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SSWW Welcomes Dr. Connie Mariano My Patients were Presidents

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SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

Welcomes Dr. Connie Mariano
The White House Doctor: My Patients were Presidents

www.drcmariano.com

WHAT: Monthly Speaker/Dinner Meeting

WHEN: WED June 27th, 2018 5:30 -7:30 pm

See PayPal info below*

WHERE: Starfire Golf Club
11500 N. Hayden Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85260

WHY: Mission: The Scottsdale Society of Women Writers gives members access to events of interest, a format for exchanging ideas, an opportunity to network with other women writers and authors, an alliance with professionals relating to writing, publishing, and marketing of books, and camaraderie and support.

SPEAKER 6:45: Dr Connie Mariano is a board-certified internal medicine physician in private practice in N. Scottsdale. She has broken many barriers with an impressive list of “firsts”: First military woman to become the White House Physician to the President of the United States, first woman Director of the White House Medical Unit, and first Filipino American in U. S. history to become a Navy Rear Admiral.

“Dr Connie,” as she is known to former presidents and the media, wrote her memoir, “The White House Doctor: My Patients were Presidents” in 2010, published by St. Martin’s Press. At today’s meeting, she will share her journey to writing her memoir and lessons she’s learned about publishing and media along the way.

www.drcmariano.com

PRICING: $30 for members and guests. See PayPal Below. We are no longer taking checks or cash at the door, except for payment of Annual Dues. This is a workable and good system for all of us. Thank you for moving forward with SSWW.

*Please PAY IN ADVANCE with PAYPAL on this website only – see home page www.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com
NOTE upper right corner for the link on this website. Please fill out the form and pay with your credit card before NOON FRIDAY! Thank you!

RSVP before 10:30am the Friday morning before the meeting. The Starfire Golf Club needs to order food, and I must give a guarantee to them at that time. That is the confirmed deadline for an RSVP! Please do not use the PayPal after that time. Thank you for appreciating our contract with the Starfire Golf Club.

CHECK-IN: Please check-in between 5:15 and 5:45 to begin the buffet that is available by 5:45 The meeting starts promptly at 6:00.

All those attending the meeting must pay for the dinner/room/speaker. The cost is noted above. Pick up your name badge at the front table and ENJOY a wonderful night!
Guests pick up a brochure and a membership signup sheet too.

AGENDA: The agendas will be on the dinner table with a lot of wonderful announcements for you, including the schedule of upcoming meeting speakers. Remember, the announcements are reviewed at 6:00 with dinner. The member introductions are 30 seconds. They follow the announcements.

DIRECTIONS: From the 101 Freeway, exit Shea Blvd and go West to Hayden Road and then North a quarter mile, the club is on the West side (Left) of the street. From the South, cross Shea Blvd going north on Hayden Road, again, it is on the West side (Left) of the street. 11500 North Hayden Road, Scottsdale.

Goals of the Group

• Value all the professional women writers seeking to share their expertise
• Honor all genres and all forms of professional writing
• Attend monthly meetings to move the group and its members forward
• Learn and share in the experiences of monthly professional speakers
• Grow the group to a membership of active and contributing women
• Encourage participation by members as mentors, and volunteers
• Support and challenge each other to always be writing
• Help members to stretch as writers and reach lofty personal goals
• Have fun, meet trustworthy women writers, share dreams

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A LOST, GAY LITTLE BOY

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In her biographical debut, Once Upon a Time There was a Lost, Gay Little Boy, Jo Gabriel warns us that this writer is vulnerable, open to attack, and easily smeared repeatedly. She has written this story from everywhere, but maybe in your world, nowhere. The story begins with a chaotic childhood, followed by an unhappy home-life with husbands she believes taught her hard lessons. Eventually escaping to a new country, Gabriel’s captivating biography confirms she’s far more invincible, not a heroine or a hero, but a sympathetic figure.

Jo was born into a bi-racial family in Europe to an American white man, who stayed there after military duty, and a Spanish woman born in Spain. She demonstrates early her misfit position in that family by not following the footsteps of her taller and prettier sister. She overcomes a horrific childhood of abuse at both the hands of her father and her mother as neither tries to protect her from the other, or from other family members.

Living abroad for many of us would be exciting, but for one who has memories of abuse, assault and cruelty on several levels, it’s far from it. And that is the gist of this story.

Despite her rising above adversity, she’s self-destructive. She moves many times during her younger life due to her father’s decisions, drugs and prostitution, and life on the street. Her relationships are uneasy with her peers in her early years, but she perseveres and begins to find herself. Educating herself as a tool to make her life better.

In her story telling, Jo in no way romanticizes her life. There is no moral redemption in her transformation to a ‘religious person,’ a wife or a mother. She has a lot of trauma to work through that amplified her initial suffering at the hands of her parents. She begins to conceal her desires for same-sex relationships, and more importantly, to be a boy, while moving forward in life as a wife and mother.

Jo has much psychological torment from her past, but even more with her self-identity in the present moment. Her career paths and her drive for an education establish her as a full-fledged success in her field of choice, education.

Several intimate partnerships are revealed to give the reader insight into her life beyond her work as a dedicated, hardworking professional. Jo’s life continues to be replete with episodes of abuse and misbehavior almost to the point of frustrating the reader, yet being so necessary to tell the story.

Haunted by her past, her mistakes and failures, she leaves Spain with her four children and vows to never return. Her words mirror her shrewd cynicism about relationships and family. She spells tragedy on the page as a catharsis, not to entertain us. It’s a raw account of a life, not necessarily optimistic, but certainly realistic. She takes the plunge to move to the United States, and leave her heartache and homeland behind in a quest to find who she is and what she will become.

This author is an inspiration to victims. This biography does not suffer with its structure of vignettes and honest presentation. The reader will learn about an unfamiliar life.

Jo has many stories to tell that rumble around in her head, but life with four children and a heart that says, “I’m living in somebody else’s body” make that complicated. She takes the plunge with love and experiments after two failed marriages. The virgin love relationship she seeks is with a lesbian. Her hope is to feel free at last and truly discover who she is, but it’s not that easy.

She tries a change of scenery with various moves, from the energy of a bustling city to the countryside, but still feels unsatisfied within herself. She tries to take advantage of her free time, as her children get older and she matures, to pick the perfect wife for her. The change of scenery often provides a new perspective for a while, but it’s not the answer. She still feels a need to escape the life most women know. Even though she loves motherhood and works hard to be there for her children, she’s out of touch.

Feeling overwhelmed and lonely, after many years with husbands who were abusive or not right for her, she looks at her sexuality from another angle, that of a boy not a girl. Although she had no specific plan, she began researching sex change and all it entailed. She was directed by a medical professional on where to go and what to do. She found many road blocks, including her own physical and mental condition.

Having always been frugal, especially after living in the street, she began to plan financially how to handle transformation and how that would take place. She always believed being frugal was a way to her longevity, her survival, often living below her means. She had a good hard-earned education, and worked diligently to maintain her professional career that had not come easily.

Her ‘good’ life did not happen overnight. Though she had known career success, and had been a good provider for her children, she emphasizes the trial and error involved in getting there. The sacrifice, the disappointments. Her life had not been easy, in fact it was quite difficult. This transformation process was going to be extremely difficult with a lot of new challenges, but it was what she desperately wanted.

She became conscientious of the life as a trans-person, feeling an obligation to learn as much as she could about what her new life would entail. She vowed to be sensitive to those who came before her. She attempted to forge some connections in the trans-gender world while still maintaining an on again-off again relationship with a lesbian. She didn’t seek much advice from others who had been in her shoes, and thus she fell into some harrowing situations.

With surviving child abuse by a relative in her early life, an eating disorder for decades, and being abused by her husband, Jo developed her own ways to counteract the abuse in her lesbian relationship that was also an isolated life. She too often saw her life as normal even though the underpinning of normalcy and routine were far from the door.

As you read this courageous portrayal of a fragile child maturing too quickly, you ask yourself what stops people from taking a suicidal leap in these situations. Or what stops them from quitting on everyone they know or from giving up and going to the streets to hide? We know you can rarely go back, undo, rework, and that we must progress and grow, mature and find answers. This book shows us that fortitude.

Scottsdale Society of Women Writers welcomes Nancy Safford

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SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS

Welcomes Nancy Safford, Author, Photojournalist
and Tour Guide (US and France)

*Special Date due to the Holidays

WHAT: Monthly Speaker/Dinner Meeting

WHEN: *SPECIAL DATE: WED December 13th, 2017 5:30 -7:30 pm*

WHERE: Starfire Golf Club – see new PAYPAL info below*
11500 N. Hayden Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85260

WHY: Mission: The Scottsdale Society of Women Writers gives members access to events of interest, a format for exchanging ideas, an opportunity to network with other women writers and authors, an alliance with professionals relating to writing, publishing, and marketing of books, and camaraderie and support.

SPEAKER 6:45 Nancy Safford, author, photojournalist and tour guide
Nancy Safford’s career began as a photographer, a photojournalist 25 years ago. She was fascinated with other people’s stories and published her first book as a young photographer in her mid-twenties. She had many photo shows, did magazine stories and has in fact photographed for two more books to be published.
While working for a magazine in upstate New York, she formed her own non-profit research institute and trained teachers to work together using the Nobel Prize winning physics concept holography. She then curated a popular show at the New York State Museum called, “Holography in The Classroom”.
One day she was called to the southwest, to Sedona, Arizona and let go of everything she had been doing. Her new book, A Magdalene Awakens. Hidden Temple Secrets, published in March 2017, talks about this story.
She will discuss her journey to uncover her lost truth, her deepest self, in a place far beyond what she had imagined possible.
Nancy became a spiritual guide in Sedona and invited people to explore the famous red rock vortices of Sedona, where they could be changed by the energies of each special place. She began facilitating women’s circles as an ordained Priestess of the Mary Magdalene Mysteries and then began guiding people on pilgrimages to sacred sites in southern France as a bilingual guide.
She began to explore legacies and wisdom teachings that stretched back to the ancient goddess and priestess cultures from long ago when she facilitated these journeys to southern France, exploring the Magdalene legacies present there. These visions included something that had been hidden there long ago, left near the famous village of Rennes Le Chateau. This tiny village had gained worldwide attention after the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, came out in 1982 and again after The DaVinci Code was published in 2004.

*Please PAY IN ADVANCE with PAYPAL on this website only – see home page www.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com
NOTE upper right corner for link on this website, fill out the form and pay with your credit card before 10:30 am Friday Dec 8th Thank you!

PRICING: $30 for members and guests. SEE PAYPAL INFO ABOVE. We are no longer taking checks or cash at the door. This is a workable and good system for all of us. Thank you for moving forward with SSWW.

RSVP before 10:30am the Friday morning before the meeting. The Starfire Golf Club needs to order food, and I must give a guarantee to them at that time. That is the confirmed deadline for an RSVP! Thank you for appreciating my contract with the Starfire Golf Club.

CHECK-IN: Please check-in between 5:15 and 5:45 to begin the buffet that is available at 5:45 The meeting starts promptly at 6:00.

All those attending the meeting must pay for the dinner/room/speaker. The cost is noted above. Pick up your name badge at the front table and ENJOY a wonderful night!
Guests pick up a brochure and a membership signup sheet too.

AGENDA: The agendas will be on the dinner table with a lot of wonderful announcements for you. They also include the schedule of upcoming meeting speakers. Remember, the announcements are now done with dinner. The member introductions are 30 seconds, and follow the announcements.

DIRECTIONS: From the 101 Freeway, exit Shea Blvd and go West to Hayden Road and then North a short distance, the club is on the West side of the street. From the South, cross Shea Blvd going north on Hayden Road, again, it is on the West side of the street. 11500 North Hayden Road.

Goals of the Group

• Value all the professional women writers seeking to share their expertise
• Honor all genres and all forms of professional writing
• Attend monthly meetings to move the group and its members forward
• Learn and share in the experiences of monthly professional speakers
• Grow the group to a membership of active and contributing women
• Encourage participation by members as mentors, and volunteers
• Support and challenge each other to always be writing
• Help members to stretch as writers and reach lofty personal goals
• Have fun, meet trustworthy women writers, share dreams

AZ Authors Associ Writers Circle welcomes Patricia L. Brooks to speak on The Art of Writing Memoir

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WRITERS FAIRE 2012 011

 

The Art of Writing Memoir

AZ Authors Association – Writers Circle

 

  North Mountain Visitor’s Center

12950 North 7th St., Phoenix, AZ 85022

 

RSVP/register info@azauthors.com

Limited Seating

 

 Patricia L. Brooks, speaker, author, consultant patricia@plbrooks.com

 

 www.blog.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

for details 480- 250-5556

In this workshop you will immerse yourself in the art of powerful storytelling and take an unflinching look at your own stories.

You will learn to incorporate fictional techniques into your memoir writing to enhance your effort to share galvanizing events.

 

Objectives of this Workshop

ü Learn to help your reader see and feel what you saw and felt.

ü Understand the process and structure of memoir writing as a learned craft that will enhance your art.

ü Appreciate the power of storytelling by being loyal to your truth.

ü Further empower yourself to tell the truth.

ü Take an unflinching look at your stories and share your galvanizing events.

ü Bring your memoir writing to a new level with fictional techniques.

 

 

 

The Art of Writing Memoir – Desert Foothills Library welcomes Patricia L. Brooks

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WRITERS FAIRE 2012 014The Art of Writing Memoir

 

Desert Foothills Library – Writers Connection

 

Fri. May 3, 2013

1:00-3:00 p.m.

Cave Creek, AZ

 

 Patricia L. Brooks, speaker, author, consultant patricia@plbrooks.com

 www.blog.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

for details 480- 250-5556

In this workshop you will immerse yourself in the art of powerful storytelling and take an unflinching look at your own stories.

You will learn to incorporate fictional techniques into your memoir writing to enhance your effort to share galvanizing events.

Objectives of this Workshop ü Learn to help your reader see and feel what you saw and felt. ü Understand the process and structure of memoir writing as a learned craft that will enhance your art. ü Appreciate the power of storytelling by being loyal to your truth. ü Further empower yourself to tell the truth. ü Take an unflinching look at your stories and share your galvanizing events. ü Bring your memoir writing to a new level with fictional techniques.

A YEAR IN ITALY: A Perfect Fit for a Love Story – book review

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Cover_PaperbackHTEO

At first glance there seems to be a simple connection between the suggestive yet simple title of Susan Pohlman’s memoir Halfway to Each Other and the breathlessly gorgeous visions we ave
of Italy, but that would be wrong.  The story is so much more.

How a year in Italy brought our family home is enticing and alluring as the sub-title.  The photo
of a weathered red door gracing the cover easily brings us through the entry of
this European lifestyle.

 

Within the pages of this memoir Pohlman is a glorious romantic yet a sensible realist about her marital situation and the risks of leaving her California life behind to live a year in Italy.  A place she and her husband have only known as a beautiful spot for a business conference.

For a year she seamlessly blends the practical side of her life with the beauty of this Italian seaside village they call home by sharing her many stories of courage and hope.
The memoir’s real life back story is as arresting as the one we want to create
about our own possible life there.

The words on the pages are inspired by the love between the author’s four family members who leave Los Angeles County for a place almost unknown to them for an adventure of a lifetime.
That’s the gem of the idea that Pohlman nurtures in her imagination and in real life.

She maintains a journal like email trail by corresponding with her girlfriends in LA about her family’s Italian escapades, but eventually keeps these emails private to produce this journal like memoir.  She is generously writing and begins the outline of the book.

Halfway to Each Other begins in Italy with Pohlman and her husband on a business trip.  She is
contemplating a divorce from him as she is very discouraged and unhappy with the way their life has gone along.  They begin to talk one evening about the possibility of taking a year off from that life while the seaside village where they are staying romances them.

This is also the end of the story of Pohlman and her family’s demanding pace in Los Angeles.  They have come to a fateful bend in the freeway.  When her husband Tim agrees that night at
sunset over a glass of wine that they should go to Italy and live off their savings to find what they have lost they begin ever so slightly to mend their wounds. Their children accept the move at different levels and add a lot to the story.

Pohlman will not know until a chance meeting near their little seaside village apartment that some very wonderful Italian people, now their new neighbors, will change their lives and become forever some of their most loyal friends.

What transpires is a classic expatriate’s success story transcending the commonplace because of the Pohlmans great love for each other as a family and the author’s determination to make it work.

For Pohlman and her husband, as well as their two children of impressionable age, an emergence occurs for them as individuals.  As family time travels for them at a new and
slower pace.  We are allowed to enjoy their journey.

Theirs is a love so big that Pohlman gives up her constant questioning of herself and her marriage and eventually fully embraces her new life with all the lessons, challenges and opportunities it has to offer.

Like other adventure pieces that capture our imagination Hallway to Each Other is built around
the unique cultural and social mores of an Old World country.  I fell in love with Italy while reading these pages and learned a lot about it in this memoir due to the quality of the
editing.

A sampling of European immigrants that changed our country’s look and landscape at one time in our history is beautifully portrayed here.  This book is a great lesson in
that history and an appreciation of the beauty of the Old Country too.

You don’t need to have an immigrant family history to adore the other characters in this book, but you will value Pohlman’s descriptions and dialogue just the same.  She does an
outstanding job endearing their Italian friends and neighbors to us.

You need only a deep appreciation for exquisite writing as this is a story enriched by
the power of abiding love.  I highly recommend this memoir as a cozy summer beach read for 2012.

 

WRITERS FAIRE – Mustang Library/Scottsdale

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SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS
WRITERS FAIRE
Three Speakers, Authors, Books, Refreshments for Sale

Memoir Writing (non-fiction), Mystery Writing (fiction), Marketing for Publication

WHO: Scottsdale Society of Women Writers

WHAT: Writers Faire – a Sunday afternoon with award winning authors, plus a dozen additional authors of SSWW showing off their books and answering questions!
WHERE: Mustang Library, 90thSt., and Shea Blvd., Scottsdale (behind the hospital)
WHEN:          FEB 19th,  Sunday 1:00-5:00 p.m.
WHY: The Scottsdale Society of Women Writers will
generously share their expertise for free and offer an afternoon opportunity for you to network with other women writers and authors for camaraderie and support.
HOW:             PLEASE – RSVP now to Patricia
L. Brooks, president/founder of Scottsdale Society of Women
Writers at patricia@plbrooks.com or Dana Braccia at the Scottsdale Library
WORKSHOPS:
Susan Pohlman, author, memoir (1:30 – 2:15) www.susanpohlman.com
Susan Pohlman is a freelance writer based in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Her essays have been published inThe Washington Times, Family Digest, The Family, Raising Arizona Kids, Guideposts Magazine, Homelife Magazine, AZ Parenting, Goodhousekeeping.com and Italiannotebook.com.
Her memoir, Halfway to Each Other, is her first book and winner of the Relationships category and runner-up in the Memoir category in the 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. It was shortlisted for the 2010 Inspy Awards.  She has also written four award-winning short films.
Workshop:
Memoir is a fascinating and powerful literary genre that has enjoyed an increased notoriety in the marketplace. Susan will discuss the unique nature of memoir writing and elements to consider as you embark on a writing journey of your own.
Betty Webb, author, fiction/mystery (2:30 – 3:15)
Before beginning to write mysteries full time, Betty Webb worked as a journalist and interviewed everyone from U.S. presidents, astronauts who walked on the moon, and Nobel Prize-winners, as well as the , the dying, and polygamy runaways. Her mysteries are based on stories she covered as a reporter. Currently a creative writing teacher at Phoenix College, she is a member of National Federation of Press Women, Mystery Writers of America, and  the Society of Southwest Authors.
Workshop: Writing a marketable mystery is harder than it looks. I explain why, describe the mysterious “arc of action,” and how to come up with believable plots and characters so interesting that they can carry you through an entire series. Betty Webb: Author of NEWLY released Desert Wind and Desert Cut, Desert Run, Desert Shadows, Desert Wives:   Polygamy Can Be
Murder, and Desert Noir. All by Poisoned Pen Press.
“Eye-popping,” The New York Times. “Socially conscious mysteries,” Publishers Weekly.  Also a traditional mystery series, beginning with THE ANTEATER OF DEATH.  www.bettywebb-mystery.com
(http://www.bettywebb-mystery.com/) and
Patricia L. Brooks,
author, memoir, publishing/marketing consultant (3:30-4:15)
Patricia is an inspirational speaker, and published author.  She contributes to the success of both men and women.  With her book (and now eBook) “Gifts of Sisterhood” and its grief workshop “Journey from Grief to Gratitude” she is a favorite for Wellness Programs.  Patricia earned a prestigious AZ Authors Association Literary Contest Non-fiction award for this book.
As founder of Brooks Goldmann Publishing Company, LLC www.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com she is the author’s partner for
publishing consultation and offers workshops on writing memoir, self-help,
non-fiction and self-publishing.  Her mission is to enhance the spirit of the author’s journey.  Patricia is president/founder of the Scottsdale Society of Women Writers and a member of the AZ Authors Association, the Willamette Writers, the Phoenix Writers and Pub West.
Workshop: Publish with Marketing in Mind
Find out how easy, as well as how difficult, it is to transform your work into book form and to bring it to market. Learn about the new trends in marketing as they relate to the publishing basics you should address before launching your book to market.   Patricia answers:
Outcomes: Attendee will understand and takeaway the importance of:
Starting six months before the book launch.
  • Designing a good shelf-life book cover
  • Using social media marketing
  • Valuing differentiation
  • Honoring brand and living it
  • Keeping marketing basics in mind
Cell:    480-250-5556             Email
:            patricia@plbrooks.com
Social networking user names:
FACEBOOK – Patricia L. Brooks
LINKED IN – Patricia L. Brooks
TWITTER – patriciabrooks
GOODREADS Patricia L. Brooks
Goals of the Group
Value all the professional women writers seeking to
share their expertise
Honor all genres and all forms of professional writing
  • Attend monthly meetings  to move the group and its members forward
  • Learn and share in the experiences of monthly professional speakers
  • Grow the group to a membership of active and contributing women
  • Encourage participation by members as presenters, mentors, judges and volunteers
  • Support and challenge each other to always be
    writing
  • Help members to stretch as writers and reach lofty
    personal goals
  • Have fun, meet trustworthy women writers, share dreams

Celebrate My Sister’s Birthday – FREE EBOOK Gifts of Sisterhood-journey from grief to gratitude

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Title:    Gifts of Sisterhood-journey from grief to gratitude

Publication:    December, 2011

Contact:          Patricia L. Brooks, author

Address:          7970 E. Camelback Rd., 710, Scottsdale, AZ  85251

Cell                 (480-250-5556)

Email:             patricia@plbrooks.com

Publisher:       Brooks Goldmann Publishing, LLC

www.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

Scottsdale Author/Publishing Consultant
Launches FREE EBOOK to Celebrate Sister’s Birthday Jan 14-16! Gifts of Sisterhood – the gifts that keep on giving!

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, January 11, 2012 – To find hope in her
grief and to celebrate her sister’s life is God’s plan for this author. This past
month, Scottsdale author Patricia L. Brooks www.amazon.com/author/patricialbrooks
as Brooks Goldmann Publishing Company, LLC of Scottsdale, AZ enhanced her book Gifts of Sisterhood with updates in an Ebook now available to you
FREE for three days – Jan. 14-16 in celebration of her sister’s birthday.  This new Ebook supports the importance of family relationships and the journey of grief when a loved one is lost. www.amazon.com/giftsofsisterhood.

In today’s firestorm of spiritual doubt, this book is a collection of heartwarming stories that should not be overlooked.   Brooks gathered the stories from true
accounts of her relationship with her sister and their growing up in the upper
peninsula of Michigan.  They experienced the unusual, the synchronistic, the amazing.

She tells them in her own words with her sister’s permission.  Each one is a small miracle, often a life-changing experience that will touch your heart.

In addition to reducing the mystery of life, death and grief in her book, Gifts of Sisterhood, Brooks asserts life’s challenges occur all the time and change our lives forever; many times for the better.

Brooks, who represents not only her writing but her spirituality here, serves the community in many ways.  She teaches and works within natural
approaches to the grief journey and offers her workshop outline in this revised
Ebook.  Readers who sample this beautiful Ebook will become open to the possibility of achieving greater well-being and peace with life’s many challenges.  Her Stop Smoking Sister campaign is introduced as well.

Patricia is the president/founder of the Scottsdale Society of Women Writers; building the group to 60 members since 2007 with monthly speaker/dinner meetings, critique groups and other outside book event activities.

The Brooks Goldmann Publishing, LLC website www.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com
provides information on their publishing services.    As a published author and Scottsdale business woman, Patricia L. Brooks performs the duties of publishing consultant/book shepherd for the independent writer/author seeking information in the self-publishing maze.  Patricia confirms her new Ebook is thought provoking and genuine and fits the other authors she has helped in the memoir, self-help and non-fiction arena.
Patricia can help you travel the writing and publishing maze.  Feel free to visit her many posts on writing and publishing on their blog http://brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

We give and receive gifts, but the gifts that keep on giving – Faith, Courage, Love, Friendship, Happiness and Acceptance – are the gifts her youngest sister gave so freely.  Too often it takes a life changing experience to recognize what we already have, affirm what we already know, welcome what is given to us and share it with others.

Patricia is a “sibling survivor” of the #2 killer of women today.  While rejoicing in her sister’s memory she preserves her story and important legacy.  Through emotional healing Patricia takes you on a journey of love and friendship, grief and acceptance as she gives her sister’s spirit back to their “roots” in County Tipperary, Ireland.

You will learn to awaken the compassion within you, forgive yourself when facing life’s challenges, find the hidden gift of hope in your life and have faith that nothing happens in God’s world by mistake.

Patricia reveals her upbeat and insightful personal story of the relationship she had with her youngest sister – her friend, her confidante, her soul mate.  Their lives constantly intertwined, both growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and living 2,500 miles apart as adults.

Now God takes you on the Journey from Grief to Gratitude to a place of inspiration and acceptance.  The faith Patricia has her sister’s life was not in vain calls her to share her gifts with you.  By embracing her sister’s wit,
charm and beauty she weaves together a meaningful story of love and courage you can reflect upon as you travel your own life’s path.

A portion of the proceeds of this book goes to the Vital Care Hospice of the Straits of Mackinac County Michigan in memory of my sister. Thank you.

 

WRITE NOW WRITING CONFERENCE – what I learned and share with you

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What I learned at the Write Now writing conference
Aug 20th, 2011 – Scottsdale, AZ
Patricia L. Brooks patricia@plbrooks.com
PICK UP THE PACE
Sophie Littlefield and Juliet Blackwell, authors, speakers
Motivating you to finish your work
These women are delightful.  They are determined to inspire everyone in the audience to feel as passionately as they do about writing and publishing.  Thank you Sophie and Juliet for a tremendous effort shown to us; we appreciate it. The following questions were posed to us for reflection.
What are my True Writing Goals?
    • To tighten the structure of my current manuscript
    • To define my query letter and prepare for submission
    • To not give up no matter how many rejections I receive

    How important are these Goals?

    • Top priority –  will not be put aside for
      even one day
    • They will be a part of my morning schedule along with my exercise and daily
      meditations
    • They will be connected to everything I do as I live the writers life

    What am I willing to Give Up?

    • Social activities that I deem unnecessary to my goals listed above
    • TV time and Internet usage to have more writing time
    • Certain reading material that does not further my goals

    How will I Get in the Chair?

    • Maintain my home-office for writing and make it very workable for that purpose
    • Write and think and breathe this work each day while moving the project forward
    • Appreciate the time I have to write and take advantage of this writing opportunity

    How Will I Stop Sabotaging Myself?

    • By not allowing myself off the hook with my commitment to write each day for a minimum of two hours
    • By telling myself I can do this again in a bigger and better way
    • By not allowing my perfectionism to get in the way of my desire to finish this
      work

     

     

     

Now more honest with myself about my writing, I take these goals and commitments seriously.  I know my strengths and will capitalize on them and make them work for me such as being early and working alone.
These authors advise staying ENGAGED and working on something all of the time.  I will remember that being able to write full-time is a privilege and I should not take it lightly.
These women also preach “anything you write is practice, so keep writing” and never give up.  Keep writing and learn your voice is their mantra!
My stories are valid.  I respect my fellow writers and their work too. I seek their encouragement and support as part of my plan to write daily and I pledge to continue to give it in return.
Thank you Sophie www.sophielittlefield.com and Juliet www.julietblackwell.net for a wonderful session at the conference
FIVE TECHNIQUES FOR SHAPING YOUR SUBMISSIONS
Carol Test, writer and editor
Thank you Carol for the valuable feedback you gave me on the work I submitted at the conference.  Here is what you prompted us with followed by
my takeaways from your wonderful talk.
1)
Write Fast First Drafts (and skinny seconds)
Almost overwrite and imbue later
  1. Don’t edit as you go along
  2. Write calorie and go “all-in”
  3. Cut back with the second draft
    1. My takeaway is to write with fierce abandon
2)
Beg the Question (in the intro)
Ask a rhetorical question – no need to answer
  1. Leave this for the reader to define and answer
  2. Hook us in with the story’s question
  3. Start action with the hook
    1. My takeaway is do it now
3)
Shape your Scenes (timing them)
Scene moves you forward in the story
  1. Clock is critical – how long does it take?
  2. Progression is paramount to the story
  3. Take us back to the opening at the end
    1. My takeaway is the form and flow are crucial
4)
Answer the Post-it Question
Theme ( use rhetorical question instead of a statement)
  1. Define theme on a post-a-note
  2. Be succinct and clear
  3. Stir interest
    1. My takeaway is less is more
5)
Know the Elements of Craft – do double duty
Narrative – shape – movement – through character in to action
  1. Mirror characters to make point
  2. Concrete detail
  3. Sculpt in to a work of art
    1. My takeaway is paint beautiful pictures with my story
The use of structure to organize your work is one important thing I needed to hear.  Don’t tie it up too nicely is another.  Let the reader do some of the work, but shape it and make it attractive to the reader still another.  Let the reader answer the questions you set forth.  The best advice yet – thank you
Carol.

REFLECTIONS on our Published Books of 2009

by

REFLECTIONS on our Published Books of 2009         

Patricia L. Brooks, MAOM

speaker, author, publishing consultant

Brooks Goldmann Publishing, LLC

www.blog.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

THE INITIAL CONTACT:

Meeting our authors for the first time is usually serendipity through my knowing another woman writer or a contact from one of my speaking engagements.  Some come from our website and many have my card when they call, given to them by a friend or found in a coffee shop.  We immediately start talking about writing, usually sitting in a coffee shop.  Our relationship is cemented.

Some of our potential clients share mutual acquaintances with us and know our coming together was meant to be.  They seek us to help them independently publish their book.  I write this reflection of 2009 as part of a greater plan for both their books and our time together.  We help writers in various ways and are eager to give back to the community. 

THE FIRST MEETING:

Our first meeting with the budding author is to discuss taking their manuscript or notes (if a ghostwriter is needed) through the independent publishing process and launch their work as a tangible book to enhance their goals and purpose.   Most writers ask me to help in the post-marketing of the book too with a book review and media release.  While being available to them early on with a peer review and commitments in our proposal and contract, we pledge to our author to continue with them long after the initial launch. 

While answering the writer’s inquiries into what needs to be done to make this all happen, and their determination to get the book out, we accept the challenge.  To look at all the opportunities available in the many facets of publishing, we make this experience function exceptionally well by setting up a team and selecting the best vendors (ghostwriter, editor, designer, printer to name a few) for the client.  All plans are in writing, including the proposal and contract with us and the contacted vendor.

THE INTERVIEW:

The writer relates their creative side by sharing their experiences as a professional or novice writer.  They elaborate for us how they opted for a traditional career in life “to earn a living”, but now want to be a writer first, and “to have a life” as a published author.  Using a more avant-garde approach to their creative life today, they relate to us over and over again that they write first for themselves and then for the reader.

We talk in our first meeting about their childhood and young adult encounters with writing so I can have a full picture of their writing life and commitment, as well as how writing has sustained them.  Most of these writers are eager for us to give feedback on their manuscript (first 30 pages or first three chapters) before we embark on a contract.  Since our paths could easily have crossed earlier in our writing life, our souls have some stories that resonate with each other in all of the manuscripts we select.  I enjoy the peer review process and give a full report to them after reading their submission.

THE DECISION:

When asked to be their publishing consultant and to read their manuscripts or chapters as a peer reviewer prior to the proofreader, editor or designer, I am honored and accept immediately (my partner husband also does peer reviews).  Although I am flattered about the peer review, I know it will be one of the most difficult aspects of our relationship and I do not take it lightly.  My feedback must be honest and sensitive.  Being the publishing consultant enlists my expertise, but to accommodate the author’s voice and honor their vision in a peer review I know I will be challenged. 

 In accepting the job of peer reviewer whole heartedly and with fierce abandon, I begin reading daily 10-15 pages each morning.  Doing the exercises and questions I prepare for myself will be part of my final report to the writer.  While opening my heart to the possibilities of their work and learning more about my new writer friend, I forge ahead enjoying each new day.

Although I realize as I proceed through their writing, which can be daunting due to unedited drafts, that their views and ideas are not necessarily mine I enhance my life with the read.  We are very selective about the types of books we publish, so I set aside an hour early each morning for this reading time.  My days are enriched because I view their work as a gift and value it greatly.

THE PROCESS:

My goal is to help another up-and-coming author. My objective is to take their work through the step-by-step process for a quality book and visualize the reader involved in this endeavor as well.  Transforming their life as the author did only a few years earlier, the reader will be forever changed from the experience of the book.  Good and honest work in the peer review is part of our strategy for success.

Possibly spanning the course of several years, the author may have ended suffering and challenging experiences with a wonderful turn of events that tells a story of inspiration with ideas for the reader’s life too.  A book well worth reading has to play a role in saving the life of the author and/or protagonist in some way while allowing the reader to hope they too can witness a transformation.

Most authors are bold and courageous in their telling of their stories and are not afraid of the risk if it means helping another soul on a spiritual search.   The self-help and memoir genres are alive and well.  Most people today are on a spiritual quest.  I realize in my morning readings that the books we review and publish are similar creatures in many ways.  Being completely involved in the manuscripts in doing the peer reviews, I see them as an opportunity for me too and take the review to fruition in a positive manner.

THE INSIGHT:

None of us, me, my husband or the authors we work with, takes rising above the “ashes of life” lightly or looks past the obvious to realize a happy life.  Reading and critiquing our authors’ manuscripts or chapters is a responsibility taken to heart.  It is the sweetness of the process and a critical area on the successful journey of what we can offer the author.

Just as the author’s philosophy shines in their book, it also chooses to thrive in the challenges and opportunities of launching a book to market.  Our authors look to us for intuitive and creative ways to find solutions to the questions they pose for themselves in their writing plan.  Their positive attitude is paramount when we accept them into our program and take responsibility for making the book launch happen for them.  We share a common belief with our authors that there is something larger than ourselves involved in the creative and writing process, and that creativity is as much a part of healing as a pen is to paper. 

We published three wonderful books in 2009 in the genres of self-help, spirituality and new fiction.  They are written by creative and artistic souls who love their art and admire other’s art too.  They come to see their life’s worth sharing in writing as well as in art.

As stated throughout many of the books we publish, the path of life is sometimes simple; it just isn’t always that easy to achieve. We help you break-out and launch your first book or another book quickly and easily.

THE FEEDBACK:

Our peer reviews captivate an approach to faith and love, courage and the science to saving the voice of the writer’s work.  Most of our authors share their mind, body and spirit experiences in a mix with creativity and a love for the written word.  This philosophy and attitude carries forward. 

Having experienced our latest author’s work for many weeks, this philosophy is enhanced, and I have learned a lot.  All of the books (listed below) have pushed me to places I have neglected overtime.  It has been a wonderful journey.  Thank you, Mia, Cay and Kiki for an enlightened 2009.

It has been a privilege to meet Mia, Cay and Kiki as writer clients.  We have become friends through our working together and I encourage them to get their message out to the public with appointments on Internet Radio and online social networking, speaking to women who are in need of their message and blogging to the general population who in these difficult times needs to be part of the psychology of hope.

THE APPRECIATION:

We are pleased to be a part of three more important and inspiring books.  Each one of these women truly touches a chord for anyone who needs to know life can turn for the better with a slight change of attitude, a chance with faith or the courage to try new things.  Cay and Mia’s books are especially for the “baby boomer” generation that feels so many times to be in a poor light.  All three books show us how to appreciate our lives just the way they are and to be grateful for what we have and give back.

All too often, this “baby boomer” generation of mine finds itself lost and confused when in fact we continue to make a tremendous impact on every aspect of our society.  These three women author’s books should be part of Wellness Community and Life Long Learning programs for early retirees and third career people who need to take stock in just what they are worth and where they can go from here. 

My husband and business partner Earl, and I, would especially like these three beautiful books  The Secrets of the 100 Golden Keys, Remnants-ready for new life and Healing and the Creative Response to be compulsory reading for the many displaced “middle aged” workers who feel they have nowhere to turn and no solutions for a life interrupted.  Whether you are a “baby boomer” considering a new career or a “young-at-heart” senior person seeking answers and spiritual truths about yourself and your life, these books stand out like the artwork featured in them.

Happy New Year and enjoy the reading. 

Recommending this year’s books launched fall 2009:

Healing and the Creative Response   Cay Randall May        www.healingcreativeresponse.com

Remnants-ready for new life             Kiki Swanson              www.kikiswansonbooks.com

The Secrets of the 100 Golden Keys  Mia Pratt                    www.100goldenkeys.com

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