Sweeping the Shaker Way

Brooms make me think of Shakers. That's what I put on my Shaker Wednesday post on my Facebook page this week, but there's only so much you can put on a Facebook post. And a person can write a lot about Shaker brooms. 

If you visit the Shaker village of Pleasant Hill here in Mercer County, Kentucky, you can see a reenactor dressed as a Shaker making brooms. These men, like the one pictured here, explain over and over to the tourists who drop into their workshops how the Shakers made brooms and answer hundreds of questions, probably some of the same ones over and over, with the kind of patience and gentle spirit the Shakers may have had in the past. And then, taking their cue from the thrifty Shakers whose ways they're demonstrating, they sell the brooms in their gift shop.

Shaker history says that Brother Theodore Bates of Shaker village in Watervliet, New York watched the sisters sweeping in 1798 with their common round brooms and realized they were wasting time and effort. While he didn't offer to help them sweep, he did flatten the brooms to make them sweep more efficiently. Then the Shakers came up with machines to manufacture the flat brooms. Soon they were making more brooms than they needed and began selling them to the "world." Throughout most of their history, the Shakers didn't believe in patenting any of their inventions because they felt that would be selfish. If they had a better way, they were willing to share it with others. 

 Shakers could not abide dirt. One of the sayings attributed to their founder, Ann Lee, reminded them of the need for cleanliness. “Clean your rooms well; for good spirits will not live where there is dirt. There is no dirt in Heaven.” So a broom was available in every room, not hidden away in a broom closet, but instead hanging at ready on the peg strips.

The Shakers took ridding their physical world of dirt seriously since one of their purposes was to make their villages as much like heaven as possible. That was part of the reason for their furniture having no ornamentation. A table with plain and simple lines was quicker and easier to clean. That was the reason for the pegboard strips that circled every room, so they could hang things out of the way while they cleaned. Chairs were hung upside down on those pegs so dust would not collect on the seat of the chair. Their beds had rollers so it would be easy to move them out of the way to sweep under them. They even had brooms specially designed to sweep out corners and other hard to reach places.

They also labored "sweeping" songs during their worship such as "Sweep as I Go" where they would pretend to sweep as they sang. 

One of their best known sayings is "Hands to work, hearts to God." That has found a place in all my Shaker novels, but I've used other Shaker sayings too in order to add to my story. This is one I've used often. "Do your work as if you had a thousand years to live, and as if you were to die tomorrow." 

Here are a couple more that I might take to heart in my own work and keeping my house in order. :)

"Never wish a thing done; do it!"

"A place for everything and everything in its place." 

I need to find that place for everything and then put everything in those places and stop just wishing it would happen. Right now it's time to go back to Rosey Corner and write a few more pages on my story. I think I'm writing it as if I have a thousand years before my deadline. Better get that out of my head.

Do you like a good broom? Then you might have a Shaker to thank. 

A Shaker Photo and a Shaker Cover

I tried to post this on my Facebook author page today, but Facebook is not liking me lately. So I said whatever, I'll just share it with my journaling friends. Okay, take a good look at the picture to the left. Then scroll down and take a good look at my cover. The first picture here on the left is one I took at the Shaker village of Pleasant Hill last summer. The cover below is my new Shaker novel, The Blessed. Doesn't it look like my picture is the background of the cover? It's not but gee, it looks like it even to the open gate and the trees. Of course my photo is missing Lacey. But even though you can't see her there, she was in my imagination then as I was finishing up her story.

You may be wondering about the one door in the building because I am always writing about  the buildings having two doors, one for the sisters and one for the brothers. But the buildings with only one door were generally workshops used exclusively by either the sisters or the brethren and therefore didn't require two doors. The Shakers were efficient people and didn't believe in wasted effort or materials and supplies.

What do you think about covers of books? Do they influence you when you are shopping for something to read? What makes you pick up one book over another? I admit I'm more likely to pick up a book with a cover that catches my eye.

My publisher, Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group, does a fantastic job of coming up with eye appealing covers. The cover for my book, Angel Sister, was wonderful and I know cute little Lorena on the cover made that book practically jump off the shelves into a reader's hands. They might not have decided to buy the book, but she got them to look at it. That's the purpose of a well-done cover. Get the reader to give it a second look.

Titles are important too. A title can awaken a reader's curiosity about what's inside the cover. The Blessed  fits my book very well. I don't know whether it's one that will whet a reader's appetite, but it works with the story. Lacey was always thinking about the Beatitudes and repeating them in her head to get her through some hard times. Plus she wanted to feel blessed. She wanted to have joy in her heart and be ready to do her "dandelion dance" to welcome spring. But sometimes joy can seem out of reach when life throws a person some curves.

Thanks for reading and don't forget you can still get in on my giveaway since I haven't received my copies of The Blessed. I think they've gotten lost in the mail since I'm hearing about other people receiving copies. But that was also in the mail, so who knows? But I'm going to give some books away to celebrate when they do come. You can check out my website, www.annhgabhart.com for how to enter.

Also for those of you who read Suzanne Woods Fisher's wonderful interview here, you can catch her interviewing me tomorrow (Thursday June 9) at 4 p.m. CST on Amish Wisdom. That's 5 p.m. Eastern standard time. Last summer when I was on Suzanne's show talking about The Seeker, a lot of people said they couldn't get the program to come up. One of the feeds messed up that day. So give it a try again tomorrow. I'll be talking about Lacey's story, The Blessed.

On the Road to a Story

This is the road through the middle of the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill near where I live. It's peaceful looking, isn't it? No traffic runs on it today except maybe what the workers of the living history museum there use to carry supplies, etc. But at one time this was the main road for everybody wanting to go between Harrodsburg and Lexington. And it wasn't peaceful at all during the time of my Shaker novel that is being shipped out to stores and readers now. The Seeker takes place during the first two years of the Civil War and soldiers were continually marching along this road between battles and skirmishes. John Hunt Morgan actually mustered in his troops in the middle of the Shaker village since it was a central location for the soldiers from the nearby towns. Later Morgan came back through the village on one of his guerilla raids through the area. The Shakers hid their horses, but prepared food for the soldiers. They did that all through the war. Before the Battle at Perryville, the Shakers served 1,500 meals on one day to soldiers marching through the village. And I set my characters of The Seeker right down in the middle of it all.

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That's one of the fun things about writing historical fiction. I get to read history out of the history books and then say what if this woman or this man (my characters) was there. What would they do? How would it change their lives? The War Between the States certainly changed our country and the lives of the people who lived then. That included the everyday life of the Shaker village.

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The Seeker is being shipped out to stores and those people who pre-ordered copies should be getting them in the mail soon. I got a couple of boxes of books today to have for my book launch in July and to take with me to the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference Friday and Saturday. I'll be teaching three classes. Two on "Making Characters Come to Life" and one on "Revise, Revise, Revise." Have no idea how many people will be in my classes, but hoping a few people sign up so that we can have fun learning together. I taught some writing classes for Community Ed several years ago and enjoyed teaching. But I like writing better.

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I did finally type "The End" on my work in progress, Shaker book four. But really that's just another beginning. Now I have to go back and pay attention to my teaching about "Revise, Revise, Revise." I'm anxious to read back through it and see what I need to do to make it better. Anxious as in excited as well as anxious in worried that I'll see major holes that need patching. I'm hoping nothing too major since Mr. Deadline is stomping ever nearer.

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I'm doing a guest interview on Margaret Daley's Blog tomorrow, June 10. Check it out at www.margaretdaley.blogspot.com. She had some great questions and if you make a comment there you'll be entered in yet another drawing for a copy of The Seeker.

~~

I'll draw for another winner in my book giveaways this weekend. Check out the details on my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/. Hope I get to meet some of you this week at the KCWC. Two whole days of nothing but talking about writing and books. Sounds like great fun! If you're in the area (Elizabethtown, KY is really close to a lot of towns in KY) and want to come, they are taking same day registrations at the door on Friday and Saturday morning. You can check things out at their website. http://www.kychristianwriters.com/.

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.

Book Club Fun

~~Here I am in the beautiful Brookhaven Christian Book Store last week after a visit to the local book club. Sharon, in the middle, and her daughter, Kristi, have a great store in the London, KY area. I'm there on the right holding my book.

~~Sharon enjoys keeping handcrafted items from local artists for sale in her store. She has hand carved pieces, paintings, photography, pottery and jewelry to mention a few. But best of all she keeps those shelves of Kentucky books front and center in her store. I feel fortunate to have earned a little shelf space in her store beside other Kentucky authors.

~~Of course my books, The Believer and The Outsider are not only written by a KY author - that's right, me - they have a lot of Kentucky history as background for the story and the setting is a Shaker village based on research I've done on the Pleasant Hill Shaker village near Harrodsburg. A beautiful place if you have a chance to go by and take the tour and enjoy their restaurant. Maybe next week I'll use a Shaker picture here. There are pictures of some of the buildings on my website in the gallery.

~~Anyway it's great to have Kentucky bookstores featuring Kentucky writers. And it's extra fun when book clubs in the area read my book and let me come enjoy their meeting with them when they're not too far away to drive. The London Club, The Tea Leaves Club, knows how to have a fun meeting. They meet for lunch and then discuss the book they read that month and share what they liked or perhaps didn't like about the story. This club reads only inspirational fiction and they had some great books lined up for the next few months. Of course, with me there they got to hear the story of why I wrote about the Shakers and they were curious about how I wrote and when I started writing. General writer information, but something that seems to fascinate most readers. I know I always get a kick out of reading or hearing a writer's "how I got started" or "why I write" stories. The book club ladies were a fun group and I enjoyed sharing a couple of hours with them. What could be better than a great lunch and talking about books you've read?

~~I'm headed to Louisville for another book club on Monday night at the Southeast Christian Church. That is if Old Man Winter will quit blowing snow down on us here in Kentucky. We've had snow on the ground practically all month and some of us are ready for it to melt. The grandkids were here today and we tried to build a snowman. I told my granddaughter all we ended up building was a very small mountain, but she stuck sticks in the sides of it and declared it a snowman anyway.

~~So if more snow doesn't interfere I'll be telling a whole new bunch of people all about how I ended up a writer or maybe in my case how I started out a writer since I've been writing since I was ten. That's sure to be fun. Fresh ears for my old stories. ;-) This book club has a few more members than the London one, but that just means more people who love reading and books. I can't wait to meet them.

~~If you are in a book club I'd love to meet you and your reading friends too. I've done several book clubs by phone. Not as much fun as sitting down to lunch or tea with them, but still fun to hear their questions about my stories. And if you're in the London, KY area and want a beautiful place to shop for some unique items and maybe a Kentucky book, go by the Brookhaven Christian Book Store and enjoy.

~~Thanks for reading.

Icicles and Snow Cream

~~We missed most of the snow this go around. Barely got enough snow here to think about it but they got slammed or maybe I should say buried to the north and east of us. I like snow once or twice a year but then I'm ready to move on toward sunshine and flowers. But even though we didn't get the snow, we got rain and then cold so we had plenty of icicles. I remember when I was a kid, we would have long icicles hanging down from the edges of the roof and we thought it was a treat to break them off and eat them. Then we'd go find a patch of extra clean snow and scoop up a pan full and Mom would make snow cream. Does anybody dare do that anymore? Or are we all too afraid of pollutants and acid rain and who knows what being in the snow? If I could have reached the icicles in my picture I might have tried a lick or two which doesn't make sense since I would never even consider taking a drink out of the creek even if the water looked pristine. I'd be too worried about those nasty little invisible germs. Maybe I think the freezing gets rid of those germs.
~~I've been researching the background time period for the book I'm working on. It was close to the time of one of the cholera outbreaks in Kentucky where hundreds of people died. For a long time nobody could figure out what caused cholera. They thought it might be bad air and the townspeople who could would flee to the country. Of course it was later determined that it was caused by contaminated water supplies. The Shakers worried about cholera breaking out in their village when it was raging in the nearby towns, but because the Shakers were so forward thinking in regard to cleanliness, they were spared the cholera deaths and many other epidemics of the time. Their leader, Mother Ann, had written that good spirits would not live where there was dirt. That was one of the reasons they were so adamant about keeping everything clean and orderly.
~~Thank heavens we don't have to worry about that sort of epidemic these days. But wouldn't it be nice to be able to go out and scoop up some snow and not have to worry about it being polluted? Wouldn't it be nice if we could still climb up into the mountains and see clear to yonder? Wouldn't it nice if no fishermen had to worry about the fish in the rivers being safe to eat? Wouldn't it be nice if nobody threw trash out along our country roads or on our city streets?
~~We're still living in a beautiful country with many blessings all around. Hope you're having a great Super Bowl Sunday.

Happiness is...

~~Happy New Year! That's been the greeting of choice for the people I've met the last few days. Everybody is wishing everybody else a happy year. Then I heard a radio program this afternoon where a man about to be a daddy was saying that the question he would probably ask his daughter the most was "Are you happy?" We want the people around us to be happy. We want our children to grow up happy. We want to be happy. There are even lists that say what we need for happiness.

• Happiness is a warm puppy!


• Happiness is a hot cup of cocoa!


• Happiness is seeing a new book in print!


• Happiness is finding your true love!


• Happiness is curling up in front of a fire with a new book!


• Happiness is a good review or two!


• Happiness is winning the tournament - meeting a deadline - paying all the bills - gifts under the Christmas tree - a baby's laugh - going to the circus - hitting a homerun - blowing out all the candles on a birthday cake.
  

~~I could go on and on and I'm sure you could too. We could make lists of things that make us happy all day, but is that what happiness really is? Is that how we get happiness or do those things simply raise our happiness awareness?

~~When I researched the Shakers for my Shaker books, I came across a Shaker saying about happiness.

Happiness does not so much depend on circumstances as we think. Within our souls the foundations must abide.

~~While not all who went to the Shaker villages were able to find that happiness, many of the Shakers did seek it diligently and along the way they offered good advice on what was needed for happiness. They didn't think it was something we could bring to ourselves by getting more things, living in more comfort, or having an easy life. You know the saying - Money can't buy happiness. (Not a Shaker saying, by the way.) Few of us would argue with that although we might joke that we'd like to go shopping and give it a try. But the Shakers didn't think happiness was something we could get from other people or our individual circumstances. Not unless our own foundations of happiness are strong within us.

~~But how to go about establishing that foundation of happiness? The Shakers thought they could do it by separating themselves from the world and living as brothers and sisters with no familial stress to cause them to sin. Some people think they can do it by accumulating more things. Others think they can by getting rid of all things and living life at its most basic. There are times we look to others for our happiness and times when they look to us for the same. But I think our foundations of happiness has to be something independent of others and things. We have to build it within ourselves as we figure out who we are and what we believe. We certainly need others for happiness and a warm puppy doesn't hurt, but the foundation has to be there within us before we're able to consistently answer yes to that question, "Are you happy?"

~~Along with that warm puppy, a good review of my books always raises my happiness awareness. I was gifted with a few of those this week. You can check them out at http://virginiasmith.org/ (go to her journal and then book reviews) and http://tnchristianreader.blogspot.com/2010/01/shaker-series-by-ann-h-gabhart.html. It's such a boost to know that someone liked your book enough to share that news with others readers.

~~Hope your happiness foundation is solid and strong all through 2010. Happy New Year! Thank you for being a reading friend.

Celebrating at Shaker Village

-- One of the nice things about getting older - and there are some nice things - is that if you want to celebrate a week after your actual birthday that's just as much fun as celebrating on the actual day. My sister and I have birthdays a week apart. A few years apart originally, but now we often celebrate both our birthdays on the same day. We used to do them separately, but then we got older and busier. My sister was just saying the other day that she thought she was going to have to re-retire. There just wasn't time to do all she wanted to do and keep the part time jobs she's held down since her first retirement. Me, I don't want to retire. I just want to work faster and better. That means I want the words to flow out of my brain onto my computer screen like water out of a water hose turned on full blast. But I have to admit that sometimes it seems like my creative hose has a few kinks that shut off the creative juices. So I'll just keep muddling along, digging stories out of my head one word and one sentence at a time. That's how even the most famous writers do it. One letter at a time. It's just how those letters and words are put together that make the difference.
--Anyway, I went to Shaker Village for lunch with my sisters and my mom Tuesday to celebrate two of us getting to start out a new year of life. I hadn't been to Shaker Village to eat at the restaurant for years and now I've been there twice in the last couple of months. Last time I was there I gave the workers a copy of my new book, The Believer. It was fun to hear from one of the workers Tuesday that a couple of them had already read the book and found it hard to put down. Those words are always music to a writer's ears. And it was good to hear that a couple of the people who worked there and so are immersed in Shaker history each day thought the story hit the mark.
--I did get the good news that The Believer was on a couple of bestseller lists, both the CBA (Christian Book Association) and ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publisher Association). Number 20 on the CBA list and number 15 on the ECPA fiction list and number 49 on the top 50 book list. What a blessing and a great birthday present besides!
--I've been trying to settle back into a working routine after the NQC and then my houseful of company for the renunion Sunday. And trying to get over a sinus infection. I finally gave up and went to the doctor yesterday. In between coughing and sneezing, I've been enjoying reworking one of my old novels set in Louisville during the 1850's, but meanwhile, my new Shaker character is beginning to talk to me. So I'm anxious to get going and figure out her story. I'm sure Lacey is going to give me an ear full.
--The picture above is the Shaker meeting house at Pleasant Hill, the Shaker community I used as a model for my Harmony Hill Shaker Village. Note the two front doors. The one on the west is for the women and the east for the men. I think. I knew I should have written that down. Maybe I did. I just have to remember where. Anyway this is where the Shakers labored their songs and went forth to exercise their dances to bring down glory. The Ministry, the Shaker men and women who made the rules for the village, lived upstairs and spent their time in prayer and studying Shaker writings. And making sure the brothers and sisters in the village were living the Shaker way. The building had peepholes built in for the purpose of watching. It was a strange way to live.
--Thanks for dropping by. Talk to you next Sunday. No birthdays to celebrate then, but there's always something to celebrate. Maybe sunshine after all the rain.

Launching The Believer at Shaker Village

My book launch for The Believer at Shaker Village went great. We had breakfast in the Wash House. While the building is now used for meetings, etc., I kept thinking about how it had once been a work place for the Shakers as the sisters washed the clothes. The Shakers were very forward thinking and were among the first in the area to have running water. They usually ran pipes downhill from a holding tank or sometimes a pool. They even came up with some of the first washing machines. They worked hard, but they also used every innovation they could come up with to make their work faster and easier. Efficiency was much sought but never at the expense of quality.

For sure I had a quality bunch of people there to help me get my new book off the ground and we had a yummy breakfast before I got to get up and tell them my road to being a published writer. I’ve told it so often that I sometimes get tired of hearing it myself, but most people are interested in how a writer got started. For me, it’s an inborn thing. I have an undeniable urge and even more than that, a need to write. That’s why I didn’t hang up my typewriter when I was a young mother with two babies under two years of age and more than I could get done living out here on a farm. That’s why I didn’t give up when I went five years without anybody showing interest in publishing any of my stories. I couldn’t give it up. I had to keep trying. It seems necessary to string words together to tell a story.

And so each time I launch a book, I celebrate the wonder of seeing another story in book form. It's good to hold the book, to be able to open it up and read my words on the pages telling about the characters who came to life in my imagination. It's a conclusion in one way - the finish of a couple of years of work. In another way it's a beginning as now the book will be out there for people to read the words - my words - and use their imaginations to bring my characters to life in their minds. I do so hope readers like my new characters and their story, and having a book launch is a way to get the book out there into some readers' hands.

After I talked about my writing roots, I talked a little more about the ups and downs of my writing journey. And I finished up talking about my Shaker books and reading a few excerpts from The Believer. At the end we had a Q & A time. That’s always my favorite part whenever I give a talk. Sometimes the questions are about the Shakers. Sometimes the questions are about writing or how I write. I never know where the questions might take us but it’s usually interesting.

If any of you have any questions, we could always have a Q & A time on the blog here. Of course I won’t promise to know the answer to every question. There's plenty I don't know such as what sort of book will be popular two years down the road. A how-to writing article I read once said to do that - to figure out what people are going to want to read two years from now when the book you're writing will be published, but I’m not good with trends. Of course some people probably thought I jumped on what some in the industry call the "bonnet fiction" popularity trend with my Shaker book, The Outsider, but actually I researched and wrote that book twenty years ago. See that time I wasn’t behind the trend. I was way ahead of it.

I do appreciate everyone who came to the book launch and Steve, Bonnie and Mickey from the Corinth Christian Bookstore for hosting the event and making all the arrangements. It’s great to have reading friends who support you by showing up when you're trying to get a new book off the ground. I’ll be doing another book event here in Anderson County next month. I may change the date on that one, so check my website in a few days.

Right now might not be a good time for me to try to get anything changed on my website because I’m in the internet doghouse again. My grandson came to visit and thought he wasn’t downloading anything on my computer, but he must have. I’ve exceeded my daily limit – again, and it doesn’t look as if I’m going to be able to post this until I get out of the doghouse. This new satellite internet service isn't as good as I'd hoped it would be.

I did get some remarkable news last week. Summer of Joy is a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year in the contemporary novel category. How about that! I’ve already shared the news with those of you who visit me on Facebook. Come on over and we’ll be friends there too.

I did draw for my fourth July winner. And it’s Carrie of Kentucky. I’ll be sending her an e-mail to let her know she’s a winner if I can ever get out of the internet doghouse.

Hope all of you stay out of the doghouse this week. I love dogs, but this is getting ridiculous. I’m almost ready to go back to dinosaur dial-up.

Good Times with Dad

Happy Fathers' Day to all you dads and all of you who have a dad. I hope if your father is still living you were able to give him a hug this weekend either in person or via telephone or some electronic means. And those of you like me who don't have your father here with you anymore, I hope you thought about some fun times you had with your dad and that you're still smiling in your heart from knowing how loved you were by that first most important man in your life.

I had a good dad. He wasn't a take you fishing (thank goodness since I never wanted to go fishing) or play catch with you kind of dad. He did like making ice cream on hot summer Sundays. Banana was his flavor of choice. And once the grandkids came along they all had fun helping him churn the old White Mountain freezer.

But mostly when I was a kid, quality time with dad was time spent working in the fields in tobacco or hay. When you're a kid that's not exactly what you want to do, but I don't remember resenting it too much. That's just what we had to do since we were part of a family and all of us had to work to keep the family farm going. My kids had to work on the farm when they were growing up too, but they were into a lot more extracurricular activities at school. That's not something I did. I spent my spare time writing and reading and walking in the woods and playing with dogs. Just like now. Except I've added in playing with grandkids now.

And there are still chores to do. With July coming, I'm going to have to look some of those chores I've been putting off in the face and just do them. Window washing and painting and closet cleaning. I haven't named a favorite chore yet. What is my favorite chore? Can you have a favorite chore? If you like doing it, then it isn't a chore, is it? I suppose my least unfavorite chore is laundry. It's so easy now with the washers and dryers. Just throw the clothes in and the machines do all the work. Lots easier than that wringer washer I had when I got married and tons easier than the scrub board my mom had when she got married.

You know the Shakers were one of the first to come up with a washing machine. The Shakers were industrious and hard working, but they always wanted to figure out a quicker and more efficient way to do all their work. That's why they came up with so many innovative ideas. They wanted to get their work done as fast as possible so they could do more work. They made what they called "fancy goods" to sell to the "world." They liked making money to expand their holdings and take care of their land. They are an interesting people to learn more about, and I learned something new this week. I mistakenly thought all the Shakers had died out, but there are still a few (four?) at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in Maine. They are actually still recruiting but from what I read on the internet, they have a lot of curious nibbles but few serious inquiries.

Not long now until my new book, The Believer, will be out. Remember you can send me an e-mail from my website, http://www.anngabhart.com/ to be entered in the drawings in July and August. One entry gets you five chances to win an autographed copy of The Believer. Also, I'm going to be sending out a newsletter this week. If you'd like to be on my newsletter list, you can go to the website and click on the newsletter link and I'll sign you up.

Hope you have a great week. I'm sending that new book, The Seeker, in this week so I can feel good for day or two. Then I'll have to be on pins and needles until I hear my editor's reaction.

A Loving Church Family

Hi, everybody. Here it is Sunday again. Do you ever feel like the weeks are only three days long instead of seven? I know one thing - I try to shoehorn in about ten days of work into those seven days and it's going to get worse for me before it gets better on the work front. The garden is coming on with bushels of beans and there are blackberries out in the field. I love blackberry jam, but those berries don't jump in the pot by themselves. Then I still have that deadline for my next Shaker book, tentatively titled The Believer, flashing up in front of my panicked mind every once in a while. Actually I'm not panicked yet, but I can imagine getting there. My goal is to have the first draft finished this month, but I rarely ever meet my writing quota goals. Probably because I don't set realistic ones. I always think I'm a faster writer than I actually am. But with this book, I need to hit my goals or at least stay very close to them because the twins are on their way. About three weeks away or so my daughter-in-law hopes.

The doctors measured them last Thursday as they can now before they are born with their magical instruments. Their measurements had the babies weighing 4 lbs 11 oz each. That's a lot of babies to be carrying around for three more weeks or longer. Needless to say my daughter-in-law is tired and feeling heavy and ready to have those twins discover America! We're all anxious to see our newest family members, but it will be better for them if they wait a few more weeks.

At any rate their birthday still promises to come about the same time as the release date for my new book, The Outsider, August 1. I'm looking forward to that too. It seems to be selling well prior to publication. I can only hope and pray that all the readers who are ready to take a chance on the story will be happy they chose my story to read. The Shakers were an odd group with so many contradictory ways, but yet you have to admire their devotion and their ability to create communities that demonstrated their idea of heaven on earth and to keep them going for years as a celibate people who had to get all their converts from the "world" they so wanted to shut away from them. Romantic Times Book Review Magazine gave the book a great review and chose it as one of the "Top Picks!" for Christian fiction. That was good news. I can't keep from reading reviews and taking whatever the reviewer said to heart, so it's good when the reviewer has good things to say. Makes me second guess myself if someone doesn't like my story or my writing. It shouldn't, because we can't expect everyone to have the same point of view or like the same kinds of stories. Still... as a writer, I want everybody to like my stories. I might not really expect that to happen, but I do want it to happen.

I've gotten far afield as I often do when I'm journaling. Our preacher calls it chasing rabbits. I start at point A and before I take a breath, I've zigzagged to point G or maybe point T or even point Z. But what I planned to write about when I started was my church family. I dedicated The Outsider to my brothers and sisters in Christ at Goshen Church. We're a little church and I do mean little. A big crowd for us is anything over 50 and we have dipped lots lower than that. This was one of those dipping mornings when we didn't quite have 25 there. It's been months since we were that low, but everybody was doing something else today or not feeling well. But we had what we call an "eatin' meeting," a potluck meal with yummy homecooking and time for fellowship. We have lots of those meetings and it helps us grow closer as a church family. But as any family does, we also have our conflicts and this or that person will fall away because of hurt feelings or personal problems. That might not be noticed so much in a big church with hundreds, even thousands of attendees, but boy, we notice it at our church and we miss those brothers or sisters who for this reason or that stop coming. And we rejoice when they step back into our fellowship.

My church family has always been loving and supportive of me and my writing and that's why I dedicated this new book about the Shakers, a different kind of religious family, to the many brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I have shared worship over the many years I have been going to Goshen. A lot of great Christian people who set good examples of faithfulness for me as a young Christian have moved on up to heaven. Others moved out of our church community and others are still there at Goshen. I love a small church like Goshen where everybody is family and we enjoy eating and praying together. I hope you all have a church family just as loving.

Enjoy the week. Maybe I'll put some quotes on this week about relaxing. Believe me, that's advice I need. :)

Shaker Sayings

In celebration of my new book about a Shaker girl - The Outsider - coming out in a few weeks (August 1), I'm sharing some of my research with you this week. Here are some sayings attributed to the Shakers. They were a very practical people in many of their ways and they believed in "putting their hands to work and giving their hearts to God." Their work was part of their worship. So here goes.

• "Do your work as if you had a thousand years to live, and as if you were to die tomorrow."

• "He did not think when sowing those wild oats in his youth how uncomfortable the gritty oatmeal would prove to be for his aged teeth."

• "Never wish a thing done; do it!"

• "It is just as much a duty to commend a person for doing well as it is to reprove him for doing ill."

• "A place for everything and everything in its place."

• "Our thoughts are character molds. They shape language and actions."

Hope you're having a great week.