Welcome to Stories Served Around The Table News to Nosh. I am so glad you are here. Spring burst through the dreary winter with color and excitement. Now that the vaccine is available to most of the population, an emergence of a new normal rises. I hope your world is well and safe and feeling more normal.
Since the last newsletter I posted writing updates, Weekend Coffee Shares, and a new challenge: What’s On Your Plate? Dig in!
Shrimp and Wild Mushroom Cobbler
Writing News
The manuscript for Book 2 in the Becoming America’s Stories series is just about done. The title continues to evolve but it’s close to a nail down. Cover art is the next hurdle.
The story picks up where Daily Bread left off.
Lily has to do EVERYTHING. She fetches a nurse from the Henry Street Settlement to save Mama and the new baby, bakes Daily Bread, minds thumb-sucking little sister, Gigi, hangs laundry on the roof, covers the bakery deliveries for her friend so he can play stickball in the alley, and keeps up with the demands and home chores her big sisters list. Even the bossy public health nurse who visits each day to attend to somber Mama and the bawling baby, sends Lily on errands throughout the Lower East Side Little Italy streets. When Lillian Ward, the Henry Street Settlement director, hears Lily’s powerful voice, she invites Lily to sing in the Children’s Choir. Lily sneaks to the choir and the forbidden play yard with tag-along Gigi on Wednesday afternoons. Her schemes unfold when she needs permission to sing with the choir at the NY Highlanders Fourth of July baseball game at Hilltop Park. The Yankee boys need a morale booster, and Lily and the choir may be the ticket to keep fans cheering and buying beer, Cracker Jack and ice cream. More trouble arises as the “Black Hand” terrorizes the neighborhood, and a mean girl, Edith, wants Lily’s solo.
The research sent me down delightful rabbit holes. The Henry Street Settlement, the early history of the New York Highlanders/Yankees, and the cultural influences of street games and stickball brought me into an avalanche of scenes and scenarios.
I will share my writing journey on my weekly blog and News to Nosh monthly letters. Be sure to join Stories Served table here.
While the second round of beta readers work their magic, I am preparing for the series to release with fanfare and live beyond Launch Day. The three books, Daily Bread, Becoming America’s Food Stories, and Book 2 (title coming soon) will be celebrated together. Building an audience of readers is key. The tricky part of gaining readers for middle-grade historical fiction is that although I wrote the story for kids, adults are the ones who choose and buy the books. I am taking lessons from Sesame Street where the content is valuable and engaging for the children yet incredibly entertaining for the grown-ups in the room who ultimately control access and the remote.
So let’s have some FUN, Everyone.
First order is putting together a Becoming America’s Stories Book Launch Team. What is a Book Launch Team—a BLT? (beware of upcoming metaphors)
A Book Launch Team is a group of readers who want to be part of the story. Readers are an important piece to a writer’s journey. Without readers, writers are just rambling. This is my first try with a BLT. We can all learn and laugh together, and hopefully not burn the bacon or let the lettuce wilt (warned you about the metaphors).
As a BLTmate, you will have an exclusive membership to the Becoming America’s Stories Book Launch Team Facebook Group. There, you can join in the promotional activities, take part in live events, and interact with me and other fans. You will have advanced views of Book 2’s title, cover options, and the manuscript and be the first to post reviews and show off the Becoming America’s Stories swag. Perhaps we can do some cooking together as well. Cool! Who’s in?
Join the Becoming America’s Stories Book Launch Team!
Enjoy ❤️. Like 👍. Share 😊.
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If you had purchased a paperback or ebook Daily Bread and/or Becoming America’s Food Stories—Thank you!
Take a picture of you with Daily Bread and/or Becoming America’s Food Stories, and I’ll send you Reader’s Swag and add you to the Becoming America’s Stories Readers slideshow, coming soon! Kid pics are welcomed with parent or guardian permission. Don’t forget to leave a rating and quick comment on Amazon and/or Goodreads.
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“If you don’t cook with love, you have to get out of the kitchen.” Florence Messina
Stories Served Around The Table 
You’ve been very busy!
Thank you for joining What’s On Your Plate.
Your cooking/’love of good, simple food’ always inspires me.
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Thank you for doing What’s on Your Plate. Its a fun distraction that my husband appreciates.
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