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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

A Few of My Favorite Things: #MFRWauthor

by Chautona Havig · 3 Comments

“…brown paper packages tied up with strings. These are a few of my favorite things!”

I don’t often get involved in the many challenges that are out there. The reason is that I love so many and could, literally, spend every second of my waking hours keeping up with them.  But when I found this 52-Week Blogging Challenge, I couldn’t resist.  Week 1?  “A Few of My Favorite Things.”

A Few of My Favorite Things

(note: links in this post may be affiliate links which will give me a small commission at no additional cost to you!)

But how many is a “few”?

I’ll let you in on a childhood secret of mine.  I was fanatical about following rules.  This girl liked everything well defined and perfect and didn’t do well with ambiguity. I was a legalist and a Pharisee in the making. Just give me the rules to follow, and I’ve got this godly thing covered.

So, I distinctly remember the day I got to the pages in my ACE PACES on “couple, few, several, many”…. Oh, how I loved the “couple”.  It was just… perfect.  Nicely defined.   Few… not so much.  Several… eep!  Know what I did?  I made up my own definitions.  It went as follows:

  • couple= 2
  • few= 3
  • several= 7 (because it sounded like seven)
  • many= between 9 and 12
  • a bunch= incarceration at Camarillo State Hospital (a mental hospital as they called them back then).

Do you see where this is going?  Yeah. I thought so. When I saw few in the challenge, my eye twitched.  And then I remembered that few=3!  Done!  So, here are three of my favorite things.

1. Paper Goods

I went rather broad with this one because I do love all things paper.  Beautiful, quality wrapping paper? Love it. I love journals, planners, and stickers.  Luscious thick cardstock and adorable patterned scrapbook paper?  Oh, yeah! I’ll even go you one further.  Here are pictures of three of my favorite paper things!

Leuchtturm 1917--definitely my favorite thing!

 

And my favorite cardstock for making cards: Papertrey Ink!

Papertrey Cardstock- favorite things

And check out this awesome wrapping paper… or rather these papers!

dictionary wrapping paper-favorite things

keyboard wrapping paper- favorite things

That’s WRAPPING PAPER!  How cool is that???

2. Music

I seriously love music.  Confession: I don’t like most Christian music.  Too much of it is just mediocre stuff.  I sing my “Don’t Bring Lulu” from the album below to glorify the Lord just as much as when I belt out “How Great Thou Art” while listening at Denny’s. Yeah. That was embarrassing. Oh, well, they probably thought I was drunk. And, considering that was the accusation at Pentecost, I figure I’m in good company!  Ahem.

Instead, my tastes run to the very eclectic and OLD. Seriously, I love stuff that is before my parents’ times even.  Additionally, I prefer male voices to female.  That said, there are a few newer artists that I love (at least some of their works) and a LOT of older ones.  I’m including three favorites here.  This is nowhere near top of the list of anything.  Those favorites change almost daily.  Absolutely no one can beat my dad on his guitar singing the old ballads like I novelized in Jack and will be coming in Mary.

Three favorites tonight are:

“Meet Mr. Callahan” (this is a cover of the Chet Atkins version, but I do love this one by Les Paul just as much. Frankly, I think this guy here is AWESOME!)

A couple of years ago when I was in Michigan, I ate at Cracker Barrell, and right there at the register was a CD from the “Secret Sisters”.  It was billed as “old style” country with good harmony.  I decided to try it.  While I didn’t love all of the ones on there, and this song wasn’t on that one, there have been several that I just LOVE by them, and this is almost my top favorite (my favorite isn’t available as a single or on their channel).  “Tomorrow Will Be Kinder.”

Now another style I love is the 1920’s.  So when I heard a NEW song written in the style… I was just amazed.  Paul Byrom really did a FABULOUS job with this from the Celtic Thunder That’s Entertainment album. (There are a lot of good ones on there, btw).

I own this album and the “part two” and listen to them often as well.  I love a LOT of Billy Vaughn’s stuff.  In fact, his “Theme from a Summer Place” vies with Percy Faith’s as the inspiration behind my book Prairie.

Yes, I know that’s more than 3.  Sorry.  It happens.  (Psst…. the second song on the one above was my FAVORITE for a while as a child).  I didn’t even talk about Vic Dana (no, not Damone, DANA!), Jo Stafford, Patsy Cline (I can do a great imitation!), Jim Reeves, Sons of the Pioneers, Ames Brothers… oh man!  But for writing, I like to listen to Focusatwill.com 

3. Books

I really tried not to put these in here. I mean, it goes without saying, right? But you know what?  Can’t do it.  I LOVE books.  Always have.  I was that kid who showed up at the library with two brown grocery store bags under each arm, dumped them on the counter, and ran off to fill them again. EVERY WEEK.  No joke.   I read a LOT of junk.  I’m not kidding.  I read garbage and greatness.  One day, I’d read The Black Stallion and the next, Flowers in the Attic.  I was married with two or three kids before I knew I’d read a book full of smut, incest, and who knows what else.  EEEP!  I was so clueless.  Thank you, Lord! (Trivial aside: my MOM gave me that one.  What was she not thinking?  I was twelve!)

But even today, I have a love for a wide variety of odd books. So I thought instead of sharing that I like books, I thought I’d share books that you might not expect me to like.

I  mean, why not, right?

  1. ranger's apprentice- favorite thingsYouth/YA books.  I loved the Hunger Games Trilogy, the Squire’s Tales, Harry Potter (I was adamantly opposed to them until I read one… ought to write a post on that someday- meanwhile, I did not link because while I do enjoy them, I realize they are controversial and do not wish to cause offence), and The Ranger’s Apprentice Series.  While there are an occasional unfortunate word in them (mild expletives) they’re rare.  Apparently, many Aussies (the author is an Aussie) do not consider said words to be inappropriate.Steven James- favorite things
  2. Steven James’ Patrick Bowers Series.  Look, I do NOT like gore/horror/thriller stuff.  But Steven James managed to keep his stuff from being gratuitous and from going too far with the details. He just managed to cut it off just at the point where I’d have serious issues with it. Totally impressive in my book.  I’ll never bee a Stephen King fan, but I am definitely a Steven James fan!
  3. A-Z books- favorite thingsA-Z of Needlecraft and other non-fictional “how to” books like that.  This series is AMAZING.  Just sayin’.  I like to read about making little Waldorf dolls, about hand lettering, about gardening  (that I never do), about soap making–you name it. But I actually OWN most of this series (if not all of it).  The original publishers are the fabulous Aussies who put out the incredible Australian Smocking & Embroidery magazine (Country Bumpkin).

My Favorite Things?

Sure.  But remember that word “few”.  These are a VERY few of my favorite things.  There are so many!

Until next week and “How my family survives my writing.”

And another point of trivia: ahem. I listened to both sides of “Look What I Found in the Attic”–one twice after posting that link.  That’s how long it takes to write a blog post!

Psst… Don’t forget!  The BONUS for New Year’s Revolutions goes away in a couple of days.  I had a couple of images that said the 10th, so I’m extending it until then just to be sure to keep my word!

So, what are your favorite things?  And what do you think about another Neal and Wendy book?  Maybe: Fourth of July Grenade?

 

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Previous Post: « New Year= New Book! It’s Release Day!
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Comments

  1. Emma Filbrun says

    January 8, 2017 at 10:51 am

    YES to another book about Neal and Wendy! I would have loved to be allowed to get so many books from the library, but I was limited to three, every two weeks (or four weeks if we couldn’t get to town and had to renew by phone). No walking to the library from ten miles out! I read everyone else’s books, too, and was usually out of new things to read within a day or two of going to the library.

    Reply
  2. Deb Jones says

    January 7, 2017 at 11:59 am

    A “few” of my favorite things.
    1. Books–used to be the real deal but now on my Kindle. I read only Christian fiction, non-fiction.
    2. Paper goods–unfortunately, I seldom used them because I didn’t want them to go away.
    3. Coloring books and colored pens and pencils
    4. Jigsaw puzzles

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      January 7, 2017 at 1:50 pm

      yes! Pens, pencils, and everything that goe with paper! 😀

      Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 215: A Chat with Henry O. Arnold
byChautona Havig

I had a chat with actor and author Henry O. Arnold a while back, and boy did we have a lot of fun. His Song of Prophets and Kings series features the advent of Israel’s kings from Samuel’s birth through David hiding from Saul (so far) and onward. Listen in as we chat about his most recent release, The Singer of Israel.

 

note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

What Made David Such a Man after God’s Heart?

I think this series will show us. I love that Henry O. Arnold started back at Samuel’s story to prepare us for the story of arguably the most influential king of Israel. Yes, Solomon was the wisest and richest, but David offered something that Solomon didn’t have. He was an average guy—a shepherd, no less—chosen by God to lead his country.

In a sense, it’s kind of the ancient Jewish version of a poor, everyday guy growing up to become President of the United States. If you know what I mean.

This five-book series is available as an eBook, in print, and as an audiobook, too! Henry read a snippet of it to us, and boy you get a feel for his love of Scripture and God’s people as he reads.

And if that wasn’t enough, he even gave us a hint of his upcoming Christian suspense/thriller “series. He says he has two books planned for sure, so… at least a duology, but maybe we can talk him into a trilogy at least? Get those odd numbers and everything?

The Singer of Israel by Henry O. Arnold

A singer’s voice inspires a troubled nation…A shepherd’s courage vanquishes a giant

The last official act of the prophet of Yahweh was to secretly anoint a replacement for the king of Israel who has been brought low by an unbalanced mind. The great prophet of Israel lives in fear of the wrath of the king. Then out of the hills of Bethlehem emerges the last-born son of a family of shepherds to become the unforeseen hero of Israel.

When David sings of the glory of Yahweh, this shepherd wins the hearts of the royal family and restores King Saul’s troubled mind. But when the singer/shepherd defeats the champion of the Philistines in single combat, David becomes forever known as “the giant slayer.” Saul quickly sees that David is now a threat to his kingdom and secretly plots to have him killed.

David may be the champion of the people of Israel, but he must live under the constant threat of Saul’s wrath until he is finally forced to flee for his life.

The Singer of Israel is a tale of triumph and tribulation, deepest love, and burning rivalries; the new epoch is given a voice…and it is The Song of Prophets and Kings.

You can learn more about Henry on this WEBSITE.

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Episode 215: A Chat with Henry O. Arnold
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