.jpg)
It is August FIRST, time for the FIRST Blog Tour! (Join our alliance! Click the button!) The FIRST day of every month we will feature an author and his/her latest book’s FIRST chapter!
Lisa Samson is the author of twenty books, including the Christy Award-winning Songbird. Apples of Gold was her first novel for teens
These days, she’s working on Quaker Summer, volunteering at Kentucky Refugee Ministries, raising children and trying to be supportive of a husband in seminary. (Trying . . . some days she’s downright awful. It’s a good thing he’s such a fabulous cook!) She can tell you one thing, it’s never dull around there.
Other Novels by Lisa:
Hollywood Nobody, Finding Hollywood Nobody, Straight Up, Club Sandwich, Songbird, Tiger Lillie, The Church Ladies, Women’s Intuition: A Novel, Songbird, The Living End
Visit her at her website.
Product Details
List Price: $12.99
Paperback: 195 pages
Publisher: NavPress Publishing Group (July 15, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1600062210
ISBN-13: 978-1600062216
AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:
My eyes open. Yes, yes, yes. The greatest man in the entire world
is brewing coffee right here in the TrailMama.
“Dad.”
“Morning, Scotty. The big day.”
“Yep.”
“And this time, you won’t have to drive.”
I throw back the covers on my loft bed and slip down to the dinette of our RV. My dad sleeps on the dinette bed. He’s usually got it turned back into our kitchen table by 5:00 a.m. What can I say? The guy may be just as much in love with cheese as I am, but honestly? Our body clocks are about as different as Liam Neeson and Seth Green.
You know what I mean?
And we have lots of differences.
For one, he’s totally a nonfiction person and I’m fiction all the way. For two, he has no fashion sense whatsoever. And for three, he has way more hope for people at the outset than I do. Man, do I have a lot to learn on that front.
He hands me a mug and I sip the dark liquid. I was roasting coffee beans for a while there, but Dad took the mantle upon himself and he does a better job.
Starbucks Schmarbucks.
He hands me another mug and I head to the back of the TrailMama to wake up Charley. My grandmother looks so sweet in the morning, her frosted, silver-blonde hair fanned out on the pillow. You know, she could pass for an aging mermaid. A really short one, true.
I wave the mug as close as I can to her nose without fear of her rearing up, knocking the mug and burning her face. “Charley . . .” I singsong. “Time to get a move on. Time to get back on the road.”
And boy is this a switch!
All I can say is, your life can be going one way for years and years and then, snap-snap-snap-in-a-Z, it looks like it had major plastic surgery.
Only in reverse. Imagine life just getting more and more real. I like it.
Charley opens her eyes. “Hey, baby. You brought me coffee. You get groovier every day.”
She’s a hippie. What can I say?
And she started drinking coffee again when I ran away last fall in Texas. I mean, I didn’t really run away. I went somewhere with a perfectly good reason for not telling anyone, and I was planning to return as soon as my mission was done.
She scootches up to a sitting position, hair still in a cloud, takes the mug and, with that dazzling smile still on her face (think Kate Hudson) sips the coffee. She sighs.
“I know,” I say. “How did we make it so long without him?”
“Now that he’s with us, I don’t know. But somehow we did, didn’t we, baby? It may not have always been graceful and smooth, but we made it together.”
I rub her shoulder. “Yeah. I guess you could say we pretty much did.”
The engine hums its movin’-on song. “Dad’s ready to pull out. Let’s hit it.”
“Scotland, here we come.”
Scotland? Well, sort of.
An hour later
This has been a great school year. In addition to the online courses I’m taking through Indiana University High School, Dad’s been teaching me and man, is he smart. I’m sure most sixteen-(almost seventeen)-year-olds think their fathers are the smartest guys in the world, but in my case it happens to be true.
Okay, even I have to admit he probably won’t win the Nobel Prize for physics or anything, but he’s street smart and there’s no replacing that sort of thing. Big plus: he knows high school math. We’re both living under the radar. And he’s taken our faux last name. Dawn. He’s now Ezra Fitzgerald Dawn. After Ezra Pound, one of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Lost Generation friends.
I’m just lovin’ that.
“Your mom would have loved the name change, Scotty.”
He told me about his life as an FBI agent, some of the cases he worked on, and well, I’d like to tell you he had a life like Sydney Bristow’s in Alias, but he probably spent most of his time on com-puter work and sitting around on his butt waiting for someone to make a move. The FBI, apparently, prefers to trick people more than corner them in showdowns and shootouts. The Robertsman case was his first time undercover in the field and we know how terribly that worked out for him. And me. And Charley. And Babette, my mother.
I pull out my math book and sit in the passenger seat of the TrailMama. “Ready for some ‘rithmetic, Dad?”
“You bet.” He turns to me and smiles. His smile still makes my heart warm up like a griddle ready to make smiley-face pan-cakes. I flip on my book light.
It’s still dark and we’re headed to Asheville, North Carolina for Charley’s latest shoot. A film about Bonnie Prince Charlie called Charlie’s Lament. How ironic is that? The director, Bartholomew (don’t dare call him Bart) Evans, is a real jerk. I’m not going to be hanging around the set much even though Liam Neeson is Lord George Murray, the voice of reason Prince Charlie refused to listen to. But hey, that’s my history lesson. We’re still on math.
I finish up the last lesson in geometry . . . finally! Honestly, I still don’t understand it without a mammoth amount of help, but the workbook’s filled and that’s a good thing.
There.
I set down my pen. “Finished!”
Dad gives a nod as he continues to look out the windshield. You might guess, despite the tattoos, piercings, and his gleaming bald head, he’s a very careful driver. And he won’t let me drive like Charley did.
“So . . . driver’s license then, right?”
He’s been holding that over my head so I’d finish the math course.
“You know it. After the film, we’ll request your new birth certificate and go from there.”
“What state are we supposedly from?” The FBI has given us a new identity, official papers and all that.
“Wyoming.”
“Are you kidding me? Wyoming? Why?”
“Think about it, honey. Who’s from Wyoming?”
“Lots of people?”
“Know any of them?”
“Uh. No.”
“See?”
“Okay, Wyoming it is, then.”
“You realize you’ll only have my beat-up old black truck to drive around.” The same truck we’re towing behind the TrailMama.
“I’ll take it.”
So here’s the thing. The rest of the entire world thinks my father was shot in the chest and killed when he was outed by a branch of the mob he was after. This mob was financing James Robertsman’s campaign for governor of Maryland.
The guy’s running for president of the United States now.
I kid you not.
Wish I was kidding.
We thought he was after us for several years because Charley knew too much. But then last fall, we found out the guy chasing me was my father, and Robertsman is most likely cocky enough to think he took care of everything he needed. I say that’s quite all right. Although, I have to admit, the fact that a dirtbag like that guy may end up in the Oval Office sickens me to no end.
Thanks to that guy, we had been running in fear from my own father.
The thing is, I could be really mad about all those wasted years, and a portion of me feels that way. But we’ve been given another chance, and I’ll be darned if I throw away these days being angry. There’s too much to be thankful for.
Don’t get me wrong. I still have my surly days. I don’t want Dad and Charley to think they have it as easy as all that!
Okay, time to blog.
Hollywood Nobody: April 30
Let’s cut to the chase, Nobodies!
Today’s Seth News: It’s official. Seth Haas and Karissa Bonano are officially each other’s exclusive main squeeze. The two were seen coming out of a popular LA tattoo parlor with each other’s names on the inside of their forearms. How cliché. And pass the barf bag.
Today’s Violette Dillinger Report: Violette has broken up with Joe Mason of Sweet Margaret. She wanted you all to know that long-distance romances are hard for any couple, but espe-cially for people as young as she is. “Joe needed to live his life. I’m on the road a lot. It wasn’t fair to either of us.” Sounds like she’s definitely not on the road to Britney. I’m just sayin’.
Today’s Rave: Mandy Moore. The girl can really sing! And her latest album is filled with good songs. The bubble gum days of insipid teen heartbreak are over. She’s finally come into her own. (Wish some others would follow her example, but I won’t hold my breath. And man, are we on the theme of bratty stars today or what? Well, there are just so many of them from which to choose!)
Today’s Rant: Crazy expensive celebrity weddings. What? If they spend more, will they be more likely to stay together? I have no idea. Mariah Carey’s $25,000 dress pales in comparison to Catherine Zeta-Jones’s $100,000 gown. What are those things made of?
Today’s Quote: “Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.” James Dean
my 95 lb. dog is afraid of thunderstorms
jubilate video
There’s a video on Facebook of our church’s youth choir performing at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City, Missouri, but I can’t figure out a way to transfer the video to Blogger. If you follow the link below you should be able to see the video, but if you don’t have a Facebook page you might have to sign up for one. I don’t know. Here’s the link if you want to give it a try:
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1683240107&k=Y5LZ5V63SY6M51MARBW4UT
The cathedral has good acoustics, but on the video it sounds like a whole lot of echoing.
Remember that these are kids ranging in age from 11 to 19 years old. They sound amazing, and really should be a recording group!
I’m going to email Pastor Eddie, who posted the video originally, and see if I can get a copy of it to put on my blog for everyone to see. 
big sisters
These photos of Sawyer with two of his “big sisters” were taken while our church’s youth choir was on tour in Colorado. I think Sawyer enjoys having the older girls dote on him!
i’m mellltttiiinnggg
Yes, I’m whining about the weather again…..
the one where i try to make a long update short
We have been very busy around here just trying to keep up with all of the necessary items of having an infant in the house. It’s a really good thing that Ashley had a friend give her boxes and boxes of little girl clothing. Atti tends to go through about 6 or 8 changes of clothes a day. I know that’s normal ~ nonetheless, it’s a lot of work! Since we’re using cloth diapers as well, there are at least two loads of laundry to do every day. Atti may have to change her clothes several times a day, but what’s worse is the number of burp cloths we use. My goodness! I’ve given up on making pretty burp cloths. Sure they’re cute, but when it comes right down to it, a plain old tri-fold Gerber birdseye cloth diaper is just as good as one that has had fabric sewn down the middle and ribbon added to the sides. They’re not nearly as cute, but they serve their intended purpose just as well.
It’s amazing to me how stubborn a 6 week old baby can be. We’re working on her attitude already! We’re all born with a sinful nature, and to be honest that sinful nature is quite evident in babies.
Ashley and Jacob have been attending church with us. Ashley has gone for several weeks now ~ Jacob has joined us the last 2 weeks. Our church is doing a series on “The 7 ‘I AMs’ of Christ”. Yesterday’s message was “I am the way, the truth and the life”. After church Jacob told me he felt as though that message was spoken directly to him. Jacob has struggled with Christianity ~ and there have been plenty of people along the way who have called themselves “Christians” ~ who weren’t very Christ-like ~ who have helped him form a bad opinion of Christians and Christianity as a whole. So when he agreed to start going to church with us, I was thrilled. He’s full of questions, which is good, and full of doubts, which I see as opportunities to teach him.
I have seen the Holy Spirit working in Ashley ~ His work is very evident to me. He’s working on her heart, and she’s beginning to feel His calling to her. She and I are going to San Antonio in a month to attend a Living Proof Live conference (Beth Moore), and she’s very excited about it. So am I. We even volunteered to be greeters during the event ~ that was something we both wanted to do, and we felt it would give us an opportunity to serve. My friends Holly and Joanne will be at the conference, and I am so excited about seeing them again! We’ll be staying with my friend Stacey, who I haven’t seen in a very long time, and I can hardly wait! It’s looking like this will be a very fun trip. Ashley and I will celebrate her 20th birthday on our trip as well, so it’s going to be a really big deal.
We’ve been working on choosing a curriculum for this coming school year. Sawyer will be in 10th grade, and this could be his last school year at home. He’s considering attending the residential high school Patrick just graduated from. I can’t even begin to think about what it would be like to have absolutely no children in the house come next fall. 
For this year, I think we’re going to go back to Sonlight. We’ve tried all kinds of other curriculum, but we always seem to come back to Sonlight. We’ll be studying American Government/Civics, which is Sonlight’s Core 400. We’ll also be doing Apologia Advanced Biology, Teaching Textbook’s Algebra II, and at co-op Sawyer will attend Spanish and leadership classes. There’s lots of writing involved in Core 400, and lots of reading as well. Sawyer wants to be challenged this year ~ that won’t be a problem! He’ll also continue to sing with our church’s youth choir, take French horn lessons and attend youth group. I’m starting to look forward to the routine of the school year!
author chat on abunga.com
I haven’t posted any book reviews in a while. I was taking a bit of a break from reviewing, since it seemed like my life just sort of exploded (albeit in a good, God way) in February. I received a press release from Abunga.com today that I feel is worth sharing. I’m in the process of reading My Soul to Keep by Melanie Wells, and since she’s the first author to be interviewed at Abunga.com, I feel it’s appropriate to post the press release here:
ABOUT WHAT LIES BETWEEN THE LINES:
Melanie Wells Joins Readers on Online Bookstore Chat
| WHO: |
Melanie Wells, author of the critically acclaimed Dylan Foster series – “When the Day of Evil Comes,” “The Soul Hunter” and the newly-released “My Soul to Keep.” Wells will join the family-friendly online bookstore, Abunga.com, to discuss her insights on the fiction series, writing, building story lines and using one’s creativity and imagination to shape character development.
|
| WHAT: |
“Authors at Abunga” Chat with Melanie Wells
Wells’ Dylan Foster trilogy is packed with both humor and suspense. Each thriller tracks the mayhem surrounding Wells’ unlikely heroine, college psychology professor Dylan Foster. Wells, who is also a psychotherapist and accomplished musician, will provide insights into her writing style, how stories are created, and where characters come from. |
| wheN: |
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
11 a.m. – Noon PDT / 1 – 2 p.m. CDT / 2 – 3 p.m. EDT (LIVE) At www.Abunga.com/AuthorsAtAbunga |
| DETAILS: |
Wells is the first author to be featured on the newly-created “Authors at Abunga” chats by Agunga.com. A Texas native, Wells is an accomplished musician (she’s a fiddle player) a licensed psychotherapist, and the founder and director of Dallas-based LifeWorks counseling associates (www.wefixbrains.com).
Beginning with “When the Day of Evil Comes,” each of Wells’ novels weaves a gripping tale in which the quirky, likeable Dylan Foster wrestles with her own personal demon — Peter Terry – “a spiritual and emotional stalker,” Wells says, ”Peter Terry is a compelling character who rings true for all of us. He is a metaphor for the opposition we all have in our lives. And we can all relate to Dylan, who often feels like she’s fighting forest fires with a squirt gun.” More info found at www.Abunga.com/
Abunga.com is an online bookstore founded to provide families a protected shopping environment. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., Abunga.com offers more than 1.6 million family-friendly books, savings through distributor-direct prices and support to nonprofit organizations by donating 5 percent of each transaction to a customer-selected charity. For more information, visit www.Abunga.com.
|
author chat on abunga.com
I haven’t posted any book reviews in a while. I was taking a bit of a break from reviewing, since it seemed like my life just sort of exploded (albeit in a good, God way) in February. I received a press release from Abunga.com today that I feel is worth sharing. I’m in the process of reading My Soul to Keep by Melanie Wells, and since she’s the first author to be interviewed at Abunga.com, I feel it’s appropriate to post the press release here:
ABOUT WHAT LIES BETWEEN THE LINES:
Melanie Wells Joins Readers on Online Bookstore Chat
| WHO: |
Melanie Wells, author of the critically acclaimed Dylan Foster series – “When the Day of Evil Comes,” “The Soul Hunter” and the newly-released “My Soul to Keep.” Wells will join the family-friendly online bookstore, Abunga.com, to discuss her insights on the fiction series, writing, building story lines and using one’s creativity and imagination to shape character development.
|
| WHAT: |
“Authors at Abunga” Chat with Melanie Wells
Wells’ Dylan Foster trilogy is packed with both humor and suspense. Each thriller tracks the mayhem surrounding Wells’ unlikely heroine, college psychology professor Dylan Foster. Wells, who is also a psychotherapist and accomplished musician, will provide insights into her writing style, how stories are created, and where characters come from. |
| wheN: |
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
11 a.m. – Noon PDT / 1 – 2 p.m. CDT / 2 – 3 p.m. EDT (LIVE) At www.Abunga.com/AuthorsAtAbunga |
| DETAILS: |
Wells is the first author to be featured on the newly-created “Authors at Abunga” chats by Agunga.com. A Texas native, Wells is an accomplished musician (she’s a fiddle player) a licensed psychotherapist, and the founder and director of Dallas-based LifeWorks counseling associates (www.wefixbrains.com).
Beginning with “When the Day of Evil Comes,” each of Wells’ novels weaves a gripping tale in which the quirky, likeable Dylan Foster wrestles with her own personal demon — Peter Terry – “a spiritual and emotional stalker,” Wells says, ”Peter Terry is a compelling character who rings true for all of us. He is a metaphor for the opposition we all have in our lives. And we can all relate to Dylan, who often feels like she’s fighting forest fires with a squirt gun.” More info found at www.Abunga.com/
Abunga.com is an online bookstore founded to provide families a protected shopping environment. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., Abunga.com offers more than 1.6 million family-friendly books, savings through distributor-direct prices and support to nonprofit organizations by donating 5 percent of each transaction to a customer-selected charity. For more information, visit www.Abunga.com.
|
at the peabody
Last night Roger and I had a romantic evening at The Peabody Hotel in downtown Little Rock. We were celebrating our 19th anniversary a week early. Roger had today off as a “family day” so we took advantage of the opportunity to go have a night out together.
The Peabody Hotel is very nice; The Capriccio Grill is in the hotel, and it’s a wonderful place for a romantic steak dinner. Their filet mignon is the best we’ve found in the city. And they have amazing desserts.
I forgot to take my digital camera with me (are you beginning to figure out that this is not an unusual occurrence with me?) so I had to take pictures with my cell phone. By the time The March of the Ducks happened, my phone was dead, so there are no pictures of that. I did get some decent pics of our room, the champagne and chocolate strawberries which greeted us in our room, and the cute little soap duckie in our bathroom.
 |
| Peabody 19th Anniversar |
By the way, incase you’re wondering about Roger’s lopsided smile, it’s because the muscles and nerves in the left side of his face still have not recovered from the surgery he had August of 2006. In January of 2005 he had a non-cancerous lump removed from his left salivary gland. It had wrapped itself around the nerve bundle, and by early 2006 it had regrown to the point where Roger had to have another surgery and removal. I’m not sure the left side of his face will ever fully recover. Here are some pics I took after the second surgery ~ but I want to WARN YOU: the pics are not graphic, but they were taken a day after the surgery, so they’re a little gross. View them at your discretion.
 |
| Roger’s Surgery 8.2006 |
so much for that idea
Well, we didn’t quite make it to the fireworks last night. Actually, Jacob and Ashley did, but Roger, Attison and I stayed home. It was just way too hot outside for me. Which means we didn’t hang out outside yesterday, which in turn means I didn’t take a bunch of pictures. The beauty of the whole thing is, it was even HOTTER outside today, so ~ you guessed it ~ we didn’t hang out outside today either. I did get a picture or two of Attison, but they’re just more pics of her sleeping, and I’m fairly sure everyone has seen enough of those for now. I need to do a better job of finding the camera while she’s awake. She really does have alert periods, I promise!
Sawyer is on his trip to Colorado with our church’s youth choir. They’re touring all over the state, giving concerts and performing mission-type jobs at churches. Tomorrow they’ll be singing at the US Air Force Academy’s Cadet Chapel in the morning (at the Protestant service), then at a church in Colorado Springs in the evening. After reading my friend Meredith’s blog about her town’s parade, I’m wishing I had gone to Colorado with the kids! She’s wearing a JACKET, on the 4th of July! I haven’t worn a jacket on the 4th of July since 2004, when we were still living in Alaska. Sometimes living in the south is just too much for me.
My friend Holly loves the beach. I love the mountains. (I’m pretty sure Holly loves the mountains too, since she lives in Colorado ~ I’ll just clarify that I don’t love the beach. Too sandy and all.) I miss the mountains. Truly, truly miss the mountains. And cool weather. And tree lines, which will only be found on ~ again you guessed what I was going to say ~ mountains. Not those hills that people in the south like to call mountains. Real mountains. And snow. I miss snow. Real snow, not that gloppy stuff that people in the south like to call snow. Snow does not go “SPLAT!” when it hits your windshield. Good snow even has to be packed with just a touch of melted snow on your mittens to make good snowballs. Alaska has amazing snow. And fantastic ski hills. On real mountains. People in the south just don’t understand why I miss Alaska. I think it has to do with the fact that winter in Arkansas is that bone biting, bone chilling kind of cold you get in really humid climates. Winter in Anchorage, Alaska is just not that way. I’ll be completely honest ~ 40 degrees below zero is stinkin’ cold. That’s true. But 40 degrees below zero is not the norm for Anchorage, Alaska. Besides, I stand by my old adage ~ you can always put more clothing on. When it’s 104 degrees with a “Real Feel” of 114, and 10,000,000,000% humidity, there’s only so much clothing you can take off. Really. I’d much rather have on 15 layers of clothing…..
I think it’s just about this time every year when I really start lamenting the fact that we had to move away from Alaska. But don’t worry, the complaining will most likely continue for at least another 20 years. We have no plans to leave Arkansas. God could throw a monkey wrench into our non-plans, which I would probably jump up and yell, “Halleluia! Praise God!” to, but I think there’s a lesson here for me. Most likely it’s something along the lines of bloom where you’re planted (that’s in the Bible, isn’t it? No? Hmmm, I thought I’d read that somewhere…)
A long time ago, when we were living in North Carolina, Roger received an assignment to Japan. Now, I know there are a lot of people who would love to go to, or even live in, Japan. I’m just not one of them. I was horrified. For two weeks I cried, wailed, moaned, groaned, bargained and cajoled with God about it. I promised this and begged that, but He pretty much just kept telling me no. So, finally I gave in, breathed deeply and said, “Ok God. I give in. I’ll go where You send me, and I’ll go joyfully. I know You have a plan, and it’s for my good. So look out Japan, here I come.” And wouldn’t you know, 3 days later Roger’s assignment to Japan was canceled. Wow. You’d think I would have learned a valuable lesson from that, wouldn’t you? Well, I guess as is evidenced by all of my complaining about living in the south that I haven’t learned that lesson as well as I probably should have.
Now, please don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that if I just gave in and stopped complaining about having to live in the south, God would move us back to Alaska. It doesn’t work that way. God knows my heart. He knows that even if I stopped complaining outwardly, I would still be complaining inwardly. I truly do dislike the heat and humidity. And combined, they make my fibromyalgia about 1000 times worse. The humid cold of the south doesn’t make me feel much better than the humid heat. But again, I know God has a plan. And His plan is for my good. I don’t always know what His plan is, or why His plan is the way it is, but I do know my God. And He is good. I’m a hard-headed lumux, so sometimes it takes me a while to catch on. But of this I am sure ~ God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.
So, if that means I have to live in the south for the rest of my life, I will try to do so joyfully. It most likely won’t be without the occasional complaining. But with the complaining I usually remind myself that God put us here (in Arkansas) for a reason. Many reasons, most likely. And while I may not know what all of those reasons are, I do know that they’re good reasons. God reasons. And those are the best reasons anyone could ask for.