It Gets Easier!...And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers by Claudine Wolk Blog Tour and Guest Post!

 

Claudine Wolk's

 

WOW! WOMEN ON WRITING TOUR

 

OF

 

It Gets Easier!...And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers

 

Tour Begins January 16

Every new mom learns pretty quickly how difficult new motherhood is but also that nobody tells the truth about it. Author and narrator Claudine Wolk learned the same lesson after her son was born but decided to speak the truth about motherhood with humorous insight and reality-based suggestions. A few crucial tips can make motherhood a bit more controllable and a lot more enjoyable.

Publisher: AMACOM

ISBN-10: 978-0840711151

ISBN-13: 0840711151

Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins

Purchase a copy of the audiobook on Libro.fm, Audible or Audiobooks.com. You can also add the book to your reading list on GoodReads.com.

Uncensored Advice for the New Mom

Motherhood is a whole new world. Here is some uncensored advice to help navigate it and make it a bit easier.

Ask a Nurse in Private 

If you are delivering your second child, ask a nurse in private to explain to your partner and your first born that “Mommy will not be able to do all the things Mommy usually does for a while.” “Mommy really needs your help.”  “Mommy needs to rest.” “Mommy needs someone to make dinner for the family.”  “Mommy needs help.”  

It is difficult and uncomfortable to ask for help and Moms are expected to be able to do it all, Right?  When your family hears that you need rest, from a medical professional, it may help them understand your needs at this time.

Get Your “Baby Visitor” Rules Out to Your Family in Advance

Naturally, everyone will want to come and see the baby.  Most new moms would agree that there are two kinds of baby visitors. Type number one is the baby visitor who wants to see you and the baby and brings a gift. The type-two visitor is the visitor who has come for an outing and wants to entertained. Embrace number one, shun number two!  Explain to family and friends ahead of time your thoughts on baby visitors before the baby is born.  It will save you stress after the birth and set expectations. 

If feelings of guilt creep in at denying visitors to your home in the early weeks, remember that you’ve just had a major procedure that required hospitalization.  Speak up and do what is best for you! If you are up for visitors and would like to see people that is ok, too, just make sure the visits are on your terms. 

Never Pass Up a Nap in Those Early Weeks (or any time, really!)

Never pass up a nap to clean in those early weeks.  You are getting less sleep and it is broken sleep.  Naps are your lifeline. Naps also might help your love life.  A nap might rejuvenate you so that you might have the energy to renew your love life with your partner at the right time. Embrace your naps – even after the baby gets bigger!

Your Spouse May Want To Have Sex Before the 6 Weeks 

Just an FYI that your spouse may want to resume a sex life with you before the usual 6 week wait time.  You might want to have this conversation about sex resumption before you give birth so your partner is aware that there is a bit of a healing time after birth.  Your partner misses you and misses that part of your lives together.  Sex is how many partners feel close.  Talk with your partner and your doctor about when it would be ok to get it on.  The uncensored advice is that some women feel perfectly ready to resume before the 6 weeks and as long as there is no medical impediment, that is ok.  Believe it or not, many women are excited (no pun intended) to resume their sex lives.  I was! Do what is good for you.

Find a Slew of Babysitters

The best advice I give to new moms is to do your research and find a slew of babysitters that are not relatives.  Save the relatives to babysit for the big asks: emergencies, overnights, special nights out.  Use your own babysitters for date nights or for the times when you need to do something when your partner is not around to stay with your baby.  When you have babysitters that you trust, you have freedom.  You can run out for a few hours and grocery shop, go for a cup of coffee, volunteer - do things for yourself where you might feel guilty to ask a relative to babysit. As well, you might not want a relative to know everything that you are doing.  Babysitters can provide that freedom.  It might feel like an extravagance to pay for a sitter but remember, not every decision is a financial decision.  You are a part of your family, too, and continuing to meet your own needs will make you a better Mom.  

How to find these babysitters?

Keep your ears open.  When you are with people you trust: your neighbors, your children’s teachers, your girlfriends, your pediatrician, your gynecologists - ask them if their children babysit.  Ask other Moms in Mom’s groups who they use and if they have a trusted reputation.  For example, I had a newspaper delivery boy who was from an adjoining neighborhood.  His Mom used to drive him from house to house to deliver papers and I struck up a conversation with her after months of the deliveries.  I asked if she had a daughter…she did…and she became one of my trusted babysitters for years.  She taught my girls how to play a keyboard!  That is the real dirty little secret – babysitters have more energy to play with your kids. It provides your children with an energetic, responsible playmate!  You want select babysitters who have an accountability to the community or your family directly.  Try them out for an hour or two to start.  Once trust builds, you can decide how and when to employ them.  It is well worth the money to have time away with your partner or on your own.  Remember, your kids will hopefully be self-sufficient and lead their own lives.  You need to be able to maintain a part of your life too!

Best of luck and remember, you are part of your family, too! 

Claudine Wolk is a writer, radio talk show host, podcast host, and book marketing consultant. Her first book, It Gets Easier and Other Lies We Tell New Mothers has affectionately become “the perfect baby shower gift.” Claudine is working on her second non-fiction book aimed at helping writers who want to publish and market a book in the same fun, practical way as her first book. Claudine lives with her husband, Joe, in Bucks County, PA and has three grown children and a baby grandson. More at www.ClaudineWolk.com

Other places you can find the author online:

https://ClaudineWolk.Substack.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/claudinewolk/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claudinewolk/

Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/help4newmoms

Stories and Strategies for Woman Podcast: https://storiesandstrategiesforwomen.buzzsprout.com

Blog Tour Calendar

January 16th @ The Muffin

Join us at WOW! as we celebrate the launch of Claudine Wolk's audiobook version of It Gets Easier!...And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers.

https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com

January 16th @ Just Katherine

Join Katherine as she reviews the audiobook version of It Gets Easier!....And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers.

https://justkatherineblog.wordpress.com/

January 17th @ Liberate and Lather

Join Angela as she reviews the audiobook version of  It Gets Easier!....And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers.

https://liberateandlather.com

January 19th @ Jill Sheets Blog

Join Jill as she interviews the author about her book It Gets Easier!....And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers.

https://jillsheets.blogspot.com/

January 20th @ The Mommies Review

Join Glenda as she reviews It Gets Easier!....And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers. You'll also have the chance to win a copy of the book too!

https://themommiesreviews.com/

January 20th @ Confessions of An Overworked Mom

Visit Ellen's blog and read Claudine's guest post about going from self-published to traditionally published. It can be done!

https://confessionsofanover-workedmom.com/

January 21st World of My Imagination

Nicole features Claudine Wolk on her weekly featured three things on a Saturday night. She also gives away a copy of the audiobook It Gets Easier!....And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers.

https://worldofmyimagination.com

January 22nd @ Just Katherine

Join Katherine again as she shares a guest post by Claudine Wolk about the eight lies we tell new mothers.

https://justkatherineblog.wordpress.com/

January 25th @ Chapter Break

Join Julie's blog as she features a spotlight of the audiobook It Gets Easier!....And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers. 

https://chapterbreak.net/

January 26th @ A Storybook world

Deirdra shares a guest post by Claudine Wolk about the five mom mantras that will keep you sane.

https://www.astorybookworld.com/

January 27th @ What Is That Book About

Join Michelle as she reviews the audiobook It Gets Easier!....And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers. 

https://www.whatisthatbookabout.com

January 30th @ Michelle Cornish' blog

Join Michelle as she features a guest post by Claudine Wolk about message, hook, and audience: the starting point to successfully market your book.

https://www.michellecornish.com/blog

January 31st @ Bring on Lemons

Crystal rewards us with her review of It Gets Easier!....And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers.

https://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/

February 1st @ World of My Imagination

Nicole features Michelle's guest review of It Gets Easier!...And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers.

https://worldofmyimagination.com

February 3rd @ Knotty Needle

Visit Judy's blog for her insights about It Gets Easier!...And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers.

http://knottyneedle.blogspot.com/

February 3rd @ Lady Unemployed

Visit Nicole's blog and read Claudine's guest post about how to get started on a voice acting career.

https://ladyunemployed.com

February 5th @ Strength 4 Spouses

Join Wendi as she reviews It Gets Easier!....And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers. You also have the chance to win a copy of the audiobook!

https://strength4spouses.blog

February 5th @ Celticlady's Reviews

Join Kathleen's blog as she spotlights It Gets Easier!....And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers.

https://celticladysreviews.blogspot.com/

February 6th @ Celticlady's Reviews

Visit Kathleen's blog again as she features a guest post by Claudine Wolk featuring uncensored advice for new mothers.

https://celticladysreviews.blogspot.com/

February 7th @ Strength 4 Spouses

Visit Wendi's blog again as features Claudine's guest post about power shifts in your relationship with your partner and how to get it back.

https://strength4spouses.blog

February 10th @ Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews

Read an interview with Claudine Wolk at Lisa Haselton's blog.

https://lisahaselton.com/blog/

February 11th @ Rockin Book Reviews

Join Lu Ann as she features a guest post by Claudine about reasonably cost-effective ways to promote your book. She'll also be giving away a copy of the audiobook as well!

https://rockinbookreviews.com/

February 13th @ Bookshine and Readbows

Join Steph's blog for her insightful reviews of It Gets Easier!...And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers.

https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/blog/

February 15th @ Word Magic

Fiona shares a guest post from Claudine about where to start with book marketing.

http://fionaingramauthor.blogspot.com/

February 15th @ Amy's Booket List

Join Amy for her review of It Gets Easier!...And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers. You'll also have the chance to win a copy of the book too!

https://www.instagram.com/amysbooketlist/

Prisoner by GiGi DeGraham New Release Blitz! @ninestarpress @indigomarketingdesign #LGBTQIA+

 Title:  Prisoner

Series: Steele Pack, Book One

Author: GiGi DeGraham

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: 01/31/2023

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 88800

Genre: Paranormal, contemporary, romance, gay/questioning, genderqueer/genderfluid, asexual, interracial, action/adventure, suspense, prisoners, prison/prison escape, grieving, graphic violence, rape attempt, PTSD, off-grid living/isolation, subsistence/hunting, winter, one-bed, soulmates, friends to lovers, second chance, mysterious wolves

Add to Goodreads

Most prisoners believe their punishment is unfair, but for Ryan Tarkett, it’s true. While serving his sentence, an attack sets off a chain of events and forces Ryan to speed up the timeline on an insane escape plan. Spurring him on are memories of his past, his one love, who he met in juvie, and the driving desire for freedom. When Ryan believes he has nothing left to lose, escape from prison becomes the only option.

Ryan’s desperate journey isn’t easy as he tries to evade capture. Past regrets and confusion about his sexual orientation dog him as he deals with the loss of Thomas. When a stranger gives Ryan the chance at a new life, somewhere he might begin to feel safe, he may learn to trust again.

But in his mountain hideaway, Ryan feels as if he is being watched. Something lurks in the surrounding woods. Flashes of a figure give the impression he is being followed or, worse, hunted. Alone and lonely, Ryan fears he is losing his mind. When his new shadow seems intent on sticking around, Ryan starts to suspect this is no ordinary Wolf.

Prisoner is a different kind of love story, where a mystery waits to unfold.

Prisoner

GiGi DeGraham © 2023

All Rights Reserved

Prisoner 793 lay on his cot in his cell, staring up at the rough joint that drew a harsh line across the concrete ceiling. His eyes traced the stone seam, and by now, he knew every bump and divot of the rugged line. Immeasurable minutes of his life had been spent with his eyes affixed on the thing while contemplating his time. Because of all he did not possess, other than a bundle of letters, this was something he had plenty of. Time there was measured in years still left to serve. Twelve down, and thirty-eight to go. Thirty-eight years to look forward to staring at that same ragged seam across the ceiling they hadn’t even taken the time to trowel smooth when they built this godforsaken prison.

His bed, this meager cot, with its navy-blue ticking, was a place he both hated and would defend to the death because it was his. Prisoner 793 had spent the better part of the last two years on this cot, and he would not let some new chester come in and try to take it. Hell, he wouldn’t let anyone take anything from him, and neither would his cellmate, who he internally called Big Bastard.

It was a place that 793 had earned, this thin bed on the top of the double bunk. Big Bastard had kept his bottom bunk with just a look, and he might have grunted once the first day a new, unwelcome prisoner was added to their cell. The new guy didn’t even consider it, tangling with the bigger man, so he’d looked above, to 793’s cot, to him, the lesser of the two evils in the room. Now, the new guy slept on the floor temporarily on a flat mat that kept him from freezing solid in the night. The surface was always cold, even cool-to-the-touch on nights in mid-August. They kept it cold in prison to keep men tamed.

During summer days, the floor just sweat, making everything smell worse than it already did. But this new man was there for something the warden liked to call “overcrowding,” and for the last three months, 793 had fought the same man. Clearly, the problem wasn’t going away. Not until the warden got the additional funding he’d been lobbying for to add yet another wing in this constant effort to house more men.

These floor mats had a crinkling, silver film that rustled every time one of the transfers shifted in their sleep or even took a breath. It had put Big Bastard in a foul mood for three straight months, and more than once, he’d huffed, gotten up, and kicked the shit out of the new prisoner who couldn’t be still or breathed in or out too loud. Big Bastard hated the guy. He either liked or simply tolerated 793, who hadn’t slept on a mat, not once. From the first day 793 had arrived at this medium-security prison, he’d handled business and secured his cot with his fists.

It was like anywhere. When you transferred into a new place, you started over. But before, at his first prison—a maximum-security federal penitentiary called Supermax, deep in the south of Louisiana—793 had fought and lost many times. With every loss, he’d slept on something less than desirable. It was there at Supermax that 793 began working out in his cell. When he’d earned privileges, he started lifting weights in the yard until he could fight with a properly placed fist, a fast elbow, and a debilitating knee. These were the skills required to win and keep the cot for himself. It had taken a few pretty good ass-whippings for him to figure out just how to fight—because fighting in prison was its own kind of animal.

This new inmate, Dean Harrold, had narrower eyes than most, hardened thin slits that seemed to always tell on him. Harrold had serious issues with authority and had killed his father during a domestic dispute. His father, who had worked high up in the government, had friends who hadn’t taken any mercy on his murderous son. Dean Harrold was a lifer with nothing left to lose. Harrold was a muscular guy, on the tall side, but he fought with his anger rather than any real skill. He was bigger than 793 but less than Big Bastard. Harrold was never satisfied with anything and constantly complained. He was entitled and mouthy, irritating, even to the guards. Dean Harrold was just a prick.

Big Bastard had already beat him with a shoe until Harrold understood he had to keep his trap shut. The beating had been insulting and demeaning, and Harrold simmered over it like a scorned woman as the shoe-shaped bruise darkened down his cheekbone. Big Bastard was currently in the hole for it, as Harrold had snitched, and the cell was quieter afterwards. Harrold continuously gave 793 the stink eye and made crude comments. This happened so often 793 would just get his eyes closed, and pop them back open as Harrold spouted off more of his hate. Harrold was pissed that 793 hadn’t tried to stop the beating.

“Useless mute,” Harrold had barked up at him.

Harrold was going to die in here; he was only a year older than 793, just twenty-eight, and would never be a free man again. He wasn’t lucky, but he hadn’t gotten the death penalty—the big bitch—so that was something. Still, 793 didn’t care for him.

But Harrold was here now, this last stop in life. He worked in janitorial services, and word was he might be moved out of their cell by the end of the week. Friday couldn’t come soon enough. Funny that he never attempted to sleep on Big Bastard’s cot while he was gone. He begrudgingly slept on the mat, most likely thinking 793 would rat. He wouldn’t have had to. Big Bastard would have known; he’d been there far too long for anyone to pull one over on him. Number 793 hoped Harrold would be gone by the time Big Bastard got back from the hole, and they could both get back to their somewhat normal peace and quiet.

NineStar Press | Books2Read

GiGi DeGraham lives, plays, and learns in New Orleans. She is a proud southerner and enjoys fixing up old houses and writing. Most of her story and character ideas develop while sanding and painting. She loves to roller skate and has a favorite author-named cat called Irving, after Washington Irving. You’ll always find her with an audiobook in her ear and listening to everything narrated by Kirt Graves.

GiGi prefers the outdoors when the weather permits, going on rock and fossil hunts or visiting local rock shops. Otherwise, she’s clacking away at her keyboard until the wee hours. GiGi firmly believes downtime should be spent on a porch swing. GiGi is a life-long supporter of the LGBTQ+ community.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Giveaway

One lucky winner will receive a $50.00 NineStar Press Gift Code! 

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The New Town Librarian Kathy Anderson New Release Blitz! @ninestarpress @indigomarketingdesign #LGBTQIA+

Title:  The New Town Librarian

Author: Kathy Anderson

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: 01/31/2023

Heat Level: 2 - Fade to Black Sex

Pairing: Female/Female

Length: 63300

Genre: Contemporary, contemporary, lit/genre fiction, humorous, lesbian, LGBTQA, library, librarian, small town, East Coast, New Jersey, second chances, starting over, over 40, book clubs, readers, friends as family

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Queer middle-aged librarian Nan Nethercott, a wisecracking hypochondriac with a lackluster career and a nonexistent love life, needs to make a drastic life change before it’s too late. When she lands a job as librarian in a seemingly idyllic small town in southern New Jersey, Nan quickly discovers unforeseen challenges.

Nan’s landlady, Immaculata, launches daily intrusions from below. The library, housed in the former town jail, is overrun by marauding middle-schoolers. A mysterious reader leaves distressing messages in book stacks all over the library. Thomasina, the irresistible butch deli owner, is clearly a delicious affair and not the relationship Nan craves.

There’s no turning back though. Nan must come up with her own wildly unorthodox solutions to what the town and its people throw at her and fight for what she wants until she makes a shiny new life—one with her first true home, surprising friends, a meaningful career, and a promising new love.

The New Town Librarian

Kathy Anderson © 2023

All Rights Reserved

Chapter One

So many delightful possibilities tonight. Nan Nethercott poured herself a hefty glass of red wine from the big box perched on her table and began.

Children’s Librarian on Sanibel Island! Oh, to work in flip-flops and stroll the beach at lunchtime.

Research Librarian for the Irish Government in Dublin! She’d read lots of books set in Ireland. Surely that would count toward the requirement of a second master’s degree in Irish history and fluency in Gaelic.

Film Archives Librarian in Hollywood! She loved movies. So what if she didn’t have a background in art history with a film focus?

Cruise Ship Librarian! Ahoy, maties. Beach reads only.

Prison Librarian, Cuba! She focused on the Cuba part and disregarded the prison part.

Nan never concerned herself about her qualifications for jobs before she applied for them. She could dream, couldn’t she? Other people played the lottery or spun the online dating roulette wheel; she applied for jobs.

She had to do something; she held the dubious distinction of treading water in her profession for twenty-five long years, still stuck on the entry-level librarian step on the civil service ladder in the Philadelphia public library system. People she’d graduated with from library school had risen over the years to become department heads, system managers, and directors. Not Nan. She disliked ambitious librarians clawing their way up. She had other priorities in life—so many women, so little time.

But now she was fifty years old, and what did she have to show for herself? A studio apartment so small she could lie on her lumpy futon, reach her arm out, and open the refrigerator door. A heart so bruised from disappointing love affairs that she was surprised it still worked to move blood around her body. A city full of reminders of the hopeful young Nan who had moved there to take her very first job after graduating from her Master of Library Science program. Her very first job that was still her only job; if it weren’t so pathetic, it would be laughable.

The geographic cure for what ailed her life—that was the ticket. She craved distance from this city full of her mistakes, a clean landscape to start over in.

She didn’t know why happiness was so hard for her to achieve. She felt that life rubbed her the wrong way, like when you put on an itchy sweater and you couldn’t wait to rip it off. It wasn’t depression; it wasn’t melancholy; it was something else, something missing. She had a starved beast-child inside her, living on whatever crumbs of attention and affection she could find in the world; she hated knowing that about herself.

She wanted to be happy at unexpected times, to feel that her life was amazing, to enjoy little things like watching squirrels go crazy running up and down the trees into their hidey-holes, chasing one another and bouncing from branch to branch like acrobats.

If she got to that level of happy, she’d be the first woman in her family to do so, which would be quite an achievement among the martyrs, worriers, and sad sacks she came from. Time was running out; she was impatient, demanding herself to do something, anything, right now.

Wait, this job posting was different: Town Librarian, Pinetree, New Jersey.

She had never seen an ad like that before. A slow excited burn started in her stomach. Or was that acid building up from her liver, overworked by too much cheap wine chugged down too fast? The potato chips and onion dip she had for dinner probably didn’t help either.

When Nan located Pinetree on a map of southern New Jersey, she saw a tiny dot surrounded by a national forest reserve. The details in the job posting were sparse, which was unusual, and the requirements were even more sparse—they asked only for an accredited Master of Library and Information Science degree, which Nan actually had. Although hers was an ancient, creaky version of the degree. She flinched at the listed salary, even less than the pitiful one she was making as Librarian I in the Philadelphia public library system. But that didn’t matter. She was playing her job roulette game. It was all in good fun.

She poured herself another wallop of wine and applied for the job. Hope felt like that third glass of wine on a rainy night, a little luxury to warm herself by.

NineStar Press | Books2Read

Kathy Anderson is the author of the short story collection, Bull and Other Stories (Autumn House Press), which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards for Lesbian Fiction, Publishing Triangle’s Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, and Foreword INDIES Book of the Year in Short Stories. The New Town Librarian is her first novel. Kathy holds a Master of Library Science degree and worked as a librarian for over twenty-five years in small-town public libraries in southern New Jersey. Her home is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she lives with her wife, who is her exact opposite in every way and therefore her perfect match.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Giveaway

One lucky winner will receive a $50.00 NineStar Press Gift Code! 

  a Rafflecopter giveaway