Blog Archives
Revisiting My Journey
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Where Does My Self-Love Fall? you help readers probe their thoughts & emotions to uncover their self-concepts and provide tools to reshape them to live a fulfilling and happy life. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Wow, a great question! There were many reasons which compelled me to write this book. I’ll give you the twofold answer.
Briefly, I’ll speak on the ‘awakening (i.e, the beautiful awakening) moment’─ where I’d been and the new person I had become.
Revisiting my journey, I recalled all those broken pieces I’d lost along the way; while leaving that little girl inside me in pain. Abusing her so badly, a lot of my self-concepts were lost and scattered, e.g., self-worth; self-confidence; self-forgiveness; self-dignity; self-esteem; self-love; and other self-dimensions. I was like that Humpty Dumpty broken in pieces. I’d fallen down hard and needed help to get back up. I had to go back to pick up those broken pieces and start the work on “self.” Intitally, it was an extremely difficult challenge, but I never gave up. The struggle began having to rid self of those negative thoughts, figuring out all that was lost, and backtracking to pick up the pieces.
First and foremost, I had to forgive myself before I could move forward and begin the journey to “fixing self.” Once I put the energy and hard work into nurturing self, I saw a complete transformation. I’ve gained an appreciation for the use of affirmations, as well. There I was a new me ─ feeling different inside and out. Making that transformation equated with hard work and positive results. That’s when a light flickered (it’s book time), How many others have gone through a similar journey?
Originally, I wanted the book to be a companion to my memoir. After speaking with my publisher (Terri Leidich of WriteLife Publishing), we came to the conclusion that no one should have to read my storybook, Not a Blueprint, It’s the Shoe Prints that Matter, to do the work in this activity guide. Unfortunately, there are too many people out there who forfeit themselves through their journey, and don’t know where their self-love falls (i.e., lies). With that realization, we decided I needed to rewrite the material as a stand-alone. In all honesty, I thought it was going to be rather difficult. Yet, the more I’d gotten into the writing the easier it became to structure it.
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who is struggling on the path to self-love?
I’m a strong believer in self-talk. Many know this talk as ‘those inner voices in the back of our heads that feeds us messages all day long.’ So, what I’d tell them is two-folded, “The use of daily affirmations plays an integral role in self-nurturing, Don’t give up on yourself!”
What is a common obstacle you find many people face when it comes to self-love?
There are several obstacles one faces when showering love on self. The major one which comes to my mind is, “We can always find the time to love on others. Rarely, do we take time out to love ourself. Think about that!”
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
Psst! Psst! . . .
Yes, I’m working on something. I’m a huge fan of those “true-life-stories.” That’s right, it’s one of those non-fictions and rather not reveal the full details, as yet. Be assured, it’s not a memoir. But, it’ll be a doozy ─ one that’ll knock your socks off and others’ as well.
To say the least, “It’s an eye-opener; with a splash of humor; and lots of heartbreaking moments.” I can share that much as I’m still pulling the research together.
With this one, there’s lots of research involved, which seems to be endless. At some point, I’ll have to cut it off and get busy with the writing phase.
When it’s ready for release, I’m confident many people will find this story relatable and embraceable with their interactions and what’s happening around society, today. All that’s involved in developing into a storybook, it definitely won’t be a release for this year. That’s for certain!
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Readers of The Self-Esteem Workbook by Glenn R. Schiraldi, PHD and The Self-Compassion Skill Workbook by Tim Desmond will like Mirror, Mirror on the Wall.
Threatened By An Advanced Race
Dark Enemy follows the Earth’s space force leader as he tries to unify the allied forces while fighting politicians back on Earth. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
The idea for the start of the series was the question: What would you do if you learned that the Earth was threatened by an advanced race while at the same time finding a source of advanced technology? Add that the person finding this out was at a point in his life when he was seeking simplicity.
Did you create an outline for the characters in the story before you started writing, or did the characters’ personalities grow organically as you were writing?
I had an idea about the main character, Van Childs, but the rest introduced themselves over time. In fact, the characters dictated the story. I planned to stop at the third book, but the characters said no and took me to a fifth, Dark Enemy.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The reluctance of Van Childs to get involved. The lack of the technical skills on Earth to reproduce the technology of the Host in a timely manner. And the fight of greed over the need to survive.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
The next book is called Crucible and is the beginning of a new series called Records of the Argos. Crucible is available now. After that will come Retribution which will be available in July or August of 2022.
Author Links: Amazon | Website | Facebook
Crazy, Insane, And Out Of The Ordinary
Marvels of the Underworld follows four teenage girls who possess magical powers and set off to uncover a threat to their world. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
Marvels of the Underworld is the sequel to In the Name of the Otherworld, my debut novel. I came up with the idea of writing a sequel to my first book 3 years ago, in December, 2019. I was 15 then, and I was very busy preparing for the national high school entrance exam. Driven nuts by the never-ending tests, I wanted to do something crazy, insane, and out of the ordinary. Writing a unique story sounded like the perfect escape. I decided to make In the Name of the Otherworld a trilogy, and immediately started planning the outlines of books 2 and 3. I wanted to venture into genres I’d never tried before, which is why you’ll see a blend of fantasy, sci-fi, romance, horror, mystery, action, and adventure in Marvels of the Underworld. It was my way of exiting my comfort zone and seeking a brand-new adventure in a bland, mundane life of tests, routines, and conformity.
I must add that my wise parents removed me from school a year later, which turned out to be the best twist in my life. I started working on the prose of Marvels of the Underworld on October 9th, 2020, and finished the first draft after four months.
What was your approach to writing the interactions between characters?
There wasn’t really an approach. I imagine my characters as sentient beings swimming in my head. They talk to me and ask me to write what they say. I often think of them as my little munchkins, baby ducks, and actors and actresses all at the same time. Each of them is a part of my character, and I think of them as the people who understand me the most in the world. To me, they’re real. (Or to them, I’m fictional. Who knows?)
Were you able to achieve everything you wanted with the characters in the novel?
Yes, definitely. I picture myself as a director of a film (book) and my characters as my actors and actresses. My words are the camera that brings out each scene, setting, and chapter.
Each character grows in Marvels of the Underworld. We see Alexandria, Eric, Eileen, Helen, and Zack (to name a few) demonstrate courage, wisdom, and kindness in their own ways, acknowledging not only the similarities they share but also their uniqueness and distinctiveness in personality. I also used the plot as a fable to reflect the corruption that is common in many governments in history, and how important it is to not follow the crowd and blindly conform to the majority.
Loads of prejudiced people believe fantasy fiction is of no value, for they are all conjured from the authors’ imagination, yet I disagree. There is fact in fiction, and there is fiction in fact. The traits my characters display may mirror those of people in real life. Queen Marianne, for instance, is an example of a corrupt leader who chooses to believe in what she wants, resulting in a catastrophe that befalls the Otherworld. In short, stories, especially allegorical ones like mine, do parallel reality.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am not working on “the” next book. Marvels of the Underworld is succeeded by War of the Chaotic Worlds I and II, which will be released by World Castle Publishing this summer, I hope. I completed them last August, finished a standalone fantasy comedy about a protagonist based on my 8th grade English teacher (Once Upon an Enchantress), a prequel for the Otherworld trilogy (Helen’s Tale), a YA fantasy romance novel (The First Buds of Spring), a companion novel for the Otherworld trilogy (Eric’s Tale), and recently finished another prequel for the Otherworld trilogy (Zack’s Tale). I might start a middle grade fantasy novel about a brother-and-sister duo who must overcome their sibling rivalry, but am also considering to write more companion novels for the Otherworld trilogy. My Otherworldian characters love me! They want to consume my attention and make me focus on them only, no matter how much I torture them.
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A determined Alexandria decides to put an end to all this. Together, she and her friends embark on an adventure to the Underworld and navigate it to steel themselves against the future battles. Impeded by the peculiar terrains and unprecedented challenges, they discover, however, that the real monsters dwell not in the sinister Underworld but rather in the hearts of their fellow Otherworldians. Hiding among them is an unnamed traitor. Will they discover the identity of the fraternizer before another misfortune befalls upon their beloved realm? Or will the dark side prevail again?
To Make The Crucial Link
Archer follows a Canadian actor/director as he tours an epic work on the history of Canada which takes him to Ireland, where he’s forced to confront dramatic changes to his life. What were some obstacles you felt were important to defining Archer’s character?
Archer lost his mother and father in an automobile accident and he has no other relatives that he knows of. When he learns a startling discovery about them, it affects him deeply enough that he breaks down.
Women are powerfully attracted to him, but although he has had many liaisons, he has never truly fallen in love, which after the trauma of the revelation about parents, leaves him even further isolated.
He has always been a loner, although always busy and successful in creating events; one obstacle in truly connecting with someone
His impulse to create an event about all of Canadian history and earlier involves much research and the need to see places and events across Canada even as he tours with his production of King Lear.
What were some challenges you set for yourself as a writer with this book?
To further, following the first two books of the epic trilogy, an understanding of our human nature and what continuities or changes have taken place over the centuries, given the initial shock that started the work: Spenser’s creating an epic on the virtues at the same time as writing a treatise advocating the extermination of the Irish people.
To become immersed in the societies within Canada and Ireland.
To find and portray the major characters who could live in these times.
To examine what women have had to live with in these societies, and what significance this has today.
To make the crucial link between what happens in the first two books and this one.
And the great challenge was in terms of the poetic nature of the books—what poetic styles would support the events, what adjustments, if any, would have to be made? In all three the poetic style springs from the times and poetic styles suggested by each historical period, which in the case of this book covers several centuries.
Now that the trilogy has come to a close and looking back, were you able to accomplish everything you wanted to with this series?
I’m sure that there is much more that could be accomplished, but I reached as far as I could over these many years.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
There are several that are in process. The first is Sleepy Wing, a collection of verses that I used to sing to my children and grandchildren while I drove them to places (six of these were set to music by Malcolm Forsyth). It is waiting for the remainder of the paintings from a brilliant artist.
There are drafts of two others:
Clara: Life, Death, Love, a series of poems which in the first part examines the life which my wife and I led for fifty-eight years until her death; in the second, my dealing with her death; and in the third, the collections of sonnets and other poems I wrote for her birthdays and anniversaries.
Crannies of My Folded Days, my wife’s recollections and comments about her past as the daughter of a Norwegian family on a prairie farm, and about our time together.
I’m also working with an artist to write a poem for each of her paintings to be mounted beside each painting.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Archer portrays three years in the life of Ray Archer, a fictional Canadian actor/director dedicated to exploring performance styles with his diverse company. Following a Canada-wide tour of King Lear performed in mask, Archer takes his new epic history of Canada across the country and to Ireland, where a strange encounter changes his life in ways he could not imagine. Written in both modern and traditional poetic styles, Archer is Book Three of the epic trilogy On the River of Time, which examines three figures―one mythical (Odysseus), one historical (Edmund Spenser), and one fictional (Archer)―and the links between them across 3,000 years
The Antidote to Shocking Twists
Sketchy Characters follows a young woman that ends up homeless and jobless due to a hurricane, becoming entangled with a missing friend and a murder mystery. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
Marilyn is the manager of an apartment complex and a part-time artists’ model. She is single and has no family; however, she has close friends, especially Fran. For my purposes I wanted the protagonist, Marilyn, to be completely unencumbered but forced to fend for herself. The hurricane accomplishes this by taking her home, job, car, and scattering many of her friends far away as they flee the rising water. Fran also goes missing and the hurricane initially appears to be to blame. Marilyn’s single, unencumbered status gives her flexibility to react to circumstances quickly without the considerations of a spouse, kids, a house, etc. It also creates internal conflict because she needs to find a way to support herself and she begins to question her life more, namely what she wants from it. From that point forward it was off to the races and the plot picked up momentum.
There is a lot going on in this novel for Marilyn. How do you balance story development with shocking plot twists? Or can they be the same thing?
Certainly, they can be the same thing. Every plot twist, whether shocking or not, should propel the story forward, otherwise the shock and the twist is simply gratuitous and doesn’t belong in the book. Which is not to say that story development must gain momentum through shocking plot twists, as obviously there are many other ways to advance a plot, but a bit of a shock judiciously applied keeps a mystery-lover reading—it’s a waker-upper. Of course, shock can become tiresome if the book is simply a repetitive, crazy rollercoaster ride. For me, the antidote to shocking twists is humor, especially when a character recognizes the shock and comments on it in a wry way. Plus I love a good sprinkling of funny observations, sarcastic dialogue, and the odd joke, throughout.
Are there any emotions or memories from your own life that you put into your character’s life?
I’ve lived in Houston since 2006, which is where the story is set, and I experienced Hurricanes Ike and Harvey up close and personal. (I included Ike and Harvey in the book’s Acknowledgements as a joke.) The devastation done by hurricanes could be called indescribable, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to draw on those experiences and give describing a hurricane a shot. Weather plays a big part in writing a novel and having grown up in Toronto, I also felt at home describing the snowy scene in Detroit.
Also, the protagonist is an artists’ model and she and her friends are artists. I too am an artist and I’ve been on both sides of the easel—long ago as a model and throughout my life as a life drawing aficionado. I paint and draw in oils, watercolor, pencil, and pastels. I also illustrate children’s books and the covers of my novels. The illustrations for the children’s book Love You Forever, is the art for which I’m most well-known.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am currently working on two books. One is middle-grade fiction set in New York City, which will have many black and white illustrations. The other is another Houston-based mystery novel. Hopefully both will be out within a year and I’ll be back in touch with Literary Titan for your outstanding reviews.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
A frantic search for a missing friend.
A brutal double murder…
When chaos blows up Marilyn’s life, and she’s forced to go on the run from ruthless killers, she can’t dodge a cast of sketchy characters that ooze into her orbit. There’s a crooked lawyer and his wealthy clients, an internet scammer, a pair of suspicious hipsters, and a serial killer targeting the artists at Marilyn’s life-drawing group. Throw a couple of good friends and a sexy and protective detective in the mix, and it’s not all bad. Even so, it’s survival of the smartest and most resilient. As the action moves full speed, and the twists and turns keep coming, Marilyn must tackle the circumstances of her new, near-impossible normal.
I Hope Readers Will Be Inspired
A Calf Named Brian Higgins is based on your real-life experiences of traveling to Africa. Why was this an important book for you to write?
It was important for me to write this book because of how much I loved spending time with the wonderful people in Sauri, Kenya. Part of the reason I had gone to rural Kenya was to be helpful to a community suffering from poverty and I quickly learned that while they are lacking in many basic resources, the people there know more about taking care of each other than any community I have ever known.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The people in Sauri, Kenya worked together and established a rule: leave what you can, take only what you need. Since abiding by this simple principle, no one in their community has died of hunger. When I speak at schools, I ask the kids to think about that: leave what you can, take only what you need. That can be tough to live by under any circumstances, and certainly when you’re lacking food and medicine. When they took only what they needed, there was enough for everyone.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from A Calf Named Brian Higgins?
I hope readers will be inspired by the love and solidarity of the people in Sauri and will help end global poverty.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am working on a book about the love we have for our dogs/pets. The manuscript should be completed this summer.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website
It Is Intoxicating
My Love Affair: Thorns and Roses shares through poetry your amazing and transformative love affair. Why was this an important book for you to write?
It was important to me because it helped me to look at the love affair objectively. By placing the girl in the love affair as a character in a story, I could be fully honest with the raw emotions that the love affair induced. I could unleash all those feelings, release them, recover, and move on to the next journey. It was an important book for me to write for other men and women that may find themselves in this very same type of triangulating love affair. By sharing my story, perhaps others can experience that they are not alone and don’t have to feel ashamed, or hopeless. There is light at the end of the tunnel – with more roses and love arriving.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
The feelings of desperation were the hardest and to disclose the fact that the gentleman involved was married – separated but married. I felt really silly and immature to have fallen into such a clichéd trap – but then again, the beau in question did fall for a single woman.
What is a common misconception you feel people have about love?
That it will fix everything, that it will take all the previous pain away, that it is intoxicating, and that it is all that you must live for.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?
That love is like death – we must all go through it – in order to have truly lived. Whether a love affair fails or succeeds is not important. What is important is that you have loved and been loved. Consider life a series of love affairs. When one door closes – you can be certain that another one will open.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
An Unavoidable Cataclysmic Event
Time’s Up follows the political leaders of Earth as they determine if an alien warning about the apocalypse is real, and if so, who will be saved to carry on mankind? What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
I wanted an alien presence that was benevolent not bent on destroying us. Using CME’s (which actually exist on the sun) as the humanity killer, allowed the aliens to play a positive role. I wanted to speculate as to how the world leaders might deal with an unavoidable cataclysmic event along with an offer of help from an completely unverified source. I wanted to examine how normal human and especially conventional political forces might affect our behaviors.
What was your approach to writing the interactions between characters?
The primary interactions are between the protagonist (Yaz) and two old friends. Yaz had very close, though never sexual, relations with both men. With one friend she needed his help. With the other he needed her help. And eventually both friends, who were complete strangers, helped each other. I placed all the conflict between Yaz and world leaders who generally could not change their ingrained behaviors even knowing they would be futile. Friends, on the other hand, only helped each other without expectation of reward or benefit.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
That humans may be their own worst enemy. Politics makes people into monsters who cannot recapture their humanity even in the most dire of situations. That friendships/love last forever and are our only hope of salvation.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
Working on a sequel to TIME’S UP. It will pick up where TU ends. If it takes as long as TU did (I hope not), maybe 2025 (if I live that long)?
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
An unidentified being makes a prediction to the world. Over a period of several months the sun will experience a series of eruptions that will allow intense solar radiation to reach the earth. This radiation will eventually destroy all life and make the planet uninhabitable. The unidentified entity also offers to save a small group of young people by transporting them to a place that can support human life. However, successful colonization of the new location is not assured. Most people do not believe the prediction or the offer of help. One woman does believe and takes on the task of accepting the rescue offer and preparing the colonists. She must do battle with hostile politicians (‘carpols’), inept bureaucrats and skeptical populations (“genpop’) to save the human race from extinction.
LITERARY TITAN 