links and rain

So the rain this week hasn't let me do my very minor act of guerilla publicity, but I have tried to follow Darcy Pattison's lead and do the things she suggested on her site, which cannot be cancelled due to bad weather.

Day 1 was word of mouth day. Tell a friend about a book, Darcy said. I decided to tell my friend L about Sara Lewis Holmes' book Operation Yes. The book is about a class of military kids, always on the move with their families, and their very special teacher in Room 208. I'd mentioned it to L back before it was even called "Operation Yes." But I hadn't followed up because L and her kids had moved to Ohio with her military husband. I vowed to track her down, spent the morning looking for her email, didn't find it, and took my kids to their first day of school. And in the lobby I saw... L! She had just moved back to Virginia. So I told her about Sara's book in person. And later, when I got her new e-mail address, I sent her the link to Sara's website and blog.

Day 2 was Write a Review Day. The idea was to write for Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, etc. I am normally not a fan of those reviews, in part because everyone seems to give reviews written by Joe and Jane Public the same weight they give reviews from magazines and blogs. Which goes back to my feelings about newspapers, and how people now feel like they can provide their own news better than reporters. Which goes back to my feelings about how people comment, rudely about newspaper articles, because they are allowed to be anonymous. Which goes back to my seething feelings about a certain representative from South Carolina, who feels he is entitled to make an already low bar for civility even lower by disrespecting both the president and his own office and chamber... Okay. I'm digressing seriously here. My original misgivings actually sort of underline the reason for writing a good review of a friend's book on a public site. So for that assignment I signed up for Barnes and Noble and now appear as MadgeVA. (Madge being a nickname given to me by my friend Tom Angleberger, aka Sam Riddleburger, who I hope one day will blog about how he picked his pen name. I reviewed my friend Moira's book, "Penny and the Punctuation Bee," which my kids adore. And, it goes without saying, so do I!

Day 3 is to link to a good book, to help it appear in searches and whatnot, and for this, I'm moving to an adult book, by my friend Jim Mathews. I wrote about this book in my holiday letter last year, but I haven't blogged about it. Now I'm here to tell you that this book is an amazing piece of war literature, given in bite-sized stories. It wraps tension and emotion with humor, the same way you might wrap a scallop with a piece of bacon. It's magical and real at the same time, and was the winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction.

We'll see what day 4 has in store!

I also wanted to make a quick note about an e-mail I received today from the state of Virginia, saying that the state's artist fellowships, usually given to help artists (and writers!) do their thing, have been cancelled for the year, due to budget cuts. I'd hoped to apply, as I am still in need of a new furnace. Anyway, it's another reason for those of us who aren't completely strapped to go out and support our friends by buying some books.