Life - just like ups and downs of a Roller Coaster...

 

1.   The title (of Roller Coasters: The Life Kind) suggests that life's emotional highs and lows resemble an amusement park. What inspired you to use roller coasters, Ferris wheels, merry-go-rounds, and other rides as recurring metaphors for grief, faith, and personal growth?

 

Well, that is pretty simple.

I have often thought and previously written songs about such metaphors, including the log flume. Some get wet a little, others get soaked, but generally none are spared.

As Longfellow says in his rainy-day poem, in all lives some rain must fall, both literally and figuratively. It's what we do with those days.

Carpe Diem (and even the subtitle of TBOK:PCD book, # 2 in the series) is an ongoing running thread in my Life and Living series of books (https://tinyurl.com/LifeAndLivingSeries) - seize the day.

What do we do with the days?

Also, the old adage about when handed lemons, do we make lemonade or have a drive-by fruiting - as in the old Robin Williams “Mrs. Doubtfire” movie joke of throwing lemons.

All the amusement park rides do lend an analogical, metaphorical, although I like to joke, I'm far too clever to use metaphors - I use meta-sixes. And, as a matter of fact, I've got a Suno track on that, available at https://tinyurl.com/JLDonSUNO, called “Metaphors.”

I'm too clever for metaphors. I use meta-sixes. LOL.

 

2.   Rick, the “Roller Coasters: The Life Kind” (RC:TLK) book lead, spends much of the story wrestling with guilt. Why was it important for you to explore not only loss itself, but the what-ifs and self-blame that often accompany it?

 

Yes, indeed, loss is messy at times.

Loss, despite the usually accepted psychological trend of phases (Shock, Denial, Anger, Acceptance), we all still really deal with in our own ways - navigating those phases.

Rick, the primary character, is inspired by Rick Springfield, the musical artist, and his album “Shock / Denial / Anger / Acceptance.” The stages of grief and loss often can be accompanied by not just grief, but regret and guilt, the desire to cling to what we can't have again, at least on this level of existence. We will need to pass into the next phase of our Soul's journey, the hereafter, our eternal Soul's eternal life, to see again those that we lost, and our need to move on while on this earth, the need to get by, to do good, do sow good, to reap good here while we are here, and not dwell in any particular stage of the grief.

If hung up in shock, denial, or anger, or even acceptance; which does not mean forgetting. Legacy plays a big part in this, as well as in my other life and living books.

 

 

3.   Music plays an integral role throughout the novel, with references to songs helping shape the mood and even the story's structure. How did your lifelong connection to music influence the way you wrote this book?

 

 

My Father and his band, albeit a Polka band, had a Record deal. While I wrote and recorded (traditional US, not Polish/Polka) music, I never advanced beyond sharing it personally. And I am very happy that, too, along with releasing books, I am actually able to internationally release music via Suno (https://tinyurl.com/JLDonSUNO).

Music is often a big part of people's lives; it usually is, normally is for most people. Most people will hear a song on the radio and remember where they were, or remember who they were with. Remember aspects of their lives through a song that evokes memories. And I want to cross that over into books.

I'm also a big movie fan, and musical scores or songs in movies that set the mood or tone, or add additional references to the story, play a big role. I just do the same with my books, as a song can add a whole lot of additional reference material, mood, sentiment, and wording that doesn't necessarily have to be spelled out directly in the book to help move the reader. As many films are silver-screen adaptations of books, my books are often presented to me in the form of a dream (a mini-movie), and I transcribe them to the page for readers – while retaining the musical score and the motion-picture theater experience in written form.

Likewise, though- or I should say conversely- a song doesn't necessarily have to directly relate. It may just partially relate. And that is important, as I don't want people to just feel; I want people to think when they read my books. So the addition of musical references is additional food for thought to get the reader thinking about things. And I therefore do not necessarily have to spell every little thing out for them. It is then implied. And I can save the reader cost by writing a short story, a novella, or a novelette, rather than each book having to be a 300-page novel (with unnecessary verbiage to build a broader message) to convey still a full story's essence.

Also, in this regard, let me share that the entire Life and Living series has an overall playlist: http://tinyurl.com/CarpeDiemOfficialPlaylist  (which includes some of my own original (https://tinyurl.com/JLDonSUNO created) music – many of the books have their own theme songs, and a few have multiple tunes written to/for/about them).

 

4.   You openly incorporate Scripture and Christian themes while remaining focused on the character's emotional journey. How did you balance the spiritual message with the storytelling?

 

While I make no bones about that I am a Christian author, and I am Joseph M Lenard - though it looks French, it is not; it's Leonard without an “o.”  There is also a Joseph Lenard out of South Carolina. I am in Michigan. The SC Joseph is also a Christian author. So I have to use my middle initial to make the distinction. And I often like to joke: I am not he; he is not me; we are indeed two different people- not just a nom-de-plume writing device- and neither of us will be confused for Shakespeare.

Which is another thing. I do modern telling of modern tales, modern characters for modern times. So why would I write like Shakespeare?  Not a disrespect of William, as I at times quote him and other classic authors in my manuscripts. I'm not writing about the Renaissance era. So I write in our modern American English parlance (not Oxford, or the King’s English) for modern people in our modern times. I even have a CTP episode (my podcast, via https://tinyurl.com/CTPonBITCHUTE) about “I am not Shakespeare, just what does that mean exactly?”

As for the Christian references, again, I make no bones about that. I am a Christian author. While at the same time, I don't want to be overly preachy. I want to deliver the good Word and share Jesus without being an overbearing Bible thumper – driving people away and turning folks off by trying to pound Scriptures into people’s heads. My favorite Christian movies are ones like “The Resurrection Of Gavin Stone” (comedy), “Mom’s Night Out” (comedy), “Risen” (the Christian drama; told through the eyes of a Roman Soldier; not to be confused with a SciFi film by the same name), and the recent “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” comedy, that try a lighter approach to delivering Christian plot points.

A story does not have to take a heavy hand, pound people into submission, to deliver a good and positive message. Give them a journey of discovery, and let them leave having decided many things for themselves rather than being indoctrinated or manipulated (though any story, book, or screen tries to “nudge” an audience in one direction or another, or it wouldn’t be produced).

People sometimes, if the hand is laid too heavily, if it's dealt in and dwelt on too much, will not take the message well and, in fact, push back and reject it (a backlash, and directly opposite of author desire/intentions). So I try to strike that delicate balance. I am writing for all audiences, not just fellow Christians (so I don’t want any heavy-handed “Bible thumping” taking place in my works (my fiction works anyway, less true of my non-fiction https://tinyurl.com/ChristiTutionalistEduSeries of books)).

 

5.   You mentioned in the book that the intentionally repetitive and sometimes fragmented writing style mirrors the way grief and obsessive thoughts can cycle through a person's mind. What made you decide to take that creative risk?

 

While I like taking risks in many regards. My books are purposefully varied in the storytelling methodology. Not carbon copies of the writing and tale-telling style of the ones that came before it/them (more on this later).

I felt it was important, as I have health issues- many health issues (as my doctors can attest to)- one of which is that I struggle with a combination of ADHD and OCD. The two are not necessarily always mutually exclusive. They are on a spectrum, just as there is an autism spectrum. Some days, one may be worse than the other. On other days, it may jump back and forth between the two.

So I wanted my character Rick to have the condition so that those out there can relate to it because a lot of people might hear OCD and the only thing they have in their mind is Howie Mandel and his germophobia. While that's one aspect of OCD, that's not the only aspect or condition within the realm and spectrum of ADHD and/or OCD issues.

And that kind of brain fog or uncertainty in one's mind, especially when it's complicated and met with grief, aggravation, agony, and the parts of regret or guilt pulling you in different directions. I wanted to express that through some indeed bit of repetitiveness and fragmented thoughts because our lives are not always as structured as we like them to be, and in all of my Life and Living series of books, I want to reflect reality, not as we might prefer things to be.

 

 

6.   This is the fifth installment in your Life and Living series, yet it does stand on its own as a deeply personal story about love, loss, and legacy. Where does this book fit within the larger themes you've been exploring across the series?

 

Yes, in 2022, I initially released my first internationally published book. I've been writing my whole life, but 2022 saw the release of my first internationally published book, “Terror Strikes: Coming Soon to a City Near You,” a full novel. And after that, I had no intention of it being the start of a Life and Living series, but then the light bulb went on in my head because, yes, while Terror Strikes is about terrorism. It is not a book about death and destruction, but about life and living. Life, over death; hope, over fear; faith, over despair; love, over hate; good, over evil; individualism, over collectivism; freedom, over tyranny; family, and friends.

So after that book, I thought yes, a whole Life and Living series made sense. And not in a Harry Potter or a Clancy set of novels like Jack Ryan, where the main character remains the same across the entire series as the continuing thread. Each of my books in my Life and Living series of books is a standalone book in its own merits, each with its own primary main character, while yes, some of the characters cross over in minor cross-references, but you don't have to read the series in order; you don't have to read the whole series. You can read each book as an independent standalone, and indeed “Roller Coasters: The Life Kind” focuses more on loss, even though “A Short Story: A Lasting Legacy” also addresses it.

And that title is a bit of a misnomer, as “a short story” in that regard is that it's an actual novelette in page count size, “a short story” in that case relates to Ryan, the primary character in that book, whereas Rick is the primary character in RCT:TLK, and Kennedy (or KT, as she is known as) is the primary female character in my  “The Book Of Kennedy: Project Carpe Diem” (TBOK:PCD) in the Life and Living series of books.

 

I like each book to have its own new primary character. So each is a standalone, dealing with its own aspect (sub-set) of overall life and living (human nature, the human condition) while still relating to the others as part of an overall exploration of life and living.

Also, I do not like cookie-cutter manuscripts (though, yes, most books need to touch on “formulaic” bits and pieces readers expect, and to maintain a flow that is not completely alien to the person(s) you’re presenting a story to). With each of my fiction books, I also like to “change up” (mix up) my writing styles. For instance, while narrative storytelling is my norm (little dialogue, in fact in a few of the manuscripts while there may be some quotations no real character to character dialoging within; pure narration from the characters perspective/mind-set/viewpoint), in the “A Lasting Legacy” manuscript I deviate to telling that tale via “Journal entries” style – whereas we explore most of that book peeking in on Ryan’s Journal entries samplings over his lifetime to shape the story until the final “Eulogy” chapter.

 

7.   If readers walk away from “Roller Coasters: The Life Kind,” remembering just one lesson about living, loving, or coping with loss, what do you hope the lesson will be?

 

Well, the ongoing theme, and again, which loosely ties together the whole Life and Living series, is a life philosophy that I've had. Things could always be better, but they could often be worse. So I generally have my characters share that sentiment as well. This is a “fallen world,” and there's no such thing as “perfection” down here – for anyone. We all have good days, bad days, indifferent days – mediocre days with some bright spots inter-woven in (indirect quotation from TBOK:PCD).  No, most people’s lives are not like an Action or Drama playing out on the silver screen.

Relationships, family or friends, require WORK. Things will not always “go our way,” and that is OK. It is part of life – some give and take (not all give, not all take). It is being a good human to care about others, not just ourselves; we have to want to “please” others as well as be “pleased” ourselves in the way our lives are playing out. And too, a focus, an understanding, this worldly trial is an audition; we shall be judged for our actions and/or inactions (yes, like the RUSH song: “if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice” within our God-given free will)!

RC:TLK specifically – need to remember, loss is not the end of something. It is just the start of a new phase. And that acceptance doesn't mean forgetting (just moving on, moving away from). A person only is truly dead, fully gone, truly lost - if we allow them to be forgotten. Hence why legacy is a major sub-thread in all my Life and Living series of books also.

My writings not just about a legacy for me beyond my living years. But an extension, and a keeping alive the memory and legacy, of my parents. As well as others' legacies, via fictionalized tales.

If you like what you’ve heard here, you will like my manuscripts (not just RC:TLK that this particular discussion is about). Each one, in writing delivery style, may or may not be your specific preferred delivery mechanism “cup of tea,” but overall the sentiments and “we need to try to deliver more good than bad, give more than receive, etc.” themes are things you’ll enjoy cozying up with between their pages. Probably even my “really OUT THERE” (pun intended) “Is ET Really Here?” SciFi (really short story, Amazon $ 0.99 USD eBook and Amazon $ 3.99 USD audiobook versions exclusive) adventure.