Blog Archives
Hidden Opportunities for Growth
The Year of My Humiliation follows a brilliant but morally adrift plastic surgeon during what he dubs his “year of humility” as he documents his attempts at personal reform—not out of love or duty, but from a cold, self-imposed challenge to bring his life under control after a scandal that nearly ends his career. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
A friend once left his house in anger and accidentally backed up over his child’s stroller, completely wrecking it. The implication was devastating – what if his child had been in it?
What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?
When developing Michael, I focused on creating a character who could experience a deeply personal, emotional reckoning without losing authenticity. Morally, I wanted his choices to feel grounded in the realities of human behavior—how we resist change until forced, how pride blinds us to our flaws, and how growth often begins with small, humbling acts.
Michael starts as someone defined by pride and control, but I aimed for his transformation to unfold slowly, in moments that reveal his vulnerability. For instance, making his wife tea wasn’t just an act of humility—it was a subtle yet profound shift in how he saw himself and his relationships.
Emotionally, I focused on Michael’s relationships—especially with the hospital psychiatrist and his estranged son. These interactions highlight the vulnerability of opening oneself to others and the uncertainty of giving love or seeking forgiveness. His choices reflect the gradual, messy process of self-discovery and the risks required to change.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I was deeply interested in the intervention of grace—not as something soft or comforting, but as a force that’s often shocking, even brutal. Grace breaks through our carefully constructed facades and leaves us no choice but to confront the truths we’ve been avoiding. For Michael, this means grappling with the fallout of his mistakes and the painful realities of the relationships he’s damaged.
I wanted to explore how suffering, while deeply mysterious, can act as a crucible for transformation. It’s through Michael’s humiliation—those raw and uncomfortable moments where his pride is stripped away—that the possibility for redemption begins to take shape. Grace doesn’t promise an easy path, but it offers him a chance to rebuild, starting with the messy work of repairing his connection with his estranged son.
These themes—grace, suffering, and redemption—felt essential to me because they mirror the way real change often happens: unexpectedly, painfully, yet profoundly. They remind us of the hidden opportunities for growth buried within even the most difficult experiences.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
My next novel is more a metaphysical one, about a woman’s journey through a life review after a possibly fatal accident (yes, that’s ambiguous for a reason!) Its release isn’t imminent – I want to deliver a compelling and thought-provoking story. To keep in touch, follow me on Facebook and/or sign up for my email list on lilyfieldpress.com.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
Michael, an arrogant pediatric plastic surgeon, believes he controls his own life and his wife Rosie’s, until the discovery of Rosie’s duplicity punctures his self-importance and leads to tragedy. Consumed by remorse, he begins journaling his attempts at reparation, beginning with small, humbling acts – like making his wife’s morning tea.
But proving he’s emotionally fit to wield a scalpel again demands more than trivial self-abasement. Under the scrutiny of a hospital psychiatrist with unorthodox methods, Michael’s carefully constructed justifications crumble, exposing the raw truth he’s desperate to avoid.
Struggling to repair the damage only deepens his humiliation. And the one person who might pave the way to his redemption – his son, “the Jackass” – hasn’t spoken to him in years.
And he has no intention of starting now…
“The Year of My Humiliation” resonates as a tale of psychological and spiritual battles against family, God, and self – delivering a riveting, thought-provoking examination of the human heart and the life-changing power of forgiveness.
You Are NOT Alone
Wilderness Woman: A Triumphant Spirit is a raw and deeply personal memoir that traces your journey from a childhood filled with abuse and neglect to a life of resilience, healing, and faith. Why was this an important book for you to write?
My life’s true story has been an amazing journey to reflect on my past and see how far I have come through it all. I had been sitting on this manuscript for 30 years – I’ve seen and heard other people’s struggles of their lives SO I was inspired to get started to complete my book and get it published.
What was the most challenging part of writing your memoir and what was the most rewarding?
In the early days of working to find a publisher, I ran into con artists who took my money but I reported them to the fraud department at my bank. I got my money back. I checked out the next publisher with the Better Business Bureau.
Working with my new honest publisher was a hard task on my part. Going back into time and revisiting the old wounds of abuse was NOT good BUT I was determined to press on to complete my book and publish it!
One of the most rewarding results was to have a dear friend who read my book…She mentioned she too had abuses in her young life. She underlined the areas in yellow-highlight and shared the book with her new husband, who then would be able to relate to her wounded life.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in my book?
“As I grew older, an att teacher, a piano teacher, a large loving family in the country and others who loved, and supported me helped me realize that I deserved happiness. My relationship with my horses – the chapter on “Healing with Horses” Equine Therapy it’s called nowadays! They saved my life!!! I encourage others to look back and see how others helped in their lives!
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?
They are NOT ALONE!! It takes courage in ourselves to reach out for help! Get in a support group, go to meetings, just listen to others share and you will have the courage to share your heartfelt memories. It’s hard to trust BUT take your time and YOU’LL be able to relate to others!
Author Website
The summer of 1945…the Kansas City Star newspaper would have read like this: “The Division of Family Services reports…A young female child whose identity remains anonymous. She was rescued from her grandparent’s house. The mother and father are also being investigated by the authorities. The grandparents volunteered to watch the new baby girl. Her mother was a beauty operator down the street.”
“Diane” knew the daily drill. Each morning, her grandparents greeted her eagerly with evil warm smiles. The trap was set–the lower cabinet file drawer, which was at her eye level. She pulled the drawer out slowly and struggled to lift the heavy box out onto the floor. She sat cross-legged, enticed by the shiny eye-catching trinkets. She had not eaten breakfast. Her thoughts of the yummy chocolate-covered cherries would be good for her tummy.
The best of all was a warm wiggly reddish-brown puppy. This experience lasted day after day, week after week, and year after year. We ask ourselves how could this happen? Why? It’s called insanity, which can’t be explained.
The Lord brought a loving family into her young life. God’s creation along with her love for horses healed her childhood wounds and continues to heal her adult scars.
The Year of My Humiliation
The Year of My Humiliation is a raw, unfiltered dive into the mind of a brilliant but morally adrift plastic surgeon during what he dubs his “year of humility.” Framed as a daily journal, the story documents his attempts at personal reform—not out of love or duty, but from a cold, self-imposed challenge to bring his life under control after a scandal that nearly ends his career. His goal? Make his estranged wife a cup of tea every morning. That’s it. But the deeper you go, the clearer it becomes that this isn’t just about tea. It’s about control, shame, ego, resentment, and—most surprisingly—grief.
The writing floored me. There’s this calm, clinical precision to the narrator’s voice—understandable since he’s a surgeon—but it’s constantly bumping up against his inner chaos. You can feel it. The scene on Day 1, where he’s fumbling through the kitchen trying to make his wife tea for the first time in twenty-four years, was so mundane it was funny—and also sad. That tension carries through the entire book. One minute, I’m smirking at a sarcastic jab; the next, I’m sucker-punched by something brutally honest. Because underneath the smugness and detachment, there’s someone flailing to connect but absolutely terrified of intimacy.
What really hit me were the glimpses of his daughter, Michaelina. Especially the part where he looks at a school photo and focuses not on her face—but on a stray lock of her hair. That small detail holds so much love. He can’t say he misses her or that he’s grieving, not directly. But the book is full of these sideways confessions.
There are moments, though, where the narrator gets under your skin. He’s sexist, elitist, often cruel, and just plain selfish. He compares having intercourse with nurses to fast food and bashes his son with unrelenting bitterness. But I couldn’t stop reading. Because as much as I wanted to condemn him, I also wanted to understand him. When he meets Dr. Thurman, the psychiatrist who’s tasked with evaluating him, the power struggle between them is electric. She sees through him, and he hates it. She tells him, “You may be Mr. Expert on human faces, but I’m the expert on human shame.” She nailed it. That’s what this book is really about I think—shame, and how we hide from it.
This isn’t a redemption story, at least not in the traditional sense. It’s more like watching someone flail toward the possibility of change, failing often but trying in fits and starts. And maybe that’s more honest. I wouldn’t say the narrator grows into a better man—he just grows more aware of how much damage he’s done. The final chapters aren’t triumphant. They’re sobering.
I’d recommend The Year of My Humiliation to readers who like their fiction sharp, introspective, and full of complicated characters. It’s not a feel-good story. But it feels real in that uncomfortable, vulnerable way that stays with you.
Pages: 352 | ISBN : 0967149266
Wilderness Woman…A Triumphant Spirit
Diane Young’s Wilderness Woman: A Triumphant Spirit is a raw and deeply personal memoir that traces her journey from a childhood filled with abuse and neglect to a life of resilience, healing, and faith. Young pulls no punches in recounting the horrors of her past, offering a searingly honest depiction of what it means to survive trauma. Yet, this isn’t just a tale of suffering—it’s about hope, perseverance, and, ultimately, breaking the cycle of abuse to create a brighter future.
What stands out most about this book is Young’s ability to bring her memories to life with striking clarity. The opening chapters are almost too painful to read at times. The scene where she is locked in a bathroom with baby chicks while her caregivers abandon her for hours is particularly gut-wrenching. These moments are not just shocking; they are viscerally felt, forcing the reader to sit with the weight of her experience.
Despite the darkness, Young’s love for nature emerges as a powerful motif. Her connection to the outdoors—whether it’s the comfort of fresh air, the steady presence of horses, or the escape she finds in the simple beauty of wildlife—acts as a lifeline. The chapter “Horses and Healing” is especially poignant. When she describes the sensation of sitting atop Ribbon, a strong black horse, for the first time, there’s a sense of liberation that leaps off the page. It’s one of the few times in the book where Young describes feeling powerful and at peace, and it’s a testament to the way nature can provide solace in the midst of chaos.
The writing itself is straightforward, almost unfiltered, which makes it feel like you’re sitting across from Young, listening to her tell her story firsthand. This rawness is both a strength and a challenge. At times, the bluntness of the prose makes the horror of her experiences even more stark. There are moments where I wished for more breathing room—more reflection between the heavy blows of trauma—but perhaps that’s part of the point. Life doesn’t always give us space to process pain before throwing more our way.
Wilderness Woman: A Triumphant Spirit is a story of survival in its purest form. It is not a polished, neatly packaged tale with a perfect resolution—because real healing doesn’t work that way. Instead, it’s a testament to strength, faith, and the ability to carve out a new path despite a painful past. I would recommend this book to anyone who has endured trauma, those who work with survivors, and readers who appreciate memoirs that tell the truth, no matter how difficult.
Pages: 140 | ASIN : B0DB2K3TY6
LITERARY TITAN 