Read and Write Friday: I just might be a Heirloom Girl!

I got the best early Christmas present today.  I got a response from Mrs. Emilee Gettle who runs Heirloomgirl.com. She is interested in having me guest blog!  I am super excited!  I really love her site and the other projects she and her husband Jere have their hands in.

The Gettles are the owners of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and have authored a cookbook and gardening book as well as publishing Heirloom Gardener magazine.  I gave my husband a collection of their seeds for Christmas last year and it was such fun to watch the bounty roll in this summer.

I hope this will be the first step in obtaining bylines/clips/credit that will give me some ummph to back up queries to other magazines.  But, more than anything, I'm just excited to be a part of this family based, agrarian minded business.

If you haven't ever gotten a copy of their seed catalog you are missing out. Flipping through it and planning my spring garden is one of my favorite winter activities!

Friday Read and Write

Where do you write? This topic came up in October's issue of Writer's Digest.  Places that famous authors have written...?

1. While walking... yes I have
2. Favorite Chair... always
3. On Horseback... I have never ridden a horse so this one is out for me.
4. Out in nature... always
5. On the train... yes
6. Bathtub... yes, but never with the computer.
7. In the car... yes
8. In Bed... yes, but it isn't very efficient.  I tend to fall asleep.
9. In a Coffin... Call me silly but I just don't have one of those hanging around right now.
10. In your birthday suit... I have three teens and one pre-teen that would be scarred for life if I did this.

Today I'm feeling very J.K. Rowling-ish. I'm sitting in a downtown Grand Rapids Biggby Coffee writing because I have two hours to kill while City daughter is at her drama class at the Civic Theatre.  I also spent time writing in the back of the car today while my son was in his guitar lesson.

 

I do have an "official" writing desk.  It's in the basement.  I rarely use it.  I prefer to settle where I can hear if war erupts with any of the children.  Also if I'm out of sight for too long they come searching for me.  I am loved, or at least needed to find things, serve things, cook things and be shown the latest in Lego creations.

 

Comfy place to sleep... er... write

 

Backyard under the trees so I can see the computer screen

 Picnic table on the back deck if shaded

 

 Husband's fly tying desk in the family room. Shhh.... don't tell him.

 

 My chair when not occupied by teens

 

 Dining room table

 

Kitchen island

 



 

My downstairs "desk"

 

 

I love writing here but not with the computer.   Also it's kinda like the basement, too far away if war erupts.

 

 

Leave me a comment and let me know where you do your writing!

Friday's Read & Write

Last week I tackled Scott Westerfeld's series Uglies, Pretties, and Specials.  Really good reads but I would have preferred a different ending after investing all that time. Still need to get the last book in that world, Extras.

I attempted A Commonwealth of Thieves a book on the history and founding of Australia (I'm a history buff and an Austraphile.) But I found the writing a little too heavy for me at this time.  I think all day and when I sit down to read I want to be carried off on an adventure not have to think more.  This is nothing against the way the author writes but rather my feeble brain rejecting the information.

I also tried the novel Feed but only got a few pages in and decided it was not for me. Too much casual swearing.  I understand swearing in appropriate spots like, say, getting your thumb smashed by a hammer but this was just conversational swearing with no purpose.  I decided if the first few pages were riddled with said words that the rest of the book wasn't bound to be any different.  Great concept though... advertising fed straight into everyone's brains.

This week brings me the new Writer's Digest issue and a new Costco Connection. I also am re-reading Mary Kole's book on writing YA and MG. Good stuff it is!

On the writing end... I've finished the beginning of The Follower and an now headed into the dreaded middle section.  Trying hard not to let it sag.  Good thing my readers (my two teen girls) are around to tell me if it's any good or not.  At least if my book never sees the light of day I will have two fans.  My girls admitted that they had been fan-girling over the book all ready.  That's a compliment!

What are you all reading? Writing?

Friday Read and Write: Baker Book House

Since I had some extra gas in my car today I went and took a trip to a local Christian book store.  I was specifically excited to go there because I had read online that they had an actual Teen/YA section in the store and I wanted to check it out.

I was a little disappointed upon arrival.  The YA (fiction) section was only 4 x 8.  But still it is a young adult section in a Christian book store.  Some of the titles did look good and it was refreshing not to have to look at a bunch of covers with Amish or Pioneer Women on them.  I haven't read a lot of Christian fiction as of late because nothing ever looked interesting... just the same ol', same ol'. But even the Adult fiction looked like it had some options. (Though Amish and 1800's romance abound.) Perhaps Christian publishing is finally maturing like the music scene has.

If I would have had the $$ to purchase a book, I would have chosen Aquifer by Jonathan Friesen. It is dystopian and I think I've mention that is my current reading trend.  The Lost Books series by Ted Dekker also sounded good as well as the River of Time series by Lisa T. Bergren.  It definitely pays to go to a Christian Books store for a bit more variety then the Christian section in Barnes and Noble.

Let's hope the Christian Publishing Industry (and typical reader) is finally branching out and wanting a bit more.

Curious what do you read?  What genres and do you read Christian, secular or a mix?  YA or adult?

Surprise, Surprise!

 

City Daughter

Today was a day of pleasant surprises for me:

1. Six people to the dentist with not a one cavity! City daughter does need her wisdom teeth pulled though.

2. I was researching the YA market (Young Adult Books) and found out that the Christian publishing industry is really latching on to YA.  Yeah!  I'm not sure if I want to go Christian or Mainstream when I'm done with The Follower but it is good to know I have more options.

3. My tomatoes are really starting to ripen.  I may have enough ripe to start canning!

4. I remembered I had a Costco package of pork chops in the freezer.  Meat for dinner!

5. Farmer John made it home from Detroit meetings in time to eat dinner with us.

6. City daughter baked my favorite cookies for dessert... chocolate chip!

What a really good day!  Simple things make me happy :)

Friday's Read & Write

So tired from yesterday's mondo weeding stint so this will be short. I'm still working through some books and mags that I already posted about because I've been writing more than reading.

My daughter also wants me to read Divergent by Veronica Roth so that is my new read for this week. I guess there is a movie based on the book coming out soon.  It was one of many books used for examples in Kidlit so I expect it to be good.  It is also Dystopian which is my favorite genre as of late.

Current favorite writing quotes:

Rick Riordan when asked via twitter, "How are you sure your ideas will come out good?"- "You accept that they won't on the first draft. That's okay. Revise, revise!

"Take out all the parts that suck and make the rest sound natural." - Laurie Halse Anderson

I love these quotes because they remind me that I don't have to be genius just tenacious! Writing well takes work.

Happy reading and writing!

And now we wait....

 

We had a busy day, yesterday.  My oldest had tryouts for the Grand Rapids Homeschool Performing Art's Production of Peter Pan. She said she did well.  Not perfect- I guess the dance portion could have gone better- but she is content with her audition.  Now we wait for the e-mail that tells her if she got the part or not.  She could know as soon as today or as late as the end of the month.  Many thanks to family and Mr. Herrick Kimball of the Deliberate Agrarian for their financial donations to make this happen for her and to the Weber family for hiring her for childcare.

 

She isn't after any specific part. In fact she'd prefer a smaller one since this would be her first production but I know she hopes to get A part.  Even just part of the pirate chorus.  I told her I know she tried her best and now all we can do is ask the Lord to guide decisions.

I also am playing the waiting game. I applied (via essay) for a scholarship to a local writer's conference this fall. Deadline for entries is 8/15/13 and then I might not hear till the end of the month also.  Don't you just love waiting?

Friday Read & Write

Recently I invested in the most wonderful book on writing.  If you are even thinking of entering the Middle Grade (MG) or Young Adult (YA) market then this is a must read.  I feel like I've gotten a full college course for the $20 price tag.  Writing Irresistible Kidlit by Mary Kole is the real deal.  The subtitle is The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers and I would say this is not an exaggerated claim.

Ms. Cole is not only an author with a MFA in Creative Writing, but she is also a literary agent at Movable Type Management (MovableTM.com). This positions her to not only teach you how to write but what to write if you're looking for the best chance of publication.  I'm only half-way through the book and I've learned so much.

She gives you a market overview, a MG/YA mindset, story building ideas, storytelling foundations, character development, plot development, advanced kidlit info and career advice.  There are writing exercises throughout the book to give you an opportunity to put what you're learning into action. It is published by Writer's Digest Books which I have found to put out superior products.

Another equally valuable book by Writer's Digest Books is Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, by Christina Katz.  I originally checked this book out of the library and knew I had to purchase it because it is just that good.  She leads you through; finding the easiest routes to publication, networking, writing cover letters and queries, choosing your writing speciality, creating web presence, setting up office, and making time for everything.  It is all from the viewpoint of a mom for moms.  This book too has lots of practical exercises for you to work on.  It retails for $15.

I've read a lot of books about the craft of writing but these two are tops!

UPDATE: Just found out that as of 7/31/13 Mary Kole has left Moveable Type Management and is no longer a literary agent.  She is however opening her own freelance editing biz and is still blogging at kidlit.com.  You can read about these changes HERE.

Friday Read & Write

I've been feeling pretty darn tired this week.  It's eight at night and I could lay down and go right to sleep.  Still, I have a new pile of books and magazines courtesy of the local library system.

 

 

 

For more writing education I picked up The Everything Get Published Book by Meg Schneider and Barbara Doyen.  It was published in 2006 but the info still seems quite relevant. I'm enjoying it a lot.

 

I also picked up Blogging  All-In-One For Dummies by Susan Gunelius.  I would like to make my blog a little more interesting and noteworthy so I'm hoping to garner some tips and inspiration.  We're talking a platform blog. (Wanna-be published authors will know what I mean.) It was published in 2010 so the info should be pretty up to date but I'm not sure it will have what I'm looking for. 

 

  On the homesteading front... I found Pay Dirt How To Make $10,000 A Year From Your Backyard Garden by John Tullock.  It looks interesting. Published in 2010 it should have lots of good tips for earning some money from homesteading ventures.  $10,000 seems like a feasible number if I could just keep my gardens weeded!

The newest issue of Hobby Farm Home is also out.  I especially liked the article on working goats, the article on pickling and the article on cooking on the hearth.

 

With regards to homeschooling, I picked up The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook by Raymond and Dorothy Moore.  It claims "A creative and stress-free approach to homeschooling".  I found this in what I thought was the library's new section but when I got it home and checked the published date I was disappointed to see it was published in 1994.  That's pretty old and homeschooling has come a long way since then. I could appreciate the content but there is nothing new to me since I've been homeschooling since 2001.  If you have never home-schooled before I would suggest it but remember it is almost 20 years old.

Lastly, if you are in the Grand Rapids area and are looking for an affordable writer's conference to go to check out the Breathe Writer's Conference.  I can't afford to go but have put an essay in to be considered for a scholarship to attend and have a friend who is registered as well.  From all the online info it looks like a really good and fairly priced conference.  It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of bigger conventions but I don't really need bells and whistles.

That's all from the reading front.  I'm still trying to carve out time daily to work on my YA novel and made some good progress this week.  How about you all?

1/2 Duggar For A Day (Friday's Read & Write)

Well, I apologize for not getting Friday's Read & Write up yesterday (on Friday... what a concept!) But I was busy experiencing what it would be like if our family was 1/2 the size of the Duggar Family instead of 1/4.

I had a total of 10 children for 24 hours to celebrate my son's 13th birthday and to help good friends celebrate their 21st anniversary.  Wow... ten kids consume a lot of food and create a lot of dishes.  But it was a lot of fun and the Kooshian family is wonderful.

I had three 16 year-olds, two fifteen year-olds, two thirteen year-olds, two eight year-olds and one four year-old.  Needless to say I crashed out on the couch about 9:30 last night after all was said and done.  I was trying to watch a PBS documentary, Eating Alabama, (about eating locally) and 1/2 way through had to mumble at my son, "Don't delete it when it's done." Then I was out until 11:00 when I moved to my bed.  Sleep is truly a wonderful blessing from the Lord.

So for yesterdays Read & Write...

Two new magazines: The newest issue of The Costco Connection (Free at the warehouse.) and the newest issue of Hobby Farm.  The Connection usually has good info on books that are coming out for release and didn't disappoint.  They had a nice little write up on Carol Rifka Brunt's debut novel Tell The Wolves I'm Home and an interview with journalist/writer Tom Wolfe.

Hobby Farm has a great article on grafting tomatoes but I think I stick with just trying to grow them before I get all fancy.  It also had a blurb (answering a reader's question) about showing chickens.  I think I don't want to get into that either as you have to bathe the chickens and I can't see any of mine submitting to that.  But they had an article on Herbs to sell at farmer's markets that was quite intriguing and I can see myself growing some of the varieties mentioned.  I love herbs!

This week, at the library, I picked up two books: The Duck Commander Family (Duck Dynasty Fare) by Willie & Korie Robertson (with Mark Schlabach).  It is a delightful little read with a look into the inner workings of the Robertson family and some unique recipes- Fried Bologna anyone?  The best part is the pictures of pre-bearded Robertson men!

The second book is The Weekend Homesteader- A Twelve-Month Guide to Self Sufficiency by Anna Hess.  This books contains easy weekend projects for all months of the year for those of us working to provide for ourselves and lead a different type of life than mainstream. Some of the things are for beginners and some are for more advanced practitioners. The July topics are Fall Planting, Freezing Food, Hanging Clothes Out To Dry, and Budget.  I need to start thinking about fall, I have plenty of food to freeze and put up, I desperately want a clothes line and budgeting advice is always welcome. Can't wait for reading time tonight.

Okay, well I have kiddoes that want to be fed, farmer's market shopping to do, weeding, harvesting and two roosters to butcher today as well as dinner out at Red Robin. (My parents are taking the whole family out- yeah!)  I think I must get started!

Have a great weekend!

Friday Read & Write: The Budget Is Tight!

This week I picked up a couple of new books at the library because we are kicking the credit card habit and living within our means and our means are pretty small.  One income and seven people is a practice in severe dollar stretching. Yet, it can be done because we are doing it!

The first pick is Making It: Radical Home Ec. For A Post-Consumer World by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen. The book is divided up into sections; daily needs, weekly needs, monthly needs , seasonal needs and infrastructure (solar cookers, dry toliets, honey extractors).  I'm hoping to find ways to reduce expenditures and if an alternative to shampoo does the job then I'm sold.

My next pick is The Key: How To Write Da** Good Fiction Using The Power Of Myth by James N. Frey.  As we need money, I need to start producing writing that provides income. My first love is fiction so why not harness the power of myth in my novel?

My third pick is a book I already own.  The 2013 Writer's Market Guide.  I am using it to find and enter writing contests and to get my articles, poetry and short stories to the right people and hopefully published.

Of course my writing has to come after everything and everyone else on the homestead so it is a challenge.  But of course, one I welcome. Why not throw one more plate up in the air.

On an ending note... my daughter found out that it costs $175 to participate in our local Homeschool Performing Arts play this year.  Our funds are too tight to contribute to this but she has started a fundraising campaign using Go Fund Me.  If you feel led to help her out you can go here and contribute.  Every dollar helps.

Have an awesome day!

New Project? Me A Cookbook Author?

I just found out that one of my sister-in law's families has a family cookbook.  My niece just turned 19 and was gifted one.  What!?  How come my family doesn't have a family cookbook?  Oh... cause I'm the only girl and I haven't put one together yet.  Sigh.  New project!  But it will be a fun one and a good one to pass down to my kids and my brother's kids.

I'm thinking of not only putting in recipes but stories and pictures too. Hmmm... who knew my first "published" work would be a cook book.  I wish I would have realized to do this when my grandmother's were alive.  I hope my mom is able to share some of their recipes.  I remember Norwegian things from my mom's mom and wonderful potato pancakes from my dad's mom (German ancestry).  Both sets of my Grandparent's parents immigrated to the USA so I hope there are some recipes that go back to their "motherlands".

I guess while I'm at it I should get with my mother-in-law and my husband's sister and work on a Lewis family cookbook too.  Ohhh for more time in the day.

Have any of you put out a family cookbook?  What did you include and who did you "publish" it through? How much did it cost?

 

I imagine that a Schuh family cookbook would look similar to this.

Friday's Read and Write on Saturday

Yesterday was a crazy day for me.  Not only did I have to take my son to guitar class and then grocery shop but yesterday was the day my bum knee decided to balloon up to softball size and ache.  So needless to say, I sat on my backside the rest of the day.  This post did not happen.  But here it is this morning.

 

Mostly magazines in this weeks material.  I found a bundle of Hobby Farm Home magazines (last year's copies) for sale for $1 at the library.  I snatched those puppies up and also checked out two issues of Mother Earth Living, one of Do It Yourself and the new issue of Hobby Farms.

 

While shopping at Costco on Friday I found they had a paperback version of a book I've been wanting to read: Wild by Cheryl Strayed.  I also snatched that little baby up.  It is a memoir of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (California, Oregon, Washington) alone.  I grew up in the burbs of Seattle so I know the Cascade Mountains well and can't wait to read her account.  Also I must confess that the Trail she hiked comes into play in my YA book, The Follower so I must read for that as well.

 

Also out this week is a new book by Martha Stewart: Living The Good Long Life!  I love Martha.  I have for years.  This new book aims for the 40+ crowd and focuses on wellness issues.  It has gone on my list of books to purchase.  Hmmm... Mother's Day is coming up.  I think I will ask for that.

 

Soon to be out and another book to put on my list is Growing Up Duggar by the four eldest Duggar girls; Jana, Jill, Jessa and Jinger.  I love this family and can't wait to read the girl's thoughts on their famous family.

 

Okay, I'm off to read, write, study, clean and plant... everything I should have done yesterday!  Enjoy your Saturday.

Friday Read & Write

If you are like me, you always have a stack of reading material to get through.  I always have a magazine on hand (I'm an information junkie.) and usually a mix of fiction and non-fiction to be read or re-read.

I'm currently on a YA (Young Adult) reading kick for two reasons. 1. I have three of them in the house.  A 16 year-old, a 14 year-old and a 12 year-old. I like to stay on top of what they like to read and what is available out there. 2. My current #1 writing project is a YA novel so I need to know the market.

This weeks stack includes: The Apothecary by Maile Meloy, Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck and Cooked the new Michael Pollan tome.  My mag is Writer's Digest's newest issue.

The Apothecary is YA and set in 1952.  It deals with Russian spies, a sacred book called the Pharmacopoeia and a quest to save the world from nuclear disaster.  I love natural healing and all things herbal so I was drawn to this book by the name alone.  I'm looking forward to the read.

Tiger's Curse is a the first book in a series or three or four.  My 16 year-old has wanted me to read it for quite awhile.  She really likes the series.  It is YA and the plot centers around the protagonist tying to break a 300 year-old curse involving a mysterious white tiger.  It is a fantasy/romance and as my daughter has already read the series, I hope I approve.  I declined to let her read the Twilight series not because of vampires and werewolves but because I didn't want her thinking that relationships like Edward/Bella's were what real relationships were like.

Cooked is the book I've been waiting for to come out.  It's finally here and I can't wait to see what insights Michael Pollan has discovered about the process and history of cooking.  Even though he comes from an evolutionary point of view and I am a creationist he still usually brings me quite a few aha moments from the conclusions he draws.  I'm only through the introduction but I have already found quite a few good quotes.  Here is one: Cooked is an invitation to alter... the ratio between production and consumption in your life. The regular exercise of these simple skills... increases self-reliance and freedom while reducing our dependence on distant corporations. Love it!  Down with the Man!!

Also in my reading pile is a friend's book that she has finished and I'm critiquing.  I also have some Bible study to do for a upcoming devotional I am giving to my church's ladies group.

My writing list:  Keeping up with this blog and social media. (Tweeting is actually a good exercise in conveying your point with minimal words.) Working on my YA book: The Follower, my friend's critique, my devotional, my journal, various free-lance articles, and other books in the works.

Who needs to sleep right?

What are you all reading and writing?

I'm Back!

Oh My Gosh!!! I still exist!  Getting serious about a great many things.  Farming... got chickens!  Bees are next. We've had our top bar bee hive for two years.  This is the year to finally get bees for it!  Also getting serious about writing and selling artisan products from the homestead.  More soon...

 

Reagan holding one of our "Little Peepers"!  12 Barred Rock Pullets.

A funny thing happened while curriculum browsing...

A couple of years back I purchased a wonderful curriculum for my girls for them to use for Jr. High and High school. It is Far Above Rubies by Lynda Coats and focuses on preparing girls to become skilled homemakers. This fall is when we will start it with our oldest. While perusing it for the first real time, yesterday, we were making a list of things we need. One of the things was a book on writing style and grammer. I pulled out my old ones that I've had forever and my daughter started looking through them. Up till this point she was very excited for this new curriculum (self-directed unit study) but suddenly she looked glum. "Do I really have to read this book cover to cover?" she asked.

I started laughing! I thought she had realized that these were for reference. I quickly reassured her that she was not going to have read them like a book. Ugh! Cover to cover grammer? What a way to kill a love of learning. (For me at least. I'm sure there are people out there that eat, sleep and breathe grammer. Eats, Shoots and Leaves people.)

It's also time for her to start learning to properly type. Not just hunt and peck. I want a book for her to learn from, not a computer program so I went to the library to see if they had something. They had something alright! Something from 1985. (I took typing in school in 1981.)

I nearly split a gasket when I opened the book. It had pictures of typewriters and old, clunky word processors. The first lesson included learning to identify the parts of the typewriter and how to load and center your paper correctly. Ahhh... the good old days of pre- everyone owning a PC.

This book is just temporary to get her started while I search for something a little more current to purchase. (I've got 4 more- thus far- coming up behind her that need to learn too.) But I'll have to edit some of the lessons for her unless of course I want this to count as history too. Long live qwerty!

A post of tidbits

Our friendly little ground squirrel is going to get aquainted with a new spice!

I've just read that squirrels don't like cayenne pepper. Guess who's going to go to Costco and buy a big ol' honkin' container. The heavy rain we've had has surely washed away the castor oil I tried and the neighbor's teen didn't have any luck with his BB gun. So cayenne pepper is next on the list. Apparently you sprinkle your garden plants and soil with it and it keeps the squirrels away. I'm pouring it right down the hole.

Also heard that the USDA is not going to persue the National Animal ID System. Yeah! Don't tread on me!

Remember the cigar box purses that were trendy a few years ago? Well now, you can make cowboy-boot purses. Actually they're quite cute! The how-to is in the June/July issue of Mary Jane's Farm magazine.

If you can sew and are looking for fun vintage style patterns check out FOLKWEAR. They have great vintage patterns from many different periods, countries and cultures. I found several I'd like to try once my sewing abilities improve.

Just today an idea for a children's picture book popped into my head. I've got great words but alas I have no artistic talent in the illustration department. Anyone know Johannah Bluedorn? She is the talented lady who illustrated Raising Maiden's of Virtue. Her drawings for that book are right in line with the pictures in my head. I'm going to write it and send a proposal off to Vision Forum. Actually, I'd like to publish it myself (not vanity publishing but actually start a publishing house) but I fret that the entire process might be a bit large for me. Anyone else ever thought of publishing? Any illustrators out there?

Finally, because of the excitement of building and having a greenhouse this spring we started lots of seeds. They were doing great and then we had two nights of freezing weather. Now we need to start at least half of what we had started over as they went caput. We lost pumpkins, tomatos, basil and corn. Also, my beautiful lemon balm turned brown and the leaves curled up. Thankfully, there is plenty of new green leaves already growing. So what did we learn? We need to keep rabbits in the green house to heat it to keep the plants alive. But how do we keep the rabbits warm in the winter? Anyone have knowledge on this. We'd want meat rabbits, both for their meat and for their skins (for fly tying.) Of course we would also need to learn to tan the hides as well as butcher the bunnies and I'm not sure the landlords would appreciate us processing rabbits in our garage. LOL!

Book Review: When Love Blooms

I am very super stoked to announce that I get to be a blog book reviewer for Zondervan! Some women go gaga over shoes or clothes or make-up... for me... it's books. I can spend a better part of a day in any bookstore and I'd survive just fine on a desserted island with food, water, shelter and books. No volleyball needed.

My first set of books Zondervan sent me consisted of a romance novel, a suspense novel and non-fiction book. Hmmmm... what did the hopeless romantic pick up first, yup that's right- the suspen... oh, wait! HaHa, just kidding. It was the romance novel When Love Blooms by prolific writer, Robin Lee Hatcher. (One of my favorite authors.)

The premise for the book: The main character, Miss Harris, takes a job as a governess for two little girls in the remote Stanley Basin of Idaho in the late 1800's. Unbeknowst to her, the girls mother, Dru, is dying and is desperately hoping that Miss Harris and Dru's husband, Gavin, will fall in love so that her girls have a new mother in place when she is gone.

If you are looking for a light read and don't want to dwell in deep thought then this is a very enjoyable book. However, I felt the characters were flat and underdeveloped, the story line too entirely predictable, and some of the situations forced upon the characters by the author. This is not Hatcher's best book. I will say, spending two years living in Boise, Idaho, that the author caught the magic of the Stanley Basin, which truly is one of the most beautiful (and harsh in winter) places in the world. Putting me into the late 1800's Stanley Basin made the read entirely worthwhile. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate it a 5 and given Hatcher's track record I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another of her novels.

I've gotten over 5,000!

The DH being silly!

Check out my site meter! I've had over 5,000 hits! Yeah, for some of you that is sissy stuff but I'm thrilled considering I didn't blog from July thru January. (Late pregnancy and then a newborn filled that time.) My DH laughed at me and told me it was just me and the Grandma's that made that total. To which I replied indignately, "I have blogging friends!" That made him laugh even harder.

Homemade Thursdays

Okay, God made her but those Grandmas do get cranky if I don't keep them in pictures!

Book Cover Front

Book Bindings


Book Cover Back

Front inside page

Copyright page

Back pages

Mother Hen over at http://www.shipfullofpirates.com/ hosts homemade Thursdays. The only thing I've created recently is my 3 month-old daughter and God did most of that work. My DD and DH however were busy. The DH took all the "books" my daughter Andi wrote and illustrated (on computer paper), scanned each page into our computer, formatted them to book size, added front and back info pages as well as heavier paper for the front and back cover and bound them by hand. We now have a collection of very professional looking books all made at home. We have created (tongue and cheek) Lewis Publishers. Both my daughter and my husband are very proud of their work.