First Blog - What I plan to talk about
This is my first blog, so hi, and I hope you are buying, reading, or finished reading Deadly Frost. It is my first novel and something I worked on for many nights before I had an opportunity to finish it and have it published. I hope you enjoy it and tell your friends about it. Hopefully you enjoyed the book and the story made you want to hurry to turn the page.
I'm a new author and I appreciate that many authors give helpful hints to other authors on how to edit, market, publish, etc, their book. I have found a few blogs were invaluable. Specifically I want to give a shout out to a successful author, and an insightful professional who was truly helpful to me - Sue Coletta. Let me highly recommend her site to any new or aspiring author, but especially if your genre is crime or dark thrillers So Sue, thank you for being extremely insightful and helpful in your guidance. Here is a link for anyone to check her out. https://www.suecoletta.com/.
I want talk a little bit about what my blog is mostly going to be about, what I can share and hopefully help people with. I discussed with my friends and especially my daughter what I could best offer to people who drop by. They all agreed that my expertise and background in Sexual Assault Awareness and Street Defense were areas with so much misinformation now and lack of knowledge that it could be extremely useful.
My credentials for this expertise were developed over 30 years. I have an undergraduate degree in Sociology and masters courses in Violent and Deviant behaviors. I completed university Law Enforcement Training in fingerprinting, basic forensics, deviant and violent behavior, with advanced courses in Domestic Violence. I have advanced studies and expertise in Security, Sexual Assault Awareness, Violence, and Personal Protection Techniques. I have attended FBI specialized training courses on Violent and Deadly Assaults. I worked and coordinated with the FBI regularly as well as most federal law enforcement agencies as part of my DHS/TSA duties. (ATF, USPIS, CBP, etc…) I was responsible for the Operational Security and protection of millions of passengers at 29 Federalized Airports over my career.
I am a World TaeKwonDo Federation (WTF) internationally certified Black Belt Instructor, Chung Do Kwan certified Black Belt Instructor, additional training in Kenpo Karate, specialized training in Street Defense, wrestling, and small arms (rated expert). I developed and taught specialized Sexual Assault Awareness and Street Defense courses for over 25 years to a wide range of audiences, including: crisis centers, rape victims, stalking victims, the military, Universities, university law enforcement officers, women’s groups, high schools, and the general public. I developed and taught a course specifically designed for rape victims to help them recover control of their lives. I also include the use of non-traditional weapons in many of my courses.
One of the main topics I want to address in this blog is how to try to RECOGNIZE and AVOID a sexual assault to start with. This does not always work of course but it can greatly reduce the odds of it happening. I will discuss various red flags (warnings) that potential rapists cause. I want to also discuss AVOIDING areas that are higher risk for being assaulted. I'll profile different types of rapists and their typical behaviors. I plan to discuss the difference between the unknown rapist who the victim has never seen before (what most people think of when they think of a rapist), the "date rape" rapist (I don't like that term and I'll discuss why later) and rapists who are people you know well, or are at least familiar with or see in passing (the most common type of rapists), and an increasing problem in the US and all over the world - gang rape.
I do NOT plan to discuss male rape in my blog in much detail, simply because while male rape is now extremely high, it is primarily due to prison situations. That is not something I have studied or have expertise in. Male rape does happen outside of prison, but then they normally face many of the same situations and the same issues as female sexual assault victims.
One of the primary points I will talk about and reinforce constantly, if you are sexually assaulted, it is NOT your fault. However you choose to respond to your attack, fight back or not, if you survive to have an opportunity to heal, you did the right thing. We need to finally get rid of the idea that women caused it, or brought it on themselves by their actions, way they dressed, or because they deserved it.
I hope you find this blog useful and send me questions and comments.