Locks, Hooks and Books: Excerpt Tour and Giveaway: Ya Gotta Laugh by Barbara Alldritt

Monday, February 7, 2022

Excerpt Tour and Giveaway: Ya Gotta Laugh by Barbara Alldritt

Ya Gotta Laugh

by Barbara Alldritt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Short Stories, Contemporary

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

In "YA GOTTA LAUGH", Barbara Alldritt presents a series of short stories based on her own experiences, and those of others, about living life with joy & happiness, in spite of life's challenges.

While pursuing an academic career, Barbara was hit hard by a debilitating disease. She quickly determined she needed a new direction in life. Always interested in writing, she turned to creating stories about this new path.

These are stories that show that even in trying circumstances, there are still ways to find humour.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

Thinking the garden renovations would be complete, we left for my house. As soon as we arrived, I smelled mould and knew I was in for trouble. It wasn’t the typical mould smell I recognized from after a rain. I was hypersensitive to a whole host of airborne pollutants, but moulds were the worst at that time. I had worked very hard to clean up the old house where I lived, and the mould culture test results showed that my one-hundred-year-old house was as free of moulds as a new apartment.

Michael sheepishly walked to the car to warn me. He and a friend had decided to cut down the old apple tree in our backyard while I was out, and because it was a warm day, all the windows in the house were open. The mould smell was everywhere. Inside and out. Michael said he had no idea how rotten the tree was inside before he started cutting into it. Everyone found the smell offensive, and it gave them headaches and made them achy.

My capacity to move declined almost immediately. I used a scooter or a wheelchair to get around, but this was a whole new story. I was effectively paralyzed within two hours even though I stayed outside, away from the stump and its cuttings. We decided to call an ambulance.

At the emergency ward, the doctors agreed the best place for me was in the hospital for the time being. I had never been in hospital before, but I ended up staying ten long days.

Thirty hospital meals.

Two hundred and forty hours of senile roommate mumbling.

Too many rings for the bedpan.

Six bouquets of flowers.

Five washes in the bed.

Five showers (two of them attended by male nurses).

A dozen visitors.

And many other things I’ve chosen to forget.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Author Barbara Alldritt was born and raised on a farm in Saskatchewan and although there was always work around the farm she preferred hiding behind the couch reading a book rather than be out in the fields hoeing potatoes or washing dishes in the kitchen. After High school she travelled extensively in Western Canada and then set out on a 2-year adventure around the world and met her husband on that trip in Western Samoa. They returned to Canada settling in Calgary. Barbara then returned to higher education at the University of Calgary and completed her Honours Degree in 1988, and was awarded the Faculty of General Studies Gold Medal and the Lieutenant Governor’s Gold Medal for that year.

They then moved to Vancouver, BC, and Barbara entered a master’s program at UBC. In the throes of completing her MA and preparing to start her PhD, MS hit her hard and put a stop to her academic work.

Needing a new direction and given her interest in both research and writing she looked into many options for maintaining her health from taking up aqua-fitness to nutrition and what she should and should not eat.She also became active in the MS Society and produced their newsletter, in which she wrote stories that looked at the humorous side of living with a disability.

Many who read her stories were inspired to contact her to tell their own tales and adventures. She interviewed them and added them to the newsletter, resulting in this compendium of stories.

CONNECT WITH BARBARA ALLDRITT

WEBSITE - https://barbaraalldritt.com/

GOODREADS - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21918420.Barbara_Alldritt

PURCHASE LINKS YA GOTTA LAUGH

AMAZON.COM - https://amazon.com/dp/0228854482

AMAZON.CA - https://amazon.ca/dp/0228854482

AMAZON KINDLE - https://amazon.com/dp/B09HKPLHG2

INDIGO CHAPTERS - https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/ya-gotta-laugh/9780228854500-item.html

BARNES & NOBLE - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ya-gotta-laugh-barbara-alldritt/1140284315

BOOK DEPOSITORY - https://www.bookdepository.com/Ya-Gotta-Laugh-Barbara-Alldritt/9780228854487

SMASHWORDS - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1107091

APPLE IBOOKS - https://books.apple.com/us/book/ya-gotta-laugh/id1588808339