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Posted in Abandonment, Children of Alcholics, Children of mentally ill parents, God, Racism, Sex, Teens, Uncategorized

Welcome!

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So, what’s this website all about?

As I was creating my new author website, I needed to come up with the topics, taglines and categories that come up in my book, The Promise. I was awestruck myself by how many topics it covers and could understand what a friend meant when she said she could relate to some of the things I brought up in my story. I realize now looking at the list that there is probably something for everyone to get out of reading my book. That makes me happy because I wanted to tell my story so that others could find a sense of commonality and hope through each other. We are not alone in this world, and sometimes we need a place where we can share. I’m excited now to be able to provide such a place with this website where you can communicate, vent, cry and encourage each other.

There is:

  • abandonment
  • mental illness
  • alcoholism
  • family dysfunction
  • parenting
  • teenagers
  • runaways
  • racism
  • sex
  • pregnancy
  • fear
  • faith
  • belief
  • church
  • spiritual
  • God
  • love
  • trust
  • choice
  • reality
  • healing
  • PTSD
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Posted in author, book reviews, inspiration, Our Story

Exceeding my Expectations

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Sometimes I have to remind myself, with all the problems going on in the world, that I accomplished something extraordinary this year. I published my book, The Promise, on January 4, 2020. That’s nine months exactly as of this day.

I tried taking advantage of all the hours the pandemic opened up for me as we became homebound for months. I dove into learning what the best marketing strategies worked for me. It was expensive, all-consuming, overwhelming, and definitely not worth the work or pay off for me in the end.

As I was sharing this with a friend, she reminded me to think back of why I published it in the first place. I had no grand ideas of what it would become. I just wanted to have my story put into a book so that I could give a copy to each of my kids. My friend said to me; you have by far exceeded any expectations you ever had for your book. Look what it’s become.

In this time, I have also gotten to know many other authors. One of the things I hear so many of them say is that the real rewards are not from the money you get for your book. It comes from the feedback of our readers that tells us that all our hard work made a difference in someone else life.

I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to read my book and sharing all your wonderful reviews and thoughts. I am humbled by your giving hearts!

Posted in Abandonment, author, inspiration, memoir, Racism, Story, The Promise

The Shiver

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What a great title for a book, The Shiver. I still get the same kind of shiver from time to time that I talk about at the beginning of my story, The Promise. They are not brought on by the same traumatic experiences of my childhood. Instead, they are brought on by the familiar circumstances that surrounded that time in my life. It could be as simple as an old song, a smell, or the situations I find myself experiencing all over again.

One of those familiarities is the racial tension we are experiencing again. It takes me right back into the halls of Stenton child center and Germantown High school where I, a white girl, found myself on the other side of the issue. Racism goes both ways, and it begins with what we are taught to believe and is reinforced by what we experience for ourselves. While I experienced what it was like to be a minority, it felt as if I was a goldfish in a tank full of black mollies. I feared they might eat me alive. The shiver comes from fear and a constant effort to survive.

However, there was a time during my stay at Stenton when we no longer saw ourselves as diffèrent. It didn’t matter what color our skin was, we shared the commonality of the situation we found ourselves in. We were kids who had been abandon by our parents. It was what we felt underneath our skin that brought us together. If we could keep all the painful outside influences away from what brought us together we found harmony in each other. How easy those outside influences can make us forget the sacredness that brings us together, and helps us see ourselves in each other.

While all the familiarity congers up painful memories for me, it also reminds me how far I have come, the lessons I’ve learned along the way, and who I have become as a result of it. If I don’t let myself learn from the worst of things I’ve experienced than everything I’ve gone through is for nothing, and all I’d be left with is an empty promise.

Posted in author, book reviews, inspiration, reading

In Honor of Book Lovers Day

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Book fountain at Cincinnati Public Library

A few weeks ago our Sunday Lancaster Newspaper had a great article called ”Sumner Lockdown Reads.”

Jeff Forster, a former reporter for LNP wrote about the importance of reading saying, ”Read something that will make you laugh, make you cry or both. Read something that will rock you out of your comfort zone. Keep reading and learning, and you’ll be young at any age.”

Nazli Hardy, associate professor of computer science at Millersvilke University said, ”I love authentic stories about people who rise to the occasion during difficult circumstances, and find out who they really are. They empower the reader to do the same.”

I felt as if Hardy, put into words what my story ”The Promise, ” is all about.

Joshua Hunter, the founder of Project Impact Lancaster and director of the Boys & Girls Club Southwest Lancaster Clubhouse, ends with a quote from De Seuss, ”The more you read, the more things you will learn. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

What better thing to do while we stay home and stay safe than to find a way to go to new places through the joy of reading.

Posted in author, book reviews, memoir

Review

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Check out the great book review I got from the link below.

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Here it is my third review. If you want to read it with bigger letters and with some extra notes go to the link in my BIO. 😁 The Promise: A Memoir By Connie Rife To start. The book is short, so it can be read fast because it is exciting. The book is about the adventures and life of an adolescent girl, Connie, growing up. However, the excitement comes from the theme of the book, which revolves predominantly on the problems that Connie faces when growing up. The circumstances of the main character in the book are exceptional. I was impacted and interested in every tale that was related. It also intrigued me how the mind of this girl worked through everything that was going on around her. What got me the most was the way she talked and interacted with the people around her. Also, the way she handled herself in the problematic situations she found herself in. There is only one thing that held me back from completely loving The Promise. What held me back into completely loving this book was the amount of emotional distress. The number of emotions expressed in The Promise was a little bit overbearing in my opinion. However, this is probably because I am personally somewhat disconnected from my feelings. Nevertheless, this does not make it a bad book, but it is important to know if you are interested in reading it. There are also many conversations with The Big Guy, if you know what I mean. If you do not understand the expression, then you should read the book and find out for yourself. The conversations between Connie and The Big Guy made me smile, laugh, and wonder, which as you may know are all things I love to do when reading a book. In my opinion, you should read it having the mindset that the author is a friend of yours telling you their life story. Even though the story did not contain any action or suspenseful scenes, I enjoyed it. Finally, the story has a little bit of everything (adventure, love, friendship, and drama), which makes it exceptional. #bookreviewlatino #bookreview #bookstagram #book #onlyreadwhatsgood #thepromiseamemoir

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