That SCRAPBOOK Author!

Someone called me "that SCRAPBOOK author" this week.

She meant it as a perjorative. But all I can do is laugh. You see, I'm proud to be called "that SCRAPBOOK author" for a variety of reasons.

First of all, I love scrapbooking. And scrapbookers. Scrapbookers are the loveliest folks in the world. They care about their families, their friends and the stuff of life that matters. If you had seen as many pages as I have, you'd know that scrapbooking is what I call "a love letter to life." We find the sacredness of the ordinary by saluting the daily joy we're all so fortunate to receive.

When I first told my motivational speaker friends that I was writing a book on scrapbooking, they rolled their eyes. "That's a fad. Why waste your time?" my mentor added.

Huh. That fad now extends to one in every five homes in America. It's been around for years, as I can attest because at the antique markets in England I saw some early examples.

And, let's be honest, scrapbooking has been very good to me. I've met all the scrapbooking big names: Lisa Bearnsen, Stacy Jullian, Michelle Gebhardt, Debbie Mock, Vicki Breslin, Jill Davis, Angie Randall, Shimelle Laine, Mary Anne Walters, Jane Dean and more. My articles have appeared in Creating Keepsakes, Memory Makers, PaperKuts, and Scrapbooks Etc. reviewed my last book. I've gotten to teach scrapbooking on a cruise, and I've flown to the UK to appear at scrapbooking conventions. Best of all, I've struck up email conversations with women all over the world. Women in Israel, South Africa, Europe, and beyond who share their love of families on their pages.

Now about that "author" part of "that SCRAPBOOKING author." Yep, I plead guilty. I'm the author of 14 books. (I just finished a Young Adult yesterday--and it's off to my agent tomorrow.) Ten are published and three are under contract or spoken for. (One's a work-for-hire book that we've decided to publish as an ebook. It's called Leaving a Legacy: How to Write a Letter That Can Change Someone's Life.) My first book was a college textbook, Using Stories and Humor: Grab Your Audience, and Benjamin Netanyahu's speechwriter lauded it in an Israeli newspaper. I have the article!

Okay, my first fiction doesn't come out until Fall 2008 when OverExposed will hit the shelves, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

Yep, you can call me "that SCRAPBOOK author" all day long. Suits me to a T. In this blog I've added a graphic of the poster they used to promote my UK visit.

See, you can call me "that SCRAPBOOK author," but in England, they call me "America's Scrapbooking Queen."

Bow a little lower, folks!