The Heart of It: Blogging about Writing, Life, and...: #GuestPost

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Don't Give Up ~ Guest Post by Author Susan Barton

My book, Emotional Paramedics, comes in at just about two hundred pages, yet it took me almost five years to finish and finally publish it. There were several reasons why it took me so long and I’d be lying if I said procrastination wasn’t one of them. As a book marketer/book reviewer, I find myself living the life of a shoemaker. I’m sure you’ve heard it…the shoemaker spends so much time making shoes for everyone in the village that his own family goes shoeless. In other words, I was so busy helping other authors publish and market their books, I had little time to concentrate on my own writing.

A couple of other things had me at a standstill with my latest book. Emotional Paramedics is unlike anything I’ve written before. I’ve also written three children’s books and three non-fiction books and, as proud as I am of them all, a coming of age novel was an ambitious undertaking for me. I struggled with the content and dialogue. The book deals with some very serious social issues and uses strong language at times. Although any strong language in the book is most definitely not gratuitous, I’d seen the scathing reviews where readers condemned a book after a couple of pages simply because they didn’t like the language used. The truth of the matter is that some subjects are just gritty and real, which means they warrant some gritty and real language. Emotional Paramedics is (at times) one of those books. Yet, it’s not all doom, gloom and swearing. Not by any means.

At the heart of the book is a young girl, August, who struggles to overcome some truly awful life experiences, while trying hard not to let the world change her into something she wasn’t meant to be. It’s about a young girl who is determined not to give up and who believes there is something better just around the corner.

I also wondered if anyone else would be as invested in my main character as I was. Would people enjoy the book? Or would they groan and say, “ugh, not another book about a kid with a bad childhood.” Or would they accept it for the story that it truly is – a story of hope, courage and perseverance?

Maybe you’ve been considering writing a book and are filled with the same concerns and doubts that I was when I first began writing Emotional Paramedics. I’d like to encourage you to continue writing. Do it for yourself and then share your story with everyone you know. Be like August and don’t give up!

Wishing you much success and happiness in all you do!

Susan Barton

August Gallagher is a sweet and intelligent Brooklyn girl just trying to find her place in the world during the turbulent 1960s. Unfortunately, her mother Alis doesn't make things easy for her. Bad choices, poor parenting and abusive men create chaos at every turn. Yet, through it all, August reluctantly remains a devoted daughter and continues to be Alis's emotional paramedic.

Along the way, August finds friendship, romance and makes a few dangerous enemies. When Alis hits rock bottom, August is forced to come to terms with the fact that it's finally time to cut the dysfunctional cord to save herself from Alis's emotional grasp. This is a wonderful coming-of-age story that will appeal to a wide variety of readers.

*This book deals with serious social issues. It includes some strong language and mature situations. It is recommended for readers 17 and up.*

PURCHASE EMOTIONAL PARAMEDICS ON AMAZON.COM

ABOUT SUSAN BARTON:

Susan Barton is an author, book promoter, marketer and coach. Susan has written several non-fiction and fiction books with several more books in the works. She currently resides in North Texas with her husband and their two dogs. She invites readers to connect with her via her website and on social media:

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Writer's Block? Step Into My Shower

Guest Post by ROBERT GERMAUX

Does this sound familiar? You’ve placed one of your characters (let’s call her Jenny) in a pretty sticky situation, and now you have no idea how to get her out of that pickle. You’ve tried several scenarios, but none of them quite works. Finally, you decide to take a break, clear your mind a bit. You’re thinking grab a quick shower, drive over to Starbucks for a latte, then come back and get to work on saving Jenny. Five minutes later, you’re halfway into that shower, and suddenly, it hits you, the perfect way to extricate Jenny from that sticky situation.

That sort of thing has happened to me often enough that, at some point, I began to wonder about the possibility of a connection between water and creativity. So, of course, I Googled it, and I quickly learned that there is a veritable waterfall of information on this topic. Yeah, I know. Waterfall of info on water. I couldn’t resist it. No more, I promise. Anyway, I discovered that there does, indeed, appear to be a connection, although it’s not the water per se, but rather a progression of events in which water is just one part. With apologies to Mr. Metcalf, my high school science teacher, I’ll do my best to walk you through the process. It involves dopamine, and one of the few things I still remember from Mr. Metcalf’s class is that dopamine equals good. Apparently, dopamine aids in the creative process (no idea; I got a C- in science), but to get the dopamine released into our brains, we first need to be doing something relaxing, like taking that warm shower or a long walk or a leisurely drive in the country. During these types of activities, your mind is distracted from whatever subject you’ve been concentrating on all day (for instance, poor Jenny), which allows your brain to relax at the same time it’s being flooded with dopamine, and before your know it, genius hits.

Okay, there you have it. Maybe not the most scientific explanation of the process (again, C-), but it gives you the general idea. Relaxation plus distraction plus dopamine equal problem solved. So the next time you’re sitting there staring at that blank page, take a hike.

ABOUT ROBERT GERMAUX:

Both my parents were readers. I'm talking stacks-of-books-on-their-nightstands readers. So it's no surprise that at an early age, I, too, became an avid reader. Everything from sports books (especially baseball) to Nancy Drew to the Hardy Boys to almost anything about distant and exotic places.

Although I've always enjoyed putting words on paper, the writer in me didn't fully emerge until I retired after three decades of teaching high school English. I quickly wrote two books aimed at middle school readers, at which point my wife urged me to try a novel for adults. As is usually the case, Cynthia's idea was a good one.

Over the next few years, I wrote several books about Pittsburgh private eye Jeremy Barnes. I took a brief hiatus from the detective genre to write Small Talk and The Backup Husband. Now I’m back and I just released my first Jeremy Barnes novel, Hard Court, on April 11.

In our spare time, Cynthia and I enjoy reading (of course), going to live theater productions, watching reruns of favorite TV shows such as "Sports Night" and "Gilmore Girls," and traveling to some of those distant and exotic places I used to read about as a child. So far, we've been fortunate enough to walk in the sands of Waikiki, swim in the warm waters of the South Pacific and share a romantic dinner in Paris.

I love interacting with my readers and getting their input on my characters and stories. Please feel free to contact me via my website.

HARD COURT

A Jeremy Barnes Mystery

File Size: 638 KB

Print Length: 253 pages

Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited

Publisher: Robert T. Germaux (April 6, 2016)

Publication Date: April 6, 2016

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Language: English

ASIN: B01DX54ZFO

ABOUT HARD COURT:

Miles Bradshaw, the dot-com billionaire owner of Pittsburgh’s first NBA franchise, hires private detective Jeremy Barnes to look into what appears to be a simple case of harassment of one of the team’s players. But when Jeremy (JB to his friends) begins his investigation, the case proves to be anything but simple, eventually involving a local businessman with suspected criminal ties, a major FBI task force, a computer geek in California and a mob boss in Erie. Along the way, JB, who can quote Shakespeare as quickly and easily as he can land a solid left jab, uses his wits and his ever-present sense of humor to wend his way through a cast of characters who range from the ridiculously inept to the ruthlessly lethal.

As Hard Court unfolds, there are numerous surprises and plot twists, culminating in a dramatic confrontation that neither JB nor the reader could have predicted.