* Hey! SF Book Festival just awarded an honorable mention to our audio book "Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry & Music" in the audio/spoken word category! [In 2007 "Sightlines: A Poet's Diary won a DIY (Do It Yourself) honorable mention.]

* I was one of three invited readers at a literary salon. Nervous as all get out, but it worked just fine. Listeners were inspired by the "Sightlines" poems to remember their own family stories and resolved to write about them.

* Authors Access Podcast interviewed me on how to make and produce and audio book.

* Alethea Eason's two-part interview with me on Studio 101 was well-received. "Healing Grief with Poetry" one the Editor's Choice award and is now her most read article. The second part explores creativity and community.

* Gave workshops at two conferences: Story Circle Network & The Missouri Writers Guild. Topic: "Poetry? Prose? Who knows?"

So, there you go. Sometimes it pays to look back so you can see where you've been and where you're going.

Carol created this slide show from family archival photos I sent her. These photos play over my reading of "Mama's Suitcase" from "Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry and Music."

You can see for yourself at www.womensmemoirs.com as they change their popular site to launch it with a new look. The sweet snapshot and post card visual feel to the new site is an eye pleaser.

For their writing prompts blog I'm delighted to say they chose my post on the story poem as an overlooked form in memoir. You can see that if you missed it the first time by scanning the right hand boxes outside the border for "Writing Prompts." Click and see the post on the top of that category.

Matilda and Kendra were maximally supportive hosts during their stop on my blog tour for "Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry and Music." In addition to the guest post they hosted, they reviewed the audio book in Book Raves. One of my favorite activities on that tour was the teleseminar we presented. By the way, I have CDs I made from that. Just ask.

Wonderful video here Carol made.

Here we are at the 9th and last week of the Internet tour for "Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry and Music" audio book. It's been a grand adventure that those of you following and dipping into it have enjoyed.

This week there are two excellent wrap-up posts. Irene Watson (of Reader Views) hosts me on Blogging Authors where I give a complete and concise tutorial on how to make and produce an audio book. Don't miss it if you'd like to go behind the scenes of the process.

Carol Cole Lewis concludes the Sightlines Tour with a summary of how to set up a blog tour, why do it anyway, and what my experience of it was.

Links and more information below.

27 Irene Watson hosts Janet’s guest post on “How to Make and Produce an Audio Book” on Blogging Authors,a gathering place for writers and readers. This site is a brain-child of Reader Views, which Irene founded.

Book reviews and interviews of “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” plus her father's novel “Cattle Country and Back Trails: Two Tales from the Thompson Western Series” are located here. Irene is author of "The Sitting Swing". She is the Managing Editor for Reader Views and lives with her husband in Austin, Texas. Irene earned her MS in Psychology, with honors, from Regis University in Denver.

30 Carol Cole Lewis hosts Janet on the final stop of the internet tour as they chat about the tour as a case study in internet marketing. Carol provides authentic, sustainable Internet and media marketing for small business as she considers the question: So, you gotta have a website…now what?

FOUR REVIEWS: SIGHTLINES: A FAMILY LOVE STORY IN POETRY AND MUSIC

Read all four reviews under the Bookstore tab for Calendar.

1) Story Circle Network Book Review by Edith O’Nuallain

http://www.storycirclebookreviews.org/reviews/sightlines.shtml

2) Writers in the Sky's Sarah Moore of Writers in the Sky.

3) Love and Loss and Living on by Marcelline M. Burns (Oxnard, CA)

4) Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry & Music reviewed by Kendra Bonnett
Women’s Memoirs, Book Raves - Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler

Here's an excerpt from Sarah's review:

Each moment of the CDs is filled with warmth, humor, and a deep connection to those who have come before us. Sightlines is a must-have audio book for anyone who appreciates a good love story with the perfect musical accompaniment!

You'll want to read the entire review, though and see if you agree.

Week Eight July 20-24

This is the next-to-last week of the Sightlines blog tour. Watch the featured video with guest Greg McNey (see full story), an expert on licensing and copyrighting. Comment on the video and win a chance for a free copy of "Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry and Music."

20 Bookland Heights features Janet's audio book in a short interview. This is a follow-on to last week's post on Elder Power and Collaboration on WOOF!

21 Damaria Senne (pronounced Da-maria Sen-nay) interviews Janet on “Story Pot: A Writer’s Online Journal”. Story Pot cooks the complexities of modern African life with traditional spice.

Damaria is an award-winning writer based in Johannesburg where I visited her in August 2008. She kindly arranged for me to visit her family in her home village. We are long-time blogging buddies, exchanging posts.

Damaria’s current focus includes relationships, HIV and AIDS, and career development. Damaria's first children’s book The Doll That Grew was published by Macmillan SA in 1993. Her second reader, Boitshoko (“perseverance” in Setswana) was listed by Heinemann SA in 1996 and translated into 4 languages.

22 Hal Manogue interviews Janet on his blog where he shares insightful thoughts for the 21st century and considers that the now is waiting.

Hal’s main website http://www.shortlseeves.net invites us to live an ordinary life in a non-ordinary way. Hal is a poet and essayist who authored the books: Short Sleeves Insights, Short Sleeves Spirit Songs, and Short Sleeves: A Book for Friends.

Hal is a long-time blogging buddy. He read the introduction to Janet’s audio book. He lunched with Janet and Yvonne at the Yellow Porch on her first trip to Nashville when she recorded the studio portion of Sightlines and met Scott Kidd, her audio engineer. Hal met with Janet again when Janet returned to Nashville this year for her celebration launch dinner with the team that made the project possible.

FEATURED VIDEO

This is the eighth and final video in the series.

Title: Sightlines Blog Tour Video #8: Interviews with Greg McNey (stage 4, legal) & Yvonne Perry
Description: Interview with Greg McNey who makes the licensing and copyright phase crystal clear.

Watch for Yvonne Perry coming in around 7:25 marker. Yvonne owns the writing service “Writers in the Sky” (WITS). Yvonne and I became blogging buddies after “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” came out in 2006. Hal Manogue, my other Nashville blogging buddy introduced me to Yvonne and suggested I contact her about being a guest on her weekly podcast.

I had planned a trip to meet with both Yvonne and Hal in 2008 which led to the beginning of the audio book project. Yvonne was my lucky rabbit’s foot that led me to my audio engineer Scott Kidd…Yvonne's son-in-law.

Length: 9:57 minutes with Yvonne Perry appearing at 7:25 marker
Videographer: Scott Kidd

Suzy Bogguss, my cousin, joins us this week from Nashville on our featured video. Find out how Suzy responded to "Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry and Music."

Week seven marks the last three weeks of the Sightlines Internet tour. This week highlights two blogs and an Internet Radio Show. Comment on this week's featured video and win a free copy of our audio book "Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry and Music."

14 Janet Elaine Smith hosts Janet Riehl on her internet radio show “Marketing for Fun and Profit” on PIVT (Passionate Internet Voices).

See Janet's main website by clicking here where you can learn more about her fun faith-based fiction for the whole family. Janet and I met through the Independent Authors Guild.

15 Mary Cunningham WOOF! (Women Only Over 50) hosts Janet’s guest post on achieving your dream after 50 through collaboration.

Simultaneously, Mary will feature the audio book at Bookland Heights, reaching new heights in the land of books.

Mary is the author of a fantasy/time-travel series, co-author of the soon-to-be-released book, WOOF: Women Only Over 50, an uplifting collection of personal anecdotes and poems about how it feels and what it means to be a woman in her fifties. She lives in the beautiful mountains of West Georgia and is a member of The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She is a frequent commenter on www.riehlife.com.

17 Janet Elaine Smithinterviews Janet Riehl on her blog. See her main website at: http://www.janetelainesmith.comwhere you can learn more about her fun faith-based fiction for the whole family. Janet and I met through the Independent Authors Guild. She refers to herself as "Janet, the original." I refer to myself as "The Other Janet."

FEATURED VIDEO

Title: Sightlines Blog Tour Video #7: Interview with Suzy Bogguss at Launch Dinner
Description: Stage 7, celebration: launch dinner at Sportsman Grille and Lodge. Janet reads Pop’s “I.M.A. Fox” that goes with his fox carving he sent as a gift. Interview with Cousin Suzy Bogguss. Janet and Suzy discuss her hard-won Nashville success, their family connection that began at a 1938 Thompson family reunion when Pop and Suzy’s mother Barbara first played music together. Suzy’s American folk music project she’s asked Pop to contribute to.

Length: 9:59
Videographer: Scott Kidd

Leave a comment about the video and you'll have a chance to win a FREE copy of our audio book "Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry and Music".

Week Six July 6-10

July 6 Molly Lundquist welcomes Janet for a guest post, review, book club suggestions, and Midwestern recipes at Lit Lovers, a well-read community dedicated to books and book clubs

July 8 Janet Muirhead Hill interviews her sister-Janet (there is a club of us Janets!). We chatted about bereavement and childhood.

Janet Muirhead Hill is the author of the Miranda and Starlight series of books for children as well as the founder of Raven Publishing. Check out her two websites at: www.janetmuirheadhill.com and www.ravenpublishing.net. Janet and I are both members of Women Writing the West. Janet has written several guest posts for Riehlife on critiquing and rejection.

July 10 Susan Gallacher-Turner interviews Janet on We chat about my visual art career and creative process.

Susan's Art & Words where Susan shares insights on living the creative life with essays, interviews, book reviews and articles. Her main website is http://www.susangt.com where you’ll see images of her beautiful work.

FEATURED VIDEO

Title: Sightlines Blog Tour Video #6: Stage 6 (Production & Marketing) & Stage 7 Celebrate!

Description: Stage 6: Production and Marketing. The product arrives: 50 boxes contained 20 audio books. What to do? Janet stacks them in the corner of her upstairs office (the “Cowboy Room”) at Pop’s house. Moving into promotion and marketing stage. Intro to launch dinner in Nashville, Stage 7: Celebration.

Length: 7:23 minutes
Videographer: Scott Kidd