Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 11-16-16

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

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

Dear Reader,

"Yippee--awesome--thanks!"

Coralie Kuyvenhoven was thrilled, when she heard the news that her entry in this year's Write a DearReader Contest, had been chosen as an Honorable Mention.

Coralie says, "I am a retired teacher-librarian who has been reading at the book club longer than I can remember. It's very important to me as my brilliant daughter Cassandra, and I challenge each other every year. Who can read the most, and who can find titles and authors to inspire the other to write it down? The book club has helped.

Reading runs through Coralie's family.

"My granddaughter Maradith was a preemie, and we read to her during the 100 days she stayed in hospital. When she was finally able to come home, she needed to continue to keep a quiet routine. So we hung about and read, went to the library, and had many adventures. I have written lots of stories for her and about her. Hence, the topic for my entry. I think my life has always been, the glass is half full and refillable daily!"

Take it away Coralie...

ADELE

"Oma, do you know Adele?"

"Adele who?"

"You know, Hello it's me"

"Oh yes...but wait how do you know her?"

"She is in your radio. I think I would like to go to her house and hear her sing."

"Well wouldn't we all. But she lives in England and I am pretty sure you would have to pay to hear her sing."

"Oma, could you call her and ask. I am available this weekend."

"Well you are three and of course you are available."

"Oma, could you just call her."

The innocence of a three year old to believe that calling Adele is not only possible but should be done now.

I want to live in her world and believe that the world is available to me.

She brings out the best in me because she believes I can dance and sing.

She believes I could race her down the hill and win. She believes if she jumps I will always catch her.

So...

Hello it's me...

--Coralie Kuyvenhoven
Honorable Mention, 2016 Write a DearReader Contest

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Shelter of Leaves (Science Fiction) by Lenore H. Gay

On Memorial Day, bombings cripple major US cities. Sabine flees Washington DC, seeking safety with other refugees. But surrounded by chaos, and unable to remember her family or identity, who can she trust? Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on SHELTER OF LEAVES to read more and to email author Lenore H. Gay, you'll get a reply.

KIDS BUZZ: This week, loads of book fun and buzz for middle-grade and teen readers. Meet new authors--send an email, ask a question and they will reply. Plus enter to win a free copy of Into the Lion's Den (A Devlin Quick Mystery) by best-selling author Linda Fairstein; and Puck by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes. For a chance to win, say hello to the authors and more, see http://www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz.

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Charterhouse of Parma, by Stendhal. Start reading now and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag.

Dear Reader Column 11-15-16

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

Dear Reader,

Librarian by day, writer by night, Ashley Weaver lives her life constantly surrounded by books and loves every minute of it. A longtime fascination with mysteries, murder, and mayhem led to the creation of the Amory Ames Mystery series. The third and latest installment, A Most Novel Revenge, finds Amory Ames and her husband Milo investigating a years-old mystery at a country estate. Ashley works as the Technical Services Coordinator at the Allen Parish Libraries in Oberlin, Louisiana and lives in Oakdale, Louisiana.

Ashley would love to hear from you, and when you email to say hello, you'll be entered in her book drawing. She has five copies of A Most Novel Revenge to giveaway to readers. (Please be sure to include your shipping address, in case you are a winner.) To enter the drawing, email Ashley.

The Poison Gardener

I am an ardent admirer of plants. I have spent many happy hours wandering in gardens, greenhouses, and conservatories, fascinated by both the beauty and the many uses of flowers and other vegetation. I've had a longtime goal of growing my own beautiful garden or becoming an amateur herbalist, making teas and soaps and other natural products with my home-grown plants. Having moved in the last year from an apartment to a house, I finally have the yard space to commence this project.

My latest botanical scheme is a poison garden. As a mystery writer, I can't help but feel it would be excellent for research purposes to learn about the growth of poisonous plants like foxglove, hemlock, and nightshade. How fun it would be to have a beautiful and deadly garden all of my own!

There's just one impediment to my life of verdurous splendor. Plants don't seem to love me as much as I love them. Despite my enthusiasm and best intentions, plants of any variety generally don't last very long in my care. Each spring I tell myself that this could be the year I develop my green thumb, and each summer sees me with a wilted window box and an assortment of dried up houseplants.

Of course, not all the plant deaths have been my fault. My dog went crashing through my parlor palm, the cats knocked over my rosemary, and the spider lilies fell prey to the lawn mower. The fact remains, however, that my black thumb seems to be irritatingly persistent.

But I don't intend to give up my grandiose gardening aspirations! I have two succulents in my living room that have managed to survive--even thrive!--since summer, so I think I might be edging toward the path of success. I have the upcoming winter to strategize and determine my plan of attack. When spring rolls back around, I will be at my local nurseries, ready to try my hand again at bringing out my inner gardener. I know she's in there somewhere.

Who knows? Next year I might just grow that poison garden. Sure, it might be a little dangerous for someone with limited experience and a noted horticultural ineptitude to grow those deadly plants, but I'm not worried. After all, I'm sure I will kill them long before they could kill me!

--Ashley Weaver

If readers would like contact me (or send gardening tips), I can be reached here.

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 The Charterhouse of Parma, by Stendhal. Start reading now and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag.

AUTHORBUZZ: The Weight of Him (Fiction) by Ethel Rohan

What is the greatest stand you've taken? In my this, my first novel, 400lb Billy Brennan believes his greatest stand is his public weight loss campaign to raise money for suicide prevention--after his 17-year-old son takes his own life. But Billy's unconventional crusade is only the beginning of his realizing his full purpose and power, and moving many hearts.

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

Dear Reader Column 11-14-16

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

Dear Reader,

Today I'm featuring another Honorable Mention entry from this year's Write a DearReader Contest.

A librarian friend introduced Melissa Zifzal to the book club three years ago. The same librarian friend, Donna, asked her to read and make edits on a story she had written for the Write a DearReader Contest, and she encouraged Melissa to enter a story as well. Melissa didn't come up with an idea that year, but she did finally enter the contest last year and again this year. Melissa says, "I chose to write about my newspaper reporting days, because I still appreciate a pen and notepad and the local newspaper--and mostly because it was a funny memory that still makes me laugh."

Congratulations to Melissa Zifzal, one of this year's Honorable Mentions in my Write a DearReader Contest.

The Pen

Out of college for a year, I landed a job as the editor of a small-town weekly newspaper that featured a majority of stories recycled from its daily parent. I was allowed to fill the extra space by interviewing local citizens for human-interest stories, sometimes picked up by the daily newspaper, as well as movie reviews and opinion pieces that only appeared in the weekly. Basically, I mostly wrote "fluff" stories, but I was just happy to have a job.

After six months there, I had been promoted to work at the parent newspaper as a bona fide news reporter, so my task one spring morning was to train my replacement: a college intern hired, I guessed, to save money.

I didn't feel qualified to train an intern--I was still "green" myself. And as it turned out, the intern wasn't a traditional college student; he was married and about a decade my senior. I hoped I could convince him I knew what I was doing.

I introduced myself, nervously showed him around the small office, and explained how to use the antiquated computer equipment, which was older than what we had both used in college.

Within a half hour of the intern's arrival, the phone rang.

"There's been a bank robbery on Seneca Avenue," the caller exclaimed. "Get over there quick," she urged before hanging up.

I was floored. Bank robberies didn't happen in my hometown. I quickly relayed the phone conversation to the intern as I grabbed my gear. Throwing on our coats, we ran out the door and down the block to the bank. Sure enough, one of the town's patrol cars was parked in front of the bank, its lights flashing.

We approached the always-friendly police captain, and he immediately launched into the details.

I opened my reporter's notebook to begin writing, fishing first in one coat pocket then the other for a pen. Oh, no. The town's biggest story of the year, and I had nothing to write with. What a fine example I was setting!

Sheepishly, I turned to my intern. "Do you have a pen?" He shook his head no. I groaned. Not just one, but two reporters without a pen?

Hearing me, the captain smiled and pulled a pen from his breast pocket. "You can borrow mine," he offered. My cheeks burned with embarrassment as I gratefully accepted it and asked him to repeat some of the details.

After snapping a few pictures of the crime scene, I jotted down a few final notes and returned the pen, thanking him more than once.

I hurriedly typed the story and was putting the finishing touches on it when the phone rang again. It was the daily newspaper's city editor, calling to tell me about the robbery.

He was surprised to hear I'd already gotten the scoop, thanks to the anonymous woman who decided to call the fledgling weekly instead of its bigger parent, and he advised me to finish my story quickly.

A morning of embarrassment turned into an afternoon of pride when my byline appeared on the front page of the daily newspaper, the first lead story in my young reporting career. Another year of working at that daily gave me several other front-page stories, making a nice portfolio of work that I shared later on job interviews when I married and moved away.

My newspaper reporter days are far behind me now, but that bank robbery comes to mind sometimes when I clean out my purse and find a half-dozen or more pens. They've almost become a security blanket. After all, I know from experience that I'd rather be able to offer a pen than need one.

--Melissa Zifzal
Honorable Mention, 2016 Write a DearReader Contest

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 The Charterhouse of Parma, by Stendhal. Start reading now and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag:

AUTHORBUZZ: Kayden/Simon (Fiction) by Alexandra Ivy & Laura Wright

When Alexandra and I started this series three years ago, it was with a phone conversation. Just to, you know, get acquainted, see if we wanted to write the same kinds of books--and if we had that elusive chemistry. Well, with over twenty stories published and so many readers who keep telling us they love this series, I think chemistry has definitely been established.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on KAYDEN/SIMON to read more and to email authors Alexandra Ivy & Laura Wright, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 11-11-16

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

Dear Reader,

This year I received so many outstanding entries in the Write a DearReader Contest, it seemed a shame to only publish the winning ones. So I've chosen some Honorable Mention entries that I'll be publishing in my column in the upcoming weeks.

Today, Janet Kanady a small, rural, school librarian for 23 years, who also teaches science, shares a true story from her years of teaching.

I asked Janet to tell me a little bit about herself and asked if she had any pets. There's usually a funny story to be told, when people have pets and Janet didn't let me down.

"I have a very spoiled German Shepherd, a Red Bone Coonhound (think Little Anne in Where the Red Fern Grows), three cats and a new kitten that found its way to my house a couple of weeks ago. My German Shepherd, Jerry Lee, has several interesting traits, but the silliest is that he fell on my kitchen floor when he was little, and now he will only walk across the floor backwards. My husband and sons make a backup beeping sound, when he walks across the floor."

Three cheers for Janet Kanady, a school librarian, teacher, storyteller and an adventurous woman who zooms into the school parking lot in her 68 Camaro.

Take it away Janet...

Teachers always have stories; some are roll-on-the-floor funny while others break your heart. If you teach long enough you will have plenty of both. I have often thought I should write all of the stories down and publish them when I retire.

My favorite teaching story involves a young man and a motorcycle. When I first got out of college I substituted for a teacher who was on a long term medical leave. Being a new teacher is a struggle. You know your content but you have to find a way to get it across to the students. I had one student I was especially struggling with. John had no interest in learning science. He told me often it had no relevance to him or his life. So, needless to say, he was not doing well in class. What he was doing well in was disruption. It wasn't just that he was disruptive, but he helped others be disruptive with him. I spent more time trying to get John and his cohorts back on track than I did teaching. I was beyond frustrated. I was going home in tears on a regular basis. I had never failed at anything, ever. I was convinced I was not meant to be a teacher. I thought I was called to be a teacher, but evidently I had thought wrong.

Once afternoon, on the way out of school, John was sitting on a classic motorcycle. I walked up to him and started a conversation about his beautiful bike. He was more than happy to give me the full tour. An idea hit me in the middle of the night. The next day in class, I connected everything we were learning to motorcycles. For the first time John's eyes lit up in class. As the nine weeks went on, I continued to link lessons to all things mechanic (it paid off being a mechanic's daughter). John's F came up to a high B. John was no longer disruptive or surly in class. He smiled more and stayed after class to chat with me. Other teachers started asking me what was going on in my class because John came to their classes talking about science. Evidently it wasn't just my class he had been surly in.

For the rest of the year John was successful in science. But John wasn't the real winner, it was me. I learned to make what I taught relevant to my students which made me a much better teacher which I have been doing now for 22 years.

--Janet Kanady
Honorable Mention, 2016 Write a DearReader Contest

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

P. S. Congratulations to recent book club winners...
TP winner: Lynn L.
Apron winners: Kathryn D. and AnnaLee K.
Cookie winners: Candee J., Natalie J. and Denise L.

* This month's Penguin Classics book is THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA, by Stendhal. Start reading now and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag.

AUTHORBUZZ: The Ugly (Fiction) by Alexander Boldizar

A Siberian mountain man must travel to Harvard to win back his homeland, and Africa to win back his heart. A wild, existential, comedic romp in the traditions of Kafka and Heller, this is one of the strangest, quirkiest books you'll read this year.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on The Ugly to read more and to email author Alexander Boldizar, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 11-10-16

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

Dear Reader,

Today I'm featuring this year's 1st Place entry in my annual Write a DearReader Contest.

There was a lot of hootin' and hollering with joy, on the other end of the phone, when I told Cynthia R. Temple, a children's librarian at the Main Street Library in Newport News, Virginia, that she'd won 1st Place in my writing contest this year. Cynthia said she has felt like, "an inspiring writer, but real life has always distracted me."

Well not any longer, Cynthia! You wrote a delightful story about the memories and wonders of being a child. Thank you so much for entering this year's contest.

Let me tell you about my childhood. I don't share this because I think my childhood was extraordinary. I'm sure there are many who experienced the joy and wonder of being a kid. I share this because when I describe my childhood, the first words that come to mind are "well played."

My sister and I were expert players. Please don't think I'm referring to organized sports. Neither of us was particularly athletic. We were players of the highly creative variety. I would have to say, the prep for these "games" took just as much time as the actual play.

Playing "Library," for example, required us to remove all of the books from my mother's bookshelf. We inserted a card (usually a playing card) into each book, so it would be ready for check-out. Checking out would be done by shining the gooseneck lamp on my desk down on the book, and turning it off and on. Though real-life libraries of that day still used stamping for checkouts, our imaginary library had progressed to photocopying. Did I mention we were also visionaries?

The next heavy-prep job was playing clothing store. Of course, we had to take the clothes from our closet and attach tags, and put them back in the closet which doubled as a changing room for our invisible customers. A manual typewriter with the keys jammed together provided the perfect sound of a ticking cash register.

I should tell you about our attire. My mother was and is a small woman, so we rarely clomped around in her heels because they nearly fit us. We were content instead to wear her old purses stuffed with tissues and of course our extremely long hair. To accomplish the "hair" we put tights--the little girls' equivalent of stockings--on our heads and styled them in very attractive "dos." There was the beautiful, long twisted braid, which hung daintily over one shoulder or the lovely French bun which was held with bobby pins and imagination. I don't know how my mother kept a straight face when she saw us "ladies."

We had other games like "Restaurant"--which was only open when my mother was away, as it required the kitchen, living room and dining room, and closed suddenly, the moment we saw her car pull up. We tried "Beauty Shop," but that game was short-lived, once we had given enough of our doll customers disfiguring haircuts. We played "Movies" which was achieved, easily enough by watching TV in the dark. In the early years, before we could make popcorn, we settled for wrapping round crackers in aluminum foil to resemble a certain chocolate, peppermint filled treat. It was not nearly as delicious as we pretended. The imagination can stretch but so far.

My mother inspired our favorite game--Teachers. She was a teacher and we loved the profession. She bought us a large blackboard which fit snugly into an alcove in our room. A chalk line down the middle and it became two classrooms, occupied by the invisible students who attended on our beds. We had complete written rolls, which we called daily. We had posters, lesson plans and worksheets. At lunchtime, the dining room became the cafeteria and we ate with our classes, though we had to repeatedly jump up and turn off the lights, scolding that, "I can't even hear what Mrs. Paige is saying!" When my mother insisted we go outside and get some air, you guessed it. Recess! I can't remember whether we removed the tights first.

I don't suggest that we were unique. I'm sure some of you drove living-room-sofa station wagons with vinyl record albums for steering wheels. You probably also fitted bobby pins on your earlobes to make dangling earrings, or made attractive jewelry out of aluminum foil.

I not only salute you, but to you all, I say..."Well played."

--Cynthia R. Temple
First Place, 2016 Write a DearReader Contest

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)
RIVERSIDE by Brett Burlison

(Fiction)
MR. PRESIDENT by Katy Evans

(Fiction)
HALO by R.C. Stephens

(Fiction)
THE UGLY by Alexander Boldizar

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

* This month's Penguin Classics book is THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA, by Stendhal. Start reading now and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqR1AFEAEE9442&c=CLASSICS

 

Dear Reader Column 11-09-16

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

Dear Reader,

Congratulations to H. F. Mullen, this year's 2nd Place winner in my annual Write a DearReader Contest. A professor at a law school, students in Ms. Mullen's class are required to do 700 hours of pro bono work for low income folks, who need assistance with consumer law issues that affect their daily lives. In my conversation on the phone with Ms. Mullen, she spoke with passion and love when she talked about her students and the people they help in their community.

When I read Ms. Mullen's entry, I felt I was back in the days of my own childhood. It's a powerful piece.

Heartburn

Jimmy stood in the open doorway of his father's hospital room and wondered how the hell the old man cadged a single room this time. Not that it was much to look at. The walls were green, probably painted with something out of a five-gallon drum labeled "iced pistachio" or "zephyr green." Everything else was gunmetal gray--the nightstand, the frame that held a TV bolted to the ceiling, even the metal rails on the bed.

A cheap oil painting of an Indian encampment, complete with wigwam, mountains, and a lake in the background, dominated one wall. It was the kind of sentimental slop two years at the Rhode Island School of Design had taught him to despise, the kind of work he forbade his freshman students to paint. The so-called artist had slapped fat gobs of reddish paint on the mountaintops, making them look like giant tits.

The Grand Tetons. His father had taken him there camping once, in the early fall the year he started seventh grade. It had snowed, the tent leaked, and he had been deeply, silently afraid of bears. His father made him pack the car, then he made him take everything out and repack it, even though it was just the two of them, even though there was plenty of room. They had gone only once. He knew his father remembered the trip; less than two months ago he heard him brag to a neighbor who was packing up for a trip, "Oh me and Jimmy used to love to camp. Real outdoorsmen we was."

On the nightstand beside the bed stood a glass of water (half empty, his father would say), a bowl of oranges, and a couple of carnations in a plastic vase. The old man had only been in the hospital overnight, but the carnations, a gift from some candy-striper, had already started to brown around the edges. His father, fully dressed, dozed on the narrow bed. Now, there's a picture worth painting, Jimmy thought, "Still Life with Asshole."

A rerun of Happy Days blared on the TV. When he was a boy, Jimmy pretended he was the Cunninghams' lost son, and while a thin wall of glass prevented him from rejoining his "true" family, he could at least watch their lives unfold each week. What he liked best was how fast Mr. Cunningham got over it when he blew his stack. Meanwhile, his false father would come lurching home from some bar or babe and slap Jimmy's mother around for daring to ask where he had been. Jimmy remembered how her cry drifted up the narrow stairs from the front hall. He remembered crouching at the top of those stairs waiting for his false father to come home, half-praying that nothing bad had happened to him, half-praying that something had. Jimmy glanced at the clock on the nightstand, a battered alarm brought from home, then at his watch. It was half an hour until his father was to be discharged for yet another bout of indigestion, another beer-and-pickled-egg-induced "attack."

"Hey, No-Good-Boyo." His father opened one eye. "Come to take your old man home?"

"Not this time, Pop. Not this time."

--H. F. Mullen
2nd Place, 2016 Write a DearReader Contest

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 THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA, by Stendhal. Start reading now and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqR1AFEAEE9442&c=CLASSICS

AUTHORBUZZ:  HALO (Fiction) by R.C. Stephens

Thomas Wells meets Halo at sixteen and their young love turns into the kind of love that lasts forever. Only Thomas is broken. After years of marriage he walks away from Halo leaving her broken and pregnant. Halo is lost, until a chance encounter with wounded soldier Ryder St. John, makes her believe that she can love again... It's a story about second chances and being brave enough to give your heart to the one you love.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on HALO to read more and to email author R.C. Stephens, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 11-08-16

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

Dear Reader,

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Charterhouse of Parma, by Stendhal. Start reading now and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag, just like the one I use: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqR1AFEAEE9442&c=CLASSICS

Today's guest columnist, Karen Smith-Kernc, is one of the 3rd Place Winners in this year's Write a DearReader Contest. (The third place award is a tie this year.) Karen says she thought about entering the contest last year because, "For many years I thought I had a story in me, but never had the motivation to write it. I am one of those people who are not writers, but [Suzanne] one of your story suggestions hit home with me, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Hope you enjoy reading this submission. Thanks for helping to get my creative juices flowing!"

Karen's creative side definitely took center stage. Enjoy reading her column...

Can Fat Girls Run?

At 55 years old, and 75 pounds overweight, I decided I would try to run. Going to Google.com and typing "can fat girls run?" I learned, "Yes, they can."

Darn.

What would motivate me at my age and shape to attempt this? My "baby" sister was going through a tough time as her husband, and father of their son, was dying of cancer. We live 1,200 miles apart and I couldn't think of how to support her. Phoning and texting weren't enough. She's a runner and during one of our conversations mentioned that she was going to be doing a run at Disney World. I love Disney and I love my sister. It was the end of June and the run was in October. A half marathon. Nothing like starting in the middle.

Over the 4th of July weekend, I decided to hike, just to see if I could. Dragging my husband with me to French Creek State Park we chose a hike that was a bit strenuous (meaning uphill). Panting and struggling, I did it. It wasn't 13.1 miles, but I did it. Maybe I could do the run? Optimistic, I signed up for my first half marathon that day. Yikes, I was in!

Online I found a great training plan to get me from couch to half marathon in three months. It was really, really hard but I'm really, really stubborn and wanted to do this at Disney with my sister. My friends, and some family, thought I was crazy. Their doubts were nothing compared to mine!

I trained every day at the required pace, following the daily suggested distances, doing each mile in less than 15 minutes combining running and fast walking. Juggling my job and other commitments was a challenge but my most wonderful husband picked up the slack helping with chores like dinner preparation while I was at the track or on the treadmill. He even came with me a few times to cheer me on.

With just four weeks to go, it occurred to me that maybe I should try a 5K. There was one being held close to my home so I signed up. As I got out of the car, I mumbled, "look at all the skinny people." Undaunted, I collected my race bib and took my place at the start line. I now know what a cross-country race is! I came in dead last, but not too far behind the slow runners, and I had finished!

The night of the Disney half marathon was amazing--8,000 runners and me. Wow! My brother helped pace me. I won't kid you, it was very hard. My brain was saying, "go, go, go" while my body was saying, "PLEASE STOP!" After mile seven, my brother talked as if the race as a done deal. What motivation! The finish was a small uphill but my brother grabbed my hand and we went over the line together.

As the medal went around my neck, I felt such a sense of accomplishment.

After six years, I've completed more races. Every time I cross that finish line, I get the same feeling of pride and satisfaction. My finisher's medals hang proudly on my wall. I'm not fast, but that's not the point. Can fat girls run?

You bet they can!

--Karen Smith-Kernc
3rd Place (Tie), 2016 Write a DearReader Contest

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

Gratefully,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: MR. PRESIDENT (Fiction) by Katy Evans

I was inspired by the super sexy JFK Jr. and wrote a steamy romance that took my breath away...

I met the president's son when we were both young. Matthew Hamilton was handsome, polished, and intelligent. I'd never met a guy like him. He promised me that he'd never run for president. I promised that if he did, I'd be by his side.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on MR. PRESIDENT to find out more about the book and the author, Katy Evans. Send her an email, she'd love to hear from you.

Dear Reader Column 11-07-16

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

Dear Reader,

This year's 12th Annual Write a DearReader contest was the most remarkable one ever! The entries were amazing and it was extremely difficult to choose winners, which is why there was a tie for 3rd Place this year.

I personally called 1st, 2nd, and two 3rd Place winners to share the good news, and find out a little more about the writers.

Today, I'm honored to introduce Scott Wiley, one of this year's 3rd Place winners. I really enjoyed talking to him, what a delightful guy. Scott writes instructional curriculum, but he said that writing a 650-word column for the contest, was a very different challenge. Reading his entry brought to mind a story from my own past, and therein lies the magic of sharing your writing with other people.

Well done, Scott Wiley...

The decision was agonizing. Would I keep it? What would I do with it?

My grandmother had died. She left me something, specifically mentioned me in her will. Her old dark upright piano with yellowing keys. The piano I loved.

The piano sat in her front room for as long as I can remember. I spent hours playing on it. At first I would play random notes or my own "compositions." Then I learned "Chopsticks" and "Heart and Soul."

I wanted to take lessons but couldn't. So I settled for learning a different instrument in the school band.

Still I played my grandmother's piano...in my own way. I acquired a discarded hymnal and placed it on the piano. On my visits, I picked through the melodies with my right hand, getting pretty good at playing them. I tried to add harmonies with my left hand, but those were the harder-to-read notes so I often just settled for the single note method. Usually I played with no audience--but occasionally my grandmother would come in and listen.

And sometimes, she would play for me. She didn't read music; she played by ear. She would run through her repertoire and my heart would fill. It's one of my fondest memories.

I loved that piano. She told me it would be mine one day. And now it was.

But I lived several states away. In a house with no spot for a large upright piano.

The piano sat quietly in her house, waiting for me to decide. Waiting for its next chapter.

One day I began to think about not taking it. I didn't want to think that but I had to face realities. As much as I wanted it, I just couldn't see how it could be with me. But letting it go seemed like losing something I wanted to hold on to.

My mom told me not to feel upset if I didn't take it. "She was happy when she gave it to you," Mom said. "And you are happy to receive it." Maybe that was the real legacy.

I decided to part with it. My mom found a home for it with a cousin--someone studying music. That feels right. The piano lives on, creating music in ways that I could never do.

That piano will always bond my grandmother and me together, even if it doesn't sit in my house. I see it now as I write, almost feel the keys beneath my fingers.

And I kept the piano stool. That I could bring home in my car!

--Scott Wiley
3rd Place (Tie), 2016 Write a DearReader Contest

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: RIVERSIDE (Fiction) by Brett Burlison

In the early 1990s Austin, Texas two young lovers move in together and open a cafe and chase the American dream, only to be besieged by their own pasts, drugs, and New Orleans mobsters. As the plot unfolds the story becomes increasingly sinister. Over the course of little more than a week the couple must find a way to protect each other and all they are struggling for or lose everything.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on RIVERSIDE to read more and to email author Brett Burlison, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 11-04-16

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

Dear Reader,

It's one of my family's traditional Thanksgiving recipes, Crock Pot Dressing. And it's become a classic recipe at the book clubs, too. Every year readers email asking for the recipe (some in a panic the night before Thanksgiving, because they've misplaced their copy), so I'm happy to share it with you, early.

Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, side vegetables and salads, and pumpkin pie with a dollop of whipped cream, they all taste better if you're wearing a vintage apron when you prepare them. I tell you that from experience. Today's giveaway is two vintage aprons that I've used myself over the years. Be sure to enter. Two aprons are waiting for two book club readers, just in time for the holidays.

Enter the giveaway at:
http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/giveaway.html

Crock Pot Dressing

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped celery
1/4 cup fresh parsley
2 cups mushrooms (if you use canned, drain them)
2 eggs beaten
3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups chicken broth, or enough to moisten well
13 cups dried bread, cubed
1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp marjoram, (optional)

Melt butter in fry pan and saute onion and celery until soft. Mix with remaining ingredients and toss well. Pack in large crock pot. Cover. Cook on high for 45 minutes, then turn to low and continue cooking for 6-8 hours.

Enter the vintage apron giveaway, http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/giveaway.html

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: THE NEXT (Fiction) by Stephanie Gangi

The ghosts rise...

Joanna falls in love with a much younger man. Ned leaves her in her hour of need, and the betrayal is so profound, her anger so deep, that Joanna the ghost sets out on a mission--to make Ned pay--so that she can finally let go of her pain and leave the world behind. Along the way, she reexamines the bonds of love for her daughters, her faithful dog and most importantly, the woman she once was.

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

Dear Reader Column 11-03-16

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

Dear Reader,

I turn on a soap bubble machine almost every day in front of my house. People love it. So I may just have to install a water bubbler spigot in my yard. Thanks for taking the time to write. I do love to hear from readers.

Some responses from Tuesday's column about my asking the city to install a bubbler...

"Dear Suzanne, I am a long time follower of your book club. You have introduced me to a lot of great reads that I would never have discovered on my own. Regarding the water fountain on your Main St., my husband's aunt was a regular walker in one of our large city parks. It always bothered her that there was no water fountain. When she died, we learned that she had left a bequest in her will to install a water fountain on the path in the park where she walked. Lily's fountain has slaked the thirst of many walkers since she passed on."--Louise G.

"Suzanne, what a killjoy that man (at the city) was. Go to the beach to play in the water, indeed! Perhaps he needs to go to the beach, and to go somewhere there are bubbling fountains. He may well be correct that most people drink bottled water, but he missed the point entirely. Keep doing what you are doing, and ignore the naysayers."--Kay F.

"Your fountain column brought back memories of when I was a child. I remember the fountains you are talking about. Growing up we had a big iron one in a park by our house, and also in the schoolyard. Well, my work has fountains that combine the best of both worlds, and satisfy everyone. They each have a push button, 'fountain' section for the kid in us, and a section where you stand your water bottle on, press a button and it fills the bottle up with water. It even keeps count of how many bottles it fills. But sorry, no wooden step. Lol Have a great day,"--Jannee M.

"Have you ever been to Portland, Oregon? After an amazing trip to the Pacific Northwest a couple of years ago, one of the things this Midwest girl loved best was the fact that downtown Portland had these beautiful and refreshing water fountains all over the place. I even came home with a Benson Bubbler T-shirt! Thanks, your column today brought back some great memories!"--Judy B.

"I'm originally from Beaver Dam, WI. Now living near Chicago. I love hearing the word bubbler in its true form! Thanks for making my day!"--Joan P.

My sister's library has a combo drinking fountain/water bottle refill stations that keeps track of how many bottles it has saved. Perhaps the Chamber of Commerce or a high school graduating class would want a project. If all else fails, a business with an outdoor water spigot could add a drinking fountain that just screws on. My aunt, whose house was closest to the park all the cousins played in, put one on her house...it cut down on requests for drinks of water and gave her more time to make the world's best cinnamon toast."--Mary G.

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)
DRAGON FEVER by Donna Grant

(Fiction)
WINTER PARK by Graham Guest

(Fiction)
FOLLOW THE RIVER HOME by Corran Harrington

(Fiction)
THE NEXT by Stephanie Gangi

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