Adult Non-Fiction

Half the sky – book review

March 18, 2016 by Karen Comer 8 Comments

I wish I could convince everyone to read this book – not because it’s entertaining or it’s beautifully crafted or it’s on a best-selling list. But because it tells the stories of many girls and women in developing countries who otherwise wouldn’t be heard. Here’s a mini version of their stories. (This may not be appropriate for children to read.)

Sunitha, India – The gang of men opposed to her efforts raped her.

Abbas, India – Abbas had been taken to Delhi as a young teenager to work as a maid, but instead she found herself sold to a brothel and beaten with a cricket bat to induce obedience.

Woineshet, Ethiopia – For two days, the kidnapers casually battered and raped Woineshet.

Zoya, Afghanistan – “I should not have been beaten, because I was always obedient and did what my husband said. But if the wife is truly disobedient, then of course her husband has to beat her.”

Halima, Pakistan – But her parents were worried that she would soon hit puberty, and they wanted her to be married off before she might develop a crush on someone else and start people gossiping – or damage her most valuable possession of all, her hymen.

This is not an easy book to read. The women’s and girls’ stories are horrific, and for every girl telling her story there are thousands behind her whose story ended in death or disaster. I could only read it in small chunks at a time.

But what I have done is talk about a mild version of these stories with my kids. And we have donated to Room to Read, a charity which builds libraries and provides girls with mentors, uniforms and school supplies. And my bookclub discussed the book this week, and there were many there motivated to do something as well.

The authors, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, were the first married couple to win a Pulitzer prize. They include a huge list of notes and organisations supporting women which you can donate to or research in their book. You can also find out more or donate though the Half the sky website here. I particularly liked this message from the website –

‘But educating girls is the key to building stable, egalitarian communities. An educated girl knows her value and will demand her rights. A child born to an educated mother is 50 percent more likely to survive past the age of 5. A woman earns 20 percent more for every year of school she attends. Educating girls now will create opportunities in the future. As Nicholas Kristof notes in his article What’s So Scary About Smart Girls?, “Ultimately, the greatest threat to extremism isn’t drones firing missiles, but girls reading books.”’

Girls reading books – that’s definitely something I believe in.

The life-changing magic of tidying up – book review

February 16, 2016 by Karen Comer 8 Comments

As you may know, our family moved out of our home of twelve years last month and into a smaller apartment. We’re renovating our home, and fingers crossed, we’ll be back in before Christmas this year.

And as all of you know, moving house means touching EVERY SINGLE ITEM. The clothes that the kids have outgrown. The one special kinder painting of a sunflower. The cake decorating cricket set I used for Mr 12’s 7th birthday cake which may or may not be used for Mr 6. Every single water glass, wine glass and coffee mug. And that honours thesis on nineteenth-century women writers in the filing cabinet – everyone has one of those, yes?

And the books. Goodness, the books in our house!

We culled so much, and it’s lovely to live with less. Many trips to St Vinnie’s to drop off objects that someone else might be able to use. Many garbage bags full of rubbish. A few things – including our dishwasher! – dropped off to friends and family.

I wouldn’t call myself sentimental – I prefer space to stuff – except when it comes to books, of course. But I do live with four other people, and sometimes one person’s rubbish is another person’s treasure.

So, I found the words from Marie Kondo’s book echoing in my head all December and January. I’d read her first book, The life-changing magic of tidying up, the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing last year but I read it again, and also read her second book Spark joy, an illustrated guide to the Japanese art of tidying.

Marie writes in an accessible, almost conversational manner and tells many stories about clients who cannot see the floor of their house because of all the clutter. She’s not preachy but passionate about the joys of tidying-up. And honest – ‘the process of facing and selecting our possessions can be quite painful. It forces us to confront our imperfections and inadequacies and the foolish choices we made in the past’.

She has many concepts:

if you can tidy up, you can change your life
you only need to do it once – properly
most people make the mistake of clearing by location – bedroom, kitchen, family-room, hall cupboard – but it’s more effective to clean by type – clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous items like kitchen ware, linen, hobby materials, then finally sentimental items.
you need to hold every object in your hands – hug it, even
you need to ask yourself, for every object – does this spark joy?

I have to agree with most of her ideas. In the past, I would have used logic to declutter – is this useful? Would we miss this item? But intuition – for me, anyway – is a far more accurate measure of how I feel about most things, and decluttering is no exception.

Be warned – some of her detailed views on folding clothes and thanking your discarded items might be viewed as quite extreme!

‘I had been so focused on what to discard, on attacking the unwanted obstacles around me, that I had forgotten to cherish the things that I loved, the things I wanted to keep. Through this experience, I came to the conclusion that the best way to choose what to keep and what to throw away is to take each item in one’s hand and ask:”Does this spark joy?” If it does, keep it. If not, dispose of it. This is not only the simplest but also the most accurate yardstick by which to judge.’

Like many things, a cluttered or minimalistic-style house is subjective – I’m sure I have friends who would think my house is cluttered and equally, friends who think my house is tidy.

Apart from slowly seeing how her approach has worked for me (so far, I’ve completed sorted our clothes and books), what I love most about her philosophy is the mindfulness aspect. Why surround ourselves with stuff which is meaningless or useless? Why spend time and energy storing or tripping over items which hold no personal value? Why shouldn’t we surround ourselves with only items that bring joy?

Let me know what you think about decluttering in the comments!

Interview – Michael Hanrahan on self-publishing

December 4, 2015 by Karen Comer 4 Comments

Have you ever thought about writing a non-fiction book about your area of expertise? Perhaps you have built up knowledge in your career? Perhaps you are an expert in teaching kids to play soccer, after coaching for years on weekends? Maybe you run seminars for colleagues on health issues or people management or interior design? Maybe you already have notes and notes and notes on how to run a not-for-profit organisation or how to encourage children to eat their greens?

Let me introduce you to Michael Hanrahan, who is the director of Michael Hanrahan Publishing. I met Michael when we both worked for John Wiley and Sons – Michael was the managing editor for Wrightbooks. Now Michael helps many, many authors publish their own books, and takes them through the process from initial idea to tangible product. He is knowledgeable, scrupulously detailed and a great communicator. His own book, Stand out, outlines the ‘7 steps to self-publishing a book that will build your profile, promote your business and make you stand out from the crowd’. Michael has kindly answered my questions about self-publishing. If you know someone who has always wanted to write a non-fiction book, please pass on Michael’s details!

KC: What sort of books do you publish?

MH: We work predominantly with authors who are self-publishing a book to help promote themselves and their business. We’ve helped these authors publish books on investment, business management, real estate, share trading, health and fitness, marketing – all sorts of subjects.

KC: What is a typical day for you?

MH: My primary role is project management. I spend a lot of time on the phone to authors, editors, printers and designers. It’s my job to coordinate between everybody and keep the project on track. I check everything that comes in, and then send it where it needs to go. So, when a manuscript comes in from an author, I check it and then send it to the editor. When a cover comes in from a designer, I check it and send it to the author. I also do some editing and layout and a little bit of everything else when needed.

KC: Are your authors people who have always dreamt of writing a book?

MH: Some of them are and some not. For some it’s mostly a business decision. For others it’s a business decision but also something they have wanted to do for years.

KC: What are your three top tips for people who would like to self-publish their book?

MH:

Always use experienced people to help you with your book. Every month or two we receive a call from an author whose book has run aground and they need help. It’s almost always because they used inexperienced people. Your web person might do great websites, but that doesn’t mean she can design a good book cover. The person who edits your school newsletter does not automatically know how to edit a book. These people always have good intentions but they quickly get in over their heads.
Produce a high-quality book. A few years ago, calling a book ‘self-published’ implied that it was poorly produced. That’s not the case these days. There are all sorts of people who can help you produce a top-quality book that will be just as good as a book published by Penguin. Yes, it will cost a little more, but you won’t regret it when you hold your printed book in your hand.
Plan your project. Publishing a book is complicated, so make sure you plan the project start to finish.

KC: In your book, you discuss the seven steps to self-publishing. Can you tell us briefly about these seven steps?

MH: Step 1: planning

DIY self-publishing

If you’re going to manage your publishing project yourself, you’ll usually require:

an editor
a proofreader
a designer: for your cover and your interior layout
a printer: obviously!
a bookshop and ebook distributor
an ebook converter (or your designer might be able to help with this).

Self-publishing companies

The other option, rather than finding the members of your self-publishing team yourself, is using a self-publishing company to help you. This means that, rather than having to locate and manage five or six people to help on your book, you’ll have (usually) just one person coordinating the whole project for you. You’ll still be involved in all the decisions, but the job of managing all of these service providers will be taken off your hands.

At the planning stage you’ll also need to consider:

the schedule for your book
the budget for your book.

Step 2: Editing

It’s a good idea to talk to at least two or three editors or self-publishing providers about your book before selecting somebody, and even meet with them if you can.

A good editor will be very involved with both you and your book, and will be just as enthusiastic about it as you are. Far from just ‘correcting’ your work, an editor will improve it in many ways small and large, while working with you to ensure you are producing the book that you want. Your editor will fix up spelling mistakes, inconsistencies, incorrect grammar and other errors, but a good editor will do much more than this. A good editor will:

suggest additions where more information is required
suggest deletions where you’ve included something unnecessary or repeated something
assist you with any possible copyright concerns
discuss with you changes that will improve your writing.

Step 3: Design

Designers have websites with portfolios on them, so these are a great place to start looking for a designer if you’re handling the publishing process yourself. Look around a number of sites and browse through a number of portfolios. Once you’ve found, say, three portfolios you like, get in touch with the designers and have a chat. Another way to find a good designer is to find a book cover you like – the name of the designer will be inside the book.

If you’re using a self-publishing company to help you with your book, cover design will usually be part of the package.

Step 4: Proofreading and indexing

Proofreading is the final quality-control step in the production of your book. One or two minor errors in your book aren’t the end of the world, but if you don’t have it proofread there will probably be more than that. Even the best editors won’t pick up every single problem and error in your book, so proofreading is important. And by the end of the editing process, you’re the last person who will find any mistakes. You may have spent three to six months writing it, and another month or two – or three – on the editing, layout and cover. By this point you (and your editor) will be so close to your book that some of the pages could be upside down and you might not notice. You need fresh eyes.

An index is a useful tool to help readers find what they want in your book. An index goes at the very back of your book, and lists all the major topics in your book in considerable detail. Not all books include an index. You can discuss with your editor whether you think your book needs one.

Step 5: Printing

Ask printers or self-publishing companies you are considering to send you a sample copy of a book they have recently printed – make sure it’s a book, not a brochure, poster or anything else. Any quality company will do this without hesitation. If the company is reluctant to do so, they’ve made your decision easy: don’t use them.

If you’re using a self-publishing company, you won’t be as involved in the details of the print management.

Step 6: The ebook

The most common ebook format is EPUB, and you’ll also need a MOBI file for Amazon. ‘EPUB’ – not surprisingly – stands for ‘electronic publication’. Most ebook conversion services will supply you with an EPUB file and a MOBI file as part of their standard service.

If you’re going to do it yourself, you can set up accounts on each individual ebook store you wish to sell on and upload your files yourself. Setting up the accounts can be a bit fiddly, but isn’t difficult. You provide the information you’d expect, such as price, an author bio and ISBN, and then upload your files.

Keep in mind one major drawback of doing it all yourself is that for some US-based sites you will need a US tax ID to receive your payments.

The other DIY option is to use what’s known as an ‘ebook aggregator’. This is where you upload to just one site and they upload your book to a large range of ebook stores – for a fee, of course.

If you are using a self-publishing company, the ebook conversion and upload will most likely be included in your package.

Step 7: Distribution

You may consider trying to get your book into bookstores. This can be tough as a self-published author. Understandably, bookshops are often reluctant to deal with individual self-publishers who have only published one book and are managing the distribution themselves.

There are two methods of distribution: DIY and using a distributor. The DIY route involves contacting bookshops yourself (or advertising to them) and asking them to stock your book, then supplying the books ordered, invoicing for them and taking any returns.

A number of excellent book distributors are available in Australia, both small and large, and this may be the better option. The distributor will take the whole thing off your hands, dealing with bookshops, invoicing and sending out books. The cost of using a distributor is usually around 60 to 70 per cent of the RRP, but most of this actually goes to the bookshop.

Some self-publishing providers offer bookshop distribution, some don’t. If you use one that doesn’t, this is something you will have to arrange yourself.

KC: How long is the process of self-publishing from beginning to end?

MH: It usually takes about three months for a book of about 40,000 words. It’s about a month for editing, a month for layout, a few weeks for proofreading and wrapping up, and then a couple of weeks for printing.

KC: Do any of your authors ever regret the decision to self-publish their book?

MH: Never. Sometimes half-way through it weighs them down a bit, because even with a company like us helping them there’s still a lot of effort involved. But, when the book is printed and they have been able to produce it exactly as they wanted, they are always happy with their choice.

Michael, thank you so much for your knowledge. I know December is probably not the time to be thinking of a new project – but January certainly is!

Big Magic book review

October 27, 2015 by Karen Comer 2 Comments

Big magic
Elizabeth Gilbert
Riverhead Books
2015

It’s a little difficult to know where to begin when reviewing Liz Gilbert’s book. She’s almost Liz in the literary world, like Oprah and Madonna in all worlds. Her own words are the best way to describe her work.

Whether you loved or hated Eat, pray, love, Big magic is a book all creative types need to not only read, but have on a bookshelf to refer to over and over again. And if you don’t think you’re the creative type, allow me to quote Liz: ‘when I refer to “creative living,” I am speaking more broadly. I’m talking about living a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.’ Because … ‘a creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life.’

If we thought deeply about what we wanted for our children or partners, our friends or sisters, we might say that a ‘bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life’ is something we would wish for them. Let’s wish it for ourselves as well.

This non-fiction book of Liz’s is divided into chapters with titles such as Courage, Enchantment, Permission, Persistence, Trust, Divinity. The titles say it all – this is what you are going to need. Courage through the not-so good times, plus persistence. Permission – this is Liz Gilbert on permission. ‘You do not need a permission slip from the principal’s office to live a creative life. Or if you do worry that you need a permission slip – THERE, I just gave it to you. I just wrote it on the back of an old shopping list. Consider yourself fully accredited. Now go make something.’

She tells us stories and anecdotes about her own writing and life experiences, as well as people she knows. People like Eileen who acquires new tattoos constantly or her friend Susan, a forty-year-old woman who goes to an ice-skating rink three times a week before her day job to skate.

And of course, failure is a big topic. ‘So how do you shake off failure and shame in order to keep living a creative life? First of all, forgive yourself. If you made something and it didn’t work out, let it go … Forget about the last project and go searching with an open heart for the next one.’

What I love most about Big magic is the way it shines a light on the paradoxes of creativity and illuminates these truths –

‘Creativity is sacred, and it is not sacred.
What we make matters enormously, and it doesn’t matter at all.
We toil alone, and we are accompanied by spirits.We are terrified, and we are brave.
Art is a crushing chore, and a wonderful privilege.
Only when we are at our most playful can divinity finally get serious with us.
Make space for all these paradoxes to be equally true inside your soul and I promise – you can make anything.’

Thanks, Liz. Off to write now.

Believe in yourself and do what you love

September 18, 2015 by Karen Comer Leave a Comment

Believe in yourself and do what you love
Kate James
2015
Affirm Press

The story: As Kate, a coach, meditation teacher and speaker, says in her introduction, you can read this beautiful book in one hit or dip in and out. There are fifty mini chapters or sections on topics from trusting your intuition, working out your values, boosting your confidence and finding small pleasures. Kate writes in a kind, friendly, non-judgemental manner, gently encouraging you to think open-mindfully about where you are and what you want to do. It’s a gorgeous design inside and out – perfect gift book!

The highlights: I completed an online course with Kate – Dream, Do, Discover – and I can tell you, Kate personifies kindness and wisdom. Her course notes, like this book, are beautifully presented. While some of the book concepts might seem airy-fairy, Kate backs up everything with a strong encouragement to take action. It’s not enough just to discover your strengths or identify your inner purpose, it is about taking consistent, meaningful action.

Some of my favourite quotes:

Contrary to what we’re often told, there’s no single version of success.

Developing self-discipline is a bit like building a muscle – if you begin by focusing on small tasks you can work towards building up to more difficult ones.

Empathy is one of the most important elements of emotional intelligence. It begins with being prepared to listen and become aware of other people’s feelings, and ends with a feeling of understanding and compassion towards them.

Our egos often cover up our insecurities. If you find yourself being defensive, you’re operating from your ego. If you feel superior or compare yourself to others, that’s your ego too. If you feel the need to put other people down or gossip about them unkindly, you’re operating from ego. Genuine self-belief is the opposite of ego. It starts with having an inherent understanding of your unique values and your strengths. It means knowing why you make the choices you make.

Motherhood and creativity, the divided heart

August 23, 2015 by Karen Comer Leave a Comment

Motherhood and creativity, the divided heart

Rachel Power
Affirm Press
2015

The story: This book is the second edition – The divided heart originally came out in 2008. It is a collection of interviews with mother/artists or artist/mothers – however you want to put it! I devoured this book when it first came out when I was pregnant with Mr 6. I heard Rachel Power speak at the Melbourne Writers Festival in 2009 and felt like I wanted to contribute to the conversation with her guests on stage. [Read more…]