I love memoirs because you can learn so much from reading them. Get inspired with this excerpt from I Survived and thoughts on creating our own characters from author Celisha J. Follow the tour for even more! Best of luck entering the giveaway!
Showing posts with label guest post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guest post. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Thursday, April 13, 2023
Spark: Journey from Success to Significance by Azim Jamal
With the craziness of the past couple of years, a lot of us feel like something is missing. We've lost our spark. Azim Jamal is here to help us find it again. Check out an excerpt from his book as well as his thoughts on what it would be like if it was made into a movie. Be sure to follow the tour for even more! Best of luck entering the giveaway!
Tuesday, October 11, 2022
Welcome to Ms. Nelly's Sunday School Class by Chetoca Barfield
If you're looking for a variety of stories to share in your own Sunday school class or at home to celebrate your faith, you can use the collection in Ms. Nelly's Sunday School Class by Chetoca Barfield. She also shares with us an idea of a parallel universe for her collection. Read an excerpt and download your own copy before you follow the rest of the tour for even more!
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
God's Intervention: A Second Chance for Humankind by Kenneth B. Little and Helen Davies
Kenneth B. Little and Helen Davies have written a novel exploring how to give humankind a second chance. Read an excerpt from God's Intervention. And then stay tuned to find out Ken's thoughts on if this book was made into a movie. Follow the tour for even more! And best of luck in the giveaway.
Monday, August 22, 2022
Bedtime Stories for the Living by Jay Armstrong
Getting a rare disease diagnosis can be devastating. This father has chosen to look for the positive and to leave a legacy for his children and others. Be inspired with this excerpt from Bedtime Stories for the Living and then download your own copy. Also check out his writing advice! Leave your questions and comments as you follow the tour. Best of luck entering the giveaway!
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Secrets, Silence & Shame: How Our Stories Can Keep Us Stuck or Set Us Free by Rebecca Brown, MSW, RSW
Rebecca Brown takes us on her own journey in the hopes that she can inspire us to go on our own journeys of self-discovery. She shares with us her story of becoming a writer and a bonus exclusive excerpt from her book Shelter from Our Secrets, Silence & Shame. Download your copy and follow the tour for even more. Best of luck entering the great giveaway!
As a mental health clinician, Rebecca Brown has been a safe place for many to seek shelter from their secrets, silence and shame. Inspired to finally slow down, stop running from herself and share her own story, she found ways to seek and savour her own shelter.
Rebecca's personal journey takes us through sadness, tragedy, self-sabotage, the impossible pursuit of perfection, distorted thinking and eating, engaging with her shadow self, divorce, and numbing with alcohol, all in an attempt to avoid the story needing to be shared.
Dispelling the limiting beliefs we hold about ourselves can unlock our limitless potential to reach goals we never dared to dream. From the Boston Marathon to working with horses, Rebecca sets out to prove to herself that anything is possible when you don't listen to the negative stories you tell yourself.
Everyone has a story. We become who we are because of what has happened to us, and because of the stories we tell ourselves. But do our stories continue to serve us well, or keep us stuck? Are our stories fact or fiction? Is it time to rewrite the versions we have been telling ourselves?
Shelter provides strategies to help reframe the thinking patterns we have developed, and offers tools to recognize when we are suffering from our own thoughts, feelings and actions. Resilience-building techniques are woven through the pages, and encouragement for the lifelong journey of collecting moments of awe and happiness.
Seeking and reading Shelter is a gift of self-compassion and self-discovery. Rebecca's hope is that it will be read with a highlighter in hand, pages folded down, re-read, recommended to a friend, and used as a guide to start sharing our own stories with those we love.
We may not have written our beginnings, but we have the ability to write every word from this point forward and just imagine where our stories can take us when we are free of secrets, silence and shame.
My journey to become a writer began in the early stages of the Covid Pandemic. As a mental health clinician for over 35 years, I have been a safe place for many to share their stories and their secrets. It was finally time to share my own. Here is an excerpt from my book’s introduction which will give readers an idea of what my story is all about.
I haven’t been sleeping well.
When I don’t sleep well, it’s usually because my subconscious is trying to
come to the surface of my conscious mind. There’s something tugging at
me, pushing and nudging me to finally do it.
It is a deep longing to share the story, and not just my own story.
I hold a place in me for the stories of others.
I believe that this is the reason for my work; it is time for me to share these
stories.
I have worked in the world of trauma for over thirty-five years, and
although I know that I have helped the people I interact with personally,
I can’t help feeling that I can help many more people if I write a book.
A book to share the insights, ideas, experience, and strategies I have learned
from the stories I’ve collected over a lifetime.
A word, or perhaps a title, keeps coming to me: Shelter.
Read an excerpt:
My back story begins with a career in medical social work, my dream job. I knew from the time I was sixteen years old that I wanted to help people with the challenges life puts in our paths. I was a pretty good student, and in my last few years of high school I really buckled down because I’d set my mind on exactly what I wanted to do. I knew which university I needed to go to, and I worked hard to get there. It was also the farthest university in the province from where I lived, which was exactly where I wanted to be at that time. As far away from home as I could get.
I also knew that I didn’t want just any social work career. I wanted to work in a hospital with people who had experienced trauma. This felt comfortable to me. I could stay calm in a crisis and understood the impact of life-changing traumatic events on a person and their family. I worked hard through my undergrad program, and in my fourth-year internship, I was accepted to work in a hospital rehabilitation program for patients with spinal cord injuries.
I was exactly where I needed to be.
I knew that I could help people here.
I loved this job.
My patients were primarily sixteen-to-thirty-year-old males who were injured while engaging in high-risk behaviours, like cliff diving, drunk driving, or contact sports, or in vehicular accidents. Some had attempted suicide. Others had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had broken their necks, backs, or seriously damaged their spinal cords.
My patients were beautiful young men, full of life and often the life of their parties.
Until the accident.
Get your copy of Shelter
(affiliate links included)
My journey to become a writer began in the early stages of the Covid Pandemic. As a mental health clinician for over 35 years, I have been a safe place for many to share their stories and their secrets. It was finally time to share my own. Here is an excerpt from my book’s introduction which will give readers an idea of what my story is all about.
I haven’t been sleeping well.
When I don’t sleep well, it’s usually because my subconscious is trying to
come to the surface of my conscious mind. There’s something tugging at
me, pushing and nudging me to finally do it.
It is a deep longing to share the story, and not just my own story.
I hold a place in me for the stories of others.
I believe that this is the reason for my work; it is time for me to share these
stories.
I have worked in the world of trauma for over thirty-five years, and
although I know that I have helped the people I interact with personally,
I can’t help feeling that I can help many more people if I write a book.
A book to share the insights, ideas, experience, and strategies I have learned
from the stories I’ve collected over a lifetime.
A word, or perhaps a title, keeps coming to me: Shelter.
Shelter from our secrets, silence, and shame.
Is this the time to offer what I can to the world in an effort to provide meaning,
affirmation, validation, and tools to help others in their own shelter-seeking?
I’m also hoping to provide shelter for my grandmother’s story, my father’s
mother, which has come to light out of the darkness, the shadow, and the
grave, where it was been buried with her for over twenty years. During
the quiet months of early 2020, I had time to go through some old family
albums, and I came across material I had tucked away in a box with some
photos and papers about my grandmother’s life. The papers were from the
search I’d started a few years earlier online.
It’s ironic that I’ve been working in the field of trauma for my entire
career yet had no knowledge of the traumatic secret buried deep within
my own family. I have a profound need to understand my grandmother’s
pain and suffering as a young girl, a young woman, a wife, a mother, and
a grandmother. To our knowledge, she never spoke of this to anybody.
Ever. And that’s what makes this trauma a tragedy. We’re all helpless to do
anything to ease her pain. It also explains so much about her personality,
her vulnerability, her strength, her resilience and her suffering … in silence.
I want to tell her story in a way that releases its silence. I will endeavour
to treat her secret story with the utmost respect and compassion. As I
unwrap it, I will gently present it and cradle it in the most delicate lace
handkerchief, as she would have wanted. I will be that safe space for her
secret to finally be set free, and I’ll give her story shelter and honour it with
understanding, love, and compassion. I feel both compelled and encouraged by her memory, which is giving me the voice to share her story and release the secret and the silence, because secrets only survive in the darkness. When we release them to the light and let them rise to the surface, they lose their power and control over us, and this is how we become free of the shame. This is my hope in telling her story.
I also want to write this book from the perspective of the child I was and
from the lens through which I viewed the world around me at the time.
My understanding of events and situations that happened to me, or around
me, impacted me in profound ways. I’ve held on to a great deal of pain and
shame, and through my own inner work and working with many people
who had similar experiences, I’ve learned how to reframe and understand a
different perspective to the stories I told myself and held on to for so long.
Stories are often recalled in fragmented snapshots of moments, which get
stuck in our minds. I’ve learned how to connect the dots of these moments
and weave meaning and understanding through them to create a mosaic
of memories that has become the fabric of who I am. By sharing my story, perhaps others will feel less alone with their secrets and shame, and they’ll trust enough to start
sharing their stories in a way that releases them and allows them to seek
shelter.
Otherwise, as in the case of my dear grandmother, the story may stay
buried and secret for over one hundred years. Life is too lonely a road to travel on our own.
When we become too focused on the goal or the destination, we risk not
seeing the beautiful possibilities and moments of happiness and awe right
before our eyes, in this present moment. We can turn to our drugs of choice: alcohol, caffeine, cannabis, pain killers, food, chocolate, potato chips, exercise, work, self-harm, sex, competition, shopping, social media, or a million other things.
Or, we can seek shelter through music, mindfulness, nature, laughter,
yoga, running, working out, tea, meditation, cooking, creating, reading,
connection, animals, hobbies, art, or a million other things.
Essentially, the question to ask ourselves is: Do I want to numb out or tune
in to what I am thinking, feeling and doing?
There is so much hidden beneath the surface of calm water;
hidden secrets and buried treasure.
But we cannot heal what we keep hidden.
When we become quiet and stop listening to the stories we have told
ourselves, and instead seek shelter in our wisdom, when we are willing to
risk being vulnerable, open and authentic we can start to imagine the new
stories waiting to be written.
I hope that my words will help lighten, enlighten, and lead you through
your own journey to find the shelter you are seeking.
Connect with Rebecca L. Brown
WEBSITE https://rebeccabrown.ca/
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/rebeccabrown.ca/
GOODREADS https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22150115.Rebecca_L_Brown
Rebecca L. Brown, MSW, RSW will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
The Heart Knows What the Mind Cannot See by Toby Negus
Today we welcome author Toby Negus to Uplifting Reads. He shares with us an excerpt from The Heart Knows What the Mind Cannot See as well as advice he would give his younger writing self. Be sure to follow the tour after you download your own copy. Best of luck in the giveaway!
This is a thought-provoking and enlightening exploration of spirituality and perception. The text functions as a guide to self-improvement, with a mixture of autobiographical elements and snippets of universal wisdom. The speaker provides accessible solutions to life’s difficulties, and an outlook of optimism applicable to any circumstance. The illustrations and graphics are thoughtfully chosen, and the interactive textual elements give this work an originality that sets it apart. The speaker’s own experiences and conclusions are at the heart of this fiction, and the first person narrative voice creates a sense of proximity between author and reader. The text describes itself as ‘a journey to the heart’, and this truthful discovery of the self is reflected in the speaker’s revelation of his whole self through the text. The narrative often presents a dichotomy between positive and negative outlooks or voices.
For example, the speaker includes sections in which his self-doubt speaks, ‘you’ve got no proper education, you can’t spell properly, you’re dyslexic and your grammar is crap. You’re not really a writer’. This negative voice directly opposes the sense of self-belief the speaker builds within the narrative. He uses examples such as this to remind readers that the journey to happiness is complex and that flaws or setbacks are natural. The negative separation or fragmentation of the self is prevalent in the lines, ‘I do not love the grumpy me, the sad me, the hostile me, the parts of me that act as if I do not care’. The act of writing represents a unification of the self and an attempt to reframe the speaker’s life into coherence. The frequent use of direct address and rhetorical questions promotes an active reading experience, in which the author opens up a dialogue with the reader. The text includes prompts and activities for the reader to engage with and learn from. Encouraging readers to take part in the text is emblematic of their journey to self-fulfillment and love, in which they must take responsibility for actively creating their own happiness.
The speaker depicts his process of enlightenment as a framework for others to emulate, and the format of the text demonstrates the transfer of agency to those who take part in the speaker’s challenges at the end of each chapter. This work ultimately teaches us that ‘we are the cause of what is’ and thus sheds light on the crucial idea that every individual has the power to create themselves and their world positively.
Read an excerpt:
A song without heart carries no life.
It is from the heart that comes so many defining qualities of love and the human adventure of life. It is the source of our abiding happiness, because the wish of the heart is for our happiness. It knows what is best for us because it knows us intimately. Within its chamber lives our loves, hopes, and our dreams.
The heart is the source of all the world’s greatness. It can pull star dreams to earth, for the heart has created all the wonders of the world, all the gifts of humanity and all the songs of love. It is the home of an innocence, a wise innocence that dispels the cynicism I hold in myself and of myself.
It is the place of our truth, not the truth of yesterday or tomorrow that my mind struggles to know, but the truth of the moment, the living truth. And when I allow it, it is a cathedral of light, a library of illumined text that describes the union of my heaven and earth. Its call has the power to move mountains or create the gentlest touch of love. It is the artist within, the writer of meanings, and the manifestor of dreams.
Although we live in a world of this-and-that, there is within the heart the dreams of forever and memories of the infinite.
Buy on Amazon
(affiliate link included)
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
You are going on a journey to heal the heart and free the mind. It is a journey of remembering the truth of who you already are.
Q: What should I pack for the journey?
The heart, openness and passion. Openness because the journey cannot be what you expect. The heart because it holds the purpose and the light. Passion because it opens the gates of your mind.
Q: Who will I meet on the way?
You will only meet one person, but they will have a thousand faces. Be kind to them all for they are you.
Q: What the weather will be like on the journey?
There will be sunny days that will warm the soul and days that you may never have wished for. But after they have passed, they will be thanked for the light that they gave.
Q: What will I be doing on the journey?
You will craft beautiful gems from your passion of life. Some will be crafted in the dark, others in the light, all will shine, all will bring light to the world.
Q: What will I get from the journey?
You will remember more of who you really are. And as this sense grows so will the compassion that you feel for yourself. This compassion will, in time, be given to all that you see.
Q: What are the pitfalls that I may encounter?
The only pitfall is love’s opposite, fear. It will have many guises but they will all have the same purpose, to close the heart.
Q: What is a good reminder for the journey?
Remember that you are not a human learning to be spiritual but a spirit learning to be human. There is a difference: one embraces humanity, the other does not.
Advice about the Heart
Be not timid with your love for no great life ever happened without it.
The heart is the source of all heroic deeds and all the lights of the world, for all great achievements are born from an idea of love. Without love, hope has no home, courage no direction, and fortitude no purpose.
It is why we dance and why we give. It brings meaning to life for without love there is no colour, no passion, and no joy. Its presence can sustain us through the darkest hours, the wildest storms and can give comfort in the loneliest of times. It calms the troubled mind, mends the broken heart, and brings home the wandering soul. It is a bond that can bring a nation together, a family together and its presence holds our self together. It gives strength for a leap of faith, a trust in life, a wish for tomorrow and a living of the day.
Love is why we live.
In the last few years, he has created many pieces of artwork that are a reflection of his spiritual journey. These have appeared in magazines and have been exhibited in the UK.
Website: www.tobynegus.com
Amazon Author: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Toby-Negus/e/B00PS7U9VK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/boathouse01
Toby Negus will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Intentional: How to Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully by David Amerland
The last couple of years have been quite stressful for all of us. And a lot of us are looking to lead more intentional and purposeful lives as a way to help relieve some of that stress. Author David Amerland is here to tell us how in his new book Intentional: How to Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully. He's also sharing an excerpt with us and his writing routine. Be sure to check out the tour for even more. Best of luck entering the giveaway!
Live your life the way you want to. Manage stress better. Be more resilient and enjoy meaningful relationships and better health. We all want that. Such life leads to better choices, better jobs, loving romantic partners, more rewarding careers and decisions that are fully aligned with our aims.
What stops us from getting all that is the complexity of our brain and the complicated way in which the external world comes together. The misalignment between the internal states we experience and the external circumstances we encounter often leads to confusion, a lack of clarity in our thinking and actions that are not consistent with our professed values.
Intentional is a gameplan. It helps us connect the pieces of our mind to the pieces of our life. It shows us how to map what we feel to what has caused those feelings, understand what affects us and what effects it has on us and determine what we want, why we want it and what we need to do to get it.
When we know what to do, we know how to behave. When we know how to behave we know how to act. When we know how to act, we know how to live. Our actions, each day, become our lives. Drawn from the latest research from the fields of neuroscience, behavioral and social psychology and evolutionary anthropology, Intentional shows you how to add meaning to your actions and lead a meaningful, happier, more fulfilling life on your terms.
Read an excerpt:
Whether we realize it or not, we all feel the need for this kind of guidance that gives us a deep sense of purpose. Because we are born physically helpless we have evolved to latch onto and work hard to understand our immediate environment and the people around us. This makes us, as we grow older, intensely pro-social. At the same time it provides us with a ready-made set of expectations, rules and guidelines to guide our behavior that arise from the collective behavior of those around us.
That behavior is the culture we experience and the traditions we abide by. The problem with this is that rather than defining for ourselves what is important to us we accept that which is given to us. That which is given to us is rarely what we want, but it can very easily become what we settle for.
Settling is an evolutionary-programmed trait. Let me explain: Life is hard. It really is. Even if we happen to have the extraordinary luck to be born into a very rich family whose legacy gives us everything we need to live comfortably for the rest of our life, maintaining that fortune and navigating through life is going to be fraught with risks, traps and constant upheavals.
We need other people. Other people need us. That is a truth. But the reasons for this mutual need are usually contradictory or, at the very least, sufficiently at odds with each other to make trust an issue and turn cooperation into a risk-assessment exercise.
(affiliate link included)
Your writing routine
One of the most frequent questions I receive, as a writer, is on how I write. I am always surprised by that. Writing, like any other individual human activity, is very much an individual choice, at least as far as the ‘how’ is concerned.
Yet, I understand the curiosity. In asking the question any would-be writer and even those who don’t necessarily write a lot but either want to write or already do on occasion, seek to find an “aha!” moment for themselves. Something that will inspire them and also perhaps help them be more consistent in their writing.
With this in mind I have looked at how I write in a more critical manner and what I present here has been structured in a way that will help you get the most value out of it. The writing of a book, any book, is a massive enterprise whose complexity is belied by the ability of a writer to write.
As an example in a different context consider how a painter pulls up a canvas, draws some charcoal lines on it and then proceeds to paint van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”, Constable’s “The Hay Wain” or Picasso’s “Guernica”. If you’d asked them how they did it they may explain about charcoal drawings, shades, shadowing, perspective, the mixing of colors and the choice of brushes but really this is not how those paintings came about. Their artists thought passionately and deeply about something, they found a message that needed to be told and a medium which they could tell it.
It is no different for a book. Each book, fiction or non-fiction has an origin story. It has a message, which is to say it has an intent. The writing routine that’s established around it then is created so that the writer can accomplish two things: First and foremost, finish the book. And second, write the best book they possibly can. These two things have equal weight and there is a dynamic tension between them. A book that’s brilliantly written but loses its way and is never completed is useless. A completed book that’s badly written is a tragedy.
So, how do I do it? Bear in mind that each book I write is not only slightly different from the previous one but it has a fresh audience (with some overlaps) and a new-to-me subject. This means I don’t have a comfortable writing routine. It also means that I will need to research a lot and then make sure the research I come across is explained well enough to make sense to the lay reader.
To achieve all this I start with an idea. Google Semantic Search, for instance, demystified semantic search for online business owners and webmasters. The Sniper Mind showed how we can make better decisions under really challenging circumstances. Intentional: How to Live, Love, Work and Play Meaningfully, is a guide on how to behave so that life, work and play become both easier and more meaningful and we become more fulfilled and happier.
Once I have the idea I need to have a structure for my book, something that will help me put together the skeleton so that I know what each chapter does. That structure is provided by my research. I have always used Evernote to write my books. For each book I open up a new notebook and in it I put in all the research notes, ideas and suggestions that I have on it. I try, where possible, to tag them so that I can find them more easily and can group them, where necessary.
Once the preliminary research stage is finished I go through all the notes and research papers I have and group them. At that point their natural grouping provides a progression of sorts that becomes my skeleton chapter outline. Depending on the complexity of the subject, whether I need to conduct interviews or not, this is a process that can take up to eighteen months to complete.
I then start to write, this is a first draft and I use my chapter outline to guide me. I am aware that, at this stage, I will need to carry out a lot more research and more in-depth interviews. When I write I spend between two and three hours writing each day. I don’t look at what I have written before because I know it will distract me, instead I use my chapter notes to guide me, again.
I stop writing once the words I write stop making sense. I then break for a couple of hours where I play video games or watch the news or go over newsletters I subscribe to and then spend another hour or two writing. So, on average I will write solid for five hours each day. I always finish the day with an hour at the gym. During the pandemic this became impossible so I converted a room of my house to a home gym, with all the necessary equipment. Now there is never an excuse not to finish the day with exercise.
Revising what I’ve written is easier. I start from the beginning. Make notes when I am not certain what something means or if it doesn’t make as much sense to me when I read it as it did when I wrote it and I also rewrite any parts that appear easy to do so. Again, I work a five-hour day. The next day I rewrite and fix what needs re-writing and fixing using my notes from the day before. I then repeat the process for the next section of writing using the time I have allocated each day.
I used to spend a lot more time writing. In the past I used to spend eight-nine hours each day. I found out that I am just as productive with five and although I don’t get as much work covered as I did when I put in longer hours, what I do write is better and more powerful so the discipline to stick to a shorter writing day has improved the quality of what I write.
I never read non-fiction when I write because I tend to subconsciously copy the voice of the writer and forget my own. I always listen to music when I re-write, particularly the second and third drafts of a manuscript. My choice here is either The Scorpions or Imagine Dragons. Both groups make me feel more alive when I am tired.
And that is it. The sum total of the secret to my writing routine. Basically I begin with an idea, plan, flesh out the plan and then work to execute it. That’s it. I hope this helps.
Email & Social Media Accounts
Reach David via email: davidamerland@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidAmerland
Medium: https://davidamerland.medium.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidamerland/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DavidAmerland/about
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david_amerland/
Represented by The Knight Agency
David Amerland will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Monday, October 18, 2021
The Light Through the Pouring Rain by James Ruvalcaba
Cancer sucks, no matter how you cut it, and it can leave a path of destruction in its wake. The Light Through the Pouring Rain is one couple's story of this devastating diagnosis and their journey with love and faith. Take a peek inside with an excerpt and then read author James Ruvalcaba's thoughts on turning his story into a movie. Share your stories and ask questions in the comments section as you follow the tour. Best of luck entering the giveaway!
An emotional page turner that gives a first hand look into the lives of a young couple madly in love and eager to start their lives together, only to have it all halted by a cancer diagnosis. With no clear road map on how to navigate their new normal, James and Anabel proceed into uncharted territory, hand-in-hand, with the love of their families and their faith in God to guide them.
Read an excerpt:
At this time, I was working with special needs kids as an instructional aide. My work schedule was eight thirty a.m. to three p.m., typical school hours. Thanks to my mom, I was able to have some sort of income to take care of Anabel’s needs when she needed something. It wasn’t much, but it was something. Prior to leaving work, I gave her a speech: “Chemo ain’t got shit on you. It chose the wrong person to fuck with.” I felt like I was giving a speech in 300. She was amped, we kissed each other goodbye, and I was off to work. Later on at work, I got a text from my mom sending me a picture of Anabel during chemo, and she was all smiles with a thumbs-up. She looked way happier than anybody in that situation could possibly be, but she felt in her heart that chemo didn’t have shit on her. That was partially my fault for the speech I gave her in the morning, but it was funny to see somebody actually believe the words you say and run with it. I cracked a smile, thinking, This girl.
I arrived home at three thirty. “Bells!”
“Yes, Meez?”
“How did it go?”
“It was a breeze.”
My mom explained the doctor’s orders and the game plan. Eight weeks of chemo, five days a week, which would be re-evaluated as needed until her tumor was small enough to do radiation, then surgery to remove it. We were all excited. The plan has been laid out, and with a plan that has a time frame, you are able to envision the light at the end of the tunnel, because the next day brings you that much closer to back to your normal life. Anabel and I smiled at each other with our eyes tearing up. We must’ve both been imagining our lives going back to normal.
Buy on Amazon
(affiliate link)
If my book was a movie it would be a dream as well as a nightmare, let me explain.
I know every Author believes their books can be made into a movie and that is one of the ultimate goals we all have in mind. Even me as well. My reason for my book to be made into a movie is to spread awareness of cancer and give a truly in-depth look into the horrors of it. I believe everybody has an understanding of the basics of what goes into cancer diagnosis ( balding, weight loss, chemotherapy ) but how about the emotions? How about maintaining relationships with the ones you love and being able for both partners in the relationship to feel loved? There are just so many layers to the book and the story that it can have an impact on so many. I know it impacts many and I know it will.
On the other hand, there is a major negative to making my book into a movie and it’s not what you may think it is. My negative reason would be to have to relive the horrors of the moments that hurt me most. I will not be excited to have to relive most of the moments over again. Every time I would see particular scenes it would be like ripping a bandage off a freshly open wound. It would hurt, but I understood the bigger picture of my book and story. I would suck it up because I would know the greater good of my story and how it can impact others to appreciate what you have and to appreciate the ones you love.
When my book gets made into a movie, I will look back at this post because this is one of the first public platforms where I have stated that my book will be a movie one day and one day soon.
I am a family man and hold them near and dear to me. I am a down-to-earth person that loves creating conversations.I believe the more we communicate the more we see the beauty of God's previous workings. In pursuit of my God-given mission, I began writing because of a promise I made to my Fiance on her last day. I wanted to honor my fiance's legacy and to be a testimony of God's goodness. I continue to tell stories and hope to achieve telling stories that uplift others, give some perspective on life, and to walk away with a sense of inspiration. If they can take lessons and perspectives given in my words to their own lives then I feel I accomplished what I set out to do.
Website: https://thelightthroughthepouringrain.com
Social media: @JamesMRuvalcaba
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20998695.James_Ruvalcaba
James Ruvalcaba will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Tuesday, August 31, 2021
Christmas Comes to Morning Star by Charlotte Hubbard
Welcome to the book tour for Christmas Comes to Morning Star, the third installment of the absolutely delightful Morning Star Amish series by Charlotte Hubbard. Today I have an excerpt for you as well as my thoughts on the book. And Charlotte is taking us into the lives of the twin heroines. Please let her know your thoughts and then be sure to follow the tour for even more. Best of luck entering the giveaway!
Founded by five unmarried and enterprising Amish maidels, the new Morning Star Marketplace in small-town Missouri is preparing for a joyous Christmas season. But will the holiday also bring unexpected tidings of love?
Twin sisters Molly and Marietta Helfing are eagerly anticipating Christmas, with Marietta fully recovered from cancer and their noodle making business thriving. But Molly clearly misses having former tenant Pete Shetler and his rambunctious dog, Riley, around. Marietta can’t ignore Molly’s feelings for Pete—or the anxiety it stirs within her. Convinced her illness has made her unmarriageable, Marietta wonders what kind of life she’ll have if her sister marries—despite Molly’s promise never to leave her behind. . .
Then a fire destroys the home of Amish neighbors and Molly and Marietta graciously make room for widower Glenn Detweiler, his dat, and his two young boys. When Pete returns to help the family rebuild, Molly relishes her reunion with the handsome carpenter, while Marietta delights in mothering Glenn’s boys—and is surprised by her poignant bond with their quiet, brooding father. Soon everyone is wondering if this season will bring the blessing of a merry double wedding to Morning Star . . .
Read an excerpt:
Pete cranked up his pickup, gunning the engine as he shot down the Helfings’ lane—and then he kicked himself. He was trying to act more mature, and driving like a clueless kid—he way he had when he’d lived in the twins’ dawdi haus—was not what he’d intended to do. But old habits died hard.
“Riley, we’ve gotta do better, boy,” he said as he slung his arm around the dog’s furry neck.
“Keep reminding me that Molly won’t take me seriously unless I turn over a lot of new leaves, will ya?”
Riley licked Pete’s face exuberantly. The dog loved to ride in the pickup every chance he got, and he’d been excited about returning to the twins’ place.
“Even though she and Marietta stick like glue, I have to admire the way Molly’s supported her sister,” Pete continued as he drove toward town. “Not many girls would’ve shaved their heads during Marietta’s chemo, knowing how that goes directly against the Ordnung! I love it that Molly broke the rules that way!”
When his dog’s eyes widened, Pete laughed.
“Uh-oh, I said that L word, didn’t I? Gotta watch that. Gotta toughen up my attitude,” he continued in a firmer voice. “Molly’s the bossiest girl I ever met—and there’s no prying those twins apart, anyway. So why act like I’m interested, right?”
Riley focused forward, gazing through the windshield as though he didn’t believe a word Pete had just said.
As always, the dog probably had it right.
Print: •• Amazon •• Amazon UK •• Amazon Canada •• Barnes & Noble •• Books-A-Million •• Chapters Indigo •• IndieBound ••Kensington •• Target •• The Book Depository ••Walmart ••
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**My thoughts**
I just love this series. Each charming book picks up right about where the previous one left off. And yet you don't even need to have read the others to understand what is going on in this specific story. The main focus is always on the couple-at-hand (or in this case, make that double), but there's just enough of an explanation of those already paired off to help you understand, without giving away too much information. That being said, I would still recommend reading them all at some point.
A lot has happened to our maidels in just a few short months. It's been fun watching their relationships grow. You just knew early on that Molly and Pete were going to fall for each other because of the way they bickered and picked one each other. It's just Pete has an awful lot of growing up to do in spite of his age. You just want to kick him so many times.
And you hope that Marietta can find love. It's hard enough to be an older Amish woman, let alone one who is now considered deformed and cannot bear children. She has a big heart and you just want to see her happy. And you want the twins to figure it out around the same time so that their separation doesn't lead to a long isolation, since they have been together their entire lives. Christmas is often a magical time, even in the Amish realm.
Glenn is a tough one. His previous behavior has left a lot of a bad taste in my mouth, though I understand why he has been such a mess. It's not fair that some people seem to take a bigger hit than others, though that often leads to the person growing into a better version of himself.
As with the previous books in this series, I was left with a warm and fuzzy feeling and plenty of smiles throughout. Now we just need to find out what is going to happen with Jo! And what is going to happen to the Marketplace when all of our maidels are settled in their new lives.
Read an excerpt from book 1: Morning Star.
Read an excerpt from book 2: First Light in Morning Star
Molly and Marietta Helfing: A Day in the Life!
The twin heroines of CHRISTMAS COMES TO MORNING STAR follow a fairly predictable schedule from one day to the next—at least until heroes Pete Shetler and Glenn Detweiler come along to upset it! In the first two books of this Maidels of Morning Star series (MORNING STAR and FIRST LIGHT IN MORNING STAR) Molly and Marietta are carrying on their mother’s homemade noodle business in a small building behind their farmhouse—and they also have two dawdi hauses. Ordinarily a dawdi haus is built so the older generation can live there, but the Helfings have lost their parents, so they rent these small houses to tourists who come to Morning Star.
Ordinarily the twin sisters rise early, eat their breakfast, and go right out to the noodle factory. They make large batches of dough, run the dough through their rollers to flatten it into sheets, and then cut the sheets into strips so they can flatten the dough even more. Then they use knives to cut the noodles into whichever size they’re making that day. The noodles air-dry on screens, and then Molly and Marietta bag and label them so they’re ready to sell at their Marketplace shop on Saturdays. Meanwhile, they do their laundry and other housekeeping chores, raise a garden, etc. After her double mastectomy, Marietta feels no man will ever want a flat-chested woman who can’t bear kids, so she has resolved never to marry. Molly has vowed to remain single, as well, so Marietta won’t live alone…even though Molly secretly adores cute, blond carpenter Pete and his dog!
In earlier books, Pete Shetler lived in one of their dawdi hauses because his uncle, Bishop Jeremiah, believed he’d lead a more appropriate life and maybe be persuaded to join the Amish church. He and Molly are sweet on each other—trying not to admit it—so when Pete moves to his uncle’s place to remodel it, Molly’s life becomes a lot less exciting because he takes his rambunctious dog, Riley, with him.
Once CHRISTMAS COMES TO MORNING STAR gets going, however, it’s Glenn Detweiler who’s moving into a dawdi haus because his house burns down. He arrives with an elderly father, a seven-year-old son, and a newborn son because his mother and wife have died within the past six months. It’s December, and Marietta immediately realizes that warming bottles for a tiny baby on the hot plate in the little dawdi haus just won’t work—so the Helfing sisters’ usual schedule is disrupted in a BIG way by the arrival of four needy males!
As fate and faith would have it, Marietta becomes so attached to baby Levi and Billy Jay that her maternal instincts kick in—and Glenn is extremely grateful for her help. The twins even have Glenn’s elderly dad and Billy Jay helping them bag and label their noodles. Not once do they complain about the drop in their production because caring for the Detweilers takes so much of their time. The entire Amish community helps build—and completely furnish—a new home for this family. We also get to watch Billy Jay recite his verses of the Christmas story at the Christmas Eve program and share in his accomplishment.
CHRISTMAS COMES TO MORNING STAR is a romance, so of course both sisters get their happily-ever-after! But they don’t allow Pete or Glenn an easy time of it!
www.charlottehubbard.com
Facebook -- www.Facebook.com/Charlotte.Hubbard1
Charlotte Hubbard be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. In addition to the GC, the author would like to select one female reader's name to use in her upcoming book, HIDDEN AWAY AT PROMISE LODGE.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Tuesday, July 27, 2021
Say Yes to Life! by Elliott Robertson
So many of us are seeking our authentic selves so that we can lead greater lives. In Say Yes to Life, author Elliott Robertson aims to help us along that journey. Read an excerpt from the book, as well as a guest post that addresses a lot of the "What if's." Be sure to leave questions and comments here and as you follow the rest of the tour. Best of luck entering the giveaway!
Say Yes to Life provides you with seven keys to unconditional, abundant living. Each key opens a doorway to experiencing life as a gift.
This book will guide you to the depths of your heart where you long to celebrate life with a wholehearted "Yes!"
You will be led to a place of greater authenticity.
You will be encouraged to take joy in who you are.
Only willingness is needed to embrace yourself with gladness.
With your true Self in the driver's seat and the ego in the back seat, life takes on a new vibrancy.
Now you are present to yourself, to your companions, and the cosmos. The mountaintop appears and beckons you into the fullness that has always been awaiting you.
Read an excerpt:
The opinions we carry about ourselves are not readily identified. They are not easy to spot. We think the opinion (“I can’t handle adult responsibilities,” or “I’m socially awkward and therefore I’ll always be rejected”) is a fair, objective description. We mistake the mask we’re wearing for who we are, and we have no recollection of ever choosing the mask, or putting it on.
To say Yes to life is to bow down to Spirit, to make the “Yes” God utters more important than any other considerations.You may think of yourself as hobbled in certain ways. Your negative self-talk may have convinced you that you are not smart enough to pursue something you dream about. You may have formed unflattering opinions about, say, your artistic abilities, and these opinions may have caused you to leave your art supplies in the attic, untouched for years.
Cling to the negative self-talk no longer. Listen to Divine Intelligence say “Yes” to you, instead.
Buy links:
(affiliate link included)
The e-book will be free during the tour.
What if God is always whispering, “Hush now, babe, I want one thing. I want only for you to receive my love, hush, hush”? What if God’s nature is to give love, nothing more and nothing less? What if from the highest place in heaven it is clear that there is nothing, truly nothing to be feared?
What if fear impedes our communication with one another? What if we are designed to put fear in the backseat of the car, to blow loving kisses to her from time to time, and to be genuinely grateful to fear for her desire to protect us. What if fear cares deeply about our well-being, yet at the same time hinders our ability to listen? What if fear places obstructive filters that add meanings to what others say, misinterpreting and distorting what has been said?
What if God is a Power that is always looking for us? What if God is like an octopus with infinite arms, each tentacle always looking for unplugged lamps, the tentacle an outlet designed to light up the human soul that plugs in?
What if God is a Game that is always available for all to play, a Game always in the presence of each soul? A Game called “non-resistance” or maybe called “receptivity” or “quantum love”? The rules are simply this: Be who you are and let God do the rest.
What if God is waiting for us, always waiting. The Unchanging One who waits for us to say, “Yes, I shall conform my heart to yours” or “Yes, I shall set my sails now such that I’m available to intimacy with you and with the yellow daisy, the red tulip, and beauty everywhere. Free will has been given us, so what is there for God to do but wait?
What if the Goddess of Playfulness is always eager for us to be clear with ourselves about what we want? What if she is eager for the desires of each participant to be met? She wants us to know that play exists only when the desires of each one are honored. And she knows the deepest longings within each soul are to love and to be loved.
The time has come for us to celebrate who we are. And to rejoice in our relationship with Mystery. The time has come for us to open our hearts to life.
CONNECT WITH Elliott Robertson
Elliott Robertson | Happiness Coach (elliottrobertsoncoach.com)
FACEBOOK - Pathways to Joy | Facebook
Elliott Robertson will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Smile More Stress Less by Geoffrey Saign
Life has been extra challenging as of late. We're all looking for ways to cope. This book may help you do it. Take a look inside Smile More Stress Less by Geoffrey Saign for an example of some tips he has to help you. Also enjoy some of his further reflections on his life and having less stress in it. Be sure to follow the tour and leave your thoughts and questions along the way. Best of luck entering the giveaway!
Want one easy method to end anxiety, stress, sadness, loneliness, fear, & anger? While maximizing happiness, inner peace, and self-awareness?
One quick way to cut through all negative emotions? And have fun doing it?
~Savvy & easy workbook exercises ensure success!~
In just minutes a day this playful yet smart approach can:
*End inner and outer conflicts
*End anxiety, worry, fear, anger, boredom, and self-doubt
*Increase healthy relationships with everyone in your life
*End illusions in your life and maximize clarity
*Rewire your brain to live with deep intelligence
*Become your own AAA+ rated super-counselor
*Help you discover the Power of HERE
*Allow your natural joy to blossom
This hands-on, A+B = C approach will supercharge your brain function, improve your emotional intelligence, and change your life!
~Finalist Forward INDIES Self-Help Book of the Year 2020~ (Winner TBA 6/17/2021)
*End anxiety, worry, fear, anger, boredom, and self-doubt
*Increase healthy relationships with everyone in your life
*End illusions in your life and maximize clarity
*Rewire your brain to live with deep intelligence
*Become your own AAA+ rated super-counselor
*Help you discover the Power of HERE
*Allow your natural joy to blossom
This hands-on, A+B = C approach will supercharge your brain function, improve your emotional intelligence, and change your life!
~Finalist Forward INDIES Self-Help Book of the Year 2020~ (Winner TBA 6/17/2021)
Read an excerpt:
You Can End Daily Stress With Playfulness & Humor
One way to change rote, stressful thought patterns is to use playful exaggeration. It is a simple, repetitive method that will produce immediate and significant results, and we will use it often in this book in different ways and situations.
Let’s try it with dirty dishes. You see dirty dishes in the sink. Thoughts enter your mind about how irresponsible the person was in leaving them there. You feel annoyed and irritated. You notice this Self-Created Stress reaction inside yourself, and you interrupt it. You say out loud or think:
Oh no! My hands will never recover from this!
This is going to ruin my whole life!
It’s the end of the world as I know it!
Smile as you do this. Smiling brings about a strong positive emotion, and strong emotion helps change the brain by wiring a new neural pattern that’s even stronger.
Every time we change our thought pattern or interrupt old thought responses, we are changing our brain—teaching it—and allowing a new neural pattern to develop. We are telling the brain, This old pattern of thought is no longer useful or acceptable. The brain always listens. EVERY SINGLE EFFORT IS WORTHWHILE. This cannot be overstated.
Book Links
If my life was made into a movie…
You never know how life is going to turn out, or how it might zig or zag when you think you’re following a straight line. Thus what is most important is following your heart, following your passions, and being true to those. Stress and other psychological problems can derail all of that. Thus you want a clear, calm mind to pursue your dreams. I’m saying all of this because I’ve been writing for 40 years. I’ve had near misses with some of the biggest agents trying to sell my books. I’ve had movie producers interested, but they walked away. And now, when I’m largely stress-free daily, the happiest I’ve ever been in my life (due to what I discovered in my book Smile More Stress Less) I have 3 movie deals, with a 4th coming. What’s even better, is that I can enjoy it calmly, without stress, craziness, anxiety, fear, anger, worry, loneliness, disappointment, and all the other emotions that can rob you of just living happily.
If my life was made into a movie, it would be the underdog who never gave up, suffered some huge setbacks with health and life, but still came out on top. I like happy endings, else why bother suffering through anything in life? My books all have that. I might put the hero/heroine through terrible trauma, but in the end they learn, they grow, and they have joy and happiness in their life. That’s my life. I hope it is yours too!
Geoffrey Saign will be awarding a $30 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Monday, April 12, 2021
What if Katniss Everdeen had been a Christian? Thoughts by D.K. Doulos, author of WoE Is Us
On Tour with Prism Book Tours
Welcome to the book tour for the Christian dystopian novel Woe Is Us by D.K. Doulos! Today, he takes a look at Katniss Everdeen, the beloved heroine from The Hunger Games, and speculates as to what she would have done in this dystopian society if she were a Christian. Check out his new book as well and then follow the tour for even more.
WoE Is Us
By D.K. Doulos
Christian Dystopian, YA, Sci-Fi
Paperback & ebook, 267 Pages
March 30, 2021 by Ambassador International
Lyrian Wallace was only ten years old when the Malevolence struck on October 10, 2056. She thought the next decade had numbed her to the grief, the death, the bots, and the daily struggle for survival. She lost her parents when they became Sleepers, but like everyone else, she had pieced together a new family. Lyrian was almost content when the Alliance began taking them . . .
The world always took things away from her. She could only live for today and never dared to hope for any heaven. But when her circumstances change, Lyrian must choose how she might live for both this life and the next.
(Affiliate links included.)
What if Katniss Everdeen had been a Christian?
What if the “girl on fire” had been on fire for Jesus? Maybe it seems like a crazy idea, but dystopian stories like the Hunger Games typically take place in a broken future version of our Earth, and Panem seems no different. Jesus is important to over a billion people on the planet today, and people often turn to God even more in difficult times. The Hunger Games themselves seem a shadow of the barbaric spectacles of the ancient Roman colosseum where Christians were often among the victims tragically killed for sport and fed to wild beasts. A Christian Katniss shouldn’t be that far-fetched.
So, how would Katniss’s story have been different if she were a follower of Christ?
Undoubtedly, she still would have felt the self-sacrificing urge to protect her sister from being selected to the Games. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 NASB). Stepping forward in place of Prim was very Christ-like of Katniss.
Katniss was a fighter, but this instinct might have been blunted by her zeal to imitate Christ. Depending on her Christian beliefs, she might have ranged from opposing premeditated murder to strict pacifism. As such, she likely would have prepared for the Games quite differently, focusing primarily on evasive, survival, and defensive skills. The camouflaging techniques that Peeta used would have been perfect.
Beyond her preparation and approach to the violence of the Games, I think the biggest change for Katniss would be her ability to cope with her circumstances. Because of her faith in Jesus and hope for eternal life, she could find peace despite her bleak situation.
Could Katniss have still won the Hunger Games? Even if she were unwilling to kill the other tributes? While exceedingly difficult, it would be possible. The arena itself was designed to foster death. To win the Hunger Games, Katniss would have had to outlast the other tributes. Perhaps, she would have still made it home as a victor, but if not, she would have achieved her ultimate victory in Christ.
About the Author
D.K. Doulos has written stories most of his life and is thankful he can use his talent in service to God. When he's not writing, he enjoys going camping, impersonating a grill master, and watching college football. Between epic cross-country family road trips, he lives in Texas with his wife and four children. Find out more about D.K. on his website (www.dkdoulos.com).
Tour Giveaway
One winner will receive (US only):
- A leather satchel (sized to carry a tablet, iPad, or Kindle) that’s similar to the one carried by the book’s main character
- Bluebonnet scratch-made soap, inspired by the book’s Texas setting
- Fredericksburg Juicy Peach scented wax melts, inspired by the book’s Texas setting
- A $25 Amazon gift card
Tour Schedule
Tour Giveaway
- A leather satchel (sized to carry a tablet, iPad, or Kindle) that’s similar to the one carried by the book’s main character
- Bluebonnet scratch-made soap, inspired by the book’s Texas setting
- Fredericksburg Juicy Peach scented wax melts, inspired by the book’s Texas setting
- A $25 Amazon gift card
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