Virtual Interview with Author Carolyn Brent

Today I have the great pleasure of being the host on Day 3 of the Virtual Blog Tour of author Carolyn A. Brent whose book Why Wait? The Baby Boomers' Guide to Preparing Emotionally, Financially and Legally for a Parent’s Death launches on Amazon on Tuesday November 15, 2011.

Author Carolyn A. Brent, M.B.A. is a former clinical educational manager in the pharmaceutical industry. She is an avid activist and advocate working with the U.S. Congress for the purpose of creating change to protect seniors and veterans from financial and medical abuse. She has appeared on many local and national TV and radio shows, and is a sought-after keynote speaker.

Yesterday, Carolyn visited Lynn Serafinn at http://lynnserafinn.com/news-lynn-serafinn-coach-author-workshops-radio-community-leader/what-no-one-wants-to-talk-about-but-absolutely-must , where Lynn shared with you a summary and live interview recording with Carolyn.

Today, I'd like to share with you a recent interview I had with Carolyn when I got to ask her some important family questions around support and being prepared. I hope you enjoy it.

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Yvonne Perry: I know that end-of-life issues are very important, but this is one of those topics most people don’t like to discuss. What do you think are some of the crucial emotional conversations parents, and siblings?

Carolyn A. Brent: Thank you for this wonderful question. You are correct people do not want to have these types of conversations.  However, if a family avoids talking about the emotional things such as money, hospitals, the "what if" and wait until there is a sudden unexpected emergency, all hell can breakout due to emotions running high.  So, it is best to be prepared for your parent’s end-of-life physical, mental, and emotional challenges and ultimate death, by having the conversation early rather than later.

Yvonne Perry: My mom is a caregiver for her 95-year-old mother. I would like to see my mom taking better care of her own self and asking for help when she needs it. Do you have any tips about how to get some help when other family members can’t/won’t step in to relieve the full-time caregiver?

Carolyn A. Brent: Reach Out for Support!  It is critical that you reach out for support for your mom.  You can support your mom by asking extended family members and friends to contribute in any way to take some of the pressure off your mother. If your family members can’t/won’t step in to relieve your mom, REACH OUT and get RESPITE CARE for your grandmother. Respite Care will allow your mom to get a week or so off from her 24 hours a day 7 days a week from the work of a caregiver. You want to help your mom avoid caregiver burnout….

Also, take your mom to a day spa, you can offer your mom a day off, a week off, but simply do your best to assist in any way you can to let your mom know that she is not alone.

Yvonne Perry: At what point should a family decide to choose hospice care for an ailing loved one?

Carolyn A. Brent: Hospice care is appropriate when a person will no longer benefit from curative treatment and life expectancy is approximately six months if the disease runs its normal course. The decision for someone to enter a hospice program will be a joint decision between the person, his or her family members, and his or her primary care physician and the hospice medical director.

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I hope you enjoyed this interview with Carolyn A. Brent and that you’ll check out her book Why Wait? The Baby Boomers' Guide to Preparing Emotionally, Financially and Legally for a Parent’s Death at http://www.babyboomersguide.org/book-launch/pre-launch.html

Here Are Two Reasons Why:

FREE 3-DAY PASS

When you visit the page at the link above and request a "launch reminder", you will automatically receive a FREE pass to Carolyn's 3-day "Why Wait? Telesummit", with a panel leading experts preparing emotionally, financially and legally for the death of a parent.  You can listen to the telesummit online in the comfort of your own home, and even ask questions during the broadcast.

This telesummit is a completely free
"no purchase necessary" gift from Carolyn

To register, go to

http://www.babyboomersguide.org/book-launch/telesummit.html

FREE GIFTS

When you buy Carolyn's book on Tuesday November 15, 2011, you can ALSO receive a complete library of beautiful personal development gifts from authors, speakers, coaches and other enlightened professionals from around the globe including one from me:

MP3 audio book of More Than Meets the Eye ~

True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife

To claim your 3-Day Pass and read about the free gifts, go to: http://www.babyboomersguide.org/book-launch/pre-launch.html

Thanks for reading! As usual, please feel free to share your comments and thoughts below. I love reading your feedback.

AND… be sure to follow Carolyn tomorrow when the next stop on the Virtual Blog Tour is Kathleen H. Wheeler, who will be interviewing Carolyn on understanding various different family relationships and what to do/expect.  To visit that "stop" on the tour, go to http://broughttomysenses.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/carolyn-brent-aging-parents-caregiving-issues-family-relationships

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For more information, you might enjoy reading my book, More Than Meets the Eye True Stories about Death, Dying, and Afterlife. Purchase paperback on Amazon.com. It's also on Amazon as an e-book for those who have Kindle or Sony Readers. The audio book is now available!
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Meet Dr. Caron Goode Author of Kids Who See Ghosts, Guide Them Through Their Fear

Today we welcome Dr. Caron Goode to our writing blog. She is discussing her book Kids Who See Ghosts, Guide Them Through Their Fear.

Dr. Caron Goode is gifted with compassion in assisting others to effect lasting transformation through spiritual coaching, books, classes and seminars. Caron’s continuous education, experience in psychology and professional writing makes her a great resource for parents wishing to create and maintain a nurturing relationship their children. The common thread of these disciplines is energy of the mind-body-spirit connection and how to access it, bring it into focus and then put it into successful action.

YVONNE: Tell me something about your writing background.
CARON: A creative writing teacher in high school told me I had talent, and that was new to me. I always had an interest writing, which I think came from a veracious reading appetite. At her encouragement, I entered several small writing contests and my entry won. Later as a teacher and diagnostician, I wrote lessons, curriculum, reports—educational writing—and received many professional accolades. Yet I never saw myself as a writer. My writing was always related to my profession, but never became my profession until midlife. The creativity peaked in my forties when thoughts of writing a book crept in. In my fifties, the dam opened and writing books on quirky subjects, great stories, and inspirational topics have become a fun passion.

YVONNE: Your story sounds similar to mine. It was a high school creative writing teacher who believed in me and helped me realize I had a talent for writing. What is the title of your book? Give us the basic story line so we’ll know what it’s about.
CARON: Kids Who See Ghosts, Guide Them Through Their Fears is a response to hundreds of questions from parents about their children seeing apparitions, from ghosts to demons to angels. Seventeen interviews from professionals, parents, psychics, even a skeptic, presents an up front and personal look at the phenomenon. Mostly it is about helping kids move through fears and not be paralyzed by such events.

YVONNE: I can relate so well to your book. I’ve seen into the spirit realm many times and have a grandson who also did when he was younger. What inspired you to write this book?
CARON: These questions about kids who see ghosts poured in after I started a blog on intuitive intelligence and children. I posted my opinion about the A & E channel program called Psychic Kids Who See Ghosts. My marketing specialists, Diane Bourgeois, of Marketing Magic USA said I had a niche there, and I was perfectly qualified to write the book. Moreover I was inspired by my childhood experiences of growing up very “Irish Catholic” and seeing the saints when I was a child. I thought everyone saw them.

YVONNE: I’ve seen the show you are talking about and I was amazed at the way the show not only demonstrated the gift these kids have, but also their fears surrounding it. At the end of the show, the children were more accepting of their gift and felt less isolated once their parents understood that the kids were perfectly normal. I really appreciate your writing the book to help adults guide psychic kids. Is this the first book you have written?
CARON: No, this is not my first book. I have a dozen books in education, parenting, and health under my belt.

YVONNE: How long did it take to write this book?
CARON: I wrote this book in three months, which is very tight for me.

YVONNE: Any interesting tidbits about your writing method or how the book developed?
CARON: I am a slow writer. My first draft contains words that are carefully considered. If I can say it with one word and not three, I do write in stages–gather all material, include all material on the topic, and then I have a draft of the 200-page count. From there, I will hone it down, tighten, edit, and cut. I may go through the manuscript twice or five times. I also find I need an editor to clean up the details and polish the text.

Like most writers, I also go with my gut. If a section doesn’t feel right or flow right, I have to stop and fix it. If I do not, the editor always catches it.

YVONNE: We all need editors. Even though I earn a living as an editor, I still have my own books edited. It’s hard to catch our own mistakes no matter how many times we go over the text. And, I love the way you trust your intuition about a passage not “feeling” right. We would all do well to listen to our intuition more. Tell me about your publishing experience and what you learned from it.

CARON: My agent loved the book idea and sold it to the publisher quickly. So Red Wheel/Weiser supports authors well and thoroughly reviews the book through two or three sets of eyes. I have excitement because this year, for this book, I have an enthusiastic team who love the book and are going all out to make it sell well. This is in contrast to the previous year when Raising Intuitive Children received little support from the team.

YVONNE: Being picked up by a conventional publisher certainly does ensure good marketing. It’s still up to the author to do a lot of promotion like you are doing. Where is your book available? Do you have a Web site or blog where we can learn more about you or your book?
CARON: My Web site is www.kidswhoseeghosts.com and the book will be on Amazon.com

YVONNE: Tell me some ways you have promoted your book. Give examples and links to any sites you feel might help other authors.
CARON: We are promoting through a syndicated column, Kids Who See Ghosts . . .
Blog Tour. I think your site and www.spiritauthors.com are wonderful sites for all writers, whether new or seasoned. We are having a blog tour for the book, as well as an Amazon email campaign.

YVONNE: I’m looking forward to posting on your syndicated column and I’m thrilled to be part of your blog tour for this wonderful book. Any other comment you would like to share?
CARON: Thanks for the opportunity to be on your site, which is a phenomenal resource for writers. I subscribe to your e-zine and recommend your work to others.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to get to know you and learn about your book. I wish you well in your journey as an author.

YVONNE: I’m glad to be able to help writers and authors. I truly appreciate your support, Caron. It is a privilege to network with you. I wish you much success on this timely and well-written book.

Listen to an interview with Dr. Goode and Yvonne Perry on http://weareoneinspirit.blogspot.com