Friendship

So while I've been going through mysterious medical maladies, Uncle Barty and Bertrand have been spending more time with their friends.

Naturally my crocheted mice are worried about me, and their friends - being true friends - are giving them plenty of love, distraction, and support.

True friendship is a beautiful thing, isn't it? We bond in our similarities and respect each other's differences. The similarities remind us we aren't along, and the differences keep things fresh and interesting.

Last night a writerly friend reached out and asked if I needed anything. I said, "prayer and friendship."

She assured me of both, "into eternity."

Anyway, the mice recently sent me this photo. I think that just about sums up this post, don't you?

Happy Tuesday!

Calkins Day 2023: A Few Photos

The BryonySeries held its annual Calkins Day celebration on Feb. 13 at The Book Market in Crest Hill.

We even had the parade to prove it (and we will prove it, as soon as Rebekah uploads the video to the BryonySeries YouTube page).

 If you don't know what Calkins Day is, read this post and then read this post. And here are three good reasons why you should celebrate Calkins Day next year, too, read this post.

This year, we built our celebration around local authors and independent authors in order to help grow Ed's library of such authors and provide a little exposure for these authors.

You see, Ed is a real person and a ruthless dictator/Irish vampire in this book, this book, and this book in the BryonySeries, is also an author in the series. After he published his first novel, he joined WriteOn Joliet and was/is overjoyed to meet so many authors on the local level and buy and read their books.

So authors were invited to gift Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara with one of their books. In turn, they could take home any one of five books Ed either wrote or appeared in. 

Readers (anyone else who hadn't written a book) could talk Ed out of a book. One woman, who hadn't written a book yet, gifted Ed with her one large writing project: her dissertation. And it turned out Ed had some interest and knowledge on the topic and was thrilled to receive it.

Over the next few week, I will spotlight all authors who gifted their books to Ed in separate blogs, along with links to their books (if applicable) and on social media. So do watch for them. You just might find your new favorite book.

I am also working on a Calkins Day 2023 on the Bryony Facebook page. But the program kept freezing. At 10:30 last night, I gave up for the night.

But I am not getting up. I'm going to be "ruthless" about it.

When Ed Calkins distributes candy to the guests at The Book Market. When Ed held is parade in a warehouse in Joliet that distributed newspapers, he would have another worker pull his around on a pallet jack "float" while Ed tossed candy to the other workers.

Also pictured are WriteOn Joliet members Duanne Walton, Colleen Robbins, and Janet Staley, owner of The Book Market.

Helen Hicks, who is gradually branching into creative writing, gifted Ed with a copy of her dissertation.

After learning about Calkins Day from a Yorkville writers group, author C.D. White drove down from Kendall County with her husband to gift Ed with a copy of one of her children's books and take home a BryonySeries book.

As C.D. White chats with Ed, Janet Staley and Ed's wife Nancy Calkins chat in the background. It was Nancy's first trip to The Book Market and Ed was eager for her to see it and meet Janet.

Colleen and Janet take some time to catch up. Colleen is a founding member of WriteOn Joliet and author of quite a few books, which are for sale on Amazon.

Author Lindsay Lake publishes most of her books on Kindle only. And Ed has gifted friends and family with the one book she published in print (although I'm not find the print version online, but it does exist) because he loved it so much.

So Lindsay could only do one thing...

...gift Ed with a hard copy from one of her novels, complete with comments from one of her friends.

Sue Midlock found a fun "read" at The Book Market on Calkins Day: a parody cookbook called 50 Shades of Chicken.

Ed Calkins poses with author Dale Hansen, who gifted Ed with his devotional on living with Parkinson's. The photo where Ed turned the book around to see the cover is for another post about Dale and his books.

Nancy and Rebekah also spent some time catching up, since they had not seen each other since WriteOn Joliet's anthology release party in December.

Ed Calkins, who's first writing love is poetry, peruses a book by Chicago poet Alan Hines, who drove down from Chicago to gift TWO copies of his book (one to Ed, one to me), after learning about Calkins Day from a flyer at The Book Market.

Alan not only took home a free book, he actually bought a copy of this one.

I will share more about Alan Hines and his few dozen poetry books he's published on another post.

Timothy sets out the cheese and crackers he brought for the event while Daniel looks on. Rebekah made Irish soda bread and cookies. 

We also served some very special "Ed Calkins" cookies, which I will share on another post.

The captions are center aligned because Blogger is defaulting to that. Just so you know.

Duanne and Ed share a hug in honor of the day.

Ed and local author/photographer Mauverneen post for a photo. Ed already had a copy of Mauverneen's first book. So she just came out for the fun.

I also bought a nearly complete set of the books written and published by Tom Hernandez, WriteOn Joliet's co-leader, who is battling cancer. Janet rings up the sale and Rebekah waits to pay.

Author Diana Estell poses with Ed before she leaves. Diana gifted Ed with a copy of her book, too.

And then Ed gave Diana a big "goodbye" hug while Colleen and Nancy look on.

Nancy and Lindsay give each other goodbye hugs, too. Calkins Day is a day to celebrate laughter, imagination, and generosity. We certainly hit those notes, I think.

And, finally, no Calkins Day celebration would be complete without updating our Ed Cakins/Bertrand the Mouse photo. I'm adding the caption here because Blogger won't let me add it below the photo.

More photos and author information to come!

Story Round-Up: Features in The Herald-News, March 25 through March 30

Working on an extra-special story for Sunday (be sure to check it out!) so I'm lagging in other parts of my life.

Last night WriteOn Joliet hosted its first marketing roundtable for authors. In my opinion, it was a huge success. Here's why:

1) At least four writers groups were represented.

2) Everyone came to share and listen.

3) Nothing felt "spammy." People were genuine, and everyone left looking forward to building on those first connections.

4) We left with good ideas to try.

To those celebrating religious holidays this week, blessings!

To those celebrating religious holidays next week (such as moi), blessings!

Onward...

Non-bylined features:

Monday through Saturday I assembled my non-bylined works - brief posts and calendar listings - into one convenient file and posting them on Facebook in the evening, so readers can easily choose the ones they want to read.

 One can also find those event listings, the Gotta Do It calendar, as well as the pets, health, faith, and arts and entertainment calendars, under the sections tab on the left hand side of http://www.theherald-news.com/. Click on "features" and the topics drop down.  Gotta Do It runs under "people."

Community news? Again, under the sections tab, under features, and by topic. Updates are posted on these days in print and web (and some only on web on other days as I have the time): Monday (pets), Tuesday (health), Thursday (faith), Friday (arts and entertainment), and Sunday (people).

Social media:

Daily updates: I do post the briefs and calendars on Twitter during the week, so you're welcome to follow me at @Denise_Unland61.

BryonySeries stuff: I post curated content relating to the BryonySeries at @BryonySeries. And assorted related content at www.facebook.com/BryonySeries. And of course, please follow the adventures of Bertrand the Mouse on Instagram at bertrand_bryonyseries.

If you're a writer anywhere in the world, you're welcome to jon WriteOn Joliet's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/writeonminooka/?ref=bookmarks. We're based in Joliet, Illinois, but we love to meet and interact with writers outside our area, too.

Books and Such

Information on my books (including where to buy) along with upcoming events is at www.bryonyseries.com.

Thank you for reading The Herald-News. And for reading this blog. And if you've read (or plan to read) any of my books. Your support is greatly appreciated.

More than a game

For 15 years, Plainfield venue hosts a special March Madness reunion 

Find out why right here.

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/03/20/more-than-a-game/avx2kae/

An Extraordinary Life: Joliet man connected through stories

“Besides the fact he cared about his family so much, he was just the nice guy who would do anything for you,” Dave Rodriguez said about his brother Stephen Rodriguez. “You didn’t even have to be in his family. He gave of himself constantly, with advice, and sometimes he would lend money.”

http://www.theherald-news.com/2018/03/20/an-extraordinary-life-joliet-man-connected-through-stories/akn2xhb/

Joliet Junior College's Thrive prove students can cook with the best 

Service was a little slow (to be fair, the venue was packed, and the students are learning) and our dessert accidentally arrived before our entree, so it was taken back to the kitchen to await its proper return.

But the food – oh my, the food! Here's our impressions. (and the photos are phenomenal).

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/03/27/c2726b332e5b494e8706d5b316ff3267/index.xml

Morris church to perform Living Last Supper drama
By Jeanne Millsap

The image of what might have been the emotions on each of their 12 faces was portrayed in Leonardo da Vinci’s fresco, “The Last Supper,” and members of The First Presbyterian Church in Morris brought that piece of art to life the Thursday before Easter.

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/03/28/3abbd5f7b76c45b5a5db4519511fb3dc/index.xml


The story of Good Friday through song
Coal City United Methodist Church music director: ‘It’s not a normal concert’ 

 "It's not a normal concert," Shanan D’Agostino said, director of music ministries for the church, said. "We want the congregation to focus on what Jesus did for us, how he gave His life for us for all our sins. It's the ultimate sacrifice."

http://www.theherald-news.com/lists/2018/03/28/8c0cd51eaf4d4873abc43404718575d3/index.xml

Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Visage." Follow him at www.facebook.com/artbymattcoundiff or @MattCoundiff on Twitter.

Bryony...the Audio Book?

A couple of weeks ago, I received the following message from a Facebook friend: "I wondered if you had considered making Bryony into an audiobook? It seems like the book would translate well to audio. We can chat if you'd like more information about the process."

Hmmm....

So with Bryony still caught up in red tape, which I'm hearing should be resolved in a week or so (crossing my fingers and stepping over cracks, etc.), I agreed to meet with her this morning and listen to an interesting proposal.

Now, before she had sent that message, I had only vaguely and briefly considered an audio book format for Bryony, especially since, to be honest, I don't know many people who prefer an audio book to print. 'Course, I don't know too many people that are infatuated with eReaders, either, and I know I'll be makking Bryony available in electronic format.

So, I gathered a little background about the process of converting a book to audio and gathered a few
opinions. These ranged from disbelief that it could be complicated or timeconsuming ("What's the big deal about reading into a microphone?") to incredulity that audio books hadn't been on my agenda ("What do you think traveling sales reps read?")

This morning over coffee and hot chocolate, my friend and I discussed some initial details about the project. I, in turn, received some postive and valuable feedback about Bryony's marketing to this point and left the meeting feeling empowered that the Bryony team was on the right track.

Will there be an audio book? Well, she received my stock answer to anyone that's expressed a desire to get involved: "Read it first and then decide."

I'm sending her the release today.

Where Love Is, There God Is Also, By Leo Tolstoy

An old shoemaker, whose family had all departed, felt sorry for himself and wished to die. But a friend chided him, insisting if one lived for God, everything in life became easy.

So the shoemaker applied himself to the Gospels and found himself irresistably drawn to reading more and more. One night, near bedtime, the shoemaker hears God tell him, "I am coming to visit you."

The shoemaker doesn't believe it, at first. But three visitors to his home soon prove otherwise.

Several sources offer the story online. Just type the title and author into your browser.

A Mystery of the Campagna by Anne Crawford

First published in 1887, making it perfectly plausible that any of Bryony’s Victorian characters might have read it.

The search for the perfect residence to write an opera physically separates a composer from his painter friend. Yet, as an unseen assailant grows stronger, the bond between the two friends grows strangely stronger. Who prevails?

Read it online.

An Unusual Source for Inspiration

Yesterday, a friend posted a great idea for 2011: offer a free service or handmade item to the first five people who comment on the post. I condered what I might present in return (my talents are slim) and posted the following:

Pay it forward 2011: I promise to write an original, short story (fiction or non-fiction, your choice, your topic) to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. However, to be eligible, you must repost this status, offering something to 5 other people. The rules are that it must be handmade (or a service) by you and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011.

What's neat about this Pay it forward suggestion is that, hopefully, I can write something entertaining, inspirational, etc. to those who commented while, at the same time, stretching my brain to write about topics that might not have otherwise occured to me. Also, friends can experience and appreciate the gifts of others. What a beautiful way to celebrate the new year.

Waiting

An artist friend once showed me a piece he called, “Waiting.” It was a series of overlapping, elongated images that stretched from one end of the canvas to the other.

The painting fascinated me, and I couldn’t stop looking at it. “Oh, that’s just how it feels,” I had said.

With six kids, you’d think I’d be used to waiting. It takes nine months for a baby to be born, a couple years (give or take) to wean, potty train, etc. I’m still waiting for some of them to clean their rooms (I’m not naming names).

Publishing a book, if you’re going to do it right, is an awful lot of waiting.

Yes, I know some vanity presses guarantee a published book in eight weeks or less, but I think skipping a comprehensive editing cheapens any story. In Bryony’s case, significant molding and shaping of a six hundred page manuscript doesn’t happen overnight.

Each round of editing has taken approximately sixteen weeks: eight weeks on my editor’s end and eight weeks on mine. In between, we wait. We are busy with other projects, but nevertheless, we wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

One day the wait will end, and I’ll be holding the official, published book. Further changes will not be possible. Haste makes waste, they say. It also makes a ruined story.

So, Im okay with waiting. Sort of.

Touch Someone's Life

I’ve made some new friends during the course of writing Bryony, but never fully realized the level some of those friendships have reached until a couple of weeks ago, when a rather unusual “get well” card arrived in the mail for me.

The words contained therein are irrelevant. What mattered to me was the love behind the gift. A few months ago, my fifteen year old son Daniel remarked that Bryony has brought the family together, since everyone appears to have enjoyed and are united for it. Those ties, it appears, are not limited to blood (yes, pun intended).

I’m humbled that, by going about my business in my bumbling way, I’ve brightened someone’s life enough that someone wanted to brighten it back. Whatever you’re called to do, please do it with all your might and to the best of your abilities. It just might be the vehicle for connecting with another human being.

Denise M. Baran-Unland

Blessings

Just when it seems circumstances can’t get much worse, they do! Yet, in the midst of the crisis, I’m amazed at the blessings that continue to fill my day. In the past twenty-four hours:

* My fifteen year old son wrote me a note that asked if I could PLEASE walk to the library with him because he enjoyed my company.
* That same son did an extra batch of dishes without complaining because I was busy.
* My oldest son, out of work with a family to support, bought us some groceries.
* Another son and his girl friend cleaned out the garage and blew all the leaves off the driveway.
* I miscalculated my funds and had to borrow twelve dollars from my seventeen year old daughter to buy medicine. Then Rebekah bought a cowtail to split with me.
* My mother did some research and made some phone calls on health insurance because I was too busy and overwhelmed to get it all done.
* Faith, the cat who dislikes cuddling, always lets me share my desk chair with her by day and jumps into bed with me by night.
* I get to be a fan of my own book because my oldest daughter completely oversees the Bryony Facebook page, administers the website, and contributes some of the blogs.
* The bank called and said the miscalculation was its error, after all. I had thirty-four dollars coming back to me. YEAH!
* I lay on the bed and watched Midnight, the sick, little, stray kitten we adopted, interact with my twenty-year-old son, Timothy. He whistles, and she coos back. He makes kissing noises, and Midnight jumps up on his lap to head-butt him. He pets her, and she runs her head along the back of his hand.

Denise M. Baran-Unland

Old Folders

It’s not just birdhouses I move out of my way. Actually, today they are sitting on top of a stack of folders, another gift from another friend. This former church pastor spent a lifetime promoting the value of positive thinking. Each time he gave a presentation or led a seminar of some kind, he created a folder full of corresponding material. While cleaning out his office, he came across a stack of these folders and gave them to me. I still have three children living at home, one is in college and the other two are homeschooled, not to mention all the hard copies of notes I'm saving regarding Bryony, so I go through folders like mad. I figure I’ll just toss the information and save the folders.

However, the content in each of these packets catches my eye. The one open on my lap features a graveyard cartoon. The tombstone says, “Here lies someone who was going to be happy tomorrow.” There is also a page of stress busters, A Creed for the Discouraged, a plan for becoming more encouraging, and an entire page of suggestions for praise. I’m uplifted just sifting through them.

The kids can buy more folders. These are going downstairs in a place I will see them. When someone passes through my door in need of encouragement, assertiveness training, a self-esteem boost, or a hug, I’m going to hand them one of these folders, compliments of my friend. That way, in spirit, he continues to pass along the blessing.

Annoying Birdhouses

Yesterday I was cleaning my office and sighing in exasperation at a pair of birdfeeders blocking my progress. They're homemade birdfeeders, unpainted and not particularly well-constructed. However, a dear friend gave them to me, from the trunk of his car, while he was searching for something else. An acquaintance of his, 91 years old, makes and distributes them, which is how my friend received them in the first place. I have five cats, but I accepted them anyway, certain I can find a home for them.

So, months later, here they are, still occupying my teeny tiny office. When I trip over them, I stick them on top of the garbage can. When I need to empty the can, I place them in front of the filing cabinet. When I open the bottom drawer, I set them on the window seat. Yet, I never throw them away.

Why do I keep them? They tangibly remind me that, even at 91, we still have gifts to share and purposes and destinies to fulfill. When I write, I don't, unfortunately, always hit the mark, but I'm encouraged to know that somewhere, a 91 year old is making birdhouses because he must, to the happy delight of a bird or two.

If he can do it, I can. And so, I pour another cup of coffee, click "new document" and begin typing.