It's always so much fun to celebrate a new release with a giveaway contest because I get to hear from so many of my reading friends - you. Thank all of you who have entered already, but here are the details for those of you who haven't seen my newsletter. If you want to be on my e-mail list and among the first to hear book news or about contests, you can sign up here Ann's Newsletter.
No big prizes, but I hope you'll think they're fun. First prize winner will get
the choice of the Marcasite Filagree and Garnet 18" Heart Pendant or the "Forget-me-not" Willow
Tree figurine along with the winner's choice of one of my books. The necklace has a small heart in the larger heart. Once you read my new book, Love Comes Home, you'll know why I chose these prizes. The second
place winner will get whichever prize is left along with a choice of one of my
books. Then because I'm one of those "never win" people, if you tell
me that you never win in contest drawings, your name will go into a special extra
drawing for the Praying the Names of God Journal and the choice of one of my
books. Hardly anybody has told me they never win yet, so the chances in that drawing are very good that you might end up in the winner's circle.
You have to be 18 to enter and you can enter by sending me an e-mail at annhgabhart(at)yahoo(dot)com or by leaving a comment on one of
the posts here in June. I'll draw for the winners on July 1. To make things more fun, you can tell me a story about a family homecoming or special family memory. The stories aren't necessary to win. Just fun. Many of you have already entered the contest with a comment on the last post. I thank you for that. And some of you have shared stories. I've enjoyed reading them, and I'll be posting some of them here on One Writer's Journal later this month.
Now, for the blog only contest. You friends here are so kind to read my this and that posts and to leave me encouraging comments that I've got to have a giveaway just for you. Those of you who entered the other contest by leaving a comment on the previous posts will have to come back and comment again to be entered in the blog contest. In fact, every time you leave a comment on a new post for the rest of June, you'll have a new entry and chance to win. Remember to leave your e-mail or a way to contact you when you enter.
You think I should throw in some mystery picture posts for you to try to guess before the end of the month? I just posted a picture of a snake that looks purple on my Facebook Page, but I think it was really just a black snake with the sun making it look purple. There's been quite a discussion about what kind of "purple" snake it is. Still a mystery, but not one any of us are doing much good figuring out.
So what can I give away? I know. How about a copy of my new book? An autographed paper copy if you live in the USA or Canada and an e-book copy if you live overseas? That's original, isn't it? LOL. I'll draw the five winners early July 1.
Also, remember if you're on Goodreads you can sign up there too to win one of five copies Revell Books is giving away. It's fun giving books away. For my giveaway, if you'd rather have a different title (one of mine, of course) that can be arranged. Remember, if you enter, you have to leave a way for me to be able to contact you in the event you are one of the winners.
Thanks to any of you who downloaded Angel Sister or Small Town Girl while they were at a special price. Angel Sister was in the top 100 of Kindle titles today. Hope that means a lot of new readers are headed to Rosey Corner to meet my characters.
If you've read any of the Rosey Corner books, which character is your favorite?
Fifty years ago Beatlemania hit America. When I look back on it now, you might wonder why that song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" took the country by storm. The Beatles were already hitting the music scene in England, but here in America, the record companies were reluctant to put out their songs. Maybe because those songs were so different. But then their popularity kept growing and Capital Records rushed out a release of the song. In the first three days after it was released, it sold a quarter million records. Many adults wondered why, but kids when crazy for it. Radio DJs played it over and over. The song was just so different from the other songs at that time.
The Beatles were just so different. They were crazy young, energetic, willing to do things no singing group had done. Bob Dylan caught the reason why when talking about the Beatles popularity. He said, "They were doing things nobody was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous, and their harmonies made it all valid." Outrageous is a great way to describe them at that time.
The lyrics of their early songs were super simple. They sounded like songs a teenage boy would sing. They became songs lots of teenagers sang along with the records. The Beatles first big hit in England was "Love Me Do." That became their second number one hit in the America. And a lot of older people wondered why. Cynthia Lowery of The Associate Press expressed the feelings of many critics and adults. "Heaven knows, we've heard them enough. It has been impossible to get a radio weather bulletin or time signal without running into 'I Want to Hold Your Hand.'"
I remember being one of the kids who sang along. The Beatles never made me swoon or scream. I wasn't that into being a fan of any singer. I was busy scribbling in my notebooks at that time. But I do remember thinking they were fun. They made music fun. I didn't spend my money on 45s. I had to buy film for my camera and ink for my pen. But my sister bought a lot of the popular records and so I got to listen to them anyway. I don't remember for sure, but I think a 45 single cost about a dollar. We had a record player where you could stack on the records, and it dropped the records down one at a time. That was jukebox time in the restaurants too, but my family didn't spend any time in restaurants. We ate at home. When I started dating, we'd go to drive-in restaurants and the music would be piped outside. And then I got married way too young, and pop music moved way down the list of my priorities.
Things change, don't they? Kids grab onto music the older generation hates. The interesting thing about that is the older generation did the same when they were kids. Kids now do the same. Each generation has its defining music. The Sixties certainly was a time of music upheaval. And you might say The Beatles ushered in a lot of that upheaval. We'd had Elvis, but now we had groups that harmonized on silly lyrics and jumped around and exploded with energy. They were just so young and they made us celebrate being young too.
That's how Jocie is in my Heart of Hollyhill series. Here's the new cover for her book, Summer of Joy. On the cover, she's trying out some of the 45s in Leigh's apartment. Maybe even the song "I Want to Hold Your Hand." Right now you can throw your name in the hat on Goodreads for the chance to win a copy of Summer of Joy. Just click Goodreads Giveaway. Plus, I'm coming up with prizes for my own celebration giveaway coming soon. Watch for my newsletter next week with details. If you aren't signed up for my occasional newsletter, it's easy to do. Just click here, Ann's newsletter, and enter your name and e-mail. I promise never to share that with anyone. I'll post details here too and on my website News and Events page.
And if you're old enough, tell me what you remember about when 45 records ruled. And if you aren't that old, tell me what you think about the Beatles. You might know more about those older Beatles, but it's those young teen Beatles with the shaggy haircuts adults at the time hated that I'm remembering today.
I just got home from spending a couple of days with my grandkids while their parents went on a business/relaxation trip. They take this trip every year and for the past several years I've gone up to their house to hold down the fort. Well, last year, the kids came to my house. My husband was out of town that weekend, but I lucked out with my daughter home that weekend. This year I went there, but my husband was able to go along to help. The twin boys loved that. We had two days of back to the past. It's been a while since our kids grew up. We're a little rusty - no, a lot rusty - at seeing to first grade homework, bath time, packing school lunches, getting kids up and off to school and keeping the peace between siblings. They say kids keep you young, but that's only for a few hours. After a few days, we realize we're not as young as we used to be!! But then who is?
It's a funny thing about kids. The more fancy toys they have, the more they like the simple things. Like paper airplanes. The boys had a great time with the airplanes folded from a piece of paper. They'd climb halfway up their stairway and float them down into the living room. Over and over.
Isn't that one of the fun things about kids? They don't get bored doing the same things over and over the way us older folks do. Kids don't mind seeing the same movie again and again. In fact, they sometimes will watch a favorite movie until they can say the dialogue with the characters. Reruns of their cartoon shows are fine with them. They pick the same book again and again and will beg to have it read to them five times in a row. Or more. The Monster at the End of the Book Starring Sweet Loveable Grover was a favorite this week. It's been a favorite with all the grandkids and with me too because it's such fun to read. Each grandkid has also enjoyed reading it with great expression as soon as they learned to read."You turned another page."
But the paper airplanes were a big hit. The noses of the planes would get crunched and the boys would hunt a new piece of paper. No piece of art by their sisters was safe. LOL. By the time we left they had a whole fleet of airplanes, all showing signs of many crash landings.
Did you ever make paper airplanes? Did you fold them in fancy ways or plain the way the one beside the twins on the table? Sometimes the simple folded ones fly the best or maybe that's the only kind I can make fly. But then I can't fly kites either.
So we had a great time with the kids and a few tiring moments in those keeping the peace times. But there's nothing like a grandkid hug and kiss and an "I love you, Grandma."
Have you checked out Jocie's Hollyhill Book of the Strange this week? Jocie had some homework of her own so she let Wes take over. She thinks you'll like Wes. You can click on the tab at the top of this blog to navigate over to Jocie's blog too. Remember if you leave a comment here and/or on Jocie's blog you'll get an entry into a giveaway for the chance to win an autographed copy of Scent of Lilacs. Three winners. Drawing on March 1. Also you can check out this Goodreads link for more chances to win a copy of Scent of Lilacs.
Thanks for reading!
