Are You Ready for A Stay-Cation?

Celebrate local writers and your local community with us in July-August for our first annual "Stay-cation Reads" here at What She Read and on participating blogs, sponsored by our social network for bookish world- and life-changing people, ActionReaders.

Feature a local author or book-setting (or two!) on your blog in these two months, take a local action in your community related to that author or book in some way, and then spread the love of your local community through the ActionReaders website and here on What She Read, telling us what you value - and even what you'd like to help change - about your town, county, or state. 

To get you started, I've offered two questions on the ActionReaders forum.  It takes mere seconds to become a member so you can participate, and it's entirely free - kinda like Facebook, only with fellow readers who are changing their lives and their communities, one book at a time. 

And just for fun, we'll be offering random drawings for gift certificates at Indiebound.org, Book Depository, and Betterworldbooks.com for "Stay-cation Reads" participants, and we're considering hosting a big book swap/give-away hop for the local books we read this summer.

Questions?  Enthusiastic support?  Great local author or book to champion?  Ready to jump in?  Go hop into the forum at ActionReaders.com or leave a comment here so I'll be sure to update you on opportunities to connect with other readers & bloggers as the Stay-cation continues... 

Expect Sunday updates here and at ActionReaders, and do offer up ideas about how to make our Stay-cation that much more enjoyable and fulfilling.

MFB,
L

p.s. Are you running a summer program in your community?  Why not get your participants involved too?  Email me, Laurie, at actionreaders(at)gmail(dot)com for details and support.

What's In Your TBR pile?

Our Crazy-for-Books blog hop for today asks "How many books are in our TBR pile right now?" 

I have 3 TBR (to be read) piles and 2 shelves! 
Pile 1 = 6 books - a variety of ARCs, novels, and creativity-related books
Pile 2 = one huge World Literature textbook plus three novels and a non-fiction self-help book = 5 books
Pile 3 = 5 books, all professional  development
Shelf 1 = 26 books, mostly novels
Shelf 2 = 41 books, novels, short fiction, books about writing
     And if the books on hold waiting at the library count too, then that's 3 more books in another 'pile'!

Check my math: a quick tally says 86 books at the moment, and more in the mailbox on Monday, I'm sure...

Given that tally, I think it's time to wrap up the ones I'm on and get through one or two more this weekend.  The first will be Caleb's Crossing, the new novel from Geraldine Brooks.

What's at the top of your TBR? 

MFB,
L

And you're warmly invited to join me in a read-along and a hop this week!


1.  Read-along & Discussion & Fun Ideas for getting more creativity into your life:  The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharpe at ActionReaders.com!  (We'll start discussing ch. 1-4 this week.  It's already upping my own creativity; can't wait to hear what y'all are doing too!  And - hey - if you don't have the book yet, come join us anyway - the more, the merrier!)

2.  Weekend Poem In Your Post blog hop here tomorrow and Sunday.  Share a wonderful poem and spread the word-love...

3.  Keep hopping with the Crazy for Books hop right away!

'Get Creative' Book Club & 100 Follower GiveAway!



Get it through Indiebound.org.

Get creative and take action with us!

It's our first ActionReaders book club, featuring
The Creative Habit by internationally renowned choreographer Twyla Tharp.  This book's one of the most popular on the subject, so we've got high hopes for a great conversations that blossom into more creative lives for all of us!

Discussions, contests, challenges, and a free tree:  All waiting for you over at Actionreaders.com this month in addition to our reading group. It costs nothing to become a member or to join our book club, and the book is widely available in libraries and at book sellers both local and web-based. 

When?  We'll start chatting about The Creative Habit and sharing our own action ideas on June 19 and keep discussing through July 9, so you've got plenty of time to jump in!

Plus, count on quick creativity tips for your personal life in our Action Reader News section and ideas for using your creativity to spark social change too.

So come join us as we 'get our creative on' for the summer!

Oh, and then there's this: 

My 20/20 100th Follower Give-Away...

I'm oh so close, so here's what I'm planning for y'all to mark the milestone and express my gratitude toward those who offer their time and attention to my humble musings:

Once we hit 100 followers, I'll randomize all of them and the lucky winner will get

The 20/20 special:

The book of their choice (up to $20) AND a $20 donation to the charity of their choice!

So if you've been visiting lately but on the fence about following, now's the time!


MFB, in a pre-celebratory vein,
L

FYI:
I admired Ms. Crowe's approach to her 100th follower celebration over at As the Crowe Flies and Reads, and I happened to benefit from it as the lucky winner, so I decided to "pay it forward", with a twist!

What's this Action Readers thing? Part One

You've been asking, so I'll hit a few highlights today, and a few more in future quick-posts!

The BackStory
Well, if you've been reading this blog - even from time to time - you know that I've been trying out this "with every book I read, I take an action" process, and that it's been life-changing for me.  Enthusiast that I am, I figured:  Why keep this to myself when other readers could change their lives and non-readers could love reading if only they learned this simple secret? 

I wanted to share it with others, so they too could realize how profoundly such a simple, easy shift in how they read could help them improve their own lives and serve the world around them with very little effort.  AND I wanted to meet the sort of readers who would try this too, and learn from them, and help them in return.  That's basically it.

So I created a non-profit ning that anyone can join for free and visit as often as they like to get ideas and support and opportunities to change the world or enrich their lives, one book at a time.  (Talk about action!  For me, this is a biggee!)

First Q & A
The most frequently asked question is: 
           What sort of actions? 
           Won't they take a lot of time and effort?

Answers: 
          All sorts! 
          Creative, crafty, gratitude, service, inquiry, personal growth... Hop up to the Action Ideas page above to find out.  Or look at any of my book reviews - actions are in red, at the bottom of the review.

          No!  They won't take much time and effort (unless you so choose) and, for me and those who've tried it, once you simply set the intention that you'd like to take an action upon completing a book, they almost seem to create themselves.  And it's fun! 

So... More about the site's specific features in a future post, but for now, just click the badge in the upper right (or how about clicking right here!) to hop on over and see our fledgling efforts for yourself - There's no obligation, and we're not selling anything, but it might be the first step to changing your world and enhancing your life, one book at a time.

MFB,
L

Wow, would I welcome your questions and comments and encouragement, too...

And there's a challenge on ActionReaders.com this month through which you could earn a $25 gift certificate from betterworldbooks.com, so there's extra incentive, no?

p.s.  The Crazy-for-Books blog hop asks us:  Which book blogger would you most like to meet?  I simply couldn't choose because I'd like to meet so many.  In part, that's why I set up ActionReaders.com - as a place, similar to the book bloggers' ning combined with Goodreads book groups - but with our own special spin - where we have many more options to "talk", group up to discuss a book, and support each other.

Poem In Your Pocket Day tomorrow. Today: "Thanks".

And my thanks to the wonderful Jackie of Jackie Is Reading for offering this poem not only to us bloggers but to her entire school!  She performed it in honor of National Poetry Month, and blogged about her experience as well as all the other actions she's taken on poetry's behalf this month.

I hope you'll consider stopping by tomorrow to join us with your own contribution for our Poem In Your Pocket Day Challenge.

And, no, you don't have to sign up, nor must you have a blog or website, in order to participate!  Just stop on by, post your poem, and invite your friends to do the same.   Then hop around blissfully gathering word-bouquets from around the world.

MFB,  and looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!

L

Here it is:

Thanks

Listen

with the night falling we are saying thank you

we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings

we are running out of the glass rooms

with our mouths full of food to look at the sky

and say thank you

we are standing by the water thanking it

smiling by the windows looking out

in our directions

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging

after funerals we are saying thank you

after the news of the dead

whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you

in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators

remembering wars and the police at the door

and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you

in the banks we are saying thank you

in the faces of the officials and the rich

and of all who will never change

we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us

our lost feelings we are saying thank you

with the forests falling faster than the minutes

of our lives we are saying thank you

with the words going out like cells of a brain

with the cities growing over us

we are saying thank you faster and faster

with nobody listening we are saying thank you

we are saying thank you and waving

dark though it is

                                 - W. S. Merwin

From Migration: New & Selected Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 2005). Copyright © 1988 by W. S. Merwin. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

p.s.  Bonus for Pocket Poem Participants:  If you email me (actionreaders@gmail.com) or sign up as a member & then join our group at ActionReaders.com, I'll enter you to win one of the two stellar poetry collections pictured above.

Top Ten Tuesday: From Page to Screen With Bonus Poems!

For today's Broke and Bookish Blog Hop that asks us which books we'd like to enjoy as movies, I'll honor National Poetry Month by offering ideas for bio-pics about poets who dared.

Start with Edna St. Vincent Millay:  A wild woman who wrote such gentle poetry, unafraid of public responses to her artistic endeavors and her social liaisons (not that she remained unmoved by public scrutiny, but rather that - for the most part - she lived her life as she pleased, regardless).  A motion picture made from the stellar biography Savage Beauty by Nancy Milford would raise eyebrows and accolades even now, I'll warrant.


And a film of prolific poet-performer-
autobiographer Maya Angelou's life story would offer surprising drama and depth spanning pivotal moments in the 20th-21st centuries.  Did you know that she was the first African American female cable car operator in San Francisco?  And she toted up many other firsts for African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement as well.  And how about her brilliant inaugural poem for Bill Clinton, "A Rock, A River, A Tree"?  Stunning.  And her performance of "Still I Rise".  Woa.  Come on, Oprah: Produce this!

And what about a film featuring Javier Bardem living the life of poet Pablo Neruda?  Who knew that poets could be action heroes and political world movers?  Why not celebrate that?  Il Postino was based on a fictionalized version of Neruda's time in exile on the island of Capri, but that's just a tiny fragment of a colorful and action-packed writer's life.  And there's a documentary in the works right now, but I'm talking full-on bio-pic, and I'm voting for Bardem in the lead role, not just for his stellar acting and easy-to-look-at nature, but also for his similar artist-activist life path.  And who wouldn't go to see him play Neruda?
 
Finally, I look to my shelf of favorite poetry and see Rumi, and Kahlil Gibran (writer, artist, activist, and third best selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao Tse) side by side.  Wouldn't you find it memorable to see their lives acted out upon the screen, to witness the links between real life action, writing, and ecstatic spirituality?  And the line of A-list actors chomping at the bit for those parts would stretch all the way down Hollywood Boulevard, no?

There. I feel fine with five, but I'd love to hear your choices for poets who dared, and for who should play them.  Who would you cast as Vincent?  As Maya?  As Rumi?

And do share your own favorite idea for a book (needn't be poetry...) that needs to make that leap to the big screen... 

If you're inspired to wade a tad further into the splendidly vast ocean of poetry, why not join me here (or at ActionReaders.com) on Thursday for our 'Poem In Your Pocket ' blog hop?  I'll put a linky up so we can see each others' posts (our cyber-equivalent of pockets), and you can share your pocket poems in our Poetry In Action group at Action Readers too.  Plus, there's a book give-away too for those who email me at ActionReaders@gmail.com or sign up on our site before midnight on the 14th!  (See this post for details.)

See you then!  Viva la poesia!  And thanks as always to The Broke and the Bookish blog hop!

MFB,
L

Could today change your life? An Opportunity For Readers Ready to Lead

I'm taking a big risk today, but one I know will pay off for all of us.

Why?  Because I'm writing to invite you, my trusted fellow-readers and book-loving friends, to be the first to join a social movement that will change the very course of our reading lives and transform our world at the same time.  A bold claim, I know, but I have come to see that we can change the world with this simple shift.

The Opportunity:
For just one month, when you finish reading a book, take one action toward your personal evolution or for the benefit of the world.  Big or small, ten minutes or ten hours, personal or public, one action - any action that feels right - per book. 

Use whatever books you already intend to read plus whichever ones you happen upon during our trial period.  Then respond with your questions, concerns, suggestions, successes, and stumbles as you pursue your one-month action-reading experiment. 

I promise this process will also be fun, easy, and flexible so that it takes little extra time, and you feel amply rewarded for the time you do invest in ActionReading.

YES!  How do you say "yes"?!
Just email me at ActionReaders@gmail.com, or use the comment section below to let me know how best to contact you and I'll send you more info. on how to participate, plus the password for our beta site AND we'll meet each other there.

Questions? (How can I put your mind at ease about joining us?)
Email me at ActionReaders@gmail.com

Why this opportunity?  Why now?
It's a simple premise, but I suspect you're as convinced as I am that often the most basic, easy-to-execute ideas are the most powerful.  Yet so often the tough part isn't the idea, it's the follow-through - the shaping of a new habit-of-mind. 

That's why, five months ago, I started this blog to make my commitment public and to track just exactly how  this process unfolds.  I didn't know that it would work, in fact, but now I'm convinced of its power to leverage my reading life to profoundly transform everything else in my world.  This process has been an amazingly powerful ride for me these past few months (you can read about it in my "Story" posts), and I simply can't wait to share its benefits with the world any longer.

That's why I'm creating a social networking hub for readers who want to transform their lives and change the world, one book at a time. 

And I need y'all to help me make it great.  I'll use your feedback to shape the ActionReaders website, making it the most uniquely helpful, impactful, and fun book-lovers' place in cyberspace, and ensuring that the site offers all readers quick, immediate opportunities to use their passion for books to make a bigger impact on their lives and communities.

The Rewards for those ready to shape this movement right now.
If this new reading-for-change movement sounds intriguing, and you can try this process (however fitfully) for one month, I'll offer not only my gratitude, but also:
* ALL ActionReader MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS, bonuses, and materials FREE FOR ONE YEAR. That's
     * fun & easy action challenges with unique prizes,
     * book give-aways with a transformative twist,
     * networking with authors and readers and non-profits doing good in your neighborhood,
     * action booklists for transformation & world change,
     * easy action ideas and quick action links,
     * plus more features as the site expands...
* DAILY ACCESS to my one-on-one support system for ActionReaders (personalized book picks and action ideas, follow-up support to help make action easy, etc.) as you move through your first month's action steps.
* A JUMP-START ON A WHOLE NEW READING LIFE, one that ups the joy and transformation we all value so much as readers, connects us ever more strongly to each other, and helps us transform our worlds almost effortlessly, with ease.
* YOUR PERSONAL IMPRINT ON THIS MOVEMENT to change the world and transform our lives one book at a time.  You'll help shape the services and site with your feedback at the ground level, a contribution that may well change the world in and of itself.

AGAIN: YES!  How do you say "yes"?!
Just email me at ActionReaders@gmail.com, or use the comment section below to let me know how best to contact you and I'll send you more info. on how to participate, plus the password for our beta site AND we'll meet each other there.

Questions? (How can I put your mind at ease about joining us?)
Email me at ActionReaders@gmail.com

I am SO excited about offering this opportunity to all of you, because I know how much it's changing my life and the world around me and because I'm banking my next decade of life on the obvious truth that when it comes to life-changing action, mine plus yours plus the reader-next-door's will add up to a world transformation from the page to the planet.

MFB,
L

Want a run-down on the timeline for this exciting month at ActionReaders?  Or the backstory on this new social movement?
 

Big Risk, Outlandish Reward: A Reading Challenge With A Priceless Prize

I'm taking a big risk today, but one I know will pay off for all of us. 

Why?  Because I'm writing to invite you, my trusted fellow-readers and book-loving friends, to be the first to join a social movement that will change the very course of our reading lives and transform our world at the same time.  A bold claim, I know, but I have come to see that we can change the world with this simple shift.

The Challenge:

When you finish reading a book, take one action toward your personal evolution or for the benefit of the world.  Big or small, ten minutes or ten hours, personal or public, one action - any action that feels right - per book. 

It's a simple premise, but I suspect you're as convinced as I am that often the most basic, easy-to-execute ideas are the most powerful.  Yet so often the tough part isn't the idea, it's the follow-through - the shaping of a new habit-of-mind. 

That's why, five months ago, I started this blog to make my commitment public and to track just exactly how  this process unfolds.  I didn't know that it would work, in fact, but now I'm convinced of its power to leverage my reading life to profoundly transform everything else in my world.  This process has been an amazingly powerful ride for me these past few months (you can read about it in my "Story" posts), and I simply can't wait to share its benefits with the world any longer.

That's why I'm creating a social networking hub for readers who want to transform their lives and change the world, one book at a time. 

And I need y'all to help me make it great. 

All you need to do is to try this simple process for one month,  more if you wish (and I'm betting you will because it makes reading even more joyful and life-changing than it already is), using whatever books you already intend to read plus whichever ones you happen upon during our trial period.  Then, offer your questions, concerns, suggestions, experiences, and successes as you pursue your one-month action-reading experiment.  (I promise this process will also be fun and easy.)

The Prizes:
* You'll receive to all ActionReader materials and membership bonuses free for one year, and - if you wish - receive them in advance in exchange for your honest review. That'sYou'll have daily access to me for all the personalized, one-on-one ActionReader coaching you desire (action ideas, follow-up support, book suggestions or lists, etc.) as you move through your first month's action steps.

     * fun & easy action challenges with unique prizes,

     * book give-aways with a transformative twist,

     * networking with authors and readers and non-profits doing good in your neighborhood,

     * action booklists for transformation & world change,

     * easy action ideas and quick action links,

     * plus more features as the site expands...

*

* You'll get a jump-start on a whole new reading life, one that ups the joy and transformation we all value so much as readers, connects us ever more strongly to each other, and helps us transform our worlds almost effortlessly, with ease.
* Your imprint will shape this movement for the better, at the ground level,

YES!  How do you say "yes"?!  

Just email me at ActionReaders@gmail.com,
or use the linky below to let me know your URL and I'll be in touch right away...
Then I'll send you the password for our beta site so we can begin to take action individually, correspond about our journeys, and together we will no doubt transform our lives and alter our worlds for the better.  The first 10 people who respond will become our beta band of world-changing book lovers!

Questions? (How can I put your mind at ease about joining us?) Email me at ActionReaders@gmail.com

FYI: The Red-Hot Latest Developments
Tomorrow, April 1, expect the first ActionReaders "Changing the World, One Book At A Time" challenge, with some nifty books for prizes.  (Hint:  It's not only April Fools' Day, but the first day of National Poetry Month.)

On May 1, 2011, the www.ActionReaders.ning.com launches (beyond our beta band) as a hub for book events and reading challenges (think giveaways that change the world); author interviews; easy action ideas and life-changing reading lists; support for your personal action-reading practice; space to share your own triumphs, tips, and tricks for easy but impactful actions; and community conversations & connections with other world-changing readers!

A few months from now, expect a bestselling ActionReaders' book or two to hit the shelves for those who crave pages-in-the-hand.  So exciting!!

MFB,
L

p.s. Here's a quick recap of WhatSheRead's missson and focus that inspired me to found the ActionReaders movement:
* Every book, I take an action - creative, reflective, connective, inquisitive, communicative, or humanitarian.
* Every book, I blog to share my reviews and support my actions by commiting to them in a public forum (not necessary for all ActionReaders, perhaps, but a useful tool to embed the habit quickly).
* Every month, I create a reflection in the form of a tale for you in which I review what I did and how it's changing my life or saving the world. 

And I'm banking my next decade of life on the obvious truth that when it comes to life-changing action, mine plus yours plus the reader next door's will add up to a world transformation from the page to the planet.a contribution that may well change the world in and of itself.