Ethel Wrote a Book...Take 2.

It's seems like yesterday that my wickedly hilarious and talented friend, Sarah Boucher published her first book entitled "Becoming Beauty."  She is the Ethel to my crazy brand of Lucy and I'm excited to be here again as the final installment of the blog tour for her second book, "Midnight Sisters: A Retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses."

I have to admit that this time around has been a bittersweet experience for me because I'm no longer the next door neighbor/redheaded bestie who lives all the excitement in real-time.  I'm the living-two-states-away friend and so my perspective has been different.  In my last blog tour post, I gave you a behind-the-scenes perspective of the incredibly hard work it is to be traditionally published. With "Becoming Beauty", I became Sarah's unofficial marketing director and worked for cookies...no joke.  This time around, I've been on the other end of texts, emails and Facebook instant messages as Sarah forged new trails in her author career.  The trail of a self-publishing author is completely different than being picked up by a publisher.  As is customary for the sassy redheaded friend, I am going to give you the bits and pieces of info that show you how much work Sarah has put in to making this book happen.  And......I'm giving you the magic bribery cookie recipe because let's be honest; it's January which is the month in which carbs, chocolate and Diet Coke solve most issues.

My professional background includes marketing, small business branding, social media management and impromptu business owner therapy sessions.  I've seen a lot of business owners start from the ground up and create a brand and product that is epic.  Sarah's brand is no exception.  You may not know this, but by day Sarah is an educator of 5 year-olds.  That alone deserves an award of two (or ten), but being a self-published author on top of it deserves some platinum pretties from Tiffany's.  My brain is always crunching numbers about which option provides less overhead, but also less stress, and self-publishing is probably not the answer.  However, Sarah had a lot more control over elements that mattered to her and I think that has been good for her.  First and foremost, the stunning cover art is by her talented cousin, Cindy and Sarah called ALL the shots and attended the photo shoot that inspired this art.  I mean, let's just collectively sigh at this one:

When a business owner, no matter their trade, can have control of the look and feel of their product from day one, it makes a HUGE difference.  Sarah wrote the words and she wanted to make sure the cover matched the voice and emotion that resides inside that cover.  I think you'll find that it absolutely matches.  It's magical and so wonderful.

I asked Sarah what she's loved and loathed about self-publishing.  Here are her musings about the aspects she loved, "I loved having control over the when and the what of publishing. I set up my own schedule and didn't have to wait until I fit into a publishing schedule because someone's a cooler author and they got a primo spot, so I'm scheduled for further and further out. I also loved controlling what was in my novel. My book was in review with a publisher for a long time and in the end they suggested turning in into LDS Fiction. While that may have been advantageous from a marketing standpoint, I didn't feel that it did justice to my novel or my writing style. Instead, I worked hand-in-hand with a professional editor and I had the last say about everything from story arc to chapter headings. I really enjoyed that collaborative process." 

The loathing sounded like this, "The aspect of self-publishing I found most challenging was the formatting. Last time I handed them a Word document and they did the rest. This time I had to turn it into what you read. And that wasn't easy. Luckily, I had tech gurus on my side who would work for dinner. So there's that. A lot of self-publishing is like shooting into the dark. You're not quite sure where the target is or how to hit it, but you try and try again until you figure it out."

As I've been working on this post Sarah and I have been instant messaging on Facebook and she further reiterated that control over the design of the cover has meant a ton to her as well as the beautiful formatting inside the book.  There is an added element of involvement and investment that has accompanied this book because it was self-published.

In spite of my flee from the 'hood and next door to Chez Boucher, I am still so proud of Sarah and her accomplishment to have book number two on the grid.  Buy this book TODAY.  Buy it for your daughter, buy it for your book club.  Sarah doesn't miss a detail and "Midnight Sisters: A Retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses." will steal a piece of your heart.

Last, but not least, and as promised, I happily share Ethel's delicious bribery chocolate chip cookies with you.  They say the magic ingredient is a pudding mix, but I'm pretty sure it's LLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVE. Break out your best vintage apron and expensive chocolate and make these stat.  They are my favorite!! Click on the graphic below and hit the print button!

The moral of the story: Hard work pays off.  Don't ever give up on your dreams and make cookies on the days when you feel like your dreams are being smothered.  Cookies make everything better.

Until next time, my lovelies!
-R

Geekery is BeYOUtiful: "Geek Girl" by Cindy C. Bennett

A wise friend once told me, "we're all a little weird, Raylynn, and it's ok."  He was totally right and I find myself saying that out loud a lot.  My most recent read was a delightful and adorably geeky book called "Geek Girl" by Utah author Cindy C. Bennett.  My discovery of this completely adorable geeky book (did I say that already?) was in the mecca of all geekdom, Salt Lake Comic Con 2015.  Cindy is one of Sarah Boucher's fellow author comrades and she had told me about this book briefly so I had to check it out.  I could not put it down.  It was well-written, hilarious, raw and just plain sweet.

The main character of the book is a girl named Jen.  She has been bounced through the foster care system and as a result has become jaded.  She is angry at her reality and hides behind goth clothing, dark make-up and hangs out with the school's finest hooligans.  One day she meets a cute geeky boy named Trevor and has a brilliant idea that she is going to lure him to the "dark side" and rough him up a bit and win a bet with her catty goth gal pals.  It's not too long after spending time with Trevor that she falls under his spell of geekdom which is also known as being genuine, kind and passionately interested in Sci-Fi films.  The story that unfolds is so beautiful because Jen realizes that in spite of his geeky ways, Trevor is a good soul and she falls in love with his genuine heart.  As a result of spending countless hours trying to "change him" she soon notices that her own heart softens and she becomes braver and unravels some emotional messes of her own and begins a long overdue healing process.

This story line is not uncommon in real life with Ray.  I have a number of women in my close circle of friends who are geeks to the core.  I mean the whole enchilada geek 101.  I also have some friends who are married to geeks to the core.  Men who make Luke Skywalker look like a pansy.  I adore all of them and their goof ball husbands so I wanted to showcase some of their delightfully beautiful ways so that we can celebrate the ridiculous awesomeness that is geekery.  I think that you will find that geeks really do have more fun.

Before we can dive deep in to the land of my friends, I have to embarrass my sisters first.  It goes without being said that the three of us (and our ruffian brother) were raised in a thoroughly geeky home.  We HEART Star Wars and Star Trek and Super Man (Reeve and Cain) and have WAY too many Rocky movies in our stewardship.  Thus, I blow their cover first.  I won't reveal which sister it is, but if you know us, you'll probably figure it out.

Sister #2 is married and when I asked her to share some of her quirky geekdoms, she sent me a scripted story that she and her husband had drafted.  I laughed and laughed.  I will share a small excerpt for your reading pleasure.  They crack me up.  A LOT.  She is also a geek about drinks that are blue, Rocky movies and talking in dog voice (like if her dog could talk, what would he say).  Anyway.....

MOVIE DATE NIGHT AT HOME

Husband: What kind of movie are you in the mood for?
Sister: I don't know, either a comedy or action film.
[Husband flips through Netflix, makes about 30 suggestions...]
Sister: Let's watch a documentary.

We watch a documentary.
Every. Single. Time.

Sister #3 is a beautiful Whovian.  She puts us all to SHAME with her knowledge of Doctor Who.  In spite of raising her children with Star Trek and Star Wars, our mother just can't quite grasp the doctor and daleks and flying police boxes.  Odd?  Probably?  Relevant?  Doubtful.  Sister #3 is also a fan of the hipster lifestyle and digs the dudes with beards.  She may have contracted that by osmosis from her older sister, but I'll never tell.....and neither will she.  And no we don't have a board on Pinterest dedicated to it.  No, we don't.....

In fairness to roasting my sisters, I will share my ultimate geeky move.  One of my absolute favorite movies is Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.  We watched it a LOT when I was growing up and it made me so happy that they saved the humpback whales named George and Gracie.  When I graduated from college I was dirt poor and needed a car.  My parents were kind enough to buy my first car and it was a 1990 gray Buick Century.  It was butt ugly and barely ran, but it was mine.  It was also rusted something fierce and from day one I thought it looked like a beached whale.  So......I named her Gracie.  After the whale.  In Star Trek IV.  Gracie didn't make the move with me to Utah and I made my parents promise that they would take good care of her until she died and would give her a proper send-off.  She was a car.  The whale named Gracie was fictional.  I am a geek.  Deal with it.

When I posed the question "what makes you feel beautiful and geeky all at the same time?" to my social media friends and fans, I received some awesome answers.  Check these out:

J: "Even though my eyes glaze over after 30 seconds of computer speak from my hubby....It's hot to hear a man talk about something more than football and hunting."

J: "Secretly wearing Wonder Woman socks on the day I have my department meeting at work (all men except me) and knowing I could totally take them in a fight"

K: "I read text books (science) when I have/had down time. I teach my girls science jokes and tell them science answers to little kid questions... I have to make my self not answer people when they are talking about why things work the way they do... I finally understand why people didn't like me when I was in hs I was such a know it all... I didn't mean it... I just didn't know how to not answer... yep I'm geek fits me."

A: "I've been known to have a very random memory which pops up with strange facts/tidbits that are completely off topic. Does that qualify as geeky?"

A: "The other day husband's old roommate came over and was taken back by how much I knew Star Wars. He was super freaked out that I got super excited too and husband just sat back smiled and said, "And yes, that's the woman I married. She's just that cool."

S: "Two words: Benedict Cumberbatch."

K: "Having my living room completely surrounded by comic books, posters and pop figures instead of grown up decor."

I received a lot more, but I had to cut them short in the interest of length of this post.  Thank you thank you to everyone who chimed in.  You are all delightfully weird and I LOVE YOU!

A couple of final points to share from the book before I wrap up.  One of the things that I found to be so incredible was the amount of love and support Trevor's friends had for each other and how they instantly LOVED Jen because Trevor loved her.  They didn't care that she looked scary on the outside because they saw her worth from the inside.  It shocked her that they would love her in spite of her scary exterior and it shocked them that she would love them even though they were the school geeks.  That's how life is, my lovelies.  If we will love people for what's on the INSIDE, we will quickly find that their outsides do NOT matter.  I read an article just this evening about a local trans-gender woman who took her own life because she felt no value in her own skin due to bullying and public shaming for her choice in sexual preference.  That is absolutely tragic.  We ALL have worth no matter our circumstances and preferences, whatever they may be.  We are all a little weird and we all struggle, but God intended it to be that way.  That makes life interesting.  I hope that you will take time to appreciate people for their quirks, imperfections and geekery because that's where the beauty lies because that's what makes us different.

The moral of the story:  Flying your geek flag will never go out of style so wave it with pride.

Until next time, my lovelies!
-R

Becoming Beauty: Ethel wrote a book.

So, here we are at stop number who-knows-what on Sarah Boucher's Blog Tour for her debut novel "Becoming Beauty."  In previous posts on my blog I have talked about how grateful I am to have a friend like Sarah.  She has been so so patient and selfless and I can't even begin to express how blessed I've been to have a friend like her who is literally walking distance from my front door.  I've never had that in my adult life and I couldn't have asked for it at a more critical and insanely stressful time of life.  This has been quite the year for both of us in our respective day jobs and obviously, preparing to have a book published on top of teaching the little people has taken its toll on this Ethel-next-door-neighbor friend of mine.  I've decided to share a few tidbits from the perspective of this equally crazy "Lucy" as she has watched her friend bring this book to the shelves.  Then we will talk themes and my favorites.  Ready, set, go!

• It is a lot of work to publish a book.  Once it was under contract with Cedar Fort I lost count of how many times Sarah had to re-edit and re-write parts of the book to make it just perfect.  And some days 'just perfect' meant making the editor happy so they passed her off to the next step.  
• The book cover is by far one of the most beautiful elements of this whole process and when it landed in her email inbox she was SOOOOOOO excited.  The cover was spot on exactly how Sarah envisioned it on the first draft.  So it stuck.  I loved reading the review copy and having visions of characters in my head that were created because of this stunning cover.  
• There is something truly awesome and equally hilarious about reading a book your friend has written.  For those of you who will never meet her in human form, you will not understand this, but there are SO many elements of this book that are ALL SARAH.  I call them Sarahisms.  I will get into this a little bit more as we dig into the content and themes.  
• Sarah has done an incredible job at self-promoting this book during the last year through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and her blog.  The entire year she would write posts and participate in Monday Blogs on Twitter with the blind hope that it would pay off when the release date happened.  It has been the coolest phenomanon to witness the response she has received because of her hard work promoting herself through social media. There is not a single element of this process that Sarah has not lost sleep over.  She went about planning every step so that it was perfect and after her first book launch party, I am happy to say that it worked.  We (I was her self-appointed non-profit publicist) kicked ass and impressed the peeps at Barnes & Noble.  
• This is not your run-of-the-mill fairy tale regurgitation.  Sarah dug deep for each of these characters and exposed their vulnerability and portrayed them in a way that was exactly what we needed to know and forced us to question who really was the beastly being driving the plot.  

And with that, I present, my official review.  

The main character of this book is named Bella, NOT Belle.  And if you even attempt to associate her with another fictional Bella that we are all aware of you should poke your own eyes out.  Our Bella barrels her way into the spotlight the second she enters the room.  When I started reading the book I was hooked by page 5 when Bella says the following about her sister Cassie, "What if I launched a beaded slipper at her head?  It wouldn't cause any lasting damage, I reasoned.  The crowd of men would be gathered about her, eager to catch her every word, and then WHAT?  Looks of stunned outrage would paint their faces as she fell in a graceless heap at their feet."  Ha!  Damn frickin funny and such a SARAHISM.  A behind-the-scenes tidbit about this particular passage....it was not originally written like this.  Not at all.  There was an intention of death (gasp) for the sister and somehow they didn't think that was ok?!?  But, alas, the edit was still so funny and I loved it!!

We quickly realize that Bella has some attitude issues.  I would submit that a bit of karma came her way as her selfish wishes landed her a one way ticket to the point of no return and the home of the beast.  I appreciated the raw dialogue that occurs between Bella and the beast because, quite frankly, she deserved everything that he dished her way.  There was a debt to be paid and she was fulfilling it.  The next quote that I really liked was also the first quote that I shared on my social media because it was some serious food for thought.  

Assuming that we can charm our way to the top while others slave?  Not a big fan!  Are you??  This theme was one that made its way to the very last chapter and it made me smile.  There is so much to be said for those who work hard for what they have and also for those who are happy with what they have, even if it means they aren't the wealthiest of the wealthy.

Next was the discussion of imperfection and attaining beauty at our own speed and in our own manner.  As we read further and further we find that Bella is in a constant battle with her subconscious self and there are a number of dream sequences.  Well that sounds familiar.  How many of us have gone to bed and spent a night in dreamland that really was a battle of sorting out our reality and woke up more exhausted than before we closed our eyes?  I did whilst I was reading the book and it sucked.  It also reminded me that I am still not perfect (news flash) and that my heart aches and stresses just as much as the next human.  

Not a single one of us are perfect, my lovelies.  And our beauty is revealed petal by petal.  And there are going to be days that we are wilty and prickly, but we are ALL ROSES!!!!  Gorgeous, full of love, brimming with compassion and even more imperfection.  Embrace it and let yourself bloom in the timing that is meant to be.

Bella experiences a transformation of heart due to a number of events that are so delightful.  And some of it might involve the interaction with a beardy grump face.  Aw, beardy grumpy men.  Oh, how I love them.

The third and final quote that I will share was towards the end of the book.

Courage is a powerful word.  Bella definitely had courage to stay in a situation that wasn't her definition of ideal, but in the end, the outcome and reward for her courage was the "meant to be" answer.  As I was reading the final two chapters I was a swoony, sloppy girl on my living room couch (it's fire engine red, by the way -- random side note).  It is so sweet and equally funny with a slice of liberating. 

I am so proud of my friend for pushing through the stress and drudgery of being published for the sweet reward of sharing her talent with the world.  I encourage you to find the time to read "Becoming Beauty."  It is a perfect holiday gift for the reading girls in your life and I can't wait to share it with my friends and family.  For those of you who enjoy the electronic reading route (ME!) it is also available on Kindle.  You can find that information here. 

The moral of the story:  When you wish upon a star and write a story, don't be afraid to share it with the world.  It just may end up on the shelf of your local bookstore. 

Until next time, my lovelies!
-R

And don't forget to click below and enter the giveaway for a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway