BLOG BLITZ – Friday 30 September 2016 – CHARACTER INTERVIEW – CISSY

The month of September is a special time for me:

my THIRD novel and sequel to

the final in the unsavory heritage series,

will be available 30 on September Amazon

WHEEEEE!!!!!

 

 

CHARACTER INTERVIEW – CISSY

 

rem: Good afternoon, Cissy. Welcome.

Cissy: Good afternoon, Robin. I’m so delighted to be here. [hugs me]

rem:  You’re wearing the same dress Clara wore yesterday. Did you plan that?

 

 

Cissy: No, but we do think alike. [winks] It is my favorite, you know.

rem:  Yes, I remember that. Cissy, you are one of the most gifted people I know.

Cissy: Thank you. [smiles]

rem:  And you’re talented in so many things. What’s your favorite?

Cissy: Oh dear! Robin, I could no more choose a favorite thing to do than, as you say, choose a favorite of your children.

rem: [laughs] I get that.

Cissy:  It depends on my mood, really. Some days, I pick up my pen and write poems, some days, I draw or paint—

rem:  Do you feel a different mood for drawing versus painting?

Cissy:  That goes more to what I’m painting or drawing, or the mood I’m trying to capture. But  yes,  I reckon it has a good deal to do with my mood, as well.

rem: What about your music?

Cissy:  There’s not a day I don’t enjoy playing the piano.

 

 

rem: What’s your favorite thing to play?

Cissy: Sonatinas.  Muzio Clementi composed sonata and sonatinas—he was the “Father of the Piano,” you know?

rem: I did not. Clementi is a favorite of mine as well.

Cissy: You play?

rem: I have. Not in many years, though. Cissy, besides your remarkable abilities, you were quite intuitive. Beyond your years.

Cissy: I just understand things without anyone explaining them, I always did. It’s hard to explain—for instance, I knew that Clara wasn’t like that. It was puzzling to me sometimes, when we were still small.

rem: Can you give us an example?

Cissy: When Mama and Papa would speak of Scriptures. Of an evening, after Clara and I were abed. I didn’t fall to sleep right away—in fact, most nights I didn’t sleep until after Mama and Papa were abed. I would creep down the stairs—I wasn’t spying mind you—and I’d sit and listen to them, to the rhythm of God’s Word.  I could have answered—I knew the answers to their questions.

rem: Tell us about the day your Uncle Clem came home. You had never met him before that day, had you?

Cissy: No ma’am, I surely hadn’t. I knew who he was, though.  Not just on account of him being in uniform. Any old soldier could have come by our house. I heard folk at church talking about how soldiers would come to their door, begging for bread—or ale.

rem: But you invited Clem in and made him coffee.

Cissy: He hadn’t had real coffee in so long. And I wanted to talk with him.

rem: You sure surprised him.

Cissy: [shrugs] I remember how awful he smelled. I was never so glad as when Aunt Abby helped him with a bath. [laughs]

rem: Cissy, things changed for you when you were still so young.

Cissy: Mrs. Whalin. Although it really wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know any better. She just said what she believed.

 

 

rem: She was a very sad woman.

Cissy:  You’re right, Robin, she was.

rem: But her words that day—

Cissy: —I didn’t stop to think about it. In my heart I knew better.

rem: You fought against it.

Cissy: Much later, yes, I did. But it was too late…

rem:  It’s never too late, Cissy.

Cissy: [stares] Dulci—I mean, Dorothea told me that.

rem: There was so much to your story, more than the book could begin to encompass. What was the hardest thing for you?

Cissy:  Being apart from Clara. I felt I was split in two, and a part of me hated her. I couldn’t bear that, so I stayed away.

 

 

rem: You left your paintings and poems as a message, correct?

Cissy: That’s right.

rem: Were they for Clara?

Cissy: I hoped she would find them, yes, and understand. But I didn’t really believe she ever would. Although, she surprised me when she came to me that day.

rem:   It gave us all such hope for you.

Cissy: Me too, Robin. Me too.

rem: Cissy, I think we should end here before we give too much of your story away.

Cissy: [laughs] I imagine you’re right. It’s been a pleasure talking with you today, Robin. Thank you for inviting me.

rem: Cissy, it’s always a pleasure to chat with you. You’ll always be in my heart—and my head.

Cissy: Thank you for telling my story. You did a mighty fine job. [hugs me again]

 

 

If you haven’t already, be sure to stop by and like my Facebook page, my author page on Amazon, follow me on Twitter, on my blog!  Please leave me a comment, let me know you’re here!

 

 

“I once said I should write down all the story ideas in my head so someone could write them someday. I had no idea at the time that someone was me!

 

I have been writing since 1995, and began working in earnest on my debut novel, Tessa in 2013.  Meanwhile, I cranked out a few dozen poems, made countless notes for story ideas, and earned my BFA in Interior Design.  I lived with depression for many years, and the inherent feelings of worthlessness and invisibility; I didn’t want to be who I was and struggled with my own identity for many years.  My characters face many of these same demons.

 

I write stories of identity conflict. My characters encounter situations that force the question, “Who am I, really?” For all who have ever wondered who you are or why you’re here, my stories will touch you in a very real—maybe too real—and a very deep way. I know, I write from experience.

 

The unsavory heritage series. Tessa, Clara Bess and Cissy, is available on Amazon, both for Kindle and in print. I also have several poems included in an anthology, Where Dreams and Visions Live (Anthologies of the Heart Book 1) by Mary Blowersas well as a short story, Sarafina’s Light, also in an anthology, Blood Moon, compiled by Mary Blowers. I will also be working on a personal compilation of poetry to be released in 2017.

 

 

http://www.robinemason.com

https://robinsnest212.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robin-E-Mason-Author-Artist/224223274404877

http://www.amazon.com/Robin-E.-Mason/e/B00MR5IQ9S

https://twitter.com/amythyst212

http://www.pinterest.com/amythyst212/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/108929134414473292325

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7808042.Robin_E_Mason

robinemason212@gmail.com.

https://writingpromptsthoughtsideas.wordpress.com/

 

 

CISSY LAUNCH PARTY, unsavory heritage series, Tessa, Cissy Bess, Cissy, Cissy Character Interview, One Mother, Two Daughters One Favorite One Not, Where Were the Adoption Papers, Can the Lie be Undone, #newbooklaunch, Prodigy, Precocious, Twin Sisters, Yellow Linen Dress, Intuitive, Sonatinas, Muzio Clementi, Be Thou My Vision

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BLOG BLITZ – Thursday 29 September 2016 – CHARACTER INTERVIEW – CLARA

The month of September is a special time for me:

my THIRD novel and sequel to

the final in the unsavory heritage series,

will be available 30 on September Amazon

WHEEEEE!!!!!

 

 

CHARACTER INTERVIEW – CLARA

 

 

rem: Good afternoon, Clara. Thank you for visiting today.

Clara: Good afternoon, Ms. Mason.  Thank you for inviting me.

rem:  Please, call me Robin.

Clara:  Thank you… Robin. It’s lovely to be here.

rem:  You look lovely today, Clara. That’s your favorite dress isn’t it?

Clara: [blushes] My yellow linen. It is yes, thank you. I love it so because it was the one Ciss…  Cissy loved it, too.

rem:  I know you miss her.

Clara:  I truly do, most deeply, Ms… Robin. I truly do. Terribly. Not a day goes by I don’t think of her.

rem: She had such a tragic life.

Clara: It was such a waste. Those horrible words—and that horrid woman.

rem: You knew what happened?

Clara: Mama told me. Much later of course, when Bess was grown.

rem:  You know she struggled, fought against it?

Clara:  Yes. I know she did. She fought valiantly.

rem:  What was it like for you? When you were little?

Clara: [smiles] When we were little we  …  It was as if we were one person. We understood one another, spoke a secret sort of language.  I remember… even as a baby, we could “talk.”  Mama would come in after our nap—well, after my nap. Cissy never did sleep as much as I. We would be chattering away in our room, and Mama would coo and giggle at us. But we weren’t just making noise. I don’t know how I know that, but I surely do.

rem: I’ve heard that about twins.  There’s a bond, a connection.

Clara:  It never did go away. Even when she… even when she became so…

rem: It’s okay, Clara. I know this isn’t easy.

Clara:  Oh, Robin, Cissy was such a lovely girl, sweet and tender, thoughtful of others. And so smart. Why, I never could keep pace with her in our studies, not even after she… changed.

rem:  She was a true prodigy.

Clara: Indeed she was.

rem:  I understand you blamed yourself for what happened.

Clara: Later, yes, when I was older. I struggled with so many emotions. I was hurt and confused. When it first happened—we were so little still, not yet five—I was mad. She wouldn’t speak to me anymore, she wouldn’t play our favorite duets or read with me. She hid away and stayed there for days.

rem: That had  to hurt.

Clara: Deeply.   It broke my heart. I didn’t understand what was happening any more than she did. I thought she was just being mean.

rem: But Cissy never was mean before, was she.

Clara: Wel… no. She never was mean before that.

rem:  How did you accept it? How Cissy had changed.

Clara: I never did truly accept it. I tried to ignore it—I’m sure that hurt her deeply. I think she knew early on that I would always be by her side, but when we were eight or ten, I was so confused. I didn’t know what to do or how to act—so I didn’t. I acted like there was nothing wrong, like it was the way it always had been. Like it was how it was supposed to be. I fear I wounded her further…

[pause]

rem: What of Virgil?

Clara:  I wonder sometimes if not for Virgil, if Ciss and I would have ever made peace. If she might have come back to us…

rem: But she did come back, after your afternoon together. When you sought her out, remember? It wasn’t Virgil that drove her away—

Clara:  —it was that awful Rupert! OH! If ever I was going to hate a man it would be him.

rem: He died soon after, didn’t he?

Clara: He did and I must confess I did not grieve his death. Truly I felt he deserved it.

rem: It was a pretty gruesome death, too, wasn’t it?

Clara:  Very much so. I don’t reckon anyone really knew what happened. [pause] But I do.

rem: Did Cissy tell you?

Clara: She didn’t have to. When I heard what happened, I… knew.  She didn’t do it—well, he was mauled by wolves and wildcats.

rem: Some say it was a bear.

Clara: [shakes head] No. It was wolves and wildcats. I don’t know how I know that.

rem: What a horrible way to die.

Clara:  I’m sure it was. But I can’t say I’m sorry. Lord forgive me, but he deserved it.

rem: I’m so sorry, Clara. Honestly, I feel the same way. And Cissy was more tormented after that…

Clara: [weeping]

rem: Clara, I’m sorry. Tell me about Bess.

Clara: [sniffles] She was such a delightful little girl—so much like Cissy was when she was little.  It was almost as if I had Cissy back.

rem:  That had to be a mixed blessing.

Clara: I reckon it was, bittersweet. I only wish Cissy could have watched her grow up. I wondered if it might have brought her back to us again…

rem:  Possibly. I never thought about that.

Clara: I was honored to be her mother in Cissy’s stead. I loved being a mother, and later a granny. Bessie sure did make us proud. And then she became famous, making her wonderful lovely quilts like she did.

rem: You had some at the house, didn’t you?

Clara: I kept her early ones, yes. And she made new ones just for me, or Sylvia over the years. My favorite one, though, was the pink rosebuds she made for Mama. She hated pink as much as Cissy ever did but she made this one ‘specially for her Granmama’s birthday.

rem: What a treasure.

Clara: I cherished it always.

rem: Clara, it’s been a pleasure having you visit the blog today.

Clara: It was an honor to be here today, Robin.

rem: You’ll both always be in my heart—and my head.

 

 

If you haven’t already, be sure to stop by and like my Facebook page, my author page on Amazon, follow me on Twitter, on my blog!  Please leave me a comment, let me know you’re here!

 

 

 

“I once said I should write down all the story ideas in my head so someone could write them someday. I had no idea at the time that someone was me!

 

I have been writing since 1995, and began working in earnest on my debut novel, Tessa in 2013.  Meanwhile, I cranked out a few dozen poems, made countless notes for story ideas, and earned my BFA in Interior Design.  I lived with depression for many years, and the inherent feelings of worthlessness and invisibility; I didn’t want to be who I was and struggled with my own identity for many years.  My characters face many of these same demons.

 

I write stories of identity conflict. My characters encounter situations that force the question, “Who am I, really?” For all who have ever wondered who you are or why you’re here, my stories will touch you in a very real—maybe too real—and a very deep way. I know, I write from experience.

 

The unsavory heritage series. Tessa, Clara Bess and Cissy, is available on Amazon, both for Kindle and in print. I also have several poems included in an anthology, Where Dreams and Visions Live (Anthologies of the Heart Book 1) by Mary Blowersas well as a short story, Sarafina’s Light, also in an anthology, Blood Moon, compiled by Mary Blowers. I will also be working on a personal compilation of poetry to be released in 2017.

 

http://www.robinemason.com

https://robinsnest212.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robin-E-Mason-Author-Artist/224223274404877

http://www.amazon.com/Robin-E.-Mason/e/B00MR5IQ9S

https://twitter.com/amythyst212

http://www.pinterest.com/amythyst212/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7808042.Robin_E_Mason

robinemason212@gmail.com.

https://writingpromptsthoughtsideas.wordpress.com/

 

 

CISSY LAUNCH PARTY, unsavory heritage series, Tessa, Clara Bess, Cissy, Clara Character Interview, One Mother, Two Daughters One Favorite One Not, Where Were the Adoption Papers, #newbooklaunch, Twin Connection, Prodigy, Yellow Linen, Pink Rosebuds

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BLOGWORDS SPECIAL EDITION – Wednesday 28 September 2016 – CISSY’S POEMS

The month of September is a special time for me:

my THIRD novel and sequel to

the final in the unsavory heritage series,

will be available 30 on September Amazon

WHEEEEE!!!!!

 

SPECIAL EDITION

CISSY’S POEMS

 

 

Cissy was a prodigy.  She had a high IQ and a photographic memory. Cissy was precocious, and learned easily and readily, and she learned at an early age. She was reading at the age of three, and reciting Scripture and poetry—from memory—and writing her own verses.

 

 

Ephesians 6:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

 

i am but darkness

from without

and from within

the shadows black

they swallow me

my soul is darker still

shadows deep

from which i seek

the grip upon my soul

they follow me

the eyes they see

in darkness drink my fill

ccc 1881

 

it crouches in the dark

it waits for me

it consumes me

it watches me

red eyes

sees me

red eyes

cuts me

red eyes

burns me

it wants me

i cain’t escape

ccc 1881

 

it watches me

it wants me

it waits for me

it hunts me

there is no escape

i am evil

there is not escape

the flame the flame

it taunts me

it torments me

its tongue

licks my hand

the red eyes

laugh at me

i am evil

there is no escape

ccc 1881

 

 

nothing but dark

do i see

nothing but dar

inside of me

they are the Light

clara is the Light

the Light burns me

i  am dark

nothing but dark

in me

ccc 1881

 

 

Say Not the Struggle Nought Availeth ¹

by Arthur Hugh Clough (1819 – 1861)

 

Say not, the struggle nought availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been, things remain;

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e’en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.

For while the tired waves vainly breaking
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light,
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
But westward, look, the land is bright.

 

Romans 12:21 King James Version (KJV)

²¹ Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Ecclesiastes 3 King James Version (KJV)

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

¹¹ He hath made everything beautiful in his time.

 

1 John 4:4 King James Version (KJV)

⁴ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

FOOTNOTES:

Poem found in

¹   A Treasury of Christian Poetry, compiled by Mary Batchelor, published by Gramercy Books, New York, 2004.

** The quoted poems was found online on a public domain site.

 

 

CISSY LAUNCH PARTY, unsavory heritage series, Tessa, Clara Bess, Cissy, Blogwords, Special Edition, Cissy’s Poems, Poetry, One Mother, Two Daughters One Favorite One Not, Where Were the Adoption Papers, #NewBookLaunch,  Good versus Evil, Romans 12:21, Ecclesiastes 3:11, I John 4:4

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BLOG BLITZ – Tuesday 6 September 2016 – BOOK REVIEW – ABOARD PROVIDENCE

The month of September is a special time for me:

my THIRD novel and sequel to

the final in the unsavory heritage series,

will be available 30 on September Amazon

WHEEEEE!!!!!

 

 

BOOK REVIEW – ABOARD PROVIDENCE

 

 

 

 

The Land is primitive and simple. And uninhabited.

 

In 1860, seven generations ago, eight families left their home in Accomack County, Virginia, setting sail for South America to start a new civilization. One that was actually civilized. With a tempest brewing in the States, and war threatening to break out, the founders wanted a better life for their families.

 

Jonah Ashton, son of Doctor Joseph Ashton, is but a few weeks away from completing his medical degree in Pennsylvania when he receives word from his father that they are leaving. Jonah has no plans to join his family on their venture, but when his father is injured, Jonah sails with them as the ship’s doctor, fully intent on returning once they reach their destination.

 

Jonah does not count on falling in love. Nor does he figure on crossing into uncharted—and unchartable—waters.

 

Tensions rise, and love blooms, as the ship lists under cloudy skies. The trip that was expected to take but a few weeks stretches into several months. Angst plagues Jonah as his degree and his plans and goals drift further from his grasp.

 

Can he embrace the new vision? Can he accept his role in the new land, and serve as doctor in the new community alongside his father? Will love prevail and allow him to marry the woman of his dreams?

 

 

 

Having read the original books in this series, I enjoyed reading the origins of the settlers in The Land, and meeting the ancestors of the people (characters) I previously met. I enjoyed learning why the founding families left their homes, and how they arrived in their new destination.

Aboard Providence maintains the integrity of the original stories; Ms. Keith’s storytelling is consistent and authentic as the throughout. There was no disconnect to them.

I felt Jonah’s conflict—and no small sense of frustration with him for his eagerness to leave his family behind. I melted with him, though, as his heart softens toward Marian Foster. I felt subtle waves of seasickness as the weeks grew into months. Rising despair of ever finding land was palpable, and cruel. Aboard Providence draws to a satisfying conclusion, leaving the reader with a sense of satisfaction, knowing the characters are establishing the ground for the series.

 

Take a minute to check out my reviews on Ms. Keith’s other books in the series:

 

https://robinsnest212.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/welcome-to-my-party-book-review-4/

https://robinsnest212.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/book-review-uncharted-redemption/

https://robinsnest212.wordpress.com/2015/05/19/book-review-uncharted-inheritance-by-keely-brooke-keith/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keely Brooke Keith is the author of the Uncharted series (Edenbrooke Press) and Aboard Providence (CrossRiver Media). Her novels are known for blending genres in unconventional ways. When she isn’t writing stories, Keely enjoys playing bass guitar, preparing homeschool lessons, and collecting antique textbooks.

Keely resides with her husband and their daughter on a hilltop south of Nashville where she dreams up stories, hoping to encourage, comfort, and inspire readers. She is a member of ACFW.

 

 

 

 

 

http://keelykeith.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Keely-Brooke-Keith/e/B00MWGGTR8/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1474405160&sr=1-2-ent

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Keely-Brooke-Keith/745210588824158

https://twitter.com/Keely_keith

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8475319.Keely_Brooke_Keith

 

 

 

CISSY LAUNCH PARTY, unsavory heritage series, Tessa, Clara Bess, Cissy, One Mother, Two Daughters One Favorite One Not, Where Were the Adoption Papers, #newbooklaunch, Aboard Providence, Tuesday Review-Day, Book Review, Keely Brooke Keith, The Land Uncharted, Uncharted Redemption, Uncharted Inheritance

 

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BLOG BLITZ – GUEST POST – Monday 26 September 2016 – PAT KRUGEL

The month of September is a special time for me:

my THIRD novel and sequel to

the final in the unsavory heritage series,

will be available 30 on September Amazon

WHEEEEE!!!!!

 

 

 

GUEST POST – PAT KRUGEL

 

Root Bound

 

Sometime after my mother had passed, I grew interested in finding our family roots. Thanks to her repetitive discussions about family members, and the stories surrounding them, names got lodged in my memory. Some I had met and some I knew only through her discussions. Mom had a story associated with just about every person directly or indirectly related to her.

 

 

My desire to know who and where I descended from surfaced after a sister started digging around, with some success, in our paternal line. She found interesting tidbits of history. Even legitimized some parts of family legends I now blush over having repeated. However, that only scratched the surface of the many questions she had no answer for. Knowledge about a grandfather was no longer enough for me. I just had to dig out information on his father as well.

 

Like many others who start their unknown journey on that hallowed genealogical path, I didn’t know where to begin. I started raking over my memory in an attempt to recall anything on relatives. Then I had long discussions with various family members, gleaning a few more details.

I knew some of our line from childhood, such as Great Uncle Doc, who was my paternal grandmother’s brother. It was that grandmother’s father-in-law, my great-grandfather, I really wanted information on. He had fallen by the wayside, covered up and forever lost by the shadows of time—or so it seemed.

 

I returned to that southern county my family tree was rooted in, spending time refreshing connections with cousins. I chased down information on my grandparents. The last one had died, my paternal grandmother, by my eighth birthday. From that, I gleaned a grain of what I needed to move back into the past. My work was difficult, tedious, and came with a bucket load of frustration. But I persisted, gaining a little here, a partial bit there, to eventually uncover most of my family’s roots.

 

The first productive act I undertook was signing up on my birth county’s genealogical website. I actively participated in emails that went back and forth among the group, as we all looked for those elusive members in our ancestral lines.

After discovering the value of the census, I found several ancestors while working my way through the 1850 census. An important thing I learned was the census divided counties into enumeration districts, and in rural areas, at least in Tennessee, I found the county divides them into ‘civil district numbers’. What this meant was I could find many of my family if I knew what district number they had resided in.

 

 

A few times in the 1880 census, I found other ancestors not far from the one I sought, 4 or 5 lines down or on the next page. Finding their general neighborhood, I hit the mother lode. In at least one instance that included uncovering as many as four different family lines in one district.

That paternal great-grandfather was the big headache for me—my “brick wall”. I looked for him constantly with no success. Even after I discovered and had documentation on many in my lines, I knew that genealogical bug still gnawed at me when all my finds didn’t satisfy. The unknown out there still kept me searching.

I’ll give an example of that. After putting out inquires for this great-grandfather on the county website, another member forwarded me an excerpt from legal decisions made in a late 1800’s court document. This person had the right surname, and the first name was William, also correct. The only problem was, there were several Williams with my ancestor’s last name in that county at the same time.

I searched several years without success. Then my husband and I started researching at an LDS family history center. Along with available marriage records and other items, I found a microfilm with an item referencing that excerpt previously sent to me, from Chancery Court minutes. Could this be my William?

The LDS center sent for that roll and, scrolling through it, I found the court document, including an official drawing of the division of land his widow had received.

I went on the Tennessee State Library and Archives website and found early county records that could be loaned to a public library for viewing. The microfilm rolls were sent to our closest library for me to view. I found records of that great-grandfather’s purchases at estate sales of others and then a later estate sale where his possessions were sold off after his death.

That excerpt of my great-grandfather took me back again to my birth county. There, one evening during a meeting, the genealogical society broke out the good stuff preserved in a bank vault. With the information I had, they traced the original court records and furnished me with a copy of pages of legal disputes starting shortly after my great-grandfather’s accidental death. This ran from before the Civil War, to finally settle in my great-grandmother’s favor years later.

These tools made my search successful: joining an online genealogical group in the county of my birth (their historical society, too, receiving the almost priceless quarterlies); scouring all the U.S. censuses; joining Ancestry.com; using Family Search online; and going to a local Family History Library. I also requested military records through the National Archives.

I used too many sources to list them all, but here is one that really worked for me. Sending off for my grandfather’s death certificate, as well as his brother’s, gave me the middle initial that separated my William from the others. That initial that told me I had found the right man.

After the brick wall fell, and I was no longer Root bound, I discovered something more precious than my genealogy. Something I really wanted to click my southern heels together, about.

All my lines had at least one God-fearing preacher among them.

 

 

 

 

 

CISSY LAUNCH PARTY, unsavory heritage series, Tessa, Clara Bess, Cissy, One Mother, Two Daughters One Favorite One Not, Where Were the Adoption Papers, #newbooklaunch, Guest Post, Pat Krugel, Root Bound

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BLOG BLITZ – Sunday 4 September 2016 – FRONT PORCH FELLOWSHIP – ARMOR of GOD

The month of September is a special time for me:

my THIRD novel and sequel to

the final in the unsavory heritage series,

will be available 30 on September Amazon

WHEEEEE!!!!!

 

FRONT PORCH FELLOWSHIP

ARMOR of GOD

 

Cissy was an innocent little girl, not yet five years old. She heard words condemning her.  And not knowing to fight against it, not being equipped to fight against it, she didn’t. She lived it out. She believed the lie: she was evil.

 

 

Although not in this order, I believe there is significant to the order in which the implements of armor is listed.

• First there’s the helmet of salvation; salvation is the portal, if you will, into the Kingdom of God. The battlefield is the mind, and once that battle is won, we guard it dearly with the helmet.
• The breastplate of righteousness comes next. Once we enter salvation, we are made righteous. And it is our breastplate against fiery darts and attacks of the enemy. It covers our heart for a reason.
• The belt of Truth. Father’s Truth is how we grow in Him, and in our identity. His Word if food to our spirit just as meat is to our flesh.
• The shoes of the peace of the Gospel. As we gain our identity, peace reigns. And it becomes a powerful weapon wielded by a Child of God. Being bound about our feet, it conquers every step we take, and the land we walk upon.
• The shield of faith. Ah! Faith. Without faith the rest of our armor is less effective. Notice it is the first piece not worn, but carried. It enables us to deflect incoming arrows and attacks from any angle.
• And finally, the Sword which is the Word of the Spirit. It is the written Word as recorded in the Bible. Each of the other pieces of armor, even the shield, is defensive in nature. Protective of our heart, our mind, our spirit. But the Sword! It is an offensive weapon, wielded in forward attacks against the enemy. It is strength and power such as this world does not possess.

 

 

 

Cissy is a fictional story, with fictional people and fictional scenarios.  Well, fictional specifics. But the principle remains. Evil words will come against us as fiery arrows of the enemy, and without our armor, the Word of God, we cannot stand against the onslaught.

 

 

Gird yourself, then, with this mighty gift Father has provided. Be strong, stand against the enemy. And defeat him.

 

This is why I write my stories, this is why Father has taught me the weight of our words, for good or evil. To teach and share what I have learned. To set the captive free as surely as He has set me free.

 

Freely has the Word been given unto me, freely I give.

 

 

 

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BLOG BLITZ – Saturday 24 September 2016 – BOOK EXCERPT

The month of September is a special time for me:

my THIRD novel and sequel to

the final in the unsavory heritage series,

will be available 30 on September Amazon

WHEEEEE!!!!!

 

 

 

EXCERPT

2015

 

            Caty held Saundra’s kitchen knife, studying the blade as the glare from the attic bulb glanced harshly in her eyes. She held it against her skin, cool and solid, and drew it across without penetrating her flesh.

She pressed, applied pressure in micro increments till tiny droplets of blood greeted her. Caty closed her eyes and forced the blade deeper.

Cissy, can you hear me?

 

Caty wasn’t sure she liked the cutting after all. She only drew the blade once, and it was barely more than a paper cut, but it smarted every time she moved, her dress or her shorts rubbing against it. She plied it with triple-antibiotic ointment but it just got rubbed off, and there wasn’t a Band-Aid big enough to cover the whole four inches.

Cissy, how did you stand it?

Caty decided not to try that again, couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to. As connected as she felt to Cissy, and as troubled as she was beginning to be because of it, she did not know the depth of internal torment Cissy had known.

Instead, Caty found her release in her paintings. The dark images of her music matched Cissy’s shadow-scapes, Drown and Avalanche and We’re In This Together. Trees, dead and barren, hills with wildflower stalks beheaded of their colorful blooms. Putting a modern day twist to the theme, Caty drew and painted polluted rivers, cigarette butts and beer cans along the shore, scrawny, skin-and-bone dogs scavenging through piles of refuse, flies storming the carcasses littering roadways.

>>> <<<

Caty did not want to attend the family reunion this year. While she longed to learn more of Cissy, to see her in her own element, to uncover more of Cissy’s writings and artwork, Caty didn’t want to see Macy.

It was just a game to Macy, like a real-life movie. And she was growing bored with it. She lived close enough she could continue their investigation any time she wanted, but chose not to.

Instead, Macy chose to direct her investigation to Talon Peters. She studied his sea green eyes, and his short curly brown hair, his angular jaw that showed a days’ stubble every day. At nineteen to Macy’s seventeen, and six-foot-four to Macy’s five-foot-six, he powered over her.

But he was a gentle giant, and a gentleman. He was courting Macy honorably, and quite seriously. Talon had even asked her pa, Eddie, permission to date her.

He was studying Criminal Justice at Tech, taking classes online, and commuting the 100 miles to Roanoke twice a week for labs.

But rather than be happy for her friend, Caty had no patience for Macy’s lack of interest in their joint venture.

 

Caty approached the reunion with the brakes on, apprehension at all the people she knew would be there, congenial, laughing people. People who would want to talk to her and ask how she was recovering from her accident. Even though the cast was long gone from her arm, and the stem cell treatment they did left her with virtually no scars on her face.

Her hair, though, remained the one evidence of her fall; having had to shave it on the one side, as it grew out she had no choice but to cut it all so it would be even.

I’m sorry, Cissy, about my hair. Caty walked through the meadow as she imagined Cissy had done. I didn’t have a choice.

Caty headed toward the towering rock face several yards ahead. New homes had been built, encroaching on Old Man Darby’s Meadow, but much of it had been declared a park area, and had been preserved as it had been when Cissy walked there.

Come to me.

Caty stopped dead in her tracks. Had Cissy just spoken to her?

Cissy?

Follow me.

Caty’s throat was suddenly dry. She tried to swallow but couldn’t. Her breaths became shallow and gulped, her eyes dilated, her pulse quickened.

Without realizing she was moving, one foot moved, then the other. She was climbing through the twisted branches and shroud of leaves, up the mossy stone steps; she knew the way, knew where she was going. Everything seemed familiar even as her eyes beheld it for the first time.

When she arrived, she knew where she was. Cissy’s cave.

 

END  SCENE

 

 

 

 

If you haven’t already, be sure to stop by and like my Facebook page, my author page on Amazon, follow me on Twitter, on my blog!  Please leave me a comment, let me know you’re here!

 

 

“I once said I should write down all the story ideas in my head so someone could write them someday. I had no idea at the time that someone was me!

 

I have been writing since 1995, and began working in earnest on my debut novel, Tessa in 2013.  Meanwhile, I cranked out a few dozen poems, and made countless notes for story ideas.  I lived with depression for many years, and the inherent feelings of worthlessness and invisibility; I didn’t want to be who I was and struggled with my own identity for many years.  My characters face many of these same demons.

 

I write stories of identity conflict. My characters encounter situations that force the question, “Who am I, really?” For all who have ever wondered who you are or why you’re here, my stories will touch you in a very real—maybe too real—and a very deep way. I know, I write from experience.

 

Tessa and Clara Bess are available on Amazon, both for Kindle and in print, with the third book in the series, Cissy, coming out in September of this year.   I also have several poems included in an anthology, Where Dreams and Visions Live (Anthologies of the Heart Book 1) by Mary Blowers, http://maryblowers.com, as well as a short story, Sarafina’s Light, also in an anthology, Blood Moon, compiled by Mary Blowers. I will also be working on a personal compilation of poetry to be released in 2016 as well.

 

 

http://www.robinemason.com

https://robinsnest212.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robin-E-Mason-Author-Artist/224223274404877

http://www.amazon.com/Robin-E.-Mason/e/B00MR5IQ9S

https://twitter.com/amythyst212

http://www.pinterest.com/amythyst212/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7808042.Robin_E_Mason

robinemason212@gmail.com.

https://writingpromptsthoughtsideas.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

CISSY LAUNCH PARTY, unsavory heritage series, Tessa, Clara Bess, Cissy, Book Excerpt, One Mother, Two Daughters One Favorite One Not, Where Were the Adoption Papers, #newbooklaunch

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BLOG BLITZ – Thursday 22 September 2016 – CHARACTER INTERVIEW – TESSA (postponed)

BLOG BLITZ  – Thursday 22 September 2016 – CHARACTER INTERVIEW – TESSA

The month of September is a special time for me:

my THIRD novel and sequel to

the final in the unsavory heritage series,

will be available 30 on September Amazon

WHEEEEE!!!!!

 

This is a combo post, due to yesterday not happening.

I had the interview already rolling in my head, it was just a matter of writing it out. Which I was not able to do yesterday.

 

 

But I also want to at least give mention to my intended post for the 23^rd. And that is twins and myths and old wives tales. The whole premise of Cissy is based on an old wives tale I heard once. When or where or in what context I heard it, I could not begin to say. Nor could I find the first iota of mention of it in my research.

 

 

What I did find about twins in mythology is interesting, and fun. As a matter of fact, the first one  listed occurs in Cissy!  wink wink

 

 

I’ve blogged several times about twins and my fascination with them.  Twins, and identical features, and identity plays heavily in the unsavory heritage series. And it begins with Cissy.

 

 

 

CHARACTER INTERVIEW – TESSA

 

rem: Good afternoon, Tessa. So good to have you back on the blog.

Tessa: Thanks, Robin. I enjoy being here. I see you’ve been busy.

rem: Indeed I have!  And you started it, ma’am.

Tessa:  [laughs]

rem: Why do you think the story started with you?

Tessa:  Oh, wow. I  guess I never thought about that.

rem: That’s what they pay me the big bucks for, right!  I wish!

Tessa: You’re so funny. But seriously, now that you ask, maybe it’s because my birthday is exactly 100 years after Cissy’s.

rem: Oh! That’s right. Sad it still took another fifty years to hear her.

Tessa:  Fifty-five, really.

rem: This is true. What was it like, watching it all unfold?

Tessa:  Surreal. Almost spooky. I mean, I knew growing up that Mom and I were identical. Then of course, Connie…

rem:   I know, Tessa. I’m so sorry.

Tessa:  [nods] Connie and I were identical.

rem: Tessa, I know this is hard for you.

Tessa:  I miss her, Robin. I wish she could have been part of this, the reunion. The whole family thing.

rem: Callie represented her well, though.

Tessa:  Callie broke away. She got away from it.

rem:  Only partly.

Tessa: Yeah, that’s true.

rem: She’s still who she is, still Connie’s daughter.

Tessa: I’m just glad Melody didn’t hide the truth from her when she asked about her birth mom.

rem: Me too. Melody’s good people.

Tessa: Melody’s family. [laughs]

rem:  She really is, isn’t she? You didn’t know any family history, then, other than Sunset Valley, did you?

Tessa:  No, I didn’t. Mom never spoke of her mother, let alone her father. I found old photo albums and asked her about them. She only told me her mother’s name, nothing else.  It was when I had bought the house in Sunset Valley and found stuff—a lot of junk, too—that they had left in the attic. We weren’t speaking much then.

rem:  I remember. She was wrapped up in the Barclay family.

Tessa: Oh my gosh, yes! The Bales, too. They were her family. She acted like her real parents never existed.

rem: That’s so sad.

Tessa:  I think she missed her mom, though.

rem: She did, Tessa. She did.

Tessa: I mean she was only ten when her mother died. And her dad, from what I understand he was a real work.

rem:  So how did you learn of all this? The Cissy heritage I mean.

Tessa: Saundra came to me with some… really weird questions. People can be so…

rem: Misguided.

Tessa: Yes. Deceived. It was horrible. And so sad.

rem:   At Thanksgiving, you knew pretty much what Saundra and Caty had to say, right?

Tessa: Oh, yes. Saundra told me what they had planned. We prayed about it together beforehand.

rem:   I know you have to be proud of Caty.

Tessa:  Of course! I hate she struggled with all of this. I’m really torn.  I feel honored that she was the one Cissy apparently chose to reveal herself to.

rem: Do you think it was more that Caty was sensitive to it?

Tessa: [nods] Oh, yeah. I see what you mean. Everything Cissy did, that she left behind had been there the whole time.

rem: Anyone could have found it.

Tessa: If the wrong person found it, though, it might have been destroyed.

rem: That would have been awful.

Tessa: It would have been a shame.

[pause]

Tessa: You’re right though, our Caty always has been a sensitive little girl. Well, young lady now. I can’t believe how fast she’s growing up.

rem:  She is so much like Cissy was. And I mean beyond the obvious.

Tessa: I think you’re right. I guess that’s why she connected so easily with her.

rem: What do you think of the twins?

Tessa: Which ones?

rem: I know right!

Tessa: You mean Sydney and Marni, though, don’t you?

rem:  [winks]

Tessa:  I think it’s important that one of them is from the New York branch of the family, and one is from West Virginia. Although, I guess Char and Rob live in Virginia, not West Virginia.

rem:   That’s a good point, Tessa. They represented the two branches…

Tessa: … and that unified the two.

rem: Or strengthened the connection.

Tessa: Yeah, strengthened is a better word. It solidified what was already started.

rem: Tessa, you’re story was a powerful one. Can you comment on that before we go?

Tessa:  Don’t ever be ashamed of who you are. Don’t ever, for anyone, hide your true self. Know your true self, and shine like God made you to be.

rem: That’s some wisdom right there. Thank you, Tessa, for coming back to visit today.

Tessa: Always good to be here, Robin.

rem: You’ll always be in my heart—and my head.

 

 

 

If you haven’t already, be sure to stop by and like my Facebook page, my author page on Amazon, follow me on Twitter, on my blog!  Please leave me a comment, let me know you’re here!

 

 

“I once said I should write down all the story ideas in my head so someone could write them someday. I had no idea at the time that someone was me!

 

I have been writing since 1995, and began working in earnest on my debut novel, Tessa in 2013.  Meanwhile, I cranked out a few dozen poems, made countless notes for story ideas, and earned my BFA in Interior Design.  I lived with depression for many years, and the inherent feelings of worthlessness and invisibility; I didn’t want to be who I was and struggled with my own identity for many years.  My characters face many of these same demons.

 

I write stories of identity conflict. My characters encounter situations that force the question, “Who am I, really?” For all who have ever wondered who you are or why you’re here, my stories will touch you in a very real—maybe too real—and a very deep way. I know, I write from experience.

 

I have three novels published, the unsavory heritage series. Tessa, Clara Bess and Cissy are available on Amazon, both for Kindle and in print. I also have several poems included in an anthology, Where Dreams and Visions Live (Anthologies of the Heart Book 1) by Mary Blowersas well as a short story, Sarafina’s Light, also in an anthology, Blood Moon, compiled by Mary Blowers. I will also be working on a personal compilation of poetry to be released in 2017.

 

 

http://www.robinemason.com

https://robinsnest212.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robin-E-Mason-Author-Artist/224223274404877

http://www.amazon.com/Robin-E.-Mason/e/B00MR5IQ9S

https://twitter.com/amythyst212

http://www.pinterest.com/amythyst212/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7808042.Robin_E_Mason

robinemason212@gmail.com.

https://writingpromptsthoughtsideas.wordpress.com/

 

 

CISSY LAUNCH PARTY, unsavory heritage series, Tessa, Clara Bess, Cissy, Tessa Character Interview, One Mother, Two Daughters One Favorite One Not, Where Were the Adoption Papers, #newbooklaunch, Twins in Mythology, Old Wives Tales

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BLOG BLITZ – Thursday 22 September 2016 – AUTHOR DOWN

The month of September is a special time for me:

my THIRD novel and sequel to

the final in the unsavory heritage series,

will be available 30 on September Amazon

WHEEEEE!!!!!

 

 

CHARACTER INTERVIEW – TESSA

 

 

 

CISSY LAUNCH PARTY, unsavory heritage series, Tessa, Clara Bess, Cissy, Tessa Character Interview, One Mother, Two Daughters One Favorite One Not, Where Were the Adoption Papers, #newbooklaunch

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BLOGWORDS SPECIAL EDITION – Wednesday 21 September 2016 – CISSY’S POEMS

The month of September is a special time for me:

my THIRD novel and sequel to

the final in the unsavory heritage series,

will be available 30 on September Amazon

WHEEEEE!!!!!

 

SPECIAL EDITION

CISSY’S POEMS

 

 

Cissy was a prodigy.  She had a high IQ and a photographic memory. Cissy was precocious, and learned easily and readily, and she learned at an early age. She was reading at the age of three, and reciting Scripture and poetry—from memory—and writing her own verses.

 

 

Psalm 91 King James Version (KJV)

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

² I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

³ Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

⁴ He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

⁵ Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

⁶ Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

⁷ A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

⁸ Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

⁹ Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

¹⁰ There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

¹¹ For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

¹² They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

¹³ Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

¹⁴ Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

¹⁵ He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

¹⁶ With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

No Coming to God without Christ

by Robert Herrick (1591 – 1674)

Good and great God! How sho’d I feare
To come to Thee, if Christ not there!
Co’d I but think, He would not be
Present, to plead my cause for me;
To Hell I’d rather run, then I
Wo’d see Thy Face, and He not by.

Piers Plowman, Passus I

William Langland (1332 – 1386)

Lucifer with his legions learned it in Heaven,
But because he obeyed not his bliss he did lose,
And fell from that fellowship in a fiend’s likeness
Into a deep dark hell to dwell there for ever;
And more thousands with him than man could number

Leapt out with Lucifer in loathly form:
For they believed in him that lied in this manner —

            Ponam pedem in alquilone, et similis ero altissimo.

And all that hoped it might be so no Heaven might hold them;
They fell out in fiend’s likeness nine days together,
Till God of his goodness steadied and stayed
Made the heavens to be shut and stand so in quiet.

‘When these wicked went out wonderwise they fell;
Some in air, some in earth and some in deep hell;
But Lucifer lowest lieth of them all.
For the pride he put on his pain hath no end;
And all that work wrong wander they shall
After their death day and dwell with that wretch.
But those that work well as holy writ telleth,
And end, as I have said in truth, that is best,
May be sure that their soul shall wend to Heaven,
Where Truth is in Trinity and enthroneth them all.
Therefore I say, as I said in sight of these texts,
When all treasures are tried Truth is the best.
Learn these unlearned for lettered men know it,
That Truth is treasure the best tried on earth.’

 

 

From: Paradise Lost

John Milton (1608 – 1674)

 

Th’ infernal Serpent; he it was whose guile,
Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived
The mother of mankind, what time his pride
Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host
Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring
To set himself in glory above his peers,
He trusted to have equalled the Most High,
If he opposed, and with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God,
Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud,
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from th’ ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy th’ Omnipotent to arms.
Nine times the space that measures day and night
To mortal men, he, with his horrid crew,
Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf,
Confounded, though immortal. But his doom
Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain
Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes,
That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,
Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate.
At once, as far as Angels ken, he views
The dismal situation waste and wild.
A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,
As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames
No light; but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all, but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
 

 

they dont want me

none of them do

amos dont want me

he telled me so

caleb dont want me

he sayed untrue

virgil dont want me

but he dont know

he’ll have me

clara must go

clara must go

clara must go

clara must die

   ccc  1880

 

its dark

its cold

but i dont know

i neither

see nor feel

its silent too

and quivering still

but I dont hear

the noise in my head

the dissonant voices

the rumble of hell

   ccc 1880

 

 

FOOTNOTES:

Poems found in

¹  The Magic Garden of My Book House, edited by Olive Beaupré Miller, Published by The Book House for Children, Chicago, 1920

²   A Treasury of Christian Poetry, compiled by Mary Batchelor, published by Gramercy Books, New York, 2004.

** All quoted poems were found online on public domain sites.

 

 

CISSY LAUNCH PARTY, unsavory heritage series, Tessa, Clara Bess, Cissy, Blogwords, Special Edition, Cissy’s Poems, Poetry, One Mother, Two Daughters One Favorite One Not, Where Were the Adoption Papers, #NewBookLaunch, Psalm 91

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