The BRAVE Interview #10 May 2017: Andrea

May 11, 2017July 4, 2017 by Karen, posted in Adult children, family, The BRAVE Interviews, writing

Please enjoy this month’s BRAVE Interview with Andrea!

WHO are you? My name is Andrea Maffeo and I am Karen’s sister-in-law. LOL! I am a medical secretary and have worked for MGH Medical Group for 18 years now. I have been married for over 25 years to the most patient man a wife could ever ask for. Honestly don’t know what I would do without him.

WHAT is your One Brave Thing? My one brave thing is not something you would expect…….but to me it was my one brave thing. It’s not something I did for myself like overcome a fear, it’s something I did for someone else.

WHEN did you do it? I did it in July 2016.

WHERE did it occur? Melrose Wakefield Hospital

HOW did you make it happen? Well, that’s a tough one. I just had to say the dreaded words………’It’s time to let her go.’

WHY did you do it? My mom has never been a well woman, at least not for the past few years. She was in a rehab/nursing home when she became ill. She was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with a small bowel obstruction. While having a CT scan she vomited and aspirated. She ended up in the ICU and all her organs started to fail. She went into septic shock due to the aspiration. The only thing that was keeping her alive was the ventilator. So the decision had to be made. And since I was her healthcare proxy, my poor dad couldn’t make the decision at the time, I had to make the decision to let her go. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make in my life, but I knew it was the right one. I didn’t want her suffering anymore and I knew neither did she. This is my One Brave Thing.

Thank you for sharing your heartfelt story, Andrea!

Read the other BRAVE interviews here: https://kwrites.com/?s=The+BRAVE+Interview

If you would like to be interviewed for this series about something brave you have done in your life, email me at kmcwrites@gmail.com, or message me on my Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/k.m.creamer.author/!

A friend of Kevin

April 22, 2017April 22, 2017 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, author, books, Interviews, NaNoWriMo, writing

I was lucky enough to be invited to be on Kevin Willett’s TV program, Business as Usual. I met Kevin on Facebook when I responded to a video he shared. I started following his page because the topics he was discussing resonated with me. One day, he mentioned that he had a TV show, and if anyone was interested in being on it, message him.

Was I interested in being on his TV show?

Duh.

I messaged him. The next thing I knew, I was driving to Dracut. My husband came with me and watched from the booth. We arrived several hours early, as is my way, so we scouted out places to eat. I wanted Italian (so what else is new?) but Bill wanted the Chinese buffet, and when I saw that they had a dance floor, I was intrigued. We went.

The best part of the meal was the Hot and Sour Soup. And the Fortune Cookie. Isn’t this the best fortune ever?

Too bad it wasn’t mine.

Bill kindly agreed to share it with me with me.

Taping the show was so much fun! Kevin put me at ease right away, and the 28 minute taping went by in a blink. We talked about writing, publishing, and selling books. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to be a guest on the show. If you live in Dracut, you can watch it on DATV! If not, I will have a link to it at some point and will post it here on my website.

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P.S. The dance floor had a DISCO BALL!!! I couldn’t convince Bill to dance with me, though.

#stillpouting

A dream come true

April 20, 2017April 21, 2017 by Karen, posted in author, books, Brave books, local fun, writing

I have always loved the library since I was a little girl. My dad would drive me every week and I would load up my arms with as many books as I could carry, and then stack them all around my bed when I got home, deciding which one to read first.

I was beyond excited last year when I was invited to give a reading at the Wells Public Library from my first novel, One Brave Thing, and when I saw it on the “New Fiction” shelf! I have stopped in to visit my first novel from time to time, but it’s always been checked out. Tonight it was there! I noticed it was little worse for wear. I decided to ask how many times it had been checked out. Twenty times over the past ten months! Plus two renewals! That’s twenty-two! YAY! I replaced it with a shiny new copy.

Also, I was going to donate a copy of my new book, What if Bebe Stays with Steven? I was thrilled when the librarian told me that they already have it! And even better, it was checked out! I have been invited back to give a reading from this novel, scheduled for Tuesday evening, June 27th at 6pm. I am hoping that my new book will also be wearing out from being read so often and I will get to replace this one as well.

Where did it go?

March 30, 2017March 31, 2017 by Karen, posted in author, books, writing

UPDATE! The paperback edition is once again available at amazon.com! Thank you for your patience!

So, due to an editing glitch, the paperback version of my new novel, What if Bebe Stays with Steven? is temporarily unavailable in paperback on Amazon.com. It is available on Kindle right now. Within the next 24 hours or so it should be available on Amazon.com in paperback again.

This is one of those exercises in patience and letting go of what I cannot control.

You can purchase the paperback locally at the following locations:

The Wells IGA
Elemental Energies with Chris Ann and Jeff
FOUND in Kennebunk
Zen and Company in Kennebunk
The Shops at Cape Neddick in (you guessed it) Cape Neddick

You can also find me doing book sales and signings most weekends.

Good things come to those who wait.

🙂

My new book

March 13, 2017March 15, 2017 by Karen, posted in author, books, Brave books, NaNoWriMo, writing

My new book started out as something else. I published my first novel, One Brave Thing, last year. Over the course of the year of doing talks and readings, I thought a lot about my characters and the story. One day, I had the thought: What if Bebe stays with Steven? How would her life have been different? I got excited re-imagining how the story might go.

What_if_Bebe_Stays_with_Steven_Karen_Creamer I decided it would be nice to write a couple of bonus chapters to give away at my book signings. I started outlining what I wanted to write. This was last October, and I thought I would take advantage of National Novel Writing Month in November to write it. This gave me plenty of time to work on the outline, and as I added to it day by day, I realized that hey, this wasn’t a couple of bonus chapters.

This was a book.

So, I wrote my second novel the same way I wrote the first. What if Bebe Stays with Steven? was birthed during NaNoWriMo 2016, edited over the winter, and will be launched this month.

To celebrate, I am running a special on the Kindle amazon-cover version of my first novel. One Brave Thing will be 99 cents from March 13th (my mother’s birthday :)) to March 20th, for one week only.

And then my second novel, What if Bebe Stays with Steven? launches March 21, 2017!

Being BRAVE is catchy!

February 18, 2017 by Karen, posted in Interviews, local fun, my one word, The BRAVE Interviews, TV series, writing

I was trolling Facebook recently, after working on the next “The BRAVE Interview” for my blog (coming in March, 2017). I must be primed to see the word ‘brave’. You know, like when you’re pregnant and suddenly you see pregnant women everywhere?

capeneddick1

So I couldn’t help but notice this page with Being Brave with Abbie McG emblazoned across the top.

Since I chose BRAVE as ‘my one word‘ in 2015, I’ve been all about the brave.

I created the “One Brave Thing” group on Facebook, a private group for anyone who has read my book (One Brave Thing), where we support one another’s efforts to do brave things.

I launched The BRAVE Interview Series on my blog at kwrites.com, where once a month I invite a reader of my book to discuss ‘one brave thing’ they have done in their own lives.

I acquire ‘brave’ jewelry wherever I find it. This ‘brave’ bracelet is from The Shops at Cape Neddick in Maine.

🙂

I also try not to hide from any chances I get to be brave in my own life now.

So, coming full circle, of course I will be watching Abby McGilvery’s Being Brave TV episode!

Aha!

February 14, 2017February 14, 2017 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, author, books, Interviews, writing

I was at the gym on the bike for the first time in two weeks (don’t judge me). I was hoping to be motivated to pedal a little longer through the time-honored hack of distraction. I was looking forward to listening to a Women Taking the Lead podcast, Number 201 with Dana Malstaff, and now I was finally getting a chance.

journals

Well, fifteen minutes went by in a blink. I was so absorbed in what I was hearing, not to mention temporarily blinded by all the lightbulbs going off in my head, that I forgot I was even on the bike.

🙂

This podcast perfectly distilled something for me that I have been struggling with (as I discovered looking through my journals) for years.

Here’s what I learned: the difference between PASSION and GIFT. You can pursue your passion forever, but if it’s not also your gift–that thing that you do so joyfully and effortlessly that it doesn’t even feel like a thing–it will never be more than a hobby. Which is fine, of course, as long as you aren’t trying to make a living from it.

When you live your gift, you can infuse it with your passions, what you love and are good but not necessarily great at, and then watch out! You will be unstoppable.

Click.

(Did you just hear that click into place for me?)

I have a lot of passions (don’t even get me started), but my gift is writing.

I am a great writer.

I also love how she called me out on being an island. We have to let others help us on our path, doing the things they are great at. When I published my first book, when I didn’t know what I didn’t know, I did everything but the editing myself. It was an exhilarating but also (yes, Dana, exactly!) a tear-filled process.

Now, what shall I do with this newfound knowledge? Because, as Marie Forleo* says, “Insight without action is worthless.”

I shall be worthy!

This time, I’m getting more help. I’m getting help with tasks I could have done myself, but I don’t love doing. Hello, formatting? Kill me.

Thank you, Boss-Mom, Dana Malstaff! Thank you, Jodi Flynn (Women Taking the Lead) for sharing this with us!

*By the way, have you seen Marie Forleo’s website? It blew me away. Check it out.

Doing the thing

February 10, 2017 by Karen, posted in author, books, Brave books, NaNoWriMo, writing

I have been working feverishly, madly, to design the cover of my new novel. My publication date is 3/21 (as in: 3-2-1 liftoff! 🙂 ) and I am determined to make it.

I originally planned to use my own photos for the cover, but then I started looking around on Canva, you know, just for fun, and one image caught my eye. What drew me about her is that she looks like she’s trying to go forward, but is letting herself be pulled back.

Like Bebe. In the new book, What if Bebe Stays with Steven?, Bebe is thinking, should I stay or should I go? I also like the little bit of backpack showing, since she is a student. This one image captured all that for me.

Here’s the most important part of this story. Right after I saved and downloaded the image, one of my favorite quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt popped up on the computer screen!

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

I took this as a sign that this was exactly the right image for my cover. Of course, that was at midnight last week, and the next day, after I smacked my head into the corner of the huge mirror over my couch and hematoma’d my head, I started second-guessing it all.

But I am going forward anyway. Like Nikki Groom said in her recent podcast (with Jodi Flynn on Women Taking the Lead), “Just start.”

BOOK REVIEW: This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

January 29, 2017January 29, 2017 by Karen, posted in author, book reviews, books, Life's too short to read bad books, writing

I have heard of Ann Patchett before, of course, but I had never read any of her work. Full disclosure: I did try to read Bel Canto once. I have no idea why I didn’t actually finish it. Or start it. I forget.

happymarriage Anyway, my friend and yoga teacher, Kristen, mentioned a book casually in conversation a couple of weeks ago. “Um, I think it’s called A Happy Marriage,” she said. Sometime later that day, because the title was still with me, I decided to look it up. I found This is the Story of a Happy Marriage on audiobook and requested it from the library. Shockingly, it came right away.

I didn’t know what to expect. I knew nothing about the book other than that my friend, whose taste in books is usually a 180 from my own, liked it (e.g.: my expectations were low). But surprise! I loved it right away! I love when authors who are good at it read their own work. Ann (as she tells us in her book), is good at it. The next happy surprise was that she talks about writing and being an author (among other things) in this book. She describes how, early in her career, she used to think ahead to all those rows of empty chairs waiting at her upcoming book talks, knowing that there was a good chance none of them would be filled.

I could, you know, relate.

As I listened to parts of this book, I realized that Ann got it. She gets it. She knows exactly how it feels to be me right now, with my first book that quite possibly ‘no one wants to talk about’ when they come to the book signings. But I go anyway. I get up early. Sometimes, I drive for hours. I am ‘really nice’ to the staff. I remember to drink gallons of water to avoid dehydration. These are all rules that Ann follows at her own book signing events.

So thank you, Ann Patchett, for reminding me that everyone has to start somewhere and at one time in your career as an author, you were exactly where I am right now.

Be still

January 20, 2017January 20, 2017 by Karen, posted in author, family, Metaphysical healing, writing

I am sitting here on the couch trying to write a ‘signature talk’, which would be so much (expletive) easier if I could just decide on one

topic, already! I am trying to figure out how to combine my metaphysical nurse blog with my kwrites blog under one domain, a version of my name, which I bought 14 months ago as part of a workshop but that’s where it ended. I never did anything with it, except to look at it longingly from time to time. Now I am trying to decide if combining it all is even a good idea!

I am giving several topic-specific talks over the next few months and I am trying to write those.

I am writing a parent ad (sorry, but this feels like a ploy to get more money from us) for the high school yearbook because my graduating daughter WANTS one.

I am debating (OMG! YES! STILL!) if I should give yet another talk at an upcoming event (this internal debate has been raging for months now) and if so, WTF to base the presentation on.

And then I realize that I am actually doing none of these things, except the ‘just sitting here on the couch’ part. Okay, and eating a large quantity of chocolate (#lunch).

Surrounded by paper. And pens. And my laptop. And my iPhone playing Pandora.

I am a (expletive) mess.

And then this song comes on: