Monthly Archives: September 2012

Feature Interview with Raymond Clarke, Starring in Love Pour Over Me

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Meet Raymond Clarke:  Born in Dayton, Ohio in the 1960s, Raymond Clarke is a world class track and field athlete. His athletic exploits have landed him on the cover of magazines like Athletic Ambassador, Track Historian and Sports Hall of Famers. Although rarely discovered, Raymond’s academic achievements are on par with his sports accomplishments, earning him Class Valedictorian of his graduating class. He has overcome great odds, tremendous childhood challenges, many of which have stopped millions of other men and women. While at a famous university in Pennsylvania, he shares a myriad of ups, downs and good-good times, as well as harrowing experiences (some life threatening), with three of his best male friends. Raymond Clarke’s determination and resilience, and, more importantly, his healed heart, help him see and later accept the woman he was born to love. This fictional character’s story is told in detail in the new book, Love Pour Over Me which is available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Ebookit.com, Google Books, iTunes, print bookstores and libraries.

love pour over me book by denise turney

Denise: How are you able to love Brenda so deeply considering the fact that your mom, the most important woman in a man’s life, left you?

Raymond: If you’ve ever known something was right deep in your gut, you’ll understand when I tell you I knew, I instinctively knew, Brenda was my woman. Despite all we went through, nothing could disturb that.

Denise: Did you ever go looking for your mother?

Raymond: (Sigh). No. I thought about her a lot, especially when I was a kid, but I never took off and starting looking for my mom. I wouldn’t even have known where to start.

Denise: Why did you choose UPemb?

Raymond: Coach Carter (he’s probably the closest thing I had to a loving father) and the school’s awesome track and field program. Track is my passion. Thank God, I’ve been very good at the sport since I was a kid. Plus, I got a scholarship to UPemb and with Coach Carter’s help I know I can earn a gold medal in the Olympics.

Denise: You hang out with a cool group of friends. What do these guys mean to you?

Raymond: Oh, man. Anthony, Patrick and Doug, these three dudes are my brothers. Sure. We’ve had our close calls, especially me and Anthony. The two of us have damn near cheated death and more than once. But we always work things out. I love those dudes. They’re like family. (shaking his head) We have some good times together! Our ladies get along pretty good with each other too, well. . . most of them.

Denise: Do you keep in touch with your friend from high school, the guy you ran with back in the day? . . . . .

Read the rest of this feature interview at:  http://www.lenasledgeblog.com/2012/09/raymond-clark-interview-by-denise.html

Get your copy of “Love Pour Over Me” Now at –

http://www.ebookit.com/books/0000001582/Love-Pour-Over-Me.html

What Makes Women and Men Fall in Love?

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By Denise Turney

Years ago I thought falling in love was something orchestrated only by heaven. Now, I wonder if that’s really the case. True. Little — if anything, feels as invigorating, as intoxicating and as all consuming as falling in love. Yet, as magical as falling in love feels, studies have revealed that the process of falling in love can be orchestrated, with intent, by everyday folk.

Power Feelings of Falling in Love

Your Amazing Brain says we fall in love in three stages. In the first stage, we feel lust (others might call it infatuation) for someone. Then, we move on to attraction and finally the third stage of attraction. The entire time we are moving through each of these stages, our brains are fast at work, causing the process to seem almost mechanical.

During the first stage estrogen (women) and testosterone (men) increases. It’s no wonder we feel so nervous and giddy during this stage. Hormones are rushing through our systems, including our brains, at heightened levels. It’s during the attraction stage that we can’t seem to stop thinking about a person. Adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin (the godmother of good feelings) take center stage during the attraction stage. We also tend to view the person we’re falling in love with as being perfect or damn near perfect. Some refer to this as wearing rose-colored glasses (of course, sooner or later, those glasses come off).

After we’ve been in a relationship with someone for several weeks or months, we may start to enter the attachment stage. This is when we start producing an increase of oxytocin and vasopressin. However, should our brains start producing or secreting lower levels of these hormones, we might start feeling less in-love with a person.

Growing Into Deeper Love With Someone

Studies have shown that the process of falling in love can be orchestrated if couples spend enough time together to allow their brains to move through the stages. There’s also still more research being done to discover what happens to our brains and our bodies during the early, middle and late stages of being in love. Perhaps we’ll never fully know what happens to us during the time in our lives when we can feel so out of control as we start feeling incredibly strong emotions when we meet and/or think about someone. What we do know is that the feelings generally don’t last.

If we run away from relationship challenges and don’t have conviction about a loving relationship, we may never reach deep commitment, we may never enter the deepest and sweetest places of a relationship. It’s what Raymond and Brenda learn in Love Pour Over Me as they try to understand why they feel so drawn to each other, almost as if heaven is pushing them together, so soon after they meet at college.

Falling and staying in love would be easy if all we had to do was focus on the one we felt a strong emotional and psychological connection to. But, that’s not the way it goes. As happens with Brenda and Raymond in the book Love Pour Over Me, other events of our lives seem to get in the way. There are jobs to go to, children to care for, houses to keep up, friends to hang out with . . . the list goes on and on and on . . .

Before you know it, we’re not feeling so in love anymore. Maybe it’s because our minds and our brains get cluttered with too many other things to focus on. Who knows? What remains sure is that, whether studied or not, little beats or compares to the feelings of falling in love. It’s an exhilarating time, and when it’s right, when a relationship can and does stand the test of time (and any other test thrown its way), being in love is right – perfect.

Thank you for reading my blog. Please return often and read more blog posts. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You!

Sources:

Love Pour Over Me – http://www.ebookit.com/books/0000001582/Love-Pour-Over-Me.html

Your Amazing Brain: The Science of Love – http://www.youramazingbrain.org/lovesex/sciencelove.htm

Psychology Today: The Early Stages of Falling in Love – http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/get-hardy/201203/the-early-stages-falling-in-love

Penguin Group Enters Self Publishing Books Realm

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By Denise Turney

Less than a decade ago librarians, bookstores, media outlets, book reviewers (some still do), book buyers and traditional book publishers frowned on self-publishing. Paying money to print and publish your own books was deemed akin to vanity publishing, as if the only reason you would take the time to research, write and have your work professionally edited and published was just so you could feel important. But, that’s changing.

Self-Published Authors Are Committed to Success

People are starting to realize that self-publishers are more akin to entrepreneurs than they are to folks who don’t mind plopping down thousands of dollars to stockpile books with their names written across the spine in their garages. Actually, when you think, it’s obvious that self-publishing, especially for an author who earns her entire livelihood from selling her own books, calls for admirable qualities that are not always required of authors who get published via traditional means.

Tenacity, resiliency, solid financial management and strong marketing and promotion skills are generally required to become a successful self-publisher. Therefore, self-published book authors must possess the knowledge, skills and drive to push their book titles to the top of bestseller charts. Truth is — the same skills that are generally required to sell books published by traditional book publishers are required to sell self published books. Furthermore, it’s the number of book sales and how deeply stories engage readers that matter. It’s a reason books like Love Pour Over Me, Playing for Keeps, If You Were Mine, Spiral and Portia have earned success amongst their target audience.

Technology’s Impact on Book Publishing

Add to that the fact that expanding technologies are making it increasingly possible for book authors, including self published writers, to find and connect with thousands and millions of readers and it’s easy to understand why a traditional publisher like the Penguin Group would acquire Author Solutions, Inc., a large self-publishing company. How large is Author Solutions, Inc.? According to the Wall Street Journal’s July 19, 2012 “Penguin Dives into Self-Publishing” article, Author Solutions, Inc. boast a roster of 150,000 published authors.

Penguin Group purchased Author Solutions, Inc. for $116 million. That alone is a sign of how profitable self-publishing has become. It’s also further evidence that the stigma around self-publishing is evaporating. Change is shinning its face upon the book industry. This is a good thing.

Gone are the days when talented authors had to wait for their work to be discovered (or more accurately stated – accepted and approved of) by large publishing houses. The removal of this barrier may very well allow for different styles and varieties of written works to be introduced to avid book readers. It may also serve as a sign that traditional book marketing strategies need changing. But, more importantly, the success of self-publishing serves as a welcome sign to talented book authors (who spent years having their work rejected by traditional publishers) that their voice, the stories they create to share are valued, powerful and worth being heard.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! 

Sources:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444464304577537092288601370.html (Wall Street Journal: Penguin Dives into Self-Publishing)

Taping Into Your Inner Strength

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By Denise Turney

Believe it or not, you have limitless inner strength. There is a place inside you that never fails. There is a place inside of you that has the answer to every question you could ever ask. Right now . . . that place exists inside of you.

Stop Believing Lies About Yourself; Accept the Truth

The reason you may not believe this is because, as humans, we also listen to deception and lies. If we continue to listen to lies about ourselves we may start to believe the lies. The catch is that we behave or act in alignment with our beliefs. Even Superman couldn’t get around this if he tried. Our thoughts (a belief is simply a thought you think over and over) guide and shape our behavior.

Add to this the fact that we can have experiences that seem to confirm lies we’ve been told about ourselves and it’s not hard to see why we can, at times, feel lost, confused or uncertain. For example, if we believe a lie that we are ignorant and we score low on a school exam we may start to strengthen our belief in the lie that we are ignorant. Let our friends, classmates and/or parents see our low test score and start to tease us or even call us “dumb” and you can see where we could take the belief.

In time, we might stop raising our hand when asked the answer to a question in class. As adults we might shy away from volunteering to lead projects at work for fear that we will fail (all of this thought and behavior being driven by the belief that we are ignorant). We might even feel angry, perhaps absolutely outraged, when people refer to us as “dumb” – however, if the belief that we are ignorant isn’t examined and seen for the lie that it is we may continue to avoid situations that call for us to answer questions, etc.

Getting to the Truth

Now imagine what would happen to us if we believed 50 lies about ourselves. And here we are. It’s the reason we look out and see the world we see.

This common human struggle is one Love Pour Over Me’s main character, Raymond Clarke, faces. Like you may have, Raymond learned to believe lies about himself when he was a child. Many of the lies were passed down to him from his father (a man who also believed lies about himself) and people in his environment.

It’s not until he is grown, well into his adult years, that Raymond starts to examine the lies, turning them over, looking at their root and seeing the truth about them – that they are just that . . . lies, nothing more. Yet, he’s made a habit out of believing lies about himself (perhaps to avoid seeing that people who loved him but who didn’t know better themselves had, unknowingly, told him lies even cloaking them in words of “this is good for you” or “this is best”).

Fortunately, Raymond longs for the truth. It’s this longing that keeps him moving forward, that connects him with Brenda.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You!

Writing to Heal Yourself and to Awaken to Your True Greatness

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By Denise Turney

writing to heal yourself

Poetry, short story, journal and novel writing can be therapeutic, allowing children and adults to discover hidden thoughts and parts of themselves. These therapeutic benefits can be experienced whether you are deliberately writing to heal yourself or you’re writing to express yourself artistically.

Writing to Heal Inner Conflicts

At first glance, it might not seem as if writing can help you to heal inner conflicts. However, ask any writer, particularly a book author, if he wasn’t surprised at how book characters and storylines he created turned out. You’ll likely hear the writer tell you that he was surprised to discover he felt compelled to have one or more events happen to a character.

It’s as though hidden thoughts the author or book writer has within herself are being revealed through her work, guiding her to have book characters undergo certain experiences so the author can begin to heal herself. Akin to what actress, Angelina Jolie, shared during an interview on The Actor’s Studio about the acting process, stories and scenes authors create might also reveal future experiences authors will have in their personal lives.

Writing to Connect with Our Inner Self

One thing is certain; there is a part of us that knows the very path, the very choices, we should make. As we remove blockages to receiving and understanding this part of ourselves, we begin to heal. Hence, the joy of writing!

Although he isn’t consciously aware that he is writing to heal himself, Raymond Clarke (a college student and the main character in the African America fiction novel, Love Pour Over Me) sits down and starts penning his thoughts in a journal. Writing helps him to deal with perceptions and beliefs he has about himself regarding abuse and pain he suffered at his father’s hands. Writing also helps Raymond to capture and record beautiful and joyous experiences he shares with his friends and the woman he loves.

Although Raymond doesn’t do this, you can also write to record and interpret your dreams. This may prove particularly helpful should you find yourself having repetitive dreams which might be a sign that your subconscious mind is trying to get a message through to you.

Of course, writing can also be used to share stories with a local or global audience. It is at this point that healing (whether you pen a mystery, romance, etc.) you experience may start to impact hundreds, thousands of millions of readers.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You!

Sweet Memories for College Students of Time Spent at College

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By Denise Turney

Author – Love Pour Over Me

Buy at Amazon.com

Days spent attending student club social events, athletic competitions and hanging out with friends visiting nearby eateries, parks and historic landmarks . . . it’s a winning blend creating sweet memories of time spent a college. More often than not on college campuses noise fills dorm hallways. During the mornings, college students not living in apartments on or off college campus can be heard talking as they trek from their small rooms to public bathrooms to shower and brush their teeth and prepare for coming events of the day. Soon chatter rises amongst students, building to a crescendo as students leave their dorm buildings and head across grassy college campus lawns to class.

Sweet College Memories Endure for College Graduates

Everyone seems to be in a hurry. Boredom is nowhere to be found. The future stretches out long and full of promise. It’s as if college is a time of rebirth of sorts, a time when recent high school graduates and upperclassmen are assured they are going to achieve their dreams, fulfill their most longed for wishes.

Just thinking about the excitement and social exchanges students like Love Pour Over Me’s Raymond Clarke and his friends Anthony, Patrick and Doug, experience while they’re at college makes me wonder if some high school graduates don’t attend college just so they can make and hang out with new friends, adding one sweet memory after another to their lives.

College life for Raymond and his friends takes place at a famous Pennsylvania university. Football is widely celebrated at the school, a reason that Raymond’s good friend, Anthony, is a local celebrity. Raymond’s fame comes through his track and field exploits. Yet, it’s the laughter, social and personal experiences the men share that creates sweet memories of time spent at college for them.

As with other college students, some of Raymond and his friends’ college experiences, seemingly innocent, come at a price. But, nothing – absolutely nothing – can break the bond of friendship the men share, the friendship the men formed after they first happened upon each other at college.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say –
Thank You!

Great Novels Make Reading to Learn Fun

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By Denise Turney

Gain good reading comprehension skills and you can shorten the amount of time it takes you to learn. You can also improve your communication skills and gain the confidence to talk with people from diverse backgrounds because you know you’re well versed on several interesting subjects.

Reading Fiction is a Gateway to Learning

Reading books filled with illustrations and dates that illustrations historic events occurred on and reading books filled with facts and numbers can help you learn. However, you might not have a lot of fun learning this way. In fact, this type of reading might feel like work.

It’s a reason schools and youth organizations use colorful fiction books to teach children how to read, count and learn basic subjects like science and history. When it comes to older children and adults, reading good fiction can help stimulate independent thinking. Good fiction can also help you to solve a puzzle you have been striving to find the answer to for several days, weeks or months.

Novels Can Hold Answers to Challenging Questions

Sometimes the answers to your questions might be revealed in dialogue shared between two characters in a novel. Other times you may arrive at an answer to something that has been puzzling you after following the ins and outs of a romantic or mysterious relationship highlighted in the pages of a novel. You may even come to realize that you are not alone as you deal with a perception challenge, especially as you continue to read and discover that similar challenges keep coming up for your favorite book characters. This is one of the benefits gained while reading Love Pour Over Me. [Keep in mind that real people create novels and sometimes they include real life perception challenges they’ve faced in stories they write.]

But perhaps most of all, reading good fiction is a great way to learn grammar skills. It’s also a great way to learn how to become a talented storyteller yourself. [It’s no wonder great authors advise up and coming writers to read a lot of good fiction.]

So enjoy curling up with a good novel. Read books to your children and young relatives. Give books to family, friends and colleagues for holidays, etc. Get to know characters in intriguing novels and let yourself grow, expand and learn.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Even if you choose not to purchase your copy of Love Pour Over Me today, I encourage you to “consider Love.”