Wednesday, December 15, 2021

🎤INTERVIEW WITH S.M. ADAMS AUTHOR ARISE & WALK: FROM THE SIDELINES OF LIFE TO THE NEXT LEVEL


S.M. Adams
 is a licensed secondary school teacher and experienced college instructor with over 10 years’ experience in the field of education.  She holds graduate training in both American History and Adolescent Education. A confessed late bloomer Sarah returned to college as a student-parent to uncover her life’s passion for education and helping others. For years of community service and volunteer work, S.M Adams was awarded the prestigious New York Life fellowship from the Colin Powell Center for Leadership and Service in 2008 and received the Phoenix Award from Urban Resource Institute thereafter. She also briefly spent time on the policy committee of HEAASC, the Higher Education Alliance for Advocates of Students with Children. As a domestic violence advocate, she has appeared on NYC Fox 5, NYC Bronx 12 as well as in Marie Claire magazine. A graduate of City College of New York and Pace University this New York transplant by way of Jamaica W.I. loves the summertime, reading on the beach, eating mangoes and spending time with her son and husband.

Arise and Walk: From the Sidelines of Life to the Next Level is her latest book.

Visit her website at www.ariseandwalk.com. Connect with her on TwitterInstagram and Facebook.




What was the inspiration behind Arise & Walk: From the Sidelines of Life to the Next Level?

I’ve always played with the idea of writing but really found my voice and got serious at the start of the pandemic. I used to clap with my neighbors out the window every


evening at 7pm when the nurses and doctors ended their shift. After a while I felt like that was not enough that I needed to be doing more to help out. The idea came to me that based on how devastating Covid-19 was many people would need to reimagine and reinvent themselves. And as someone who made a life transformation a few years ago I decided that maybe I could write a book that would be useful.

What kind of message is your book trying to tell your readers?

The main message of the book is that it is possible to reimagine and reinvent ourselves. That life transformation is not only a ‘mamby pamby’ term used by patronizing well-meaning friends to get us to feel better when something bad happens but there are actual real-life mindset shifts and action steps we can take to reimagine and reinvent ourselves.

Have you suffered from writer’s block and what do you do to get back on track?

No usually once I decide to write it generally flows. Maybe because I am a non-fiction author and mostly write from experience so the information is already there. If anything I might struggle with keeping my voice active and not becoming overly passive with my language. In graduate school while writing papers my professor often complained that I was writing in a passive voice.

 Which holiday is your favorite and why? 

I love the end of year holidays. Growing up in the Caribbean my grandmother always made it so fun, lots of rum cake, spicy dishes, treats and yummy sorrel drink. Now as an adult living in NY it is still fun, I’ve continued the tradition of that rum cake and other dishes from my childhood. I also do an overall end of year cleaning, change all the bedsheets to redecorate for the new year. I love the idea of starting over every January and always try to have at least one goal. With my son and husband I’ve also added some distinctly American traditions to our yearly ritual such as watching the Macys Thanksgiving Parade, following Santa as he travels the world delivering gifts via Norad and getting dressed up to drink Sparkling Cider as the ball drops on NY Eve in Times Square.

 If we were to meet for lunch to talk books, where would we go?

To a bench in front of Manhattan’s East River with a picnic basket of sandwiches and Orangina. Its quiet and the ripples in the water would allow us to reflect on the books.

What do you like to do for fun? 

Like most authors I love to read, every day I read at least 10 news articles, that could be an occupational hazard as a history/social studies teacher I usually incorporate current events in my teaching. Over the years I’ve gotten very picky in terms of my reading. I also enjoy a good mystery and I love, love, love historical fiction movies. Like a typical island girl nature I find most of nature very exciting, I enjoy things like sitting in front of the river or any water body, looking up at trees to see if there are nests and listening to the first chirps of the spring birds.





📙 SELF-HELP NONFICTION BOOK FEATURE: THIS IS HOW I SPELL GRIEF: A GUIDE TO HEALING FROM LOSS AND FINDING FULFILLMENT BY ERIK LEWIN#PUYB

  

Learn to address grief on your own terms, to make true and lasting peace with your loss…



By Erik Lewin

THIS IS HOW I SPELL GRIEF, Self-Help, Jeffrey Park Press, 126 pp.




Erik Lewin shares how he turned the profound loss of his mother and father into life-changing growth, with intimacy, warmth and humor. He offers a no-nonsense, commonsense way to create your personal path to acceptance of your loss.

Lewin became an expert in his grief experience twice over, encouraging readers to find their own way, as no two lives or losses are the same. He eschews expert opinions and general analyses of grieving in favor of common sense, letting you know you are not alone in how you’re feeling. He shares how he turned his loss into an impetus to personal change. A former criminal defense lawyer, Lewin is now a full time writer and standup comedian.

This Is How I Spell Grief takes a counter-intuitive approach to self-help; there are no eight simple exercises to get over it. Instead, you gradually learn to address grief on your own terms, to make true and lasting peace with your loss.

PRAISE

“Generous, intimate and deeply personal, even funny at times. I believe this book will help readers work with their own grief.” - NOAH BRUCE, PsyD, Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Director, Salinas Valley Medical Clinic

Outstanding work. Everything I felt about my father’s recent death and my best friend’s death 14 years ago was articulated in this writing. It truly is a wonderful tome on helping one to manage their grief after the death of a loved one.” – Philip Peredo

“This is the book that I wished I had many years ago when first confronting the passing of my father. The author expertly navigates all of the issues that one encounters when grieving. It’s a remarkable book in that even for those who think we have a handle on their grief, the author helps us understand new ways to engage with grief. It’s definitely not a self-help book, but I found it much more profound and valuable.” - AKF

 






CHAPTER 5

The World Goes on But You’re Still Grieving

5.1 PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND

One of the worst aspects of grief is it can feel like nobody knows what you’re talking about. This can make you feel emotionally alienated, and therefore reluctant to share your feelings with others.

Since losing my mom and dad, I’ve tried to share with family my feelings of alienation, but I suspect they’re convinced I’m something of an alien; as if the emotional frequency I am tuned into is like dog ears—one they cannot hear at all.

Hey, I’m now alone in the universe. “Oh okay,” they reply, “want to get a hot dog?”

Or silence. They’ll just ignore the subject. It’s flabbergasting! Especially when it’s an anniversary of loss, and the person is aware of this, it hangs in the air real thick and gloomy; they treat it as no more important to discuss than the weather, something far in the distance, passing us by. The longer the absence of their acknowledgment of the loss, the gloomier and thicker the air becomes, until it’s suffocating to not say something. It’s up to me to bring it up! As if it wouldn’t exist otherwise! I’m sorry to have made them feel uncomfortable.

I understand that no one wants to talk about death. In the first place it’s depressing, and its finality is just plain hard for a human mind to comprehend. It’s baffling, overwhelming, heartbreaking, traumatizing, debilitating, anxiety-inducing, and this list goes on.

But the irony is laughable! Everybody on the planet dies, so presumably, many people have lost someone close already, and you would therefore think many could relate. The truth is somewhere in between; a lot of people still have not lost a parent, or child, or brother or spouse, someone integral to their life, and this often renders them incapable of meaningfully empathizing, or even sympathizing, with your experience. Likewise, certain people are simply incapable of dealing with the discomfort of the subject. In the end, there’s effectively not too much difference between the two, and so it just becomes too exhausting to examine the reasons why any particular individual doesn’t feel really “there for you.”

Nevertheless, as I grapple with the enormity of loss, I still do bristle at those who express scant empathy. I visited with a close relative, (whom I still love in spite of the following) shortly after my mom’s passing. I felt fragile and vulnerable, yet eager to commiserate with someone who knew my mother well. It felt like an opportunity to help with my healing process, and of course, listen to anything grief related my relative might have to share. When I arrived, to my shock, over the course of an entire day, he didn’t ask a single question, or say a single word regarding my mom’s passing.

We were outside his apartment later in the day already, and he looked at me with a certain intention. I figured this would finally be the opening salvo into the subject. He spoke.

 “Hey Erik, wanna smoke some weed?”

“No man, I’m good.”

“Drink?”

"Nope."

“How about a little boxing?”

“Okay.” We plugged in the video game. My head swam with confusion. When is he going to say something? Then he suggested we go out for a burger. I thought I’d give him a head start.

“So how’re things with you?” I said.

“Pretty good, but tough sometimes, y’know.”

Okay, here comes the first mention of my mom’s passing.

“This place is a lot of fun on the weekend. . .”

OMG!!! At this point I paid little attention to whatever he talked about, none of which had anything at all to do with my mother. We hung out all day without so much as one solitary word on the matter. That my mom had just died. Not one question about it, not one question about how I was holding up. Nothing. We parted ways afterward, and as I drove off, the chance of any talk of it now gone, I was pissed.

I guess he was. . . unsure, uncomfortable, weirded out about how I’d react—

He maybe thought: So. . .  I guess I might as well say nothing. Yeah, ‘cuz if A, B & C options all mean saying something, and I’m not sure which one is right, then, uh, yeah, let’s go with D—say nothing. Can’t go wrong then. Besides, Erik’s here to get away, escape, have a little fun—what kind of dick would I be if I reminded him that his mom just died?

I promise you I haven’t forgotten that my mom has died! I also love when people say this sort of thing, like—I didn’t want to bring it up, I mean maybe you wouldn’t want to talk about it, and I’d be rude to put you on the spot like that, it’d be thoughtless and disrespectful of me to cause you pain like that.

Here’s a message to all humans who have said something like the above to someone in grief—THE PAIN IS NOT FROM YOU BRINGING IT UP. IT’S FROM THE FACT THAT MY LOVED ONE HAS DIED.

I say this emphatically, but with less anger and bitterness as my process of recovery deepens. In other words, it’s important to convert one’s frustration into an understanding that is cathartic. The message here is these feelings of dissatisfaction are perfectly acceptable and normal, though that doesn’t mean you have to hold them close to your heart. You can observe the reactions of people, as well as your own feelings, accept them and let go. 

There are friends who have gone so far as to have questioned what was wrong with me. Why am I not the same person? How I disappointed them. And from one point of view, who can blame them? They’re not the ones suddenly crying at a bar during a night out. It’s ME. That kind of behavior doesn’t scream fun to be with. I’d go out with friends and they’d be upbeat, living their normal lives, and I’d just kind of stare at them for long silences. After a while of that, I didn’t have to worry about turning down too many invites.

I didn’t mean to be dead weight. It’s just that whether or not your friend should switch to Dial soap to better moisturize their skin rash didn’t hold quite the same sway over my attention. All these mundane parts of life that everyone is so caught up with. How serious can I take any of it?

It’s even harder when some friends and family continue to wonder why I haven’t “moved on.” It’s been so many years already, how come you still seem so burdened? How come you’re still not back to “normal”? I’d love to send a message to people everywhere who have made any bereaved person feel this way: MY FAMILY IS STILL GONE. As in, not coming back to life. How could I not continue to be deeply impacted by this irreversible fact? I am doing the best I can.

These frustrations are commonly felt by those of us who have lost a loved one. I hope other sufferers have the good fortune to benefit from support that is healthy, responsive and supportive. It is also certainly possible to make new connections and to develop friendships that can be quite nurturing. Unfortunately, if you’re bereft of such help, a certain sense of estrangement can arise.  

There are mourners who may momentarily have an attitude of well one day you’ll understand, but I’m confident no one actually wishes grief on anyone. But the truth is, wished or not, everyone will be next in line at some point. The time will come when everyone will lose a loved one and be overwhelmed with grief.  I think it’s an instructive question to pose: What kind of support would you hope for?

 












BUYING INFORMATION


is available at:



Erik Lewin is the author of three books – This is How I Spell GriefAnimal Endurance, and Son of Influence – as well as numerous essays published in Ponder Review, GNU Journal, David Magazine, Real Vegas Magazine &Literate Ape. Erik is also a stand-up comedian who performs in clubs and venues around the country. He formerly practiced law as a criminal defense attorney in New York City and Los Angeles. He is at work on a new one-man show loosely based on This is How I Spell Grief.

Erik lives in Las Vegas with his wife and their furry pets.

Visit his website at www.eriklewincomedy.com or connect with him on Facebook and Goodreads.






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Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Character Profile Sheet for Ian Racalmuto from CT Liotta's ‘No Good About Goodbye’

 



Years ago (and still applies today), the experts were telling fiction writers that in order to really know their main character, they must come up with a character profile sheet for them and definitely applies to all your characters as well.  This is a good practice because once you know all the ins and outs of all your characters, the book flows better and allows the author to get inside the head of each of their characters.

We decided to ask authors if they would like to come up with a character sketch of their main character, throwing in a few unique questions to make it really fun!

Today we have CT Liotta stopping by on his blog tour with a character sketch of his main character, Ian.  Enjoy!


———————————————————–

Learn more about Ian!

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Name of Character
: Ian Racalmuto

Age: 15

Eye Color: Brown

Hair Color: Brown

Birthplace: Lamezia, Italy

Marital Status: Single

Place of Residence: Philadelphia, PA

Description of Home: Ian lives in South Philadelphia with his grandfather, Mario, in an 18 foot-wide two-story rowhome with a yellow awning. His bedroom is barely large enough to hold a queen-sized bed, which touches three of the four walls.

Dominant Character Trait: Denial

Best Friend: Will Xiang

Enemies and Why: Soccer team captain Craig Brooks, who beat up Will; Richard Fenzel, deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Algiers, who wants to kill him and start a war with China over a grain trade imbalance.

Temperament: Moody. Brooding. Effective.

Ambition: Wants to be a wine steward, but keeps getting sucked into the world of espionage.

Educational Background: Attended international schools two years at a time throughout the world while following his mother’s career as a diplomat; consigned to a troubled urban high school in Philadelphia after surviving a coup d'état in Algiers. 

Philosophy of Life: “When they hit low, we hit hard.”

Bad Habits: Bites his knuckle when scheming.

Talents: Spycraft, pickpocketing and legerdemain. 

Hobby or Hobbies: Winemaking and wine tasting.

Why is Character Likeable? Ian cares about his friends despite his best efforts.

Favorite Pig Out Food: Lasagna

 

Character Mini-Interview:

Every New Year’s I resolve to: Find a girl I like.

Nobody knows I am: Next question, please.

I wish: The girl who likes Will would get hit by a bus.

The worst part of my life is: Watching Will get along with the girl who I wish got hit by a bus. Also, having no space in my house for my wine fermenter.

A good time for me is: 7 PM. (Laughs). I’m happiest with a short glass of pinot noir and NPR on the radio in the kitchen. 

The worst advice my mother gave me is: How to incapacitate someone with a tattoo gun. It’s never come in handy - not that it won’t ever.

When I feel sorry for myself I: Throw a baseball at the wall. You might think I’d drink wine, but my hobby is a serious endeavour, not a solution.

My major accomplishment is: I survived an embassy raid in Algiers and a subsequent explosion when I triggered a bomb that took the building down. Does that count?

My most humbling experience was: I underestimated Daequon Griggs, a classmate of mine and a friend of Craig’s. Sometimes your rivals know you better than your friends. I can respect that.

Your story was told by a fellow Philadelphian, CT Liotta. How’d he do? CT took some dramatic license. He messed up some of the Italian. He uses ora, while I’m more likely to say adesso. I also curse a lot more than Ian in the book. I think he painted an accurate picture of Rick Finzel and his security stooges. They don’t know which end of a gun barks fire. But hey, that’s what happens when you contract embassy security to the lowest bidder.

You know that at age 15?

I knew it at age 12. I confirmed it at 15. Would you rather talk sports? Because I think the Pirates are going to break .500 this year. I haven’t checked the point spread in Vegas, but last I heard it was in the negatives. Exciting times to be alive, for sure!

 

Meet the Author


CT Liotta
 was born and raised in West Virginia before moving to Ohio for college, where he majored in Biology. He now uses Philadelphia as his base of operations. You can find him backpacking all over the world.

Liotta takes interest in writing, travel, personal finance, and sociology. He likes vintage airlines and aircraft, politics, news, foreign affairs, ’40s pulp and film noir. He doesn’t fear math or science, and is always up for Indian food. His favorite candy bar used to be Snickers, but lately it’s been 3 Musketeers. He isn’t sure why.

He is author of Relic of the Damned!Death in the City of Dreams and Treason on the Barbary Coast!

No Good About Goodbye is his latest book.

Visit him on the web at https://www.ctliotta.com.

Sign up for Liotta’s newsletter at https://ctliotta.substack.com.

Inside the Book



Title
: NO GOOD ABOUT GOODBYE
Author: CT Liotta
Publisher: Rot Gut Pulp
Pages: 308
Genre: YA/Coming of Age/LGBT/Adventure

Fifteen-year-old Ian Racalmuto’s life is in ruins after an embassy raid in Algiers. His mother, a vodka-drunk spy, is dead. His brother, a diplomat, has vanished. And, he’s lost a cremation urn containing a smartphone that could destroy the world.

Forced to live with his cantankerous grandfather in Philadelphia, Ian has seven days to find his brother and secure the phone—all while adjusting to life in a troubled urban school and dodging assassins sent to kill him.

Ian finds an ally in William Xiang, an undocumented immigrant grappling with poverty, a strict family, and abusive classmates. They make a formidable team, but when Ian’s feelings toward Will grow, bombs, bullets and crazed bounty hunters don’t hold a candle to his fear of his friend finding out. Will it wreck their relationship, roll up their mission, and derail a heist they’ve planned at the State Department?

Like a dime store pulp adventure of the past, No Good About Goodbye is an incautious, funny, coming-of-age tale for mature teens and adult readers. 308p.

PRAISE

“So many treats are in store for the discerning reader of CT Liotta’s brilliant YA novel NO GOOD ABOUT GOODBYE. There’s a diverse array of multi-racial/cultural characters, organized criminals with complex political goals underway, and keystone-cop humor/blunders often sparking from the evergreen enchantment of a push-pull romance between two young people, neither of whom have yet decided to identify as ‘gay.’ Rich with often realistically crude boy lingo, NO GOOD ABOUT GOODBYE is an utterly charming teenage LGBTQ falling-in-love adventure while simultaneously rocking an international crime storyline.” – C.S. Holmes, IndieReader

★★★★★ “Sharply observed and sarcastic as hell, CT Liotta’s debut is the gay teenage spy thriller we have long needed.” -Matt Harry, author of Superkid and Sorcery for Beginners.

★★★★★ I found this YA spy novel to be an utter delight! Fast-paced and witty, we traverse the globe with Ian, who just lost his mother and is charged with stopping a war with China. All the while he’s 15, enrolled in a High School from hell in Philadelphia and struggling with his identity. The author offers his own particular take on the importance of friendship and found family. He also very cleverly features different viewpoints, so the reading experience never feels stale. Honestly, I did not know what to expect going into this story – I however finished it converted into a fan! – Thomas S., Netgalley

📙 FICTION BOOK FEATURE: THE MAN WHO TRANSFORMED AFRICA BY PETER D. CIMINI #PUYB

 


Novel From Author-Educator Peter Cimini Envisions A New Africa...

By Peter D. Cimini

THE MAN WHO TRANSFORMED AFRICA, Fiction, Halo Publishing International, 488 pp.




The novel opens with Vatican intrigue between liberal and conservative cardinals, which leads to the unlikely selection of an Indonesian pope. Seizing the opportunity, the new pope uses his ex-cathedra (papal infallibility) to declare poverty to be an immoral human condition. The pope decides to lead by example, taking the provocative step of selling Vatican treasures to fund a long-term plan to build a strong middle-class society in Africa.

The novel follows the pope, an ex-president of the United States, and an African nationalist during the first two years of an estimated twelve-year project to build a strong African middle-class society.

After a year-and-a-half of steady progress, the ex-president and the African nationalist realize they have miscalculated the costs of irrigating the African tropical savannas, and the project stalls. A brilliant, young, autistic project employee, originally hired to oversee the use of Africa’s natural resources, solves the irrigation problem, allowing the plan to continue moving forward. The autistic project employee later comes to the rescue once again when he clears the name of the ex-president, who had been falsely accused of bribery.

The author believes the fictional narrative of this unique story will show the need to stabilize Africa’s social order, infrastructure, and land use, which would result in an economic rejuvenation of the continent, eventually turning Africa into an agricultural giant.






Giancarlo Barzinni was born in 1938, the only child of Leopoldo and Anna Barzinni. The Barzinni family lived in Piedmont, south of the mighty Alps in the northwestern region of Italy. Giancarlo’s parents were domestic workers for a wealthy family who owned a villa overlooking Lake Maggiore. His father tended the villa’s grounds and his mother worked as a house cleaner.

When Giancarlo learned to walk, he accompanied his mother to morning Mass. By five years of age, Giancarlo became deeply influenced by his mother’s devotion to her Catholic religion. When Giancarlo began his schooling, he also started playing European football and soon became the dominant player among his peers. People from the Piedmont region of Italy heard of a young talented footballer from Lake Maggiore, and many traveled to watch the ten-year-old soccer phenom. At fifteen years of age, Giancarlo became the youngest player invited to Italy’s national team tryouts. Coaches from the national team had been impressed with his exceptional football skills. During the final week of tryouts, Giancarlo seriously injured his hip in a collision with another player. The injured young player returned home without qualifying for a spot on the national team, with the assurance that he would receive an invitation to the national team’s 1965 trials.

Giancarlo, now twenty years of age, received his invitation to the Italian national football teams 1965 try-outs. The coaches once again were impressed with Giancarlo’s skills and noticed an improved maturity in his approach to game of football. During the third week of trials, Giancarlo was participating in a kick on goal drill against a defensive player, he cut sharply to his right to avoid a defensive team member, and suddenly fell to the ground in severe pain. The team medical trainer accompanied Giancarlo to the medical facility for an ankle x-ray. The x-ray showed a broken anklebone. That evening during a coaches’ meeting, it was decided to exclude Giancarlo from further competition with Italy’s national team. The coaches were unwilling to hold a spot on the team roster, for an injury prone player, no matter how skillful he was. Giancarlo was sent home and informed that he would not be considered in the future.

 












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Author Peter Cimini was born in New York City, in the borough of the Bronx. He attended both a Catholic elementary and high school. Mr. Cimini holds bachelor and masters degrees from New York University. He was a teacher both in New York and Connecticut, and served students twenty years as a curriculum specialist, overseeing and writing curricula. He is also the author of The Secret Sin of Opi, on the topic of missing and exploited children. His favorite novel is Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Author Cimini admires the works of writers Kristin Hannah and Nicolas Sparks. He lives in Connecticut.

The Man Who Transformed Africa is his latest novel.

Visit Peter’s blog at www.peterdcimini.wordpress.com or connect with him on InstagramFacebook and Twitter.








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