Mystery Picture and Orchard of Hope Giveaway

Guess to Win a Book

Let's have a little fun with another mystery picture. Leave a guess, but don't read the other comments before you guess. It's more fun that way. But leave any comment on this post or one of my other posts before the end of October to be in a drawing for a copy of Orchard of Hope. (Exception - Comments on the October 18 Scavenger Hunt post will be for the great Scavenger hunt prizes only.) I know some of you may already have the book from its first printing, but autographed books make wonderful Christmas presents or stocking stuffers. Or maybe you would like to donate a copy to your library. So make a guess or join the conversation this month and see if you can win a book. I'll pick two winners on November 1.

Orchard of Hope's new cover. 

How do you like it? Jocie is at the Hollyhill Grill enjoying a strawberry shake. That has to be good! For my Hollyhill stories, I looked back at the way I remember my little town being in the 1960's. That was a time before Wal-Marts and before the main highway bypassed Main Street. Back then, if you wanted a new toaster, some nails,a prescription filled, a new dress or shoes, a loaf of bread or that strawberry shake, you went downtown on Main Street. 

And a lot of people did, especially on a Saturday afternoon. All the farmers put down their tools, stopped plowing or planting or harvesting and brought the family to town. It was a time to stop on the sidewalk and talk to your neighbors because you knew everybody you met. The teenagers got to do a little flirting while sipping a soda at the drugstore soda counter. But it wasn't all good. Our schools weren't integrated until the middle of the Sixties. The fight for Civil Rights was ongoing.

I took some of all that and mixed in my characters and their imagined lives and Hollyhill had a new story to tell. Many readers have told me that one of the final scenes in that story - a revival scene in the small country church - touched their hearts. I won't tell you more because I wouldn't want to spoil the story for you if you haven't read it yet. 

Great Chances to Win

So lots going on this month with books and prizes to give away. There's a Goodreads giveaway happening for Christmas at Harmony Hill. You have until November 1 on that one too. Then the fun Scavenger Hunt starts on Friday, October 18. I'll be posting one of the clues and a new posting from Lyn Cote. My post will be on a different site. There are 25 bloggers and writers taking part in the fun. Besides the main prizes of an iPad and 2 winners of all 25 newly released novels, many of the bloggers are offering prizes on their individual blogs. I'm offering a copy of one of my Shaker novels, but you have to wait until October 18 to leave a comment for that.

Meanwhile you can guess on the mystery picture and perhaps win a copy of Orchard of Hope. Remember, to make it more fun, don't read the other comments before you guess. 

Scavenger Hunts and Books by the Banks

Ever been on a Scavenger hunt? That's where you have to find things. I used to try to think up some fun scavenger hunts for my Bible School kids. I think it's more fun when you do clues. Like something a squirrel would love. (Lots of acorns at our church.) Or the pastor's favorite verse. (Going to have to ask him that one.) And on and on. I was in a group once where we had teams that competed to get the items first. I remember one of the items was a sock with a hole in it. Okay, so how many of you thought about the fact that all socks have a hole in them where you stick your foot in? Not many of us rushing around to gather our items thought of that. 

When we were kids we sometimes made a different kind of scavenger hunt. We had clues. You looked where you might be in hot water and then in the teakettle or perhaps the bathtub you found the next clue and on until at the end there was the prize. Fun games that took a little thought. 

Well, I'm going to be taking part in a Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt beginning on October 18. I've heard about these where readers chase around to all the different blogs where they can read some new and fun things about the authors or their books. Then they gather the clues and put them together for the answer. That qualifies them for the prizes. And there are some neat prizes. One is an iPad. And then a couple of people are going to get copies of all twenty-five books. On top of those prizes, a lot of the individual blogs are offering extra prizes. I'll be offering a choice of one of my Shaker books. 

I've never taken part in one of these before, but I've heard they're great fun. So on October 18, not a normal blogging day for me but Scavenger Hunts are not normal times :), I'll post an article written by my guest blogger while another writer will be posting the article I sent her. And on and on. Some great writers in the mix including several writing friends, Laura Frantz, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Lyn Cote, and Judith Miller, to name a few. I hope you'll mark the date and come take part in the fun. 
 
It's been a busy time for me this week with the edits due for my 2014 release, Love Comes Home. I had to cut over 13,000 words. My delete key stayed hot from overuse all week. I've had a few of your sweet people say you'd like to have those extra words. So here are a lot of them - was, just, and, that, said. Not too interesting so far, are they? lol. I did cut a few paragraphs here and there too, but I think the story is better for it. 

I'm headed up to Cincinnati to Books by the Banks this Saturday, October 12. If you're in the area, please come out and join in the fun. And don't leave without saying hello. I'll be there somewhere! The organizers do a great job of having fun things for the kids and always have a full room of writers eager to talk to you. Here's a photo I took on the way out of Cincinnati last year. My husband was driving then. I'll be driving this year, so no pictures of the drive. But maybe I'll get a picture with some of the other writers. Always fun to meet new writing and reading friends. For more information about events that day and the authors go to Books by the Banks.

Thanks for reading. Check back Sunday. Maybe I'll do some of those mystery pictures and let you guess to enter for a chance to win a copy of the newly packaged Orchard of Hope. 

Banana Croquettes, a KY Church Dinner Treat

Have you ever eaten banana croquettes? Chances are if you've been to a church dinner in Kentucky, you've had the opportunity to give them a try. 

My little country church had Homecoming Day today. Once a year we invite everybody who has spiritual roots in the church to come "home" for a special service. That can be a lot of roots since our church was celebrating 201 years. In years past, we've invited former pastors back to speak to us, but since we've now had the same pastor for around thirty years, we don't have a large pool of former pastors to pick from. So the last few years my husband's Southern Gospel group, the Patriot Quartet, have been delivering the Gospel in song during the morning service. 

My husband has been singing in groups for forty years. When he started singing, most all the country churches in the area had Homecomings. They'd have preaching in the morning and singing in the afternoon. Sometimes there would be four or five singing groups. That could get looonnnggg! Especially when you had three kids to make sit quietly the way I did then. Over the years, the attendance at afternoon services shrank and shrank until most churches quit having the singing services in the afternoons. Now the group generally sings in the mornings and then enjoys the church dinners. Oh, those wonderful church dinners. You can see a couple of our church youngsters loading up on desserts here and that was just one of the dessert tables!

But those dinners have changed too. Now you see a lot more dishes cooked at Kroger and the chicken nearly always is Famous Recipe or Colonel Sanders or sometimes Kroger too. But when I first got introduced to Homecoming dinners, the chicken was skillet fried before church on Sunday morning and the cakes and pies were homemade. Country cooking - yum!! 

One of the dishes you could always find at a church dinner was banana croquettes. I love banana croquettes. I used to make them, but making banana croquettes is a lot of trouble and messy. Now I skip the salad dressing and just dip my banana in peanuts in an individual serving just for me. But at a church dinner you can sometimes find the real thing. Some people make a fancy salad dressing, but most people just slice the banana into sections. Sometimes lengthwise too. Then they coat the banana in salad dressing. (That's the messy part.) Last, they roll them in chopped or crushed peanuts. (More messy part.) They don't keep well, so you have to eat them all right away. I'm usually up to the challenge if I make it through the dinner line in time to snag any of them. We have a member now who always makes banana croquettes for our dinners. But today her dish got mistakenly put on the dessert table and most people missed it. But a couple of those peanut covered bananas were the perfect dessert for me. 

Have you ever made or eaten banana croquettes? Been to a country church dinner? If so, what was the dish you liked best? We had some great desserts, besides those banana croquettes. One an old fashioned chess pie. That's what my son ate and he told his kids it had no food value, just sweet and good. But the value of food is not always nutrious. At a country church dinner, sometimes the food makes you remember. Like the wonderful lady gone on to celebrate homecoming in heaven now who used to always make two chess pies every homecoming day. 


Ahh, the memories food can give us. Hope my grandkids will have some good memories of Goshen Homecomings when they get older. My oldest granddaughter here did try a piece of cake that she said was the best chocolate cake she'd ever eaten. So there's one good memory! 

Winners, Bicycles and Birthdays

My birthday month is over. September has slipped away too soon. No more birthday stories in my e-mail box. :( It's been a crazy month down here on the farm with Christmas at Harmony Hill out in September and Orchard of Hope coming out in its new package on October 1. Add in one of Mom's caretakers being sidelined with cataract surgery and a deadline for editing my next Rosey Corner book that included the need to snip out 13,000 plus words and you can see why I needed a few more days in September. Only 3,500 words to go! I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hope it's not a train. 

But before we head out on a new trail, we've got a few more birthday noise makers to blow and one more story to share. 

Did you ever have your own bicycle? I didn't. I had a hand me down that needed tires, my inspiration for Jocie's old bike in Scent of Lilacs.Tara left this story in a comment on a post here, but I wanted to share it again. 

"My best birthday memory. As a second child I spent a lot of time in hand me downs. Clothes, shoes, bicycles. My older sister had a very different style than I did, so her old blue bicycle with a banana seat was not my favorite. Every trip to town for groceries would see me at the Western Auto adjacent to the grocery store, riding around and around a little yellow BMX bike. Every year, I participated in (and rocked!) the St Judes Bike-a-thon in our tiny, tiny town and I wanted nothing more than to NEVER have to ride that hand me down blue bike again to do so. I have NO idea how many miles I logged on that little yellow bike just riding up and down the aisles until Mom was done at the grocery store. I will never forget Mom telling me to take out the trash or some equally unpleasant chore, on my birthday, no less, only to discover it was a ploy to get me to go around back where that little yellow bmx was waiting for me. I continued to ride it in those Bike-a-thons for years to come. One year, I earned enough pledge money to provide every participant with the t-shirt prize after it was all divvied up."

When I read Tara's story I was doubly touched, by her mother knowing how much she wanted the bike and finding a way to get it for her and by Tara's eagerness to raise money for St. Jude's even as a child. You may remember that my great-niece was treated for cancer at St. Jude's and one of my Facebook posts about her went viral a year or so ago. You can read that old blog post, Honk, Honk for Good News if you're interested. Anyway, when I asked Tara about using her story here, this is what she said, "Oh please go ahead and use it :) My best friend had cancer, she passed away when I was 11. She was treated at St Jude and it is still the charity that gets 99% of my charity dollars."





In November I'll be taking part in the St. Jude Walk in Louisville because Tara is right. Once you've seen how St. Jude wants to cure every child, you want to keep helping them have the money to find those cures.

But now get all those birthday noisemakers ready. It's time to announce winners. You may have already seen the names since I sent out a newsletter on Tuesday with the winners and the news that my book Words Spoken True was/is a free download. Only a few more hours for that so if you have an e-reader and haven't read my story set in 1855 Louisville with political intrigue, lots of romance and even a serial killer on the loose, you can download it today for free. (And yes, I know this is Thursday and that I'm a day late posting. I was in such a frenzy of editing out words last night I forgot to post.) 

Oh yeah, back to the winners of my Christmas at Harmony Hill Giveaway Celebration. Donna V. wins 1st prize, the Shaker hand ornament and her choice of one of my books. Sue B. won 2nd prize of the quilt hanging and her choice, Christmas at Harmony Hill. Rachel L can't say she "never wins" anymore since she wins the Tea book, Melody Carlson's The Christmas Shoppe and she also picked Christmas at Harmony Hill. As as extra bonus, Peggy C is my "just because" winner. Angel Sister is one of her favorite books, so she picked Small Town Girl. (I haven't heard from Donna, so if I don't by next week, I'll pick a new winner.)

Thank you all for taking part in my giveaway fun and for sharing your birthday stories. I enjoyed reading them so much and in my very unscientific survey, I discovered surprise parties make great memories, especially if you're turning 50, that grandkids are cute blowing out candles, and that everybody loves a birthday cake with chocolate the favorite there.

Out of room for this post, but check back Sunday (or maybe Monday. lol) I'll have to celebrate Orchard of Hope being back out for readers somehow.

Story Webs

A Story Web

Four years ago I wrote a piece for my on-line journal here about how a story can be an intricate web like a spider web. I wanted a picture of a spider web to go with it, but it was late October and the spiders were battening down their hatches for winter, I suppose. I looked all over the woods for spider webs. I mean there are thousands of spiders out here on the farm, but none I could find at that time ready to pose and have their web featured on my Writer’s “Home” Journal. I did eventually take the photo above of a spider web just outside my office window. I think his ever so many great grandsons are still out there making webs in front of my window. They figure it’s a prime spot because I work a lot at night and the light attracts those unwary moths to their webs.

So you may be wondering, what is all the fuss about a spider web picture? None. You’ve no doubt seen plenty of spider webs and so would have no problem bringing to mind a spider web with all those ladderlike connecting bits of sticky web. I just wanted a picture then to illustrate my point that creating a new story is sort of like a spider spinning that web. Ever since then,when I see a great spider web, I remember my hunt back then for the post I wanted to do. Last week, I spotted the web of one of those big yellow and black garden spiders, not in the garden but on a tree in our yard. So of course I took a picture.

And here it is. To go with it, here’s part of that long ago blog. Even if you read it then, I’m sure you’ve forgotten it by now. But I put spider web in the search area here on my blog and the post popped right up. Computers are so amazing. 

I’m going to be starting a new story just as soon as I finish trimming the one I’m editing. I’ve got 7,000 more words to trim. Already cut 6,000, but it’s getting harder now and the editing deadline is approaching. But here’s how I compared beginning a new story with a spider spinning a web.

A writer starts out with the first bit of web or story idea and swings on it through the air in an attempt to connect to something else. Something solid that she can anchor her story on. Maybe a character coming to life in her mind or a truth she wants her characters to discover or maybe just a fun idea of what happens next. And then the writer starts inching down that first initial web strand to figure out the next direction to spin and then the next and the next until the story is complete with its dozens of connections - events and happenings that lead to other events and happenings in your story. And you hope your web is strong. So strong it can capture readers and wrap them so up in your story that they'll sit right down and read it through without even trying to break free of your story web. 

Now you might notice that the spider web in my picture (The old picture. In the new picture the spider did a very neat and wonderful web.) is a little ragged looking with some gaps here and there, but in spite of that, it's holding together. That's what I always want my story to do too - hold together. It may not be perfect. I'm not a perfect writer. But I do like to tell stories and I'm glad to be spinning a new yarn now that I hope all of you will want to read someday.

Hope you enjoyed revisiting one of my favorite posts here. 

I’m drawing for the winners of my Christmas at Harmony Hill Celebration Giveaway early on Tuesday. You can still get an entry in today or tomorrow. Just leave a comment here with a way to get in touch with you should you win or e-mail me at annhgabhart(at)yahoo(dot)com.  Wednesday night’s blog post will announce the winners. Thank you again for sharing all your wonderful stories. I also hope to send out a newsletter on October 1, so if you’d like to get a copy, let me know and I’ll add your name to my e-mail newsletter list.

Surprises, Parties and Chocolate Cakes

"Let's face it, a nice, creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me." ~Audrey Hepburn

Let's face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me.
Audrey Hepburn
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/chocolate_cake.html#FS468PmEH8F8rtSo.99

Let's face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me.
Audrey Hepburn
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/chocolate_cake.html#FS468PmEH8F8rtSo.99

I've got some serious chocolate lovers among my grandkids. I think they may have taken after their grandmother! My sister has a granddaughter who won't eat chocolate and everytime I hear that I am amazed afresh and think, surely, she just hasn't tried it yet. lol

This chocolate cake looks like it could be my dog, Oscar's cake, doesn't it? Of course, they say chocolate is poisonous to dogs. Do you think it's possible that dogs love us so much they just wanted to come up with a reason to let us have all the chocolate? But the cake was my granddaughter's request and her mother was game to give it a try and did a great job. No, those aren't real dog biscuits. They were some kind of dog biscuit shaped cookies. A great cake anyway. 

It was fun reading all the birthday stories you all sent me or left in comments here. (If you haven't entered the giveaway contest yet, you have five more days to throw your name in the hat. Drawing is next Monday night at midnight EST. Details about the contest are on my website's News and Events Page.) Certain trends showed up in your stories. You like cake - especially chocolate cake. Surprise parties made for memorable birthdays. You loved feeling special on your birthday. And family makes the memories sweeter.

Mary left this in a comment on one of the birthday story posts, but in case you didn't read the comments, here's her story.

"Birthdays are always special in our family - favorite cake & meal & treat. I always had a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, roast chicken & home-made marshmallows - not quite in that order. The birthday person also gets out of chores. After dinner you just walk away from the table. Growing up that was almost the best part of the whole day."

Those home-made marshmallows sound interesting, Mary. I did something like that with my kids too. I still cook their favorite meals and desserts if they can make it home for their birthdays. And I like the idea of the birthday person getting out of chores. Seems that's harder to work out for us older folks. If you could, what chore would you most want to get out of?

Maxie shared this last story about a treasured surprise party.

 I have been blessed with 12 grandkids and now 19 great-grands. How great!  Very well blessed. …  My favorite Birthday would be my 75th. It was also my first ever Surprise Party. My granddaughter and daughter had the house (big) decorated prettier than I've ever seen. This daughter also made my BD cake. So good!  Real fudgey. She got everyone to bring one of my favorite desserts and foods they had ever known me to love. Was absolutely Fantastic." 

  
Birthdays are a great time to feel that extra love and to give that extra love too. Have you ever thrown a surprise party for anyone? Were you ever surprised by a party yourself? 

 Thanks for reading.