The Beauty of Nature

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." --Rachel Carson

What a great time of the year to feast on the beauty of the world around us! I'm enjoying the sunshine and the crisp autumn air. It makes for some great walking weather. And I like bringing some of the beauty of nature home with me. In the spring and summer I pick a few wildflower blooms - if the plants are plentiful - to put in a vase on my desk. In the fall, I like bringing home a colorful leaf or two to brighten up my office. I like taking nature pictures and I'm thankful for a digital camera that lets me snap to my heart's content without having to think about wasting film.

But sometimes the very best way to bring home the beauty is in your memory. When I first started walking in the woods as a young teen, I remember stopping and taking mental pictures of different trees or creeks or beautiful places so that I would always have them in my memory bank. I'd read a story about a man who was a prisoner of war and had kept his sanity by building a house in his mind, imagining each board and each nail as he put the house together. When he got home, he built that house. Now it may seem a stretch from that to taking mental pictures of a beautiful oak tree flaming in the sun, but I was an impressionable youngster with an imagination that sometimes took me down dreary lanes of what ifs. I planned to store up my beauty images in case I someday found myself deprived of the opportunity to view beauty.

Thank goodness those dreary what ifs haven't happened. I've lived a blessed life, but I still have those images of beauty in my memory bank and I've added lots more. And not just nature shots, but personal images as well. The first sight of my babies. The first time I saw my husband to be. My daughter singing in a Junior Miss contest. My son receiving a scholarship. My other son telling me he was engaged. So many images of the joy of life and some of the sadness too with the nature ones intermingled to keep me grounded.

I like using nature in my books. In my first published book I used the fleeting shadow of a bird passing over the character to hint at trouble coming. In my Hollyhill books, I had locust blooms and lilacs, a tornado and a snowstorm that were important to the story lines. In The Outsider the weather was a major obstacle to the men fighting in the War of 1812. I didn't make that weather up. It was in the history accounts, but my characters had to deal with the heat and then the bitter cold and snow. In The Believer I have Hannah who loves the woods. At the book club I visited last week, some of the readers said that Hannah was one of their favorite characters. So maybe all those mental images I've been snapping of this or that nature scene are coming in handy after all. A writer has to use what she's given along with what she can imagine.

The Kentucky Book Fair is this Saturday. Come by and see me if you're there. I'm in the back row sitting at the same table as Jan Watson. We both love talking to readers. Of course those 200 other writers do, too. So if you come, plan to spend a couple of hours enjoying books. I'll be on a panel called "Fiction Writers Unite!" with Jan and Karen Robards and Mary Ann Taylor-Hall at 12:30 p.m. That should be fun. Last but not least, keep me in your thoughts and prayers on Friday morning as I'm going to be talking to three classes of high school kids. I'm looking forward to their questions. That's always my favorite part of any talk I do about writing. I'll try to remember their most interesting questions to share with you next week.

--Hope you have plenty of beauty in your lives this week.

Cookies and Kool Aid

We're still going strong at Bible School. At least the kids are. They can get a lot more mileage out of those cookies and Kool Aid than us older folks can. I usually teach the teenagers, but this year the teens must have had other things going and nobody showed up for my class. So I've been helping with the Beginners. That's ages two to five. Very challenging when a couple of them keep crying for their mamas and daddies. I think those two aren't really ready for Bible School, but the pastor's wife and I are giving it our best try. And without the cookies and popcorn I don't know if we'd make it.

But I really do love Bible School and getting to know the kids better and hearing what they tell you. In one class the teacher was impressing on the children how they could pray and God would always be listening. This little girl pipes up and says, "I prayed I wouldn't have to stay at the babysitter's and I did. I don't think He was listening that day." That makes us smile, but you know a lot of us might have felt something the same at this or that time. But as Br. Fred often says, there are more than one way for the Lord to answer our prayers. There's yes. There's no. There's wait. There's not yet. There's trust Me. The Lord sees the whole picture and we sometimes only see the part right in front of our eyes.

Just take my Shaker book, The Outsider. I came up with the original idea over thirty years ago. Wrote the book. Had it rejected over and over as too religious. Got a really nice letter from Harlequins, but it was still a thanks, but no thanks letter. Then all these years later I dug it out of my closet, rewrote it for the inspirational market and Revell published it. Best of all readers read it. So maybe the answer that I thought was no way back then was really wait. Not yet. This story's time will come.

The Believer didn't have such a wait time. Now I can only hope the time is right for Elizabeth's and Ethan's story. I think you're going to like them as characters and that you will like reading their story. Some of you have already pre-ordered the book and I certainly appreciate that. In fact so many people did that when I called Baker Books to order more copies for myself, they didn't have any. I couldn't complain about that although I did ask the lady I was talking to if they'd printed any copies. She assured me they had and that they would be printing some more. That was good news.

And thank goodness, she did some switching around and found some copies for me. It might not be good to try a book event or signing without books. I'm planning a local book event at the Anderson County Library on Saturday afternoon, August 22. I'll have door prizes and other fun things that day. But first I'll be having the book's coming out party at Shaker Village in Mercer County this coming Saturday morning. I'm looking forward to that. There will be a traditional Shaker breakfast. Well, the food anyway will be traditional. We'll be breaking their traditions by talking. The Shakers didn't allow talking during meals in what they called their "biting rooms." That would be difficult for me this Saturday morning. I plan to do some talking and sharing with my friends. If you can't be there, I'll let you know how things went on Sunday.

Hope you have some fun things planned for this weekend. Summer is zooming past. They're starting school here week after next. Seems way too early. Kids are supposed to go swimming in August. Not go back to school.

The Dancing Room

Another Sunday. Another day to enjoy life. I had a lot of life to enjoy around here on Saturday with both sets of grandbabies (nine of them, but sometimes it seems like a dozen or more) here to give the new room a test run. Since I don't have any new furniture and only an entertainment center and side table and rocking chair out there, there was plenty of room for the grandkids to play. I sort of like the wide open spaces and they liked playing on that new hardwood floor. It looks great. And it looked even better with circles of grandkids playing with each other on it. Katie, my three and a half year old granddaughter, told me she wanted to go out and play in the "dancing room."

Maybe that's what Darrell and I should do tonight to celebrate his birthday. Dance in our new "dancing" room. Only trouble is neither one of us is much of a dancer. Even as a teenager when the twist and such dances were all the craze, I never had the nerve to actually try doing any of them anywhere except in the privacy of my own room. Too self-conscious at the time. Too awkward now. So we'll probably just celebrate without fanfare by thinking about how cute all our grandkids are while enjoying the peace and quiet now that they've gone home. I used to always make him a pecan pie, but now he's continually on some kind of diet. So it's not fair to cook something to tempt him off it. Guess I can wash some celery sticks for him. Or make him something sugar-free. Won't be good, but I could make it.

Anyway with my WV son and his family here Thursday to leave the twin boys and go on to Kings Island on Friday and my close-by son and his family coming over on Saturday to help celebrate Dad's birthday early, I ran out of writing time to find those elusive two words. I told everybody I was just going to say they (my characters) rode off into the sunset and lived happily ever after. The reader won't know how they got up on those horses to ride off or even when the sun started going down, but the story will be finished. Then my younger son said he hated books where it seemed like the writer did just that. Just ended without letting the reader in on what happened. But then he also said he hated just as much the writer who wrote an extra fifty pages after the characters should have ridden off into the sunset. I really don't want to be guilty of either thing. I want to nail the ending. Make it perfect.

Some of you know Darrell is in a gospel quartet, The Patriot Quartet, and you know it's that ending on a Southern Gospel song that really packs an emotional punch for the listeners. If a group can nail the ending, then the audience will sit up and notice. So I'm thinking the ending of a book is some the same. It has to be done right. It has to be emotionally satisfying. It has to come at the right time and make the reader nod and say, yes, that's what happened. And that's what I'm trying to do. What I've been trying to do for at least a week. Get to that perfect ending and nail it.

I think I've nailed a few endings in my stories in the past. I liked the way Summer of Joy ended with Wes and Jocie talking since their relationship had been such a fun part of all the Hollyhill books. The Outsider had a very dramatic ending. The Believer has an emotional ending that I hope will be satisfying to readers. And that's what I'm trying to find with this new book, The Seeker. The right ending. Tomorrow for sure. Even if I have to stay up all night. And then I'll have to do some fast editing. Gee, how did May and June zoom by so fast? Don't you think we need to put some speed limits on these summer days?

Hope all your days are speeding by with happiness in every mile. Talk to you Wednesday.

Remembering Loved Ones

Hope all of you are having a great Memorial Day weekend as you dwell on happy memories of your loved ones who have passed on. Of course the day originated in the years after the Civil War to honor those soldiers who died during that war. Now we honor our soldiers who have given the supreme price for their country in all the wars since that time as well. And the day has expanded to include our loved ones whether they served as soldiers or not. It's time to decorate their graves if you can and remember good things about them and why you loved them. Sometimes I think it's more important to share stories about our loved ones, our grandmoms and pops, and moms and dads, with our younger generation so that we can all know about our roots and what has been important to our family.

A lot of the people in my family - grandparents and others - liked books. That passed on to me for sure. When I was a kid, books were my friends. And they still are. I was at a book event on Saturday. It was a reading celebration for the Estill County schools and there were so many kids there. It was great! One young girl and her mother stopped by my table. The girl was looking at my book, The Outsider, and her mom turned to me and asked, "Have you read this book?" Well, I guess. Only about two dozen times. When she realized I was the author we both had a good laugh and she did decide to let the girl take the book home with her. I'm hoping she won't be disappointed with the story.

I always hope that and worry about that. I want readers to be glad they picked up my books. Anyway we had a good time in Estill County. It was like being at a giant fall festival only all the games and activities centered around books. That's my kind of festival.

I've had company the last couple of days. Four of the grandkids were here, but of course baby Raegan at five weeks old is too little to make much noise yet. The other kids had fun in the big empty almost built room. It echoes nicely and that made them a little noisy but happy. My grandson, Austin, caught two salamanders and a tadpole out of the pond, so that made him happy. My granddaughters got to play with their Uncle Gary and the dogs so that made them happy. My daughter is as beautiful as ever and she got to eat fresh strawberries straight out of the patch. That made her happy. I cooked and cooked, but at least the fridge is full of leftovers. That will make Darrell happy. And me too, if I can skip a couple of days cooking stuff. I got to see my family, play with my grandkids and hold the new little one. That made me happy. And blessed. It's fun taking time to count some everyday blessings of life.

Hope you are being blessed on every side this weekend and through the week ahead. Enjoy!

Texas Here I Come

Hi everybody. Tomorrow's the big day. I'm getting on that airplane and flying to Texas. I've already asked my church family for prayers for the airplane and the pilot. I'm n-n-not really a n-n-n-ervous flyer. Honest. I mean I've already been on two airplane trips. That makes me practically an experienced traveler, doesn't it? But prayers always help. No matter how you're traveling or what you're doing. I don't think there's a greater gift you can give a person than to say a prayer for them. And you've always heard it's more blessed to give than receive, so here's your chance to be blessed and my chance and that pilot's chance to be blessed by your prayers.

I am excited about being at the Christian Book Expo. This is something I've never done before. I've been to book fairs and such, but never to a big event celebrating writers and books. I can't wait to meet all those famous writers that up until now have merely been names on books. Max Lucado is one of them. If any of you want to read a devotional book that helps you feel as if you're basking in the love of the Lord, try one of his. No frowns in his books as he encourages us to live the Lord's way. I'll have to buy something from him to get his autograph if he's signing books at the Expo. Of course the line will probably be two miles long, so I might not be willing to wait that long. As for when I sign my book, I'm just hoping there will be somebody, anybody in line.

I did get some good news about The Outsider. I guess I should say additional good news since the Book Award nomination was definitely already good news. Anyway, The Outsider is number thirteen on the CBA (Christian Book Association) Fiction Bestseller list for April. Reader response to that story just keeps astounding me.

How do you like my picture here on the blog? That's the same one the CBE lifted off my website to post on their website alongside all the professional photos. One of my Sunday School kids took the snapshot of me when we were hiking down at Panther Rock. Me and the kids always have a great time down at the creek, so if I look like I'm having fun, then that's because I was. Plus it looks as if I had somehow managed to stay away from all the splashing - at least up until then.

Susie, my webmaster, has been helping me with posting pictures and my book cover on the blog since my dial up connection usually times out before I can get the process figured out. Or maybe it's my brain that times out.

Hope that doesn't happen in Texas. I'll be sure to let you know how things come out when I get home this weekend. And thanks for the blessing of those prayers.

What an Honor!

I'm still excited and honored and blessed to know my book, The Outsider, is one of five finalists announced last week by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association for the 2009 Christian Book Award in Fiction. Since 1978 the Christian Book Awarde has honored titles in six categories: Bibles, Bible Reference and Study, Christian Life, Fiction, Children & Youth, and Inspirational & Gift. I'm overwhelmed that my book was picked for a fiction finalist. I'm going to Dallas, Texas in March to be there when they announce the winners at the Awards Banquet that is a ticketed event open to the public for the first time ever. I feel as if I'm a winner already just by being in the five finalists along with Riven by Jerry B. Jenkins, Home Another Way by Christa Parrish, Less than Dead by Tim Downs, The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner. What great company to be among!

And I know you're excited for me too. I'm going to meet so many well-known Christian authors I know I'll be big-eyed with wonder. Hope I'll know how to act. Of course with me I just have to be myself. That's how the Lord made me and while He probably shakes His head sometimes about the mistakes I make, He always tells me to get up off my duff and give it another try. That's all any off us can do after we flub up. Try again and hope we learned from our mistakes. Not that I expect to flub up in Dallas. I've discovered that most writers are friendly and fun to talk to - famous or not.

Talk about flubbing up. I've made about a zillion typing errors doing this blog entry. You'd laugh if you could see me. I'm in WV babysitting my sweet grandbaby boys and using my granddaughter's laptop to get on line. A keyboard gremlin has to have been hold of her keyboard (or maybe her little sisters) but nine of the key covers are missing and it's a challenge to type without them. Plus I'm trying to keep the babies happy. Two are twice as sweet and twice as much love, but two are also twice as much crying. I thought I'd be able to do some research reading while I was here, but forget that. One of them wants Grandma to hold them all the time. They're five and a half months old and really very good, but all babies cry and need holding. Two twice as much. Speaking of which, Matt says he's hungry. Now, Grandma!

Talk to you Wednesday.

A Chair in the Sun

We're having a sunny Sunday today and that's very welcome after last week when winter came to visit. We even had snow on the ground one night. It's still chilly, but the sun feels fantastic. As humans, I think we're wired to need the sunshine. I know we need the rain and maybe if it was sunny all the time, we'd miss the gray skies. Maybe. But sunshine puts a spring in our step and a smile on our faces. It makes some of us want to get outside and clean something while others want to go fishing. Me - well, in spite of being a dog person, I get to thinking sort of like a cat when I see a chair beside a sunny window. I immediately want to curl up in that warm spot with a good book and spend an hour or so reading before the sun shifts to another window.

Not that I ever have the time to actually do that. I need to learn to be a better manager of my time. But with Christmas weeks away, I know every minute will be scheduled and I'll be rushing to get everything done the way I always do this time of the year. Plus I went to the library Friday and got a whole stack of history books to help me figure out what was happening in the time period I've picked for my next Shaker book. So maybe I should be curling up in that chair with a history book, but if the history wasn't riveting, I'd probably just doze off in that warm sunshine. Guess I'll just keep typing here instead.


Some fun news. My new Shaker book The Believer is out on Amazon.com and other internet sites for pre-sale. Not that I think anyone will be buying it this soon, but if you're interested you can go out there and check out the cover and some info on the story. I'll be posting the cover on my website sometime soon, but I haven't yet. I do like the cover with the Shaker buildings in the background and the stormy sky. I especially like the guy. He's a good Ethan and Ethan is the Believer in the story. The Outsider was released August 1 this year and looks as if The Believer will follow suit in 2009. By then I should have my next and perhaps last Shaker book finished and off to the publishers. I will if I meet my deadline. So I'd better get at those history books.


We had a great day at Goshen today. Br. Fred preached on Psalm 107 "O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good." He told us about a word in that first verse. A Hebrew word 'hesedth' that is translated in many Bibles as 'lovingkindness.' He says there isn't any good way to translate it word for word into our language but that the closest you might come is a combination of all the good greeting words in the world wrapped together. All the blessings and goodwill anybody might want to wish to you and it's all coming from the Lord. Hesedth. May you be wrapped in that loving kindness this week as you pause in your busy schedules to seek out that spot in the sunshine of the Lord's love to warm your spirit and count your blessings.

You are one of the blessings I will be counting this week. Thanks for reading.

Back from the Smokies

Got home from our trip to the Smokies with the Gabhart side of the family - the brothers and sisters. We had a beautiful cabin up on the side of a mountain and a great time talking and catching up on all our family news. When Darrell's mom died a few years ago, we decided to make a special effort to keep our family close. We didn't want to neglect getting together until the only time we were seeing one another was at Christmas or even worse, a funeral home. That sounds like an awful thing to write, but it's sometimes too true that we don't take time to visit with those we love and have grown up with and those who share our personal history until we gather for a family funeral.

So this week we all took time out of our busy schedules and spent a few days together, playing cards and enjoying some great meals and even better talk. We always tell stories about what happened in the past and even when we've heard them a dozen times, we keep laughing. And it's good to remember Darrell's mom and dad who have passed on and his grandparents, too. His granddad on his mother's side of the family was part Cherokee and also a natural storyteller. He passed some of that talent down to Darrell and his brothers.

The weather in the mountains was chilly but the sun was shining and we had great views of the trees. We went over to Cades Cove and saw lots of wildlife including three bears and a coyote. We also saw lots of traffic, but I suppose that's to be expected this time of the year when everybody is wanting to see some fall colors.

On the way home we stopped at a few book stores where I talked with the clerks and store managers. Debbie at the Family Christian Bookstore in Seiverville was very welcoming and let me sign copies of The Outsider for her customers. Maybe next time I'm down that way we can work out a booksigning date. It's a great store with books and more books. I finally had to just close my eyes and leave before I loaded the van down. I love buying books. Then we stopped at the Sonshine Bookstore in Corbin. They didn't have my book, but when I introduced myself, the guy at the counter, Dwayne, was actually ordering new fiction books out of the Baker Books catalogue. What a coincidence! There was my book listed right in front of him. So he ordered some copies of The Outsider, Summer of Joy,and Orchard of Hope.

No wise sayings tonight. I think we stayed up playing Canasta and Rook too late every night for me to think of anything wise. Except to say hope you enjoy your family as much as I enjoy mine. They may all be family by marriage, but they are definitely family.

Talk to you this weekend. I'll let you know who won my website book give-away. And tell you about where I'll be having my next booksignings in South Carolina.

A Writer Needs to Feed Her Imagination

I talked to a fun bookclub on Monday night by phone. I'm not great at hearing on speaker phones, but I could tell those ladies of the South Zumbra Church Book Club were having a good time. And not just because they were talking to me although I'm sure that put a little extra zing in the meeting - getting to quiz the author of the book they'd read. Actually they picked my book to read because the mother of the beautiful model on the cover is a member of the club and she picked the book. I told her one thing for sure - they couldn't knock the cover. It's perfect for the story. I asked them how they picked their books and they had a dozen different ways. They'd just read Gone with the Wind not long ago and I thought that sounded like a great idea. To revisit some old favorite books. I read Gone with the Wind in one long Thanksgiving weekend when I was 13 or 14.

Is there any better way to read a book than to just lie down on your bed or sit in your favorite reading chair and wallow in the words until you've read every last one? I can't do that very often these days. Too many chores and responsibilities and books of my own I want to write. But I do think it's vital for a writer to read. That's the advice I always give young people, but you know it's good advice for any writer. I've been reading Stephen King's book On Writing. He says nobody can be a good writer without being a voracious reader. He carries a book everywhere he goes and reads in minutes snatched out of a busy schedule. I need to do that. Steal a moment here and there to read more books. A writer needs to feed her imagination and what better way than to read and read some more. Reading brings new ideas your way, and King made the point that all the books don't have to be great. That reading a bad book can bolster your confidence. That nearly every aspiring writer has at one time or another read a book and said "I can write a better book than that." And then he adds that reading a really great book can inspire us to think I want to write a book that good. So it's a no lose situation.

Of course I have to admit I don't stick it out through a book I think is really bad. I close it up and find another one. There are just too many books out there to wade through a book I'm not enjoying. Unless of course it's a research book, then I wade on in. So just a thought or two on reading. What do you think? Do you think you have to read to become a better writer? Do you ever give up on a book and start another one?

Okay here are the quotes I promised last Wednesday.

"You know you're old when you've lost all your marvels." --Merry Browne (Could she have any better first name for that quote? And I don't want to ever lose all my marvels.)

"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." --Beverly Sills

I hope you are going to lots of places worth going and that even if you can't take any shortcuts that you will enjoy the road and discover plenty of marvels along the way.

One last note - I'll be up in New Albany, Indiana for a booksigning at the Heaven Help Us Bookstore on Saturday between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. If you're in the area, come on over and say hi. They're celebrating five years of serving the Christian community in that area.

Oh yeah - another really last note - If you want a chance to win my book, The Outsider, go visit Rose McCauley's blog, http://www.rosemccauley.blogspot.com. She does a book give-away every month and this month it's mine. What better way to get a book than free!!

Characters and the Things They Do

Hi everybody. I'm a little early this weekend, but Sunday promises to be busy. Besides catching up my blog is a good excuse not to be peeling apples the way I should be doing. That wind last weekend blew bushels off my trees. I sneaked over to my neighbor's house and left a box full on her porch. I'm thinking about finding somebody else to give another bushel to. Then I can get back to figuring out how I'm going to get the rest of them picked and canned or given away. They're nice apples and we've been eating them fast as we can. Us and the deer. My mama deer has started to feel so at home out in my yard now that she just looks irritated if I come outside before she's through eating. She'll run away if I insist, but she doesn't really want to. That bodes ill for her when hunting season starts. Not from me, but from some hunter in the area.

But in spite of the deer's appetite - and my dog, Dub, eats them too - there are still a lot of apples left. I'm hoping no more near hurricane force winds come along to knock them off before I can get some of them picked.

I talked to a bookclub in Washington state last night. They were just getting started with their bookclub and were having their second meeting. I have always wanted to be part of a bookclub, but now I'm not sure I'd have time to get the books read before the meetings. Still what could be more fun than reading a book and then talking about it with other readers? My sisters and Mom and I do that sometimes. We don't always agree on which books are best, but it's fun talking about the different ones we read. My oldest sister has been keeping a list of the books she's read for years. I started doing that a few years ago, but I wish I had done it forever the way she has just so I could keep up with what I've read. Lately I haven't read enough fiction. A lot of history, but not so much fiction for the fun of it.

Stephen King says if you don't read, you shouldn't try to write. And I can't argue with that. I tell the young wanna-be writers I meet that the best thing they can do to prepare themselves to write is read. I don't think they believe me, but I know it was true for me. I'm thankful for the years when I was a teen and had extra reading time to let the words of other writers bury themselves in my brain while I absorbed how they managed to put together those words to make a story that entranced me. I am going to carve out more reading time somehow. I need those fresh words of other writers to keep my own writing fresh.

What I'm really wanting to write about tonight is one of the questions a bookclub member asked me last night. She wanted to know why one of the characters in my book, The Outsider, had done what she did. Why I let what happened to the character happen. That's a good question. I'm sure if you've read very many books, you've read a story where the character did something you didn't like. I certainly have. I've read books where I wanted to tear out the last chapter because I wanted a different ending. But as long as the author can make me believe that yes, that is what happened whether I like it or not, I'm okay with it. And that's what I try to do with my stories. The Outsider is set in 1812. Life was different then. Fevers were deadly. Women had few options for independent living. Most religions had strict moral codes. War was as much a struggle against the elements as against the enemy. I wanted to keep my characters within the history of the era.

But the real truth of why any of my characters do whatever they do is because that's just what they do. When I'm writing, the characters' lives unfold in my mind. At times I point them in this or that direction, but once I get them going along my story road, sometimes I'm simply along for the ride. I might have a general idea of where they're headed. Especially my historical books like The Outsider where I must fit my story into a history timeline. But I didn't have that with my Hollyhill books. Story ideas developed through Jocie and the other characters as I wrote. I didn't plan Wes saying he was from Jupiter until he said so. I didn't plan Aunt Love's story until I was writing it. So far my characters have come to life enough in my head that I've been able to do that. That's not to say I don't do a little guiding as I go along to keep from getting completely off track with my story. I suppose it's a delicate balance letting your characters tell you their stories and letting them take over your story. And you know, after I wrote that sentence, I'm not sure which way is best. What do you think?

Of course, every writer has his or her own method and way to write. What works for one might not work for another. And if I had wanted to, I could have told Wes that saying he was from Jupiter was just too crazy, but the story wouldn't have been as much fun and you wouldn't have gotten to know Wes nearly as well if I'd done that. And what happens in The Outsider fits the time and the history and the characters. I hope I was able to make any of you who may have read it believe that. That's the real trick - to make up a story that readers believe.

I'm available to talk to bookclubs anytime, so if you pick one of my books to read and would like me to give your club a call during your meeting, just contact me from my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/.

Hope you have a great Sunday. I might tell another Quartet Convention story on Wednesday.

Meeting People and Hearing Stories at the NQC

What a week! We were at the National Quartet Convention every night and didn't get home until the wee hours of the morning. I'm barely awake now, so hope what I'm writing is making sense. I didn't hear much singing since we stayed out in the Exhibition Hall all week at the Patriot Quartet's booth so we could meet and greet people. Thanks to all of you who came by to say hello and maybe take some music or reading material home with you. It was extra nice of those of you who bought my books to give to someone on your gift list. I love getting books for Christmas or for my birthday which just happens to be tomorrow. I'm getting older very soon. But one of the guys who came by the booth had some advice for me. He said a little old lady (no, I don't think he was talking about me!!) came up to him and looked way up at him since he's so tall. She poked him in the chest and told him age was mind over matter. That if you didn't mind, it didn't matter. So guess I'll try to be in that camp.

Actually ever since I lost my sister-in-law in a traffic accident twenty-seven years ago, I've welcomed with celebration every birthday I have. Because I know Joy would have liked to have had a lot more birthdays. She was the mother of three girls and nine months pregnant with a little boy when the back gate flew off a cattle trailer, hit a pickup truck and killed that man whose wife was also expecting a baby and then that truck hit the truck Joy was riding in head on. Joy's friend, who was driving her to the doctor, wasn't hurt, but Joy and her baby died. This happened on September 12, three days before my birthday. All this time later, it still colors my birthday with sadness. We never forget those we love. We carry them forever in our heart and our memories. And ever since I've buckled my seatbelt every time I get in a car.

I hadn't planned to write about Joy tonight, but as I said, I always remember her in a special way at this time of the year. She had so much fun. Loved to laugh and loved babies and was a heck of a softball player.

Back to the NQC, I'm going to be sharing some stories from the people who came by to talk to me last week. One guy had a remarkable story that I will probably tell you next Sunday or maybe on Wednesday. It will give you goosebumps and maybe make tears come to your eyes. But I need to think about it before I write it down so that I can tell it in the best way possible.

I really enjoy meeting people at the NQC because they come from all over to hear the singing. I talked to lots of people from Ohio and Illinois and quite a few Canadians. I talked to Gospel music fans from California, Tennesee, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Wisconsin, and even Maine. The Maine lady said she lived about as far to the northeast as you could get. A 17 hour drive. She was a minister and she and her husband were taking a trip to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. There were also people from North and South Carolina, Louisiana, a lot from Texas. They were worried about Ike flooding their homes. And of course, Kentucky. I've probably missed a few states. So if you talked to me and I left your state out, let me know. And some of you had already read or had bought my new book, The Outsider to read. That was really exciting for me. Then you were kind enough to come back and buy some more books. I hope all of you who did buy books enjoy the stories. And that the rest of you will think about getting my books later on to give them a try.

Last night when I got home at midnight, I had to do a little cooking for our family reunion today. How come everything always has to happen on the same weekend? We had a good turnout, but we missed my aunt Margaret who passed away last month. She always enjoyed being with us and sharing her memories at our reunions. She hosted it nearly every year when we first started having the reunion twenty some years ago. She always ordered up perfect weather when we were at her house. Every time I have it, it's either 95 degrees in the shade or raining. Today my sister was the hostess. It didn't rain, but Ike sent us such gusty winds, we had to hang onto our plates. That chicken from Kroger was trying to take wing again. But we had fun looking at old pictures and playing some corn hole games. I didn't win.

Hope you have a loving family and that you enjoy getting together with them on a regular basis. I am blessed with a beautiful family and with all of you friends out there.

Talk to you Wednesday.

Creating Characters with my Friends

Hi, everybody. Well, I had my book event at the local library today and some friends and family were sweet enough to show up and listen to me talk about my writing and how I come up with characters. That was sort of a warm-up for my talk in West Virginia in October when I'm speaking on "Writing about Shakers ... and Other Odd Characters." I think I'll need to do some more practicing before then.

I did enjoy the talk today. I used to be painfully shy when I was a child, but I outgrew it. Now I love to talk to people one on one and I like to speak. I still sometimes get a few butterflies, but then I just go out and have fun sharing about my writing and trying to get a chuckle out of my listeners now and again. I can understand why stand-up comedians stay in the business. It's fun being able to make people laugh.

Of course the people at my event today were friends who looked kindly upon me and I knew they weren't going to boo and hiss no matter what I said. My favorite part of any talk is the question and answer time. I used to go to a lot of schools and the kids would come up with the most fun questions. Adults sometimes have to be jump started to get them to ask questions. But today we got started talking about the Shakers. I think some of the people listening probably knew more of the history than I did. So that's when I shut up and listened. That's the best way to learn new things.

After I talked we did a fun exercise of creating a character together by brainstorming a bit. It wasn't long before we had a young woman named Peggy (nickname for Margaret - somebody explain to me how that makes sense) who was 25 in 1941 and her fiance had gone to France in WW II and been killed. She had red hair and was Irish American. Her parents came over from Ireland and settled in New York where she was born, but then they moved to Tyrone here in Anderson County. Some wanted her to be expecting. Others thought that was going too far for 1941. And so we were able to see how all of us could have taken the same 25 year old woman named Peggy and come up with a totally different person who could live a totally different story. As I tell people who tell me they have a wonderful idea for this or that story. It's not the idea so much. Although having a good idea is great. But it's how the writer develops the idea.

I read once that there are only about ten original plot lines. Don't ask me what they are. I don't think anybody wants to tell!!! But that writers have used those basic plot lines in thousands and thousands of ways to write entertaining and different stories. So maybe someday I'll write a story about Peggy. Of course I might have to change her age and where she lived and even her name. I never liked the name Peggy that much and my characters, at least the main characters have to have a name I can like. But I do plan to write a book about WW II after I finish my Shaker books.

The work on my new Shaker book is progressing. But next week won't see much working time for me. It's National Quartet Convention time in Louisville, Kentucky, and the Patriot Quartet have a booth there in the exhibition hall. It's fun meeting all the other singers and gospel music lovers, but it doesn't leave much time for home stuff. So if you come to the Quartet Convention come by and say hi.

And oh yeah, I went out surfing on the net to see what was happening with my book, The Outsider, and came across a bestseller list for Christian fiction. What do you know - my book was on the list! It was number 20 out of 20, but it was still on the list. That was neat. I've never been on any kind of bestseller list before, at least to my knowledge. And half the credit surely goes to the beautiful girl on the cover. Even if you haven't read the book yet, you can take my word for it that she is just the perfect Gabrielle. It's a very eye-catching cover. Now if I could just get my local Wal-Mart or Kroger store to stock some of the books. That's the closest thing we have to a bookstore around here.

Still it's not very far to Frankfort where the great people at Corinth Christian Bookstore carry my books and are very supportive. Plus they have a beautiful store and bend over backwards to help people find what they need. Hope you have a great Christian bookstore near you. There's just something different about walking into a store where everything inside has something to do with the Lord. It's not exactly like being in church, but it's not far from it.

A special thanks to everybody who has entered my book giveaway so far and who have said they enjoyed my newsletter. If you would like to add your name to my e-mail list for an occasional newsletter - say every two or three months - just go my website and send me an e-mail. That's how you can enter my contest too. I'll be drawing for the winner of a complete autographed set of my Hollyhill books, The Scent of Lilacs, Orchard of Hope and Summer of Joy.

Last of all, but certainly not least, I've enjoyed hearing from you after you got the newsletter and also the comments people have posted here. That's the best thing about doing a newsletter is hearing from some of my friends.

May your cup so overflow with blessings this week that you end up drinking from your saucer of life. With joy.

The Frog Takes a Hayride

I just got home from my grandson's birthday party. He'll be nine tomorrow and he had a fishing party. I don't fish, but it's fun watching the grandkids fish. Austin - that's my grandson - he hooked a big one, but it broke his line and got away. After that he lost interest and began hunting other game. And soon he was the proud possessor of a nice green frog. He wasn't a bit worried about getting warts. No, wait - that's toad frogs. This was a regular pond frog who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He ended up in a plastic cup with a little water to keep him hydrated and an occasional fly when the kids were able to catch one. He wasn't a particularly happy frog although he did eat the flies. We went on a hayride from the fishing pond to a picnic spot some three or four miles away. The frog went too. The frog made it through the hotdog roasting, but then somebody uncovered the plastic glass and the frog made a mighty hop and landed on one of the great aunt's chest. We weren't sure who was the most startled, the frog or the aunt. It must have been the frog because from there he made another mighty leap right into the hotdog roasting fire. He didn't stay there long. That's for sure. He hopped right out of there and ended up back in my grandson's hands. The frog was liberated eventually to a stream that was running alongside the picnic spot. One thing sure, not every frog can be so well traveled or have stories to tell about the time it jumped out of the drinking cup and into the fire.

Not much else is going on in the neighborhood this week. I'm still editing my new book. Changing a word here and there and then sometimes going back and changing it back the way it was to begin with. Thank goodness this book isn't too long and I don't have to think about cutting out pages and pages. I like to trim the excess, but when you start cutting pages it feels more like slashing the vital parts. Even so, there are times when I just can't seem to make a sentence read the way I want so then I decide maybe I don't need that sentence at all. I just hit the delete key. That's one way to fix awkward wording. Works every time. ;-)

The twins are doing well. I hope to have some photos of them and the other grandkids posted on my website soon. I'm adding a gallery of photos. Some will be of me and others at special events and some of me way back when. That should be good for a smile or two.

My book event for The Outsider at the Anderson County Public Library is next week. I'm hoping I'll have lots of friends and readers show up to hear me talk about "Writing about Shakers and Other Odd Characters." We'll have a Q & A time and discussion time as well as door prizes. The library staff have been great. They've put my posters up and made a big announcement board as well as displayed all my books on a table at the library. I've published 18 books now and they have all of them but one. I'm going to hunt that one up and fix that. So if you live in the area, come on down to the library next Sunday afternoon. We'll have fun talking about writing.

Till next time, remember to abide in the precious present. That's what all the kids at Austin's party were doing tonight. And they were having fun. They may be covered with chigger bites tomorrow and too tired to get out of bed, but tonight they were having fun.

Hope you have a great Labor Day weekend.

The Gift of Today

Today the sun came up and it misted rain all day. Both gifts. Today I fired up my computer and changed this word and that to try to make my new book better. Today three of my grandkids came to visit to give me the gift only a grandchild can give a grandparent. Sorry, those of you who aren't grandparents yet - you won't understand until you are. Being a parent is one of the most special blessings any person can have. Ah, but being a grandparent. That's blessing on top of blessing.

I also got some good news about The Outsider. Crossings Christian Book Club has featured the book in their catalogue. Also it is being featured at Revell's and Baker's websites. You can check that out at www.revellbooks.com or www.BakerPublishingGroup.com if you're interested.

So since today seemed so much a gift, I thought I'd hunt up that quote I've seen about the gift of today. Here it is.

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present. ~Babatunde Olatunji

Hope your "present" is a welcome gift with beautiful wrappings and wonderful happenings that you rejoice in opening moment by moment.

I also came across this quote about what a treasure each normal day is to us.

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return. ~Mary Jean Iron

Talk to you this weekend.

Life Begins and Life Ends

Hi, everybody. Hope you are having as beautiful a Sunday as we are here. The weather is extra nice for the middle of August although the grass is beginning to turn brown in spots because of lack of rain. Are we ever satisfied with the weather? In the winter, it's too cold. In the summer it's too hot. In the spring, it's too rainy. In the fall, it's not rainy enough. Still I love the seasons of the year even though there are times I'd like to hold onto the pretty days of spring a bit longer or delay the beginning of winter a few weeks.

I came home on Thursday night from babysitting the older girls while the twins were being born. The babies are so cute and seemed very content. I never really heard either one of them cry. It didn't even bother them coming home to three very excited big sisters and a small poodle dog, not to mention grandma and grandpa wanting to get a look at them and hold them for a few minutes. Not the poodle. He just wanted to be in the mix. They took it all in stride without a whimper. I'm going to try to post a picture of them on my website in the next week or so. I'll let you know when. Mother's doing fine and father's doing the best he can to cover all the bases until she's back to full throttle. Thank goodness their school where they attend won't start for a couple of weeks to give everybody a little time to adjust to having two new family members.

I came from a happening of great joy to one of sadness as my last maternal aunt passed away suddenly last week. She had a stroke on Tuesday and died on Wednesday morning. My mom had three sisters. The oldest and youngest sister had already passed on and now Margaret who was three years younger than Mom. I loved hearing them talk about growing up in the thirties during the Depression. They said they never felt poor. They didn't have any money, but they always had food on the table and loving parents. They had a big garden and their father had beehives. They enjoyed playing ball and hide and seek with all the other kids in the neighborhood so never lacked entertainment. And they loved to laugh. When all four of them got together, there was always laughter. What a great way to be remembered! As laughing because life is good.

Not that everything was always easy for them. Margaret married before she got out of school and right before WW II started. Her husband had to go to service. She lost her first baby, and then boarded a train at the tender age of nineteen to ride all the way to California to spend a couple of weeks with her husband before he was sent overseas. She had never been away from home, had never been on a train. But that's the way my mom and her sisters were. Ready for any challenge. Sometimes though the hardest challenges await us when we get older. Mom is facing a lot of those challenges now. One of those is being the last sister in her family still living. They didn't have any brothers. But as always, she's hanging in there, taking it one day at a time.

We'll miss Margaret. She was the sister who didn't mince words. Last time we went to lunch a few weeks ago, they had both been to get perms. I had a major hairstyle change a week or so before that. Cut it all off. I haven't had my hair this short since I was in fifth grade. Anyway when they were talking about their hair, I asked Margaret how she liked mine. She looked at me and told it like she saw it. "I think you need to fix it." I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Actually most people say they think my new style is good, but not everyone. My five-year-old granddaughter who I was babysitting last week looked at me and said she didn't like my hair. But then she tried to make me feel better by saying, "Don't worry, grandma. It'll grow back." I didn't have the heart to tell her I wasn't planning to let that happen for a while. Oh well, maybe she'll get used to her grandma's new look.

Now that the babies are here, it's back to work for me, although I may go back to help out a few days here and there. I am anxious to get back to my book. And I have some special events coming up. My book launch at the local library here in Lawrenceburg is only three weeks away. I plan to talk about "Writing about Shakers .. and other odd characters." That's going to be my topic at the Book Festival in West Virginia in October. So this will be a good warmup speech to see how it goes. The Lawrenceburg event will be very casual with lots of discussion with those who come. It should be fun. Then Ginny Smith and I will be doing a signing at Joseph-Beth's in Lexinton on October 16. That's a Thursday evening. We'll be talking as well as signing. If you know Ginny and/or me, you know that's a given. Ginny has a new Love Inspired book out and she'll also have several of her other books there too. Ginny is so prolific that she has books out with three different publishing companies, all at the same time.

Me, I'm just trying to hang in there with one publishing company and meet my deadline on this new book. As I said last week, I lack one scene being to the end. Then I have to go back and read it to see if I've got a story that will work. I'm hoping that the hero and heroine will be people readers (and I) can care about. I'm hoping the story will be tied together well and will be exciting, but I really won't know until I read it. My editor compared writing a book to giving birth. And it is sort of that way. You carry it around in your head and then you push it out word by word until finally the whole book is outside your head on paper. Then you have to look to be sure all the toes and fingers are there. On babies, the toes and fingers are always precious no matter how they look. Not always the same with books. Sometimes there are too many toes or fingers or they may need a little reshaping to make them look right. That's what I'm getting ready to do, the editing and reshaping and making better. At least that's the hope and intent when I rewrite.

I'm going to start a new give-away next month, so be sure to check my website and/or here. I'm considering a full set of my Hollyhill books. I've been hearing from some readers of The Outsider who have never read any of my other books, so thought it might be fun to introduce them to Hollyhill. And for those of you who have read the Hollyhill books, they would make a great gift to someone this Christmas or whenever.

And last, but not least, thanks to the Book Club in Wooster, Ohio for reading my book Orchard of Hope. I enjoyed talked to you by phone. Any of the rest of you in bookclubs, I would be glad to come to your bookclub if you are in the area and if not, I'd love to talk to you by phone if you decide to read one of my books. The Outsider has already been chosed by some clubs.

Have a great week. See you Wednesday.

The Outsider is Launched

Hey, everybody. Here it is Sunday again. Another week passed by and the calendar turned over to August. Has anybody told you how many days it is till Christmas? Well, don't expect me to talk about Christmas shopping in August! I do well to Christmas shop in December, although the way my family is growing, I should think about Christmas shopping in July.

No, the twins aren't here yet. The target birthdate is August 12th. By then we figure the babies will both weigh in at seven pounds. All you mothers groan a little for my daughter-in-law. She had that measuring and so forth done again last week and they're guessing one twin weighs six pounds and the other one six pounds and three ounces now. When she heard that, she just started crying. I mean she's glad the babies are healthy and growing. She just couldn't get her mind around carrying that much weight around for eleven more days. Not that many days now. I know she's counting off the days. So that's the twin update.

The work update is I'm trying to rush through to the end of the first draft of my current work in progress, The Believer. I keep telling myself it's time to ride off into the sunset or whatever, but so far I haven't gotten the sun to go down on the story. But the end is coming. I just have to figure out how a couple of things are going to happen. Or let my characters figure it out. Maybe if they do, they'll tell me what I need to write down.

I had my book launch for The Outsider at Corinth Christian Bookstore in Frankfort last Friday night. Thanks so much to everybody who came. It turned into a Shaker info session. I'm no expert, but I have read books by a lot of Shaker researchers. So I knew a few answers, but certainly not all the answers. I may have to study up on the Shakers some more before I have another question and answer session. But we had a fun time talking and sharing thoughts about the book. One person there had already read the story, so she was ready with her questions. I've gotten a few e-mails from others who've read it, and so far everybody's comments have been favorable.

Then I did the "Gathering of Authors" at Paul Sawyier Library on Saturday. Not many book buyers showed up, but all of us authors had a good time chatting and comparing notes. And of course, I had to buy one or two of their books. They all looked so interesting! I wanted to buy a dozen or so. I appreciate Rose and Alice stopping by to show their support. Alice even brought me some raspberry tea. Smuggled it in the library in her purse. I guess she didn't really have to smuggle it in since the great folks at the library had water and juice and all kinds of goodies for us to snack on. They'll be cleaning up doughnut and bagel crumbs for weeks. But it was sweet of Alice to think of me. I appreciated her thoughtfulness.

I do plan to have another local - as in Lawrenceburg - book event for The Outsider at the Anderson Public Library, but I haven't arranged a date as yet. I keep waiting for the twins to make their appearance. So it will probably be September even though both September and October are looking majorly busy. The Quartet Convention is in September along with my family reunion and then our church has Homecoming in October and so does the Patriot Quartet. My daughter is coming home for a visit in October and I'm scheduled to go to the book festival in West Virginia the next weekend in October. Plus there are a couple of grandkids birthdays in there to celebrate. And so on and so on. I was looking at my calendar to see when I might do some bookstore visits or signings, and I think I found an open spot about midnight on the second Tuesday after the first Monday. (LOL) And oh yeah, I didn't mention that deadline looming along in there somewhere. But I like being busy, don't you? Still I try to remember that quote I used to keep on my desk, but it's gotten lost now. It says something like it's not enough to just be busy. It's important what you're busy about. I want to busy about the right things, but I know that sometimes I just get busy.

Hope you are all busy about the right things and have a great week. We're supposed to have a scorcher here in Kentucky. It was nice today for August. 85 degrees and not too much humidity. But the rest of the week is supposed to be more like the weather I had in my book The Scent of Lilacs. Hot, hot, hot! I like using weather in my books. I haven't done that as much in this new book. We did have one snow that plays a part in the story, but that's all. The seasons, that is the time of the year, play more a part in this one.

Talk to you next week. Maybe I'll think up something funny for Wednesday.

A Hallelujah Story and Proverbs to Live By

Hi, my book, The Outsider, is officially released Friday, but some people have already gotten it and read it. The beautiful young model on the cover is one of those and thank goodness she enjoyed the story. Her mom says she may read it again. I guess that is the supreme compliment a writer can get - for someone to read their book twice. It's good when the readers say they couldn't put the book down once they started reading. It's good when they say they are telling all their friends to read the book. But to say they have read the book twice - that ranks right up there with "I haven't read a book in twenty years but I read yours." Of course I really like to hear from the ones who read a book every week. They're my kind of readers.

The book I've actually gotten the most "I couldn't put it down" comments on is Angels at the Crossroads. That's the true story of my friend, Jerry Shepherd, who went to prison for life as a nineteen-year-old. The Lord kept his hand on Jerry even when he was trying his hardest to run away from anything to do with God. Jerry found the Lord and forgiveness while he was in prison mostly because the Lord kept putting people (we like to think of them as earth angels) in his pathway to help him to a new beginning in life. Even before he got out of prison, Jerry promised he would tell his story whenever he got a chance to try to help others make the right choices instead of the wrong choices the way he did as a young person. That's why we wrote the book. That's why he goes out and gives his testimony. He told his story this last Sunday morning at his home church in Burgin to over 300 people. He said 12 people made decisions for the Lord. Now that's a hallelujah! He has a tremendous testimony and an amazing story of grace.

But on to my Wednesday hodgepodge of quotes this week. Hope one of them makes you smile or gets you going anew on your current project or just makes you nod and agree with the timeless wisdom.

• Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars. - Serbian proverb
• Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. - Maori proverb
• At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. - Italian proverb
• The older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune. - Irish proverb
• Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is nightmare. -Japanese proverb
• He who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him. - Flemish proverb
• When two elephants fight it is the grass that suffers. - African proverb
• Blessed is the man who can laugh at himself, for he will never cease to be amused. - Proverb found in many cultures.

Have a great rest of the week.

A New Book in the Mail

Another busy Saturday with an even busier Sunday coming up - maybe. The Sunday School kids couldn't make it for the Panther Rock walk last week, so maybe they'll want to go this week. It's a good thing we didn't go last week because we had a gully washer about 3 p.m. We'd have been way down the creek by then and would have gotten WET. Of course the kids wouldn't have cared. They would have already jumped in the creek by then anyway. But somehow getting rained on is different than getting wet in a creek or pool. Of course when I was a little girl we went out and played in the rain when there was no thunder and lightning. We had great fun getting soaked and running through puddles. It was the closest we ever came to playing in a sprinkler.

So we may do the walk again. Then my son and family are coming out to try to get one more gallon of blackberries for some more jam. He got back from his business trip to China on Wednesday. Just in time. His kids were really missing him. The little two-year-old kept saying she'd "lost" her daddy. Anyway to let him know he's back on home ground here in Kentucky, I'll let him climb into all the worst brambles this time to find those biggest berries, because of course, that's where all the best ones are. School starts around here in about ten days so the grandkids are going to spend the night. So now you see why I'm blogging tonight. We'll be busy tomorrow night. Those little rascals like to go to bed late and get up early when they're at "Grammy Camp."

I didn't have a grandmother who spoiled me rotten when I was a little girl, but I did have an aunt who stepped in to that spot. We spent the night with her every Friday and she loved us without boundaries. She cooked us hotdogs (a rare treat for us when I was a kid) and bought us soft drinks. Sometimes she let us make Brown Cows (ice cream and coke). I didn't really like it, but it was fun to make. She had an old Underwood typewriter she let us type on. I typed "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" a zillion times. Perhaps that was the beginning of me thinking I could be a writer. I still miss Bond and she's been gone now for forty years. I don't suppose we ever really stop missing the ones we love. We carry them in our heart and the love they had for us somehow stays with us and makes us stronger.

You'll be happy to know I got my copies of The Outsider Friday. The publishers got them out to me ASAP after I called to let them know they hadn't arrived. I knew they hadn't really lost my address. ;o) So, Donna and Jane, the books you won in my book give-away are in the mail to you. I've been giving books away right and left to family. At this rate, I'll have to order more next week. But that's okay.

It's always fun getting a new book. This is my eighteenth (I think) and it was just as exciting as the second one. Note, I didn't say the first one. Holding that very first published book in your hands is extra special. Of course it was so long between books before The Scent of Lilacs was published that getting that book was about the same as seeing the first one back in 1978. There had been black months in those unpublished years when I wasn't sure I'd ever see another of my books in print. And then I decided to write about a preacher and his daughter and discovered a whole new group of readers. A great group of readers. I'm glad the Lord put Jocie's story into my head. I just wish I had dived into the inspirational market a few years earlier than I did. But you know, I can't go back and do over yesterday. I just have today with hope for tomorrow.

I wish you a great today and an even better tomorrow. If you get The Outsider and read it, let me know what you think. Write me a review on Amazon if you take a notion. I've already received one e-mail from a lady who has already read The Outsider. And liked it, thank goodness. Talk to you Wednesday with some inspirational quotes this week. Quotes to keep you hanging in there and working toward your dream.

Enjoy your Summer Days

Here are those rest and relaxation in the middle of summer time quotes I promised.

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time." - Sir John Lubbock

Sir John sounds as if he knew how to focus in on the important moments of life. Of course I'd have to have bug spray or I'd be busy the next day scratching chiggers. Oh yeah, and if I didn't sneak off and leave my dog behind, he'd be right in my face licking me or sitting on top of me. A big 95 pound lab sitting on you doesn't lend itself to relaxation. But it does sound like a delicious afternoon's pasttime.

Here's the next one. It's from a "Sir" too. Guess they had the leisure to think about leisure.

"Let us not hurry so in our pace of living that we lose sight of the art of living." - Sir Frances Bacon

I'm trying not to do that. I'm trying to remember to enjoy the precious present. A moment with a grandchild. A new flower in the pasture. Those white clouds Sir John was talking about chasing across a blue sky. Hope you have a restful week and enjoy the moment that you are in. I love summer even when it's hot. But then I love Spring and Fall and even Winter. And I'm going to love August this year. See, here I am hurrying on past July, but I'm anxious to have my new book, The Outsider, out on the store shelves or maybe I should say in readers' hands. And I'm anxious to hold my new twin grandsons. Who wouldn't look forward to August with those kinds of promises waiting? But I won't hurry it along. I won't need to. The days hurry by fast enough on their own. Enjoy!

A Loving Church Family

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

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

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

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

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

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