Best laid plans...

Simple & straightforward:

Set up my laptop & knock off a bit of the rough draft of Chapter One while baking for Thanksgiving.

   The first diversion scrambled across the carpet and into my line of vision.

I slathered feta cheese on a trap which let go twice on my finger.  I moved the laptop out of the room & onto the kitchen counter.

☟☟  This was my goal  ☟☟

Tastykitchen.com 

This was the view through my stove door.

☟☟

☝☝

This is the extent of my baking ability. 

This is the extent of my rough draft:

 ☟☟

Guccione/New Book                                          1

Chapter One

And there's a far stronger chance of the chaos winding up in my story than cranberry bread making it to a serving plate

or the mouse winding up in the trap.

It's the berries!

✍✎ It's Freewheelin' Friday! ☄✒

Dedicated to Artistic Endeavors of all Sorts

Once upon a time

When I had black hair and toddlers,

genre romance was full of cowboys & ranches 

or 

penthouses & limousines. 

I discovered it was a whole lot easier to  

write about what was right under my nose in 

coastal Massachusetts.

So I hung around the bogs, strapped on some waders, corralled some cranberries 

& created six hard working siblings. 

                       Mid-October's come around again. 

                      Time to to salute Kevin, Sean, Drew,
                                   Ryan, Jody & Matthew:
                                   my Branigan brothers.

                Yup! The most fun a girl can have on paper.

Sherman the one legged pigeon soars!

 Barbara O'Connor's latest mid-grade delight 

has made its debut. 

I've blogged about the book and the trailer recently so to celebrate I'm reposting my June salute to illustrator Greg Call. His spot on rendition of the elusive Sherman, the one-legged pigeon at the heart of this merry romp, is the perfect image to launch young imaginations. (old ones, too)

Here's what I had to say in June:

I've waxed poetic in past blogs on my love of children's book illustration, illustrators & the influence of the Golden Age (Howard Pyle et al) Now comes a salute to Greg Call, some covers evocative of N.C.Wyeth but so fabulously his own. 

tower.com

reedreadsreviews.blogspot.com

including 

Jack Gantos' 2012   Newbery Award winner 

                                           ☛

                                                                                 

                                           

Till now my favorite has been

The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester

(full disclosure: it's dedicated to moi)

☚

Until the big reveal of On the Road to Mr. Mineo's.

It's an October release so you'll have to wait but you can oogle & Google Barbara O'Connor's book & Greg Call's design or hit the links right here. 

                                      ♥  ♥ ☛ ☛  

YOU might be the one...

...to make a difference.

✍✎ It's Freewheelin' Friday! ☄✒

Dedicated to Artistic Endeavors of all Sorts

I share Karen Lynn Williams' blogs often.

I've sung the praises of Galimoto. 

And when she told me the fascinating news 

of her picture book, an e-mail &

        a determined young man in Tanzania, 

         I had to share the story. 

Karen & I have let 

the words of one of her readers  

carry the day.

Can you help?

click  ☟☟

Galimoto Dream to Reality:Grassroots "Ford" in Tanzania

Time & Treasure

✍✎ It's Freewheelin' Friday! ☄✒

Dedicated to Artistic Endeavors of all Sorts

~~For your reading pleasure~~

another favorite blogpost from friend/writer/teacher 

☛ Karen Lynn Williams ☚

☝click right there and get started☝

Here's a hint 

☟☟☟

 These days she's blogging from the Navajo reservation in Chinle, Arizona. Every post's a reminder of how wide & wonderful this country is.  

Happy Birthday, Marjorie K. Rawlings~~

In honor of Marjorie Kinnan Rawling's August 8th birthday, 

I'm reposting.  

First, check out this  brand new link to 

Anita Silvey's  Book-a-Day-Almanac 

& 

fellow writer Augusta Scattergood's 

who brought this to my attention 

& almost shares the birthday!

☟☟☟☟☟

Where were we? 

Right. Charles Scribner's Sons Editor Maxwell Perkins, 

the stuff of legend. 

     During the banner years he wrested fiction out of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Wolfe and other men-with-typewriters, Perkins was rejecting (Gothic romance) manuscripts from Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, a fledgling writer in Cross Creek, Florida, wresting produce out of a struggling citrus grove to support her dreams.  

      

     Manuscripts (hers) & rejection letters (his) were accompanied by correspondence. Perkins remarked that her Yankee-transplant observations of colorful, impoverished neighbors created more interest than her novels & encouraged her to write what she knew~~the life she lived and the lives she observed.

         The rest is history. 

   The #1 selling novel of 1938

      The 1939 Pulitzer Prize

•  Despite being brand new, Scribner's launched The Yearling as one of their Illustrated Classics (☚click) & again commissioned N.C. Wyeth who traveled to Cross Creek to soak up the atmosphere.
• The 1946 MGM film adaption features interior scenes based on Wyeth's illustrations. 
• Four Academy Award nominations include Best Actor for Gregory Peck's portrayal of  the father, Ezra "Penny" Baxter.

•      In 1942 Scribner's published Rawlings' autobiographical Cross Creek.  
•      The film version of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' journey, also called Cross Creek, premiered in  1983. 
•      Four Academy Award nominations include Best Supporting Actor winner Rip Torn for his portrayal of Marsh Turner, the real life inspiration for Penny Baxter.      
•      In 2007 Rawlings' Cracker style house & grounds were declared a National Historic Landmark.            

 I've visited twice. 

Maxwell Perkins, N.C. Wyeth & Gregory Peck were among her house guests. 

I stood in the guest room & imagined I'd been one.

I glimpsed my first orange trees on my  journey to Cross Creek.

I'm guessing it might have been the same for Ms. Rawlings.

✍   ✍   ✍

Majorie Kinnan Rawlings had stories to tell.

Maxwell Perkins helped her discover which ones. 

Yup, the stuff of legend. 

click ☛CROSS CREEK to get you there☝☝   

“Just get it down on paper, and then we’ll see what to do with it.”

  

Maxwell Perkins

 

Trailer time~~

✍✎ It's Freewheelin' Friday! ☄✒

Dedicated to Artistic Endeavors of all Sorts

Look what's here!

While you wait for October

& the launch of Barbara O'Connor's latest~~

Feast your eyes on what she's been up to:

designing & producing the 

lively, clever, compelling, amusing,

freewheelin'

TRAILER

debuted for your viewing pleasure 

on 

☛ this marvelous blog ☚

☀

Let the chaos begin. 

Lilly Considers the Lilies

I first posted this blog last February 

when Sarah Beattie opened Consider the Lillies. 

South Shore Living Magazine's annual 

BEST OF THE SOUTH SHORE issue 

has just named Consider The Lillies (& Sarah) BEST FLORIST

Congratulations! 

Freewheelin' Friday

 Dedicated to Artistic Endeavors of all Sorts    

VOILA!

      Floral designer Sarah Beattie moved out of her basement and into her Standish Street shop in time for  Valentine's Day.  ♥ Our  seaside town is raving. She'll paraphrase Matthew 6:28 of course. 'Consider the lilies, they neither toil nor spin...' yet so naturally beautiful they need no adornment. Nor should we worry. 

     

 Sarah trained at The Flower School of NYC  & through Garden Club Federation of MA Flower Show School, but this flower lover comes by it naturally.  She's third generation ~~love for the art & talent nurtured by her grandmother & mother.    

      My protagonist Johanna is third generation,  running the adored family cottage as she searches for inspiration from the women who've gone before her. 

     And Lilly!  

     Any writer will tell you~~whether your heroine springs fully formed from your imagination or she's an enigma speaking to you as you type~~ by the time the book is finished you know her as well as you know yourself. (or your book is not finished)

     "Sugar, this darling shop has my name written all over it," she'd quip, linking elbows with Johanna as they decide on an arrangement for the treehouse. No matter that she was Lonnye-Ronette & plucked her new name Lilly from the label in her summer shift. 

♥

CONSIDER THE LILIES

12 Standish Street  Duxbury MA 
781.934.5965 
Tuesday ~~ Saturday  10 am till 6 pm

http://considerthelilies-628.blogspot.com/

 Sarah Beattie's signature floral designs bring out the simple beauty of the flowers themselves. She's the perfect choice for special occasions,  design sessions and workshop presentations.

courtesy of MS Photography 

♥

Follow Johanna & Lilly's example~~
Treat yourself.

Pick up a unique arrangement & settle down with a good read. 

✍   ✍   ✍  ✍  ✍  ✍

THE CHICK PALACE

Three Dilemmas, Two friends & One Deserted Tree House 

during a simmering summer on Lake Allamuchy

Thank you to my readers who shot The Chick Palace onto Nook's eBook bestseller list.

Amazon/Kindle       Barnes&Noble/Nook

Also available  via free Nook app

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/free-nook-apps/379002321/