Grateful for Everything by Skip Johnson

 

 

Buy  - or peek inside to read an excerpt on Amazon

About the book:

We’ve all felt grateful for something in our lives. But what about feeling in some way grateful for everything that happens to us—whether good, bad, tragically unexpected or carefully planned? 

That’s the premise of Skip Johnson’s insightful guide, Grateful for Everything: Learning, Living, and Loving the Great Game of Life. Johnson’s book opens readers’ eyes to the possibility of finding peace, harmony and fulfillment through the simple, yet challenging, task of being thankful for everything in our lives.  

Drawing on his own experiences as a competitive tennis player and Master Pro, coach and business owner, Skip Johnson has mastered the art of “living and loving the great game of life.” He’s faced some tough challenges, but learned to embrace not only the harmonious times in life but also the ones that made him feel disappointed, worried and even grief-stricken. 

“This book is not a way to learn to be ‘happy’ about whatever happens to your life,” Johnson explains. “What we will explore is how to take the hand that we have been dealt, develop steps to become grateful for the lessons to be learned, and then begin to weave it all into a mosaic of life that resembles more of a great game to play, instead of a mire to be trudged through on a daily basis.” 

Johnson does not promise that difficult times will go away or that “hot emotions,” such as anger, frustration and fear, will disappear. What he does propose is that putting Grateful for Everything into action will create empowering tools to help people deal with these emotions.

Seven Lessons to be Learned from Reading

Grateful for Everything:

Learning, Living and Loving the Great Game of Life 

·       How to successfully see the game in life, as opposed to seeing life as a daily battle we must endure.

·     How developing a spirit of gratitude can open doors you never thought possible and allow you to make a difference in your community.

·    Which personality traits are keys to success and which are landmines to avoid in your journey.

·    Which types of words reinforce your optimistic view of the world.

·    Why some people have a powerful and attractive presence—and how you can too.

·    How to feel more fulfilled by using your gifts to help others feel more fulfilled.

·    How to “put it all together” in a way that is easy and effective.

 

About the author:

 

       

Skip Johnson

 

     

Skip Johnson is a Master Tennis Professional, a designation which less than 1% of 16,000 USPTA tennis pros in the world have earned. Johnson is also the VP of Operations for Gold’s Gym, a small chain of world championship, award-winning health clubs.

Johnson grew up in Carrollton, Ga., and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of West Georgia, where he received a variety of accolades, including conference tennis champion in singles and doubles.
 

He is also the founder of Georgia Tennis Workshops, which is the longest-running, independent, annual, high school tennis coaches’ workshop in the United States. Johnson has spoken to audiences throughout the country, from New York to California to Florida. Articles by and about him have also been published in more than 20 magazines focusing on tennis instruction, fitness and motivational topics. 
 

Johnson is a former Georgia Tennis Professional of the Year, a winner of the Georgia and Southern Tennis Association’s Educational Merit Awards, and one of the few recipients to ever be given the Golden Racquet Awards for tennis excellence and service by the USTA Southern and Georgia Chapters.
 

 

He lives in suburban Atlanta with his wife and four daughters. When not writing, speaking or playing "the great game of health club business," Johnson loves to read about and travel to new communities, cities and countries in search of different cultures, great experiences and amazing places to eat!

 

 

 

Links:

 

Facebook

 

Amazon

Author's Web

Buy The Book Author's Web

Five Star Reviews On Amazon 

 

 

 

 What they are saying about the book: 

"This book makes you open your eyes on everything. Skip shares his wisdom and how we should be thankful for even the small things."

"This book can change your life, it's a MUST read........it will help make sense of today's pressure packed world!"


"It's a amazing book about how to play the game of life."

 

Patrick Smithwick, "Flying Change", Author & Jockey, Booksigning Event at Peachtree Battle Antiques & Interiors in Atlanta Nov. 4th

         

 Don't Miss This Peachtree Battle Antiques & Interiors Event if you are in the Atlanta area!

Meet author & Jockey Patrick Smithwick on Sun. Nov.4th

Books are available for sale at this event!

 About the Book from Amazon:

          Patrick Smithwick has done it again. His new book Flying Change is every bit the sleek, well-bred and fast Thoroughbred as its predecessor,Racing My Father.
           In Flying Change, Smithwick is no longer racing his father. He is racing himself - while continuing with his duties as a father, a husband, a friend, a teacher and a writer.

          This memoir of dueling ambitions is the tale of a man who decides in mid-life to call off all restraints, silence all naysayers, put his mind and body and courage to the test, and do what in his case--he has been away from the world of racing for twenty-five years--is the impossible: within a nine-month period get a horse to ride in the most difficult steeplechase race in the world, and then, ride that horse as if his life depends on it, which, literally, it does.          
         Flying Change is an inspiration for anyone who thought he or she could never compete again.  If you'd like to know what it's like to be a member of the elite racing set, if you'd like to experience firsthand a foxhunt at its most exciting moments, if you'd like to vicariously ride in the Maryland Hunt Cup, then this is your book.   

          The demands in time and energy required by Smithwick's return to racing pull him away from his family and his ambition to write, creating major conflicts. Yet, the fast-paced narrative shows Smithwick striving to carry on traditions from his upbringing and apply them to the raising of his own three children. These sections are positive, upbeat, father-affirming.  Fatherhood--the tensions, the responsibilities, the possibilities--is a topic sorely missing in the American canon. When tackled in American literature, books dealing with fatherhood are most often ones written by a son or daughter describing his or her mistreatment by father who is often either abusive, violent, alcoholic, inattentive, or worse. Smithwick fights against that formula in Racing My Father, a memoir of growing up as the son of A. P. "Paddy" Smithwick, the legendary steeplechase jockey.   
          In Flying Change, Smithwick goes against the grain again. He writes, as a father of three children, about his relationships with them. He addresses the question of what it means to be a father in 21 Century America. Tragedy on the racetrack in the form of death, paralysis, and suicide lurks in the background. This realistic recreation of the world of Thoroughbred racing gives the book a seriousness, and it also creates suspense.

         Flying Change is a must-read for the general audience as well as lovers of the horse and of horse racing. This is not only a racing memoir that catapults the reader through time and space at a breathtaking pace, it is a literary memoir that examines the big questions of how to live one's life.

 

 

 

From the Author's Amazon page:

 

 

 

 

        Patrick Smithwick has been working with horses all of his life. At a very young age he began working with his father, the legendary steeplechase jockey, A.P. Smithwick, who became a trainer after retiring from riding. Smithwick then worked his way through school and college by exercising Thoroughbreds at major East Coast racetracks and riding steeplechase races at such venues as Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course, and hunt meets such as the Maryland Hunt Club and the Grand National.
        Smithwick received a Bachelor or Arts from Johns Hopkins University in 1973 followed by a Master of Arts in creative writing from Hollins College in 1975. After working in the newspaper business for several years, Smithwick began teaching English, philosophy, photography, and journalism at both the high school and collegiate levels. In 1988, he received a master of liberal arts from Johns Hopkins University and in 2000 he received his degree in education for ministry from University of the South. During this time, Smithwick taught as well as held the position of director of publications and public relations at two different schools.
       He has now turned his two biggest passions into two business - writing and training. Thoroughbred steeplechase horse and riding. He also gives talks, teaches part-time, and does freelance writing.

      Visit the Book Website!

Cliff Graubart Book Signing At The Carter Center

September 27, 2012 was a glorious night for book lovers in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Jimmy Carter  Presidential  Library and A Cappella Books presented An Evening with Pat Conroy and Cliff Graubart as they celebrated the release of The Curious Vision of Sammy Levitt and Other Stories by Cliff Graubart, published by Mercer University Press.

Introductions were given by Terry Kay.

Look for Cliff to be featured on book talk later this week!

Cliff Graubart, owner of The Old New York Book Shop, autographs his debut book of short stories.

Available on Amazon and at A Cappella Books

Julius Thompson "Ghost of Atlanta", "Purple Phantoms" and More

Author Julius Thompson

Meet author Julius Thompson at the Decatur Book Festival. He will be a presenter on the Local Prose State at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel, speaking on Saturday, September lst, 2012 at 4:45 PM. His talk will last approx twenty minutes and include a brief Q/A session.

Visit Julius Thompson's author page on Amazon and see all his books.

Mr. Thompson’s journey to compose a trilogy began in 1995. The fourteen year fictional journey of character Andy Michael Pilgrim, from Brooklyn to Philadelphia, and finally Atlanta, is now complete. The novels that make up the trilogy are: A Brownstone in Brooklyn, published in 2001; Philly Style and Philly Profile in 2007; and Ghost of Atlanta, in January 2011.

Mr. Thompson won the 2011 Readers Favorite National Gold Medal Award in General Fiction for Ghost of Atlanta. He also received the Georgia Author of the Year nominatin for Philly Style and Philly Profile, from the Georgia Writer’s Association, in 2007, and Ghost of Atlanta in 2011.

Purple Phantoms, Mr. Thompson’s fourth novel, is the story about the haunting of a mythical high school basketball team, published by Passionate Writer Publishing in 2012. Purple Phantoms earns 5-Star Book Review. "Five ghosts - basketball players whose lives were cut short - return to haunt five basketball starters to help them try to win the coveted State Championship."

A fifth novel is currently underway,  Chasing The Wind.

Something no one knows about you!

   

I was a sports reporter for the Philadelphia Bulletin in the seventies and wrote stories about a young high school basketball star named J.B. (Jelly Bean) Bryant. He's the father of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA superstar Kobie Bryant. J.B. was as talented, but grew up in a different era and didnt' receive the recognition like his son.

Writing Tidbit:

Early in a novel create a "Thumbnail Characterization", which is a short passage that introduces a person in the story: 1. Briefly describing the person physically (external); 2. Giving us a quick sense of the person's personality or character (internal); and 3. treating us to a piece of dialogue that reveals something about the character. This is usually  under 90 words and is a great way to introduce the character. It is a quick way to introduce the character to the reader without a lot of backstory.

Why I write:

In my novels, I want the reader to experience places that are filled with hopes, dreams, challenges, and fears that make us human!

Links:

Author's Website

Books Website

Purchase the trilogy. (A Brownstone In Brooklyn, Philly Style, Philly Profile)

Purchase Ghost Of Atlanta

Julius Thompson is a Redan High English teacher and instructor at Evening at Emory University.

You Tube Book Interview!