GENRE: Humorous Essays
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BLURB:
Christmas comes but once a year; chaos never ends! Happy Halloween, merry Christmas and joyful Lumpy Rug Day. That’s real, by the way.
Lumpy Rug Day is celebrated every May 3, though “celebrated” might be too strong a word.
It’s the American way to create a celebration for everything, then turn it into a chore or worse, a nightmare.
’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate is a collection of humorous essays about how we let our expectations steal the joy out of Christmas and other holidays and special events.
It’s understanding for those who think Christmas form letters can be honest—or they can be interesting.
And it’s empathy for anyone who’s ever gotten poison ivy during Nude Recreation Week or eaten all their Halloween candy and had to hand out instant oatmeal packets to their trick-or-treaters.
Excerpt:
Excerpt from Essay: The First Year of the Rest of Your Life
… I’ve studied the topic of New Year’s resolutions. And from my extensive research, I’ve gleaned the following tips for keeping them:
1.Write them down. The simple act of putting your resolutions on paper will make them seem more doable and make you feel more committed to them.
Also, if you fail you’ll have your list ready when it comes time to make resolutions next year.
2.Frame your resolutions in a positive way. For example, instead of saying “next year I will stop being a couch potato,” say “Next year, I will become a couch asparagus, which has fewer carbohydrates.”
3.Don’t let setbacks discourage you. If you fall off the wagon get right back in the saddle! Tomorrow’s another day. Never say die. Then next year resolve to stop using clichés.
4.Keep a journal of your progress. It could look something like this. January 1: I resolve to walk the dog daily.
This is going to be so fun! January 2: Spotty and I walked four blocks. We are bonding and getting fit at the same time!
Tomorrow we’ll do five. January 3: Spotty and I walked four blocks again. It’s okay once we’re walking but I hate getting up early. January 4: Spotty and I walked just two blocks today.
It’s so cold this time of year. January 5: I forgot to walk Spotty. January 6: Spotty isn’t my dog. We got him for the kids. Let them walk him.
Giveaway
The author will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.
About The Author:
Dorothy Rosby is an author humor columnist whose work regularly appears in publications throughout the West and Midwest.
Her humor writing has been recognized by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, the National Federation of Press Women and the South Dakota Newspaper Association.
In 2022 she was named the global winner in the Erma Bombeck Writers Competition in the humor writing category. She’s the author of four books of humorous essays.
Website: https://dorothyrosby.com/
https://www.facebook.com/rosbydorothy
https://www.goodreads.com/dorothyrosby
https://www.instagram.com/dorothyrosby
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578295520
Audible https://www.audible.com/pd/Tis-the-Season-to-Feel-Inadequate-Audiobook/B0CBW57GYM
Author Guest Post:
Topic: Tips for new authors
URL: https://www.ellwynautumn.com/ellwyn-autumns-blog/
The number one piece of advice I’d give new authors is to believe in yourself. You will get many rejections, and if you don’t I hate you. Not really!
What I meant to say is, if you don’t get rejections, you’re probably not submitting enough.
But as an author, you have to have an unshakeable belief that you’re good and getting better at what you do no matter who tells you otherwise.
You can pout now and then. You can even fall into despair for a day or so. But you can never give up.
But the “getting better” part of that statement is as important as the “belief that you’re good” part.
And maybe more important. Consider the comments or criticisms you get about your book. You can dismiss them if they have no merit. But you may be able to learn something from them.
Secondly, I’d say network. Of course, the most important thing you can do as a writer is to write. But if you want what you write to be read, there is so much to learn.
The members of a supportive writers group may have knowledge about your particular genre, marketing, publishing and the business of writing that you can draw on.
They also understand you and can support you in a way you’re nonwriting friends and family cannot.
Writers conferences provide learning opportunities in all of the topics I just mentioned.
Plus they give you the chance to meet agents and publishers as well as other writers who can partner with you down the road.
I’ve written book blurbs for many authors I met at conferences and others have done the same for me.
My work is included in anthologies published by writers I’ve met at conferences.
We buy each other’s books and write Amazon reviews of each other’s books. And we share knowledge and follow each other on social media.
Having said all of that, I have to add that it’s easy to spend a lot of time doing writing-related things that aren’t actually writing. It’s definitely a balance.
