 Khristin Wierman was born and raised in a small East Texas town–which means she came into the world a Dallas Cowboys fan and ardently believes “y’all” is a legitimate pronoun. She spent twenty years rising through the marketing ranks of Fortune 500 companies, building a career that was lucrative, ego-boosting, and a little bit soul-crushing. So she quit. And had no idea what to do with her life. Writing ensued. Some things she really enjoys are playing golf with her husband and stepson, poker, yoga, chocolate, the Golden State Warriors, and the daily adventure of life with an adorably imperfect cat named Rocco. She lives in Oakland, California. What was your inspiration for This Time Could Be Different? I’d recently left the corporate world and, for the first time in my life, had the opportunity to choose what I’d like to do next—instead of what other people needed or expected from me. As I considered a new career, I found myself staring at a blank wall. Which was unsettling for so many reasons: Why couldn’t I imagine myself without a job like my old one, which I never consciously chose or enjoyed? Then the bigger blow: How was it that I’d solely defined myself by that career? I began writing as a creative way to use my mind differently and figure out my next career move. From the first scene, I realized that maybe writing the novel was where I was headed all along. Is This Time Could Be Different a memoir? No. Although I’m frequently asked that question. I certainly leveraged much of my own direct experience, but I absolutely adore writing fiction because of the agency it provides—to unwind from what happened in the past; for people to be better than, perhaps, they were; and for everyone to create happier endings for themselves. What was your favorite scene to write? Madeline’s meltdowns were a lot of fun, especially the one she has in the florist shop where she ultimately confronts her worst fears—in front of a room full of strangers—and finds that what she was most terrified of isn’t true at all. Was This Time Could Be Different a significant departure from your first novel, Buck’s Pantry? In some ways, yes, in some ways, no. The stories are unrelated, yet they both deal with how we free ourselves from the knots of our past, which is what I’m most interested in writing about—especially when our traumas occurred underneath the surfaces of what appear to be a very nice lives. I like stories where characters succeed and become who and how they really choose to be in the world. In This Time Could Be Different, I drew from my own corporate experience and the process of figuring out how to find a vocation that I actually enjoyed. In Buck’s Pantry, I drew from my experience growing up in Texas with a mother who suffered from mental illness. So, both are quite close to my heart. What’s next for you? I am currently writing my third novel—new characters, a new story but certainly playing with the themes of recovering from our past, taking agency over our own life, and creating positive change. Visit Khristin on her website:
https://khristinwierman.com Follow Khristin on Instagram: www.instagram.com/khristin.wierman Join Khristin on Facebook: www.facebook.com/khristinwierman/ Connect with Khristin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khristin-wierman-39a09a11 LINK for BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/This-Time-Could-Be-Different/dp/1684632161
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 Andrea Liebross, a certified business and life coach, specializes in empowering female entrepreneurs to infuse thinking with action so they can drop the drama and figure out how to think like a CEO, manage like a CEO and believe in themselves to achieve success in their business and at home. Celebrated for her transformative work with unapologetically ambitious women, helping translate their visions into tangible accomplishments, Andrea is the author of the new book, She Thinks Big: The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Guide to Moving Past the Messy Middle and into the Extraordinary, which launched on September 26, 2023. Andrea is dedicated to implementing systems and strategies that lead to sustainable and meaningful success. She possesses the unique ability to decipher complex situations and shed light on the broader perspective, one that transcends business politics and tedious responsibilities. Her focus is on guiding women toward their highest potential, free from the constraints of traditional norms, to achieve a coveted balance of time, financial prosperity, and boundless energy. Beyond her coaching, Andrea is a dynamic speaker and the engaging host of the She Thinks Big podcast, where she works to help listeners create a plan to have a profitable and successful business. Andrea's journey towards becoming a seasoned coach and author was preceded by her graduation from Dartmouth College and marrying the guy who lived down the hall. Together, they make Indianapolis their home, all while raising two kids and two giant Leonbergers. What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story? What makes my business stand out from other businesses is that I am a business coach, but I take a whole life approach. I always say that life coaching and business coaching are both fair game. Business is just part of your life. A lot of times people try to fit life in around business, but I like to think we can fit business in around life and be successful. If your whole life (all the parts) was a strainer your business needs to go through the holes in the strainer — it needs to fit into those little spots. It’s not the opposite; our life is not about fitting into the spaces in our business. I think that makes me unique; I think both are equally important, and I am up for coaching in both areas. I recently had a client who feared being pregnant and was unsure of how she would fit this pregnancy into her business. When I shared with her that the business needed to fit into the pregnancy — that the pregnancy was of utmost importance — a huge weight was lifted on her. She did figure out how both could “work” together. And now she is the happy mom of healthy twins!! What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors? One of the mistakes I see CEOs and founders making is when they are always looking at their bank accounts and judging themselves by what they see there. Entrepreneurs need to recognize it may take three years to turn a profit. They will be investing a lot back into their business during that time, and that investment will bring long-term results. Also, when they’re investing, they need to invest not just in their business, but also in themselves. In fact, that’s where their biggest investments should be — to get knowledge, training, and support they need to grow their business. They tend to think they can’t afford to do those things, or that they should already know all the answers or be able to figure it all out on their own. But that’s simply not true. And if you believe that to be true, will cause you to stumble and not be able to grow your business as fast as you possibly could. Based on your experience can you tell us what you did to bounce back? So, I put on a new set of glasses, and found the people that also wanted to grow and evolve– they were people who energized me. And I accepted that some of my past friendships were complete; we were in two different chapters of life. By reframing these friendships in that way, I made space for new ones to evolve. Another way I bounce back from business lows is by changing how I think about the situation. There have been times when I’ve tried a new program or package, and it hasn’t gotten the traction I wanted it to. That creates a low. So, I treat it as if it were a science experiment; that’s one of my favorite ways of positioning things in my mind to help my brain manage the feelings associated with what I could see as “failure.” So, I would say, “I had a hypothesis, and we tested it. We proved it incorrect. That’s ok. It was a try. We’ll create new hypotheses and move forward.” What are your “Five Things You Need To Successfully Ride The Emotional Highs & Lows Of Being An Entrepreneur”? You can sum up these five things by using the word “TRUST.”
Visit Andrea on her website:
https://andrealiebross.com/ Follow Andrea on Instagram: www.instagram.com/andrea.liebross.coaching Join Andrea on Facebook: www.facebook.com/andrealiebrosscoaching/ Subscribe to Andrea's YouTube channel: @andrealiebrosscoaching Connect with Andrea on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-liebross Check out Andrea Liebross’s podcast, She Thinks Big, for inspiring episodes and insights: Visit the Podcast Page Explore Andrea’s book, She Thinks Big: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Guide to Moving Past the Messy Middle and Into the Extraordinary, here: Buy on Amazon  Carol Look, LCSW, EFT Master EFT Master, Carol Look is the leading success and abundance coach in the energy psychology field. Known for combining her traditional psychotherapy background with energy medicine, she is recognized and respected around the globe for inspiring people to attract abundance into their lives by using EFT and the Law of Attraction to clear limiting beliefs and build prosperity consciousness. A pioneer and leading voice in the EFT community, Carol has trained and mentored thousands of energy practitioners. She is a highly sought after international speaker and workshop leader, and authored the book, Attracting Abundance with EFT – an industry favorite – as well as the bestselling Amazon Kindle e-book “Stop Feeling Lazy: How to Break the Procrastination Cycle Once and For All.” While Carol’s signature work in the field has been helping others attract success and abundance, she has also produced quality training products on additional topics such as weight loss, clearing clutter, trauma and pain relief. Carol is featured as a primary EFT practitioner and energy therapy expert in the field’s leading DVD documentaries about tapping and contributes her time and work to numerous healing telesummits, books and training programs around the globe. The YES CODE is a guide to breaking through self-sabotaging behaviors. What inspired you to develop this method, and how has it transformed your own life? After the exceptional results I saw with clients and in myself, I wanted to reach even more people who are struggling. The Yes Code transformed all areas of my life – I no longer procrastinate which enabled me to quadruple my income. I’ve given up people pleasing and being a perfectionist which means I make much clearer and better decisions at work and at home. And making my self-care a priority transformed my health and allowed me to lose and keep off the 25 extra pounds I was carrying around and heal my chronic insomnia. What are the best question readers could ask themselves to identify the underlying reasons they keep using self-sabotage behaviors? We know that there is an upside to our self-sabotage behaviors or we wouldn’t be using them. Questions: If you give up these self-sabotaging behaviors and start succeeding in all areas of your life, what are you afraid might happen? How does it serve you to play small and hide your talents? You tell the readers that emotional safety always wins – what do you mean by that and how can we address this challenge? If you feel safer when you play small, you will be motivated to sabotage yourself with behaviors such as procrastination and perfectionism so you can stay under the radar. Once you identify how and why shining and being successful scares you, you can treat the real problem – your fears and beliefs – and stop focusing on changing the behavior, which is just a symptom. You mention using "cutting-edge emotional technology" in your book. Could you elaborate on what this technology involves and how readers can apply it to overcome their limiting beliefs? I use EFT or “tapping” as my emotional technology. This technique combines the art of ancient Chinese acupuncture and modern psychology to rewire your brain when fears or beliefs block your progress. Once you eliminate your fears and resolve your outdated beliefs, the rewiring happens in your brain, and you will no longer need to block your success. The technique can be self-applied on a daily basis for all fears and beliefs, is painless, and has shown no side effects. In the book, you draw from your personal hardships and experiences in the mental health field. What was one of the most challenging moments in your journey, and how did it shape the creation of The YES CODE? One of the most challenging experiences in my life was the death of my younger sister from cancer. It brought home the urgency that “life is short” and I knew I needed to get in high gear to stop getting in my own way and start following the best path for myself. This profound loss and how I dealt with it helped shape The YES CODE. For readers struggling with perfectionism or procrastination, what is one key action from The YES CODE they can start implementing today to begin their transformation? They can ask themselves the best questions to get to the bottom of “why” they struggle with these behaviors – What do these behaviors protect you from? What are you afraid of if you stop procrastinating or trying to be perfect? Once they find out the real reason they’re using these behaviors, they can treat the underlying fears and beliefs with EFT/ Tapping and release them quickly and permanently. Visit Carol on her website:
https://www.carollook.com/ Follow Carol on Instagram: www.instagram.com/carollook_eft Join Carol on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarolLookEFT Subscribe to Carol's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@CarolLookEFT Connect with Carol on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/carol-look-6066692 LINK for BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Yes-Code-Transforming-Sabotage-Success-ebook/dp/B0DJ9H1Q17  Lisa A. Traugott is a Mom’s Choice Award-winning author, award-winning public speaker, and original cast member on John Cena’s reality-TV show "American Grit" (she lasted 5 episodes). Books include her memoir, "She's Losing It!", diet/exercise book "The S.L.I. Method," and kids' book "Mind Your Manners Minnie Monster" which she also illustrated. Lisa lives in Austin, TX with her husband, kids and English bulldog, Bruno. Her debut historical fiction, To Rescue a Witch, was released in March 2024. Where did your love of (books, writing, reading, and/or storytelling) come from? Every night when I was little, I’d climb on my dad’s shoulders, and he’d carry me upstairs and tuck me into bed with a story. One book was never enough. My favorite part was when he set the book aside and told me Little Red Riding Hood. I was always drawn to stories about girls deciding to wander off the sanctioned path to face down wolves. What was the hardest part of writing his book? History is hard. In the 1700s there wasn’t any understanding of post traumatic stress disorder or much sympathy for abused women, children, indentured servants or enslaved people. Domestic violence in its many forms was commonplace and legal. Have you heard the phrase, ‘the rule of thumb’ to give a rough estimate? Rough indeed! In 1778, a judge named Sir Francis Buller (who earned the nickname Judge Thumb) apparently said that a husband could beat his wife as he saw fit, provided the stick used was no thicker than his thumb. My young protagonist, Annaliese, was abused in every way imaginable. Even fewer protections existed for children. In America, child abuse wasn’t even a crime until 1973! To help understand these characters raised in a brutal society, I spoke with two therapists who explained common behaviors and coping mechanisms children and women use to overcome trauma today and what they might have done in times when therapists didn’t exist and the laws were decidedly against them. Has Texas influenced your writing in any way? Originally from New Jersey, I moved to Austin fourteen years ago when my son was a baby. I love Texas, particularly my friends and neighbors, the big skies and warm weather. What I don’t like is the current state of politics and the ugly turn it has taken. When Roe v. Wade was stricken by the Supreme Court, Fiona’s storyline of being pregnant after rape suddenly seemed more urgent, confusing, and complicated. I did my best to present multiple points of view to process such a difficult situation. In researching this book, did you learn any unexpected, unusual, or fascinating information? My favorite fact discovery was that while Witchcraft was punishable by death for a long time, in 1736 it got downgraded to a misdemeanor and remained in force until 1951. For real. But just because laws shifted didn’t mean that public opinion did. What’s something interesting, fun, or funny that most people don’t know about you? Every year for my birthday I do something to scare myself. It’s kind of like having a bucket list, only instead of doing one hundred things and then dropping dead, I do one thing per year and then eat cake. This year I turned 50 (!!!) and I am finally able to say that I’ve published my first novel. Other birthday scares include entering a bodybuilding competition, jumping out of a plane, doing five minutes of stand-up comedy, running a marathon, taking dance lessons with my husband to do ‘the lift’ from Dirty Dancing and, this is true, being on a reality-TV show called American Grit hosted by John Cena. Who would you cast to play your characters in a movie version of your book? This is the fun part! I’d cast Gerard Butler (from the film 300) as William MacLeod (he’d have to dye his hair auburn), Millie Brady (Aethelflaed in the Netflix drama The Last Kingdom) as Fiona and I’d reach back in time to cast a young Lindsey Lohan (The Parent Trap) as Annaliese. I’d love, love, love to cast Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones) for Lady Margaret. What projects are you working on at present? I’m turning “To Rescue a Witch” into a series. I’m writing two books at the same time – a sequel called, “Damn Rebel Witches” exploring the Scottish Jacobite Rebellion in 1745 (Annaliese is now fifteen) and a prequel. In “To Rescue a Witch” a diary written by Annaliese’s mother plays a very important role. The prequel is that story, “The Diary of a Mistress”. I’m aiming to release one (or both!) next year. Visit Lisa on her website:
https://lisatraugott.com/ Follow Lisa on Instagram: www.instagram.com/lisa__traugott Join Lisa on Facebook: www.facebook.com/LisaATraugott Subscribe to Lisa's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ptr77-fB15kVhQTSaeDAw Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-traugott-b47a3255 LINK for BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Rescue-Witch-Lisa-Traugott/dp/B0CWP4KRZ4  Ursula Werner is a writer and attorney currently living in Washington, D.C., with her family. Throughout her legal career, Ms. Werner has pursued creative writing, publishing two books of poetry, In the Silence of the Woodruff (2006) and Rapunzel Revisited (2010). The Good at Heart (2017) is her first novel. The Good at Heart is your debut novel. Can you share with us what it was like to write this story? How much is inspired by true events in your family? How much is fictionalized? The basic questions of The Good at Heart—what might be the stresses and difficulties facing a German family living in the midst of World War II if the patriarch of that family was a high-ranking official in the totalitarian government—came directly from my own family. My great-grandfather, Hans Ernst Posse, was a cabinet secretary under Hitler. That fact, along with the silence of my family surrounding his activities during the war, weighed heavily on my psyche for many years. I wondered what he knew and didn’t know, what he did or didn’t do, and I was equally curious about what he told his wife and children—whether they asked him about his activities, or whether they were too afraid to do so. Writing The Good at Heart allowed me to examine, imaginatively, not only those questions, but also the larger question of the collective or cultural guilt that settles upon a nation ruled by a dictator like Hitler. I also grew up with stories from my parents about what it was like to live in southern Germany during the war. To a large degree, these stories conflicted with the images of Germany and German civilians during the war that I had seen on television and in film. So my secondary imaginative endeavor in writing the book was to present a snapshot of a small southern German town during wartime—where people might try to live their lives as normally as possible, given the police state surrounding them, and the circumstances of war. The town of Blumental, though completely fictional, is based upon a real German town in which my mother currently lives, and many of the physical locations—including Birnau, the pink church on the lake—are real. And there is a real historical truth underlying some of the events described in the book: for example, Hitler really did visit a composer who lived in that town, and the mayor of the town was almost murdered by a sadistic SS officer. But the vast majority of the plot details are fictional. Why did you choose to structure the book around the three days leading up to the assassination attempt on the Führer? Is there an argument to be made that this novel has a clear beginning, middle, and end? Because I wanted to tell my story from multiple points of view and because there were a number of different, possibly confusing, plot lines, I decided to limit the time frame of the novel to three days. Structurally, that kept the story from becoming too unwieldy. Also, by focusing on just three days, I was able to present a more detailed picture of day-to-day life in Blumental—what might market day have looked like during the war? What kinds of games might the kids have played? In my mind, there is a distinct structure to the book, beginning with Erich’s arrival in town (quickly followed by Oskar’s arrival), leading up to the tea with the Führer, and culminating in the assassination attempt at the concert and its aftermath It is noteworthy that you have many different narrators throughout the course of the novel, from Rosie to Marina to Johann to Erich. Why did you decide to tell the story from so many points of view? Ultimately, whose story is this? My hope in using a multitude of points of view was to present a realistic picture of the different attitudes and perspectives of different Germans toward the war, and toward the regime that governed them. In particular, I wanted to focus on the complex questions confronting people who opposed Hitler’s policies in principle, but found themselves constrained by the deadly threats of his police state. Marina, Johann, Erich, and even Edith, all oppose the Führer, but they face different obstacles in deciding what to do to voice their opposition, or whether to voice it at all. The only character whose viewpoint we never hear—and I knew from the beginning that he would remain silent—is Oskar. By not giving voice to Oskar’s thoughts, I wanted to put the reader in the position of myself and countless other Germans who never really knew what people like Oskar were up to. I wanted to make Oskar as likable as I knew my great-grandfather was, someone who was loved and respected by his family members and neighbors. What does it do to your image of such a person when you learn that they might have been involved in a reprehensible and horrendous crime? And do you temper any censure you might feel when you remember the context of Hitler’s police state, and the fact that people during that time weren’t really free to make decisions as we are today? Ultimately, although The Good at Heart tells the story of the Eberhardt family, I hope it tells a larger story as well: that of the average German person living under the Nazis during World War II and confronted with harrowing rumors about the activities of that regime; the story of someone who may have wanted to help the oppressed, but might not have known how to do so effectively, or how to do so without bringing danger to herself or her family. And beyond that story lurks, for me, an even bigger principle, applicable to so many other situations—that we really can’t judge the actions of other people without imagining what it is like to be in their place, considering the totality of all the influences surrounding them. Even then, we can’t judge others, I think, because everyone has different instincts, values, and priorities. Do you relate most to one character? If so, who is it and why? I probably relate most to Marina, though I can identify with aspects of all the characters. I know what it is like to raise three daughters and to experience the intense fear that some of the decisions you make might cause them pain. I also believe, like Marina, that it is possible to love deeply more than one person in a lifetime, even at the same time. I’m not sure that I would have had the courage—or bravado—that Marina has, in bringing refugees to her house at the same time as the Führer is coming to tea, especially where that action puts the lives of her entire family in danger. But I admire her for it. Author Susan Meissner wrote that The Good at Heart offers a “fresh perspective on what we are willing to surrender for the greater good.” What are the characters in your novel asked to surrender? In the end, does good triumph over evil? In the end, two of the characters, Erich and Oskar, surrender their lives for what they see as the greater good. Erich risks his life in order to try to kill the Führer. Although the assassination attempt fails, and Erich is executed, the fact that there even existed an internal resistance group trying to remove the Führer is a triumph of good over evil, in my mind. Ultimately, too, Erich has to act in accordance with his conscience. As a single man, he has a certain freedom to engage in risky activities, without implicating family members. His participation in the resistance is an internal moral triumph; he can go to his death knowing that he was true to certain principles he believed in. As for Oskar, he ultimately sacrifices his life so that his family can remain safe. (As a side note, my mother was very angry with me for killing off Oskar. She kept asking me to find a way to let him live.) At the time Oskar goes with Captain Dietz, he does not know that Marina has already removed the refugees, so he is trying to avoid a house search. In that sense, Oskar’s sacrifice is more heartbreaking, because the reader knows it was unnecessary. Nevertheless, I consider it a triumph, because it’s a demonstration of a father’s overwhelming love for his daughter, and his willingness to do anything to protect her, his wife, and his grandchildren. Although I love Erich and Oskar, and I love dear, gentle Sofia, and they all die, I cannot say that evil triumphs. What triumphs, in my mind, is life. That was the revelation of Rosie’s pregnancy in the epilogue: life goes on, life endures. War takes its victims, but there are survivors, and they can be strengthened through their suffering, and they can march forward to create something new. Discuss the title. Would you say that all the characters—and maybe by extension, all of us—are truly good at heart? I have to say that I am in awe of Anne Frank’s ability to believe that people were basically good at heart, in light of everything she had experienced in her life up to the time she made that statement. Every time I reread her diary, I am struck by how beautiful and insightful the writing is, for a girl only thirteen years old. I can only imagine—and mourn the loss of—the extraordinary writer Anne would have become, had she not been murdered. Yes, like Anne, I do think people are basically good at heart. As a Quaker, I believe there is “that of God in every one,” and it is relatively easy for me to equate the concept of a God with goodness and love. Of course, it is difficult to reconcile this belief with the historical reality of a person like Adolf Hitler, who truly seems to have been evil incarnate. With respect to Hitler and other people who sow fear and hatred, I think that the inherent goodness of a person can be overwhelmed or shackled by negative human instincts, developmental circumstances, and/or societal forces. The light of goodness in such people has been extinguished, in some cases permanently, in others, hopefully not. Because this novel was inspired by events in your own family, did you encounter any particular challenges in telling this story? Or, did the personal aspect of the novel give you better access and insight into the lives of ordinary Germans during World War II? My mother was very concerned about factual accuracy in the book. Her family, the Posses, was the model for the Eberhardts, and she still lives in the town that Blumental was based upon. I kept trying to remind her that the book was fiction and that Oskar was not really Hans Ernst Posse, Edith was not Margaret Posse, etc. But it was hard for her to embrace that fictionalization, particularly when she was worried about the reactions of people who might see themselves as characters. I recently visited my mother in Germany, and we were invited to have coffee with a family in the neighborhood. At one point, we began talking about the novel, and our discussion evolved into a rich and fascinating recitation of events in the town during the war. It was there that I learned for the first time about a rumor that Hitler had visited the town several times, because he was friends with the wife of a composer who lived just down the street. I thought that I had completely fabricated the Führer’s visit to Blumental, but apparently, there might be some truth to that story! I also learned that our neighbors hid a Jewish family in their house overnight so that they could be smuggled over the border to Switzerland. These were stories I had never heard, and I hope that this novel will foster similar discussions, especially as the generation of people with firsthand knowledge of World War II is growing older. If Franz and Erich had not died, what do you think Marina would have done? Would she have stayed married to Franz or run away with Erich? Along similar lines, does the end of the novel imply that Marina and Johann are together? Ah, well, in my mind, this question touches on the much bigger topic of whether authors create and control their stories, or whether the stories and characters take on lives of their own. A few years ago, I had the privilege of hearing Kazuo Ishiguro speak about his writing, and he said at one point that nothing any of his characters did was a surprise to him, that in his experience, the author was always firmly in control of the story and its details. That, however, is not my experience at all. There were several points during the writing of this novel when I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen. I had to step away from the writing for a time and let the story reveal itself to me. And it always did, usually while I was on a walk or running through the forest with my dogs. So I can’t really say whom Marina would have chosen, because only she can know that. But I like to think that Edith’s statement to Marina in chapter 18—that Franz deserved to be married to someone who wanted to be married to him—might have allowed Marina to leave her marriage without too much guilt. Similarly, I can’t say for sure that Marina and Johann end up together. In fact, the ending came as a complete surprise to me. I had no idea Johann was going to pop up again in the epilogue. I had just put Edith and Marina in the garden, talking about forget-me-nots, when Rosie came out of the house, and lo and behold, there she was, pregnant! And next thing I knew, Johann was heading through the grass to officiate at her wedding. There is a subtle kind of feminism in the novel as Edith and Marina—and Marina’s three daughters—form the central focus of the story and represent the stronghold of the family dynamic. Was it your aim to offer a female perspective on the war? How do you think their gender contributes to the choices the characters made—or do you? One of the reasons the novel is dominated by female characters is because the Eberhardt family is based upon my mother’s family. The Posse family is predominantly female: my maternal great-grandparents had two girls and a boy; my maternal grandmother had three girls; my mother had two girls; my sister and I each have three girls. There are very few boys or men in that family tree, and those who marry in usually divorce out, or die off relatively young. There was a moment during one of my family visits to my mother’s house when my husband was getting a bad cold and my mother brought him some Echinacea oil, claiming it would minimize his symptoms. He took one look at the dark brown fluid in the tiny vial and pushed it away, shaking his head and saying, “This is how the men in this family disappear, isn’t it?” So I don’t think I consciously set out to present a female perspective on the war, but in retrospect, there may have been some unconscious instinct toward that end. While I have read enough memoirs by male (and more recently, female) soldiers to know that the reality of fighting in any kind of war is horrendous, I think that there are unique hardships in being left behind on the home front while your loved ones are off at war. I wanted to give voice to some of those difficulties—maintaining a façade of hope and cheer for your children, even as fear and anxiety over the safety of your loved one gnaws at you day and night; offering your loved one unequivocal support by phone or telegram or mail, even as you yourself might desperately need comfort or reassurance; struggling to keep a household running during a time of rationing or shortages so that life seems as normal as possible. I think the women of The Good at Heart make some of their choices not so much because they are women but because they are mothers. It is the nurturing instinct to take care of another human being, to put his or her well-being ahead of their own, that informs many of their actions. I don’t believe that kind of instinct is necessarily limited to women. But I do believe that if ninety percent or more of the earth’s leaders had the instincts of mothers, we would live in a vastly different world. What would you name as the major theme(s) of the novel? I have no doubt there are many more themes in the novel than the ones I might identify, but one of the major themes in my mind is the strength of family. All the adult Eberhardts—Edith, Marina, and Oskar—cherish their family and prioritize its cohesion and safety. Edith focuses on maintaining domestic stability during wartime. Marina struggles mightily with the passion she feels for Erich, which pulls her away from Franz, her parents, and her children. And Oskar offers his life as the ultimate sacrifice to keep everyone else in the family safe. The importance of family ties during war is, of course, nothing new. But I do think that keeping that theme in mind gives us some insight into the conflict many Germans faced when they considered what actions, if any, they might take to oppose Hitler and his policies. Which brings me to another concept that I hoped to express in the novel: the shortsightedness of a black-and-white approach to history. When you really look at historical situations closely, trying to consider all the circumstances surrounding difficult questions, I think it’s almost impossible to view them in sharp contrast. From the distant perspective of the future, looking backward, historical questions always appear more black and white than they actually were at the time. I don’t mean to deny that terrible incidents of hatred and violence—by both actors and onlookers, Nazis and ordinary Germans—took place in Nazi Germany. Undoubtedly and tragically, they did. But I think we should be careful before we assume that all Germans were complicit in and sympathetic to such incidents. My novel suggests that history’s truth, if it can ever be determined, is more gray. That’s one of the reasons I love visiting my mother’s home in southern Germany in the winter: gray is the predominant color over the Bodensee in November and December, and there are countless shades of it. The gray reminds me to keep my judgment in check; to temper my preconceptions about other people; to slow down, look, and listen to everyone and everything, because in fact we all know so little. Anne Frank’s quote provides a lens through which the reader can come to understand the characters and their motivation to do good. Was the Diary of Anne Frank an inspiration for you in writing this novel? Can you tell us other novels or memoirs that inspired you as you wrote? I had read the Diary of Anne Frank long before I wrote the novel, but what I am struck by, each time I read it, is what I suppose I would call its relative “ordinariness.” Here is a young girl, forced during wartime into hiding in a relatively cramped space with seven other people, under constant threat of discovery and either execution or deportation to a work camp—and she still fills her diary with humor, complaints about the foibles of others, and run-of-the-mill adolescent angst and self-analysis. That human ability to create normalcy, even in the context of an ongoing fearful and uncertain situation, shaped how I wanted to present my story. Because in the midst of the war—Captain Rodman’s haphazard firing of machine guns through the streets, an underground effort to smuggle refugees into Switzerland, and a plot to assassinate the Führer—the people of Blumental are living their lives as normally as possible. They are going to market, they are inviting each other for coffee, they are gossiping, they are going to choir practice. I consider that instinct to establish normalcy part of our survival instinct, and it is an amazing demonstration of the adaptability of the human spirit. There were many books and memoirs that informed and inspired The Good at Heart. I read numerous biographies of Hitler, which so cluttered the bookshelves next to my front door that I began to fear what people would think of my politics when they entered my home. More inspiring were the biographies and writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (upon whom Johann is very roughly modeled), whom I consider one of the most admirable men in history. And I was fascinated to learn about the activities of the German resistance, especially as recounted by Joachim Fest in Plotting Hitler’s Death and Peter Hoffmann in Stauffenberg: A Family History. Also, Barbara Demick’s book Nothing to Envy, about life in North Korea, was an invaluable resource for understanding the reality of life in a police state. Are you working on a second novel? Can you share any plans with us for future projects? The project I am currently working on is a mixture of memoir and history, a story of growing up in South Florida in the 1970s—a tale fraught with backyard alligators and flying cockroaches and sudden thunderstorms spawning waterspouts around a small family sailboat. One future project I am particularly excited about, but for which I have yet to do an enormous amount of research, is a historical biography of a well-known biblical figure. Visit Ursula on her website:
https://www.ursulawerner.com/ Follow Ursula on Instagram: www.instagram.com/ursulawerner_author Join Ursula on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Ursula-Werner-Author LINK for BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Good-at-Heart-Novel/dp/1501147579  Lou Diamond is a highly sough-after speaker, sales and marketing consultant, leadership and performance mentor and podcaster. Author of Master the Art of Connecting and CEO of Thrive, Lou has made it his life’s work to help businesses, leaders and brands thrive through the power of connecting. His innovative connecting tactics have helped hundreds of companies across the globe explode their sales, retain their clients and build a thriving culture. Lou’s boundless energy and motivation have inspired audiences, organizations and top leaders feel they can conquer the world and make tons of great new connections doing it. Lou is a Cornell University graduate, passionate sports fan, not-so-great golfer, loving husband and extremely proud parent. Where does EVERY connection without our lives begin? EVERY connection in our lives begins with a good conversation. From our first contact with another human to every interaction we make within our lives the starting point of that relationship always begins with having a good conversation. Yet we all know not EVERY conversation we have leads to making a connection: The sales pitch doesn’t land the sale. The job interview doesn’t lead to you getting hired. The first date doesn’t turn into a second. Not every conversation in our lives leads to the connection we desire. But what if it did? What if EVERY conversation led to making the connection you needed within your life within that moment? What if EVERY time you speak with someone you achieve the goal you set out to? What if EVERY conversation enabled you to connect, engage and win in business and life? It was this line of thinking that led me to write SPEAK EASY: Connect with EVERY Conversation and share not what you need to say nor what you need to do…but HOW YOU NEED TO BE…every time you have a conversation. What is a Connected Leader? A Connected Leader prioritizes relationships in everything they do. They care about you and the things you care about. A Connected Leader understands the power of connection and is a leader people want to follow. A Connected Leader is open, vulnerable, transparent and kind. They are trusted and trusting. A Connected Leader thinks holistically vs. transactionally. They listen, coach, support, and empower. A Connected Leader leverages their network to exponentially advance results for themselves and others. A Connected Leader is the type of leader needed to succeed in business today. What is the Connected Leader Course? In recognizing that a Connected Leader is what the world needs more of today, I partnered with the amazing Michelle Tillis Lederman - my connecting sister from another mister. We combined our connecting methodologies and designed a course for the aspiring leader who wants to take things to a new level, but knows they won’t get there alone. Through an 8-week peer cohort learning experience, the Connected Leader Course provides the foundational thinking and tactical skills of a connected leader, access advice from expert coaches and peers to exponentially advance results for themselves and others, and teaches how to build a culture and environment where people engage and build connected relationships right from the start. What is the Connected Leader Club? After completing the Connected Leader Course you now have the foundations of a Connected Leader. How can you keep the momentum going? By creating a community of leaders hungry for growth, we can reinforce the habits developed, provide access to expertise to navigate the hurdles, and build a supportive peer network to hold you accountable. Most people are not getting what they need at their jobs and seek the relationships, support, and expertise elsewhere. That’s why we created The Club. Visit Lou on his website:
https://www.thriveloud.com/ Follow Lou on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thriveloud Join Lou on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThriveLouD Subscribe to Lou's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@thriveloud Connect with Lou on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/thriveloud Check out Lou's latest content on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@thriveloud LINK for BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Speak-Easy-Connect-Every-Conversation/dp/177458185X Link to Connected Leader Course to sign up for the FALL SESSION: https://connectedleaderclub.mykajabi.com/offers/axi8vUuL/checkout  Libby Fischer Hellmann left a career in broadcast news in Washington, DC and moved to Chicago a long time ago, where she, naturally, began to write gritty crime fiction. She soon began writing historical fiction as well. Seventeen novels and twenty-five short stories later, she claims they’ll take her out of the Windy City feet first. She has been nominated for many awards in the mystery and crime writing community and has even won a few. She has been a finalist twice for the Anthony and four times for Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year. She has also been nominated for the Agatha, the Shamus, the Daphne, and she won the The Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year in 2021. In the past she has won the IPPY, Foreword Magazine’s Indie Awards, and the Readers Choice Award multiple times. Q: What inspired you to write Max’s War? Anwer: I’ve always been attracted to stories about WW2, partly because it’s the only war that spelled out the differences between good and evil so clearly, and partly because everyone who lived through it (almost everyone in the world) had a unique story to be told. My late father in law’s was one. A German born Jew, he and his family fled to Holland thinking they’d be safe from Nazi persecution. But Hitler invaded in 1940, so Fred escaped to the US. He was drafted into the US Army in 1939 and was recruited by the OSS (the forerunner to the CIA). Trained in intelligence, interrogation, and espionage, he went back to Europe where he fought for the US behind enemy lines. I wanted to tell that story. Q: Who are the Ritchie Boys? Answer: The Ritchie Boys were a group of 2300 German and Austrian immigrants, mostly young Jewish men, who escaped Hitler’s Nazis and came to America where they joined the US Army and fought against their homeland. Like the OSS, they were trained in intelligence, interrogation of German POWs, and espionage. Also like the OSS, they returned to Europe to fight for the US. Max Steiner, one of the Ritchie Boys, is the protagonist of Max’s War. His journey loosely follows my late father in law’s story. Q: Why are they important? Answer: During WW2 the Ritchie Boy program was top secret. It wasn’t declassified until 1998. However, most people still do not know who they were or what they did. Above all, Max’s War is a story of young men who escaped the Holocaust but willingly went back as Americans to stop the Nazis. After reading it, what I hope readers will take away is the enormous challenge these soldiers faced. Many of them suffered personally at the hands of Nazis. Many lost their families. But they went back… to the place of that suffering… to stop the carnage. And they ultimately triumphed. Visit Libby on her website: https://libbyhellmann.com Join Libby on Faceboook: www.facebook.com/authorLibbyFischerHellmann Subscribe to Libby's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/libbyfh1 Engage Libby on twitter: https://x.com/libbyhellmann LINK for BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Maxs-War-Story-Ritchie-Revolution/dp/B0CR3DFMJR Check out Libby's UPDATES & EVENTS here.   Dane is a student of science and culture. He travels and works with people from around the world. ALL THE DARK VOICES is the debut novel and the first sci-fi/speculative thriller in a three book collection. Other unrelated thrillers are in queue for readers in the years ahead. Q: What inspired you to write this book? Answer: A quote by Albert Einstein, “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” It’s a humorous quote. I smile every time I read those words. I have always been intrigued by this succinct perspective. Especially with the speed of advancement in science throughout the 20th century, and into our modern day world. As I contemplated how one would reconcile science and human culture in the contemporary world, ALL THE DARK VOICES arrived as a story. I challenged myself to write it. Turns out, it is a love story. Q: What was your writing process like? Answer: It may sound cliché, but the best way to describe the process is organic. I had no outline, no developed characters. I never dreamed of being a writer. I simply started writing one day. I had an opening scene and final concept scene in mind. I wanted the story to move with pace so that if anyone ever read the book, they wouldn’t get bored. I wrote at every opportunity. On airplanes, on different continents, before and after work, late at night, weekends. I developed the characters, scenes and the story arc on long-walks, jogs, and of course in the shower. It was a busy couple of years but I never once regretted sitting down to write it. Meanwhile, I was raising three boys and running a company. Q: What do you hope readers will take away from reading this? Answer: I hope readers enjoy the ride and take away a feeling of hope and optimism about the world we live in. Einstein’s words are not very flattering to the human species. But there are billions of good human beings all around the world. We are all more alike than perhaps the different cultures would suggest. Q: Do you have any other books in the works? Answer: I have the sequel to VOICES in process. There is much more for the protagonist’s to accomplish. There is also a prequel that I think readers will enjoy. On the drawing board there is another story trilogy to be told, and other unrelated standalone stories in the idea box. Much more to come. Q: What is it like to be a writer? Answer: I suspect I would have never written the first story if I hadn’t worked in a science and technology driven industry around creative and inspirational people. I never dreamed of being a writer. But I’ve always filled empty space by telling myself stories. Capturing those thoughts in words, is work that is relaxing and personally enjoyable. If others can find enjoyment, well that is about as good as it gets. Visit Philip on his website: https://philipmylesdane.com LINK for BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/DARK-VOICES-Philip-Myles-Dane/dp/B0CLYKYWRC Check out Philip's UPDATES & EVENTS here.   Born in 1942 in Munich, Germany, I am a naturalized U.S. citizen. My academic credentials consist of a B.A. in German, a B.A. in Russian, a Master’s in Linguistics from the California State University, Fresno, and a PhD in English Philology from the Freie Universität Berlin. Retired from teaching part-time English and Linguistics at California State University, Fresno, California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, and the Freie Universität Berlin, I am currently living in Santa Barbara, CA. My publications began with academic articles and book reviews as well as book reviews of fiction in "The Los Angeles Times." I have recently published nonfiction short stories. My creative nonfiction memoir, “Trauterose: Growing Up In Postwar Munich,” was published by Glass Spider Publishing in September, 2023. Awards On May 30, 2024, Elisabeth Haggblade's book, "Trauterose: Growing Up in Postwar Munich," received the "2024 IndiReader Discovery Award Genre Memoir." Personal Resilience and Healing: There was basically no community support because of our location away from the center of town. Instead, I had: Music, Nature, Church, and Family Cohesion. Music, because I loved to sing in church choirs. Nature, because of my foster father’s teaching about our garden and the nearby municipal park. Family, because it gave me a sense of belonging. And there was also hope for a better future. Inherited Guilt and Identity: In navigating complexities, I just accepted the foster parents as my guardians and what they had experienced. I didn’t ask questions, then, about their past actions. I saw the past struggles written in their faces and in that of neighbors and others. Each person had to grapple with his/her own past and experiences. Humor Amidst Hardship: Humor was not writ large in our lives, but for a few examples, such as the story of Aunt Meta sister, where the baby peed into the soup. And there were daily living annoyances; e.g., teasing my foster brother about paper bits sticking to his face to stop the bleeding from shaving cuts. Some incidents seem humorous in retrospect but were not at the time; e.g., sitting on the toilet in an outhouse without a door. Lessons for Modern Readers: For our Collective Memory, we need to: Examine the past, teach about Holocaust, engender conversations among generations–old and young–and continue the conversation. We need to be vigilant about the dangers of Nationalism, of the movement of the FarRight, which is active everywhere, not just in Germany and in Europe, but also in the United States. Book is: A coming-of-age story, a foster-care story, a refugee story, an immigration story, a learning English as a foreign language story, and it’s an education story working through conflicts with parents, school, and church. This narrative is bookended by critical thoughts about nationality: Being considered German in the US versus being American in Germany. I close with reflections on today’s Germany, with the past intruding on the present and with my inherited trauma and inherited guilt still pursuing me. Visit Elisabeth on her website:
https://www.trauteroseauthor.com Follow Elisabeth on Instagram: www.instagram.com/elisabethhaggblade Join Elisabeth on Faceboook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068643734863 LINK for BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Trauterose-Growing-Up-Postwar-Munich/dp/1957917342  Finally, a dream come true. I have always wanted to publish a book. A fiction story I have worked on over the years taking my treasured moments from visits at the beach along with a few life experiences. I grew up in Long Island, NY and currently live in Colorado surrounded by family and friends. I enjoy watercolor painting. A Pair of Oars is my debut novel. I hope you enjoy it. Q: What inspired you to write A Pair of Oars particularly the concepts of spirits watching over a lighthouse? Answer: My love of the ocean. Years ago, I had taken a sailing trip and stopped at a small island where there stood a lighthouse all alone, yet I sensed it had life. I remember touching the walls and wishing I could get inside. From there my story began. Q: Can you share your research process for accurately depicting historical maritime elements in the book? Answer: Like most on a writing journey my search was mostly looking online, a few trips to a local library. My favorite part was researching words in an old Webster dictionary. Each of my chapters starts with a meaning, a word, a definition. I felt nostalgic using a dictionary and enjoyed turning the pages. I found a few words not in the Webster dictionary like man-bun. Q: What message or theme do you hope readers take away from A Pair of Oars? Answer: I hope my readers find an adventure in A Pair of Oars and that it takes them away to another time for a while. I hope they finish reading the book and thinking they enjoyed their time away from regular life, met a few new friends. And maybe they could feel like they too were by the sea for a bit. Q: What did you enjoy most about writing A Pair of Oars? Answer: The main characters in my book became kindred spirits, my friends. I wondered how wonderful it would be if I could have a cup of coffee with them. I enjoyed mixing in my own life experiences as well as developing their personalities. What could I dream up if the living could be a part of their world? Connect with Kerrina on LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/kerrina-kuhns-73991b96 LINK for BOOK: https://www.amazon.com.au/Pair-Oars-Kerrina-Kuhns/dp/1977250408 |
AuthorJane Ubell-Meyer founded Bedside Reading in 2017. Prior to that she was a TV and Film producer. She has spend the last five years promoting, marketing and talking to authors and others who are experts in the field. Archives
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Bedside Reading, LLC , 700 Canal Street Suite 176A Stamford CT 06902
For more information contact: [email protected] 917 848 3353
Media
Privacy Policy
Terms & Refund Policy
Bedside Reading® is a Registered Trademark