Here I am with the Butler County Librarian, Kenna, after my booktalk yesterday in Morgantown. I appreciated those who were able to come and hope they enjoyed hearing about how I started writing and kept on writing. Sometimes the kept on part is harder than the start part. But perseverance generally pays off and it has for me since I now have books to talk about to readers.
-I love libraries. I owe a lot of my own reading education to my hometown library and then when I started writing there was a wonderful librarian here in Anderson County named Ann McWilliams who always went out of her way to help me find whatever research material I needed for my historical novels. She was the best and in large part because of her energy and drive we have the beautiful library we have today that is dedicated to her memory. I was in our library this afternoon to return an audio book and the place was hopping. Almost every computer was busy and there were even some people looking at books. At the Butler County Library, Kenna says the inspirational fiction is very popular and that the library patrons are reading my books, too. That’s always music to a writer’s ears.
-Well, poor Dub is in doggie jail again. Not the pound this time, thank goodness. This time the doggie jail is our basement. And he’s there through no real fault of his own. He has itching problems and in trying to scratch his itch, he did something to his ear that made it swell up. The vet had to cut it open and drain it out. So now the poor old dog has on one of those Elizabethian (or as someone else said satellite dish) collars and he’s not a happy puppy. He keeps looking at me as if to ask why I’m torturing him like this. And it’s also torture for him to be confined. He’s a farm dog. He’s used to being out there smelling all the smells and watching the deer eat the apples off the tree. He doesn’t bother the deer. He just watches and hopes they’ll leave one of the apples for him. He’s going to have a long three weeks.
-Next week is going to be very busy around here. I’ve got another book talk on Tuesday. They’ll have to be polite and listen to me that day since it’s my birthday. (And by the way, that’s the day I’m drawing for the winner of my giveaway – two books to some lucky winner for my birthday. So you’ve got one more day to put your name in the drawing.) But we’re also going to be at the National Quartet Convention in Louisville every day. If you’re there come by the Patriots’ booth and say hello. Their booth is in aisle ten or eleven. It’s more fun if people stop and talk and I’ll have my books there if anybody wants my autograph. Then next Sunday I’m hosting my family reunion. My daughter and her husband are coming in and maybe my son and his family so I might get to see the WV grandbabies.
-On top of all that, this is the week they announce the winners of the ACFW books of the year in Denver. I’m not going to be in Denver, but I’ll be represented there by my agent just in case the unexpected happens and they announce Summer of Joy as winner of the long contemporary novel category. That would really be neat. But it’s already neat that my book was a finalist. I did really enjoy writing my Hollyhill books and it’s a blessing that readers have taken my Hollyhill characters to heart and enjoyed those stories as well as my Shaker stories.
– Oh yeah, and today is Grandparents Day. One of the kids at church asked what treat I’d bought to recognize the grandparents the way we do the Moms and Dads on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. I told her grandparents didn’t need a treat. They already had the best treat anybody could have – grandkids. I put this quote in the church bulletin today. “What a bargan grandchildren are! We give them our loose change, and they give us a million dollars worth of pleasure!” I don’t know who said it, but I know a lot of grandparents who might have. Hope if you’re a grandparent you have fun with your grandkids this week or maybe if you have a grandparent you had fun with them.