#RRBC Pay It Forward with author, Mary Schmidt @MaryLSchmidt #RRBCPIF

This is Rave Reviews Book Club’s Pay It Forward Day. Welcome fellow author and RRBC Member, Mary Schmidt.

ABOUT MARY SCHMIDT

Mary Schmidt, aka S. Jackson, grew up in a small Kansas (USA) town, and she lived in other states since then. At this time, she and her husband split their time between Kansas and Colorado (they loved the mountains and off road 4-wheeling). Traveling is one of their favorite things to do, and she always has a book or even three books that she reads, in the same week. Books were really her thing.

It seemed like every time she turned around she was obtaining a new library card due to the current one being stamped complete. Diving into a good book made any day perfect and you would be surprised at the number of books she read over and over. She drew paper dolls and clothes for them, and used watercolor as her medium when painting scenes, especially flowers.

She continued with art in high school exploring a wide variety of arts. The creative side of her loves to be an amateur “shutter-bug” and they actually have an online art gallery. In college she went into the sciences of all things and received a Bachelor’s degree in the Science of Nursing. Her nursing career was highly successful, and she hung up her nursing hat in December 2012.

Visit Mary’s Blog at When Angels Fly!

Mary’s Books

The Big Cheese Festival

In The Big Cheese Festival, we meet Stubby Mouse and his family and friends. We learn that Stubby Mouse has a secret, that he is being bullied by another mouse, simply because his tail is short. Read how Stubby Mouse stood up for himself, and how he ended the bullying, in this delightful story for children. Targeted at ages 4-8, the book is easy to read and perfect for home or classroom. Children learn how bad bullying is, and what they can do to help stop bullies! Stubby Mouse encourages children to take a stand against bullies, and always be kind to each other. This story illustrates how everyone is different and unique, and it is a delightful read with cute illustrations for both children and adults. Take a stand against bullying today!

Get your copy of The Big Cheese Festival.

Suzy Has a Secret

This book teaches a child, ages four to eight years-old, about personal safety and body ownership. Children learn how to identify who safe adults are in a child’s life. This book shows in positive and practical ways how parents, and educators, can talk to children about personal safety. Children learn about bad touch and good touch, and how their body belongs to them. Parents and educators can help children learn who the safe people are in their lives, and that they can always tell one of them about anything that may happen, and they aren’t comfortable about. Using little bug fairies and fairy houses, ensures that children aren’t scared when this story is read to them, or they read it on their own.

Get your copy of Suzy Has a Secret.

When Angels Fly

We often find ourselves daydreaming about what our futures will be like. This may be especially true if one lives in an environment most would consider less than desirable. Some are lucky to find their futures much like their childhood dreams. Others find the paths to their dreams strewn with hurdles.

Growing up, Sarah dodged her mother’s blows. She often hid in her room crying about her life. Still, she believes in her future and the happiness it can bring. In their book, When Angels Fly, authors S. Jackson and A. Raymond tell Sarah’s story – their stories. The authors use their journals to describe Sarah’s experiences of family dysfunction, strength, courage, faith, abuse, grief, and so much more. You’ll read how, like many, she attempts to escape from her mother’s abuse through marriage. And like many, she learns it is not a viable alternative. Then Sarah experiences a parent’s ultimate tragedy twice, the deaths of her sons, Joshua and Eli.

When Angels Fly is about much more than the telling of a family’s tragedy. It is also the story of finding faith after it has wavered. Most of all, it’s a story of love lost and found.

Get your copy of When Angels Fly.

Visit Mary’s Blog at When Angels Fly!

Advertisement

Book Review Sunday: “The History of New Innovations In Modern Medicine” by Dr. James D. Okun MD and Goodwell, Evangelita

Author Bio:

James D. Okun, MD is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Duke University and a graduate of the prestigious Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. Doctor Okun did his Transitional Internship at Framingham Union Hospital in Framingham, Massachusetts which was the home of the ground-breaking Framingham Heart Study which helped to determine risk factors for Heart Disease. He then trained in Ophthalmology for one year at the Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. He went on to practice Family and Emergency Medicine from 1985 until 1996. He is the co-author of Erasing Scars: Herpes and Healing and of The History of New Innovations in Modern Medicine. Dr. Okun writes a monthly medical blog post on reviewtales.wordpress.com

Website: amazon.com/author/jamesokun

Blurb of “The History of New Innovations In Modern Medicine”:

The wheels of change have forever been gummed up by those who fear its constant movement. However, the pursuit of progress is both the burden and responsibility of those who seek out new information, new technologies, and new means of discovery.

For generations, the field of medicine, has neither been immune to the dissenters of free-thinking and progress nor its ugly consequences, and the stories of those who have struggled against the machine of power and money have been, by some accounts, swept under the rug of history.

For the first time, authors Dr. James Okun and Evangelita Goodwell seek to shed light on these brave individuals who revolutionized the field of medicine with their insight and intellectual pursuits, and have forever changed the face of medicine in the modern world. Spanning hundreds of years of medical history, Okun and Goodwell illuminate the shadowy past of medical discovery as a means of calling attention to the importance of progress over the will of the powerful.

Review:

Current Star Rating: 4.8/5.0
Buy link
Latest 5 Star review:

Five Stars- A Must Read!
ByApril Paniccia on June 9, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
“5 Stars for The History of New Innovations In Modern Medicine- A Must Read!”

Dr. Okun does it again! The power of the mind is on full display.

This book focuses what has been known for thousands of years that the mind is a powerful healing tool. Dr. Okun returns with much more approaches to natural healing techniques.

It illustrates new as well as historical techniques to help heal themselves inside and out. The use of those shunned by the medical community but then proven right adds a powerful element to the book.

If you are a professional or just in search of another type of healing this book is for you. Today’s focus on alternative methods instead of costly and dangerous drugs is alive in this book. Looking to one’s self for healing provides a great roadmap to overall health.
With so many people looking to find a new better way, Dr. Okun offers a transcendent solution.

I love the approach to this book and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about holistic approaches to healing. A must read! 5 Stars!

The Writer’s Journey – Guest, Shirley Harris-Slaughter

My next guest for THE WRITER’S JOURNEY is SHIRLEY HARRIS-SLAUGHTER. Welcome and Thank you, Shirley, for sharing your journey to publishing.

Kim it is a pleasure to be invited to your Writer’s Journey Blog. Thank you so much for your hospitality.

My Pen Name is Shirley Harris-Slaughter. My writing started in the year 2002 with a nagging dream of preserving our historical presence in the Catholic Church.  Here is my story.

I am the author of the book:  “Our Lady of Victory – The Saga of an African-American Catholic Community.”  This book evolved out of years of frustration at the total disregard and lack of respect for the contributions of Black Catholics in the city of Detroit.  “We are not mentioned in the pages of history along with the other Catholic churches that sprung up during the World War II era, and that needed to be corrected.  You couldn’t even go on the web and find anything about this historic black Church.  So my mission began — fill this void!

My love of history and an interest in old buildings is what drives me on this mission.  My thesis in College was about saving the Michigan Central Depot, an old train station in downtown Detroit. An opportunity arose to attend a conference sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and while there I learned that I was a Preservationist.  Such a novel word. I never would have thought of it on my own.

The book was published in 2007 and launched with a book event held at my merged church: Presentation-Our Lady of Victory and was the most successful book event I would ever do. I published with iUniverse initially, but moved away from them in 2014 when I republished under Createspace and had a Facebook Re-Launch Party sponsored by 4WillsPublishing.

Iuniverse worked for me in the beginning but over time, they were not giving me much for the huge sums of money they were getting from me. And they showed little respect for me as an Indie Author. They were to my horror a “vanity press.” Had they revealed themselves as such early on, I never would have went with them. I have to admit they did do a very professional job of editing and publishing my book. I got plenty of compliments on so I was very pleased with their work. But it all went downhill after that.

Createspace doesn’t do too much better. You are basically on your own with them or be prepared to pay huge amounts of money if you allow them to do it. The only thing going for them is their sister arm Amazaon. That’s it!

What I’ve learned from the publishing experience is knowing how to do your own formatting preparation and graphics for paperbacks and ebooks. And learn to do it correctly. Then you can control every aspect of your book publishing and not have to pay huge amounts of money just to hire someone else to do it. Smashwords is a good place to start. You can hire a freelance if you can’t do it yourself.

My second book is a perfect example of doing things yourself. Book title is CRAZY! HOT! AND LIVING ON THE EDGE!! I had to hire an editor because I needed one desperately. So I found someone locally who used to publish for a local magazine here in my town and it worked out well. She helped me to develop my story and she did editing. My only problem with her was that she was not using up to date technology for editing like what I got from iUniverse. She was doing it the old fashioned way (cut and paste literally). Thank Goodness she knew what she was doing, because I was sort of lost. By following her instructions to the letter, we got through it and I would recommend her again. Her company is called Esteem Multimedia. The proof was what my readers thought of the book.

I hired an artist friend to do my bookcover design and it turned out fabulously and at minimum cost. You have to get creative in getting your book published and that’s what I learned.

Lastly, I had to hire an old friend to help me format the manuscript and then I went to Createspace to publish.

WHERE TO BUY:

Our Lady of Victory – The Saga of an African-American Catholic Community
CRAZY! HOT! AND LIVING ON THE EDGE!!