Roses are Red Giveaway

I sent out a newsletter this week with a late Valentine giveaway. You know some people are always a day late and a dollar short. But it's never too late for chocolate and Valentine hugs. Okay, so I don't have any chocolate to give you. If I did, I'd eat it myself. But I'd think about you while I was enjoying it! After this week of weather, I think we all need some chocolate! 

But back to the giveaway. Here's the prize - a heart shaped necklace. It's really lovely. And to go along with that, the winner will get to choose one of my books. That makes me happy. Then to make it fun, I asked those who entered the giveaway to send a Valentine verse or other poem in too. 


While my very first writing sale was a four line poem many years ago, that was about the extent of my poetry writing. So, since not all of us are poets, I gave entrants the option of finishing this verse:
Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
(Your lines go next.)

I've been getting some neat poems. A few poems have been lovely original poems, but most have been simple "Roses are red" poems. Let's enjoy a few of them.

Susan used a play on words that made me smile.
Roses are red, 

Violets are blue, 

And just so you know,

Books are read, too.

Cheryl and several others wrote about perhaps being the winner.

Roses are red. 

Violets are blue.

It'd be so cool

To win a book by you.

Naturally those poems made me smile! Then there were the poems about how we love to read like this one from Pam:

Roses are red.

Violets are blue.

Reading books is one of my

Favorite things to do.

And there were poems about the weather. Gail wrote:

Roses are red.

Violets are blue

Why all this snow

I haven't a clue.

JSK wrote one to give us tired of winter folks hope.
Roses are red

Violets are blue.

Snow and ice are getting weary

32 days to spring, so true!

(And actually a little less than that now!!)

So if you didn't receive the newsletter and would like to throw your name in my late Valentine giveaway hat, you can leave a comment here on my blog before the deadline of midnight EST March 3rd. You must be 18 to enter and you have to leave a way to contact you with your entry. The poems are optional but fun. Plus if you'd like to get my newsletter, let me know and I'll send you a copy and/or add you to my newsletter list. You can sign up for the newsletter on my Facebook page.

There's also a giveaway going on at Carole Jarvis's blog, The Power of Words. I visited Carole's blog last week and talked about writing the Rosey Corner books. If you leave a comment on her blog, you'll have a chance to win a copy of Love Comes Home. And you'll get to see the neat old piano picture she has on her blog. The deadline to enter to win there is February 27.

Christmas Magic and a Christmas Giveaway for You

A Small Act of Grandparent Bravery

I got extraordinarily brave Saturday. I was keeping three of my grandkids including my twin grandsons who at the age of six must drink high energy water every morning when they pop out of bed. That energy doesn't run out until about fifty "go to sleep" orders have been issued well after dark. That wasn't the brave part. The brave part was that I took them to our local town's Christmas parade. It helped that my other son and his family was there to help me keep an eye on the kids.

A Small Town Parade
 
I was a bit concerned disappointment awaited in the wings when, before we left home, one of the boys started talking about how we might be on television. Not until he mentioned seeing the big balloons did I realize he was thinking we were going to be on the sidelines of a parade like the Macy's parade he'd watched on Thanksgiving. Their cousin, my older grandson, and I tried to ratchet down their expectations without totally stealing their excitement. 

We found our viewing spot in front of one of the churches, and then had to wait for the parade. And wait. And wait. Waiting is not what these two kids do best! Plus, it was cold. Before we spotted the police cars' flashing lights or heard the marching band's drums, the boys were ready to give up on the parade ever coming and call it a night. But I persevered. I'm good at that. Maybe eventually they will be too. 
 
Do we see Santa?

Finally, the police cars came, sirens sounding to lead the parade. The kids spotted Grinch on one of the floats and the Nativity scene on another. Santa finally showed up too, riding on a firetruck. My daughter-in-law took this picture as the boys were peering ahead to catch sight of Santa. Kids are such fun at Christmas time. And even better, when we took them to church Sunday morning and our pastor asked the kids why we celebrated Christmas, one of the boys was eagerly ready with the answer, "to celebrate Jesus being born."  

A New Christmas Contest


Christmas is a great time for thinking about giving and so time for me to have a Christmas Giveaway Contest. If you get my newsletter, you may have already read all about it and entered. I sent out the newsletter Friday to share that my book, Christmas at Harmony Hill, was a free download for twenty-four hours. The free is gone, but the e-book price is reduced for a while longer if you would like to check it out at your e-book provider. Christianbook.com also has the hardback copies at an even cheaper price.
Amazon Kindle
Nook Books 
Christianbook.com

If you'd like to get my newsletter (more book freebies and contests are on the horizon) and aren't signed up, just let me know or sign up here. 

The newsletter also let readers know about my Christmas giveaway. Since many of my books deal with family relationships, I picked the lovely three generation figurine above for first prize. Plus the winner will get his or her choice of one of my autographed books. Second prize is the Peanuts perpetual calendar with smiles waiting on every day and also the choice of one of my books. To enter, you can leave a comment here with a way to contact you via e-mail or Facebook (without this important information I can't find you should you be a winner) or send me an e-mail (annhgabhart at yahoo dot com) and I'll throw your name in my giveaway hat. Any e-mail will do, but for fun, you can tell me your favorite thing about the Christmas season. Deadline for entries is midnight EST December 31. You must be 18 to enter and have a USA or Canadian mailing address. Next time, I'll come up with something not so hard to mail to include you international friends.

Last Week's Winner of the Christmas Stories

Carolann won last week's giveaway - the Christmas stories. Rose McCauley's Christmas Grace, and my Christmas at Harmony Hill. Thanks to all of you for your comments. It's always fun hearing what you have to say.  

Christmas at Harmony Hill Celebration Giveaway

I sent out a newsletter Sunday. If you're on my newsletter list you already know about my new celebration giveaway, but if you're not, you can find out about it here. 

I'm celebrating my birthday and the September release of Christmas at Harmony Hill by giving away some prizes. The book is in stores and available online. I do hope you will enjoy the story when you get a chance to read it. Back to the giveaway. For the prizes, I picked Shaker Christmas decorations - what else? 1st prize is the "Hands to Work; Heart to God" ornament and one of my books (winner's choice). 2nd prize is the mini-quilt hanging with embroidered Christmas trees (13.5" by 16") & a copy of one of my books. (Again winner's choice.) 

Then my "never win" prize for those of you who say you never win is a lovely book about tea, a Melody Carlson Christmas book and a copy of one of my books. To enter you can e-mail me from my website or leave a comment here with a way to contact you if you happen to be one of the lucky winners. Remember to tell me if you're one of those "never win" people. I know the feeling. Deadline for entering is midnight EST September 30, 2013. Contest open to residents of the United States and Canada and those 18 or over.

For fun, you can share a favorite birthday memory and in the weeks ahead, I'll share a few of them forward if you give permission. I've got some good birthday memories to share too. While I may not enjoy counting up my birthdays, I still love having them. The last few years I've had to celebrate my birthday at the National Quartet Convention. At least my husband has plenty of booths to look for a last minute present for me. One birthday, a few years ago, he bought me presents at a truck stop on the way home from one of the Patriots' concerts. Actually, I really liked the t-shirt with Labrador dogs on it. And the truck stop sack made good wrapping paper too. LOL. 

I've already gotten a lot of neat birthday memories from those of you who get my newsletter. Some of the stories have made me smile. Some have made tears pop up in my eyes. Here's one of the smiling memories from Sandi. 

My best birthday memory is when I was soon to be 17.  My birthday is in July and I was working as a waitress the summer before my senior year.  I'd had a horrendous day at work and wanted to go home and go to bed--or hide under the bed or just die (teenagers are sooo dramatic). My two best friends showed up just as I got home and they insisted that I go "out" with them. I refused to clean up or put on new make-up--I had cried on the walk home and I looked rather dreadful, but after much coaxing (and threatening from my mom who had joined the discussion for some reason), I decided to join them. My friend Ruth said she had to stop at her boyfriend's house to pick up something and I assured her I'd be the one in the car..."Jim" came to the door and insisted I come inside. I was pretty worn down by then so I went in...surprise--all of my best friends and some I didn't even like were inside and they all screamed "happy birthday" in unison. Fortunately, my mom had packed a bag with make-up and fresh clothes in it and had secretly given it to one of the girls. 

And now we hear from Donna about how we can't know what tomorrow holds, but we can cherish the good times we have with family. 

My best birthday had to be two years ago. My family (daughter, son-in-law and 2 grandkids) were away on a camping trip on my birthday. My sister ... invited me and my boyfriend over to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday. Unknown to me, it was not only my brother-in-law's party but one for me too. Out came a separate cake for me with candles, and they all sang Happy Birthday, and even had presents. My sister had invited her kids and grandkids to this party and it was a wonderful, birthday surprise for me. Little did we know that a year later my sister would be fighting for her life battling cancer. She's had surgery, radiation and is doing better.  So, thank you Big Sister, for everything.  I love you. 

Donna's sister's name is Diane, so if you have a minute, whisper a prayer her way. I do so appreciate all the prayers you've whispered my way and my mother's way as her dementia steadily worsens. Prayers are powerful. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you'll join in with my giveaway fun and come back for more stories in the weeks ahead. And if you don't get my newsletter and would like to, just let me know.

Birthday Newsletter and Giveaway

"There is still no cure for the common birthday."                  ~John Glenn

 

Birthdays! That’s something you have to have once a year as regular as clockwork. And the clocks seem to work faster the older I get. My sister sent me a birthday card with the picture of a dog with his ears and fur all blowing back like a race car just went past him. Inside, it said, and so another year just zoomed by. And it ever more did.

A good year in ways. A hard year in other ways. But that’s how it is for most everybody. With the sunshine comes the rain. The rain is how Mom is declining especially in her thinking ability. The sunshine is my beautiful family and two more books published (Words Spoken True  and  The Gifted) plus another one written. (Small Town Girl – releasing in 2013). More sunshine is all the wonderful reading friends I have.

 

To celebrate those friends and my birthday, I sent out a reverse birthday card yesterday – a newsletter to everyone who has signed up to be on my e-mail list. If you’ve signed up and didn’t get a copy yesterday or today, you might check your e-mail spam box. I hate it if my newsletter is considered spam but I sometimes get things that aren't spam sent directly to my spam folder. I do have some people to add, so if you are on the list and didn’t get a newsletter or if you aren’t on the list but would like to be, just let me know.

At any rate, I’m giving away some books to celebrate my birthday. I love giving away books and what is the very best book in the world? The Bible, of course. So one of the prizes is a NIV Study Bible along with a copy of one of my books. Another prize is a devotional and journal combined along with one of my books. Last for those who say they never win, I’ve got a special prize of an autographed copy of  a Liz Curtis Higgs historical fiction novels, Mine is the Night along with that copy of one of my books.  Deadline to enter is midnight EST on October 15. You can go to my website to enter or leave a comment here with a way to contact you, should you win. You have to let me know you’ve never won anything from me to get in that drawing.

One of my favorite quotes to read on my birthday is something  Satchel Paige said. “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?” Not sure I know the answer to that, but I’m thinking maybe around 35. I guess I could try to figure out an answer to Paige’s question from my mother. She no longer knows how old she is and when she thinks about it she usually thinks somewhere around forty or younger. She certainly doesn’t believe she’s all of ninety-two. No, that can’t be, because she’s planning to go home and visit her mother.

Every day she plans to do that. If only she could find her shoes. I told her tonight that it was too late. We couldn’t go anywhere so late and that we’d have to sleep here. She doesn’t like “here.” Said it was a bad place. But when I told her it was too late and we’d have to see about it tomorrow, she looked at me and made more sense than she has for a while. She said, “And in the morning it will be too early and later it will be too bright and then it’ll be time to eat.” I think she’s on to us, don’t you? If only she was onto the fact that this is her home. No such luck there.

Thanks to all of you who sent me birthday wishes. As I said on Facebook, I felt like the popular girl at the dance.  And a special thanks to those of you who came by the Patriot Quartet’s booth to talk to me during the NQC. This year my Scottish friends from last year returned to buy three more books to carry home with them. Then I met a couple from Sweden. Also talked to people from lots of different states – Iowa, Michigan, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, to name a few. A fun time.

Thanks for reading. Hope you have some fun times coming up for you. Oh, and how old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

 

 

Mom's Day and News to Go

My mother and father on their wedding day in 1939. The photo is old, but this was a day of beginnings for my mother. A couple of years later she became a mom when my older sister was born. I came along the last of three daughters. She was the very best mother I could have had. A lot of people think that about their mothers, and that's good. But for me, my mom is best. Dad's been gone for over twenty years now and Mom at 91 is having some health struggles. Her memory is giving out on her and she doesn't get up and down easily. Things are hard, but she still tries to hang in there and live the best she can. 

I wrote about her as "My Mother, My Friend, My Character" in a guest blog for Bookreporter.com  http://blog.bookreporter.com/blog/2011/05/ann-h-gabhart-my-mother-my-friend-my-character. She and her stories were so instrumental in getting a true historical background for Angel Sister. 

My mother got married the day after she graduated from high school. She was 19. In a few years our country was plunged into war. Dad didn't get called up because he was a farmer, but two of mom's sisters' husbands went into the service. Both came home but many men did not. Tom Brokaw wrote a book titled The Greatest Generation. I read his book and I think he got the title right. But that's another post for another day. This is a day to honor mothers. I have a beautiful mother who loved me. I don't think I could ask for any more. Not only that, but I love being a mother. Each of my children were and are still a blessing to me. And now their families are added on blessings.

  

I talked about being a mom and my mom too in a newsletter I sent out yesterday. I have been trying to get going on a new newsletter for a while, but that deadline kept glaring at me. It still is, but I decided to take time to tell all my reading friends Happy Mother's Day and to give than a chance to read about my new book, The Blessed coming out in a few weeks, and about the celebration giveaway I'm going to have. I'm giving away 5 copies of The Blessed, one of Angel Sister along with an angel statue, and two books that will be the winner's choice of my titles. All you have to do to enter is send me an e-mail from Facebook or my website or leave a comment with a way I can contact you in case you win. You get extra chances to win if you let me know you've never won anything from my website and if you tell me about a blessing you got from reading something. I'll do the drawing in June. Also if you'd like to get my occasional newsletter, just let me know and I'll add your name to my newsletter list. You can be assured that I never give out your e-mail addresses to anyone. The giveaway is available only to residents of the U.S. and Canada. There are legal restrictions on these giveaways for other countries.

Thanks for reading. Tell me something about your mother.

Favorite Christmas Gifts

I've been blessed with nine beautiful grandbaby gifts over the years and every year when we have a new baby in the family I take a picture of that baby under the Christmas tree because, in my mind, there's no other gift that can compare to the gift of a new life. Last year this baby's big sister wanted to be part of the picture too. Behind them you can see the nicely wrapped gifts that are going to torn into and scattered and perhaps become a favorite toy or just as likely be abandoned for the more fun boxes the gifts came in.
~~
Gifts are such a big part of our Christmas traditions and celebrations. So I want to include you in the gift giving and getting fun. I sent out a newsletter this week telling about a new giveaway. Books, of course. Don't you think you best like to give the things you most like to get? Although I'll have to confess that if I get many more books, I'm going to need to build on a room to turn into a library. Wouldn't that be nice? A whole room dedicated to books and reading. I can see the leather armchairs and footstools now. No t.v. or computer allowed. Just books. Of course the library shelves I'm imagining are full of those beautifully bound hardback books and not the colorful paperbacks stacked in my bookcase with covers enticing me to take a few weeks off and read, read, read. With the number of books I've been collecting lately, I'd need at least a solid month to even begin catching up on my reading.
~~
That's not going to happen, but I can dream. Of course there's that sticky little problem of how I want to write too. And deadlines looming and new books to edit. So I'll keep doing my best to find reading time because reading is necessary to writing. Reading is not only a pleasure; it inspires and educates and challenges. So that's why I'm giving away books. Some of mine, of course, but since my shelves are overflowing, I'm adding some surprises too. Maybe a book by another author. Maybe a Shaker Christmas ornament. Maybe a box of rocks. No, I wouldn't do that. Too heavy to mail. ;-) I'm not saying exactly what or it won't be a surprise.
~~
This giveaway is a little different. I'll draw five names from the "everybody" hat. That's anybody who sends me an e-mail or leaves a comment here on my One Writer's Journal. Then if you've never won anything in my giveaways and tell me that, I'll put your name in the "I never win anything" hat to be sure one of you won't be able to say that after January. Last, if you tell me your favorite Christmas gift, your name will go into another hat. So you will have lots of chances to win one of my books and those surprises.
~~
I've had fun reading about those favorite gifts sent in by readers of my newsletter. I've got enough fodder for all my blog posts until Christmas and beyond. (Gee, I sound like Buzz Lightyear.) You can be sure I'll report on my very unscientific poll of what gifts made us happy at Christmas time. To start off the Christmas gift report, I want to share a great Chrismas story from reader, Lana.
~~
Lana didn't tell me what year this happened, but I know you'll be inspired by her favorite Christmas memory. When she was nine years old, all her families' Christmas presents were stolen on Christmas Eve. Her mother - there wasn't a father in the picture - had hidden the presents from her five children in the trunk of her car. You can imagine how bleak Christmas morning must have been when Lana's mother discovered the gifts stolen. But she didn't let that spoil her Christmas spirit even though there was no money to replace the gifts.
~~
I'm going to let you hear the rest of the story in Lana's words. "So my mother did two things: she went to a loan company to borrow the money to purchase our first TV set (black and white) and she bought a huge dog bank and we began to save our pennies to replace our Christmas presents and each of us got to pick out a present we wanted. I got a Brownie camera! I was so excited. So we had Christmas in July that following year. I don't recall how long it took her to pay off that loan but it took a while. This may not sound like a favorite Christmas but it brought us five kids closer and gives us something to talk about today when we are all together."
~~
Thank you, Lana, for sharing that beautiful story of how your mother turned something so bad into something you now treasure as a good memory. Your story just goes to prove that love is the greatest gift and the one that we remember forever.
~~
So I'm wishing you all many great Christmas memories and treasured gifts. Share some of them with us if you want. It'll get your name in an extra drawing for that book and surprise. And come back on Sunday when I'll be sharing more of the gift stories I've gotten from you readers. Merry Christmas everybody!

Sweeping the Shaker Way

~~Whenever I go to the Shaker village not far from my farm, I feel as if I've gone back to a different moment in time. I can't deny a feeling of peace in that place. Even though I've read a lot of Shaker history and know their Societies were not always peaceful and trouble free, still I feel the peace there as I walk along those tree-lined streets and gaze at the sturdy buildings that have lasted far longer than their Society did in that place. The Shakers sought peace and union with God and their fellow Believers by putting their hands to work and giving their hearts to God. For many of the Believers it worked. They did find peace and purpose and walked the Shaker way with gladness and devotion. Others did not and went back to the "world."

~~The Shakers did their best to be self sufficient with each member working for the good of the whole. Then as their numbers grew they needed a way to keep all hands busy so they began to manufacture items for the world like these flat brooms. A Shaker man in one of the eastern villages came up with the idea for a better broom and a way of stitching the broom flat. Today re-enactors in the village still make brooms the Shaker way. Then they ape the good business sense of the Shakers and sell the brooms that were made for the entertainment of the tourist guest in the village's gift shop. That's where these brooms in the picture were. Waiting for someone to carry them home and put them to work.

~~The Shakers are long gone from this Shaker village of Pleasant Hill. The pathways and buildings are empty of all but tourists and workers. Nothing is left now of the people who once lived and worked there except a few markers in their graveyard. But if you try you can hear the echo of their songs and the stomp of their feet in the meetinghouse. You can imagine with very little problem a Shaker sister's skirt whirling about her as she spins in religious ecstasy. And you can wonder at this contradictory people. Every action of their daily lives was disciplined and ordered by their Ministry, but yet their worship could be open and free. In reading accounts of some of their spirit visitations, they sound like children playing pretend.

~~My Shaker books are not so peaceful. In The Seeker first one army and then another marches through the center of the village destroying the peace of the place. Just a few more weeks until the book is out to bookstores. I received beautiful postcards and bookmarks today. If you would like some, contact me from my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/ and I'll send you some. You can also click on my Facebook page and/or sign up for my newsletter from the website. I should have a newsletter spinning across cyberspace by the end of the week. There will be news of how you can enter several drawings to win a copy of The Seeker in July.

~~Have you ever visited a Shaker village? What did you like best about it? Maybe you bought a Shaker broom. Hope you have a great today and a better tomorrow.

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.

Common Sense Dancing

The weathermen were right. The mercury in the thermometer is rising and the ice is disappearing. Now all we have to worry about is the mud. At least next week. Then after that, who knows? In Kentucky you can have winter or spring all in the same week. Sometimes the same day. Keeps things interesting.

I sent out a newsletter today. I wanted to share the good news about The Outsider being a finalist for the Christian Book Award in fiction, and I've gotten back lots of great e-mail congratulations. Thank you all so much. I can feel your good vibes making their way through cyberspace to me. And good vibes are important. I mean science has done research to prove what Proverbs has been telling us for centuries. "Laughter worketh good like a medicine." Just like they've done tests now to prove chicken soup makes you feel better when you have a cold. Why didn't they just save their study money and listen to all us old grandmas? We already knew that, didn't we?

Do any of the rest of you sometimes wonder what has happened to good old common sense? It doesn't seem so common anymore. But then I went out hunting some common sense quotes and what do I find but this quote "Common sense is not so common" by Voltaire, a famous French philosopher and writer who lived 1694-1778. So perhaps every age thinks we have a lack of good common sense. Here are some more quotes I found about common sense:

• Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius. -- George Bernard Shaw
• Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done. --C.E. Stowe (Harriet Beecher Stowe's son)
• Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes. --Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Poet and Essayist, 1803-1882
• Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. --William James, American Philosopher and Psychologist, 1842-1910

I like that last one. The idea of common sense dancing. Maybe because the only place I can dance is in my head. I would have had trouble if I had been one of the Shakers. Well, not just because of the dancing. That's for sure. But I like the thought of words dancing across a page. I like thinking that laughter is joy dancing through us.

Back to the newsletter, I am doing a new book give-away. I've got an autographed copy of Hidden by Shelley Shepard Gray to give away along with the winner's choice of an autographed copy of one of my books, Orchard of Hope, Summer of Joy, Angels at the Crossroads, or The Outsider. If you haven't won yet, this might be your lucky time. I'm going to do the drawing on tax day, April 15 just so I'll have something fun to look forward to besides paying taxes. Hidden is about a girl who goes into an Amish community to hide from an abusive boyfriend and the story is getting rave reviews from readers. You can check it out at Amazon.com.

So if you want to enter the drawing, go to my website www.annhgabhart.com and click on the contact link to send me an e-mail. Also if you'd like to get my sometimes monthly, sometimes not, newsletter, you can sign up at my website for that too.

I am missing those babies, but tomorrow is my baby's birthday. He might be grown with three kids of his own and expecting another one soon, but he'll always be my baby. So he has to let Mama cook for him on his birthday. I'm making a cherry pie and no-bake chocolate cookies. Can't go wrong with those. But that's why I'm posting tonight instead of on Sunday. I'll be too busy watching my grown up baby blow out his candles and playing with grandkids tomorrow. Hope you enjoy your Sunday.