Book Blast: 10 Letters to a Stranger by Sarah S. Saeed

Title: 10 Letters to a Stranger
Author: Sarah S. Saeed
Publisher: PartridgeHouse
Genre: Self-Help
Format: Ebook

PURCHASE HERE

Dear stranger is a book that hopes to enlighten people's lives. It is a booklet that one may carry around and open up to seek hope and optimism whenever they feel like life is tightening up from all corners. When life seems like it is not going anywhere, this tiny manual aims to remind you and I that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. This book acts as a prompt that there is no such thing as a dead end. To never ever give up, no matter how tough things get. Just like how flowers need rain to grow and how diamonds are created under high pressure, we individuals are also facing life’s pressures in which we find ourselves growing in.

This pocket book is here to tell you that there is ALWAYS a way to start new and fresh

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Interview with Jonathan James, author of The Day GOD Wore a Hard Hat

 

Inside the Book:

Title: The Day GOD Wore a Hard Hat

Author: Jonathan James

Publisher: iUniverse

Genre: Fiction

Format: Ebook/Paperback

Paul Reynolds is a nineteen-year-old college student when he meets what he believes is the perfect woman. But as one night of passion transforms into just friendship, her sister, Lisa, eventually becomes his first love.

After Paul and Lisa marry and begin building a life together, all their grand plans are destroyed when she unexpectedly dies. Left grieving and fearing he will lose everything, Paul is saved from financial ruin when he agrees to provide shelter to Rommel, a Latino gang member set to testify in a future murder trial. Paul, who initially thinks Rommel is a useless hoodlum, soon discovers that opposites attract. But as quickly as Paul and Rommel fall in love, their relationship ultimately disintegrates, leaving Paul to seek normalcy within a passionless marriage. As Paul pursues lust elsewhere, his wife becomes pregnant, causing Paul to realize she has given him what he has always wanted: a family. But as tragedy strikes once again, Paul is left with an agonizing decision with the potential to alter the course of his life forever.

In this contemporary romance, a man desperately searching for love is led on a unique journey where life comes full circle and leads him to discover the importance of always following his heart.

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How did you come up with the title of your book?
The title of my book was always going to be the "The Loves Of My Life" but as I got deeper into it I kept thinking how we all turn to God at some point and find ourselves asking for help.  This is exactly what Paul Reynolds found himself doing at what he assumed was the end of his life.

What is your writing environment like?
 I am fortunate to live in a corner apartment on the 11th floor of an all glass building built on the river with no less than spectacular city and river views.  My desk sits in the corner of the living room with 180 degree views. I find the best time for writing for me is late night or early morning when it is very quiet and peaceful.  One can not help but be inspired.

What are some of the best tools available for writers today?
Without question, I feel the greatest tool is the internet.  This allows us to have the world at our finger tips with details and information.  Stir in creativity and you have the perfect recipe for a great book.

What inspires you to write?
I feel we all have at least one book inside of us that deserves to be told.  Unfortunately, life tends to get in the way.  This is what happened to me.  I took three years to write a short read book because there never seemed to be enough time in the day.  I now understand it is not if you can write but are you willing to make the time.

Did you learn anything while writing this book?
While writing this book I did a lot of soul searching. Even though this is a work of fiction it was also an outlet of my view of life.  We all are faced with joy and tragedy ever day in life and we have no choice but to move forward.  I don't think Paul Reynolds was a coward for attempting to take his life I simply feel he was not strong enough.  Each of us has a different breaking point.

Meet the Author:

Jonathan James is an average young man who has experienced more than his share of both love and tragedy. His debut novel is loosely based on his own life, loves, and losses. Jonathan lives in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Interview with Curtis Orloff, author of Streetcar Sandwiches

Title: Streetcar Sandwiches

Author: Curtis Orloff

Publisher: Authorhouse

Genre: Performing Arts/Screenplay

Format: Ebook/Paperback/Hardcover

Streetcar Sandwiches is a screenplay showing the efforts the owner of a sandwich shop in Uptown New Orleans undertakes to keep her business running. Not only does she have to deal with a menagerie of all types of employees, she has to comply with onerous and often conflicting regulations from several government bureaus. How she handles what turns into an ordeal threatens to change her naturally optimistic and pleasant personality. It leads directly to an outcome that could only have occurred in the Big Easy.

PURCHASE HERE

INTERVIEW:

How did you come up with the title for your book?

It was easy to come up with the title of the work.  It is the name of the sandwich shop I owned, right across from Saint Charles trolley track, on South Carrollton street in Uptown, New Orleans.  

What is your writing environment like?

I can, and have, written anywhere but a desk.  I sit at desks only when typing final manuscripts.  Most of this work was written in a local coffee shop not far from my business.  I like the commotion and actually enjoy being interrupted by friends, for awhile anyway.  Creativity is very hard for me. It comes in fits and starts.

What are some of the best tools available to authors today?

The best tools for writers?  A blank sheet of paper and a fine point pen.  Ideas originate and are filtered in your head.  They don’t flow. I have no muse, as can be seen by all my scratch outs and insertions.

What inspires you to write?

Decades ago I found a book by H L Mencken in my parent’s basement.  It changed my life. Just like that I fell in love with the language.  He made it fun following his complex ideas. I can only compare the incident to the first time I heard Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.  Both astonished me that people could create something so thrilling. I always believed in passion. Nothing of consequence has been produced without it.    Today I still love Mozart and have a bin stuffed with manuscripts over a thousand rejections hadn’t deterred me from adding to. I have sent out for publication 69 works, short stories, plays, poems, 8 big thick books, over 30 Op-Eds I tried to get syndicated.  and this screenplay, which three publishers printed as a book . Two of the publishers had gone out of business. The format doesn’t bother me. It is all about content. The ideas presented and the story would be the same however it is presented.     

Did you learn anything while writing this book?

Every work I attempt teaches me lessons.  All are adventures, making me think about things I never thought before and finding common threads.  I feel compassionately about my characters. Afterall, since I create them, I need to represent them as best as I can.  I ensure each character is unique, and if not intriguing, is at least interesting. And, as always, I want the reader to have fun.    

What is your favorite quality about yourself?

My favorite quality? I embrace everyone.  Sure. There are bad people. I am not naïve.  But I think the vast majority just conform to their environment.  My business ran great because all my employees learned to take pride in making it great, and grew to think their coworkers were family.  I like being a coach, help people prosper.