Becky Wade's Blog, page 58

A 9-11 Remembrance

Even since before our marriage, the game of Scrabble® has always been a favorite of Ken and mine. Years ago a friend gave us a new deluxe edition of the board game, and we gladly put our tattered then-twenty-year-old game “out to pasture.” It was easy to throw away the crushed box and the faded game board, but I just couldn’t part with the square wooden tiles of the game we’d begun our marriage with. Instead, I put the tiles in a little dish on the ottoman in front of our sofa. On a whim, I arranged some of the letters on the top of the pile to spell out D-E-B  L-O-V-E-S  K-E-N. Written as it was, on top of the mound of other lettered tiles, it took some concentration to make out the message, but eventually Ken noticed it.

So did our children. One day as I was dusting, I noticed the tiles had been rearranged. I took me a minute to focus on the new message, but when I did, there was no doubt who had left it. In the slang of our then teenage youngest son, it said T-R-E-Y  I-S  D-A  M-A-N.

That was the beginning of a marathon of messages from the Scrabble® bowl. A few days later our then ten-year-old daughter put her own name “in lights.” T-A-V-I-A  I-S  A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

Over the years, it became a family pursuit, and we never knew from day to day what message might be spelled out by the tiles in the bowl. Sometimes the tiles welcomed dear guests, other times they announced a special occasion, or communicated our love for one another. Often it simply served as a conversation piece. Occasionally weeks would go by and the message would sit, unchanged, forgotten.

On September 11, 2001, our family––like the rest of the world––was shaken by the tragic events in our nation. To make matters worse, Trey’s close high school friend was killed in a tragic car accident that week. Trey was asked to speak at the funeral, and made the seven-hour drive home from college in Iowa.

The following week, he drove back to college, Tavia started back to school, and we all tried to get back in our routines of life. But things seemed hopeless and bleak. I found it hard to work, hard to think about anything but the tragedies that had befallen our friends and our world.

One morning, Ken and I were sitting on the sofa together and when I looked down, I noticed that our little dish of Scrabble® tiles displayed a new message. In the unmistakable “penmanship” of our then 10-year-old youngest daughter, were three words that spoke of childlike faith, of courage, and of hope. Fifteen letters of the alphabet, arranged just so, offered us the strength to find joy in life again:

G-O-D  B-L-E-S-S  A-M-E-R-I-C-A.

Twenty-two years later those tiles are still on our coffee table. The collection has grown to include several games’ worth of tiles, and today it’s usually our grandkids who play with them and arrange them into messages (or tall stacks to knock over). Life goes on and God is still in His heaven—and in our thankful hearts.

What are your memories of that horrific day? How has God’s goodness shone through the darkness for you since that day?

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.

Cover Reveal!

In this post, I’m sharing my recipe for Rocky Road! Before you get a bowl and spoon ready for ice cream, I’ll point out that Rocky Road is the title of my next book.

I began with a hero named Jude Camden . . . .

Then I stirred in a heroine named Gemma Clare . . . .

To that mixture, I added a fun plot line . . . .

Finally, I sprinkled in a family mystery from the past, a Maine setting, banter, humor, and lots of romance. Here’s the back cover blurb . . . .

FBI Agent Jude Camden handles every aspect of his job with by-the-book professionalism. There’s no reason why his latest assignment—which calls for him to pose as the boyfriend of perfumer Gemma Clare—should be any different.

Except Gemma is different. She’s creative, bold, and feisty. And as soon as she meets Jude, she wants to loosen him up, wrinkle his perfect shirts, and test every ounce of his towering self-control.

The FBI has an iron-clad rule against romances between those working together on operations. Jude’s never met a rule he didn’t respect. But adhering to this one is going to be tough because, as time goes by, he finds Gemma more and more irresistible.

Buckle up! It’s going to be a rocky road.

My recipe resulted in the following cover, designed by my talented writer friend Courtney Walsh . . . .

Rocky Road’s print book, ebook, and audiobook are currently available for pre-order on my web site. The ebook is also up for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Apple, and more. If you’d like to add it to your “want to read” shelf on Goodreads, I’d love for you to do so here.

I know many of you enjoyed the swag boxes I offered for Memory Lane. I’ll be doing swag boxes again for Rocky Road, but making them available through my website instead of Kickstarter this time. Those will likely become available to order in November. I’ll create versions of the swag boxes with or without the book. So, for example, if you want to pre-order the book now and consider a swag box later, you certainly could.

I’m sticking with a Valentine’s Day release because that was so much fun last year and also because I want to give myself plenty of time to get everything–including the audiobook–ready to go on that day.

One last announcement before I go . . . .

The ebook of Memory Lane, book 1 of my Sons of Scandal series, is on sale for the next few days for just $2.99 at all your favorite online retailers. Now is a great time to snag a copy and escape to a romance in Maine!

What do you think of Rocky Road’s cover?

Giant Back to School Giveaway

Sometimes when I read, I have fun matching the book to the season or activities I’m involved in. I read Christmas stories in December and romantic stories in honor of Valentine’s Day. OK – I read romantic stories all year ’round, but particularly in February. Sometimes I’ll match a book to a trip I’m taking or a craft project I’m working on.

In my Posse, we are matching the time of year with our reading challenge for this month by reading a book where the hero or heroine is a teacher. There are so many great books to choose from, it’s been fun to see all the different titles being mentioned in the group.

If you are interested in reading a book that meets the back-to-school theme, there is a giant giveaway going on right now that will give you a wonderful opportunity to stock up on some great reads. One winner will receive 52 books! Several of these titles have a tie-in to teaching or school with characters and/or setting. And who doesn’t love a chance to win autographed books?

I combined some of our promo graphics in the collage below to show about half of the titles being given away.

Click here to enter.

Entries will be accepted until midnight tomorrow (9/8/23).

PRIZES:

1 – Grand Prize Winner – Receive 1 AUTOGRAPHED paperback featured title from each author (52 books in all).

2 – 2nd Place Winners – Receive 4 randomly selected paperbacks from the featured titles.

12 – 3rd Place Winners – Receive 1 randomly selected paperback from the featured titles.

Do you enjoy matching books you read to seasons or events?

Contest Terms:

The giveaway will run from 12:00AM CT 8/28/2023- 11:59PM CT 9/8/2023. Open to *USA MAILING ADDRESSES ONLY Entrants must be 18 yrs or older to win. No purchase necessary to enter the giveaway. Entrants submitting their email address agree to be subscribed to the participating authors newsletter list and understand they can unsubscribe at any time. Prizes will be mailed to the winners within 4-6 weeks of the contest end date. **Contest participants are not responsible for lost or stolen items during the shipping process**

The Blessing of Praying Friends

We’ve been walking through a rough summer. If you are on my email list, you know a bit of my house woes. If you are from Texas, you might know some of our other stresses due to my husband’s former job. Not to mention health issues of several close friends, lots of travel and job stress. The Lord has been faithful in many, many ways, not the least of which have been through our friends. 

Longtime friends and newer friends. Far away friends and close-at-hand ones. Even family members (especially sisters and brothers by blood and marriage) who we also count as friends! They have all listened to us, commiserated with us, laughed with us when it was better than crying, and, most of all, prayed for us. I seriously don’t know how we would have made it through this season of life without them.  

I love that each of these friends have come through different avenues. Writer friends. Church friends. Work friends. And yet they each have the main thing in common—they love us well through prayer. So, so many prayers. Because truly, that, to me, is the hallmark of a true friend. A friend who prays. 

So I thought I’d just give you a collage of these faces in our lives, a testimony to their love of Jesus and of us. (If I’ve forgotten anyone, please forgive me. I’m doing this at the last minute and I had trouble finding pictures of some of you wonderful prayer warriors!)

Family who are friendsLife Group Ladies (no pictures of the men who are also great friends!)Dallas friends

Do you have these kinds of friends in your life? If you don’t, find them now! Because I promise there will come a time in your life you will need these kinds of friends. 

If you have great praying friends who hold you up in rough times, give them a shout out in the comments! 

Novel Recipes | Pumpkin Bread

At the first sign of fall, however slight, I make pumpkin bread. And I whipped a batch up last weekend.

Don’t get me wrong, daily temps here in Nashville are still hovering in the high 80s/low90s, but this past weekend when we were walking the dogs one evening, there was a touch of cool in the air (high 60s) that was sooo fall like.

So out came the bread loaf pans!

A baking enthusiast, I enjoy sharing recipes in my novels, and I included the Pumpkin Bread recipe in A Beauty So Rare, the second Belmont Mansion novel (2014).

This pumpkin bread recipe is a “one-bowler” meaning you just throw everything into a bowl, mix it, then bake it. So easy and delicious. Foolproof every time!

Eleanor Braddock’s Pumpkin Bread
as featured in A Beauty So Rare

Ingredients:
3 cups plain flour
3 cups sugar
½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 (generous) tsp each cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg
1 cup oil
1 cup water
1 15-ounce can pumpkin
4 eggs
1 cup chopped nuts

Mix dry ingredients first, then blend in the rest. Bake in two greased and floured loaf pans for 50 minutes at 350. Check for doneness. Don’t overbake. (Your house will smell wonderful, too!)

I’ve been making this recipe for nearly 30 years now, and have never had it not turn out wonderfully. Okay, well, there was that one time when my oil had turned rancid, yet I didn’t discover that until the bread was fully baked and we were eating it. Something just tasted…off.

I finally tracked down the guilty party and banished the rancid oil from the kitchen, then promptly started over again. : )

If you’re someone who loves recipes, then check out my NOVEL SWEETS & SAVORIES page on my website.

It’s chock full of recipes from my novels through the years. Click to browse them all.

So tell me…

Have you tasted that first sign of fall yet? Maybe it’s a slight chill in the air? Or maybe it’s something else entirely. What’s a sign you watch for when fall starts to come around? And is there something special you love to make during fall?

Blessings on your Tuesday, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Tammy

For those of you who may remember that I hid a TON of tiny ducks in my friend’s house for her birthday earlier this year… Well, she’s still finding them! Here’s what she texted me yesterday. LOLOL

It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

An oldie but goodie story

Because I have Covid, and because my brain is barely functioning, I’m going to repeat an old story. I told it at ACFW, and as long as people laugh, I’ll keep telling it.

Back in November 2001, I was on the treadmill during LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY and I heard they were having “Super Dog Week.” On Friday, they were going to feature the smallest dog and the Guiness World Record dog, a mastiff named Hercules.

Well, I thought it might be fun to fax in a photo of Justus and my son . . . and maybe, just maybe, they’d hold it up to the camera at some point during the week. So I printed out a photo of Jussy and my son, and wrote this really stupid letter that went something like this:

I don’t know how big Hercules is these days, but our Justus is 275 pounds and he’s wonderful. He’s really sweet, he has big feet, and he likes his treats.

I faxed the letter to the show and forgot about it. But the very next day I got a phone call from the producer–they wanted me to 1) go to the vet and have Jussy’s weight verified and 2) if he really was as big as I said, they wanted us to fly to New York to be on the show.

“But he won’t fit in a crate,” I told them.

“Not to worry,” the producer said. “We’ll buy him a ticket so he can ride with you in the cabin.”

Long story short–we juggled our schedules to fly Jussy to Manhattan. Yep, ON the plane. My husband kept saying we were crazy, but I said it was the chance of a lifetime and we had to take it. People asked if I was going to be on the show to talk about my books–I saw no, I was going for my DOG.

The trip took place in early November, and everyone was still suffering the effects of 9/11/2001. People were still jittery in airports, and the security lines were looooong. Anyway, Justus charmed (and calmed) everyone in the airport. He walked straight through the lines and patiently stood around while people petted and kissed him and asked us 100 times how much he ate and how much he weighed. When Jussy grew tired, he’d never snap or growl, he’d just sort of turn away like he needed a break.

We were picked up at the airport in a cargo van (not a good idea, because we were bounced around like tin cans–me and the dog in the back), so I told the Regis folks that a car would be better. So, after spending the night at the Mayflower Hotel across from Central Park (Hey, a dog has to have some place to go!), we were picked up in a stretch limo and driven to the show.

In the green room, we met Hercules and his owner, and another mastiff named Moose–they brought in a ringer! If you’d like to see the actual (edited) video, just keep reading.

Now–Gelman had rigged up this teeter-totter thing that looked a little flimsy. So we did a dress rehearsal, and Jussy hopped up on the contraption just fine, but when it MOVED, he decided he didn’t like it. So in the actual broadcast, of course, he REFUSED to get on the thing. I was holding out bagels and assorted foods I’d filched from the green room, but Justus was having none of that teeter totter. My hubby was at the rear, pushing with all his might, but it’s not an easy thing to move a mastiff that doesn’t want to move. Then Hercules’ owner stepped in and hefted the big boy up on the scale.

Cutting to the punch line: Justus was declared America’s SECOND largest dog. (And, for the record, he was not obese. Just big.)

I had a speaking engagement to (literally) run to, so I took off while hubby, Regis, and Justus posed for pictures. In the airport on the way home, hubby and Justus gave autographs and posed for more pictures. Joan Rivers even walked by and said she’d seen them on the show.

After the show, Jussy enjoyed about a week of celebrity. He was on the local news and made appearances in the schools, but one appearance was especially memorable. We took him to a class of handicapped students, many of whom were blind or otherwise visually impaired. And Justus stood there, patiently, while these kids patted him from nose to tail. He was so patient and gentle with them.

I miss him . . . and I wish I could be as patient. Sometimes animals can be models for us, no?
Hug your dog today! Click the link below to watch a clip from the show:

https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyPoZXfHZyap7K9eYVCvTbrnUuSL-4EpJShONk6fRoro7mqS1b6IxpsOCo4Re18xT9dlPHb4J18cdn0LwmUq3Z3VRNnkCPshL3GWsVSlqEK1HyqaJ7dCJfGpOsWkRymmA

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.

Family Fun

For those who don’t know me well, I am the mother of two daughters, the grandmother of six (two of whom are married), and an exceedingly young great-grandmother. One of my daughters, Jenn, and her family moved to Texas twelve years ago. The other, Micki, lives in Boise. It’s her daughter and son who are married and have kids of their own, and lucky for us, both live within an hour’s drive in opposite directions.

In July, Micki informed me she wanted to get a portrait made of her family. We were all told to wear blue tops (which meant a little shopping excursion for me, and I love the royal blue one I found). Our photo shoot was set for the day after I drove back from my annual retreat. Since my last professional headshot was taken in 2015, I planned to take advantage of this scheduled photo shoot to get one or two of those for myself. I had to hope I wouldn’t look too tired from my seven-plus hours behind the wheel the previous day.

Although a wiggly four-year-old and a grumpy one-year-old made it a little difficult for the photographer, we were pleased with the end result.

Four generations togetherMicki’s daughter, son-in-love, and granddaughterMicki’s son, daughter-in-love, grandson, and step-granddaughterNew headshot #1New headshot #2

Before I go, I have to share another group of photos. This week, Jennifer started in a new position with the Forest Service. It was a big step up for her, and she is very excited (and us for her). So she sent a (silly) photo of herself with her nameplate outside her new office. I made a comment during our Facetime about Micki and what she might look like in a similar situation. The next morning I get a ping for a message and there was Micki’s (silly) photo with her nameplate outside her classroom. Not to be outdone—and since I don’t have a nameplate beside my office door—I improvised with one of my books. Result: (silly) photo.

I love my nutty family!

I hope you’ve had and/or you’re having some family fun before we leave summer behind and head into autumn. Please share!

~robin

ACFW 2023

My apologies for being late with this post this morning. Yesterday Ken and I returned from the 2023 American Christian Fiction Writers Conference in St. Louis and I’ve been playing catch-up since then. But oh, what a wonderful conference it was, and I have some fun photos to share of our time in St. Louis!

The conference ran from Thursday through Sunday morning and was packed with activity! I’ll share just a few photos from our time.

I taught a workshop on Writing Cinematically to about forty attendees.

I got to do one of several book signings with these great authors, L to R. Jerusha Agen, me, Ashley Clark, Crystal Caudill, Amanda Cox.

So many great meetings in the hallways, including a surprise visit from our own Becky Wade, who decided to come to St. Louis at the last minute! And for good reason!

The final night of the conference is always the Genesis and Carol Awards. Inspired by Life…and Fiction was well represented! Our own Robin, Julie, Becky, and I, plus Jody Hedlund who wrote for this blog for many years, were all semi-finalists. Becky and I advanced to the finals, and Becky won the Romance category with her novel Turn to Me. Yay, Becky!!

Our keynote speaker, author Charles Martin, hit it out of the park with his talks. The ACFW Lifetime Achievement Award was given to James Scott Bell, and my agent, Steve Laube, was awarded ACFW Agent of the Year—both so well deserved!

I loved catching up with some of the members of my local St. Louis ACFW Chapter! And it’s always a joy to have my wonderful husband, Ken, at conference with me!

I’ll leave you with a few sweet measures of our worship time. (Click on the image or link below to play.)

https://youtu.be/knFnvaLf3gM