A little old ladies book review

Just when I think I'm starting to get a handle on this writing business my ego takes another hit. This time from a little old lady that fancies herself as a hoity toity book reviewer. She's actually a friend of a friend that I sort of took a liking to while visiting my friend in his retirement complex. She's well educated, informed and loves to read. She joined our conversation and the topic of children's stories came up. She adores reading stories written with the innocence of children in mind. My friend mentioned to her that I have written several children's stories for my grand kids and hope to publish them sometime in the near future. "Oh, I'd love to read them!" she laughingly declared, grinning from ear to ear at the mere thought of some new literary discoveries. She literally begged me for copies. Although I guard my stories carefully, after many futile attempts at weaseling my way out of it, I found it impossible to refuse her. So, the next time I visited I carried with me copies of a few of my stories, placing them in her thin and wrinkled hands only after she swore not to share them with anyone under any circumstances. Off she went, back to her room to enjoy her new found treasure with a promise to return them when I came back the following week. I lost a couple hands of cribbage, finished my visit and left.

On Thanksgiving morning, as is my tradition I came by the retirement home and once again played a few rounds of cribbage plus some penny ante poker to boot. I always lose! It's a tradition you know. Just before I left the little old lady came into the common area with my manuscripts tucked carefully under her arm. As she wheeled up she looked into my eyes, frowning and said I needed some coaching on children's stories. They were just too innocent! She snapped, I should put in some blood and guts, some scary stuff and more reason to make kids cry. I am hiding them from the cruelty of the real world. She put the stories into my outstretched hands, turned and wheeled away without further comment. Leaving my friend and I, considering her initial enthusiasm sitting there in complete, dumbfounded confusion. The nurse standing nearby, seeing our dismay gently reminded us that the little old lady is in a stage of Alzheimer's where she has occasional signs of normalcy, other times of complete mental reverse and all behaviors in between. We indeed had forgotten that fact. A half hour later she gave me a quick smile and stated how much she enjoyed the stories as she wheeled off to the dining area. Life deals us certain situations every day, I think just to keep us humble and on our toes. I am reminded not to take anything for granted. Just to make sure I am re-reading my children's stories.

Best book of the year

Joe's Story: The Book of a Lifetime, I was told recently, is the best book of the year they have read by members of a reading club. I felt quite honored because they read only non-fiction and mostly by well known authors. Yours truly, Joseph A. Cramer with several published articles and a couple of books under his belt hasn't been living under a rock all these years but on the other hand, there are no statues of me placed in any central parks either. To receive a compliment of that caliber from a group of about 25 critics was a real treat.



I had a great time listening to the discussion of Joe's Story at the weekly meeting and enjoyed answering their questions. The "Squirmy Worm Book Club" is a fun group to be with. They heard about Joe's Story through a news article concerning the 30th annual Silver treasure hunt, got their copies through Amazon.com and journeyed by the written word with me through life. They voted it the best book they had read all year and invited me to join them for coffee. Complimentary for the most part some of them did question my reasoning behind leaving grammatical and misspelling errors in the printing of the book. My answer is always that when my memory came back after 2 years of amnesia I was more aware of the imperfections we all have. I felt a perfectly written book would not be a true and honest rendering of my life. I explained that I totally understand there are professional book reviewers that will not go beyond the errors. It is their job to protect the purity of literature. It was my job to write it the way I remembered it, errors and all. I am imperfect, that's what the story is all about: Going beyond imperfections and doing what you can to survive.



Every day brings a new experience since Joe's Story was first published. No matter the hurdles they said, I need to promote and market Joe's Story in any way I can. "There is a wonderful story here. The best book we've read all year." I'm trying to do just that. I'd appreciate you're help getting the word out to everyone you know that loves a good story. Once you read Joe's Story, in a very good way part of it will be with you the rest of your life. There isn't anything wrong with good stuff. click on http://www.joesstory.com/ and check it out. You can help by placeing the books name, "Joe's Story: The Book of a Lifetime" in any subject line on every social network you can. It doesn't cost you a dime and I believe it will help a lot of people find a good read.