Five tips for first-time author book promotion
I am three months away from publication of my memoir, Under the Birch Tree, published by She Writes Press. To be honest, I feel as though I’m hurrying up to wait. While indulging in the need to be doing something, I absorb social media, from Facebook to Pinterest and all media in between. I take notice of my fellow authors’ posts, their follower numbers, how their posts engage. I read books about online marketing and the business of being a writer. I’m so jazzed about finally getting my book out there that I’ve become [...]
the happiness connection
Happiness. We seek it; we covet it. There are endless number of books about it, how to get it, what it means, where to find it. From professors to psychologists, to doctors and yogis and anyone in between, someone has a suggestion about how to find it. Each of us has our own way to secure happiness. Some may read books where countless authors write about it. I recently saw a book that is a practical step-by-step guide to help focus the mind, improve performance and be happy. Methods and [...]
finding your compass
Memories of growing up in a north suburb of Chicago remain vivid with me today. In my memoir, Under the Birch Tree, due out in June, I recall my little-girl self’s life in my small town of Deerfield, growing up in the neighborhood of Colony Point, and on Carlisle Avenue where my home, a “red brick colonial was the unspoiled suburban backdrop in membership with other two-story houses which sat like gems on their velvet green lawns set with oak and maple trees and manicured hedges,” Connections of home are [...]
from dark to light: home
International Holocaust Remembrance Day was yesterday. I fine-tuned an essay I wrote a few years ago and discovered a few reflective thoughts running parallel with my theme in my memoir, Under the Birch Tree. I hope you take a moment to read my personal account of remembrance. Sometimes I see my world as segregated, either black or white. My tidy thinking and tendency to categorize allows me to understand and to make sense of things. But segregation is unrealistic because there is gray, the gray of neutrality, of not being on [...]
Why i wrote a memoir
One August afternoon in 1967, Mom dressed me in a navy dress, patterned in tiny white polka dots, with an appliqué of paintbrushes and an artist’s palette in primary colors at the hem, and a white Peter Pan collar around my neck. White anklet socked feet, fitting snuggly into blood-red Mary Janes, anchored my chubby legs. While standing at attention in front of my house’s picture window with my feet together and my hands folded in front, I posed with my heels brushing against the yellow marigolds in full bloom [...]
connecting: an opportunity for growth
“I have a confession to make . . .” my substitute yoga teacher said last week at the beginning of class. Her tight face admitted guilt, matching her sheepish eyes. “My kids have been home on break and . . . I haven’t practiced yoga all week. Until this morning, when I came to my mat to prepare for this class.” Her face relaxed as her eyes grew wide open. “Connecting to my practice was refreshing and grounding. I felt more aware, present, even calmer . . . happier.” In [...]
connecting to my writing by disconnecting to it
New Year resolutions come and go. They are made with a vengeance, fade mid-year and then are soon forgotten. The many resolutions I see and read, in print, on broadcast, in the stratosphere of the internet, once private, are made public with an outpouring of mind, body and soul. Most resolve to lose weight, eat better, perhaps make peace and be kinder. We resolve to disconnect from the bad to connect with good, to place our minds, bodies and spirit in better places. We want to feel that comfortable spot, [...]
darkness to light: connecting to home
Religious faiths such as Judaism, Muslim, and Christianity have more in common than not, especially when it comes to their holiest time of the year. This is not an observation that speaks to deep theological meanings, or the study of Gods, but rather speaks simply to humankind, of connecting to one another. Whether Christmas, Hanukkah, or the Qu’ran is observed, we connect through faith in personal ways. And there’s not a more powerful way to connect than when coming together in faith-based communities in religious observation. It is a time [...]