I Wrote it My Way - Bonnie Trachtenberg

It's time for another lovely author to visit Miriam's Ramblings! In fact this is long overdue, but with holidays and life in general, blogging has been swept aside in recent weeks.
 
Welcome Bonnie, from across the pond - I am really delighted to have you here in Appley Green land!
 

Bonnie Trachtenberg is the multi-award-winning, bestselling author of Wedlocked: A Novel and Neurotically Yours: A Novel. She writes a monthly relationship and advice column for LoveaHappyEnding.com. Bonnie was senior writer and copy chief at Book-of-the-Month Club and has written seven children’s book adaptations. She has also written for three newspapers and penned countless magazine articles. She lives in New York with her husband, four cats, and a dog.

 

Bonnie explains her journey to writing her award-winning novels.
 

'I’ve always been a sucker for a good romantic comedy, whether through the books of Jennifer Weiner, Janet Evanovich, Marian Keyes and others, or at the movies watching “When Harry Met Sally,” “Something’s Got to Give,” or “Pretty Woman”. Let’s face it, real life can be sad, frustrating, and maddening at times, so I never seek out depressing or gut-wrenching stories no matter how good they are. I’m sure I’ve missed out on some great books and movies, but somehow I know I’m better off. Smiling is a priority for me. If I want misery I’ll turn on the news!

When I decided to pen my first novel, I realized I’d be spending many long days and nights holed up in the “alternate universe” I was creating. I also knew that if I was going to find my stay there a pleasurable experience, it had better be a romantic comedy! Luckily, since I was writing a story based on my first brief, disastrous marriage (Wedlocked), I had the perfect material. I never even gave the genre selection a second thought. Romantic comedy wasn’t just the right decision; in actuality, it really wasn’t a decision at all. It was completely organic. And as I developed my characters and wrote witty dialogue, I found myself giggling, swooning, and truly enjoying myself. Nothing is more entertaining to me than a good romance with lots of laughs, so for me, romantic comedy was a natural fit!'

We certainly do all need cheering up after following the news these days; although I don't write 'rom-coms' myself, I agree with Bonnie. Even in a reality novel, humour is vital to give the reader a lift and maybe provide an escape to a better place.

 

Thanks again!

Learn much more about Bonnie at her website: http://www.BonnieTrachtenberg.com

Read her advice column at: http://www.loveahappyending.com/category/in-search-of-a-happy-ending/
Find her on Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BonnieTrachtenberg
Follow her on Twitter: @Writebrainedny

Buy Wedlocked

Amazon: http://is.gd/2XLInB
Amazon UK: http://is.gd/hIKHRa
Barnes & Noble: http://is.gd/t8Izux

Buy Neurotically Yours

Amazon: http://amzn.to/HY4PyF
Amazon UK: http://is.gd/e14qU0
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/KumteQ

Amazing statistics!!

This is just a short, but astounding, follow-up to my post on Parkinson's Awareness Week.

Parkinson's UK thanked me for helping to spread awareness, which was really nice of them. Their marketing department also shared some astonishing statistics with me.

 

During the week, this is what happened on their website and so on. They had:

·       48,276 visits to their website

·       21,000 people engaged with them on Facebook

·       2,000 new likes on Facebook

·       More than 100 people shared pictures of their shoes on social media

·       Over 5,000 video views on Youtube

·       226 events nationwide

 

        Well done and many congratulations on this massive success!

 

       My book, Shades of Appley Green is not just about Parkinson's, by the way, but I do hope it helps people to see what it can be like to be elderly with Parkinson's. As someone pointed out in the comments left on my post some younger people sadly contend with the condition, too; then called 'young onset' Parkinson's, but my character, Jackson Jeffrys, celebrates his 90th birthday in the story. He lives an apparently affluent and comfortable lifestyle, but various health and personal circumstances have conspired against him. Loneliness is his greatest problem - and, hey! something can be done about that!

 

       Awareness and understanding go a long way towards encouraging those with Parkinson's to perhaps go for a walk, have a pub lunch, enjoy shopping or even join a choir. Being deprived of such simple pleasures can lead to depression and, with some people, can be worse than the physical symptoms.

 

       Next time you see someone who may have Parkinson's, please, please, remember this. I know you will. Of course you will.

 

World Book Night Comes to Appley Green!!

 

OK, so Appley Green is not real. I should know this!

 

World Book Night is real, however, and coming very close to Appley Green! Just to remind you, this is an initiative that involves authors, publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians and above all readers!  It is on Tuesday 23 April - wow! four days away, as I write this.

On their website they say, ‘World Book Night is a celebration of reading and books which sees tens of thousands of passionate volunteers gift specially chosen and printed WBN books in their communities to share their love of reading.’  I am one such volunteer, full of passion, needless to say; so on Tuesday I shall be giving away 20 brand new special editions of my first choice from the list of books offered by World Book Night. It was difficult to choose from a wonderful selection, but I was delighted to be allocated my top choice, a novel called The Road Home by Rose Tremain.

Of course, this book is just ‘up my street’ and please forgive the pun if you can find it in your heart; about an Eastern European immigrant’s struggle to make his way (yes it’s a ‘journey’) in London. It offers a new perspective of ourselves and I love this book. I really hope I transmit my enthusiasm to others and do it justice.

A snippet from the WBN website, declaring that reading can go beyond pleasure:

 ‘Reading changes lives, improves employability, social interaction, enfranchisement and can have an effect on mental health and happiness.’ 

I could not put it better myself, nor agree more!

Next week I will tell you about where I am going – or rather where I went!  With pictures! I wonder who I will meet? Aren't you excited? Of course you are!

Book givers are charged with the mission to approach people who perhaps do not read books regularly. I say ‘perhaps’ for how can you possibly tell before speaking to someone! (unless you catch them at it - reading, that is.) What does a non-reading person look like? What would be their identifying features? Tell me!

It's 'horses for courses' as they say and some could not live without Grand Prix races or playing Bridge; but I genuinely cannot imagine living without books. They are, and always have been, such an important part of my life; now in retirement, even more so. I do what used to be called ‘Books on Wheels’ rebranded as ‘Library Direct Home Service’ that I consistently fail to remember; the words just keep re-arranging themselves in a different order, but I guess I need to stare at the title a little longer to fix it. I belong to a book club. I have kept a list of books read over the past ten years or so, with a brief comment about each one. I recommend this to booklovers! As the years roll by it is quite enlightening to look back and see what you have read and whether you enjoyed it and, if so, why. Now, I sometimes pop a little review up on Goodreads, go to Book Festivals, and, of course,  try to find time to write books too, the greatest joy of all.

World Book Night, The Company

‘Each year we recruit 20,000 volunteers to hand out 20 copies of their favourite book from our list to members of their community who don’t regularly read. By enlisting thousands of passionate book lovers around the country World Book Night reaches out to the millions of people in the UK who have yet to fall in love with reading in the hope that we can start them on their reading journey. In addition World Book Night distributes half a million books directly to the hardest to reach potential readers in prisons, care homes, hospitals, sheltered, supported and social housing, the homeless and through partner charities working throughout the UK. World Book Night is about giving books and encouraging reading in those who don’t regularly do so. But it is also about more than that: it’s about people, communities and connections, about reaching out to others and touching lives in the simplest of ways, through the sharing of stories.’   http://www.worldbooknight.org/

Let me know of any good World Book Night (WBN) events down your way!

Added after the event - here in Deepcut Village Hall
See how they clutch their books!!

 

 

‘Put yourself in my shoes’ - Parkinson’s Awareness Week

This week, beginning 15 April, is Parkinson's Awareness Week focusing on changing attitudes, using the strapline 'Put yourself in my shoes'. The idea behind the campaign came from a person with Parkinson's who told them how much he wished that people could put themselves in his shoes so they could understand what life is like.

If you have read Shades of Appley Green you may know, or have guessed, that I have some connection with Parkinson’s. I worked in and around Basingstoke and Farnborough as Community Support Worker for the excellent organisation, Parkinson’s UK (then Parkinson’s Disease Society) for a couple of years before retiring in 2008. The title has now changed to Information Support Worker and along with specialist nurses, they do wonderful work nationwide.

Says the society's marketing officer Clare Allen, ‘Working with people affected, we'll be using Parkinson's Awareness Week to expose some of the realities of living with Parkinson's and help the public to better understand the condition.’ She stressed how important it is to get the word out, especially people who have had first-hand experience of the condition.

A little while ago I wrote about ‘Who or What Inspired my Characters’, remembering the days when I travelled around visiting people in their homes or in residential care. 

Extract from Loveahappyending book relaunch :

‘I met some extraordinary people endowed with both spirit and stoicism, rising above the initial shock of diagnosis of a progressive illness, to live life as best they could. Most touching of all was the mutual support between married couples; a man and a woman each battling with a different set of problems but somehow able to get along together and make a good fist of old age. One creative lady, unable to do very much herself or get out of the house, had the unerring love of a husband who would spend many hours furnishing and fitting out miniature houses – like sophisticated dolls’ houses – in a given period, whether Regency, Victorian or 1950s. Days, weeks, years were spent together working with bits of wood, fabric and glue and an assortment of tiny household accessories to create absolute masterpieces. They were wonderful.

Another lady lived alone, in what I would describe as a shrine to all things Art Nouveau, including some exciting, theatrical memories. Scarcely able to walk at all, she relied on a rota of carers and a loving son who came when he could.’

But, sadly, I also saw situations that were less comfortable, where the wider public did not evidently understand the symptoms they saw. Someone who shakes, is slow to move or respond, and perhaps shuffles when they walk may be assumed to be drunk, or have dementia, but of course this is almost always not the case.

In Shades of Appley Green there is an elderly, intellectual gentleman trapped inside a body that would not do as it was told, a victim of both Parkinson’s and arthritis. He becomes isolated. His children have long since flown the nest; his friends have mostly died and he ‘rattles around’ in a big house. He was once famous, lived a rich and interesting life, but who is to know now? Fortunately, he finds a true friend in Steph, a single mother with problems of her own, who has the wit to see that, whilst Parkinson’s is not going to go away (albeit controlled by medication), something can be done to remedy loneliness.

Extract from Shades of Appley Green:

 

      ‘With a tea-trolley heading towards them, Jackson was suddenly asked to step back. It was an abrupt interruption and she saw how fast anxiety flooded his face, sweeping away the smile he tried so hard to keep pinned-on from within the static Parkinson’s face. He had been politely listening to Lilian, with immense concentration, hearing-aid probably full-on, thinking heaven knows what, then out of the blue he was asked to “please move”.

      “Come along now,” said the lady in charge of the trolley, cheerfully, seeing no sign of any attempt to get out of her way. “There’s a love. Just a wee bit more room …”

      Steph put up her hand, as if controlling traffic. “Sorry! Just give us a minute, if you would, please,” she said. “People with Parkinson’s need time. OK?” Turning to Jackson, she whispered in his ear, “One, two, left, right, go!” and he neatly stepped back two short paces. Any onlooker might reasonably question why he had been so deliberately stubborn and slow to shift himself.

       Lilian returned to them, by which time the trolley had moved on and Jackson appeared to be calmly awaiting the next leg of the tour.’

 

Says Steve Ford, Chief Executive, Parkinson’s UK: ‘Can you imagine your body not doing what you told it to? To deal with people staring or tutting when you struggle to get out the right change at a supermarket till? Or how life would be if you were scared to leave the house for fear of freezing to the spot or losing balance and tripping over?’

 

 

If you have Parkinson’s or know someone who is affected by the condition, then it would be wonderful to hear from you. Leave your story below in a brief Comment or contact Parkinsons UK to help spread awareness of how the general public could perhaps be more empathetic and imagine themselves in the shoes of a person with Parkinson’s, or indeed, with another neurological condition.

I would really love to hear from you; it may help others. Spread the word please. Retweet and support.

You can find out more here from Parkinsons UK 

Review of Shades of Appley Green in Parkinson's UK magazine The Parkinson

Shades of Appley Green on Amazon paperback and Kindle

I Wrote it My Way - Linn B Halton

I am delighted to give a huge, loud, warm welcome to the amazing Linn B Halton, who not only writes 'contemporary women's love stories that reflect life ... often with a psychic twist', but also spearheads the fantastic Love a Happy Ending project that has brought together writers from both the UK and abroad. This has now evolved into the Loveahappyending Lifestyle magazine of which she is Editor in Chief. This is one very versatile and talented lady!

So - fanfare over, we ask ourselves what set Linn off on her particular genre and style? Just reading Linn's first paragraph here leaves me in awe!

'There was no forethought involved when it came to sitting down and writing my first five manuscripts. I had waited a long time to have the luxury of giving up work and being able to sit down and write. So I opened a blank word doc and didn’t stop typing until I had completed five manuscripts. 

However, it wasn’t until after that point that I began Googling what to do next and realised the writing was the easy bit! I also hadn’t realised how specific the genre headings were, or in some cases how ‘wide’. One of my books was a true story – easy, memoirs/biography. Two were psychic romances – but I wouldn’t say they were ‘paranormal’, which to me is much heavier. My light touch is because the incidents I write about come from my own experiences. I like to keep it real. One was a collection of stories about love at all ages, although there is a cameo appearance from a spirit named Sarah. And then I decided to write a chick lit, where the subject is in her early forties! Forty is the new twenty… what can I say? 

I suppose because I knew nothing about the writing business, I wrote from the heart. I was also trying to stretch myself with each manuscript I penned and experimenting to test myself.  

It’s rather nice to be at the stage where all five of my books are now ‘out there’ and I will learn from reader feedback as my writing journey continues! 

Thank you for featuring me on your lovely blog Miriam, you are a fascinating lady and I love the gypsy theme running through your books!'

Thank you so much Linn for giving us a teasing little insight into how you write from personal experience, yet somehow blend this reality with the surreal.

Doesn't it make you want to know more? I do! Intriguing ...

A loveahappyending.com author
Signed by: Sapphire Star Publishing
Twitter: @LinnBHalton
Facebook: Linn B Halton

Linn's Books on Amazon.co.uk
and on Amazon.com

 

I Wrote it My Way - Michelle Betham

A big welcome to prolific author, Michelle Betham, whose chosen genre is: ‘books for the beach - pure escapism, total fantasy; mainly sexy, but sometimes humorous, contemporary romance.’ On this grim, grey, wet day here in the UK, where Spring is really struggling to show its face, the idea of a holiday read somewhere warm and sunny sounds particularly tempting! 

 

So, Michelle tells us about what inspired her; Jackie Collins, football – and 50 Shades? Well, two out of three, anyway. 

Writing Striker for me was almost like an epiphany. It’s actually my seventh novel, yet it’s taken me until now to finally find my niche – to know, once and for all, the kind of books I want to write. I want to write romance, yes, that hasn’t changed, but I want to write the edgier, more racy side of romance. I guess I always have done, to be honest. Being a huge fan of Jackie Collins, and loving the kind of sexy escapism she writes, I think I always knew in the back of my mind that that was what I wanted to create myself, but I was always just a little bit nervous of putting books like that out there. After all, there really is only one Jackie Collins, isn’t there? And a lot of people turn their noses up at that kind of literature, in fact, some probably wouldn’t even call it literature at all. But there’s also a market for those kind of books. And that’s the market I want to target.

Now, we’re not talking Fifty Shades of Grey or anything, because I didn’t even enjoy that book, so that didn’t influence me in the slightest. But I do want to create sexy stories with a strong plot and interesting characters – and I hope that’s what I’ve done with Striker, a book very much influenced by my secret love of football, my fascination with the behind-closed-doors world of the professional footballer and the people who surround them, and, of course, my admiration of the woman who is Jackie Collins.

 

Thanks so much Michelle and good luck with Striker. Number 7 sounds saucy and sexy!

 

Michelle's books on Amazon

More about Michelle and her books here on her blog

London Roma Nation Day - 7-8 April

This may make uncomfortable, even shocking, reading but I would be interested to gather opinions, including your own.

 

You will find the words: ‘eviction, deportation ... murder, fascism … ethnic cleansing … apartheid … genocide …’, and yes, this is 2013.

 

Gypsies Stop tHere has an Eastern European character, vital to the plot, who is a Roma immigrant in Britain. No Gypsies Served goes a little further in drawing attention to extreme racism prevalent in parts of Europe. The reality, however, is much worse, as this post reveals.

A few days ago, I received an email from Grattan Puxon; you may have seen him on TV in 2011 during the global coverage of the eviction of Irish Travellers from Dale Farm, Billericay, Essex. I was interviewed on BBC Surrey Radio during this debacle; although the recording is no longer available the comments it triggered are still here on the Surrey Heath Residents' Blog: Miriam Wakerly talks about Dale Farm on BBC Surrey Radio  They provide some background to the Dale Farm situation that is not widely known. As ever, with Traveller issues, opinions and emotions run high.

Gratton Puxon was a founder of the Gypsy Council back in l966, which in turned hosted the 1st World Romani Congress in 1971. He was elected general secretary and served up until the 3^rd Congress in Germany in 1981.  He lived in Eastern Europe for some 20 years and, through marriage, speaks and writes Romanes.

 

7-8 APRIL EVENTS CHALLENGE RISE IN ANTI-ROMA RACISM

By Grattan Puxon

02/03/2013 - The ugly emergence of enhanced anti-Roma racism is drawing a more united response from the various elements of the Romani movement as we prepare together to mark the 42^nd Roma Nation Day.

With a month to go, events in many countries have already been announced. Among them a congress in Romania; a protest camp in Brussels; in Strasbourg an exhibition on segregation in Czech schools; a film festival in Skopje, and in Kosovo a Western Balkans media conference.

One of the most impactful simply because of its location is likely to be the encampment close to the European Parliament, promoted by Amnesty and ERIO. Billed as an International Roma Day manifestation it could stimulate fresh thinking by some backsliding MEPs and the EU Commission.

On the other side of Europe, the IRU confirms that it will be holding the 8^th World Romani Congress in Sibiu, Romania. The organizers aim to restore vitality to this once pre-eminent institution and place it again in the vanguard. But they have left themselves short on time. There is more than geographical distance between those two events. Both however are rallying followers to a common standard, the Romani national flag. The flag's wide recognition is reflected in the fact that it is now featured on the stock lists of commercial flag-makers.

Across Germany, thanks to the youth of the European Roma Movement, Yag Bari and Alle Bleiben, thousands of balloons in the flag’s blue, green and red colours will be released on 7 and 8 April. According to the Roma Center, a dozen cities are to see them fly, including Berlin, Hamburg and Koln. This act of solidarity in face of what some are calling the start of a second Samudaripe is being copied in other countries where to those suffering eviction, deportation and murder similarities between today and the fascism of the 1930s are self-evident.

Nowhere has present era ethnic-cleansing of Roma been on a greater scale than in Kosovo where in front of NATO forces some 100,000 were driven from their homes. It could be said that the Pristina conference on Roma and the Public Service Media is taking place over the now cold ashes of those many lost homes and lives.

Central to the protests, though far from the largest, is the London Roma Nation Day event on Sunday, 7 April. This brings together Roma from six countries now in the UK and will climax with the picketing of numerous embassies. The intention is to expose the scores of neo-Nazi and police murders and the lack of progress during the Decade of Roma Inclusion, including the failure to end apartheid in education.

Paris, Budapest, Bucharest, Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Genoa, Barcelona, San Francisco, Houston, Buenos Aires, Rio and many more towns and cities will be the scene of demonstrations and varied happenings. The latter include the exhibition in Strasbourg on the Roma genocide mounted by the ERTF and the OSI.

Outlook and terminology may differ but thousands of activists in Romani political parties, international organizations and NGOs, are working to make this the biggest 8 April mobilization yet.

All of us agree than in a year proclaimed as the EU Year of the Citizen, the time has come for ructions in the streets that cannot be ignored.

The Roma spring is close at hand.

dale.farm@btinternet.com
 

http://romanationday.org/en/

www.facebook/travellersolidarity

 

You may be wondering what the Irish Travellers of Dale Farm have to do with this uprising. Gratton Puxon gave me an update.

He says, ‘Dale Farm residents were evicted from their own yards on 19 Oct 2011 - after riot police charged in firing tasers - moved only onto the private Oak Lane which leads into the estate. Most still have their trailers on the side of the road there.

Basildon Borough Council appear to be ready to grant outline planning permission for a l5-pitch trailer park on land belonging to the Homes and Communities Agency at Gardiners Way.

But there are some 90 families who need a legal place to stop. The Dale Farm Residents Association (I'm secretary) put in a planning application for another trailer park at Church Road, Laindon.  [These are both close to DF].

Meanwhile, after complaints from our side the Environmental Agency report that there is an asbestos hazard due to the council digging up the "illegal" yards and creating huge holes surrounded by massive earth banks. It is estimated they moved 150,000 tonnes of earth and debris - all to prevent owners returning and thus illegally blocking people’s right of way.

Please note that the first people picked on for this ethnic-cleansing were Romani families at nearby Hovefields, incuding the Taylors and Boswells.

We now face a fresh public inquiry on the Laindon plan and are in the process of forming land co-operatives which together intend to submit a new planning application to re-develop the destroyed yards.’

 

If there are any parallels or conclusions to be drawn then I leave you to do that for yourself.