Journey to Equilibrium
A chance encounter with a stranger in the woods transforms the life of a teenager.
Ended
Years after searching, 17 year-old Brooke Ashton receives a devastating letter regarding the biological father she's never met. Losing hope, she journeys into the forest where she enters the realms of darkness, light, body, mind, and spirit. Trained by a wise old fighter named Esiw, Brooke is led toward a final confrontation that will save or destroy her.
An inspiring quest for faith, courage, love, and redemption, A Golden Heart is an experience that will change your life and unlock the power within you.
Available to order now at http://www.AGoldenHeart.org
Interview with The Author Mike Will Downey:
Who are your favorite authors?
I grew up reading Stephen King as a child, willingly giving myself nightmares, because I liked the characters, original storylines, and rich descriptions. Books like Old Yeller by Fred Gipson, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, The Call of the Wild by Jack London, and On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson stood out because of the rich heart throughout the stories. By the time high school, college, and graduate school rolled around I graduated to reading books from John C. Maxwell and George S. Clason, and fell in love with Illusions by Richard Bach and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
What was your inspiration for the book?
Growing up on a farm on the outskirts of an upscale town gave me a unique both rags and riches perspective on life. On my own at age 16, I left for college and a lot of inspiration came from my struggles to make it as an independent young adult. Later in life, many more challenges and failures added up to a loss of hope and faith and I was ready to take my own life. Restored by God, I was born again and since that day I've dedicated my life to helping others, and publishing this book.
What do you plan to do with the funds you raise?
I will use the funds to design the cover art work and format the book for
CreateSpace (I have a designer picked out already), finish the manuscript, hire
an editor, and print 500 copies to begin with.
* Fees for Publishizer fundraiser hosting
* ISBN, volume, Metadata, and copyright costs
* Final re-writes and editing process
* Graphic Design (cover art work)
* Formatting and typesetting (trim size, bleed and page size, margins, live elements, pagination, orientation, embedded fonts, crop marks, trim marks, annotations, resolution, cover spine text, and cover bleed)
* Printing and hardcover costs
* Shipment of printed books
* Contribution Incentives and Rewards
If the entire goal is met it will allow for
* Ability to print more books
* Extra shipping costs
* Audio recording & editing of audio/visual supplements, exercises, guides, and meditations
* Recording & editing of audio book version
* Web Site Design and Hosting
* Begin High School and College Tour
Why did you write the book?
To bring faith, hope, courage, and inspiration to young adults who may be
questioning what their purpose is in life.
How Will You Market A Golden Heart?
I have a great deal of radio, TV, film, and public campaign experience. I've helped established professionals like Carmelo Anthony, The Denver Broncos, and The Denver Nuggets in the sports and entertainment world and I have over 500,000 emails personally, all divided down into sections and organized by first name.
I'm devoted to this book, everything I need to do to get it in the hands of readers and to create discussion. I'm prepared to travel, speak, and give advice to people all over the world. My enthusiasm is great advertisement. I will send the book to several key influencers, speakers, and leaders around the country.
My social media following is around 100,000 total and on over 200 different platforms. I have a press list and relationships with many national newspapers, web sites, tastemakers, and magazines. I will deliver the message about the book to everyone I know and encourage them to buy copies.
The book will be for sale on Amazon in both hardcover, softcover, Kindle, and will create an audio version for Audible and Overdrive.I will rely on Slideshare, Linkedin, Facebook, Vine, Snapchat, Twitter, Tumblr, and Google Plus.
How Will A Golden Heart be Converted to a Movie?
I've already started to transfer the book to a screenplay. It was written with this in mind. The main character Esiw I'm targeting Sandra Oh for the role.
How Can 'A Golden Heart' Help Society?
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among teenagers. The goal of this book is to save lives.
Furthering the books' mission, there will be supplements created and additional
ways to spread the lessons to teenagers across the world.
I will be giving a TED Talk, recording a story for Story Corps, and I will create a podcast for Soundcloud.
Mike Will Downey is a writer and entrepreneur in California. He loves stories that promote kindness, compassion, love, caring, giving, heart, and soul. In his early years, Downey won the Minnie Hite Moodie Writers Award & was a journalist in Ohio. He has helped many charities with youth programs and completed a mission with Save Our Youth in Mexico. In 2007, he sold his Colorado-based sports high-tech social application PlayCoed.com to 212 Media. In 20 years Downey has published over 3,000 songs, started four businesses, written 7 screenplays, & worked with various Denver Nuggets, Colorado Rockies, and Denver Broncos players.
Mike Will Downey Excerpt from A Golden Heart Chapter One: Road to Done
Once a month Brooke's mom flashed around a couple one hundred dollar bills in her hand. "Benjamins" she would yell as she would dance around their small trailer home. Then she would go out and buy a few things and try to buy some happiness from Bobby. She all but ignored Brooke's needs. School supplies and clothing was replaced with cases of beer and pill bottles. It might take her a week to make that couple hundred dollars. The strip club, Fantasies where she worked the pole four or five nights a week lost most of their business when the steel mills shut down in 1993. Many of the regulars spent more money on booze they mixed in from shooters in the bathroom in cheap sodas. Even so, she may come home around 3 A.M. with forty in dollar bills from a busy night. Most of the money she made was spent on drugs, clothes, and alcohol.
She was furious inside! She could feel her emotions in her body. The rage burned within. Everything and everyone made her so angry! How did she get dealt this hand in life? No one loved her. She could disappear and not one person would be affected. Brooke couldn't tolerate these strong feelings. Most of the time she would bury them deep inside. Devoid of emotion, she bit her fingernails, one of her "goto ghetto habits" this cat Jamall would say at school. Clearly that dude didn't understand. She was just straight up trailer trash she thought. Lower than ghetto.
The ocean of trees around her closed in like waves. She'd never been to the ocean, She had never ventured outside her small town, population 5,357. It was peaceful in the woods. Too peaceful for Brooke. She could hear herself think. There were no distractions. A slight ringing in her ear was extremely annoying. She didn't like the quiet. The pissed off teenager reached in her jeans pocket and popped a Xanax she had stolen earlier that morning from her mom's purse.
She pushed a dead tree over. It was fun to hear the cracking. She started to kick trees, hit trees with sticks, and scream. Some were so old they'd already uprooted and were barely standing. It was too easy. She kicked another tree and it didn't move. The tree looked old and frail, exposed at the root and burnt. Just as Brooke was about to throw a fit, she stopped, turned to the right, and looked at a makeshift sign carved in wood. It read Equilibrium. Big word - whatever that meant, she thought. She paused again and all was silent but for crickets.
Silence was suddenly broken by a horrible noise. Brooke turned to the left and couldn't believe her eyes. Startled and shocked, standing there just a couple feet away, was her dead step brother, Seth, who leaned on the burnt tree. On the side of his head was shattered bone and pulsing brain tissue. He made a gargling noise and dark, tar-like blood gushed from his mouth.
--- END OF EXCERPT
(The book has thrills, chills, action, adventure, and many life lessons. It will change your life). There are a total of 19 Chapters as the book unfolds over 7 days in the wilderness as Brooke, a troubled teenager is brought back to life by a wise Asian lady living in a hidden cabin. For more excerpts email KbMikeD@Gmail.com
Genre (Fiction): Inspirational, Spiritual, Adventure, & Drama
Summary: Expelled from school, Brooke Ashton refuses to return to her broken home with her junkie mother and abusive stepfather, and heads for the nearby woodlands. At the peak of a mountain, divine intervention stops her from jumping. Following yellow smoke, A wise old Asian lady in the woods.
The tormented and traumatized teenager disrupts Esiw's peace and harmony. Eventually Brooke's parents will come looking for her. Will she be able to move the massive obstacles in her path and overcome her adversity.
A Golden Heart unfolds over the course of seven days in the Appalachian mountains. It's a story of redemption, reconciliation, mystery, purpose, and power. It's about finding abundance, unlimited wealth, serving others.
Brooke, a self-centered and bullied cast away on an island of trailer homes in a going-nowhere small Ohio Appalachian mountain town wants to die! An abused slave to the system. Divine intervention inserts Esiw, a wise, ahead of her time mysterious lady (50's) living in a hidden cabin in the woods with her farm animals. Why did she leave civilization? Will Brooke's mean-as-hell step father and strung out stripper mom come looking for her? Will she follow Esiw's training which promises abundance, fitness, and to find her long lost father. Is Brooke the chosen one? There's treasure behind A Golden Heart and a backstory that leads through a maze of life, death, God, science, technology, and everyday lessons that will help you awaken your full potential. Have you been stressed out and just need a magical journey to the wilderness to get back on track? That's this book.
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