Author: Lucia Matuonto

By Brian Rouff Although I’ve written advertising and marketing materials my entire professional life, I didn’t start writing fiction until my mid-forties. I joked that it was how I handled my midlife crisis: safer than a Harley and cheaper than a divorce. I found it much more personally satisfying than creating a brochure or radio commercial. As a long-time Las Vegas local, I wanted to write books that accurately depicted an insider’s view of our town in all its quirkiness, told with a dash of humor. The idea for my fist novel, “Dice Angel,” came from a classified ad in the…

Today we are driving all the way to Ireland to talk to Karl the Leeuw. Karl is a researcher, book author and is here to talk about dyslexia. Dyslexia is very common and can create difficulty with skills like reading comprehension, spelling, writing and math. Welcome to The Relatable Voice Podcast ! by Karl de Leeuw For far too long dyslexia has been seen as a curse. It’s time to celebrate the gift that dyslexia can be. Making up about 10% of the world’s population, those with dyslexia have been pitied as sufferers and unable to conform to mainstream learning standards. Author Karl…

Do you know the difference between the voice of innate Wisdom and abject Fear? These are two very distinct voices that speak to us constantly and depending on which voice we listen to determines our outlook, outcomes, and actions in our daily lives. Listening to our Intuition (innate Wisdom) voice gives us the ability to make decisions independent of a reasonable process; meaning, our intuition knows information beyond the senses of logical thinking. On the other hand, when we listen to Fear, we accept information that is often irrational, baseless in fact, and perhaps illogical. Your mind is an obedient servant. It follows repetitive patterns and behaviors regardless of if you’ve achieved the results you desire. If you refuse to expand outside of your…

Having gone through the experience of the poor health leading to the death of two husbands, as well as the deaths of my father, mother, aunts, and uncles as well as many friends, I have much experience in the grieving process, and I have learned to face life with love, optimism, and joy. I have kept journals and written to express myself most of my life. This led me to a career of teaching writing and writing books. So, after my second husband died, I naturally turned to writing to help deal with my grief. Then I discovered that I…

Darlene West is the author of Awakened by Grace. Darlene attended Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. She has a degree in English and a minor in writing with the concentration in fiction, as well as a masters in Adult Education. Born in Queens, New York, Darlene grew up half on the East Coast and the other half in California. Soon after she left high school, she moved to Orange County for several years. When she turned twenty-seven, she moved to Connecticut where she met her husband. The couple have two boys and two beautiful grandchildren. They enjoy traveling, fishing, hiking,…

The key to living longer is not a secret! The answer lies in the eating habits of the populations of certain countries. For years people have been wondering why particular countries produce more centenarians. Nations seen as having “longevity” have people with more active lives than those in the West and it all comes down to diet. It has now been proven that a seagan diet, which is vegan based and excludes meat, dairy, eggs, and animal by-products, but includes seafood, contains the right amount of acidity for our optimum blood pH level. Studies show that vitamins and minerals are vastly overlooked…

Takira Q. Charles was born on the warm and sunny island of Saint Maarten. She left the island at age 19 to further her studies in the Netherlands. The author worked as an English teacher for over eight years and as a student-anxiety coach for two years before migrating to Canada, where she currently lives with her husband and son. Takira Q. shares the painful and unexpected event that sparked an insightful journey towards healing and purpose as a writer. At 22 weeks and two days, Takira delivered her baby girl, Grace, and had to say hello and goodbye all…

How do we love ourselves in a world made to point out our flaws?I have spent much of my life grappling with myself, my weight, my height, my disability and my general sense of value as a person.  Entirely magnified by social media, how do we disconnect from a constantly connected world and recognise ourselves in the mirror again?  I have spent a lot of time reflecting on who I am, literally looking into the mirror, asking this question.  I do not claim to know everything, but I hope these words leave you with some peace: – You are enough…

This October, The Relatable Voice (The RV) is starting a new weekly series airing on Saturdays called “Carpooling with The RV”. Every week on Carpooling with the RV, the episode will be dedicated to one specific and relatable topic: education, physical and mental health, grief, immigration, history, etc. Each episode will have two to three experts all relating to said specific topic. They will offer different perspectives and information about the subject, but it will also allow listeners to dive deeper and learn more. The RV was born in February 2021 at the peak of lockdown. Lucia Matuonto came up…

Addiction, recovery, and the forces that drive them make for some of literature’s most compelling reading. Those of us who seek others’ reflections on the often horrific path toward death or redemption have a treasure trove to visit and revisit, from Baudelaire to Bukowski, Dorothy Parker to Anne Sexton. Every such work is a travelogue, and the journey, on the continuum from AAA magazine to The Divine Comedy, is only as interesting as the writer who has lived and is telling it. Add Nadia Bruce-Rawlings’s compelling Driving In The Rain to the list of must-reads. Like her harrowingly powerful first…