seasons of life

As I look around at all the fall color I was thinking how there are seasons of life just as there are seasons of the year. At 47 I guess I'm in the fall of life. And it's a busy fall! But I know it's a short-lived season. This helps me keep perspective as I try to raise my boys, write, keep up with a home and a husband, stay active in church, and all the rest. Everyone I know is as busy as I am but in different ways.

So during this busy week, which we'll never have back again, we trade October for November. Trick or treating is tomorrow night - Paul is Indiana Jones and Wyatt is wearing some sort of a mask and carrying a plastic weapon. We usually attend a church harvest party but this year Randy wants to take us to town. We'll probably go to the pier and have a burger and watch the seagulls fight the raccoons for stray french fries, enjoy the sunset, and let the boys ring a few strange doorbells. Paul wants to bring his fiddle but I reminded him Indiana Jones doesn't carry a fiddle, just a whip! He thinks a fiddle is the next best thing.

I love November and am glad to see it get here. Some wonderful things happen in November. Wyatt turns 12 on Thanksgiving Day. And my publisher has a sales conference mid-month which features a catalogue with the upcoming summer line of books - mine included! I can't post the book cover for a few more weeks till any final changes are made. But I can post the recipe for my granny's Praline Pumpkin Pie which you will probably like even better than a book cover:)

So squeeze every second from these last few days of October as they'll never come again. Buy a good book. Take a walk. Bake a pie. Better yet, eat a pie. Listen to some fiddle music. Smile!

... He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy. Acts 14:17 NIV

passion

If you have a passion for words that passion should bleed through to paper (or laptop or whatever you happen to use). Recently I read a review of a John Grisham novel that became a bestseller. I consider Grisham the consummate Southern gentleman who writes books he says his granny can read. This particular reviewer found some fault with his writing but said what Grisham lacks in mechanics he makes up for with passion.

Passion is this: an intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction; an ardent affection: the emotions as distinguished from reason. (Webster's)

For fiction to reach the reader, the writer must write with passion. An emotionally flat novel is like a flat tire. You just won't get very far. Real characters are so life-like they nearly breathe - they are loaded with passion. Think Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. Horatio Hornblower. Rhett Butler. The Count of Monte Cristo. I'm tired tonight so the list is short.

If you do something with passion you will do it well. I know of violinists and pianists who have played for many years and have all the mechanics of playing down but something is missing. They lack passion. Don't think you can work it up. Forget it. It's a gift:)

The Bible is full of passion. My very favorite character (next to Jesus) is Joseph. Start reading in Genesis 37. Keep going. Joseph was, and is, full of passion! His true life story contains all the elements of a bestseller which is probably one of the reasons why the Bible remains the bestselling book of all time:)

indian summer

Indian summer is here and we are having some crisp, sunny days and starry nights. Randy has made 16 gallons of cider so far and has 3 apple trees to go. The boys are excited about trick or treating this Friday night. I'm excited to get back to page 94 of book 3 after homeschooling and cleaning house this morning. When Randy comes home tonight we have to vote as election day is looming.

When I stopped reading the paper and listening to the news a couple of years ago, my mind felt a lot cleaner. I pray about the upcoming elections but don't stew anymore. If I feel I really need to know something I go to RealClearPolitics.com which is a very savvy unbiased site that features some of the finest political writers of our day. But I find 18th-century politics far more interesting! All that intrigue and scandal, spies, turncoats, and whatnot.

I've discovered a wonderful new writer and can hardly wait for Amazon to ship the first book. It's titled Daughter of Liberty by J.M. Hochstetler. The next title is Native Son. Both are fiction but heavy on the history which I love. You should really read as much as you can in the genre you write.

Wish you could look outside my window and see those big maples with their very vivid golds and greens swirling in all this wind. But I'm sure you have some of your own fall color to brag about:) Happy Monday.

write what you know

This week I walked into a winter wonderland at Wal-Mart and Costco and was reminded that the holidays are right around the corner. It was a bit of a shock since I just celebrated Christmas in this third book and am now firmly entrenched in the middle of a very cold Kentucky January, 1779.

In The Frontiersman's Daughter I have a cabin Christmas scene where Ian gives Lael a particular gift. My editor really likes this scene but you'll have to wait and read the book! In Red River Daughter my favorite scene takes place in the orchard overlooking the Red River in autumn.

Other favorite chapters in book 2 involve babies and nursing which had me relying heavily on my own sleep-deprived days when I felt like a cow:) At the time I nursed my boys I never imagined using that particular experience in a novel. Colonial women nursed their children or found a wet nurse in their stead. Forgive me for being graphic but I could write a few chapters on spraying milk, mastitis, cabbage leaves, the Dolly Parton look and all the rest. Nursing isn't for sissies! But it sure came in handy when writing this book, though I made sure my Red River Daughter had a far easier go of it than I did.

All of this brings me back to this post's title which is to write what you know. Writers are often told to do this and it simply means your work will be far more authentic if you write out of your own experience.

In The Scrivener's Daughter I have Roxie doing a lot of knitting. Lael can knit in book 1 but she is mostly all action. Knitting is a bit like playing violin. I admire those who can knit and play but I don't know how to do it (though I did squeak out Mary Had A Little Lamb on the violin the other day). But I think I'd better learn as Roxie knits her way through this next novel.

Anyway, writing is never dull, as you can see. Ask James Thom who mastered all kinds of Colonial tools, rifles and other weapons, hiked the Lewis and Clark Trail several times, and more in order to write his wonderful, bestselling books. By the way, I wrote Mr. Thom a letter not long ago AND HE WROTE BACK!

More later. Hope your Saturday is a good one and finds you learning something new!

autumn

I love autumn for so many reasons - cider-making, all those colorful maple trees amongst the evergreens here, pumpkins and Indian corn, kettles of soup and cornbread, and crackling fires.

I'm sorry for the shorter days though. I remember what one old pioneer said about spending cold months in an old cabin. He said his backside was always freezing while the front of him was burning up. I used to think I'd been born 200 years too late. But when you consider bed bugs, lice, bathing a few times a year, and living in constant danger from disease and Indian attack I'm glad to hold onto my 21st-century comforts.

Here are a few gems I'm putting in The Scrivener's Daughter, taken from some old rules of civility and decent behavior:

1. Shew nothing to your Friend that may affright him.
2. Shift not yourself in the Sight of others nor Gnaw your nails.
3. Kill no Vermin as Fleas, lice, ticks in the Sight of Others, if you See any filth or thick Spittle put your foot Dexteriously upon it.
4. Make no Shew of taking great Delight in yur Victuals, Feed not with Greediness, nor cut Bread with your Knife Greasy.
5. Put not another bit into your Mouth til the former be Swallowed let not your Morsels be too big for the Gowls.
6. Labour to keep alive in your Breast that Little Spark of Celestial fire Called Conscience.

Common courtesy should never change. I especially like #6.
Happy Thursday.

a novel experience

I've just climbed down from my desk and finished singing the Hallelujah Chorus so now I can tell you that I received my book cover today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The designer did a wonderful job of capturing the essence of the story itself. I won't say any more till I post it here and hope that will be soon. Seeing your name in print on a book cover is truly a novel experience, no pun intended:) Strangely enough, it was the last thing I noticed.

I received a preliminary cover design last week but the art team wanted to change a couple of things. I do know that covers can go through several stages until things are just right so what I post might not end up being the real deal in the end. It is interesting to track the changes made. I've spent the last few minutes (well, the last half hour or so!) comparing the first and second design. And singing as I go!

I've read that authors sometimes throw a "diplomatic fit" if a cover isn't to their liking but honestly, this is all such a gift, I'm about to burst! I'm so glad the 40 year wait is over!

I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me. Psalm 13:6

creative timing

I just heard an interesting bit of news on the radio this rainy morning having to do with creativity. New research shows that people are most creative from 1-4 a.m. This strikes me as odd because most of the people I know are in bed at that hour except my brother Chris, the Ecuadorian night owl. The least creative time is 4:33 p.m. These researchers also found that folks are most creative in the shower which leaves me wondering how on earth they measured that? But they found that most people didn't write their creative thoughts down on paper and so lost them altogether. Maybe we writers are simply the ones who make it to the pen and paper stage.

Personally, I get my creative ideas when I take walks. Music helps, too! Right now I'm listening to the soundtrack from The Last of the Mohicans. It's the perfect music for thinking 18th-century thoughts! I loved the movie, especially the cliffside scene when Uncas and the evil Indian, Magua, fight. I won't say more in case you haven't watched it except to add that it was filmed on the Biltmore estate in beautiful North Carolina and takes your breath away.

An editor friend of mine recently told me she thinks my books are like the Little House on the Prairie books but with adult themes. I thought this was very clever and I'm flattered. For all of you Little House haters out there, I am truly sorry! But I love being compared to Laura Ingalls Wilder. Even Wyatt likes the Little House series and has read Farmer Boy several times (probably for those wonderful descriptions of frontier food).

Speaking of food, it would be a wondeful day for a kettle of soup and some cornbread. The snow level is pretty low on the mountains this morning though it's pouring rain here in the valleys below.

He gives snow like wool;
He scatters the frost like ashes.
He casts forth His ice as fragments;
Who can stand before His cold?
Psalm 147:17-18

wedding recovery

Many a man in love with a dimple makes the mistake of marrying the whole girl.

The days just prior to marriage are like a snappy introduction to a tedious book. -Wilson Mizner

Happiness untold awaits them when the parson consecrates them. -W.S. Gilbert

I love weddings. Guess that makes me a romantic at heart. My boys went to a wedding when they were small but the only thing they remember was the chocolate fountain so this wedding was a real treat for them. We arrived at church a little before 7 o'clock and it was a wet, windy, Washington night. Halloween weather! Our little church was overflowing and the usher couldn't find a seat for us. We are friends of the "sound man" who sits near the front with his computer system so his wife came and squeezed us into their pew:) Wonderful view!

The church was filled with those big blue hydrangeas which are blooming right now. Lots of attendants and two flower girls and one ring bearer. The groom wore his navy uniform and the bride wore a very beautiful gown and viel. Three pastors officiated so I consider them thrice wed! The ceremony was very moving and lasted an hour.

When we got to the reception Paul asked "Where is the queen?" I think the bride would have liked that. All the food was wonderful and THE CAKE had a crystal bride and groom with a navy anchor on top! Every layer was a different kind of cake but my favorite was the chocolate fudge.

So there we were sitting at our candlelit table with 300 other people in the reception hall. Wyatt, dreamy like his mother, was looking around and enjoying all the beautiful sights and sounds and tastes. Randy was his usual quiet self. And Paul, my nine year old realist, turns to me and says, "Mommy, when a man wants to dump a girl does he have to go to the law?" I think I choked on my cake! And this from a kid who watches no tv!

Anyway, I wish Alana and Robert every happiness. And lots of boys like Paul:)

boys and books

One of the best things in the world is to be a boy; it requires no experience, but needs some practice to be a good one.
-Charles Dudley Warner

This rainy morning I have one boy with a sore throat and another boy with a headache - and a big wedding to attend tomorrow night. Since becoming a mother, I'm always amazed at a kid's timing:) Of course I never mind if they get sick and have to miss school or a music lesson or sports - but a wedding is something else entirely! Must be that 7-layer cake... Since they are rarely sick I'll count my blessings (and try to find a way to attend that wedding)! Besides, it can't really be serious because Wyatt just said, "Mom, I think I'd feel better if you made me some hasbrowns, three eggs, and some toast."

I've just printed out a hard copy of book 2, Red River Daughter, in preparation for this next edit. I'm not sure why you catch so many more mistakes when you are holding actual pages as opposed to working off a laptop, etc. My brother has one of those Kindle devices where you can download books and read them on that little machine. I guess these are really catching on but I wonder if there's any substitute for holding a real book in your hands? I even love the smell of a new book! And I am absolutely wild about bookmarks. I found one yesterday with an old-style globe on it that says "A good book is a wonderful journey."

My publisher does the cleverest thing - before a book is released they send the author bookmarks and postcards to mail out. So check your mailboxes - you might be hearing from me. Happy Thursday.

rewriting

We do not write as we want to but as we can. -Somerset Maugham

I wonder if any writer is every satisfied with the way they write? Since writing consists of so much rewriting, it seems we spend a lot of time being dissatisfied and reaching for the better word. Ernest Hemingway said that "all first drafts are trash." Encouraging, huh? But I've found it to be true. I never dreamed how many times I'd have to rework paragraphs and chapters till they were just right, only to read them the next day and rework them again. I think all good writers must be perfectionists.

I am officially inching past page 82 of book 3 and smiling as I go! The best part of writing is the creating - not the editing. Nothing beats the bliss of having a scene in your head and having it unfold faster than you can write it down. Sometimes you're the director and move those characters around but most often they have a life of their own and will say and do things that delight you. I don't understand the process at all - I'm just a happy participant:)

It's good to be home tonight writing in my chair by the woodstove. Wish I could stay there the rest of the week! I'll have a wedding and church supper to post about soon ... and maybe a book cover too!