Monday, October 31, 2016

A Different Kind of October 31 Movie




It’s October 31, so that must mean it’s time to steal some chocolate from the kids’ haul and put in a scary movie, right? What’s that? Gratuitous blood and brain matter are not your choice for a weekday evening? Well, then, let me suggest a movie celebrating that other October 31 holiday, Reformation Day.

Did you know Reformation Day is an actual civic holiday in some parts of the world? It commemorates the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Supposedly, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg church door on October 31. His choice of venue and timing make sense. Posting messages on the door was common during that era, and the following day (November 1) was a holy day of obligation when everyone would have gone to church. You know, it was kind of like putting a notice on Macy’s door on Black Friday.

Martin Luther wasn’t the first person to call for reforms in the church, only the most successful. For several centuries, clergymen such as Wycliffe, Hus and Erasmus had voiced concerns about perceived abuses. Church leaders burned Hus at the stake in for his troubles and exhumed Wycliffe’s body 40 years after his death so they could do likewise to his corpse. Challenging the church was dangerous business in 1517. But Luther had two things going for him: a new invention called the printing press (which let his words be widely published) and a sympathetic ruler (Frederick of Saxony) who protected him from the wrath of the established church.

The 2003 film Luther tells the story of the young monk who agonized over his sin until he read about God’s grace.


The movie follows the major events in Luther's life, although it glosses over some of his more controversial opinions. (Some of the film's funding came from the Lutherans.) However, whatever you think of Luther the man, there's no denying he started a movement that changed the trajectory of Western Civilization. Our notions of representative government and individual rights trace their foundations to the Reformation. Perhaps it's not coincidence that Americans will be going to the polls to elect their new president just one week after Reformation Day.

Luther has an all-star cast, period costumes, and a wonderful score. It's rated PG-13 for violence, so tuck the little ones into bed before you put it on the telly. Besides, you don't want them to see you taking their candy.



P.S. I couldn't fit this into the post, but I thought it was too cute to pass up. 




Friday, October 21, 2016

Travel Log: Monterey California

by Anita Mae Draper

It's hard to believe that yesterday I awoke in beautiful Monterey, California, and today I'm back on the prairies and haven't seen a sailboat, sea otter, or a flash of brilliant blue water all day. I was down in Monterey for the Books & Such Literary Management Retreat and this time, my husband, Nelson joined me on my wonderful working vacation based in the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa overlooking Monterey Bay, California.

View of Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa from kayak on kelp bed. Photo credit: Nelson Draper, Oct 2016

The view from our room was breathtaking and we spent many minutes taking photos of the plethora of boats, sunrises, and wildlife. Nelson was especially thrilled with the binoculars left in our room for our viewing pleasure. 

View from our room in the Monterey Plaza Hotel. Photo credit: Anita Mae Draper

The Monterey Plaza Hotel is on Cannery Row which used to be lined with canneries. Some of these canneries are still standing and contain shops and boutiques. Next door to the hotel is one of these old canneries. It appears in many of my photos where it is adorned with gulls, pigeons, and cormorants. This next photo shows the hotel and next-door cannery with the Coast Guard Pier in the background. This beach was below our window and we could hear the surf pounding against the beach and brick throughout the day and night.

Beach below the Monterey Plaza Hotel and next door cannery, Monterey, CA. Photo credit: Anita Mae Draper

From our window, we watched the incredible sun rise while gulls and cormorants greeted the day and seals "porpoised" in Monterey Bay. Here's a video showing seals and birds minutes before the sun appeared with its golden glow. My camera recorded it fine when the seals were slicing through the water, but went out of focus when they dived under water. I couldn't be annoyed however, when the sounds of gulls and barking sea lions carried on throughout this short video I've entitled, Monterey Bay Wildlife at Dawn.




And then the sun rose, washing the bay in light and exposing a thick layer of dew on every standing surface. 


Sunrise over Monterey Bay, California. Photo credit: Anita Mae Draper

While I was busy with the agency sessions on the first day, Nelson spent his time exploring the area around the Monterey Plaza Hotel which included the infamous Cannery Row. On the second day, I was in session when I received a text message from Nelson which said, "Out here in kayak." Gawk! I slipped out with my camera and this is what greeted me. My camera proved its worth as I zeroed in on Nelson in a red kayak way out there, in the centre of this pic.

Nelson Draper (middle of image) kayaking in Monterey Bay, Oct 2016. Photo credit: Anita Mae Draper


Here's a close up of one of the dozen or so I took of him through my Nikon P520 CoolPix camera...

Nelson Draper and friend, Monterey Bay, California, Oct 2016. Photo credit: Anita Mae Draper

Nelson said he'd often heard wings flapping and water splashing while he was out there, but whatever had made the noise was gone by the time he turned around. This photo was a fun surprise for him, however, as he hadn't realized anything was there until I showed him the evidence. 

He took some astounding photos from the kayak including the one at the top of this post showing the kelp and hotel, and this one of the wildlife taking advantage of the sunny rocks on Coast Guard Pier which forms part of the Monterey Harbour.


Coast Guard Pier, Monterey, California, Oct 2016. Photo credit: Nelson Draper

And after three full days in California, it was time to depart. I'll give you one last photo Nelson took while getting up close and personal with the wildlife while kayaking in the bay.

Goodbye from Monterey Bay, October 2016. Photo credit: Nelson Draper
I really enjoyed this second trip to Monterey, and a big part of that was that I was able to share the trip with Nelson and can now share the memory of it with him. Between the photos we took this year, and those I took of my 2014 Books & Such Monterey Retreat, we have many images of birds and animals which we'll be showing on Pinterest, Facebook, and our Draper's Acres blog in weeks to come. I hope you'll keep in touch as we share our journey.

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Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are woven under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details. Her Christian faith is reflected in her stories of forgiveness and redemption as her characters struggle to find their way to that place in their heart we call home. Anita loves to correspond with readers through her contact page, or any of the social media links found at www.anitamaedraper.com.
Readers can enrich their reading experience by checking out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories at www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper.



Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Books and Such Retreat, 2016

Anita Mae Draper is flying home from the Books and Such Literary Retreat in gorgeous Monterey, California. She will post pictures and share a report tomorrow, but in the meantime, here are a few photos of Monterey to whet your appetite!
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Fisherman's Wharf
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Yep. It really is this stunning.
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View of the Aquarium


Friday, October 14, 2016

Austen in Austin: Blogmates Watch a Dream Come True

by Dina Sleiman


Back in 2009, when I was first learning the writing industry and seriously seeking publication, God joined me with a group of ladies to help me along my quest. I was invited to join Inkwell Inspirations, a new writers blog comprised mostly of writers who had won writing contests (I had just won the Touched by Love contest) but were still unpublished. Over the next years, we would become not only blogmates, but also close friends, prayer partners, and in many ways a writing team. So it's not surprising that we decided to band together on a writing project, and Austen in Austin was born.
 
It was a labor of love, as the published ladies sought to help the unpublished ladies achieve that esteemed goal, although at this point each of the Inkies has several published works to their names. Several more years passed before the dream became a published reality, but I'm happy to share it with you today. 

As you can see, these eight fun Texas-set novellas are based on Jane Austen's novels. The Ladies of Inkwell Inspirations had such a great time working together inventing these stories with their overlapping settings and characters and their Austenian plot lines, and I just know that you'll enjoy them too! They're written by some great established names in Christian fiction like Lisa Richardson, Gina Welborn, and yours truly, as well as some Inky authors who you might not have read yet, but will soon become favorites. I highly recommend reading the stories in order for the full experience of the overlapping characters and settings. The ebooks are a great deal at only $3.99 each for a volume of four delightful stories!

Volume 1 includes:
If I Loved You Less by Gina Welborn, based on Emma
A prideful matchmaker examines her own heart when her protégé falls for the wrong suitor.

Romantic Refinements by Anita Mae Draper, based on Sense and Sensibility
A misguided academy graduate spends the summer falling in love . . . twice.

One Word from You by Susanne Dietze, based on Pride and Prejudice
A down-on-her-luck journalist finds the story of her dreams, but her prejudice may cost her true love . . . and her career.

Alarmingly Charming by Debra E. Marvin, based on Northanger Abbey
A timid gothic dime-novel enthusiast tries to solve the mystery of a haunted cemetery and, even more shocking, why two equally charming suitors compete for her attentions.


Volume 2 includes:
Simply Lila by Suzie Johnson, based on Lady Susan 
Yearning to find a real-life hero, a wallflower must learn to live outside the pages of an Austen novel. 

Fully Persuaded by Niki Turner, based on Persuasion 
A brokenhearted artist struggles with the shame of her family s bankruptcy and the return of her first love whose proposal she d spurned because he was poor. 

Mansford Ranch by Dina L. Sleiman, based on Mansfield Park 
An aspiring novelist with a keen eye for character must determine who is worthy of playing her own leading man. 

Sense and Nonsense by Lisa Karon Richardson, based on Sense and Sensibility 
A would-be missionary is determined to make it to Ceylon, but when her funds disappear, she has to accept help from the man she most wants to avoid. 


Here's what people are saying about Austen in Austin: 

"They had me at the title! What's not to love about a collection of novellas patterned after Jane Austen's classic novels and set in the historic capital city of Austin, Texas? The result is as delightful as the premise." ~ Mocha with Linda

"Austen in Austin is one of the most well executed novellas I’ve read...All of the novellas are interrelated, so where one author leaves off another picks up months or years later, with a new lead character and a familiar cast. I enjoyed the continuity as well as the familiarity which this team of authors developed. If I Loved You Less probably held the closest to Austen’s works. In contrast, Alarmingly Charming struck me as an improvement on the original (because truthfully, I did not enjoy reading Northanger Abbey). All in all, these stories are irresistibly sweet romances with subtle elements of faith." ~ Shelf-Esteem

And in case you're wondering, yes, you can purchase the novellas individually in ebook format, but at $2.99 each, it's a much better deal to buy a set of four for $3.99. 

        Be sure to check out these fun novellas and share them with your friends!

Monday, October 10, 2016

Living in history

By Niki Turner

I'll admit to a lifelong fascination with history. I spent entire weeks of my childhood pretending I was Laura Ingalls Wilder. Nellie Bly was the first biography that inspired me to pursue journalism. When I started homeschooling my children, that interest in history was revived (to the point that my plea to visit the wagon ruts that remain from the pioneers in southwestern Wyoming is now a family joke). 

So last month I became the owner/publisher of a 132-year-old newspaper and moved into a 104-year-old house. I'm now literally immersed in history, and I love it.

The house we leased was built in 1912. It was owned by the same family that built it for most of the last century, and I think only one owner (our current landlady, a fellow history lover) since then. I talked to the grand-niece of the original owner at a historical society meeting today. We're going to get together. Some things have been updated, of course, but much of the house is in original condition. 

The original home builder married a schoolteacher who became the town's first librarian. (The irony!!!) He was a store manager in the same building our newspaper office is in. It's entirely possible my walk to work is the same walk he took. Their daughter became a schoolteacher, and their son was a journalist, historian, and author. How cool is that? It's no wonder this house feels good to me, despite it's quirks (it's seriously tilted to one side, among other old house oddities). 

Anyway, I wanted to share some photos, as my Inky sisters asked for updates once we got moved in. There's a lot of work to do... (I dropped one of those cedar balls you put in drawers in the upstairs hall and it disappeared... literally). I'm not terribly superstitious, and if any of the home's former residents are visiting in spirit form, they don't seem upset by the profusion of books and antiques we've hauled in here. Later than afternoon I noticed a gap between the baseboard and the floor just wide enough for that cedar ball, and who knows what else, to disappear between the two floors. Who knows what else is trapped in there in no man's land. Sounds like fodder for a good mystery, doesn't it?

Anyway, I'm on multiple deadlines, so this has to be brief. I'm hoping my new role as editor-in-chief will settle down soon (this weekend we moved our offices across the hall... pictures of that to come), and I'll be able to get back to my fiction and blogging! Here are a few pics of the house (click for details)! 

...

(PS, yes, all that long hair I spent the last four years growing out has gone away again!)

Niki Turner is a novelist, journalist, blogger, and the owner and editor of the Rio Blanco Herald Times weekly newspaper, one of the oldest continuously operating newspapers in Colorado.She is a co-blogger at www.inkwellinspirations.com, and president of her local ACFW chapterNiki is a Colorado native who grew up in Glenwood Springs—home of the world’s largest hot springs pool. She married her high school sweetheart 26 years ago. They have four children, four grandchildren, and two West Highland White Terriers who are kind enough to take them for long walks.You can find all her new releases at www.nikiturner.net under BOOKS.

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We, the ladies of Inkwell Inspirations, would love to give free stuff to everybody. Since we can't, we will often have a giveaway in conjunction with a specific post. Unless otherwise stated, one winner will be drawn from comments left on that post between the date it was published and the end of the giveaway as determined in the post. Entries must be accompanied by a valid email address. This address is used only to contact the commenter in the event that he/she is the winner, and will not be sold, distributed, or used in any other fashion. The odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. NO PURCHASE, PLEDGE, OR DONATION NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN. ALL FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

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