I lost my brother to suicide. He took his life on his thirtieth birthday. Some people respond to such a tragedy by starting a foundation; others give presentations and workshops. As a writer, I did what writers do. I wrote a book that was first published in 1987 (Atheneum/Avon). Through the telling of others’ stories,…
The reason I wrote the novel is complex. First I recalled an incident 40 years ago that caught my attention. I received a call from the L.A. County Medical Association. They were seeking donations to help defend a pediatrician being sued for millions of dollars, he had $25,000 in malpractice insurance. He faced ruin professionally…
Tapped Out For College Students: Stress Relief Using EFT, was inspired by my wish for an EFT book geared specifically at relieving the stressful situations facing college students. Because both Becki and I are Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) practitioners, I wanted an EFT book because I knew how effective this technique is at relieving stress.…
I’ve been a volunteer at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas for 20 years, working in the PACU, the Post Anesthesia Care Unit. To the layman, that’s the Day Surgery Recovery Room. I attended several lecture given by a heart surgeon at Children’s named Kristine Guleserian, and each time I was impressed by the doctor’s humor…
When I was in the 5th grade, we had an assignment to write a story for Halloween. Most people took the whole hour to write one. I ended up writing over 20 different stories. That was the year I caught the bug to be a writer. Several of my classmates wrote a play in that…
How many times have you thought or said something along the line of, “I can’t control how I feel. The fear, sadness, anger (or insert your own emotion here) is just too strong.” Because you didn’t know you have the power to control and change how you feel, you have allowed those negative feelings to…
How many women stare across a glass of something alcoholic at their male friends and despair as they hear how their relationship is not going according to plan. But as a woman how are you going to explain how easy it actually is to have a great relationship with a woman. And that it has…
I was reading a biography on Woodrow Wilson when a single sentence stopped me. “Edith Wilson was almost the President.” This started me on the road to finding out what really happened in 1919. What I found was that Edith Wilson faced times as rancorous as our own. Her husband was paralyzed and close to…
I have been in love with writing since I first treasured the smell of paper and the flow of ink. Mom would read to me and I would ‘pretend to write’ on anything I could get my hands on. ‘Pretend to write’. That phrase haunts me still when I am asked to create a guest post…
I have transcribed and recorded the thirty-six masterpieces that comprise J. S. Bach’s Cello Suites on acoustic guitar—almost three hours of music. I have also written a four-volume, highly interactive e-book: Bach, Casals and The Six Suites for ‘Cello Solo — biographies of Bach and of Pablo Casals, the man who rescued the Suites from…
The Story Behind the Book 