How To Cure Hot Flashes!
My discovery began once upon a time when I was down in the dumps, not feeling my perkiest, about to give up, and started reading from ashes to africa by Josh and Amy Bottomly. Midway into the book I realized I might've been on to something as the story cleared up my pity focus real quick.
But this wasn’t the first time this happened. I recalled the time before, when I was dealing with a little bit of cynicism as I opened Life On the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black by Gregory Howard Williams. You had to have seen me with the corners of my mouth turned up thinking there was no way anyone not black would convince me that they knew what the black experience was like. But oh man, I started reading that book and it cleared my cynicism up straightaway.
A Country Called Nigeria by Robert Siller Jr. and Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat transfixed my outlook too. Both books proved there is a way to write sensitively about difficult topics, And Still Be Effective.
No Disrespect by Sister Souljah showed me a brand new method for harvesting reading inspiration altogether. Who says you have to start square at the beginning of a book to acquire motivation to read a book from cover to cover.
Life Is So Good by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman was another book that knocked a little of the negativity out of me. It’s hard to complain about life after reading about George and the positive spin collected on his life.
And this one here! PUZZLES by Terri Lyons; the book my company, OSAAT Entertainment published. I fell in love with Puzzles because while the book didn't cure my underlying medical ailment, it did make me feel better while reading it.
Plus, as if I need more proof I'm not dubbed 'the book doctor' erroneously, everybody already knows how… I. Left. My. Job. shortly after reading Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson.
Let me put it this way. My list is miles long for the list of books I correlate with remedying a number of dilemmas… such as this one I’m reading now… which is my latest discovery on how to cure hot flashes.
Every time this sudden, extreme body temperature fluctuation hits me, I pick up Bird Dreams by Matt Higgins, a memoir of adventures… and misadventures… at the extremes of human flight!
It looks like my comment got eaten, so pardon me if you get this twice. So...which books do you recommend that cure writers' anxiety? :) And I haven't read Sister Souljah's No Disrespect but I did read The Coldest Winter Ever in college. Could NOT put it down.
ReplyDeleteOh, Book Doctor to the rescue! For writers' anxiety you need a quick fun read... a book where the fun starts on page one and doesn't take up your time or stall the creative process.
DeleteHomemade Love by J. California Cooper and Miss Muriel and Other Stories by Ann Petry are both wonderful collections of short stories. Also, you may want to try Something’s Wrong with your Scale by Van Whitfield.
...and then there are the memoirs, which the great thing about reading memoirs is that you won't feel like you'll come across a story that you might want to write since they are stories about actual people's lives. (The Broke Diaries by Angela Nissel... Funny In Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas... Life Is So Good by George Dawson and Farewell, My Beijing by Chi Newman are excellent tension releasers.)
Let me know if you read one and it helps.