More Austin Memories in Love Lives On

The latest bookmobile novel, Love Lives On, takes place in Austin, Texas, mostly. So why the photo of Bruges, Belgium on the cover? Bruges is where Brian and Karen go for their honeymoon.

I said mostly Austin, because Brian goes back to California a few times to visit his parents. Mainly because the book is about Karen. Also, there are a few scenes in Sunset Valley, which is technically not a part of Austin even though it is surrounded by Austin. The married couple also stop in Hildesheim, Germany for a night.

After the wedding Karen moves into Brian's place on Mt. Bonnell Road near Dry Creek Cafe. If you read Where Love Once Lived, you know this is the place where the Combine rented a cabin when they were students at the University of Texas back in the 1970's.

There are scenes at the Austin History Center, a fictional law office on Congress Avenue, Allandale mall and references to the Austin Public Library, Travis County Courthouse, Wooldridge Park, MoPac, 35th Street, Sun City Texas, Georgetown, Thundercloud Subs and Dr Pepper, a Texas favorite.

Several scenes take place in Clarksville, where Brian's best friend Phil lives with his wife Kay. His dad George, who played a prominent role in Where Love Once Lived, lives in an apartment out back and manages to help Karen in Love Lives On.

Taking Time to Smell the Oats

After our recent 10-day vacation in the Netherlands and Belgium on a Viking River Cruise (http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/), I've been craving the steel-cut oatmeal they served on the ship. I enjoy the five-minute type oatmeal at least once a week at home, but it doesn't compare to the Irish style of oatmeal.

I tried to cook it once before (after a trip to Scotland) and decided it was too much trouble to cook. When I mentioned this to an Irish friend here in Georgetown, Texas last week, she said she prepares a large batch and stores the leftovers in the refrigerator. When you're ready for more, all you have to do is warm it up. That made it sound feasible, but I stayed with my five-minute style.

Then, the April 15, 2013 issue of Bottom Line/Personal (http://www.bottomlinepublications.com/), a newsletter I read regularly talked about cooking steel-cut oatmeal in a rice cooker. In the article the author mentioned soaking the oatmeal overnight to speed up the cooking time. My desire for the oatmeal I had enjoyed every day on the ship grew.

Yesterday, while shopping for groceries, I picked up a box of McCann's Irish Oatmeal (http://www.mccanns.ie/) and checked the cooking instructions. It mentioned a short-cut method. By boiling for a minute and storing overnight in the refrigerator, the cooking time is reduced from 30 minutes to 9-12 minutes. I bought the box and tried it.

Wow! It was even better than what I had on the ship. I brought the water to a boil and added the oatmeal last night, let it simmer for two minutes (one minute seemed to pass too quickly), and then put it in the refrigerator until this morning. I took it out while having coffee and didn't start cooking it until an hour later. After bringing the oatmeal to a boil, I turned the burner down to until the oats simmered.

It seemed to stick to the bottom of the pan more than my regular oatmeal, so I ended up lowering the heat several times and stirring more frequently. By the end of the time, I was stirring constantly. When the consistency seemed right (about 12 minutes), I turned off the burner, added a little butter, covered the pot and let it set for five minutes.

On the ship they had walnuts, half and half, fruit, etc. I added only sugar.

The McCann recipe:

Boil 4 cups of water, add 1 cup of oats, stir well. When the porridge is smooth and beginning to thicken, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

This supposedly makes four servings with 150 calories each. I like a little more so I divided it into three servings at 200 calories each and stored away two of the servings for another day.

What's this got to do with writing? I've been so busy preparing the Kindle edition for my new novel, Love Lives On, I didn't have time to watch TV and get weather reports. Something happened here and the temperatures dropped from the 80s and 90s to the 40s. Perfect oatmeal weather.

Now, back to work.

Bicycling Memories of Austin, Texas

A year or so ago, I pedaled around Sun City in Georgetown, Texas for my health. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have gone quite so far the day after donating two pints of blood. Also, if I had it to do over again, I would have eaten breakfast first or at least had some orange juice. I thought about all this while parked on the side of the road trying to decide if I should call 911 or just fall down and hope someone found me.

After some deep breaths, staying close to the flower garden at the woodworking shop in case I had to throw up, I managed to get past the nausea. I had already thought of a way to hold on to the branch of a tree for support if needed. But soon, I felt better and was back on the bike heading for home.

Perhaps I was delirious, but as I rode the rest of the way (mostly downhill, by the way), I had vivid memories of bike riding as a kid. I remember sneaking off when I lived near Clarksville in Austin, so I couldn't have been more than nine years old. My friend, Bobby Bayer, went with me. We told our parents we were just going to see someone a few blocks away and we ended up in deep South Austin. I felt terribly guilty for lying to my mother. But not guilty enough to keep me from repeating the trip several more times on other days.

Those memories and reminders of the guilt I felt, made me think about Brian, the male protagonist in Where Love Once Lived. Don't forget I said I may have been delirious at the time all this was going through my head.

In the novel, Brian had been brought up in a Christian family and attended church every Sunday. What's more, he loved to go to church and continued to go while he was away from his California home attending the University of Texas. Then, he committed a sin and, even though he knew better, the guilt is so strong he believes he is being punished by God. His punishment is to be in a loveless marriage.

He drops out of church for the next thirty years. This is all leading up to my wanting to tell you this is not a biographical story. It didn't happen to me. I was brought up in a Christian home and while there were some times in my life where I missed church because Sunday mornings were the only time I could rest, I never left the church completely the way Brian did in the story.

I am still friends with some of the people I met at church as a youth and we still get together frequently. I continued to be involved in church in college and while in the marines. After marriage and kids there were times when I wasn't involved as much as I should have been, but that didn't last long. I may tell you about that period of my life someday, if I'm ever delirious again.

How about you? When did God become a major part of your life? Have you ever dropped out? What brought you back?

Bloodmobiles and Bookmobiles

June 16, 2011--Today, I donated two pints of blood using the ALYX method for a lifetime total of TEN GALLONS. I accomplished one of my goals. Since I started rather late in life, and most of my donations were one pint at a time, I wasn't sure if I would achieve the goal or not.

I'm telling you this for two reasons. First, I'm proud of it and want to share my achievement with you all. But, mostly, I want to encourage you to donate if you're not already.

I gave blood in Austin for the first time when Dudley Baker scheduled the Bloodmobile to come to our church, Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Austin, Texas, in April, 1986. I was forty-nine at the time and had never donated blood in Austin, and only a few times elsewhere.

We turned in chits to the church each time we donated to provide blood for anyone in the church if it was ever needed. This gave me the incentive to continue donating over the years. I wasn't always regular, and sometimes got banned for a year at a time because of travel to places where malaria was a problem. In my case, parts of Mexico and China. The blood bank also monitored my travel to Europe, and I almost hit the maximum days in the mad-cow areas. Between 1992 and 1996 I had been in Europe eighty-four days and the limit was ninety days.

It took me twenty-five years to donate ten gallons of blood. But, the only reason I got started is because a friend at church asked me to. How about you? Are you donating blood? If half of the people reading this give a pint of blood, there would be another ten gallons available for those in need. Wow!

Okay, what does this have to do with bookmobiles?

The first time I donated was in the bloodmobile, which is similar to a bookmobile. When I drove a bookmobile, I learned the library would send us to places where they were considering building a substation. And that's what bloodmobiles do. When they find an area where business is good, they open a substation. That's what happened here in Georgetown.

Let me know if you donate a pint or two.

Talking About Writing and Other Life-Changing Events

Friday, I had the opportunity to talk to a Christian women's group at the Berry Creek Country Club in Georgetown, Texas. I've talked to several groups since Where Love Once Lived came out last August and I never know exactly what I'm going to say. Sometimes the hosts suggest a reading. Other times they leave it up to me. This time the announcement said I would talk about the writing process.

I prepared a written speech. I read it out loud, timed it and changed it a number of times in the two weeks leading up to the luncheon. On the day of the speech, however, I intentionally left all my notes at home. I find I do better speaking without looking at a piece of paper.

There were four tables with nine or ten women at each one. We had finished eating and some had turned their chairs around so that they could see the podium. Without notes, I could easily make eye contact. A few heads nodded from time to time. There were some smiles, some laughter and some sighs from time to time. As a teacher, I know that learning happens when students have an emotional experience. Both laughter and sadness help people learn. Afterwards, more than a few women talked to me and said how much they enjoyed the talk.

I set out to give them the basics and began by telling them about the original idea of the story. That is, the bookmobile librarian I worked with back in the 1960's and how she helped people at each stop. Then I told them about that special sermon I heard one Sunday that gave me the belief that I could write a novel, and how I had to take writing classes for several years to do so. That led to talking about the conversion of the basic story to the one I ended up with and how Where Love Once Lived won several contests.

Then the talk took an unexpected turn, one that wasn't in the notes I'd left back at the house. When I got to the point where I said White Rose Publishing reviewed the complete manuscript and said they would look at it again if I would delete some of the subplots, I had to mention how the email from the publisher came at the same time I learned my wife had pancreatic cancer. I could see on their faces, they knew what that meant.

I told them I wasn't able to write for a long time afterwards, and that Lois died eight months later the day before Thanksgiving. Then, how I went to Halifax, Nova Scotia alone for Christmas and New Year's, hoping I might make the changes the publisher wanted. But, that didn't work.

I wasn't able to write until I started living again by going back to church, singing in the church choir and the community choir, and making plans for the future. I told them how I planned to sell the house and open a bookstore downtown where I could live upstairs.

And about that time, I told the women, was when I learned God had plans for me I hadn't foreseen. Celeste entered my life and that changed everything. Happiness let me write once more and eventually make the changes to the manuscript.

But, a year had passed. Publishers needs change. Mostly, though, I couldn't cut enough. White Rose publishes only Christian romance novels, and there were still subplots I couldn't delete. I knew the book was more than a romance and that I would have to self-publish it. So, I began learning about that process and settled on CreateSpace for the print edition, Amazon for the Kindle edition, and Lulu for the other eBook formats including the iPad edition.

Celeste and I married in March and the book was out in August, 2010.

I told the women about the new book, The Vengeance Squad, that should be published by the end of the year and how it was much easier to write than the first book. I also gave them a two-page handout describing the steps required to write a novel, from story idea to publication.

BOOK REVIEW: Already Home by Susan Mallery

Already Home by Susan Mallery, intertwines several subplots, each one strong enough for a book of its own.

Jenna's story begins first, so I assumed the book was about her and her journey home and, more importantly, her journey to regain her self-esteem after a failed marriage. She is a chef who opens a cooking store in Georgetown, Texas, where her parents live and where she grew up.

Next comes Violet Green's story, her life as full of conflict as her name. This character is strong and so are her struggles. She fights hard to overcome a past that is almost unspeakable. I found myself cheering her on, hoping she would make it, but fearing the worst.

But the author didn't stop with two stories. The return of Jenna's birth mother, Serenity Johnson, and the way Beth Stevens, the mother who raised Jenna, handles it is an interesting story in itself.

As a Christian novelist, I would have liked to see the women look to God for help, but that's just me. Other than a few "Thank Gods" and such, the only other reference to God was in the lower case sense as in "he was supposed to be a god in bed."

I've talked to some Georgetown, Texas friends about the setting and we've had a few laughs about it. The funniest scene was when Ellington, Jenna's boyfriend, suggests walking from the store, supposedly in downtown Georgetown (Old Town), to Fish City Grill, supposedly around the corner. In reality, Fish City Grill is in the Wolf Ranch Shopping Center, across the Interstate about a mile and a half away.

However, most readers will not even know about such things. It is an excellent book with characters that quickly come alive and you will find yourself wanting them to find happiness. You'll also think about food as you read. Luckily, there are a few recipes at the end of the book, with a promise for more when you go to the author's website.

Rating: 4 Stars

My New Profile -- Changing Churches Is Tough

Our church friends become family after a while. There are many reasons for leaving a church, moving to a new city or across town. Or, perhaps you just find a church that better fills your needs at this time in your life and you decide to make the change. Whatever the reason, leaving can lead to a feeling of loss and a period of grieving, no matter how happy you are at your new church. It's not just the church activities you miss, it's the friends you were used to seeing week after week, some twice a week.

We identify with our churches to a point where they can become a part of our identity. That happened to me recently. Although it has been several months since we switched churches, I noticed my blog profile hadn't been changed. Now it has.

Here is my new blog profile:

I am a Stephen Leader, a Stephen Minister, and a member of First United Methodist Church in Georgetown, Texas. While singing with the Austin Lyric Opera Chorus, I was in 42 productions. Along with my wife, Celeste, I sing with the San Gabriel Chorale and we have been in several Berkshire Choral Festivals. I am an Adjunct Professor at Austin Community College where I teach computer courses. I received the adjunct teaching excellence award in 2005. I am a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, the Writers League of Texas, and the San Gabriel Writers' League. I have a Master of Science degree from the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Long Beach. Awards for Where Love Once Lived include First Place -- 2007 SouthWest Writers Contest in the Inspirational/Spiritual Category, First Place -- 2007 Writers' League of Texas Novel Manuscript Contest, Romance Category, Third Place -- Fourteenth Annual Lone Star Writing Competition, Northwest Houston Chapter of the Romance Writers of America, Inspirational Romance Category and Finalist -- 2006 Yosemite Writers Contest Novel Category.

I'd love to hear about your experiences in moving from one church to another.

Today is National Bookmobile Day

http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/olos/nbdhome.cfm

According to the American Library Association, April 13, 2011 is National Bookmobile Day. Audrey Niffenegger, the author of The Night Bookmobile as well as The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, is this year's honorary chair for this special day.

I guess if the American Library Association had known about Where Love Once Lived they would had picked someone else to be honorary chair. Oh, well. There's always next year.

Niffenegger is an artist and novelist and has created a graphic novel unlike anything I've read. Although I haven't read it, it sounds interesting and I'll add it to my to read list.

In comparison, about one-third of Where Love Once Lived takes place on a bookmobile and it should be of interest to bookmobile lovers around the world. I used my experience as a bookmobile driver to write the book and I wish we had bookmobiles still. I recently asked the Austin Public Library if they had plans to get one, and they said no. However, I'm happy to report that Georgetown, Texas, where I now live, is preparing to by one. More on that endeavor in a later post.

Another novel involving a bookmobile is The Camel Bookmobile: A Novel by Masha Hamilton. According to Publishers Weekly, this book follows a 36-year-old librarian from New York to Garissa, Kenya, on her sincere but naïve quest to make a difference in the world.

Celebrate National Bookmobile Day by reading one of these three bookmobile books, preferably mine.

My First Television Interview

Because of being one of the speakers at the Booked for Lunch fundraiser, I was invited to be  on the Author! Author! segment which is part of Sun City's Channel 79 News and Views. The segment was filmed Friday, March 4, 2011 and will air Monday and Tuesday, March 14-15, 2011.

Preparing for the Interview

I was given the following notes to prepare for the interview:

·         After introductions, name of the book or books, type of book and a brief synopsis
·         When did you decide to write a book?
·         How long did it take you to research/gather ideas?
·         What was the best part of writing and what was the worst part?
·         How many times did you edit or re-write?
·         Did anyone else help you with the book?
·         How did you get it published?
·         Last thought...

Although I received the notes six weeks in advance, I didn't look at them until the day before the interview. By now, I've talked about the book enough to know I do better if I speak from my heart rather than from notes.

Meeting the Interviewer

The interview was held in the Sun City Oaks in what used to be a restaurant. When I came in they were finishing with another interview so I waited quietly until it was over. I was greeted by Pattie Fludd who said she would be the reporter interviewing me. She talked to me briefly and went over the questions with me again. She had not read the book, but knew it was a Christian novel.

The cameraman was about 10 feet in front us with the director sitting in a chair next to him. Behind them was a table with five or six people in what appeared to be a meeting of some type. I wondered if the sound from there would affect the interview, but when the cameraman held up his hand everything got quiet. When he lowered his hand the interview began. No mike check. The cameraman wore earphones and we weren't live, so I suspect they would have restarted if needed.

The Interview

I looked toward the interviewer mostly, but once I held the book up for the camera. I also noticed the positive looks from the director from time to time. The only surprise for me was when Pattie asked what the worst part of writing the book was. Even though I hadn't worked on the questions, my memory was that she was supposed to ask what was the best and then what was the worst. So, when she asked about the worst, I changed it to best and what surprised me was I said the best part was when the characters came alive for me. I then answered her question about the worst part by saying it was getting it published.

When Pattie asked if I had any last thoughts, I talked about how to buy a copy of the book.

The whole interview lasted less than fifteen minutes and I had much more I could have said.

Events for Authors

Last week I had the opportunity to speak at a fundraiser called Booked for Lunch which was sponsored by the Assistance League of Georgetown Area. The 250 or so attendees paid $20 for a box lunch and an opportunity to hear the authors speak. There were three other local authors there who I knew from the San Gabriel Writers' League. We were given tables at one end of the hall to exhibit and sell books. The doors opened at 11:30 so there was time for the attendees to view the books before lunch began.

After lunch, the authors spoke for 15-20 minutes each. After the first two did their presentation, there was a break which meant another opportunity to talk to the authors and purchase books. Finally, after all had talked, there was time to sell books once again.

I sold a few books before lunch, but most of my sales were after I told them about the book. Several people bought more than one because they knew someone who would like to have it. I didn't presume they wanted it autographed, but most asked me to sign the book. One came back with a book purchased earlier and got me to sign it.

The other authors had multiple books for sale. I only had one. One of the others sold out and took orders for more books than I sold altogether. The book in demand was A War of Her Own, by Sylvia Dickey Smith, a novel about a woman in World War II. This author also took credit cards while I could only take cash and checks.

In addition to the poster I have of the book cover, Celeste suggested I take the framed awards the book has won. I think this helped. I also handed out bookmarks. I made a special sign showing the price of the book and the sales tax. The resulting price was $10 to make it easier to make change.

One person said she would love to read the book, but she prefers Kindle books. I told her it was available on Kindle and for only $5.99. I gave her a bookmark to remind her of the book's name, and she asked me to autograph it. The next day, Kindle reported a sale. For future events, I should include a sign or poster announcing the book is available on Kindle and iPad as well as other eBooks.

I wasn't sure about what to say when it came my turn to speak. Of course I had planned for it for weeks, so I don't mean I was not prepared. At other events, I vary my presentation to match the audience. This time I decided to talk about why I wrote Where Love Once Lived and how I studied novel writing to make it happen. I then read to passages from the book. I read the beginning of the book up to the point where Karen leaves the classroom to go to the book mobile, and the section from Brian's viewpoint where he and Liz leave the school. I thought this audience might enjoy meeting Liz, but the comments I got later indicate they also liked what I said about writing.