A Year of Blogging- My Blog’s a year old!

Today my blog, Traveling With T, turned a year old. It’s been a crazy, fun, wild, frustrating, challenging year. But, and here’s the key: It’s been so worth it. Fulfilling. Enjoyable.

When I started Traveling With T, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I wanted a blog where I could write about experiences- local restaurants, book signings, events. I wanted some anonymity, I wanted a title that was catchy, but didn’t pigeonhole me- one that I could discuss different things; but still with a focus.

I didn’t start the blog because I had a burning desire to be a writer (although, I have much respect for writers). I’ve thought over the last few years that someone publishing my thoughts from the pitfalls of guys using emoticons in texts, to the art of the road trip, to why being a nail polish namer has to be an interesting job (plus much, much, much more) would make for an interesting book- but I’ve never really had a burning desire to write for a living.

When I was a kid, I used to read Ann M. Martin books, Francine Pascal and more. Reading these books, I always thought it would be so nice to get to meet the people behind the books I loved. But, a small-town girl, states and hours away from these authors never did get a chance to meet them. As I grew up, I put the idea out of my head- reading was not cool (even though I secretly read in high school). The older I got, the more I realized reading was a part of me- it was something I needed. With social media, I can chat with authors, learn about book signings and more. Going to a book signing is the best kind of fun. Proud to report that I’ve been to several book signings over the past year- and I love each and every one.

Part of the reason I started blogging is that while I don’t have burning desire to be a writer/author- I do have a strong desire to be around the writer types. To hear where they get inspiration, to see their works comes to life. To be able to sit down with them- with total wide eyed innocence and discuss the things I love, dislike, and more about their books. An author has a creative energy that I adore being around- a creative energy that fills a place in my heart and life. An author gives me something to think about, something to ponder deeply and maybe even creatively for days, weeks. When I’m around an author-type person, I feel like I’m the best version of myself- the bright, inquisitive person- the person who is fully validated because she is with people who speak a language that she loves. I feel smarter, brighter, almost Wonder Woman-ish.

There have been times over the past year that I thought of just deleting my blog. It seemed like it wasn’t going anywhere, some days it wasn’t even fun. But, slowly, I began to get followers- and then I became involved with She Reads Blog Network- and that for me was all the validation I needed to continue. While, I don’t think I started the blog with the full on intention to review books completely- being able to review books is something I find pleasure in. It’s back to that whole “books fill a place in me, in my creative part”.

My desire for myself and my blog:

1. Host giveaways. I promote other blog giveaways, but have never had one at Traveling With T. 2013 will be the year that changes.

2. Continue to review books. Fiction, #southernlit, cozies and more.

3. To one day, be more involved in the process of an author’s life. A publicist, perhaps? To be more involved in the work of an author from the beginning of the process to the end would be very fulfilling.

On today, as my blog turns a year old- a heartfelt “Thank You” to my followers, the people who “like”, retweet, and share my blog posts. Without you, my blog would be floating around in the internet. Each time you like something I write- I”m reminded of the Sally Field “You Like me! You Really Like Me!”

To MVBClub- thanks for letting me guest blog, for being an inspiration and a sounding board. xoxo

To Melinda McGuire- thank you for letting me guest blog about Oxford and Faulkner- you’re the best!

To Deep South Magazine- thank you for every RT, every comment and more. My appreciation for you is beyond words.

To authors (Erika Marks, Erika Robuck, Nichole Bernier, Michael Lee West, Meg Donohue, Jenn McKinlay, Cleo Coyle,Lucy Burdette,Robin O’Bryant, Claire Cook, Mia March, Sarah Jio, Michael Morris, Peggy Sweeney-McDonald, Megan Abbott) Thank you for your books. For taking time out of your schedules to tweet with me, to call in for book clubs. Thank you for writing great books and books that I anticipate being great.

To She Reads, She Reads Blog Network, and Kimberly Brock- I’m so overcome with happiness for being able to be part of She Reads. Thank you- Thank You- Thank You. Being able to be a part of this great group just makes me feel all sparkly and happy. Honored to be a part of a such a sparkly wonderful group.

To authors everywhere: Even if I don’t know you- you inspire me. To the dreamers, the people with the imaginations and creativity, to the ones who have the desire, drive and determination to write a book: Never change. Keep writing. Keep inspiring people. Write not just because you can; but because you can’t live in a world that’s without your writing.

Best,

Traveling With T

PS: A special thank you to Ann M. Martin, Judy Blume, Francine Pascal and the Nancy Drew books: without your books, I might not be the reader I am today. Beyond grateful for the love of reading the books you’ve written that has instilled a love of reading in me. “Thank you” seems so inadequate- but that’s all I have to say.

Literary Friday ya’ll….

Friday- end of the month. Tomorrow is December 1- which means 24 days till Christmas day. So line up those pictures with Santa, listen to some Christmas music, and enjoy the holiday season.

1. Deep South Magazine took last week off from their #literayfriday post due to the holidays-but is back up and running for this week. Included in today’s #literaryfriday is how to donate a new or used book to victims of Hurricane Sandy, a review of The Cutting Season (a book on DSM Fall/Winter Reading List), links to the “Best of 2012” book lists, and news that Robin O’Bryant’s Ketchup is a Vegetable: And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves is 99 cents for November 30, 2012 (TODAY Only!)

2.Robin O’Bryant– author of Ketchup Is A Vegetable has been hosting giveaways all week to say “Happy Birthday, Ketchup!” If you haven’t won a giveaway, have rotten luck, dislike Facebook- whatever the reason-do not despair- Robin’s book Ketchup is 99 cents today! Sit back with a copy of Ketchup is Vegetable, a glass of wine and prepare to laugh until you cry!

3. Tomorrow, December 1, at Lemuria Books- Peggy Sweeney-McDonald will be signing copies of Meanwhile, Back at Cafe Du Monde: Life Stories about Food. I plan on attending and will be doing a blog post about the event later next week.

4. What are you reading for #fridayreads? I’m reading Peach of a Murder by Livia J. Washburn. Not just loving it, but attempting to give it a fair shake!

5. I just finished Broken Harbor by Tana French- and while from the jacket cover description I expected to LOVE it, I was at times not loving it. It took some turns that I wasn’t digging. But, it was still a pretty good book. If you’ve read Broken Harbor, let’s discuss!

6.December 1-8 is Cozy Mystery Week! If cozy mysteries are your type of books- then join Jenn’s Bookshelves for Cozy Mystery Week! Cozy Mystery Reviews will also be celebrating Cozy Mystery Week- giveaways, recipes, authors dropping by!

7. If you’re a fan of Cleo Coyle Coffeehouse Mystery Books (like I am!) the wait for the newest book in the series is not much longer! December 4 Holiday Buzz will be released! Yay!

8. Be sure and stop by She Reads today- Man in the Blue Moon is being discussed all day over there!

9. Oh and if you love Pinterest (and come on- who doesn’t?) check out Deep South Mag’s Pinterest page!

Happy Reading!

Thankfulness…..

I’m not doing the whole Facebook “Day #: I’m thankful for these things”- not because I don’t believe that it’s a good idea, but mainly because the people who really know me already know the things that I’m thankful for. But for the people who read my blog- you may not know some of the things I’m thankful for- so here goes:

1. Books- without books (whether it’s real books or e-books) a world without books would be a sad place.

2. Photos- I’m the girl with the camera. Always. I take tons of pictures. Why? Because one day- when I’m sitting around in elderly years I want to be able to look back and see the proof that life rocked. Maybe it wasn’t always all glittery and sunshine, rainbows and unicorns- but hopefully the pics will show that life was good more than it wasn’t.

3. Journals- I don’t keep one in particular, I have a few different that I write in. 99% of what I blog, tweet, facebook, etc about is ME. The real me. The me that I want to be recognized, understood, loved, etc- however; there are times when I need a place to write that only I’ll see. Maybe self-doubt is creeping in, maybe I’m unsure if anyone will understand- but mostly I worry that someone will dismiss my thoughts/worries. This is when a journal comes in handy.

4. Erin from Deep South Mag. Ever since she started following me tweets from my first SPQ wkend, a great twitter friendship has formed. When I finally got to meet her over the summer- it was so weird putting a face to a person that I’ve “known” for over 2 years. Erin- thank you for all you have done- the encouragement with my blog, book recommendations, and more. xoxo

5. Robin O’Bryant- could be considered at the center of much good news. Through her, I found out about Joshilyn Jackson coming to Turnrow Books for luncheon book signing. So I went- got to meet Joshilyn Jackson and Robin O’Bryant- then the girl sitting beside me started talking- her name was Keetha and surprise- we live in neighboring towns. Finding someone that lived near me to talk books with was nice- then joining Keetha and her book club worked out even better. Keetha introduced me to Books on the Nightstand podcasts, and told me about Booktopia in Oxford. So I signed up and met even more ladies who rock: Dawn, Michelle, Jana, Cathy, Jennifer, and Suzanne (these are just a few of the wonderful Booktopia people I met). Not to mention the Booktopia authors- Susan Gregg Gilmore and Ellen F. Brown are tops in my book for how they acted towards me and the sweet gift they gave me! But back to Robin being at the epicenter of this- after seeing Robin rave about Kimberly Brock’s book The River Witch- I knew I had to read it-and we started following each other on Twitter. Which led to me getting to know her and becoming part of She Reads Blog Network- and finding another group of people to talk books with.

5. Various authors such as Erika Marks, Erika Robuck,Nichole Bernier Jenn McKinlay, Lucy Burdette, Cleo Coyle, and Alison Pace. xoxo to all you ladies for responding to social media, for writing great books- books that make you think, transport you to another time, a book that is like a warm and cozy sweater- just makes you feel good and happy.

6. Deidre (aka Yankeefan2975) a Twitter friend that is up to date on Days of Our Lives, books and movies. She makes the Twitter fun!

7. Naturally, family and true friends 🙂 They make life good!

8. Zeke, my beautiful dog. He was great, he loved me and he instinctively knew when a hug or doggy grin was needed to brighten the day. I still miss him every day; but at least not as much as I did when he first passed away.

xoxo

Confessions and Giveaways…

With so many great bloggers out in the internet world, finding and reading them can be hard. I’d been hearing for sometime about this one blogger- Jen of People I Want to Punch in the Throat- but for multiple reasons had not made it to her blog to see what the fuss was about. Even after Robin O’Bryant- the author of the humorous Ketchup is a Vegetable: And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves– I still meant to read Jen’s blog, but just had not. Yesterday, though, Robin posts a link to Jen’s book Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat and I bought it for 2 reasons: 1. becasue it was 99 cents! and 2. Becasue I’d been meaning to check her out, and I adore people who can be real about the holidays (because let’s face it: if there isn’t at least 1 person at your holiday get together that you don’t want to punch in the throat- then you must be on some good meds or have the tolerance of a saint- I’m just saying.) So back to the book- bought it, begin reading it, loving it. The story of the McDonald’s toy was worth the 99 cents alone! Also included is the story of Elf on the Shelf that went viral and made Jen a big deal- while I don’t have the Elf on the Shelf (no kids)- I can feel the pain of the mom’s who have to deal with the Elf.

Currently, Spending Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat is still 99 cents- it’s a Black Friday special- so I’ll assume that at the end of Cyber Monday, the price will go back to original. Do yourself a favor- buy this book. Have a laugh. The holidays are coming up y’know- having something funny in your life will make any holiday dysfuncion seem so much easier to handle.

For the giveaways, back to Robin O’Bryant. Her book Ketchup is a Vegetable:And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves turns a year old this week. So Happy Birthday, Ketchup! In honor of the birthday and becasue Robin is just that kind of nice- she’s giving away 10 copies of Ketchup this week on her Facebook page- go “like” her for more details about the giveaways. Also, one day this week she plans on Ketchup being marked down to a low, low, low price- the book is hysterically funny- Robin’s got a way with words- and the stories about the girls; well they are great. Robin is the kind of person you want to be BFF with if you have kids or even are thinking of having them!

Ketchup is Vegetable: And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves is book that mom’s to be should read, women getting married should probably be given it as well. Even single girls find it funny (I loved it!)

A quick wrap up of other thoughts:

1. Reading Tana French’s Broken Harbor– I’d been loving it, then some chapters started to drag, and back to loving it (I think)- There is a section of the storyline that if it does not get resolved in the good way or becomes very relevant to the storyline- I’m not going to be pleased. Overall, I’ve been enjoying the book, though.

2. Read Notorious Nineteen yesterday. Not bad, however, nowhere as near as good as the first several of the Stephanie Plum series. At this point- even though I’m a Cupcake fan- I don’t care who she picks. I feel that the series either needs a big shake-up or ending.

3. A Peach of a Murder by Livia J. Washburn- a gift from my brother- he picks out different cozy books for me to read as part of my birthday gifts. Usually he has good taste- he’s introduced me to Cleo Coyle and others- this one, though, is dragging. Will finish it, but can’t say that I’ll pick another in series.

Social Media and Authors- good together?

I tweet like nobody’s business. I tweet about books, daily events, great restaurants, upcoming events- and a million more things. I tweet about TV shows, I tweet certain lines from books- I tweet! If I like you, like your book, show, event- I’ll tweet and spread the word (don’t get the wrong idea- if I don’t like you, I don’t sabotage- I’m just really kind to things I like!)

I’m not a writer, really, in any shape, form, or fashion. Tweeting was my blog (limited to 140 characters) before I decided to take the plunge and join the blog world. Blogging has been a fun way to write about different events and books that I’m loving, currently looking forward, or am re-reading.

I also enjoy posing a question for the people reading this- so today’s question is: Social Media and Authors- a good mix like peanut butter and chocolate or a terrible idea like dialing while intoxicated?

I’ve been thinking on it and I’ve got some ideas:

I think social media, for new authors, especially is probably a good idea- if used correctly. You should use it to connect to fans, to connect to would-be fans. Hosting a giveaway is never a bad idea (people LOVE free books). Hosting a giveaway where you’ll buy the book from the nearest independent bookseller is even better idea (Thanks, Hallie Sawyer!)

I think fans like to connect with authors they admire or enjoy their books.

The bad side of social media- as I’ve said, I’m in no way a “writer”. I also don’t work for a publishing house. Maybe it’s because I tweet about books a lot- but I get MANY follows from self-publishing authors- and while I respect that writing is hard, it’s some of those people that give pause to other authors trying to decide if and how to use social media to their advantage.

I’m curious to hear thoughts on this subject- and also do you think established authors should jump on social media train or is for the newly established and trying to get established?

Last thought on social media- you start following an author, see them tweeting with fans- so you try to interact and never hear any interaction from them? Chalk it up to their being exceptionally busy? Leave a bitter taste in your mouth? Would social media, in this instance, be harmful to the author (maybe you won’t recommend book to friends)?

Finally, a shout-out to 3 debut authors that I think are using social media to their advantage AND gaining fans/attention all along the way : Kimberly Brock The River Witch, Erika Marks Little Gale Gumbo, and Robin O’Bryant Ketchup is a Vegetable: And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves. Well done, ladies!

Meeting Joshilyn Jackson 1-31-2012

Today I had the pleasure of going to Turnrow Books in Greenwood, MS to meet Joshilyn Jackson. Turnrow had a luncheon/book signing today for her. I walk in and buy my book- first the book cover is intriguing. It shows a young woman in a vintage dress- green gingham printed. At her waist, you see a green apple- with a slice of apple missing. While, you cannot see the young girl’s face, it almost seems that this young girl is a beautiful girl- from her dress-style, especially. But the apple- the apple hints at something that is not obvious to a person looking at the book for the first time- however, when you hear the explanation of Joshilyn Jackson- the apple makes perfect sense.

Today’s lunch was shrimp and grits- and it was quite a delight for me- because it was my first time to eat shrimp and grits. Or maybe everything tasted so delicious because I got to sit and eat lunch with both Joshilyn Jackson (A Grown Up Kind of Pretty) and Robin O’Bryant (Ketchup is a Vegetable: And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves). Both of these ladies are smart, personable, funny, endearing, and entertaining.

Listening to Joshilyn speak as we were eating lunch was an amazing experience. She spoke of the books she currently writes as her boyfriend, her great love, but after the book is published- it’s more like an old boyfriend. She wishes it well and hopes the book goes on to have a good life. When asked if any of her books is in talks to being turned into a movie, she was quite honest that these talks do happen, but so far; nothing has happened in the movie world. Listening to her speak about book to movie option, it seems that she has a real understanding of the process- that she would be excited if a movie would happen, but will not let a movie not happening bother her, either.

Even though it was Joshilyn Jackson’s book signing- Robin O’Bryant was there to support a fellow author. Having missed the opportunity to meet Robin at a previous book signing at Turnrow a couple of months ago, I was excited to find that she would also be in attendance. I’d read her Ketchup is a Vegetable:And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves on my Kindle a few weeks ago, and really enjoyed the book. Found it to be quite funny- even hysterical at times. The cover art and the title was a draw to me- the title sounded like a Celia Rivenbark book (I personally enjoy her brand of humor)- so I decided to give Robin’s book a try. It’s a decision I did not regret (nor do I think you would regret, either). I picked up a copy of the book for Robin to personalize for me (which she graciously did- also posed for a picture with me).

Today was a good day- meeting 2 different authors, being able to add 2 new signed books to my collection and also add more pictures to my collection of photos with authors.

To learn more about Joshilyn Jackson- follow her on Twitter- @joshilynjackson. For Robin O’Bryant, follow her on Twitter @robinobryant. To hear of upcoming book signings or to buy signed copies of books, check out Turnrow Books at http://www.turnrowbooks.com