Book Blast courtesy of Megan Cyrulewski!



AVAILABLE SATURDAY AUGUST 2ND! 


Megan’s book, Who Am I?  How My Daughter Taught Me to Let Go and Live Again, is about her journey into post-partum depression, anxiety disorder, panic attacks, stays in the psych ward, divorce, emotional abuse, domestic violence, law school, how she managed to graduate from law school and a beautiful little girl who emerged from all of this chaos.  




Megan Cyrulewski has been writing short stories ever since she was ten-years-old.  After attending Grand Valley State University, Megan eventually settled into a career in the non-profit sector for eight years.  She decided to change careers and went back to school to get her law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School.  While in school, she documented her divorce, child custody battle and postpartum depression struggles in her memoir.  Megan lives in Michigan with her 3-year-old daughter who loves to dance, run, read, and snuggle time with Mommy.  Megan also enjoys her volunteer work with various organizations in and around metro-Detroit.

Here's an exciting excerpt from Megan's exciting new book, Who Am I?  How My Daughter Taught Me to Let Go and Live Again:

On January 18, 2012, we all convened in the courthouse for the Motion for Parenting Time hearing. My dad and I arrived with my attorney, but Tyler loved an audience so he brought his dad, step-mom, and his new on-again off-again girlfriend, Heather. Tyler walked in with his posse in tow, cocky as hell. It took all of two minutes for the judge to knock him off his feet.
The Judge addressed our respective attorneys. “Why are we here?”
“Your honor,” Tyler’s attorney began, “my client has clearly been denied his parenti—”
The Judge didn’t even let him finish. “How?” She turned to my attorney. “Don?”
“Your honor, as you can see in the divorce decree, there was supposed to be a review when the minor child turned twelve-months-old. The Defendant has ignored that review.”
“I—if I may, your honor,” Tyler’s attorney sputtered.
“I see the review in the decree. It’s here in black and white,” she told Tyler’s attorney. “What is the problem? Why didn’t you understand the review? Your client signed the divorce decree.”
Tyler’s attorney tried again. “But your honor—”
The judge cut him off. “There is to be a review conducted by the Friend of the Court referee assigned to the parties. Until then, the Defendant will continue his parenting time schedule as agreed upon in the divorce decree. Dismissed.”
And that was it. After eight police reports and numerous harassing text messages, phone calls, and e-mails, we won. As Don and Tyler’s attorney went to speak with the clerk to file the necessary paperwork, Don told us to wait for him outside the courtroom.
As we exited the courtroom, the hallway was so packed with people that my dad and I were only able to find enough space to lean against the wall. We were talking about the court proceedings when we looked up at saw Tyler and his new girlfriend standing right across from us.
“Why do you lie about everything?” Tyler screamed.
Heather walked up to me and stood about an inch from my face. “As a mother myself, you should be happy that Tyler is the father of your child.”
My jaw dropped. “I’m sorry but I don’t know you.”
She smirked. “Well you’re going to get to know me, bitch.”
Tyler made a big show of pulling her from me like I was going to punch her or something. By this time, everyone in the hallway was watching us. We were pure entertainment.
Heather continued her rant. “Two times in the psych ward, Megan? What a great mother you are.”
“Where is your mom, the real mother of our child?” Tyler screamed. “She’s the one who takes care of Madelyne.”
My dad and I tried to move away from Tyler and Heather but they followed us.
“Awww…” Heather mocked. “Do you have to take a Xanax because of your anxiety?”
“Go take your Xanax and sleeping pills, you drug addict,” Tyler shouted.
Finally, Don emerged from the courtroom and pulled us into a quiet corridor. He explained that I needed to call our referee to set-up a meeting to discuss a visitation schedule. I told Don about the verbal assault by Tyler and Heather. Don said he would call Tyler’s attorney to let him know that Heather would not be allowed in my house.
Upon leaving the courthouse, Heather screamed, “See you on Sunday, Megan.”
I turned toward her and said calmly, “I don’t know you, but you are not welcome in my home.”
That night, Tyler sent me multiple texts attacking my mothering skills, my supposed drug addictions, how he was going to fight for joint custody of Madelyne, how Heather would be accompanying him for his visitations, and a barrage of other insults:
"Get a life already."
"Don’t you have something better to do than wasting your parents’ money?"
"Go take your pills and relax, oh yeah, then your parents would have to watch our daughter. Oh yeah, they already do."
"Go talk to your friends. Oh yeah, you don’t have any because of how crazy you are."
"Interesting to know you’ve been to the hospital a couple of times. You really need to get it together."
"Better go call your lawyer and make up some more stuff about me."
"Don’t be mad at your sorry life."
"I am sure living with Mom and Dad the rest of your life will be fun."
"When you get a job, then you can pay me child support. Fun."
 
I finally had to turn my phone off at midnight.


Saw this today...

 
So I saw the above quote today while cruising through Pinterest.
Quite frankly, I laughed out loud. All you writers out there, don't deny it, you've definitely done this before. Anyone who's pissed you off, frustrated you, invoked revenge fantasies or someone who was just plain ol' rude to you, oh yes, you will have that sweet, sweet, ice-cold revenge. And why not? It's better to do it on a page rather than for real, we all know that. As irritating and outrageous as many of these rude people are, we need them, don't we? We need them to inspire our villains, our pain-in-the-ass characters, those people in our pages who inspire such annoying developments into our stories that we can barely stop ourselves from smashing our fists through the computer monitor.
And as we're dealing with these nibbling pinches and picks through-out our day and I'm standing in the middle of a group of co-workers, imagining my boss as a rampaging baboon because seriously her laugh sounds like one, I can't help but think, no, she won't make it into my book but her laugh sure as hell will.
 

Did someone say book sale????

Why yes! Someone did say book sale! It's the perfect time to stock up on books if you're heading out for the beach or the mountains or just lounging around at home. Stuff up those Kindles and Nooks. Keep your brain occupied during this slow, lazy summer. Your brain will thank you!
 And so will your wallet!
Right now, Lights Out is on sale for $0.99 on Barnes & Noble and Amazon!
Go ahead, ladies and gents...take a vacation...you've more than earned it!
 
 


Trips and Signings!

So here I am again, slacking in my blogging duties. I have no excuses but I will tell you, back in May I had the pleasure of setting sail to Alaska! It was absolutely fantastic!!! I've been telling everyone that they need to get up there before all the glaciers melt.
 
 
There were so many awesome things to see, to hear, to smell. Alaska...you'd never think it was a part of the United States. It stands alone...literally and figuratively. The air is different somehow--not only does it smell cleaner but you seem to breathe it in a little easier too. The smell of pine, of clear water, so blue from the glaciers, it makes your eyeballs bleed. We were fortunate to be aboard one of the "smaller" cruise ships so that we could get into those harder-to-reach areas off the coast. All the little inlets and such.
 
Image opening your balcony curtains to see this:
 
 
To me, this is something out of a novel--the fog, the barely-rippling water, the chilly air.
 
 
And seeing a bald eagle in its natural environment?
Or coming back to your cabin and finding one of these critters:
 
 
Yup! He's made from towels!
What would be a cruise without a little sampling of these:
 
 
Granted, they were a little small for my taste but oh, were they delicious. And while we sat there and indulged in cupcake goodness, right outside our window came this:
 
 
It was so unexpected and a woman sitting across from me had just gotten done saying that she hadn't seen any wild life yet!
 
Seriously peeps, get yourself up there immediately. It's literally one of America's last frontiers and you know something this beautiful never lasts forever.