Author S.B. Lerner: What A Psychic Predicted

Please join me in welcoming S.B. Lerner, author of the women’s fiction short story and memoir collection e-book IN THE MIDDLE OF ALMOST AND OTHER STORIES, as she tours blogdom on her first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

S.B. worked as an attorney in Manhattan for many years, and in the evenings she wrote and published short stories. That work is now available as a collection entitled IN THE MIDDLE OF ALMOST AND OTHER STORIES, which I reviewed yesterday.

S.B. is here to tell us what a psychic predicted for her and how it related to her writing.

Last year I went to a New Year’s Eve party which featured readings by a psychic. That’s not normally the kind of thing I go in for, but a spirit of adventure was in the air and I joined the queue. When my turn arrived, I entered for the eerily quiet room set aside for the psychic and had a moment of panic that she would predict something awful for me and almost bolted. But it was too late. Too awkward. Anyway, she didn’t look dangerous, although she was dressed for the part in colorful flowing fabrics, dark red lipstick and thick black hair wrapped in a scarf.

We exchanged a few pleasantries and she explained she would be communicating with my Angels or Guides. Then she got very still, concentrated hard, and after a minute or two, she began to speak. My Angels told her I was writing and that my work was important, both for me and for the world. They revealed to her (and her to me) that in the upcoming year I would find a champion or sponsor. I immediately thought that meant I would get an agent. 

She asked if I had any particular questions, and I mentioned feeling isolated, writing alone in a room for hours each day. She assured me that my isolation would soon end and there would be activity and excitement in my life. I felt a surge of hope and planned to call her for another reading, and as I write this now, almost a year later, I’m thinking that I will.

Because, in fact, this year has seen a surge of activity. First, I took the plunge into self-publishing (I like to call it indie publishing) just to get a feel for the process. I assembled a group of stories and memoir that had been previously published in literary magazines and newspapers and would have languished in obscurity as individual pieces, and put them out as a collection called, IN THE MIDDLE OF ALMOST AND OTHER STORIES. I made them available on Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Kobo and Sony Reader and Smashwords.

As part of that effort, I began to engage in social networking. Until then, I’d spent most of my computer time on Word, writing and revising my novel. I was on Facebook just enough to keep an eye on my son and connect with some old friends. I had no website, didn’t really understand blogs and was clueless about Twitter, which sounded so silly I couldn’t bring myself to even read up on it.

But I did read up on social networking in general. I realized I’d need a website—a place where all the information about me, my short story collection, and my novel would be together and available to people who were interested in my work. I established a website (http://sblerner.com), blog (http://susanblerner.com), Facebook Book page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/In-the-Middle-of-Almost-and-Other-Stories/265178710186807?ref=tn_tnmn) and recently, a twitter handle! (@sulerner). One thing led to another, and suddenly I was “out there.” 

It’s strange; I still spend a lot of time at my desk, and yet I am connected to the world by virtue of participating in social network activities. I join groups. I comment. I end up making virtual friends from all over the world, from Bangledesh to the U.K. to Colorado. People read my book and some of them comment on it or analyze the stories, seeing things in them that I hadn’t. I still find it strange, in some ways, and totter between enjoying it and wanting to run back to obscurity. But overall the journey has been positive.

I also found a “champion” in the form of a noted writer/editor who read the manuscript of my novel (A SUITABLE HUSBAND) and is fully convinced of its merit. He believes that not only will it be published, but that it will sell very well. He recommended me to some small publishers, and I have had some offers. I am about to sign with one.

All in all, it has been an interesting year and I’ve been working hard. I think I’ll spend the vacation reading other people’s books and see what the psychic says my Angels have in store for next year! 

S.B., thanks so much for guest blogging. It sounds as though the psychic was right and your Angels have guided you down a wonderful path.

Now for a bit more background on S.B. After getting married and becoming a mom, she was struck with the importance of knowing family history, so she researched and wrote the story of her father’s fascinating life. It was through learning about his early passion for a Zionist youth group in Poland that she became interested in the subject of her first novel, A SUITABLE HUSBAND, which is set in pre-war Poland.  

S. B. loves to read historical fiction and novels set in other times and places, as well as to travel and meet people. Travel time is limited, lately, but she teaches an ESOL class and learns about other cultures through her diverse group of students. When not teaching, doing ‘mom’ things or playing with the puppy, she is at her desk working on another novel set on a college campus in New York. 

For more on S.B. and her writing, visit her website at www.sblerner.com, and read her blog ‘Novel Thoughts” through a link on the website. 

Here’s a brief synopsis of IN THE MIDDLE OF ALMOST AND OTHER STORIES: For anyone who has ever sat home alone on a Saturday night… An engrossing collection of funny, poignant and bittersweet stories about busy young women who find men in all the wrong places (the garage attendant across the street, the stay-at-home dad in the playground, the younger man at the diner counter, the blind date) and discover something about themselves in the process. 

These short stories and memoir were previously published in literary magazines and newspapers. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have you ever had a psychic make predictions for you? If so, did they come about?