I'm pleased to host Patricia Eckerman Ambas' WOW! WOMEN ON WRITING tour of I Can't Wait to Love You Forever. Patricia has also honored us by writing an essay about her self publishing successes. Here's Patricia: I'm Just Getting Started by Patricia Eckerman Ambas It was January of 2022, midway through my first year not teaching full-time in over a decade, when I wrote the story that would become my first published book, I Can’t Wait to Love You Forever: A Big Brother Book. It had taken a career shift, a new baby, and an online course on self-publishing, but I was determined to make my lifelong dream reality. When I sat down to refresh the story I had written seven years before when my oldest was a baby with hopes to publish it back then, I found myself opening a blank document and a different narrative came out. I absolutely loved it - a heart-warming tale about my son and the game he invented while anticipating the arrival of our new baby, but then I wrestled in self-doubt … [Read more...]
Introducing a delightful book for boys – I can’t wait to love you forever
Sepsis, a potentially deadly disease
In late August I wrote what I thought was the final report on my husband's two bouts of sepsis (blood infection). He was doing great - walking without anymore difficulty, eating well again, and even getting to the point of driving his car and going places on his own. Unfortunately, he had a third recurrence of sepsis that started on September 26 and he's been in the hospital ever since. The good news this time is that the doctors found the bacteria and the source of the infection. The bad news is it will take my husband much longer to recover than it did the first two times. In week four of his hospitalization he still is not walking, he needs to be fed through a tube in his nose, and his mental ability is still not back to normal. Because the risk of sepsis is higher in seniors, I thought I'd provide all my senior friends who read this website with some information about this potentially life-threatening disease. I certainly knew nothing about it until if affected my husband. … [Read more...]
What else is happening in May?
This month is full of happenings, especially family ones. May 4 would have been my brother-in-law’s 79th birthday. Today would have been my dad’s 115th birthday though he only lived to be 72. They both died of cancer. Of course, next Sunday, May 13, is Mother’s Day, though I also commemorated Bereaved Mother’s Day yesterday, in memory of our son Paul who left us almost 19 years ago. And after that is my birthday on May 20, and Bob and my 48th anniversary on May 28. … [Read more...]
Should we let a family member read our drafts?
When I finished revision nine of my novel, I decided to let my husband read it. He'd been asking for a long time, and I always held back from letting him. I had heard early on that asking family members especially such close ones and good friends to read our work could be a problem. It they hate the work they would be reluctant to tell the truth, and if they love it, they may have a subjective rather than objective point of view. Well, I decided to risk it anyway, and considering how hard he worked on reviewing, I'm not sorry. He saved a copy and renamed it with his initials and started going through it marking edits and/or typos in red font and inserting questions and comments along the way highlighted in yellow. He also created a separate timeline in a Word table. That is really his forte he's a numbers guy. And, he found a lot of inconsistencies in my dates (my novel is divided in three parts each starting with a date in story's history) and inconsistencies in the birth … [Read more...]
Come on over to the Sunscreen Film Festival West
Our son and daughter-in-law's film, "Gentlemen's Fury," will be shown at the Sunscreen Film Festival tomorrow, Saturday, October 7 at 5 pm in Hermosa Beach, CA. Please come on over and become a part of all the excitement. The film is hilarious. Go to http://ssffwest.com/ for more info and tickets. Gentlemen's Fury is about a professional tennis player, Aaron Faust, who goes on a desperate mission to prove that tennis is not a soft sport by punching an opponent and joining a cult. He had a promising career as a professional tennis player. But he also had a few issues. Suspended by the ATP for brawling with an opponent, his life has taken a turn for the worse. During a particularly dark period, he encounters Dwayne, an intense and charismatic zealot, who recruits Aaron for Gentlemen's Fury, an underground tennis league that just might not be strictly about tennis. Gentlemen's Fury stars: Ben Sharples, Jake Head, Audrey Ellis Fox, Kyle Leibovitch, Taishi … [Read more...]
Introducing Gentlemen’s Fury – a hilarious new film
WATCH IT TODAY! GENTLEMEN'S FURY TENNIS MOVIE PREMIERES MAY 23RD Gentlemen's Fury, a comedy feature film about an ATP player whose Johnny Maclike temper lands him in a league that might not be strictly about tennis, premieres today, May 23, 2017 on Vimeo On Demand. Starring Ben Sharples (Flight 7500), Jake Head (Ted) and Audrey Ellis Fox (Law & Order: SVU), Gentlemen's Fury is a cross between Fight Club and Dodgeball that makes a raucous commentary on the plight of the male tennis player, as well as tennis itself. (And in case you didn't already guess, Ben is my son.) For more information and to watch the trailer, please click here. To contact Ben Sharples, please email: ben@golddoorfilms.com *** Here's a wonderful interview with Ben and his wife, Marissa, who also played a key role in the making of the film. Tennis Gets Its Ace by Neil Feineman It was, as dinner parties go, your pleasant, basic good time -- until a guest, fully aware of Ben … [Read more...]
Remembering Mom and Dad
This Mother's Day weekend I remember both my mother and my dad. My dad was born on May 7, 1903 in Poland (the first location in my historical fiction work). He died at age 72 from cancer of the bile duct system. My mother, born on February 12, 2008 in Lithuania, died at age 94 from old age. Lucky for me, they met and married in Chicago Illinois, making me and my brother and sister first generation Americans. Here are a few photos of them. … [Read more...]
Bragging time!
My son Ben Sharples is a long-time actor, writer, producer, and tennis player (he started playing tournament tennis at age seven). Ben has created a screenplay about an aging tennis star, which he plans to start filming next month. And he needs your help. He has set up a Kickstarter campaign to raise production funds. Please consider becoming a part of this movie by joining his campaign. There are some great opportunities depending on what level of contribution you choose to make. Here's the link to his campaign. Please click on the video and listen to Ben tell you about this film called Gentleman's Fury a tennis movie written by and starring a real tennis star. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bensharples/gentlemens-fury-movie Really how can you blame a proud mom from wanting to help out her son? Especially since the campaign has less than three days to go. Thanks so much. … [Read more...]
The beauty of flowers
This past week I've been surrounded by the beauty of flowers. I took the challenge to flood Facebook with flowers to break the saturation of negative images and videos, and promised my friends who liked this post that I'd choose a flower for them. As a result, for the last three days I've been posting some wonderful flower photos on my page. Please take a look here. Also last weekend while we visited family in Seattle, we attended the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum. His glass flowers and sculptures are sensational. He says his glass subject matter was greatly influenced by his mother's flower garden while he was growing up. This museum reminds me so much of a greenhouse, as can be seen in the photo below. So if you're a Chihuly fan as I am, here are a few photos of my favorites at the museum. Note that the exhibit is both inside the greenhouse-like building and outside in the garden. I highly recommend you see them in person if you get the chance. … [Read more...]
I’m so pleased to reintroduce memoirist Kathleen Pooler
Kathleen (Kathy) Pooler and I met virtually a couple of years ago while hanging out on Google+, talking about - you guessed it - memoirs. And we've been buddies ever since sharing our books, sharing about memoir writing techniques and dos and don'ts, and forever wishing we'd someday meet in person. Alas, that hasn't happened yet. However, I'm pleased to be in her company any way I can. Today I'm reintroducing Kathy on Choices (see her other guest appearances here and here) during her WOW! Women on Writing book tour, and I congratulate her on her powerful and brave memoir, Ever Faithful to His Lead : My Journey Away From Emotional Abuse, a true life, tears-to-triumph story of self-defeating detours and dreams lost and found. About Ever Faithful to His Lead: A young woman who loses sight of the faith she has been brought up with attempts to find her way in the world, rejecting her stable roots in lieu of finding adventure and romance. Despite periods of spiritual renewal in … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday, Kenny
My brother, Kenny, would have been seventy-seven today. I miss him always. He was the guy I grew up with. Here are a couple of photos: one taken near the beginning of his life when he was three, the other taken near the end with yours truly. He will always be in my heart. … [Read more...]
Drumroll please for my WOW guest Sue Silverman
Please give Sue Silverman a huge welcome. I'm so glad she agreed to stop at Choices while on her WOW - Women on Writing blog book tour. I can relate to Sue Silverman author of The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew. I too was a nice little Jewish girl looking over at my WASP grade school classmates and wishing for their long blond waves, blue eyes, clear skin and willowy bodies instead of my frizzy dark hair, short and stocky frame, and my best feature, my hazel eyes, always hidden behind thick glasses. Unlike Sue, I did not experience an abusive upbringing. However, I write about the other taboo subjects that darkened my history: mental illness and suicide. I feel our frank and raw writing goes a long way to erasing the stigma associated with such topics. Plus, writing these hard stories can be healing. Putting your pain on the page can be very liberating. That said, I'm excited for you to read Sue's thoughts about writing about taboo subjects. Writing … [Read more...]
Everybody is talking about sisterhood
Everybody at Women on Writing is talking about Sisterhood today. And so am I. But first I want to tell you about Therese Walsh's new novel The Moon Sisters so you can join our celebration. In The Moon Sisters, her second novel, Therese Walsh wanted to write about one sister's quest to find will-o'-the-wisp light, which was her mother's unfulfilled dream. Also called foolish fires, these lights are sometimes seen over wetlands and are thought to lead those who follow them to treasure. Despite the promise, they are never captured and sometimes lead to injury or even death for adventurers who follow them. The metaphor of that fire that some dreams and goals are impossible to reach, and that hope itself may not be innately good eventually rooted its way into deeper meaning as the Moon sisters tried to come to terms with real-world dreams and hopes, and with each other, in their strange new world. Olivia and Jazz Moon are polar opposites: one a dreamy synesthete, able to see … [Read more...]
Aunt Helen – always in our hearts
My beautiful and glamorous Aunt Helen died peacefully last evening at age ninety-seven. She had a wonderful life with dynamic Uncle Charlie (unfortunately he left us many years ago and way too soon), her five children, and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. I always loved her calm elegance and looked to her as a role model. We will miss this woman who was fabulous in every way, and we are thrilled to have had her in our lives for so long. Here she is at age eighteen - when everyone thought she looked like the movie star, Hedy LaMar. And since she was a part of my life for all of my life, I remember that she looked this way well into her 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. And a more recent photo. As you can see, she was still beautiful in her old age. … [Read more...]
Renewed hope for 2014
For our belated holiday lunch our writing group leader asked us to provide each other with the "GIFT OF WORDS!!! - give everyone a gift of a short essay less than 1000 words that reads to the theme of New - as in Newness, New Year, new promises, memories of new years past, debauchery of new years past, hopes for the new year, new cars, new loves, anything that evokes the freshness & hope of something new!" Here's mine. About how my hope was renewed even in the face of deep sorrow. 2013 was a year with too much traveling, too many surgeries for my husband, and the deaths of two long-time cherished friends. Because those deaths happened in December one funeral was on New Year's Eve day, and Shiva took place in the first few days of the New Year I haven't had much enthusiasm for writing about newness and the freshness and hope of something new. However, while thinking about writing this piece I've realized how much children babies all the way up to adult children have put … [Read more...]
2013 reflections
I like to reflect a bit at the beginning of a new year, so here goes. 2013 for me and my family was a mixed bag. My husband Bob and I traveled a lot I think more than any other year in our lives together (to Denver three times to visit family; to London, Kenya, Tanzania, Dubai and Paris with dear friends; to Oakland to spend a weekend with another friend, and this month to Savannah, Charleston, Miami Beach on our own, and then on a Caribbean cruise again with our family all sixteen of us). We also hosted several rounds of visitors cousins and friends who stayed in the guest room of our home. Bob had two surgeries in 2013 a complete hip replacement in early January (that made the bells and whistles go off every time he went through an airline security check) and carpel tunnel in late November. And even though the timing was very soon before we left on our Africa plus trip, I drove up to Big Sur California on my own to take a poetry workshop at the Esalen Institute. … [Read more...]
To Denver and back
It's always wonderful to visit with our great nieces and nephew in Denver. We now have six: five girls - one born just six weeks ago - and one boy. We were there for Anna's eighth birthday, and since they all have birthdays coming up in the next couple of months, we brought birthday presents for all - including new baby Ella Joy. What was special was making the birthday cake with our oldest great niece, Alyssa. But as usual, I find I can't wait to get home - no matter where I travel to. Instead of walking on the loud busy streets in Denver, I took my big long walk this morning along the beach. Although it was teeming with runners and walkers, I could comfortably hear my music and take a few shots of the ubiquitous Strand gardens along the way. I must be like Dorothy. "There's no place like home." … [Read more...]
Thoughts about age and my folks
Today would be my dad's birthday. He was born 110 years ago. And he's been gone thirty-eight years. Happy Birthday, Dad. Taken on Dad's last birthday, May 1975 (my sister is at his left shoulder) Age has been on my mind lately. My father died at age 72 and so did my father's father and my mother's mother. But, even though I'm in the last days of my 72ndyear, I'm not worried about dying any time soon at least not from ill health. Mom and Dad with little Paul My mother thought she'd go at 72 just like the others in our family. She actually started planning for it by giving away a lot of her things. From the day my dad died when she was 68, she kept saying she was ready to die too. But she was tricked. No matter how much she wanted to follow in her husband's footsteps, she lived to be 94. So whose genes do I have my dad's short-life or my mother's long-life genes? Only time will tell. … [Read more...]
Denver visit
While spending the weekend in Denver visiting family, we got caught in a blizzard. We're now happily back in Southern California. I love my great nieces View out the window … [Read more...]
Here’s what’s been going on
As soon as I finished my four-week consulting job, I had to get ready for my husband's hip replacement surgery. That is get my head in gear for the stress of waiting for results, the driving back and forth to the hospital, and then caring for him once he got home. We're at the third stage now. The surgery went very well it only lasted one hour and he was released from the hospital after a two-night stay. I not only brought him home, I also brought a cold and compression machine to aid in his healing process. Plus we are proud owners of a brand-new walker. The first day he was feeling pretty puny, but once he started to take his prescription strength ibuprofen, he was back to his feisty self. So feisty that he abandoned his walker sometime during his first night home while I was sleeping and began hobbling around on his own two feet. Needless to say I had to insist on the walker the next morning. It enables him to walk straight and tall at a regular clip, and I don't have … [Read more...]
