REVIVAL blog tour, PICTURES and COMPUTER DEATH

 

Bonjour everyone and welcome!

 

Did you know I love pictures? Well, I do. I love taking pictures and I love sharing them. I love color pictures, and I love black and white pictures. I love pictures in frames, in blogs, and in books (the more the better). I love thought-provoking pictures, and I love pictures I can rub my crayons all over. In short, a picture really is worth a thousand words (can my next ms be just pictures?) and to prove my point, below is a picture I took a couple weeks ago......

 

And a few days ago, I took this beauty....

What exactly do you mean metal box when you say,
"Your computer was unable to start."

 Just look at these pictures, they hold so much emotion, frustration, and betrayal. We see the battle between man woman and machine. There are lives and files at stake... These images personify the dying of the light and the motherboard. It is death and rebirth and then death again. It is a portrait as I curse, cry, yell, and curse some more. In these pictures I see a desperate soul trying to reformat (twice) a piece of crap computer. Ultimately, it was all for nothing.

NOTHING I TELL YOU!

The metal box died five days ago.

This is my first post from my new computer which runs on Windows 8 (which sucks, seriously what is so complicated about opening docx files? Windows 7 can do it!) . Looking back, I should have thrown the metal box of cookies and crippled rams over a bridge, at least it would have been therapeutic. But enough about me and my pictures, you should see the pictures in Mark's book REVIVAL!
(I'm a black belt in transitioning can't you tell?)

But seriously, I'm excited to be part of Mark's blog tour for REVIVAL and today he's going to talk about the many pictures that were included in the memoir and how they were chosen. So check it out, and don't forget to sign up for the rafflecopter at the end to win a bunch of prizes!

                                         Take it away, Mark! ----->>>>>

  *****

 

 

 

Aloha,

Nearing the middle of the Tour for my new book, REVIVAL – The Donald Braswell Story, we find ourselves in France where Elise is so kind to let me parlais about pictures in a memoir—and how do you choose a final set?

 When I first suggested to Donald that adding pictures to the memoir would bring so much more to the story, he was immediately on board, but he soon emailed me with the same question: How do I choose?

I checked my battered copy of What To Expect When You is Memoir-ing, but when that offered little (except to get enough sleep before launch day), I asked Donald to send fifty pics that basically covered the timeframe of the memoir (early ‘20s to late ‘40s.)

I went through the multitude of emails, and because of age and technology (anyone remember how a scanned 4x6 Kodak can appear?) it wasn’t hard to whittle the first round down to a final selection.

Donald sent rough cutlines for each “finalist,” and now REVIVAL ended up with about thirty pictures sprinkled throughout its 236 pages (thanks to our publisher, Pen-L Publishing.)

 (When I read a section, and then saw the corresponding picture, it really drove home how a picture really does tell a thousand words. Just as well… with thirty pictures, gosh, I’d still be writing :)

 Has a picture ever helped or hindered your writing?

###
Merci buckets, Elise. You rock, as does the Eifel Tower at night.

I’m stopping by MJ Fifield on Friday, and she’s curious about the challenges involved in memoir writing.

 

 

 

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 REVIVAL - THE DONALD BRASWELL STORY by Mark Koopmans

 



 



 

 

BOOK INFORMATION:

Title: REVIVAL - The Donald Braswell Story
Subtitle: How a Tenor Lost his Voice, but Found his Calling
Author: Mark Koopmans
Category: Non-fiction
Genres: Memoir, Biography, Inspirational
Publisher: Pen-L Publishing
Length: 65,000 words
Release Date: November 03, 2015
Tour: Every weekday in November

 

Back Blurb:

 

Five years removed from his 1990 Juilliard graduation, Donald Braswell is set to be “the next Pavarotti.” Braswell’s successful career ends, however, not with a standing ovation at Carnegie Hall, but alone, lying in a dirty ditch.

Following the hit-and-run accident that steals his voice and future, the “Texas Tenor” struggles with depression and despair—until the night his daughter, Aria, is born. Understanding this new and immediate life change, Braswell fights to relearn how to speak, sing—and share this gift of second chances with others.


Working as a plasterer, a car salesman, and many jobs in-between, it takes thirteen years—and a musical miracle—for Braswell to battle back and sing on a professional stage. His dreams and ambitions collide with a tired and angry crowd when he auditions for America’s Got Talent. For his family, his faith and his entire future, can the Rocky Balboa of the operatic world find the courage and strength to win just one more fight?  

Purchase Links

(Paperbacks)

• Pen-L Publishing
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
•  Powell's

(Ebooks)

• Amazon Kindle
• Nook
• iTunes
• Kobo

 SINGER BIOGRAPHY:

Donald Braswell II is an American actor, classical crossover tenor and composer. Braswell was on a fast track to become an internationally acclaimed opera singer when he suffered a car accident in 1995that made him unable to speak for almost two years. After that, he lived a quiet life outside of the spotlight until his appearance on the 2008 season of America’s Got Talent where he was a Top 5 finalist, which gave him another chance at a career in entertainment. Since then, he has entertained audiences both internationally as well as shore to shore in the United States in concerts, television appearances, inspirational speaking and radio. He boasts an international fan club with fans from over 25 countries.

Braswell has reentered the world of music by singing in concerts starting with the Symphony of theHills in Kerrville, Texas in June 2009. He performs a variety of musical genres ranging from pureclassical repertoire to soul to mainstream pop. He engages people of many cultures by singing invarious languages outside of English, including Spanish, Italian, Neapolitan, French and Russian. Hisconcerts are generally multilingual, and he has performed pieces that are themselves in more than onelanguage. Some of these include: Mario Frangoulis bilingual version of “Nights in White Satin” (Italiantitle “Notte di luce”), originally by The Moody Blues; “The Prayer”; and Andrea Bocelli’s “Vivere”(English title “Dare to Live”). His other non-English repertoire includes Aqustin Lara’s “Rosa” (Spanish),Mario Frangoulis’s “Vincerò, perderò” (Italian) and the Neapolitan standard “O sole mio”.Some of his many compositions can be heard on his recent album We Fall and We Rise Again.Donald is a testament to the powers of the human spirit in difficult times and he inspires all who come to know him.   Find him at donaldbraswell.com

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:


Mark Koopmans is originally from Ireland. After working in Holland, Spain, France and England, he won his U.S. “Green Card” in 1994, and is an American by choice since 2003. Koopmans began his writing career with a feature for a regional magazine in California. Since then, he’s worked as a staff writer for newspapers in Florida and Texas. Koopmans is also a proficient blogger and is working on his next book, a novel. Koopmans lives in Virginia and is a married, stay-at-home dad to three active boys under the age of nine. He writes at night.

 

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

● GRAND PRIZE (2 winners): Donald Braswell to sing (Happy Birthday/Anniversary) via
Skype or phone call. (A unique gift idea!)
● 1ST PLACE PRIZE: Signed Donald Braswell CD/REVIVAL book combo
● 2nd, 3rd and 4th PLACE PRIZES: Signed copies of REVIVAL (by Donald and Mark)
● 5th, 6th and 7th PLACE PRIZES: Signed copies of Donald Braswell CDs
● 8th, 9th, and 10th PLACE PRIZES: Signed Donald Braswell 8x10 picture