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Friday, May 1, 2015

It All Began and a Giveaway!

A lovely morning to all you Faithful Friday Fiction Fans!
The sun is coming up and the birds are singing. The flowers are blooming and the trees are covered in their summer dress of green! (Of course it's not summer yet, but . . .) That Cardinal outside is having a wonderful time singing.

Well, today has arrived. And it's time for a party! Do you like parties? I was going to do this party last week since my birthday was last week, but I was out of town and didn't have a chance to get it ready. But now it's here.

And this news just arrived hot off the press (or from an e-mail I should say). My book "The Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Strangers" is now available on audio! You can get a copy from Audible. If I knew how to give you a sample to listen to right here, I would. But if you click on the Audible link above, you can listen to a sample of the perfect reader for this story!

I decided to do a giveaway for my birthday and I hope you will enter. This is open to those in the US and Canada.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


For those of you who may have wondered when and where and why I started writing, here is a bit of information. As I have mentioned before, I hated writing when I was in school. It was terrible! I remember crying because I had to write a few sentences. It wasn't until after I had graduated that I discovered just how much fun writing could be and it wasn't long before I fell in love with it. Now I can't seem to get enough writing done. :)
These two letters you are about to read (if you keep reading this post), are the very first "letters" which got me started as an author. They were to two friends and these letters were just for fun. They each wrote me back and soon we had families created and were enjoying our "pretend" letters. As you may notice, these were extremely short letters, but this is how I got my start.

 My Dearest Elizabeth,
    I am writing to tell you if the wonderful vacation I am having. I got to see General George Washington himself! It happened this way. My Aunt Grace, cousins Lee and Annah, and I were walking in the park one day when a horseman rode by. Cousin Lee saluted. He then told us that it was General Washington. And he ought to know because he was in the army.
    Elizabeth dear, are you coming to Boston soon? Aunt Grace and cousin Annah would be very glad to see you. And you won’t have to worry about the British soldiers because the war is over. Do come if you can.
    Well, Uncle James is calling me to come and play the violin for him.
                    Your Loving Friend,
                        Ann



Dearest Ellen,
     How I wish that you had been with me yesterday. As I was walking down the street I saw Henry Wadsworth Longfellow! That famous poet who wrote "Paul Rever's Ride." I wouldn't have known him except that Uncle Mark told cousin Mary and I who he was. Imagine seeing that great poet walking down the street in Boston!
     Mama said I could invite you to spend the afternoon with me on Friday. I do hope you can come. It might be the last time I get to see you before I go to Concord with Uncle Mark, Aunt Sara, and Mary, Polly, Phoebe & Philip. Be sure that you write me while I am gone. I really must be going Ellen dear.
               Your Loving Friend,
                      Ann

So, did you enter the giveaway?
Have you ever written "pretend letters" with a friend?
Next week will start a new story.
Will you be back? 

P.S. If you've already left reviews for any of my books, you can count them towards your entries for reviews. Sorry I forgot to mention that earlier.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Happy belated birthday, Rebekah! :) This is a fun post. I entered the giveaway...I haven't read this book yet!

It's neat to hear how you got started writing! My oldest brother and I wrote pretend letters to each other for a time, and we loved it! Somehow we both ended up with vintage typewriters, so we pretended that we lived in 1936, and my brother and dad had to go to a bigger city to find work. If I remember correctly our inspiration was the Kit Kittredge movie that American Girl made. :)

I'd be back next week even if you didn't post anything. :)

4rmeddy said...

I love this story, I'm definitely entering for the giveaway! :)

4rmeddy said...

Oh, and happy birthday! :D

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday Rebekah :)
quick question, I don't have a blog myself but could I share it on a friends blog instead?

Rebekah said...

Thank you all for your birthday wishes. :)

Bethany, as long as it is okay with your friend, that's fine with me. :)

Ashley said...

Happy birthday! I'm happy you're doing a giveaway. :) I hope you check out my blog and follow it by email!
creatingpreciousmmoments.blogspot.com

Love,
Ashley

Ashley said...

Thank you so much for following my blog Rebekah and for entering my giveaway. :)
I followed your blog. :)
Love,
Ashley

Pearl W. said...

Hey Rebekah,
I haven't read any of your stories but I would like to read "The Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Strangers". My sister has read your western series and really likes it. Keep on writing good stories!!

Lauren said...

I would like to win the book you're giving away. Thank you for doing this giveaway. I would love to win.
Lauren

Anonymous said...

Hi! I would love to win the book you're giving away. I love mystery stories!

Love,
Sarah S.

Faith P. said...

Thanks for doing this Rebekah! I entered. Happy late birthday!! :-)

Unknown said...

Oh, I'm so excited for this giveaway! I read your short story about the rooster (my favorite rooster story ever! :D) and though I haven't read any of your other stories, I keep reminding myself I need to get one of your books. I'm very excited for this giveaway. Thanks for putting it on!
Oh, and I have written imaginary letters before. I never send them to friends, but I used to write my imaginary characters (still do, actually) and they would write me "back" so to speak and I would learn more about their lives. It was so much fun to do. :)

Thanks for doing this giveaway. I'm so excited!

Julie Waldron said...

I haven't read any of your stories but Home Fires of the Great War looks like it'd be good.

Anonymous said...

I like this one, because it is about siblings

Cara said...

Happy B-Day! I'm so entering this give away!

Anonymous said...

I would love to read one of your books.So much talk on them.And Happy belated birthday, Rebekah!
your getting better with time.