I Love Carousels

From afar, she heard the music,

A slow waltz from another time.

And the horses danced to a tune

They could not hear.

The carousel spun round and round,

Painted horses galloped freely.

And magic wove a wondrous spell

Through the silvery night.

Proud heads held high, the horses pranced,

Chasing mystic sounds to the past.

Seeking a world of fantasy,

They lured her through time.

Yet when the music ended,

And the horses finally stopped.

The magic still coursed through her,

Love had found her heart.*

            Who doesn’t love a carousel? Beautifully painted horses and a menagerie of exotic animals, gaily circling ‘round to the sounds of a Wurlitzer organ. It is childhood and knightly fantasies; a secret rendezvous and a race to freedom.

            I have a collection of musical carousel horses, some of which go up and down as the music plays. Others are stationary, just as early carousels had been. Today, carousels are often at the hub of shopping malls and county fairs. I’ve visited the 1901 Parker carousel in Abilene, Kansas, the Central Park Carousel New York City, and the historic Flying Horses on Martha’s Vineyard, among others. I even had the opportunity to see a carousel factory where they made carousel-like horses which at one time decorated a famous national restaurant chain. The carousels are all different and unique and we are fortunate this piece of our history has been preserved.

            It was at the Flying Horses where I learned some of a carousel’s forgotten history. The horses on this particular carousel do not move up and down as the platform circles. The uniqueness of this carousel is that at one point there is a metal armature sticking out containing brass rings. As riders “gallop” by, they can grab for the rings, collecting them during the ride. The history of this particular activity dates back to medieval years and the jousts that were held. Besides trying to knock each other off horses, a knight would gallop down the course and try to snare a large ring onto his lance. Sometimes the rings were held by pages, other times they were thrown in the air as the knights rode near. Some believe this is also where the expression “catching the brass ring” came from.
           Not all carousels were horses or animals attached through a center pole to a moving platform. Swing rides, the earliest form of carousel, were made with ropes and baskets that carried people and spun in circles around a center pole. There are still swing rides today at fairgrounds that have chairs suspended by chains from the top of the carousel instead of seats shaped like animals.

Long before motorized platforms (as early as 1873) it has been noted that a live mule or a horse was hidden beneath the Carousel platform to power the amusement ride. The animals were taught to start and stop when the operator tapped on the floor.

            And then there is the restored Dentzel carousel found at State Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. Gustav Dentzel, a German furniture maker, lived in Philadelphia in the 1870s  and turned to carousel horse making when they became all the rage.

With all this history; the beauty and romance and my love of carousels, how could I help but write a story involving them?

My story involves professional photographer Jaci Eastman who photographs the Dentzel carousel for a magazine spread and finds a blurred image of a man in old fashioned dress behind one of the horses. She only believes reality can be photographed. So how can she photograph a man who doesn’t exist in her time beside a carousel horse that didn’t exist in his?

            Follow the romance and mystery of a carousel horse in “Spinning Through Time”, available through Books We Love or wherever you like to find your romance.


--”Gorgeous story, it was lovely from beginning to end. A keeper. One of the best time travel romances I've read!” SS, Amazon review



*Opening of “Spinning Through Time”

Best of Holiday Wishes

Somewhere around 22 years ago, I wrote my first Christmas story card called "The Christmas Quilt" for my sister, Priscilla, after she showed me a quilt top she had gotten at an auction. I wasn't a quilter, but when she said "I wonder about the person who made this -- who they were and what they did", well, I was hooked because I am the creator of those unknown  characters and worlds.

The next year, I wrote another short story, this one about a ghost who only appears on Christmas eve at an old antebellum mansion. And then came year three, and four and so on. Many times, I would brave the after Christmas Sales and find boxes of cards that I liked, or whose pictures immediately made me think of a story. Sometimes I even designed my own cards. I would print the story in booklet format to fit inside the card, thus making it a "story card." When I had written ten stories for family and friends, I asked my publisher about putting them all together, and with her help, we brought out Christmas Quilt Anthology. 

One of the stories in the original anthology is about a little coal mining town called Snow. The town captured my imagination, and I later wrote a short story based there which is included in a new anthology of romantic short stories called "Before Tomorrow Comes". I even designed a website for this fictitious town, giving it a history, store fronts, festivals, and "real" people. You can "visit" SNOW with the click of the mouse. 

And then, because I live in the wonderful world of writers where anything is possible, I began telling the residents' stories. "Always Believe", about 10-year-old Emma and her father when they settle in Snow, is a full length mainstream novel about friendship, miracles, and a search for Santa.  Check out this title and "IF Wishes Were Magic", my two holiday books on my Amazon author page. You can find other great romance there also!

Now for your Christmas present. "Before Tomorrow Comes" is an Amazon Exclusive and is being offered for FREE to kindle unlimited members. Not you? Well, it is being offered for FREE to EVERYONE on the next 3 Thursdays. That's December 13, 20, and 27!

Happiest of holidays to you and yours! Best Wishes, Barb

Being Thankful

                Reconnaissant

                Agradecido

                Kansha shite iru

                Buíoch

                Every language has a word for “thankful.” Since it’s November, I automatically thought to write about Thanksgiving, but realized not everyone celebrates that specific holiday. And when you stop to think about it, why do we celebrate being thankful on only one particular day of the year? It should be an everyday occurrence.

                Many of you are already nodding your head, because we do give thanks every single day. We’re thankful for our families, our jobs, our homes, our health. But have you ever thought about all the  totally unique, out of the ordinary things? Let me give you an example.

                I had the opportunity to travel to Paris this summer for a writing workshop and we visited Versailles one evening. While walking back up the path to the seating by the fountain, I bent over to catch my breath. (This is not a blog about how out of shape I am!) I saw a cell phone lying on the gravel. Since it was night time and the phone was black, I’m surprised I noticed it at all. I picked it up and tried to open it, hoping to call someone and tell them I had found a phone with their contact but the phone was either locked or the battery was dead. I would simply have to turn it in and hope someone checked with security. (Since my son had once left his phone on a restaurant table, I realized how hopeful someone was that this would be returned to them.)

                With a bright flash, the phone rang. I quickly swiped it and answered with a cherry “hello” only to have someone start chattering in French, of which I know “bonjour”.  I quickly gave it to our workshop director, who spoke fluent French. The end result was we left the phone with a security agent at a place the owner could easily find. No doubt that person was thankful for our help, but I was just as thankful that I had been able to help, just as someone had once done for my son.

                Out of the ordinary, uncommon things to be thankful for, and yet just as wonderful as the roof over my head. Every time I drive up to the house from a trip, and especially if it’s dark, I thank my parents and two sisters for watching over me and getting me home safely.

                As an author, I am thankful for the ability to put words together in such a way as to create a story. That may sound simple, but believe me, some days the words do not want to play together nicely! A completed novel leads to being very thankful to readers because your interest and reviews give my publisher faith in me and my next novel. So much so that my newest release featured here, “Prelude and Promises” is my 20^th full length novel!

                And speaking of, a huge thank you to Books We Love, who is having a BOGO until December 25^th. The link is http://bookswelove.net/bwl-holiday-special-free-books/ and it’s as simple as submitting a purchase receipt for a book from Books We Love.  

I challenge you to come up with the unusual for your daily thankful-ness. And if you want to share thankfulness with a stranger, next time you’re in a drive-through (Starbucks, McDonald's, etc), pay the bill for the person behind you. They won’t track you down but believe me, they will be thankful.           

Pebbles in a Shell

When I decided to enter the “Writing Contest: You are Enough” hosted by Positive Writer, I looked first at the essays about writing that I had created over the years. But I wanted something different. 

The glorious thing about being a creative writer is I can be as diverse as I want; go in any direction I like; and follow my dreams no matter where they lead. People read my writing and they may like it or they may not, but they can’t tell me that I’m wrong. Because I own it and that is enough. With that in mind, I offer you the following poem and observations.

Each wave comes, gently washing pebbles into a shell.

A heartbeat, and the water recedes,

 taking some pebbles but leaving others in their place.

These are the bits and pieces of our lives.

Some so fleeting as to be nothing more than grains of sand.

Yet each has been a part of us.

Each made a momentary stop to fill our hearts and souls with wonder.

The waves, like our lives, are ever changing, yet the shell holds steady.

Still gently cradling the pebbles within.

The times – the people – the events.

            Heartache and sadness; happiness and joy.

Excitement, achievement; setbacks and failings.

            Love, acceptance, trust and forgiveness --

     Ever open, the shell gathers pebbles that drift by,

whether they remain for a heartbeat or a lifetime.

And always there is room for more.

How does the above relate to writing?

Your creative efforts can be as small as a grain of sand, such as journaling or jotting down simple affirmations. You don’t have to start your writing career with a 400-page tome or an Oscar winning screen play. Maybe even a full length novel is more than you can handle right now. Don’t panic. If you put enough grains of sand together with a little heat and effort, you can make glass.

For example, the above started with the picture, taken at Provincetown, RI one summer. The picture led to writing the poem. The poem led to a full length novel called “Pebbles in a Shell”.

I have written several short stories for various anthologies which are now out of print so my rights were returned. Reviewing them one day, I decided to see if I could create full length fiction from some of them. One story became the basis of “A Game of Love” and another was the basis for “An Interlude”, just published this March. The others are being combined into a short story collection to be published in December. So what started out as small things became much larger things.

Looking at the above poem from the perspective of the shell, any of the pebbles in your life can be the start of a poem or story. Inspiration is everywhere. It can be a song, a road sign, a single word. For me, the simple act of sitting in a car wash or going through the drive-through at Starbucks both led to 3-page scenes in my current WIP.

Good creative writing doesn’t happen overnight and is by no means instantaneous. It’s a collection process, and like the pebbles, some of your writing will stay with you, some will be discarded, and more will come on the next wave. I started writing Christmas short-shorts over ten years ago. I made them into story cards for friends and family. When I had written ten of them (one a year), I asked my publisher if we could put them into a book. (Christmas Quilt Anthology.) If you collect enough pebbles, they can become something more. The most important thing to remember is that:

You don’t have to be a boulder.

You don’t even have to be a rock.
Being a pebble is enough…

By Barbara Baldwin

www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin
Author of numerous short stories and poems, 20 novels, and a documentary on state history.

When is a Snowflake the Happiest?

It's that time of year when any day, we could wake up to a blanket of white. Snow is probably the most fun when you're a child, or when you can sit inside a cozy cabin with a steaming cup of coffee as you watch the flakes tumble and swirl to the ground. For many of us, snow is a fact of life as winter and the Christmas holidays sneak up on us. It is also the theme for many a story.

Years ago, I began writing Christmas stories for my family and friends. There were stories about Christmases in the past, Christmas ghosts, holiday memories and even lumberjacks who helped Santa. They were later published as "Christmas Quilt Anthology".One of these stories, "Once Upon A Christmas Wish" was about a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania called Snow. Even in the midst of the coal mine shutting down, the children of the town decided to celebrate the holiday with a snow sculpture festival.

This story so captured me that a few years ago, I decided to write a mainstream novel based in Snow. Again, the snow festival was such a huge part of the story that I even invented a fictitious website all about the town and it's many businesses. 

"Always Believe" happened in Snow. It is a story about family and friendships and maybe even a miracle or two. In this story, Emma doesn't believe in the enchantment of Christmas, but then she and her dad move to the town of Snow, where even the stores have holiday names. What is she supposed to think when her new friend pulls her into the magic of the holiday by insisting he knows the location of Santa's workshop?

These books, and all my novels, are available at Amazon. Check out my author page.

Letters to Santa are another facet of the holiday, right along with snow. But what happens when a typographical error causes hundreds of letters to Santa to end up at a Chicago Cosmetic Company? Chantilly Morrison is set to launch Chantilly Frost, a new cosmetics line, but because of an error in the ad copy, she's inundated with letters from children, whose scribbled wishes tug at her heart. She hires an investigator to find the letter writers so she can throw a huge Christmas party and make the children's fantasies come true. AJ Anderson can find the unfindable, whether it's lost artifacts or people and he's very good at his job. But when Chanti dumps hundreds of letters in his lap with the directive to find the children -- before Christmas Eve -- he knows the request is impossible, but the woman is irresistible. Should he use his skills to make her Christmas wish come true, or can he use the count down to Christmas to find the key that unlocks the lady's heart?

I love this time of year, and hope you will enjoy it with me by reading "IF Wishes Were Magic", "Always Believe", or the sweet stories in "Christmas Quilt Anthology."
Q--When is a snowflake the happiest?
A--When it kisses the upturned face of a child.
May your holidays be kissed with happiness.
Barb

Revisiting Time Travel

         

You're standing in front of a time travel machine that will take you into the past. Your heart is pounding; your hand shaking as you reach forward. All you have to do is push the button for why you want to go.
      * a sense of adventure
      * a love of history
      * to find romance
Would you do it??

If you ever find that time machine, let me know. I would love to go back in time for all the reasons above. But since I haven't come across such a wonderful device, I content myself with writing just such stories.

Writing time travel combines the best of both worlds. I can have a modern, independent, free loving heroine and still have an alpha type hero who’s possessive, self-made, and believes women should be protected and revered. Being thrown back in time will take you out of your comfort zone. There are no modern conveniences such as microwaves, cell phones, cars and expressways. None of your job skills, nor your MA in computer technology or Political Science will help you as you try to find your place in a world long forgotten.

            In the time travels I’ve written, the heroine travels back in time, taking with her the knowledge of the future, but the inability to change history. Even so, the fact that she knows things the hero doesn’t can lead to some interesting conversations. For example, in SPINNING THROUGH TIME (Books We Love), Jaci makes Nicholas and his niece a pizza, which they eat with their hands. Nicholas comments that it’s not bad tasting, but it will never catch on as a dinner dish.

            Things that haven’t been invented yet, or have particular significance in one century or the other, are always fun to incorporate into a story. Ellie, in PROSPECTING FOR LOVE (Books We Love) is discovered with nail polish on her toes, which only the “working girls” at the salon would do. She finds “real junk food” in the form of potato chips and Van Camp’s Pork and Beans in the general store in 1850, believing things like that had only been invented in her lifetime. The opposite side of the coin is that she doesn’t know how to cook without a microwave or start a fire in the stove.

            Some of the challenges inherent to writing time travel are: (1) the methods I use to get the heroine back in time, (2) what can or can’t be transported with her when she goes, and (3) how and when she has an opportunity to return to her own time. The “rules” have to be established before I start writing and then they cannot be broken. I can’t decide half way through the book that Brianna needs her cell phone to convince Jake she’s from the future, so she miraculously finds it under a rock somewhere. (LOST KNIGHT OF ARABIA from Books We Love).

Now that being said, I can have different rules for different books. For example, the methods of taking the heroine back in time are very different in each of my books. I can't just have them fall and bump their heads. That is far too easy. 

            The real climax for a time travel isn’t finding the treasure or solving the mystery. It’s whether the heroine and hero can stay together. Since my heroine didn’t have a choice when she accidentally went through time, I do give her a choice as to whether she stays. There has to be a point when either the opportunity or the threat of “transportation” exists, so my heroine has a free choice in her future. Whether she takes it, and whether the hero can stay with her, either in his time or hers, would be giving away the endings! I hope, instead, that you grab a time travel and stay up late finding out.

You can find my novel, SPINNING THROUGH TIME, as well as my other time travel romances at  https://books2read.com/u/4DoZ1D.

            

Why I Write What I Write

Before I started writing full length fiction, I loved to read historical, especially those set in the privateer days of the colonies, and yet my first completed novel, which was historical, was set in Montana on a cattle ranch. From that moment, I learned to listen to my muse and do as she advised.

Since then, I have written several historical and time travel romances. I suppose the time travel romances could also be considered historical because I love combining a thoroughly modern heroine with a definitely alpha male from the 1800s. The differences in attitudes and behaviors spark quite the dialogue. My first time travel was called “Indigo Bay” and is still available in print and eBook through Amazon.  If you like historical, but with a twist, you might try “Spinning through Time”, “Lost Knight of Arabia” or “Prospecting for Love”. Just in case you’re not sure, did I mention that “Prospecting for Love” is FREE on kindle until April 16?

I never thought I would write contemporary because I liked the slower pace of the past, where the hero couldn’t dial 911 and speed him and the heroine away from danger in his truck. But again, I found myself writing several contemporaries, because the story idea, and the characters who asserted themselves into my subconscious, definitely belonged in the present. What started out as a trilogy “Anywhere, Anytime, Anyway” ended up being a four book series because… Well, the brothers in the stories had a sibling who was not yet happily married, and all the sisters-in-law just couldn’t stand it. 

Now, my latest contemporary “A Game of Love”, is out from Books We Love, and on Amazon countdown from April 18 through 25. (This means a great low price!) It's also available in print.

 Many authors write in one genre and it definitely works for them. It’s just not for me. When an idea for a story comes to me, it nicely tells me into what genre it would like to be placed. For example, when I visited the Steamboat Arabia museum, I immediately knew there was a story to be written. Since it paddled along the Missouri River in the 1800’s, it was a perfect setting for an historical and yet, as I wandered through the museum that was created from the excavated artifacts, I realized it was meant to be a time travel, combining both the present and the past. Thus, “Lost Knight of Arabia” was born.

                

So I guess it’s really not what and why “I” write. There are stories to be told and my characters seem to know better than I to what century they belong. All I can do is relay their wishes, and their search for romance, to you in the best way I am able.

                

To help you enjoy my books, many of them will be on Amazon Countdown during April and May. That means even more savings to those of you who read on Kindle.  (Did you know you can download the kindle ap to your computer or phone and use that for kindle books?) And, for those who still like the feel of print in their hands, many are also available in print. Visit my website at http://www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin  or my Amazon author site at https://www.amazon.com/author/barbarabaldwin  for all my listings.

If you enjoy my stories as much as I enjoy writing them for you, I would love for you to leave a review on Amazon. It might entice someone else to take a peek.

Amazon Countdown deals from Books We Love:

Prospecting for Love -- April 12-16 – FREE

Always Believe – April 16-23 (Seasonal)

The Game of Love – April 18-25

If Wishes Were Magic – May 10-17 (Seasonal)

Spinning Through Time – May 10-17

Lost Knight of Arabia – May 25 – June 1