Indie Spotlight is my effort to help Indie authors with marketing. You can help too by sharing this post far and wide. Below see my review of My Grief Jar by Deborah Waffle. It is a memoir of a Mom who has lost her daughter, and how in the midst of her grief, she decided to help others.
BOOK REVIEW
My Grief Jar is the story of Deborah Waffle’s daughter, Kelsey, and her battle with constant pain and severe complications from Small Fiber Neuropathy. But it is also the story of Deborah’s journey after Kelsey’s death, as she sought to fulfill Kelsey’s wish that her Golden Retriever, Brody, become a therapy dog.
Deborah shows us Kelsey’s debilitating pain and her own grief in such an honest way. Her decision to honor her daughter by helping others and getting Brody trained as a therapy dog is admirable, and as I read her story, I could see it was the absolute best choice. She was able to visit hospital patients with Brody, bring them joy, and feel close to her daughter at the same time. The analogy of the grief jar is a powerful one–the grief stays the same, but the vessel holding the grief can grow, and helping others helped Deborah to grow. She and Brody became a source of joy for hospital patients and Deborah then became a writer, for this is a very well-written book.
I feel honored that Deborah asked me to share her book, her beautiful daughter, her walk through overwhelming grief, and her remarkable journey afterwards with Brody because, just maybe, somebody will see this post, read the book, and be helped by it as well. Highly, highly recommended.
I downloaded this book on Kindle Unlimited. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Deborah Waffle taught second and fourth grade for 33 years and is now retired. She lives with her husband Marty, and their dog, Brody, in Broadalbin, New York. Deborah and Brody visit several different medical facilities once or twice a week as a therapy dog team. They recently celebrated their 50th therapy dog visit. Brody brings smiles to all the people and patients he meets.
PURCHASE LINKS
Click on the image below to purchase My Grief Jar. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited, where subscribers can read it for free.
BEFORE YOU GO
Remember, if you read the book, please leave a review. Reviews help the author so much, because the more reviews a book has, the more Amazon will promote it. The review does not have to be a masterpiece. Just a sentence or two about how the book made you feel will be perfect, and will make the author’s day. Please also remember to share this post with others so they will see this wonderful book.
**Indie Spotlight is my effort to help Indie authors share their books with others. You can help too by sharing this post with all of your social media followers. Together we can help Indie books succeed. Below is my review of an honest and very personal story of loss and grief by author Bill Beckett.
BOOK REVIEW
The Empty Side of Our Bed is Bill Beckett’s story of the loss of his beloved wife Bonnie to cancer, and his painful journey forward. Beckett makes it clear that there are no easy answers and no step-by-step guidelines to cope with losing the love of your life. Instead he shares his emotions from the beginning of his journey until the present. His description of heartache as an actual, physical pain is so real, and he describes the darker times when he was overwhelmed with the physical agony of it, along with the mental anguish. At the same time, he shares happy memories with Bonnie and stresses the simple moments that we should all embrace to the fullest, because they are the ones he misses the most. He shares how he has learned to live with grief, and he honors his late wife and his love for her.
This is a wonderful tribute to the author’s wife, and at the same time, a deeply honest story of experiencing grief and moving slowly forward.
I received a free copy of this book. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bill Beckett is a former IT and digital forensics professional who turned to writing after the loss of his wife, Bonnie. He is the author of Love, Family, Cancer, a heartfelt account of their journey through illness. His current project, The Empty Side of Our Bed, is a deeply personal memoir about grief, healing, and rediscovering identity. Bill writes with raw honesty, offering comfort to fellow widowers and anyone navigating profound loss. He is a father, grandfather, and storyteller who believes in the quiet power of words to help us carry on.
PURCHASE LINK
Click on the cover to purchase on Amazon
BEFORE YOU GO
**If you read the book, please be sure to leave a review on Amazon. It helps Indie authors so much. A review does not have to be a masterpiece. Just a sentence or two about how the book made you feel will make an author’s day and help their books succeed.
Self-Published Saturday is my attempt to showcase works by self-published authors. Saturdays are dedicated solely to self-published/indie authors and their works. These authors have to do it all, from editing to cover design to marketing. Self-published Saturday (or SPS) is my effort to try and help with the marketing side of things as much as I can. I also need your help in the form of sharing this post with your social media followers to give these authors more exposure. Today I want to bring your attention to a wonderful book of poems by Elizabeth Gaffreau. Written in Tanka style, they are a tribute to her departed family members. Liz also agreed to answer some questions for us, so don’t miss the Q&A below!
BOOK REVIEW
Grief Songs is a beautiful collection of Tanka poems, accompanied by family photographs. Each poem pays tribute to a family member and often goes behind the scenes, telling us what is happening “beyond the frame.” It is a wonderful and unique look at a family, both good times and bad.
To anyone who is unfamiliar with tanka poems, here is a quick definition: Tanka poems are Japanese in origin. They are very specifically 31 syllables, 5 lines. The first line has five syllables, the second 7, the third 5, and the last two lines have 7. The first three lines are supposed to evoke an image, and the last two describe an action or emotion based on that image.
In Grief Songs, Gauffreau gives heartfelt tributes to her mother, father, and brother George. Some will make you laugh, and some will draw a tear. My absolute favorite is Angelic, which is aptly named. It is accompanied by the most adorable, and yes, angelic, portrait of two children I have ever seen. Liz and her brother George look like the most beautiful, well-behaved kids ever to sit for a portrait in the history of time. However, the the last two lines of the accompanying tanka read: “George had cried piteous tears/while I railed against my bangs.” This made me laugh out loud–maybe not so angelic! The bangs in question remind me of a lot of pictures in my own family album of home haircuts where the bangs ended up a little too short, usually right before a school picture. This is just one example of the way Gauffreau brings the photos to life with her poetry.
Gauffreau’s ability to weave poems, even poems with strict guidelines, into very descriptive stories is quite evident in this book. A Goodwill Love Story is a great example of that. She describes her parents’ meeting, courtship, and marriage in 5 lines, 31 syllables, and we see pictures in our minds that go far beyond the accompanying photo.
Grief Songs will inspire you to pull out your own family album, remember your lost loved ones, and think about the stories behind the photos. It is a beautifully constructed book of memories full of joy, admiration, and pain.
I received a pdf from the author and also purchased the ebook. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.
Grief Songs will be released tomorrow, September 26, 2021.
Thanks so much Liz, for answering my questions today. I am so pleased to review your book, and I’ve become a big fan of your writing.
Thank you very much, Bonnie. I’m delighted to be here. I enjoy following your book review blog. You are a voracious reader!
Let’s go beyond the bio. Could you tell us a little more about yourself?. What are your hobbies and interests outside of writing?
I lived in Virginia for a number of years when my husband was in the Navy. While living there, he and I developed a keen interest in exploring historic sites and historic homes. The Colonial Parkway and Jamestown Island outside of Williamsburg were our favorite spots to visit.
We also enjoy being out in Nature and exploring the back roads of northern New Hampshire and Vermont. After being away for so long, I was very surprised to discover how many dirt roads still remain.
Grief Songs is a collection of Tanka poetry that delves into the grieving process. What was your inspiration for this book, and why did you decide on Tanka poetry?
I had no intention of writing a book of tanka until two things in my life converged. The first was reading Colleen Chesebro’s syllabic poetry blog and trying my hand at writing a tanka just out of curiosity to see if I could do it. Up until that point, I had resisted syllabic poetry as being too restrictive. I tried one poem and was pleased with the result.
Then, two months later, my mother died, leaving me the only person in my immediate family still alive. As I was going through our family photograph albums, poems started coming to me, and I soon had enough for a book. Writing the poems was a way to stay with my family just a little longer.
Tanka poems have a very specific set of rules. Did that inhibit in any way the message you wanted to convey in your book?
The confines of the tanka form were actually a saving grace because I had to focus at the line, word, and syllable level. I found those confines comforting, like an infant being swaddled.
Tell us a little about one or two of the poems that are your favorites.
One of my favorite poems in the collection is “In the Wilderness,” inspired by a photograph of my mother snowshoeing in a state park outside Presque Isle, Maine. When she initially mailed me the photo, my immediate thought was, “Kay in an Alien Universe,” because she looked so small. The other reason the poem is one of my favorites is that readers have told me it prompted fond memories of their own mothers.
I’ve been a fan of your work since I read your book “Telling Sonny.” You’ve also had many short stories published. Could you give the readers a description of “Telling Sonny” and your other work, including any current project you might be working on. Is another novel on the horizon?
Thank you, Bonnie! I’m so glad you enjoy my work. Telling Sonny began with an odd little note from my mother after she had asked me to write a biography of my dad for our extended family. The note, on a sheet of lined notebook paper, read, “Elliott I. committed suicide and had a sister Dorothy.” It seemed such an odd juxtaposition of facts, I had to write a poem about it: “My Father’s Side of the Family.”
However, the poem wasn’t enough to get that line out of my head. It rolled around in there for months, until the inciting incident for a novel came to me: Sonny’s mother put in the position of informing him of his father’s death because he had become an afterthought to his father’s family. The novel tells the story of how Sonny’s parents met and parted, all in the setting of small-time vaudeville.
Much of my short fiction is set in Enosburg Falls, Vermont, where I grew up. Right after I graduated from high school, I got it into my head that I could be the Sherwood Anderson of Enosburg because no other writer had given the village a voice. Then, many years later, I discovered writer Hildreth Wriston, who was born there. Well! She wrote children’s books, however, so I’m telling myself I can still be the Sherwood Anderson of Enosburg. Youthful illusions aside, I’m planning a short story collection titled Enosburg Stories.
In the meantime, I’ve begun work on a novel about the last poor house in Vermont, which wasn’t closed down until 1968. I expect it will take me awhile, as I need to do a fair chunk of research.
Your first book, “Telling Sonny,” was traditionally published. “Grief Songs” is a self-published work. Tell us a little bit about the differences you have experienced between the two. Do you prefer one over the other?
I would have to say that the experience of being traditionally published and the experience of self-publishing have both been an education at the School of Hard Knocks. I went through my undergraduate creative writing program, as well as my graduate program, at a time when the focus was on the craft of writing. The business of writing and self-promotion was not addressed in the curriculum and barely mentioned in passing by my professors.
As many other authors have noted, even when traditionally published, the lion’s share of marketing and promotion for the book falls on the author. That being the case, I prefer self-publishing because I am in control of each phase.
What advice would you give to new authors who are just starting their journey?
I will pass on the writing advice that my first writing professor gave us: Master your craft before seeking publication. I found that advice incredibly liberating because I was able to focus on what I enjoyed most without being distracted by rejection slips.
Thanks again, Liz! I so much appreciate you following my blog, and I am so happy I was introduced to your writing.
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