Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column - April 19, 2022

Dear Reader,

“The Fool Dies Last” is the first title in author Carol Miller’s new series, Fortune Telling Mysteries. Carol’s Murder and Moonshine from her Moonshine Mysteries, was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month and a Library Journal Starred Debut of the Month. Carol is an attorney, who lives in Virginia and she is today’s guest author. Please welcome her.

Email: [email protected]

 

Was It a Ghost?

Jack sensed her first. It must have been the part beagle in him. He stopped short and gave a pronounced sniff. The neighbors were away for the weekend, and I had cheerfully agreed to walk their two dogs. Having purchased the property only a few months earlier, I enjoyed exploring the densely wooded acreage. Jill, the part terrier, added a sharp yip, and that was when I saw the woman. She was standing in an overgrown clearing a short distance away, with long brown hair and a flowing blue dress. In her enthusiasm, Jill tangled herself around my legs. By the time I unwrapped the lead and looked up again, the woman had vanished.

When we reached the clearing, there was no sign of anyone having been there--no footprints or evidence of a path. I wondered if my eyes and the shadowy light through the trees had played a trick on me, until Jack lay down next to the gravestone. It was less than a foot in height, almost entirely covered by weeds. The top and sides were chipped, and the face was a weather-beaten gray that was too worn to make out more than a few letters of the inscription. I found several other stones nearby. They were flatter and wider, and based on their spacing, they appeared to be the foundation stones from what had once been a small building.

Curiosity preyed on me. Had it been a little house? A hunting cabin? And who was buried beside it? None of the long-settled neighbors had ever heard of a structure on the land. The county property maps and records showed nothing. Finally I visited the historical society. A

volunteer in his mid-nineties with a wry smile that belied his age pulled out a well-organized box of old photographs. And there it was in faded sepia: A single-room schoolhouse with its schoolmarm.

The discovery has sparked great local interest, and everyone has been eager to help with the research. So far we’ve learned that the schoolmarm’s name was Hannah (her surname is less certain), and she taught at the schoolhouse for several decades in the nineteenth century. By all accounts, Hannah never married or had children. Is it her gravestone? And who was the woman I saw there? A distant relative? A relative of a favorite pupil? The spirit of Hannah herself? While we wait to learn more, Jack and Jill and I have been taking many long walks in the woods, hoping to see her again. 

-- Carol Miller

Welcome Carol to the book club, email, Email: [email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

Dear Reader Column - April 18, 2022

Dear Reader,

I was watching a talk show the other day and the host was interviewing a group of second graders. It was a cute piece. "Do you like school? Do you like your teacher?" And of course, the host asked the "What do you want to be when you grow up?" question.

Most of the answers were predictable. "I want to be an astronaut, a fireman, a ballerina." But one young boy quietly said, "I want to be normal."

I don't know, I think that young man should consider rethinking his career goal. Personally, I take pride in the fact that people find me a bit strange. But his serious answer did get me to thinking. Did I have such deep thoughts on my mind when I was in second grade?

I do recall telling people that I wanted to be a missionary when I grew up. But actually I spent most of my hours, in second grade, thinking about bigger issues--like how to impress Larry Harris, the boy whose desk was next to mine.

I knew for sure if Larry could just see me in my new light-green, chiffon dress--the one with the can-can slip underneath it--that he'd look my way. But my mother always said no when I asked if I could wear it to school, insisting that the dress was only for special occasions. (Obviously she didn't see Larry in the same way that I did.) So one morning I finally told my mother it was dress-up day at school--which was a lie--and in my mind killed any chances of becoming a missionary.

And look at what happened. I grew up to be one wacky writer. Maybe I should've wished for just a little bit of normal? 

To see photos of me being 'normal,' click here.http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/normal.html 

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

Dear Reader Column - April 13, 2022

Dear Reader,

Please welcome today's guest author, Amanda Eyre Ward. She is giving away five copies of her new novel, "The Lifeguards." To be included in the drawing, send an email with your shipping information to: [email protected]

Other works of Amanda Eyre Ward include, Sleep Toward Heaven, How to Be Lost, Love Stories in This Town, Forgive Me, Close Your Eyes, The Same Sky, The Nearness of You, and The Jetsetters. Amanda's New York Times-bestselling novels have been featured in People Magazine, The New York Times, and more. Her work has been optioned for film and television and translated into fifteen languages.

Amanda lives in Austin, TX, and says she currently writes every morning and spends afternoons with her children...except when she's in a seedy motel room.

Why I Write in Cheap Motel Rooms

I am an upstanding mother of three, and try to change out of my pajamas before school pickup. I write wile my children are in school, and then so my best to shape-shift into a mom-in-yoga-pants at 2:45p.m. every day. But there comes a time in each novel-in-progress when I need to dive deep. And then, Dear Reader, I check into a cheap motel.

I once sat on a panel next to a writer who, when asked if she had any advice for female writers, responded, "Don't have children." Then she passed the microphone to me.

I cleared my throat, then spoke the truest words I know about being a writer and a woman. "Be ambitious," I said. "And when you can, book a motel room."

There's something transgressive about leaving your family to check into a motel, the seedier the better. Though I've dreamed of writing at the Chateau Marmont or the Plaza in New York, my recent residencies have included stays at the Candlewood Suites in Austin (just off Interstate 35), and the Katy Freeway Motel 6.

My packing list is short: strong coffee; cans of soup and boxes of Triscuits; a warm wrap given to me by an editor when I forgot to bring a coat to New York; index cards for organizing my plot structure; my laptop; and a box of scrawled notes, maps, menus, and various research materials. Upon checking in as early as possible, I change into my pajamas and spend a few hours watching TV. There's something so wrong about a working mom bingeing "Law & Order" reruns in the middle of the day in a cheap motel that it's got to be right. 

And so far, it hasn't failed. I type from morning till happy hour in a state of bliss, and when my time runs out (sometimes after 24 hours, sometimes after five days), I am ready to be a mom again. Those first few days back, I make warm honey milks upon request, spend extra time tucking in each child, do dishes without complaint.

Living a dual life has even become a theme in some of my novels as I attempt to suss out what it means to try to be a mother and a wife and a writer at the same time. For me, right now, it means remembering to be thankful, being ambitious enough to fight for a motel room of my own, and having a seemingly endless supply of tiny bottles of cheap shampoo. 

-- Amanda Eyre Ward

Email Amanda, [email protected] for a chance to win one of five copies of her new book, "The Lifeguards."

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

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

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

Looking for a YA high-stakes mystery with twists and turns that will have you guessing until the very end? Shani Michelle's
You Should Have Seen This Coming will be one teens can't put down. For a chance to win free copies, talk with the authors, and more, see www.authorbuzz.com/kidsbuzz

Dear Reader Column - April 12, 2022

Dear Reader,

I’m pleased to introduce today’s guest author, Samantha Jayne Allen, author of Pay Dirt Road, and winner of the 2019 Tony Hillerman Prize for Best First Mystery Set in the Southwest. 

Samantha has an MFA in fiction from Texas State University, and her writing has been published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, The Common, and Electric Literature. Raised in small  towns in Texas and California, she now lives with her husband in Atlanta. "Pay Dirt Road," her debut novel, is a small-town mystery about an unlikely private investigator searching for a missing waitress.

Write and say “Hello”. Samantha would love to hear from you. You can reach her at: [email protected]

Thanks for visiting our book club, Samantha…

The Mojave doesn't love you back. I used to ride to the cement plant in my dad's pickup, stare out the window at the hardpan dirt, wondering, if you stood in the middle of that wide-open, empty desert and screamed, would there be an echo, or without anything to bounce off of, would your call fade without refrain?

Every summer the plant hired employees' kids to work as laborers if they enrolled in college courses in the fall. Management encouraged us to stay in school by giving us jobs nobody wanted: stemming dynamite, shoveling coal, repainting the trucker bathrooms, scraping

gunk out of oil pits with a putty knife. The program doesn't exist anymore, but before it was canceled, before I left my hometown, before its sister plants closed and most of its employees were laid off, I spent my summers waiting for the place to grow kinder to me, to give me a reason to stay.

I didn't. But I often go back to the Mojave and its stark beauty, revisiting it in my mind with the kind of fondness only achieved with distance. I never fit in at work--for starters, I was one of only two women in the labor gang--but I clung tightly to the plant and its rhythms because I was scared of going to college, another place where I wasn't sure if I belonged. It was an impressionable time, but I also go back to those summers because in many ways, they taught me how to write. You can't write a story without conflict, without your characters experiencing competing desires. The ambivalence I felt suffused my ideas about where I was going and where I had been, and in turn, fueled my fiction.

Whenever I'm struggling to write, I remember the unique torture of sweeping dust into piles under an industrial-sized kiln when it was 115 degrees out, the hot wind like a hair dryer blowing the dust right back in my face. I got so dirty I'd line my car seat with trash bags, and strip at the door when I got home. There's something freeing, though, about working up a sweat, about being so dirty you lose any self-consciousness. I learned to submit to the work, and I didn't quit. You can't write if you're afraid of messy drafts, of mistakes, of rejection. I know now that I'm up to the task, and that to write you have to love the work, even if it doesn't always love you back.

-- Samantha Jayne Allen

Email: [email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

Dear Reader Column - April 4, 2022

Dear Reader,

It's a party!

We're celebrating National Library Week at the book club. This year's theme is "Connect with Your Library." Send me an email about your local library or if you're a librarian, how has the library changed in your community?

Every day, during National Library Week, I'll be giving away fun prizes to folks who work at libraries. Today's prize (carryover from Friday), is a "Bookmarks are for Quitters," 15 ounce enamel mug. To enter, click here.

"Suzanne, imagine my surprise when I opened up your email [last week] and it talked about the library in Bedford, NH. I worked there as well, albeit that was many moons ago. It got me reminiscing about some of the more memorable events on the job.

One evening when we were preparing to close up the library for the night, and I went out to the vestibule to check the book drop one last time. Now you never know what you might find dropped off in the book drop. Oftentimes someone would accidentally include their personal travel books along with their library books. Once in a while you might find some keys, or cash used as a bookmark. Periodically, some X-rated magazines were left in the drop. I'm not sure if that was accidental or intentional--perhaps in an effort to cause a stir among the normally calm and composed library staff?

This particular night it was a hamster. What a cute little guy he was sitting there in his little cage, with seemingly not a care in the world. But, with an animal shelter just five miles up the road, why would someone drop off a hamster at the library? And most importantly, what are we going to do with him? My coworkers 'oohed and aahed' when I brought the hamster in, but were lightning quick in declining to take him home for the night. I think I got the mother-of-the-year award that night when I showed up at home with that hamster cage in my arms."

-- Cheers, Andrea D.

Everyone has a feel-good story about their library or a special librarian, share it with readers who read at the book club.

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

Warmest regards,

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

Dear Reader Column - April 1, 2022

Dear Reader,

We're celebrating National Library Week at the book club next week. This year's theme is "Connect with Your Library." Send me an email about your local library or if you're a librarian, how has the library changed in your community? Everyone has a feel-good story about their library or a special librarian, share it with readers and librarians who read at the book club.

Every day, during National Library Week, I'll be giving away fun prizes to folks who work at libraries. But who wants to wait? Let's get the party started early. Enter my first drawing, today, and you might win a "Bookmarks are for Quitters," 15 ounce enamel mug. To enter, click here.

"Hello Suzanne, I want to share with you why I love the library. As a child and teenager, I loved to read all the time. I had an aunt who didn't drive, but loved to read. She didn't want to ask anyone to bring her to the library, so she made arrangements for the bookmobile to visit her. As a result, during the summer we would all run next door to get books. As a parent with young children, I took my children to the library for programs often. It was a great way to keep them entertained and not have to spend lots of money. Now for the last 12 years, I've worked at our local library. I am not a librarian. I am a circulation assistant, and I plan programs for adults (I started out in children's, which was fun, too).

I am so glad I applied for this job. It has been the most fulfilling and rewarding job. I love to connect with our patrons, share book recommendations, and help them find just what they need. And, I am around books all the time. The only drawback is that my 'Must Read' list is so long, I will have to live to be 1000 years old to read them all. I love reading your column every day. Thanks for letting me share." – Brenda G., East Regional Library, Destrehan, LA

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

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

Dear Reader Column - March 31, 2022

Dear Reader,

"Dear Suzanne, I enjoy your emails, and I love your writings. How would I prepare for your annual, Write a DearReader Contest? Do you have certain themes, topics and word limits? I'm very interested, as I am a newly retired educator who is enjoying writing."

-- Fondly, Jennifer S.

(Suzanne replies:) Congratulations on your retirement! The contest page from last year's Write a DearReader Contest won't be updated until August (launch date August 22nd), but the guidelines will be the same as previous years. The guidelines are below and to read previous winning entries, click here.

1. Maximum word count is 650 words.
2. Submit original entries that have not been previously published.
3. Feel free to submit more than one entry for us to consider.
4. You must be at least 18 years old to enter.
5. Your story will be judged on style and content.
6. Collaborative teams are limited to two people.
7. You must include the name and mailing address of your local library with your original entry in order for them to be eligible to receive the 50% matching, cash prize.

Jennifer, I would encourage you to get in the habit of writing something every day, even if it's only for 15 minutes. Don't worry about thinking ahead of time, 'What topic should I write about?' Instead ask yourself, 'What am I thinking about this very minute?' You could start by typing today's "to-do" list and if you keep your fingers moving on the keys, after that free flowing ideas will appear on the screen.

Your body is a quick study. After a couple of weeks of writing a few minutes every day, when you sit down in front of your computer and put your fingers on the keys, your mind will know exactly what it's supposed to do, because it's been in training every day.

I look forward to reading your entry this year.

Get ready to celebrate National Library Week at the book club, April 3-9. This year's theme is "Connect with Your Library." Send me an email about your local library or if you're a librarian, how has the library changed in your community? Everyone has a feel-good story about their library or a special librarian, share it with readers and librarians who read at the book club.

Every day, during National Library Week, I'll be giving away fun prizes. Celebrate!

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 this title deserves your attention:

(FICTION)
JUST ONE WISH by Carly Phillips

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

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. 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 - March 30, 2022

Dear Reader,

The rule in our house, when I was growing up was, nobody ever gets sick. And if you did feel ill, keep it to yourself, get dressed for school, shake it off, you'll be fine.

So talking about not feeling good, I felt ashamed, it felt like a sin. Well, I'm sinning big time today. I know there's always someone worse off when it comes to medical woes, but it's been a string of 'I feel terrible/horrible days'. Take a deep breath and get it out Suzanne.

In the past two weeks I've had a just-kill-me-now drug reaction to a pill I use for the pain of my occipital neuralgia, and then a trip to the ER for a mysterious, sharp, never-ending pain on my left side, a colonoscopy, an endoscopy, a mammogram, two trips to the doctor (still trying to figure out what the mysterious daily pain is), a nuclear MRI and now I need to get my gallbladder removed. If only they gave patients frequent "user miles" next year's mammogram would be a freebie.

And now I'm playing a painful waiting game to see a surgeon, and then I suspect I'll be painfully waiting longer to actually have the operation. (I'm about ready to see if there's a YouTube, do-it-yourself gallbladder removal video.)

Announcing how terrible you feel, I think it can be the best medicine. Thirty-five years ago, when I was diagnosed with Benign Essential Blepharospasm, the doctor said, "Suzanne, the good news is the disorder won't kill you, the bad news is there isn't any cure." 'No problem,’ I told myself, ‘get dressed, shake it off, you'll be fine.' After a few days, when the 'You'll be fine' was wearing thin, I reminded myself that a lot of people are much worse off than me. But the "healing" really started when I woke up one morning and I screamed, "I don't care if some people are worse off, this sucks!" And later that day, after getting it all out, I was finally able to come to terms with my disorder, and as I wrapped my arms around it, we became coexisting friends.

Wow, thanks for listening. Writing it down, getting it all out, I feel better already.

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

Warmest regards,

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

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

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. 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 - March 29, 2022

Dear Reader,

Today's the last day you can enter to win the March Chocolate Chip Cookie Giveaway. Three lucky book club readers will receive some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies delivered right to their front doors. I'm ready to bake for you. To see last month's winners and to enter the drawing, click here.

Rabbi Toba Spitzer is today's guest at the book club. A popular teacher of courses on Judaism and economic justice, she has received the honor of being included in Newsweek's Top 50 Rabbis in America list and the 2010 Forward list of 50 Female Rabbis Who Are Making A Difference. Since 1997, she has been the spiritual leader of Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in Newton, MA. Her new book is, God Is Here: Reimagining the Divine.

Email Toba at: [email protected]

In 2007, I received an email at work that I almost deleted. It began, "Dear Rabbi," which sounded sort of anonymous. I thought it might be spam. But I read on, and it turned out the email was from a literary agent at a very large talent agency. He had found some of my sermons online, and thought I should write a book. I was busy being a congregational rabbi and wasn't really thinking about writing a book. We emailed a bit and had a phone conversation, and I told him I'd think about it. He was based in L.A. and I told him, if you're ever in Boston, give me a call. And that was that.

About a year and a half later, I got another email, from another literary agent at a talent agency. She had also found my sermons online, and thought I should write a book. When she mentioned me to her business partner, it turned out that he was the one who had emailed me first.

While I don't believe in a God that micromanages human lives, I had to admit that something mysterious was afoot here. The universe seemed to be telling me I needed to write a book. The duo of literary agents had moved to NYC, and I took the train down one day to have lunch with them. I couldn't quite figure out what kind of book they wanted me to write. "Like your sermons!" they said. But I give sermons on lots of topics, I replied. What exactly is it that you think I have to say in a book? After an hour or so of conversation, I realized: "I think you want me to write a book about God."

That conversation happened back in 2011. In the years since, I began and completed a journey that resulted in my book, God Is Here: Reimagining the Divine. I wrote the book because, after discovering metaphor theory and cognitive linguistics, I realized that helping spiritually-inclined people who aren't so sure about God delve into ancient, non-human metaphors for the divine could literally change lives. With my congregants, I explored how we might bring metaphors like Water and Place and Rock off of the pages of ancient texts and into daily life. The results of our exploration were powerful, but there were only so many people I could teach in person. A book, I hoped, would help me share with many more people of all backgrounds the texts and practices that I had found to be so transformative. Writing this book has been its own spiritual journey, and my sincere hope is that it brings some measure of insight and healing to our broken, beautiful world.

-- Toba Spitzer

Email Toba at, [email protected]

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

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

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. 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 - March 28, 2022

Dear Reader,

Get ready to celebrate National Library Week at the book club April 3-9. This year's theme is "Connect with Your Library." Send me an email about your local library or if you're a librarian, how has the library changed in your community? Everyone has a feel-good story about their library or a special librarian, share it with readers and librarians who read at the book club.

Every day, during National Library Week, I'll be giving away fun prizes. Celebrate!

"Suzanne, our library is located in Bedford, NH, a relatively small town. A patron came in to say their family had been vacationing in San Francisco and their rental car was broken into, his son's backpack was stolen and his library book was gone. Fast forward three days and we receive a phone call from a woman in California, who has found a book on the street, from our library and she would like to mail it back to us. Can you imagine? The dad was beside himself that someone would take the time to track us down. A tiny bubble of kindness! " -- Best wishes to you, Sue F., Circulation/Book Club Manager

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

Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]

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

JUST ONE WISH (FICTION) by Carly Phillips

I'm so excited to bring you Axel Forrester's story. A drummer with the rock band, The Original Kings, in my Kingston-Dare world, Axel has watched the people around him settle down and he's ready to find the one, too. When a scroll through social media shows him his first love is a veterinarian in the same town, he's determined to win her back for good.

I'm giving away five copies, to enter the drawing, click on the link to Authorbuzz and the book jacket to enter.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on JUST ONE WISH to read more and to email author Carly Phillips, you'll get a reply.

This month's Penguin Classics book is The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.