Commentary (And A Shameless Plug): Part Of How To Promote Your Books, With An Example

1. Definitely state why you write books (and write in general) and why you want to continue to write books (as well as in general), especially if you want to become or continue to be a full-time author.
2. Suggest for what people should buy your books: e.g., for leisure reading, as belated holiday gifts, to support you as an author
3. Appreciate when someone does buy a book of yours, and even give him or her a shoutout.
4. Be persistent and timely in promoting your books, and "be persistent" does not mean "be harassing" or otherwise "be annoying". If others can and want to buy your books, they will. Likewise, "be timely" does not mean "be badgering" or "promote your books for every occasion and at every interval possible". In fact, being badgering and/or exploitative of every occasion will only be wasting your time and your potential audience's time.

Example:

PS Promoting the books four times on Facebook within five days was enough for now, especially with promoting them once today. 

Just A Quick Note And Reminder

Thank you to everyone whom has bought my books! Part of my goal especially with my books that concern my family history and genealogy research, as I've said in my most recent book, is to help me help others as well for others to help me in my research. For example, as I state in my newest book: 

"I hope that at least one reader of this book will help me warm and thaw the gone-cold trail of Rochla[, the missing relative about whom I wrote the book].... Specifically, I hope that he or she will use the information that I provided and that others provided to me to trace what happened to her. I also hope that anyone else whom is researching what happened to Rochla...will be helped in being given this information, and that any reader who helps me would also help them." 

For any author, by the way, that (that is, to help others in some way) should be a goal (whether it's, for instance, to help a reader in his or her research, give him or her food for thought re a current-events issue, or just help him or her de-stress after a long and di-stressing day).

Now I Can Announce the Following

After quite a few months, I've finished and published my most-recent book with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. It should be available on Amazon soon. PS Part of the reason that writing the book took so long: Depression, ADD, and OCD/Anxiety flareups got in the way. This is also part of why I haven't been as active on any social media (e.g., responding to messages) as much as I could be. I acknowledge thar mental illnesses can definitely affect the quantity and quality of my work (e.g., how much I write and publish and how quickly I write and publish as well as how well I write).

PPS I'll admit that I'm checking constantly to see when the Kindle edition will go live.

PPS:

National Read A Book Day Card From Reilly and Camille

I'm Not Exactly Happy To Have To Make The Following Request, As...

I don't want to come off as desperate. Nonetheless, the request is this: please look into at least buying one of my books, as that would be a real belated Hanukkah, current Christmas, and/or early birthday gift for me. I did the following for a reason, after all:

1. Take the opportunity to publish at least one with Hadassa WordPress when Elena Djima unexpectedly reached out to me to offer that pleasantly-surprisingly opportunity, since I'd been a "Times Of Israel" blogger.
2. Published books via Kindle Direct Publishing
3. Used part of my SSI benefits to set up giveaways and Amazon ads for my books
4. Begin working on new books on which I'm still working.

If you think that I'm thrilled that I still have to be on SSI benefits (which I actually even protested having to be on in the first place) and have God-sent opportunities seeming to go ultimately nowhere for me, you have got to be kidding me (and almost 11 years later, I still call my having to be on SSI benefits "socialist", and this is despite my Cerebral Palsy, mental illnesses, and IBS—and I was hoping that the opportunity to be an author to partly get me off of the SSI benefits would materialize more quickly, not to mention that I haven't had the royalty check from Amazon cashed yet partly because of having to deal with the Social Security office on that. Besides, slightly under $112 over eight months is paltry.).

By the way, I'm giving away another copy of one of my books and may begin working on another book soon. As I said, I'm serious about wanting to become a full-time author partly to get off of SSI benefits—and as I've said, not to ultimately end up in a menial job because all that I'm viewed as is my disabilities, thank you very much—and thank you for considering my request.

PS Happy Belated Hanukkah, Merry Chistmas, and Happy New Year.

Excerpt From "More Shit And Other Stuff That I Can't Make Up": At Least Fudge Was Alive. As For Our Hamsters...

Trust me that they each were dead: 

1. One inhaled refrigerator insulation (Dad's negligence)
2. The second had wet tail
3. The namesake fell into a squirrel-dug hole and fell 16 feet before meeting another six (Dad's negligence)
4. And the fourth died naturally 

With the namesake, by the way, Dad actually named the namesake one to make us think that the name-honored one had survived. At least I give that he used minhag Ashkenazi, even though that wasn't exactly his intent.

What I don't give—or get—is his intent to deceive—which could be called both lashon hara and perhaps shem hara, maybe even chillul shem (and since we're discussing deceit here, chillul HaShem). Even worsely is that we—that is, my sister and I—found out about it only long after both the name honoree and the namesake had been deceased, and even long after the final hamster had been deceased—and we found out when we were having lunch with my father and my grandmother.

To sum this up, then:

1. Dad allows Santa Little—whom, by the way, was named as a compromise for "Santa Claus" and "Stuart Little"—to dig a hole in the closet after escaping from his ball—and all of us agree that Dad should've gotten Santa out of the closet and back into the ball right away, as one cannot compromise wherein negligent rodenticide is involved.
2. Dad lets the second Frisky meet a similarly-ignominious end after not even telling us that the first Frisky died of Wet Tail—let alone that he searched around for a similar-looking hamster to make us think that the first Frisky had survived—and then the second Frisky ends up meeting the kind of ending that the first overall hamster met.
3. Dad lets Anastasia die naturally—because what better way to let a hamster die after her predecessors die is there, especially since she was named in honor of a princess whom was caught up in the middle of how her Anti-Semitic parents angered Lenin, Trotsky, and quite a few others? 

A "tail" of four hamsters that has fur-flying irony, paradoxes, and plenty of "Oy veys!" to accompany it—and with the reflection that a third-generation pogrom survivor uses minhag in a bad way while he at least has no mishaps with the namesake of a secondary victim of Anti Semitism.

As I said, more shit and other stuff that I can't make up!

Meanwhile, at least Fudge (whose story I just read on the news and thus inspired me to recall the story of my own hamsters) is apparently living a sweet and warm life in contrast to the cold and bitter endings that my own hamsters met—though at least they all had decent levayot in my grandma's backyard! 

My Next Book Is Being Published. Why I Made The Prices High This Time, By The Way

As I stated in the most-recent excerpt of the book, "[a]fter all, just typing all of this after a partly-mental-illness-affected hiatus from writing has affected my mental illnesses to flare up." For me, having Cerebral Palsy and mental illnesses (not to mention IBS) makes writing incredibly hard especially when I'm often drained of energy. Exacerbating the difficulty that I have in writing books is that I type with only one finger at a time, I can't format pictures and adjust screenshots as quickly as those without Cerebral Palsy or similar conditions can (at least physically—for those of them that have mental illnesses and/or other conditions, their difficulties in typing, formatting pictures and adjusting screenshots, etc. can be just as significant as mine).

Thus, I think that the labor that I put into writing this book justifies the $9.99 Kindle-editon price and the $18 paperback-edition price for which I am selling the book. By the way, my arms and legs are feeling tired as I'm typing; and my OCD/Anxiety, etc. is flaring up along with my muscles feeling tired.

Also by the way, I'm still giving away a copy of my first book—especially since its main subject has been incredibly patient with me throughout all of this, including a difficult time that I'm enduring for both my sake and for my first book's main subject's sake.

Update (7:03 PM EST): The new book is published.

Excerpt From My Upcoming Book: “Dark Irish”, Allen, and “Polio”—Three Bubbe Meises That Nana Allen Told To the Younger Kids (With My Maternal Grandfather Being One Of Them)

I seem to have more of a contempt for my late maternal grandfather’s mother the more that I understand about her, at least wherein her bubbe meises are concerned. The three bubbe meises that really (forgive my language) piss me off (as if “shit” wasn’t language for which I might need to ask forgiveness):

1.    That we’re of the “Dark Irish”

2.    [Not excerpted here]

3.    That my grandaunt Kas had polio

The real stories are the following, respectively:

The “Dark Irish”

We’re Portuguese Irish, and likely even Sephardic Jewish and Irish. Nana Allen’s maternal grandfather was a “John McCoy”, and probably an Anusi—and “McCoy” was certainly not his own name, as he is not buried in the McCoy Family Plot in Baltimore’s New Cathedral Cemetery. As for how he immigrated to Ireland, my grandaunt Bernadette “Bern” Allen Dew (z”l) stated that “He fled a war in Spain”—which I found out after I saw the Census record that read “Spain” and “Ireland” for the respective birthplaces of Nana Allen’s maternal grandparents, the parents of the Rosalita “Rose” (or “Rosa”) McCoy Reilly whose 1900 Census record lists the “Spain” and “Ireland” in question for her parents’ birthplaces. As for the “war in Spain”—as “John McCoy”’s 1850 Census record helped me to research—that war was the Peninsular War, from which he as a Lisboa-born infant fled with his parents to Ireland.

About three decades after he immigrated to Ireland as a war refugee—and almost certainly an Anusi one at that—he immigrated to the United States as—as far as I know—an immigrant. By 1850, he had been married to MaryAnn Elizabeth née McCoy for at least eight to ten years and had the following children:

1.    John, Jr.

2.    MaryAnn Elizabeth, Jr. (whom, per a record of her second husband’s family history, told the bubbe meise that her mother was born “Mary Dolan”)

3.    Ann

He seems to have named the first two children per minhag Sephardi—after all, the first son was named for his father, and the first daughter was named for her mother (and apparently got a flair for spreading bubbe meises from—ironically—her, as the 1880 Census Record for a “Rose Riley” lists both of Mrs. “Riley”’s parents as having been in Ireland—and even while the 1880 Census record for MaryAnn’s and Rose’s sister Lavinia lists them as having been born in Maryland.)

Then he had four more children, and a nasty divorce to boot about six years after the youngest one was born. While I don’t know the exact circumstances of the divorce, I know—as I said—that he is certainly not buried in the McCoy Family Plot in New Cathedral Cemetery, and that his wife told the Census taker that she was a widowed mother of four daughters as of 1870.

By 1880, he had a grandchild whom proved that his Sephardish Yidishkeit was still around and alive within the family, even though he apparently hadn’t been around or alive since 1870—his daughter Rosalita had a daughter whom she named “Ann(e)”, and his ex-wife and his daughter’s in-law mother both went by “Ann(e)”. Then he had more grandchildren by Rosalita with a mark to prove that no real Catholicism was to be found as far as he was concerned: after all, none of the granddaughters carried “Mary” or any variant thereof for either a first name or otherwise as an honorific for the mother of Jesus.

Even Alice Marie Reilly named none of her daughters “Mary” or any variant thereof insofar as the prénom d’honorifique de la Virginé is concerned—the first names of her daughters were “Marguerite” (since her in-law mother was Margaret Conley Allen—and I’m now realizing where her Sephardish Yiddishkeit showed up in that regard, if I hadn’t already realized it a little bit), “Katherine”, “Bernadette”, and “Dolores”.

 (Per JewishGen, by the way and although JewishGen covers mostly Ashkenazi Jewish communities, “Marguerite” and “Katherine”—and variants thereof—were used among Jews; and as one rabbi told me when I asked if naming Reilly for Nana Allen and her mother was permissible in Jewish tradition, “There are no rules for such a thing. You may name your pet anything you like.” Also, Ariela Pelaia of ThoughtCo—formerly About.Com—captures what I’ve generally read regarding both Hebrew and Non-Hebrew names when she states, “[T]here is no hard and fast rule when it comes to giving your child a Hebrew name.”

(Also by the way, Sephardic Jewish girls will sometimes be named after living grandparents as opposed to living parents—the minhag varies in that regard.) 

As far as Alice Marie’s sisters, they were (besides Anne—z”l—whom died at the age of seven or eight):

1.    Rosa

2.    Sara—not “Catherine”, but “Sara Catherine” (and contrary to what Mom claims, “Sara” is not a common Catholic name—or at least too common of one—as it would arouse suspicions, especially in a family in which the first girl is not named “Mary”)

3.    Helen

4.    Agnes—whom later became “Sister Mary Rosalita Reilly”

By the way, Alice Marie’s first son was Edgar Joseph, for his father and distinguished as “Edgar Joseph Eymard”—and I’m now really beginning to see the Sepharidish Yiddishkeit (or “Sefardishkeit” or even “Ladinokeit”— and I’m going to assume that I coined those despite I can’t say that I made those up—after all, “Sefardish” and “Ladino” were long around before I was, and making  “Sefardishkeit” from “Sefardish” and “Yiddishkeit” is simply just making a compound word that can be used to describe the Yiddishkeit of Sephardim in Yiddish.

(Also by the way, I’m pretty sure that this is at least part of why my maternal grandfather took an interest in Yiddish, although he was—even if he didn’t know that he was—reasonably ascertainably a matrilineally-Jewish grandson of a patrilineally-Jewish bat Anusim—and his widow, my maternal grandmother, is my maternal grandparent whom is of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.)

Meanwhile, this alone (as I’m now realizing) helps to explain why I thoroughly and even defensively  explain quite a bit of what I explain—as if getting called “an overall liar” at Sheppard Pratt by a caseworker whom fell for my father’s lies about me wasn’t enough, having Nana Allen throw her younger children and their descendants for a loop really affected me to start laying out every detail of quite a few cases once I found out about being thrown for such a loop—and as if many of my matriarchs and patriarchs on Dad’s side didn’t do enough loop throwing, todah rabah (and their loop throwing was more understandable than her loop throwing, as—as I later read—the Inquisition ended in 1834, whereas increasing Anti Semitism still affects many of my paternal relatives loathe to admit that we’re Jewish—even to the point at which one relative is trying to paint me as an overall liar in regard to what my father’s maternal grandmother did, and notwithstanding that I can neither help what happened or conjure up evidence to fit the narrative of what he wants to believe what happened.

(Incidentally, that will—God willing—probably end up in More Shit And Other Stuff That I Can’t Make Up—after all, just typing all of this after a partly-mental-illness-affected hiatus from writing has affected my mental illnesses to flare up.)

“Polio”

This one probably pisses me off the most. Despite articles that discuss the Irish Catholic “shame” of the Kennedys regarding Rosemary Kennedy (with “shame” being the word that the Kennedys themselves used), Nana Allen—who herself identified as a strong Irish Catholic—still has no excuse for lying about Grandaunt Kas’ Cerebral Palsy.

The story still goes that Grandaunt Kas contracted polio when she was seven or eight—this despite that she wasn’t going to have time to contract polio in the midst of the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 and the Rheumatic Heart Fever Epidemic of 1923-1925 or thereabouts. Rheumatic Heart Fever is what actually killed Grandaunt Dolores, whom died on January 25, 1923, by the way (and as for where I got the 1925 date, Great-Granddad Czarnecki’s sister Regina died of Chorea due to Rheumatic Heart Fever on June 23, 1925).

Grandaunt Kas was born on November 6, 1911, and Grandaunt Bern somehow remembered that Grandaunt Dolores died in the Spanish Flu Epidemic. Either way, no way was Grandaunt Kas going to be going anywhere where she could contract polio—she was probably as housebound when the Spanish Flu hit the Allen household as much as all of the Allen children were when Rheumatic Heart Fever hit the Allen household. The more that I thought about that, then, the more that I had to conclude that Nana Allen told another bubbe meise—even my grandmother at first said that she didn’t know for sure, and that Nana Allen had “a lot of stories”.

Besides:

1.    Mild Cerebral Palsy can become worse after illnesses such as the flu and Rheumatic Heart Fever—and with illnesses that can cause fevers, you’re messing with illnesses that can cause some serious brain damage. So either way, Grandaunt Kas either had exacerbated Cerebral Palsy after the Spanish Flu Epidemic or she had a fever that effected brain damage and resulting Cerebral Palsy.

2.    The person whom told me that Grandaunt Kas had Cerebral Palsy, he would have no reason to lie—he worked for her when he and my mother were in high school, and she could tell a kid like him what she wouldn’t have dared to tell peers of hers or quite a few people within her own family!

That would also explain the real reason that Grandaunt Kas turned down three marriage proposals—not because she wanted to be single and independent, but because she was afraid that each of her suitors would run if they found out what she really had—and I can tell you that because I’ve lived being both implicitly and explicitly rejected by peers of mine due to my Cerebral Palsy.

Excerpt From My Upcoming Book: What Knowing Would've Helped: e.g., My Father Passed His Mental Illnesses Down To Me

April 2006, Spring Break, a threat of suicide, and thus a whole week in April of 2006 and a whole Spring Break spent in Sheppard Pratt...and this after I reached my breaking point with my father's abusiveness. Not to mention that learning about the Holocaust 4.5 years earlier, right after 9/11, actually partly effected the onset of my OCD/Anxiety, Depression, and ADD—and that I would eventually figure out that that's why he had all of those pill bottles in his apartment, and that other matters would be explained by my father's OCD/Anxiety, Depression, and ADD.

So went my life with the fallout of 9/11, the times shortly before it, and the times shortly after it. At least my father's admitted to having ADD since then, but the Depression and OCD/Anxiety are still—albe an open secret to me and others—a secret. Of course, knowing about my father's Depression and OCD/Anxiety would've helped before I had to end up in Sheppard Pratt, let alone after I ended up in it. The worst part is that my mother knew about it and didn't tell me even about the day that she ended up discovering that he took Wellbutrin^®, the generic of which I currently take (at least when I have the energy and time to be at consistent with my medication as possible) and any given form of which I have no idea in regards to whether my father still takes it.

Speaking of medication, my father's paternal grandfather—whom took medication for his own Depression—did not have medication work for him, and he subsequently took his own life as a result of ultimately-medication-resistant Depression. That, too, would've helped to know, especially when the bubbe meise about him dying of Black Lung was pulled together from three facts that were quite the opposite of the facts of his too-late-to-abort suicide attempt:

1. An Anthony Czarnecki was born in October 1908 and died in 1972—and my father claimed that his grandfather died when he was 12. That Anthony Czarnecki died in a fire in Philadelphia, in contrast to the Anthony Czarnecki whom was actually born in October 1904 and jumped off of Exeter's long-since torn-down Falls River Bridge in December 1964.
2. He did have Black Lung as a result of being a miner and did actually immigrate from Poland. However, he as a pogrom survivor came over here with his parents, and his brothers Bernard "Bernie" (whom was subsequently exploited by my great-granduncles John and Joe), Joseph "Susi" (whom my granduncle Tony, z"l, understandably described as an "SOB"), and Edward "Ed" Czarnecki (whom subsequently served at Fort Knox when my grandfather served down there in the days of mandatory service) served in World War Two. In other words, the bubbe meise about a lone immigrant from Poland whom became a miner, served in Korea, and died of Black Lung obscured a darker story and helped my try to father steal valor from Great-Granduncles Bernie (whom died in 1963) and Ed (whom served stateside during Vietnam and prior to the draft, and probably Korea). Thus, not ever occurring to me was that a child survivor of the pogroms and an Anusi felt the ultimately-fatal weight of his being an Anusi and other matters in his life (including his brother Bernie's death from a Schizophrenia-caused coronary occlusion after years of suffering either a botched shrapnel-removal operation or a lobotomy, and his brother Susi's exploitation of a fellow veteran—and one whose botched shrapnel-removal operation or a lobotomy left him a child-like and easily-exploitable state for the rest of his 43 years.)
3. If Anthony Czarnecki wasn't the grandfather whom apparently died when my father was 12, then it would've been his grandfather Michael Gaydos. After all, a Michael Gaydos whom was born in 1891 did die in 1972. Of course, it wasn't the 1904-born Anthony Czarnecki whom died in 1972, and it wasn't actually Michael Gaydos, either—Great-Granddad Gaydos died of a heart attack when my father was 15.

Only a copy of Great-Granddad Czarnecki's death certificate that a maternal cousin of my father sent me cleared up that matter for me—and my father's excuses that I was too young to know before did not help my father, either, as he just added insult (his excuse) to injury (his bubbe meise). My mother's excuse that it was up to him and not her to tell me also didn't help, as she once again went along with my father's secrecy.

By the way, Depression also killed my paternal grandmother's granduncles Frank, Sr. Fosko and Andrȧs "Alexander" Foczko, as well as—despite the denials of some of my family in spite of the statistical evidence—her grandfather Istvȧn Foczko—whom died young and had seven children, with six of them being sons, and with 2/7 of his children and of his sons taking their own lives.

As for five of her maternal aunts and uncles, they had Alzheimer's and other forms of Dementia—and Alzheimer's and Dementia are linked to Depression.

Do the math, and you will figure out why knowing that I inherited Depression (as well as comorbid OCD/Anxiety and ADD that only exacerbate the Depression) from my father would've helped long before I was in Sheppard Pratt and long after I was in Sheppard Pratt, and long after I maybe wouldn't have been in Sheppard Pratt had I known about that the mental illnesses that I have and set on as a result of my father's abuse, the fallout of 9/11, and other factors came from that same father whom abused me partly by hiding that he has those mental illnesses. 

Excerpt From My Upcoming Book (Language Warning): "The Summary Of the Case For Saving The Old Farmhouse..."

Firstly, how the case to save the late Katherine Ushinsky Gajdos’ house is related to shit that I can’t make up:

1.    With my grandaunt Helen Gaydos Wojnar (z”l)—my paternal grandmother’s oldest sibling—being long deceased, her widower and children had decided to tear down her (and my grandmother’s) paternal grandmother’s old farmhouse down without even considering the historical ramifications of tearing down the farmhouse.

2.    Grandaunt Helen’s (and Grandma’s) sister MaryAnn once again told a classic bubbe meise that—I’m sure that—she still hasn’t told anybody: after all, the historical significance of the farmhouse begins with the fact that Anna née Jaszová was not “Maria Anna Yzchinski” by birth. As I mentioned in a telephone conversation and further explained to my father in a text message—since, as I type (on September 6-7, 2017/Elul 15-16, 5777), he’s visited one of Grandaunt Helen’s sons three times while he’s been down in Florida—I understandably wondered if Grandaunt Helen’s widower and descendants left up the farmhouse, which I’d seen the times that we were up on the former Gaydos farmstead (where the Gaydos-Wojnar cabin is).

3.     Bugs, rotting wood, excursions of wildlife within the farmhouse, apparently-common-across-Pennsylvania houses like that, and other given excuses for tearing down the Gaydos Farmhouse are no excuses at all.

4.    Until I brought up the possibilities of renovation or replica building, nobody even considered leaving up the farmhouse.

I gave my father the short version of the historical significance of the Gaydos Farmhouse:

“Mickey Haslin was Great-Granddad Gaydos' maternal cousin. They had the common grandparent of Anna (Szuszanna?) née Jaszová (Yashová), divorced from Jan Haszlinsky and remarried to Jan Uszinsky (Ushinsky). Her parents were Jan and Eva Polinová Jasz (Yash). She was Jewish as were her parents, and as was Jan Uszinsky.

“That is why Great-Granddad identified as "Russian"—his mom, Mickey Haslin's only parental aunt, was born as Katarina Szuszanna Uszinskyová to Slovakian-Jewish parents of Russian-Jewish descent in Gaboltov, Slovakian-Austrian Hungary. Mickey Haslin seems to have done the same—his father was George Hazlinsky, and not a single one of his kids was a "Mary" (even for the traditional Jewish usage for "Miriam". His kids were named Mercedes, Kathleen, and Michael.

“They used a mix of Ashkenazi and Sephardi naming customs, by the way—quite a few Ashkenazim overall, irrespective of beliefs re Jesus or amounts of Sephardi heritage, seem to have done this. "MaryAnn", BTW, could be used for "Miriam Chanah".) That alone makes the farmhouse significant if you ask me—i.e., the Crypto-Jewish paternal aunt of Mickey Haslin and widow of a Crypto Jew (a son of Jan and Anna Hommová Gajdosz) owned that farmhouse as a widow whom posthumously became the paternal grandmother-in-law to one of the three IRS agents whom would help bring Nixon down.

“Also, BTW, Ashkenazi Crypto Jews and their descendants (Anusim Ashkenazim v'B'nei Anusim Ashkenazim) are probably as numerous as Sephardi ones—even John Kerry would be John Kohn and Madeline Albright was born Madeline Korbelová, e.g.. Cameron Kerry is whom is called a "ba'al teshuvah", meanwhile, whereas John Kerry and Joan Kerry identify as Jewish Catholics; and Madeline Albright is a Jewish Episcopalian.”

In other words, the seven following simple words sum up any tearing down of the farmhouse of Katherine Susan Ushinsky Gaydos: a big mistake of literally-historical proportions!

Excerpt From My Upcoming Book: It Began In the Toponymical City of Dunilavičy

I don’t know how I didn’t know other than that I wasn’t told that I’m Jewish—let alone the whole backstory behind why we passed for gentiles. What I do know is that I should’ve known when someone asked me if I am—that is, if I am related to Kirk Douglas. I honestly remembered that “Danilovich” was a patronymic in his case, and I told the person that “Danilovich” is a patronymic in his case and not related to “Daniłowicz” in my paternal family’s case.

Then I relooked at the Wikipedia entry—“Demsky” wasn’t his birth surname after all, as I found out. After that, I saw the family resemblance—and the “Czarnecki buttchin” turned out to be the Danilovich-dimpled chin, I figured out. Then after that, I read about how Kirk Douglas raped Natalie Wood—and I should’ve known that I’m related to Kirk Douglas even if I’d only read about that.

Leave to the Daniloviches to wreak havoc on the world—and my own side of the family had and has done plenty of that—and each other—and even many (if not most) of us that try to be good aren’t innocent of having wreaked some havoc. We also have havoc wreaked on us by others besides each other—as I say, “If you’re a Danilovich, you either are trouble, attract trouble, or [have a case of] both[instances —that is, that you both are trouble and attract trouble].” (By the way, I used to say “crazy” instead of “trouble”, but then I considered how “crazy” is ableist language.)

Meanwhile, as I’ve also said, there’s something in that Danilovich water—and it all (apparently, anyway) began in Dunilavičy, Belarus (Duniłowicze, Białorus), to where I’ve traced it back (thus, why I say “apparently”: it could be Daniłowicze in what is now Podlaskie, Poland or another Daniłowicze or Dunilavičy).

Using JewishGen and Google Maps as well as other sources (including YadVashem, since I ended up finding—for example—a record for an Esther Chernetzki from Chausy—the birth city of Herschel “Harry” Danilovich), I’ve traced my Danilovich/Daniłowicz from Dunilavičy to Podlaskie, Poland’s Lipsk nad Bierbzą as such—this is, for all intents and purposes, a very-rough tracing, by the way. Also by the way, keep factors such as the following (and I think that you can tell that I’ve researched all of this and also figured out quite a bit):

1.    There was no traveling outside of the Russian Pale and back to it without permission to be outside of the Russian Pale in the first place.

2.    Per JewishGen, Lipsk shifted from being in Borisov Uyezd in Minsk Gubernia to Augustów Uyezd in Suwałki Gubernia by 1900.

3.    The shift from being openly Jewish to being Anusim seems to have come from Abram “Wojciech” and Marianna Kruszyńska Daniłowicz when a son named Mendel died in Filipów in 1841. Their daughter who was the mother of my paternal grandfather’s paternal grandfather was baptized as “Katarzyna” in 1843.

4.    In Wigry its subordinate parish, no way was “prenuptial agreement” going to mean anything but “ketubah”. Also in Wigry and its subordinate parish, parents didn’t “neglect” baptizing any child for four years!

5.    The Daniloviches, Chernetzkis, etc. (e.g., Kruszyńskis, Andrulewiczes, and Margiewiczes) all either somehow heard of each otherand/or were otherwise connected prior to ending up in what is now Podlaskie Voivodeship.

6.    Related to the aforementioned: branches of the Daniloviches, etc. also ended up together in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania—in other words, Great-Granddad Czarnecki’s closer sides of his parents’ families that immigrated to Pennsylvania stuck together.

[Not previewed here]

The next few screenshots are from JewishGen. As I’ve said when I’ve written about my family history other times, they—despite what they claim—cannot copyright the information itself, although they can indeed copyright the database technology that they use for the JewishGen databases. Besides, that information was known and/or discoverable long before they were founded—let alone before I was born!

[Not previewed here]

As for the rest of my Danilovich side’s story, that can be read elsewhere. So can the story of Kirk Douglas’ side.

PS As I’ve said, I wish that Lana Wood would name Kirk Douglas before he dies—and I wish that she would name Kirk Douglas before it’s too late for her to name her sister’s rapist!

Excerpt From An Upcoming Book: The Ole Field Five, Plus One! (Language Warning)

Just before I began to write this, I'd been planning to write about the gang in my neighborhood whom I call "The Old Field Five". Then my sister told me about another Old Fielder whom's coming into the neighborhood (God willing). Thus (again, God willing), there's now the Ole Field Six—or at least there will be an "Ole Field Six" if "Ole Field Six" has a ring to it (and again, if God wills—and mind you, everything—whether for good or for evil—should have the "If God wills" caveat with it.)

As for the Ole Field Five being the Ole Field Five...just as I've said about everything else in this book, shit that I can't make up and other stuff—and this falls into the category of other stuff!

I won't say what neighborhood is my neighborhood (or what's my neighborhood for now, anyway—God willing, I'm making aliyah and calling another neighborhood  truly  my neighborhood someday—I as a Jew don't belong in the Diaspora, and didn't belong in the Diaspora even when I didn't know that I'm Jewish). After all, that I as a Jew, woman, and person with disabilities am vulnerable enough without the Anti-Semitic misogynists and ableists knowing where I (even temporarily) live. Besides, since all of us whom are Jews are responsible for one another and are to love our neighbors as ourselves, I as a Jew would be putting my Jewish and gentile neighbors in danger if I stated where exactly the Ole Field Five are neighbors and will have a sixth Ole Fielder as a neighbor soon.

In addition, I have especially my own Ole Fielder, Reilly Rosalita, to protect—Reilly trusts her "Momma" to not let anyone hurt her, notwithstanding that there are sadly quite a few people whom would like to hurt Reilly's "Momma" by trying to hurt Reilly—and I am well aware of how cruel people can be. I'm also aware that I have part of the legacy of a family friend named Diane to continue, since there'd be no Ole Field Five without Diane—after all, she referred us to Ole Field Farm's owner, Joyce Fleming, and she surely wouldn't anybody hurting me or Reilly, let alone any of the owners of the other Old Field Fivers (including my sister) or any of the Old Field Fivers (including Camille, my sister's Maltipoo and Reilly's once-removed cousin).

Speaking of Diane and her legacy, here's more shit that I can't make up: while she got to meet Reilly the last time that she saw us, she got to meet only Reilly during the last time that she would ever see us in this lifetime. She didn't even get to meet Camille before she died, and Camille wasn't even born until shortly before she died—Camille was born in March of 2015, and Diane died of Lou Gehrig's Disease in July of 2015.

Even shittier was the way that we found out that she'd never have a chance to meet Camille in this lifetime: someone called us to tell us that she died of ALS. What made that shitty for us was that:

1. We now understood that the last time that we saw her would be the last time that we'd ever see her in this lifetime.
2. Her last visit with us was marred for her by the fact that she was going through the final stages of ALS/Lou Gehrig's Disease, not to mention that her decline due to Lou Gehrig's Disease (about which we had no idea, despite that it was happening in front of us) was exacerbated by the distress due to the then-recent death of her brother to whom she was very close (about which we did know and which she mentioned). We didn't even know that she had Lou Gehrig's Disease in the first place, and we felt bad that we couldn't help her as her ALS and her distress over her brother's death affected her significantly!
3. She referred us to Joyce only to have her once chance to meet Reilly affected by the throes of end-stage ALS flareups!

Only God understands why He had that happen to Diane, and it nonetheless hurts. I've even said that to the owners of Camille's maternal sister Shelby (whom Diane would've also loved to have met—and they got Shelby because they wanted to get a puppy from whomever we got Reilly and Camille—and neither did she get to meet Shelby nor did they get to meet the person whom referred their own reference to Joyce in the first place. 

At least she'll get to meet Camille and Shelby at the Resurrection; and she'll get to meet:

1.  Fenway—whose owners, as far as I know, were actually the only ones whom were not referred to Joyce by Diane, anyone to whom Diane referred Joyce, or anyone whom was referred to Joyce by Diane and referred others to Joyce in turn.
2. Solo, to whose owners Shelby owner's referred to Joyce—and maybe I'll get to meet Solo then, too, since I have yet to meet him!
3. Whomever the Old Field Sixer ends up being.

Incidentally, "Ole Field Six" does seem to have a ring to it—go figure! 

My New Book, "Chayei Chaya": Pre Preface

Pre Preface (16 Tammuz 5777)

This is actually my second book, and I'm releasing it while I'm working on the current ones. I admit that my writing is far from perfect, and I wrote much of this when I began to go through a heartbreaking and confusing time in my life—and I still have the heartbreak and confusion in regards to a particular matter within that timeframe, and which is ongoing unless and until I get a clear answer about it—and that time began almost three years ago!

I’ve also been busy dealing with other concerns in my life, including trying to promote the books that I had already released. With the heartbreak that began almost three years ago and other matters in my life, then, I’ve had to push myself through to write and even begin working on the two books which I am writing at present—and part of pushing myself through to write, much less do anything else, has included dealing with OCD/GAD, Depression, and ADD flareups—and enduring my mental-illness flareups (including one of OCD/GAD which is occurring as I’m writing this pre preface) has made difficult.

Meanwhile, please comprehensively and critically read Chayei Chaya (חיי חיה)—I won’t say “enjoy”, since I’m not sure that any book about the Holocaust (even historical-fictional books like Chayei Chaya (חיי חיה)) can exactly be enjoyed.

 By the way, tzom kal l’shomrim hatzom b’ HaChodesh HaRevi'i.

Nicole Czarnecki

Mostly Offbeat: Excerpt From Another Book On Which "Momma"'s Working

Only As I Was Working On Another Book Did I Realize That...

I had inadvertently ended up naming Reilly for other matriarchs besides Rosalita "Rosa" McCoy Reilly and Alice Reilly Allen. Given that I'm Ashkenazi Jewish, meanwhile, that actually worked out on other levels as well: that is, naming Reilly after both a neighbor's belated senior puppy and my belated Reilly matriarchs became an observance of minhag Ashkenazi in regards to Ashkenazi matriarches as well the Reilly ones (and as I've said, Rosalita McCoy Reilly probably had a Anusi Sephardi father, anyway; so, minhag Ashkenazi usually doesn't apply to Sephardim unless they themselves are of Ashkenazi descent).

As I'm looking over the family tree to double check, I actually even see Ashkenazi matriarchs of Sephardi descent after whom I inadvertently named Reilly:

1. Rosalia Dudayová Nagyová (whose mother was the Sephardic Helena Légrádiová Dudayová with roots in Legrad, Croatia)
2. Rosalia Korschová Munková (one of whose granddaughters, by the way, would be Rosalie Trudnak Petak—Great-Grandma Czarnecki's favorite sister, as far as I can gather. From what I understand per one of her children, Great-Grandma was unfortunately a kokhlefel in making quite known what she thought about how they were handling Great-Grandaunt Rosalie's situation in her final days and after her death.)
3. Rosalia Czarnogurskÿová Krempaskÿová (and the sister for whom she was named. The original family name, by the way, was actually something like "Schwarzenberg" and later Slovakized or Magyarized to "Czarnogurskÿ" when her parents as Anusim left Kacwin for Veľká Franková. Also by the way, I assure you that our Krempaskÿs were Jewish and Anusim—you found no Marys, etc. for Jesus' mother among us. Besides, if you keep later naming patterns in mind, you can see having sons named "Mathias" and "Jacobus" after a daughter named "Maria" would certainly have raised questions, and Andreas Krempaskÿ had a son named "Jacobus" after he had my patriarch Mathias—unfortunately, it would've a little too Jewish for Slavic and Magyar tastes back then, especially as one can point to later naming patterns to see that "Mathias" and "Jacobus" had nothing to do with Matthew the apostle and James the brother of Jesus.)

I also see that I named her after other "Rosalias", Rosa, etc.—with Helena Rosalia Munková Reiff (one of Great-Grandma's aunts) and Rosa Loretta Reilly (a younger sister of Nana Allen) being among them. 

Meanwhile, I now wonder (since humans can rub off onto to their pets) if Reilly didn't get traits such as her curiosity, chutzpah (including her bad kind of tenacity), sprightliness, and chesed from her "Great-Great-Grandma" Czarnecki (and as for the chesed, I saw that firsthand: I remember that, for example, she was one of the few family members—if not the only family member whom treated me and my father's cousin Jamie—whom also has Cerebral Palsy—any differently than she treated her other descendants).

As for Nanas Allen and Reilly, meanwhile, Reilly got some traits (such as chutzpah) from them, too. Nonetheless, now that I write all of this out, I think that Reilly got a significant amount of traits from Great-Grandma Czarnecki—and now I think of the irony that it brings: she was named for two of her "Momma"'s maternal matriarches and is more like the paternal matriarches for whom she was inadvertently named! ("Der mentsh trakht un Got lakht.")

Reilly snuggling with "Hippo" while waiting for night-owl "Momma"

Reilly napping by also-inadvertently-named Camille Dominique (for Dominika Wierzbińska Czerniecka)

A Planned Book On Camille, When "Mimi" Doesn't Spend Enough Time With Camille, Etc..

With the second edition of Reilly's book out, "Momma" gave away another copy (and as she's said, she really is working on trying to become an author)—and she polled to see if people would read a book on Camille (and "Auntie Nicole" made the giveaway a "no vote, no entry" one).The results are as follows:

If Nicole Czarnecki were to write a book on Camille, would you buy or try to win it?

Yes76%

No2%

More likely than not16%

More unlikely than likely5%

Incidentally, "Auntie Nicole" fails to understand why anyone who wouldn't read the book on Camille would enter the giveaway but for a few reasons such as:

1. He or she likes trying to get free books, maybe even—in this case—to resell it offline if it's a paperback book, e.g.—and yes, there really are people whom hate "Auntie Nicole" that much (notwithstanding that, e.g., Reilly is currently napping by her "Momma"—at least some sentient creature loves "Momma" on a consistent basis, compared to even many fellow human sentient creatures in her life). If he or she also tried to get the book to resell it, or—on the other hand—get it just to make fun of it and/or have his friends make fun of it, that would not surprise Reilly's "Momma"—even "Mom-Mom" and "Auntie Michelle" made fun of it at first. 
2. He or she is a big fan of Reilly and not Camille—poor Camille. 🙁
3. He or she wants to get a free book for a friend.

Meanwhile, "Auntie Nicole" can relate in filial and non-filial ways to Camille's filial pain—even "Mimi" doesn't spend enough time with Camille (Who shouldn't own a puppy, by the way "Mom-Mom"? Even "Mom-Mom" has acknowledged that "Mimi" doesn't prioritize Camille as much as she should, and how hurtful "Mom-Mom" can be only adds to when "Momma"'s Jirish temper can be affected.). As a result of "Mimi" not prioritizing Camille as much as she should, Camille can get sleepy and feel depressed—and as recently as Sunday, this happened—and Cam wakes, perks, and lights up when "Mimi" comes into the room to actually spend time with her and, e.g., puts that darn Kindle or laptop down for once—even under guilt of being teased that, e.g., "Auntie Nicole" will become Cam's "Momma" if "Mimi" doesn't come downstairs from a long-enough nap to spend time with Cam.

In a similar way, "Auntie Nicole"/"Momma"'s loneliness and confusion re what exactly Camille's possible "uncle" and Reilly's possible "Daddy" wants continues to affect una noche oscura del alma en parte de su vida—a dark night of the soul in part of her life—as she is trying to be patient and wait on God to have Reilly's possible "Daddy" reach out to her—and patience in general is all the harder for a person with OCD/Anxiety, Depression, and ADD to learn.

How fitting, by the way, that a converso coined that term!

Camille Being A Literal B****, Reilly Putting "Momma" & Herself In Danger, Updates, And Still Waiting On Reilly's "Daddy"

1. Just now, Reilly sat on "Mom-Mom"'s lap—and only to literally get b**** at by Camille—Camille decided to aggressively growl and even (according to Camille's "Mimi") bite Reilly. Of course, "Mom-Mom" and "Mimi" soundly reprimanded Camille.
2. Reilly's pink extendable leash is still in the backyard with "Momma"'s cart in which it is stuck—and Reilly is very lucky that neither she nor "Momma" were hurt when the cart fell and when one of the solar lamps' lids fell onto the ground. To make a long story short, Reilly decided that not finding her "potty spot", coming when she was called, listening when she was told "No pull", or avoiding "nasties" was okay—and the only way that "Momma" got Reilly back up on the porch is by pulling on the rope of the extendable pink leash—and Reilly is also lucky that she has a harness and not a collar to which to attach her leash.
3. The paperback edition of Reilly's book is finally on Amazon!
4. In the midst of all this, meanwhile..."Momma" still has a broken-as-Hell heart. As much as Reilly is her "Momma"'s filial "Valentine", she can't be "Momma"'s overall "Valentine"—besides, as today's incident demonstrates, Reilly needs a "Daddy" whom can be a "Valentine" for "Momma" and help "Momma" reign her in a little bit—and "Momma" hasn't given up on whom she thinks might be Reilly's "Daddy" down the road if God wills.

A Literal Bone To Pick With Reilly, An Update On Reilly's Book, And Still Waiting On Reilly's "Daddy"

To make a long story short—and per the video—Reilly decided that a bone of a vulture-eaten squirrel that fatally encountered a car two days ago (per "Mom-Mom") was both delicious and enough to keep in her mouth with a fight, complete with growling and biting—needlessly to say, Reilly lost the fight to keep the bone:

(By the way, as "Momma"'s been typing, "Auntie Michelle"'s been scolding Reilly for eating "partially-produced 'bunny beans'" with "the culprit in the yard" while being outside to "go potty".).

Meanwhile, Reilly's book has sold nine copies, and plenty more free ones have been given away and claimed (Yep! "Momma"'s trying to promote it as best as she can). Part of why "Momma" wrote the book as well is because she wants to make enough to (and she hasn't yet made anything off the current book; so she can't) provide for Reilly as much as she—as a "Momma" with disabilities—can.

While "Momma"'s been promoting the book, meanwhile, she's also been failing Reilly again—as a heartbroken "Momma" stares at her heartbroken and waiting-patiently-for-"Momma"-to-wrap-up "dogter", she thinks about why she's been up—partly given that Valentine's Day coming up, she guesses, she's been thinking about a helpmate for herself and a "Daddy" for Reilly (and especially who she thinks that he might be).

"Momma" Finally Wrote And Published "Reilly Rosalita the Maltipoo"

"Momma" used Kindle Direct Publishing to publish "Reilly Rosalita the Maltipoo: A Lovable & Quite-Often-Beleaguering 'Dogter' To Her Loving-And-Beleaguered 'Momma'". The book is not exactly an in-all-of-its-glory book, especially since "Momma" had to create a manuscript to upload instead of use the option to directly create the book within the KDP module itself, which she might've been able to do prior to creating the cover. About five to seven hours later, the book was finished—and a day later, "Momma" is still recovering from those five to seven hours—and those five to seven hours left her extremely tired yesterday.

By the way, the other manuscript would've taken too long and was more intense to complete in a short amount of time.

My New Book And The Controversy That Is—Or At Least That Will Be—Behind It

In fact, I include the following in the introduction to both the Kindle edition and the regular one:

"On my blog and in other forums, I’ve written about this—and so, it’s nothing new. That is, I’ve discussed what my father’s maternal grandmother—Marysia Elizabeth “Mary” Rusnak Gaydos—and her father—András “Andrew Rusnak” Rusznak—did during the Sho’ah to family members back in Košice, Slovakia—which was still Kassa, Magyarország even in the 1930s and 1940s.

"I certainly did not wake up one day and think, “Oh; I’m going to accuse my great-grandmother of sending relatives to Auschwitz and make up a story around it.” That’s not even the kind of incident that I thought would’ve even happened in my family (which already had—and has—our own issues), though I shouldn’t have been (as my dad’s sister stated that she wasn’t) surprised—after all, a few red flags should’ve come up."

I also include part of the reason that I wrote the book in the final chapter:

"[H]istory repeats itself, and the bad parts of history really repeat themselves because of those whom:"1.     ignore or deny history
"2.     go out of their ways to defend what evils happen in history
and/or
"3.     even actively repeat it, or go out of their way to do worse than what happened the first time
 "I guarantee that some of these same relatives whom voted for Trump may also plan to leave the United States if the going gets tough and they don’t want to live with their choices—despite that they know that Trump illegitimately won by, for example, having Vladimir Putin and Julian Assange help him—and quite a few of them might even blame those of us whom weren’t able to get out."

I thus fully anticipate that some of my family will be angry and even ready to sue me—and those who'd consider suing would've had that idea before; so, I'm not giving them the idea to consider doing what they might consider doing, anyway—the higher good of learning from and teaching others to learn from history carries the risk of ligitational backlash.  

Nonetheless, I have a duty to remind my family and others of the following for the higher good:

That what was happening 80 years ago—when the Nuremburg Laws were enacted against Jews and almost every gentile group in Germany, and when my grandparents were born—is happening today is scary and not funny—and I don't think that my grandmother anticipated making it to 80 years old just to see Donald Trump become a Neo ****** and be at the kind of risk at which her family in Europe was, and the risk that all of us are at now.

The Manuscript For the Book About Reilly Is In Progress

The book has the following introduction and will, God willing, be submitted for publication and published soon:

Introduction: After “Momma” Began Blogging About Reilly & Made A Facebook Page About Her…    
 
 
 
That’s how this book came to be written. By the way, that post was written on October 25, 2016—or Tishri 24-25, 5776. Also, the posts that are contained in this book were written from 2014 to October 31, 2016—or from 5774-Tishri 29 and 30, 5776.