From Classroom to Lunchroom

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Gwen Stephens chatting about her transition from the classroom to a perfect (but temporary) second act.

Here’s Gwen!

Ask a young child what she wants to be when she grows up and the answer may surprise and amuse you. Princess, baker, dermatologist, Olympic gymnast, and Hollywood stunt double are some of the future careers my girls have dreamed up over the years. My imagination rarely stretched this far when I was a kid. From an early age I knew I wanted to be a teacher, and my sights never wavered.

But in my working class, inner city neighborhood, higher education was regarded as something other people did. College was reserved for the elite – rich kids, great athletes, the academically gifted. Fortunately I married a guy whose vision extended beyond the confines of the old neighborhood. He encouraged me to follow my dreams, and as soon as it was financially possible, I earned my teaching degree.

Throughout the course of my career, I’ve worked everywhere from the gang-infested inner city to upper-middle class suburbia. What I’ve learned is regardless of life’s challenges, children at their heart are remarkably similar. They all need love and trusted adults to guide them, instill confidence, and believe in their abilities. It’s what I’ve tried to do with each student in every class I’ve taught.

What I never expected was how truly difficult the profession would be. The work is physically and emotionally exhausting, and as I gradually discovered, it never gets easier. Those challenges compounded when I had children of my own. Trying to be a good teacher and a good mother at the same time seemed an impossible feat. Something had to give, and for a long time it was my family.

My decision to resign from classroom teaching was not reached easily. I loved my job, and years of hard work had earned me the respect of colleagues and the community. But ultimately I loved my daughters more, and they deserved a better mom.

My Second Act began in 2011 when the ideal opportunity came along: a part-time position in the same school, working just four hours a day. In my view it was the perfect “Mom Job,” so I decided to snap it up and call myself a Lunch Lady.

Friends and colleagues thought I’d lost my mind, yet this job is one of the best I’ve had. My team includes five other 40-something moms who are also on career hiatus for the sake of the family. We supervise the lunchroom and playground for each grade level’s daily recess. There’s almost no stress. I get to spend my workday outdoors. And I still have daily interaction with students.

Probably best of all has been the difference in my home life. A much more relaxed Mom has had a trickle-down effect on the rest of the family. Home cooked meals have replaced pre-packaged convenience foods. I’m able to help with homework and drive carpools. The extra time in my day allows me to pursue my interest in writing and participate in neighborhood book clubs. I know how lucky I am, and every day I’m grateful for my good fortune.

Returning to the teaching profession is a question of when and not if. It’s my true calling, and I can’t imagine myself in any other career. Someday when my children are grown and I can devote myself entirely to the demands of the job, I’ll go back to the classroom. Until then, I’m making the most of each day with my kids, because it’s time I’ll never get back.

Visit Gwen at her website.

Joanne here!

Gwen, I applaud your decision to take a “Mom Job” and devote more time and energy to your family and creative pursuits. Best of luck with your writing.

How Many Acts to a Life?

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Soul Mate author Ryan Jo Summers sharing the events that transformed her idyllic life and propelled her toward a previously unimaginable reinvention.

Here’s Ryan!

There are some events that forever alter our lives, propel us forward and leave us changed in ways we never could have imagined. I have a grand little quote on my desk that reads: When life looks like it is falling apart, it may just be falling into place. How simple and how true.

Back in the early 1990’s and 2000’s I was happily married, living my dream life in Michigan. I was a wife, madly in love with my perfect husband. We had two sons. We owned businesses. We worked hard. We accomplished a lot. I had a pet boarding kennel and a non-profit collie rescue organization. I had horses and lots of pets. We competed professionally with our collies and built a reputable kennel name. We had acres to make it all work. We had great friends and family who all loved us. That was Act 1. It was idyllic and challenging and I learned so very much from those years. Looking back, there are only a few things I would have done differently. Things I now know were done through youthful ignorance.

Two collies taken in 2003. Blue merle Ruffian was my confirmation and obedience showdog/ pet. Sable Kip was a stray who became adopted through the rescue.

Then the fateful day came when not only did my life fall apart, it suddenly crashed at my feet in a fiery inferno. While out of the country on holiday, I received an email from my perfect hubby saying he was leaving me. I thought I had mistakenly received an email intended for someone other poor soul! The following eleven months might be considered an intermission or an act all unto themselves. They were eleven months of unbelievable events and horrific news sweeping over me in never ending wave upon wave of heartache and injustice.

Not only was I convinced my life had fallen apart, I was stunned just looking at the jagged shards littering my life each day. I truly was clueless what had happened to my idyllic little life. Only later into that period did I learn it stemmed from a mid-life crisis, leading to dissatisfaction, infidelity and guilt. Our friends and family were divided. At then of that act/ intermission, I was forced to take my shattered life and leave the home I had worked so hard for, my dream life and the last of my ‘people’. The premature death of my marriage, my dreams and my long term friendships all led to a door that was now forever shut and sealed.

Now I am ten years into my Act Two. I left Michigan for the quaint charm and beauty of the Appalachian south. I made new friends. I took a job outside the definition of my twenty plus years’ experience. I went from successful business owner with secure finances to a hourly wage worker barely able to make the rent and put gas in the tank. It has been an education on many planes for me. I was starting over all over again, only this time with the experience of twenty plus years packed in my trunk.

Blue Ridge Mountains near my home

At first I felt like I had landed on a foreign planet but it has all fallen into place. And it has continued to gradually fall into place. I still get stuck in the holding patterns while I wait for doors to open or events to unfold, but I don’t worry about it. Eventually the holding pattern ends and I move forward in my life just a little further.

Selling my debut novel in 2012 was a huge leap forward. Having two more coming out this year is another huge jump. Selling short pieces to trade journals and local periodicals has been gratifying. Learning social media and building a platform was initially going back to that foreign planet again, but I know I can survive and learn and, in time, thrive.

That has been my goal in the last eleven years, to not only survive but to also thrive. It has not been easy. Six years ago my body was beset with chronic conditions that left me challenged to continue living a normal appearing life. Yet I had come too far to give up so I became educated with my options and got serious. I am stuck with this body and it is stuck with me, there must be a peaceful co-existence within myself, which will transfer to everyone I encounter in my life.

What has been my grounding force during this second act has been a strong faith in God. I have learned to be happy in the trials, knowing I will emerge stronger and better. I have learned to be patient in the waiting because it will be better on the other side. I have learned we can see both sides better once we have lived through the hell in the middle. I have learned that life is a journey, not a guided tour and it is only when we feel the stress of the storms do we learn the strength of our anchor.

River near my house where I go to meet with God

I have learned that to change, we must want something else more than what we have now and that now is not forever. I have learned God always give His best to those who leave the choices with Him and I have learned life is lived forward and understood backward. I have learned to value of thanking God for what I currently have and trusting Him for what I will need. I have learned that the upheaval we sometimes experience as we move from one act to another in our lives proceeds our spiritual progress and it is the action added to the faith that lets the pieces fall into place.

I know I would have never made it through the pain and betrayal of the intermission and come this far through my second act without the Divine help of God at my side. I know I wouldn’t want to go one single step into my next stage in life without Him.

Ten years ago I came to NC, little money, pride beaten and tail between my legs. I used what little cash I had to put a security deposit and rent down on a house and a down payment down on a Jeep. Then ten years of struggle, survive and place one foot in front of the other. Now, ten years later, I am still struggling, though not as much and differently. I am thriving and still placing one foot in front of the other. And I am buying my first ‘My’ house. Waiting to close later this month. What a change in just ten short— and very long—- years. If this is my second act, I wonder what will the third act bring?
The relief of God granting me this humble little house is such a real, palatable thing. I can’t wait to get settled in, write and donate the praises to God above.

Ryan’s Books

Civil War hero turned renegade, Logan Riley, is hanged by the law in 1869. His story should have ended there, except it doesn’t. In 2014, anthropologist Dr. McKenzie Lynne is hired by a team of physicists, protected by the military, to find a missing link to their time travel theories. She finds Logan, in the back of a cave, buried in glittering golden dust, alive and handsome.

When she returns to camp with him, and learns what plans they really have in store for him, she is horrified. Reacting, she grabs his hand and makes a run for it, taking their living treasure, escaping into the mountains and desert of Arizona.

Now pursued by the military, and the obsessed physicists who will stop at nothing to get their living treasure back, Kenzie and Logan must fight to stay alive. Each moment is a challenge to stay free, because getting caught would be very bad.

Meanwhile, Kenzie’s strong Christian faith works on Logan’s bad boy heart, convicting him of his lawless past, something the hangman’s noose could not do. With Kenzie’s help, he works to allow God into his heart while fighting to keep theirs safe. Undeniable feelings bloom between them as tense moments spread into longer periods of developing love. As the hunters close in, their new love must face the toughest test of all– a showdown between the armed military, Kenzie’s Christian character and Logan’s nineteenth century sense of justice.

Darby Adams has a full, happy life with a successful Bed & Breakfast Inn called The Brass Lamplighter, her teen-age son, Matt, and a menagerie of stray pets she oversees. Then a guest is found dead in one of her rooms, murdered, stabbed to death. Suddenly she becomes Driftwood Shores’ number 1 suspect. With her world spiraling out of control, she desperately needs a friend.

The surviving family wants answers so they hire Private Investigator Sam Golden to prove her guilt. Busy with his own rebellious, disobedient teen daughter, Madison, Sam takes the case. He begins in a dual role in the guise of a much needed friend for Darby yet still with plans to investigate and send her to prison.

Then strange things start happening at the B & B, scary things. Darby leans on Sam’s friendship and he has to seriously question her guilt or innocence. Until feelings start to develop between them in the heat of the mysteries. Until the day arrives Sam has to tell her the truth. Until someone kidnaps their children.

Reeling from Sam’s confession, Darby knows she has to trust him to get their kids back. But can she ever trust him with her heart?

Where to find Ryan…

Website | Blog | Facebook | Amazon

Joanne here!

Ryan, I am inspired by the courage and strength you demonstrated throughout the past ten years. Thank you for reminding us that there is a morning after. Best of luck with your books.

Spotlight on Sophia Kimble

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

I am happy to spotlight Sophia Kimble and her debut novel, Protect Her. Her long and winding path to publication will inspire writers (and non-writers) to pursue their dreams.

Here’s Sophia!

I’m going to preface this spotlight with the fact I hate talking about myself, so bear with me folks. I make up stories for a living—telling the truth leaves something a bit sour on my tongue. Oops, I’ve said too much already.

Whew, okay, I feel better now.

I’ve been an avid reader all of my life. Heard that before, I’m sure, but hey, it’s the truth. (Oh no, get me my toothbrush.) My love of romance novels began when I was thirteen after I read the first book in the Calder Saga series by Janet Dailey. I mean, come on, what’s not to love? Gorgeous alpha male cowboys who live and love in Montana. Well, I can tell you, I saved my allowance and bought them all, stayed up all night to finish, and took a trip to Montana when I was older. Even dreamed of meeting and falling in love with a real cowboy!

It was probably in College while I was taking interior design and acting classes that I began to think I could write a book, but I was always too afraid of failure to give it a go. (I grew up in Southern California, so it shouldn’t surprise you what my first majors were. I was even an extra in a couple of movies.) I know, what the heck was I doing studying to become an actor when I feared rejection?

Those were my thoughts exactly, which is why I changed majors. So what does someone who wants to be an author, interior designer, or an actor, but is too afraid, do with her life? She becomes a nurse. Makes perfect sense, don’t you think?

Twenty years later an accident left me unable to work for an extended period, and I began thinking about that long-ago dream of writing. Talked to my husband (who’s not a cowboy, but oh so sexy just the same) about it, and he urged me to give it a try.

The first year was full of not only writing Protect Her, but taking classes, entering contests, having my work reviewed by critique partners, getting rejection letters from agents, and many…many rewrites. Like many first time authors, I wavered from this book sucks, to it’s actually pretty good, and then back again. Usually within a five minute time span.

Then, (here’s where it gets good) Savvy Authors held on online pitch event, and Protect Her received requests from publishers to see my manuscript… four partials and three fulls. Yay! Two of the partials became fulls, and Protect Her received 3 contract offers!

I was floored! No literally, I fell on the floor and my husband came running to see what was wrong. After much consideration, I signed with Soul Mate Publishing, and couldn’t be happier with the decision. Protect Her is now available on Amazon.

Life is good.

Blurb

Golden Alexander is trapped in a nightmare.

Trying to flee her hallucination of a demon, she runs heart first into the brooding alpha male she’s been dreaming about for years, and then her nightmare really begins.

Kris Pietka is done with women…he’s broken. But when he meets Golden, an overwhelming need to protect her tests everything he thought he knew about himself, and the paranormal.

A bond forged centuries ago thrusts them together as they search for a way to break an ancient Druid curse prophesying their demise. Racing against the clock, they travel from Vermont, to the Carpathian Mountains in Poland, and the Scottish Highlands in search of answers and a way to break the curse.

But something evil watches—it covets, and time is running out.

Will fate allow love to prevail against unbeatable odds, or will Golden wake to find it was all a delusion?

Bio

Sophia Kimble has always wanted to be an author, but for years, life got in the way. She wouldn’t change a thing about how her life turned out, though. Her family keeps her laughing and loving. Her wonderful husband and two extraordinary children stand beside her every step of the way and make this journey called life worth living.

Sophia has worked as a nurse for twenty years, but has put that career path aside to devote her time and imagination to writing down the stories that keep her up nights.

She takes her love of the paranormal, history, and genealogy, and weaves them into tales of family, fated love, and supernatural occurrences.

Where to find Sophia…

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Life Is What You Make Of It!

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have prolific author Dormaine G chatting about the varied and rich life experiences that led to literary publication.

Here’s Dormaine!

Thank you Joanne for inviting me to write for your segments on Second Acts.

Well, let me tell you a little something about me. I was born in New York but moved to Mississippi as a child. I went to Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana to study medicine then moved to Massachusetts for life experience. I needed more than the typical life routine. Eventually, I moved back to New York where I became a registered nurse and studied forensic nursing. After working a few years in New York as a nurse, I started doing travel nursing and loved it. Eventually, I decided to stop traveling, while in Colorado, to stay closer to family. Shortly after, I met my wonderful husband and have been here ever since.

Getting into writing wasn’t so much as triggered but forced. I worked as a triage nurse for a pharmaceutical company but the business relocated out of state. I believe things happen for a reason because it forced me to pursue my dream of writing. Even as a child, I have always had a love for science fiction and enjoyed it through books, movies and comics. I have dabbled in writing throughout the years, and realized it was time for me to take the plunge. Instead of going back to work immediately, I stayed home to write. I published my first novel titled Connor in late 2013. I plan on following up with a series of books under the Connor name. My other books are under the Madame Lilly saga and plan on having her around for many more years.

Presently, I am working with five other authors on a paranormal sampler titled Mysticism & Myths which is set to be released mid December. My book in the sampler is titled Micco, Anguta’s Reign which is set to be released this November. I’m also working on a third volume under the Madame Lilly series. Besides that, I will continue to write and produce the many tales that I have hidden in my room or stored in my head. I have met some wonderful people along this journey so far and will continue to maintain such relationships.

Although writing can leave you quite exposed, I find it to be liberating. I never imagined that I would be able to live such a dream because that’s exactly what it is- a dream. Now having experienced it, I would not give it up for anything. If you feel writing is something you must do then do so. Take that plunge if you can, but if you do, then it must be for yourself and not others. Not everyone will understand or even get it but that is all right as long as you know what you feel in your heart. Always be true to yourself and your literature.

“I believe the power of positive thinking” If you think it, then it shall be. You just have to believe.

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

Dormaine’s Books

Micco, a captivating Native American man with a desirable physique and statuesque features, radiates a mysterious allure. Living on the reservation with his unapproachable father, he doesn’t believe in the old ways and works as a cop in the local town. The only reason he lives on the land is Nara, his childhood friend and the love of his life, who is married to a cruel reservation man.

Waking up in the heart of a murderous scene, he flees for his life, unfamiliar with his surroundings or how he arrived there. To his horror, he’s assigned to the case. As he works with the local detective, more murders transpire with unusual, terrifying sightings of wolves.

His behavior starts to drastically change, forcing others to take notice. Although trying to avoid the inevitable, Micco is forced to accept the undesirable truth, unable to fight what has been awakened, and all that he has forgotten is finally revealed.

Connor recently discovers she has the gift of invisibility among other gifts but what she doesn’t realize is that her life is about to change for the worse. She is fifteen, sarcastically funny, at least she thinks so, and doesn’t always like to face reality. She meets five other teenagers who have abilities similar to hers but not everyone is so eager to find answers as to why they are different.

Sensing their lives are in danger, she is determined to figure out the truth by any means necessary, forcing her to grow up fast. Connor is slapped with the cold, hard, fact that the people she thought she knew are not who they appear to be and all human beings are not just that human.

Through all of this, Connor and Tony, one other with abilities, start to develop feelings for each other causing jealousy in more ways than one. Then there is Ronin, who is young, smart, and breathtaking. He is set on taking his revenge out on Connor but she has no idea why.

The time is 1890, the place, New Orleans, and Odara is lost to Madame Lilly, her soulless side—and she has not finished what she started. Unleashing two great forces, Theolus and Hearon, with ferocious appetites against her common-law husband, Henry Nicholas, is just the beginning of the end for Lilly—only she doesn’t know it yet.

For the spirits she raised took what was left of her humanity and left a piece of themselves within her; a piece that craves chaos. Needing to maintain control over them to do her bidding, Lilly must do what is required even if it means becoming more like them.

Tortured, scorned and damned, Lilly has one mission in life: Retribution.

In the late 1800’s Odara, a Creole girl in New Orleans, grew up wealthy and having the best of everything. She was taught the ways of plaçage: to be a wealthy man’s common-law wife. She didn’t want to follow the ways of plaçage as her mother had, until she met the man of her dreams, Henry Nicolas. He was handsome, charming and rich; perfect in every way until their first night of marriage when she saw his true malevolent side.

For twelve long years Odara endured abuse in the worst ways possible, taking her from a naive child to a scorned woman. A woman fueled with such revulsion towards Henry she would give anything for vengeance.

Through voodoo, Madame Lilly was born, but with it came consequences beyond even her comprehension.

Where to Find Dormaine

Joanne here!

Dormaine, thank you for an inspiring post! Best of luck with all your literary endeavors.

If You Don’t Have a Dream

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have author and public relations dynamo Adrienne Vaughan chatting about the importance of dreams.

Here’s Adrienne!

Adrienne and Winston

I’ve always loved that song, you know, the one from South Pacific, Happy Talk. It’s so true, if you don’t have a dream, how on earth are you going to make a dream come true?

There again, have you ever met anyone who doesn’t dream they were someone or something else? Most people wish for something different, but it’s the dreamers, and I mean the real dreamers who make a difference. Sighing and wishing achieves very little, as far as I can tell, it’s the proper, ‘let’s take this seriously’ dreamer who gets things done, changes themselves, their environment, the whole world if they mean too.

But it wasn’t until Joanne kindly invited me onto her blog, and I was giving this notion some thought, that I realised that’s exactly what I am, a serious dreamer!

I knew very definitely what my first act would be, from the age of seven I wanted to be a writer, no ifs or buts. I was given a Petite Typewriter and my fate was sealed. I wrote poems, plays, short stories and articles – pasting them together on the kitchen table, creating my own magazines.

My mother, taking a well-earned break with a cup of tea and a copy of Women’s Own, would open the pages and scream. I had usually chopped half of it out, leaving holes in the articles and no pictures to the features.

I was twelve when I decided I was going to be a journalist, ideally the editor of a glossy magazine, where I could meet and marry a rock star – David Bowie or Bryan Ferry were ideal potential husbands in my opinion – so I packed my dream in my suitcase and left Dublin to work in London, on a glossy pop magazine, of course.

Adrienne and Bryan Ferry

Fast forward twenty five years and my career has turned from poacher to gamekeeper, I now run a busy PR practice, and my second act is well and truly upon me, emerging as part of my development as a writer, rather than a real need for change.

Writers write, it’s what they do, so of course I have any amount of half-baked novels under the bed, one is nearly thirty years old! But it wasn’t until I became involved with the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the New Romantics Press and Amazon that perhaps, my most serious dream came true. I published my first novel, The Hollow Heart and to finally hold my work in my hand as a real book was without doubt, one of the best feelings ever. Now, as I blearily edit my third novel, due out at the end of November, I keep pushing the dream on and it’s getting bigger and better.

My advice for anyone pursuing a second act? Use all the skills, contacts and determination you used pursuing your first. I would be nowhere without the RNA, Amazon and my precious chums, Lizzie Lamb, June Kearns and Mags Cullingford – and I wouldn’t even have known them without relentlessly pursuing my serious dream.

(l-r) Liz Harris, Pia Courtney, Talli Roland, Lizzie Lamb, Rowan Coleman, Julie Cohen and Adrienne Vaughan all pictured at Liz Fenwick’s book launch at Waterstones, Kensington High Street.

This is what’s stuck on my computer screen …She turned her can’ts into cans …and her dreams into plans! Go on, you can do it!

Moping about glumly wishing things could be different, if only I were rich, pretty, clever is never going to work is it.

Adrienne’s Books

Marianne Coltrane is a feisty,award-winning journalist who is far from lucky in love. Taking herself off to the wilds of the west of Ireland to recuperate, she literally runs into Ryan O’Gorman, the most conceited, infuriating man in the world. He’s an actor who’s just landed the biggest role in movie history and he loathes journalists. One thing they do have in common is they both think their chance of true love has passed them by…but fate has other ideas!

Escaping to a remote Irish isle, journalist Marianne Coltrane had not bargained for a tumultuous affair with movie star Ryan O’Gorman. When Ryan leaves to pursue his career, Marianne remains on the island to care for those who need her most, but Ryan soon realises he cannot live without her and returns to woo her back. Tricky enough without his problematic ex-wife or the contract he cannot break, but when a good deed puts all they treasure in jeopardy, it’s time to take stock and fight for what matters most…or is time running out for this charismatic couple and everything they hold dear?

Bio

Adrienne Vaughan’s books have been described as Maeve Binchy meets Jackie Collins – as these authors are two of her heroines, she thinks this is just fantastic!

Adrienne Vaughan has been making up stories since she could speak; as soon as she could pick up a pen she started writing them down. No surprise she wanted to be a journalist, ideally the editor of a glossy magazine, where she could meet and marry a rock star! Today she runs a busy PR practice, writing novels, poems and short stories in her spare time.

She was born in England, was brought up in Dublin and now lives in rural Leicestershire with her husband, two cocker spaniels and a rescue cat called Agatha Christie; she still harbours a burning ambition to be a Bond girl!

Adrienne is working on the final book in the Heartfelt trilogy Secrets of the Heart, which she intends to publish in November 2014. She has outlines for her next two books, which are set on the same island but feature different characters and storylines.

A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme since 2012, Adrienne is the current editor of the RNA’s magazine Romance Matters and a founder member of the indie publishing group, The New Romantics Press. In her professional life she is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and the Chartered Institute of Journalists. She also holds a licence to drive a powerboat.

Where to find Adrienne…

Website | Amazon | Twitter | Facebook

Joanne here!

Adrienne, thank you for sharing your inspiring journey and providing wonderful advice and insights. Your books sound delicious. I’m putting them on my TBR list.

Hold on Tight to Your Dreams

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Lizzie Lamb chatting about the dream that simmered for over three decades before coming to fruition.

Here’s Lizzie!

Briefly describe your first act.

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. However, like most aspiring writers I had bills to pay and commitments to meet. I’m not the sort of person who could starve in a garret in order to write, or the kind of woman who would expect her husband/partner to support her financially while she followed a dream. A dream which might never be realised. So the dream went on hold. If I couldn’t be a writer, I decided, I would pour my enthusiasm for writing into helping children fall in love with words and books instead, and stimulate their imagination through story telling.

In 1972 I qualified as a primary school teacher and spent time and energy teaching children how to become better writers. In this process I discovered that I had a talent for writing, producing plays and providing ex-curricular Dance and Drama Workshops for the older children. Throughout my thirty four year teaching career I never gave up on the dream that one day I would hold my own book in my hands.

Fast forward to 1988. With my career established, I managed to find some time away from marking, preparation and assessment and wrote my first romance. It was entitled The Summer of the Lotus and thanks to contacts I made I acquired an agent. I then wrote romance #2 A Reversal of Fortune, in which Mills and Boone showed an interest but suggested that I needed to hone and develop my craft. I was more than happy to do this and carried on writing in the wee, small hours after my prep for the next day was completed.

In 1990 I reached a crossroads in my life to pursue my writing dream or to get to the top of my chosen profession, teaching. I applied for and was appointed Deputy Head Teacher in a large (400+) primary school in Leicestershire. Yes, you’ve guessed it, the writing was put on hold as the post was too good to pass up on. Over the next sixteen years my time was taken up as a manager, coordinator and facilitator. However, I still found time to write, produce, choreograph and direct two plays a year with the older children in school, so the writing bug was kept alive.

What triggered the need for change?

The clock was ticking and changes were taking place in publication – Amazon, self-publishing, kindle and so on and I wanted to ride the crest of the wave before it petered out. In 2006 I took the plunge and retired from teaching (at age 55) in order to concentrate on my writing. My desire and enthusiasm had never diminished but the face of romantic fiction was changing – thanks to the Bridget Jones’s phenomenon, and I wanted to be part of those changes.

I had always enjoyed reading and writing about feisty heroines with a can-do attitude; women who want to succeed in life. The heroines in my novels fall in love, of course they do, but they don’t sit around like depressed Cinderellas waiting for a prince to rescue them. They are ‘heroes’ in their own right and more than a match for the male protagonist. Typically, he will be a more rounded Beta hero, rather than a domineering Alpha male. These are the men I relate to and the feedback I’ve received from my readership, show they do, too. My heroes are looking for Miss Right, but might not realise that she’s right in front of him until they experiences a coup de foudre and fall in love.

I got back in touch with my former agent but she had retired, and so I started down the road of submitting to agents looking for debut authors. However, I was advised by other writers that, for me, self-publishing might be the answer.

I had my novel professionally critiqued, proof read and formatted. I launched Tall, Dark and Kilted on Amazon in November 2012, closely followed by Boot Camp Bride a year later. During that time I formed an indie authors’ collaborative with three other romance authors, The New Romantics 4, learned to blog, tweet, and have made lots of friends and fans through the pages of Facebook and Pinterest.

Where are you now?

I’m 70% through writing rom com number three, set in Scotland, with a hunky American hero called Brodie. I hope to publish in 2015, after posting a cover reveal, post and pre-order links on my website soon after Christmas. I have ideas for many more novels and, fingers crossed, will have the stamina and good health to write them. I haven’t gone down the route of actively looking for an agent and a publisher as I am quite happy being an indie author ATM. But who knows? If the right contract came along, one which offered me better terms than I can get on my own, I might be interested. But it’d have to be pretty good as I have done all the hard work and am loathe to hand it all over to a publisher who might not work hard to promote me.

Do you have advice for anyone planning to pursue a second act?

If you have a dream – and who doesn’t? – go for it. You might have to wait until the mortgage is paid, the children have been through university and left home, but never lose sight of what is it you really want to do. Who you really are. Start planning for it in advance and get your ducks in a row, like I did. I had to wait for thirty four years to realise my dream, but I got there in the end. I hope you realise your dream much sooner.

Any affirmations or quotations you wish to share?

Life is not a rehearsal.

If luck doesn’t come your way, go out and make your own luck.

But above all – Follow Your Heart . . . That’s what I did.

Lizzie’s Books

Fliss Bagshawe longs for a passport out of Pimlico where she works as a holistic therapist. After attending a party in Notting Hill she loses her job and with it the dream of being her own boss. She’s offered the chance to take over a failing therapy centre, but there’s a catch. The centre lies five hundred miles north in Wester Ross, Scotland. Fliss’s romantic view of the highlands populated by Men in Kilts is shattered when she has an upclose and personal encounter with the Laird of Kinloch Mara, Ruairi Urquhart. He’s determined to pull the plug on the business, bring his eccentric family to heel and eject undesirables from his estate – starting with Fliss. Facing the dole queue once more Fliss resolves to make sexy, infuriating Ruairi revise his unflattering opinion of her, turn the therapy centre around and sort out his dysfunctional family. Can Fliss tame the Monarch of the Glen and find the happiness she deserves?

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada

It’s almost two years to the day since I finished formatting Tall, Dark and Kilted and the proof copy of the paperback arrived from Create Space. To celebrate this momentous occasion, I’m reducing the price of Tall Dark and Kilted from £1.99 to £0.99 ($2.99 to $0.99 in the U.S.) for the next two weeks. So, if you fancy spending these chilly autumn evenings in the company of a hot laird, download it now.

Take an up-for-anything reporter. Add a world-weary photo-journalist. Put them together . . . light the blue touch paper and stand well back! Posing as a bride-to-be, Charlee Montague goes undercover at a boot camp for brides in order to photograph supermodel Anastasia Markova. At Charlee’s side and posing as her fiancé, is Rafael Ffinch award winning photographer and survivor of a kidnap attempt in Colombia. He’s in no mood to cut inexperienced Charlee any slack and has made it plain that once the investigation is over, their partnership – and fake engagement – will be terminated, too. Soon Charlee has more questions than answers. What’s the real reason behind Ffinch’s interest in the boot camp? How is it connected to his kidnap in Colombia? In setting out to uncover the truth, Charlee puts herself in danger … As the investigation draws to a close, she wonders if she’ll be able to hand back the engagement ring and walk away from Rafa without a backward glance.

Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon Canada

Where to find Lizzie…

And New Romantics 4

Blog | Facebook | Twitter

Joanne here!

Lizzie, thank you for inspiring us with your journey and reminding us never to give up on our dreams. Best of luck with all your literary endeavors.

Breaking Down Barriers

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Dawn Rusinko sharing her inspiring journey through prolonged and difficult seasons.

Here’s Dawn!

Thank you Joanne for inviting me to write for your segments on Second Acts.

We all have Seasons in our lives that conjure change. Life circumstances often lead us to face challenges. Challenges like, the sting of rejection, ingratitude, deception and false expectations that surprise us from people we care about. It forces us to take a deep hard look within, but not to stay there in self-pity licking our wounds. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been there. I can remember being very sick and finding out who my real friends were. Writing a children’s book and being rejected by 23 publishing companies, because I didn’t have a literary agent, or it was not their style of publishing. My 11-year-old, son almost lost his life due to a brain tumor and hemorrhaging blood clot. I experienced failed relationships and business ventures, but with every loss there is grieving and a healing process.

This process can feel like the end of the road, but it isn’t. It’s where you meet your darkness, crushed to allow the new seeds of life to break forth. It’s like driving through a long dark tunnel bringing you to a new season of life. You break down and through the barriers of rejection and loss learning that it didn’t kill you it refined and redirected you to better and brighter things. New chapters open when old chapters end.

Currently, I am going through the tunnel to a new season in my life. I’ve picked back up that rejected children’s book from 25 years ago and working on resurrecting it. I am fine-tuning my writing skills by blogging. I am volunteering on a National and local level, and I am in the process of writing three books with the hope that this time I will break down the barrier into publishing. I’ve found these quotes helpful to me, perhaps you will too.

J.K. Rowling and her Harry Potter series was not only rejected 12 times, but she was told rather harshly not to quit her day job. Anne Frank’s diary was rejected 15 times and the famous “Gone with the Wind” was rejected 38 times. When Lucille Ball began studying to be actress in 1927, she was told by the head instructor to, “Try any other profession.”

“Great success is built on failure, frustration, even catastrophe” ~Sumner Redstone

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot … and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed.” ~ Michael Jordan

Where to find Dawn…

Blog | Facebook | Twitter

Joanne here!

Thank you, Dawn, for sharing your journey. Your post has uplifted my spirit, and I am certain it will resonate with many other readers. Let me know when your first book is published. I would love to spotlight it on this blog.

Chapter 3: All My Days Are Saturdays

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Barb Taub inspiring and entertaining us with her version of HEA (Happily-Ever-After), or more precisely HFN (Happily-For-Now), and a Second Act (Chapter 3) jam-packed with Saturdays.

Here’s Barb!

Once Upon a Time

Chapter 1

A girl met her prince. He was tall, dark, and handsome. (Actually, he was a Republican. But he was definitely tall.) They fell in love, and got married.

Chapter 2

He brought her to his (rented) castle and they lived happily ever after.

Okay, so thirty years of life happened between Chapters 1 and 2. They included:

MONTHS	SPENT:
36	Pregnant
96	Changing diapers
192	Getting offspring into or out of carseats
180	Driving to Sunday School
48 bazillion	Driving practice with teenage drivers. (Note: this item is multiplied by Parental-Terror units, which include the number of times your life flashes before your eyes…)
135 down, 9 to go	College tuition
396	Thinking up something to have for dinner
384	Being bossy. In charge. ~~The Boss.~~ Mom.
0	Playing with my grandchildren (but I’m not bitter. Much…)
All of them	Telling lies. Making stuff up Writing

In the romance-writing biz, we aim for the HEA (Happily-Ever-After), or—if we’re milking it for series potential—at least a HFN, or Happily-For-Now. (No, it doesn’t mean Hell, eFfing No…).

***

So it turns out that my Chapter 2 was a HFN, and I moved both into a castle in the north of England, and straight into Chapter 3.

Several years ago, we actually moved to the island, although it’s a bit bigger than I expected. We lived in one tower of a medieval castle in England.

YES. (And the beauty of this ensemble is that it's also what you'll wear to bed.)

What to really wear in a castle. And the beauty of this ensemble is that it’s also what you’ll wear to bed. Most of it at once.

I was living the dream. And apparently, the dream was really, really cold. The main thing to remember about living in a 1000+ year old pile of stone is that the builders were a lot more concerned with discouraging visits from Vikings and Scots than with heat and er… sanitation. But thanks to the sympathetic current owners of the castle, a new kitchen and bathroom took us past the original builders’ idea of facilities (which, from what I saw down in the surviving medieval rooms, pretty much involved a piece of stone with a hole in the middle). I learned what to wear. How to speak British. And best of all, what to do with my Saturdays.

As a favor to those who might be considering castle life, I invite you on a (virtual) visit. When you come, here is our typical day:

0’dark:30—the dog leaps straight from her bed to mine (or yours if the castle ghost, the White Lady, has popped in to open your door. Yes, the same door you carefully closed, locked, and probably secured with a chair under the knob. Ghosts don’t get out much, so their sense of humor is somewhat stunted…) The dog shares the breaking news. “It’s time. I hafta. Go NOW! Up, up, up. What part of pee-now do you people not get? And by the way, as long as you’re up, I wouldn’t turn down a bowl of kibble.”

One of the good things about sleeping with so many clothes on is that you just have to grab the keys, leash, and the glory that is your pair of British Wellies. Although there is no actual network signal around the castle, you should bring your phone so you can use its flashlight app to find the steaming pile the dog refuses to produce until she’s sniffed every single damn blade of grass in the meadow and churchyard surrounding the castle because, of course, this is the north of England which won’t see actual dawn for about four more hours. (Hey, I don’t want to hear your opinion of run-on sentences. It’s friggin early and we haven’t even had coffee.) Where was I? Oh, yeah. We stagger back to our tower and the exhausted dog collapses in one of the beds she keeps in every room. Tough morning; she needs a nap.

As we make the (industrial-strength) coffee, you sit in the kitchen and realize you can see your breaths.

I love you Mr. Milkman

When the coffee is ready, my brain thaws enough to remember that we went blindly past the milk that Mr. Milkman left at the portcullis, and we have a stare-down to see who will cave and go back down for the milk: the polite guest (you) or the polite hostess (ha, ha, ha, you’re funny, you are). BTW, I’ve never met him, and I really hope Mrs. Milkman doesn’t mind, but I’m in love with Mr. Milkman. He slips in even before the dog gets up, leaving adorable little bottles of organic milk, plus eggs, and rolls of butter wrapped in brown paper. We communicate via notes twisted up and poked into empty bottles I leave for him at the gate. It’s one of my all-time purest, most satisfying relationships.

My gorgeous French Émigré with the heart of darkness…

Coffee in hand, it’s time for you to witness the other significant relationship in my castle life. I’m not going to say who is dom and who is sub, but I spend a disturbing amount of my time on my knees in front of my sophisticated, elegant French partner, blowing until he’s burning hot (yes, I did write that…) and then returning every few hours to fulfill his needs again. Sometimes, even though I think I’m doing everything right, he knows I need to be punished and he vents his wrath in black oily smoke pouring back into the flat. This sets off the castle fire alarm system, which means I have only minutes to (grab keys/wellies/dog) race down the circular stairs, through the basement, up the other stairs, down the main hall, and over to the fire system in time to call off the emergency vehicles about to be dispatched. That system is clearly in cahoots with the angry Frenchie up in my living room, so I have to stand there for a few hours repeatedly pressing the “clear” button until they reluctantly agree to shut the f-up.

If it’s Wednesday, it’s Village Coffee, as I discovered my first day as a castle resident. I emerged to walk the dog, still wearing what I’d worn to bed (basically, almost every item of clothing I owned as explained above). I was immediately identified as fresh blood, captured, and marched over to coffee morning in the Victorian-era Village Hall. There may be some places where village coffee morning is a casual event. I just don’t think those places are in England. Certainly not in our village, where the weekly caffeination is the place for the major decisions, changes, and explanations of village life to be enacted over coffee and perhaps a few raffle ticket sales.

Village Coffee is also where I learned to speak British. For example, at coffee morning, I described my reaction to finding the side of my car bashed in. “I was so pissed,” I confessed. “And as the day went on, I just got more and more pissed off. In fact, by that night, I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been that totally pissed.” There was a collective silence you could have cut with a knife. Finally one of my friends asked if I knew that pissed means drunk. All nodded sagely, and the discussion turned to the shame one felt to run out of homemade jam and have to serve (her voice lowered) jam from a shop.

What does all this have to do with a second act? Before the Castle, what little writing time I had was sandwiched into weekends, along with everything else that went with an executive career, four kids, a house, and American life. But after we moved to England—thanks to Her Majesty’s government and their very kind refusal to allow me a work permit—all my days are Saturdays. Those Saturdays multiplied until the story my daughter and I had tossed around as an idea became chapters and then a series of books.

We’ve recently moved from the Castle to our Hobbit House, a Victorian cottage with a secret garden surrounded by tall stone walls in the heart of Glasgow. My days are still all Saturdays, and the next two books in my Null City series, an anthology and Book 3, are due out early next year.

Barb’s Books

Null City Series: Superpowers suck. If you just want to live a normal life, Null City is only a Metro ride away. After one day there, imps become baristas, and hellhounds become poodles. Demons settle down, become parents, join the PTA, and worry about their taxes. But Gaby, Connor, and Carey—the three Parker siblings charged with protecting Null City—are still missing. And outside of Null City, now that the century-long secret Nonwars between Gifts and Haven are over and the Accords Treaty is signed, an uneasy peace is policed by Wardens under the command of the Accords Agency.

One Way Fare: Null City is the only sanctuary for Gaby Parker and Leila Rice, two young women confronting cataclysmic forces waging an unseen war between Heaven and Hell. Gaby and her younger brother and sister are already targets in the war that cost their parents’ lives. Meanwhile, Leila has inherited a French chateau, a mysterious legacy, and a prophecy that she will end the world. Gaby and Leila become catalysts for the founding and survival of Null City. It just would have been nice if someone told them the angels were all on the other side.

Don’t Touch: Hope flares each morning in the tiny flash of a second before Lette touches that first thing. And destroys it. Her online journal spans a decade, beginning with the day a thirteen-year-old inherits an extreme form of the family “gift.” Every day whatever she touches converts into something new: bunnies, bubbles, bombs, and everything in between. Lette’s search for a cure leads her to Stefan, whose fairy-tale looks hide a monstrous legacy, and to Rag, an arrogant, crabby ex-angel with boundary issues. The three face an army led by a monster who feeds on children’s fear. But it’s their own inner demons they must defeat first.

We’re All Human. Even When We’re Not (Anthology, Available late 2014) She’s a young witch whose goddess is house cat of unusual size. He’s a Warden policing a delicate truce between those who are human and those who… aren’t.

Round Trip Fare (Available early 2015) Carey Parker knows superpowers suck. From childhood she’s had two choices—master her warrior gift, or take the Metro train to Null City and a normal life. There are just a couple of problems with that. Her brother and sister have disappeared. The leader of the angels trying to destroy Null City might just be the one person she loves most in the world. And her new partner’s gift lets him predict deaths. Hers.

Bio

In a former life, Barb Taub wrote a humor column for several Midwest newspapers. Now that her days are all Saturdays, she’s lived with her prince-of-a-guy and the world’s most spoiled Aussie Dog in a medieval English castle and a Victorian Scottish cottage. She enjoys translating from British to American, and collaborating with daughter Hannah on the Null City series.

Where to find Barb…

Website | Amazon | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Joanne here!

Barb, thank you for sharing your adventures and your take on HEA and HFN. I could easily visualize your days in the castle and would love to hear more about the Hobbit House. The Null City series sounds intriguing. I’ve put both books on my TBR list.

When Change Means Survival

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have a different kind of second act. A character in Soul Mate author Linda Bennett Pennell’s novel, Confederado do Norte, is sharing her reinvention story.

Here’s Mary Catherine!

Set during the aftermath of the American Civil War, Confederado do Norte tells the story of Mary Catherine MacDonald Dias Oliveira Atwell, a child torn from her war devastated home in Georgia and thrust into the primitive Brazilian interior where the young woman she becomes must learn to recreate herself in order to survive.

Mary Catherine’s first recreation began when she was just a child of 10. Here is a mature Mary Catherine sharing that first recreation in her own words.

My story began at the end of a long war in which many lives and much property were destroyed. After all these years, I can still smell the acrid smoke coming off the ash heap that was the farmhouse where my parents and I once lived. It is as though no time at all has passed since Sherman’s March to the Sea. The only thing that Mama, my beloved nurse Bess, and I could do was watch from our hiding place and wish that Papa wasn’t so far away fighting.

When Papa finally found his way home from the war, it was as a changed man – bitter, lost, and given to unpredictable rages followed by deep melancholia. Even so, we were happy to have him home because we believed he would one day return to himself. If it hadn’t been for a newspaper article and a handful of advertisements my life would have turned out quite differently. As it was, it took little to convince Papa that leaving home was the only solution left to defeated Southerners. Emperor Dom Pedro II’s promise of free land in Brazil’s heartland and subsidized passage sealed our fate.

Shortly after we immigrated, my mother died of galloping consumption, leaving me in the care of my father and my mother’s only surviving brother, Nathan. Papa’s mercurial nature coupled with Nathan’s hatred of me left me uncertain and confused. You see, Nathan blamed me for my mother’s death. The fear that he might be right haunted me, but when I learned Nathan was demanding I be returned to family in Georgia, I became determined to do everything possible to prevent it. I had already lost Mama. I couldn’t bear being separated from Papa as well. At the age of ten, I became a self-taught housekeeper – cooking, cleaning, washing the clothes, tending the vegetable garden, preserving food – nothing was beyond my scope.

By age twelve I decided to pile my long auburn hair up on my head as I had once seen Mama do. It was safer and cooler when I did the housework. Nathan said I was too young to flounce around like a grown woman, but Papa said I did the work of two women so to leave me alone. It came as a shock when I realized that I really didn’t feel like a girl anymore. Somewhere between lifting wet clothes out of the wash pot and cooking on the wood fired stove, I had made the transition from little girl to young woman. Somehow all that I had experienced made that little girl seem like a stranger, as though I were a different person completely. Before I was twenty-one, I would recreate myself two more times because my life and freedom would depend on it.

Bio

I have been in love with the past for as long as I can remember. Anything with a history, whether shabby or majestic, recent or ancient, instantly draws me in. I suppose it comes from being part of a large extended family that spanned several generations. Long summer afternoons on my grandmother’s porch or winter evenings gathered around her fireplace were filled with stories both entertaining and poignant. Of course being set in the American South, those stories were also peopled by some very interesting characters, some of whom have found their way into my work.

As for my venture in writing, it has allowed me to reinvent myself. We humans are truly multifaceted creatures, but unfortunately we tend to sort and categorize each other into neat, easily understood packages that rarely reveal the whole person. Perhaps you, too, want to step out of the box in which you find yourself. I encourage you to look at the possibilities and imagine. Be filled with childlike wonder in your mental wanderings. Envision what might be, not simply what is. Let us never forget, all good fiction begins when someone says to her or himself, “Let’s pretend.”

I reside in the Houston area with one sweet husband and one adorable German Shorthaired Pointer who is quite certain she’s a little girl.

Favorite quote regarding my professional passion: “History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.” Voltaire

Where to find Linda Pennell…

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon

Joanne here!

Linda, thanks for giving us insight in Mary Catherine’s early life. I’m putting Confederado do Norte on my TBR list.

Living Life Without Regrets

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Patti Pokorchak sharing the adventures of her multi-layered life.

Here’s Patti!

First Act

Patti at her IBM Graduation[/caption]Until I was 25, I was a pretty normal but driven kid. I skipped Grade 4, graduated with a computer-programming diploma from Ryerson Polytechnic Institute (college) and started working at IBM when I was still a teenager. Having vowed to never go to university, I returned to Ryerson to get not one but two degrees. My first never say never episode. Returned to IBM where I proceeded to make too much money at a young age.

Patti at her IBM Graduation

What triggered the need for change?

The fear of regret was the impetus to leave everything behind including a promising career, boyfriend, and lifestyle that was supposedly everything most people would ever want. But, I was neither happy nor content. Having spent six weeks in Europe between my two degrees, I had vowed to return for a longer period of time. I had saved $20,000, so money was not the issue. It was not waiting around for someone else to come with me. Time to act or regret it for the rest of my life!

Second Act

After my year of travel, I didn’t want to go home, back to all that was so familiar to me. I found a job and place to live in Munich where I had an established base of friends that I had made. My German was pretty basic, but my IBM training was a great foundation. My MBA was not recognized at that time in Germany but my tech background was attractive to startups. Being a foreign female in the technology world had its challenges AND perks. I rapidly made a name for myself, got headhunted for my second job by the American President because my English was so poor (yes, it is my mother tongue but I had so integrated myself into the German language, that my English was rusty).

After four years of working at three start-ups in Germany, it was time to leave, as I had had to change my personality in order to succeed in business in Germany. Life’s too short to do that for long. Plus I had a British boyfriend who lived in Geneva and I loved the British sense of humour as well as their more open and equitable business culture.

With a few months as a ‘homeless’ person (British car, German driver’s license and Canadian passport but officially did not live anywhere), by the time my UK work permit came through, I was ready to be laid off again. Technology – gotta love it. My second company proved to have more staying power and I finally returned to help start their Canadian operation, based in Ottawa.

Third Act

After trying another large tech company for a horrible seven months, in 1992, I finally said enough and started the first of several businesses. I helped start and run a software company for 10 years before moving to the country and opening up a garden center and hobby farm (Act 4?).

Patti on the farm

Where are you now?

Back in Toronto, my hometown after my 30-year detour, I’m now the Small Biz Sales Coach — my final business (I swear it is!). After 35 years of selling and starting from being a geeky shy insecure introvert, I know what it’s like to be scared of selling and eventually learning how to have fun with it. I love helping others get over the fear of sales and asking for more money!

To have fun and make money is the only way to live!

Do you have advice for anyone planning to pursue a second act?

Imagine yourself at age 95 – what would you regret not having done? Those are your dreams of today.

Remember you’ll regret NOT having done something when you’re older and no longer able to do whatever that is.

Just do it!

Coming Soon

My Book – The Reinvention Rebel – Live Life Without Regrets!

Make your passion profitable with my proven practical advice!

Where to find Patti…

Website: http://SmallBizSalesCoach.ca

Telephone: 416-951-3842

Email: Patti@SmallBizSalesCoach.ca

Joanne here!

Patti, thank you for sharing your adventures. You are definitely a poster child for reinvention. I look forward to the release of The Reinvention Rebel.