by jphilo | Aug 11, 2022 | See Jane Dance!
See Jane Dance! is coming along. As in, I hope to finish the first draft in the next month to six weeks. So while you’re engrossed in See Jane Run! or eagerly waiting for See Jane Sing!’s release this fall, my head is all See Jane Dance! all the time. Since first drafts are hell, this is not my head’s favorite place to be. I’m escaping confinement briefly to let you in on a few details.
- See Jane Dance! is the third book in the West River Mystery Series.
- The publisher, Midwestern Books, originally hoped to release it in January of 2023. Because we now realize that was a bite too big for the writer and the publisher to chew, the release date has been pushed back to late fall of 2023 or early winter of 2024.
- The cover is amazing and will be disclosed sometime in 2023. There is a fiddle on the book’s cover, hence the picture of the fiddler for now.
- The reason for the fiddler is that square dance lessons are a main driver of the plot in Book #3.
- Part of the research for See Jane Dance! involved a long weekend at a square dance center and campground near Lolo Springs, Montana.* I interviewed the owner and the square dance caller about the progression of steps taught during beginner lessons. The interview was necessary because we remember very little about the 8 weeks of square dance lessons Hiram and I took 40 years ago when we lived in South Dakota.
- The one thing Hiram and I do remember is the song the teacher used each time we practiced a new step––There’s Something About You Baby I Like.** The song does appear in See Jane Dance!
- Readers will find nods to the old Vander Meer Bakery in Le Mars, Iowa, South Dakota’s frigid winters, and school Valentine’s Day parties.***
- Squeamish readers should be aware that this book includes more blood than previous books, including one human death, several dead cattle, and a taxidermy shop.
- As of this posting 36 of 50 chapters in the first draft are written.****
Enough avoiding returning to the rough draft. It’s back to See Jane Dance! for me.
*The campground is closed this summer due to a death in the family, and their website is no longer there.
**Those who click on the You Tube video can thank me later for the ear worm.
***For which elementary school teachers deserve sainthood.
****Not that I’m counting or anything, but this means that 14 chapters of hell remain.
by jphilo | Feb 11, 2016 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
- There’s nothing like a power outage to make a person appreciate electricity.
- Happiness is a phone call from a friend you haven’t talked to for a long time and feeling like you’ve never been apart.
- This Valentine’s Day, I’ll be thankful for the Man of Steel. We don’t have the overalls he wore when he proposed, though I still have my jumper. And we still have each other. Life doesn’t get much better than this.
What are you thankful for this week? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Feb 9, 2016 | Uncategorized
Valentine’s Day will soon be here. I have a stack of cards ready. One for the Man of Steel, others for our kids and grandkids, and one for Mom. Whether or not any cards arrive for me, the people in my life have already said “I love you” to me and others in the following wonderful ways.
10. My sister and her husband invited us to spend a week in Phoenix with them during the dead of winter.
9. My kids announced plans for a 60th birthday party for the Man of Steel next month without prompting from me.
8. God provided a way through a process I’ve been trying to navigate for a couple years.
7. My sweet, shy one-year-old granddaughter smiled when we played peek-a-boo.
6. My brother mentioned how much help it is when I pick up library books for Mom and take her to appointments.
5. During a weekend with our daughter-in-law, the meals she prepared were all dairy-free.
4. When I told Mom I loved her, she said, “I know.”
3. A friend sent a Valentine ecard.
2. The Man of Steel slept in the guest room for a week so I wouldn’t catch influenza from him.
1. When it was time for Papoo and Grammy Jo to go home at the end of our last visit, our three-year-old grandson cried and said, “I don’t want you to go.”
How has someone said “I love you” to you this week? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Feb 13, 2015 | Reflections on the Past
This week marks the beginning of a new Gravel Road feature called Fantastic Friday. Each Friday a fantastic blog post from the past will be given an encore airing. I hope you enjoy what you read as much as I enjoy thumbing through the archives and choosing them.
With Valentine’s Day almost here, this post about Mom’s Valentine wish (circa 2012) sprang to mind immediately. It truly is a favorite post because it shows the depth of Mom’s love for Dad, who died in 1997 after a 38 year battle with multiple sclerosis.
When Mom and I kept our standing lunch date last Tuesday, I mentioned that our next lunch would fall on Valentine’s Day. “That’s kind of fun, Mom. What would you like for Valentine’s Day?”
She thought for a few seconds. “Well, what I really want for Valentine’s Day I can’t have.” She fiddled with her coffee cup. “So I might as well not mention it.”
“Go ahead,” I encouraged her. “What do you really want?”
“What I really want is a few more years with your dad before his mind went…” She paused and moved her fingers in a circle at the side of her head. Her brow furrowed, and her blue eyes looked sad. “…you know, before he was…”
“I know,” I whispered.
“He wasn’t with me that way long enough,” Mom sighed.
I nodded, not knowing what to say. There are no words for Mom’s loss. Dad’s diagnosis of multiple sclerosis at age 29, less than 10 years after their marriage. The love of her life struck down by multiple sclerosis. The end of her dream of being the wife of a county extension agent and mother to an increasing brood of kids. The loss of the bread winner, the protector, and leader of the family she loved so much and taking on those roles for the next 38 years as Dad slowly failed and finally died at age 67.
Now, 15 years after his death, what does Mom want for Valentine’s Day?
Not chocolate.
Not flowers.
Not a card.
She wants a few more years with her husband as he once was.
I looked at her, across the table, and said, “We can’t know what life would have been like if he hadn’t gotten sick. But I do know the life you gave us was a good one. You raised us well.”
She nodded and smiled. “I did a pretty good job, didn’t I?”
“You did,” I agreed and helped her into her coat and out the door.
Hiram’s off tomorrow, so we’re going down together to see Mom. We’ll take her to lunch at Culver’s, one of her favorite places to eat. Mainly because she loves their frozen turtle custard.
Over dessert, we’ll tease her like Dad did. We’ll talk about his love of ice cream, his silly jokes, his infectious grin, the goofy songs he loved to sing, the cribbage rules he invented as he played.
Compared to what Mom has lost, lunch at Culvers doesn’t seem like much. But perhaps, sharing memories of Dad and indulging in the laughter and dessert he loved will bring him to her in some small way. Perhaps, over frozen custard, we can give Mom a memory of what she’s wanted for Valentine’s Day for years.
If you would like to see a certain post on Fantastic Friday, leave a comment in the box below, and I’ll try to find it. Happy Friday and Happy Valentine’s Day to all!
by jphilo | Feb 14, 2013 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
- A little light remained in the western sky last night at 6:40. The eastern horizon was brightening at 6:45 this morning. Lovely proof that daylight hours are increasing.
- Yesterday husband wrapped a cut on his finger with a Lincoln Band Aid. What a lovely way to honor our 16th president’s birthday month!
- When Valentine’s Day falls during Lent, do florists see an uptick and chocolatiers a down tick in sales? Which lovely gift would you rather receive on Valentine’s Day?
