Mother-child Writing Teams Celebrate a Special Bond

(PRWEB) May 7, 2004 -- Mother-child Writing Teams Celebrate a Special Bond

Collaborating on a creative project can be bonding experience-and when the collaborators are a mother and child, its a way to celebrate and deepen the bond that already exists. Several mother-child writing duos have taken advantage of a new publishing paradigm, print-on-demand publishing, to write and publish a book together. With self-publishing services provided by AuthorHouse, Bloomington, Ind.-based publisher, the teams were able to write a book together and get it published quickly and easily.

A Childs Hero
After touring the birthplace of talking movies, 8-year-old Luke Colella asked to buy a book about Theodore W. Case, the famous inventor who put sound on film. He was told a biography was never written. Luke and his mother, Antonia Colella, decided to fill the gap and write the untold story of the talkies". AuthorHouse, the countrys largest self-publishing company, published their book Now Were Talking: The Story of Theodore W. Case and Sound-on Film last fall.

Now 10, Luke enjoys music, collecting baseball cards, sports, family, friends and school. His mother, Antonia (Toni) Colella, is a reading teacher with degrees from Rosary Hill College, George Washington University and Syracuse University. She has written articles on education for newspapers and professional journals, and in 1999 created the New York State Newbery Quiz Bowl. Mother and son enjoy life in Auburn, New York.

Mother and Daughter Plan a Wedding
When Sheila Kelly Kaplan started to plan her wedding in 2002, her mother Denise A. Kelly, was on hand to help with all the details. After a whirlwind of mishaps, laughter, conflict and tears, the two decided to record the whole experience in a book of their diaries. A Mother, A Daughter, A Wedding: Diaries of Bridal Chaos, Conflict and the Bond that Endures tells the moving and hilarious tale of the wedding and their loving relationship. Denise Kelly, mother, lives and writes in Central Pennsylvania, while daughter Sheila Kelly Kaplan, lives, works and writes in Manhattan, NY.

Sharing Widowhood
Sometime the experiences a mother and daughter share are the hardest kind, losing a husband and father. Mother-daughter duo Barbara Whitman Gaeta and Susan Whitman collaborated on a cathartic collection of vignettes, Wit and Wisdom for Widows: Beginning Anew that both inspires and amuses. Uplifting and humorous, the book offers widows the tools that will empower them to create a new life. Mother and daughter live in Ione, Calif.

About the Books
Now Were Talking: The Story of Theodore W. Case and Sound-on Film
Between 1928 and 1929 silent movies slipped away and "talkies" took over theaters around the world. Movie producers rushed to carve their names on the revolution, pushing aside the scientist who invented the tools that transformed the industry.

Now We're Talking is the exciting biography of Ted Case (1888-1944). In a backyard laboratory in Auburn, New York, Ted discovered a way for sound and action to be synchronized on moving film and then replayed as a natural illusion.

The book looks at Ted's fascination with light and sound waves at Yale University and his top-secret work during World War I. It follows his rise to the pinnacle of motion pictures and exposes the business deals of movie moguls that deprived him of recognition and his life's legacy.

Although written with the intermediate reader in mind, scientists, historians, inventors, movie engineers and students of all ages will be deeply moved by Ted's perseverance and passion for research and development.

The story of Theodore W. Case, one of the great inventors of the 20th century, has now been told.

A Mother, A Daughter, A Wedding: Diaries of Bridal Chaos, Conflict and the Bond that Endures
Come along on a whirlwind wedding journey and finally see it from both perspectives: the brides and her mothers.

With less than six months to plan her dream wedding, Sheila envisions a glamorous Manhattan event, while her mother (the MOB") prays it will be in her central Pennsylvania hometown. Thats just the start of this true account of the incredible wedding planning mishaps and roller coaster emotions of a mother and daughter...by turns close confidantes, and completely at odds.

Watch as the impending nuptials turn them into panic-stricken control-freaks. See how their best-laid plans gone tragically wrong ultimately strengthen their bond. Their strikingly honest, hilarious and poignant diary entries will take you on the wedding-planning adventure of your life!
This book is for any bride or MOB who wants a break from endless to-do lists or wedding etiquette books--for anyone who has ever fought with her mother or wondered what her daughter was thinking--and for anyone who wants to peek inside the outrageous world of 21st-century weddings. This book is real life...with joy and sadness, regrets and ecstasy, embarrassment and pride. It is sure to keep you laughing and crying until the end. \

Wit & Wisdom for Widows: Beginning Anew
Written by a mother and daughter who experienced widowhood from unique perspectives, the book addresses the emotional, social, and spiritual needs of women who lose their life partners to death. The two share how this experience brought them closer to one another and changed their lives forever.

Uplifting and humorous, the book offers widows the tools that will empower them to create a new life. Wit & Wisdom for Widows provides helpful information, stimulates thought and action, and brings clarity to the journey a widow takes. Gaeta and Whitman purport that becoming a widow may be one of the best things that has happened to the widow because she has the opportunity to live a new life that wouldnt have been possible if her mate were alive. They defy traditional ways of living life as a widow.

The more than vignettes will warm the heart and nourish the soul. Recognizing that their very personal walk is one thats created daily, widows will find comfort, inspiration, and motivation to approach the new life that fate hands them with joy and enthusiasm. This book is written for more than 11 million widows in the United States, those who will become widows, and those who care for and support them.

Each new and veteran widow will benefit from the practical and solid suggestions made by the authors. Its time for widows to receive the assistance they need and the attention they deserve. Its time for them to realize life begins anew with the death of their mates. Wit & Wisdom for Widows will encourage, challenge, empower, and inspire widows to walk a new walk and live a new life.

Widow Barbara Whitman Gaeta and widow-to-be Susan Whitman have formed a mother-daughter team to create a greater awareness about the emotional and spiritual needs of widows. Gaetas husband of 40 years died suddenly in 1986, six months after her mother became a widow. Whitmans husband is 14 years her senior, making her impending widowhood very likely. Because of the widow experience, Gaetas journey with Whitman changed them both in ways that only widows and their families can understand.

Gaeta, widowed for ten years and now happily re-married to a man twelve years her junior, had a facelift, colored her hair, got a small tattoo, and joined a naturist club . . . things she would have never thought about doing if she had not become a widow. These were ways she celebrated the fact that life continues when one mate dies. As an entertainer, she has a delightful sense of humor that engages her audiences. She epitomizes what Wit & Wisdom for Widows: Beginning Anew is all about -- creating the life you want to live.

Gaeta has been engaged in research about widows since her husband died. Together with Whitman, they have created a workshop for widows to address their needs and concerns. Theyve interviewed numerous widows about their experiences, shared their own, and are perpetuating that spiritual bond of knowing and appreciation in the widow community.

Professionally Gaeta, now a consultant in volunteer program management, has worked with diverse organizations. Shes served on boards for the American Red Cross, First United Methodist Church, and Epilepsy League. Shes been the spokesperson for the United Way of Oakland (CA), American Red Cross, Epilepsy League, Oakland (CA) Unified Schools, and the Alzheimers Association.

Gaeta has been honored as the Woman of Achievement for Business and Professional Women (Los Gatos, CA), awarded the Golden Rule Award by J.C. Penney for community service, and received the ten Gallon Blood Donor recognition by the American Red Cross. She worked on the National Red Cross Disaster Relief Team in Alaska in 1967. She has been writing journals, stories, and poems for many years.

Whitman, happily married for sixteen years, is also an engaging and entertaining speaker. She observed what could be construed as strange behavior for her mother, a woman in her mid-50s, with delight and support. Her relationship with her own husband has been significantly enhanced because of her mothers experience, appreciating every moment that she has with her husband and celebrating each day for the joy it brings. She encourages others to look at life in a similar way, recognizing that fate, old age, disease, or disaster could end her mates life on this Earth at any moment. Her interest in widows issues began when her mother became a widow and she realized she, too, would become a widow one day.

Whitman is an organizational development consultant and owner of Dynamic Teams. Shes an active member and Certified Lay Speaker for the United Methodist Church. She was an elected official as city councilwoman for Pacific Grove (CA) for eight years, serving on various committees. She has served in leadership roles for numerous community organizations. She has made hundreds of speeches to government, community, religious, and professional groups on topics of government issues, leadership, women in politics, and professional development.

Whitman has been honored as Woman of the Year by the Business and Professional Womens Association, Housing Advocate of 1990 by Monterey/Carmel Council of Real Estate Boards, and Woman of Achievement by Soroptimist of the Monterey Peninsula.