I am not talking about a dangerous stranger, a criminal, or any kind of person with a “shady” past.  I’m talking about a fairly familiar phenomenon.  We never know who the person we marry is in a complete, eternal sense.  As my heroine’s father says, “Why shouldn’t a good marriage be an endless process of exploration and discovery?”

I didn’t know that this book was emotionally biographical.  I was just confused about a lot of issues in my life that had never been resolved.  Alone with my three children most of the day and many nights while my husband worked, or was away, I began having flashbacks to these issues and experiencing long suppressed anger and feelings that had been been put to rest.    In my efforts to deal with these, I entered a sort of twilight life where I existed in the present, but my mind was caught up in the past.

Annalisse Childs, my heroine, has a very dramatic, passionate past, just as I did.  However, hers is full of different and far more interesting issues.  Once a European concert pianist, she is endeavoring to partner her idealistic husband of four years in his “Walden” experience on a farm in Southwest Missouri.  To his credit, Dennis knows nothing of her past except that she grew up on a farm in Wisconsin.  Because of tragic memories Annalisse has no intention of revisiting, she has cut music out of her life.  But, bit by bit, the pieces she once performed in Paris, accompanied by their ecstatic and terrible memories are the thin edge of the wedge.  Once she goes back to the piano, she cannot help the flashbacks from recurring.

As her husband witnesses the transformation of his stoical, practical wife into someone who makes public scenes, cries in closets and basements, and yet clings with superhuman tenacity to his heroic version of reality, he feels as if the ground beneath him has crumbled.  What should he do?  Does he have anything in common with this woman?  Why does she suddenly hate farm life and express a desire to sit up all night in Paris discussing the Opera?  Where is their marriage headed?

As nearly everyone who has read this manuscript has noted, Dennis is a thinly veiled version of my husband David.  Both are truly one-in-a-million amazing men.  And hopefully, reading the account of the hairpin turn in the fictional story will cause you to think deeply about your own relationships, and be filled with the kind of deep-seated well-being that accompanies the truest kind of love.

A MOMENTO: Pieces of Paris is now available for pre-order on Amazon.  Anyone who pre-orders and e-mails me (through my website http://ggvandagriff.com) a copy of their confirmation and snail mail address will receive a sterling silver charm of the Eiffel Tower! Deadline is the end of August.

EXAMINER CONTEST: The winner of the three copies of The Last Waltz are: Wendy Pop, Mary Deborde, and Kristine Armstrong!

You have until April 15 to produce a work of fan fiction! The topic? The weddings of Alex and Briggie. The length? Anything over 8 pp. You can also make your fiction more interesting by casting all the characters (how many can you get in there?) as movie people. Am particularly interested to see whom you cast as Charles! Be sure to include a guest list! (You may increase your chances of winning if you have read all the books and know who should be invited!) You are free to make the weddings separate or together, design wedding invitations, clothing, etc. Remember that Briggie is already sealed to her Ned, so she can’t be sealed to Richard.

If you want to throw a mystery in there, feel free. But Alex and Briggie have to solve it.

Submit to my e-mail ggvan1@gmail.com as an attachment with your name, e-mail address, and page number on each page.

The prize: The top three entries will receive a $20.00 gift card from Deseret Book.

So try your wings at some fiction with these well-beloved characters! I look forward to your entries!

In order to encourage more book club selection of The Last Waltz, I am offering a wonderful prize: A very trendy 75% cashmere 25% silk scarf/shawl purchased by me in my recent trip to Florence! All you have to do is get your book club to schedule Last Waltz for 2010 and be the first to do so! Then let me know! I’ll have some consolation prizes for those of you not so quick off the mark. The deadline is Nov 30. I love to participate in Book Clubs by speaker phone, if this is something you would like.  If you live on the Wasatch Front, I have been known to visit in person (unless you want to say bad things about the book!)

I’ve gotten behind in my blogging, but wanted to announce the winners for the Alma and Saving Madeline "contest winners."

They are:  Night Owl Mommy and Suze (Saving Madeline)

            Deron Fraley (Alma)

Plans:

I am busier than a one-armed paperhanger trying to get ready for my trip to Florence next week to research for Crazy Ladies, my next series.  Am trying to finish up current novel (The Only Bright Thing), and am in a very difficult part in the rewrite.  Have been working on this one for twenty-five years.  Hopefully, this will be published in 2010, however I have no idea of the timing. 

Have to buy a raincoat, and umbrella, and a new rolling bag . . .

Reviews:

Watch for reviews of The Hidden Branch which should be coming out soon since DB finally got around to sending out review copies yesterday!

Signings:

All you readers who live in Utah County–don’t forget to come visit me at the University Mall DB Ladies’ Night!

The winner in our contest is:

Susan Winterton from Chandler, AZ.   She will receive the entire set of Alex and Briggie books as well as the same gift package of memorabilia that all the other contestants will receive.

I will be signing all my books at the Layton Hills Mall, Layton, Utah on Saturday, the 26th of September, as well as on Ladies’ Night at the University Mall in Orem, Utah.  (Good to have some signings near home for a change).

After conference, my husband and I will be flying to Florence to research my first book in my new series: The Crazy Ladies of Oakwood, Part One: The Escapade.  I am hoping this will be balm for all of you who are mourning the loss of Alex and Briggie.  There will be four new eccentric heroines, exotic places, and complications galore.

The three things Alex, Briggie, and Charles found in the Trotter’s Bridge cemetery were (1) The grave of Claire Prescott (found by Alex) with quote from Alma 36 engraved on it, suggesting that Elder Call had baptized her a Mormon; (2) The carving on the tree (found by Charles) saying that Jake McHenry had lynched Elder Samuels on that tree in 1857; and (3) Briggie’s discovery of Jake McHenry’s grave and its engraving that Jake McHenry was “scalped by savages and murdered.”

Congratulations, Lisa!

The rest of you, don’t despair! You still have an opportunity to win signed copies of the whole series, as well a package of Alex and Briggie memorabilia. Anyone who participates in the Internet Launch of The Hidden Branch by purchasing the book in the store or on line (Deseretbook.com—you can even pre-order) on or before September 17^th and sends me their name and snail mail address through my website http://ggvandagriff.com will receive the gift package and will then be eligible for the drawing for the entire set of books.

Watch this blog for a pre-launch review by award-winning author Tristi Pinkston, the author of the delightfully zany suspense novel, Agent in Old Lace.

What three things did Alex, Briggie, and Charles find in the Trotter’s Bridge cemetery?

Answer by going to my website: http://ggvandagriff.com and responding through the "Contact Me" page.

Last week’s Winner:

Margene from Arizona!  See my website for the correct answer.

NEW GIVE AWAY CONTEST!

I am told that Hidden Branch will be in the stores for sure by Friday, Sept 16.  It may be available earlier on line.  If you purchase Hidden Branch on or before Saturday, September 17, inform me on line (through contact page on website) and you will receive a gift package of Alex and Briggie memorabilia from all five books.  You will also be entered in a drawing to receive a free set of the previous four books, all autographed and personalized.  Be sure to include your snail mail address in your response.  I would also really appreciate it if you could tell me where you purchased your book! 

Hidden Branch has all the best of the Alex and Briggie you have come to love: humor, romance, peril, quirky characters, and a genealogical puzzle.  If you’ve never read the series, this is an excellent introduction to the "best of Alex and Briggie."

To answer go to the contest page of my website: http://ggvandagriff.com.

Congratulations to Britt Chapman, who won last week’s contest! The correct answer was: Alex saw the resemblance between the murderer and William Williams after discovering the Williams Family Bible on the murderer’s desk.

Be prepared for an exciting On-Line Launch party where you will have a chance to win prizes as well as the complete set of Alex and Briggie novels.

Our winner for last week was April!  Congratulations!