Monday Memos: ROYAL PROCLAMATION: BONUS EDITION - TAMARA HART HEINER!!!

OMG! Have you seen this yet?

Have you bought this yet? Is it on your shelf? Have you downloaded the ebook? Are you reading it right now? NO? WELL WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR...Oh, wait, some of you have not heard about it yet...well step into the Courtyard and lend me an ear...er...eye... ;o)

The Kingdom would like to welcome Tamara Hart Heiner to its lovely garden. (Isn't she just darl'n?) PERILOUS (released November 16, 2010 by WiDo Publishing)

Amazon's snippet: Jaci Rivera has plans for her sophomore year: go to regionals with the track team, make the honor roll, and eat too much pizza with her best friends, Callie and Sara. Her biggest concern is Amanda, the pushy girl who moved in a few months ago.What she doesn't plan for is catching a robber red-handed, or being kidnapped. The desperate thief drags her and her friends 2,000 miles across the Canadian border. They escape from his lair, only to find that he has spies and agents watching their path home, waiting to intercept them and take them back.Then Jaci finds something out about her family. Something which irrevocably connects her to their kidnapper, and makes her question their chances of escape.
Are you still with us or did you already grab your keys and head for the nearest bookstore? Still here? Good.

I was not sure what I was going to encounter when I was privileged to read this book before it hit the shelves. My reading selections are in no way predictable and Perilous fell right between finishing up a sci-fi fantasy and beginning a young adult paranormal romance. From the first few pages I was hooked. Jaci and her friends are much like the teens that I encounter with my own nieces. Their verbage and banter is believable in a way that sucks you back into days of your own youth. As you are introduced to the family you find a deeper tone. There are layers here that do not disappoint.

Tamara was able to weave a tale that at once excites and terrifies the reader. It could happen any time, anywhere, to anyone. The fact that it is teenage girls in situations that parents NEVER want to even imagine breathes life into the story - because it COULD happen and sadly as the news proclaims; it does.

I happily handed my own 16 year old niece this book and she gobbled it up in a day. After discussing the action, the twists, the turns, the surprises we discussed the dynamics of the girls. A chord that rang loudly is strength & perseverance. The friends discover a strength that pulls them through the trauma and propels them toward safer ground.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and happily flew through it in an evening. It is a quick read that takes the reader on an emotional journey, desperately wanting all clues, all secrets, all puzzle pieces tied up neatly by the final page...does it deliver that perfectly wrapped ending?...you'll have to find out.... ;o)

In case you are still too curious to slip out into the chill and head to the store, perhaps this link will provide something that will get you moving...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Tq3Rrj7uI

Well have I whet your appetite? Are you at the door, one eye on the screen reading this - the other on the doorknob ready to break free to the bookstore? Don't close those fingers around the knob just yet...there might be a few ways to snuggle up with Perilous...

The wonderful & sweet Tamara is hosting the following, awesome, amazing contests:

Any person who comments on any post during the blog tour will be entered into
a random drawing for a book. Which she can autograph, if you want. The
contest ends on Dec. 15.

Kindle giveaway: This contest is point-based and ends
Dec. 15. Whoever has the most points wins the Kindle. There will only be
one Kindle given away. Here are the points:
1 point: blog comment (can comment on all the blogs, multiple times, on
the tour)
1 point: follow my blog (http://tamarahartheiner.blogspot.com/)
1 point: retweet
2 points: blog about the blog tour
5 points: purchase the book (ebook or paperback, must email me the
confirmation email) if they actually buy the book in the store they can
mail me a copy of the receipt.
Add up all your points as well as your proof (links, etc) and
email it to Tamara at the end of the blog tour (tamara at tamarahartheiner dot
com)
People can earn an infinite number of points!

In addition to her contest, I also have purchased a copy of Perilous to place in someone's stocking! Yep so um that is like so many things to win, to enter..to tabulate (thank goodness Tamara must be good at math..;o) ) For my contest all you have to do is share this review (blog/Tweet/scream it out the window/skywrite it/whatever) this review and place a comment HERE on this post of how you did it! I will be using the honor system and on December 8 (hubby's birthday) will announce the randomly drawn winner! So go, get, spread the word and enjoy this edge of your seat debut!

HAVE A MARVELOUS MONDAY!!!

p.s there is a sequel... I know...I want it now too! ;o)

Why do you judge me?

"Why do you judge me?" they ask softly "Did I do something to offend you? Did I not tell it correctly? Was I out of line? Does it matter that I am not widely accepted but there are a few who appreciate me? Are those few out of line for loving me? Who is to say whether they cherish or hate me?"

Their questions are all at once.

Their voices are tones of all dialects, all worlds, all times, all nations, all vernacular.

They speak with earnest and wish only to be heard.

They understand that not everyone will like them all, that more than likely only a few will love them.

Their lives are determined by a select few and they understand the prejudice of those few - in fact they support their right to have an opinion.

They only wish the few allowed everyone else to make their own choices - for within their voices we can discover great things about ourselves, about life, and about dreams...

"Curiosity is not a sin...But we should exercise caution with our curiosity...yes indeed." Albus Dumbledore - Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire -the amazing JK Rowling.

"Language is man's way of communicating with his fellow man and it is language alone that separates him from the lower animals." - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - the beautiful Maya Angelou

Suddenly two coiled arms of twisting hair shot out of Wedgie Woman's head and grabbed George and Harold by the back of their underwear, yanking them high into the air.

"You know," said George "this isn't as funny as I thought it would be."

-Captain Underpants - the hilarious Dav Pilkey

"You know when you see a gorgeous boy on the street and you say to your friend, "Look at him!" and then your friend makes a face like, ugly? We all have such totally varied tastes that someone is going to look at you and think, yum-yum dee-lish, no matter what you think you look like. You just have to learn to see what they see." - Because I'm Worth It - Gossip Girl - the witty & utterly hip Cecily von Ziegesar

"Are you there God? It's me, Margaret. I just told my mother I want a bra. Please help me grow God. You know where. I want to be like everyone else." - Are you there God? It's me, Margaret. - the honest & unfiltered at any age Judy Blume.

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther....And then one fine morning --

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." - The Great Gatsby - the moving and melancholy tones of F. Scott Fitzgerald

"It was that kind of a crazy afternoon, terrifically cold, and no sun out or anything and you felt like you were disappearing every time you crossed a road." - The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

Make them more popular by putting them on a list - making them forbidden and ever so tempting.

Yes, judge them - we won't judge you for the list.

Because a list is just words & who better than the reader or writer understands words? That as a list they are just...a column of opinion...we have the freedom to look at the list, to ignore it, to accept it, to follow it and to laugh at it...

We educate ourselves in order to know that hidden within the list are lessons..that those of us who laugh at the list AND those of us who support it should always remember..

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

-To Kill A Mockingbird - the ever reclusive yet embraced Harper Lee

Pick that last one up sometime, banned/schmanned - its worth the time and the consideration to forget that its banned....

Happy Banned Books Week

For the list & more information about Banned Books Week

click Here

Oh the awesome and fun you may discover! Have a Fun Filled Friday!

Monday Memos: Car Shopping & Writing...

"If you've never bought a car, you don't know anything about maintaining a car. Young buyers don't figure out how much the car is going to cost them the whole year..."

-Jeff Oseroff

***

Car shopping is a lot of fun...when you can window shop & dream about owning the vehicle or when your funds are unlimited... Not so much fun when you have a budget you must maintain, a teenager who truly is not sure what she wants - and is still developing exactly what style even appeals to her, a husband who just wants to find a good deal and an insurance company to deal with as well. Now, I'm no saint in this equation - I have my own list of requirements and rules for her first vehicle. Overall its just an experience that is exciting, tiring, fun & overwhelming at times. (By the way - thank you mom & dad for a patience that I am now beginning to truly appreciate)

The big details of all of this are no different than any household big purchase but it is the little conversations that appeal to me the most. Discussing the costs that will go into it and informing a 16 year old she will be responsible for gas and that where it goes/who drives it are details that we are seriously discussing at dinner & while running errands. As maintenance & care becomes more & more the subject of the search I realized this is much like writing a manuscript.

You have an idea, a concept of what you want your end result to be. You are not positive that it will be that exact story but you are pointed in a certain direction. The big details: story arc, main character and genre is much like the body, make & model of a vehicle. But it doesn't stop there - interior colors/textures are like setting/time. The miles per gallon/gas prices are much like the relevance of your story/your want for completion: does it get you from A to B at a cost that will allow you to have extra cash - is the story one that you believe in and are ready to put everything you have into it? The engine is your characters. All those parts, those tiny pieces that get the story running & keep the driver going where they need to go...Such details that we sometimes labor over and other times we just dive right in. For us, we are researching, trying to make smart decisions, safe decisions yet also make it something fun. For me, I am still maintaining - working at getting the interior details & maintaining flow. We just don't always realize how much goes into maintenance. The revising, the changes, the aggravation, the excitement, the stress, the lack of sleep, the joy, the tears...the brake pads, the oil, the gas prices, the balance & rotation, the insurance, the cleaning...

The best part about all of this is that with both cars & writing, sometimes all we need to do is trade in or maybe, just maybe, we only need a fresh coat of paint, a weekend joy ride or an appraisal to remind us that we have a classic on our hands.

We need to be patient and enjoy the fact that over time our value will be retained, even if its only by a select few - we can be proud of the end result and enjoy those Sunday afternoon drives...

***

Hello Monday! How is everyone today?

Do you have to tell yourself to say "no" so that you can focus on writing?Roni Griffin tackles this issue & as a fellow Southern gal, I feel her pain...

So Blaze or Dry Rot? Don't know? well wander over to Book Dreaming..I can promise you Shannon is always blazing!

Frankie met Sara Shepard! Yep - are you a Pretty Little Liars fan? If not, well shame on you - the books rock and the show is fun! Scoot over to her blog and you just might win a signed copy - or don't more chances for me... ;o)

Have a Magical Monday!

Friday Fun: Tag! You Are It!

H-E-L-L-O F-R-I-D-A-Y!!!

(Wacko's Hellllooooo Nurse! is stuck in my head today)

So Shannon over at Book Dreaming decided to pay me a visit this morning. Yep, she popped over to this here lil' Royal setting and told me I was tagged...now before I hyperventilated with worry as to what on earth she had tagged me for I grinned. Not just any grin, but a big one.

You see I have been a bit chaotic and busy lately. Not able to post as regularly, have missed my Wednesday writings and well am just now beginning to slow down even the tiniest bit. To some it might appear that my slow down and their slow down are TOTALLY different definitions, but I promise it really is beginning to be a little more laid back at the Castle. What had me smiling was the comments from Monday's post. There wasn't just one, but 9. Nine comments. Each one sweet, sincere and genuinely glad to have visited. I had not yet posted my own comment to everyone else and well I just wanted to say Hello & Thank you. You have all been so supportive during these adjustments for our Kingdom and have visited here each time I have posted. For that I am forever grateful. We all go on soapboxes every now and then about the wonderful community of writers, book bloggers & authors that we frequent, I often chime in and this time I just want to express the simple appreciation for y'all letting this Southern Princess prance around & feel so welcome. I hope that I am able to return the love in every way possible.

Now on to the tagging:

This is the one where you have to write the following list of items in your own handwriting and then post a pic of it here. I had to split mine up because my cell phone won't hold the whole thing legibly...so here goes...The instructions are to write the following items:
1. Name/Blog Name.

2. Right handed, left handed or both?

3. Favorite letters to write?

4. Least favorite letters to write?

5. Write: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

6. Write in caps:CRABHUMORKALEIDOSCOPEPAJAMASGAZILLION

7. Favorite song lyrics?

8. Tag 7 people.

9. Any special note or drawing?

Okay so the ones who are now tagged:

if you cannot decipher on the photo here they lovelies are again...(if you have already done this one, please just divert your post to the link) ;o)

Jemi @ Just Jemi

Lola Sharp @ Sharp Pen/Dull Sword

DL Hammons @ Cruising Altitude

Karen Amanda Hooper @ Eternal Moonshine of a Daydreaming Mind

Frankie Mallis @ Frankie Writes

Talli @ Talli Roland

Summer @ ...and this time concentrate

Okay, whew! Well that was fun! I hope you all enjoyed this odd look into my handwriting!
Have a wonderful weekend and be sure to check out DL's Fantabulous HIGH DRAMA BLOGFEST tomorrow..should be a great one!

Also be sure to check out Lola's AWESOME Whatever Lola Wants or her Back from Maine Contest!!!!

*I should add one disclaimer...um I change my signature about every 3 months, so the way I write my name can be different at a moment's notice.

Monday Memos...First Focus...

"It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you're going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny."

-Anthony Robbins

***

Focus is a big word right now in our house. We have come to discover that within those five letters lie a host of directions. By now most of you have seen the post(s) regarding our newest family member Kristin, have seen that we have been vacationing last week and that my blog has been more sporadic than ever before - well it has not been purposeful and I realized that I had let my focus stretch out. There are moments where I focus on one schedule, then another, then another until I am such a mess that you cannot even consider my thoughts to be collective!

We sometimes do this when we are writing. We begin at one point and plot through our story then we find a hole/a change that we jump to examine. We adjust, we make note then shift back to where we were; only to discover something else that might need tweaking. We tell ourselves to wait until it is complete, when revisions should be the focus but it is hard. The characters are everywhere, the details are forming and we feel the draft is beginning to take the shape of a large building. The hardest part is when the draft/building begins to show early wear & tear. The sides are bulging, the floors are becoming dingy, there are way too many pink flamingos on the lawn and the windows are not only open but missing in some rooms. Often we lose hope and the drive to refurbish or sometimes we continue to add elements that truly make an ostentatious, over done, extravagant & cheeky place that really needs to be bulldozed!

That is not the way to utilize focus. Anthony Robbins is right-Its where you place your focus that determines where you will end up. Those decisions to add TOO much or revise TOO soon, well it normally means you will be working on that draft for MUCH longer than you expected; cull the parts that need to go, kill the character that needs to die, change the setting, end the story - all actions that determine your draft's destiny. Yes, yes, there are agents & publishers to woo and seduce but before that, before the great announcement there must be what I now call First Focus.

Don't worry I am in First Focus myself and trying desperately to not have the tackiest house on the block. I have discovered that focus is not always easy, that distractions are not always simple to push aside and that learning from my mistakes is still a work in progress. But no matter what I must remember to Focus. That with the proper First Focus I will hopefully be ready to have that curb appeal we all seek. Though a few flamingos can be cute...can't they?? (just lie and say yes ;o) )

So how are all of you? Are you aware that you need to slow down and maybe refocus in order to find the right direction?

***

A few announcements...

Rebecca asks if you have a System?

Jamie over at Writer's write, right? is hosting a FIRST GIVEAWAY... - be sure to check in on 8/9 for more details!

Oh yeah...there is a winner...one for a prize pack of Harper Lee goodness...

THE WINNER OF:

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird featuring Gregory Peck DVD

Surprise from the Monroeville, Alabama Heritage Museum

is....

LIZA

Now Liza did not leave an email in her comment and I laughed out loud when her name popped up especially since her comment was this:

"How did I miss this last week...one of my all time favorite books? So, old follower...6 little points for me. I won't win, but may get out my yellowing, thumb-eared copy and give it another read. Thanks for reminding me that it is time."

So Liza I am going to try to track you down!

If I cannot find you by Wednesday, 8-4-2010 I will have to draw another name, so please if you read this send me an email!

Don't despair, I have another contest coming up...yep a good one since I am dancing around 300 followers... so look out for that post coming up... ;o)

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Good Morning...from the Gulf Coast...

Good Morning my blogging friends.... I have been sporatic and poorly posting lately...for that I greatly apologize.

BUT there have been some extenuating circumstances.

In the past month my family has grown by one.

We now welcome Kristin to our family. She is my sixteen year old niece and is now a permanent member of our household. We have been working on legal documentation, school enrollment, driver's license tests, shopping, redesigning, redecorating, laughing, smiling and loving the new addition to our lives.

Right this moment my husband and her are still sleeping as I sit on the balcony of a beach home on the Gulf Coast. I can hear the early morning beach traffic, the waves crashing and feel the sun warming my skin. My little dog Peanut is beside me sniffing the air - no doubt reveling in the myriad of scents. Downstairs my other nieces and nephews are waking up and stirring in the lower floor, above me my sister and a few other nieces and nephews are moving as well. On the first floor (we have 3 floors) my parents are quietly stirring and walking out towards the pool...

YES! we are on vacation. 9 days, beach fun, warm sunshine and lots of family. More will arrive this afternoon and then we will be here - a large group of people who genuinely enjoy each other's company.

We are here to relax, to bond, to indulge and to support the coast that we have loved our whole lives. The beaches truly are open and I will be uploading photos beginning this evening and letting you all vicariously enjoy the beautiful Gulf Coast; also so you can begin to plan your next vacation in hopes you might frolic in our pure white sands...The oil spill has wreaked havoc on perception of our coast and well, I want to let you see how it is really doing.

So enjoy the day, have some good food, and check back later for more info on these announcements:

*I have been dancing around 300 followers for a while now and well its about time for a F.I.C. (Follower Incentive Contest). I will be finding a special 'beachy' prize while I am down here as well as some other prizes. So be SURE to check in on all of that.

*Don't forget the To Kill A Mockingbird Contest ends next week so go enter it too (click on the sidebar link)!

Now I am headed to get some breakfast and see what the day holds...

"A vacation is having nothing to do, and all day to do it in..."

-Robert Orden

Have a Sunny Sunday!

Quick Contest Update!!

Sara McClung never ceases to amaze me with her contests!!!

Okay Check out Summer Saradise

7 ARCs

One Blogger

One Contest

ENDLESS AWESOMESAUCE!!

Click HERE for your chance to win:

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Torment by Lauren Kate

Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers

Contest runs July 20 - August 6th

TELL HER I SENT YOU!!

ALSO

Don't forget about my TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD CONTEST ending on July 28, 2010

click HERE to enter

Monday Memos! ~ warning.... ;o)

WARNING!

-Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired

And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings

And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

And pick flowers in other people's gardens

And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go

Or only bread and pickle for a week

And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

And pay our rent and not swear in the street

And set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

***

I love this poem. There are moments when I do think about how I will be when I get older & it is in these lines that I smile the most.

I have a Great Aunt Eloise & Great Aunt Clara; sisters they are. My memory is peppered with things that they have done. I am too young to have known them in what they would say was their heyday, but the women I have come to admire still have a sensational shock and awe lifestyle. Now don't let your mind drift to south of the gutter, their shock and awe may be tame to some of you, but for me it is an enlightened experience every time I have the pleasure of visiting.

They took me & a cousin on trips during our childhood summers. Excursions to the beach where we would rent a house on the sand, listening to the soft morning murmurs of the Gulf and nights of games & laughter. They would tell scandalous stories of their youth - the men they dated, the men they loved, the men they lost and those that are forever etched on their hearts. True Southern Belles to the core, they are the kind that Scarlett would have been jealous of; their romances, adventures and even calm days are ones that could fill a hundred books! I have always admired that with each passing year they seem to get more energetic, more alive. Eloise travels often to see her children. Clara, though recently age & illness have been a battle, for years kept up as though she were ten years younger than her birthdate. Both have always been eclectic, outspoken, kind, women of gumption and barrels of laughs - refreshingly growing more with ever year.

I loved them as a young girl for the ice cream sundaes, caramel cake, trips to the Gulf and sweet disposition. As a teenager I fell in love with their ability to listen, to comment and to share their own teen trials without ever preaching or patronizing. As a woman, I now appreciate their zest, their ability to promote family, to live life, to speak their mind, to be eccentric, and to love with all their hearts.

They are my WARNING. My poem, walking around this earth reminding me of purple hats, red dresses, summers sipping sweet tea or brandy and the need for satin shoes. I am enjoying every day that I get to spend on this earth and hope that I will get to live out a life so full of fun & love that one day my own nieces & nephews will write a post about me.

I hope to do it justice... ;o)

Do you have anyone who inspires eccentricity or any habits you have that help in continuing an eccentric life? I know you do - you are a writer ;o)

**AROUND THE BLOGS***

Do you think you read Sci- Fi? (SyFy)...yeah..maybe genius has a great post about science fiction, but um, some of you may be surprised when you realize you already read sci-fi

Send Matt over at The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment well wishes on his 'sabbatical' - I know I will miss his posts!

Check out Jennifer's Featured Writer Interviews this week: First up Karen from the English Writer Blog!

CONTESTS:

Wanna win anARC of Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz? I do and Hannah's giving one away!!

Liz over at Cleverly Inked is having a VACATION GIVEAWAY - no you don't win a vacation - breathe & quit googling locations! - BUT you do win an awesome prize pack of goodies from her travels!

My own TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD CONTEST ends July 28!

UPDATE! WIN an ARC of Guardians of the Gate by Michelle Zink at PJ Hoover's blog!!!

Have You Jumped? If so, are you falling or flying?

“Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall.”

-Ray Bradbury

***

This is my mind lately as I work on my WIP:

My wings have unfolded – I am getting the hang of gliding, my only worry is after landing will I be able to take off again and find my way through revisions… ;o)

I don’t know. But I DO know that I am excited to be someone who stepped off the ledge, throwing myself into an adventure that I will forever be changed by…

***

How about you…have you jumped? Are your wings out and are you discovering all there is to see with ease?

- Or -

Are you like me, sensing that flying is awesome, landing looks scary and the return trip might be a reason to invest in Dramamine?

Just remember:

“Aerodynamically, the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly; but the bumblebee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.”

-Mary Kay Ash

Don't forget to enter my To Kill A Mockingbird contest!

Have a Terrific Thursday!

A Contest & A Mockingbird....

They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.

~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 11, spoken by the character Atticus

A steep, treacherous cliff shoots down on the right side of the car. Inhaling I grip the seatbelt and lean towards the middle of the seat. I do not want to see the depth of the sheer dropoff if the car were to swerve ever so slightly, I do not want to think of the danger below. The curves wind as we journey towards Monroeville, as we head to shop at the Vanity Fair factory store and spend the day at the Pecan Festival. My tiny fingers grip the book in my lap, my eyes closed tight until we reach an area of flat road. I release the breath I did not realize I was holding and turn the page.

I continue reading, my nine year old brain accepting the words but bookmarking phrases to ask my mother. She drives carefully as the 45 minute drive to Monroeville comes to a close. I am excited to wander the vendors at the festival. I have new wicker furniture in my room and I want a few things to match the unicorn blanket on my daybed. The words "footwashing" Baptists brings me pause. This is a phrase I cannot just bookmark. My mind sees what a child would consider the definition to be and in my gut I know I am mistaken. That this will be a question for discussion at lunch. We plan to go to Radley's Deli - I LOVE their grilled cheese and root beer. The idea of a day with just me and my mother makes me grin.

The minutes fly by and we are soon at our destination. The festival wraps around the courthouse. The streets smell of kettle corn, hot dogs and cotton candy. Vendors talented with woodwork, paint brushes, quilting surround the brick building. Across the street at the light murals depicting scenes of Scout & Boo peeking around a tree and the subject of the book now laying on the seat of the car watch over the residents and visitors. The temperature is cool, an Alabama fall is magical and here where characters live and breath there is no comparison...

We window shop, we purchase, we laugh, we argue over the worth of a small pillow in the shape of a unicorn and whether or not I will finish the red candied apple that has stained my lips. Lunch comes quickly and with it the reminder of the phrase in the book. I ask my mother and she sighs. I read things well beyond my years she says and it becomes harder and harder for her to explain things to me. I tell her that I am a big girl, that I want to read everything! She laughs and begins to tell me not just what the phrase means but of the author, of the book and how there are pages yet to come when I may ask more questions.

She touches my hand and asks me a very important question: "Courtney, are you any more important than the waitress?" Standing near the cashier is a young woman. She appears to be much older (meaning in her late teens). At first I think how I am a princess (seriously I took this title pretty highly as a kid - not like I do now *wink*) but then I shake my head. She asks me what I see when I look at the young woman. I describe her clothes, her hair, even her smile, my mother grins when I remember the chocolate of her eyes, and how she's very nice because she gave me extra cherries for my root beer. I never once mentioned the dark brown of her skin.

My mother nods and does not speak at first. Then she tells me she loves me, that she is proud of me and that yes I am big now and that I will enjoy the book even more after I finish it. I blush forgetting the quiz only enjoying the praise. I do not realize yet what she is getting at and to be honest it is years later when the memory slams me in the gut.

She was in many ways testing me. Trying to see if I had somewhere in my few years learned of a horrible judgment, whether or not the story would be something I would cherish and love or something that I would find fault with its ending. She knew then how Atticus, Jem, Boo, & Scout lived amongst the pages, she knew of the themes threaded amidst the setting; how they could be construed - how some might think Atticus wrong or that things should have turned out differently for the characters. She was merely trying to settle her own mind about the way her daughter was being raised, about whether or not the lessons on loving people had seeped into my young heart and if I had let them take root.

For those of us in South Alabama, the story is as famous as any. Nelle Harper Lee wove a tale that speaks of the way things happened and how many people should have handled situations, how parents should talk with their children, listen to their children, have faith in their children and how the color of your skin does not tell the color of your heart. 50 years ago she wrote a story that still stands the test of time, that still resonates in any town, in any state, in any country. For me it is a story of great love, of courage, of conviction and of understanding. I often looked for Atticus in my own father & was ever more pleased to find even more traces of that wonderful character in the living breathing version who kissed me goodnight.

I love this book and have read it many times, each time discovering some snippet that I must tuck away, some dialogue that I must etch into memory. Nelle gave us a gift and every year the tiny town that neighbors my own celebrates it, even if she feels all the hub bub is a bit silly, I hope that Nelle realizes how much she molded my life and so many others...

So when I journey down there for the celebratory festival this year ( July 8 - 11, 2010 ) I will walk the square. remember the story, the day I made my mother smile and the lessons I have learned even since...

I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.

~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 23, spoken by the character Scout

***

So folks in honor of this marvelous novel I would like to give away a prize package...

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PRIZE:

One copy of To Kill A Mockingbird (50th Anniversary edition)

by Nelle Harper Lee

The DVD version of To Kill a Mockingbird starring Gregory Peck

Sur-prize from the Monroeville County Heritage Museum

Open to US & Canada only...sorry Internationals ;o)

CONTEST ENDS JULY 28 at 11;59 CST

I will announce the winner on August 1st

(Harper Lee's birthday is April 28, so why not choose that numeric ;o)

Have a Fabulous Friday!