Finding Your Inner Moose by Susan Poulin

ABOUT THE BOOK
Meet Ida LeClair, the funniest woman in Maine. Ida is also a newly minted "Certified Maine Life Guide" who wants to help you live a better, happier life. Ida is a lifelong resident of Mahoosuc Mills, a hard-to-find, but oh-so-familiar town in Western Maine, where she lives in a tidy and tastefully decorated double-wide with high school sweetheart Charlie and adorable dog Scamp. Most importantly, Ida (a.k.a. the alter ego of popular performer Susan Poulin) is a daughter, sister, wife, and best friend who draws upon her experiences (as well as those of the noble and majestic moose) to offer practical and hilarious advice on relationships, physical fitness, stress, housecleaning, work, shopping, fun, and more. (If you are looking for impractical, woo-woo advice from a glammed-up, over-educated, fancy-schmancy life coach, just keep looking!)

In Finding Your Inner Moose: Ida LeClair's Guide to Livin' the Good Life, you'll find sections such as: What Did I Do Wrong to Deserve this Turkey Gobbler Neck; How Many Points in Cabbage Soup?; I Can't Die Today Because if Anyone Saw the State of my House I'd Just Die; Feng Shui-ing the Double Wide; Slaying Energy Vampires; Spousal Deafness. This book is 100% Ida, who, as her husband Charlie, often says, "just loves giving advice to people, whether they ask for it or not!"

NEWS and REVIEWS
"Ida LeClair isn't a real person, but she is a true character. And as a recently minted "Certified Maine Life Guide," she offers practical ways to live a healthier and happier life in "Finding Your Inner Moose: Ida LeClair's Guide to Livin' the Good Life," which first hit bookstores in late September. "
– Aislinn Sarnacki, Bangor Daily News. You can read the complete article here.

Maine Sunday Telegram arts reporter Bob Keyes wrote a profile of Susan and Ida, Author Q & A: Ida-ology. You can read the complete article here.

ABOUT SUSAN POULIN
Writer and performer Susan Poulin is the author of ten plays, five of which feature her alter-ego, Ida LeClair. The first of these, 1997's Ida: Woman Who Runs With the Moose was awarded the Seacoast Media Group's Spotlight on the Arts Award for Best Play and Best Actress. Moose was followed in 2005 by Ida's Havin' a Yard Sale!, for which Susan received SMG's Best Original Script and Best Actress award and A Very Ida Christmas in 2008 (nominated for SMG's Best Original Script). The fourth installment in the series is The Moose in Me, The Moose in You! (2010), a motivational speech Ida gives as a Certified Maine Life Guide. Her newest Ida show is 2012's I Married an Alien! Susan also writes the popular Maine humor blog and podcast, Just Ask Ida.

Since her debut, Ida has entertained thousands of people from Maine to Minneapolis with her unique brand of wit and wisdom. Her sense of humor simply knows no bounds. In fact, 2010 marked Ida's international debut. Ida: Woman Who Runs With the Moose was produced by Tantramar Theatre in Amherst, Nova Scotia, featuring a Canadian Ida.

Selected by Portland Magazine as one of the "Ten Most Intriguing People in Maine," Susan Poulin has been creating and touring her original theatrical productions since 1992. A graduate of the University of Southern Maine, she was a featured performer in The Mirth of Venus and The Mirth Canal at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and at The Maine Festival, the Minneapolis Fringe Theater Festival and Portland, Maine's Cassandra Project. Her work has been supported by the NH State Council on the Arts, the Maine Arts Commission, and the Maine Humanities Council. Susan is also a popular keynote speaker, and has brought her humor and insight to presentations for Seacoast Women's Week, the American Cancer Society (New England Division), and the Personal Historians National Conference. Her essays have been heard on both Maine and New Hampshire Public Radio.

Born in Jackman, ME, Susan now lives in Eliot with her husband and collaborator, Gordon Carlisle, and their dog, Charlie (who oddly bears a striking resemblance to Ida's dog, Scamp).

ABOUT IDA LECLAIR
Ida LeClair lives in Mahoosuc Mills, a small town in western Maine, with her husband, Charlie and their little dog, Scamp. When Ida's not busy telling you about the funnier side of life, she works as a cashier down to Super Food World (formerly the A & P), and moonlights doing books for Smitty's Hardware and the Mahoosuc Mills Mainely Maine store. Though her hobbies include Zumba, crafts, and country line dancing, perhaps her favorite are the adventures she has with her friends, Celeste, Rita, Betty, Dot, and Shirley (a.k.a. the Women Who Run With the Moose). As a consummate yard saler, Ida is featured in Bruce Littlefield's Garage Sale America, and even delves into the realm of motivational speaking with her presentation, The Moose in Me, The Moose in You!. For your weekly chuckle, check out Ida's popular Maine humor blog and podcast, Just Ask Ida. You can also like Ida on Facebook.