Over the past couple of years I have ventured out and have read some memoirs that have truly impacted me and that I enjoyed reading.  So when Nicole from Tribute Books contacted me about today’s guest, I wanted to be part of the tour.  I have the pleasure to introduce you to Mr. John Catenacci!

JOHN CATENACCI

After spending his youth doing cement construction work while getting his education, John Catenacci earned a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. He went on to work on the Apollo 11 Project as a member of the USAF in California, then  as an engineer for the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, MI, doing both process research as well as designing and building chemical plants.

Mid-career he became interested in group dynamics, leading to another 20-year career in team building that took him across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Saudi Arabia.

With a sprinkling of published short stories and articles in small magazines along the way, his abiding passion has always been writing, something now coming to fruition in this, his first book.
Visit the author at his website and Facebook.

DIANA

Author Interview

Please tell us about your current release.

I will use the back cover copy as it works pretty well on its own.

John Catenacci is enthralled from the start by the beauty, radiance, and mystery of the much younger woman he meets at a party. Dianna “is in Technicolor and everyone else is in black and white.” Expecting to be the teacher, not the student, John is humbled by the gradual discovery that the opposite is true, in their marriage and in life. The author is profoundly awed by Dianna’s courage, determination, and lightness of being that remains entirely undiminished in the face of what becomes a seventeen-year battle with an aggressive form of breast cancer. John accompanies Dianna each step of the way, and is increasingly amazed by the undeniable healing affect she has on others. Theirs is a shared spiritual journey into the nature of love and transformation. Even after her passing, their relationship pierces the illusion veiling this reality.

Can you tell us about the journey that led you to write your book?

At some point in our life together, I began to notice Dianna was living her life in a genuinely powerful, almost mysterious (to me) way and suggested to her that I write her story. She was as delighted as any child running down the stairs on Christmas morning. But, as her health deteriorated, I became focused on care giving and put the writing aside. After she died, I was engulfed in grief and for a couple of years I just couldn’t climb out of it. One day, I happened upon a book by Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, which I credit with guiding me back into the game.

The book is in five parts. The first four recount our life together with the fifth devoted to my personal spiritual journey of coming to terms with her leaving, my long view of who she was and what I learned from her. The first four parts flowed like water once I began to write but I struggled mightily with the last part. Yet it is this last part that weaves together the whole of her life, her message, in a way very satisfying to me.

Can you tell us about the story behind your book cover?

Well, originally the cover was going to be centered on the photo of Dianna that is now on the back cover. I love this photo of her – it is quintessential Dianna in an image.

However, my editor, Marly Cornell, convinced me this was going to be an ineffective cover and, after accidentally seeing the photo of Dianna and me from the rear taken by a dear friend/professional photographer, Giovanni Sanitate, she instantly said, “This is the one. Use this one.” Well, it has taken most of my life but I have finally learned to listen and follow advice when the advice comes from someone I respect. So, now, everyone gets to see my bald head instead of Dianna. More mystery, more intriguing, Marly said. Probably because anyone looking at it would wonder what this young woman is doing with this old man.

Anyway, unwilling to let it go completely, I pushed Dianna’s photo to the back cover because I wanted it to be seen and seen in color.

What book on the market does yours compare to? How is your book different?

Everyone is unique. No one could have written this book but me and no one else has existed nor ever will exist who is like Dianna. So her story and how I have written it is like no other book anyone has ever read. Of course, this does not make it a good book but simply a unique one. I have read quite a few memoirs, many involving illness, care giving – and some of them were really good. What I think makes this book special is what made Dianna special, what made our relationship special – so much laughter, optimism, ways of constantly making lemonade when we needed it, and, finally, the deeply spiritual orientation to the book’s message – good or bad, there is nothing fluffy about where Dianna goes in her life nor in the way I have chosen to examine her life …. and the very meaning of life itself.

What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

I like to write in sentence fragments and the entire book is a sort of a mosaic – there are chapters that are conventionally chronological because they had to be but other parts of the book are like bursts of light shining on an amazing woman so the reader can enjoy her in the way I – and all who knew her – enjoyed and were inspired by her.  I am so happy with how the entire tapestry came together into a whole. I think Dianna is too.

Of course I could go into grammar and punctuation, which I thought I knew. And my love of ellipses and my aversion to the word “that” and my unconscious tendency to start sentences with “So.”

 So, my early readers and editor ripped me to pieces on those “quirks.”

Open your book to a random page and tell us what’s happening.

In my reality, nothing in life is random — or accidental. When I was about to write this response, I happened to look out the window and saw three – three – hummingbirds dancing around a honeysuckle – have never seen this before – like Dianna saying “talk about the hummingbird chapter.”

While I was writing the book, it occurred to me to use a hummingbird as one metaphor for how Dianna lived her life – flitting from person to person, embracing their love whole heartedly while impregnating each one with a simple grace, unflagging humor and ineffable love in return, all in one magical spontaneous exchange.

The look of triumph on her face, her excitement and joy, when the first hummingbird showed up in our yard was unforgettable. She had worked so hard for several years, planting for them, and finally there it was, this little Ruby Throated blur. In that moment I saw, once again, her determination, patience, faith, appreciation and gratitude all in one tiny vignette during one day of our lives.

Do you plan any subsequent books?

An already almost fully formed book is in my mind now. Better writers than I have said don’t talk about a book idea or the energy for writing it will bleed away, leaving it stillborn.

Tell us what you’re reading at the moment and what you think of it.

The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die by John Izzo and The Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware because I am old enough now where I should pay attention to these things — probably before tomorrow — and A Broken Sausage Grinder by Hank Thomas, a friend of mine and The Almost Archer Sisters by Lisa Gabriele, a relative and friend of mine. I often read several books at a time, switching back and forth depending on my mood. All are interesting in different ways and for different reasons.

There is so very much talent in the world isn’t there?

ABOUT THE BOOK

Dianna is a young woman in her late 20’s when she meets John, a man in his late 40’s. They fall in love and marry. A central feature of their life plan is to have one child to fulfill her fervent lifelong dream of being a mother.

Not to be.

Not long into their marriage, Dianna discovers she has an aggressive form of breast cancer.

Hand in hand, they begin a 17 year spiritual journey into the nature of love and healing. Along the way, she discovers and fulfills her life purpose and, in the process, takes John by the hand, gently helping him to reveal, then fulfill, his own.

In the beginning, John, being much older, thought he would be her teacher but gradually discovers in the most important dimensions of life quite the opposite is true. With Dianna’s guidance, he ultimately discovers we are all teachers, we are all students and we are all one.

Theirs is a story of courage, determination and a lightness of being, as they descend into the deepest valleys of crushing disappointment, pain and suffering only to rise again to ever higher peaks of appreciation, gratitude and love. Throughout it all, their journey is laced with light and laughter.

Even today, after her passing, they continue their relationship, piercing the Illusion that veils this reality, exploring its limits while continuing a spiritual journey without end.

THANKS TO AUTHOR, JOHN CATENACCI, I HAVE ONE (1)
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……of I Am Lucky Bird by Fleur Philips

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Happy Holidays!!!  Today we are having a party at CMash Reads!!  Grab a beverage and some Christmas cookies because Jihan, from GCP/Forever, is stopping by with not one author but TWO!!!  AND, I had the opportunity to ask these lovely ladies some Holiday questions!!!!!    Let’s get this party started!!  Please help me in welcoming Ms. Katie Lane and Ms. Hope Ramsey!!!!!!

                   KATIE LANE                                           HOPE RAMSAY

About Katie Lane:
So here’s the thing. I love to write about fictional people, but I feel very uncomfortable writing about myself. So let’s dispense with the biography and I’ll tell you a story. And everyone knows that all the best stories start with . . .
Once upon a time there was a little girl who walked around with her head in the clouds. While the other kids paid attention to the world around them, this little girl (For clarity’s sake, let’s just call her Katie.) spent her days dreaming. The dreams varied. One day Katie might be a princess who was rescued by a prince on a three-legged horse (Perfection can be so boring.), and the next day she might find herself as an overworked mother of ten. (Mothers are wonderful heroines, don’t you agree?) This playacting was acceptable when Katie was little, but as she grew older, people started to take notice and think her a little odd. (Odd? What’s odd about a tall, skinny seventh grader pushing an overfilled doll stroller down the street?)

Luckily for her social standing, Katie gave up the play-stage for the written-page, spending hours writing down her daydreams in a spiral notebook. But over the years, her storytelling took a backseat to hormones and high school, and it wasn’t until her two exceptional daughters were grown (Ten seemed a little redundant after the first labor pain) that she returned to writing.

Now Katie spends her days at a computer daydreaming, while the rest of the time she enjoys hanging with her family, reading, going to the gym, playing golf, motorcycle riding, traveling, or just snuggling next to her snoring prince. (Snoring might seem like a minor imperfection when compared to a three-legged horse, but believe me it’s not) Because if the little girl of the clouds learned anything over the years, it was that every moment in life is a happily-ever-after just waiting to be fulfilled.
Visit Ms. Lane at her website here.

About Hope Ramsay:
Hope Ramsay was born in New York and grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, but every summer Momma would pack her off under the care of Aunt Annie to go visiting with relatives in the midlands of South Carolina. Her extended family includes its share of colorful aunts and uncles, as well as cousins by the dozens, who provide the fodder for the characters you’ll find in Last Chance, South Carolina. Hope earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Buffalo, and has had various jobs working as a Congressional aide, a lobbyist, a public relations consultant, and a meeting planner. She’s a two-time finalist in the Golden Heart, and is married to a good ol’ Georgia boy who resembles every single one of her heroes. She has two grown children and a couple of demanding lap cats. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia where you can often find her on the back deck, picking on her thirty-five-year-old Martin guitar.
Visit Ms. Ramsay at her website here.

HOLIDAY QUESTIONS

KATIE LANE: 
Any special Holiday traditions? Every year, my family draws names and does a gift exchange. One year, it will be pajamas. The next year, DVDs. This year, it’s crazy ski hats. I’m already scouring websites for the most embarrassing hat I can find for my son-in-law. We’re going to Colorado to ski and I’ll get a big kick out of him racing down the mountain in a purple Mohawk hat…or maybe the one with all the yarn braids. Lol!

How do you celebrate the Holidays? I celebrate with family and friends. I bake cookies and make gingerbread (graham cracker) houses with my granddaughters. I do white elephant gift exchanges with my book and writing clubs. And Christmas Eve and Day is spent with my husband and two daughters and their families. We go to church, look at lights, eat, and unwrap presents.

What makes Christmas special for you? People are so giving during the holidays. They offer up smiles, volunteer to serve food to the homeless, or give to their favorite charities. At Christmas, we stop long enough to realize that we’re all part of God’s great big family.

Holiday shopping–online or malls? Both. I like the no hassle of buying things online, but I love to go to the malls when they’re packed. I like watching the kids sit on Santa’s lap and just being in the bustle of the holiday.

I’d like to wish everyone at CMASH Reads the happiest of holidays!
Love, Katie Lane

HOPE RAMSAY
Any special Holiday traditions? Oh this question makes me want to tell a family story. My father, much like Abe Chaikin, a character in Last Chance Christmas, was a non-practicing Jew. My mother was an Episcopalian. When they got married my mother insisted that we kids would be celebrating Christmas, even if we also celebrated other holidays. Pop agreed. But every Christmas my father would complain because Mom would do the same things over and over again. She insisted that she was creating traditions. Pop would roll his eyes and ask, “Can we do it different this year?” When it finally got to be my turn to make Christmas for the family, I decided to adopt just a little bit of my father’s attitude. So some years we go out to Christmas Eve dinner. Some years we stay in. Some years we dress up. Some years we don’t. Some years we put up an artificial tree, some years we go cut our own. Some years we go to the movies on Christmas day, and some years we stay home and play games. When we stay in on Christmas eve, the dinner menu is never the same because my husband likes to let his mad chef persona out every year and he makes a big gourmet meal for the family and any guests we’ve invited. He never makes the same thing twice.

This year our granddaughter is 18 months old. And we’ll be doing Christmas morning at my son’s house. As our family grows and includes new people, our “traditions” are changing. And I’m learning that holding on to traditions isn’t so easy, when the family is growing and changing. It’s much better to be flexible. So I would like to think that Pop ultimately won that argument he used to have with Mom every year. Traditions are nice, but it’s also nice to do something new and different for a change.

How do you celebrate the Holidays? Wow, that’s a big question, and kind of hard to answer since we don’t always do the same thing every year. But I guess there are a couple of things we sort of do every year. We always do a big dinner on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day. Lots of eating and alcoholic beverages are involved. We also put up stockings on Christmas Eve, and somehow Santa always arrives and stuffs them. Everyone gets to open a present on Christmas Eve from Elmer the Elf, who is my husband’s personal elf from the time he was quite little. Elmer always gives people PJs. The stockings and PJs are not something anyone is ever allowed to outgrow. When our children were little (and not so little), my husband always read the Polar Express to them right before sending them off to bed.

What makes Christmas special for you? Family, family, family.

Holiday shopping–online or malls? Neither. (Okay I do some shopping at malls.) But I much prefer to go shopping on Main Street – or in my case on King Street in downtown Alexandria, Virginia. I’m a huge fan of Small Business Saturday (and I avoid the malls on Black Friday). I really like supporting local small merchants, if I can. Those merchants are the lifeblood of small towns. And even though Alexandria is right across the Potomac from the Nation’s Capital, it’s still a small town.

HUNK FOR THE HOLIDAYS by Katie Lane
Always putting business before pleasure, Cassie McPherson works hard for her family’s construction business. That might explain why she doesn’t have a date for the company Christmas party. But it doesn’t quite explain why she’s crazy enough to hire an escort for the event or – crazier still – why she’s dying to unwrap him like a present . . .
With whiskey-colored eyes and a killer smile, James is one gorgeous hunk who really knows how to fill out a tuxedo. He charms everyone, including Cassie. And when the night ends, the party doesn’t stop. As Cassie falls, literally, into his bed, James falls head over heels in love. Now he has to figure out a way to tell her the truth: he’s not an escort. He’s her family’s fiercest business rival. But all he wants for Christmas is her.
Book Details:
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Price: $7.99 US/$8.99 CAN
ISBN-13: 9781455522361
On Sale Date: 09/25/2012

LAST CHANCE CHRISTMAS by Hope Ramsay
Dear Reader,
I’ve been wishing for a miracle for my oldest boy, Stone, and this Christmas my prayers might just be answered!

Her name is Lark, and she’s here in Last Chance, looking into her father’s past-and stirring up a whole mess of trouble without meaning to. As the chief of police, Stone sure has his hands full trying to keep up with her. Ever since his wife died, Stone’s put everything into raising his daughters and dodging the Christ Church Ladies’ Auxiliary matchmakers. And it’s clear Lark has been through some trouble and could use a place to finally call home. I only hope Stone can let go of the past soon enough to keep her .

Goodness, I need to stop talking and finish up Jane’s highlights so we can make the town tree-lighting. You come back by because the Cut ‘n’ Curl’s got hot rollers, free coffee, fresh-baked Christmas cookies-and the best gossip in town.

See you real soon,
Ruby Rhodes
Book Details:
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Price: $7.99 US/$8.99 CAN
ISBN-13: 9780446576079
On Sale Date: 09/25/2012

THANKS TO JIHAN, FROM GCP/FOREVER, TWO (2) LUCKY
WINNERS WILL WIN A HOLIDAY PACKAGE, BOTH BOOKS
U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY

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I have my mug of coffee in hand, please help yourself to one, as we visit with an old friend of CMah Reads.  Today’s guest visited back in 2011, so when she contacted me, asking if she could come back and visit, I put the coffee on!!  I ask, if you could help me give a warm welcome back to Madeline Sharples!!

MADELINE SHARPLES

Madeline Sharples studied journalism in high school and college and wrote for the high school newspaper, but only started to fulfill her dream to work as a creative writer and journalist late in life. Her memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother’s Memoir of Living with Her Son’s Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide, was released in a hardback edition in 2011 and has just been released in paperback and eBook editions by Dream of Things. It tells the steps she took in living with the loss of her oldest son, first and foremost that she chose to live and take care of herself as a woman, wife, mother, and writer. She hopes that her story will inspire others to find ways to survive their own tragic experiences.

She also co-authored Blue-Collar Women: Trailblazing Women Take on Men-Only Jobs (New Horizon Press, 1994), co-edited the poetry anthology, The Great American Poetry Show, Volumes 1 and 2, and wrote the poems for two photography books, The Emerging Goddess and Intimacy (Paul Blieden, photographer). Her poems have also appeared online and in print magazines.

Madeline’s articles appear regularly in the Naturally Savvy, PsychAlive, Aging Bodies, and Open to Hope. She also posts at her blogs, Choices and at Red Room and is currently writing a novel.  Madeline’s mission since the death of her son is to raise awareness, educate, and erase the stigma of mental illness and suicide in hopes of saving lives.

Madeline and her husband of forty plus years live in Manhattan Beach, California, a small beach community south of Los Angeles. Her younger son Ben lives in Santa Monica, California with his wife Marissa.
You can connect with Madeline at her blog, Facebook and Twitter.

GUEST POST

My Recipe for Survival

When my older son Paul took his life in our home – ending his seven year struggle with bipolar disorder, my first thoughts were: I cannot go on. I want to get into the same bathtub where he died and put myself out of my pain and misery. At first I didn’t know how I could continue to live without him.

Instead of getting into that bathtub, I chose to live and take care of myself as a woman, wife, mother, writer. Here’s how I did it.

I Wrote. Even before Paul died, I started writing about him and his bipolar disorder. Journaling got out the frustrations of dealing with his episodes, hospitalizations, and erratic behavior. After he died I continued journaling. I also took classes through UCLA Extension’s writing program, a private writing instructor in Los Angeles, and at workshops at my healing place, Esalen in Big Sur, California. It was there that poems started flowing from my pen.

 I Worked. At the time Paul died, I was working at home writing grant proposals. I soon realized that I needed to find a job outside, and luckily I got rehired into the company I had retired from a few years earlier. My job as a proposal manager was challenging, meaningful, and very stressful. Having to meet stringent deadlines kept my mind on the job rather than on my feelings. The work and the socialization at work helped get me through the first few years after Paul died.

I Sought Out Diversions. And through all these years I’ve learned to fill up my time with diversions. I read. I watch movies. My husband and I go to the theater and opera. We travel. And I pamper myself – working out at the gym, taking long walks on the beach near our home, eating healthy, and caring for my hair and nails. It feels good, helps me look good, and boosts my mood. Taking care of myself and staying healthy have become tantamount to my survival.

I chose to stay alive because I know what suicide does to a family. I couldn’t put my loving and caring husband and surviving son Ben through that kind of pain again. Besides I wanted to experience life’s next adventures. As bad as it was after Paul died, and as much as I continue to miss him, I still had things to do with my life.

Also, with such a tragedy came some unexpected gifts. Paul’s death has made me a stronger person, physically and emotionally. I have reinvented myself into a poet and creative writer. My husband and I have a stronger marriage because we gave each other the space to grieve in our own way, and I have a terrific bond with Ben and his new wife. Yes, I’m proud to say I’m a new mother-in-law. And, I’ve embarked on a new mission in life – to erase the stigma of mental illness and prevent suicide, in hopes of saving lives through my writing and volunteer work.

Staying alive has also helped me keep my son Paul’s memory alive.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Leaving the Hall Light On is about living after loss: first and foremost how author Madeline Sharples chose to live and go on with life and take care of herself as a woman, wife, mother, writer. It is about the steps Sharples took in living with the loss of her son, including making use of diversions to help ease her grief and the milestones she met toward living a full life without him. She says, “to let ourselves grieve is to feel the depth of our love. For those whose children have died, that may take the rest of our lives, but we will discover the gifts of our loss in the process.”
Read my review here.

THANKS TO AUTHOR, MADELINE SHARPLES AND DREAM OF THINGS,
PUBLISHER, I HAVE ONE COPY OF THIS MEMOIR TO GIVE AWAY.
PRINT- U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS OR EBOOK-OPEN TO ALL.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
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DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my honest review.
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.

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PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.

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