International Book Award-Triumph Over Terror awarded Finalist: United States History

Ground Zero Chaplain Bob Ossler and I are ecstatic to announce that our book, Triumph Over Terror is a Finalist in the International Book Awards – 2018 -in the US History category.

Triumph Over Terror was a finalist in the national 2017 Best Books Awards.

Bob and I met in a writers critique group in Millville, New Jersey in early 2015. Bob wanted to tell his story about his time at Ground Zero after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

One story, “Sweeper Man,” was enough to convince us that Bob should write this book.

Bob admits that he is a talker and not a writer, so he had difficulty getting his thoughts down on paper in an organized manner.  In addition, he realized as an adult that he has ADD – attention deficit disorder. (At the present time, the official term is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder- ADHD. However, hyperactivity is not necessarily a problem for everyone with this disorder.)

At any rate, Bob and I formed a writing team. He wrote out his “brain dumps” in emails to me, and I revised, edited, and organized them in a meaningful structure. It took us a year of writing emails, face-to-face meetings, many critique group meetings, outside edits, and more to finish this book, but we did it.

We went to The Greater Philadelphia Chrisitan Writers Conference, organized by Marlene Bagnull, and showed out outlines, book comparisions, short proposal and long proposals around. Bob wore his chaplain shirts and firefighter shirts and caught the attention of publishers, editors, and other writers.

Together, we pitched our book in fifteen minute, face-to-face meetings with publishers and editors. It was like a “speed-dating marathon” where potential relationships begin. We found several interested in our book, but one publisher pursued and wooed us.

“I want that book,” she announced in a crowded hallway.

Two months later, we finished our draft and shipped it off to Scoti Springfield Domeij of Blackside Publishing. After several rounds of revisions, edits, and polishes, the book was published.

Click here to read an excerpt of Triumph Over Terror: “Sweeper Man”

Click here to order Triumph Over Terror on Amazon.

 

 

 

 

VOTE for Triumph Over Terror… Nominated for Christian Indie Awards

Our book, Triumph Over Terror, coauthored by Bob Ossler Chaplain and Janice Hall Heck, has been nominated for the 2018 Christian Indie Award.  NonFiction category.

http://www.christianpublishers.net/18votes/

Click here to vote: 2018 Christian Indie Award.

Triumph Over Terror is a book about Chaplain Bob Ossler’s experiences at Ground Zero after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.

Order Triumph Over Terror on Amazon.

Here is an excerpt:

Sweeper Man’s Hopeless Task

“I must lose myself in action, lest I whither in despair.”  –Alfred Lord Tennyson

Soon after our introduction to St. Paul’s Chapel [where volunteers were housed], a volunteer guide offered to take us on a tour of Ground Zero. As I walked with about twenty other chaplains toward the smoking, smoldering, seven-stories high wreckage of buildings and souls, we passed a fatherly-looking figure pushing a long-handled broom. A dirty sweatshirt barely covered his protruding belly. White chalky ask shrouded his pant legs–the pulverized cement of collapsed buildings intermingled with ashes of cremated bodies. Engulfed in the stench of death, he swept and pushed, swept and pushed at piles of dust-fine ash and dirt, twisted metal and broken glass, chunks of concrete, tangled wires, and papers blown from the demolished towers. Debris stretched as far as the eye could see, endless–but still Sweeper Man swept and pushed, swept and pushed.

To restore order to his street, one man faced the greatest physical and emotional challenge of his lifetime. He picked up his broom to do something, anything, no matter how small.

Swoosh, swoosh. Swoosh, swoosh. A symbol of hope. He pushed his long-handled broom slowly but steadily, shoving away the rubble and ash of shattered buildings and lives.

As our group of chaplains walked by on Sweeper Man’s newly created path, he stepped aside. We greeted him, and he nodded. After we passed him, I looked back. He leaned on his broom, lowered his head, and began to cry. In that overwhelming mess, he looked so forlorn trying to clear his patch of the city he loved. Seeing him weep over his broom broke my heart.

I walked back and embraced him. He grabbed onto me and sobbed on my shoulder. “I’m exhausted from trying to clean up this mess. It’s hopeless. Hopeless. Hopeless.”

I hugged him harder and complimented him on his nice, clean area, and how much I appreciated the time and effort he invested into clearing the trash and junk away. Before I moved back to the group of chaplains, I offered to share a prayer with him. He accepted, so we prayed together and asked God for strength in these terrible times.

Sweeper Man thanked me for the hug, the prayer, and the encouragement. After I turned to catch up to my group, he went back to work with his broom to make his path wider–sweeping, sweeping,

A tragedy of unspeakable proportions left his little corner of New York City totally trashed, but he persevered in his work.

Steady. Reliable. Crushed in spirit, but buoyed with enough encouragement to begin again, to take one more step, to push the broom one more time, to sweep away at the ruins threatening to bury all hope.

Sweeper Man reminded me of an important lesson that day: No matter the job, every single person who works in disaster cleanup is important and needs to be appreciated and recognized for their efforts.

Even though I may never see Sweeper Man again, for one moment in time, our lives connected, and God’s love touched us both.

Used by permission, Blackside Publishing.

Order Triumph Over Terror on AMAZON 

VOTE for Triumph Over Terror in the Christian Indie Awards contest NON-fiction category.

Vote for other excellent writers:

Pam Halter, Willoughby and the Terribly Itchy Itch

Candy Abbott, I’ve Never Loved Him More

MaryAnn Diorio, The Dandelion Patch  and Return to Bella Terra

Kathryn Ross, The Gatekeeper’s Key

Michele Chynoweth, The Peace Maker

Read another excerpt from Triumph Over Terror on co-author Chaplain Bob Ossler’s blog. “Hard Shells, Soft Hearts”    https://wordpress.com/post/bobosslerchaplain.com/100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 Votes…Getting Closer to Our Goal

Please help us reach our goal: to finish up in 2nd place in the Readers Choice Book Competition – book title: Triumph Over Terror in Memoir Category 6. (The #1 book in this category already has far more votes than we could get at this point, so we will be happy with 2nd place.) We need 10 votes…and maybe a few more for extra measure.

Vote here for Triumph Over Terror, Category 6/16 Memoir  Thanks for your help. Deadline: December 10. So vote now.

It’s been a while since I posted on this blog, but there’s a good reason. I was involved in the writing, publication, and promotion of Triumph Over Terror, a book coauthored with Chaplain Bob Ossler about his experiences at Ground Zero in New York City after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Bob Ossler and I have also been posting at http://www.BobOsslerChaplain.com

Writing a book is hard enough, but after you write it and get it published, you have to garner people’s interest and get them to buy it.

Book contests are one way to create interest. Announcements about the contest go on Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, email, and wherever else a writer has online presence.

Thanks for voting for Triumph Over Terror, Category 6/16, Memoir

Click here to order Triumph Over Terror

Related posts:

A.D.D./A.D.H.D and Readers Choice Book Competition

Triumph Over Terror – Finalist – American Book Fest 2017

Daily Post Prompt: Underdog

Quest Conquered: Book Published

A Quest of Another Kind

 

15th Anniversary 9-11 Tribute

#NeverForget. Every September 11, patriotic Americans spend time reflecting on the terrorist attacks of 9-11. They were beyond our comprehension at that time…and even now remain incomprehensible. How could such a terrible attack occur on American soil? So many people lost their lives: firefighters, police officers, first responders, emergency workers, civilians. But America is strong, and we recover from these terrible events. Even so, we do not forget.

Chaplain Bob Ossler spent 45 days working at Ground Zero and his memories of those events are strong. He has recorded his memories and reflections in his book, Triumph Over Terror.  Here are a few of the scenes he remembers taken by photograph friends Chaplain Dan Schafer, Dan Pennino, Mary Gepana Eble, Krystyna Anderson and a few others in a video scripted by Janice Hall Heck and produced by Sam Rempel.

http://amzn.to/2c98g0J

See more on Chaplain Bob Osslers website http://www.triumphoverterror.com

Weekly Photo Challenge: Sept 11 Mirror

15th Anniversary of attacks on the World Trade Center complex.

This image is especially appropriate for this week. One World Trade Center in New York City mirrors blue skies and white clouds…harmony and peace. One World Trade Center represents the hope, determination, resilience, and strength of Americans in the face of adversity. With this new One World Trade Center as a reminder, we will never forget all those who lost their lives (firefighters, police, emergency workers, and citizens) in the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

See more Ground Zero photos on the Triumph Over Terror website by Ground Zero Chaplain and Janice Hall Heck.

On the 15th Anniversary of 9-11, 2001

Announcing…

the publication of Triumph Over Terror by Chaplain Bob Ossler with Janice Hall Heck.

How do we triumph over the hard things in our lives?

Firefighter, paramedic, and ordained chaplain, Bob Ossler spent 45 days at Ground Zero comforting families of victims who died in the 9-11-2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. His observations and memories of those days along with his interactions with people he met in the worst circumstances of their lives make compelling reading.

In Triumph Over Terror, Chaplain Bob Ossler shares how he conquered the continuous recycling of tormenting memories of events and sights that assailed him during and after the terrorist attacks of 2001.

What do Ossler’s insights reveal about finding meaning and purpose in the thick of chaos and personal tragedy? Ossler chronicles the best of humanity–acts of courage and goodness in the midst of overwhelming devastation. While some scenes may make you cringe, the overpowering message of this book is positive: with God’s help, we can overcome.

From the broken fragments of glass, steel, and men, Chaplain Ossler’s mosaic of God’s grace unveils the outpouring of generosity, heroism, and unity of people who stepped up to do something…anything… to help restore New York and America’s hope, pride, and will.

Ossler’s stories will bring tears to your eyes and smiles to your lips, and in the end, you will feel encouraged by the stories of ordinary people serving in extraordinary ways during the aftermath of that never-to-be-forgotten day.

But this book is not just about the events of 9-11. It is a book of life’s lessons learned through tragedy and chaos. In the process of comforting the mourners, the frightened, and the heartbroken laborers sifting through millions of tons of carnage, Ossler learned about the indomitable human spirit in the midst of unimaginable horror and how that spirit can conquer chaos.

As terrorist attacks continue to assault humanity, Triumph Over Terror reveals how your spirit can triumph over terror, chaos, or heartache of any kind.

Here’s what Tim Shoemaker, author of Super Husband, Super Dad and The Code of Silence series and public speaker at family conferences, had to say about Triumph Over Terror. (Tim Shoemaker at http://www.smashedtomatoes.com.)

“Triumph Over Terror by Bob Ossler can be summed up in one word: Powerful. I intended to take just a minute to glance through Bob’s book, but I got hooked on the first page and just kept reading. Triumph Over Terror isn’t just a history lesson; it’s a book full of life lessons.”

Take a few seconds and order Triumph Over Terror from Amazon here.