Hot off the e-presses: Judy Joyce Winn’s The Silver Seahorse

One of the women I admire the most, a friend, mother, fellow writer and fabulous artist named Wendy Winn, lives across the pond in Luxembourg. But we’re lucky that Wendy’s equally talented mom, Judy, lives here in Florida, and we’re lucky that today she’s releasing a new e-book, The Silver Seahorse.

I don’t have an e-reader, so I haven’t yet read the book, but if her writing is anywhere near as lovely as she is, Seahorse is bound to be a good read. I haven’t seen Judy in years and years, but I’ve always remembered her as a groundbreaking woman (she is, among other accomplishments, a licensed pilot), and now she’s breaking new ground as an e-book author.

Here’s the back cover description:

Nessie Polite has everything figured out. She’s about to graduate with a master’s degree in architecture, has a job in the wings and a longtime boyfriend who is a lawyer. Then her mother, Kaylynn, is killed in a nasty auto accident that may have been murder…a murder meant for Nessie.

She inherits a special seahorse necklace Kaylynn always wore and a half interest in the “Silver Seahorse” gift shop. But now someone is stalking her, her supposed dead father is a fantasy, and to top it off, her boyfriend is cheating on her. Who is her father? And who wants to harm her? Will she find answers in her home town of Beulah Beach – or must she travel to the island of St. Thomas? Will she find true love or true danger in her quest for answers?

Click here to read more, and to purchase the book directly from the publisher, MuseItUp.

Cancer on the Brain … Baseball, Business and Beating the Odds

I’m really excited to announce the release of a new memoir by Jay Lefevers, an Arizona businessman who battled and beat a brain tumor and cancer.

Appropriately titled Cancer on the Brain, Lefevers’ book is an inspiring record of surviving multiple brain surgeries and fighting cancer, while also running a real estate business, being a husband and father, and coaching a winning Little League team.

I worked with the author on some of the editing for the book and have previously blogged about a film he was involved in backing — Another Happy Day.

For me, Cancer on the Brain is a fascinating memoir about remaining focused on living life — even when facing possible death — and how and why we all need to be our own best healthcare advocates. If we don’t watch out for ourselves and our loved ones, and aggressively advocate for our health and the kind of care we receive, we run the risk of being subject to distracted doctors with jam-packed patient waiting rooms and well-meaning but over-burdened medical professionals.

Lefevers has a unique tone — he’s tough on himself and he’s tough on the world around him in some ways — but that’s what I enjoyed most about his book: his unflinching honesty about himself, his experiences and how he interpreted his circumstances and how he chose to meet the challenges of multiple brain surgeries but then after surviving all that, having to face cancer (lymphoma) and enduring the ensuing chemotherapy.

I sometimes bitch about my life and this thing or that thing not going my way … I moan and groan about not having enough time to do some of the things I want to do or spend time with the people I say matter to me … and then I read a book like this. About a guy with a business employing 15 people, a wife, three kids about to go to college, a couple of cats and a whole team of Little League players — all looking to him in one way or another to keep their lives and interests on track — and he still manages to find time to ride a roller-coaster (despite metal stitches in his head) and walk the Freedom Trail in Boston (despite the fact that he essentially had to relearn how to walk after the brain tumor had numbed out his nerves and left him unable to feel his foot).

I found it inspiring to read about the way Lefevers stayed fully engaged with his life — even when faced with the possibility of losing that life. I need to take a lesson or two from this book.

You can snag a copy of Cancer on the Brain at all your usual online book-buying haunts — at Barnes & Noble stores across the country, and, if you happen to live in the Phoenix area, Lefevers will be giving a talk in July at Scottsdale Barnes & Noble.

If you’d like to help spread the word about Cancer on the Brain, just visit the book’s Facebook page by clicking here and “liking” it!

No Impact Man makes a big impact (on me)

I’m full of all kinds of movie recommendations this month! The trailer above is for the documentary No Impact Man, which tracks one family’s quest to reduce its waste to zero over the course of a year. The man who hatched the scheme, Colin Beavan, stops using electricity, watching TV and using gas-powered transportation — dragging his initially skeptical family through the process as well.

No, I’m not planning on following in Beaven’s footsteps, but the film offers a ton of practical ideas for how to live a more sustainable life, and I encourage you to check it out. It’s available on DVD now (and there’s also a related book).

Extra special bonus flick pick: Another Happy Day

That right there is a (very) foul-mouthed glimpse at the film Another Happy Day, unveiled at Sundance last year and now available on DVD.

The movie tells the story of a twice-married mother of four traveling to her parents’ estate for the wedding of her oldest son. The cast is dynamite: Ellen Barkin (Sea of Love, This Boy’s Life, Ocean’s Thirteen), Kate Bosworth, Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream), Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) and Demi Moore. And so’s the pedigree of first-time director Sam Levinson, the son of Barry Levinson, who has helmed major Hollywood hits like Rain Man and Good Morning, Vietnam.

The movie is a tense, sharp-tongued family drama dripping with black comedy, and I’m not surprised the move won a Best Screenwriting award at Sundance 2011. The dialogue is just that provocative and cutting.

I month ago, I filled you in on my top Sarasota Film Festival picks, and even though Another Happy Day didn’t come anywhere near our local fest, I’m happily adding it to the heap of festival-style films I’m recommending this year. Well worth a rent.

Sign up for Boot Camp today!

No, I’m not forcing you to join the military. I’m merely recommending that you sign up to attend the Women’s Resource Center’s Boot Camp for Women Entrepreneurs.

I’ve had an entrepreneurial outlook most of my life — even when I was working for other people. So, I’m completely bummed to miss this fabulous event, which is being offered this Sat., April 14. Even if you work for someone else, the entrepreneurial attitude — thinking/acting/working as an employer instead of an employee — is what sets you apart and paves the way for growth in the company. It’s short money — just $25 to hear from expert entrepreneurs in an all-day seminar.

Click here for more details and to register online.

Would you rather go naked? Does anyone love a bare-faced woman?

Somewhere along the line, women bought into the idea hook, line and sinker that to be “professional,” “sexy,” and most of all “acceptable” — we had to put paint all over our faces. Not all women feel this way, of course, but with billions upon billions of dollars spent annually on makeup in the U.S. alone — it’s a fair bet a lot of them do. Read today’s Sense and the City column on the conundrum of the made and unmade face!

March Birds Herald Sing

Several nights, I’ve slipped quietly from the house to stand in the yard and listen. My eyes wide and searching what I call the “forest” of oaks, practically holding my breath, and unable to resist smiling; but for the life of me …
Read the rest of this week’s Sense and the City column in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune TICKET today

Women Make Great Entrepreneurs!

My Sarasota Herald-Tribune Sense & the City column this week profiles Flori Roberts, co-founder of Smart Cover Cosmetics and an honoree this year for Girls Inc of Sarasota County’s She Knows Where She’s Going award. Roberts is a fascinating, charming woman — the kind you’d like for your best friend. Click here to read Flori Roberts Serial Entrepreneur

Reinvent Yourself at Renaissance Luncheon

I doubt there’s a woman alive who hasn’t wanted – or needed — to reinvent herself at some point in her life. While we don’t have to go as far as Madonna (the boy toys, coffee table sex books and faux British accent), a refresher every decade or so or whenever a major life transition occurs … get ideas for your own reinvention in this week’s Sense and the City column — Reinvent Yourself at Renaissance Luncheon — in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Event features Gail Sheehy, emceed by Michael Saunders, and put on by the Women’s Resource Center of Sarasota County.

Awakening

Who’s to say the effort to be real isn’t the beginning of wings?

I love these lines that I read this morning in The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo. I know some will scoff — but that’s my desire — to be unmitigatedly real. Is that possible? I think so — despite the unreality of our world — the ubiquitous reality shows, the faux-politicians, the obsessive acquisitiveness — I think there’s a movement in our culture to become awake, to rouse from our slumber and realize ourselves and each other. Well, it’s a bit early in the day for all that, isn’t it?

There are a few books that have profoundly influenced my interior — and exterior — life and how I live. Walden, of course. Letters to a Young Poet. The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha. Machiavelli’s Prince. And, I’m beginning to think (and I’m only 78 pages into this nearly 500-page tome), Nepo’s book is going to infiltrate my system just as those others did. I highly recommend it.