Tag Archives: flash memoir

by | April 15, 2026 · 7:17 am

New Book Review and My Little Cat Toby

There is a lovely new review by Tabi on “Tabi Thoughts.” Here is a quote:

Scrap is a story of forgiveness and making peace with the past. It will resonate with readers who appreciate introspective writing, stories about healing and complicated family relationships.

You can read it here:

Tabi thoughts about SCRAP

One of the characters of Scrap is my little cat Toby. He was an all black cat, and the story is bittersweet, especially bitter. It also is one of the memories that I choose to “interrogate” in the book. Because my cat Meesker was very reminiscent of Toby in looks and personality, and I just lost Meesker when he passed away in the bathroom while I was out of town and the pet sitter was here, it’s an old wound rubbed a little raw. Here is a pic of Toby.

 

Tour Schedule:

March 21: Joy Neal Kidney (review)

March 23: Liz Gauffreau, (review)

March 24: Marie Ann Bailey, (review)

March 25: John W. Howell, (excerpt)

March 30: Miriam Hurdle, (companion story)

March 31: Review Tales (review)

April 2: the bookworm (review)

April 9: Ashley’s Books, Cozy Home Delight (review)

April 13: What’s That Book About (guest post)

April 15: Tabi Thoughts(review)

April 23: Lavender Orchids (review)

April 27: The Reading Bud (review)

May 4: Chelsea’s Books (review)

May 4: Smorgasbord (excerpt)

May 6: Brotman Blog (review)

May 7: The Reading Bud (interview)

May 14: True Book Addict (guest post)

May 19: True Book Addict (review)

May 21: The Book Connection (review)

Follow the tour with the hashtag #ScrapSalvagingFamily

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by | April 13, 2026 · 9:19 am

Are Those Fairy Tale Monsters in SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY?

I wrote a guest post, “From Grimm to Golden Books: Writing Myself Out of the Fairy Tale,” for What’s That Book About–about the fairy tale influence on my new memoir Scrap: Salvaging a Family. 

You can read it here:

From Grimm to Golden Books

 

Illustration by Walter Crane for “The Almond Tree” (or “The Juniper Tree”)

I would love it if you could leave even a 2 or 3+sentence review of Scrap at Amazon and/or Goodreads if you give it a read!

 

Tour Schedule:

March 21: Joy Neal Kidney (review)

March 23: Liz Gauffreau, (review)

March 24: Marie Ann Bailey, (review)

March 25: John W. Howell, (excerpt)

March 30: Miriam Hurdle, (companion story)

March 31: Review Tales (review)

April 2: the bookworm (review)

April 9: Ashley’s Books, Cozy Home Delight (review)

April 13: What’s That Book About (guest post)

April 15: Tabi’s Thoughts (review)

April 23: Lavender Orchids (review)

April 27: The Reading Bud (review)

May 4: Chelsea’s Books (review)

May 4: Smorgasbord (excerpt)

May 6: Brotman Blog (review)

May 7: The Reading Bud (interview)

May 14: True Book Addict (guest post)

May 19: True Book Addict (review)

May 21: The Book Connection (review)

Follow the tour with the hashtag #ScrapSalvagingFamily

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by | April 10, 2026 · 11:38 am

The “Cottage” in Scrap

This week, Ashley at Cozy Home Delight reviewed Scrap: Salvaging a Family. 

[The book] brings up that complicated space where grief, resentment, anger, love, and even forgiveness all exist at the same time. The book does not try to simplify those feelings or resolve them neatly. It allows them to exist together, which felt very honest.

I thought I’d share a photo related to my memoir. I write about the cottage my father bought for us to reburbish. This is what it looked like near the beginning, although you really can’t see some of the details I describe in the book. But it gives you what I saw when we first pulled up outside it.

This cottage came with a dirt floor which had been applied over the old linoleum. And yet somehow my father supposedly found a pair of pristine white ice skates with red pompoms in my size in the dirt crawl space (Michigan cellar) underneath.

Tour Schedule:

March 21: Joy Neal Kidney (review)

March 23: Liz Gauffreau, (review)

March 24: Marie Ann Bailey, (review)

March 25: John W. Howell, (excerpt)

March 30: Miriam Hurdle, (companion story)

March 31: Review Tales (review)

April 2: the bookworm (review)

April 9: Ashley’s Books, Cozy Home Delight (review)

April 13: What’s That Book About (guest post)

April 15: Tabi’s Thoughts (review)

April 23: Lavender Orchids (review)

April 27: The Reading Bud (review)

May 4: Chelsea’s Books (review)

Mary 4: Smorgasbord (excerpt)

May 7: The Reading Bud (interview)

May 14: True Book Addict (guest post)

May 19: True Book Addict (review)

May 21: The Book Connection (review)

Follow the tour with the hashtag #ScrapSalvagingFamily

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by | March 30, 2026 · 6:37 am

Blog Tour for SCRAP is Over at Miriam Hurdle’s Blog!

Put on your cap to follow Scrap (I can’t help myself with these Scrap rhymes) over to Miriam Hurdle’s The Showers of Blessings blog! A big thank you to my sweet friend Miriam for hosting Scrap and me.

I worked on the memoir-in-flash for 18 years, and over that time I did end up with at least two different complete traditional versions. Then I decided to write Scrap in hybrid, using a lot of flash nonfiction, as well as poems, essay, etc.  Of course that means that there are stories that did not make it into the book. Miriam is sharing one today!

MIRIAM’S BLOG

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I’m looking forward to the blog tours for my new book Scrap: Salvaging a Family, published by ELJ Editions.

First up are friend blogs!

Joy Neal Kidney, March 21, book review

Liz Gauffreau, March 23, book review

Marie Ann Bailey, March 24, book review

John W. Howell, March 25, book excerpt

Miriam Hurdle, March 30, companion story to Scrap

Going to be on Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord on May 4!

Then there is an April and May tour through Poetic Book Tours, schedule in link.

POETIC BOOK TOUR FOR SCRAP

Click on the book image to order at Amazon.

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by | March 25, 2026 · 4:00 am

Tap Your Feet Over to SCRAP at John Howell’s Fiction Favorites!

Tap your feet over to see Scrap on John W. Howell’s blog

John W. Howell’s Fiction Favorites

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I’m looking forward to the blog tours for my new book Scrap: Salvaging a Family, published by ELJ Editions.

First up are friend blogs!

Joy Neal Kidney, March 21, book review

Liz Gauffreau, March 23, book review

Marie Ann Bailey, March 24, book review

John W. Howell, March 25, book excerpt

Miriam Hurdle, March 30, companion story to Scrap

Going to be on Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord on May 4!

Then there is an April and May tour through Poetic Book Tours, schedule in link.

POETIC BOOK TOUR FOR SCRAP

Click on the book image to order at Amazon.

Leave a comment

Filed under #ScrapSalvagingFamily, Book Review, ELJ Editions, Family, Family history, Flash Nonfiction, flash nonfiction, hybrid memoir, Memoir, Nonfiction, SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY, Scrap:Salvaging a Family

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by | March 24, 2026 · 6:15 am

Blog Tour for Scrap: Salvaging a Family: Check Out Marie Bailey’s Review!

I don’t think anybody has read as many versions of Scrap: Salvaging a Family as my friend Marie Ann Bailey. Flap your wings (you see what I’m doing there, right? flap/scrap) over to her blog to read her review of the finished product!

MARIE’S REVIEW OF SCRAP

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BLOG TOURS FOR SCRAP:

First up are friend blogs!

Joy Neal Kidney, March 21, book review

Liz Gauffreau, March 23, book review

Marie Ann Bailey, March 24, book review

John W. Howell, March 25, book excerpt

Miriam Hurdle, March 30, companion story to Scrap

 

Then there is an April and May tour through Poetic Book Tours, schedule in link.

POETIC BOOK TOUR FOR SCRAP

 

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Filed under #ScrapSalvagingFamily, Book Review, ELJ Editions, Family, Family history, flash nonfiction, Flash Nonfiction, hybrid memoir, Memoir, Nonfiction, SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY, Scrap:Salvaging a Family

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by | March 23, 2026 · 5:00 am

SCRAP Blog Tour is Happening at Writer Elizabeth Gauffreau’s Blog

Tap into Scrap at Elizabeth (Liz) Gauffreau’s blog! Check out her review of Scrap: Salvaging a Family.

Liz’s Review of SCRAP

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BLOG TOURS FOR SCRAP:

First up are friend blogs!

Joy Neal Kidney, March 21, book review

Liz Gauffreau, March 23, book review

Marie Ann Bailey, March 24, book review

John W. Howell, March 25, book excerpt

Miriam Hurdle, March 30, companion story to Scrap

 

Then there is an April and May tour through Poetic Book Tours, schedule in link.

POETIC BOOK TOUR FOR SCRAP

 

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Filed under #ScrapSalvagingFamily, Book Review, ELJ Editions, Family, Family history, Flash Nonfiction, flash nonfiction, hybrid memoir, Memoir, Nonfiction, SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY, Scrap:Salvaging a Family

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by | March 21, 2026 · 9:39 am

The Blog Tours for Scrap Begins with Joy Neal Kidney’s Delightful Blog

Thank you so much, Joy!!!

JOY NEAL KIDNEY

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I’m looking forward to the blog tours for my new book Scrap: Salvaging a Family, published by ELJ Editions.

First up are friend blogs!

Joy Neal Kidney, March 21, book review

Liz Gauffreau, March 23, book review

Marie Ann Bailey, March 24, book review

John W. Howell, March 25, book excerpt

Miriam Hurdle, March 30, companion story to Scrap

 

Then there is an April and May tour through Poetic Book Tours, schedule in link.

POETIC BOOK TOUR FOR SCRAP

Leave a comment

Filed under #ScrapSalvagingFamily, Book Review, ELJ Editions, Family, Family history, Flash Nonfiction, flash nonfiction, hybrid memoir, Memoir, Nonfiction, SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY, Scrap:Salvaging a Family

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by | January 9, 2026 · 2:05 pm

PRE-ORDER SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY

A couple of days ago I said the pre-order for my new book (ELJ Editions) would be available in a couple of weeks. But: it’s available now!!!! PRE-ORDER SCRAP HERE

This book–flash nonfiction with some reflection pieces, a few poems, a short play script–in other words, very hybrid and an engaging (I think) read–is the end result of my memoir writing for the past SEVENTEEN YEARS. Yeah, no kidding.

If you’d like to purchase a paperback copy ahead of time and be one of the first to get your SCRAP when it comes out in March, please click the link above or the cover image below to get to the pre-order page on the publisher’s website.

For an idea about the book, here is what Kathy Fish, acclaimed flash fiction writer and writing teacher has to say about SCRAP:

Borne of shame and trauma, the secrets uncovered in Luanne Castle’s hybrid memoir reveal her father’s complicated childhood and the impact it had on their relationship. Told in brief, strikingly vivid fragments, and through various perspectives and forms, the book as a whole presents a deeply moving and unforgettable account. We readers are privileged to bear witness to this emotional excavation, one that ultimately reminds us that love is powerful even when it’s painful and that forgiveness is the only way forward. Scrap: Salvaging a Family is a gorgeous and brilliantly original collection. I highly recommend it. ~Kathy Fish, author of Wild Life: Collected Works

 

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by | January 5, 2026 · 7:00 am

COVER REVEAL FOR SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY

I saw that my publisher has the cover for my hybrid flash memoir up on their website! So without further ado here is the cover for my book, due out March 20, by ELJ Editions. Preorders will be available in a couple of weeks!

The artwork and cover design is by collage artist and writer Lorette Luzajic, the EIC of The Ekphrastic Review and The Mackinaw. Typeface by Keith Powell and Lorette Luzajic.

I commissioned the art from her. Every tidbit in the collage is something from the book itself. Lorette did a wonderful job of excavating the images.

Here’s a book description to wet your appetite.

The hybrid flash memoir Scrap: Salvaging a Family explores the stain of childhood fear and anxiety on the adult spirit and the experience of reconciling with an aging or dying parent. A daughter has grown up in a household with an angry and abusive father. He keeps the secret of his biological father’s identity from his daughter for decades. When the elderly man faces his mortality, he finally names his father. The more the daughter learns about her father’s early life and origins, the more she understands him which leads to forgiveness for the past.

I really hope that you’re going to enjoy the structure of the book which is made up of short micro or flash pieces, a longerish (hahaha) central piece, a few poems, and some dedicated glimpses of reflection.

P.S. You might be wondering if there will be a cat in the book. Yes, and there is an image in the collage on the book cover. Look very closely at the bottom right, and you will see a little black cat.

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