Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column - November 22, 2022

Dear Reader,

A Christmas Deliverance is New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry's twentieth heart-warming Christmas mystery: The festive season is fast approaching, and Dr Crowe and his young apprentice Scuff are busy, as always, tending London's sick and wounded. This year, however, Crowe is increasingly distracted by memories of a former patient, Eliza Hollister, for whom he cared deeply.

I’m pleased to welcome Anne Perry as today’s guest author. She is the bestselling author of nineteen previous holiday novels, as well as the William Monk series, the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series, the Daniel Pitt series, and the Elena Standish series. She has also written five World War I novels and a work of historical fiction, The Sheen on the Silk. Anne Perry lives in Los Angeles.

For more from Anne Perry, follow her on Facebook at @AnnePerryAuthor.  Or say “Hello”. Contact her at askanneperry@aol.com

Like almost everyone else, I stayed home during most of COVID. It was little hardship for me because I work at home. Groceries and everything important were delivered to my door. I kept in touch with friends and family by email and telephone.

What I did not realize was what a hermit I had become. Last year, I had made a commitment to travel to a 2022 writers’ conference when I thought this would all be over. And as I had given my word, I had no honorable choice but to go. When the departure day finally arrived, I realized that I had become afraid of being in public. Crowds, Airports. Queues a mile long. Delays. Missing connecting flights. I’ve been in that situation before. I also knew what it meant to be the last one standing in an airport in the middle of the night. As they say: been there, done that. Aching with tension, pulling my one small case, I set out. I was quickly reminded that I have a sore back. Probably from sitting in one position too long. And not enough walking. Envisioning long queues of people waiting to check in, I had asked for a wheelchair, which was provided at every stop. I was treated with care and courtesy. No waiting, no getting lost.

Everything went well, nothing was more than a few minutes late. There was a connection where the second gate was a quarter of a mile away from the first, but I whizzed along in the chair. When I arrived at the other end of my journey, I found a taxi immediately. A most interesting driver, and we had a terrific conversation about all sorts of things.

There were roughly four hundred people at the writers’ conference, mostly from the United States and Canada, and a few from scattered places. I met old friends, and made new ones. We were given very smart black masks in our welcome kit, and wore them everywhere except the dining room, or if we were the lecturer or on a panel. And all the time I was there, I never heard a single complaint or unkind word about the masks, or anything else.

After the years alone, most of us were happy to meet again.

Some familiar faces were deeply missed, but that is inevitable.

What I particularly enjoyed was breaking the imaginary bars that had been imprisoning me.

What else have I missed because it involved stepping into the unknown? I promised myself not to let that happen again. It is up to me!

-- Anne Perry

Follow her on Anne on Facebook at @AnnePerryAuthor. Or contact her at askanneperry@aol.com

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

* This month's Penguin Classics is Metamorphosis by Ovid, a sensuous and witty poem in an accessible translation by David Raeburn. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.

Dear Reader Column - November 14, 2022

Dear Reader,     

You're in for a treat. This week you'll be able to read the First, Second and Third place winning entries in the 2022 Write a DearReader Contest. The quality of the entries this year was amazing--I'm sincere about that. It was very difficult to choose winners, so again this year I'll be featuring a number of Honorable Mentions with you, too.

1st place, Deanna White

2nd place, Victoria Stuppy

3rd place, Alice Sarnowski

An interesting observation about this year's contest, two of this year's winners were awarded Honorable Mention for their entries last year.

2022 Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

Carole Knoles

Karen Schoch

Betty C. Eng

Laura Heyer

Robin Ball

Brandi D'Angelo

Cosina Dorothy Bardot

Deanna Hahn

Mary Nunn

Fatima Villa

Jacqueline Pinn

Lee Rothberg

Teresa Fronek

Deanna White

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

VICTOR'S BLESSING (FICTION) by Barbara Sontheimer

Victor's Blessing is a story of a half Osage blacksmith who's life is filled with blessings. Although impoverished, through his wit and intellect makes a fortune for himself, and all his dreams come true when he marries the shy, Celena. But blessings like life can be fleeting and when the Civil War erupts Victor will have to make hard choices. And keeping one promise means breaking another until he is forced to bestow an agonizing blessing of his own.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on VICTOR'S BLESSING to read more and to email author Barbara Sontheimer, you'll get a reply.

 

* This month's Penguin Classics is Metamorphosis by Ovid, a sensuous and witty poem in an accessible translation by David Raeburn. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.

Dear Reader Column - November 11, 2022

Dear Reader,

Frequently people tell me I "overthink" things. And by most people's standards I probably do. I admit I think about things most people never even bother with, but my overthinking is actually one of the traits I admire and appreciate about myself. Perhaps if I weren't analyzing situations, and thinking about what people say and do, I might not have anything to write about every day. Having said that, even I admit lately my thinking about everything has been driving me a little nuts. But that's okay; I've been here before. This isn't the first time my thinking has gotten a little out of balance and I've always found a cure.

Good or bad, I always think about situations or meetings after they're over. Step-by-step I replay what happened, mulling over the actions and reactions people had. Sometimes when I'm replaying a situation out loud for myself, if someone hears what I'm doing, they'll tell me to just forget it--to let it go. I know they react that way because they think I'm retracing my steps looking for something that I did wrong, but that's not true. I'm not searching for words misspoken or missed opportunities, I'm reexamining things because now that the pressure's off, I can slowly wander through the meeting picking up the little things. I've found those seemingly little things are sometimes the secret to why a meeting turned out the way it did. And the little things can "let me in" on how someone really feels.

What's the cure? Well, you know me, I'm still thinking about it.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

* This month's Penguin Classics is Metamorphosis by Ovid, a sensuous and witty poem in an accessible translation by David Raeburn. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.

Dear Reader Column - November 10, 2022

Dear Reader, 

I received a text “SOS" from a friend the other day. It read: 

I'm home and on the phone--call me and interrupt--please!!!

My friend and I had been trying to hook up on the phone for a couple of days, but it wasn't for any urgent matter, so I couldn't imagine why she would be texting me this message of distress. I felt kind of funny calling her and interrupting her in the middle of her conversation with someone else, but  one thing I learned in school was how to follow directions (at least when the spirit moved me), so I immediately dialed her number.

I heard relief and delight in my friend’s voice when she took my call. "Thank you for rescuing me," she said. "I was talking to my mother-in-law, whom I love dearly, but if I try to end a phone

conversation by telling her that I have to go, she's offended. But if I tell her I hear another call coming in (yes I know I could pretend, but I feel less guilty if there’s actually a call), she’s satisfied and she willingly says good-bye. Thank you, thank you, Suzanne.”

Hey, that's what friends are for.

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

* I’ll be baking for these three November Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway winners: Anna B., Sherri E. and Nina M. Get ready to dunk and much.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

* This month's Penguin Classics is Metamorphosis by Ovid, a sensuous and witty poem in an accessible translation by David Raeburn. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.

Dear Reader Column - November 9, 2022

Dear Reader,
Fran Hawthorne has been writing novels since she was four years old, although she was sidetracked for several decades by journalism. During that award-winning career, she wrote eight nonfiction books, mainly about consumer activism, the drug industry, and the financial world, and has also been an editor or regular contributor for The New York Times, Business Week, Fortune, and many other publications. But Fran never  abandoned her true love: Her debut novel The Heirs was published in 2018, and now her second novel, I Meant to Tell You, is being released next week. From her home in Brooklyn NY, she's at work on her next novel and also writes book reviews for the New York Journal of Books.

When Miranda Isaacs agrees to help her friend Ronit, in the midst of a messy divorce, take her young daughter to see her grandparents in Israel, she doesn't realize they're breaking the law. Seven years later, the repercussions of their arrest at Dulles Airport will threaten Miranda's engagement and her fiancé's job, and unravel three families' long-held secrets, stretching back to 1960s-era Vietnam War protests.

Be sure to read below how you can enter Fran's giveaway of five copies of her new novel, I Meant to Tell You. 

WHAT MY HAIR TAUGHT ME

Growing up in surfer California, where beauty was defined as straight blonde hair, I hated, hated, hated my thick brunette mess of frizz and curls.

I once burned my cheek while trying to iron my hair straight. I spent hours sitting under a portable dryer with my hair in huge rollers, then sleeping with it wrapped tightly around my head. I avoided the Pacific Ocean and swimming pools as if they were earthquake fault lines.

Even after I moved to the East Coast and curly (though not frizzy) hair became fashionable, it was too late. My trauma had been set.

Then I was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer. I would need to undergo chemotherapy, and all my hair would fall out.

I wish I could report that this prospect made me immediately appreciate the hair I was born with, but, sorry, no. I simply dreamed that my reward for all my suffering would be that my hair would grow back straight. 

Meanwhile, I wasn't brave enough to stride through life starkly bald, so I bought scarves, hats, and a wig to cover up my head. Of course, all the available wigs had straight hair or perhaps a cascade of perfectly sculpted curls. The world was confirming that no one would choose a frizz-curl combo if they weren't born with it.

Still, with my wig, I temporarily managed to fulfill my lifelong dream: I had straight (albeit fake) hair.

In fact, at my son's eleventh birthday party that summer, the mother of one of his friends complimented me on my new hairstyle. (Um, what had she thought of my hair before this?)

Slowly, after the chemo ended, my hair began to return. I was thrilled: It was straight!

Sure, it was, because it was too short--at maybe one-quarter of an inch--to curl.

As the hair grew in further, however, so did the realization: It was still frizzy-curly. Moreover, now it was grey.

My hair, unlike me, had accepted itself for what it was.

Now, at Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for many things. My health, certainly. My family, friends, two published novels, hobbies. And, finally, my beautiful hair.

 Thanks for reading this post. If you'd like to share your thoughts about hair, books, or anything--or enter the giveaway for one of five copies of my newest novel, I Meant to Tell You, please email me at: franhawthornewriter@gmail.com (If you're entering the giveaway, include your mailing address)

-- Fran Hawthorne

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

 

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

KIDSBUZZ: THE LAST HUNTRESS by Lenore Borja

For teens who like magic, fantasy and the TV shows Buffy the Vampire and Charmed, be sure to check out Lenore Borja's YA novel The Last Huntress. For a chance to win free copies, talk with the author, and more, see www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz.

 

 

 

 

* This month's Penguin Classics is Metamorphosis by Ovid, a sensuous and witty poem in an accessible translation by David Raeburn. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.

Dear Reader Column - November 1, 2022

Dear Reader,

Jaime Jo Wright is the author of eight novels, including Christy Award winner The House on Foster Hill and Carol Award winner The Reckoning at Gossamer Pond. She's also the Publishers Weekly  and ECPA bestselling author of two novellas, and she is today’s guest author. 

Premonition at Withers Farm, is Jamie’s new book: Molly Wasziak's life has not gone the way she dreamed. Facing depression after several miscarriages, Molly is adapting to her husband's purchase of a peculiar old farm. A search for a family tree pulls Molly deep into a century-old murder case and a web of deception, all made more mysterious by the disturbing shadows and sounds inside the farmhouse.

Jaime lives in Wisconsin with her cat named Foo; her husband, Cap'n Hook; and their littles, Peter Pan and CoCo. To learn more, visit www.jaimewrightbooks.com.

Say “Hello”. Authors always love hearing from readers. You can reach Jamie at: jaimejowright@gmail.com

Give Me the Creeps or Give Me Sleeps

I adore reading into the wee hours of the morning, when the lights are out, the wind is blowing eerily and making tree branches scrape my windows. I love being a bit terrified to swing my feet over the edge of my bed. When my cat sits and perks up and stares off into the empty corners of the bedroom--even better! I am, perhaps, on the lower end of the demographics that make up readers who 'want' to be creeped out after dark.

Murders, ghosts, espionage, secrets, hauntings, night terrors, they're horrible subjects to many, but to this reader--and author--they are 'delicious.' I use that word often to describe a book I love, and my children think I officially eat books in my bedroom for snacks. I don't. But I could. My imagination for certain consumes them. Every last word of them.

When things go bump in the night when I'm reading a novel, it transports me into the suspense right along with well-written words and authors who have imagined stories that make me believe they actually are happening as I read them.

Choosing that creepy nighttime read is an artform. At least, I believe it is. Nighttime creeps must be delivered with finesse and expertise if you're going to keep me awake until 3AM. I need a psychological roller coaster of mental thrills that aren't necessarily action scenes with exploding bombs. A whisper over my shoulder, a fingernail I cannot see scraping across my cheek, or a well-woven puzzle with fear intertwined with every hiss and breath from a story-stalker...mmmm, now 'that' will make turning the next page a necessary goodness.

In conclusion, there are many good books--even fabulous ones--that keep me reading. But the ones that make turning out the nighttime lamp a definite not-gonna-happen are the stories that slither their way into my psyche, twist around and give me the creeps.

My bedtime motto is quite simple: "give me the creeps or give me the sleeps".

It takes a lot to make me give up those nighttime 'zzzzz''s, but thrill me? I will turn my back on the sleeps with no regrets!

-- Jaime Jo Wright

Jamie would love to hear from you, drop her a note, jaimejowright@gmail.com

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column - October 25, 2022

Dear Reader,

Ann Claire is today’s guest author. What a pleasure to have her visit our book club. Ann earned degrees in geography, which took her across the world. Now she lives with her geographer husband in Colorado, where the mountains beckon from their kitchen windows. When she's not writing, you can find her hiking, gardening, herding housecats, and enjoying a good mystery, especially one by Agatha Christie. 

In Ann’s new book, Dead and Gondola, a mysterious bookshop visitor dies under murderous circumstances, compelling the Christie sisters and their cat, Agatha, to call on all they've learned about solving mysteries from their favorite novelist. 

You can reach Ann at annclairemysteries@gmail.com

Enter to win one of five copies of Dead and Gondola: click here.

Tomato Tales

In summer 2021, I was one of those gardeners. The type overly smug about her tomatoes.

I grew heirlooms from seed. See? I'm still boasting. The seeds came with backstories worthy of classic literature. I fell for those stories as much as the promises of taste, size, and days to maturity.

Discovery is big in tomato tales. Tomato collectors trek to distant lands to bring back rare gems. Most of us will never see these places--the high Andes, Siberia, a hidden garden behind a French chateau--but we can taste their tomatoes.

Good fortune appears too. Picture a tomato scientist nearing the end of a humdrum career. Then, a surprise arrives, a letter containing seeds saved by a family for generations. The resulting tomatoes are the most exquisite the scientist has ever tasted, and he gets to put his name on them. Here, the mystery writer in me imagines untold sagas of family drama and tomato treachery. Those don't make seed catalogs. They're all about success.

Like my 2021 tomato harvest!

This year, I was out of town during prime planting weeks. That's my excuse, but it doesn't explain my utter failure. My neighbor runs a garden shop and held plants for me. One appeared stunted, a French heirloom named Jaune Flammée, the Yellow Flame. My neighbor was reluctant to send Jaune home with me. He proposed to toss her out.

Poor Jaune! I had space, I assured him. We'd share the bounty from the other varieties.

Maybe it was overconfidence. I come from a family of rural pessimists and should know better. Perhaps it was hubris. I imagined impressing my gardening-pro neighbor with tomato excess.

As I write this, the growing season is almost over in Colorado. The nights are cold. The remaining tomatoes are green nubs. Last week, I texted my neighbor with a seemingly casual Want some tomatoes? I carried over all I could gather, a scant pint of Jaune Flammée. The weakling was the only plant that produced.

Jaune was as promised, exceptional in flavor and beauty (tomato literature puts a lot of pressure on looks). My neighbor gifted me honey from a backyard beekeeper. In fiction and real life, this constitutes a sweet ending--a good neighbor and an underdog prevailing.

The garden will rest over the winter. I, however, am already plotting. What varieties will I choose? How will I do better? Fellow gardeners, it's never too early to plan, right? After all, half the fun is the dreaming and all those good stories.

-- Ann Claire

annclairemysteries@gmail.com

Here is my cat Lill, inspecting my 2022 tomato harvest. She’s also the model for Agatha, the bookshop cat in Dead and Gondola.

Enter to win one of five copies of Dead and Gondola: click here.

 

 

 

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column - October 18, 2022

Dear Reader,

Katie Powner, today’s guest author, lives in rural Montana, where cows still outnumber people. She loves candy and red shoes (especially her Converse All-Stars) and is a mom to the third power: biological, adoptive, and foster. Katie writes contemporary fiction about redemption, relationships, and finding the dirt road home. Her books include The Sowing Season, A Flicker of Light, and her latest title, Where the Blue Sky Begins. Learn more at katiepowner.com.

Katie is giving away five copies of her new book, Where the Blue Sky Begins. Be sure to enter her giveaway in her column.

Welcome Katie, thanks for visiting the book club…

Have you ever misjudged someone?

At the large high school I attended back in the day, Erica was straightlaced and shy. She wore khakis and cardigans and was destined to be an attorney or accountant. I was gregarious and weird. I wore my grandmother's 60s-era polyester suits and played in the band.

We'd never directly spoken to each other. I thought she was prudish and boring. She thought I was stuck-up and annoying. The only thing we had in common was that we were at the top of our class, which is how we ended up at an event together as class representatives our junior year.

We managed to perform our duties at the event while still not really speaking to each other, until the event was almost over. A group of seniors were nearby making plans for the evening, and apparently Erica was listening to them because she muttered, "Ugh. Who would ever want to go to a keg party?"

Well. This got my attention immediately, because I thought she said, "cake party."

"Who wouldn't want to go to a cake party?" I asked, because CAKE. 

She blinked at me, and I blinked at her, and by the time we'd straightened out the mistake and shared our love of all things related to baked goods, we had determined to host the first of what would turn out to be many cake parties.

The cake parties would include a competition, we decided. For the first one, we created a ladybug cake. Other entries from our friends included a cake made to look like a turkey sandwich and a spice cake with tootsie rolls in it that was meant to resemble a used litter box.

Prizes were awarded for various categories, such as Best Tasting and Best Presentation, and we had a blast.

Erica and I began to spend a lot of time together after that and developed a meaningful friendship. When most of my other friends abandoned me senior year for late night vandalism and methamphetamines, I was very thankful to have Erica by my side. I only wished we would've become friends sooner.

Have you ever been so sure you knew what someone was like and then found out you were wrong? Did you ever get a second chance with them? Tell me about it at author@katiepowner.com for a chance to win one of five copies of my new book Where the Blue Sky Begins, or you can enter just by emailing me to say hello. I look forward to hearing from you!

-- Katie Powner

author@katiepowner.com

 

 

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

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

KIDSBUZZ: Two books for the math-loving kids out there (or kids who you'd like to encourage to be math lovers!): SHOW AND TELL! Great Graphs and Smart Charts: An Introduction to Infographics by Stuart J. Murphy helps kids better understand the world of data and statistics in a completely compelling way; and THE DREGG DISASTER: An Algebra I Gamebook (Choose Your Own Adventure) by Chris Matthews featuring dozens of puzzles and choices as kids ages 11 and up sharpen their algebra and math skills. For a chance to win free copies, talk with the authors, and more, see www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz.

Dear Reader Column - October 11, 2022

Dear Reader,

Midnight tonight is the revised deadline for this year's Write a DearReader Contest. I've been enjoying reading entries and I can still read yours, but you must email it today. You'll find all the contest info, including last year's winning entries at: http://www.dearreader.com/contest2022/index.html

Today’s guest author is Patrick House. His book Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness is a concise, elegant, and thought-provoking exploration of the mystery of consciousness and the functioning of the brain. 

Patrick is a neuroscientist and writer. His scientific research focuses on the neuroscience of free will and how mind-control parasites alter their host's behavior. He writes about science, technology and culture for The New Yorker.com and "Slate." Patrick has a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Stanford University.

Say “Hello” to our guest author. Email: housepk@proton.me

The Ideal(-ist) Reader

In 1951, Vladimir Nabokov, in response to The New Yorker's rejection of his short story, The Vane Sisters, wrote that the magazine "ha[d] not understood" the story; in part, because he had hidden an acrostic in the final paragraph which, in combination with a clue from the beginning of the story, resolved a plot riddle:

...the last paragraph which, if read straight, should convey that vague and sunny rebuke, but which for a more attentive reader contains the additional delight of a solved acrostic; I C-ould I-solate, C-onsciously, L-ittle. E-verything S-eemed B-lurred, Y-ellow- C-louded, Y-ielding N-othing T-angible...

Why did Nabokov feel the acrostic would be so obvious to the reader? Why did the editor not see it? Perhaps, of note, Nabokov was grapheme-color synesthetic, meaning that certain letters of any written text appear reliably colored. (Much of his family shared the condition, though the colors varied: the letter M, for example, appeared pink to Vladimir, blue to his wife, Vera, and "purple, or perhaps mauve" to Dmitri, their son.) This raises the tantalizing possibility that Nabokov's disagreement with The New Yorker was not centered on artistic differences in style or prose but on unknown differences in perception itself. What was perhaps an obvious puzzle to him--because, say, certain letters popped out as variegated or colored--might not have been at all obvious to his editor.

This isn't, per se, new; critics and observers have been in phenomenological border disputes for as long as pens have been furiously inked. Over a century ago, in a letter to The Egoist, Dorothy Richardson wrote in objection to the magazine's use of the phrase "stream of consciousness" to describe her novel that consciousness in fact "sits stiller than a tree". Isaac Asimov, who was accused by a critic of being "talky", once said he has no idea what his daughter looks like when she's not in front of him and that he is not highly visual: "I never see anything that I write, I only hear it. Conversations, all that I'm aware of. That's why my books are so ‘talky'". Perhaps--it seems likely, in fact--Asimov had aphantasia, or the near-total absence of inner, visual imagery. Would his books be less "talky" if he was not aphantasic? Would he still be Isaac Asimov? Perhaps the historical sweep of his Foundation series required a lack of visual distractions in both its creation and description?

Idealism is the philosophical position that all things occur exclusively because of the mind's grasp of it; that our respective inner worlds are all that there is. But how is an author or critic to account for such philosophy if it implies that, because of the perceptual differences across people, there are also great differences in imagination and effect of the same words across each of one's readers? Why do some children put books down after a few pages while others carry the same paperback around as if it's a sacred talisman? Is it possible that people attach to or prefer prose stylings of those who see the world more similarly to themselves and whose works evoke in their mind's eye or ear a closer version to the original authorial intention?

-- Patrick House

Email Patrick at: housepk@proton.me

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

Dear Reader Column - October 10, 2022

Dear Reader, 

Tomorrow, October 11th, is the last day to submit your entry for this year's Write a DearReader Contest. You'll find all the contest info, including last year's winning entries at: http://www.dearreader.com/contest2022/index.html

When I was a teenager I washed dishes in a supper club and I liked my job a lot. It was very rewarding because at the end of the night I could see that I had accomplished something.

The tubs of dirty dishes that had been advancing on me, infiltrating the counters and the floor around me at the beginning of the night, were now stacked on the other side of the automatic dishwasher, all sparkling clean.

Most of the things that I do at my job now are abstract--phone conversations, implementing ideas, working on new concepts and troubleshooting problems. I also read books and I write the daily "Dear Reader" and yes, those are things that I can tally up and visually see, but there are a lot of days when most of my time is spent talking on the phone, and I feel a little unrewarded at the end of the day. 'How can I possibly feel exhausted? After all, all I did was talk on the phone today?' Rationally, I know that conversations are "work", and they take a lot of energy, but sometimes I still long for my dishwashing days when there wasn't any doubt in my mind what I had done all day, and why I was tired, because everything was neatly stacked up right in front of me.

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

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

 RUIN: A Novel of Flyfishing in Bankruptcy (Fiction) by Leigh Seippel

This novel was inspired by true events, though not my own, a story of a couple who suddenly become broke and homeless. This novel is about the unpredictable progression of character in a world of chance.

I'm giving away ten copies of Ruin: A Novel of Flyfishing in Bankruptcy, to enter the drawing, click on the link to Authorbuzz and the book jacket to enter or email: cmpdavid@gmail.com

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on RUIN to read more and to email author Leigh Seippel, you'll get a reply.