Romance paperback now available - wrapping up those small holiday gifts....

NEW romance paperback makes a sweet gift for the reader in your life.

The publication of my paperback Dear Ann: Love Letters from Nam, which is a short story, is finally HERE. So happy. Just click the link below to go to Amazon and check it out. The story is told in letters between a young soldier in war-torn Vietnam and his bride back home in West Virginia. Priced at $5.99. I put a lot of hard work and considerable research into this story. It is a part of a much larger work - which may take the rest of my lifetime to finish or I may never. Thus, here's a portion of the story I still love! The letters make a good stand-alone story. I hope you'll enjoy reading it. If at all possible, please leave a review on Amazon. This paperback exists because of the many requests I had to turn this story into a tangible book. Dear Anne is filled with romance, and the emotion and angst that comes with war-time romance. Leaving a loved one behind to go fight in a war in a far away strange land brings the two closer together. You'll get to know the terrain, the unrest, and the heartbreak that consumes nearly every waking hour of this young soldier's life.

This little book could be the right gift for that reader on your holiday list!

Thanks!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0985259132/ref=tmm_pap_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1479053304&sr=1-1

Now to my love of gift wrapping!

Do you like to experiment with gift wrapping? I do. Especially when it's a small gift like the book above. Take plain brown or white paper and have fun with items such as initials, artificial flowers and greenery. I often combine lace and shiny ribbon to match the occasion and put the two, add a few berries or greenery and you have an elegantly wrapped present. I'd love to hear your own ideas and how you do or don't wrap gifts. Nothing makes me happier than buying inexpensive ribbons and ornaments, or decorations throughout the year to put on my gift packages. I'm looking forward to the upcoming holiday season so I can once again have fun wrapping up the small gifts I buy. Buying small gifts doesn't mean you have to scrimp on the wrappings or that the wrappings and ornaments have to be expensive. You can make them elegant and lovely regardless of what you've spent. Below are some of my favorite gift wrapping ideas. I love to use buttons. I have a large collection and though I don't give away the ones I love I have many more to choose from. Craft stores are great places to score gift ideas and decorations to add to your gift wrapping supply box. Oh a good pair of scissors and a supply of clear tape help too.

Have fun during the coming holiday weeks. Barb

Me shopping in Cincinnati at the Christmas Market 2016 at Duke Energy Center with two of my favorite girls,

Mackenzie and Jillian. This market was simply amazing.

ODE TO OLD OR I SHALL WEAR PURPLE.....

Ode to Old
When I am old- Really really old- And cannot see -
Red balls of rouge- Riding- High on my cheeks,
Black lines- Arching- Over my eyes,
Gravy stains covering- Yellow flowers- On my good blue dress.
When I am old- And cannot see - Will you please do- My grooming for me?

by: Barbara A. Whittington

My Favorite Essay by Gladys Taber

BUTTERNUT WISDOM

From an essay by Gladys Taber
Family Circle - September 1982

I sat in the sun the other day while the dogs dug up the lawn and thought about work. I wasn’t working. I was just thinking about it. I have found that when I cannot possibly accomplish everything I am supposed to and feel an unbearable pressure---as all homemakers must---if I just stop, life goes better.
I get a good book, make some spiced tea and sit down on my own corner of the sofa or in my favorite lawn chair. I let life settle in around me, and that is the only way I can express it. After 20 minutes or half an hour, I go back to the mechanics of living. AND at days end I am just as far along as if I had not stopped to think.

Another of her thoughts: time for thinking is a gift one can give only to one’s self.

Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I have over the years. When I've had it with my life some days - I have only to sit down with a glass of sweet tea and think of this essay an…

Building a story vs building a house

My latest book!

Dear Writer:
Writing a story is somewhat similar to building a house. Or not!
Remember this:
when we give a piece of our story to someone to read - we expect them to see the whole.
It's like building a house and offering a single piece of lumber to another builder. “Here, see the house I'm building.” SOME CAN SEE IT AND SOME CAN’T. Here's the thing: MOST CAN'T.
This step is as necessary to me as breathing.
I need to give you single boards as I create them. AND I expect you to be a visionary and say, “Why yes. I see.”
I need you to see how special the piece of lumber is that I'm using and to see that eventually I'll add more pieces to make the whole.
Choose people to read your work who like the kind of stories you write.
There are as many kinds of stories as there are houses to live in. If you give a brick ranch to someone who only appreciates a cape cod then he'll have a hard time fitting himself into what you are offering.
Don’t rebu…

Writing - the ups and downs

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