Happy Thanksgiving to our readers and all my Second Wind family! God bless!

What a great show we had! I think we could have gone on 2 hours instead of just one. My guests were amazing & really kept the ball rolling for me. I hardly had to say a word! Many thanks to Jill Bratcher, Rachel Brady and Barbara Ehrentreau. You were incredible! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/redriverwriterslive/2009/11/25/whats-write-for-me

Join Dellani Oakes today on Blog Talk Radio when her guests will be Jill Bratcher, Rachel Brady and Barbara Ehrentreau – as they discuss NaNoWriMo! That’s Wednesday Nov. 25th at 1:00 PM (EST) http://www.blogtalkradio.com/redriverwriterslive/2009/11/25/whats-write-for-me

Tomorrow, I’ll be chatting with a few friends about NaNoWriMo. Tune in for a fun filled show!
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/redriverwriterslive/2009/11/25/whats-write-for-me

I still need a couple replacement guests for my show on Nov. 25th at 1:00 PM (EST) Any of you doing NaNoWriMo? Or have you participated in the past? I am doing a broadcast on NaNo this month & had 2 guests cancel so far. I could use some SW support!

Read excerpts of “Indian Summer”, my historical novel as well as “The Lone Wolf” my sci-fi novel – coming soon from Second Wind! http://dellanioakes.wordpress.com/

In Praise of Romance: http://secondwindpub.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/in-praise-of-romance/

I’m sitting here admiring my new photo by my Facebook buddy, Amer Khwaja. It’s a magnificent Oriental garden in California. I traded a book for the photo and I’m very pleased with my decision to do so. I can’t wait to get a frame! It will look perfect above my desk.

The other morning I was staring out the window at all the leaves on the ground, marveling at how so much come from almost nothing. A bit of water, a bit of soil, a bit of sun, and something exists where nothing did before. I cherish those leaves. There’s no lawn here, just native grasses, so I don’t need to rake the leaves. I let them finish out their natural cycle of replenishing the soil from which they came.

Looking at those leaves, I was reminded of written words, and how they come from almost nothing. A circle, a few lines, a couple of dots, various arcs, and something exists where nothing did before. We never run out of words. We use the same words over and over again, combining them infinitely into ideas, stories, lullabies.

Recycling the very same words you use every day, I wrote four novels (plus that one poor begotten thing that’s locked away never to see the light of publication), hundreds of bloggeries, and thousands of comments. I hope my words live out their natural cycle, replenishing the mental soil from which they come.

Okay, I’m getting a bit over the top here, so I’ll get to the point. Some of those words are now residing on other people’s blogs all over the Internet from Canada to Florida, from Australia to South Africa. Today I’m in the U.S.A. Please stop by to visit me at one or all of these locations. I’ll be glad to rake up a few words of greeting for you.

Murder by 4 — Suspense: More is More

Bookworm — Names Matter

Dragon My Feet — Interview

Also, I am pleased to welcome Aaron Lazar to my blog. Please stop by and mumble, groan, hiss, grunt, expostulate or simply say hi. — Dialogue Tags.

Click here to find: Bertram’s novels on Amazon

Click here to find: Bertram’s novels at Second Wind Publishing

My novels are available in all ebook formats at Smashwords. Also, 30% of each novel is available as a free download. Click here to find: Bertram’s novels on Smashwords.

 I was fascinated when I first saw hex signs on PA barns, shortly after moving to Central PA about 25 years ago. As I’ve been interested in myth and folklore for my entire life, I thought I saw a recognizable system in those repeating star patterns and sun wheels which decorated barns in Berks, Lehigh, Schuykill and Lebanon counties. Back into the distant past, all over Europe (and Asia, too), these symbols were used for luck, for fertility and for warding against evil. 

 Among scholars there is ample disagreement on this subject, but on balance, I think it’s safe to say that these signs arrived with early German settlers. Perhaps they were North Germans or Silesians, not Rhinelanders or Austrians, but it’s not clear whether all or only a few groups brought the hex sign to the US.  It certainly wasn’t the Mennonite Amish, (who passed through Switzerland) although, sometimes, in travel brochures and on restaurant placemats, the Old Order Amish and hex signs are pictured together. In fact, they forbid ornamentation, so you definitely won’t see hex signs on their barns.(Not for nothing are they called: “Plain People.”)

 Most likely, ordinary Lutherans who had been farmers in the Old Country brought the symbols with them as part of a hoary rural tradition. These Volk loved to decorate just about everything, from chairs to doorsills—and they did.

 At any rate, many believe these symbols were an ancient German artistic tradition—aesthetics–rather than some underground religion. In the old country, “hexes” appear on everything from chairs and hope chests to beams, from birth certificates to gable end panels.  After the Civil War, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania attempted to complete assimilation of the persistently German speaking communities by requiring “English only” in the public schools. In the book “Hex Signs” by Yoder & Graves, the authors claim that in reaction, hex signs were even more widely painted upon barns and incorporated into architectural details, such as decorative trim, during this period. Psychologically, during a time of stress, it became a necessary form of self-definition for German descendants. Many surviving barn signs appear to have been painted in the post civil war era.

 In modern times, the hex sign has grown in popularity, and in familiarity, too. The use of the signs is far more wide spread than in the last century. This is partly due to the efforts of regional tourism and partly due to a widely renewed interest in folklore and myth. Many stores in Lancaster County sell hex signs, and many new ones–obviously not traditional–for instance one which incorporates shamrocks–have been devised for the tourist industry.

A brief guide to hex symbols

Five pointed stars = goddess symbols

Goddess equals fertility and protection

So if you multiply the angles, you are multiplying the magic and therefore, the protection.

The Rosette is perhaps star and flower combined

Sun symbols—swastika—for motion, the never-ending cycle of seasonal nature.

Sun light is preeminently important to a farming people who live at high latitudes, like the Germans.

Rain—raindrops appear in spirals or circles

Sun and Rain = fertility and prosperity = many crops, food, animals

Sprigs of wheat are a direct representation of what the farmer wants.

Hearts- traditionally for affection, unity and love, and also the Tulip, a symbol which must have slipped across the border from Holland for prosperity, and perfection. 

Birds—the ancient love bird symbol, a happy marriage symbol

For my cover, Lejoy Rothke and I decided to create our own hex sign, incorporating all the old time elements. In fact, these days, many craftspeople have copyrighted their own versions of the originals. We didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, so we created one and made it part of the story. At the end of “Hand-me-Down Bride,” the young hero asks a local barn painter to make a hex for his door. He’s not only embraced the young woman of the title, but is also reconsidering his relationship to his own immigrant heritage. It seemed to be a suitable ending for this very American story.

 

Join me on Blog Talk Radio today at 4:00 PM (EST) when my guests will be Jennie Miller Helderman and Robert O’Mara. Play Christmas & Hanukkah trivia with Dellanie and Jennie. Hear Robert read from his new book! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RobinFalls/2009/11/02/Robin-Falls-Kids

Join me for Dellani’s Tea Time on Blog Talk Radio tomorrow at 4:00 PM (EST) my guests will be Jo Linsdell and Robert O’Mara. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RobinFalls/2009/11/02/Robin-Falls-Kids-

Want to jumpstart your Christmas shopping? Tonight at 7:00 PM (Central), Red River Writers Live on Blog Talk Radio is hosting a great show! Lots of writers from all genres are reading excerpts of their books. I’ll be reading a spicy scene from “A Tangled Web” around 8:15 (Central) so come listen in! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RedRiverWritersLive

Day 12 of my blog tour: Walk Lofty and Carry a Big Chisel http://tinyurl.com/ykaps97 Stop by and talk about your writing tools.

What kind of writer are you, Organized or Organic? Join the discussion today at 1:00 (EST) on Blog Talk Radio “What’s Write for Me” with Dellani Oakes http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RedRiverWritersLive/2009/10/28/Red-River-Writers-Live-

Though it is actually night here, it’s still day ten of my Daughter Am I blog tour.

The reference to night and day reminds me of one of those standardized tests I took when I was in second grade. The question was, “How many hours are in a day?” I knew, of course, that there were twenty-four hours in a day’s span, but for some reason, I took the question to mean day as opposed to night. I knew that there were variable daylight hours — that was apparent from the way the sun set earlier each evening as it got nearer to winter. So, what was my answer? Twelve. I figured that on the average there had to be twelve hours of night and twelve hours of day. As you can see, I never did quite fit into a standardized world.

So what does this way too revealing annecdote have to do with my blog tour? Absolutely nothing, except that it could be considered an example of a hook if, in fact, it did hook you! I am down in St. Augustine, Florida with Dave Ebright, and we’re cyberly talking about hooking a reader. I have a hunch Ebright doesn’t need any advice from me — his novel, Bad Latitude, has hooks galore: surfing, fast boats, zombies, ghosts, and pirates, So, stop by Ebright’s Blog, JaxPop: Haunted City Writer, and tell us about your hook, even if it is only a fishing hook. You can find me and Dave here: That’s What Hooks a Reader.

If you haven’t yet stopped by the Second Wind Publishing haunted house (hey, there’s a theme here! Haunted City. Haunted House. Way cool!) you are missing the fun. You can find the house here: Trick or Treat! Let the Game Begin!

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Second Wind Publishing, LLC.

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Amazon.

Day nine of the Daughter Am I blog tour, and I am still going strong. I actually went to bed before midnight last night, and I’m a bit more rested. Good thing — there is a lot going on today! First, check out “After the Writing Comes the Work.” Great discussion going on at that unscheduled tour stop, and a wonderful compliment about Daughter Am I.

Next, check out “How Best To Procrastinate” on Claire Collins’s blog. It was actually yesterday’s tour stop, but I kept finding other things to do and never got around to telling you about it. (Procrastination humor. Trite, but still amusing. I hope.)

Claire is a guest on my blog talking about “Welcome to the Business of Writing”, and the importance of a mission statement. Mine is: “It is my mission to become so well-known that a traditional publisher will offer me an obscenely large advance. I will turn down the advance because I’d like to show that there is value in being published by a small independent publisher, and because the resulting publicity could be worth more than the publishing contract.” Did you notice that it says nothing about writing? Hmmm.

One of these days I really do have to work on my poor stalled WIP. I’m thinking of doing WriMo — my own slimmed down version of NaNoWriMo. Instead of National Novel Writing Month, I might do simply a Writing Month. Perhaps try to write a sentence or two each day in November to get back into the habit of writing. I did sign up for NaBloWriMo (National Blog Writing Month) and NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). Since I’ve already contracted to do a blog post every day for the first three weeks in November because of my blog tour, all I need to do is to finish out the month and I win. Win what? you might ask. Nothing, of course. It’s the challenge that counts.

But I am digressing.

Today I am again visiting Joylene Nowell Butler in Cluculz, this time for an interview. I am at Untreed Reads talking about my Rites of Passage as an author. And I am trick-or-treating at the Second Wind blog.

This is turning into an international tour. I’m in Canada today and Wednesday, in Florida tomorrow, and in Australia on Thursday. In the middle of November, I’ll be in South Africa. You gotta love the Internet!

Today’s schedule recapped:

After the Writing Comes the Work
How Best to Procrastinate
Welcome to the Business of Writing
Interview at Cluculz
Rites of Passage
Trick or Treat! Let the Game Begin!

Have fun. I intend to.

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Second Wind Publishing, LLC.

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Amazon.

I’m having a book cover contest. I can’t decide, so I posted my favorite covers. Still working out the kinks, I hope the pictures aren’t too small. Anyway, vote for your favorite cover & enter to win a free copy of the book when it’s published!
http://dellanioakes.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/a-tangled-web-cover-contest/

I made it through the first week of my blog tour!! I’m getting to the hard part, though. I have several interviews coming up, and it’s challenging keep from making identical responses to identical questions. There really is only one story behind the writing of Daughter Am I — I wanted to use the true tales of the Syndicate an historian friend used to tell me, and I wanted to do a mythic journey, so I combined the two ideas into the book — but I don’t want to bore people bycontinually talking about that not so very interesting inception. So, I wait until very late at night when my defenses are down, and I write what ever comes to mind.

Yes, I know — I keep talking about how words don’t come easy to me, but that’s only when it comes to fiction. When it comes to late night stream of consciousness, well, the words do come. I just hope they are worth reading. I guess we’ll find out. My first interview is today on Visual Arts Junction. Click here to find it.

I must have used up all my words last night for the interview. I’ve been sitting here for the past ten minutes trying to think of something witty to say, or perhaps pithy, but my mind is a total blank. Not good. I have a live chat in a couple of hours on Reviewers Roundup to talk about blog tours, and I need at least a few words for that. Maybe I’ll go take a walk. See if I can find a few words among the fallen leaves.

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Second Wind Publishing, LLC.

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Amazon.

Got to go pick up my son from his first band performance of the year. He’s at a high school football game. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend. I knew 3 1/2 hours of sitting in the bleachers would be hell on my neck. If he has many of these, I’ll have to buy a stadium chair!

My blog tour is really starting to heat up! Lots of activity, more than I’m used to, that’s for sure. To start out, I am a guest at the blog of my good friend Joylene Nowell Butler author of Dead Witness. We first met when she submitted a character interview to my Pat Bertram Introduces . . . blog. Usually I have to twist people’s arms to get them to send me an interview to post, but she voluntarily responded to a link I left on a discussion on Facebook — which impressed the heck out of me — and now here we are, a year later, virtually visiting in Cluculz.

Where is Cluculz? you might ask. Good question. It’s 67 km west of Prince George and 32 km east of Vanderhoof, in central BC, Canada. I had to Google it, which was fun since it fit right into the theme of my guest post — writing about places you have never been. So, come to Clucluz, listen to the loons, and don’t forget the mosquito repellent. Click here to find the guest post at Cluculz Lake.

As if that weren’t excitement enough, today is the debut of my writing column — ASK PAT. Way cool! Since it’s in an ezine, there’s no place to leave questions and comments, so I’ve set up a special blog post for that purpose. You can find it here: questions and comments for ASK PAT. If you have a question you’d like me to include, be sure to let me know. If you have an answer you’d like me to include, let me know that, too. I certainly don’t presume to have all the answers.

And there’s more excitement! (I’m trying to sound like an info-mercial.) Tomorrow I am a guest at Reviewers Roundup on Facebook. Glenda Bixler, you, and I will be having a live chat about blog tours, my books, writing in general. So if you are a member of facebook, please pop in to the discussion between 3:00pm and 5:00pm ET tomorrow. It should be a lively chat. What’s it called? What else: Blog Tour 2009.

Don’t forget, my books are available in all ebook formats at Smashwords. Even better, you can download the first 30% of each book free. And speaking of free downloads, stop by Second Wind Publishing for a free sampler or two. One sampler includes the first chapters of all Second Wind’s romances, the other sampler includes the first chapters of all Second Wind’s mystery, adventure, maitstream novels. The first chapter of A Spark of Heavenly, More Deaths Than One, and Daughter Am I are in the Mystery Sampler.

If you’d like to do a character interview for my Pat Bertram Introduces . . . blog, you can find the instructions here: Character Questionnaire.

My blog tour is really starting to heat up! Lots of activity, more than I’m used to, that’s for sure. To start out, I am a guest at the blog of my good friend Joylene Nowell Butler author of Dead Witness. We first met when she submitted a character interview to my Pat Bertram Introduces . . . blog. Usually I have to twist people’s arms to get them to send me an interview to post, but she voluntarily responded to a link I left on a discussion on Facebook — which impressed the heck out of me — and now here we are, a year later, virtually visiting in Cluculz.

Where is Cluculz? you might ask. Good question. It’s 67 km west of Prince George and 32 km east of Vanderhoof, in central BC, Canada. I had to Google it, which was fun since it fit right into the theme of my guest post — writing about places you have never been. So, come to Clucluz, listen to the loons, and don’t forget the mosquito repellent. Click here to find the guest post at Cluculz Lake.

As if that weren’t excitement enough, today is the debut of my writing column — ASK PAT. Way cool! Since it’s in an ezine, there’s no place to leave questions and comments, so I’ve set up a special blog post for that purpose. You can find it here: questions and comments for ASK PAT. If you have a question you’d like me to include, be sure to let me know. If you have an answer you’d like me to include, let me know that, too. I certainly don’t presume to have all the answers.

And there’s more excitement! (I’m trying to sound like an info-mercial.) Tomorrow I am a guest at Reviewers Roundup on Facebook. Glenda Bixler, you, and I will be having a live chat about blog tours, my books, writing in general. So if you are a member of facebook, please pop in to the discussion between 3:00pm and 5:00pm ET tomorrow. It should be a lively chat. What’s it called? What else: Blog Tour 2009.

Don’t forget, my books are available in all ebook formats at Smashwords. Even better, you can download the first 30% of each book free. And speaking of free downloads, stop by Second Wind Publishing for a free sampler or two. One sampler includes the first chapters of all Second Wind’s romances, the other sampler includes the first chapters of all Second Wind’s mystery, adventure, maitstream novels. The first chapter of A Spark of Heavenly, More Deaths Than One, and Daughter Am I are in the Mystery Sampler.

If you’d like to do a character interview for my Pat Bertram Introduces . . . blog, you can find the instructions here: Character Questionnaire.

My blog tour is really starting to heat up! Lots of activity, more than I’m used to, that’s for sure. To start out, I am a guest at the blog of my good friend Joylene Nowell Butler author of Dead Witness. We first met when she submitted a character interview to my Pat Bertram Introduces . . . blog. Usually I have to twist people’s arms to get them to send me an interview to post, but she voluntarily responded to a link I left on a discussion on Facebook — which impressed the heck out of me — and now here we are, a year later, virtually visiting in Cluculz.

Where is Cluculz? you might ask. Good question. It’s 67 km west of Prince George and 32 km east of Vanderhoof, in central BC, Canada. I had to Google it, which was fun since it fit right into the theme of my guest post — writing about places you have never been. So, come to Clucluz, listen to the loons, and don’t forget the mosquito repellent. Click here to find the guest post at Cluculz Lake.

As if that weren’t excitement enough, today is the debut of my writing column — ASK PAT. Way cool! Since it’s in an ezine, there’s no place to leave questions and comments, so I’ve set up a special blog post for that purpose. You can find it here: questions and comments for ASK PAT. If you have a question you’d like me to include, be sure to let me know. If you have an answer you’d like me to include, let me know that, too. I certainly don’t presume to have all the answers.

And there’s more excitement! (I’m trying to sound like an info-mercial.) Tomorrow I am a guest at Reviewers Roundup on Facebook. Glenda Bixler, you, and I will be having a live chat about blog tours, my books, writing in general. So if you are a member of facebook, please pop in to the discussion between 3:00pm and 5:00pm ET tomorrow. It should be a lively chat. What’s it called? What else: Blog Tour 2009.

Don’t forget, my books are available in all ebook formats at Smashwords. Even better, you can download the first 30% of each book free. And speaking of free downloads, stop by Second Wind Publishing for a free sampler or two. One sampler includes the first chapters of all Second Wind’s romances, the other sampler includes the first chapters of all Second Wind’s mystery, adventure, maitstream novels. The first chapter of A Spark of Heavenly, More Deaths Than One, and Daughter Am I are in the Mystery Sampler.

If you’d like to do a character interview for my Pat Bertram Introduces . . . blog, you can find the instructions here: Character Questionnaire.

The Internet is such a wonderful place. Today, day five of my blog tour, I am in Florida with author Nancy J. Cohen talking about dialogue. Virtually speaking, that is. Physically, I am in Colorado, listening to leaves falling like rain. In Florida, it’s a sunny day at the beach. At least I hope it is. I sure would hate to get caught in a hurricane while I’m visiting!

Yesterday someone commented that a virtual book tour seemed like a lot of work and asked if I would do it again. My first inclination was to say, “No way!” It’s too much work for such seemingly meager results, yet I am meeting people out of my normal circle of connections, which is always a good thing. I am getting to talk about my books, which is fun. And it’s a challenge, not just setting up the book tour, writing the articles, and promoting the tour, but figuring out how to make the same basic comment a hundred times and yet make each time seem fresh and new. So, would I do it again? I don’t know. Ask me in six months when my next novel Light Bringer comes out. My goal (silly me!) is to be so well known by then that the book will just fly out of Amazon’s warehouse as soon as I announce its publication. It could happen. And oh, by the way, I just bought London bridge.

So, please join me in Florida to dialogue about dialogue at: Nancy J. Cohen’s Notes from Florida

Don’t forget, my books are available in all ebook formats at Smashwords. Even better, you can download the first 30% of each book free. And speaking of free downloads, stop by Second Wind Publishing for a free sampler or two. One sampler includes the first chapters of all Second Wind’s romances, the other sampler includes the first chapters of all Second Wind’s mystery, adventure, maitstream novels. The first chapter of A Spark of Heavenly, More Deaths Than One, and Daughter Am I are in the Mystery Sampler.

My guest blogger today is Liena Ferror. Please join her, leave a comment, have a look. Her book, Queen of the Ghost Drakon, debuts soon! http://dellanioakes.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/welcome-todays-guest-blogger-liena-ferror/