Interview With Author Ron Furmaga On A Life's Journey

 

 

1. What inspired you to write A Life’s Journey? I was visiting a friend in Houston, who I had not seen in thirty years, and we were laughing about our time together in New Orleans 1990, and he suggested I write a book about my life. After a few more glasses of wine, I went home and in six months wrote about fifty chapters. On further examination, I thought there might be value in publishing the work.

 

2. What exactly is it about — and who is it written for? The book is about events and people in my life (88 years) from childhood to old age. The book details events and the people, some flawed. who influenced my life, how I managed relationships as an adult,

and set attainable goals in my career. The chapters are a guide for managing life’s challenges, mistakes, and achievements which merits a telling to young people facing daily struggles. It is about not giving up on your dreams but recognizing boundaries and the inevitable obstacles and setbacks each person can overcome with analysis and patience.

 

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book?How to examine and think about your life and where your daily decisions are leading. Set realistic goals for yourself, understand the risk and take chances, allow for setbacks, avoid conflicts, be patience, and not to give up when events become unmanageable. Pay attention to details and the value of character in personal relationships. If your life is not going in the right direction, make a plan and change it!

 

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design? Choice and circumstance in life are always open to chance outcomes, the challenge for each of us is to navigate where they lead. Example: avoiding the danger encounter with a reckless driver that later killed

my friend. Life threatening events abound in our daily life, some recognizable others hidden, pay attention to your surroundings and the order of things. The young man on the cover is deciding his next step based on the possibilities of what lies ahead.

 

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than

run!? Before you start being an author, find out all the steps in publishing your work. This should not be haphazard or a trial and error process. There are courses online covering every detail. Have an editor review the material and use a reputable publisher. Watch out for scams and find an experienced marketing professional to assess the manuscript prospects before publishing. Of course, I did all the above, but not in the correct order.

 

6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading? Working adults have less time for print media and tend to go for audiobooks that allow them to drive, workout at the gym or do household chores. Multitasking is part of our daily environment, like listening to the radio.

 

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book? As an engineer, I had years of writing commercial proposals and

technical manuals, describing equipment and processes into words. It took time from almost failing senior English composition in high school to receiving an “A” on a college term paper. Studies of grammar, rhetoric and composition finally brought a better understanding and

rules to my writing.

 

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to? At times my writing is a little dry and too detailed but in the next paragraphs, always reverts back to storytelling. The novel “Studs Lonigan” by James T. Farrell is a trilogy which I read in the late 1950s. I liked the format and style but felt it would take too long to write a trilogy at 88.

 

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book? Keeping my personal identity and accuracy of events and technical details on each page as the editor suggested altering and deleting text. A valued learning experience of what is important in the resulting work.

 

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours? Memoirs can be dull, boring, and dragged out, but I kept a good pace, maintained reader interest to see what happens next, and leaving the reader to want more to the stories. Will the reader benefit from the writings … my life has been a gift as I found ways to improve the lives of others through education, shared values and life’s experiences.

 

For more information, see Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/robert-furmaga/a-lifes-journey-choice-and-circumstance/. 

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About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 6,200,000 page views. With 5,600+ posts over the past 15 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs  by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2026.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum