Day 10: Every "Other Mother" needs a review

Ann-Marie:

What a journey my friend! 10 days with "The Other Mother" blog tour has opened doorways, shed light on relationships and revealed the souls of the people and places we hold dear.

Much thanks to the other bloggers and contributors who stepped in on their own accord (Jennifer Brewer  over at Olives & Alzheimers and Beth Lathrop at Muse & Profit ). Each of you made the conversation rich with anecdotes from your own lives and your thoughts on the book's characters added to the dialog. Needless to say we believe the journey continues beyond the confines of our ten days together.  It's time to pass the baton on to the eyes of readers, the ears of book clubs, and the keyboards of press beyond our east coast borders. I go back to crafting inspirationals, teaching others to tell their story and a life still unfolding.

So what's next for "The Other Mother: a rememoir"...a sell out of your first run of books, screen play, film....

Teresa:

From your lips to Ang Lee's ears! Unfortunately, most memoirs ~ even best-sellers like "Eat Pray Love" turn into dreadful flops at the box office. So I'm not counting on a movie just yet ~ though if anyone's interested I write screenplays too!

Joggling Board Press is a tiny, dedicated, independent publisher without a big marketing budget, so we cherish the power of social media and word of mouth.  If more and more book clubs follow the lead of the Oyster Cay's Collection "Owls" we'll be thrilled. We even came up with a list of book club questions in the back of the hard cover to facilitate conversations.

What's great about "The Other Mother" is that once people read it they want to get together and talk about it and they want to celebrate the other mothers in their lives.  Three dear friends: Barbara Kelly in Beaufort, Andrea Schenck in Charleston and Audrey Chang in Washington DC have thrown "Other Mother Soirees" to do just that.  Each soiree is entirely different ~ like the women who host them ~ but I read little bit, answer questions and then we all dish about the other mothers we need and cherish. It's a blast and I'd love to do more. I'm also hoping to get on speaker's bureau's ~ turns out my TEDx talk made me realize I like live audiences.

Lets see...what else? Regular followers of my blog know I've been recording the audio version of the book.  My vocal chords are thrilled that we've finished that portion of it, although the producer has just taken a job in Baltimore and it may take a while before he can get all 417 pages of it edited and available online.  But I'll keep you posted on www.teresabrucebooks.wordpress.com.

And early in the new year, Joggling Board Press plans on releasing the Kindle version.  So all of your kind reviews on Amazon and Good Reads will help launch the e:book as well.  It's all about the conversation as Ann-Marie coaches us social-media newbies ~ and this blog tour was an amazing start!

The Other Mother: A Rememoir by Teresa Bruce 

It's your turn readers to plan your own "Other Mother Soiree!"
Thank you for supporting a local author from Beaufort, SC!

Day 1: Crossing Paths with "The Other Mother"

And so it begins...the "10 Days with The Other Mother" blog tour.  Starting today and continuing through December 10th this blog will host a public conversation with author Teresa Bruce that provides readers with an opportunity to gain insight and reflect on Bruce's recently published rememoir "The Other Mother." 

There are several ways you can participate in the conversation:

1. Join the conversation! Enter comments and/or respond to entries in the comments section at the end of each blog entry. The author and blogger will actively monitor and engage in a virtual dialogue during the ten day tour.

2. Share a link! Copy and paste a link to each blog entry on your FaceBook page, your Google+ account, your Twitter feed or cite an entry on Pinterest, Tumblr or your own blog...wherever you find yourself socially networking.

3. Buy the book! The author and blogger will provide a great many reference points over the next ten days but to fully appreciate the beauty of the book one must really dive into the text. Available on Amazon at: The Other Mother

Blog Tour Day 1: Crossing Paths

Ann-Marie: 

I have always marveled at how our lives interweave with the people, places and experiences necessary to propel us in one direction or another. Chance meetings. Serendipity. Work assignments. Blind dates. Coffee shops. Network referrals and the like. Each built around a stated opportunity whose purpose we may or may not be fully aware of in the immediate.

In fact Teresa, our becoming acquainted two years ago at the Beaufort International Film Festival was very much like that. I have always relished "table readings" so when the festival schedule included the opportunity to hear some of Beaufort's local thespians reading the screenplays entered for competition, I was quick to secure a ticket for the occasion. And with that attendance I became acquainted with you. That first encounter, listening to your screen play being read, set in motion an appreciation for your brand of storytelling. Most especially for your knack in bringing to the page the good, bad and sometimes comical way life has a tendency to flow and unfold.

Chapter 8 of "The Other Mother" presents readers with your first encounter with Byrne and Duncan Miller while on assignment with a local public television affiliate. Initially you take a journalistic approach upon meeting the Millers, to design a story of "worthiness and drawing out empathy" for a man with Alzheimers and a wife eager to bring public attention to their plight, by the conclusion of that chapter your approach quickly shifts to an admiration for the reflected love you witnessed in meeting them.

Thus, my volley to you, Teresa on Day 1 in our "10 Days with The Other Mother" conversation starts with our crossing paths at the film festival and you crossing paths with Byrne Miller....

Teresa:

I remember it well...Our paths crossed on the auspicious occasion of the first ever screenplay table read in Beaufort, South Carolina! That was two years before MovieMaker Magazine would name the Beaufort International Film Festival one of the coolest 25 film fests in the country ~ I guess we were BIFF before it was the film world's BFF! I was so nervous and it was great to look out into the audience and see your smiling, exuberant face in the audience. I didn't even know you but I could feel your encouragement and support for the creative process. 

I love it when that happens ~ paths crossling like two dancers on stage at the same time, hooking arms and spinning off in new directions.

I was like that meeting Bryne Miller, the Other Mother in the title of my memoir. I was 22 at the time, a rookie TV reporter at WJWJ-TV in Beaufort, SC and she was an 82 force of nature. I never set out to find an Other Mother but she folded me into her world before I knew what was happening. 

She always said "The family you're born with is not the one you're stuck with" and that was the genesis of a word I invented to describe her pearls of wisdom: womenisms. And now, years later, our dance together has spun off into so many directions. I have a blog called "womenismsm" on wordpress and a whole book worth of chapter headings in "The Other Mother: a rememoir."

What a great position to open the tour with Ann-Marie!

The Other Mother: A Rememoir by Teresa Bruce

Tell us about your experience in crossing paths with people who made an impact on your life...