RoguesAngels: Ya Gotta Laugh by Barbara Alldritt

Thursday, February 3, 2022

Ya Gotta Laugh by Barbara Alldritt

Please welcome Barbara Alldritt author of Ya Gotta Laugh

Barbara Alldritt will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Ya Gotta Laugh

by Barbara Alldritt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Short Stories, Contemporary

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

In "YA GOTTA LAUGH", Barbara Alldritt presents a series of short stories based on her own experiences, and those of others, about living life with joy & happiness, in spite of life's challenges.

While pursuing an academic career, Barbara was hit hard by a debilitating disease. She quickly determined she needed a new direction in life. Always interested in writing, she turned to creating stories about this new path.

These are stories that show that even in trying circumstances, there are still ways to find humour.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPTS:

Sandra told me that the group I joined was the best she could suggest. Almost as an afterthought, she said I could always start my own group to focus on my particular interests. I decided to give it a try, and Sandra helped me place an ad in the next newsletter stating my desire to meet others who believed in taking charge of their own health through diet, stress reduction and other “alternative” strategies.

I received my first response a few weeks later from a woman who introduced herself on the phone as Liz. She told me she had just arrived home from a bike ride with her daughter, and that she didn’t have much time to talk as a friend was coming to pick her up for their regular Thursday afternoon golf game. Two years ago she had needed a wheelchair, she told me. However, by regularly using a simple traditional Chinese medicine technique called moxibustion, which involves burning moxa made of ground mugwort on or near the body’s meridians and acupuncture points, she was still restricted but very functional. I took her phone number and smiled to myself. This is more like it, I thought. These are the kinds of self-help stories I’m interested in. Forget bowel incontinence.

I got about a dozen more calls over the next few days, but Liz remained the star of the budding group. I organized a meeting which we held in Liz’s dining room, as her home was the most central for everyone. We decided to hold meetings once a month, and I found a room provided free to community groups in a shopping centre. I published our meeting schedule and found that the meetings generated strong interest and attendance over the next few months.

We became known as the place to be to meet people like Liz and others who had recovered their health, and to learn from experts about holistic approaches to our bodies and their many functions. It didn’t take long to figure out that the group was a good vehicle for getting the attention of well-known writers and researchers. One speaker even flew a thousand miles at his own expense to meet with us. The group also developed a high profile among persons with MS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Author Barbara Alldritt was born and raised on a farm in Saskatchewan and although there was always work around the farm she preferred hiding behind the couch reading a book rather than be out in the fields hoeing potatoes or washing dishes in the kitchen. After High school she travelled extensively in Western Canada and then set out on a 2-year adventure around the world and met her husband on that trip in Western Samoa. They returned to Canada settling in Calgary. Barbara then returned to higher education at the University of Calgary and completed her Honours Degree in 1988, and was awarded the Faculty of General Studies Gold Medal and the Lieutenant Governor’s Gold Medal for that year.

They then moved to Vancouver, BC, and Barbara entered a master’s program at UBC. In the throes of completing her MA and preparing to start her PhD, MS hit her hard and put a stop to her academic work.

Needing a new direction and given her interest in both research and writing she looked into many options for maintaining her health from taking up aqua-fitness to nutrition and what she should and should not eat.She also became active in the MS Society and produced their newsletter, in which she wrote stories that looked at the humorous side of living with a disability.

Many who read her stories were inspired to contact her to tell their own tales and adventures. She interviewed them and added them to the newsletter, resulting in this compendium of stories.

CONNECT WITH BARBARA ALLDRITT

WEBSITE - https://barbaraalldritt.com/

GOODREADS - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21918420.Barbara_Alldritt

PURCHASE LINKS YA GOTTA LAUGH

AMAZON.COM - https://amazon.com/dp/0228854482

AMAZON.CA - https://amazon.ca/dp/0228854482

AMAZON KINDLE - https://amazon.com/dp/B09HKPLHG2

INDIGO CHAPTERS - https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/ya-gotta-laugh/9780228854500-item.html

BARNES & NOBLE - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ya-gotta-laugh-barbara-alldritt/1140284315

BOOK DEPOSITORY - https://www.bookdepository.com/Ya-Gotta-Laugh-Barbara-Alldritt/9780228854487

SMASHWORDS - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1107091

APPLE IBOOKS - https://books.apple.com/us/book/ya-gotta-laugh/id1588808339