AUTHOR CHARMAINE J. GORDON INTRODUCES US TO JESSIE THE THERAPY DOG

Jessie the Therapy Dog

Charmaine Gordon spread her wings at age fifty-four to drive alone to New York City and find a career as an actor. She worked on One Life to Live for eleven years, All My Children for two, and Another World. She also has roles in many movies, including Working Girl and When Harry Met Sally. She had fun with Harrison Ford, lunched with Anthony Hopkins, and sang with Carrie Fisher. Then one day while performing on stage, she noticed her voice felt odd. The next day, a voice specialist confirmed she had spasmodic dysphonia, which put an end to her acting career. That’s when Charmaine started writing. Today she stops to talk about a special someone in her life. Learn more about her and her books at her website/blog. 

Of course our Jessie had to have a weird background. She spent the first two years of her life in the Seeing Eye Dog Program. Why you may ask? Jessie was supposed to be a guide dog for a blind person. However, Jessie gets excited and sometimes barks a bit when she sees other dogs. Let’s say over-excited. She went into the program, stayed for two years and was released. Fired, let go. Poor Jessie couldn’t hold a job. She was a failure at her first effort.

A convent of nuns ran a soup kitchen in Newark and needed a strong dog to keep bad guys away. The high crime area required a German Shepherd, one who barked. Our Jessie licked hands through the fence instead of barking. So Jessie failed yet again at her second job.

Now here comes the good news. There has to be good news, right? A friend of mine who volunteers at the soup kitchen searched for a home for the big dog. Talk about eating out of your hand, Jessie ran right over to me and placed her beautiful head in my hand. Suddenly she was mine. Lucky us. Now she is a therapy dog with an important job visiting nursing homes, special needs kids in school, distressed cadets at West Point, and wounded warrior with PTSD. I placed a colorful collar around her neck so irresistible I’d like one myself.

Our Jessie succeeded big time after many attempts.

My closest friend is Judy Audevard, head of Hudson Valley Paws for a Cause. She's received many awards for her work, organizing programs where therapy dogs attend West Point to aid returning veterans, the READ programs to assist children in reading, and many more programs for people in need. I've written stories about therapy dogs many times. They warm your heart. When I spent seven weeks recovering from a traumatic fall, Judy spread the word, and everyday therapy dogs came to my room to give love and comfort.

Since Larry Died

Those Left Behind series, Book 1

Joan finds herself alone after the death of her husband of 37 years. Determined that she will not become a recluse confined to her home, she forces herself to take part in life as a single woman. The work she does helping others with her therapy dogs becomes part of the strength that propels her to move forward in life and quit blaming her husband for dying.

Newly widowed, Joan refused to let life pass her by. Angered by the sudden death of her spouse, she’s determined to carry on and starts by taking their motorcycle for a spin. His friends are surprised to see her riding, but happy that she is living life by her rules. All of them are hoping to win her over, but will they pass the test?

Her daughter also needs her help as she struggles with her own issues. Joan knows her inner strength will help her daughter better know how to deal with life as each of them move on since Larry died.

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HEALTHY LIVING--AUTHOR CHARMAINE GORDON ON HOW LIFE ISN'T OVER 'TIL IT'S OVER

Charmaine Gordon spread her wings at age fifty-four to drive alone to New York City and find a career as an actor. She worked on One Life to Live for eleven years, All My Children for two, and Another World. She also has roles in many movies, including Working Girl and When Harry Met Sally. She had fun with Harrison Ford, lunched with Anthony Hopkins, and sang with Carrie Fisher. Then one day while performing on stage, she noticed her voice felt odd. The next day, a voice specialist confirmed she had spasmodic dysphonia, which put an end to her acting career. That’s when Charmaine started writing. Today she stops by to tell us why age is just a number. Learn more about her and her books at her website.

No Time for Green Bananas

Writers get their ideas from strange places. While visiting with a dear friend in Chicago a while back, she told me about a cousin who mentioned the phrase “No Time for Green Bananas” and laughed his head off. He stretched it out to say, “I’m too old for green bananas.” I found it funny yet true. After I returned to New York, the words blossomed in my head. A story was born. At least the title held firm and I fleshed out two characters to fit. I pictured a seventy-five-year-old woman, now widowed, who owns an airline for pleasure trips. Very upscale. The man is a sixty-year-old widower whose wife’s last words were, “Find a good woman to be with.” They meet on the trip to the Saranac Lake Region where people enjoy scaling the mountains and dancing by night.

So far so good, I thought, and start a new story. This is how it begins every time. I fall in love with my characters as they fall in love with each other. It’s a joy to create and write. I never realized this would be a career until I lost my good voice and could no longer be in show business. I’m a woman who believes in Survive and Thrive. That’s what I do. No matter what happens, chin up, smile, and get over myself.

“No Time for Green Bananas” is one of three stories of mature love, passion, and suspense in The Beginning…Not the End. I never dreamed a 5-star review would appear after publication. To dream the impossible dream is not out of reach, dear readers. The Golden Years can sparkle with love and romance combined with humor. Thank you for helping my dreams come true, and all you had to do was turn the pages to be swept away with the knowledge that life isn’t over ‘til it’s over. So enjoy every moment.

My name is Charmaine Gordon, a senior and the author of these Mature Romances. Welcome to my world.

The Beginning…Not the End

Three stories of mature love, passion, and suspense

“No Time for Green Bananas”—Celeste Hamlin, seventy-five year old widow, has a goal to conquer the six mountains in the Saranac Lake region before deciding to do with the rest of her llife. Sixty-two year old Professor Paul Harris meets the dynamic Celeste, and recalls the last words his wife said before she passed. "Find another love and begin again." Will they begin again?

“She Didn't Say No”—Grace didn't say no to the Big Man On Campus, Scott Dwyer. And then her life changed...Years later. a too-close encounter of an unpleasant kind with a skunk and Scott's German Shepherd reunites the former lovers. What happens in between are their stories of beginnings and endings and love lost, then found.

“Dr. D and the Dad”—A trip over a mound of sand on the beach begins a journey for Diane O'Rourke and Tony Flannigan. She's a pediatrician, a bit over weight; he has a foster care home with three children under his sheltering wing...and a dark secret. Can they overcome the past and make the future work for them? They might just find the initial trip was well worth it.

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WHEN ONE DOOR SHUTS...WITH GUEST AUTHOR CHARMAINE GORDON

Author Charmaine Gordon in the role of Grace with actor Roy Harry
in a production of The Fourth Commandment

Charmaine Gordon spread her wings at age fifty-four to drive alone to New York City and find a career as an actor. She worked on One Life to Live for eleven years, All My Children for two, and Another World. She also has roles in many movies, including Working Girl and When Harry Met Sally. She had fun with Harrison Ford, lunched with Anthony Hopkins, and sang with Carrie Fisher. Then one day while performing on stage, she noticed her voice felt odd. The next day, a voice specialist confirmed she had spasmodic dysphonia, which put an end to her acting career. That’s when Charmaine started writing. Learn more about her and her books at her website.

I sleep write. Why? I don’t know. One night I dreamed of a fifteen year old girt in Minnesota, a state I’ve never been to. In the morning I began to write, Reconstructing Charlie is book one of a series. Today I introduce the first three.

First, dear readers, a blurb from the girl who started this:

Reconstructing Charlie

In 1996, I killed my father. 

Dear old Dad was great with a belt. A belt of whiskey. A belt from around his waist unbuckled when you least expected it and later I knew it was coming and some of us escaped. Not me, not Mom. Never Mom. I’m the oldest. I didn’t want the little ones to see the okay Dad turn into a monster on payday. Every payday. One night he went for Mom, waving a tire iron in the air. This time I was ready. I wrestled it out of his filthy hands and hit him good. He’d never hit little Jimmy or the baby sisters again. Or Mom. She packed a suitcase and told me to run for the midnight bus to Chicago. She gave me an envelope to give someone. Scared, I did as told and ran. I opened the envelope when the bus began to roll.

Dear Eleanor, The girl standing before you is my daughter. Please embrace her, make her your own.

Your sister, Elizabeth

Reconstructing Charlie is the first of the three books in the Charlie’s Family Secrets, now available in one single volume. The two other books are Sins of Omission and The Catch.

Sin of Omission 

A twist of fate intervenes when Shelley keeps a secret that threatens to break apart the Costigans and her future. A mysterious client, Deanna Rose, enters Haven, victim of a savage beating under strange circumstances. Shelley investigates and finds Ms. Rose has an unsavory past. With the reputation and safety of Haven at stake, Shelley is at risk to lose everything and everyone she cares about.

The Catch 

Tom Donnelly, once known as The Catch – every woman’s dream guy, has fallen down every rung of the ladder he once worked so hard to climb. On New Year’s Day, he realizes just how far he’s fallen, and makes a list of resolutions to change his life. He vows to regain the trust lost from his family, his law firm, and his friends – and maybe even find the right woman this time.

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR CHARMAINE GORDON

Author Charmaine Gordon writes romance, romantic suspense, and mature romance. Today she sits down with us for an interview. Learn more about Charmaine and her books at her website.

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

I loved the glorious years as an actor in New York, working on One Life to Live, All My Children, and Another World with movie bit parts in Working Girl, When Harry Met Sally and so many more. I also appeared in one wonderful Off-Broadway play. Then it all crashed when I lost my good voice to Spasmodic Dysphonia. My creative juices turned to writing. To Be Continued, my first baby, was published seven years ago.

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

Here’s the amazing story: After sending out some queries only to receive don’t call me, I’ll call you-NOT! responses, a publisher called, requested the manuscript. The next day they offered a contract. Did I cry? You bet I did. Me, the one with a shot voice, was now a published author.

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

I’ve been published by the same small traditional publisher since that first book.

Where do you write?

In our Cape Cod home, I have a small office, once shared for about four years, with my youngest granddaughter while my daughter taught at the local high school. Now four cats take turns visiting me as I write every day. The largest feline, Riley, sprawls at the door as guard. I have to step over him, carefully, as the need calls for. Lily, the youngest sleeps right next to the computer, nudging my hand from time to time.

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

I treasure silence, please and thank you.

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

Often I find pieces of my life showing up as my fingers peck their way along the keys.  At first, it disturbed me and then I knew. Considering my rich experiences in life, why not?

Describe your process for naming your character?

For some unknown reason, names flicker across my mind as if a ticker tape presents them to me. Probably this happens because so much of my background is steeped in memorizing scripts.

Real settings or fictional towns?

Some of each. Born and raised in Chicago, Reconstructing Charlie has the well-known background; and for years I lived in St. Augustine, Florida where I set Starting Over and Young at Heart. Of course, the New Jersey Shore was perfect for Instant Grandpa, a beach story Mature Romance. The only fictional town is River’s Edge, where Kindness to Strangers is the motto. Imagination gone wild and I love it!

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

In Reconstructing Charlie, the heroine, Charlie Costigan, vows to retain her chastity until she meets the right man and says ‘I Do’, an amazing quirkiness at time when casual sex had become common.

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

If smiling readily, with hope and a heart full of love is quirky, that’s me. I’m a way out there senior citizen, perky after a terrible fall last year when doctor’s thought I’d never walk again. See me now, guys, as I dance with care and a cane around the house.

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

Water, soap, and a hunk named Henri who knows how to give a girl a great massage.

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

I worked at home with my first husband for many years while raising a batch of kids after several tours as an Air Force wife with same pilot husband. All before I spread my wings. Not what I’d call a worst job but a woman’s job and I thrived on it then.

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

Thanks for asking. I may write romance but how I love to read John Sandford with his murder, mayhem and humor.

Ocean or mountains?

Ocean. Oh yes.

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

I loved working in NYC to return to my home sweet home in the burbs.

What’s on the horizon for you?

One big desire is I’d like to know, as a writer, does anyone know my name?

I pray for good health and long life to see my youngest granddaughter, now nine, graduate college, marry a worthy guy etc, etc. I can dream, can’t I?

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?

Check out the video for Chef’s Surprise. 

Chef's Surprise

One night, she ran. For the bus to freedom and a new life. She had a plan, and a small box of cash. 

With grit and determination, the young girl learned more than lessons at nursing college, the first part of her plan. Someday, she would become a top chef, but for now, she’d claw her way up the ladder. 

There is payback for every crime, and sometimes the payback is more than satisfactory.

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR CHARMAINE GORDON

Romantic suspense author Charmaine Gordon sits for an interview today. Learn more about Charmaine and her books at her blog. 

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

As an actor for many years, my last job was on Broadway in a new play. Toward the end of the run, I noticed my voice change. I had trouble speaking. The diagnosis--spasmodic dysphonia to be treated with botox injections forever into the larynx. Thus ended a fine career--a small fish in a big pond since I began in midlife. Creative juices still flowed so without training, I began a story and wrote a book. Amazing what one can do. Undaunted, I began again in my seventies.

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

Call me lucky. It didn’t take too long before Vanilla Heart Publishing, a small company on the West coast, requested a few chapters and soon my first book, To be Continued, was published. What a kick.

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

For me, traditionally published works just fine.

Where do you write?

I have a small office and three cats, cluttered with books, a litter box and the cats take turns sitting on my lap. I often wonder if this is where the name laptop comes from?

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

Golden silence is best for me.

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

I noticed when first writing, I couldn’t help from dropping bits and pieces of my life into the story. My publisher reassured me. “You’re doing just fine,” she said.

Describe your process for naming your character?

Names float across my mind like on a ticker tape. When I need one, it’s right there. I have no explanation.

Real settings or fictional towns?

Some stories have real settings like St. Augustine beach, Florida in several books. More recently, I wrote a series about a fictional town, River’s Edge in upstate, NY where the motto is Kindness to Strangers. Readers have said they’d love to live in a town just like that.

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

A half glass of Chardonnay and I’m tap dancing on the table. True story and it’s happened many times on Broadway in clubs after a play or in a local restaurant.

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

To Kill A Mocking Bird. What a gorgeous story. The kind, intelligent father raising two chidren, a lawyer defending a black man at a terrible time in history and so much more.

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours? 

He died too young, my high school sweetheart. We never argued, raised a batch of kids and suddenly gone. Do over, my heart screamed for a long time. I survived, married again but he’s still with me. Do over, I still scream.

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

When people ignore needs of older folks at the super market, I get very angry. Wait ‘til they get old and need help.

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

Gluten-free everything, laptop and a really smart hunk.

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

I raised a batch of kids and when the last one went off to kindergarten I helped my husband full time in our business. No time off for this lady.

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

To Kill A Mocking Bird

Ocean or mountains?

Ocean

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

Love the city, NYC and going home to peace in the country.

What’s on the horizon for you? 

I write The End and two days later I’m into a new book. Living a long healthy life is a good plan.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?

After years of being an Air Force wife, we became civilians and moved to NY. I did a lot of local theater until one day, a professional actor suggested I go to the city and seek an agent. Life changed. My first job was as leg model for Geraldine Ferraro with bodyguards protecting her and her two daughters. That got me my first Union Card. After that came Working Girl where I had fun sharing a hot dog with Harrison Ford after singing Happy Birthday to Melanie Griffith. Anthony Hopkins invited me to lunch in one movie and Michael Douglas shared a moment in Fatal Attraction. I was like a sponge soaking up everything I heard and saw. When I had to kiss the sweet time goodbye because my voice failed, I was ready to write.

Bridging the Gap

Anna Youngblood and James Chandler have problems. His little daughter overheard his ex say she never wanted kids; Anna must make amends for breaking rules of her tribe; he has a serious concussion and she’s pregnant. Can this couple find happiness in River’s Edge?

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