What to say? What to say?

I am giving a talk this Saturday to a bunch of delightful ladies at a tea. I haven't actually met but two or three of them, but I'm sure if they're coming to a tea they'll be delightful. It sounds like a fun thing to do. At least the tea part. I don't know about the listening to me part. Maybe the organizers won't tell them about that. Maybe they'll just advertise the tea cakes and cookies. You know how sometimes you have to get through something not all that great to get to the better part. I'm speaking first. So they have to listen to me, then enjoy the food. It's being held at one of the oldest churches in this area. A church even older than the one I go to and our church will be two hundred years old in three years. But Clear Creek Baptist Church in Woodford County has been around even longer.

So I'm looking forward to being there again. I've been in the church before with the guys (Patriot Qt) when they sang there. The church considers The Patriots practically a home group for them since they've sung there so often and the people support them with love and prayers. But they're not singing and don't worry. Neither am I. But I am talking, so I need to decide what I should talk about. I have twenty minutes. When I told somebody that (I've forgotten who which is good so I can't get mad at them), the smart alec said do you think you can just talk twenty minutes. As if they thought I'd talk all night. They won't have to worry about that. I'll want to get to the tea and cakes too.

But right now I just have to come up with what I'm talking about for twenty minutes. I want to say something inspiring and fun. I could give my "how I got to be a writer speech." Most people are interested in hearing about a writer's path to publication, but would that be inspiring? I think the lady in charge wanted inspiring. I could give my "Where in the story of Jonah are you?" speech, but I don't think this is the right place for that. Guess I'm at the beginning of the story of Jonah and saying I don't think I want to go to Ninevah on that one. I did a talk once about hands and how the Lord wants us to use them to help others. That went over well, but again it doesn't feel right.

Maybe I'll do like the old Regular Baptist preachers used to do and may still if those type of churches are still around. They didn't prepare sermons. They just opened the Bible and went to preaching. They called it grabbing onto heaven and holding on with their fingernails. They thought it presumptuous to prepare and showed lack of faith in the Lord to give them the message He wanted preached. I won't be able to do that. I'm a preparer. But I hope I will be open to what the Lord wants me to prepare. I think He can inspire you before the talk the same as during the talk. Of course the Bible does say the Holy Spirit will give you words to say when you're telling people about the Lord.

I'll probably end up combining something I hope will be inspiring and talk about my writing too. I'll try to keep it moving and watch my watch and talk just my twenty minutes or less so there will be a few minutes for questions and answers. That's always my favorite part of any talk. Of course the best questions come from first and second graders who have been told by the teacher to come up with a question to ask. You get some good ones then. Adults are usually too well mannered to ask those sort of questions, but you never know. This bunch of tea drinking ladies might surprise me with some doozies.

What is the worst or best question you've ever been asked? I guess a lot of people might say "Will you marry me?" is the best question, but there may be some who also say it could be the worst. I'm going to have to think about that in regard to writing questions. Maybe the hardest to answer is "What is your favorite book?"

And since we're talking about favorite books, I did my drawing for Summer of Joy by yours truly and Age Before Beauty by Virginia Smith and Bobbi from Kentucky is the winner. Bobbi has some great blogs and one of them is about books. You can check it out at Bobbi's Booknook, http://bobbisbooknook.blogspot.com. She reviews all sorts of books and has been kind enough to review a couple of mine in the past.

Thanks to all who entered the book giveaway in May. I'll be posting a new giveaway next week after I finish my work in progress. I'm going to give away a couple of copies of my new book, The Believer in June, July and August so there will be lots of chances to win. I'll give you details in the newsletter I plan to send out next week.

Think about me Saturday and pray that I won't put everybody to sleep. Maybe we should have coffee first. I'll tell you how it goes Sunday.

The Hope Factor in Books

I seem to have a theme going this month about books, so it's a good time to announce the winner of my latest website book give-away. Kim from right here in Kentucky won Virginia Smith's autographed copy of Stuck in the Middle and the choice of one of my books. Congratulations, Kim! Thanks to the rest of you who entered the drawing. I'll be posting a new give-away on my website in February. I have a couple of autographed books from other writers and of course my own. Maybe you'll be the lucky winner next time. I've also posted the cover of The Believer and have my new "Readers Say" page up and running. So check it out.

And since I'm talking about books, have you ever given up on a book? Just got tired of it and shut it and didn't pick it back up? I hope not one of mine. Or do you always finish every book you start whether you like it or not? I think I may have asked this question once before, but the reason it's back on my mind is that I've started a book I'm thinking about putting back on the shelf without finishing. It's an award winner, has great reviews, and looks like a book I would want to read. It's well written with finely drawn characters. But there's nobody I can like. It starts out with a ten-year-old narrating and you'd think anybody could like a ten-year-old girl. I want to. I really do, but I'm finding it hard. I think because I don't feel any hope in the story. I have the bad feeling things aren't going to get better and the child will never find a way that is not so difficult, not so depressing and that life is going to beat her down.

Bad things can happen in stories. I don't quit on them because of that. I might be unhappy if a character I care about is done in without good cause. I know. I know. I hear all of you screaming at me that I let people die in my stories, but only if that's what really happened. A writer has to stay true to her story and I think the writer of the book I'm ready to give up on is doing that. Maybe my problem is that I don't like her story. I miss that hope factor. Of course, I haven't put it back on the shelf yet. Perhaps I'll trudge on with her a few more pages. Would you?


January is being a cold one here in Kentucky. We're supposed to get down to 8 tonight and zero tomorrow night. It's been a while since it was that cold, but I remember much colder temps when I was growing up. Once the thermometer actually read 22 below. Very cold. And another time - after they came up with the wind chill temperatures to make you freeze a little faster -the wind chill was 47 below on Christmas Eve. That was a cold one and people's cars froze up while they were trying to get home for Christmas celebrations. I've been reading a Civil War diary and in it the diarist says it was 18 below on January 4, 1864, the coldest winter they'd had since 1835. So 8 degrees and zero sound almost balmy in comparison. Of course I haven't heard that nasty wind chill number yet.


So stay warm and remember, when the cold winds are blowing outside that's a great time to be cozy in your favorite reading chair with a cup of tea or hot chocolate and a book that is full of hope. And practice some kindness to keep us warm.

• "One kind word can warm three winter months." -Japanese Proverb