Five Coffee Beans!

I love their Instagram pic for my cover!

When the first review of Courage Without Grace arrived in my email, I took a deep breath before opening it.

No writer can ever be sure how their words will affect others. Sure, I heard plenty of feedback from readers and editors for this book along the way, but I knew them personally, or at least professionally. Now my book is officially "out there," and I have no control over how it is perceived.

Thankfully, Jessica from "For the Love of Dewey," LOVED it. Whew!

Here's how her review starts:

"We were super excited when author Jeannie Zokan reached out to ask us if we would review her latest novel Courage Without Grace, which is to be released on Marsh 30, 2021. As you can probably tell by my lack of reviews, I haven't been motivated to read as much as I usually am (let's blame it on pandemic life), so I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to finish this novel before the 30th. However, once I started reading it I couldn't stop. This novel turned out to be just what I needed to get me out of my reading (and reviewing) slump.

I'll jump ahead and tell you she gave it FIVE STARS! Or in the case of her blog, 5 coffee beans!

Go here to read the rest of her review: fortheloveofdewey and follow them on Instagram, @fortheloveofdewey!

TigerLily Christina Zokan

I'm looking out a this beautiful ocean today. The sky is an unbelievably blue dome and  the sun refracts light onto the green expanse of sea. I take a deep breath. The breeze caresses my face, the surf rolling gently in. Goodbye TigerLily.
I've been dreading this beach trip since January 29. TigerLily, our beautiful, wonderful, endlessly playful twelve-and-a-half year old dachshund, died in her sleep in the early hours of that wretched, wretched day.
The amount of tears we cried shocked me, unnerved me. And the irony? We have another dachshund who is SIXTEEN. Over 111 in dog years. Bayleigh hobbles; she sleeps mostly, she is bony and myopic and deaf. And maybe I wished for her to cross that rainbow bridge to end her misery. But death swept into our house and took the cuddly adorable perennial puppy of a dog instead.
At first we couldn't believe it. She had been so lively. Granted, she'd turned into a finicky eater and some days couldn't keep her meal down. The day before she died, we decided to take her to the vet if she wasn't better. How we wish we had taken her sooner!
But as days have slowly crawled by, her death seemed inevitable. The truth, cold and hard, is that everyone has a death day. She lived eighty-seven dog years, and was deeply loved. Our family has grown closer in our grief, contacting each other daily to discuss Tiger and her sister Bayleigh.
With TigerLily gone, the centenarian seems to have revived with our sudden attention to her. There is a certain beauty with age, and we value her life deeply.
But I still miss my precious puppy, and I've found a way to cope. Whenever I think of her, I picture her in my arms, happily licking my face and wagging her tail. I'm playing with her impossibly soft floppy ears, and I'm happy.
It's easy to remember that wonderful feeling, and it's getting easier. She loved me, she loved us all. She's in puppy heaven and when I have my death day, I know she'll be in my arms again. Meanwhile, I hold tight to Rumi's words, "Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form." And this gorgeous beach day just might be one of those forms.

Photo credits: Chris Zokan

Margaritaville

Sitting in the Margaritaville lobby, feeling very self-conscious. Does EVERYONE know we don't belong here? We walked in off the street to enjoy the beach from a warmer vantage point. It's freezing today. An ice-in-the-birdbath day.
I hunker down on a seat by the bay window and pretend to talk on my phone. Chris nonchalantly wanders outside and beckons me to join him. Finally, I do.

Although the sun is behind a haze, it's not windy. The Gulf is a lovely emerald green today, with white waves rolling in. Watching them, I quit caring about what the Margaritaville staff might think. Lord knows I've spent enough at their delicious restaurant, Frank and Lola's. I'm just grateful to be at the beach -- my beach.
I've been deep into my work on Grace. I'm not sure its good, but I love it anyway. I love the characters, the palmreading, the motorcycle riding. I love the songs of the 80s, I love Washington, DC.
This will be the last time I go through it for awhile. I'll bless it, send it out, and forget about it.
I'm already working on a new manuscript, something Chris and I wrote together. It's completely different from Josie's story, more of a sci-fi action/adventure. Chris can get me to do things I wouldn't normally do.
We start feeling the chill, so we walk to the car. This time we bypass the lobby, but we'll be back.

Pull Quote

I wanted to know, once and for all. Is The Existence of Pity a good book? I've been thrilled with my mostly positive reviews, but how would my book fare if assessed by a trade publication?

Kirkus has been reviewing books since 1933 and is considered a respected trade magazine by the industry. Their reviews certainly influence my reading selections, and I've noticed an automatic positive response to seeing a Kirkus blurb on a book. The debate rages on as to whether a Kirkus review is worth the price - yes, I paid for it - but the itch to know wouldn't quit. I decided to send my book their way.

With no little trepidation, I waited, until today, when this link showed up in my inbox.

 https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jeannie-zokan/the-existence-of-pity/

I raced through it and sighed with relief. It's good! Then, I combed it for that all-important pull quote, those lines which sum up what Kirkus has to say about my precious baby, and my writing.

"Overall, this is an offbeat coming-of-age story... and Josie is perfect in her role as the story's protagonist and moral center." --- Kirkus Reviews

"A sensitive work from a very promising author." --- Kirkus Reviews

I'm glad I got the review. Now I know. And my favorite part of the quotes? The ---Kirkus Reviews at the end, for my book.

And just in time, a Kindle copy of The Existence of Pity is now $5.99!

Click here for the Amazon Link to The Existence of Pity and get your copy!

Unstoppable: My Life So Far

Unstoppable: My Life So Far is the memoir Maria Sharapova published in 2017, and it's an unforgettable read. I'm a tennis buff and love hearing about her drive and determination to win on the court, but her life story is fascinating, too.

Born in Russia one year after the Chernobyl incident, she writes, "If you had to pick one event that made me a player, it'd be Chernobyl." Because of the explosion, her family moved from the deadly area to the resort town of Sochi -- where they had tennis courts.

Aunt Nell and her 3-legged dog Sport

I remember where I was when I heard the chilling news of the explosion; in the small town of Tallassee, Alabama. I lived with my great aunt Nell, and after work I'd take long bike rides on lonely country roads. Every Friday night, Aunt Nell and I would go out to dinner with her friends at the Kowaliga Restaurant on Lake Martin (that's pronounced Ku-lie-ja). We'd eat too much, laugh too hard, talk too long, then come home too full to sleep, so we'd watch TV, laughing and talking some more. They were good, simple times, and I'm grateful for them, and for her.

Much later, my aunt asked me how many years I lived with her. "Six months," I said.

But back to Unstoppable. The main reason I want to share this book is because of what Sharapova says about writing. "I came to believe that the physical act of writing can reeducate your brain. By writing, you access certain thoughts and feelings that might otherwise remain hidden. You can bring them to the surface, where they can be understood and then dealt with."

Wow, right?

"I also came to believe that you can plant positive thoughts in your psyche in the same way. Put it on paper and in it goes. Which is why, if you look through those diaries, which I have saved and used to help write this book, you will see pages given over to nothing but positive phrases in the nature of 'Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Yes, you can.'"

It's no wonder Sharapova has won five grand slams! My favorite line from her book, though, the one that rings true, deep to my core, is this: "It's important to remember, but it's more important to forget." The context is a stunning defeat in the Australian Open that Sharapova was wise to put behind her, but the words mean so much more. In tennis it's important to learn the techniques, but at match time you have to stop thinking and just play. Remember, then forget. Trust what you've learned and be there when the ball bounces off the court and heads toward your racquet.

Aunt Nell's life wasn't an easy one, but she was good at living in the moment. The Great Depression, loved ones lost in WWII, a house burned to the ground, these didn't stop her from relishing laughter and friends and family. She would agree with Sharapova, too. "It's important to remember, but it's more important to forget." She's been gone almost twenty years and I still miss my Aunt Nell, and still think of her when I read about strong, determined, amazing women like Maria Sharapova..