CL Talmadge - Before I Was Published

I decided to be a writer when I realized, in my late teens/early twenties, that I had no other discernible skill except writing. That pretty much narrows one's career focus. Also, since the age of 13, I had been
day-dreaming about this love story between in prince in peril from his father and the woman he loves who has mysterious healing skills and
abilities. I wanted very much to write the story.

My writing career began in 1976, when I was hired as associate editor for the oldest weekly newspaper on Long Island in New York, The Suffolk County
News.

From there I went on to report and copyedit for several daily newspapers, including the Las Vegas Sun, the Orange County Register, and the Dallas
Times Herald. I then became an editor for Adweek/Southwest, an advertising-marketing weekly trade publication. While at Adweek I picked up freelance assignments for Business Week, Forbes, and the business section of The New York Times, among other media.

I left fulltime journalism in 1989 to write a nonfiction book about a method of emotional and spiritual healing resolution that I ended up self-publishing in 1999. I did odd freelance writing gigs, but was not very good at developing a network of contacts to find more steady assignments.
Two years later I became a staff writer for a broker-/dealer, a job that lasted until I was laid off in 1994.

I returned to freelance writing and added freelance pr to my resume as well-all the while still thinking about the story from my teen years, which by this time had grown to include four generations of women. I finally started writing in earnest in 1998, and a decade later have published the first three novels in what grew to be the Green Stone of Healing(R) epic
fantasy series.

I am close to completing the fourth book, and hope to publish it in 2009 while working on Book Five.

CJ Scarlet Tells Us What Led to The Kindness Cure

It is said that each of us is fighting a heroic battle. My name is CJ Scarlet and this is my story. Since 1990, I have lived with Lupus and Scleroderma, both autoimmune diseases that left me with constant pain and debility. When I was told in 2002 that my disability had progressed into a life-threatening heart condition, life as I knew it ended with a sickening thud. My family quickly dove into denial, leaving me with no one to talk to about my fears. I was terrified!—of pain, of debility, of dying—and yet there was no one I could turn to for comfort and wisdom.

I spent the first year after my diagnosis completely freaking out, growing more isolated and angry as each day passed. Author Steven Levine says that most people die an “Oh, shit!” death—one of total shock and terror just before the car crashes or the heart attack turns deadly or the kidneys begin to fail. I was afraid that would be me. I went through the traditional stages of grief: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, and depression, but couldn’t move past them to the acceptance phase.

Part of the problem was that I had a dark past, marred by a series of traumatic events and tragic mistakes, and my death sentence felt like an apt ending to an unfulfilled life. Desperately ill, I struggled to make the best of my remaining time, but my overwhelming fear and misery overrode my attempts to be happy and robbed me of hope.

Then I had the opportunity to meet with a Tibetan lama for advice. I poured out my tale of woe, expecting the lama to shower sympathy and compassion on my deserving shoulders. Instead, he told me with loving ferocity to stop feeling sorry for myself and start focusing on the happiness of others. I argued that I was too sick to help myself, let alone other people, but the lama insisted. Although I had been a victims’ advocate for years, I had been so focused on my own suffering, that I had become oblivious to the needs of others. So I began as I could, with small acts of kindness, such as saying a prayer when an ambulance passed by and letting people go ahead of me in the checkout line at the grocery store. I bought a tank of gas for a woman whose husband had lost his job so she could get to work the next day. I spent long hours on the phone with a friend who was going through a difficult time. I did everything I could within my limited abilities to think about and act for the happiness of others. I also began to practice an ancient prayer technique called Tonglen (that I teach my clients) that helped me to transform my fears and anger into gratitude and peace, and even decreased the pain I experienced.

Gradually, I noticed that every time I did something nice for someone else, I felt a small rush of happiness. At the physiological level, the “happy endorphins” my body created in response to each act lowered my blood pressure, regulated my breathing, and reduced the stress chemicals that were so deadly to me. I began to notice that I had less pain and more energy.

I graduated to larger acts of generosity—co-signing on a car loan for a young woman so she could secure a job and volunteering at the Red Cross after Hurricane Katrina. I became even happier, and the happier I became, the better I felt, until I reached a state of such emotional healing that it no longer mattered whether I lived or died—I was happy regardless of the obstacles I encountered or how much time I had left. In fact, if someone had offered me one more day to live feeling as I did at this point or ten more years feeling as I did before my diagnosis, I would choose that one precious day. Finally, I had reached the stage of acceptance and I was loving my life, every precious moment of it.

Then the most amazing thing happened; my condition began to reverse itself and today I feel better than I have in 20 years! I still have periods when I am laid low by my illness and I experience some cognitive impairment, but my happiness point is set so high now that I am unfazed by them. I will still die one day, as we all will, but the “when” is less important to me than the “how.” I am determined to die with the words, “I love you” on my lips and with the glow of joy and gratitude on my face.

Reaching such a stage of joyful acceptance is not only possible for you, but even more likely than for a person who is not facing a life-challenging illness. The fact is, your illness can be the gift that sets you free to live a life—and die a death—overflowing with happiness and gratitude.

For More Information

See What It’s All About - http://www.thekindnesscure.org/video

We Invite You To Join the Kindness Cure Social Network And Share The Progress of the Kindness Cure - http://www.thekindnesscure.org

For full details about the Kindness Cure Virtual Tour - http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/10/cj-scarlet-is-starting-kiss-revolution.html

Mark Tewart Author of How To Be A Sales Superstar

Mark’s own words -

“For the last 15+ years I have been a professional speaker, trainer and consultant.

I work with multiple organizations in various industries in helping them to increase their sales to explode their bottom line profits.

My areas of expertise are sales, sales marketing, sales management, sales motivation and creating a superstar life.

I entered the sales field at nineteen and became one of the youngest executive managers in the country at twenty seven.

I have spoken to thousands of audiences, published hundreds of articles and newsletters and have been interviewed in numerous magazine and newspapers as well as appearing on a top ranked satellite training network for several years.

I am also the founder and President of three other companies that are involved in the fields of products sales, insurance and real estate.”

Mark’s Accomplishments and Credentials – His Qualifications to Write How to be a Sales Superstar
• Spoken to over 2,000 audiences since 1993
• Professional Member of the National Speakers Association
• President and founder of 3 successful companies
° Seminar, Speaking, Training and Consulting company
° Software company
° Direct Response Sales Event Company
• Markets and performs over 100 seminars per year
• Had top ranked TV show for several years
• Published Hundreds of Articles
• Published numerous training manuals
• Created and sold thousands of videos and audio products
• Moved from entry level sales position to General Manager of a multimillion dollar company by the age of 27


Mark Tewart is a renowned expert on sales, sales marketing, sales management and creating a high performance life. Mark is a motivational speaker, consultant, coach, entrepreneur and owner of four businesses, and author of "How To Be A Sales Superstar - Break All the Rules and Succeed While Doing It" published by Wiley which is available in book stores and Amazon. Mark has spoken to over 2,000 audiences in the last fifteen years. Also, Mark has published hundreds of articles in numerous trade magazines and authored numerous books, audios, videos and online training materials. Mark has had a top ranked Satellite TV show and been interviewed by magazines, newspapers, radio and TV shows across the world.

Mark Tewart’s websites include: www.marktewartlive.com, www.marktewart.com and www.howtobeasalessuperstar.info

To read the first chapter of How to be a Sales Superstar and to receive several FREE bonuses from Mark Tewart, visit www.marktewartlive.com.

Full tour details are posted at http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-to-be-sales-superstar-by-mark.html

This book can be ordered on http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0470300965

Before Tony "Tony Nap" Napoli Was Published

Tony shares some of the details about his life before he wrote My Father, My Don - if this piques your interest, that is a clear indicator that you should buy the book. All of the details about his life before he was published are in My Father, My Don.

Tony "Tony Nap" Napoli

My mother encouraged me as a young teenager and close friends encouraged me to write my book. I explain this in detail in chapter 2 of my book My Father, My Don. As I got older, I built up more and more reference material for my autobiography, without realizing it. Some of those friends were Wiseguys and some just regular guys I grew up with. My reputation was one of being an exciting and intriguing type of guy. The type of guy who was able to get away with things that would get others stuffed in the trunk of a car. That's because they didn't have a father like mine.

I lived a very gangster and mob type of lifestyle. What's the difference between a gangster and a mobster? A gangster gets no respect, A mobster is a connected guy, who belongs to a crime family. If he's a Made Guy, also, known as a Button Guy, and if he has a title like Capo, he gets more respect from his crew and the people on the streets who are aware of it. But most of the Made Guys didn't have a blood line like me. My father was the number one guy for all five families, in the New York area. Their father's were regular Joe's and probably hard working men, most of their lives. My father would say to them and me, "the toughest guy I ever met, was the guy who goes to work 8-10 hours a day to support his family." They knew he was talking about their fathers.

My Father, never let me get involved with him and his crew in the number business. He always told me that I was above that. He schooled me for Casino type operations. Legal or illegal, it made no difference to me. As long as he wanted me, I was there for him. Until one day on my 26th Birthday when I did something that caused him to dismiss me from all activities. I was forced to change my name and disappear for thee-and-a-half-years, by his orders. All the information I'm about to tell you is listed in chapter 17 of my book.

I worked over a Cop who just happened to be a Captain of the police department in Burgen County, New Jersey. He tried to shake me down thinking that my father, who was on the lam for more than three weeks, was done away with. I knew better, because I knew where my father was hiding out in the Jersey shores till the heat died down. It was because of a killing that happened in his neighborhood, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. I couldn't tell the crooked cop all this, and I knew I would have to handle my own problems till Dad came home. This bastard cop was also on my father's payroll. He was looking to burn the candle from both ends. The cop lived and my father came back shortly after the beating.

By my Father's orders, till the heat on me died down, I was on my way to no mans land. While traveling, I found a carnival in Memphis, Tennessee. that was looking for boxers to fight spectators for a dollar a round. It was a form of entertainment, a part of their side show. I jumped at the opportunity, because I was running out of cash. I had to eat, and couldn't call anybody for help. I struggled for those three-and-a-half years as told in chapter 18 of my book. I hitchhiked along Route 66 across the country from New York to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and changed my name to Tony Reo, I often thought of past times when I always had a pocket full of money. How things changed. I thought “look at me now, wearing the same clothes day after day.”

I left the Carnival to work for farmers, pulling broom corn, hauling hay and picking cotton. I just didn't give a dam anymore. I thought of the times when I had my own Loan Shark business, and spent almost every day at the local race tracks. All the show broads I used to romance and spend all kinds of money on.

When you get to chapter 19, losing my Mother was a big blow to me. That's when my father found me in New Mexico, and brought me back home to New York. He told me how my mother died of cancer and that all was forgiven. In chapter 21, The Prince of Vegas, tells of how my father set me up as a casino boss in Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada. That's when I partied with celebrities like Frank Sinatra, Vic Damone, Sammy Davis, Dean Martin, Eddie Fisher and other well known people. I was involved in hiring the entertainers for the Palace as well as overseeing the Casino operation. I became a complete out-of-control alcoholic.

Again, my father came to my rescue, working over guys that were supposed to be connected in different states. After two years of that, I was ordered back to New York where I met the love of my life, Laura. She stayed by my side through thick and thin, for the past 38 years and after the death of my father, by natural causes, she encouraged me to find sobriety. It's been a big part of my life for the past 15 years. Yes, because of her, I found a better way in life.

My Heritage and my Writing By Shobhan Bantwal

I was born and raised in a large, conservative Hindu family in a small town called Belgaum in Southwestern India. I was the black sheep of the family, the only tomboy and hellion in a family of five girls. My four sisters were angels—good little Brahmin girls with the perfect mix of academic achievement, modesty and deportment. Needless to say, I single-handedly gave my parents every gray hair they possessed, but they were wonderful parents and to a large degree I owe everything I am today to them. The most valuable things they gave me were an outstanding education and the love of reading.

An arranged marriage to a man who happened to live in the U.S. brought me to New Jersey several years ago.

My Indian heritage became the natural basis for my writing. As an Indian-American woman, I straddle two distinctly different cultures, both equally rich, both with their share of woes and quirks, yet both equally intriguing.

When I started to write, I decided to base my first story in India, and use my hometown as the backdrop. I gave it a fictitious name so as not to offend its denizens, but I had a perfect town with all its gossip and conservatism and color and sharp contrasts to draw upon for my stories. My characters are not based on any real people, but I could easily picture them living in my hometown, doing the things I did when I was growing. Even the convent, which my protagonist in my second book uses as a safe haven, is fashioned after the parochial school I attended as a young girl.

THE DOWRY BRIDE, my first book, was released by Kensington Publishing in September 2007. THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER, released in September 2008, is my second book and the one I am touring to promote at the moment. Information about my books and other writing is available on my website: www.shobhanbantwal.com

For more information about Shobhan Bantwal’s virtual tour, visit – http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/09/forbidden-daughter-by-shobhan-bantwal.html

The Forbidden Daughter can be ordered at: http://www.amazon.com/Forbidden-Daughter-Shobhan-Bantwal/dp/0758220308

Lillian Brummet - Before She Was Published

Dave and Lillian met and married 17 years ago in Kelowna, BC – the southwestern province of Canada, located just North of the US State of Washington. Sadly the couple are unable to have children, but they have always had several cats and dogs that they adopt from the SPCA to continually share their home. Gardening is the Brummet’s hobby of choice and you can often find them playing in the dirt. www.brummet.ca

“I grew up in a broken home; my mother was married 4 times and 2 of those men found me too attractive, unfortunately. Sadly there were no rule books at the time to help families deal with situations like this and I found myself on my own and on the street at the age of 13 -1/2. I stayed out of the government system by working the same jobs I always had up to then, such as working for nurseries and babysitting and yard chores and the like while going to public school. Soon, though, I found out how different I was from others at school and I just didn’t fit in anymore. So I stopped going to public school for a few years. At age 15 I was caught living on my own and was taken to a foster home where I was given the option of working part time, having some independence still, but going back to school to get my grade 10. Which I did, but when I soon was on my own again by choice this time, more due to my discomfiture with family activities and bonding than anything else. At 19 I went back to school and eventually received a university level of grade 12 (meaning some of the highest available courses in maths, sciences, etc). Eventually I took several other college courses that lead to a career in the field of hospitality management in my mid-twenties. On the side, I helped run my mother’s market garden and my husbands drum teaching business. To say I was on over-achiever is not an exaggeration. I had this drive in me to not let the past be forever torturing me and holding me back.

When I was growing up, teachers often commented on my writing ability - and honestly, English was one of the few classes that kept me going to school when I was first on my own. I used poetry as a healing tool, a way to get the pain out where I could examine it. Eventually, prodding from friends lead me to enter a contest and then another and another… I never did win a grand prize, but my work did appear in five hardcover anthology books and several publications throughout North America. I also had the honor of attaining "Editor's Choice Award for outstanding Achievement in Poetry", not once – but twice. These small achievements and praises gave me some confidence in the quality of my work.

But what prompted me to write as a career began with a bad car accident – a three-car pile-up and I was in the middle. After a year of full-time physiotherapy, followed by a year of trying to get back to operating my business and continuing therapy, I realized I was never going to be able to continue that work full-time.

At that point Dave and I were feeling like our lives were going the wrong direction. I knew that with the injuries received from the car accident, I was not able to continue to run my business and having a full-time job elsewhere was not looking like a possibility due to chronic pain issues. I mean, we worked hard for our careers and to have it just taken away like that was really shocking – of course, I’m grateful for it now. At the time, however, I looked back at my life in disgust because I felt all my efforts, work, pain… it was all for nothing. No one would notice and no lasting benefit was left behind. I questioned why I survived the life I had only to have these things happen – and I questioned the value of my life. This was the trigger that helped me realize that I just couldn’t live like that any longer. Dave and I had several heart-to-heart discussions about the meaning of our lives, what was important to us and how we mean to use the time we are given. I even wrote a short poem about it:

LOCOMOTION

Locomotion keeps me moving through the confusing compulsive waves of life.
And, lost in this rush, I consume and exhaust myself for the unknown.
Feeling awfully tired, I pause - and look in at my routines in disgust.
And a desperate yearning to escape beyond the maze, and into self-sufficiency arises.

Right around this time, my husband was taking a writing course and I began taking it alongside of him. Soon, our submissions were accepted and sold and a free-lance career began, which later developed into our career as authors.

We embarked on a freelance writing career in 1998, and began publishing our column “Trash Talk” in 1999. Although we stopped writing this column at the end of 2006, it continues to be picked up by publications around the world. This column was developed into our first book Trash Talk (2004), which we soon followed up with a collection of my poetry in the book Towards Understanding (2005). Our most recent book is Purple Snowflake Marketing, which was released in 2007 – we are excited to announce that this author’s marketing plan guide will be released as a 2nd edition in late 2008 with just under 200 additional resources and information for authors to use in their promotion plan.

We also write articles dealing with gardening, yard, pets and outdoor adventures. Dave is the editor, proofreader, photographer, graphic designer, diagram and image creator and website managing half of our co-writing relationship. While I do the research, data entry (typing), office work, handle most of the marketing and interacting with publishers and media. We work very well as a team for live marketing endeavors from interviews to book events – with Dave being the speaker while I am the assistant, events go quite smoothly.”

www.brummet.ca

Lillian Brummet - Before She Was Published

Dave and Lillian met and married 17 years ago in Kelowna, BC – the southwestern province of Canada, located just North of the US State of Washington. Sadly the couple are unable to have children, but they have always had several cats and dogs that they adopt from the SPCA to continually share their home. Gardening is the Brummet’s hobby of choice and you can often find them playing in the dirt. www.brummet.ca

“I grew up in a broken home; my mother was married 4 times and 2 of those men found me too attractive, unfortunately. Sadly there were no rule books at the time to help families deal with situations like this and I found myself on my own and on the street at the age of 13 -1/2. I stayed out of the government system by working the same jobs I always had up to then, such as working for nurseries and babysitting and yard chores and the like while going to public school. Soon, though, I found out how different I was from others at school and I just didn’t fit in anymore. So I stopped going to public school for a few years. At age 15 I was caught living on my own and was taken to a foster home where I was given the option of working part time, having some independence still, but going back to school to get my grade 10. Which I did, but when I soon was on my own again by choice this time, more due to my discomfiture with family activities and bonding than anything else. At 19 I went back to school and eventually received a university level of grade 12 (meaning some of the highest available courses in maths, sciences, etc). Eventually I took several other college courses that lead to a career in the field of hospitality management in my mid-twenties. On the side, I helped run my mother’s market garden and my husbands drum teaching business. To say I was on over-achiever is not an exaggeration. I had this drive in me to not let the past be forever torturing me and holding me back.

When I was growing up, teachers often commented on my writing ability - and honestly, English was one of the few classes that kept me going to school when I was first on my own. I used poetry as a healing tool, a way to get the pain out where I could examine it. Eventually, prodding from friends lead me to enter a contest and then another and another… I never did win a grand prize, but my work did appear in five hardcover anthology books and several publications throughout North America. I also had the honor of attaining "Editor's Choice Award for outstanding Achievement in Poetry", not once – but twice. These small achievements and praises gave me some confidence in the quality of my work.

But what prompted me to write as a career began with a bad car accident – a three-car pile-up and I was in the middle. After a year of full-time physiotherapy, followed by a year of trying to get back to operating my business and continuing therapy, I realized I was never going to be able to continue that work full-time.

At that point Dave and I were feeling like our lives were going the wrong direction. I knew that with the injuries received from the car accident, I was not able to continue to run my business and having a full-time job elsewhere was not looking like a possibility due to chronic pain issues. I mean, we worked hard for our careers and to have it just taken away like that was really shocking – of course, I’m grateful for it now. At the time, however, I looked back at my life in disgust because I felt all my efforts, work, pain… it was all for nothing. No one would notice and no lasting benefit was left behind. I questioned why I survived the life I had only to have these things happen – and I questioned the value of my life. This was the trigger that helped me realize that I just couldn’t live like that any longer. Dave and I had several heart-to-heart discussions about the meaning of our lives, what was important to us and how we mean to use the time we are given. I even wrote a short poem about it:

LOCOMOTION

Locomotion keeps me moving through the confusing compulsive waves of life.

And, lost in this rush, I consume and exhaust myself for the unknown.

Feeling awfully tired, I pause - and look in at my routines in disgust.

And a desperate yearning to escape beyond the maze, and into self-sufficiency arises.

Right around this time, my husband was taking a writing course and I began taking it alongside of him. Soon, our submissions were accepted and sold and a free-lance career began, which later developed into our career as authors.

We embarked on a freelance writing career in 1998, and began publishing our column “Trash Talk” in 1999. Although we stopped writing this column at the end of 2006, it continues to be picked up by publications around the world. This column was developed into our first book Trash Talk (2004), which we soon followed up with a collection of my poetry in the book Towards Understanding (2005). Our most recent book is Purple Snowflake Marketing, which was released in 2007 – we are excited to announce that this author’s marketing plan guide will be released as a 2^nd edition in late 2008 with just under 200 additional resources and information for authors to use in their promotion plan.

We also write articles dealing with gardening, yard, pets and outdoor adventures. Dave is the editor, proofreader, photographer, graphic designer, diagram and image creator and website managing half of our co-writing relationship. While I do the research, data entry (typing), office work, handle most of the marketing and interacting with publishers and media. We work very well as a team for live marketing endeavors from interviews to book events – with Dave being the speaker while I am the assistant, events go quite smoothly.”

www.brummet.ca

Before Pamela Thibodeaux Was Published

My Life In A Nutshell

As a child my life-long dream was to get married and have a family. I never dreamed of becoming a writer…all I wanted to do was stay home and be a full-time wife and mother.

Although I am a wife, mother, and now grandmother, the “stay home” part has eluded me.

In March of 1978 I left high-school to marry at sixteen and then obtained my GED in April that same year. At that point-between marrying and having babies- I began a career as a bookkeeper by keeping records for my father's construction business. In 1992 I earned an Associate Degree in Office Occupations, specializing in Computer Applications. Though I currently work as a Licensed Sales Producer in the Insurance industry, my past employment history is as colorful as my writing resume. I have operated in professions ranging from cashier in fast food restaurants and convenience stores to a full-charge bookkeeper and tax preparer.

In spite of all of the changes in my life (marriage, children, divorce, another marriage, and grandchildren), one thing has remained constant: Reading.

I've always been an avid reader, from Dr. Seuss before school age, to Walter Farley's "Black Stallion" series as a preteen, then on to romance where I found my passion. Mainstream, contemporary, historical...it did not matter. If it was a romance, I read it! They say 'don't judge a book by its cover' but I refused to listen....if it looked good, I read it.

One day while pregnant with my daughter I flung the book I currently attempted to devour in disgust and muttered, "I can do better than that!" I'm still not sure if the book was really that bad or if I merely had a hormonal moment, but thus began my writing journey.

That incident occurred more than twenty-five years ago and I must say I, as an author as well as a human being, have evolved a great deal in a quarter of a century.

For years I was a closet writer who wrote in 5-subject notebooks, shy and afraid of what people would think. I had no idea that there were rules to writing or anything similar. I simply wrote as the characters and story unfolded in my mind. Once I bought my first word processor, my secret was out. The one defining moment when I thought I just may be on to something was when my mother, also an avid reader but a sports fanatic, missed the Super Bowl to read my manuscript. If you know any sports fanatics you'll know that it takes something very special or drastic to pull them away from that game.

I've come a long way since those years as a closet writer. Today I am multi-published in romantic fiction and creative non-fiction. My writing has won awards such as Coeur de Louisianne's 1999 Diamond in the Rough and their 2000 Ruby and in 2001 I earned my RWA Pro Pin.

My romantic fiction novels have been tagged as, "Inspirational with an Edge!" and reviewed as, "steamier and grittier than the typical Christian novel without decreasing the message" and consistently receive high praise and good reviews.

My short stories have received awards such as Reviewers Top Pick from Night Owl Romance & Recommended Read from My Book Cravings.

My non-fiction has been featured in publications such as Cross & Quill, Fellow Script, and Vocational Biographies and much of it can be found online at Associated Content.

I've also contributed to publications such as Bylines Writers Desk Calendar, Crumbs in the Keyboard; Stories from Courageous Women Who Juggle Life & Writing and Penned from the Heart Daily Devotionals (volumes xi, xiii, & xiv).

Not much has changed since I have been published. I still long to stay home only now, that desire has changed from being a “stay home wife & mother” to being a full-time writer.

To find out more about my life and writing, visit my website and/or blog and sign up for my mailing list!

Until later…take care, God Bless! and remember….when the going gets tough, the tough get on their knees.

Pamela S Thibodeaux

“Inspirational with an Edge!”

My Life in a Nutshell

Terry Spears - Before She Was Published

Before I was Published

Terry Spear

Before I was published, I was a reserve Army officer, working to mobilize forces. But since I was young, I loved to create stories and I was an avid reader, took creative writing in junior high, but I never thought I’d be a “real” writer.

When my kids were little, I read to them all the time, and I thought, wow, I want to write a children’s book. I wrote them and sent them off and one even went to a senior editor. But she wrote back saying it was a great story but too similar to one already being published.

So I didn’t write for a number of years. Then I divorced and I had two small children to raise on my own. Sometimes great shakeups is what a body needs to finally get them on track.

I wrote the great American romance novel set in the old west…and then learned that historicals, especially western, didn’t sell well. Back to the drawing board.

At the time, paranormals were becoming popular and I’d always loved ghost stories and Dracula. But I wasn’t ready for the really hardcore stuff yet. I started with psychics. However, it was a ghost teen book and vampire and witches teen book that sold first. Good news.

Bad news? The company closed the line before the first of the two books came out. Undaunted, I knew I’d found my niche. And two years later, sold the first of a werewolf adult series. Heart of the Wolf spawned three more in the series, and my publisher bought all of them.

What makes them unique? The world. The characters are one with their wolf side and I did a lot of research into individual wolf behavior and group behavior. I’ve always loved doing research for my stories, so by incorporating werewolf legend and real wolf attitude, Heart of the Wolf and the rest of the series was born.

Terry Spear/Terry Lee Wilde

www.terryspear.com

www.terrywildeteenbooks.com

Russell A Vassallo

Before I was Published

When I was eleven years old, I asked my dad for an allowance. Other kids were getting them and I felt I was entitled to as weekly pension too. My dad owned a confectionery store at that time. He told me to bring my wagon around to the front of the store. I did. He brought out a cooler filled with soda bottles and some cakes and cookies.

“Here,” he said “is your allowance. You pay me seven cents for a bottle of soda, the cakes are two for five cents and the cookie packs are two cents each. Whatever you get for them is yours to keep.”

From that moment on I knew I was going to be self-supporting if I wanted an allowance. So I trucked my goods down to the factories at break and lunch time and I sold my wares, went back and got the bottles, and returned them for the deposit on each bottle. That was fine but it wasn't the kind of money I wanted and it was a lot of work on very hot, sultry days.

I met a fellow who worked on the docks at the Port of Newark and he offered to sell me firecrackers at very reasonable rates. He was probably stealing them, but in my neighborhood one did not ask questions. Questions were bad. They raised suspicions. So I would buy a full case of firecrackers consisting of one thousand packs for ten dollars and sell each pack for seventy-five cents. Kids in schools started buying them in April, May and June. In July and August, I sold them to local kids around the neighborhood for thirty-five cents (they weren't as rich) and in September and October, I'd sell left-overs to the school kids for fifty cents per pack.

Most of my early life was spent in schools. I graduated from Seton Hall University and attended the Law School there. I graduated in 1961 but went to work as an insurance adjuster in order to pay off my school loans. I worked at two major insurers until the pay just wasn't enough to support a wife and two children so I started my own investigation and subpoena business and succeeded very well at it.

In 1971, after ten years out of law school, I applied for admission to the NJ Bar and took the two-and one-half day examination.

I was sworn in on May 18^th, 1971 and practiced civil trial work for twenty-five years, wining nine-two per cent of my cases. During that term I was cited for contempt of court on eight occasions and threatened with incarceration on at least four instances. On two occasions, when other attorneys became over-bearing, the bailiff had to break up near-fistfights. On one of those occasions the judge actually came off the bench to separate us. One could say I was a tough adversary. I prefer to say I represented my clients well.

In 1990, Halloween to be exact, Virginia and I were involved in a near-fatal auto accident. We were on our way to see one of our trotters race at Freehold when another vehicle ran a red light and caved in the side of my Audi. Virginia nearly died. For over a year she had to wear a back brace. We just both decided it was time to retire, get out of New Jersey, and enjoy life.

I actually didn't start writing until 1999 while recovering from colon cancer.

Tears and Tales: Stories of Human and Animal Rescue was my first book and is still selling well. In fact, the marketing is just beginning to take-off three years after publication. We haven't really touched the library market as yet but we do a lot of book fairs and festivals.

The Horse with the Golden Mane is a collection of longer stories dealing with animal/human relationships. Like Tears, it's won its share of awards and sold a goodly number of copies. We also learned how to make our books profitable by keeping expenses down until the marketing begins to work.

My wife then began nudging me to write a sort of a memoir about some of the underworld figures I grew up with and later represented in civil matters as a lawyer. I really didn't want to write an “I was born on . . .” kind of memoir so I used the technique of viewing it from the neighborhood and the people who inhabited my early life there. Virginia says that it's a wow! She's a tough critic and very picky so if I please her, I know it's good. And we have a waiting line of orders already. I am hoping for an August publication date. Information on that can be obtained on our website www.krazyduck.com

What do I do now? Write. Market. Run a farm. Rescue strays. Antagonize my cat. Aggravate my wife. Plague my doctors with solicitations to buy my books.

Even my vet had some on his counter that we sold. My hematologist gets hit for ten books every time he examines me (once a year for blood work).

Russell A. Vassallo

www.krazyduck.com

www.maneofgold.com

Before Ginger Simpson Was Published

Before I was published I worked at the University of California. The first twenty years, I spent working with graduate students, first in the admissions office and later as the Manager of Admissions & Enrollment for the Biological & Agricultural Sciences. I loved my job, but grew tired of being at the same place every day, doing the same thing. Actually, that's not true; I would have stayed there until I retired but a workmate decided to sue me and two other women for racial discrimination. I wasn't allowed to approach her to ask what it was I or the others did to her to cause her to take such drastic measures. I hadn't a clue. In my opinion, during the eight years we worked together, I assumed we were friends and colleagues. I evidently was wrong. Since I wasn't strong enough to stay and work shoulder-to-shoulder with some who accused me of being something I absolutely abhorred, I bolted.

I left Graduate Studies and moved to the Undergraduate College of Letters & Science which sort of completed the 'big picture' for me. I was an academic counselor for a year and spent most of my lunchtimes and breaks writing my first and second novel. Although I realized I would never make a substantial amount of money with small press, getting both manuscripts accepted for publishing was the impetus of bigger dreams of perhaps achieving mainstream publishing. Besides, the questions of why I'd left a job I loved for some many years kept creeping into conversations and I was forbidden to answer them. Retirement was my way to 'kill two birds with one stone'.

I carried around the rage at **** for years, but finally let it go, realizing the woman saw a way to make a quick buck and took it. Now, I feel sorry for her because one of the women she sued, and my best friend, was diagnosed with cancer and died during the whole ugly ordeal of depositions and stress. **** has to live with that for the rest of her life.

I've continued to achieve publishing, but not at the level I thought I wanted. I've recently resigned myself to finding happiness with what I've accomplished, realizing that the competition is far to keen and dependent upon two many things beyond my control. I can't count on writing the exactly correct and formatted query letter to the right agent on the right day of the week describing the book that perfectly fits what a publishing house is looking for, down to the word count. I've come far since I started and I'm proud of that.

E-Publishing allows me to write what I want to write and I don't have to stretch it with extra verbiage to meet requirements. The story line doesn't have to fit a script and there doesn't always have to be a happy ending. Internet publishing is my comfort zone and where I've found a fit. I'm tickled with the reviews I've received, my fans and my friends.

Don't discount e-pubbed authors as an untalented lot. The competition is so keen among the houses now, that rejection letters are getting to be more and more common place. I've read books by some of my peers and found talent surpassing that of the authors on the NY Best Sellers List. I feel like I'm in regal company.

For information on my backlist, you can visit my website at http://www.gingersimpson.com

My upcoming release, Sparta Rose, is due out in a few months from Enspiren Press and you most certainly will hear my screams on my blog at http://mizging.blogspot.com when I learn the exact date. Leave a comment so I know you've visited. I love meeting new people and greeting old friends.

SPICE up your life with GINGER
http://www.gingersimpson.com
http://mizging.blogspot.com
http://myspace.com/mizging

Cover of the Year - Asking for Your Vote

I just scanned the covers for Cover of the Year on Erin Aislinn's website and saw a lot of familiar covers - many were on my Judge A Book By its Cover blog last year :)

I invite you to visit http://www.erinaislinn.com/BookCoveroftheYear2007.htm and I hope that you will vote for Lady Lightkeeper which is one of my covers and it is listed as the winning cover for September.

If you prefer the easier route - feel free to email webmail@erinaislinn .com and put "VOTE for Lady Lightkeeper" in the subject line. I appreciate every vote :)

Nikki


Book Promo 101 - NOW AVAILABLE
www.nikkileigh. com/book_ promo_101. htm
"Coastal Suspense with a Touch of Romance"
Would you like information about the newest
blog tour option? Ask me for details and visit
www.inspiredauthor.com/promotion

Virginia G. Vassallo

Well, obviously, at one point I was a kid. I went to a private girls' school and found out that I was not cut out to be a writer. I mean, I got Cs and Ds in creative writing throughout high school. Yet in my history classes I would get As. So, when I finally did write a book, guess what? It has to do with history.

I was married, for the first time, at nineteen and had my first child when I was twenty. I was going to college and took a semester off since she was due during exams and I didn't want to have to put off an exam just because I was giving birth. I went back to college and finish through my junior year before my then-husband graduated and we moved to New Jersey. I was a stay-at-home mom for a number of years and had my second child, a son, during that time. While I was in the hospital after his birth, I was filling out an application for a nearby college. When my son was eight months old, I went back to college part time

I finish college while doing my best to be a stay-at-home mom, which included babysitting a neighbor's son and a friend's daughter. I also worked as a competitive shopper (one of those people who goes into retail stores and gets their prices for your own company). I did a pharmaceutical mailing for the drug store chain I had been a competitive shopper for. The mailing took all summer and I was able to work in my backyard while my young children played in the pool. It was great job!

Next I worked as a vendor for a party goods/school supply company. I placed orders for various stores and, when they arrived, I put the goods on the shelves. I could make my own hours and work whenever I had a sitter so that was a good job too.

While I was doing that, I went to school for my paralegal degree because I was thinking about going to law school but wasn't sure I would like it. I thought getting the paralegal degree would tell me if I really wanted to make the commitment to law school.

In the meantime, I quit working for the party goods supply company and started substitute teaching for the Board of Education in my town. The lady in charge of substitutes found out I could type and suggested I substitute as a secretary. Less money by about $4.00 a day but much more steady work. As a substitute teacher I might be called in once a week at short notice. As a substitute secretary I was able to take jobs that lasted from a week to three months. It was a job I could have stayed at because it allowed me to be home when my kids were home.

However, my mom developed cancer and I stopped working for the year she was on chemo. During that time I decided to apply to law schools and started the next year. For the most part I was able to arrange my schedule to be home when my kids were home. Around that time my husband and I parted ways.

Once I graduated, I worked as an attorney for a number of years until I was almost killed in a car wreck. I wasn't driving!!!

After that my second husband and I retired to a farm in Kentucky where we are today. I got involved in caring for our many animals and genealogy which had always been an interest but there wasn't enough time to do it. Finally I decided I had so much information on my grandfather that I really needed to gather it up and put it together. And that's how my book, Unsung Patriot: Guy T. Viskniskki How The Stars and Stripes Began came about.

For much more information about Virginia G Vassallo and The Unsung Patriot, visit - http://www.inspiredauthor.com/promotion/Virginia+Vassallo

Book: Unsung Patriot by Virginia G. Vassallo

Available through me at www.krazyduck.com. You can also mail a check to

KDP, PO Box 105, Danville, KY 40423 for $21.95. Shipping is free.

You can also find the book on www.amazon.com.

Tell Us Your Story

This blog will be used to tell you about authors - before they were published. Think of the TV specials "Before They Were Stars". Is there an author that you would like to learn more about? Feel free to suggest that they submit their story. For authors, just send me an RTF file which tells your story. What did you do for a living? When did you know you wanted to write? Did something in your life prompt your desire to write? Give us the scoop - tell us what you did... before you were published. Also, feel free to send your picture - even before and after pictures if you want.


Nikki Leigh

Send your information to nikki_leigh22939@yahoo.com