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| Me me me! (Plus redbud.) |
Catastrophic Happiness comes out in paperback tomorrow! Did you want a copy? Comment below! I'll pick a winner or two or three on Friday. Would you please spread the word? It would make a good Mother's Day present, no? I mean, the fact of the word "catastrophic" makes it mind of a natural fit for any of your most festive occasions! Also, if you'd be willing to add even a very brief Amazon review, I'd be so grateful. Those matter to people (people = book$ellers).
My middle-grade novel, One Mixed-Up Night, doesn't come out until September, but if you wanted to pre-order and/or help me spread the word in any other way, I'd be so grateful. Maybe you're a librarian or a book reviewer--or maybe you know one! Full disclosure: I just reread the final manuscript, and cried. About a story I made up myself. I mean, seriously. (Fuller disclosure: the realest things about this book are taken from real life. Like, everything but the main thing, which is spending the night at IKEA.)
Stitch Camp, the book I wrote with my friend Nicole, comes out in October. This is a book that teaches kids the basics of each of the major fiber crafts--sewing, embroidery, felting, knitting, crochet, and weaving--and then offers lots of fun, cool projects to practice them on. Thanks to our brilliant friend Carolyn at Storey, the design of the book is gorgeous in an almost otherworldly way. Working on it involved lots of late-night wine-drinking and the stitching of bean bags and the cracking ourselves up over our inability to learn how to crochet. Also, lots of living rooms full of kids testing stuff for us and spilling their hot chocolate on the carpet. Bonus: tons of photographs of Birdy throughout the book! (And that's our dear friend Sahar, right there on the cover.) Please pre-order and spread the word! And also, same as above, re. librarians and book reviewers! Also craft bloggers and other craft types! Exclamation points!
Finally: I have been writing an advice column for parents of teenagers over at SheKnows. Will you please check it out and let me know what you think? Or send me a question!
Thank you for your patient indulgence of my personal kazoo-blowing.
p.s. Someone asked for this recipe for oven-roasted chickpeas! I posted it for you!
p.p.s. I said I'd post two winners of Emily's book, and then didn't! luluvision, you're the other winner. Please email me your address!
Oooh! I would love a copy of Catastrophic Happiness! And I promise to pass it on to a mom friend when done!
ReplyDeleteI would love a copy of your book! And will spread the word!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you linked to your new advice column, seeing as I now have a 13 and 11-year-old, I'm entering new waters. I clicked the link to send you a question, and it went to a 404 page. Maybe why you're not getting many questions? ;-)
ReplyDeleteI have exasperated everyone who ever attempted to teach me a fabric art beyond counted cross stitch. Thus I'm definitely going to get Stitch Camp. Id love a copy of your book too!
ReplyDeleteWonderful! So looking forward to "One Mixed-Up Night". YA books always end up as some of my favorites!
ReplyDeleteI would love a copy!
ReplyDeleteI'm so exited that you're giving away a copy of your book! I would really, really love a copy. And I promise to review it after. :)
ReplyDelete-Becky
Thank you for linking to the advice column, I didn't know about it. My Ben is 14 now & I have whiplash from careening between sweet/snotty, smart/stupid, cocky/insecure, etc. I don't have a question right this minute, but I'll head over there next time I do. (I like that you crowdsource the questions with B & B).
ReplyDeleteI would love a copy of Catastrophic Happiness to put alongside Waiting for Birdy in my bookcase!!
ReplyDeleteThe advice column is perfection! I love the parent-child dialogue you include with Ben and Birdy. While I'm in denial that any of these topics will ever be relevant to my SMALL children (wait, do they still count as small when one son's feet are now bigger than mine?)...the discussion will help to ease me into their adolescence. Love it!
ReplyDeleteI would love a copy of the paperback!! I already have One Mixed-Up Night on pre-order! So excited!!
ReplyDeleteI would also love a copy of the paperback. 13 years of reading you!
ReplyDeleteI will make a great comment. Nobody comments greater then me, believe me. This is the best comment ever. This comment is huge. This comment has more followers than God. This comment has nothing to do with wanting to win your book, I don't need to win your book, I will build a great big beautiful bookstore and Mexico will pay for it. And if not, I'll grab them by the oh, let's not go there, I just want your book. :)
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DeleteCongratulations Catherine! Paperback is just my style!
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed your writing for many years now. I'm looking forward to what's next!
Of course I already own Catastrophic Happiness, but I would love to win a copy and give it to every new mother I know!
ReplyDeleteJust clicked over from cupofjo. I really enjoyed Waiting for Birdy and would love to read this one!
ReplyDeleteI would LOVE a copy of catastrophic happiness! What a perfect title. And I'll review it for the book$eller$ :)
ReplyDeleteCatastrophic Happiness is wonderful. I've been giving it to new and not-so-new parents when I get the chance. Looking forward to your other new books. Quite a range! Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteYay! Another Catherine Newman book. I'd love a chance to win a copy!
ReplyDeleteI'd love a copy of Catastrophic Happiness to share!
ReplyDeleteI've love a copy of Catastrophic Happiness. I've read your others and feel a little bit like my family is growing up right alongside yours!
ReplyDeleteI would love a copy of Catastrophic Happiness. Also, cannot WAIT for One Mixed Up Night. My 17 year old suggested not long ago that IKEA should rent itself out for slumber parties. Then I learned about your book and he's super excited to read it too!
ReplyDeleteI just pre-ordered Mixed Up Night. I've never pre-ordered a book and feel like such a fan girl. Which I am! I already own C.H. so no need to place me in the giveaway. Thanks for all your writing, humor and levity around parenting.
ReplyDeletecongrats! i'd love a copy
ReplyDeleteMe! Me! I want a copy! Even if I've already read it :)
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to read your newest book!! My oldest is also deep into the junior year college search thing. Most of what I read these days is all about that. Then I look over at my first baby boy--17 years old--and ugh, I feel so excited for him, but also so melancholy about his childhood nearing the end. I feel weepy & sentimental, but of course, I'd never let my boy fully know that. I need a good dose of Catastrophic Happiness!
ReplyDeleteClicked over from Cup of Jo, and laughed out loud at the header on your main site: "And I can't get rid of this teal bar". So, I'm pretty sure I'll like the rest of your writing a whole bunch. And I have an almost-three-year-old daughter, so I am on the cusp of experiencing the 4-14 yr childhood age range at my house. I'm thinking Catastrophic Happiness would be the perfect summer read for me!
ReplyDeleteI'm a librarian and I pre-ordered One Mixed-Up Night back in March for my kiddos (but obviously I get to read it first!). I love your articles, memoirs, and advice columns -- now I can't wait to read your YA fiction!
ReplyDeleteHello! As everyone else said, I would love a copy of Catastrophic Happiness. I just had my first baby (he's 6 months now!) and I read Waiting For Birdy and the equivalent online journal archives during those very early, dreamy newborn days and nights. Now it feels very special to me and I recommend it to everyone. It reminded me to appreciated my new little guy even during those sleepless nights, and it also made me feel understood and not so crazy :) Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYour quote from your son on Cup of Jo was hilarious, so I had to click through. And conveniently, it turns out you happen to be the author of for a book I've been wanting to read and are even running a contest for said book. So, pick me, please! I could use some good luck.
ReplyDeleteBorrowed and read and loved a library copy of Catastrophic Happiness. Would so love to win this and gift it on. Love your blog.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous array of new and exciting literature! One of my best friends is finally on course for a happy and healthy pregnancy after some devastating miscarriages, and I'm compiling a list of all the gifts I want to shower them with once their baby girl (and my goddaughter!) arrives. I'll definitely be gifting all of the above, whether I win free copies or not. You can blow your kazoo all you want when you're sharing books like these! <3
ReplyDeleteI have the hard copy of Catastrophic Happiness that you signed at Book Court (R.I.P.) so I don't need a paperback. What I DO need is some advice on how to encourage independence in my 14 year old. Isn't he supposed to want to do things on his own by now? (preparing food, fixing his covers, going shopping, contacting friends, finishing homework). He's succeeding at school....but not at home.
ReplyDeleteI love the advice column! I read all of them just now. Ben and Birdy have great insight - what lovely people you're launching into the world.
ReplyDeleteWould love-love copy of your book!I also read library copy and would enjoy my own.
ReplyDeleteI loved the teenager Q&A so much. Please please please keep doing this, forever. I will read it religiously. That said, is there ANY way (and there prob isn't) for the interface to be less jarringly jumpy and ad-popping and busy? It almost led me to close it down; only your wise words kept me scrolling on. I know the website needs ad revenue but it's INTENSE. And it distracts from the quality of your actual prose. (I know this isn't your fault and I hasten to underscore how much I know that and don't blame you. But could you pass this along to the folks who run the site, maybe?!?)
ReplyDeleteI'd love some catastrophic happiness!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say your advice column is fantastic. So refreshingly different from the usual, and I love that you include the perspective of your own teenagers. Please keep doing it!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a kid (except at heart) but Stitch Camp sounds awesome to me!
ReplyDeletei would love a copy of the catastrophic book!! i am also super excited for your YA novel and plan to donate a copy to my son's third grade classroom (his teacher read them The Mixed Up Files this year...)
ReplyDeleteI pre-ordered the Kindle version CH, read it in about 2 hours, and would love a physical copy to put on my shelf! Also, Stitch Camp looks amazing and I find myself wondering how old my 3-year-old has to be before I hand her a tapestry needle. They're pretty blunt, right? (KIDDING, crazy watchdog parents)
ReplyDeletePerler beads (little plastic beads you put on a peg board and then melt with an iron) are a great step into embroidery--teach fine motor skills, color arranging, and composing a larger design out of smaller parts--plus, they're really fun for adults too.
DeleteI'm graduating from college at the end of the month, and I need a good book companion for the couple of weeks I'll spend moving around and trying to figure out where "home" is now. Would love for it to be this one!
ReplyDeleteI just preordered One Mixed-Up Night. It sounds amazing! My kids have always dreamed of spending a night in IKEA. I know we're all going to love it. (I also ordered Catastrophic Happiness, so choose someone else for the giveaway.) :) The advice column is fantastic! I'm going to search for a way to follow just your column. My oldest turns 13 THIS WEEKEND. Your advice column is my favorite part of every Real SImple mag, so I know I need to follow this one, too. I love that you ask your kids for their help. Who knows teens better than teens?
ReplyDeleteWould love to win Catastrophic Happiness!
ReplyDeleteJust ordered One Mixed-Up Night for my 4th grader, who will be a 5th grader when it arrives. Already have a copy of CH but would love to share a copy with a friend!
ReplyDeleteAlso I can't figure out how to comment with my personal account any more, so sorry for the logo by my name.
DeleteI would love a copy of your book!!
ReplyDeleteI printed out the Amazon page for Mixed Up Night and took it to my library because they used to have a "Birthday Book" program where you could pick (and pay for) a book for the library to purchase for its collection, and they would put a bookplate with the birthday person's name, and the birthday person would be the first one to get to check it out. My husband's birthday isn't until November but I know he will love this book since we both loved Frankweiler as kids! Unfortunately, the librarian who oversaw this program has retired and they're not doing it any more! :-o So, I just preordered it for him from me. -- Linda Tam
ReplyDeleteYes, please! I'm buying a copy for my niece, who just had her first baby, but I'd love a copy for myself.
ReplyDeleteJust read your advice column, love it! This mom of a smelly 12 year old thanks you! And we would love a copy of the book!
ReplyDeleteDear Catherine, reading you here, and now reading your teen advice column is such a profound pleasure--you are so sensible and sensitive and clever and funny and you have such kick-ass politics. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteAgh!! I haven't checked your blog in so long so to come visit today and discover that the thing I have been waiting for since I put down Waiting for Birdy is happening - you writing another book about motherhood - just entirely made my day!!! Can't wait to get my hands on it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling us about your advice column! So honest, yet sensitive and full of your trademark wit - all of which I'm needing in the land of teens. Love hearing the real teen point of view from Ben & Birdy!
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