If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book. (J.K. Rowling)
In 2005, my first inspirational novel, Scent of Lilacs, was published. It had been several years since I’d had the fun of having a book published. So when that book was released, it was almost like having a first ever book published again. In fact my first novel had been published almost thirty years before that in 1978. I had thirteen books published after that before I had those dry spell years followed by the wonderful good fortune to publish Scent of Lilacs with Revell Books. The Refuge, my newest release, is my twentieth book with Revell and my thirty-fifth published book.
Sometimes I can hardly believe how blessed I am to have been able to share so many of my stories with readers, because you see, ever since I was a young girl, I’ve wanted to write. And not only write, but have people read my stories and join their imaginations to mine. That is what readers do. A reader picks up a book and opens it to invite a story into his or her imagination. We read those black squiggles on the pages of the books and they become images in our heads and awaken emotions in our hearts as we chase characters down story roads.
When that first inspirational novel was actually a book in my hands, I wanted to celebrate with my hometown readers. At the time there were no bookstores in my little town. We still don’t exactly have a bookstore but we do have a wonderful store in the middle of our Main Street, Tastefully Delicious, that carries all sorts of specialty food along with gift items and books of local authors like me and books about Kentucky. It’s wonderful to have a place where people can find my books at a store right here in my hometown. But back in 2005, that store hadn’t opened yet and I wanted to give my local reading friends a chance to read my story. So I had a Hometown Book Party at my local library. I guess that’s how traditions start. So through the years, I’ve kept having a party to celebrate each of my new books. I make cookies, buy door prizes, and talk about my books and my writing path.
Unfortunately, I get busy talking and forget to take pictures. So I don’t have a fresh picture of the beautiful people who were kind enough to come out on a Sunday afternoon to hear me talk books. Instead this is a picture from 2012 of some who did when I was celebrating a different Shaker book, The Gifted. Some of these people have come to almost all my book parties over the years. Some who came to those first book parties have gone on to parties in heaven. Some have maybe heard enough of my stories and quit coming, but then new people have taken their places and come to talk books with me.
What a blessing to have reading friends who will come and share an hour with me as I celebrate yet another book. When Scent of Lilacs was re-issued with a new cover a few years after it was first published, I asked my friends if I should have another Hometown Book Party and some of those sweet friends said yes. So that book got celebrated twice as was fitting since that story set in the little town of Hollyhill which was based on my little town of Lawrenceburg brought me into the world of Christian fiction. It’s a world I love with readers who never fail to make me smile.
For those of you too far away to make it to my Hometown Book Party, I’m thinking about having a Facebook Book Party. Do you think that would be fun?
So thank you for reading.
I still love books. Nothing a computer can do can compare to a book. You can’t really put a book on the Internet. Three companies have offered to put books by me on the Net, and I said, ‘If you can make something that has a nice jacket, nice paper with that nice smell, then we’ll talk.’ All the computer can give you is a manuscript. People don’t want to read manuscripts. They want to read books. Books smell good. They look good. You can press it to your bosom. You can carry it in your pocket. (Ray Bradbury)
Today when I asked if any of the people there read e-books, most all of them said no. That they liked holding a book in their hands, turning the pages, and smelling them the way Ray Bradbury says as they absorb the words. So what about you? Do you like reading that paper book or are e-books your choice of how to read?