Grab Your Calendars!
I have three VERY exciting WOW! Women on Writing Book Blog
Tours I can’t wait to start booking and I hope you’ll be part of the
excitement!
Dates: November 10
th through December 10
th
2014
Author: Linda Appleman Shapiro
Title: She's
Not Herself: A psychotherapist's journey into and beyond her mother's mental
illness
(Amazon Link: http://amzn.to/1wxCXOL)
Genre: Memoir, Mental Illness
Audience: SHE'S NOT HERSELF was written to
appeal to a wide range of readers from anyone who has grown up in a family
fraught with the destructive power of hidden stressors -- mental or physical --
as well as students of psychology, teachers, patients, and the professional
community of psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, and social
workers. I believe that all readers will gain insight regarding family dysfunction, the
destructive nature of secrets, and patterns of behavior that are set in motion
-- as many professionals believe -- as early as in the womb. Without it being
simply a first-person account of survival, the reader experiences me as I move
from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood. They experience me as I
try on various professional hats and ultimately train to become a
psychotherapist. After years of trauma, I move beyond it and gain the ability
to forgive without forgetting and do so with courage and, I hope, dignity. That
is what I hope readers will be able to do for themselves, as well.
Book Description: On the surface, her childhood seemed
normal—even idyllic. Linda grew up in the iconic immigrant community of
Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, with her parents and a gifted older brother. But she
spent her days at home alone with a mother who suffered major bouts of
depression. At such times, young Linda was told, "Your mother…she’s not
herself today." Those words did little to help Linda understand what she
was witnessing. Instead, she experienced the anxiety and hyper-vigilance that
often take root when secrecy and shame surround a family member who is ill.
She’s Not Herself is a journey to make sense of
the effects of multi-generational traumas. Shapiro is ultimately able to
forgive (without forgetting) those who left her to fend for herself—and to
provide readers with the wisdom of a seasoned psychotherapist who has examined
human vulnerability in its many disguises and has moved through it all with
dignity and hope. The result is a memoir of love, loss, loyalty, and healing.
Guest Post Topics:
Writer topics --
1- How to write without
my psychotherapist's voice. That is, how to tell my story by showing my family
in action -- creating dialogue, describing details regarding how we looked,
what our neighborhood and particular house was like . . . In short, how not to
analyze but how to show without telling the particulars of our family's
struggles, challenges, and successes.
2- How to decide what to
write about and what to omit in order to create a flow vs. an overflow
of information.
3- Why opt to write a
memoir rather than a book of fiction in which much of one's story can be
written as fiction?
4- How to write about
very sad and challenging experiences and still leave the reader feeling
hopeful.
Non-writer topics:
1- With mental illness
coming out of the closet and constantly being in the news these days,
personalizing what it is like to live with a person suffering from a mental
illness, is allowing today's readers to be much more educated and able to seek
help for themselves and loved ones thatn when I weas growing up in the 40s and
50s.
2- The importance of not
stereotyping anyone who suffers from mental illness.
3- How to know what
behaviors to recognize as being worrisome and why wishing them away will be
counter-productive. Taking action is always necessary to avoid people from
falling through the crack, not receiving help and opting to commit suicide, not
knowing how to help themselves get rid of their demons.
4- Despite the fact that
we still do not have enough funding for mental health, we certainly are far
better off when we know where to seek help and how to advocate for oureselves
or a loved one who needs professional help.
Author Bio: Linda Appleman Shapiro
earned a B.A. in Literature from Bennington College, a Master’s degree in Human
Development/Counseling from the Bank Street College of Education, a Master
Certification in Neuro-Linguistic Programming from the NY Institute for N.L.P.
and further certifications in Ericksonian Hypnosis and Substance
Abuse/Addictions Counseling.
Shapiro is also a
contributing author in the casebook, Leaves
Before The Wind: Leading Edge Applications of N.L.P.
In private practice as a
psychotherapist for more than 30 years, Shapiro served as a senior staff member
for 10 years at an out-patient facility for recovering addicts and their
families. As an Oral Historian, she has documented the lives of many of New
York’s elderly for more than 30 years.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Dates: November
17th through December 17th 2014
Author: David
W. Berner
Title: Any Road Will Take You There: A journey of
fathers and sons
Genre: Memoir,Family,
Parenting
Audience: Any Road Will Take Your There is a book for everyone, but
especially for men who are father's and, and of course, sons. Mothers who
want their father's or husband's to think about the connections with their
sons. But I've also had women read and love this book. I think it's about the
familial connections.
Book Description: A father sets out on a 5000-mile road trip, the
one he never had the guts to take as a young man, the one he hopes will spark a
new chapter in his life. But the once-delayed journey now takes on new meaning
when he’s forced to confront his family’s unsettled past, and face the reality
that every man, including his own two sons, will eventually compare his life
with the fathers who came before him.
Chicago
writer, David W. Berner, takes to the road for a journey he hopes will rekindle
a level of inspiration. After re-reading Jack Kerouac’s ON THE ROAD, the iconic
American road trip story and the book he cherished as a teenager, he finds
himself confronting an unexpected examination of his place in the world and the
most important role of his life – fatherhood.
ANY ROAD
WILL TAKE YOU THERE: A Journey of Fathers and Sons is a heartwarming and
heartbreaking story told with humor and grace, revealing the generational
struggles and triumphs of being a dad, and the beautiful but imperfect ties
that connect all of us.
Guest Post Topics:
1. The unique connection between fathers and sons
2. The allure and redemptive nature of road trips
3. Writing about your life, choosing what to write
about.
4. How to balance the story with what can be the
sometimes the intrusive nature of writing about family.
5. About being the Writer-in-Residence at the Jack
Kerouac House in Orlando.
6. How to incorporate reflective moments in memoir or
creative nonfiction.
7. Writing about the living and writing about the
dead. How to be true to both.
8. How to be a disciplined writing --- writing like
you workout.
Author Bio: David W. Berner-the award winning author of
ACCIDENTAL LESSONS and ANY ROAD WILL TAKE
YOU THERE-was born in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania where he began his work as a broadcast journalist and writer. He
moved to Chicago to work as a radio reporter and news anchor for CBS Radio and
later pursue a career as a writer and educator. His book ACCIDENTAL LESSONS is
about his year teaching in one of the Chicago area's most troubled school
districts. The book won the Golden Dragonfly Grand Prize for Literature and has
been called a "beautiful, elegantly written book" by award-winning
author Thomas E. Kennedy, and "a terrific memoir" by Rick Kogan
(Chicago Tribune and WGN Radio). ANY ROAD WILL TAKE YOU THERE is the author's
story of a 5000-mile road trip with his sons and the revelations of fatherhood.
The memoir has been called "heartwarming and heartbreaking" and
"a five-star wonderful read."
David can be found online
at:
twitter --- @davidwberner
twitter -- @anyroadbook
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Dates: December
1
st 2014 through January 1
st 2015
Author: Sandra Hurtes
Title: The
Ambivalent Memoirist: Obsessions Digressions Epiphanies
Genre: Memoir
Audience: Writers, Journalers,
anyone with a story to tell or a story they aren’t sure is worth telling
Book Description: In The
Ambivalent Memoirist Sandra Hurtes asks, "Where is my place?" She's a
single and childfree woman at midlife, whose parents were Holocaust survivors.
Through writing, teaching, knitting, and yoga, Sandra searches for her place,
one that is devoid of the trauma of her parents' past.
Guest Post Topics: Not available just yet
Author Bio: I was born in Brooklyn in 1950 to immigrant parents
who survived the Holocaust. My parents' lives--before and after the
war--informs much of my writing and to a large degree my life. My first
published essay, "A Daughter's Legacy," helped me to loosen my
parents' expectations and begin to shed my sense of responsibility to heal
them.
My
essays and articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post,
Poets & Writers, Women in Judaism and numerous other publications. My
essay, "The People We Love and Create" won an American Jewish Press
Award. In 2009 I compiled my essays into a collection On My Way to Someplace
Else. I've taught nonfiction and essay writing in continuing education and
private classes. Currently, I teach English Composition at John Jay College.
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