NEW GALLERY PAGE

Dear Readers, aka Friends,

I've added a new page of photos to my blog called GALLERY. Click on the word GALLERY among all the page tabs, located just above and to the left of the date shown on this post. GALLERY is beside the CONTACT page.  I thought it would be interesting to me, and perhaps you, to see some of the activities writing has brought into my life.  You will find me with many new friends I've made as I've done book signings over time.  You'll also see pictures of my handcrafted wares  available only at craft/art shows, along with my novels.



If you ever wonder why I don't produce more books quickly, you'll see some of what I'm up to when I'm not writing. Please know that besides this blog, a pleasant time-stealer for me, and painting small objects like my Secret Pebbles, among other things, my first love it writing.  Stay tuned for the next book.  I won't say when it will be out.  I will tell you to visit this blog often and look for the latest Goodbye Lie Diary entries by Peeper or Aunt Noreen or Breelan, etc.  Along with their help, we'll keep you up to date ...


Meanwhile, take a look at what goes on this side of the keyboard!

Jane Marie

Fun Discovery-Hollywood Hearts

Eagle Eye, that would be me, does it again.  Look at the picture above.  There is Bette Davis on the left and Miriam Hopkins on the right in Old Acquaintance from 1943. It's about two frenemy-type authors competing for more than book sales. (Being a writer, I especially enjoy movies about writers.)  It was during the final scene from this film I made my discovery.  Examine the photo more closely now to see a physical representation of the occupation of these women.  Find it????  Look at the coffee table in front of the couch.  It seems to be two huge books, one atop the other!  I am proud of my powers of observation.

Writers, like set designers, add so very many tiny details to a story/movie to flavor it up, just like this book-table.  And how many of those tiny details are more often missed than seen?  It's a bonus when the audience finds our efforts.  That's why we all never tire of rereading-rewatching favorite books and movies. Each time, we can uncover a new something in the words or pictures to treasure. 

P.S. Do a search and you can find free versions of Old Acquaintance to download or pay $2.99 for it.  

By the way, I read where Bette and Miriam disliked each other immensely.  With a little research, that is a future blog...

Ask Jane Marie- What's Up with the Name?

How observant are readers of my Goodbye Lie series set on Amelia Island? Very, because I am often asked why my name on the cover of The Goodbye Lie is Jane Marie and on the cover of Amelia Island's Velvet Undertow, it is  Jane Marie Malcolm. Originally, my pen name was to be Jane Marie, which is my real name. My daughter, Barbra, thought it sounded more romantic for a writer, and suggested I leave off my last name.  All was well until Amazon.com added my last name.  I thought it best to avoid confusion so I now use my full handle going forward. 


   My sister, Nancy Kamp, gave me that gracious description, a thing toward which everyone should strive, but I am certainly not to that point. Bottom line, no matter what you call me, I hope you will join our Victorian world where love, lace and teddy bears reign, here on this blog.

 

INFO and PURCHASE HERE 

Recipe reprinted from www.GraciousJaneMarie.com 

Traveling Book Club from Georgia

I was recently honored by a visit from The Traveling Book Club from north Georgia.  Read the article below and hear how it happened!
 
Reprinted from September 4, 2013 Fernandina Beach News-Leader.

Book Club Travels Through Time

 The Traveling Book Club members shown
 standing in the back row, left to right,
are Melissa Camp and Billie Carlock.
Seating in the front row, left to right, is Cheryl Parham,
author Jane Marie Malcolm and Amy Chambers.

One phone call from Maggie DeVries, owner of Books Plus, 107 Centre Street in Fernandina Beach, to local author Jane Marie Malcolm, resulted in a two-and-a-half hour laugh-filled jaunt around historic downtown Amelia Island, Florida. 

As is the custom on their annual vacation, members of the seven person Traveling Book Club from Ringgold, Georgia, just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee, pick a place to visit and then an author from that area.  This time, four in their group drove some seven hours to spend time on Amelia Island.  Member Melissa Camp did an internet search of historical fiction on Amelia Island and Malcolm’s name and her Goodbye Lie trilogy appeared.     

Camp, along with Billie Carlock, Cheryl Parham and Amy Chambers, all teachers at Heritage Middle School in Ringgold, had read The Goodbye Lie by the time Malcolm met them at the bookstore two days later.  What was requested to be a book discussion ended up in an expedition of many of the historical places described in the novel set in 1882, with an occasional reading of a descriptive paragraph from the book.  

From the docks to The Florida House, up Centre Street and on to St. Michael Catholic Church, Amelia Island Lighthouse, Fort Clinch and Amelia Beach, plus much more in between, they ended their journey in the dark in Old Town.  

“About all we could see up in Old Fernandina was the outline of the Pippi Longstocking house," Malcolm explained, "but it was enough for them to realize the distance between old and new Fernandina, as I wanted."

Questions and opinions regarding their common interest, The Goodbye Lie, filled the time, making the hour hand seemingly whip around the clock.  “As a writer, it is so wonderful when readers get it and enter my world.  I hope these ladies are hooked for life because there is more to come!”  As a reminder of their time on Amelia Island, Malcolm left each of the women with one of her hand painted "Secret Pebbles", featured in her Amelia Island’s Velvet Undertow, the second novel in the series. 

“The secret in the pebble is what is shared,” the author said.  “May their love of reading about the escapades of my fictional Dunnigan family and my love of writing about this close Irish clan bring The Traveling Book Club back to see new friends and old places here on our island.”

For information about Amelia Island’s Goodbye Lie Trilogy (where Little House on the Prairie meets Gone With The Wind in Fernandina, Florida), visit Malcolm's website at http://www.graciousjanemarie.com/,  her family friendly blog at http://www.http/graciousjanemarie.blogspot.com/  and read her free and silly online Martha Bear stories at http://www.marthabear.com/.  The Goodbye Lie and Amelia Island's Velvet Undertow are available online and where books are sold.                    
  
********************

Jane Marie,

I wanted to thank you for how "gracious" you were in meeting us and sharing a great evening of fun.  We are meeting Friday with the rest of the "girls" who were not able to make it on the trip.  They will be so jealous!  It is true that we are officially "Good-bye Liars" since I know we will be back and not able to say good-bye to such a peaceful, relaxing place so full of history and stories that are waiting to be told.  Now you just have to publish those stories, so we can read them!  Thanks again for a wonderful step back into history. 

Billie

Interviewed by Janet Smith

                                                                                                      
Janet Smith is working on a degree in nursing  and asked to interview me for an English class. I was flattered and, with her permission, I printed her piece which got her an A!

                                                                             

Gracious Jane Marie 

                                                                               

         I was standing in a driveway in Fernandina Beach, Florida.  In front of me was a quaint yellow single-story cottage.  The author of the historical Amelia Island’s Goodbye Lie Trilogy, Jane Marie Malcolm, resides here.  If I had any questions about being at the right place, the sign on the house, Stately Malcolm Manor, answered them for me.  I was reminded of the old southern mansions that had names attached to them like Twelve Oaks from Gone With the Wind.

          White flowering bushes greeted me on the right.  The scent of those blossoms made me want to stop and smell them, but I continued to the front door, which was opened  and seemed to be saying, “Welcome.  Come inside.” 

          Jane Marie greeted me with a smile and, with genuine hospitality, showed me to my chair in the dining room.  While she got our cold beverages, I took the time to appreciate the beautiful décor of her home.  It is said your residence is a reflection of you, and I would say Jane Marie’s house certainly represents her personality.  I felt as if I had been transported back in time, to an era of romance and grace.  Throughout the house, I could see items that showcased her artistic abilities.  On the dining table was an ordinary red brick, and on top of it stood a clay high heeled shoe covered in green vines and leaves.  A whimsical head with leaf-like wings adorned the apex of the heel.  “What do you think?”  Jane Marie asked.

          “I love it!”  I replied.  “It’s like angels are walking with us.”  Jane Marie said she wanted to use my words as a title for her piece.  I felt honored.

          Jane Marie or "Gracious Jane Marie," as her fans call her, is the very essence of grace mixed with wit and a sunny disposition.  She is soft spoken as a real genteel woman would be.  Her long hair gives her the appearance of someone who belongs back in the time of her writings.  She makes you feel what you have to say is important, and when she laughs, it is contagious.  You can’t help but laugh, too.

          When I asked her the date of her birth, she giggled and said, “In the twentieth century.”  Even though she refused to tell me, Jane Marie pointed out her framed birth certificate hanging in the kitchen.  On the aging paper was the month, day and year.  I decided to keep her secret to myself.  Like the mother from Pennsylvania in her first novel, The Goodbye Lie, Jane Marie was born in Erie.  This is just one of the ways Jane Marie mirrors her life with her stories.

          Jane Marie is married to Bruce Malcolm, former mayor of Fernandina Beach.  She spoke of the interesting and funny things he has said, and has created a journal that includes many of his best gems.  She calls it The Wit and Hillbilly Wisdom of Bruce Malcolm.  It shows that Jane Marie is deeply in love with her husband.    “I believe in love at first sight,” Jane Marie said, “because it happened to me.” 

          Jane Marie didn’t become a writer until the age of forty.  It all started when her family was getting ready to move away from Fernandina Beach.  She wanted to remember the little town she loved and combine the history of Fernandina Beach with her love of romance.  Just before they left, Jane was working in a quiet shop in Victorian downtown Fernandina.  With no one in the store, she was about to “put pencil to paper” and begin her first book.  Just then, a man in his forties, who looked to be in his seventies because of his weathered face, walked through the door.  He wore a yellow rain slicker and had curly auburn hair that women would kill for.  He was a shrimper just off his boat, selling his wares.  He became her first character and she named him Catfish.

          Her original idea was to give The Goodbye Lie to her daughter for her hope chest and, thereby, pass it along to her grandchildren.  Needing to find out what happened to the other characters in the novel, Jane Marie continued her work in three more books.   

          As the interview continued, an old grandfather clock chimed the eighth hour in the background, and once again I was taken back in time.  Jane Marie’s favorite era is the 1880s.  She used this period in history as the setting for her books.  Her characters are created, in part, from people she knows, plus colorful life experiences and surroundings.  She used her own family structure as a model for her books.  She incorporates items that show her artistic abilities into her writings, such as her Secret Pebbles©.  These are hand painted glass stones, decorated with roses, hearts, crosses and/or Christmas trees and come with special verses for different occasions.

          If Jane Marie couldn’t write for a living, her choice of job would be costume designer.  Again, the 1800s would be her preference because the women’s clothing, in her words, “Had a lot of frou-frou.  The more the better!”  I could picture her dressing that way today if she could get away with it.

          On the back of her second book, Amelia Island’s Velvet Undertow, there is a comment by a fan who says, “Where Little House on the Prairie meets Gone With The Wind …”  This is a great compliment because Jane Marie loves Gone With The Wind and considers herself a Windy, meaning a big-time fan.  When I asked her who her favorite author was, I was not surprised to hear her say Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone With The Wind.

           Jane Marie is known for coming up with her own words, and her favorite right now is "rutstucker."  I was laughing at this strange word when she said, “Make sure you write the meaning down so you won’t forget.”  A rutstucker is someone who is stuck in a rut.  I hope Jane comes out with her own dictionary soon.

          You can get to know more about Jane Marie Malcolm by visiting her website and blog at www.GraciousJaneMarie.com.   Here, she writes about the heart, home, roses, recipes and romance.  Her second website, www.MarthaBear.com, features her free and silly online children’s stories meant to encourage family reading.

           Jane Marie’s books are comprised of romance, family and history.  Getting a glimpse into her home and personality, I can see how much her real life and published life are intertwined.  She breathes and lives romance. 

          The chapter of my time with Jane Marie was over, so we walked outside together and said our goodbyes.  Before I entered my modern carriage, I could hear the ocean behind me.  Glancing back at Stately Malcolm Manor, I remembered what Jane Marie said when I asked her for one last thought.  “I believe in happy endings.”  That said it all.

Local Authors' Marketplace

Today was a gathering of local authors sponsored by Maggie DeVries of Books Plus in Fernandina Beach, Florida.  It's always fun to catch up with other writers, hear how their next book is progressing, what shows and signings they've done, ideas on marketing, etc.  Even more fun than that is, of course, meeting readers!

I sat next to  Lt. Colonel Richard B. (Dick) Lewis, a WWII bomber pilot who has written Angel on my Wing, a true story of his 35 combat missions in the 8th Air Force  as a pilot with the 493rd Bomb Group in 1944.  What a treat for me.  I'm known as the Questionmeister and the poor guy endured all my queries.  His book is available at Books Plus, http://www.booksplusamelia.com/.

Goodbye Lie Diaries - Breelan - Writer to Writer

September 2011

Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida

Jane Marie writes:

Hi Breelan,

Wanted to tell you that this past weekend we had a gathering of local authors in our city Rec Center near Main Beach.  The weather was great, the public was welcolm (my personal spelling of the word)  and it was a full day of a wide variety of books from 45 writers. This was the first annual and we expect next year's show to be bigger! An especially big thank you to our two book stores downtown on Centre Street, Books Plus and The Book Loft. You'd love these places. Oh, the photograph below is me at the show.  I played with the color of the picture for giggles. If you're wondering what the black fringe is across the top, it is chair legs.  I was in front of the stage.

Being a part time reporter for the Florida Mirror, the forerunner of our News Leader, as well as in charge of advertising for your family's Aqua Verde Passenger Line, do you get much time for writing your stories?

***
September 1880s
Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida

Hello Jane Marie,

I do so love seeing your creative photographs. What fun that must be to have the means to not only make the pictures but colorize them at your whim.

As to your question about my writing, I steal the moments when I can.

How very exciting to share your books not only with the town folks but with other authors. There is talk of starting some sort of gathering for the writers in my century. Seems everyone is so busy, it is difficult to pin down a time and place. We only have four ladies and one man who show interest right now. Once our group is established, we hope it, too, will grow, the same as your annual book show.

It is less than kind to say this, however, I can confide in you. One reason we are slow to commence our writers' gathering is Aunt Noreen. She wants to join. Can you imagine that?  She's driven half the ladies from the Orchid Society and the Sunshine Ladies at church are about ready to string her up!  When you created Aunt Noreen, you surely created a pistol!


PS I fancy the idea of spelling my words however I like, the same as you. Should Sister Anestassia ever hear of such a thing, I fear she will have a hissy. Now that would be quite comical!