Rogue's Angels Present: Seven Days to Goodbye by Sheri S Levy

Please welcome Sheri S Levy author of Seven Days to Goodbye.

Sheri S Levy will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Seven Days to Goodbye & Starting Over

by Sheri S Levy

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GENRE:   Young Adult- coming of age

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INTERVIEW:

What or who inspired you to start writing?

After sixteen years of teaching special needs children, I taught a GED- adult-parenting class.  I shared stories with my adults, and encouraged them to aim for goals and not to give up.

One night every week, parents read to their children. They had to do an art project or a verbal interaction. As they recognized the importance of reading to their children, it became a habit.

I shared stories about my dogs, my children, and my travels. As my students asked me to repeat the stories, the desire to write stories overwhelmed me. When my first magazine article about a diabetic alert dog was published, I gained enough confidence to continue writing.

How did I come up with my idea for a novel?

            I attended college two nights a week after I married. During the day, I worked with mentally handicapped children. Many of the students had autism, but the behaviors hadn’t been diagnosed in those days. I waited for my children to start school, and then with three special education teaching credentials, I taught a multi-handicapped class.

            I was an addicted dog lover and knew my story would have a dog. But I didn’t want just a pet. I used the internet to research service dogs and found PAALS, (Palmetto Animal Assisted Living Services) close to where I lived. We have teamed up. I support them with my book proceeds, and they educate me. They are 100% non-profit. Watching a client being able to change their lives because of a service dog is an emotional experience.

            Seven Days to Goodbye is written from experiences and memories. The Edisto Beach setting and some of the names have special significance.  Sydney, the red-merle Aussie, was our third dog.

What expertise did you bring to your writing?

            By the time I retired, I had worked with many types of special needs behaviors. I also had trained several dogs.  I used only positive reinforcement with my students and found it worked great with training dogs.

            Here is an example from Seven Days to Goodbye.  Trina is my main character. Logan is a seven-year-old boy with autism. Sydney, the story dog, has been trained to work with children with autism.

I called to Logan.

He did a one-sided skip toward me.

"Do you want to practice calling Sydney?"

He nodded and his eyes rose for a moment.

"Say, 'Sydney…Come.'"

Logan clapped and bounced.

I patted his shoulder and said, "Stand. Don't move. Then Sydney can listen."

After a couple more hops, his hands grabbed his shorts and squeezed. He gulped short breaths of air and then shouted, "Syd-ney." He started to clap and then put his hands back on his shorts and said, "Come."

Sydney raced to Logan.

I said, "Good boy, Sydney."

Logan's eyes caught mine before he bowed his head.

I finished saying, "Logan, you did great."

Logan held a treat in front of Syd's face. "Good doggie. Good Syd-ney."

I tingled inside. This was a perfect example of Sydney's talent. I stretched taller, seeing the happiness in Logan's face. "Can I hug you, Logan?" (p.69)

What elements are necessary for this genre? Here is another sneak peek into the book.

My young-adult series, Trina Ryan’s Dogs in Training, delves into the parts of growing-up all teens endure. Friends change. They figure-out how to maintain a relationship. The opposite sex becomes an important part of life for some. Other teens continue with new outside interests and setting goals.

 Trina’s best friend, Sarah, rides in Trina’s car to Edisto Beach for their week’s vacation. The first hint to Trina, there’s a change in Sarah:  Sarah isn’t wearing her matching T-shirt they always wear on outings. Sarah is glued to her phone and ignoring Trina.

Trina chuckles. “Remember how we buried each other in the sand last year? We had so much fun.”

Sarah looks straight ahead. “Well, not this year. I want to lie on the sand and work on my tan.”

“Really? That’ll get boring really fast.”

Then week gets tougher as the girls meet Logan’s older brothers.

As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

I hadn’t expected to be writing a series, but readers wanted more. Starting Over, has the same characters from Seven Days to Goodbye, but an added person who changes the dynamics. Without adding spoilers, horses have a major impact and so do guys. Growing up, caring for others, and relationships are important factors in each book.

BLURB:

Thirteen year old, Trina has chosen to raise service dogs and have puppy after puppy. But during her seven day beach vacation, Trina struggles with having to return Sydney at the end of the week and worrying about her best friend changing into a stranger. To complicate the week, Sydney, meets a young boy with autism and the girls meet his two older brothers. Tension is raised over the guys, and Trina fears she’ll lose more than her service dog. Will Trina's lose her best friend, also?

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EXCERPT:

Sydney climbed on my lap and licked the corners of my eyes. I buried my face in his soft fur and scratched under his chin. He leaned into my hand as I whispered, “We’ll have fun with or without Sarah. We just have to.”

Staring through the side window, a deep-blue summer sky flickered between pine trees covered in kudzu. Sarah’s car passed on the right. I turned the other way.

Off the freeway, we headed east and then south down a two lane road through sleepy little towns one after the other. Twenty minutes later, I leaned forward between the front seats, “Wow. Look.”

Branches from gigantic live oak trees slanted towards the middle of the street. The trees looked as though they were trying to touch each other and some did. They reminded me of my cozy canopy bed where Sarah and I had spent many nights, giggling and whispering. But this canopy was made of tree limbs in different shades of green, dripping with grayish, Spanish moss. The moss hung like ghostly long arms swinging in the wind.

“This is kind of spooky beautiful. It’s like being in a green tunnel.” I cracked my window.

A whiff of salty ocean filled the car. Sydney lifted his head as the trees whizzed by. His nose twitched. “We’re getting close, Syd.” He squeezed into the same space with me and gazed out the front window.

Suddenly, the trees disappeared. The cloudless sky stretched with no end in sight. Pelicans flew in an upside down, V formation. On both sides of the road, squiggly tidal creeks flowed through green marshlands. White birds with skinny legs stood statue-still in the shimmering water. This was a place I’d only seen in postcards.

   

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Sheri, originally from California, moved to South Carolina with her husband, two children and a Siamese cat. Soon they adopted their first rescue dog who influenced their need to continue living with dogs. Sheri taught a multi-handicapped Special Ed class, and then a GED-parenting class, which included home visits. Because of her love of reading, Sheri found unusual ways to encourage children to read. After her rescue of a difficult dog, Sheri enrolled in dog classes to change his behavior. Her dream of writing, Seven Days to Goodbye, came from the culmination of her beach experiences, her understanding of behaviors, and from research with PAALS, a service dog organization.

Links:

ISBN: 978-1-935460-74-9   EBook- 978-1-935460-75-6

Facebook.com/Sherislevyauthor342003522553368

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Sheri-S.-Levy/e/B00NSGMS0S

Twitter: @SheriSLevy

Website: www.sherislevy.com

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Sheri S Levy will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f2174