Kimber here. Advising you that Her Crankiness is at it again. Regarding book review requests. As in, how NOT to request a book review from us. And HOW TO GREATLY REDUCE the chances of getting your review request accepted. Also a word about guest posts.
If you’re a serious author, you’re gonna want to know this stuff. So here’s the 4-1-1:
Kimber the Magnificent here. The other day Mom and I came up with another brilliant idea in the guest author department: revisiting a heartfelt and often hilarious travel tome we recently reviewed. (Well, okay. It was mostly me. Mom helped a little.)
Mom and The Kimster. (At least ONE of us is awake. Most of the time.)
Today we’re chatting with the author of an interesting, insightful, and often very funny travel-ish book, Passports and Pacifiers—Traveling the World, One Tantrum at a Time. Her name is Kaitlyn Jain. Let’s tune in and see what she has to say. You won’t want to miss this, if I do bark so myself! (For our full review of Passports and Pacifiers, click here.)
“Hey Mom!” says I. “How ’bout we do something special for Valentine’s Day?”
“What’d you have in mind, Kimber?” replies Mom. She’s doing that smiley eyes thing again.
“How ’bout we invite one of our new favorite authors to do a guest post? We could ask the Camino de Santiago walk lady. Cathay O. Reta and Keep Walking: You Heart Will Catch Up. Tell us what she’s up to. Any new books in the pipeline. Lessons learned. What’s next. What about Ray? Perfect for this Valentine’s thingy!”
“Kimber, you’re a genius!”
Mom’s nothing if not quick.
So here, without further barking, is Cathay’s guest post. You’re gonna enjoy this! Take it away, Cathay:
You’ve heard of the Academy Awards. The Emmys, Tonys, and Golden Globes. But you may not have heard of The Biggest Bow Wow of them all:
You may not have heard of this prestigious honor. That’s because I, Kimber, just made it up. Just in time for Thanksgiving.
Well, okay. Mom helped. A little. She lobbied for “World’s Most Super Duper, Seriously Splendid, Extra Excellent, Terrifically Talented, Genuine Genius-y, and All-Around Awesome Author Awards.”
I nixed that. After all. Someone has to be the adult in the room. Besides. Mom and I thought that with all this negative COVID-ish talk going around, something upbeat is in order. (Well, okay again. It was mostly me. But Mom helped a bit.)
Where was I? Oh yeah. The Kimber Awards. …
Kimber the Magnificent here. Every once in awhile Mom and I get to do something super duper fun. Besides dinner. Or bacon. Or a nice, thick, juicy New York steak…
Wait. Where was I?
Oh yeah. Super duper fun. We get to do a guest post by new authors who write really good stuff. Today is one of those days! We’re delighted to introduce E.B. Roshan, author of the Shards of Sevia series. Today she tells us a little more about her background, writing process, and her book series. Take it away, E.B.:
Gang way! Dog on a mission!
Mom and I have a mission here. We do honest book reviews. They’re not everyone’s bowl of kibble. Fine. If you’re reading along, you probably already know that.
But what you may not know is that we just bowed out of a book blog tour because the tour organizer wanted rainbows and roses, sunshine and unicorns only regarding the book in question. We don’t roll that way. We do For Real here. (More on that later.)
So when this honest, down-to-earth guest post by one of our new favorite writers, D.L. Kennedy, came along, it resonated. (D.L. Kennedy is the author of Thirteen Miracles. Read our full review here.) If you’re a discouraged blogger or a struggling blogger, this one’s for you. Take it away, D.L.:
Does this sound familiar:
Are you are blogger? Would you like to control your own schedule? Do you want and make money at it? How about making enough money from your blog to be able to quit your job and blog full time? Let me show you how to build a money making blog!
Just enroll in my specially-discounted razzle-dazzle on-line course and you can make money with your blog, too!
You know we’re big historical fiction fans here, right? Kimber here. Mom and I, we love the creativity of a novel balanced with actual people, places, and events. We eat that stuff up like gourmet dog chow! So when we were asked to review a historical novel about Nazi looting of priceless art items from Jewish owners during World War II, we ate it up!
The book is A Savage Kultur. It’s by Monique Roy. Read our full review here.
We reached out to Monique and asked her to do a guest post, telling us a little more about herself and her book. Why historical fiction. Stuff like that. Monique agreed. Here’s her post. Take it away, Monique!
Kimber here. Mom and I are delighted to share a guest post by the author of one of our favorite books, Walks With Sam. Sam is a dog. A very astute, reflective dog. Ya know. Like me. In fact, I think Sam’s my new best friend!
Anyway, in this guest post author David W. Berner “walks” us through why and how he wrote this rich and wonderful memoir about contemplative walks with Sam. (Psssst! It started with a blog. No kidding!)
Walks With Sam will be officially released tomorrow, September 1! Don’t forget the virtual book launch on September 13. Details below!
Take it away, David!
***
More than two years ago, I had an idea. What would it be like to reinvent the dog walking experience? Not so much for my doodle, Sam, but for me. All the experts say walking is a meditative, contemplative endeavor. Ask any of the great walkers—Henry David Thoreau, Charles Dickens, John Muir. But this time, what would it be like if the dog led the way? What if Sam was my guide?
It was a new time in my life, a chapter change, if you will. My only sibling, my younger sister had recently died after a long battle with alcoholism, my mother and father had died years before, and now I was what remained of the family of my youth. What is one supposed to do with that? I was also turning 60, a milestone age, and considering what would come next, how might I move in the world in my final years. A sabbatical from my position at the college where I teach had given me some freedom, and although I had projects to complete—a manuscript to finish and edit—I decided that I would dedicate myself to daily walks to allow my mind to find balance. And Sam, my young dog, would join me. She, too, needed those walks.
