What inspired you to write your memoir?
I was asked to write by others who suffer from chronic pain. They wanted our story told.
About your Book:
(I never know if this should be considered memoir or autobiography. They seem relatively synonymous to me.)
In 1976 I moved to NYC to be an actress/singer. Instead 6 months after I arrived I felt a pain in my face, The most horrendous, life altering pain, even though it lasted only 20 – 30 seconds.
The pain stopped my life. I became disabled and spent most of my life seeking help, including repeated neurosurgeries and treatments.
Along the way I found horrors and wonders, bad side effects, relief of the pain, return of the pain, more relief of the pain.
Throughout the fight I was mostly on my own with my family refusing to help and friends living far away from me.
This is the story of my fight against and struggle to live with trigeminal neuralgia.
How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
It was published by Xlibris.
I chose them because, at that time, they were situated in Philadelphia. I was able to go to the offices, without calling first, see the offices and meet with a number of people there. That convinced me they were the right company.
(They are no longer in Phila and do a lot of outsourcing.)
I chose self publishing after sending it out to “traditional” houses. I found what the stereotype says: waiting for months with no response, ‘no thank’s, ‘not for us but I like it” and editors who wrote “I like it” but you need to change (thus and so). I made the changes only to find when I resubmitted the editor was gone and the new one was not interested.
I finally was frustrated enough to say the heck with it and go POD. Part of the decision was because other ‘name’ authors were also doing POD. (And Random House owned 49% or 51% of Xlibris (at the time.)
How do you see writing a Memoir as different from writing other genres of books?
I see it different, not from autobiography, but from others because of the complete personal and intimate nature of the content of the book.
Author Bio:
Carol Jay Levy has been, at various times in her life, an actress/singer, hospital volunteer, emergency room ward clerk, physician’s assistant student and volunteer ambulance attendant.
She has a B.A. in psychology from Temple University and is a certified hypnotherapist and for the last 3+ decades has been a chronic pain patient.
She is also an advocate for Women In Pain Awareness (https://www.facebook.com/groups/111961795481256/permalink/637176579626439/
Facebook group, blogs at The Pained Life, 30 years, and counting.http://apainedlife.blogspot.com/ and is a columnist for National Pain Report.
She is also accredited to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities member U.N. NGO group, Persons With Disabilities
Website(s)
Link To Book On Amazon
Link to Book on Barnes and Noble
Link to Book for sale via other sites
Your Social Media Links
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1090355.A_Pained_Life
https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Pained-Life-a-chronic-pain-journey/158040957542480
https://twitter.com/leejcaroll
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