Exciting News! Poles Apart is now available for Kindle on Amazon! You can now read Poles Apart on any e-book format.

To celebrate the Kindle release I’m offering a free digital copy of Frieda’s Favorites, the cookbook companion to Poles Apart, with any purchase of this award-winning novel during the month of April – that’s any purchase at all, in print or any e-format. All you have to do is make your purchase and email me the receipt at audrey@audreyrlwyatt.com. I will then send you the PDF with her yummy recipes.

To tempt your tastebuds, here’s a list of the recipes that Frieda included, in her own inimitable style:

Blintzes

Challah

Borscht

Chicken Soup

Knaiydleach (matzo balls)

Chopped Liver

Gefilte Fish

Kasha Varnishkes

Kreplach

Noodle Kugel

Brisket

Chicken Paprikash

Coconut Bars

Mandelbröt

Charoses

Potato Latkes

Here’s how to order print or Kindle from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Poles-Apart-Audrey-RL-Wyatt/dp/144999489X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1364933111&sr=8-6&keywords=poles+apart

Here’s how to order an e-book in another format: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27202

If you prefer purchase at your local indie bookstore just scan and email that receipt. No one will be left out of the celebration!

Please forward this email widely – the more the merrier!

And if you feel like writing a review, I thank you in advance.

A while back a kind writer/reviewer named Barbara Snow reviewed Poles Apart on the Neworld Review book site. I’ve posted links to the review around the social media universe but just realized that I have been remiss in posting it here. So I’m doing my website one better, I’m posting the review itself as a blog post. I hope you enjoy Barbara’s review as much as I have.

Feel free to check out Neworld Review at www.neworldreview.com. Barbara is a regular reviewer there.

Poles Apart

LitSisters Publishing | Phoenix

Reviewed by Barbara Snow

A good story shows us people struggling to change, to make life better. It makes us care about them enough to forget that we’re reading a story and inspires us to changes of our own. The characters in Poles Apart are lovable in their humanness and forgivable in their fears and confusion, particularly since the patterns with which they struggle result from some of the most horrendous experiences possible.

Chaim Schlessel spent nearly half of his formative teen years in Auschwitz and lost his family there. He committed to living his life fully and joyfully as the only way to make sure the oppressors failed in their attempt to destroy him and his people. Unfortunately his refusal to speak of the past created a void for his son David, who when confronted with the atrocities that obliterated his family, had no way to comprehend or integrate such history.

This is a story about the damage to good people when truth is feared and fear deepens the darkness inside. It is a delightful snapshot into the dynamics of a modern Jewish family living in a typical mid-western city—Cleveland, OH. It is also a testament to the ability of loving family (whether it’s the one you were born into or one you chose) to heal the wounds of the past and support the freedom to be authentic.

While Poles Apart is a pleasurable read, it does not dodge the horrors that are part of our collective history. The memories of horrors that are meted out in tolerable measure still cause the stomach to clench and the body to shiver. Wyatt does an admirable job, particularly since she writes based on personal knowledge. It is appropriate and necessary to hold the human potential for destruction in consciousness. Americans are not exempt. The holocausts in this country began with the extermination of 19 million Native Americans and continued with blacks, and any others who become “demonized” by the perceived ruling class. Adolph Hitler actually stated that he used the model of the U.S. Government’s treatment of Native Americans in his design for the concentration camps.

This book does not try for the kind of distance that addresses the mass manipulation of citizens by their government. It is close to home and heart—close to the places where you and I, live with a relative sense of security. It reminds us of the ripple effect that violence and degradation have on people, families and communities. It is time that we acknowledge that like the adult children of alcoholics, the adult children of survivors of any violence also carry scars in their psyche. Ultimately, this story of the Schlessel family reminds us that we do not remain victims unless we choose to. Chaim Schlessel demonstrates profoundly that who we struggle to be and how we live is ultimately the place of victory.

Maybe it’s the hormones, maybe it’s my age. I don’t know and I’m not interested in speculating on the specifics of either. But I’ve been very reflective of late and I thought it was time to share.

I started dating my husband at the end of 1984. We were really young. We married in June of 1988 and have lived “happily ever after” since. But that’s a storybook cliche. The truth is so much more complicated – and so much better.

We were so new back then. Our relationship was like a bright, shiny penny laying in the sun. There was lots of flash – in passion, in anger, in joy. We made our way, confident in the permanence of what we had, creating a cocoon in which to protect the precious life we built. As we added to that life, in the form of two beautiful daughters, the flash turned fluid and the days flowed one in to the next, exhaustion becoming a constant companion.

Now we’re older. Our relationship is older too. Our youngest is nearly grown and the oldest has already moved on to her own adventure. We’re looking back with wonder at how quickly it all went but we’re also looking forward toward a new phase of our lives. The bright shiny penny may no longer glint in the sun and the hectic pace of young children has eased. But what’s left has the depth and richness of the finest champagne and chocolate and savoring each drop is a new delight.

When I hear people speak in horrific tones of the tragedy of only sleeping with one person for the rest of their lives – another cliche – I shake my head and chuckle. They just don’t get it. We know each other more intimately than I ever could have imagined, a pleasure in the heart as well as the bedroom. We don’t jockey for position the way we did when we were young. We are confident in the knowledge that there’s room enough for both of us, our needs, desires, hopes and dreams. We find as much joy in the success of the other as we ever found in our own. Maybe more. And we savor. Everything. Every taste of that miraculous chocolate. Every sip of that glorious champagne.

But all this makes me wonder. If it’s so much better now than I ever imagined it could be, what will I say in twenty-five more years?

I’m getting ready to go to Ellen DeGeneres’ birthday party. That sounds like it’s really something, doesn’t it? Or WOW! I must be really impressive to score that kind of invitation, right? Yeah, not so much. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really excited. But not for the reasons you may think. I’m sure there will be hundreds of people there and I don’t actually know any A-list stars or anything so I’ll just be among the unwashed but invited.

No, the reason I’m really excited is because there is a very surreal component to living in LA and when it shows itself to me, I always marvel. Here’s how it works: I go about my days in the way I always have, post-move. Now that we’re settled into the house I’m getting my business going again. I’m still the chauffeur of choice for my fifteen year old. I write, I edit, I’m trying to figure out how to offer my workshop online. I look forward to date night with my husband. But once in a while the separate dimension that is Hollywood intersects with my very normal life. And each time it does it’s an amazement.

Like the time we were sitting at one of our favorite restaurants, The Reel Inn. CCH Pounder, a great character actor, walked right past me and sat down at the next table. She had dinner with several people, another of whom I recognized. My oldest, Emma, summed it up when she commented that while she knew we’d see famous people now that we lived here she never expected that they’d eat at the next table. Or when we went to see Cirque du Soleil at the Kodak Theatre. You know, the Kodak Theatre where they’ve held the Oscars forever. It’s a truly incredible place. So there I sat in the sixth row – yeah that’s right, where the nominees sit – and wondered what famous tushies had graced the seat I was in. Even though I was swept away by Iris, the show I saw, I couldn’t get my mind off that question.

And now I’m going to Ellen’s birthday party. While I know her, having enjoyed her particular brand of humor for many years, she certainly doesn’t know me. She hasn’t read my book (I assume) and isn’t familiar with any of my work. But I’m going to have a blast. Because whenever my world collides with the world of the rich and famous I have the chance to marvel, once again, at how we exist in the same city and yet never really do.

I recently told a colleague that it’s been a bad month for me. She assumed I meant that things were bad/something was wrong – you get the idea. But that’s not it at all. My problem is that it’s December. I could just as easily say it’s May.

Any writer with kids, or even just a big family, knows what I’m talking about. How do you write when you have choir concerts, orchestra concerts, band concerts, holiday pageants, charitable obligations, holiday parties, travel, company – and that’s on top of holiday cards, shopping, cleaning, decorating, cooking and baking? (If it’s May, substitute end of school year/beginning of summer for holiday) I’m exhausted just writing the list. So back to the question, how do you write when you’re going out of your mind?

I’m a big Nike fan on this topic. I say, “just do it.” I believe that in order to be a writer I must write. Now by write I also mean non-prose work related to my WIP. So it may be plotting, or blogging, or character development, or editing. But I’m determined to spend a minimum of twenty minutes a day doing work related to my writing, even on the most hectic of days. And twenty minutes a day is enough, for two reasons. First off, I can take comfort in the fact that I did indeed get something done. And as any writer knows, that comfort can help sustain us through a lot of self-loathing. Second, and more important, that twenty minutes may get me on a roll that carries me until I look at the clock on the corner of the screen, swear loudly, and leap up to prepare for the next thing, whatever it is. Either way, I’ve accomplished something.

So take your twenty minutes every day, even if all you can muster is a blank stare at the pages of your WIP. Do it while the dough is rising, or before you go to bed, or while your supportive family is doing the dinner dishes. Just do it.

I’m very excited about a new feature I’m adding to the blog. I am fortunate enough to know such fantastic writers I thought it only fair that I share! So stay tuned for my guest blogger series. A couple times a month I’ll be posting pieces by terrific writers, many multiply-published and/or award-winning. So stay tuned. You’ll be meeting the brilliant Karen Lin in a matter of weeks!

Next, I’m posting a notice from the wonderful Sylvia Massara. Aside from being a writer, Sylvia uses her spare time to promote other writers, a very generous pursuit.

Announcing the launch of The Lit Chick Show

Authors, prepare to showcase your work! Run from two continents, The Lit Chick Show, a blog that is like a virtual TV show, features interviews with authors from all English-speaking countries.

“The Lit Chick Show is a play on the words ‘chick li’t,” says Sylvia Massara, producer and co-host of the show. “But don’t be deceived; we are not about ‘chick lit’ at all. Our show is a platform that mainly supports ‘indie’ authors.

Massara is a Sydney-based novelist who has teamed up with fellow author and freelance writer, Angie Atkinson, based in St Louis. Massara and Atkinson thought it was time to give writers of both fiction and non-fiction a ‘virtual voice’ within the world wide web; and after throwing a few ideas back and forth, The Lit Chick Show was born.

From Sydney, Australia, to St Louis, USA, and beyond, literature enthusiasts will be able to ‘tune in’ and discover established and emerging writers as well as interact online. So whether you’re an author or an avid reader, if you have an interest in anything literary The Lit Chick Show is for you.

The Lit Chick Show launched in early October, 2010.

Thankfully, the heat of summer is beginning to abate. And as it does, life, with all its activity starts to ratchet up. So it goes with life in the Sonoran desert.

I want to take a moment, before I get to my news and wish all my Jewish readers Leshana Tovah! May the New Year be a happy and healthy one for you and your family.

Also, I’m sure you’ve noticed the cool new format of this missive. I’m working on spreading the word about Poles Apart and the classes I offer and have found a cool new way to do it. Please help me out by forwarding this newsletter to anyone you know who a) enjoys a good book (hey, all the reviews and awards can’t be wrong); and b) is interested in learning to write.

Here’s What’s Happening:

• My appearance on Adoption Angles was great fun! Melissa, the host, made it a wonderful experience and we gave away two copies of Poles Apart! The winners are enjoying it as we speak! If adoption is a topic that interests you be sure to check out Adoption Angles.

• I’m going to be featured as guest blogger on the site of author Mike Angley. For those of you who haven’t read Mike, he’s a retired Air Force Colonel and suspense author. The interview will be up on September 17^th and you can find it here.

• Yelp Phoenix has selected Poles Apart as their October read. If you’re a Yelper and are interested in participating, check out the event.

• I’m very excited to tell you that I’ve been interviewed for a network of Australian papers! I guess I’m truly going global. Sylvia Massara, the author/journalist who conducted the interview, is syndicated in twenty-four online papers and is expanding to print. I’ll post the link as soon as the article is up. So stay tuned!

• Due to numerous requests, I’m going to be making my highly regarded workshop, LifeStories – Memoir Writing available virtually. Plans are still in the works as to format but IT IS COMING! The workshop was well received by participants when I taught it in Boston and is equally well received here in the valley of the sun. If you know anyone who is interested in learning to write their memoir, please forward this newsletter to them. I’ll update everyone as more info is available.

I hope all is well with you as we move in to autumn. Even though I can’t enjoy the colors of the maples and oaks it’s still my favorite season. Feel free to send pictures my way if you should see a particularly good example of color. It’ll bring my eastern roots a little closer.

Meanwhile, take care. And let me know how you’re doing.

Ah, it’s been a long time. Too long. It’s because of the kryptonite – well, let me explain.

I’ve always been proud of the fact that I’m one tough broad. Far too tough, in fact, to be laid out by anything. No matter what happened to me, even after the death of my parents, I was able to pick myself up, dust myself off and do what I needed to do. No exceptions. Until I had kids, that is.

At first my kids were time consumers. They needed  a lot of my time and I had very little left for writing. I dressed them, fed them, played with them. You know the drill. It was a bit frustrating to have so little time for writing but I knew that what I was doing was far more important. As they got older they gave up their time consuming ways. They became energy consumers. Their problems, miseries and joys colored my days. My focus rose and fell on what was going on in their lives. They took less time away from my writing but I found I wrote even less than I did when they were small.

And then came the kryptonite. My teenagers have more complex lives and, consequently, more complex needs. They consume time and energy. But it’s more than that. I find my heart soars and plummets based on whatever is going in their lives. Whether it’s my driven, goal-oriented teen or my troubled, marches to her own drummer teen I find the same truth holds. The emotional kryptonite lays me out like nothing ever has before and my work has suffered.

Now, is the point of this post to have my own public pity party? Fun idea – but, no. I actually have a point. Yell “help” as loud as you can. That’s what I did. I have the greatest husband in the world and, when he realized how I was floundering he lightened my load. Also, my LitSisters are fantastic women. Several have children in different stages than mine. They also have ideas. And sisterhood. And commiseration. So I’m back to blogging. I’m also starting a new novel while still marketing Poles Apart.

So ask for help. Don’t wait as long as I did, keeping your upset to yourself.

Kryptonite neutralized.

Hi all!

Hope the summer has gotten off to a great start! I’m very excited to say that positive feedback keeps rolling in and I’m hoping for some good reviews soon. Poles Apart is out with both the Cleveland and Phoenix Jewish News for review and, hopefully, they’ll love it.

There are a couple of fun things coming up that I wanted to share. First off, I’ll be the Guest Muse on the Moody Muses Blog this Monday, June 21st! They were very kind to invite me and I can’t wait to see it go live. Check it out at www.moodymuses.com.

Also, if you’re in the valley and interested in writing, this is an excellent opportunity. Borders at Scottsdale Waterfront is offering a series of FREE workshops on all sorts of writing topics. The instructors are mostly published authors. I’ve been invited to teach memoir and will be doing a one night survey of my 8-week workshop, LifeStories: Memoir Writing. Each workshop is a stand-alone. You don’t need to attend the entire series to participate in one or several. I’m pasting in the schedule at the bottom of this e-mail. I notice at least one date is empty, so if I get an updated version I can send that out.

Just a reminder about the promotion I’m running. If you are in a book club(s) or know someone who is, and your (or their) book club chooses Poles Apart as a selection, I will give you, as a thank you, a copy of Frieda’s Favorites, a sixteen recipe guide to some of the Schlessels’ favorite Jewish foods. Also, I’m happy to join book club discussions, either in person or via skype. People are definitely taking me up on my offer. I have a meeting with the Chandler Chabad next week, the Phoenix chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in February, and a number of others in between. And I love giving away these cookbooks!

Hope this is the beginning of a great summer!

Aud

author of the award -winning novel, Poles Apart
www.audreyrlwyatt.com
Remember, book buzz builds one reader at a time. Help out this hard-working writer by recommending Poles Apart, reviewing it, and/or suggesting it to a book club. It’s good karma!

Current line-up – Borders Writing Series

Date Speaker Topic
6/30/2010 Erin Quinn So you want to be a writer? What to expect….
7/7/2010 Connie Flynn Making Story Ideas Come Alive.
7/14/2010 Gini Koch From Idea to Bookshelf: How a Book Gets Into Your Hands
– Touched by an Alien
7/21/2010 Amber Scott Diapers to Deadline: Find Time to Write No Matter What
7/28/2010 Kris Tualla “Independent Publishing: The Good, The Bad and the Horrific.”
8/4/2010 Calista Fox Flawed & Fabulous: Creating Complex Characters
8/11/2010 Jennifer Ashley To Agent or not To Agent: What Literary Agents Do for You, When You *Don’t* Need One, and How to Land One When You Do
8/18/2010 CC Harrison Getting organized with a writer’s notebook
8/25/2010 Audrey RL Wyatt So You Want to Write Your Memoir
9/8/2010 Kris Tualla “How to Start Writing Your Novel.”
9/15/2010 Donna Hatch Point of View, what it is and how to choose it
9/22/2010 Carrie Weaver Dialogue: A Writer’s Secret Weapon (in Plot, Pacing and Characterization).