I’d like to welcome Lauren Walstein of After
by Barbara Ehrentreu.
RW: What’s your story/back story? Why would someone come up with a
story about you?
LW: My dad had a heart attack and I picked up the phone when he
called my mom. After that phone call everything changed in my life. I think of
life as before and after the phone call.
RW: Can you tell us about your hero?
LW: I guess my heroes are the Mets and Joey, my BFF.
RW: What problems do you have to face and overcome in your life?
LW: Well, my dad is in the hospital, because of the heart attack and
he needed bypass surgery. So I had to go to school, practice for softball and
visit him every day. I had to give up softball practice, and I really want to
get a scholarship or else I can’t go to college.
Also,
I am beginning to like, like Joey since this happened and he has a girlfriend.
She hates me. So, it’s hard to see him as much as I want.
RW: Do you expect your hero to help or is he the problem?
LW: Joey is helping me and that is why I am
beginning to like him more as a boy. He is there for me almost all of the time
with a hug when I need it. Even in the middle of the hall at school.
RW: Where do you live?
LW: Mill Valley, New York. It’s upstate
in Westchester County.
RW: During what time-period does your story take
place?
LW: It’s five years ago.
RW: How are you coping with the conflict in your
life?
LW: I have moments when I can’t take it, but my sister and Mom and I
are getting along and learning to cope with our new life.
RW: Those are all the questions I have for you.
Thank you for speaking to me.
Barbara
Ehrentreu
Barbara Ehrentreu grew up in Brooklyn
and moved to Queens. She has lived and taught in Long Island, Buffalo, NY and
Westchester, NY, as well as a year in Los Angeles, CA. She has a Masters Degree
in Reading and Writing K-12. Currently she is retired from teaching and living
in Stamford, CT with her family. Her second book, After, will soon be available in print. It considers what can
happen to a teen when her father becomes ill with a heart attack. It is based
on her own experiences when her husband had a heart attack and the aftermath of
what she and her family experienced.
If I Could Be
Like Jennifer Taylor, her first novel, won second
Barbara also writes poetry. She has a
book called You’ll Probably Forget
Me: Living With and Without Hal, which is a memorial to her deceased
husband. Several of her poems are published in the anthologies, World Poetry Open Mic, several
international anthologies, Prompted:
An International Collection of Poetry, Beyond the Dark Room, Storm Cycle, and Backlit Barbell. In addition,
Barbara is a regular contributor to the Facebook page: “The Garden of Poetry
and Prose”. Barbara has a blog, Barbara’s Meanderings, and she hosts a radio
show on Blog Talk Radio, “Red River Radio Tales from the Pages,” once a month. She
is a member of Greenwich Pen Letters and SCBWI.
AFTER
The Plot
“After” is a story about the struggles
Lauren Walstein, a fifteen-year-old girl, has to go through when her father
suddenly has a heart attack and undergoes bypass surgery. In one phone call her
life changes completely.
Lauren is a character with whom most
teens will relate. Her best friend since kindergarten, Joey, is going out with
her enemy, and they have grown apart. Before the phone call all she thought
about was getting a scholarship for softball, and the Mets. Suddenly she must
deal with both her father’s illness and being in school. The demands on her
from both ends complicate the story. In the middle of all this, she finds she
is developing feelings for her best friend that are more than friendly. Is he
feeling the same or is he just comforting her? In addition there is Joey’s mean
girlfriend Amber, who doesn’t appreciate Lauren being in the picture. Will
Lauren’s father recover? How will Lauren cope with her new feelings for Joey?
An Excerpt:
Chapter One
The phone rang as the
ball left the pitcher’s glove and I glanced toward the sound. Mom’s tears made
me forget all about the game. My life changed while the TV blurred and turned
into a nightmare kaleidoscope. That moment has been indelibly pressed into my
thoughts.
My sister, Diane, was
upstairs hunched over her computer as usual. She’s not a baseball fan at all.
But I lived and breathed for the Mets that fall. They had such a great chance
of getting the pennant and maybe even winning the World Series. I obsessed
about the Mets, and of course, Joey.
Joey, my best friend from
kindergarten, was always there for me. It’s hard to imagine a recess without
him by my side. He’s bigger than I am and always looked a little older than he
was. Mom liked Joey because he assured her he would obey her rules. Maybe it
was his easy smile or his clear, gray eyes.
Lately, though, Joey and
I haven’t been so close. It happened during the summer when he was a counselor
at this camp and he hooked up with this girl, Amber, who goes to our school. So
now he spends a lot of his time with her, and we barely see each other. We used
to watch the Mets together all the time, too. So I missed him being there with
me, and his comments about the players. But all that was before the phone call.
Pre-phone call my deepest thoughts centered on the Mets and finding the sweet
spot for the ball in my new baseball glove. Pre-phone call, my world was
worrying about homework getting done and wondering what lunch would be like on
Monday. Oh, and of course, thinking about how to beat the next team we were up
against in softball. I’m a starting pitcher this year and I want to show my
coach she can believe in me. I’m only a sophomore, but I hope someday to play
college softball. I need to get a scholarship in order to go. My parents have
already told me they can’t swing it without one.
After the phone
call my life was a ball of twisted emotions and all I could think about was Dad,
and how Mom, Diane, and I would get through this night.
Contact
Barbara At:
Website
& Blog: http://barbaraehrentreu.blogspot.com
Twitter: :
https://twitter.com/barbehr
Book
Links—After
MuseItUp Publishing: http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/young-adult/after-detail
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/1120349821
If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor:
(print and ebook)
MuseItUp Publishing: http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/museityoung/if-i-could-be-like-jennifer-taylor-detail
For Nook on Barnes and
Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/reviews/If-I-Could-Be-Like-Jennifer-Taylor%2FBarbara-Ehrentreu/1105870667
You’ll Probably Forget
Me: Living With and Without Hal:
Video
Trailer URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFkmbEG4FhA&t=6s
Thank you so much for the opportunity to be on your blog. Lauren, my character, really appreciates your wanting to hear her story. Mostly people just interview me, the author. So it's cool that you wanted Lauren here.
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