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Something to know about writers is that most of us are also avid readers. Many of us discovered books early in life and have never stopped reading. For me, writing is a way of sharing the stories in my head with others, but it’s also (hopefully) a vehicle for helping children learn to love books and to be a life-long reader.

I was the kid who always had a book in my hand, no matter where I was. I got into trouble for reading when I was supposed to be getting ready for school or doing my chores or sleeping at night. Yep, all the time. When I visited my grandparents’ farm, I would climb into the hay loft of the barn with a book or to the top of a tall apple tree so I could read uninterrupted. My grandmother would often come to the apple orchard and look up into the trees to see which tree I was reading in and make sure I was all right.  

My parents put in a swimming pool when I was 11 and, in the summers, I would read with my book on the side of the pool. One day, I was sitting on the diving board reading “Gone with the Wind” when my younger brother snuck up on me and jumped hard on the diving board. The book and I both landed in the water and my book has wavy pages to this day!

When I became a mother, I read to each of my children from the time they were tiny babies. I remember reading to my youngest child, Anna, at night before bed and then finding her older brothers sitting in the hallway outside her bedroom listening to the story too. They could read by then but still wanted to listen.

When my boys were nine and seven years old, I read them the entire first Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” I tripped over many of the names and told them that if that author (J.K. Rowling) ever wrote a sequel, they would have to read it themselves! As you can imagine, all my children have read all the Harry Potter books.

During the years that my children were in school at Angling Road in Portage, Michigan, I was a reading tutor for first grade students, and I also volunteered in the school library. Back then, I didn’t know that I would be writing books for children one day or that there would be a painting of Angling Road Elementary on the cover of one of my books!

As an author, I’ve had the pleasure of reading to children at schools and libraries for the last ten years. It’s been fun seeing children look for buttons on their clothing when I’ve read “The Button Box” and hearing them giggle when I read about the antics of Pretty Boy in “Which Came First?” or Tom, the turkey in “The Day the Turkey Came to School.”

I’m a big supporter of libraries and I donate books whenever I’m asked to read at a library. I’ve also sent books to libraries in my hometown and my children’s hometown as well as libraries such as the Ferguson Municipal Public Library in Ferguson, Missouri during the time of unrest in 2014 and to the El Progreso Memorial Library after the shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas in 2022. Every single library has sent me a lovely thank you note or letter.

I believe that books and libraries are a great source of comfort and entertainment for many people. I especially love the Little Free Libraries that are sprinkled across our country, and I’ve contributed to many of them over the years. When I lived in Texas, I used to ride my bicycle to donate books to a Little Free Library near my house. Now, I have one just a short walk away in the neighborhood where I live. I donate my books as well as books by other authors on a regular basis.

The school year is almost over, and children will be looking for fun things to do and for great books to read this summer.  If you have books you no longer need and are willing to donate, you can look up a Little Free Library near you with this map:  https://littlefreelibrary.org/map/ and encourage young readers and perhaps, future writers!

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”~Stephen King

The year I was turning 50, I suddenly began receiving AARP mailings. I was quite offended and would quickly take them to the recycling bin while muttering under my breath the entire time. I’m not old yet. Good grief.

So, this year, I’m turning 65 and have been receiving all the Medicare mailings for the last six or seven months. Instead of muttering under my breath, I’m a bit more vocal saying “I get it, I’m turning 65…now would you please stop mailing this stuff to me.” I’m not old yet!

I remember my mom laughing really hard years ago about me being so offended by the AARP mailings. I wish I could call her now and complain about all the Medicare mailings so I could hear her laugh again.

I did meet with a Medicare expert last week. Her presentation was interesting and informative. I learned a lot that I didn’t know. She even told me I was a young 64, almost 65. (That didn’t help.) How on earth could I possibly be old enough to have to deal with all this stuff?

One day during the years that I cared for my parents, we were sitting at their kitchen table drinking coffee, and I asked them how old they felt mentally. They both said that in their minds, they felt like they were in their late 30’s or maybe early 40’s. My dad said, “I feel young in my mind, but I don’t know how my body has gotten so old!”

Just like the annual seasons and the changes they bring, we all go through the different seasons of our lives. These seasons bring different changes for us. Some, like grandchildren and retirement, and time to travel, are joyful changes. Others, like health issues and losing people dear to us, not so much.

We recently had a visit from some old friends. I’ve known them for almost 40 years. When we first met, we had new babies and both couples were in the season of learning to be parents, and all our parents were still living. Now, we each have grandchildren and are either retired or near retirement age.  We are learning to be grandparents, and we are discovering what our lives after our careers will look like.

It’s interesting how much our conversations have changed and also how much they have stayed the same. We still talk about our children and our families, where we have traveled or intend to travel, and how we try to stay healthy. We talk about the books we’ve read and the movies we’ve seen. We still share good recipes and talk about new foods we’ve tried and restaurants we like. Now, however, we also talk about medical issues and the friends and family we miss who are gone from our lives. We talk about the kind of exercise we get and the medicines and supplements we take. It’s different but it’s also the same. It’s comforting to have friends who have known us in the different seasons of our lives and who have gone through them with us.

While our friends were visiting, we went on a hike at a local Nature Preserve. Maybe we weren’t as quick as we used to be, but we sure enjoyed the time together out in nature. I might have been a little sore the next day, but I’m not old yet!

Happy Mother’s Day Weekend to all the moms out there. This is my second Mother’s Day without my own mom and I miss her so very much!

One of my earliest memories is of a May 1^st in the 1960’s. We lived on a county road in Northern Indiana and my grandmother, my mother’s mother, lived on the next county road over. I must have been four years old or younger because my brother hadn’t been born yet.

My mom cut a bouquet of purple irises and daffodils and other flowers from our yard and wrapped them in a damp newspaper.  (That would be difficult to do today since most people no longer have a newspaper subscription.) She told me it was a tradition to give flowers to people you love on May Day, and we were going to take the bouquet to Grandma and surprise her.

We drove to my grandmother’s farmhouse in Mom’s 1957 green Chevy and pulled off the driveway and into the carport on the right side of the house so Grandma wouldn’t see our car. We quietly snuck up to the front porch and laid the bouquet of fragrant flowers in front of the door. Then Mom knocked (because Grandma didn’t have a doorbell) and we quickly moved to the corner of the house to watch her find the flowers.

Grandma opened the door and then peeked out of the storm door at the bouquet on the porch. She stepped out and picked it up with a big smile on her face. She said, “I know you’re here somewhere.” At that point, we started giggling and we were discovered. I loved seeing the happiness on Grandma’s face when she saw the flowers and then saw the two of us. We exchanged hugs and then went inside for a visit while Grandma put her beautiful bouquet of flowers in a Mason Jar on the kitchen table.

Not so long ago when my own daughter, Anna, was in college, she did the same thing on May Day. She arrived at my door with a bouquet of flowers. After she surprised me, she came in and we had coffee and visited.  She came over for no reason at all except to see me and to bring me flowers.  Now THAT was a good day.  Not only did her actions make me feel loved, but I was also delighted that she remembered a story I had told her when she was growing up.

Time with the people you love is not an infinite resource.  Since my mom passed a year and a half ago, I have thought of at least a million conversations I’d like to have with her. I miss her and I miss my grandmother too. I wish I could send them both flowers in heaven.

Today, in honor of my mom, my grandmother and May Day, I planted some flowers in pots. They were both gardeners and could grow anything. Of course, I thought of them while I tended to the flowers. Happy May Day!

One Saturday morning a few weeks ago, our daughter-in-law dropped off three of our grandchildren to spend the day with us.  As you can imagine, their energy came rushing through the door as soon as they arrived.

I was talking with my six-year-old granddaughter, Hallie, about what we would do that day, when I heard a loud squeal from four-year-old Nolan, who was standing in our center hallway.  It seemed there were rainbows everywhere and he was very excited about seeing them!

“Wook Grandma, wook at all the rainbows!”

Our front door has a sidelight with beveled lead glass on either side. On sunny mornings when the sun shines through the glass just right, it projects rainbows on our wall, our wood floor and on the carpet on our stairway.

I had scarcely noticed them many times, but that day I stopped and admired each one with Nolan. Such a simple thing and it brought him so much joy.

At Easter, when the other children were running to gather Easter eggs in the backyard, Nolan got sidetracked by a ladybug on one of our steppingstones.

“Grandma, wook at the ladybug!”

After the egg hunt, Nolan was eager to explore the backyard. He tried to climb the bottom branches of the crab apple tree, he made friends with the great-grandchildren who were visiting next door, he went underneath our giant Norway Spruce trees to explore, and he admired the bird nest on our pergola.  Inside the house, Nolan discovered the Roomba floor cleaner and excitedly asked if he could play with the “robot” and was delighted to follow its journey around the family room.

Before it was time for them to go home, Nolan asked if they could do a sea creature hunt. I have a bag of rubber sea creatures that I hide for the children to find. As his brother and sister scurried around outside trying to find as many as possible, Nolan found an alligator and was mesmerized by the squeaking sound it made when he squeezed it. He didn’t care how many sea creatures he found because he had found the one that was the most fun!

For Nolan, everything is new and exciting and fascinating. I want to see the world through his eyes with the same sense of wonder. I want to notice every detail and savor the moments like he does. Watching Nolan’s approach to life has been such a sweet reminder from a four-year-old.

During the past week since Easter, my eyes and heart have been wide open to the wonder around me. I’ve been noticing the rainbows on the floor in the mornings. Each day, I’ve smelled the Easter Lilly blooms, and I’ve gone outside to see if the mama bird is on the nest in our pergola. I’ve noticed the blossoms on our crab apple tree, the smell of the grass and the new growth on the Norway Spruce trees. One day, I walked underneath the Norway Spruce trees to explore. And last evening, I saw a ladybug on one of our patio chairs.

In addition to our religious celebrations this time of year, at Easter we celebrate springtime and the rebirth of the Earth after the long winter.  Easter and springtime are times of renewal and fresh starts. 

When my son was a little boy…maybe four or five, he asked me, “Mama, why do we have holidays?”  At the time, I told him holidays were our way of celebrating things and that they gave us something to look forward to with our families and friends. 

Now that I’ve had a few more years to think on it, I’ve decided that holidays are so much more.  Life itself can be difficult and pretty mundane at times.  We all have things we have to do that aren’t fun.  Holidays break up the monotony of life and give us things to look forward to and things to plan for, and to talk about with others. They also give us a chance to reconnect with family members we may not get to see very often.

Holidays like Easter, provide us the opportunity to both honor and celebrate our religious beliefs as well as to be with and enjoy our families. The traditions around the various holidays give us all something to look forward to and to expect.  When I was newly married, I remember thinking about the different holiday traditions my family practiced when I was growing up and deciding which ones to incorporate into my own family. 

Sometimes our holiday traditions are passed down through our families…my grandmother’s and my mother’s crazy good banana pudding is a holiday staple in our family.  Other times, traditions are created by unique experiences we share with people. 

Sometimes people have really funny stories about how their family traditions came about. When my children were growing up, we would color Easter Eggs every year.  Once the coloring was done, we would dump the colored egg dyes into the toilet and watch the different colors swirl together into new colors. The kids enjoyed that part so much the first year, that it became a tradition we did every year!

My son who asked that question about holidays so long ago, is married now with four children of his own.  He and his wife have borrowed their favorite traditions from each of their birth families and have also established their own new family traditions.  We will get to be with them this Easter. I have a large bag of plastic Easter eggs that I’ve saved since my children were small. I’m going to fill them with candy and coins and set up an Easter egg hunt for my grandchildren. Hopefully, that will be the beginning of a new tradition at my house that they will look forward to every Easter!

One of my favorite tasks that comes with being a self-published author, is choosing the covers for my books. It helps that I work with an incredible team. My friend, Vicki Killion Guess, paints incredible illustrations that we pull from for each cover, and then my friend and graphic designer, Crystal Wood, does her design magic which pulls it all together. I have been so pleased with all my book covers and I credit the talents of these two women.

Usually, as the three of us are working on each book, I have a vague idea in my head for what I want on the cover. I brainstorm with Vicki about the cover picture and then once that is painted, Crystal adds the finishing touches and gives me some book cover options.

For “The Button Box” I knew I wanted a picture of the actual button box on the cover. Originally, the painted buttons next to it were generic buttons and my daughter, Anna, said, “Why aren’t you using actual buttons from the button box on the cover?” Smart girl. Vicki then added buttons from inside the button box (such as the Lincoln button) to the cover picture. It was Crystal’s idea to wrap the button box around the spine of the book and onto the back cover. It was also her idea to use the checked background for the book. I loved it. Here is one version I considered and the final cover.

Since my second book, “Which Came First?” was a farm story, I knew all along that I wanted a picture of the barn from the story on the cover. Vicki sketched and painted the barn, and then Crystal added the chicken wire in the background and the words to the front. I was delighted with it! Of all my books, that was the easiest cover to decide on.

“The Day The Turkey Came To School” was based on a true story that happened at my children’s elementary school in Portage, Michigan, so I gave Vicki an actual photo of the school…Angling Road Elementary. She painted the school for the book cover, then added the tree, car, school bus and the turkey right in the center, since the entire story centers on him.

With each book cover, my goal is to give the reader a sneak peek of what is inside the book. “The Button Box” is a more serious story and I believe the cover reflects that seriousness. “Which Came First?” and “The Day The Turkey Came To School” are both funny stories and the illustrations and book covers are more whimsical by design. You will notice that Crystal added fun images on the spines of all three books…a button, an egg, and turkey footprints.

I didn’t know what kind of cover I wanted for “The Halloween Scare” until the book was almost finished. With so many characters in the story, I couldn’t figure out what kind of cover would reflect the type of book it was. I finally asked Vicki if there was a way she could make a frame for the cover and add in the characters in the order they appeared in the book. She came up with the frame and we both thought it was perfect!

I knew I wanted a blue background to indicate a night sky for Halloween. We darkened the color a bit and Crystal added the ghostly white background in the center and the spooky title font and we had our cover. Here’s the original color of the cover and then the final cover. I think the darker background does a better job of enhancing the cover artwork.

I have six published books and I’ve only had trouble deciding on the cover for one of them. “The Christmas Church” was my first book for adults and all I knew was that I wanted a red Christmasy looking cover and I wanted the Christmas church on it. Crystal did so many covers for me that I’m surprised she is still my friend to this day. Here are some of the 12 covers I considered and then the final cover…which I love!

Crystal added the snowflake print on top of the red cover and the white lettering seemed like a no brainer. She also added a wreath to the spine of the book. Although the illustrations in the book are done in watercolor paints, the colors are still vibrant, so I think the pretty red cover works very well with the rest of the book.

For my most recent book, “Love Hearts” we considered using several of the inside illustrations for the cover but ultimately I decided I wanted more of the frame idea that we used for “The Halloween Scare.” It’s a happy, whimsical cover that reflects the story inside very well. Here is the light purple cover I considered before settling on light blue for the background color.

I’ve heard there are cover rules such as green book covers don’t sell but I don’t really believe that…do you? (Think “The Giving Tree.”) I also like to have attractive back covers and I’ve included some of mine for you to see. I think the real goal is to create an aesthetically pleasing cover that does a great job of introducing the story inside. I’m very satisfied that I’ve been able to do that so far. Tell me, do you judge a book by its cover?

My very kind sister-in-law was the one who went to the skilled nursing facility and collected Mom’s belongings after she passed in January of last year. We donated her clothing to the facility so that left only framed photos, Mom’s personal care items, her Bible and her purse. After the funeral, my brother and sister-in-law gave me the cardboard box of her belongings.

It’s funny, many people do this, but no one talks about how it feels to go through a loved one’s things after they die. I had spent the previous year going through my parent’s house and selling or donating the items family members didn’t want to keep. At first, I felt like a trespasser in their home, and there were some days I would start going through items and the memories would overwhelm me and I would have to stop.

It’s an honor to be entrusted with the job of disposing of someone’s possessions after they’re gone but it’s also a very difficult task to do.  To make it manageable, I had to break it down by going through one room at a time and spend only one day of each weekend working there. It took me almost a year to complete.

When I was handed the cardboard box with the last of my mom’s earthly possessions, those same feelings came flooding back. It was more than I could deal with so soon after her passing. In fact, it was months after Mom passed before I could go through that box. And then, it was a couple more weeks after I went through everything else in the box before I could even think about touching her purse.

When I was finally ready, I pulled the purse out of the box and recognized it immediately. It was the black leather bag I had bought Mom for her birthday five or six years before. I bought it at Kohl’s months before her birthday that year because I knew it was her style. She had been thrilled with the gift.

Mom always carried a big purse because years ago, she was the one that had everything but the kitchen sink in her bag. Remember the old bridal shower game where you have a list of common (or not so common) items and the woman who has the most items from the list in her purse is the winner?  Well, Mom always won that game. Need a tape measure or a screwdriver, yep, she had one. Need a lighter or some hard candy, a deck of cards or a Band-Aid, or a cigarette, check. Need a tissue or some hand lotion or a notebook or denture cream or a sewing kit, a pencil or a pen, some Tylenol…yep, Mom had them all in her bag.

A purse is such a personal item for a woman and Mom never went anywhere without hers. Growing up, I was taught to never get into Mom’s purse without her permission. As I held the purse up, I said, “I hope I have your permission to do this, Mom.” I had no idea what I might find but I opened her purse and looked inside.

I pulled out her pretty burgundy wallet first. She had an expired driver’s license and a few expired credit cards. There was no paper money in the dollar bill slot but there were a few coins in the change compartment. There was also a little business card sized card with hearts and flowers on it that said, “What you are is God’s gift to you, What you become is your gift to God.”

After I went through her wallet, I dumped the rest of the items in her purse out on the carpet. There was a pair of round rimmed hippie sunglasses in a case that I had never seen before, a tube of her favorite Revlon lipstick, some old striped hard candy, some folded unused tissues, a travel sized bottle of hand lotion, two hairbrushes, and a small round wooden disk that said “Tuit” on the face.

There definitely wasn’t as much in there as there used to be but I laughed when I saw the wood disk and remembered the time, she had handed it to me and asked if I had ever gotten a round tuit! In the old days, there would have been at least two packs of cigarettes in her bag, but she had stopped smoking years before.

I shredded the credit cards, and I ended up donating her purse, her wallet, and the hippie sunglasses. I threw away the old candy and both hairbrushes, but I kept her lipstick. She had worn that brand and color for years and it was a nice reminder of her. Going through Mom’s purse was the final thing I was able to do for her, and while it gave me some closure, I still miss her every single day.

A few years ago, I was with my adult children, and we were talking about different kinds of writers and writing. One of my sons reads everything that Stephen King writes. I commented that I like to read his work if it doesn’t terrify me, and that I especially loved his book about writing. (For those of you who may not know, it’s called “On Writing” and in my opinion, is one of the best books about what it takes to be a writer.)

At that point, one of my other children commented, “Your books are so wholesome; you couldn’t write dark if you tried.” I laughed (hoping it was said in jest) and said, “Oh, is that what you think? Because I could write dark but I choose not to do so.” I want to write fun books that are entertaining and uplifting for people and stay away from the dark side of human nature. Again, it’s a choice.

My brother, Brian, is ten years younger than me. He is big on the subject of choices. He told me once that when his kids were growing up, he talked with them about choices. He told them they could make good choices or bad choices…it was up to them. He told them, “You must understand that there are implications and consequences to the choices you make. Only you can decide if it’s worth making that choice.”

Every single day, we can make hundreds or thousands of choices. Some only affect us but others have far-reaching consequences. Some choices are pretty mundane. Will I have coffee this morning? Which route will I take to work? What will I have for lunch? What will I do on the weekend?

Other choices are not so cut and dried…or easy. Will I show up for a person who is having a hard time and be compassionate or will I turn my back on them because I don’t like the choices they make? Will I be fair and reasonable in my conversations at work or will I be judgmental and think I know better than everyone else? Will I be kind with my comments on social media or will I insult other people? Will I cheat on my taxes, or will I be honest? Will I be accountable when I make a mistake, or will I try to blame someone else? Will I be polite to wait staff and leave a tip or will I be rude and demanding and find no value in the service I receive? Will I follow through and do what I say I will do? Will I approach each day with gratitude for all it brings or will I drag myself out of bed with a bad attitude? (They used to call this getting up on the wrong side of the bed.)

Recently, I was driving in my new city that has many roundabouts. I misjudged the direction a car was going and accidently pulled out in front of someone. (I’m still getting used to driving in those darn roundabouts.) The man in the car I pulled out in front of (made a choice and) laid on his horn and make it abundantly clear to me that I had screwed up, and he did not appreciate it one bit. At that moment, I made the choice to pay closer attention and sent up a short prayer that the person in the car would have a better day. My younger self would probably have honked back and might even have made a gesture. I think I’m making better choices these days.

I have a friend in Texas and whenever she is with other people at a meeting or in a social setting and everyone is leaving, she calls after them and says, “Make good choices.” This moment of levity makes me (and everyone else) laugh every time but what a nice reminder.

Part of what we decide by the choices we make is the kind of person we want to be.

Earlier this year, I read a book that has helped me with the more difficult choices I make and so I want to share it with you. It’s called “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz and was written in 1997. In his book, Ruiz says there are four agreements or guidelines to living which will help us live a life based on love and hopefully to make good choices.

1.Be Impeccable with your word.

2.Don’t take anything personally.

3.Don’t make assumptions.

4. Always do your best.

I have these hanging on the side of my refrigerator so I will see them every day.

Why is this important? Because the choices we make each day affect us and they also have an effect on the people in our lives…family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, social media connections.

I’d love to hear your tips for making good choices from anyone who reads this post. Have a good week and remember to make good choices!

A media Easter egg is a message, image or feature hidden in software, a video game, a film, or a book. This post is about the Easter eggs hidden in my six books.

As an author, part of the fun of getting to work directly with my illustrator, Vicki Killion Guess, is that we have gotten to know one another. After six books together, when one of us explains an idea, the other one gets it. I always have a picture in my mind of how I see the books illustrated and Vicki is incredible at making the types of images in my mind become reality. We work together on picture concepts before she begins her drawing and painting magic.

I’m going to take you through our six books in order of publication and tell you about the fun secrets hidden in each one.

The Button Box (2014)

This is my only book that is a completely true story from my life. I wrote the story for a local “personal memoir” writing contest in Kalamazoo, Michigan and it won first place in the contest. After it was published in the local newspaper on Christmas Day of 2001, people wrote me notes and letters about how the story had touched their hearts and said they thought I should turn it into a book. I told Vicki I saw this book illustrated in vivid true colors and gave her a box of the eight original Crayola Crayons.

*The buttons pictured on the cover throughout the book are actual buttons found in my family button box.

*The quilt pictured in the book was hand quilted for me by my mom when I was a teenager. I still have it today and sometimes take it to book events.

*The information for the “Short History of Buttons” in the back of the book is from the National Button Society website. I’ve been a NBS member for 12 years.

*” The Button Box” is in its third printing.

Which Came First? (2016)

This story is based on a day at my grandmother’s farm when I was a girl. She really did make me keep going back until I had gathered the eggs. Vicki asked for a picture of me at age ten and painted the girl in the story from that picture. I told Vicki that I saw the illustrations for this book as less serious and more like cartoons. Vicki said she watered down the acrylic paint to give the illustrations a more whimsical look.

*Many of the items in the outside pictures are from my memories of my grandmother’s farm…the mop and bucket on the back porch, the clothesline, the sideways painted tractor tire used for a flower bed, the apple tree behind the house with the dog sleeping under it, the chickens and ducks wandering around the backyard.

*Vicki hid a mouse in the outside illustrations for kids to find…even on the front and back covers. (She painted a cat inside the house.)

*Vicki surprised me by painting both the button box and the quilt from our first book in Grandma’s living room.

*Graphic designer, Crystal Wood, had the idea for the chicken wire as background on the cover and on the inside pages. It was also her idea to use the bandana border at the bottom of the pages. (I really did wear bandanas when I was a girl.)

*My grandmother named her roosters, and Pretty Boy was one of them. Others were named Foghorn Leghorn, Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis.

*For the Fun Facts About Chickens after the story, Vicki painted egg points instead of using bullet points for each one.

The Day The Turkey Came To School (2017)

This story is based on a true event when an actual turkey showed up at my kid’s elementary school one school day. I didn’t intend for it to be a Thanksgiving story, but it has become very popular with teachers in November.

*The elementary school on the cover is from a picture of Angling Road Elementary in Portage, Michigan where my children attended elementary school.

*Vicki painted some of our family members in the crowd illustrations. She painted my daughter, Anna, my son, Ryan, my daughter-in-law, Paige, and my grandson, Graham, as well as her own grandchildren in the book.

*The teacher, Mrs. Thompson, is based on my daughter-in-law, Paige Thompson Sever who is a teacher.

*Turkey footprints were used instead of bullet points for the Turkey Trivia after the story.

The Halloween Scare (2021)

This was our quickest book to finish and was all kinds of fun for us to create! I wanted to write an entertaining Halloween story that would not be scary for kids. My goal was to stress the fun aspects of Halloween…the dressing up and getting candy and being with friends…in addition to telling what would scare the spooky characters of Halloween.

*Graphic designer, Crystal discovered the spooky font for the words.

*Vicki painted all of our grandchildren in the trick-or-treater pictures. I’ve had two more grandchildren since this book was published.

The Christmas Church (2022)

This book is my first one for adults and is very special to me. It’s a Christmas story with a love story inside of the bigger story. I wrote it during the pandemic when so many of us were losing dear loved ones. It’s about those who impact our lives with their love and the things they leave with us even after they are gone.

*I asked Vicki if she could make the pictures look like memories and to achieve this, she illustrated this book with watercolor paints. I think the result is stunning.

*The Christmas church on the cover was created over 100 years ago by my great-grandfather and was passed down in the family to me.

*The Christmas church is lighted, and the wind-up music box still plays “Silent Night”.

*The house on the first page is a painting of my great-grandparent’s house on Jackson Boulevard in Elkhart, Indiana.

*The painting of the framed photo on the wall in the sun parlor is from a real photo of my brother, Jeff, and me that my grandmother had.

*The night in the attic really did happen with my grandmother when I was ten years old. Vicki surprised me and painted the button box in the attic illustration.

*The face of the grandmother is based on a picture of my own grandmother.

*The hands holding the shepherd from the nativity scene were painted from a picture of my mother’s hands holding the shepherd. She was delighted to pose for me!

*My great-grandparents really were George and Amelia (Millie) Parker and George really was an inventor who created beautiful gifts for his family.

Love Hearts (2023)

This was my sixth book and came about because of something I used to say to my children when they were small: “Do you see the love hearts coming from my eyes to you?” I wanted to write a story for younger kids about love and about all the people in our lives who we love and who love us in return.

*I dedicated this book to the three grandchildren I had at the time.

*Vicki added some humor to the story by having the dog in each illustration showing love hearts for various random things and people.

*The grandmother in the story is reading the book, “Love Hearts” to her grandchildren.

*If you look closely, you will also see references to our other five books throughout this one.

Recently, I went to the store specifically for sympathy cards and I bought a stack of them. I guess I’ve reached that age. I remember when my mom was alive, there was a point where she said the scales had tipped and there were more people who she loved in heaven than there were loved ones left here on Earth. I don’t think I’m even close to that point yet, but recently parents of some of my friends have died and I’ve lost some of my older friends from my years working at Lake Forest Village, and some of my older generation family members too…so I needed cards.

I’m kind of picky about sympathy cards. I don’t care for the ones that have lots of words. I want a nice simple sentiment that isn’t too long so that I can write a personal note to the person. I know that when my own parents died, I really appreciated the personal notes written in the cards.

I haven’t talked or written much about the deaths of my parents that occurred during the last two years. I guess because it’s still so fresh and raw in my mind and heart. Even though they were in their 80’s both deaths happened very quickly and were not expected. Losing a parent feels like a punch in the stomach. One of my cousins said after both of her parents died, “To not have parents…at any age…is very untethering.” And I would agree.

Grief affects each of us in different ways. When my brother died almost 20 years ago, I cried for weeks and couldn’t sleep at night. I talked with my other brother every single day for a year because we both needed comfort from talking with someone else who had loved our deceased brother.

But this time, after each of my parents died, grief had an odd impact on me that I didn’t expect. Writing has always been my “go to” behavior. If I’m stressed about something, I write. If I have a problem to work through, I write. If I’m really happy about something, I will write.  Many writers talk about having writer’s block but that is not something I’ve ever experienced. I can always write. It’s the easiest thing in the world for me to do. However, since my parents both died, I haven’t felt much like writing. I think I’ve been so sad that the joy I receive from writing has simply felt out of my reach. My keyboard began to gather dust for the first time…ever.

During the last two years, I’ve written two stories. One was “Mary’s Front Door” that I shared with you on this blog last week. The other is a story that may or may not become a book someday. We shall see. Blogging again is helping me get back into a writing routine. It’s also helping me remember how much I love words and stringing them together into sentences that become something worth reading.

Thank you to those of you who take the time to read this blog. I appreciate the support and especially your comments about my posts. Next week, I plan to share with you some of the “Easter eggs” that are included in each of my books. Some were put there intentionally, and others were added as a surprise to me by my illustrator and dear friend, Vicki Killion Guess. All of them made the books more fun!