Christopher J. Lynch books
Find me on Facebook
  • Home
  • Books
  • About
  • Author Events
    • Past Events
  • The One Eyed Jack Trailer
  • Newspaper & Magazine Articles
    • LA Weekly >
      • Oran Z's Black Facts and Wax Museum
      • Venice Art Walls, Living Canvases on the Beach, Turn 50
      • How Wall Street Kicks L.A. Pets Out of Their Homes
      • Not-So-Secret Santarchy
    • Daily Breeze
    • Topanga Messenger
    • Gardena Valley News >
      • Ryan Wilkes
      • Andrew Aaron
    • Arthritis Today
    • Easy Reader
    • American Legion Magazine
    • Blindskills Inc.
    • South Bay Woman
    • Beach Magazine >
      • Prison Vets Work With Blue Star Mothers
      • Beach Romance-Dinner With A Side Of Diamonds
      • Ejection At Mach 1.05
      • Painting Polly's
      • Surfmats: Fact or Fiction?
  • Contact/Subscribe
  • Links
  • Blog

ONE TOUGH COOKIE

7/20/2015

0 Comments

 
Becky Pedigo has spent the better part of her her life doing something most of us would never have the guts to do - and she's written a book about it. I was fortunate to be able to get an interview with her to discuss her book, Killing me Softly With Jazz Hands, today.

Thank you for stopping by Becky.

My pleasure Chris 


1. Without giving away too much of your book, “Killing Me Softly With Jazz Hands”, in many ways, this book started a very long time ago when you first took to the road as a stand-up comic. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Well most of the stories are about my life lived on the road, so yeah, I guess it started about 27 years ago. Which is a testament to my love of procrastination and my work ethic.

2. Most people – myself included – would never have the guts to take to the stage in front of a crowd, yet you seem to have a natural affinity to it. Has that always been the case, or do you get a case of nerves from time to time like everyone else?

Good grief, no! That has definitely not always been the case. I was incredibly shy and scared to death for the first two years. But the thought of not doing it scared me even more. That, and being stuck in Amarillo, Texas for the rest of my life married to a feedlot cowboy. 

I don’t really get nervous anymore but I do get some butterflies. It’s more excitement than nerves.  But once I get my first laugh they go away.



3. Reading, “Killing Me Softly With Jazz Hands” is a real look behind the curtain at the life of a comic, and one that most people can scarcely imagine. Was one of the goals of writing this book to reveal what a life on the stage and the road is really like?

In a way I guess it was a goal. People always want to know what it’s like being a professional touring comic, especially as a woman. Most assume it’s a pretty glamorous lifestyle. It does has it’s moments, but honestly, mostly it’s just a job. It can be pretty lonely and boring at times. You spend 23 hours a day waiting for the one hour you get to be on stage. That hour makes everything else worth it.

But mainly I just wrote the stories for me, basically just a way of killing time, in lieu of killing myself. I’m kidding (sort of) but it was cheaper than therapy.

4. How long has the idea of writing this book been germinating in you?

Actually, I never thought these stories would be a book. They were just a collection of part blog, part essay and part rambling thought pieces that I’d posted on my blog site over the course of five years or so. Friends kept telling me to make them into a book. 

5. When people read “Killing Me Softly With Jazz Hands” what do you think they will come away with?

Hopefully they’ll come away with having had a good laugh or two.

6. What do you think will be the most surprising aspect of the book?

That I hate kittens. What?!

7. Any plans to write a sequel to “Killing Me Softly With Jazz Hands”? 

No plans for a sequel, however I did starting writing a new book, which turned into a solo show. So the book will have to wait until after the show opens in 2016. See, I told you I love to procrastinate.

Becky Pedigo was born in Amarillo Texas. She’s spent the last twenty-five years traveling the globe doing stand-up and has appeared on various television shows including “The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson” and her own half hour special, “Comedy Central Presents - Becky Pedigo.”
She now resides in Los Angeles, California. Her hobbies include having someone else clean her house and getting to sleep in her own bed.

Her book about a life spent on the road, Killing Me Softly With Jazz Hands, is available as both an ebook and print, and it's available here, or by clicking on the image above.

0 Comments

A VERY SPECIAL BOOK BY A VERY SPECIAL WOMAN: DONNA CASEY

7/10/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
As many of you know, I have featured many other self-published authors and their work on my website. This particular author is very special friend of mine as she has produced all of my book covers. She also is a cancer survivor and has written a  book about her journey. If you or someone you know has cancer or has survived it, you need to take a look at this book. And even if you haven't suffered through the big "C," this book lays bare the reality of the suffering endured by people who have been diagnosed and treated for it. 

Good morning Donna. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your experience with us. 

Thank you Chris.  
 
 1. How soon after you were diagnosed with your cancer, did you start recording the events that took place?

For many years I have been in the habit of writing down dates and events pertaining to my health. I do it because invariably, at some later date, I find myself wondering, “When did “that” happen…”, for instance, the day I tripped over my dog and fell, tearing the cartilage in my knee. So, I have a whole file folder containing dates and health issues, and when I began having bowel issues, they were duly recorded and everything from that point on was added to the record.

2. Did your book, I HAVE COLORECTAL CANCER: WHAT NOW? start out as a personal journal, or did you always know that you wanted it to be a book?

It started out to be just another record of health issues, but after I was diagnosed with CRC, I tried to find books detailing what happens to a patient with this type of cancer. As you can imagine, I was scared and wanted to know what I was in for. The books I found did not contain enough information for me, so I decided to create a detailed block of information in book form for others who come after me.

3. A lot of the topics in the book are - shall we say - squishy. Did you ever contemplate self-censoring some of the details, or was this going to be a “no holds barred” kind of book?

“No holds barred” is a good way to describe it. This is exactly the type of information I was looking for, but all the books I found left out the nasty details. I wanted the bad with the good. The bad stuff came as a surprise most of the time and I had no time to prepare myself psychologically for it. The doctors don’t tell you every side effect that you may experience; all of the literature that they give you outlines the most common side effects. I had no idea that a chemo patient could develop shingles until it popped up on the back of my right thigh.

4. Once you were on the path towards writing the book, what did you hope to accomplish by publishing it?

I tried very hard to remember every detail that I would have wanted to know about in advance so that other patients could benefit from my experiences. I tried to keep a sense of humor in it to help put the reader at ease and to assure him or her that they WILL get through it.

5. What has been the response to the book? Have you received a lot of positive comments?

Family and friends who have read the book have said they now have a better understanding of what I went through. They never dreamed that I was going through all that; because of course it’s not obvious. To look at me, you would have thought I was as healthy as any one of them. The cancer patients who have read it have thanked me for it and the doctors that I gave the books to have said that it will be very helpful to a lot of people. They have placed the books in their waiting rooms as well as handing them out to new patients.

6. Where are you at with your cancer currently?

I have done a second round of chemotherapy and the tumor on my liver has shrunk. I am taking a break from chemo for a couple of months and then a CT scan will tell us where I’m at. I am looking into alternative therapies as well because the chemo is so destructive to normal healthy cells along with the cancer cells. I will be reporting what I find in that direction also.

7. Do you intend to add to the book with follow-up chapters?

That depends on how much more information I produce. I am currently keeping track of events since the book was published and they will either be added to a second edition of the original book or be published in a new book.

8. I know that writing isn’t your main profession, but do you have any plans to do another book, or are you just ready to get back to your life? 

I am soooo ready to get back to my life, but I keep journaling because it is part of my nature.   


Donna Casey lives in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts and continues her fight against colorectal cancer. She has always been very artistic; painting collectible figurines for Wee Forest Folk ® for 19 years before becoming a digital imaging artist, creating book covers for self-publishing authors. To date, she has worked with over 500 authors and loves her job. Her own self-published book, “A Grizzly End” was the catalyst to her book cover art. Donna has been happily married to her best friend, Jim for 47 years. They have one son and one grandson. 
You can find Donna here: www.DigitalDonna.com and here: www.facebook.com/DDcovers 



Her memoir: I HAVE COLORECTAL CANCER: WHAT NOW? is available here.
 



2 Comments

An interesting interview with Ken Osmond and your's truly regarding the show, growing up Eddie, and our biography, Eddie: the life and times of America's preeminent bad boy.

7/4/2015

0 Comments

 
_http://tvyougrewupwith.com/ken-osmond-on-being-eddie-haskell-tv-you-grew-up-with-13/
Picture
0 Comments

    Archives

    April 2019
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    August 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    Categories

    All
    Articles
    D.P. Lyle
    Forensics
    John Cusack
    John Travolta
    Kevin Bacon
    Nicolas Cage
    One Eyed Jack

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.