I am very excited to have the opportunity to participate in my first Blog Hop! Many thanks to Olivia Fuller for inviting me. You can check out her fascinating books and also see her post from last week at:

http://oliviafuller.com/blog/

My first book has not been out long but in the spirit of the working title for this blog, I'm going to tell you about my "Next Big Thing" which is book two in the Dirty Words series. So here goes...

The questions:
1: What is the working title of your book? Book two will be "The F Word, when Family becomes a dirty word...and how to overcome it."

2: Where did the idea come from for the book? When I first started writing "The E Word" I knew by the end of chapter three that it would be the first in a series of books. My series is all about people and how we relate to each other and I explore those relationships through words which have multiple connotations. Words which in many ways can give one reader a positive or warm feeling and for other readers may invoke exactly the opposite response. My future plans for the series include exploring the words Church, Management, Sales and Death, but here I am getting ahead of myself.

3: What genre does your book come under? All the books in this series are non-fiction, and they are designed as self help books. They include many personal stories of my own experience and observations, so they also fit loosely in the memoir genre.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Hah, well Nia Vardalos (from My Big Fat Greek Wedding) would have to play the current day me. Lindsay Lohan would do a great job as the me from my 20's. She oozes the dis-function I was struggling with then so the role wouldn't be much of a stretch for her. They would both have to gain a few pounds to represent me accurately, but they can afford it.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Family is supposed to represent harmony, love and safety, yet many of us struggle for decades to either heal or hide the scars of that early emotional environment.

6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency? I plan on self-publishing again. I really enjoy having a sense of control over every aspect of the project, although I do hire professionals to help me with editing, cover and interior design elements. I am exploring ways to hand off or hire out some of the promotional aspects of the work.

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? I can't answer this yet as I haven't gotten very far. My first book took only a month for the first draft. I am sure once I sit down and begin the actual writing this one will go just as fast, I am just trying to find a way to commit the time.

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Chicken Soup for the Soul would make a good comparison.

9: Who or what inspired you to write this book? My first book was inspired by a desire to help someone who reminded me of myself in my twenties. Once I realized how much I had to say about the transformation I went through at that age, and of other transformations in my life, I knew I had to make this work into a series.

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? One of the most important parts of my writing is that I share deeply personal experiences, often things that I found shameful or painful while in the moment. What I learned later in life was the power of those raw emotions to change my mind, to shift my perceptions of reality or to open my eyes. My hope is that allowing the reader into those tender moments may help him or her to experience a similar transformation vicariously, with out suffering to the same degree that was required for me.