The Bayliss Book Club (Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan) will discuss INTERPRETER OF MALADIES by Jhumpa Lahiri at 7 p.m., March 25, at the Bayliss Library. Their April book is HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET by Jamie Ford. If you are interested in joining the group, email Susan James at sjames@baylisslibrary.org.
How better to celebrate spring than with a new book! And with spring in mind here’s how you qualify for the drawing March 21, 2010.
If you shoveled snow, drove in snow or slogged through snow this winter, you’re qualified. Just let post and let us know if you prefer life with or without snow!
(I’m a snow girl myself, honest, except for blizzards!)
The March free books are two novels – EXPOSURE by Brandilyn Collins and WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen. Both are new trade paperback editions. I’ll post blurbs about both books next week. Meanwhile if you battled snow this winter, post your snow preference (with or without) and you’ll be in the March 21 drawing. First name drawn wins his/her choice of EXPOSURE or WATER FOR ELEPHANTS. The second name gets the other book.
Blessings! Sue Harrison
Congratulations to Milly Balzarini! You won our February free book, JEFF HERMAN’S GUIDE TO BOOK PUBLISHERS, EDITORS and LITERARY AGENTS 2010. Milly, please email me at sue@sueharrison.com. Thank you!
Next week I will post a blurb about our free books for March (2 bestselling novels). See if you qualify for the drawing!
Blessings! Sue
When I was a child, my favorite story book was about a little boy and his sister who discovered a key that opened a door into a magical world. I remember thinking how incredible it would be to discover a key like that. A few years later I realized that that key was any book I chose to read! I still love to walk into a library and catch the wonderful “smell” of books and know that journeys await. As Emily Dickinson so aptly put it, “There is no frigate like a book.” (Bookstores are great, too, but most of them smell like coffee nowadays!)
I have the privilege of belonging to a reading group. “The Pickford Reading Group” consists of six women of eclectic tastes. We have found great joy in sharing books and learning to trust one another with our thoughts and friendship. Each month (except for a summer break) we select a book to read and discuss. Our February selection is WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen. If you ever wanted to run away and join a circus, this is the book for you. And if you aren’t so much into circuses, but enjoy quirky characters (including animals), who come alive through the pages, this is also the book for you. The Pickford Reading Group was six thumbs up on WATER FOR ELEPHANTS. Our March book is THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER by Kim Edwards.
Do any of you belong to a reading group? If so, will you share your name and current book choices with us here on the Blog? We’d love to know what you’re reading and your opinions on your latest book. Each month I will post any Reading Group that reports. Just let me know your name, the book you read or are reading and, if you’d like, what your group thought of the book: great, good, not so good, or a mixed review.
Hope to hear from you!
Blessings! Sue
Jody Hedlund, a novelist whose first historical romance was just picked up by Bethany House for a Fall 2010 release, posts a couple of great articles about marketing fiction. Check them out at http://short.to/16u09.
Blessings, Sue
Last Saturday, I had the privilege of being interviewed by Ray Case, the editor of “Encompass Magazine.” The magazine is regional to the southwestern area of Michigan, but Ray and the staff have wonderful plans for expansion, and I’m very excited that they chose to interview me for one of their articles. I will let you know when it is published.
I really enjoyed doing an interview again after so many years of silence. In some ways I feel like a new writer, just learning the ropes. (Lots of changes since the whirlwind days of my Alaska Trilogies, mainly in technology.) Many familiar names are still out there, but I am also making the acquaintance of other gifted people who help bring book dreams to fruition and make possible the freedom of speech and communication that has blessed our country since it was founded.
So my thanks to Ray and “Encompass Magazine”. May your horizons be wide!
Blessings, Sue Harrison
I’m a member of a book group, and our selection for February is WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen (Algonquin). It’s a great book. What are you reading? Any recommendations?
Blessings! Sue
Your Question – Justin Knabe asks: Do you write what you are passionate about or what is selling? I have a lot of great ideas, but that is as far as it goes.
Sue’s reply: I am currently trying to jump-start my career after a hiatus due to family caregiving needs and also after the bottom fell out of the market for books set in prehistoric times. Six of my seven published books were of this “prehistoric” genre, so it has been a matter of testing the waters and regenerating my passion for other genres. I am currently writing in a genre that is selling (mystery). I weave each novel around characters that I care passionately about. That passion is the often overlooked secret to a successful book.
Concerning your own ideas for books or stories, Justin, my advice would be to center a character within the framework of an idea that really sparks your enthusiasm. Before you write even a page, get to know that character like a best friend. Not just what the person looks like, sounds like, walks like, but what makes him or her tick. What is the most important thing in that character’s life? What gives him or her self-esteem, a feeling of self-worth? Then within the framework of your idea (which should be something that is currently marketable), take that inner joy away from your character. It’s gone; it’s kaput; it’s lost. The rest of your story or novel will be about how your character, through toughness and ingenuity, reinvents his or her life, or wins back what is lost or (often in the case of a literary novel – which usually isn’t quite as marketable) gives up and self-destructs.
A couple days ago, I received a great email from a reader, Ada Jarvis, who beautifully summed up what reading books and stories is all about. With Ada’s permission, I append her quote. ”I want my children to love and appreciate the things in life that I feel should not be taken for granted. Reading is one of those gifts I value most of all. I want them to grow up understanding that just because this is the age of technology, that doesn’t mean that every adventure should be watched on a television screen. I want them to have the same excitement as I did growing up, living adventures through books. To me, imagination is everything.”
There you have it. Imagination. Excitement. Passion. In readers and in writers. And that’s what books are all about. Using imagination to feed the passion, and then sharing our excitement with others!
Blessings,
Sue Harrison