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Top 10 Books of 2019

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

The internet is awash with lists containing the “Best books of 2019.” I love reading them and seeing which books I’ve read, which are on my to-read list, and which are brand new to me. Here is my list, enjoy!

1) All That’s Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment by Hannah Anderson —I preferred this to her book Humble Roots. “Discernment is knowing the difference between what is good and what is better. And sometimes seeking what is better means learning to trust God while you wait for him to
1) All That’s Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment by Hannah Anderson —I preferred this to her book Humble Roots. “Discernment is knowing the difference between what is good and what is better. And sometimes seeking what is better means learning to trust God while you wait for him to supply it.”

2) When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink — One of the signs of a good book is how much I am compelled to read parts out loud to people near me. Let’s just say, I basically did the audio version of this book. Even now, reviewing my notes I have almost gotten off track with working on this post. So good!

3) On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books by Karen Swallow Prior — Organized by Cardinal Virtues (prudence, temperance, justice, and courage), Theological Values (faith, hope, and love), and Heavenly Virtues (chastity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility), this book is written slightly above my normal level. It pushed me in a good way and got me to think on another level.

4) The Light of the Fireflies by Paul Pen — One of several fiction books to make my list, Fireflies was a surprise read in 2019 because I had never heard of it. My Tuesday night book group read it and I think I liked it the most. I loved this book. Some in our group hated it. I was so curious to see what was going to happen and it reminded me of other books I loved (The Secret Annex, Born a Crime, Educated, and fiction book House of Sand and Fog). This is the story of how one bad decision can cascade and what you think you know . . . you’re wrong. I underlined the word loved in my notebook and it is only .99 on Amazon as of this writing.

5) Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World by Noah Strycker  — In 2015 Noah traveled around the world with the goal of seeing 5,000 different bird species. He ended up seeing 6,042! I love books that following someone for a year and give me a taste of that world. This book opened my eyes to how many birds there are and the quirky, kind, and passionate birder community.

6) Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: A Novel by Gail Honeyman — Also read for my book group and unlike Fireflies, Eleanor was universally adored. This is a book about loneliness and the power of human connection. My mom described Eleanor as a flower blossom opening. I felt like a better human being for having read this.

7) Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel by Mariah Marsden (author) and Brenna Thummler (illustrator) — a first ever! A graphic novel made the list. Months later, I can still picture these stunning images that captured the original book so well. In a word, delightful.

8) Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin — Looking at four presidents (Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, and Johnson), this book explored their ambition, adversity, growth, and the times they served in. Each one had truly trying issues to face.

9) Britt-Marie Was Here: A Novel by Fredrik Backman — Britt-Marie finds herself aged 60, separated from her husband, and needing a job. She moves to Borg for a temporary job and becomes a soccer coach to a team that has been forgotten. I laughed more than I expected and then I cried more than I expected. Backman is a genuis at capturing cranky people who have tender elements. His books challenge me to see beyond the surface.

10) The Newcomers: Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in America by Helen Thorpe — Follows the lives of twenty-two immigrant teenagers throughout the course of the 2015-2016 school year as they land at South High School in Denver, Colorado. These newcomers, from fourteen to nineteen years old, come from nations convulsed by drought or famine or war. Many come directly from refugee camps, after experiencing dire forms of cataclysm. This book brought back many memories of teaching ESL over the years.

Honorable mention:

Of course, Getting Started and Enjoying Newsletters have to make the list. These labors of love make me smile. One of my reading goals for December was to reread The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. It had been years since I read it. Why had I waited so long? If you are looking for a short, delightful read that points you to wonder of this season, this book is for you.

You might also enjoy the

9 Books I Loved in 2014

10 Books I Loved in 2015

My top 15 books in 2016

Have you read the 17 Best Books of 2017 and

Top 10 Books of 2018

Have you read any of my 10? What would you recommend to fellow readers?

All the News, Book

Why I changed the title and cover of my book

Let me begin by saying that I loved my previous cover and title. Loved them, so this was not an easy decision. But it was a necessary one. Sigh.

Here’s the thing, I loved the cover, but it did not help potential readers know what the book was about. It did not place the reader in a story and show them how it would benefit them to read it.

And what is writing about? In a book, it is about the reader.

One last time, here is the beloved cover:

I am still amazed that Vanessa Mendozzi, my cover designer, created such a three dimensional cover. My first idea to her—and you will quickly see why I am not a cover designer—was to have a smiling face with a bit of lettuce on a tooth.

Why? Because the idea of the book is that many people who write (be it on social media, a blog, or newsletters) don’t realize they have “lettuce on their teeth.” I know I didn’t. As I grew as a writer, I kept thinking, “I’m not stupid, why didn’t anyone tell me this before, I could easily have removed this lettuce on the teeth of my writing!”

As the months went by, I realized, this cover is beautiful, but not helpful in communicating. I take full responsibility! Vanessa presented several options, and this is the one I chose to go with.

Now let’s talk about the title: All the News That’s Fit to Tell and How to Tell it. I still like it. I like how it cleverly points to the decisions that a cross-cultural worker has to make when they write a newsletter. I like that she has a nickname, All the News. Or in my notes, ATN for short.

Here is what I have learned

Combine a cover that is more like a piece of art and a title that is clever and what do you have? A book that not many read because they don’t realize it will help them.

In the midst of this, I wrote Getting Started. Well now, what do you notice about that title and Looming Transitions? Both are two words and start with an “ing” word (getting and looming). Again, with the reader in mind, I wanted to find a two-word title that started with an “ing” word. I landed on Enjoying Newsletters.

Enjoying Newsletters is exactly what I want the reader to do . . . enjoy communicating with his, her, or their supporters.

So, how does an author go about changing the cover and the title?

Decide to make the change. Feel sad. Feel happy. Feel overwhelmed.

Figure out the new title. Run it by friends. Tweak it. Land on a new title. Enjoying Newsletters: How to Write Christian Communication People Want to Read.

Contact Vanessa. Explain the need to update the concept. Love her even more as a cover designer when she is also sad because the loved her first cover, but understands.

Drag your sister into helping you refine the new cover. I happened to be visiting Laura and Sue when Vanessa got me the new covers. Laura helped me select from the five. But the cover was a bit too tied to China (I want a more global feel) and way too pink for men to read. Poor Laura was a saint as I texted her iteration after iteration. Imagine an eye test from hell. Which did you like better? The blue or the green? This font or that? How about this one?

Let’s take a quick break because you might be wondering what to see the new cover. I really do love this one too :)!

Seeing the new cover helps to keep going with the steps, doesn’t it! Thinking of the reader, I love how this cover invites the reader to eat fun food while working on a newsletter.

Back to the process!

Contact Andy who formatted the book and have him change any reference to ATN to the new title . . . mostly in the endorsements.

Gather new files for the book interior (print and ebooks) and covers (print and ebooks). Publish the Enjoying Newsletters. Unpublish ATN.

Contact Amazon and figure out how to link the reviews from ATN with Enjoying Newsletters.

(If you are curious, technically ATN still exists, but is “invisible.” Which is cool, but annoying when the ATN cover was what was publicly shown, instead of the new cover. You might find it interesting that I helped Amazon with a Tom Young solution. My dad was known for creative solutions that might not have been pretty, but they were effective. I uploaded the Enjoying Newsletter cover to the ATN file. As long as it stays unpublished, that image is the only one Amazon can find! Ha! The representative I talked with wondered why no one had thought of this solution before. I almost told him, “Because none of you were raised by Tom Young!”)

So there you have it, the process of changing a title and cover of a book. If you have a project that you need to revisit and make changes and wonder if it is worth it? I would say, go for it.

In the end, I’m glad that Enjoying Newsletters has a name and cover that help readers know what to expect.

Have you ever needed to revisit a project?

Book, Summer Reading Challenge

Join “Getting Started” Launch Team

Hello friends and happy August to you!

My book Getting Started: Making the Most of Your Frist Year in Cross-Cultural Service is almost ready for release. (Wild clapping and cheering and tears of joy!)

One of the advantages of being an independent author is that I do not have the same type of pressure that traditionally published authors have for a big push the week their book is released. Best-seller lists and numbers of books sold can mean life or death of a book for traditionally published authors. While my books do not have that kind of pressure, I still need your help.

I’m excited to share the cover:

For the first time ever, I am organizing a launch team and inviting YOU to help launch Getting Started into the world! You can join the team by answering a few short questions. (Click here)

Here is what on endorser said: “Every person’s first year of transitioning abroad is challenging, full of unexpected cultural, emotional, interpersonal, and spiritual navigation. While it is easy to question your ‘fit’ for the field, Amy’s storytelling and research will affirm that you are EXACTLY where you are supposed to be. Allow Amy to comfort you with her entertaining experiences and her refreshing honesty!” Lauren Pinkston, Cofounder of Wearthy

What’s involved?

If accepted to the launch team, here’s the fun to you get to join in:

  1. You will receive an advanced copy of “Getting Started: Making the Most of Your First Year in Cross-Cultural Service” and will agree to leave an honest review on Amazon and Goodreads (no obligation for five stars!).
  2. You will be added to a closed Facebook group that will be open for four weeks: two weeks before launch, two weeks of launching Getting Started.
  3. Share as you want — on social media, with an organization you know, on your blog, whatever feels right to you.
  4. Share in the joy of helping hundreds (really thousands) get the most out of their first year on the field :).
  5. Have my eternal gratitude!

I am excited to share this journey with YOU! Join now and don’t miss out on the fun.

Thanks! Amy

P.S. The Summer Reading Challenge will end a week from Friday (on August 16th). I have about fifty pages left on Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin, a graphic novel to finish, and a young adult book planned. How’s it going for you?

Book, Books I've read (or want to read)

Three “T” Reasons to Read “The Tea Girl”

Since I lived in China, many assume it was China that turned me into a tea drinker. It wasn’t.

I became a tea drinker in 1991. My friend Kim moved to Scotland after college and part of her job was to visit the elderly from the church in their homes. One of them asked me, “Do you take your tea with milk or sugar?” They assumed I drank tea and it seemed easier to say, “Milk,” than to claim not to be a tea drinker. And the rest is history. To this day, I love tea and drink it with milk.

Lisa See will be familiar to many because of her modern classic Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. In October my American book group read her recent book The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane. While everyone enjoyed it, it was clear I enjoyed it more than the others, making me think other China hands might enjoy it too.

Amazon describes Tea Girl this way:

In their remote mountain village, Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. For the Akha people, ensconced in ritual and routine, life goes on as it has for generations—until a stranger appears at the village gate in a jeep, the first automobile any of the villagers has ever seen. The stranger’s arrival marks the first entrance of the modern world in the lives of the Akha people. Slowly, Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, begins to reject the customs that shaped her early life. When she has a baby out of wedlock—conceived with a man her parents consider a poor choice—she rejects the tradition that would compel her to give the child over to be killed, and instead leaves her, wrapped in a blanket with a tea cake tucked in its folds, near an orphanage in a nearby city.

I do not tend to read much fiction, so if you are like me hopefully the description intrigues you. But if you’re still not sure, here are the three “T” reasons I recommend The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane:

  • The Time Line
  • The Topics Covered
  • The Tea Culture

The Time Line

Written in five parts, The Tea Girl covers these time frames—1988-1990, 1994-1996, 1996-2006, 2007-2008, and 2012-2016. Starting in a remote village among the Akha people, the reader meets a people group that could be described as primitive, not just traditional when compared to other parts of China. In the early section, the reader encounters beliefs related to appeasing the spirit world that may disturb most readers.  It reminds those of us interested in China that 1988 was not that long ago. As the story moves through time, the reader is introduced to characters in Hong Kong, California, and other parts of China. You see again how rapidly China changed and developed. The recent changes in China might feel extreme (because they are extreme), but the pace at which they have come is not all that different than the pace of change the last thirty years; it is the direction the change seems to be going that has caught our attention.

The Topics Covered

As I reviewed and made notes of the topics covered, I was startled by how many See stuffed into one book. Then I realized, “Hey, the same could be said of my China experience.” And probably of yours. The Tea Girl considers the complex topic of foreign adoption from both the China (birth mother) and, in this case, American (adoptive family) side. Hayley, the adopted daughter, and child of one of the main characters, loves her adoptive family but has many questions about her birth culture and story. Her response to her adoption is not the “I’m so grateful to be adopted!” story and this unfolds as we watch her adoptive parents navigate parenting her. See weaves in multiple adoptee experiences, broadening the often one-dimensional portrayal of adoption.

In addition, The Tea Girl includes marriage and widowhood at a young age, finding work in Guangzhou, the growing gap between the poverty many minorities experience and the explosion of the billionaires among the Han and Hong Kong businessmen, the tensions between traditional and modern culture, marriage markets run by parents of aging singles, and the debate between western versus Chinese medicine. I bet the potpourri of topics mirrors your China experience too.

The Tea Culture

Though I have consumed thousands of cups of tea in China, I did not know much about the tea culture beyond rinsing the leaves in boiling water.  The Pu’er tea industry seemed to explode out of nowhere when I lived in China. Though too extensive to go into depth in this review, I enjoyed the tea aspect of the book because See included enough details to help the reader know more than rinsing the leaves in boiling water without bogging them down in technical minutiae. Tea became a character in its own right in this novel and any China hand worth her weight in tea leaves will be glad to understand the tea culture better.

One More “T” Comment

The primary negative comment from my book group is that the ending was too tidy. After going on an epic journey with the characters, the ending wrapped up all loose ends, leaving nothing to wonder for the reader. I so enjoyed the Chinese culture part of the book, I forgave and overlooked the wham bam feeling of the ending. But I wanted to warn you and hope you will pick up a copy of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. Overlook the ending, pour yourself a cup of Pu’er tea, and enjoy reading The Tea Girl.

 

A version of this first appeared on the China Source blog

Book, Faith

Who is the True You? {And a giveaway!}

I first met Michelle years ago when I was new to blogging and leaving comments like a crazy woman all over the web, clearly flirting with both making friends and being the person people ran from. Ha! Thankfully Michelle realized a sane person was beneath all my crazy. We have been on similar, yet different paths as authors. Michelle got an agent and has been traditionally published, while the doors that opened for me were in the independent publishing world. Thankfully, both are wonderful ways for books to come to life.

This is not Michelle’s first time here at The Messy Middle. A couple of years ago I interviewed her for her book Katharina and Martin Luther: The Radical Marriage of a Runaway Nun and a Renegade Monk. Michelle has a new book out, so of course, I wanted to chat with her about it!

Meet the author of this amazing book . . . Michelle DeRusha

Michelle, we are so glad you are here today. I love to hear where the idea for a book came from.

Could you share a bit of how you got the idea for this book?

The idea was actually sparked during a family vacation to Oregon a couple of summers ago. We visited the Portland Japanese Garden, where our tour guide explained a particular Japanese pruning technique called “open center pruning.” She talked about how removing so many of a tree’s branches and limbs allowed the “inner essence” of the tree to be revealed. This, she explained, created a sense of openness, space and tranquility, not just within the individual trees themselves but in the garden as a whole.

I couldn’t get that pruning image out of my head, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that open center pruning could be a powerful practice for our spiritual lives as well. As we slowly prune away the extraneous bits of ourselves — the parts that detract from who we really are and who God created us to be — we will begin to flourish and live into a new openness and spaciousness in our lives and in our faith. I wrote a blog post about the metaphor of open center pruning not long after we got back from our trip, but I still couldn’t shake the image. It aligned so well with some of what I had been reading at the time — Richard Rohr, Henri Nouwen, Ruth Haley Barton, for example — that I began to entertain the idea of a book. Two years later, that original blog post about my trip to the Portland Japanese Garden grew into True You.

Wow. I can see why you couldn’t shake that image!

How did you research and prepare to write True You?

It really was a slow process. Over a period of a couple of years, I had been compiling notes from my reading into journals. At one point I went back and read through the journals cover to cover and realized that I had been chewing on some of the ideas for this book for a long, long time – there were some clear themes threaded through my own writing and reflected in what I was reading. I went through my journals and highlighted all the quotes and my own thoughts that pertained to the topic of true versus false self, and I realized I had a ton of research and information. So it was a matter of culling through it, organizing it and figuring out what I wanted to include in the book.

The writing of this book was a much more contemplative, reflective process than my previous books. It was slow going, because I first had to figure out how the Holy Spirit was leading me and the wisdom the Spirit was imparting to me about my own relationship with God, and then I had to try to make those insights applicable and accessible to others. Even though True You has a lot of my story in it, I really do hope that the themes and message are universal.

What is your writing process?

I do my best creative work in the morning, so after I get my kids off to school and the house somewhat in order (one of my quirks is that I need to have uncluttered surfaces around me – like the kitchen counters, the coffee table and my desk — before I get to work. A “clean” workspace helps makes for an uncluttered head…or that’s what I hope for anyway!), I usually go for a short run or a walk, shower and get dressed, and then am at my desk by 9 a.m. or so. I try to do about 3 to 3.5 hours of writing before I break for lunch. I work two days a week for The Salvation Army, so the other three days a week are my writing days. I try to write in the morning and then revise and edit in the afternoon before I leave to pick up my kids from school at 3 p.m. Truth be told, I prefer revising and editing over actual writing; polishing a piece is more fun and so much less fraught for me! The “blank screen” is the WORST.

(This is Amy, I love hearing about your writing process because it is so different than mine! And two weeks ago at the Writers on the Rock Conference, Philip Yancey said the same thing! He finds writing hard but loves the research and editing phases.)

(I’m going to babble first and then get to my question.) Michelle, I think we are drawn to similar subjects and ideas! I have been taken with the idea of “The Language of Eden” for years. We are so good at speaking “Eden Lost,” we forget it is not our native tongue. With Lent, I was thinking that True You might be an ideal (if unconventional) Lent read. I was looking at the description of True You and this part caught my eye:

“Similarly, we begin to flourish as we let go of ourfalse selves and allow God to prune us open. Michelle DeRusha helps readers:

– learn how to declutter their hearts, minds, and souls through the practice of directed rest

– let go of busyness, striving, and false identities to embrace their truest selves as beloved children of God

– grow in their relationships, vocations, communities, and intimacy with God”

Back to Amy and my question. Often people will fast during Lent, with sugar or caffeine commonly chosen. But I was thinking, what if people gave up busyness or striving or false identifies for Lent. Well, what if people try to :)! Knowing we will fail, yet God will meet us even in our daily (hourly?! minutely!!!) failings? So, my question is, what ideas or suggestions do you have for someone who would like to fast from busyness, striving, or false identities?

That’s such a good question, and I LOVE the idea of fasting from busyness, striving or false identities as a Lenten discipline (I’m actually doing a social media fast this year for Lent). My advice would be to find a few minutes – even just five or ten minutes a day – to sit in silence, stillness and solitude. Silence has been a critical aspect of my ongoing journey toward uncovering my true, God-created self. We live in an incredibly noisy culture, and even when we do have downtime, we tend to fill it with more noise: social media, technology, social activities, etc. Silence makes many of us anxious because we are unaccustomed to it, and so we endeavor to fill even our smallest slices of quiet time with distraction.

God will reveal the parts of ourselves that are false, the parts of us that are not aligned with him, but often, we can’t hear from him because our lives are too noisy and too busy. I say in True You that our minds need time and space to catch up with what our souls already know. In order to begin to even identify the false parts of ourselves, we need to be quiet enough and still enough to hear the whisper of the Holy Spirit speaking deep in our souls. So integrating a daily practice of intentional rest into our every day would be one way to begin to quiet the clatter of our hearts, minds, and souls. As I write in the book, this period of intentional rest doesn’t need to be long – I’m not talking a whole day squirreled away in a monastery at a silent retreat (though that would be lovely!). Five minutes is a great place to start, and you will be amazed what even five minutes, practiced regularly over time, can do for your physical, mental and spiritual health.

Michelle, I’ve really enjoyed our chat! And I imagine the readers have too.

If you would like to be entered to win a signed copy of True You, leave a comment (about anything!). What stood out to you in the interview? What gets in the way of you being your true self? What are you reading for Lent? Do you practice silence, stillness, and solitude? What does that look like for you?

P.S. If the winner happens to not like in North America, I’ll get you a kindle copy and draw a second name. :)

Book

26 Books Related to Leadership and Communication

I record the books I read in a notebook. In part to track how many books I read in a year. In part to have a record of what I read. But neither reason is why I started this habit. Years ago one of my colleagues in China asked me about a book I had read the year before and for the life of me, I could not recall anything of substance. What?!

As soon as I finished a book, I moved on to the next one without building in any reflecting time. So, chose a pretty notebook and started to write down a short blurb for each book I read. Sometimes my blurbs are brief summaries, other times, I write down what I want to remember from a book.

Recently I was asked what I’ve read in the last four years related to leadership and communication. You know I love nonfiction, so it’s not surprising my list was long-ish, almost too long for one post. But who doesn’t love a good list? For your sake, I disciplined myself not to say too much about any one book. If you’d like to know more, just ask!

Without further ado, here are the 26 books I read in the last five years related to leadership and communication.

1. Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer — “This is a story of dreaming big and working hard, of spectacular success and breathtaking failure, of shouted questions, and, at long last, whispered answers.”

2. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk — “Thanks to massive change and proliferation in social media platforms, the winning combination of jabs and right hooks is different now.”

3. Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger — Berger reveals the “science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission.”

4. slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte

5. Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences by Nancy Duarte — The power in a story of going back and forth between what is and what could be.

6. Supersurvivors: The Surprising Link Between Suffering and Success by Lee Daniel Kravetz and David B. Feldman

7. Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Douglas Stone and Shalia Heen — I’m realized I have so much I want to say about this book, I’ll do a separate post. So good!

8. With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God by Sky Jethani — An absolute must read. The end.

9. The Weekly Coaching Conversation: A Business Fable about Taking Your Team’s Performance and Your Career to the Next Level by Brian Souza — Not my fav read, but a good reminder as a leader to be intentional with those I work with.

10. Sticking Points: How to Get 4 Generations Working Together in the 12 Places They Come Apart by Haydn Shaw — So many “ah-ha!” moments reading this!

11. David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell — This book offers “a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, suffer from a disability, lose a parent, attend a mediocre school, or endure any number of other apparent setbacks.”

12. Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant — “There are three broad styles of interpersonal dealing: taking, matching, and giving. Here’s the counter-intuitive part. If we look at the most successful people—the happiest, the most likely to be promoted, etc—they are generally givers, and if we look at the least successful, they too often tend to be givers.”

13. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown — “The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done.”

14. The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World by Peter Scazzero — Highly recommend! “Scazzero shows leaders how to develop a deep, inner life with Christ, examining its profound implications for surviving stress, planning and decision making, building teams, creating healthy culture, influencing others, and more.”

15. Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek

16. Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown — “In analyzing data from more than 150 leaders, Wiseman has identified five disciplines that distinguish Multipliers from Diminishers.”

17. Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert B. Cialdini

18. The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business by Patrick Lencioni — An absolute must read! I’m using this book with the Connection Group Facilitators this fall.

19. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant

20. Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant

21. Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David

22. The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals by Sean Covey, Jim Huling, and Chris McChesney — Absolute must read.

23. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport — Excellent. So good on understanding how the brain works and the importance of building in time for deep work. I have been frustrated that I’m stuck doing so much shallow work, this book was a big help to bring change.

24. The Power of Healthy Tension: Overcome Chronic Issues and Conflicting Values by Tim Arnold — My new fav book; I love it so much I have worked in these ideas into talks I’m giving at writers groups around Denver, a presentation I made in Germany to cross-cultural workers, and a keynote address I’ll give in February at a cross-cultural conference to mainly those who send people overseas. Suffice it to say, the impact this book has had on my thinking and understanding of situations that are a part of life is far and wide and if you get with a two-foot radius of me, you’re gonna hear about this book!

25. 5 Voices: How to Communicate Effectively with Everyone You Lead by Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram — Here is an Instagram post I wrote about this book.

26. The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization by Peter Drucker

///

How many have you read? Any catch your eye and are now on your “to read” list? But more importantly (to me!), what have you read related to communication or leadership and would recommend I read?

Book, Travel

Reading Around the Baltics

You know I turned 50 in December.

You know I believe in marking milestones.

You also know I love my people, history, culture, and traveling.

Combine all and what do you have? A Baltic Cruise and the chance to visit a new part of the world. One of my fellow travelers was my friend Joann, our books—one about transitions, another about Chinese church bells—are book cousins. So, is it any surprise that as we traveled we thought of books we read or want to read related to our travels.

Copenhagen, Denmark

We started off in Copenhagen and in preparation for our trip Joann listened to The Almost Nearly Perfect People by Michael Booth—I’m thinking it is a must read because as our travels continued, Joann kept referencing it. “Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than ten years, and he has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely book he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success, and, most intriguing of all, what they think of one another.”

Berlin, Germany

If you look at a map, Berlin is not by the coast. So, calling is a “port city” on the cruise might be a bit lose and fast with definitions. But the three-hour bus ride from the ship? Totally worth it. We started off at the Olympic Stadium where Jesse Owens won his gold medal as the Nazis downplayed their plans for the world. I highly recommend the movie Race and now plan to read these books, all recommended by Joann.

Olympic Stadium in Berlin

At the Berlin Wall

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson—”The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Nazi Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history.”

Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Frederick Kempe—The Berlin Wall

Bridge of Spies by Giles Whittell—You might have heard of the movie, Joann said the book, not surprisingly, goes into more details and if you have to choose between book or movie, choose the book.

The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall by Mary Elise Sarotte—It was an accident! That November night in 1989 when the wall came down because the person speaking to the press was reading a press release and . . . you will have to read the book to find out the rest!

Tallin, Estonia

Sadly, I don’t have any books directly related to Estonia, but this year I read Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. In this Young Adult Novel, “Fifteen-year-old Lina is a Lithuanian girl living an ordinary life — until Soviet officers invade her home and tear her family apart. Separated from her father and forced onto a crowded train, Lina, her mother, and her young brother make their way to a Siberian work camp, where they are forced to fight for their lives.”

St. Petersburg, Russia

Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty by Robert K. Massie—I read this in high school and fell in love with one of the last Czars, his wife, their son who had hemophilia, and the mystic Rasputin. On our tour, we visited the Peter and Paul Fortress and Cathedral, where all of the Czars are buried, including Nicholas, Alexandra, and Alexis. The next day we toured the Palace where Rasputin was murdered. I am eager to read this a second time.

The final resting place of Czar Nicholas and his family

The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming by Henri Nouwen—This book is one of my favorite five books of all time. So, when I heard we would be going to St. Petersburg and go to the Hermitage, I felt quivery inside. I need to reread it. If you haven’t you must read it. Please.

Dreams do come true

Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson—My niece Emily read and recommended this book to our family. I now need to reread it! “In September 1941, Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht surrounded Leningrad in what was to become one of the longest and most destructive sieges in Western history—almost three years of bombardment and starvation that culminated in the harsh winter of 1943–1944. More than a million citizens perished.”

Helsinki, Finland

The Almost Nearly Perfect People—mentioned above.

Stockholm, Sweden

Almost Nearly and The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson—this international bestseller is described as “A reluctant centenarian much like Forrest Gump (if Gump were an explosives expert with a fondness for vodka) decides it’s not too late to start over . . .” So, you can tell it’s fiction. I’m wondering what it is about Sweden that turns out such good storytellers? I’m thinking of A Man Called Ove and Fredrik Backman.

We returned to Copenhagen and each began the long trek home because there are books to be read! What books do I need to add to my list?

All the News, Book

All the News That’s Fit to Tell is HERE

 

“When will your book be done?”

Go ahead, ask me. “When can I buy All the News That’s Fit to Tell and How to Tell It”?

I’ll try not to smile too big when I say, “Today!!!!!!!”

My proof copy—when I actually hold the book for the first time—arrived in time for my trip to Costa Rica. Volunteering at an Azmera Retreat, the second afternoon presented a workshop entitled “Newsletters Can Be Fun!” While my instagram was blowing up with “famous” authors all gathering in Michigan for the Festival of Faith and Writing, I was in a glorified closet (because it had good AC) talking to fellow cross-cultural workers about writing newsletters.

A small part of my missed that I was not with those in the “big league” when it comes to publishing books. But this room? These faces? This is why All the News—her nickname—exists. These women serving in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua were like me. They did not see themselves as writers. They plant churches, they work with youth, they have multiple outreaches going on.

One of the dirty little secrets in the world of cross-cultural workers is how many feel shame and guilt when it comes to newsletter writing. What a terrible motivational speaker in their heads! To make add to the complexity, many do not think of themselves as writers.

But in this day and age, we all are writers because of email, text messages, social media, and yes, newsletters. Because cross-cultural workers generally do not see themselves as writers, those in this room didn’t know writing is a skill that can be improved on like any other skill. I wrote this book for them. I took all that I have learned writing books and translated it into newsletter speak.

(Side-note obviously all of their hair has adjusted to the humidity. Mine? My hair spent the week being very poofy. But I digress.)

They were God’s gentle reminder that there are thousands of cross-cultural workers who want to connect with supporters and long for a resource like this.

All the News is divided into four sections:

  1. The Unseen Battle: Your mind-set
  2. Newsletter Specific Writing
  3. Simple Ways to Improve Your Writing
  4. Developing as a Writer

Because launch day is FUN! All of my books are on Sale in Kindle for $2.99. Yes, this includes All the News for $2.99 (Kindle, regularly $7.99) and $10.00 in print. Sale ends Saturday morning in the U.S.

This is the third time I’ve launched and again I feel a bit like I’m saying to you, “Do you like my baby? Will you, my people help raise her? Will you stand with me in the good times and hard? Will you still like me even when she disappoints or does stupid things?”

And all the people said, “We will!”

You might wonder, That’s great, but I’m not sure what to do. What can I do? Here are eight ways you can help with this raising of All the News:

1. Celebrate! Of course I hope this book sells decently because I truly believe that better newsletters will strengthen the bond between writer and reader.

But if this books sells and I have no one to share it with, what have I gained? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. What is worse than watching sports by yourself and having no one to high-five? Nothing. Okay, there are worse things, but in that moment, it’s pretty low.

I’m high-fiving you! Woot, woot! If you weren’t here reading this blog, there would be no book. This blog is where my own mindset shifted and I began to think of myself as a writer. We did it. Let’s enjoy this moment.

2. May I boldly suggest, buy a copy of All the News. Purchased copies through Amazon are the only way that Amazon will start to recommend All the News as an “also bought.”

3. But here is a simple way that won’t cost you a dime. This week it is annoyingly important to train the Amazon search engine—the second most powerful search engine right now. So, instead of clicking on the hyperlinked title, go to Amazon and in the search bar type in “all the news that’s fit to tell” FYI, Amazon only lets your device count once for searching for an item. So, thank you in advance to those of you just got the idea to pull up something on Netflix and hit the refresh button on Amazon and keep typing “all the news.” You can still do it, but Amazon will never know.

4. Suggest or give All the News to the head of your mission committee, a mission organization you know, or someone who has contacts in those worlds. Ask them if they would buy a copy for each of their cross-cultural workers. The best way a book sells is through word of mouth. If you tell them and they know you, they are much more likely to buy it. Physical copies available at a discount for orders of five copies or more.

5. Leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. It does not need to be five stars (though if that’s what your heart is saying, go with your heart!). Amazon is funny, she just likes to see the amount of reviews. The more reviews (even three or four star), the more Amazon will say, “Hey, maybe I should tell other people about this book.”

6. Tell someone about Love, Amy. You know tons of people I don’t know. You know people living in Sweden or working at this church or for that organization. You know you neighbor’s cousin who is moving to Brazil or your former coworker who writes boring newsletters. You know mission committee members and pastors and counselors.

7. Know a blogger? I would be honored to write a guest post or be interviewed. Know a podcaster? I’d love to talk about mindset, motivation, or other aspects of newsletter writing. Please put me in contact with them.

8. Take a picture with yourself and All the News and share on social media. Who doesn’t love a happy person with a book? And this cover will bring out the blue in your eyes.

Here is an image for Instagram:

 

Release days are so much fun! Next week I’ll share more about the back story for this particular book. I’m happy tired today.

High Five The Office GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

As we launch this book and wait to see how God will use it, I want to end with the benediction I gave at the end of the acknowledgments:

I thank my God every time I remember you. Philippians 1:3

Love,

Amy

Contact form for inquiries as to me speaking to your group about transitions or newsletters, buying bulk orders, or your thoughts on the Broncos’ chances next year.

Book, Love Amy

Blog Tour—All Aboard

I have been me for . . . all my life. So, why am I still surprised surprise myself?

I am a consistent under-estimater of how much time a new endeavor involves. I had heard of “blog tours,” but in reality knew little of them. Last November I reached out to Celebrate Lit to see if Love, Amy would be a good fit for a blog tour. Turns out LA was! And thus began my education on blog tours.

In essence, by hiring Celebrate Lit to host a tour, they would set up a certain number of bloggers who would review Love, Amy and agree to write a blog post on a given day, thus helping new readers learn about books. Part of my responsibility was to provide a fun prize for the tour. Coming up with a good prize was the tricky part for me. But since the book is a series of letters, I decided on a letter writing gift basket complete with gift cards, an Amazon gift card, and a page of Love, Amy stamps. (The cover is on a stamp!).

If you know of authors who are looking for a way to promote their book, I highly recommend Celebrate Lit. Sandra has been a dream to work with and the level of professionally has exceeded all expectations. Yesterday was the first day of the tour, it runs from April 19th to May 2nd and you can also enter to win the gift basket!

My responsibilities:

  1. Write the launch post
  2. Provide all of my author info and social media links
  3. Provide the book to reviewers. I mailed physical books to those who wanted them and got the mobi or PDF files to those who wanted to read it electronically
  4. Come up with a compelling gift
  5. During the tour, reply to comments on the blogs each day
  6. After the tour, mail the gift basket to the winner

Here are the stops along the tour:

Blog Stops

Reading Is My SuperPower, April 19

Inklings and notions , April 20

Eat, Read, Teach, Blog, April 20

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, April 21

Mary Hake, April 21

Texas Book-aholic, April 22

Carpe Diem, April 23

A Baker’s Perspective, April 24

Simple Harvest Reads, April 25 (Guest post from Mindy Houng)

All-of-a-kind Mom, April 26

Artistic Nobody, April 27 (Spotlight)

Lots of Helpers, April 27

Bibliophile Reviews, April 28

proud to be an autism mom, April 29

A Greater Yes, April 29

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, April 30

Janices book reviews, April 30

Jeanette’s Thoughts, May 1

Bigreadersite, May 2

margaret kazmierczak, May 2 (Interview)

Doesn’t that kind of blow your mind? I have only read the post at Reading Is My SuperPower. written by Carrie. She normally reads fiction but is an TESOL teacher so decided to read Love, Amy. Fun to heard why someone was drawn to a book.

Below is the post I wrote for the launch.

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The tug for a life that is “Anything but Boring”

When I was in college the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie Sarah Plain and Tall changed my life. You’ve probably seen it and been moved too. Sarah, a spinster by the standard of her day, moves from Boston to the fields of Kansas to consider marrying a widower and help him raise his children and work his farm. Her brother could not understand why Sarah would move from so-called civilization to the middle of nowhere. But the longing she felt for her life to matter resonated deeply with me.

I was in the liminal space between adolescence and adulthood. Like Sarah, I knew I could stay where I was and live a good life, but I wanted more. And so I moved to China.

Our world is one that loves big, change-the-world stories. I love them too. I remember reading The End of the Spear, the story of Jim Elliott and his friends who were martyred for their faith. I also lost myself in the stories of Gladys Aylward, William Carey, Lottie Moon, and Amy Carmichael. I remember reading about a missionary that had some worm pulled out of his stomach that was the size of a large snake. Disgusting! Fascinating! All for the gospel!

The life of faith was exciting and God was on the move all the time! While it is true, the life of faith is exciting and God is on the move, it is also ordinary, boring, disappointing, and confusing. When I started compiling the letters I wrote from my days in China, I was embarrassed by what “first year Amy” said. She was so clueless, so uninformed, so willing to display her lack of cultural knowledge. I wanted to put my hand over her mouth and ask her to please pipe down because she did not really believe what she was saying. But she did, “first year Amy” could not know what “fifteen year in China Amy” knew.

These change the world stories I love? Turns out they have been more sanitized than I realized without showing the cultural and ministry progression that must have taken place.

Even now, knowing what I know, part of me wishes my newsletters contained miracles and throngs coming to Christ because of my work. I thought throngs and miracles were what a “real” cross-cultural worker would do. I thought that would show that my life mattered, like Sarah’s when she moved to Kansas. Don’t we all want our lives to matter? I believed that mattering was measurable. By compiling and writing this book the lesson Love, Amy has taught me is that too often we confuse size with significance. I still hear the whisper that says, “Amy, really? You wrote about the cultural beliefs that influence standing in line and you think that is worth people giving of their prayer, money, and time?” Part of me is reluctant even now to publish these letters because they are common. In truth, I am happy with my life and the contributions I have made. Of course I have regrets and wish I’d handled certain situations differently. But if all we hear are the spectacular stories, we can miss the gift our beautifully ordinary lives can be.

Who made it into the Gospels? A widow and her two mites. A boy and his few fish. She is described as offering out of her poverty. His common lunch was used to feed more than he could have imagined. Jesus did not tend to elevate those in power or those who seemed impressive.

My first year, a fellow teacher in China told me, “You’re lucky you’re still in your first year. Wait until your second year and you have told all your stories. You’ll have nothing to say in your newsletters.” Isn’t that the heart of what we fear—that we will have nothing to say with our lives? The secret to combating this fear is not that secretive. Show up and be present. Taken individually, these letters don’t add up to much, but put them together and much to my surprise, month after month I wrote an accidental memoir.

As ordinary as it is, I do have to say, life in China was anything but boring! If you love memoirs and want to hear stories that will make you laugh or cringe (and sometimes both), join me on a college campus in China.

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Had you heard of blog tours? Are you like me and underestimate how much time is involved in something new (like a blog tour? Though, totally worth it! Just classic Amy)?

Book

When a fictional character becomes real

You know I lead the Book Club at Velvet Ashes. In February we read The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason.

Placed in the 1880s, Edgar, a piano tuner in London and was commissioned by the military to go to Burma and tune a piano of an important British military leader. His wife Katherine wasn’t able to go with him, but was excited and supportive of the trip.

On the long trip, he faithfully wrote her and shared his journey. He continued writing as he traveled inland to Mandalay. It was only when he went out to the remote area in Mae Lwin to tune the piano that he stopped writing.

I don’t want to give too much away about the plot, but after the first few chapters, Katherine isn’t in the book except when Edgar writes to her or speaks of her.

I know that Katherine isn’t real, but she feels real to me. I keep thinking about her.

At the end of the book  I realized Katherine was going to be left in the dark about much of Edgar’s trip.

What?

What?

What?!

She must have been reeling, to have a black hole of information and no one to ask. I cannot imagine the pain.

In a twist of odd timing, last Friday night I had dinner with my teammate Hannah from the summer of 2006. We spent several weeks together in Tibet and she now lives in Denver. After dinner, as her three young children wrestled around us, somehow after all these years we touched on our teammate Carol.

The picture below was taken at the Jokhang Temple. Hannah is on the far left, I’m next to her, and Carol is far right.

Carol was around my age at the time, mid-30s, single, a teacher, and proud auntie. Unlike me, she had a serious boyfriend who just could not pull the trigger and propose, though they had dated for years. We clicked. I knew we would be friends post trip. That summer she had horrible back pain and I spent a lot of time helping her try and find relief.

When the trip was over, she flew back to America and I flew to Beijing to help my organization with the orientation for those new to the field. I received an email from Carol that the doctors couldn’t figure out what was going on but thought it was a parasite. That was the last communication we had.

The next email was from our organization saying she had liver cancer and had one week to be at home before she would be taken to a hospice facility.

What?

What?

What?!

The next email was that she had died. Because of privacy policies (these were new at the time and people were still figuring boundaries) we could send a condolence card to the headquarters, but we could have no contact with her mother.

I was so thrown by her death and the suddenness of it. We were just in Tibet. She was alive and we were serving together and having adventures. And now I couldn’t even tell her mom how sorry and shocked I was? How knowing her daughter, albeit briefly, meant something to me.

I knew her hometown in Nebraska so I searched online and found three people who could be her mom and I called them. I found Carol’s mom. Long story short, her mother was grateful to hear about Carol’s summer because there hadn’t been time to talk, to share stories, to go over pictures. Her mom asked if she could mail me all of Carol’s pictures and if I would label who was in them, where we were, and what we were doing.

Of course I said yes. It helped me. It helped Carol’s mom. But who can help Katherine make sense of her confusing ending?

Who?

Katherine, you may be fictional, but you are real to me and I’m sorry.

Image designed by Karen Huber.

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