Ann's Blog
Ann McCauley is a Pennsylvania women's literature author, who wrote the books Runaway Grandma and Mother Love, both available for sale at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
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December 2011
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12/07/11
Is it really Christmas again? I thought we just did that!
Filed under: General
Posted by: Ann @ 8:20 pm

I have so much to do that I hardly know what to do first. I’m sure many of you know exactly what I mean. But it looks like wriitng this blog will be my priority tonight. You see I’d finished it, edited it and then clicked spell check and the whole thing disappeared! Believe me, I’ll never click that spell check again!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving, nineteen of us around the table - lots of food, fun and laughter. Still three of our children were not with us due to distance and in-law committments. Three granddaughters, ages 9. 12 and 14 stayed overnight with us while their mother went Black Friday shopping and their dad set up deer camp. (As everyone in PA knows, deer season starts the Monday after Thanksgiving and all the schools are closed on Monday and Tuesday to give everyone who wants to hunt a chance to bag an elusive white tail.) After breakfast those amazing young girls decorated our entire house for Christmas, including the tree in record time…all before lunch! Maybe every detail is not exactly the way I would’ve done it but it looks festive and beautiful and it’s completed! We were so pleased we took them in town for lunch out rather than serving leftovoer turkey at home to reward them.

As mentioned in my blog before, I’ve worked this year getting both my books downloaded for e-book availability. Then a writer friend asked me If I was sure about my ownership rights on my first book; after seven years the ownership reverted back to me according to my contract. So, I emailed the publisher and discovered that I only owned the words to Mother Love, not the cover or the formatting! I could buy the cover for $500.00, but then I never really liked that cover anyway. So, no thanks! I quickly had to unpublish it from both sites. Now I am in the process of reformatting and finding a new cover. Who knew? Not me, that’s for sure. As I live, I learn. Runaway Grandma contiunes to sell but not as well as I’d hoped, a few copies every month and mostly e-books now.

Our nine year old granddaughter saved for months to buy a small Kindle and she’s so proud of it. She’s a reader. On Thanksgiivng night she asked me if she could read me a story…just a couple years ago I was still reading to her. She chose one of her favorite fairy tales and read so beautifully, even giving each character a special-effect voice, it was one of those moments that I’ll hold forever in my heart. The next day her oldest sister said, “Grandma, when I grow up, I’ll have a paperless house. I’ll have a smart phone, a computer and and e-reader, so I’ll have no need for paper.”  As she spoke both my desks were covered with lists, notes and reminders and looked terribly cluttered. And obviously, I use a computer! I don’t know if I’ll ever want an e-reader but I know I don’t at this time. I love to hold a real book when I read. And I love sitting in our family room, surrounded by our walls of bookshelves filled with books we’ve read and loved, it’s like being surrounded by trusted friends who brought joy to our lives when we read them. How could a person ever get that feeling form an e-reader?

I am excited to remind everyone that Women Writing on Family, an anthology edited by Suzann Holland and Carol Smallwood with a chapter by me, A Writers Thoughts on Marketing will be released on Jan. 10, 2012. It is anticipated to become a mainstay reference for academia as well as local libraries as a resource for women who want to write. Whether preserving family histories for future geneations or for possible publication, this volume could be a useful resource for anyone at any stage of their writing life. Author Eleanor Lerman, winner of the 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry, summed it up nicely in her review: “Family is what creates us, sustains us, bedevils us, confuses us, loves us, destroys us, and defines us. For writers - particularly women’s writers - family is also a rich vein of subject matter that can be both nourishing and overwhelming, often at the same time.This volume examines a wide variety of family - related issues from points of view that range from the pracitcal to the philosophical, but all focused on how they impact women.”

For a closer look, check out: http://theKeyPublish.com/index.php/Women-Writing-on-Family.html

Last week I read, A Cup of Christmas Cheer, edited by Thomas Smith, is a wonderful easy to read book. It’s a beautiful collection of short stories written by people from all walks of life and all ages; I’ve felt the true joy of the Christmas spirit ever since reading it. Another very good book is Clara and Mr.Tifany by Susan Vreeland.

 Now I have to take the dog for his last walk of the day… and it’s snowing. Yeah!

Till next time keep reading my friends and Merry Christmas to you and yours.

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