It's time for The Cephalopod Coffeehouse, hosted by The Armchair Squid.
The idea is simple: On the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same. In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.
Last month I had the great honor of introducing you to the adorable children's book, Ten Zany Birds by Sherry Ellis, which I edited. You can purchase it on Amazon at http://goo.gl/at9OTL.
My favorite book for June is one that I'm equally honored to present because I edited it (before you know it, I'll be tellin' ya that I've edited every book in the world), and because it happens to be a great book. It's Creating A Joyful Life: The Lessons I Learned from Yoga and My Mom by Jennifer Williams-Fields.
Jennifer very graciously gave me a copy of this book, but, of course, I do not receive remuneration for the reviews I write. You can buy the book on Amazon at http://goo.gl/miKmgb. It looks like this:
Isn't that a beautiful and inviting cover? I'm impressed.
Here's how our author sums up her book:
My mom was a yogi before the term yogi went mainstream and became synonymous with yoga pants, yoga teacher trainings and mala beads. A flower child of the Sixties, my mom was raised on 'all you need is love,' the laws of karma and female empowerment. As far as I know she never stepped foot onto a yoga mat until I became a yoga teacher and she came to my class just to be sure I had at least one student in attendance.
Williams-Fields goes on to teach us ways to learn about ourselves and how to solve our problems. She offers meditations, affirmations, personal experiences, and yoga movements.
I loved editing this book because as I worked, I felt as if the author wrapped me in a soft blanket and patted me on the back and said, There, there. It will be all right.
It's such a comforting book, filled with kind knowledge. Of course, Creating A Joyful Life: The Lessons I Learned from Yoga and My Mom earns The Janie Junebug Seal of Highest and Most Loving Approval.
Jennifer Williams-Fields, I don't know if I'll meet you in person until we leave this earthly life, but I feel as if I know you. I am a better person for knowing you and reading your book.
Thank you for allowing me to be your editor.
Infinities of love,
Janie Junebug
You do good work Janie. Thanks for doing these reviews.
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You do good work Rick. Thanks for helping other authors, and thank you for sending Jennifer my way.
DeleteThat's cool that her mom was a yogi before it was cool.
ReplyDeleteWay cool.
DeleteI just started following Jennifer recently and I wish her great success with her new book. It sounds wonderful. I've also recently taken up yoga! Just went to my first class a couple weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to start yoga when a studio opened in our neighborhood. It closed so fast that I couldn't even get there in time to use my Groupon.
DeleteWe were going to go today but didn't get in until the wee hours last night after a long day's traveling. We'll go back soon, though.
DeleteI have been increasingly drawn to yoga--it might become a book for me! Thanks for sharing Janie!
ReplyDeleteVeronica
You're welcome. Reading this book will probably help you even more with your thoughts about doing yoga.
DeleteHello, dear Janie! You're right. The silhouette cover is very inviting and I get the impression that Jennifer Williams-Fields' book delivers on its promise. I got interested in Yoga around the same time as Jennifer's mother, in the 60s, by watching Richard Hittleman's Yoga For Health television program. I'm sure Creating A Joyful Life: The Lessons I Learned from Yoga and My Mom will teach, comfort and inspire readers of all ages.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the review, dear friend Janie, and have a wonderful weekend!
Do you do yoga, Shady? Or just Yogi Bear? I hope you have a great weekend. Nubbin from Franklin and me.
DeleteWow. That is a strong recommendation. Don't we all want to feel wrapped in a warm blanket and comforted???
ReplyDeleteI dedicated something to you on my HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY post. I hope you like it:)
I shall check it out. I know I'll like it.
DeleteThat IS a great cover!
ReplyDeleteAnd sounds like an interesting book from a "Yoga before Yoga Was Cool" perspective.
It's a cool book all around from her mom's experiences to her own.
DeleteSounds like a good book to help one relax. Thanks once again for the shout out of my book! (And regarding your comment on my blog, I disagree. Your aura is a ganador!) :)
ReplyDeleteOh, you irritated me. I had to look that up. Thank you. I don't really believe what I said in the comment. I was on a Beck trip, and there's no loser with Beck.
DeleteThere probably weren't many people in the States doing yoga back then.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure when it became popular. It must have grown gradually, but sometimes I feel as if it sprang out of nowhere.
DeleteThis sounds like a great book! I used to do yoga once a week and I felt so much better afterward for it. I'm putting this one on my wish list :)
ReplyDeleteYou'll love this book when you get it.
DeleteWow. What a wonderful review and beautiful comments. Thank you so much Janie for editing the book, for your encouragement and for writing the review. I also hope we meet in person some day, in fact I'm adding it to my must-do list. It looks like you have an amazing group of blogger friends here and to those that will be buying my book based on your recommendation I thank you for your support as well. I'm always interested in other writers to follow so I will be checking out their blogs as well. Again, thank you thank you thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, my dear. Can you believe that Rick and Jilda were in Jacksonville once and didn't let me know till after they went home? If that's doesn't send a clear message, then I don't know what will. I'll never let Rick forget that he ignored me. Ah, the pain, the pain.
DeleteIt should have been If that doesn't send a clear message . . . The editor needs an editor.
DeleteWell, probably, I'm not going to read a yoga book.
ReplyDeleteUnless there is murder involved.
But that's just me.
How about if I murder you if you don't buy the book? It will make a great gift.
DeleteThat might be a little more involvement than I'm looking for.
DeleteI don't think I'm ready for anything quite that interactive.
I'll make it quick and painless.
DeleteSo exactly what is it about editing that you love, Janie? Could you tell me? I, for one, find it extremely difficult.
ReplyDeleteBlue, dear, what kind of editing do you do? I know you're an academician. Is it academic and technical papers that you must edit? The people for whom I edit are my friends and loved ones. I don't really like to think of myself as an editor. I am a writing coach. I want to help my clients improve their writing long term. They email their lovely books to me with stories about their lives and other people's fictional lives and how to do things in a better way. They send me a gift when they send me a book to edit. Besides, I love editing because I need money rather desperately. No one will give me a job, and there aren't many jobs I can do because of my poor, broken back. When I don't feel like editing, I tell myself I'll edit just one page. Later I tell myself I'll edit ten pages. When I'm up to it, I promise myself that I won't stop until I've finished a chapter. Maybe you need to think of editing like cake. You get to take a bite. Then you wait a while, and you get half a piece. Then you get a whole piece of cake because you stick with it. The good you do will make you feel wonderful! I can't help loving my clients. They place their faith and trust in me. I don't ever want to fail them. Only one person has been unkind about my editing, but that's wasn't my fault, nor was it his. He didn't know that I was doing what a publisher told me to do, so he blamed me. Other people are appreciative and sweet, and they become my friends.
DeleteWow, what a glowing endorsement! Thank you. I'll definitely check it out. We could all use a literary hug every now and then. :)
ReplyDeleteYou will feel good. I want everyone to feel good.
DeleteThis book sounds like something I should read and I really need.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. and you edited this book ? Just so beyond cool !
cheers, parsnip
Yes, I edited it. It was a joy to edit.
DeleteIt sounds like a good book. Being wrapped in a warm blanket is what I need right now.
ReplyDeleteWe all need that. We all need a pat on the back and a hug and to be told that we can carry on.
DeleteSounds wonderful - I love yoga but haven't done it in way too long :( I miss it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe reading the book will help you start again.
DeleteI just love that you have so much passion for your editing - the sign of a good editor. If you don't love what you do, then what's the point? Anyone can "fix words."
ReplyDeleteI like to do yoga sometimes. It's harder than a lot people give it credit for (if you actually do challenging poses) and it always leaves me feeling refreshed and at peace.
That's a very nice comment. I think it helps a lot that I went through the training to become a writing tutor. I know nothing about yoga and probably couldn't do it because of the naughty back. It's my own fault.
DeleteIt must be hard to edit books. I would be proud too if I edited books. Thanks for sharing the reviews. One of these days I will start making a list of books that I shall read.
ReplyDeleteI don't find editing very hard because it makes me happy. Doing yoga would be hard for me. We all have our talents. If you ever want suggestions of books to read, please feel free to ask me.
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ReplyDeleteYes, it's all academic, much to my annoyance. I feel technical papers are highly overrated. It's not like I'm trying to cure cancer, you know. Conferences on the English language have made me sick for a long, long time, you see, so I don't attend any of them anymore. I just wish I were more creative.
Ah.... editing for friends and loved ones. That makes perfect sense. I had a sneaking suspicion that's what you did. I knew you needed the money, which is a good reason to try and earn an extra buck. Unfortunately my friends don't write, except for the occasional PhD stuff that makes them think I would be really interested... I'm not. It makes me fall asleep. My colleagues still don't understand why I am an avid collector of Roald Dahl, fairy tales and comic strips. They will never understand that that stuff is so much more what being human is all about than writing papers on a freaking 17th-century noun. My favorite book, by the way, is The Little Prince, so what more do you need to know, right? They just don't get it.
Editing is like cake... I like that. Thank you for answering my question, Janie. I really appreciate it. I'm sorry to hear about your back. Health, love, money, creativity... Some people have them all, others would be so lucky to tick a few of those boxes.
I get how you feel. Some people love that academic shit. I wouldn't, so I'm not getting a graduate degree. I'm shocked you say you wish you were more creative. You are extraordinarily creative. You must not be able to see yourself. The Hurricane likes all that academic crap. More power to her. She even edited technical papers to earn money for grad school. It's good I taught her how to edit because I don't have enough money to pay for her education, and her father doesn't care. He pisses on piles of money, that fat ugly bastard. Oh, my, my. I'll be in trouble if he sees this. I don't care. Let him kill me and go to prison forever.
DeleteSounds like a great book. I wish I could get into editing. I'm looking for some work that I can do at home and I think I'd be good at editing or at least proofreading but really don't have any experience per se. Do you like being an editor?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your favorite books with us Janie!
Michele at Angels Bark
I love being an editor. You might start by writing a post on your blog about wanting to edit and what your credentials are. Then to get started, you might offer to critique just a few manuscripts for free. Then if people want you to edit, you discuss price and how long it will take. Use track changes. It's very important. That way, the author can see what you changed, and you can see what the author changed. I love the photos of the doggies on your blog. Angels Bark is a good title. There's a reason God is Dog spelled backwards.
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