Love a Good Story

Posted on by judycar

I Love a Good Story. Don’t you just Love a Good Story? Here is another Good Story.

Hello, I’m Taylor Maddox, or Fr. Maddox or Rev. Maddox. I would prefer Fr. or Rev. , but for my family, I’m Taylor. Hamilton and I appear in The Attractiveness of Wisdom, Judy’s latest novel. We are brothers and the sons of George and Mary Maddox. You’ve already met my father, George and found out about his vineyard and you’ve met, my mother, Mary. Now it’s my turn. I’m not in Hamilton’s story as much as I was. Judy deleted my biggest role saying that even though it was a nice scene, it served no purpose in the story. She explained to me about novels and that things in a novel must serve a purpose. I took it a little hard at first, that I served no purpose. But, I wanted her to write a good story, one that people would love, so I understood.

Hamilton was two years younger, but we have always been best friends. It was hard, at first, because Ham was still in middle school, my first year in high school. During my high school years, I seemed to have a lot of energy that I needed to release. I was always doing things that would get me in trouble. But they all had to do with one thing, or rather one person-Gwen Newman. This was before I met my wife, Alice. Alice and I met in college. But Gwen was all I could think about. I loved Gwen Newman and I strongly believed she loved me. From the time we met in 10th grade, we were always together. I have to say I missed Ham a lot when I was with Gwen. I thought Gwen and I could have some kind of future together, though I didn’t think too much about that. When I told Ham and my mom, my mom said, “A high school sweetheart. Everyone has one.” I don’t know what it was about that girl, but I just had to be with her. Mostly on Fridays, or Saturdays, we went to a party, a movie, skating or we would just sit by the water. Sitting on a pier in the evening or night is the most peaceful thing in the world. A person can get a lot of thinking done sitting and listening to the water. Ham and I often did that together, sometimes late at night.

The picture above is of the new Stevensville high school. Ham and I attended the old one. As I remember it, in the old school, the flagpole was much taller than the one in the picture above, and it was not in the front of the building like it is now.

I remember the time Gwen wanted me to prove my love to her. We were walking home from school, as we did daily. It was a Friday in April and we were making plans for the evening and the weekend. When we got to her house, I said, “I love you,” just as we both turned to depart. I had never said it before. I was very careful about saying things I wasn’t quite sure about. At that moment I realized I’d let that slip out, and I wanted to take it back. So, I added, “Thanks for the help in English.” That way she would take it as a “general love,” and mainly for the help. But she didn’t let it go. She repeated what I’d said and asked if it was true. I spoke around it as much as possible saying things like, “You know what I mean,” the thing most guys say when they don’t want to admit the truth. She pressed on. If you really love me, then climb up the flagpole for me.

At school on Monday, she circulated to everyone that I would climb up the flagpole to prove my love for her. It was set for Friday when there were no games or afterschool programs scheduled. Only those special people who got the word passed to them were expect to show up. Instead, almost every student in the school came out to see me climb up that flagpole. The word (our cell phone) had gotten to almost everybody. I was really nervous, and I . . . ..

Want to find out what happened? Read it in The Attractiveness of Wisdom.

Love a Good Story

Posted on by judycar

I Love A Good Story.  Don’t you just Love A Good Story? Here’s another Good Story.

  Hello, my name is Mary Maddox I’m Hamilton’s mother. Hamilton is the main character in Judy’s newest novel, The Attractiveness of Wisdom. George, my husband, spoke to you last time. Now, I’m told it’s my turn. In order for you to understand Hamilton, you may need to know a little about his father and me.

I grew up in Stevensville near where we live now. If you’ve ever been to Stevensville, you’ll know that it’s a small town, but it’s growing. The town is now divided into about three sections— the old section, the newer section with nicer homes near the water, and recently the mansions on the other side near the water. My father worked in what’s now the older section in the Post Office and my mother ran the Antique Store across the street. My sister, Deborah, who is also in the novel, The Attractiveness of Wisdom, married Seth soon after high school. She always wanted to go to college, but she never did. Seth is a doctor. I couldn’t decide whether I would stay in Stevensville or move away to some big city like New York. The most that happens in Stevensville are ball games, Halloween, or a play every now and then. We do have a parade during the spring sometimes. I was itching to get out and follow my dream, but I met George before I could do that.

George and I met in college in the fall of our senior. I never noticed him before that; he and I began and finished at the same university. One late September afternoon, in the crowded cafeteria, one man sat at a table alone reading from a textbook. From where I sat, across from him, I could see it was a psychology book that had him so engrossed. I watched him turn the pages. As I did, I couldn’t help but notice something about the way he turned himself that made him seem sensitive, kind and gentle.  I wanted to find out more about him. Before I could do anything, he turned in my direction. He must have sensed that I was watching him. After a while he slammed the book closed, got up, came to my table, pulled out the empty chair and sat down. Then he said, “I hope you don’t mine, but I need to meet you.” Our relationship began.

  When George wanted us to get married, he told me he needed to tell me something before we did. George told me all about his family, and his father who abused him most of his life. Needless to say, I was frightened and wasn’t sure about marrying a man with problems. When I told my parents, they told me that I would be in for a life of trouble if a married a man like that. I couldn’t get over the fact that he needed me to know. When I asked him why he told me, he said that he wanted me to know how he grew up because he thought it was a part of him. It was something about telling of what many would have kept secret that made him trustworthy, and I saw that he didn’t want to be “a man like that,” as my mother described him. So, we married.

George’s father had given him money and told him to buy the vineyard that had been for sale for a few years. George did. The first five years were a struggle for him. There was always something— not enough rain, too much rain, not enough helpers, workers stealing, and anything else you could name. During those struggling years, filled with disappointment and despair, there were times when George was so angry and disappointed about the problems, that I thought he would give up, and I was afraid he would hit me.

One day when he was yelling, and ranting, walking back and forth, he stopped and looked at me sitting on the couch. Suddenly his faced dropped and a softness came across him. I’ve never seen anything like that before. He didn’t hit me, and he never behaved like that again. Later, I asked George what happened, why he stopped his anger. He said that he saw how frightened I was and realized that he didn’t want to do anything to destroy our relationship and he certainly didn’t want me to be afraid of him. I told him how much I loved him and how much he meant to me. He told me that no one has ever told him that they loved him or that he was important to them.

There were also times when he wanted to give up, but I saw something special in him, so I encouraged him to keep at it. Not because of me, but because he deserved it. George was my world. He told me that he thought I was the only person in the world who loved him. That was hard for me to believe because he has such a kind, loving heart. He told me he worked at it every day. He was a man worthy of my support and encouragement, and I stuck by him. He put in so much effort to make a good life for us.

 After George got all the problems worked out with the winery, the grapes growing, the workers hired, and the inside stable, George thought it was time for us to start our family. Taylor was born first, and two years later Hamilton. My sons were very close, even though they were very different. Taylor was more like my father, who was also a Baptist Minister. Taylor loved the Lord and let everyone know it. He knew almost from the minute he was born he would be a priest. He’s one today. He’s the Rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Yes, he did change denominations, but that’s okay with us. Hamilton liked books and he read up on everything all the time. Every day he would tell us about something he’d read at school or from a library book. He explained history and much about science. Hamilton is now a dean at his university. We are proud of our sons.

Below you will see pictures of some of the businesses and houses on Main Street in Stevensville. Our house was just outside the city limits on a big lot. It’s changed since we bought it. George wanted it to be modern and warm. He wanted his family to be warm in the wintertime.

Businesses in Stevensville
More Businesses in the Old Section
Houses in the Old Section
The Town Baker

Something you don’t know about our boys is that Taylor played the trumpet and Hamilton played the flute in the orchestra or band from elementary to high school. We thought they would be musicians.

Read The Attractiveness of Wisdom when it comes out in the fall. I know you’ll enjoy it. I look forward to you finding out more about Hamilton Maddox.

Love a Good Story

Posted on by judycar

I Love a Good Story. I know you, too, Love a Good Story. I have two stories for today.

First, an author talk. Six authors will offer an author talk on Facebook. I hope you will take a few minutes of your time and hear us talk about our memoirs and novels and read from them. We’ll have time for questions and answers at the end. I will read a little from The Attractiveness of Wisdom.

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________________________________________________________________________________________

The Attractiveness of Wisdom

Hello, my name is George Maddox. I’m one of the characters in Judy’s new novel, The Attractiveness of Wisdom. I’m Hamilton’s father. When Mary and I married, we moved to Stevensville, Maryland. It was not like it is now. Then, it was a small town of hardworking people who loved to live near water. Now, it’s almost a metropolitan city. At the time, most people in Stevensville, owned boats of some sort, but we owned a vineyard. Soon after I graduated from college, my father gave me money to buy a vineyard. He said I wasn’t smart enough to do much else. I believed that about myself for a long time. It’s funny how we are, people, that is. We believe the untruths about ourselves that sometimes our parents tell us. My father did that to me. I tried hard to be a good father to my sons, Taylor and Hamilton. I wanted them to be better men than I, and I expected more from them than my father expected from me. So, I worked that vineyard. I couldn’t fail at it like my father thought I would. I had a family to support and I needed to prove my father wrong. I put in long hours at the vineyard and as my son, Hamilton, told me, “I had the best wine around.” He was right. My wine won several awards as the best wine on the east coast. Do you know what a vineyard looks like? Here’s one type.

 

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This picture is of Cassio’s vineyard in Stevensville. I retired a few years back and sold my vineyard to a nice young couple. They had it for about five years. Then a builder wanted to put up townhouses and the couple sold the vineyard to them. Even though my vineyard is no longer, I invite you to take a glass of your favorite wine, or whatever you like, and enjoy The Attractiveness of Wisdom, when it comes out.  Read about me as you do.

Until we meet again in the novel, Your Friend,

George Maddox

Something Exciting is Coming!!

Posted on by judycar

Love a Good Story. I Love a Good Story. Don’t you just Love a Good Story? I have a Good Story for you. My next novel, The Attractiveness of Wisdom, will be out soon.

Excitement
This is a beautifully crafted and powerful Literary, Christian based novel about a middle-aged man, Hamilton Maddox, with three children, two college students, who has a controlling personality. He has controlled his wife, HolliAnne, for the twenty-seven years of their marriage, and later his three children. His wife files for divorce. Even though he and HolliAnne, have had marital problems throughout their twenty-seven years, he isn’t sure he wants a divorce. But he sees that he can’t control the divorce procedures and through the power of the court system and the will of HolliAnne, he is a divorced man.
Throughout the story, Hamilton sees what happens to people who are being controlled and understands how his controlling HolliAnne has and does affect her. He wants her to forgive him and he tries to forgive himself. After months of avoiding women, he realizes that he must move on and he steps out into the dating world. As he builds another life for himself, he understands that it must be a life that does not control other people or his circumstances.
This wonderful story has a cast full of well-developed characters, and a plot that enables the reader to see and understand how one may have a need to control him/herself and those around him/her. The story shows us what the other person is like, how they are negatively changed through the control of another. I love The Attractiveness of Wisdom as well as I love That Ever Died So Young and Blessings and Curses. They all teach something. The Attractiveness of Wisdom shows the readers that though we may have had a bad experience in the past, we don’t control our lives. We can’t make what we want to happen actually happen to us. Christians know that only God controls our lives and we must live our lives the way He wants us to. This story will be with you for days after you’ve finished reading it and you will want to read it again!

The Attractiveness of Wisdom also takes the reader to many places such as Hawaii and Stevensville, Maryland. Stevensville, Maryland is where Hamilton grew up. His father had a winery, that grew “the best wines on the East Coast.”
I can’t wait to publish this novel and I hope you can’t wait to read it. But you’ll need your favorite wine, maybe from Stevensville, as you enjoy The Attractiveness of Wisdom.

Stay tuned for facts about Stevensville, seeing and hearing about this wonderful little town.

First Radio Interview

Posted on by judycar

I Love a Good Story. Don’t you just Love a Good Story? I have a Good story to tell you. This morning, I had my first radio show interview with Bruce Van Dyke on WEOL the AM Morning Drive.

 

I was live on the air!! I don’t know how many times I’ve listened to other people come on the radio talking about their programs, products, and/or their involvement in organizations such as feeding and caring for children, those with cancer, sheltering women from abusive spouses, and listening to artists and musicians talk about how they got started with their songs or paintings and other art forms. These discussions are not only interesting, but I also find them very inspiring.

Today, I was one of those being interviewed on the radio. At first, I was nervous; that almost immediately changed to excitement with the fact that I was “Live, on the Air.” When I began to speak, a seriousness came over me, a sense of responsibility that I felt and I knew that I was not only representing myself, but I was representing my publishing company, Black Rose Writing, my critique group, Rockville Writers, my Spiritual Leader and Advisor, and the hard work of writing, rewriting, editing and research that I put into the book. I hope I did what I have been hearing from others who have come on the radio and shared their information about their programs and organizations. I hope I communicated the heart and soul of my novel, Blessings and Curses, in the same way I have heard others communicate their projects. I hope that those persons who tuned in and who were driving to work heard the heart-felt message about Blessings and Curses on WEOL AM. I hope I did justice to this novel.

Follow me as I go around the country talking about Blessings and Curses.

Tomorrow (June 13) I will be live on the:

KJAG Jiggy Jaguar radio show at 12:00

Later, The syndicated Al Cole show at 2:00

Friday June 14

Mark and Matt KWAY at 9:40

Monday, June 17

GoodMornings! WFIN with Chris Oaks at 10:00

Tuesday, June 18

WGRT AM with Cathie Martin at 9:00

June 19

Larry Whitler, AM Ocala, WOCA Morning Drive and “The Source” beginning at 10:05

June 20

WISER with Dave Malarkey 9:30

June 21

KOPN – AM with Jill Sheets

June 24

WMST AM The Mid-Morning on Main with Dan Manley at 9:00

June 25

KMA Radio The Dean and Don Show with Dean Atkins at 9:20

June 27

WXGM AM with Neal Steele at 7:45

If you miss a show, remember that you can always buy Blessings and Curses, through:

www.Amazon.com Blessings and Curses, Judy Kelly

www.blackrosewriting.com

 

 

 

 

Love a Good Story:Good-bye Dear Antioch

Posted on by judycar

athird downtown antioch

Main Street in downtown Yellow Springs, Ohio

I just Love a Good Story. Don’t you just Love a Good Story?

I have another Good Story, but also a rather sad story. I just heard through Facebook that the Antioch Writers’ Workshop has closed down.  Antioch was like a parent to me.

Many years ago, I received a brochure from a writing conference telling me all the wonderful things about their conference and why I should attend. I read it through, and  decided that I wasn’t going and threw the brochure in the trash. Then, I pulled it out of the trash looked at it and decided that if I’m going to be an author, I would have to start taking writing a bit more seriously. I threw it in the trash and promised myself that I would attend the next workshop or conference that came in the mail. Two days later, the brochure for Antioch Writers’ Workshop appeared in the mail. I threw it in the trash, too. But for this one, there was an unrest inside me and I knew it was about the promise I had made to myself, the promise that I needed to take writing more seriously. So I got it out of the trash. I asked myself who would send me this anyway? How did this place get my name and address? Remembering my promise, I put the unnecessary questions away, completed the application and sent it in.

When I arrived  in Yellow Springs, Ohio, I was surprised. It was a cute little town that seemed stuck in an earlier time period. I loved it right away. It had an aura of calm, and comfort that seemed to change my attitude. I was anxious to start the conference.

downtownyellow springs

The Tavern where many of us ate

I found my way to the home of my host. One on the nicest features of Antioch was that an attendee could stay for the week-long conference (Saturday to Saturday) in the home of a resident. How nice was that? I signed up for that. The next morning,  I realized that I was sharing a home with two other presenters.  A Newbie, and already I was placed with an award winning poet, and an awarding winning author. I took this as a good sign. The home owners were beautiful people. During the week we shared and talked, and I got to know not only the presenters, but the town and some of the wonderful people in it.

My first year, our speaker was Robert Inman who spoke about character and ways to develop character in stories. His talk was so good  I went and bought all of his books.  All the conferences after that were always filled with award-winning authors who talked about craft. I learned how to create good strong characters, meaningful dialogue, the need for an outline, and the need for a strong plot. I also bought many books and asked these brilliant authors to sign them. Each year there was so much information imparted that I found it impossible to take in so much material in one five-day session, so I returned the next year to learn more. I had become an “Antiocher.” It was clear that the goal of the conference was to help us to develop good writing skills in order for us to become good writers and become published authors. I loved the idea that the emphasis was on craft, teaching us how to shape and mold a story into something excellent.

                                                                                                                     The library                                                                                      thelibraryatantioch                                                             antiochcollege    Antioch College

Another good feature of the conference was lunch with the keynotes and authors. Sitting next to someone who wrote a novel, is very encouraging. Speaking with them and asking questions about how they got started, clarifying something in the talk earlier, or just generally talking enable me to see that I could do that, too. They were people just like me. Our ideas came from the same place – the heart. I needed to understand that.  One year, I was the only one lunching with Silas House. That session became dear and important to me and I will always cherish the fact that he made a choice to continue with one person. He taught me that no matter how many or how few people show up, give it everything, honor them the way you would a larger group. And he did. Today, every time I do a book signing, give a talk, or teach a writing class, I think about that day and I find I don’t worry. I’m going to honor whoever shows up.

Antioch Writers’ Workshop made me into not only a writer, but an award-winning author of two novels so far, That Ever Died So Young, a finalist in the Somerset Literary and Contemporary Fiction Award, 2014, and Blessings and Curses, ranking in the top ten Most Popular novels in the Frankfurt, Shahjar, and Guadalajara International Book Fairs, 2018. Antioch Writers’ Workshop helped me bring my skill to light, and Antioch Writers’ Workshop helped me refine my skill.

The auditorium where I began as an “Antiocher” was torn down and something else in its place. Antioch College closed down and the conference moved to Glen Helen Nature Preserve. Years later, when Antioch University opened, the conference moved to the edge of the city into the university. The bookstore where many read their work in the evening went out of business and the readings moved to a café. After some years, the host program was discontinued. I am forever grateful to all those keynotes and intensive leaders and intensive participants who through their talks and critiques enabled me to see my value. Antioch, like parents, will pass on, but Antioch grew me, and as one of its many children, I will continue to grow from the many craft sessions, lunches, and critiques that I received from my parent.

downtownantiochjpg

A nice restaurant good for lunch/dinner

anotherdowntownantiochjpg

 

Antioch has done so much for many of us that it shouldn’t just go out quietly. It should go out with a big band. Why not have a “Going Out Party.”  I think Sharon Short should send out invitations to everyone who ever attended and have a big party. We will be able to see how many of us have benefited from their workshops over the years. I would delight in that.