While I have a truckload of friends and fellow author colleagues from Facebook, I have only a handful I have met IRL. (In real life). My friend Patricia Kiyono is one of them. She traveled with her daughter to my sunny neck of the woods and we got a spare afternoon to meet, lunch, and talk books, both reading and writing. She has a new release perfect for the holiday season and I am happy to host her, and the new book, here on the bloggy. Read about how she got the idea for the new story! See, everything you know holds a possible new idea....Patricia proves it.
Post by PATRICIA KIYONO
I've
always been fascinated by cultural references. I think they make up the essence
of a town. While in most areas of the United States the population is a mixture
of many cultures, there are some pockets of a concentration of one ethnic
group.
In
southwest Michigan, the city of Holland is recognized as a miniature tribute to
the Netherlands, the nation to which many of its inhabitants can trace their
ancestry. There are several Dutch language churches, and the city hosts the
Holland Tulip Festival each May. The streets are swept clean during the
Kinderparade, and groups of dancers perform in their klompen, or wooden shoes.
While
the cities of Holland and nearby Grand Rapids are typically urban, the villages
between them are quaint and picturesque. The Dutch heritage is evident here as
well, as several schools, churches, and towns boast names reminiscent of the
Old Country - Drenthe, Zeeland, Vriesland, and Borculo are some of the burgs
named for people and places in the Netherlands. The telephone book is full of
names beginning with the prefixes Van (meaning from), Vander (from the) and De
(the). This is where I grew up, and where I still live today.
Of course, my family is Asian, so
we always stood out among the tall, fair, blue eyed population. But this
community stood up and protected my father and his family during the World War
II, when thousands of Japanese families were shipped off to internment camps
and lost everything they had. But here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, church
officials and civic leaders petitioned the federal government and somehow
assured the powers that be that this little family posed absolutely no threat
to national security, and that it was not necessary to take them away. Still,
Dad remembers being hauled out of school and taken to the federal building and
fingerprinted – just in case. Black limousines followed him and his brother
whenever they went out with their friends. But thanks to the good people of
Grand Rapids, they were able to keep their home. We owe this Dutch community a
lot.
It is this type of community that
I tried to depict in Christmas Wishes,
my newest release. It's about the sense of belonging, and about making wishes
come true. Here's a little bit about the book.
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Blurb:
Photographer
Mitch Carson is tired of big city life. He just wants to settle down in a quiet
town with his daughter, Angie. Even that doesn't quell his fear of losing his
daughter to his scheming mother-in-law.
Sophie
Gardner wants to be a screenwriter. She's ready to leave small town Zutphen,
Michigan and go to Hollywood. With a theater degree under her belt, she's busy
writing scripts while helping out her sister Joanie, who's bedridden with a
difficult pregnancy. Unfortunately, Joanie has somehow coerced Sophie into
directing the Christmas pageant at Zutphen Community Church.
When
Sophie and Mitch meet, the attraction is instant and mutual. But each wants
what the other is trying to get away from. Can they deny their feelings and
pursue their dreams? Or will the holiday prove to them that their true wishes
might not be what they'd thought?
Excerpt:
Mitch
tightened the knot on his tie. The action seemed symbolic of tightening a noose
around his own throat. He had never thought he’d be going to another church
service. Sending his daughter to Sunday School with the VandenBerg family was
one thing, but attending a service with her was quite another. But for his
little girl, he’d do almost anything, and she wanted to go to the Big Church
with him on Sunday, so he’d agreed to go.
Angie
sat on his bed, dressed in a new outfit his mother had helped her pick out. Her
hair was neatly combed, though he noticed the curls were somewhat uneven. She
opened and closed her little purse to make sure she had everything she needed.
He wasn’t sure what a six-year-old would need for a church service, but he knew
her two grandmas would have instructed her.
“Are
you almost ready, Daddy?” she asked. “Jennie says it starts at nine o’clock.”
“I’m
almost ready, sweetheart, and we’re not going to be late. The church is only
ten minutes away.”
“Sunday
School is after church. There’s four other girls from my class at school. And
there’s no boys, so it’s more fun.”
Mitch
held in his laughter. Her views on boys would change soon enough. For now, her
distaste for boys was good.
“Miss
Sophie is going to work on our Christmas Pageant songs with us during the first
part of Sunday School. She’s so pretty. I think she’s the prettiest lady in the
whole world.”
“Mmm.”
He wasn’t inclined to disagree.
“Daddy?”
“What,
sweetheart?”
“Your
tie looks funny.”
He
looked in the mirror. He’d triple-knotted, and the resulting knot was twice as
large as it needed to be. He sighed and unwound the fabric so he could start
over.
Bio:
In
a previous life, Patricia Kiyono taught elementary school students by day and
changed diapers at night. Now she teaches college students part time and
changes diapers only when she's taking care of grandkids. She loves to do
anything that doesn't involve exercise. Right now her favorite activities,
other than writing, include scrapbooking, sewing, and making music. She and her
husband live in southwest Michigan, near their five children and nine
grandchildren.
Buy links: Christmas Wishes can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes
and Noble, and other ebook outlets.
Author links: Patricia Kiyono can be found
at her website, blog, facebook,
Amazon, and twitter @PatriciaKiyono
