Heather Huffman's Blog, page 27

Visiting Library Cat

I had family in town over the weekend, so I’m behind posting visits!

Stop by and visit Library Cat to check out her incredibly kind review. While you’re there, check out the interview, too!

 

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Visiting John Zunski

Join me over at John Zunski’s blog where I talk about being a female MacGyver… kind of.

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Flowers for the Passers-By

Between my family’s move, the release of Devil in Disguise, three blog tours and travel, things have been a little crazy lately. So for today’s Friday’s Mark, I thought it might be fun to stop and smell the tulips. Please join me in welcoming Bharti Kirchner, author of the gripping mystery Tulip Season. ~Heather

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On the first day of spring, I stepped into my yard, a garden party in mind, and what did I see? Clumps of grass had established outposts among the sunny daffodils. Ivy, almost shamelessly, greened up over a fence. Bindweed infiltrated via a network of subterranean runners. I stood there for a moment. The opening battle in the annual war of the weeds had been joined.

Weeds steal water from the plants, depriving them of nutrients, interfering with their root systems, and inhibiting air circulation, and so I have to pull them, a time-consuming process.

The main character, Mitra Basu, in my latest novel titled, Tulip Season: A Mitra Basu Mystery, is a landscape designer and she does her chores well:

A stray buttercup had established itself at the base of a velvety coleus. (Mitra) pulled the buttercup and threw it onto an impromptu compost heap she’d just started. Next, she noticed the prolific clovers, threatening to overtake part of the space occupied by the tulips. Suddenly angry, she bent over and grasped a handful of the clover blossoms by their throats. Her muscles tensing, the blossoms practically bleeding on her fingers from the tight grip, she pulled and pulled them and tossed them into the compost pile. How dare they invade (her) tulips?

Unlike Mitra, I grow flowers only as a pleasant pastime. I like planting seeds, watering the seedlings, and taking off spent blooms. But weeding? I pause to think. Why do we spend time weeding? Two bigger questions are: Why do we grow flowers? Who do we grow flowers for?

An answer to that last question comes from Mitra Basu:

Grandmother appreciated it when Mitra opened the car door for her or poured her tangerine juice, but she smiled the brightest when Mitra walked in with a spray of flowers on her arms.

I’ve noticed the same. The last time I brought a bunch of double peonies in pink to a friend, she murmured in pleasure, clasped the bouquet, and suppressed a tear of joy.

Friends aren’t the only ones to appreciate flowers. With the morning weeding done, I put the shovel away, look up, and pay attention to who’s passing by. A child pauses and notices an insect underneath a leaf. Her face is lit, as though she’s privy to a mysterious act. A dog smells the mowed lawn, flops its ears, apparently happy. A bird settles momentarily on top of a bush for a moment of rest. A woman stoops over the honey suckle and smells the blossoms, saying “Ahh.”

How many people pass by my flower patch every day? How many get a respite from the colors and shapes?

Returning to Mitra, who is also a gardening columnist for a Seattle newspaper, I read that she has quoted Jean Giradoux in one of her columns: “The flower is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.”

Seduction of life? I can weed for that.

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Visiting the Economics Book Blog

Join me over at The Economics Book Blog as I talk about remembering what made me fall in love with my novel Jailbird.

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Orangeberry Blog Tour: Guest Post for http://theeconomicsbook.com/

Join me over at The Economics Book Blog as I talk about remembering what made me fall in love with my novel Jailbird.

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Visiting Dees White at Age is Just a Number

Join me over at Age is Just a Number where I talk about the power of hope.

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Visiting Gimme the Scoop

Join me over at Gimme the Scoop Reviews today as I talk about the three things I never could have imagined when I became a writer!

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Visiting Terri Morgan

Join me over at writer Terri Morgan’s blog today as I talk about how my dreams had to come crashing down for me to see them come true.

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An Odd Little Duck: The Art of Loving Your Life

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Clumsy can usually be found either in someone's lap or on the fringe of his flock.

We have a deformed duckling named Clumsy. Sometimes I feel a little sorry for him because he doesn’t fit in with the other ducks, but he’s not exactly a house duck, either. He spends a lot of his time bouncing between the two, always slightly out of place. The older he gets, though, the more he seems to figure it out and the more he seems to have joy in life.

I can identify with little Clumsy; I used to spend a large portion of my time trying to figure out how to fit in.

When it came to choosing a career as a child, I wanted to be an actress or a writer, but I heard from friend and stranger alike that I’d never make any money at either. Only I didn’t seem to fit any of the “acceptable” careers, which left me drifting from job to job throughout my twenties.

It didn’t help that whole “fitting in” endeavor that I never liked the things others liked.  From my quirky sense of humor, to my independent nature and my tendency to share my opinions – I tended to stand out in a crowd. Eventually, I figured out that if I shut my mouth and just observed, I could blend in more easily.

Being a little city and a little country, I found my problem fitting extended to locale as well. If I was in the country, I was deemed a city girl. In the city, I was called  ”outdoorsy” and “country.”

I was making myself miserable trying to cram myself into a mold that just wasn’t me.

It wasn’t until I stopped trying to please others that I began to truly live the life I was created for. That’s when I began to get a feel for the art of loving my life. Like any art, it’s something I’m still working on. Still, I’m    on the right path.

Now I live in the country but travel enough to keep my feet from getting itchy. I still might be considered an oddity to people on both sides of the country/city divide, but at least I always have something unique to talk about wherever I am.

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Clumsy the Duck playing in his pool

On the career, I gave up worrying about money and started doing what I was meant to do, figuring the money would follow if it was meant to be. I’ve yet to go hungry, so I guess it’s working for me.

I am who I am, and I figure God must have made me this way for a reason. Part of the fun is figuring out why.

 

 

 

[image error]I wrote today’s post as part of the WOW-Women on Writing’s “The Art of Loving Your Life” Blanket Tour celebrating the release of Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore by Barbara Conelli (www.barbaraconelli.com).

Barbara Conelli is an internationally published bestselling author, seasoned travel writer specializing in Italy. In her charming, delightful and humorous Chique Books filled with Italian passion, Barb invites women to explore Italy from the comfort of their home with elegance, grace and style, encouraging them to live their own Dolce Vita no matter where they are in the world.

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Her latest book, Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore offers an intimate view into the unpredictable and extravagant city of Milan, its glamorous feminine secrets, the everyday magic of its dreamy streets, the passionate romance of its elegant hideaways, and the sweet Italian art of delightfully falling in love with your life wherever you go.

If you comment on today’s post on this blog or any of the others participating in The Art of Loving Your Life tour, you’ll be entered to win a signed copy of Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore!

To read Barbara’s post about loving life and view a list of other blogs participating in The Art of Loving Your Life tour please visit The Muffin (http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/)

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Friday’s Mark: Bossing and Talking

My guest today is the lovely and talented fellow Booktrope author Elise Stephens. Every time I see the cover of her novel, Moonlight and Oranges, I get a case of cover-envy. At the moment, Amazon Prime members can read her novel for free. Take the time to check out her post below about how she uses her particular talent for bossiness to make the world a better place. ~Heather

by Elise Stephens

Any of my siblings will tell you I’m bossy.  I’ll defend myself with “I can’t help it! I’m a firstborn!” but that doesn’t work well as an excuse when it comes to talking to my husband.  I tend to get very terse when there’s a lot to be done on a short timeline.

When I told my father I wanted to come with him on a Club Rust mission trip to Tecate, Mexico (yes, where the beer is from), I didn’t know that I’d end up doing more than building homes.  I’ve been going down there every summer since that initial trip when I was fourteen, addicted to the fun teamwork and the thrill of giving a struggling family a home.

In a nutshell, the families we build for have moved up to the border towns of Mexico (Tijuana area) to work in the U.S. factories.  The parents bring back less than $100 a month and trying to support a family of several children, while living in the slums.  We give them a new house with sturdy walls that won’t fall down in strong winds (a real fear for many of them, who use garage doors as walls) and a way to get ahead financially.

The families we build for each year are picked by a pastor from within the local community as those who most need a home—something not always readily apparent to the foreigner’s eye.  After we leave, the pastor and the church community partner with us to continue checking in and helping the families get connected with their neighbors so that the aid is an ongoing process, not just a onetime event.

I used to swing a hammer on the jobsite.  Now I wield a radio.  Why?  Because I like to boss people around.  Thus, my intro.  Ha, no really, I’m blessed to have a mother who taught me excellent communication skills.  It’s part of why I turned to writing novels in a professional capacity almost two years ago.  It’s also why I now work as a Rudder (a special term our group has invented) on the Club Rust summer house building trips.

A rudder steers the ship.  My job is to manage communications, moods, and the overall health of the home I work on.  I’ll help direct tasks, find jobs for those who look like they need work, make sure everyone is drinking water in the 90+ heat, check in with the other organizers when I need advice on larger issues, help the workers reapply sunblock, make sure that tempers aren’t getting overheated, connect the team with the family receiving the house, and pray over everyone at the beginning of each day.

It’s the perfect job for someone who likes to talk and wants to use her bossiness for good.  Sometimes, it just takes a while to find the time and place for it to fit.

As much as I sometimes miss swinging a hammer, I feel I’ve finally found a place to use the gifts God’s given me in a unique way for the setting, and I think that the houses we build are stronger now because if it, just not solely in the structural sense.

About Elise:

Elise Stephens blogs about relationships, life, and inspiration at www.elisestephens.com. Elise received the Eugene Van Buren Prize for Fiction from the University of Washington in 2007. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys live theater, swing dancing, eating tiramisu, singing, and painting. She lives in Seattle with her husband James. Her novel Moonlight and Oranges was a quarter-finalist for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Follow her on Twitter @elisestephens and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorEliseStephens.

About Club Rust:

Club Rust a Christ-centered group that builds homes for the less fortunate people living in make-shift shelters in Northern Mexico. All are welcome to join us on these south of the border adventures: Families, groups and individual volunteers!


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