Coming Soon--Love is in the Air--It's Among the Snowflakes by Vonnie Davis

I'm writing this on the 22nd and the snow is falling in Lynchburg, Virginia, like crazy. Considering we rarely wear a winter coat, this is "big doin's" for us.  Few cars have dared travel our street since we live on a hill. No one is stirring except for a man near the bottom of the hill, who is shoveling out his car and occasionally shaking his fist heavenward. It's quite the sight.

On February 1st, a romance bundle I'm part of releases. For me, this is my first foray into the world of self-publishing. Thank goodness one of the authors knows how to make covers, do the formatting, and get the bundle listed on book selling sites or we'd be lost--shoveling caa-caa and shaking our collective fists like the man down the hill.

"Love is in the Air" is a special bundle for me. It includes the first book I ever had published--Storm's Interlude--winner of the HOLT Medallion Award of Merit (a nice way of saying runner-up) and Book of the Year at Long and Short Reviews, five years ago. I'd gotten the rights back from The Wild Rose Press, made some changes that needed dire attention--like a set of twins, three years apart in age. I'd decided partway through writing the book, I wanted the hero three years younger and meticulously went through the book looking for any age references for him. I just forgot to do the same for his twin sister and, although her age was only mentioned once, there it was in all its glory. Some readers didn't like he was already engaged when he met the heroine, so I had the engagement ending a month earlier with the ex-fiancé refusing to accept the break-up. Somehow, with everything I took out, the book grew another 2000 words. I'm still scratching my head over that one.

Working with these fabulous, fun-loving authors on this project was a trip. We did a lot of chuckling over facebook messaging. Some of them were hard to control at times, but I managed to do it. Quick! Hand me a mirror! Did my nose grow on that lie?

 

We're donating all our proceeds to the "Wounded Warrior Project" and will offer the bundle for 4 months before splitting into single books. Amazon buy link is: http://amzn.com/B0181NC92E

 

 

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And because Grandma can't help herself, my grandson, Ryan, was accepted to MIT in their early acceptance program and he's having a great wrestling season. His next win will be his 100th high school career win. How can he be a high school senior already when it was just a couple years ago he'd crawl onto my lap with an armful of books for me to read to him?

My Grandson Called Me The Other Day...

Vonnie Davis

I've been blessed with many things in my lifetime. No, not with riches. Nor with grace of movements. And, heavens, not with good looks either! But with friends and family, my cup runneth over, as they say. My sweetest blessing has been my six grandchildren. All are young adults or teenagers, now, which makes me older than dirt, but we don't need to go there. And as long as Madame Clairol and I are on intimate terms, I can pretend some of those years don't exist.

My grandchildren are scattered, as so often happens. Three live in Indiana and three in northern Maryland. Calvin and I live in southern Virginia. My jewels and I keep in touch via facebook chat, twitter, texting and phone calls.

Ryan after winning his match at 160 lbs.

Ryan, who was born on my fiftieth birthday, is especially good at keeping me involved in his busy life. He's fifteen now and an all-A student, taking honors courses, and a busy athlete with wrestling and track and field. He called me the other day. "Grandma, I saw your name in USA Today online! They wrote about your Christmas novella. What's a novella?" After I explained, I asked him what he was doing reading a newspaper online. It struck me as a little odd for a teenager. "I was eating a snack of rice cakes smothered in honey and chocolate chips and perusing some of the scientific articles." (a math geek, he wants to go into engineering) "I saw the page for books and popped over to see if there might be one I'd like to read. Never expected to see my Grandma's name." The kid sounded both shocked and impressed.

"So what are you reading right now, hon?"

"I'm reading this cool book by Einstein on his theory of relativity. I'd read it over the summer, but wanted to read it again since I'm taking advanced physics this semester. The book's won several awards. Have yours ever won awards?" I laughed and told him they had, but not on the caliber of Einstein's. Ryan gave a typically male grunt. "Writing fiction is different than writing non-fiction, isn't it, Grandma? Don't you have stuff like tropes you have to worry about? And point of view? We talked about that in Honors English." My eyebrows shot up. And I grinned so hard while the two of us discussed writing and literature that my cheeks hurt for several minutes after his call ended.

I asked if there were any books he wanted. My grandkids all know I'll send them most any book they request. Calvin and I work hard to foster their love of reading. Ryan told me about a couple books on quantum physics, and I jotted down the titles so I'd remember them when I slipped over to Amazon to place an order.

When Ryan went to say good-bye, he said, "It was good talking to you, Grandma. Sometimes I just need to hear your voice."

Yep, the kid's a smartie, alright. He knows how to get to grandma's heart. I am so, so blessed.

You can visit Vonnie Davis at her blog ~ www.vintagevonnie.blogspot.com or her website ~ www.vonniedavis.com Her website is currently undergoing construction and is rather messy, but you're more than welcome to stop by and wade through the mess.