A Bygone Era when Kindness was a Default by Eleri Grace

My immediate thought on learning of this month's theme was to spotlight an organization I've always intended to become involved in - Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK). But as I've never had the time to volunteer myself, it seemed like an odd choice for this month's blog. I will give it a brief shout-out here before moving on. RAOGK allows individuals to request a genealogical record look-up at a courthouse or a tombstone photo at a cemetery that is located too far a distance to visit in person. Local researchers commit to performing at least one act of genealogical kindness each month. Even though untold resources have now been digitized, we genealogists often really do need someone who can be boots-on-the-ground in places where maybe courthouse and other civil records are not yet fully online or where the cemeteries are sometimes tiny and located on private property. It's a great idea and I hope to one day be in a position to make someone's day by providing them with some treasured bit of genealogical data!

I decided I could be more specific if I instead focus on how kindness was often the default, not the exception, during the WW2 years. My Red Cross Girl heroines relied heavily on the good-hearted local people who could locate hard-to-find resources, explain the area's customs, connect the women to local artists, vendors, and tradespeople. I'm sure I've noted it before, but the Red Cross created and ran thousands of on-base and off-base clubs of varying sizes all over the world during WW2. Sometimes the military designated a specific building on a base to be used for a Red Cross club for the enlisted men, but it was almost always sparsely furnished and undecorated at best. To get a club up and running required the Red Cross Girls to exercise a good bit of ingenuity and persistence, plus call on a certain amount of charm, to obtain everything from paint for the walls to furniture, supplies, games, sports equipment, and on and on. They also relied on off-duty servicemen or local people to perform some of the labor - painting the walls, repairs, moving heavy furniture, hanging decorations, and so on. Granted, many of the men might had more than kindness in mind when they volunteered their off time to helping out the Red Cross Girls, who were often the only female presence in a male-dominated landscape! 

305th Bomber Group Aero-Club, Chelveston, England

But certainly an eagerness to be of help and be kind motivated so many people to come together in common purpose in those times. In the UK, the local villagers were especially pleased to not only invite lonely American fly-boys into their homes for a home-cooked dinner but also to provide resources to the bases. It was only a passing reference in my novel Courage to be Counted, but one local family who had sons serving overseas donated their piano to the 305th Bomber Group based at Chelveston, delivering it to the club on the back of a hay wagon. My heroines might need to do a little legwork, but they could almost always round up whatever supplies they needed for parties and special events by asking around in the area villages. 

Here's a few more examples of the kinds of events or clubs overall that required the kindness of strangers, a kindness that so many people didn't hesitate to extend in those uncertain war years -- enjoy!

You can read more about me and my writing on my website!  

Finding Peace in an Uncertain World by Eleri Grace

Without dwelling on recent national events, I think it's fair to say that many of us may feel a bit off-balance this month. As we begin to look ahead to 2025, we may feel unsettled or uneasy. Change, whether it's the change you hoped for or not, is destabilizing for all of us on some level. 

As I so often am -- bear with me y'all -- I am reminded of the WWII years. Plenty of historical parallels have been drawn between the global forces at work in the 1930s and current times, and that's not what I wanted to focus on here. I've been thinking more about a perspective my novels don't focus on much -- the home front. For as all-consuming and devastating as the news itself was for Americans tuning into the radio or reading in the newspapers, most people continued on with their day-to-day lives and found there was joy and even peace to be found.

Despite rationing and restrictions on sales of certain goods, many Americans had more money in their pockets since before the Depression. And they spent it and how -- at the movies, in diners and restaurants, and in the shops. Sure, films, music, books, comics, radio programming and other pop culture content had a heavily patriotic and pro-American slant, but it boosted spirits all the same. 

Maybe some of these photos of daily life in the 1940s will lift your mood, make you smile, and remind you that there's light and fun and joy to be found even when times seem particularly challenging or dispiriting. 

You can learn more about me and my writing on my website or through my Amazon page!  

The Stuff of Nightmares - A Blast from the Past

This post was first published on October 13, 2020. WW2 Romance Author Eleri Grace can be counted on to write thrilling romantic stories that immerse her readers in the realities of llfe during WW2.

By Eleri Grace

I too don’t write horror, suspense, paranormal or another genre that might have a classic “scary scene.” I write WWII historical novels – what’s scary about that?

            Well, more than might be readily apparent. As Judith noted, real life presents plenty of scary situations, and war certainly amplifies dangerous situations.

            One of the scariest scenes I’ve written tracks along with what is a fairly common nightmare for many people. How many times have you jerked awake, heart pounding, with the sense that you are free falling? Probably at least a few times in your life, I would wager.

            Fairly early in my drafting process for my debut novel, I realized that my hero Jack Nielsen was afraid of heights. A common fear, sure, but Jack is a pilot. How can a pilot cope with a fear of heights? It seems counter-intuitive, and I was initially intrigued with whether that was too outlandish. So I googled “pilots fear of heights,” and it turns out that research shows that acrophobia is markedly, dramatically higher in the pilot population than among non-pilots. Some studies indicate up to 90% of pilots have a fear of heights. So I asked my teenage son, an avid flight simulator who wants to be a pilot and spends quite a bit of time with like-minded young adults: “Yes,” he nodded. “Most of us are afraid of heights.” It turns out that, as my son indicated, most pilots feel very in control in the cockpit, thus keeping their natural acrophobia at bay.

            But in combat? No, in combat, a pilot faces far more threats than usual to his or her ability to feel – and be -- in control of the plane. And that was the stuff of nightmares – both for Jack and for ME.

           

I read so many non-fiction accounts of WW2 bailout scenes that I woke up with that free fall sensation far more in that one year than at any other time in my life. But I knew that Jack would have to jump eventually, and I forced myself to write it, knowing his experience might yank me from sleep for many months or years to come.

 

    “No more time! Out!” Hank pushed him closer to the hatch.

    Jack froze. His stomach lurched and dropped to his ankles, and his heart thrumped in his throat like a staccato fusillade of artillery. He swayed and gripped a handle on the hatch door with his good hand. “Go ahead,” he yelled.

    Hank shook his head violently. “You gotta jump!” he screamed in Jack’s ear.

    Waves of dizziness roiled him. Jack’s legs were as numb as his injured hand. No. No way. There was absolutely no way he could jump out into the clouds.

    Hank pried at Jack’s fingers, locked around the hatch handle in a death grip. “Damn it, let go!” He pulled hard on Jack’s waist, and they stumbled back to the narrow catwalk of the bomb bay.

    Before Jack could clamp his hand around the handle again, Hank put the chute rip cord into Jack’s uninjured hand and closed his fingers around it. Then he shoved hard with both hands in the middle of Jack’s back.

    Jack was out, free-falling in the icy slipstream, tumbling end over end. Out of control, exactly as he had always dreaded in his imagination.

    The ground rushed toward him. Slow down, slow down, slow down!

    The ring. The ripcord D-ring. Hank had put it in his hand. Jack jerked his hand downward.

    The parachute burst out of the chest pack and opened above him with a resounding crack. His body jerked upward.

    A loud, sustained bang sounded behind him. Jack turned his head, horrified to see his trusty, much-loved ship exploding in mid-air, engulfed in fiery flames.

 

Being the hero, Jack does land safely. But does he connect up with Allied troops or the German forces who imprison him in a wretched POW camp? Does he encounter German civilians who might decide to exact vigilante justice against him as another terror flieger?

You can read more of his experiences and his love story with Red Cross Girl Vivian in my debut novel, Courage to be Counted.

As the bombs fall on Europe, their love affair must survive a deadly war…

Vivian Lambert wants to do her part. When she wins a coveted overseas post with the Red Cross, she focuses on her war service. Falling hard for a sexy pilot wasn't part of her plan.

Jack Nielsen has a mission. Motivated by patriotic duty and desire to avenge the death of his best friend, Jack commands a ten-man B-17 crew. Keeping himself and his men alive in the fire-filled skies over Europe will require Jack's full focus. Romancing a headstrong Red Cross Girl is a distraction he knows he shouldn't indulge.

While Vivian's work takes her across France and into the heart of Nazi Germany, mounting casualties drive Jack to confront his dwindling odds of survival. As Allied forces converge on all fronts, can Vivian and Jack's relationship withstand an excruciating battle between love and duty?

Courage to be Counted is the first book in the Clubmobile Girls series of sizzling hot historical romances. If you like brave military heroes, trailblazing heroines, and romance under fire, then you'll love Eleri Grace's page-turning tale.

 

 

Learn more about me and my writing on my website, and you can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. 

The Summer that Changed Everything by Sarah McDermed

MAP OF GUAM copyright Google 2024

My tenth summer, the summer of 1963, my life took an unforeseen turn. We left our mostly typical suburban life in Sunnyvale, California, behind for one of adventure halfway around the world on a small island in the South Pacific.

My father, a commercial airline pilot, was hired by Pan American Airways to fly passenger seaplanes from Guam in the Marianas Islands to what were then the United Nations protected Islands of Micronesia. Flying for Pan Am was a big step up in his career, and Dad was familiar with Guam. He had served in the Marine Corps on Guam during World War 2 after American forces liberated the island.

Moving to Guam that summer felt like a grand adventure to us kids. We arrived six months after Typhoon Karen devastated the island. Many families who had lost their homes still lived in temporary one-room plywood shacks with canvas roofs.

ALEXANDER TUTORIAL CENTER

My twelve-year-old brother and I soon made friends with kids in the neighborhood. Our new friends told us harrowing stories about surviving the storm. They also introduced us to the nearby beaches of Tumon Bay, snorkeling in the warm salt water to watch colorful little fish swim among the corals and sea anemones. We learned to avoid stepping on sea urchins and stone fish in the tide pools, and which seashells had poisonous stings.

Jack and I spent a lot of time playing catch-and-release with the wildlife. There were giant African snails and toads, both unfortunately invasive species introduced by humans. The cute golden geckos, gorgeous green anole lizards and funny little hermit crabs were strange and endlessly fascinating. Jack and his friends caught coconut crabs at night. With claws so strong they could pinch off a finger, those crabs terrified me.

When Jack discovered the island was full of caves dug by the Japanese during the war, he took me with him to explore them. Mom and Dad taught us never to pick up any metal objects, bullets or grenades we found in a cave, but instead report them to a responsible adult. We also explored gun emplacements, or “pill boxes” on the cliffs above some beaches. World War 2 was very real to us.

SPANISH FORT

The Marianas Islands had been “discovered” and their Chamorro people conquered by the Spanish during the 1500s. Most place names were either Spanish or Chamorro. Old Spanish forts, bell towers, churches and other ruins dot the islands.

Guam was a melting pot of peoples and cultures, and still is. Anyone, no matter their race, who came from the continental US was a ‘Statesider’. Besides the native Chamorros (aka ‘Guamanians’), there were many ethnic groups living on our new island home: Filipinos, Chinese, Japanese, Palauan, Trukese, Ponapean, and more.

IMAGE FROM GUAM ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

Back in our little slice of California, it had been Big News when a Black family moved in a few blocks over. There were a number of Hispanic families in the neighborhood and one Native American family, but that was it for integration.

That summer, I didn’t’ know it yet, but in the fall I would be the only Statesider girl in my fifth grade class. I didn’t know I would learn what it is like to be the girl whose hair everyone wanted to touch, the strange one, the odd one out. I didn’t yet realize that I belonged to a privileged minority. I didn’t know how living on Guam would be key to my becoming the person I am.

I didn’t realize that summer had changed everything. ~ Sarah

As Time Goes By - Eleri Grace

Congratulations to the Genre-istas of Romancing the Genres on their 10 years of providing fabulous content for romance readers the world over!

As all of you now know, I like to tie my blogs in with my WW2-era writing, so for this month's #10 theme, I thought it might be fun to visit some Top 10 lists for songs, books, and films of the era when my heroes and heroines were dancing cheek to cheek. 

TOP 10 SONGS

There are many "top songs" lists, but the following are both indisputably popular and on my personal Top 10 Songs of WW2 list.

1. Bugle Call Rag -- love the upbeat, fast tempo, particularly the Glenn Miller version

2. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy -- Andrews Sisters classic

3. Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer -- the lyrics to this song are so on target for my books where my heroes are often struggling to bring a plane safely home

4. In the Mood -- iconic Glenn Miller

5. Gonna Take a Sentimental Journey -- bluesy Doris Day version is my favorite

6. Accentuate the Positive -- I've always loved these optimistic lyrics

7. We'll Meet Again -- Vera Lynn was known as the "Forces Sweetheart" in Britain 

8. The White Cliffs of Dover -- another Vera Lynn classic

9. Straighten Up and Fly Right -- Andrews Sisters

10. G.I. Jive -- who can resist this one?

TOP 10 BOOKS

Rather than books published during the 1940s (of which I'm sad to say, I have read very few), I am sharing some of my personal favorite books set during WW2. 

1. Tanamera by Noel Barber -- Noel Barber's novels, written later in his life after a long career as a foreign war correspondent, inspired my desire to write WW2-era romances. This one is set in pre-war and WW2 Singapore and is a book I re-read every few years. 

2. A Farewell to France by Noel Barber - Barber takes readers to WW2 Europe in this one

3. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller -- the biting satire and dark humor, along with the historical accuracy, make this one a stand-out among WW2 novels

4. A God in Ruins by Kate Atkins -- painstakingly detailed and accurate research and memorable characters

5. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein -- strong characters and a gripping plotline that will stick with readers long after they've closed the book

6. The Winds of War/War and Remembrance -- a two-volume multi-generational saga, Wouk's work was among the first novels set in the era that I recall reading in high school

7. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah -- the story of the two sisters is breathtaking and heartbreaking

8. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn -- though not set directly in WW2, one of the storylines connects to events in war-time France

9. Goodbye Mickey Mouse by Len Deighton -- fabulous look at the experiences on an American bomber base in England during the war 

10. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn -- brilliant interwoven stories of three very unique young women thrown together at Bletchley Park during the war and the secrets that continue to affect their lives in the years following the war

TOP 10 FILMS

I again went with films set during WW2 rather than released during the war.

1. Band of Brothers -- HBO mini-series

2. Saving Private Ryan

3. Jewel in the Crown mini-series

4. Twelve O'Clock High

5. Darkest Hour

6. Dunkirk (2017 version)

7. The Pacific -- HBO mini-series

8. Schindler's List

9. U-571

10. Atonement

I hope you've enjoyed a brief tour of some of my favorites of the era! Enjoy the rest of this month's celebration of 10 years of Romancing the Genres!

You can learn more about me on my website or follow me on my social media accounts at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. 

You can find my Clubmobile Girls novels on Amazon. 

Laugh in the Face of Danger by Eleri Grace

 I was a little stumped by this month's prompt for a bit. I love novels that can inspire a range of emotions in a reader, including side-splitting laughter, but I would probably have a hard time hitting that humorous tone even if I weren't writing in the WW2 genre. Yet, while many of my favorite authors who write humor very effectively include romance authors Kristan Higgins, Tracy Brogan, and Josie Silver, one of the funniest books I've ever read was the improbably humorous WW2 classic, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. 

Of course, many would deem it dark humor. But Heller's mastery of satire is unparalleled. Though many of the compiled "funniest lines" you might see online are humorous on their own, context adds immeasurably. So I do highly recommend reading the entire novel to get the full effect of Heller's genius. 

“You have a morbid aversion to dying. You probably resent the fact that you're at war and might get your head blown off any second."

"I more than resent it, sir. I'm absolutely incensed."

"You have deep-seated survival anxieties. And you don't like bigots, bullies, snobs, or hypocrites. Subconsciously there are many people you hate."

"Consciously, sir, consciously," Yossarian corrected in an effort to help. "I hate them consciously."

"You're antagonistic to the idea of being robbed, exploited, degraded, humiliated, or deceived. Misery depresses you. Ignorance depresses you. Persecution depresses you. Violence depresses you. Corruption depresses you. You know, it wouldn't surprise me if you're a manic-depressive!"

"Yes, sir. Perhaps I am."

"Don't try to deny it."

"I'm not denying it, sir," said Yossarian, pleased with the miraculous rapport that finally existed between them. "I agree with all you've said.”

Catch 22, Joseph Heller 

I am in the midst of writing my third Clubmobile Girls novel, set in India and Burma, and my hero will find himself recruited into dangerous search-and-rescue work in the Burma jungles. I've found a memoir titled "Hell is So Green" by William Diebold to be particularly helpful in my quest to provide my hero with plenty of challenges. Diebold jumped into the jungles and mountains of Burma a number of times to help lead downed airmen back to an American base --- a serious business. Yet, his memoir crackles with dry and self-deprecating wit, and consistently humorous exchanges with the pilots who maintained communication with him after his jumps and during his treks through dangerous countryside. In this instance, Diebold's parachute hung up in a tree, and a native boy helped cut the lines so he could reach the ground. When he made it back to the supplies the pilot had dropped, Diebold got on the radio: "Just once, old man, just once I wish one of you jokers would drop me on the ground. I've been in trees so much lately I feel like a bird." 

Humor can be found in the darkest and lowest of times, and yes, as Lion King's Simba confidently declared, in the face of danger. As we navigate our way back to more normalcy in the coming months, I hope you all find more and more occasion for laughter and humor. 

You can learn more about me on my website or follow me on my social media accounts at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. 

You can find my Clubmobile Girls novels on Amazon. 

Be Careful - It's My Heart by Eleri Grace

The drama and larger-than-life grand love affairs of the 1940s was one of the things that drew me to write romance novels set during the pivotal years of WWII. Everything from the era's glamorous Hollywood stars and box office hits to the crooning ballads of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra sets the stage for epic love stories.

The war provides the perfect antagonist -- it cruelly separates, endangers, wounds, and forever shapes the character and life path of my heroes and heroines.

But in addition to the romantic love central to my novels, I think some of the most emotional depth in my work comes from the subplots relating to family and friendships that I weave into my Clubmobile Girls series.

In my first novel, there's the love Vivian has for her fellow Red Cross Girl and best friend Mabs, and the fierce love Jack has for all the men in his B-17 crew. There's the greater love of humanity that threatens to crush Vivian's spirit as she watches the mounting casualties among the bomber crews. She's terrified of losing Jack of course, but her heartache for all the Allied forces is genuine. In my second novel, Skip's heartbreak over the loss of his beloved older brother at Pearl Harbor drives him and colors all his actions, while my heroine Hadley wrestles with her own demons and the loss of a dear friend years ago.

Showing a range of love relationships in our novels adds power and resonates with readers. I read extensively in the genre of war memoirs as background research for each of my novels. I also read a few "big-picture" books for whichever locale I'm focusing on for that novel. For my debut novel, I started with "Masters of the Air," which remains one of my all-time favorite WWII nonfiction books. There are quite a number of similar books and combat memoirs written by the men who fought in the skies over Europe. I was particularly touched by the theme that cropped up again and again in these accounts by and about the bomber crews -- those ten men became an insular and tight-knit family.

They were truly brothers-in-arms and dropped all boundaries that military rank, education, race or social class might normally have divided them. They fiercely defended each other -- both up in the air in combat and on the ground in the give-and-take of life on a military base and on recreational leave trips. That's one of the love relationships I'm most proud of in my both my novels -- the bromance that was a bromance before it was cool, the love that was so prevalent among the valiant crews of our airmen.

Love is all around us, and I think our readers appreciate when we take advantage of our ability to show the range of human experience with love in all its forms in our stories. 

Learn more about me and my writing on my website or follow me on my social media accounts at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. 

You can find my Clubmobile Girls novels on Amazon. 

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Well, given the locale of my third Clubmobile Girls novel, my heroine might more readily exclaim: “Cobras and Tigers and Elephants, oh my!”

Yes, we are headed to exotic and mystical India in my next WWII romance novel. Many readers won’t remember that Americans fought and died in India during WWII (or why), so I’m composing a prefatory note to set the stage. Trying to distill the high points into a succinct summary has impressed on me just how complex a situation my hero and heroine will face. Nationalist protests, riots and strikes roil the country during these waning days of the British Raj, famine results in suffering and starvation on a mass scale in large swathes of the country, intrigue abounds as the Indians, British, American, and Chinese jockey to advance their favored military and post-war strategic interests, guerrilla forces battle the enemy and the environment in the steamy jungles of Burma and northeast India, and Hump pilots making daily trips over the Himalayas in the worst airspace on earth face untold hazards to keep China supplied with vital food and military supplies.

My heroine is delighted and enthralled from the moment she catches sight of Bombay from the harbor. India is as far away from her small hometown in Missouri and her troubled past as it is possible to imagine. And while she initially focuses on the potential for adventure and a fresh start, she must all too quickly confront a myriad of challenges to her worldview of India and to her goals and plans.

By contrast, my hero wants nothing more than to escape India at the earliest possible opportunity. A son of American missionaries to Burma who attended boarding school in northwest India, he is anxious to return to America and his future in the ivy-covered halls of academia. He had, after all, already done his part for the war, flying combat missions with the Flying Tigers in the earliest months of the war. But escaping the lure of this labyrinthine land he had called home most of his life, not to mention a call of duty he is uniquely qualified to offer, proves difficult. The bright and brave young woman he cannot evict from his heart complicates things all the more.

            I would love to say that this more sequestered and slower paced life I’ve been leading has translated into huge daily word counts. Alas, that has not been the case. But I am nearing the end of my research process, have a good solid start in the early chapters, and have committed to start meeting that 1000-1500 word count daily goal again this week. I know I’m not the only author who has had difficulty with overall focus and productive habits in these challenging times. And the research required to corral the myriad competing potential plot points for this vast and complex setting has been an enormous undertaking. So that’s a long way of saying I am trying to give myself permission and space to let this story bloom gradually, rather than second-guessing whether I ought to have more to show for such an extended period of being largely housebound!  

I hope all of you continue to take care of yourself and your loved ones and stay in good spirits as we continue to adjust to a new normal.

You can learn more about me and my novels on my website, and you can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. 

You can purchase my first two Clubmobile Girls novels on Amazon.

Villains Take All Forms by Eleri Grace

Like some of the bloggers who have posted this month, I don’t really read regularly in any genre that truly puts a villain on the page. When I saw this month’s prompt, my mind instantly went to Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series. I also considered writing about the antagonist in Kristan Higgin’s most recent novel, Always the Last to Know, who, like Snape, is far more complex than she first appears. But then I read Barbara Binn’s blog featuring COVID-19 as a villain created by the 2020 writers’ room, I veered in yet another direction.

Barbara’s post spurred me to consider how I often use an external force as a villain in my own writing. War – WWII specifically in my case – is the overriding antagonist in my novels. It rips my characters out of their ordinary world, keeps them from their loved ones, is a source of loss -- loss of comrades, friends, loved ones, loss of liberty, loss of innocence. They all wanted to do their part. My heroines will maintain that despite the hardships and grief and separation from home and loved ones, they wouldn't have missed it for the world. Naturally, my combat veteran heroes might have more complex emotions on that point, though they too were proud to have been part of such an important undertaking.

Though I don’t show it on the page, it’s safe to assume that war leaves an indelible mark on my characters. My heroes and heroines get their happy ending, but as in any well-written romance novel, their evolution and personal journeys to resolve their inner conflicts and their relationship barrier are shaped in extraordinary ways by the war and its lasting effects.

Down the road, I plan to do a “reunion” of my Clubmobile Girls heroines, perhaps set in the 1970s, to explore some of the long-term effects. I know that my heroines, based on their historical counterparts, will have often enjoyed professional and career success while also raising a family (including their daughters, who are no doubt among the vocal feminists advocating for equal rights beginning in the 1960s). As with my heroes and other male veterans, my heroines will cite their wartime service as the most memorable and transformative experience of their lives. They left their overseas postings convinced that they could now do anything, anything hey wanted was within reach. Of course, that wasn't completely true, but their optimism no doubt helped them topple barriers that might have once stymied their progress. My heroes may have taken advantage of the GI bill to pursue additional education or start a small business after the war.

They might well have taken advantage of benefits that allowed them to buy a home with a low-interest loan. My characters returned home to a booming economy that bore little resemblance to what they had experienced during their childhood and adolescence.

Yet, there were surely negative effects from the war as well. Both my heroes and my heroines may have suffered from some residual PTSD, though it would be decades after the war before their struggles had a diagnosis and a name. Framed photos of loved ones who were lost in the war will long trigger grief and sadness. Some of my characters may have preferred to shield their children from later wars. 

War is definitely a non-traditional villain, but a villain or antagonist all the same. And as with human villains, its arc is neither simple nor a straight-line.

Learn more about me and my writing on my website, and you can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. 

You can find my Clubmobile Girls books on Amazon.  

Accentuate the Positive by Eleri Grace

Celebration – celebrating yourself in particular – is our theme this month. Like Luanna blogged last week, I tend to indulge in rewards or treats when I reach goals I set for myself or achieve a special milestone, but as she notes, I’ve not really thought about it as celebrating myself so much as celebrating the achievement. Perhaps I really should try harder to give myself credit – get out of the “box-checker” mentality to borrow a phrase from Michelle Obama’s memoir and instead focus more on cultivating self-love.

One facet of finding self-love is practicing mindfulness – being fully present and not in a constant state of reaction and over-reaction to what’s going on around us. Heightened awareness of life’s small joys is one of the many blessings I’ve counted during these pandemic times.

Goals and milestones don’t have to be momentous or consequential to merit a celebration – a distinction that is more important than ever right now. I know I’m not the only writer or creative type struggling to find creativity within the chaos around us these days. But instead of berating myself for not using this time to storyboard or brainstorm my next novel, I’m trying to focus on what I am accomplishing rather than what I’ve not done.

I may not have plotted the next Clubmobile Girls novel, but I have done quite a bit of background reading. That novel is percolating, and its characters will burst to life any time now.

I may not have used this time to get into the habit of posting new and enticing content on my social media accounts on a regular basis, but I have done an online class relating to author advertising that I think will improve my ability to promote my new release later this month.

It’s worth celebrating the small things every bit as much as life’s larger moments. A positive mindset is one powerful tool toward truly experiencing gratitude, self-love, and living more fully. It's a habit I hope I will have cultivated enough to carry forward once we return to "normalcy" or more aptly the "new normalcy," whatever that may look like.

 As Johnny Mercer sang so memorably in 1944:

You’ve got to accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

And latch on to the affirmative

Don’t mess with Mister In-Between

And speaking of accentuating the positive, I have a new release coming out on May 22nd -- just in time for Memorial Day weekend. Pre-orders for the ebook version are live on Amazon here.

In love, as in war, truth can be the greatest casualty.

When her New Orleans editor refuses to grant war correspondent credentials to a woman reporter, Hadley Claverie finds another route to the front lines: overseas duty with the Red Cross. She wants nothing more than to carve out a career as a respected journalist, but a sexy pilot set on playing by the rules undermines her determination to expose truths about the war, no matter the cost.

Struggling to overcome emotional trauma linked to Pearl Harbor, once-freewheeling B-25 bomber pilot Skip Masterson longs to prove he is worthy to carry on his brother’s legacy. Duty compels him to avenge the horrors his brother and friends suffered aboard the U.S.S. Arizona, but all Skip really wants is peace on a quiet porch back home. His heart has other plans, in the form of an intrepidly curious Red Cross girl who threatens his resolve to fly straight and subvert his hell-raising past.

As Allied forces wrest control of the Pacific, one island at a time, and the military taps skilled pilots for a highly-classified and unprecedented bombing mission from which Skip may not return, Hadley’s journalistic fire places her squarely in an ethical drop zone where truth harms, secrets protect, and love just might be the most harmful weapon of all.

From the sunny beaches of Australia to the lush and oppressive jungles of New Guinea, Carry a Crusading Spirit is a sexy and thrilling continuation of Clubmobile Girls, a series that champions the trailblazing role of women in WWII.

Learn more about me and my writing on my website, and you can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. 

You can purchase my debut novel through the links below.

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon CA  ~  Amazon AU  ~  Google ~ Nook  ~ Kobo