My Life as a Banker: A Life Worth Living.

Fascinating, Intriguing, Inspiring, Positive, Heartwarming, and Motivational Memoir.
My Life as a Banker - A Life Worth Living is a memoir, in which the writer describes changes in the banking system and changes in the bank's attitude to its employees throughout her working years.
Brenda proved that hard work and determination pay, as she moved up the ranks, and received several promotions, leading up to senior managerial status.
Personal details of her life are highlighted in this memoir.
Read about Brenda's first mega trip abroad to New York, Canada, London, Germany, and Holland, as well as other fabulous vacations she enjoyed.
How and where she met her husband and other wonderful family memories will interest readers.
Life is not always perfect and there were sad moments that will tug at your heart.
My Life as a Banker: A Life Worth Living was voted second in Bio/Memoirs in Metamorph's Publishing Summer Indie Book Awards 2016.
Get the book at Amazon Universal Link.

Travel Memoirs - My first trip abroad was unforgettable

My first trip abroad was unforgettable.
I had long leave of 3 months from the bank where I worked after seven years of employment.
Another co-worker and I teamed up and went to New York, Canada, London, Germany, and Holland.
The initial intention was to visit my sister and her family in Germany, but we got a great bargain to visit those other countries on our way to Germany.
My sister's husband was a Sergeant in the Royal Air Force which was stationed in Wildenrath, Germany at the time.

That memorable trip is part of my memoirs in two books - "My Life as a Banker: A life Worth Living,"

and "Travel Memoirs with Pictures: Exploring the World," which is a pictorial book of precious memories.


I also wrote a poem and the first two verses begin with that trip.
Listen to the narration in the video above.
Books are available at Amazon Universal Link

Five-Star Books by Amazing Authors

These are amazing Books written by Awesome Authors and which I have read.
I have read more than one book by some of these authors, but I can only highlight one in this slideshow.
I recommend these books highly.

Author Spotlight with Dorothy Day

I had an interesting interview with Dorothy Day, a family therapist and retired teacher.
She is the author of the book, Memories of the Sharecropper's Family: Includes an Ainsworth History.

Tell us about yourself.

I am almost 68 years old, and getting introspective or just wanting to make sure my grandchildren and future generations know I occupied a place and made a small difference.
I devoted over 25 years to teaching marvelous students the joys of language and then now 22 years as a marriage and family therapist, some years overlapping.
My husband Charles and I, and our Bitza (term for mixed parentage dog, coined by Clare McIntosh) Lady live a pretty quiet life in rural Mississippi in the sunny and humid South (USA).
I was chaired as a result of a late onset muscular dystrophy, searched for a new purpose as I rolled through life, and have finally settled on writing.
I have been creative, imaginative, loving language for years, but a slow typist.
Several years ago I threw out the clutter of a couple of feet high notebooks and journals I had amassed over the years.
No regrets.
I am a different person now.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Like most of us, I assume, there was that little germ within that kept telling me I could write.
If I didn’t have so many papers to grade, preparations to make, people to entertain—so much busyness and so many excuses!
I wrote during the first ten minutes of class with my students.
I wrote according to prompts from a writing group.
But I did not become author/writer until I quit playing and started writing.
I was hesitant to say that I am a writer, but I am a teller of stories.

What inspired you to become a writer?

Death—the death of a career, the death of independence by new inability to drive, the death of a beloved older brother who had kept the family stories alive through his tales.
For Joe and Mike and Bill and Gene, I started retelling the stories as best as I knew them.
I interviewed siblings to get their memories of our family and our struggles and our celebrations, and our successes in leaving poverty far behind us.
I wanted others to know the richness of our lives.

Do you have a specific writing style?

My writing style is the folksy, storytelling style.

What books have most influenced your life

Books that have influenced me— To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all-time favorites; Atticus Finch is the fantasy father I wanted.
There have been so many authors that I have loved.
I have read eclectically—literary fiction, thrillers, mysteries, nonfiction, Shakespeare, Milton, Donne, Thomas Grey.
We had few reading materials when I was young, and I read the Bible, Readers’ Digest, and the daily news.

Are your writings based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

If someone reads my memoir/family history and gets to chapter 13, she or he will discover the family Bluebeard murderer that I am writing about in my novel A Taste for Death. So I take real events and flesh them into something new. I am discovering how difficult it is to keep so much information on track. I am thankful that I was reared by a sharecropper so I can depict those Depression-era times of Mississippi farmers who wanted more and was willing to sacrifice to get more.
Unfortunately, his desire led to his willingness to sacrifice family members.
Yet, I am not a dark and foreboding person, so hopefully, there will be a redemptive message.


Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

I reach out for information to other authors and delight in making connections with them. Janet Taylor-Perry has answered so many of my questions about self-publishing and has pushed me toward promotion and marketing; Charlie Spillers needs to belong to this group; his account of years as secret agent in Mississippi and Louisiana are thriller-worthy memoir—he tells a story of two women whose story I want to purloin; he also answers my questions.
Phyllis F. McManus tells a good story, is encouraging, and we have talked on the phone several states apart.
I have found out with my dependencies as the youngest in a family of eight that writers share eagerly.
We all want our voices to be heard.
My college English teacher, Edna Earle Crews, has mentored many writers and has helped me ever since I left her class fifty years ago; she is a poet.
Holly Lisle’s, Janice Hardy’s, Lakin’s websites, thenextbigwriter.com, my college roommates have also influenced me.
Cassie Select is the author I sought to impress, and she said very nice things about my WIP.
Ian Sutherland has also been kind to answer questions, as well as Wesley Banks.


What book are you reading now?

I have finished Paz Ellis’s book and will soon post a review.
I have waiting for me when I get a certain amount of work done Greg Iles’s new book.
It is purchased, signed, and is a great motivator to catch up to my writing plan.

If you were not a writer what else would you like to do?

I have travelled some, but if life were more accessible, I would go in an RV to every state, find interesting people, and tell their stories—oops, back to writing again!
Career-wise, I believe God has so ordained and ordered my steps that past background has prepared me to be a writer.
I have sold toys, Tupperware, makeup, encyclopedias, appliances, and furniture.
I have slung food, cafeteria style and worked a soda fountain and gift shop.
I have worked in libraries.
I worked as a home daycare provider, kindergarten teacher, taught grades 6 through 12.
I have been a college liaison counselor for Job Corps and taught college prep classes.
I have been a social worker, mental health center counselor, case manager for the Baptist Children’s Village.
I have been a public speaker in the area of family life.
Those were my jobs, but my life was working for my family as wife, mother, mother-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, and grandmother.

Connect with Dorothy on Facebook

You can purchase her book on Amazon

The United States and Britain in Prophecy by Herbert W. Armstrong

My Review

Many years ago I read this book but could not understand it fully.
In light of what is happening in the world today, I read it again.
The contents of this book have now become clear to me.
I am no authority on prophecies, but I believe everyone should read this book.
Whatever happens to both those countries will affect the world.
The decision is yours. Read and be informed.

Book Description

A staggering turn in world events is due to erupt in the next few years. It will involve violently the United States, Britain, Western Europe, the Middle East. It's already rather late for the free world to come awake to the real meaning behind current world events! Why do not the world's leaders see what is coming? Why are the world's best minds unseeing? Because they have been falsely educated and deceived into closing their minds to the great causes behind world events and trends. There is a cause that has produced strife and war. But the leaders do not know. They need to know the basic truths. This book details the necessary information that all people and all leaders should have in order to combat the ills of the world.

Get the book at Amazon

For Pet and Dog Lovers - Autobiography of a Homeless Dog.

I wrote a short story "She Cried for Me" after my pet dog died on 17th May 2017. It was a sad day for me and with tears in my eyes, I wrote a short story about her. She was a homeless dog who my husband and I had taken in ten years ago.
It is also standalone.
Proceeds of sales of the Book will go to the Animals Alive Dog Rescue Shelter in Trinidad, the Sanctuary referred to in the Book.
Only 0.99 cents

BOOK DESCRIPTION

She Cried for Me is a story for pet and dog lovers.
It is about a young dog who became tired of being underfed and abused.
Scared of her owner's threat to kill her, she ran away.
The owner of a dog sanctuary rescued her from dogcatchers.
She finally found a loving home with a loving family that adopted her.
Proceeds of sales of the Book will go to the Animals Alive Dog Rescue Shelter, the Sanctuary referred to in the Book.


FIRST REVIEW

'From a dog's POV comes a touching tale of overcoming trauma and finding peace with a family she loved. For dog lovers and for everyone else who can appreciate a thoughtful short story.'

Read a sample chapter below:

She Cried for Me Chapter One

“What are you doing here, dog?” he shouted. I cringed as I saw the broom raised in his hand. It came crashing down but I darted away for cover under the steps. He came after me and I lay crouched in the lowest part of the area where he could not get at me. He stooped to glare at me and blurted out, “When I get back home tonight be gone from here. Do you hear me, dog? I cannot afford to buy myself a proper meal, far less feed you. For your own sake leave, or I will kill you.”
I heard from my master those last words. I was scared to death. I was just sitting on the lawn. I was not disturbing him. Why did he hate me? Where would I go? I was born there.
My mother gave birth to my brothers and me under those steps where I lay. My master’s wife who loved us and took care of us passed away one month ago. My mother died of starvation two weeks after my master’s wife died. He gave away my brothers to two of his friends.
I recall that day. His friends came to visit him and they started drinking and behaving raucously. They were also smoking something, which smelt awful.
Late at night, three of them stumbled out of the house. They looked at us as we huddled together on the ground. We were hungry and expected dinner. My master threw some scraps of bread on the ground. They turned to leave.
One of them turned around and asked my master, “My son has been asking for a pet. Can I have that one?” He pointed to my brother. He was better looking than I was. In fact, both my brothers were better looking than I was. I am a girl but I was scrawny looking because I lacked proper care and nutrition.
“You can have all three,” he said. ”My wife loved pets but I have no time for them. To me, they are bloody nuisances.”
“I will take one for my son too,” said the other man. He stood for a while looking at us, glancing from one to the other. I hoped that one of them would take me away and feed me. I started thinking how nice it would be to be the pet of a little boy. It was not to be. In the blink of an eye, they took up my brothers and walked off with them. I was alone. My master looked at me and said, “No one wants you, dog. I am stuck with you.” I felt abandoned. I did not even have a name. He addressed me as ‘dog’ each time.
For days, he did not feed me. Luckily, for me, the little girl next door would throw me a few sausages when she was feeding her dogs. She was very kind, and her dogs came close to the fence to keep my company.
When my master was at home, he would sweep the yard and threaten me with the broom. At times, he would hit me with the broom and I would run off howling in pain. It was becoming unbearable to live there anymore.

END OF SAMPLE

Get the book for 0.99 cents at Amazon Universal Link

Heart-Warming Tales - Five short stories of Comedy, Crime, Love, and Unhappy Marriages

I have added a new story, She Cried for Me, to Heart-Warming Tales.
Here is the new Book Description:

Heart - Warming Tales consists of five unusual and enjoyable short stories of Comedy, Crime, Love, Infidelity and Unhappy Marriages.
The Psychiatrist and the Thief is a comedy- mystery. A thief pretends to be a patient of the psychiatrist, and a series of blunders occur.

Her Online Predator is a mystery - thriller /romance. It teaches a valuable lesson. Be careful with whom you make friends on the internet. That person may not be the one he or she claims to be.

A Marriage on the Rocks is about a young couple who had serious problems in their marriage. The wife left the marital home to find a more exciting way of life.

Dead Business is about a suspicious woman who doubted her husband. She was determined to find out the truth about him.

She Cried for Me is the autobiography of a stray dog who found a loving home.

You can buy the book for only US$1.99 at Amazon Universal Link


Here is the first chapter from She Cried For Me.

Chapter One

“What are you doing here, dog?” he shouted. I cringed as I saw the broom raised in his hand. It came crashing down but I darted away for cover under the steps. He came after me and I lay crouched in the lowest part of the area where he could not get at me. He stooped to glare at me and blurted out, “When I get back home tonight be gone from here. Do you hear me, dog? I cannot afford to buy myself a proper meal, far less feed you. For your own sake leave, or I will kill you.”
I heard from my master those last words. I was scared to death. I was just sitting on the lawn. I was not disturbing him. Why did he hate me? Where would I go? I was born there.
My mother gave birth to my brothers and me under those steps where I lay. My master’s wife who loved us and took care of us passed away one month ago. My mother died of starvation two weeks after my master’s wife died. He gave away my brothers to two of his friends.
I recall that day. His friends came to visit him and they started drinking and behaving raucously. They were also smoking something, which smelt awful.
Late at night, three of them stumbled out of the house. They looked at us as we huddled together on the ground. We were hungry and expected dinner. My master threw some scraps of bread on the ground. They turned to leave.
One of them turned around and asked my master, “My son has been asking for a pet. Can I have that one?” He pointed to my brother. He was better looking than I was. In fact, both my brothers were better looking than I was. I am a girl but I was scrawny looking because I lacked proper care and nutrition.
“You can have all three,” he said. ”My wife loved pets but I have no time for them. To me, they are bloody nuisances.”
“I will take one for my son too,” said the other man. He stood for a while looking at us, glancing from one to the other. I hoped that one of them would take me away and feed me. I started thinking how nice it would be to be the pet of a little boy. It was not to be. In the blink of an eye, they took up my brothers and walked off with them. I was alone. My master looked at me and said, “No one wants you, dog. I am stuck with you.” I felt abandoned. I did not even have a name. He addressed me as ‘dog’ each time.
For days, he did not feed me. Luckily, for me, the little girl next door would throw me a few sausages when she was feeding her dogs. She was very kind, and her dogs came close to the fence to keep my company.
When my master was at home, he would sweep the yard and threaten me with the broom. At times, he would hit me with the broom and I would run off howling in pain. It was becoming unbearable to live there anymore. "