Old Friends

Social media wasn’t something I bothered with before I got married. “Facebook?” I remember asking my (then) fiancé. “What’s the draw?”

Well, for good or ill, he showed me. I’m really not sure whether to give him the stink-eye for the immense amount of time-suckage that’s followed, or thank him for helping me build a bridge to friends and family I wouldn’t otherwise see.

I remember the excitement I felt each time I reconnected with a family member on the other side of the continent, or with a dear friend I’d made in New York, or a classmate I hadn’t seen since high school graduation.

But something else happened in the years that followed. It happened slowly, it happened ever so slyly… and it took a shamefully long time before I noticed:

Some of my dearest friends, the ones I’d loved for decades, the ones I used to hang out with on a Saturday night or call on a random Thursday (without fear of disturbing them because I knew exactly what they had planned that day), well, we lost touch. I mean, real touch. I see the little bits of airbrushed information they choose to share on Facebook. But their day to day triumphs and struggles … I’m missing those.

Did we all get so busy with our marriages and children and careers that we lost each other? Or did I allow social media to feed my inner recluse? Did I just stop calling, even though I never stopped caring?

I have a birthday coming up, and it’s a big one. Maybe it’s the nature of the birthday beast that one becomes introspective. Birthdays are always a sensitive time for me. They’re a time of gratitude for living another year, a time of life evaluation, and a time I’m likely to weep for no apparent reason.

It’s a beautiful life. I have my family, I have a writing career that’s taking off, I have a roof over my head and food on my table and my children’s laughter to keep me sane. But right now I’m missing some old friends. If you’re reading this, you know who you are. And if you’re reading this, I hope you know I still care.

xo S.M. Freedman  

Have Some Chocolate

Releasing a book to the world is reminiscent of standing on a stage and letting people come and strip you down. Okay, not that I’d know what it’s like to stand naked on a stage. But I have an imagination; it’s like that dream where you’re at school …. Yeah, that one. You know the one I mean. And you feel a little unprepared and a lot exposed.

THAT’S what releasing a book is.

As soon as it’s out there, people get to look at every bit of you and make judgments and comments. A book is part of a writer’s soul. Little pieces of their imagination, little bits of their history. Whether a book is fictional or not, the writer, in order to be any good, has to write herself into her work. It’s essential.

So what happens when you write a book that isn’t only a little slice of you, but is the whole gosh darn layered chocolate cake? You do a little hyperventilating. You may hold your breath altogether. And then you let it all go.

Hannah's brilliant cover by Rebecca Sterling

I just released FIVE WEEKS: A LIFETIME, a memoir about my infant son, Clinton. I know about letting go. And I’m doing it all over again. I want to let Clinton soar. I want his wisdom to cover the world in hope and love. I want people to be able to peer closely at me and my story, so they can stand in front of a mirror and look closely at their own. I want this so badly, it makes my eyes shine with tears and my heart do funny little things in my chest. As someone great and dear to me said, this isn’t a book; it’s a lifetime.

I’m here before you, baring it all, inviting you to come sit next to me. Take some time. Look deep.  Partake in my story and let yours shine.

And please, have a look now at Clinton’s tale. Available on Amazon. The whole darn chocolate cake.

The Happiness of Pursuit

So what does the girl write about, when she hasn’t done any actual writing in a long while? Well … writing, of course.

Growing up, I remember being encouraged to be one of two things: Lawyer or Doctor. While other futures weren’t discouraged, these two professions were offered up as golden tickets to the World of Success. A shiny diploma to put on your wall as proof that ‘Hey, you’ve made it, kid!’ 

Which probably explains why I started college as a pre-med major. Fast forward one and a half years to me breaking down in front of my parents, admitting I just didn’t want to do this. Then fast forward a few more years, to me passing the bar exam and thinking ‘Oh God, what now?’

Cool story, bro. Right? 

My point is: If anyone can tell you what it is like to NOT follow your dreams, it’s me. Ever since I was a little girl telling stories to anyone who would listen, I knew I wanted to be a writer. And if I had been a braver person and actually shared my dream, my life might have been a whole lot different. Those people who know without a shadow of a doubt what they wanted in their life? Who never backed down from a challenge and were willing to fight for what they want? I have always been incredibly awed by those people. 

Because I took a different path. Yes: I have still made time to write a book. Although if you notice, that sequel has been a little slow in coming (okay, a LOT slow in coming). I just recently switched jobs. A change that moved me from what was basically a part time job, to a full time job with a bit of a commute that leaves me desperate to get away from a computer at the end of the day. 

And I find myself thinking: I actually love my job. I work for a great company and they invest a lot of effort in creating a work environment that employees thrive in. 

Still … still. It’s not my dream. In fact, it is starting to seem like that dream is slipping farther away and that somehow I’ve abandoned it. Betrayed it by no longer fighting for it.

But here is a little something I’m starting to learn. Writing is what happens when you stop worrying about writing. Or how about this, one of my favorite lines from a recent movie: 

My point? At some point, you have to forgive yourself. Life isn’t for the weak, and sometimes, yes, you do have to make sacrifice. Maybe even grow up a little.

But still, I try to remind myself to never give up. The happiness of pursuit? What does that mean to me? I could put it this way: Life is what happens when you are busy making plans. Don’t focus so much on the goal, that you don’t see that wonder in what is actually happening to you now. 

Do I wish I was a successful writing with multiple best seller series to my name? Heck yeah. But I can’t change what is now, or what has come before. I can’t bemoan the hours lost looking at cute cat pictures on the internet …

oops ...

Or slacking off on my couch, when I should have been writing. Instead, I can only focus on today, and try to be better tomorrow. And I can only be thankful for what I do have, and what I can create.

So that hopefully is my lesson to share today. I really truly believe our best writing occurs when we stop with all that other noise, and just enjoy the ride. Don’t think about if other people will like your book, or what best seller lists it will be on, or how you are going to promote it. Think about how fun the story is. Enjoy that rush of emotion when the ideas are pouring out of you so quickly, that your fingers can’t keep up. 

Because if we stop enjoying our dream, then that is when we’ve really failed. So let me steal those earlier words. 

We should concern ourselves not so much with the pursuit of happiness… but with the happiness of pursuit. Focus less on the goal of being a writer, and instead enjoy the pursuit of becoming one.

This is not an April Fool

Ok, so who in their right mind would pick All Fool's Day to release a book? Yep. You got it in one.
When I wrote Fox Among Wolves many decades ago (it was my very first full-length novel) I had no intention of writing a sequel. So there's a kind of resonance with this date - am I a fool for trying to continue with a done deal?

Apparently not - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing was created due to a number of requests from readers who liked some of these characters as much as I did. Really didn't need too much arm-twisting to spend more time with my lovely Welshman, Bryn. And what a complex character Carrie turned out to be. Who knew what she'd gone through? Hope you enjoy delving into her life as much as I did.

But for many of my fabulous beta readers, (thanks so much Hannah, Ace, V, Sho, Paula and JD) there was an unlikely hero who caught their attention.
Wonder if you'll guess which one?
As for the cover - Rebecca Sterling is on good form - another gem.

Here's a bit of a clue to the main themes:

And here's the back-of-book blurb:

Every man in Carrie's life wants to control her. That's just the way it is. So, when her ex-military father needs an undercover husband and wife team to root out a traitor, she endures the selection process. From self-defence training to sniffing sweaty tee-shirts, she holds her own.

The soldier picked to infiltrate her dad's factory is everything she's learned to hate in a man. Built like a Welsh mountain, Bryn is an unlikely partner whose detective skills expose her shameful secrets. Battling deeply-buried terrors, Carrie faces setbacks designed to stretch her tenuous grip on reality to its limit. His gentle kindness pierces her armour and their mutual interests restore her tattered self-esteem.

Things ramp up as the factory manager is kidnapped, but her dad doesn't seem unduly alarmed when a security breach catapults his firm into an unsavoury global arena. Carrie ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. With her track record, the chances of her surviving unscathed are slim.

There's a Bunch of New in "New Year"

Whew! Well, didn’t we take quite the winter break?! But fear not; the WorldWiseWriters have been anything but hibernating. The six of us have rung in the New Year with new books, new day jobs, new babies, and new publishing deals. 

I’m the one with the new baby, AKA Hannah Sullivan, so if this blog comes out sounding particularly disjointed or a tad delirious, I will happily lay the blame at the feet of my infant daughter. Here’s a picture of her. She’s warning me to stay on task. I’m trying, Olivia, honestly. The Girl Scout cookies between me and the keyboard are not a distraction; they are brain food. I need my wits about me as I sneak in some middle-of-the-night reading to peruse Rowanna Green’s latest novel, a sequel to her Fox Among Wolves. How lucky am I to get early dibs on fantastic stories written by my favorite authors? 

I spend the other spare seconds of my day henpecking at my newest endeavor, which is actually a true-life story. Seeing as how my first novel, Thunder, has been waiting so patiently for its, um, sibling (is that taking it too far?) to be born, why am I not writing of news that Lightning has arrived? Frankly, I have this other story, and the universe has been giving me subtle hints that it’s time I share it.

Let me tell you how subtle the universe is. It’s taken me eight years to take this step. Yeah, I know. I think I get the Queen Procrastination crown. But listen.

I'd been toying with the idea of publishing a memoir comprised of journals, emails, and letters, ever since our third child, Clinton, died eight years ago. I just didn't know how to start the process. Once I wrote Thunder and realized how easy the process could be, I couldn't find the emails I'd printed to use. By this point, the originals were too old to be sitting pretty in my computer. I did have the journal I’d kept for him, but just doing a reprint publishing of that wasn’t what I wanted, so I tucked the idea into the back of my mind.

Recently, Ms. Green mentioned someone who was doing a project about explaining death to children, and the idea was there again. I’d figured scribbling in my kids’ journals was about all the writing my bleary brain could handle while living with a ravenous and unpredictably awake munchkin. And it clicked: yes, I could work on a journal. The time had come to author-up and figure out the polishing and publishing of Clinton’s story.

I looked everywhere for my emails again, double-checking the computer ... and there they were! Tucked away in a file I don’t remember moving them into. I had my material. Then I saw a Facebook notice from cover artist Rebecca Sterling, and I was reminded of some family history she’d shared, a history that could enable her to feel Clinton’s story. I had my cover. The universe had spoken.

I’m a blissful, sleepless writer and mommy, and I have a new book coming soon! I can’t wait to be able to offer it to you!

More WWW Bestsellers

How exciting is this? Ten of the WWW books have featured in the Amazon Bestsellers lists. I think that deserves a bit more kudos. Isn't it amazing what a group of hard-working, committed women can achieve in seven short months?

Number One Amazon Bestseller - The Faithful!

Everyone here at the World Wise Writers wants to congratulate one of our wonderful Ladies S. M. Feedman for her awesome success - outselling Stephen King for goodness sake.
Our little hearts are exploding with pride that the world has finally decided to recognise Sho for the brilliance of her writing.
If you haven't already bought a copy, do yourself a favour, check it out now.
But don't just take our word for it - see what the rest of the critics are saying.