Memoirs – Page 14

Dalek I Loved You: Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special Edition by Nick Griffiths @mrsdextrose

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A Special Edition ebook to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, featuring a host of new images, interviews and updated text…

Nick Griffiths watched his first Doctor Who aged four and a bit. He would have hidden behind the sofa but it was back against the wall and his parents didn’t let him move furniture so he hid behind a cushion instead. He’s since been told by his mum and dad that they didn’t have a sofa only armchairs. So this book should really be called Behind the Armchair, but that didn’t sound right. And so began a life long obsession. When Doctor Who started getting rubbish (after Tom Baker basically) he nearly escaped into the world of music and girls until he discovered someone selling tapes of old episodes in the small ads and that was that again. Only in the last few years has an anti-social obsession become something he can earn a living from as a journalist and happily this coincided with Doctor Who getting good again. Plus he has a son now so he can claim he’s watching it for him. Oh and his son’s called Dylan not Gallifrey or Davros.

“A very funny book for anyone who grew up wearing Tom Baker underpants. I know I did.” DAVID TENNANT

Targeted Age Group:
15-55

What Advice Would You Give Aspiring Writers?
Keep practising! You can only get better.

Author Bio:
Nick Griffiths is the author of two Doctor Who-based books: 70s/80s memoir, Dalek I Loved You, and Who Goes There, in which he travels around odd parts of Britain, tracking down former show locations, including some steps, several quarries and a very large sandpit. He also wrote the comic travelogue, In the Footsteps of Harrison Dextrose; the sequel, Looking for Mrs Dextrose, is out this summer. One day he will conclude the Dextrose trilogy.
His ambition is to go to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat, however he is a bit worried about pirates off the coast of Somalia.

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
My love of Doctor Who as a child.

Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Buy Book On Amazon
Link to Book on Barnes and Noble

Social Media:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/884721.Dalek_I_Loved_You
http://twitter.com/mrsdextrose

Follow The Joy: A Memoir by Jason Kurtz

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Follow The Joy is the true story of how, at 27, I bought a one-way ticket to India. I had no idea what I’d do when I landed, but in the past, my most rewarding experiences came when I let intuition be my guide. So I traveled without an itinerary and found myself studying meditation, teaching English to Tibetan monks, and holding the hand of a dying man at the Mother Theresa Homes for the Destitute and Dying. Throughout, I followed an inner sense of joy. This ultimately taught me how to live day to day and to be open to unexpected possibilities. Today I am a psychoanalyst, the Director of Training at the Training Institute for Mental Health, happily married, and a proud father. None of this would have happened, had I not found the courage to buy that one-way ticket, and learned to follow my joy.

Targeted Age Group:
Adult

How is Writing In Your Genre Different from Others?
In other forms of writing, the writer can hide behind different characters, and he/she can feel that their personal vulnerabilities are hidden from the reader’s view. In memoir, there is no place to hide. It is wonderful, in that it helped me understand myself better, but it is frightening, because it gives any reader a window into my character, where they can see both my positive and negative qualities.

What Advice Would You Give Aspiring Writers?
Write every day. Make it into a routine, and regardless of how “productive” you think you have been, just keep on writing. Real good writing, for most of us mortals, consists of a lot of editing, so try not to get too hung up on the quality of your initial prose, and just focus on getting it down on paper.

Author Bio:
Jason Kurtz is a psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City, where he is also the Director of Training for a psychoanalytic training institute.

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I believe that everyone can find happiness and joy, but I find that many people limit themselves. It is my hope that by sharing my journey, it will inspire other people to listen to their hearts and follow where their joy leads them.

Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Buy Book On Amazon
Link to Book for sale on Smashwords

Social Media:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18372379-follow-the-joy?from_search=true

No One’s Daughter by Jasmine Bath @JasmineAuthor

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The memoir “No One’s Daughter” is about incidents from my childhood during the 1960s and 70s. I did not write this book for sympathy or notoriety; I wrote it in an attempt to shed light on the ghosts that have haunted me for a lifetime, hoping that by putting them down on paper that I could look at them more objectively from a mature point of view and eventually free myself from them.
I began writing about specific incidents that happened, attempting to write them in the voice of the little girl I used to be, hoping to understand how these incidents had managed to still affect me as an adult. In giving the little girl I used to be her voice, I found peace.

***This book contains graphic descriptions of child abuse, neglect and poverty and may be upsetting to some readers. There is some minor, sporadic use of profanity. There are no explicitly graphic descriptions of sexual abuse.

Targeted Age Group:
18+

How is Writing In Your Genre Different from Others?
When writing fiction, there is always the luxury, or disaster, depending on which way it goes, of having your characters take your story in another direction other than what you planned. In memoir writing, the characters have already made themselves known to you and you know well in advance how the story ends.

What Advice Would You Give Aspiring Writers?
Read well written books but develop your own voice. Never intentionally lie or deceive your readers or take them for granted.. Edit, edit, edit. Do more editing. Have a trained pair of eyes, or more, go over your final edit.
Write what you know.

Author Bio:
Jasmine Bath has been previously published under another name in ‘The Healing Woman,’ ‘JDF Quarterly Journal,’ and has had articles published in approximately two dozen newspapers.

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
As an adult I began having reoccurring ‘triggers,’ and in an attempt to look at the causes behind them more objectively, I began writing about specific incidents from my childhood. After writing about several incidents, I noticed that each incident became a chapter and put together in chronological order, became a book.

Website(s)
Link To Buy Book On Amazon
Link to Book on Barnes and Noble

Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/jasmine.writer
http://twitter.com/JasmineAuthor

Spilled Perfume: A Memoir by Kate Madison

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What inspired you to write your memoir?
I started writing SPILLED PERFUME as it was occurring as a way to help me through heartbreak. It was very therapeutic to get all of my experiences down on paper and to try to find ways to laugh at myself instead of taking life so seriously. I was very depressed and began binge drinking and partying which only made things worse. My hope is that others can be entertained by my story and hopefully avoid going down the same path I did.

About your Book:
SPILLED PERFUME is a memoir novella which has been described as “Sex and the City meets Tucker Max.” It chronicles one woman’s year-long attempt to find love with anyone who would by her a drink and her firsthand discovery that anti-depressants and alcohol don’t mix. Both hilarious and heartbreaking, SPILLED PERFUME is for anyone who has ever hit rock bottom (as well as for those who only wish their lives were that exciting).

How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
I did lots of online research on self-publishing before deciding to publish on Amazon. One of my favorite resources is the Self-Publishing Podcast by Johnny B. Truant, Sean Platt and David Wright.

How do you see writing a Memoir as different from writing other genres of books?
When writing about true events, you don’t have the freedom to write anything you want, but you also don’t have to create a world, characters and events from scratch. So overall I found it much easier to write a memoir than fiction, however there were times where I was frustrated that all the little pieces didn’t flow the way they could if it were a work of fiction.

Author Bio:
Kate Madison is a full-time writer from Los Angeles whose work has been described as “Sex and the City meets Tucker Max.”

Her 100% true slutty drunken escapades appear in her memoir novellas SPILLED PERFUME (now available on Amazon) and BOTTOMS UP (coming Fall 2013).

She fueled her fragrance obsession by creating her own line of perfumes and scented bath and body care products that were sold online for seven years.

Kate lives with her new husband in Southern California and now enjoys her alcohol in moderation (except when the kids are away).

Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Book On Amazon

Your Social Media Links
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7132738.Kate_Madison
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-Madison/389053974505978
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7132738.Kate_Madison

Secrets of San Miguel by Alice Denham

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What inspired you to write your memoir?
After spending 40+ summers in San Miguel I knew I had to give this fascinating artists colony its very own memoir because I SAW IT ALL. Hippies forcibly clipped by brutal policia, gorgeous matadors, friendly murderers, pedophile saving the poorest of the poor, sex and romance gay and straight, family loyalty above all things. This is San Miguel’s story and I’m just a small part. I loved it all!!

About your Book:
A high-powered collection of tales spanning more than forty years, Secrets of San Miguel opens a Pandora’s box of wild, wicked, scandalous, funny, and heartbreaking tales. San Miguel de Allende is a Mexican town long known both for its beauty and the day-to-day misadventures of its artists, writers, expatriates, and locals.

How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
I published with the innovative small press, Madeira Press in Chapel Hill, NC, because their books are experimental and beautiful and they know how to promote.

How do you see writing a Memoir as different from writing other genres of books?
Novels–serious literary novels–are memoir in disguise.

Author Bio:
In 3rd grade wrote school articles for the Miami Herald. In 6th grade for Tampa Tribune. At UNC Chapel Hill known as Boobs and made Phi Beta Kappa. Scholarship to grad school at Univ of Rochester; MA thesis on T.S. Eliot’s poetic dramas judged by his own dramatic criticism.
NYC—couldn’t even get INTERVIEWED because female. Made a living as model while writing first novel. Called myself Dostoyevsky the Pinup Girl. As Queen of the Circus I entered atop an elephant decked out in a black bathing suit and a million dollars worth of Harry Winston diamonds.
1st published short story, THE DEAL, in Discovery literary mag. My agent and I resold to Playboy and I agreed to be their Playmate of the Month if they’d republish my story which they did. 3 publishers wrote to ask if I was working on a novel.
1st novel, MY DARLING FROM THE LIONS, about obsessive love published by Bobbs-Merrill, 1968. NY Times said I was capable of incredible language when being lyrical.
2nd novel AMO: THE FEMINIST CENTERFOLD FROM OUTER SPACE pub by Putnam, visits earth to teach Earthman equality. Encounters nutcases.
3rd memoir SLEEPING WITH BAD BOYS: LITERARY NY IN 50S AND 60S.
Became a founding member of the National Organization for Women.
My favorite most beloved literary friend was the great short story writer, Katherine Anne Porter.

Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Book On Amazon
Link to Book on Barnes and Noble
Link to Book for sale via other sites

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