All Posts Tagged With: "relationships"
SEA ESCAPE, Lynne Griffin
Carrie’s Conversation with Lynne Griffin, Author of SEA ESCAPE
Carrie: Without giving too much away, give us an idea about what SEA ESCAPE is about.
Lynne: SEA ESCAPE is a story inspired by my parents love letters; it’s about the ties that bind mothers and daughters. Laura Martinez is wedged in the middle place, grappling with her busy life as a nurse, wife, and devoted mom to Henry and Claire, when her estranged mother, Helen, suffers a devastating stroke. In a desperate attempt to lure her mother into choosing life, Laura goes to Sea Escape, the pristine beach home that Helen took refuge in when her carefully crafted life unraveled years ago, after the death of her beloved husband. Believing the beauty and sway of her father’s words have the power to heal, Laura reads the letters bedside to her mother–a woman who once spoke the language of fabric; of Peony Sky in Jade and Paradise Garden Sage–but who can’t or won’t speak to her now. As Laura delves deeper into her tangled family history, each letter revealing patchwork details of her parents’ marriage, she finds a common thread. A secret, mother and daughter unknowingly share.
Carrie: What inspired you to write SEA ESCAPE?
Lynne: After my own mother passed away in 2000, I found love letters written to her by my father. As I read, I went so far as to imagine excerpts of my father’s beautiful writing shining within a novel I might someday write. In those musings, SEA ESCAPE was born. The letters were then and are now a treasure. The love captured within, pure and sincere. Yet to my storyteller’s heart, reading them then, I couldn’t help but think–not enough conflict, no secrets, no dramatic reveal. Certainly I didn’t want those things to come by way of my parents, but right then I started imagining a different story belong to a different daughter. That story is SEA ESCAPE.
Carrie: Is there an underlying theme of SEA ESCAPE?
Lynne: I’ve been a family life expert for more than twenty years, and there’s so much about my work counseling parents, observing children, and teaching educators about families that I use in writing fiction. My desire to capture family life in authentic ways feeds the themes of all my novels. There’s no shortage of seeds from my work that I use to inform my writing. Anton Chekhov called them little particulars. Right there in my everyday life are organic details that give genuineness to the stories I create. I’ve had my own grief work to do over the years; I lost my father when I was fifteen and my mother when I was forty. As a professional who’s taught classes and counseled parents and children about healthy grieving, I’ve always been struck by the choices people make related to the loss of a loved one—the healthy and unhealthy ways grief work gets done. So I write about the choices people make when faced with unbelievable pain. What really holds a marriage together when it’s tested. I examine the impact of loss on all kinds of relationships—mother, brother, sister, daughter, friend. If they start off strong—or don’t—what happens? Why do some people thrive after a loss, finding true purpose, while others don’t come out of it stronger?
Carrie: Which character do you identify with the most in SEA ESCAPE? How much of yourself did you put into these characters and did you realize you showed up in SEA ESCAPE? If so, while you were writing or only afterwards upon review?
Lynne: I truly care about all my characters—in all their shades of humanity—yet the one I love the most is Helen. Like my own mother did, Helen struggles with what’s called prolonged grief disorder, a specific kind of depression brought on by loss. For some, grief refuses to follow the typical trajectory toward healing. In my years as a grief counselor, I’ve met countless people who simply can not move through the grieving process. I empathize with Helen, stuck in the past, gripped by the pain of loss. I have enormous compassion for her because of what my mother experienced after the death of my father. For this reason, SEA ESCAPE is a deeply personal and emotional novel for me. Helen is a character I will be forever connected to.
Carrie: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received about writing fiction?
Lynne: Close the door on the marketplace while you write. Writing to trends–trying to guess what readers want–isn’t for me. I feel an obligation to write for the story, to let the characters tell me about their lives. I believe if my story and characters are authentic, the novel will find its audience.
Carrie: Can you offer a glimpse into your “real life” and share with us a bit of your personal life—Outside of writing, what’s important to you?
Lynne: I live in a seaside town much like Anaskaket depicted in SEA ESCAPE. I’m married to the most supportive husband a woman could have, and we have two college age children; a daughter studying vocal performance and music education, and a son studying jazz piano and music sound recording. My family provides me my greatest joy in life—and there’s a lot of music in my life too. My husband and children support, encourage, and ground me in unbelievable ways. I am very blessed. If I’m not spending time with them, or writing, I’m reading. The to-be-read piles of books in my home are an embarrassment of riches.
Carrie: What authors, books, or ideas have influenced your writing?
Lynne: Everything I read influences my work. If a novel isn’t working for me, I try to analyze from a craft perspective, why that’s the case. And if I love it, the same applies. I want to know how and why it sings. There are so many novels on my keeper shelf, books I dip in to, to be inspired. Wally Lamb’s, The Hour I First Believed; Margot Livesey’s, Eva Moves the Furniture; Nicole Krauss’s, The History of Love. I love everything by Ann Patchett, Sue Miller, and Jonathan Safran Foer. Novels I’ve recently read and adored include Day for Night by Frederick Reiken, and Little Bee by Chris Cleave.
Just a Bit More About Lynne Griffin:
Lynne Griffin writes about family life. She is the author of, Sea Escape-A novel (Simon & Schuster, July 2010) Life Without Summer-A novel (St. Martin’s Press, 2009), and the nonfiction parenting title, Negotiation Generation (Penguin, 2007). Lynne teaches family studies at the graduate level and writing at Grub Street Writers in Boston. She appears regularly on Boston’s Fox Morning News talking about family life issues. Lynne writes for the blog, Family Life Stories.
**Click HERE to visit Lynne’s website
SEA ESCAPE Excerpt ~ Chapter 1
Letters are windows casting light, illuminating the ties between two people. I could’ve sneaked a peek inside my parents’ romance by reading his letters to her, but I respected my mother’s love of curtains. At forty-five, the details of their marriage remained a mystery to me; I had no desire to confirm what I already knew. Even dead, she loved him more than me. My mother spent her days drenched in memories of safe arms and sweet music, reading his precious words, faded ink on yellowed stationery. I looked for ghosts around corners, certain I was running out of time to find a way to be enough for her. An inability to live in the present was one thing we had in common.
“Are you okay in there, Mother?” Well aware she startled at loud noises, I knocked lightly on the door nearest the driveway. No answer. By the fourth rap, I couldn’t stop myself, I was pounding.
The first pinprick of worry jabbed me as I wondered if this was the day I’d find my mother dead in her double bed, cold, even though she was covered by her wedding quilt of interlocking green and pink floral circles. Juggling two grocery bags and reminding the kids to stop at the end of the boardwalk leading to Anaskaket Beach, I jiggled the lock, but she’d bolted and double-bolted the place as if Sea Escape sat on a main street in the city instead of on waterfront acreage south of Boston.
To Enter to Win a FREE Copy of SEA ESCAPE:
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Leave a Comment Below ~ We’d love to hear about one of your favorite memories about your parents/family
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U.S. & Canada residents only; No P.O. Boxes, please
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Deadline: August 1st, 2010 ~ Midnight, EST
SOMETIMES MINE, Martha Moody
Carrie’s Conversation with Martha Moody
Carrie: What inspired you to write SOMETIMES MINE?
Martha: The germ of the story came from a book group discussion about my first novel, BEST FRIENDS. Some women in the group were very distressed that the narrator, Clare, has an affair with her ex-husband. There are a lot of bad things done by characters in that novel, and I was impressed at the particular anger Clare’s actions evoked. I’m a physician, and I knew that two of my female patients were involved for years with married men. I didn’t see these patients as evil, but as sad and isolated. I thought, “Hmm, it would be a challenge to write about a mistress from her point of view.”
I also wanted to write about work. Genie, the narrator of Sometimes Mine, is a cardiologist and her lover, Mick, is a college basketball coach. Each of them is excellent at what they do, and each is defined and to some extent hidden by their role. Their mutual appreciation of their distinctive work and talents helps bond them. I’ve always liked this quote from the Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer: “With his work, as with a glove, a man feels the universe.”
The third impetus for the novel was a story my social work mother told me when I was a teenager, in the early 70’s. One of her clients was a “maiden lady” who had lived all her life with another woman. When the client’s friend got ill and then died, the client was treated by her friend’s family not as a spouse or grieving widow, but as a simple housemate. This really magnified her loss. That story haunted me for years as an example of the power of society’s norms. In the book, when Mick moves into the realm of the sick, Genie has no defined role.
Carrie: In general, how does an idea for a book come to you–Does it perk slowly in your mind or does it come in a flash?
Martha: I’m a slow perker.
Carrie: Give us an idea of the plot of SOMETIMES MINE without giving too much away.
Martha: SOMETIMES MINE is the story of a long-term affair of a divorced female cardiologist, Genie Toledo, and a married college basketball coach, Mick Crabbe. It tells what happens when Mick gets seriously ill and Genie is forced to confront both Mick’s family and her own illusions.
Carrie: What is the primary message you’d like your readers to take away from SOMETIMES MINE?
Martha: SOMETIMES MINE is a love triangle between three very imperfect people. You’d expect things to turn out badly, but in an odd way each person becomes heroic. I’d like to think of the novel as a plea for accepting the complexity of people’s feelings and lives, and the surprising connections through which a person can gain strength.
Carrie: What is your favorite scene in SOMETIMES MINE? Why?
Martha: There’s a scene near the end of the book where Genie, the mistress, and Karen, the wife, sit together in the back seat of a car and reach an accord. It’s not an easy or perfect agreement, but it’s sincere. I love both those women in that scene, and that scene is why I think of SOMETIMES MINE as my peacenik book.
Carrie: What was the most difficult scene to write? Why?
Martha: Genie at one point performs a cardiac catheterization and angioplasty on a relative of Mick’s. It’s a suspenseful scene, and technically I found it challenging both to keep up the suspense and to write the details so a non-medical reader would understand what was going on.
Carrie: What is your go-to book–that one you’ve read more than once, possibly over-and-over? OR Who is your go-to author?
Martha: I have three go-to authors: Alice Munro, William Trevor, and Henry James.
Carrie: Can you offer a glimpse into your “real life” and share with us a bit of your personal life—Outside of writing, what’s important to you?
Martha: I live in Dayton, Ohio with my husband of 25 years, Martin Jacobs, a nuclear medicine physician, and our four sons. Two of our sons are in college and two in high school. In 2000, I retired from private practice after fifteen years to spend more time with my family and writing. I wonder if I have adult ADD because I can’t seem to sit still and I always do a number of different things in one day. I cook, knit, exercise (kettlebells), love being outside and crawling in caves. I volunteer seeing patients at a clinic for the working poor, and teaching writing at the local high school. Sometimes I teach writing classes for adults. In Dayton, I’ve been active in the Jewish Cultural Arts and Book Fair and I’m on the Board for The Human Race Theatre Company, a professional group that puts on all sorts of interesting plays.
Carrie: Tell us something surprising about you and/or something very few people know about you.
Best Friends Forever, Jennifer Weiner
Excerpt from Jennifer Weiner’s BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, Chapter 2 (from Simon and Schuster website)
Looking back, the knock on the door should have scared me. It should at least have come as a surprise. My house — the same one I grew up in — is set at the farthest curve of a culde- sac in Pleasant Ridge, Illinois, a Chicago suburb of fourteen thousand souls with quiet streets, neatly kept lawns, and well-regarded public schools. There are rarely pedestrians or passersby on Crescent Drive. Most weeks, the only signs of life after ten p.m. are the flash of headlights on my bedroom wall on the nights that my next-door neighbor Mrs. Bass has her Shakespeare Society meeting. I live alone, and I’m generally asleep by ten-thirty. But even so. When I heard the knock, my heartbeat didn’t quicken; my palms did not sweat. At some level underneath conscious thought, a place down in my cells where, the scientists tell us, memories reside, I’d been waiting years for that knock, waiting for the feel of my feet moving across the floor and my hand on the cool brass knob.
I pulled open the door and felt my eyes get big and my breath catch in my chest. There was my old best friend, Valerie Adler, whom I hadn’t spoken to since I was seventeen and hadn’t seen in person since high school ended, standing underneath the porch light; Valerie with her heart-shaped face and Cupid’s-bow lips and lashes heavy and dark as moth’s wings. She stood with her hands clasped at her waist, as if in prayer. There was something dark staining the sleeve of her belted trench coat.
For a minute, we stood in the cold, in the cone of light, staring at each other, and the thought that rose to my mind had the warmth of sunshine and the sweet density of honey. My friend, I thought as I looked at Val. My friend has come back to me.
EASY ON THE EYES, Jane Porter
To enter to win a FREE copy of EASY ON THE EYES:
Easy on the Eyes (from Jane’s Website)
At 38, Tiana Tomlinson has made it. America adores her as one of the anchors of America Tonight, a top-rated nightly entertainment and news program. But even with the trappings that come with her elite lifestyle, she feels empty. Tiana desperately misses her late husband Keith, who died several years before. And in a business that thrives on youth, Tiana is getting the message that her age is starting to show and certain measures must be taken if she wants to remain in the spotlight. It doesn’t help that at every turn she has to deal with her adversary—the devilishly handsome, plastic surgeon to the stars, Michael O’Sullivan. But a trip away from the Hollywood madness has consequences that could affect the rest of her life.
About Jane (from Jane’s Website)
Born in Visalia, California, I’m a small town girl at heart. I love central California’s golden foothills, oak trees, and the miles of farmland. In my mind, there’s nothing sweeter in the world than the heady fragrance of orange blossoms on a sultry summer night. As a little girl I spent hours on my bed, staring out the window, dreaming of far off places, fearless knights, and happy-ever-after endings. In my imagination I was never the geeky bookworm with the thick coke-bottle glasses, but a princess, a magical fairy, a Joan-of-Arc crusader. My parents fed my imagination by taking our family to Europe for a year when I was thirteen. The year away changed me (I wasn’t a geek for once!) and overseas I discovered a huge and wonderful world with different cultures and customs. I loved everything about Europe, but felt especially passionate about Italy and those gorgeous Italian men (no wonder my very first Presents hero was Italian). I confess, after that incredible year in Europe, the travel bug bit, and bit hard. I spent much of my high school and college years abroad, studying in South Africa, Japan and Ireland. South Africa remains a country of my heart, the people, the land and politics complex and heart-wrenching. After my years of traveling and studying I had to settle down and earn a living. With my Bachelors degree from UCLA in American Studies, a program that combines American literature and American history, I’ve worked in sales and marketing, as well as a director of a non-profit foundation. Later I earned my Masters in Writing from the University of San Francisco and taught jr. high and high school English. I now live in rugged Seattle, Washington with my two young sons. I never mind a rainy day, either, because that’s when I sit at my desk and write stories about far-away places, fascinating people, and most importantly of all, love. I like a story with a happy ending. We all do.
The Shack, William P. Young (Bonus: Jeff Shephard Band’s Song, Traffic Lights)
To enter to win a copy of The Shack:
- Comment below and/or
- Call 206-309-7318 and leave a voice mail message about your thoughts on The Shack, our interview, or maybe your own faith story
- You must be subscribed to the Words to Mouth e-newsletter to be informed of winning
- Deadline - February 15th, 2009 (midnight EST)
- U.S. and Canada residents only; NO P.O. Boxes
“I truly believe we are as sick as the secrets we keep,” shares Paul.
“It’s all about relationship, not religion”
Description (Amazon):
Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant “The Shack” wrestles with the timeless question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?” The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!
Some of Paul’s “future tripping” blog post ~ a term now part of my common vernacular among friends:
A couple of years ago, I decided to stop ‘future tripping’. ‘Future Tripping’ is ‘taking thought for tomorrow’, it is creating imaginations of what is going to happen and then actually take a mental and emotional trip to live there for a bit. It is ‘what am I going to do if _________ (fill in the blank), what am I going to say if __________, what would our family go through if _____________. I confess to you that I have experienced many un-realities and their attendant emotions this way. 
I have repeatedly suffered huge financial losses, ended up living under one of the city bridges, been abandoned by my family, suffered the loss of each of my children, had my closest friends turn out to be villains, embarrassed myself in public, was put on the spot and said something stupid, been to my own funeral (more than once), unsuccessfully tried to stop something horrible from happening, failed repeatedly to live up to somebody’s expectations, been horribly maimed in every kind of imaginable accident known to man, lost all my teeth, lost every job I ever had, came down with every disease possible, regularly looked like an idiot, got my lights punched out for no reason, explained my driving to a police officer, lost my friends, went to school and found out I wasn’t wearing anything, got mugged, imagined the situation that I currently was in was permanent…that nothing could ever or would ever change…
…you get the idea. I have written volumes of imaginations in my own head, things that have no substance, no reality, and are empty, vain imaginations. But I treat them as if they are real. I feel all kinds of terrifying and horrible emotions, and scramble to control my life so that these imaginations won’t actually come to pass. THESE IMAGINATIONS ARE NOT REAL!!!! But I had spent most of my life in or around them. GOD DOES NOT DWELL IN ANYTHING THAT IS NOT REAL!!! In these imaginations, Papa is conspicuously absent. Why? Because Papa has no interest in living inside something that isn’t even real to begin with. So in my ‘vain’ empty imaginations, I am the only ‘god’ there is. I have to fix things, make sure things turn out right, try to get a handle on people and events…and frankly, I do a very poor job of it…this playing god thing. So, my life tended to be gripped by fear and I worked hard to get some ‘control’ to prevent these imaginations that I feared. I had a habit of treating something that had no reality or substance as if it were truly real.
A couple years ago I stopped this insanity. And here is what I discovered. JOY has a name (for more…visit Paul’s wonderful blog website).
Jeff Shephard Band ~ Visit the website and hear Traffic Lights and the rest of the band’s repetoire for Free ~ add it to your Myspace profile.
Links:
The Pirate’s Daughter, Margaret Cezair-Thompson
“Back in America, little was known of my life in Jamaica,” wrote Errol Flynn
I had the privilege of meeting and cruising with the Manic Mommies back in November. One of the lovely mommies, Kim Erskine, organized an on-ship book club and we all met up in the library one afternoon to chat about The Pirate’s Daughter. It was the perfect backdrop to talk about a book set in the tropics. The conversation was thought-provoking and as with most book clubs, impressions were introduced that weren’t previously considered. Some of the questions our group had about the book went unanswered, so it was wonderful to pose them directly to the woman who penned the words. I contacted The Pirate’s Daughter author, Margaret Cezair-Thompson and asked her to speak with me about her book.
Listen in as Margaret speaks so eloquently about her book and the Caribbean island nation she adores so much. She is a gifted storyteller and simply a delightful person.
Then, join the conversation & be entered to win a FREE copy of The Pirate’s Daughter by:
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Leaving a comment below and/or
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Calling 206-309-7318 and sharing your impressions of the book or this interview–something I can play on-air
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Deadline February 15th, 2009, EST
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No P.O. Boxes Please
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U.S. & Canada residents only
In 1946, a storm-wrecked boat carrying Hollywood’s most famous swashbuckler shored up on the coast of Jamaica, and the glamorous world of 1940’s Hollywood converged with that of a small West Indian society. After a long and storied career on the silver screen, Errol Flynn spent much of the last years of his life on a small island off of Jamaica, throwing parties and sleeping with increasingly younger teenaged girls. Based on those years, The Pirate’s Daughter is the story of Ida, a local girl who has an affair with Flynn that produces a daughter, May, who meets her father but once. 
Spanning two generations of women whose destinies become inextricably linked with the matinee idol’s, this lively novel tells the provocative history of a vanished era, of uncommon kinships, compelling attachments, betrayal and atonement in a paradisal, tropical setting. As adept with Jamaican vernacular as she is at revealing the internal machinations of a fading and bloated matinee idol, Margaret Cezair-Thompson weaves a saga of a mother and daughter finding their way in a nation struggling to rise to the challenge of independence.
A wonderful book review excerpt from BookingMama:
THE PIRATE’S DAUGHTER by Margaret Cezair-Thompson has been on my radar for over a year now so I was very excited when one of my book club members selected it for our December meeting. News about this book just kept popping up everywhere, and all of the buzz was so good. I think it was only a matter of time before I picked it up.
I first heard about this novel when Unbridled Books released it last fall. The book’s description sounded very interesting to me. Then, it started receiving some big-time praise including including the #1 October 2007 Book Sense Pick as well as 2008 Essence Magazine Literary Award for Fiction. In August, the trade paperback version of THE PIRATE’S DAUGHTER was released by Random House with a bright, gorgeous cover. And just a few months ago, Celestial Seasonings’ Adventure at Every Turn selected it as one of their book club picks. I am just so glad that someone finally selected it for us to discuss.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I began reading THE PIRATE’S DAUGHTER, but I have to say that the book was a little different than I thought it would be. While I knew that the story was about a young Jamaican girl, Ida, who falls in love with Errol Flynn, I didn’t know that the book also included a lot of historical information about Jamaica. Having known absolutely nothing about Jamaica and their struggle for independence in the 1970s, I thought it was very interesting. The author did a tremendous job of incorporating the history with the characters in this novel.
I had always known that Errol Flynn was a unique figure to say the least, but I had no idea how much trouble this man could cause. I found him to be extremely distasteful — he seemed to prefer under-age girls and lots of alcohol; however, I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of him and his actions — these scenes were excellent. He must have been such a charismatic figure because men and women alike wanted to be in his presence (although to me he just seemed disgusting.) I found it so sad that Ida fell in love with him (or the idea of him) and ended up sacrificing her entire life because of her feelings. For More . . .
Margaret’s Suggested Reading:
- Mister Pipp, by Lloyd Jones “I love and highly recommend,” says Margaret
Margaret’s favorite author (when forced to pick ONLY one!):
Links:
The Wisdom of Yawdy Rum, Micheal Lane
Micheal has been so very gracious to offer FIVE copies of his wonderful book, The Wisdom of Yawdy Rum for our giveaway contest.
To Enter to WIN:
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Simply Leave a Comment Below
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Deadline January 30th, 2009 midnight, EST
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US and Canada addresses only, please
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As always, you must be subscribed to my e-newsletter to be informed of winning names
The Wisdom of Yawdy Rum ~ An old New Orleans jazz musician and a secret that will harmonize your life, The Wisdom of Yawdy Rum blends memoirs and inspirational writing with a spicy mix of New Orleans jazz, cuisine, and history. It is a story about relationships, self-discovery, finding balance, setting priorities, and finding the courage to change.
Perfect for Starting a New Year!
YAWDY’S WISDOM (excerpt) ~ The Wisdom of Yawdy Rum shares concepts from easy-to-understand music theory and common-sense thinking to illustrate seven basic principles that can teach anyone, in any situation, how to harness the power of paying attention.
I. LARGO ~ Slow down so you can pay attention.
II. D.C. AL FINE ~ Go back to the beginning. Play it through in your mind. THINK.
III. DYNAMICS & TEMPO ~ Pay attention to your senses.
IV. THE SCORE ~ Write out a description of a successful outcome.
V. REPEAT ~ Repeat goal centered actions and behaviors.
VI. REST ~ Take time to rest.
VII. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF ~ and don’t hesitate to ask the Band-leader for help.
Carrie’s Conversation with Micheal Lane:
Carrie: Why did you write The Wisdom of Yawdy Rum?
Micheal: I’ve had a goal for many years to write and speak professionally. And I simply came to a point in my life where I realized if I was going to achieve that goal, I needed to take action. For years I’ve been a great fan of authors like Og Mandino, Richard Bach, and Mitch Albom. I think simple, motivational stories move us at a deep level; staying with us and providing critical guidance. I decided to write a story in that same fashion.
Carrie: What is The Wisdom of Yawdy Rum about?
Micheal: The Wisdom of Yawdy Rum is about traditional New Orleans jazz, corporate politics, and hurricanes — both real and emotional. A senior marketing executive meets Yawdy Rum, an old New Orleans jazzman who turns out to be a sage. The story focuses on their friendship and the wisdom Yawdy has acquired through his life as a musician, and on the danger facing New Orleans from the threat of a gulf hurricane. The story offers insights into the life of a successful executive wrestling with the demands of corporate politics, an exhausting travel schedule, and the challenge of balancing work with the needs of a family trying to raise an autistic child.
Carrie: Where did you find your inspiration?
Micheal: In Feb. 2005, I was walking back to my hotel in New Orleans after a late-night business meeting. I stopped under the awning of Reverend Zombie’s Voodoo shop on Saint Peter Street in the French Quarter. Historic Preservation Hall stood directly across the street from me. I could hear the beat of the traditional New Orleans jazz radiating from the building. Standing there, staring through the drizzle at the weathered old facade, I suddenly felt the presence of an old jazzman. His energy, his grace, and his wisdom were almost palpable and I instantly felt a connection between my personal situation and the lessons that I could potentially learn from someone who had the kind of life experience as this imaginary jazzman. Out of this, I created the fictional character Yawdy Rum to convey a message of wisdom and hope in the face of change.
The Truth About You, Marcus Buckingham ~ Win A FREE Copy
RE-Post (if that’s a word)
Unbelievably, three out of five chosen winners have not claimed their copy of The Truth About You…
So, I’m opening the contest back up to three new lucky winners
To Enter to WIN, you MUST:
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Subscribe to my e-newsletter (this is the way I get in touch with you to let you know who won) AND
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Leave a comment below and / or
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Call 206-309-7318 and leave a voice mail message I can play on-air
BEST of LUCK!!
Check out Susan Bratton’s (Personal Life Media) DishyMix interview with Marcus and his presentations on YouTube. He’s a phenomenal speaker and offers wonderful guidance. 
He’s also interviewed with Oprah, so check him out. Click HERE for Marcus’s website.
~ GOOD LUCK ~
How Far is the Ocean from Here, Amy Shearn
I’ve had this interview in my back pocket for awhile. I took to heart an expert podcaster’s advice to have at least 10 shows in the hopper, so as to be prepared and it sort of backfired. I think I do best living life a bit more on the edge. So…my apologies on the delay to Amy. I think you’ll agree, it’s worth the wait ~ She’s a pleasure. Listen in as we talk about her life, her book, and her blogs.
Afterwards, don’t forget to comment below and/or call 206-309-7318 and leave a voice mail message to be entered to win a FREE copy of HOW FAR IS THE OCEAN FROM HERE. You’ll need to subscribe to my e-newsletter to make it quick and easy for me to announce the winner! Please leave me a review on iTunes and don’t forget to subscribe to Words To Mouth to get it delivered to your computer for free, so you can listen wherever and whenever you’d like. “Thanks” as always to Natalie Brown for You Gotta Believe from the Podsafe Music Network. About HOW FAR IS THE OCEAN FROM HERE: Susannah Prue is a young, unmarried surrogate mother who, in the days before her delivery date, panics. Jumping into her car, she flees her Chicago home and a few days later pulls up to a bleak motel in the Southwest—the Thunder Lodge. There, she encounters misfits, much like herself, who also carry secrets: the motel’s terse proprietors, their mentally disabled son, and a woman transporting her niece to the father she’s never met. But when the parents of Susannah’s baby discover her whereabouts, she can no longer ignore the profound power she holds over their lives. Beautifully written, How Far Is the Ocean from Here explores the ways in which people care for one another and the ways in which they fail, the kinds of families we create when we have no one else to turn to, and the strangeness and unpredictability of love.
Book Excerpt: Chapter One, “Otherhood”
Along the highway in that stretch of desert, some-where between West Texas and East New Mexico, there was nothing and nothing and nothing and then the Thunder Lodge. But what a nothing! There the horizon had a weight she hadn’t known a horizon could have; a plain unvaried by cactus or tree, unstirred by lizard or coyote, undimpled by even a shadow, only here and there the slightest swell of hills. A house, a diner, a roadside attraction—an abandoned gas station with leaking, ancient snouts; a gigantic plaster dinosaur; a man in a gorilla suit advertising discounted tires—any distraction would have inspired as raucous a land ho as has ever been heard. But there was nothing, and still she moved onward, and still the desert lay insensible to any human who entered it.
That is to say, the highway was so forgotten in those stretches that it was difficult to believe it had ever been built. Out walking on its dusty shoulder, her hands pressed to her belly as if it might detach in the heat, sweat trickling between her shoulder blades, Susannah tried to imagine the men who had done such a thing, these ghostly men who’d installed the devolving asphalt: bending their backs in the sunlight, their lungs struggling in the grit of reddish dirt, the hides of their legs and hands torn from arguing with the sinewy tangles that accounted for vegetation. On the whole she spent entirely too much time daydreaming—it was a weakness, she knew— picturing what it was like to be somebody else, trying on different versions of herself like suits of skin. Now she was entirely out of context, a paper doll slapped onto an unfamiliar backdrop, just any pregnant girl standing on the side of the highway twisting her spine, giving the overheated car a minute to tick time-bombishly, a chance to stop steaming from the hood. (For more, go to the full excerpt on Amy’s website
Amy’s Book Recommendations:
- The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton ~ “It is so wonderful. If you just want to spend a weekend at home weeping, I highly recommend it,” says Amy.
- Amy says about her favorite author: “Virginia Woolf inspires me…at the same time making me feel like there is no point in writing anything”
Amy’s Blogs:
The Smart Cookies Guide to Making More Dough, The Smart Cookies and Jennifer Barrett
**Thanks to Christine for the following guest book review ~ I’m still recovering from my whirlwind Manic Mommies Escape Cruise complete with head cold, so Christine’s submission came at just the right time!
The Smart Cookies Guide to Making More Dough
By: The Smart Cookies and Jennifer Barrett
Guest Book Review by Christine Olson-Mader
I was excited to read a book about successful personal finance written from the perspective of real women who didn’t have professional backgrounds in banking or investing. The Smart Cookies are easy to relate to, they are like most young women today who have careers, relationships, friendships, shopping to do, and bills to pay. Their real-life examples of being in debt, how they got there, and how they worked to get out are enlightening, informative, at times funny, and also inspiring.
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About WordstoMouth
Carrie created Words-to-Mouth—a blog & companion Internet talk show introducing new book releases and their authors to a community interested in excellent writing that may not necessarily top the New York Times Bestseller List—Yet! To learn more about Carrie, click here
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