Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 10-31-05

Join my email book club. Over 300,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Since last Friday's column, when I mentioned the pie baking class that I taught to homeschoolers, my email box has been pleasantly flooded:

"I just celebrated my 25th year of marriage. The only thing I can't make is a decent pie crust."--Cindy Caines

"When can I sign up for your pie crust class? I've been working on that special art for over 50 years and I still can't do it!"--Ada Duncan

And meet Bill Hood, whose mother taught him the important things in life:

"Suzanne, I learned from my mother to make pies 'from scratch'. Her crust contained cold milk, not water. I have been making them that way for more years than I want to admit, and always get an 'atta boy!' with my pies. I also learned to sew and knit from my mother, who thought boys should know some of these things. She said they make better husbands."

* * * *

Truthfully, I think pie crust success has a lot to do with trial and error and being willing to throw out the dough if it isn't working. For years, I struggled when I tried to make a pie crust. The mixing part went okay, but when the dough was sitting in front of me and I started rolling it--what a disaster. When my husband would hear moaning, groaning, and a few choice words under my breath, he'd yell into the kitchen, "Trying to make a pie crust again, dear?"

I was tired of defeat and I finally had a pie crust showdown. I decided that my problem was that the dough, sitting on the floured board in front of me, sensed that I was petrified. It knew it had the upper hand, right from the start, and so it wasn't gonna roll over easy.

So I did a little Zen, pre-rolling pie crust meditation, and then I became a pie crust warrior. "I am woman, I am not afraid of pie crust dough!" And I let that pie dough know that if it didn't cooperate, no problem, I was going to throw it in the trash and keep going until I won the war. And I did.

I've posted three of my recipes, and the pie crust recipe that Bill Hood's mother taught him, go to:
http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/recipe5.html

When you win the pie crust war, email me a photo of you and your pie crust. I'd love to share some photos with readers.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: free stuff, tours, personal stories. This week's authors: Josie Brown, True Hollywood Lies; Paul Levine, Solomon vs. Lord; and Rochelle Krich, Now You See Me.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader Column 10-28-05

Join my email book club. Over 300,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I don't know what they're teaching in schools these days, but there were a couple of basic things that were left out of my education and I had to pick them up later in life.

1. How to Sell

You don't have to be in sales to need selling skills. Want a date or a job? You'd better be able to "sell" your good qualities. If you want someone to see your point of view, first you're going to have to sell them your idea.

A business acquaintance--who's not in sales--emailed me the other day. She was trying to sell an idea to other people in her department. "I'm a selling newbie and trying to learn fast the art of the pitch," she wrote.

"The art of the pitch," I assured her, "was simply offering a solution that solves a problem for the person you're 'pitching'. Give them what they want and need, and they'll buy!"

"Ah," she replied. "Offer a solution that solves a problem. I like that. Sign me up as your first student to the Suzanne Beecher School of Pitching."

2. How to Roll a Pie Crust

It's an old fashioned art that will impress your friends. Even though we're surrounded by high tech gadgets, it's amazing what a simple wooden rolling pin can create. Take a homemade pie to a family dinner--tell them you rolled the pie crust from scratch--and they'll "ooh and ahh". It's a real self-esteem boost.

Years ago, when I was home schooling my son, I also taught a cooking class twice a week to six other home schooled kids. The first lesson was how to mix and roll a pie crust, but we didn't stop there. We cut out fancy designs using the leftover dough, decorated the tops of the crusts, and we even used food coloring and painted fall leaves around the edges of our cherry, apple and pumpkin pies.

One of the thirteen-year-old boys in my class got so hooked on baking pies that he called me at home one night at 10 o'clock. He was busy in his kitchen baking an apple pie, and he had a question for me before he popped it into the oven. He was the only person in his family--including his mother and grandmother--who could roll a pie crust from scratch. He beamed with pride when he brought his pie to class the next day.

I wonder if today he's a baker, or just a talented husband who can whip up the holiday pies?

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 
www.DearReader.com

P.S. Win a copy of She's All Eyes, by Maura Conlon-McIvor. Sample this first-time author's book, send me an email, and tell me what you think. That's all you need to do to enter the free giveaway. I have 25 books. Maura told me she'd love to hear your feedback. Go
to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/alt/alleyes

Dear Reader Column 10-27-05

Join my email book club. Over 300,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I'm in Manhattan, sitting in the main lobby at Random House, waiting for my 10:30 appointment. Random House was the very first publisher that I contacted when I came up with the idea for the book clubs.

It used to be scary calling on publishers, because I didn't know anything about the industry. I needed to get permission to use material from their books, but I had no idea where to start, or who I was supposed to be calling--not that it mattered because no one ever called me back.

But it didn't bother me because I realized that publishers got hundreds of calls, every week, from people who thought they had a great idea. But since my idea was "the real deal" and the phone approach wasn't working, I decided to find a way to stand out.

So I tracked down the name of someone whose position sounded "big-league", called their secretary to make sure they were going to be in the office, baked some chocolate chip cookies, wrote a letter and shipped overnight a huge Ziploc bag of my homemade cookies along with my letter.

I was hoping the woman I'd shipped the cookies and the letter to would fall prey to the idiom, "You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours." Or in this case, "I'll send you some to-die-for, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and you take my call to relieve your guilt, because you ate the whole bag."

And she did take my call. And I did get an appointment.

It was my first trip to New York City, and the closer I got to the Bertelsmann Building where Random House's offices were, the closer I felt to throwing up. I was so nervous, I could hardly walk in the door. I listened to tunes on my headset for 15 minutes outside the building, then I found the courage to go in, and headed up to the
17th floor.

Everyone seemed perfectly normal and nice in the reception area, and I was just starting to calm my nerves when I picked up on the conversation in the office next to me. I could hear another dot.com guy pitching his idea to the same person that I was going to be talking to. He sounded pretty "with-it;" and it was making me feel pretty "without-it." The lingo and terms he was using--I had no idea what he was talking about.

I was feeling squeamish again. I stood up, smoothed the wrinkles out of my skirt, and patted the bag of cookies in my briefcase for moral support. I bet Mr. Cool in there didn't bring any cookies with him.

My appointments at Random House are different now. I'm not a nervous wreck anymore. I actually look forward to the visits. But there is one thing that hasn't changed....I still bring cookies.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 
www.DearReader.com

P.S. Win a copy of She's All Eyes, by Maura Conlon-McIvor. Sample this first-time author's book, send me an email, and tell me what you think. That's all you need to do to enter the free giveaway. I have 25 books. Maura told me she'd love to hear your feedback. Go
to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/alt/alleyes

AUTHORBUZZ: free stuff, tours, personal stories. This week's authors: Susan Squires, The Hunger; Barbara Delinsky, Looking for Peyton Place; Rochelle Krich, Now You See Me.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader Column 10-26-05

Join my email book club. Over 300,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Note to readers from Suzanne...

I live in Florida, and Hurricane Wilma has probably come and gone. But, I'm writing this column to you on Sunday afternoon. I expect to see Wilma's warm-up act late this evening, and then she'll take center stage tomorrow, on Monday.

Since I haven't met Wilma yet, I can't let you know how I fared. But if the lights go out--and they probably will--I have candles and plenty of books. And, I treated myself to a bag of baked potato chips (I only eat them on special occasions). In the meantime, enjoy today's column...

Dear Reader,

(Sunday afternoon)

I'm in the midst of getting ready for Hurricane Wilma's visit. I expect to see her early tomorrow morning. She'll be traveling all night to get here. I don't know how she does it. Apparently, the woman doesn't need any sleep.

It might seem odd that I'm writing a column when a hurricane is heading my way, but I think that writing to you is helping get rid of my nervous energy.

It's weird, the things that go through your mind when you know that "a big one" is headed your way. My adrenaline has kicked in, which is a good thing, because it gives me the energy to gear up--there's a lot of preparation--but it also brings out the "strange" in me.

I'm covering all of my windows with boards, and bringing everything inside that will take off when the winds blow: small flower pots, outdoor furniture, and my kayak--it's now sitting in my living room.

I'm prepared. I have 18 gallons of water; 20 candles; canned goods; bleach; flashlights; a battery operated radio--and here's the "strange" part--I have that "company's coming" feeling, too. You know, the feeling that tells you to clean the closets, line the drawers, touch up the walls with paint--do all the things that you've been meaning to get around to, because you want to look good when your guest arrives.

I know, it's crazy thinking. And when I caught myself wiping finger marks off the refrigerator, and tidying up the bathroom, I quickly reminded myself that from what I've heard about Wilma, she's not a very considerate house guest.

She shows up uninvited; stays longer than you'd like; makes herself right at home; raids your cupboards; steals the towels; up roots your trees; is noisy--nobody can get any sleep--and she doesn't even send you a thank you.

(Tuesday)

Hurricane Wilma hit to the South of where I live, so I only experienced tropical force winds. But they were enough to blow out a transformer, and I've been without power since Sunday morning at 4 a.m.

But I have a generator hooked up, which provides me with options: plug the refrigerator in; turn on a light; make coffee; or I can run my computer. No complaints here, I'm just pretending that I'm camping.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 
www.DearReader.com

P.S. Win a copy of She's All Eyes, by Maura Conlon-McIvor. Sample this first-time author's book, send me an email, and tell me what you think. That's all you need to do to enter the free giveaway. I have 25 books. Maura told me she'd love to hear your feedback. Go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/alt/alleyes

Dear Reader Column 10-25-05

Join my email book club. Over 300,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Readers continue to amaze me, and Jenny amazed me last week when she sent me this email:

"Suzanne, I made a note on my calendar to remind you that your father-in-law's birthday is coming up quickly, on the 18th. I am my family's self-appointed reminder of such things. I made a note that you mentioned, in your column, last year that it had snuck up on you.

Thanks for your very valuable service and your stellar columns!"
--Jenny O.

Yes, there are angels all around us, aren't there?

Jenny's email was the perfect ending to a perfect day. Our family had just finished eating a big turkey dinner with all the trimmings, including a homemade birthday cake, in honor of my father-in-law's birthday. I was going to be in New York City on his birthday, so we celebrated a bit early.

Yes, Jenny, I remembered this year, but please don't take me off your list. You are a wonderful, considerate, person. But I bet people tell you that all the time. Anyone as thoughtful as you, people must love you. I sure do.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 
www.DearReader.com

P.S. Win a copy of She's All Eyes, by Maura Conlon-McIvor. Sample this first-time author's book, send me an email, and tell me what you think. That's all you need to do to enter the free giveaway. I have 25 books. Maura told me she'd love to hear your feedback. Go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/alt/alleyes

Dear Reader Column 10-24-05

Join my email book club. Over 300,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I have a special book for you to sample this week. Maura Conlon-McIvor is the author, and this is her first book. Well, it's kind of her first book. Her book was released, in hardcover, in 2004 and the name of it was FBI Girl: How I Learned To Crack My Father's Code.

But now her book just came out in trade paperback and it's called She's All Eyes: Memoirs of an Irish-American Daughter. The name has changed, the cover has changed, but the story didn't change--to protect the innocent! (I couldn't help myself, I used to watch "Dragnet.")

So why does the outside of a book change, but the inside story stay the same? Because sometimes people do judge a book by its cover, even me.

My first impression of the hardcover book, FBI Girl, was that the memoir was probably about a girl whose father was an FBI man and she'd followed in his footsteps. I expected to read a story about how she made her way through the ranks of the FBI, along with some shoot-em-up stories. But that's not what the book is about at all, and that's why the cover and the title were changed when it was released in paperback.

When you click to read the sample from the newly released paperback book She's All Eyes, (remember, that's the new title) you'll find the heart-warming story of a young girl who's trying to connect with her father and figure herself out, too. The author said that when she was only 13 years old, she decided some day she needed to write a book because, "Sometimes the people that have the most love to give are the most misunderstood."

I talked with Maura last week and she would love to hear your feedback about She's All Eyes. Sample her book, then send me an email, and I'll forward your comments on to her. Authors love to hear from you. I have 25 copies of She's All Eyes to give away. When you send me your comments, you're automatically entered in the drawing.

To sample the book She's All Eyes, and to see the two different covers, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/alt/alleyes/

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: free stuff, tours, personal stories. This week's authors: Susan Squires, The Hunger; Barbara Delinsky, Looking for Peyton Place; Rochelle Krich, Now You See Me.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader Column 10-21-05

Join my email book club. Over 300,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

My grandmother's china cabinet was delivered to me yesterday. It traveled all the way from Wisconsin--I live in Florida. Grandma gave it to my mother and my mother passed it on to me.

When I was growing up, every Sunday we'd drive to Grandma and Grandpa Hale's house for noon dinner. I say noon dinner, because in the Midwest where I grew up, the noon meal was lunch and the evening meal was supper. In our house, the term dinner was reserved for special occasions. And going to Grandma's for Sunday dinner always felt like a special occasion to me.

My grandma wasn't a gourmet cook. But her recipe box was filled with make-you-feel-good dishes. And boy, did they make me feel good. Tummy warming soups, hamburger casseroles, cookies, poppy seed cake, berry pie (the berries were from her patch), and on Sunday, roast beef with homemade gravy. And Grandma never minded a bit if you soaked up the left over gravy on your plate, with a slice of her homemade bread.

The china cabinet means a lot to me, because on Sunday we always used the best dishes. And those were the dishes in Grandma's china cabinet. I knew every dish in it by heart, because I always helped set the table. The pink water glasses; the crystal cut sugar bowl with the silver spoon; the cream colored plates; cups and saucers; the gravy boat; and the potatoes, corn, and coleslaw--each had a special serving bowl, too.

But my favorite thing in the china cabinet was the red and green ivy Christmas glasses. There are only two of those glasses left, but they'll look great in Grandma's china cabinet, and I remember exactly where to put them.

I'd love to show you the china cabinet, go to:
http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/china.html

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column 10-20-05

Join my email book club. Over 300,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I've been daydreaming about staying in a house by the ocean. No work schedules, no deadlines, no responsibilities, for an entire month.

I know this house well. I've never actually been there, but my "house by the ocean" daydream is very familiar to me. It's the fantasy that I always start thinking about when I feel like I need to regroup. It's a great daydream. I've added a few new things over the years, but it always begins with a friend saying, "Suzanne, you look like you need to get away. Why don't you spend next month at my beach house? No one is using it, and I just put a new spa in the bathroom." (The spa is one of the new things I've added to my daydream.)

Ah, the use of a friend's ocean front property for free. And of course, my paycheck keeps showing up in my bank account, even though I'm not working for 30 days. See what a great daydream this is? Well, it gets even better.

My friend's beach house has a bungalow, eclectic feel to it. Nothing really matches, no two dishes are alike, yet they look like they were made for each other. Unusual objects show up in unexpected places throughout the house, but yet you know it took the talents of a high-priced interior decorator to give it that disheveled, expensive-feel-to-it look.

The feather bed is covered with a handmade quilt. Six pillows are propped against the antique wooden headboard. Each pillow offers a different firmness for a perfect night's sleep. The kitchen is loaded with gourmet appliances--not that I'll have to do any cooking, unless I want to, because a chef shows up late in the afternoon and cooks dinner for me every evening. The main room of the house, the side facing the ocean, has a set of doors that slide back and completely opens up the room to the outdoors. I can hear the rush of the surf.

You'd love it. Feel free to borrow my house on the beach, anytime.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 
www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: free stuff, tours, personal stories. This week's authors: Heather Graham, "Ghost Walk"; Lynn Sholes & Joe Moore, "The Grail Conspiracy"; Paul Levine, "Solomon vs. Lord"; and Gil Smolin, "Reign of the Rat". Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader Column 10-19-05

Join my email book club. Over 300,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

My goal at the book clubs is to make it fun and easy for people to find the time to read. And I need your help to get the word out. Here are some things that readers are doing right now:

1. Add a line about the book clubs in the "signature" of the emails that you send to people every day.

2. Put a note about the book clubs in your holiday cards. Be sure to include the web address when you invite your friends to give the book club a try.

3. If you have a newsletter in your church, place of employment, or any groups that you belong to, add a message about the book clubs.

If you've done something creative, email and let me know. I always love to hear from readers.

From my Email Bag:

(In response to my column about retail clerks asking for my phone number.)

"Dear Suzanne, I too, hate to give out my phone number at stores. I have to tell you though, I dislike asking for it when I'm working, even more. It is torturous to ask phone numbers.

We know the customers don't want us to ask, but we have to because the computerized register 'counts' our input of phone numbers. So, just know that we dislike it as much as you do.

Personally, I like giving out my mother-in-law's phone number when I'm asked. Since she lives halfway across the country, it skews their marketing model. Hmmm, maybe next time I'll give them my son's number in Japan!"--Mary S.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected] 
www.DearReader.com

P.S. Congratulations to the winners of a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts:
Luther Hollingsworth, Gordon Austin, Wendy Gulbis and Norma Bowers.

Dear Reader Column 10-18-05

Join my email book club. Over 300,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

I'd forgotten all about it, that high pitched, shrill sound. But I knew right away what it was. I looked down at my watch and smiled. Sure enough, the noon whistle was blowing right on time, just like it did when I was a kid.

"You don't need a watch," my mother used to tell me when I'd go out to play, "just come home when the noon whistle blows."

I was back home for a visit in the small town of 2,000 where I grew up. It's still the kind of place where most people don't lock their doors, and it's no big deal if you leave your keys in your car. People look out for each other. In fact, when I was visiting, a neighbor called and reminded me not to forget to put the top up on the convertible I'd rented, because it was supposed to rain.

The noon whistle doesn't blow in the city that I live in now, and when I started thinking about it, I wondered why, and how did this blowing-the-noon-whistle thing get started anyway?

So I did a little research.

Bells used to ring in small town city halls every day at noon. People didn't have electric clocks, so when they heard the bells ringing, they'd pull out their pocket watches to wind them, and all of the housewives would get out their keys so they could wind their mantel clocks. It was the only way to keep everyone on the same time.

Noon whistles today sound more like sirens, because usually they are the same siren that blows when there's a fire in town. And sometimes that can cause a problem. Gary McCrea, Village President of Benton, Wisconsin--who's lived there for 67 years--told me that a couple of times the fire siren has blown one minute before the noon whistle was supposed to blow, and volunteer firefighters were confused.

Most people in small towns today just sit back and enjoy the friendly reminder that it's time to have lunch. But not everyone appreciates the daily noon whistle. In another small town in Wisconsin, a man whose home was next to the pole that housed the "noon whistle siren" was tired of hearing the blast every day. He complained, the whistle was silenced for awhile, and then the townspeople petitioned to get it back. The noon whistle is blowing again, but the upset whistle blower moved out of town.

And then there's Soldotna, Alaska. The Chamber of Commerce lists 49 things you can do for free when you visit their fine city. "Listen to the dogs howl when the traditional noon whistle goes off," is number 44 on their list!

It sounds like home to me.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.DearReader.com