Blog Tour: 'TIS THE SEASON TO FEEL INADEQUATE by Dorothy Rosby

 

'TIS THE SEASON TO FEEL INADEQUATE

Dorothy Rosby

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GENRE:  Humorous Essays

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

BLURB:

 

 

Christmas comes but once a year; chaos never ends! Happy Halloween, merry Christmas and joyful Lumpy Rug Day. That’s real, by the way. Lumpy Rug Day is celebrated every May 3, though “celebrated” might be too strong a word. It’s the American way to create a celebration for everything, then turn it into a chore or worse, a nightmare. ’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate is a collection of humorous essays about how we let our expectations steal the joy out of Christmas and other holidays and special events. It’s understanding for those who think Christmas form letters can be honest—or they can be interesting. And it’s empathy for anyone who’s ever gotten poison ivy during Nude Recreation Week or eaten all their Halloween candy and had to hand out instant oatmeal packets to their trick-or-treaters.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Excerpt Three:

 

Excerpt from Essay: Cooks in Crisis

 

Every year while I prepare our Thanksgiving meal, such as it is, I tune into the annual live call-in show, Turkey Confidential, on National Public Radio. Food experts talk turkey about all sorts of dishes I’d love to gobble up.

 

And on the biggest cooking day of the year, Turkey Confidential guests come to the rescue of cooks in crisis across America. I’ve never had the nerve to call them myself, though I’ve had my share of cooking crises, and not just on Thanksgiving. But there are a few calls I could have made over the many years I’ve listened to the show.

 

1. Help! My goose is cooked but my turkey isn’t. I told my guests we’d eat at noon. Then I told them one. It’s now two. The relish tray is empty and someone sampled the pumpkin pie, but the turkey juices are far from clear and the little pop-up thingie shows no sign of popping up. Opening the oven every five minutes to check probably isn’t helping.

 

I should have seen this coming. Our turkey wasn’t quite thawed even after it sat in our fridge for four days, maybe because our refrigerator runs a little cold. That usually isn’t a problem since I mostly just use it to make ice cubes.

 

If that weren’t bad enough, our oven has been running a little cold too, maybe out of sympathy for the refrigerator.

 

My question is, should I go ahead and serve my guests leftover tuna casserole now and have the turkey as a bedtime snack? A lot of people sleep after Thanksgiving dinner anyway.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Topic: What was your writing process like when writing this book?

’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate is a collection of humorous essays about the stress we put on ourselves in the name of celebrating—how we let our expectations take the joy out of Christmas, other holidays and special occasions. I start with Christmas because no holiday makes me feel more inadequate than Christmas—except maybe Nude Recreation Week which just gets a mention. But I work my way through the year with all sorts of major and minor holidays, observances and events we celebrate, including birthdays, weddings and class reunions.

I’m a syndicated humor columnist who also does some storytelling and entertaining talks in my community. So my process included digging through every essay, column, speech and story I’ve ever written about holidays and special occasions and updating, marrying some together and tossing some out and starting them over. It also included a great deal of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Really.

Everything I write follows a predictable pattern. I have an idea I love and I’m convinced it will be the best thing I’ve ever written. I’m excited, inspired and motivated — for about half an hour. Eventually everything degenerates into work. Starting a new project is always a struggle for me. This is the moment where I might succumb to a serious case of writer’s block if I didn’t have a deadline. And I did have a strict deadline. For obvious reasons, I needed this book to be out before the holiday season. Working through the initial stages is always hard but once I get a rough draft down on paper, it becomes fun again. At this point I start polishing, moving things around and looking for funnier ways to say things. I know many writers hate revision, but for me, this part of the process is so fun that if I hadn’t had a deadline, I might still be working on the book.

 

 

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Dorothy Rosby is an author humor columnist whose work regularly appears in publications throughout the West and Midwest. Her humor writing has been recognized by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, the National Federation of Press Women and the South Dakota Newspaper Association. In 2022 she was named the global winner in the Erma Bombeck Writers Competition in the humor writing category. She’s the author of four books of humorous essays. 

 

Website: https://dorothyrosby.com/

 

https://www.facebook.com/rosbydorothy

https://www.goodreads.com/dorothyrosby

https://www.instagram.com/dorothyrosby/

 

 

 

Amazon   https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578295520

 

Audible  https://www.audible.com/pd/Tis-the-Season-to-Feel-Inadequate-Audiobook/B0CBW57GYM

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GIVEAWAY 

The author will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blast: OUR GLOBAL CRISIS by Brian D. McLean

>

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Modern society has reached a critical juncture in its existence. Like past civilizations ours has reached a point where its future is far from certain, with its decline, or even collapse, being distinct possibilities.

The Incas, the Mayans, the Romans, the Rapanui, and many others, had seemingly successful societies, yet collapsed when faced with challenges that threatened their continued existence.

Are we to suffer the same fate? What could possibly cause our downfall?

Climate change and environmental issues? Perhaps. It is now almost a certainty that these events are destined to inflict catastrophic damage to our global society. Our coastal cities and island nations, as well as our global economy and agricultural output, will be irreparably damaged. Many of Earth's species, as well as the lives of many millions of people, will be displaced or lost forever.

Such a fate may still be averted, but that opportunity has largely passed. Even if we are able to correct the climatic and environmental issues threatening our society, we must still recognize and address the ultimate source of our problems. For if we fail, a far worse fate potentially awaits us.

Our Global Crisis is an eye opening look at the common weakness shared by societies and civilizations both past and present. But analysis of the problem alone will not solve the global crisis we now face. Thus, the final chapter is dedicated to the simple, yet critical solutions, necessary for our very survival.

Read an Excerpt

Humanity faces an uncertain future. For although we are the product of a great multitude of evolutionary “improvements,” we are nevertheless imperfect. Through the millennia, our shortcomings have contributed to the setbacks and failures of many peoples, cultures, even past civilizations, and they continue to do so. Even today, the future stability and continuance of our global socioeconomic society is not guaranteed. Climate change, environmental degradation, ongoing political and religious tension and violence, and other damaging and contentious issues not only have the potential to destabilize our global society, but if left uncorrected, may precipitate its eventual collapse. The most troubling aspect of this growing possibility is that each of us would ultimately be responsible for its occurrence.

Despite the advanced level of development attained by our species relative to others on Earth, inherent weaknesses in our nature still persist, and it is those weaknesses that each of us must overcome if we are to survive and evolve beyond our current limitations. If we can come to accept who we are and appreciate our weaknesses as well as our strengths, then we may be able to rise above our imperfections. In doing so, the possibility exists that our species may once again find its rightful place within nature and restore balance to the biosphere.

The purpose of Our Global Crisis is to guide us in this direction, to help us better understand who we are as a species, and to allow each of us to come to terms with our inner wants and desires, our strengths, and our weaknesses.

About the Author: Brian McLean, ART, is a former Medical Laboratory Technologist and Information Systems Specialist. Drawn by his passion for the outdoors, he shifted from a successful career to spend nearly two decades working for a family run orchard business. A passionate conservationist and environmentalist, Brian is also a keen observer of human nature and humanity's interaction with the biosphere. Based on those observations, he has been meticulously compiling and crafting Our Global Crisis over the last 22 years. Currently, he is working to restore riparian and temperate forest ecosystems affected by clearcut forestry practices, and when he needs to decompress, he spends time under the stars delving into his other passion, astrophotography.

Website: https://briandmclean.com
Amazon: https://amazon.com/dp/0993607225
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/walkingsoftlyinnature
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/walkingsoftlyinnature
Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/briandmclean

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: THE SORORITY MURDER by Allison Brennan

 

A sorority murder on campus. Three years later, a student was running a podcast to determine the last surviving days of Candace and possibly solve her murder. It was weird. Candace was missing for a whole week before her body was found in the lake with her being dead for 24 hours. Where was she? What was she doing? And who could’ve killed her? Right away, the premise grabs you.

 

Little by little, we get more clues, more info, and more suspicion. There was someone out there that didn’t want the truth to come out.

 

A U.S. Marshal named Regan was still reeling from her son’s murder. She along with a criminology student band together to try to put the pieces together.

 

The mystery was too compelling. What secret was this sorority hiding? And why did it feel like Lucas knew more than he was letting on?

 

For most of the book, you’re wondering what happened and who the killer was, which keep you on your toes. The ending, however, slows to a mild crawl and wasn’t as suspenseful. I didn’t really think that long summation of what we already knew of the case was necessary at all.

 

Overall, this was a good read.

 

Rating: 4 stars

Review: THE LIES SHE TOLD by N.L. Hinkens

 

Haley was hoping for a fresh start when she started working at her new job. She didn’t expect to be reminded of what she did. Then the phone hang-ups and the feelings of being watched begin to settle in. It soon becomes clear as day that someone was harassing her. Even after marrying a nice guy, the lurking feeling and strange events never stopped. Paranoia and worry consume her, and she even started wondering if this had anything to do with that terrible prank she pulled in high school, which resulted in a student’s suicide. Did someone know Haley’s secret? I absolutely suspected the new husband and the lousy dog-kicker.

 

“That was the problem with lies. Once you told them, they never really died.”

 

Who told? The mystery of the stalker was certainly alluring and made you think. Who was it?

 

It gets better towards the end when the truth is revealed. Of course, it was a vendetta. Keeps you reading all the way! A terrific read!

 

Rating: 5 stars

Review: HER LAST SUMMER by Melinda Woodhall

 

A dead author found in her hotel tub. Sounded like a great story for TV reporter Veronica Lee.

 

With the various character storylines, this mystery was reminiscent of the MHC (Mary Higgins Clark) books that I’m a huge fan of.  A conman who has killed before was on the loose and was killing to keep his freedom of stolen luxury. The narrative was strong, but it was also lagging with time spent on repeated info. Sometimes I even forgot who some of these characters were. It was a pretty good read overall. I mean, I would’ve preferred not knowing the killer and then trying to figure it out during the read. As is, this wasn’t quite as suspenseful and it was kinda long. I might give the rest of this series a chance if I feel up to it. We’ll see.

 

Rating: 3 stars