July - A Busy Month

July was a busy Fun Month

Had a fun time with Mary Robertson and her class July 14th. I read and she and the kids acted out the squirrel scene in Dragons for Kris. The students enjoyed Charlie, my pet dragon.
Habitat for Humanity had a huge Garage Sale in Mt. Vernon, Texas. We cleared over a $1000. Lots of work but it will help build a house for a family willing to work with us.
The following weekend Mt. Pleasant Habitat For Humanity held their annual Mayor's Cup Golf Tournament. I got to watch the hole-in-one green where everyone was trying to win a pickup truck
Our Habitat group is fortunate to have so many
supporters from the community.
A real delight was our First Saturday NETWO gathering of writers at Pizza Inn in Pittsburg, Texas. This last Saturday Fredna Stuckey, an English teacher at Le Tourneau University, talked about revising and editing, two different things. She titled it Editing, Revising, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. She was very informative and an entertaining speaker. We all had a great time.
While watching for the hole-in-one shot, I had a furry companion to keep me company.

Voices From The Heart

Voices From the Heart by Jonikay Pace is a riveting story after the reader gets past the nasty backgrounds of the main players. Ms. Pace has excelled at setting the scene for a young girl to be hoodwinked by a manipulative, self centered man bent on using her to reach his own goals. In spite of human guardian angles attempting to guide and help Clara, she allows herself to be deceived and heads down a long road of believeing lies and experiencing physical and emotional abuse.

Ms Pace ties up all the loose ends in a neat package that caused this reader to smile and murmer, "That'll teach you, you scumbag."

Voices From The Heart was published by Comfort Publishing, LLC

Copyright 2008

ISBN 978 0 9802051 6 9

When I'm Feeling Angry

Workshops are almost always interesting. Jory Sherman's workshop June25th on ebooks was informative and challenging. As an author I'm interested in promoting my books, obviously. I usually do this offering my mini writing workshop for fourth through sixth grade students in schools. According to Mr. Sherman and other speakers I've heard, the future in book sales will be through Kindle, Ipods and that sort of technology. It's a new world folks.

The workshop was in Winnsboro, Texas, at a book and gift shop called, Winnsboro Emporium. They have a little bit of everything: collector books, new books, paintings, pottery, jewelry, etc. I found two books I had to have for our grand daughter. When I'm Feeling Angry by Trace Moroney is a paper back picture book suitable for children two and older. The author points out that we all get angry sometimes and that it is okay to be angry. It is how we handle our anger that is important.

When I'm feeling Angry is one of a series of books on feelings published by The Five Mile Press. Some of the other titles deal with being scared, or lonely, hurt, etc. Trace Moroney's web site is http://www.tracemoroney.com/ This series of books is very good.

Smackover, Arkansas

Smackover, what a name! I would love to have been born in

Smackover. Just think of the fun Smackover citizens have when they are out of state. "And where are you from?" an elderly lady might ask a twelve year old girl. "Why, I'm from Smackover, Arkansas, ma'am."

A couple weeks ago my sister and I, plus our indulgent husbands, visited the oil museum in Smackover. I got some good pictures and information for my new novel, the sequal to Second Chance. The ladies at the museum were so helpful and willing to share information.

To give you an idea of how tall that derrick is, take a close look at the lady standing at the end of the walk. That's me. The horizonal beam just above the shed behind me is called a walking beam. It has something to do with pumping the oil, I believe.
Visitors will find a wonderful collection of figures, artifacts,

diagrams, and pictures explaining the oil boom in Smackover

during the late 1930s.

There is a lovely wooded area for picnics and lots to see. It is well worth scheduling at least a half day visiting the museum and surrounding area if you are anywhere near Magnolia or Smackover, Arkansas.
More later. Stay cool.

Magnolia, Arkansas

I didn't retire to sit home and do housework. A couple of weeks ago my husband and I met my sister and her husband in Magnolia, Arkansas. We stayed at Lake Columbia County Park. It was beautiful and so well kept. The host went out of his way to welcome and accomidate all the visitors.



After setting up our trailers side by side we set out to explore the area starting with the city of Magnolia. Wow! From the truck we saw some truely impressive murals on the sides of many buildings.

After visiting a few shops the men grew tired of our exploring, asking endless questions, and examining all the interesting things in shop after shop featuring iron work, glassware, antiques, clothes, beautiful crochet items, and food. The men discovered some of the best homemade pickles we had ever eaten. We bought four jars, one for ourselves and one for friends. After their treasure find, the men were ready for a nap. Jo and I returned to the city and continued our exploration on our own. We helped close a couple of shops. One even opened up for us when they learned we would be leaving the next day.

When the shops finally closed we retired to the camp ground and the dinner our husbands had prepared. The next day we went to Smackover, Arkansas. More about Smackover next time.

Second Chance on Kindle

Hay everyone,
I'm excited. Second Chance in now available on Kindle. I was browsing through some book on Amazon and on a whim typed in Galand Nuchols. Wow! there flashed up all three of my books and Second Chance in now on Kindle. Weeeee!

Habitat Women's Build 2011

For over a week women came in teams of two to eight

or nine helping Habitat partners to paint, calk, or frame three houses in Mount Pleasant. There were teachers, office workers, nurses, a ranch manager, secretries ... well, ladies from every line of work you can imagine. They welded paint brushes, slung hammers, and toted wood making a huge difference in construction progress in just six days. Everyone was impressed.

On Saturday Habitat hosted a Bar B Q and silent auction. Again, ladies from the community brought in salads, vegetable dishes, and desserts galore. All was held on the Presbyterian Church;s parking lot just outside the Habitat office.

Along with the Bar B Q was a silent auction. Community businesses were generous and donated over 30 items including such items as: an airplane ride, hair cuts, lamps, cutlery sets, dinners out, candles ... there were just too many items to name.

Mount Pleasant Habitat is building their web site. You might be interested in checking it out.

mphabitat@hotmail.com

Mt. Pleasant is a good place to live.