Happy Holidays!!!  Today we are having a party at CMash Reads!!  Grab a beverage and some Christmas cookies because Jihan, from GCP/Forever, is stopping by with not one author but TWO!!!  AND, I had the opportunity to ask these lovely ladies some Holiday questions!!!!!    Let’s get this party started!!  Please help me in welcoming Ms. Katie Lane and Ms. Hope Ramsey!!!!!!

                   KATIE LANE                                           HOPE RAMSAY

About Katie Lane:
So here’s the thing. I love to write about fictional people, but I feel very uncomfortable writing about myself. So let’s dispense with the biography and I’ll tell you a story. And everyone knows that all the best stories start with . . .
Once upon a time there was a little girl who walked around with her head in the clouds. While the other kids paid attention to the world around them, this little girl (For clarity’s sake, let’s just call her Katie.) spent her days dreaming. The dreams varied. One day Katie might be a princess who was rescued by a prince on a three-legged horse (Perfection can be so boring.), and the next day she might find herself as an overworked mother of ten. (Mothers are wonderful heroines, don’t you agree?) This playacting was acceptable when Katie was little, but as she grew older, people started to take notice and think her a little odd. (Odd? What’s odd about a tall, skinny seventh grader pushing an overfilled doll stroller down the street?)

Luckily for her social standing, Katie gave up the play-stage for the written-page, spending hours writing down her daydreams in a spiral notebook. But over the years, her storytelling took a backseat to hormones and high school, and it wasn’t until her two exceptional daughters were grown (Ten seemed a little redundant after the first labor pain) that she returned to writing.

Now Katie spends her days at a computer daydreaming, while the rest of the time she enjoys hanging with her family, reading, going to the gym, playing golf, motorcycle riding, traveling, or just snuggling next to her snoring prince. (Snoring might seem like a minor imperfection when compared to a three-legged horse, but believe me it’s not) Because if the little girl of the clouds learned anything over the years, it was that every moment in life is a happily-ever-after just waiting to be fulfilled.
Visit Ms. Lane at her website here.

About Hope Ramsay:
Hope Ramsay was born in New York and grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, but every summer Momma would pack her off under the care of Aunt Annie to go visiting with relatives in the midlands of South Carolina. Her extended family includes its share of colorful aunts and uncles, as well as cousins by the dozens, who provide the fodder for the characters you’ll find in Last Chance, South Carolina. Hope earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Buffalo, and has had various jobs working as a Congressional aide, a lobbyist, a public relations consultant, and a meeting planner. She’s a two-time finalist in the Golden Heart, and is married to a good ol’ Georgia boy who resembles every single one of her heroes. She has two grown children and a couple of demanding lap cats. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia where you can often find her on the back deck, picking on her thirty-five-year-old Martin guitar.
Visit Ms. Ramsay at her website here.

HOLIDAY QUESTIONS

KATIE LANE: 
Any special Holiday traditions? Every year, my family draws names and does a gift exchange. One year, it will be pajamas. The next year, DVDs. This year, it’s crazy ski hats. I’m already scouring websites for the most embarrassing hat I can find for my son-in-law. We’re going to Colorado to ski and I’ll get a big kick out of him racing down the mountain in a purple Mohawk hat…or maybe the one with all the yarn braids. Lol!

How do you celebrate the Holidays? I celebrate with family and friends. I bake cookies and make gingerbread (graham cracker) houses with my granddaughters. I do white elephant gift exchanges with my book and writing clubs. And Christmas Eve and Day is spent with my husband and two daughters and their families. We go to church, look at lights, eat, and unwrap presents.

What makes Christmas special for you? People are so giving during the holidays. They offer up smiles, volunteer to serve food to the homeless, or give to their favorite charities. At Christmas, we stop long enough to realize that we’re all part of God’s great big family.

Holiday shopping–online or malls? Both. I like the no hassle of buying things online, but I love to go to the malls when they’re packed. I like watching the kids sit on Santa’s lap and just being in the bustle of the holiday.

I’d like to wish everyone at CMASH Reads the happiest of holidays!
Love, Katie Lane

HOPE RAMSAY
Any special Holiday traditions? Oh this question makes me want to tell a family story. My father, much like Abe Chaikin, a character in Last Chance Christmas, was a non-practicing Jew. My mother was an Episcopalian. When they got married my mother insisted that we kids would be celebrating Christmas, even if we also celebrated other holidays. Pop agreed. But every Christmas my father would complain because Mom would do the same things over and over again. She insisted that she was creating traditions. Pop would roll his eyes and ask, “Can we do it different this year?” When it finally got to be my turn to make Christmas for the family, I decided to adopt just a little bit of my father’s attitude. So some years we go out to Christmas Eve dinner. Some years we stay in. Some years we dress up. Some years we don’t. Some years we put up an artificial tree, some years we go cut our own. Some years we go to the movies on Christmas day, and some years we stay home and play games. When we stay in on Christmas eve, the dinner menu is never the same because my husband likes to let his mad chef persona out every year and he makes a big gourmet meal for the family and any guests we’ve invited. He never makes the same thing twice.

This year our granddaughter is 18 months old. And we’ll be doing Christmas morning at my son’s house. As our family grows and includes new people, our “traditions” are changing. And I’m learning that holding on to traditions isn’t so easy, when the family is growing and changing. It’s much better to be flexible. So I would like to think that Pop ultimately won that argument he used to have with Mom every year. Traditions are nice, but it’s also nice to do something new and different for a change.

How do you celebrate the Holidays? Wow, that’s a big question, and kind of hard to answer since we don’t always do the same thing every year. But I guess there are a couple of things we sort of do every year. We always do a big dinner on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day. Lots of eating and alcoholic beverages are involved. We also put up stockings on Christmas Eve, and somehow Santa always arrives and stuffs them. Everyone gets to open a present on Christmas Eve from Elmer the Elf, who is my husband’s personal elf from the time he was quite little. Elmer always gives people PJs. The stockings and PJs are not something anyone is ever allowed to outgrow. When our children were little (and not so little), my husband always read the Polar Express to them right before sending them off to bed.

What makes Christmas special for you? Family, family, family.

Holiday shopping–online or malls? Neither. (Okay I do some shopping at malls.) But I much prefer to go shopping on Main Street – or in my case on King Street in downtown Alexandria, Virginia. I’m a huge fan of Small Business Saturday (and I avoid the malls on Black Friday). I really like supporting local small merchants, if I can. Those merchants are the lifeblood of small towns. And even though Alexandria is right across the Potomac from the Nation’s Capital, it’s still a small town.

HUNK FOR THE HOLIDAYS by Katie Lane
Always putting business before pleasure, Cassie McPherson works hard for her family’s construction business. That might explain why she doesn’t have a date for the company Christmas party. But it doesn’t quite explain why she’s crazy enough to hire an escort for the event or – crazier still – why she’s dying to unwrap him like a present . . .
With whiskey-colored eyes and a killer smile, James is one gorgeous hunk who really knows how to fill out a tuxedo. He charms everyone, including Cassie. And when the night ends, the party doesn’t stop. As Cassie falls, literally, into his bed, James falls head over heels in love. Now he has to figure out a way to tell her the truth: he’s not an escort. He’s her family’s fiercest business rival. But all he wants for Christmas is her.
Book Details:
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Price: $7.99 US/$8.99 CAN
ISBN-13: 9781455522361
On Sale Date: 09/25/2012

LAST CHANCE CHRISTMAS by Hope Ramsay
Dear Reader,
I’ve been wishing for a miracle for my oldest boy, Stone, and this Christmas my prayers might just be answered!

Her name is Lark, and she’s here in Last Chance, looking into her father’s past-and stirring up a whole mess of trouble without meaning to. As the chief of police, Stone sure has his hands full trying to keep up with her. Ever since his wife died, Stone’s put everything into raising his daughters and dodging the Christ Church Ladies’ Auxiliary matchmakers. And it’s clear Lark has been through some trouble and could use a place to finally call home. I only hope Stone can let go of the past soon enough to keep her .

Goodness, I need to stop talking and finish up Jane’s highlights so we can make the town tree-lighting. You come back by because the Cut ‘n’ Curl’s got hot rollers, free coffee, fresh-baked Christmas cookies-and the best gossip in town.

See you real soon,
Ruby Rhodes
Book Details:
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Price: $7.99 US/$8.99 CAN
ISBN-13: 9780446576079
On Sale Date: 09/25/2012

THANKS TO JIHAN, FROM GCP/FOREVER, TWO (2) LUCKY
WINNERS WILL WIN A HOLIDAY PACKAGE, BOTH BOOKS
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I have my mug of coffee in hand, please help yourself to one, as we visit with an old friend of CMah Reads.  Today’s guest visited back in 2011, so when she contacted me, asking if she could come back and visit, I put the coffee on!!  I ask, if you could help me give a warm welcome back to Madeline Sharples!!

MADELINE SHARPLES

Madeline Sharples studied journalism in high school and college and wrote for the high school newspaper, but only started to fulfill her dream to work as a creative writer and journalist late in life. Her memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother’s Memoir of Living with Her Son’s Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide, was released in a hardback edition in 2011 and has just been released in paperback and eBook editions by Dream of Things. It tells the steps she took in living with the loss of her oldest son, first and foremost that she chose to live and take care of herself as a woman, wife, mother, and writer. She hopes that her story will inspire others to find ways to survive their own tragic experiences.

She also co-authored Blue-Collar Women: Trailblazing Women Take on Men-Only Jobs (New Horizon Press, 1994), co-edited the poetry anthology, The Great American Poetry Show, Volumes 1 and 2, and wrote the poems for two photography books, The Emerging Goddess and Intimacy (Paul Blieden, photographer). Her poems have also appeared online and in print magazines.

Madeline’s articles appear regularly in the Naturally Savvy, PsychAlive, Aging Bodies, and Open to Hope. She also posts at her blogs, Choices and at Red Room and is currently writing a novel.  Madeline’s mission since the death of her son is to raise awareness, educate, and erase the stigma of mental illness and suicide in hopes of saving lives.

Madeline and her husband of forty plus years live in Manhattan Beach, California, a small beach community south of Los Angeles. Her younger son Ben lives in Santa Monica, California with his wife Marissa.
You can connect with Madeline at her blog, Facebook and Twitter.

GUEST POST

My Recipe for Survival

When my older son Paul took his life in our home – ending his seven year struggle with bipolar disorder, my first thoughts were: I cannot go on. I want to get into the same bathtub where he died and put myself out of my pain and misery. At first I didn’t know how I could continue to live without him.

Instead of getting into that bathtub, I chose to live and take care of myself as a woman, wife, mother, writer. Here’s how I did it.

I Wrote. Even before Paul died, I started writing about him and his bipolar disorder. Journaling got out the frustrations of dealing with his episodes, hospitalizations, and erratic behavior. After he died I continued journaling. I also took classes through UCLA Extension’s writing program, a private writing instructor in Los Angeles, and at workshops at my healing place, Esalen in Big Sur, California. It was there that poems started flowing from my pen.

 I Worked. At the time Paul died, I was working at home writing grant proposals. I soon realized that I needed to find a job outside, and luckily I got rehired into the company I had retired from a few years earlier. My job as a proposal manager was challenging, meaningful, and very stressful. Having to meet stringent deadlines kept my mind on the job rather than on my feelings. The work and the socialization at work helped get me through the first few years after Paul died.

I Sought Out Diversions. And through all these years I’ve learned to fill up my time with diversions. I read. I watch movies. My husband and I go to the theater and opera. We travel. And I pamper myself – working out at the gym, taking long walks on the beach near our home, eating healthy, and caring for my hair and nails. It feels good, helps me look good, and boosts my mood. Taking care of myself and staying healthy have become tantamount to my survival.

I chose to stay alive because I know what suicide does to a family. I couldn’t put my loving and caring husband and surviving son Ben through that kind of pain again. Besides I wanted to experience life’s next adventures. As bad as it was after Paul died, and as much as I continue to miss him, I still had things to do with my life.

Also, with such a tragedy came some unexpected gifts. Paul’s death has made me a stronger person, physically and emotionally. I have reinvented myself into a poet and creative writer. My husband and I have a stronger marriage because we gave each other the space to grieve in our own way, and I have a terrific bond with Ben and his new wife. Yes, I’m proud to say I’m a new mother-in-law. And, I’ve embarked on a new mission in life – to erase the stigma of mental illness and prevent suicide, in hopes of saving lives through my writing and volunteer work.

Staying alive has also helped me keep my son Paul’s memory alive.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Leaving the Hall Light On is about living after loss: first and foremost how author Madeline Sharples chose to live and go on with life and take care of herself as a woman, wife, mother, writer. It is about the steps Sharples took in living with the loss of her son, including making use of diversions to help ease her grief and the milestones she met toward living a full life without him. She says, “to let ourselves grieve is to feel the depth of our love. For those whose children have died, that may take the rest of our lives, but we will discover the gifts of our loss in the process.”
Read my review here.

THANKS TO AUTHOR, MADELINE SHARPLES AND DREAM OF THINGS,
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Leaving The Hall Light On by Madeline Sharples
Published by Dream of Things
Publication Date: July 13, 2012
ISBN-10: 0982579489
ISBN-13: 978-0982579480
Pages: 338
Review Copy from: Dream Of Things
Edition: TPB
My Rating: 4 

Synopsis:
Leaving the Hall Light On is about living after loss: first and foremost how author Madeline Sharples chose to live and go on with life and take care of herself as a woman, wife, mother, writer. It is about the steps Sharples took in living with the loss of her son, including making use of diversions to help ease her grief and the milestones she met toward living a full life without him. She says, “to let ourselves grieve is to feel the depth of our love. For those whose children have died, that may take the rest of our lives, but we will discover the gifts of our loss in the process.”

My Thoughts and Opinion:
Over the past year or so, I have stepped out of my comfort zone, and started reading memoirs. And honestly, the ones that I have read have had a lasting impact on me.

The author shares, very candidly, her journey as, a wife and mother, coping with a son who was diagnosed with a Bipolar Disorder and then his suicide. Her pain and recovery. This book was a bit of a hard read for me because of some of the parallels in the story. A thought provoking read on many levels and for varied reasons.

One of the similarities was I am a parent of 2 sons, 2 1/2 years apart and the oldest named Paul, the same as the author. While reading of her struggle with her son Paul, I found myself asking, “what if it was my Paul? Another thing I could relate to was the Bipolar Disorder, because of my background in nursing, I am familiar with the struggles of those diagnosed with the disease, the patterns they have and the signs and symptoms.

Ms. Sharples shares her painful experience of living through her son’s periods of mania and depression. Her raw emotions are palpable. Then the worst nightmare that every parent fears, burying one’s child. And even worse, not knowing the whys. Does any parent have closure? No such thing. How does one go on? I can’t even imagine, having to go through something like this. She frankly and honestly describes her emotions of love, anger, worry, depression, hope, guilt, and even at times, selfishness. How she used writing poetry, which are also in the book, as a coping mechanism. And the decision to write this, which had to be very painful, memoir. As a parent, it was a heart wrenching read. But it was also a read of survival and recovery. It’s then that the hall light goes off.

A powerful and poignant read!! 

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

This week’s question:
How do you organize/store your books? Do you go through them often? Or do you pretty much just shelve them and then leave them alone until you need them?

My response:
I love this question and will enjoy seeing how everyone answers.

In my office/reading room, I have 3 bookcases , each having a special purpose.  When I receive a book, the first thing I do is catalogue it to my spreadsheet with the date received, who it is from and any other notations.  I then put a post-it with the same information on the front cover.  I would be lost without my spreadsheet especially for those books that are in my EReaders.

It then goes into my big TBR 5 shelf bookcase, in the order received.  I am now up to 2 1/2 shelves for requested reviews.  The bottom 2 shelves are for personal TBRs that I have either won or purchased.  I also have another smaller 3 shelf bookcase that holds my prized possesions, the signed books, on the first shelf.  The other 2 shelves holds books I have won and need TBR.  The 3rd bookcase is a corner unit, which is a sentimental piece of furniture.  It was my grandmother’s, and even though it doesn’t match the other furniture in my office,  I think of her when I look at it.  This bookcase holds the books I have read along with some photo albumns.

However, there  may be some rearrangement this coming weekend, since I ordered a new desk for my office, which is supposed to be delivered this week.  I am so excited because my desk now is a mess, unable to hold all my computer and office items.  This is the one I purchased:

December is being hosted by Suko’s Notebook

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour.
According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.”
Click on titles for synopsis via IndieBound (I am an IndieBound Affliate)

Monday:  Last Chance Christmas by Hope Ramsay from GCP/Forever
Monday: Hunk for the Holidays by Katie Lane from GCP/Forever
Wednesday: Private London by James Patterson from The Hachette Book Group
Wednesday: Remembering Christmas by Dan Walsh recommended by Gina @ Hott Books (personal d/l)
Saturday: Things Left Unspoken by Eva Marie Everson recommended by Gina @ Hott Books (personal d/l)

If you follow this blog, then you know I have a weakness for reading challenges.  I am trying my best to contain myself from signing up for as many as I did last year.  And so far I have been good, however, it is still early!!

Two challenges are being added today, which brings me up to 6 as of this moment.

One challenge is a new one for me so I have to give it a try.  Plus who doesn’t want to live in a mansion lol?

The other one that I am signing up for today is another fun favorite.  Even though I didn’t complete it for this year, it is still fun to see where I have travelled to with the books I read.

Here are the details in case you want to join me: