Janet Ruth Young's Blog

I'm extremely proud of my editing client Robert Berkelhammer, whose first book is coming out this September from Rowman & Littlefield. If you want advice about how to select and work with a dog walker or other pet professional, you ought to invest in this book. It's also a wonderful selection for public libraries. Take a peek at the pre-order info, and join me in congratulating Bob.
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442248151...#

If you enjoyed THINGS I SHOULDN'T THINK and want to learn more about my experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder, please stay tuned for my upcoming podcast interview on Living with OCD, http://coldflyer.com/lwocd-podcast/. We record on April 3, and I'll let you know when the episode airs.

Thanks to all the readers who have embraced this story and my heroine, Dani Solomon!Things I Shouldn't Think

Having published three books with Simon & Schuster and worked as an editor for three of the United States' top publishing firms, I've seen the manuscript development process from both sides of the fence. I've helped many authors complete their projects and bring them up to publication standards.

If you have an unfinished project that you wish you could complete, or if you have a book idea but don't know where to start, you should contact me. With my unique, tested methods for jump-starting both fiction and nonfiction, I can help you work towards your goal, starting with as little as an hour a week. You might even have fun doing it. Email me to take the first step.

Hi, readers! A very funny and cool new blog called Bitching, Baking, and Books is giving away a signed copy of THINGS I SHOULDN'T THINK on February 15. If you've entered my previous giveaways and had no luck, please check it out. And while you're there, if you like the blog, please subscribe. Bonne chance!

http://bitchbookbake.com/?p=1534

Hi, folks. My wonderful editor sent me an advance peek at the review of MY BEAUTIFUL FAILURE that will run in the November 15 issue of Booklist. I don't know if I'm allowed to share any part of it until next week, but I want you to know that when I read it I was bouncing off the walls. I kept going back to look at it even though I was also keeping an eye on the election results.

Okay, I think I will tell you that it included the words "compelling" and "poignant" and a comparison to gabillionselling author Todd Strasser.

Anyway,as you know, there are only six days to the publication date of November 13, the day that Goodreads will tell me the two winners of this giveaway.

If you are one of the winners, please feel free to email me here or on Facebook to tell me whether you want the book inscribed to you or to someone else.

For those of you who do NOT win, don't despair! Because I have another goodie in the works and I'll announce that shortly after November 15.

Thanks to the 1200-plus people who are feeling the excitement around MY BEAUTIFUL FAILURE. Because of you I believe that this FAILURE is already a SUCCESS.

Best,
Janet

Highlights from Kirkus Reviews' take on the new book. Be sure to enter the giveaway that ends November 13.

"Brimming with wry humor and whimsical charm…. Last seen in The Opposite of Music (2007), the Morrison family has weathered father Bill's mental breakdown....Having immersed himself in psychology texts, Billy follows a friend's suggestion to volunteer with the Listeners suicide hotline. Disappointingly, most callers prove merely lonely, bored, eccentric or sexually deviant. Then Jenney calls. …Jenney's praise leads Billy to fantasize their future relationship and share his parental worries with her…[Billy is] a case study in teen-psyche contradictions--self-centered and altruistic, grandiose and helpless--above all, agonizingly self-conscious. The Morrisons are vivid creations, though these sly, observant portraits may resonate better with adults than teens. Short chapters with enigmatic titles and abrupt, nonlinear shifts in storytelling combine to suggest a graphic novel missing its art."My Beautiful Failure

My niece Stephanie, who also my friend on Goodreads, has read an ARC of MY BEAUTIFUL FAILURE and says it's the best of my books so far! Maybe I'll ask her to post a review here. Reviews from bloggers and other major media outlets (a.k.a. people who don't know me) should be out in September. I can't wait to get this book into the hands of readers and to find out what you think of it.

Happy summer!

The synopsis of MY BEAUTIFUL FAILURE is starting to show up on Amazon and other places. Take a look around and be among the first to enter the giveaway!

Hi, readers! I'm giving away two copies of my upcoming novel MY BEAUTIFUL FAILURE on November 13, 2012, to celebrate the book's publication. I can't tell you what it's about yet, because my publisher doesn't want me to reveal anything until the end of May. But I can't just do nothing when I'm so excited about this book...so I'm giving readers a chance to win this book sight unseen. Or story untold. Or whatever.

But I guarantee that like my previous two books it will provide accurate insights into living with mental illness while telling a story that you can't put down.

The two lucky winners can have the books inscribed to them or to another person as a holiday gift.

Is anyone else worried about this movie selling out the book's ethics? See my blog post here: http://janetruthyoung.blogspot.com/20...