I hate to ask for help. Maybe it’s a Midwestern thing or a control issue or because I’m a Sagittarius (yes, my birthday is coming up) – but for most of my life I would have rather eaten glass than to ask for something, even if I really wanted it. Naturally, this hasn’t always worked out well for me and the older I get, the more willing I am to acknowledge that I can’t do everything. I don’t even want to anymore. But that doesn’t make it any easier to ask a friend for a favor, especially one that involves them spending their precious time to help me out.
So I wanted to give a huge THANK YOU to three writer friends who graciously not only read an advance copy of my memoir Float On, but also spent time composing beautiful reviews that brought tears to my eyes.
Rachel DeWoskin is a memoirist, novelist and all-around bad ass that I met on the magical island of Patmos, Greece where she co-led a writing salon with Cheryl Strayed. I was immediately impressed with her intelligence (and vocabulary!) and have since read her books, which I loved. I used part of her review on the cover of Float On that reads – “A story full of the kinds of love and truth that matter for us all.” (full review below)
Thomas Fox Averill taught the first writing class I ever took at Washburn University. In fact, one scene during my teenage years that I include in Float On was born in an essay I wrote for his class as fiction. Tom is a widely published writer, novelist and academic. Years ago, he came to my book club to discuss his novel Secrets of the Tsil Cafe, a book that mirrored my life in the catering and restaurant business at the time so much that I could hardly believe it.
Tom kindly wrote this about Float On – “At thirteen, Molly Krause spent a summer at the Dance Theater of Harlem, the only white girl in her classes. One teacher called her the “blue-eyed girl from the capital of Kansas.” But nobody is a cliché, especially a person who has spent years coming to an understanding of family matters and how family matters. The matters: divorce, a gay father HIV positive who dies of AIDS, a sister’s suicide attempts, a family struggling with drugs and alcohol. What matters: the honest, direct, sympathetic account the reader finds in Float On, of years spent yearning and learning to be whole.”
Eric McHenry is the former Poet Laureate of Kansas, academic and fellow Topeka High Class of 1990 Alumni. We go way back to when I wore braces and when he was the tallest kid in the class (he still may be). His poetry has provided a way in for me to love and appreciate that which I used to find less approachable than prose. He has made our hometown of Topeka, Kansas look good in so many ways that I’m proud to know him.
Eric wrote of Float On, “By the time she was 25, Molly Krause had seen several lifetimes’ worth of trauma in her immediate family: divorce, depression, suicide attempts, alcoholism, crack addiction, AIDS, and untimely death. She endured loss after loss without ever losing herself, and the qualities that carried her through—equanimity, intelligence, honesty, and a sly sense of humor—are the same ones that distinguish her prose in this deeply moving memoir.”
Aren’t I so lucky to have such generous friends? Please check out their work and hope to see you for my book launch for Float On on December 1st at 7PM at Van Go. I’m working on menu planning and will let you know what I come up with – I’m hoping to get Robert’s assistance
