Winners

And the winner is………

CMash June 16, 2011 1 Comment

………for THE COLLECTIBLES by James Kaufman

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

4

Timestamp: 2011-06-16 22:10:23 UTC

mverno said… 4 i follow as mverno via gfc

An email has been sent to the winner and have 48 hours to respond with a mailing address or another winner will be chosen.

06/19/11 7:50pm
Due to no response from the above, after 2 email attempts, another winner has chosen via Random.org.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

28

Timestamp: 2011-06-19 23:48:14 UTC

CONGRATULATIONS TO!!!!!!:

Anonymous said… 28 i like you on facebook

Guest Author

Guest Author Madeline Sharples

CMash June 16, 2011 Leave a Comment

What a day today is!!! I am beyond thrilled!!! I even checked my Thesaurus and couldn’t find a word to express what I am feeling. I am now a tour host for WOW-Women On Writing and what a way to start! Please help me give a very big and warm welcome to today’s guest, Madeline Sharples, as she stops by while on virtual tour, to talk about her inspirational memoir.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Although Madeline Sharples loved poetry and creative writing as a young girl, she took a more practical career path by studying journalism and working as a grant writing, editor and technical writer. She co-authored a book about women in nontraditional professions called Blue-Collar Women: Trailblazing Women Take on Men-Only Jobs (New Horizon Press, 1994) and co-edited the poetry anthology, The Great American Poetry Show, Volumes 1 (Muse Media, 2004) and 2 (August 2010). Her poetry has been published by many publications including two photography books, The Emerging Goddess and Intimacy (Paul Blieden, photographer).

Madeline turned to another type of writing, memoir, as she grappled with her older son’s bipolar disorder and subsequent suicide. She and her husband of 40 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 bride Marissa.
Just Thought You Should Know:
More than 30,000 Americans commit suicide each year, most leaving behind grieving families. Teenagers make up 5,000 of this group.

You can visit Madeline Sharples at her websites:
http://madeline40.blogspot.com/
www.madelinesharples.com

GUEST POST
Using Memoir Writing to Deal with Grief

I signed up for a writing class three months after my son Paul’s death. We sat in the instructor’s living room on couches and big easy chairs in a comfortable and forgiving atmosphere. Each week the instructor told us to write a journal entry. He didn’t specify a subject. This was a beginner’s class. All he wanted us to do was learn to “write like you talk,” and to write in a voice that came from deep within our bellies. And then we’d come back the next week and read to the group what we had written.

At first I was afraid to put my grief out there in my writing. When I apologized for writing about the same subject matter in my assigned journal entries over and over, my instructor, Jack, said, “It took Dostoyevsky five hundred pages to write Crime and Punishment, you have a long way to go.”

With that I felt empowered me to write about Paul and how I felt about his death and the pain of losing him. And I still feel empowered to do it.

After several years of patiently listening to my material, Jack and the rest of the class encouraged me to put my story into a book. They felt certain there were people who needed to know it.

And then a goal to put my material into a memoir started to formulate: I thought if I could tell my story in the most truthful and realistic terms possible, I could help other parents with children with bipolar disorder that in many cases results in their suicide. Otherwise I felt it wouldn’t be useful to anyone – including me.

And so I kept writing my journal entries – not only for class, not only to comfort myself, but also to emerge into a memoir. I also wrote poems. Poetry just seemed to come spontaneously. Poetry seemed to be the only way I could really express my emotions. And when the time came for me to put my material into a book I organized it in the order of the poems in my poetry manuscript.

Writing was my therapy. I was turned off by traditional therapy after my first meeting with someone who hadn’t experienced the death of a child. I couldn’t imagine how that person could help me. And I didn’t turn to self-help books either. Along with working and working out, I found my way by writing every day. It became a habit and a huge help in getting myself out of the mire after my son’s death and the tragedy that had hit my family.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Leaving the Hall Light On is about living after loss. It’s about finding peace and balance and various ways the author, Madeline Sharples, finds to bring herself together after feeling so helpless and out of control during her son Paul’s 7-year struggle with bipolar disease and after his suicide in September 1999.

Sharples explains: “I write about the steps I took in living with the loss of my son, including making use of diversions to help me forget. Leaving the Hall Light On is also about the milestones I met toward living a full life without him: packing and giving away his clothes, demolishing and redoing the scene of his death, cataloging and packing away all his records and books, copying all of his original music compositions onto CDs, digitizing all of our family photos, and gutting his room and turning it into my office and sanctuary with a bay window that looks out toward a lush garden and a bubbling water fountain.”

THANKS TO ROBYN FROM WOW, I HAVE ONE (1)

EBOOK EDITION OF THIS MEMOIR TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO

THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

DISCLAIMER

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners

via publisher, agent and/or author. This blog hosts

the giveaway on behalf of the above.

No items that I receive

are ever sold…they are kept by me,

or given to family and/or friends.

Giveaway

EBOOK INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE "LEAVING THE HALL LIGHT ON" ENDED

CMash June 16, 2011 Leave a Comment

JUNE 16th to JUNE 30th, 2011

LEAVING THE HALL LIGHT ON

by MADELINE SHARPLES

SYNOPSIS:

Leaving the Hall Light On is about living after loss. It’s about finding peace and balance and various ways the author, Madeline Sharples, finds to bring herself together after feeling so helpless and out of control during her son Paul’s 7-year struggle with bipolar disease and after his suicide in September 1999.

Sharples explains: “I write about the steps I took in living with the loss of my son, including making use of diversions to help me forget. Leaving the Hall Light On is also about the milestones I met toward living a full life without him: packing and giving away his clothes, demolishing and redoing the scene of his death, cataloging and packing away all his records and books, copying all of his original music compositions onto CDs, digitizing all of our family photos, and gutting his room and turning it into my office and sanctuary with a bay window that looks out toward a lush garden and a bubbling water fountain.”

THANKS TO ROBYN AND THE

KIND PEOPLE FROM WOW

I HAVE ONE (1) EBOOK EDITION OF

THIS MEMOIR TO GIVE AWAY.

HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN.

*ALL COMMENTS TO BE SEPARATE*

AND INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN

*LEAVE COMMENT: ARE YOU AWARE OF AND/OR

KNOW ANYONE WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?*

I ASK THAT YOU DO SOME RESEARCH TO LEARN MORE

ABOUT THIS ILLNESS FOR AWARENESS. THANK YOU!!

*EXTRA ENTRIES*

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU PUBLICLY FOLLOW THIS
BLOG (IF NOT, GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT ON RIGHT SIDE).

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.

*EBOOK EDITION–INTERNATIONAL*

**HONOR SYSTEM**

ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD

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.

*GIVEAWAY ENDS JUNE 30th AT 6PM EST*

WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG AND NOTIFIED

VIA EMAIL AND WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND

OR ANOTHER NAME WILL BE CHOSEN

DISCLAIMER / RULES

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,

agent and/or author. This blog hosts the giveaway on behalf of the

above. 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.

I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped

from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries

if rules of giveaway are not followed

Thursday Memes

CMash June 16, 2011 Leave a Comment

http://btt2.wordpress.com/

This week’s question:
With the advent (and growing popularity) of eBooks, I’m seeing more and more articles about how much “better” they can be, because they have the option to be interactive … videos, music, glossaries … all sorts of little extra goodies to help “enhance” your reading experience, rather like listening to the Director’s commentary on a DVD of your favorite movie.

How do you feel about that possibility? Does it excite you in a cutting-edge kind of way? Or does it chill you to the bone because that’s not what reading is ABOUT?
My answer:
As for me, all the above new enhancements does not affect me. My EReaders are for just one purpose…reading. However, I do enjoy the “goodie” of having a dictionary at hand while reading. But for the videos, music, etc, etc, I usually don’t use them in the traditional way. so it will not be part of my “reading experience. On the other hand, if it helps those to find the pleasure of reading, then I’m all for it.

On that note, I have to share some good reading news. I was the type of mother who always read to my boys when they were young, took trips to the library and book stores. They were always allowed to pick out books to purchase. Once in high school and through college, they never read a book for pleasure. I kept asking where did I go wrong? Its not like they never saw me without a book. Last week my youngest son, Mark’s gf Jess, who is a reader, couldn’t wait to tell me the latest news. Mark graduated college in December and found a job in his field within a few months. Of course, we are so proud of him on that level. BUT, Jess told me that Mark was complaining that the train ride into the city, to and and from work was boring. So she handed him a book for the commute, that she thought he would enjoy. Lo and behold, he read the book, in a week and ENJOYED it!!! My hard work didn’t go to waste. Thank you Jess for getting him to read again!! I loved Jess the minute I met her, I love her even more now!!! Now I have to pack up a care package of books to send to him lol.

Guest Author

Guest Author Madeline Sharples

CMash June 16, 2011 2 Comments

What a day today is!!! I am beyond thrilled!!! I even checked my Thesaurus and couldn’t find a word to express what I am feeling. I am now a tour host for WOW-Women On Writing and what a way to start! Please help me give a very big and warm welcome to today’s guest, Madeline Sharples, as she stops by while on virtual tour, to talk about her inspirational memoir.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Although Madeline Sharples loved poetry and creative writing as a young girl, she took a more practical career path by studying journalism and working as a grant writing, editor and technical writer. She co-authored a book about women in nontraditional professions called Blue-Collar Women: Trailblazing Women Take on Men-Only Jobs (New Horizon Press, 1994) and co-edited the poetry anthology, The Great American Poetry Show, Volumes 1 (Muse Media, 2004) and 2 (August 2010). Her poetry has been published by many publications including two photography books, The Emerging Goddess and Intimacy (Paul Blieden, photographer).

Madeline turned to another type of writing, memoir, as she grappled with her older son’s bipolar disorder and subsequent suicide. She and her husband of 40 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 bride Marissa.
Just Thought You Should Know:
More than 30,000 Americans commit suicide each year, most leaving behind grieving families. Teenagers make up 5,000 of this group.

You can visit Madeline Sharples at her websites:
http://madeline40.blogspot.com/
www.madelinesharples.com

GUEST POST
Using Memoir Writing to Deal with Grief

I signed up for a writing class three months after my son Paul’s death. We sat in the instructor’s living room on couches and big easy chairs in a comfortable and forgiving atmosphere. Each week the instructor told us to write a journal entry. He didn’t specify a subject. This was a beginner’s class. All he wanted us to do was learn to “write like you talk,” and to write in a voice that came from deep within our bellies. And then we’d come back the next week and read to the group what we had written.

At first I was afraid to put my grief out there in my writing. When I apologized for writing about the same subject matter in my assigned journal entries over and over, my instructor, Jack, said, “It took Dostoyevsky five hundred pages to write Crime and Punishment, you have a long way to go.”

With that I felt empowered me to write about Paul and how I felt about his death and the pain of losing him. And I still feel empowered to do it.

After several years of patiently listening to my material, Jack and the rest of the class encouraged me to put my story into a book. They felt certain there were people who needed to know it.

And then a goal to put my material into a memoir started to formulate: I thought if I could tell my story in the most truthful and realistic terms possible, I could help other parents with children with bipolar disorder that in many cases results in their suicide. Otherwise I felt it wouldn’t be useful to anyone – including me.

And so I kept writing my journal entries – not only for class, not only to comfort myself, but also to emerge into a memoir. I also wrote poems. Poetry just seemed to come spontaneously. Poetry seemed to be the only way I could really express my emotions. And when the time came for me to put my material into a book I organized it in the order of the poems in my poetry manuscript.

Writing was my therapy. I was turned off by traditional therapy after my first meeting with someone who hadn’t experienced the death of a child. I couldn’t imagine how that person could help me. And I didn’t turn to self-help books either. Along with working and working out, I found my way by writing every day. It became a habit and a huge help in getting myself out of the mire after my son’s death and the tragedy that had hit my family.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Leaving the Hall Light On is about living after loss. It’s about finding peace and balance and various ways the author, Madeline Sharples, finds to bring herself together after feeling so helpless and out of control during her son Paul’s 7-year struggle with bipolar disease and after his suicide in September 1999.

Sharples explains: “I write about the steps I took in living with the loss of my son, including making use of diversions to help me forget. Leaving the Hall Light On is also about the milestones I met toward living a full life without him: packing and giving away his clothes, demolishing and redoing the scene of his death, cataloging and packing away all his records and books, copying all of his original music compositions onto CDs, digitizing all of our family photos, and gutting his room and turning it into my office and sanctuary with a bay window that looks out toward a lush garden and a bubbling water fountain.”

THANKS TO ROBYN FROM WOW, I HAVE ONE (1)

EBOOK EDITION OF THIS MEMOIR TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO

THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

DISCLAIMER

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners

via publisher, agent and/or author. This blog hosts

the giveaway on behalf of the above.

No items that I receive

are ever sold…they are kept by me,

or given to family and/or friends.

Giveaway

EBOOK INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE "LEAVING THE HALL LIGHT ON" ENDED

CMash June 16, 2011 15 Comments

JUNE 16th to JUNE 30th, 2011

LEAVING THE HALL LIGHT ON

by MADELINE SHARPLES

SYNOPSIS:

Leaving the Hall Light On is about living after loss. It’s about finding peace and balance and various ways the author, Madeline Sharples, finds to bring herself together after feeling so helpless and out of control during her son Paul’s 7-year struggle with bipolar disease and after his suicide in September 1999.

Sharples explains: “I write about the steps I took in living with the loss of my son, including making use of diversions to help me forget. Leaving the Hall Light On is also about the milestones I met toward living a full life without him: packing and giving away his clothes, demolishing and redoing the scene of his death, cataloging and packing away all his records and books, copying all of his original music compositions onto CDs, digitizing all of our family photos, and gutting his room and turning it into my office and sanctuary with a bay window that looks out toward a lush garden and a bubbling water fountain.”

THANKS TO ROBYN AND THE

KIND PEOPLE FROM WOW

I HAVE ONE (1) EBOOK EDITION OF

THIS MEMOIR TO GIVE AWAY.

HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN.

*ALL COMMENTS TO BE SEPARATE*

AND INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN

*LEAVE COMMENT: ARE YOU AWARE OF AND/OR

KNOW ANYONE WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER?*

I ASK THAT YOU DO SOME RESEARCH TO LEARN MORE

ABOUT THIS ILLNESS FOR AWARENESS. THANK YOU!!

*EXTRA ENTRIES*

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU PUBLICLY FOLLOW THIS
BLOG (IF NOT, GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT ON RIGHT SIDE).

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.

*EBOOK EDITION–INTERNATIONAL*

**HONOR SYSTEM**

ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD

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.

*GIVEAWAY ENDS JUNE 30th AT 6PM EST*

WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG AND NOTIFIED

VIA EMAIL AND WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND

OR ANOTHER NAME WILL BE CHOSEN

DISCLAIMER / RULES

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,

agent and/or author. This blog hosts the giveaway on behalf of the

above. 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.

I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped

from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries

if rules of giveaway are not followed

Thursday Memes

CMash June 16, 2011 3 Comments

http://btt2.wordpress.com/

This week’s question:
With the advent (and growing popularity) of eBooks, I’m seeing more and more articles about how much “better” they can be, because they have the option to be interactive … videos, music, glossaries … all sorts of little extra goodies to help “enhance” your reading experience, rather like listening to the Director’s commentary on a DVD of your favorite movie.

How do you feel about that possibility? Does it excite you in a cutting-edge kind of way? Or does it chill you to the bone because that’s not what reading is ABOUT?
My answer:
As for me, all the above new enhancements does not affect me. My EReaders are for just one purpose…reading. However, I do enjoy the “goodie” of having a dictionary at hand while reading. But for the videos, music, etc, etc, I usually don’t use them in the traditional way. so it will not be part of my “reading experience. On the other hand, if it helps those to find the pleasure of reading, then I’m all for it.

On that note, I have to share some good reading news. I was the type of mother who always read to my boys when they were young, took trips to the library and book stores. They were always allowed to pick out books to purchase. Once in high school and through college, they never read a book for pleasure. I kept asking where did I go wrong? Its not like they never saw me without a book. Last week my youngest son, Mark’s gf Jess, who is a reader, couldn’t wait to tell me the latest news. Mark graduated college in December and found a job in his field within a few months. Of course, we are so proud of him on that level. BUT, Jess told me that Mark was complaining that the train ride into the city, to and and from work was boring. So she handed him a book for the commute, that she thought he would enjoy. Lo and behold, he read the book, in a week and ENJOYED it!!! My hard work didn’t go to waste. Thank you Jess for getting him to read again!! I loved Jess the minute I met her, I love her even more now!!! Now I have to pack up a care package of books to send to him lol.