You've Got Mail

Howdy, Pamela Tracy, here and yes, I used one of my favorite movies as a title for today.

Since email became more popular, most of the mail I get from 'fans' come via Internet.  Which is cool because it's immediate.   Another plus, is it's easy to file.   I've figured out who writes me for almost every book (I LOVE YOU) and I figured out some people cut and paste their fan letters (and once they forgot to change the title of the book).

Actual fan letter to me.
By the way, I Googled Fan Letters and discovered that there's a how-to site for
writing a fan letter to Taylor Swift.  I did not find my name mentioned in a similar manner .

Used to be (yes, I've been around a long time) fan mail would be sent to the publishing house.  Many editors had files with their authors' names and the mail would go into the files.  I'm not sure whether the editors (or their assistants) would simply transfer the mail to a manilla folder once the file was full or if there were a few times a year when they cleaned all the files.  Doesn't matter.  A decade ago, a few times a year, I'd get manilla envelopes full (okay, not full full) of fan mail.

There were a few different kinds.  Some simply told me what they loved about the book and promised to read all my books (Thanks Mom and Aunt Shari).  Others told me my mistakes (I once typed ASAP instead of ASSET for a teacher heroine).  Some were amazed that I used all the names of their relatives in my book (There are lots of Brittneys, Sarahs, and Mikes in the world).

Fan letters do touch the lives of authors.  I've gotten handmade bookmarks and recipes (I've always admitted that I don't cook.  Some readers think a recipe will change this character flaw.  So far, the perfect recipe hasn't appeared.  Hmm, methinks the only perfect recipe would be one used for the replicator on Star Trek).  I've had readers share poems and ask for prayers.

Yes, I've gotten the letters from prison inmates.

My favorite, though, came not because of a story but because of a dedication.

I dedicated one of my books to my birth mother who I met a little over a decade ago.

I got a fan letter because my birth mother's name is fairly common and one reader saw the name and the sentence I wrote as part of the dedication, called her friend who had the same name, and said, "Wow, you've had a book dedicated to you!"

The second lady said, "Uh, no, there's hundreds of people with my name.  Not me."

But, she went and found the book and read it, too.  Then wrote me and said, "God has blessed your gift of writing.  Thank you for following His path and sharing your life with us."

She was right.  God has blessed me.

A long time ago, I read an article in the Romance Writers Report.  It was a list of things authors should do.  One item was "Write one fan letter a year to an author new to you."

I've done that.  Sometimes I get a thank-you back.  Sometimes I hear from an author's assistant (I want one of those!"  Sometimes I hear nothing at all.   Best of all, I've made a few friends.

So, readers and writers, what are your experiences with fan letters.

http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=65173

Writers and Readers Oh My!

Last Tuesday, after work, I drove to Las Vegas.
Nope, not a vacation location for me.
But, Romantic Times Magazine brought together readers and writers
for a six day conference.
Woo woo.

A bunch of us jumped in my mini-van
Drove through a strange town
to an awesome Italian restaurant
Back row: Vinnie the waiter, Jessica Nelson, Lisa Mondello, Pamela Tracy
Front row:  Danica Favorite, Lenora Worth, Allie Pleiter

We met with Farah who works for Harlequin.  

Harlequin did a book signing
Lenora and I were very happy.

I managed to get a few touristy things done
Like go to the Mob Museum

There was a giant book signing that featured Lenora

The final night, Danica and I plus Judy Devries get together for a party

So, now you know how Pamela Tracy spent the last week.  I'm home now.  The hubby is happy - he no longer has to help with homework. The son is happy - someone will go grocery shopping and buy the right food.  The dog is happy - she's always happy.  The cat isn't happy - he still doesn't understand why we're keeping the dog.

My next book
Available April 24th
Yeah!

What A Writer Knows or Not

Pamela Tracy here… and I'm an author.

I'm thinking you're thinking, "Dah!"

Well, this morning, this writer was doing  helping her ten-year-old with his language arts homework and figuring out the meaning of seven vocabulary words.

1. plot
2. climax
3. rising action
4. falling action
5. conflict
6. resolution
7. exposition

Really, I thought I knew!

I almost volunteered to speak to her class.

Then, helping my son, I had to match the meaning to the words and it took me 10 minutes when I thought it should take 1 second.

So, here are the definitions.  See how you do?

___ information and description given at the beginning of the story, including setting or time period
___ events that make up a story; occur in a sequence
___ wraps up or concludes the story OR can be seen as a cliffhanger
___ events that wrap up the story
___ the inciting events that lead up to the climax; build from the conflict
___ the problem that moves the story forward
___ highest point of tension or interest in the story.

Go ahead, post your answers.  I'll give the correct answers later tonight.

Pamela has a book out in December

She also has a November Thanksgiving short story  that will be featured at eHarlequin November 7th.

Grateful for a lot of things!

What Were You Doing Last Night

Pamela Tracy here, and I was probably doing what many of you were…

Moon Watching

What's really cool about our neighborhood is the throwback feature.  We've got a gang of boys who do everything together.  My son is the one at the left, blue shirt, sitting down.  This is the beginning of the evening.

Kids loved last night because the end of play time on a school night is usually 7:00.  We didn't end last night until almost 8:00

Hubby grumbled a bit, something about supper being REALLY late and something about a football game..

Still, he dragged out his telescope and let all the kids look through the lens. 

We parents were sitting behind the kids, on lawn chairs, one of the benefits of a cul de sac neighborhood.

This isn't my street.  My photos didn't come out this well.  But, this is another AZ neighborhood with a gorgeous mountain in the background. 

Apparently, one of the cool features of last night's moon was the size.  It was the biggest (closest to the Earth) of the year.

Then, the biggest moon of the year coincided with an eclipse that turned it red.   Which is what earned the cry, "WOW."

God is truly Amazing.

Available December 2015

By the way, what did you think of last night's moon?

One of Those Days

Hello

It's me.  Pamela Tracy.

Yeah, I know, most of you only know me in cyber-space.  But, hey, I'm like you.  I drink coffee, sometimes.  I love to read.  I have a husband who rolls his eyes a lot.  My bed is made.  The cat is begging for attention.  Just played my one millionth game of UNO with my son.  Oh, and right now we're studying James in Sunday School.

See, we have a lot in common.

It's been a pretty good, pretty great day.

I woke up (that's always good)

I went to water aerobics (I'm trying to be good)

I cleaned house and I worked on revisions as well as new writing.

I went shopping (noticed during water aerobics that my bathing suit had a small hole)

Cooked dinner.

Wrote some more.

Got great writing news - Yeah!  Jumped up and down.

Then, the pretty good, pretty great day went cloudy.

Got bad writing news.

Total slump, air taken out of my wind, all that.

Margaret Mitchell said, "In a weak moment I have written a book…"

I finally get it.

It's after the book is finished that you have to be tough.  

My Son the Author

Pamela Tracy here.  Or, you can call me Mike's Mom.  That's what Mike's classmates call me.
And I'm not the only author in the Tracy family.

Mike, my ten-year-old, wrote me a mother's day poem!

                                                  "I Love You the Reddest"

(That's what the outside said, but I opened the card)

I love you with all all my heart.  I love you as a red rose.  I love you as red as your heart.  I love you as red as blood.  I love you as red as a marker, crayon, colored pencil, paint, sharpie, and Expo marker.  I love you as much as red popcorn.  I love you more than a red shirt.  I love you red as a bike, scooter, skateboard, and I love you most when I'm in your arms.

He also drew me with only one chin!

And, note the plant can he made me at school.  I'm a SOUPER mom.

I'm so glad I decided not to be a super/souper hero or rock star (my other choices).
Mom is much better.

Last month, Mike's mom had an April Love Inspired romance on the shelf.
It's the first in a trilogy.

Next month, Mike's mom has a Harlequin Heartwarming on the shelf.
It's number four of five.

How was your Mother's Day?

A Whole Lotta Love Inspired Authors and More

Pamela Tracy here and I'm in a motel in Lordsburg, New Mexico.  Today I spent 12 hours driving away from San Antonio  I miss it already!

For the last six days, romance authors of all shapes, sizes, and genres gathered at the Romance Writers of America conference.  I was in Love Inspired bliss.

The say a picture's worth a thousand words, so here are my favorites.
\

Mindy Obenhaus shows her badge with the SOLD ribbon while attending the Library Fiesta

Missy Tippens takes a photo during the general meeting.  Tina Radcliff sits next to her.

Lacy Williams attending the same meeting.  Look at that smile.

Danica Favorite looks chic as she attends the Harlequin E pajama party.

During Love Inspired Meet and Greet, various authors pay rapt attention to what's going on with the line.
It's all good!

Tina James, editor extraordinary, takes a group of authors to lunch.

 

What a great time we haad.

A Writers To-do List

Pamela Tracy here, and I'm a writer.

I'm also a teacher, mother, wife, reader, go to churcher.

Sometimes those other things get in the way of being a writer.

So, I become a list maker.  I have a book due on the 30th, and actually, it's coming along very nicely.  It's because of my Writer's To-do List.

Want to see my Saturday and Sunday to-do list?

Here it is (btw, the numbers are word count.  I'm writing in 500 word spurts)

Saturday

43-43,500
Reorganize game shelf in play room (I cleaned this room while my son was in camp last week)
43,500 -44,000
Do laundry (load out, load in, fold put away)
44 -44,500
Take back overdue library books, mail contest win, pick up medicine at pharmacy, eat lunch
44,500-45,000
Go to signing at Poison Pen bookstore (Opps, missed this one)
45-45,500
Mop kitchen floor (who dropped the box of Otterpops so that all the bottom ones broke open and now there's sticky stuff on the floor.  Huh?  It was me)
45,500-46,000
Make Dinner
Visit with neighbor
Convince son that the showers he took last week at camp don't mean he doesn't have to shower this week.
Watch a Harry Potter movie for the sixth time (remind son to close eyes during all snake parts)
Put son to bed, lay with him and talk, go to bed.  

Sunday
Church
46-46,500
Clean out pot and pan cabinet (It's getting ridiculous.  Who bought all these pots and pans anyway?  And why do I have lids that don't belong to pots?  A red lid!  Really?  No red pots. Arg)
46,500-47,000
Sweep porch
47-47,500
Write LI blog

Hey, I'm doing good.

Do you have a to-do list?  Do you write it or just keep it in your head?

 What Janie Saw
  May 2014
Available at eHarlequin

Conversations with a Child or Where do you get Ideas?

Ideas are everywhere, but surely the best ideas come from children.  I've long wanted to write a book set on the Titanic.  Right now would be the perfect time as my eight-year-old is enthralled with the ship and its sinking.  So, we watch the movies (the old Barbara Stanwyke, one from England, and of course the epic Jack and Rose).

Yesterday was church.  My son had a lesson about Adam and Eve in his third grade classroom (If I'm keeping count, it's Adam and Eve lesson number 15.  Kids learn about Adam and Eve every six month.  Hmmm, maybe their the equivalent to Jack and Rose... No, we'd have to make Noah and the ark the biblical equivalent, and I don't DON'T want to picture Leonardo as Noah.  Kate as Mrs. Noah is fine with me but Leonardo...no, no, no)

So, back on topic.

My son asks me as we're driving home, "Mom, if Adam and Eve hadn't sinned, would we be naked today?"

This is what I get for telling him to LISTEN in class.

"Ah, maybe."

He's not done.  "Mom, if Adam and Eve hadn't sinned, would all the people on the Titanic have been naked when the ship went down?"

So, yes, this conversation will appear in a book someday.

And so you have one more chuckle.  My son got the Lego Bible for Christmas. (Anything so he'll know the Word.)  He's flipping through it and comes to a photo of a lego man with someone holding a sword over him.  My eight year carefully sounds out the word cir cum cise.  He looks up at me, points, and says, "Mom, this is just wrong."

Your turn LOL.  Do you remember your kids giving you new and improved Bible messages after church heheheh

  

Writing REALLY Writing

Pamela Tracy here, and I'm rewriting four synopsi.  So, if you want to picture what I look, picture wrinkled papers everywhere (with a cat stretched out on top of them), empty soda cans to my right, my hair all awry, and me with a pained expression on my face.

Writing isn't easy.

Don't get me wrong.  There are times when the words like lightning bolts streak from my fingers to the page and I set back and think to myself "I'm brilliant."

Then,  there are many, many, many times when I'm staring at my screen, thinking "What do I put next?  Whose pov should it be in?  Is my heroine tstl?"

Writing isn't easy.  Then, why do I do it everyday?

Raising my eight year old isn't easy.  Yesterday, not only did I drag him across the pool and into a secluded corner to put the fear of MOM into him, but when we got home he had to write sentences (GASP)

I love him more than I ever knew was possible.

Writing this new proposal isn't easy.  My heroine keeps telling me "I don't want all these issues!"  And I keep telling her, "If you don't have all these issues, you'll be a very short book!"

Haha

In the Romance Writers Report this month, there's an article called "The Last Word" by Laura Drake.  I thought it the best article in the whole magazine.  She put a quote by Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture.  The quote was just what I needed to hear.

"The brick walls are there for a reason.  The brick walls are not there to keep us out.  The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.  Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough.  They're there to stop the other people."

Wow.

 

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

What you are about to hear is true, absolutely true, and I won't even tell you that the names have been changed to protect the innocent because I'm not mentioning names

It's Memorial Day weekend, and for my family that means camping. 

When my hubby and I first married, he had a tent that fit two.  We progressed (mostly because of the suitcase I insisted on bringing) to a two room tent.  Then, I got pregnant.  Did you know when you're pregnant and camping in a tent, it's really REALLY a pain to roll off the ground every ten minutes in the middle of the night because nature calls.  Yup, you guessed  it.  We got a pop-up.  We still have it for our short camping trips. 

Now we have a camper (think bathroom and stove).  The reason why my husband agreed is because our camping trips are for longer periods of time and if he wants me fully vested, I want the potty.

So, we've been camping since Wednesday with lots of camping friends.

The chain of events you are about to read is true.  They happened yesterday.

1. Early Morning: Married couple (Grandma and Grandpa) leave tent behind to drive to Big City to attend graduation party.

2. After Dinner: Mother A (not her real name) heads to nearest town (twenty miles away - not really a town, more a spot) for trivial reason.

3. After Dessert: Child bitten in head by over excited dog (Don't worry, child is fine we now know).

4. Mother B tosses child in truck, heads for nearest big town for hospital.

5. Instead: Mother B drives off road and her truck goes down an embankment.

6. Two minutes later: Mother A finds Mother B and rescues her and drives her to hospital.
7.  After stitches, Mother B turns child over to Grandpa and Grandma who were not supposed to return camping until following day but who decided to return early.  They spend night in hotel while Mother B returns to campstie and other children.
8. Next day, tow truck pulls Mother B's truck from embankment and NOT a STRATCH.

Isn't God amazing.

If I put this in a book, would you believe me?

Who Makes a Hero

Pamela Tracy here, and yes Love Inspired author Kim Watters and I are standing next to Jack Sparrow.

Kim and I were signing books at the Glendale Chocolate Affair, doing what we love most: meeting readers and talking shop, when who did we spy across the way JACK SPARROW.

Being of like mind, we both hopped up, cell phone cameras in hand, and sprinted across the way.

This Jack was awesome.  He stayed in character and we got our picture

Alas, Jack could not be a hero in one of my books.  He'd really, really, REALLY need to be redeemed.  He could be a secondary character though.  He could be a crusty old uncle that only the heroine seemed to connect with in an LI.  Or, he'd be the one with a secret both the H and H need if this were an LIS.  Or, in an LIH, he'd be on the boat bringing the heroine to the new world and the real hero would have to be grateful or something.

How would you use Jack in your book?

Famous Secrets

Often in our LI romances, there are secrets. We readers love secret babies and such. Recently, for my church's Secret Sisters revealing party, I came up with the following questions. Go ahead, answer without Googling. See what you know.

Famous Secrets

1. Who is Spiderman?

2. This man kept his beautiful wife’s identity a secret from Pharoah.

3. This man wrote under the name of Mark Twain

4. This animal knows the secret ingredient in Bush’s Baked Beans

5. Ralphie, in The Christmas Story, received this in the mail and it helped him read a promotional message from Ovaltine.

6. Who was the secret that Miep Gies hid in an Attic?

7. Which president kept it at secret that he was unable to walk?

I have many secrets. My name isn't really Pamela Tracy.

Oh, and I'm not 29, no matter how many times I say I am.

BTW, I have a Guess the Secret Sister's Game over at the Craftie Ladies of Romance. Go on over there and try that one, too. http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/

My next release Once Upon a Christmas, a December LI, has many secrets. You'll have to read it to find out about them.

Who Could Resist

Pamela Tracy here, and what you see posted above is the newest addition to my family. We've only had him two weeks. He's a five month old gray tiger kitten. What's really amazing about him is he has six toes.

For twenty years I shared my home with two cats, Priscilla and Aquila.

Pris was a rescue. I have no idea how old she was when I got her, but she lived with me for 22 years. She was a thin calico cat. When I first got her, she lived under the bed. After about a week, she came out. She hid when people came over. She was a cat. No, I'm not stating the obvious. She would only allow you to pet her when she was in the mood.

Aquila was given to me by one of my kindergarten students. Her dad said, "Cats must go. Now." I wound up with a fluffy black and white five week old kitten. He lived with me for 18 years. From day one he was mine. Pris didn't think much of him. She beat him up every day. He was 1/3 cat, 1/3 dog, and 1/3 kid. I leash trained him. He came when he was called. And he loved me.

I can already tell that Tyre (kitty pictured above) is going to be more like Aquila. He's laying next to me now, his head on my elbow as I type. Sometimes he jumped up to chase the cursor. I'm sure my editor will not appreciate the sudden appearance of srange random typings (like 8b89s22) on my manuscript.

I'm just amazed it took me so long (three years) between cats. I guess I'll blame my son. He kept me busy between age three and six.

Arthur C. Clark Said:

Pamela Tracy here, running a bit late, and enjoying every minute. I've been following Arthur's advice ever since my mother purchased my first Golden book. I've figured it out. If I read a book a day, and live to be 107, I won't make it through my TBR pile.

Just in case you need a book to add to your pile, consider my August release. Once Upon a Cowboy. I got the idea during a sermon on the Prodigal son.

Goodbye Borders

I don’t remember the first time I entered a Borders. Seemed to me, my feet led me into bookstores every time I entered a mall. Bookstores in busy malls made sense. I’d go there when I needed something – say a new shirt or perhaps a movie fix – and a trip to the bookstore was inevitable. “I’ll just walk through a bit,” I’d think to myself. Right! Three or four books later, I’d leave the store. Sometimes I went to the mall just to hit the bookstore. Three or four books later – but no new shirt or movie fix – I’d leave the store.
I was in a mall bookstore that I discovered LaVeryl Spencer. I told the clerk, “I want a historical with a teacher heroine.” It took her all of two seconds to scoot to the book Years, which I've now read three times.

Ten Things You Need to Know About Borders.

1. Borders originated from two brothers who, in 1971, opened their first store in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They soon opened more stores and their success came because they tried to make their stores offering fit the needs of the community. (Cool! Makes me think of the Poison Pen mystery bookstore here in Scottsdale, Arizona.)
2. In 1992, Kmart got ahold of Borders. They’d purchased Waldenbooks in 1984 and now they tried to merge the two. (I’m always a little sad when a mom and pop store goes the way of big box.)
3. In 2001, Borders teamed up with Amazon.com as a web-based delivery service. (Sounds like a good idea to me.)
4. 2003: Borders peak year with 1,249 stores (including Waldens).
5. In 2006, Borders was making money. (Some of it from me!)
6. In 2007, Borders ended its alliance with Amazon.com. (Hmmm.)
7. In 2007, Borders lost money.
· What? We need to sell on the Internet!
· What? People can find DVDs someplace else for less!
· What? Rent is how high!
· What? Who says we have much inventory!
· What? Whose coffee is this, really!
8 Did you notice how of the five bullet points above, only the first one had to do with actually putting a book in the hand of a consumer. (That would be me, a book lover and book reader)
9. In 2009, Former CEO George L. Jones received a severance package of $2.09 million. (I’ve tried doing the math. I haven’t made that yet, in my lifetime, and no, I’m not telling you how long I’ve been employed.)
10. 2011. Borders closes.
My research came from the following sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borders_Groupwikipedia.org/wiki/Borders_Group
http://www.quora.com/Borders-Books/Why-is-Barnes-and-Noble-performing-well-as-a-business-while-Borders-has-filed-for-bankruptcy
http://www2.wjbf.com/news/2011/jul/19/3/borders-seeks-approval-liquidate-close-stores-ar-2159491//19/3/borders-seeks-approval-liquidate-close-stores-ar-2159491/

Pamela Tracy's book Once Upon a Cowboy is available now - but, unfortunately, not at Borders.

Better Than a Handshake

Pamela Tracy here, and I confess, "I am not shy." I basically like being with people, like meeting new people, and will talk to strangers.

Yet, sometimes I'm in the midst of a group and I'm thinking, "I wish I were somewhere else." Usually that means that no one is talking about my favorite topics. Yes, the Bible is one. My family is another. Also, right up at the top, you guessed it: books! Put me in a group of strangers, and let one of them say, "Did anyone read the latest [insert name of favorite LI author here] and now you've got my attention.

I will walk up to strangers who are reading and say, "What are you reading?" Most eagerly engage and we dish about favorites, not so favorites, and what we intend to read next. Yes, some let me know that all they want is to get back to their books. If that happens, I smile and head back to my own book.

So, here's a cute story. This past week I was at cub camp with my six-year-old. Cub camp is designed for little guys and they actually stay in a cabin and do all the 'camp' things, but Moms get to be in a nearby cabin just in case something happens. I had a blast. My job was to be there 'just in case,' but to know I was to be hands-off.

I spent most of my time reading (Totally cool because I was in the middle of nowhere amidst tall trees and a lake and great weather). One day I actually drove into town. I shopped and then decided to treat myself to lunch. I don't mind eating alone IF I HAVE A BOOK. , I didn't have one. No way could I sit in a restaurant all alone without a book.

I happened to be in a clothing store and mentioned my dilemma to the owner. She immediately lent me her book. We, you guessed it, promptly dished about our favorites, our not so favorites, and what we were going to read next.

I took her book to a restaurant, made it to page 40 (and that author now has a sale in her future because I'll buy the book) and then returned her book.

What a cool way to make a friend.

I took her business card (If you're ever in Prescott, AZ, be sure to go to Just Beadtween Us) and as thanks come this August, I'll be mailing her a copy of my next book.

A bull-riding injury has sent Joel McCreedy crashing—literally—into his tiny Iowa hometown. But the last thing the prodigal son wants is to stay. On top of a bruised head and ego, he has relationships to mend and a reputation to clear. And then there’s lovely Beth Armstrong, his nephews’ teacher, who’s willing to give them all lessons in family and forgiveness. But Joel isn’t the dutiful “family first” man Beth deserves. Or is he? Suddenly, instead of wrangling bulls he’s helping with homework. And instead of craving his next win, he’s determined to be Beth’s once-in-a-lifetime love.

Just think. If everyone was a bookworm, the whole world would be friends.

The Power of Words

Pamela Tracy here. Lately I've been thinking about the power of words. It started with a video I watched at work.

YouTube - The Power of Words

It seems so simple, yet no other passerby thought of it.

Words are my world. I write in the morning, I teach English by day, and if I get a little extra time at night, like steel to a magnet, I'm wanting a book to read.

We authors deal with really only five plots.

Man vrs Man

Man vrs Self

Man vrs Nature

Man vrs Society

Man Vrs Machine

We take what's already been done and try to do it better? differently? No, we do it in our own unique way. That, my friend, is called voice.

All I Want For Christmas: Books and a Easy Bake Oven

Pamela Tracy here. Before Christmas, I was sitting with my best friend, Harlequin American author Cathy McDavid, and we were discussing what we were getting our kids for Christmas. Her kids are grown, yet one idea she had was so cool I found myself wanting to do the same. This Christmas, for her adult twins (twenty-somethings) she decided to buy them what their favorite toy had been from childhood. How cool is that! For her daughter, she went hunting a My Little Pony. She couldn't find the right one. Apparently, they still make My Little Pony, but not as many. I don't remember what she went looking for per her son, but she couldn't find it either. My son is five, so I have a while to wait before I can retro buy his favorite toy. Still, the discussion made me try to remember my favorite toy. It wasn't as easy as I thought. I tried remembering bedrooms and homes where we lived (because we moved a lot, I was always getting rid of toys). Truthfully, what I remembered and the only things I have from my childhood are books. See, when I went off to college, my dad retired from one job and became a schoolbus driver (in a lower-income district). Every month or so, he'd let me know that he'd given my rollerskates to some kid, given a poncho I no longer wore to some kid, given my radio to some kid... really, I'm glad he did. He did, however, know better than to give away my books! Probably, the toy I remember most was an easy-bake oven. I went looking, and yes, they do still make them, and either my memory is vague or they look very different. I know my books look different. Nancy Drew is up-to-date. The Ramona books are vaguely the same. I don't see Betsy, Tacy, and Tib. So, what was your favorite toy? Or, even better, what was your favorite book?