If You Find Me | Guest Post | Giveaway

Dearest reader I’d like to welcome Emily Murdoch to Good Books And Good Wine today. She’s the author of the emotional, heartfelt If You Find Me, reviewed earlier today. Emily has graciously decided to use her guest post space to promote a book by another author. So, bonus you get to hear a wonderful book recommendation that doesn’t come from a place of self promotion. I hope you enjoy this guest post!

Bridget Zinn’s Novel, POISON: Go Buy This Book!

You only have money to buy one book at the present moment? Then check IF YOU FIND ME out from the library on March 26th, and buy the just released POISON, by Bridget Zinn, instead.

Yup, you read that right. Because it’s THAT important to support our fellow authors, even after they’re gone.

I’d planned on offering a different guest post for this lovely blog stop, but that post, while clever and fun and meaningful, is not as important as this post taking its place.

As writers, many of us are perfectionists, and while we know logically that no book is perfect, still we sweat, stress and angst over our writing. We take the hundredth deep breath, begin at page one for the umpteenth time, and revise, revise, revise. Often, we’ve been practicing our craft for years. Book production can take a year and often longer, from manuscript to edits to shelf.

Even when we’re so tired of our own books that we want to set our hair on fire or the pages on fire or both, still we tweak, angst, polish. Edit. Dream. Hope.

Imagine querying, securing an agent, and, oh my goodness!, finally getting that offer from a publisher only to be diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, and sadly, not surviving to experience that glorious moment of your debut novel winging its way into the world.

That’s what happened to the indomitable, kind-hearted, talented Bridget Zinn.

I didn’t know Bridget well; I’d only interacted with her once, a long time ago, but that small exchange between us left a lasting impression.

So, I’m dedicating this guest post to Bridget, her husband, Barrett Dowell, and POISON, and in the Universe’s crazy-magical way, it only seems fitting, considering a fact I’ve never disclosed to anyone before, and which I hold dear to my heart: in IF YOU FIND ME, sisters Carey and Jenessa are named in honor of two strong, courageous, beautiful young girls who battled bravely against cancer, ultimately winning their battles in Heaven, and leaving the same lasting impressions.

Carey is named for Carey Heavner, an eleven-year-old girl who lost her battle with colon cancer after a brave fight …

… while Jenessa is named for Jenessa “Boey” Byers, another beautiful, strong child gone too soon.

I came across these precious, inspiring girls during my own cancer scare in 2010, while one of my previous manuscripts was being readied for submission to publishers. My own story played out differently, obviously, and I’m still here. And if I’m still here, I want to help.

Cancer is a tough topic, and a subject many people would rather avoid – it’s human nature. But without that exposure, without that willingness of the rest of us, the healthy us’s, to spread awareness, the yet-to-be discovered cures, the research, and the money to fund both, suffers.

So, let’s make this book, POISON, more than a book. Let’s continue to make POISON about community, kinship amongst writers, and a victory for cancer awareness as we honor a kind young woman who loved to read and write. Let’s lift Bridget’s book to such heights that she can read the printed pages all the way from heaven!

Please, go buy POISON, today. And after you do, don’t forget to give thanks for your own healthy life, filled with books, family, friends, animals and wonder!

Also, as many of you know, a portion of the royalties from IF YOU FIND ME will be donated, in perpetuity, to Taylor Morgan Hendrix’s Christmas Project. Seventeen-year-old Taylor Hendrix, who has been waging her own battle against osteosarcoma, gathers donations and presents each year to distribute on Christmas Eve to the children stuck on the cancer ward over the holidays. Each child gets a backpack stuffed full of awesome.

From this year on, each year’s donation will be made in the memory of Bridget Zinn.

Because books aren’t just books. They’re vehicles – vehicles for the amazing Universe to work its magic in awe-inspiring ways, from heart to heart to heart, as the full-circle-round of this post today attests.

Thanks so much, Emily!

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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