Positive Feedback Feels So Nice

My newspaper column ran on Saturday. This title was "sKumquats and InYourFace vs My www." I occasionally write funny entries, and this was one of them.

A few months ago, I started putting my email address at the end of the column, and yesterday I received an email from a total stranger. She says, "I just wanted to tell you that I am a lady 67 years old and I totally agree with your artical [sic]." She asked me to help her find some people to hike and paddle with. I can do that!

Later in the day I had to go grocery shopping. Not my favorite activity. As I was returning the cart, a man in a truck called out, "Hey, are you Joan-Get-Off-The-Couch?" I said, "yup, I suppose I should recognize you." He went on to say that he just reads the column and likes it a lot. He recognized me from the picture of me they run with the column each time.

There is nothing more pleasing to the ears of an author than to be told that people like your writing!

See Ludington Daily News Column- July 2011

Product Review at Shared Reviews

I managed to get two new reviews written for Shared Reviews this week. They are:
Detroit Electric Scheme- Mystery, History, Action which is a book review of a really good new mystery, and
Your Best Look Modest Swimsuit Fits Well, Looks Nice, reviewing a swim suit I snagged on an end-of-season closeout.

Shared Reviews has now pushed their site overhaul off by another month to September 1, but there is a sneak preview on one of those corner peel tabs anywhere on their site. There is more detail presented in their blog, at The Official-Official, Really Official, Absolutely Official New SR Launch Date.

Use this link if you would like to sign up at Shared Reviews. I made $42 last month. Admittedly, I am one of the highest earners due to having a lot of content, and achieving a high rank. Nevertheless it is a legitimate place to write online. Almost all kinds of content are welcome.

Program Scheduled in October

I'll be giving the program "The North Country Trail and the Kitchen Sink" in Irons, Michigan on October 15. This is for the Spirit of the Woods Chapter of the NCTA Annual Meeting.

Sharing my adventures with friends is always fun, and this should be a little bit different crowd than the other local showings. If you are in north-central Michigan on that date, feel free to come. There will be a short hike, picnic dinner, short meeting, and the program-- all for free.

Book sales and signing.

Casual West Side Gang

We had a small group last night- some of our folks were away or had company. The Arts Center also forgot to open the building for us, so we went to the cottage of the facilitator. It made for a nice cozy setting and was a fun change of pace, I thought.

There were just six of us, all "girls." One person was new. She is enthusiastic about our group and seems as if she will fit right in.

I read chapter 13 of News from Dead Mule Swamp. I always get suggestions for how to make it a bit better. The biggest frustration is that it's hard for people who haven't heard all the chapters to understand what has gone on before and to know if more explanation is needed on certain points, or if they are just lost because of missing chapters, or the two week time gap between readings.

Everyone else had poetry. We do have some very good poets.

Editing News from Dead Mule Swamp

I worked on chapter 13 of News from Dead Mule Swamp. I added some description that anchors the scene in reality a bit better. West Side Gang writers' group meets tonight, so I wanted to have a chapter ready to go.

Ludington Daily News Column- July 2011

Turned in my monthly "Get Off The Couch" column to the paper this morning. Every so often I do one that is supposed to be funny, and this is one of them. It's really hard to write humor. I know that probably sounds odd, but it is. You have to be outrageous enough that people know it's supposed to be funny, without crossing the line into just being ridiculous with no point.

This month's title is "sKumquats and InYourFace vs My WWW." I spun the idea off the TV ad for some car (I never remember what the ads are really for-- oh, there it is, right on the video title, haha), where the cute teenager is bemoaning the fact that her parents only have 19 FB friends, while she has 687. Of course, they are off riding bikes instead of staring at a computer screen. I tied that with an attempt I made to download a nature guide app to a newly acquired (used) iTouch.



Here's an excerpt:

Now I was in! It only took three attempts and nine hours to download the tree identification app. I was all set to go outdoors and try it. But wait... it was only going to work where there’s WiFi. Dang! Most of the trees hang out in the woods– they’re funny that way.

I came back at the end to the fact that some of us would rather be playing outside than accumulating virtual social currency.

These columns are not available on-line, unless you subscribe to the Ludington Daily News. One collection of columns is currently available as an e-book, called Get Off the Couch with Joan, at Smashwords. Use coupon code JX87H to buy it for only 99 cents!

I'm nearly ready to format a second volume. This one will be humorous essays entitled Fall Off the Couch Laughing. In fact, this column gives me ten funny (I hope) essays, which means that as soon as I can make the time to set it up, I can offer this one as well.

Stories on Stage and Nothing More to Tell

Friday night was the fourth edition of the quarterly event in Ludington called Story on Stage. These are hosted by the Ludington Visiting Writers and Ludington Area Center for the Arts.

Three short stories were read, with musical numbers by local artists in between.

The stories were "The Day Before Easter" by Liesel Litzenburger, "Gar Fishing," by Sarah Jane Smith, and "My Urologist, My Psychologist," by George Dila.

The last one was of great interest to the West Side Gang (our local writer support group), because George is a regular member and one of our facilitators. His story is from his recently published anthology, called Nothing More to Tell. As you can see, the theme of the refreshments carried out the celebration of George's publication. The book is published by Mayapple Press. That's George in the picture, with his book and his cake, which was exceedingly yummy!

We were all really happy to see one of our own be published. It's his second collection of short stories, The End of the World was published by Pure Heart Press in 2008.

How do I feel about Story on Stage? The readers do an excellent job, and it's fun being part of something live such as this. This time, in fact, two of the readers, Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante, are "Earphone" award-winning readers who are probably familiar to audiobook listeners.

The stories were well-written, with lots of great imagery and taking us inside the narrator-character.

However, I wish the story selection was more diverse. So far, all ten stories I've heard at these events are of the "life is a sad enigma" genre. I get plenty of that in real life, and long for some variety in the presentations. I'm not sure I can take many more of this style without a break.

George Dila website