Time for a Spring Contest - Name the Flower

Spring is Here

Hey, did you notice? It's SPRING! The calendar says so. Now if some of us can get Mother Nature to go along with the calendar, we'll be happy. Here things are beginning to look and sound like spring. The spring peepers are in full voice at night and in the morning, the birds are singing their spring songs. I haven't heard a mockingbird yet, but he'll show up soon. Maybe the mockingbirds are scouting out a new nest location and building their new home. 

A First Wildflower

I did actually see my first wildflower today. The flower up above wasn't it, but I did post its picture on my Facebook page. Usually that first flower is a dandelion, but so far I haven't spotted one of those. If you've read my book, The Blessed, you might remember how my character Lacey did a spring dance every year when she saw her first dandelion. Some springs it was harder for her to do that happy dance than other springs. 

Name the Flower Contest

But seeing the first little wildflower of spring gave me an idea for a new giveaway contest. This one won't be very hard, but I hope you'll have fun with it. Name the flower. As always, you don't have to be right. You just have to give it a try (and leave your e-mail so I can contact you should you be a winner.) That said, I know all of you will get all the flower names. Still, even if it isn't a hard to guess contest like some of my mystery puzzles, (well, some of them were hard to guess) maybe it will still be fun. 

Prizes

The prizes are guess what? Aww, you did guess. Books!! I'll draw three winners. And every time you name a new flower, you'll get a new entry. So be sure to come back and check on the next flower every new blog post. That's usually Wednesdays and Sundays if I don't forget what day it is. That has happened. :) The winners will get their choice of one of my books and a grab bag book by a different Christian author. I have several autographed books that I need to give away and some others that aren't signed but the story is still good. I'll figure out which ones are up for grabs and let you know in one of my posts. That's besides my books. You can check out which of mine you might like to read by checking the titles out on my website. There are sample chapters and more there on all my inspirational fiction books. 

The contest is open to USA and Canada for print books and e-books for international entries. That international postage is prohibitive. You must be 18 to enter. Deadline for entries is April 18, 2015 at 12 midnight EST. I'll announce the winners here on April 19. 

Get Ready, Set, Go

So I'm ready to hear what you know about this flower. For years I called it the wrong thing. Oh, and if you don't know the real name or even if you do, another fun thing to do is pretend you were the first person to ever see this flower and that you got to name it. So what would you have called it? 

Remember to leave a way to contact you if you want to be in the running to win a book. I can't respond directly to your comments. 

Birthday Stories and Flowers

Birthdays can be like flowers, lovely and bright, different even as they come on the same day year after year. The birthday stories some of you have been sending me are the same. Some of you have birthdays where not much fuss is made, maybe cake and ice cream. Others of you have had parties and special vacations and surprises. All fun as you celebrate the gift of another year here on Planet Earth. Some of the stories are touching. Some funny. Some loving. Some sad. A few have been a combination of all those emotions. 

That's the way the story is tonight. Chris shares about her mother who is in a nursing home suffering symptoms of dementia. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have a birthday to celebrate or reason to smile. If you can find those smiles on that hard Alzheimer's road, then life gets easier if only for a little while. Here's some of the story Chris shared with us.

"First, thank you for sharing your journey with your mom with us. My mom's 90th is this month and ...I am getting her a small tiara to wear for that day! (& balloons for the wheelchair...maybe a wrist corsage?) Last year, my sister and I took her out to lunch but the nurse forgot to let the cafeteria know that she wasn't coming...so Mom found out and felt bad since they had gone to the trouble of fixing her fried shrimp. (I think she forgot we were coming.) Anyway, we pick her up and she insists that I take her lunch from the Center with us because she wants to eat it too! ... So off we went to our little favorite restaurant...,a 1950's cafe with the best food in the world... So Mom insists on bringing the food from the Center in...I am like Mom!...please...it is rude to bring food into a restaurant and not eat their food...this is the best food ever. My sister...trying to please Mom pushes for the Center food to come in with us. Of course, the owner & the chef notice we brought our own take out food in. :/. She is so gracious, wishing Mom a happy birthday...and she asks about the food. Mom explains she couldn't hurt the Center's staff's feelings by not taking the food with us. Then she refuses to eat food at the restaurant...only soup and just a bit because she doesn't want to get full. And she eats the Center food! Crazy time!"

With someone with memory problems you might as well just go with the flow, Chris. Hope this birthday was less crazy for you but fun for your mother. But here's a preview from Chris on how things might go this year in another story she shared about her mom. 

"My mom has Alzheimer's/dementia, and the other day I got a call from her. She spoke to my husband first...asking him how it was going (like she was perfectly in control). Then I got on the line...she said she was working all day at the college and needed to go home but apparently she was home...her roommate got to go home with her husband! I said, "You're confused, aren't you, Mom?" She said she was very confused and we talked about the college she worked at, what she did...then I said she had a birthday coming up and did she know how old she was? She didn't, but then when I asked 50? No. 60? No. 70? YES! I said, "Well, there you have it! When you were 70, you did work for the college, and if you are confused and think you are 70, of course you'd be going home on the weekend! I said she was going to be 90 and she denied it over and over! Ha! What a hoot. So I said, "Well, we could pretend to lose 20 years, but then we won't have my youngest daughter (who's 19) yet!" I asked if we could pretend we don't have 20 extra pounds instead and we laughed and agreed."

Thanks for sharing, Chris. That last story made me think about my mother who drifted in time to different ages. Sometimes she was only 16 and sometimes in her thirties. She looked at me like I was  nuts if I told her she was in her nineties. She knew that wasn't right. But it definitely might be good to forget those 20 extra pounds, Chris, especially after birthday cake and pie.

Since I last talked to you here, I got another year older, but I'm still celebrating all month and you can celebrate with me by entering my birthday giveaway contest. Check out details here. Deadline to enter is September 30.

Also, today and maybe for a couple more days, The Blessed, one of my Shaker books has a special e-book price of 99 cents or less. Check it out at Amazon; Barnes & Noble (Nook); or Christianbook.com. Maybe other internet e-book sites too. Be sure to check the price to see if it's still on special before you download.

Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing your birthday stories with me.

Looking Back at Writing Trails in 2011

A new year is a great time to look back. To take stock. To see where you've been and if the roads you chose took you to an expected destination or kept you wandering around in confusion for a while. So that's what I'm doing tonight - looking back at the writing roads I went down. 

Some good things happened in my writing life last year. Some very good things and one of those was seeing Angel Sister released and in readers' hands. Since the publishers were interested in getting my Shaker books out there to readers to build the interest in those, Angel Sister had simmered on a back burner at the publishing house for a couple of years. I understood why and agreed that it was best, but at the same time I wanted the story to be in book form. That's how writers are. We always want to see every one of our stories between attractive covers and on store shelves enticing readers to take them home. For sure, Revell came up with a great cover for Angel Sister. I love having Lorena on the cover and the look on her face is perfect too. 

So I was thrilled when my copy arrived hot off the press early in 2011, and I could start talking about this story. This book is extra special to me because of how the background is based on my mom's stories about growing up during the Great Depression. Readers and reviewers started talking about it too. RT Book Review Magazine made it a Top Pick for February and eventually picked it as one of ten nominees for Inspirational Book of the Year. The book got a mention in two national magazines and the reviews were almost all positive. The Night Owl Book Review in April by Books4Betty may very well be the best review I've ever gotten for any book. Here's a bit excerpted from it I am going to shamelessly share with you even as I blush a little from the high praise. 

"Angel Sister, the beautifully molded and eloquently crafted novel by author Ann H. Gabhart is worthy of more than five-stars. If I could give this a “priceless” or “epic” or “must read” I would, and I will. 

After the first couple of pages, I was hooked completely and drawn into this powerful novel about a family; not just a family, but a family from the Depression Era. The dry, and hot, backdrop of a Kentucky summer is wonderfully and majestically written. I felt like I needed to fan myself because of the heat permeating from the pages. The summer days, long and so full of hot moisture is a surprising character in this novel. From morning until late in the evening, Gabhart does an amazing job with using the Kentucky landscape as her canvas. She beautifully painted in each aspect. I could see, smell, and feel every summery stroke.""  

And she goes on from there. You can see the whole review at Night Owls Reviews if you're interested. It's a very good review. So good it almost makes my head spin or maybe wonder if it was really MY book she read. And it puts the pressure on. A bad review you can shrug off with an oh well. But a great review like this has you thinking well, okay maybe I did get the right words down that time, but can I ever do it as well again? Only a writer like me could find something to worry about in a positive review like that. (Sigh)

But having Angel Sister in reserve and then out in February let more good things happen. It meant I could publish two books in one year. I know a lot of writers manage even more books a year, but I'm a slow writer. Two in one year for me is amazingly good. So it was extra nice to have July roll around and see The Blessed release. I never planned to write more than three books set in my Shaker village of Harmony Hill. But then Lacey popped up in my imagination. I planned for her to be a minor character in my Shaker book, The Seeker. But she came so alive in my imagination and had such a great story that I decided to tell all her story and The Blessed was the result. I really liked Lacey and being able to write with her voice filling the pages. The Blessed got some good reviews too. Here's an excerpt from Single Titles posted by Donna in August. " With the Shaker way of life as backdrop, personal tragedies are overcome, forgiveness is given and a love story develops in spite of the restrictions and taboos of the Shaker beliefs. Beautifully written, history comes to life and a completely different lifestyle is exposed by the gifted pen of Ann H. Gabhart. Informative and inspiring, THE BLESSED, should not be missed."   Single Titles

Okay, I won't keep wallowing in praise. Although it is good to know I managed to tell a story that others are enjoying. Very good. Some of the best encouraging words are in e-mails that readers send to let me know they enjoyed one of my books. 

So that was my publishing year. I managed to write another Shaker book and sign a contract for a follow-up to Angel Sister. That's where that great review above is making me choke a little. But each book is different with a different story to tell. Also I discovered with my Hollyhill books that a reviewer liking one of the books doesn't guarantee he or she will like others in the series. I have to not worry about the reviewers. All I have to worry about while I'm writing is telling my characters' stories. If I do it right, then maybe you will want to share those characters' story too. If I don't do it right, I'm sure somebody will tell me. 

Tonight I looked back at my writing trail in 2011. Sunday I plan to look ahead to 2012. I hope you are looking back with fondness and ahead with hope this January. Thanks so much for reading. And for the comments you leave. What trails did you follow last year?  

Counting Butterflies and Editing Galleys

The butterfly counts not months, but moments, and has time enough. ... Rabindranath Tagore

We've had a beautiful summer here in Kentucky - the first one in several years where we had enough rain to keep the fields green into August. I took a walk this week through our hayfield before my husband mowed it and counted butterflies. Well, not actually how many butterflies I saw, but how many butterflies of different colors, sizes and markings. The past few dry summers, it has seemed as if butterflies were becoming scarce. But this year they have rebounded. I counted almost twenty different looking butterflies in my mile and a half walk. The one in the picture is not one of them. I didn't have my camera with me this week so this is a butterfly I captured in my lens earlier this summer on a thistle bloom. But on my walk I saw little white and yellow butterflies. I saw Monarchs and lots of black ones with yellow spots. I spotted one black with blue spots. I saw small orange butterflies with big spots and other little orange butterflies that wouldn't stay still long enough for me to see their spots. 

I didn't look up any varieties. You'll have to use your imagination or go out in the fields and see what's flying around your way. I was just having fun as I gave my mind a break from editing my book, Words Spoken True that will be out next February. I like this story. It's different from my Shaker stories and from my family stories too. It's a true historical romance. The 1855 Louisville history is a great backdrop for the romance. Suffice it to say, the setting is not my Harmony Hill Shaker village. There are no rules against romance in this story. The edits so far have been minor - mostly rewording scenes to make them read smoother and to cut out those pet words that I seem to love to overuse. 

But those of you who love that Harmony Hill Shaker Village setting, don't despair. The next thing I edit will be The Gifted, my fifth Shaker book. I saw the cover last week and all it needs is a butterfly. :-) Actually I have my heroine, Jessamine, thinking about caterpillars turning into butterflies in that story. Sometimes all the threads come together. 


Thank you so much for reading, and I do very much appreciate all of you who shared comments about what you like to see in newsletters. My birthday giveaway will be open for entries until the end of September, so if you haven't entered and would like to, either send me an e-mail or leave a comment here saying you'd like to be entered. You can check my website or the archives here to see what you might win. I'll be posting about it again too before I do the drawing for winners. 


If you want an extra chance to win a copy of The Blessed, you can go to Trish Perry's Reading, Writing and the Stuff In-Between and leave a comment in answer to my question there. It's a question my dog and animal loving friends might have fun answering. 



Last but not least, here's a quote I found about butterflies. It sounds like something my character, Jessamine might say.


" How does one become a butterfly?"  she asked. 
" You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar."   (Unknown author)

Hometown Book Celebration with my Reading Friends

My celebration of The Blessed was a fun time of friends and book talking with a little chocolate thrown in to sweeten the hour. I was lucky enough to have my daughter and husband (in the photo with me) there to help me carry everything in. Books can be heavy. 

I do so appreciate all my hometown reading friends who came out on a very hot Sunday afternoon to help me celebrate my fourth Shaker book, The Blessed. Each time a new person came in I felt as if I was getting a gift. And I was - the gift of their time and presence. I know others of you wished you could be there too and that's a gift and blessing to me too. 

I like talking about books and writing and always enjoy the question and answer part of any speech the most. Of course sometimes people don't have any questions or maybe they're just ready to get to the door prizes so they can go home. It's fun to give away stuff. And it's fun to win stuff. 

Today it seemed as if the prizes went to the perfect people in the group. A lady who likes to send notes and card to be an encourager got a card organizer and strawberry notecards. A young person interested in writing won the notebook and pens I had for somebody to start writing her own book. My neighbor who loves all things Shaker was there got the Shaker hot pad that said, "Hands to work and hearts to God." Another lady, a first time attendee to one of my celebrations, won The Blessed. Another friend who sews a lot got the audio tape of The Outsider. She's already read the book, but sometimes I think it's more fun to listen to a book after you've read it. She plans to listen while she was sewing. 

Then I gave away a cup that had a sisters are always your best friends type of saying on it to a beautiful woman, a retired teacher. All three of my children were blessed to have her in elementary school and she got them off to a great start in school. Of course she probably has dozens of mugs from her days of getting Christmas gifts from her students. I was a room mother for her class when my youngest son was in third grade. I'll never forget what a gift she gave those children that Christmas and no doubt every year she taught. She let them gather around her and then she opened their gifts one by one and expressed gratitude and sincere pleasure over each and every one. Those little gift givers glowed. 

It truly is more blessed to give than to receive at times. And Mrs. Simpson was a blessing to her students that Christmas as she taught them that truth in a simple, loving way. I enjoyed giving away my little door prizes today too. And talking to my friends - those I knew before today and those I know now because we became friends today.

Are you a good gift receiver who sees the spirit of love behind your best gifts? I have a little box decorated with sparkles by my grandson especially for me when he was in second grade. It is one of my most treasured gifts. What treasures have you been given? 


Thanks for reading.

The Blessed on Tour

The Blessed is on tour this week, visiting reviewers' blogs in lots of places. I'm here at home, watching from afar and hoping the reviewers will like Lacey's story. It's always interesting reading those first reviews, but that's all it can be - interesting. A writer doesn't want to invest too much energy in tracking reviews. Good or bad.

Some writers don't read reviews at all. I do. I can't seem to help myself. I want to know what people think when they read my stories. But then I say "great" when the reviewer likes my story and sigh and say "too bad, but oh well" when a reviewer is not enamored with my plot line or characters. It's fun to get those "must read" or "can't put it down" or "a recommended read." It's not as much fun to get the negative comments, but at the same time, while you certainly hope everybody in the whole wide world will love your book, that's probably not going to happen. 

Sometimes you're wondering if the reviewers really read your book since in their reviews they get the characters' names wrong or totally miss all your beautiful scenes. Or you think maybe they had a stomach bug or a headache or their teenagers were throwing fits while they were reading. You never think that when they say good things. Oh no, then you think they are wise and intuitive and know exactly what they're talking about. Especially if they color in all those stars on the review pages.

I once printed up a page of blurbs from reviews of my novel, The Scent of Lilacs and was using it to try to convince a reader to give my book a try. The savvy lady handed it back to me without reading the first line and said, "You wouldn't have put anything bad on there." And she was right. 

So The Blessed is out there making the rounds and getting read. But you know, whatever the reviews, I've turned that story loose. I can't do any more to it now. I told Lacey's and Isaac's stories as best I could and then I moved on. I've got a whole new bunch of characters now. A new story to tell. And I'm trying to tell it in such a way that someday it will be out there making the rounds in blogosphere world.

I was a guest on Divine Detours yesterday. Kathy Harris has come up with a great idea for a blog and asks those she interviews if we've ever found ourselves sidetracked from the path we planned to take.  Oh, and she's a dog lover too, so she asks about my dogs. That was a fun question to answer. But I also liked thinking about my divine detours that have brought me to an unplanned or unexpected destination that turned out to be a better place. Maybe I'll tell you about some of those detours in a future post.

 Meanwhile I'll enjoy going blogging with The Blessed. Hope you're enjoying your week too. I sent out a newsletter today. If you're not on my newsletter list, you can sign up from my website. Ann's website

Happy reading! Hope you're enjoying the heart of summer.

Blue Skies, Raspberries and News

I have absolutely no reason for this picture other than I wanted to use a picture and we've had blue skies this week. This is a hayfield on our farm and a place I sometimes walk. I'd like to walk around it now because there's a nice patch of raspberries in the fencerow, but my husband hasn't mowed the hay yet and the grass would be up to my waist. So guess the deer will enjoy the berries. They are another reason I'm not wading through the grass. They're probably eating all the berries off the vine and I'd make the trek only to find nothing to pick. The other reason is we've got some raspberries in the garden. I love black raspberries. They hold the sweetness of early summer for me even more than strawberries.

In my work in progress it's June and I have my girl picking blackberries. Maybe I'd better go back and change that to raspberries. I'm two weeks or more early for the blackberries.

It's been a slow week down here on the farm. Hay mowing time for Darrell which means equipment breaking time. The baler is in the baler repair shop now. Meanwhile I'm having my periodic computer troubles. I'm about ready to go back to those wirebound notebooks I used when I started writing years ago. I actually met a writer the other day who still writes everything in long hand first. Not me. The keyboard is my pen of choice. Gotta get those words down. But there are times when the keyboad along with all it's connected to does its best to drive me bonkers.

I'm pushing hard to finish Shaker 5 that has an accepted title now, The Gifted. I'm in one of those awkward places for a writer. I need to get the story finished. I'm rushing to get it finished. And I've got enough words written for it to be finished, but I'm some way from being finished. That means I'm going to have too many words. That means I'm going to have to cut lots of words. Nice words that I worked hard to dig out of my head. Sigh.

But it's a good writer time for me too with a new book out. The Blessed is available on Amazon now.  I got my copies last Thursday. So I planned my Hometown Book Launch for Sunday, July 24 at 2 p.m. at the Anderson County Public Library. If you're in the area, I hope you'll come join in the fun. I always give stuff away and we have fun talking books. I might even make brownies again. Maybe.

I've actually got a lot of things going on in the next few weeks. Blog tours and posts and interviews. First up is an interview on Carole Brown's blog, Sunnybank Meanderings on June 15. Then on June 24 & 25 I'll be doing a couple of workshops at the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference in Elizabethtown. www.kychristianwriters.com Maybe I'll give you guys a preview of my classes next week. So you can see why I need to get this new Shaker book finished. I think I know where my characters are going. I think I know what they're going to do. I think I can, said the little writer who thought she could get over the hill to the end.

By the way, if you leave a comment on my interview with Carole, you'lll have a chance to win an autographed copy of either Angel Sister or The Blessed. And now that I've got my author copies, I'll be drawing the winners for my celebration giveaway next Saturday. So if you haven't entered, check out the details on my website and join in the fun. 

As always thanks for reading. And hope you liked the picture.  

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.

Books at the Door

Books are arriving in the mail and by UPS. That's always fun. And it's just as much fun when I hear from family and friends that they  received my new book in the mail. Several people got gift copies of The Blessed yesterday in the mail. Other family members may get a surprise in the mail next week. It's fun to get nice surprises in the mail. Just a week or so ago I got the dog story book, The Dog Next Door complied by Callie Smith Grant that includes a story I wrote about one of my dogs. My nine-year-old granddaughter picked that book up last night while she was at my house and went straight out on the deck to lie on the swing and start reading. She loves horses and dogs.

So far I haven't received my box of author copies but I'm glad one of my fantastic editors at Baker sent out a copy of The Blessed to me as soon as the book was available. Actually holding a new book in my hands and enjoying that new book smell is part of my reward for months of work digging words out of my head. I have to confess it's pretty nice on the eyes to see that "by Ann H. Gabhart" on a book that lands on my doorstep.

A few years ago, I actually spotted one of my new books on a shelf in a store before I had a copy. And no, I didn't buy it. But I did pick it up and flip through the pages. Then I went home and called the publishers to hurry up the copies to me. 

Now with the book out there in some readers' hands, I'll have sit back and wait to see what people think. Will they like Lacey's story? Lacey was a good character I enjoyed getting to know. She has her own special voice that I hope readers will enjoy too. I'll also be planning some book launches. It's been such a hard spring and I've been trying to finish Shaker book 5, but that doesn't mean I can't celebrate a new book with my reading friends. Remember, I am giving away books, several of them, as soon as I do receive my author's copies, so if you haven't sent me an e-mail saying you want to throw your name in the hat for the giveaway, you still have time. You can check out the giveaway details on my Events and News page on my website, www.annhgabhart.com. Plus you can take a sneak peek at The Blessed.

Since we're talking about giveaways, it's time to announce the winner of Suzanne Woods Fisher's book, The Waiting. Drum roll please. ONorman is the winner. I numbered the comments and put all the numbers in a hat - well, actually a bowl - and drew out her number. I started to ask my mom to pick a number between one and whatever the end number was, but I decided that wasn't fair to the number one person. How many times have you ever picked the first or the last number when told to pick a number in a range of numbers? Nobody ever picks one. Or is that only true for me? Anyway, I drew out a number so this was random and fair.

Thanks for reading. And I hope you get good surprises everyday. A new book. An e-mail or letter from an old friend. Finding a ten dollar bill in your pocket that you'd forgotten about. Catching the biggest fish. A grandkid's sweet kiss. What is a good surprise for you? 

 

Springing Forward

This is a wild hyacinth from years past. It's too early for it to be in bloom yet this year, but sometimes we have to anticipate the good things coming. Actually those leaves behind the hyacinth bloom are some of the flowers that bloom earliest - twinleafs. You can see where they get their name. The blooms of that plant have delicate white petals and they come and go quickly. Some years I see them and some years - if I don't time my walks right - I just see the fallen petals and the lush leaves. The wild hyacinths stay in bloom much longer.

~~

It's not spring yet. We have to wait a couple more weeks for the official start of that, but we're reaching for spring and our eyes are on the lookout for proof - blooming flowers. I almost stopped in the middle of the road the other day when I saw crocuses. That would have made an interesting insurance report. Having to admit I got rear-ended because I wanted to see a flower. Of course after this winter, the insurance adjuster might not have held me at fault.

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We're springing forward to daylight savings time on Sunday. I'm going to have to reset my head to get up earlier. Not easy to do. But I do enjoy the early morning hours when the house is quiet and I can imagine writing a thousand words. It doesn't happen that much. I have too many delaying tactics. But with deadlines popping up all around me like those wildflowers in the woods will be doing soon, I need to come up with get to work tactics instead of the delaying ones.

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What about you? Do you drag your feet when something needs doing or do you jump right in there and tackle the job? I've been tackling an editing job on the page proofs of my next Shaker book, The Blessed, due out this summer. There were some problems I had to work out. Some mistakes I'd made. I hate it when I mess up and don't catch all my mistakes before the book gets this far in the process of publication. But I'm thankful for careful editors and proofreaders who do catch what I don't catch. I finished reading through the pages a few minutes ago. I've made corrections, straightened out some thorny problems, and tried to make the story one where the words will disappear as the characters play out their story in my readers' imaginations. That's the best kind of writing. The kind where you don't notice the writing.

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Thanks so much for reading. And drive carefully if you go looking for flowers to prove spring is on the way. Guess next week we'll have more daylight time for our hunt. Do you have a favorite flower?

Naming Characters - What's in a Name?

I know this picture doesn't have a thing to do with naming characters. Or then again maybe I need to look deeper. The open gate, the roads running together speak of possibilities. I took this picture last week at the Shaker village near me. My new characters might walk down these very roads in my story. They will be facing new vistas, new paths. But first they have to have names.

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In a little book I have called Craft & Technique by Paul Raymond Martin, he has a paragraph about "The Name Game." He says some writers think they can't proceed with a story until they name their main characters. His advice is to pick a name, any name, just so you can get started writing. I'm one of those writers who has to have her characters named. At least my lead characters. How can I know who they are until I know their names? And saying just any Tim, Jim or Sally isn't going to work for me. I have to know what their names are. That's not to say that a character I forced a wrong name on didn't look me in the eye a few pages later and tell me emphatically that if I thought that was her name, I'd better think again.

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I'm thinking names now for my new book. I'll have lots of names before I'm through. Many of them will be minor characters I'll name on the spot when they make their entrance onto my story page. I want those names to be right too, so their names get changed more often than my main characters. I keep a running list of every character I name in a book and every dog, horse or cat plus all the place names. Saves a lot of grief a few pages on down the story road when I meet that character again and think "Oops! What was his or her name?"

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A list keeps me from using pet names I like over and over. Each book needs fresh names unless I'm letting an old character appear in a new book. I did that in The Seeker. Those of you who read The Outsider first know which characters I'm talking about. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to let any of my former characters make a cameo appearance in my next book. That could happen or not.

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Before I can even consider that possibility, I have to come up with my names. And so I'm searching through name books and waiting for the right names to leap off the page into my imagination. Then I write the name down and try it out with a last name. It has to sound right. I usually end up with a whole page full of names and I keep trying them out in my imagination to see which one is going to fit my character.

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Sometimes when I come up with a name, the character pops up too like a jack-in-the box saying "Here I am. Here I am." That's how it was with Lacey, my main female character in my Shaker book, The Blessed that will be out next summer. Other times my character lingers back in the shadows of my mind and is reluctant to come out where I can see if the name fits and if she is going to let me get to know her well enough to tell her story.

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So I'm trying to get the possibilites for the new story to come into focus along with the names. I hope you are having a week where possibilities of good things are coming along and that the names of the characters you're reading about or writing about fit them. I used to think my name didn't fit me. But now I think Ann is a good name for me. I'm just who I am, and a simple name with no pretentions fits. But when I was a kid I wished for a glamorous name with more than one syllable. LOL

Story Glimmers

A writer needs time to gather a story. To let the glimmers spark out of that mysterious dark center where stories are sometimes born. But there are times when the glimmers sparkle but are as elusive as a sunbeam. You see it but you can't really grab it. Sometimes the story glimmers tease you and entice you down the wrong story road. And yes, sometimes a writer can't just sit back and wait for the glimmers to settle in her head to light the way to a story. A writer has to grab a flashlight and go hunting in the dark for that story.

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I'm definitely at the glimmer stage with my next story. And about ready to grab that flashlight and venture out into the dark unknown. The glimmers are there, but they aren't very bright. I see a Shaker sister keeping a journal. Perhaps she's sitting at a desk like the one above and dipping her pen into a pot of ink before carefully forming the letters of her words. She doesn't want to make a mistake because she's writing the history of her sisters and brothers. I see another character, a young sister, who is enchanted by the possibilities of life. But I don't yet know when. Or what. Maybe I can't know what until I know when. I think it's time to read some history. That always helps me focus on an idea or even discover an idea.

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And yet I stall. I have to do these other things. I have a deadline to come up with discussion questions for Angel Sister. I have questions to answer for someone to do an article. I need to update my events calendar. I need to copy edit Angels at the Crossroads so I can get copies with the new cover. I need to do this blog entry. All these things are writing related. If I'm doing them, I'm surely working. Surely writing.

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But the truth is, I'm not. Those things are important and need doing. The same as the clothes have to be washed and the meals cooked. My mom has to be taken care of and the grandkids visited. The deck needed a second coat before winter sets in. (And I got that mostly done this afternoon and am paying the price with sore muscles and blisters and too much sun.) But I'm not writing. I have to do all those other things, but I want to be writing. I want to be chasing down those story glimmers. And yet I stall.

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It can be a fearsome thing to write that first word. Will it work? Will the story magic happen again? I've done it many times. I'm confident the words will come. The story will be there if the characters are there. It is time to grab my flashlight and pursue those characters.

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I got the proposed cover for The Blessed, my Shaker novel that will be out next July. I'll post it here soon. And I also got those Blue Monday candy bars so I'll be mailing out the packages to my birthday celebration giveaway winners next week. No mail on Monday. Columbus Day. But Sunday has an interesting date. 10-10-10. Hope you have a day of perfect tens.

One Down; One to Go

Got my edits done for The Blessed. Just sent it off to the editor and got back one of those instant "out of the office" replies. But I got it sent in and that's the big thing for me with everything else going on with my mom. I told my editor I did some of the edits in the middle of the night with a foggy brain so who knows whether I improved the wording or totally messed it up. I guess my editor will know and then I'll know shortly thereafter if she sends it back with some big question marks. No, I think I got the changes made. The thing about editing is that you can always see something else to improve. Always. Lacey's story in The Blessed is a lot different from my other Shaker books, but I'm hoping readers will take to Lacey when the book comes out next summer. I certainly did. She's a no nonsense girl who does what she has to do to keep going.

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Now I get to start on my copy editing of the galleys for Angel Sister. Out of the frying pan into the fire. I haven't even read the comments of the copy editor to see what needs doing. I didn't want to have it worrying me while I was finishing up the other edits. One book at a time.

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It's exciting having two books released in one year. A lot of authors of inspirational fiction release even more than two books a year. I admire their work ethic because writing books takes time. Editing books takes times. Coming up with new ideas takes time. Trying to publicize books takes time. But then everything takes times. The seconds keep ticking by no matter what you're doing or not doing. Watching the hummingbird work through the blooms on the million bell flower on my window sill takes time. Sharing my journal thoughts with you takes time. Hummingbird watching and journaling - that's time well spent.

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And that's the thing with time. We want to spend it well. Do what has to be done, for sure, but also use some spare minutes just being glad for our blessings and glad we are breathing and thankful we're so busy that we feel rushed. I love writing. I love editing to make that writing better. I love hearing from readers and getting to know you. I even like reading reviews - sometimes. The Seeker's blog tour has been interesting. I've been able to respond to some of the bloggers, but due to my nights at Mom's with no internet, I'm running behind on messages and such. I do thank all the bloggers who read my book and wrote their opinions. Most have been good. Some have been great. A few have been... well, we won't talk about them. Accentuate the positive. Right?

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Hope much positive is happening in your life and that you aren't sweltering in the heat wave. It's a bit cooler here today, but yesterday when I got in the car to leave my mother's, the temperature flashed 100 degrees. Definitely the dog days of autumn. My poor dogs don't want to step out of the shade when we go for a walk even at almost sundown. So stay cool. Drink some sweet iced tea or how about an icy grape sno cone and read a good book.