Interview with memoirist Margaret Norton

Margaret Norton joins the blog today to talk about her first book, a memoir titled When Ties Break:A Memoir About How to Thrive After Loss.

Margaret is having a contest while she does her virtual book tour - it's open to folks who comment and/or Tweet. Details are below.

Bio:
Margaret Norton is a writer, speaker, personal life coach, and It Works! distributor. She blogs about her life at http://healthy-n-fitgranny.com. Her first book, When Ties Break: A Memoir About How to Thrive After Loss, is available as an e-book for just 99 cents on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her grandkids, reading, traveling, photography, and dancing.

Welcome, Margaret. Please tell us about your book.
The day of my father's funeral, my brother expelled me from the family as my other family members stood by and did nothing. He was right about one thing. I had made some bad choices for which I would pay dearly. Divorce, abuse, abortion, death, bankruptcy, sibling rivalry, adultery, drug addiction, low self-esteem - some people suffer from one or several of these in their life; others deal with them daily. What makes the story in When Ties Break different, exceptional, and inspirational is that I have lived through each one of these challenging problems. Through God's help and my own courage and perseverance, I not only thrived after loss but came out on top with a new energy, a renewed spirit, and a greater sense of worth.

What inspired you to write this book?
In 2004, eight people that I knew, including my brother and mother-in-law, died. I started writing to deal with my grief and in search of unanswered questions.

What exciting story are you working on next?
The book was the first thing that I wrote – which is not the best way to start as a writer. Now I am going back to the beginning and doing short stores, articles, devotions, etc. I might write another book, but no time soon. If I do it will probably be a collection of women’s survival stories.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Having my book published, receiving that first box of books.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I’ve been in the mortgage business for 18 years with lots of layoffs in the past few years. When I’m working it’s very long hours and very hard finding the time to write. But I’m hoping this is going to change. I also work as a Personal Life Coach and I’m a distributor for It Works! products. My goal is to be self supporting by the end of this year so that I no longer have to work in the corporate world.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Interesting that my high school friends tell me that I wanted to be a writer. But life got in the way and I never pursued that dream. I was 54 when I started to write.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
You can survive difficult situations. Don’t let others define your goals and dreams. It’s never too late to start over. If you don’t like who you are, maybe it’s time to re-invent yourself.

Readers can find me on Twitter and Facebook.

I'm hosting a blog comment contest and Twitter hashtag contest (#Celebrate 60) from Feb. 6 to Feb. 29. I'm celebrating my 60th birthday by giving away three prizes: one 30-minute FREE life coaching session (by phone - for U.S. residents only), one e-book copy of When Ties Break (for anyone!), and one paperback copy of When Ties Break (for U.S. residents only).

Leave a comment on this post to enter into my "Celebrate 60 blog" tour contest. Each blogger participating in the tour will randomly select one winner from all the comments and enter that name into the grand prize drawing. I'll contact the three grand prize winners for their choice of prize the week of 2/27 and announce winners on my blog on March 2.

***For extra entries into the contest, please tweet about the contest, using the hashtag #Celebrate60 OR tweet about why you love being the age you are! (Don’t forget to use the hashtag.) Anyone who tweets with #Celebrate60 will get an extra entry into the contest for the three grand prizes. Any questions? E-mail Margo, Margaret’s publicist, at margo (at) margodill.com.

Thank you for being here, today, Margaret!