Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 09-16-09

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

There's something NEW at the book clubs today!

In addition to our Teen Book Club, every Wednesday, right after my column, be sure to check out KidsBuzz--our newest addition to the book clubs. Just like AuthorBuzz, simply click on the link to KidsBuzz and you'll discover great books for kids, giveaways, and a chance to talk to children's authors.

Visit KIDSBUZZ today and let me know what you think.

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

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

KIDSBUZZ: New authors, longtime favorites, all wonderful children's and teen books to enjoy (and possibly win): Laurie Halse Anderson, Chains; Amy Hest, Little Chick; Deborah Heiligman, Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith; and G. Neri, Surf Mules. Go to: http://www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz

* This month's Penguin Classics book is The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley. To comment on the book and enter the Penguin Classics Drawing, go to: http://tinyurl.com/SeptClassics

Dear Reader Column 09-15-09

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Today's the day! I'm in New York City, and this afternoon I'll be attending the marketing meeting for my upcoming book. I asked for some of your marketing ideas, and boy, did you come through! Thank you very much to everyone who sent ideas. I'll be sharing all of your ideas at today's meeting.

When I return I'm going to do some baking. Two dozen cookies each, for five book club readers, and you could be one of them. How would you like to dunk some great chocolate chip cookies? Enter the drawing and chomp, chomp, you may be one of winners. To enter this month's drawing, see satisfied cookie winners, and some folks who've won other giveaways at the book clubs, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/Cookie090109.html

It's as simple as that!

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

Warm regards,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
http://www.DearReader.com

* This month's Penguin Classics book is The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley. To comment on the book and enter the Penguin Classics Drawing, go to: http://tinyurl.com/SeptClassics

 

Dear Reader Column 09-14-09

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Today I have a bonus read for you, The Power of Small by Robin Koval and Linda Kaplan Thaler. It's the little things in life that drive me crazy, but it's also the little things that bring me the most joy. The smell of a freshly cut lawn, watching a blue jay swoop down and steal a piece of cat food in the dish on the side porch, wearing an apron while I work (it always takes me back to spending time with my Grandma Hale), listening to my grandson count to 10 for the first time, and hearing him call out to me when he sees something exciting. "Grandma, come here, come here!" This is the power of small in my life.

Enjoy the read and be sure to enter this week's drawing. If your name is drawn, I'll send you something small that will surely make you smile. Start reading The Power of Small right now, and enter the giveaway. Go to:
http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=%%list.name%%&V=N1A315524555&c=SUZ

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

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

AUTHORBUZZ: New authors, old favorites--all wonderful books you can win: Michelle Moran, Cleopatra's Daughter: A Novel; William Gladstone, The Twelve; Katherine Neville, The Fire; Mia Lundin, N.P., R.N., Female Brain Gone Insane: An Emergency Guide for Women Who Feel Like They are Falling Apart; Susan Squires, Time for Eternity. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

* This month's Penguin Classics book is The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley. To comment on the book and enter the Penguin Classics Drawing, go to: http://tinyurl.com/SeptClassics

 

Dear Reader Column 09-11-09

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

There's an ant crawling up my computer screen at this very moment. At first I thought he was a period or an animated exclamation point, slightly moving from side-to-side, from the excitement of reading what I'd just finished writing. The things they can do with computer software these days. Well, I was a believer for a minute.

See how easy it is to think of something to write about? You can still enter the annual Write a Dear Reader Contest, but you must do it now. There are only 2 days left to submit your entry. No pressure, simply have fun. So go ahead and start writing, I can't wait to read your entry. To read last year's winning entries, see the prizes and get all the info, go to: http://tinyurl.com/55n995

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

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

SEARCHING FOR YOUR NEXT BIG THRILL? Read the "Between the Lines" feature interview with Laura Caldwell then read about great thrillers from: John T. Cullen, Cheryl Norman, Jim Michael Hansen, Bill Loehfelm, Rick Mofina, Tasha Alexander, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Russell Atwood, Sheldon Russell, Sharon Potts, W.D. Gagliani, Kylie Brant, R. Barri Flowers & Jan Grape, Brenda Novak, Heather Graham, Robin Parrish, William Kent Krueger and L.J. Sellers. Go to: http://www.thrillerwriters.org

* This month's Penguin Classics book is The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley. To comment on the book and enter the Penguin Classics Drawing, go to: http://tinyurl.com/SeptClassics

Dear Reader Column 09-10-09

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

Reminder--there are only 3 days left to enter the Write a Dear Reader Contest. Go to http://tinyurl.com/55n995. Thanks for entering and for taking the time to write.

From my Email Bag:

"Dear Suzanne, this is first time I am drafting an email to you, it seems I've known you for years. I start my work by reading your email and it feels very refreshing, like an early morning cool breeze of a nice summer day, and works like a starter. I am from Mississauga, Ontario Canada--your daily dose of book-extracts is one of best things happened in my life. I have to thank you for all good work and the innovation. Hope to keep reading with you for long time!"--Raza Shah

(Some readers responded to last week's crying column. If you missed it, go to: http://tinyurl.com/na7xhe)

"Suzanne, I'd been meaning to write since you told us about your stepfather passing away. It must be a sad time, even if he says he's ready to go be with your mother. When I was little my dad used to say, 'If you don't quit crying, I'll give you something to cry about.' I think that trained me out of if. When I went through bad times, like after my folks died, I found myself starting to cry in inconvenient places, like in public. Of course I had to stop myself, mustn't be seen crying in front of strangers. But as soon as I got home and it was safe, magically the tears dried up. Wonder what that's about? I think we need to watch some Hallmark commercials, aye? Do take care of yourself. Thank you for being there every day. Your reading friend--Cedar Dvorin

"Wow Suzanne, your column today hit me square in the eyes! I cried at breakfast this morning because my daughter had written in a school essay that Dad loves to tell jokes, her sister is fun, and her mom (me) works hard. It hit me that I needed to laugh and smile more, so that my daughter would remember me like that! So, perhaps there should also be a class in laughing and smiling, too? We do need to cry and feel comfortable with our sadness. It is hard to do that when we're told be strong, not to sweat the small stuff, and are overcome with the busy-ness of life. A good cry cleanses our soul, relieves stress, and is often a good start to a nap! Keep me posted if you find a Crying 101 class!"--Julie Heins

"Funny, I was thinking about this the other day. I'd been feeling the sense of needing to cry, but was unable. A few days later I watched the movie, 'I Am Sam,' mercy, you would have thought I was living through the most desperate time of my life. In fact I couldn't STOP crying at one point. I guess the lesson is never underestimate the power of a gut-wrenching story combined with the persuasion of very talented people performing the tale! Thanks for the funny tales and touching moments you share with us!"--Donna Hudson

* Congratulations to the winners of last week's drawing for a book by Tom Bradley or cards by Susan Fae Haglund: Ruth James, Robin Poirier, Tina Roe, Carol Andrus, Kathy Brown, Tami Papajcik, Tammara Bruce, Carol Meier, Deanna Stillings, Debbie Garcia, Sharon Oltmanns, Linda Hitchcock, Rebekah Thatcher, Carol Peraggine, Laurel King and Neoma Hagge.

* To enter the Write a Dear Reader Contest, go to: http://tinyurl.com/55n995

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

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

AUTHORBUZZ: New authors, old favorites--all wonderful books you can win: Shobhan Bantwal, The Sari Shop Widow; Beth Wiseman, Plain Promise; Denise Hunter, Seaside Letters; Masha Hamilton, 31 Hours; John W. Dozier Jr. and Sue Scheff, Google Bomb. Go to http://www.authorbuzz.com/dearreader

* This month's Penguin Classics book is The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley. To comment on the book and enter the Penguin Classics Drawing, go to: http://tinyurl.com/SeptClassics

Dear Reader Column 09-09-09

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

This coming Saturday I'm heading to New York City for a marketing meeting about my upcoming book. Don't look for it yet, it won't be out until June 2010. I'm sure the folks at Touchstone (Simon & Schuster) have a lot of ideas about how to get the word out about my new book but I don't want to show up empty handed. In addition to baking chocolate chip cookies for the meeting (chocolate is terrific brainstorming fuel) I've been making my own list of marketing ideas and I was wondering if you would like to help?

What makes you choose one book over another, when you're perusing through the library or bookstore shelves? What do you think are the best ways to make the public aware of a new book? My book is a memoir that I think will make readers laugh and cry, and of course there are recipes, too. We're still tweaking the title, but since readers like you have been my encouragement and inspiration throughout the writing process, I thought maybe you'd like to share some of your marketing ideas and I'll take them along to my meeting. Thanks for your help. I sure do appreciate it.

I hope you're enjoying this week's book. Watch for the monthly Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway in next Tuesday's column.

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

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

* Only 4 days left to ENTER this year's "Write a Dear Reader" contest! Fill in for Suzanne while she's on vacation. Your column will be published, you'll win 80 books (most signed), and a book bag from Vanguard Press. It's a lot of fun! Prizes, guidelines and deadline, go to: http://tinyurl.com/55n995

* This month's Penguin Classics book is The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley. To comment on the book and enter the Penguin Classics Drawing, go to: http://tinyurl.com/SeptClassics

Dear Reader Column 09-08-09

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

"What is your definition of a Classic?"

Amy reads at the Classic Club and she wanted to know, who decides which books become a Penguin Classic and what is the criteria? So I asked the folks at Penguin to explain and this is what they said...

"Penguin Classics are books that by virtue of their originality and beauty of expression, continue to say something significant about the time in which they were written, about the time they treat as their subject, and ideally about ourselves and the time we live in today. They include works that are the first of their kind, whether by subject matter and content or writing style and technique; and they are written by authors who have forged the way for others in a specific genre, or whose work stands out in cultural, political, or social history because of its existence and influence. Classics are works that are taught in classrooms year upon year, passing from generation to generation, and serve as models of craft, story, and influence."

If you have a question about the Classics, send me an email and I'll search for the answer. In the meantime, enjoy this month's Penguin Classic, THE FLAME TREES OF THIKA by Elspeth Huxley. Be sure to enter the drawing for a free Penguin Classic book bag. I have 10 book bags for readers. To start reading this month's Classic and to check out one of the recent Penguin book bag winners, go to: http://tinyurl.com/SeptClassics

"Dear Suzanne, I received my Penguin bag yesterday in the mail! Just in time too, my carry-everything-to-work bag just started to get rips in it! Attached is a picture my husband took this morning on my way to work. I really love it! Thank you again!"--Jaime Jacinda

To enter the drawing and to see Jaime and her Penguin bag, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/win/classics.html

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

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

SEARCHING FOR YOUR NEXT BIG THRILL? Read the "Between the Lines" feature interview with Laura Caldwell then read about great thrillers from: John T. Cullen, Cheryl Norman, Jim Michael Hansen, Bill Loehfelm, Rick Mofina, Tasha Alexander, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Russell Atwood, Sheldon Russell, Sharon Potts, W.D. Gagliani, Kylie Brant, R. Barri Flowers & Jan Grape, Brenda Novak, Heather Graham, Robin Parrish, William Kent Krueger and L.J. Sellers. Go to: http://www.thrillerwriters.org

Dear Reader Column 09-07-09

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

There are only six days left to enter the WRITE A DEAR READER CONTEST!

If you need inspiration, read last year's winning entries, go to: http://tinyurl.com/lt4yjy

Need motivation, check out the great prizes! Go to: http://tinyurl.com/lsray4

Do you have a question, or need some cheerleading to get started? Send me an email. I'll be happy to cheer you on! No pressure, simply have fun writing about what's on your mind.

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

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

AUTHORBUZZ: New authors, old favorites--all wonderful books you can win: Shobhan Bantwal, The Sari Shop Widow; Beth Wiseman, Plain Promise; Denise Hunter, Seaside Letters; Masha Hamilton, 31 Hours; John W. Dozier Jr. and Sue Scheff, Google Bomb. Go to http://www.authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader Column 09-04-09

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

This past Tuesday was a big day for me. At 10 a.m. the UPS man delivered the edited manuscript for my upcoming book. (Publish date June 2010.) I'd been nervous about getting my manuscript back since the Friday before, when my editor sent this email; "The c.e. (copy edited) manuscript is back from production. It will be overnighted to you on Monday and due back to me with your revisions on October 5th."

How could she do that? How could she tell me the manuscript's edited, is on its way, but that it won't land on my doorstep until some time next Tuesday morning? The Friday afternoon news guaranteed I'd be a nervous wreck the entire weekend, all day Monday and who knew for how many hours on Tuesday, until the UPS man rang my doorbell and plopped the package on my front porch. "The copy editor is my friend, the copy editor is my friend." If you say it enough times Suzanne you might actually start to believe it!

What was I so nervous about? Did my editor suggest there were any major problems? No she didn't. But the mind is a strange thing--at least mine is. This is my first time publishing a book, so everything is new, and I'm a nervous Suzanne who tends to fear the worst.

Clearly my editor wrote, "The c.e. manuscript is back from production. It will be overnighted to you on Monday and due back to me with your revisions on October 5th." But this is what I read, "The c.e. manuscript is back from production. Oh my gosh girl have you got a lot of work to do, what a mess!"

This isn't the first time I've mentally rewritten my editor's words. In her very first editorial email when she mentioned the return deadline she wrote, "This way you can take your time with the revisions Suzanne, and we can go another round without running up against the clock if needed."

BUT that's not what I read. My version went like this..."This way you can take your time with the MAJOR revisions..." And I kept inserting the word major into that sentence every time I read it. Even after I read the sentence out loud to my husband and he pointed out that the word major was only in my mind, nevertheless, when I called a friend the word major was still front and center in the sentence when I read it to her. 'Oh, I'm one sick puppy!'

Now that I've looked at the manuscript, I'm feeling pretty embarrassed. The copy editor is my friend, it's true, she caught some things I missed and made some excellent suggestions.

'Oh Suzanne, why do you do this to yourself?'

"Because," as my good friend, who's also an author, pointed out, "that's what we writers, do!"

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

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

* Only 9 days left to ENTER this year's "Write a Dear Reader" contest! Fill in for Suzanne while she's on vacation. Your column will be published, you'll win 80 books (most signed), and a book bag from Vanguard Press. It's a lot of fun! Prizes, guidelines and deadline, go to: http://tinyurl.com/55n995

 

Dear Reader Column 09-03-09

Join my email book club. Over 350,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

You don't need to be a writer to enter my annual "Write a Dear Reader Contest." All you need to do is grab a notebook and your favorite pen, sit down and start writing about whatever is on your mind.

Simple is better when you write. Those are my words of advice. Last year's winners and runner-ups wrote about Grandpa's old Dodge pickup, raising children, teenage neighborhood vandals, and "One of our own is down!" It was a frantic cry from blackbirds coming to the rescue of a fallen friend.

If you need some inspiration, read what last year's winners wrote, go to: http://tinyurl.com/lt4yjy

Write a Dear Reader column, see it published at the book clubs and win your own library of books! Two First Prize winners will each receive an 80 book library (most books are signed by the author), a book bag from Vanguard Press and their column will be published at the book clubs. Four Runner-up winners will each receive 35 books and the winning columns will be featured at the book clubs.

To view the books that will be given away and read the guidelines go to: http://tinyurl.com/qmahqu

A special thank you to author M.J. Rose, and to all of the other authors who signed and donated a copy of their book. I appreciate it.

Don't be shy, there's a story inside of you and I can't wait to read it.

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

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

AUTHORBUZZ: New authors, old favorites--all wonderful books you can win: John Shors, Dragon House; Michelle Moran, The Heretic Queen: A Novel; Jane Velez-Mitchell, iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life; James R. Benn, Evil for Evil; Maureen Lang, Look to the East. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader