About Sammie Marsalli:
As an author I am certainly not an expert or an authority on Alzheimer's. I am definitely not a professional author and didn´t pretend to write an authoritative masterpiece. I never pretended to be either one of those things. I am simply an ordinary “John Doe” caregiver, husband sharing my experiences living and caring for my wife with Alzheimer's. We have been married 43 years, 3 kids now grown up, a great dog most of those years, a typical family on our own trying to hold on to my wife and avoid her shutdown. I began to realize there are probably other “amateur” folks like me on their own trying to take care of a loved one with this disease and possibly could benefit from my shared personal experiences. Soon this diary turned into this book.
This book started out as a daily diary of how my wife´s behavior was dramatically changing and how I was affected and began to relate to her differently. Writing helped me ventilate my deepest emotions and reactions in private as they were too personal to express to others. Somehow writing "alleviated" my continuous sorrow. Soon this diary turned into this book.
Preventing Her Shutdown is my desperate effort to keep my wife with Alzheimer's "connected". In Real Time there are very personal unloaded feelings, emotions and reactions expressed, never confided to anyone while slowly losing my wife.
There are no two profile behavioral changes alike with Alzheimer´s. I describe these dramatic changes with my wife who is in the beginning of the advanced stages. My reactions have always been intuitive in my desperate attempts to keep her “connected” with me, family and her surroundings.
Real time experiences and actions "racing against the Alzheimer's clock" to keep her communicating and interacting every day, even though she no longer speaks are detailed in my never-ending battle to prevent her shutdown.
What inspires you to write?
This book started out as a daily diary of how my wife´s behavior was dramatically changing and how I was affected and began to relate to her differently. Writing helped me ventilate my deepest emotions and reactions in private as they were too personal to express to others. Somehow writing "alleviated" my continuous sorrow. Soon this diary turned into this book. Hopefully it can help others who are on this same tortuous journey identify and relate with the events I described in this book.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
Nancy L. Mace, Joanne Koeing, Jean Carper
Tell us about your writing process.
I began taking notes daily as a diary of events, emotions and decisions. Consequently what is described is not necessarily in sequence or chronological as what is expressed and felt "in real time" when changes in behavior happen at any given moment, never shared with others so as not to become a burden of worries and concerns interrupting ongoing lives. Also, sharing with others only generates empathy and pity, maybe even boredom and I don't want any part of it. Hearing "poor thing" when referring to my wife doesn't help my morale at all. I can't do this journey feeling sorry for myself. I truly believe everyone in my family is suffering the same pain, especially my kids when they see their mother but all of us are superficially acting out “everything is fine” so as not to burden and hurt each other. I don't go to them and they don't come to me probably for the same reason. You could say this is our “therapy” for each other. Writing this book is helping me get through this. Writing about the events of the day and expressing my emotions on paper not only helped me ventilate but helped me sort out how I was going to act differently the next day. Writing helped me make new decisions about what to do differently tomorrow and analyze what I was doing wrong. In another words I was writing when I felt I had to say something and "just let go".
What advice would you give other writers?
In nonfiction be straightforward and honest. Be
careful with your words. Words impact people. Relax when writing and just be yourself. Don´t write for the public. Write for you. Your public will find you.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I discovered by accident that I could self publish a book on the internet. As the volume of my diary was mounting to something quite big, I thought maybe I could share my experiences with others living my same situation that could help them on this tortuous journey. As I explained writing was also my therapy to write. Publishing meant my words and thoughts were important. I live alone with my wife and this is my first attempt to write and publish a book. Why not? I wasn´t looking for another income which made it easier to write without pressure. Writing is a way to "release" what you really feel and want to say without any superficiality.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
The future looks great as many new independent authors through technology can now self publish. I am sure self publishing will continue grow.
What genres do you write?: nonfiction, biography memoirs, health wellness
What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print
Website(s)
Link To Sammie Marsalli Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on Library Thing
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.