Category Archives: Books

Books do so much. They teach, inspire, motivate, educate and entertain. You can travel to other parts of the world, simply using your imagination, as you read travel books. This blog that is written largely by author Denise Turney has a wealth of material on the book industry. Whether you are an author yourself, an editor, publisher, freelance writer, content marketer or literary agent, there is something for you at this blog. Enjoy exploring the articles and learning from what is shared in the articles here.

Developing Believable Characters

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By Denise Turney

creating believable fiction book characters

It’s long been said that if we readers don’t care about characters in a novel, we won’t continue reading a story. As a passionate book reader and author of six novels, I agree with the saying. To get into the heart of a novel, to tap into, explore and savor the richest flow out of a story, readers must really care about what is going to happen to the main characters in a book.

Create Believable Book Characters

Admittedly, I’ve read novels where one or more minor characters upstaged main characters. I’m not exactly sure how this happens. Perhaps this occurs when authors relax and become freer while developing minor characters, people they presume will have less impact on the story’s outcome.

When this occurs, minor characters can, unbeknownst to authors, become the story’s main characters. Signs that this has occurred may be when readers tell authors how much they love minor characters or when readers ask authors to create a sequel about minor characters. Those characters, the ones readers want more of, are the foundation of a good story.

So, how do novelists create believable characters?

As a book author, an easy way is to achieve this is to consider people in your waking life who stand out to you, demanding your and other people’s attention. Shape powerful components of these people’s personalities into your book’s characters. For example, you could take your aunt’s strong opinions, blend them with a cousin’s quick temper and add a spice of a friend’s stylish fashion sense to create a book character. This worked wonderfully for me while creating my novels Portia, Spiral and Love Pour Over Me.

More Ways to Develop Believable Novel Characters

You can also design a sketch of your characters. When doing this, add enough background data (e.g. birthplace, age, family background, interests, physical experience goals, career) to characters to bring them alive for readers, to make the characters feel real to book readers. After you fill in the background information for characters, start working on characters’ personality traits, habits, quirks, etc.

To get a feel for characters, especially major characters, consider having characters keep a journal or write a letter (or email) to a friend. This can help reveal hidden details about characters, making it easier for you to flesh the characters out. Although I didn’t use this technique while developing Love Pour Over Me, I did use it to further shape Tammy Tilson while creating my mystery novel, Spiral.

Finally, after you start writing your novel make sure you develop believable dialogue for your book’s characters. It’s important that you do this for both major and minor characters. Dialogue helps with story pacing. It also reveals details about book characters. As a tip, allow characters in novels to speak with accents and perhaps use slang that’s relevant for the time period your story is set in. This is an element I had to pay particular attention to in my novel, Love Pour Over Me, especially while developing Raymond Clarke’s roommate Patrick, a man with a gregarious personality who hails from Mexico.

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!

Taking Books on Successful Road Trips

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By Denise Turney

Hitting the road and going on book tours is an effective way to connect with readers in person, answering their questions about your writing process, characters in your books and what inspired or motivated you to create the stories you’ve penned. By taking your books on the road you can also increase your book sales in the short and long term.

Get the Most Out of Book Road Trips    

Readers appreciate meeting authors of their favorite books. In this regard, readers are akin to sports and music fans. They want to get close to the people who use their talents to captivate, entertain, inspire, educate and/or motivate them. Truth be told, many of us book authors, who are also avid book readers, get excited when we meet other writers whose works we admire.

Book events are fun. Take events like Book Expo America (BEA), the Maui Writer’s Conference or Miami International Book Festival and its clear to see why millions of people trek out to book events each year. There are author discussion panels, editor and literary agent meet and greets, keynote speakers and, of course, book signings.

To get the most out of book road trips, consider creating an itinerary so you remember to visit certain booths, connect with media outlets and engage readers while you’re out and about. You can also:

  • Introduce yourself to event organizers (it’s a great way to learn about upcoming appearance opportunities)
  • Schedule interviews with talk radio stations within 15 or fewer miles of the book event you’re attending (make sure you announce the dates, times and locations of local events you’re attending)
  • Bring enough books to sell at local events you’re scheduled to attend (no sense in running out of books one to two days before you’re scheduled to leave town)
  • Visit other author books (it’s a great way to network and make friends)
  • Focus on building relationships with book lovers (keep in mind that if you don’t sell lots of books at an event, if you make enough rewarding connections, you may see an increase in book sales days or weeks after you return home)
  • Giveaway free bookmarks, brochures, book excerpts, etc. (be sure to include your website URL on all giveaways)
  • Volunteer to read from your books at events

 

At the end of events be sure to thank the event organizers, supporters and book lovers for coming. In fact, make it a point to thank each person who stops by your booth, even if they don’t buy a copy of your book. I made a point to do this while on the road with my books Portia, Love Has Many Faces, Long Walk Up and Spiral. I plan on taking my new book, Love Pour Over Me, on the road this autumn; hope to see you while I’m on the road!

While you’re on the road with your books, meeting readers, media, booksellers and librarians, remember that life is truly about communicating and relationships. Above all, love what you’re doing. Stay in the moment and allow yourself to absolutely love and enjoy attending each book event you travel to!

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!

Purchase Love Pour Over Me at Ebookit

Purchase Love Pour Over Me at Amazon.com

Purchase Love Pour Over Me at Barnes and Noble

Thank you!

Accessing Strong Faith to Realize Your Dreams

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By Denise Turney

The genesis of faith is in the realm where physical eyes do not see. Faith might reveal itself in an emotion or thought. For example, if you want to land a six-figure job and buy a new house, faith might cause you to feel happy, hopeful and joyous when you drive through neighborhoods filled with houses that resemble the type of house you want to live in.

If you let the feelings and thoughts strengthen you will allow faith to connect your inner and outer vision causing you to see with your physical eyes what you first saw with your inner vision. Eventually you will have what you asked for (whether you used words or simply desire, absent words, to ask).

Temptations to Stop Using Faith to Realize Your Dreams

It all sounds simple enough and it is simple. However, we live in a physical world (even the physically blind use physical senses like touch to navigate the earth’s terrain). It’s tempting to keep checking to see if our faith is moving our inner vision for what we want into the physical realm. When we hear of others who have manifested their desires ahead of us we can start to feel like we’ll never get what we’ve been asking for. If we compare ourselves to others too much, we might start telling ourselves we’re “unlucky,” “not from the right family or background,” “created to sacrifice our desires so others can achieve” (this one is absolutely absurd!) or a failure.

I’m sure you can guess what likely occurs next. Yep. We quit trying to achieve our dreams, and that, my friend is not a fun life, because our authentic self will not stop asking for what it wants, and we may live a life of conflict, lacking peace, if we don’t get back to exercising strong faith to realize our dreams. It’s this refusal to quit that keeps moving Love Pour Over Me’s Raymond Clarke forward, propelling him to pursue his dreams to become one of the world’s top middle distance runners. Refusal to quit is also the reason Raymond never stops believing in and searching for love. Like many of us, the wait for true love seems too long for Raymond. Yet, the thought of living without love is too painful.

Realizing Your Dreams

The bottom line is – we were created to live vibrant, joyous, love-filled experiences . . . nothing short of it . . . ever. As we start doubting and not getting our most sincere, love-based requests while witnessing others doing the same, we may even tell ourselves that it’s the human condition to struggle, to be in conflict and misery. But this is a lie. Fortunately, there are enough of us using faith to realize our dreams to blow this lie out of the water.

For many students at a famous Pennsylvania university, Raymond’s successes serve as encouragement. Other students on the spacious university campus simply admire Raymond’s athletic achievements from afar, cheering him on with each win. While appreciating the support, Raymond can’t help but long for his father’s approval, something he didn’t get even when he was a little boy. This is where Raymond’s seeds of doubt about love and a truly good life derive. He starts to wonder if he can have what he really wants – a lifetime of love.

However, just because we don’t know how to start a car doesn’t mean a car won’t start. Just because we haven’t succeeded at riding ocean waves doesn’t mean ocean waves can’t be ridden (surfers do it all the time). Just because no one had broken the four minute mile didn’t mean humans couldn’t break the four minute mile (Roger Bannister broke the supposedly impossible to break four minute mile in 1954. Since that time the supposedly impossible fete has been accomplished by track runners many times with the fastest mile to date being run in 3:43. Perhaps it was the mental barrier that needed to be broken before the actual fete could be accomplished).

Possibly searching for a list of impossible fetes that humans achieved will help you to realize whatever you’re telling yourself is impossible might be very possible if you exercise faith to realize your dreams. Perhaps if you read stories of other people who felt a dream birthing inside themselves then worked to achieve or manifest the dream in the physical realm your faith will be strengthened.

It also might help to think about your love-based desires and paying attention to how good you feel when you see yourself achieving them. It’s this joy you want to feel all the time. Realizing your love-based dreams can help you to do this. It worked for Raymond in Love Pour Over Me. It’s worked for countless people around the globe. It can work for you.

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.”

Sources:

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

Young Love’s Passion is Hot

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By Denise Turney

When we’re young, passion is hot. Passion seems to flow through every intimate relationship when we’re young. Oh, the magic of the 20s. We feel as if our bodies will never age, our hair graying and our limbs becoming less nimble, the way our parents and grandparents have. It’s a time of wonder.

Joys and Triumphs of Young Love

Life stretches out before us, full of promise and hope. We hold on tight. Even if we’ve experienced disappointments and frustrations, made mistakes and taken wrong turns, during our teen and pre-teen years we know we can win. We know life holds one success after another for us. We believe in our greatness (and we should). We believe in romantic love, burn with hot passion for romantic love.

If we’ve never been in love with another person, someone who makes our heart race, our hands sweat, we’re in for a wild ride. Everything will sparkle and come alive for us. It’s a feeling unlike no other . . . being in love. Even if we’ve loved before – loving our parents, siblings, pets and friends – we have a compass; it tells us that this is different.

And it is this experience many of us have after we pack our bags and head off to college or university. It’s as if there is someone waiting for us to step into his or her life, someone waiting to join with us in love. In the hustle and busyness of college life we may not notice this person at once, but college last four to five years. There will be other times for us to connect with this person who will stir the passion within us, changing our lives forever. . . .

It’s this passionate love that Raymond Clarke experiences in the book, Love Pour Over Me. At the start of Love Pour Over Me, Raymond has just met Anthony Thompson, a collegiate football star, when he looks up and sees her. He doesn’t say it, but he knows – deep down he knows – she’s the woman for him. If asked to explain what he feels the instant he sees her, Raymond would struggle to find the words. Nothing from his past has prepared him for this. He can’t think of one other time when he felt what he feels when he sees her.

He doesn’t even wonder if it’s mere fantasy, something he’s making up in his mind, something he’ll never “really” share with her. He just goes with the experience, letting it guide and pull him along. It’s the right thing to do as Raymond discovers throughout the pages of the new book, Love Pour Over Me.

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.”

Readers Grab Prizes and Giveaways on Book Blog Tours

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By Denise Turney

Book blog tours are becoming increasingly popular. Not only are they effective at building traffic for blog owners, they are effective at introducing readers to new authors. In fact, book blog tours are known for introducing avid book readers to writers who have been writing intriguing stories for decades but who, until now, they had gone unaware of.

Book Blogs Surface Bestsellers

And if you absolutely love to read, you probably want to get your hands on the best books. You might even want to be amongst the first people to read new books that go on to become bestsellers worldwide. Book blog tours can help you to do this.

A good way to find book blogs is to check out directories like the Book Blog Directory at http://directory.kaysbookshelf.com. [As a tip, if you own a book blog you can also submit your blog to the directory to gain additional exposure.]

Look for blogs that offer prizes and giveaways. For example, you might be able to win a free ebook reader, discount coupons to retail websites like Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com or you might win a gift card to an offline retailer. While on a blog tour I gave away two free copies of my new book, Love Pour Over Me, at each tour stop.

When you participate in book blog tours as a reader, you also might win a free autographed print copy of an author’s latest novel or you could win a mug, tote bag or umbrella that has a cool writing quote printed on it. Yes!  You absolutely can grab these rewards by simply visiting and participating in book blog tours.

Book Blog Author Questions and Answers

While on the tours, post questions to authors. It’s a great way to learn more about what inspires writers to create stories in certain genres, towns, time periods, etc. At the end of blog tours, visit the authors’ official websites to find out more about them and their books. Also, participate in contests and submit your name for book giveaways. Who knows? As previously noted, you might grab the chance to win the next bestseller first.

Should you attend online radio book tours, remember to ask authors questions when the hosts open the telephone lines. If you connect to online radio book tours via a chat room, post your questions to authors in the chat room. As the author of six published books, I gotta tell you – authors love hearing from readers, so post and ask questions!

By attending book blog tours you can save time, gas money and energy. If you attend two or more blog tours in a month, you can connect with several writers a year. You can also win free books, prizes and giveaways!

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.”

Loving the Smooth Sounds of Jazz Music

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By Denise Turney

Jazz is a music form that stirs the soul and invigorates the mind without the need of words. Listen to one smooth jazz cut and you’ll see why jazz stays in style. The music has a language all its own.

For the Love of Traditional and Smooth Jazz

It doesn’t matter if you’re listening to Miles Davis getting low and funky on his trumpet or to Gerald Albright making a saxophone do what only he can, jazz will shake and soothe you both at the same time. Andy Snitzer ripping notes with his saxophone on “Taking Off” or add in Ella Fitzgerald dipping and riffing so effortlessly it seems as if she’s merely walking through the park signing along with birds that – it’s all glorious jazz.

No wonder Raymond Clarke, the main character in Love Pour Over Me, seeks out jazz the morning after he arrives to campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He’s seeking solace in the music. He also longs to feel some connection with his father back home. They both love jazz . . . Raymond and his father, Malcolm . . . one of their favorite musicians being the one and only Miles Davis.

If you’re a jazz lover like Raymond and Malcolm (or me) and you want to enjoy live jazz, check out some of the local, regional and international jazz festivals. For example, there’s the annual Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, California (the festival celebrated its 55th year in 2012), the Newport Jazz Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada or the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival. These are just a few of the many jazz festivals that take place in the United States and around the world.

You can also enjoy live jazz at local parks, sometimes the admission is free. I’m willing to guess that if you love jazz as much as Love Pour Over Me’s Raymond Clarke does, you go out of your way to listen to jazz whenever you can. The music probably inspires and motivates you, sending good vibes all through you. Oh . . . the sweet sounds of jazz!

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:

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

How Long Should You Wait For Love

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By Denise Turney

1 Corinthians 13:7 says love “endureth all things.” In other words, love never gives up. It never quits as is evidenced in 1 Corinthians 13:13 where it states, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Love is Why We’re Here

Love is what we were created to do. However, this world’s thought system seems to taint love, taking away its shine, even causing it to appear weak, as something to avoid. We think we’re in love with someone only to discover subconscious (our hidden motives, hidden thoughts and hidden beliefs) that are rooted in the past are what caused us to feel a strong attraction to a person we claim to be in love with.

Years may pass before we realize that our relationship with a person, our attraction to someone, has very little, if anything to do with the actual person. Instead, if we still our mind until awareness arises, pushing away subconscious clouds, we may be surprised to find that we were attracted to a figure, experience or situation from the past. We may find that the people who remind us the most of emotionally charged experiences from the past grab our attention, demanding it.

“I’m in love! I’m in love!” we declare to family and friends. But are we? Or is our subconscious mind attempting to right a past wrong and seeking to use certain people (who again evoke strong memories from the past in us) to do so?

Love’s Eternal Attraction

If you don’t think this is possible, consider taking a few moments to create an honest portrait of the people you have felt most strongly attracted to. Don’t be surprised if you find two or more similar qualities in each of these people. You might even discover that the people you feel the strongest attraction to have personality traits (e.g. extraversion, courage, risk taking, social skills, leadership) you wish you had. In this case, you might pull toward people you believe will fill up perceived gaps in you.

The trouble is that we can’t fill up gaps in each other. Sure, we can love, support and encourage each other. We can laugh together. We can feel joy and celebrate successes together, but we can’t fill up gaps in each other. The reason we can’t fill up gaps in each other is simple; in truth, in reality (not in illusion) there are no gaps, there is no incompletion in any of us. Those of us who are like Raymond, the main character in Love Pour Over Me find this nearly impossible to believe.

In Raymond’s case, an abusive childhood has set the stage, created years of programming that may take a lifetime to decode. Fortunately, for Raymond there is Brenda. Without fully knowing why she can’t just walk away, Brenda works to understand Raymond, a hurting yet courageous and gentle man.

But, how long should you (or Brenda) wait for love? How long should you wait for someone to stop being afraid of love so that they can receive the love you are trying to give them? How long should someone what for you to lower your fear of love so that you can receive their love in return? Is it possible that some people (like you, like me . . . like Raymond) may not progress beyond old perceived hurts to accept love in all its beauty, all its glory?

I’m referring to true and real love, not an illusion of love that’s rooted in the past. Do you believe that love truly endures all things (e.g. wars, heartache, disappointment)? Do you truly believe that love is the greatest of all? If you do believe this, how is love changing your relationships? How is love causing you to see and communicate differently with the people in your life?

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!

Middle Distance Olympic Track and Field Runners

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By Denise Turney

Admittedly, it’s sprints like the 100 meter and 200 meter races that track and field spectators get the most excited to watch. Sprinters, including Olympic gladiators, put in grueling workouts under the watchful eye of an experienced coach. Although the races they run are short, over in a matter of seconds, they are explosive, demanding, exhilarating. Clearly, they deserve the hoopla and the celebrating they receive.

Middle Distance Olympic Track and Field Heroes

From Jesse Owens who sprinted at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin to Carl Lewis (both born in Alabama) who dominated sprints and the long jump during the 1980s to Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, shorter distances have long been amongst the most anticipated and talked about events in track and field. Yet, it’s middle distances that try women and men in ways sprints do not.

Middle distance races require strength, stamina, perfect pacing and a mental agility few practice. Start a quarter mile or half mile run too fast and you’re out of the winnings. Fail to run the backstretch with precision, your graceful form causing spectators to wonder if they’re watching a gazelle make its way across the ground, and there’s a strong chance that the other runners will catch you coming around the final turn.

In that regard middle distance races are akin to boxing matches. A second produces the same results that an hour does off the track. One mistake, however slight, can spell the end of a race a runner has prepared and trained for over the course of a year or longer. Too many mistakes and a middle distance runner may find herself labeled a “has been” and it all can happen in a matter of seconds.

Raymond Clarke Running for the Gold

No one knows this better than Raymond Clarke (the main character in my new novel Love Pour Over Me). Coach Carter, a seasoned track and field coach who works at a famous Pennsylvania university, is well aware of the impact time has on middle distance races. He also knows how to spot an Olympic champion and world class runner when he sees one, and it’s this he recognizes at once in Raymond.

It’s during the summer when Coach Carter tells Raymond about the upcoming track meet in Oregon. If Raymond wins he’ll make the Olympic team, a rare fete for a full-time college student. The Oregon invitational is the type of event Raymond has been striving to excel at for much of his young physical experience.

He knows crossing the finish line first will put him on par with great Olympic middle distance runners like Britain’s Sebastian Cole, Steve Ovett and New Zealand’s Peter Snell. It’s a mammoth challenge; Raymond is ready. Thanks to Coach Carter he’s learned how to seize the moment. He’s ready for the Olympics.

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://www.london2012.com (London 2012 Olympics)

Young Men and Women Coming of Age at College

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By Denise Turney

Remember when we graduated from middle school? Didn’t we feel apprehensive and nervous about transferring into high school, wondering if older students would immediately accept and take us into their inner circles?

Growing Up on College Campuses

We may have lost our focus as to why we were in high school which, more than likely, was to learn facts, figures and information we were previously unaware of. But, it’s tough to not want to be popular, to have everyone support and be drawn to you when you’re in high school. Truth be told, even after we become an adult it can be tough to avoid focusing more on being popular or liked than to focus on fulfilling short and long-term goals.

It’s a reason we appreciate our friends, hanging out with them and sharing challenges and triumphs with them. In fact, although it might be rare, some of us maintain relationships with high school classmates throughout our lives. We mean it when we write things like “I’ll always keep in touch” or “Friends forever” in our closest friends’ high school annuals.

Then some of us, like Love Pour Over Me’s main character, Raymond Clarke, don’t meet our best friends until we step on a college campus. Like Raymond we may not go to college seeking out friends, but we bump into people like Anthony Thompson (an elite college football player), Patrick (a proud Mexican who’s majoring in criminal justice, a man who shares a similar childhood root with Raymond) and Doug (an international student from Italy) . . . and our lives change  . . . forever.

Before we know it we’re coming of age, growing up, all at college. We may feel in love with another person for the first time. We may even marry while we’re in college or soon after we graduate with college degrees. Or, like Raymond and his friends in Love Pour Over Me, more unexpected and harrowing events may shake up our lives, forcing us to look back at our former, younger selves as if the people we once were are mere strangers we passed in a hallway.

Either way, we can’t go back. We’re not at home anymore. We’re not in high school anymore. We’re growing up . . . hopefully in ways that won’t come back to haunt us years later. . . .

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!

Alcoholism in America: Growing up the Child of an Alcoholic Parent

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By Denise Turney

Unfortunately, alcoholism in America is not a fantasy. It’s left many a child in the clutches of fear and uncertainty.

To be sure, no child should grow up afraid, especially of his parents. Yet, this is the scene that alcoholism has painted for far too many children in the United States. It’s enough that parents with untreated alcoholism cause themselves and their children to feel embarrassment to the point where hiding from the larger society appears to be the only way out of the darkness.

Losing the Right to be a Child

If neighbors, school teachers and other family members don’t intervene, situations children and their alcoholic parents find themselves buried within generally worsen. It’s as though sudden or instant miracles of healing do not come around these families.

When teachers, school administrators, relatives, clergy members and friends approach a child’s alcoholic parents, they should do so in such a way that the child will not be placed in danger as some alcoholic parents may become outraged at being approached, at having their illness revealed. After all, when many of us become ill we often scramble to pretend as if nothing is wrong in effort to hide the illness. But hiding fixes absolutely nothing. Revealing challenges, talking openly about them and facing facts is where progress begins.

It is this goal to hide the festering problems of alcoholism that can keep the illness brewing, ready to erupt and explode . . . perhaps on innocent children. So it is with Raymond Clarke and his father, Malcolm, in Love Pour Over Me.  You see, this father and son pair love each other deeply, but Malcolm’s sickness has run its course, done its damage.

It’s gotten to the point where Raymond cringes when he sees loving parents doting over their infant and toddler aged children. In these loving interactions he sees what he longed for as a kid but did not receive. It makes him hard, careful, protective of his heart . . . his emotions. What Raymond experiences may be familiar to children of alcoholics and to children of parents battling beneath the throes of  mental illness.

Finding Ways to Fit In

Yet, Raymond finds a way to keep moving forward (and it is, in part, for this very reason that I wrote Love Pour Over Me). If asked, Raymond wouldn’t be able to tell you just how he pulls this off. He’s just glad that he does. As with some children of alcoholic parents Raymond’s talents push through. Perhaps it’s in the expression, the unleashing of his talents, that some of his help rest.

His talents earn him a scholarship to a prestigious university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While at university, Raymond meets a motley sort of friends, chief of them being Anthony, an elite running back. Only one of Raymond’s friends is the child of an alcoholic. This friend hails from Mexico. Despite their shared past, Raymond and he couldn’t be more different which may point to the fact that shared experiences do not shape people in the same ways.

Trustfully, children of alcoholic parents (as well as children of parents suffering from other forms of mental illness) will tap into the courage to fully express their inborn talents as Raymond does. This way they can continue to move forward, giving themselves new chances to be loved, more opportunities to both give and receive authentic love. They deserve it.

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!