Sunday 27 April 2014

#abuse #justice This will be a featured author interview with a difference.

I haven't, until today, interviewed an author who did not aspire to be a writer. 

"I am not a writer and I don't think I want to be one." Phil says.

That said, as I sit here typing up my interview with Phil Thomas, author of Shame, I can totally understand that statement. I hope I can do justice to the honesty of his answers to my questions. If my interview helps in some small way to raise awareness and aids him in his fight for justice for the victims of abuse at Medomsley and operation Seabrook, then that will be awesome.

My interview with Phil Thomas, will be live on my blog on May 1st.

Take care and have a great week everyone.

Sarah Jane

Thursday 24 April 2014

Which #author is being featured on Sarah Jane's #blog in May?


I am very proud and honoured to be introducing you to Phil Thomas the author of Shame, as my featured author in May. This incredible book takes you on a journey which will leave a mark on your soul.


Shame by Phil Thomas

Shame is a story of my true experience. It starts with a childhood of utter degradation and neglect and proceeds through an inevitable trail of court appearances and borstal and prison stays. But this story perhaps really begins when I was sexually abused by a warder in one of the borstals I was sent to – Medomsley. This was a horrific event for a boy who had had no sexual experience at all, of any sort, until that point (I was always too dirty and smelly for any girl to look twice at me) and it set the tone for the rest of my life. It gives the book its title – Shame. 

The shame that I felt that I had not fought back when I was attacked, that I had given in to the most degrading and horrifying abuse haunts me still. In this book I allow the reader into the life of a victim of abuse and what happens long after the headlines have faded. My abuse at the hands of a paedophile, now dead, who has been described as ‘more prolific than Jimmy Saville’, has coloured every part of my life since I was seventeen. 

My story takes the reader from my first forays into crime (climbing out of the bedroom window to steal bread and milk from doorsteps to eat), to the night that I turned up at the home of Neville Husband, my abuser, with a gun, determined to shoot him dead for what he had done to me and to other boys. It is a ‘warts and all’ look at the youth offender penal system and highlights the good and the bad of that system. It covers my escapes from borstal and the harsh treatment I received from the courts. 

It examines, without self pity, what happens to a child who is allowed to grow up feral, to be beaten in front of the police by his mother as a punishment for his crimes, and to be beaten every day by that mother whether or not he had done anything wrong. 

I share with the reader the loves I had and my eventual marriage to Denise, who is still the love of my life. My story tells of the death of my first son, and my suicide attempt that was fuelled by the all-encompassing shame that has influenced my whole life, and it covers the court case against the Home Office, which includes the experiences of fellow sufferers. 

This is an observation of how the world was for a young boy who was abused first by his mother and then by various other people in authority, but who throughout his childhood steadfastly believed that adults were always right.


Don't forget to visit my blog on 1st May to read the in-depth interview with a man who is more than just a survivor.

Have a positive day :)
Sarah Jane

Monday 21 April 2014

Glass Half Full #giveaway on #Goodreads

Giveaway time on Goodreads!!
Win one of three signed copies of Glass Half Full; Our Australian adventure.

Click the link and Good Luck :)

Goodreads Giveaway

Friday 18 April 2014

#Free #Promotion


This week I connected with Gary Walker @Gary_R_Walker from 

FREE promotion site for the
best independently published
authors writing today.

 
Why not take a look?
 
Don't forget to connect on Twitter.
 
@SarahJanewrites

Wednesday 16 April 2014

#Conceive #Believe #Achieve Sarah Jane's Dream boards

I am sitting in my kitchen, it's 4am, dark outside and George, my cat, is lying around my neck like a scarf.My George scarf is protecting me from the invigorating  freshness of the chill morning air. I have already started my writing work of the day.  My waking hours are consumed by rewrites, edits, emails to my book cover designer etc. etc.. 'Me time' what is that!!! All jokes aside I wouldn't have it any other way at the moment.

My writing, in whatever form that takes, keeps me focused on the bigger picture, 'living my dreams.' - The biggest of which is that of being a published author. This time last year that dream was a 'Postit' note on my Conceived dream board, now it is a post on my Achieved dreams board. However, I don't want to just be a published author I want to help and inspire others to not only write, but also to live their dreams. By writing about personal life events, my writing experiences and compiling my self help guides ( a work in progress,) my writing aspirations remain  firmly in place on the dream boards.



For those of you who don't know about my dream boards it's pretty simple:
If you can Conceive it, and you Believe it, you can Achieve it!!




My dream boards are made up of ideas, photographs, pictures, quotations, newspaper cuttings etc, pretty much anything that inspires or motivates me. It;s not just about me and my personal goals I stick things like home furnishings I like for our house in France, how I want to spend my retirement, books I want to read, movies I want to watch, people I would like to meet - it's the contents of my head-space struggling for some semblance of order on a large piece of cardboard box. When dreams are achieved they are celebrated on that achieved dreams board, this provides ongoing motivation and proof that dreams do come true.

And so I work my way, in no particular order, through the dreams, of course I believe in them all or they would not be on there.  Some I know will be more challenging than others, but as long as they are on the board all things are possible.

Priority dream at the moment is publication of the sequel to Glass Half Full: Our Australian Adventure.

Watch my boys in action click the link:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151114793776756&set=vb.647456755&type=3



Two Dogs, a suitcase and no idea! Coming soon

Saturday 5 April 2014

Debut Author April book sales will benefit The British Dyslexia Association

Toby Ripwood in The Dark Sphere Enigma by author P.D.Roberts

The response to the April featured author interview on my blog has been immense, and as a result, P.D.Roberts today announced that "for every ebook purchased within April he will donate every single penny to The British Dyslexia Association - A UK national organization."

Paul says: "I've had a long hard think about this, yes I love writing and yes I love it more if I would make some money from it. But being a sufferer of dyslexia myself and struggling with my spelling etc I feel like I should help others who need the support as much or even more than I did. So for every ebook purchased within April I will donate every single penny to The British Dyslexia Association - A UK national organization. Thank you."

I want to help Paul make this a success, so please share or tweet this announcement. 

Here are the links to Paul's book and I wish him every success.

Toby Ripwood in The Dark Sphere Enigma is available at: