Book Review - Dancing in My Nightgown
Interview With Betty Auchard - Author, Speaker, Humorist
She was learning to be single again; this now meant pumping her own gas, keeping up the maintenance of a big home and paying the bills, things her husband Denny had done. All of this prompted a series of escapades that caused her to stay so busy writing that she rarely took off her nightgown.
Interview With Author Betty Auchard by Suite 101
What was your goal in writing Dancing in my Nightgown?
All I knew was that writing about these things kept me afloat. Now I know that writing was a tool for healing my way through grief.
Is it an inspiring, read-by-the-pool book? Deep and meaningful?
Both. Widowed people have told me that it felt so good to laugh again. My journey has inspired readers to understand the grief process and to embrace the pain of loss. Most of us come through the loss of a partner as a different person.
Does it relate with what’s happening in the world?
Yes it does; absolutely. Many of us will lose a partner and the road to recovery from grief is rough. But it can be a journey of unexpected self-discovery.
Do you use dialogue?
There is dialogue in many of the stories where there are real people in action. The last story, “Dear Online Matchmaking Service,” contains the actual online dialog with my potential suitors. This story is more like a new beginning instead of an ending, so it was the perfect place to quit.
Does this memoir fit in with your upcoming book?
While writing this book I got inspired to work on my second book. Both are about extremely different periods in my life. The first one is about learning how to be single so late in life. The second book is about my colorful but wacky childhood while growing up poor in Iowa during the Depression.
The Reader's Experience
Readers who have lost a loved one will laugh and cry through Betty’s stories. Others will be inspired to know that a new chapter will begin when this happens in their own life.
Tribute From Jayne Meadows, Widow of Steve Allen
"Dancing in my Nightgown is a truly enchanting, heartbreaking love story, told with such honesty and humor that I ached for my beloved Steve Allen.”
Speaker Bookings
Betty Auchard, a retired art teacher when her husband died, is now a dynamic speaker, writer and humorist, inspiring a large variety of club and group audiences in California’s Bay area and beyond. Contact her for bookings at (408) 356-8224 or btauchard@aol.com.
Dancing in my Nightgown – The Rhythms of Widowhood
Publisher Stephens Press, LLC ISBN-10: 1-932173-45-5
Publication Date, May 2005
Related article by June Smith - The Joy of Writing Your Life Story
Author Betty Auchard
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