I’m so excited to introduce my fourth novel Worth the Candle with a book signing at 10:00 (till about 2:00) next Saturday (February 23) at the Goff Public Library in Beebe.
The library is located at 323 North Elm.
Thank you to the Librarians for providing space for this event. We have a beautiful new library in our dream home town. So, even if you have already met Candle, come by and say “hi”.
What is it you can do with someone you love, that brings excitement and pleasure to you both?
Why, READ ALOUD, of course.
National Read Aloud Day will be celebrated this year on Friday, February 1. Although, as with other important holidays, the celebration may go on all week in classrooms and libraries.
I love to read aloud … to children when I have an opportunity, when I’m learning lines, and for comprehension when the text is difficult or confusing.
My various audiences have been my grandfather who was blind, my younger siblings, my children, grands and great-grands. Classes of children in Kindergarten, Mothers Day Out, and Vacation Bible School.
You will find me on February 1, 2019, somewhere reading aloud.
BTW, Thank you everyone for the response to Launching my Latest Book, Worth the Candle. I appreciate every “congrat” and word of encouragement.
There will be a book signing February 23 at the Goff Library in Beebe. More about that later.
More about National Read Aloud Day here.
Tandy Anderson didn’t even believe in love at first sight – until it happened to her. She knew from the beginning the situation was impossible. For one thing, she didn’t have time to get involved in a relationship. Her demanding job with Child Protective Services required a tremendous amount of energy.
In fact just this morning she received a call that a six-year-old child on her watch went missing.
Mike Blanchard felt sure Tandy Anderson would not fit into his future plans. He needed someone who could be supportive and understanding about his calling. There would be times when his work took priority over everything else. He needed to choose his life partner carefully.
There was no way it could ever work out. Was it worth a try?
Worth the Candle is a bucket list project. When I first started writing fiction (around the turn of the century) I thought of a story line I might one day write. A tale of love-at-first-sight that would travel past the Lover’s Lane of happily ever after to the bumpy road of reality.
For various reasons, other books were written first but finally here is the story of a relationship that might not always be smooth, but is Worth the Candle.
Book signing to be scheduled in February. Worth the Candle is for sale on Kindle and paperback at Amazon.com.
And of course, the back seat of my car.
Years ago, in an old movie the name of which I have long since forgotten, a writer decided his book was no good and put it in a drawer to rot. His girlfriend or maybe wife retrieved it and secretly sent it to a publisher, who (of course) loved it and put it into print forthwith. In the next scene, the author received a package containing his beautiful book, hard cover. He immediately made the Times Bestseller List and lived happily ever after on the royalties.
Alas, this does not mirror real life at all.
In early November, 2018, I retreated to The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow (Eureka Springs, AR) to finish my novel Worth the Candle. This story had long been in my head, first touched paper in 2015 under the working title “Meant to Be,” resided on a thumb drive most of 2017, and was the main focus of my 2018 resolutions: finish it or shred it.
So, Yay! The writing was completed in plenty of time (I thought) to see a book by the end of the year. My publisher, Alderson Press, quickly sent me samples of a cover to approve.
I engaged a proof reader. After 10 days rest, I read the text again to locate redundancies, over-used words, needed clarifications, and even a couple of typos.
Off the manuscript goes to the printer, who returns a “proof copy not for resale” a week later (we’re now crowding December). Believe it or not, once I looked at the proof, I decided I wanted a major change in the formatting. Might as well do it right, right? These corrections were made immediately and returned to the publisher.
Screech. That’s the sound of brakes as everything comes to a halt while everyone tends to Christmas. My book was suddenly way on the back burner. I can expect to see my corrected copy later.
The publisher assures me my novel is correct now and they have even listed it for sale on Kindle and Amazon.com. But I have not seen a final copy! I’m told it was mailed to me on December 30 and will arrive before January 9. Really?
So, just about now I could use a movie scenario. A loved one who presents me with my beautiful, finished book. A listing in the New York Times. And of course royalties for the rest of my life.
More about Worth the Candle next week!
When we’re together, my BFF Pat and I love to visit flea markets and seldom leave one empty-handed. On each of these visits, in a semi-joking manner, we peruse the book shelves to see if either of us has a title there. Could one of our inspired, gripping, nurtured, tweaked-to-death labors of love possibly end up in a used book sale?
I didn’t know what I would do if I ever found a book of mine. I knew it would be a new step in my writing career — whether up or down, I wasn’t sure.
Should I be downcast that someone was so over my book they included it in their castaways? Or should I be glad that, rather than molding in a box in an attic, my writing would now have a chance to find a new audience?
Last Saturday, it happened. The United Methodist Women of my home church, held their annual flea market/bake sale/soup luncheon/bazaar.
I was looking though the more than 50 books that were donated to the rummage sale (of course I was!).
And there it was. Every Day a New Day and other short stories by Dot Hatfield. A collection of award-winning submissions published in 2006.
I decided to feel good about it. It meant that new eyes would be reading these stories written 15-20 years ago. I’m satisfied with this new step in my writing career.
“I’d like to know that what I’ve done will last;
A child reads a book great-great-grandma wrote
And journals inspire stories yet untold.”
(from “79th Birthday”)