As a preface to this post, I’d like to announce that I have purchased and registered the domain LisGarrett.com. The domain, however, will not be active for another 60 days, but you can see the new digs by clicking here. Currently, I am getting the lay of the land, and I am working on sprucing up the place a bit. Please be patient. The site won’t be updated on a regular basis until the new year, although future Book It! posts will be posted there.

What will LisGarrett.com offer? Well, you’ll find everything related to writing. Personal stories will be limited to this site, while I use the other as a means to promote my services as a writer, as well as offer tips and exercises for the new writer. It’ll be a you-learn-as-I-learn, type site as I navigate the world of writing for print publications. If you are interested in writing as a hobby or career, I hope you will join me there.

More news about what to expect later on . . .

Also, congratulations to Kristi for providing the correct answer to my question on this post. Kristi, contact me with your mailing address, and your book will be on its way shortly. See, it pays to pay attention!

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I was very happy to have learned that Christina Katz, author of Writer Mama, discovered this site and linked to me on her blog. She even suggested something I had planned to do already, and that’s performing the book exercises on a public forum.

If you are a new and aspiring writer and have yet to purchase this book, please do; it is one you will want to keep on your desk at all times. Writer Mama is peppered with exercises to get a writer, well, writing. After completing Section III, I knew that this book was not meant to be just read; it was mean to be studied. Friends, this is a guidebook to writing more effectively and getting published. If all you do is read the book and then put it back on your shelf without practicing the exercises, you haven’t taken too many steps to get ahead. I imagine my copy of Writer Mama will look fairly dog-eared by the time I am done with it!

Section III is entitled Professionalism and talks about pre-writing features, drafting queries, finding support groups, interviewing, negotiation techniques, and writing tips. As I was reading this section, I felt the nerves begin to surface as I found myself reading about things that aren’t intuitive to me. I’ve sent just a few queries, although, as of yet, it is still too soon to know the outcome of those. I realize that it could be another year before I grasp what I’m doing well enough to land an article in a publication. That I recognize and accept this truth, however, is what makes me forge ahead. Publication is not an if for me, it is a when. **edited - I just received my first rejection letter in the post today**

Christina Katz goes on to break down the different forms of Rights, and she offers tips on how to negotiate those rights and article earnings. In terms of productivity, Katz suggests establishing goals.

**Did you come up with your professional mission statement? Mine is, as of yet, quite simple: treat each client like he is the only one.*

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, so please join me on November 29th as I discuss Section IV of Writer Mama.

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“I keep making prayers that are really vows, presenting my state of harmony to God and saying, ‘This is what I would like to hold on to. Please help me memorize this feeling of contentment and help me always support it.’” (page 260)

When I told my mother-in-law I had just begun the last section of Eat, Pray, Love, the book that she had given me for my 30th birthday, she blushed and began telling me, in almost hushed tones, of the embarrassingly gratuitous sex scenes. Ooh la la! I thought

I can’t imagine being her mother and actually reading that, she said.

Wow! Is it really outrageous? I hoped.

When I finished the book the other day, I sat on the couch a little disappointed. Definitely, my mother-in-law’s perception of gratuitious sex is much different than mine. Whereas it bothers her to read a skimpy paragraph of the author having acknowledged the fact that she masturbates, it moved me not in the least. The differences between her generation and mine couldn’t be more apparant!

Liz found love.

Liz learned to let go of control and give herself to another man.

She spread herself amongst friends and touched many people while living in Indonesia.

A happy ending, indeed.

My only regret is that the book leaves the reader hanging. While Elizabeth Gilbert is writing about her life and I recognize that the ending is her reality, I am one who loves the proverbial Fairytale Ending. I wanted to know if Liz and Felipe ever got married. What of the prophecy (page 27) that announced her marriages? And the daughter she is supposed to have late in life? Does she and Felipe adopt? (Felipe has had a vasectomy). Do they part ways without getting married? Does Liz marry someone else altogether?

Despite these unanswered questions, I couldn’t put this book down. I am sorry to see it end, as there was a sort of familiar comfort in reading Gilbert’s words. I learned many valuable lessons from this book, ones about spirituality, self-acutalization, self-respect, love, acceptance, and I hope to explore them on a deeper level. I imagine this book won’t end up on the shelf right away; instead, I may find myself flipping through it on occasion, searching for meaning . . .

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, so please join me on November 29th as I discuss pages 1-133 of A Girl Named Zippy, by Haven Kimmel.