Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 01-17-06

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,

Sometimes when I'm in the middle of writing my column, I realize it's not going to work, not unless I put some more heart into it. It's easier and much safer to skim the outer surface. Tell it with the facts, a few adjectives, a beginning and ending, and people will think it's a nice story, but it just isn't me--unless I put my heart into it.

Sometimes it's wasted. People might think you're childish for spending time with silly words and feelings. But I remind myself, 'Suzanne, you've got to listen to your heart. Lead with your heart. End with your heart. Touch their hearts, and you've made a difference.'

You only get so much time to spend with people, so you might as well haul out the meaningful stuff. Take a chance. Say it out loud. Get past the weather and what do you want for dinner? Talk about the things that are on your mind. The important things. The things that make you feel as excited as a little kid again, and the things that make you worry--that make you get up and look underneath your bed. Are they coming to get me tonight?

I was interviewing an author on the phone a few weeks ago, trying to get some material about her book for my column, but every answer she gave me sounded like one she'd rehearsed a hundred times before. Finally I asked her a question that led with "How did you feel when...?" Ten minutes later, she was winding up her response with an apology, "I'm sorry, I guess I kind of got long-winded and took a detour."

But the detour was the most interesting thing she'd shared with me--because she put her heart into it.

Putting your heart into it is risky business. You never know what people will do with it. And if your heart's been bruised before, you might ask 'Why even bother?'

But I make that decision going in. I realize I could end up feeling short changed, taken advantage of, or exposed, but the personal return is worth the risk.

And so I'll just keep on--putting my heart into it.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

P.S. I have 15 signed copies of Bloodstone, by Nate Kenyon.
To enter the book giveaway, simply send an email to:
Mailto:enter-to-win@emailbookclub.com

*Read the Classics: OF MICE AND MEN, by John Steinbeck, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing:
http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/users/master3/mweb/path13-1.html

Dear Reader Column 01-16-06

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 love to hear from readers, and it was a real treat to get an email from book club reader Nate Kenyon, because I'm featuring his debut novel at the book clubs this week.

"Suzanne, I wanted to let you know how thrilled I am to be a part of the book clubs. I eagerly await each installment as it comes into my inbox--it's an addiction for me, as familiar and welcome as my daily coffee. When I learned that you wanted to include Bloodstone in the book club, it was a dream come true! I imagine all the people out there reading MY book, as I have read so many others, and I have to smile.

I'm also a very big fan of libraries, having haunted quite a few during my formative years in Maine and then Connecticut. In fact, I worked in the Brookline Library System in Massachusetts for several years just after college. It was during that time that I wrote and edited a lot of Bloodstone.

Thanks Suzanne, you are one in a million!"--Nate Kenyon

I have 15 copies of Bloodstone to give away to lucky readers. It's a book about a little New England town with a deep and secret history, a man on a quest to redeem himself for the mistakes of his past, and another who is doomed to repeat the sins of his father.

The books are signed by Nate himself. What a guy! You can find out more about him at his website: www.natekenyon.com and be sure to drop him a line.

To enter the book giveaway, simply send an email to Mailto:enter-to-win@emailbookclub.com

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Don't Miss this week's exciting giveaways and buzz from authors: Susan Carol McCarthy, Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands and True Fires; Timothy Schaffert, The Singing And Dancing Daughters Of God; and bestseller Linda Fairstein, Death Dance.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

* * *
*Read the Classics: OF MICE AND MEN, by John Steinbeck, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing:
http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/users/master3/mweb/path13-1.html

Dear Reader Column 01-13-06

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 cleaned out my refrigerator yesterday. It was still filled with "holiday" leftover items. Some of them I shouldn't have bought because we didn't even eat them, and we never do, but I keep buying them every Christmas season anyway.

I guess it's just hard to break old habits. I have this picture of Christmas in my mind and it includes certain foods from my childhood. French Onion dip, vegetable dip, cheese, salami and crackers, all displayed on a Lazy Susan accompanied by an assortment of vegetables for dipping into those dips, and pecan pie. Those were the foods that were always in our house at Christmastime.

But now there aren't enough of us in my family to eat all the "holiday" foods I buy, and no one eats dip except me, and absolutely no one in our family eats pecan pie.

So why do I buy these things?

I don't understand it. I could buy these things any time of the year, if I wanted to, but I don't--until they start piping Christmas music into the supermarket, and then I head straight to the chip and dip aisle.

The pecan pie?

My Grandpa Hale loved pecan pie. His birthday was the day before Christmas, and he'd start eating his favorite pie on the 24th and he was still eating it until New Years Day. It was a once a year treat, because nobody else in our family liked pecan pie. But even long after Grandpa passed away, my mother kept making his pie, and I've kept up the tradition.

But I did make a little bit of progress this year, because Grandpa Hale also loved chocolate covered cherries--last year I bought three boxes--this year I walked right by.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
www.DearReader.com

*Read the Classics: OF MICE AND MEN, by John Steinbeck, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing:
http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/users/master3/mweb/path13-1.html

* * * AUTHORBUZZ: Win free books and watch a little movie. This week's authors: Judith Kelman, The Session; M.J. Rose, The Delilah Complex; Amulya Malladi, Song of the Cuckoo Bird; & Alexandra Benedict, A Forbidden Love. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader Column 01-12-06

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,

If you can't write a book, you still might get to be in one!

Every Monday and Thursday, I feature the AuthorBuzz link right after my column, and if you're not a regular visitor, you should check it out. Book club readers Karen McKenna and Linda Fleshman did, and now they're both winners.

Karen visited author Janet Berliner's website to learn more about her book Artifact, and she won the grand prize.

"Dear Suzanne,

Because of your book club, I am the grand prize winner of the Daredevil New Years Sweepstakes contest. My name will be in the next Daredevil Series book, and I'll also receive books signed by all of the authors. It looks to me like 2006 is going to be a great year. Thanks again for all the great books you put up for us to read, and also the great contests and sweeps." --Karen McKenna

And Linda won, too.

"Suzanne: I just wanted to let you know that I was a winner. I went to author Lisa Tucker's site and I won her latest book and she is even signing it for me. Thanks for sharing AuthorBuzz with all of us!!!" -- Linda Fleshman

Every week there's something different featured at AuthorBuzz. And when you visit, be sure to send the authors an email. Just like me, they love to hear from readers.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Win free books and watch a little movie. This week's authors: Judith Kelman, The Session; M.J. Rose, The Delilah Complex; Amulya Malladi, Song of the Cuckoo Bird; & Alexandra Benedict, A Forbidden Love. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

* * *
*Read the Classics: OF MICE AND MEN, by John Steinbeck, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing:
http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/users/master3/mweb/path13-1.html

Dear Reader Column 01-11-06

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 always thought my gift-wrapping abilities were unique. I use scraps of this and that, and if I do say so myself, I come up with some pretty unusual presentations. But this past holiday season, I had to relinquish my gift-wrapping title when I opened up the Christmas present I received from my friend Bill in Oregon.

I admit it, I told him it was a first for me. I'd never before received a Christmas gift in a box that said on the outside, "Contents: 1 rectal thermometer, 1 breast pump, petroleum jelly, 1 tape measure, and 2 isolation masks," among other intriguing items.

Yeah, boy, Happy Holidays! How did he know what I wanted!

My curiosity was definitely piqued, so I cautiously opened up the box, and much to my relief I found the usual homemade jellies and pancake syrup that I look forward to getting from him every year.

Of course, I had to ask, "Where, why, and how did he get a hold of that box--and why did he send it to me?"

Apparently, an entrepreneur in his area had developed an Infant Care Kit for new mothers, but the company went bankrupt. The bankruptcy court awarded the entire inventory of boxes and kits to a local charity where my friend volunteers. After 15 years of giving baby kits out to every new mother in the area, there were still stacks of boxes, but no more baby kits to put inside them. The boxes were going to be thrown out, but being the good Scotsman that he is, my friend couldn't stand to see them go to waste.

So he saves them for special occasions and friends like me.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
www.DearReader.com

*Read the Classics: OF MICE AND MEN, by John Steinbeck, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing:
http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/users/master3/mweb/path13-1.html

* * * AUTHORBUZZ: Win free books and watch a little movie. This week's authors: Judith Kelman, The Session; M.J. Rose, The Delilah Complex; Amulya Malladi, Song of the Cuckoo Bird; & Alexandra Benedict, A Forbidden Love. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader Column 01-10-06

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 was sitting in the chiropractor's office waiting for my husband to finish seeing the doctor, when a man walked in and sat down in the chair next to me. The man was bent over, his entire body leaning to the right side. I smiled at him, and commented that unfortunately he looked just like my husband did when he got up this morning.

"Looks like your back went out?"

"Yep, twice a year I have to see the chiropractor," he said, "and it's my own fault. I'm so disgusted with myself."

He was taking the blame, because he said if he goes for a walk every day--no problems with his back. But he can't seem to keep the walking routine going. He even bought a Collie, figuring he'd have to take the dog for a walk every day and so he'd stay in his routine. And it worked for a while. But now when he gets up in the morning, and his pooch gives him that "Let's go for a walk look," he usually just throws the ball to him instead.

I confessed to him that lately I'd fallen out of my daily walking routine, too. Every morning, first thing, I used to go walking before I did anything else. Not only did I feel energized from the walk, but then I could spend the rest of the day patting myself on the back, "Good job, Suzanne."

We were both joking and commiserating, about how a simple morning walk would cure our woes, so why did we find so many excuses? It's raining, or it's too cold seemed to be our favorite justifications, and since we both live in Florida--and we both have treadmills--those were lame excuses.

I shared with him the little head games that I use to help keep me in the habit of walking. We were having a great conversation, laughing and exchanging exercising ideas, until I jokingly said, "Maybe I should give you my phone number and we could call each other about walking every day?"

The room got quiet and he said, "You seem like a very nice lady, but I'm married and I can't..."

I couldn't believe this. Oh my gosh, how did I get here? I was so embarrassed. Did he really think I was interested in exchanging one bad back for another?

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
www.DearReader.com

*Read the Classics: OF MICE AND MEN, by John Steinbeck, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing:
http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/users/master3/mweb/path13-1.html

* * * AUTHORBUZZ: Win free books and watch a little movie. This week's authors: Judith Kelman, The Session; M.J. Rose, The Delilah Complex; Amulya Malladi, Song of the Cuckoo Bird; & Alexandra Benedict, A Forbidden Love. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader Column 01-09-06

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,

The Classics have arrived! This year I'll be featuring a new Penguin Classic every month for you to sample. The link to read the Classics will be right after the signature line at the end of my column. It looks like this:

*Read the Classics: OF MICE AND MEN, by John Steinbeck, and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/users/master3/mweb/path13-1.html

The link will be there all month long, so whenever you feel like reacquainting yourself with old classic friends, or making new ones, just click on the link and start reading.

I confess when I was in high school, I wasn't a bit interested in reading the Classics, so I'd skim through just enough to pass a test, or I'd ask a friend to give me the short-take on the book. Shame on me. I didn't know what I was missing. But on the other hand, now that I'm older, I think I have an appreciation for the Classics that wasn't within my reach when I was young.

A couple of years ago when I decided to give the Classics a try, the first book I read was this month's selection, OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck. I fell in love with the book and I hope you do, too.

A special thank you to Penguin Classics for sponsoring the Classic Book Club this year. They'll be giving away free Classic titles and special discounts for book club readers. This month I have 25 copies of CANDIDE by Francois Voltaire for lucky readers. Be sure to enter the giveaway.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
www.DearReader.com

* * * AUTHORBUZZ: Win free books and watch a little movie. This week's authors: Judith Kelman, The Session; M.J. Rose, The Delilah Complex; Amulya Malladi, Song of the Cuckoo Bird; & Alexandra Benedict, A Forbidden Love. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader Column 01-06-06

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,

A friend of mine is trying something new this year. Well, actually she's trying something she used to do--writing.

Her boss asked her if she'd write some press releases, and she was thrilled to be asked, but then her old writing demons attacked. When she was in college she used to love to write, but her professor always told her she was too long-winded. Finally she got discouraged and just quit. It was exciting to be writing again, but she felt scared.

Scared? Long-winded? Those sound like perfectly normal things to me. I experience them every day when I sit down to write my column. When I'm facing that blank screen, if I look real hard, I can see those little writing demons staring back at me.

And simply telling her my story--how I felt--seemed to make her college professor's words fade away.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
www.DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column 01-05-06

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 spend a lot of time thinking about the outside of me. How does my hair look? Is that a gray hair that I see? Do I need to do some more sit-ups?

But I realized the other day--when I was standing on the Avenue of Americas in Manhattan, waiting to go to an appointment--that I'd like to pay more attention to how I feel, inside.

I need to take more time to think--mindless thinking time--that's what I need. No purpose, just spend some time thinking about what's going on inside of me and how I feel.

I'm always on the go. I think a lot about what I need to do tomorrow, next week--my daily deadlines are always looming in the back of my mind. I'm good at keeping track of whether I've taken my vitamins and how much I ate today, but what about me?

It's always difficult for me to settle down and spend time thinking about myself. But over the holidays a reporter contacted me about doing an interview, and she emailed me a list of questions and asked me to reply. At first it seemed like a big project, and I wished she'd just called me on the phone instead. But when I started typing the answers to her questions, I realized that they were the perfect starting place for a bit of, "thinking about how Suzanne feels"
time.

Her questions weren't the usual "reporter-type" queries, instead she asked things like: What would you do with a million dollars? Who is your role model? What is your greatest achievement? What contributions to society do you want to make? If you could buy one thing right now what would it be? What's your favorite activity that doesn't cost a dime. And Suzanne, what makes you happy?

To which I replied, "Writing, observing the people around me, baking and giving away chocolate chip cookies, knowing that I did my best and that I had fun doing it, spending time with my family, and having a one-on-one moment with someone, including Suzanne."

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
www.DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: free stuff, tours, personal stories. This week's authors: Judith Kelman, The Session; Holiday Reinhorn, Big Cats: Stories; Athol Dickson, River Rising and Alexandra Benedict, A Forbidden Love. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader Column 01-04-06

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,

The holiday was wonderful, but it's a good feeling to be easing back into my regular routine today. I finally got a copy of the January 2006 issue of O Magazine and so did a few thousand other readers who wrote in to tell me they read the article about the book clubs on page 38.

"Dear Suzanne, I just got my January O Magazine in the mail and am so excited, and even proud to see that your book club is in there...I always feel smart (and cool?) when I know about something before it's in the magazine!" --Susan in Richmond

A special thank you to Jessica Brilliant Keener, the author who contacted O Magazine and wrote the article. Jennifer reads with us at the book club every day. You can find her at: www.jessicakeener.com. And my thanks to another "cheerleader," author M.J. Rose, who constantly offers ideas and contacts to promote our book clubs.

Over 300,000 people read with us every day, and there are thousands of "cheerleaders" among you. Thank you kindly. I really appreciate it.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
www.DearReader.com