Last week in California I met an energetic entrepreneur and savvy businesswoman—who also happens to be a single mom of two. Jil is homeschooling her daughters, who are ages 12 and 14.

Homeschoolers have been a part of mainstream life for some time now. (Once upon a time, I dreamed of homeschooling my brood. I couldn’t have begun to pull it off, and didn’t even try. Well, except for that brief time when my teenage son came carting all his books home, and casually announced that he told his teachers I was going to homeschool him. Knowing how miserable he was in public school, I decided to follow his lead. It lasted less than a month.) The parents who homeschool use a variety of lesson plans for their curriculum. Whether they come up with their own or use one that’s already “board of education certified,” homeschooling seems to be a growing trend.

Jil now plans to use Sister of Silence in her curriculum, and this is how she’s going to do it: first of all, Jil’s going to use it for their English and health classes. She said she wants her daughters to write an English report composed of six paragraphs for each chapter of the book, that will highlight such things as punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, and so forth.

I would have questioned that, had I not already gotten word that a college professor is using it in her English 101 class this fall. “It’s really well-written,” she told me.

Jil says Sister of Silence will also work well in her daughters’ health class, by opening the way for discussions (and other assignments) about such topics as teen pregnancy, mental health, and domestic violence. When she told me this, I thought it was perfect, as these are topics not covered well, or deeply enough, within the public schools.

So there it is—one more positive outcome from my travels to California, and perhaps a way for you to help your own children.

Editor's note: If you are an educator, consider using Sister of Silence, in your classroom--traditional or otherwise. You can buy it here: Nellie Bly Books

Posted by Daleen at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, depending upon one's perspective, you could say tonight's book event was a total bust. That's because only four people showed up. But they bought two books, so that means 50-percent of those who attended made a purchase.

Since I try to look at the world from a glass half full POV, I would have to say that those four people probably enjoyed themselves much more than if 100 people had been there. Because they had me all to themselves—as I had them. That means it was a very small, intimate gathering, and I got to talk to everyone there on a personal level. It also meant I had enough time to answer everyone’s questions, and read a longer portion from Sister of Silence.

Now here’s where the half-full glass gets really frothy. (Because this glass had to have some champagne in it, for all the bubbling that was going on.) When I asked one couple where they bought their book, thinking it was our local indie bookstore, The Bookshelf, they said no, they bought it at Barnes and Noble. “Oh, so you ordered it online?” I asked. No, they again said. “The Barnes and Noble across town ordered it for you?” No, they replied. “They had it in stock.”

This, as you might guess, was news to me. So when the event finished, I drove across town to talk to a B&N sales clerk in person. To find out just what is going on, that would cause them to stock my book. (For anyone who wonders why I find this odd, it’s because traditionally, if your book isn’t published by a bigger or well-recognized publishing house, it will not be sold inside brick and mortar bookstores. They will order it online--thus the "click"--if a customer prepays, one copy at a time. My publishing company, Nellie Bly Books, is quite small and is only beginning to make a name for itself. So while I hoped Barnes and Noble might make wind up carrying my books, I figured it wasn't wise to hold my breath.)

This is what the clerk told me: since April, B&N has sold eight copies of my book—and they just ordered 10 more copies. According to the clerk, for a book that’s had zero advertising, that’s amazing. (She told me this twice.)

On top of this, the books purchased by the two other people who came to Nico’s tonight are going to end up in Pennsylvania—where one will find its way to an attorney who handles child abuse cases. The woman who bought that copy has a relative who’s a judge; she’s also going to tell him about Sister of Silence.

The second book will probably find its way from Morgantown, W.Va., to Florida. That’s because that woman said her sister belongs to this huge group and they would all be super excited to read it.

I know I promised to include more details about the California trip, but new things are happening so quickly, I will have to keep that on the back burner for now. I apologize, and I will try to post it tomorrow!

By the way, did I say I'm excited? No? Well, I am. Very!

Editor's note: If you have a Barnes and Noble in your area, ask them to consider stocking Sister of Silence, too. Otherwise, you're more than welcome to buy it here: Sister of Silence may just be the book for you!

Posted by Daleen at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I came. I saw. I succeeded—in selling or donating 100 copies of Sister of Silence while I was in California. Using Oakland as home base, I traveled east to San Ramon, Livermore and then over the Altamont Pass to Tracy. Then I headed south to San Jose, where I slowly made my way to points north and west, stopping in Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Stanford, Palo Alto, Half Moon Bay, and San Francisco. Crossing the Bay Bridge at least six times in three days, I supplied books to hospital medical staffers who see domestic violence injuries, pregnant moms, single women, mothers with children in tow, and just about everyone in between.

By and large, the response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. One woman even asked if it was nonfiction. (Yes.) Great, I need something to read. Is it about your life? (Yes.) Even better, she said as she loaded children and groceries into her trunk. (Not to worry—the children went into the backseat.)

Aside from seeing the looks of pure joy and appreciation on the faces of every person who walked away with a book, I would have to say that the highlight of the trip came at Elaine’s house Sunday evening. Well, to be honest, there were so many highlights that it’s hard to name them all, but I will try.

Elaine belongs to two Bay Area book clubs, and has her very own virtual book club besides. Suffice to say she reads. A lot. So do her friends. But sometimes, being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of new and old titles available to them, these women have trouble figuring out which books to read.

That’s where the book club members (I think I’ll just cut to the chase and call them what they are: bookworms!) come in handy. They provide feedback about their latest reading projects, and that feedback ultimately helps other women decide what they want to read. (Or avoid.)

Lately, Sister of Silence has been at or near the top of their list. This is what I took away from these incredibly vocal, intellectually stimulating women. (I might need a hyphen in there, but I’m too tired to check and I gave my personal assistant the night off. )

They absolutely loved, loved, loved the book! One woman said she cried while reading the passage about my near miss, when I almost did a Susan Smith. (Substitute the name of any recent mother in the headlines for killing her children here. We’ve had a rash of them as of late.) I don't think anyone was able to put it down for long, before returning to pick it back up again.

One woman is a high school librarian; she purchased two for the school’s library. We talked at length about adults who prey on children, and how society does not want to see it, a lot of times. We also talked about parents and other people who do see it—but who are too closed off emotionally that they can’t even bring it up in conversation. There was also discussion about how—thanks to both points, above—this problem repeats itself, generation after generation. I heard other women’s stories, which is an honor I really enjoy. When someone trusts you enough they will tell you their darkest secret, that’s incredible.

My favorite part of the evening came when we talked about helping other survivors (who are still masquerading as victims), especially when they are still trapped, and not yet ready to save themselves. It was amazing to see how passionate these women were, how devoted to their friends or other loved ones, and the lengths to which they will go, to try and help their loved one wake up and smell the coffee, so to speak.

Or, on the opposite side, the lengths to which they will remain quiet and just wait, saying nothing, because saying something would close the door to vital communication, and leave the victim without a lifeline at all.

I got lots of questions, about all of the topics in my book, and I was able to share what I think must be Ken Lanning’s favorite line: “Don’t trust anybody who wants to spend more time with your children than you do.” That has to be the key to stopping much of the child abuse that occurs.

Because they wanted to know about some things I had to cut from the book, I revealed the actual writing (and revision) process that occurred. It’s too long to mention now, but suffice to say that Sister of Silence would have been about 700 pages, had I not cut out about half of the content. Does anyone read a book that long these days? Don’t answer if you’re a Harry Potter fan. Better question: who can afford to print a book that long these days? (Well, other than J.K. Rowling.)

Oh my goodness, there was so much more. Too much to go into now, when it’s already past my self-imposed bedtime, when I have been running, running, running, the entire day. When tomorrow beckons with more of the same.

So gentle reader, if you don’t mind to wait for the next post, which will have more good news and contain details about the success of the California trip, I’d be most grateful. Thank you for tuning in!

Editor's note: If you have a book club and need a good title to read, then Sister of Silence may just be the book for you!

Posted by Daleen at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm in California and everyone else is scattered around other time zones, but that doesn't mean we can't party! While I'm here, visiting book clubs, bookstores, colleges and women's shelters, promoting Sister of Silence, you can do your part by attending the Virtual Celebration going on now!

We will be tracking the sales of the e-book for today only and everyone who buys during this celebration will receive a special gift! (Invite your friends and if they buy the e-book, I'll throw in a copy of my SOS workbook, which I'll be using at upcoming workshops.)

Basically the party works like this: you go to Amazon and buy Sister of Silence in its newly released e-book format, and you receive 50-percent off my next e-book, Lethal Silence, due out this fall. (If you don't have an e-reader or a Kindle, you can buy different formats at Smashwords.)

And, just to give you a taste of the next book, the first chapter of Lethal Silence is included with the Sister of Silence e-book! (Unlike my memoir, this book is an academic text that looks at four case studies involving families whose lives were shattered by a lethal silence that left children dead, and the roles such stressors as sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, alcoholism, depression and domestic violence played.)

Let's party!!!

Editor's note: If you want to see what all the fuss is about, but prefer to do so in paperback, check out Sister of Silence, which is still available for only $14.99.

Posted by Daleen at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Letters, I get letters . . .

I received an email last month from Suzanne Thorniley, whose career has been spent in social work and guess what? She wants to let her colleagues know about Sister of Silence! This is what she said:

"I have just finished it and want to let you know how much I appreciate your brave and insightful account. I was moved, touched, worried and exhausted for you as I turned each page . . . Sister of Silence is written in a voice that will speak to women from multiple socioeconomic and educational levels. You have created a gift in the sharing of your story and I would love to help you promote it . . . "

As if that wasn't enough, a college professor recently told me she recommended her college hold a symposium to discuss Sister of Silence! She is also assigning it to her English 101 students this fall, and says she recommended the college choose it for their book of 2013, so it can be taught across the curriculum.

Editor's note: If you want to see what all the fuss is about, check out Sister of Silence, which is available for only $14.99.

Posted by Daleen at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)