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​     WHEN YOU WRITE A BOOK, I promise that you have no idea beforehand who, what, when, and where you will meet up with unexpected friends, new opportunities, and all kinds of other things, besides.
     The bulk of Brian's career was spent in Fishers, so it comes as a surprise that he had NOTHING to do with me landing wonderful gigs with all three books at Fishers United Methodist Church. 
     The latest of the three happened on Tuesday night when around 20 readers showed up to talk about the book and to show heirlooms.
     I loved every moment of the evening, and I am grateful to several who made it possible.
     First, to Mary of New Castle who told her friend Rita about the book and Rita invited me to the Creek Readers Book Club.
     There I met Rita, who is responsible for me meeting Kay and the book club members at Fishers UMC. 
     Since then, both those book clubs have featured my two additional books. So much fun!
     I'm grateful to them for bringing keepsakes to talk about and I think maybe some even picked up some good tips about WHAT to do with family china and silverware that the family doesn't want (what about an artisan who can transform it, or Replacements Unlimited?
​     Also, one man talked about spending $400 on a clock repair that didn't last, and he then took matters into his own hands by purchasing a $20 modern clock kit and installing it into the heritage clock. Presto! It worked!
      Some of the chapters that folks told me they particularly enjoyed were ones about saving boxes, spices, pen pals and prom dresses! Yes, I am not the only one who saved her 4-H prom dresses. 
​      So did Kim, the group's coordinator:

     THANK YOU ALL FOR A GREAT EVENING. I sure do appreciate your interest in this and in all my books.
                                            -----------
      I'm enjoying three weeks before my next stop on the author journey. I plan to catch up on some things around the house, entertain some overnight guests, and just chill out and gear up for being the luncheon speaker the annual New Castle Senior Center summer picnic; Writer Chicks the next day; and then I'm blessed to have been chosen to speak at the 63rd annual Rural Urban Dinner in Hagerstown.
      Happy Independence Day weekend to you all. Blessings, peace, and have a wonderful summer.

P.S. Kim's prom dress is no worse for wear.    
        
     
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This spring, when I had a book signing and program at the Union County Public Library in my hometown of Liberty, Indiana, a number of special guests surprised me by their attendance. Among them were my great-great nieces, Katie and Lexi. They attended with their grandmother, and my niece, Marlene.

This week I had a mail delivery that brought delight! It was from Katie! She had cut out a picture of me promoting that event from our hometown weekly newspaper.  She addressed the envelope and everything. THANK YOU MISS KATIE! I love it!

A thank you note is in the mail to Miss Katie. Just when I thought that snail mail was largely a thing of the past, it arrived in our box from this young lady.

Tuesday was Flag Day, but I took this photo on Flag Day Plus One at the intersection of a county road and U.S. 36 in Henry County. As I drove through the back and main roads through Henry and Madison counties last night, I took in the bright beauty of a June evening.

This photo was taken at about 8 last night, with sundown coming at 9:13 p.m. Oh, how I love the long-lit days.
  
Tuesday was also our monthly meeting of Writer Chicks Society (WCS). This month I hosted, and as always we packed a lot of visitation and information into a more than three-hour meeting around our family's kitchen table.

It is a wonderful thing to have a group of like-minded writers with whom to unpack the joys, challenges, opportunities, and surprises of the writing/authoring/business sides of these experiences.

The picture below is of the Teachers in Travel Society book club in New Castle.

Last night I attended the book club's discussion as this lively group of mostly retired New Castle High School teachers featured my first book, Sweetland of Liberty Bed & Breakfast, for the June selection. Ten of the dozen or so members attended at Primo's downtown. Thank you all for the meal and the conversation.
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​I appreciate that they humored me for a photo. It was a bit dark in there and I should have turned on the flash, but I'm happy for the picture--and always, to be back in New Castle, my home away from home.

My next "road show" is a trip to the Franklin County Public Library in downtown Brookville Saturday. I'll be giving a program at 1 p.m. called "What's in your attic?" Attendees are each encouraged to gather up a favorite keepsake or heirloom and briefly tell about it at the end of the talk. I'll also be signing and selling books but the program is free and certainly, no purchase is necessary! 

The library is providing refreshments, I'll have a door prize, and in the words of the county news correspondents who used to put chicken-dinner news in hometown newspapers, hopefully "a good time will be had by all."

   Reprinted from my Next Chapter newspaper column that appears in New Castle, Connersville, and Shelbyville newspapers twice monthly.

By Donna Cronk

With it commonplace for folks to pay with plastic instead of cash, I knew with this book, I needed to invest in a credit-and-debit-card reader. But what may seem an ordinary task to others threw me into a tailspin.

I decided to get one through my bank; to speak about it face-to-face with a human wearing business attire and a badge, seated in a leather chair behind a desk. News flash: these people still exist!

The task involved speaking with the correct banker who handles this, creating a particular business account, determining which reader best suits my needs, and signing the forms.

When the gadget arrived at my home, so did an email with links to videos about set up. I’d need to sync my phone with the reader, and complete related chores.

A banker checked in to see how it was going. It wasn’t. We made a phone appointment to get the reader launched. I dreaded our meeting and sent her an email that this all seems over my head. She asked for a chance to help, saying it with no a hint of condescension.

It took longer than a quick call; I was not a quick student. But we got it done. Story of my life: English is easy; math and tech not so much.

The day came for me to use the card reader on my own in real time. As I reached the venue early to prepare, butterflies swarmed in my gut—not about being the keynote speaker before a couple hundred people who were on their way—but if I would be capable of using this technology. What if I hit the wrong button and didn’t know how to correct it with potential customers viewing my ineptitude? What if I accidentally charged someone $1,500 instead of $15?

Mulling all this over, I pulled my book cart through the parking lot toward the venue.

“Excuse me,” came a woman’s voice. “Could you help me lift a crate from my car? I just had back surgery.”

I could. We introduced ourselves and started talking as though old friends. With her crate delivered to the kitchen, I found my bearings in the fellowship hall, and began assembling my book table. My new friend took a seat nearby and we continued chatting.

A retired nurse, she had a hobby-business that involved creating and selling  jewelry, just as I have one creating and selling books. Once my table display was in place, she waved her credit card, saying she would like three of my books.

“Oh, wow! This is the first time I’ve used a card reader and I’m nervous,” I confessed. “I think God sent you to be my angel for a trial run,” I told her. Or something close to those words.
She said it wouldn’t be hard, adding, “I have one. I’ll help you.”

I fumbled the small gadget into position and turned it on. Out came my phone for its part of the process.

Success! It felt like a miracle—not that the tech worked, even, but that someone came along to put me at ease just when I needed her.

“If you want, I’ll sit with you at your table and help,” she offered, and did.

To my amazement, she took off and gave me her necklace that I had admired.

Since that night, I’ve used the reader numerous times with flawless results. Such irony! Someone now might mistake me for an old pro. Or at least for old.

I sent an email to the supervisor of the banker who helped me launch the reader.  I told the boss that her employee is kind, patient, and helpful. I figure the best way to thank someone is to praise them to their supervisor.

Recently in another parking lot, I looked down to see a debit card on the pavement. I picked it up and headed to a nearby store’s service desk. There was a line, so I went back to the car, called the number on the card, then pressed the correct prompt. Voice mail.

I decided to drive the card to a bank branch that bore its name. I looked it up and one wasn’t far. Handing it to the teller, I explained how I found it and she vowed to call the card owner. She didn’t ask my name. I was glad. I didn’t want credit; only to help.

As Fred Rogers’ mother famously told him, “Always look for the helpers.”

​They’re everywhere, even in parking lots.

We can each be one.

Union County native Donna Cronk writes a column for several Indiana newspapers. She’ll be giving a program and book signing at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 18 at the Franklin County Public Library. Everyone is invited. Feel free to bring an heirloom for a show and tell activity. Her new book is There’s a Clydesdale in the Attic: Reflections on Keeping and Letting Go. Connect via email: newsgirl.1958@gmail.com. 

I'm delighted to share an awning with my longtime colleague and friend Darrel Radford on the grounds of the Henry County Historical Museum tomorrow, Saturday, June 11. We'll be there from 11 to 5 where Darrel will have these 100-page keepsakes available for $10. Proceeds benefit the historical society and its projects.

Here's what else is up tomorrow, from a Facebook Henry County Historical Society post: They're here!!! The 100-page bicentennial booklet created by Darrel Radford will be available for the first time at Saturday's Henry County Historical Society Ice Cream Social.

The event is planned from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Gen. William Grose home and grounds, 606 S. 14th St., New Castle.

The booklet features a historical tidbit for each day of the calendar year. Then, the booklet shows how “Henry County has made history from A-Z,” an alphabetical look at key local historical people, places and moments.

More than 500 photos are included in the booklet, thanks to the collections of Doug Magers and the late Mike Bertram along with archives from The Courier-Times, Henry County News Republican and New Castle-Henry County Public Library. Priced at just $10, the booklet is sure to be a keepsake All proceeds from sale of the booklet will be shared with the Henry County 529 Legacy college fund for county students and the Henry County Historical Society and its museum, housed in Gen. William Grose's New Castle home. The local historical society is the oldest, continuously operating group of its kind in the state of Indiana.
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Only 500 copies of the booklet were printed, so make sure you get yours soon. After Saturday, they will be available at the museum, which is open by appointment. Call 529-4028. Or, starting Monday, you can also pick one up at the Chamber of Commerce office in downtown New Castle.

In other news, I had waited nine months for Tuesday to get here. And the day did not disappoint. I had been recommended and invited to speak at this year's Indiana Extension Homemakers Association state conference at the Embassy Suites in Noblesville.

I provided a program called "You Should Write a Book," where I spoke of my authoring journey and told would-be writers how they might delve into self-publishing.  The committee was kind enough to give me a wonderful location and I sold a lot of books! Special thanks to my friend and sister author, Janet Hart Leonard. Janet launched her book on Sunday at a beautiful event at Ginger's Cafe in Noblesville. Janet is a columnist for the Noblesville paper. Her new book, available from her or on Amazon, is When the Hart Speaks: Whimsy and Wisdom From the Little House on the Alley. The memoir is a delightful story about how God has a plan, even when we don't see it. Janet tells the stories of her life in a powerful, sweet, and inspiring way.

I recently spoke to the Laughing Liberty Ladies Red Hat Society on location in Richmond. Being with these ladies is as easy as being at home! There's my friends Lois and Shirley, and other ladies who have been in my hometown for decades. One, Dorothy, even recalls buying a refrigerator from my dad in the 1940s! 

Jenny Pugh is a colleague who writes for Western Wayne News. One of these ladies is not from Union County but came to live there in recent years, inspired by visiting the local boating and camping venues and she now adores her new hometown! 

A couple other ladies travel to be with this bunch monthly from Cincinnati. 

Thank you, Liberty ladies, for having me as your speaker! 

I survived! Going into this past week, I had two personal meetings and four author-oriented gigs. It would be a fun week, a blessed and rare-air period of days, even, but it would involve a lot of programs and making sure I had the correct amount of everything (script, props, books) ready to go with the specific event.

Monday was Writer Chicks Society at Janet’s in Noblesville, and as always, we had a lot to say, and numerous updates on our projects. We didn’t even finish early, despite missing our member, Susan, who was off having fun on a family trip.

That evening found me in Middletown with a fellowship session, and then the highlight of the 2021-22 year of Bible Study Fellowship, our annual share night, where participants are welcome at an open mic to share their personal takeaways and insights from the study. This year's was Matthew.

Tuesday night took me down I-69 and other routes south to Greenwood at the Greenwood Christian Church where about 220 filled the fellowship hall for a mother-daughter banquet. Although I grew up in a tiny church, this banquet took me back to those years and how much I adored those banquets!

I only wish I had taken photos! Two key people among many wonderful ones made my night. One of the coordinators, Stellamae Carley, invited me to give the 2020 program, which covid ruined, as it did in 2021, and I was delighted to be remembered for the 2022 edition.

I broke out my new card reader to use for credit and debit payments and I felt nervous to use it for the first time. God sent me an angel named Elaine in the parking lot! We chatted there and some more inside and when she asked to purchase books with her card before everyone got there.

I told her she was my Guinea pig. I felt so grateful to process her payment while there wasn’t a group around waiting on my fumbles--and all went great. She even helped at my table as the night went on. And she gave me her necklace!

Oh, but I'm not done ...

Saturday's road took me east to another mother-daughter banquet, this one at Hagerstown’s New Testament Church of Christ. The Friendship Circle outdid themselves in décor and attention to detail, along with delicious food. They even surprised me with inviting my cover artist Marilyn Witt to join us! It was lovely. Just lovely. 

As I continue the spring tour of ladies banquets, libraries, and other stops, I found myself over the weekend at two venues. Saturday was a brunch in Selma at the Christ United Methodist Church. I was invited by Anita Price.

It turns out that this church is the "home" church--if not now, in their childhoods or other previous years--to several women I know. Jackie, a retired teacher from my sons' elementary school, was on hand as this is her hometown childhood church!

So often, anywhere I go in Indiana feels like home. Connections abound!

Attending were some Bible Study Fellowship mentors, including with Anita, our long-time teaching leader Jodie, and group leader, Brenda, along with at least a couple others who were there. The committee provided fun decorations and a lovely brunch. Thank you Anita, for taking a chance on someone you have never heard speak before to provide the program.

Friday night found me in my home-away-from-home, Henry County, where Debbie from the Mt. Zion Wesleyan Church invited me to be the banquet speaker with a theme of "Garden Party." When I walked into their gym/multipurpose room, this bouquet was my welcome, and now greets me when I walk into our dining room:

The committee worked hard to carry out the spring floral theme, but also decorated the stage in keeping with the theme of my 2022 book, There's a Clydesdale in the Attic: Reflections on Keeping and Letting Go.

A nice crowd filled the space and enjoyed a meal of a baked potato and taco salad bar, and dessert. There was a Garden Party photo booth, door prizes and fun.

Grateful for these lovely gigs, when I got home Saturday afternoon, I felt relieved that I didn't conflate the two gatherings! I had never been to either of these venues, and since they were hours apart, I hoped I didn't talk about gardens where trips were the theme, and vice versa. 
 
And I was tired! That was my third program for the week. Tuesday's was at the Knightstown Public Library, and we had a wonderful time with my signature "What's in Your Attic?" program. Several attendees brought their heirlooms. 

Today I have been working hard my to-do list; tonight is the last BSF of the 2021-22 year with our Share Night next Monday, and then we're off for the summer. I think I'll take the next hour off before it's time to get ready to leave. It's a busy season. But busy in a fulfilling kind of way. Hope your week is a good one.

I suppose you could call it a book tour, indie style.

Or the busy, spring season right after your book comes out.

Or you might just call it hitting the road again.

It's a fun week after a great Easter Sunday. I'm heading out to the Fairmount Public Library in a few hours where Director Linda Magers graciously invited me in to give a "What's in Your Attic?" audience-participation program tonight. We will have fun!

Big thanks to our mutual friend, Cathy Shouse, for introducing us, and for using her fine journalism skills to spread the word in area newspapers, including the Marion Chronicle-Tribune.

Tomorrow, I'm speaking at the Henry County Extension Homemakers' annual Achievement Day. It will be a happy time with a good number signed up to attend. They haven't gotten to have this annual time together since April 2019.

​I look forward to seeing what the Homemakers bring as they will provide centerpieces and decor with heirlooms they will also share in a show-and-tell activity at the end of my program. Another fun day when the sun rises tomorrow.

​A couple fun things to check out. I was interviewed for this podcast on April 10. 

This looks quite interesting. Who knew?

And finally, here's my most recent column for the newspapers I write for. Enjoy the rest of the week whether you're wearing your heavy-duty winter coat like I did last night, or sandals, which I hope to sport on Saturday ... at my third gig of the week.

​  Goal: Do better than ‘light’ housekeeping
If you’re amped up on spring cleaning, ready to blend that perfect mix of vinegar and water to make the windows shine, if you can’t wait to tidy up the landscaping, or clean your woodwork, you have my admiration.

It’s my second spring as a retiree, and our house could use some sparkle, our landscaping some tidying, our woodwork some scrubbing.

I’ve allowed light housekeeping to become a permanent state. In fact, using the word “light” as a descriptor is more aspirational than actual.

This isn’t what I thought this era would be. I figured with all this time at home, and the kids out of the house for some years now, our house would resemble a bed-and-breakfast lobby, but somehow, I’ve found other priorities than making that happen.

Such as routinely hanging out in my pajamas until noon.

It’s not that I can’t clean in my PJs. I’m just lazy. But also, morning is when my mind is as nimble as it gets. It’s when I catch up on email, work on book programing and publicity, and come up with my best ideas—the ones that seem less than outstanding by afternoon.

Since his retirement seven years ago, Brian has taken over the vacuuming and most laundry except for what I call “specialty” loads. This is the clothing with tricky fabrics and icky stains that need the kind of TLC Brian won’t provide. He prefers gathering all dirty clothes and stuffing the lot into the machine.

He's the Bobby Knight of laundry. No matter the fabric, the stains, nor the colors, the dirty clothes are all expected to pull their weight. Then he turns up the heat in the dryer.  

Brian is gruff with our laundry, and doesn’t make exceptions for fabrics that need a little more encouragement to come clean than, say, poly-blends. It’s as though he’s lecturing the sweatshirts and dress pants, the church clothes and underwear. “You’ll all get along. That goes for you lightweights. And for you with special instructions on your tags—dream on. No one is a VIP in this load, got it?”

So that’s why I pull some things out before he gets to them. You know, the delicates and hand-washables that need a little boost. Some of us require more hands-on support than others. Call me the laundry good cop to his bad.

But dusting? Brian doesn’t dust. I’m not big on bed-making unless someone is coming over. If that’s the case, it’s game on, complete with stacks of dressy pillows, meant to glamorize ordinary beds.

Today I surprised myself. I took a chunk of my usual morning writing time to thoroughly clean out the refrigerator and freezer, along with relining fridge shelves with plastic to pretty-up the aging surfaces.

Martha Stewart would be horrified to see what I had in there to throw out. It amounted to a kitchen garbage bag full of bulky containers and leftover-too-long food remnants. But the end result is a thing of beauty: pretty bowls of oranges and apples; the cheeses lined in a row in their drawer with the cheese sticks separated thoughtfully from their perforations for easy grabs.

Even the potatoes are reclining comfortably single-file in their mesh bag with a suite, uh, drawer to themselves.

We can even see what’s in the freezer over looking at jigsaw-puzzle-esque pieces of partial bags of fries and tater tots, blurs of frozen strawberries, and cartons of low-cal freezer meals.
When I finished, I needed a nap. It was 9 a.m.

But I need to sweep and clean the floors, dress the kitchen and dining room tables with tablecloths and centerpieces. After all, the church ladies are coming over for a supper meeting tomorrow.

I keep opening and closing the refrigerator door for inspiration, and as a reminder that I can do this! What happened to the lady who wanted to open a B & B nine years ago when she wrote her first book?

I don’t know why I’ve become so, shall we say, relaxed about housekeeping. I always figured I would accomplish many things if I only had the time. But 15 months into retirement, I now know that it’s not about time. There are just other things I’d rather be doing.

Such as writing this column.

It’s time to get back at it and knock out that kitchen. Then, I need to make sure I have everything put away from Christmas.

After all, Easter is over.​

​I remember the day.

​I may have been 10, accompanying the neighboring Chapman kids and their mom to Liberty. I suppose their mother was grocery shopping at Woodruff’s, close to the Union County Public Library, and we girls were killing time.

We walked through the lower-level library doors. I had never been there before. The Chapman girls had library cards. They said I should get one. So, I did –my first library card!

It was a defining moment, although I can’t tell you what or if I checked anything out that day. I never dreamed then of the places a library card would take me, including cyberspace, and being able to read checked out books on my telephone!

Who could have imagined that more than half a century later, I’d be in that room we entered through those side doors, standing at a lectern, giving a talk about the day I got the library card—and about my third book? Yet there I stood Saturday, with some family, some childhood friends, and some community folks listening.

Library Director Julie Jolliff wasn’t even born when my library card was issued. I think I surprised her by having it.

That’s a pack rat for you—and for that I make no apologies. That library card is a passport to not only stories I read in books, but to memories.

I told some stories from There's a Clydesdale in the Attic: Reflections on Keeping and Letting Go, that relate to growing up in Union County at Rural Route 1, Brownsville. There was talk, following the book signing, of some other venues I might speak at locally.

My personal “drop the mic” moment came when an audience member, Janice, told a story about my grandma! The story even related to some artifacts I displayed that day. When you get to be in your sixties and come across someone who remembers your grandma, who was born in 1892? Priceless.
If only for a couple hours that day, I felt as though I had never left home; had remained a part of the community. It's called roots. 

Julie filled me in on the many ways the library serves the community. I follow the UCPL page on Facebook and in local media where I read about the ways it serves all the population from toddlers to the most senior members of the community. 

It’s not “just” a library. Not that any library is that—as a library introduces us to a world, at our fingertips—through books written over millennia as well as the most current bestsellers, periodicals, and other forms of modern media. Yet those are only a small part of what modern libraries do in and for their communities.

Libraries provide programming for young and old alike, offer services such as meals and daycares, gathering spaces, a clearinghouse for family and local history, answers to questions and how-to information. Libraries are community centers for activities, conversations, meetings, and life.

I am inspired and delighted by Julie’s enthusiasm for her job, and by her love for the community that I too love. I thank her, as well as Cindy Morgan, for inviting me into their world, just as the Chapman girls invited me with them into the library so many years ago.

Through the years, and in particular, during the last nine on my author journey, I’ve been in many libraries, large and small, in a variety of cities and towns and settings from A to Z—Attica to Zionsville. Each library and its personnel and patrons come with a distinct vibe and personality. I love how they are not all the same, but rather, quite the opposite of the same!

It is a blessing to see that the first library I ever entered remains in good hands.

I think the good people of Ukraine are showing us all regardless of our political stripe, that it is good to love your homeland, good to feel a link with a place and a people. Good to value your roots.

I’ve always felt those things about my little slice of the sweet land of Union County, Indiana. A little farm community? You betcha: the permanent address of my heart.

And ... where I'll be on Sunday:

SPRINGPORT-I knew that Friday would be a treat. Not only that hostess Cindy Bay's beautiful noon meal of nibbles, individual salads, hot chicken salad, and a chocolate and ice cream dessert (don't tell on me at WW) would be delicious, served on her vintage spring lily of the valley plates, but that the conversation would be lively, and the laughter sweet.

This is the third time the Literary Lounge Book Club had me in for a discussion about a book I wrote. Book clubs are a blast, and it is an author's honor for her book to be featured. But this one had a highly unique twist: That the cover image created by artist Marilyn Witt is modeled -- literally -- after Cindy.

Marilyn and Cindy are both artists and they paint together in New Castle one day a week. Cindy posed for Marilyn to paint the image of a woman at the top of the stairs inside her attic that appears on the cover. So Cindy was there from the ground up.

Guests shared special heirlooms of their own as we chatted and discussed the book and the various ways they related to my chapters about our stored stuff. I made a video of them talking about their treasures but my videography needs some work as I moved the camera in too many different directions and it doesn't look so hot. If I can edit it, I hope to eventually post it. Live and learn.

They shared lovely stories from grandparents' wedding cake toppers, to a first edition of Ben- Hur, vintage jewelry that sparkles in perfect style today, and so much more. Loved our time together.
   
​Look at the way Cindy served sweet little salads.

I'll do a separate post this week about my Saturday at the Union County Public Library as soon as I get the photos together. Today is a major catch-up day! Yesterday I booked another program, and this week a church service group I'm involved with resumes, and the Writer Chicks Society meets Thursday. On Sunday afternoon, I'll be at the Hamilton East Public Library at the FORUM Events Center, 11313 USA Pkwy, Fishers, near IKEA. So I'll have more on that, too.

It's all part of an idie-author spring "book tour." I'm enjoying the ride. Thank you Literary Lounge Book Club! Read on, ladies.