📙 A Bookish Word or Two with Michael Okon, Author of Dragged Down Deep #abookishword

 

On A Bookish Word or Two, we have a guest post by Michael Okon, author of DRAGGED DOWN DEEP.

Michael Okon is an award-winning and best-selling author of multiple genres, including paranormal, thriller, horror, action/adventure, and self-help. He graduated from Long Island University with a degree in English and then later received his MBA in business and finance. Coming from a family of writers, he has storytelling in his DNA. Michael has been writing from as far back as he can remember, his inspiration being his love for films and their impact on his life. From the time he saw The Goonies, he was hooked on the idea of entertaining people through unforgettable characters.

Michael is a lifelong movie buff, a music playlist aficionado, and a sucker for self-help books. He lives on the North Shore of Long Island with his wife and children.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜ www.michaelokon.com

Twitter ➜ https://www.x.com/IAmMichaelOkon

Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/IAmMichaelOkon

The Inspiration Behind Dragged Down Deep

By Michael Dow

All my stories come from two places.

I have been making music playlists for about 30 years. It started with making cassette tapes. The I got a CD burner (I’m dating myself here). Then I found Napster and downloaded all my songs there (sorry

Metallica). At one point, I got a Zune, and was able to have all my playlists on one device. Finally, came the iPod, which migrated into having an iPhone for the past 15 years. Music has been my fuel. Every song I’ve ever listened to has been on a playlist I created. While listening to the music, I would always conjure up movie scenes in my head. Adventure scenes, scary scenes, ghosts in graveyards, people falling off tops of buildings, theme park rides, etc…My brain is always working, and music is my inspiration.

When I started writing screenplays in college, I would go back into my playlists and listen to all of them. I needed a scene of a guy falling off a building, there was a song for that. I needed someone kiss a ghost, there was a song for that. The scenes came really naturally to write because I had them all mapped out in my head for decades.

After the screenplay was completed, I would then have a roadmap for a novel with all the pages in the world to flesh out the characters.

As music on my playlists was an inspiration for my screenplays, watching movies has always been an inspiration for my novels. I had a map for the novel, but as I watched the films I was able to visualize the scenes with more color and depth. Seeing the visuals of a movie allowed me to focus on the small things as I write my novels. How the creature feels, looks, etc…A screenplay is quick lines with short and snappy lines. A novel allows me to dive deeper into the sandbox of storytelling.

Dragged Down Deep is available at Amazon.

📙 A Bookish Word or Two with Michael Dow, Author of Nurse Dorothea Presents Why Coping Skills Work and What Are Some That Can Be Done Anytime and Anywhere #abookishword

 

On A Bookish Word or Two, we have a guest post by Michael Dow, author of NURSE DOROTHEA PRESENTS WHY COPING SKILLS WORK AND WHAT ARE SOME THAT CAN BE DONE ANYTIME AND ANYWHERE. Enjoy!

 

The Inspiration Behind Nurse Dorothea Presents Why Coping Skills Work and What Are Some That Can Be Done Anytime and Anywhere

By Michael Dow

I have had a love of writing since high school.  When I was a teenager, I focused on poetry.  Later in college, I developed a love of research and summarizing information.  I found synthesizing information exhilarating.  I joined the Air Force and experimented in writing my first book titled The Pen and Paper Diet (rebranded as The Prepper’s Diet®).  Then, I became a social worker for the Army at the local VA hospital and created multiple resource information sheets to gather resources into one place.  I then went through nursing school as a third career and the COVID pandemic happened.  My children and to transition to online learning like all kids and I was disappointed in the quality.  I thought, “What if I wrote a kid’s science book to help supplement their education and then they would have to read it since dad wrote it.”  I wrote my first kids book title Nurse Florence, Help I’m Bleeding.  It won a silver Nautilus award so I realized I might have found a niche I could thrive in.  A year after that, I started recruiting more illustrators and won a best series award for Nurse Florence® with Independent Press Award.  I was interviewed about it and was asked when I would create a mental health series for kids since I work as an inpatient psychiatric nurse.  I found the right illustrator and Lindsay Roberts and I teamed up to create Nurse Dorothea.  It is geared toward teenagers and young adults and has won Distinguished Favorite with NYC Big Book Award.  We publish a new Nurse Dorothea every 5 weeks.  The Coping Skills book is book #3.  I wrote this book to help people understand how simple coping skills are and how we can use healthy ones in everyday life.  Nurse Dorothea is a high school nurse who leads an after-school club about mental health to destigmatize mental illness.  We hope this series transforms our society as well as all societies.  Now is the time to address mental health.  Now is the time to get the help we need.  Help Civilization Reach Its Potential® is our company’s slogan and we believe this series will help us achieve this goal.

About Michael Dow

Michael Stephen Dow is married to Perla in Arizona and has 3 kids.  Michael was on a path to attend medical school and then the events of September 11, 2001 occurred.  Michael became angry at the terrorists and decided to join the US Air Force.  He went through Officer Training School and then graduated specialized Navigator training to become an Electronic Warfare Officer.  Michael deployed 6 times for the Global War on Terror between 2005 and 2009 with the EC-130H Compass Call mission.  Michael medically retired in 2010 and then became an US Army contractor serving Wounded Warriors and ensuring they received all of their entitled benefits for 8 years.  Michael always had a love for science and the human body so he then used his GI bill to go through nursing school and graduated in August 2020.  Michael now works as a Registered Nurse at an inpatient psychiatric hospital.  Michael’s education is as follows: B.A. in Psychology from Auburn University in 1999, B.S. in Biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2001, M.S. in Management from Troy University in 2010, Masters in Health Administration from the University of Phoenix in 2017, and M.S. from the University of Arizona in 2020 through its 15 month accelerated Masters Entry to the Profession of Nursing program.  Michael is the Founder and Manager of Dow Creative Enterprises, LLC.  His books have garnered the Silver Nautilus Book award in 2020 (Nurse Florence, Help I’m Bleeding) and an Award-Winning Finalist in the Religion category for the 2021 International Book Awards (A Prayer to Our Father in the Heavens: Possibly the Greatest Jewish Prayer of All Time).  Michael believes we will need the best of science and religion to successfully navigate ourselves, our civilization, through the future obstacles we will face.  More information can be found at www.DowCreativeEnterprises.com and www.NurseFlorence.org.  Nurse Florence® is a federally registered trademark by Dow Creative Enterprises.  The Nurse Florence® series seeks to promote science and health among children and to help increase the health literacy levels of our society.  With teamwork, inclusion, faith and perseverance, we can bravely face our problems and help each other reach our better selves as well as our best collective good.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜ www.nursedorothea.com

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095060389625

 

About Nurse Dorothea Presents Why Coping Skills Work and What Are Some That Can Be Done Anytime and Anywhere

We are starting the process of removing stigma about mental health issues. Let’s share ideas of the journey to well-being and seek to understand others as they are instead of how we wish them to be. By learning to know ourselves and trying different coping skills that are specific to the situation that we find ourselves in, we can achieve balance and peace. As we deepen our self-awareness and harness tailored coping mechanisms for diverse situations, we pave the path to equilibrium and serenity. Let’s foster an environment conducive to both individual and collective growth within our society. By doing this, we unlock potentials previously unattainable, empowering us to fully cultivate our knowledge, skills, and abilities. With gratitude in our heart, peace in our mind, and confidence in our capabilities, we can face the future with bravery, courage, and determination to help make the best lives for ourselves and others that we possibly can. If society wants something we have never had, we’re going to have to do something that has never been done.

Nurse Dorothea Presents Why Coping Skills Work and What Are Some That Can Be Done Anytime and Anywhere is available at Lulu.

📙 A Bookish Word or Two with Stella Atrium, Author HOME RULE: BOOK III OF THE TRIBAL WARS #abookishword

 

On A Bookish Word or Two, we have a guest post from Stella Atrium, author of Home Rule: Book III of The Tribal Wars. Enjoy!

 

The Inspiration Behind Home Rule: Book III of the Tribal Wars

By Stella Atrium

HOME RULE is book 3 in the first trilogy of a (mostly completed) series. As the writer, I’m so far ahead with characters and plots that I have to think about what the reader knows so far. LOL

Hershel Henry carries our narrative while he reports about tribal conflicts. We learn about death-by-fire that individual tribal women undertake.  The offworld press claims the women are losing hope rather than engaging in a righteous means of protest. 

Henry hates the narrative on the Company news outlets.  He opens a Cylay Gazette to honestly report about the march toward home rule. 

My stories are really about the women. Originally, I wanted to see lead characters concerned with more than finding a husband or getting a divorce. Science fiction seemed like a natural place for more integrated roles for women. 

As I began to explore migration flows and culture shock, I realized that women carry old influences into the future, language and cooking habits. They tell the children about past heroes, about cautionary tales, and about how to stand up to tyranny. Without a sense of the past, how will the next generation have fresh ideas for leading the community? 

So the female characters are placed in the foreground of each sequence. My principle (that I sort of stuck to) was that the plot cannot go forward except for what the women do. Some interesting scenes were needed to show the world from the point of view of female fighters who set aside pregnancies to join the battle. 

 

About Stella Atrium

Stella Atrium is writing The Tribal Wars series. The first trilogy is available as ebooks and in print. BookLife has awarded the Editor’s Pick designation for each book upon its release.    

Home Rule rounds out the first trilogy and received first place in the 2023 Artisan Book Review Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy.     

Book 4 titled Tribal Logic is scheduled for release in early 2024. Also be certain to pick up Atrium’s standalone novel Seven Beyond that won a 2014 Reader’s Favorites award in science fiction.   

Website: https://stellaatrium.com   

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/SAtriumWrites 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SAtriumWrites

About Home Rule: Book III of the Tribal Wars

Sarafina di Ramonicc In book 3 of the award-winning series, photojournalist Hershel Henry witnesses the loss by self-torching of tribal women. The Madquii and Gora tribes have laid siege to the city of Urbyd, and Brianna Miller must seek a peace treaty.   

Kelly Osborn travels to Stargate Junction to set the wedding of ambassador Otieno. Hershel Henry opens a gazette to report on pending elections for home rule, but then shocking events upset their plans.  

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C44QT91N

10 Things You Might Not Know About The Emerging Sensitive

10 Things You Might Not Know About The Emerging Sensitive

by Maria Hill

The Emerging Sensitive is a new book about and for highly sensitive people. It was published in January, 2016 in order to help highly sensitive people gain perspective about themselves and their place in the world.

Here are some things you might not expect to find in this book:

·         It is not just about the characteristics of sensitivity, which have been addressed extensively in other books.

·         The book begins with a discussion about the “DOES Model” of sensitivity introduced by Dr. Elaine Aron, author of The Highly Sensitive Person.

·         The Emerging Sensitive provides a creative exploration of the way that the characteristics of sensitivity work together to create “the magic of sensitivity.”

·         The sensitive trait has been around for a long time and is found in more than 100 other species.

·         It explores the history of being sensitive and how sensitive people may have been appreciated under different cultural systems.

·         It uses the concept of frameworks to explain differences between highly sensitive people and their culture.

·         It explains why sensitive people have struggled under capitalism.

·         The Emerging Sensitive offers a new emerging cultural system meant to address our sustainability issues, The Commons Movement, as a potentially rich system for tapping into the gifts of sensitive people and as a source of employment for sensitive people looking to work with like minded people.

·         It offers many strategies for self-empowerment.

·         The Emerging Sensitive has an extensive resource section to help highly sensitive people take what they learn in the book and apply it to their lives.

The world is changing. It is becoming more compassionate. People are seeking healthier approaches to living that preserve the environment and promote quality of life. These interests resonate deeply with highly sensitive people whose gifts will be invaluable for helping us develop a healthier, more sustainable world.

About the Author

Maria Hill is the founder of HSP Health and Sensitive Evolution. She is a lifelong explorer of the sensitive experience and the challenges of bridging the difference between sensitive and non-sensitive people. Her interest in wisdom traditions, and new developments in the understanding of patterns of human behavior and living provides a unique perspective about the value of the sensitive trait and the needs of highly sensitive people.

Her latest book is the self-help book, The Emerging Sensitive: A Guide For Finding Your Place In The World.

For More Information

• Visit Maria Hill’s website.
• Connect with Maria on Facebook and Twitter.

About The Emerging Sensitive:

Having only been given a name for their unique nature a few decades ago, highly sensitive people, or HSPs, are finally able to identify their traits and connect with one another in new and beneficial ways. In her book, The Emerging Sensitive: A Guide For Finding Your Place In The World, Maria Hill illuminates the path to self exploration and discovery for HSPs. Drawing on work of HSP expert Dr. Elaine Aron’s “DOES” model, Hill paints a vivid picture of the world as seen through the eyes of a highly sensitive person. She traces the roots of HSPs back to the earliest civilizations by following the evolutional framework of Spiral Dynamics as laid out by Don Beck and Chris Cowan. In doing so, she reveals the shifting roles of highly sensitive people in societies throughout the ages and exploring what the future holds as the culture shifts to a more HSP-friendly stage. Along the journey, Hill provides key insights and tools like the Whole Self framework of Bill Plotkin for highly sensitive people to take control of their lives and embrace their sensitive natures. With the guidance and resources contained within this book, HSPs can begin to discover and nurture their true potential.

                                      

Praise for The Emerging Sensitive:

“The Emerging Sensitive is an essential resource in supporting highly sensitive people in showing up in relevant ways, and not at a cost to them. The culture we live in has created many challenges to sensitivity and those who are more highly sensitive. Connection has created pain and therefore avoidance for many highly sensitive people. The cost to being present has been the sensitive self. But, it is changing. It needs to change further. I believe our culture will change the more highly sensitive people can join in and offer themselves genuinely, without compromise. I believe strongly in changing the way we all use sensitivity, and this book is a solid contribution to that effort. It is full of great resources to help a spectrum of highly sensitive people in finding their place and bring their gifts to light.”

--Ane Axford, Sensitive Leadership

For More Information

• The Emerging Sensitive: A Guide For Finding Your Place In The World is available at Amazon.
• Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

Overcoming Fear by Jordan Maylea Ramirez

Fear is one of the major factors that stands in the way on our path from where we are today to where we want to go. Fear of failure, of course, but also the fear of the unknown, the fear of others and the (most often overlooked) fear of ourselves.

One of my favorite quotes is by Maryanne Williamson and it states, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and famous?’…”

Have you ever asked yourself that question? “Who am I to be… ____________?” Who are you to be successful in this career? Who are you to be the best mother, wife, father, husband? Who are you to put yourself out there and expect the best not only of others but of yourself?

Who are you?

It is the second part of the quote that is my favorite part: “Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us…”

All of us. That means me and that means you. We were created for greatness. It is OUR responsibility to not let fear stand in the way of that greatness.

I have a technique I use when I am afraid. I will admit, fear is one of the thing I struggle with most. I know that nothing productive can come from fear and worry, and yet I still continue to find myself scared of the outcome of certain situations.

When I begin to feel afraid I ask myself, “What is the WORST possible thing that could happen from me doing this?” Then I proceed to let my imagination run wild until I reach what truly would be the worst possible scenario. I then ask myself, “Then what?”

What will you do then? What will you do when faced with the worst-case-scenario?

It may be hard. Depending on the situation it may be the most difficult thing you have ever done. But chances are you will deal with it. Your life is not going to end. You will be okay. Fear is often False Evidence Appearing Real. The consequences we create in our head are often far worse than what would actually happen in reality.

We often make the mistake of allowing our minds to run wild with the “what ifs” but never asking ourselves, “Then what?” What would you do? How would you deal with it? Your own strength may surprise you.

Another thing to ask yourself is, “What is the WORST possible thing that could happen from me NOT doing this?” The answer may surprise you. You may find out that the consequences of not trying are far great than of trying and not succeeding.

Think for a moment about what I’ve said as you read the final part of this quote:
“And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Today I am choosing to be liberated from my own fear. I hope my courage inspires you to do the same!

 ———————–

Jordan lives with her husband Robert in Lubbock, Texas with their 3 dogs and two horses. Because both her parents have always been self-employed, she had an entrepreneurial spirit from an early age and began her first business at the age of 17. It was at that time that she first became fascinated with the subject of personal development and the impact a personal education can have on a person’s life. She grew up riding horses and competing in Dressage shows all across Texas and New Mexico. The sport continues to be one of the primary passions in her life and if she is not working or spending time with her family you can usually find her at the barn. Jordan has two younger siblings, Clayton and Paige, whom she is very close to, and she greatly enjoys spending time with her family. She and Robert enjoy entertaining friends at their home (especially during football season – Go Red Raiders!) and they love to travel the world and experience new countries and cultures together.

Her latest book is Lifetime of Achievement.