Civil War Heart

When given the chance at our dorm meeting last night to do some contemplating and writing, I found myself thinking about an instance I had learned about a while ago in my Civil War Era class. It was at the Battle of Stones River in late 1862. The authors of our main textbook put it well, so I'll let them set the scene for you:

"After many delays caused by cavalry raids in their rear, Rosecrans's 42,000 troops marched from Nashville the day after Christmas to confront Bragg's 36,000-strong Army of Tennessee at Murfreesboro. They found the Confederates drawn up astride Stones River, a shallow stream a mile northwest of town. On the night of December 30, the two armies bivouacked only a few hundred yards apart. Their bands engaged in a musical battle in the still winter air, one side blaring out 'Dixie' in challenge to the other's 'Yankee Doodle,' and so on. Finally, one band began to play 'Home, Sweet Home.' Others took it up until all the bands in both armies were playing and thousands of soldiers, Yankees and Rebels together, sang the familiar words. Perhaps some of them wondered at the tragic irony of a war in which they could sing together one night and butcher each other on the morrow."

(Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction, 4th ed. by James M. McPherson and James K. Hogue, p. 332)

What a bitter-sweet, heart-breaking moment in history! Around 620,000 men died during the Civil War. Destruction and death were part of the results of the country's divide.

The following is a poem I wrote that was inspired by that "battle of the bands." Perhaps you're in a place like me, where you're desperately trying to grab hold of the future - symbolized by the North and progress. Or perhaps you're clinging tight to the past and all its pain or former "glory" - symbolized by the South. This poem isn't polished or perfect by any means. But I thought I would share it with you now anyway.

As C.S. Lewis noted, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” We all long for a forever Home, and nothing here on earth can satisfy that desire.

So may that night in the middle of the Civil War remind us of the beauty in an eternity far beyond and yet very near our everyday lives.

Civil War Heart

By Amber Stokes

Look away, dear brother, look away.
Sing sweet "Dixie" beneath the stars -
Not so far above the frosty, bitter ground
Where the old ways have brought you
To this moment when heartfelt discord
Chases sweet melodies away. Away.

Not so fine and dandy, dear brother,
When all you glimpse of progress -
Future - is fight and struggle, endless
Grasping at blood-soaked dirt
Where you must sleep another night
Beneath stars you never can reach.

Let those songs fade away. Away.
Tonight hold close thoughts of home,
Sweet home.
Beyond North.
Beyond South.
Beyond mere survival.
Where harmony reveals a candle
In the window not so far away.

(Ordeal by Fire cover image from Amazon.com. Stones River image from CivilWar.org - with more pictures and information on that site.)

What We Can Learn from the Evil Stepsisters

Last week I kicked off my new weekly series at The Borrowed Book blog entitled "Where the Past Meets the Present." If you missed our discussion last week about Iago and creating well-rounded villains, you can catch up here:

• Where the Past Meets the Present: The Villain

This week continues the series with a discussion of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (specifically our school's current production, which is fabulous!). Come join the fun!

• Where the Past Meets the Present: Stepsisters

In the future, if you want to check out what's going on with this series, just click the button in the sidebar, just above my "Seasons of Humility" button!

Let's see what we can learn . . . where the past meets the present!

What I Wish Romance Writers Knew About the Military (Guest Post)

In honor of Veterans' Day, today's guest is Vince Mooney, who has some wonderful advice to share with anyone interested in writing military romance (or anyone who just wants to learn more about how the military works!).

Meet Vince: "Born in Long Island, New York, have lived in New Jersey, Connecticut, Arizona, California, and Oklahoma. Lived three years in Italy and Germany while in USAF.(Air Police: K-9 section). Now live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Married after whirlwind romance to same wife for over 30 years. Currently run my own real estate school in Oklahoma. Like to study foreign languages for a few months just to see how they work. Also like Latin and giving speeches. I’ve taught Philosophy, Advertising, Property Management, and many real estate subjects at the University, Community College, and Technical School level. Now writing non-fiction book on the Romance genre. I was trained to be a philosopher and history teacher but have worked mostly in advertising, marketing, and real estate."

You can learn more about Vince at his blog Philosophy of Romance.

Welcome, Vince!

What I Wish Romance Writers Knew About the Military

It can be very difficult for me to read a military romance because there are sometimes enough mistakes to repeatedly pull me out of the story. This does not have to be the case. I’ve read many military romances by Maureen Child with complete satisfaction. She must have a very good military fact checker. But then, even a good military fact checker will usually only catch mistakes. He won’t suggest the kind of additions that should also be in the story if it is to be true to life.

Below are ten suggestions for writing better military romances as seen from a veteran’s point of view. One caveat: veterans were in the service at different times. Things change. Ranks change. The writer should check everything out first to make sure her facts are true for the same time period she is writing about. (Ranks may have been different during WWII, for example.)

1. Get the ranks right. I read one romance where the author thought a sergeant major outranked a Captain. She had the Captain jump up and salute the sergeant. This just destroys the writer’s credibility.

Here is where you can check ranks.

2. Get the time-in-grade right. Make sure the character has a rank that is appropriate for his age and/or time in the military. I’ve seen heroes with ranks so low for their time in the service that they must have been real screw-up’s who were busted a few times. This was not the author’s intention. (I couldn’t help thinking: what a loser that hero must be.)

Here is where you can get an idea of Army time-in-grade requirements before being promoted to the next rank.

You can find other sites for Navy and Air Force. Remember: some services do not have some ranks. I only saw one Warrant Office my whole time in the Air Force. I don’t believe there are any left.

3. Put military ‘annoyances’ into the story. I’ve read a whole series of military romances where you would swear the Airman had civilian jobs. They’d go to work like they were going to a civilian office. They would take days off or afternoons off as they needed for their personal reasons. That’s not military life.

I’d like to see some things like: having to go to commander’s call once a month (this is a major meeting of the troops often in a movie theater where films are shown and the concerns of the commander are given.) If this meeting was from 9 am to 12 pm and you just worked the 11 pm to 8 am shift, you still had to go. (Make sure they are still doing this at the time your story takes place. Make sure they call it Commander’s Call in the service you are writing about. They may do it on the internet at this point.)

Troops also have to take their exercise tests each year (this could be more often now). Another ‘hot issue’ that comes up a few times a year is who is going to be promoted and how will they react? (I’ve seen airman who were so mad they were not promoted that they went around kicking holes in the walls.) I don’t think I’ve ever seen troops looking at the posted promotion lists in a romance. This is a big deal. If your story spans a full year, this would have come up in real life.

There are also medical exams and shots to take as well as qualifying on the rifle range. There are inspections and sometimes the Inspector General flies in to check the post out. These inspections are supposed to be a surprise but we always knew when it was going to happen. Air Police pretty much knew what was going on.

Don’t forget the dreaded alerts. These are mission exercises where a war situation is simulated. The whole base would be called out to battle stations. You could be asleep in the middle of the night after having worked the 4 pm to 11 pm shift and you still had to get up and put in at least another 8 hours. Alerts are a major annoyance at any time. If you were just leaving the base to start your 30-day leave they can be a disaster. Even the officers would tell the troops: “If you are off duty, get off of the base. Go somewhere. Don’t stick around here.”

4. Consider describing the colorful patches on the uniform of your hero or heroine.

For example, if you have an Air Force Pararescue member, check out what the patch looks like here.

Soldiers and airman are proud of their units. I was in the Air Police K-9 corps and we had a patch we were very proud of.

See some here.

5. Have some saluting going on every once in a while to give the story a military flavor. I’ve read military romances where I don’t believe there was even one salute in the whole story.

6. Have some complaining going on in the background. This is just normal. “There’s the right way and there’s the Army way.”

7. Remember: personnel rotate every few years. Don’t have people on the post who have had the same military position for ten years. Troops are rotated every few years so they can get a fresh start every so often. Even a bad commander, who you can’t stand, may be gone in a year or two or you might be going to a new base in a few months yourself. This rotation makes it easier to put up with things that you would otherwise consider to be intolerable if you knew things would never change.

8. Troops who vote will often use absentee ballots.

9. There is usually some talk about getting out of the service or re-upping. “He’s a lifer” is often said about a career solider. Use a little slang like, RHIP: rank has its privilege. This is used quite often.

10. Talk about benefits and education. There are bonuses to re-up and money to pay for part of college tuition. Your hero could be going to college in the military. It could be a reason why he will not leave the service.

Use only a little of the above suggestions.

In no way would I suggest that the above is a checklist a writer must compete when writing a military story. Most romance readers are woman and most women have not been in the military. A writer does not have to do any of things I recommend above. I realize that the romance is the central focus of the story. However, if some of the above items are included in the story, then the story will seem more real and the reader will get an insight into military life that she did not have before reading the story.

One more thing: being late to work is being AWOL. Don’t have your service people coming late to work like it wasn’t a big deal. This does drive me crazy.

Vince
USAF, TAC 17th AF
1963 to 1967 K-9

Amber's Parting Comments: Thank you so much for the helpful information, Vince! And thank you for your service to our country. May we honor our military men and women this day and every day for the sacrifices they make or have made on our behalf.

Take a Back Road

I wrote the poem that served as the inspiration for the title of this blog on a train trip I took my first semester of college. I was feeling quite stressed at the time with studies, being in the school musical, and uncertainties regarding God's plans for my life - so I up and decided to take a round trip one-day train ride. The destination didn't matter; I just wanted to go somewhere where it would be just me and God. It was a wonderful experience for me (if a bit more spontaneous of me than normal!), and I cherish that memory.

Do you ever just feel the need to "take a back road" (or a train ride)? If you enjoy a bit of Country music, here's a song for you:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

~ Matthew 11:28-30

"And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone."
~ Matthew 14:22-23

(Music video from Youtube.com: "Take a Back Road" by Rodney Atkins. If you would like to read the poem that inspired the title of this blog, click HERE.)

My Review of Valley of Dreams (CFBA Tour)

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Valley of Dreams Bethany House (November 1, 2011) by Lauraine Snelling
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Award-winning and best selling author Lauraine Snelling began living her dream to be a writer with her first published book for young adult readers, Tragedy on the Toutle, in 1982. She has since continued writing more horse books for young girls, adding historical and contemporary fiction and nonfiction for adults and young readers to her repertoire. All told, she has up to sixty books published.

Shown in her contemporary romances and women’s fiction, a hallmark of Lauraine’s style is writing about real issues of forgiveness, loss, domestic violence, and cancer within a compelling story. Her work has been translated into Norwegian, Danish, and German, and she has won the Silver Angel Award for An Untamed Land and a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart for Song of Laughter.

As a most sought after speaker, Lauraine encourages others to find their gifts and live their lives with humor and joy. Her readers clamor for more books more often, and Lauraine would like to comply ... if only her paintbrushes and easel didn’t call quite so loudly.

Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons, and live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a cockatiel named Bidley, and a watchdog Basset named Winston. They love to travel, most especially in their forty-foot motor coach, which they affectionately deem “a work in progress”.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Addy Lockwood's mother died when she was little, so Addy traveled with her father's Wild West Show and became an amazingly skillful trick rider, likened by some to the famous Annie Oakley. When her father died, she continued to work with the show, having nowhere else to go.

Now Addy has discovered that "Uncle" Jason, the show's manager, has driven the show into debt, and he's absconded with what little money was left. Devastated, Addy decides to try to find the hidden valley where here father had dreamed of putting down roots. She has only one clue. She needs to find three huge stones that look like fingers raised in a giant hand. With Chief, a Sioux Indian who's been with the show for twenty years, and Micah, the head wrangler, she leaves both the show and a bundle of heartache behind and begins a wild and daring adventure.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Valley of Dreams, go HERE.

My Rating: Fall

My Review:

Valley of Dreams has a very interesting premise, and the uniqueness of the setting and characters is commendable. Fans of all things American West should find this to be an enjoyable excursion.

Since this is the first book in a series, it's nice to have this introduction and insight into Cassie's story, as well as the Engstroms' lives. However, Valley of Dreams seems almost like a very long prologue rather than a story of its own. Cassie's character does grow a little bit, but overall the book feels like it's providing back story rather than the actual meat of the plot. The way the book ends (with some mystery and a bit of suspense) suggests that the second book, Whispers in the Wind (scheduled to release August 2012), will probably be where the more in-depth action and drama really starts, although this is not guaranteed.

The entirety of the book is mostly "rising action" or "building tension," as the reader is introduced to two groups, Cassie's troupe and the Engstrom family, waiting for their lives to finally cross. Some of the secondary characters, like Chief and Micah, have real potential, but come across a little flat - although there's a hint at the end that there's more to the ever-quiet and to-the-point Chief than meets the eye. The various reverends and their wives are all very similar with little to distinguish one from the other, and even the apparent hero and heroine didn't completely charm me. The "pets" are a nice addition, though - adding some sweetness with their intriguing names and their gentle presence.

This story includes quite a few details about daily life in the Dakotas at the turn of the century, which is nice but doesn't always move the plot forward. The ending does ultimately stir up the reader's curiosity, and if one is willing to invest a little time in this first book, it seems like this will be a sweet and clever series overall.

*With thanks to Bethany House through CFBA for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.*

Love's Christmas Journey

About the Movie:

"While still mourning the loss of her husband and daughter, recently widowed Ellie King (Natalie Hall) visits her brother Aaron Davis (Greg Vaughan) and his children for Christmas. Ellie does her best to enjoy the holidays, even making new friends with Mrs. Thompson (JoBeth Williams), a local shop keeper, and handsome admirer Deputy Strode (Dylan Bruce). Settling in nicely with her brother's family, Ellie also meets Erik (Bobby Campo), a young man abandoned by his outlaw father whom Aaron has taken in as one of his own. When Aaron travels out of town to purchase adjacent land for farming, Ellie agrees to watch his children, but the season’s festivities are threatened when Aaron goes missing."

My Review:

Love's Christmas Journey is a new two-part, four-hour journey Love Comes Softly fans won't want to miss! While the two new prequels that aired back in September and October on Hallmark Channel (Love Begins and Love's Everlasting Courage) were sweet, they really were lacking a certain depth and quality that made the first few movies of the series great. With the last two additions being rather disappointing, I wasn't expecting too much with this latest, much longer movie. I am happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised!

As more movies kept being added on to the series, I thought it was sad not to learn more about Missy's brothers (introduced in Love Comes Softly and Love's Enduring Promise). They simply seemed to vanish, even when Clark and Marty (Missy's father and stepmother) still came back off and on throughout the first six movies. I was so excited to learn that Love's Christmas Journey brought back Aaron (Missy's younger stepbrother)! And not only Aaron, but a yet-to-be-introduced younger sister named Ellie, who has a heartbreaking but ultimately hopeful story of her own.

There are so many wonderful surprises in this movie! The length definitely helps to give the characters more time to face challenges and grow. The overall quality is much better than the prequels (as well as the seventh and eighth movies), despite a little bit of lingering romantic (etc.) corniness, which can be cute, albeit awkward, sometimes! (And speaking of awkward, there's one falling scene near the beginning that is pretty out-of-the-blue, providing a laugh-out-loud moment.)

Yes, there is a bit of cheesy acting, which isn't so bad in a feel-good Christmas movie. But overall the acting is very good! I love that Sean Astin (of Lord of the Rings fame - Samwise Gamgee!) is the mayor!! And I knew a certain man in town looked familiar... Mr. Cunningham is none other than the actor (Stephen Bridgewater) who played Mr. Taylorson in Love's Long Journey and Love's Abiding Joy! How fun is that??

This movie packs an emotional punch, then wraps up the hurting in a great big group hug and a pretty red bow. And I enjoyed every minute! There's some Wild West-fighting tension that made me cringe and cry out, some adorable children scenes, and some romantic moments that made me go "Awww!" and smile. Love Comes Softly fans will recognize much of the background music, as well as a few references to Clark and Marty. With themes of justice, generosity, and hope, this is a great Christmas romantic Western to watch with your girl friends or family this season.

Movie Trailer:



Want to learn more about the movie and the whole Love Comes Softly movie series? Visit the Hallmark Channel website!

My Review of A Lasting Impression

Here's a description of the book from Bethany House:

"From Christy and RITA Award-winning author Tamera Alexander comes a novel about the difference between knowing who you are--and knowing who you want to become.

Claire Laurent's greatest aspiration is to paint something that will bring her acclaim. Yet her father insists she work as a copyist. A forger. When she's forced to flee from New Orleans to Nashville only a year after the War Between the States has ended, her path collides with attorney Sutton Monroe. She considers him a godsend for not turning her in to the authorities. But after he later refuses to come to her aid, Claire fears she's sorely misjudged the man. Finding herself among the elite of Nashville's society, Claire believes her dream to create a lasting impression in the world of art is within reach--but only if her fraudulent past remains hidden.

The Federal Army has destroyed Sutton's home and confiscated his land, and threatens to destroy his family's honor. His determination to reclaim what belongs to him and to right a grievous wrong reveals a truth that may cost him more than he ever imagined--as well as the woman he loves.

Set at Nashville's historic Belmont Mansion, a stunning antebellum manor built by Mrs. Adelicia Acklen, A Lasting Impression is a sweeping love story about a nation mending after war, the redemption of those wounded, and the courage of a man and woman to see themselves--and each other--for who they really are."

My Rating: Summer

My Review:

Tamera Alexander paints vivid and detailed images with her words, and A Lasting Impression is an exquisite showcase of her talent. Although sometimes the specifics of her stories become vague in memory over time, the reader is left with beautiful, emotion-filled impressions that endure. This particular story is quiet grand in scope - a much different setting than her previous novels, set in a luxurious world of art and parties and finery. And yet Alexander shows that no matter the setting - be it the wilds of Colorado or the wilds of the gossip-hungry social elite - suffering is a part of the human condition.

Back story and historical background are woven in throughout the story in an engaging way, making the characters all the more authentic. Alexander explores various impressions and misjudgments throughout the pages, and she keeps the tension going right up to the very end. All of her characters have something to add to the story, and together they make up an oftentimes frustrating, but also wonderful, cast!

From cover to cover this is a gorgeous novel, encouraging the reader to look beyond first impressions and reach out to the hearts of others with forgiveness and compassion. The romance is sweet and yet powerful, and the lessons on truth and a new beginning in Christ are inspiring. This is another Tamera Alexander masterpiece that shines!

*With thanks to Bethany House through CFBA for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.*

Click HERE to read my original post for the CFBA blog tour, which includes information about the author.