Right Now - Spring!

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them." ~~Henri Matisse

Spring - what a beautiful time of the year when hope takes wing and we simply know that something good is going to happen. Actually, official spring is about a week away, but the sun has decided on pushing spring toward us a little earlier this year here in KY. It was nearly 80 degrees here today. Flowers are popping up out of the ground, ready to burst into bloom. Trees are budding out.

And those of us familiar with KY weather are enjoying the sunshine and flowers even as we worry about the frosts to come that may steal our blooms and our fruit. But as the saying goes, worry is like a rocking chair. It keeps you busy but it doesn't get you anywhere. It is definitely true that there is not one thing I can do about the weather and there's no need at all worrying over what might come. All we really have is right now.

Right now, today was a beautiful day. Right now today, flowers are bursting forth. Right now today, I pulled out a few more words to add to my work in progress. Right now today, I got a sweet message from a reader who had just finished The Outsider. Said she read it while she walked on her treadmill and thanks to me she had gotten in a few extra miles when she didn't want to stop reading.

Right now today - well, actually yesterday - I walked to the Rock to check out the flowers and the hillsides were dotted with white blooms. The creek was full and running. My dog, Oscar, and the neighbor dog, Roxie, kept me company. A wild turkey escaped their notice and made it into the woods without being chased. The day was good.

Right now today - well, actually tomorrow - I am going to be sharing the microphone with writing friend, Ginny Smith at one of the nicest bookstores in the area, Joseph Beth Booksellers. She's even got a few friends who have promised to show up in spite of the fact that Kentucky plays WKU in the NCAA tournament at exactly the same time plus the Boys Sweet Sixteen Basketball tourny is goin on in the same town. Right now, I'm glad I have a recorder so I can record the game to watch later!! If Kentucky wins. I won't want to see it if they don't.

Right now, I'm hoping my story is waiting to burst forth like the flowers ready to bloom. Right now, I still have two pages to write to meet my daily writing goal. Right now, I think I won't have to sit up half the night to meet my goal. Right now.

What's happening in your life right now? Good things, I hope. Blessings abounding. Hope sprouting in your heart like flowers pushing through the deep layer of last fall's leaves to shout spring is here. Good things happening. Right now! Even if the calendar does say it's still winter.

Thanks for reading. Right now, I'm glad you're one of my reading friends.

By the way, I did finally get in touch with Anna S. of Iowa, the 2nd place winner in my Words Spoken True Louisville Celebration giveaway. She won the Louisville stoneware cup and the Starbucks coffee and flavored tea. Also, on Jeopardy tonight one of the questions/answers was Derby Pie and none of the contestants got it even though I was shouting it at them. :) But my first prize winner would have, since she got a piece of that pie in her Kentucky breakfast basket. She told me she ate the pie as soon as she got the basket. She knew how to enjoy the moment right now!

Two Bears and a Dog by Any Other Name...

What's in a name? How many times have you been introduced to somebody and the person's name made a jet fast trip in one of your ears and out the other? The same with some restaurant or store you hear advertised and plan to remember. Then later, you can't think of the name of the place for the life of you.

Well, my friends, Andy and Michael, the two guys smiling with me in the picture, aren't going to have that trouble. They came up with a great name for their book store. Two Bears and a Dog. I did a book signing at their store Saturday in Horse Cave, KY. From the first day I met Michael months ago at the KY Book Fair, I haven't forgotten the name of the book store.

That's good for me, because sometimes I'm not too sure I'm remembering my own name. No lie! We were talking about middle names on Facebook last week since it was "Middle Name" week or something. A time to admit and embrace your middle names. Got lots of fun comments about middle names.

To get the ball rolling, I was going to tell everybody my middle name, but there was a problem. I couldn't remember for sure how it was spelled. It's been years since I'd written it as part of my name because I use my maiden name as a middle name now. It seemed the least I could do since my dad didn't have any sons and he grieved about his name not being carried on.

But my middle name is Bernice. That's the way my mother spelled it when she gave it to me. At least, I think it is. Actually, I'm perfectly sure it is now, but I wasn't all that sure for a few minutes when I first thought about it the other day. Guess it's a good thing I have such a simple first name.

But then when I went to Horse Cave, KY Saturday for a book signing at a book store called Two Bears and a Dog, I figured I'd hit the jackpot in the name department. 

I love names. I work hard to come up with the exactly right names for my characters in my stories. In the original draft of Words Spoken True, Adriane was named Allison. I have no idea why she changed her name, but she did. And then in The Gifted, the Shaker book due out this summer, I wrote at least a fourth of the book about a girl named Isabella. But she never felt comfortable with her name. Finally she shook it off and became Jessamine. It wasn't until then that she came fully to life in my head. Thank goodness for the find and replace capabilities of a computer.

Last week I also got an e-mail from someone from Soddy-Daisy. That wasn't a KY place name, but our state has plenty of those kind of odd names for places too. The little community of Alton here in my home county that I base my fictional Rosey Corner on was once called Rough and Ready. Then somebody decided that wasn't a proper community name. The citizens of Horse Cave tried to do that too back in the 1870s. They changed their name to Caverna, but the railroad people wouldn't go along with the name change and kept calling the stop Horse Cave. After ten or so futile years of trying to be a town with a more sophisticated name, they went back to being Horse Cave. Any of you read Cold Sassy Trees? Seems that was one of the story lines in that book. A town in search of a better name.

What about you? What oddly named places have you visited or seen? Or share your middle name. Maybe you'll at least know how to spell yours!! Let's celebrate names this week.

Thanks for reading. Love it when you come to visit.

Talking Books in E-town

February and March have been busy book months for me with the release of Words Spoken True. The book went on a blog tour and has gotten over fifty reviews so far. Most have been very positive which is nice for this writer since the book is very different from my other recent books. You never know if readers are going to be willing to follow you along a different story trail. I'm thankful so many of you were willing to try something different, because I like writing different types of books.


But not only the book went on a blog tour, I did too, visiting numerous blogs to talk about Words Spoken True and do some interviews. I've been a regular at our post office sending out books to this or that person who won a book by commenting on one of those blogs I visited. And I still have a couple of interviews promised that I haven't done yet. I love talking about books. My books and other books too.


That's what I was doing with these lovely ladies above. We got together at the fabulous Word of God Christian Book and Gifts Store in Elizabethtown. Michele Brown was nice enough to ask me down to talk about my writing with some of her customers.

It is always enlightening to hear what readers have to say about the books they read - especially when they're talking about a book I wrote! One of the ladies there said she didn't like my ending and when she explained her problem with it, I could see her point of view. That didn't make me wish I'd written the ending differently. I think what happened in the story is what happened. That's the way stories are for me. I write down what happened. But it was interesting seeing the story from her perspective.

Some of the ladies had read my Shaker books, so of course, we did some Shaker talking too. And they told me what they liked in the books they read. I asked them if they liked romance in their stories and they said yes. I asked them if they liked sad endings and they said no. I asked what they liked best about the stories they read and they said characters they could like. I certainly could go along with that. Who wants to read a book about characters you don't like? So I had a great time talking books with reading friends in E-town.

This coming Saturday, March 10, I'm going to be going down that highway again. This time to Horse Cave, KY for a book signing at the Two Bears and a Dog Book Store. I doubt if I'll ever visit a book store with a better name. I am scheduled to be there between 1 and 4 p.m., so if you're in the area, drop by to see me and meet those "bears" and a dog.  Then next Thursday, March 15, I'll be at Joseph-Beth's Book Store in Lexington with my writer friend, Virginia Smith to talk about and sign our new books. Ginny's latest release, A Heart's Frontier has been getting great reviews. We'll be sure to have plenty to talk about with our Lexington, KY reading friends.

One of the questions I asked on one of my blog visits was "What question do you most like to have an author answer in a blog interview? Or what question do they never get asked that you would like to see?"

I sent out my prizes for the Words Spoken True Louisville Celebration Contest last week. Well, two of them. I still haven't heard from one of the prize winners. Anna S., if you're out there, please check your e-mails. I may have to redraw for the 2nd place winner if I don't hear from Anna soon. But I got this neat note from the 1st place winner, Jodi K from Wisconsin, about the basket of KY breakfast goodies she won.  "I received the gift basket today. The derby pie was heavenly and I did not share. I can't wait to make breakfast this weekend." Glad you enjoyed the pie, Jodi!

Thanks for reading, everybody. What question would you like to see answered in the writer interviews you read?






  

Lyn Cote and Why She Writes About the Quakers

Lyn Cote

Hi, everybody.
Occasionally I have the privilege of welcoming another author over to write in my writer's journal. Today I'm especially pleased to welcome Lyn Cote, multi-published, bestselling author of books that tell brave stories about strong women. I've been fortunate enough to visit her blog a few times so today she's returning the favor. As a bonus she has a special offer for all your readers about some free or discounted books. Read the links and titles at the end of her interview and be sure to let Lyn know how much you appreciate her generosity.  

First, welcome, Lyn. As you know I have several books about the Shakers, who have a few similarities to the Quakers that you have used as central characters in books you have written. What caught your interest and started you writing about the Quakers or Society of Friends?

I've never analyzed before why I have always been drawn to Quakers. I know that like Ann who writes about the Shakers, I'm going against the current "Amish" flow. :-)

I think that the Quakers or Friends strong moral stands which ran counter to the prejudices of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries is what attracted my crusading spirit. My brand is expressed as "Strong Women, Brave Stories" since my heroines are usually crusaders who are at the forefront for change in their times.

According to Wikipeida: "Historically, Quakers have been known for their use of thee as an ordinary pronoun, refusal to participate in war; plain dress; refusal to swear oaths; and opposition to alcohol." Indeed in our history, they were instrumental in settling our nation and in the 19th century were the Christians who pushed for the rights of women, abolition and the temperance movement.

I've always admired the Quakers and wanted to know more about them. Sounds like your stories will help me there. Tell us about the series you just finished.

I just finished the Gabriel Sisters series which portrayed three Quaker sisters who try to bind up the wounds of our nation after the Civil War. One goes to teach at a Freedman's school in the South; one established an orphanage for the many orphans left by the war and the third who was a nurse in the war becomes a doctor in the West. Recently I agreed to write another Quaker series which will dramatically portray the Quakers' part in establishing the Underground Railroad and working toward abolition.

All those books sound really exciting. I love reading about women who made a difference in our country's history. Definitely all these ideas sound as if they easily fit into your brand of brave stories about strong women. What else have you been working on?

Last year, I had time to revise and polish my very first manuscript, La Belle Christiane. This book never sold because it didn't follow some of the unwritten rules of Christian fiction. I still thought it's a good story and now it's FINALLY available in digital and print. I did this because I didn't want it to sit ignored in my files forever. Interestingly I find that La Belle Christiane included my fascination with the Quakers (I have an older couple of Friends) and I have a crusading heroine. Here's a short blurb:

In the 1770's, after her mother's violent murder, Christiane Pelletier flees France. Daughter of a French courtesan to frontier wife to companion of Lady Washington, Christiane moves into the heart of the American rebel elite. But one man in her life can never be forgotten. Once he was her friend. Now he is her enemy. Will he become her destiny? Only God knows.

What fun to have that very first book that you've always loved finally available to readers! Thanks for telling us about it. And thanks for these special offers to my blog readers.

Okay, everybody, here's your chance to get some great reads downloaded on your e-readers for free or to get a discount on a print book. Instead of offering one free download (not print copy) of this book, Lyn is offering a free coupon to anyone who wants it today. Go to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/92021  and enter this discount code VM67X . This offer is good for today only. To buy a print copy, go to https://www.createspace.com/3669135.

For a discount code for $3 off $15.99 print edition, go to http://LynCote.net and click Contact and email Lyn.

And as an additional offer, you can get Lyn's Autumn's Shadow free on Kindle through Monday March 5, 2012.

http://amzn.to/y9PY6Q
The first book in the series is priced on sale at 99 cents on Kindle the same days.http://amzn.to/v8BqEz

Now Lyn has a question for you.

Did you know much about Quakers before today? And does a heroine using "thee" bother you as you read?

Lyn, thank you so much for coming over to visit and letting us know more about the Quakers and your books. And thank you, readers, for dropping by and for answering Lyn's question. We'll look forward to you sharing your thoughts, and Lyn will be back over to talk with you too.

If you want to know more about Lyn and her books, please check out her website, http://booksbylyncote.com.

One Last Chance to Make It Right

"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell." (William Strunk)

I got the pages for my next Shaker novel, The Gifted, dropped at my front door yesterday. I wrote the book months ago and sent it in to the acquiring editor. Then I had to sit on pins and needles a few weeks until she had time to read it and say, "Yes, the story works." Or words to that effect along with some "but you need to fix this or that" suggestions. Once those edits were done, the book headed on to the next editor in the publishing company. 

This second editor read through the book, caught more problems with the way I told the story, discovered my pet words. I seem to have some in every book. I run through a variety of them. Just. Still. Of course. Comfort words for me. Words that help me transition my thinking while I'm writing, but words that can be repetitious and often unnecessary when noted with an editorial eye. Here, with the galleys, I could fix things, rewrite things, make the story better after the discerning eyes of the copy-editor spotted weaknesses. I could also fix the things my own editing eye was able to see after a few months away from the story. 

Now, I have the pages - the stack in the photo above. At this stage of the editing process, I can't do major rewrites. I shouldn't need to do major rewrites. But if I did go crazy with my red pen, it wouldn't be good because edits and corrections are harder to make once the editorial process has gotten this far along. With the pages, I got a list of queries from the editor. Things are noted that both of us missed in the first few go-arounds. Proofreaders have read the book and their sharp eyes have noted a few mistakes here and there and have questioned this or that. Things still need fixing. I need to make every word right. 

Perfection is rarely possible. At least for me. There's always something with each reading of any of my books that I think might be worded better or presented in a fresher way. This book will be no different. But I will read through it. I will pay attention to the suggested improvements. I'll tweak a word here and there. I'll do my very best to write the story so that when you, the reader, opens it up and begins to read that the words will disappear and the story will play out in your imagination - not as words but as images. 

That's why writers edit and polish and try to make every word tell as William Strunk advises in the quote above. Words can be beautiful. The way they're put together can thrill the mind. And they can tell a story. That's all I'm trying to do - tell a story. And so, I'll read through these pages and do my best to make my words sing so that my readers will be carried away by the melody. Not perfect, but the best I can do with the help of my editor friends.

What things pull you out of a story when you're reading? Have you noted editing or writing mistakes in the books you've read?
 
On another note, all the entries are in for my Louisville contest to celebrate Words Spoken True. The blog tour for the book was last week and reviews are popping up all over the net. I'll be using Random.org to draw for the winners later today. I'll let everybody know either in a newsletter or with a special post here. 

Sunday, I'll have a special guest here on One Writer's Journal. Well known and popular author, Lyn Cote, will be sharing about her books and why she started writing about the Quakers. She'll also be offering a free download of one of her books, so come back on Sunday to see what Lyn has to say. 

Thanks for reading. Now if I can keep from sneezing long enough - I've caught a nasty cold - I'll get to work on those pages.

Brownies, Blog Tours, Book Parties & More

Okay, so I took my camera to my Hometown Book Launch today and forgot to take even one picture to share with you, my cyber friends and neighbors. I could have at least taken a picture of those brownies I baked for my reading friends. But I was too busy talking to think about pictures. So you get a picture of Spring instead. Soon we'll have flowers like this blooming in the warm sunshine. March is mere days away and the flowering time of the year won't be far behind.

It was fun having a book party with my hometown friends to celebrate Words Spoken True. I started doing these hometown book events when The Scent of Lilacs was published in 2005. Since that book's setting was my hometown back in the 1960s, I thought the least I could do was have an event for my local readers and friends. We might not be able to actually go back to the Sixties to party, but we could gather in the antique portion of the public library and celebrate me having the book published and Lawrenceburg getting a little book time. Of course, I did change the name of the town to Hollyhill. As I tell my Lawrenceburg friends, the Lawrenceburg series just doesn't have that pleasant roll off your tongue sound that Hollyhill has. 

Once I started the book party tradition, I enjoyed it too much to stop. Before The Scent of Lilacs was published, I wrote for several years without any publishing success, so now I want to celebrate every time I'm blessed with a new novel out for readers. Plus, it's just plain fun talking about my books with friends. Where I used to quake and tremble at the thought of standing up in front of a group of people and talking, now I love it. I feel as if we're having a conversation. I do end up doing most of the talking, but I'm always ready to pass the microphone off if a friend has something to say.

I had some new friends show up today and some of my regulars, who have shown up for nearly every book party I've had, didn't make it. Maybe they've heard my story enough. Words Spoken True did have an interesting path, and a long one, to publication. Maybe that can be next week's post.

As I told you last week, Words Spoken True has been flying around the internet gathering reviews like my little cockerspaniel used to go out on the farm and pick up sticktights. The reviews have flooded in. Most of them have been positive. Some have withheld a few stars.

Here's one of the nice ones. I have a couple of reasons to like this one. First she says nice things about my book. Second, in these days when authors are often pushed to establish their brands, she doesn't mind my books being different. I've always wanted my brand to be "storytelling."

“Ms. Gabhart has seemed to carve a nitch for herself in writing  deeply moving and emotional stories that touch on faith and on  your soul. WORDS SPOKEN TRUE is a beautiful and enlightening  read that I highly recommend.”                      —Marilyn Rondeau, CK2s Kwips & Kritiques http://www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com/2012/02/14/ review-words-spoken-true-by-ann-h-gabhart/ So at my book party today, we ate the brownies. We talked books. I enjoyed seeing friends and family.  I looked over some of the  reviews coming in when I got home. I wrote this blog post. I  counted my blessings and you're in the number.  Thanks for reading.

Hometown Book Fun

"Unless their use by readers bring them to life, books are indeed dead things." ~Lawrence Clark Powell


I always thank my readers in my acknowledgements because, as Powell says above, a book has to have a reader to come to life. Fiction writers and readers form a unique partnership of imagination. The writer comes up with the characters and lets their adventures flow through his or her fingers to form a story with words. Those words become a book and then the reader comes into the game. The reader absorbs the words and the characters spring to life inside his or her mind and begin living out their stories.

Part of a writer's job these days is not only to write the story and get it to the store shelf or wherever, but today the writer has to connect with potential readers and not simply wait for readers to find her. There are many ways for this to happen. One way is to write such a great story that everybody starts talking about it and this friend tells that friend and soon the books are getting read in easy chairs at home, in buses on the way to work, in airplanes and trains, and on beaches in the sun.

I suppose that's the way we'd all choose if we could. But at times word of mouth needs a jump start. Sometimes the author has to let people know the book is ready to fit in their hands. So writers show up at bookstores to do book signings. Writers become speakers at club meetings and other events. They might stop in at radio shows or sometimes show up on television. Whatever it takes to get readers to notice our books.

So the month a book comes out, writers like me spend a lot of time talking about the book. We hop around the internet visiting blogging friends. We give away copies as enticement to read about the book and write reviews. Some of us even come up with other contests to tie in with our books to attempt to get readers to notice our books. I have the Louisville themed contest accessed from my website or you can check out the newspaper themed one on Fresh Fiction's Contest Page. Both contests end at midnight EST on the 29th, Leap Year day, so if you haven't yet entered, you still have time. Here's the second prize of my Louisville contest - a Louisville Stoneware cup with a city skyline decoration. The 1855 Louisville skyline is behind Adriane on the cover of Words Spoke True.

But the events to get my books in front of the reading public that I enjoy the most are the ones where I get to talk to my reading friends the way I'm doing in the picture above. This is at my first book launch for Words Spoken True at the Corinth Christian Book Store in Frankfort a couple of weeks ago. Sunday I'm going to celebrate with my hometown friends at the local library. I've been doing an event like this for every book since The Scent of Lilacs was published in 2005 and it's one I look forward to each time I have a new release.

Some of my reading friends have been very faithful, coming back to hear me talk about writing again and again. Others are new reading friends who come out to meet one of their local writers. We have a bunch of writers in our area, but many of them are originally from somewhere else. I'm a hometown girl that many of my readers here have known for years and years. I'm one of them and it's fun to get together and talk books.

I'll also be taking my show on the road to the Joseph-Beth Book Sellers in Lexington, KY on Thursday, March 15. There I'll be sharing the book stage with writing friend, Virginia Smith.

But then at the end of the promotional whirlwind month, things will settle down again and I'll be back at my desk trying to let another character's story spill out of my head to make a new book.

Thanks for reading. And if you have a minute, let me know what influences your decision to pick up a book. Reviews? Free book promotions? Book fairs? Book parties? A friend's recommendation? Just the look of the book? What wins your attention?