Happy Dance

In the immortal words of Mrs. Doubtfire, Heelloo. I’m so glad you’re here for a visit. Let me get you a cuppa. No, I’m not British and we will have coffee not tea. I just thought it would be fun to say it that way. Son has left for work, the dishes are done, and the laundry is on. Now we may catch up.

I am realistically doing really well. I do feel like I am teetering on the edge of doing too many things again. I shall prevail though. At present, Son is home keeping me company in the evenings bouncing plot and scene ideas for our books. Yes! He is writing a book too. His is a fantasy Youth fiction, I believe. He is so great to listen to me work out cowboy scenes.

I did attend my second book sale and signing here in our local county. I feel like I did pretty well, sold a few books, and met some new people. Probably the best part of the event was getting to hang out with fellow writers. I found that there are things I enjoy to talk about related to the art of writing that my family just doesn’t get it. My author friends truly are kindred spirits and have the same quirky ideas.

For example, I mentioned that I wanted my son to take me around in the area where my book takes place so that I can visit the local cemeteries and check out the churches. Now, what sounds weirder than just checking out a cemetery just for the fun or looking for random inspiration? As the conversation unfolded, to my surprise — two of them, my author friends had already done the very thing. They reassured me that it’s great reconnaissance for writing.

If you know me well, you know that sometimes I am not a fine details person.  I am a skim the headline get the overall picture person. We did have this conversation about the markets to which our books are available. I’d known my book to be available only at Amazon.  However, I do pay for other markets. A friend suggested, Did you google it?  Ok, that’s really elementary – considering we are in an age of “Googling” just about everything.  And realistically, I thought I had.  UHM…. wait for it….   I hadn’t !   What did I find upon this crazy simple form of research?

You try it… open a browser and go to google. Mine on my cell phone looks like this.

Type in,  Long Journey Home Easterling

Watch the magic….. It looks like this…

It asks you if you like this book.  Click the thumb up! (You may have to sign in to your google account)

Next, tap on the Google Books highlighted in blue.

Then the page looks like this…. and you can go a step further and tap Write a Review! It will probably want you to sign into you google account to do that.

Or…. tap on All Sellers!

BAMM!  I’m still in shock.

How cool is that! 

I had to show you, so you’d believe me. I think it’s pretty epic. I’m at Barnes and Nobles- the book store of all book stores.  If you already have my book, I say Thank YOU!  If you read it and liked it- even though the first editions were still not perfect.  Be kind. It’s my first. It has been revised and boo boos corrected. Leave me a review somewhere, at any of the book sites, Google, Amazon, or even Facebook. It really helps a ton!

So, a big thanks to my girl Darla Williams pointing me in the right direction.  She is also the author/ illustrator of a really fun children’s book if you have grandkids (hint hint). The link is right here to find out all about Casey . It is available in several different formats and at many different book stores.

Did you hear that… yep, I did? Back to reality- time to go switch the laundry at least for a few minutes.

Until next time!

~ Lena

photo credit: Toolstotal <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/160462157@N08/27696540218″>Person’s Hand on Black Board With Hello Text Beside Brown Mug – Credit to https://toolstotal.com/</a&gt; via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a&gt; <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>(license)</a&gt;

To Wet the Whistle

Sadie stood up straight from the wash pail, stretching the bend in her back with one hand and wiping the sweat-filled hazelnut curls from her face with the other. Her mind was busy amid the morning chores.  A few more pieces, she thought, and the wash would soon be finished.  There wasn’t much of a breeze in this humid, late summer morning. Her thoughts meandered away again, with her brain rattling full of necessary preparations for the turning of the seasons.  With both of her parents gone now, the burdens of this wild frontier rested on the shoulders of Sadie and her older brother Ollie.

Awakened from her thoughts, she heard a rustle in the thicket. Instantly tense, Sadie reached for the shotgun leaning against the woodpile.  This Texas backcountry was very wild and untamed, hiding all manner of critters.  It could be a cougar or a mountain lion which were known to frequent these parts, or even a rabid skunk or raccoon.  Tightening her grip on her Poppa’s old shotgun, she pointed in the direction of the rustle, and coming into view out of the dense yaupon was a buck. He was so majestic with his heavy head of antlers and buckskin fur.   He was bigger than any buck she’d ever seen, at least at this short distance. He was struggling to get free from his vining restraints, and from the sheer panic in his eyes, he looked as though she had interrupted him. Taking pause, still pointing the barrel of the gun in his direction Sadie was unsure of how to proceed.   She stared at him; he’d clearly had been having a tussle in the muscadine grape vines for a while.  What on earth pushed him in there, she thought?

With a burst of vigor, he broke free of the vines and thickets.   In his successful attempt to get away from the oppressive foliage, he leapt towards the cabin, right straight across from the opposing clothes line. He kept his gaze fixed on his dazed audience, not seeing his impending obstacle course before him.   Ducking the clothesline in his flight, he inadvertently caught Ollie’s shirt with his heavy rack. The crème-colored muslin shirt hung draped in the antlers, leaving the buck blinded and shaking his head back and forth. He maintained his course, disoriented, right into the side of the cabin, and as his bad luck continued to unfold, he managed to perfectly wedge his horn immoveable, “You would have thought those ornery antlers were brand new the way he tussled them about,” Sadie thought. He stopped moving for a brief second to focus on the wall before him, staring cross-eyed he could see the ripped fabric pieces dangling over his head, staring even further down the tip of his nose, his focus neared the log wall, as he stood awkwardly braced with erratic panting.

Sadie set the shotgun back down against the wood pile and took a step forward, but she quickly froze mid stride cautious and aware, not wanting to get caught by those wild antlers. The great buck was now frantically moving back and forth, wiggling to get free from the restraint of the cabin wall. Panic was setting in, she wanted to somehow help him but was not sure how, she looked around to see what she could use to aid him in his trial. “Ah, the hay fork.”  She could use it to pry and create leverage to break his hold. She leapt into action quickly and left for a brief moment to fetch the wooden fork from round the side of the cabin.  She slowly came around the corner of the cabin looking and listening with the pitchfork gripped firmly in her hands.  Her eyes met those of a startled and now completely hysterical buck.

In a desperate final attempt to get free, the buck sat back on his rear end and pulled with all he had from the clutches of the wall. In the exertion of applying all of his strength, he catapulted backward into the wash water. His rear end was submerged in the sotol basket with his front foot still in the water pail. He was a sight to be seen, sitting straddle-legged like a dog, in complete disarray, with Ollie’s shirt and vines hanging in his face.  He was now free, but with a broken antler and wounded pride.  He managed to pull himself to his feet, and clangity, clang, clang, he stepped awkwardly forward, fumbling as his hoof made contact with the bucket and the vibrating handle. As the buck staggered around into everything in sight, the remaining clothes were now on the ground and the line was in shambles.

Resembling a staggering drunk the buck managed to step out of what was now an empty and misshapen bucket and a pile of soiled laundry. He paused and glanced back at her for a second before springing away into the tall grass that lead to the dense woods. He immediately disappeared into the wood that he came from, with Ollie’s ripped shirt and pieces of the grape vines trailing behind, still entangled in his antlers. As quickly as he had appeared, so he vanished away into the pinewood.

Sighing with a deep breath of relief- Sadie thought to herself, “Oh dear, what a mess and what will Ollie say?” She should have shot him, she thought; she had more than one opportunity.  He would have provided more than enough meat for the two of them for weeks. The commotion had come and gone so quickly she was paralyzed, watching in unbelief as he floundered around.  Worse than losing dinner, the laundry was ruined; Ollie only had two shirts and the buck made off with most of one.

 

That little window into my story was just the prologue from my book, “Long Journey Home.”  That was just a smidgen of the shenanigans to come in the story.  If you haven’t read it yet, I sure hope you check into it.  It is available online exclusively at Amazon or at our local library in Centerville, TX.

Click Below to go straight over to Amazon! 

buy Long Journey Home

If you have read my tale- you would be doing me a great favor if you take the time to leave me a review on Amazon or at my Sufficient Grace Novels Facebook page. Your opinion matters to other readers and to me as well!

Happy Reading!!

Book Signing- June 2018

We did it!  I had my very first book signing for my very first book! I feel like it was a success.  It was mostly people I know and love that came and supported me.  They came out to encourage me and eat a cookie or two.  I signed their book and in return I had them signed mine. I want to remember all who came to make that afternoon a most memorable occasion.

We were parked right in front of the western section with Louis L’amour at our back- a very fitting spot. All we needed was coffee and a campfire.  We did have the coffee but I’m pretty sure campfires are not advisable in a library.  I should check on that! 🙂  haha

#longjourneyhome

I’ll introduce you to a few close friends who have make this walk extra memorable!

 

This is my editor, Betty Ann Reynolds.  I can’t say enough nice things about her.  She is such an inspiration for women.  She does it all- and always looks fantastic while doing it! She told me when she started editing my book she felt like God with a red pen in her hand.  For truth, she held no judgment back- I felt the full force of red ink conviction! 🙂

#lovereedtoo  #pokesallet  #ididnotdie

 

 

 

This here is my fellow author friend, Genie Clark.  We met at our local library when we began a “Writers Anonymous Group.”  We gather once a week to share and bounce ideas back and forth.  We are a small group looking to diversify with more writers experienced or not.  The only prerequisite is that you love to write! She has been so helpful with the publishing bit.  She has authored a five book series on, “The McNaughton’s.” It is a modern day western set right here in Leon County.  I am thankful for her encouragement.

#cleanfiction  #writersanonymous #readachapter

 

This is my best gal, partner in crime, and designated doctor appointment buddy. Yep, not your normal friendship-  because we aren’t normal.  No manicures and facials for us- it’s the garden section, home depot, and conversations about all the things we are gonna plant, read, feed, listen to, and do all in one weekend! Christie Gray is also the librarian at our small quaint little library here in Centerville, TX.

#bffwithalibrarian #lifewithbabyboys

#weearnedalltheygreyhairs

 

 

They really are my adoptive parents.  They have taken me own as theirs with the good, bad, and hormonal. My husbands parents, Rev. Dean and Nancy Easterling are super supportive.  Not only is Dean our Dad and Grandpa, but also our pastor with a vast amount of knowledge for history lessons 101 on “how things were back when.”  Nancy is more than a Grandma, she is a fantastic cheerleader and support group- she is also my proof reader and very first fan of the series.

#askthemaboutgrandkids  #theylovetalkingaboutgrands

 

This goofy person right here is my husband of 22 years this month.  He is often referred to as Hunny for years now on my blogger page.  He is an amazing husband and father to our three kids.  He is caring and has a heart of gold, not to forget his is a pretty awesome mechanic with some serious skills.  I love him so much and can’t imagine making the journey without him.  He says, “keep writing, sell some more books, so I can retire!”  I just laugh- cause do you know

how many that would take?…   🙂

#goals #campingadventures #livefordaysoff     #Pa&Omi

 

This here is my make-up and hair engineer. My daughter, Sarah Beth, has stepped in and filled some empty shoes as my photographer.  She is a talented cosmetologist making friend’s look and feel fabulous “one hair day” at a time. I couldn’t be prouder of her accomplishments!

#imgonnabesarahbethwhenigrowup #beautybarn

 

 

Not pictured, but greatly missed was two very special grandmothers.  My grandmother, Bernice Machen and Hunny’s grandmother, Geraldean Martin they were two very special women that I miss deeply. They have been gone a number of years- and I do catch myself thinking- Oh, I need to call Nanny or Granny because- I know they’d want to know. Grandmothers have a bond with their granddaughters- perhaps i’ts a unified front against the “parent.”  Maybe, it’s the realization that wisdom needs to be imparted on the youth.  I’m not sure which.  With God’s continued favor and Grace I will get book two, “Between Two Fires”, written and we shall continue on.  I am so blessed and count myself fortunate to have so many to share these blessings with.

~Celina

Save the Date

I do, I really do have exciting news! So if you follow me on social media – you already know.  I couldn’t help it, I let the cat out of the bag already.  Ah, but let’s say hypothetically you don’t follow me.  .  ..  you are just dying to know what I know, Right !?!?!?!

I am having a book Signing!   (Happy Dance)

I originally said I didn’t want to have one because I am such a quiet person, on the outside, there is no silence in this brain of mine- I assure you.  Back to point, Yes, I am proud to announce that with the help of a fellow author, Mrs. Genie Clark, Ms. Christina Gray- Librarian, and Ward Memorial Library, we are doing it! 

Long Journey Home is my first book in a three part series.  It has been a ride to get this book written, edited, published, and now- promoted! And it wasn’t just my characters that were on this Journey, they took me along too.

 

Long Journey Home is set in the Lone Star State in the year 1845. Texas was a hot spot during this time and our fictional family found their new home homestead in eastern Leon County around the Beaver Dam Creek area. The story unfolds with mentions of Alabama Ferry and Centerview (Formerly known as Raymond -in those days). If you are familiar with our area – I think you might enjoy this book.  Ollie and Sadie Hartmann go through a gauntlet of excitement and grief in their year with a handsome Texas Ranger thrown in for good western measure.

Mrs. Genie Clark will also be present at the signing with her books.  She is the author of The McNaughton Legacy a five book series that she will have available.  Her books also take place in fair Leon County with a ranch family that’s lived here for generations.  Her stories are present day and take on a modern way of life in the ranching community featuring Centerville and surrounding cities. 

God has blessed me greatly through impossible circumstances. I hope you can share in this special moment in our life.  If you live close- I sure hope you’ll consider coming out to see us, bring your book- I’ll sign it, take a picture, and share some refreshments.

~ Lena

 

Belated Mother’s Day

If you need a Belated Mother’s Day gift, I have just the thing! If you live local to me they are a steal at $8 each. If you aren’t from round here- you can find me on Amazon with free shipping on prime. Available on kindle and paperback. Leave me a review.. that would be awesome of you to do that!

Happy Reading!

😁 Celina

Paperback is RELEASED!

Since this post, I have sold quite a few more. 🙂 Reviews are trickling in from friends and I’m so excited!

Long Journey Home