My Books Are Set Free

 During many years with Oak Tree Books, I have produced a wide array of books, starting with my reincarnation novel, Hearts Across Forever. Following publication of that book, my publisher, Billie Johnson, created the "Passenger to Paradise" series for me. A very talented lady, Billie produced many beautiful books, including five in that series. We also developed books set in the small fictitious town of Jefferson City that somewhat resembles the little Tidewater Virginia community where I live.

Through the years, Billie started a series of "Snapshot in Time" books that are spinoffs from my big coffee table book, Hotels to Remember. She took all the books I ever sent to her without my ever going through an acquisitions editor.

A few weeks ago, Billie Johnson passed away following a long illness associated with several strokes. The debilitating strokes forced her to move from her home in California, the place of her heart, back to be near family in Illinois. It was the second time she had left California. The first was because of problems with criminal activities that threatened her in the neighborhood where she lived. The story of her life would probably make quite a book.

Oak Tree is gone now. Losing a publisher is difficult in many ways. For a long time, I have been quite troubled by seeing my books disappear from normal sale sites. Since they are no longer returnable, my books mostly aren't available for signings.

Disappointing. That is true. However, for every negative, there is a positive.

Now, I realize, my books have been set free. I have control to make good things happen for them. I always regretted the title, Night Watch, for my story set in Trinidad. I can create a new title now for that book. Since many people believe Daddy's Christmas Angel is a children's book (it isn't), I'm considering changing the title back to the working one, Riding Carousel Horses.

The possibilities go on and on. Self-publish or something else? Choices to make. Positive decisions.

My books are set free.

Hotels Are But a "Snapshot in Time"

When I look out of my writing studio window, the yellow turning leaves capture my attention. They are the colors of autumn. A few years ago, I suspect the trees would be bare by now. With global warming, we have not yet had a frost.

Things change. And so did the hotels in my Hotels to Remember project. As I wrote, took photographs, and painted, I had no idea how quickly hotel facilities are renovated and transformed.

All the paintings in my Hotels to Remember coffee table book were created using a favorite material of mine, soft pastels. A few years ago while we were visiting famous and historic old hotels, I began to paint images of the rough and weathered facades of some and the shiny jeweled surfaces of others. I loved watching the paintings grow on the tinted Canson pastel papers. As I became more involved in the project, I realized I had far too many hotels to include in just one book.

The Royal Hawaiian "Pink Lady" was cast aside. So was the Princeville hotel in Kauai. I took out La Samanna in St. Martin, SuperClubs resorts in Jamaica, Orient Express hotels in New Orleans and in Charleston, South Carolina. There wasn't room for them in my book, so I put aside photographs and slides I had taken on site and stored them in a large box in my writing studio. I placed the pastels I had already painted in my flat files storage unit in the painting studio closet. I would come back to them soon, I assured myself as I added even more material from Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre in Quebec to my stash.

Then I realized it was probably too late to start work on More Hotels to Remember. After all, when you are dealing with the hotel industry, things change quickly. Renovations take place. Buildings are altered with entrances shifting, properties doubling in size and much more.

Only the side trips remain the same and the locations. You don't transform the Grand Canyon when the El Tovar seated on its edge is upgraded. The charming little town of Harper's Ferry, West Virginia does not vanish when the Hilltop House Hotel closes. The St. Louis Union Station remains the same even though the hotel property switches hands.

Each hotel in my book is actually a "Snapshot in Time". A wise writer pointed out that fact to me. My publisher was quick to pick up on the premise and created "Snapshot in Time" books for a few of the hotels in the Hotels to Remember project. I added some new materials for the side trips, and realized that even closed hotels are a part of history.

Many of my "Snapshot in Time" paintings are now on view at Dara LeBlanc-Haynes' Mathews Country Galleria on Brickbat Road in Mathews, Virginia. The gallery is open now on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Dara LeBlanc-Haynes in her Mathews Country Galleria. ©Mary Montague Sikes

A Snapshot in Time

A couple of years ago I was talking with a fellow writer at a conference about my coffee table book, Hotels to Remember. Although a great deal of work went into creating this book which features my original paintings for each of the hotels, my photographs taken at the hotel sites, and my writing, the book was outdated from almost the moment it came out. This was depressing to me.

"Don't worry," the other writer said. "Your book is a snapshot in time."

Since that time, I've thought a lot about what he said. Hotels are renovated and updated constantly. Names change as new owners purchase properties. Even the oldest and most historic hotels change as one chain replaces another. Any book written about wonderful and historic hotels has to be a "snapshot in time."

Last fall, my publisher decided to consider the possibilities of that title. She elected to create A Snapshot in Time as the title for a new series of books which is actually a smaller version of Hotels to Remember, focusing on each individual hotel. Each new title has a slick beautiful hard cover. Each hotel has its own book.

So far, there are three books. The Jefferson Hotel was the first. The Homestead and Hilltop House followed soon after.

I love these little books because people will have the opportunity to collect them as a memory of a visit to a special property. And it's good to know they are A Snapshot in Time.

I'm glad another writer took the time to share his thoughts with me. Without that, I might still be sulking about the way hotels change all too fast!

A Snapshot in Time