"Life in 1957" by Diane Craver

Today, I'm very happy to welcome Diane Craver as my guest blogger. Be sure to read all the way through, because Diane is giving away one of her Christmas releases, and more!

Diane Craver met her husband while teaching at an orphanage, and they married in 1975. While raising their six children in southwestern Ohio, Diane started writing nonfiction. Later, she decided it would be a nice escape to write fiction.


Diane has published through a variety of houses, including Booklocker.com, Samhain, Desert Breeze, Whimsical Publications, and Victory Tales Press. She writes fun and inspiring stories filled with memorable characters. Diane gives thanks to God daily for all her wonderful blessings.

Learn more about Diane and her books at http://www.dianecraver.com/.

"Life in 1957"


I’m dating myself here but I was a small girl in 1957. My upcoming release, A Christmas Gift, contains my childhood experiences with fiction thrown into the story line. However, the prologue and epilogue are in present time. When I mentioned to a daughter that it was hard for me to believe that my new book was considered historical fiction, she laughed and said, "Mom, it wouldn’t be contemporary."

I want to share with you an event that was done to newlyweds back in 1957 in Ohio. It made quite an impression on me when I was a small girl. By the time, I got married it was no longer a tradition. But before I do that, I want to mention how even though we didn’t have cable, internet, cell phones, video games, DVDs, or even VHS, life was good in 1957. We took time to know our neighbors. I grew up in a rural area so all the families were farmers. My best memories are the creative play I shared with the neighborhood children. I didn’t have siblings to play with because I came along very late in my parents’ lives. My siblings were 21, 19, 15, and 9 when I was born. Another fun time was traveling to Lake Erie on Sundays in the summers. All the neighbors piled into cars to enjoy swimming and picnics by the lake.

Okay, here is what we did in Findlay, Ohio, to have fun with newlyweds, and it was called a "belling". If a belling would be held now on Main Street in Findlay, I’m sure there would be arrests. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 5 of A Christmas Gift about a belling in 1957:

On Saturday night Ellen and I were sitting on the front porch steps, watching all the neighbors arrive at my house, the gathering spot before a belling. It was appropriately termed a "belling" because neighbors went to a newlyweds’ home with dinner bells, shot guns, pans, or anything that made noises. Hopefully, the unsuspecting couple would be asleep when the belling occurred.

"Here’s your noisemakers, girls," Daddy said as he handed us pans and big spoons.

"Mr. Reeves, are we leaving now?" Ellen asked.

Daddy smiled. "We have to wait a little longer to make sure Linda and John are asleep."

I asked Daddy, "Do you think they’ll be surprised?"

He nodded. "Of course. They’ve been married for several weeks, so they know it’s coming, but I hope they won’t expect it tonight. I invited John to play cards with us tonight, so he’d think we all had something going on. John said he couldn’t leave his wife on their special night."

My eyes widened. "What’s special about tonight?"

"He mumbled something about it being the anniversary of their first kiss."

Ellen and I laughed. "Daddy, that’s silly. You’re making that up."

He winked. "Well, it might not be the first kiss but was something romantic."

Within an hour, we left in several cars to travel a road over from ours to the Williamson’s place. The drivers stayed in the cars to honk their horns, Ellen and I banged our pans, and many people rang dinner bells. I jumped when I heard some farmers shooting their guns into the air. With this entire racket going on right in their front yard, John and Linda took fifteen minutes to come outside.

I saw John’s shirt wasn’t buttoned right, and Linda’s blouse was tucked in on one side and hanging out on the other. John grinned and yelled, "You bunch of liars. I thought the men had a big card party tonight."

"Since you couldn’t make it," Daddy said, "we canceled it." He laughed. "You took so long to come out, we decided to take you both to Findlay on a hay wagon."

Ellen and I had permission to ride the hay wagon, so we hurried and climbed on before John and Linda did. When the wagon was full of people, we sang the song, "Love and Marriage Goes Together like a Horse and Carriage." Linda sat on John’s lap and sang along too.

Once in Findlay our singing ceased while Ellen’s father stopped the tractor and wagon in a grocery store’s parking lot.

Two men lifted a wheelbarrow off a pickup truck. One of them said, "We think John should push Linda down Main Street."

Everyone clapped and whistled while John put Linda into the wheelbarrow. Noises continued behind the couple while everyone proceeded down the street.

When we returned to the newlyweds’ house, Linda and John gave candy bars for treats. While the adults were laughing and talking, Ellen and I sat on white metal chairs, eating our candy.

I grabbed Gail’s arm as she walked in front of us. With a mouthful of Milky Way bar, I told her, "If you marry Phil, I can’t wait for your belling. I’ll make so much noise that Phil’s ears will hurt."

Gail gave me a disgusted look. "Don’t talk with your mouth full. I hate to disappoint you, Debby, but Phil and I aren’t going to live around here. He’s only here until Mr. Haynes is well enough to return to work."

~~~~

I hope you enjoyed the excerpt. A Christmas Gift releases on November 15th in both paperback and electronic formats. It will be available from Whimsical Publications and Amazon. Thank you, Carol, for giving me this opportunity to share something from my book.

By the way, I have a Christmas contest on my blog. If you leave a comment on this post, your name is entered. The first drawing is November 14th. I’ll be giving away a signed copy of one of my Christmas releases to the winner, a $10 GC, and a beautiful angel ornament. More details are on my blog. http://www.dianecraver.com/blog

A Writing Career, by Diane Craver

Today, I'm delighted to turn my blog over to one of my favorite authors, Diane Craver. Diane has a new book coming out titled, "Whitney in Charge." I'm excited to hear more about the book and about Diane. So, please help me make Diane welcome. Feel free to leave a comment, ask a question, or just say hi and let her know you stopped by.

A Writing Career

Juggling a writing career with my family is definitely full of highs and lows. When I'm absorbed in writing a new story, or spending hours promoting my published books, I feel guilt in not spending time with my family. I feel like I'm spreading myself too thin with trying to cope with many different things at the same time.

I'm not alone. I've heard many authors complain how they don't have time to write because of all the marketing that's necessary. When a new writer receives the first contract, he or she is elated, but soon marketing the book becomes a reality. Spending time doing yahoo chats, author interviews, book signings, contests, mailing promo items, writing blog posts, and advertising takes time away from writing. Many times I have to confess that I feel like quitting, but then I'll get a positive book review or a reader contacts me and says how much they loved one of my books. Fortunately, this always seems to happen on one of my down days, and it boosts my spirit to knowing I must continue writing.

My husband is retired now so that makes it harder at times to write. He thinks I'm on the computer too much, and doesn't understand how much time I need to devote to actual writing, editing and promoting. He doesn't like to read and never reads books! Except mine, of course. I was impressed that he took time to read them and shared what he liked about each one. It was interesting to get his perspective as a nonreader. When I worked recently at a temporary job in Cincinnati, it was completely different. He was glad to see me receiving a regular paycheck for the hours I worked. As a writer, the financial gain isn't equal to the time I put in, so I can fully understand his feelings. The truth is I'm not a best-selling author. My royalty checks are not in the big digits but I appreciate receiving them. After all, my books are marketed by reputable, small publishers. And it does take time to build a huge readership.

We were blessed with six children. Although four are adults with their own lives, two of our daughters with special needs are living at home. I spend a lot of time taking care of them, meeting the demands of frequent doctor appointments and many other issues. But they are worth every minute of it.

It's funny when someone says something like this to me, "I wish I could sit around and write instead of doing my job." Of course, I don't mention the lows of a writing career because I want to continue their myth of the carefree life of a published author. LOL Let's face it, writers want to appear glamorous. And staying in my pajamas in the morning to write at my laptop might not be the image the speaker has in mind, but it's one of the benefits in writing for a career.

Another definite high in writing is escaping to a wonderful fictional world with characters becoming real to me. While I wrote Whitney in Charge, I enjoyed being part of the three sisters' lives as they had fun exploring their business options. But most of all, I liked writing about Whitney falling in love again.

I must continue to manage a writing career with my home life because I can't seem to shut my mind off to possible future story lines. Character dialogue keeps popping in my mind. Any kind of occurrence seems to stimulate my writing processes in anticipating the outcome if I put a different spin it. And I realize my what if would make a fantastic story.

Yes, I'm cursed and blessed at the same time to be a writer. And now you know, the real life behind Author Diane Craver!

Blurb: TV producer Whitney Benson is tired of her older sisters’ attempts to fix her up with every single male they meet. Shannon and Regan cross the line when they arrange for her to go skydiving with the simple excuse that more guys like to float in the air than women.

Whitney meets two eligible bachelors, Jack and Ben, who constantly battle for her affection. Which one will she choose? Both men make Whitney realize, even a heart shattered by her husband’s death, can once again be made whole.

But did she have to fall off a cliff to learn that?

Cats and Flower Gardens...Oh, My!!

My office is on the lower floor of our bi-level, which puts it half way underground. Thus, my windows are at ground level. Outside my windows is a beautiful flower garden. I love the colors and all the lovely bees and butterflies.

So do our outdoor cats. Even though hubby put some large chunk mulch around the plants, the cats continue to use this garden as...gasp...a litter box. As you can guess, my view is ruined when the windows are open. We've tried multiple things to discourage them, but none have worked.

I suppose, I'll have to take my laptop out to the deck to work today.

If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Be sure to stop by my blog on Monday. I'll have a guest blogger, Diane Craver! She's one of my favorite authors, and people. Talk about a woman of strength and values! I'm thrilled to host her and learn more about her newest release. I hope you'll visit and leave her a comment, so she'll know you stopped by.

Thanks for stopping by!