Next Year in Jerusalem Blog Tour: Guest Post

As part of Pump Up Your Book's blog tour, for Next Year in Jerusalem, I'm happy to be hosting a guest post by the author, Dr., Barbara Becker Holstein.

(Follow along on the Next Year in Jerusalem's Virtual Book Tour at Pump Up Your Book.)

                   About the Author

Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein, internationally known positive psychologist, inspires thousands with her ENCHANTED SELF®. Around the world people benefit from her techniques to enhance well-being, and to live up to their potential. Known for her ability to make complex psychological concepts easy to understand and to implement, she has now turned her talents to novel writing. "A great fiction read is a great escape, and yet, it is more! It is the gateway to new ways of thinking and behaving."

Dr. Holstein received her Doctorate in Education from Boston University and her BA degree from Barnard College. Dr. Holstein has been a school psychologist and taught first and second grades. She is in private practice with her husband, Dr. Russell M. Holstein, in Long Branch, New Jersey. 

Dr. Holstein’s previous books include The Enchanted Self: A Positive Therapy, Recipes for Enchantment, The Secret Ingredient is YOU!, The Truth (I'm a girl, I'm smart and I know everything), and Seven Gateways to Happiness: Freeing Your Enchanted Self.

Website | Blog

When Characters Take Over

the Writing Process

by Barbara Becker Holstein

It would be my pleasure. As I began to write the characters began to direct me. No Natalie didn't want to live in Manhattan! Norwalk worked much better for her. And Maggie I guess needed two love interests, one in White Plains and one in Jerusalem. That was certainly not in the original plot! And I never expected Natalie to be as obsessed with her old boyfriend Jack as she turned out to be. Wow, all of this was beginning to get very interesting, particularly when Jack showed up in Jerusalem.

I thought a lot about Natalie, Maggie and Chaya Sarah, the mystery women, and did create back stories for each of them that don't actually appear in the book. Some of the back stories are in Natalie and Maggie's notes to each other on my blog: http://next-year-in-jerusalem.com/blogs . For example, Maggie is struggling with self-esteem issues around dealing with a guy, after coming out of a bad marriage. In the book we see her doing quite well with two guys, but her issues are still there to some extent.

About the Book

Title: Next Year in Jerusalem! Romance, Mystery, & Spiritual Awakenings
Author: Barbara Becker Holstein
Release Date: September 2012
Publisher: Enchanted Self Press
Genre: Mystery, Romance, Inspirational

You may be wondering why I chose the title Next Year in Jerusalem! for my new novel. Why not Forbidden Romance or Romantic Travel or Spiritual Awakenings or Lust, Memories and Old Friends on Facebook? After all Natalie and Maggie are two women, both caught up in issues that many of us face: a somewhat dull but faithful husband; a bad marriage leading finally to a divorce; a desire for adventure; unsatisfied spiritual longings. They have a great friendship with each other, something research keeps confirming, keeps us young and emotionally happy, but life is far from easy for either women.

So again, why would I focus on a strange title that comes out of a book written thousands of years ago?

Here is one of the reasons. Next Year in Jerusalem! is actually a phrase that shows up at the end of the Haggadah. Those of you who are not Jewish may wonder what that is. The Haggadah is a book that the Jews have used for thousands of years to celebrate and relive the Passover experience. Many people know that the central theme of the story is how the Jews, who were slaves in Egypt, were finally able to escape and began their long journey of 40 years to get to the promised Land, which was Israel. However, what a lot of people don't realize is that this theme is universal and can be taken metaphorically for all of us. That is why when the Haggadah ends with the fourth glass of wine being drunk, and the words, Next Year in Jerusalem! the phrase becomes so significant.

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