2012 is starting out pretty well for me.  Do you agree?

The weather is icy cold in South Carolina but not for long…  It promises to warm up from Brrrrr cold, to about 65 tomorrow.  No protests from me to Mother Nature!  That’s a super perk of living in the south… It gets cold now and then but it rarely if ever lasts more than a day or two.  That’s my kind of weather and that’s why I live here in the South instead my native Chicago, or my “used to be” home in the Northeast.  One thing that’s different about the cold winter days in SC is that the air is crisp and clean and one can take a huge deep breath into the lungs without the inevitable cough at the end like what happens in the North (cough).

Crisp clean air; bluer skies than anywhere else, and even in the cold, there are smiles on the faces of most people because even if the temperatures in the deep freeze, it goes back up to the warm and friendly 50s and 60s in a day or so.

Those of you who are now freezing in the Northeast, Middle USA, and upper North, take heart… the weather will improve in 3 or 4 months, or… if the snow is covering everything, there is always skiing.  Or, perhaps you should consider moving to a warmer climate?  :o)

Love you guys,

PEM

I’m pretty old I admit but some images, events, and memories that pop up in my head make me feel young again.  Cheetah, who was Tarzan’s constant companion in the old Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies is one of those memories.  That chimp was special… and even when I was a little kid, somehow I knew it.

He lived about 35 years more than most chimps in captivity, no matter how well they are treated.  I think he did so because he was treated so well throughout his life. But most importantly, because Mr. Weissmuller kept Cheetah on his estate until his death.  I bet that chimp lived like a little animal King for most of his life.

They say he was a unique chimp because he walked upright and used his forepaws like hands.  He wanted to be a “real boy” and I guess in his “chimp-like” imagination, he saw himself as just that… a real boy!

Mr. Weismuller must have agreed at least that Cheetah should be given some respect as a special member of his own species if not better than some of us in the human world, or he wouldn’t have housed him on his own estate all those years.  When Weissmuller passed in 1984, Cheetah was taken to the sanctuary and cared for until today when he passed away at age 80.

They say he loved to make people laugh, and sensed when his caretaker was sad or hurt, or just not feeling well.  He then went into silly routines and actions until he produced a smile on her face.  He loved people more than people love people… Way more.

Goodbye Cheetah!  You certainly made me happy all through my childhood and beyond in late-night, old Tarzan and Cheetah movies!

Rest in peace wherever good chimps go when they die!

Adieu old friend.

P E M

Hi everyone and Happy Happy Holidays!

It’s been a while since I last blogged and I certainly miss you all reading my stuff.  I hope you check back once in a while so that you don’t miss anything!

Well, Forward/Rewind has been out there for a couple of months, but I gotta say that it hasn’t done very well as far as sales are concerned.  Truthfully, I didn’t expect it to sweep the literary world, nor did I think it would even be considered for anybody’s best seller list, but I did think it might have done a little better than it has, the holidays’ gift giving season and all.  No problem though; I’m just happy it got published at all.

It surprises me — although I shouldn’t be surprised at all — that readers reacted to the story in a much different way than I thought some would.  Most of those who read my book said they liked it; it flowed well, they laughed, cried, got angry, and were sad, but all in all the general opinion was that it was a good read.  That is golden to an author — especially a first time author!

What I didn’t expect is that ALTHOUGH THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION, some folks who are close to me maybe recognized a scene or event that they thought might have resembled something or someone in their private lives.   No amount of disclaimer from me that the story is fiction, albeit based on some incidents in my life that may have driven the story from time to time, and that characters are ALWAYS based on the author’s personal experiences with real people in their lives (especially if it’s a family story), has allayed some from putting themselves into my book — and then being upset by it.

I apologize for people who can’t seem to understand that fiction is fiction….  nothing in the book is real… my characters took on a life of their own once I developed them, and the story flowed from somewhere in my mind, through my hands and onto the “page” without much conscious input from me.

Writers of fiction will agree with me that once a story is “born” in the author’s imagination, that the story, the people in the story, and often the places come alive and the damn story writes itself!  The author is simply the “tool” through which the story is told — it really feels like that to the writer.  We lose control of the story because the story becomes autonomous!

Once and for all.. FORWARD/REWIND IS FICTION!   I hope those of you who have read it, enjoyed it.  It was written for enjoyment yes, but it was also freeing for this author to put on paper a fictional path through the tunnel of the past, AND INTO THE SUNLIGHT OF A NEW BEGINNING!

Enjoy and stay tuned…

P.E.M

Hi,

Now that Forward/Rewind is published, I want to share some thoughts with you about being an author, albeit a first-time author and a newcomer in the creative writing field altogether!

It was a long haul but I think developing, creating, writing, and publishing the book was the most exciting thing that has happened to me since the birth of my children!  Now it’s time to get my book sold and make a dime or two on it while I continue writing book #2.  It was termed “the sequel” but I don’t know if it is really a sequel.

It’s crazy how hard it is to live life sometimes but how easy it is to write about life — especially when it is fiction and doesn’t really affect the author’s day to day experience.

I hope I can write a second book and I have I can interest you in taking another “Plunge” with me into another world where everything that happens is dictated by me and unless my characters change it for me, everything I want to occur really does!

Stay tuned my loyal friends for another book, but hey; how about letting me know how you like Forward/Rewind.  I know it’s selling but except for my friends who say they “love” the book (is that really objective?… I hope it is but…), I haven’t heard from anybody who doesn’t know me.

If you’re reading it, let me know what you think… and if you’ve already read it – pullleeeeezzzeee let me know if you liked it?

Until next time,

P.E.

Hi everyone!

It is a very exciting time for me and having said that, I find that it is harder than ever to write anything of substance.  I am so wrapped up with marketing and sales and ordering books to keep on hand.  I can’t go around trying to set up presentations of my book because at this time, I don’t have a single copy of it!

My friends and family are buying the book at a pretty good clip but since there is no data set up in my name yet (it’s only been a week or so), I can’t follow or track sales through the publisher.

I’m stuck in a rut and that is making me a little brain dead, so please forgive me if you find nothing of substance here, but please check back often because it usually doesn’t take me long to “get back on track” when I’m derailed for any reason, so I don’t expect this to be any different.

Stay tuned…

P

P.S. If any of you have the book and have read it, please let me read your comments.  I’m dying to know what others think of it.  :)

Hi everyone.

Well, life is becoming “hectic-er” and “hectic-er” but I guess I shouldn’t complain because isn’t this what I’ve been waiting for all these many months? Yes!  It is what I’ve been waiting for — to be a bonafide published author!

With that title comes a lot of work toward promoting my own book and that’s a new thing for me.  I don’t sell anything very well.  Like when I was a child and had to sell fund-raiser products for my school like magazine subscriptions, and other things.  I was a dismal failure at it because I was always so sure that nobody wanted the damn mags, and I think I projected that attitude to my potential customers… The answer was usual “No! I don’t want anything.  Go away little girl!”  So where do you think I am now?  I spend many years selling my skills as a technical writer and instructional developer with great success but that’s because the clients who select my company for the job, actually needed the job done and I was faster, more accurate, and cheaper than most others in my field.  That kind of reputation precedes one in the board rooms and purchasing agents’ offices in this country.  I did that, but this kind of selling scares me.

I did write a fun book about a sad thing and although it may not have a bazaar ending, nor does it present any violence or sex (very little sex), it will touch everyone who reads it… Why?  Because it’s about life, and change, and going down and coming up and that’s 100% what life is about!

I know you’ll enjoy it… Get out there and buy it and if you can’t find it in your “brick and mortar” bookshops in your neighborhoods or at your favorite local library, by all means ASK FOR IT!  Tell the clerk that you would like to purchase (or take out) FORWARD/REWIND but a new first time author:  P. Ellen Manley.  If they can’t find it on their list, they can request if from their distribution company.  If that fails, please go to my website at http://sbpra.com/pellenmanley/ or Amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com.  That’s should do it.

I can’t wait to hear from you after you’ve read it.  Please let me know what you think of it!  I can’t wait to hear!  :)

P

Forward/Rewind Author

This is the Day after I found out that Forward/Rewind is available for sale!  Do I look different?  I feel different; I know that.

Day 2 in the life of a published author, at least in my life, is hectic, confusing, overwhelming, and excited — all at once!  My friends are cheering my success; my family is proud but I think somewhat bewildered as to how much excitement they should show.  My partner with whom I share almost everything, is trying desperately to “take over” but I think he’s just worried that he will fade into the distance until he becomes invisible in the face of all that is happening.  He won’t but it’s hard to get that point across when I am steeped in my own thoughts about how to market the book and enhance sales over and above what the publisher is doing.

Do I need an agent now? I haven’t had anyone breaking down my door to become my agent, but then it is only day 2 of this new life I find myself in.  Time to slow down (again)…  Time to ponder the juxtaposition of my daily life with my new life as a  full-fledged published author!  I can do that but…  but… how?

The first thing to do is to visualize the moment.  I am a published author now, who has a pretty normal daily life that hasn’t changed from a life spirit point of view but has changed from the outside view of me.  People see me differently — some with new admiration; some with “green” eyes at the prospect of acquiring a new identity; some with a shrug of the shoulders because although they are happy for me… they see me still as “just Pat.”

Well, there it is!  I still am “just Pat” with a new public image for those who even know that my book has finally hit the public market!  I am still the same person; the same mom, the same Nana, and the same partner my partner woke up next to before Day 1!  I’m still me.

Tomorrow I will still be me — but living just a smidge differently — as I work my way through Day 3.

Stay tuned…

P

Hi everyone!

The moment we’ve been waiting for has finally arrived!  Forward/Rewind has been released to Barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, and my own website where you can purchase it direct.   Click on http://sbpra.com/pellenmanley/ to purchase the book.

It has been a long haul and those of you who have stayed with my blog for so long can finally read the story of  Trish Manfield’s struggle let go of the past and move forward into a new future.

Please buy the book on any of the sites mentioned, and when you finish read Forward/Rewind, please let me know what you think.

I’m so excited to be able to present my work to you and I hope you will find it of value to you in some way.  I hope I am able to bring you a story that will entertain, and give you hope that life starts anew every day that we wake up on this planet.

Happy reading!

P

Today is a very special day for me.  When Forward/Rewind is released you will read something about this phase of my life, modified of course to fit Trish, our main character.  Having said that, I return to the present, and me, and the meaning of this day.

September 4th marks the 18th anniversary of the passing of my mentor, my lover, my friend, and my husband, R. John Manley.  He was my heart and soul in many ways… I admit, he was second on my list after my children, but since there are no real comparisons between maternal love and matters “of the heart”, I can say that RJM was the love of my life.  We met late in life — we had children by different spouses in different parts of the world — but when all was said and done, there was a gap that neither of us ever felt got filled — until we met.

We didn’t have decades together, nor would we have been able to celebrate a golden anniversary together since human beings don’t get to live that long, but to us, we had what it took to be together forever… whatever forever could be.

I lost him on September 4, 1992 when he passed away in his sleep, lying right next to me as he always was.  We lived together, we married, and metaphorically, we ‘died’ together because a part of me went with him to wherever he may be.  I hope when all of me leaves this world, I will find him again.  I know I will spend eternity looking for him.

God Speed my love.  I hope the “other side” is being good to you.

Finally, I need to bring this up a bit and tell you that, although it broke my heart to lose my prince so soon, life does go on and although I grieved pretty much continuously for about 11 years or so, there came a day when, through no fault of my own – or his – I found love again.  I am happy, although not in the same way, but nonetheless, I can say I’m happy.  I like to think “the love of my life” directed me to my “today” partner, to keep me company and make me smile.

Its a good think life goes on.

Stay tuned.

As I prepared the final proof of Forward/Rewind for production, I began thinking about how long it has taken from when the final word of the book was written to today’s activities toward it’s publishing.  Two years to be exact, and it’s still not officially published. It occurred to me that soon we will mark a decade since the WTC attack in New York City.  A decade… It is hard to believe that so much time has gone by since that fateful day in 2001.  I don’t know what brought me to this line of thinking — an event so far removed from anything about my book — but somehow I got there and couldn’t get back.

We all remember what we were doing, where we were going, and how we felt when we were told, or finally realized what was happening.  When we finally looked up in the sky and realized that our soft and luxurious lives as Americans — the only kind of life we’ve ever known — was being threatened.  Some of us thought that that day was going to be our last, and for some of our friends and family, it was their last day.  But for those of us — the survivors — life continued on.. and on… and on… and suddenly it seemed, 10 years had passed.  There is still a big empty plot where those majestic towers still stood.  Money, arguments about money, design issues, and many clashes of egos set the stage for nothing being done in an entire decade… in a Country where wealth is abundant, and liberty is the first priority.

Survivors of the Revolution, the Civil War, the end of slavery, and the Wars to end all wars, produced generations of other survivors, thinkers, talents, and wealth beyond the hardships of those times, and still — in 10 years, the land where are enemies attacked us remains a war zone with little to no movement.

As I finished finalizing my book’s proof copy, and sending it on with a signed approval slip to the desk top formatter, I realized that in 10 years from now, we will be remembering the WTC attack still, but we will also be remembering the recent devastating earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and Tsunamis, and snowstorms  that have plagued the world this year and last; the deaths that occurred because of these  horrors of nature.

Maybe in 10 years or 20 years the WTC towers will still not be finished in whatever iteration is agreed upon. Maybe floods will have left permanent problems for the Northeast.  Maybe the wild fires in the west and southwest will leave blackened wastelands where active life once was.

Maybe the Gods are Angry that although all these things have happened and continue to happen, we still remain fat and lazy and money-oriented for the most part.  Maybe the Gods still haven’t found a way to get our attention for more than a week or a year or a decade at a time before we revert back to our old ways.

Maybe the Gods still care anyway and won’t stop until we listen.  Maybe we should listen…

Stay tuned.