And the Winners Are

Aack! It's not Sunday. I'm late! A person should not put the end of her giveaway contest on the same day she has a deadline for her current work in progress and on a day when she has to sit with her mother!! I made those mistakes and then the kids came out and picked blackberries. Now, you have to help the grandkids pick blackberries. Life's too short to pass up those kind of fun times. 

At any rate, the hours yesterday slid away from me. I missed my deadline for the book submission by a couple of hours, but I figured my editor wouldn't notice until the sun came up this morning. I burned a bunch of midnight oil and probably slept through trying to edit the last three chapters, but I read through them - I think. Thank goodness, Mom slept well last night, but then this morning we had all the Monday chores. Baths and hair fixing and laundry. She's feeling rotten now and is lying down. 

So now that I've made a few thousand excuses (not quite, but I probably could keep going if you want to hear them!), I picked the numbers by Random.org. Each of the e-mails and comment entries that came in to my Small Town Girl Celebration contest are numbered and put in a special folder. Then after I get the random number from a random number generator, I find the saved entry and send out an e-mail to the winners. Those e-mails have already gone out, so if you didn't get one, maybe next time! Drum roll please. 

Dorothy B is the 1st prize winner. As soon as I hear from her and find out where to send those two dozen roses and one of my books, she'll get her prize. Pam K is the 2nd prize winner. She gets her choice of one of my books plus 3 grab bag titles from my Christian fiction collection. And Brandy B from Texas can't say she never wins anymore. She wins the wind chimes and her choice of one of my books. Then I nearly always pick an extra winner "just because." This time I picked Theresa H. Her e-mail so touched my heart when she told me about her son sending her flowers for her anniversary after her husband died and then how she lost him too after already losing another son. I shared her story on one of the flower story blogs. 

I have a few more flower stories to share and still plan to let you enjoy those with me. But today I'm just going to share one. This story touched my heart too. Well, to be honest, a lot of your flower stories had me blinking away tears or smiling. I thank you so much for sharing slices of your lives with me. I do so appreciate all of you and the fun we can have with stories.

The story today comes from Judy. 

"After my husband passed away from a brain tumor I told God that I would never marry again.  We had just celebrated our 8 year anniversary two days before he died.  I could never live through caring for and watching another husband die.  Bob was only 44 when he passed away.

Little did I know that God had other plans for me.  When John, my adult Sunday school teacher, asked me if I would like to see a movie with him, I told him that I would go under one condition that we'd only be friends.  I wanted a big brother type person and nothing else.  He quickly agreed.  A couple of days after we saw a movie I came home to find a bouquet of flowers in a beautiful vase sitting on my front porch.  The card was signed, from your big Brother! 

John and I have been married 9 1/2 years!  (Never second guess God!)"

What a blessing all your stories have been to me! Stay tuned for at least one more post of flower stories in the next week or so. And thank you for your patience with me. I really didn't intend to be late with the winners. Thanks to all of you who entered. It made the contest fun and made me the biggest winner of all because I got to read all your stories. And for those of you who didn't win this time - maybe next time. I'll be having another celebration for Christmas at Harmony Hill, my Shaker Christmas novella due out in September. Oh, and if you live near me here in Kentucky, I'm having a Hometown Booklaunch this Sunday, July 21, at 2:30 p.m. at the Anderson County Public Library in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Come on down. I'm planning door prizes along with talking about my books! 

Deadlines, Dandelions and Stories

http://www.rofotos.com/nature/flower/000008grape-hyacinths-muscari/

My deadline is staring me in the face. My book in progress needs to be off to the editor before Monday.  I suppose if publishing houses didn't set deadlines for writers, we might play with our stories and words forever and never get them out there for readers. So deadlines are good. 

Even before I had deadlines from editors, I set deadlines for myself. Except I didn't call them deadlines. I called them goals. The good news about the current deadline is I finally found those very necessary words, "the end." The bad news is they hid from me for so long I don't have as much time for editing as I'd like. But I'm scrubbing and polishing my story as fast at I can. 

The truth is, life intrudes on the best laid plans at times. But sometimes when that happens you get a surprise bouquet!

 So I've taken a break from trying to whip my book into shape before Monday to share a few more flower stories. I've loved reading your surprise bouquet stories. So many wonderful ones that I couldn't share them all. Many of you have left great comments on here with fun stories too. Thank you all so much. You make my contests so much fun. 

By far the most mentioned bouquets were those clutched in children's hands. Dandelions from the yard. Roses from a neighbor's yard. Broken heads of flowers picked without stems. But with love in every bouquet like this story from Lois.

"When my daughter was about 4 years old (now she is 40) she gave me a bunch of dandelions in a fruit jar for Mothers' Day and she was sooo very proud. They were the best flowers I have ever received." 

Pure love from a child to her mother. Love was in this bouquet Beth received from her daughter too.

"My 17 year old daughter surprised me this spring by picking a tiny bouquet of grape hyacinths and putting them in a small blue vase. Just for no reason." 

When I contacted Beth for permission to share the word image of her surprise bouquet, she added this about her daughter, Becca. "Just a proud Mama note I would like to share, Becca graduated this past Friday. She received 7 awards for her academics. The English, Latin, Science awards as well as valedictorian. What makes this remarkable - Becca is dyslexic and couldn’t read until 4^th grade. This is what God can do with hard work and desire. Now you can’t get her to put books down." 

Don't you love proud Mamas and happy stories? 

The last story tonight (maybe a couple more flower stories Sunday) we hear from the other side of the bouquets. Mary Ann says, "I remember picking bouquets of purple and white violets and of daffodils for my family when I was little. That always felt incredibly special to me." Then she added, "Oh wait! Think on, my wonderful eight-year-old son occasionally brings me the decapitated heads of daffodils and grape hyacinths and roses from our garden now, as Lovely Bouquets. :D"

Flowers do have a way of making us happy!

The deadline for my book is not the only one approaching. A deadline is coming for my Small Town Girl Celebration Giveaway too. Only three more days to enter. Deadline for entries is midnight EST Saturday. So if you haven't thrown your name in the hat for the roses and books or entered the "never win" contest for the wind chimes, you'd better do it quick. Send me an e-mail or leave a comment here with a way to contact you should you be the winner. Oh, and if you are one of those "never win" people, be sure to tell me that too.

Thanks for reading. Now back to work polishing and trimming and... Monday's coming!

 

 

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. 

Loving Flower Stories

Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms without the aid of the seasons. - Kahlil Gibran

My giveaway contest to celebrate Small Town Girl is going great. Entries are coming in from all over and you wouldn't believe how many of us are out there who "never win." One of those people will be winning those wind chimes and one of my books on July 13. The first prize is two dozen roses and so it seemed the perfect time to ask you to share memories of a time you got a special bouquet or a surprise one. I'm getting the most wonderful stories. Some very short. Some a little funny. Some with a twist. Some showing a lot of love. I'm going to be sharing a few of those stories here and on my Facebook page during the next few weeks. If you haven't entered the contest yet, you still have time. Just send me an e-mail from my website (you can see complete details of the contest there on my Event page too) or leave a comment here with a way to contact you should be the lucky winner.

Flowers can mean so many different things to us according to when we received them and who gave them to us. One of the surprise bouquets mentioned most often in the contest entries were those dandelions or daisies clutched in the hand of a smiling child or grandchild. I've been the recipient of those kind of bouquets and I've also helped the grandchildren pick flowers to give their mamas. Pure love that makes those short stemmed and wilted dandelions the most beautiful flowers in the world. 

Lois agrees in her story. "My flower story is when my daughter was about 4 years old - now she is 40 - she gave me a bunch of dandelions in a fruit jar for Mother's Day and she was soooo very proud. They were the best flowers I  have ever received."

Rosemary's story shows that grandmothers like those kinds of bouquets too. "One day when I was out, my grandchildren stopped by to visit. When I came home I found some flowers picked from my garden along with a note that said: Hi Grandma, we stopped by and watered your flowers. We love you! I treasured that note and put it away in my keepsake box. Thinking of that day always brings a smile."

All grandmas have a keepsake box in their heart for memories like that. Karen certainly keeps this next memory of a special flower in her heart. It happened on the day she was watching her grandson on the day graduate from preschool in cap and gown and all. 

"Parents, grandparents, teachers and children had filled the church sanctuary waiting for the 'solemn' occasion to begin. As we sat on the edge of our seats, turning to view the children as they marched in to 'Pomp and Circumstance,', imagine my surprise as my grandchild passed by me and suddenly broke line, ran back to where I was sitting, and in his most precious voice said, 'Grandma, this is for you!' 

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but I felt extremely honored as his parents, his other grandparents and my husband were all there. Even though it was not a big bouquet, but one single small flower that had bloomed among the grassy area, which he picked outside of the church as the class was waiting their turn to enter the building, in my eyes it was.  What fun it was to recall that day in my life.

Flowers have a way of making us feel loved. Flowers give us a way to show that love as Karen's grandson did. But sometimes the surprise can be double whammy. Mary's story made me smile.

"My son gave me a lovely bunch of flowers once. It was certainly a surprise because he pulled them up from our garden, roots and all. The thought was there & we did manage to re-plant most quite successfully."

 Earth laughs in flowers.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Thanks for reading. More flower stories to come.