…Ellwyn Autumn – a sensible approach to senses for Authors…

…here’s a terrific piece from my friend, Authoress, Ellwn Autumn, on how we scribblers can ‘show, not tell‘, through awareness of our five senses… enjoy….

Story Starter: Use The Five Senses To Describe A Scene

   A great way to spice up a piece of writing is to use the five senses to set the scene. It immerses the reader in the story and as the title implies gives them a more sensory experience that is engaging and relatable.

   In the writing world, they constantly tell authors  to “show” not “tell”.  For example, if I were to “tell” about the photograph above I could say: It was a nice day at the park. My statement is accurate and to the point but where’s the panache? Did I engage the reader? Pull them in? Capture their imagination with my words? No, I didn’t.

   However, if I were to “show” the reader what I want them to experience, I could say:

   Soft sunlight lit up the treetops conceiving an emerald green canopy that dangled over the clear-cut walkway. Burnished tree trunks, offset by the light, covered the ground in alternating strips of shadow and light, a delicate pattern woven into the path I took.

   Perched on branches, birds sang out their morning salutations, while squirrels scampered about below as if caught up in a friendly game of tag. Freshly cut grass filled the air with its sweet scent. A light wind brushed my face as I breathed in the earthy smell and popped a piece of bubble gum in my mouth. The sweet taste flooding my tongue, I started my daily jog through the park.

   As you can see, I embellished a bit with the birds and the bubble gum, but that’s the beauty of writing. You can take whatever inspires you and create whatever you want from it. Using the photograph, my imagination, and some carefully chosen words I “showed” you a beautiful day at the park that is much more interesting than simply saying, “It was a nice day at the park.”

   Let’s double check to make sure I hit all five senses.

Sight:

soft sunlight

emerald green canopy

strips of shadow

Sound:

birds chirping

Smell:

freshly cut grass

Touch:

light wind brushed my face

Taste:

sweet taste of bubble gum

   I touched on all five senses, some more than others, but that’s okay. Writing is a process. I can always go back and write another description for the photo or add to the one I’ve already started.

   Another way to describe the photo is to make a list of the senses and fill in what you actually see and what spurs your imagination.

Sight:

trees

brown tree trunks

green leaves

green grass

sunlight

pavement

shadows

Sound:

birds

people talking

bike bell ringing

music

feet hitting the sidewalk

a lawn mower

bees or flies buzzing

Smell:

grass

mulch

wet soil

flowers

Touch:

warm sunlight

wind blowing

cool air on your face

Taste:

fresh water from a water bottle

trail mix

the smell of flowers was so thick I could almost taste them

Is there an ice-cream vendor nearby?

   Wow, isn’t it amazing the endless possibilities one photograph can inspire? Now it’s your turn. Use this picture or another one that strikes your fancy and jot down your possibilities. But, most importantly have FUN!!

Ellwyn Autumn is an American author and a certified teacher with a Master’s Degree in Education. She writes children’s picture books, middle-grade novels, and Young Adult fiction.

Ellwyn’s first self-published novel, Chris Kringle’s Cops The First Mission, was a Finalist in the 2016 Reader’s Favorite International Book Contest. Her Kamyla Chung picture book series addresses difficult issues facing young children and has won The Mom’s Choice Award Gold Seal.

Ellwyn discovered her passion for writing in second grade when she had to write a book report for school. She was so excited to write the report, until her mother told her that she had to write about someone else’s book and not her own story. Ellwyn became indignant and decided that once she finished the book report she would most certainly write her own original story. She has been writing ever since!

Ellwyn lives with her family in Pennsylvania. She loves all things magical, curling up with a good book, writing stories, and almost anything with chocolate in it.

She can be contacted thus :

https://www.ellwynautumn.com

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…many thanks , Ellwyn for a great post… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!

ALL MY BLOG POSTS ARE FREE TO SHARE OR RE-BLOG SHOULD YOU SO WISH – BE MY GUEST

…memories that still make me smile… recall #1… Zorba’s Dance…

…many of you will know that I recently published my autobiography on Auntie Amazon Kindle, ‘STRANGELY, I’M STILL HERE‘… in the memoir were many incidents which accorded me such fun at the time, that I’ve decided to focus on some of these in a series of wee blog posts… this is #1… here’s a You Tube piece I shared recently which captures that wonderful dance exhilaration in the movie, Zorba with Anthony Quinn… in my book, I refer to two great guys in London 40 years ago, with whom I became great pals and drinking buddies (in the days  before I relinquished my indulgence for the ‘electric soup’)… one was a Scotsman, Duncan Campbell, later to become best man at my first wedding, and his mate, an enormous bundle of Irish mischief, only ever known to me as ‘Paddy’… they were partners in the London Metropolitan Police Force’s special Serious Crimes Squad, known as ‘The Flying Squad’, with the cockney rhyming tag. ‘The Sweeney’ (from ‘Sweeney Todd’)… this anti-hard-crime-gangsters pair were formidable, tough-as-nails, fighting men when needed… Duncan was six feet, two inches tall, and Paddy was four inches taller, making me the midget of our trio… Duncan had a girlfriend who worked in a Greek club in Soho, in London’s West End, and frequently we would arrive at the club well after midnight, already having spent time in various other entertainment establishments… the Greek club boasted two amazing bouzouki players… I lost count of the times when the three of us linked arms on the wooden flooring, and danced that most masculine of Greek dances to the terrific music backdrop… often, other patrons would join in, and the fun and intensity was part of each great evening… the dance was always followed by the traditional smashing of piles of plates… these were made from rough clay, swept up after each ‘smashing’ session and re-kilned for use on subsequent  evenings… I can still remember the series of dance steps involved as Zorba’s Dance was played… Duncan and Paddy later became role models for two of my principal characters in my Jack Calder series – Donnie Mullen  and Malky McGuire… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!

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ALL MY BLOG POSTS ARE FREE TO SHARE OR RE-BLOG SHOULD YOU SO WISH – BE MY GUEST

…bad guys in Bahrain beware… Batman Faisal’s in town!…

…great friends of mine in Bahrain, the Al-Tattans, have embraced me warmly into their family over the past few years during my stay in their country… the eldest son of Salah and Hala is Nasser Al-Tattan, whose own son was born three years ago on Bahrain’s National Day, December 16th… the wee boy is called Faisal, and is an absolutely charming lad… but he has super powers!… apart from his infectious chuckle and dimpled, photo-model smile, the boy has an (almost) secret identity… he is the Bahraini Batman!… I have the photographic evidence right here at the top of this blog post… during an exhibition presentation of the Justice League in the City Centre Mall in Al Seef, a multitude of local children dressed up in the style of their own special heroes, but none better than Faisal... as you can see, he is caped and ready for the fight against all evil and baddies who may lurk  at their peril in the Mall… I accompanied the family in their Batmobile vehicle en route to the Mall one delightful  evening a few weeks ago… lo and behold, near the City Centre are two large skyscrapers, the builders of which have their corporate logo encapsulated in huge illuminated signs, visible from all over the capital in Manama… like the Batman signal in the sky… the signs read,  ‘BF’… of course, all of us in the Batmobile knew that the real meaning or the ‘BF’ logo means ‘Batman Faisal’, which he acknowledged with the usual shrieks of confirmation… any lawless individual at or near the Mall must have begun to quake in fear… Batman Faisal was close by… as you will see, he took particular care to ensure that I was kept safe and secure as he strode through the Mall, ruthlessly clearing out any criminal elements… the residents of Bahrain can sleep easy at nights… see yeez later! LUV YEEZ!

ALL MY BLOG POSTS ARE FREE TO SHARE OR RE-BLOG SHOULD YOU SO WISH – BE MY GUEST!

…Christmas joint blog tour and giveaways… O come all ye faithful readers…

Come one, come all, Free giveaways from a select group of your favourite authors

Join us Across the Globe in this Christmas Around the World Giveaway.

…giving is a global tradition, regardless of where you may be at Christmas time… I have spent the last almost 50 years away from my home country of Scotland, but the memories remain constant, and are the same traditions that my main character Jack Calder would have known as a child in Docklands, Govan in Glasgow… New Year in Scotland is traditionally the time when the adults celebrate, and Lordie, they know how to do that in Govan, but Christmas is always for the children… hanging stockings up by the fireplace and writing notes to Santa were mandatory, plus leaving a sandwich and maybe a bottle of beer for him, were also great traditions… wherever you may be on the planet for Christmas Day and every day, have a peaceful and healthy one!… LUV YEEZ!

Enter to Win 1 Grand Prize of These Five Star Dramatic Books from Around the World

Plus 6 additional winners of each book from Suzanne Kelman, Seumas Gallacher, Gloria Casale, KJ Waters, David P. Perlmutter, and Thomas J. Nichols.

Click on the link to enter: https://gleam.io/G3ZQ0/christmas-around-the-world-giveaway

The giveaway and accompanying blog tour start on December 2, 2019 and will continue until December 16.

Join us for an incredible journey around the world through the eyes of our authors and their protagonists starting in WWII Holland and continuing from to the Middle East over to Hong Kong, through the hills of Pennsylvania and deserts of Mexico, ending back in time in eighteenth century London. We are excited to share with you our own holiday traditions and what life was like for the characters featured in our books.

On Monday December 2, we will begin our journey in 1941, Nazi-occupied Amsterdam with Suzanne Kelmanin her international best-seller A View Across the Rooftops. Suzanne is a British author who lives in Seattle and delights in her English Christmas traditions every year. Please visit Suzanne’s video and blog post here: https://suzannekelmanauthor.blogspot.com.

Then we pop over to Seumas Gallacher’s blog on Tuesday, December 3 featuring his international crime novel The Violin Man’s Legacy. Seumas was born in Scotland and lives in Bahrain. His main character, Jack Calder, investigates a murderous diamond heist in Holland that leads him to Hong Kong and South America.

David P. Perlmutter takes over on Wednesday, December 4 sharing his Jewish upbringing in London, and will detail the true life and nearly deadly adventure in the hills of Pennsylvania where he spends Christmas with his boss in his book Five Weeks. David spends a decent amount of time in the #1 spot on Amazon with his soon to be movie, Wrong Place Wrong Time. You can visit his blog and video here: http://thewrongplaceatthewrongtime.blogspot.com/.

Thursday, Gloria Casale shares her holiday memories from her youth in New Jersey in a strong catholic family where they celebrated the tradition of St. Nicklaus on December 5^thevery year. Her book, Bioterror: The Essential Threat,while fiction, covers an all too real situation of bioterrorism and brings us on a harrowing journey beginning in Washington, DC and carries us around the world from Russia and Eastern Europe, to Indonesia, England, Syria, and the White House, as we chase the outbreak of a mysterious small pox-like illness. You can find Gloria’s blog here: https://www.gloriacasalewrites.com/blog-1.

Chief Thomas J. Nichols is featured on Friday, December 6, where he will talk about his poor upbringing in Missouri, some of which was spent in an orphanage. As a former police chief, he writes crime fiction with teeth and will detail what Christmas is like for his characters in the dry dusty backdrop of Mexico. His book, Color of the Prism,follows an undercover agent who spearheads an investigation into a violent Mexican drug cartel. You can find Tom’s blog and video here: https://thomasjnichols.blogspot.com/.

Finally, on Monday, December 9, we end the blog tour back in time with KJ Watersand her time travel novel to 1752 London, Stealing Time. What was lifelike in England in the year they skipped 9 days to jive with Europe’s Gregorian calendar? KJ grew up in Maryland and will talk about her Christmas family traditions in the south based on her Grandmother’s love of the holiday and overabundance of gifts and family fun in a split family. You can see KJ’s blog post here: https://kjwatersauthor.blogspot.com/

JOIN THE FUN

See yeez later… LUV YEEZ!

ALL MY BLOG POSTS ARE FREE TO SHARE OR RE-BLOG SHOULD YOU SO WISH – BE MY GUEST

Seumas Gallacher … Writing my autobiography – the best therapy ever

My dear Authoress friend, Susan Toy, has put this on her blog today… as ever, I am indebted to her beyond count…

Books: Publishing, Reading, Writing

Here’s a guest post from one of my favourite authors,Seumas Gallacher, published here on the occasion of the release of his new autobiography,STRANGELY I’M STILL HERE! I purchased and read a copy immediately upon its being listed, and I include my review here of the book, as well as an original piece that Seumas has provided to me for this guest blog post. (Links to purchase a copy of this book and all others written and published by him will be found at his own blogsite:Seumas Gallacher – Author

This is my review of Strangely, I’m Still Here: An Autobiography …

What A Life!

I previously read everything Seumas Gallacher had written and published – fiction, non-fiction, poetry. So I was very motivated to purchase and read his autobiography and to find out more about this author whose work I had enjoyed so much. I…

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I’m still here too.

My dear Friend and fellow Author, David Robinson, has been foolish enough to allow me space on his blog… here’s the result… thanks , Dave… 🙂

mistybooks

Forgive me, I am still here but it’s been a while since I’ve done it.

Blogged that is.

Last time, if you remember, was when bro finished his walk from the top of Scotland to the tip of England raising over ten grand in the process for Macmillan Cancer Support. Well done indeed. Personally I was so exhausted by the process of describing this act of madness day by day that I went for a lie down in a darkened room and I’m afraid to say that I’ve only just risen.

But riz I is and I’m pleased to say that I have a special treat for you all in this effort to resurrect this look at stuff, more stuff and stuff like that.

Now you may be aware that I’m not normally a book blogger. But an opportunity came my way to look at an autobiography of a chap…

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…a wonderful link from the past happened today…

…God moves in mysterious ways his miracles to perform… I received an astounding email earlier today from a a lady whom I had last met over 60 years ago, with no communication in between times … she had seen a blog post I had written four years ago (!) about where I used to live in the slums of Docklands, Govan in Glasgow… she had NOT seen my recent memoir, and so this was an equally incredible coincidence… I have her permission to publish our email exchanges, but she asked me to keep her name private, which of course, I will respect… here is the first email from her:

‘I came across an online posting that mentioned you had spent some of your childhood living at No. 60 Greenfield Street Govan.  I have many happy memories of that particular close as generations of my family lived there over the years in numerous flats on the various landings from the late 1800`s.  I do indeed remember one family called Gallacher, but I`m not too sure if it is your family, which flat/landing did your family have?  Gosh if it is the same family, and even although I was young, I can remember your Mum very clearly and her children, but to be honest, I can`t recall her having a son named Seumas, although she did have at least one son.

Kind regards’

…I responded by telling her my name had changed from ‘Jim’ to ‘Seumas’ after my later years’ sojourn in the Scottish Hebrides, and I was indeed the person she knew… her second email is here:

‘Hello again!

OMGosh! Yes, I am that girl! lol My Gran just as you thought, lived directly above your Mum`s flat. The really strange thing is that I was talking about YOU to my daughter recently when I read in the papers that if Labour get into power they intend doing away with Private Education. I said to her “I remember a little boy called Jim that stayed in the flat beneath my Gran`s, he would sit in the close on dreich days with a pencil and paper, the Bookie would shout `odds` to him and he could work out the bets. He was also the only child that I can remember who had as much interest in reading as I did! He got the opportunity to go to Allen Glen`s school, and if Labour closes down your school that will be the end of scholarships for such children.” Isn`t life strange that I should come across you! Lol.

Your Mum made a big impression on me, I used to love sitting in her flat opposite her big black range, she would open the oven door and feed a crust to a little mouse that would pop out lol (happy days!) But it was her storytelling I loved – you obviously have inherited that gene from her. She, as you well know, had little, but what she did have she shared – such a big heart. She loved her children and they would clamber up on to her knee and she would console and wipe away tears; kiss skint knees and show her mother`s love in so very many ways. I loved Chrissie Gallacher – there I have said it!

We seem to have shared somewhat similar Life journeys, albeit you at perhaps a more successful level. I, like many before me, had a difficult but interesting start to my life and after a great many sojourns into hospital for surgery and missing so much of my education, I left without an `O` Level to my name and a bitter taste in my mouth at the mere mention of further education – I equated it with bullying Teachers and equally bully/name calling children. My dad, wise man that he was, invested in a Commercial Course at a Private College for me, and I loved it. I had found a `level playing field` that I could build my knowledge base from with my new-found friends. On leaving college, this little ugly duckling blossomed into a confident swan and took off for Paris! To cut a long story short, after many adventures, I eventually returned home, met my husband and went on to have a family of three children. I still felt acutely aware that I lacked the academic achievements of others and so started catching up – firstly with a good set of Highers at night school which enabled access to a Degree. With my Degree still `hot off the press` I started my career in Social Work, from which I have now retired.
My husband and I, having watched our three children having Gap Years Back Packing around the world, now do our own travelling, but in a somewhat more comfortable style. Lol. This has resulted in some very exciting and sometimes even scary experiences, but as my husband keeps saying `Life`s a Journey` and we are enjoying all of the experiences!
One interest I would love to have more time for is Writing. I`ve had moderate success in the past, having won a Theatre Writing Competition and a few other publications but, like so many others, I am one of the `sandwich` generation i.e. caring for elderly relatives and Grandchildren, so whilst my Writing File bulges with ideas, I can`t find the time to sit in front of my PC and get on with it! A stout lock is what I need on my study door to keep weans out!

So lovely to catch up. I still can`t think of you as ‘Seumas’, in my mind`s eye you will always be Jim Gallacher!

Kind regards’

…this all just blew me away today, and of course, I trust at some stage in the not too distant future I may get to meet the lady again… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!

ALL MY BLOG POSTS ARE FREE TO SHARE OR RE-BLOG SHOULD YOU SO WISH – BE MY GUEST!

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…A JOURNEY TO MYSELF – WRITING MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY…

…my dear friend and fellow scribbler, m’Lady, Amber Leggette-Aldrich, allowed me space on her blog to chat a wee bit about the experience of writing my recently published autobiography, STRANGELY, I’M STILL HERE… here it is :

Guest post by Seumas Gallacher
Today, I would like to introduce my dear friend and fellow author, Seumas Gallacher.I first met Seumas about 7 years ago, through Twitter and blogging, just after he released his 2^nd book of the Jack Calder Crime Series.Since then, I’ve come to know him as a friendly gentleman with a witty sense of humor, an outgoing and honest personality, who is skilled in a variety of backgrounds, including his talents as an author.In the recent release of his autobiography, Seumas paints a living portrait from his humble beginnings in the slums of Docklands, Govan in Glasgow, Scotland, across 50 years and 3 continents. To say that he has lived an interesting and colorful life, though not without its pitfalls, merely scratches the surface of a life that most can only imagine.Seumas has graciously agreed to do a guest post here today, to share some insight into his personal journey. Thank you, Seumas, for this contribution!

For authors, the old maxim is often quoted, ‘Write about what you know.’

I’ve been at this writing game properly for over a decade now, with a back list of five crime thrillers, a book of my poetry, a self-help marketing and promotional guide for authors, and almost 2,000 blog posts. Add to that a catalogue of half-a-dozen ghostwriting assignments for other people’s ‘autobiographies’, and it’s of little wonder that the thought occurred to put my own life story and experiences to print. ‘Write about what you know.’

What happened next was a sometime bewildering, sometime painful, sometime joyful, but always exhilarating, writing trip of discovery. I now understand more clearly than ever before just how much I am truly an amalgam of everything, everybody and everywhere with which and with whom I have ever been associated.

Were there regrets? Of course. Probably far too many to register. I doubt if more than a handful of people on this planet have led a flawless, blameless existence. But I do know that every single incident and experience, good, bad and indifferent, was necessary to bring me to this moment in my life. And I would not seek to change one second of it.

It is amazing how memories bring back not only the plain telling of the story, but for me, it also recalled the feelings and emotions that I had in most of them. I felt them again, and again, and again, some with laughter, but also many of them attended with a quiet tear.

I believe, at this age, finally, I am aware of who and what I am as a person. I like the man I see in the mirror each morning, although it was not always thus. I have acquired a tolerance of myself and my own shortcomings, but more importantly, I have learned to ‘live and let live’ in relation to others whom I meet day to day.

What surprises me, is that having published the book just a few weeks ago, I find that I am remembering many other things which could have been included in the memoir. I will resist the temptation to edit online the Amazon Kindle version, which is easy to do, on the same premise that once I finish writing my novels, I leave them finished.

To all my author friends and even those who have not yet caught the writing addiction, you may want to consider a similar project. It is a wondrous journey to yourself.

Here’s the book blurb:

Fact is often more incredible than fiction.

Seumas Gallacher has survived long enough to savour places, characters and events for more than forty years in the Far East and the Arabian Gulf.

He started life in Scotland, travelled far and wide as a wannabe Trainee Master of the Universe, but the Universe had other plans for him.

From a career in banking, he escaped to become a corporate trouble-shooter.

He discovered the joy and torture of becoming a wordsmith, writing five best-selling crime novels, a book of poetry, and being hyper-active on social media.

‘STRANGELY, I’M  STILL HERE’ is his story.

Amazon Kindle universal link:

mybook.to/StrangelyImStillHere

To see more books by Seumas Gallacher, just click on the pictures below:

You can also follow Seumas’ blog here: https://seumasgallacher.com/

And don’t forget, if you enjoy an author’s work, please leave them a review on Amazon (or wherever their work is sold).

Thanks for joining me today! – Amber

…many thanks, Amber… LUVZYA! 

ALL MY BLOG POSTS ARE FREE TO SHARE OR RE-BLOG SHOULD YOU SO WISH – BE MY GUEST!

…life tip from Master Gallacher – be your own best in the world at everything!

…the sensible parents among you will understand that exhorting your children to be top of their school class, or best sports activities participant is the dumbest Rallying Call of every misguided father and mother on the planet… your wee Jimmys and Nellies frequently struggle just to know how to tie their shoelaces by themselves… my approach to nurturing ‘successful’ offspring is a tad different, and always has been… it is simply this, – ‘Papa does not want you to bust your guts trying to be the best in your class… neither does he expect you to set new school records for the 1000-, 500-, 250-, 0r even 5-metre races… all I ask is for you to try your honest best…’…that same tenet holds for just about everybody I have ever met… with a slight finessing of the language…

…I say, and seriously advise them, ‘be your own best in the world at everything… in your own mind, in your own attitude, in your own belief in your own skills, talent, and brains…’ …that way it is impossible to fail… I do it for myself… I am the best singer in my own world… I am the best footballer in my own world… I am the best author in my own world… I am the best guitar player in my own world… I am the best lover in my own world… I am the best blogger in my own world… I am the best poet in my own world and so on, and so on… I have never failed yet in any of these ambitions… and in my own world, no-one can refute my own belief… sound crazy?… maybe… but let me assure you, it works for me… and I’ll guarantee it works for each and every one of you, too… try it… you ARE the best at anything you do in your own world... see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!

ALL MY BLOG POSTS ARE FREE TO SHARE OR RE-BLOG SHOULD YOU SO WISH – BE MY GUEST

…okay, published the autobiography… time to start the rest of my life!

…I’ve never been big on ‘bucket lists’… but I do like to have continual things in mind that I wanna do… some of you will be aware that I’ve just published my memoir, STRANGELY, I’M STILL HERE… and I’m delighted for many reasons:

1. It had been nagging at my scribbler’s conscience for a year, to get on and do it… now that it’s taken care of… it feels good…
2. The love and support from the global writers’ community has been amazing… thank you, each and every one of you…
3. Other authors will understand just how much of a buzz it is to see any genre of our wee literary babies creep high into the respective ratings, this time for Biographies and Author Autobiographies...
4. Already, in a mere three days since it appeared first on Auntie Amazon Kindle, it has sparked phone calls from friends with whom I haven’t had the pleasure of talking for years (not months, but years!)… what a blast…
5. The cathartic process of getting stuff out of my system, some of which has lurked in the shadows of my psyche for far too long, was a spiritual breath of fresh air…
6. Being able to look back with that wondrous 20/20 hindsight that time provides, I’m able to understand just how much and, conversely, how little of my life, and what happened to me, could have been impacted by myself, and how much of it was karma… right place, right time, and vice versa in various instances…
7. A tremendous appreciation for the people who were placed in my life at pivotal, cross-road points, and without whose presence and intercession, I probably would not be alive now…
8.  A reinforcement of my gratitude for the relationship I enjoy with the God of my understanding, which liaison brooks no interference from anyone else, and makes no demands of me to attempt to proselytise other people…

And, most importantly, I know that I’m not done yet... part two of my life begins right now… the memoir can be found on the Amazon universal link below… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ! 

mybook.to/StrangelyImStillHere