One Last Flower for the Name the Flower Giveaway

Name the Flower Game is Almost Over

All good things must come to an end, they say, and I suppose that goes for fun with wildflowers in a Name the Flower game too. This is the last wildflower for you to guess or to name to get an entry in the drawing for a couple of books. The winner's choice of one of my books and a grab bag book. 

Here are some of the choices. All great reads. I'll pick three winners on Sunday. So get your guesses in on the new flower or go back and name any of the other flowers from past posts if you haven't already done so. Each guess on a different flower gets you another entry to maybe win your choice of some of these books. 

A New Flower to Name

But back to flowers. The one up top is the one to name. I remember when I first found these down by the creek. I thought maybe there was something wrong with them since to my eye they looked a little wilted. But when I came home that day and searched through my flower book, I found a picture of the flower that looked exactly like the ones I'd seen. So do you recognize the new flower? If you don't, what would you call it if you got the privilege of naming the plant? 

Now What in the World was Last Week's Flower?

I picked some different flowers for you all to see and name in the last few weeks. Nobody who left a comment came up with the actual name of this little flower. A few of you gave it a tri-something name because of its cute little three petal like things. That sounds really scientific, doesn't it? 

It's Wild Ginger. My son asked me if it was really what ginger

came from and no, it's not. However, Native Americans and early settlers did harvest the root, dry it and grind it into a powder to use as a spice. Some settlers also cooked the root in sugar water for several days to get a ginger-flavored candied root and then used the leftover liquid as a syrup. But since then, scientists have found the plants may contain poisonous compounds, so they strongly advise against eating the root now. It was also used as a poultice on woods and has since been found to contain some antibiotic compounds. 

The flower has an unusual story of how it attracts small flies that come out of the ground in the early spring looking for carcasses of animals that didn't survive the winter. The flower is close to the ground where it is easy for the flies to find and the color of the flower is similar to decomposing flesh. It's unsure whether the flies pollinate the flowers, but the insects do crawl into the flowers to escape the chilly spring weather. That may be more that you wanted to know about Wild Ginger, but in case it's not, you can read even more about this interesting wildflower at a USDA Forest Service site here. That's where I found the information about the flower.

So Now It's Time to Name the New Flower

Your turn now to leave a comment about the new flower or about the old flower. All comments are welcome and if you also leave a way to be contacted (if you haven't previously left that information with a guess on an earlier Name the Flower post) then you'll get an entry in the giveaway. 

As always, thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed the Name the Flower game.

Some Seeds are Trouble

Have you had fun guessing the seeds? This is the last one. I'll be drawing for the winners this weekend. Two winners or who knows? Maybe three. And remember you don't have to have the right guess to enter. Just say you don't know the way Gail and Annette did on Sunday's post. But some of you did guess my Sunday picture or at least came very close. The picture is of a Chinese chestnut from a tree in our yard. 

Somebody gave my husband the seed years ago and he decided to see if it would grow. It did. But I have to tell you it is NOT my favorite tree. It was okay for several years, but then it bloomed. Not good. Very not good! At the time we didn't have air conditioning and depended on an attic fan to cool out the house at night. Chinese chestnut blooms smell very bad, or at least ours does. That first year I thought some poor animal had crawled up under our bedroom window and died -- days ago!! I had to hold my breath walking through the yard. I went from the wonderful fragrance of lilacs to these. Not a good progression. 

For some reason, this year the blooms didn't smell as awful. Of course the last few years we've had the air conditioning and haven't had to have our windows open to the stinking fragrance. And it may have not bloomed as heavily as it did those earlier years. 

But that's not the only problem with this tree. The outer shells of the chestnut is neat, don't you think? Well, it is also very, very sticky, and it is almost impossible to pick one of them up without getting small needles in your fingers. When I first discovered this, my grandson was about two and running around barefoot in the yard. He got a foot full of these stickers. Impossible to see, but painful. So I picked up every one of the chestnuts and even the bits of the shells I could find and removed it from the yard. 

Still, every tree has its own special charms. I'm sure someday I'll figure out a charm for this one. In fact, I went online to look the tree up and in the pictures I found the trees did look charming. Maybe I need to give ours some fertilizer or something. 

I do have to note a couple of the great guesses. Loretta guessed hollyhocks and took me back to my childhood when I loved playing with hollyhock seeds. Not that they looked much like chestnuts, but it was still a fun memory. Ann guessed a burr thingy. That could cover a lot of burr seeds. :) And Amy had the fun guess of a caterpillar. If you squint your eyes and use your imagination, you can see that caterpillar and then you can think about how in some weird way the caterpillar might be considered a butterfly seed. LOL. 

Thank you all for guessing and making this mystery seed contest fun. This post's seeds might be easier for you. So what do you think? Do you know what the picture of seeds is this time? I can't wait to read your guesses. 

But while I'm waiting for you to read this, I'm going to go out on the deck and look at the ocean a while here in Monterey Bay where I've been at a writers' retreat. I need to hurry because the sun is going down and the day is fleeing. Tomorrow, I have to get on the airplane and fly home. Looking forward to being home again too and seeing my husband and taking Oscar for a walk. 

As always, thanks for reading.

Mystery Picture Giveaway Fun

Are you ready for a new giveaway? I've got books that want a new home. The prize is an autographed copy of Karen Kingsbury's The Chance and the winner's choice of one of my books shown in the photo below. And you can have my autograph too. Mine is sort of plain compared to Karen's interesting autograph. She must have taken lessons from her doctor, but I saw her sign it. So I know it's hers. lol. 

To enter, all you have to do is make a guess about what the picture is. It's more fun if you don't read everybody's guesses until after you make yours. Besides, they might be wrong. Besides again, you will be entered in the drawing whether you're right or wrong. The guessing is just for fun. 

I can't decide whether this mystery picture is too easy or not. I guess we'll see. I'll post another mystery picture on Wednesday and if you guess on that one too then you'll have an extra entry in the giveaway. I'll announce the winner on next Sunday's post (August 3). The contest is open to U.S.A. and Canada only and you must be 18 to enter. Please leave a way to contact you. If you're a Facebook friend who has liked my Facebook page, I can contact you that way if you tell me your FB name. Otherwise I'll need your e-mail contact. You can guess without leaving contact info, but you can't win the books. Finally, if you can't get the comment to go here (I've heard some of you say you have problems commenting on my posts), then you can send me a message on my Facebook page or send me a direct e-mail at annhgabhart(at)yahoo(dot)com. 

The Revell sponsored giveaway of 5 copies of Love Comes Home is still going on at the Book Fun Network. All you have to do to enter is answer one of my questions. And if you'd like to know more about the inspiration behind my Rosey Corner books, you can check out my guest post on Finding Hope Through Fiction.  

Also, if you haven't downloaded Scent of Lilacs, it's still free and getting new reviews on Amazon and other sites almost daily. If you've read it and enjoyed the story, let your reading friends know that they can get it for free on their e-readers. 

Last, I do so appreciate every one of you. I appreciate your kind words and all your prayers for Mom while she was ill and for me and my family after she took off for heaven. I dreamed about Mom last night. She was still sick, but she knew me. I think in her heart, she always did. The dementia just blocked it from rising to her conscious thinking. 

Thanks for reading and I'll look forward to your guesses. If you all get this one right, I'll try to come up with something harder on Wednesday. :)



 

The Mystery of Ideas

A New Mystery Photo

Are you ready for a new mystery photo? Here it is to the left. Leave a guess to have an entry in my book giveaway. If you've guessed on the other posts, guessing here will give you another entry. You don't have to guess right. Just guess. I've really enjoyed all your comments and guesses. 

Sunday's Mystery Photo

And for those of you who haven't guessed on Sunday's mystery photo, here it is again. Take one last look and guess before I reveal the rest of the photo below. I will tell you that I've tricked most of you on that picture, many more of you than I expected to. I'll post one more mystery photo Sunday and then on Wednesday, the 19th, I'll draw for winners (2) of my book, Summer of Joy (or winners can choose one of my other titles) and a grab bag book by a different Christian author. I'll offer the winners a choice of several titles. Maybe one by Dani Pettrey or Julie Klassen. 

The Mystery of Ideas

Do you ever wonder where writers come up with ideas? That is one of my most asked questions when I'm giving a book talk. Where do I get my ideas? It's a hard question to answer since sometimes I don't know exactly where the ideas come from. When I'm beginning a new story, I start with just the germ of an idea. Usually a "what if" question. 

The Heart of Hollyhill's What If Question

The Heart of Hollyhill series started with a question something like this "What if I had a young girl whose father was a preacher and whose mother had deserted the family years earlier?" Of course that was just the beginning. But from that question, all the other questions about what happened next came - through three books. 

Some parts of the idea can be tracked down to their origins. The part about David, my preacher character, not being able to get a church after his wife left him came from my own pastor's experience. He lost his pastorate at a church when his wife left him and for several years was unable to find a church that would let him preach even though his wife had been unfaithful to him and insisted on the divorce. 

Then I pulled a lot of the setting for the books from what I remembered my little town being like in the 1960s. If you take part in the The Book Club Network, www.bookfun.org, you can check out a special giveaway about Summer of Joy there beginning March 25. I just finished doing a piece that will be posted by Nora on TBCN about how I based the setting for my Hollyhill books on my own small town and my own country church. 

But there were also things that either grew out of the story and just suddenly came to mind in a way that's a mystery to me. Wes from Jupiter for one. I didn't plan Wes when I was trying to come up with the plot of the book, but I'm certainly glad his spaceship hit that air bump and he landed in Hollyhill. That probably sounds really crazy if you haven't read Scent of Lilacs, but Wes tells Jocie Jupiter stories to keep from revealing his past. Other story events are equally as hard to explain, but it's just what happened when my character came to life in my imagination. 


The Mystery Revealed

You are all going to be surprised, but there was only one correct answer and she was sure she was going to be wrong. So Donna, you can laugh, but because you were right and not wrong. Popcorn, cotton, and cotton candy were what most of you guessed. But here's the rest of the picture so you can see. Baby chicks waiting to be sold at Tractor Supply. A very springtime photo. Can't you almost hear them cheeping? 

Thanks for reading and for guessing. Don't forget to guess on the new photo and come back Sunday for one last mystery photo. I haven't figured out what that one is going to be. It's a mystery even to me. Remember if you guess and want to be in the drawing for the books, you have to leave a way for me to contact you. Thanks.

Do you ever wonder where writers get their ideas?

The Girl in the Picture

Some things are keepsakes that can't be gotten rid of even though they have no real value other than sentimental attachment. This picture is one of those things here at my mother's house that my sisters and I would never be able to throw away. When we were children, the picture hung in the corner of our aunt's living room. It was painted by my great aunt, Herve, who had a flair for creativity. She had a rock garden in her backyard that was a wonder, and when she decided she needed new flooring in her house, she simply painted her old linoleum gray and then dotted it with a variety of bright colors.  

I don't know when she painted this picture, but it was my aunt's house. Aunt Herve added plenty of personal touches, including my aunt's cats and dogs. She carefully planted the flowers in her picture the same as they were in the yard, if perhaps coloring them a bit brighter. She added plenty of bright birds too. Then there's the pasted on picture of the girl holding a cat. I always imagined I was the girl in the picture, but it most likely represented my older sister since I can't remember when the picture was painted and given to my aunt. But I wanted to be the cute little girl in the picture and so I imagined I was. 

Maybe that was the beginning of me putting myself in a story. That's a question I often get about my writing. How much of this or that character is me? Since I did use my hometown background in my Hollyhill books, readers ask if Jocie is me. And the answer is no. And yes. She isn't me, but she's the girl I imagine I am in the story. A writer has to get inside the skin of her characters, especially her viewpoint characters. And while I have several viewpoint characters in Scent of Lilacs, Jocie is the beginning character, the one the story rotates around. Things happen to her that never happened to me. She does things I would have never had the nerve to do. She is not me. But in a way, I am the girl in the story the way I was the girl in the picture. How? Imagination. 

Actually most of us are the girl in the story or the guy in the story when we're reading. That's why reading is such fun. We live their stories without getting all the bumps and bruises. We laugh with them and cry with them and share their adventures right in the safety of our favorite reading spots. I'm hoping some of you will imagine you are Jocie in Scent of Lilacs when the book is available again in March. Before that, I hope you'll drop by Jocie's blog to get to know the people of Hollyhill. Jocie or one of her friends will be sharing something every Monday for a while. Just click on the tab up at the top of this post or go to www.hollyhillbookofthestrange.blogspot.com. Remember too, if you leave a comment on either this blog or Jocie's blog before March 1, you'll be entered in a blog only giveaway for an autographed copy of Scent of Lilacs. I'll draw three winners and each time you comment, you'll get a new entry. Then maybe you'll be reading and imagining you're the girl in the story.

Thanks so much for reading my journal too.

One Thin Dime and Other Treasures

I'm sure you've heard people say they don't have "a dime to their name." Or that some things are a "dime a dozen." Or it's "not worth a dime."

You can be absolutely sure they weren't talking about this dime. Take a good look at this beauty and then take another look. It's worth it. I'm not a coin collector, but this story caught my eye in the newspaper yesterday. This little dime sold for 1.6 million dollars. Yes, this one thin dime. And actually after the buyer's fee is added, it ends up costing 1.84 million. It was minted in Carson City, Nevada during a one day run of dimes in 1873 and was part of a collection of every coin made in Carson City before that mint closed in 1893. I've just got one word for that. Wow! And if you happen to come across a dime that looks like this, remember, it's definitely not worth a dime. It's worth a million of them.

It's interesting to think about what things are worth. Makes me think of that commercial about how some things are priceless. This dime wasn't. It brought a price - a big price. But so many other things in life are beyond price. Love. Family. Health. True friends. The wag of a dog's tail. Watching a grandchild (or two of them) blow out birthday candles. Being able to do the things you love to do. In life, the things that matter most aren't for sale. They are gifts that we can open with joy.

What are some of the gifts or blessings without price that you treasure?

Remember, I'm giving away a copy of The Gifted to two of you who comment on one of my posts this week. Either this one or the one last Wednesday, Romance with Books. In fact if you comment on both posts, then I'll throw your name into my hat twice.

I do so appreciate the way some of you follow me when I visit other blogs. I was a visitor on Cathy West's This is a Blog about Books last Friday answering the question, Who Am I? If you want to read about my writing roots, you can check that out. But you also definitely deserve a chance to win here. Of course, if you just want to comment without being in the drawing, that would be great too. Always enjoy seeing your comments.

Thanks for reading and commenting too.

Romance with Books

 "Books in a home with growing children is one of the most important things you can put in a house." ~ Thomas D. Clark (Kentucky historian and friend)

I was a guest blogger over on The Romance Dish this week with a post about "The Romance of Writing." Lots of good comments came in about what readers liked in the books they read. Then this afternoon while I was walking, I thought about what a romance I've had with words and books almost all my life. These two books, Black Beauty and Little Women were probably two of the very first "big" books I owned. They were Christmas gifts and treasured ones at that. I got a lot of my books from the library on loan, but these I could put my name on the inside cover. And I did. These words made a horse and a family of sisters come to life in my head. I was officially in love with books. 

Before I go on chattering, what do you notice about these books? Besides the worn spines. I'll tell you what I notice at the end of this post. And since I've been all over giving books away on other blogs, I think it's time I gave away a couple of books here on One Writer's Journal. If you leave a comment before the post next Wednesday, you'll be entered in the drawing. Two winners chosen by random will get an autographed copy of The Gifted. And let's make it fun. Tell me the first book you remember reading and if you can't remember that one, tell me a favorite book or the last book you've read. 

Back to chattering.  Once I discovered reading, I was never far from a book. Books were my friends, my entertainment, my teachers. The words soaked deep into my mind and filled me with the desire to spill my own words out on paper. The beauty of words transported this little farm girl into thousands of different settings to live thousands of different lives. I've fallen in love with countless handsome heroes. I've mourned too many sad deaths to number - even the death of a spider in Charlotte's Web. Who could have ever imagined crying over a dead spider? But oh, the magic of words that can lead us down a fictional path into a make believe world that swallows us up.

So come on and share the first book you remember reading. Any comment will get you into the drawing next Wednesday, but we might as well have fun remembering favorite books. That will be a little bonus fun for those of you like me who rarely win these kind of drawings. 

Thanks again for reading. Oh, and did you figure out what I was noticing on those books in the picture? No author's names on the front covers. The author's names might have been on the spines that fell off the books long ago. Of course, these books were packaged especially for young readers like I was then. Maybe that's why the companies didn't think the author's name mattered. Maybe the author's name still doesn't matter. The story - that's what matters.

A New Book in Hand

It's fun when the doorbell rings and it's the Fed Ex driver bringing a new book. Especially when it's your new book or I suppose in this case - my new book! The Seeker is all printed and ready to go. This was an early rush "so I could see it first" copy but the others will soon be on the way to me and to stores. At least that's what I'm hoping. So if you want to be in the drawings I'm doing all through the month of June e-mail me from my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/ or leave a comment here. You know something like "Yeah sure, I'd like to win a free book." I even pay the postage. That's because I enjoy hearing from reading and writing friends and I enjoy sharing my books.

~~~

It looks good. They always look good when I see all my words printed out and bound up in a neat book. A lot of people are saying the book as we know it is going to disappear and I'm no teller of the future, but I do know I like holding a book in my hands and turning real pages. You may feel different. A lot of people really enjoy their e-book reading devices and I might like them too for certain books and for researching on the fly, but there's still something about settling down with a real book. And a nice tall glass of iced tea. And oh what the heck, let's eat a little chocolate too. Then we can let our imaginations take off for who knows where. Maybe a little town in the middle of Kentucky. Maybe a world no one's ever heard of before. Maybe a Shaker Village back during the Civil War. That last one sounds interesting. ;o)

~~~

Thanks for reading. Now I've got to get back to work searching for those elusive two words "The End" on my next Shaker book. I'm thinking about the titles The Blessed or The Given. Of course I realize you have no idea what the story is about except that it does return to my Shaker village of Harmony Hill. So what do you think about those titles? Would they catch your interest?

Moments in Time

Today while I was walking I got to thinking about how I remember odd moments in my life. I'm sure you do too. Of course we all have those universal moments we remember. Moments of tragedy or world changing events so intense that we remember exactly what we were doing when we got the news. The bombing of Pearl Harbor. Kennedy's assassination. The space shuttle explosion. 9/11. Times seared in our memories. I'm not old enough to remember Pearl Harbor, but I remember all the others.
~~
But we also remember other moments in time not so dramatic and that seem to have little reason to linger so vividly in our minds. Little snippets of ordinary moments come back to me like how a mockingbird used to perch in the topmost branch of a tree at my old home and sing while I hung clothes on the line. That bird not only sang but would also flutter up off that branch in a bird dance of joy. In another moment I remember the sweet weight of my baby daughter's warm body against my chest and how she giggled when I rocked her. I know how my father-in-law's whiskers felt under my fingers when I lathered up his cheeks to shave him after he got older and wasn't able to shave himself. I can remember how it sounded to open up the lid of the big red metal cooler full of cold water at the country store and pull out a glass bottle of orange cola. Or how the screen door slammed when I came in from school. Then there was the deliciously cool feel of the linoleum floor after I kicked off my shoes and peeled off my bobby socks and how those socks left a pattern of little indentions on the top of my feet. Little moments in time that stick in my mind for no other reason than they happened.
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As a writer, I have to invent all those little moments in time for my characters. Of course in a story I need the big moments when a character is faced with challenges and life changing events, but to make my character really come to life in my head as well as for the readers, I have to know some of those little moments in time for my characters too. Those moments might not all make it into my story, but some of them will. Moments in time. That's what makes a story. Moments strung together in a forward march to find out what happens next or in flashback moments to see what happened before. Picking the right moments in time to put in a story - that's a writer's challenge.
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What ordinary moments in time live on in your memory?
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Oh yeah, and the peony picture is just for pretty. Second oh yeah - if you haven't signed up for my new giveaway, I'll be doing the first drawing for a chance to win an autographed copy of my new book, The Seeker, next week and then several more drawings in the month of June and July. Leave a comment with a way to contact you or if you don't want to leave your e-mail address here, contact me from my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/. You might be one of the lucky winners. Plus if you'd like some bookmarks for The Seeker, e-mail me your address and I'll send you a few along with a signed book plate.
~~

Who to Thank?

~~This is a picture of my mom and my youngest grandbaby and her youngest great grandbaby.

~~I wrote an author's note for one of my upcoming books thanking the people who had helped make the book possible. I never know for sure who I should thank first. My editor? My agent? My publisher?

~~Then I realized that person - the one I should thank first - was my mom. She never told me I couldn't be a writer although she must have thought I had big dreams for a little country girl. Dreams that might never come true, but she never discouraged those dreams. She wanted me to be happy and if that meant chasing after what seemed like an impossible dream, she didn't tell me that. Instead she wished wings for my feet. Then when I got married too young and had a couple of babies, again too young, she was probably thinking I'd do well to get the babies diapered and fed. And she was right, but I also wrote a few words here and there between diaper changes and chores. Because she loved me, she never said I was too young even when I was. She just helped me be old enough and loved my babies along with me.

~~When I spent money Darrell and I couldn't spare on a writing course I found in the back of a magazine (I was desperate for a way to learn how to go about being a writer), she never said I was crazy or foolish. She didn't even look as if she thought it. She just kept loving me and believing I could do whatever I set my mind to. The same as she had always done. And does even still.

~~She never had the writing bug except for keeping a journal of her daily life some of the time, but she lived life to the fullest. She married when she was nineteen and moved out on the farm with my dad. I was her third daughter and the baby. She saw that we grew up to be responsible adults. She taught us how to work. But best of all she taught us how to laugh and enjoy life. Now age is catching up with her, stealing some of her sparkle. But the sparkle's not completely gone as you can see in this picture. All it takes to bring it back is a sweet grandbaby beside her.

~~Since we're talking about grandbabies, I'm off this weekend to babysit the WV grandbabies while their mom and dad combine a business trip with a little rest and relaxation. Those last two aren't what I'm expecting with four kids six and under, but we'll have fun.

~~I sent out a newsletter today with a new giveaway. If you want to get in on the fun of being in a drawing for two of my books - your choice of which ones, and Laura Frantz's book The Frontiersman's Daughter (set in pioneer Kentucky days), all autographed, then leave a comment here or send an e-mail from my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/.

~~Thanks for reading and if you don't see a post here on Sunday, you'll know I didn't get the grandbabies to bed on time.

Reasons for Thanksgiving

This is one of my books you might win if you want your name to be in the hat for my Thanksgiving giveaway. Just leave a comment with a way to get in touch with you in case you win or send me an e-mail from my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/. As those of you who keep up with this blog know, I'm giving away an autographed copy of one of my books, The Scent of Lilacs, Orchard of Hope, Summer of Joy, Angels at the Crossroads, The Outsider or The Believer along with a hardback copy of Less Than Dead by Tim Downs. It's my way of being thankful for you, my reading friends.

We had our Thanksgiving dinner at church tonight. This morning we had a different kind of service where at the end of the sermon Br. Fred encouraged us to speak up and talk about the things for which we were especially thankful. Well, of course I was one of the ones not too shy to talk about my reasons for thanksgiving. I was like one of my church sisters who wanted to list her blessings. "How much time do I have?" she asked.

She was right. If we named all our reasons to be thankful, we'd still be there talking. I am so blessed. As many of you surely are as well. I live in a beautiful country. I have a wonderful family with a fine husband, loving children and the best in the world grandbabies. Every grandma is entitled to think the same about her grandchildren. And should. I have a great mom and sisters and sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law who I also count as friends. I have a good church family and a preacher who has helped me store Bible truths and stories in my heart. On top of all that I've been able to do what I have wanted to do since I was ten and that is to make up stories and write them down. While I would do that, and have done that, whether anybody read them or not, it's wonderful that the Lord has blessed me with some reading friends who do want to read those stories.

And that's just a quick telling of some main blessings. If you get down into the everyday varieties of blessings, I can keep on going. Dogs and birds. Computers and hot tea. Books to read. Glasses that help me keep seeing the words in those books. Walking paths and trees. Smiles and little kids' giggles. The good feel of sunshine on my face. Blackberries on the vine. And on and on. Little things and big things. My church family was glad I edited my list and kept it short.

My church friend had even more dramatic reasons for thankfulness. She's had a hard year, faced cancer treatments several times and wasn't sure a few times whether the treatments would work. But she never turned away from her faith in the Lord to bring her through. We're glad she's walking her faith journey in our little family of God.

I hope you have many reasons for thanksgiving this week as you gather with your friends and family to count your blessings and enjoy a bountiful meal.

A Story Web

--I've been thinking about writing about how a story can be an intricate web like a spider web for a few weeks now, but I wanted a picture of a spider web to go with it. I went out to the free photo files on the internet. There were some great spider web shots on those sites and it said they were open to use, but I lacked the secret formula for getting them to download, upload, or whatever load.

--So on to plan B. I'd just go out in the wild and take my own picture of a spider web. I've got plenty of spiders out here on the farm. Plenty of them. But did you know it's hard to find spiders spinning in late October?

--Then one day while I was walking in the field, I almost slammed my face right into a spider web. Didn't have my camera of course, so hurried to the house to get it. Got back to the field and discovered that spider wasn't building a web; he was dismantling it. Had maybe two or three strands of web still there with none of the interconnecting strands I was after. I still took a picture. I mean I had walked all that way to get the camera, but there was nothing but a blob in the picture that a person might be able to tell was a spider sticking out his tongue at me or more likely they'd think it was nothing but a smudge on my camera lens. So I was ready to give up on this blog picture until next spring when lo and behold there was a spider web right outside my office window. Not a great one, but a spider web nevertheless.

--So what's all the fuss about a spider web picture? None. You would have been able to imagine the spider web with all those ladderlike connecting bits of sticky web. I just got stubborn about the picture. My point is that creating a new story is sort of like the spider spinning that web.

--A writer starts out with the first bit of web or story idea and swings on it through the air in an attempt to connect to something else. Something solid that she can anchor her story on. Maybe a character coming to life in her mind or a truth she wants her characters to discover or maybe just a fun idea of what happens next. And then the writer starts inching down that first initial web strand to figure out the next direction to spin and then the next and the next until there's the story complete with its dozens of connections - events and happenings that lead to other events and happenings in your story. And you hope your web is strong. So strong it can capture readers and wrap them so up in your story that they'll sit right down and read it through without even trying to break free of your story web.

--Now you might notice that the spider web in my picture is a little ragged looking with some gaps here and there, but in spite of that it's holding together. That's what I always want my story to do too - hold together. It may not be perfect. I'm not a perfect writer. But I do like to tell stories and I'm glad to be spinning a new yarn now that I hope all of you will want to read someday.

--If you live close to London, Kentucky, I'll be at Brookhaven Christian Books to sign my books this Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. Autographed books make a great one of a kind Christmas gift.

--One last note - I'll be drawing for my Thanksgiving book giveaway next weekend to show how thankful I am for you readers. To enter just send me an e-mail from my website or comment here. I'm giving away the winner's choice of one of my inspirational novels, The Scent of Lilacs, Orchard of Hope, Summer of Joy, The Outsider, or The Believer or my nonfiction book, Angels at the Crossroads plus a hardback copy of Less Than Dead by Tim Downs. If you want to get your name in the pot, you've still got time.

--Now back to web spinning.

Connecting with Friends

How do you connect with friends these days? Do you call them up on the phone, text message them on your cell phone, write an old-fashioned snail mail letter or a modern e-mail? Do you go out on the web searching for old friends on Facebook? Maybe you tweet for friends? Ten years ago if you'd said you tweet for friends, people might have thought you were losing it.

The electronic age is certainly changing the way we communicate. And that's not all it's changing. We have hundreds of stations on the t.v. to flip through before we decide there's nothing worth watching instead of the three or four that used to come across the air waves. We have remotes to turn on our ceiling fans and lights. We can start our cars by pushing a button before we get halfway across the parking lot. We download music off the internet on these tiny electronic gizmos and carry hundreds of i-tunes around with us without the bother of CDs. We take pictures with our phones no less and post them on the internet. We even download books onto these electronic book readers. Well, I don't, but a lot of people do. Personally I want the feel of that book in my hands. I want to turn pages. But even those people who agree with me about that say the Kindles are very travel friendly and easier than carrying around a pile of books.

So there's is no doubt the way we communicate and share our lives with friends and family is changing. I do a lot of historical research and when I read about the pioneers setting out on the Wilderness Trail to Kentucky I can easily imagine how hard it must have been to leave behind all that was familiar and loved. They couldn't call back home and check on Mom and Dad. When they left, they knew they probably would never see their family back in the east ever again. There must have been a lot of tears on those trails. And now we can't even seem to go to the grocery store without calling home on our cell phones.

Another way to connect these days is through Facebook. I've been facebooking (is Webster going to decide that's a word?) for a few weeks now. It's been fun connecting with family members I don't see very often and getting a glimpse into their lives. I've gotten reacquainted with old friends I'd lost contact with as well as made connections with new friends I only know through electronic means as we share reading and writing interests.

On a whim, my daughter jumped on the Facebook wagon after I did. She's touched base with a number of old friends from her highschool and college days even though she doesn't do the status bit. She says she likes the ease of contacting friends without having to remember everybody's e-mail addresses. And my daughter-in-law is enjoying finding friends and sharing photos of their kids.

One thing sure, we can reach out and touch somebody these days. And it's great to have so many ways to stay in contact, but I still think it's extra fun when I open the mailbox and see a letter in there. As long as it's not a bill and fact is a bunch of those are electronic these days, too. E-mails are good and I've been glad enough to get many of them, but a letter, a personal letter, that's still special.

You might be able to open your mailbox and find a couple of my autographed books in there if you send me an e-mail from my website www.annhgabhart.com or make a comment on my blog. I'm doing the drawing on my birthday in a couple of weeks. Gotta celebrate getting older. Don't plan to do much counting of the years, but I love celebrating birthdays and the gift of another year to live and learn and write. And make friends in old and new ways.

Hope you had a great Sunday reaching out and connecting with all your friends and loved ones.

A Book by Any Other Name - Titles

Another Sunday. A hot one here in Kentucky. Humidity level is at that point where if you walk outside you get real humid and start sweating before you take two steps. I'm one of those people who isn't all that fond of refrigerator air all summer, but it doesn't feel half bad this week. I used to work at an insurance claims office and they kept the air so cold in there that getting into my car that had been sitting out in the sunny parking lot all day felt good for at least five minutes at the end of the workday. That nice extra warm heat. Here at the house if we keep the thermostat high enough that I only have to wear a sweater and not drag around a blanket, then Darrell's sweating and complaining. I was going to say if we set it cool enough for him, but then I decided we probably have never set it that low. There would be icicles hanging off my ears if we cranked the thermostat down that low. How about you guys? Do you have a variance of heat or cold tolerance in your house or where you work?


Thank all of you who responded to my newsletter. I've got you entered in the drawings for July, but even better I enjoyed hearing from you. Writing can be a lonely endeavor. Even writing a blog. I talked last Wednesday about addressing my journal to Dear Nemo (or nobody). I appreciate my signed in followers who give me hope that I am writing to someone now. To those of you who haven't gotten back with me about signing up for the book giveaway, you still have plenty of time to enter the drawings before next Sunday and then on until August. So send me an e-mail from my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/.


I promised several weeks ago to do a post about titles. I work hard to get the right title for my books and often don't name the books until after "the end" has been written. I like having a title that is catchy and that suits the story and that might be interesting enough to make a person who has never read any of my books pick this one up and give it a look-over.

What makes you decide to pluck a book off the shelf or check one out on the internet? Titles are that first eye catcher along with the cover. Cover art makes a tremendous impact on the casual book browser. The back copy or blurb might be second most important, but that doesn't always convince me. I read the copy, but it doesn't tell enough most of the time for me to make a sure decision. And I have to admit I don't always read the recommendations. I've done a few recommendations, and I hope that what I wrote helped some readers give the books I recommended a second look. But I still don't often read them. I do sometimes scan bits of reviews.

But one of the first impressions a book makes is through the title. That title can catch a reader's eye. I've had some good titles and some I wasn't all that crazy about. The publishers changed the titles of the first two books I published. Mine weren't eye-catching enough for the historical romance market at the time back in the early eighties. A Kentucke Dream became A Forbidden Yearning. Shadows over the Heartland became A Divided Heart. I wasn't too excited about either title, but I was extra excited about the books being published, so that was great.


Then with my young people's books, I thought I came up with good titles usually. I liked Bridge to Courage, Wish Come True, and Secrets to Tell. And the Hollyhill titles fit the books. The publishers came up with The Outsider. I would have probably rejected it out of hand because of the famous young people's book, The Outsiders. But it is a good title for the book and lends itself to more titles such as the new book, The Believer. Then the third one for 2010 is The Seeker. Who knows what book four will be. I'll have to think The something. Or maybe not. Maybe we'll head off in a new directions with the titles.

What are some of your favorite titles? Gone with the Wind has to be in there along with To Kill a Mockingbird. I'll have to think on titles this week while I'm trying to do the rest of my housecleaning. I painted my kitchen and then the kitchen ceiling. What a job! My neck is still telling me about it. And I have definitely decided that the rest of the ceilings look just fine. At least right now. Walls I can handle, but no more ceilings for a while.

Hope you're planning lots of fun things for July. Maybe even checking out a new book called The Believer at the end of the month. ;-) Have some fun and enjoy.

A New Book Calls for a New Giveaway

Hi, everybody. Hope you're having a great week. It's hot here, but the sun is shining. That's good after rain and more rain last week. Darrell finally got up some hay and now with sunshine in the offing, his mower is broken. That's a farmer's life. When I was a kid, my dad mowed hay with a sickle mower and I don't think he ever managed to mow a whole field without breaking the blade at least once. Of course we had a few rocks where we lived. Actually we had a lot of rocks where we lived. Our farm isn't far from that one, but not as rocky. A lot of difference only a mile or so away. Once upon a time, long, long ago our farm was supposed to be part of a shallow sea. At least that's what the geologists think. We do have a lot of fossils and pebbles and sandy soil in places.

Wait, I'm not supposed to be off chasing rabbits. I'm supposed to be telling you about my new book giveaway. I sent out a newsletter a couple of days ago and I thank all of you who have responded. If you haven't heard back from me yet, you will - if my internet doesn't give up the ghost or something equally dire. Of course, I did go to the store and buy all kinds of painting supplies to paint my kitchen. That's pretty dire. :-o! Guess I'm really going to have to get at those July chores after all.

Anyway, the newsletter went out with news of my summer book giveaway. I'm going to be drawing a name out of the hat every Sunday in July and then again on August 1 to give away an autographed copy of my new book, The Believer. I'm really excited about the book and hope you will be too. I think it shows the unique beliefs of the Shakers even better than The Outsider and that the romance between the two main characters is compelling. At least I hope so. Guess I will soon find out when readers start letting me know what they think. If you haven't entered the giveaway and want to, just send me an e-mail from my website. You can also sign up for my newsletter there if you want to get some occasional reports on what's going on in my writing life and here on the farm.

I know you're getting some of that info here in the blog. This is my 151st blog entry. I could have written another book. I guess I did write another book, just not one that would make any sense if it was put together page after page. Some writers obsess about making their blog entries perfect, full of wisdom, and extra meaningful. Sorry, guys. You're just reading my journal. Free association. Chasing rabbits. Just talking to friends.

When I first started writing a journal when I was about fourteen, I always addressed my entries to Dear Nemo - the Latin word for nobody. At least I thought it was the Latin word for nobody. My Latin is definitely very rusty now. Dear Nemo. Dear No one. But you know I always pictured my Nemo out there listening. And now maybe my nobody has actually turned into some real somebodies. So glad to be writing to somebody. Thanks for reading.

Hope you don't have to paint any kitchens and can kick back, put your feet up and enjoy some good books. Till Sunday. I won't be drawing this week, but will on the first Sunday in July. You've still got plenty of time to get your name in the hat.

Sleeping in a Barn - Almost

Well, it's not as big as barn, but it is pretty airy. My in-the-process-of-being-remodeled house, that is. I've got holes in the wall, remember. Big holes. And a new basement garage door that isn't hooked up to the electricity and won't stay down without a plank holding it there. And a new heat pump that is saving me big bucks on electricity because the duct work is in various stages of completion so it's not hooked up. My new front door lacks a window glass and my old front door has a three inch crack at the bottom. Like I said, airy. Like a barn.


Up till last night, the Kentucky weather had been cooperating with nice warm days and nights that didn't get all that cool. Things were fine. I could put up with the occasional gallinipper or big old fly that made it into the house. The dust from sawing out the plaster wall openings was thick enough to write a sonnet in, but at least it covered the dust already there. I did finally find my tea this morning in the boxes of stuff that I had to empty out of the cabinets, so I was good.


Good but chilly. And tonight is supposed to get even cooler. The weathermen are saying a possibility of scattered frost in places. Now frost outside is bad enough this time of the year, but frost on my hair sticking out of the covers is a whole different matter. Guess I'd better pull out the extra blankets.


Actually when I was a kid, I slept in a bedroom that received only a whiff of heat from time to time from the woodstove downstairs. I burrowed down in the featherbed and slept like a log. Woke up quick in the morning too when I had to put my feet out on that cold floor to get ready for school. You notice I didn't say bare feet. I had enough sense to wear socks to bed! But I guess I've gotten spoiled since then. Now my feet hit the nice warm carpet and the house is warm. At least it used to be before we decided to knock holes in our walls.


The new room is going to be great though. I'm enjoying it already and it's just walls and windows and roof. With lots of fresh air holes.


It was quiet here this weekend. Darrell was off singing up in Ohio somewhere. Nobody here but me and my computer. I'd hoped to really make a run on the new book, but naturally I hit a stubborn spot and the words came slowly. I did get past that spot, but there'll be more. I've got to get a year to pass in a couple of chapters. How about I say, And then it was fall. It snowed in the winter and warmed up in the spring and the Shakers enjoyed every season. Somehow I don't think that's going to work. But I've got to get something to work and soon.


I can see the end. I just haven't figured out how I'm going to get there without writing too many words. Sometimes I get too wordy. I'm sure none of you are surprised by that after you've read these blog entries. Hope you'll stick with me.


Oh yeah, and don't forget to post a comment or send an e-mail if you want to be in my book giveaway contest. I'll be drawing for a winner in a couple of weeks. I'm giving away an autographed copy of Virginia Smith's newest Sister to Sister book, Age before Beauty and a copy of my book, Summer of Joy. Then in June I'll start some giveaways for my new Shaker book, The Believer, due out in August. I had great news about it last week. It's going to get a spot in Wal-Mart's New Releases section. Who knows? My Wal-Mart here in town might even carry a copy. I've been told they've had it at times, but I've never seen it there. Maybe I don't shop at Wal-Mart enough. Truth is, I'd rather shop for books at a bookstore. Corinth Christian Bookstore in Frankfort has been kind to carry my books and let me do book launches in their store. We're hoping to do something special for the new book, The Believer. If we get it organized, I'll let you know what and when so that if you live close enough you can come be part of the fun.


Can you believe it? My mouse just quit working on this computer. Somedays are just like this, I guess. I'm hoping it'll wake up so I can get this posted. How do you wake up a mouse? Maybe you wave cheese under his nose. I'll bet you can come up with better lines than that, but I don't think cheese or anything else is going to work with this mouse.

P.S. I pounded on it and pleaded with it, but it wouldn't wake up. Just had to go find a new mouse.

Be Mine, Valentine!

Thanks to all of you who have responded to my newsletter. I always enjoy hearing from you and knowing that you're doing okay. And it's great to have you putting your name in the hat for my new book give-away, Hidden, an Amish romance, by Shelley Shepard Gray, and your choice of one of my books, Orchard of Hope, Summer of Joy, Angels at the Crossroads or The Outsider. To enter, all you need to do is go to my website and click on the contact link and send me an e-mail. I had said I was going to draw for the winner in April, but I think I'll change my mind and draw the winner earlier in March. That way I can give away something else in April.

Valentine's Day is coming for all you romantically minded readers. I like Valentine's Day. What's not to like? Valentines and chocolates and flowers and dinners out. I think the simple traditional gifts that don't put a strain on the budget are the best. The gifts that show the one you love that you know what kind of candy she likes best or what movie he's been wanting to see. The gift of attention and time. But sometimes those are the hardest gifts to give. We're all so busy trying to catch up and get it all done. What's going to happen when we get it all done? Well, a lot of it we'll just have to do all over again. So this Valentine's Day take some time to do something you enjoy. Pamper yourself and enjoy being with those you love. And don't you think the most romantic thing you've ever heard is where a couple reads a book aloud to one another? Ahh, romance!

Here's some Valentine's Day quotes to ponder while you're relaxing Saturday.

• Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand, and Stars, 1939
• I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon. ~Author Unknown
• Love - a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker. ~Author Unknown
• You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip. ~Jonathan Carroll, "Outside the Dog Museum"

Or maybe it would be better if both of you could sit down in the middle of the field and laugh together. That's the best thing to be able to do. Laugh together and share the joy.

For those of you wondering, the snow and ice are gone. Now we're having high winds and thunderstorms and tornado watches. Maybe next week it will be sunshiny and pleasant.

Hope you have a loving Valentine's Day.

Christmas Memories on the First Day of Winter

Man, is it cold outside tonight in Kentucky!! We don't have snow like so many of you do west and north of us, but we've got some wind chills. Back when I was a kid, you looked at the thermometer and said it was such and such degree. If the wind was blowing you knew that made it colder, but nobody ever figured out some frigid minus number to freeze you even before you stepped out the door.

Of course, in the old house (frame over log) that I lived in growing up, you didn't have to step outside to know about wind chill. The wind came right inside with you whistling around the windows or up through the cracks in the wood flooring. We tacked sheets of plastic to the outside of the windows and folded up strips of newspapers to stuff in the cracks around the doors. Made it interesting every time somebody came to the door, but when you lived in an old house, you did what you had to do to keep the heat from the woodstove inside with you and the cold air outside. My mom wore an insulated jacket to cook in the kitchen and we had a lot of family togetherness around the stove. And of course, we got plenty of healthy exercise carrying in the firewood. It was a great time. I had a wonderful family and a beautiful place to live even if it wasn't always the warmest place in the winter time.

That's just a few memories the wind whistling against the windows brought to mind. Now I have a nice warm house that keeps that wind outside and I only have to drag out the big sweaters in the summertime when the air conditioning is too cold for me but too warm for my husband. Does anybody ever marry somebody who agrees with her on where to set the thermostat?

But back to memories. I was invited to do a Christmas memory piece for TitleTrakk.com, a site that focuses on Christian books, movies and music. If you'd like to read my memory, here's the link. http://www.titletrakk.com/author-interviews/christmas-traditions-authors.htm There are lots of other authors on there telling about their favorite Christmas tradition, too. You can read about a wide range to traditions from authors like Jerry B. Jenkins, Brandilyn Collins, Robin Jones Gunn, and me. I wrote about how our family always gathers on Christmas Eve and how I've been stirring up the fruit punch for us for many years. But I have lots of other Christmas traditions I share with my family too from the special ornaments on our tree to the giving of at least one book to everyone in my family. The way my family is growing, I can practically keep a bookstore in business. I know you surely have favorite traditions too, things that make Christmas extra special for you. Feel free to share your favorite here with us.

I love hearing from readers and got an e-mail this week from Barrow, Alaska. She probably knows a little bit about wind chills and snow. She used to live in Kentucky and then lived a few years in Arizona where the sun always shines before she moved to Barrow where the sun forgets how to climb up in the sky for a few months a year. Quite a change, she said. I can't imagine. Guess I'd best not take my characters to Alaska then, right? Because then I'd have to imagine so that my readers could imagine too. Maybe I'll stick to mostly Kentucky settings.

There's still time to get your name added to my drawing for a book give-away in January. I'm giving away an autographed copy of Virginia Smith's Stuck in the Middle and your choice of The Scent of Lilacs, Orchard of Hope, Summer of Joy, Angels at the Crossroads or The Outsider. Just comment here or send me an e-mail from my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/. You can also sign up for my occasional newsletter (8 or 9 times a year if I have any news) from my website.

I hope you enjoy all your Christmas traditions this week and that you have the best Christmas ever! We're having our big family day here on Friday when we'll need to stretch the living room to accomodate the crew. Eight grandkids with another on the way. My cup runneth over with blessings. And so will our living room. Runneth over. We'll be having some of that family togetherness like I used to have with my sisters and mom and dad around the woodstove when I was growing up. That doesn't sound half bad when I say it that way. Enjoy!

A December Birthday

I'm writing a day early because one of my grandbabies will be three on Wednesday, and we're going to help her celebrate tomorrow. It's hard having a birthday in December when sometimes your special day seems to blend in with Christmas and get overlooked. Or so my daughter-in-law says. Not Katie's mom, but the other daughter-in-law. Carrie's birthday is New Year's Eve and she says she always hated it when the relatives said whatever they gave her for Christmas was for her birthday too. She wanted to have her own day. Katie, the almost three-year-old, is just now figuring out Christmas and birthdays so she's probably going to feel good about presents two weeks in a row. It's been a year of change for her anyway with the twins coming along to push her out of the baby spot, but she's adjusting well and loves her baby brothers.


I've always thought it would really be hard having a birthday on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. My birthday's in September, but I think if I had been born on Christmas, I would have wanted to celebrate my year and a half birthday in the middle of summer. What do you think? Any of you out there have a holiday birthday? Do you feel overlooked or do you enjoy the extra attention at holiday time?


I love birthdays. I might not like counting my own, but I do enjoy having them and count each one a blessing. And I enjoy helping others celebrate theirs - especially the kids. While I didn't do anything really fancy for my kids on their birthdays when they were growing up, we did always celebrate with a cake or dessert of their choice and a family get-together. They blew out candles and opened presents and got older until now they have families of their own. And I have a lot more birthdays to help celebrate, but sometimes it has to be long distance and not in person.


The days are zooming by toward Christmas and I'm shopping and wrapping and writing cards like everyone else. But I'm also working on the idea for my new Shaker book. The characters are coming to life in my head and beginning to talk to one another. So that's encouraging. Now if I can get my time line down on the history part I'll be ready to start the journey again. That's sort of what writing a book is like - going on a journey with your characters. Sometimes I'll see a destination out there ahead, but the path isn't always clear. I have to let my characters lead me along and show me what's happening in their lives even as the path winds and twists and sometimes veers completely off the route I had thought they were taking. But a new destination and often a better one usually appears.

The second Shaker book, The Believer, is already out there on the internet for readers to pre-order. It won't be out until next August, but some people have already been ordering their copies. That has astounded me, but it's great to know some of you are anxious to read my new book. One surprise - the cover has been redone. It has the same background and the same Ethan. (Thank goodness. He's a perfect Ethan.) But Elizabeth is different. I'll be posting the cover on my website after the first of the year, so you can check it out then. So far the first cover is still up on Amazon and other bookselling sites.

You've still got time to get in on my book give-away for an autographed copy of Virginia Smith's Stuck in the Middle and one of my books - your choice of The Scent of Lilacs, Orchard of Hope, Summer of Joy, The Outsider or Angels at the Crossroads. It's fun to win something and all you have to do is comment here or send me an e-mail from my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/. If you entered before and didn't win, January might be your lucky month.

I know a lot of you will be going to Christmas pageants tomorrow or in the next week. I love shepherds in bathrobes with towels on their heads and wise men with presents wrapped in aluminum foil and angels with tinsel halos. I included a Christmas pageant in my book, Summer of Joy. My hope was that it would make readers smile and remember all the children's pageants they have seen or taken part in. Seeing the children act out the story of the birth of Jesus is one of my very favorite things at Christmas. I hope you enjoy many favorite things this Christmas.

Talk to you Wednesday when it will be one week and counting. Hope to have my Christmas cards sent by then.

Creating Characters with my Friends

Hi, everybody. Well, I had my book event at the local library today and some friends and family were sweet enough to show up and listen to me talk about my writing and how I come up with characters. That was sort of a warm-up for my talk in West Virginia in October when I'm speaking on "Writing about Shakers ... and Other Odd Characters." I think I'll need to do some more practicing before then.

I did enjoy the talk today. I used to be painfully shy when I was a child, but I outgrew it. Now I love to talk to people one on one and I like to speak. I still sometimes get a few butterflies, but then I just go out and have fun sharing about my writing and trying to get a chuckle out of my listeners now and again. I can understand why stand-up comedians stay in the business. It's fun being able to make people laugh.

Of course the people at my event today were friends who looked kindly upon me and I knew they weren't going to boo and hiss no matter what I said. My favorite part of any talk is the question and answer time. I used to go to a lot of schools and the kids would come up with the most fun questions. Adults sometimes have to be jump started to get them to ask questions. But today we got started talking about the Shakers. I think some of the people listening probably knew more of the history than I did. So that's when I shut up and listened. That's the best way to learn new things.

After I talked we did a fun exercise of creating a character together by brainstorming a bit. It wasn't long before we had a young woman named Peggy (nickname for Margaret - somebody explain to me how that makes sense) who was 25 in 1941 and her fiance had gone to France in WW II and been killed. She had red hair and was Irish American. Her parents came over from Ireland and settled in New York where she was born, but then they moved to Tyrone here in Anderson County. Some wanted her to be expecting. Others thought that was going too far for 1941. And so we were able to see how all of us could have taken the same 25 year old woman named Peggy and come up with a totally different person who could live a totally different story. As I tell people who tell me they have a wonderful idea for this or that story. It's not the idea so much. Although having a good idea is great. But it's how the writer develops the idea.

I read once that there are only about ten original plot lines. Don't ask me what they are. I don't think anybody wants to tell!!! But that writers have used those basic plot lines in thousands and thousands of ways to write entertaining and different stories. So maybe someday I'll write a story about Peggy. Of course I might have to change her age and where she lived and even her name. I never liked the name Peggy that much and my characters, at least the main characters have to have a name I can like. But I do plan to write a book about WW II after I finish my Shaker books.

The work on my new Shaker book is progressing. But next week won't see much working time for me. It's National Quartet Convention time in Louisville, Kentucky, and the Patriot Quartet have a booth there in the exhibition hall. It's fun meeting all the other singers and gospel music lovers, but it doesn't leave much time for home stuff. So if you come to the Quartet Convention come by and say hi.

And oh yeah, I went out surfing on the net to see what was happening with my book, The Outsider, and came across a bestseller list for Christian fiction. What do you know - my book was on the list! It was number 20 out of 20, but it was still on the list. That was neat. I've never been on any kind of bestseller list before, at least to my knowledge. And half the credit surely goes to the beautiful girl on the cover. Even if you haven't read the book yet, you can take my word for it that she is just the perfect Gabrielle. It's a very eye-catching cover. Now if I could just get my local Wal-Mart or Kroger store to stock some of the books. That's the closest thing we have to a bookstore around here.

Still it's not very far to Frankfort where the great people at Corinth Christian Bookstore carry my books and are very supportive. Plus they have a beautiful store and bend over backwards to help people find what they need. Hope you have a great Christian bookstore near you. There's just something different about walking into a store where everything inside has something to do with the Lord. It's not exactly like being in church, but it's not far from it.

A special thanks to everybody who has entered my book giveaway so far and who have said they enjoyed my newsletter. If you would like to add your name to my e-mail list for an occasional newsletter - say every two or three months - just go my website and send me an e-mail. That's how you can enter my contest too. I'll be drawing for the winner of a complete autographed set of my Hollyhill books, The Scent of Lilacs, Orchard of Hope and Summer of Joy.

Last of all, but certainly not least, I've enjoyed hearing from you after you got the newsletter and also the comments people have posted here. That's the best thing about doing a newsletter is hearing from some of my friends.

May your cup so overflow with blessings this week that you end up drinking from your saucer of life. With joy.