Books, Bites and Birthdays

It was my youngest son's birthday today. He has a family of his own now to be daddy to and he's a wonderful daddy. But I'm not sure he ever taught his kids to eat the peanut butter and pancake syrup on biscuits that his dad taught him to eat when he was just a little tyke. He could never talk the other kids into giving it a try, but he had success here with a little "open wide and take a bite" demonstration encouragement. 

My son loved riding bikes, camping out, and climbing trees when he was a kid. Sometimes I'd look up and he and a neighbor friend would be perched way above my head. How I kept from going to fetch a ladder, I don't know. But the limbs always held them and I never had to call the fire department to come get them down. 

He hit a few bumpy places in the road going through adolescence and I had some sleepless nights waiting up for him to get home from wherever. Some kids struggle a little more trying out their wings and some mothers get a few more gray hairs watching them chasing independence. 

But he made it through and fell in love with a hometown girl. What a blessing it has been to see his family grow and what a gift his children have been to this grandmother. 

Now sometimes when he visits, we go "exploring" with the grandkids. He's ready to look at the rocks and trees and point out nature's wonders to his kids. And to me. 

Jessamine had that kind of curiosity in my Shaker book, The Gifted. She wanted to know about everything which made her life in the Shaker community difficult at times. Here's what a reviewer on Amazon had to say about her. "Dear, sweet Jessamine was such a beautiful character - both inwardly and outwardly. She had such an innocence and complete joy about her. I easily fell in love with her.... And seeing the world through her eyes, when she leaves the Shakers, gives you a different, new perspective of things we take for granted."

I did enjoy writing about Jessamine. I think she's been the only main character in any of my stories that I let have blonde hair. Generally my characters are sensible, capable, determined even if things don't always go right for them. But not Jessamine. She had childlike joy in life and was ready to let her imagination take wing and embrace whatever came her way without considering what obstacles might await her. 

Monday is the last day to grab the e-book for $1.99 at Amazon or Barnes & Noble  before the price goes back up. 

Tweet: A little curiosity can make life more fun. http://ctt.ec/7cegL+

Surprised by Icicles

Are those the magic fairy wands glistening on the trees or only winter icicles that I see? (Anonymous)

I took a break from trying to flesh out a new story idea yesterday and went walking. Walking is a good time for thinking. You see everything around you, but you don't have to really think about how you're moving your feet or which direction to go. Out here on the farm, I just walk. Yesterday I walked over to the cliff area. I didn't really plan on that destination when I started out, but when I got near, I decided I was too close not to go take a look at the cliff and see how things are going there. 

I was surprised by the icicles. It has been cold, but no snow. But we have had a lot of rain this year and so the underground pools are full. That lets the moisture continually seep out between the limestone layers of the cliff rocks. Each drip freezes and makes an icicle that continues to grow longer with each new drip until there are rows of icicles ready to sparkle in the sun.

In the photo at the top of the post, I'm trying to capture the bits of ice from the water that dripped out on the tree branches. Instead of magic fairy wands, the formations looked like graceful ice birds. The picture doesn't really let you see that as well as I could standing under them and looking toward the sky. But with a tad more imagination you might see them. Trust me, they looked like ice birds floating in the air above my head.

And then a few bushes on the ground along the path down beside the cliff were coated with ice drippings too to make strange figures that looked as if they might turn into some sort of creature come the spring thaw. 

Ice can be an interesting part of winter, to say the least. When it falls out of the sky and brings down power lines and trees, it is definitely not something we want. But even then it can have an astounding beauty. More ways that ice can capture the beauty of nature is when it freezes over a pond or puddle or drips down to create hundreds of icicles along the cliff ledges, or patterns on the ice on a creek. So many ways to see the beauty of the ice. But there's danger too. I came back up that path very carefully!

Do you like icicles? You might think it would be good if we could save them for the summer. The folks on our farm back a hundred years ago did exactly that by going to the river and cutting out blocks of ice when the river froze over. Then they layered that ice with straw in specially dug deep ice houses in the ground. Come summer, they could go get a block of ice to use to freeze ice cream or keep their food cold. Now we just open up the refrigerator. 

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. (Hal  Borland)

My Shaker book, The Gifted, is on e-book sale this week for $1.99. It's not icicle time in the book, but summer. (I do have an ice cream making scene.) The story is set in 1849 and contrasts the simple lifestyle of my Shaker village of Harmony Hill with the extravagant social scene at the spa hotels where the wealthy went to "take the waters." My character, Jessamine, is a true innocent after being with the Shakers since she was nine, but she does have an insatiable curiosity about the "world" outside the Shaker village. In the opening scene she is leading a fellow Shaker sister on a wild goose chase through the woods in the hopes of getting near enough to the White Oaks Springs Hotel to see a parasol. She's enchanted by the very sound of the word and has a great desire to actually see one. That's Jessamine. A fun character to live with through a story. You can check it out at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Always remember to double check the price before you download since sales can end quickly and without notice. 

Thanks for reading.

Click to tweet: Tweet: A little ice can be nice. Nature's art. http://ctt.ec/V91d9+

Every Book Can be a Gift

Each day provides its own gifts. ~Marcus Aurelius



One of the daily or weekly gifts I receive are the comments you leave here and on my Facebook author's page. It's fun getting to know you and I really enjoy when you share stories from your lives. Take Joye's comment on my blizzard post Sunday about her dad having to crawl out the attic window to shovel out their door after a blizzard. She can tell us about snow. Others have also left bits about their lives and many of you leave encouraging words for me. You might be surprised to know how often writers need encouraging words. But then I suppose that's true for everybody no matter what work they do. We can all use a kind word and a smile.  I want everything I write whether it's a short Facebook comment, an e-mail, or a 100,000 word story to somehow be an encouragement to whoever reads them.

Cathy left me one of those kind and encouraging comments this week. In case you don't read the comments on posts, here is the part that had me smiling. "Just found a true treasure...one of your older books called "The Gifting". I absolutely LOVE this book. I think you should re-release it. Page 71..."Don't ruin a gifting by measuring it. Just enjoy."

So I am enjoying and remembering too. I don't remember writing those words on page 71, but I'm glad I did. It sounds like very good advice. I wrote that little book for young readers over twenty years ago, but the book lived up to its title for me. A gift. So I'm taking the liberty to change that quote at the beginning of my post a bit to say "Every book provides its own gift."   

You see when I wrote that book my father was dying with pancreatic cancer. During his illness, he became agitated and not himself and it was a very hard time for him and for all of us. The Gifting is about a young girl, Ginny and her recluse neighbor, Miss Nellie. I have to admit I'd forgotten my characters' names until I read the blurb on the cover. A lot of characters through the keyboard since then. But while I might not remember the names, I do remember the story and how thinking about those characters and what they might be going to do next helped me stop obsessively worrying about my dad and about Mom who was taking care of him. Worrying didn't help Dad or Mom either. So when the night pushed in on me and I couldn't sleep, I'd think about Ginny and Miss Nellie. The story was a gift to me.

Since then, I've been "gifted" with many other stories. Some of them have come at other hard times in my life. Right now is a hard time for me with my mother's struggle with dementia. Sometimes I wonder if I'll be able to get the next book written, but then the gift of a story will come. My last Shaker book, The Gifted, has a thread throughout about the blessing of gifts from the Lord and how we use those gifts. Like Jessamine in The Gifted, I think the Lord gave me a gift for words and intended for me to use that gift to tell stories. But at the same time that my books might turn out to be a gift to you, they can also be a gift to me while I'm writing them. But I do think I've probably used all the titles with gift in them that I can. But then you never know? I might be given another "gift" book. The Gift. His Gift. Her Gift. A Thousand Gifts. :)


Thanks for reading. And remember you can leave a comment here or on Jocie's Hollyhill blog to throw your name in the hat for the drawing for an autographed copy of Scent of Lilacs. Each comment on a new post gets you a new entry. I'll draw three winners on March 3 and let Jocie announce the winners on March 4. This drawing is open only to those of you who give me the gift of your comments here on my journals.

Shaker Sayings & The Gifted

My book in fine company at WalMart

Every week on my Facebook author's page, I do what I call "Shaker Wednesday." On those days I hunt up some bit of Shaker history or maybe a picture of something the Shakers made or a building in one of their villages. Some days I just post one of the Shaker sayings. They had a lot - many of them credited to their founder, Mother Ann. Many more were added as the years went by. Most of the sayings are based on commonsense. The Shakers were a practical, hard-working group of people who just happened to believe they weren't meant to marry and they were meant to dance as they worshiped. 

I use some of these sayings in all my Shaker books. One that I use most and is probably the most familiar to anyone who knows anything about the Shakers is "Hands to work. Hearts to God." That is so much a part of the Shakers' beliefs that it has to go in all my stories. Other sayings I drop in as needed. Another I've used a lot is "Do your work as if you had a thousand years to live, and as if you were to die tomorrow." To me, that one reveals how they thought their work was to be perfect but also as productive as possible with diligent attention to the details of their tasks. 

I've often allowed an established sister or elder to speak the following one to my character who is generally a novitiate trying to learn about this strange group of people and their odd ideas that go so against the ways of the world. "Our testimony is for peace, now and always. No Christian can use carnal weapons or fight. He never did so. We oppose wars of households, and wars of nations. All wars are the result of lusts for lands and for women. Those who marry will fight." I suppose the Shakers didn't think about the fun of making up. 

 This is one I like too. "None preaches better than the ant, and it says nothing." I don't know what Shakerisms I'll find for my Christmas Shaker book. Perhaps this one. "Man is a harp with a thousand strings.  Touch the spiritual cord of his heart, and lo, with what inspiration he sings!”

I also came across a few bits I'd pulled out of my book The Gifted for some kind of promotion. I don't know that those ever got used, but the quotes weren't half bad. So I'm going to share them with you.


Security generally trumped love in the game of life. Love was a poor man's card of choice. (Tristan thinking about how he was expected to marry to enhance his family fortunes.)

"A waste of time chasing the past. It won't do anything but bite you if you catch it." (Laura Cleveland's father warning Sheldon Brady not to look backward.)

And last, Laura telling Tristan why they can marry but perhaps never have love. "Love can’t be ordered up. It is a serendipitous thing with wings that swoops here and there and sometimes lands on you when you least expect it. Or when you can ill afford to follow your heart.”

 It's interesting trying to pull a quote or two out of a 100,000 plus word novel. Do you ever notice particular passages in a fiction book? It is probably common to underline this or that part in non-fiction books, and now with the e-readers, favorite places can be easily marked and highlighted. At least that's what I've been told. If you have an e-reader, have you ever done that?

Thanks so much for reading. I do appreciate each of you.

One Thin Dime and Other Treasures

I'm sure you've heard people say they don't have "a dime to their name." Or that some things are a "dime a dozen." Or it's "not worth a dime."

You can be absolutely sure they weren't talking about this dime. Take a good look at this beauty and then take another look. It's worth it. I'm not a coin collector, but this story caught my eye in the newspaper yesterday. This little dime sold for 1.6 million dollars. Yes, this one thin dime. And actually after the buyer's fee is added, it ends up costing 1.84 million. It was minted in Carson City, Nevada during a one day run of dimes in 1873 and was part of a collection of every coin made in Carson City before that mint closed in 1893. I've just got one word for that. Wow! And if you happen to come across a dime that looks like this, remember, it's definitely not worth a dime. It's worth a million of them.

It's interesting to think about what things are worth. Makes me think of that commercial about how some things are priceless. This dime wasn't. It brought a price - a big price. But so many other things in life are beyond price. Love. Family. Health. True friends. The wag of a dog's tail. Watching a grandchild (or two of them) blow out birthday candles. Being able to do the things you love to do. In life, the things that matter most aren't for sale. They are gifts that we can open with joy.

What are some of the gifts or blessings without price that you treasure?

Remember, I'm giving away a copy of The Gifted to two of you who comment on one of my posts this week. Either this one or the one last Wednesday, Romance with Books. In fact if you comment on both posts, then I'll throw your name into my hat twice.

I do so appreciate the way some of you follow me when I visit other blogs. I was a visitor on Cathy West's This is a Blog about Books last Friday answering the question, Who Am I? If you want to read about my writing roots, you can check that out. But you also definitely deserve a chance to win here. Of course, if you just want to comment without being in the drawing, that would be great too. Always enjoy seeing your comments.

Thanks for reading and commenting too.

Love at First Sight, Gifts, and Other Blogging Trails

Nine more days to take part in my Celebration giveaways. Either on my website at the The Gifted Contest Page (prizes shown there) or at Fresh Fiction and have a chance to win a lovely journal and pen. The picture of the basket and my book The Believer is the second prize in my website contest. The basket is a one-of-a-kind made locally. Not exactly like the Shakers would have made it since it is decorated with buttons, but the Shakers did make lots of baskets for use in their villages and for sale. 


It fun to give things away to celebrate a new book and another way I celebrate (and give away books) is by guesting on other blogs. I did a lot of that when Words Spoken True was published last February and some of you reading friends followed me around to leave comments and try to win a copy of the book. Well, now you can do it again. I was a guest on Rose McCauley's Blog Friday, and you still have time to comment there to have a chance to win a copy of The Gifted. Since Jessamine has to figure out which gifts are true and worthy in this new Shaker book, that's what I decided to write about with Rose. "What is Your Gift?" It was interesting to me that our pastor preached on how we all have gifts this morning. And no, I don't think he read my post over on Rose's blog. 


"Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.” ~Anthony Robbins


Then I have a guest blog on Romance at Random all about love at first sight. Do you believe that's possible? Maybe you've experienced it. Or at least attraction at first sight. I was certainly attracted to my husband at first sight and we're still together all these years later. No free book on that site, but you can join in the conversation about whether you think love at first sight is possible. Of course, you can join in the conversation here for that too. And I threw out the question on Facebook a while ago and was already hearing love stories and then one story where the love at first sight feeling didn't lead to enduring love. 


But don't you just love to hear other people's love stories? How they met. How long they've been together. A couple at our church just celebrated their 64th anniversary. We had another couple who made it to 75 years together before the husband passed on at age 95. True testimonies of love and faithfulness. So you can find out how I met my husband if you go check out what I have to say about love at first sight. 


More guest blog posts to come with some of them offering chances to win a free book. A lot of reviews out there too. Ann Shorey, a fellow Revell writer, did one on The Gifted last week. If you want to know her thoughts about the book, go to Ann Shorey's website and you can check out Ann's books too while you're there.


I've got to come up with another guest post for a site called The Romance Dish. What romantic topic would you suggest?


Thanks for reading.  

How to Have Fun with a New Book

My Hometown Reading Friends

Any excuse to have fun is a good excuse. And I did have fun this weekend celebrating my new Shaker book, The Gifted. See this roomful of friends waving at me and smiling? And that was after I talked. Could be that's why they were smiling -- because I'd finally hushed. I asked them to wave and I think it's funny that the people in the back rows waved big while the people in the front row were too shy or too something to hardly wave at all. If I was a psychologist I might figure that out. But that's okay. They were still smiling. 

I was smiling too, because it's always such fun to talk about a new book with friends. My hometown reading friends are so good to come out and support me as a local author. Each time a new person comes in the door of the library meeting room, I feel as if he or she is giving me a gift. In a way, they are. They are giving me the gift of their time. They are patiently ready to listen to me talk about how I got started writing and tell some of the same stories about my books again. I try to do a quick rehash of my writing history for the people who haven't heard me speak before, but some of the same stories about my hometown do seem to surface each book launch. Like how I changed the name of Lawrenceburg to Hollyhill in my books about Jocie and her friends because the Lawrenceburg series doesn't roll off the tongue right. How I didn't base any of my characters on real people - and that was my story and I was sticking to it. How The Outsider sat on a shelf for 25 years before it was published.  How I love to write. And how deep my roots go in this community. 

These sweet people laughed again when they were supposed to laugh. These sweet people asked questions when they were supposed to ask questions. These sweet people acted thrilled (at least the ones who won them) when they got one of my door prizes that were more fun than fancy. I gave away a raspberry candle because Jessamine was on a wild goose chase hunting wild raspberries in the first scene of The Gifted. I gave away a journal and a pen because Sister Sophrena wrote in a journal all the way through The Gifted. One door prize was a travel cup that said, "I took the road less traveled. Now where the heck am I?" That was Sister Annie following after Jessamine. 

Then there was the cup that said "Believe. All things are possible if you believe." That matches my book The Believer, but maybe it matches my writing journey too. How in the world could a little farm girl grab onto such a big dream as writing books and then years later, be celebrating her 24th published book with a room full of hometown reading friends? I am blessed. Many thanks to those of you who came to celebrate with me and also to those of you who celebrated with me from afar. 

Some of the Sherman Full Gospel ladies at the brunch

I also had book fun on Saturday with the ladies at a brunch at the Sherman Full Gospel Church in Dry Ridge, KY. These were all fresh ears so I got to tell my old writing stories with no worries about repeating myself. It was a lovely church with a friendly group of ladies who made some pretty fancy fixings for brunch. So how to have fun with a new book is to find some people willing to laugh at your jokes and listen to you tell about the gift of writing. Thank all of you.  

If you haven't already, don't forget about signing up for my Celebration contests on my website contest page and on the Fresh Fiction Contest Page. Entries need to be in by midnight EST on July 31. 

Thanks for reading!

Blank Pages, Beginnings and Book Launches

Talking to friends - the best part of a booksigning

A new book means I get to celebrate with my reading friends. I started having book launch celebrations here in my hometown when my first inspirational novel, The Scent of Lilacs was published. We had so much fun that I've had a book launch party for every book since. And now it's time to gather with friends for my new book, The Gifted. That will be happening this coming Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Anderson County Public Library - the good Lord willing and the creek doesn't rise. Not much chance of the creek rising as dry as it's been and I'll hope the Lord will smile down on us celebrating a new book. I'll be talking about writing this fifth Shaker novel and hearing what you have to say about The Gifted too. Question and answer time is always my favorite part of any talk.

  
But I know many of you reading friends live a little too far away to drive over (or maybe down or up) to celebrate with me. So I'm celebrating with all of you by having a contest or two where I can give away a few prizes. This pottery pitcher is the third prize in my Celebration giveaway on my website. You can sign up there until midnight EST on July 31 for a chance to win one of three prizes. This pitcher was made by a local artist here in Anderson County. That's fun - to have a local, one of a kind prize. Then there's the Fresh Fiction giveaway too, plus I'll be doing some guest posts on blogs with the chance to win a book. Some reading friends followed me around to those with Words Spoken True, and I appreciated that so much. 

All the celebrating is good, but here at home, I need to be beginning on a new reason to celebrate. It's time for me to pull up the blank page, ask a few "what if" questions and try to launch into a new story with the hope that in a year or so I'll be able to have another party with friends and giveaways to celebrate it. 

Beginnings - in a story that's when anything is possible. A time when a writer can believe this might be the best story yet or a time when a writer might worry that the story magic won't sprinkle over her fingers on the keyboard. After writing dozens of stories, I can summon up confidence that the story will come - most of the time. It always has before, but with each new story, I want it to be better than the last. That's what can be hard. Believing I can write a better story than the ones I've already written. But I will begin again and search out new people who have a new story to tell. I won't let the blank page intimidate me. At least, not too much.

Thanks so much for reading and if you're in the area, I hope you'll come to the Anderson County Public Library Sunday, July 15th, and enjoy celebrating a new book with me.  

The Gifted

The Gifted  was released today, July 1. That makes today a good day. July 1 is also my deadline for the book I'm currently writing. That makes today a pressure filled day. July 1 is also my granddaughter's birthday. That makes it a joyful day. Tonight, still July 1, was also a really hard night for me with Mom, so that made it a not so good day. My husband was singing at a church in a nearby town and the WV grandkids, who happened to be in that town due to the electricity being out because of the storms that went through their area, all went to hear him. I didn't get to go. I didn't get to see the kids. That made it a day I was feeling a little sorry for myself. All the same day but with such different ups and downs.

But a person should always concentrate on the bright side. The bright side is Jessamine is ready to share her story with readers. The bright side is that some people have already read The Gifted and I'm beginning to hear some reader remarks and see a few reviews. The bright side is that the first two reader reviews on Amazon had all the stars lit up. Here's what one of those readers said, "Full of rich detail about the lives of this reclusive religious group, it is fascinating reading for anyone curious about the Shakers, or anyone who is a fan of reading about the Plain people, though not necessarily Amish." That was nice - another bright side.

The bright side is that I am almost finished with the new book even though I did spend extra hours at the nursing home and finally had to leave with Mom angry with me. Due to emergencies with a couple of other patients, they were slow to bring her medicine. She had gone to sleep and when they woke her she was in a wrong mood. Refused her medicine. Refused to listen to me. Now I have to worry about how she's doing without that medicine. Sigh. 

It was just one of those nights when things didn't go smoothly. But I suppose I can be glad that the electricity didn't get knocked out by the storm. I can be glad for all the bright sides of this day, July 1. And I can be very glad that I have a new book available for readers. As soon as I get the new book off to my editor, I'll be sending out a newsletter with information about celebrating The Gifted with the chance for you to win some special gifts. A person needs to shine up the bright sides and celebrate the good things in life.

Thanks for reading and helping me shine up the bright sides of this day and every day. 

 

Shaker Book No. 5 Almost Here

June is almost here. That means July can't be far behind and that means - drum roll, please - a new Shaker book. The Gifted is scheduled for release on July 1. My fifth Shaker book is set in my Shaker village of Harmony Hill in 1849 with a whole new set of characters. I did carry over one character from The Believer. Sister Lettie. In The Believer, she served the community's medical needs. Her father had been a doctor and taught her much about healing and the use of herbs and potions. She plays a major role in The Believer. Much older now, she has more of a cameo appearance in The Gifted, but I think readers will enjoy spending a little time with her again.

I'm hoping readers will enjoy getting to know my new characters too. In each of my Shaker books, I've done my best to tell the stories of very different heroines. First there was Gabrielle Hope with her gift of knowing in The Outsider. She started it all with the Shaker books. Then in The Believer, Elizabeth Duncan simply wants a safe haven for her and her siblings. Southern belle Charlotte Vance was definitely not the average Shaker in The Seeker. And last summer Lacey Bishop got to tell her story with a generous supply of common sense in The Blessed.  

Now in The Gifted, I introduce Jessamine Brady, who is an engaging mix of innocence and curiosity. Tristan Cooper, on the other hand, has just returned from the Mexican War and is wearily looking toward the future his mother is insisting he must have. Then there's Sister Sophrena who does her best to see that Jessamine keeps following the Shaker way even when the girl's wondering about the world outside the Shaker village completely exasperates her. The storms of life will keep them all spinning just as much as the Shaker believers spin and whirl in their worship dances.  

A new book is exciting for me and I hope for my readers. An eBlast went out today with hopes that readers will order The Gifted at their favorite bookseller's website or ask for it at their favorite bookstore. Bookstore owners like to make their reading customers happy by getting them the books they want to read. I'm hoping The Gifted will be one you will want to read.

There will be more exciting events coming up in June. I'll be sending out a newsletter soon telling about my Celebration Giveaway for The Gifted. A new book is a fun reason to celebrate.

Thanks for reading. Remember tomorrow is the last day to throw your name in my May Giveaway hat. Then stay tuned for more fun.  
 

Editing The Gifted

What do you think of Jessamine here? I don't often let my heroines have blonde hair. Mostly I want them to have dark hair or auburn hair. It goes back to when I was a kid and everybody was always talking about how cute the blue-eyed, blonde girls were. Me, I wasn't blonde. Me, I had eyes that couldn't make up their mind if they were green or gray or, as my son told me once when he was very young, yellow. I preferred to think of them as having flecks of gold. :)

So when I started making up stories, my characters, especially the girls, weren't blonde. My heroines might be blue-eyed brunettes or redheads, but definitely not blondes. That is, until Jessamine. Jessamine is beautiful with hair like spun gold and eyes the color of cornflowers. But that's not the best thing about Jessamine. The best thing is her spirit.

I've been editing The Gifted all week. I don't mind editing. Well, maybe I should "edit" that a bit. I don't mind editing - I even like editing - when it's my idea. Actually, I've been blessed with wonderful editors at Revell for all my inspirational novels and I've not resisted their suggestions to make the stories better except once or twice. Even then, after sleeping on the editor's suggestions, I began to see the light - the editor's light. An editor simply wants to make the story the best it can be. That's what I want too, so I start editing. 

Most of the time, after thinking there's absolutely no way I can do whatever the editors want without having to rewrite the whole thing completely, I figure out a way to make the changes without that much angst. I usually end up agreeing that the editor was right. Sometimes that's almost like admitting your husband is right about something you've insisted he was wrong about for a week. Let's just say, it ain't always easy. 


I didn't have that trouble with these edits. They were fairly simple and I found myself writing "Okay" in a lot of the comment boxes to indicate whatever the editor suggested worked. My editors have nudged me toward being a better writer, more aware of the mistakes I often make while writing. Like that pet word I seem to always bring along to every new manuscript. It's gotten so that every time I type the word "just" or "still," I start hitting the delete key. You'll never believe what my pet word or I guess I should say words were in this book. "Of course." Of course, it was. I'm through with the edits but I'll have to do a search for those of courses. I caught a few, but my eyes must have slid right over the others. My sweet editor counted them for me. You know, this technology stuff is too handy at finding a writer's props and knocking them out from under her.

This is the last sneak peek I'm going to give of Jessamine until June. Got to think about Words Spoken True right now and I'm very excited about readers cracking open that book. Very excited! So excited that I'm coming up with a new celebration giveaway. I'll unveil the prizes soon. Before that, here's a giveaway just for those of you who read my blog. Leave a comment between now and when I receive copies of my new book in the next week or so, and one of you will win an autographed copy of Words Spoken True hot off the press. Each time you leave a new comment on a different post, your name will go in the drawing again. And if only one of you comments, then you know what? You'll have a pretty good chance of winning. 


Thanks for reading. It's always good to have you come by to walk with me down my meandering thinking lane. Hope you have a great week.

Thanks

Looking Ahead to Writing Goals in 2012

"Never believe in mirrors or newspapers." (John Osborne - British playwright and producer 1929-1994)

Last Wednesday I looked back at 2011. I think it's good to take stock of where you've been but it's even better to look ahead to where you're going. A writer can hang onto the last story too long sometimes and not reach out for the new story. With writing, the thing is that it's usually at least a year before you get to actually see your story in book form. So by the time one story is all wrapped up in a great cover and ready to hit the stores for readers, then a productive writer has another story ready to start the publishing process. And some really productive writers have several stories ready to go. I read about one writer not long ago who has nine new books coming out in 2012. I can't even imagine doing all the editing, etc. that would be required on that many books in one year, much less write that many new books.

But I do have two books coming out in 2012. For me, that's a lot. First up is Words Spoken True. It releases February 1, and I'm thinking I might get a copy hot off the presses any time now. I read my first review of the book this week. RT Book Review Magazine gave it 4 stars and said "Gabhart’s ability to transport readers into the world of newspaper writing in the 1850’s is amazing. Her latest conveys the power of the written word, family secrets and the knowledge that the choices we want to make are not always the ones that happen in the end." 

I always feel a sigh of relief when the first review I see on a book is positive. That doesn't mean the next one will be, but at least somebody thought the story was okay. Now I have to wait to see what my readers think. I actually dedicated this book to my readers who have followed my story trail through my small town of Hollyhill to my Shaker village of Harmony Hill back to a little community called Rosey Corner and now to Louisville. I've so appreciated my readers who have been willing to give my different stories a chance.

 Some of you will be happy to know I am going back to Harmony Hill for another story. I'm actually doing edits on The Gifted right now. I wanted to come up with a different heroine for this Shaker book and I think I succeeded with Jessamine Brady. The book won't be out until July, but it, like Words Spoken True, is already available for pre-sale on some internet bookselling sites. 

So that's what's already in the pipeline for me in 2012. I've got those stories written. Words Spoken True is edited and ready. The Gifted will go through a couple of edits and then it'll be ready for readers too. That's the easy part of my writing road in 2012. But I want to write more stories so that I can look ahead to more books ready in 2013.

My writing road is sort of bumpy right now since I have to spend so many hours sitting with my mother. I am trying to work out a new writing schedule, but so far it hasn't been easy. It would be great if I could sit down in front of my computer and have the story flow like water out of a primed pump, but it's not usually that easy for me. But I keep writing and the story usually trickles out if I keep pumping hard enough. That's what I'm looking forward to in 2012. Pumping hard and keeping my fingers on the keyboard to write two new stories that will speak to my heart first and then perhaps to readers' hearts on down the road. 

What are you looking forward to in 2012? I hope you have some exciting things awaiting you and that you are pushing toward your  goals. Thanks for reading. I appreciate each and every one of you who reads my journal here and those of you who follow it every week. I always enjoy your comments too. Thanks so much. 

Judging a Book by the Cover

One of the most exciting parts of getting a book published is seeing the cover that the publisher's art department creates to represent your story. I really like the cover for my new book releasing in February. The girl looks like Adriane in the book and I love the city backdrop. The story is set in 1855 Louisville and I think the cover shows the historical setting well. What do you think?

Book covers have trends. For several years, the popular chick lit books all had feet or legs of the character model. Many historicals in the inspirational field showed the model in whatever pose but only from the shoulders down. No face. Some readers prefer that. They want to come up with the character's looks on their own and not be distracted by an actual photograph that might have a model who doesn't look the way they envision a character in the book. Lately a lot of books have had the head of one of the characters - sometimes both male and female characters - sort of super-imposed on the background. Then along came those books that hardly had pictures on them at all and only the title shown in a dramatic way. So many ways to make a book cover.

How that cover comes about is a question I get at a lot of the talks about writing that I do. People will ask who did I get to do the cover or did I do the cover. They are very curious about the process. Most publishers work hard to present a book with a great cover. That's because the cover is the first enticement to a reader when a book is there on the store shelf with dozens of other books. A great title helps too, and of course, many readers pick by the writer's name if they've read and liked previous books by her or him. But readers enjoy finding new writers, new books. That's when that first impression is so important. 

My current publisher, Revell Books, comes up with eye-catching covers that capture the spirit of the book. While I would have never thought of using the cover they did for Angel Sister, it was perfect. Lorena was plucked right out of the pages of my book and she has the perfect look on her face as she's looking up at her "angel sister." That cover attracted a lot of readers' eyes and I think encouraged some of them to give my story a try. By the way, I just got some good news that Angel Sister was picked as one of RT Book Reviews Top Inspirational Novels of 2011.  That has me smiling, but then every time somebody has told me they enjoyed reading my story about the Merritt family, I've been smiling. 

Then one last book cover. Everybody knows the Amish fiction is very popular with readers in the inspirational market right now. And those covers usually have a model wearing a bonnet of some sort. My Shaker books aren't a lot like the Amish fiction because the Shakers were quite a bit different from the Amish, but the Shaker girls on the covers attract the eyes of those who enjoy Amish fiction. I'm grateful that many of them have also enjoyed the Shaker stories. So here's my new cover for The Gifted that will be out next summer. A few sites have given a peek at the cover and it's out there on the internet bookselling sites, but this is the first time I've put it out for eyes to see. 

What do you think? Do you like the cover? Does a great cover make you pick up a book to read?

Problems, Procrastination, Patience, Persistence

Today was the day I had agreed to have my Shaker 5 novel finished. The Gifted was one of those stubborn books that got a little long winded and simply did not want to end. The characters must have been having too much fun and didn't want me to quit on their story. At times in July and June, I felt like this was the summer I was missing. At least it was summer in my book. So I got to enjoy the nice weather with my characters. 

But I did finish it. I even managed to get some editing done. Would have liked to have passed through it once more to do a little more word weeding, but I did weed out some of the worst bits of overwriting. And I'll get a chance to do more. 

It could have been that I might not have been in this deadline crunch if I hadn't done some procrastinating to get started on it back last November. On Sunday I was privileged to go visit the Connections Bookstore in Trinity World Outreach Center in Louisville. That's me and my friend, Betty Owens in the photo with my books set up for the readers in her church to check out. But in between my time in the bookstore, I went to their church service. Guess what the preacher focused his message on. You got it - procrastination. Sometimes the Lord just sets you down where you need to be. 

But these last few weeks I haven't been procrastinating. I've been working with great persistence. And I was determined to get my book sent in to my editor before the end of her work day. I was sitting with Mom today as I have most days this summer, but she knew I had to work and she was napping a lot. I was reading and cutting words and reading and fixing awkward phrasing as fast as I could. Then with the end in sight, a storm blew up. A major thunderstorm. The lights flickered. The lights went out. Oh well, that was okay. My laptop battery was charged up. I kept working. My laptop battery began to lose power. The electric power didn't come back on in the house. My laptop battery died. My sister shows up at Mom's. I rush home. We have electricity. Yay! Jubilation premature. We're in internet doghouse - a state those of us who depend on satellite access with limited download allowances suffer on a regular basis. At our house, we usually suffer it when the grandson has been playing video games. Not this time. Husband must have downloaded something. Paid my get out of the doghouse fee and finally got to hit the send button. Persistence and patience defeated problems. 

My problems today were not big problems - just minor obstacles in the way of what I wanted to get done. But sometimes we have major obstacles and boulders of troubles or discouragement that get in our way. So here's a quote for those times. 


"Defeat may test you; it need not stop you. If at first you don't succeed, try another way. For every obstacle there is a solution. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. The greatest mistake is giving up.""  (Author unknown)

May you find a solution to your every obstacle. Thanks for reading.

Happiness is Another Book

"It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about." (Dale Carnegie) 

Happiness for me today is thinking about another book written. Another story told - difficult though it was to pry out of my head and onto my computer screen. 

A fellow writer in an e-mail posting today said he didn't think there was anything magical about writing a story. Perhaps not for him, but it feels a little magical to me each time I write "the end" and then start to read to see if I got the story told. I did that this week. Read my new Shaker story, The Gifted, with some trepidation since a lot of its story words had been difficult to summon out of the murky depths of my storytelling well. But the story is there. The one I wanted to tell. The one my characters lived for me in my imagination. 

So happiness is a story told. A blessing received. The first reader liked the story. That's always me - that first reader I have to please. Stephen King in his book On Writing says you should write for one reader. For him, that is his wife. But for me, well, it's me. Of course a writer can be deluded and fooled by her own words. Most writers do have critique partners and first readers other than themselves. But as that Frank Sinatra song says, I did it my way. That's the only way I can. And the story has to speak to me first. 

Now I have to finish it up, cut and polish my words in hopes that my next readers will think I've found the right story and told it in the best way I can. I need to trim away some more of those words I had such difficulty coming up with in the first place. But sometimes you just have to spill the whole bucket of words even when you only need half or three quarters of the bucket. Then you have to mop up.

On my Facebook page this week we've been talking about the University of Maryland research that found reading a book made people happier than watching t.v. I don't know if that's true of not. I think surveys can prove just about anything at times and today it could be books making people happy and tomorrow t.v. or Facebook. But reading makes me happy. And reading my book after writing the end and finding the story actually is there the way I doubted through the last hundred pages or so, now that's happiness. 

Does reading make you happy? On FB a lot of readers have shared the books that make them happy. What a gift to me that some of them mentioned my books. Hope you are finding happiness in your thoughts today.