Need a Few Influencers for a New Shaker Book

"The people who influence you are the people who believe in you." 
    ~Henry Drummond





I am blessed by the influence of so many people who have believed in me through the years. My mother, first and foremost, always believed I could do whatever I set out to do. That's not to say she might not have been a little surprised when I had the dream to be a writer and actually publish books. 

Sometimes when I think about that, I'm a little surprised! Not that I wanted to write, but that I do have books published that people like you actually read. That is a blessing I don't take for granted. I'm grateful for every reader. I'm thankful every time any of you tell one of your reading friends about my books. I appreciate every time you read my this-and-that blog posts and when you leave comments here or play my guessing games. (I'm still smiling about finally getting a mystery photo that stumped you last time. I'm also trying to come up with something new that might be fun.) 


Many of you who read my blog are also faithful readers of my books and have followed me from Hollyhill to Harmony Hill to Rosey Corner and to 1855 Louisville. I love how you've been willing to read my different types of stories. 

This summer, I'm going back to my Harmony Hill Shaker village for a new book, The Innocent. That's why I posted this with a Shaker house picture. I really didn't think I'd write another Shaker book, but then these characters came to mind and it seemed like the thing to do. I guess I'll see if it really was come July when I find out if readers are ready to go back to Harmony Hill too. The book is already available for pre-order on Amazon. 

So now I'm looking for ten or twelve readers who might like to be what is called "influencers" in the publishing business. These people get a hot off the press copy of the book and in return perhaps talk about the book to their reading friends and suggest it to their book clubs or libraries. They might post reviews on internet sites or their own blogs if they have blogs or talk it up on other social media sites if the story is one the reader liked. Word of mouth really is the best advertisement a writer can get. These are just suggested things. There is no obligation to do anything if you don't want to other than receive the book and promise to give it a read. 

If any of you would like to give this influencing bit a try, just let me know. If I get more people who would like to be on my influencer list than the list can accomodate, I'll draw out twelve names. You can leave your e-mail information here in a comment or e-mail me directly at annhgabhart(at)yahoo(dot)com. 

And thanks so much. I am blessed to have you as reading friends.

Some things I've Learned as a Writer

I started writing when I was around ten years old. That means I've been writing a very long time. Sometimes with success. Sometimes without success - at least in publishing that writing. But the actual writing was always successful because words spilled out on paper. Perhaps not the best words. But words were written. 

In those childhood days, writing was simply for fun. The words bubbled up with joy and spilled out all across the notebook paper. The ink tracing of words somehow magically made a story. It was only later that I began to desire readers. The stories hidden away in notebooks were no longer enough. I wanted to write stories that not only came to life in my mind, but that would wake up readers' imaginations too. And so began my career as a writer.

Along the way I've discovered a few things about writing.

First and early on I learned that everything I wrote was not going to be golden. Writing was a learning process. I could improve. I could find ways to write better.

Second, I learned that writing better didn't guarantee that what I'd written would turn out to be what others wanted to read. 

Third, I learned that even when what I wrote found no ready readers, it was not wasted effort but instead practice. I had to write those words to get better at writing so that when I did find the right story to write, then my words might be so well written they would disappear before a reader's eyes as the story sprang to life in his or her imagination. 

Other things I've learned:

...that talking about writing is not writing. 

...that if I don't apply my fingers to the keyboard, nothing gets written.

...that I can't talk too much about a story before I write it or I lose the excitement of writing said story.

...that persistence is as necessary as imagination in getting a book on a store shelf. 

...that rejection, although painful, is not fatal unless you let it be. 

...that writing is hard work no matter how much you love writing.

...that even on the days when the winds of creativity don't blow on your writing sails, you can still write words that turn out to be not half bad.

...that it is easy to get distracted and do anything but write even when you badly want to write.

...that the most important person to believe in your writing is yourself. You are the one alone in front of the blank page. 

...that the most important thing I did to prepare myself to write was read and that even now after all these years of writing, reading other writers' stories is still as necessary as when I began writing.

...that even when I thought I should give up on writing, I couldn't. 

I am a writer. That's what I do. Thank you for reading some of my words. 

What lessons have your life or work taught you?

Release Day - Small Town Girl

It's July. That means Small Town Girl is officially released. It's always a banner day for a writer like me when a new book hits the market. Way back in 1978 when my first book was published in the general market as a mass market paperback, I expected to see it on every stand. I didn't think about how many books are released every month and how the store shelves couldn't possibly hold all those books. I just thought about my new book and how much I wanted to see it on one of those shelves. I even went store hopping, hoping to spot my book. We had no bookstores in my hometown then and still don't, although we do have a Wal-Mart that carries a small selection of books now. 

So I went to the towns close by where there were bookstores and retail places that carried books. The nearest bookstore was called The Little Professor. They didn't have my book until I very shyly asked them about carrying my book, but then they were very supportive. The other place I could tell people they could find my book was Klink's, a local drugstore in my hometown. The owners stocked my book even though they didn't normally carry books. That was a real boost for a young writer like me and gave my hometown friends an easy way to get the book. 

Of course, people could ask for the book by title at any bookstore and the bookstore would order it, but that's something not many people seem willing to do. They don't have to now. A reader can find everything on the internet, but I still like those bookstores. And I still like seeing my books on the shelves at some of the retail places. It's also fun when readers and friends tell me they spotted my book at a store in this or that place. If they've known me a long time, they always sound a little surprised that my book is showing up in Florida or Kansas or wherever. I'm always a little surprised too. But glad. Very, very glad. 

So I'm hoping Small Town Girl will be popping up in lots of places and finding its way into readers' hands. I haven't checked the internet so don't know if there are reviews out there yet except for the Publisher's Weekly one I wrote about here a few weeks ago. I have gotten a few comments from family and friends who got an early copy of the book. Thank goodness, family and friends are nearly always nice. So I've gotten a few "I enjoyed your book" comments and I'm sure I'll be seeing reviews popping up soon. But today, I'll just enjoy it being RELEASE DAY! It never gets old seeing a new book ready for readers. 

So remember, I'm celebrating Small Town Girl with a website giveaway. The winner will get two dozen roses and a choice of one of my books. The second place winner will get a choice of one of my books and a couple of other Christian fiction books. Then the prize for those people who tell me they "never win anything" will be a wind chime and a choice of one of my books. Plus, she or he won't be able to say she or he never wins anything any more. Just send me a message via my website or leave a comment here on One Writer's Journal with a way to reach you should you be one of the winners. Deadline for entries is July 13 at midnight EST.

Thanks for sharing my release day and for telling your friends if you like my stories. And I do hope you'll like going back to Rosey Corner to see how Kate and the gang are getting along five years after the story in Angel Sister. 

Blessings by the Bushel





 

The unthankful heart …discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds iron, so it will find in every hour, some heavenly blessings!  ~ Henry Ward Beecher

I have so many blessings to count on Thanksgiving Day that it would take me a while if I tried to even name only the biggest blessings. And how can you give a size to blessings. All blessings are good and make our life better. Sometimes at our church we talk about the everyday blessings, and isn’t it great that we can count those blessings everyday. A couple of my everyday blessings in my bushel of blessings are sunshine and a beautiful place to live. It’s a blessing that I can walk on my farm and take pictures to remember the beauty of the day and to share with my friends here on the net. My Facebook friends like it when I post something I spot on my walks. I’ve put out photos of snakes and buzzards, flowers and trees, frogs and cows, mushrooms and rocks. I guess I could call all of them everyday blessings.  

Of course, a beautiful family is a blessing I’m glad to have in my bushel of blessings and especially the grandkids in the family. I’m thankful for children who can run and play. I’m thankful my great-niece is finished with her cancer treatments and can be with the other children to have a good time. I’m thankful for curious children who like to check out lady bugs and worms.

I’m thankful I can write stories that some of you like to read. I’ve always wanted to tell stories and I feel blessed that I’ve been able to follow that dream for all these years.

I’m thankful for my mother even though things are hard right now for her and for us. But so many great years we’ve had together. Family is such a great blessing. My church family and friends too.  And you. I’m thankful that you take the time to share my journal here. You are in my bushel of blessings.

So many great blessings. I’ll be counting for weeks, and I can hope for good health and good sense, too.

Good health and good sense are two of life’s greatest blessings. ~Publilius Syrus

Wishing you both in this Thanksgiving season. As always, thanks for reading, and I’d love to hear what you have in your bushel of blessings.

 



The Best Thing about Book Fairs

 

Have you ever been to a book fair or festival or fest? If so, what did you think was the very best thing about the experience? Was it the books? Oh, we do love our books and that's what is hardest for me at book festivals. I want to buy sackfuls of books when actually I already have sackfuls of books in my to read stack. But you know of course, that I bought some more to add to my collection and wish I'd bought a couple more before I headed home. I don't know when I would have had time to read them or where I would have put them - my bookshelves are overflowing now - but I would have had them. So without books, there would be no reason for a book festival. 

Here I am with author, Travis Thrasher after buying one of his books. Travis has piles and piles of books. All with beautiful covers and enticing stories that make readers anxious to pick one of his books up to carry it home. Besides he's such fun to talk to. That's another of those very best things about a book festival. Getting to talk to the writers who penned or keyed in that favorite story! Getting to know what's going on with other writers. Travis had a busy year. His wife gave birth to twin girls who are now seven months old. They also have a four year old girl. So what did Travis do? He wrote four books last year. That's getting it done. I think he must have given up sleep.

Then I met and talked to and got my picture with Jean Auel of The Clan of the Cave Bear fame. Posted that picture on Facebook right away. She has a new book out that was an instant number one bestseller all over the world. She said it took her fourteen years to write it. Everybody writes differently. Everybody tells a different story in a different way.

Then there are the readers you meet. They have to be one of the very best things about a book festival. It's such fun to have a reader come by and say they've read all my books or they love my books or they have a sister/friend/mother/grandmother who loves my books. I sometimes want to tell them that they might like the story too if they'd give it a chance, but I don't. I smile and act pleased. Well, I don't have to act. I am pleased. I like grandmas and mothers and sisters and friends.

Now and again, a librarian will come by and say my books are in demand at their library or off their bookmobile. I love libraries and the people who work there, so that's another best thing. Of course one of the best fun things is seeing the babies. Babies who will be getting a book and loving the crackly sound of the pages when they try to put it in their mouths. And little kids and not so little kids. All there looking for a book to read. Another Harry Potter book or a Lightning Thief. And sometimes they find one. Once a long time ago at a different book fest and while I was writing Young Adult novels, a girl bought one of my books, went and found a reading nook and came back around before the end of the day to tell me she'd finished the book and liked it. I still sort of remember what she looked like. I was just happy she wasn't coming back to my table to make a return. So readers are fun. No book fest can succeed without readers.

And volunteers. Those people who give up a day or two of their lives to unpack books and pack them back up if they don't sell. Those people who make the panel presentations work. Those people who bring you lunch or a drink of tea or water to help you keep your smile going. And that doesn't even take into account the organizers and people on the book fest committee who must make the hard decisions about who to invite and where to let them sit. I saw the main lady in charge of the book fest last Saturday as I was leaving. She was still smiling. She'd probably heard a few dozen complaints and handled even more problems throughout the day, but she was smiling. Maybe because the day was over and all us authors were on the way out the door. :-)

So the very best thing about Book Festivals is that they celebrate books and give you a chance to rub shoulders with readers and writers and let you carry home some great reading material. So do you like to go to book festivals? For sure, I enjoy being on the writer's side of the table. And I always carry home some books too - in spite of my groaning bookshelves. 

Books by the Banks

I love book fairs and festivals. They have two of my favorite things in life - people and books. Well, maybe I shouldn't say people are things, but you get the idea. Book fairs are places where most everybody who is in the place has a love for books. That's why they are there - unless, of course, they were dragged there by a bookloving relative or friend. I've seen patient husbands trailing along after their wives and carrying their bags of books and smiling indulgently when the wives stop at yet one more author's table. And I know those two have a great marriage. In fact last year I signed a book for a young wife whose husband surprised her with the trip to the KY Book Fair because he knew how much she loved to read. Such a romantic gesture and so thoughtful too. Besides, what longer lasting present can a person get! A book usually takes at the least a couple of days to read and then sometimes that story can live in your imagination for years afterwards. No box of candy can last that long except maybe as extra pounds on your hips. Flowers wilt. Books keep giving.

~~

So I'm hoping a few people will want my book and my autograph. This book fair is a bit different than others I've attended. Each author is generally signing only one title for readers. So I'll only have one book to push. That's another thing about book fairs, the competition for book buyers can be keen. And if you as a writer have the misfortune of being at a table beside a super salesman, then you might as well pack it in if you can't match the sales pitch. Most of the time when a reader gets the hard sell by an author, they are afraid to even take a peek at the books on the next table. Of course they usually buy a book from the good salesman author. Sometimes every title available on that author's table.

~~

I've watched the super salesmen (and women) operate and admire their talent of selling their work. Not my talent. As one guy told me once, I'm good at giving away bookmarks. So if any of you live in the Cincinnati area and need a bookmark come on down by the river on Saturday to the Books by the Banks festival. I love to talk to people and I'll give you all something to keep your place in those books you just bought from the guy down the row.

~~

Book prize drawing day is the last day of the month. Still time to pitch in your name if you haven't already. And I've got two more days to get these edits on Angel Sister done. I only lack about a hundred pages, but I can feel myself drooping. Sleepy eyes don't make very good final edits eyes. And tomorrow I've volunteered (I couldn't tell my daughter-in-law no! And I didn't have a deadline when I said yes.) to help with my grandkids' elementary school book fair. It will be fun and I'll have a couple of hours free sometime - surely - to finish these edits. Just one more rough spot in them to go.

~~

Thanks for reading and hope you are having a great Wednesday.

People Watching at Book Fests

~~Here I am with my table sharers at the Southern Kentucky Book Fest, Jan Watson (Sweetwater Run) and Virginia Smith (Third Time's Charm). I'm in the middle with Jan on the left and Ginny on the right. See us smile. That's what you do when you go to a Book Festival. You smile and smile and smile some more. Mostly because we want to. We like talking to readers and we hope if we smile readers will like talking to us. And then of course sometimes we're smiling because a reading friend we made the year before comes back to our table to buy another book since she enjoyed the first read so much. The Christian market was well represented at the Book Fest with not only us but also Eric Wilson (Fireproof), Patti Lacy (What the Bayou Saw), and Travis Thrasher (Ghostwriter) and others.

~~Around one hundred fifty authors were at the Book Fest with all sorts of fiction and nonfiction books. You could find mysteries, romances, young adult books, histories, memoirs, cook books, picture books, and poetry collections. That's one of the fun things about going to a book fair - seeing the variety of books. And authors. The same as books, authors come in all sizes, styles and attitudes. Some authors smile and try to engage the readers with conversation or entice them to their tables with chocolate. The cake doctor, Anne Byrne, even had cake for people to eat along with plenty of napkins. Other writers sit quietly and wait for readers to approach them. Some writers desert their stacks of books to explore the other aisles of books. A few writers spend the time reading or writing notes. Some even bring editing work. Nearly all of us enjoy comparing writing stories with the writers sitting next to us.

~~Many of us admire with just a wee bit of envy the long lines that form for the more famous writers' autographs on their books. The longest lines this fair were for Laura Numeroff who wrote If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and for mystery writer, Lisa Scottoline. Actually it was fun seeing all the kids clutching books that had been signed especially to them. Their parents and grandparents were giving them a great gift helping them along the road to a life long love of reading.

~~Of course the readers on the other side of the tables come in all shapes and sizes and reading tastes too. I met a woman long haul truck driver pushing her grandson in a stroller and a retired doctor who used to go to church with Julia Neal. Neal wrote one of the Shaker books I use in my research. I met a little girl of about seven or eight who had written and illustrated her own little picture book and with mom's help had it published. I met a couple of young women who were writers - as yet unpublished but working toward that goal. I met school teachers and librarians and other book lovers. I remembered some faces from previous book fests who come every year to go fishing for a few good books to read. People who connect with books are easy to talk to and that makes a writer like me smile.

~~Hope you have a lovely week ahead and that sometime in the weeks and months ahead you'll have the opportunity to go book fishing at a book festival near you. Or if you're a writer that you'll get a chance to try to catch some new readers. Your best bait is a great book. And a smile.

Sunny South Carolina

It was warm and sunny in South Carolina Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And then we came home to Kentucky and found winter taking up residence here. It is chilly outside. I had to fill up the car with gas a while ago and all of us at the gas tanks were complaining about the chill. Not the prices. Wow! It was under two dollars a gallon. I never thought I'd see gas prices like that again. So since we didn't have the prices to complain about, we fussed about the cold wind that had us wishing for glove and coats. And one lady was wishing she could pack up and move south.

It was nice in South Carolina. Of course, it was nice here the first of the week. That's the thing about Kentucky weather. It can change in a New York minute. Especially this time of the year. So the heat is on and it's feeling more like it's supposed to feel when Thanksgiving is only a couple of weeks away. The trees were pretty in SC too, and they don't always have colorful fall trees down there. My daughter was enjoying that. I think everybody who moves south misses the fall colors.

The booksignings at both the Barnes and Noble on Heywood Road in Greenville and the one in Spartanburg went well. I enjoyed talking to some new readers and some aspiring writers. My best advice to them was to keep reading and keep writing. I did a book give-away at both places. Laura won my book The Scent of Lilacs in Greenville and Lynette was the winner in Spartanburg. I'll mail out their books next week. The winner of my book at the Heaven Help Us Bookstore in Indiana was Carla. Ginny and I also did a give-away when we were at JosephBeth Booksellers in Lexington last month. Marion won Ginny's book, and Anne won my book, The Scent of Lilacs. I appreciate everybody who signed up for the give-away and while everybody couldn't win, some of you did. I used to say I never won anything. But then I won a neat afghan at a library raffle. It was made out of all the leftover yarn this woman had and I think I like the hodgepodge of colors better than I would have liked a solid colored or more coordinated colored one.

That's what we all are. A hodgepodge of characteristics and looks. You might get your nose from your granny, your ears from your great grandpa, your mouth from your mom, your singing talent from your father, your stubborness from your grandpa and on and on. Darrell alway said our kids got their stubborness from me, but I told him that couldn't be true. I still had all of mine.

Actually stubborness is a very important part of the make-up of a writer. There can be some pretty disappointing moments in a writer's life. Times when rejects seem to be more numerous by far than acceptances. Times when the critics tear your work apart. Worse times when your work isn't out there for the critics to tear apart because nobody agreed with you that it was worthy of publication. At least not yet. That's where the stubborness comes in handy. If you don't give up, then someday something you write is going to make it. And then maybe the critics will like it and even better maybe the readers will love it and tell all their friends. That's what I'm hoping. That those who read my books will think the stories are good enough to pass the name of the book along to their reading friends.

I like talking about books with other readers, don't you? My sisters and I are always sharing the titles of the books we read or an author's name to try. So if you're saying to your friends, "Have you read any books yet by that woman who wrote that book about those Shakers? What was her name? I think it started with a G. Geppar. No, Gabhart. That was it." Or something along those lines, then I'm happy. Of course all of you know my name. And I thank you for coming out here into blog land to read my journal.

And thanks to all who talked about their favorite trees this week or had a mental image of a special tree from when you were a kid. This week you can think about the hodgepodge of charactistics that make you the special person, the one unique, never to be copied person you are. That's the kind of character I'm trying to come up with for my new book. Perhaps a hodgepodge of different people I've met in my lifetime in person or on the pages of a book or that I have conjured up out of my imagination. Someone unique. Someone interesting enough to have a story to tell. Because it's time to have my characters up and running again.

Wednesday I may do a list about being too busy. If I'm not too busy. ;-)

Blowing your own trumpet

Well, it's Monday again. Time to post some of my journal thoughts. Because I've been thinking about how I need to learn more about publicity and how to connect with readers, I'll start out today with this little poem I came across in a quote book a few months back. It's an old one by Sir William S. Gilbert.



If you wish in this world to advance
Your merits you're bound to enhance.
You must stir it and stump it
And blow your own trumpet
Or trust me you haven't a chance.



I've been trying to take that advice and do some stir and stumping, but to be honest I never could get much of a toot out of a trumpet. All my children played trumpet in their high school band although my daughter switched to flag girl at the first opportunity. But my boys liked the trumpet. They tried to teach me how to blow it, but I was a slow learner. Or maybe an uninterested one. Now my grandkids like blowing the conch shell I have that belonged to my great grandfather. I think they used it back when to call the hounds. Some of the grandkids can make the thing honk and call the hounds, but mostly they just make my dog howl.



Still it is true that sometimes a writer has to get out there and try to get noticed by readers. There are so many good books being published these days and so many other things to entice readers away from books. American Idol. The Super Bowl. (Wasn't that fun? I was sort of rooting for the Patriots, but I like Eli Manning too and when he got away from the tacklers and threw that impossible pass down the field with a minute or so to go, it just looked as if it was his time to win.) But in spite of the many other things we can do to entertain ourselves, luckily a lot of people still enjoy picking up a book and being transported into another world. I know I do.



But back to stirring and stumping. My interview was posted on Novel Journey http://www.noveljourney.blogspot.com/ on Saturday. It was fun to answer the questions and even more fun to explore their site and read some of the other writers' interviews. Made me want to go back and do some of my answers over. But I'm just me and I can't be anybody else. I don't really want to be anybody else. The Lord made me the way I am. Not that He doesn't want me to do some improving. We all can do some improving each and every day. And I want to improve as a writer and part of that improvement is figuring out how to connect with more readers so the publishers will want to keep publishing my books.

I appreciate the comment, Rose, on my last post. Maybe I will leave the name the way it is for now. I'm still thinking of doing another blog, but then I might not be doing anything but blogging. And I'm ready to get going on a new story. I had to do the editing and such and then I wasn't sure which direction to head. I thought I might even clean out some closets, but in the winter time? That just doesn't seem right. What's true, is that if I'm not writing something, I'm an unhappy camper who doesn't care if the closets are cleaned out or not. How about you? Are all your closets neat with no clothes in them that you haven't worn for five years? Or do you have a vintage collection of various styles and sizes, not to mention a few shoes that you will never wear again?

My new website may be up by next week. I'm anxious to see how much better it will be now that I have somebody who knows what she's doing working on it instead of me. Till next time. May you be blessed and feel loved. Always.

Ann