Virtual Book Tour + #Giveaway: 'Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate by Dorothy Rosby @GoddessFish

'Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate

Dorothy Rosby

GENRE: Humorous Essays

BLURB:

Christmas comes but once a year; chaos never ends! Happy Halloween, merry Christmas and joyful Lumpy Rug Day. That’s real, by the way. Lumpy Rug Day is celebrated every May 3, though “celebrated” might be too strong a word. It’s the American way to create a celebration for everything, then turn it into a chore or worse, a nightmare. ’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate is a collection of humorous essays about how we let our expectations steal the joy out of Christmas and other holidays and special events. It’s understanding for those who think Christmas form letters can be honest—or they can be interesting. And it’s empathy for anyone who’s ever gotten poison ivy during Nude Recreation Week or eaten all their Halloween candy and had to hand out instant oatmeal packets to their trick-or-treaters.

Purchase 'TIS THE SEASON TO FEEL INADEQUATE on Amazon and Audible

Excerpt:

Merry Christmas from the Envyofall Family

There are two things that make me feel like a boring person. Actually there are more than two, but the ones that come to mind this time of year are writing a Christmas letter and reading everyone else’s.

When I write a letter I come to the painful realization that the year has flown by and I’ve been terribly busy but I haven’t done a thing worth mentioning. Worse, when I read all the newsy holiday letters I receive I think the writers must have had more days since last Christmas than I had, and apparently more money, energy and ambition as well.

I don’t think I’m alone in my feelings of inadequacy either. Consider the following actual letter I made up. You’ll see in brackets what an unfortunate reader might be thinking as she reads this holiday greeting from the Envyofall family.

Merry Christmas from the Envyofalls!

We hope your year was as wonderful as ours was! [I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.] We started the year with a January vacation in Hawaii. [Now I know it wasn’t.] Since the children are both doing so well in school we decided taking them out for two weeks would be acceptable, and they enjoyed themselves thoroughly. [I’ll bet their teachers did too.]

In June Maxwell and I celebrated our twentieth anniversary with a month in Italy. [What a coincidence! My husband and I celebrated our anniversary in June too—at the Olive Garden.] You can see photos of both vacations on our family website. [You can see our vacation photos too—if my phone is working.]

Interview with Dorothy Rosby

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Both! There are phases in my writing process and the first one, the idea phase, is fun and energizing. When I get an idea, it’s best if I flesh it out right then because I’m so pumped at that point. The second phase, writing a rough draft is work, a chore, exhausting. But the final stage is energizing again. I love polishing things up, moving them around, looking for ways to make things funnier. That part is exhilarating. Unfortunately, the drudgery in the middle seems to take up most of my time. But the high I get from the other two phases is enough to carry me through the hard part.

What is the first book that made you cry?

I’ve always been brought to tears easily by everything from shows of kindness to beauty to greeting card commercials. And I’ve been an avid reader my whole life, so I can’t remember the first book that did that to me. So instead I’ll tell you the most recent book that did. I just finished reading Accidental Rancher by Eliza Blue. It’s a lovely book of essays and Blue is a genius at seeing beauty in ordinary things. I teared up often while reading it, sometimes with the sentimental kind of tears and sometimes with the empathetic, sad kind.

How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?

I’m not sure that it did. That was ten years ago, and I think…I hope…I’ve gotten better and faster since then. But I still go through the same angst I describe in question one. Maybe the change is that over the years I’ve come to accept that as a necessary part of the process.

What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters?

Because I write nonfiction humorous essays all the characters in my books are real people. Sometimes they’re the inspiration for what I’m writing and other times they’re an inextricable component of it. I couldn’t write what I write without them. Lucky for them, I tend to focus on self-deprecating humor. If I do poke fun at someone else, he or she really has it coming. For example, I’ve written about oligarchs, congress and big pharma CEOs and I don’t feel the least bit bad about it because they don’t read me anyway.

Where did your love of books/storytelling/reading/writing/etc. come from?

My oldest sister Maggie was ten years older than me. She died when I was 11 years old, but before she did, she helped put me on the path to being a lifetime reader and writer because she was on that path. I have a distinct memory of her listening to me “read” before I even knew how. I was sitting on her lap in our living room and we were looking at a Jack & Jill magazine. There was an illustration of a little green worm with a smiling face inching along the top of the page. I was “reading” the story to Maggie, and at one point she said, “I wish I had your imagination.” Lots of adults have said that to lots of children. But I knew how much Maggie valued imagination. And in my eyes, she was the smartest person I knew. It was high praise, coming from her. I credit her role modeling and that little comment for my journey as a writer. I dedicated my first book to her.

What do you like to read in your free time?

I love to read humor and books about spirituality and health and wellness. But if I were stuck in bed recovering from a long illness, I’d spend my days reading mystery novels. When I got tired of reading, I’d watch mysteries on television. And during commercials, I’d mute the TV, stare out my window and watch for suspicious activity in my neighborhood. Yes, I’m a bit obsessed with mysteries.

Can you share some stories about people you met while researching this book?

I was already acquainted with the majority of the people that show up in ’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate. But, while I didn’t actually meet them, I did become aware of a few people I’d never heard of before. That includes Joey “Jaws” Chestnut and Miki Sudo. Because I was writing about the full year in holidays, I wanted to include at least one piece on Independence Day. Enter Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest which is so famous I’d never heard of it before. Apparently it’s held annually on the Fourth of July at Coney Island, and thousands of people attend to cheer on behavior they’d find repugnant at their own dinner tables. At the time I wrote the essay, Chestnut was the reigning champion in the men’s division after eating seventy-two hot dogs. Sudo had won the women’s division packing in forty-one dogs while her competitors played…uh…ketchup. Sorry.

Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?

Like a lot of writers, I feel like my genre—humor—chose me. For many years, I’ve been a member of Toastmasters, an organization where members practice their public speaking skills. I always loved doing humorous speeches and I won some humorous speech contests along the way. So at one point, I decided to type up some of my speeches and submit them to my local newspaper. The editor agreed to take me on as a humor columnist and I’ve written a column ever since. Eventually I began marketing to other newspapers and now my column runs in small community newspapers throughout the West and Midwest. After writing the column for a few years, I decided to try my hand at a book.

How do you begin writing a new book? What challenges come with it?

All four of my books are theme-oriented humor collections. The other three are based on parenting, self-improvement and the hassles of modern life. The first step is gathering together every column, speech and story I’ve ever written in that theme. Then I update, marry some together and toss others out and start over. My biggest challenge is the feeling of being overwhelmed. There is so much I want to distill down into each collection.

Share a place that inspires you to write

Most of the time, I write in my sunny office complete with comfy chair and cat. His name is Sebastian, but mostly I call him Kitty. When he cooperates I also call him my Muse Who Mews and when he doesn’t, I call him Writers Block.   

                                                     

                                                                               

   

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Dorothy Rosby is an author humor columnist whose work regularly appears in publications throughout the West and Midwest. Her humor writing has been recognized by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, the National Federation of Press Women and the South Dakota Newspaper Association. In 2022 she was named the global winner in the Erma Bombeck Writers Competition in the humor writing category. She’s the author of four books of humorous essays.

Connect with Dorothy Rosby

Website ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads ~ Instagram

Giveaway:

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