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AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
Dear Reader,
Sink filled with dishes, laundry baskets overflowing, the linen closet is in disarray? Nicole C. Kear, author of Now I See You, shares her secret in today's guest column about how reading keeps her house clean. Not only does Nicole share her cleaning secrets, if you send her an email and your name is drawn, she will send you one of the secret tools to make housecleaning fun. The cleaning giveaway is at the end of today's guest column.
Welcome author Nicole C. Kear to the book club....
How reading keeps my house clean
Dirty dishes used to be the bane of my existence. Unfortunate, considering I have three young children, so my life is full of dirty dishes. The astonishing speed at which dirty dishes appear in the sink never ceases to amaze me. I've done the math, taking into account the fact that one of my children is too young to even reach the sink, and I've deduced that my family produces one dirty dish every minute. It's magic. Dark magic.
"Don't you care about the environment?" I would moan to my children. "Don't you care about your mother's sanity? Do your religious convictions prohibit you from drinking more than one sip from the same cup of OJ? I don't understand this madness!"
I tried teaching the kids how to load the dishwasher but the result caused me to wonder if they had spatial reasoning issues.
"It's full!" my daughter would crow.
"There's one pot and four cups in here!" I'd protest.
My husband has always been very talented at dishwashing, which I was fond of reminding him in dulcet, incentivizing tones. But though my husband was the default dishwasher, sometimes I'd have no choice but to roll up my sleeves and dig into what I considered a tedious, mind-numbing, Sisyphean task.
Then, one day, I had a revelation that changed everything. I discovered I could listen to audio books while loading the dishwasher.
If you read that last sentence and did not hear choirs of angels singing, try it again. Because it was that kind of epic realization. Suddenly, dishwashing--and housework as a I knew it--changed forever.
I now look forward to the half hour of dishwashing that awaits me in the evening. Because I know that for every dirty dish, I'll get 30 seconds of reading time--more for pots and pans.
For every dirty dish, I'll get to hear what it's like to hike the PCH, or spend a year in the clink. I'll get to hear Jake and Brett have witty repartee that will never blossom into an affair, no matter how many bull fights they attend. I'll get to hear Mrs. Dalloway get ready for her party.
Dishwashing has turned from drudgery to luxury, from something I do for others to something I do for myself.
Dishwashing has turned into a gateway drug. Now, once I've emptied the sink, I find myself heading to the laundry room, headphones securely lodged in my ears.
Our house has never been so clean.
--Nicole C. Kear
Today's giveaway: Nicole has copies of her book, Now I See You waiting to send to readers who want to put fun back into cleaning their houses.
To say hello to Nicole and to enter the giveaway, email: nowiseeyoubook@gmail.com (If your name is drawn and you would like an audio version of the book, please mention it in your email and always be sure to include your shipping address, in case you're a winner.)
Background about Nicole K. Kear:
Nicole C. Kear is the author of the memoir Now I See You. Her writing appears in the New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Psychology Today, Parents, and others. She chronicles her continuing mid-adventures in motherhood on her blog, "A Mom Amok." A native of New York, she received a BA from Yale, a MA from Columbia, and a red nose from the San Francisco School of Circus Arts. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, three children and two feisty goldfish.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
AUTHORBUZZ: THE BOOK OF SPECULATION (Fiction) by Erika Swyler
Have you ever had a book that changes everything come into your life?
An old book arrives one day in June on the doorstep of librarian Simon Watson. Fragile and water damaged, the book is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, who reports strange and magical things--including the drowning death of a circus mermaid. Since then, generations of "mermaids" in Simon's family have drowned--always on July 24, which is only weeks away.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE BOOK OF SPECULATION to find out more about the book and the author, Erika Swyler. Send her an email, she'd love to hear from you.
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