Announcing: Arleen Williams’ Blog Tour

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Mary Rowen

Arleen WilliamsThis week and next–from September 8 till Biking uphillSeptember 16th–my friend and fellow author at Booktrope, Arleen Williams, will be on a blog tour. In other words, her novel, BIKING UPHILL (which is the second in The Alki Trilogy) is on a virtual road trip! I’ve recently started BIKING UPHILL and am really enjoying it. Here’s a brief synopsis of the story:

Biking home from the Los Arboles Sunday Market, a sunflower yellow teapot snug in her backpack, lonely college student Carolyn Bauer sees a young teenager huddling under a eucalyptus tree. Carolyn shares her food and water with Antonia as they struggle to communicate in a mix of languages. Realizing Antonia lives on the streets, Carolyn invites her home. They share a summer of friendship until the day the yellow teapot shatters and Antonia mysteriously disappears. Fifteen years later, only Antonia recognizes her old friend when she and Carolyn meet again in an ESL classroom, but she conceals her secret. Carolyn arranges a class project for Antonia—to job-shadow her friend and housemate, Gemi Kemmal. Gemi learns Antonia’s dangerous circumstances when Antonia arrives for work with bruises barely concealed by thick makeup and offers her sanctuary just as Carolyn had years earlier. Together the three women confront Antonia’s abuser and build a family of enduring friendship. Biking Uphill, the second book in the Alki Trilogy, invites the reader into a world of undocumented immigration, where parents are deported, and a young girl is abandoned to face life on her own.

On the blog tour, you’ll be able to catch reviews, excerpts and guest posts at a variety of sites. Arleen will also be posting the guest posts on her own blog at www.arleenwilliams.com.

Here’s hoping you like what you see enough to beg, borrow or steal a copy of BIKING UPHILL (or just ask for it at your public library). You can also purchase it here. Then, if you really want to make Arleen’s day, you’ll write a review on Amazon!

Here’s the tour schedule:

Monday, September 8            Reecapieces and Chick Lit Club Connect

Tuesday, September 9                        Book Reviews and More by Dee

Wednesday, September 10     Doorflower

Thursday, September 11        Ski-Wee’s Book Corner and Reading in Black and White

Friday, September 12             The Bookworm and Book Referees

Monday, September 15          Jersey Girl Book Reviews

Have fun on tour, Arleen! I look forward to hearing about your adventures!

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Can Creative Parents Have IT ALL Too?

Posted on September 8, 2014 by Mary Rowen

mike_lbeThis is a slightly revised version of my very first blog post. Back in January of 2013, I was ramping up to self publish a novel called Living by Ear, and knew I should start a blog. But what would I write about? People advised me to consider the themes in the book and blog about how they applied to my life.

Now, Living by Ear has lots of themes, including music, divorce, alcoholism, parenting, and infidelity. But when I really thought about it, the theme that resonated most heavily with me was that of balancing parenthood with creativity. The main character in Living by Ear is a soon-to-be-single mom attempting to re-establish her music career while also trying to be a good parent to her two teenage children. Which wasn’t all that different from what I was doing. Thankfully, I’m happily married, but as the mother of two teenagers myself, I was publishing my first written work since college and learning firsthand about all the changes in the literary world.

So now that Living by Ear is being republished by Booktrope—complete with a new cover and a bit of an edit—it seems appropriate to take another look at that blog post. I’ve made some updates, but it’s essentially the same.

***

As I prepared to graduate from college in 1986, I discovered that I didn’t share the same goals as most of my friends. It was quite a shock. For four years, we’d been hanging out in dorms, partying, traveling around Europe, and finding various other ways to have fun. (Oh, and managing to slip in some studying too.) But as graduation approached, everything was changing so fast. Suddenly, my friends were talking about having it all. Fast-track careers, business suits, money, and family.

I couldn’t relate. These bums, these partiers, these people I’d seen drink beer out of funnels were accepting positions at banks and big corporations. They were gushing about the wonderful benefits offered by their new jobs: health insurance, vacation time, maternity leave. Some were actually investigating childcare options near their offices. And although I knew that was normal stuff for women in their twenties to think about, I was filled with terror and self-doubt.

Because it all sounded so foreign to me. Sure, I wanted a family—at some point—and I wanted to be a writer too. But the pursuit of wealth and power? No. When I thought about the future, I imagined myself typing novels—on a typewriter, of course, as personal computers hadn’t been invented—with a couple of happy, artistic kids running around.

I should also mention that I was dealing with a serious eating disorder back in those days, and wasn’t healthy enough to focus clearly on long-term goals. Still, I did my best to find ways to support myself and work at jobs I found fulfilling: I canvassed for MassPIRG, taught middle-school English, and worked as a writer at a local software company. And then, when I was in my late twenties, I got really lucky and met a wonderful man. We fell in love, he helped me with my health issues, we got married. And when I became pregnant with our second child, he encouraged me to quit work, stay home with the kids, and pursue my writing dreams.

That was thirteen years ago, and I don’t regret that decision at all. Thankfully, our kids are healthy, smart, and generally happy. The writing’s been coming along well too, and I’m really proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish.

So what’s the problem? Well, there are a few. First, there’s the financial aspect. For all the years I’ve been writing, our family has been surviving on my husband’s income, but with college not that far in our kids’ future, it’s a little scary. If you’ve heard it said that nobody working in the arts is doing it to get rich, well, that’s almost a hundred percent accurate. Not that writers can’t make money, but most of us don’t make a lot.

Which leads to the next question: should I get a job-job? I haven’t worked outside the house in a while, and with both kids now full-blown teenagers, I feel like it’s very important to be available in the afternoons when they get home from school. I mean, if Anne-Marie Slaughter can quit her job in the Obama State Department to be closer to her teenage sons (for more on this, check out the 2012 cover story in Atlantic magazine titled “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All”), then surely there are valid reasons for me wanting to be there for my kids too. Right? Then again, I could get a part-time job, work mornings, and take a break from writing for a few years.

My final two major concerns are related to the way my kids view my work. I’ll write more extensively about this in future posts, but here it is in a nutshell: on one hand, my kids aren’t particularly comfortable with the knowledge that I write about sex and other adult topics. On the other hand, my daughter would like to read my writing, and I’m not particularly comfortable with that either.

Anyway, all of this has made one thing imminently clear to me: I do want it all, but in an artistic way. I want a fulfilling, creative career, but I also want to be able to afford college. I want to write the material I’m inspired to write, but don’t want to embarrass or horrify my kids. And although I’ve never forbidden them from reading anything before, I haven’t allowed them to read my books.

I’d love to hear how other artistic parents of older kids deal with these issues. How do you make ends meet? And how do you and your children deal with the adult themes in your work?

Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments; I can use all the help I can get!

 

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Author C.D. Taylor’s Blog Tour Stops HERE Today!!

Posted on September 6, 2014 by Mary Rowen

CDAuthorPicToday, I’m excited to host a stop on author C.D. Taylor’s OSCblog tour. C.D. is a fellow Booktrope author, and her book, an erotic romance called Our Second Chance, is a tale of forgiveness, redemption, and love. It demonstrates how the power of healing can strengthen the bond between family, friends, and lovers. Here’s a little synopsis:

Emily Mills lives a life of opulence and luxury in Los Angeles but can’t shake the feeling that there is something more out there for her. It isn’t the picture perfect life her social circles expect and she knows something is missing. Unwilling to let happiness be a distant wish, she boards a plane to chase her dreams of becoming a lawyer in New York City. It doesn’t take long for her past to reappear with her former best friend from college, Jake Bradford. Knowing the feelings she’s held for Jake all these years, she still tries to convince herself that she isn’t worthy of any sort of love from him. Conceding to a fraction of her desire, Emily strikes a deal with Jake to become steamy friends with benefits. Soon her passionate bond with him turns out to be way more intense than she expects and she finds herself wishing her emotional scars didn’t rear their ugly head and destroy everything she’s worked for.

Can Emily forgive herself and those who have hurt her in the past to become the person she knows she can be? Or will the roadblocks in front of her cause her to make the decision to run like she’s been doing most of her life? Book 1 of this thrilling new 3-book series will leave you panting for more and cheering for second chances.

Would you like to win a copy? All you need to do is leave a comment below. Everyone who comments today, September 6, 2014, will have their name put in a hat and I’ll draw a lucky winner tomorrow morning. (That’s because I’m on the East Coast, and might go to bed before you West Coasters have had a chance to comment.)

If you don’t win, you can purchase Our Second Chance online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.com

Finally, if you’d also like a chance to win an entire Our Second Chance swag basket, checkout this Rafflecopter giveaway!!

Best of luck to everyone!!

Here’s a little info about C.D. Taylor, as well as some ways to find her on social media: 

C.D. Taylor began writing as an item to check off her bucket list. She resides in the southernmost part of Illinois, right on the mighty Mississippi river. She enjoys the quiet country life with her husband, son and the many farm animals that make up the rest of the family. C.D. decided that farm life was just a little too mundane, so she started writing erotica to spice things up, so far so good. C.D. entered cosmetology school right out of High School and practiced the art of hair styling for 12 years. When she isn’t writing, she can usually be found sitting around a table making people laugh. She has always wanted to be a standup comic. She loves pulling practical jokes, dresses up in a costume every Halloween and believes that dancing is the key to a happy life (even if you aren’t a good dancer). She believes that life shouldn’t be taken too seriously, we will never get out alive anyway. More than anything, C.D. is a kid at heart, she doesn’t believe in bedtimes, eating everything on her plate, or having ice cream only for dessert. Her favorite quote is by Dr. Seuss…”Why fit in, when you were born to stand out.”

Author links:

https://twitter.com/CDTaylor_Author

http://authorcdtaylor.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4908299.C_D_Taylor

 

Posted in guest post, Uncategorized, writing | 2 Comments

Cover Reveal! A Beautiful Facelift for Living by Ear!

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Mary Rowen

mike_lbe

Today, I’m finally able to reveal the new cover for Living by Ear, designed by the brilliant Greg Simanson.

The entire book has gotten a facelift–including a bit of an edit–from my wonderful publisher, Booktrope. Thank you a million times to all members of the amazing creative team who worked so hard to make this happen.

Living by Ear will be officially relaunched on Tuesday, September 16th. Here’s a the blurb from the back cover:

What happens when the world you love doesn’t press pause when you do? Singer-songwriter Christine Daley hit the streets of Boston and became a minor celebrity—with a local radio hit—in the 90s, but a “short” career break to marry and have kids changed everything. Now, sixteen years later, she’s a frustrated suburban housewife, struggling to find her place in life.

After filing for divorce, she learns that her attempts to reestablish her own rhythms—both in music and in love—are more complicated than she’d anticipated. Her two teenagers are desperate for their mom, and her soon-to-be-ex-husband is throwing every obstacle he can in her way. Adding to the stress is the progress in technology, which has not only changed the music industry, but also the dating world. Is there room in the mix for Chris?

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A Decent Woman: Interview with Author Eleanor Parker Sapia

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Mary Rowen

EllieToday, it’s very exciting to have Eleanor Parkia Sapia as a guest to interview. This is becoming my favorite part of blogging. It’s so much fun getting to know other authors.

MR: Eleanor! It’s lovely of you to drop by!

EPS: Hi Mary! Thanks so much for the opportunity to interview with you! I am honored and grateful to be featured on your super blog!

MR: Well I’m happy to have you here. I’ve been looking A Decent woman BOOK COVER!forward to reading your book, A Decent Woman, for months now, and am so glad it’ll finally be available soon. How about we jump right into some questions, as I’m sure readers are anxious to learn more about you. When did you start writing or know you wanted to write more than just letters and grocery lists?

EPS: I am a list maker from way back. I will admit to adding items previously accomplished to a list, just so I can cross them off! Must be a Virgo thing J.

At age forty, during a difficult time in my life, I began writing poetry. Every poem I wrote was therapeutic in that I was able to sort stuff out, and hide behind symbolism without actually spelling out what was happening to me. Shortly after, I began keeping a journal; three pages written long-hand, thanks to Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way. I still write something every day to keep the writing juices flowing. Through this daily exercise and discipline, I discovered a way to put words to my deepest feelings, thoughts, and emotions. You can’t lie to yourself when you journal; it’s all there in the rawest form. I am never without my journal; some entries are short stories and travel stories, complete with photographs of my many travels.

In 2006, I wrote a long tribute honoring my 90-year old Puerto Rican grandmother. Several family members and my ex-husband told me I had a novel to write. That was the impetus for my novel, A Decent Woman, and I’ve never looked back.

MR: That’s very impressive. I’ve tried keeping journals over the years, but they always tend to get put aside for long periods of time. I wish I had your discipline. So what sort of thing do you most enjoy writing? (novels, short stories, poetry?)

EPS: I enjoy writing short stories, poetry, and blog posts about the writing life. I am passionate about writing novels, specifically historic novels, set in exotic locales with Spanish-speaking characters who experience mystical, spiritual, and ultimately, life-changing awakenings…or not.

MR: So I’m guessing things like that don’t happen in your life every day. Therefore, where do you get your ideas?

EPS: I get my ideas from listening well, people watching, day dreaming, being present, reading, and traveling.

MR: And when you sit down to write, are you a plotter or a pantser?

EPS: I wrote my debut novel, A Decent Woman, in six months with a brief outline; nothing extensive. Just recently, my new editor, Ally Bishop, encouraged me to outline my novel which helped tremendously with the plot and timeline. I now see great benefits in plotting, but my pantser side reappeared with my second novel, Finding Gracia. What seems to resonate with me is writing the first draft, and then focusing on plot, story arc, and momentum in the second draft which I write shortly afterward. I must have the initial freedom to write without worrying about rules of grammar, etc. My friends will tell you this is how I live my life, as well. I’m 57 years old, and most rules are becoming suggestions the older I get!

MR: That totally makes sense. So many writers are held back by that internal editor who tells them, “You can’t say that!” I agree that writers need the freedom to write whatever we want in our first draft. So can you tell us a bit about A Decent Woman?

EPS: Here’s the brief synopsis:

At the turn of the century, male-dominated Puerto Rico was a chaotic, uncertain, and hard place for a woman to survive; especially one with a secretive past, which if discovered, threatens her future. With twenty years of slavery behind her, Afro-Cuban Ana Belén is a midwife who reverently fuses Catholicism with her vivid ancestral Yoruba traditions. Ana forms an unlikely friendship with a young Puerto Rican socialite that sustains them through years of parallel tragedies, and the betrayals of men who want to rule them.

Spell-binding and insightful, A Decent Woman is a story of fate, choices, sacrifice and love. The combustive backdrop of 1900 Puerto Rico after the United States invasion of the island offers a provocative look into the complex lives of women of that era.

MR: Well I can’t wait to read it. So, A Decent Woman is being published by Booktrope. Have you ever self published or worked with other publishers?

EPS: After two years of querying agents, and a few false starts with two great agents, I set my sights on small publishers. I queried a dozen publishers and a friend mentioned her publisher, Booktrope. I sent Booktrope my manuscript and at the same time, I created a self-publishing account with Amazon as a Plan B. For some reason, I couldn’t click the button to download my manuscript. Something told me to wait, and a month later, I received a letter of acceptance from Booktrope on February 14, 2014. I am fortunate and blessed to be part of the fantastic Booktrope family, and am honored and grateful they believed in me and my story.

MR: What an amazing Valentine’s Day gift! Aside from writing, what other things do you enjoy doing?

EPS: Spending time with my adult children and family is what I enjoy most in the world. I’m happiest when they are around me, especially now that my sons live in Europe, and my daughter lives two hours away in the Washington, DC area. I’m fortunate and blessed my kids still like spending time with me, so our time together is precious. I love doing anything that involves being outside in nature, and as an island baby born in Puerto Rico, I must live on the coast or near a large body of water; living land-locked drives me bonkers. Hiking, gardening, painting, reading, and black & white photography are other activities I very much enjoy.

MR: I understand that need to live near water, Eleanor. I don’t think I could stand to live more than an hour–or maybe two–from an ocean for long. So what’s next on your writing agenda?

EPS: I’m in the final edit stage of my debut novel, A Decent Woman. We are looking at a book launch in late October 2014. The book marketing, to include social media, has already begun, and we’ll be in full swing before and after the launch. I’m excited to see my book in print, and more excited to share it with the world. I’m looking at the sequel to A Decent Woman, Mistress of Coffee, coming out in 2016.

I am currently writing my second historical novel, Finding Gracia, set in Spain, on the medieval pilgrimage route of El Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of St. James. I walked El Camino with my children in 2005 right about my marital separation. This novel is dear to my heart, and tough to write.

MR: Yes, I can only imagine. Anything else you’d like to share?

EPS: Just recently I was asked if like my protagonist, Ana Belén, I practice the Yoruba traditions also known as Santería. The answer is no, but it’s a more complicated question than I initially thought. I was born in Puerto Rico to a Catholic family, and although my Puerto Rican grandmother wasn’t a Yoruba initiate or follower, she believed in spirits, communicating with the dead, and she knew a lot about healing with herbs and flowers. I listened with fascination to my grandmother’s incredible stories of attending séances when she was young, about the world of spiritism and spirits, good and evil. I went to my first psychic at age 15. The description in A Decent Woman of the psychic’s reading room is from my first visit, which I’ve never forgotten. As an impressionable young girl, the experience scared me

Even today, spiritism and Santería are common practices in Puerto Rico, and many Caribbean islands, to include the United States. Many Puerto Ricans fuse their Catholicism with the vivid, ancestral traditions of the Yoruba faith. I’ve been known to light candles, put pennies in a bowl of water in honor of Santa Clara, as well as reciting St. Michael’s prayer, all done for personal protection.

MR: That’s really interesting. The older I get, the more I think there’s no one path to spirituality and health, and that everyone needs to find their own way of making sense of this world. Thank you for sharing so much with us today, Eleanor. Best of luck with your final edits, and I’ll make sure to let my blog readers know when A Decent Woman is released.

EPS: Thanks for a fun interview, Mary! You asked great questions!

 

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I Saw a Woman Eating in the Woods…the Secret Lives of Bulimics

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Mary Rowen

girl in woodsThe other day, while walking my dog on a wooded trail, I noticed a young woman sitting on a rock, half hidden by trees, eating with a plastic fork. She didn’t look up as I passed; in fact, she turned her head away. Next to her was a backpack, which was clearly not empty.

I didn’t recognize the woman, despite the fact that I walk in that area quite frequently. She was attractive and dressed in casual, fashionable clothing. Most people, seeing her, would probably assume she was a student or office worker, just trying to find a little peace in this crazy, busy world.

And perhaps that was the case. But as I continued on my walk, my mind was flooded with memories of times when I ate like that–privately, carrying food to secret places–so no one would know I was binging on stuff I’d later purge. I recalled the many times I told friends at work that I had errands to do on my lunch break, when my only real errand involved going to the grocery store. Then I’d take the junk food I’d bought to a quiet place where I’d eat it, and hurry back to the office so I could vomit as inconspicuously as possible in the bathroom.

Even now–even after bulimia has been in my past for almost twenty years and I’ve written a novel, called Leaving the Beach, about a bulimic woman–I find it embarrassing to talk about that stuff. I wish so badly that none of it were true, and that I’d been a normal eater all my life. But seeing that woman in the woods reminded me of how sneaky and secretive bulimics are about their disease. And how skilled most of them are at hiding it, even from their closest friends and family members.

I know this because I kept my bulimia a secret for fifteen years. During that time, I had wonderful parents, caring siblings, great friends, and various boyfriends. But none of them knew I was bulimic until I told someone–my future husband–and got help.

Why? Well, that’s the point of this post. Because secrecy is an integral part of bulimia, just as itchy red welts are an integral part of measles. Therefore, if someone close to you is suffering from bulimia, there’s little chance they’ll tell you about it unless they’re so sick that they don’t know what else to do. But if you know what you’re looking for, you may be able to detect some warning signs and get them help before things get out of hand and/or the person does serious harm to their body. So here are some of those warning signs, courtesy of NEDA’s website. NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association) is an amazing, non-profit organization.

Warning Signs of Bulimia Nervosa

  • Evidence of binge eating, including disappearance of large amounts of food in short periods of time or finding wrappers and containers indicating the consumption of large amounts of food.
  • Evidence of purging behaviors, including frequent trips to the bathroom after meals, signs and/or smells of vomiting, presence of wrappers or packages of laxatives or diuretics.
  • Excessive, rigid exercise regimen–despite weather, fatigue, illness, or injury, the compulsive need to “burn off” calories taken in.
  • Unusual swelling of the cheeks or jaw area.
  • Calluses on the back of the hands and knuckles from self-induced vomiting.
  • Discoloration or staining of the teeth.
  • Creation of lifestyle schedules or rituals to make time for binge-and-purge sessions.
  • Withdrawal from usual friends and activities.
  • In general, behaviors and attitudes indicating that weight loss, dieting, and control of food are becoming primary concerns.
  • Continued exercise despite injury; overuse injuries.

But I’ll leave you on a good note, because I’m hoping all the recent talk in the media about EDs is making a difference. The other day, someone directed me to this article in Glamour in which Zosia Mamet, of the HBO program GIRLS, came out and admitted that she’s currently dealing with an eating disorder. And while my heart goes out to her, I’m also blown away by her courage to talk about her illness while she’s still in recovery.

I hope Ms. Mamet will continue to get better, and also hope her bravery will inspire other people to talk to people they trust about their eating disorders. Because help is out there. It’s readily available and there are numerous ways to get it, even if you don’t think you can afford it. NEDA can help with that, and a lot of other things too. Communication is the key. Let’s really get eating disorders out of the woods and into the open.

 

 

 

 

Posted in eating disorders, health, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Author JT Twissel on Books, Sin City North, the CIA…and much more!!!

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Mary Rowen

JanToday, I’m very lucky to have JT Twissel (author  of Flipka and The Graduation Present) here to chat on the blog. Two weeks ago, I went on a beach vacation and really enjoyed reading The Graduation Present on the sand. It’s a hilarious and unpredictable book, and I highly recommend it.

Mary: So JT, as I was just saying, I loved your novel, The Graduation Present for various reasons. It’s so funny, and it kept surprising me in all the best ways. Just when I thought one thing was going to happen, the story would take a sharp and unexpected turn. It also seemed to combine more than one genre, which kept me on my toes too. What genre would you say The Graduation Present best inhabits.

JT: Thanks Mary! I think “coming of age” is probably the best way to categorize GP. The main character/narrator is a neurotic nitwit at the beginning of the book and towards the end she’s beginning to mature. At least, I hope she comes across that way. I did my thesis on the works of Jane Austen and so I’m very drawn to themes of young women confronting the world for the first time with many “prejudices.” Riley, for example, assumes that Gil, the young man she’s attracted to, has certain prejudices against her because she is young and naive (and always getting herself into trouble).

Mary: In The Graduation Present, we learn a little bit about the home life of your protagonist, Riley. Would you tell us a bit about your youth/childhood and where you grew up?

JT: I spent my so-called “formative” years in Reno Nevada, or, as it is often called, Sin City North (Sin City South being Vegas). My father was a professor at the university, however many of the kids I grew up were the children of “pit” bosses at the casino. So I learned from an early age not to judge people because of what they did for a living. I’ll always be grateful for that experience.

In high school I struggled to find the right crowd to fit into until I had an epiphany and realized – it really didn’t matter. I began wearing costumes to school, (my favorite was a Dr Zhivago shirt, plaid kilt, green tights and green Robin Hood boots) listening to Indian Ragas and reading everything from science fiction and fantasy to Look Homeward Angel. I formed my own band of equally untalented guitarists and embarrassed myself by warbling protest songs off-key in front of the entire student body. My mother, “ironing board lady,” would probably tell you I was a handful.

Mary: Wow, I wish I’d gone to your high school. I would’ve wanted to hang out with you! So here’s another question–and feel free to skip it if you’d like–but I’d love to know if Uncle Bob (a main character in The Graduation Present) really works for the CIA. Or is that something readers need to figure out for themselves?

JT: My uncle worked for the Department of the Army Civilians which was believed by the locals to be an arm of the CIA. My uncle would just laugh off any suggestion that he was at all involved with covert affairs. To this day, I have no idea.

Mary: Oh! So you got the idea for Uncle Bob’s job from a real uncle. And yet, you say in your author notes that his personality is nothing like the personality of your actual Uncle Bob. Therefore, is the character of Uncle Bob in the novel based on someone else in your life, a combination of people, or is he totally imaginary?

JT: The Uncle Bob character is totally imaginary and not at all like my Uncle Ralph. Wink.

Mary: I see. Now did you, like Riley, spend time in Europe after college? And if so, what experience there was most memorable?

JT: Yes – I spent almost a year living in Germany and traveling around Europe. My most memorable experience was singing Ode to Joy on New Years Eve with thousands of other college age kids while watching fireworks explode over Heidelberg Castle. It was a glorious experience.

Mary: That sounds pretty amazing. Now you’ve also published another book called Flipka. What’s Flipka about, and do you think it will appeal to the same readers who enjoy The Graduation Present?

JT: Of course, I, as the writer have no idea what will appeal to readers! I know I was supposed to have studied my potential market in detail before I even wrote the darned things but alas I didn’t. Flipka, a rather wacky mystery set in Nevada, seems to appeal equally to men and women, which was a surprise. However, since The Graduation Present contains an element of romance, I don’t think it will appeal as much to men.

Mary: Well I don’t know about that. I know that when I finished reading The Graduation Present, I told my husband I thought he’d like it too. And honestly, I think it will appeal to many male readers. The male characters in the story are so well developed and interesting, especially Uncle Bob, Charlie, and Lou. I found all of them fascinating. But moving on, what can you tell us about your new book?

JT: I’ve got one book currently at the editor’s which is basically the story of a woman’s trial by fire, thus it’s a dark comedy. I’m keeping my sanity by working on Flipka 2, Return to Echoing Water. Absurd comedy is how I stay centered.

Mary: That’s really impressive, JT. Flipka is high on my to-read list, and I’ll be looking forward to the sequel, as well as the dark comedy. It’s very cool that you can write comfortably in various genres. So where can people buy your books? Do you prefer to sell through your own website? Are they available in any bookstores? On Amazon?

JT: I don’t even know how to sell books through my website! As far as I know Amazon and Barnes and Noble are the only place they’re being sold.

Mary: I understand that! People keep telling me I should sell books on my website, but I wouldn’t know where to start. So what’s something you’d like the world (or at least my blog readers) to know about JT Twissel?

JT: I don’t bite!

Mary: Oh good! And thank you for sending this picture of your kitty and his friend who-sadly–aren’t allowed to play together. KittyandSquirrel

Also where can we find you on social media?

JT:  blog: http://www.jttwissel.com

tweeter: @jttwissel

I’m not really that active on Facebook or Pinterest. I do post free reads on Wattpad http://www.wattpad.com/user/JTTwissel – poems, excerpts of stories and even a wacky musical called CodeSlingers, The Musical.

Thanks much for hosting me, Mary! Best of luck with both books!

Mary: Thank YOU, JT! This has been a really fun interview! Best of luck with all your books as well!

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Guest Blog: Ali Jordahl Talks about Wattpad

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Mary Rowen

wattpad logoToday, I’m very excited to have a guest blogger, Ali Jordahl. Ali’s an incredibly talented high school writer from New England. I asked her to talk about Wattpad a bit, because she’s been using it for a while, and a lot of writers I’ve spoken with aren’t quite sure how it works. So if you’re curious about Wattpad, I think you’ll find this post very helpful.

Thank you so much, Ali for taking the time to share your insight with other writers!!!

Writing is something I’ve always loved to do! I love creating stories, and I’m constantly thinking up new plot ideas, new characters, and new stories. As a teenager, I find that my entire focus point is on schoolwork for the majority of the year (even now, I am reading, writing, and studying for my classes in the fall).

I did, however, find a website that changed the way I saw writing. A few years ago a friend of mine recommended I look at Wattpad.com. Wattpad is an e-book community in which users can post stories for other users to read. Each chapter can be voted for and commented on by other users.  This gave me endless opportunities for my writing! I wasted no time in starting my first Wattpad story.

Wattpad is its own little community – except this community is huge! There are users who are famous because of extremely popular stories they have written with millions of views, comments, and votes. Recently, Sourcebooks has begun recruiting those popular writers who already have millions of followers (followers are notified whenever the person they’re following posts a new chapter) and publishing their work. These writers have written these popular stories in as short as a month.

My experience on Wattpad has not led me to have hundreds of thousands of followers. I do, however, have 163 followers to date. I have three teen fiction books in progress on Wattpad, plus a poetry book. I update chapters when I can, although it’s sometimes hard to find time to write. The more regularly you update, the more readers you get.

That was the catch! The motivation was there, but suddenly I had readers waiting, putting pressure on me. I loved the feedback I was receiving, but it was an entirely different world than that of an author. I was posting my story chapter by chapter. It wasn’t possible for me to edit out a plot point, change someone’s name, etc. without messing up the story for my readers.

There are pros and cons when I use Wattpad. For instance, Wattpad has helped me to majorly develop my writing. I know I’m not the best writer in the world, but adding to those same stories I started three years ago has allowed me to see how much my writing has changed. I’ve learned what my target audience for my stories likes and dislikes. Wattpad even gave me the idea to start my own blog in which I can exercise my writing skills weekly with blog posts.

Wattpad also, however, becomes too much at times. I am writing my three stories simultaneously on Wattpad, plus a fantasy story that I’m working on that is not published on Wattpad. The story off of Wattpad is actually the longest, coming in at around 130 pages written so far. I get bored easily with one story, so having more than one to work on is advantageous, but having four to manage and add on to can be hard.

Wattpad most certainly isn’t for everyone, but it is an amazing way to get noticed and establish a fan base for an author. Many of my favorite authors have accounts in which they connect with readers and post the beginning chapters of their books, telling fans to buy their book to read the rest of the story. I recently posted on Gennifer Albin’s message board (the author of Crewel), telling her how much I loved her book. She actually replied the next day, thanking me for my support! That simple connection inspired me to look to see if she had published a sequel to Crewel. I will now be buying the next two books as soon as I can. Through a simple connection, she inspired two book sales – without having to spend a dime on promotion! This type of instant publicity is great for authors like her who have a teen audience – the vast majority of Wattpad users are teens and young adults. I recommend it for any author trying to establish a fan base with teens.

The one thing I can tell you about my experience with Wattpad is that my work is being read and enjoyed. I don’t have a book published (yet), but I do have my writing on the internet, being read by people every day. I have developed more as a result of exposure to other writers my age and readers interested in the type of book I am writing. That exposure has brought me so much more confidence with my writing, and has helped me (and is still helping me) to become a better writer!

In addition to writing, Ali likes to act, sing, dance, play the piano, and, of course, read. You can find her work on Wattpad under the username “writeforfun”. Ali also has a  blog, Once Upon a Time, that she updates with posts centered around reading and writing. Take a look at Ali’s blog at onceuponatimeblog.weebly.com

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A Nod to the Screenwriters who Wrote for Robin Williams

Posted on August 14, 2014 by Mary Rowen

Robin_Williams_2011a_(2)When it comes to actors, Robin Williams was about as perfect as they come. If an actor’s job is to breathe humanity into a character who starts out as nothing more than words on a page, then Mr. Williams did it better than almost anyone.

How many times have you seen a movie and quickly forgotten who played the leading roles? You remember the story, but can only recall that the lead male actor was one of those handsome, brown-haired guys with pretty eyes and a strong chin who resembled a handful of other handsome, brown-haired guys with pretty eyes and strong chins.

That was never the case with Robin Williams. He fully inhabited every role he ever played, to the point where no one could’ve imagined anyone else taking his place. Who but Williams could’ve played Mrs. Doubtfire, or John Keating in Dead Poets Society, or Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting, or Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning, Vietnam, or T.S. Garp in The World According to Garp? And those are just a few of his remarkably memorable characters.

Look no further than social media and the thousands of quotes from Williams’ movies that people have posted as memorials to get a sense of how deeply the man moved everyone who experienced his performances. I also have no doubt–no doubt at all–that when Robin Williams was handed a movie script, he did a lot of editing and improvising. Just as Frank Sinatra brought his unique style and personality to every song he sang (although he didn’t get writing credits for most of them) Robin Williams brought fully developed characters to life while adding a healthy dose of Robin Williams to every single one of them. His gift was enormous, and his capacity to share it with the world truly amazing.

And yet, every time I read one of those quotes from his movies, I can’t help thinking about the writers who originally imagined the characters Williams played, and wrote many of the words he spoke on screen. I wonder about the thrill Matt Damon and Ben Affleck–who first became famous for writing Good Will Hunting–must’ve felt when they saw Williams turning the words they’d written into celluloid history. And let’s not forget Mitch Markowitz who wrote Good Morning Vietnam, Tom Schulman who penned Dead Poets Society, and Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon, who wrote the screenplay for Mrs. Doubtfire, which was based on a novel by Anne Fine. And we have John Irving to thank for the novel The World According to Garp, which was then brilliantly adapted for the screen by Steve Tesich.

Of course, there are so many others–too many to list here–but I think it’s important to pay tribute to those wonderful writers who provided Williams with at least some of the material that he turned into his own brand of magic. I can’t imagine what an honor it must’ve been to know that Robin Williams had been cast in a movie you’d written, but I also believe that Williams–with his generous spirit–would’ve wanted us to make sure that those writers were remembered too.

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The Fine Line Between Fitness and Orthorexia

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Mary Rowen

woman looking at mountainsOrthorexia—have you heard of it? I hadn’t until a couple of weeks ago. Or maybe I should say that I’d never heard the word orthorexia. But then an issue of Fitness magazine showed up in my mailbox. I have no idea why, or where it came from—there was no mailing label on it. It was just there.

Now normally, I avoid magazines like Fitness, because back in the days when I was anorexic and bulimic, I subscribed to Runner’s World, and pored over articles about new diets and better workouts with almost religious fervor. These days, it’s my goal to eat well and exercise moderately without getting obsessive about anything. So I was about to toss the issue of Fitness into the recycle bin when one of the headlines on the cover caught my eye. It said, “When Being Healthy Turns Harmful.” I couldn’t resist taking a look.

It turned out to be a really great, informative article about orthorexia, and if you’d like to read the entire thing, it’s called “Are You Too Healthy for Your Own Good?” and is written by Elizabeth Zeman (Fitness, July/August 2014). So what is orthorexia? Well, it’s an eating disorder that affects people (mainly women) in their 20s, 30s and 40s. In a nutshell, orthorexics are people who believe they’re being ultra healthy, but are actually doing real harm to their bodies by exercising too much and/or dangerously limiting their diet. Unfortunately, it’s a difficult condition to diagnose because people—especially Americans—are constantly being told to exercise and eat well. But with orthorexia, moderation has been lost, and the person who seems to be the picture of health is actually spinning out of control.

According to the NEDA website (National Eating Disorders Association) the term orthorexia was coined by Dr. Steven Bratman, who became orthorexic and wrote a book about it called Health Food Junkies: Orthorexia Nervosa–the Health Food Eating Disorder. The term orthorexia literally means, “fixation on righteous eating.” Here’s a quote from Dr. Bratman. “I pursued wellness through healthy eating for years, but gradually I began to sense that something was going wrong.  The poetry of my life was disappearing.  My ability to carry on normal conversations was hindered by intrusive thoughts of food.  The need to obtain meals free of meat, fat, and artificial chemicals had put nearly all social forms of eating beyond my reach.  I was lonely and obsessed. … I found it terribly difficult to free myself.  I had been seduced by righteous eating.  The problem of my life’s meaning had been transferred inexorably to food, and I could not reclaim it.”  (Source:www.orthorexia.com)

Another insidious thing about orthorexia is that it sneaks up on people. Ask any anorexic when she first started depriving herself of food, and she can probably pinpoint the general time period in her life. And almost every bulimic can tell you the first time she vomited or used laxatives to purge. But with orthorexia, it happens gradually. A woman might start running a few miles a day to get healthy, and her friends and family will commend her. “So,” she’ll think, “if a few miles is good, then more will be even better.” The next thing she knows, she’s training for a marathon. But since she’s not feeling terrific or running as fast as she’d like, she begins eliminating certain foods from her diet, or adding large amounts of other foods, believing they will help her achieve her desired results. Again, her friends will often tell her she’s “so disciplined” and “a role model” when in fact, she’s losing the ability to eat intuitively, which includes stopping when she feels full. This can lead to serious health and social problems. People with orthorexia will often skip social engagements because their preferred foods won’t be available, or because attending the engagement will cause them to forego their exercise routine. And it’s easy to see how all of this can contribute to depression.

So how can you tell if you’re becoming orthorexic? According to NEDA, eating healthy is great, but you may have a problem if 1) food is taking up an inordinate amount of time and attention in your life; 2) deviating from your diet is met with guilt and self-loathing; and/or 3) your diet is used to avoid life issues and leaves you separate and alone. There’s a lot more helpful info about orthorexia on the NEDA page here.

Also, at the end of the article in Fitness, there’s a helpful guide that describes some of the differences between a healthy lifestyle and orthorexia. The following is taken directly from that article:

Healthy: You sleep through your alarm and don’t have time to do the tempo run on your half-marathon training schedule, so you do it when you get home from work.

Obsessive: You sleep through your alarm and don’t have time to do the tempo run on your half-marathon schedule, but you do it anyway, show up late for work and miss an important meeting.

Healthy: You eat a decadent dessert at a friend’s birthday dinner and think, “Well, at least I worked out today!”

Obsessive: You eat a decadent dessert at a friend’s birthday dinner and think, “That’s the last time I’m eating out with friends!”

Healthy: You’re so into your new high-protein, low-carb diet that you think about it all the way to the grocery store.

Obsessive: You’re so into your new high-protein, low-carb diet that you think about it during sex.

Healthy: You have no time to cook, so you scan a takeout menu, attempting to choose something that isn’t a total fat and calorie bomb.

Obsessive: You have no time to cook, so you scan a takeout menu, attempting to calculate the exact number of calories and fat grams in each option.

Healthy: You strain a quad in Spinning class, so you take a week off before getting back in the saddle.

Obsessive: You strain a quad in Spinning class, so you ice it, heat it, wrap it, pop some ibuprofen and get back in the saddle the next day.

The good news is, orthorexics can recover. NEDA says that although orthorexia isn’t usually diagnosed by doctors, professional help is often necessary. And choosing a practitioner skilled in eating disorders is the best choice.

And one last thing. Although I hope neither you nor anyone close to you is suffering from orthorexia, please do seek help if you suspect it in yourself. And if it’s a friend who may be suffering, be aware that she—similar to people with anorexia and bulimia—may be in denial of her problem or not want to get help for it. Therefore, confronting her directly is almost always the wrong approach. Instead, the article in Fitness suggests asking your friend to get a medical evaluation. Tell her you care about her and don’t want her to be sick, and offer to go to the evaluation with her.

OK? Now here’s to staying healthy. Moderation is key!

 

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