Blog Archives
Keep the Faith
Behind Her Smile: The Adventures of a Tall Girl from WVA and Her Life as a Stewardess shares with readers your experiences of growing up near poverty and taking a leap of faith, and getting a job that allowed you to see the world and changed your life dramatically. Why was this an important book for you to write?
I really wanted to share what may have been “Behind the Smile” on the Stewardess whose flight they were on. I felt it was important for future passengers to think that there was more to their Stewardess than just a pretty face. And he or she may be going through some challenging things in their lives regardless of the fact that they were there to interact in a positive way with their passengers. And I hoped to encourage my readers to “Keep the faith!” regardless of what might seem like insurmountable circumstances.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
Just to know that regardless of the smile on their Stewardess’s face they could have just had a challenging occurrence in their personal lives that they had to put on “the back burner” to be able to go out on that airplane and maintain a positive attitude for their passengers. As I shared a story of a fellow co-worker who had just spent the night with her former husband thinking they were about to possibly get back together to wake up to a note on her pillow stating “Fooled you again didn’t I?” She had to come to work on a three day trip after having gone through this the night before she was scheduled to fly.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
Actually the most difficult thing for me to write about was my relationship with Wendell Ladner, the Professional Basketball player that I had an affair with for over three years. I was not brought up to ever consider doing such a thing. However I was in a loveless marriage and did not have a fulfilling relationship with my husband at the time. I had never experienced a passion like the one I shared with Wendell. But the absolute most difficult thing was to have to relive and share what happened to Wendell, on of all things, an airplane. To say my heart was broken into is an understatement!
What is one thing you hope readers take away from your story?
I hope that my readers will be encouraged to believe in themselves regardless of circumstances that may say “NO” to their dreams.
Being raised just above the poverty line in Parkersburg, WVA, Janie didn’t have big aspirations and dreams for her life. Yet moving to Columbus, Ohio changed everything about her including her name.
She was in a dead-end job at the phone company when a dare from her best friend took her to an interview to become a Stewardess. Fearful she would be rejected on sight because of her height; she was shocked when she was accepted to be the one out of 5,000 applicants who applied for the job.
A whole new world opened up to her. Seeing places she had only read about, spending time with politicians, movie stars and professional athletes. One very special athlete, a professional basketball player named Wendell Ladner stole her heart with his southern charm. An extraordinary ‘connection’ with the King of Rock & Roll (Elvis Presley) allowed her the unique experience to spend ‘one on one’ time with him and remain in touch until his passing. You’ll share with her the challenges of marrying someone so different from her upbringing and coping with the attempts to try and fit in. Behind Her Smile reveals a devastating event that deeply affected Beverly and made her reexamine her life and what she truly wanted out of it.
Behind Her Smile: The Adventures of a Tall Girl from WVA and Her Life as a Stewardess
Beverly Golden Cuevas’ Behind Her Smile: The Adventures of a Tall Girl from WVA and Her Life as a Stewardess offers a rich tapestry of historical context, personal growth, and nostalgia. It traces the journey of Janie, the protagonist, from her modest beginnings in Parkersburg, West Virginia—a town marked by limited opportunities for women and above-average poverty rates—to her transformative career as a flight attendant.
The narrative starts with Janie’s early life, highlighting her transition from a stagnant job at a telephone company to the dynamic world of aviation, spurred by her best friend’s encouragement. Despite initial apprehensions about her height affecting her employability, Janie embarks on a career that takes her to numerous cities and introduces her to a variety of notable figures, including politicians, movie stars, athletes, and musicians. A particularly poignant aspect of Janie’s story is her interaction with Elvis Presley. Their heartwarming connection, forged during her time as a flight attendant, remains a memorable part of her life, enduring until Elvis’s death in 1977. Cuevas masterfully uses first-person narration to bring alive the 1950s, skillfully weaving together the challenges of the era with personal struggles and the journey of coming of age. The novel not only serves as a memoir but also as a vessel for valuable life lessons, such as perseverance and the importance of a strong work ethic.
Behind Her Smile: The Adventures of a Tall Girl from WVA and Her Life as a Stewardess offers insight into the demanding role of flight attendants, highlighting the extensive work and various challenges they face in ensuring passenger safety. This portrayal aims to garner appreciation and respect for the profession and the dedication of those who serve in it.
Pages: 532 | ASIN : B0CKYBJ2YW
My Autobiographies: An Introduction to Past Life Exploration for Personal and Spiritual Growth
In the compelling memoir, My Autobiographies: An Introduction to Past Life Exploration for Personal and Spiritual Growth, readers embark on a mesmerizing journey through the myriad past lives of John Koenig, a hypnotist, and coach specializing in past life regression. The narrative vividly captures Koenig’s exploration of his own life transitions, depicting death as a tantalizing cliffhanger – a moment that bridges one existence with the next. His personal experiences, narrated with poignant vulnerability, offer an immersive exploration into the profound existential question of reincarnation.
The book is masterfully structured to explore each of Koenig’s past lives in depth. Each individual’s narrative begins with the basic details – a name (when available), gender, and location. The reader is then guided through the context in which Koenig connected with this personality, unfolding their unique stories, such as Brother Thomas’ pervasive anxieties or Zeke’s reprehensible conduct. Notably, each life story is concluded with a poetic dedication, revealing the deepest, often hidden, thoughts of these individuals.
Despite their significant suffering and adversity, these narratives emanate a profound sense of candor. As Koenig aptly notes, modern perspectives cannot alter past conditions, prompting thoughtful introspection on empathy, healing, and karma. The narrative skillfully weaves these stories with Koenig’s current life experiences and broader contemporary human experiences. One compelling tale details a cattle rancher’s abduction and forced labor, his previous affluent life usurped, ultimately leading to his demise from exhaustion. This tale poignantly underscores the fleeting nature of material security and luxury.
Although the notions of reincarnation and past lives might be unfamiliar terrain for some readers, My Autobiographies is a captivating read that prompts its audience to reconsider life’s mysteries from a refreshingly different viewpoint. By posing challenging questions and offering alternative insights, this book is an enlightening journey through the labyrinth of past, present, and future existence.
Pages: 164 | ASIN : B0B57L7P59
Magic: A Life In More Worlds Than One
David Conway’s latest offering, Magic: A Life in More Worlds Than One, is an enchanting read that captivates you from start to finish. This fascinating book is a testament to the power of magic and how it can be found in every aspect of our lives. It can open our eyes to the world’s wonders and show us that life itself is the real magic. After only a few pages into this thought-provoking book, I found myself completely engrossed in the story. Magic, as it turns out, is something that we all experience every day, even if we don’t recognize it as such. Through his own personal journey, the author reveals the hidden magic in life that we often take for granted.
The writing in this book is exceptional, and it’s hard to believe that the author is approaching 80 years old. His story reads like really good fiction, but as you delve deeper, you’ll notice that he references actual historical figures and dates. This lends credence to his writing and reinforces the idea that magic is real. Throughout the book, the author uses his own experiences as a manual for magic. He refrains from defining magic in any one way, instead demonstrating its power through the events that have played out in his own life.
This book is not a how-to manual but offers many great ideas that can be applied harmlessly. For example, he mentions some herbs his mentor passed down to him. However, the real magic of this book lies in its ability to inspire us to live our lives pursuing what excites us. If we follow this principle, we will find that the magic that we need to reach our goals will seem to magically appear around us. The author’s journey is a testament to this and a powerful reminder that we should never stop chasing our dreams.
In conclusion, Magic: A Life in More Worlds Than One is a genuinely magical autobiography that will inspire and delight readers of all ages. If you’re looking for a book that will make you believe in the power of magic, then this is the book for you.
Pages: 310 | ISBN: 1913023060
My Thirty Shades: A Kinky Autobiography
My Thirty Shades: A Kinky Autobiography by Michael Host is not your usual erotica. Revolving around Holst’s wild sex life, the book offers multiple short chapters through which the reader can directly experience in detail the most exciting sexual encounters that Host has had throughout his life. From the beginning until the end, the book delivers what it promises to give: a compound of short stories illustrating passionate and intense scenes that will let your mischievous imagination fly. The recounts of the author’s sex life started when he was a timid teenager, curious yet lacking the confidence to approach girls and form an intimate relationship with them. As the book goes on, you see the author grow in confidence and skill.
Each chapter gets straight to the point and details a specific sexual encounter with one or multiple women. The scenes related in each of these chapters are lustful, and they are written in a way that will stimulate and excite the kinky side of the readers. The book explores various sex fantasies and materializes them on every new page. As the chapters go on, it can be noticed the experience gained by the author after each encounter. This experience is transformed into longer chapters with more eroticism and riskier explorations that will become more adventurous as time goes on. One thing the author leaves clear from the beginning: his number one goal is to give women as much pleasure as possible. He doesn’t hide his playful side from his lovers and shares all of his secrets with the readers, leaving nothing to the imagination.
My Thirty Shades: A Kinky Autobiography by Michael Host is a book that offers a different side of your usual erotica based on a single person’s real vivid experiences. As evidenced in this book, the author’s sex life has been far from limited, which has created a front-row experience of passionate lovers, forbidden encounters, fiery affairs, and a neverending intense sexual tension. This book is ideal for those that are fans of the genre and are eager to see the sexual experiences of another person from their own eyes.
Pages: 176 | ASIN : B0BLT5TYNR
Prisons Hold Many People
“Lifeline to a Soul” is an inspiring autobiography of an entrepreneur turned teacher, offering valuable lessons on resilience and determination through a unique perspective on life and success. Why was this an important book for you to write?
This book is about a real life event, my teaching experience inside a minimum-security prison. I spent over twenty years building a business and had a strong desire to teach what I had learned to others. In seven years of applying for a variety of jobs, my only offer was to teach in a prison camp. Although teaching in a prison was never my plan, since it was my only opportunity to teach, I accepted the job and am very thankful that I did.
I took the job to teach and never had any intentions of writing about the experience, but I realized that I had spent time in a place that was very unfamiliar to almost everyone, and by sharing my experience, I could take the reader through the gate with me and let them see what life inside a prison is like and also share the change in perspective I experienced towards the incarcerated and the entire correctional system.
What I learned from the experience is that prisons hold many people who could never function normally in society but they also hold many people with tremendous potential who have made only one mistake. It’s usually a really bad mistake, but many people serving prison terms have learned from their transgressions and are ready and able to move forward in life and leave the prison experience behind them. Unfortunately, when you treat everyone the same, as prisons are designed to do, you deny much needed resources to people who require them to change their lives and break free of the prison recidivism cycle. I want to share this perspective with readers in hopes that they will look at people with felonies as people who deserve a second chance.
What advice would you give to individuals who are struggling to overcome setbacks and adversity in their own lives?
Looking back on what I’ve learned in business and as a teacher, the one common denominator between those who overcome setbacks and adversity and the ones who don’t is determination. First, you’ve got to decide what it is you want to accomplish in this world and then you have to go after it with everything you’ve got. Nothing worth having comes easy and the people who refuse to quit until they get what they want are the people who succeed.
What do you hope readers will take away from your book, and what impact do you hope it will have on their understanding of life and success?
I have a relative who works as a prison guard in a maximum-security prison, and he has shared with me the times he or a coworker was attacked by an inmate, it’s a tough job. The prison system has to dehumanize its denizens in order to work properly. This makes it easy for people outside the system to adopt the same philosophy and consider every ex-offender as someone who can’t be trusted. I want the reader to realize, as I did, that people should be given second chances, despite their mistakes.
I hope that everyone who reads the book is entertained by the story, but also comes to realize that our criminal justice system discriminates against people of color, people with low income levels, and the uneducated. We are making a huge mistake by not providing the tools these people need to be successful when they are released back into society.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
Great question and I seem to be getting it a lot lately. Lifeline to a Soul is a book I never planned to write and is likely to be my first and only book. I currently have the good fortune of working with Tavares James, the founder of Lifeline Education Connection. Together, we have a program in place that will help those that have faced obstacles in their lives move forward. We focus on teaching financial literacy and the principles of entrepreneurship and are ready to bring our classes anywhere we can help people make positive changes to their lives. I plan on staying busy with this program, but maybe the writing bug will bite me again, time will tell.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | LinkedIn
After devoting half of his lifetime transforming his start-up business into a multi-million dollar industry leader, author John McLaughlin set out in a new direction: to teach what he had learned to others.
Due to a lack of teaching experience, his only job offer was to teach entrepreneurship to prisoners at a minimum-security camp in North Carolina. John gradually builds an effective program until a scandal involving prison officials blindsides his progress and threatens to bring his teaching career to an unceremonious end.
Lifeline to a Soul takes the reader inside the fence and chronicles the victories and challenges one man faced as a first-time teacher in the strange world of prison life.
my Imaginary Friend an autobiography
My Imaginary Friend an autobiography written by Thomas Wermuth is a unique autobiography that provides readers with compelling insight into the author’s life, expressed through three distinct perspectives. First, the narrative follows the author’s lifelong love of the violin, which began during his childhood and was shaped by a significant event that ultimately led him to become a world-traveling musician. Despite his professional successes, the author also recounts his experiences of marriage, fatherhood, and spiritual awakening, which helped him to better understand the three voices that guide his story.
While this book may not appeal to all readers, those who have an affinity for metaphysical concepts will undoubtedly find the author’s approach both enlightening and engaging. Using three distinct perspectives creates an air of mystery and intrigue, which compelled me to question the identities of the voices guiding the author’s story. At times, the three viewpoints may have led to confusion about the sequence of events. Still, the author’s decision to use these voices proved to be an excellent choice, as they were also responsible for maintaining my interest throughout the narrative. The author’s storytelling is complex and mysterious, and I had to continue reading in hopes that the three voices’ identities would be revealed. The author’s skillful use of this literary device also helps maintain a sense of anticipation, propelling the narrative forward and keeping the reader engaged until the end.
My Imaginary Friend an autobiography, is a captivating autobiography providing a unique perspective on the author’s life. Those who are fascinated by the concept of metaphysics will undoubtedly find this book to be an excellent addition to their reading list, and even those who may not have initially been drawn to the subject matter will be hard-pressed to put this engaging and thought-provoking book down.
Pages: 132 | ASIN: B0BS5STS1Y
They Call Me Produce Pete
Pete Napolitano is not your average everyday produce man. He is “Produce Pete” from WNBC-TV Weekend Today in New York. With his hit segment in the show, Pete quickly saw his life change from a simple business owner to a local celebrity. Readers can now follow Pete on his journey as he takes you through his life in this fascinating autobiography. From humble beginnings to hard work and lucky shots, Pete Napolitano shares his story about how he became the beloved “Produce Pete” that New Yorkers and New Jersey residents know him as today.
They Call Me Produce Pete is a quick and feel-good read that will leave you feeling positive about life. From explaining his early childhood with his hardworking and somewhat distant father to moving into young adulthood and meeting his lovely wife, Pete Napolitano paints a detailed and stirring picture of what it was like to become a local star. The comparison of his childhood to where he is now is truly inspiring to read. Led by the hard work of his father and the love of his mother, Pete became a loving and hardworking “all about the people” kind of guy.
Through it all, readers will be able to feel the love and passion that Pete has for the produce industry and his segment on WNBC-TV. This heartwarming and fun-filled book is perfect for a feel-good kind of afternoon. I read this every morning because I realized it put me in a better mood throughout the day. Pete’s fun-loving personality and passion will win over readers in this wistful but delightful memoir.
Pages: 185 | ISBN : 9798986988306
