Summer Celebrations and Winners

It's time to enjoy those great summer days with the kids and with my reading friends.

And the Winners Are

I usually make you wade though whatever I post here and get to the bottom of the page before I announce the winners, but this time I'm letting you know right off the bat. First place winner is Diana J In Maine. She says she never wins anything, but now she has. She gets the lovely Shaker box and chose The Innocent. 

I haven't heard from the second place winner yet, but it's John D. He wins the Bread and Bun Warmer decorated with the Shaker Tree of Life and his choice of one of my books. Then, most of the time when I do a giveaway, I pick a "just because" winner to win one of my books. So I did that this time and Peggy C. is my just because winner this time. If I don't hear from John or Peggy by Wednesday, I'll draw another name. 

Thanks to all of you who joined in with my giveaway fun. I loved your summer stories and I'll be sharing more soon. It was also fun reading some of your favorite things about summer. Tomatoes out of the garden, visits with grandparents, swimming, reading in a hammock, just enjoying the day. 

Here's what one of you said. Bjm probably spoke for a lot of us on this one about her grandmother.

"Many years ago when I was a young girl I would go stay with my Grandmother at her river cottage. My Grandma was and still is my very favorite person. She hunted, fished etc. I remember so many young people coming to see her every weekend. She was so well liked by them. I could go on and on about her and all the fun and quality time I had with my favorite person.The sad thing is I don't think I ever told her that."

Well, on second thought I couldn't say my aunt who was like a grandmother to me went hunting, but I do have great memories of time spent with her.   

 
Busy Summer Days

Summertime is such a busy time. Even though my children grew up years ago, married and have their own families, summer still seems to fill up with dozens of things to do. Vacations. Grandkid visits. Flowers to plant. Vegetables to gather and cook. Oscar to give a bath after he gets hot and sits down in the cow's pond. That happened today when the grandkids came out and we took a long walk. I forgot to guide Oscar around the pond. He was not a happy dog when he had to suffer through a hose down. Then halfway through, he gave a mighty shake. So guess who else got wet? 

Let's Talk Shakers

One of the reasons I have busy summers is that I've had a new book come out in July the last few years. Sometimes I have a deadline to finish writing a new book too. Both things are good - very good, but it keeps me hopping in June and July. With the new book, I have blogs to visit to try to get the word out about the new story. (You can watch for notice of some of these on my Facebook page this month to give you more chances to win a book.) Then I have my own  celebration contests like the one I just finished up to share the fun with you, my reading friends. 

And next Sunday I'll have my Hometown Book Launch at my town's library. I started having book talks to celebrate a new book when Scent of Lilacs came out in 2005. I've kept up the tradition with each new book since then. So if you're in the area, come on down to the library next Sunday afternoon and we'll talk new books and Shakers. You might win a door prizes and for sure you can snag some chocolate. I will be signing books after my talk and a Q & A session. We usually have fun.

That Announcement I Promised

I jumped the gun when I promised a surprise announcement this post. I'm going to have to wait until later in the week for that. But soon. Maybe I'll give away another book or something to make the wait worth it.

As always, thanks for reading. 

Love Comes Home - Friends, Family and Fun

            

"I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!" 

That's what I am with this blog post - late like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. But this weekend was a time when I was rushing around like that white rabbit trying to do everything and then some. That's when I should listen to this following good advice.  

"I've learned the Lord didn't do it all in one day...so what makes me think I can?"

But wow, what a weekend! My daughter and son-in-law came home and so we decided to have a big gathering to celebrate my husband's birthday month. When you get our age, you have to make the birthday celebrations last. So we invited the family and laid in the food. Kroger did some of the cooking and two people brought homemade ice cream - peach and banana - and my daughter made enough brownies for an army - or for about eight grandkids. LOL. 

Of course, it rained. Every Saturday in June until last Saturday has been beautiful. The weather forecast called for numerous showers. The weather forecast was right. But it didn't storm and we were able to run out and enjoy the day in between showers and sometimes we kept on playing even with the sprinkles coming down. 

After everybody ate and most everybody went home, I looked in the fridge and found my HUGE bowl of coleslaw. We are going to be eating coleslaw for a while. Do you ever do that? Forget to set out what you've fixed for a dinner or maybe that only happens after you've celebrated a lot of birthdays. :) But in case you have done something like that when you're entertaining extended family, share it with us so I won't feel like the only crazy one. 

Then I already have my Hometown Book Launch for Love Comes Home scheduled for Sunday. Not the best plan after a wild Saturday that pretty much had me running out of energy. I needed some "ten hour" energy drink. But I got recharged at church and was ready to go Sunday afternoon. Or maybe all those beautiful reading friends showing up to hear me talk about my books gave me the "energy" shot I needed. Thank you so much if you were able to come to my book party. I love talking books and I love seeing reading friends too. Wish all of you could have been there. You could have joined in with this great group who laughed at the right times and didn't go to sleep. 

As you can see in the photo, most of the people there were ladies, but there were two guys besides my grandson and son-in-law. I gave away six door prizes. Both men won one. What are the chances of that happening? One of the men told me afterwards it was because they were both preachers. I guess he thought that make their names rise to the top of the drawing basket.

Since we're talking about drawings, remember that today is your last chance to get your name in both of my giveaways. The blog only drawing will have five winners of one of my books (winner's choice). Enter by leaving a comment with a way to contact you - either with an e-mail address or by saying you can be contacted from my Facebook page. My website giveaway has some neat prizes along with those books. You can check out those prizes in last week's blog and read the ways to enter on my Website Events & News Page. But deadline is tonight, June 30, 2014 at midnight EST, so hurry. Don't be like that white rabbit and me and end up saying, "I'm late, I'm late."  

Love hearing from you, so tell me about your busy weekends or something that went haywire when you were having a family get together. 

What Do You Like about June?

                       

"Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June." ~Al Bernstein  What do you like about June? Summer starting? School out? Swimming pools filling up? Flowers blooming? Gardens growing? Family vacations? Bible School? So many things to love about June - that sweet time between spring and the hot days of July and August.  For me, the last few years, June has been a time to celebrate a new book out for readers. This year follows right along with Love Comes Home available in stores and on-line. Reviews are beginning to show up on some of the on-line book sites and in some of the book review magazines. That can be fun but also a little scary. I wrote the story and made it the best I could. Editors at the publishing company helped me polish and improve and gave the book a beautiful cover. And now I have to wait and see if readers are excited about going back to Rosey Corner to see what happened next.  One kind Amazon reviewer, Robin, wrote words I was glad to read about Love Comes Home. "I love visiting Rosey Corner. It has become like home. A sweet vacationing spot. These characters seem like family." That's what I want a reader to feel when they go with me to Rosey Corner or to Hollyhill or even my Harmony Hill Shaker village. Come take a trip with me back into storyland.  June also means I get to celebrate those new books by giving some things away. Some of you have already entered my Celebration Giveaway. If you haven't, you have until the end of June to enter to win one of these prizes along with one of my autographed books. The details are here. Plus I'm picking five winners here on my blog only contest to win a copy of one of my books (winners' choices). The way to get your name in that hat is to leave a comment on a blog post here in June with a way to contact you. Each new comment on a different post gets an additional entry. Or since some of you have had trouble commenting here, you can message me on my Facebook page or by e-mail, annhgabhart(at)yahoo(dot)com, and say you want to enter the blog giveaway.  I love hearing from you and finding out what's going on in your world. So what do you love about June? P.S. I'm having my Hometown Book Launch this Sunday, June 29, at 2:30 p.m. at my hometown library here in Lawrenceburg, KY. Come on out and help me celebrate if you are in the area. We'll talk books and there will even be door prizes. Not quite like the ones above, but still fun. P.P.S. I'm never going away, am I? :) But wanted to remind you about the Goodreads giveaway for Love Comes Home. Still time to enter there if you are a Goodreads member. Now I'm going away - I promise. At least until next time. Keep reading!

Hometown Reading Friends

Do you like to talk about books? Well, then you should check with your local library or bookstore and see when an author is coming to town, because if those writers are like me, they'll be talking books. That's what I did today. When Scent of Lilacs first came out in 2005, I decided that since I had used my hometown the way it was during the Sixties as the setting, that I should celebrate that book getting published with a party for my hometown readers. To be honest, I was so happy that book was published after I'd had several rejection filled years, that I was ready to celebrate anywhere, any time. Scent of Lilacs was fun to celebrate with my hometown friends because so many of the setting details I included in the book, they knew all about since they were right here in Lawrenceburg in the Sixties the same as I was.

That first book party was such fun that I've been having one whenever a new book comes out ever since. I even had a repeat party for Scent of Lilacs. We got to talk hometowns again. Today, of course, I was celebrating Small Town Girl. It also borrows a lot of its background and setting from Anderson County. My mother grew up in Alton here in Anderson County, and I used her memories of coming of age during the Depression years as the jumping off place for my story, Angel Sister. In Small Town Girl, I head back to Rosey Corner - my name for Alton - and tell a new story as the ominous WW II clouds gather on America's horizon.

I never know how many people are going to show up for one of my book parties. I always worry that no one will and then I won't have anyone to give away those door prizes to. The prizes are never big, but they're fun. Today I gave away a journal with inspirational sayings on the cover, a really nice pen along with notecards, a lovely garden decorative stake that said "Hope," a decorative wall plaque about imagination, and of course, my book, Small Town Girl. As I told the ladies in attendance, I give away prizes that I like.

Some of these ladies have come to several of my book talks and I worry that they will tire of my talks. But so far they are continually supportive. You know what? That's how Hometown friends are in a small town. I'm making a guest appearance on the Bookclub Network this week and to enter for the chance to win a copy of Small Town Girl, you have to answer one of three questions. (You can go visit too and throw your name in the Bookclub hat for the chance to win one of the five books.) One of the questions I asked was what's good and what's not so good about living in a small town. Well, I found out the good part today. Friends who show up to listen to me talk about books. I already knew that, but it's fun to find out good things over and over.

And they all say I need to have another party in September or October after Christmas at Harmony Hill comes out. Here's the great cover Revell designed for it. I've probably already shared that with you, but to be honest I'm so tired tonight, I have no idea if I did or didn't. I'm at Mom's and she just woke up ready for morning. I convinced her it's the middle of the night and to lie back down. Not sure how long that will last, but I can hope for a few hours sleep. If not, I'm going to be sleepwalking tomorrow after only a few hours sleep last night. The grandkids were visiting and I never get them started to bed early enough. No, of course I don't spoil them. LOL. Then I had a few chores to get done and ... well, you know how it goes.

Thanks for reading. And I always love to hear your comments. Tell me about a time you enjoyed a book talk.

How to Have Fun with a New Book

My Hometown Reading Friends

Any excuse to have fun is a good excuse. And I did have fun this weekend celebrating my new Shaker book, The Gifted. See this roomful of friends waving at me and smiling? And that was after I talked. Could be that's why they were smiling -- because I'd finally hushed. I asked them to wave and I think it's funny that the people in the back rows waved big while the people in the front row were too shy or too something to hardly wave at all. If I was a psychologist I might figure that out. But that's okay. They were still smiling. 

I was smiling too, because it's always such fun to talk about a new book with friends. My hometown reading friends are so good to come out and support me as a local author. Each time a new person comes in the door of the library meeting room, I feel as if he or she is giving me a gift. In a way, they are. They are giving me the gift of their time. They are patiently ready to listen to me talk about how I got started writing and tell some of the same stories about my books again. I try to do a quick rehash of my writing history for the people who haven't heard me speak before, but some of the same stories about my hometown do seem to surface each book launch. Like how I changed the name of Lawrenceburg to Hollyhill in my books about Jocie and her friends because the Lawrenceburg series doesn't roll off the tongue right. How I didn't base any of my characters on real people - and that was my story and I was sticking to it. How The Outsider sat on a shelf for 25 years before it was published.  How I love to write. And how deep my roots go in this community. 

These sweet people laughed again when they were supposed to laugh. These sweet people asked questions when they were supposed to ask questions. These sweet people acted thrilled (at least the ones who won them) when they got one of my door prizes that were more fun than fancy. I gave away a raspberry candle because Jessamine was on a wild goose chase hunting wild raspberries in the first scene of The Gifted. I gave away a journal and a pen because Sister Sophrena wrote in a journal all the way through The Gifted. One door prize was a travel cup that said, "I took the road less traveled. Now where the heck am I?" That was Sister Annie following after Jessamine. 

Then there was the cup that said "Believe. All things are possible if you believe." That matches my book The Believer, but maybe it matches my writing journey too. How in the world could a little farm girl grab onto such a big dream as writing books and then years later, be celebrating her 24th published book with a room full of hometown reading friends? I am blessed. Many thanks to those of you who came to celebrate with me and also to those of you who celebrated with me from afar. 

Some of the Sherman Full Gospel ladies at the brunch

I also had book fun on Saturday with the ladies at a brunch at the Sherman Full Gospel Church in Dry Ridge, KY. These were all fresh ears so I got to tell my old writing stories with no worries about repeating myself. It was a lovely church with a friendly group of ladies who made some pretty fancy fixings for brunch. So how to have fun with a new book is to find some people willing to laugh at your jokes and listen to you tell about the gift of writing. Thank all of you.  

If you haven't already, don't forget about signing up for my Celebration contests on my website contest page and on the Fresh Fiction Contest Page. Entries need to be in by midnight EST on July 31. 

Thanks for reading!

Brownies, Blog Tours, Book Parties & More

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hometown Book Celebration with my Reading Friends

My celebration of The Blessed was a fun time of friends and book talking with a little chocolate thrown in to sweeten the hour. I was lucky enough to have my daughter and husband (in the photo with me) there to help me carry everything in. Books can be heavy. 

I do so appreciate all my hometown reading friends who came out on a very hot Sunday afternoon to help me celebrate my fourth Shaker book, The Blessed. Each time a new person came in I felt as if I was getting a gift. And I was - the gift of their time and presence. I know others of you wished you could be there too and that's a gift and blessing to me too. 

I like talking about books and writing and always enjoy the question and answer part of any speech the most. Of course sometimes people don't have any questions or maybe they're just ready to get to the door prizes so they can go home. It's fun to give away stuff. And it's fun to win stuff. 

Today it seemed as if the prizes went to the perfect people in the group. A lady who likes to send notes and card to be an encourager got a card organizer and strawberry notecards. A young person interested in writing won the notebook and pens I had for somebody to start writing her own book. My neighbor who loves all things Shaker was there got the Shaker hot pad that said, "Hands to work and hearts to God." Another lady, a first time attendee to one of my celebrations, won The Blessed. Another friend who sews a lot got the audio tape of The Outsider. She's already read the book, but sometimes I think it's more fun to listen to a book after you've read it. She plans to listen while she was sewing. 

Then I gave away a cup that had a sisters are always your best friends type of saying on it to a beautiful woman, a retired teacher. All three of my children were blessed to have her in elementary school and she got them off to a great start in school. Of course she probably has dozens of mugs from her days of getting Christmas gifts from her students. I was a room mother for her class when my youngest son was in third grade. I'll never forget what a gift she gave those children that Christmas and no doubt every year she taught. She let them gather around her and then she opened their gifts one by one and expressed gratitude and sincere pleasure over each and every one. Those little gift givers glowed. 

It truly is more blessed to give than to receive at times. And Mrs. Simpson was a blessing to her students that Christmas as she taught them that truth in a simple, loving way. I enjoyed giving away my little door prizes today too. And talking to my friends - those I knew before today and those I know now because we became friends today.

Are you a good gift receiver who sees the spirit of love behind your best gifts? I have a little box decorated with sparkles by my grandson especially for me when he was in second grade. It is one of my most treasured gifts. What treasures have you been given? 


Thanks for reading.

Winner and Sisters and Book Launches

I love having hometown book launches the way I did today. First off, I get to see people I haven't seen in months. We live in the same town but the only people I see are those on the same grocery store run schedule as I am. Does that happen for you too? You see the same group of people over and over and never see the others. In our little town, Kroger and Wal-Mart are the great meeting places.
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And the library too, of course. That's where I met my reading friends today. And some of them are big UK basketball fans like me. Yet they left the game while it was still touch and go and came to my book launch for Angel Sister. It must have been that chocolate I'd promised them. I did have chocolate - brownies and candy too. Along with lemonade. And door prizes. As someone said, I'm not above a little bribery to make a book talk more fun.
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We did have fun. I talked about how I got started writing and some of the good things and bad things along my writing road. My first book was published in 1978 so you can see I've been on this writing road a long time and I'm hoping I still have some miles to journey on a while longer. I want to have some more hometown book launches with my reading friends here in my town. I'm not exaggerating when I say that each time a new person showed up, I felt as though I'd been given a gift. A gift of friendship and love. The best thing is that these hometown friends are such an easy group. They laugh when I try to say something funny. They don't hold it against me when I get something wrong. They just do some more laughing with me. They carry my books home with them and read my stories. I am blessed.
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I drew for the winners of my Angel Sister Celebration last week. The winner of the "everybody who enters" drawing was Mary of MN. Kelly of MD won the "I never win anything" drawing. So now she can't say that any more. Connie of KY and Susan of SC won the "tell me a sister story" drawings. Connie told me about how her sisters-in-law have been the best "sisters" she could ever imagine and that they're always there for her when she needs a helping hand. Susan told me about how her sister always does so many things to make their family better that she is truly an "angel" sister.
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I also decided to give a bonus prize of an autographed book to the person who sent in the most touching sister story. There were several really great stories, but Laurie E.'s story of how her little sisters were answers to prayer won out. There were lots of different stories from funny to inspiring. I enjoyed them all. I hope to highlight some of them Wednesday night.
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Thank you for reading. And I hope you are feeling like a winner tonight and that you have been blessed with sisters to love.

Celebrating Twins and a Hometown Book Launch

Whew! Whoever said twins were no more work than one couldn't have been talking about toddlers. We had the boys here at the house for a few days last week and believe me, I got my exercise without worrying about setting aside time for a walk. There wasn't any setting aside time for anything except chasing boys. Especially when we went outside to see the dogs. They liked heading off to do independent adventure seeking then with one boy going one way and the other boy going the opposite direction. As they hightailed it for the field or the garden or the far reaches of Africa perhaps, they'd sometimes look back at me and grin while they kept trucking until grandma grabbed one of them up and then ran to cut short the other's journey and make them come back to the yard.

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But aren't they cute? And you will notice that I'm still smiling. Hair is only half combed and if you could see the floor in the picture, you'd wonder how we could walk for the toys scattered everywhere. What is it about kids that dumping toys you've just picked up is the most fun of anything they can do? For sure there were lots of hugs and kisses to go around.

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But Sunday morning I packed them up and took them back to Mom and Dad. Then I had to rush home to get to my hometown book launch for The Seeker at the local library. I've been doing this every time I have a new release for the last five or six books now and it's always one of the most enjoyable events I do. Friends from church and neighbors and people from town who've known me since I was a kid growing up here come out and we talk books. They listen to me talk mostly, but then it's great to hear what they have to say. We laughed a lot yesterday. They thought it was funny when I told them how I'd left things at the house with the trashcan in the shower stall and the toilet paper up on the windowsill and cereal scattered to the four corners of the kitchen. They were a good bunch and I always feel so honored that people will take time out of their busy schedules to come listen to me tell them about my books. They were a good looking group, but I forgot to give somebody my camera to take pictures while I was talking so you'll just have to take my word for it. There were also several people there from our Central Kentucky writers group and I really appreciate their support.

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I had thought about making brownies and lemonade, but I was being too optimistic on how much time I'd have to cook, etc. while the twins were here. Way too optimistic. Darrell had to go to town to get food. :-) But I did take Dove chocolates that have those inspirational messages on the inside of the wrappers. I read one that seemed to fit the day. "The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."

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It was fun celebrating a new book with my hometown friends. Hope you have good things to celebrate this week.

Best Part of Book Launches

The best part of book launches has to be meeting readers. Signing books is fun too, but I love to hear what readers have to say about my books and books in general. There is a lot of discussion going around now about whether print books will survive with the onslaught of e-books.

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So I've been asking people what they think and how they like to read. In my totally unscientific poll, it's almost one hundred percent that the readers want to hold the book in their hands. And some of those people were part of the younger generation. They all said the electronic reading devices probably would be nice for people when they're traveling or waiting in the doctor's office or such as that. But they want a book in their hands when they settle down in their easy chair to read or prop up on pillows to sneak in another chapter before they turn the lights off at night.

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Did any of you ever read under the covers with a flashlight when you were a kid? I would have if I hadn't been worried about getting in trouble for using up the batteries in the flashlight. The more reading minutes the better.

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Uh-oh, I took off chasing a rabbit there. But then what are journals for except to chase a few random thoughts?

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I did have a nice book launch at Corinth Parable Bookstore in Frankfort. I love talking about writing and books and the best thing is I get to do it again this Sunday when I have my hometown book launch at the Anderson County Public Library. I might even try to come up with a real talk instead of doing this random stuff. Of course I think I'll be babysitting my twin grandbabies for a few days this week so I may just be full of twin stories. They're almost two. That would probably be okay since a lot of my reading friends have grandbabies too. ;) If you're in the area, come on down to the library Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Don't worry. I promise no more than two grandbaby stories and I always give away some books and who knows? If I have time in between chasing those babies, I might even make brownies. For sure there will be chocolate.

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We had our big Gabhart reunion here Sunday. That's why this post is late. I'll post a picture of me in my hat Wednesday or you can go check it out on my Facebook page. We had fun. Hope you had fun on the 4th too. And what do you think? You want to read e-books or print books?