Monday, November 7, 2016

Mailbox Monday - Nov 7



Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists.

Happy Monday! I just realized that before too long I'll be using the winter mailbox photo for these posts. In October we had our first snow of the season. A bit early for my taste, but the first snow is always magical.

Life has been busy. I entered into a six-week coaching program for my real estate business. There are two weeks left and it's definitely helped me get focused and prepared for 2017.

I'm also super excited that my next book, Macaroni and Cheese for Thanksgiving, is off to the printer soon. The talented Marina Movshina provided the artwork for my third book. Check out ths cover spread.



Pump Up Your Book will be handling the online book tour. I'll let you know when the tour page goes live. I would be so grateful if some of you would consider reviewing this book at your blogs. 

The big news around here is that we are now blessed to be the parents of two teenage girls.

How our Lil' Princess went from this....


to this...


so quickly, is amazing.

Where has the time gone?


Lil' Diva and Lil' Princess (2004)


Lil' Diva and Lil' Princess (2016)

As far as books go, I haven't requested as many as I used to because my reading time is so limited these days. I reviewed Christmas at Promise Lodge by Charlotte Hubbard and Joshua's Mission by Vannetta Chapman in October.

Susan Lerner sent me a copy of her short non-fiction book, The Journal Project, which I am reading right now.


Everyone loves a great story and tales of family life have a special resonance. Keeping a journal of family stories will bring you joy, benefit your children, and leave an invaluable record of your unique family for future generations.

No one can keep a journal for you; it has to come from you, in your own voice. But it is not difficult to do.

This book discusses why you should keep a record of family stories, ways to incorporate journaling into your routine, and how and where to journal. It will encourage you to take the first step and the rest will follow.

We are all storytellers. Keep a record of your stories. You will be glad that you did.

Hank, a former client of mine, sent me this boxed set.


The goal of self-publishing a book is to produce a quality book package to hold your content. Despite what you read on the internet, self-publishing isn’t easy. There is a lot involved in understanding the self-publishing process and it is quite easy to self-publish a book the wrong way.

This boxed set of ebooks explains the self-publishing process and much more.

There are four ebooks in the set.

* Self-publishing a Book: describes a process to get a book published.
* Marketing Plans for Self-published Books: covers basic book marketing strategy and tactics.
* Manage Your Self-publishing Project: Uses a project management approach to graphically illustrate the dual, simultaneous processes of publishing and marketing your book.
* Business Basics for Authors: provides an understanding of the business issues facing new authors.
The boxed set provides the new author with a solid grounding in the self-publishing process and associated issues.

Yet another potential problem is this. The internet swarms with scam artists searching for new authors who may not have a complete understanding of the ins-and-outs of publishing and marketing. The scammers are after the author’s money and use slick websites to mislead the author. The more the new author knows about publishing and marketing, the less likely he is to fall prey to these scam artists.

The Complete Self-publishing Guide boxed set is much less expensive than buying the four books individually.

My oldest sister and I attended a local production of Little Women the Musical. That prompted my renewed interest in Little Women and Louisa May Alcott, so I grabbed this audio book from the library when I saw it.


Since its release nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, Louisa May Alcott's classic Little Women has been a mainstay in American literature, while passionate Jo March and her calm, beloved "Marmee" have shaped generations of young women. Biographers have consistently credited her father, Bronson Alcott, for Louisa's professional success, assuming that this outspoken idealist was the source of her progressive thinking and remarkable independence.

But in this riveting dual biography, Eve LaPlante explodes those myths, drawing on unknown and unexplored letters and journals to show that Louisa's "Marmee," Abigail May Alcott, was in fact the intellectual and emotional center of her daughter's world. It was Abigail who urged Louisa to write, who inspired many of her stories, and who gave her the support and courage she needed to pursue her unconventional path. Abigail, long dismissed as a quiet, self-effacing companion to her famous husband and daughter, is revealed here as a politically active feminist firebrand, a fascinating thinker in her own right. Examining family papers, archival documents, and diaries thought to have been destroyed, LaPlante paints an exquisitely moving and utterly convincing portrait of a woman decades ahead of her time—and the fiercely independent daughter who was both inspired and restricted by her mother's dreams of freedom.

A story guaranteed to turn all previous scholarship on its head, Marmee and Louisa is a gorgeously written and deeply felt biography of two extraordinary women as well as a key to our understanding of Louisa May Alcott's life and work.

I also downloaded some Kindle freebies over the last few weeks.





That's it for me this week. I hope the mail carrier was good to you. Enjoy your week.

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