Several of you have written me asking for the process it took to get my eBook up on Amazon. I’m happy to share. I also want to include some of the wonderful reviews that have come in, because they have blown my mind! I never expected such terrific and fun-loving reviews. Here are some samples:
It’s not often I find a book that makes me laugh, brings a tear to my eye, and gives me true food for thought, all at once. Susan Troccolo’s marvelous essays have done that, and I’m grateful for it. Somehow she weaves familiar subjects such as gardening, cooking, recovery, silliness, joy, and grief together into life lessons with a new perspective, This takes skill, and Ms Troccolo most definitely has it. I will never again eat a beet without picturing one on the floor about to be attacked, or consider saying Yes when I really mean No. I’m eager to read more of this author’s work. — Marilyn
I admit, when I viewed the title of Susan Troccolo’s book The Beet Goes On, my mind immediately conjured up Sonny & Cher’s “La-de-da-de-de, La-de-da-de-da” while simultaneously feeling both curious and hungry. I love beets.
What a fun, enjoyable book! Ms. Troccolo possesses that enviable ability to take her life’s subplots and craft them into intelligent stories chock full of both potency and poignancy. As a lover of fine prose, I found myself getting all giddy when reading such creative expression. You know, the kind where every word has merit and pulls the reader onward to the next and the next. One example of that is on page 28.
“I laughed a little under my breath because this seemed to be my new existence: a watery, salty existence with tears and laughter bubbling out dozens of times a day. Like a well, I spurted out water whenever the pump was primed by some observation of simple magic.”
When you read Ms. Troccolo’s book, you’ll get a new understanding of the term, unwinding; the empowerment of no. You’ll laugh with Susan over a silly hard-to-fork beet. You’ll read the words of a strong, courageous woman who has triumphed over thyroid cancer. You’ll absorb her verve for life and nature and beauty. You’ll become acquainted with a new friend and a kindred spirit. — Grace Peterson
Check out the reviews here. The main page for the book can be found here.
I’d like you to know that I’m at work on a small print book to go along with this as a gift book. It turned out that many of you didn’t want to read online (the PDF) or on a Kindle, and asked for a print version. So, although it was not my original plan, and although it will be small—because this book was designed to be a “taster” only in advance of the larger collection of essays—I’m putting out a small gift copy for $2.99 that you can get on this same Amazon link. I’m very interested in other comments that any of my readers have on this book. I’m still learning about how to “get it out there.”
Please share anything, no matter how small you think it may be. I am learning something new everyday.
Now to the idea of an email sabbatical. I read an essay about a month ago about a woman that realized that her vacations were not as “vacation-y” as she hoped because she knew she would be coming home to 500+ (in some cases 1,000+ emails) that she would have to deal with. AH HA! The email sabbatical was born. Here is a link to all the specifics: How to Take an Email Sabbatical
As you’ll read, a very important step in the email sabbatical is to let people know in advance that you are taking it, so you don’t appear “high and mighty”, as one author said. You let folks know about a month in advance. This is accomplished in different ways depending upon your email browser. I use both Gmail, where it is very easy to do, and Thunderbird/Mozilla, where it is not quite as easy.
Of course, after you send out your first notification, then you have to do it again when you actually take the email sabbatical. Mine is from August 10th – August 24th….the Dog Days of Summer. Most email programs will allow you to select and send to 250 people at a time. For those of you who get the blog though, it won’t matter, because I will continue to receive and respond to comments on the blog.
Can you guess what happened when I sent my first notification about the upcoming email sabbatical? About twenty people wrote back immediately saying: “What a great idea”, “Inspirational”, ” I need to do this to have a sanity break.” So I’m guessing you won’t upset your peeps by taking a real break whether it is to work in the garden or work on a book.
So what is happening in your garden these days? The heat has been brutal on my plants, but when the eBook was finished, I finally had time to dig in and plant some annuals, feed and deep water all the perennials. Things are starting to perk up with one good rain storm and some cooler temps. When I saw this beautiful grasshopper on the hydrangea: it just felt to me that the critters were all coming back.
Plant question of the day: can somebody please tell me what this lovely plant is?
I assumed it was Echinacea, “White Swan”, but it has this unusual greenish tinge to the tips of the petals. It is not at all aggressive, with compact habit, but growing larger in its space. Anybody else grow this flower? It goes well with lots of other colors in the garden…a free autographed gift book to anybody who accurately guesses this plant.
Happy Summer to Everyone. If I receive an Email Sabbatical Notice from you, I’ll know you are feeding your soul one way or another!
Yes, I like the idea of an email sabbatical! Better yet–a Facebook sabbatical. I think I might avoid Facebook during the entire summer and fall of 2016–leading up to the presidential election. Too many friends shouting back and forth from the far left and the far right. It’s painful. Love the cover of your book!
Boy, I hear you about Facebook. Lots of political stuff. I just don’t get in the middle of it at all for the very reasons you mention. I’m glad you like the cover of “The Beet”…it was such fun choosing that beet photo from many photos available online. I hope the download was easy enough for you, my friends here on the site are the perfect readers for the book. Also, I’ve had a lot of requests for a print version. It’s going to be tiny, but perhaps a good size for a gift book for friends. Working on that now.. Thanks for your note Beth. Is IS a totally good thing that we have a muting button on the television for the political commercials!
I often think that we stay connected to things (often electronic devices) better than we do to people.
Taking time away from the things makes a heap of sense to me.
Love the reviews you have received, and will have to track your book down. Soon.
I wonder whether that glorious plant is indeed White Swan, and the greenish effect a reflection of the soils it grows in?
We just had a friend here as a house guest who has been a friend for forty + years! I know it is so important to both my husband and me that we stay in touch with friends. There really is nothing like it, but I guess the jury is still out for the millennials. I do wonder if they will maintain forty year old friendships. For their sake, I hope they do. Thanks for taking the time to read the reviews Soosie! You know you can get the book for free right here on the site, right? It was my gift to readers. Regarding the possible “White Swan” , you raise a really good point. We know that all other flowers are affected by soil ph., etc. Interesting possibility.
Sadly, the book will not download for me. Screw loose in operator?
I’m going to send the book to you directly. Please let me know if you receive the PDF to your email address. I’m sooo glad you told me! We need to know this stuff. If anybody else had problems, please let me know! It all should have been very straightforward, but it there are glitches, we definitely want to know so we can fix them.
Yea Soosie….so glad you got it!
Good luck with the sabbatical…I agree with Beth about FB. And I think your echinacea is ‘Jade’. Google it and let me know what you think. Remember the interview post comes out tomorrow!
Thanks Donna! So “Jade” eh? I’ll google it for sure. It’s really a beauty if you like that light green shade, which I ordinarily wouldn’t….but somehow it works with this flower. I’m ready for the interview to come out and looking forward to it.(I don’t even recall what I said-:) Please let your readers know to get in touch with me at susie@troccolo.com if they have any problems with downloading the book. It is also available on Amazon, as a eBook and soon as a small gift-sized print book, great for friends.
Congrats Donna! The plant is Coneflower “Jade.” You know your stuff, that’s for sure. An autographed book coming your way…
An email AND a FB sabbatical…would be quite lovely every once in awhile, whether on vacation or not, Susie. HA! Makes sense to me. Whatever did we do in those good ol’ days???
Exactly! We dropped by with a peach pie and yakked on the porch…or some version of that dream. Actually, I get a lot of pleasure from social media, I’ve met the “bestest” people (hint, hint), but I think a break is a really good idea. For me it’s a matter of rhythm…I’ve lost some natural life rhythm and I want it back.
I go back to school next month and love the idea of an email sabbatical. No one can bug me! Woo hoo! Of course, my principal may be less than thrilled. I don’t think your coneflower is ‘White Swan’ because I have those and the tips aren’t green at all. It may be a seedling between two other varieties that is unique to your garden. You could name it ‘Summer Surprise’. 🙂
Ha ha, don’t you wish? Yes, your principal would have one sweet fit. Nope I imagine that you are practically available all the time for your kids, or parents or something once school starts. I did some research on my coneflower…and it IS “Jade.” Donna was right. I googled that hybrid and the pictures match exactly, really gorgeous shades that do vary somewhat. Although “Summer Surprise” works too-:)
Susie dear your writing is so wonderful, how it flows. Even your comments on my blog make me stop in my tracks!! I’m agog at your enterprise too. Thrilled that you will have a little print book out there. I agree it’s a lovely thing to have in your hand, I am off now to share on the twitter machine, which does quite well for me. Yea FB…..what a drain on energy……I’m on a constant sabbatical!!! x
Catherine, what very kind things to say. I really appreciate it. The little gift book is going to be ready by the end of the day and on Amazon. And what makes me even happier is that I have the right energy for the larger collection of essays to follow. I’m going to have to find you on Twitter and start following–I’ve discovered I like it a lot as well! It’s fun-:)) Can you send me your Twitter handle? Or, I’ll keep looking…
That photo to your hubby’s photography studio looks like it belongs in a garden magazine! It’s gorgeous. And yep, that looks like ‘White Swan’ to me. But maybe it should be renamed, ‘White and Green Swan’. 🙂 Enjoy the cooler weather my friend.
Gracie! How did I miss this comment! So sorry. Thanks for writing in, and thanks for the compliment on the photo. I do love that angle out to the studio. I agree with you that the echinacea should be called “White and Green Swan.” Although I think Donna must be right that it is “Jade.” When I google it, the flowers look just like what I’ve got. Today, I’m adding a new echinacea into the mix (but NOT next to Jade), the interesting variety called “Tomato Soup.” It is actually prettier than it sounds!