Jan Scarbrough's Blog, page 24
February 7, 2013
Change—Not So Much
Christmas 1968 & 1969
If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living. Gail Sheehy
Although I embraced change when I introduced my new website and blog, I’m often slow to accept it. I take time to warm up to change. Like my little corgi that balks when I pull on her leash, I resist change at first.
Yet, when you think about it, our whole lives have been nothing but change. Reflecting on it recently, I took note of all the change in my life. Elementary school to junior high—that was big because I was soon to discover “boys.” High school to college—another biggie because it meant freedom. Well, sort of. I remember the lecture my dad gave me freshman year.
There were several milestone changes in my life, the most important being marriage. Going from my parents’ house to my own with a new husband was certainly stressful and momentous, although at the time I embraced that change big time.
Childbirth, a newborn, the second child. My two children have had a profound, everlasting effect on my life. And then there’s the grandchildren who I can always send home.
There have been job changes—corporate buyouts and cutbacks. Moves. New homes. Divorce. And aging. The change to your body as you age is an unwelcome one. Where did that fat belly come from anyway? I haven’t changed eating habits. I exercise. What’s going on? And then there are the little aches and pains, the eyes that go bad, the feet that go flat. I don’t need those changes.
What do you think about ebooks? Did you accept them or resist them? Did you buy a Nook or a Kindle? Do you have an iPad? Just think of the young people who don’t remember not having a cell phone or texting messages. Gee, now I feel old.
Time: 1968 My heroine Kathleen Fields in A Groovy Christmas reflects on change early on in the story.
Times were changing. Kids and clothes and music were changing. Starting with the British Invasion of the Beatles and Rolling Stones a few years earlier, life seemed to have sped up. Nothing was sacred and nothing the same.
Did you know, in 1964 the Beatles arrived in New York for their first U.S. tour and an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, touching off Beatlemania. For those alive at that time this was a big change. For the rest of you, just trust me. It was.
So, what is your approach to change? Do you embrace it or resist it? What change in your life has had the most impact?
January 31, 2013
Looking for my Audience
Kindle Bestseller
I need your help figuring out why you like my books. Why? So I can give you more of what you like. My bestselling Kindle eBook is The Reunion Game (99-cents).
Have you read The Reunion Game? What was your favorite scene in The Reunion Game? Why? How did that scene make you feel?
Below is my favorite scene. I love it because Jane has spunk and courage that I have lacked in my life. From the scene below, she goes on to dance with the hero and kiss him on the dance floor. Nothing like that has ever happened to me. But it is fun to fantasize, isn’t it?
The Time of My Life from the movie Dirty Dancing came over the loud speakers. She loved that movie when she was a preteen, identifying with the character of Baby, the shy heroine who had the courage to go after the hunky dance instructor. Why couldn’t she be like Baby?
Graham ushered Dawn to the dance floor and swung her sister into the swaying mambo steps they learned at ballroom dancing lessons in the eighth grade—steps right from the script of her favorite movie.
Jane curled her fingers into a fist. No, she wasn’t a mealy-mouthed teenager any longer. She was an adult and tired of dreaming about Graham Winchester and what might have been.
Jane put her palms flat down on the table. Slowly she pushed herself to her feet. Surprising even herself, Jane marched across the dance floor.
Like Patrick Swayze in the movie, Graham twirled Dawn around and lowered her, bending her back and leaning over her in an imitation kiss. They lingered like that, staring into each other’s eyes, their lips inches apart.
“Excuse me.” Jane tapped Graham’s shoulder. “I believe this is my dance.”
Please comment on this page or go to my contact page and send me an email. I’m serious. Why do you like books by Jan Scarbrough? Help me do a better job of focusing my writing to my audience.
January 24, 2013
Odds ‘n’ Ends Because I Forgot It’s Thursday
Kentucky Rain
Yikes! It’s Thursday. I forgot about blogging! I didn’t get a horse fix tonight, so my day is messed up. Instead of my riding lesson, I took my granddaughter to hers. Tuesday was frigid and lessons were canceled. Today my granddaughter rode a horse named No More. They cantered. She’s six. Mama Jan is impressed.
Tonight my husband is copying a VCR tape that my mother put together in the late nineties. She’d taken over an hour’s worth of slides to a company to have them transferred to video tape. The slides were of me, the only child, from birth to college. It was fun reliving the scenes from my past, caught in quick moments, frozen in history. My biggest take-away from watching the old pictures flash across the computer screen—I was well-loved. It sounds so obvious, but somehow the knowledge was lost because of teenage angst and later “true” love. Yet looking back at those pictures, I see the love my parents had for me. It brings tears to my eyes since they’ve been gone so long. But the love is still there. Love remains.
Other things:
Kathleen Brooks interviewed me for her blog. Check it out. I describe my Bluegrass Reunion series, among other things.
Finally, I’ll be participating in The Third Annual That Book Place Authors Fair March 16 10:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. Location: That Book Place, 337 Clifty Dr., Madison, IN 47250 Here is a list of the authors attending.
January 17, 2013
Guest Kathleen Brooks, romance novels set in the Bluegrass
New book from Kathleen Brooks
Hey ya’ll! Jan invited me to guest blog today. We are both from Kentucky and write romance novels set in the Bluegrass. We also share a love for animals. I’m very honored to get to know Jan and look forward to meeting a few of you as well!
Here is a little bit about my series:
My Bluegrass Series is a romantic suspense trilogy set in the small, fictional town of Keeneston, KY. The plotline follows three women that are entangled in a conspiracy featuring many powerful men from New York and Washington, D.C. In the midst of so much drama, each woman finds love and must fight to protect their lives and their new relationships. The first book, Bluegrass State of Mind, is available for free download on all major eBook sites. Risky Shot and Dead Heat are the two other titles in the series.
Following that trilogy is my Bluegrass Brothers series. This is an ongoing series featuring the five smoking hot brothers of Paige Davies, the lead female from Dead Heat. Each book has its on story, but follows the Keeneston timeline. Many of the loveable characters from the Bluegrass Series are featured prominently in the Bluegrass Brothers series. The books of this series are (in order): Bluegrass Undercover; Rising Storm; Secret Santa, A Bluegrass Series Novella (Also free on most eBook sites); Acquiring Trouble. Acquiring Trouble is set for release on January 18th, 2013.
The one thing that I love to do is insert humor into scenes featuring the people of Keeneston. The Rose Sisters are fan favorites for their quirky, loving approach to taking care of the entire town. I really wanted to show Kentucky in a positive light and I hope you will enjoy reading this series as much as I have enjoyed writing it!
Thanks again, and feel free to reach out to me anytime!
Website – http://www.kathleen-brooks.com
Email – Kathleen@kathleen-brooks.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/KathleenBroo...
Twitter – http://twitter.com/BluegrassBrooks
January 10, 2013
We the People
No horse fix tonight. I went with a distant cousin to a meeting of a local DAR chapter. DAR? Daughters of the American Revolution.
The DAR, founded in 1890 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit, non-political volunteer women’s service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America’s future through better education for children.
My “cousin” and I share the same Revolutionary soldier, a private named Thomas Martin. My second “patriot” was Col. George Waller. I learned tonight that Col. Waller is my “supplement” because I qualified for the DAR with my Martin ancestor. I’ve been a member for years, but I never go to meetings because I belong to my hometown chapter in Tennessee.
The DAR’s goal are important, because if we don’t educate our children and their children about our country, who will? I fear the lack of history education in schools. Do they even teach civics? I remember every morning in elementary school reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. We also memorized the Preamble of the United States Constitution.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Have you seen the movie Lincoln? It moved me to tears at the end. Not because of Lincoln’s death, but because he was a great man who used politics to do a great thing—Article XIII, an amendment to the Constitution: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Go see the movie Lincoln if you haven’t. And teach your children about the greatness of your homeland.
January 3, 2013
Writers will escape into their own world at any given time without notice
Last week I shared a graphic with that saying on Facebook. I also posted that I may never own a horse like Dixie, but my characters can.
For those of you not on my FB page, Dixie was last Thursday night’s HORSE FIX: Take Me Away, barn name Dixie—World Champion 5-gaited mare. Her owner was on vacation so I got to ride her! What a ride!
As a writer, I can slip into my own imaginary world. I escaped for many years as a reader, but as a writer, I can craft an alternate reality where heroines, who are women I’d like to be, live out their lives.
My Bluegrass Reunion series is a place of escape. I’ve written about a teacher, like I used to be, who marries a stable groom who is actually a millionaire. One of my heroines is the daughter of a millionaire who wants to make her own way in life. She rides like a dream, of course, and trains American Saddlebred horses. In another novel, my main characters are Saddlebred horse trainers. They compete against each other at the World’s Grand Championship at the Kentucky State Fair—something I’ll never be able to do unless I win the lottery and buy a good horse.
Most of my heroines in this series are single mothers. Been there, done that in real life. They have handsome heroes sweep them of their feet, and they all live happily ever after. I’ve done that too, but not in the exciting ways that my characters have done. Come to think about it though, my husband of thirteen years can be romantic and thoughtful. Hero handsome? Well. And I asked him to marry me!
As a writer, it is fun to escape into a world of my own creation where I’m rich and own a 5-gaited champion, where I can ride like the wind, and where all my dreams come true.
Tonight’s HORSE FIX: Barn name Buster, a former champion now in his twenties. CH A TASTE OF CHAMPAGNE gave me a good ride and he’s a great teacher. I gave him a peppermint for his efforts.
