Becky Wade's Blog, page 40

Lake House Getaway

One year ago, I blogged in this post about the lake house my husband and I were in the process of building at Lake O The Pines in northeast Texas. We completed it early this year! Our family has been enjoying it immensely. As have the guests who’ve booked it as a vacation rental. A few photos…

Didn’t it turn out great?

Since Monday, I’ve been on a “girls getaway” here at the lake with Courtney Walsh and Katie Ganshert. We’ve spent most of our time relaxing at the house–talking, doing a puzzle, writing a little, watching movies. We also visited a winery for lunch and walked around the historic town of Jefferson. It’s been glorious.

Happy Friday, everyone! I’m wishing you all a wonderful weekend. Love, Becky

Making hard choices

Have you ever had a season where you’ve had to make hard choices?

Choosing to say no to one thing to say yes to another?

This week I had to say no to a book contract with an independent collection that I really wanted to say yes to, to make space for my family. I agonized over the choice. I loved working with this team last year. My novel Art of Deception came out in Come What May in September and it was great. And I’ll probably work with them again.

I see participating in these collections as a way to support other writers and a way to write books that fit in the larger constellation of my writing. Often they are books that lead into series for my traditionally published works. Art of Deception is the prequel to The Vanished that released last week. I was going to write book three in an earlier series this summer for this contract.

But as I kept thinking and praying about it, I just felt a tightening in my stomach. I have another full length novel to write for my publisher this year. It’s a busy season for our family. And my teaching job consumed a lot of energy this spring. I’m dry. Even though it’s really hard, I’m giving myself the gift of a slight pause, a little inhale.

I have some ideas for how I could use that time to do a few other writing related things. Or not. We’ll see.

Have you ever had that little hitch in your stomach? That little voice in your head? How did it go for you?

By the way, it’s been so exciting to see early reactions to The Vanished . Thanks to everyone who’s bought and read it already! Thank you for leaving reviews to help others discover it. It makes such a difference!

Spring into Reading

Happy Wednesday, friends! I don’t know about you, but when a new season rolls around, I like to pick a new batch of books to dive into. 

I don’t read much fiction while I write. I primarily read non-fiction until after I finish a book, which I just turned in the first draft to the second book in my Jeopardy Falls series—YAY! 

So now I’m ready to binge some fiction before my revisions come back. It looks like I might get two weeks. Usually, it’s one, so I’m excited to have a little more time off to devour books. 

I really love the new covers that are so popular for rom-com and contemporary romance. I think they look great for some spring reading. 

I’m excited about each story and wanted to share them with you. 

First up is Bethany Turner’s Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other. 

Bethany says: 

This slow-burn, low-spice/clean enemies-to-lovers rom-com is set in a small town full of quirky citizens and is packed with pop culture, witty banter, and a guaranteed Happily Ever After–provided they can resist the urge to throw each other off a Colorado mountainside first. After all, Brynn (you probably won’t like her at first) is desperately trying to save her career and Sebastian (who’s hiding from his own demons) really just wants to be left alone to sing karaoke in peace.

Mine kind of story! 

Next up is Loyally Luke by Pepper Basham. It doesn’t release for a few more weeks, but I’ll be snatching it up right awry. 

Sometimes love means embracing the good, the bad . . . and even the impossible.

I love Pepper’s witty, hilarious, and heartwarming stories. 

Next is My Lucky Charm by Courtney Walsh. 

A humiliating break-up leads to an impulsive New Year’s Kiss with a complete stranger. 
What could possibly go wrong?

My Lucky Charm is a grumpy/sunshine, sweet hockey romance with all of the sizzle but none of the steam. 

Reader Question: 

What are you reading, and what are you looking forward to? 

Have a blessed week, 

Dani

Fun Book News

A short and sweet post for today. I just want to share some good news. Last week I signed a contract with Bethany House Publishers for four more Regency-era novels. I’m excited!

Past contracts have been in paper form, and I would pose while my husband dutifully took a signing photo. Nowadays, the contracts come by email and are signed with a few clicks online. To be honest, I was still in my jammies and glasses when I digitally signed this one, and didn’t even think about a photo until it was too late.

Photo or no, I am sincerely grateful for my publisher’s support and happy for the opportunity to keep writing novels for them—and for my readers.

That’s it for today. But if you happen to be reading this while still in your jammies, please let me know in the comments so I feel better. Thank you!

Childhood Chapter Books

I attended a two-room country schoolhouse, and we had a small, but incredible library. I’m sure I read every book on those shelves before I reached 7th grade, and those books greatly enriched my life.

Fairplay School is a private home now, but a reunion was held there 10 years ago, and it was wonderful to see so many childhood friends and relive memories of those years

One library book I returned to over and over again was called The Village That Slept. It was the story of two young teens who survive a plane crash and care for a tiny infant survivor as they try to make their way out of the mountains to civilization. When my childhood school closed down, I lost track of that book, and spent three decades searching for it—except I couldn’t remember the title or the author! Makes it very difficult to find a book if you don’t know those two “little” details!

Long story short, I’d almost given up when I came across a reference to the book while I was researching a novel. (Turns out it was translated from the French, and I’d been searching for a story set in the Alps, when actually the crash happens in the Pyrenées mountains.) The book was long out of print, but I was able to locate a used copy online. The dealer was asking $60 for it, but he cut his price in half, and then a dear writing friend I’d done some editing for sent me a $30 gift certificate to that site, so I ending up getting it free! When my book came in the mail some time later, it was like welcoming an old friend home!

(Now there are two copies of The Village That Slept available on amazon, one going for $1599 and another for $499!! I’m sure glad I got my copy when I did!)

On Easter Sunday, I sent that book home with our eight-year-old granddaughter who devours chapter books. Her momma sent me this photo the next day. I can’t express how this warmed my heart! I just love that this sweet girl is as swept away by this story as I was.

What are some favorite chapter books from your childhood? Have you shared favorite childhood books with kids or grandkids or younger members of your family?

Inspired by Scripture

This Sunday feature is brought to you by ClashVerseoftheDay.com. You may sign up to receive a beautiful photo with Scripture in your inbox each morning or view the verse each day online.

Fear, Get Out of My Way!

2024: A few of my current research books

About five and a half years ago, I was invited to write a novel for Guideposts’ new (at that time) Ordinary Women of the Bible series. To be frank, I almost declined. The idea of writing biblical fiction terrified me. And here’s why. If I mess up something in one of my western historical novels or in a contemporary novel, I feel bad and wish I hadn’t made whatever mistake it was (i.e. in my first novel I included kudzu in my Civil War story and kudzu wasn’t introduced to America until the 20th century). But if I messed up something based upon the Bible, that would feel much worse to me.

Well, I decided not to give into my fear and said “Yes” to the invitation. I chose to write the story about the widow who gave the two mites. Since Jesus told us only two things about her (she is poor and she is a widow), I had lots of leeway for my story, which I figured was good. When I started writing that novel (Rich Beyond Measure), I was still nervous, but the experience proved to be one of the best in my writing life. My research every day was in the Gospels, plus books about the culture and daily life during the time of Jesus.

2019: My dining room table with all my research books

When I was asked to write one of the Extraordinary Women of Bible books, I was quick to say “Yes” again, this time to writing about the Queen of Sheba. The Beginning of Wisdom came out last year. I will admit that writing the queen’s story was completely different from writing about the widow. There is much unknown about the Queen of Sheba beyond the verses included in the Bible, but there is some extra-biblical material, not to mention myths and opposing opinions that had to be examined and sorted through. Still, I loved writing that book.

Therefore, I was pleased when another invitation came to write a third biblical novel, this one inspired by the Star of Bethlehem. Oh my. Has this ever taken me on a journey. I have chosen for my heroine to be a cousin of Yosef. She is a young mother and widow who lives in Bethlehem and is present at the birth of Yeshua and must escape with her year old son when Herod’s soldiers come to try to kill the King of the Jews. With the help of an Egyptian camel khabir, she follows Yosef and Miryam to Egypt. I have been delving deep into Egypt in 5 & 4 BC and into Israel in the time of Jesus and into Passover and other festivals and other customs and into so very much more. My deadline is fast approaching, but the journey toward the book’s completion has been amazing.

Beginning more than a dozen years ago, my Bible study became focused on reading and understanding the Bible through a 1st century Jewish lens. I want to understand the Scriptures as Peter, James, John, and Paul understood them. I want to catch the idioms that are scattered through the pages of the Bible that I miss as a 21st century Western Christian. And I must say that this relatively-new focus in my Bible reading/study has helped me as I’ve written these three biblical novels.

All that to say, I’m so glad I didn’t let fear hold me back from writing the first of my biblical novels. Saying “yes” to the first allowed me to say “yes” to the next ones. Writing these stories has added new layers to my understanding and opened up the Scriptures to me in new ways. I hope they will do the same for my readers.

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

(2 Timothy 1:7, NASB95)

And just for fun, here is my great-granddaughter with one of her mom’s horses. Adaline knows no fear either.

Has God led you into an area where you were afraid to go?

I Have a Real Office!

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Usually, I am very resistent to change. Habit is comfortable, and I like being comfortable. Ha! However, as my children became adults and my nest began to empty, I started contemplating the possibility of a fairly significant change – a home office.

For the majority of my writing career, this is how I wrote:

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On my bed with a simple lap desk. It worked, but I dreamed of having a real office.

Last year, that dream started to come true. First, we purchased new carpet. And since we had people in the house moving furniture, we asked them to move one of two twin beds out of my boys’ room and move my youngest son’s large desk and a hand-me-down bookshelf in. This worked for several months, but this was a bedroom for little boys and the paint was in bad shape and there were sports pictures and hat hooks fastened to the walls. More change was needed.

I went to a paint store and grabbed samples of neutral colors I could add to the walls and got my artistic daughter-in-law to help me choose. We decided on a lovely soft shade of green called Contented. Isn’t that a wonderful name? Hopefully, it will be prophetic. Then I took the plunge and bought paint. This was in December. Over spring break last month, I finally found the time to put the paint on the walls. We redid the trim and doors as well, and my hubby even updated our outlets and switches.

Wes likes finding unique knobs for our cabinets and doors, and he surprised me last Christmas with some closet door handles in the shape of a pair of cowboy boots and a saddle. They are so fun!

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Having a day job duing the week and writing all weekend makes it hard to find time for home improvement projects. So over the next couple weeks, I did touch ups to the paint and then finally moved the furniture back. Well, most of the furntiture. The hand-me-down bookshelf didn’t survive. So, I ordered a new one. It came in last week, and I put it together while listening to a vitual writing conference on my computer. Two birds, one stone. It took most of the day since I stopped frequently to take notes during the conference sessions, but I was quite proud that I built this all my myself. Woot!

Then came the fun part – decorating! The old shelf held mostly promo materials like stacks of bookmarks, postcards, and other random items. But the new shelf I selected had doors that closed at the bottom, so I tried to put most of the promo things down there and then used books and other fun items for the rest of the shelves. The paper roses are from my niece’s wedding, sentimental and beautiful!

The small table in the corner is my tea table. I drink a lot of tea while I write, and I love teapots and books, so this is where I keep all of my bookish mugs. I also found a wonderful teapot from the Bronte sisters museum in England that has a quote from Jane Eyre, my favorite classic novel. The teapot reads, “I ask you to pass through life at my side – to be my second self, and best earthly companion.” And the tea cup says, “Reader, I married him.” So perfect for a historical romance writer, don’t you think? The teapot sits on an 1848 copy of Jane Eyre as well as an antique copy of Pride and Prejudice. My daughter cross-stitched the boots and sunflowers for me last Christmas as well.

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There is a lot of empty wall space above my desk that I will eventually fill with a cross-stitch pattern that I am working on. I had to set it aside to work on a project for my youngest son’s upcoming wedding, but maybe next year I’ll have it framed and on the wall as the final piece of the puzzle.

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The other half of the room still has a twin bed and dresser in place in case we need the extra bedroom for visitors, but I’m thrilled to have a space all my own to write.

Do you have any home projects you are working on?
Or any projects you’d like to do?

My next project is to install built-in shelves in our front room to create a home library. At the pace I’m going, we might have that done by 2026. Ha!

Feeding My Addiction (Old books)

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine sent me these pictures and text message: 

My response:

And she wasn’t even sorry!

I had some things to finish first, so it took me about an hour to get out of my house. By the time I got to the sale, someone had purchased two entire bookcases of the books, but there were still many, many titles to go through. 

You see, my obsession with books isn’t just books in general. It’s old books. I love finding gems—especially novels that didn’t last over time for whatever reason. I also love buying books I’ve read but in older printings. I love discovering books on historical subjects published closer to the time they happened. And I love old children’s books—ones I remember from my childhood and ones lost to time. And so I returned home with 10 hardback books and a stack of children’s books. (Note: I could absolutely have bought more, but I used considerable self-control if you can believe it!)

Before I could even get these on my shelves, we were off to Savannah, Georgia. We’ve visited the city many times but a visit is never complete without a trip to The Book Lady, a used bookstore in a basement space. Oh, the books I’ve found here! 

Last year it was a biography of a Scottish man, Patrick Ferguson, known for inventing a type of rifle used by the British regulars during the American Revolution. (I know, not the book most people would pick up!) This year, I found way too many things I couldn’t leave behind: 

Two writing books I’d never heard of. A book of interviews with British children’s authors compiled in the 1970s, the memoirs of a Tuskegee airman, a diary of a young woman in Virginia during the Civil War, a collection of Dorothy Parker’s poems and short stories, and an old novel (1927) set in Savannah around a story I had just heard on a tour and thought would make a good novel! My husband also picked up Flannery O’Connor’s two novels. (We’ve read her short stories, but not her novels.) 

The thing is, of course, that our bookshelves are basically full! I think maybe I need to cull out my research books to make room for some of these new (old) books. But that’s so hard, because who knows when I might need that information again for another story? 

Thus, we continue to collect books. Which we love. But I also got to see quite clearly at the estate sale what the end of that collecting will be. You see, the woman who had recently died left over 2000 books in her collection. She’d been collecting books since her marriage in 1949. How do I know this? Her children were conducting the estate sale and her daughter told me! 

Someday it will be my children selling 10 hardbacks and a stack of children’s books for $3. But at least I know that whoever buys them will be thrilled to have found them, even if our children don’t appreciate the books we’ve accumulated. 

Do you buy and keep books? Do you search look for old books? 

Glimpses from recent life

In no certain order, here are glimpses from recent life. Both the good and bad, LOL…

Joe and I are getting ready to move, again (still in the Nashville area, just down to College Grove), and Kelsey, Kellie, and I (all three of us denim-clad) snapped a pic while we checked out the new house. A new house is exciting and I’m so grateful. But oy, I do not like moving. Who does, though, right?

Last week, Kellie sent this next pic to our Alexander family text thread with the caption, “Someone went face first into the shelf.” (Ouch, bless him!)

(He was fine and the mark quickly healed.)

Then this pic quickly followed from Kellie with, “That same someone did this.”

Let me quickly add that Leo DID NOT HIT HER WITH THE POT. He merely placed said pot on her head. Still, Ari was not amused. Can’t blame her. Boys! [Note: I love that Kellie took a hot second to snap that pic. Hey, gotta capture the memories, right?]

Next, Kels shared this image on her Instagram story. LOL Love it.

Are you a picture taker when it comes to food? I am when it’s in a pretty little cast iron skillet. And those dishes! So lovely. Kels said the dessert was delicious, too!

I have long wanted to visit the Museum of the Bible, and while I still have not, Kelsey and her boyfriend, Jon, did and said it was marvelous. They highly recommend it. Have any of you visited? If yes, what were your impressions?

Next, I snapped a pic of Ari asleep in her bouncy chair with a gorgeous afghan my dear Aunt Jean (of Winchester, TN) made for her birth. It’s just as cozy and snuggly as it looks! So is Ari.

I adore keeping my grands and snapped this one morning as Leo ate breakfast…

I remember we kind of worried about him at around six months old when he didn’t seem at all interested in “real” food. Well, turns out it was the pureed food he didn’t like. All that mushy stuff. As you can see, he now eats like a champ. Nothing wrong with that boy’s appetite.

Lastly, if you haven’t tried this creamer, oh my, please do. Absolutely delicious. Close to life-changing. Definitely major-latte-coffee-boosting-enjoyment change. So yummy.

And don’t you dare judge me on that Ghirardelli Salted Caramel Syrup. Also delicious—and purchased for Kurt’s birthday fried apples pies we had this past weekend (HBD again, Kurt! Love you, bud). I really need to shove that bottle to the back of the fridge so I don’t see it. Better yet, give it to the kids.

That’s all for this Tuesday from my corner of the world. I’m hard at work on another book and the deadline is quickly approaching. I’m determined to make it. More about that story soon. It’s another one that I’ve wanted to write for a very long time.

So tell me…
* Are you a fan of moving?
*Or have you ever had a “pothead” in your family (like we have with Ari)?
*What about snapping pics of your food? Like me, do you adore desserts in cute, little cast-iron skillets?
*Ever been to the Museum of the Bible? If yes, what were your impressions?
*Do you have a sweet Aunt Jean who so generously makes gorgeous afghans for everyone in the family? (Yep, she made one for me, too.)
*Finally, have you ever tried Silk dairy-free Oatmeal Cookie Oat Creamer? (If you have a favorite creamer, please share that too.)

Hugs, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Tammy