Good morning having a child sick since last Thursday has turned my world upside down. I’ m a day late getting my review up for Kathie Giorgio’s WOW! WOMEN ON WRITING TOUR for Hope Always Rises but if you’re a mom I’m sure you know life doesn’t always run smooth so I would like to apologize to the Author and the tour host. The tour launch post will be live on The Muffin here: There is a Giveaway happening as well make sure you enter as soon as possible because it ends on May 7th. The Tour Begins April 24.
Kathie Giorgio is a perfect Author for anyone who has ever known someone who wanted to end their life. Or anyone who has ever felt that way themselves. Before you ask yes, I felt that way after Suzzane was killed. But through the LORD I fought to move forward and thank the LORD I did because now, I have Charlie and David.
The Author brings us through so much and at times I felt myself tearing up which can be cleansing and something we all need to do at times. I loved her post about Heaven which I was able to discuss with Charlie and David. Even though this book is a self-help book for adults with all Charlie has gone through in his life were reading it in our Homeschool Reading Class.
Charlie has been struggling with Church and God. As I began to, I read the book I didn’t stop until I finished. Charlie and I did struggle with the parts where the Author had God came across as having human tendencies because like a lot of people we are Christian and not something we believe in which led to many discussions in our home, which is nice when your son is 16 and mom and dad aren’t cool and they want to hide in their room at all times.
If you were to ask Charlie what type of book this is he would say Fiction and David agree with Charlie and I do as well. Although, I also would say it’s a self-help book or a motivational novel for someone who has lost someone they love due to suicide. Which I don’t know about you. But we’ve had happened not only in my family but with friends.
About the Book
In Heaven, there is a gated community for those who end their lives by choice. This is a complete surprise to Hope, who ends her life one morning on the banks of the Fox River in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Hope has always dealt with deep sadness. From childhood on, she visited therapists, doctors, alternative medicine practitioners, Reiki artists, etc., to no avail. In Heaven, God reassures her that he knows what caused the sadness, but he won’t reveal it yet.
All community residents are required to attend weekly group therapy. Hope’s first group is led by Virginia Woolf. Several of the book’s chapters tell the stories of other members of this group.
Filled with many moments of striking humor, uplifting realizations, and difficult challenges, Hope finds her way in Heaven. She meets many people like herself, who help her restore her forgotten artistic talent and passion, and God himself, who is amazingly human in the most inhuman of ways. Hope finds understanding and forgiveness, and most importantly, friends.
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
ISBN-10: 1685132421
ISBN-13: 978-1685132422
ASIN: B0BV36PQKL
Print length: 342 pages
Purchase a copy of Hope Always Rises by visiting Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Bookshop.org. Make sure you also add Hope Always Rises to your Goodreads reading list.
Excerpt
I never knew God slept. I certainly never expected him to wear pajamas or have rumpled hair. But if he looked like the God I always imagined, the God with long white hair and a beard and a mustache and a serious, serious face, I never would have been able to rest my head on his shoulder, like I was able to do now.
I was very glad he wore blue flannel pajamas.
“You knew you couldn’t expect them to be happy, right, Hope? You knew that,” he said, and wrapped his arm around me. “It was part of your choice to end your life.”
I turned my face into his chest and wept.
It had been my choice. I didn’t expect them to be happy.
But I never thought I would witness their sadness.
For the first time, I regretted Heaven. I wished for the black void that I thought death might be, that day that I swallowed each pill with a gulp of wine.
“It’ll be okay, Hope,” God said. Not a booming voice from a burning bush or a dark cloud. A soft voice that soothed me as I cried.
Praise for Hope Always Rises
“Giorgio’s Hope Always Rises leaves the reader with the one thing it promises: hope. While tackling an emotional subject, suicide, Giorgio doesn’t shy away from the pain that brings her characters to the brink, but rather dives into the fragility, confusion, and motivations that accompany the human spirit on that difficult journey. Rich with empathy, humor, and imagination, Giorgio paints a beautiful picture of the afterlife that is a balm for anyone who has ever lost someone.”
–Marisa Dondlinger, author of Open and Gray Lines
“Hope Always Rises is a beautiful, heartfelt, and surprisingly funny take on the normally uncomfortable topic of suicide. Kathie Giorgio manages to balance Hope’s newfound peace and the harsh reality of the pain she left behind, so that the reader is happy to be pulled into the ups and downs with her.
– Nora Murray, author of Kingdom Come
“In Hope Always Rises, Giorgio’s detailed, surprising afterlife is populated with happiness, heartbreak, and small mercies in loving, ever-unfolding measure. Hope’s story, along with those of others in her section of Heaven, offers an intriguing variation on the theme of salvation, this one with a fallible God who enjoys a sangria.
– Angela Bier, author of The Accidental Archivist
About Author Kathie Giorgio
Kathie Giorgio is the author of seven novels, two story collections, an essay collection, and four poetry collections. Her latest novel, Hope Always Rises, will be released on February 28, 2023. She’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in fiction and poetry and awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association, the Silver Pen Award for Literary Excellence, the Pencraft Award for Literary Excellence, and the Eric Hoffer Award In Fiction. Her poem “Light” won runner-up in the 2021 Rosebud Magazine Poetry Prize. In a recent column, Jim Higgins, the books editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, listed Giorgio as one of the top 21 Wisconsin writers of the 21st century. Kathie is also the director and founder of AllWriters’ Workplace & Workshop LLC, an international creative writing studio.
Blog Tour Calendar
April 24th @ The Muffin
Join us as we celebrate the blog tour launch of Hope Always Rises by Kathie Giorgio. You’ll have the chance to read an interview with the author and win a copy of the book.
https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com
April 26th @ Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
Stop by to read Lisa’s interview with Kathie Giorgio.
April 27th @ A Storybook World
Join Deirdra as she features Hope Always Rises.
https://www.astorybookworld.com
April 29th @ The Faerie Review
Join Lily as she shares a spotlight of Hope Always Rises.
https://www.thefaeriereview.com
April 30th @ Madeline Sharples’ Blog
Stop by Madeline’s blog to read a guest post from Kathie about selling 14 books to traditional presses in 13 years.
May 1st @ The Mommies Reviews
Join Glenda as she reviews Hope Always Rises.
May 3rd @ Michelle Cornish’s blog
Read Michelle’s interview with Kathie Giorgio.
May 5th @ The Mommies Reviews
Join Glenda as she shares a guest post from the author about balancing a writing career and raising children.
May 6th @ World of My Imagination
Stop by Nicole’s blog where Kathie Giorgio is a guest for “Three Things on a Saturday Night.”
May 8th @ Mindy McGinnis’s blog
Stop by Mindy’s blog to read a guest post about writing the hard stuff.
May 10th @ Create Write Now
Stop by Create Write Now to read a guest post by Kathie about having your books banned.
May 13th @ Boots, Shoes, and Fashion
Join Linda as she interviews author Kathie Giorgio.
May 15th @ Life According to Jamie
Join us as Jamie reviews Hope Always Rises.
http://www.lifeaccordingtojamie.com
May 16th @ Michelle Cornish’s blog
Stop by to read a guest post about how and why Kathie is both a plotter and a pantser.
https://www.michellecornish.com/blog
May 18th @ The Frugalista Mom
Read Rochie’s review and a guest post from Kathie Giorgio about dealing with depression.
May 19th @ Nikkie’s Book Reviews
Stop by Nicole’s blog to read her review of Hope Always Rises.
https://nikkitsbookreviews.wordpress.com
May 20th @ Freeing the Butterfly Check out Michelle’s review of Hope Always Rise
BALANCING A WRITING CAREER WITH RAISING CHILDREN By Kathie Giorgio
I was 23 years old when I had my first child, a son, in January of 1984. 27 months later, I had my second son, and 13 months after that, my first daughter. Then came a gap of 13 years, where I divorced my first husband, married my second, and in October of 2000, had my fourth child, my second daughter.
And through it all, I wrote up a storm, having hundreds of stories and poems published in literary magazines and anthologies. In 2010, my first novel was published, which started an avalanche. In the last 13 years, I’ve had 14 books published (7 novels, 2 short story collections, 4 poetry collections, and 1 collection of essays), all by traditional publishers. I also edited an anthology and started my own business, a creative writing studio that offers online and on-site courses and workshops to writers of all genres and abilities, as well as coaching and editing services. The business is international.
And I’m exhausted.
My children, however, who are now 39, 37, 36, and 22, all not only survived, but they thrived. They always have front row seats at my launches. And they have a very healthy respect for literature and for reading.
I think probably the most important thing I did while raising my children and struggling to write was develop and maintain a sense of worth over what I was doing. I never considered my writing as a hobby. It’s a passion, a lifestyle, a drive, and ultimately, a career. It was, plain and simple, important to me. I let my children see that. They learned very early on that there was more to their mother than being Mommy, or in the case of my fourth child, Mama.
A part of showing this worth and this importance was in taking up physical space. I always made sure, wherever we were living, that I had my own office. Sometimes, it was just a corner of the basement, but mostly, it was an actual room, with four walls and a door. I never wrote at the dining room or kitchen table. I never had to pack up my stuff to make room for something else. The space was mine.
My kids knew that what Mommy/Mama did was work. When I would head into my room, I didn’t tell them I was going to write. I said I was going to work. They understood that. And they knew that, whenever I was in that room, I was to be left alone unless there was something that absolutely needed my attention.
They had their rooms. I had my room. We all respected each other’s spaces.
I think, as parents who write, where we truly hit a bump in the road is when we receive rejections. Writers don’t usually get paid until after they write something, big or small, and sometimes even then, we don’t get paid very much, if anything. So when we get hit with rejection, and we all do, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of believing that what we’re doing isn’t important, it doesn’t have worth, because we don’t earn a steady paycheck. And why in the world are we spending time away from our children to write something that may never see the light of day, and even if it does, it won’t pay enough to pay the electric bill?
At those moments, it’s hard to hear this, but we spend our time writing because it’s important to us. It drives us. We spend hours thinking up words and sentences and paragraphs and when we finally sit down to write, it just feels like we’re doing what we were put on this earth to do. So likewise, we spend a lot of time telling our children to love themselves, that money isn’t the only way of determining someone’s value, and that we always need to be true to ourselves.
Sometimes, we need to say these exact same lessons to ourselves. Always be true to yourself.
I wish I could have the time back that I spent worrying that I wasn’t being a good mother when I sat down to write, instead of sitting down to play with my children, when, in fact, I sat down to play with them after I finished writing. I could do both! But it took a while to realize that, and to accept it.
When did I begin to accept it?
When my children began asking me what I’d written that day.
When my children crowed with me when I showed them the latest magazine, the latest anthology, and now the latest book with my name on it.
When my younger son, in the third grade, ran home from school ahead of his siblings, burst in the back door and shouted, “Mommy! I wrote a story! Come see!” And I did. I dropped everything to see it, even the chapter I was working on. And he knew I would.
When my fourth child, too young to know how to write, asked if she could dictate her story to me before she went to bed at night, and we did and we printed it. Today, at 22 years old, she’s just finishing her first draft of a novel. And that younger son? He is writing a blog, and somewhere on his computer, I know there’s a novel.
My children knew that what I was doing was important because I treated it as important. My children know that they are important because I treat them as important and now they treat themselves as important too.
Embrace your words, and embrace your children. You will all grow together.
May 1st @ The Mommies Reviews
Join Glenda as she reviews Hope Always Rises
http://TheMommiesReviews.com
May 5th @ The Mommies Reviews
Join Glenda as she shares a guest post from the author about balancing a writing career and raising children.
http://TheMommiesReviews.com
#HopeAlwaysRises.
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Twitter: @kathiegiorgio
