Cows, Pigs and Dogs and a Captive Audience

The Mystery Revealed 

 The guesses were fun. All of you were ready to be out on the farm. And I finally fooled some of you. That made me smile. But a few of you were right. It wasn't a cow. Or a pig. My daughter-in-law knew who it was on first glance, but she privately messaged me her guess so as not to mess up the fun. Above is the "rest of the picture." Meet my neighbor dog, Roxie. She's a sweet dog but she does have a drooling problem and when she shakes her head you have to dodge those "slingers."

A Cow Picture for the Cow Guesses

For those of you who guessed cow, here are the color cows we have. But I could almost see what you were seeing in the mystery photo. Almost. I was really expecting somebody to say panda bear. Maybe I need to go look at a panda bear picture myself. And the pig guesses, well, there are black and white pigs, but I don't have any pictures of those.

On to the Winners

I did draw for the two winners of Orchard of Hope. Susan from CA and Mary Preston. So far I haven't exactly been able to contact them. I'm having trouble with that lately. But I have sent Susan a Facebook message and I'm hoping Mary will send me a message on Facebook or leave a way to contact her in a comment here. If I don't hear from them, I'll draw more winners next week. 

Meanwhile - You Might Win Christmas at Harmony Hill

You can hop over to WFBC Media Center Blog to read my Christmas themed interview there and leave a comment on that that blog for a chance to win Christmas at Harmony Hill. I shared a couple of recipes too. One for the Christmas punch my aunt made when I was a kid and I've carried on the tradition and another for Hummingbird Cake. Don't ask me why they call it hummingbird cake. I have no idea!

A Captive Audience 

Tomorrow morning I'm going to one of my granddaughter's school and talk to some school kids. That's why they're a captive audience. Their teacher will insist they listen to me or at least I hope they will. Two first grades, two second grades and two fifth grades - in three different sessions. I love talking to kids but I'm a little worried I won't be able to keep their attention for the time the librarian has scheduled for me. And three sessions is a lot of talking. I'm hoping I won't let my second grader granddaughter down. Pressure's on! Prayers appreciated!  

 

Mystery Picture and Orchard of Hope Giveaway

Guess to Win a Book

Let's have a little fun with another mystery picture. Leave a guess, but don't read the other comments before you guess. It's more fun that way. But leave any comment on this post or one of my other posts before the end of October to be in a drawing for a copy of Orchard of Hope. (Exception - Comments on the October 18 Scavenger Hunt post will be for the great Scavenger hunt prizes only.) I know some of you may already have the book from its first printing, but autographed books make wonderful Christmas presents or stocking stuffers. Or maybe you would like to donate a copy to your library. So make a guess or join the conversation this month and see if you can win a book. I'll pick two winners on November 1.

Orchard of Hope's new cover. 

How do you like it? Jocie is at the Hollyhill Grill enjoying a strawberry shake. That has to be good! For my Hollyhill stories, I looked back at the way I remember my little town being in the 1960's. That was a time before Wal-Marts and before the main highway bypassed Main Street. Back then, if you wanted a new toaster, some nails,a prescription filled, a new dress or shoes, a loaf of bread or that strawberry shake, you went downtown on Main Street. 

And a lot of people did, especially on a Saturday afternoon. All the farmers put down their tools, stopped plowing or planting or harvesting and brought the family to town. It was a time to stop on the sidewalk and talk to your neighbors because you knew everybody you met. The teenagers got to do a little flirting while sipping a soda at the drugstore soda counter. But it wasn't all good. Our schools weren't integrated until the middle of the Sixties. The fight for Civil Rights was ongoing.

I took some of all that and mixed in my characters and their imagined lives and Hollyhill had a new story to tell. Many readers have told me that one of the final scenes in that story - a revival scene in the small country church - touched their hearts. I won't tell you more because I wouldn't want to spoil the story for you if you haven't read it yet. 

Great Chances to Win

So lots going on this month with books and prizes to give away. There's a Goodreads giveaway happening for Christmas at Harmony Hill. You have until November 1 on that one too. Then the fun Scavenger Hunt starts on Friday, October 18. I'll be posting one of the clues and a new posting from Lyn Cote. My post will be on a different site. There are 25 bloggers and writers taking part in the fun. Besides the main prizes of an iPad and 2 winners of all 25 newly released novels, many of the bloggers are offering prizes on their individual blogs. I'm offering a copy of one of my Shaker novels, but you have to wait until October 18 to leave a comment for that.

Meanwhile you can guess on the mystery picture and perhaps win a copy of Orchard of Hope. Remember, to make it more fun, don't read the other comments before you guess. 

Winners, Bicycles and Birthdays

My birthday month is over. September has slipped away too soon. No more birthday stories in my e-mail box. :( It's been a crazy month down here on the farm with Christmas at Harmony Hill out in September and Orchard of Hope coming out in its new package on October 1. Add in one of Mom's caretakers being sidelined with cataract surgery and a deadline for editing my next Rosey Corner book that included the need to snip out 13,000 plus words and you can see why I needed a few more days in September. Only 3,500 words to go! I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hope it's not a train. 

But before we head out on a new trail, we've got a few more birthday noise makers to blow and one more story to share. 

Did you ever have your own bicycle? I didn't. I had a hand me down that needed tires, my inspiration for Jocie's old bike in Scent of Lilacs.Tara left this story in a comment on a post here, but I wanted to share it again. 

"My best birthday memory. As a second child I spent a lot of time in hand me downs. Clothes, shoes, bicycles. My older sister had a very different style than I did, so her old blue bicycle with a banana seat was not my favorite. Every trip to town for groceries would see me at the Western Auto adjacent to the grocery store, riding around and around a little yellow BMX bike. Every year, I participated in (and rocked!) the St Judes Bike-a-thon in our tiny, tiny town and I wanted nothing more than to NEVER have to ride that hand me down blue bike again to do so. I have NO idea how many miles I logged on that little yellow bike just riding up and down the aisles until Mom was done at the grocery store. I will never forget Mom telling me to take out the trash or some equally unpleasant chore, on my birthday, no less, only to discover it was a ploy to get me to go around back where that little yellow bmx was waiting for me. I continued to ride it in those Bike-a-thons for years to come. One year, I earned enough pledge money to provide every participant with the t-shirt prize after it was all divvied up."

When I read Tara's story I was doubly touched, by her mother knowing how much she wanted the bike and finding a way to get it for her and by Tara's eagerness to raise money for St. Jude's even as a child. You may remember that my great-niece was treated for cancer at St. Jude's and one of my Facebook posts about her went viral a year or so ago. You can read that old blog post, Honk, Honk for Good News if you're interested. Anyway, when I asked Tara about using her story here, this is what she said, "Oh please go ahead and use it :) My best friend had cancer, she passed away when I was 11. She was treated at St Jude and it is still the charity that gets 99% of my charity dollars."





In November I'll be taking part in the St. Jude Walk in Louisville because Tara is right. Once you've seen how St. Jude wants to cure every child, you want to keep helping them have the money to find those cures.

But now get all those birthday noisemakers ready. It's time to announce winners. You may have already seen the names since I sent out a newsletter on Tuesday with the winners and the news that my book Words Spoken True was/is a free download. Only a few more hours for that so if you have an e-reader and haven't read my story set in 1855 Louisville with political intrigue, lots of romance and even a serial killer on the loose, you can download it today for free. (And yes, I know this is Thursday and that I'm a day late posting. I was in such a frenzy of editing out words last night I forgot to post.) 

Oh yeah, back to the winners of my Christmas at Harmony Hill Giveaway Celebration. Donna V. wins 1st prize, the Shaker hand ornament and her choice of one of my books. Sue B. won 2nd prize of the quilt hanging and her choice, Christmas at Harmony Hill. Rachel L can't say she "never wins" anymore since she wins the Tea book, Melody Carlson's The Christmas Shoppe and she also picked Christmas at Harmony Hill. As as extra bonus, Peggy C is my "just because" winner. Angel Sister is one of her favorite books, so she picked Small Town Girl. (I haven't heard from Donna, so if I don't by next week, I'll pick a new winner.)

Thank you all for taking part in my giveaway fun and for sharing your birthday stories. I enjoyed reading them so much and in my very unscientific survey, I discovered surprise parties make great memories, especially if you're turning 50, that grandkids are cute blowing out candles, and that everybody loves a birthday cake with chocolate the favorite there.

Out of room for this post, but check back Sunday (or maybe Monday. lol) I'll have to celebrate Orchard of Hope being back out for readers somehow.

The 1960's - Marches, Civil Rights and Changes

In the car on the way up to sit with Mom, I switched on the radio today and tuned in to live coverage of the fifty year anniversary March on Washington. I remember the 1963 March of Washington, but I was young and didn't pay all that much attention to the Civil Rights movement. Civil Rights were words in the news, but out on the farm, I was an innocent who had very little understanding of why people were marching on Washington. Most of the adults around me were simply worried violence was going to break out or that it was somehow going to change their world. But things needed to change and I think the Lord sent the right man to lead the marches and get those changes started in a peaceful way. Dr. King's "I have a Dream" speech has a permanent place in the history of our country.

Our schools were integrated in 1963. It seems strange now to think about how long it took for the school system to allow all the kids in our county to go to school near where they lived. I don't remember worrying about it. I also had no idea of the struggles many of the blacks had faced as they marched to have the same rights as other citizens of the country. 


Years later, I wrote my Hollyhill books set in the 1960's, and while researching the era, I learned what an innocent I had been. So in my second Hollyhill book, Orchard of Hope, I let Jocie be that innocent young girl who thinks everybody has the freedom to do whatever they want and who is confronted with the truth of prejudice. I wrote about a family moving into an area of the Holly County where black people didn't normally live. Myra, the mother in the family had ridden the Freedom Trains and been arrested. She'd taken her children to marches and because of that, one of the children, Cassidy, developed deep fears. Cassidy is one of the viewpoint characters in the story and I think her fearful innocence contrasted against Jocie's unaware innocence deepen the story line. Orchard of Hope is due to be re-released with this new cover in October. It seems to be right on time with the anniversary of the Washington March this year. 

Some of you are old enough to remember that time too. What do you remember about that March on Washington?

Double Fun

Almost two years ago I was rushing to get the book that became The Believer finished before these two little ones made their appearance in the world. And now here they are full of smiles for their grandma and their grandma is rushing to get yet another book finished, my fourth Shaker book, as yet nameless.

~~I've been brainstorming names for it and have a whole list but none of the names are settling down and sticking to the story. So we'll see on that. Right now I need to get the story written. I'm into my quota period. That means I'm ordering myself to write so many words or pages every weekday. I stayed with the schedule last week so we'll see how things go this week.

~~But aren't the boys cute? I am blessed with a whole baseball team of healthy grandkids. And cute ones, too.

~~I went with the Patriot Quartet to sing tonight. Well, they sang, and I listened. Got my ego boosted a little by one of the ladies there who had read a couple of my books and came back to the product table to buy all the other books I had with me. I told her I was going to take her on the road with me. That was fun, but you know a boosted ego today is likely to turn into a busted ego tomorrow. With writers it's an up and down rollercoaster ride. Tonight I was up on the top of the ride with the kind words about my book. Tomorrow I might be at the bottom with a new review that isn't as kind or maybe a letter from the publishing company saying one of my books is being taken out of print.

~~Actually I got one of those letters last week. My last Hollyhill book, Orchard of Hope is going out of print. But the good news about that is the publishing company has plans to repackage and reissue the three Hollyhill books in the next couple of years, possibly as a set. That's good news for me, but I guess it would be a higher point if the books had stayed in print because readers loved them that much. Every writer's dream.

~~So through the ups and downs I just have to hang on and not get too excited or worried about either one. Instead I need to keep pressing keyboard keys, keep putting words together and figuring out what happens next. You can be sure I'll tell you when what happens next is I write "The End." That's a few weeks away.

~~Hope you're having more ups than downs this week.