Spring always holds a special place in my heart, because it kicks off a renewal spirit in the season and new beginnings. I turn a year older each spring, and during that occasion, I check in on my New Year resolutions. Usually I’m disappointed and it’s a time to turn over the soil in my life. I will forgive myself for what I didn’t get done, and celebrate what I did! Here’s what book lovers will enjoy that will help us all feel like celebrating:
- Join the Book Launch for The Moments Between Dreams. Author talk and book signing: Tuesday, May 24 evening. It will be streamed online wherever you are, and held in-person in MN. Register for either here. Link has details.
- If you enjoy this rainy daffodil and tulip season like I do, you might like to read a guest blog paragraph appearing on the Hasty Book List about, what else? Spring! I like to say that gardeners are artists expressing creativity when arranging bulbs in the ground just as writers arrange words on a page to make a provocative impact. Colorful tulip displays can whisper or shout. Sometimes, gardeners and writers are intentionally are subtle. You can read what I wrote and what other authors love about spring here.
- Would you like to read what Carol, the protagonist in my novel, likes about spring? Here’s an excerpt!
SPRING 1944 CHAPTER EXCERPT – THE MOMENTS BETWEEN DREAMS, A NOVEL by J.F. Brenner
On the first Sunday Joe could travel home in April, he hopped aboard a streetcar for the fifty-minute ride and short half-mile walk to my front door. Tulips popped through melting snow near the front porch where I waited. My eyes followed Tommy’s baseball sailing up to the roofline. It smacked in his glove just as I caught sight of Joe coming down the sidewalk in his sailor uniform. I felt that warm attraction all over again. Tommy tossed his mitt to the ground and ran to his father. The uniform and Joe’s purposeful stride made him look important. His frame looked stronger but thinner at the waist. A man fit to serve. He ruffled Tommy’s hair, then dropped his duffle bag and picked me up. “Hi, doll. You look beautiful. Hey, I smell something good in there. But first, let me look at you.” I felt the rush I always got when first seeing him, his skin now tanned from outdoor assignments.
***
Later that week, I brought tulips from my garden for the nurses’ station, getting to know Margaret, the charge nurse who worked weekends. The next time I saw her, I asked, “Could you use some coffee coupons this month?”
“Oh, I get enough free hot coffee here. Thanks much, Mrs. Wozniak. You keep them. WWII ration coupons are hard to come by.”
“You know my Ellie is up in the polio ward.”
“Yes, the cute little girl with the dark wavy hair.”
“Her dad’s in the military, locally assigned at Navy Pier because of her illness. Somedays he can get a Liberty pass to visit. Can you please let him visit Ellie on a Sunday?”
“Sorry, that’s against regulations.” *** (Find out why and how Carol must sweeten the deal to relax regulations!)
Preorder the book today! Bookshop.org. Amazon, or check your favorite retailer. Better yet, buy one signed at the May 24 book launch!