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January 31, 2014

Dear Reader Column 01-31-14

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily column at: DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

There's power in numbers, but it only takes one. One single person holding a protest sign on the street corner can get coverage on a slow news day (which is good news if I'm the person holding the sign). But the bad news is, it also takes only one negative comment to change the focus of an entire day.

A friend of mine, a very talented successful author, sent an email to me a few months ago because she'd visited a book site, and one of the reviews about her latest book was less than complimentary. The "reviewer" spewed negativity about every page in the book, even mentioning the photo on the inside dust jacket. Every other reader's comment at the site was glowing--and there were a lot of them--but all my friend could concentrate on was that one meant-to-be-mean review. Isn't it amazing how one nasty comment has such sticking power?

One person, one nasty comment, I wasn't sure what I could say to help my friend feel better, but then one single book came to my rescue. Earlier that morning I had been rereading an old favorite, Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott and I remembered reading about an experience Anne had when she was shopping with a friend.

"...a month before my friend Pammy died, she said something that may have permanently changed me. We had gone shopping for a dress for me to wear that night to a nightclub...I tried on a lavender mini dress, which is not my usual style. I tend to wear big, baggy clothes...the dress fit perfectly and I came out to model it for her. I stood there feeling very shy and self-conscious and pleased. Then I said, 'Do you think it makes my hips look too big?' and she said to me slowly, 'Annie? I really don't think you have that kind of time.'"

"I don't think you have that kind of time either," I told my friend. "You are an outstanding writer. The review wasn't constructive criticism, just someone who wanted to be mean. Don't go back and reread it any more."--Love, Suzanne

It's so easy to let one little comment steal the joy, I know, because it's happened to me many times. I just hope next time I remember those magic words, "Suzanne, I really don't think you have that kind of time."

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

KIDSBUZZ: Meet new authors -- send an email, ask a question and they will reply. Plus this week, enter to win a free copy of these books for teens: FLAME, the last in the Sky Chasers series by Amy Kathleen Ryan; SAVING BABY DOE by Danette Vigilante; HEARTBEAT by Elizabeth Scott. For a chance to win, say hello to the author, and more, see http://www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz.

* This month's Penguin Classics book is BUTTERFIELD 8 by John O'Hara. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin bookbag.
http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqN1AFE3FA7A11&c=CLASSICS

AUTHORBUZZ: MAGICAL JOURNEY: An Apprenticeship in Contentment (NonFiction) by Katrina Kenison

Have you ever stood at a crossroads in your own life and wondered, "Now what?" An intimate memoir of loss, self-discovery, and growth, Magical Journey speaks to anyone who's ever mourned the passage of time, celebrated the joy of an ordinary day, or dared to ask, "Do I have what it takes to create something new in my life?"

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on MAGICAL JOURNEY to read more and to email author Katrina Kenison, you'll get a reply.

Posted at 01:05 AM in Books, Fashion, Weblogs, Work/Careers, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 30, 2014

Dear Reader Column 01-30-14

Dear Reader,

I recognized the other day that in addition to living my own life, sometimes I try to live other people's lives, too. No one else is to blame. It's all my own doing. I'm a born helper. I like to lend a hand. In the midst of listening to someone tell me about their problem, my mind is clicking away, thinking of suggestions I could offer to help ease their troubled mind, and how I might actively get involved.

It's kind of arrogant of me to think I have a solution for every situation. In my defense, when I'm jumping in to help, I'm not thinking I know all the answers. I just don't like to see people in pain. But looking back over my own life experiences, feeling pain has inspired and taught me some pretty valuable lessons. I've learned how to get myself out of sticky situations, because I was feeling the pain, and had to devise an exit plan--myself. And since I was the author of the plan, and carried it out on my own, the next time something similar happened, I could think back, remember the pain, but also the joy of figuring out how to solve the problem. I'd learned my lesson so I wouldn't have to go down that road again. I don't want to stop feeling sadness and empathy when someone is sick or has a problem, but I've learned that being a good listener is really what most people want from me. And it's the best thing I can offer. Which is good news, because if I'm constantly living somebody else's troubled life, I'll miss the joyful parts of my own.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise these titles deserve your attention:

(Fiction)
THE COMFORT OF LIES by Randy Susan Meyers

(Fiction)
THE ART OF FALLING by Kathryn Craft

(Thriller)
TIME OF ATTACK by Marc Cameron

(NonFiction)
MAGICAL JOURNEY: An Apprenticeship in Contentment by Katrina Kenison

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Posted at 01:05 AM in Books, Health/Excercise, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 29, 2014

Dear Reader Column 01-29-14

Dear Reader,

I'm looking for the "funny" in 2014 and readers are, too. Send me your amusing story and if it's published in my column, I'll send you a funny (but adorable) prize. You can reach me at: [email protected]

Today's Reader Funnies...

Suzanne,

When I was thirteen, we had a cat named Goldie. One day, my mom was backing up the car when she felt a "bump." She saw Goldie race from behind the car into the garage. Distraught, she yelled, "I've run over Goldie!"

I went into the garage to look for the cat, while my mother rushed into the house in tears. My dad seemed to disappear. After a few minutes, Goldie emerged from the garage, none the worse for wear. I ran to tell my mother, who was overjoyed, to say the least. "Where's your father?" she asked.

About five minutes later, my dad came out from the back yard with a shovel in his hands. He had already dug a grave for Goldie! My mother gasped and said, "Howard, promise me one thing. If I ever faint, please give me ten minutes."

All the best,
Charlee H.

Dear Suzanne,

One September, a few years ago, I opened the door to the sun room, then proceeded to open the sliding door to the attached deck. I stopped in my tracks. Four wild turkeys were asleep on the white wicker furniture. One was on the settee, one in each of the chairs, and one was sprawled on the coffee table. I sneaked in the house to get my camera. When I got close to the door they sensed my presence, and slowly started to get up and saunter away. But one came to the sliding door and kept looking in, I believe at his reflection. I did get that silly bird's picture through the door, and a picture of the other birds' backs as they walked away. It was my birthday, so the feather they left could have been my present!--Bonny

Charlee and Bonny, your gifts are in the mail.

Do you have a "funny" story to share. Email: [email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: TIME OF ATTACK (Thriller) by Marc Cameron

Jericho Quinn's last adventure ended with him square in the crosshairs of a beautiful assassin. Time of Attack begins moments later with the release of a deadly plague and the snap of a sniper's trigger. Quinn's hunt for the elite killers that targeted his family takes him from the glitz of Las Vegas through shadowed allegiances in the nation's capital to the deadly underworld of Japan.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on TIME OF ATTACK to read more and to email author Marc Cameron, you'll get a reply.

Posted at 01:05 AM in Animals/Nature, Books, Families, Weblogs, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 28, 2014

Dear Reader Column 01-28-14

Dear Reader,

I especially enjoyed today's guest column, written by author Kathryn Craft, because I feel one of my "jobs" here on earth is to create memories to leave behind for my children and grandchildren. The memories we leave behind, continue to nurture the ones we love.

Please welcome author Kathryn Craft to the book club. What a treat to have her stop by. Kathryn's excited to talk to readers, so be sure to say hello, and she's giving away three copies of her book, The Art of Falling to readers. Email: [email protected]

A Little Bit About Kathryn Craft:

Kathryn's novel, The Art of Falling, is about a young woman who blames her imperfect body for derailing the dance career of her dreams. But when her miraculous survival after a fourteen-story fall is credited to that same body, her attempt to reconnect to the movement she loves becomes the fight of her creative life.

Kathryn drew on her nineteen-year career as a dance critic as well as her earlier background as a dancer and choreographer. She speaks often on the art and craft of literature. She is a contributing editor at The Blood-Red Pencil blog and a monthly guest at Writers in the Storm with her series Turning Whine into Gold.

Welcome Kathryn Craft...

What We Leave Behind

While I have lived many places, the home of my heart is a lakeside cottage in northern New York State. It holds generations of memories: a staff of woodland creatures carved by my father, the furniture his brother antiqued during his "blue" period. The bow and arrow their father used for hunting.

All three of these men are gone, and forever lost are the names of the children in knee-length bathing costumes that look out at me from the curling edges of their black-and-white photos. Yet when I am there I feel plugged in to the enduring legacy of family.

As the camp passed its one-hundred-twentieth birthday, a storm forced us to face facts: with all our existing pots and pans spread about catching drips, we either had to purchase more cookware or replace the roof.

Renovation, however, is never quite that easy.

The roof was only one problem in a rotting structure pieced together through the decades by weekend carpenters armed with enough brawn to swing a hammer and enough paint to hide faults. What began in the late 1800s as a hunting shanty gradually became a two-story camp with a roofline that looked like so many crumpled hoods after a multi-vehicle accident.

It was time for the camp to come down.

Change would not be easy. The place had personality that could not be replicated. Like the way the door at the bottom of the second floor dresser opened on its own when your foot hit the spongy floorboard. Or the way the bottom stairs were sawn off and movable because they obstructed a doorway. My grandchild would never sit in the open stairwell to watch me bake bread in the kitchen as I had sat watching my own grandmother.

Of course my bread would not be seasoned with the grit that little bare feet left on the stairs, either...

We took a deep breath--and then, the bulldozer. The chimney crumbled brick by brick, and the rest of the camp slid easily from a foundation made from a beam lying across two sawn-off tree stumps. Traditions lay splintered as our camp went from the oldest on the lake to the newest.

The pain of our decision-making faded as quickly as the smell of mildew we'd once equated with summer.

New spaces inspired new uses: I now host writing retreats for women. Within walls that will stand long after we're gone, we seek to extend our legacy through the stories we'll leave behind.

--Kathryn Craft
[email protected]

**You can still enter this month's Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway. Do you prefer milk chocolate or dark chocolate? This month you get to choose which kind of chocolate chips you'd like in your cookies. Enter this month's Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway today. Go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/Cookie-101513.html

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: THE ART OF FALLING (Fiction) by Kathryn Craft

The body Penelope Sparrow has blamed for ruining her dream dance career has miraculously saved her life after a fourteen-story fall. As she struggles to regain the movement she loves, she must face what happened on that ledge--and decide what she'll do with this remarkable second chance.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE ART OF FALLING to find out more about the book and the author, Kathryn Craft. Send her an email, she'd love to hear from you.

Posted at 01:05 AM in Animals/Nature, Books, Families, Food and Drink, Travel, Weblogs, Work/Careers, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 27, 2014

Dear Reader Column 01-27-14

Dear Reader,

It's hard to recapture a feeling. There's a phone message saved on my answering machine. It's been there for almost three years.

"Hi Suzanne. Just calling to let you know the deviled eggs were a huge hit. Mom thought about them all day. And she ate the chocolate covered strawberries you brought, too. You may have caught her on the last day she could have a conversation. Today's she's very gone mentally. Just telling you this, so when you come to visit today, you're prepared. She's pretty bad. Though she might just rally herself for you. Thanks for everything you've done."

The phone message is from the son, of a friend of mine who was dying. I haven't erased the message because I don't want to lose touch with the time I spent with my friend before she passed. Because the farther away from the day she died, the more difficult it is for me to recapture how I felt. The more time that passes, the harder it is for me to hear the sadness and grief in her son's voice, so I save the message. Listening takes me back. Instantly I feel like I'm sitting in my friend's hospice room. The same thing happens when I listen to Adelle's song, "Someone Like You." Every day for weeks, I listened to that song over and over again, as I was driving to the hospice house. Even now when I listen to the song, I'm right back there sitting with my friend. Talking to my friend about her life and her death.

Every day as soon as I got home from my visit I had to start writing. It wasn't a choice. The words came tumbling out. A graceful walk on the balance beam, yet the words came fast and furiously. I couldn't write quick enough. I had to write. I knew it was what I was supposed to do, but still after three years, I'm not sure what to do with those words. My friend gave me permission, "Suzanne, you can write about our visits and anything we talked about." She was a writer, too. She felt the power in the room. She knew the power in writing a story and sharing it with other people.

It may not be clear to me what I'm supposed to do with what I've written, but now I know why I've saved the feelings. Because spending time with death gave me lessons on how to live.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: THE COMFORT OF LIES (Fiction) by Randy Susan Meyers

A man's affair leads to a baby everyone and no one wants. Three connected women and men question if having children define them, if hating motherhood's routines demonize them, if they can love a child they never knew, if they can accept their husband's child from an affair, and if they can still claim motherhood after placing their child for adoption. My novel examines the year they face the damages of infidelity and the rights and needs of a little girl.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE COMFORT OF LIES to read more and to email author, you'll get a reply.

Posted at 01:05 AM in Books, Families, Food and Drink, Health/Excercise, Weblogs, Work/Careers, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 24, 2014

Dear Reader Column 01-24-14

Dear Reader,

When my parents were still alive I'd call and ask, "So how are you today?" The names would change, but the conversation went pretty much like this, "Laney's been sick with pneumonia for two weeks now and she's in the hospital, Frank has an ulcer, Alan's back went out again, Helen had her gall bladder taken out, and do you remember Mr. Klein? You know, the man who used to run the fix-it shop on Main Street? He died last week. Mrs Anderson hasn't been looking so good either, and we're getting a little concerned about her."

It was frustrating. Even if I rephrased the question, "So what have you and Dad been doing for fun lately?" I couldn't get my parents to share anything other than the latest medical update on family and friends. I'd make fun of my parents after I hung up the phone, describing the conversation to my husband.

There's a little thing called karma, and karma's been known to come around and bite me in the behind. Like mother, like daughter, I realized the other day that lately too much of my daily conversation has been consumed with who's got what wrong with them, including my own aches and pains. (Gasp! I've become my mother!) Who's laughing now?

I understand that topics of conversations change with age. When I was a teenager it was parties and the cute guy in Biology, and soon it was all about careers and babies, and now, well, I don't know what other 59-year-old people spend their time talking about, but I'm determined not to follow in my parents' footsteps.

So the next time someone asks the usual, "How are you today Suzanne?" Instead of telling them how I'm feeling, and updating them on my latest doctor visit, I'll pretend the question they asked was, "What are you going to do today Suzanne?" That should take care of any possible moaning and groaning about my aches and pains.

"So what are you going to do today Suzanne?"

"I'm taking my grandson to the skateboard park, doing some writing, and I have to stop by the pharmacy because my shoulder has really been bothering me. Do you ever get a pain in your shoulder and it runs all the way down your back? Boy, it's killing me. And while I'm there, I should pick up some cough syrup, everyone I know has a cold. Hopefully I don't get the flu. Our neighbor's been sick in bed for three days with the flu....

Okay, so I was a little hard on my mom and dad--who's laughing now?

You can still enter this month's Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway. Do you prefer milk chocolate or dark chocolate? This month you get to choose which kind of chocolate chips you'd like in your cookies. Enter this month's Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway today. Go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/Cookie-101513.html

And congratulations to the winners of Timestorm by Guest Columnist Julie Cross: Joyce Rife, Lynn Demsky, Rita Pierini, Barbara Goettler and Marian Walker.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: Meet authors, win free books and more at this week's Authorbuzz. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Posted at 01:05 AM in Books, Families, Food and Drink, Health/Excercise, Weblogs, Work/Careers, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 23, 2014

Dear Reader Column 01-23-14

Dear Reader,

I love to bake and apparently book club readers love to dunk homemade chocolate chip cookies. Since 1999 I've been baking for readers. Today's the day to enter this month's Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway, and there's something new this time around.

Milk chocolate or dark chocolate? This month you get to choose which kind of chocolate chips you'd like in your cookies. Homemade and made to order, I'm at your service, and I'm ready to bake. Place your cookie order, enter the drawing today.

To see past cookie winners and to enter the cookie drawing, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/Cookie-101513.html

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

Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise these deserve your attention:

(Thriller)
THE COURIER by Andrew Britton

(Fiction)
FOREVER WICKED: A Wicked Lovers Novella (1001 Dark Nights) by Shayla Black

(Fiction)
SAVING GRACE by Pamela Fagan Hutchins

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Posted at 01:05 AM in Books, Food and Drink, Web/Tech, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 22, 2014

Dear Reader Column 01-22-14

Dear Reader,

Today's guest author, Matthew Costello, is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and video game writer. His previous novels include Vacation, its sequel Home and Unidentified. Matthew's newest' release is Star Road.

Let's get right to it. Welcome Matthew Costello to the book clubs, send an email to [email protected] to say hello.

Take it away, Matthew...

Star Road

Kind of makes one think of phrases like...'road to the stars,' yes?

Of course, now we all know how really hard it is to get up and into space, let alone to any other stars (or even to our own so-far trusty Sol.)

But what is writing fiction if not indulging in the what-ifs?

To play with an idea, to see where it leads, to let the idea and the hook carry the writer along just as he/she hopes it will the reader.

So there have you it. In a nutshell, the idea behind this Star Road, behind this new novel by Rick Hautala and myself.

But since I perhaps have your attention, let me share just a few more things that might be useful to you in your decision to hit...this road.

The core story, as described in the synopsis above, feeds off a number of classic and mythic tales (none Science Fiction by the way!) And while the guild of fiction writers won't let me reveal those sources, under pain of banishment, you may nod as you begin reading, feeling a tale both familiar--and new.

Together, Rick and I took on the task of shaping the idea and world of Star Road.

And there was this...

We went into this as first-time collaboration after being great friends for decades. We also--as one can see in the dedication--wanted to signal that this was a book that took us right back to our roots, back to a time when we first devoured Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke--back to the days of old-school space opera, filled with as much adventure and excitement and wonders as any story could contain.

I think...we succeeded.

It was so interesting for Rick and myself to write together when usually we just chatted on the phone, shared a cigar, and talked about life. With Star Road, we took an adventure together. We got on that road.

And oh yes, was it ever fun.

But you see--as mentioned--Rick and I used to talk nearly every day. About life. About the good and great things it offers. And also the challenges, the struggles. (Trust me--writers do struggle.)

Which is why it seems so, well...powerful to me what happened.

We finished the book. We finished the edits and revisions.

The Road was done, the massive SF adventure exactly as we wanted it. Which is when...my very good, dear friend, my co-author...passed away.

Too soon, too suddenly--but is there ever a time when it is 'not' too soon, not too sudden?

The shock--mammoth. The hole in my life, and for so many others, immense.

And yet, if Rick were here, hovering... (and he did so like to write about ghosts)...he'd be so very happy. With the book, the first reviews, the excitement.

And you know, I may not do another grand SF book--like having gone someplace special with someone really important to you and you want to leave it like that.

There will be other journeys, other stories. But that one? Well, that will always be the great trip to the stars Rick and I finished together.

--Matthew Costello
[email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

AUTHORBUZZ: SAVING GRACE by Pamela Fagan Hutchins

Have you ever wanted to run away to a tropical paradise? Well, I did, for nearly 10 crazy years and zany, exotic Saving Grace is the result.

Katie Connell is a high-strung attorney whose sloppy drinking habits and stunted love life collide hilariously during a doomed celebrity case in Dallas. She flees Texas for the Caribbean and escapes professional humiliation, a broken heart, and a wicked Bloody Mary habit, but ends up trading one set of problems for another when she begins to investigate the suspicious deaths of her parents on the island of St. Marcos.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on SAVING GRACE to read more and to email author Pamela Fagan Hutchins, you'll get a reply.

Posted at 01:05 AM in Books, Weblogs, Work/Careers, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 21, 2014

Dear Reader Column 01-21-14

Dear Reader,

"Should I or shouldn't I?"

Jim, a reader at the book club, sent me an email wondering...

"Suzanne, can you assist? My neighbor knitted me a stocking cap for Christmas. It's really very nice, but it's way too small. Should I let her know, or not say anything?"

(Suzanne replies:) Ah, what to do with a gift that's the wrong size, or in the wrong galaxy? What was Great Grandpa thinking when he gave everyone a huge 20 x 20 bulletin board for Christmas? Mine's hidden away in the closet, waiting for an invitation to a "re-gifting" party, like the one my daughter was invited to this past weekend. Everyone brings a gift that didn't fit, or they didn't like and it's re-gifted. Every gift finds a new home. The re-gifting party makes me think I should have an Ugly Garage Sale Thingamajig party. Everyone brings something that was too ugly and embarrassing to sell at their own garage sale. One person's "ugly" is another person's "art." There's a good home waiting for every awful gift.

But back to Jim's question. It's kind of a letdown if you give someone a gift and they don't like it or it doesn't fit. Especially if you've made it. Having said that, my advice is, even if you don't like the gift, offer a VERY enthusiastic, "Thank You." If you're going to fib, you might as well do it up right, wrap it up with a cheerful smile and tie a fancy bow on it. It is the thought that counts. A friend took the time to make or buy you a gift and that's very sweet. Since you really do like the stocking cap, but it just doesn't fit, my advice is to tell your neighbor the truth. Add a little humor: "I love the stocking cap you made for me. Absolutely love it! Unfortunately I've got a big head--runs in the family. No kidding."

I don't know anything about knitting, but perhaps your neighbor could take out some stitching and add to the hat. Or, you could tell your neighbor, if she doesn't mind, you're going to send the hat to your nephew. I bet she'll make you another cap. (But take a tape measure with you to her house.) It might feel awkward, telling her the cap didn't fit, but seriously, I'd want to know. And I bet she would, too.

When you get your new cap (I'm sure your neighbor will knit another one), please send me a photo. I sure would appreciate it.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

* This month's Penguin Classics book is BUTTERFIELD 8 by John O'Hara. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin bookbag. http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqN1AFE3FA7A11&c=CLASSICS

AUTHORBUZZ: FOREVER WICKED: A Wicked Lovers Novella (1001 Dark Nights) (Fiction) by Shayla Black

Since introducing Jason and 'Greta' (Gia) in my New York Times bestselling series, Wicked Lovers, I've been fascinated in this couple's story--a billionaire and a police officer who seem to have nothing in common. I found myself pondering--what does their relationship look like? What drew them to one another? What are their stumbling blocks to a happily ever? I'm thrilled to be launching the 1001 Dark Nights series, featuring a different bestselling author each month, and to tell this story I've heard in my heart for so long.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on FOREVER WICKED: A Wicked Lovers Novella to find out more about the book and the author, Shayla Black. Send her an email, she'd love to hear from you.

Posted at 01:05 AM in Books, Families, Fashion, Holidays, Weblogs, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 20, 2014

Dear Reader Column 01-20-14

Subscribe to one of Suzanne's online bookclubs and receive her daily column at: DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

Dear Reader,

I didn't make any New Year's resolutions for 2014, but today I've changed my mind. Belated birthday cards, belated New Year's resolutions--hey, it's never too late. There's only one New Year's resolution on my list, and I'm sure I'll have no trouble keeping it, because I've discovered a secret.

In a recent interview I did with Jackson Galaxy, Animal Planet's Animal Behaviorist, he shared one of his rules for parenting cats: "If you give 'em a 'no' you have to present them with a 'yes.'"

When Fluffy's scratching on your new, soft-as-a-baby's-bottom, leather sofa (that you still owe three payments on), after you finish hyperventilating, and frantically waving your arms while screaming, "No, No, No!" Jackson's rule dictates that now you need to gain your composure and present Fluffy with a "yes."

"'No,' you can't scratch on my brand new leather sofa Fluffy. But 'yes' you can scratch on this nice big scratching post covered in cat nip, that's sitting right beside the sofa."

Cats, toddlers, teenagers, after thinking about it, I realize I used to use the same, 'give 'em a no, then present them with a yes' logic when my kids were young. "No, you can't go over to your friend's house, but yes, you can go clean your room. (Does that sound right to you? Maybe that's why those teen years were so difficult.)

Say no, then give 'em a yes. Life skips along smoother, everybody's happier, sounds good to me and that's why it's my one and only resolution. All I need is one this year, because it covers any situation.

If I say "no" to a new pair of shoes, I can say "yes" to a mint chocolate chunk ice cream cone.

If I say "no" to the mint chocolate chunk ice cream cone, then I can say "yes" to a one hour body massage.

If I say "no" to the one hour body massage, then I can say "yes" to my new pair of shoes. (You should see those shoes! They are gorgeous, AND they're on sale!)

"Yes, wrap 'em up, I'll take 'em." And it's all guilt-free, because I'm still keeping my New Year's Resolution.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

* This month's Penguin Classics book is BUTTERFIELD 8 by John O'Hara. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin bookbag. http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqN1AFE3FA7A11&c=CLASSICS

AUTHORBUZZ: THE COURIER (Thriller) by Andrew Britton

Global enemies; unthinkable terror; and only one man can stop them.... In a mission nearly a century in the making--and with surprising family connections--maverick ex-CIA agent, Ryan Kealey forms an unlikely partnership with the young Farsi-speaking nuclear physicist Rayhan Jafari to hunt down the devastating package. They can only trust their guts and each other to combat horrific destruction.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE COURIER to read more and to email author Andrew Britton, you'll get a reply.

Posted at 01:05 AM in Animals/Nature, Books, Families, Fashion, Food and Drink, Holidays, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)

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