Blisscraft Life With Christina Katz

It’s always nice to support a local author, and that’s just one reason why I am very happy to welcome Oregon author Kathleen McCleary to the giveaway today. Please help me welcome Kathleen!

Introducing Kathleen McCleary

Kathleen McCleary grew up in Michigan but after living in Oregon for 12 years considers herself a native Oregonian. She graduated from Williams College with a major in comparative religion. She went on to law school, where she quickly figured out that she never wanted to be a lawyer and dropped out to become a bartender. She finally found her niche in writing, and has worked as a writer and editor for a variety of newspapers and magazines.

Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Ladies Home Journal, More, and Good Housekeeping. She has written three novels: House and Home; A Simple Thing, which was recently nominated for the Library of Virginia Literary Awards in fiction; and Leaving Haven.

When she’s not writing, Kathleen teaches writing. She has taught as an adjunct professor at American University, and is an instructor with Writopia Labs, a non-profit that teaches creative writing to kids. She has also worked as a barista in an independently owned coffee shop, and a bookseller for Barnes & Noble. She enjoys crafting things and has, over the years, learned how to knit, hook rugs, sew, carve wood, make dovetail joints with hand tools, blow glass, and make butterscotch pudding from scratch. She is fascinated by remote places and has visited Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, Alaska, the San Juan Islands, the Appalachians, and the Adirondacks. She currently lives in northern Virginia with her husband and two daughters.

Learn about House And Home

Ellen Flanagan has two precious girls to raise, a cozy neighborhood coffee shop to run, terrific friends, and a sexy, if irresponsible, husband. And she adores her house, a yellow Cape Cod filled with quirky antiques, beloved nooks, and a million memories. But as her eighteen-year-roller-coaster marriage heads toward divorce, she’s about to lose it all–her house, her husband . . . and her sanity.

Set in the gorgeous surroundings of Portland, Oregon, Kathleen McCleary’s funny, poignant, curl-up-and-read debut strikes a deep emotional chord and explores the very notion of what makes a house a home.

Learn about A Simple Thing

How far would you go to protect your children? Would you do it at the expense of your marriage? How far would you go to protect yourself?

For Susannah Delaney, the answers lie thousands of miles away, off the northwest corner of Washington state. When Susannah discovers her young son is being bullied and her adolescent daughter is spinning out of control, she moves them to remote Sounder Island in the San Juans to live off the grid for a year. Susannah hopes to save her children from the risks they’ve encountered at home, and to come to terms with her own haunted past. But the move threatens her marriage to the man she’s loved since childhood, and her very sense of self.

For Betty Pavalak, who first moved to Sounder to save her own troubled marriage, the island has been a haven for more than fifty years. But Betty also knows the guilt of living with choices she made long ago and actions that cannot be undone. The unlikely friendship between Susannah and Betty ignites a journey of self-discovery for both women that brings them both home to what they love most.

A Simple Thing moves beyond friendship, children, and marriages to look deeply into what it means to love and forgive–yourself.

I asked Kathleen three questions about our giveaway’s theme topic, self-expression:

1. Is self-expression an important part of your life today, why or why not?

I’m middle-aged and am probably better at self-expression than at any time in my life since toddlerhood. I’m more clear on who I am, flaws and all, and more willing to share my self with the rest of the world without the self-consciousness or insecurity or shyness that plagued me when I was younger. So I dance without inhibition at every opportunity, write the truth as I know it in my novels, wear my favorite colors (hot pink) with joy, and admit when I’m wrong. The older I get, the more I understand that we all fail, that our own failings hopefully teach us to be more tolerant of the failings in others, and that if there is one thing that binds us all it is our imperfections. True self-expression is an opportunity for connection.

2. What does self-expression mean to you and how do you do it in the world?

Self-expression means sharing my genuine self with others. That means that when I write fiction I let my characters suffer from anxiety, make silly jokes, grieve, lie, try to do the right thing, despair, rejoice. After my first book came out it was very hard for me to read some of the reviews that criticized the protagonist as “too neurotic” or “annoying”—my characters are, after all, all parts of me. But I’ve come to see how different characters resonate with different people, just as in real life I have friends who “get” me on every level, and others who don’t.

I also express myself through teaching, which I love. I work with kids ages 8-18 teaching creative writing with Writopia, a non-profit organization. I have the chance in teaching to express what I really believe about writing with your whole heart, about stilling the small voices of what others might think, what the critics might say, what friends and family might interpret.

3. How does your self-expression impact the world—your family, your friends, your readers, and everyone else?

I hope my self-expression, through my fiction, allows others to understand themselves and the world around them in a new way, to feel a connection of some kind—with a character, a situation, an emotion. I don’t mean that to sound grandiose; I just mean that the most gratifying part of writing fiction is hearing from readers who say they related to a character, they cried, they learned something, they understood. As for my self-expression through other avenues, my kids wish I wouldn’t dance so much when my favorite music comes on, but they’re learning to live with it.

And Now, Your Turn…

You remember how this works right?

Please read the complete rules at least once!

I ask you a question.

You answer in the comments for your chance to win a book each day.

Please just respond once, even if you make a typo.

Answer in the comments in 50-200 words (no less and no more to qualify to win one of today’s books).

Describe your perfect home, whether it’s the one you have or not. What makes this home perfect for you?

Ready, set, comment! I will hold the drawing tomorrow and post the results here in my blog.

Thanks for participating in the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway!

And thanks for spreading the word. We will be giving away great books by wonderful women authors all month.

View the complete list of authors and books.

View the giveaway Pinterest board.

Today we are giving away two books and one e-book by Lela Davidson. If you like essays that are funny and smart and media commentary and how-tos that are sassy and relevant, then be sure to check out Lela’s growing body of work. Please help me welcome Lela!

Introducing Lela Davidson

Lela is an award-winning humorist and freelance journalist who loves media and marketing. She entertains and inspires audiences in print, web, video, and television. Lela is the author of Blacklisted From The PTA and Who Peed On My Yoga Mat?, and a contributor to NBC News, TODAY Moms, iVillage, and Huffington Post. She frequently speaks about motherhood, marriage, marketing, and the challenges of being over-40 in a Botox world. Lela wrote Sexy, Smart, and Search Engine Friendly: Get Found Online Without Losing Your Mind or Wasting Your Time especially for authors, artists, and small business entrepreneurs.

Learn about Sexy, Smart, and Search Engine Friendly: Get Found Online Without Losing Your Mind or Wasting Your Time

This guide is for entrepreneurs who know nothing about online marketing and search engine technology, but know it’s important to be discoverable online.

This guide is also for people who understand how all this stuff works, but get overwhelmed by the thought of putting all that knowledge into action. My hope is that all of us would be empowered with a simple, workable plan that doesn’t take too much time away from our real pursuits, whatever those may be.

Readers of Sexy, Smart, & Search Engine Friendly:

• gain clarity where once there was only confusion about the mysterious world of online marketing.
• learn that you don’t have to be an expert, and you don’t have to spend untold nights and weekends tweaking your website.
• increase website traffic when they apply insider understanding of the ways search engines find websites.
• walk away from this guide with a simple plan—one that’s easy, effective, and doesn’t rob their core business of their most valuable resource, their time.
• develop confidence in simple strategies as they practice them, and in their own ability to maintain effort and focus for the long haul.

Anyone who markets products and services online has a lot to gain from applying the simple strategies outlined in this guide.

Learn about Who Peed On My Yoga Mat?

Lela Davidson doesn’t like to brag, but her children are clean and fed, her husband likes to cook, and she is rarely referred to as Troll Toes at the yoga studio. In other words, she’s got it all. Who Peed On My Yoga Mat? peels back the curtain on family life to show that happiness is really a matter of perspective. Between watching adorably annoying toddlers transform into text-obsessed teens, and facing inevitable moments of marital “for worse,” a girl’s got to carve out time for inner peace. As she did in Blacklisted From The PTA, Davidson shows us once again that laughing at yourself and your family is the surest path to tranquility — or at least the most fun.

Learn about Blacklisted From The PTA

Blacklisted from the PTA is an irreverent look at motherhood and the modern family. From the high chair to a vinyl restaurant booth on date night, Lela Davidson has captured life on the cul-de-sac with a husband, two kids, and the occasional pet. Whether failing at cloth diaper origami or smug in knowledge that her children have never consumed a PopTart, Lela assures parents they are not alone, and that it’s okay to laugh-at yourself, and at your kids. These are the stories of Everyparent-even if we don’t always tell them out loud. Each of these 62 essays can be read in under five minutes for a quick laugh-either with or at the author.

As a CPA on the mommy track, all Lela wanted to do was sit on the driveway and drink wine out of a box with the neighbors. Luckily, she started writing down her stories instead. Whether tackling PTA meetings, neighborhood politics, or inflation-by-Tooth Fairy, Lela exposes the humor in every awkward moment and maternal meltdown. From a trendy Seattle condo, to a tidy Arkansas subdivision, Lela shares the comic side of family life. She takes you to Mexican bars, the hockey rinks of St. Louis, ski slopes near Santa Fe, shopping in Dallas, and even introduces you to a few strippers-the novices on the playgrounds of New York City, and the pros in Vegas. Lela says what the rest of us are thinking. Her hilarious observations and subtle satire are always spot on. She’s not afraid to reveal her screw-ups, along with fleeting delusional moments of wherein she honestly believes she is the best mom ever.

I asked Lela three questions about our giveaway’s theme topic, self-expression:

1. Is self-expression an important part of your life today, why or why not?

Expressing myself is almost all I do. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe that I’ve been able to create a sustainable business out of writing primarily about my own experiences. It’s what I like to write and what I like to read. Whether it’s science or politics or how to make bean sprouts, if the writing doesn’t include the writer’s personal perspective, I’m usually not interested.

2. What does self-expression mean to you and how do you do it in the world?

To me self-expression is about connecting with other people, and sometimes my dog. If I’m not writing I’m talking. I love getting up in front of a room, drinking wine with a group of my girlfriends, or just talking one on one (maybe to my dog). I need to express myself in order to figure things out. I am the person continuously in an imaginary conversation with someone. Thanks to technology, talking to yourself is so much more socially acceptable today than it was when I was a kid hanging out with my imaginary friends.

3. How does your self-expression impact the world—your family, your friends, your readers, and everyone else?

I hope that what I write shows other people they are not in this thing alone. I have been there, done that, and usually found the laugh. There are challenges in deciding what to make public when you write about your own life, as I do, because I’m not the only one in it. When you write humor, it’s tempting to go for the cheap laugh, and that can damage relationships. I don’t want to sacrifice the people closest to me for the entertainment of my readers. (Seriously, I have the BEST stories about teenagers than I just cannot tell you!) I want to be respectful of my family and friends while still expressing what I feel are MY stories. It’s a fine line to walk sometimes, and as I grow as a writer I will push it because I feel like when I’m brave on the page it gives other people the encouragement they might need to be brave in their lives. Or it makes them pee their pants a little. Either way, I’m happy.

And Now, Your Turn…

You remember how this works right?

Please read the complete rules at least once!

I ask you a question.

You answer in the comments for your chance to win a book each day.

Please just respond once, even if you make a typo.

Answer in the comments in 50-200 words (no less and no more to qualify to win one of today’s books).

What makes you laugh? I mean what makes you really laugh? What makes you laugh so hard you can’t stop? What makes you laugh so hard that you cry and laugh at the same time?

Ready, set, comment! I will hold the drawing tomorrow and post the results here in my blog.

Thanks for participating in the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway!

And thanks for spreading the word. We will be giving away great books by wonderful women authors all month.

View the complete list of authors and books.

View the giveaway Pinterest board.

Today we’ll have one winner for all of the e-guides and the book.

Introducing Cindy Hudson

Cindy Hudson is the author of Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs (Seal Press, October 2009) as well as several e-book guides that help moms plan book-club meetings. Cindy has been writing weekly for The Oregonian for seven years. She is the founder of two long-running mother-daughter book clubs, and she lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two daughters. Visit her online at www.MotherDaughterBookClub.com and www.CindyHudson.com.

Learn about…

Book By Book, The Complete Guide To Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs

Mothers and daughters share a special bond. . . why not further this bond through reading together? Book clubs have been growing in popularity over the past ten years, started by a variety of people with various interests and goals. Mother-daughter book clubs offer a great way for families to grow and share — with each other and with other mother-daughter pairs. In Book by Book Cindy Hudson offers all the how-to tips mothers need to start their own successful book clubs. Hudson offers her own firsthand experience as the founder of two long-running successful mother-daughter book clubs.

Hudson offers suggestions on books topics, club guidelines, and how to keep the club going as daughters grow older. How big should the club be? Whom should we invite? How often should we meet? How do we make sure we actually read the books? Hudson has all the answers. With recommended book lists (divided by four age groups), online resources, and suggested recipes for book-club treats, Book by Book is a great resource for helping moms and daughters form new memories and traditions.

Mother-Daughter Book Club Meeting Planner Guide Collection One

Each collection offers guides to six books that I have hand chosen as being especially good for mothers and their daughters who are aged 9 to 12. You could easily start a mother-daughter book club and begin with the six featured books, or if you are in an established club, you can simplify your year by choosing to read all the book in the guide. The collections also let you save money! One collection costs less than if you purchase six guides individually. Here are the collections available:

Mother-Daughter Book Club Meeting Planner Guides: Collection One

Titles include:

• The Healing Spell by Kimberley Griffiths Little
• How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart
• Kimchi and Calamari by Rose Kent
• Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins
• The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick
• Trauma Queen by Barbara Dee

Mother-Daughter Book Club Meeting Planner Guide Collection Two

Titles include:

• Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
• Breakaway by Andrea Montalbano
• OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy
• Savvy by Ingrid Law
• Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Mother-Daughter Book Club Meeting Planner Guides: The Cultural Explorations Collection

If you’re looking for books that may introduce your children to other cultures, some far away, some in different states in the U.S., check out the Cultural Explorations Collection. Titles include:

• The Healing Spell by Kimberley Griffiths Little
• Kimchi and Calamari by Rose Kent
• Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins
• OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy
• Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

I asked Cindy three questions about our giveaway’s theme topic, self-expression:

1. Is self-expression an important part of your life today, why or why not?

I can’t imagine a time where self expression will not be important in my life. It’s been a big part of who I am for as long as I can remember, even though its form has changed as I’ve grown over the years. That’s exciting in a way, because I feel I will continue to evolve and grow in the years to come. I may be doing something different 10 years from now, but as long as I find satisfaction from whatever it is, I know it will be okay.

2. What does self-expression mean to you and how do you do it in the world?

I think of self-expression and creativity as being tied together, and at different times of my life I have expressed myself creatively in different ways. When I was growing up I painted, crocheted, made ceramics, and created seed art, and I frequently gave my creations as gifts. In college I started to write more frequently for my journalism classes, and I found a lot of satisfaction in taking complicated stories and turning them into something people could easily understand. At heart I like simplicity in my own life, and I am most happy when I bring that simplicity to my writing.

3. How does your self-expression impact the world—your family, your friends, your readers, and everyone else?

I know what I create is not everyone’s cup of tea, but that doesn’t bother me because it doesn’t have to be for me to feel satisfaction with what I do. I write memoir to put my life into perspective and to leave stories for my children, I write about literacy and book clubs because I believe when people come together to discuss books lives are changed, and I write about people and places in my community because I believe our world is stronger when we are more connected to the place we live. Somehow, I hope all of my efforts have a ripple effect that spreads out from my articles, essays and books.

And Now, Your Turn…

You remember how this works right?

Please read the complete rules at least once!

I ask you a question.

You answer in the comments for your chance to win a book each day.

Please just respond once, even if you make a typo.

Answer in the comments in 50-200 words (no less and no more to qualify to win one of today’s books).

What was your favorite book as a tween or teen? Why? Tell us a little story about its impact on you.

Ready, set, comment! I will hold the drawing tomorrow and post the results here in my blog.

Thanks for participating in the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway!

And thanks for spreading the word. We will be giving away great books by wonderful women authors all month.

View the complete list of authors and books.

View the giveaway Pinterest board.

Today we’ll have one winner for both books.

Mia and I have several things in common. First of all, we both love Meryl Streep movies. And secondly, we both appreciate Colin Firth’s performances in Love, Actually and Then She Found Me. I’m going to have to check out her recommendation on the BBC version of Pride & Prejudice.

I’m not-so-secretly hoping that she’ll decide to base her next book on Bette Midler. Please help me welcome Mia!

Introducing Mia March

Mia March lives on the coast of Maine, the setting of her novels, with her ten-year-old son and their sweet beagle. Her debut novel, The Meryl Streep Movie Club, was a USA TODAY “hot summer read.”

Mia particularly enjoyed the research required for her upcoming novel, Finding Colin Firth: watching every Colin Firth film she could get her hands on, including her favorite, the BBC miniseries of Pride and Prejudice. Swoon.

Learn about Finding Colin Firth, Simon & Schuster, July 2013

From the author of The Meryl Streep Movie Club, “a heartwarming, spirit-lifting read just in time for beach season” (Kirkus Reviews), comes a new novel about three women, connected in secret and surprising ways, who are in for a life-changing summer when rumor has it that actor Colin Firth is coming to their Maine town to film a movie.

After losing her job and leaving her beloved husband, journalist Gemma Hendricks is sure that scoring an interview with Colin Firth will save her career and marriage. Yet a heart-tugging local story about women, family ties, love, and loss captures her heart–and changes everything.

The story concerns Bea Crane, a floundering twenty-two-year old who learns in a deathbed confession letter that she was adopted at birth. Bea is in Boothbay Harbor to surreptitiously observe her biological mother, Veronica Russo–something of a legend in town–who Bea might not be ready to meet, after all.

Veronica, a thirty-eight-year-old diner waitress famous for her “healing” pies, has come home to Maine to face her past. But when she’s hired as an Extra on the bustling movie set, she wonders if she’s hiding from the truth . . . and perhaps the opportunity of a real life Mr. Darcy.

These three women will discover more than they ever imagined in this coastal Maine town, buzzing with hopes of Colin Firth. Even the conjecture of his arrival inspires daydreams, amplifies complicated lives, and gives incentive to find their own romantic endings.

Learn about The Meryl Streep Movie Club, Simon & Schuster, June 2012

In the bestselling tradition of The Friday Night Knitting Club and The Jane Austen Book Club, three women find unexpected answers, happiness, and one another with Meryl Streep movies as their inspiration.

Two sisters and the cousin they grew up with after a tragedy are summoned home to their family matriarch’s inn on the coast of Maine for a shocking announcement. Suddenly, Isabel, June, and Kat are sharing the attic bedroom–and barely speaking. But when innkeeper Lolly asks them to join her and the guests in the parlor for weekly Movie Night–it’s Meryl Streep month–they find themselves sharing secrets, talking long into the night–and questioning everything they thought they knew about life, love, and one another.

Each woman sees her complicated life reflected through the magic of cinema: Isabel’s husband is having an affair, and an old pact may keep her from what she wants most . . . June has promised her seven-year-old son that she’ll somehow find his father, who he’s never known . . . and Kat is ambivalent about accepting her lifelong best friend’s marriage proposal. Through everything, Lolly has always been there for them, and now Isabel, June, Kat–and Meryl–must be there for her. Finding themselves. Finding each other. Finding a happy ending.

I asked Mia three questions about our giveaway’s theme topic, self-expression:

1. Is self-expression an important part of your life today, why or why not?

Self-expression has always been–and will always be–a huge part of my life. As the mother of a ten-year-old boy, I’m watching my son just beginning to uncover who he is, what he believes in, what he feels, what he loves and doesn’t love, and how he feels about putting that all out there. I’m watching self-expression blossom right before my eyes in the biggest and smallest of ways. I love that he’s in chorus and band and involved with theater, that he gets up there on stage with such joy.

I love that he tries to wear the same black skull-decorated cargo pants to school every single day. I love when he says, “Mom, thanks for the advice, but I’m doing it my way.” Letting my son know that he’s a great kid just as he is, that he should embrace everything that makes him who he is, feels like my very job.

2. What does self-expression mean to you and how do you do it in the world?

As a writer, self-expression is everything. To me, it means putting out there how I view the world, how I view life, love, relationships, myself. What I strive for, what I wish for. What I think. Who I am. It’s in my facial expression, my hair, my clothes, the way I greet a stranger while walking my dog. It’s in my emails. It’s in my vote. The choices I make. And, of course, it’s in my work as a fiction writer.

Sometimes without even realizing it, I put every bit of who I am into my novels, into my characters, into my plots, my subplots, my ideas. It’s woven into every line, every thought, often in ways I can’t identify.

3. How does your self-expression impact the world—your family, your friends, your readers, and everyone else?

My novels have let those who know me know me a little better because I do put so much of myself and how I view the world into my work. But I often receive emails from readers who want to know which of my characters I’m most like, and I have to tell them that I’m not really like any of them, that my characters and my worlds and my sentences, the lingering thoughts, are all tiny pieces of me, pieces of everything I am.

My self-expression is the whole. I love that I can put myself out there via writing fiction.

It’s amazing to me that one of the most solitary of pursuits ends up being such a public thing. Every time I read a book, I always feel like the author has invited me into his or her world, his or her world view. I love that.

And Now, Your Turn…

You remember how this works right?

Please read the complete rules at least once!

I ask you a question.

You answer in the comments for your chance to win a book each day.

Please just respond once, even if you make a typo.

Answer in the comments in 50-200 words (no less and no more to qualify to win one of today’s books).

Who is your favorite actress or actor and why? Which are your favorite performances? And what question or questions would you ask this person, if you could?

Ready, set, comment! I will hold the drawing tomorrow and post the results here in my blog.

Thanks for participating in the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway!

And thanks for spreading the word. We will be giving away great books by wonderful women authors all month.

View the complete list of authors and books.

View the giveaway Pinterest board.