“Wrapping It All Up: Making an Ending with Finality”
by Blake Gardner

The best way to draw in your reader has always been the first chapter. It will be what you read first, and will introduce you to the world. The middle is what keeps readers interested and reading the book throughout. What about the ending? The truth is if you have a lack-luster ending, there’s nothing to bring you back for the next book, which is essential if you’re book is a series. Crafting a good ending is the best way to keep the reader satisfied. First off, you have to wrap up all the loose ends. If there are questions that need to be answered, you have to answer them. Of course, there should be more than enough room for you to continue the story, but if it’s a stand-alone novel then you should feel like there is nothing left to tell. Should you leave you readers with a cliff hanger that makes them wanting the next book as soon as they finish it? I’ve always enjoyed a good plot a twist, especially if I didn’t see it coming. Even if you know there will be one, the results of the twist should be something you didn’t expect. In the beginning, there was the world that you were introduced to, and in the end, there should be answers that reveal hidden things about that world. 

ABOUT BLAKE GARDNER
Blake Gardner is a debut author from Michigan. He has always had a love of reading. Writing interested him from a young age. For a short period, Blake found himself without a driver’s license and decided to write a book with all his spare time. “You can think of a great number of imaginative things while waiting,” Blake says. He loves sharing his work with readers. Blake encourages readers to connect with him via his website, and on Twitter and Facebook.

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*Media Kit prepared by Susan Barton, My Book Tour.

Jamillah and David Lamb are the dynamic couple behind the successful off-Broadway play, Platanos Y Collard Greens, which has enjoy ed more than 10 years running. For years, they have worked side by side, 24/7, to create and build their business. And, not only have they not killed each other, their love has grown stronger. Now Jamillah and David share their recipe for romantic success.
This insightful relationship guidebook is part love manual and part diary as the couple explores important and intimate topics. Speaking from both of their voices–separately and collectively.
Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients to Happily Living & Loving Together is not a book of relationship theory – it’s a practical guide that provides the recipe anyone, man or woman, single, engaged or married, can use for love . Jamillah & David tell their story with a sometimes painful, sometimes hilarious, honesty. It is the warm, true-to-life style combined with road-tested advice that makes this book on love and relationships so unique and so valuable .

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Jamillah & David Lamb are the husband and wife team who own Between The Lines Productions, Inc., a company they developed in 2003 to inspire and bring the joy of laughter to people, which has produced the long running Off-Broadway show, Platanos Y Collard Greens.  David was born in Queens, NY and raised in public housing in Astoria, Queens. He attended the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and New York University School of Law. He is the playwright of Platanos Y Collard Greens, a piece that grew out of his experiences growing up in the Black and Latino communities of in Queens and the South Bronx. Jamillah Lamb grew up in Chicago, in the same neighborhood as First Lady Michelle Obama. After earning her Bachelor’s degree in economics from Wesleyan University, she went on to Harvard University, where she gained her Master degree in Public Policy. She uses this background in the daily operations of Between The Lines Productions, Inc. Jamillah always loved theater and shares David’s passion for creative work. David loves being married business partners and parenting with Jamillah. They live in Brooklyn with their wonderful little girl. For more information about Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients to Happily Living and Loving Together


Get to know the authors:
Interview with Jamillah and David Lamb, Successful Theater Producers and authors of must-read relationship guide: Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients To Happily Living & Loving Together

1. “Love like kids act like adults” is your motto. What do you mean by that?

We have all been blessed to see how openly and beautifully children love, without fear of rejection or embarrassment. Seeing this, we can’t help but break into big, broad smiles when a child expresses their love. Despite these broad smiles, however, most of us turn our own love lives into a Quentin Tarantino movie and “get medieval,” “get even,” and “get over”. We forget to love the way we once did, instead we build massive, reinforced fortresses around our hearts to protect us from hurt. Complete with moats (baggage from past relationships) and knights (friends and family who, filled with their own past relationship baggage, advise us to protect ourselves and not open ourselves). Unfortunately, while we believe these fortresses protect us, in reality they are prisons that imprison our love and leave us unable to genuinely give and receive love.
We say no more, it is time to make the greatest prison break since Shawshank Redemption.
Here’s an example, we playfully call this the screaming greeting. When a small child is happy to see you walk through the door, you don’t have to guess about it the joy comes out as their little voices rise and they run and hug you. Now have you ever come home after a long-day at work and greeted the one you love without any greeting at all or worse yet a grumpy greeting, each of you distracted by the mail, the work day, the television, the phone or the thousand and one other things that distract us. Well—stop it! That is merely a façade another way of putting a fortress around your heart to protect yourself, but instead has turned into a prison inhibiting your love. Next time the one you love comes home after a long day of work greet them with the enthusiasm that your love deserves: run up, hug them and shout out your love for them. It will shake off the blues and bring you closer, you will find yourself cheered up and longing for them even more.

2. How do you keep the spark in your relationship?

Loving Like Kids is a living, breathing philosophy for us. We go on spontaneous dates—doing what we want to do in the moment, and we have no limit on public displays of affection (no matter how embarrassing.)

3. What are your fundamental tips for making a relationship work in your opinion?

First, Let Your Past, Be Your Past. One of the keys to being happy in a relationship is to be in that relationship. We all carry emotional baggage from past relationships around in gigantic duffel bags and oft-times those past relationships poison the current relationship we are trying to have.
You can never see the potential of your future, if you are always viewing it through the lens of your past. One of the most complementary things that someone has written about Perfect Combination was that the book inspired them to not make the next person pay for the last person’s mistakes, but instead to always put their best foot forward in a relationship and to leave the baggage behind wholeheartedly embracing a new opportunity to “get it right”. That is our message – that love and happiness are not elusive. They are accessible, but they begin with a ready, willing and able self, strong enough to make the journey and take the trip.

4. How did you meet?

We actually met at work. David worked in the New York office and I worked in the California office.
Yes, one week after starting work I noticed a picture of the company’s retreat from the year before, and my eye immediately went to Jamillah. Something told me she was going to be my wife. I know that love at first sight is a Hollywood cliché, but for me it was a very real experience.
A month later we had our company retreat in California and David and the rest of the New York staff came out to California. I have to admit that when I saw him there was instant electricity.
It took her ten years to admit that!

5. Now I know you two are in love, but like all couples there have to be disagreements sometimes. How do you handle disagreements?

Many relationships fall apart because the couple doesn’t know how to handle disagreements. We have seen couples explode over something as small as which movie to see on Saturday night. What we’ve found is that it’s not the things you disagree about that break couples up, but the ways in which couples disagree. We urge everyone to take Dr. Martin Luther King’s advice and “learn to disagree, without being disagreeable’.

6. What is the quality you like most about the other?

His sense of humor and youthful attitude. He keeps me laughing, all the time. And his belief in and support of me.
Her sweetness. People say you end up marrying someone like your parents and for us its true, even though that was not our intention, but the first time I walked into Jamillah’s apartment and saw a painting of trees that she had worked on, I thought, this is really bizarre, because my mother is one of the great tree painting enthusiasts in the world.
It’s true, and I don’t know how it happened, but David is a blend of both my father and step-father – the good parts.
And her support of and belief in me.

7. Most people think that working together actually will doom their relationship, but for you two, working together has made it stronger. How has this come about?

Originally we planned to produce our play, Platanos Y Collard Greens, for one weekend. We both had full-time jobs and thought that it would be a fun thing to do on the side, but when the audiences came that first weekend, they fell in love with the show and it took over our lives.
Suddenly we were managing a company of twenty actors and dealing with drama on and off-stage. We had to learn how to manage people and not let the stress of doing that damage our relationship. Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends & Influence People became a handbook for managing people and surprisingly we learned things that improved our relationship, one very important thing we learned is that people crave appreciation. When we first began working together we didn’t appreciate that fully and would sometimes take each other for granted without even realizing it. Once we learned this lesson in business we began making sure that we showed each other how much we appreciated each other, and it made our relationship better.

For information about Jamillah and David visit their website www.acoupleoflambs.com Perfect Combination is available at Amazon.com and other online booksellers.


Find the authors:
Twitter: @authordavidlamb
Website 
Goodreads
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Personal Note from The Creator of The Bookworm Lodge: I actually saw Platanos Y Collard Greens as it came to my university a few years back and it was an awesome show! Kudos to these two for putting on such a great production that I'm sure is even better now than it was back then. :)

In Life Virgo had two choices, living their way or living her way.  She realized that she would lose herself doing it their way and begun to wonder if she could take her life back doing it her way.  Determined, she set out on a journey to find the answer.

Virgo put everyone and everything first and learned the hard way what unappreciation was.  The day finally came when she took a long hard look in the “mirror” and realized that she had to change.
Her mirror told her that “only you can make you happy and everyone else contributes to your happiness”.  Now the challenge will be who you choose to put first.

Click the book to read an Excerpt.

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Vernon L. Byrd is a life coach and the author of the book, “Virgo, She Did It Her Way.” The book is based on his own life story.
Mr. Byrd wrote the book to encourage and inspire individuals not to allow their past to determine their future.
A survivor and witness of life’s twist and turns, Vernon is living proof that struggles and people do not have to tear you down.
No matter what you go through or what has happened to you, only you can hold yourself back from achieving your dreams and wanting more out of your life.
Mr. Byrd speaks to various groups and organizations on subjects such as abuse, taking your life back, striving when enemies are holding you down and using “The Mirror.”
He conducts workshops and seminars designed to empower young women and uplift their self-esteem.
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INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Vernon, you claim, “You can overcome life’s obstacles by looking in the mirror.” How do you define “The Mirror,” and how do you know your claim to be true? 

The “Mirror” is an honest reflection of you.  Studies and personal experience show that when you look at yourself and tell the truth, you tend to get a clearer picture of matters most to you in your life.

This brings us more into your personal story. What was your life like before you had the astonishing experience that you have called “The Mirror”? 

​Before I finally looked myself in the mirror my life was full of depression and stress because all I did was blame others for my failures.

What was it like when you loved yourself for the first time?
When I began to love myself It felt like the weight of the world left my shoulders and also gave me a clearer understanding of what I had to do to change my life for me.

Was the change easy? What steps did you take to make the transition?

No the change was not easy. I had to go from someone that always focused on others to focusing on me.  The 4 steps I took to make my transition are what I call R-A-W-T.  (Realize, Accept, Willing To Change and Take Action).

What was your life like after that moment?

When I started implementing the R-A-W-T process into my life it was like I walked out of a dark place and began to see that life was worth living and realized that “Life Is Good All The Time”.  It also gave me the ability to make better decisions and focus on the things that I want for my life.

Tell us about your new book, “VIRGO – She Did It Her Way”?

The book is about the journey through life for a young female that gave her life trying to please others and all of life’s issues, hard decisions and wisdom that she encountered as she evolved into a woman.

What else are you doing?

I’m preparing to start the “Love Yourself Unconditionally” tour.  This will consist of speaking engagements, seminars, workshops, books, book signings, motivational cd’s and merchandise.

Is there a website where people can get more information about you and your schedule?
​www.vernonbyrdspeaks.com
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Buy the Book/ Find the book
FB Link: https://www.facebook.com/VirgoSheDidItHerWay?ref=hl
Website link:  www.vernonbyrdspeaks.com
book trailer  https://youtu.be/nYjSRlSVZG8
book can be purchased at www.vernonbyrdspeaks.com
___________________________________________________________________
Contact the Author
email address: mrvernonbyrd@gmail.com 
love yourself blog: http://www.vernonbyrdspeaks.com/#!love-yourself-blog/c19hl ​
press release link: http://pitch.pe/1PvpGMS

​“Write What Interests You!”
By Michael Phillip Cash
 
 
I’ve been told a million times that writers should only write what they know. I don’t believe this at all. I knew next to nothing when it came to witches, but after careful research I immersed myself in their world by conducting my RESEARCH.  That is the key. It's also what separates a talented writer from someone who just daydreams. I feel you have to research your subject inside and out. Immerse yourself in the world of your characters. For instance, you don’t actually have to know how to use witchcraft to write about witches. However, it never hurts to read a few books on the subject to learn what they’re about.  Google has become my best friend. There is unlimited information out there.
 
For example, I just completed Monsterland, where a teen must save his date in a theme park. The main attractions – real werewolves, vampires and zombies – descend upon the place and create chaos. The only thing I knew about these types of “monsters” was the idea about them. I only knew them from films I’ve seen and books I’ve read. So I used my knowledge and made it my own. What would happen if there was a plague and these three species were running rampant?  Humans couldn’t kill them all, because that would kill everyone else. So I had a billionaire round them all up. He creates a theme park for humans to visit and study these vampires, werewolves and zombies, while riding a few scary rides to make it more interesting.
 
You cannot believe what your imagination has in store once you actually start to cultivate a story. Just don’t limit yourself to what you know. Write what interests you.  Write what you feel would inspire an emotional response in your readers.  Don’t write what you think will sell. Write for yourself and everything will follow from there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
 
Michael Phillip Cash is an award-winning screenwriter and novelist. He's written ten books including the best-selling Brood X, Stillwell, The Flip, The After House, The Hanging Tree, Witches Protection Program, Pokergeist and Battle for Darracia series.

Michael resides on the North Shore of Long Island. He writes full-time with his screaming kids in the background.
 
CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR
 
Amazon Author Page
Facebook
Twitter
Website
 
And ClickHERE to purchase, Pokergeist. 
 
Or enter below to win a copy!
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*Media Kit by Susan Barton, My Book Tour

Institutionalised: When Government Abuse with Mental Illness.   
 
What if you wake up one day and find yourself at the centre of online troll (abuse), and only months and years later to be told you are mentally ill when talking about your experience? What happens when the only witness of what goes on in your home is you and your perpetrator? When the police, intelligence services and doctors are in bed together there is no end to your suffering. Being told it is all inside your head and having no place to run and no one to turn to for help. These scenarios may sound like a nightmare, but for victims of government harassment these experiences are real. One in four of the population will suffer from a mental health condition at least once in their life, but to have mental illness being used as a punitive psychiatric policy is too much to stomach.
I was once a globe-trotting business owner; confident, happy and seemingly untouchable. However, after becoming the victim of YouTube cyber-attacks, I found herself institutionalised at an NHS facility and under the control of the country’s medieval mental health laws.
In ‘Institutionalised’, I bares all. Most shocking is that the cyber-attacks were not initiated by teenage trolls or a disgruntled former lover; but agents working for the UK Government. Prepare to learn about a shocking new form of modern oppression, because I has one searing story to tell.
My shocking and frightening new memoir describes her online victimisation at the hands of UK Government operatives, leading to her being institutionalised under the British government’s punitive psychiatric strategy. Fusing a memoir activism, I pulls no punches when exposing the illegal relationship between intelligence services and the NHS, while calling on readers to spread the world and end this new digital form of Governmental oppression. 

To learn more about this book, click the cover. 

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"The strongest among us are the ones who cry behind closed doors, have the ability to smile through silent pain, and fight battles that are obscured by shame.”
 

For Sierra, Alex and Latrice, the innocence of childhood was lost at an early age. The three cousins transition into womanhood carrying a secret that would influence their lives and threaten to destroy their family. Choosing significantly different paths as they struggle to deal with the psychological effects of abuse, the three are eventually driven apart. Through a series of unlikely circumstances, the heroine of the story, Alex, reconnects with Sierra and Latrice. The meeting would ultimately set the stage for atonement.
 
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​Dr. A.L. Smith read her first full-length novel (The Boxcar Children, by Gertrude Chandler Warner) in the third grade and it spawned her passion for reading. According to Dr. Smith, the hallmark of a great story is the resounding presence of a character that transcends the final pages of the book.
Dr. Smith is a native of Frierson, La. She attended Grambling State University on a basketball scholarship and later joined the school's Army ROTC program. Upon graduation in 1996, she became the university's first Army ROTC cadet to receive a commission in the Army Nurse Corps. She's a practicing Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist with a Doctorate of Nurse Anesthesia Practice degree from Texas Wesleyan University. Her research study ("Evidence-Based Selection of Sedation Agents for Patients Undergoing Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography") was selected for publication in the 2016 edition of the Journal of Gastroenterology Nursing issue 39 volume 2.

In 2010, she participated in humanitarian relief efforts during the devastating earthquake in Haiti and provided anesthesia services to a countless number of victims, many of whom were children. This experience would have a profound impact on her views concerning socioeconomic disparities here in the U.S. and countries abroad. She's a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and takes seriously the organization's motto "Service to all Mankind". "In as much as you've done to the least of the..." is her personal motto.
 
Get to know Angela:

1. What was the inspiration for your first novel?

Some years ago, I attended a book club meeting in Atlanta Georgia, where I was surrounded by a group of extremely intelligent and successful women. Ten women were present and nine of them shared personal stories of childhood abuse. Surprisingly, a majority of the women were sharing their stories for the first time. Fear and shame were the common denominators which led these women to suffer in silence. This would become the primary inspiration for writing my first book.

2. What process did you use for character selection?

The characters are largely a product of my imagination but they were created specifically for the purpose of demonstrating some of the potential effects of childhood abuse, which include drug and alcohol addiction, low self-esteem/promiscuity and relationship dysfunction.

3. Is there a particular character that you identify with the most?

Alex, hands down. I found myself channeling many of my personal ideas and emotions concerning dysfunctional  relationships through her character.

4. The urban fiction genre is an extremely competitive market and seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. What are your thoughts concerning the future of the industry?

Competition is essential for growth in any industry. The urban fiction industry is overflowing with an abundance of talented authors and avid readers. I believe the urban fiction market has the potential to sustain itself.

5. What are the keys to success for urban fiction authors?

Capturing and maintaining your audience is most important. I'm still new to the author side of the industry and still trying to build my brand. However, I listen to the readers. Currently, the most critical commentary is related to the issue of repetitive story lines and a perceived lapse in the overall quality of finished products. The urban fiction genre is extremely unique because it embraces a particular set of characteristics, issues and circumstances that are consistent with urban life. Therefore, it stands to reason, these stories will be repeated time and time again. In light of this reality, an author's ability to recreate these stories in a unique fashion with attention to detail and quality will ultimately determine individual progression and long term success within the industry.

6. What is the primary message for the Behind Closed Doors Series?

According to recent statistics, one in five girls and one in twenty boys are subject to some form of childhood abuse. Sexual abuse is often hard to identify due to the lack of physical wounds and the veil of secrecy which further obscures the crime. Without a doubt, my primary goal is to increase awareness concerning this issue and provide victims with a platform for healing.
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7. What are your future plans as an author?
Behind Closed Doors 2: Redemption is scheduled for release in the coming weeks and I'm currently working on my third project which is a stand-alone urban fiction/medical thriller. The production of my trailer for Behind Closed Door 2 was an extremely exhilarating experience for me. I'm currently exploring some ideas concerning the production of "movie-like" trailers for other authors.


Find the author and the book:
 
Website

Amazon

Links
Twitter   @akangela1
Facebook   A.L. Smith

Instagram  @akangela1

And check out the book trailer below!

The Battle for Darracia Books I, II, and III, are now combined into this one epic novel! 

On the planet Darracia, an ever-widening social gap between its inhabitants is causing turmoil that is fracturing a once peaceful world. Struggling with his identity, nineteen year old Prince V'sair must harness the power of the elusive Fireblade, the secret to a warrior's heart, in order to overcome his uncle Staf Nuen's lust for supremacy. Will the energy of the Elements guide the young prince to his true destiny or will Staf Nuen conquer Darracia?

Click the banner to read a Sample on Amazon.

Click HERE to purchase the book!

Or enter the raffle below to win a free signed copy!
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ABOUT MICHAEL PHILLIP CASH:
 
 
Michael Phillip Cash is an award-winning screenwriter and novelist. He's written ten books including the best-selling Brood X, Stillwell, The Flip, The After House, The Hanging Tree, Witches Protection Program, Pokergeist and Battle for Darracia series.

Michael resides on the North Shore of Long Island. He writes full-time with his screaming kids in the background.
 
 
CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR
 
Amazon Author Page
Facebook
Twitter
Website