New Mystery Picture Contest to Win Some Books

Are you ready for a new mystery picture contest? Like to win a new book or two? Then you've come to the right place. Between now and the end of January, it's time to guess the pictures. 

So what do you think it is?

Make a guess and on February 1, I'll draw for three winners from those of you who comment on the mystery photos in the next couple of weeks. Remember, the guess doesn't have to be right. Just a guess. You do have to leave a way to contact you. You can leave your e-mail or message me on my Facebook page. You don't have to like my Facebook page to enter. That's just a way I might be able to contact you if you don't want to leave your e-mail here. If you have trouble leaving a comment here, you can always send your mystery photo guess via an e-mail at annhgabhart(at)yahoo(dot)com.

The prizes are books. Bet you were really surprised by that. :) But if you play the game, you might win your choice of one of my autographed books plus a grab bag book by a different Christian author. The contest is open to United States and Canada only for print books, but if you want to play and you live overseas, I'll send you an e-book copy of one of my books (your choice) if you are one of the lucky winners. You must be 18 to play and the winner will be chosen by random drawing after the Jan. 31 deadline. Each guess on a different mystery pictures in the next couple of weeks gets you another entry. Remember, it's more fun if you guess first and look at everybody else's guesses later. I'll let you know what this picture is on Wednesday and post a new picture. 

Last time we had fun with this. Some of you were great guessers and figured out the mystery pictures most of the time. Others of you were more like me when I see a mystery photo and made guesses a bit off the mark. That's okay. We're just playing and wrong guesses are as good as right guesses to get your name in my drawing hat.

In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, here are some his inspiring quotes.

• Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.  

• The time is always right to do what is right.

• Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

• The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

As always, thanks for reading and I'll look forward to your guesses on the picture.

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?

Tweetables:
Tweet: What do you like best about January? Worst? http://ctt.ec/rt698+

Do You Need a Smile Today?

Did that make you smile? It does me. Smiles are what this post is about. Some of you may check out my Facebook page. If so, you know that I have some regular features on my page on different days. Sunday morning coming down. Tuesday mailbag. Shaker Wednesday. Throwback Thursday. And Friday is smiles day. All day. Some Fridays we have a brief interruption for some bit of special news, but I try to stick to smiles on Friday. 

So tonight, I wandered back through my Facebook Fridays and pulled out a few of my favorite smiles. If you follow my FB page, you may have already read them, but a good joke can make you smile even on the second or third telling. And it's good to smile and laugh. The Bible says so in Proverbs17:22a. "A merry heart does good, like medicine." (New King James Version)

So here we go. A few of my favorite smiles from Fridays past on Facebook.

 Story One:

A nursery school teacher was helping a boy get his shoes on at the end of the day. After quite a struggle with the boots, which were a little tight, she finally got them on. 

"They're on the wrong feet," the boy said. 

He was right, so with a sigh, she pulls them off and manages to get them back on the right feet. All is well until the boy looks up at her and says, "They're not my boots, Miss." The teacher does her best to stay calm as she kneels down again to pull the boots off again. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asks. The boy looks at the boots. "These aren't my boots. They're my brother's. Mom said for me to wear them." At this point the teacher can feel tears coming, but she pulls up her teacher fortitude and gets his feet shoved down into the tight boots one more time. Then she helps him into his coat and wraps his scarf round his neck before asking him where his gloves are. "Oh, Miss, I always put them in my boots so they won't get lost!"

Story Two:

   Little Jethro and his family were visiting the big city for the first time. In the lobby of the fancy hotel where they were staying, Jethro and his father stood marveling at the elevator with its blinking lights and shiny doors. After a couple of minutes, Jethro asked,       "Pa, what in tarnation is that thing?" 
   His pa replied, "I don't right know, son."
   Just then an old woman approached, pushed one of the buttons, and stepped carefully into the elevator. The doors slid shut and when they reopened a few moments later, out stepped a beautiful young blonde. "Boy," Pa said quietly. "Go and get your ma."

Story Three:

   A man finished reading the book Man of the House while riding the commuter train home from work. When he reached home, he stormed into the house where he pointed his finger in his wife's face and said, "From now on I want you to know that I am the man of this house, and my word is law! You are to prepare me a delicious meal tonight and when I'm finished eating my meal, I expect a sumptuous dessert afterward. Then you're going to draw my bath so I can relax. And when I'm finished with my bath, guess who's going to dress me and comb my hair?"    His wife thought a moment, then said, "The funeral director is my guess."

Story Four:

   A church was having a special program about marriage enrichment and an old farmer and his wife decided to go even though they'd been married for a long time. The old farmer was a little nervous about the whole thing, but he was determined to do his best. The guest speaker spoke directly to the husbands about how they should pay attention to their wives and thus know what they liked, such as their favorite flower. 

  The old farmer wanted to make sure he was right so he leaned over to whisper in his wife's ear. "It is Pillsbury, isn't it?"

So there are a few of my favorite stories over the years. Which of them made you smile?  Do you have a favorite funny story to share? Feel free to share the post with friends if the stories made you smile. 

 

Do you tweet on Twitter? You can click on the tweety bird to share the smiles.

A Scene from The Seeker

The Seeker, my Shaker book set during the first two years of the Civil War, is on special e-book sale this week for $1.99 or less on most e-book sites. It's fun having reduced price books to give readers a chance to try one of my stories. Of course, there is always the library too for those who prefer a physical, feel the pages type of book.

Which do you prefer? I like the paper book, but I've read some books on my Nook. It's not bad. Very convenient to carry several books with you. Even a hundred or more. Very easy to download books too. Maybe too easy. But at least that to be read shelf doesn't take up much room.  

So to celebrate the special sale, how about a scene from The Seeker tonight? I enjoyed getting to know my characters in this story. I liked Adam, the artist/illustrator. It was interesting finding out how reporters and illustrators followed the troops to record the battles in drawings. Photography was in its infant stage and while there are photos from the Civil War era, taking those pictures was not an easy process. It took a whole wagon load of equipment and the subjects of the photos had to sit perfectly still for fifteen or twenty minutes while their image was captured. And now we jerk out our phones and snap pictures right and left. Even videos that end up on the news or YouTube. I posted a video on Facebook today that had already been shared a zillion times, give or take a few. 

This is a scene from The Seeker after the first battle that Adam sees, the Battle of Bull Run where the Confederates won the day and the Union soldiers retreated in disarray.

   Long after Adam returned to his hotel room, the questions with no answers whirled in his head. He tried to push them aside so he could concentrate on getting his sketches ready before Sam Johnson's man knocked on his door at first light. He didn't have to have answers, only illustrations. But as he flipped through his sketches, the sounds of exploding shells and men dying echoed in his ears, and he wanted to rip the drawings into a thousand pieces. He shoved aside the scenes of death and pulled a writing tablet toward him.
   
Dear Charlotte,
     You won't mind if I don't call you Sister Charlotte, will you? Thinking of you as a Shaker sister will take some time. It appears that how that came to be will remain a puzzle at least for now. Tell me of your life there. It has to be very different from that of a Southern belle, but as I told you at Grayson, even then you were not like most young ladies I have had the pleasure of meeting in drawing rooms across the South.
   I realize you have probably not had time to receive my earlier letter, but this night as I sit in the capital city surrounded by a wounded army, I seem to need to put pen to paper again to you. To tell you of the first real battle of the war at a stream called Bull Run near the town of Manassas in Virginia. The Rebels won the day. It appears the Confederates aren't as ready to be beaten as the Union generals had hoped. I have a sketchbook full of the most horrible scenes of war. My pens seemed to be dripping blood on the paper. I will send you a couple of sketches, but you can see more in Harper's if the Shakers read such. And it sounded as if they might if they saw their stairways on those pages.
   Here in Washington, the generals will meet and the soldiers will be given new guns to replace those left behind on the field of battle. The armies will meet again and I must be there to draw more pictures. It is what I do.
   It is good you are in a place where peace can bloom undisturbed like roses in a garden. Tell me of your garden and I will let my hand trace the flowers you see and hope that once the battle smoke clears there will still be flowers to pick in our own personal gardens. 

Yours, Adam

   He folded a picture of the army lining up for battle and then one of the carriages of onlookers, wagons, and soldiers all vying for a place on the road north as they retreated. Last he picked up a small book where he sometimes jotted bits of scenes to keep the sights fresh in his mind. He drew the bench under the dogwood tree beside Grayson's veranda. The one where he was sitting when he first saw Charlotte. She would know. 

Thanks for reading and if you're interested in grabbing The Seeker, here are some links. 
Amazon
Christianbook.com 
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Always be sure to double check the price before you download to make sure the sale price is still in effect.  

The Sun Rises on a New Year

"Dates that come around every year help us measure progress in our lives. One annual event, New Year's Day, is a time of reflection and resolution."
                (Joseph B. Wirthlin)

Here we are at the time of year when resolutions figure in many people's conversations. What are your New Year's Resolutions? That's a question you have probably heard this week and perhaps have even asked. Losing weight is generally a favorite of many of us and one I need to make after too much Christmas goodies!! What are some others that you hear? Perhaps to read through the Bible? More time with family? Exercise every day? Be kinder to those you meet? There are so many ways we can resolve to be better.
 
For many years I would write in my personal journal around the first of the year. Most of the resolutions I recorded in my journal were writing related. Perhaps to sell a new book. Or to not give up hope in spite of rejections. To come up with a new idea. To finish whatever book I was writing. 

Tonight while considering what to write here on my blog, I decided to dip back into one of those journals in the hopes of finding something I could just lift out of a New Year's entry to share here. I went back to 1981 and leafed through the journal. While I didn't really find anything I thought would interest anyone but me, it was eye-opening for me to look at myself as a writer thirty plus years ago. 

In 1981, I'd published two books, paperback historical romances in the general market. I was hoping for the third and fourth historical books I'd written that had yet to find a home. As it turned out it took twenty plus more years for those particular stories to find a publisher and make their way out to readers. Meanwhile, as I flipped through the years, I walked through some rejection valleys until finally in 1985 I sold a young adult novel. 

That began several years of writing for the young adult market and the oft expressed worry of whether the stories I came up with were going to be ones the editors I was working with liked. I had one editor who filled my ears with great words of praise but then would send back my books with lots of red edits and suggestions for rewrites. One day with her, I'd feel on top of the world when she said something like she could "pick out one of my sentences anywhere" since I had such a unique style and then I'd get a letter saying I needed to "trim the lard" out of my story. Up and down, but all the time I was learning. Not only how to write, but how to deal with those ups and downs of the writing life. I was so young as a writer then. I had two kids in college, but I was still so young. 

Oh, to look back through the years and remember. And now I feel so blessed to have books published. To have my stories out there for readers. To have the promise of being able to share more stories with readers in the year ahead. 

One of the most interesting things about glancing through several years of my 1980's writing life was that I mentioned stories and characters that I don't remember at all now. Obviously the books didn't sell or I gave up on writing them. One I mentioned trying to write through several years. The character's name was Candra Lynn. I often refer to my books in my journal by this or that character's story rather than a book title. But now I don't remember Candra Lynn at all or her story. Too many characters through the years have pushed her deep into my memory where I can no longer retrieve it without some reminder. The story is probably here somewhere on my rejection shelves. Someday when I don't have a newer, fresher idea to take all my attention, perhaps I'll seek Candra Lynn out and see what story she tried to get me to tell. 

Here's a snippet of a journal entry from January 1987. 
"You wouldn't believe the things I'm doing to keep from beginning work - including writing this. I've even been cleaning my desk drawers, looking through old letters, etc. 
    I'm timid to plug in my typewriter in and begin. I keep worrying the words won't come. I know they will but I also know how hard their coming sometimes is. But this book may be a gift."

That book did turn out to be a gift, one of my very favorite young adult novels, The Discovery at Coyote Point. But when I read through the journal entries while I was writing it, I often spoke of the struggle in the writing. I suppose that's what I need to remember as the sun rises on a new writing year - that the words may come hard, but the story may nevertheless turn out to be a gift. 

Thank you all so much for reading. You are a definitely a gift to me each and every time you come by here to visit. 

Tell me what you are resolving for the coming year. 

And the Winners Are...

The flowers return

 Happy New Year!!!

Snow in January 2014

Snow and sunshine. Winter and spring. Each year brings us gifts from them both.

Mom still smiling before she moved on up to heaven

Darrell's last concert with the Patriot Qt

Family came to help Darrell celebrate a milestone birthday!

Can you believe it's 2015? Fifteen years past the worry of the turn of the century shutting down the world because the computers wouldn't recognize the date. Fifteen years into the 21st Century. Fifteen years past the time when, as a kid, I used to think about how old I would be when we reached the impossible sounding year of 2000. Yet, here we are and looking forward to another year with blessings to come. 

A new book and an old friend

The pictures are part of my year in review. So fun to look back and see some of the good times of the year we just told goodbye. I didn't get the whole year covered. Just made it to June. Too many pictures. Now that we have those phones always at ready, it is easy to photograph every event and even those ordinary moments too that sometimes turn out to be the most treasured photos of all. Maybe July to December will be next time.

Kindergarten graduates!

Time for creek wading again

And the Winners Are..

Plus, my Christmas Giveaway Contest ended last night and we have winners!! Patty of Illinois is the 1st place winner. She wins the three generation figurine and her choice of one of my books. 2nd place winner was Barbara W. Not sure where Barbara lives yet, but she gets the Peanuts calendar and a book. I've sent e-mails to both winners. Also, I picked a "just because winner," Cynthia from Maine. She's having some eye problems so I'm sending her a choice of one of my audio books. 

I thank all of you who entered. I had a great time reading your favorite ways to celebrate Christmas. A lot of us said family made Christmas better. Many of us liked the decorations and lights and the Christmas candlelight services. Most of us liked the wonderful memories of Christmases past. And we all embraced the reason for the season - Jesus, the Greatest Gift. 

I'll come up with a new contest here on my blog soon. Mystery pictures maybe? Or some sort of guessing game? Something fun anyway. 

As always, thanks for reading.