Meet Jan Watson and Win Her Books

My Friend, Jan 

"Watson's success lies in her ability to create characters that are endearing and timeless. . . ." Romantic Times Magazine.

 

One of the best things about writing in the inspirational market has been the friends I’ve made of other inspirational writers. One of those friends is Jan Watson who also lives here in Kentucky and writes historical Kentucky novels. So sit back and let me tell you a little about my friend, Jan

Jan Watson was a registered nurse and peri-natal loss counselor before she retired and began a second career as a writer. She got a great start by winning the 2004 Christian Writers Guild Operation First Novel contest for her first novel, Troublesome Creek.  She's won many awards since then including being voted 2012 Best Kentucky Author by the readers of Kentucky Living Magazine. Her books are set in the Appalachian Mountains and have a great mix of history, romance and suspense. Jan says that while she has always loved books, she never had the dream to write a book of her own the way so many writers, including yours truly, did. But then she remembered a story her grandmother told her once about a terrible flash flood that swept away a baby whose body was never found. Thoughts of this baby stayed with Jan for fifty years before she decided to save her, if only in a fictional story. 

Troublesome Creek and More

After she began to toy with writing a book about that baby, the first three sentences of what became Troublesome Creek came to her as she waited in a drive-thru line at McDonalds: “Girl! You’d better get to the house. If your mam catches you in that creek again she’ll skin you alive.” When the words wouldn’t stop coming after that and she was scribbling them down on any and every scrap of paper she could find, she knew she was going to write that story. Turns out, that story became more stories as she kept following her characters down their life paths. Her first series about that baby and her family include Troublesome Creek, Willow Springs, and Torrent Falls. I’m sure you’re noting the water connection in all the titles. 

Jan’s Loyal Writing Companion

Jan and I are both dog lovers. That gives us even more to talk about than writing. Her husband brought Maggie, a Jack Russell, home to her when the puppy was a few weeks old. Several months later, they realized Maggie was deaf, but that didn’t seem to slow her down much. Jan says Maggie understands doggy sign language, but if she doesn’t want to mind, she just turns her head and pretends not to see Jan.

Jan sometimes writes with Maggie sleeping on a pillow on her lap. But she says the best thing about Maggie is that she reminds her there’s fun to be had every day and that it’s best not to take life too seriously.

Jan’s Newest Series

In Skip Rock Shallows, Jan begins the story of Lilly Corbett, Copper’s daughter. Copper is the baby rescued from the flood in Troublesome Creek. But now we’re getting to know Lilly after she graduates from medical school and takes an internship in the coal camp of Skip Rock, Kentucky. Lilly is drawn to the stubborn, superstitious people she encounters in Skip Rock–a town where people live hard and die harder and where women know their place. You can follow Lilly down some romantic pathways in this Appalachian town as she begins to earn the residents’ trust.

Tattler’s Branch follows up Skip Rock Shallows. Lilly, married now, loves her life in Skip Rock and the people who are like family to her. With her husband away for a few months at a mining job, Lilly has her hands full with her patients and a younger sister visiting for the summer. Then an abandoned baby plunges Lilly into a struggle between what is right and what is safe. She must discover the strength of her country neighbors, her God, and herself.

Check out more about Jan’s books at her website, http://www.janwatson.net/

  

Win Jan’s Books

I have autographed copies of Skip Rock Shallows and Tattler’s Branch to give away to one lucky person. To throw your name in the hat, just leave a comment here with a way to contact you please. The giveaway is open to residents of the United States and Canada, but you must be eighteen or over to enter. Deadline to enter is midnight EST, November 27.

And if you don’t want to wait that long to read one of Jan’s books and you have an e-reader, Tattler’s Branch, is available right now through Saturday, 11/16, for the great download price of $2.99. Check it out at your favorite e-book distributor. Here’s the Amazon link.

Kentucky Book Fair Saturday, November 16

If you’re in the area, you can come meet both Jan and me at the Kentucky Book Fair at the Frankfort Convention Center this Saturday, November 16, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We’ll be signing our books there along with about 150 other writers including inspirational fiction writers, Virginia Smith, Jennifer Johnson, Allie Pleiter, Shelley Shepard Gray, and others. Of course, I hope you’ll come by my table way in the back to say hello.The fair is a great place to pick up some unique gifts for the booklovers on your Christmas list.

As a preview to the fair, Virginia Smith and I will be talking about our books and writing at the Frankfort Senior Citizen Center, 202 Medical Heights, Frankfort, KY, at 10 a.m. on Friday, November 15. The event is open to the public, senior citizens and younger citizens too. So come on out and get a jump start on the fair.

Writing Workshops & the Winners are...

I've been working all week on getting ready for the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference in Elizabethtown coming up this Friday and Saturday, June 24 & 25. I had actually thought this was my first writers conference when I went last year, but then I was reminded that I had led some workshops at the Green Rivers Writers Retreat some years back - probably in the 1980s or 90s. That was in Louisville and I drove back and forth so maybe that's why I didn't think about it actually being a conference. But I did meet with writers and try to share my limited writing knowledge with them. That's what I'm going to be trying to do again at KCWC.

The picture is of me and last year's keynote speaker, Virginia Smith. Ginny did a great job of delivering the keynote speeches last year. Ginny does a great job every time she speaks. Just check out her website, Viginia Smith and you'll see that she has some interesting topics for her talks. And she's always fun. She was last year too. This year they have Cecil Murphey who has written so many books it's a wonder he hasn't lost count. Maybe he has! He has his name on some of the books and some of them he ghostwrote such as 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. They say he's a tremendous speaker and encourager so I know the conference attendees will more than get their money's worth. 

I always feel a little inadequate - oh heck, I feel a lot inadequate when I am asked to lead a workshop. I'm a writer, not a teacher. But at the same time, I enjoy teaching. I did a community ed writing class for several years here in my county and found it fun. Time consuming, creative energy draining, but fun. So I do have some experience teaching and almost all the comments on my sessions last year were favorable. Wonder why that one really critical remark is the one that stuck?   (Sigh)

Last year I had workshops on character and rewriting. I was a little surprised to discover that a lot of writers thought the rewriting topic was not all that interesting. I like to rewrite. For one thing that means I've finished the hard part of writing and have the story told. But I'm not trying to encourage the wisdom of rewriting your work this year. My workshops are "Dialogue - The Fizz in Fiction" and "Facts in Fiction - Using History in your Story." 

I think I came up with good titles anyway. Now to put the meat into the session and deliver it in such a way that my advice will encourage other writers. Even if they leave my class saying that was a lot of nonsense and I can do better than that. A lot of good books have been written by writers who said that very thing. Motivation is necessary for characters in stories and for writers.   

But in the three conferences I have been part of I have found one thing true of them all. It's the people you meet, the friends you make that give you the most lasting benefits. The writing information is good. Feedback is good. Discovering new markets or new possibilities of ways to use your writing talent is good. But best is making friends who know how hard writing can be, who may have experienced the same discouragement over rejections or joy over acceptances. People who understand because they have the writing bug crawling around inside them too.

So if you're at the conference in E-town, be sure to introduce yourself and tell me you are a reading friend. Then we can be face to face writing friends too. 


A couple more items here. My first book launch for The Blessed will be next week on Thursday night, June 30th at the Corinth Book Store in Frankfort, KY at 7 p.m. If you live in the area I'd love to see you there. Then I'll have a Hometown Book Launch at the Anderson Public Library in July on Sunday the 24th at 2 p.m. Door prizes and chocolate there. Both places I'll be talking about writing my new Shaker book, The Blessed. On June 30th at the book store I'll be sharing the podium with Catherine Sheets, a Frankfort author with a new book out titled A Place Called Morning. 

And now for the big news. I have the winners of my Celebration giveaway. The winner of the "never win anything" (at least from my website) is Abi of ND. She picked Orchard of Hope.The winner of the "I've been blessed" drawing is Ann Marie. The winner of the angel figurine and a book is Donna of KY. The winners of autographed copies of The Blessed are Susan of NE, Sally of TX, Katie of CA, Linda of MI, and Virginia of VA. Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing. I'll be doing some more giveaways in September (you know, because when you get older you have to celebrate by giving stuff away), so check my events page on my website for when and how to enter. I'll also be guesting on some blogs that will be giving away a copy of The Blessed. That info is also on my website event page. 


Blessings to all of you. And wish me smooth talking and intelligent words for my workshops this weekend. If you were attending one of the workshops, what would you most want to know?



Snf no

A Dog Story Book

Here's the cover I promised to post Sunday about the book of dog stories, The Dog Next Door. I know. It's Monday and not Sunday. But I was at my daughter's house last night and didn't have time to get on the computer. And I was too busy enjoying all the writers and books at the S.C. Book Festival this weekend to get it on earlier. If you live in the area or anywhere within reasonable driving distance - and you love books - you should consider a trip to Columbia, SC when they have their book festival next year. They always draw in some big names along with lots of other regional and national writers who maybe aren't on the NY Times Bestseller list, but who write great books. There is so much variety. Fiction of lots of genres, history, bestsellers, gardening & cooking books, kids books and etc. I'll share some more about the fun I had in Wednesday's blog.  But now back to the dogs.

I hadn't written a short piece in years. Maybe one for a local magazine fifteen years or more ago. I love the book form. I like writing novels. But when I got the e-mail asking if I had a dog story I wanted to tell, I thought why not see if I could still think short. I started out writing short pieces for church magazines and dreaming of publishing stories in Redbook or Good Housekeeping. At that time those magazines published several short stories every month. What happened to all the people who used to like reading short stories? I don't know, but whatever it was, the market for short stories dried up before any of those editors saw the gold in my stories. Probably because I didn't have any gold in those stories. To make a long story short - which I am not very good at - the market dried up for short stories and I quit writing short pieces at about the same time. I don't think those two things had any sort of connection. LOL

But I love dogs and I knew Callie Smith Grant, who was compiling this book. Plus I had a story about a dog that I thought might work. Actually, as many dogs as I've had, I should have enough stories about dogs to fill a book all by myself, but I decided to pick this one story about my cockerspaniel, Jody. I'm not going to tell you the story here, but it is a heart tugger. Jody was a wonderful dog, but this is more about him being a gift to me than about the dog he turned out to be. Maybe next Sunday, I'll just tell you about the kind of dog he was and post a picture of him. That sounds like fun. I must be on a dog kick. That's going to hold true until the end of the month. On Sunday May 29, I'm going to be posting Suzanne Woods Fisher's interview about her and her dogs. Tell your friends about that one.

Here's the blurb for The Dog Next Door. If you like dogs, I hope you'll check it out when it releases in June.

Dogs are truly one of God's finest creatures, a marvelous gift for us humans. In the perfect follow-up to A Prince among Dogs, Callie Smith Grant compiles a delightful collection of true stories that celebrate the dogs in our lives. These stories will touch our hearts, renew our spirits, and show us how God made these wonderful creatures for unique purposes.

Readers will love these uplifting glimpses into the lives of ordinary and extraordinary dogs and the people who love them. The stories are warm, captivating, and ideal for a good curl-up-and-read or a perfect gift for any dog lover.

You can click on the Table of Contents on the book on its Amazon page and see the other writers who have written a story or stories about their dogs. One of my writing friends, Virginia Smith, has the lead off story. I haven't gotten a copy yet so haven't been able to read any of the stories, but I'm sure they will be fun/inspiring/touching/all of the above.

Thanks for reading. Talk to you Wednesday. Until then be sure to smile at a writer. Or maybe a dog. :-) 

Writing and Reading Friends at Joseph-Beth's

A writer spends a lot of time alone with her keyboard. Well, not exactly alone. She's surrounded by characters. Sometimes those characters are chatty and ready to get on with their stories, and other times, the characters are obstinate as old mules in going through the gate of an author's story. But in spite of the imaginary madness spinning around an author, she's still the one staring at the computer screen or the blank page and wondering if the words are going to start flowing. It takes a long time for most of us writers to write a book. Some are faster at spilling out the words than others. Me, it takes me anywhere from six months to a year to write a book. Right now I'm hoping on the six month side since my next deadline is going to show up before very many more months go by. So that's a lot of time alone with my keyboard.

~~

Actually I don't mind being alone with my keyboard. I much prefer to write when I'm alone in my office and it's good to be alone in the house without the distraction of a television in the other room or doors slamming. But most writers don't live alone and we have to learn to adjust to a little interfering noise. I have heard of some writers who go check themselves into a hotel for a few days to get that alone I've-got-to-get-it-done time. I'd probably just be distracted by the noise out in the hallways then.

~~

But I'm not talking about writing tonight. I know, it sure seemed like it, didn't it? But what I'm really wanting to talk about is our book launch at Joseph-Beth Booksellers. You see, a night like we were able to enjoy with our friends and family last night, well, that's the reward for all those many other days sitting in front of that computer and trying to dig words out of our brains. Virginia (Ginny) Smith and I launched our newest releases - hers A Deadly Game with a KY background and mine Angel Sister with a Depression era KY background - at the best bookstore in Lexington, maybe the state last night. It's the kind of bookstore where you can get lost in the stacks and wouldn't mind staying a few days if they didn't push you out at closing time.

~~

They have famous folks there all the time signing books. Now they've had me and Ginny. And we took advantage of the opportunity and had a great time. It was fun to see so many of our friends and readers show up and carry away some of our books. I posted a bunch of pictures on my Facebook page of both the night at J-Beth's and the one at Corinth Christian Bookstore.

~~

And what a surprise to see Brandilyn Collins show up with her beautiful mom, Ruth. Ruth is in our Bluegrass Christian Writers Group. We've met twice at her home in Wilmore. She's one of those gracious hostesses who makes you feel at home from the minute you walk through her door. When we grabbed Brandilyn for a picture with us, Ginny was worried she was making rabbit ears behind our heads, but she was actually pointing at us to show it was our event. She didn't want to take our limelight. But I'm sure the people would have loved to hear Brandilyn talk too. Including me and Ginny.

~~

But we did the talking. So take a couple of writers and plop them down inside a two-story bookstore and hang a banner about their books up on the rafters with all the famous writers getting ready to show up for a signing in the next few weeks, and you've got a couple of writers who are glad they kept staring at their computer screens until the right words surfaced.

~~

One more Angel Sister book launch to go. This one's a solo affair since Ginny has to be off to other fun events in other states. March 6 at 2 p.m. I'll be doing a Hometown launch for Angel Sister at the Anderson Co. Public Library. But can you believe I forgot to check the UK basketball schedule before I picked a time? KY plays TN that day at high noon. Last game of the regular season! I should have known better. I mean we live in a state where brides don't schedule weddings without checking the UK basketball schedule. Oh well, maybe there will be a few hometown readers who won't care about missing the last few minutes of the ballgame and come listen to me talk about this new book.

~~

I'll be drawing for my latest contest winner next week, but you still have time to enter. Check out the ways to enter on my Event page on my website. http://www.annhgabhart.com/. Thanks for reading.

Everybody needs a Sister

"You can kid the world. But not your sister." (Charlotte Gray)

Did you ever read a quote that carried any more truth? Sisters know us and we know them in a way no one else can. Here I am with my mom and my sisters a year or so ago before Mom's health went downhill last summer. My mother had three sisters, no brothers. I have two sisters, no brothers. We know about sisters. That's why I focused in on the sisters in my book, Angel Sister. I wanted to share that special bond sisters have for one another.

"Sisters are different flowers from the same garden." (Author Unknown)

You can see we look alike and we look different too. But one thing I know. I can count on my sisters to be there for me.


"A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost." (Marion C. Garretty)

When you're kids living in the same house, you're sometimes ready to choke one another, but the sister bond changes as the years go by. The older sister who tormented you with her superior everything is now the sister you can count on to tell you the truth and point you in the right direction when a decision needs to be made. The younger sister who spilled your favorite bottle of perfume or was always eavesdropping on you and your boyfriend is now the sister who will hold your hand through the worst doctor's visits or will come help you clean your house before the in-laws visit. And the middle sister - she has always been the glue that held the sisters together. She's the one with the ready ear and the shoulder to cry on when things aren't going well. In Angel Sister, I have Kate, the middle sister be the responsible one - the one who wants to make sure things turn out right for her family.
~~
But our sisters do know us. They shared the same experiences growing up. They know about that first cake you made that the dogs wouldn't even eat. They know about the snake that showed up in the inner tube with you when you were swimming in the pond. They know how you cried when your favorite cat died. They know about the time you got hit in the head with a rock and they're still sure you deserved it. They were there at the beginning when you first took up a pen to write a story. They probably laughed. But some things you don't want to remember. They know exactly who you are and they kept loving you even when they didn't like you so much.
~~
"You keep your past by having sisters. As you get older, they're the only ones who don't get bored if you talk about your memories." (Deborah Moggach)

Thank goodness, my mother and her sisters never got tired of talking about their "good old days." And that I never got tired of listening to them. Without those much repeated stories, I might never have been able to write Angel Sister. My sisters and I don't do the "remember when" as much as Mom and her sisters did. But maybe we should - where our kids can hear. Our pasts are a gift of experiences and love that we should pass along to the younger generation whether they think it's boring or not. And then eventually they will do the same. That's what families do.
~~
I've received some fun sister stories in my gift card giveaway so far. You 've still got time to send me an e-mail with your sister story to get your name in the drawing hat. You could get four chances to win. See my Event page on my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/ to find out how.
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If you're in the area, I'll be doing a booksigning at JosephBeth Booksellers in Lexington on Tuesday night, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. Virginia Smith will be signing her new book, A Deadly Game, too. We'd love to talk to you there. It's a fantastic bookstore. I love shopping there.
~~
Thanks for reading.

My First Christian Writers Conference

Here I am with Virginia Smith, writer and great keynote speaker at the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. Ginny did a great job of firing up all us writers at the conference with her three speeches on The Road to Publication. She told us about her bumpy road as a writer when she went for years without selling any of her writing and collected 143 rejections. She kept all of them in a file. I've collected my share, probably more than that, but I certainly saw no need to keep them all or count them. The ones I wanted to count were the ones that said yes. I threw those "we're sorry" letters away. Or most of them. I probably still have a few scattered in among the pages of my writing journal. I did keep a running record of my submissions and the responses. You can believe I put stars beside the ones that sent checks for those first short pieces I sold back when I was learning to write. That was before I tackled a novel. The checks were very small but the knowing that somebody was willing to pay anything at all to publish my words was encouragement worth thousands.

~~~

This is the only picture I got. I was too busy talking to people and listening to people and running from the bookstore to my classroom and back for picture taking. And making friends. I did a lot of that. Everybody was so nice to a first-timer like me. Somehow I've missed out on writers' conferences prior to this. Most Christian writers attend conferences, but that was something I didn't even know they had until after I'd published my first Christian novel, The Scent of Lilacs back in 2005 and met a few other Christian writers at book fairs. Those writers were always surprised to hear I had never been to a conference. Well, now I won't have to surprise them. I have a Christian writers' conference under my belt.

~~~

I taught three classes and people actually came to hear what I had to say about making characters come to life and about revising. I was sure people would avoid that last class about revising because that's not something most writers like to do. But they came and they listened and I hope went home with some idea of how to polish their writing to make it better. And I hope they were encouraged. That's what I wanted to do. Encourage the people I met. I told the lady who is going to be one of the coordinators of the conference next year that I didn't think there was anything better than being an encourager - a role she had felt comfortable in for years as a pastor's wife. And now she was going to be an encourager of Christian writers.

~~~

My book is hitting the stores and people's mailboxes. So much fun. And the winner of the second week's drawing for a free autographed copy of The Seeker is Shirley Garwood. Congrats, Shirley! I'll be getting in touch to find out your mailing address. It's not too late for you to join the fun by e-mailing me or leaving a comment here on One Writer's Journal. That's how you can add your name to the pot for the rest of the drawings. I'm still planning to give away five or six more books.

~~~

Enjoy your week and take a few minutes to read a good book. I've heard that Gabhart woman has a new one out. ;-)

People Watching at Book Fests

~~Here I am with my table sharers at the Southern Kentucky Book Fest, Jan Watson (Sweetwater Run) and Virginia Smith (Third Time's Charm). I'm in the middle with Jan on the left and Ginny on the right. See us smile. That's what you do when you go to a Book Festival. You smile and smile and smile some more. Mostly because we want to. We like talking to readers and we hope if we smile readers will like talking to us. And then of course sometimes we're smiling because a reading friend we made the year before comes back to our table to buy another book since she enjoyed the first read so much. The Christian market was well represented at the Book Fest with not only us but also Eric Wilson (Fireproof), Patti Lacy (What the Bayou Saw), and Travis Thrasher (Ghostwriter) and others.

~~Around one hundred fifty authors were at the Book Fest with all sorts of fiction and nonfiction books. You could find mysteries, romances, young adult books, histories, memoirs, cook books, picture books, and poetry collections. That's one of the fun things about going to a book fair - seeing the variety of books. And authors. The same as books, authors come in all sizes, styles and attitudes. Some authors smile and try to engage the readers with conversation or entice them to their tables with chocolate. The cake doctor, Anne Byrne, even had cake for people to eat along with plenty of napkins. Other writers sit quietly and wait for readers to approach them. Some writers desert their stacks of books to explore the other aisles of books. A few writers spend the time reading or writing notes. Some even bring editing work. Nearly all of us enjoy comparing writing stories with the writers sitting next to us.

~~Many of us admire with just a wee bit of envy the long lines that form for the more famous writers' autographs on their books. The longest lines this fair were for Laura Numeroff who wrote If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and for mystery writer, Lisa Scottoline. Actually it was fun seeing all the kids clutching books that had been signed especially to them. Their parents and grandparents were giving them a great gift helping them along the road to a life long love of reading.

~~Of course the readers on the other side of the tables come in all shapes and sizes and reading tastes too. I met a woman long haul truck driver pushing her grandson in a stroller and a retired doctor who used to go to church with Julia Neal. Neal wrote one of the Shaker books I use in my research. I met a little girl of about seven or eight who had written and illustrated her own little picture book and with mom's help had it published. I met a couple of young women who were writers - as yet unpublished but working toward that goal. I met school teachers and librarians and other book lovers. I remembered some faces from previous book fests who come every year to go fishing for a few good books to read. People who connect with books are easy to talk to and that makes a writer like me smile.

~~Hope you have a lovely week ahead and that sometime in the weeks and months ahead you'll have the opportunity to go book fishing at a book festival near you. Or if you're a writer that you'll get a chance to try to catch some new readers. Your best bait is a great book. And a smile.

Books, Writers, Singing and Grandkids

They're playing for the championship in basketball tonight. I'm not watching yet. I might later, but if my team had made it - and they didn't even get in the tournament (alas) - I'd be glued to the set. But I'm trying to catch up answering e-mails and such since the weekend was so busy I didn't have time to do any of that. I generally try to stay day to day caught up on e-mails so that it won't overwhelm me. Anyway, since the weekend was so busy, you're getting a rare Monday entry.

Saturday I got up at the crack of dawn - no, that's not right. I got up long before the crack of dawn to drive to Barbourville, KY to take part in Writers' Row at Union College for their Redbud Festival. That was fun, but we could have used a few more book lovers. A writer can always use a few more book lovers.

This festival had all kinds of vendors from candle and jewelry makers to bowl carvers and watercolor artists. Not to mention quilters. And lots of writers. I sat next to a Civil War history buff. Wayne Taylor had all sorts of Civil War relics from spent lead bullets to Confederate uniforms and canteens to Union money and bayonets. And since I have been researching the Civil War in Kentucky, the seating arrangement was great for me. I bought one of his books, The Terrible Time, that tells about the Civil War in Bell, Knox, Laurel and Whitley Counties. If you are a genealogist, he had a book listing names of the men serving in many of the regiments. You can check out his books at lulu.com. It was great talking to him and I look forward to using his book to help me picture how things were in 1862.

On my other side, I had the pleasure of talking to John Snell, an extremely talented photographer who has a beautiful coffee table book with pictures of the Red River Gorge. He showed me some of his prints and I wanted to buy a dozen of them. They were gorgeous. If you want to check some of them out, go to his website, http://www.johnsnellphoto.com/. He not only does the nature shots, but also horse racing photos. Besides that, he's just a super nice person and his story about getting started in photography is fun and interesting.

I also got to visit with my writing friend, Virginia Smith, who rode to Barbourville with me. We had a lot of fun comparing writing notes and commiserating about some of the challenges of meeting deadlines and figuring out how to best promote our books. Ginny has some great books out and a new one is hitting the market in a week. It's called Murder at Eagle Summit. I got a copy and look forward to reading it soon. I'll probably use her newest Revell book, Age Before Beauty as one of my next give-away books. I'll be posting details about that soon on here and on my website. You can check out Ginny's books at http://www.virginiasmith.org/. She usually adds some humorous touches to her books that are sure to keep you smiling.

Then after driving two plus hours home I went on to the Patriots' singing in Frankfort and enjoyed talking with new and old friends there. We didn't get home till almost midnight and I was bushed. Early Sunday morning my son calls and they're getting ready to go to the hospital. We thought sure we were going to get to celebrate Raegan Elizabeth's entry into the world, but she decided she wasn't quite ready after all. So we're still waiting. But the other kids went to church with me and we enjoyed a beautiful Sunday afternoon outside playing in the big dirt piles from where we're adding a room on to the house. Nothing like a big dirt pile to keep kids happy. Late in the afternoon we hiked to Panther Rock to see the wildflowers. The only problem with that was the little granddaughter got tired, so then I got tired carrying her back to the house! Still it was fun. And we beat the storms home. Got back to the house in the nick of time. That was really good.

I'm busy proofing the galleys for The Believer. So far I've found very few problems. I hope readers will agree when they start doing their own sort of proofing as they read my new story.

A special thanks to Elizabeth in Ontario who talked up my books at a Christian bookstore there to a group of church librarians. Wish I could have been there to hear what everybody said.

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Happy Thanksgiving Today and Every Day

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope you have a wonderful day with some great food shared with some people you love. And that you get to take a nap after dinner. I read the other day that naps enhance our creativity. Maybe that's why I've been struggling with my new idea - not enough naps. Darrell would say so. He's a long time advocate of a daily nap and feels deprived if his schedule doesn't allow a snooze in the afternoon.

I sent out a newsletter last night and of course, forgot something I wanted to include. I'm doing a new give-away with an autographed copy of Virginia Smith's Stuck in the Middle. Her next Sister series book, Age Before Beauty, will be out in February, so this will be your chance to win her book and get it read before then. I'll be doing the drawing on New Year's Day. The winner will also win his or her choice of an autographed copy of one of my books. Just send me an e-mail or leave a comment here before the end of the year to be entered.

I also included a Groucho Marx quote that doesn't have anything to do with Thanksgiving, but it's fun. "Outside of a dog, a book is your best friend, and inside a dog, it's too dark to read." I decided that makes me smile because I can see the power of words and how if you arrange them just so you can take the reader by surprise. Hope you are often pleasantly taken by surprise by whatever you're reading.

I also hope you have much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving weekend. I certainly do with my beautiful family, my praying church family, good health, my place to live with its fields and woods, the Lord's blessings and grace, the want to and ability to write, editors who like my books, even more - readers who want to read my books, and friends who take the time to read my wool-gathering in the midst of their busy days. Too many blessings to count them all, but what would be the blessings you would count on this day? Could you do a Top Ten list? That would still leave out a lot, wouldn't it?

Here are some more seasonal quotes about Thanksgiving for you to ponder and enjoy.

• "If we meet someone who owes us thanks, we right away remember that. But how often do we meet someone to whom we owe thanks without remembering that?"- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
• "Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road." - John Henry Jowett
  
• "Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude."- E.P. Powell
  

Enjoy the day and if you go shopping tomorrow, watch out for runaway shopping carts.