This month for my May Blog, I wanted to share the essay I submitted this winter for the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution  annual DAR Women’s Issues contest. We were to write our essay in one of four categories: Career, Family, Mental Health, or Physical Health. I submitted my essay in the Careers category and I  recently learned that my entry won 1^st Place in Tennessee and 3^rd Place in the Southeastern Divisional level. This lovely certificate, below, was given to our chapter regent this month at the State Conference in Nashville. I was unable to attend, since I was traveling in South Carolina on Book Tour, but I am pleased for the first place award for our chapter and for the third place recognition at the divisional level for the Tennessee State Society as well.

I give the main credit for this nice honor to our Chapter Regent Brenda Wyatt who kept pushing me to take time to enter. I started to write the words “badgered me to enter” in humor. I was so busy with work at that time, in edits for one book and working on writing another, that it seemed hard to imagine I could find the time for anything else. But I stopped to plan and write the essay, with Brenda’s urging, on a careers subject dear to me – that it is never too late to follow the dreams in your heart. I titled it: “BE ALL YOU CAN BE, NO MATTER YOUR AGE.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the DAR, it is a lineage-based service organization for women who can prove descent from a patriot of the American Revolution. More than one million women have joined the DAR since it was formed over 125 years ago and today there are about 185,000 members nationwide in 3,000 chapters in all fifty states of the U.S. – most chapters named for patriots.

I belong to a Knoxville, TN, Chapter called Andrew Bogle DAR and I have been in the DAR since college years before marriage. I have carried a lot of offices and roles over the years with DAR and I am currently our chapter’s Chaplain. Ours is a large, friendly, active group, and If you are interested in DAR and would like to learn more about joining our Andrew Bogle Chapter, please feel free to contact our Chapter Regent, Brenda Wyatt, at her email at: wyattb6673@gmail.com …

As an additional treat this month, I also received a Recognition Certificate of Award for “FIFTY YEARS OF SERVICE TO DAR.”  Below is the brief DAR essay that I hope you will enjoy reading … and I also hope, like the title, that it will encourage you to be all you can be and to follow your dreams, no matter your age!

Essay Title: Be All You Can Be, No Matter Your Age

By Dr. Lin Stepp

One of my favorite quotes, posted near my computer is: “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” I first read these words, in a book by Shad Helmstetter, when trying to rally the courage to step out and pursue a new career goal at what many would term “mid-life” or “over-the-hill.”

Despite all the progress women have gained, in attaining equal rights to reach for higher achievement at any age, women are still marginalized and limited in reaching for their dreams by many factors—the culture, the expectations of others, gender and ageism stereotypes, and a deep, innate desire to please others that often holds women back from boldly pursuing their goals. Women, in particular, seem to want someone to give them permission to step out courageously to strive for new goals, and yet it is rare that the encouragement they yearn for will come.

This is particularly true for woman at middle age or older, who are even more settled in their lives, and more fearful, of all that might be involved in pursuing a big life change. They say, all too often: “I’m too old “… “It’s too late … and “What will people think?” For many women, often with home responsibilities, another ongoing job or career, and a wealth of social activities and involvements in club and civic organizations, they often sluff off the very idea of pursuing any new dream, goal, or career, seeing themselves as simply too busy.

I speak for many groups and organizations, and I have encouraged the women and men in them, and the many college students I have taught as a professor, that it is never too late for them to pursue the dreams of their heart, no matter their age, the environment they grew up in, or if anyone is encouraging them or cheering them on. Ultimately, the courage to pursue any dream must come from within, and particularly in middle and older age, each of us will either step forward into growth every day or step back into safety and the comfortable, familiar habits and life patterns we are used to.

I met all these obstacles and challenges at mid-life when I started back to college to get my doctorate degree. My children were still at home in middle and high school. In the early 1990s then, our family had been through some difficult financial hardships, too, with a business shutting down my husband worked in. I was working in educational sales, traveling a lot, and the timing to “feel led” to go back to college, even on the side, seemed impractical to most.

Additionally, taking any debt to attend school, with my own children’s college years not far ahead, wasn’t an option, so I picked up a second job to pay for my college expenses. On a somewhat humorous note, the doctoral program I was entering, in Educational Leadership at the University of Tennessee (UT), would have been an impossibility for me at all as a young girl. Women were not allowed to even apply for that doctorate program then. When I started my studies, those old stigmas still circled among faculty in the college. One of the best encouragements I received in those years came from an unexpected source, from a UPS delivery man who said wisely: “Give it all you’ve got. It can never hurt to better yourself.”

Those years were challenging, attending college classes around home, work, and family responsibilities, but I thrived on the new learning I was gaining and found it rewarding and meaningful. I made the Dean’s List in my grades and was awarded the Ralph F. Quarles Scholarship in 1995 for leadership potential and academic performance. The funding helped me let my outside job go to focus more on my studies, and the next year I also attained an appointment as a Graduate Assistant at the College of Education, which I carried until I graduated. My graduation day was particularly sweet as I graduated with my doctorate, with honors, on the same day my son graduated with honors in his undergraduate program.

After graduation, I began teaching college courses at Tusculum College where I continued working and teaching for twenty years. I taught a wide variety of Psychology and Research courses in the college’s Adult Studies program, where I worked with young and older adults, most returning to school to get their education while working and raising families. It was a joy to learn, along with my students, and to encourage them in their lives as individuals. I still keep up with many of my old students and those years were filled with rich meaning.

In the early 2000s, with our children finally grown and gone from home, my husband J.L. and I began to hike in the Smoky Mountains. We’d bought a variety of hiking guidebooks, but found them geared more to hardy, Sierra-club types than to us. They often labeled hikes easy that we considered hard as middle-aged hikers, only hiking on the weekend. Many gave poor directions and didn’t describe the trails as accurately as we’d like either. I had been journaling many of our trail hikes and J.L. had been taking photos, so we decided to write our own hiking guide. We began working on it with joy and zeal around our full-time jobs.

I was teaching then and also working part-time as the Educational Coordinator for Huntington Learning Center, traveling to visit schools in four counties. Many of our friends, of similar ages, were retiring, but we were moving into new ventures. In truth, most people didn’t have any confidence that we could write a book or ever get it published. Their comments were polite and somewhat condescending. Frankly, it was the type of encouragement I was used to, and I had learned well from experience in past, as C. S. Lewis wrote, that: “You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.”

As an avid reader, while we traveled around to hike trails in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina for our book, I began to yearn to read novels set there, too. I stopped into bookshops and stores on our travels, looking for the kind of book I wanted to read, but couldn’t find any.  Most were set in the past about early settlers, moonshine recipes, or mushrooms. I often asked: “Don’t you have any contemporary novels set in the mountains with a little romance, suspense, and a rich, good story?” One of the store managers one day said, “Ma’am I, wish I did. People ask for them all the time. You’d think with the Smoky Mountains the most visited park in America that someone would write some.”

I suppose that seeded the idea, and one day driving back from speaking at a school in Vonore, Tennessee, the idea for a series of novels—just like I wanted to read—rolled into my thoughts. Long years ago, as a young girl, my dream had been to write books, so I thought: “Why not now?” I went home and began plotting out a series of novels I called The Smoky Mountain series, contemporary romances, with a dash of suspense, and a touch of inspiration, each one set in a new location around the Smoky Mountains.

The next challenge was finding time to write these books around my two jobs, teaching at Tusculum and marketing for Huntington. Determined, I sat down and plotted out a schedule for my writing. For years I’d taught my students that most people live far below their potential, that nothing is too high to reach for and work for, so now I had to practice what I’d taught to reach for the new career dream that called to me. In 2007, when my daughter was home for a Christmas holiday, she said, “Mother, you need to find a publisher for these books. They’re wonderful; you need to share them with others besides us.” I had three written at that point and was working on a fourth.

I faced a new learning curve in figuring out how to seek publication for a book. However, in 2008 I signed contract with a big regional publisher in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to publish my books. To say that everyone who knew me was stunned would be an understatement. Next, I faced the huge, daunting new task of marketing and traveling to sign and speak about my books, while continuing to write more books and also work. After the publication of five novels and our hiking guide, I had to pursue a new publisher, as well, due to changes with my current one. I was blessed to sign with Kensington Publishing for my next titles, one of New York’s huge, national publishers. My books had been selling well before, but now I began to experience the blessings of hitting the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon Bestseller lists, and my titles began to publish internationally as well as in the United States.

In quick update, I now have twenty-seven published book titles, with two more scheduled to release this year. I retired from my work with Huntington along the way and from teaching at Tusculum a little later. I am now a full-time career author. I keep up a huge writing and signing schedule, traveling to about fifty events a year and writing two novels a year. Additionally, my husband and I have continued to travel and create more guidebooks, after our hiking guide was such a success. We now have three published state parks guidebooks for Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina, and hope to begin another soon. J.L. and I also published a jointly written 365-day devotional guide.

I thank God every day for enabling me to have enjoyed a whole new career in my middle years. It truly is never too late to be what you might have been in this life, if you will believe in yourself and your dreams and work hard to see them come to pass. One of my greatest joys now is in encouraging other men and women to pursue their dreams, and to overcome all the roadblocks and challenges along the way, to see their dreams become a reality, too.

…Look for my May Newsletter, too, at: https://linstepp.com/media-2/

Note: All photos my own, from royalty free sites, or used only as a part of my author repurposed storyboards shown only for educational and illustrative purposes, acc to the Fair Use Copyright law, Section 107 of the Copyright Act.

Living near the Great Smoky Mountains, I look forward to the wildflowers blooming every year. When J.L. and I were working on our hiking guidebook, we were on the trails often through all seasons, always seeing new flowers along the way.  But April was always the prettiest month of the year for enjoying the wildflowers. It’s also in April when the wildflower pilgrimages and wildflower walks around the mountain areas are held. There are more than 1,500 kinds of flowering plants in the Smokies, more than in any other national park, so there are always many varieties and types of wildflowers to discover.

On our hikes and walks in the mountains, we have taken many photos of wildflowers, like the photo of us at the beginning of this post with several varieties of trillium, an early Smokies wildflower. However photographer fans and friends of ours, that we’ve met on the “writer’s road,” take far more spectacular and beautiful photos than we do, so I’ve spotlighted some of their work in this blog post. Raven Pat Smith’s photos above show a glorious white trillium, an early purple violet and wild bluebells.

Other early wildflowers in the mountains include white rue anemone, bloodroot, and pink spring beauty as in Pam Mullinix’s photos. Pam’s other shots are of flowering quince and dwarf blue larkspur.

Daffodils, brought to the Smoky Mountains by the settlers, are common in early spring, especially in areas like Cades Cove where many settlers once lived. Dogwood trees were also planted by early settlers and later spread, as did other non-native flowering trees and shrubs. We often discover daffodils, flowering shrubs, and non-native plants around the crumbling walls, foundations, and chimneys of old homesteads—the flowers living on long after the people and farms are gone. Marie Burchett Merritt’s photos on the right show dogwoods in bloom, yellow trillium, and wild dwarf iris—that I always love spotting on the trail.

.L. and I have many favorite “Wildflower Trails” we love to return to every April, knowing we will find a wide variety of wildflowers there. One of these is the Chestnut Top Trail near the Townsend Wye where forty species of wildflowers can be found on the first mile alone.

Another trail we love is the Porters Creek Trail in the Greenbrier area where we have seen trillium, blue and yellow violets, and trout lily like in Jim Bennett’s photo. Along the roadsides and in other park areas you will find purple ironweed and orange butterfly weed, also in Jim’s photos, which the bees and butterflies love. We were delighted to spot our first pink ladies slippers on a quiet side pathway off the Porters Creek Trail, too. Another treat in the spring further up the Porters Creek are the white fringed phacelia which spread across the ground like a delightful carpet along both sides of the trailside.

After you explore the mountains trails for many years, you learn where certain flowers can be found most readily … like flame azalea in late April and May on Gregory Bald, mountain laurel on the Smokemont Loop and Chestnut Top Trail in early summer, and later rosebay rhododendron on the Alum Cave and Finley Cane trails. Vibrant pink Catawba rhododendron, like in Kristina Plaas’s photo, grow in the higher elevations like on Andrews Bald or near the Chimney Tops Trailhead. Many wildflowers we simply run into along a trail … stopping to delight in our “finds.” Special wildflowers, always a treat to discover, are white dutchman’s britches, yellow lady’s slippers, and red Indian paintbrush, also in Kristina Plaas’s photo above.

We tried to mention in our hiking guide The Afternoon Hiker trails especially known for wildflowers but flowers in the mountains often show up in unexpected places, and there are flowers of different types to see from early spring into the late fall. But April is still the best time to see the most wildflower varieties in the mountains. If you ever come to the Smokies in April the show of wildflowers will delight you and give you lovely memories to carry home. But remember that anytime you explore the woods, parks, and fields near your own hometown in the warmer seasons that you will find wildflowers, too. This month, I hope you will head outdoors—and get out of your car and walk up a trail—to enjoy the beauty you will find at every turn.

Life is full of adventure and surprises – if you will step out to enjoy them!

I have a new Mountain Home Book coming out March 16^th titled SHOP ON THE CORNER. I enjoy writing all my books, set around the mountains and at the coast … but this book was especially fun for me to write. I got really attached to all the characters in the story and had so much fun creating their adventures. I also loved revisiting, on several trips, the Waynesville, North Carolina, area to work on this book, walking the downtown streets, stopping in all the charming stores, eating in the cute local restaurants. Each visit reminded me again how much I like this picturesque and engaging North Carolina town.

I first visited Waynesville to attend a book signing at a small bookstore downtown called Osondu Books. It had charming green awnings and was very appealing inside and out. It belonged to Margaret Osondu. We became friends at my visit and I returned every time I had a new book to do signings with Margaret. …Later, when Osondu closed I began to sign at a new store in Waynesville called Blue Ridge Books. I soon came to know the owners of that store well, too, Jo Gilley and Allison Lee… and now Blue Ridge is the store I go to for my Waynesville book signings. I will be there March 22^nd to sign again from 2:00-4:00 pm … and the next day at the Cotton Tail Market at the Smoky Mountain Event Center for a lighthearted Easter show with a great cast of vendors from around the area. … It’s always a pleasure any time to go to Waynesville.

You’ll get to visit Waynesville, North Carolina, in this story, too. The book begins, at first, in another small town, Amory, Mississippi. One of my close cousins lived there when I was a girl and I made many summer visits to Amory, walking and biking the downtown streets with her. It was fun to revisit Amory in my mind, and the town was a perfect beginning point for my main character, Laura O’Dell, who owns and runs her father’s upholstery store called Shop On the Corner. Unfortunately, a highway is being widened beside Laura’s shop and her store and others are scheduled to be taken by imminent domain. Additionally, to bring more problems Laura’s way, her sister Georgina and boyfriend Chase came to visit at Christmas and have stayed on and on freeloading on her hospitality, contributing nothing to expenses, and continually borrowing money they never pay back. Nothing seems to be going right and Laura soon gets a little push to consider a move and a big life change.

As you may guess, that change takes her to Waynesville, North Carolina, to an empty shop for sale right on a corner near Waynesville’s main street. It’s a big move for Laura, who has never been to Waynesville before, but she soon finds the change to be a good one. This is due in part to meeting Mitchell Quinlan who owns Quinlan Staffing Services across the street from Laura’s shop. There is definitely a little sizzle of attraction when they first meet. However, both have a host of life problems and responsibilities going on … and they soon get drawn into other problems and issues around the town of Waynesville … as you will, too!

A special pleasure in working on this book was creating two very unique businesses, Laura’s upholstery shop and Mitchell’s family staffing business. I did a lot of research for both businesses to make them as accurate as possible. Years ago, I actually did a short-term temp job in a staffing services office here in Knoxville, TN, and in a past sales job, I often visited with a favorite sales client, Bob Cable, at his upholstery store, Ledford’s Upholstery, in downtown Elizabethton, TN. I so enjoy creating businesses like these. One of the pleasures of being an author to me is “trying” out a host of occupations and careers through my book characters!

You’ll see the pictures here of how I imagined that my four main story characters might look…. Laura O’Dell and her sister Georgina, Mitchell Quinlan and his mother Evelyn, an area artist and art instructor. Each of these individuals had distinct personalities and you’ll come to know each well in the book, along with a wide host of enjoyable side characters I truly loved spending time with in my mind. These include friends and work associates, Mitchell’s niece and nephew, Mackenzie and Charlie, and Mitchell’s other relatives—especially his grandmothers, Nannie V and Mimi—and all the wonderful Barlow family. You’re in for a treat with this rich southern story, along with the extra addition of a running local mystery to follow.

Those of you who read my books know that I set all my stories in “real” places and try to use as many real streets, shops, restaurants, and tourist sites around the area as I can so readers will feel like they have actually visited in the settings of my books. Besides getting to know Waynesville … you’ll also enjoy sitting on Main Street with my main characters to watch the annual Folkmoot International Festival Parade wind its colorful way down the street. I’ve been in Waynesville to enjoy this parade in July … and it is stunning to see.

A short distance from Waynesville, too, is the beautiful Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center, a lovely place set around a picturesque lake with a walking trail all around it. You’ll get to take a nice walk on that trail with Mitchell, Laura, the kids, and the family dog Zoey at one point. I’ve stayed at Junaluska in past and also signed books at the retreat center’s bookstore. Junaluska is especially beautiful when the 200 roses bloom on the lakeside Rose Walk.

Waynesville is also near many well-known tourist attractions. One is the Biltmore House, Gardens, and Estate. Biltmore is the historic home and property built by George Vanderbilt, still owned by his descendants and covering over 8,000 acres. It is a major tourist attraction and draws over a million visitors a year to tour the historic home and the beautifully landscaped grounds and gardens. At one point in the book, you’ll get to visit Biltmore with Mitchell and Laura … and learn more about it.

Additionally, you’ll get to take a hike in the Cataloochee area of the Smoky Mountains with Mitchell and Laura. … A fan once told me that one of her favorite things about my books was that I always put a hike in every book. I went back to check and it’s basically true. I like to show readers what a pleasure a “walk” or hike in the mountains can be. In this book you’ll get to hike and learn more about the Little Cataloochee Trail and the Cataloochee Valley, once the home of many settlers. Cataloochee is as beautiful as Cades Cove—but less crowded.

Through books, readers get the joy of living many lives and visiting a multitude of new places. I hope you’ll enjoy meeting the rich array of characters I’ve created for SHOP ON THE CORNER and that you’ll love visiting this colorful small town. As the back of the book reads: “Sometimes life’s unexpected hardships force you to consider drastic changes you’d never have dreamed of but lead in time to some sweet and unexpected joys.”

To read about my other new book LIGHT IN THE DARK, also publishing in March, read on below to find my February blog about it …And click “FOLLOW” to always get a little email reminder when a new blog goes up each month. … See my March newsletter, too, with our Book Tour Agenda for the coming months at: https://linstepp.com/media-2/.

Happy Spring. I hope your year will be a blessed one.

Note: All photos my own, from royalty free sites, or used only as a part of my author repurposed storyboards shown only for educational and illustrative purposes, acc to the Fair Use Copyright law, Section 107 of the Copyright Act.

 

On March 16^th I have a new book coming out in the Lighthouse Sisters series. This third title in the series is called LIGHT IN THE DARK. It follows Celeste’s story, who grew up at her family’s inn by the Deveaux Lighthouse on the South Carolina coast. As the back of the book reads in brief:  “In this third novel in the beloved Lighthouse Sisters series, Celeste Deveaux struggles to find her way back to joy, love, and meaning after a painful relationship almost shatters her life.” I hope you’ll enjoy Celeste’s journey in this new novel with a little romance, a touch of suspense, and rich scenes on the coast at Edisto and in downtown Charleston.

For me, most all of my book story ideas come from thoughts or mental pictures that slip into my mind while visiting the places I write about.  My home and heart live here in the mountains of Tennessee, but our favorite vacation spot is Edisto Beach, that we first visited when our children were small in the 1980s. Edisto is a quieter and less commercially developed place than busier beaches like Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head nearby. We loved this aspect of the island, enjoying the easy beach access, the peace and calm of this laid-back coastal community.

One summer at the end of the 1990s, when J.L. and I were vacationing at Edisto, we visited Hunting Island State Park and the big lighthouse there. The idea began to play around in my mind, wondering what it might have been like for four sisters to grow up on a windswept island beside a lighthouse. I soon began to envision these sisters, each different and distinct, raised in the family’s big bed-and-breakfast for tourists that had once been the lighthouse keeper’s home. Ideas began to drift in more and more and I was soon excited about this new book idea.

Once I get an overall concept and loose plan for a book, I begin to visualize the main characters for the books. For this four-book series, each book focuses on one of the four sisters. The first book LIGHT THE WAY introduced fictitious Watch Island on Edisto’s north end, plus the Deveaux Inn, Lighthouse, and the Deveaux family. The head of the family, Lloyd Deveaux has died unexpectedly, bringing sorrow and more work load to his wife Etta and to her daughter Burke. The oldest sister, Burke, has always loved the life at the island and never left as her sisters have. LIGHT THE WAY Is Burke’s story … and it becomes Waylon Jenkins’ story, too, when he retires from the Navy to come back to his family home on Edisto. Waylon and Burke grew up together, and it is sweet how they reconnect in this story. Lila, the youngest sister, has recently returned home, too, and before the book ends, the other two sisters also return, each running from personal problems. Gwen returns home with her three children, hurt over a betrayal with her husband. Not long after that, Burke and Gwen go to Nashville to bring home Celeste, and it is Celeste’s story you will read in LIGHT IN THE DARK.

Even though I have always visited the places where I set my books, I return to those settings again to explore as I begin to work on a new book set there. I pick up brochures, take photos, talk to people, learn historic facts, and gather story ideas. As I am researching and creating the settings for a book, I also develop and flesh out all the secondary and side characters. The sisters’ parents, Lloyd and Etta Deveaux, had to come to life, as did a diversity of neighbors and friends.  Additionally, I spent months developing the Deveaux Inn, lighthouse, gift shop, and the entire 500-acre lighthouse station.  I had to find out how a lighthouse works and to design the interior and operations of the inn and lighthouse. I also spent time learning about and creating the cottages, outbuildings, harbors, marina, and creeks around the island, and developing the employees who would help the Deveaux family run the inn.  I studied extensively, too, to gain more knowledge about the South Carolina coast, the tides, ocean, climate, about the island, the lighthouse’s history, Edisto’s marshes, creeks, birds and animals, seashells, and a million other small things that might play into the stories.

To make each story more unique, I varied the setting focus of each book. LIGHT THE WAY focuses its story and setting on the lighthouse island at Edisto. LIGHTEN MY HEART branches out to take readers to scenes around Beaufort and Port Royal. This third book, LIGHT IN THE DARK, centers much of its story in downtown Charleston. I researched and learned about the city’s history, studied maps and articles, and my husband J.L. and I explored all over the downtown streets where scenes in the book would take place. We discovered so many spots we’d never visited before on these explorations, finding quiet gardens tucked away between gracious historic buildings, sleepy cemeteries, little museums, and cute restaurants and shops. I spent extensive time around King Street where many scenes in my story take place, bringing me wonderful ideas to help enrich Celeste’s story.

Our graphics artist daughter, Katherine, worked with me to create the linked, and glorious, book covers for these new books. For series books, I partially plan all the books before writing even the first. Yet each story evolves more richly, and in much more detail, as the story is written later. I think you’ll truly enjoy Celeste’s story, as she works her way past a harsh time of life into many new beginnings and into new happiness after a dark time. LIGHT IN THE DARK is a perfect title for her story.

As an author, I always create an “Inspiration Collage Board” for my books … and here you can see my board for the Lighthouse Sisters books. The four books have a rich array of characters you will meet along the way.  All their lives have problems and challenges… and they often little mysteries to unravel.  In LIGHT THE WAY, a series of murders are going on around the coastal area that Burke and Waylon get swept into. In LIGHTEN MY HEART Alex’s family’s restaurant gets troubled, as do other Beaufort businesses, by a counterfeiter. And in LIGHT THE WAY, Celeste and Reid work their way through their own set of problems you will soon read about and get caught up in.

I hope you’ll curl up in a comfy chair in your house, or out on the porch in a favorite rocker, and settle in to enjoy this new Lighthouse Sisters book.

Looking ahead, I’ve recently finished the fourth and last book in this series, Lila’s story, THE LIGHT CONTINUES, which has already begun the various editing and production stages a book goes through for about a year before it finds its way into reader hands. You’ll be hearing more about this title next year … and I am sure there will be more coastal books to come for you to enjoy—along with more titles set around the mountains. … Next month in my blog, I’ll talk to you about my upcoming Mountain Home book, publishing in mid-March, too, called SHOP ON THE CORNER and set in the charm of Waynesville, North Carolina.

See you then … Happy Valentine’s Day … and don’t forget to read my February Newsletter, too  ….All best, … Lin

Note: All photos my own, from royalty free sites, or used only as a part of my author repurposed storyboards shown only for educational and illustrative purposes, acc to the Fair Use Copyright law, Section 107 of the Copyright Act.

READ MORE IN 2024

“To read is to fly.” – A. C. Grayling

Here at the new year, many people are crafting their New Year’s Resolutions. “Read More” is a popular resolution and for good reason! It’s no secret that reading is good for you. Here are some reasons by an assortment of experts, philosophers, educators, and authors about the benefits of reading to make the resolution to “Read More in 2024 ” get on your New Year’s list.

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” [Dr. Seuss, bestselling author]

“One of the most obvious benefits of regular reading is learning. In a world where our attention spans are declining … books go much more in-depth about a particular subject.” [ Leon Macfayden, author and psychologist]

“All I have learned, I have learned from books.” [Abraham Lincoln]

“Reading transports us to worlds we would never see, introduces us to people we would never meet, and instills emotions we might never otherwise feel. It also provides an array of health benefits. Not only does regular reading help make you smarter, but it can also actually increase your brainpower. Just like going for a jog exercises your cardiovascular system, reading regularly improves memory function by giving your brain a good workout.” [Abigail Fagan, PhD]

“If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books.” –[Roald Dahl, bestselling author]

“The average person reads 1.5 books per year while the average top CEO reads over 50 books per year. They don’t do this to brag on social media … They do this so they can maintain a competitive edge. To keep their minds sharp. To stay on top of their field, find new ideas that can improve their lifestyles and their business….Reading is the most common activity performed by some of the most successful people of our time. “ –[Ivaylo Durmonski , Life Advice article]

“The world belongs to those who read.” [Rick Holland]

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” [ Joseph Addison, 17^th Century English writer]

“With the modern barrage of media and instant technological information, our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Reading a book, unlike skimming a web page, forces you to focus. To get the most out of a story, you must fixate on the plot and complete the book. In doing this, your brain forms deep connections and practices concentration….Your brain goes beyond the words on the page, imagining details such as appearances, emotions, and surroundings.”  – -[Ariel Abke, Pearson]

“If most of your daily reading consists of social media posts, text messages, and news headlines, you’re missing out….Reading stimulates a complex network of circuits and signals in the brain and provides access to in-depth knowledge…Being able to concentrate and focus for long periods is essential to our success and wellbeing … Our brains have a ‘use it or use it’ policy, just like our muscles. In other words, if we don’t exercise our minds regularly, our cognitive abilities may decline.” – [Thomas J. Law, Oberlo article]

“A growing body of research indicates that reading literally changes your mind and brain…People who’ve engaged in mentally stimulating activities all their lives were less likely to develop the plaques, lesions, and tau-protein tangles found in the brains of people with dementia and alzheimer’s….What should you be reading? The short answer is: Whatever you can get your hands on.” [Erica Roth, Healthline article]

“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.” [Jim Rohn]

“You are everything that you consume … And if you choose poorly, you will think poorly.… Television is a medium that inspires a kind of mindless passivity in the viewer, making them particularly suggestible to whatever information or entertainment they were being exposed to, and therefore, easily herded into accepting predominant views … Unlike reading a book, watching television takes an unbelievably little amount of effort. There’s a reason television is widely recognized as the lazy man’s preferred mode of entertainment. … The content is not designed to delight and inform as much as it is to keep you placidly watching. It’s no wonder that the research on outcomes of television consumption tend to be abysmal. People who watch craploads of TV are generally unhappier, unheathier, more paranoid about the world … and are more likely to have behavioral and social problems.” [Mark Manson, New York Times bestselling author]

“Reading makes the mind grow.” – [Kacey Riel]

“Reading creates new memories. With each of these new memories, your brain forms new connections between neurons called synapses and strengthens existing ones. As you read you are memorizing and recalling words, ideas, names, relationships, and plots. You’re essentially training your brain to retain new information. Reading makes you smarter, it’s that simple.” –[Joe Rogan, JRE Library]

“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” [President Harry Truman]

“Reading is the best way to relax and even six minutes can be enough to reduce stress levels by more than two thirds, according to new research. …It really doesn’t matter what book your read, by losing yourself in a thoroughly engrossing book you can escape from the worries and stresses of the everyday world and spend a while exploring the domain of the author’s imagination.” [David Lewis, The Telegraph]

“Reading also comes with health perks: Research suggests that devouring books helps keep the mind shaper for longer, while lowering heart rate and feelings of psychological distress. Plus reading before bed can improve sleep quality.”  – [Angela Hunt, Time Magazine]

“Research suggests that reading literary fiction helps people develop empathy and critical-thinking skills. Becoming immersed in a book allows us to enter the perspective of characters—not just their thinking but their feelings …Reading is one of the best inventions that humans gave to humanity and yet people completely take it for granted.” – [Maryanne Wolf, author]

“Reading helps us gain insight into our own lives and the lives of others.” [Diana Raab, PhD, Psychology Today]

“Reading fiction can help us gain phenomenal, empathic, modal, and moral knowledge which helps us in our practical life.” [Zanab Arif, Benefits of Reading Novels]

“As you identify with another person, a protagonist in the story, you enter into a piece of life that you wouldn’t otherwise have known. You have emotions or circumstances that you wouldn’t have otherwise understood.” –[Keith Otley, University psychologist]

“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest people of the past centuries.” [Descartes]

“Reading is an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.”  [Madeleine Blackman]

“Reading a variety of topics can make you a more knowledgeable person, in turn improving your conversation skills… By reading books about protagonists who have overcome challenges, we are oftentimes encouraged to do the same. The right book can motivate you to never give up and stay positive, regardless of whether it’s a romance novel or a self-help book.”  -[MPL Karen, Markham Public Library]

“Reading is one of the best ways to foster imagination…. Reading is a key part of enhancing imaginative thinking which can lead to innovation and understanding.” [Alexandra Akinchina, World Literacy Foundation]

“The seeds of dreams are often found in books.” [Dolly Parton]

“Reading is a form of training for living. Books teach us how to think, how to relate to people, what to do, who we are and who we should be. For the most part, they teach us how to live … We all need guidance and books have a unique knack for providing it. Books enable us to garner more experience and knowledge than it would be possible to accumulate in a lifetime. We can learn from the mistakes and successes of others, applying their wisdom to our lives.” [Rosie Leizrowice, Huffpost article]

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.” –[W. Somerset Maugham, author]

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” [Steven King]

“To me there are few things as pleasurable in life as reading a new book and loving it …A good author can make a reader feel like they’re talking to an old friend….Good stories have themes that can be applied to an array of real life situations that teach us valuable lessons on morality and what it means to be a good person…reading may be the best way to grow as a human.” [ Peter Lord, author]

“Once you have read a book you care about, some part of it is always with you.” [Louis L’Amour]

“When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain off further happiness.” [Jules Renard]

“Life is defined by the decisions we make and I’ve come to view life as a series of adjustments. As we increase in age and wisdom, we begin to recognize opportunities in our life to grow and improve. Any decision to embrace that opportunity could best be labeled as a resolution. I’ve just never understood why we’d wait until January 1^st to make the change. … Every time I read a new book, I am stretched as a person … That’s why I’ve taken this occasion of a new year to purposely resolve to read more books.” –[Joshua Becker. Becoming Minimalist e/1 M readers a month]

I hope you will decide to make “Reading More Books” one of your New Year’s Resolutions, too. … Have a wonderful New Year! ... Lin

Note: All photos my own, from royalty free sites, or used only as a part of my author repurposed storyboards shown only for educational and illustrative purposes, acc to the Fair Use Copyright law, Section 107 of the Copyright Act.

Happy December…

Since this is the holiday season, I thought I’d combine Christmas and New Year greetings into some warm thoughts everyone could enjoy. May your holiday season and your New Year to come be merry and bright.

M is for the Many joys of the holiday season.

E is for Every holiday card or gift you send.

R is for Remembering loved ones and Christmases past.

R is for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer we all love.

Y is for the Yearning for home and loved ones the season brings.

C is for Candy Canes and sweet holidays goodies.

H is for the Holiday wreaths hanging on our doors.

R if for the colorful Ribbons on our Christmas presents.

I is for the Icicles dangling from Christmas tree branches.

S is for Santa Claus we eagerly watch for on Christmas eve.

T is for the Christmas Trees we decorate in our homes.

M is for Mary who journeyed far while carrying Jesus.

A is for the Adoration in all the holiday carols we sing.

S is for the Savior of the World born on Christmas for us all.

And thinking ahead…

H is for the Hope we have for a happy new year to come.

A is for the Aims and goals we hope to achieve.

P is for the People we love and care for.

P is for every Prayer we offer for those in need.

Y is for Your Bible you should read every day to grow in God.

N is for the New Year’s Resolutions we make and hope to keep.

E is for Every Way we want to live and work better this year.

W is for not Wasting our days and accomplishing little.

Y is for Yielding our lives and hearts more to God.

E is for Each Life we can impact this coming year.

A is for Acting with good character and morals every day.

R is for Reading more to enrich our minds and lives.

Here at the holiday season, I wish you and yours blessings, joy, and love. May 2024 be one of your best years ever … lived well with joy, honoring God and following after His best will every day, growing ever wiser and better in the coming year..

See you in the New Year! … Lin

Note: All photos my own, from royalty free sites, or used only as a part of my author repurposed storyboards shown only for educational and illustrative purposes, acc to the Fair Use Copyright law, Section 107 of the Copyright Act.