Good Ol' Southern Hospitality

When people mention "The South" what's the first thing that comes to your mind?

When I think of the south, I think of sweet Georgia peaches...

Photo courtesy of Suat Eman - Free Digital Photos
I also think about a nice cold pitcher of iced tea, served in frosted glasses with slices of juicy, bright yellow lemons...

When I think of the south, the first thing I think about is southern hospitality. When I was in Durham last weekend, I went to the drugstore to get my son some cold and allergy medicine. As soon as I walked into the store, the clerk approached me at the door, wanting to know if I needed help finding anything. We don't get that kind of treatment over here in Maryland. If I go to the drug store and need help, it might take me awhile to find somebody to help me, and, sometimes the workers don't care and may tell you the wrong information - like saying an item is on row 5 when it's really on row 12.

When we went to The Waffle House in Durham for breakfast, as soon as we walked in the door, the hostess, as well as the entire staff behind the counter greeted, "Good morning." It's treatment that I'm not used to in Maryland.

I recall visiting Atlanta several years ago for a business trip. When we went out to lunch and we walked to the restaurant, everybody that saw us on the sidewalk said hello - we didn't even know these people. Over here in Maryland, we don't really speak to one another unless we have a personal relationship with that person. It's just a way of behavior that I'm not exposed to in Maryland.

So, what do you think about The South? Are people friendlier over there?

BTW, several people have told me over the years that Maryland is considered The South, but, I don't consider Maryland the South....but, I guess it's all a matter of opinion.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

The Big 5-0h

The Big 5-0h by Sandra D. Bricker

This book was a light and funny story about Liv, a cancer survivor who's dreading her 50th birthday. Liv is downtrodden, she's survived cancer and now she needs a spark of...something to rejuvenate her depressive state of mind. Her friend Hallie suggests that Liv do a home swap - use Hallie's mother's Florida home since Hallie's mother will be vacationing with Hallie and her family and her house will be empty. Liv agrees and once she sets foot into the beautiful tropical state of Florida, things take a turn for the better. She meets an eclectic assortment of people, the most important person being Jared, a hunky doctor who lives nearby. Jared is smitten with Liv and Liv is attracted to Jared too. But, both people are cautious, perhaps too cautious, to take a leap of love. Both of them need to learn to rely on God and to trust their instincts about their feelings for one another.

Liv also wonders if this Florida trip is just what she needs to break her birthday curse. Every year, a tumultuous event happens that marks Liv's birthday. She doesn't want to see what'll happen on the day that she turns fifty.

I enjoyed this novel because of the light-hearted humor, and I also enjoyed the fact that the characters were older. Seldom do I see a romance novel with the main characters who are around fifty years old.

I got this book as a free Kindle download awhile ago, and I'm glad that I did. Nice, heartwarming story and I encourage you to purchase the book and give this story a try.

Why do you think that publishers fail to release more romance novels with older characters? Is romance a subject that is usually linked to a younger crowd?
~Cecelia Dowdy~

Product Description
Olivia Wallace has a birthday curse . . . or so she thinks. It was a broken heart on her 16th, a car accident on her 21st, pneumonia on her 30th, and a fall down a flight of stairs on her 35th. There were Ohio blizzards on her 38th, 39th, and 40th; and six days before her 45th, she lost the love of her life to a heart attack. Numbing grief stole that birthday and a couple more to follow and, on the morning of her 48th birthday, she received the call she’d dreaded ever since losing her mom so many years ago…she was diagnosed with stage-3 ovarian cancer. The doctors didn’t hold out a lot of hope, but Liv survived and maintained her faith. Months of surgeries and chemotherapy and radiation treatments followed.

But now, as her 50th birthday creeps up the icy Ohio path toward her, her hair has grown back, her energy level is up, and she is officially cancer free. It makes her nervous. After everything she’s gone through, Liv hates the idea of driving on icy roads and returning to work as an O.R. nurse in a local Cincinnati hospital.

Her best friend Hallie knows just the thing to break Liv out of the winter doldrums, while providing a safe haven of warmth, sunshine, and a time to regroup: a holiday in the Florida sunshine!

Favorite Childhood Novels

What are your favorite childhood novels? Come on over to Writers' Rest and share your childhood book memories with us! Also, while you're there, read some of the other wonderful articles like Teresa Slack's series on ambition - there are three blog posts, that's the link to the first one, just scroll through the blog for the rest! :-)

~Cecelia Dowdy~

A Few Things....

Well, it's Sunday, May, 22, 2011 and there was NO RAPTURE YESTERDAY Camping needs to re-evaluate his Bible and stop making false prophesies!

I also wanted to announce that the winner of the Stephen Bly Book Giveaway is: JOY ISLEY - MESA, AZ

I'm still experimenting with the Amish Friendship Bread. I don't have any friends who are bakers, so I don't have anybody who's interested in taking the extra starter from me. However, I developed a workaround for myself. When I split the first batch of starter, I merely placed the extra starters in the refrigerator and used them to bake - I did not feed them - I just used them as is - with the exception of the one I used yesterday. I fed that one but I didn't feed it again on the tenth day nor did I split it. I used the entire 2 cups to make pancakes. I still have one bag of starter left from my original batch. Since I only have one left, I will feed this one on days six and ten, split on day ten and then I'll have some to place in my refrigerator. So far, out of the recipes that I've tried, my favorites are the Amish Friendship Bread and the Banana Nut Amish Friendship Bread. I made the biscuits, but they didn't turn out like I wanted. Also, I made the pancakes yesterday, but they were just "okay". They were a bit too sour and you have to really watch the batter when you cook it on a griddle, it gets done very quickly and can burn. I believe it's because of the sugar content in the Friendship Bread starter.

Any of you ever make Amish Friendship Bread, or a variation of it? If so, did you like it?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

The Outsider By Ann H. Gabhart

The Outsider by Ann H. Gabhart

I enjoyed this novel. I enjoyed it as much as Gabhart's other Shaker novels. Since I've reviewed her other Shaker books, I'm not going to go off on a tangent about my negative opinions about the cultic (although peaceful) traits of the Shakers.

Gabrielle has a prophetic gift of seeing events before they occur - she'll know when something has happened. This gift has been with her during her entire life and having this gift can prove to be unpleasant at times. After "losing" her father as a youngster Gabrielle and her mother make a new life for themselves at the Shaker village. The atmosphere of the village is strange since there is no romantic love between the members since matrimony is considered a sin - according to their founder, Mother Ann. However, when one of the male Shaker members is burned in a fire, the Shakers need to call upon the help of Brice, the local "worldly" doctor in town. While Brice nurses his young patient back to health, he finds himself smitten with young, beautiful Gabrielle - Gabrielle was chosen to assist the doctor in nursing his young male patient. Gabrielle finds that she has feelings for the doctor, feelings that she is not able to act upon if she wants to enjoy her salvation. Gabrielle struggles with her feelings because, according to the Shakers, if she marries, she'll give up her right to eternal life from her sin.

The writing of this book was really good and you have a great sense of what life was like in the Shaker village. I did find myself getting unnerved when reading about the cultic Shakers, but was glad that Gabrielle found herself rightfully questioning the Shaker beliefs.

I also enjoyed reading about the different tasks that this religious group performed to make their living. They made jams and jellies, picked berries, farmed, ran a school, worked in the kitchen - cooking food to be consumed in the biting room, etc. They show their love for the Lord through their "works" - the tasks outlined above. However, they seem to worship Mother Ann moreso than Jesus Christ. This is a good book to read, especially if you want to know more about the Shaker way of life and to learn more about the time period. I've enjoyed all of the books in this series, but I didn't read them in order. I believe this is the first one. I got it as a free Kindle download awhile ago.

~Cecelia Dowdy~Product Description
For as long as she can remember, Gabrielle Hope has had the gift of knowing--visions that warn of things to come. When she and her mother joined the Pleasant Hill Shaker community in 1807, the community embraced her gift. But Gabrielle fears this gift, for the visions are often ones of sorrow and tragedy. When one of these visions comes to pass, a local doctor must be brought in to save the life of a young man, setting into motion a chain of events that will challenge Gabrielle's loyalty to the Shakers. As she falls deeper into a forbidden love for this man of the world, Gabrielle must make a choice. Can she experience true happiness in this simple and chaste community? Or will she abandon her brothers and sisters for a life of the unknown? Soulful and filled with romance, The Outsider lets readers live within a bygone time among a unique and peculiar people. This tender and thought-provoking story will leave readers wanting more from this writer.

Crossing Oceans By Gina Holmes - A Book Review

Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes
Not many people can throw on a cape and save the world. Isabella, however, I could rescue. This was my final chance to be a hero, even if I was the only one would ever know it.
Jenny Lucas promised herself the day she left home, pregnant and alone, she’d never look back. But life has a way of upending even the best-laid plans. Now, nearly six years later, she returns to her sleepy North Carolina town to face the ghosts she left behind. While she still can, she’s determined to have a say in who will raise her little girl when she’s gone—the father she hasn’t spoken to since she left or Isabella’s dad—who doesn’t yet know he has a daughter.
The remarkable story that unfolds will bring a family back together again to discover the kinds of love that save us when nothing else can.
==
What would you do if you found out today that you had less than one year to live?

Jenny Lucas left home years ago, pregnant and alone. Now a life-altering medical condition brings her back to her hometown. Her childhood house brings back painful memories - including memories of her deceased mother. As she struggles to connect with her estranged Dad and becomes reacquainted with her oxygen-tank-dependant grandmother, she makes some important decisions about the future of her child. Jenny needs to find someone to raise Bella, her five-year-old daughter. Her time is short and drama ensues as she struggles to get along with Bella's father, David and David's wife. David didn't realize he had a daughter, and Jenny's world tilts when she finds herself smitten with Craig, a high-school friend and boarder in her father's home.

This story will tug at your heartstrings. I believe a lot of us can relate to Jenny's struggle in rebuilding her familial relationships. You also feel sympathy for Jenny as she searches for the best person to raise her daughter. This story also gives a poignant view of tying up loose ends in your life in the face of death while still struggling to keep God at the center of your life.

You'll need a box of tissues when you read this one...a very well-written story with strong characters.

If you read this book, did you like it? Leave a comment with your opinion.

Also, I'll top off this blog post by repeating this question...respond in the comments:
What would you do if you found out today that you had less than one year to live?


~Cecelia Dowdy~

May 21, 2011 – Judgment Day?

Have you ever been involved with a religious group that spouted false prophesies? Did such prophesies alter your life?
Christian Radio Broadcaster Harold Camping, and his followers, are predicting that Judgment Day will occur on May 21, 2011. In the past, he also made a false prophesy for September 1994. As I’ve been driving to work each morning, I’ve been seeing homemade signs, made with white paint on wooden billboards, stating that Judgment Day is on May 21, 2011.

I say, BULL! I wish Camping would get a grip and remember the following scriptures:
Matthew 24:24 - 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
No One Knows the Day or Hour
Matthew 24:36-37 – 36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Why is Camping doing this? He’s a false prophet and needs to stop! I guess I get emotional about this because I think of my days with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They didn’t predict days – they predicted years, and have been wrong every time. In my last dealings with them in college, they stated that the end would come BEFORE the generation of 1914 passed away…HUH? They “backed this claim up” with scriptures in a very convoluted way, taking pieces of one chapter/book of the Bible and meshing it with another piece. Soon, you had a hodgepodge of convoluted scripture to “support” this claim. When a JW came to my door a couple of years ago, I asked if they were still saying that Armageddon was coming before the generation of 1914 passed away. He and his wife said, “Oh, no. We changed the way we interpret generation. So, we don’t say that anymore.” Hmm. Just like the false prophecy of 1975, maybe? The JWs have said that nobody knows the day or the hour, so, I guess, in essence, they felt it was okay for them to predict the year, even if it was false?

At the time, this was their reasoning against higher education – the generation of 1914 would not pass away before we saw the end to this system of things? So, instead of pursuing higher education, we need to be warning people about the end of times?

Have you ever been involved with a religious group that spouted false prophesies? Did such prophesies alter your life?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Courting Trouble By Deeanne Gist

Courting Trouble by Deeanne Gist

This book was amazing! It's probably the best book I've read so far in 2011! If you haven't read this book then I think you should go and purchase your copy today!

Essie is an old maid - she's just turned 30 and she wants a husband right now! Her desire for a mate spurns her to do a number of things to catch a man: she keeps a list of all of the town's eligible bachelors along with their positive and negative traits. She offers help to the owner of the general store - hoping her employ will develop into a relationship with the shopkeeper. Her impulsive behavior continues with other men, resulting in her making some dreadful mistakes that haunt her throughout the story.

Essie is wild, carefree, and she loves to ride her bicycle! I never knew that riding a bike could prove so scandalous back in historical times. She loves the outdoors and she loves snakes and bugs and all sorts of things. Her behavior is not one most men would consider for a mate.

I found myself carried back in time and I really felt for Essie and her desire to have a husband. Back then, most people married young, and she was considered an outcast because she was a scandalous old maid and although she has admiration from many of the males in the town, she doesn't receive many offers of marriage.

I felt the characters in this book were so well-developed and the dialogue was superb! The shopkeeper Hamilton, the cowboy Adam, and Ewing - the nemesis from her childhood, all have a unique role in Essie's life. I also loved how Essie really cared for people - she has a soft spot for Harley, an orphan in the story, and there were other things she did that showed that she really cared about people.

The book is funny, entertaining and the story just draws you in. I savored every word of this book and after I was finished, I found myself going back, reading certain passages that stuck with me - it is EXTREMELY RARE for me to do this! This is the first book I've ever read by this author and I'm anxious to read more stories by Deeanne Gist! I have the sequel on my to-be-read pile. I've had this book for a few years now, but never got around to reading it until last weekend and I'm so glad I did! What a pleasant way to spend my time!

Have you read this novel? If so, what did you think about it?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Product Description
Tired of Waiting for a Match-Made-in-Heaven,
She'll Settle for One Made in Texas

Whether it's riding bikes, catching snakes, or sliding down banisters, Essie Spreckelmeyer just can't quite make herself into the ideal woman her hometown--and her mother--expect her to be. It's going to take an extraordinary man to appreciate her joy and spontaneity--or so says her doting oil-man father.

Unfortunately such a man doesn't appear to reside in Corsicana, Texas.

It's 1894, the year of Essie's thirtieth birthday, and she decides the Lord has more important things to do than provide her a husband. If she wants one, she needs to catch him herself. So, she writes down the names of all the eligible bachelors in her small Texas town, makes a list of their attributes and drawbacks, closes her eyes, twirls her finger, and ... picks one.

But convincing the lucky "husband-to-be" is going to a bit more of a problem.

Join Deeanne Gist for another unforgettable tale and find out whether Essie's plan to catch a husband succeeds or if she's just Courting Trouble.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! :-)

Happy Mother's Day to all! :-)

Mothers, what are you doing to celebrate this special day?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Congratulations To The 2011 Christy Award Nominees!

A heartfelt congrats goes to all of the 2011 Christy Award nominees! Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think about them?I see many wonderfully fine authors on the list!
~Cecelia Dowdy~

Contemporary Romance

Blood Ransom
by Lisa Harris (Zondervan)

Indivisible
by Kristin Heitzmann (WaterBrook Press)

Sworn to Protect
by DiAnn Mills (Tyndale House Publishers)















Contemporary Series, Sequels, and Novellas/
The Reluctant Prophet
by Nancy Rue (David C. Cook)

The Thorn
by Beverly Lewis (Bethany House Publishers,
a division of Baker Publishing Group)

The Waiting
by Suzanne Woods Fisher (Revell Books,
a division of Baker Publishing Group)















Contemporary Standalone/

Almost Heaven
by Chris Fabry (Tyndale House Publishers)

Lady in Waiting
by Susan Meissner (WaterBrook Press)

A Season of Miracles
by Rusty Whitener (Kregel Publications)














First Novel/

Crossing Oceans
by Gina Holmes (Tyndale House Publishers)

Heartless
by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

A Season of Miracles
by Rusty Whitener (Kregel Publications)














Historical/

Chosen: The Lost Diaries of Queen Esther
by Ginger Garrett (David C. Cook)

For Time & Eternity
by Allison Pitman (Tyndale House Publishers)

While We’re Far Apart
by Lynn Austin (Bethany House Publishers,
a division of Baker Publishing Group)






Historical Romance/

The Girl in the Gatehouse
by Julie Klassen (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

She Walks in Beauty
by Siri Mitchell (Bethany House Publishers,
a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Within My Heart
by Tamera Alexander (Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group)













Suspense/

The Bishop
by Steven James (Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

The Bride Collector
by Ted Dekker (Center Street)

Predator
by Terri Blackstock (Zondervan)















Visionary/

To Darkness Fled
by Jill Williamson (Marcher Lord Press)

Konig’s Fire
by Marc Schooley (Marcher Lord Press)

The Last Christian
by David Gregory (WaterBrook Press)













Young Adult/

The Charlatan’s Boy
by Jonathan Rogers (WaterBrook Press)

The Healer’s Apprentice
by Melanie Dickerson (Zondervan)

Motorcycles, Sushi, and One
Strange Book
by Nancy Rue (Zondervan)

Stephen Bly Book Giveaway! :-)

THIS BOOK GIVEAWAY IS OVER. WINNER WAS ANNOUNCED HERE!

 I'm hosting Stephen Bly on my blog today! If you want to be entered into the drawing for his book giveaway, you must read the following article AND you must leave a comment with your email address and you must REFER TO SOMETHING YOU READ IN STEPHEN'S article...in other words, you have to read his article and comment about it in order to be entered into the drawing!


I'll start by commenting...the mention of the outhouse scene has piqued my curiosity!

Enjoy!
~Cecelia Dowdy~ON GETTING PLOT IDEAS
for Throw The Devil Off The Train


I don’t have a clue how I derived the idea for my newest release, Throw The Devil Off The Train. Sometimes plot ideas seem to fall out of the sky for me. When I recognize one that I like, I pick it up and run with it, to see where it leads.

I’ve set stories in Colorado and Arizona, in New Mexico and Nevada, in Montana and Idaho, in Wyoming and Nebraska, in Texas and South Dakota. The old western Stagecoach was a road story in a stage. Throw The Devil Off The Train is a road story inside a train headed west.

Idea germs that evolve

The grandeur of the West from a train window.
The very slow journey, compared to modern transportation.
The theme that people are much more complex than first meetings reveal.
The hurts and pains, the victories and defeats of the past form a part in acts and responses in any given situation.

I tossed two cats into a burlap bag, then watched to see how they’d survive. . .or not. After a few gouges and bites between Catherine and Race, I could see the trail and markings of their story in Throw The Devil Off The Train..

Setting A Scene


You’d think after more than a hundred books in print, most of them set in the Old West, that I’d have exhausted every possible location. I’ve used cabins, saloons, dance halls, jails, hotels, cafes, sandbars and most any other place you could name. All, except one. In my newest book, Creede of Old Montana, I set a whole scene inside an outhouse.
As much as I like telling western tales, it was not the time for me to live in. Two reasons at least: health care and sanitation. That doesn’t mean a cowboy never used soap. Some even shaved every morning. Living in a wild and primitive land doesn’t mean you have to look uncivilized.
And I don’t want you to think I’m weak-willed and pasty skinned. I can survive just fine for days, weeks, even months in the wilderness. But I know that sooner or later I’ll be back in civilization that boasts hot showers, waste treatment plants, and flush toilets.
I wouldn’t even mind a footed bathtub. Many fun western movie episodes have centered on bubbly bathtub scenes. But hot baths were a real luxury and only the nicest of hotels would offer such an amenity. Some of the more modest hotels would advertise: Baths 25 cents; Used Water 15 cents. Which, in my opinion, is a great motivator to save up your money when on the trail or hang with friends who smell like you do.
Which brings me back to…setting a scene inside an outhouse.
On a trip to Yellowstone with our teen grandkids, Zachary and Miranda, we stopped to explore at Garnett, a Montana ghost town. One structure that captured the kids’ curiosity: the double set of outhouses behind the old hotel. There was a two-seater for gals and a two-seater for guys. Quite the deal on a busy Saturday night.
Ah, the romantic Old West.
And about that scene in the outhouse…you can read about it yourself after October 1st in Creede of Old Montana. I promise…it won’t be R-rated. That’s the thing about the classic western genre. Good triumphs over evil. There’s little or no bad language. And sensual details are relegated to the fightin’ and shootin’ only.

WRITING EXERCISE for you:

Create two strong characters. Make one the type the other tends to dislike. Make them so disgusted with each that they cannot exist in the same room for several minutes without being at each other’s throats. Then, stick them in a place where they have to co-exist for hours, days, weeks: a cabin, a mine shaft, a train car, etc. Then, write the dialogue. Start out with no descriptions. No identifiers. No narration. Just two voices conversing. Make the words authentic as you can. Then, edit it later.

Do they wind up killing each other? Or total estrangement? Or a truce of some sort? Or a breakthrough to relationship?

Winner And Rejection

The winner for the April Book Giveaway is:
Diana Donnelly - Thayne, WY

Diana, I'll be mailing your books out to you within the next week. Everybody else, I'll be posting TWO book giveaways soon. One will be a stand-alone book with an author interview, and the other will be another box of books. Visit my blog often for updates for these giveaways!

Also, wanted to mention that I've gotten a couple of rejections over the last few months. I forgot to blog about these. Some have asked why I blog about rejections..why? It's part of being a writer and I think it helps unpublished writers to see what the rejections say. I like to focus on both the negative and positive aspects of writing to give a realistic view of the industry. Here's what my most recent rejection said:

Thank you for submitting the proposal for (title of my work). I’m sorry to say that this title is somewhat like some of our other titles. We’re going to release an “identical twin brother” story later this year. However, while that title isn’t necessarily a romance novel it’s a little too close and we don’t want our readers to think that we’re publishing the same story over and over.

Again, we’d like to see some new ideas and hope that Cecelia Dowdy can provide something more for the (XXXX) team to review.


~Cecelia Dowdy~