Thank you, Berta Ruck by Liz Flaherty #RomanceGems

In this month of American gratitude in 2012, the Word Wranglers (another blog I write for) chose one person they were grateful to in the business of writing. Narrowing it down, D’Ann Lindun said, was going to be tough. It was for me. Would it be for you? Give it some thought and let us know which ONE person you’re grateful to. 

My aunt had more books than you could shake a stick at. She bought them from a book club back in the…well, way back, and they resided with paper covers intact on a tall shelf in the corner of the living room. I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Joy In the Morning, The Hoosier Schoolmaster, Elsie Dinsmore, Rose In Bloom, the Pollyanna series, and a plethora of Gene Stratton-Porter books, to name a few. I sat cross-legged with my back against the wall and lost myself in the South, in New York City, in backwoods Indiana.

And then I read His Official Fiancée by Berta Ruck.

Oh, my God.

          The book was written in 1914, one of 80 novels published by Ms. Ruck. There were two movies made of the story, the first one silent. It was hilarious. It was loving. It was…oh, Lord, it was so romantic. It was written in the flowery, Britishy language of old movies and it was…did I say it was romantic?

          I don’t remember if it was the first romance I ever read, but it’s the first one that made me go “ahhh.” I already knew I’d be a writer—Louisa May Alcott taught me that—but Berta Ruck is the reason I write in the language of Happily Ever After. She died in 1978 at the age of 100 years and nine days. She published books from 1905 – 1972.

          Wow.

          Thanks, Berta Ruck.

***

If you haven't visited Dickens, a glorious, snow-covered little town in New England, now's your chance. Not one but 10 stories of love and laughter and the mending of regrets. Berta Ruck would have a ball there, and so did we!

 

December starts tomorrow. Enjoy every day!

Post-Thanksgiving gratitude by Peggy Jaeger

 Yesterday, here in the lower 48 ( heehee) + Alaska and Hawaii, it was Thanksgiving. This year's holiday was like no other in any of our memories. The last pandemic was over 100 years ago, so no one really remembers what Thanksgiving 1918 was like.

But we will remember this year's holiday. We'll be talking about Thanksgiving 2020 for years to come - to our grandkids who may be too small now to have memories of the upside down world we now live in; in decades retrospectives on New Year's Eves to come; even in books about this time period which will one day be called "historical."

This was the first Thanksgiving in my 60 years that I spent away from most of my family. We're being responsible and since my daughter lives in a state with travel restrictions - as do hubby and I - we made the decision to stay home, stay safe, and do our part to prevent this scourge from spreading.

And it was hard.

Really hard.

But it made us reflect on what's really important. When all is said and done, it's family that matters more than anything else.

 If I can say one good thing about this pandemic - and believe me I can only say 1 good thing about this pandemic - it's that by staying home and staying safe, we've all come to realize the importance of the people in our lives. Yes we are all missing things - going out to dinner, seeing a movie, therapy shopping. But they are just things. It's the people who matter the most. Not being able to see my daughter yesterday means that I made it safe to see her in the future. By staying away, now, we will all be able to be together later on because we will all still be here, alive and well.

My husband and I typically go to mass on Thanksgiving morning, this year no exception. Yes, we wore our masks. Yes, we socially distanced as per church and state guidelines. And yes, I said a prayer for all those close to me and for our world in general. And I said a big thanks to God for giving us the courage and strength to weather this stressful time.

Rose Kennedy is credited with saying, after her oldest son was killed in WWII, that she knew God would never give her a burden too heavy for her to carry. This pandemic is a burden to the world and I feel that we have the strength to get through it and come out on the other side stronger and more thankful.

So. No book promo from me today, even though it's Black Friday and I've got 3 new books out ( hee hee and hint hint!) Just a simple moment of gratitude and thanks, instead.

See you next month peeps. ~ Peg