Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 06-29-18

Dear Reader,

Well, I'm just going to sit here today until I break through this silly thing I've got going on in my mind. I'm stuck and it's driving me nuts. I know there's a lot of great copy inside of me, but sometimes it's a real struggle to get it out.

"Gee Suzanne, the really good stuff in life usually doesn't come easily, so why do you think it should be any different with writing?"

Do I think I'm just gonna sit down and the words will come spilling out--right on the money--the first time, every time? Sure, sometimes a column comes pouring out of me--I'm so inspired that I can't spit the words out fast enough--and it feels so good when that happens.

"Oh, how I long for that place. Why can't I get there all the time?"

Years ago, I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan two days before Christmas--stuck in a hotel room--because the Cleveland airport I was connecting to was shut down. It was 3 a.m. and when I switched on the PBS channel, comedian Adam Sandler was being interviewed. Sandler, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, was talking about his experiences on stage doing stand-up.

When he first started, some nights went good, and others, well, not so good. But after a not-so-good night, which he admits to still having sometimes, he said that he just reminds himself that he gets to try again tomorrow. It's not the end of the world. And then he said there are those nights when, "I'm in the 'zone' and it feels good." Everything is lined up, his delivery's right on the mark--he knows it, and the audience feels it.

And when I heard him say, "If I could only find that place every night," I jumped out of bed and yelled out loud to the television, "Yes!" Because I know the feeling, and that's exactly where I want to be all the time, too. Why, oh why, can't I get to that place each and every time I write?

Oh well, I know it's in me. I can try again tomorrow.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

Dear Reader Column 06-28-18

Dear Reader,

It's always a week filled with words at the book club. But this week, the words circling around inside my head are personal puzzles. Puzzling word pieces waiting to be assembled into a column. And when I do a final read-through, I realize some things in my life I've worked out and made changes, others, apparently I'm still working on...

The questions I'm afraid to ask, are the ones I need to ask. But what if they say "no"? What if they're upset? I'm afraid to ask because I'm afraid of the answer. Don't want to have to deal with the negativity. "Stir the pot and the soup might not be tasty," as my grandmother used to warn. But is it really easier for me to pretend that everything is okay, when I know in my heart, and the other person knows too, that things are not?

Some folks prefer to ignore that "feeling in the air" figuring that in time, things will work themselves out. And it's true, sometimes that approach works. But for me, when I let things stew in their own juices, in the midst of the stewing process I lose part of myself. When I'm afraid to speak up because I'm worried I might not be able to deal with the outcome, then I'm living in fear. And that's no good. It changes who I am. It steals the joy; sucks it right out of my heart and my life.

The questions I'm afraid to ask are the ones I need to ask. Because as Joe Purdy reminds me in his song, "Good Days"...

"It ain't the dark I'm afraid of, it's the light."

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

Dear Reader Column 06-27-18

Dear Reader,

Kaput, jabberwocky, pugnacious, hunt-and-peck, chink, klutz, degust, and ubiquitous. For me, daily word-watching is akin to sitting on my back porch bird watching through my binoculars.

Ubiquitous. The first time I heard someone use the word, I was an adult in my 50's, in the midst of a phone conversation with one of Pfizer's marketing gurus. I was working on a project with Pfizer and when the man's voice on the other end of the line said, "I want this to be ubiquitous," I was clueless about what he meant. So rather than comment on the sentence he'd just delivered (with a word that was apparently "ubiquitous" to everyone but me), I did a slight little chuckle and tried to steer the conversation in a different direction. I'm usually pretty good at getting the meaning of a word from how it's used in a sentence, but this time I was at a total loss.

I'm a word catcher. I study new words, not to impress anyone, but because it's fun. Just the other day, when I was in the middle of a conversation (the topic providing me with the perfect opportunity to use one of my new words), I was ready and waiting to interject, and that's when my mind went blank. But I was determined. "Could we take a 5-minute break in this conversation? There's a word I read about the other day, and it's really applicable here, but I can't quite remember it...just give me a few minutes?

Degust. Now there's a tricky little word. You think you know what it would mean because it sounds like disgust. But it's a verb that means quite the opposite. Degust: taste (something) carefully to appreciate it fully. But then again, when you think about it, degust could turn into disgust, depending upon what you were tasting. "Dennis didn't drink it, he degusted it." And then after he really savored it, it disgusted him.

See, I told you, it's a tricky little word.

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

* Thanks to all the guest columnists who filled in for me last week while I was on vacation. And thanks to everyone who sent the authors welcoming emails, they really enjoyed hearing from you.

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

Dear Reader Column 06-26-18

Dear Reader,

Rachel Fordham started writing when her children began begging her for stories at night. When she'd pull a book from the shelf, they'd insist she make one up. Finally she paired her love of good stories with her love of writing, and she hasn't stopped since. Rachel lives with her husband and children on an island in the state of Washington. Her new release is The Hope of Azure Springs.

Rachel loves to hear from readers, so please email and welcome her to the book club. Email: [email protected]

Green Gables, Thornfield Hall and Longbourn. All great houses have names. Perhaps not all, but a lot of the greatest houses have gorgeous names. There's just something about a house with a name that is charming, don't you think?

When we moved into our current home we decided that it also needed a name. This new house was a faux Victorian that was full of character. Heavy drapes, a porch with decorative trim and a finial up on top of its steep roof. A house like this needed a fitting name. As a family, we agreed to each think up a name that we thought matched the home and what we wanted to have take place therein. Then we agreed that we would all meet and in true diplomatic fashion vote.

The night of the "naming" came and a few of the choices presented were Big Charlotte, The Fun House and The Fordham House. Anyone considering naming their house might want to learn from my experience and not let young children make suggestions. I'd presented the name Green Haven. We all pled our case. The arguments were persuasive, "I like the name Charlotte" and "it's fun here." When my turn came I stood in front of the table full of little people and my husband and said that it was green and beautiful here but that green also meant young and unbroken. More than anything, I wanted this house to be a safe haven for children. A place where they could run through the woods, ride bikes and then come inside and curl up and read with me.

My audience nodded along as I spoke. Then we voted and everyone voted for their own suggestion. We voted again and this time my generous husband voted for my suggestion. By a narrow lead of one vote our house was dubbed Green Haven. There were a few moans and groans but everyone came around and now over four years later we still refer to our home as Green Haven.

It's a fitting name even if the process of deciding had not been as smooth as we'd hoped. But this home has truly been a place where our children have been safe to play and be little. It's truly been our Green Haven.

The next time you hear of a house with a great name know that the naming of it may not have been as romantic as you imagine it to have been! But, I'm still a believer that great houses ought to have names.

-- Rachel Fordham

email: [email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

Dear Reader Column 06-25-18

Dear Reader,

Long-time friend and author, Marshall Cook, sent an email, inviting me to listen to his upcoming radio show featuring Kory Stamper, the author of Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries. It was the subtitle of Ms. Stamper's book that immediately caught my attention. I was intrigued. A secret life of dictionaries? Hmm, what do dictionaries do when they're not helping us with spellings and definitions? Do they have special superhero powers? Are printed dictionaries picketing, protesting the online versions? And come to think of it, just who assembles the words and definitions in a dictionary? I can't imagine. But in her book Word By Word, lexicographer Kory Stamper, "...cracks open the obsessive world of dictionary writing, from the agonizing decisions about what to define and how to do it to the knotty questions of every-changing word usage."

Marshall Cook is our guest author today and he's going to tell us more about lexicographer Kory Stamper, but I couldn't resist asking Marshall what his favorite word is and does he have a favorite dictionary.

Marshall said, "My favorite word. That changes day by day. 'Lackawanna' is always close at hand (A county and a railroad line in Pennsylvania and the primary reason why we procrastinate), and my current favorite is probably 'Antetokounmpo' (because I can pronounce it--after much practice--and he's a great basketball player).

My Favorite dictionary--book form--my father's old Webster's that he won in a spelling contest in 8th grade in Paterson, New Jersey. For day to day use I go to dictionary.com.--many times a day."

Be sure to say hello to today's guest author Marshall Cook...

Meet Kory Stamper--Word Nerd Extraordinaire

What do you do if you don't know the meaning of a word or how to spell it? You look it up in a dictionary, of course, either on paper or online.

The dictionary (from Greek dict, word) offers our language at our finger tips--correct spelling, pronunciation, part(s) of speech, multiple meanings, in order of most common usage, and even where the word came from originally.

But who decides what a word means, how to say or spell it correctly--or whether a word even belongs in the language at all? The folks who write the dictionaries are called lexicographers, and thanks to one of them, Kory Stamper and her marvelous book, Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, we now have the answer. It's us. We decide. Usage drives acceptance, which makes English a living, evolving entity.

That's how a made up-word like "Hacktivism" ("illegal computer activity done to promote political ends") can earn a place in the dictionary.

"All words are made up," Stamper notes. "They make it into the dictionary through constant use. They spread and endure"--and the language flourishes.

Lexicographers have to track and verify that usage--no easy task. Turns out there are 645 potential meanings of the simple word "run," for example. That's a lot of tracking.

To be a lexicographer, you must be a native speaker of English and have a college degree in any field. That's it. Word sleuths have to be intelligent, well educated generalists

But it also helps to have "Sprachgefühl," a word we stole from German meaning "an intuitive feeling for language." Stamper had that in abundance even as a precocious child who "clawed my way through board books, hoarded catalogs, and decimated the two monthly magazines we subscribed to (National Geographic and Reader's Digest) by reading them over and over until they fell into tatters."

She became, as she says, "a capital-n Nerd."

A delightfully funny word nerd at that, one who leads us into topics like "dialect shaming" and "code switching" and illustrates why lexicographers sometimes get death threats (as happened to Stamper when Merriam-Webster included the term "gay marriage").

If you love words, you'd love Word by Word. You can also check out Stamper at her website, korystamper.wordpress.com and see how we're using--and shaping--our language every day.

--Marshall Cook

I love to hear from all my fellow Dear Readers: [email protected]

About Author Marshall Cook:

I'm up to all kinds of stuff these days: teaching in the Odyssey Project, writing for and editing my newsletter, Extra Innings, writing and scripting a twice monthly radio show called Writer's and Their Words. Click on the links below for more information.

www.Odyssey.wisc.edu
www.continuingstudies.wisc.edu/writing/extra-innings
www.sunprairiemediacenter.com

And I've got a new novel coming out next month. It's called Glorious, the name of a west central town in Wisconsin I made up and that gets rocked when a first year high school student named Norah decides to try out for the men's baseball team--as narrated (mostly) by "the Voice of Glorious," Kenny Koffee, on WCOW, the mighty six-ninety.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

Dear Reader Column 06-22-18

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,

Deborah Reber, today's guest author, is a New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and the founder of TiLT Parenting, a website, podcast, and global online community for parents raising differently wired children. Her TiLT Parenting Podcast--on which she interviews high-profile thought leaders in parenting and education--has grown to be a top podcast in iTunes' Kids and Family category, with more than 350,000 downloads. Her newest book is Differently Wired: Raising an Exceptional Child in a Conventional World. She hopes it sparks a revolution that will change the way neurologically atypical children experience the world.

Prior to launching TiLT, Debbie spent fifteen years writing inspiring books for teen girls, including her most recent, Doable: The Girls' Guide to Accomplishing Just About Anything. In 2013, she moved to Amsterdam, where she lives with her husband, Derin, and homeschools her 13-year-old son, Asher.

Three copies of Differently Wired: Raising an Exceptional Child in a Conventional World are waiting to be sent to readers. Enter the drawing right now. Email: [email protected]

Welcome to the book club Deborah...

I've always considered myself to be a lifelong learner. Yet, when we moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2013, I had zero intention of learning Dutch. For starters, we didn't plan to stay more than a few years, so it didn't seem worth the effort to tackle a language with so many vowels, five-syllable words, and a difficult-to-recreate guttural "g" sound. And in a city where fifty-one percent of the residents are expats--more than 170 nationalities are represented here--English is the common denominator that keeps everything flowing. Truth be told, it's easy enough to get by without learning a single word of Nederlands.

But once we realized we'd be staying longer than we'd anticipated, I decided I wasn't okay with not learning Dutch. Not only did it feel disrespectful to expect the natives to speak my language just so I could order food or make a haircut appointment, but I was suddenly sparked by the idea of becoming fluent in a new language as an adult. In fact, mastering Dutch in my mid-forties felt like mission impossible. Which is probably why I made it my new goal.

I dove into several language apps and made slow and steady (and slow) progress. (Did I mention it was slow?). Twelve months later, I challenged myself to only speak Dutch anytime I was out "in the world"--at the grocery store, in a cafe, at the bike shop; a decision which led to many apologies and embarrassments. A year later, I hired a Dutch tutor and my learning took on a new trajectory, one in which split and reflexive verbs (schiedbare en reflexieven werkwoorden) would nearly push me over the edge, followed by small, and satisfying, breakthroughs. Overall, learning Dutch has been a very two steps forward, one step back kind of thing.

Today, I'm five years in. And truth be told? I thought I'd be fluent by now. But I'm not. In fact, learning Dutch has been harder than I ever could have imagined. My usual learning strategies haven't worked. And my breakthroughs have come out of a willingness to fail, over and over. Which is why learning Dutch has also become the perfect accompaniment to the other biggest challenge of my life--parenting and homeschooling a differently wired child.

Ultimately, they both require letting go of control. Trusting in the process. And getting used to being uncomfortable. Which is somehow perfect. Because that's the kind of learning I'll hold onto, long after we've packed up our bags and said Tot Ziens to the Netherlands.

--Deborah Reber

Email Deborah at [email protected] for a chance to win a copy of Differently Wired: Raising an Exceptional Child in a Conventional World.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

KIDS BUZZ: Two books: SUMMER SUPPER by Rubin Pfeffer, a bold and graphic farm-to-table story, told entirely in words beginning with the letter "s" for kids ages 3-7; and Barbara Dee's EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT YOU, a novel for ages 9-13 about a timely, important topic told in an entertaining kid-friendly way. For a chance to win a free copy and learn more, see http://www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz.

Dear Reader Column 06-21-18

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,

Shawn Smucker, today's guest author, introduces readers to the enchanting world of twelve-year-old Samuel Chambers in his debut novel, The Day the Angels Fell. After his mother's tragic death, Sam and his friend Abra Miller begain a mysterious and dangerous quest to find the Tree of Life--the only thing that could possibly bring his mother back.

The Edge of Over There, Shawn's new release, is the spectacular the sequel to The Day the Angels Fell. Abra's life was dramatically changed by the events surrounding her and Sam's hunt for the Tree of Life. Now, four years later, Abra is still searching for signs of that other world and the next manifestation of the Tree.

Shawn Smucker lives in Lancaster, PA, with his wife Maile and their six children.

Shawn's publisher, Revell, is giving away five copies of The Edge of Over There, to enter the drawing send an email to [email protected]. Please include your preferred shipping address, in case you're a winner.

You can contact Shawn at his Facebook page.

It was the middle of the night in the city, but the street lights were bright, and a relaxed Friday night crowd meandered through the warm, autumn air. I was driving for Uber again, trying to make enough to pay some bills in between writing contracts. Whenever I had a gap in fares, I pulled my laptop out from under my driver's seat and typed out a few more sentences to my work in progress, The Edge of Over There.

Soon, another call. I drove south through the center of the city, out to where the street lights weren't so bright. The streets in that part of the city are pitted and pockmarked. I pulled up and stopped at the corner of an alley, peering through the shadows, waiting for the customer to emerge.

I unlocked the door and she crawled inside, quiet and brooding. In the rearview mirror, the dim light of her phone gathered and shone on a few lip piercings, a few eyebrow piercings. She had gauges in her ears, at least half-inch holes. Her hair was maroon, and her eyes were heavy, dark.

When she spoke, she had a kind voice, and I realize she was young, maybe early 20s. I confirmed where she wanted to go, and we started off for the other side of the city, stopping at crosswalks to let the crowds of college students pass. We were still a few minutes away from her destination when a Chris Stapleton song came on: Tennessee Whiskey.

In it, he croons about his woman, how she kept him from hitting bottom, how her love is better than any of his old drinks of choice.

"Can you turn it up?" the girl asks, and she starts singing right along with Chris Stapleton, her voice matching his in soul and force. She belted it out, and I got goosebumps, just listening. Her voice was amazing.

The street lights flashed in a strobe through the sunroof and she sang like I wasn't even there. We pulled up to her destination, and the song still hadn't ended. She finishing singing the chorus, took a deep breath, and gave out a kind of embarrassed laugh. "Well," she said, "in case you didn't guess, that song is my jam." I laughed, still in shock at the soaring sound of her voice. She smiled again, and she got out, and the only thing I could think was, I wish she would have finished singing that song.

--Shawn Smucker

You can post comments for Shawn at his Facebook page.

Enter the drawing to win a copy of The Edge of Over There, send an email to [email protected]. Please include your preferred shipping address, in case you're a winner.

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)
RAINY DAY FRIENDS by Jill Shalvis

(Fiction)
THE MYTH OF PERPETUAL SUMMER by Susan Crandall

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

Dear Reader Column 6-20-18

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,

First time novelist Jeremy Finley, is today's guest author, and also the chief investigative reporter for WSMV-TV/Nashville. His work has resulted in criminal convictions, hearings before the U.S. Congress, the payout of more than one million dollars to scam victims, and the discovery of missing girls. The Darkest Time of Night is Jeremy's first novel.

Authors really do love to hear from readers. Email Jeremy Finley at: [email protected]

When you say "Hello," you'll also be entered to win one of two copies of Jeremy's novel, The Darkest Time of Night.

Welcome to the book club, Jeremy Finley...

Grandma killed it with her high heel.

I have a vague memory of it happening, my little feet dangling off the disc swing in her backyard. The snake must have been near to me, or perhaps my cousins or brother.

Grandma didn't hesitate, impaling the thing with her shoe, lifting it from the grass and discarding it as if she'd pulled a bindweed off a hydrangea.

I don't remember Grandma saying anything, but I imagine, beneath her thoroughly hairsprayed helmet of hair, her brilliant mind flashing to the slithering creature: 'Do not approach my grandchildren.'

Then there was my Mimi, a gentile, small woman, who used to give me vitamins as I, her anxiety-prone grandson, prepared to start a new school. My brother and I had moved into her home temporarily, after my father lost his job.

"Take your worry pills," I recall her saying. "One pill, and your worries are gone."

The examples kept coming as I aged: my wife's grandmother doing a cartwheel in her late eighties. My late father using the last of his waning energy to push my youngest daughter in a swing in his final days of hospice care. My mother blanketing her granddaughter's beds with hand-made quilts for every single holiday. My father-in-law boogie boarding in the surf with his grandchildren.

It's obvious why writers make parents the heroes of our work. Where would Scout be without Atticus Finch?

But then there is the ancient Mrs. Hempstock from Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane, fighting monstrous creatures. And Johnny Dixon's grandparents, and his eccentric friend Professor Childermass, who led the boy through the frightening and thrilling adventures in John Bellairs' The Curse of the Blue Figurine.

There's something especially story worthy about the relationships between grandparents and grandchildren. While they are not bound to raise them (although that is certainly happening more and more), the fierce attention they provide to children, and the lessons they teach, is ripe for re-telling.

It would have been an easy choice to make the hero of my upcoming thriller, where a seven-year-old boy suddenly disappears, one of his parents. Maybe a dogged detective or a relentless reporter.

Instead, it is the boy's grandmother who at first watches as the FBI and the media struggle to solve the disappearance. Even when she is relegated to the role of simply keeping her unraveling family together, she realizes she alone holds the key to finding him.

Quietly, without fanfare or attention, she risks everything.

--Jeremy Finley

Authors love to hear from readers. Email Jeremy Finley at: [email protected]

Say "Hello," you'll also be entered in a drawing for a copy of The Darkest Time of Night.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

KIDS BUZZ: Two books: SUMMER SUPPER by Rubin Pfeffer, a bold and graphic farm-to-table story, told entirely in words beginning with the letter "s" for kids ages 3-7; and Barbara Dee's EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT YOU, a novel for ages 9-13 about a timely, important topic told in an entertaining kid-friendly way. For a chance to win a free copy and learn more, see KIDSBUZZ.

Dear Reader Column 06-19-18

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,

Stephanie Butland, today's guest author, writes in a studio at the bottom of her garden, and when she's not writing, she trains people to think more creatively. For fun, she reads, knits, sews, bakes, and spins.

Her first two books were about her dance with cancer, then she turned to fiction, with three novels set in small English towns. Stephanie lives with her family near the sea in the northeast of England. Her latest book is The Lost for Words Bookshop, and she has two copies to give away to readers. To enter, send an email to: [email protected]

You can follow and contact Stephanie via Facebook

Please welcome author Stephanie Butland...

BESIDE THE SEASIDE

I live near the coast in the northeast of England, and I love the sea. Of course I do! I always thought everyone did--who wouldn't?--until I walked on a beach with a friend from Kansas City. 'Nope, never liked the ocean,' he said, 'maybe it's because I grew up such a long way from it.'

Well, I am a sea-devotee. But don't go getting ideas about beach umbrellas and surfing in your Speedos. My special stretch of coastline is called Druridge Bay, and it is where the North Sea meets the UK; it regularly plays host to winds that last touched land mass in Norway.

My beach is a beach for walking, in wellington boots or good strong shoes, with your hat pulled down over your ears and your coat zipped up to your chin. (In July, August and September, go barefoot in the pleasantly chilly sand, but you probably still want to have a cardigan with you.) It's a good place for going arm-in-arm with someone you know well, in cheerful silence, because the wind may whip your words away. Paddle in the sea by all means, but be prepared to lose all feeling from the ankle down within a minute or two.

My beach is a quiet beach. I often walk there with my Dad and his unruly Springer Spaniel, Harvey; if we see six other people in an hour we will complain about how busy it is. When I'm stuck on a book, or wrangling with a what-next, a walk on the beach on my own will get ideas flowing again. On a windswept beach you can talk to yourself, argue with yourself, be mad with the world or embrace it. The beach understands. The beach knows. All thoughts are valid, at the beach.

I love that I could walk on the beach every day but it would never be the same. Some days the sky is a uniform wedgewood-blue, others it's a furious oil painting of blacks and greys and thundering khaki. Sometimes the tide-line is shells and seacoal scribbled along the shore, others there's nothing but sand in shivering patterns made by the water as it withdrew.

But most of all, I love that the beach makes me feel small, insignificant, and that in the scheme of things, whatever I am worrying about or hoping for is really not that big a deal. All is well, my heart says. You live near the coast, after all.

--Stephanie Butland

Two copies of The Lost for Words Bookshop, are in envelopes, waiting to be sent to readers. Enter the drawing, email:
[email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

** AUTHORBUZZ **

THE MYTH OF PERPETUAL SUMMER (Fiction) by Susan Crandall

Return to the tumultuous 1960's Mississippi; stomping grounds of award-winning bestseller, Whistling Past the Graveyard. Tallulah James parent's tumultuous relationship and their hands-off parenting set tongues to wagging in their staid Southern town. When tragedy and betrayal arrive hand in hand, Tallulah's life is sent on a path she never imagined.

Go to: AUTHORBUZZ click on THE MYTH OF PERPETUAL SUMMER to read more and to email author Susan Crandall, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 06-18-18

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,

Life happens in the slow lane.

Out the door and in a hurry, I must have walked right by it for the past ten, maybe even 14 days. How could I have not noticed? There is was, hanging down tightly from the porch railing, a silky chrysalis, torn open on one side, where one of the miracles of life had taken place. A transformation--a caterpillar became a beautiful Monarch butterfly. But I've been moving too fast and never even noticed the chrysalis until today. It's barren now, yet still beautiful.

It's not unusual for 20 Monarch butterflies to be fluttering through the air, circling above my flower gardens, eventually landing on the leaf of a milkweed plant to lay some eggs to begin the cycle again. Monarch butterflies fly right up to my nose as I'm walking through the gardens. I'm sure it's their way of saying hello, and thanking me for all of the milkweed I plant in my garden.

Life happens in the slow lane.

So I'm determined to live in the slow lane this week while I'm on vacation. Instead of a destination, I'll be watching the butterflies and birds in my own backyard.

Yes, life does happens in the slow lane, and that's right where I'll be this week. I'm so excited.

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

P. S. I've arranged for guest authors to write my daily column, while I'm on vacation. Authors love to hear from readers, so don't be shy about emailing them and saying hello. They'll be giving away books, too.

** AUTHORBUZZ **

RAINY DAY FRIENDS (Fiction) by Jill Shalvis

I hope you enjoy this heartwarming story of starting over. What do you do when the life you had turns out to be a lie. Lanie Jacobs is doing just that and discovering that starting over can be better than anything she never allowed herself to dream of.

Go to: AUTHORBUZZ click on RAINY DAY FRIENDS to read more and to email author Jill Shalvis, you'll get a reply.