MJ Magazine August: Created By Authors for Authors

By Fran Lewis

This sixth issue of MJ Magazine features authors John Land, Erna Kamerman Perry, Larry D. Thompson, Robert Dugoni and Steve Shukis. Also included are articles detailing how to get your books into readers’ hands and book promotion tips, as well as book reviews, author interviews and Fran’s picks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fran Lewis
• Release date: Aug 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311921888

Fran Lewis

Fran Lewis: Fran worked in the NYC Public Schools as the Reading and Writing Staff Developer for over 36 years. She has three masters degrees and a PD in Supervision and Administration. Currently, she is a member of Who's Who of America's Teachers and Who's Who of America's Executives from Cambridge. In addition, she is the author of three children's books and a fourth that has just been published on Alzheimer's disease in order to honor her mom and help create more awareness for a cure. The title of my new Alzheimer’s book is Memories are Precious: Alzheimer’s Journey; Ruth’s storyShe was the musical director for shows in her school and ran the school's newspaper. Fran writes reviews for authors upon request and for several other sites. You can read some of my reviews on Ezine.com and on ijustfinished.com under the name Gabina. I am a member of Whos Who of Americas Teachers and Whos Who of America’s Executives and Professionals on Cambridge. I review books for authors upon request. My goal is to get my books published by a traditional publisher and on the shelves of every school library, hospital and bookstore. I host two radio shows on Blog Talk Radio. Book Discussion with Fran Lewis is on Blog Talk every third Wednesday of the month from three to five eastern. My children’s author’s show is four times a year. I host online book blogs and book tours for authors and I review books for authors throughout the world. I have published six books the last Because We Care in memory of my sister Marcia. The proceeds going to find the cause and cure for Alzheimer’s.

Book preview

Astor Prime Meat Market

Address: 1117 Astor Ave., Bronx, NY 10469

Phone: [phone]

Owner: Michael

C&C Coffee Shop and Deli

The best food in the Bronx at reasonable prices.

Address: 2438 Eastchester Road, Bronx, NY 10469

Cuisine: Spanish, Italian, and American Cuisine

Catering available for all occasions

Phone: [phone]/ or 25

Owner: Carlos Ramero

Central Plaza Diner-Restaurant

1686 Central Park Ave.

Yonkers, NY

Telephone: [phone]

Voted the best diner in Westchester County. Outstanding services, food that is freshly prepared. The varied menu gives diners many different, delicious choices. Serving sandwiches, breakfast, and American food, casual attire is the norm and it’s a great place to take kids any time of day. This diner is one of my favorite places in Westchester.

Providing catering for all occasions and associations. Reasonable prices and plenty of parking. This diner is open year round and has a menu that suits the culinary delights of all diners.

Enrico’s Bakery – Hartsdale

Address: 214 East Hartsdale Ave., Hartsdale, NY 10530

Hours: 6:30 am - 8:00 pm

Phone: [phone]

Owner: Joseph Floriano

Gennaro’s Pizza

Address: 759 Central Park Ave, Scarsdale NY 10583

Phone: [phone]

Owner: John

Go Greenly

Now open in Scarsdale, serving fat free fresh frozen yogurt and the best smoothies in Westchester; Banana/Pineapple and Blueberry/Banana are the best! There are so many choices, frozen yogurts, and toppings. It is a yogurt lover’s haven for healthy treats.

Address: 1088 Central Ave. Scarsdale, NY 10583

Phone: [phone]

Hartsdale Hair Studio

Address: 4 E. Hartsdale Ave., Hartsdale, NY 10530

Hours: Mon - Sat - 9:00am - 6:00pm Sunday’s 10:00am - 2:00pm By Appointment

Owner: Evelyn

Phone: [phone]

John’s of Arthur Avenue Restaurant and Pizzeria

1 South Central Avenue

(Between S Washington Ave and W Hartsdale Ave/E Hartsdale Ave)

Hartsdale, NY

Pick-up or Delivery

Hours: 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday –Saturday, 12:30 p.m-9:30 p.m. Sunday

The menu at John’s of Arthur Avenue includes Italian favorites like Terranova Cheese Ravioli from the Bronx, Margarita Pizza, Penne Ala Vodka, Pepperoni Garlic Bread and much more to tempt the culinary palettes of both adults and children.

Their signature Stadium Pie is the largest in Westchester County at 24 inches!

Their Gramma pie — a thin crust pan pizza with crushed tomatoes, basil, homemade mozzarella, and olive oil — is another crowd favorite.

Choose from appetizers, Naples style pizza, Little Italy Specialities, the Arthur Avenue Pasta Shop, Hero Sandwiches, Pizza by the Slice, Sicilian Pizza, Calzones and Arthur Ave. Style Pizza. There is also a kid’s menu and a lunch menu. For the health conscience person watching his or her weight, there are also made-to-order salads to suit your individual needs and tastes.

Come in and feast on a large or small pie, a salad, and even dessert while you enjoy family-style dining. Or, stay in and use our free delivery service.

John’s of Arthur Avenue also does catering!

Owners Jim and Felix and staff will welcome you with a warm handshake and smile every time you dine with them, or call 914-402-4201 to get started with your first order for delivery. Either way, be sure to tell them that Fran Lewis, editor of MJ Magazine and the Host of Book Discussion on Blog Talk Radio, sent you.

Luigi of Italy

Address: 804 Allerton Ave, Bronx, NY 10467

Phone:[phone]

Owner: Tony

Memories of Marcia

When I decided to write my first book it was because my sister dared me to write about some of our childhood antics. Never thinking that I would attempt or pull off such a great feat, I took her up on the dare only if she promised to edit, correct, and critique my work. AND SHE DID! BIG TIME!

My sister loved to cross out, x out, and delete. She also loved to reword, revise, and rewrite whole paragraphs—some I agreed with and others I did not. This was normal, as most authors argue back and forth with their editors. The good part was that to pay her for this service, I just took her shopping and out for lunch.

Writing about our childhood was not as easy as you’d think. My Name is Bertha was the title of my first book. Bertha is me and the Tillie character was my sister. My sister thought that giving my character the name Bertha was great, since she always claimed that I sat like my Grandma Bertha. I got even by telling her she reminded me of our Aunt Tillie. Bertha, my grandmother, never smiled and always looked sad, and Tillie always wanted everyone to do everything for her and never lifted a finger.

The first thing I had to do was decide what to write about to create reader interest. I made a list of what I knew a lot about, and thought kids ages seven and older might identify with what was on my list.

I decided to write about my dancing lessons. They were disastrous! Also, ice skating lessons, which were worse, and playing punch ball, which I was really great at. Topics also included my first date for a dance and being overweight.

The stories were based on my real life experiences and were written with Bertha telling the stories. My niece Jamie Miller did the illustrations and the covers for the first three books in the series. My sister did the editing, and in the process learned a lot about me, including how I felt about the way my mom insisted on me doing certain things that Marcia didn’t have to do. She said the book was an eye-opener.

In order for readers to appreciate the stories, I have included two at the end of this article.

Remembering Marcia: You were my best friend, my champion, and so much more. You defended me when others said I was too overweight to play punch ball (I eventually conquered my weight issue, and I work at staying slim each and every day), and never once let anyone say anything bad about me. I miss my sister who was always there for me and would make sure that I never overslept by calling me to wake me and annoy me every morning at 7 a.m.

I miss you tons—Frani

Bertha Has Her First Crush

Bertha—that’s me—was going to her first dance this week. I really hoped that someone would ask me to go, but I didn’t count on it. Who would want to ask an overweight girl, whose mother dressed her in polka dots and stripes, to a dance? The poor guy would think his date was a zebra in colored stripes, or even worse. Added to that, I was not exactly a raving beauty. I realized that in order to get invited to this sixth grade dance, I would have to get moving on making some improvements on myself.

First, I would have to restyle my hair and pray that my mom would let me get into the present age instead of the Victorian Age. I would need to enlist the help of several people in order to make this transformation into the To Wear mode and out of the To Avoid Wearing Anywhere mode. Fashion was something that was individual to the person and their body type. But, my fashion sense did not match my mother’s. With my mother dressing me, I always seemed to look like a clone of Kate Smith, a famous singer who was really heavy. My mother told me she was famous back in the ‘50s before I was born. I was trying to look more like Pink, Mandy Moore, or Amanda Bynes than the stepsisters from Cinderella, though I really thought the one with the dark hair looked just like me, poor thing. No wonder the prince cringed when he saw her.

I decided to talk to my dad. I hoped he would give me the money to buy something really cool to wear to the dance. I also hoped I could get my mother’s hairdresser to let someone else restyle my hair.

But first, I had to get an escort. The teachers said we were allowed to ask a boy to the dance if we wanted to. Since I did not think the boys even noticed me—they ever talked to me in class line or the gym or anywhere else—I had to think about which one might take a chance and go with me. The teachers said our dates had to be someone from the school. They did not want any students bringing anyone from any other school because they did not need trouble.

The next day at lunch, I had on my orange pants with my white shirt and my black saddle shoes, and really thought I looked okay. Then, someone said that I reminded them of a Halloween jack-o-lantern because of my color scheme. That made me feel really mad, and I, who never said anything to anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings, went over to the boys who said this and told them to go look in the mirror, because from where I stood they looked pretty awful, too. I also told them being mean was probably the only thing they were really good at, since most of them could barely spell or pass a math test.

I realized it was not nice to be mean, but sometimes you had to stick up for yourself. I thought this was a good time to stand up for myself. They just looked at me and started to laugh. One of them said that the Goodyear blimp had less air in its tires than I did.

How rude! I just walked away with my head down. I had just started to lose weight and no one had even noticed. So, I did another dumb thing and went out and had a double hot fudge sundae to make myself feel better. Don’t do that—it only makes you feel worse when you gain weight from eating it.

I got to class and started to check out the boys. One of them, who was really cute and looked like a movie star with his black hair and really great body, would sometimes say hello to me. One of the other boys, who was tall and had red hair, was cute too, and also said hi to me sometimes. I realized that did not mean they liked me, but at least I was not invisible to them.

I looked around at the rest of the boys who were in the class and saw no other prospects. After school, I checked out the boys in the other classes as they were walking home. I tried to start a conversation with one or two of them, but they just stared at me, laughed at my outfit and my big body, and walked away.

The next day a new boy, Frank, was added to our class. He was tall with dark hair, freckles, and wore black-rimmed glasses. The other girls in the class said he looked like a nerd, just like me. He was wearing a plaid shirt with brown pants, and looked like he could use a makeover too.

The teacher put his desk next to mine and asked me to introduce him to the other kids at our table. She told him that I was really very smart and could show him how to organize his binder and his desk the way she wanted. Frank seemed like a nice kid because he did not laugh when he saw me. He just thanked me for my help and started to talk to Pamela, who was sitting on the other side of him. I really hoped that she would ask Melvin to the dance, or Stephen, and not Frank.

I walked home by myself with my makeover plan in my head, and my first stop was the hairdressers. I asked if Tony could do my hair and make me look more updated like the other girls in the school. We went through some hairdo magazines before he chose the one that he thought would fit my wide face, wide nose, and the rest of me too. That being done, I thought I looked great when I saw myself in the mirror. I, Bertha had been transformed from a huge nerd to only half a nerd. Now, I had to do the rest. You see, I really liked Frank and he was always nice to me in class and tried to stop the other kids from making fun of some of my weird outfits.

Yes, that was next; I dragged my mom to morning class line with me so she could see what real kids my age wore to school. She stood there and shook her head, and said You are too big to wear miniskirts and tank tops like the other kids. You cannot wear jeans in school, so you will have to wear the wide legged pants, the wide shirts, or the wide dresses that you have in your closet. At that minute I told her for the first time in my life that if she cared about me at all she would let me, Bertha, at eleven years of age, pick out my own clothes just like every free citizen in America did every day.

I had to admit I was really proud of myself for standing up to her and letting her know that, because of the way I looked and what I wore, the other kids were constantly making fun of me. If it wasn’t bad enough that I weighed more than a baby elephant, I did not need my clothes to make me look worse.

It took a while but she finally agreed to at least let me pick out the dress I would wear to the dance…that’s IF I had an escort. I went to my favorite store on Tremont and Southern Boulevard, called the Colony Shop, and tried on every dress in size sixteen, which was my size. I decided even though I was only eleven years old I would pick a dark color for the bottom and maybe a small print on the top. If not that, a totally solid colored dress in dark blue or black, with silver shoes and a silver necklace, would make me look thinner and prettier.

The final