LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE

To all of you folks over sixty, come on over and share some of your life experiences. For the oldest among you, what was it like growing up during the depression years? We lived in a small town close to Lake Ontario. Those were the days when men criss-crossed Canada seeking work. Because our rented house (not many ordinary people owned houses back then) was situated by a fairly busy highway, tramps would come knocking on our kitchen door seeking handouts.

They never asked for money. "Missus, could you spare a bit of tea. I have some milk?" One asked my mother. Others would have tea and milk and asked for some bread and butter/ My mother was sure there was a hidden mark on our back door because we were the only house on the street to attract the tramps.

They were not tramps, really. They were men desperately in search of work not sitting on street corners begging for coins.

I was fortunate most of the time as I grew up. My father was employed and my family was considered "well off," until I was thirteen years old and my father foolishly lost his job. My world turned upside down. After high school my hopes to attend university fell by the wayside and I took a business course. My first job, as a stenographer with Canadian General Electric paid me $15.00 a week! That was above the minimum wage. The minimum wage in 1939 for females was $12.50 a week.

Forget the depression, have you a childhood memory to share? Happy. Sad. Devilish fun. My brother, Harry and I, got into some scrapes and lived to tell the tale.

Check my website for information about my published books and how to purchase them. That's my sales pitch for to-day.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com

Cape Dorset Stone cut print

When I moved from my large home to a small apartment I did not have room for all the art work I brought with me. One item of interest is a Cape Dorset Stone Cut for which I do not have all space. The print is called:

Kikgavik and The Hunter. The artist is Kiakshuk. I purchased the print in Calgary, Alberta in 1962. My print is 46/50. Three years ago one of the prints sold for close to $4000.00 US.

If anyone is interested in seeing my print, please check my web site, www.anitabirt.com for information about me, my writing, excerpts from my books, the covers and how to reach me if you are interested in seeing a photo of the print.

Having said all that. Back to my WIP. I am preparing a short gothic story for an anthology sponsored by Gothicwriters, a chapter of Romance Writers of America. My story is called The Listeners. It takes place in the present time in Cornwall, England. Cornwall is awash in stories, ghostly and real.

My American heroine, Julia Denning, traveled to England expecting to attend a conference on the experience of time slowing. What happens to her is the stuff of nightmares or dreams - take your pick.

And just to keep my books on your mind, I'm posting the cover of my historical romance, A Very Difficult Man. It's available as an e-book and in trade paperback. The print version is available at Amazon.com and the e-book and print version can be ordered from www.Jasmine-Jade.com

Thanks for visiting

Anita

Inspiration

Where do your ideas come from? Authors are asked this question many times. Here is what started a new story inside my head.

Years ago, my husband and I were on a hiking holiday in mid-Wales and stopped for a morning coffee in a small cafe on the main street of Llandrindod Wells. I noticed a young woman sitting alone at a window table. She was dressed in black. She was drinking a Coke and kept glancing out the window as if waiting for a friend.

Immediately a story came to me. My heroine is sitting in the cafe having a morning coffee and notices a young woman dressed in Victorian black sitting alone at a window table. She is turning the pages of a diary and weeping over it.

That is how I began writing Isabelle's Diary and followed it with Isabelle's Story. To read excerpts of both books, go to my web site, www.anitabirt.com

Ordering information for my books is on my web site.

The books are available in e-format and soon, I hope, will be available in trade paper back.

If you want to know what inspired me to write, A Very Difficult Man, please leave a comment below and I shall write about it on my blog.

Thanks for dropping by.

Anita

Pay Attention - second time around

Yesterday I tried to download the covers of my five books with Cerridwen Press. For reasons known only to the gods of the blog world, I could not show you all of them. Never quit is my motto so I shall try again to-day.

And there they are! A Very Difficult Man is a historical romance set in 1854 England. My hero has returned from the Crimean War, wounded in body and soul and has become a recluse in his family mansion. My heroine, has been hired as a companion, by his mother, Lady Glenmore, to see if she can bring her son out of his self-imposed exile. He does not want the companion foisted on him by his family and does his best to get rid of her. Conflict from the get-go.

Isabelle's Diary is a contemporary romance that takes place in Llandrindod Wells, Wales. There's a ghost - but is there? Trying to find the mysterious young woman who appeared to my heroine is difficult. My heroine asks for help from a handsome Welsh professor. A romance to warm your heart.

Isabelle's Story, is the story of the girl you wrote the diary between 1895 - 1900. A historical romance that almost didn't happen when she became pregnant and her domineering father threw her out of the house. Thinking her lover had abandoned her, Isabelle walked into the hills behind the town hoping to die - but. Who came along just in time to save her? An old shepherd would not leave her and carried her to his cottage to heal. Wonderful story and a romance.

Please go to my web site, www.anitabirt.com for excerpts from my books and how to order. Try Amazon.com to start! I'd enjoy hearing from you at: anita.birt@gmail.com

Thanks for dropping by,
Anita

Pay Attention

My sales are sagging. I need, want and must have sales to make me feel good about writing. So. I am posting the covers of my five books with Cerridwen Press. After viewing them, click on my web site: www.anitabirt.com and read excerpts and order one or two or three books. Make my day and afternoon and evening. Here are my five covers.

Well a nasty little computer gremlin has stopped me from downloading my other three covers.

Too Young To Die is a romantic suspense that will keep you on the edge of your seat until you finish the last page.

Ring Around The Moon is a time travel. Alan Tremaine travels from two hundred years in the past to the present time. The story takes place in magical Cornwall. Check it out.

Thanks for your interest. I'd enjoy hearing from you. Try me at: anita.birt@gmail.com

Stories

I have a small file of stories told to me by friends. It's such a lovely sunny day here in Victoria I feel like sharing the stories and may the sun shine on you wherever you are.

A friend of the family had her 94 year old fathe living with her. He was a lively old gentleman. A visitor came to tea one day. The old gentleman did not join them. The visitor had occasion to use the bathroom and was alarmed to note the lock on the door was the old fashioned kind that worked like a dead bolt. There door could not be opened from the outside.

"Mary," her friend asked when she came out, "aren't you afraid your father might fall in the bathroom or have a stroke and with the door locked you couldn't help him without breaking down the door?"

"Why, I never gave it a thought," Mary replied, " but I'll mention it to Dad when he comes down from the roof. He's up there fixing the chimney where a brick came loose in that high wind a couple of nights ago."

A Cat Story told to me. A friend of their's had a white Persian cat, a gold fish and dark blue carpetting in the living and dining rooms. She was called away on family business and her husband first of all let the cat eat the goldfish! He was tired cleaning cat hairs from the rug and decided to dye the cat blue, which he did!

This solved the white hair problem but when it came time for the man's wife to return he had to do two things. Replce the fish and dye the cat white.

Aa soon as his wife returned and walked into the living room she noticed the fish had shrunk in size and was now quite small. The cat strolled in and its fur was a strange dirty white colour.

Some explaining had to be done! The cat suffered no ill effects from its double dye job and the fish, was a fish, and did grow. The husband bought his wife tickets for the opera to soothe her feelings and promised to go with her.

A ew years ago my husband and I met a couple at a friend's home and quite liked them. They were older than us and very interesteing. I phoned to ask them for dinner and the wife answered. "Sorry, we can't come. George left me to-day."

Never at a loss for words, I asked what had happened.

"He has gone to live with his new woman friend in England." George was close to 80. They'd been married 42 years when he dropped the bomb.

Another couple story. A friend told me this story. She was invited to a big 50th wedding anniversary celebration. She went up to the woman and said. "I do hope you have many more years together." She was surprised at the reply. "Oh, there won't be more years together. I'm leaving him tomorrow."

There are millions of stories in the world, I've told you a few of them. Will you share a story or two with me? I'll credit you with them. Drop by my web site. www.anitabirt.com to read excerpts of my books and view the covers.

Anita Birt
(All the material on this blog is protected by copyright and may not be used without permission of the author)