What inspired you to write your memoir?
I was inspired by my husband’s battle with leukemia and mine with learning to live without him.
About your Book:
For Ralph Zirkelbach, an innocuous sore throat is the first symptom of acute myelogenous leukemia. He will battle the disease with courage and optimism but, ultimately, will succumb. Through his final year, his wife Thelma fights her own fears of loss, loneliness and the absolute certainty that she cannot live without him. Medical mishaps–a lumbar puncture that paralyzes his legs, a fall from a wheelchair that lands him in ICU–complicate what initially seemed a standard course of treatment and when the disease resurfaces, he has no further options. Their different relggious backgrounds–his Christian, hers Jewish, add to the tension of that difficult year. Yet they stumble along together and after his death she trudges along on her own, adopting as her motto, “When one must, one can” and eventually realizes she’s living by it. Although she has lost her husband, she’s found herself and turned tragedy into triumph.
How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
I had published novels before and I always write with the goal of publication, even if just on my blog. My book is published by Mazo Publishing. I submitted to them because they are interested in books with some Jewish content and I felt mine would be a good fit. Although iit is certainly more than a book about interfaith marriage, it does discuss that issue.
How do you see writing a Memoir as different from writing other genres of books?
I think fiction writing prepared me to write memoir. A good memoir should be written with scenes, dialogue, inner monologue, tension. Perhaps the major difference from fiction is that memoir requires more reflection from the author as the story develops.
Author Bio:
Thelma Zirkelbach began her writing career as a romance novelist, but when her husband died, left genre writing for creative non-fiction. She has since published poetry and essays, co-edited an anthology titled On Our Own: Widowhood for Smarties, and has recently released the memoir Stumbling Through the Dark. She is a speech pathologist who has been in private practice for many years. A native Texan, she lives in Houston and enjoys reading, writing, traveling and spending time with her granddaughter.
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Book On Amazon
Link to Book on Barnes and Noble
Your Social Media Links
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17670626
http://www.facebook/thelmazirkelbach
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