Happiness is a Poem and a Flower

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

"Winter lingered so long in the lap of Spring that it occasioned a great deal of talk."  (Bill Nye)

I'm wishing I could spot some little spring beauty flowers like those above, but not yet this year. Those little blooms are still sleeping under the snow that has stuck around way past its welcome. But it's a good thing we don't have to find our happiness in the weather. While most of the poems I've received with entries to my Roses are Red Contest that's going on now, have been simple four line verses, a few readers have shared poems that put my amateur rhyming to shame. So tonight I'm sharing them with you.

Happiness  by Nona

Happiness comes from many places.
Singing birds and familiar faces.

A hug from a friend
when you are blue.

Lifting of the heart
when your love is true.

Sitting in the shade by a 
babbling brook.

Cuddled into a chair
with your favorite book.

~~~

Lovely poem, Nona. Peggy stayed with the Roses are red theme but made it so much more as she looks forward to Spring.

Roses are Red  by Peggy

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

When this Winter is through

The flowers will shake, and open their heads

Their colors are grand

Some smell pretty, too

Let's strike up the band

For those Violets of Blue

For those buds I will look

As they peek through the snow

While I watch from atop my book

As those zero winds blow

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Dear God - Bring the Springtime

We need something new!!!

~~~

Last we have a true Valentine love poem from Sandi. 

What is Love by Sandi

What is love...

where does it go...

Is it a vapor not unlike the snow,

Does it drift lazily down from the sky,

piling around us until it's quite high,

Does it make choices or caress all the same

and when things go wrong is it always to blame...

Is it like the seasons that blow hot and cold,

Does it laugh lustily at all those it's fooled,

The fragrance it leaves is dispelled by none,

It lingers long after the romance is done,

If given the chance, would you risk it again,

Treating it tenderly like an old friend...

Not taking it for granted, but being thankful each day,

That no matter how brief, it once came your way???!!

~~~

Indeed we can be thankful when love comes our way. Thanks, ladies, for sharing your talent with us. 

The contest is still open. You can see the prize (a heart-shaped necklace and winner's choice of one of my books) on my News and Events website page. You can enter by leaving a comment on a post here (with a way to contact you) by midnight EST on March 3, 2015. Thanks to all who have already entered and shared a poem too. You don't have to share a poem. That's just to add a little fun!

Surprised by Icicles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for reading.

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January - the Month of Dreary or the Month of Beginnings?

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary. (Edgar Allen Poe)

Can't you imagine Poe writing that on a January Monday midnight?Chilled to the bone and unhappy, but with pen in hand?

I hope you're not cold or unhappy. But let me ask you. Do you like winter? Do you like January? Or is it the month you want to slide on past and make way for February which can be pretty nasty on its own. But at least, February is shorter with Valentine's Day right in the middle to make for some fun times and a great excuse to eat chocolate and brighten our houses with red and white flowers. But January seems to go on and on. A full 31 days.  

Around here in Kentucky, January can be the month of dreary when the sun hides behind the clouds. When the announced wind chills make you shiver even while you're sitting by the fire. When snow can pile down, make travel impossible and cause you to fall prey to cabin fever. When the Christmas bills show up and the taxes loom. Are you depressed yet? Oh yeah, it's a good month for that too with its short days and frigid air that keeps a person inside even when the sun does pop out from behind those clouds. 

Nobody needs a smile so much as the one who has none to give. So get used to smiling heart-warming smiles, and you will spread sunshine in a sometimes dreary world. (Lawrence G. Lovasik)

You can find smiles in January. Snowflakes that cover the gray January ground and brighten the world. Sunshine sparkling on the snow and ice. Hot chocolate without guilt. Books to read by the fireplace or all snug in under a soft blanket. A perfect reading month. 

January is a time of new beginnings. A time to try over if we've messed up. A time to look toward the blessings waiting in the year ahead. A time to be thankful for the gift of another year. A time to smile even on the gray and dreary days. 

Winter is a season of recovery and preparation. (Paul Theroux)

We need winter. Well, perhaps I should say I need winter. You might want nothing at all to do with it and wish you lived in the Bahamas. But January can be a month for gathering thoughts, for thinking stories, for being ready because spring is on the way.

Seasons are necessary for me.

What do like best about January? Worst?

Thanks for reading. Come back Sunday. I'm going to have another of those "mystery pictures" games and give away some books. Are you ready?

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Snow Scenes - Real and Imagined

A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder. ~Susan Orlean

Kentucky winters are unpredictable. We might have snow. We might not. When my oldest son was six, he got a sled for Christmas. We did not have sledding snow for years. Then the year he was eleven the heavens opened and we had piles and piles of snow. And some ice. He stayed out sledding for hours. It's a wonder he didn't have frostbite. Three winters in a row we had major snow and cold. 

At that time we were the only people who lived back our little lane that had high banks on both sides of it. The snow drifted solid as high as those banks and there was no way we were going to get out that road. My husband pulled the car out through the pasture field with his tractor. Then every morning he'd ride the tractor out to the main road, get the car and go to work. He brought in the groceries too. That year nobody actually drove up our lane until the middle of March when I had a family birthday party for my daughter. My brother-in-law had a big four-wheel drive truck and he "broke" the road. The kids and I stayed home except when we walked to my parents' house down the road. And of course, the kids played in the snow. They would take their little brother out and then he'd get stuck in the snow drifts and they'd have to lift him out. But he loved it too.

I remember three and four-week long snow days, and drifts so deep a small child, namely me, could get lost in them. No such winter exists in the record, but that's how Ohio winters seemed to me when I was little - silent, silver, endless, and dreamy. ~Susan Orlean

I don't know how long the kids were out of school, but it seemed like three and four week snow days. We could have had cabin fever. I'm sure we did have cabin fever. But now, I don't remember that. I remember eating a lot of popcorn and hot chocolate. I remember reading the Lord of the Ring books. The two older kids read them too. I remember card games and fires in the wood stove. And I do have to admit I remember being glad when the kids went back to school so I'd have more writing time again. 

The snow this winter isn't nearly that deep. No drifts over the fence posts. But it has been very cold so the snow we did get is staying around. I like walking in the snow and I like taking snow pictures. And sometimes I write snow scenes in my stories. 

"I'm working on a snow scene right now, and it's summer. It's hot, and I will get chilly. I'll have to turn on the heat. My wife walks in, and it's 95 degrees in the studio. I know it's nutty, but it's a projection you have where you step into the painting." ~Thomas Kinkade

I understand that. The same as he is with the painting, sometimes I get so deep in my story that I can almost feel the snow and ice in my face as I write. I heard the ice hitting the cabin windows and breaking down the army tents in Christmas at Harmony Hill. I was with Hannah in The Believer as she defiantly made snow angels at the Shaker village. I was driving through the snow with David and Leigh as they stepped closer to love in Summer of Joy. The same can be true with hot weather scenes, so I guess right now I need to be writing about summertime to keep me warm. 

Hope you stay warm and enjoy the snow if you have it in your world. I always think about leaving a lot of happy tracks when I walk in the snow. That's what the dogs and I did today because snow can be fun. Just ask a boy with a sled. 

What do you like about snow days? Or do you get cabin fever?

Valentines and Hearts

“Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.” – Voltaire 

What would life be without love? Isn't it great that we have a day set aside to celebrate love? In of all months, February. That month of the year when those of us in the northern hemisphere are beginning to be weary of winter. The month when the skies are often gray, when sometimes snow buries us and keeps us housebound. The month when you can schedule happenings, but you always have to wonder if those things will really happen on the day you plan or if old man winter will interfere. 

February is the shortest month because the good Lord realized that by this time in winter, we were ready to race on to spring. In fact it could be Jim Gaffigan has February figured out in his quote. "Without Valentine's Day, February would be... well, January."  So we can be glad for Valentine's Day.

The flower shops, greeting card companies, and candy makers are surely glad for Valentine's Day. Rose growers too. Roses will grace many desks and tables tomorrow. Red roses are the romantic choice. Chocolates in heart shaped boxes will be the language of love although I've always thought a sweetheart who knows your favorite candy bar and gets two or three of those instead has saved some money and yet scored some romantic points for knowing what his girl loves best. Chocolate covered strawberries will be the gift of choice in some households. And the restaurants will be busy. In a nearby town, a Waffle House even gets into the romantic mood with tablecloths and candles on the table and the servers dressed up for the night. 

But Valentine's Day isn't just for romantic couples. School kids get to have parties and candy. That was always my favorite party to help with when I was a room mother for my kids. Since all the kids got cards from everyone in the room, they could all feel popular on that day. Older folks who may have lost their spouses or perhaps were never married can appreciate a call or a card too. My thoughtful husband bought his 94 year old aunt an orchid. I know she'll love the flower and even more the visit when he delivers it to her.

Love puts the fun in together, the sad in apart, and the joy in a heart.  ~Author Unknown

So I'm wishing you a day when you have joy in your heart. A day when the memory of loves past or present will keep you smiling. A day when if no one brings you a flower or chocolate, you buy one for yourself. A day when you tell those you love that yes, you do love them. What makes you feel loved?

Now I need to get back to the edits on my book, Small Town Girl, scheduled for release in July. It has a lot of love in it. Love makes the stories go around. Thanks for reading. And remember a comment gets you another entry into my giveaway. I've enjoyed all your comments so far this month. 

 

Getting Back in Gear

It's been a strange winter for writing. You'd think winter time would be the best time for writing. No sunshine to beckon you outdoors to put your hands in the dirt and plant something. No Spring Fever to make you want to go fishing or clean something like windows. Unfortunately those are two fevers I never get. I've been fishing once in my life when I was in seventh grade for a school outing. I didn't like it. And I would always rather do something else than clean. I like having cleaned. Just not the actual cleaning.

That's a quote I read once from another author. That he or she liked to have written, but not the actual writing. I'm afraid I was in that uncomfortable position today. I had to take some time out of writing to babysit the grandbabies and then the galleys for my next book, The Believer, came in and while there weren't many queries, there were enough to keep me busy for a week. I always want to read the manuscript over again and make the words flow as smoothly as I can. I hate reading back over something I've written that's already published and seeing sloppy writing that I didn't catch in the editing process. So I try to edit and read carefully to catch most of the rough spots or mistakes.

I read a book the other day where the writer changed the person's name from one paragraph to the next on the same page. Now somebody didn't do their homework on that one. I've messed up on names a hundred pages apart which is why I keep a character list of all the named characters in my books as I'm writing. Most of the time a good copyeditor or a careful proofreading writer can catch the changeable name kind of mistake or at least they should. In this book, The Believer, I had one of my characters bald early on and then in a later scene, I had someone brushing the hair back off his forehead. I hadn't given him a comb-over either! I did catch that, thank goodness. And no, it wasn't the hero. Does anybody ever write a novel with a bald hero if he isn't a hard-boiled detective or private eye? Perhaps I should consider it. I'm always looking for ways to stretch my ideas into new territory. That's probably why I've got several unsold manuscripts filling up some shelves in my closet. Readers like what they like and I'm not sure that would include a romantic going bald hero.

But anyway, back to the hard writing today. I had been away from it too long, I think. I couldn't seem to pick up the thread for the next scene. I'm not sure I've done it yet, but I did finally get some words written that I didn't delete immediately. Sometimes I know where I want to go with a story but I'm not sure how I'm going to get there. There are times when that happens that I need to not worry about the trip and just go through the door and be there. Maybe that's what I need to do now. Just plop my characters down where I want them to be and then figure it out. But then what if they aren't quite ready to be there? There are times characters just don't cooperate if they're not ready. And sometimes, to the relief of many writers, the characters are readier for action after a good night's sleep. I hope my subconscious works hard all night long.

And I did get the galleys done and off in the mail. That's to the good. I'm just hoping and praying I don't catch the horrible cold that has my husband dragging around the house. And worse there's a terrible stomach virus going around town. Sounds like a good time to hole up and not go out among the germs except Darrell's already brought the cold germs inside. Oh well, that seems to be part of winter too. A part I hope all of you have missed.

Stay well and keep the winter evenings interesting by reading some good books.

A Chocolate Eating Writer's Muse

We're still deep in winter here in Kentucky although we had a beautiful sunshiny day on Friday with the temps rising to near sixty. All of us started dreaming of spring to come. That's the way it is here in this border state between north and south. Days and sometimes weeks of warmer weather can come to call, but then winter always returns. Sometimes even in the spring when the cold should be gone and the flowers and trees are ready to burst into bloom, winter will sneak back a nasty finger of cold that freezes the blooms and steals our summer fruit. In January we don't have to worry about that. We just have to hope for snow instead of ice.

I'm several chapters into my new story and trying to keep to my page allotment each day. As always the way I thought I saw everything going so clearly is meandering into some alleyways I didn't notice at all. But I'm trying to trust my characters and my muse.

Bobbi's comment on my last entry got me to thinking about the writer's muse. Here is a Ray Bradbury quote about the Muse. "What is The Subconscious to every other man, in its creative aspect becomes, for writers, The Muse."

I've had people ask me if I waited for my muse before I started writing. Or wanted to know how I corralled the slippery little sucker. Actually I've never given my muse a lot of consideration. Maybe not enough. I've always wanted to write so much that I may have taken it for granted that if I sat down and started writing a story would come. Gee, I hope my muse isn't listening and goes off to hide in a closet to pout where I'll never be able to find her again. I wish I hadn't thought about that! :o(

In Stephen King's book On Writing, he describes his muse as a cigar-smoking guy with wings. But he warns us our muse is not going to come fluttering down into our rooms and sprinkle creative fairy dust all over our computers. King is of the opinion that the writer has to do all the work while the muse just sits around and pretends to ignore you. His all the while smoking those cigars. I don't think I want my muse to smoke cigars. I'll let her eat chocolates. But then King adds that the muse has the inspiration, the bag of magic a writer needs.

And it does sometimes feel like magic when you've sat in front of the computer screen and fed in words on top of words that maybe didn't seem like anywhere close to the right words, but then somehow the story comes. Perhaps a character jumps into the story out of nowhere or you suddenly see what really happened instead of what you thought might happen. Not because you waited for your muse to show up, but because you chased her down. And maybe bought her a new box of those imaginary inspirational chocolates.

I'm ready to do a new give-away. Any of you have one of my books you'd like to have in the give-away more than any of the others, let me know. I'll probably add an autographed copy of a different author's book, too. I'll let you know which books on Wednesday. Before I head up to WV to babysit the twins for a few days. They're five and a half months old already. I'll get my baby holding tank filled up to the brim with two babies to spoil.

Hope winter is being kind to you all. And spring is coming.