Authors and Arachnids

I’m thinking about doing a series of blogs on all the sleazy predators out there who have no particular talent themselves beyond the ability to zero in on their preferred victim: an up-and-coming hopeful with wishes and dreams, someone who possesses a sacred, God-given gift to write or paint or sing or act, but more importantly, possesses a wallet. I've heard those predators referred to as sharks, snakes, vultures, leaches, creatures lower than whale dung, but in my mind’s eye, I see a being whose body is dominated by one simple body part: the open hand. And who’s got more hands than a spider?

If you think about it, the arachnid really does conjure up the perfect image. It can sit down beside you, cross its legs and still have six appendages available to dangle carrots, rifle your belongings, stroke your ego and feel around in your pockets all at the same time — and still have two hands left-over: one proffering the pen with which to sign on the dotted line, the other covering its mouth so it can simultaneously hide the drool and the gluttonous smile.

And where’s the harm? After all, it’s not asking you for all of your life savings, just a portion of it — in advance, please. But it’s okay, it croons, as it begins spewing platitudes and sugar-coated venom, it’s such a pittance in comparison with the jewels I will one day lay at your feet: ten minutes on Oprah, sixteen column inches in the New York Times, a Hollywood contract, the Nobel Peace Prize and, on your way to the Pearly Gates, nothing short of canonization.

Now I want to ask you a question: has the following ever happened to you?

You go to the dentist and he informs you that you need a lengthy, expensive, invasive procedure known as a root canal. You’re in pain so, obviously, you agree to go ahead with it, but you’re apprehensive. You’ve never had one, you don’t know what it’s going to be like, you don’t know what you’re going to feel like. Of course you’re going to do it, you’re just nervous. And then it happens.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry, every butcher, baker and candlestick maker in your life and dozens of them who are not in your life are suddenly in your face telling you that they, too, had a similar experience. When you got out of bed that morning, you didn’t know anyone who’d ever had a root canal but by suppertime dental patients were crawling out of the woodwork.

You know what I mean. Even if it’s not about the dentist, it’s still happened to you, right? An insurance claim, a car accident, a delayed flight, a bad meal at a good restaurant. Whatever the circumstances, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. We’ve all experienced the same phenomenon: If it’s happened to you, it’s happened to a dozen others who never once thought to mentioned it before, but suddenly have an overwhelming need to tell you all about it now.

That’s how I know I’m not alone when I say I spend a good portion of my time dodging the sharks and the snakes and the vultures. In fact, I’m in very good company. “Everywhere you turn,” sings Sarah McLachlan, “there's vultures and thieves at your back.” Wannabe’s — people who wannabe nothing more than in my checkbook.

And it really is a shame. It’s a sad commentary on humanity that no matter how much we evolve, we will always be divided up between the predator and the prey; we will always have to contend with shallow, hollow, miserable leaches who have nothing to give and therefore nothing to lose and therefore no problem devastating the dreams of the talented, the dedicated, the idealistic — as long as they get to line their pockets.

I've been up most of the night thinking about one such predator in particular, a person working overtime to ooze their way into my life with brazen demands of unfettered access and dubious promises of silver and gold and riches beyond imagining. I’m grateful I've been blessed with this gift worth coveting, and I’m equally grateful I've been blessed with the wherewithal to recognize a well-disguised arachnid when I see one, and I know that I will, along with the rest of us who have something of value to offer the world, spend the rest of my life en guard. I just can’t help but sigh in frustration when I think about it. Such a waste of good energy.

Oh, one final thing: Yes, I know — the way an arachnid’s body is structured, it cannot actually sit like humans do, but it makes a heck of a good image, doesn’t it?

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Author Event Coming This Week

On Thursday, October 15, 2009 at Burgundy Books in East Haddam, Connecticut, at 6:30 PM, I will be introducing my new book, Finding Emmaus and talking about my writing experiences and how Finding Emmaus came to print. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing at the conclusion of the program.

Burgundy Books is owned and run by Linda Williams and is located at:
4 Norwich Road
East Haddam, CT 06423.

The phone number is 860 873-9312. If possible, if you could register in advance, that would be great.I'd love to see you there – especially if you were unable to make the Book Launch in Wallingford. http://www.burgundybooks.net/Pamela_Glasner.html

Please feel free to invite a friend with you or pass this invitation along to anyone whom you think might have an interest in books about historical fantasy, the paranormal, Empaths, ghosts or the conspiracy between Big Pharma and the US-FDA.

And, of course, please don’t forget to visit my website to read the previews of Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre Series.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Can’t Have A New Life ‘Til You Let Go Of The Old

I cleaned my office this weekend - not vacuuming and dusting, but going through each and every little scrap of paper that was on my desk and, piece by piece, discarding it or filing it. Usually that task would feel arduous, but this time it was easy, almost enjoyable.

Why, I wondered, when I was done? Why did I enjoy it? Why was this time different from any other time?

Was it, I wondered, indicative of what’s to come, of what my life is about to be? Was it symbolic? Was I making room for new “stuff” by letting go of the old?

I was thinking about flying this weekend, how birds do it. I was on my way out to the orchard when a sparrow flew passed me, just above my head, not three feet away, close enough so I could hear the fluttering of his wings and his movement through the air and I remembered that birds have hollow bones, that they have to in order to lift themselves off the ground.

It’s an odd feeling I have as a result of this past weekend’s cleaning, as though I weigh less. I’m not referring to body weight, I’m talking about my heart and soul. I’m talking about a shedding of ‘mass’, a slow and steady casting off, link-by-link, of the Jacob Marley chain I've forged over the course of a lifetime and have hauled around with me since time began.

I don’t know if clearing the clutter out of my house is the reason for this feeling or if this feeling is what precipitated the clearing. Classic chicken and egg. All I know is, I’m getting ready to fly.

I’m not sure if that flying is a spiritual thing or if it’s just something as mundane as getting from point A to point B on a 747 during my upcoming book tour. Perhaps it’s both.

Whatever it is, I find myself embracing it, welcoming it. And that’s a huge change for me (there goes another link from that chain!) because “change” and the “unknown” used to scare the pants off of me. And now here I am, looking forward to it.

I am no longer terrified of it - rather, now I await it’s arrival like a child at a snowy evening windowsill, on the watch for reindeer.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

In Search of a Glimpse of Light at the End of This Tunnel

I lately find myself wanting to let all my friends and family know that, while I've been largely incommunicado within both of those communities - neglecting social engagements and phone calls and e-mails - I've not forgotten about anyone at all, even though it may look like that.

I’m having to divide my time and energy between writing my next book (which, in and of itself, can be a full-time job!), working with the publisher to bring “Finding Emmāus” to market, composing posts for this blog, managing my real estate holdings which I had on the market but, because of this lousy economy, never did sell, and Twitter (yes, Heaven help me, I’m a Tweeter!), which my literary agent was all but adamant I join and honestly, has become a huge boon for me and my future as an author.

Add that to church and elderly parents and a husband and a home and a son and a brother and a cat and a dog … (*takes a deep breath*) … and I'm seriously considering having myself cloned!!!

The majority of my communication/connection with the outside world, other than the occasional e-mail which invariably begins with “Dear So-and-So, sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you…” seems to be via these blog postings - at least they keep me feeling connected to humanity in some small way.

So I plod my way through this new, suddenly and dramatically reinvented life of mine, learning - one itty-bitty baby step at a time - how to balance it all, desperately hoping everyone understands or, at the very least, tolerates and forgives!

I've never been a published author before and I'm still trying to feel my way. And right now I spend lots of time feeling as though I'm in one of those absolutely lightless fun-houses… I love it but I'm not sure where I'm headed or when I'll catch a glimpse of light at the end of this very unsettling but absolutely trilling tunnel.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

"Finding Emmāus" goes live!

I truly enjoyed Tuesday night's interview with Cori Brackett at www.SweetRemedyRadio.com

I was quite nervous in the beginning because it was my first live interview, but Cori is such a splendid host, she put me at ease very quickly.

We discuss several different aspects of the story: empathy, early Puritan history, psychotherapeutic drugs, the collusion between the pharma industry and the FDA, advocating for those who've been ostracized from society, what it was like for me to write the book.

I'd be honored if you'd take the time to listen. It's located at: http://tinyurl.com/p3xjlw

I hope you'll find it interesting.

Say Yes to Gratitude!

In a recent article, Dr. Gloria Burgess, author, coach and spiritual leader said, "Say yes to gratitude. Research confirms that when we feel thankful, our body chemistry actually changes."

Well, I can personally attest to that. I am an author with a new novel being published this October.

When asked how I feel about everything that is happening, all the writing, the research, the meetings and conference calls, the time away from my family and their blessed flexibility, the planning and marketing and promoting, choosing fonts and colors and jacket designs and countless other details, the one constant since the very first day I picked up my pen and put it to the paper has been a seemingly boundless feeling of gratitude.

I may have occasionally fantasized about it, but I never believed I had a novel in me. And I certainly never guessed there’d be a way to get it out of me! Whatever it was that lead me to create “Finding Emmaus” (and I do have some private notions!), I will be grateful for the rest of my life.

Thank you, Dr. Burgess, for so eloquently putting my feelings into words. I honestly do pray that others get to experience what I’m feeling and what you’ve so beautifully expressed.

Please follow this link (http://www.gloriaburgess.com/) and get to know Dr. Gloria Burgess, a woman whom, as she so delightfully states it, dares to wear her soul on the OUTSIDE!

Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

Pamela Glasner is Interviewed by Antubert on "Live Test Radio"

My 'Live Test Show' Interview about my upcoming book, “Finding Emmaus”. The show was recorded at the end of April.

Here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/ra7bx9

You'll need to advance the control to 14.30 minutes into the show to where my part begins...

Enjoy!

What "Finding Emmaus" Is All About

“Finding Emmaus”, book one of The Lodestarre series, is a complex, dark historic fantasy about love and loss, obsession and the abuse of power, human frailties and a determination to live a life that matters.

The psychiatric community has confused Empathic personality traits with mental illness with tragic results, leading two Empaths, living three hundred years apart, on personal journeys to learn the true nature of Empathy. Transcending time and death to right a centuries-old wrong, they inadvertently uncover a multi-billion dollar conspiracy in which millions of Americans are being misdiagnosed and drugged for no other reason than the enormous income they generate.

Francis Nettleton, 17th century Empath, grew into adulthood believing himself to be insane. Eminently moral but the product of a society steeped in myths and misconceptions, he makes some less-than-prudent decisions which set in motion a murder for which he cannot forgive himself, a murder which will reverberate through four families and three centuries.

Three hundred years later, enter Katherine Spencer. After years of being hospitalized and drugged, she is given a rare opportunity: a second chance at life. At fifty-four, after being told that, rather than being insane, she’s more than likely Empathic, she sets out to find Francis and the legendary Lodestarre, both 300 years gone, in the hopes she can finally learn to live.

In the process of finding herself and mastering her newly-discovered abilities, Katherine unwittingly becomes the champion for the voiceless millions who are being victimized by a corporate machine of such omnipotent political power that she literally puts her life on the line when she challenges the all-but-unstoppable pharmaceutical industry, America’s most powerful and affluent lobby.

Then, into Katherine’s life comes Sally Cavanaugh, powerful - though novice - Empath with a secret infatuation which eventually transforms into a full-blown obsession. Overshadowing her ability to discern right from wrong, this obsession just might jeopardize every good thing in her life and everyone else’s - just to get what she wants.

In Wiccan tradition, there is the Book of Shadows; in Christianity, the Bible; even the secular world has its encyclopedias. But for Empaths, there was nothing of the sort until Francis Nettleton sacrificed everything and made it his life’s mission to create one authoritative body of knowledge, one central set of guiding principles - and he named it The Lodestarre. This manuscript is nothing less than the lifelong, selfless passion of one man’s profound desire to put an end to the relentless persecution and needless suffering of anyone who did not - or could not - fit the societal mold.

“Finding Emmaus” is an intricate, meticulously-researched, deeply disturbing, suspenseful tale of love and sacrifice, brutality and greed, courage and politics and madness and faith. It is a story with a huge cast of characters who will keep you guessing what will happen, what they will do and what choices they will make from one minute to the next as they weave in and out of the story and each others’ lives.

Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Seeing Is Part Of Believing - Musings of an Author

One of the things I went out of my way to avoid while I was writing "Finding Emmaus" was physical descriptions of my characters. With few exceptions, I kept them very superficial:
- Frank is tall and, at 60-something years old, has grey hair
- Hannah Moreland is petite and hyperactive, much like an arachnid
- Alice Bond is tall and stately, very slender, moving through her home and her life like a wraith
- Katherine is short with long hair and Sally has a figure to die for
But that’s about as detailed as I got in most cases and that was deliberate.

As readers become more and more involved in a book, I think they ‘see’ what’s going on inside their heads and, as part of that, ‘see’ images of the people who play out the story, and imagine the people in a way that makes the story more meaningful to them.

My feeling was that I would detract from that individual, highly personal experience if I superimposed some arbitrary physical description of a character which might be contrary to what the reader needed to see in order to believe in it.

And that would benefit neither the reader nor the writer - and do the story itself a great injustice.

Update from the publisher - I guess they like Empaths, too!

Finding Emmaus is a dark historic fantasy, two concurrent stories, one set in the 17th century and the other in the 21st - a story about Empaths and ghosts, ignorance, victimization and obsession, a story in which each of the two principle characters, Frank in the 1600’s and Katherine in present day, has a quest which neither can complete on their own.

Tomorrow I have the conference call with the publisher and, in advance of that, my contact person there sent me the production plan and the pre-production comments. I wanted to share with you what the editorial staff wrote in their report about my book:
'The Lodestarre' is a richly described historical fantasy that weaves elements of the fantastic with actual facts and figures. Alternating viewpoints in different eras maintain a strong pace for the story, reveal intimate truths about Frank and Katherine, and strengthen their intertwined tales. The text is engaging and well-written with few errors.

Talk about feeling gratitude! I've written a novel that a group of professionals call 'rich', 'strong', 'engaging 'and 'well-written'. A first-time author, the only agent I ever approached, the only publisher we submitted to and now this. If that’s not God at work, I cannot imagine what is.

From "The Lodestarre": Katherine's Musings on Faith and Being Empathic

Being an Empath is not easy. Some call it a gift, some call it a curse. Whichever it is, Empaths have two choices: hide away and suffer through it the best you can until death finally brings relief, or learn to live with it - and live.

And I believe that starts with faith. But faith can be a tricky thing.

Some people use ‘faith’ as a weapon, something with which to punish themselves, thinking (wrongly) if it’s not strong enough or consistent enough or blind enough then they must be doing it wrong. And if they don’t get a particular result they want, that self-flagellation suddenly seems justified (You see? Had I done it better…).

But I don’t believe that’s the way it works. I don’t believe God is some vindictive son-of-a-$#@%$ sitting up there on a cloud just waiting for me to screw up so he can deny me my heart’s desire.

I struggled with the question of faith for a long time. Oh, I've no doubt that God exists, that He’s all around me, that I’m His daughter and therefore He loves me, that He listens to me with infinite patience, even when I ask the same things over and over again (and does not roll His eyes no matter how many times I come back for reassurance!). I believe He wants me to have my heart’s desire and I know He answers my prayers with astounding regularity.

But none of that ever interfered with my ability to riddle myself with doubts and then beat myself up because surely faith requires the absence of doubt, does it not?? (the answer is, ‘Of course not!’)

I've never prayed for my Empathic abilities to go away, although I suppose others have, and I can understand why. It’s a hard thing we live with. But I think ‘understanding’ changes everything.

Empathy will never be something we carry lightly. We will still feel the pain. But with understanding - and faith - we can step out of the dark.

Copyright © 2008 by Pamela S. K. Glasner, All Rights Reserved