I was invited to have a book signing at Graceful Arts in Alva, Oklahoma https://www.gracefulartscenter.org/ last Friday night. It was a First Friday Event in Alva. Christmas abounded in the decorations, food, music and great people. I found it a joy blending with the artists and musicians.
Alva combines the rural farming community with the university at NWOSU. That combination creates a lovely small town with friendly people and a slow pace. I was checked out by the local English Department from the university and treated like royalty. I’d love to return when I have a new book.
I found pottery by local artist Nancy Russell, wife of author Sheldon Russell, and realized she had a tile for sale engraved with the runes from the Heavener Runestone. It matched the runes on the stone I wrote about in Glome’s Valley and Return to Glome’s Valley. 
I had to have it! I put it in the place of honor on the hearth, but it needs to be hung in my writing room near the books that accompany it. 
The NWOSU choir came by and serenaded us with Christmas carols a cappella style and it was lovely! They were my first Christmas carols of the season and put me in the mood. 
We met artist Carla Miller who had paintings hung in a section of the gallery. I especially liked her home-town painting of the white chapel with sunflowers out front. We also met Jay Heinrich, leather artist, from Oklahoma and his wife. We could have talked all night.
Many people from the community and university came and ate snacks, drank wine and hot spiced cider, and made us feel welcome. We’d love to go again. Dr. Jo Decker has a lovely gallery and makes everyone feel at home. We did.
Thank you, Graceful Arts, and we can’t wait to come again.
Thanksgiving was a success. I blew my diet, but I’m back on track. And I can’t believe it is the first of December! The Christmas season is here. There will be decorations to put up, cards to sent out, gifts to buy and then wrap – and more food again. What will you do for those you love? You want a gift, but you have no idea what they need.
Sitting down at the computer to come up with a Sunday blog I realize ONE MONTH FROM TODAY IS CHRISTMAS EVE! I can’t believe it. I’ve been immersed in the family gathering around my table on Thanksgiving and it hadn’t occurred to me how close the Christmas holiday came just behind it.
On Sunday mornings I write a blog. I sip my coffee and try to get my brain in gear and today, I seam to be a blank slate.
Last week as I cleaned out emails from places and people I didn’t know, princes from far away offering me their fortune, sales of items I didn’t know I needed, and promises of things I’d never have, I must have missed an important one. Because later in the week, I received an email from Oklahoma Romance Writers of America about a contest I entered last summer. I was a finalist! I know because they sent me a digital badge to add to my promotion of the book.
Stepping down the steps I sank into the tepid water – that felt cold against my skin – waist deep. Cool, I think. Yet chill bumps run up my arms. Standing and looking around I think I see snow outside the window. The last thing to dip is not as easy. Breath in – I dip to my neck – and shudder.
It’s Halloween! I love this time of year – the pumpkins, the falling leaves, the cool weather, the Halloween stories! And I have one for you.
I’ve learned a thing or two about writing. I will always have more to learn. But when it comes to story structure I’ve learned from the best. William Bernhardt has a series of books on story structure, characterizations, etc. I am also a big fan of Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat series and Donald Maass’s Writing the Breakout Novel. Like I said – the best. Without them, I could never have written a book that covered several years in a woman’s life. So, if my writing doesn’t come up to their standards (or yours) I only have myself to blame – not them. But I constantly study and try to do better.
It’s fall vacation time! This week my husband and I traveled north to the great state of Kansas. Our cousins from Texas joined us. We saw the sights in Wichita and Kansas City and everything in between. We may have eaten and drank too much, but we had a good time.
We traveled to Old Town and saw breweries, museums, 
the Frank Lloyd Wright Allen house (someday, I’m going to get inside that place!). Wichita is only a couple of hours drive from Enid and I don’t know why we don’t go there more often. It is a fun trip. I understand there is a Dillard’s Outlet store there, though I never found it.
I’ve lived my life in Oklahoma an have no idea why it took me so long to get to Kansas City. Again, it’s not that far. My cousin was at the wheel and seemed calm and cool under the pressure of big city (especially downtown) driving. There was the occasional GPS glitch, but we managed to get where we were going. We visited Union Station and found it was still a working railroad station. 
We took a trolley tour of the downtown area, ate at Arthur Bryant’s BBQ, which is the first and most famous BBQ in Kansas and had been visited by many famous people. We just wondered in off the street and they still let us in. We visited the downtown area and shopping in a district I couldn’t afford, then on to other places of interest. Kansas City boasts more working fountains than Paris, France and there are many beautiful parks, monuments and architecture. Again, we ate too much.
