Movie Review: Road to the Lemon Grove
Italians and Italians-at-heart will enjoy this humorous–sometimes outrageous–film about a middle-aged Canadian professor, Calogero Contantini, and his recently deceased father Antonio. Performer, writer and lecturer Charly Chiarelli takes on both roles.
The film opens with Antonio awaiting entry to heaven. The voice of God (Loreena McKennitt) informs Antonio that he must make peace with his estranged son before entering the Pearly Gates. Frustrated but determined, Antonio’s ghost haunts (and stalks) Calogero for most of the film.
Antonio has one last mission for his son: Spread his ashes in the lemon groves of Sicily and reunite the two warring branches of the family.
To further complicate the situation, Calogero has only fourteen days to accomplish these tasks. If he is unsuccessful, the lemon grove and all of Antonio’s assets will go to the scheming relatives, led by Vincenzo (Burt Young) and his sidekick Guido (Nick Mancuso).
A series of comical (and sometimes contrived) scenes follow as Calogero argues with his father’s ghost, has a meltdown during a lecture, travels to Sicily, meets the relatives, connects with a beautiful Italian actress (Rosella Brescia), and participates in a final “pasta” showdown.
Flashbacks to Calogero’s youth provide glimpses into the challenges faced by new immigrants during the 1950s and 1960s. I would have liked more scenes depicting these frustrating (often comical) brushes with bureaucrats.
Light and entertaining fare set against a beautiful Sicilian backdrop.
From Rejection to Spectacular Success
While querying the Gilda Greco Mystery Series, I kept myself motivated by reading the success stories that started with stacks of rejection slips.
Here is one of my favorite success stories:
In 1992, teacher and motivational speaker Jack Canfield decided to compile all the stories he had shared on the self-help circuit.
Continue reading on the Sisterhood of Suspense blog.
How to Get Your Story Published in Chicken Soup for the Soul
On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.
Yesterday, Chicken Soup for the Soul released Angels All Around, a collection of 101 fascinating tales about miracles, divine interventions, and answered prayers. I was thrilled to have my essay, “Prayers and Positive Thoughts,” included in the anthology.
Since 1997, more than 250 Chicken Soup for the Soul books have been published and over 500 million copies sold. Each volume receives thousands of story submissions from writers worldwide.
Here are Publisher Amy Newark’s best story writing tips:
Release Day – Angels All Around
I’m thrilled to announce the release of Angels All Around, the latest book in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. My essay, “Prayers and Positive Thoughts,” was selected as one of the 101 stories for this publication.
About the Anthology
Good things do happen to good people, and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Angels All Around, is filled with 101 fascinating tales, demonstrating how miracles can happen when and how we least expect them.
The book offers glimpses into the lives of people who find themselves in extraordinary, unexplainable situations, their prayers answered and their lives forever changed. It’s about the anonymous angels who touch our hearts and save our lives, and the astonishing power we can find within ourselves. From miraculous connections and answered prayers, to divine intervention and inexplicable healing, to angels and messages from heaven, these stories prove that miracles can happen, every day, to people from all walks of life.
Excerpt from Prayers and Positive Thoughts
“Are you praying?”
In many circumstances, this question would be deemed intrusive and inappropriate. But considering the source—my mother—I didn’t take offense. If anything, I was embarrassed to admit that prayer was the furthest thing from my mind.
Over a month had passed since the specialist oncologist had delivered the diagnosis: Inflammatory Breast Cancer, Stage IIIB. While I had shared the stage, I had kept those first three words to myself. I didn’t want family and friends Googling IBC and discovering the seriousness of the diagnosis. In 2004, the five-year survival rate for IBC was 30 percent. As for the ten- and fifteen-year survival rates, the percentages were in the single digits and not even worth considering.
Buy Links
Amazon (Canada) | Amazon (US) | Indigo | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
Note: Guelph Public Library has six copies of Angels All Around.
Spotlight on Judy Penz Sheluk
I’m happy to welcome back best-selling author Judy Penz Sheluk. Today, Judy chats about her writing journey and new release, A Fool’s Journey.
Here’s Judy!
It seems like only yesterday that I began writing Skeletons in the Attic, the first book in my Marketville Mystery series starring Toronto-to-suburbia transplant Calamity (Callie) Barnstable. When I started, it was simply a way to keep on writing while I shopped around for a publisher for what would be my debut novel, The Hanged Man’s Noose (book 1 in the Glass Dolphin Mystery series). You see, I couldn’t imagine writing book 2 in a series when no one was interested in book 1.
Except something unexpected happened: as someone who always wrote in third person, writing as Callie in first person was strangely liberating…and somewhere along the line, I “became” Callie. Now, I don’t mean that I suddenly became 36 again (wouldn’t that be nice) and I’ve never inherited a house, but she filled my thoughts in a way no other character had before. The result was that Skeletons in the Attic, first released Aug. 2016, became my bestselling title, and the sequel, Past & Present, released Sept. 2018, has been a strong second.
Fast forward to 2019, and Callie is back, this time in A Fool’s Journey, where, along with her team at Past & Present Investigations, she searches for Brandon Colbeck, who, at age twenty, left home in 2000 to find himself. No one has seen or heard from him since.
While Brandon’s case is fictional, it is by no means unique. In 2017, more than 78,000 adults went missing in Canada. While most such cases are solved within a few days, many are decades old, leaving friends and family waiting for answers.
And now, a bit about A Fool’s Journey:
In March 2000, twenty-year-old Brandon Colbeck left home to find himself on a self-proclaimed “fool’s journey.” No one—not friends or family—have seen or heard from him since, until a phone call from a man claiming to be Brandon brings the case back to the forefront. Calamity (Callie) Barnstable and her team at Past & Present Investigations have been hired to find out what happened to Brandon and where he might be. As Callie follows a trail of buried secrets and decades-old deceptions only one thing is certain: whatever the outcome, there is no such thing as closure.
Bio
Judy Penz Sheluk is the bestselling author of the Glass Dolphin Mystery and Marketville Mystery series, and the editor of The Best Laid Plans: 21 Stories of Mystery & Suspense. Her short stories can be found in several collections. Judy is also a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she serves as Vice Chair on the Board of Directors. Find her at http://www.judypenzsheluk.com.
A Fool’s Journey, book 3 in Judy’s Marketville Mystery series, is available in trade paperback at all the usual suspects, and on Kindle.
A natural storyteller, Ms. Sheluk skillfully drew me into the storyline and kept me hooked until the end. The premise—A young man leaves everything behind and embarks on a fool’s journey—captured my attention. Having taught many older adolescents, I could easily imagine the heartache that followed as parents and loved ones dealt with this unexplained absence of almost twenty years. Woven into the narrative are fascinating details about tarot cards, tattoos, missing persons, and Y2K technology.
Next, please!
Zen Humor
Adjust Your Stance
On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.
Each month, I pick up a copy of the Oprah magazine and read it from cover to cover. My favorite column is “What I Know for Sure,” written by Oprah Winfrey herself. In 2014, Oprah released a small hardcover collection (also available in eBook format) of these monthly reflections. Here’s one of my favorites:
Every challenge we take on has the power to knock us to our knees. But what’s even more disconcerting than the jolt itself is our fear that we won’t withstand it. When we feel the ground beneath us shifting, we panic. We forget everything we know and allow fear to freeze us. Just the thought of what could happen is enough to throw us off balance.
What I know for sure is that the only way to endure the quake is to adjust your stance. You can’t avoid the daily tremors. They come with being alive. But I believe these experiences are gifts that force us to step to the right or left in search of a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Let them help you adjust your footing.
Balance lies in the present. When you feel the earth moving, bring yourself back to the now. You’ll handle whatever shake-up the next moment brings when you get to it. In this moment, you’re still breathing. In this moment, you’ve survived. In this moment, you’re finding a way to step onto higher ground.
Source: What I Know for Sure by Oprah Winfrey, Page 35.
Movie Review: Blinded by the Light
Set in the suburban town of Luton (England), this film is based on Sarfraz Manzoor’s memoir about growing up Pakistani in the late 1980s.
Javed (brilliantly played by Viveik Kalra) longs to escape the restraints imposed by his domineering father Malik (Kulvinder Ghir) and the bigotry of the town. A creative soul, Javed finds solace in his journals as he focuses on getting good grades. Manchester University—200 miles away—is his best (and only) hope.
Everything changes when a fellow classmate (Aaron Phagura) gives Javed cassettes of Born in the U.S.A. and Darkness on the Edge of Town. Transfixed by the music, Javed experiences an immediate connection with Bruce Springsteen. Typewritten lyrics start to swirl in what can only be described as a literal windstorm.
With the Boss as his guide, Javed starts to make changes in his own life. He drops Economics and signs up for Creative Writing, writes essays and poems about Bruce’s lyrics, stands up to local skinheads, and approaches his high school crush Eliza (Nell Williams).
On the homefront, Malik loses his factory job, and Javed’s mother Noor (Meera Ganatra) works twelve- to fourteen-hour days to keep the family afloat. Father-son relations intensify as Malik becomes more over-bearing, dismissing Javed’s writing dream and forbidding him to attend a Bruce Springsteen concert.
As the economy stalls and more people lose their jobs, white supremacy rears its ugly head. A violent skinhead march interrupts a Pakistani wedding, reminding us of the racial tensions that still exist in 2019. The indignities suffered by the Pakistani families are appalling. And what is even more heart-wrenching is the powerlessness of the community.
With the help of a dedicated English teacher (Hayley Atwell), Javed becomes more confident in his writing and goes on to achieve local and international acclaim.
A must-see film that will evoke many emotions. Bring tissues.
Spotlight on The Road to Reality
I’m happy to welcome author and producer Dianne Burnett. Today, Dianne shares her inspiring memoir, The Road to Reality.
Blurb
Get ready to laugh. Get ready to cry. Get ready for a whirlwind of an adventure. Settle in for a powerful, poignant story of inner strength and courage-and get a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at the making of Survivor, the world’s most popular reality show.
Spinning their mutual love of exotic adventure into gold, Dianne Burnett and her former husband, TV producer Mark Burnett, co-created Eco-Challenge, an expedition-length racing event televised on Discovery Channel that catapulted them into the arena of reality TV and set the stage for Survivor-a modern-day Robinson Crusoe with a million-dollar prize. But Dianne and Mark’s fairytale marriage did not survive their Hollywood success . . . she found herself left behind, her contributions unrecognized. She lost her partner in life and began to lose her identity. In that experience, she found an opportunity to grow.
A fascinating, fast-paced, heart-warming “page-turner,” The Road to Reality takes readers on a roller-coaster ride-complete with a zesty romance, as well as the ups and downs of going for your dreams-while it imparts the lessons learned as Dianne discovers what really matters in life is something beyond fortune and fame.
Excerpt
What I learned writing The Road to Reality
I couldn’t be quiet anymore. That would have been the polite thing to do; zipping it was the societally-preferred course of action. Just smile and take it. For years I did just that.
We do, after all, have two wonderful sons. I didn’t want them to feel torn in what was happening between me and my husband, Mark Burnett. I smiled at dinner parties, showing up with guy friends, explaining my husband was “on location” with Survivor or attending another awards dinner in New York. I explained to the boys that Daddy had a new clubhouse where they could play and where he could work.
The impact of an absent husband no longer living at home, however, sent my world into new orbit. I went from “Does not compute” to the realization I had to find my own path again. The one I’d been on before I met Mark—who, like me, came from a modest background, but who took me gallivanting around the world–the handsome Brit with whom I had a synergy and shared a belief that we were unstoppable. And we were.
We had no background in doing what we were doing, no fancy degrees, no connections. We had nothing but sheer will, and the willingness to research, put together proposals and run through our pitches again and again. But we did it—first with Eco-Challenge, the world’s premiere endurance-adventure race. And then with the idea for a TV show, that was a modern-day Robin Crusoe story. I gave the name to the program that would catapult reality TV into new directions. “Survivor.” And my handsome hubby finessed the concept, developed it, and pitched it.
Nobody bit. Ever single network gave it a red light. But Mark kept honing his pitches and I kept coaching him and encouraging him—“Honey, I know it will fly!”
And it did.
But winning at the lottery machine of life destroyed our marriage. Nobody preps you for success, for the way your credit cards suddenly don’t have limits, and you cause a sensation walking into a room. We went from “aspiring” to “golden” in six months time. And after another year, the union that had defined me for over a decade was seriously unraveling.
The truth is I didn’t know my marriage was effectively over until radio host Howard Stern announced it to the 18-34 male listening demographic. As calls came flooding in from friends asking if Mark and I were divorcing I took it calmly, still believing we’d get back together, that our trial separation wasn’t permanent. But then, as another year, then another went by, with Mark and I both dating other people, I understood that I had to get back on my own road. I didn’t want to be defined by my relationships any more. I wanted to have my own life again.
It wasn’t easy. At first, I felt like Chevy Chase in Vacation, caught on the roundabout, trying to forge my own way, trying to find my road again. I could see where I wanted to be but I wasn’t yet there. Writing this book proved to be the ideal exit.
I began writing it when I realized that I couldn’t get to where I was going until I understood where I’d been. So I went back and traveled my past, back to Commack, Long Island and the talent shows we put on at the swimming pools, back when I dreamed of entering showbiz. I relived my life discovering a tale of making one own way, with a love story at the heart, and a lot of adventure in between.
I understood finally that it wasn’t the destination that mattered, it’s the journey. And as I wrote the last words of The Road to Reality on a balmy, palm-breezy evening in the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona, I turned off the computer, walked into the night and felt like at last I’d found my road again.
Author Bio and Links
Dianne Burnett is an author, producer, and actor of stage and screen. She is also a philanthropist and entrepreneur. Dianne and her ex-husband, Mark Burnett, joined their creative forces to invent Eco-Challenge, the impetus for Survivor, which kickstarted America’s reality-television show craze and went on to become the longest-running and most lucrative reality TV series of all time.
Following the success of Survivor, Dianne produced and acted in the stage play Beyond Therapy at the Santa Monica Playhouse, served as Executive Producer of the indie film Jam (which won Best Narrative Feature at the Santa Fe Film Festival), and acted in Everybody Loves Raymond. In memory of her mother, Joan, who lost her battle with esophageal cancer in 2010, Dianne formed Joan Valentine—A Foundation for Natural Cures, a nonprofit organization that serves as a resource for those seeking alternatives to traditional medicine.
She also recently launched a multimedia platform and social network: called theotherside.com, it explores alternative views on everything from relationships to health. Formerly of New York, Dianne now lives in Malibu, California, with her family.
All the elements are there—romance, adventure, betrayal, divorce—set against the backdrop of the world’s most exotic locales. The storyline alternates between the author’s childhood and adolescence on Long Island, New York and her globe-trotting adventures with television powerhouse Mark Burnett. An excellent storyteller, Dianne Burnett has provided an honest, often heart-wrenching, account of a fairytale marriage that didn’t survive the success and acclaim of the world’s most popular reality show. Intertwined with the narrative are the lessons and wisdom acquired on this extraordinary journey.
Definitely a survivor’s tale!
Giveaway
Dianne Burnett will award a $50 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a lucky winner via Rafflecopter. Find out more here.
Follow Dianne on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.
Joanne Guidoccio 