FAQs: Collaborating on Writing: ADHD: You’ve Got My Attention!

Janice Hall Heck is coauthor with Bob Ossler of a brand-new book release, ADHD! You’ve Got My Attention! Strategies for Meeting Life’s Challenges. They coauthored Triumph Over Terror, published in 2016, a book about the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks on NYC, and Ossler’s counseling interactions with broken-hearted people who lost loved ones in the national tragedy.

Heck, a life-long educator in the field of special education and administration, is also a

Janice Hall Heck

professional writer, having written a book about teaching writing to children with learning disabilities during her teaching years. Retired now, she writes, edits, blogs, maintains a website, and plays mahjong in her free time. She splits her time between New Jersey and Florida.

Bob Ossler, her writing partner, has an interesting combination of skills. Paramedic.

Chaplain Bob Ossler

Firefighter. Air-sea rescue diver. Pastor. Funeral Director. Chaplain. Published writer. He’s now retired and lives in Cape Coral, Florida with wife, Susan, and their three-legged Chihuahua rescue dog, Maya. He volunteers as chaplain for the Cape Coral Fire Department.

Here are a few FAQs about their two books.

Jan joins us today to talk about her ventures in cowriting two books with Bob Ossler.

Jan, first tell us about your background in writing.

I was of those quiet little girls who didn’t pay attention in class but daydreamed stories. That was more fun than doing math or social studies. But throughout school, I enjoyed writing and got good grades.

Later, as a teacher of children with special needs, I tried to identity what students were doing correctly in their writing, rather than red lining their errors. Then I set challenges for them: to increase the number of words they wrote, to add descriptive detail, to add action. We used the writing process where we wrote drafts of stories or reports, then revised them together, then published them on the computer. With this process, students could see that they could become writers, and they improved over time.

Positive reinforcement of their progress encouraged them to write more. From that experience, I began to do workshops on teaching writing to children with learning difficulties. Later, I wrote a book on the topic. The book is out of print now, but it did go through three printings with a traditional special education publisher.

How did you and Bob Ossler become involved in writing together about the September 11 terrorist attacks?

A writer friend and I started a critique group in a church where Bob was associate

Triumph Over Terror by Bob Ossler and Janice Hall Heck

pastor. The pastor of the church told Bob, “You have a story to tell. You need to go to this group.” So, Bob joined us even though he claimed that because of his learning problems (dyslexia and ADHD) he couldn’t write a cohesive sentence.

He shared some of his compelling stories about his interactions with broken-hearted people at Ground Zero, and we were enthralled. We agreed that he needed to write his story. We gave him two weeks and asked him to bring a written story to the group for critiquing. We promised to help guide him in his writing.

But two weeks later, he came to the group empty-handed. No story. He said, “I can’t do it. I get too upset. PTSD sets back in and disrupts my life.” In addition, he worried about his spelling and grammar.

I asked him if he could write emails. He said he could. I asked him to send some of his stories by email. He agreed to that. The following few weeks, he sent me over a hundred email “brain dumps” with his thoughts on 9-11’s aftermath. While the stories were long, non-sequential, random, and sometimes rambling, I could see the power in them.

I took Bob’s emails, cut and pasted them, and organized them into topics, then pressed Bob for more sensory details. What did you see? What did you smell? What did you taste? What did you touch? How did you feel?

We used all kinds of techniques to get his story written. We used a tape recorder and let him talk. I wrote out questions on email for him to answer. I listened as he told stories to other people and noted details that he missed on his first retellings. We had long telephone conversations to gather more details. I basically coached him through the entire writing process.

This process was emotionally exhausting for Bob, but he was willing to keep at it. We met for three hours a week for months to go over stories and to add details. Then we went to a writers’ conference with the roughest first draft of a book in history. While several editors and publishers expressed interest in the book, one got very excited about it and insisted we send her the manuscript. After that, we worked with that publisher, Scoti Domeij of Blackside Publishing, to produce the book.

How did the book on ADHD come about?

Our book, ADHD! You’ve Got My Attention! resulted from a conversation with Bob’s

ADHD: You’ve Got My Attention!

police chief in Millville, NJ, where he volunteered as a chaplain. The chief had read in Triumph Over Terror, our first book, that Bob had ADHD. His son was having difficulties in school and his big question for Bob was: “How did you overcome your learning problems to become a successful adult.”

Bob spilled out what he had learned through his own struggles in school.

Later that day, Bob told me about that conversation with the police chief. My response: “Bob, that’s your next book. You’re successful in life. Tell people how you overcame your learning difficulties.”

And that’s how it started. As we wrote this book, Bob had to review his school years and his learning problems and think about how he coped. He did have many failures, but he also had successes. He figured out what worked for him and what didn’t work. We put those strategies in the book.

Conventional classroom learning didn’t work for him. He couldn’t sit still and focus on uninteresting lectures. His inability to maintain attention on a “talking head” (the teacher) prevented him from digesting the material covered. Daydreaming was far easier and more interesting. His reading slowed him down. He did manage to squeak through high school, but his weak writing skills and test-taking skills forced me to drop out of several later-in-life academic pursuits.

But Bob found success and eventually obtained a doctorate in pastoral ministry. Along the way, he identified ways to circumvent his learning difficulties.

He found success as an adult with an external studies program at Moody Bible Institute: self-paced, individualized instruction, programmed learning, and after a time, oral exams. Oral exams enabled him to show my mastery of the material covered in the courses. A mentor encouraged him and enabled him to keep going. After seventeen years of part-time study while working full time, he earned that cherished degree, a Masters in Pastoral Ministry in May of 2000. He then became ordained as a chaplain. Later he earned A Doctorate of Pastoral Ministry.

My role in writing this book was to help develop his stories and help Bob identify the many strategies that he unconsciously developed as he coped with his struggles. I added insights from my own teaching and administrative years about teaching children with learning differences.

Note: While the official name of this learning problem is Attention Deficit Learning Disorder, I prefer to think of it as a “learning difference.” Disorder and deficit are far too negative to use with these learners who simply learn in less restrictive settings with engaging methodologies.

What words of wisdom do you have for new writers?

Advice to new writers?

1. Practice your craft. Write, write, write. If you can’t write, and you think you have a compelling story, find a writing partner, and work out an arrangement. Executives have secretaries to write their letters and reports. Do the same. Just keep writing.
2. Join a local critique group. If you can’t find one, start one up yourself. You never know. Writers are the most supportive people around. They will nurture you and guide you in your writing. Even if you only write your memoir for your family, it will be a good experience. But be ready to hear all critiques…even if you don’t like what other writers have to say. That is the hardest part about writing, but in the end, that is the best part. If you listen to your critiquers, they can help you write better. You don’t have to take all their advice, but you need to evaluate it all and use what feels right for you.
3. Go to writers’ conferences. There you will meet accomplished writers and novice writers. Attend the craft workshops and hone your skills. The excitement (and yes, sometimes discouragement) of a conference will help you keep going with you own writing. Don’t give up.
4. In your writing, look for ways to connect with people and the emotional difficulties of life. Find their point of pain and help them work through it. For Bob and me, it has been our faith in God that has pulled us through difficult situations. In writing, we share the most vulnerable parts of our being in the hopes that sharing our pain will help others share theirs. Once a person talks about their pain, healing can begin.
5. Keep writing.

How do your family and friends support you?

One, family members and friends learned not to ask every time they saw one of us, “How’s the book coming?” That is a most frustrating question. Sometimes we made great gains in writing, but then we realized we needed to slow down to revise, edit, polish, and live life. Writing takes time. Our first book took one full year to write. Our second book took three years.

Two, our family members bragged in our hearing that we were writers! Sometimes we felt shy about calling ourselves writers. Who were we? Nobodies. But our family and friends didn’t see it that way. They loved us and supported us.

Third, they gave us time to write without interruptions.

All in all, our writing journey has been rewarding, cathartic, emotional, and sometimes fun. Maybe we’ll do it again! But not yet.

Click on these links for more information:

https://amzn.to/2kporv5

https://amzn.to/2NZT8Do

 

Book Release: ADHD: You’ve Got My Attention!

Finally, after three years of work, Bob Ossler and I have released our book on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD. Bob grew up with undiagnosed ADHD and struggled with learning problems, yet he succeeded as an adult despite these difficulties. ADHD: You’ve Got My Attention! recounts his problems throughout life–childhood to senior citizen–and gives suggestions for managing the difficulties ADHD presents.

Janice Hall Heck, a teacher of children with special needs for over twenty years and an elementary administrator for sixteen years, offers additional suggestions for teachers and parents.

—–

YOU–or Someone You Know- Has ADHD!

Here’s a book that will help you with your symptoms–or help you understand someone else’s struggles.

ADHD: You’ve Got My Attention! Strategies for Meeting Life’s Challenges

What’s it like to go through life with ADHD? To fail over and over again? To be criticized for poor performance or inattention to details? To wonder why you are so different from other people? To hide your feelings and pretend you’re okay?

Many books describe individuals with ADHD. They state the problems–the inattention, distractibility, impulsivity, hyperactivity, disorganization, difficulty managing time, and more. But we don’t see the resolution, the changes, the outcomes for this person. We never find out how these individuals cope or conquer their difficulties—if they do.

Bob Ossler struggled with ADHD all his life—although he didn’t know that term until later in life. He knew he was different, weird even. His red curly hair, his myriads of freckles, his sometimes inappropriate behavior, and his poor academic performance made him the brunt of vicious teasing by peers. He didn’t learn in school; he learned in spite of school. As a sophomore, he mastered chess on his own by studying Bobby Fisher Teaches Chess, a book of diagrams and strategies. Soon after, he trounced every member of the high school chess club, even when playing multiple challengers at the same time.

In class, his oral presentation skills earned him A’s; written work earned him F’s. Clearly, he was an atypical student. Nevertheless, he graduated from high school and went on to join the military where he trained first as an x-ray technician, then a psychology technician, and finally, as an emergency medical technician. After the military, he joined the Chicago Fire Department and became a paramedic/firefighter and air-sea rescue diver.

While employed full-time with the CFD, Ossler enrolled in seventeen years of part-time study to become an ordained pastor and chaplain to fulfill his desire to comfort hurting people. In 2001, he served as volunteer chaplain in New York City after the September 11th terrorist attacks. He describes his experiences at Ground Zero in his book, Triumph Over Terror.

How did Ossler manage all that when he barely scraped through high school? Ossler used his gifts. ADHD brought him difficulties with learning in a traditional setting, but it gifted him with high energy, insatiable curiosity, an incredible memory, the ability to hyper focus in high-stakes situations, a vivid imagination, a competitive spirit, a willingness to take risks, and a compassionate heart.

In his mid-thirties, by chance, Ossler heard Dr. Edward Hallowell on talk radio describing the behaviors of a person with ADD and recognized himself. He tracked down Hallowell’s book, Driven to Distraction, written with John Ratey, and read it from cover to cover multiple times. “That’s me. I have attention deficit disorder.” (Hallowell has written other books on ADHD:Delivered from Distraction and Married to Distraction.Driven to Distraction is an audio book. Listen to it on your way to work!)

Assuming the ADHD label didn’t solve Ossler’s problems, but it provided a measure of relief. He had a nameable problem; other people had this problem, too. He was not alone. Follow Bob Ossler from success on the playground to failure in school. Walk with him from kindergarten through adult learning situations. What did he think? How did he feel? How did he learn? What strategies did he discover to take himself from failure to success? Ossler shares all that in this book. (He was officially diagnosed with ADHD as an adult.)

Parents, your children may have these learning and behavior difficulties. Learn to work with them instead of battling with them. Uncover their hidden feelings of shame and failure. Help them discover their unique selves. Find their hearts and spirits and nurture them.

Teachers, you have these students in your class. Listen to Bob’s advice on how to engage them. Use non-traditional instruction to reach them. Save them from a life of failure and disappointment.

Coworkers, spouses, and significant others, identify the strengths of those with ADD/ADHD and assist them in areas of difficulties. Encourage and praise them for their successes.

Your hearts will be touched as you read this book. God bless you as you reach out to others with similar learning difficulties because of ADHD or other disability.

Click on this link for more information. ADHD: You’ve Got My Attention! 

Ossler and Heck also collaborated on Triumph Over Terror, a book about Ossler’s experiences as chaplain at Ground Zero after the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

Chaplain Bob Ossler

Janice Hall Heck

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

 

Quest Conquered: Book Published

My last post, A Quest of Another Kind,  was about a challenge that my friend Chaplain Bob Ossler and I undertook: writing a book about his experiences at Ground Zero after September 11. It took over a year and more than 1000 typed pages in various drafts, but we completed it and found a small publisher interesting in getting it out in print and ebook formats. Triumph Over Terror is for sale on Amazon and Ingram.

The book, Triumph Over Terror, has been out for just over a year, and we have entered various contests. We claimed a Finalist position in the  AmericanBookFest.com Best Books of 2017 competition, and earned the right to post this award on our blog site and on the book itself. http://www.americanbookfest.com

Now we are in the Readers Choice competition and are presently in 5th place. This competition requires readers to vote for their favorite book. Each author tries to drum up as many friends and readers as possible.  There is not tangible reward for winning this competition–just some bragging rights and a gold sticker to paste on the front cover of the book. Mostly it’s an honor and even a bit humbling to see how many people like and vote for our book.

Would you vote for us, too. Click here. buff.ly/2zYMgjJ Category 6 #Memoir Triumph Over Terror by Chaplain Bob Ossler and Janice Hall Heck.

Please vote for Triumph Over Terror now. Click on the site, then click on the black bar (it says 1/16) at the right corner and wait a second. Then click through to page 6/16, and scroll down to Triumph Over Terror. A little circle will spin to show you have voted.

Thanks.

Triumph Over Terror Paperback – July 19, 2016

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1683550048/

Bob Ossler (Author) › Visit Amazon’s Bob Ossler Page

Bob Ossler (Author),‎ Janice Hall Heck (Contributor)

5.0 out of 5 stars 51 customer reviews

 

A Quest of Another Kind

Weekly Photo Challenge: Quest

Simple Definition of quest…Merriam Webster online dictionary

• : a journey made in search of something

• : a long and difficult effort to find or do something

My friend, Bob Ossler, and I set out on a quest more than sixteen months ago: to write his memories of his work as a volunteer chaplain at Ground Zero in New York City after 9/11.

Bob is a talker and a storyteller. He is not a writer. But he joined a writers’ critique group that my friend, Kathryn Ross, and I organized at Cumberland County Community Church, in Millville, NJ.

Bob started telling his Ground Zero stories and stopped us cold. We listened to story after story, spellbound and teary-eyed.

When Bob stopped talking, silence overwhelmed the conference room. Then, almost in unison, the writers in the group said, “Bob, you must write these stories so readers can see a new picture of what happened at Ground Zero. Your stories tell about people with fractured and broken hearts and spirits. They don’t just tell about buildings that crashed to the ground.”

“I can’t write,” he insisted. “I’ve tried and tried. But each time I end up in an emotional mess. I just can’t do it.”

“Can you email?” I asked.

“Yes,” he answered.

“Then write me emails, and let’s see what happens.”

And that’s just what he did. Bob wrote me hundreds of emails of his memories about Ground Zero. We met weekly for three hours, and I plagued him for more details. We wrote and rewrote. Then we found a publisher, Scoti Springfield Domeij of Blackside Publishing, who caught our vision and encouraged us to keep writing.

Fifteen months and ten reams of paper later, our quest ended in a published book. Writing this book was a journey, a long and difficult journey, but we did it. And here is our final product. It was a quest well worth doing, but we are both glad that it is finished.  What will our next quest be? Stay turned. We are already working on another brainchild.

Triumph Over Terror is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.

For more on this project see our website and blog at www.triumphoverterror.com

http://www.janiceheckwrites.com

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.