Getting Back to Business

     I opened this blog site and was astonished at what I saw. I knew it had been a while since my last post. But nearly 2-1/2 years? Really? Yes, really. But, why?
    As I reflect on those missing years, I understand why my heart was not interested in blogging. I kept up Twitter and Facebook, but not blogging.
    If you are amongst those who had followed my blog in the past, you may remember that I wrote posts from the heart. Travelling and writing. Riding and writing. Writing and writing.
    Sadly, my heart was broken 2 years ago when my Dad passed away. He left an enormous hole in my heart, for he was not just my Dad, but my mentor, my teacher, my cheerleader, my confidante, my boss, and my friend.
    Five months after his passing, my Mom suffered her first stroke. It affected her speech center and she was led on the road to rehabilitation. We moved her from "their" home to my city and placed her in assisted living. The stroke exacerbated dementia, but she was beginning to get over her depression from losing her husband of 62 years, when another stroke smacked her down. This time worsening her dementia and her speech once again.
    I have been her caregiver in all things medical and financial. I spend a great amount of time with her. Not because I have to, but because I want to. She is my Mom. She's always had my back and she would've done the same for me.
    I am a caregiver for my Mom, my 28 year-old daughter who has special needs, myself as I cope with multiple sclerosis, my husband's office where I am the manager, and my household (in general). Whew!
    So that is my excuse and I ask you to forgive me.
    Now that I have sufficiently depressed you all, let's concentrate on the good stuff.
    Last September, I visited Italy with a good friend. That was a great vacation and it gave me an idea for my third book.
    Last October, THE GOLDEN PEACOCK became available to the reading public and I have received a lot of positive responses. I also have a literary agent who works diligently to get a mainstream publishing house to contract with me.
    In June, I made it available in paperback because people complained (and rightly so) that they did not have an eReader.
    On a very personal note, I hit a BIG birthday year and went on a Caribbean cruise with my husband in April. We combined it with what will become our 30th anniversary in October. One of the islands the ship docked at was where we honeymooned - St. Lucia!
    We've added a new member to our family. An adorable terrier-mix pound puppy named Ozzy.
    My son is now living 9,000 miles away from me (sigh!) in Prague. But he is happy, so I am too. Kind of (you mothers know what I mean).
    This post is already too long, but I wanted to get you up to speed. I promise I will now get myself up to speed and start blogging again.
http://www.laurenbgrossman.com/

   

    Okay, as promised, I am celebrating MS Awareness Week by offering a FREE download of “Once in Every Generation” through Amazon’s Kindle program. The offer will last five days.

   Here are the links to the USA and UK Amazon sites, but I know it’s available in whatever country Amazon books are sold. http://amzn.to/d0MUEz (USA) - http://amzn.to/V8PX9S (UK).

   I’m not computer-savvy enough to know how it works, but I’m told you don’t even need a Kindle to download it. Do it for you, or mention it to a friend. Hey, it’s FREE!

    The caveat is that it is not about MS. It’s about relationships and learning how to face challenges (it just happens that a main character gets diagnosed with PPMS, so the reader learns about the disease). It can apply to any physical or mental challenges one may face.

   Enjoy! And, please remember that I love to get feedback. Read on!

Oh, what a ride....

And so, it is complete. No, not my second novel, but the Amazon 5-day giveaway. I had reservations about joining the Kindle Direct Program Select, because it required exclusivity to my book (only regarding e-book status). I found that to be a pompous request from a colossus of a company. But, after hearing from other authors that they successfully had their novels downloaded in the hundreds, and to celebrate its 2-year anniversary of publication, I decided to give it a try.

Five days later, I can report that I am tickled pink that I made that decision. There were 14,860 downloads! Of course, I’d be tickled bright red if those downloads were with a royalty. Nonetheless I am thrilled that my novel is now in the hands of 14,860 readers, who may have otherwise not have read it. Yes, it was FREE and people love getting things for FREE. I do too. Will 14,860 people read it on their Kindle? I doubt that. But, just suppose 500 of those people actually get around to reading it – then that means 500 more people will have learned about multiple sclerosis. (Though the novel is NOT about MS, one of the main characters receives a diagnosis of MS and the reader learns about the tribulations we MSers may go through daily.)

With the giveaway over, the novel is available to download once again for $4.99. In addition, it is in the Amazon Lending Library and available to their Prime Members for 90 days, exclusively. People have already begun to “borrow” the book, and they are still buying the paperback. With a giant push, I have added to the platform that I started building October 2010 when the novel first was published (in publish-speak a “platform” is an audience).

Now exclusively in the hands of Amazon, I feel a great sense of relief, in that I can really concentrate on my second novel. Yes, I still have to promote, but not on a daily basis. This affords me the luxury of working on this second novel.

My next novel is so different than my first, that I may have to warn some people before it goes into publication. I really stepped “outside the box” of my comfort zone with this one. It is partly historical fiction/partly contemporary. There is murder/suspense/mystery, and it is loosely based on a real person who survived the Holocaust. I promise: no vampires or zombies.

I can only hope that the platform I built will continue to follow my writings. And, I sincerely want to thank all of you who downloaded the novel and made it an Amazon Bestseller. Oh, what a ride it has been!

I'm No. 1! I'm No. 1!

Yea! Please, tell your friends. "Once in Every Generation" is No. 1 on Amazon in this category:
Books - Literature & Fiction - multiple sclerosis.

HELP WANTED: Dream Interpretation Needed.

Sorry it has been a while since my last blog. In fact my last post was by a guest blogger. But the simple truth was that I had nothing to write about. And I refuse to bore readers with the details of my everyday life (like some bloggers).

But just to update you, I have been writing with a ferocity I have never felt before. I am very excited about this story and that’s why this next novel is moving along. Though still in its rough draft state of infancy, I have a clear vision of where it’s going.

The purpose of this post is to reach out and see if there is anyone out there who can help me. You see, for the past 25 years I have had a recurrent dream. It is a dream with variations on the same theme. As I dream I recognize it as such. Moreover, I believe it is connected with the novel I am currently writing. Perhaps, for 25 years I have been destined to write this story.

So, for those who are not interested in dream interpretations, feel free to stop reading at this point. You won’t hurt my feelings. For those who are interested I would love you to leave a comment here, or email me at: lauren@laurenbgrossman.com.

Each dream involves a large house with many rooms. I am the owner. As I enter each room there is a door which leads to other rooms, which lead to more rooms, etc.
Example of a dream I had maybe 20 years ago, but is still vivid in my mind: I have just bought a house and I enter a room. It has dark paneling and lots of built-ins. The former owners must have left in a hurry because the drawers still are full. At first I am annoyed that I have to clear out their mess, but then I realize that you never know what you might find. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure, right? I leave that room to explore my new house, and I enter a room. It is as large as a warehouse. There are many beds in this room. Metal springs and thin mattresses – the kind you had when you lived in a dorm in college. They are all strewn about the room n disorder. I make my way through the room and pass into another room, which is obviously some sort of trailer. I think to myself, “Oh good, I own a trailer, too.” There are other smaller details, but that is the gist.

Another dream is in an apartment I live in which has doors that lead to many other rooms. Some have stairs to climb to get to the next room.

The one particular dream I had which lends me to believe it is a connection with my novel was this: A white manse which I have gone through, though I never make it through every room for there are too many. I find myself at the bottom of a hill looking up at the manse. It sits on a grassy knoll with an identical manse slightly angled next to it. I am with children at play. A nun comes for us (I am Jewish) and tells us to follow her. I realize this residence is an orphanage and I live there. I can still see it clearly.

As I said, the dreams are the variations on the same theme. But why do I have these recurrent dreams? Not every night, not even every month, but several times in a year, I will awaken and recognize the theme.

Here’s the clincher for those readers who have stayed awake reading with this post: My novel is about a real woman who survived the Holocaust because her parents could not afford to feed her. Like many people had to do, they sent her to an orphanage run by nuns. It is only a small portion of her story, which I have turned into an historical fiction. But I had the revelation while rereading the story that it connects to my dream of when I was an orphan looking up at the white manse on the hill.

Karma? Reincarnation? Coincidence? Too much spicy foods before bedtime?

Seriously, if you have any thoughts I would welcome them. It has baffled me for 25 years. My hope is that if it is a connect to this novel, that the dreams will end when I finally go to publication.

What are your thoughts?