Speaking with Spirit (Thoughts on an Excellent Book, and a Heavenly Prodding)

I haven't done a whole lot of public speaking, but neither have I shied away from occasions to stand in front of a group and discuss topics I'm passionate about. I admit to thinking I would enjoy more opportunities for public speaking, even though I'm not an unflinchingly brave extrovert. I quiver with as much self-consciousness in the limelight as the next gal who'd just as soon be sitting before a computer screen letting her characters do all the talking.

But neither am I shy.

I bring this up because I feel God compelling me to learn more about effective public speaking. And I don't take His still, small nudge lightly. It may be I'll never have to do more than speak in front of a local community group. It may be only for my personal growth. But the last time God started leading me to "investigate an idea" it changed my life. I ended up homeschooling four children from kindergarten through high school graduation. (The fifth and final will graduate in 2012.)

With His prompting in mind, the most delightful book I've read on the subject thus far has been Speaking with Spirit - A Guide for Christian Public Speakers by Dr. Wanda Vassallo. I discovered it through American Christian Writers, a small but very worthy national organization devoted to the development of Christian writers in both fiction and non-fiction. I won't go into all the details, but Ms. Vassallo has a list of speech writing and speaking credentials a mile long, and she's one of the only writers out there to have written an entire book on this subject from a Christian world view. The opening of the book not only draws on Jesus' example as we consider audience, anecdotes, and personalization, but Ms. Vassallo addresses the issue of impact, and what it really means to speak before an audience as a Christian.

Topically, she addressed everything -- stage fright, vocal warm-ups, stage presence, mechanics, audience connection, humor, Q&A sessions, visual aids, technique, speech-writing, 16 types of speeches, length, meetings, evaluations, television, organization, and speaking the Scriptures -- not to mention a myriad of sub-categories within each of these.

As a writer, I was especially drawn to her material because of the way she stressed the importance of developing our connection to our audience. In that, there's no real difference between the written and the spoken word, and yet it's done at an entirely different level.

Do you feel as if God might be calling you to speak? Do you teach Sunday school? Preach? Lead meetings? Host Bible studies? Act as a club member or leader? Work as any kind of liaison, in your job or otherwise?

There are hordes of ways we are called to speak or teach, even if it is not our primary calling or ambition. I recommend Dr. Vassallo's book whole-heartedly.

Today's special guests: Sojourners from the Third Crusade in K.M. Weiland's "Behold the Dawn"

Every now and then a story comes along that will not let us go. Characters create such a strong persona and presence that we can't forget them. Behold the Dawn, by author K.M. Weiland, is such a story.

I freely admit that I am particularly drawn to historical novels of epic proportions. That said, Behold the Dawn is my favorite read of 2009 so far. Therefore, I'm thrilled to have had the chance to step a little further into the lives of the characters of Ms. Weiland's book and to get to know them a little better here today.

I invite you to join me in greeting the knight Annan, the Lady Mairead, and another guest who shall remain nameless as a little surprise to the others. But first, here's a synopsis of their story:

Marcus Annan, a tourneyer famed for his prowess on the battlefield, thought he could keep the secrets of his past buried forever. But when a mysterious crippled monk demands Annan help him find justice for the transgressions of sixteen years ago, Annan is forced to leave the tourneys and join the Third Crusade.

Wounded in battle and hunted by enemies on every side, he rescues an English noblewoman from an infidel prison camp and flees to Constantinople. But, try as he might, he cannot elude the past. Amidst the pain and grief of a war he doesn’t even believe in, he is forced at last to face long-hidden secrets and sins and to bare his soul to the mercy of a God he thought he had abandoned years ago.

The sins of a bishop.
The vengeance of a monk.
The secrets of a knight.

Hello, and welcome, Master Knight. Thank you for your willingness to talk to readers today about your story.

You held many secrets for years and years. Once situations arose to force you to face them, did it then become easier to consider telling your story to all of us? What was that like? (or) what convinced you to bare your soul and tell your story to Ms. Weiland?

I don’t know that it will ever be easy. I’m not proud of my past. I still don’t enjoy talking about it. But it was a story that needed to be told.

During those agonizing years, what sort of things did you often think about but not say out loud?

Mostly everything. I’ve never been given to small talk. I say what needs to be said and not much more. My actions have always done more of my talking than my mouth.

Tell us more about how you met Marek. What of your past did he know when the story began?

I found Marek about to be thrown into prison for stealing bread. He was a grubby, gringing youth who had never had a guiding hand or a chance to make an honest man of himself. I’ve no doubt someone could have done a better job of that last than me, but I was the only one at hand, so I bought off his debt and took him as indentured servant. Marek knew of me only what he could see. I never talked about the past with him. But he always was a quick lad, with a sharp mind and rabid sense of curiosity, so ‘twouldn’t surprise me if he pieced together more of my story than I ever thought he could know.

You indicate many profound regrets. Is there one that stands out that you are willing to tell us here, (or should readers wait to read the story to find out what that is)?

I regret many things, although, by the grace of God, I’ve surrendered my mistakes to Him and put them behind me. They are no longer the haunting weight I can’t escape. But I suppose if I had to pick only one regret, it would be my disagreement with my elder brother. I suppose I always held anger in my heart against him because he was my father’s favorite and, as is usually the case with the eldest son, his sole heir. We continued to be at odds throughout our youth, until finally our friction culminated in a brawl. His wife, Lucinda, attempted to intervene and was struck down. Both she and the twins with whom she was pregnant were killed. If any one event can be claimed as the catalyst for the mistakes that followed, including the tragedy of St. Dunstan’s Abbey and my eventual descent into the tourney fields, it was that my sister-in-law’s death.

Tell us about Gethin - what he was like before his course was changed and he became known as the Baptist.

It’s strange how pain changes a man. Gethin was always impassioned, always on fire for righteousness and reform—and there was no place that needed both so badly as St. Dunstan’s, where I went to serve penance after my sister-in-law’s death. But before the day when the abbot, Roderic of Devonshire, had him beaten like a dog and thrown out to die in the roadside, Gethin had not yet been touched by the ravaging fire of vengeance. During my stay at the Abbey, he was the one who comforted me in my grief and my guilt. He was the one who led me to search for answers, reading the Holy Texts in the scriptorium. He was the one who introduced me to a personal God. The irony of what he became will always be a wound in my soul. He was my friend; indeed, he was the brother of my heart.

You saw Marek become a man during the Crusade. He seems to have gotten under your skin. Have you heard anything of him lately?

I owe Marek more than he knows. I picked him out of the streets to save his life, but he saved mine more than once—and in more ways than one. He and Dolly live not far over the hills from Mairead and me. Their first little one is on the way, and Marek’s fit to be tied. Much as he’s grown, I’ve sometimes my doubts about the laddie being ready to be a father.

How did you become a tourneyer? Is there anything that would ever call you back to such a life, or to battle?

Battle has always been the fire in my blood, for as long as I can recall. You have to remember that this society of ours is a society of warriors. An educated man is one who can fight and ride. The battlefield was the school of my youth, and I learned its lessons well. I thrived upon them. Indeed, violence has always been my siren. When I left St. Dunstan’s in despair, the tourneys were the obvious choice. Many second sons, void of any fortune, sought to make their living in the melee battles. I disappeared into the gaudy, gory world of the tourneys, hoping deep in my heart, I suppose, that I would find the end of my sorrows in inevitable death. But, thank God, such was not to be.

I admit, even still, the battles call to me. I miss the weight of my mail shirt upon my back, the clench of my fist around a sword, the swell of my destrier’s galloping muscles beneath me. But, nay, I’ll never go back. I have found a better life. I’ve put my violent skills to better use, opening a school to train young men to defend themselves. I live in quietude now. I live in peace.

Thank you, Sir. I congratulate you on your new path.

(Turning to Mairead)
Mairead, I'm honored that you would join us here to discuss your story. First, I have to admit that I'm not certain I'm pronouncing your name correctly. Can you help us with that?

Of course. It’s pronounced MARE-ade—with a little roll of the “r.” It’s a Gaelic name that means “pearl.”

Thank you. When readers first meet you, you are the wife of Lord William, Earl of Keaton. It was a traumatic event that brought that marriage into being. What brought you and Lord William to the Holy Land?

I met William when I visited the royal court (what little of it was left in London with the king in residence in Normandy). I knew from the beginning that he was a fine man—a man in a million. But not until my trouble did I discover how deep his honor went. I was… Let’s put it this way: I was pursued against my will by Lord Hugh, Earl of Guerrant, and compromised beyond recall. William married me both to save me from shame and to protect me from Lord Hugh’s further advances.

I know that it is a tender subject, but perhaps you can tell us how you met Lord Hugh, and how long it was that he had been pursuing you.

I think the first time I saw him was when he and a party of other lords came to hunt with my father at our home in Glen Taet. He showed me marked interest, but not until I met him again in London did his advances become intolerable.

You and Annan found yourselves in a very unexpected circumstance when you were placed in his protection. Did you, in your wildest imagination, ever think that you might desire to remain in that protection indefinitely?

No. All I wanted was to escape to the convent in Orleans. William had already prepared a place for me there, against such a tragic occurrence as his death. He wanted me to be protected, if he were no longer able to do it himself.

Tell us about your feelings when Lord William first placed you in that protection of Annan's.

William trusted Annan to protect me, and I trusted William. But all I knew of Annan at that time was that he was a condemned tourneyer, a man with the blood of countless upon his hands. He was so big and so brusque and so… lethal. For all I knew he was another Hugh de Guerrant. I wanted only to keep him at arm’s length for the entirety of our journey.

What was it about the Baptist's teachings that made you and Lord William such ardent followers of him for so long?

The Baptist was zealous; he was inflamed with a passion for reform in the Church. He saw the corruption. Indeed, he had witnessed it firsthand. And when he spoke of the need for reformation, his words burned with truth. His charisma was inescapable. William had known him long before I did, and he seemed to trust him implicitly, even when he didn’t always agree with some of his more violent ideas.

You have been able to come terms with the secrets of your past. But, are there times when they ever haunt you still? Do moments remain when you and Annan still have to bear eachother up?

Absolutely. The nightmares still come—for both of us. But the past is the past. We’ve both put it behind us. What’s done is done. It’s over now, and we want only to look forward to each new day, with thankfulness in our hearts that the Lord God has allowed us to spend them together.

What was it like telling your story to Ms. Weiland? How did you meet her? Are the two of you anything alike?

I don’t know that I really told her my story. She just discovered it. She met me first in the prison camp in Tyre—though at time she envisioned it rather more like a dank English dungeon than a ragged collection of tents. We’re not really very much alike, I don’t think. She’s more cynical than I am. More like Annan than me, really!

Thank you, Lady, for sharing your story, again, here today.

And now I'd like to bring out another guest.

(Marek enters. Annan stands and they clasp arms in greeting.)

Surprise, Annan! You didn't know that we'd invited Marek here today.

(Marek sits, smiling.)

I have a simple question for you, first, Marek. Please tell us all about Maid Dolly, starting with how you met her.

Oh, Dolly! My bonny Dolly. ‘Twas her face that kept me alive during the long, hard years of indentureship. (It’s not easy being responsible for a troll, you know. Wasn’t for me, Annan would be roaming around without a decent meal or a shod horse. He doesn’t even ken how lucky he was to find me three years ago. Who knows where he’d be without me to keep him from getting killed.) Anyway, Dolly—I met my lovely maid in Glasgow when I was yet a pup. She never exactly promised that she’d marry me. But we set that all to rights soon as I got back from that blinking Crusade.

In the course of the story, we see you grow from boy to man. Was there any specific point in which you felt that change happening in yourself?

Oh, when everyone else is running amuck all around you, losing their heads, and getting themselves deep into trouble, somebody’s got to keep his wits about him. I knew going to the Holy Land was a good idea for Annan (had to get him absolved somehow!), but I guess I didn’t expect to grow so much meself. When the day came that Annan trusted me with the only thing in this world that was precious to him—and I failed… I guess that was when I realized that I was facing the greatest challenge of my life.

How are you now? Do you have scars or are you quite recovered from your injuries?

Oh, I’m all right now, mum. My shoulder’s good as new, and it’d take more’n a bang on the head to dent me.

What do you think of Annan, now; after all you've been through together?

Don’t tell him I’m saying this—‘cuz it’d only go to head, you know—but Annan’s the best thing ever happened in me life. I was just a street urchin before. Only bread in my mouth was what I stole from the pockets of someone else. That’s how Annan found me. Some whinging old shopkeeper nabbed me and had every intention of chucking me into the dungeon. But Annan obviously realized that I’d make him a top-rate companion and bodyguard, so he snatched me up. And he changed my life. Taught me to fight, to ride, to live honorably. Aye, in spite of everything—it was Marcus Annan who taught me about honor.

(Addressing the group)

Has anyone heard from Lady Eloise recently? If so, how is she faring? Has she ever gotten used to Annan and who he is to Mairead?

(Annan leaning forward)

We stopped to see Eloise before leaving the Holy Land. Brother Warin is still with her, as well as her faithful servant Ducard. They’re slowly rebuilding the castle—as well as their lives. I think she’s reconciled to Mairead being my wife… though she made a grumbling remark or two to Mairead before we left.

The three of you are an unlikely troupe when you find yourselves together on the Mohammeden desert. In what ways did you each find yourselves adjusting?

(Mairead smiles and glances at the others)

Diverse as the three of us are, we eventually fell into an easy companionship. I think the hardest thing for me was learning to interpret Annan. I didn’t realize at first that his silence and his gruffness were just a mask for the compassionate man within. Thank the saints for Marek! He was the buffer between us until we got ourselves sorted out.

Well, you all have an amazing story, and I'm happy that you have found that peace that your were striving for. Thank you again, for being guests today on THE SECRET LIVES OF CHARACTERS.

K.M. Weiland (http://www.kmweiland.com/) writes historical and speculative fiction from her home in the sandhills of western Nebraska. She is the author of A Man Called Outlaw (http://www.amazon.com/Man-Called-Outlaw-K-Weiland/dp/0978924606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253051593&sr=8-1) and the recently released Behold the Dawn (http://www.amazon.com/Behold-Dawn-K-M-Weiland/dp/0978924614/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254172766&sr=8-2). She blogs at Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors (http://wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.com/) and AuthorCulture (http://authorculture.blogspot.com/).

Join me for further review of Behold the Dawn, and an investigation into what makes an epic at WRITE REASON: www.naomimusch.com/apps/blog

Introducing Patti Lacy's Cast from "What the Bayou Saw"

Hey everyone! You don't want to miss this line-up! Today my guests have come a long ways to visit with me here in the tip-top of northern Wisconsin. I'm talking about coming from the deep south (and for me that means Illinois. Ha!) But really, most of my guests hale from as far away as Louisiana. I've invited the characters of Patti Lacy's What the Bayou Saw to stop in and talk about their lives. This is one fun and opinionated bunch of folks, and I can hardly wait to get started. Despite their harrowing story, God has really done some amazing things in their lives. Welcome with me Sally, Ella, Shamika, and Willie.

Hello Sally. Let's start with you.

Hi, Naomi! Just LOVE your name! Kinda Swiss, isn’t it?

(Chuckling). Well, not swiss exactly, but thank you. I feel especially privileged to have you and your friends here with us today. We met you before, in Patti's other book, The Irishwoman's Tale, but had no idea of the tragedies and secrets in your past. You spent most of your life burying the past and all its ugly memories. When the tragedy occurred with your student Shamika, did it occur to you that you might be forced to dredge up your own past by becoming involved with her?

Heavens to Betsy, no! It all started with that spark on the first day of school—well, I’d better back up. Have you taught, Naomi? Been a student? You know how that gray matter just swells in some students until it oozes outta their brains? That’s the way it was with Shamika. I just saw the possibilities! And then when that awful thing happened to her, well, I just HAD to go visit her at the hospital, and then when her aunt was so sassy, well I don’t know what happened! I just opened my mouth, and things started spillin’ out!

That day as a little girl on your way to school when you encountered Rufus and then the black boy, you seemed to come the conclusion that the adult world couldn't be trusted, isn't that so?

Well, I was soooo confused. I mean, I trusted my parents and my Sunday school teachers, but then Rufus and the mean new teacher just messed with my mind. I really didn’t know WHAT to think!

Is that what made it easy to lie about what happened, rather than to tell someone?

Well…yes! You know, I just couldn’t keep QUIET! That just wouldn’t be ME! So…I kinda fibbed. I mean, I did tell about losing my lunch money and being late, can’t you see? A kinda sorta lie!

Oh, dear. This is what Sam and I have been working on with the counselor.

Can you tell us about the progression of lying in your life, how it took hold, or what you learned from it?

Well, see, it’s kinda hard to explain to a regular person. I lied about Rufus and didn’t have to go the wholly nasty thing again—I mean that incident on the way to school. Then when the President got killed and I got—well, the bayou thing happened, well, I could just NEVER tell anyone about that! It’s just so personal. And it just got easier to avoid personal things and tell little white lies.

Sometimes people really do like it when you giggle and steer away from problems.
I hope that helps you understand, Naomi. I really want us to be friends.

Sure I do. That's sometimes part of human nature. On the other side of things, you love to teach. Where do you think that came from?

Well, Momma and Daddy, of course!

It took so much courage (that you didn't seem to know you had) to finally tell everyone the truth -- your family, your old friends, Shamika and her aunt -- what made you decide to tell the story to Patti so that she could share it with the world?

Oh, Naomi, my son adopted my habit of lying. I just couldn’t let it continue. Kinda like if you sneaked food all the time and then realized your daughter started having issues with food. Uh, well, you know what I mean, don’t you? I mean, that’s just an example. I mean, I don’t have problems with food.

Telling the story to Patti is something I’d rather not talk about. She didn’t get my permission, and I’m really not that happy about it.

I'm sorry to hear that. Can you also tell us how you two met?

Well, we both taught at Heartland, and we met in the Teachers’ Lounge. Then I saw her one day in the coffee bar at Barnes & Noble, and she’s just so—well, you know, kinda pushy and kept bugging me about things, and I was going through counseling and was being encouraged to open up around people, and it all kinda blurted out. Kinda like Mary’s story did with me. But I asked Mary if I could write her story, and Patti didn’t do any such thing!

Hey, Naomi, you’re not gonna mention this to Patti, are you? Hold on. I’ve gotta go get something to eat.

Okay. I’m back. Uh, Naomi, I really need to be getting home. Are you about done? I mean, I want to be helpful and all…

What things do you and Patti have in common; and how are you different from one another?

Well, we both teach and from what I saw in the teachers’ lounge, that woman sure likes to eat. I heard she’s from the South, but she sure doesn’t have much of her accent left. As far as I can tell, that’s about it.

When you and Ella met again in the unsegregated high school, despite your deep friendship, and the horrible secret you shared, you pulled away from her. Now that time, truth, and years have changed you, can you tell us why you think it happened that way at the time?

Naomi, can you BELIEVE that the counselor asked me that VERY QUESTION? I just wanted to fit in. You know, I’d finally gotten to be a part of something, and believe you me, the Bengal Belles were a VERY BIG DEAL down in Monroe, Louisiana, and since I wasn’t old friends with all those gals, I just figured they’d drop me like a hot yeast roll if I made friends with a colored—with a black girl.

At the end of the story, your own daughter Suzi presents you with quite a shock. How are you handling that now?

Oh, Naomi, haven’t you HEARD? Suzi and Joseph are EXPECTING! They are both in grad school and just doing sooo well. Joseph just couldn’t be any better of a hubbie to Suzi Q.

Me and Sam and Ed are flyin’ in Mama, and we’re gonna spend Christmas at their little rent house! And Joseph’s family is SOOO nice, you just wouldn’t believe it! We’ll probably get together and play Apples to Apples. They are that down to earth!

Well that’s wonderful to hear. Thanks so much for dropping by Sally. It’s been wonderful to talk to you.

Bye-bye, Naomi! Now don’t be tellin’ this to Patti, okay?

I’ll try and keep mum.

***

Hello Ella. Thanks for coming from such a long way to talk to us.

Hello, Naomi.

Ella, you are an incredibly brave woman; and you were an incredibly brave little girl. Thank you for being my guest as well. How did you manage to hold your secrets inside for so many years, especially while your brother was in prison?

I had made not only a promise but a blood oath. In the Ward family, a promise is not to be broken. Plus no one would’a believed my word against a white woman’s.

What was there about the new white girl living on the other side of the fence that drew you to want to become friends when you knew how both your families would feel about that? Were there times you ever tried to forget her?

Lawd, you neva seen such a cute face! All freckly and pale. And she had these blue eyes that jus’ danced! At that time books was her best friends—just like me. Course now you might say we’s best friends, the way everything’s worked out. Last year I helped Sally with the decorations for Suzi’s and Joseph’s wedding. (That Sally, you know, she can barely tie a bow.)

The day that changed you and Sally's lives forever -- is there anything about what the two of you did that day or about how you handled it after, that you regret?

Shoot, girl, don’t YOU have regrets? I know I sho’ do. Should’a tole Momma and Daddy, that’s fo sho’. But I don’t know that anything would’a been any different. You know, folks jes’ didn’t listen to blacks back then. Sometimes they don’t listen now.

Can you tell us, personally, about the role that the Holy Spirit has played in your life through that time, and in the years since?

That Spirit always blowin’ fresh wind, fresh fire into my soul ever since I be a little girl. Now sometimes I’ve ignored Him, that’s fo’ sho’, but He always been there helpin’ me along. He counseled me through Willie’s troubles, counseled me through college and nursin’ school. Counselin’ me now on how to be a doctor’s wife and a nurse at the same time!

What an encouraging reminder. Thanks, Ella.

***

Welcome to Secret Lives of Characters, Shamika. Thank you for coming as well.

Well, I got a hair appointment in ten minutes, so you better make ’em quick.

You didn't trust Sally for a long time. What finally made you realize that she genuinely wanted to help you and be your friend?

After what dem cops did to Daddy, there’s always a part of me that don’t trust no whites. But Sally, she kinda prove herself, you know? That woman, she shore is crazy, but she tryin’ to get there. Ain’t that what we all doin’?

How difficult is it, to come here today, or how hard was it for you to tell your part of the story to Patti?

Tell you the truth, I only came ’cause Ruby say I have to. Say it’ll be good practice for my student teaching.

What was it like, working with Patti?

That woman be one royal pain. She just won’t let up. Aunt Ruby say kinda like me.

Things happened to you that set your life on course; things you had no control over. If another tragedy came your way, how might the things you've gone through make you respond differently now?

Me and lyin’ have parted ways. It jes’ ain’t no good for me. Detective Price done convinced me of that.

Are you and Sally still friends? Have you had the chance to become acquainted her family?

Well, prob’ly not friends, but she like my great-aunt or something. She even invite me to her daughter’s weddin’. Boy, you should’a seen them folks try and dance. Look like chickens out there flappin’ around on the dance floor!

Sally was your teacher, but do you think she might have learned anything from you?

Oh, I think prob’ly everyone learns something from me.

You're probably right about that. Thank you, again Shamika. I hope you're not late for your appointment.

***

Willie, I'm sure you, as much as anyone, would like to leave the past behind you. You spent many years in prison, an innocent man; you laid down your life, in essence for those you cared about and loved. What kept you from becoming bitter, or did you struggle with that?

Naomi, you been on crack? Yep, that’s what I thought. Since that Spirit conked me in de head, I ain’t struggled with no bitterness, I just so grateful to be free. And I ain’t talkin’ those cell bars. I’m talking about mind and body and soul free. No dope. No nuttin’! Ain’t nuttin’ like it!

What were your dreams and hopes as a young man before events took hold and changed the course of your life?

Ain’t never wanna do nothin’ but toot that silly horn.

What kinds of things did you often think about during those turbulent days, but not say?

How unfair it was that they think I’d mess with those girls just cause my skin be darker than theirs. How dey hated me though they didn’t know the first thing ’bout me.

If you could have one wish or one prayer answered right now, what would it be?

That I find a nice woman who love the Lord.

(Smiling) Well, I'll be praying for you on that score then. I have a couple of more questions that anyone can feel free to answer.

Well, Sally and Shamika have skipped outta here, jes’ leavin’ me and Willie. I guess we’ll take turns.

I'd like to ask either of you, what do you (or did you at that time in the past) believe in so strongly, that it might (or did) affect your actions?

Ella here. Lovin’ someone through their pain. I jes’ never give up on my Willie.

What are your dreams today?

Willie on board. Pretty much that nice godly woman.

Do any of you think that you'll work with Patti again sometime, or do you know anyone who might be willing to share their stories with her?

Uh, I think I can speak for my brother and me. She ’bout wore the both of us out. Always pushin’ and pryin’. But I hear she found some woman down in N’Awlins and she’s done written a book about her! Some woman named Sheba. Can you believe that? And Sally tole me she’s plannin’ to go to all the way to China to get some woman’s story. Now don’t that jes’ beat all?

Do either of you have anything else you'd like to share or comment upon?

Naomi, you ’bout wore us out as well.

Thank you all for coming. Thank you, Patti, for taking down their stories so wonderfully.

Patti Lacy's novels explore the secrets women keep and why they keep them. Her first novel, An Irishwoman's Tale, visits the captivating cliffs of Ireland, where God helps a woman pick up the broken pieces of her past to find healing and the power to forgive in the present.

She's just completed book #3, My Name is Sheba, and is currently at work on a 4th project titled Reclaiming Lily.

Visit Patti and watch the trailers for her books at www.pattilacy.com

For further review & a writers' exam of What the Bayou Saw visit: http://www.naomimusch.com/apps/blog/show/1122866-book-exam-what-the-bayou-saw-by-patti-lacy