Smiles, Memories, and Grandmothers

"A life-long blessing for children is to fill them with warm memories of times together. Happy memories become treasures in the heart to pull out on the tough days of adulthood." (Charlotte Davis Kasl)

My book, Scent of Lilacs, was released for the second time March 1 and I'm celebrating. Scent of Lilacs was my first novel published in the Christian market. I'd published thirteen books in the general market, two historical romances and eleven young adult books, but I'd hit a dry spell in my writing before I decided to explore my own background as a setting for story. I came up with a fictional family living in a small rural town modeled after the town where I grew up. I let a lot of the story be told through the eyes of thirteen-year-old Jocie. It's her story, but it's also the town's story. Small Town, America in the Sixties.

I enjoy celebrating a new release by giving away things and if you read my last post you know I decided to give away a lilac colored Grandmother's Bible because of those lilacs in my story. And to make it more fun for all of us, I invited you to tell me a grandmother story when you sent in your contest entry. A story isn't necessary to enter. (You can still enter just by sending me an e-mail from my website or leaving a comment here with a way to reach you. Deadline for entries is midnight EST April 1.) But the stories you readers share with me are always wonderful. Some are touching. Some are amusing. All are interesting. Some of you don't have memories of your grandmothers, but you're having fun being a grandmother. That's good too. The picture is of my grandmother and her sisters. I don't remember this grandmother, my father's mother. She died when I was very young. I think, but I'm not positive, that she is the one on the right on the bottom row. So I don't have memories of her. My older sister does. She was much loved by this grandmother.

That's what comes across in most of your stories. How loved you were by your grandmothers. How much you cherish the memories of time spent with them. And sometimes how much they made you smile. That's where we're going with the memories in this post. To the smiling times.

Most grandchildren love the stories their grandmothers tell me. Mine certainly do. Carla's grandmother taught her the value of telling a good story. Here's what she says,

"My grandmother mostly raised me and there is no one quite like her in this world. When I was a child my grandmother was a great storyteller - she added sound and adventure, included herself, me, or other family members (that is also how she would sing songs, putting names in them). I was in second grade when the teacher asked about our family history - where I raised my hand, told the greatest adventure about covered wagons, Indians attacking, circling the wagons, using guns - pow, pow. When I was done everyone was mesmerized - but this is a story I have heard a thousand times before. Later, the teacher called the house explaining how amazing the adventure was and what a great story - whereas my grandmother laughed, this was just a story but apparently I told it right."

That's the kind of stories I need to be telling. :)

Jim shares this story about a shirt his grandmother made for him.

Granny sewed a lot when I was young and one Christmas I was the receiver of her talent. There was just one problem. She sewed mostly for girls and the shirt she made for me buttoned the wrong way. I was too young to know better so I wore that shirt until it was way too small and then one of my sisters got it.

See, Jim, your granny was just thinking ahead to passing down that shirt.

Last is a story N. sent me. It presented such a wonderful picture of a woman who celebrated life that I asked her if I could share it with you. When she wrote back to say I could, she added a little information to make the story even more meaningful . Here's what N. says.

    "I have countless 'Granny' stories as I was raised by my maternal grandma! This one came to mind because of the lilacs...She loved flowers!
    I recall being on the North Sea coast and that particular Summer, a swarm of lady bugs arrived on the pier. People were stunned and were swiping them off but not Granny. Only barely 5 feet tall, happy to be back in her hometown and wearing the most beautiful flower print skirt, she stood, arms askew, covered with lady bugs and just smiled...and said: 'Is it not grand to be alive?'
   I never forgot the sight, neither did others as people stood there just smiling at her! Her happiness was very contagious I imagine!"

 
Now for, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story.  When N.'s grandmother was in the third grade, the Germans marched on her hometown, removed her from school and forced marched her with other coastal residents to a town 26 miles away. N. says her grandmother survived two wars and many hardships but LOVED life!

 

Thank you for sharing your stories with me and I hope you're are enjoying the ones I'm passing along. I have more to share in future posts - some that made me smile and some they brought tears to my eyes. Grandmothers and memories just seem to go together. And since so much of the background for Scent of Lilacs came from my memories, this contest fit the book even better than I at first imagined.

Thanks for reading and don't forget that Jocie is going to announce my blog contest winners tomorrow night on her Hollyhill Book of the Strange post. Thank all of you for your comments this month. It's been fun.

 

 

 

Blank Pages, Beginnings and Book Launches

Talking to friends - the best part of a booksigning

A new book means I get to celebrate with my reading friends. I started having book launch celebrations here in my hometown when my first inspirational novel, The Scent of Lilacs was published. We had so much fun that I've had a book launch party for every book since. And now it's time to gather with friends for my new book, The Gifted. That will be happening this coming Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Anderson County Public Library - the good Lord willing and the creek doesn't rise. Not much chance of the creek rising as dry as it's been and I'll hope the Lord will smile down on us celebrating a new book. I'll be talking about writing this fifth Shaker novel and hearing what you have to say about The Gifted too. Question and answer time is always my favorite part of any talk.

  
But I know many of you reading friends live a little too far away to drive over (or maybe down or up) to celebrate with me. So I'm celebrating with all of you by having a contest or two where I can give away a few prizes. This pottery pitcher is the third prize in my Celebration giveaway on my website. You can sign up there until midnight EST on July 31 for a chance to win one of three prizes. This pitcher was made by a local artist here in Anderson County. That's fun - to have a local, one of a kind prize. Then there's the Fresh Fiction giveaway too, plus I'll be doing some guest posts on blogs with the chance to win a book. Some reading friends followed me around to those with Words Spoken True, and I appreciated that so much. 

All the celebrating is good, but here at home, I need to be beginning on a new reason to celebrate. It's time for me to pull up the blank page, ask a few "what if" questions and try to launch into a new story with the hope that in a year or so I'll be able to have another party with friends and giveaways to celebrate it. 

Beginnings - in a story that's when anything is possible. A time when a writer can believe this might be the best story yet or a time when a writer might worry that the story magic won't sprinkle over her fingers on the keyboard. After writing dozens of stories, I can summon up confidence that the story will come - most of the time. It always has before, but with each new story, I want it to be better than the last. That's what can be hard. Believing I can write a better story than the ones I've already written. But I will begin again and search out new people who have a new story to tell. I won't let the blank page intimidate me. At least, not too much.

Thanks so much for reading and if you're in the area, I hope you'll come to the Anderson County Public Library Sunday, July 15th, and enjoy celebrating a new book with me.  

Silly Rhymes and Romantic Lines

Do you remember these kind of sayings? "Yours til' Ivory soup sinks." Do you remember Ivory soap? It's still on the store shelves and it still floats.  So whoever wrote that promise in my little autograph book when I was a kid must still be mine. The autograph books were sort of a fad when I was in grade school. A lot of us girls carried them around and begged people to write something in them. Like a love poem. "Roses are red. Violets are blue. Angels in heaven know I love you." Or shorter little promises like the one about Ivory soap. Another one I remember is "yours till the ocean runs dry." There were more. Some sweet. Some silly. 

Not too long ago, I came across my old autograph book from when I was maybe ten. If you're old enough, you probably have one stuck away somewhere too. Boy, did mine bring back memories as the youthful handwritten entries stabbed me with their innocence. 

I was going to take a picture of it for this post tonight, but naturally, I put it up somewhere for safe keeping. Now it's safe from me since I have no idea where that safe place is. But Valentine's Day started  me thinking about those cute verses. " When you get old and cannot see, put on your specs and think of me."   " 2 good 2 B 4gotten."  "Yours until elephants roost in trees." 

Hope you got a card with a verse that made you smile and feel loved. Or maybe you got candy and flowers. Or just a treasured call from a friend or family member. Most of the restaurants were hopping last night as couples, friends, and families enjoyed a night out. Darrell and I went to a local Mexican restaurant where they had taped fresh roses and balloons to the ends of the booths. At the end of the meal, they presented us with a free ice cream dessert and two spoons. Not exactly a candlelight dinner experience, but fun. So many ways to celebrate love. 

One of those ways is by writing blog posts and giving away stuff. I'm visiting Sunnybank Meanderings today talking about "Romances to Remember." And I'll be giving away an autographed copy of Words Spoken True to one of Caroline's commenters. Revell Books and I are also sponsoring a Louisville themed giveaway because that's the setting for Words Spoken True. Here's a picture of the second place prize in that giveaway open for entries all month on my website and here on my blog too. Just click on the book's cover to go to the entry form. I'm also doing a newspaper related giveaway at Fresh Fiction. A newspaper book bag and some books. So lots of ways to win with several more guest posts to come in the next few weeks.

It's fun visiting other blogs to talk about Words Spoken True. Since it's Valentine's month and my book is definitely romantic, I've been talking about romance. It's not easy to come up with a fresh post each time I visit a new place to talk about my book. The story in my book doesn't change. I still only have my two main characters to talk about. The same background, the same historical happenings. And I can't tell the whole story. I want you readers to have to read that for yourselves. 

Me and you - we're a partnership. I write the stories out of my imagination, but it takes your imagination while reading the stories to truly make the story circle. Thanks for reading tonight and making our friendship circle. So glad to have you as reading friends." Yours until Niagara falls."   Maybe I'll have an autograph book two entry on Wednesday. Lots of great info out there on the net about those old autograph books.