Thanks to Renee at Unpacked Writer for this fabulous Doll God review!!!
Category Archives: Doll God
Book Review: Luanne Castle’s Doll God and Why I Loved it When I’m Afraid of Dolls
Filed under Book Review, Books, Doll God, Dolls, Nonfiction, poems about dolls, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, WordPress
Follow MaryGold to a Free Book! #bookgiveaway
I thought it would be fun to let MaryGold off the shelf where she lives. She is going to participate in a little social media quiz fun.
MaryGold with Isabella Rose
If you don’t know who MaryGold is, she is the doll on the cover of my book. I held a vote here for her name.
Every Friday and every Tuesday I will post on my Facebook page and on Twitter a new adventure that MaryGold has taken (March 13, 17, 20, and 24). After four adventures, I will post a quiz on here on March 26 related to the adventures. The first three persons who email me the correct answer will each win a free signed copy of Doll God. My email is writersite.wordpress[at]gmail.com.
While you’re checking out Facebook and Twitter, feel free to “like” the page or “follow” writersitetweet, if you haven’t already. Also, I will watch for your Twitter follow and follow you back.
First adventure begins Friday, March 13!
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If you already have a copy of Doll God, I have a different quiz for you. This one is easy peasy. Be the first person to email me the quiz answer at writersite.wordpress[at]gmail.com to win a copy of James Arthur’s poetry collection Charms Against Lightning.
Here’s the quiz question: MaryGold shows up in a poem in Doll God. Don’t think it’s THAT easy haha! She doesn’t go by the name MaryGold in the poem. But she is the doll on the cover of the book and is found in a poem. What is the name of the poem and what page is it on?
Please do not enter both contests. One or the other . . . .
Filed under Book Giveaway, Books, Doll God, Dolls, Photographs, poems about dolls, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, Writing
Doll God by Luanne Castle
Menomama3 of Life in a Flash and Wuthering Bites might have been the first person to order Doll God from Amazon. We’re not sure, but suspect so. Now she writes a review of my poetry collection that is as well-written, personal, and completely engaging as her posts are !!!
Ms. Menomama3 also was one of the first bloggers I read when my daughter and I started our adoption blog several years ago. Ms. M and I are both mothers in transracial (and international) adoptive families–her children are from China and mine are from Korea.
Stick around for the rest of her blog, while you’re over there reading the review!
Filed under Blogging, Book Review, Books, Doll God, poems about dolls, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, WordPress
The Gift of Doll God – Ellen Morris Prewitt
I wish I could figure out a way to reblog Ellen Morris Prewitt’s beautifully written and heartfelt review of Doll God. But I could not figure it out.
The Press This function is supposed to pick up part of the post, but of course it only shares the link. But here it is: a story of Ellen, dolls, poetry, and Doll God.
CLICK THERE—->The Gift of Doll God – Ellen Morris Prewitt.
Thank you, Ellen!
Please check out Ellen’s fabulous writing, accessible by her website. Bonus: she’s hilarious–and you can see that even by the review quotes she posts: from an internet stranger and from her mother. That’s the kind of sneaky humor you get by reading and listening to Ellen’s stories.
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Dad is chomping at the bit at the short-term care nursing home. He doesn’t like that they won’t let him move around by himself. I told him he’s like me–doesn’t want to follow institutional rules. He said that is true. Of course, it’s more than that. He’s in an extremely frustrating position. But I like to cheer him up by joking with him.
The kitties were great last night and say hi to everyone!
Nakana is my new favorite! She loves petting!
Filed under Blogging, Book Review, Books, Doll God, Dolls, Essay, poems about dolls, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, Writing
What Inspires My Poems
Is it annoying if I admit that I’m really enjoying reading the reviews of Doll God ? All but one have been highly positive (5 stars on Amazon and 5 stars with a 4 star on Goodreads, as well as written reviews).
Here are two blog tour reviews from the end of last week:
Harvee Lau at Book Dilettante is fascinated by the dolls in the book. I love her reading of the poem “Caught.” She shares the poem in the review. Check it out :).
Randi at Bell Book and Candle Blog says Doll God is “an outstanding collection of poems.”
Today I have a guest post up at Peeking Between the Pages
about my poetic inspiration. I’d be tickled if you go check it out.
MaryGold enjoying the Arizona weather
UPDATE: A review of Doll God is up at Peeking Between the Pages.
Filed under Arizona, Blogging, Book Review, Books, Doll God, Dolls, poems about dolls, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, Publishing
Websites and Nursing Homes
The guy who created my daughter’s website made one for me (ask me for his contact information if you are interested in hiring him). I might make a few small changes to it, but see what you think: website link. I wanted it to focus right now on Doll God, but to provide samples of my writing, as well.
Then I wanted to add something fun related to dolls and art, in honor of Doll God. So I asked blogger mareymercy if I could put up her recent doll photographs. Here they are! If you want to find her photos from the home page of my website you click on DOLL GOD and then go to Dolls as Art. There is a reason her blog subtitle is “Photography and Frivolity”–so much fun!
On my links section, I have mareymercy’s photography links. If you know of other doll art that is appropriate, good-natured, and high quality, post me the link in the comments here so I can consider adding it to my list of links.
My dad is in the nursing home now. He’s not happy to be there, and I completely understand. My experiences with nursing homes have not made me too keen on the places–even the best of the nursing homes are still “institutions” with all the potential problems of institutions.
When my grandmother was in a nursing home for rehab after surgery (years ago), a large lady named Frieda gave her baths, shoving and slapping her. Grandma had a panic attack and called me, telling me how she needed to get out of there. It’s the same for my dad. He had a nightmare that he was in jail.
Those of you so inclined please pray for him. And he will be thrilled with good vibes, virtual Reiki, and all manner of well wishes.
Filed under Art and Music, Blogging, Creative Nonfiction, Doll God, Dolls, Nonfiction, Photographs, poems about dolls
A Single Rose, A Sink of Dishes
Life feels like a whirlwind lately. Instead of continuing to blindly rush through the day, I am going to make a conscious decision to focus with mindfulness. A meaningful mindfulness, following the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, as I wrote about a full two years ago here.
If it’s time to wash the dishes, I will wash them in order to wash the dishes, not to hurry through the process so that I can get back to tax preparation or writing. I hope you will go back and read that post if you are feeling at all overwhelmed.
My father has been in the hospital again ( and hopes to go to a nursing home for a week or so today). He went into congestive heart failure, with fluid on the lungs and atrial fibrillation. Then he got a high heart rate. When he left the hospital before he was supposed to go to the nursing home, but they had a flu epidemic and were in quarantine. A nurse whispered to him the first night that he shouldn’t be there as he would die if he got the flu. So he went home. Who knows if he started getting A-fib on and off and didn’t know it. Now they have his sinus rhythm normal, and I hope he can go to the nursing home today. They don’t have any flu cases.
In addition, it’s tax season, so I have much work. I am trying to enjoy a little hubbub with the publication of Doll God (hey, it’s netted me 3 bottles of champagne from darling friends!). I have approximately 5 weeks to revise my entire memoir manuscript for my Stanford instructor Julia Scheeres. And my old cat Mac requires feeding 7-10 times a day (which twigs the other cats to their “empty tummies” hahaha). Oh, and there is that pesky thing called work, too ;).
As an added blessing, on Tuesday hubby and I found black mold in the closet where I store my scrapbooks, books, and old writing. Luckily, only one scrapbook from 1989-1990 was ruined. Consequently, I’ve been moving pretty fast trying to keep up.
But if I rush from one activity to another, trying to check them off my ever blossoming list, I will do this until I just drop dead one day. Pretty dumb. So I am back to reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s book TheMiracle of Mindfulness because it will help me live and experience through the whirlwind and not just exist at its center.
I’ll keep his book handy. Maybe just seeing it on the table will keep me focused! How about you? Are you rushing too much?
Filed under #writerlife, Doll God, Inspiration, Memoir, Publishing, Writing
Luanne Castle’s new book of Poetry: Doll God
Poliblog wrote such a cool review of Doll God–as a poem!
Filed under Blogging, Book Review, Books, Doll God, poems about dolls, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, Publishing, Writing
Review of Luanne Castle’s First Poetry Book “Doll God”
Jennifer very kindly read Doll God and reviewed it. Thanks so much for your support, Jennifer!
Also, a reminder that I am doing a Goodreads Book Giveaway through the weekend.
Good luck to you!
ENTER TO WIN A FREE BOOK
Filed under Book Review, Doll God, Dolls, poems about dolls, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, Publishing, Writing
My Plan to Lure Hubby to More Rescue Cats
We have a winner for the name of the Doll God doll! She is to be called MaryGold, named by the mysterious John Janssens. So apropos, considering she was cavorting with marigolds in the photo. Second place is Violet, suggested by the charming Seyi Sandra, who writes the lovely blog Seyi Sandra David: A Writer with a Difference. Third place The other second place is Flavia, a name Mareymercy mentioned. She was so surprised to see the name do so well. She takes some amazing photographs she shares on her blog.
Taking the advice of a blogger who wrote about Goodreads, I have set up a Book Giveaway which begins today and ends on Monday. Of course, as with any new (to me) site, I’m a little unclear as to exactly when today and exactly when Monday. To be on the safe side, I would recommend entering the contest by Sunday! Let me know if you enter and how the experience was for you. And good luck to you!
ENTER TO WIN A FREE BOOK
On another note (and hence the blog title), Monday afternoon hubby and I visited a local no kill animal shelter to deliver the diabetic food and insulin we didn’t use for our oldest cat Mac. With the help of our vet, we went a different path for Mac because of his many medical issues. We are treating him with a different diet instead of insulin. I found a shelter that has a cat named Randy who is diabetic and can use the hundreds of dollars of food and insulin I bought and didn’t use!
By bringing hubby I had a method to my madness. He’s in semi-retirement, which means he still works a lot at home, but doesn’t get out much. He’s also “down” about how business (something he loves and is very talented at) has changed for the worse in so many ways. But he loves cats. When we got inside the shelter, I said, “Do you have a social room for cats here?”
“Sure, it’s right this way. I’ll show you!” She was very eager. Of course, she was. But so was I.
Many of their cats were off at places like PetSmart, looking cute and hopeful, no doubt, from within their glass cubicles. But there were a few left behind. We were greeted at the door by the impressive and friendly tabby known as The Mayor–named for his way of greeting everyone! The room was decorated like a nursery school playroom with fun equipment and toys. A tiny orange kitten sat alone in a big cage, blinking at me and hoping I would take him home (sorry, I can’t add to my cats right now, little buddy). They had a few long shelves with clean towels and blankets and a black and white cat slept behind some of the blankets. We peeked in to see her. She stretched at us. Another cat slept on a cat tree, too exhausted to visit with people who only stopped in for a second.
As we walked to the door, I said, “Do you need volunteers to hang with the cats?”
Yes, they do need those humans. The cats need to be socialized–to hear human voices, smell human smells, and feel human touch. What better people to do that than us? I am dragging hubby (reluctant, but not opposed) to the volunteer orientation in February. Stay tuned.
This is the man who, when we found our first cat, said, “I don’t do cats. Just dogs.” Hahahahaha. Famous last words.
On a related note:
Have you heard about cat cafes? They might have started in Japan, where apartments for young singles typically do not allow pets. People can go to the cat cafe, have a beverage, and play with cats! There seem to be some in the U.S., too, and you can adopt a cat from there, after making sure the two of you are a good match.
Plenty of apartments in Phoenix allow cats, so I doubt one could make a business out of a cat cafe here. But one could certainly make a charity out of it, right? Of course, that sounds like a LOT of work, so I think volunteering at the shelter once or twice a week would be something we could handle right now.
Filed under Books, Doll God, poems about dolls, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, Publishing










