Let’s Play Book Trivia with Irene Watson!

It’s time to play Book Trivia!  Periodically, we scour the Internet for interesting authors who would like to play Book Trivia with us.  By answering our book trivia questions, we get to learn things about the author no one else knows!  So, let’s get ready…let’s play…

Today our guest author is Irene Watson author of award winning memoir The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference. She was born and raised in a tiny hamlet of Reno in the northern area of the province of Alberta in Canada. It was a farming community, mostly settled by immigrants from Russia, Ukraine and Poland during the early 1900s. Irene received her Master’s Degree in Psychology, with honors,  from Regis University, Denver. Irene and her husband, Robert, live in Austin, Texas.

She is also author/editor of The Story That Must be Told: True Tales of Transformation, and, Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers and is in the process of co-authoring another book, Rewriting Life Scripts: Transformational Recovery for Parents as well as having a chapter in an upcoming book Letters to New Grandparents.

Irene is the president of Higher Power Foundation, Inc. and facilitator of transformative women’s retreats and workshops. She brings 40 years of life changing experiences, facilitation and study into her hands-on programs. She is also the Managing Editor of Reader Views, and book review and author publicity service. Her personal website is http://www.irenewatson.com

Thank you for playing Book Trivia with us, Irene! Here are your questions:

If Tom Hanks, in the movie Cast Away, unearthed a copy of The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference, how would that help Tom find a way off the island?

He would go within, find a peaceful place in his spirit, and know that “all is okay.”  He would also learn to be his own best friend.

Everyone knows rock star idol Brittany Spears is always in trouble with everything you can think of.  In what way could your book help her and set her life back on track?

She would seek a transformational recovery center that is spiritual based – a place that would assist her in dealing with core addictions and imprints that have been passed down for generations.  She will learn that she doesn’t have to behave from these imprints and that she can actually create her own divine imprints and start living her own live, not a life that is expected of her.

You have a chance to appear on the hit talent show for authors, American Book Idol, with judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, and Kara DioGuardi determining whether your book will make it to Hollywood and become a big screenplay.  What would impress them more – your book cover, an excerpt or your best review – and why?

An excerpt for sure.  I would choose an excerpt that would turn their socks inside out – they would want to read the book!!  And, what will it be?  I’m not going to tell you right now, you’ll just have to read the book.

Hulk Hogan, the famous wrestler and star of his own reality show, has invited you and your book to appear on his show.  One catch.  You have to read a passage out of it to convince him you are star material.  What part would you read?

The first paragraph of the first chapter which says  It was the damnedest thing that they thought I’d fall for it. A video camera in plain sight, in one corner of my room, pointing right in on everything I’d be doing for the next twenty-eight days. Not likely. I couldn’t figure out why they wouldn’t bother hiding the thing. Even a hanging plant in front of it might have kept me from noticing it for an hour or two. But they didn’t even try, and that was their real weakness as far as I was concerned. Here they were, helping some of the most messed-up people you can imagine, people addicted to just about anything, and they thought if they had cameras watching these people get dressed, watching them sleep, that they would just reveal everything about themselves in an instant?

They’ve invented a board game using the theme of your book.  What would the title of it be that would be different from your book and which retail store would they place it to make the most sales?

The name of the game would be the same as the subtitle: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference.  The stores that would have the highest sales would be ones that sell life transforming books and items.

The Arbor Day Foundation has decided to pick one tree in your honor because of your writing brilliance.  What kind of tree is it and why did they choose that tree in relation to your book?

I would choose an Aspen.  They are very prevalent in the area I grew up in and being much of the reflection in my book is from my childhood it would be a perfect tree to plant.  Also, I love the way an Aspen changes color in the fall.

President Barack Obama has become the author of several books and he has requested your presence at a special hush hush meeting to discuss ways to promote it.  Through luck of the draw, you were chosen.  What would be the first thing you would tell Barack?

LOL, that’s too funny!  Actually, he wouldn’t be asking me how to promote his book, he would be asking me to have dinner with Michele and the girls.  You see, the hush, hush meeting was just a cover up.  In reality, he was so inspired with my book he wanted to meet me in person.  After all, he and I are on the same transformational path.

Finally, you just got word that your book has received the 2009 NY Times Bestselling Book Award and you have to attend the ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan.  Anyone who’s anyone will be there and it’s your shot for stardom.  On stage, you must give an acceptance speech.  What would you say and who would you thank?

I’d say:  Thank you God for allowing me to be the channel to spread the word of hope and healing to millions of people. It’s only through our faith in a Higher Power that we can transcend to a higher place of consciousness, leaving behind our generational imprints and creating our own divine imprints. We all can put our foot forward, one day at a time, and find the wisdom within.

Let’s Play Book Trivia with Romantic Suspense Authors K.M. Daughters

It’s time to play Book Trivia!  Periodically, we scour the Internet for interesting authors who would like to play Book Trivia with us.  By answering our book trivia questions, we get to learn things about the author no one else knows!  So, let’s get ready…let’s play…

Today our guest author is K.M. Daughters, author of The Sullivan Boys Romantic Suspense Series, Book 2, BEYOND THE CODE OF CONDUCT.

K.M. Daughters is the penname for team writers and sisters, Pat Casiello and Kathie Clare nee Lynch.  The author name is dedicated to the memory of their parents, Katherine and Michael, the “K” and “M” in K.M. Daughters.  Inspired by their father who wrote children’s books for them when they were small and their mother’s love of romance novels, K.M. Daughters was “born” a little under five years ago at a Romance Writers of American national conference when the sisters plotted their first manuscript, now published in E-book by Sapphire Blue Publishing: Past, Present and Forever.

Since that conference, K.M. Daughters has written five additional award-winning novels, all contracted to The Wild Rose Press and its new subsidiary, White Rose Publishing.  Most recently the 1^st book in The Sullivan Boys Romantic Suspense series was distinguished in The Lories published contest; Past, Present and Forever received the Coffee Time Romance and More Reviewer’s award and their upcoming release, Beyond The Code of Conduct was rated 4-stars, compelling, page turner, in the June 2009 issue of Romantic Times Book Review.

K.M. Daughters resides in Illinois and New Jersey with husbands Nick and Tom, a total of five children and two grandchildren between them.  Visit at: http://www.kmdaughters.com.

Thank you for playing Book Trivia with us, K.M.!  Here are your questions:

If Tom Hanks, in the movie Cast Away, unearthed a copy of Beyond The Code of Conduct, how would that help Tom find a way off the island?

The book would make great kindling for a rescue-me blaze – after he enjoyed reading it, of course.

Everyone knows rock star idol Brittany Spears is always in trouble with everything you can think of.  In what way could your book help her and set her life back on track?

Heroine Bobbie Leighton would set an excellent example for wayward Brittany.  After floundering for years trying to find that right career, Bobbie finally found her niche.  She thought it was law enforcement until she realized it was the right man.

You have a chance to appear on the hit talent show for authors, American Book Idol, with judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, and Kara DioGuardi determining whether your book will make it to Hollywood and become a big screenplay.  What would impress them more – your book cover, an excerpt or your best review – and why?

Our favorite review because – and we’ll quote – “This book is hot, hot, hot!”

Hulk Hogan, the famous wrestler and star of his own reality show, has invited you and your book to appear on his show.  One catch.  You have to read a passage out of it to convince him you are star material.  What part would you read?

A line we particularly like, “You want hot?  I’ll give you hot.”  Then a mug of scalding tea flies.

They’ve invented a board game using the theme of your book.  What would the title of it be that would be different from your book and which retail store would they place it to make the most sales?

Love Heals.  Walmart, of course.

The Arbor Day Foundation has decided to pick one tree in your honor because of your writing brilliance.  What kind of tree is it and why did they choose that tree in relation to your book?

A weeping willow for its tenacity in the wind and soft beauty.

President Barack Obama has become the author of several books and he has requested your presence at a special hush hush meeting to discuss ways to promote it.  Through luck of the draw, you were chosen.  What would be the first thing you would tell Barack?

He definitely should play Book Trivia.

Finally, you just got word that your book has received the 2009 NY Times Bestselling Book Award and you have to attend the ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan.  Anyone who’s anyone will be there and it’s your shot for stardom.  On stage, you must give an acceptance speech.  What would you say and who would you thank?

Pat would say, “Thank you, Kathie.”  And Kathie would say, “Thank you, Pat.”  Finally we would chorus, “Thank you, Joelle Walker, our Fairy GodEditor at The Wild Rose Press.”

BOOK REVIEW: Second Chance at Your Dream & BOOK GIVEAWAY

Author: Dorothea Hover-Kramer
Title: Second Chance at Your Dream
Paperback: 248 pages
Publisher: Energy Psychology Press
Genre: Nonfiction; Health, Mind & Body
Language: English
ISBN: 9780345499707
Purchase at Amazon

ABOUT THE BOOK:

This is the first book to apply the breakthrough insights of Energy Psychology to healthy aging. Energy Psychology is an exciting new healing method that changes the vibrational patterns in the body’s energy fields to produce rapid emotional healing and a sense of well-being. With the help of the over fifty exercises for rebalancing yourself offered in this book, you can face the challenges and opportunities of later life to create a time of energy, abundance and joy.

BOOK REVIEW:

The buzz word in Dorothea Hover-Kramer’s book, Second Chance at Your Dream, is energy.  Energy resources, energy balancing, energy resource tools, energetic strategies are just a few.  According to Dorothea, this book is the first book to apply the breakthrough insights of Energy Psychology to aging and literally shows us how to use our own energy resources to battle pain, restore low energy and change our lives.  She addresses how human energies originate and explains how our biofield and chakras work which all tie into the whole scheme of things.

I particularly liked this part:

“Examples of dysfunctional belief patters are: “Aging will be difficult,” “Memory gets worse with age,” “Retirement is a time of rest and withdrawal from life,” and “Seniors need to rest and sit back.”  Ideas about aging and  retirement can be as varied as we choose, but over time, they impact thinking, behavior, and even cellular structures and DNA patterning.”

The point Dorothea is making here which continues throughout this marvelous book is that some people don’t realize how harmful it is to them to accept what they perceive as the norm – that old people should call it quits and wait for “their time.”  Dorothea believes that’s the worse thing you could ever do if you want to continue to live a happy, normal life with each year that goes by.  So, believing that, she has devised ways – techniques and exercises – to help us find a second chance at your dream even with whatever limitations a individual has.

Dorothea says, “The basic tool for energetic self-care is identifying problems readily.”  How many of us have not so fond past memories that have turned us not into someone we didn’t know we were?  How many perceivable nice people end up grouchy and mean in their later years?  Why is this?

She gives us one example of a man who at 72 was inhibiting happiness from stepping into his life because of his partents’ constant fights when he was young.  It was so bad, he took up somking at age 13 to alleviate the pain.  When his wife suggested him quitting at 72, he went to a therapist who got him to notice his bodily sensations while remembering a fight between his parents.  Immediately, he felt a tightening in his stomach.  His therapist taught him to acknowledge his emotions with several releasing strategies for a month.  Eventually the memories no longer created an emotional “charge.”  The point Dorothea is making is that problems, left untreated, end up plaguing you for years and by using the techniques and exercises in her book, you will lear how you, too, can have a second chance at your dream.

I really liked this and have been meaning to do it for some time:

“No one should wait until a terminal diagnosis to start living more fully.  Make a list now of the things you want to do, the people you want to see, the actions you can contribute to make the world around you better.”

I am a firm believer in doing things you love to live longer.  Too many people allow themselves to be idle.  “I don’t know where to start,” they say, older people especially.  Dorothea explains that sometimes we don’t know what to do, but things land in our laps which result in happiness.  She explains how to focus on energetic strategies (explained all in her book) to help you to become the creative artist of your life with a creativeness self-inventory exercise that was really beneficial.

One of my favorite chapters that really hit home was “A New Look at Pain,” in which Dorothea explains how there are methods to help us take “a new look” at pain.  She quotes:

“As we come to distinguish the difference between physical pain and the psychological factors involved in suffering, we recognize how closely they are interrelated.  Both need to be addressed to diminish distress.  Remarkably, both emotional suffering and physical pain respond well to energetic interventions by inviting changes in perception and hope of relief.”

Dorothea backs this with exercises to encourage you to learn from your pain sensations and find ways of diminishing pain reliably.

Dorothea’s book is about choices.  Do we let our pasts or our current health limitations take over our lives or do we get out of passive mode and do something about it so we can live a longer and happier life?

I think you know the answer to that.  I highly recommend Dorothea Hover-Kramer’s Second Chance at Your Dream, if you want to get out of the “everyone feel sorry for me” rut and into a more harmonious, healthy and happy life that everyone deserves.

BOOK GIVEAWAY!

We’re offering a book giveaway!  If you would like to win a copy of Dorothea Hover-Kramer’s A Second Chance to Your Dreams, here are the details:

Dorothea says, “”No one should wait until a terminal diagnosis to start living more fully.  Make a list now of the things you want to do, the people you want to see, the actions you can contribute to make the world around you better.”

Give us ONE thing on your own list of things you want to do, people you want to see, the actions you want to contribute to make the world around you better and leave it in the comment section.  Be sure to include your email address or your entry will be void.  Contests ends on August 1, 2009 and the winner will be hand selected by Dorothea herself.  Your entry should not run over one or two sentences, so please be brief.   Good luck!

Guest Blogger: “How I Found My Second Chance” by Dorothea Hover-Kramer

As part of Dorothea Hover-Kramer’s SECOND CHANCE AT YOUR DREAM VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘09, Dorothea will be stopping by today, tomorrow and Wednesday!  Today, we have a wonderful guest post by Dorothea (don’t you just love that name?) called How I Found My Second Chance.  Enjoy!  Stay tuned tomorrow for my review and on Wednesday, we’ll be having a special contest so please come back!

How I Found My Second Chance
by Dorothea Hover-Kramer

Since my early childhood in the middle of the war in Berlin, I always wanted to do something helpful for others. There was so much pain and loss around me, I knew I could find ways to be of service. I loved music but found out quickly a career in that field is very lonely. So I went into nursing and scaled the academic ladder ending up with a doctorate in psychology.

My interest in healing emotional and physical pain led me to seek out trauma interventions and energy psychology. I found I could “see” energy in other people easily and “read” their emotions by tuning my sensitivities. This was a great asset in doing private practice psychotherapy. Over the years, I also co-founded the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology and helped develop its many programs through team efforts.

By the time I turned mid-sixty, I was pretty burned out and decided it was time to slow down. In addition, I had a hip problem and could not walk well. Settling into a rural community seemed a comfortable choice for my husband and me and we withdrew considerably from life.

Five years later and after hip surgery, I felt what runners call their “second wind.” I sensed my life and fulfillment of its dream to help others was just beginning. We moved to a more active community, and I began to see the opportunities for sharing what I had learned with a much wider audience, far beyond traditional counseling settings.

The publication of my sixth book Second Chance at Your Dream this year literally became my new opportunity to speak about practical applications of energy psychology for self-care outside of conventional therapy settings. I travel and lecture widely now and am coming to love my audiences. I notice I can make them laugh with me and respond with hope for their senior years. Together, we are discovering that the second half of life is the time of real adventure: we can say what we please and what makes sense with new freedom and intensity.

Gone are the days of worrying about what others think of me and whether my hair looks all right of not. I’m free to be myself and to reinvent my life every morning now as I wish. I can be flexible, mobile, changing as well as steady and predictable. As I make peace with my body and learn how to take best care of it with exercise, rest and foods, my soul is freed to share and express all I’ve ever learned.

I’m completing my seventh book and recognize there is no limit to creativity other than what old beliefs may say. They can be updated as we create new maps for the brain. I have reached the time of choosing to be fully aligned with my soul’s purpose. No holds barred!

Dr. Dorothea Hover-Kramer is a psychologist and clinical nurse specialist in private practice who has authored 6 books about energy therapies including her most recent entitled Second Chance At Your Dream. She is co-founder and past president of the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology, an international network of therapists and health care professionals utilizing energy-based approaches for emotional freedom and healing. You can visit her website at www.secondchancedream.com.

Book Spotlight: Second Chance at Your Dream by Dorothea Hover-Kramer

I am in the middle of a fantastic book by Dorothea Hover-Kramer.  It’s called Second Chance at Your Dream.  Being a baby boomer myself, I can closely relate to what Dorothea is trying to get across – that it’s never too late to find your dream no matter how old you are.

I found my dream and it did just so happen to occur in the second half of my life, although I had been searching for this dream all my life.  Why now?  Who knows but I’m figuring it’s because the timing was just right.  Not rocket science.  Just the way someone’s life unfolds.  I believe there must be lots of learning lessons before you get there or at least that’s what happened with me.

I am now living in the most beautiful place in the world and have a dream job.  Throughout my life, I could see where I was preparing for something like this.  I never was a social butterfly so working out of my home doing something that provides a way to pay for this most beautiful place in the world just seemed to fall right in my life’s path.  I can get up and go anywhere anytime I like and it doesn’t make a difference because I am in charge of my own finances.  If I want to take a break, I take a break and double up on my work when I get back or prepare for the break by doubling up on the work before I leave.  It’s always a system I use to make sure my dream stays my dream.

In Dorothea’s book, she helps others discover how to find their dreams but mainly concentrates on the second half of life because it is those people who believe they have lived their life and it’s too late to change anything.  Balderdash.  People are doing it every day, but there are some people who don’t know how.

As the Pages Turn will be spotlighting the works of Dorothea Hover-Kramer with a guest post by Dorothy on Monday, a review by As the Pages Turn on Tuesday then a special contest on Wednesday so stay tuned!

Meanwhile, if you want to find out more about Dorothea, visit her website at www.secondchancedream.com.

Let’s Play Book Trivia with Fantasy Young Adult Author Herbert Howard Jones!

It’s time to play Book Trivia! Periodically, we scour the Internet for interesting authors who would like to play Book Trivia with us. By answering our book trivia questions, we get to learn things about the author no one else knows! So, let’s get ready…let’s play…

Today our guest author is Herbert Howard Jones, author of the fantasy young adult novel, The Pyewiz and the Amazing Mobile Phone. You can visit his website at www.science-fiction-fantasy.com to find out more about him and his new book!

Thank you for playing Book Trivia with us, Herbert. Here are your questions:

If Tom Hanks, in the movie Cast Away, unearthed a copy of The Pyewiz and The Amazing Mobile Phone, how would that help Tom find a way off the island?

This is an easy one, as travel features quite largely in my book. In theory, Mr Hanks would be able to get off the island by using ‘the amazing mobile phone’. This device, otherwise known as an IST, (interstellar transducer), can take you anywhere in the universe that you want, providing you put in the correct coordinates. The problem is knowing what coordinates to put it. I mean, he doesn’t want to overshoot and end up on Mars, does he? But there is an accessible Faq data base in the phone which should tell him what to do. However, being a bit of a Robinson Crusoe improviser, and not having IST technology to hand, my book would remind him to build a raft, because there is a scene in my book where the characters depend on this ancient mode of transport to escape a flood!

Everyone knows rock star idol Brittany Spears is always in trouble with everything you can think of. In what way could your book help her and set her life back on track?

I hear that there was speculation that Britney Spears, at one point, was going to have twins, and that is one of the themes of my book. In my book, it is the separation of twins which gets the story rolling, and the hope that they be reunited that provides the momentum. Perhaps this would remind Britney that she can get back on track by concentrating more on being a mother, and exploring that role more in depth, and then perhaps having another child.

You have a chance to appear on the hit talent show for authors, American Book Idol, with judges Simon Cowbell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, and Kara DioGuardi determining whether your book will make it to Hollywood and become a big screenplay. What would impress them more – your book cover, an excerpt or your best review – and why?

Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson are very very shrewd, and are only interested in how substantial or commercial a proposition is. Obviously a good review would initially get them interested in my book. But clearly, it would be the content of my book that they would consider, and a well chosen excerpt from it, should give them a flavour and indication of the project as a whole. Both judges strike me as being opposites in a way. Whereas Randy would be cognisant of some of the subtle under currents of my novel, Simon would focus on how the story, as a potential screenplay, would impact on the viewer. I couldn’t think of two better judges! If they give my book the thumbs up, it will be because I’ve got tons of action and dialogue in it, (dialogue which is deliberately written for easy conversion to the medium of film).

Hulk Hogan, the famous wrestler and star of his own reality show, has invited you and your book to appear on his show. One catch. You have to read a passage out of it to convince him you are star material. What part would you read?

I’d read the passage he would like best, the sword fight between Terry and the Pyewiz! Being a fighting man, I’m sure Mr Hogan would appreciate the sound of steel on steel, and the thumping of fancy footwork on deck!

They’ve invented a board game using the theme of your book. What would the title of it be that would be different from your book and which retail store would they place it to make the most sales?

Are you sure you haven’t been reading my book when you phrased this question? Because a board game is actually central to the last half of my book! It was invented by the Pyewiz and is called Guns n’ Galleons, and is designed to keep his crew on it’s toes. My preferred retail outlet would be Toys R Us, in Times Square New York!

The Arbor Day Foundation has decided to pick one tree in your honor because of your writing brilliance. What kind of tree is it and why did they choose that tree in relation to your book?

There is actually an important tree in my book, and it is mentioned in the first chapter. It is a gnarled tree which was irradiated by gamma rays centuries ago by aliens, but still survives in the snowy terrain of Charon. It is the very tree which marks the spot where ‘the Book of Hours’ was buried, and subsequently dug up from, changing the course of the story. Perhaps the strange looking Chinese Huangshan Pine tree would foot the bill, as it grows on the snowy Huangshan Mountain. There is a mountain in my novel called Chequerboard Mountain, in an area similar in some respects to the Huangshan region.

President Barack Obama has become the author of several books and he has requested your presence at a special hush hush meeting to discuss ways to promote it. Through luck of the draw, you were chosen. What would be the first thing you would tell Barack?

After telling him how much, we in Britain respect and admire him, I would obviously draw his attention to Pumpupyoubookpromotion, as being one of the most dynamic book promoting agencies on the net. However clearly, with his budget, the entire media is at his disposal, and so there isn’t much he doesn’t know about drumming up publicity. But I would ask him to invest some of this budget in a big children’s book giveaway, this is in view of the government’s latest policy of destroying all children’s book printed before 1985 because of dangerous lead content.

Finally, you just got word that your book has received the 2009 NY Times Bestselling Book Award and you have to attend the ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan. Anyone who’s anyone will be there and it’s your shot for stardom. On stage, you must give an acceptance speech. What would you say and who would you thank?

Obviously I would thank my publisher and PR coach Dorothy Thompson, who really made me believe that there is a sentient life for an author online. I would also like to thank my readers, who are the backbone of the industry, and without whom there would be a mountain of paperbacks with no homes to go to. I would stress the debt that a writer has to his readers, and that they cannot, for one second, ever be taken for granted, and that an author should go to the ends of the earth for them! Readers are getting savvier and savvier all the time, and so we must try our hardest as writers to meet their requirements and never ever resent the demands made by them. A reader who buys a book, obviously expects to be entertained, and properly informed, but deep down is also probably looking for an answer to the ‘dilemma of being human’ and so we must always strive to give our readers hope! Finally, I would thank my family for putting up with my perpetually worn dressing gown, and ubiquitous cigarette holder, which almost had grandma’s eye out!

In the Spotlight: Wendy Wax’s THE ACCIDENTAL BESTSELLER

“The names have been changed to protect the innocent,” jokes novelist Wendy Wax about her new book The Accidental Bestseller. “It’s not a roman a clef, but I admit that parts of it are somewhat autobiographical. A few people may think they recognize themselves, but the real life experiences at its core are actually compilations of my own and other authors’ agonies, ecstasies and observations.”

The novel centers on a writer who, with her editor gone and her sales in a slump, discovers how merciless the business of book publishing can be. With the help of three writer friends, whose own successes range from modest sales to international renown, she faces daunting personal and professional setbacks as she struggles to pursue her dream. Wendy notes “I’ve intensified the difficulties, thrown in an empty nest, a cheating husband and taken a whole boatload of liberties, but I still see the story as a realistic look at the challenges confronting many published authors.”

In The Accidental Bestseller (Berkley Trade, June ‘09), Wendy explores the depth of women’s friendships and the emotional bonds that tie people to their families, their friends and their work. The writing itself proved somewhat cathartic for Wendy, mostly because, like her protagonist, she at one time contended with the emotions and stress involved with switching publishers. She also ended up sharing other attributes with her character. Each lives in the Atlanta area, has written numerous novels, maintains strong friendships with other women novelists, is married, has two children, and enjoys spending time in the mountains of northern Georgia.

A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, Wendy has come a long way since her days at Sunshine Elementary School. As a child she read voraciously, was a regular at her local library, and became fast friends with Nancy Drew and Anne of Green Gables. Her love affairs with language and storytelling paid off beginning with her first shift at the campus radio station while studying journalism at the University of Georgia.

After returning to her home state and graduating from the University of South Florida she worked for the Tampa PBS affiliate, WEDU-TV, behind and in front of the camera. Her resume includes on air work, voiceovers and production of a variety of commercial projects and several feature films. She may be best known in the Tampa Bay area as the host of Desperate & Dateless, a radio matchmaking program that aired on WDAE radio, and nationally as host of The Home Front, a magazine format show that aired on PBS affiliates across the country.

The mother of a toddler and an infant when she decided to change careers, she admits it was not the best timing in terms of productivity. “I’m still not certain why I felt so compelled to write my first novel at that particular time,” she says, “but that first book took forever.” Since then she’s written six more books, including Single in Suburbia and THE ACCIDENTAL BESTSELLER. Her work has been sold to publishers in ten countries and to the Rhapsody Book Club. Her novel, Hostile Makeover, was excerpted in Cosmopolitan magazine.

Wendy lives with her husband John and her baseball-crazy teenage sons in the Atlanta suburbs where she spends most of her non-writing time on baseball fields or driving to them. She continues to devour books and is busy producing Accidental Radio, a new feature on her web site.

You can visit her website at www.authorwendywax.com.

Who knew the truth would make such great fiction?

Once upon a time four aspiring authors met at a writers’ conference. Ten years later they’re still friends, veterans of the dog-eat-dog New York publishing world.

Mallory St. James is a workaholic whose novels support her and her husband’s lavish lifestyle. Tanya Mason juggles two jobs, two kids, and a difficult mother. Faye Truett is the wife of a famous televangelist and the author of bestselling inspirational romances; no one would ever guess her explosive secret. Kendall Aims’s once-promising career is on the skids—as is her marriage. Her sales have fallen, her new editor can barely feign interest in her work—and her husband is cheating.

Under pressure to meet her next deadline, Kendall holes up in a mountain cabin to confront a blank page and a blanker future. But her friends won’t let her face this struggle alone. They collaborate on a novel none of them could write by herself, using their own lives as fodder, assuming no one will discover the truth behind their words.

No one is more surprised than they are when the book becomes a runaway bestseller. But with success comes scrutiny and scandal. Now all bets are off….as these four best friends suddenly realize how little they’ve truly known each other.

‘The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business.’ John Steinbeck

One

Kendall Aims’ writing career was about to go down for the count on that Friday night in July as she hurried down Sixth Avenue toward the New York Hilton.

It had taken many blows over the last year and a half–the first when her editor left Scarsdale Publishing to have a baby, leaving Kendall orphaned and unloved; another when her new editor, a plain, humorless woman named Jane Jensen, informed her that her sales numbers were slipping. And still another when they showed her the cover for the book she’d just turned in; a cover so bland and uninteresting that even Kendall didn’t want to open it. And on which her name had shrunk to a size that required a magnifying glass to read it.

She landed on the ropes when the print run for this new book was announced. Kendall’s first thought was that someone had forgotten to type in the rest of the zeros. Because even she, who had given up on math long ago, could see at a glance that even if they sold every one of these books, which now seemed unlikely, she’d never earn out the advance she’d been paid.

Looking back, it seemed as if one day she was perched prettily on the publishing ladder, poised to make all the bestseller lists, the next the rungs had given way beneath her feet leaving her dangling above a bubbling pit of insecurity and self doubt. Not to mention obscurity.

Tonight her publisher, like all the other publishers participating in this year’s national conference of the Wordsmiths, Incorporated., or WINC as it was affectionately abbreviated, had hosted an obligatorily expensive dinner for its stable of authors. There, Kendall had smiled and eaten and pretended that she was happy to write for them while they pretended that even after eight years spent proving otherwise, they still intended to make her a household name.

Now, one filet mignon, two glasses of wine and a crème brule later, Kendall hurried through the hotel lobby barely noticing the knots of chattering women scattered through it. The waistband of her pantyhose pinched painfully and her toes, more used to Nike’s than Blahniks, throbbed unmercifully. She felt, and she suspected, looked like what she was—a suburban Atlanta housewife whose children had left the nest and whose husband barely noticed her. At 45 not even expensive highlights and a boatload of Lycra could disguise the fact that her body had given up its struggle against gravity.

She reached the lounge and was already scanning the crowd for familiar faces when two women stepped up beside her. One was tall and blocky, the other short and round. A cloud of nervousness surrounded them.

“Let’s just walk through and pretend we’re looking for someone.” The tall one was clearly in charge, her broad shoulders set in determination.

“Do we have to? We don’t know anyone and we aren’t anyone either,” the other one whispered. “What if we do see an agent or an editor? What are we supposed to do then?”

Kendall flushed with memory. She might have been either one of these women ten years ago. Shy, insecure and dreaming of publication, she’d been stuck on the fringes of her first national conference desperate to sell the book she’d somehow managed to write, but unable to imagine how it could possibly happen.

“We’re just going to make a quick pass,” the taller one promised. “At least we’ll be seen. And be sure to keep an eye out for any opportunities. Half the point of being here is to network.”

“But…”

“Come on. Just follow me. The worst thing that’s going to happen is nothing.”

Kendall smiled, drawn out of her own misery for the first time since she’d arrived in New York early that afternoon. She and Mallory and Tanya and Faye had met at their first Wordsmiths, Incorporated conference in Orlando; all four of them wannabes who’d stood knees knocking, waiting for their turn to pitch an idea during editor and agent appointments. Fifteen minutes to try to sell yourself and your talent to a twenty something girl who held all the power and couldn’t understand why you, who might be as old as her mother, or possibly her grandmother, were unable to keep your voice from cracking as you delivered your carefully memorized pitch.

They’d bonded then and there, four women of disparate ages and even more disparate backgrounds drawn together by their fear and longing.

Read more excerpt at Wendy Wax’s website here!

Guest Blogger: Ronald J. Frederick Tells Us How to Live Like You Mean It

I have a special guest blogger today!  Ronald J. Frederick, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and life coach, with over 15 years of experience helping people get the life they really want.

A long-time proponent of the transforming power of emotion, he co-founded the Center for Courageous Living, which offers innovative therapy, coaching and consulting. Noted for his warmth, humor, and engaging presentation style, he lectures and facilitates workshops nationally.

Frederick is a senior faculty member of the Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Institute, as well as the Clinical Supervisor of Park House, an outpatient program at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.  You can visit his website at www.livinglikeyoumeanit.com.

“I’ve been asked how emotions and feelings have changed affected my life. Here’s an example from my book, Living Like You Mean It:

It was a beautiful day in June. The afternoon sun streamed in through the windows of my sister’s living room, filling it with an amber glow. I sat next to her on the couch, holding her new son, my nephew Theo, only two weeks old. I looked down at this little wonder sleeping in my arms and felt so moved. Not only blessed to be present for this moment, but so grateful to be present in my life.

As I gazed at this little boy, filled with such promise, I thought about how much I had changed. Over the last three years, I’d found the courage to face my fears and open up to a fuller experience of my feelings. It wasn’t easy at first, but the more I was able to honor what was inside me and step into my life in an authentic way, the stronger and more whole I felt. I had stepped through a portal into a new world alive with possibilities that had once seemed out of reach. Now, I was about to move half-way across the country, leave my family and friends, and start a life with someone I dearly loved in a different city. Pretty remarkable, given how much I’d once been held back by fear.

I looked over at my sister and my heart began to ache. Soon, I would have to say goodbye. I wondered how she was feeling about my leaving. I was about to ask but then hesitated. Maybe now’s not the time, I reasoned, what with the new baby and all. But, I knew better. If I let this moment slip by, I’d miss an opportunity to connect more deeply. And, I didn’t want that. I didn’t want there to be anything left unspoken between us. I took a breath to calm myself and said, “So…um…I’m wondering how you’re feeling about me leaving?”

“Not good,” she answered, smiling slightly and then looked away. Silence for a moment. Then, she looked back at me, her eyes filling with tears, and said, “I mean…I’m really going to miss you.”

“I know… I know…” I said, as I reached out to put my hand on hers, tears streaming down my cheeks. “It’s so hard to leave. I’m going to miss you so much.” And we cried together.

I felt so close to my sister in that moment, sitting next to her, our hearts wide open. Saddened, but also so full of love and gratitude. Not one feeling, but several. And space enough for all of it. My life, richly felt. Meaningful in a new and profound way.

Life is full of choices. We can choose to listen to our feelings, or avoid them. We can choose whether to be present with what’s inside us, or numb ourselves out. We can choose whether to open up, speak what’s in our hearts, move closer and connect with the people in our lives, or let fear hold us back.

Every moment is full of the promise of something greater. Greater awareness. Greater vitality. Greater closeness. It’s all within your reach. What will you choose?

To learn more about me and Living Like You Mean It, please visit: http://www.livinglikeyoumeanit.com/index.html.

Friday Fill-Ins – June 5 ‘09

Time for another Friday Fill-In!

1. There’s no place like home.

2. My favorite thing for dinner lately has been Garlic Shrimp and Steak (not mixed together!)

3. The neighbors favorite sounds when someone pulls up is bark! bark! bark!

4. A nice long walk at the beach when the sun goes down will cure any ailment.

5. I need some good news.

6. When all is said and done, it all boils down to how much strength you have left.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to recuperating from my horrid trip to the Smokies, tomorrow my plans include catching up on tours and Sunday, I want to make progress with my tours!