Christmas Secrets

When I was a kid, I was a firm believer in Santa Claus. The old gent was always very good to me and my sisters so I had no reason to be dubious. That's why, when a classmate tried to tell me he wasn't real, we almost came to blows.

But the seed of doubt had been planted, so I decided to find out for myself.

We always spent Christmas Eve at my grandmother's home. She had a wonderful old house with an oak banister she wrapped with pine boughs and a tree big enough to fill half of the living room. A wreath with a candle in the center lit every window. The only flaw in the place was that there was no fireplace, but my grandmother solved that problem by putting up a cardboard one for us to hang our stocking on.

How Santa Claus managed to enter the house through that cardboard fireplace was one of the great mysteries of my childhood. I'd always taken it on faith . . . until that Christmas.

That night, I waited, lying beside my sleeping sister, until the adults went to bed and the house grew quiet. Then, I heard a rustling in the living room below. I slipped out from under the covers and padded to the head of the stairs. Peering through the greenery, I discovered my grandmother below.

She was filling each of the stockings--a fragrant orange in the toe, nuts and hard candy on top of that, and a small toy in each. Before she could catch me out of bed, I tiptoed back.

Well, as it turned out, my classmate was right. There was no Santa Claus. But I learned I had something even better--I had a grandma who loved me.

When did you learn the truth about SC? Do you still believe? ;-) 

A Cover is Worth a Thousand Words!

I'm so excited!

My editor sent me a jpeg of the cover for THE COLDWATER WARM HEARTS CLUB. I couldn't be more thrilled. (Neither could she! She confessed that she had framed the cover and it's on her desk!) Here it is:

The art department at Kensington has outdone themselves. They perfectly captured the feeling of Coldwater Cove, my favorite imaginary hometown. It's a wonderful little place nestled by green hills and bordered on the east by Lake Jewel, whose bracing, spring fed depths gives the town its name. There's a charming Victorian courthouse in the middle of the Town Square. Folks take pride in their homes and lawns and flags fly each Fourth of July. 

As far as the people who live there goes, Coldwater Cove is a cross between Mayberry and Lake Woebegone. My heroine's father fights a never ending battle with the squirrels in his yard. Even though most folks have internet access, the nosy, but well-meaning, Methodist Prayer Chain is still the best means of spreading information. And you never know when the raucous Bugtussle clan will rattle into town in their decades old truck. 

The book won't be out until April 2016, but I've posted the first chapter for you already. Click here to follow Lacy Evans as she learns what it means to go home again...

Enjoy!

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How about you? Have you ever moved back to a place you've lived before? (I've done that twice!) Or have you pretty much stayed put?

Things my grandmother taught me...

When I teach a writing workshop, I often ask "What's the most attractive quality in a hero or heroine?" I get tons of responses, but rarely the one I'm looking for. I think the best character trait I can give my imaginary people is the willingness to sacrifice themselves for those they love.

The idea comes from my grandmother. She was a lovely lady in every sense of the word. Whip-smart, she skipped a couple of grades in school, graduating at 16. She's one of the few people I've ever known who truly never said a negative thing about another person. She was love on two feet.


My uncle once told me about something she did for him when he was a little boy of about 9 or 10. They lived on a farm, dependent on water from their well. One time, it got clogged up so they had to drain it to clear out the muck that had collected. After most of the water was drained, someone needed to go down and send up buckets of mud until the well was cleaned out. My granddad lowered down my uncle because he was small enough to fit in that tight place, yet strong enough to do the job.

As he rode the bucket down, the sky above him became an ever-shrinking circle of blue. The sides of the well were dank and slimy. He was afraid every chink in the stone hid a multi-legged creature or a water snake.

My uncle started to cry.

My grandmother told my granddad to haul him up. Then she put her foot in the bucket and took his place at the bottom of the well.

By the time he got to this point in the telling of this story, my uncle could scarcely speak. His mother went down into that dark hole for him. She'd have walked through fire for her children.

I was blessed to have my grandmother in my life until well after I had kids of my own. Toward the end, she developed Alzheimer's, and, one by one, stopped recognizing those who loved her. The last to go in her mind was my uncle.

It was a long, painful goodbye.

That's why, when my friend Tammy Falkner invited me to contribute to an anthology to benefit Alzheimer's and brain health, I jumped at the chance. It's a chance to honor the memory of my grandma.

Forget Me Not is an anthology of ten short stories by ten different authors who are donating 100% of the proceeds. I hope you'll join Tammy Falkner, Jane Charles, Ava Stone, Marquita Valentine, Lj Charles, Andris Bear, Jerrica Knight-Catania, Caren Crane and Diane Franks and me to help combat this terrible disease.

Forget Me NotA charity anthology to benefit Alzheimer's research

10 ink artists auditioning for a shot at working at the parlor of their dreams
10 skins, each with a story to tell
10 perfect tattoos so they'll never forget
A little bit of healing
A whole lot of heart

Now available for pre-order on Amazon and iBooks!
More formats coming soon.
Read an excerpt here...

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If you've lost someone to Alzheimer's, please share. It's good to remember those we love, even if they can't remember us.

Beans & Ham Hocks from the Green Apple Grill

The kids are back in school. The leaves are starting to turn and sooner or later, there'll be a nip in the air. Jake Tyler, the wounded warrior hero of The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club and owner of the Green Apple, is getting ready to add his infamous Beans & Ham Hocks to the menu.

("Why infamous?" I hear you asking. It's a recipe for beans. Think about it...)

But it's sure to please the hungry mouths around your table, especially if you pair it with fresh cornbread and cold apple cider. Here's what you do:

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups dried pinto or Great Northern beans (8 oz.)
6 cups water
2 small smoked ham hocks (about 8 oz. each)
1 onion, diced
2 teaspoons butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1.      Rinse the beans. In a large saucepan, combine beans and 3 cups of the water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand for 1 hour. Drain beans and return to saucepan.
2.      Add the remaining 3 cups water, ham hocks, and butter to beans. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until beans are tender, adding more water, if necessary, and stirring occasionally.
3.      Remove ham hocks; cool slightly. Remove meat from ham hocks; chop meat. Stir chopped meat, onion and salt into beans. Cover and cook for 5 to 10 minutes more or until heated through. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Enjoy! And click over to check out some more Green Apple Recipes. 

Do YOU have a favorite fall recipe you'd like to share?

Oh! Did you know I'm giving away this lovely collection of novels?

To enter my Stack of Books Contest just click over and sign up for The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club newsletter. Better hurry. The contest closes September 30th. 

A long goodbye...

Years ago, I lost my dear little grandma to Alzheimers. She slipped away from us by inches, losing bits of herself each day. She sort of folded in--losing interest in those she loved and forgetting how much we loved her. It broke my mother's heart when she didn't know her at the last.

Our family is not unique. The Alzheimer's Association reports 5.3 MILLION Americans suffer from this disease--and over 200,000 of them are under age 65. It's the 6th leading cause of death. It has no cure. A lot of people know the pain of this long goodbye.

That's why I'm glad to announce I'll be part of a boxed set of stories to benefit Alzheimer's research. One of the great things about going to RWA Nationals was catching up with some of my writer buddies. Like the amazing Tammy Falkner. She writes the wildly popular young adult series based on the Reed brothers, who are tattoo artists. When she asked me to join her in this project, I jumped at the chance to contribute a short novella.

Here's the premise: My story is about Michael Evans, a character from the Coldwater Cove series, who finds himself in NYC getting a tattoo at a parlor where they're doing a reality TV show. He's Lacy's blacksheep brother. (You'll find Lacy's story in THE COLDWATER WARM HEARTS CLUB.) Michael will be the unlikely hero of MY BIG FAT COLDWATER WEDDING. Writing this short gives me a chance to explore a little of his backstory and learn why he left town. . He got into trouble--at home, in school, & with the law--almost constantly, but his grandmother was the only person who believed he'd amount to anything. Getting the tat is Michael's way to remember Gran and to mark a change in him.

The anthology, titled FORGET ME NOT, will be available in November and ALL proceeds will be donated to Alzheimer's research. I hope you'll enjoy these stories of remembrance and help us raise money to fight this horrible disease. Be sure to sign up for The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club newsletter to be notified when the set is available. 

Visiting the Big City

Can a hillbilly from the Ozarks find happiness in the Big Apple? 

I recently went to New York City for RWA Nationals and managed to answer that question. The visit started with a wonderful dinner on Wednesday with my hubby, my agent and my editor at The View, a rotating restaurant at the top of the Marriott Marquis at Times Square. It was on the 48th floor, so sometimes we were surrounded by taller structures, like the gleaming Chrysler Building. And sometimes, we had long views of the Hudson River with the green hills of New Jersey fading into the horizon.

The food was delicious and the company delightful. Spending time with Kensington editor, Alicia Condon and my dear agent Natasha Kern was a highlight of the whole trip. Writing is such a solitary activity, it's easy to lose perspective. It was wonderful to spend time with two souls who wholeheartedly believe in my Coldwater Cove stories!

The rest of the week was a blur of activity--workshops, networking and signings. Then on Saturday, I played hooky and the DH and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I LOVE art, even if I don't always understand it. It nourishes something inside me.

Then later that evening, we went to see Penn & Teller's show on Broadway. They were just as entertaining as you might expect and a little more disturbing at times than I anticipated. I mean, they sawed a lady in half and didn't put her back together! (Don't worry. She did reappear in one piece later in the show.)

 That little mute guy can pull an audience in with just a smile. He made me laugh and I can't explain why.

Anyway, even though the city is an exciting place, by the time Sunday morning rolled around, we were ready to head for home. I found myself longing for a sky dark enough to see the stars. It was light enough to read outside on Times Square at any time, day or night. I wished I could hear individual footsteps on the sidewalk instead of the constant tramp of thousands of feet. I wanted a breath sweetened with the scent of freshly mown grass.

So can a hillbilly find happiness in the Big Apple? Yes. But only in small doses.

How about YOU? When you travel, long does it take you to become homesick?

______________________

Because traveling with all my breathing gear is a little outside the box, I posted some of my experiences on Second Wind, my personal blog. If you're interested, pop on over. My goal is to encourage others who may be dealing with health or mobility issues.