As part of the Literary Road Trip sponsored by the GalleySmith, I was asked to talk about home by My Friend Amy, who in turn shared our conversation with Beth Fish Reads, who so graciously reviewed Ghosts yesterday.
That's a long way around saying that if you would like to know how being a Pennsylvanian has influenced my books (and it most fervently has), I encourage you to visit Beth Fish Reads and find out. I enourage you to visit Beth Fish Reads anyway. I know that I've added her to my own daily habit.
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Blog: Beth Kephart Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: my friend amy, Chanticleer, Beth Fish Reads, Literary Road Trip, the Galley Smith, Add a tag
Blog: Beth Kephart Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: The Heart is Not a Size, Dancesport, my friend amy, Booking Mama, Beth Fish Reads, Nothing but Ghosts reviews, Emsbookshelf Kindness, Add a tag
Those of you who read this blog know that I was given the enormous gift, in the publishing of Nothing but Ghosts, of the extended, active friendship of bloggers who joined together to lift this book and me from one realm into another. Kindness such as this is revelatory. It is touchstone kindness. The memory one returns to in darker times.
This morning I discovered two bloggers who, inspired by My Friend Amy, bought and read Nothing but Ghosts and had deeply touching things to say about it. I am constantly afraid, with this blog, of seeming to be self-promotional. But I am equally afraid of not honoring the kindness of others.
And so: Today I honor Beth Fish and BookingMama for their extraordinary words—words that taught me something new about a book I'd written.
I also wish to extend a virtual hug to Em of Emsbookshelf today. We became blogging friends early in this journey, and she's now like a sister to me. She was among the first to read House of Dance in galley form, one of the first to read Nothing but Ghosts, and, this week, she became the second reader that I know of (outside my editor and copyeditor) to read The Heart is Not a Size, the Juarez novel due out next March. I hold my breath until I hear from Em. She says that I can exhale now.
Thank you all, and now, finally, a postscript. I wrote earlier today about the boy and the girl at the dance studio—how she anticipated an argument, acquiesced to a decision, and danced happy. I should have noted—it's essential—that their relationship seems to be of that wonderful reciprocated type. For later on, during the photo session, the young girl taught the young man some new steps. He watched and listened carefully. He respected what she had to say. He was grateful for it. And then he stepped from the sidelines, and together they danced. Thank you, Beth F., for urging a fuller telling of that story.
I read the interview already and loved it!
Thanks again for being so generous with your time and for sharing a bit about your life as a Philly-area author.
My in-laws live near Norristown, and I like reading stories (fiction and nonfiction) that take place near my husband's home town.
Wonderful interview. Missed your blog this past week.
Going to read it now...