For the month of April I am participating in the A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. To learn more about the challenge:

My theme for this year is Keep Moving Forward.

Last year at this time it seemed SO far away but I kept writing and rewriting and editing and then hurrying up and waiting and hurrying up and waiting some more and now here it is:

The Back of The Book:

When Sophie walked through my front door that night, I could not believe my eyes. She was a frail, filthy, and hunched-over eighty-year-old woman.

What possibly could have happened to her?

Sophie’s story is one of jealous, vindictive siblings, an abusive husband, and a sexual assault that resulted in a pregnancy and a kidnapping. Her children were unforgiving.

She was left out in the cold by a deceiving judge and then by a group of lost souls that she had devoted her life to serving.

As much as I felt we were getting to know Sophie, and it was starting to feel like she was just another one of our “crazy” relatives, there was still so much that we didn’t know about her.

After more than two years in our home how was it possible that she was still very

much the stranger in my recliner?

“The Stranger in My Recliner is riveting, a book that captures the reader’s attention not just by

It’s fascinating story, but by the light it shines on society’s ignorance about mental illness.

As I read the book, I kept asking myself, “What would I have done?” and more importantly, “What more can we do for all the other Sophie’s out there?”

The author tells this true, gut-wrenching story directly from her heart, and in doing so brings many issues surrounding mental illness in today’s world out into the open for discussion, examination, and hopefully for some change.”

—Peg DeGrassa

Senior Editor, Delco News Network

“After a devastating divorce and while in the hospital for two months with congestive heart failure, I became homeless. My life was changed irrevocably—overnight. Upon my release, I was moved into a shelter. The hospital provided me a ‘protective filing’ with the social security administration, so it only took five months for me to be approved for disability.

If anyone reading this thinks, ‘Gee that will never happen to me, I’ll never become homeless’ they need to think again. Doreen is right. Homelessness can happen to anybody. This book is timely and important.”

—Mary Wallace

Violist, Tampa Bay Symphony; Author of the Homeless Chronicles

Doreen McGettigan started her writing career as a features writer for several Philadelphia area newspapers.

Her first book, Bristol boyz Stomp [Tate 2012] is the true story of the random

road rage attack and murder of her younger brother, musician David Albert.

She is an outspoken advocate for all crime victims, the elderly, the mentally ill and the homeless.

The author lives in Delaware County, Pa. with her husband.

Hopefully I can Keep Moving Forward and this time next year, The Fathers Pain will be on this page…

If you are in the Philadelphia area I am at the Neshaminy Mall Barnes & Noble today from 3-5!

Keep Moving Forward!