Book Reviews and You

Posted on June 2, 2008 by moonbridgebooks

Ever since I wrote my mother’s story, Cherry Blossoms in Twilight, I love to read other people’s memoirs written for either children or adults…Red Scarf Girl, Christmas at Long Lake, Three Dog Night. I also love to write reviews on Amazon to help others decide whether a book would be of interest to them, and I usually only write reviews for lesser known books (who needs 101 reviews of Water for Elephants?). Doing reviews is fun, and it also hones the writing skills because not only can you practice thoughtful and concise writing, you are forced to think about the strong and weak points of a story, what you liked and didn’t like about the writing. There is actually an art to good book reviewing…and that involves more than how NOT to reveal too much of the plot!

June is “Book Reviewing Month” at Blogcritics Magazine . To promote the release of The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing, author Mayra Calvani will be interviewing 15 review site moderators during the month of June (At Blogcritics, click on Books and look for Mayra’s articles). I will be excited to learn more about the business of book reviewing and hear from some of the most popular reviewers on the internet today. Guests will include big names in the reviewing world: Alex Moore from ForeWord Magazine, James Cox from Midwest Book Review, Irene Watson from Reader Views, Andrea Sisco from Armchair Interviews, Sharyn McGinty from In The Library Reviews, Lea Schizas from Muse Book Reviews, and many others. To see the complete lineup, visit: The Slippery Book Review Blog.

Stop by Blogcritics during the month of June and leave a comment under the reviewer interviews for a chance to win a Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tour (coordinated by book marketing guru Dorothy Thompson), OR, for a non-author winner, a $50 B&N gift certificate! I’ll be checking in regularly.

Linda Austin
“Cherry Blossoms in Twilight”
http://www.moonbridgebooks.com
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Bedtime Stories

Posted on May 29, 2008 by moonbridgebooks

My daughter and I often read together at bedtime. Doesn’t everyone do this with their young children? It’s a great time to share of each other and cuddle and enjoy a good book to boot. When my girls were younger, I sang to them as well – not just “Rock-a-By-Baby” but songs like “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” and “My Funny Valentine.” I even made up a song for my oldest when she was a baby and would rock her to sleep with it.

My youngest daughter would ask me to make up stories, but not being a good fiction writer I usually stuck with real-life stories of my childhood. One night, though, I hit the jackpot. The story I made up was one to be repeated over and over. Since I wrote Cherry Blossoms, my daughter now thinks I should publish this bedtime story.

Have you ever made up a song or story for your kids? Have you written it down or otherwise recorded it? My dad cherishes the memory of his father telling him a made-up story about a rabbit. Your family might really enjoy reading your story or hearing that song you created, simple or silly as you might think it to be.

Author and mom Kim McDougall Chatel brought this idea to fruition. As she tells Mayra Calvani in an interview on Blogcritics, “One evening during a storm, my daughter couldn’t sleep. I started a game with her that would last for years. I gave her a dream. This funny story was something she could latch onto while she tried to sleep and I told her to finish it in her dreams.”

From this original bedtime story, Kim created an adorable children’s book called Rainbow Sheep, about a sad rainbow so cheered by a little shepherd girl that he cries colorful tears of joy that land on the sheep and turn them into rainbow shades. She also used her talents with fiber art to make little sheep “teased” out of wool which she then used to illustrate her book. Her daughter now has her bedtime story permanently captured along with the artistry of her mother. Now that is a family heirloom!

Linda Austin
“Cherry Blossoms in Twilight”
http://www.moonbridgebooks.com
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Writing Your Stress Away

Posted on May 23, 2008 by moonbridgebooks

Howard Butcher, associate professor of nursing and a researcher at the University of Iowa, is doing a study to find whether writing can help relieve the stress of caregivers of dementia patients. I think he is looking for me (my mother now has severe short-term memory loss). Butcher found in previous studies that writing can have psychological and physical health benefits after only three 20-minute sessions. This is not news to those who practice journaling.

You may have heard that writing down one’s thoughts, feelings and experiences can help us deal with unpleasant situations or events, even trauma. There are different kinds of therapeutic writing, but good spelling, grammar or writing technique are unnecessary and besides the point which is to let the feelings rush out past the floodgates and onto the paper where they can sort themselves out better. If you are looking just for stress relief, you don’t even have to read what you write! Some may call this therapy, some may call it “venting,” but most of us know how good it feels to “vent.” (Just a thought – if you don’t want anyone else to read what you write, toss your notes in the fireplace afterwards, shred them or keep them under lock and key.)

Anyone who is caring for a relative or friend with any serious memory-loss condition is welcome to visit http://swee.iowa.uiowa.edu or call 1-319-335-7039 to participate in Butcher’s study.

Linda Austin
“Cherry Blossoms in Twilight”
http://www.moonbridgebooks.com
Posted in journal, writing | 4 Comments