Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 09-16-16

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

 

Dear Reader,

I'm on vacation in the Smoky Mountains today. Please welcome guest author Gayle Forman.

Gayle Forman is a bestselling, award-winning author of young adult novels. Leave Me is her first novel for adults, and tells the story of Maribeth Klein, a harried working mother who is so busy she doesn't even realize she's having a heart attack. When her recovery seems to inconvenience her family, Maribeth packs a bag and leaves everyone, a decision that ultimately ends up guiding her to where she belongs.

Gayle's novel If I Stay won the 2009 NAIBA Book of the Year Award and was a 2010 Indie Choice Honor Award winner. The film adaptation of If I Stay was released in 2014. She has visited more than forty countries and wrote a nonfiction book about her travels titled You Can't Get There from Here: A Year on the Fringes of a Shrinking World. Forman lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and two daughters.

Take it away Gayle...

Three years ago, and nearly forty years after I took my first lesson, I learned to swim. I was in upstate New York watching both of my daughters, in the course of a few weeks, transform from splash monkeys who could get around, to graceful swimmers with balletic strokes. Though I had been technically swimming for most of my life, I couldn't do that. And I wanted to.

I asked the lifeguard who was teaching my kids if she might give me lessons, too. Which was how at age 43, I found myself waist-deep in lake water, clutching a kickboard, and starting from scratch.

It took about a month of lessons for everything--the kicking, rotary breathing, arm strokes, and timing--to finally click. When it did, I was elated. Suddenly, swimming felt as natural as breathing. So much less strenuous than the gasping strokes I had performed all these years under the label of "swimming."

It turned out, the reason swimming had been so hard was that I'd been doing it wrong.

The older I get, the more this seems like a handy metaphor for life. To be sure, there is plenty that is just hard, no matter how we frame it. But there are other things that are difficult because we make them so. It's not always so easy to distinguish which is which. I know this. And so does Maribeth Klein, the main character of my new novel (and my first one starring adults) Leave Me.

There are certain undeniable difficulties in Maribeth's life. She struggles to balance the demands of her job with her family (four-year-old twins no less) even before she has a heart attack and bypass surgery; after, it becomes nearly impossible. Which is why she runs away to Pittsburgh, where, among other experiences, Maribeth learns to swim, with a patient teacher and a kickboard much the way I did.

After coming back from that first summer at the lake, I took up swimming at my local Y. This was very much on my mind as I began to write Leave Me so I taught Maribeth to swim. Not just because it would be good for her heart, but because she, like me, like so many women, was making things harder for herself than she needed to, both in the water and out. She heaped expectations on herself, judged herself critically and viewed accepting help as a sign of vulnerability (which it is) and weakness (which it's not). It took running away, and learning to swim, for her to realize that.

Three years later, I'm still swimming (last week, I went on a mile-long distance swim with one of my daughters in the same lake we both learned in). And while I know that I still make aspects of my life harder than need be, swimming is a daily reminder that I don't have to.

--Gayle Forman

Email and say hello: GayleFormaninfo@gmail.com

Tell a story, win some cash, buy some new shoes or a fishing pole, impress your friends and family. Sound like fun? It could happen to you, but first you need to enter my annual Write a DearReader Contest. You don't need to be a writer to enter. The contest is for writing fun. To read last year's winning entries and information about the rules and deadline, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/contest2016/index.html

* Congratulations to the winners of Fashion is Freedom by Guest Author Tala Raassi: Afsaneh S., Sharon B., and Pat H.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

* This month's Penguin Classics book is PERCHANCE TO DREAM: Selected Stories, by Charles Beaumont. Start reading now and don't forget to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqZ1AFE3FA745F&c=CLASSICS

Dear Reader Column 09-15-16

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

 

Dear Reader,

While I'm on vacation this week, I'll be catching up on my "to read" list including reading some of this year's entries for the Write a DearReader Contest. I want to read your entry. Read about the contest at: http://www.dearreader.com/contest2016/index.html

John Clement is our guest author today. He's the son of Blaize Clement, who originated the Dixie Hemingway mystery series. Blaize lived nearby me in Sarasota, Florida for many years before she passed. I've met her son John, who lives in New York City, and he does indeed take after his mother. Such a talented storyteller, and one of kindest guys around--an amazing man. His latest book in the popular Dixie Hemingway series is The Cat Sitter and the Canary due out December 20th.

This weekend in St. Augustine, John will be a featured speaker at the Florida Heritage Book Festival, a three-day event that showcases Florida's rich and diverse literary legacy. It's free, so if you are nearby, stop by and say, hello. More at: http://fhbookfest.com

Email: john@dixiehemingway.com to say hello (he answers all of his mail) and when you do, you'll be entered in a drawing for an advance reading copy (ARC) of his upcoming book, The Cat Sitter and the Canary.

Welcome to the book club, John Clement...

"This one cures rabies," I said.

I poured a bit of the clear liquid from its tiny amber bottle into a small jar with a milky substance inside, then I screwed the lid back on and shook it vigorously.

"If a raccoon bites you and it has rabies," I continued, "then you drink this and it saves your life."

My best friend Philip Mendez, who lived three doors down, nodded solemnly. He was busy mixing his own concoction from the fifty or so medicine bottles we'd found in a garbage bin down the street.

"But you gotta kill the raccoon," Philip added. "It's really, really sad, but you have to."

I don't remember whose idea it was, or, for that matter, what we were doing rummaging around in somebody's garbage, but the moment Philip and I saw all those medicine bottles, we knew we'd hit the jackpot. Our little nine-year-old brains could barely wrap themselves around our good fortune. At first we decided to open a pharmacy, but that proved a little boring without any customers, so we opted for a top-secret laboratory instead. There were dark glass bottles full of strange liquids, clear squat jars packed with pills of every shape, size and color, and dozens of tiny vials revealing all manner of odd-smelling substances, each labeled with mysterious, indecipherable words. We lined them all up on the rails of the wooden fence that divided my backyard from the neighbor's, and then we embarked on our important work: creating new and exciting cures for man's greatest ailments.

Philip looked up and said, "Hey, how do we know it cures rabies?"

I thought for a moment. "We have to do some tests."

Luckily, we were smart enough not to drink anything ourselves. Instead we wandered around the yard, administering little droplets of our miracle potions on unsuspecting June bugs, ants, and grasshoppers. Some of our "inventions" fizzled like Alka-Seltzer. Others gave off an acrid smell that burned the insides of our nostrils. In other words, it's a miracle we survived unscathed. I can still see the look on my mother's face when she came around the corner and discovered our secret laboratory. She wasn't angry, at least not as much as she was dumbfounded. She kept saying, "What in the world were you thinking?"

I still don't know. Decades later, my medical research lab with Philip Mendez remains the single dumbest thing I've ever done in my life. But then, we all have a childhood story like this...right?

--John Clement

Email: john@dixiehemingway.com to say hello (he answers all of his mail) and when you do, you'll be entered in a drawing for an ARC copy of The Cat Sitter and the Canary.

* Congratulations to the winners of Ninth City Burning by Guest Author J. Patrick Black: Linda C., Noreen B., and Vicki E.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

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

(Thriller)
THE SOUL OF THE MATTER by Bruce Buff

(Fiction)
NINE FACTS THAT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE by Ronna Wineberg

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

* This month's Penguin Classics book is PERCHANCE TO DREAM: Selected Stories, by Charles Beaumont. Start reading now and don't forget to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqZ1AFE3FA745F&c=CLASSICS

Dear Reader Column 09-14-16

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

 

Dear Reader,

I'm on vacation this week and author Genevieve Cogman has offered to pen today's column.

Genevieve Cogman is a freelance author, and our guest columnist today. She has written for several role-playing game companies, and currently works for the NHS in England as a clinical classifications specialist. Genevieve is the author of the Invisible Library series, including The Masked City and The Invisible Library.

Penguin Random House is giving away five copies of The Invisible Library. To enter, email: acerocpublicity@penguinrandomhouse.com

Welcome to the book club, author Genevieve Cogman...

When I was walking home past the railway station today, I ended up in the middle of a crowd of people, idly staring at the back of the woman walking immediately in front of me.

She had gorgeous tattoos, visible because her top was cut low at the back due to the hot weather. In the middle of her back there was a group of red roses, surrounded by black flames and incoming rays of dark light, with bluebirds on either side nose-diving towards it. She also had roses and greenery on her lower legs. I didn't get to see any more detail, because at that point our paths diverged and it would have become creepy for me to be staring at her. (Rather than vaguely justifiable due to the fact that I was walking directly behind her.)

Roses, black flames, rays of dark light, bluebirds--and yet it all worked as a whole.

It made me think of an article on colour theory which had been in one of my patchwork magazines (one of my hobbies is patchwork and quilting), which had talked about how colours on completely opposite sides of the colour wheel (I think the term was complementary colours) can work together in a quilt. But it also made me think about how an author can throw in multiple different elements in a novel, even if they might be from different genres or contrasting background settings, and still end up with a harmonious result.

Genre is an important tool in designing what an author's writing, and understanding how it works and creating a self-consistent end product. But though it's the author's responsibility to understand the "rules" of their genre and to keep the story consistent, it is also the author's choice where they bend or break those rules. We can have historical vampire detective stories, space-travelling dragons, zeppelin-using Sidhe, and Sherlock Holmes investigating Lovecraft or Cenobites. They may be bad, or they may be good, but it's the writing that makes them good or bad, rather than the action of mixing genres.

The woman in front of me at the station had chosen to put red roses and bluebirds together with black flames and dark rays of light. She had picked specific images from very different contexts, and chosen the pattern in which she wanted them to all be put together, and it looked 'awesome.'

--Genevieve Cogman

To send a note to Genevieve Cogman, email: librarian@grcogman.com

* I hope you enjoyed reading today's guest column. If you're one of the winners, or your entry is an honorable mention in this year's Write a DearReader contest, it will be featured as a guest column. Cash prizes, rules and deadlines, along with last year's winning entries, read all about them at: http://www.dearreader.com/contest2016/index.html

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

* This month's Penguin Classics book is PERCHANCE TO DREAM: Selected Stories, by Charles Beaumont. Start reading now and don't forget to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqZ1AFE3FA745F&c=CLASSICS

Dear Reader Column 09-13-16

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

 

Dear Reader,

(Suzanne is on vacation this week.)

After today's guest column, be sure to click on the link to sample this month's Penguin Classic, Perchance to Dream, Selected Stories by Charles Beaumont.

Today's guest author, Shawn Lovejoy, is Founder and CEO of CourageToLead.com, a pastor, coach, consultant, Real Estate Developer, and author of Be Mean About the Vision: Preserving and Protecting What Matters. Shawn loves coaching leaders, and helping them conquer what keeps them up at night. He's been married 23 years to his best friend Tricia Lovejoy, and they have three children.

Be Mean About the Vision: Preserving and Protecting What Matters.

Though many books have been written on the subject of developing mission or vision statements, there have been few written on how to sustain or protect the vision over time. Shawn has dealt with hundreds of leaders and has seen countless struggle with keeping everyone on board with the mission and how to align the rest of the organization with the vision.

Email: shawn@couragetolead.com to say hello, and when you do, you'll be entered in his book giveaway. Ten copies of Be Mean About the Vision: Preserving and Protecting What Matters are ready to send out to readers.

Welcome to the book club author Shawn Lovejoy...

Being Mean...About The Vision

I don't consider myself to be a mean person. I don't think I'm a mean leader. Are you a mean person or a mean leader? You may have read the title and thought I was going to give you permission to be mean to people. No. That's not what I am talking about. In the sense I'm talking about, being "mean" about the vision is actually the best thing we could do, both for ourselves, and the people we lead.

If you look up the word 'mean' in the dictionary, you'll see several definitions. One of them says, to be mean is "to be offensive, selfish, or unaccommodating." That's the definition most of us are aware of. However, the other definition of the word mean is "to have an intended purpose." In this instance, the word mean has to do with intention. We'll sometimes say "What I meant to say was..." or "I meant that as a compliment." In these instances the word mean has to do with intent. That is what "being mean about the vision" is all about. Being mean about the vision is being intentional about the vision for our lives.

Solomon, the wisest men who ever lived, said this in the old Testament of the Bible: "Where there is no vision, the people perish." In other words, where there is no vision, things and people die! This is why I believe vision is the most important thing in the world. We must know the vision for our lives. We must be intentional about living it out. We must learn to say "No" to the good things so we can say "Yes" to the best things. We must be courageous. We must confront vision drift. We must be willing to protect the vision from potential vision hijackers. We must remember WHY we are doing WHAT we are doing or our passion will die first. We can not allow that to happen.

We have a purpose. We have a vision. We can't allow a few hurdles, setbacks, or kicks on the stomach to cause to us to shrink back, go away or God forbid, quit. We must get and stay focused. We must finish. We must live intentional lives and lead others intentionally. All of this is what it means to "be mean" about the vision.

The cry of our day is for courageous leaders, not cowardly ones. We need courageous leaders who will stand up for what's right and relentlessly fight to preserve and protect the most important thing in the world: The vision for our lives and the organizations we lead. So go be mean...about the vision!

--Shawn Lovejoy

Email: shawn@couragetolead.com and enter the giveaway for a copy of his book, Be Mean About the Vision.

* This month's Penguin Classics book is PERCHANCE TO DREAM: Selected Stories, by Charles Beaumont. Start reading now and don't forget to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqZ1AFE3FA745F&c=CLASSICS

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: NINE FACTS THAT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE (Fiction) by Ronna Wineberg

Do you wonder how contemporary life affects our deepest relationships? The stories in this collection explore our essential bonds to partners, children, parents and friends. Intimacy, marriage, parenthood, adultery, divorce, and the past unfold. Men and women struggle with unexpected changes in their lives, but discover kindness, connection, and the ways we are renewed.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on NINE FACTS THAT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE to find out more about the book and the author, Ronna Wineberg. Send her an email, she'd love to hear from you.

Dear Reader Column 09-12-16

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win. 

Dear Reader,

I'm on vacation this week and author Deryn Lake has offered to pen today's column.

What's better to a mystery writer than a real-life mystery to solve? Highly acclaimed British mystery writer Deryn Lake (today's guest author), tells us how she was given a mystery and ended up with the lead character in her highly acclaimed Rawlings Mysteries series.

Yes, indeed, please do email and say hello: deryn@derynlake.com

Welcome to the book club author Deryn Lake...

To anyone out there who has read one of the detective novels I have written, featuring John Rawlings, apothecary, charmer, flirt, naughty boy and general all round good egg, you might be interested to know that he really lived.

Some years ago I was approached by Canada Dry--the drinks manufacturing company--to see if I could trace the origins of a drink they had inherited in a takeover. It was labelled 'H.D. Rawlings and Co. Manufacturers of spruce, ginger beer and mineral waters.' They also showed me some correspondence which dated from the Victorian era and was signed 'Henry Doo Rawlings, trading from these premises for over 100 years.' The address was 2, Nassau Street, Soho, London. A juicy clue indeed--but the only one I had.

I was given two weeks to find out all I could and, strangely, I found John on the first day but at that time didn't realise who he was and passed him by. He was in a street directory for 1757 and simply had his name, trading as an apothecary, and an address. As my research grew more complicated, I realised that in order to make carbonated water one would have to have had a certain amount of knowledge. In fact, it would have been helpful to have been an apothecary.

Day 12 saw me in first-class panic mode. I decided to have a look in the records of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, so went to the Guildhall in London.

I found a most interesting entry. A John Rawlings had been made Free of the Worshipful Society on 13th March, 1755. No address given. With a kind of psychic certainty I knew that this was John, whom I was destined to get to know and love so well over so many years. But I had to prove it. The Guildhall was closing and all the records were being called in. I went back at ten the next morning (Day 14 itself!) and asked to see the records again. Up they came, on went the gloves, and I searched amongst the beautifully written pages. And then, suddenly, there it was. 'John Rawlings of Number 2, Nassau Street, Soho, applied to be made a Yeoman of the Society. After a fine (fee) and a contribution to the Garden (the Chelsea Physic Garden) he was admitted. Loudly I shouted, waking up all the other people who were researching, "Got the blighter."

The rest is history. I have written sixteen books in the series and those dear readers out there who have never read any of them might just like to get acquainted with a truly exuberant detective. But, anyway, happy reading and keep in touch.

--Deryn Lake
Please do email and say hello: deryn@derynlake.com

About the author:
Deryn Lake is the pseudonym of a well-known historical novelist who joined the popular ranks of historical detective writers with her gripping John Rawlings Mysteries. Deryn Lake lives near Hastings, East Sussex.

* Tell a story, win some cash, buy some new shoes or a fishing pole, impress your friends and family. Sound like fun? It could happen to you, but first you need to enter my annual Write a DearReader Contest. You don't need to be a writer to enter. The contest is for writing fun. To read last year's winning entries and information about the rules and deadline, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/contest2016/index.html

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: THE SOUL OF THE MATTER (Thriller) by Bruce Buff

How would you view the world, and yourself, if you knew that inside you were hidden all the secrets of the universe, including proof of how we got here and where we're headed? This question prompted me to write my new thriller. Little did I know just how much insight DNA and physics would provide into these questions.

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

Dear Reader Column 09-09-16

KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader,

My husband and I have rented a cabin in the Smoky Mountains near Bryson City, North Carolina and we're going on vacation. I am so excited! We're flying, so you'd think we'd have to be choosy about the list of stuff we're bringing along, but where's there's a will, there's a way. And we've both found a way to take our hobbies on vacation. My husband is taking his bass guitar. He's successfully experimented with taking the guitar apart, and putting it back together again, and he's figured out how to pack it securely in his carry-on luggage. And me, I love to sew quilts. I checked the dimensions of my sewing machine, thinking it would be my carry-on bag, and I could have pulled it off. But I've been considering replacing my old machine, so the timing seemed perfect to order a new one, and it will be delivered to my cabin--waiting for me when I arrive. I'll save the packing and shipping materials, and send the sewing machine to myself when I leave.

While I'm on vacation I've invited several authors to fill in for me. I had a lot of fun reading their guest columns, you'll enjoy them, too. Everyone said they're excited about hearing from you, so please be sure to write and say hello--and enter their book giveaways. Someone always wins.

Entries for this year's Write a DearReader contest will be forwarded to me while I'm on vacation. Relaxing on the back deck of our secluded cabin, overlooking the mountains and reading your entries--I can't wait. If you haven't entered yet--get to it.

What to write about? Think of a story you'd like to tell me. Write down the first line and before you know it you'll have finished your entry. You don't need to be a writer to enter. Just have fun with it. So get busy. To read last year's entries, the rules, cash prizes and the deadline, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/contest2016/index.html

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

On vacation,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

KIDS BUZZ: Loads of book fun and buzz for kids. Meet new authors, send an email, ask a question and they will reply. Plus enter to win a free copy of TOTO'S APPLE by Mathieu Lavoie; MARY HAD A LITTLE GLAM by Tammi Sauer; and HOWARD WALLACE, P.I. by Casey Lyall. For a chance to win, say hello to the authors and more, see http://www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz

Dear Reader Column 09-08-16

KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader,

Need a writing idea so you can enter this year's Write a Dear Reader Contest?

Okay, here you go...

Am I normal? (I sure hope I'm not--just a side note.)

My dream childhood would have been...

The lessons I've learned about shaving.

Things in my life that I wish I could get a do-over.

I'm a little quirky when it comes to...

Caramel apples and salt water taffy.

I'll never forget the day that...it changed my life.

For rules, deadline, cash prizes and to read last year's entries, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/contest2016/index.html

Remember, you don't need to be a writer. Just write for fun.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

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

(Fiction)
THE SECRET INGREDIENT OF WISHES by Susan Bishop Crispell

(Thriller)
SHADOWS OF THE STONE BENDERS by K. Patrick Donoghue

(Fiction)
THE INVASION OF HEAVEN by Michael B. Koep

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

Dear Reader Column 09-07-16

KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader,

We have a guest author today, Tala Raassi, her book, Fashion is Freedom. I usually write a lead-in to introduce the guest columnist, and today I certainly wouldn't be lacking material, because her column reminds me of when I was a kid, and my mother won a Barbie car, which she gave to me, but then she refused to buy me a Barbie. But I won't continue on with that story, because Tala's column is one not to be missed. It's absolutely one of my favorites...Enjoy!

Revolutionary Fur

My creative destiny began with Barbies when I was eight years old. Even though children around the world have been playing with Barbies since the 1960's, they had become illegal in Iran after the 1979 revolution. The government viewed them as a symbol of Western materialism and destructive to the country's social and cultural values, and it banned them. As a result, storeowners were forced to unlawfully stash them in the back of their stores, and customers could only buy them upon request. Their selection was always outdated, so I waited for opportunities to purchase them abroad or receive them as gifts when my family visited from overseas. I also never seemed to have enough clothes for my Barbies. And who wants to wait for the latest styles when you can make them yourself? I know I didn't.

My mother owned a gorgeous, long black mink coat that she never seemed to wear. I didn't know why at the time, but now I realize that she must not have felt comfortable wearing it in public after the Revolution. One day, I decided that Maman's mink would make a wonderful new outfit for my favorite blond Malibu Barbie. She came with a one-piece pink ruffled swimsuit, and I wished to make her a coat, so she wouldn't catch a cold. I thought Maman would appreciate sharing her fur. I cut about eight inches off the bottom to sew that coat together with her needle and thread. I had no idea what the value of fur was at the time. I thought it was just a random piece of clothing that was in the storage and had no value.

I spent hours sitting on my bedroom floor assembling my masterpiece. My fingertips were bloody from all the sharp needle pricks. Even though one sleeve was longer than the other, and the coat turned out only big enough to cover Barbie's shoulders, I was still pumped about that glamour I had crafted. I couldn't wait to present my ill-fitted tiny fur to Maman. When I heard her car pull into the garage, I sprinted down the stairs from the third floor, Barbie in hand, as fast as I could.

"Maman...Maman!" I screamed. She got out of the car and froze, a shaken look on her face. I thought someone had died and she was about to deliver the bad news. The next thing I knew, I was greeted with a slap to my cheek followed by yelling and screaming. Suddenly my glamour was anything but glamorous.

I was dragged by my arm up to my room and grounded. Eventually, Maman came around and helped me fix the coat since sewing wasn't my forte. As she lectured me about how wrong I had been for ruining her coat, I couldn't peel my eyes away from her talented fingers sticking the needle in and out of the fur. I felt like the little coat was getting a professional do over.

Dreaming up and making that fur coat truly sparked my desire to create. I didn't know anything at that age about being a fashion designer. As a child growing up in Iran, I never watched fashion shows on TV. Mainstream designer boutiques didn't exist back then, and women were always covered in public. When you are raised in a place where independence and individuality aren't really options, your dreams become limited, however I fought against the restrictions. My weapon was fashion, and it was just the beginning.

--Tala Raassi

Enter to win one of three copies of Fashion is Freedom. Email: talaraassi@talaraassi.com.

More About Tala An Iranian American fashion designer, Tala was born in the United States and raised in Tehran. Named one of the "Most Fearless Women in the World" by Newsweek magazine, Tala made her mark in the fashion world at an early age with her talent in exclusive swimwear. She is devoted to celebrating the beauty of women's bodies through her designs and to empowering women all around the world to follow their dreams. For Tala, Fashion is Freedom.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: The Invasion of Heaven, Part One of the Newirth Mythology (Fiction) by Michael B. Koep

Psychologist Loche Newirth becomes hunted when he sees a painting that opens a window onto the afterlife. An ancient order of men seeking to control the art pursue him across the world, through centuries, into madness and beyond. Click here, then click on The Invasion of Heaven to read more and to email author Michael B. Koep, you'll get a reply.

KIDS BUZZ: Loads of book fun and buzz for kids. Meet new authors, send an email, ask a question and they will reply. Plus enter to win a free copy of Toto's Apple by Mathieu Lavoie; Mary Had a Little Glam by Tammi Sauer; and Howard Wallace, P.I. by Casey Lyall. For a chance to win, say hello to the authors and more, click here.

Dear Reader Column 09-06-16

KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader,

When my first grandchild came along, I didn't think twice about acknowledging, 'Now I am a grandmother.' But five grandchildren later, the oldness feeling that can creep into the title Grandmother, is showing up more than I would like.

For one thing, my name has changed. Last year on my birthday, two of my grandchildren wanted to buy a coffee mug for me. But when their mother choose a mug with the initial "S" on it for Suzanne, my grandsons insisted their mother made a mistake. "Why are you buying a mug with S on it? We want G for Grandma."

Even strangers walking by my house, seem to sense I am a grandmother. "Your flower gardens remind me of my grandmother's English gardens. Tall and short flowers, intertwined species, overflowing with color. And the bubbles--this is the happiest place in Sarasota."

The happiest place in Sarasota? Five lovely grandchildren who would be sad if Suzanne was here, instead of Grandma? I think I need to celebrate Grandma and grab on to some of that happiness, too.

Did your grandmother teach you something special, or do something so funny that it's part of family tradition? Dust off your notebook--it's that time again--time for you to enter the 12th Annual Write a DearReader Contest.

You don't have to be a writer. The topic can be about anything, even a recipe. Share a family favorite and then tell us the story behind it. Did Grandma teach you how to make it? Maybe your chicken salad recipe was your mother's favorite and now every time you make it, it feels like Mom is in the kitchen beside you.

Make us laugh, make us cry, but don't leave anything out. Open up and share your feelings. Let the story come from your heart.

To see the prizes, guidelines and rules, click here.

Get busy writing. You'll have a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to reading your entry.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Shadows of the Stone Benders (Thriller) by K. Patrick Donoghue

Ancient myths, mystical stones and murder. World-renowned scientist, Anlon Cully, leads a dangerous chase to unravel the secrets of mysterious artifacts discovered by his murdered archaeologist uncle--before the ruthless killer strikes again!

Click here, then click on Shadows of the Stone Benders to find out more about the book and the author, K. Patrick Donoghue. Send him an email, he'd love to hear from you.

Dear Reader Column 09-05-16

KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books,
"meet" the authors and enter to win.

Dear Reader,

Happy Labor Day! If you live in the U.S., hopefully you get to celebrate today's holiday, too.

There's a story inside of you, and I can't wait to read it.

If you love to write, or if you've never written anything, but thought about it--give it a try. Hundreds of readers enter the contest every year and it's interesting, because at the end of many of the entries, there's a note--"Even if I don't win, I had fun and it felt good to write this column. Thanks for the opportunity."

I'd love to read your entry, so please don't be shy. Prizes, guidelines and even last year's winning entries are here.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: The Secret Ingredient of Wishes (Fiction) by Susan Bishop Crispell

For Rachel Monroe, getting lost just might lead her to a place to call home. Combining the Southern charm of Sarah Addison Allen novels with the whimsy of "Pushing Daisies," this new novel is full of magic--wishes that appear out of thin air on strips of paper and secrets that are baked into pies--friendship, family, and the possibility of happily-ever-after. Click here then click on The Secret Ingredient of Wishes to read more and to email author Susan Bishop Crispell, you'll get a reply.