Category Archives: CT

An Unusual Book Launch Day

Unusual Book Launch Day

July 30, 2023, I am exhausted, and I did it to myself. On second thought I had helpers, one was mother nature who sent a week of heat and humidity that can drain the strongest. My other helper was a tick, I am on medication for a tick-borne disease like Lyme.

That diagnosis compounded my week of preparation for the launch of my new novel Christmas Letters.

(paperback at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCCMPC7W ) also available in eBook and hardcover

I had a vision of what the book launch would be like. In my head, I was planning what to say, whom to thank, and points of interest in the book. I had a couple of activities planned during the afternoon. My venue was perfect, The Vineyard at Hillyland, was serene, and fit my story well. www.thevineyardathillyland.com

July 29, 2023, I drag myself to load my truck and head to the Vineyard. The heat is sapping my energy I felt like a cartoon character in slow motion. I begin the setup process and keep thinking I need to sit for a minute, but I am behind schedule there are no minutes left. The cavalry came riding in, what I mean is a cadre of friends showed up and got to work helping me.

How it really went: We weren’t five minutes into my planned program, reading and having my guest that wrote the book forward Rob Simmons Col. USAR Retired speak. Phones began warning of severe weather. Thunder rumbled in the distance and with each rumble, it came closer. When I heard the rumble my mind was busy deleting things I had planned to say. We hurried through the program and thank you’s. I hate to hurry a moment of gratitude to my team, they are such a huge part of the work it takes to publish a novel and launch it. We finished up and let me say thanks to Seth Kalichman, a good roadie, for quickly putting my amp, mic and cords away in my truck.

 

Under my canopy people lined up to get their signed copy. Thanks to Moira Kalichman for stepping in as cashier as we hurried to beat the storm. The storm was getting closer. I commented as soon as the rain is coming the books need to be rushed into the wine-tasting room and the tent dropped. Moments later that happened. Everyone pitched in and put all my things away or inside and there I finally found a seat to sign books and talk to the last few who did not scurry away in fear of the storm. Moira is an avid baked and made the baked goods I gifted at the celebration.

I packed up the last in my truck with help from Doug Stearns at the Vineyard. At 5 p.m. and headed home collecting roadside signs I had put out along the way. The flu-like symptoms of Lyme were making me ache. I had to get a few things into the house when home, the rest would wait.

Once home I took a few things inside. Roadside signs leaned against the garden fence. I could see a torrential rain had passed through while I was gone, had I left windows open? A little while later my phone buzzed loudly, TORNADO ALERT for my area. No kidding, Connecticut rarely gets a tornado and it’s in my area? I go out on our porch and secure some of the furniture. The sky is black and formidable. I take the roadside signs to a shed they could easily go airborne and hurt something. I close the barn door on the north side as the storm is coming from that direction. I go back in the house and shut the windows. All this in minutes with my tired body in overdrive. Then we wait and listen, I peek out frequently toward the barn worrying about the horses. The power flickers and the storm rages. I open the cellar door, one sound of impending doom and we are heading down there!

The storm passed quickly. It did touch down just a few short miles from my home. Drone photography shows what a demon in the sky it was. We were lucky!!!!

My book is launched! I am incredibly happy! Sunday became a quiet day. I practiced a little self-care and hired my young friend Dale Thompson to do morning barn chores for me.

Why Spooky Stories

Why Spooky Stories?   I have been asked, why tell spooky stories? I immediately ask the person to define spooky for me. I have found that often the term spooky is closely misaligned with horror, it is not horror,!  I don’t tell, write or read horror, it’s not my thing. I think of spooky as… Continue Reading

A Christmas Tree Story

Sharing a short fiction story for your reading pleasure and wishing you the best of the season. A Christmas Tree Story By: Carolyn Stearns The wind blew over the hill in bursts of violent cold. The snow was trampled along the paths, but between the rows of Christmas trees, the snow lay deep and untouched.… Continue Reading

Fiona’s Viral Post

      Her name is Fiona, she is one of many beautiful calves at Mountain Dairy in Storrs/Mansfield Connecticut. www.mountaindairy.com  What is so special about her has been the reaction a photo of her received on Facebook. Mountain Dairy is our family farm. My grandchildren are the 11th generation. I take care of social media for… Continue Reading

5 Ways to Preserve Family Stories

The teen sat on the park bench, hungry, tired, jobless, a boy of New Haven, Connecticut. He wondered what the world would hold for him. He sat staring into space, after awhile his focus landed on a beautiful girl across the street, near the corner of Church and Chapel Streets. She was made of wood! It was… Continue Reading

Bald Eagle  Internet Sensation & My  Hawk

Bald Eagle Internet Sensation & My Hawk

Feeling Patriotic? We are! Humbled by the majesty of our National Bird the Eagle and by the  tenderness of motherhood over 100,000 at once have been logged onto the u-stream live cam from Decorah Iowa watching these Eagles hatch. Now that is viral video! We still need connections with nature and beauty and the magic of birth… Continue Reading