If you’re old enough, you might remember when people used to say you couldn’t get anything for a nickel anymore? But now it’s more like you can’t get much for a dollar these days. When I was a kid you could actually get a candy bar for a nickel and a piece of bubblegum or a sucker for a penny. I guess I just told you how old I am.
A lot of people don’t even bother leaning down to pick up a penny these days and you see those “take a penny or leave a penny” dishes on store counters everywhere. It’s just not worth the bother to count pennies. In fact they say it costs more to make a penny than a penny. So I guess you can’t even get a penny for a penny nowadays.
But what you can get is an e-book copy of my third Shaker book, The Seeker. You can download it for 99 cents, a penny short of that dollar, but only for a very limited time. So if you would like to read one of my Shaker books, here’s your chance for less than the cost of most soft drinks. Also, Scent of Lilacs, my first Hollyhill book is a free download for a few more days. Click on the titles for the Kindle link, but you can also find them at other e-book sites like Barnes & Noble, Christianbook.com, Kobo, or wherever you shop for e-books. Remember to always check your price before you download since e-book sales come and go quickly.
So since The Seeker is on sale, here’s a letter I let the hero write to the heroine. I enjoyed Adam’s character. He is an illustrator during the Civil War since that was at the very beginning of photography and most newspapers and magazines depended on artists for their news stories. It was an interesting way to view the history of the war. My editor says she doesn’t really like letters or diary entries in books, but I love them. I’ve used both in my stories. Charlotte and Adam wrote several letters back and forth. It was a great way to include history and to have a connection between them when they were miles apart.
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 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 do 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
One More Sunday Winner to Go
Actually two more winners since I’m picking one winner from all the comments made on my posts in August and one winner from the comments on the two posts this week. Deadline for entry is midnight EST on Saturday, August 27, 2016. Winners get their choice of one of my books. I did also send out a newsletter today, so if you’ve signed up for my newsletter, check your inbox. (Sometimes newsletters land in the spam folder, so if you don’t see it in your mailbox you might find it in that other not so nice folder.) I’m giving away some prizes to celebrate another birthday coming my way. If you haven’t signed up for my newsletter, you still can. Or just let me know you want to read this one, and I’ll send you a copy.
So tell me what can you get for $1.00?
Comments 16
With having a lot of medical bills I have to always keep my eyes open for bargains.Thrift stores and yard sales are great places to shop.You can even find new items still with tags on them.Why pay full price when you can get the same thing for up to 75% less.I always check out the clearance racks in stores also.I actually just bought two great books in the clearance buggy in a store I shop at frequently for 75 cents each,
Author
Jackie, sounds as if you’re a thrifty shopper who finds plenty of great deals for a dollar or less. Way to stretch your dollar. Maybe that’s what I should have named this post. “How to Stretch Your Dollar” That seems to be what several of you are telling me how to do. That’s great!
My mom is the best at getting great stuff at the Goodwill for one dollar or under. Oftentimes the items are brass or silver plated and after she works hard shining them up they look like they are worth much more than a dollar!
Author
I know others that get great bargains at Goodwill. Sounds as if your mother knows how to get value for her dollars.
Anything at the $ store! 100 pennies. I love your emails. Be thankful in all things.
Author
I forgot about the Dollar Tree type stores when I posted this, Betty. We have one of those in our town and it’s fun to go in there and see what a dollar can buy. The problem is that sometimes those dollars add up when I’m shopping and I get lots of things for a dollar each. LOL.
Thank you so much for reading my emails, Betty. And I am thankful, especially for readers like you.
There are numerous ebooks for under $1.00 and that is great. Also, I can get a Sparkling Ice Coconut Pineapple drink for $1.00. Very refreshing. 🙂
Author
So you can grab one of those pineapple drinks, get out your e-reader and have some fun, Melissa, for a couple of bunks. 🙂
$1.00 can buy me a double cheese burger at McDonald’s (which I really don’t need!) but they’re good. If I get my 9 year old grand daughter to help me bring groceries in or something similar she’s happy with a dollar though she doesn’t expect it. Her smile is worth much more than $1.00!!!
Author
I like the granddaughter smiles better than the double cheeseburger, Janet. Although I do like the dollar deals they have at some of the fast food places right now. Got a Frosty at Wendy’s the other day for half a dollar. Couldn’t resist at that price. 🙂 I’m seeing your granddaughter’s smiles and your happy ones in return.
I can get a bottle of shampoo, a slice of pizza, (have to drink water, I guess), a ride on one of those electric pony rides in front of some stores, a house in Detroit:
seriously! Look: http://www.businessinsider.com/detroit-houses-for-1-dollar-2012-2#a-single-family-3-bedroom-home-on-hartford-st-4, oh, and since I have a Kindle, I can get a lot of e-books for .99 cents.
Candy and little puzzles from Party City.
A lot of greeting cards are just a dollar! You know that, right? Oh, and there are some dollar food menu items at fast food joints.
What else…………….this is fun……………..! Oh, a pine tree air freshener, a bar of soap, and those little airline sized things like tiny tubes of toothpaste.
🙂
Author
You’ve come up with quite a list, Nancy. I could try those pony rides for a dollar, but it would be more fun to let my grandkids have that dollar. 🙂 I do know you can get some greeting cards for a dollar and I usually look at that rack first. I have stopped buying the $5 and higher cards. I guess when a greeting card costs more than my books, I begin to resist. But I do like cards and send them all the time.
We have a country store at church to raise money for our ladies group projects, so some of those things are a dollar. You can’t even get a candy bar for a dollar anymore! Maybe a head of lettuce or a peach or a pear or an orange or a pint of blueberries —- I’m trying for healthy!
I like letters etc in the text of books BUT the print is usually too small or a funny font to differentiate from the text. That makes it hard for these eyes to read!
Blessings, Ann.
Author
You’re right, Paula. They do often put a different print font on those letters. I hadn’t thought about that being harder to read for some readers.
You named some great things to get for a dollar. I’d be taking my dollar to church for a sweet taste or two after the service. Fun way to raise money for your projects. Not that I need to eat any of those sweets. I need to stick to the lettuce and blueberries too.
I get lots of goodies for $1 at our local Dollar Tree store! Holiday plates and napkins, toothbrushes and toothpaste, stickers and pens, notebooks and sometimes even Pringles potato chips!
Author
We have a Dollar Tree store here too, Margaret. I should have thought of that when I was posting because you can get a lot of things, a whole store full of things, for a dollar there. I have often shopped there for gift bags and stocking stuffers.