Struggling With Family Secrets and Broken Relationships?

Martha Ashwell worked as a childcare officer, administrator and support tutor in university education and a counselor.  She is also a member of the long-established writer's group, Manchester Irish Writers.

Her memoir, Celia's Secret: A Journey towards Reconciliation, helped her to analyze and evaluate her life experiences to work through a process of reconciliation.  Broken relationships.

Her story shares the impact family secrets can have on your life.

Are you struggling with the dynamics of a family secret or with broken relationships?



Martha's memoir is full of memorable quotes but the one that sums up the book is Voltaire's, "Love trust and pardon error."

Have You Considered Being a Romance Novelist?

Rebecca Owens has been a writer since she was a little girl.  After 298 rejections from literary agents, she never gave up.  In 2013, she was able to successfully fulfill her dream and publish her first novel.  She is now a member of the Romance Writers of America.

Her stories are inspired by her Native American southern American roots.

In her interview, she shares tips on the steps to take to fulfill your dream of becoming a romance novelist.

Here is a snippet from A Sister's Love

Two North Carolinian sisters, Flo and Priscilla Oxendine are entangled in a web of betrayal, grief, and loss that has spanned over the time of ten years. The entanglement started when the sisters become estranged after Priscilla did the unthinkable and betrayed Flo. Nine months later, Priscilla dropped another bombshell or two after Flo had begun to rebuild her life.

Jack Winston, Priscilla's New York attorney, and friend has been given the chore of calling her family late one autumn night with sad news of her accident. In search of Priscilla's family contact information, he finds a forgotten two-year-old letter asking him to agree to an arrangement with Flo that knocks him off his feet.

NO Excuse For Bullying - EVER!

Monica Perrett lives in Australia and is the mother of six children.  She is currently writing a book on changing the law giving more rights for parents of teenage runaways.  

Monica won the Mother of the Year award.  While she was out of town, receiving the award, her three-month-old son died.  

Because Monica's foster son died at home, she was stripped of her rights as a parent and not allowed to attend his funeral.  

With anger and determination, she single-handedly was able to get that LAW CHANGED.

The Will to Live - A Daughter's Story

Author Darcy Leech was born to Jo Lyn Bartz, who genetically carried myotonic muscular dystrophy. Darcy's brother, Dustin, was born with the same disease. He had a high enough frequency of protein repeat mutations that of his thirteen years of life, every day defied prior medical knowledge! 
He lived far beyond what anyone expected.  Darcy shares how inner strength, a strong love of family and God sustained him.

Darcy's mother lived ten years after Dustin passed and Jo Lyn was the strongest woman Darcy ever will meet. The life lessons she taught Darcy will be passed on to future generations.  This story will touch your soul.



Her memoir, From My Mother, is a moving narration of loss and the deep resilience of the human spirit as the body weakens.

If You Are Not Stretching and Growing, You Are Not Really Living

Jon Stolpe is an author and active blogger. Jon Stolpe's Stretched is focused on "stretching" and challenging others to get out of their comfort zones. 







He has a passion for family, leadership development, missions, and personal growth.

Jon's organization, H.O.P.E. Helping Other People Everywhere, is doing just that.  In his interview he shared how we can all pay it forward.  As a construction engineer, Jon has helped build homes in Guatemala for those widows with children who were homeless.  On his blog he gives each of us the opportunity to be involved with this mission.

During the interview, Jon shared the results of a survey Dr. Anthony Campolo, speaker, author, sociologist took of people who were over the age of 95.  He asked them if they could live their lives over...."What would you do differently?"

When Aging Parents Die, Sibling Rivalry Lives

 


Deborah Carroll, a former educator and educational publisher has written a book on a subject that is not easy for families to discuss.  The subject is the death of aging parents.  Her book, Tales from the Family Crypt:  When Aging Parents Die, Sibling Rivalry Lives is a must read!

There is nothing that can tear families apart faster or uglier than estate issues.


 

In many families, there are difficult, dysfunctional and even despicable siblings who want to grab money and power at a time when they should be communicating and pulling together as a unit. 

H.O.P.E. Here's One Possible Expectation

Warren Rodwell: former soldier, university teacher, hostage survivor, speaker, and songwriter, is the longest held Australian captive outside war. For more than fifteen (15) months, Warren was hidden and starved in island mangrove jungles with the constant threat of beheading if the terrorists’ original ransom demand for $US2 million was not paid.










When asked how he ever survived he responded with "resilience, adaptability, versatility, pragmatism, perseverance, and a dry sense of humor"

From Wikipedia:

Overcoming Fear on the Road to Stardom

Nancie Schipper is a 15-year-old singer and songwriter.  She started playing music at six years old, performing at the age of nine and was playing pubs at 13 years old.

She writes songs from her personal experiences and what she observes is happening in the world at large -- from a teenager's perspective.

As a shy person, she shares how she overcame the fear of performing in front of large groups of people and that when we face our fears, we can do whatever we want to accomplish!









You can purchase her songs on iTunes here