our inspiration!

Hope matters and miracles do happen… I have no doubt I witnessed one.

The faint rainbow I claimed as a symbol of hope on the day Mom was admitted to the hospital.

 

How about you? Have you ever experienced a miracle, something beyond your greatest expectations?

 

I’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~

 

Next Week:

Monday, 11/16/15″  “An Easy Guide to Meditation by Charlene Jones”

Personal Narrative,Third-Grade Style: A Memoir Moment

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler

“He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.” 

Photo Credit: Brainy Quote

Personal Narrative, Third-Grade Style

I’m always amazed how much I learn from my grandsons. Whether we’re shooting hoops (and they’re teaching me their best moves) or we’re hanging out on the couch together or I’m watching their soccer, football, basketball games, I can  count on being enlightened. So when I was invited to the “Personal Narrative” presentation of Ethan’s third grade class, I figured I was going to learn a thing or two about writing.

Hope you can make it!

 

As parents and grandparents circled the classroom, Mrs. B., Ethan’s very attractive, young, vibrant teacher announced that the class had been studying writing. As little hands shot up to answer her questions– What is dialogue? Why is action important? How will you hook the reader on the first page? –my mind was on full alert.

These eight- and nine-year-olds are learning what has taken me a big chunk of my midlife to learn—the art and craft of writing.

Writing Workshop Guidelines:” Looks like, feels like, sounds like…”

 

Reading Workshop Guidelines..are you interested,engaged, absorbed in your story?

 

I hope you enjoy this photo tour of the writing world through a third grader’s lens as much as I enjoyed being there:

The students sat at their desk with their manuscripts in front of them and we were invited to view, discuss and evaluate our child’s work.

Meet the Author:

We all know how much family support means to a budding author

The Story: Peppermint’s First Birthday Party

 

About the Author

About the Author:

“Ethan Gilson is a student at Craig Elementary School. He is eight years old and his birthday is November 1st. In the family he has Mommy, Dadoo and his brother Jacob and Peppermint (black lab). He loves, loves and loves sports, especially football and basketball.

He wrote this story because he loves his dog more than anything in the world. Her name is Peppermint Patty Gilson. His family got her two years ago.”

A boy and his dog

The Story Behind the Story:

Important memories~ a journal becomes the seed for a personal narrative.

 

Rewriting is rewriting!

 

The editing process continues…

 

The Book:

The opening hook..”Will they get the dog back? Read it to find out.”

 

Action scene to invite readers into the story and keep them turning the pages..”Then 3 to 4  hours later Peppermint’s friends came over and played and tugged and biting each other.That’s fun for them. They do that for 3 straight hours then they have frosty paws and frozen peanut butter…”

 

Life After the Book:

Collaborating with other writers in a supportive way is an important part of the writing process.

 

Book reviews are a way of supporting other authors

 

Not every one has to or will agree with our version of the truth:

Brothers discuss the story and decide they have a different recollection of what happened at Peppermint’s first birthday party. However, Ethan stands in his truth.

 

What a privilege to watch the birth of an author at such a young age.

How about you? What have you learned from the younger generation about  writing?

I’d love to hear from you . Please share your comments and stories below~

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Congratulations to Harikleia Sirmans! Your name was selected in a random drawing of commenters to receive Lisa Goich’s memoir, 14 Days; A Mother, A Daughter, a Two-Week Goodbye.

Next Week:

Monday, 11/16/15:

“An Easy Guide to Meditation by Charlene Jones”

Celebrating Life Through Death: 14 Days To A Memoir by Lisa Goich

Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler with Lisa Goich/@lisagoich

“Death should be a celebration. Like a birthday. I want to go up like a rocket when my time comes, and fall down in a cloud of stars,and hear everyone go: ahh!”   – Joanne Harris   

I am very pleased to welcome Memoir Author Lisa Goich whose debut memoir, 14 Days: A Mother, A Daughter, A Two-Week Goodbye, will be released on 11/10/15. Lisa and I met in the National Association of Memoir Writers Facebook Group when she responded to a post I had written about my mother. As fate would have it, I am posting this while in the throes of my own beloved mother’s sudden, terminal illness and have found a great deal of solace in Lisa’s story. Her message to celebrate life through death resonates as I face my own sad and dreaded goodbye.

 

My reviews can be found on Amazon, Goodreads, Shelfari, LibraryThings and Riffle after 11/10/15,

Welcome, Lisa!

Memoir Author Lisa Goich and Angie who plays a supporting role in her memoir.

 

         Celebrating Life Through Death:14 Days to a Memoir                                                          

 

During her life, my mom taught me a lot of lessons:

 

Don’t chase boys.
If you like it, buy it.
Always have a lot of appetizers at a party.
If they don’t like you, to heck with them.
Treat people like you want to be treated.
Love one another.
Be nice.

 

But her final lesson to me didn’t come in the form of a sentence, it arrived through her actions: Celebrate life through death. That lesson was turned into a memoir, 14 Days: A Mother, A Daughter, A Two-Week Goodbye, publishing November 10, 2015.

When I traveled home to visit my parents in December 2011, I never expected an ordinary three-day weekend to turn into an extraordinary fourteen-day observance of my mother’s life – and ultimately – death. After a fall at a dialysis appointment left her immobile, my mother decided that she wanted all treatment ceased. This decision would mean she would be gone within two weeks. Fourteen short days to gather ye rosebuds and say her goodbyes.

Rather than spend those days being poked and prodded in a hospital, we moved my mom home to her living room where a fancy, electric bed was set up that would serve as her throne for the next fourteen days. Friends and family came and went. Big meals were shared. Football games were watched as my mom’s children and grandchildren circled her bed shouting at the TV and their favorite teams. We took turns talking to my mom one-on-one.

We each made a goodbye video with her to chronicle her final words to us. We laughed until we cried and cried until we laughed again.

I picked my mom’s brain for as many things as I could remember to ask her before she left us: How much did I weigh again when I was born? How do you make your apple strudel dough so crispy on the outside? Is it light or regular Philadelphia Cream Cheese you use in Billy’s Dip? Tell me that story again about you in the canoe on the Detroit River. What outfit do you want to wear to your funeral?

We were fortunate to have this time together to share and reflect. And blessed to have at least twelve of those fourteen days be good ones for my mom. Medication kept her pain free and round-the-clock nurses and hospice workers kept her clean and comfortable. As far as deaths go, this was a good one. We should all hope for an exit like the one my mom was able to have and we were able to orchestrate for her.

During this time, I blogged on Facebook. Every day — sometimes multiple times a day — I would write a paragraph or two about what was happening in our little world on Newport Drive. Posts like this one from December 22, 2011, two days before my mom would take her final breath:

Millie just got a visit from John The Mailman. He’s been their mailman for 25 years. In true Millie fashion, though her words are few at this point, she made sure to say to my dad, “Give John his Christmas money.” And when John was leaving she told him to “bundle up.” Through tears, John The Mailman said he would, and left with a pile of Christmas cards in hand to deliver to others having a much different holiday than this little house on the corner will be having this year.

 

Friends from around the world asked for more, so I posted daily. My mom loved reading the comments left by friends and strangers.

 

“All of these people are writing to me?” she asked, surprised at the outpouring of kindness being sent her way.

 

“Yes, mother, it’s all for you!”

 

She couldn’t believe that hundreds of people were praying for “little old” her. I told her that someday I would turn these posts into a book about these days so she would never be forgotten.

 

“A book about me?”

 

“Why not?” I asked. “Everyone in the world should know Millie Goich!”

 

“Isn’t that something.” She stared up at the ceiling pondering this memoir that would one day be. And now that it’s finally here, I wonder if she can see how many people are anticipating its release almost four years later.

***

One would imagine that writing a memoir about something so painful would be a difficult task to take on. Personally, it was a cathartic and joyful experience. For two years I reflected on, not only those last days, but other memorable events during our life. I’m so blessed to have been given this gift.

This experience taught me to pay attention to moments. Savor a touch, a word a laugh. And when you feel compelled, write it down. You never know where those words will one day take you.

***

 

Author Bio:

Lisa Goich-Andreadis, author, talk radio host, former comedian and Detroit native living in Los Angeles, manages the Jazz & Comedy Fields for the GRAMMY Awards. Her memoir, 14 Days: A Mother, A Daughter, A Two-Week Goodbye (Savio Republic) is available for pre-sale on Amazon.com and will be available 11/10/15 wherever books are sold. Lisa can be heard as a special guest on “The Mitch Albom Show” on WJR-AM in Detroit. For more information on Lisa and her book, visit her website at www.14daysamemoir.com.

 

Book Synopsis:

When Lisa traveled home to visit her parents in December 2011, she never expected an ordinary three-day weekend to turn into an extraordinary 14-day observance of her mother’s life – and ultimately – death. 14 Days is a story of parental loss, and how to lovingly, bravely and gracefully let go of a hand you’ve been holding your entire life. From a child’s first breath to a mother’s last, this memoir shows how closing that circle can be a celebration of this unbreakable bond.

Book Trailer:

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Thank you Lisa for sharing from your heart about the loss of someone so dear. Your memoir has touched me deeply and I have no doubt  will touch many others who are faced with saying goodbye to a loved one. You show so clearly how  celebrating life through death and making the moments count matter. And the best part…we get to meet Millie Goich. What a treat!

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How about you? How do you let go of someone so dear? 

Lisa has graciously offered to give away a copy of her memoir, 14Days: A Mother , A Daughter , A Two -Week Goodbye, to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing of commenters.

We’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~

This Week:

Monday, 11/02/15:

“Interview about Ever Faithful to His Lead” on Christine Grote’s blog, Random Thoughts From Midlife

Next Week:

Monday, 11/09/15:  

“Personal Narrative, Third-Grade Stye: A Memoir Moment”