My Inner Ballerina: Looking for the Bright Side of Life

In a follow-up to her 2012 memoir, "Summoning My Inner Ballerina: Balancing Love and Loss, Family and Friends, Life and Politics," author Paula Mack Smith explores her rocky journey as she navigates through the deaths of two of her closest family members. The first was the unexpected death of her brother Warren, just a few months after the publication of her memoir. The second was that of her older son, Michael, six months later.

Both deaths left her floundering in her grief, the ballerina temporarily toppled, heart-broken and spent. It was only through writing and sharing her memories and stories in black and white that she could begin to come to terms with those tragedies and regain a semblance of her former optimism. By learning to concentrate on "what remains" instead of what was lost, the little ballerina found her will to continue onward. By sharing her painful journey, the author hopes to help others do likewise. To see that there is, after all, light at the end of the tunnel and joy following terrible losses.

This is an exceptional memoir. Paula shares details of a life fully lived. As in each and every life, there are ups and downs. The key is to find a way to get through each chapter, each hurdle, and each experience whether positive or negative. Paula shares her special way of getting through them.

Paula writes with heart and with humour. I love this memoir and admire Paula for her strength and honesty.

McGuffy Ann Morris of McGuffy's Reader

Paula Mack Smith is the author of "Summoning My Inner Ballerina," a memoir published in 2012. A retired journalist, her work has been published in the New York Times, Long Island Newsday and various magazines and local newspapers in Nassau County, New York. She was born in Delaware and raised in northern New Jersey. She and her husband of 48 years, Neil Smith, live in Upper Brookville, New York, and Aventura, Florida.