My Dear Jasper

Last fall, I talked my fellow author Jasper Reese into reading from his works at the Mitford Museum's poetry night. I knew he was also a poet because we chose several of his poems to include in the book The Way It Was in the Backwoods that we wrote together. 

I knew the audience would appreciate what he had to offer. And they did. 

He read a bawdy poem, "The Old French Broad," about what you might think at first, an old "broad" but with a double entendre, comparing it to the fairly wide French Broad River in western North Carolina. It was fun hearing a ninety-five-year-old man drawing chuckles from the much younger, poet-filled audience. They appreciated him as much as he appreciated them. 

He was so excited about the whole experience that he already knew what he would read for the next poet reading session. Except he didn't have a chance. He passed away last week. If he told me the title, I don't remember, but I'm determined to make a good guess and read it in his honor at the next Mitford Poetry night. 

Another thing he was determined to do was learn to play the fiddle. I'm talking when he was ninety plus years old! He was proficient in guitar and maybe a bit of banjo, but the fiddle was a challenge to him. He screeched through the basics until, at one of my visits, he conned me into playing a duet with him - he on the fiddle and me on the piano. I went home that day, dusted off the ivories, and started practicing until I finally felt comfortable enough to play the song he had selected, "How Beautiful Heaven Must Be." I'm listening to it (and tearing up at the oh so appropriate words) now as I type. It's the version by the Gaither Vocal Band. Click on it and listen to the words as you imagine Jasper finding out how beautiful and wonderful heaven really is. I got a taste of it when I sat at the piano in his living room last summer and fulfilled my promise to him to play this long-overdue duet. We both made all kinds of errors. He sounded a bit like Jack Benny giving the screeching version of music on his violin. Perhaps the two of them are playing music together in heaven! But that day, we certainly weren't up to heaven's standard playing this duet. In my heart, however, (and I think in his), we were making heavenly music as we sang at the top of our voices to drown out all our mistakes. What fun! What a man! I'm so glad he was in my life.

When I am ninety-five, I pray I will be as vibrant and excited about life as Jasper. That's my takeaway, and I hope yours as well. 

Be like Jasper.

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

The Number Game

So the word of the year turns out to be a number: 67. What's an author to think? Surely dictionary.com could find more substantial words available to signify the best 2025 had to offer! This site purports to be the "Dictionary for the Real World," in other words, modern, with its nose to the grindstone of creative thinkers who coin words or repurpose them.  

But wait. I can see the logic, even if I'm of a different generation than the one where this number craze originated. It's a meaningless phrase and perfect for now. I'll let the kids delight in it and enjoy the limelight.

What set me off thinking about numbers was a bit of research I did recently, where I came upon a South Carolina town named Ninety Six. Using a number for a place shouldn't have surprised me because in my most recent release, I wrote about a town in Pennsylvania named Eighty Four. It's not all that far from Donora, the setting of my memoir of sorts, The Great Donora Fog and Other Family Stories.

I mention in the book that my husband and I drove through Eighty Four looking for a highway numbered 84 following my uncle's directions. Actually he told us to turn left when we got to Eighty Four, and we assumed he said left on 84. We learned the importance of prepositions the hard way when we ended up nearer to Pittsburgh than we planned! 

A quick Wikipedia search gave me hints for the origin of the name. It was a mere crossroads, founded in 1884. The best explanation, and I quote, "it was named by a postmaster who 'didn't have a whole lot of imagination.'" 

All this came back to me when I dug into a rabbit hole this week looking for information about a Revolutionary War incident that happened at the same location of my newest WIP (Work in Progress). An author friend of mine, Lane Dyer, devoted two chapters of his book, The Tory Oak, to this incident. 

There's an ambush. There's kidnapping and intrigue. There's a quick trial and a hanging, several hangings, on the tree outside the courthouse. It's all true, and it gives a glimpse into the unfortunate tensions and violence of war. I read the two chapters that held what I was looking for, then started back at the beginning just because I wanted to. In my manuscript, I wrote only what I needed to give the reader an idea of why this location was important to the family history I was recording. It amounted to a paragraph, but what a paragraph that is! I will probably leave out the town called Ninety Six since it wasn't significant to my WIP. A family loyal to the crown had plans to flee to Ninety Six from their camp at the Wolf Den in the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains. Colonel Cleveland made sure this didn't happen.

The fun of being an author is connecting to the small discoveries along the way. Angels can be in the details as much as devils can.

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

Inhumanity

Some books are hard to read, not because of the difficulty of sentence structure or word choice, but because of the theme or because of actions depicted. Such is the case of a few books I want to share, two I read recently. One I helped get published years ago. All three of these, in their own ways, incorporated man's inhumanity to man into the theme.

Its title alone should have prepared me - I was a War Child, a memoir by an author I met at lunch one day last May. This elegant lady, Helene Gaillet de Neergaard, at ninety years, was delightful and self-assured, almost dripping aristocracy. I had a hard time picturing the few events she told me about her childhood years. The subtitle, World War II Memoir of a Little French Girl, held more of a clue to the book than the delightful person sitting beside me. I added her book to my TBR stack, but kept selecting other books ahead of it because I just never seemed to be in the mood to read about man's inhumanity to child. Between Christmas and New Year's this year, I had some downtime and looked through the stack. There it was, and maybe I was ready, I decided. I gulped, opened to page one, and dove in. I was immediately sucked into a life I could never imagine, nor hope to imagine for any child now in 2026. 

What happens to children when they hear bombs all night or have to leave their homes because of war? She tells. Give it a read!

Her nonfiction about France during the war years dredged up memories of my reading Kristin Hannah's historical fiction, The Nighengale. This was one of those books I wanted to slam shut the cover and scream, but couldn't bear to stop reading long enough to do it. Two views of war-torn France, often too graphic, yet too necessary not to be. As was the other book by Kristin Hannah, The Women. It too sat on my TBR stack for the same reason as the others - my reluctance to surround myself with stories of war and death and the inhumanity of it all. I read this one in December of this year, when all around me were lights and cheer and gaiety. Instead, I wreathed (what an appropriate word for this time of year) myself in the life of nurses in Viet Nam. It wasn't pleasant. It was hard to take. But if we ignore the inhumanity and skip books such as these, then the act remains hidden and easier to repeat.

The settings of those books were continents away, not here in the United States, where freedom rings. We brag about freedoms. We teach our children that the First Amendment to the Constitution protects free speech and freedom of religion. And yet...

Tell that to the characters featured in Debbra Beecher Nance's book The Picking Bag. Ten years ago (has it really been ten years?), an author friend and I agreed to help Debbra self-publish this middle grade novel. She sent the manuscript and I read it. The theme of inhumanity struck me deeply. Here in America, Mormons were persecuted because of their faith. The novel follows a young boy as his family is forced to move away from the only home he'd ever known. It was not merely a pack-up-and-move story. It was one of death and destruction...and inhumanity.

In my books I have only touched on man's humanity to man once, and it's in my latest release, only a paragraph or two. I wrote a memoir, well, a memoir of sorts, I call it. It delves into my family history and I couldn't leave out the story of my sixth great-grandparents.

While The Great Donora Fog and Other Family Stories concerns a town in Pennsylvania, I included stories about my family that I had heard told over and over. These sixth great-grandparents were killed when their house was burned as punishment for believing as they did, for being Huguenots. Only my fifth great-grandfather escaped, as I write it, "with the family Bible and my genes." That was on another continent, but there was my third great-grandfather who, on US military duty in 1812, was burned at the stake by native Americans who were defending their right to exist. The past should haunt us!

In all these books, without exception, the take-away for me, was survival. Despite what was done to them, people came out the other end stronger, wiser, and with a surprising amount of compassion for others, considering what they had endured.

Books like these are a must-read for us to develop this compassion as well. Civilization depends on revealing the past so we can do better when it's our turn.

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

Away With the Manger

 Quick, before you pack it up, go check your manger scene. Is the Baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes like the one on the back cover of my children's book, When Christmas Feels Like Home?

Or is Baby Jesus lying in a manger with His arms splayed outward and legs crossed at the ankles, like in this one I found at the chapel of our church?

There's a reason for both. The first comes from scripture, the second chapter of Luke in the seventh verse, "...she wrapped him in swaddling clothes..." That's how I pictured a manger. I never looked deeper into the nearest nativity scene or creche to pay attention. That is, until I became a docent at author Jan Karon's Mitford Museum. We (I use the pronoun "we" because everyone involved with the museum feels like it is a part of them) walk visitors through the galleries, offering details about the items on display. 

My favorite of all is the gigantic nativity scene under a Christmas tree adorned with ornaments fans gave Jan. But on the floor beneath the tree is the real show stopper - a beautiful creche, hand painted and restored from the decrepit condition Jan found it in when she first laid eyes on it in the window of an antique store in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. She located a person to research the origins of creches and the significance of the colors of each character's clothing, someone who would restore it to its original magnificence. And there it lays, year-round for all to enjoy.

It's the baby that I point out. (I snipped this photo from the Mitford facebook site.)

Notice anything different from the swaddling clothes? 

There this Holy Baby is, his arms splayed, his ankles crossed. There's a deep intentional purpose here. This figure shows not only the birth of the Christ Child, but also the death. He is in the crucifix position. There in the manger is the child/man, fully God, fully man, foreshadowing what we know is to come for him. We can't celebrate the manger without remembering the real reason for the season.

So, now, go check the creche in your home. Look at the Christmas cards you received. Let me know if you discover anything special. 

Do away with the manger and think of the cross.

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

Part Four of How to Have a Successful Book Launch

Here I am again, finding yet another successful book launch to write home about. 

Did I say successful? Yes, and of course, success comes only after the hard work of writing an excellent book and creating a cover that fits the tone of the story. Mysterious. Cozy. 

The Lake Norman Writers Guild accomplished that in their newly released Auras of Deceit: A Trivolity Cozy Mystery. It was written by a group of authors, each with writing credits of their own, by the way.

Since I didn't know them personally to identify,
I'm listing them in alphabetical order:
Annette Larkin, James W Salkeld, John Stickney
Sandra Warren and E Jax Willoughby

Planning the launch was no easy task, I'm sure, but they did everything right. They picked a date and a time when people were generally free to attend...and arrive home before dark, thank you very much. They procured a site, the event center in their community. They invited people personally. They advertised in the neighborhood newsletter. They autographed each copy of the book ahead of time so they wouldn't be tied to an ink pen instead of enjoying the moment with the guests. They had simple but appropriate refreshments, and therein I found the first of new ideas for a launch. Serve a cake with the cover embedded in the icing:

There it is, surrounded by an array of smaller cakes decorated with open-book cupcake toppers. (It's the small things that add a creative uniqueness to a launch!)

They utilized friends like me to free themselves to enjoy the crowd. Here I am, cutting the cake, while my husband greets people at the door, passing out the welcome fliers. Rest assured that I pointed out the cake for everyone to marvel at before I cut it.

Speaking of food, they also passed out gummy bears, of all things. The imaginative thing about that? We have to read the book to find out why.

Another unique part of this launch was that the authors devised a skit where they introduced the characters in the book by becoming that character. It sure made us want to read about them. Of course, they read enough of the actual book to tantalize us even more.

They were sure to videotape the event. It will be a great tool for future advertising.

Even the way the book could be purchased was well organized: two tables, one for cash, one for alternatives to cash; both covered in stacks of books... (that they had to keep replenishing from the boxes of copies on hand!!!) Inserted in each copy was a note with a QR code for the reader to connect directly to Goodreads, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble in order to write a review. How cool is that! How convenient is that!

Like I say, it's the little things, like Christmas decorations in the background that were already in place, making one less preparation to worry about. And the welcome at the door with a gifted poinsettia beside the poster about an upcoming event.

As the guests arrived, my husband and I passed out the printed thank-you notes. These were also invitations for people to yet another opportunity where the book will be: The Trilogy Author Showcase.

Auras of Deceit will still be offered at the release special price. The difference between this launch and that event is that each author will also bring additional books they have published. I've read some of them. Wow, what a guild of authors this is!

But this launch afternoon was all about one book. I have it at the top of my TBR stack. I can't wait to dive in!

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

Award Ceremonies

Being a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators over several years brought me many great experiences. I attended their yearly large Carolinas conferences and a few small retreats with well-known authors in the children's literature genre. I attribute much of my success as an author to what I learned at those events. 

That said, the best part of attending any conference is the networking that takes place. I have met so many wonderful writers. Although I am no longer a member since my writing took a turn from the children's market to the memoir/local history adult level market, I have followed the writing careers of several fellow SCBWI members from years ago. I crossed paths with two of them this past Saturday.

On the left is Eileen Heyes, followed in the middle by Carol Baldwin, with me on the other end. 

We were at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Society of Historians at the Wilkes Heritage Museum in Wilkesboro, a perfect venue to celebrate those who have worked to preserve the history of North Carolina. From their website: 

Since 1941, the North Carolina Society of Historians

has presented annual awards of excellence

 to recognize those individuals and organizations

who discover and present information

 about the history and heritage of North Carolina.

That's why we were together on this recent Saturday, to receive recognition for our books preserving a bit of the history of our great state. I've read both the one by Eileen and the one by Carol, and yes, these books are definitely deserving of an award.

Freedom's Howl, by Eileen Heyes, tells the story of a pack of wolves that runs parallel with the story of a pioneer family during the beginnings of the American Revolution. In her acceptance speech, Eileen explained that her book was written for North Carolina's America 250 celebration. She included the red wolves, a species that was hunted to extinction. At the end of the book is a conservation moment about the program that reintroduced red wolves to the wild. 

Half-Truths by Carol Baldwin is set in the 1950s during a racially segregated period of time. Carol spoke about her book's setting in Charlotte and the two girls, one black, one white, who discover they are cousins. It is a must-read for teens, in my humble opinion. While I didn't live in Charlotte or in Tabor City, the other setting in the book, I did live in the state during the fifties. Even at that, so much of what happened was an eye-opener to me. It was fiction based on truth. And the truth often hurts to hear.

My book, Southern Fly Tyers, like Eileen's, speaks to the conservation of our natural resources - hers the wolves and their habitat, mine the trout and their habitat. Mine goes on to tell individual life stories of those people who tie flies. This history goes back to the early Cherokee and continues the narration with individual stories from the men who tied in the turn of the twentieth century all the way to current tyers. It is not a how-to book. It is a how-they book, how they lived their lives.

Our three books were only a few of the ones recognized on Saturday. Eventually, the full list will be on the society's webpage. There's a lot more to the story of preserving North Carolina history. Stay tuned.

Catch of the day,

Gretchen Griffith

Part 3 How to Have a Successful Book Launch

Every book deserves to be celebrated when it, after much frustration and joy and deleting and rewriting and tears, is finally ready to be released into the world! It's a launch, as in rocketing forth! Sometimes a book launch is a jubilee. Sometimes it's a gathering of those who care, a meeting of the minds, of sort. Sometimes it's in a winery where spirits flow. Sometimes in a coffeehouse where the caffeine flows. A senior center. A church fellowship hall. Under a tent at a fall festival. Those have been ways I celebrated being an author with a new book, whether mine alone or with co-authors.

Sometimes, like yesterday, it's a quiet spot in a bookstore with customers dropping in and being introduced to the authors for the first time. I belong to a wonderful group of authors calling ourselves the Foothills Writers. We've published several anthologies containing our original work. This one, Things That Haunt Us, was a fun one to do where we let our imaginations go wild. One of our members arranged the signing and one donated the beautiful table runner to add to the presentation. It turned into more of a book signing than a book jubilee, but don't get me wrong. We were jubilant over its release and had celebrated ourselves at one of our weekly sessions.

With eight authors to schedule around, this celebration became a case of "who can come." Only two of us were able, and I had to leave after a few minutes to go to work. That left one very enthusiastic author who held down the fort and showed the world what we had to offer. 

There we are, moments before I scurried out the door, Tula Smith and I, surrounded by books and books and more books. The featured book that day, proud to say, was our little offering. Thank you, Tybrisa Books, for carving out a spot for authors to share the fruits of their work. We appreciate others appreciating us!

Catch of the day, 

Gretchen