It's a Family Thing

My latest project, the story of Marjorie and Bill Strawn, has taken over two years of reading and researching and making phone calls and writing and rewriting. And revising. And rewriting. It all began when a family approached me with a request. Could I capture the story of their mother and her exceptional life? They had read odds and ends of my other books and had in mind something similar.

So we began.

Their mother, a physician and county health director, led quite a remarkable life dedicated to serving the people of Caldwell County here in North Carolina. She passed away in 2017 and her children wanted somehow to remind the public of the impact on their everyday lives.

I started with the family, five children, Sandy, Kelly, Matthew, Anne, and Mark, six counting Rajiv, the high school foreign exchange student from Sri Lanka who lived with them for a year and then used their home as a base during his university years. As they told me family stories, I realized this was as much about their father as their mother. He passed away in 1998 leaving behind a legacy equal to his wife's. 

Although I lived in the same county, I never formally met either Marjorie or Bill, but I was definitely aware of her work at the Caldwell County Health Department. I soon found out that was only a part of the story. The family opened their hearts in telling about growing up Strawn, delightful stories that conveyed the intimate side of the story and added that personal touch to the narrative. They uploaded pictures, hundreds of pictures. And newspaper articles, hundreds of articles. 

They also helped in other ways from pointing me to a particular person to be sure to interview, or digging through tons of plaques and awards to make sure everything was covered, or uploading specific pictures to fill in the gaps. Fortunately for me, Mark is computer savvy by profession and helped me through many a glitch. Matt is an artist and contributed the cover background as well as several interior works of art. 

The launch is on what is known as First Friday, a monthly celebration showcasing  different artists associated with the Western North Carolina Society of Artisans and its Red Awning Gallery in the Hudson Uptown Building, the HUB for short. I am a member and October is my month to be featured, so why not a book launch! The Strawn sisters are coming in town together and asked what they could do besides inviting people. I'm glad they asked because I did have a specific request.  

We serve food at each First Friday, the members bringing odds and ends of delicacies to put on a spread. But since Marjorie Strawn was quite the baker, why not include a few of her specialities that are mentioned in the book. 

Marjorie Strawn busy in the kitchen

Why not add those specials to the heaping pile of food we usually have. I could make a display card with the paragraph where each food item is mentioned. We could even share the recipe. Maybe. I might be asking a little too much there, as secret family recipes do exist.

And, I added, if they really wanted to go all out, they could include their father's famous Brunswick Stew recipe that I mention several times in the book. None of the siblings, however, go hunting for squirrels in the fall, as their father did when he had the hankering for some authentic, old fashioned, recipe-from-his-grandfather, Brunswick Stew. So that will probably be a "no."

But the "yes" came when I suggested we decorate the room with picture frames of all sorts and descriptions filled with many of the photos I used in the book. My desire on the book launch of this outstanding couple is to have them front and center in more ways than just a book.

Save the date, October 7. At the HUB in Hudson, NC. 5:00 to 8:00. Do drop in.

Catch of the day, 

Gretchen

Cover Reveal

 I'm so excited to share the cover of my latest book, The Physician and the Forester.

It's such a beauty!

Front and center are the subjects of my dual biography, Marjorie and Bill Strawn. This photograph was taken at the wedding of one of their children by photographer Bruce Pick. Check out what I said about it in the previous blog, Dual Biography. Add the background painting, "Linn Cove" by artist Matthew Strawn. Check out what I said about that in my blog, Let the Countdown Begin. I'm still counting down the days to launch. October 7. 

Aah, the cover. I knew when I put the two elements, painting and portrait, together, it would work. I selected the background picture because it shows a bit of the landscape where Bill Strawn was Forest Ranger. It wraps around to the back cover. 

Back cover with spine

I debated about the subtitle until I hit on exactly what the book is about, devotion, service and faith. These two individuals were not only devoted to each other as the cover picture clearly shows, they were passionate about living a life that mattered. And they did it by serving in their own unique way, hers as a physician in private practice and as county health director, his as a soldier in World War II and as a ranger with both the US and the North Carolina Forest Services.

As for faith, their story is one of a belief in God that translated to daily life and actions. But my how they lived this Godly life! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story. I'm so fortunate to have caught this one!

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

Dual Biography

Not long after I began looking into the life and career of Dr. Marjorie Strawn, I realized I couldn't possibly write about her without writing about her husband and life partner, Forester Bill Strawn. Every action and snippet of story involved the two of them, either directly or indirectly through supporting each other. 

So I set out to write one book about two people. I researched to see if this had been done before. Of course it has. It's called a dual biography. Most often the two subjects are connected by birth or marriage, although I have found a few that were connected by eras and perhaps never even met.

When the Strawn family uploaded photographs for me to pick through, I was drawn to one in particular. It was taken at the wedding ceremony of one of their sons. 

This is a picture of contentment, of happiness, of joy in each other and in the occasion, the very emotions I needed to introduce the reader to this amazing couple. I set about obtaining permission from the photographer, Bruce Pick, and he graciously agreed. My go-to person for photograph technology, Mark Strawn, helped me isolate the two of them from the background clutter. 

So there it is. The cover portrait. 

Since the two of them were wearing black and white, I needed to surround them with color, which is exactly what I did using Matt Strawn's painting, Linn Cove. 

Coming soon on this blog: Cover Reveal.

Coming in exactly four weeks, BOOK LAUNCH!!

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

Let the Countdown Begin

One more month to launch. 

Book Launch, to be more exact. My latest book will be toasted October 7 with a grand First Friday Event in the Red Awning Gallery at the HUB Station. (Hudson Uptown Building in Hudson, North Carolina) I can't wait for everyone to read this book. It's a biography, actually a dual-biography about a couple who impacted not only my community, but the entire state of North Carolina and beyond. More about that in a later post, but now I want to reveal part of the cover, the background. 

 Ta-Da....

Looks a little empty without the title of the book, but I did see possibilities when I was envisioning a cover. This is a painting titled "Linn Cove" by Matthew Strawn, who just happens to be one of the children of the subjects of my book, Marjorie and Bill Strawn. Like me, he's a member of the Western North Carolina Society of Artisans. We display and sell our products in the Red Awning Gallery. I saw this picture hanging in the hall and knew it was exactly what I needed for the cover background. 

Title of the book - The Physician and the Forester - and there you have the forest, drawn from an actual spot not all that far as the crow flies from my house. The proportion of empty space to forest fit my requirement for inserting title, subtitle, photograph and backflap items. Perfect. 

Matt agreed and here it is! 

Coming soon....Cover reveal. 

Catch of the day, 

Gretchen