Shelley Shepard Gray's Blog, page 18

Little Bit of Chaos

So, things have been a little lot busy around here.  I have revisions due on one book, a final read thru on another, and a book to write by May 1. I've been exchanging bunches of emails with dozens of people about the upcoming book signing events. I'm going to NYC on Monday. My darling daughter came home last night.

So we decided to reorganize and paint my office, too.

I know! It makes no sense! However, Tom and I have learned that there's never a good time to sort my books (both my personal collection and the boxes of author copies I have). Or sort through the piles of  papers, notes, magazines, and (I'll just say it:) mess.  Now is as good of time as any.

Yesterday morning, Tom came through and helped me clear just about everything out. This weekend, he'll paint~he doesn't trust me~and then we'll slowly start to put things back together. Already I can't wait!

I'll try to check in with an update on Sunday. But until then, I hope everyone has a terrific weekend!

blessings,

Shelley

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A 'Mom' Moment

Thought I'd share a quick story with y'all before I finally started writing today….

On Sunday morning, our daughter calls from college. My husband answers the phone. Turns out, Lesley has pink eye. He, being Mr. Practical, starts telling her what to do (go to infirmary or walk- in clinic, etc).  After ten minutes, she says, 'Dad, go get Mom.'

When he handed me the phone he looked really confused! I know he thought he was giving her great information. ; )

I picked up the phone and said something like, 'Poor Lesley! I bet your eyes really hurt! I'm so sorry you have pink eye!" Two minutes later, we hang up.

My husband looks at me suspiciously. He says something like 'Shelley, you didn't give her any advice. How come she wanted to talk to you? And how come you look so pleased?"

I told him that she didn't call for advice, she called to get a little dose of  'Mom'.  She's 19 years old. She knows to go to the doctor. But she's not to old to still need a little bit of sympathy.

She's all better now, by the way. Yay for those prescription eye drops!

Any of you ever have one of those 'Mom' moments?  I have to say I still love fussing over my kids, even if it's for two minutes long distance.

have a great day!

Shelley

March Madness!

March stormed in like a lion with tornadoes rolling through much of the midwest and the south. My husband and I spent a good two hours in the basement on Friday afternoon when our town's tornado sirens went off-we were under a tornado warning. Thankfully for us, the storms hit farther south, but our hearts have really gone out to everyone affected.

One of the strange things was that both of our children were inside under tornado watches and warnings, too. My daughter in Lexington and my son in Tuscaloosa. I was so glad to be able to text them every hour with a quick, 'are you okay?' note!

Another place that's been on my mind is nearby Adams County. The storms and tornadoes rolled through there as well. Adams County is where my Sisters of the Heart series is set. It's also the home of the Murphin Ridge Inn, the inn I based the Brenneman's inn on…and the inn where my critique partners and I have our writers retreats. I so hope they are all okay-I just emailed them to check.

I'm hoping the weather will settle down because this week begins a very busy month for me! Tomorrow, I'm going to speak  to a women's group, next week, I'm off to New York City for business meetings (and shows and shopping!), then will begin my seven or eight stop book tour. (Looking into an Indiana location now!)

If you are in the area, I hope you'll consider stopping by and visiting me. There's nothing worse than setting up a booksigning, just to sit alone for two hours! For those of you that can make one of the signings, I'll have bookmarks, pens, and Amish Tour gift bags to pass out. I'd love to come home from these events empty handed!

 First stop? The Beautiful Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Crestview Hills, Ky! I'll be there at 7:00 pm.

I'm also looking forward to visiting Books and Company in Dayton, OH on March 27 at 7:00 pm

And visiting Lifeway Christian Store in Lexington on March 31, 2:00 pm.

Well, all this visiting means I better get some writing done first. I hope all of you are safe and that you weren't too affected by the storms.

God bless,

Shelley

Guest on Jen's Jewels

 

Just yesterday, Jennifer Vido posted an interview with me about MISSING as part of her Jen's Jewels segment for Fresh Fiction. The interview is on the link below. The best part about the interview? Jen is giving away 5 copies of MISSING.

Please stop by and answer her trivia question. I'd love to see one of y'all as the winner!  

www.jennifervido.com

A Texan's Honor

Today, I'm giving away four copies of my new historical romance, A Texan's Honor. The book officially releases tomorrow, but it's already available on Amazon Kindle. I'm so pleased with the book, and reviewers seem to be too-so far the novel has three reviews on Amazon.com, all 5 Stars!

If you'd like to enter the drawing, all you have to do is visit my Facebook page and tell me what your favorite western movie is.

Winners will be drawn tomorrow morning! Good luck!

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An Amish Home

 This morning has been one of those times when I hope my husband doesn't call and ask what I've been doing. Suposedly, I'm doing research for my new series, but it sure doesn't feel like it! I keep getting sidetracked on various websites and on www.amazon.com, looking at photos of Amish homes. c||h>d){var v=c/g,w=d/h;if(v<
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I Did It!

It's been one of those months.

 With the exception of our trip to Vegas-I've hardly seen my husband. As I've mentioned before, he's a salesman, and that means he travels. He always has, and for the most part, I'm used to it. That said, he's been gone on week-long trips lately, Monday to Thursday night or Friday, which makes for a long week.

This weekend, we went to a breakfast meeting for church on Saturday morning, and went to church services yesterday. Other than that? We stayed home. Tom was tired, and he was tired of eating out. So we cooked! I made chicken and black bean chili on Friday night. (not good!) French Onion Soup on Saturday night (turned out great!), and we had a pot roast yesterday. (we've must have made this a 100 times over the years) 

But the thing I finally managed to do? Poach an egg.

I know! Crazy thing to be proud of, right?

Poaching an egg always seemed really hard to me. For some reason, I still can't boil eggs very well (the shells always stick). I don't particularly even like eggs all that much, so poached eggs don't look appetizing to me. (they still don't!)  But Tom loves them, and I love him…well, you get the idea. 

Last week, while Tom was out of town, I watched 'Worst Cooks in America', and they were giving egg lessons. I watched! I wrote down notes! And then yesterday morning, I gave them a try. (vinegar in the water is the key, btw.) I had the water gently simmering, cracked that egg, and plopped it in the water. Watched the whites form a covering around the yolk. Success!

I got so excited I made Tom four eggs. Yep, that was probably about two too many. Suzy the wiener dog had a great snack.

So, that was the big event for our weekend. Nothing too special, though after 23 years of marriage, I can now make my husband a perfectly poached egg. He was impressed.  I'm happy. And I still have no desire to give one a try.

Today? Tom's back on a plane, and I'm back to work.  I do love beginning a new book!

Anyone else ever poached an egg? Anyone else have as much trouble making hard-boiled eggs as me?

Shelley

Beginning, Again

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Yesterday afternoon, I ran to Walmart and ended up wandering around for an hour! I love going to Walmart, we have two 'Supercenters' near us, and I seem to find myself at one of the stores at least once a month. From the beginning with HIDDEN, Walmart has carried my books, so on Book Release Days, I'm always stopping by, just to see the books on the shelves. I'm so grateful that Walmart carries my books!

Anyway, I wasn't there to see my books yesterday, my main purpose was to pick up a new notebook. This week I started my new series for 2013.  (so hard to believe I'm beginning my 15th book for Avon Inspire!) Over the years, I've learned to write down details in a notebook, so I keep a notebook for each series. By the time I finish revisions on the last of book of a trilogy, the notebook is pretty full.

In a lot of ways, it's become much like a good friend, too. Inside the pages are maps of the area, pictures of characters, quotes from the different books in the series, and other things, like eye colors, etc. for each character in the novels. It's also usually covered with page numbers and X's-my habit of keeping track of how many pages I write a day. And, there's also the various phone message, grocery list, etc. (Yes, this drives my husband crazy.)

The open notebook above is from The Secrets of Crittenden Series. The photo is 'Frannie', and if you look hard at the written page, you can see that it's all about 'Schrock's Variety Store'.

By the time I get to the third book in the series, I'm always so thankful for my notes. It's tough to keep everyone organized! The notebook also becomes invaluable if I'm asked to write a Christmas novella. By then, I've usually written another three books and I've forgotten all kinds of details from the previous series.

My new notebook is shiny and new and blue! Kind of pretty, I think.

Of course, that wasn't my only purchase at Walmart yesterday.  I bought a rotisserie chicken (making chicken and black bean chili tonight), an exercise outfit, a book, a DVD…I can't seem to buy only one thing!

I hope y'all have a nice Friday. I'm off to type, and to start writing notes for my new book, tentatively titled DAYBREAK.

with blessings, Shelley

Tour Dates!

At long last, I think we've got the tour dates finalized for my Kentucky Book Tour to celebrate the release of MISSING.

Below is all the information I have available now. I hope some of the dates and times will work for you. I'd love to see you! I'm so glad that we've got a couple of Ohio dates, too, including The Gospel Book Store in Berlin. : )

3/20 Joseph-Beth & Davis-Kidd Booksellers, 2785 Dixie Highway, Crestview Hills, KY 41017  7:00 pm

3/23 McCracken County Library, 555 Washington ST, Paducah, KY 42003 2:00 pm

3/23 New Life Christian Bookstore, 100 South 5th Street, Murray, KY 42071 4:30 pm

3/24 Crittenden County Public Library, 204 West Carlisle Street, Marion, KY 42064 11:00 am

3/27 Books & Company, 4453 Walnut Street Beavercreek, OH 45440 7:00 pm

3/31 Lifeway Christian Stores 3801 Mall Road Lexington, KY 40503 2:00 pm

4/14 The Gospel Book Store 4925 W. Main Street Belin, OH 44610 10:00 am

A Few Highlights from Vegas…

 We got home from Las Vegas last night, I picked up Suzy from the kennel this morning, and now I'm happily back in my office, ready to finish revisions on FOUND, the last book of The Secrets of Crittenden County Trilogy.

I really do feel refreshed. I didn't work at all until yesterday when we got to the airport. Instead, I read three books, went to the spa, shopped, and just relaxed. Today? I'm a little tired! That 3 hour time difference seems to get me every time!

Here's a couple of highlights from our vacation…

* Vegas=crowded. It was really crowded! A lot of people came in town for the holiday weekend. After getting caught up in a huge crowd near the MGM, Tom and I decided we would walk early in the morning and do our best to stay away from the afternoon crowds.

*Speaking of walking…we walked a lot! On Sunday, Tom and I decided to walk from our hotel on South Las Vegas Blvd all the way to the Golden Nugget Casino in the middle of the Fremont Street Experience. It took us over two hours, and was over five miles. Yay, us! Of course, we took a taxi back to the Las Vegas Strip.

*During our walk, we landed in the middle of the Las Vegas Wedding Chapels. Kind of fun to see them all. And we saw the Pawn Shop from the reality show 'Pawn Stars'. Of course we had to go inside there!

*We saw Ray Romano and Kevin James and loved every minute of their show.

* We ate early on Friday night, rushed over to Ceasar's to see Elton John…just to find out that he had cancelled the show! They said he was sick, but we later discovered he had gone to Whitney Houston's funeral. We were two of several hundred disappointed fans! I understand if Elton wanted to attend the funeral…but I sure wish they could have given us some notice…

There's lots more to share, but I really must get the revisions done! I promise my editor I'd have them for her by this afternoon!

Happy 'Fat Tuesday',

Shelley