The new blog is dedicated to strong women everywhere who have touched my heart, my life, my funny bone, and sometimes my last nerve.

Posting will be once a week–every Wednesday. I invite you to drop by tomorrow and subscribe so you won’t miss a post.

http://writingstrongwomen.com

For a few days, posting will continue on both sites until the change is complete and ready to go. So save the new address. The announcement will be made here when the change is complete.

The new site will have a fresh new look and will feature:

If you haven’t read her book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, (available on Amazon.com Kindle for 95 cents) penned in 1792, I encourage you to do so. (My son, Jon Mark, gave me a copy  years ago.) It is a must read for anyone who wants to learn about a strong woman who today we’d say was ahead of her times. Yet if it were not for her, where would women be today? (Being ‘ahead of one’s times’ is indeed a compliment of the highest order!)

I was in the bank the other day chatting with a young officer and she asked what type of books I write. I explained that I write books of strong women. I confessed I had not been a strong woman until mid-life, and today, my passion was helping women find their voices.

This, of course, led to a discussion about young women today and how they take their rights for granted (her comment) because they don’t know the fight so many women made in order for them to even be able to take it for granted (my reply).

Thank goodness they can ‘take it for granted’ but they do so on the backs of much sacrifice by many women who paid the greatest price for such.

The danger in forgetting about those women is that is what puts us at risk of losing it. Young women today MUST know women’s history. Facts like, even in the 1970s, married women couldn’t get their own credit cards.

Most of the time, Mary Wollstonecraft is seen as a liberal feminist because of her concern about the individual woman and about individual rights. I say an individual’s right is the bottom line!

One thing Mary pointed out was the importance of  honoring a woman’s natural talents, and insisted women be measured by themselves, rather than according to the standards set by men, for men.

Bravery and wisdom led her to argue that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lacked (at that time) an education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason.

May we one day get there.

Last year, my good friend, author, Russ Hall and I shared a booth at the Texas Book Festival (see photo) had a fantastic time and sold ‘great guns.’

When I received an email from him yesterday, his tale was too delightful to not share with my blog readers. So–today I take a departure from writing about strong women, to share a fun — true — tale from a strong man–who loves his critters.

From Russ Hall:

Whelp, I lasted exactly two days with my instructive plan to quit feeding my deer herd so they could go out and be more independent and forage every day on their own.

Tuesday (Miercoles) morning the outside temp was an amazing 38 degrees according to the atomic clock on the kitchen wall (the one I only recently taught to give the days in English instead of Spanish, and I had to, gasp, read the instructions).

I looked outside and there was that young doe with the scar on her side, the most faithful of them all, curled up, staring my way, with her sad nose tucked under the fur of one hip.

So that is why, in shorts and t-shirt, I headed outside with half a bucket of corn, to give her enough to fuel her through the morning.

Well, as soon as I appeared outside, she was up and half a dozen deer were suddenly with her. Then, from the left came more, and from the right, and through the woods across the way. It was like the Battle of Little Big Horn all over again, and I was Custer.

I had to dash back inside and fill the bucket. Then I went out and put out little scattered piles in all my regular spots, far enough that the wouldn’t scrap and even the outcasts could have some, like my little doe with the scar.

What a sap! I think I would have been the most horrible parent ever!

Now, for the real tidbit. I checked on the plants and they weren’t as stressed as they might be. So I checked on the atomic clock. It seems the outside battery had failed and the outside reading had settled on 38 and stuck. I checked the real weather and found it was actually 49, and hadn’t been any colder than that all night.

So, it looks like those deer played me like a cheap violin. There you have it. Con artists all, and just laughing away as they tucked into the best breakfast they’d had in three days!

(CONTEST ALERT:

!. Post a comment on this blog post and enter a drawing for an autographed copy of A WAR OF HER OWN.)

2. PLUS, Post a link to this blog on your blog/website and your name is entered TWICE. (doubles your chance of winning!)

PRESS RELEASE

By Great Lakes Literary, LLC

Dated: Mar 30, 2011

A War of Her Own, a historical novel by Sylvia Dickey Smith, has been chosen for First Prize as the best novel of the year by the Press Women of Texas, a statewide organization of women journalists and writers.

Crickhollow Books is pleased to announce that A War of Her Own has been chosen for First Prize as the best novel of the year by the Press Women of Texas, a statewide organization of women journalists and writers.

The historical novel by Georgetown author Sylvia Dickey Smith is set in 1943 on the World War II homefront in Orange, Texas. The story tracks the romantic passions and pitfalls facing Bea Meade, young mother and lady riveter (ala Rosie the Riveter), as she seeks to gain independence from a no-good philandering husband by seeking work at the wartime shipyards.

“A well-written new book.” – Dallas Morning News

“Smith writes with a descriptive power that makes you feel you’re among the sights, sounds and smells of a bygone Texas.”

– Galveston Daily News

In hearing of the recognition, author Smith said, “I love sharing this story with women. While a fictional story, A War of Her Own also honors my mother’s memory. She worked in the Orange shipyards in 1943–44 and often shared stories of what those years were like for her. She was a strong woman who did whatever it took to care for her children under difficult circumstances.”

The prize will be given by the Press Women of Texas at their annual conference Awards Dinner on April 30. For details, contact: http://www.presswomenoftexas.org/

The Press Women of Texas was founded more than 100 years ago in 1893 as the Texas Press Women’s Association. One of the first statewide groups for women, the association has long encouraged Texas women writers and journalist in their literary careers.

Sylvia Dickey Smith (http://www.sylviadickeysmith.com) was born in Orange, Texas, and lived there through her high school years. She now lives near Austin, Texas. She is also the author of a popular mystery series featuring Sidra Smart, private eye, set in the borderlands where Texas and Louisiana meet.

For more information, contact Philip Martin, editorial director, Crickhollow Books, at info@CrickhollowBooks.com, or visit the publisher’s website:

http://www.CrickhollowBooks.com

###

Crickhollow Books is an independent press based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, publishing award-winning

Good news there. She bragged on my dental hygiene and found not a single problem that might inflict more pain or dollars.

Then, when I got home, I powered up my Mac only to see that I received an email letting me know A WAR OF HER OWN was awarded FIRST PLACE in the novel category by the Press Women of Texas’ in their Annual Communication contest for 2010-2011.

Fired me up good! Some days, we just need that extra match lit under us to keep us going. Of course, a great sales weekend at Art in the Park in Orange, Texas always brightens my day!

Thanks to my brother, Pete and his son, Matthew, and my niece’s partner, Sharon for helping get my tent up and and down. And for my cousin, Judy, who helped me make sales all day–along with Sharon, who was having too much fun to go home.

March 21, 1:00 p.m. (Central Daylight Time) our Blog Talk Radio program, Writing Strong Women hosts Beth Groundwater who writes the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series (A Real Basket Case, a 2007 Best First Novel Agatha Award finalist, and To Hell in a Handbasket, 2009) and the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Adventures mystery series starring whitewater river ranger Mandy Tanner.

But this time, we talk about her very first novel in a new cozy mystery series. Deadly Currents, was just released on March 8th. Beth lives in Colorado and enjoys its many outdoor activities, including skiing, hiking, and whitewater rafting. She loves talking to book clubs, too, and not just for the gossip and wine! Please visit her website at bethgroundwater.com and her blog at bethgroundwater.blogspot.com.

Listen in on Monday, March 21, at 1:00 pm CDST and have a blast!

Born in 1964, Sondra Wright says she is the last of the boomers and the leader of the 40+ and Fabulousmovement. She likes to call herself a catalyst for motivation, passion and high energy and works with women who want to take charge and create the life they love.

Sondra is my guest tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. CST at Writing Strong Women

Tune in, call in, and enjoy!