Book HookUp is a delightful haven for book enthusiasts, especially those keen on discovering indie reads and emerging authors. Its emphasis on clean fiction and young adult literature creates a welcoming environment for readers seeking wholesome and engaging stories for the reading community.
According to the latest review at Astrology for Everyday – One Writer's Passionhttp://gooddaysnodays.blogspot.com/2009/09/blog-review-widows-walk.htmlWidow's Walk by Kenneth Weene "peels back the layers of a good family torn apart emotionally, spiritually and physically." Be sure to stop by and read the entire review and while you're there leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of the book, or possibly a copy of Weene's book of poetry. The chance to win will be available to people who visit any or all of his stops along the tour route and leave comments. Winners will be drawn at random.
Widow's Walk is a story of good people who struggle – sometimes successfully and often not – to deal with the challenges in their lives. The novel reflects how family, friendship, love, faith, and character affect that struggle.
Throughout Weene's diverse career which included teaching, pastoral care and psychology, he has also been devoted to writing. For the Widow's Walk blog tour, he is offering a couple of giveaways to those who visit tour stops and leave comments. Winners will be drawn at random and have a couple of chances to win. Prizes include a copy of Widow's Walk for one lucky winner, and he's also giving away a few copies of his poetry book.
Kenneth's novel, Widow's Walk, is for women who are trying to decide what to do with their lives. It's a book for people who like to experience emotions and at the same time think about life’s meaning. Kenneth's career – primarily in New York – has included teaching, pastoral care, and psychology. Throughout his career Ken has also been devoted to writing, and he is offering a couple of giveaways to people who visit his stops along the tour route and leave comments. Winners will be drawn at random and have a couple of chances to win. Prizes include a copy of Widow's Walk for on lucky winner, and he's also giving away a few copies of his poetry book.
Today's Book Hookup guest is Dr. Judith Orloff author of: Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life
Book Summary -
New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestseller!
Emotional Freedom by Judith Orloff, MD
A Guide to Staying Brave and Positive During Stressful Times
National bestselling author Judith Orloff MD presents new solutions for dealing with emotions in our hyper-tense world. She invites you to take a remarkable journey, one that leads to happiness, serenity, and a mastery over negativity that pervades daily life. You possess the ability to liberate yourself from worry, anger, and fear. True emotional freedom is closer than you think.
What is an Energy Vampire?
by Judith Orloff MD
Relationships are always an energy exchange. To stay feeling our best, we must ask ourselves: Who gives us energy? Who saps it? It's important to be surrounded by supportive, heart-centered people who make us feel safe and secure. It's equally important to pinpoint the energy vampires, who, whether they intend to or not, leech our energy.
Positive energy in others can be rejuvenative. For instance, you're nervous about a job interview, but the minute you meet your prospective boss you relax. He's so calm and welcoming, you calm down too. Or perhaps you have a good friend around whom you always feel loved. These are energy-givers, those we must gravitate towards.
In contrast, energy vampires exude negative energy that drains. Vampires range from the intentionally malicious ones to those who are oblivious to their effect. Some are overbearing and obnoxious; others are friendly and charming. For example, you're at a party talking to a perfectly nice person, but suddenly you're nauseous or weak. Or how about the co-worker who drones on about how she broke up with her boyfriend for the tenth time? Eventually, she feels better, but you're spent. The bottom line is that on a subtle energy level these people suck you dry.
Exercise: Take an inventory of people in your life who give energy, and people who drain. Specifically identify the energy vampires, and begin to evaluate ones you'd like to limit contact with or eliminate. Plan at least one complete afternoon with people who give off positive energy and avoid drainers. Notice how this beneficially affects their physical and emotional well-being.
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About Judith Orloff Judith Orloff MD, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and intuition expert, is author of the new book Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life (Harmony Books, 2009) Her other bestsellers are Positive Energy, Intuitive Healing, and Second Sight. Dr. Orloff synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition and energy medicine. She passionately believes that the future of medicine involves integrating all this wisdom to achieve emotional freedom and total wellness. www.drjudithorloff.com
Donna Sundblad, author of the young adult fantasies Beyond the Fifth Gate and Windwalker stopped by Authors Unleashed for an interview. Check it out to learn about the inspiration behind these fantasies, along with plenty of fun facts.
Here's a taste of that interview:
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
I can't say I have a favorite. It's more like I enjoy cartoon characters with relationships. Even if they are love/hate relationships. That's what makes them interesting I grew up watching the Flintstones and Jetsons, and today enjoy The Simpsons. The shenanigans of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote are fun, too. Those writers have had to come up with new ways to blow Wile E. Coyote up, throw him off a cliff, and have something land on him, while keeping it fresh and even making us laugh.
Which cartoon character is most like you?
I guess out of the characters I listed above, I'd say I'm most like Marge Simpson. She's a caring mom, loving wife, and an independent woman.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?
Replete with angels and mythical creatures, Inclinations is a strange and allegorical mixture of poetry and prose. Based on a series of mystical and esoteric visions, this collection of short stories and poems covers a wide variety of themes including faith, judgment, mysticism and spiritual warfare. With a bit of prophecy clouded in the metaphor of sacred language, one must decide where to interpret the text literally and where to interpret it figuratively.
Check out the Back Story--The Behind the Scenes Look at Writing a novel as author Donna Sundblad shares insight into the backstory of writing Beyond the Fifth Gate. Listen to Back-story on Blog Talk Radio
A Book Inside http://abookinside.blogspot.com/2009/07/do-you-need-website-ask-maanna.htmltalks to MaAnna Stephenson, author of the Just the FAQs ebooks series, about Just the FAQs - Blogs and Just the FAQs - RSS Feeds and how they help to dramatically reduce the learning curve of setting up a blog and adding RSS feeds with step-by-step directions to optimize and customize features of both.
The Just the FAQs series pulls from MaAnna's experience which includes two decades of technical writing, web design and marketing. When you visit her tour stop at A Book Inside, leave a comment and you'll be entered in a random drawing for two free Just the FAQs classes http://www.justthefaqs.net/classes.shtml . Not only that, but every commenter is a winner and will have the opportunity to receive a copy of MaAnna Stephenson's e-book the Quick Step Guide. If you haven't already read her books, be sure to pick up the series at http://www.justthefaqs.net/ebooks.shtml.
Want to know more about author MaAnna Stephenson and her user-friendly guides to the technical aspects of internet marketing and promotions? Stop by Books and Authorshttp://joyce-anthony.blogspot.com/2009/07/talking-with-maanna-stephenson.html to take advantage of MaAnna's insights based on her Just the FAQs ebook series. MaAnna's experience includes two decades of technical writing, web design and marketing for countless private clients and community groups. Be sure to visit this tour stop to learn about how you can purchase the series at a discount.
When you visit the tour stop leave a comment and you'll be entered in a random drawing for two free Just the FAQs classes http://www.justthefaqs.net/classes.shtml . Not only that, but every commenter is a winner and will have the opportunity to receive a copy of MaAnna Stephenson's e-book the Quick Step Guide. If you haven't already read her books, be sure to pick up the series at http://www.justthefaqs.net/ebooks.shtml.
Author Steven Clark Bradley has been to or lived in 34 countries, including Pakistan, Iraq and Turkey. He has a master’s degree in liberal studies from Indiana University. He speaks French and Turkish. He has been an assistant to a prosecutor, a university instructor and a freelance journalist. He recently sat down to talk with Book Hookup for this interview:
The political undertones in Patriot Acts reveal a working knowledge of history, government and the military. How did this play a role in your plot development?
It is true that I have had a very diverse career, politics, journalism and world travel. All of those activities in my life have given me a real understanding of what is out there and the dangers we face. I want to write stories that are only scary because they are so very plausible. I can say that the scenario of Patriot Acts and Patriot Acts Two, which is now completed and in editing, are both very real and related to the things and issues and dangers we now face in a world gone mad and gone weak. We have a president who thinks talk is enough and a government that is spending us into oblivion. That is why I have striven so hard to make what I write so real and something that serves as a warning of the future that we face without realizing that freedom is not free.
What idea first ignited you imagination that led you to write this story?
I believe we are losing our freedom, freedoms that were never granted by any government, but by god. There are forces at work today that place all of us in the crosshairs of totalitarian treatment. One of the biggest mistakes we are making today in our seeming delight in playing the part of the Ostrich. We have our heads in the sand and think our enemies cannot see our hinder parts. Patriot Acts goes a long way in showing that going softly and politically with nations like Iran and North Korea only emboldens them and gives them the idea that we will not react to their behavior that endangers the peace of the world. Unfortunately, they may be right.
The dialog and Middle Eastern scenery in your book are authentically vivid. Have you visited the Middle East? Did you serve in the military?
I have lived in the Middle East and in Muslim countries outside of the Middle East. I have lived in Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq, and Senegal, West Africa. All together, I have either lived in or been to 34 different countries, which did give me a real understanding of the culture and the life they live there. In Patriot Acts, many of the events, especially in the first three chapters, are events that I actually lived. I worked there and some things I cannot talk about, but there were things that I have seen and did that show me and hopefully my depiction of the these things in a fictional form will show others that threats are real and present and that without vigilance, we shall not survive as a nation.
The threat of an apocalyptic terrorist threat combined with the unlikely alliance between the Islamic Republic of Iran and radical American militia groups to free your innocent protagonist, Colonel Fisher Harrison, is brilliant. What inspired this unholy alliance?
I have heard from some who felt it was not realistic to think that Americans would gang up with terrorists. All I had to do was to refresh their memories and mention names like Terry Nichols, Timothy McVeigh or the Uni-bomber. All of these are part of a huge underground network that is even now looking for a way to change the world we have built into an anarchist’s paradise.
After I published Patriot Acts, I found so free pictures to use for marketing and one man called me and told me he was one of the people in one of the pictures I had used. He was a really interesting man, but very despising of the world in which we live. I was raised in Northern Indiana. In the country area where I am from, there are literally hundreds of private armies and militias. I know people who have tanks and heavy armaments that could wage a pretty effective revolution. Most of them love America, but they have arsenals that would make your skin crawl. These people are real. They are not interested in peace, because peace would put them out of business.
I have always said that it is impossible for Hamas and Hezbollah to make peace with Israel. If those terror groups make peace, they will have negotiated themselves out of existence, and terror is why they are the scourge of the world today. Those in America are no different. They are paranoid, nervous, often delusional and dangerous.
You've created interesting yet complex characters complete with strengths and flaws. Which character(s) grew beyond the scope of your original concept for them and in what way?
This is a great question. I used to wonder how I could paint a fictitious human in a genuine way. As humans, we have histories of greatness and profound mistakes at times. I came to an understanding that all I had to do was take a realistic look at myself. That provided the good and the bad that all of possess. I would love to write a memoire in the future, but my greatest concern is how I can portray the real me and still have friends, in light of the life I have lived and some of the things I have done, that I cannot speak of. I will not write a biography unless I can tell the good, the bad and the ugly.
Do you see part of yourself in any of your characters?
I would say a lot of Fisher Harrison’s development and personality and actions represent who I am and somewhat who I would have liked to be. Hamilton Smith and Jamie O’Rourke ended up basically who I patterned them to be. But, the character who took on a life of his own was the President figure, Christopher A. Tate.
President Tate, in Patriot Acts, was patterned after someone in my past who was a real self-indulged, egotistical and despicable person I worked for politically, in my past. My intent was to paint him as I recalled him, in a very negative light, to say the least. Yet, he emerged as a naïve man, a man with bitter demons that plagued him, but who was courageous enough to face his mistakes and character flaws and to grow into a real leader. I have always said that a great story starts to write itself, and President Tate in Patriot Acts is a prime example of that. He has a supreme role in Patriot Acts Two and his character, I predict, will bring you to tears.
This story is full of suspense and intrigue. It is written with such clarity and realistic fervor that it seems one could click on the TV and see these fictional events played out on the news. What do you hope to accomplish with this story?
As it has accurately been said, fact is often stranger than fiction. I want Americans too actually see that there is no future unless we take the rose-colored glasses off and look at the world around us. In 2002, I was in Israel. I was doing a freelance journalistic endeavor for a newspaper. I was on a bus that was third in line to go to Bethlehem. About ten minutes after I got on my bus, the bus that was first in line and full of children returning back to school after their summer break, blew up and killed eighteen children and several adults. Those kids got up and only wanted to see their friends. Their parents only wanted to make sure their kids got a good education, but by the middle of the morning, they were all dead.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the mothers and fathers and children of so many loved ones only went to the WorldTradeCenter to do their jobs; to support their families and build their careers. Yet, because of the desire of evil men with evil intents and with evil ideologies, over three thousand of them would never see their kids again. That morning, they kissed their wives, their husbands, their kids, their parents for the very last time. It seems impossible that Americans would ever forget such a massive attack, and it seems logical that we’d want to fight such evil actions regardless of the world’s feelings, in spite of the cost. Yet, we have forgotten.
Now we are negotiating with Iran; our President tells those with the same evil ideas that we are not at war with them, that their evil ideals in the name of some evil concept of a god that they have a good faith and that we are friends. We have blinded our eyes and the forces at work to destroy us and the current political leaders controlling the nation are a combination that places this nation and our children’s futures in peril. That is why I burn the midnight oil to push myself to tell the next generation that there will be no future of freedom, there will be no happy ending unless we give our all to thumb our noses at the peaceniks who would just as soon see us perish than to do what it takes to survive. These are some of the reasons why I write on issues that some may find too realistic to say they enjoy my writing. I am not trying to be enjoyable. I want to stimulate, to resurrect the desire to maintain our free society and to see the threats so we can prepare for them.
Where do you hope to take your writing in the future? Is there a sequel on the horizon?
The sequel is written and I would say, though the characters are the same, the story is just as powerful as and actually more so than Patriot Acts One. I have tentatively called it The Second Republic. It is about domestic biological terrorism and it will make your hair stand up on your arm. I do not know where such ideas come from, but it is a plausible and super-frightening scenario of what evil men and women can do to control the lives of others and to make the world to tremble. I sometimes feel too clear in what I see for the future if we stay on our current path. I fall asleep wondering where we are headed. Perhaps, instead of worrying about some unproven hole in the ozone, perhaps we should worry more about the holes in our security, about the breaches of trust our leaders create, bout those who wish to relegate America to the ash heap of history. I will write it until we are told we cannot longer so, and then I will double my efforts.
What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing? Any special memories that you would like to share?
Of all the books I have written, I have to say that Nimrod Rising shook me to my very core. I came back to America to live in 1995. I felt the changes and I could see where it was headed, and I am sad to see that I was right. In 1996, while writing and researching the novel, I wrote about the TwinTowers falling in that novel and an aircraft slamming into them. I do not claim any special gifts, except that which God has given me, for what have we that has not been given to us? But when it actually happened, I actually began to shake and sweat. I knew I had read it all right. That book eventually took me twelve years to write and I can say that it became a treatise on the future of America. Patriot Acts demonstrates how the border with Mexico is an effective conduit for weapons of mass destruction, and I read just last week how Al-Qaida is trying to smuggle in Anthrax into this country through Mexico. This is not the fault only of Mexico. It is more our wrong policy that refuses to appreciate our sovereignty and the plot of my book seemed so very real. It is time that we speak the truth, and it is a time when, sadly, fiction is more real than all the pipe dreams we have that all will be well without resolve and a will to fight. I am not a negative person. I have tons of bad jokes and am a very happy man. Yet, I am a realist and I know that unless we act to save our nation, those we seek to befriend will use our naivety to kill us. That is why I write.
Where is Patriot Acts available?
This new exciting novel is easy to find and available all over the net. Here are a few links to help you secure you own copy of Patriot Acts.
I hope everyone who reads this will not just think it is entertainment or the irrational rambling of a scared American. I am not afraid; I am convinced that no one will secure our future except us. That is why I declare the main theme of Patriot Acts in one key phrase: Patriot Acts – No unconditional Talks – Just patriot Acts!
Steel Town, a city of proud immigrant men and women awakens to the call of a distant war. Bessemer converters, open hearths, and steel workers gear for the machinery of a war they don’t understand. Night is no longer dark as the horizon glows from the nonstop flow of molten steel; the evenings no longer tranquil as eighteen-wheelers roar, fully loaded with steel to make tanks that spit fire and for destroyers that patrol the Sea of Saigon.
In a place as alien as a far off planet, two boys, the best of friends, come to age and find themselves catapulted into the horror of war—where the enemy, like moles, tunnel beneath the damp earth and into the hillsides, where booby trapped bombs and punjii stakes await the unwary American soldiers as they step through tall grasses and beneath the canopy of dense vegetation in search of the enemy. It is a place where a cunning and determined enemy calls home, a jungle arena where boyhood dreams and bonds of friendship are tested. The motto, “till death do us part,” becomes a sudden reality when a enemy grenade explodes, and the once “pretty boy” must come to grip with a terrible reality—he has only half a face. He is no longer the boy with a face that girls die for, no longer the vision of a Greek god born of proud immigrant parents.
As the war escalates, Steel Town, Gary, Indiana, must come to grip with the changing times. The old ways are strained, tradition no longer to be taken for granted—the war has changed everything. Like the war afar, lives totter and bend in the gust of controversy. A Greek coffeehouse keeper, an ex-middleweight champion of the world, and a young girl face difficult decisions. A priest struggles with his own demons. Parents look at each with apprehension, uncertain of the future of their sons. Two soldiers, their lives forever changed, struggle in a chess match of life and death. Even the enemy must face the inevitable…that life is indeed fragile
Vesta Johns has everything going for her—except her health. Desperate to find the answers to her lethargy and her insatiable desire for raw meat and sex, she seeks out the help of her doctor, but Dr. Cohen can give her no answers.
Or can she?
Torrence Simiene is a medical consultant with a unique specialization. As an alpha werewolf, it’s been his job to aid Dr. Cohen’s distinctive patients through their transition from human to shifter, for years. This time, however, it’s different. Vesta arouses his primal lust, and he’s having a hard time keeping her at a distance.
Will the doctor’s plan of care offer the ultimate cure for Tor and Vesta’s bestial cravings , or further drive them apart?
Note:
Bestial Cravings is a stand alone companion short contained within the Roma Wolf Tales Series. For more information please visit Dayana Knight's website: www.romawolftales.com and don't forget to check outCurse of the Marhime , Book I of the Roma Wolf Tales Series, available now in print and ebook format at The Wild Rose Press and many other fine book retailers
In an email Donna asked what inspired me to write about bullying and scapegoating in churches. Without hesitation I thought, that’s easy, desperation. My very survival depended on it. I felt as if my adversaries had a pillow over my mouth and nose and I had to push them off to save my life. Writing Not of My Making was a healing journey in which I not only found my voice but came to love who I was.
My former church mates did everything they could to prevent me from telling my story to others including shunning, expulsion from church and threatening legal action against me.
While they were successful within our church community, they couldn’t prevent me from talking to others outside of church nor keep me from writing a book about it. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects my right to report the facts and express my opinion. I developed a deeper appreciation for freedom of speech and a greater awareness that without the First Amendment those with more power would silence those weaker and more vulnerable themselves.
During the conflicts at the churches to which I belonged, I kept a journal. It was my way of trying to figure out what was happening to me and why. I first considered pulling all that material into a book after I read Catherine Fairbanks’ book, Hiding Behind the Collar. I considered the possibility of getting a book published. Pretty slim, I thought. So I didn’t start it. I couldn’t go through the pain of writing my story if no one was ever going to read it. Then on a Thursday night in August, 2003 I discovered I had no therapy clients scheduled. Absent-mindedly I picked up the catalog of the local adult learning center and discovered they were offering a seminar on publishing taught by Dan Poynter. At the time I didn’t know he was a self-publishing guru but I seized the opportunity and went. I am glad I did. I now knew that the only obstacles to getting my book published were hard work and a little money. I was certain I had what it took to get the job done.
I read Poynter’s book, The Self Publishing Manuel, organized a binder for my manuscript and began writing. It wasn’t easy. When I first started writing my book I would type until flooded with anxiety. I would then spend the rest of the time curled up on my couch in a fetal position. Eventually as I wrote and processed the events leading to my dechurchings the anxiety became less crippling. I could use the entire four hours plus any other free moment to work on my book. Writing Not of My Making was hard but necessary work.
As a psychologist I was trained to write dry, data filled research papers. Writing a memoir was a very different creature. I struggled. It was emotionally draining and the first draft was absolutely horrible. I knew something was wrong but didn’t know what. I searched Amazon and ordered Tristine Rainer’s book, Your Life as Story. That helped some. I attended a writing seminar at a local college and met Hannah R Goodman. I hired her to do a content edit on my book and took another year to rewrite the manuscript. The result was well worth it.
The process of writing, publishing and marketing has helped me clarify issues and develop new skills. It gave me a new career. In addition to being a psychologist I am now an author and publisher. I have come full circle. I am now more of myself than I have ever been.
