The goal is to post 23 blogs (Monday through Friday) in October about 23 different ancestors. All are welcome to join us. Comment and I’ll add your name to the roster that I’ll post here on Sept 30th.
If you don’t wish to participate, please stop by in October and let us dazzle you with our family’s history.
2) Romancing the Blog is hosting the HALLOWE’EN BLOG HOP Trick or Treat (with giveaways!) on Oct 31st.
Make sure to stop by and win lots of treats! Rumor is authors will be giving away FREE Kindle copies of their books. Can’t wait!
3) The ELLY HAYS virtual book tour runs Nov 4-16 celebrating my new release.
Opening night features an online release party 7-9pm ET with GREAT prizes. Everyone is welcome! Closing day features a LIVE Twitter Chat 1-2pm ET. Use #ellyhays and join us.
What is Swag, you ask? It’s STUFF. Junk, really. But cool junk!
In planning my Nov 4th online book release party and my Nov 4-16 virtual book tour for my new book “Elly Hays,” I’ve lost my mind looking at swag to give away to lucky winners at the events. And, I must admit, I want to keep it all for myself.
My amazing book designer sent me a FREE bookmark file, which I uploaded to Overnight Prints, and for less than the price of a grande mocha cappuccino, I ordered bookmarks.
My designer is amazing! I love this! BTW, he’s working on a new website which I have misgivings about. I want to tell the world about him, but I’d much rather keep him to myself. Writers are possessive of their designers and their editors. Don’t even think about asking me for her number.
Anyway, back to Swag. There is an Etsy site called “The Book Swag Shop” with nothing but Swag – check it out here. She makes custom mini book charms, buttons, charm bracelets, potion bottles, just about everything cool you can think of. OMG, I’m more excited about the Swag than the book! 🙂 It’s all about the Swag!
If you’re looking for a new and different blog challenge and are into genealogy/ancestry or history, please join us for the October Ancestry Challenge 2013.
The goal is to post 23 blogs (Monday through Friday) in the month of October about 23 different ancestors. Do you have photos of your grandparents? Stories passed down through the family? Ancestors who sailed to America and arrived wide-eyed at Ellis Island for the very first time? We can’t wait to read about them!
Let me know in the comments if you’d like to join, and I’ll include a link to your page, and feel free to steal the challenge banner by copying and pasting.
Stop by the participant’s pages daily in October for some interesting history lessons. 🙂
I went to Put in Bay, Ohio to witness a spectacle.It was the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie and the very first naval re-enactment of the battle – and it will probably be the last.
You must understand, this is hours away from my house and I rose at 4freakin’a.m. to go there. THAT’S how cool this was.
Early in the misty morning, a dozen tall ships docked in port, loaded sailors, filled gun powder stores, and headed out to fight in the middle of the lake, most likely making the Coast Guard absolutely nuts. I’m sure it was an exorbitant amount of logistics to plan and a pretty penny to finance, and I am so grateful to have been a witness, as I’m fascinated by these beauties.
And when all of the preparations were done and the morning fog began to dissipate, they raised their sails.
It was magnificent.
One of the awesome things I learned was Capt. James Lawrence was mortally injured in an earlier battle in June 1813 in Chesapeake Bay, and on his death bed, he told his crew, “Don’t give up the ship.”
His friend Capt. Oliver Hazard Perry (pictured below) had that quote sewn onto a flag and flew it above his ship the USS Niagara during the Sept 1813 battle. It became the battle cry for the American fleet.
Can you come up with 23 ancestors? Do you have family stories, photos, documents? Are you a history/genealogy/ancestry buff?
Then please join us for the October Ancestry Challenge 2013!!
The goal is to write 23 posts (Monday through Friday) in October about a different ancestor each day.
If you travel back in time so far that you only have a birth date and place, you can transform your story into a history lesson. As a history buff, I love reading about the clothing styles, means of transportation, and local flavor of the past, so be creative with your ancestors. Where did they live? What did they do? Where did they travel to and from? My great grandmother said about my great grandfather, “He had rosy cheeks and teeth as white as pearls.” Maybe white teeth were rare in 1900. 🙂
Let me know in the comments if you’d like to join us, and I’ll add you to the list below. And feel free to steal the challenge banner from this page.
Everyone, please stop by during the month of October and share the past with us.
Well, how can you not be excited about that? …especially if you say it like the radio announcers waking Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day.
What in the world is Constitution Day? I’m glad you asked.
It is the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution (this year being the 226th) and a congressionally-mandated law (passed in 2004), requiring all schools that receive federal funding offer an educational moment on the Constitution. Funny, of all the things the Constitution mandates, public education is not among them.
So, what IS the Constitution?
It’s a document stating how our country should be run, beginning with the Preamble (kind of a mission statement) and followed by seven Articles (the rules, if you will).
The first three Articles separate our government into three branches so that one branch does not have anymore power than the others.
The fourth and sixth Articles lay out the foundation for relationships between the states and to the federal government.
The fifth provides instructions for amending the Constitution. (Since its inception, it has been amended twenty-seven times.) And the seventh provides instructions for ratifying the Constitution.
It was written in 1787, and not everyone was happy with it at the time. A feeling that continues through today.
“I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them. For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.”
–Benjamin Franklin, 1787
You can get a FREE pocket-size Constitution (with $3 shipping) if you go HERE.
In my humble opinion, there are not more powerful words in America than the Preamble.
We, the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
I received a sweet and awesome 5-star review for The Legend of Stuckey’s Bridgefrom Trudi LoPreto at Readers’ Favorite.
“Lori Crane has written a nail-biter that will keep you up all night. This is a five star winner and Lori Crane is a must-read author.”
You just can’t get any better than that! I’m tickled. You can read the entire reviewHERE.
I was so excited to read it, because honestly, I’ve been working so hard on my next book, that I haven’t thought much about Old Man Stuckey and his exploits. Old Man Stuckey was a serial killer. He was a sociopath. He was pure evil. However, he had a confident swagger about him that made most women swoon in his presence. Here’s a snippet about one of his conquests. This is one of my favorite scenes from the book. Enjoy!
Scene: Stuckey’s Inn, 1900, Mississippi, the young lady refers to him as Mr. Mason for he didn’t tell her his real name, as usual.
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He found her on the front porch, sitting in a rocking chair with her laced-up boots propped up on the railing. She was gently pushing the chair back and forth with her foot and staring down into a book on her lap.
He watched her from the doorway for a while. The sun was shining on the railing, and her skirt had risen above the height of her boots. He could see a couple inches of her bare leg and longed to see more. He hadn’t had the pleasure of a woman’s company for quite some time, and he wanted to take her right then and there on the porch in the sunshine. He wanted to see the expression on her face in the light of day as he pushed that dress all the way up to her hips.
“I see you found the books I left out for you.” He grinned as he sauntered across the porch, his boots clicking on the old wood planks.
“Yes, I did. Thank you very much.” She smiled up at him with stunning blue eyes, and when she met his gaze, he thought he would explode with desire.
“Which one did you choose?” He strolled in front of her and leaned his back against the porch post, close enough to touch her bare leg.
She simultaneously pulled her boots down from the railing and flipped the cover closed. She read, “A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.”
“Ah, Sherlock Holmes.”
“Have you read it, sir?”
“Yes, I have. I love a good mystery. I believe he has another book also.”
“Yes, The Sign of Four.” She smiled. “Do you like to read, Mr. Mason?”
“I love to read, Miss Summers.” He gazed deeply into her eyes, realizing by the fire glowing there that it would not be girlish innocence he was about to find.
She blushed and looked down at the book.
Oh, this is a game she likes to play. “Why do you look away from me?”
“I…um…I just don’t feel comfortable.”
“With the way I look at you?”
She glanced up at him through her long eyelashes and did not answer.
“Don’t you know how beautiful you are?”
She blushed and looked down again.
He was enjoying this game. Time to increase the stakes. Softly he said, “Victoria.”
She looked up at him.
He wanted this girl, and knew exactly what she needed to hear. “You are undoubtedly the loveliest woman I have ever seen, and I’m deeply honored just to be in your presence.”
She was speechless as she gazed into his eyes. This time she did not blush or look away. The game was over.
“May I kiss you?” he whispered.
She did not answer.
He took that as a yes.
He gently took the book from her lap, placed it on the side table, and pulled her to her feet. She did not resist. He wrapped his hand around her, placing his palm on the small of her back, and he gently pulled her toward him. Their lips met and she responded to his kiss, placing her hands on his chest. He kissed her deeper. She didn’t waver. He pulled the pin from her hair, letting it fall down to her waist. He wrapped his fingers in it and firmly pulled her head back so he could kiss her neck. He put his other hand on her upper back and pulled her closer to him, feeling her snug bodice press against his chest. He held her there for a moment, then whispered into her ear, “Thank you.”
He released her.
She stood there, dumbstruck and unmoving, like a mule wearing a frosted blue satin dress.
“Would you like some tea, Victoria?” He grinned and strutted across the porch, back into the house.
It was like taking candy from a baby.
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The Legend of Stuckey’s Bridge is available at Amazon.com and all online book retailers.
I was looking for a blog challenge in which to participate in October and didn’t come across anything I liked, so I decided to create my own challenge. Do you study genealogy? Do you have tons of ancestry info and no place to share it? If you read further and decide you’d like to join me, please do so. Help yourself to the official banner and let me know that you’d like to participate. I will post a link to your page as a participant on the “official kick-off blog” the weekend of Sept 27 and update it as anyone joins us.
The October Ancestry Challenge 2013 will be 23 posts (Monday through Friday) in October about a different ancestor each day. If you can find 23 ancestors, you can rock this challenge. It will also be a lesson in history, clothing, culture, and world events. You may include yourself and your parents if you choose.
I’m going to blog about the Culpeppers. I have 25 Culpepper ancestors ranging from my maternal grandfather Earl Culpepper who died in 1994 in Mississippi…
all the way back to my 23rd great grandfather John Culpepper who was born around 1140 in Kent, England.
(This was his house called Bayhall Manor in Pembury, Kent. Remains of the building were visible until 1960, when one of the national newspapers told a rather exaggerated story of its being haunted. People coming to see it made themselves such a nuisance and rendered it so unsafe, that the owner of the land cleared the ruins away. The ghost was supposed to be that of Anne West, the last person to reside in the mansion. See? It’s already an interesting ancestry blog.)
My Culpepper ancestors lived through the 2nd Crusade, Genghis Kahn, Marco Polo, gunpowder, the Bubonic plague, Joan of Arc, Henry VIII, Christopher Columbus, Isaac Newton, The Revolutionary War, The War of 1812, Napoleon, Louis Pasteur, Charles Darwin, railroads, The American Civil War, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Model T, Albert Einstein, WWI, airplanes, Titanic, WWII, Vietnam War, not to mention, Victorian dresses, Hobble skirts, ragtime music, smoking jackets, and the first television.
I’m looking forward to putting together these blogs beginning with my grandfather and working back in time. Please join me beginning October 1st to participate and/or to visit.
Chuck Sambuchino of Writer’s Digest Books wrote a blog entitled, “How to Support an Author’s New Book: 11 Ideas For You.” It was posted today at Writersinthestorm here on WordPress. Check it out HERE.
He offers great ideas to help you support your author friends and your fellow authors.
Here are some more ideas:
Host a book party – invite your friends over for coffee or wine and discuss the book with them. It’s a good way to get together with your friends, and at the same time, get the word out about the book. If the work is a period piece, perhaps you could host a costume dinner party. If it’s a book about wine or a cookbook, all the better!
Invite the author to speak at your organizations – churches, schools, evening events are always looking for a fresh face to entertain the crowd. Make sure he/she brings lots of books to sell and a good pen to sign.
Suggest the book as next month’s read at your book club – that one is self-explanatory.
Invite the author to post on your blog – either a snippet, bio, or an interview, or you could just write a review of the book yourself. Don’t forget to post the buy links.
The number one thing you can do to help your author friends is to SHOW UP & BRING FRIENDS!! Attend their book signings, virtual book tours, Twitter chats, Facebook events, retweet, share, tell.
It takes one person to write a book. It takes a village to sell it.
1) I’m hosting the OCTOBER ANCESTRY CHALLENGE 2013 Oct 1-31.
2) Romancing the Blog is hosting the HALLOWE’EN BLOG HOP Trick or Treat (with giveaways!) on Oct 31st.
3) The ELLY HAYS virtual book tour runs Nov 4-16 celebrating my new release.
Lori Crane 