Oprah and Russell Simmons

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Yesterday, Oprah sat under the oaks with best-selling author and philanthropist Russell Simmons. Throughout the telecast, Oprah referred to the many other hats this Renaissance Man wears–spiritual teacher, business yogi, hip-hop pioneer, and enlightenment peddler. She also quoted from his recent book, Success Through Stillness.

I was impressed by Russell’s clear and simple approach to meditation: Give yourself 20 minutes and sit there, no matter what. Acknowledge all the thoughts and accept that your mind may behave like a crazy monkey in a cage. Eventually, the mind will settle and transcend these pesky thoughts.

A gentle reminder from Russell–You don’t get muscles with one push-up, so be patient and let your meditation practice evolve.

Quotable quotes…

Reboot the mind and see what God has given us.

Meditation can reintroduce you to that part of yourself that has been “missing” for so long.

God’s miracles are floating in front of us.

Neediness is the cause of suffering. i.e. Needing things to be different.

Needing nothing attracts everything.

We have to define success; we can’t let the world define it for us.

You should need for nothing, but if you do need something, let it be enlightenment.

A Spectacular Salsa at Age 79

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Born July 1, 1934, Sarah Patricia “Paddy” Jones started classical dance when she was 2½ years old. While dance was definitely her passion, Paddy put aside her dancing shoes when she married at age twenty-two. After her husband retired, they moved to Gandia, Spain. Two years later, he died of leukemia.

At age 69, Paddy resurrected her dancing dream and signed up for flamenco classes at Nico Espinosa’s Academy of Dance. Soon afterward, Paddy and Nico formed the salsa dancing duo “Son del Timbal” and achieved international success, winning several talent shows.

In April 2014, Paddy and Nico auditioned for the eighth series of Britain’s Got Talent.

Enjoy!

The Second Act of the Second Act

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Soul Mate author Eris Field sharing the challenges and triumphs of her first and second acts.

Here’s Eris!

Act 1 of the First Act. At nineteen, a registered nurse and married to a Turkish doctor, I saw myself, not as an individual, but as part of a team. A team that worked together to build careers and to create a home and family that included five fantastic children. That stage of life is reflected in a biographical novel that I co-authored with my husband: Legacy of Change: The Saga of a Turkish Family from Empire to Republic.

Act 2 of the First Act. Taking care of the family, working, and teaching psychiatric nursing filled the next period of life in which I was both an individual and a part of a team. That stage is represented by the textbook that I wrote for psychiatric nurse practitioners: Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nursing: a Biopsychosocial Foundation for Practice.

Act 1 of the Second Act. As a widow, I struggled to find the me that was left over when I was no longer a part of a team. I went back to a very early love–romance novels. My first publication in that field was The Gift of Love and reveals, to some extent, my sense of being stripped of part of my identity.

Act 2 of the Second Act. Although we may start out as one individual, life adds layers of knowledge, exposes us to experiences, and teaches us values, molding the individual that we were into a new, burnished individual. Now, my writing centers on contemporary multi-cultural novels. The first one, Lattices of Love, is about a Turkish-American woman who wants a marriage based on love, not an arranged marriage. It is scheduled to be released by Soul Mate Publishing on June 11, 2014. The second, For Love of the Circassian, is about a beautiful refugee and the three men in her life: one who has her, one who wants her, and one who loves her. It is in review, and a third is in process.

The poet, Robert Browning said it well: “The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made.

Blurb

Emine Wheeler, a 26 year old Turkish-American professor of psychiatric nursing, wants to be free. She does not want to live any longer behind the lattices of old harem rules. Despite pressure from the Turkish grandmother she adores and her brother to accept marriage to a Turkish man they have approved, Emine is determined to marry for love, like her American father. She vows there will be love in her marriage.

At a psychiatric conference in Amsterdam, she meets Marc, a reticent Dutch psychiatrist who, believing that his colleagues blame him for his wife’s suicide, restricts his life to the safety of work and family that includes a troubled four-year-old he calls his daughter. However, when Emine encounters a problem with registration, he finds himself offering to help her.

Recognizing that Marc is the man of her dreams, Emine turns her back on the harem rule to avoid contact with men outside the family and accepts his help. Later, when Emine is faced with the choice of marrying a man she does not love or damaging her family’s honor, Marc offers a solution, a marriage of convenience. She will have the protection of marriage and he will have a mother for his daughter. Believing that her fierce love for Marc will be enough, Emine accepts only to discover that it is not, and when Marc falsely accuses her of betrayal, she flees. Marc realizes belatedly that he loves Emine beyond everything in his life but will his love be enough to entice her back?

Target line: To seek love requires courage but to let love own you requires risking everything.

Bio

Born in her grandfather’s home on Field’s Road, Eris spent her early childhood in Jericho, Vermont. At 17, she left Vermont to attend Union University School of Nursing in Albany, New York where she met her future husband, a surgical intern from Istanbul, Turkey. After they married and moved to Buffalo, New York, Eris worked as a nurse at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. When their five children finished high school, Eris completed her Master’s in Psychiatric Nursing and taught psychiatric nursing at the University at Buffalo.

Eris’ first publications were a biographical novel, Legacy of Change: The Saga of a Turkish Family from Empire to Republic, that she co-authored with her late husband and a textbook, Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nursing. Now, she lives in a ‘snow-belt’ town in Western New York and writes what she loves to read–contemporary, cross cultural romances.

She is a member of the Romance Writers of American and the Western New York Romance Writers group. Her interests include supporting the Crossroads Springs Institute in Kenya for children orphaned by AIDS and visiting as many fascinating places as she can.

Where to find Eris…

Website | Soul Mate Publishing | Amazon

Joanne here!

What a beautifully layered life! Thank you for sharing your journey, Eris, and congratulations on the release of Lattices of Love.

Fun Friday

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Honoring Maya Angelou

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Poet. Civil Rights Activists. Historian. Best-Selling author. Professor. Actress. Playwright. Producer. Director. Professional Hopemonger. Maya Angelou wore many hats and she wore them well. Today, we bid farewell to this Renaissance woman who has inspired us with her extraordinary voice and legendary wisdom.

My favorite Maya Angelou quotes…

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.

It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.

Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.

Creative Energy Overload

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have author Kim Handysides sharing several colorful acts and introducing the Stolen series.

Here’s Kim!

I am an author-in-waiting. My books (one completed, one in progress and one in planning) and the right publisher are poised to meet. It’s going to be some time this year. The stars and my aptitude are aligned. But it’s taken almost half a century to get here. Let me explain:

When I was a kid I was either going to be a biologist —sucked at math, so forget that, a writer or a Shakespearean actress —cue the trumpet flourish. I studied English and Dramatic Art at the University of Windsor, but graduated in Communications Studies—you know TV, radio, film production.

My first career related job was as a copywriter for radio. You get to wear many hats in a small market. Within a 2-year period, I morphed into newsreader, reporter, disc jockey, producer, music director and freelanced as a Master of Ceremonies and a club DJ.

I fell in love with Montreal on a vacation, decided it would be my new home and either work in radio there or write a novel. Two days before my holiday ended, I got a job as an overnight DJ at a major radio station. Within the next five years I was a DJ, Music Director, TV field producer and weather woman, and created my own production company with two other women. Throughout this time, I began voicing commercials, documentaries, and acting in films and summer theatre. I once was on a film set with Robert De Niro, and though he was only 13 years old at the time, did voice work with Ryan Gosling. I became primarily a voice actress and over the next 20 years moved to the top of my field in my city.

I also wrote during this time, because I’ve got ‘creative energy overload’. Mostly for the media outlets I worked for, but also for magazines and newspapers. And I started writing novels. Romance novels because frankly, it was the time of my life when I was falling in love with Mr. Keeper. (Married 21 years now) I got to the point when I started to get requests for re-submissions from a New York Harlequin editor, but when children entered the equation my free time evaporated. I figured I’d get back to writing when they went to school. But lo and behold, in Grade 1 my oldest was a very bright and very unhappy dyslexic, with no accommodation available for her, so I began to home school. Both of them. And that lasted nine years. (Kids are currently straight A students in college and university.)

Fast forward to now. It’s been almost four years in the making, but I’m extremely proud of the Stolen series, based on the reluctant love stories of the Beaumont family, Matt, Arabella and Seb. Stolen Kiss features the first of the Beaumonts, Matt and his lady-love-to-be Ruby. And it’s actually more of her story than his.

Stolen Kiss opens with Matt Beaumont doing just that. Stealing a kiss from blueblood, Ruby Jamison, that ruins her life and launches them into a chase to retrieve a stolen ’73 orange convertible. Weaving through betrayal and blackmail, they run into border issues, are helped by an aging hippie godmother and crash on the scene of a mob-related drug bust. But will their blossoming love survive the journey?

Stolen Heart pits marina biologist, Arabella, with her awkward high school nemesis, ex-Marine, Gus MacIsaac. The mob threatens the Beaumonts to keep incarcerated Seb quiet. Gus, the last person Ara ever wanted to see again, becomes her bodyguard. Following whale sharks in spite of voodoo threats, a tropical storm, and engine troubles, Gus attempts to break the barriers erected around Ara’s solitary heart.

Stolen Love will be Sebastian’s story. All I know about it so far is that Seb is on a path of redemption, wanting nothing to do with his former mob ties. His social worker, Mari, a single mom of three young kids has her hands full and has no time for love. Especially with a billboard handsome ex-con with a shady past and no solid plan for the future.

Where to find Kim…

Website | Facebook Page | Facebook Profile | Twitter

Joanne here!

Wow! I’m simply blown away by your creative overload. If you’re ever looking for another creative project, consider writing a memoir. BTW…The Stolen series sounds delicious.

Oprah and Shawn Achor

Posted on May 26, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Yesterday, Oprah welcomed Shawn Achor, author of the international bestseller, The Happiness Advantage, and Before Happiness, to Super Soul Sunday. Throughout the telecast, Shawn shared concepts and strategies from his books and the Happy course he teaches at Harvard. With one out of every six students enrolled, the course is more popular than economics.

According to Shawn, we must define happiness before we can be happy. And therein lies a major obstacle. Most people mistakenly believe happiness will be experienced when goals are reached. Unfortunately, success is a moving target. Shawn urges us to get rid of this scientifically-broken model and redefine happiness in terms of joy. He admits that happiness is an easier choice for some people, but each of us can improve our baselines for happiness by rewiring our brains.

To promote happiness hygiene, Shawn recommends we try the following two-minute habits for 21 days:

When you wake up, come up with three different things for which you are grateful.

Think of one meaningful thing that happened in the last 24 hours and write every detail you can recall about it.

Send a thank-you email, tweet or FB message to one person you know.

Simple meditation–Watch your breath go in and out.

Quotable quotes…

Happiness is the joy we feel striving toward our potential.

Joy is inextricably linked to meaning.

The opposite of happiness is apathy.

Being successful doesn’t make you happier. Being happy makes you more successful.

Happiness is a choice and a practice.

It doesn’t matter if the glass is half-empty or half-full if there is a pitcher nearby to refill it.

Three Steps, No Failure

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

When asked about her extraordinary success, recording artist and motivational performer Jana Stanfield said, “I believe in the power of small steps to create great changes.”

Jana left a lucrative career as a broadcast journalist and moved to Nashville to pursue her dream of securing a recording contract. While waiting for her breakthrough, she signed up for voice lessons and took classes in song-writing, stand-up comedy and dance. She took advantage of Open-Mic nights and sang for free in the evenings. With the help of a small producer, she made a few recordings.

None of the record companies were interested.

Continue reading on the Soul Mate Author Group blog.

A Late Bloomer’s Story

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Soul Mate author Brenda Stinnett sharing insights and advice gleaned from her writing journey.

Here’s Brenda!

I graduated from California State Univ. Stanislaus with a BA in psychology. I taught kindergarten for twenty-one years in California, but I’m now a Florida transplant and a full-time writer. I have to admit that I’m a late bloomer. I didn’t get my teaching degree until my mid-thirties. However, I started writing after my daughter was born in my mid-twenties. Once I started teaching though, I got distracted from my writing and focused mainly on my family and my teaching career. Of course, I don’t think this was a bad thing.

Once my daughter started the Air Force Academy, I found more time to focus on my writing, so I took Writer’s Digest classes and went to some conferences. I also subscribed to Writer’s Digest and Romantic Writers Report. Both of these magazines have helped me tremendously in my goal to a writing career.

In my mid-fifties, I retired from teaching and focused more on my writing. It seems once I reach midway in a decade that I decide to try a new direction. My favorite pastime has been traveling and I’m fascinated by history and the paranormal, so I combined those interests into my passion for writing.

I submitted my paranormal romance, “The King’s Vampire,” to Soul Mate Publishing and I was fortunate enough to get a contract with this great publishing organization. My latest novel, “Tenth Degree of the Paranormal,” veered off into strictly paranormal suspense, so I decided to try the Indie route with it.

Second acts in life are scary and I think persistence and courage are major factors when we want to change our lives. It’s important to avoid people who send out negative vibes and seek out supportive groups who encourage us in our endeavors. I’ve found the authors at Soul Mate Publishing to be some of the most helpful, generous people around. I think we just have to hang on to our dreams and make sure we actually know what it is we want to do. We need to break down our goals into small steps. If we take five small steps every day to achieve our long-term goal, I think we have a good chance of fulfilling our dreams. We need to take joy in every step of the process and enjoy the journey as well.

Blurb

Whether a hunch, intuition, or something more sinister, Barbara knew she had no choice. Self-deception was no longer an option—comfortable but not an option. She knew each denial she’d ever made left a scar on her soul, each more painful than the last.

An epic battle between good and evil pits a mother who struggles to deny her paranormal powers against a megalomaniac intent on world destruction.

Barbara Stevens has always struggled with her inexplicable powers. Her unwillingness to acknowledge her pent-up abilities has not stopped her young daughter Tiffany from exercising her own powers.

Recruited by a group intent on honing and harvesting these paranormal powers to create a super race, Barbara and Tiffany are soon kidnapped and held on an island off the coast of Russia.

Suspicion soon grows that Tiffany may, in fact, manifest the ten highest paranormal abilities of astral projection, aura reading, bio-energy transference, levitation, past life regression, precognition, spontaneous healing, telekinesis, and telepathy.

If proven true, Tiffany’s abilities will trigger an opening to the gates of hell. But can this descent into evil be stopped in time?

Where to find Brenda…

Website | Amazon | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Joanne here!

A fellow teacher and late bloomer, I found myself nodding in agreement as I read your post. Your advice is spot on. Thank you, Brenda, for sharing your inspiring story.

Beyond Seven-Year Itches…

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Soul Mate author Anne B. Cole chatting about seven-year itches and her debut novel Souls Entwined.

Here’s Anne!

My First Act is similar to many other women.

• Married my high school sweetheart after 7 years of dating
• Taught Elementary school for 7 years
• Stayed home to raise three children for 7 years
• Taught preschool for 10 years.

Whoa! What happened to the seven year itch my life seemed to be following?

It happened…I just didn’t know it…

Seven years into my preschool teaching I found myself at the pool where my children were competing in a very long swim meet. Swimmer parents know these things can take up to six hours for one session. I had kids swimming in both sessions, so I was parked at the pool for over ten hours.

I love to watch my kids BUT there is gobs of wait time in between their events. I grabbed my bag at the beginning of warms up and found that I forgot to pack my library book. Darn! For someone who is constantly on the go I have a hard time sitting still with nothing to do. Knowing that I was too far away from home to get my book, I turned the heat sheet over and started to jot down ideas. That outline became the foundation of my Second Act.

I began to carry composition books around with me so I could write in the car, at the pool, anywhere I could find a minute or two. What started out as a hobby became an obsession. Two years later, I finished writing my novel and found two wonderful critique partners. One pitched my story in a contest last year. A month later I found myself with a contract with Soul Mate Publishing.

On April 30th I became an author.

During last minute edits two weeks ago I saw a quote that inspired me;

“No Pressure. No Diamonds.”

My Second Act is a little more frantic since I remain a wife, mother of three teenagers, and a preschool teacher. Add to that; learning social media, writing a sequel, and promoting the release of my novel.

My advice to anyone with a seven year itch? It’s never too late to do something new.

Thanks, Joanne for having me here on your Second Act Series!

Blurb

When a cursed family heirloom sends Gretta Dobbs back in time, a hunky construction worker, Sam Daggett, suddenly finds himself love struck and joins her adventure. Their souls entwine within the bodies of young lovers on a Greek island in 1829, where they begin to unravel the mysteries behind Gretta’s ring all while avoiding a bloodthirsty pirate who is determined to seek revenge. Gretta and Sam must find the secrets needed to save her and her relatives from an afterlife in purgatory and return to their own lives—or risk becoming prisoners of the past, continuing the evil cycle of the ring’s curse.

Where to find Anne…

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Joanne here!

Anne, Thanks for sharing your inspiring story. I’ve just started reading Souls Entwined and am enjoying it immensely. Best of luck with sales.