I knew when I first started helping Stacey Meadows publish her memoir about her son’s death in a car accident that this was something special. The writing is superb, and the emotions are as raw as they could possibly be. It’s both beautiful and devastating, with the promise of acceptance and healing as Stacey recounts her journey with grief.
Swerving to avoid a deer on a dark Wisconsin highway in early summer, 22-year old Gabe lost control of the car. His 29 year- old brother, Jonah, singing along with him as he drove, absorbed the full force of the impact with an oncoming pick-up truck driven by the Chief of a First Nation. The crash left Jonah with severe traumatic brain injury, Gabe with a broken femur, and soil samples, meticulously gathered for Jonah’s graduate research project on agroforestry, strewn across the highway.
As general counsel for a Philadelphia medical center, I was competent enough to interact with my sons’ care teams, but lost all semblance of professionalism when neither my legal expertise, search for a medical miracle, nor tenacity of my love was able to bring benefit to Jonah, who lingered in a coma for three months, before dying in hospice. I was left to find a way to carry on for the sake of Jonah’s brothers while handling my own grief and helplessness.
Immersing myself in Jonah’s journals, and memories of his extraordinary, spirit-filled life, my pillars materialized—meditation, yoga, prayer and sailing. With Jonah as my spirit guide, in the bardo and beyond, I navigated pathways between terror and beauty that Jonah had spent his life seeking. Pine Melody is the result of my journey.
I Am My Father’s Child by Kim Cook
In every life, there are moments that shimmer just beneath the surface of memory—encounters, decisions, and turning points that, at the time, felt ordinary but would come to shape the very fabric of who we are. This book is a journey into such moments: the recollections of a daughter navigating the joys and sorrows of family, the unpredictability of change, and the search for belonging across places and decades.
Woven through these pages are the voices of those I have loved and learned from, especially my father, whose gentle wisdom guided me through the tumult and beauty of growing up. As I open these doors to my past, I invite you to step inside, to witness the laughter and grief, the certainty and doubt, and perhaps find echoes of your own story along the way.
One of the most rewarding things about working with people to publish their books is that I’m helping them achieve a goal. In this case, a mother’s desire to publish her daughter’s poetry. It was a labor of love for her, and I was able to help her bring it to fruition. Keep reading to understand why it matters to her, and why I feel privileged to help birth this gift from a mother to her beloved but challenged adult child.
The Wildflowers Within Her Heart
Tara Elizabeth Benedetti has written poetry since she was a young girl. Tara wrote a poem when she was 10 years old, in the 5th grade, and it was published when she was 12, in the 7th grade.
The poem “My Windows” was published in the 1993 Edition of the book “Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans.”
Tara was encouraged by her teachers beginning in the 5th grade, and it was always pointed out that she had a profound and rich imagination – the part that can’t be taught.
Tara graduated from Summit High School, in Summit, New Jersey. She obtained a B.A. Degree in Creative Writing and Photo Journalism, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts. She has a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickenson University in Madison, New Jersey.
Tara was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was 28 years old, while teaching English in Boston. It has been 16 ½ years of a struggle for Tara. She is now 44 years old. All of her poetry was written before Tara was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Halcyon Day: Seven Summers a Cabana Boy, by A. Sacco
A. Sacco delves into the deep recesses of mind and memory to share anecdotes from the best job he ever had. Indelible memories and unforgettable characters—with all the mores and folkways—are chronologically recalled from events taking place more than 50 years ago.
A native New Yorker, A. Sacco worked for 32 years as a Sales Representative in the insurance and related financial services business. He also served as New York City Human Rights Commissioner for 8 years. He was a member of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Police and Community Relations. Retired, he now lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
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Did I mention I love my job? Another client satisfied!
A Normal American Life, by Robert Montagnese
If the currency of life is time, then the currency of truly living is making decisions.
Meet Katie and Claire, two young girls living in the Midwest who are about to graduate high school. On that one warm Spring Day, they decide to skip classes to go to the lake; a rumor spreads not based on any facts but rather a perception. It is the end of innocence as previously embraced and the start of truly living, and the clock ticks. There is an enormous world to discover beyond small-town people and their gossip.
A Normal American Life is a bar set high by how deeply you can go within to define yourself and live by those standards. It is a story about people using words to demonize and promote their own skewed beliefs. It’s also a tale about small-town traditions and beliefs, both good and bad. The characters are universal, and they all come from Elkhart, Indiana. Welcome to this America, the land of the free, if you look, talk, and live your life like a “normal” American.
The author, Robert Montagnese, brings a unique perspective to this narrative. Growing up in a small town in Connecticut, he remembers the turbulent late 1960s and the rapid changes of the 1970s. A bell-bottom boy in platform shoes, he ventured out to explore the world, learning quickly that what sometimes feels normal may not be normal to others.
This is Robert’s 4th novel. His career in beauty marketing provided a deeper insight into women and their worth, which is the heart of this new novel. Robert moved to NYC to start his career as an OR Nurse at New York Hospital and completed it as the Global Brand Director for L’Oréal years later. Along the way, his interest in writing became a reality with his first collection of short stories about influential women in his life, Lucky 7. Praise for Lucky 7 encouraged him to continue with a new-found passion for storytelling, leading to his latest, A Normal American Life. Robert happily resides in NYC with his partner John, of 30-plus years, and a new puppy, Patrick II.
“In this stirring and deeply personal narrative, Phillip Guirand charts the harrowing descent and spiritual awakening of a man wrestling with the consequences of his choices. Set against the backdrop of addiction, fractured relationships, and a world quick to condemn, this powerful story follows one man’s fight to reclaim his soul. With raw honesty and emotional intensity, Guirand delves into the pain of brokenness and the long, uphill battle toward forgiveness—not only from others, but from within.
Phillip Guirand brings unmatched authenticity to this redemptive tale. Drawing from real experiences and universal struggles, he offers readers more than a story—he offers a mirror. Through heartbreak and healing, Guirand delivers a message of hope: no matter how far one falls, redemption is always within reach.”
Mystery Writers of America-NY Library Pane in Hoboken: How to Start and Sustain a Series
I recently (November 11) moderated a panel on writing a series. Panelists included Annamaria Alfeiri, Tom Coffey, Gerry Lewis, and Peggy Erhhart. Topics included continuity, where our ideas come from, character creation, and when to let go.
Self-Publishing Workshop at Hunterdon County Library a Big Success
Big thanks to the 14 participants who came to my workshop on self-publishing last night at the Hunterdon Country Library, including fellow Mystery Writers of America-NY board member (and president) Nev March. It was so rewarding to engage with everyone, and hear so many of them say how much they liked the workshop. Onward!
Writers Group at New Hope Library Off to a Great Start
This was the group’s first monthly meeting and it was so rewarding. Everyone was engaged, lots of good conversation, and it promises to grow from there. As the facilitator, I could not have been happier.
Update: We’re now meeting twice monthly, on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday.