Maria Burgess overcame the unthinkable 🥺 and then wrote about it?

View in browser This week on ABTS: Author, trauma survivor, mental health professional, Maria Burgess This season my podcast is all about spotlighting trauma survivors who have turned pain into promise. These people are amazing survivors who have used their own experiences to help heal others. This particular podcast episode does contain a bit more of a trigger warning. As some of you know, September is Suicide Awareness month. My guest Maria Burgess, lost her son to suicide. We're going to be discussing the impact that had on her, and on her entire family. I would like to encourage you to stay for the hard parts, but also want to caution you to have patience with yourself and know your own emotional limitations. This isn't an easy subject for anyone, especially Maria, but discussing it can help prevent it or educate others on how to deal with it after the fact. Maria Burgess is a mental health professional, a mother, artist, and life adventurer. When she isn't trying to promote mental health awareness, she loves to read, hike, and paint. Listen to the Podcast! Next Week, Author and Activist, Mason Carlisle talks about suicide awareness, sexual assault survival, childhood trauma and more. I reached out to a radio station with a press release. In response, they asked me for nude photos? Now I'm... Taking Down Bad Guys The Cloud (the radio station here in Colorado) asked me for NUDE PHOTOS after I sent them a press release. These guys just asked an outspoken survivor of human trafficking for NUDE PHOTOS!! I took the opportunity to post about it on multiple social media platforms including LinkedIn and TikTok, and they ended up taking down their entire Facebook page. Some people might think maybe they were hacked and someone else sent the messages, but if they had access to the account to delete it so quickly, they certainly weren't hacked. They had control over it the entire time. What's more, the timeline doesn't add up. I sent the press release in June, and received a full conversation of responses in September. It's a little too convenient to claim they were 'hacked' if you ask me. I reached out to several businesses who have worked with this specific radio station in the past (including a Christian organization) and several of them responded to me, letting me know that they've demanded an explanation from the radio station. One even let me know what their response was. "I had a brain injury in 2017 that I've never told anyone about," which I interpreted as "I'm going to lie, give you some made up excuse, and then make sure that you're not able to corroborate my story." These kinds of predators are EVERYWHERE. Ignorance is no excuse. We can't just shrug our shoulders and say "that's just the way the world is," because that's NOT how the world is unless we LET IT BE. I'm determined to fight back. Are you? Contact them to voice your complaint. This past weekend I had the honor of being invited to have a booth at my first ever convention, the popular All C's Fan Expo I couldn't believe it when I got the invitation. At first it was because of my artwork, but then the tune changed when the invitation was extended even more heartily upon discovery that I had completed my SciFi series, "Unlikely Survivors" and I just happen to love comic and cosplay conventions myself. I didn't have a lot of different cosplay outfits to pick from, but I certainly wanted to have fun with it anyway. It was a THREE DAY convention! I couldn't just show up in a sun dress and cowboy boots to THIS thing! You'll have to check out my FACEBOOK or INSTAGRAM pages if you want to see photos from the convention. If you'd like to learn more about the All C's Fan Expo,  just click on their poster above, or just click here.  All C's Fan Expo website Oh my goodness, these historical fiction books are downright SSssssssssteamy! But I have to warn you in advance, mine is a clean romance. Not all of these are. In fact, based on what I'm seeing on the covers of these books, mine might be the only one that is! It's officially fall now. You know what that means? It's time for the true readers to be Falling for Fiction! But I have to tell you, some of these book covers are making me think that I need a redesign on my own books. These things are gorgeous! Have you ever heard of Giulia Skye, or Amber M. Adams? Their books are works of art!  Looking for Paranormal, Fantasy, or Scifi Romances instead? Click here. Author Amanda Blackwood Thanks for being a part of my world while you were here. You're welcome to come back anytime you like, and I don't send out Newsletters very often so you're safe. Unsubscribe me