{"id":1614,"date":"2013-02-21T11:52:24","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T16:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.katrinakenison.com\/?p=1614"},"modified":"2013-02-21T11:52:24","modified_gmt":"2013-02-21T16:52:24","slug":"book-giveaway-events-and-online-chat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/book-giveaway-events-and-online-chat\/","title":{"rendered":"Book giveaway, events, and online chat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"backyard<\/a><\/p>\n

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A mother\u2019s midlife memoir paired with a gardening book?<\/p>\n

What, you might well ask, could these two volumes possibly have in common?\u00a0\u00a0 And why would a married mom of two and a resolutely single, encyclopedically knowledgeable, former-Martha-Stewart-publishing-executive-turned-rural-hermit ever become writing partners, let alone dear friends?<\/p>\n

Well, if age teaches us anything, it\u2019s that life is full of surprises \u2013 and that the relationships that bloom and blossom in the langorous afternoon of life are often quite different from those of its bright morning.\u00a0 No longer bound to our friends by social stratifications, proximity, or the shared duties of parenthood, we find ourselves connected, instead, at a soul level.\u00a0 \u201cFriendship,\u201d writes C.S. Lewis, \u201cis born at that moment when one person says to another, \u2018What? You too?\u00a0 I thought I was the only one.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And so it was with Margaret Roach and me.\u00a0 Coincidence brought us together (we share a publisher, and our editors had given us galleys of each other\u2019s last books).\u00a0 But it wasn\u2019t until we met in person, at a bookseller\u2019s convention two years ago, that we each experienced that unmistakable \u201cclick\u201d that signals this is someone who is meant to be in my life.<\/i><\/p>\n

Reading Margaret\u2019s work, I knew right away I was in the presence of a kindred spirit — someone who finds pleasure in the small moments, who draws sustenance and inspiration from the frogs in her pond and the flowers at her doorstep, who is more at home stirring a pot of home-made soup at the stove than hobnobbing with fellow writers at literary soirees.<\/p>\n

Becoming her friend for real, spending overnights in her guest cottage and sharing countless dinners together, only confirmed what I\u2019d already suspected: different as our lives may be on the surface (Margaret never has to postpone a writing project because a son needs help on his college application; I wouldn\u2019t know a Chaenomeles<\/i> x superba<\/i> if one was in full bloom in my own yard), we nevertheless have much to offer each other \u2013 gifts of time and support and perspective on the universal challenges (and joys!) of growing older and, hopefully, just a wee bit wiser.<\/p>\n

So maybe it\u2019s not so surprising after all, that when we exchanged manuscripts of our most recent books, we each found ourselves scribbling excited \u201cYes!\u201d notes and exclamation points in the margins.\u00a0 There were so many common themes that we had to laugh.\u00a0 And then we realized that of course our readers would probably enjoy getting to know one another as much as the two of us had.<\/p>\n

Since our books came out last month, Margaret and I have appeared together at bookstores all over New England \u2013 and we can now report that our hunch was right.\u00a0 The conversations are lively, our joint readings fun for all, and the connections and cross-overs always surprising and delightful.<\/p>\n

So, consider this your invitation to come join us!\u00a0 Win our books (signed, personalized copies), hear us speak, or if you can\u2019t make it to one of the events below \u2014 jump in to our free online chat starting Monday on Goodreads.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Duets with Margaret<\/span><\/h3>\n

The goodreads.com event<\/strong>
\nGoodreads is like a giant online book club that never sleeps. It\u2019s amazing, and it\u2019s free; a great place to get tips from other keen readers on books to look out for, according to your interests, and to \u201ctalk\u201d to authors. Margaret Roach (author most recently of “The Backyard Parables: Lessons on Gardening, and Life”) and I will be there Monday February 25 for an open forum<\/a>, to answer your questions about our new (or older) books, about writing, or about whatever you feel like asking about.<\/p>\n

In our in-person events recently, the topics have ranged from finding midlife friendship, to raising adolescent boys (or unruly plants), to recipes we\u2019ve swapped and books we\u2019ve both read, to our writing \u201cprocess\u201d (Margaret paces, I sit still for hours on end)\u2014no kidding, that wide a range, and more. Fun! So come share whatever\u2019s on your mind. Won\u2019t you sign up and join us<\/a>?<\/p>\n

The in-person events<\/strong><\/p>\n