April Platform Challenge - Day 1

I’ve decided to enter Robert Lee Brewer’s first ever April Platform Challenge. Anyone want to join me?

Here's how he says it will work:

• ·      On April 1, I'll post a task for writers to complete that day. (I didn’t get April 1 until today)
• ·      Each day afterward, through the month of April, there will be a new task for writers to complete on that day.
• ·      At the end of the month, every writer who completes the challenge should have a stronger platform and be able to say they took part in the first ever April Platform Challenge.

Day 1:

Define yourself. I don't want you to worry about where you'd like to be or anything in the future. Instead, I want you to take a look at who you are, what you've done, what you're currently doing, etc. Below is a chart I'm using (with my own answers).

Here’s my information:

Name (as used in byline): Madeline Sharples

Position(s): Author of Leaving the Hall Light On (Lucky Press, 2011); Web journalist at Naturally Savvy and PsychAlive, Published poet; Writer of literary fiction; Blogger; Event Speaker.

Skill(s): Editing, creative writing (poetry, memoir, and fiction), technical writing, managing proposals, blogging, newsletter writing, problem solving, idea generation, public speaking, willingness to try new things, ability to continually reinvent myself.

Social media platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogger, Pinterest.

URLs: http://madeline40.blogspot.com, http://redroom.com/member/madeline-sharples/blog, http://www.naturallysavvy.com/savvy-over-60, http://www.independentauthornetwork.com/madeline-sharples.html, http://www.psychalive.org/index.php?s=madeline+sharples&image.x=13&image.y=5,

www.MadelineSharples.com,

Accomplishments: Published memoir Leaving the Hall Light On (Lucky Press, 2011); Wrote the poems for two books of photography: The Emerging Goddess and Intimacy; editor of the poetry anthology: The Great American Poetry Show; worked as a technical writer and editor and proposal manager in the aerospace industry for over 28 years where I was awarded the Women of Achievement award in 2005; Volunteer at Facebook page Putting a Face on Suicide and Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, BA in English from University of California at Los Angeles, studied journalism at University of Wisconsin.

Interests: Writing (all genres), family (I love my husband of almost 42 years and my son and his wife – I miss our older son who died in 1999), fitness (I workout every day in some way), friends, movies, reading. I have a mission to educate and make people aware of the mental illness and suicide in hopes of erasing the stigma and saving lives.

In one sentence, who am I? Madeline Sharples, married for over 42 years to Bob, is a retired technical writer/editor and proposal manager, who now works full time as a writer, specializing in memoir, fiction, poetry and blogging.

Is my marketing program beginning to pay off?

So, it looks like there’s been a little movement in my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, Amazon sales ranking this week. It went down from as high as in the one millions to the 700,000s earlier this week, and back up to the one millions again and down to the 300,000s today. Does that mean two books have sold? I have no clue what those numbers mean.

But hopefully all that has been going on in the last few weeks has spurred some sales: my talk at the American Association of University Women in mid November, Marla Miller (Marketing the Muse) highlighting my platform earlier this week and posting my July 19, 2010 blog piece about my journey to getting published yesterday, my showcase on The Hamilton Gallery with links to Amazon for book purchases, and another five-star review

up on Amazon yesterday. It’s really been a yeasty time.

Plus I’ve had more and more Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter connections, and I look forward to a piece about my work and book in a future issue of the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services newsletter. I’ll be interviewed for that a week from Monday.

I just find that I spend much too much time worrying about sales ranks and all the other social networking I’m doing to try to interest people in buying my book.

Maybe it’s a good thing that I’ve taken steps to be hired as a proposal consultant again. Working on a proposal for a couple of months could take my attention away from what’s on my personal network pages and give my life a better balance. 

Paul, four years old

Thank you for sharing my memory of Paul

A big thank you to all of you who have donated and/or signed up to join me on September 25 for the Didi Hirsch annual suicide prevention Alive and Running 5K. 

Now that I'm on the 5K committee I was asked to set a fundraising goal. And at the outset I set my goal only at $500. But thanks to you I just upped it to $1000.00 and I'm only $48.00 short of reaching that because so many of you responded to my Ask. 


Just to give you a little background, I first discovered Didi Hirsch after Paul died. My husband and I participated in their eight-week Survivors after Suicide workshop. And as depressing as those sessions were, they had a lasting effect on me. I also found out that as horrific a story of  loss as mine was, it could always be worse. 


I also reconnected with a person I've known since grade school in Glencoe, IL through my involvement with Didi Hirsch. Stan Lelewer's son killed himself about six years before Paul, and when he heard about Paul through a mutual friend he was at our home comforting us within an hour. Stan's work at Didi Hirsch has been non-stop: a volunteer at its suicide prevention hotline, chair of the Board of Directors, and now a first responder with the police when a call comes in about a suicide. He also encouraged me to get involved, so of course, as soon as I was able, I joined in. I have found that one of the best ways to keep my son's memory alive is to volunteer in his behalf. 


Again, I hope you'll sign up or donate - you've got about a week left. Click here to visit my personal page. -- to sign up or donate. (If you sign up be sure to join Team Lelewer.) 

If you can't make it, please join me in spirit. And if you can join me, you'll easily find me in the crowd. Just look for this sign on my back.

In Memory of Paul

Please join me on September 25 in the race for life

Every 15 minutes, someone loses their life by suicide in the United States. In addition, for every suicide, it is estimated there are 25 suicide attempts.  Many individuals -- maybe even your loved one, friend, neighbor, or colleague -- suffer from severe emotional pain in silence. In that moment when a person in crisis needs someone to listen and respond, Didi Hirsch's Suicide Prevention Center is here to help. In fact, more than 40,000 women, men and young people turned to its 24-hour Crisis Line last year.

Our son Paul's photo will be on the banner this year

You can help save lives by supporting Didi Hirsch's 13th annual Alive & Running 5K Walk/Run for Suicide Prevention. The event will be held on Sunday, September 25, 2011 at La Tijera Parkway in Los Angeles.

More than 1,100 runners, walkers, strollers and friends and volunteers from all over Southern California will join together at Alive & Running to raise awareness and funding for suicide prevention services. Children under 14 have their very own Kiddie 1K.  Proceeds from Alive & Running directly benefit the Suicide Prevention Center, a program of Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services. Founded in 1958, the Suicide Prevention Center was the first program in the U.S. to establish a 24-hour suicide prevention Crisis Line. Now in its 52nd year of saving lives, the Suicide Prevention Center provides support for those who have lost a loved one to suicide; outreach and training to the community; and a Suicide Response Team that works with the Los Angeles Mayor?s Crisis Response team, the coroner?s office and local police and fire departments to provide immediate support at the scene of a suicide.

Your support may make all the difference to a person contemplating taking their life.  

I understand how busy everyone is, and realize that it may not be possible for you to attend.  If this is the case, please consider making a donation. 

Click here to visit my personal page. -- to sign up or donate. (If you sign up be sure to join Team Lelewer.) 

I hope to see you on September 25th!

I've gotten involved

I joined the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Alive and Running 5K committee several months ago. It was in fulfillment of a promise I made to myself - to start volunteering again once my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, was published and on the market. I even wrote about my need to get involved in a charity again in my book.

This committe is a great place to start. It gets me more acquainted with all the services Didi Hirsch provides to prevent suicide and erase the stigma of mental illness, and it's a finite assignment. The event takes place on September 25, and then the need to meet stops. Plus, I've participated in this event for the last several years since my son Paul died.


I've attended several meetings so far - although I feel like I'm not making a significant difference yet. But there's still time. I've begun to ask others to enroll in the event via emails. and I'll ask several local businesses related to fitness and 5 and 10K walk/run events to display information cards at their shops.  I'll bombard my social networks with information as well.


Here's the link to information about the event and how to enroll. 


http://events.didihirsch.org/site/PageServer


If you decide to signup, please join Team Lelewer. Stan is my dear friend from my hometown of Glencoe, IL. He also lost a son to suicide. 

By the way, there's an opportunity to display a photo at the event of any of your family or friends who are suicide victims. My son Paul's photo will be on the banner again this year. So please sign up and join me. I'll be there.

Get Ready for a Great Event That Supports an Excellent Cause - 

Suicide Prevention

Putting a Face on Suicide

The Facebook Putting a Face on Suicide is a personal project of Mike Purcell done in collaboration with the American Association of Suicidology. Mike’s son 21 year old Christopher Lee Purcell, died by suicide in 2008. www.facebook.com/purcellmemorial

As Mike states: every 15 minutes someone dies by suicide in the United States, that’s 96 or so people each day. 

Putting a Face on Suicide [PAFOS] is an ongoing project soliciting pictures of your loved ones who died by suicide. Each 96 pictures will be used in a poster and a video, representing one day’s loss. The posters and videos will be posted on the PAFOS facebook page and may be freely used by any person or organization to promote suicide awareness and prevention. The goal of PAFOS is to collect 35040 faces representing 365 days of loss, and then to visually send a very powerful 35040 faced message. Please go to http://www.facebook.com/puttingafaceonsuicide?sk=wall to see the faces gathered so far.

So far four videos have been complied with the able help of fellow survivors, Mel Maranian and Laura Shearer. My son's Paul's photo is in the Day Four video and his music plays in the background, lovingly edited by Mel. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150197241441770

Another project of PAFOS is a series of posters to raise suicide awareness and prevention. Each has a face and a message. Because Paul was a creative guy, Mike tied his bipolar disorder to creativity and the statistics of depression as it relates to suicide. 

He also asked what organization I supported and then highlighted the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services on the poster.  http://www.didihirsch.org/ Didi Hirsch started the first suicide prevention hotline in the Los Angeles area in the 1950s.

The goals of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, are in keeping with the goals of Putting a Face on Suicide. I believe that together we can raise awareness, erase stigma, and make a difference in the lives of families all over the world.