Turning This Thing Around
by Keith Maginn
Genre: Nonfiction/memoir/self-help
Word count: 24,000
Turning This Thing Around is an inspiring memoir of overcoming personal struggles. This brutally honest, deeply personal account of redemption takes readers on a moving spiritual journey. Confronted with a myriad of obstacles–a debilitating arthritic disease, narcolepsy, anxiety and depression–the author was outwardly happy, but inwardly miserable.
Pushed to the lowest point of his life, Maginn shares how he gradually turned things around and used his experiences to grow as a person. Supplemented by heartfelt poetry by the author and with quotes from Gandhi to Dr. Wayne Dyer to Eckhart Tolle, Turning This Thing Around has universal themes that speak to nearly everyone, as we all must face challenges as part of being human. It is a self-help memoir of sorts: the author discusses not only what he overcame, but also how he did so–and how others can, too.
Unlike many popular memoirs on the market, this is a story that more people can relate to. Maginn was not raised in an eccentric family (Jeannette Walls in The Glass Castle, memoirs by Augusten Burroughs), nor did he travel to Italy, India and Indonesia, as Elizabeth Gilbert did in Eat, Pray, Love. Rather, Turning This Thing Around is a story of a normal young man’s resiliency when battling extraordinary circumstances.
This book is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Keith, how did you come up with the title for your book? Does it have any special meaning?
I was driving in my car listening to music, not thinking about my book at all. “Turning This Thing Around” popped into my mind out of the blue. I immediately thought, “Yeah, that has to be the title.” The title signifies overcoming many obstacles and a new optimism in life.
What was the hardest part of this book to write/research?
This is a deeply personal memoir, so the hardest part was actually living it. Putting it down on paper was almost effortless, even therapeutic. I learned a lot about myself while writing this book. Putting it “out there” for the world was also quite scary since it is so personal.
Does your book have any underlying theme, message, or moral?
No matter how bad things get and how many challenges you have to overcome, better days are ahead. Sometimes all we can do is hold on until the storm is over, but it will end. As Eckhart Tolle said, our challenges will give us more “depth, humility, and compassion.”
What would/could a reader or reviewer say about this book that shows they “get” you as an author?
Readers often tell me that they couldn’t put TTTA down. They thank me for my courage in putting this memoir out and then share their story with me. Readers claim the book made them laugh and cry, which tells me that I did my job.
Give us an excerpted quote from your favorite review of this book:
“I too read this book in one sitting…TTTA is a seamless combination of a personal narrative and a self-help book…[written] in an admirably honest, and occasionally humorous, way.”
Where can people learn more about your writing?
keithmaginn.com
Having written my own story of chronic illness, I can sympathize with the difficulty in living what I had to write about.
Thank you for reading and replying! Yes, living with chronic illness is very difficult, but writing about it does help. Best to you…