Books in Order #MondayMusings #OpenBookBlogHop #Inspiration

Welcome to another edition of Open Book Blog Hop. This week’s question is: “Do your books have to be read in any particular order?”

No. My three novels, We Shall Overcome, The Red Dress, and Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me, have different settings, characters, and story lines. My two poetry collections, How to Build a Better Mousetrap and That’s Life are designed to stand alone. So is my memoir, My Ideal Partner.

Granted, The Red Dress and Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me feature old women with dementia living in nursing homes, but these characters aren’t related. Although my novels stand alone, I could expand on their stories and create a series, but I haven’t been inspired as yet.

How about you authors out there. Should your books be read in a particular order? You can click here to participate on your blog and view other responses. Thank you for reading.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

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by Two Pentacles Publishing

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New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

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by Two Pentacles Publishing

Sixteen-year-old Natalie’s grandmother, suffering from dementia and confined to a wheelchair, lives in a nursing home and rarely recognizes Natalie. But one Halloween night, she tells her a shocking secret that only she and Natalie’s mother know. Natalie is the product of a one-night stand between her mother, who is a college English teacher, and another professor.

After some research, Natalie learns that people with dementia often have vivid memories of past events. Still not wanting to believe what her grandmother has told her, she finds her biological father online. The resemblance between them is undeniable. Not knowing what else to do, she shows his photo and website to her parents.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

Her younger sister, Sarah, senses their parents’ marital difficulties. At Thanksgiving, when she has an opportunity to see Santa Claus, she asks him to bring them together again. Can the jolly old elf grant her request?

A Collaboration Between Man and His Best Friend: My Review of Confessions of a Guide Dog by Musket and Mark Carlson #FantasticFridayReads #Memoir #Inspiration

What Amazon Says

Have you ever wondered what a guide dog does?

How do they know to lead a blind owner?

Can they understand traffic lights?

Most importantly, how does the owner know where to pick up the poop?

This memoir answers these questions and more. It tells what guide dogs are supposed to do. They’re smart, loyal and well-trained, but not all dogs are created alike. Musket is proof of that. He’s definitely got a thing for treats and belly rubs.

For the first time, the dog has his say.

(Of course he needed a little help with the typing, since he doesn’t have opposable thumbs. That’s where author Mark Carlson came in. Still, Musket is the brains of the outfit.)

Mark and Musket tell their story with humor, emotion, and Musket’s occasional contradictions. And at the end of the day, Musket somehow manages to be a great guide dog, too.

Confessions of a Guide Dog was written, so a wonderful, devoted dog could reach out to those who haven’t been lucky enough to meet him. He’ll make you smile, laugh, cry, and want to give him treats.

This is their story.

(And they’re sticking to it.)

Buy from Amazon.

My 5-Star Review

I laughed and laughed and laughed, loving the way Musket interjected his thoughts. It was as if man and dog were on stage, telling their story to a live audience.

Of course, this book isn’t all humor. Mark and Musket touch on some serious subjects such as being denied access on account of the dog. But Mark doesn’t get too preachy, thanks to Musket. Yet, his accounts of such incidents did make me mad. But I especially liked the way he handled a situation at McDonald’s when he was told to take his guide dog outside.

Mark and Musket also talk about Mark’s involvement in civil war reenactments and his interest in and writing about aviation and other topics. This book is sure to delight dog lovers and enlighten society about service animals in general.

By the way, Mark Carlson, with the help of his second guide dog, Saffron, wrote a second memoir, which I’m currently reading, and I’m finding it just as enjoyable as the first. Stay tuned for my review.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

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Two Pentacles Publishing.

New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

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Two Pentacles Publishing.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

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My Work in Progress #MondayMusings #OpenBookBlogHop #Inspiration

Welcome to another edition of Open Book Blog Hop. Today’s post is short but sweet, or at least I hope it’s sweet. This week’s question is: “Do you miss a WIP (work in progress) when you’ve finished writing it?”

My answer is yes and no. After finishing a memoir or novel, I like to put it aside for a while, then look at it with fresh eyes. During that time, I occasionally miss not having the project to look forward to working on, but most of the time, I find other writing-related tasks to perform until I’m ready to take a second look at my current project.

How about you authors out there? Once you’ve finished writing a book, do you miss the work in progress? You can click here to participate in this week’s hop and read other bloggers’ responses.

New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

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The Relationship Between Poetry and Living #Friday Fun Reads

Poetry Will Save Your Life: A Memoir

by Jill Bialosky

What Amazon Says

From a critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author and poet comes “a delightfully hybrid book: part anthology, part critical study, part autobiography” (Chicago Tribune) that is organized around fifty-one remarkable poems by poets such as Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, and Sylvia Plath.

For Jill Bialosky, certain poems stand out like signposts at pivotal moments in a life: the death of a father, adolescence, first love, leaving home, the suicide of a sister, marriage, the birth of a child, the day in New York City the Twin Towers fell. As Bialosky narrates these moments, she illuminates the ways in which particular poems offered insight, compassion, and connection, and shows how poetry can be a blueprint for living. In Poetry Will Save Your Life, Bialosky recalls when she encountered each formative poem, and how its importance and meaning evolved over time, allowing new insights and perceptions to emerge.

While Bialosky’s personal stories animate each poem, they touch on many universal experiences, from the awkwardness of girlhood, to crises of faith and identity, from braving a new life in a foreign city to enduring the loss of a loved one, from becoming a parent to growing creatively as a poet and artist. Each moment and poem illustrate “not only how to read poetry, but also how to love poetry” (Christian Science Monitor).

“An emotional, sometimes-wrenching account of how lines of poetry can be lifelines” (Kirkus Reviews), Poetry Will Save Your Life is an engaging and entirely original examination of a life while celebrating the enduring value of poetry, not as a purely cerebral activity, but as a means of conveying personal experience and as a source of comfort and intimacy. In doing so the book brilliantly illustrates the ways in which poetry can be an integral part of life itself and can, in fact, save your life.

My Thoughts

I like the way Jill Bialosky connects certain poems to particular aspects of her life such as her father’s death, her mother’s second marriage and subsequent divorce, and her sister’s suicide. I enjoyed rereading old favorites like Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” and I discovered poems I hadn’t read before. The author explains each poem, even its structure, so the reader can gain a better understanding of the poem. During this National Poetry Month, I encourage you, even if you don’t think you’re into poetry, to read this book. It might open a new world for you.

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By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.

New! The Red Dress

Image contains: young, dark-haired woman in red dress holding flowers

When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.

Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.

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Memoir Delivers Powerful Life Messages #Friday Fun Reads

Stand Up or Sit Out: Memories and Musings of a Blind Wrestler, Runner and All-around Regular Guy

by Anthony R. Candela

What Amazon Says

In this memoir, Anthony Candela, a self-described “all-around regular guy,” traverses a lifetime of challenges. Some of these are accidents of birth, like his poor eyesight and slow trek to blindness, and some are of his own making, like choosing to compete as a scholar-athlete. Infused with lots of New Yorkana, a touch of California, and a few related historical references, this memoir conveys that in any environment, life does not always follow a prescribed course. Moreover, as humans, all of us are imperfect. This includes people with disabilities who are often thought of as transcendent beings, but who should also be regarded as “all-around regular guys.” Just like the rest of the human race, they often strive imperfectly to get through life.

In his descriptions, the author hopes that readers will understand a little more about the nuts and bolts of running and wrestling, not to mention skiing and scuba diving. The ups and downs of coping with life and progressive loss of eyesight and, by extraction, disability in general will be clearer. Readers will come away with a fuller appreciation of the ways people deal with challenges. In the end, we all have a choice whether to stand up or sit out.

The story related in these pages will occasionally give you cause to chuckle or even shed tears of sadness or joy. Above all else, it will enlighten you about why things happen the way they do. Ultimately, this memoir increases our understanding of what it means to be truly human. Perhaps after reading it, we will be kinder and gentler to each other. Most important, perhaps we will take it a little easier on ourselves.

My Thoughts

I took an interest in this book when the author was a guest speaker at a recent meeting of Behind Our Eyes, a group of disabled writers to which I belong. My late husband Bill was on the Colorado State School for the Deaf and Blind’s wrestling team in the 1950’s. So, naturally, I found Mr. Candela’s experiences with the sport fascinating. I also enjoyed reading about his adventures in running, cycling, and other sports as well as his academic and social life. I appreciated his insights on human relations and disabilities. Anyone who reads this book, able-bodied or not, will learn from his discoveries.

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By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Services for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.