Casey Dawes's Blog

Peace of the Season

In the Bible, Isaiah says, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

I don’t know about you, but I think we could all use a Prince of Peace about now. From the Ukraine to the US-Mexican border, to protests in China and ever-changing battles in Africa, the world is full of strife. Even our own backyards are often filled with discord.

Conflict is somewhat inevitable with human beings. We all have our opinions, our ways of doing things, and our beliefs. When we walk into a room we each see things differently based on our wiring, our upbringing, the experiences we’ve had, and the voices we’ve allowed into our heads.

The easy part is to stick with that frame of reference, no matter what. The harder part—the peace giving part—is to explore the lens of reference of another human being. Why does that person see Christmas as a holy time of year while the other peers through the lens of cynicism to see only the commercial aspects? If someone knows nothing about Judaism, they can hardly expect to see Hanukah as a person steeped in the religion would see it.

Whatever your faith, or beliefs, even if you feel you have none at all, I encourage you to discover whatever peace you have within you and pass it along. It can be as simple as a smile, or as difficult to do as perform the act of listening and accepting what someone else is saying, even if you disagree with them, without spending part of your brain working on a great comeback.

While we alone can’t solve great world problems, individually, in our own backyards, we can bring the peace and joy of the season.

May you have a very happy holiday season, however you celebrate.

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Hope in the Darkness

Dwarf Buckwheat

In the Northern Hemisphere, each day has less sunlight. Of course, we know it will grow light again after the solstice, but what if we didn’t KNOW that. Would we have hope that it would? Would we pray to whatever superior being was handy?

That’s a bit what it is like now. All we can do is hope that the world will reach a point of acceptable darkness soon and begin to bring in the light of peace and understanding once again.

There are other things we can do. Prayers and thoughts seem to be common answers. Observing the signs of hope around you, like these dwarf bluckwheat growing out of the blackest volcanic earth, can give you the strength to extend a kindness to a stranger—or an acquaintance you don’t like very well.

Listening is vital. Can you resist the urge to be waiting for your moment to respond, maybe even escalate the discussion to something more? Instead concentrate on active listening to what the person is and isn’t saying; be alert to body language and emotional tone. Bring a little light into the other person’s life.

I decided a while ago that I wanted my books to end on an up note. Not only do I try to provide a good story, but also inspiration. If the characters can face all odds, dig a little deeper, and grow into the happiness they deserve, then that should be accessible to all people.

During this season of darkness, where multiple religions and non-religions celebrate some ceremony that reminds us the light is coming back, I wish hope to be your companion during the journey.

If you need a little inspiration, click here to get a free copy of Promise Cove Holidays – a guaranteed happy ending.

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Community on the Road

Lander, Wyoming

Living the way we do in a roving trailer, a community can be hard to come by. Community on the road is a lot different from the small towns I’ve created or used in the Promise Cove and Beck Family Saga series. (If you’ve read Starting for Home, the town of Lander, Wyoming will be familiar to you.)

Readers Are a Vital Part of My Community on the Road.

By and large, it’s virtual. If you read my books and follow me on Facebook, Instagram (casey_dawes_author), or Pinterest, I’d love to get your comments on my posts and start up a real dialogue. Maybe someday I’ll figure out TikTok enough to get over there. Are you on TikTok? I’d love to know what you think about it.

Family and Friends in My Community on the Road.Stuart Zagnit, a friend from college.

My family and friends are connected with me, somewhat through Facebook, but more often through text or the occasional phone call. Most of my kids are heavily occupied with their careers and ushering the last of their children from their nests. I keep up with my friends on Facebook, remembering to at least click “like” once in a while so Facebook keeps showing me what’s going on.

Given my crazy life, I have lots of different communities to tap into: my college undergrad theater crew, my Montana early teaching friends, the traveling road show of my tech group, IDUG, and various friends who have hung in there from Massachusetts, California, Pennsylvania, and Montana.

How do you keep in touch with family and friends? It’s so very different from when I was a teenager stuck talking to my friends from the corded phone in the kitchen.

Virtual Groups

I also have some virtual groups that hold common interests scattered across the country. These folks are younger than I am by and large, which challenges me to re-examine my perspectives. Some I have added to my roster of friends. Although it is definitely harder to make friends the older you get.

Physical Community

We’ll be spending four months in Tucson. Last year I got to know several of the quilters as I worked on a grandchild’s quilt. I look forward to renewing those new friendships, as well as saying hi to the man from Minnesota who parks his trailer next to ours.

What about you? Do you make new friends easily?

[image error][image error]Whatever your real or virtual communities, I hope you find the friends of Promise Cove becoming part of your imaginary circle of friends.

Let’s chat! Follow me on Facebook to get started.

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Christmas Romance in Montana

Somewhere around 2014, my friend, Heather, started working at the Sweets Barn in Lolo, Montana. Subsequently, she became the new owner. If you’re ever in the area check it out. She’ll even ship. (My son in Pennsylvania hoarded the chocolates I sent him for his birthday from the Sweets Barn for a solid month.)

Also around that time, I enjoyed a monthly event with Missoula Businesswomen’s Network at the local airport. We were taken on tour and introduced to the crew. I made a connection to talk to the Airport Certification Safety Inspector from FAA Northwest Mountain Region Airports Division. There he told me the story of the emergency worker who ignored his alarm and was subsequently fired.

Those two stories were the genesis for Sweet Montana Christmas, the first book in the Montana Christmas Romance series. Enjoy the three-book series with your favorite fall or winter beverage as we get ready for the season of reflection and renewal, readying for spring’s bounty when it bursts forth.

Sweet Montana Christmas

She’s building the best chocolate shop in Montana. He’s looking for a career at a bigger airport. Can their attraction be more than a romantic fling?

Click here to purchase or read on Kindle Unlimited.

Montana Christmas Magic

She’s a Montanan to the core. He’s a pro tennis player from New York City. Will a white Christmas have enough magic to open their hearts to love?

Click here to purchase or read on Kindle Unlimited.

Second Chance Christmas

She can’t trust anyone, including her ex-boyfriend. Someone is out to get her. The problem is figuring out who before it’s too late.

Click here to purchase or read on Kindle Unlimited.

 

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What Happens If … A Novel’s Beginnings

Trailer Village RV Park photo by runarut is licensed under CC BY 2.0

An idea for a new series has been wandering around my brain for almost a year now. These ideas always begin the same way: What happens if …

Images float around. A tall, big-boned woman with a shovel pouring the first clumps on her husband’s coffin before handing the tool back to the groundskeeper. She stalks over to her sisters and says, “Well, that’s that,” then continues on to the car that’s waiting for her.

Two RVs traveling together. One is a newer Class A model, the other an older, but well-maintained Winnebego. They’ll stay someplace for a few weeks. One works as a free-lance programmer, another spends the day painting, while the third woman keeps things running.

Nice images, but not a story. It needs a catalyst. An old lover? A new one?

No, they need to gel first.

But what if … a niece is in trouble and needs some help from her squabbling aunts? Can they pull together and get this young woman on the right track?

Or will she infect them with her joy of life and get them back on the road to really living?

The “On the Road” books will start arriving in 2023! Join my newsletter to find out what happens if …

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Hope in Promise Cove Is a Hit!

I am celebrating! Hope in Promise Cove is out, and it is a hit!

While the book indulges in the trope of an enemies to lovers romance, it enhances the story with some real problems. Alex believes her chance at love has passed. Her husband died in war and her following relationship crashed and burned. She’s afraid to take another chance on love.

Sal’s life has never been easy, from the time he migrated to the United States with his family to escape horrors in El Salvador to his stint in the Middle East. He’s found peace by traveling the country, going from farm job to farm job. No entanglements and no trauma. He’s afraid to get too close to anyone.

“I felt like I was part of each of their journeys as they faced their fears to allow them to find something stronger on the other side,” said one reviewer.

Hope in Promise Cove shows life’s challenges, but also the healing power of love.

Get yours today on Amazon.

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Characters – What lies beneath?

You know the moment. The controlled fury as you long to tell your nemesis exactly what you think of her. But there are a dozen of your co-workers or friends standing around you, so you simply say, “Thank you.” You may be a skilled politician, so only the two of you know what lies beneath those two little words.

Or you may betray your anger through the tone of your voice or when you spill your coffee after putting it down on your desk a little too hard.

The same is true with characters in novels. Victor Appleton could get away with Tom Swifties (“We must hurry,” said Tom swiftly), but you, the reader, no longer have a fondness for -ly words. We authors must do better.

And, I’m here to tell you it isn’t easy.

Because what happens? We fall back on clichés: arched eyebrows, tense shoulders, clenched stomachs. One of my editors told me my hero in California Sunrise should see a doctor because his stomach was upset throughout the entire book!

Yet we must convey that underlying conversation–what my acting teachers used to call subtext. Next time you’re watching a movie with a gifted actor, look for that subtext and see how effective they are at transmitting it.

Fortunately, authors can rely on the character’s thoughts to convey that interior dialogue.

In the opening of Hope in Promise Cove, Alex meets her new neighbor, Sal:

This must be the man Maggie warned her about. But her friend had failed to mention the dramatic lines of his face: His wide eyes, framed with eyelashes it seemed only men could grow, contrasted with a sharp nose, and full-lipped mouth. It was not a handsome face, but her fingers itched for the right piece of wood.

She could see it in her mind’s eye, a high-grain surface, carved with all the right angles …

“Are you done?” the man said.

“Who are you?” She widened her legs and planted her feet firmly.

“I thought I was about to be dinner, the way you were looking at me.” He grinned, and her interest—which was purely artistic up to that point—took a turn to something else. Something she refused to examine too closely.

Every conversation and gesture are designed to push him away, but internally, Alex feels something she doesn’t want to feel. We see her testiness with Sal and also understand what lies beneath through her thoughts.

To find out what happens, purchase Hope in Promise Cove, releasing Sept. 19, 2022!

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PHOTO: “Angry” by A of DooM is licensed under CC BY 2.0

 

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Explore Life’s Possibilities in Fiction

[image error]Remember when you were a kid, and you imagined all the careers you might have? Fiction books can spur the same kind of imagination and allow you to imagine a life that might be yours. You can explore your life’s possibilities in fiction.

One of the things I totally enjoy about writing is that I can imagine different careers or different things I might do. For example, in my next book, Hope in Promise Cove, Alex loves to hike—the more difficult the better. Now, I’d always imagined myself a hiker. A lot of my friends hike. I live (kinda) in Montana, a state full of hikers.

Truth is? I’m not overly found of hiking. I like to think I am, and I love imagining stretching my legs and filling my lungs with good mountain air. But give me a swimming pool (preferably heated), and I’m as happy as an otter.

Fiction can allow you to solve a mystery, escape a madman, or marry a billionaire. All while sitting safely in your home, married to your beloved husband of twenty some odd years.

But fiction can do more than that. It can inspire you to try new things, or face a personal problem you’ve been avoiding. In a rut at work? Read a story about a woman fired from her job and how she manages to make a new life. Feeling sluggish and want to be healthier? Don’t read another diet book. Read a story, as I did once, of a young woman who decided she wanted to run a marathon and did whatever it took to do it, including replacing her candy bars with carrot and celery sticks.

Fiction books can change the world or influence how people think. Remember how the economics of Paul Ryan were influenced by Ayn Rand’s fiction books?

Or how the world shifted after you saw To Kill a Mockingbird based on Harper Lee’s novel?

So much can be felt and explored by reading fiction. Pick up a good book today, turn off the television, and get carried away to another life.

Hope in Promise Cove arrives in less than 4 weeks! 

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Life Lessons from Romance: Freckles

[image error]I fell in love with Freckles when I was a young teen. The young adult romance, written in 1904, was high-drama and noble romance and spoke to me of the ability of love to transcend ideals and make them into reality. (It probably had something to do with why my first husband was a red-haired Irishman.)

The story takes place in the Limberlost Swamp of Indiana. The author’s love of place shines throughout the story and inspired my nascent love of wilderness. My life lesson included the understanding that these places needed to be protected; they were sacred. I also understood for the first time that human use of the land–in this case the harvest of timber–needed to be balanced. We needed timber to build homes, but take out all the timber, the woods are lost.

It was also where I first saw clearly that in order to love, truly love, another human being, one must love oneself first. It’s a lesson that I forgot time and time again. When the world feels like it’s against us, it’s hard to remember we are worthy of being loved. In order to accept love from his “Swamp Angel,” Freckles needed to regard himself as worthy of her love.

I read Freckles over and over as a teen. From the vantage point of fifty plus years later, I can acknowledge the book is sappy and a product of its time. But it’s impact on my life was significant, and the lessons I learned have stood the test of time.

Is there a fiction book that has influenced your life? Send a note to casey AT caseydawes dot com and let me know!

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Reclaim Your Time to Read and Relax

The summer can be a gift if you let it be one. Hot days, remembering childhood summers, or a vacation in the mountains can remind you of the time to read and relax you once had. A strenuous hike can make you feel like your mind has been cleansed of all disturbing thoughts.

There is a lot of noise in the world around us, as well as a lot of negative emotional energy. There are things that need attending to, but not all the time, and certainly not with a high alert response all the time. Little things we do on a regular basis can make a difference. So can taking time to be alone with nature. It allows our bodies and minds to recalibrate, to think more clearly and more powerfully than worrying all the time can manage.

This photo is a perfect illustration of that. The photographer noted they had decided to stop and relax for a bit. Shortly after the picture was taken someone let them know there was a bear on the trail and they needed to get back to the car. The bear was on the trail whether or not they were worrying about it during the moments they were enjoying the warmth of the sun and sound of rushing water. Even after they learned of the potential danger, they still had the moment. They hadn’t robbed themselves of it beforehand.

Today, take some time to sit in some natural setting (if possible) and forget about the noise, potential danger (real and imagined). Center yourself to focus on the positive in your life as an antidote to the overly-wrought world around us. Turn off your devices.

Breathe.

Just be.

It’s okay.

Do you want to be a beta reader for the next book in the Promise Cove series? Be sure to sign up for my mailing list! Click here and get a free anthology as well!Photo: Sleeping is by Rachel Strum, source Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/james_wheeler/50610314652, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

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