Tag Archives: Margaret Turley

Contest Author Interview – Margaret Turley

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(NOTE: If you haven’t yet heard about the contest I’m running through September 24th, go here to see all the prizes and details and please think about entering. After all, there’s no limit on number of entries and there are many ways to enter. If you’ve already entered, remember that leaving a comment about this interview earns you another entry!)

Along with writing and nursing, Margaret Turley is an activist of the best kind–always trying to find ways to serve and help–and in that role she helped to co-found Writers Unite to Fight Cancer two years ago. This is a cause that certainly touches every family in some way, and I was excited to give her an opportunity to tell a little more about the organization during my interview.

ALSO: As a special offer from Margaret, starting today for five days, readers may download a free Kindle version of SAVE THE CHILD. After August 28th, the ebook will revert to its normal price of $2.99 per copy.

Me:  Tell us about your first experiences with nursing, and whether or not you wrote a story about it.

Margaret:  I grew up on a farm and so I had the opportunity to nurse many animals. One of the more memorable experiences was when our mother sow had 13 piglets, and 4 runts were too tiny and weak to get the food they needed. I lined a cardboard box and put it in my bedroom and fed them with a doll bottle every hour around the clock. Only one made it out of the four. What helped the most was after he was a week old my dad encouraged me to take him outside and introduce him to Betsy, our old Holstein cow. Her udder was so low that her teats dragged the ground and were very tough. She stood very still and let the piglet suckle from her teat until he had his fill, and then he would trot behind her like a calf. It was delightful to watch. I’ve written down many stories about my pets and farm animals in the past. Some have been lost between moves. Others are lost due to change in technology — with irretrievable data bases. Some of my favorite books to read are the James Herriot series.

Me:  What made you choose nursing as a career, and do you see any similarities between being a nurse and being a writer?

Margaret:  I’ve always loved helping others and caring for people and animals and plants since I was a small child. Science fascinated me in school. If I had endless time and resources, I would be an eternal student and do research. In that way, nursing (a scientifically based art of healing) and writing (a creative art) share the common need for research in order to produce the best outcome. One of my favorite parts of nursing is educating patients about what to do to take care of themselves to enjoy a healthy and happy life. As a writer, I continue to practice that educational part of my nursing with my blog on the Save the Child website. There, I share information about cancer, healthcare, children’s health, parents’ rights and other related issues.

Me:  What made you write SAVE THE CHILD?

Margaret:

While I was traveling to work one day, the news broadcast a story about a mother who was refusing chemotherapy treatment for her son. Because I am a nurse, I asked myself, “Why would a mother decide against the best that medicine could offer for her offspring?” The story unfolded over the next few weeks. The doctors insisted the boy had a virulent cancer that needed immediate attention. Even when threatened with jail and loss of custody, the parents were unrelenting in their premise that they felt their child did not have cancer, and they did not want him to receive chemotherapy. After they were charged with kidnapping their own child because they crossed state lines, a judge listened to the parents and halted the medical community and government forces.

What the parents wanted was an independent, out-of-state medical work-up for their son. The judge allowed them to seek this consultation. The child was discovered to be free of cancer! I sighed with relief. The judge saved this boy from the horrible side-effects of chemotherapy, which include nausea, pain, sores, compromised immune systems, sterility, major organ damage, secondary cancers, and even death.

One of the most important roles of a nurse is to be a patient advocate. During my thirty-four-year career, I have observed more than one situation where a patient and/or their family were not listened to. This can cause grave problems and errors, not the least of which is that patients and families must endure procedures they don’t understand or agree with. It’s my hope that the medical community and the law can come together to serve the best interest of the child and family.

In the U.S., parents do not have the right to make medical decisions for their children from the time they are born until they reach the age of majority. Doctors and hospitals need to respect the different backgrounds, cultures, religious beliefs, and preferred approaches to healthcare that individuals and families have. In SAVE THE CHILD I have explored a few of these options.

Me:  Tell us about your organization Writers Unite to Fight Cancer and how other authors can join the cause.

Margaret:

WUFC was founded in June of 2010. Our mission is to raise community awareness about cancer and raise money for cancer research, while supporting authors with venues and encouragement. The money we raise supports the American Association for Cancer Research, because we believe in their comprehensive and innovative approach.

Today’s cancer researchers are on the verge of life-saving discoveries. But what scientists desperately need are the funds required to mount an all-out assault against cancer. One in three people will develop cancer during their life. This year, 1,529,560 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer, and more than 7.6 million people around the world will die from it.

Authors who would like to join our efforts should contact me, Margaret L. Turley, Administrator, using the link on this web page. Writers may participate in local events, and they can help by listing a link on their website to generate contributions to the AACR.

Me:  I understand the submission period just closed for the WUFC First Annual Charity Writing Contest. When do you expect the anthology of winning stories to be published, and will there be a contest again next year?

Margaret:  People can start ordering copies of the anthology at the Awards Ceremony that will be held in Changing Hands Book Store on Thursday, September 27th, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. We hope it will be ready by the first of the year. We have received some great submissions that are in the process of being judged at this time. We will hold the annual contest every year and choose a beneficiary that promotes community awareness, assistance and cancer research.

Me:  What are you working on now in terms of writing?

Margaret:  I’m working on a mystery suspense thriller that also involves a heart transplant (can’t leave out the medical/nursing side of my brain).

Me:  Describe your writing process.

Margaret:  I write down ideas as they come to me. I keep notebooks with me everywhere–purse, car, by the bed, in the living room. I will use paper towels and napkins, if necessary. I’ll let them mull around for a while. Then I’ll write out a page or so of narrative outline. Then I start researching and writing scenes. Then more scenes to connect the other scenes and set up other scenes and resolve other scenes and so forth until we reach the end (we, meaning the characters and I together).

Me:  Finally, how important, in your view, is the role of a writer in today’s society?

Margaret:  No matter what genre the writer chooses to direct their pen or stroke their keys, they reflect the mores of the society they are in–their hopes, dreams, and desires, as well as their fears and dark thoughts. I feel it is our honor and duty to leave a legacy for future generations that they can learn from, be entertained by, and find inspiration in.

I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely going to take advantage of her free SAVE THE CHILD Kindle offer…and I can’t wait for her medical thriller. After all, I’m very taken with thrillers these days (I’m currently reading Truman Capote’s IN COLD BLOOD as part of my “Thriller Thursday” challenge) and I can count on hers being well researched! 

Originally posted 2012-08-24 06:00:54.

Contest Author Interview – Tristi Pinkston

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(NOTE: If you haven’t yet heard about the contest I’m running through September 24th, go here to see all the prizes and details and enter. If you’ve already entered, remember that leaving a comment about this interview earns you another entry!)

Tristi Pinkston has written historical fiction, nonfiction, even a cookbook…but lately she’s best known for her mystery series involving an older group of female sleuths led by Ida Mae Babbitt. Think Miss Marple with more than a dash of humor. In fact, it’s the first book in this series that she’s offering as a prize in my contest. She’s also a terrific editor and it shows in her clean writing style.

Me:  Tell us about your first masterpiece, “Sue the Dog.” And please feel free to embellish, since writers can never quite seem to stop editing.

Tristi:  Sue was a little doggie with big dreams – she wanted to be a ballerina on the big stage. That’s actually all I remember about the plot. My inspiration? My sister drew these really cute mice in ballerina outfits, and I blatantly stole her idea, stuck a dog in a tutu instead, and went from there. She wasn’t very happy with me.

Me:  What happened in your teens to cause your poetry to turn dark?

Tristi:  My poetry wasn’t so much dark as it was depressing–even at my lowest, I don’t go too dark. But there were two causes. First, my parents divorced when I was in my early teens. Second, I thought all good poetry had to be depressing. It’s the whole teenage angst/suffering for one’s art thing.

Me:  How do you think being home schooled affected you as a writer?

Tristi:  Being home schooled allowed me a lot of freedom to explore who I was and what I wanted to pursue. I can’t say that it did that more so than a public school education – I can’t compare, because I’ve never attended public school. I can say that I’m the kind of person who likes to figure things out for herself, and I appreciate my homeschool background for giving me that personal space.

Me:  Where does Ida Mae Babbitt’s voice in the Secret Sisters series come from? In other words, is it based, loosely or not, on any particular woman in your life?

Tristi:  Ida Mae (and Tansy, and Arlette) popped into my head fully formed and started talking. I never had to “create” them or construct a back story for them or anything – they showed up, they started talking, and I just wrote down what they said. They frequently surprised me with their revelations – I didn’t know Ida Mae’s husband was an alcoholic until she told me.

Me:  What does it take to get a story going in your brain, and which story took you most by surprise?

Tristi:  It takes no provocation whatsoever to get a story going in my brain. I’ve got one percolating in there almost all the time, whether I want one or not. I would have to say that Secret Sisters took me most by surprise because I hadn’t been thinking about writing cozy mysteries, and the characters were so fully formed when they showed up in my brain. It has been a delightful journey with those three little ladies.

Me:  What are you working on at present in terms of your writing?

Tristi:  Right now, I’m writing the first novel in a series that will spin off Secret Sisters. It’s about two FBI agents who come to my fictional town of Omni, Utah, and need to pose as Mormons in order to blend in. They don’t know how to act like Mormons, so they call in the Secret Sisters to give them Mormon lessons. This series still has the comedy I’ve become known for, but the peril and the mystery are a little edgier. The book is called Tulips and Treason.

(Sounds fun, doesn’t it?)

Me:  I’m into writers’ offices. Please describe yours as it looks right now as if you were describing it for a novel.

Tristi:

My office consists of a nightstand right now. There’s a story behind this.

The corner of my bedroom is set up with a desk and chair, with a computer, printer/scanner, pen cup–the whole bit. But last fall, I broke my foot and had to spend a month in bed. At that time, I moved my operations over to my bed and worked from there. My papers and books became stacked on my nightstand. After the foot got better, I had the gall to leave my house, and I was in a car accident with a semi. I spent another few months mostly in bed. I had the whole nightstand thing kind of down to a science by this point. Then, in March, I had even more gall and broke my foot again, this time getting a cast. So, yeah . . . I have a little office in the corner of my room, but I do most everything from my bed while my back is still healing enough to return to a desk chair.

It’s pretty cool, though – I have all my editing clients and writing projects up on Post-It Notes over my nightstand so I can track everything at a glance, and I have my papers on a clipboard, and I basically rock the whole “office in a bed” thing.

I’ll say! In fact, I think someone ought to suggest that Tristi give a presentation at the next LDStorymakers Conference. She could call it “Office in a Bed: Making Your Disability Work for Your Writing.”

Tristi’s latest release, by the way, is Turning Pages, available for order from Amazon here. For more fun details about her life and writing, please visit her website.

And be sure to leave a comment here to earn another entry in my contest. 

(On Friday, I’ll be interviewing Margaret Turley and she’s promised a special deal to go along with her interview, so don’t forget to check back!)

Originally posted 2012-08-22 06:00:14.

“Moleskine Monday” – A Contest!

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Since this is my “N” for “Networking” day, let’s test the power of social networking in a contest to spread the word on my soon-to-be-released novel, A NIGHT ON MOON HILL.

Back Cover Copy:

Swimming is Daphne’s one refuge–until the night she finds a body in her pool.

University professor and renowned author Daphne Lessing has never felt at ease in society. But a disturbing occurrence in her once calm and controlled existence suddenly unearths events from her past and thrusts an unusual child into her life.

Ten-year-old Eric has Asperger’s syndrome and is obsessed with fishing and angels. Soon, Daphne finds herself attached to him–and faced with a choice: Does she leave him and return to her solitary, ordered life, trusting others to do right by him, or does she allow this bright child to draw her into the world she has tried to shun? And what about the man that came into Daphne’s life with Eric? Will she be able to shut him out as well?

Details: (Note: Entry details are at the bottom of the post)

The contest will run from August 20th to September 24th (the day before my launch party). This being “Moleskine Monday,” prizes have to include Moleskine products, right? What writer doesn’t love Moleskine notebooks? What reader doesn’t love Moleskine journals in which to jot their favorite passages? And what artist doesn’t love Moleskine sketch notebooks?

Also, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I will feature an interview with an author who has donated his/her own fiction as a prize.

Prizes Include:

  •  1 Sony 7″ Digital Photo Frame (Again, only those who’ve subscribed to my newsletter AND “liked” my new FB page for A NIGHT ON MOON HILL are eligible for this prize)
  • 1 Moleskine Writing Gift Set

  • 1 Moleskine Rechargeable USB Book Light

  • 3 Moleskine Passions Book Journals (I have one…they’re great!)

  • 4 Moleskine Classic Ruled Extra-Small Notebooks (like the kind Daphne has in the story…only hers is black…these are green, violet, orange yellow, and magenta)

And books…lots of books!

  • A free copy of Margaret Turley’s SAVE THE CHILD, a fictional story of one family’s struggle to save a child from cancer

  • A free PDF of Tristi Pinkston’s amusing mystery, SECRET SISTERS
  • A free copy of Liz Adair’s latest mystery, COLD RIVER, her Whitney Winner, COUNTING THE COST, or a set of her SPIDER LATHAM mysteries

  •  An ebook bundle of romances from Jewel Adams including: BEAUTIFUL IN MY EYES, AGAINST THE ODDS, STILL HIS WOMAN – AN AGAINST THE ODDS NOVELETTE, THE LEGACY, THAT KIND OF LOVE – A LEGACY NOVELETTE, THE WISHING HOUR, and GUARDIAN OF MY HEART – A CHALLISSIAN NOVELETTE

  • 2 paperback copies and 3 ebooks of my first book, THE RECKONING

  • A copy of Julie Coulter Bellon’s soon-to-be released (in September) novel, ALL FALL DOWN

  • 3 ebooks of THE SECRET SISTERS CLUB: A GINNIE WEST ADVENTURE by Monique Bucheger
  • 3 copies each of Janette Rallison’s MY FAIR GODMOTHER, MY DOUBLE LIFE, and HOW TO TAKE THE EX OUT OF EX-BOYFRIEND
  • A paperback copy of H.B. Moore’s DAUGHTERS OF JARED
  • Three different ebooks from medieval romance author Joyce DiPastena: LOYALTY’S WEB (for Kindle), ILLUMINATIONS OF THE HEART (for Kindle), and DANGEROUS FAVOR (for Kindle or Nook)
  • One paperback (U.S. only) and 2 ebooks of Cindy M. Hogan’s suspense thriller, WATCHED

  • One copy of Adam Glendon Sidwell’s popular MG novel, EVERTASTER

  • Two of Ali Cross’s YA Paranormals, BECOME (3 ebooks and 1 print) and DESOLATE (3 ebooks and 1 print)
  • One copy (either print or ebook) of Danyelle Ferguson’s and Lynn Parson’s award-winning (dis)ABILITIES AND THE GOSPEL
  • One copy each of Patricia G. Stevenson’s Professor Del Channing’s murder mystery series: THE DILAPIDATED MAN, THE JEZEBEL BRIDE, and THE SHAMROCK CONSPIRACY

  • One copy of THE UNWILLING, the first volume in C. David Belt’s “The Children of Lilith” trilogy

  • And last, but not least, 2 ebooks from Annette Lyon: LOST WITHOUT YOU and AT THE WATER’S EDGE

Other Details:

  • No limit on number of entries
  • No limit on how many prizes can be won by any one person
  • Winners will be drawn using Random.org on September 26th
  • Prizes will be shipped (or emailed) anywhere in the U.S. and Canada (where possible, books will be signed)

 

How to Enter:

  • Join my new newsletter list here on my home page (look for it in the sidebar on the home page) for three entries and a shot at the top two prizes (as long as you also “like” my new book’s FB page)
  • Leave a comment here for another entry (be sure and include your full name) and you get an entry for each comment you make on my author interviews during the contest period (one per author)
  • Blog about the contest and coming book release, including the book cover image and back cover copy posted above in italics (email tanyascontest@gmail.com with the blog link) for two more entries
  • Read the First Chapter here and tell me what clued Daphne in to the body’s identity (email tanyascontest@gmail.com) for three entries
  • “Like” my new Facebook page for A NIGHT ON MOON HILL for another entry and a shot at the top two prizes (as long as you also subscribe to the newsletter)
  • Facebook about the contest and release (email tanyascontest@gmail.com–one FB entry per person)
  • Tweet about the contest and release (email tanyascontest@gmail.com–one Twitter entry per person)

I hope all of this is clear, but if you have any questions, please ask.

Originally posted 2012-08-20 05:00:04.

From Food Issues to Communication (or the lack thereof)

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Present word count of WIP:  50,792 (yes, I refined a bit)

Before I continue my description of our own Asperger’s journey, I want to make three things clear:

1) No two individuals with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (including Asperger’s) are alike. Some will have food issues, others won’t. Some may be strong in language, others in match and science, etc. These postings, then, are about our particular journey. There are plenty of other stories online. (I know this because I sought them out over a decade ago when I was hungry to know more, and I’m certain there are many more today than there were then.) If you want to understand the disorder better in all its permutations, check out the website for Autism Speaks, or if you’re particularly interested in Asperger’s, then I recommend the Online Asperger Information and Support Center. Also, I don’t pretend that Autism is the only developmental disability in the world. A fellow writer and friend of mine, Margaret Turley, included a special mention of Autism at the end of March as a part of National Developmental Disabilities Month. You might want to check out all her postings last month.

2) Jason has given me permission to share his story in this way. He comprehends that there is a need to help increase understanding about Autism in all its forms, as well as to seek its cause(s). We are doing this for the same reason we decided to take part in IAN, the Interactive Autism Network set up to link researchers with families impacted by ASD. We want to provide support, answers, and a sense of community for individuals who, for too long, have felt like outsiders in this “neurotypical” world.

3) Jason’s story will continue both here and on the website of Madison House Autism Foundation, a non-profit group formed by friends of mine in Maryland to assist those with autism (and their families) as they navigate the rest of their lives once they reach adulthood. Much has been written and produced to help children with autism, but what about when they grow up? Or what about those who don’t discover why they have felt so “different” all these years until they are older? With so many diagnosed on the autistic spectrum, we are facing a future filled with such individuals as my son. As Jason graduates from high school next month and begins to make his way into the adult world, I’ll try to share the challenges, setbacks, and triumphs every second and fourth Friday of the month.

Jason, aged 2 and 1/2, with Ariel toy

Now…on with our journey.

Early on, there were other signals that alerted me to the fact that Jason wasn’t a typical kid. Because our daughter had been a late walker, I wasn’t so concerned about his delay in gross motor skills. By the age of 2, however, he still hadn’t seemed to clue in to the process of communication.

Allison was an early talker, but Jason said very little. In fact, I began to wonder if he had a hearing problem because, often, when I’d call out to him, he wouldn’t even turn around, let alone respond. But the pediatrician checked his hearing and found it to be perfectly normal.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t speak or say words. He was very adept at repeating any word I told him. His vocabulary was adequate; he just didn’t seem to know what to do with all those words. I’d ask him a question like, “Do you want some water?” Instead of nodding or shaking his head, or saying “Yes” or “No,” he’d simply repeat my question or at least the last part of it. (I came to find out later that this behavior is called “echolalia,” a condition that often presents itself in autism and other developmental disabilities.)

By this time, my daughter was enrolled in Kindergarten and I was aware that her local elementary school had a speech therapist. I figured he needed speech therapy, so I called up the school. While the therapist would have been happy to meet with me, she fortunately pointed me to a much better resource: the school district’s Sunshine Early Childhood Center. I made an appointment there to have Jason tested and took him down on the appointed day–a Friday.

They tested him for everything: physical abilities, speech abilities, drawing abilities, social abilities, etc. As I recall, it took a good hour and a half, if not two hours. Then, at the end, they told me:

“Mrs. Mills, Jason definitely qualifies for our program. He’s communicatively handicapped. He’s delayed in fine and gross motor skills. And he’s orally and tactilely defensive.”

(I knew he was very careful about what he’d allow me to put in his mouth, but I wondered about the tactile part until I recalled the way I’d had to cut labels out of his tee shirts and pants…and how much he hated the feeling of rain on his head, or getting his clothes wet…and the way he howled whenever I had his hair cut.)

They didn’t call it autism then because he seemed so high-functioning in some ways (he really knew his letters and numbers), and this was in 1996, less than two years after Asperger’s became an official diagnosis.

Still, I was happy to have any kind of conclusion, so I said, “Fine. What do I do next?”

Keep in mind that I was only now getting used to having my daughter gone every morning for kindergarten. She had done a couple of years of pre-school before that but they had met only three mornings a week. I figured this Sunshine School was going to be like a pre-school. Boy, was I wrong!

The school principal told me to bring him to the school at 8 am on Monday, then pick him up at 3 pm. Thereafter, she told me, a bus would pick him up from our house in the morning and deliver him back in the afternoon.

I looked down at my darling little two-and-a-half-year-old boy and gulped. “Are we talking two or three days a week?”

“Every day,” she said. I remember that my mouth dropped open.

“Five days a week? He’s going to be in school longer than his older sister, and she’s three years older than him!”

They assured me that he needed it and that he would get used to it.

“But he’s not even toilet trained,” I argued. (M&Ms had worked wonders with his sister, but there wasn’t any special food I could use to bribe Jason.)

“Oh, we’ll take care of that. We’ve got special training potties in every classroom.”

Still stunned, I followed the principal and speech therapist as they walked us around the school to show me all the facilities. Not only would Jason be in a regular classroom with other disabled children, but he would receive regular speech therapy and occupational therapy. Talk about early intervention! Of course, at the time I didn’t appreciate the life-changing gift they were providing because I still knew next to nothing about autism.

All I knew that day was that, come Monday, I was going to be a very lonely mother all morning and a very worried mother all day. And I couldn’t help wondering if this, like the carrots, would lessen his trust in me.

Would he still love me Monday afternoon?

On Friday, I’ll post about Jason’s “Sunshine” experience.

Originally posted 2012-04-09 10:56:20.