December 2022 Newsletter
| Dear Friend, Happy pre-holiday crunch time! I’ve been busy, not with shopping or decorating, but with exciting book tasks…like finalizing the cover! The publisher doesn’t want me to share the final design just yet, (although book launch team members, who gave me valuable feedback, will get a sneak peek). By the end of the month, my book, cover and all, will be live on Amazon and available for preorders. Because you are a dedicated subscriber, the moment I know that Amazon will post my book, I’ll give you a heads-up and send YOU a sneak peek of the cover! I also had the essay linked below published in Today.com, the official website of the NBC Today show. For over a day, the photo of my son Stephen and me from 30 years ago appeared on the front page under “Top Stories.” Pinch me, please. I never knew our sons hated my beloved holiday tradition. A haiku of mine accepted a year ago was slated to go live this month in Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine. It reflects where I was last year, before I got my book deal, when Covid and my gut problems still raged and my knees hurt so much, I sometimes had trouble walking across the kitchen. Thank goodness I’m not in that negative space anymore. Illness isolates. At last, here’s the excerpt I promised, a tough one to share. It shows how hard motherhood was for me at the time. If you’ve ever felt this way, I’d love to know. Read the excerpt here. I’ll leave you with the message I share every year, one I hope resonates with people of all faiths, beliefs, and backgrounds. Thanks again to my friend Sam Ciraulo and his beautiful photography!  All the best and celebrate the season well! Karen |
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| Growth: A Mother, Her Son, and the Brain Tumor They Survived. When her eight-year-old son begins to exhibit increasingly bizarre behaviors, a happily married mother of two must meet the overwhelming demands of motherhood and wrestle with her fear of conflict if she and her son are to survive. Forthcoming from Apprentice House Press, May 2023. |
| Karen is a happily married, slightly frazzled working mother of two when her eight-year-old son, Matthew, develops a strange eye-rolling tic. Gradually, her high-energy kid becomes clumsy and lethargic, her “Little Einstein” a gifted program dropout. Karen knows something is wrong. But she can’t get anyone to listen and lacks the backbone to crack the resistance. After three exhausting, desperate years, finally, an MRI reveals the truth: a brain tumor, squishing Matthew’s brain into a sliver against his skull. Following a delicate surgery, doctors predict a complete recovery. But the damage from the delayed diagnosis prolongs Matthew’s recovery, challenging Karen to grow in ways she never imagined. A fast-paced page-turner told with candor, insight, and wit, Growth takes you on a rollercoaster of painful truths and hard-won transformations. |
