WHEN LIFE STINKS by Kelly Epperson: “…there would be no book if not for the reader.”

Our guest blogger today is Kelly Epperson, author of the humor book, When Life Stinks, It’s Time to Wash the Gym Clothes.

You can visit her website at www.whenlifestinks.com.

When Life Stinks, It’s Time to Wash the Gym Clothes is a post-apocalypse intellectual vampire romance thriller. Umm… not really.

This slim paperback is a compilation of short essays – quick, easy to read, but stick with you. When Life Stinks is a collection of my weekly newspaper columns. I started my “slice of life” column in May 2001; I’m still at it and still love it.

I do all kinds of freelance writing and ghostwriting, but writing my column is my joy. It’s my opportunity to be me, to reflect on the silly and serious, and to connect with my readers. There would be no book if not for the readers. I was continually asked for a collection of columns in book form. I was flattered, but put it off.

Then I started ghostwriting books for other people. It was bizarre that the first book I ever wrote was for someone else. And I couldn’t talk about it. Because of ghostwriting confidentiality agreements, I can’t discuss (or brag about) the books I write.

For my own ego, and because I love my readers (I really do), it was time to put my book out there. The title was a random line from a column about my two sons and our leaning tower of laundry. The topics I address are universal so I‘ve been dubbed EveryWoman. (I want magic bracelets like Wonder Woman.)

When Life Stinks, It’s Time to Wash the Gym Clothes is a great gift book. When Life Stinks appeals to men and women, and shockingly, teenagers. And there’s nary a vampire romance in this collection. Visit me at www.whenlifestinks.com (and sign up for weekly joy letter). Thanks for reading!

Outing the Goddess Within by Anita Revel

Anita Revel, author of Outing the Goddess Within, is touring with Pump Up Your Books Promotion this month.  When asked how she came up with the idea for her book, here’s what she told us. 

It was Christmas and I was feeling slightly homesick the first time I wrote a lengthy letter home to all my friends on the east coast of Australia. Having moved to the west coast a year prior, I was going through one of those moments of regret – I’d moved to the country to find a man, (it worked for a popular TV character in an Australian series called Sea Change, after all), but at the same time I was feeling insanely jealous of the Sex and the City girls living it up in New York City. I was torn between retuning to the exciting city life or sticking it out in the country for another year.  

The letter home was peppered with my frustrations at the lack of men and good coffee, but talked about the happiness I felt when experiencing the natural beauty of living beach-side, the easy drive to work, the affordable housing and room to swing my pet cow in the laundry. 

That letter home was the start of my writing career. I got such a thrill watching the words flow onto my laptop screen and an entertaining story develop. Each time a friend replied to my letter with a heartfelt and lengthy account of their own lives I realized the power of words – the more genuine the words the more effectively they connected the reader with the writer. 

Later, that letter was reworked to become the chapter “Self-reliant, like the goddess Circe” in the book Outing the Goddess Within, One Girl’s Journey With 52 Guides (Amazon.com)