New Smithtown Author Signed Two Book Deals – Both Debuting
Ann Agueli grew up in Queens and moved to Long Island 20 years ago to raise her family in Kings Park. At that time and while raising her children through the years, publishing a book never entered her radar.
Agueli is not only a new author but immediately sold a second book right after publishing Joy-Full Journaling for the Caregiver’s Spirit. She say’s Joy-Full Journaling was harder to write than the second.
“It was my first – my first baby – I actually pulled it from the publisher and she was gracious enough to allow for more tweaks at the last minute,” says the Smithtown author.
The book reads easy and is filled with warmth and wisdom – it’s as if Agueli is there speaking with you in person.
“This book is not about me, it’s for other people; if you are a caregiver, please know you have been chosen for this job, you are COMPASSION ITSELF,” she explained.
How did she come to pen the two books both of which were recently released? She originally left a law firm that she had long been employed with five years ago with intention of going back to school to a degree in Psychology. “God had other plans for me and with a blink of an eye I became a single mom and became a caregiver to both my parents,” she shares.
Her mother had a slew of ailments including breast cancer and congestive heart failure just as her father began the aging process. He lost the ability to walk and swallow.
“I became their medical advocate, their elder care attorney and social worker after enormous research,” she said.
Her Mom needed someone to care for her personally, she spent an enormous time in the hospital and Agueli found herself there all the time.
“While I was on a personal journey toward transformation – at the exact time I was on the path of being a caregiver, I recognized the need for caregivers to have the tools to transcend the negative emotions that come with being a caregiver,” she continues.
She says so many emotions are involved in being a primary caretaker including anger, fear, guilt and sibling rivalry. She says these are things people just don’t talk about.
The mother of now adult children has long had a desire to write but didn’t follow that passion until late when she began taking classes in copy editing and creative writing. “The one thing that had to happen no matter what life threw at me was that my writing was going to help people,” she said proudly. She calls both her books and the enormous praise and accolades they have had thus far a Spiritual gift. She takes no credit and says it comes from God.
Her second book will be released this month; When God Nods, Tales of Divine Serendipity. It is being published by the same firm as her first book; Spiritual Writers Network.
She said the experience has been incredible, that everything began to happen, doors were opened, God rolled out the red carpet and led the way.
She says Joy-Full Journaling for the Caregivers Spirit can help caretakers take negative emotions and transform them. “Through the exercises in the book, not only will you be a better caregiver, you’ll become a better person,” she adds. Agueli says this book is a workbook; it’s not a book you read and put on your nightstand. That’s a great thing because one thing caretakers tend to be without is a lot of down time. However, a few minutes carved out for a caretaker even once a week can be enormously beneficial says Agueli. She knows first-hand.
“In the book I teach people how to journal their way to healthy emotions – journaling has been scientifically and medically proven to heal people mentally physically and emotionally,” she explained.
The mother of three says the book helps caretakers get the stress out and release those toxins if you are raw and honest while journaling in between reading. The things you won’t say to people you can write in the book that includes personal experiences, scientific data and information about the hardships of care taking and how to reclaim one’s life while being a caretaker.
“As a caregiver you are looked at as a martyr,” she adds. There are a lot of reasons people become caretakers, some don’t want their relatives cared for by strangers, some don’t have the finances to put a loved one in a facility, many dynamics are in place.
Her first book Joy-Full Journaling is up for an award already. There will be a nod to the book in the 21st anniversary issue of Today’s Caregiver Magazine.
There are generally celebrities on cover every issue so she’s quite humbled and honored.
Her father has since passed away but her mother is ninety-one and still living with Agueli. What does she want people to walk away with from her Joy-Full Journaling book? She wants readers/caretakers to learn to set boundaries so they stay emotionally and physically healthy.
What’s next for this new but twice published Smithtown author? She plans on giving seminars in libraries at Senior Centers and other community centers where caretakers can come and engage in dialogues with herself and others who know exactly what they are going through.
The book is well written and very empowering, the best part is a busy caretaker can read one short chapter, do the exercise and get back to it again the next day or the next week.
What is a caregiver? A caregiver is someone who has the spirit of an angel while disguised in human form. You are the definition of an angel on earth……Ann Agueli
Ann Agueli’s blog/website is: www.inspirecaregivers.com
You can purchase Agueli’s books on Amazon or By clicking on the Books titles below
Joy-Full Journaling for the Caregiver’s Spirit OR: Joy-Full Journaling for the Caregiver’s Spirit
Facts About Caretakers from the Center for Disease Control
- More than 34 million unpaid caregivers provide care to someone age 18 and older who is ill or has a disability (AARP, 2008).
- An estimated 21% of households in the United States are impacted by care-giving responsibilities (NAC, 2004).
- Unpaid caregivers provide an estimated 90% of the long-term care (IOM, 2008).
- The majority (83%) are family caregivers—unpaid persons such as family members, friends, and neighbors of all ages who are providing care for a relative (FCA, 2005)
- The typical caregiver is a 46-year-old woman with some college experience and provides more than 20 hours of care each week to her mother (NAC, 2004).
- The out-of-pocket costs for caregivers who are caring for someone who was age 50 or older averaged $5,531 in 2007. About 37% of caregivers for someone age 50 and older reduced their work hours or quit their job in 2007 (AARP, 2008).
- Caregivers report having difficulty finding time for one’s self (35%), managing emotional and physical stress (29%), and balancing work and family responsibilities (29%) (NAC, 2004).
- About 73% of surveyed caregivers said praying helps them cope with care-giving stress, 61% said that they talk with or seek advice from friends or relatives, and 44% read about care-giving in books or other materials (NAC, 2004).
- About 30% said they need help keeping the person they care for safe and 27% would like to find easy activities to do with the person they care for (NAC, 2004).
- Half (53%) of caregivers who said their health had gotten worse due to care-giving also said the decline in their health has affected their ability to provide care (NAC, 2006).
- Caregivers said they do not go to the doctor because they put their family’s needs first (67% said that is a major reason), or they put the care recipient’s needs over their own (57%). More than half (51%) said they do not have time to take care of themselves and almost half (49%) said they are too tired to do so (NAC, 2004).