Dear Heart: The Courting Letters

A trip to my mailbox these days might yield bills, ads, and the usual collection of junk mail.  The sight of a handwritten letter nestled in the pile delights me. It was not always so. More than a century ago, letters and illustrated postcards were the main ways people communicated, be they friends, relations, or lovers. Phones were an expensive luxury.

Almost twenty years ago, when I discovered an antique writing box filled with courting letters from 1909-1910, even a cursory reading had me hooked.  Here were two people, Gertie and Fred, courting (a.k.a. dating, getting to know one another) via the written word and little packages they sent to each other. Separated between Ipswich, England, and St. Paul, Minnesota, a letter took ten days one way by train and ship. No instant communication was possible! The letter sent was usually not the one answered. I knew there was a story here, and it never let me alone.

I began by transcribing the letters. Fred wrote sixteen-page letters single-spaced. Gertie’s handwriting was creative, often spilling over onto play programs and church bulletins.

At my daughter Kirsten’s suggestion, I interwove a fictional modern couple’s story to add contrast. I chose 2010 in Chicago and Spain as the setting. Some elements—emotions, needs, hurdles, obstacles—are universal. But most young people in love today don’t write letters.  Multiple other vehicles for communication exist. The restraints that existed in 1910 have softened, but not disappeared entirely.

My research entailed digging deeper into the historical events mentioned in the letters and in the two eras.

I purposely highlighted the contrasts between the two stories—modes of communication, technology, transportation, dissemination of information, fashions, speech. One of the most interesting contrasts involved women’s rights and freedoms.

My modern heroine, Lisa, despite her troubles in the dating world, has the freedom make choices, to be an independent woman. My 1909-10 heroine, Gertie, though she admires the suffragettes, hesitates to tell Fred her true feelings; people criticize her for refusing to marry someone else she doesn’t love.

A peek at Lisa: “With the click of computer keys, the Internet made it possible to communicate with more than one person at a time. Lisa crawled into bed and clicked off the lamp. I’m just one small soup can on a grocery soup aisle filled with an array of brands. Why pick me?”

A peek at Gertie: “Men had the best of it. Women, relegated to loving someone, but not showing it, must wait to put their true feelings into words until asked to be someone’s wife.” At another point, Mr. Jones, who rents a room from Gertie and fancies her, is off to a men’s-only meeting at church. Gertie writes, “How I wish I were a man.”

My vision for this book included illustrations. So I enlisted my artistically/graphically talented daughter Kirsten to turn photos, paintings, postcards, luggage tags, and letters into 27 vivid chapter openers and 17 interior illustrations.

Writer Wallace Stegner once said, “Any life will provide the material for writing, if it is attended to.”

So in Dear Heart: The Courting Letters, I attended to the lives of these two real people and invented two other fictional ones. Of the twenty-two books I’ve written, this one is close to my heart.

I hope readers will become as fascinated with history as I am and be inspired to listen to their hearts and persevere despite obstacles.

Persistence is the key to writing success. If an idea won’t let you alone, then follow it. Learn about the craft, research, revise, and read. Above all, write what you love!

Dear Heart is available on Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, and bookstores.

Visit Judith at www.judithjosephson.com, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Julia Larson is a freelance copywriter and copyeditor. When she’s not on a quadrilateral device, she’s on her yoga mat, a hike, or a cooking spree.

If you’re a book club enthusiast, then an ereader is (or has already proved to be) your new best friend. From instant access to your new novel, an ereader enhances your book club experience from start to finish. Although I’ve only recently become a book club attendee, I’ve found that my Kindle Paperwhite is an invaluable asset.

Here are five reasons an ereader is your best book club companion:

1. Start reading almost instantly.

No need to wait for a book to arrive in the mail or travel to your library’s shelves. You can easily download your ebook as soon as that month’s book is announced. And you’ll be extra thrilled when the book you want is downloadable for free from your library’s ebook collection.

Pro tip: If you know the lineup of your club’s reading, check out your library’s ebook collection early. That way you can put holds on any popular titles.

2. Highlight sections you want to discuss.

Sure, you can highlight in a traditional book, but with an ereader, your highlights are aggregated for easy access. Never again will you flip through your book with frustration, searching for that one page…

And don’t forget to take notes on those highlighted sections to share with your reading buddies!

3. Take copious notes.

An ereader’s ability to catalogue your notes is a huge boon to your reading experience—and even your vocabulary. Instead of flipping through all your pages or carrying along a notebook, you can seamlessly integrate your note-taking with your reading. For detailed instructions on how to highlight and take notes with a Kindle Touch, view this YouTube.

Later on, when you’re in your book club’s discussion, you can easily recall what excerpts & questions you want to bring up. (This is also awesome for the discussion leader of the group.)

4. Easily look up passages.

While a book club that relies on page numbers could lead to some frustration, the easy keyword lookup on an eReader counteracts it. If someone gives you a word or two that appears in the section, you can quickly see all the places it occurs in your novel. Additionally, there are certain ebooks (like The Light Between Oceans) that sync the traditional book’s pages with the ebook version.

For illuminated/backlit ereaders:

5. Comfortably read indoors & outdoors.

During my book club, I’m sometimes in the shade and sometimes in direct sunlight. Either way I can simply adjust the brightness on my Paperwhite. Of course the lighting is a major advantage throughout your ereading, from the moment you download your ebook to your club’s meeting.

Comment with your input!

Are you an avid ebook reader in a book club? What other advantages have you noticed with your ereader?

Cyber Monday might be a distant, foggy memory. At this point, you probably hate to think about any more holiday planning or browse Amazon & eBay yet again. But, if you need to (or if there are also winter birthdays to shop for), there’s the instantly-delivered digital gift of an ebook.

I’m all for giving ebooks as gifts because it’s . . .

1. Convenient

Though shopping burnout happens by this point in December, shopping for ebooks is relatively painless. View some excerpts, read some reviews, and find the ebook that your recipient will enjoy. Even the iBookstore has caught on and added ebook gifts this season.

2. Easier on the budget

While convenience is a main reason to go for ebooks, it’s also a matter of budgeting. A good ebook can easily cost under $15—and incur zero shipping & handling fees, which can mean huge savings compared to one- or two-day shipping. Giving an ebook also means that you don’t have to disclose how much you’re spending on the gift, as you would with a gift card.

3. Easier on the environment

Giving an ebook means one less thing to feel guilt over this holiday season. Without sending any packages on trucks, packing gifts in plastic, or giving something that will someday end up in a landfill, you can feel great about your choice of gift. (And you don’t spend gas money going to a bookstore or resources to wrap a traditional book!)

4. Thoughtful

With any book, it’s clearly the thought that counts and expresses your unique connection with the recipient. When you know what a person will really spend their time reading, or a topic that you two share, an ebook is a great gift. (And you’ll know them well enough to know what device to buy the ebook for!)

5. Not tricky to learn how           

Starting a new gift giving tradition can be daunting. That’s why it’s key to find some great how-to’s.

Check out these guides to begin:

• How to give ebooks via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBookstore, Kobo, and Sony’s Reader Store (videos)
• How to give ebooks via Amazon, B&N, iBookstore, Kobo, and All Romance Books/OmniLit (text)
• How to use QR codes to give free Project Gutenberg books on gift labels, cards, etc. (text & screenshots)

Ebook Suggestions for Last-Minute Gifts

‘Twas the Late Night of Christmas

This fun take on the classic ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas is a great gift for families, kids, parents, but especially moms worn down by the demands of the season! Sit by your fireplace (where the stockings are hung) and sip egg nog as you order from Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, or iTunes (Read Aloud version). Perfect for Christmas!

View book trailer starring Malcolm in the Middle’s Jane Kaczmarek and read interview with Mrs. Saint Nick about her featured role in this fun book.

Bloody Lessons: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery

Have a friend who loves mysteries or historical fiction? Bloody Lessons: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery by M. Louisa Locke is both–a cozy mystery set in Victorian San Francisco. This is the third book in the series so you could gift the first title, Maids of Misfortune, but Bloody Lessons is a great read and gives enough context to be read first. Especially  fun for teachers! The author is a retired history professor who knows the Victorian period well.

Unveiling

Need a gift for a friend who likes more recent history, stories about other cultures, or a bit of romance? We have the perfect new title–Unveiling by S. Woffington. The heroine, Sara, is passionate about art and her culture’s ancient traditions but flees her sheltered family life to live in America and pursuit her art. Two men follow and she faces two possibilities for her future. The author lived in Saudia Arabia and her love for the country and people shine through.

View the book trailer and read what S. Woffington blogged about this new title.

 Dear Ann, Dear Mary: A Correspondence of Grief and Friendship

But what to get for your friend who is grieving and dreading the holidays? The friend who cannot bear to hear one more “Ho, ho, ho!” or another “Merry Christmas!” Dear Ann, Dear Mary is the ideal gift. Written by Ann Carli and Mary Scherr as they struggled to cope with the deaths of their husbands, these two women documented their journey in an email correspondence full of wisdom and even humor as they supported each other. This honest book has already helped others. Here is a recent review from a reader: “Touching, heartfelt and theraputic for a person who had lost a loved one. Highly recommended. I bought 5 copies, two as digital books to share with friends.”

Authors Ann Carli and Mary Scherr blogged about their book.

Are you giving ebooks this season?

If so, what’s your main reason for going the ebook route? And don’t forget to check out ereaders to give as gifts this year, too

When my friend, Ruth, and I get together, usually at a table in Barnes & Noble, we talk about books and reading, teaching and writing, golf and poetry, and always about our families.

At one of our meetings Ruth spoke about having written a letter to her eight-year-old great granddaughter in which she recalled memories of her first Christmas.  She also told me about her most recent letter in which she shared her memories of learning to read.

Telling stories to children helps them to grow up, to learn about families, neighborhoods, and about other people, places, and cultures.  Most importantly, reading stories helps us to learn in an entertaining way about ourselves.

Reading and writing hold a special place in Ruth’s life.  She earned a degree in reading and spent many productive years teaching elementary school children reading and writing skills, and encouraged them to develop a love for words.  Even now as a great grandmother, books continue to fascinate Ruth.

After you read Ruth’s letter, perhaps you might also write to one of your young relatives to share memories of your reading experiences.

“I have never lost my love for reading.” Ruth B.

Dear Mia,

I have been thinking of you. So—I decided to write to you.

Is school out for you this Friday? What are you going to do every day this summer? Be sure to read every day. Now that you are a good reader you need to keep the reading skills that you learned so—read a few minutes every day.

I am going to tell you about what happened to me when I couldn’t (didn’t) read all summer long. Then I went back to school. I was very happy. You can probably guess what had happened to my reading skills though.

The summer had been very long for me. When I was a little girl living on a big farm, I did not have outside friends to see and to play with. I did not have books to read. So, I played outside mostly by myself. I made up imaginary friends. I talked with them.

I was so happy when school started again and the teacher gave me my reader. But, I found out I could read the easy words. However there were quite a few words that I could not sound out. I had to ask the teacher for help time and again. After she pronounced the words for me, she finally said not to ask her again. I felt so humiliated. I hope you never have to feel that way. Anyhow I quickly relearned what I had lost in reading skills.

I have never lost my love for reading.

At about this time in my life, “Big Little Books” were published. They cost ten cents. My Dad bought them for us children at home. We kids at home were my brother Glen, who was older than me, my sister, Velva, who was younger than me, and Marvin, my baby brother.

Hope I hear from you soon.

Your Great grandmother, Ruth

I love you!!

Please share

Ruth’s  expresses her passion for reading through the fine art of letter writing. Have you every received a letter you treasure from a grandparent or great grandparent? Share what you would like your children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren or great grandchildren to know about your love for reading?