Only Love Today: Release Day!

“Sometimes your children just need you to listen, validate, support and to just be yourself around them. Simply be the kid in them, the kid you so dearly love.”

Last month, we had a string of grey, misty, sunless days.

Then on Friday, the clouds broke.

I had been sitting in my kitchen when I felt the sun warm my back and went to open the front door and looked up to see a clear blue sky. I stood and took in the view. It was much more than a break in the weather, the sun that day served as a reminder that under the cloud-filled skies, the sun was still there.

I had forgotten that the last ten days. Just like on the days that seem filled with failures, my failures, the sunshine of all the good that is in me is still there. I need to remember that I can draw it out and that it's never too late to reset the day no matter the start.

I do this a lot, slide back, inch out a little, then slide back again. Doing the work on my own with my short memory made it even shorter because of negative self talk, is truthfully lost on too many days.

Today I celebrate and am grateful for the release of "Only Love Today: Reminders to Breathe More, Stress Less, and Choose Love," by Rachel Macy Stafford, the bestselling author of "Hands Free Mama" and "Hands Free Life." 

I met Rachel years ago and I have turned to her many times in my personal life because she helps me remember that all of us are better than the criticism we too frequently heap on our own broken backs.

We are good, even when impatient, we are loving, even when frustrated, we seek to do better, even when we fall short.

We can be both at the same time and remembering that is what will save us from giving up hope on what we want for our families, ourselves, our lives.

If you go to Target today (go ahead, you can find a reason) you will see Rachel featured on Target's big screen today. Today is the release day of her work of heart, "Only Love Today."

Pick up a copy and see for yourself why I am writing about her book today. On the simplest level, I believe in her words because we all know that our days are anything but smooth sailing. We need a friend who is always there, we needs words of truth and encouragement and sometimes we need them quick and fast, and pretty much every 24 hrs.

I want the best for my children, in their happiness and in their discovery of who they are, but I don't want to lose my mind over it. I want my family to have happy memories from their life with me, but I don't want to forget myself in the process.

“Only Love Today” can be a go-to inspiration, so keep it close by, in your bag, your purse, your night stand, your glove compartment, your coffee table, like I do. Keep it close to help you when have that feeling of being alone without anyone understanding or appreciating the work you do to find a center in your home.

If a quiet gentle reminder to live undistracted, heart led, is what you seek, pick up "Only Love Today." If you want to learn how to take an ordinary moment, and breathing magic into it with intent, you'll find it in "Only Love Today."

Only Love Today -----  is clarity when you're conflicted.

Only Love Today ----  is unity when you're divided.

Only Love Today ----- is faith when you're uncertain.

 

Only Love Today ---- is a reset button directing you back to what matters most.

 

Thank you, Rachel, for "Only Love Today." We can do what we hope, when we have friends to walk with us along the way.

 

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Best Advice in Six

I'm throwing myself a book party.

Along with Whoopi Goldberg, Elizabeth Gilbert, Maria Shriver, and more.

We're all contributors to THE BEST ADVICE IN SIX WORDS: Writers Famous and Obscure on Love, Sex, Money, Friendship, Family, Work, and more, edited by Larry Smith, Six Words from SMITH Magazine.

I'm the "writers obscure" but my six words of advice can be found on page 57.

You can purchase THE BEST ADVICE IN SIX WORDS on amazon, BN.com, and also at just about every book store.

This carefully curated poignant collection of universal wisdom, life lessons, and caution thrown to the wind six words at a time will make a great graduation gift and also a great gift to yourself.

SIX WORDS is "The book that will thrill minimalists and inspire maximalists." ~Vanity Fair
and I'd add, anyone who loves to think, ponder, contemplate, and smile.

To celebrate, tell me your best advice in six. What's Your Six Word Advice? Leave your wisdom here and I'll give away a copy to a random winner. 

With 1,000 contributions from celebrities like Molly Ringwald, Whoopi Goldberg, Lemony Snicket, and Gary Shteyngart, as well as everyday people who've learned a thing or two about a thing or two during their time on the planet, readers will pulled into the sometimes hilarious, often serious, occasionally reflective experience of the book. These words will inspire you, amuse you, impress you, and make you think.

Thank you so much for sharing in my joy!

And six more words of advice - Buy this, you won't regret it.

With love,

the "everyday people"

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Multiples Illuminated

Touching stories of families with multiples, each told with humor, honesty, and heart.

You know what it's like when you find your people, your tribe, your community, the ones who you only have to look at in a certain way, and they say I know and you know they mean it? That's exactly what Multiples Illuminated is for the parents who share having more than one baby at a time.

I wished for twins since I was a little girl, and though I have three children, I did not have the rare fortune of more than one baby at once. I wish I would have been a more efficient birther, because to have two Alecs, or three Xaviers, or four Auggies, would have been my delight. Reading Multiples Illuminated allowed me the chance to daydream about the What Ifs. Even without twins or triplets, quadruplets, I found myself able to share in the stories of bed rest, high risk pregnancy, NICU, coming home with monitors - this is where we as mothers find our common ground: we do what it takes for our children to thrive.

Multiples Illuminated is edited by Alison Lee and Megan Woolsey, both mamas of multiples and they have done a tremendous job of selecting stories for this anthology that represent all the feelings that must go along from first finding out you're having multiples, on to pregnancy, delivery, bringing them home, and then through life with more than one baby at a time. If you know someone with multiples, this is the book for them: they'll smile through the pages as they nod along in recognition of  the special world they live in.

The stories included cover infertility, birth, and what comes after. Useful and considerate additions to the book include a resource guide and sections with practical advice on how to deal with the infertility process, tips on taking care of yourself during pregnancy, how to handle a possible NICU experience, and lists for what to pack for your hospital bag and necessities for your twins/ triplets during the baby years. The print version includes pages for journaling each step of the first few years of being a parent of multiples, which has the book serve as a guide and keepsake.

With this anthology, Alison and Megan have created a community. Multiple births are rare, twins account for 3 in 100 births in the United States. And 1 in 837 births are triplets or more. That puts you in some slim company - if you don't know any families who share this event of multiples, you certainly will find your sisterhood in these shared stories that are heartfelt, funny, tender, and honest.

We never know what life will give us, sometimes it's more than one baby at a time. Through hearing of others tell of struggling through the uncertainty when they find themselves in the land of multiples, you'll come to realize how we may not always have all the answers, but with encouragement and a shared story, we will find love and friendship.

The editors, Megan and Alison, say it best:

"Multiples Illuminated is a collection of stories by parents of multiples, for parents of multiples. It takes the reader on a journey from conception to the first few years. We have stories about infertility and trying to conceive, pregnancy, labor and delivery, and various aspects of the early years. In between the sections, there is practical advice on how to deal with the infertility process, tips on taking care of yourself during pregnancy, how to handle a possible NICU experience, and lists for what to pack for your hospital bag and necessities for your twins/ triplets during the baby years. In the print version of the book, we included pages for journaling each step of the first few years of being a parent of multiples. We want our readers to have the book as a guide and keepsake."

Multiples Illuminated can be purchased via Amazon.

SIGN UP for the Multiples Illuminated giveaway on GoodReads! Ends April 16!

For more information and getting to know about life with multiples, visit multiplesilluminated.com

 

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Preschooled: A Novel

Dear Anna Lefler,

I am in love with Preschooled.

Without gushing, I can only say that you made me fall in love with Justine. Everything she felt about this world of alpha moms in the preschool world was me, and did I relate? In a way that made me miss having a friend like her when I was going through this shock of the new world I was thrown into when I quit working and started taking my kids to school.

The thing I want most to say to you is THANK YOU for taking this world of momming it seriously. Many think it's just a side note, that we can continue with our lives and kids are over there in the corner of it, but the people we meet and this new world of parenting can swallow you up and leave the most capable of us in full blown doubt of ourselves.
 

You gave me validation, Ms. Lefler, for all the overwhelming and drowning I felt and still feel. 

 

I knew your words would be funny, it is, after all, written by you. But to find solace in your book, where I felt understood and where I fit in, well, I did not see that coming. 

Your book is wonderful.

 

Wonderful.

 

Your book is wonderful, Anna.

 

Sincerely,

 

Alexandra Rosas

**I am GIVING a copy of Preschooled: A Novel away, just leave a comment to enter. But if you can't wait, you can order your own copy here: Preschooled: A Novel, available at amazon

 

A Hands Free Life is Here

"A life with more love, peace, and presence is possible..."

Three years ago, I stood in the middle of my closet, the Tshirts and shorts and everything else I had been hanging on to were ankle deep. As I waded through the mess, the clothes clung to me like Jacob Marley's chains.

I looked around, on the edge of tears, chastising myself for letting things get so out of control. The temptation to shove everything back behind the door and continue ignoring the piles for another ten years called to me like a sweet love song. But I had to make changes. I was tired of the mountains of things around me, fatigued from always running from one duty to the next, exhausted from doing everything but what I felt in my heart was the most important: to enjoy my life and the people in it.

My days were frenetic activity, the hours growing shorter and the years left with my children flying past me so fast that I couldn't keep up with tearing the months' pages off the calendar. I wanted off this highway, and to take the slower side road instead—the one with the surprise of a fruit stand or a long forgotten picnic table spotted under the shade of a Weeping Willow. But things felt too deep for me to even think there was the possibility of a new way to live. Where would I start?

In 2012, I discovered Rachel Macy Stafford online. Her blog, Hands Free Mama, has held my hand and reminded me that no matter how overwhelmed I feel today, I can bring myself peace with rest, direction, and a new chance tomorrow. I can make mistakes and start over--hyper speed isn't the way life has to be lived, there is an alternative.

Today, I am celebrating the release of Rachel Macy Stafford's book, Hands Free Life.

-It's for anyone who has gone to bed at night, feeling the weight of failure.

-It's for all of us who begin our day already feeling defeated.
-If you are the way I am, then you know what I mean when I say that disappointment in ourselves hurts far more than from anyone else.
-If you set expectations for yourself that you'd never set for others.
-If you're harder on yourself than you would be to a friend.

How do we cope in a life filled with distraction, too many possessions, diminished days, and ever increasing needs pulling at us? As Rachel asks, "How do we let go and grasp what really matters?" Much like that day in my closet, how do I choose that which brings me closer to what I will use in my daily life to keep myself and those around me, in more peace and less stress.

Rachel holds the inescapable light of introspection before us. Yes, it does hurt to hear our honest answers to searing questions of how we use our time, but this is how we tackle the distraction of too many Tshirts and find the path out of the bursting closet. With one cleared step at a time, with just enough clarity to stay the course, she shares what she has learned in life and how we can use her 9 habits for living better and loving more. The all important question you'll ask yourself: Is how we spend our time reflective of what we value?

I say that Rachel walks with us rather than leads us, because hers is the shoulder we feel alongside our own, her arm in ours is the friend carrying us through. Her insights are our strength as she confides her own missteps and errors. Rachel leans in and encourages us to forgive ourselves and to see who we are with compassion. We often forget we are fallible humans--the challenge is to reclaim our lives, and not strive to get the most done at the cost of our time on earth.

Hands Free Life has the capacity to do that. I want that for you. I believe in this book so much that I am giving away a copy today. PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE ENTERED FOR A CHANCE TO WIN HANDS FREE LIFE by Rachel Macy Stafford.

And when you learn to love more, there is no person that will thrive and blossom more fully under this condition when loved upon by you, than you.

“Perhaps your home has become a dismal place where no one wants to be. Perhaps you’re tired of waking up dreading the work that’s ahead—and it has nothing to do with your job. Perhaps you are searching for a way to bring the smile back to your face, the joy back to your heart. Perhaps managing your people isn’t working so well and you’d like to try nurturing them."

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel Macy Stafford is a New York Times bestselling author and a certified special education teacher with a Master’s Degree in education. A few years ago, this life-long writer felt compelled to share her journey to let go of distraction and grasp what really matters by creating what became the tremendously popular blog “Hands Free Mama.” Using her skills as a writer, teacher, and encourager, Rachel provides readers with simple, non-intimidating, and motivating methods to let go of distraction and connect with their loves ones. Rachel lives in South with her husband and two children who inspire her daily. www.handsfreemama.com

 

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Penguins with People Problems

Penguins aren't that much different than we are.

They stress eat.

They question their wardrobe choices.

They have four margaritas and decide to write their memoir.

And they suffer fools.

The brilliance of Penguins with People Problems is that Mary Laura Philpott's penguins soon become the friends you wish you had in real life. They did for me.

I want you to have these penguins as your friends, too.

So I am doing a book giveaway of Penguins with People Problems. Leave a comment here or on my Facebook page for a random draw next Tuesday.

Good luck! And until then, don't attempt the smoky eye the way Penny did-no matter how easy the YouTube tutorial makes it look.

 

You can follow along with the penguins on tumblr by clicking here.

 

To order your copy of Mary Laura Philpott's Penguins with People Problems, click here.

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 Mary Laura Philpott is an author, editor, and occasional artist who has written for The New York Times, The Queen Latifah Show, The Tennessean, The Barnes & Noble Book Blog, and The Toast, among other publications. She is the editor-in-chief of Musing, the online literary magazine produced by Parnassus Books, as well as the co-author, with JD DuPuy, of a popular humor book for lawyers, Poetic Justice - Legal Humor in Verse. She also runs her own humor blog, "I Miss You When I Blink."

 

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Kindness Wins

Responsibility.

When you do something, and when you're given an opportunity and a privilege, you are responsible for your action.

Doing the right thing and acting the right way is easier when we understand the why of it. Why do we have to think of others? Why are we responsible for the effect our actions may have on others?

In this exploding world of the internet, our children enter ill prepared. This is the first generation of children navigating in a land where we as caretakers are learning along with them. I liken it to tossing car keys to someone who's never driven before.

We have the chance to do things right with the help of a newly released resource guide to kids being online. Kindness Wins is an amazing handbook written by Galit Breen. Her work has been to provide the door to discussion with our children before they begin leaving their digital handprint. This 112 page book is tightly compacted to lead the way to frank communication and illuminating circumstances on how what we do and say online has an impact on all who see it. Talking about moral and social responsibility on the internet can't be left to chance. With author Galit Breen's wise and insightful lessons, we've got a friend at the helm. 

It is overwhelming to learn all the social media that is available to our children. And even if we ourselves become students of youtube tutorials of the step by step how to instagram, how to facebook, how to snapchat, how to tweet, we still have no resource on the social expectation of our behavior in the internet, and more importantly, the boundaries.

Galit Breen has completed an outstanding MUST HAVE guide to leading our children through the cyberworld. Kindness Wins is being talked about in parenting circles, guidance counselor offices, teacher's lounges, because we are realizing how vital our role as adult is when it comes to opening the door to the internet for our children.

Kindness Wins covers essential topics and provides steps to discuss why we post, what we post, who sees what we post, who has access to information on our lives, and what we owe to others.

Filled with compassion, wisdom, lessons learned, and an eye to the good that social media can bring into our lives, Kindness Wins is a refreshing manual – no more warnings or caveats or horror stories. Instead we have encouragement and a confidante who is lighting the path ahead for you – so that you can light it ahead for your children as you teach them to travel online.

Galit Breen was a classroom and reading teacher for ten years. She has a master's degree in education and a bachelor's degree in human development. She has been published in Brain, Child, The Huffington Post, TIME, and xoJane. She lives in Minnesota with her husband, three children, and a ridiculously spoiled miniature golden doodle. You can learn more about Galit by visiting her website TheseLittleWaves. com Click here to order your copies of Kindness Wins.

* For a chance to win Kindness Wins, please leave a comment below! *

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Summer Reading Picks for Kids, as Picked by a Kid

Auggie has put together a Must Read Books for Kids List, just in time for summer. His opinion is that, "The books here are for ages 12 and up, definitely." All are available at your library. Enjoy! Enjoy!

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Hi. This is Auggie. I have a list of books for your kids for this summer. These are the ones I loved best but I have about ten more you can read and I can tell you about if you have a kid that loves to read. The books here are really good and I didn't want them to end. I hope your kids like them like I did but your kids should be in 6th grade to read them.

The Book of Time (Books 1, 2, and 3) – These are about a boy who finds a mysterious statue in his basement, which lets him travel through time. He finds out his father is prisoner in Dracula's castle, and does everything he can to figure out how to get there, and get him out. If your kid loves history and culture, they will love this. It is a trilogy. Every book tells you more secrets and they're really good for reading aloud. It is an adventure and mystery and you think you know the answer but you won't.

The Magisterium Series – There's this kid whose father tells him magic is evil, and he has to stay away no matter what. This makes the kid want to go to magic to find out why. So the kid does everything he can to fail the test that lets you become a wizard. He fails so badly that they end up admitting him anyway. As he learns he starts to realize that maybe magic isn't as bad as he thought it was, he is torn between his father and his new friends. To complete this awesome book is a fantastic plot twist that is such a surprise that it makes the long reading worth it. There are 5 books in the series and will keep you reading all summer.

Percy Jackson Books – These are long enough where they will give you something to do for a while. I like to say they are a pentalogy. It is 5 books. They all have wonderful character development, storyline, and a great balance of action, humor, romance, and fantasy. These include Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, and the Kane Chronicles, all some of my favorites. If you like mythology, you will find all of it here. Greek, Roman, and Egyptian. You get smarter with these books and they are not one bit boring or the kind you skip through.

Any children's books by James Patterson – Usually you can tell if books are for children. But these books are even with pictures like for older kids even if there's a lot of  pictures. The books for kids all have a lovable, but mischievous main character, and you can't help but feel good when it all works out for them in the end because they are not perfect but you love them. They have interesting characters, but still each book is totally different. Perfect for middle school. Includes the Middle School series, Treasure Hunters, House of Robots, I Funny, and Public School Superhero. These books are not serious or make your heart pound but they are for having a good time. (Make sure the ones you get by this author are for children because he writes a lot of books for grown ups)

 

I hope you like my choices! BYE!

 

Auggie.

 

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Keep the Ends Loose

 

"Warm, funny, and uniquely perceptive, KEEP THE ENDS LOOSE is an irresistible novel filled with characters you might recognize – and will not forget."

This describes Keep The Ends Loose, the debut novel by Molly D. Campbell, perfectly. Charming and wonderfully endearing, you will feel at home with the characters whom Molly magically brings to life.

Molly has a writing style that is clear as the morning sun, and she creates characters that are anything but flawless. We open the book to meet Mandy, 15 years old, and not quite ready to take on the world. She doesn't want to - she likes her life the way it is: predictable and without any bumps in the road. But the summer before high school begins, all of that changes. Life throws some big surprises right in the middle of her family's lap.

We think we know the people we live with. Sometimes, we get the shock of our lives when we find out, we don't. But don't lose heart, Mandy sees just how far she'll go to keep her family intact. Along the way, she grows up, and it suits her.

Molly Campbell's Keep the Ends Loose left me smitten. I fell in love instantly with Mandy, and watching her lose almost everything over one summer, had me turning each page to see things through with her. 

Keep the Ends Loose is a story of hope, told with bright and sparkling humor. My heart grew two sizes as I witnessed Mandy come to see and accept her mother as human and not the perfect woman she had imagined her to be. Perhaps, she loves her mother even more intensely now. Together with her older brother, Adam, Mandy battles to come to a place of accepting her mother Winnie as someone who has made mistakes. 

This is a beautiful story, at times it yanked my heart out, as I sat along with Mandy as she processed the events of the summer. I know it's not easy to see our parents fail us, and the loyalty and devotion of child to parent in the pursuit of gaining family and togetherness once again, brought me close to tears.

Keep the Ends Loose is warm, funny, and satisfying. Life is complicated, and secrets simmer under every life's surface. Some of us grow weary of the heaviness of our past on our own, and that's when family is there to pull the seams together. Love and trust, none of it is ever effortless. Molly Campbell captures that universal element perfectly in Keep the Ends Loose. A compelling read, I had to stay up to finish it. Molly is a master storyteller.

A strong 5 stars.

I loved this book so much, I am thrilled I'm able to give a copy away! Please leave a comment below for a chance to win!

Molly D. Campbell is the winner of two Erma Bombeck writing awards. A long-time blogger and lover of quirky characters, she wrote her first book, Characters in Search of a Novel, with illustrator Randy Palmer. Molly lives in Dayton, Ohio, with her accordionist husband and five cats.

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Other Places You Can Find Me This Week:

Huffington Post
MetroParent Milwaukee
Purple Clover

The Unraveling of Mercy Louis

“Your life would be easier if I were dead,” she says, folding her hands in front of her and staring at them.

“My life would be easier if I had a mother.”

“You haven't got a shred of love left for me,” Mama says, her breathing uneven from holding back tears.

“Mama...”

“You've saved it all up for a girl who doesn't even know your name.”

Illa looks at her sharply. “What are you talking about?”

“I saw the photo in your backpack, Illa. And you never shut up about her during the season.”

“How dare you look through--”

It is dialogue like this, found throughout Keija Parssinen's latest novel, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis, that seizes you from the first page and holds you tight up until the last sentence Keija writes. Then, and only then, are you finally able to breathe again. 

Keija is the author of The Ruins of Us, a debut novel that I fell in love with and reviewed here. The Ruins of Us was rich in storytelling and captivating with characters that felt as if they shared my same air. This same capacity for living breathing characters again holds true for Keija's latest work, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis.

The Ruins of Us had me keening over family and sacrifice, but here, with her latest work, Keija had me looking over my shoulder, shuddering in fear as I read deep into the night. Stephen King instantly came to mind as Keija deftly conjures to life the unsettling backdrop of the small Texas town of Port Sabine where The Unraveling of Mercy Louis takes place.

Repression, suppression, societal shame, and jealousy, are mixed in with the cauldron of the bible belt and religious fervor. A young woman burgeoning on adolescence in Port Sabine stands no chance of surviving what has taken hold of this town over one sweltering Texas summer.     

The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is chilling, dark and surprising. It's everything you hope to find in an enthralling novel. As you slowly watch the young women in the town of Port Sabine succumb one by one, you'll want to turn up all the lights in your house.

Keija Parssinen's latest work grips you from the start, and its contemporary theme, that of a town's star held up to the standard of perfection and what happens when they fall, is perfectly timed to our world today. In giving the reader a heart-pounding psychological thriller where young women are castigated for being human, Keija as author, expertly shows us no mercy.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

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The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is available here, where you can also purchase Keija’s first novel, The Ruins of Us.

Leave a comment below for a chance at winning The Unraveling of Mercy Louis.

Click over to read more reviews and enter more giveaways for Parssinen's The Unraveling of Mercy Louis at the blogs gfunkified and SurrenderDorothy .

  



Keija directs the Quarry Heights Writers’ Workshop and works with students in Cedar Crest College’s low-residency Pan-European MFA program. She lives in Columbia, Missouri with her husband and son. She earned her MFA at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote fellow. Find out more about Keija here.

You want this book.

*Also: how does someone who looks like they go to the farmer's market every Friday morning for sunflowers and cockscomb, write a book like this?? Mysteries of the universe.

 

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Rare Bird by Anna Whiston-Donaldson

"... not only was our son enamored with birds, but his first word was “bird” at just 7 months..."

When I was asked to review Rare Bird, the debut memoir by Anna Whiston-Donaldson, I hesitated. At the center of the story is Anna's account of the loss of Jack, her 7th grade son on his first day back to school, when he was swept away in the rising creek of a neighbor's yard. Its obvious content, how a family finds itself working through life after an unimaginable loss, is a story that in itself is heart stopping.

But my dilemma, my challenge, is how to put to words what Anna's powerful work here is.

This is not a sad book.

This is not a book about Anna's son, Jack, and his death.

This is a book about Jack's life and the beauty that can achingly arise out of a parent's biggest fear: the loss of a child. Rare Bird is a riveting read, as I knew it would be, but it is unlike anything I expected.

I need to be clear, this not a sad book. This is not a book full of the drama of grief.

What Rare Bird is, is an amazing story of hope where you think none could exist. It's a story that has to be told, because of its gift of brutal beauty, and because it will save so many who feel lost in life. I didn't put Rare Bird down until I finished it. As I read through the pages, I thought to myself how though this book was given life through Jack's death, it is not full of Jack's death. Rare Bird is about miracles, about surviving something no one can imagine they have the strength for.

Part of me was tempted to do just a one sentence review, "This is a heck of a book." It would have been enough.

Rare Bird documents the days before, and the days after, of life without Jack. With a bounding pulse rhythm to her words, Anna allows us to carry the heavy load up and down through the time that follows. And it feels like a gift to be there for her.

What Anna has done is to allow us to step into her life, and we are changed. We are magically there, in those suspended moments of time following the loss of Jack. We walk with Anna, with Jack's sister, Margaret, and Tim, Jack's reeling and bewildered father. Every reader is alongside, boldly for them. Marching fiercely, lending our hearts and leaning in with our arms, we carry them. I can't think of any higher honor than to have lived through these times with Jack's family.

Anna's book is an exercise in humanity and in the power of presence by witnessing the piecing together of lives into a work of extraordinary, shimmering moments of the courage in the face of overwhelming circumstances.

Rare Bird is a gem of a work. I am proud to be a part of talking about it.

I believe in this work of our lives, of the daily act of loving one another. What Anna writes about in Rare Bird is not to be missed. Her book is something you want to hold in your hands, to savor, and to return to, again and again. 

I am giving away a copy of Rare Bird here. Please leave a comment to enter.

Thank you, Anna, for what you dared to summon, to emerge, glistening from the fire. With Rare Bird, you have given us a powerfully honest and breathtaking view of the unbreakable and eternal bond between all of us. And of you, and Jack, forever.

Anna's book Rare Bird is available on Amazon.

You can learn more about Anna at her blog, An Inch of Gray.

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Something Smells Like Pee: Classy Observations

I am dedicated to humor: finding it, reading it, celebrating it, sharing it. A few years ago I found a website passionate about providing a platform for women and their humorous writing, it was FunnynotSlutty. From that day on, I have followed one of the talented top writers there, Blythe Jewell.

An example of how funny she is? Click here and see what I mean: "Five-Year-Olds Just Don't Get the 80s"

Blythe Jewell has just released her first book, Something Smells Like Pee, and as the title promises... it is full of the things in life that with a sense of humor, can make us laugh instead of cry. Reading her poems, musings, thoughts, are like spending time with that treasure of a friend you hope to never lose.

 

Learn To Merge

 

You want to Merge?

Why yes, of course.

Here, let me just ease back.

 

Why don't you merge?

Can you not see

I've left room on the track.

 

Okay, I guess

You've changed your mind

and want to come in

from behind

So, I speed up

But you do, too...

and cut in the goddamned line.

 

I'm forced to slam

upon my brakes

so hard my coffee flies

Now my car's a total mess

and I'm fit to be tied.

 

I honk, but you

do not respond

My temper starts to burn.

 

I honk again

Because if not

however will you learn?

 

*you'll have to order the book to see what comes next! *TEASER!*

Something Smells Like Pee is 91 pages of poetry and illustrations by Blythe that reflect on the sometimes unbelievable ridiculous of life, which is also its beauty. Whatever Blythe does, she does it well, and leaves me with a smile for the rest of my day. Along with the comfort that maybe I'm not that odd in my thoughts -- and that my coolness factor hasn't seen the last of its days yet.

I'm happy to offer Something Smells Like Pee here as a giveaway.

In part, true, because I'm a big fan of this author, but also because good work needs to be recognized and put OUT THERE -- Blythe's writing here, is indeed, clever, smart, subdued, and entertainment like this shouldn't go unnoticed.

Congrats, Blythe, you have a winner of a collection here.

Please leave your name in comments to be entered in the giveaway of Something Smells Like Pee, and order your copy here so you don't have to wait.

Good luck, everyone!

 

* * *

Vintage

When I was little, my grandmother and I would spend afternoons at vintage and antique shops. We'd walk along creaking wood floors, browsing through aisles and forgetting about time. She would reach for pieces that sparked a memory, explaining the history of each item to me. Smoothing our hands over fabrics, my grandmother would share stories about the dresses she wore. Together, we'd toss guesses out about the women who once owned the treasures we were unearthing.

There was a history to everything we saw. Later, when I was able to buy my own clothes, it was vintage shops I was drawn to. I found my choices there, among the mohair sweaters and the pencil skirts of the '60s, that fit who I was more than any of the current trends.

It's no small surprise why I fell head over heels with the debut novel, Vintage, by Madison, Wisconsin based author, Susan Gloss. Hourglass Vintage, the setting for this novel, is a vintage shop owned by the main character, Violet Turner. It's the kind of boutique where I imagine my grandmother and I would have spent our afternoons. As if by magic, Susan Gloss has taken the exact sentiment from my heart, and wrapped a story around the characters and artifacts in Violet Turner's shop.

Each chapter is introduced with a description of a consignment item that's been brought into Violet's store:

Wedding gown, 1952, good condition,
minor discoloration,
Ivory, tea length, scooped neck, cap sleeves. Silk taffeta.
Source: acquired from couple's daughter

I loved this unique start and found myself looking forward to each chapter to see what piece would be featured next, and why. Life histories are woven in along with the items that are brought into Violet's shop -- a reader can't help but be captivated. I went without sleep to finish Vintage, sinking into bed at night, eager to open my book and enter the world of Hourglass Vintage again.

We meet young April Morgan, who purchases a 1950's vintage wedding gown from Violet, only to come back to the store, needing to return it. Then there is Amithi, who, one at a time, surrenders her beautiful Indian saris to Violet's curated care. Violet, April, and Amithi forge a strong friendship, an unlikely one, that spans the experiences of a lifetime. They hold each other up through the unanticipated twists of each of their lives, and they grow to love, depend, and count on one another. The friendship that these three women form is a surprising one, one they never went looking for and now see they can't do without. So very much like spending an afternoon at an antique store with my grandmother and spotting that one special item, the one that would bring a tale to my grandmother's lips and that we would have to bring home. Susan Gloss' book is made all the more charming when you discover that she herself is proprietor of  a vintage shop on Etsy.

Vintage is a novel of pure pleasure, with flesh and blood characters that let you inhabit their lives for the 308 pages that they are ours. Susan Gloss has created a world in Vintage where it was easy for me to imagine myself a part of, and made me so sad to leave. I didn't want Violet's, April's, or Amithi's stories to end. I didn't want the vintage pieces from Hourglass Vintage's collection to no longer be listed. I didn't want this book to end -- something that makes this debut novel a winner.

I'm fortunate enough to offer a copy of Susan Gloss' debut novel, Vintage, to a lucky reader. Please leave a comment, and I'll let the author know of the winner!

Good luck!

Susan Gloss is the author of the novel Vintage, coming in March 2014 from William Morrow/HarperCollins.  She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where she majored in English and Spanish, and the University of Wisconsin Law School.  She lives on Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin, with her optimistic husband, young son, and neurotic hound dog.  When she's not writing fiction or toddler wrangling, Susan can be found working as an attorney, heading an online vintage shop at Cleverly Curated, or seeking inspiration for her blog, GlossingOverIt. She also blogs every Wednesday at The Debutante Ball for debut authors.

* * *

Suburban Haiku

First rule of book club
We don't talk about the books
When we're at book club

When we homeschooled, my kids and I would pass the time while driving to a field trip or waiting in line for a museum exhibit by composing haiku. The three boys fell in love with the fun of the 5/7/5 syllable pattern, and anyone looking over at our huddle would see us counting out to 17 on our fingers. At home, where we were more comfortable letting our freak flags fly, we'd be learning as we counted out claps to our three-line 17 syllable poetry.

That was years ago, and sharing haiku is now our private code... poems sneak up out of nowhere, and we know just what the other is saying, and it goes beyond 17 syllables. It's a love nod to the past, something we shared in the sweet days of beginning our learning together.

Does this sound like we love haiku? We do. And my favorite haiku FB follow, twitter follow, and now author, is Peyton Price. My children and I follow her and when our copy of her debut hard cover, Suburban Haiku arrived in the mail, it landed on the coffee table and has been there ever since. We want to keep it right where we can reach for it and share aloud our love of haiku.

Peyton writes in a warm, intelligent style about life. She is witty, surprising and will make you laugh out loud as quickly as she makes you wipe a tear from your eye. Her work is nothing short of a celebration of our days.

I'm thrilled to be able to give a copy away of Suburban Haiku to a reader here.

Peyton Price's Suburban Haiku takes on the true story of life in the suburbs. In 141 pages filled with the three-phrase style of haiku, you'll tour the world of kids, Saturday soccer in the rain, PTO meetings, yard sales, school drop offs... all in 17 syllables and countless giggles.

You will adore Peyton Price. Follow her on suburbanhaiku. com Hear her read her haiku here Follow her hilarious tweets via @suburbanhaiku  and get a daily dose of haiku pleasure on her Facebook page.

*Leave a comment here and enter to win SUBURBAN HAIKU: Poetic Dispatches From Behind The Picket Fence.

Peyton's book is also available on amazon .

About Peyton:
You can find Suburban Haiku here, at NickMom.com, and on Amazon. Actually, Suburban Haiku is everywhere, if you know where to look. Kind of like weeds. Speaking of which, you might want to do something about that lawn.

I leave you with one more for the haiku road:

Peyton Price ‏@Suburbanhaiku Mar 5

I’m nodding my head

during saxophone lessons

then jerking awake.

Okay, one more:

Note from the teacher:
Your son's losing his temper.
WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?

See what I mean? Impossible to not fall head over heels for this book.

* * *

JC Little's The Last Snowman

She goes by The Animated Woman, but her name is JC Little. JC is a talented animator who draws of what she knows. Life, moments, the in-betweens of our day. We were sent a copy of her latest published release, The Last Snowman.

The Last Snowman is for the youngest to the oldest among us. My 11-year-old son spent a morning flipping through the boldly outlined illustrations, while I read it aloud -- as well as to myself -- for the heartbreakingly tender moments that I, as a parent, found myself lost in. It's  a delight of a book to see and hold in your hands. As for the younger crowd, Auggie reviewed it for us here. He enjoyed The Last Snowman, every bit as much as I did.

Auggie's Review: It was a good book. It was very touching, and I liked the analogy at the end. I loved the look on the girl's face when the snowman fell on her. I like the lots of blue in the book and how the people's faces have surprises on them. I like the big black printing in it and that makes it like reading comics. My favorite part is how you feel you are watching the girl build the snowman and someone isn't telling you a story about it. I like the book. 

 

You can buy The Last Snowman here on amazon . com (*a steal at $3.00 on kindle-- the story is designed to 'animate' in the page flips of Kindle. People of all ages love this. It's a different reader experience from the paperback version and I think it's pushing the boundaries of eBooks)

____________________________

JC is also doing a book giveaway! Leave your name here to enter and I'll forward the winner's name along to JC. (psst. click here and see the other fun stuff* you'll get)

JC Little is The Animated Woman. Blogging her life with drawings and animation. Mom of three, wife, animator, TV series director, and indie film-maker, she spends her free time fighting the overwhelmption. Find JC at theanimatedwoman.com 

 

"This afternoon it snowed. It was probably one of the last snows of the winter, so it was lovely sticky snow…perfect for making a snowman.” So begins the funny and poignant tale of a teenage girl and a dangerously tall snowman.

From the kitchen window, a mother watches her teenage daughter build one last snowman in the fresh spring snow. The girl works diligently, and, with some help from her little brother, she constructs a dashing giant. But wet snow and gravity take their toll, leaving a young girl who has perhaps loved and lost for the very first time.

The LAST Snowman is a book with timeless appeal for children and adults alike. Award-winning story artist JC Little has playfully captured a “moment” in family life, marking the ephemeral grace between childhood and adolescence.

**The Last Snowman giveaway sponsored by Boiron USA and Dot & Lil
(OPEN TO U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS ONLY) 

* * *

A Lady In France

Jennie Goutet, of  A Lady in France, has written a memoir. And I am celebrating as much as she is, because I remember when Jennie told me she would do just this, about two years ago. I have seen her her work with a focus I wish could be bottled. She came prepared to share her candid and heartbreaking story about triumph, challenge, faith, and joy, and it's all in her book.

Jennie has survived tragic loss, depression, and addiction. Her travels take us to places that aren't the pretty ones on the planet, but instead are the ones that when seen through the eyes of doing God's work, we are witness to beauty that is almost impossible to capture with words. And yet, Jennie Goutet does just that, "... tears were streaming down my face as she washed his body and wrapped it in a clean, white cloth to be buried, the nicest clothing he had ever worn. Then she handed him to me... I held him loosely in my arms, he was heavier in death than he had been in life."

As a world traveler, teaching, studying, and working, Jennie dreamed of marrying a French man. Through life's swift turns and surprises, she marries a man from Paris. It is through the twists and turns that Jennie so skillfully brings us along. We wake with her, and end our day with her. She takes us by the hand and in her vivid, simple language, we are with her through every step of discovery as well as humbling doubt.

With grace for herself, and fearlessness and faith in God's plan, she traces the painstaking process of rebuilding her life after her brother's suicide, from the dark moment of the news to the numb hours and months ahead. She recounts the bond with God that holds her up and brick by brick, she starts her life anew, in Him.

Her new life abroad is full of unexpected challenges, and Jennie offers an honest look at the loneliness she feels as an American in Paris. She endears herself to us and we root for her in her relentless determination to form friendships.

One of the book's most unexpected elements is the level of Jennie's honesty. It's hard to not feel blessed that she shares her story with us. Throughout Jennie's journey, through life's losses and its devastation and heartbreak, Jennie arrives at insights, soul stirring new understandings, and we are the ones right there, gripped by the shared discovery of self reflection, done with a searing openness.

For all its raw emotion and devastatingly honest confessions, this is more than a memoir about faith and God. Delivered in an intimate tone, where you feel you are the one who has found the last translucent person on earth, Jennie gifts us with a celebration of recognizing our riches, even the ones that come wrapped in the package of pain. Jennie Goutet gives us the treasure of both grief and hope.

Jennie shows us, we are stronger than we know. I didn't set out to finish Jennie's book in one sitting, but that's what happened. "Just one more chapter," never turned out to be enough, I had to know her whole story. I loved A Lady In France.

Purchase your copy of Jennie Goutet's A Lady In France on amazon.com ($5.99 for kindle)

Jennie Goutet was born in New London, CT in 1969, and grew up in upstate New York. Following her BA, she lived in Taiwan and France, and finally Manhattan, where she met her French husband. They now live just outside of Paris with their three children and a naughty dog.
Jennie writes on subjects ranging from grief, faith and depression to the lighter topics of French cooking and culture, her failure at gardening, and the humorous, exasperating joy that comes from being a mom.
She is author of the memoir "A Lady in France" and is a contributing author to "Sunshine After the Storm: A Survival Guide for the Grieving Mother." Her work has appeared in Huffington Post, Queen Latifah's website, and her writing was chosen as BlogHer's Voice of the Year two years running.

* * *

 

Fancy Feet

"In 1998 I was an active young woman looking forward to all the possibilities life had to offer. That all changed when my car was struck by a reckless driver going more than 60 mph. The car crash resulted in a battle for my life that would involve two weeks in a coma, seven months in the BCPFF Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit at Vancouver General Hospital, losing my best friend, and both my legs..."

This is how the story of Heidi Cave, author of Fancy Feet, begins. 

We spend so much time on the internet, that we skim past people's words, looking for that one word or phrase that jumps out and sums it all up for us. Heidi's work makes us stop, and read every single word of this incredible time in her life: Struck by a car going 60 miles per hour. Two weeks in a coma. Seven months in a burn unit. Losing her best friend. Losing her legs. Think on every one of those phrases. Now, imagine yourself surviving that, at 23 years old.

Her story tells us just that, how a young girl finds the strength within her, to see this through. I received Heidi's book in the afternoon mail, and I began reading it the moment I held it in my hands. I read it an hour before I had to pick up my children from school, then I kept reading it in the school pickup line. I came home and quickly started dinner, and kept reading while the potatoes boiled. I then read it while waiting for my youngest during soccer practice, and then again once home. Finally, later in bed, I fought sleep to finish it that day.

As I closed the cover on Heidi's book, I wiped tears away with both hands for the beauty of the human spirit: for fighting for yourself, for forgiveness of others, for tirelessly campaigning to embrace what's been given to us, with nothing stopping us. This book is a work of soulful art, and I will be reading it again and gifting it on to friends, to share the hope in Heidi's story.

Heidi Cave is a treasure to anyone who knows her. It's difficult for me to even talk about her work here without a catch in my throat. Read her words, and feel the power of the worth that we can give to ourselves. Astonishingly true in heart, spirit, and ferocious in its ability to capture what she endured -- so we know the strength we have inside. Even when faced with what seems the most impossible: forgiveness.

Fancy Feet is available through Amazon. 

But I am also giving away a copy here, because I believe the power of Heidi's story will help someone else to find that source of strength we all have inside -- even when we feel we don't.

We are amazing.

Please leave a comment here to enter.


"What should have been the darkest chapter of her life became a bright testament to the strength of the human spirit."

* * *

Ready for Air

Through visiting here, many of you have learned about me through the stories I tell on my blog. Mostly humorous, with the shift lately to heartfelt pieces from the loss of my mother and my nephew this year. It's been a heart breaking year... when I look at how I've kept going, it makes me take stock and  realize, I am stronger than I think.

Sometimes, we just want to forget something happened. But that doesn't help anyone. Thank you to Kate Hopper and her book Ready for Air, for taking me back to a place where re-examination sheds the light needed to understand seasons in life, and how we survive. I've weathered much, some episodes in my life loom larger than others. And some, so significant that words are inadequate.

Like the birth of my children, all three, truly joyous occasions, but not playing out the way I had fantasized.

Being a mother is something I have wanted for as long as I remember, and when I was pregnant with my first child I was floating on air. I imagined baby showers thrown by my friends, coming home with a baby to a nursery lovingly set up by my husband. What I had never imagined was going into pre-term labor at 31 and a half weeks due to pre-eclampsia and delivering a baby that was not a "take home" baby. For this to happen two more times with my other two children, is something I especially didn't expect.

All three of my children were born early and stayed in the hospital's NICU. When your dreams are as opposite from reality as you can imagine, it's an isolating experience. You are caught so off guard and things move so fast, because the situation is dire. Action has to be taken fast and you have no time to celebrate, send out announcements, set up a nursery before hand, rally troops or resources to your side. Life, so frail, from minute to minute, becomes a strategy of survival -- and there is no room for the romantic. You're not prepared, not mentally nor physically, and neither is your home. This is life when you have a baby that is premature and in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). When you do come home, it is with a baby smaller than most, and attached to apnea wires and a monitor. Other mothers are jarred awake by their newborn's robust cries, while you sleep lighter than you ever have, one ear open for the beeping alert of an EKG lead.

I needed to push those memories far away, and thought I had, until I finished reading Ready for Air: A Journey Through Premature Motherhood, a book I sank into cathartically. Authored by Kate Hopper, Ready for Air is about Kate's thrust into motherhood, delivering early due to health complications, and the uncertainty that goes with delivering a premature baby. The morning I received the email from Kate asking me if I would host a giveaway for her book about premature birth and NICU I sat, stunned. This was such a long ago story from my life... one I purposely had stopped thinking about, because those were times heavy with fear, desperate prayer, and cautious hope for a new baby's survival. I relived it through Kate's book, and I had to --so that those days didn't hold darkness for me anymore. Seeing what I lived through, made me see myself as a hero.

What made those times the most difficult of my life -- beyond the obvious fear of losing your child, or survival with permanent life-altering conditions -- was the aloneness and abruptness of it all. To be ripped from one day of eagerly anticipated motherhood, to the solemn, unable to speak clench of the touch and go of the days with a baby in NICU, where you see other mothers who delivered around you taking their babies home, and you wait, alone in your hospital room. Though your mind tells you skilled hands are caring for your baby, all your heart knows is that they're other hands, not your hands.

It was this very plunge back into those challenging days, that made me say yes, I would be honored to review Kate Hopper's book, and help to get a copy of Ready for Air to mothers, with premies or not. Ready for Air is a story of survival, one that can be told, passed on, shared, so that our survival stories can be heard by those that need to hear them; that's how we see how much we've survived along the way. Reading Kate's book helped me look at those days differently. When we finally were home with Alec, Xavier, and Auggie, I just wanted to shut and lock the door tight behind us. We were home, and they were with me, and that's all I wanted to know. But healing means understanding, and Kate is the one who took me by the hand and had me look under the bed, saying, "See? No monsters."

I know Kate's words would bring that much needed thread of hope, when everything seems to be unraveling. Kate's book is a balm to mothers living through the twists and turns of a sudden premature birth, and has the potential to be an NICU staple. The pages offer a look into what life in this season is like, so that others can be a support system. Friends and family want to help, and Kate provides understanding and insight for them. Her words of experience have the power to pull anyone stumbling through the unending days of NICU. Mothers, fathers, families in the isolation and emotional not-knowing of premie days, will find a place of trust in these chapters.

We are braver and stronger than we know, but how comforting to have a mother lighting the path ahead for us, on a trail she's blazed before, turning around and offering us her lamp, whispering with encouragement and assurance, "Here, find yourself in my words, let me walk with you and take each tentative step through these long days and nights with you. You have me and I know, I know, just how very hard it is to step into uncertainty." This is why Kate wrote Ready for Air, because she remembers the path when it was dark and long, and those that shone a light ahead for her.

Thank you, Kate, for your love, and for your work, you will be that message of hope and understanding that so many need when a birth comes too early, but a parents' love, never not ready.

Kate has generously provided a copy of Ready for Air to each blog to go to a reader and is also asking blog readers to suggest NICUs that they would like a copy sent to. 15 winning NICUs will be chosen at the end of the tour to have signed books sent to them. 

*Please leave a comment on Kate's blog, Motherhood and Words, if you'd like a copy of Kate's book, as well as the name of a hospital NICU, that you'd like to enter in Kate's giveaway.

Kate Hopper is the author of Ready for Air: A Journey Through Premature Motherhood and Use Your Words: A Writing Guide for Mothers. Kate holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota and has been the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant, and a Sustainable Arts Grant. Her writing has appeared in a number of journals, including Brevity, Literary Mama, Poets & Writers, and The New York Times online. She is an editor at Literary Mama. She teaches online and at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. For more information about Kate’s writing and teaching, visit www.katehopper.com.To find out more about Kate, visit her blog Motherhood and Words, follow her on Facebook and Twitter and, of course, buy Ready for Air.

THANK YOU!

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