K R Morrison lives in the Pacific Northwest, with her husband of 25 years, a small zoo, and the occasionally visiting college-age child.

You can find out more about her and her work at http://www.benotafraidthebook.com

How to Find a Critique Buddy

First of all, it’s important to realize that the more help gotten during the creating process, the better. I really appreciate my writers’ support group, because it gives me some objective feed-back on what I have written.
You can go with just a one-on-one, or with a group, for critiquing and support. I have both.

Because my first book has so many aspects of the spiritual realm, I felt a clerical opinion was important, so I had my pastor and ex-pastor read it before I sent it off.

Also, on the advice of a friend, I joined a writers’ group, where I met some people with the same goals I have.

The best way to find a critique buddy, from my experience, is to just merely ask someone. I have had no end of volunteers to read my book and let me know what they think.

I pretty much scatter-shoot, asking anyone who sounds interested. I have had feedback from friends, family, complete strangers, and friends of friends.

If you are looking for a one-on-one, someone who you want to rely on as a regular contributor, I would strongly suggest looking into writers’ groups and finding someone who you truly feel in sync with. But be careful that you don’t choose someone who is going to be mainly negative. I have known people who gave up writing for years because the group s/he was in had nothing but negative things to say about everyone. S/he is still leery about writing, although several of us have read his/her work, and it is really good. We hope to get him/her encouraged enough to try again, and soon. The world is missing out, in my opinion.

For readability, it would be a huge plus to find someone whose grammar and spelling are really honed. Trusting spell-check or grammar-check software is folly; I have read a lot of books in the past few years that were somewhat spoiled by the use of the wrong word or having missing/misspelled words.

Remember, “buddy” is the operative word. Get involved with a writing group, and get to know the members. You will find someone with whom you click, and then the mutual support can begin!

About Be Not Afraid

War is imminent. Evil has overtaken the world, although the world does not know it. God must intervene on the behalf of those who love Him, and a war is brewing that will decide supremacy.

God’s plan unfolds, and His subjects must retain their faith in the midst of every evil the Father of Lies can throw at them. Lydia, because of her strong faith, is particularly seized upon by Vlad, a demonic vampire. He brings her to the brink of despair, unknowingly causing her to cling even harder to her Lord and Savior. When she is miraculously saved, Vlad finds and then harasses her friends and family, unaware of the angels and saints who are on the brink of attack against him and his minions.

The faithful are tested to the ends of their abilities. Will they be able to stand fast against the power of Death, remembering that God is with them? Or will the Father of Lies rise triumphant?

Caroline Alethia is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, on radio and in web outlets. Her words have reached audiences on six continents. She lived in Bolivia and was a witness to many of the events described in Plant Teacher. You can visit her website at www.plantteacherthebook.net. Website |Twitter | Facebook | Amazon | Amazon Kindle Store |Official Tour Page

The Interview

Could you please tell us a little about your book?

Plant Teacher takes place in Bolivia from 2007 to 2008 during President Evo Morales’ contested consolidation of power. The book follows the lives of members of the American expatriate community in that country.

Did something specific happen to prompt you to write this book?

I lived in Bolivia during the time period in which Plant Teacher takes place, and I noticed something interesting. The country was in turmoil. There were mass hunger strikes, protests that turned violent, occasional riots, seemingly capricious military road blocks.

Yet, during all this unrest, people also went about their lives as usual. I personally, for an extended period of time, walked through a plaza filled with hunger strikers and entered my favorite café and passed the morning drinking coffee. In the café, dozens of other people did exactly the same.

I realized that people need normalcy and when the world is not normal they will go on as if – as if life is not in chaos. I placed my characters from Plant Teacher in this tumultuous setting in Bolivia and then let them lead their lives in this schizophrenic way – falling in and out of love, pursuing their careers, nurturing their hobbies – and pretending that the world around them is normal.

Who or what is the inspiration behind this book?

While in Bolivia, I met a retired U.S. Army colonel who had tried caapi, an indigenous hallucinogenic drug. He had found the experience to be spiritually enlightening, but I was skeptical: Is it really possible to purchase wisdom? Plant Teacher’s main character, Martin Banzer, tries caapi at the beginning of the book and soon realizes he’s made a devil’s bargain. His quick trip to enlightenment comes at a cost.

What cause are you most passionate about and why?

I believe in embracing diversity. I have lived overseas for thirteen years in six foreign countries and I received my master’s degree in international relations. I think it is important to try to understand the different values and belief systems of peoples of other cultures. I also think it’s important to try to understand international politics. Our world is made up of so many different peoples and so many nations and we need to try to understand one another.

What are some of your long term goals?

I love the theories of Austrian psychiatrist, Alfred Adler, and I worked a bit of Adlerian theory into Plant Teacher. I have drafted a self-help book on how to interpret early memories in the Adlerian style, and I’d like to publish and promote this book. I’d actually like to see it going a step farther with an informal network of Adlerian groups sprouting up across the country.

What do you feel has been your greatest achievement as an author?

I have to say that the hardest thing I’ve ever written – much harder than writing a novel – is a federal grant. Federal grants require rigorous research and then the ability to design a project and to sell that project to the grantor. It’s a combination of high-level academic writing and straight-up marketing that’s hard to do right. I’ve won several federal grants, and I’m very proud of this fact.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

I’d like to thank you for this opportunity. I hope you and your readers enjoy Plant Teacher.

ABOUT PLANT TEACHER

Hailed by Huffington Post contributor Joel Hirst as a compelling and powerful story, Plant Teacher begins in 1972 when a hippie in Oakland, California flushes a syringe of LSD down a toilet. Thirty-five years later, the wayward drug paraphernalia has found its final resting place in Los Yungas, Bolivia, the umbilical cord between the Andes and Amazonia. Enter into this picture two young Americans, Cheryl Lewis, trying to forge her future in La Paz and Martin Banzer, trying to come to terms with his past in the same city. The two form an unlikely friendship against the backdrop of a country teetering at the brink of dictatorship and revolution. Bolivia sparks the taste for adventure in both young people and Martin finds himself experimenting with indigenous hallucinogenic plants while Cheryl flits from one personal relationship to another. Meanwhile, the syringe buried in the silt in a marsh in Los Yungas will shape their destinies more than either could anticipate or desire.Plant Teacher takes its readers on a fast-paced tour from the hippie excesses of Oakland, to the great streams of the Pacific Ocean and to the countryside, cities, natural wonders and ancient ruins of Bolivia. It reveals­ the mundane and the magical, and, along the way, readers glimpse the lives of everyday Bolivians struggling to establish equanimity or merely eke out a living during drastic political crisis.

Tom Laresca lives in New York with his wife and three children. Currently working as a foreign stock trader, he attended college at St. John’s University. Laresca enjoys playing sports and weightlifting.

I Want to Help: My Story About Cancer, Depression and God is his first book.

You can visit his website at http://iwanttohelp1225.com.

ABOUT I WANT TO HELP: MY STORY ABOUT CANCER, DEPRESSION AND GOD

Tom Laresca lived an average life in a quiet American town: a good job as a stock trader, a wife, a family, a beautiful home. Then in 2001, his life changed.

While living in Boca Raton, Florida, Laresca explains, “I was wrongly arrested and abused by the police. I had been an athlete in high school and college, and had never been in trouble with the law before or since in my professional career as a stock trader. I was put into intensive care, due mainly to being maced for thirty minutes while being pinned down, handcuffed and hogtied. These events all happened in front of my own home in an exclusive gated community.”

Following the assault, Laresca says his main focus was to get the charges against him dropped. “For years, I spent time and money on lawyers to make this happen. The police wanted me to sign a pre-trial intervention (PTI) document, which would make the charges go away but with me assuming part of the guilt. But I didn’t want to do that; I wanted them to admit what they did. I spent years fighting the PTI.  Even though the charges finally went away, I never found out what happened, and the police were never questioned or investigated. This all took lots of time and money, and I had to miss work.”

During this period, Laresca was diagnosed with cancer in three parts of his body and faced the grim possibility that he might only have three months to live. After his treatment and recovery, he then fought a battle with depression.

“Something told me to write about it.” he says. “I wrote the book in one night, sent it out to publishers, and went with the first publisher who answered.”

The book, I WANT TO HELP: MY STORY ABOUT CANCER, DEPRESSION, AND GOD, is a tiny book which, as Laresca says, “is written with the sole purpose of helping others overcome any struggles they may be going through. Not that everyone will go through something as severe as I did, but I believe that most people at some time are struggling with something.”

“The book begins with me learning I had been diagnosed with cancer in three parts of my body. I recount what it felt like to receive the news from my doctor, coupled with the grim possibility that I may have three months to live. I talk about my hospital stay, my fight to stay healthy, both physically and mentally, but most of all spiritually.

“Next, I tell of going through chemotherapy treatments and on to recovery, only to be brought down by what I can only say was crippling depression. I go on to thank God for getting me through all this. Because the truth is that God brought me through it all, and He is waiting to help you with anything you are going through.”

Laresca remembers that as a child, he read Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking. “There were two things that stuck with me: ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,’ and ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ Those helped me through everything, and I use this [philosophy] every day.”

At twenty pages, I WANT TO HELP: MY STORY ABOUT CANCER, DEPRESSION, AND GOD is so short, Laresca says, because he worked long hours, had three kids, and not a lot of time. Still, he adds, people who have read it tell him that it’s helped them in some way, and that he’s heard that grownups have given the book to their children.

These days, Tom Laresca is much more relaxed, especially now that he’s written the book. “If reading it can help just one person,” he says, “I’ll be happy.”

Raynetta Stocks was born in Washington D.C. in August 1981. She excelled early at reading and writing, passions that endured and thrived into adulthood. She honed her skills entering literary contests and writing plays and prose for various extracurricular groups in both high school and college.

Having written since childhood, Raynetta has composed hundreds of works in a multitude of genres to include children’s books, adolescent fiction, short stories, and social essays. Her first work, Barely Breathing, a collection of prose and letters written under the pseudonym Micah Michele and comprised with fellow author J. Mahogany, was published in June 2005. While the work was a tentative first effort, Raynetta continued to persevere as a writer, strengthening her skills by working with talented and knowledgeable mentors.

Now on the brink of the release of her second published work, and first solo effort, she is optimistic and excited about the future prospects in her career. The Grim, a gritty and empowering novel about a young woman’s struggle with PTSD, is the spring board by which Raynetta continues reaching for the stars.

She now resides in Maryland with her family.

You can visit Raynetta’s website at www.raynettastocks.com

The Interview

What is your favorite quality about yourself?
I love that I am a sunny, positive person. I try to stay optimistic and am eager to learn new things.

What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why?
“If the grass is starting to look greener on the other side, water your own grass.”—Maya Angelou. I love that quote because it forces you to look at your own situation. Instead of bailing out for something that seems more profitable, find a way to correct your own problems.

What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life?
The Grim has been my biggest accomplishment, mostly because I promised myself I would finish my first novel by the time I was 30. I don’t turn 31 until August so I’ve met that goal!

How has your upbringing influenced your writing?
My brother and I grew up, not so much poor but relatively restricted monetarily. So we found ourselves making up a lot of stories and games. We were very inventive that way. That has translated to writing in that I come up with ideas pretty easily.

When did you first know you could be a writer?
My “short stories” in fourth and fifth grade always opened to rave reviews (haha). Granted, I was writing about chickens and pigs with farm issues, but my classmates always seemed to love them. Through middle and high school, my writing branched off into plays (as I was an avid participator in my drama clubs) and social/political satires. Again, my work always attracted so much attention, so I was pushed by several advisors to continue.

What genre are you most comfortable writing?
I don’t have a specific genre that works best for me. I like the freedom of being able to write whatever story comes to me, be it romance, psycho thriller or young adult.

What inspired you to write your first book?
Personal experiences actually. My main character, Jaycee, and I have a lot of similar traumas, and telling her story helped me to excise a lot of those demons.

What made you want to be a writer?
I’ve always had a love affair with words. I’ve been writing since I was a child. I was given my first journal at six years old and haven’t stopped since.

What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?
The most challenging part of writing a novel is starting. It’s relatively easy for me to come up with an idea, and once I bang out three or four pages of a first chapter I can love, continuing doesn’t pose much problem. But finding a satisfying, engaging opening to a story tends to still pose a problem.

Do you intend to make writing a career?
I definitely want to make writing my full time career. It’s going to take some significant effort, but that’s the next long-term goal.

Have you developed a specific writing style?
I’m pretty character-driven. I love my characters; I embrace them and make sure I know them intimately as I write. My plots are typically dictated by my characters, and I won’t go forward with my notes if my characters don’t fit the situations.

About The Grim

A gripping tale of both thrills and depth, The Grim follows Jaycee Baynes, single mother and convicted murderer, through her tumultuous stay at an in-patient psych ward. Unable to remember the horrendous events that incarcerated her, she is haunted daily by the presence of her bullet-riddled ex-lover, without whose help, she will undoubtedly never be freed. Having repressed all memory of what she’s done, Jaycee must find a way to manage her illness and confront her past–before it consumes her first.

Judy Byington, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., ret, has dedicated her life to humanizing and raising public awareness about the little known effects of ritual abuse and mind-control programming that tragically cause formation of multiple personalities in children.

The retired CEO, therapist, author and mental health supervisor is founder and leader of Trauma Research Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing information through CEU accredited seminars and lectures on Dissociation and coordinating ritual abuse survivor group, therapeutic and legal resources.

The former mental health supervisor spent twenty years in research with Jenny Hill while interviewing hundreds of ritual abuse survivors, legal entities, therapists, families of missing children and religious, media and community leaders. She works as a consultant on Occult crime with the Utah Attorney General’s office.

With a compelling drive to educate the public on the unimaginable horrors faced by children born into families practicing ritual abuse, Byington continues to pen books about survivors like Jenny Hill who suffer repressed childhood memories of forced participation in rape, torture and murder. Her upcoming book Saints, Sinners and Satan provides a first person account of her own experiences with multiple personality survivors and Occult crime.

You can find out more about the book at http://twentytwofaces.com or at the bloghttp://www.22faces.com

The Interview

Could you please tell us a little about your book?

Twenty-Two Faces immerses readers into the perspective of a severely abused child trying to make sense of a convoluted world. Jenny turns to prayer while dealing with abuse at the hands of a Nazi brainwashing expert who is fracturing her into multiple personalities. Divine intervention saves the five year-old from her own human sacrificial ceremony, then as a young woman, gives her support through a lifetime of jumping from one day to the next as a beauty queen, prostitute, nurse, thief and mother. In defiance of her abusers, Jenny wants the story told. The ending will shock you.

Did something specific happen to prompt you to write this book?

As CEO of Provo Family Counseling Center I counseled young women who like Jenny, had been ritually abused during childhood, enduring repeated rapes, torture and being forced to watch children murdered. I took the information to the FBI. That day Jenny, who was looking for the parents of a child she saw killed, talked to the same agent. He introduced us to each other and not long after I began penning her story.

Who or what is the inspiration behind this book?

As a child in prayer Jenny was told to write down her life experiences “to help yourself and others, for some day a book will be written.”

As a single parent I endured several years of extreme financial stress while raising five wonderful teenagers and caring for a critically ill daughter. Greatly humbled and while in prayer I was impressed to spend my life helping the ritually abused including writing Jenny’s story.

We took biography from her childhood journals and those she kept during her year-long stay at the Utah State Psychiatric Hospital. Jenny helped me outline the chapters, then she wrote them out. Her multiple personalities often took over the pen to express their feelings and tell of their experiences. Alters have memory as if the event just happened, thus Twenty-Two Faces is very detailed.

Who are your biggest critics?

People connected to the False Memory Foundation who seem to have a stake in trying to disprove that ritual abuse exists.

What cause are you most passionate about and why?

As CEO of Provo, Utah Family Counseling Center I counseled women who had repressed memories of ritual abuse during childhood. Ritual abuse is the torture and murder of children and the brainwashing techniques can traumatize a child’s developing brain and cause separation of thinking patterns. This mind-control is most often done by close relatives who, in honor of Satan, practice codes of the ancient mystery religions.

After researching ritual abuse to great length I realized these dark practices have secretly permeated our society. It left me with a compelling drive to educate the public on terrors faced by children born into families practicing ritual abuse. My goal is to help educate the general public so ritually abused children and youth who fall prey to the satanic practices of rape, torture and murder are identified and protected.

What are you currently working on?

I am authoring Saints, Sinners and Satan, a first person account about my experiences with multiple personality survivors and satanic crime.

What do you feel has been your greatest achievement as an author?

My greatest achievement as an author is writing Twenty-Two Faces because it documents how the only known survivor-intended-victim of a modern-day human sacrifice ceremony five year-old Jenny Hill, overcomes multiplicity resulting from brainwashing, her perpetrators having subjected the child to insidious mind-control techniques culled from Nazi Germany. As is the case for thousands of children across the globe unfortunate enough to be born into families practicing these aberrant religious rites.

What do you feel sets this book apart from others in the same genre?

Best-Selling books The Three Faces of Eve (McGraw-Hill, 1957)introduced multiple personalities; Sybil (Henry Regnery,1973) defined child abuse as a common instigator of multiple personalities, while Michelle Remembers (St. Martin’s Press, 1980) was first to reveal Satanic Ritual Abuse as a primary underlying reason behind multiple personalities. Now Twenty-Two Faces fills a niche not met by current books on the market as the first book ever to unify in a single work, the traumas of Multiple Personality and tortuous mind-control programming, uncovering how traumatic events are used to deliberately form multiple personalities and secure life-long control over victims.

Risking her life to be the voice for thousands of Satanic Ritual Abuse Survivors worldwide, Hill’s powerfully true account provides new insights into workings of the human brain: is first to connect ritual abuse mind-control programming to deliberate formation of multiple personalities; first to uncover how and why one develops and functions in fractured states before the person enters therapy and first to reveal esoteric secrets or “Hidden Knowledge” on inner workings of sinister cults hidden within our global society, such as their use of Secret Combinations, Backward Language Talk and the infamous Mark of Cain.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

Twenty-Two Faces is a great educational tool because the biography is designed to give the reader a better understanding about workings of the human mind.

About 22 Faces

Referring to journals written throughout childhood,Twenty-Two Faces: Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalitiesdocuments how as a five year-old, Jenny overcomes ongoing abuse by turning to prayer while utilizing her alter states to compartmentalize trauma at the hands of a master mind-control programmer from Nazi Germany. After suffering deaths of a high school sweetheart, plus her only girlfriend, she somehow completes Army medic training, receives a nursing degree, prepares for a church mission and becomes a mother. Simultaneously led by sex-addict Head Alter J.J., intrepid alters assume frequent control, engaging in larceny and prostitution. With her children, her lifeline, the increasingly desperate nurse escapes a drugged-out pimping husband, blacks out in a job interview, comes to nine days later as an inpatient headed for the Utah State Psychiatric Hospital and only then learns what her life has really been.

Gregory Lamberson is the author of five published horror novels and one nonfiction book on independent filmmaking. A two-time winner of the IPPY Gold Medal for Horror for his novels Johnny Gruesome and Personal Demons, and a three-time Bram Stoker Award finalist, he has three books scheduled for 2012: his zombie novella Carnage Road, from Creeping Hemlock Press; The Frenzy War, Book Two in his werewolf series “The Frenzy Cycle” from Medallion Press; and Tortured Spirits, Book Four in his occult detective series “The Jake Helman Files,” also from Medallion. An Active member of International Thriller Writers and the Horror Writers Association, Lamberson also has a following as a cult horror film director and is best known for Slime City and Slime City Massacre.

Visit him at his website, www.slimeguy.com.

Could you please tell us a little about your book?

On the surface, Carnage Road is a novella about two bikers who take a motorcycle trip across America during the zombie apocalypse.  A certain amount of violence, mayhem and gore are required by this subgenre, so I delivered plenty of each, but I had a lot more on my mind than that.  The film Night of the Living Dead is the godfather of this kind of story, and it possessed something I’ve found missing from many of the zombie novels that have followed: social commentary.  So Carnage Road skewers a lot of the more extreme behavior in our country today.  And most important, I wanted to write a story with a lot of heart about two friends, like Lonesome Dove.  So hopefully readers will give it a shot even if they wouldn’t ordinarily read a zombie tale.

Did something specific happen to prompt you to write this book?

My good friends R.J. and Julia Sevin co-own the small press Creeping Hemlock Press; Print Is Dead is their zombie imprint.  They love zombies.  R.J. asked me to write a proposal for a novel for them, which I did, and he responded enthusiastically; but I had commitments to my regular publisher, Medallion Press, so I had to beg off the project.  He came back a short time later and said, “How about writing it as a novella instead?”  I’d never written a novella before, and had been thinking about attempting one, so that was the perfect solution.

Who or what is the inspiration behind this book?

Besides Night of the Living Dead and Lonesome Dove, the big influences were the films Easy Rider and Born Losers, which was the first “Billy Jack” movie.  I like road trip stories, and I wanted to write about two tough guys in an extreme situation who really have to depend on each other for everything, and how hard it would be for either to survive without the other.  It’s a western at heart.

In the last year have you learned or improved on any skills?

Although a lot of my novels blend horror and noir, I’ve never written in the first person before.  I really enjoyed writing from that perspective for Carnage Road, especially since my protagonist – one of the last two members of a motorcycle gang – was such an unlikely narrator.

Do you have any rituals you follow when finishing a piece of work?

The only ritual seems to be that my computer crashes after I finish my first draft.

Who has influenced you throughout your career as a writer?

I suppose my mother, who was an artist and an English teacher, and who helped shape my political view of the world.  she died in 2001, before I wrote any novels, but I had made three low budget horror films by then, and she appreciated those.

What is the most important thing in your life right now?

My wife and my daughter.  Family comes first.

What are you currently working on?

I’m currently writing a novel called The Julian Year for Medallion Press, which will launch a cutting edge new platform for e-books in 2013.  I’ve also signed the contract for the fifth book in my occult detective series “The Jake Helman Files.”

Is there an author that inspired you to write?

In the 1980s, I devoured novels written by T.M. Wright, who writes very unique, “quiet” horror.  In 2004, Terry was the judge of the contest which resulted in my first novel, Personal Demons, being published.  That was a real thrill.

What are some of your long term goals?

I want to make a living solely on my writing, without any supplemental part time jobs.  I have nine books planned for “The Jake Helman Files” and four for my werewolf series “The Frenzy Cycle,” and I want to finish them all.

What do you feel sets this book apart from others in the same genre?

Carnage Road has two interesting protagonists, a lot of heart, and something to say about America.

You know the scenario – you’re stuck on an island. What book would you bring with you and why?

A Prayer for Own Meaney by John Irving.  I read very little horror because I don’t want to be influenced by other writers in my genre.

Are you a different person now than you were 5 years ago? In what way/s?

Five years ago my daughter was one year old, and I was the stay at home parent.  I’m much more rested now than I was then – I get five hours of sleep a night instead of four!

What is the most important lesson you have learned from life so far?

Fight for what you believe in and avoid compromise that makes you feel bad about yourself.

About Carnage Road

Boone and Walker, the last two members of the Floating Dragons motorcycle gang in Buffalo, set out to re-discover America during the zombie apocalypse. Their odyssey takes them to Ohio, Kansas, Hollywood, and a last stand in Texas. Along the way they learn just what happens when the federal government ceases to exist, and it isn’t pretty.

A tale of friendship and loyalty, Carnage Road is author Gregory Lamberson’s unforgettable ode to westerns, biker pictures, and the cinema of the living dead.

David Ankrah is a quiet individual with a background in media, finance and all things creative, full of ideas and compassion for those around him.

He lives in London with family and likes nothing better than to help people and put smiles on faces.

The inspiration for this book came out of wanting to see an end to some of the hardships we face in modern times with a simple story that everyone can enjoy and in particular for adults to read to children all over the world so that they can share the ideas that come to them as they read about the inhabitants of that wonderful place called Zoniye.

You can visit David at his website, http://seedsthechildrensbook.com.

The Interview

Could you please tell us a little about your book?

The book is a story that I hope will help children (and adults) start to take care of their money in such a way that whenever a recession or any kind of hardship comes around, they are much better prepared to stay above water. The story doesn’t actually mention money, but the word can be introduced when the time is right.

Did something specific happen to prompt you to write this book?

…I do a lot of thinking surrounding money and I was thinking one day about how two people who earn the same amount of money, could have totally different financial outcomes. I was also thinking about how money could be seen as a form slavery. In the film the Ten Commandments, I remembered Moses breaking open a place where grain was stored so the weak slaves could eat. Back then people in charge had to provide food and shelter for their slaves. So the thought came to me that nowadays, people in charge give their ‘slaves’ the means to provide their own food and shelter so it’s no longer their problem…

Who or what is the inspiration behind this book?

Just the desire to want to help people and encourage a positive change in the world however big or small.

Who is your biggest supporter?

My wonderful, amazing Mum

What cause are you most passionate about and why?

My thing is…in two thousand plus years…we still have such a disproportionate level of living standards. Communities which still can’t something as simple as fresh water? So while technology advances, poverty remains. I’ve not done the maths so don’t hold me to this but I get the feeling the money is there to sort out around 80% of the worlds issues, but…

My other thing is war. Two people (leaders) who disagree send twenty thousand people to go and kill other people whom they’ve never met…because it’s their job, right? So it comes back to the money. All while the two (leaders) stay safe at home…

What are you currently working on?

I’m currently working on another short book called “Don’t Do What I Did” which goes through ten ways to avoid some of the common traps and mistakes when it comes to personal money matters. This touches on a few topics such as debt, protecting yourself, taking control of your spending and much more. It’s geared towards those who are about to start making money, but I hope it’s just as effective for those already earning who want to become more aware of some ideas about money that can possibly help them out in the long run.

Do you have any advice for writers or readers?

Your mind is an amazing place. Don’t let negativity move in.

Is there an author that inspired you to write?

Not really an author, but the financial industry and the unfortunate suffering of those who have lost jobs or even their houses.

What are some of your long term goals?

I’d like to start a series of money workshops to raise awareness of certain money matters. Once people are more aware of how money can work, then they can make better choices.

What do you feel has been your greatest achievement as an author?

At the moment it’s when I was asked to read “Seeds” to a group of children in Islamabad as part of their National Book Day celebration.

 You know the scenario – you’re stuck on an island. What book would you bring with you and why?

Err.. ”How To Make An Unsinkable Shark-proof Boat While Surviving On An Island” … if it exists

What is your favorite past-time?

Aside from radio presenting, I guess it would be coming up with ideas, and also solutions to problems.

ABOUT SEEDS

If you would like to help children understand some of the benefits of using money wisely from an early age then this is a story that will inspire them…

Without actually mentioning the word money until after the story ends, this story is designed to show them some of the choices they have in life when it comes to looking after not only their money, but their friends and family.

In fact, you should find that this story has parallels in your life whether you are 6 or 60

So find out what happens to Palooko and Greecho as they go through life and one mysterious day an event takes place that would change their lives forever…

Zoniye…

A wonderful place to live…

And that is where our story begins…

Kelly McClymer started her writing career in short science fiction, moved to novel length historical romance and then shifted over to fantasy YA. Who knows what she’ll write next.

You can visit Kelly at her website,http://kellymcclymer.com.

The Interview

Could you please tell us a little about your book?

The Fairy Tale Bride is a historical romance about a Victorian woman who likes to revise the endings of the darker fairy tales to make sure they all have a happily ever after. When she marries a duke who does not believe in happily ever after, she decides to change his mind.

What cause are you most passionate about and why?

My most passionate cause, at the moment, is reading. My youngest son was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was in third grade, and I’ve been on a journey to understand and help since I trained as a tutor. I’d like to try to help create a world where everyone who is able can read fluently.

What is the most important thing in your life right now?

Right now, as always, I’m focused on family. My daughter’s upcoming wedding is coming up in August — it will be a real family affair, and my backlist books helped finance the big family shindig we have planned.

What are you currently working on?

I’m currently working on my blog novel The Ex-Files. It is not historical romance or YA, it is a chicklit I started when my daughter was in the Peace Corps in Madagascar. She asked me to finish it (I abandoned it when the chicklit market died). So I’m finishing it on my blog and then epublishing it in July.

What are some of your long term goals?

To have a flourishing writing career writing books that I want to write (and readers tell me they want to read). To stamp out illiteracy with a series of game apps and interactive ebooks for older children and adults (the ones who struggle with reading and begin to feel they can’t read — but they can, and I aim to help them succeed).

What is your favorite past-time?

Reading, of course.

ABOUT THE FAIRY TALE BRIDE

Miranda Fenster gave up on a happily-ever-after following a disastrous London season, but she is determined to help her brother regain his star-crossed love by convincing the impeccably proper Duke of Kerstone he was wrong to thwart their love match. Instead, she finds herself compromised, married, and with a second chance for a fairy tale ending — if only she can show the duke fairy tales do come true.

Twitter – https://twitter.com/LifeAllergyFree

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Her latest book is Waking Up Happy: A Handbook of Change with Memoirs of Recovery and Hope.

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

Listen to Jill on the Joy Cardin Show at http://wpr.org/search/ideas_program_search.cfm?StartYear=3&keyword=muehrcke&x=0&y=0.

ABOUT WAKING UP HAPPY: A HANDBOOK OF CHANGE WITH MEMOIRS OF RECOVERY AND HOPE

WAKING UP HAPPY: A HANDBOOK OF CHANGE WITH MEMOIRS OF RECOVERY AND HOPE: Powerful, absorbing, and beautifully written, this first-of-its-kind book of transformation and healing includes memoirs of people who have recovered from addictions, harmful habits, and intolerable situations, along with exercises readers can do to make the same transformations in their own lives.

Half of the proceeds of this book will be donated to the Recovery Foundation helping people build new lives – so every time someone buys a book, they will be helping someone TRANSFORM THEIR LIFE!

Thanks for stopping off at Review From Here, Jill. Can you give us the background story for why you wrote your book Waking Up Happy: A Handbook of Change with Memoirs of Recovery and Hope?

Jill: When I quit drinking in 1984, I discovered that quitting was only the first step in the journey to building a new life. I began collecting tools for change and realized that those same tools would be helpful to anyone who wanted to change their life. Waking Up Happy is the book I wish had been available then – a book of memoirs of people who have recovered from addictions and intolerable situations, along with exercises and to-do lists to help readers transform their own lives.

There are 30 storytellers in WAKING UP HAPPY, including me, my daughter, and my granddaughter. Each time one of these storytellers learns a lesson in their life, I have added exercises you can do to create those same changes in your own life. Each chapter ends with “Things to Do Today” and the book ends with “365 Steps on Your Journey” – an exercise for every day of the year – so that you will have something concrete to do each day to continue your journey of self-discovery and transformation.

How do you feel this book will change people’s lives?

Jill: People who have read the book tell me that the memoirs inspire them to change and the exercises give them the tools to do so. That’s what’s needed for any change – first, the motivation and belief that change is possible and, then, a set of concrete guidelines to pave the way. Then it’s just a matter of doing one small thing every day. In time, those tiny changes will add up to profound change.

Is this your only book?

Jill: I have written dozens of books in the educational field, including the best-selling book Map Use. But I’ve never before written or published anything as personal as Waking Up Happy.

What do you do for a living?

Jill: My “day job” is as the editor of Nonprofit World (snpo.org), which provides management and leadership advice to those who work in the nonprofit sector. I founded Nonprofit World in 1983 and have been its editor ever since. In addition, I have my own company, JP Publications, and do freelance writing and editing.

Where do you go to find sanctuary?

Jill: My bed!

Are you married? Single? Children?

Jill: I have been married to a wonderful man for 43 years. I have a daughter, Andrea, and two grandkids, Shyloh and Zeke.

What genre have you not written yet but would love to?

Jill: I have actually written six mysteries that are unpublished. Someday I would like to try my hand at that genre again.

If you had one piece of writing advice to give to aspiring authors, what would that be?

Take time to read and write for yourself. It’s the most important thing you can do as a writer, editor, and person. Read the great writers. Pay attention to how they use words and how they get their points across. Keep a journal. Allow your writing to be a living, daily part of who you are. Hold on to the knowledge that you’re in the right place, doing the right thing. Doing what you love.

Thank you again for this interview, Jill. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

Jill: Yes, I’m donating half the proceeds from Waking Up Happy to the Recovery Foundation (recoveryfoundation.org), which provides counseling for people who can’t afford to pay for it on their own. So when you buy a copy of Waking Up Happy, you are helping someone transform their life!