Uncategorized – Rebekah Lyn Books

3-2-1 Apollo 11 Celebrations and Giveaway

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, the first mission to land men on the moon. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins launched from the Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969 at 9:32 am, and landed on the moon July 20, 1969 at 4:17 pm. A little more than six hours later, at 10:39 pm, Neil Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar lander, taking his first step onto the moon at 10:56 pm. These events became the culmination of my novel, Undaunted, and since researching for that book I have remained fascinated with everything surrounding this mission.

Last week the National Geographic Channel had Space Week, airing multiple shows about the mission and the others leading up to this moment, including some never seen before footage. Silly me thought these shows would run during the week of the anniversary, but I did manage to record a few episodes, and I’m sure there will be a DVD to add to my growing collection of space research.

Here on the Space Coast, this weekend was filled with celebratory events, a few of which I had the pleasure of attending. Friday, there was a “Noon to the moon” street party.

One of the boutique owners commissioned an artist to create a print to honor this anniversary, which was also made into shirts and fleece blankets.

Pam had gifted me one of the shirts, and when we stopped in during the street party I picked up another shirt with a different design commemorating the launch.

Saturday, I woke up early and drove to Cocoa Beach for an astronaut parade.

Early arrivals for the parade.

There was 1 Apollo astronaut, Al Worden, 11 Space Shuttle astronauts and 10 of the children of Apollo astronauts in attendance. Of course, most of them rode in Corvettes but there were some Mustangs as well.

I loved the excitement in the air and seeing a large number of children. Listening to conversations around me, a number of the folks had been around for the original Apollo 11 parade in 1969.

Sunday was the crowning jewel in the weekend for me. Pam had heard about the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation events, which included a brunch and panel interview with children of the Apollo astronauts. Tickets were available to the public and Pam scored us a pair right away.

The children that participated in the panel were: Jan Aldrin, Rick Armstrong, Amy Bean, Tracy Cernan Woolie, Peter Conrad, Barbara Lovell Harrison, Jeff Lovell, Susan Lovell, Alan Roosa, Rosemary Roosa, Rusty Schweickart, Glen Anders, and Julie Shepard Jenkins. I plan to write a blog solely about this panel in the coming days. I want to listen to the recording again to choose the items that resonated with me the most.

After this panel was complete, we were cleared out of the room to allow the hotel to reset for the second group, Women of Space. I was particularly looking forward to this one since it will tie into my current work-in-progress. The female astronauts in attendance were Anna Fischer, one of the first women astronauts, class of 1978, Ellen Ochoa, and Eileen Collins. The hour allotted for this seminar flew by and before I knew it we were outside again waiting for the room to be reset for the final presentation of the day, the Future of Space.

Since my new book will be going into the future of space, I was eager to hear what this panel would have to say. While it was a good panel with presentations from Bob Cabana, director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center; Chris Ferguson, with Boeing’s Starliner program; Kelly Defazio, with Lockheed Martin’s Orion program; and Andy Allen, General Manager of Jacobs Space Operations Group,I already knew much of what they shared. Again, I will detail more about this and the Women of Space seminars in future blogs.

More than 400,000 workers were involved in getting Apollo to the moon. Contractors all over the country created parts, workers at Kennedy Space Center put them together and managed the launch, then Mission Control in Houston took over to monitor progress, and around the world, satellite listening stations provided contact with the capsule as the earth rotated.

A large portion of that workforce was laid off after the Apollo program. Some were brought back for the Space Shuttle and then layoffs began again when that program ended.

My dad is the one in the blue striped shirt. Photo credit NASA website

I’ve had times when I’ve despaired that America has lost interest in space exploration, but looking around the room during these panels, I was encouraged. The room was filled for each seminar with eager faces, even some from other countries who had traveled here for these events.

To help celebrate this momentous accomplishment in our nation’s history, I am giving away a matted copy of the print mentioned above and a signed edition of Undaunted, the fictional story of one boys fascination with the space race and how it changed his life.

The Rafflecopter is super easy to enter. Good Luck!

Shares appreciated.

Enter to win the this amazing Print and my novel, Undaunted, about Jessie, a young boy growing up in the shadow of rockets

I’m sorry but this giveaway is available in the US only but a digital copy of Undaunted and Destiny’s Call can be substituted for our overseas friends.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Who is This John Snow

Since I’ve never seen an episode of Game of Thrones, it might sound strange that a Game of Thrones tour changed the whole route of our itinerary for this trip and yet it did. Tricia really wanted to do a specific tour (there are dozens to chose from in Ireland) and it was only offered on certain days. I had planned to visit Belfast at the end of our trip, allowing us to travel in a loop around the island. However, the only day the tour was offered during our visit forced us to head north on Tuesday night so we could do the tour on Wednesday.

While I’m not a morning person, my job requires me to be in the office very early and I’ve become conditioned to move quickly once the alarm goes off. When my phone began strumming the wake-up music, I popped up to start getting dressed; Tricia did not, She groaned and pulled the blanket tighter.

Once I managed to get her up and dressed we popped into the Starbucks across the street and then made our way to the end of the block where the tour was meeting. Tricia and I made our way to the back of the bus so she could surreptitiously finish eating the muffin she’d been told she couldn’t bring onboard as the company was worried about messes.

We had to drive about an hour out of the city and the countryside was lovely. Unfortunately, Tricia had taken the wrong medication that morning and it put her to sleep so she missed most of the views. I was surprised at how the Mourne Mountains seemed to rise up from nowhere just outside the city. I’m used to the rolling foothills that precede most of the mountains here in the US. Maybe I didn’t notice the land rolling upward because of the city bustle.

We arrived at the ferry stop and I realized we were in the town of Portaferry. Now I was excited to be on this tour. I mentioned in my first post Patrick Taylor’s Irish Country Doctor series of books. Well, Portaferry is mentioned in them from time to time so I felt a connection to the place. I looked around, wondering which pubs Doctor O’Reily may have visited. Yes, I know he’s a fictional character, but as a writer, there’s something exhilarating about seeing a place mentioned in a book. Of course, we were on a tour to visit places of complete fiction anyway so why I am defending myself?

*Portaferry as we departed on the ferry.*

Tricia was still pretty sleepy on the ferry, but I enjoyed the crossing of Strangford Lough, watching as the town of Strangford grew closer. I watched for birds and wondered how far from the town the good doctor would have been when he went fowling.

Soon we arrived at our first stop, Castle Ward, which was used for Winterfell in filming Game of Thrones season one. There isn’t much left standing besides a tower and some courtyard walls, but the tour guide played us video clips that showed how the tower had been replicated and some other computer imagery added to create the castle.

Then we walked around the grounds to several other filming locations. The brisk walk helped wake Tricia up. We passed the Strangford Sailing Club and I thought about young Doctor Barry Laverty’s interest in sailing. We trekked close to three miles, mostly along the shores of Stranford Lough, which, even with gray clouds pressing in, was beautiful.

After our tour of Castle Ward we returned to Strangford for lunch at The Cuan followed by a visit with the “Direwolves”. They are beautiful animals. The story of the owners and how the dogs were cast on the show was interesting. It sounds like the directors/producers of the show took time to invest in the locals, casting many of them as extras rather than bringing in tons of people from Los Angeles or some other film-centric location.

Game of Thrones Tour

From Strangford, we drove to Inch Abbey, a beautiful ruin on the banks of the Quoile River. We were given capes and swords, which we playfully swung around. Those swords weigh a ton! We all did our best to look menacing, but no one could stop grinning with delight. While the rest of the group engaged in mock battle, I wandered around taking pictures. The tour guide provided interesting information about lighting techniques used during filming here to make it look like the scene was taking place indoors as well as how the crew managed the changing light as the sun moved through the sky.

Game of Thrones Tour
Game of Thrones Tour

Our last stop on the tour was Tollymore Forest. A number of scenes were filmed here, I remember something about a dead stag being found in the road and the discovery of the Direwolf pups. Our hike through the park almost made me want to watch the show just for the scenery. If you visit Ireland and love the outdoors, I highly recommend spending a day in Tollymore, exploring the more than 630 hectares of forestland.

It had rained every day for weeks before we arrived, so the Shimna River running through the park was quite high and rushing downhill in a torrent of frothy rapids. One part of the trail crossing the river on large stepping-stones was completely covered and another section had been flooded as well, but there were enough dry patches to pick our way through without getting too wet.

We hiked another 3 miles here and one section was little more than an animal trail. I found it thrilling but Tricia wasn’t very fond of this section.

For more pictures visit my other blog, Rebekah Lyn’s Kitchen

We returned to the hotel around 6:00pm, exhausted from both the lack of sleep and the exertion of the day. We debated going across the street to the pub, but ended up ordering room service and collapsing for the night.

I apologize if you were hoping to get more behind-the-scenes insights into Game of Thrones. I think the guide did an excellent job, I just didn’t retain much of what he said since it wasn’t the big draw for me. We used Game of Thrones Tours, Ltd and their guides have all been extras on the show, which allows them to provide first hand experiences.

Next week we face our first truly rainy day and meet up with one of Trica’s Facebook friends. I admit I was a little scared of getting together with a stranger.

Apps and Friends

I wanted a Bible app for my IPhone for the times I was in my study with my morning devotions. I don’t like to get on the computer during that time because it’s a distraction.

I have a Bible page-a-day calendar. Each day I rip off a page and paste it into my journal. I then compare it with other translations. Next I write it out in second person, present time. When I go back and read my paraphrase of the verse, it’s as if God is speaking directly to me. Some people call that Rhema, which means personalized revelation.

I have many Bible translations, concordances, Bible dictionaries, and commentaries, but it’s fun knowing I have a very large library right there on that small device. I can even listen to some of the Bible with audio, once I figure out how. I’ve struck gold!

I also wanted the Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus to use with my journaling and hand-written pages. That one cost $3.99. I didn’t care. Our dear son-in-law and his wife (our daughter) came over last weekend, and he got my two apps going for me. He’s so good at straightening out my mistakes, and very patient too.

After working with the Bible app for a while, I tried out the Dictionary/Thesaurus.

Before I wrote a compendium of everything it told me, I looked up the word compendium. Here’s what the app gave me.

It said the word was a noun, gave a short definition, which it expanded upon, and offered examples. Next came origin (I need that when I’m working on my historical novel. I don’t want to use a word in 1924 that didn’t come into use until 1987.) After that, I found a gorgeous list of synonyms the cutest of which was florilegium. As if that weren’t enough, when I clicked on the thesaurus, synonyms and related words appeared.

I was fascinated with miscellanea, which sounds like Italian poetry as well it might since it is, after all, Latin.

Word of the Day (you can subscribe HERE)

ergonomic
\er-guh-NAH-mik\

I’m still having a bit of trouble with the apps. I tried to get The Poetry Foundation’s poetry several times. But the problems I make for myself with passwords and IDs are again plaguing me even though our son-in-law fixed all that.

We are having a street party at a restaurant. The around fifty-year-old kids planned it. They are the people who played together on our street from the time they were preschoolers.

Bill and I, and a couple down the street are the only parents left. We’re still living in the same houses. They invited us to the party, and we’re delighted to attend. Do you think it would be all right if I slipped my phone to our son-in-law and ask him to set up the poetry app for me? Nah, it’s probably a bad example for some of the young adults who’ll be coming to the party with their parents.

Verse of the Day

“But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

https://www.biblegateway.com/app/

A Writer is Born~Part 4

Our little girl grew up to be sweet, successful, and smart and she married a good man, just as our son married an excellent woman.

I met Mary Harwell Sayler when she came to teach at a writer’s conference run by our church. Mary is a consummate poet and wonderful teacher and I drank poetry, the reading and the writing of it, like

Introducing Mary Sayler — Author, Poet Mary Sayler

a person dying of thirst. I signed up for Mary’s poetry writing correspondence course and as we got to be friends, she invited me to her home in DeLand, an hour away. I drove up once a month for about five years and we talked about poetry, nature, and our families and from there became associates and each other’s loyal advocates.

For another eight years I drove to Melbourne once a month to meet with Julian Lee Dulfer who taught a class in writing and copy-editing novels that I couldn’t have done without.

With all the writing I was doing I didn’t have time for much else, but then I read that writers need hobbies. That gave me permission to do something I’d always to – take art lessons. I was so excited the first night, I couldn’t wait to get my brush dipped into water and paint. I’ve been through four teachers and a lot of different kinds of art since then and I never lost the thrill of it. The gallery experience and the Art League workshop I was in were true highlights for me. I loved giving art lessons to my two grandchildren and they benefitted from them as much as I did.

One day in Wal-Mart I met a young woman, Rebekah Lyn, whose mom I’d known for a long time. I knew Rebekah had started working on a novel and as we stood there discussing writing, we made a pact to help each other. For about a year, we each brought our efforts to a meeting and read aloud, she read my manuscript and I read hers. It helped a lot. She went on to publish with Amazon and I followed soon after with my Florida Springs Trilogy. Her mother, Onisha, is our publicist and another friend is our public relations agent. Rebekah Lyn started her own book website and now four writers are represented there, Mary Harwell Sayler, poet, novelist, nonfiction writer, and teacher, Janet Perez Eckles (who is blind and who has written an autobiographical book about her experiences with the living God) Rebekah, and me.

Rebekah has just launched, Jessie the story of a teen aged boy who grew up in Titusville, Florida in the early sixties during the beginning of the Space Program. It’s an excellent and timely book.

Presently, I’m working on a book that takes place in Colorado in the mountains. It’s historical, western, and has a strong love story in it.