Shelley Shepard Gray's Blog, page 28

Busy Week

Popping in this afternoon to say you might not see another post for a couple of days. I'm finishing up The Missing, which means my office is a mess, my house is a mess, and my brain isn't doing a whole lot better! My husband told me he's glad business took him out of town for a few days!

Before I go back to rereading my book yet again, I thought I'd do a quick update.

*Digipalooza was fun! I enjoyed meeting librarians from all across the country. We passed out bookmarks, and they seemed excited about the new books coming out in August and October.

* I took a break today and did some college shopping with my daughter. After she went to work, I wandered around Barnes and Noble and picked up a copy of Plain Fear: Forsaken by Leanna Ellis. I'm a huge fan of Leanna's books, and we've now presented workshops together three years in a row. Forsaken has gotten a lot of attention because the book has Amish and vampires in it. Kind of a good vs evil thing. I haven't read it, but I'm looking forward to it. For me, it's always fun to read something new and different.

* Finally, I bought 5 new candles today from Bath and Body Works. Ha! Our house is going to smell like 'frosted sugar cookie' and 'coconut leaves' and 'carribean sun' all month. It's those little things that make me happy. I have a feeling, though, that my husband's going to

Off to Cleveland

In about an hour, my husband and I will pack up the car and head north. We're going up to Cleveland for about 24 hours or so. Tonight, we're going to eat at a restaurant called Lola. I love watching those cooking reality shows, so going to this restaurant is a thrill for me. It's owned by Michael Symon, who's an Iron Chef.

Tomorrow, I'll get a name badge and visit the Blackstone Audio booth for a while at Digipalooza. It's a convention/trade show for people in the audio business. I don't know much about all that, so I'm excited to learn. Lots of librarians are going to be there, and I'm very thrilled to meet them.

My husband's going to see his family while I'm doing this, so I guess it's a win-win thing for us! He does his share of trade shows with his job-no way does he want to go to one for me.

All week I've been working on two books. Each day, my goal was to add 1000 words to my Amish manuscript and write at least 6 pages on my western. I just cleaned up my desk-all over are numbers crossed out. I make tally marks for pages done, etc.  Weeks like this accomplish a lot, but it's not very relaxing for me- mainly just work. But I did get 5000 words added and 30 pages of my western written, so that will do!

 I'll be very glad to go back to work on just one book for a while!

I hope everyone has a super weekend-oh, it's so hot here!

Shelley

Grace Leads Me Home

I received the nicest surprise on Monday afternoon-a book and letter from my Amish friend!  The book is titled Grace Leads Me Home, and it's not a novel, it's a memoir. The tag line on the front cover says: True Story. From Head Majorette to Old Order Amish.

Yep, it's all about how one lady in the Sugarcreek/Wayne County area of Ohio went from being her high school's majorette to a member of the Old Order Amish community. Even better, my Amish friend knows the author.

I dug right in.

I've been reading it every afternoon when I get my pages done for the day, and I have to say I'm loving the book. Mrs. Miller gives such rich descriptions about how she joined the Amish. When she wrote about learning to pin her dress together I felt like I was right there with her, feeling the sharp pricks.

I'm still not finished, though I'm over half way. Mrs. Miller had a difficult life, and a downright tragic childhood. Knowing that it's all true makes me dwell on it, so much that I haven't been able to read it before I go to sleep. I know I would worry about her all night long! However, in the book there are so many fun stories about her adjustments, and raising children on a farm that I have found completely charming. Her faith is so strong that she truly has inspired me. I feel so blessed to have been given this book as a gift.

What's been kind of fun is that I mentioned yesterday on FaceBook that I was reading it, and right away people wanted to know the author's name and how to order it. I ended up giving out the toll free number listed in the book-this isn't a book you can find on www.amazon.com.  Well, a few people called the number, left a message, and actually talked to the author herself! I hear she's delighted people are interested in her book.

I plan on calling her today to order a copy for my sister.

If, by chance, you are also interested in the book, here is the information:

Title: Grace Leads Me Home

Author: Marlene C. Miller

Toll Free Number to order a book: 866*660*2332

I hope everyone will have a nice day-with at least a little bit of time to relax and read. That's what summer is for, right?

Shelley

A Note about those Brenneman's

Happy Wednesday!

I thought I'd answer another reader question this week…this one about The Sisters of the Heart Series.

I can't tell you the number of letters I've gotten asking for information about the Brenneman Bed and Breakfast! This Amish Inn has really struck a chord with readers…many who want to know how they can stay there.

Well, there's a story about this inn. I made up the Brenneman Family and their inn when I began HIDDEN. I based the inn on many of the Amish houses I'd seen in Adams County, which is only about an hour from my house. This Amish community is very small, and the windy roads aren't labeled very well. There is no real 'town', though there are several nearby. Since I needed a secluded place for Anna to hide in, this area seemed like the perfect place.

I wrote much of HIDDEN before I did very much research at all. It was my first Amish novel, and I really didn't think 1) it would sell or 2) anyone would want to read it besides me.  I'm so glad I was wrong!

 Only after I wrote the first draft did I really start researching specific details of how the Amish lived, and looking back, I'm really glad I wrote the book this way.  For better or worse, I wanted the book to sound like my voice, and that book really did set the tone for the rest of my novels.

There is a wonderful inn in Adams County called The Murphin Ridge Inn. That's where I go with my writing buddies for writing retreats. It's owned by an English couple, but it's surrounded by Amish farms, and much of the poultry, beef, and pork have been bought from the Amish. The couple who own it are a lot like the Brenneman's. Friendly and warm.

When my girlfriends and I go to Murphin Ridge, there are no televisions and no phones in the rooms. Cell phones don't always get the best reception either. It's quiet out at night, and the night sky always looks amazing.  You can walk on one of the nearby hiking trails, drive to the general store, or do my favorite activity…sit and read!

We're already planning our next trip out to the inn, and I can't wait. I'm anxious to sip coffee and write and write, have some fresh cinnamon rolls, and gaze at the starry sky.

 I can't help but think that the Brenneman's would enjoy the place, too.

Shelley

The Dachshund, The Puzzle, and Counting Days

I'm taking a page from my buddy Heather Webber today and posting about three things. ; )

* For most of the weekend, I stayed home and kept Suzy, our little wiener dog, company. She's been wandering around the house, looking for her beagle buddy, and generally looking depressed. On Friday, I did go out and get a massage. I heard she waited at the door for me the whole time! Poor little thing. This morning, I took her out early on our town's bike trail and we went for a little walk.

And, I have to admit, to now being addicted to www.petfinder.com. It's been fun looking at dachshunds in need of a new home. Don't think we'll be getting another pet anytime soon, but the idea of a new dog or (puppy!) is on my mind…

* It was so hot on Saturday that I started a puzzle. Yesterday, my daughter ended up working on it with me for almost  two hours. This is not a usual thing, so I was very glad I started this latest puzzle. It's an easy one-birds and flowers of every state. I had to laugh, I looked at things like backgrounds and colors…she would read the words on the box and say things like 'I'm trying to find the columbine, state flower of Colorado.'  Hmm…no wonder she did so well on vocabulary in school!

* We're now to less than 20 days until my daughter goes to college, and 10 days until my son comes home from summer school. He'll be home for a week, then will go back to Alabama the day before we drive our daughter down to Lexington. My husband has predicted that in 21 days I'll either be very sad or hugging a new puppy! I hope I won't be either…but I do have a feeling that being an empty nester is going to take some adjusting…

Hope everyone has a good Monday! I'm going back to work on my Amish book, The Missing.

Shelley

Ice Cream

Like pretty much everyone else, we've been enjoying a heat wave in southern Ohio. Oh, it's been hot! It hasn't stopped me from sitting on my back deck almost every afternoon- but it has prevented me from sitting out for very long! About an hour is about the limit…and that is only doable with a pitcher of iced tea.

Yesterday afternoon, after I got my pages done for the day, my daughter and I drove to Lebanon. It's a neighboring town about forty minutes away that's very cute. Lebanon is home to The Golden Lamb…an old inn that some say is haunted. It's other claim to fame is that Charles Dickens once stayed there. (I heard he wasn't very impressed!) Though I've eaten there lots, my daughter and I didn't go to Lebanon to look at the sites–we went for Whit's.

Whit's sells frozen custard, and it's amazingly good. Usually, they only have three or four flavors a day, what they have is what you get.  A variety of choices never matters to me though, because I always get vanilla. Lesley always gets chocolate. And we always sit on one of the benches on the sidewalk and watch everyone else walk by.

Have you ever made ice cream? Around this time of year, I am tempted to. I've bought ice cream machines, and made my share. But the idea of making it always sounds better than the actual product. I guess I'm a better ice cream consumer than producer!

Because it was almost 100* yesterday, our ice cream break was way too short…it was a challenge to eat my cone before it dripped everywhere! But for those few minutes, the day was perfect. The sun was shining, the ice cream was great, and the company was better.

Lesley and I even ran back into Whits and bought three pints to take home. I haven't broken into those yet.

But maybe I will this evening when it's hot as can be outside, I'm tired of iced tea, and more than ready to celebrate the start of the weekend.

I hope you all have a good weekend, too, and maybe even have a scoop or two of ice cream, as well.

For those of you who make ice cream, what's your favorite way to make it?

Shelley

Story Behind The Story

As some of you know, I get a lot of reader mail. I love reading your letters!

 One of the fun things that's happened is that I've been getting questions about specific books, along the lines of why I included something in a novel. Because my books are way more interesting than my life. (today's big event? Writing then going to WalMart!) I thought I'd spend Wednesdays answering some general questions about my books from reader letters.

Here we go….

Dear Shelley,  I just read The Protector and I loved it! Since I'm a librarian, I was thrilled to see Katie's interest in her library's summer reading program. Any chance you did one of those?

Here's my answer:

When I first thought about Ella, I knew I wanted her to have a love of books. It just made sense, since she'd spent most of her life caring for her parents and not having a lot of  friends. When I moved her to Jacob's Crossing, I wanted her to have a job, so working at the library sounded like a perfect job for her. The library would give her friends, and a place to shine when she wasn't falling in love with Loyal.

Then I started thinking that Ella would probably be much more comfortable around children than adults, so I had her read to children…which brought me to the summer reading program and little Katie Weaver.

I did join the summer reading program every year! I loved writing each title down and getting stars on my card for each book. I grew up in the suburbs of Houston, and when I first started reading, we didn't have an actual library. It was a satellite branch, housed in a trailer by a park. I vividly remember walking around that rickety, musty trailer, going to the far end, where the children's books were located.  The first book I checked out? The Little Match Girl, which, by the way, still makes me get choked up.

One more note about books and the library in The Protector~it was tradition at my children's school for the kindergarteners to have a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Play.  I spent hours with each of my kids practicing their verse for the big night. Ever since, that book has been one of my favorites. I knew both Ella and Katie had to love it, too!

Here's a question for y'all….anyone else remember one of their first library books?

Thanks for visiting!

Shelley

Ah, Tuesday

We had a good thunderstorm here this morning. There's something about summer rain that I just love. Maybe because it's such a nice break from a string of hot, sunny days?

The bad news about the rain is that it definitely Did Not Cool things off outside. It's more humid than ever, and the temperature is climbing into the mid-nineties. I'm very thankful for our air conditioner!

Yesterday I finished up the first draft of The Missing. The first draft is a whopping 300 pages and 53,000 words. I usually turn in a book that's about 340 pages and 61,000 words. I write fast and pretty sparsely, too. So this long first draft is catching me a little off guard. I wonder how long the final book is going to be??

 I'm going to let the book sit for a while and work on a western for the week, then get back to it.

When I'm not writing,  I plan to help my daughter get ready for college, keep my lonely dachshund company (oh, how she misses Phoebe!), and wait for yet another repairman. Our water heater decided to break just this week. sheesh!

What's everyone else doing today or this week? How are you keeping cool?

Shelley

New York Times Bestseller!

I got a phone call just last week from the lovely ladies at Harper Collins. The Protector is a New York Times Bestseller!

It was #34 on the Trade Paperback Extended List.  First I cried, and since then I've been walking around with a permanent smile.  To be honest, I never expected to make the NYT List.  This is all beyond my dreams.

I owe so much to all of you readers! Thank you for faithfully pre- ordering my books, for purchasing them, and for recommending them to your family and friends. Thank you and thank you again!

 I owe so much as well to the Amazing People at Harper Collins!  My editor never fails to help me make my books better, and all the folks in marketing and promotion and publicity and sales spend countless hours on every book.  I'm truly celebrating With Them!  

Because of so many, I've had a phenomenal week.

I'm also so very grateful to God and all His blessings, too. 

Shelley

Phoebe, our beagle

Last night, we had to put our beagle to sleep. She was 15, and just last week had her second ACL operation. I'm sorry to say that the operation wasn't a success. There was nerve damage, and her other hind leg wasn't strong enough to support her injured one. She tried her best to be brave, and we tried our best to help her…but in the end, we all knew that she couldn't go on. We loved her too much to keep her in pain.

Last night I cried, but today I'm celebrating our silly beagle. Below is a blog I wrote back in 2007 about how she ruined a dinner party. The story remains one of our family's favorites. If you're interested, and in need of a laugh, please read on.

hugs to you all, Shelley

The Dinner Party That Almost Wasn't

        I'm not a great entertainer, but I am a pretty organized hostess. I enjoy having people over, and I do enjoy that crazy, hectic excitement that comes just hours before everyone is supposed to arrive. Unfortunately, my hostessing claim to fame is not on the many dinner parties that have been successful, but instead on the Dinner Party That Almost Wasn't. I blame all of this on our beagle. We have the sweetest beagle in the world. Her name is Phoebe, and she's now 11 years old. Basically, all she really does is sleep. Her other main activity is eating…and that's when one evening everything went wrong.

 It all started when my husband, a salesman, was given an account to try to sell. After two years of hard work, he and his team were very close to getting a decision. Six people flew into Cincinnati to prepare and ultimately give the final presentation.

      After months of meeting in hotels, my husband and I thought it would be great to have everyone over at our house for dinner. It was a piece of cake for me to plan. I ordered a beautiful Honey Baked Ham and made a whole bunch of side dishes. The afternoon that everyone was due to arrive, I set the table, bought flowers, made sure I had drinks and coffee…even made a cake. I waited until the very last moment to get out of my sweats and put on a dress. Well, when I got back downstairs, two things happened: the phone rang,–my husband, saying they were five minutes away, and I noticed Phoebe lying on the ground. Beside her was my ham. Yep, my beagle somehow found supernatural powers, jumped up on the table and pulled the whole 9 pound ham to the ground. She'd managed to eat a big chunk of it, too.

        Oh no! Panic set in. I had the vice president of my husband's company due any minute! I had a giant ham mark on my white tablecloth from where the ham had been dragged off the plate and pulled down to the floor. Phoebe also wasn't doing too well, either. She was looking a little green…obviously no ham was intended for such beagle consumption. Hastily, I did the only thing I could…I picked up the ham, rinsed it off, lopped off the corner that looked attacked, and put it back on the plate. I found a pretty cloth napkin and hastily covered the grease spot on my linen tablecloth. I tossed the beagle outside just as the garage door opened. After serving drinks and appetizers, everyone sat down.

      As everyone ate, Phoebe circled the table, just like a shark. I glared at her and tried to pretend she didn't look seriously like she was about to, well…divest herself of the ham. Finally, when the rest of the table was busy talking, Tom said, "Shelley, what's wrong?" "The dog ate half the ham," I whispered. Unfortunately…there'd been a break in the conversation. Everyone heard. "What?" someone asked. I could feel my husband's horrified glare as I tried to laugh it off. As confidently as possible, I relayed how we were all eating Phoebe's leftovers–just as everyone was staring at their now empty plates.

       Almost in unison, eight forks hit the table. And the beagle's stomach started to gurgle. Oh no! Well, before I knew it, everyone left the house in a rush and I was left alone with a sick dog.

        But still, there's more! Of course, my son needed a poster board for a school project, so I loaded my son in the front seat, beagle in the back, and ran to Walgreens. By this time it was dark. We left the beagle in the car, got the posterboard, got home and cleaned up.

       The next morning, my husband woke up late, took the car, drove to the big meeting, gave his presentation, then offered to the drive the VP to the airport…where they both discovered that the beagle had uh, gotten rid of the ham in the backseat while I'd been at Walgreens. I'd been too busy with my son to notice, and my husband had been too worried about the big meeting to notice. Needless to say, the VP wasn't impressed. That's the last time I've offered to give a dinner party. In fact, the last time someone came in town for a meeting, Tom offered to take them to a very nice restaurant. Far away from beagles!