VBT# The Rhythm of Secrets - Patti Lacy

Today readers, we have author Patti Lacy and her book "The Rhythm of Secrets" featured on http://www.thephantomparagrapher.blogspot.com/ as part of her VBT# with Twyebbin Creations.

    About the Author

Patti Lacy graduated from Baylor University in 1977 with a BS in education. She taught at Heartland Community College in Normal, Illinois, until she retired in 2006 to pursue writing full time. She and her husband, Alan, have two grown children. Visit Patti’s Web site at www.pattilacy.com .

                                              

About The Book : "The Rhythm of Secrets" -Patti Lacy -2011

Sheila Franklin has lived three separate lives. Now a conservative pastor’s wife in Chicago, she is skilled at hiding secrets—a talent birthed during childhood romps through the music-filled streets of New Orleans. But when the son she bore at the age of eighteen comes back looking for answers and desperate for help, her greatest secret—and greatest regret—is revealed.Eager to right past wrongs, Sheila’s heart floods with memories of lyrical jazz music and a worn-out Bible. But when her husband learns of her shady history, Sheila is suddenly faced with an impossible decision: embrace the dream—and son—she abandoned against her will or give in to the demands of her safe but stifled life. As she struggles to reclaim both her son and her identity, Sheila soon realizes that God’s grace spans both seas and secrets and that He is all she really needs. With dynamic writing that makes the reader feel the heartache of a teenage mother, struggle with the disillusionment of an abandoned boy, and revel in the idea of grace despite flaws, rising star Patti Lacy takes her fans on a journey they won’t want to end—and won’t soon forget.

Stay Tuned Readers, as coming up shortly on www.thephantomparagrapher.blogspot.com will be a review of "The Rhythm of Secrets" by Patti Lacy.

                                                     

        From The Desk of Patti Lacy : Comes a Wonderful Tale
Hello, Paula! Thanks for having me aboard! Wow, the Phantom Paragrapher seems like the PERFECT place for my heroine with secrets! Oh, I forget to tell y’all, she’s here today!


Let me introduce you to Sheila Franklin. Shhh! Don’t tell her I’m sharing this, but she’s gone under other names. THREE of them, in fact…

I first met “Sheila” when I opened the Chicago Tribune in the morning of July 8, 2007. Coffee sloshed onto the table…and I didn’t care. Gail Rosenblum’s article about a mother giving up…and then reclaiming…a child caught my heart and wouldn’t let go. The idea for my third story rustled right there in the newspaper!


Either that day or the next, I Googled Sandy. Soon I clasped her contact information in my grimy hand. At first Sandy was reticent to share and said she’d “get back to me.”

A couple of weeks later, the phone rang. It was Sandy, sharing resources (like Ann Fessler’s fine documentary, The Girls Who Went Away). Memories—and emotions—flooded the phone lines.

Since I’m a Southerner masquerading as a Midwesterner, Sandy’s location, in Minnesota, (KINDA the Midwest to a girl who loves magnolias and jasmine) piqued my curiosity. What if I transported a girl already devastated with the loss of a baby from a place I lived and loved (Louisiana) to a polar opposite () climate?

My mind began to whirl with possibilities. Contacts with several Vietnam veteran acquaintances spurred me to choose a 1960s time frame for the story…and a disillusioned soldier as THE son of The Girl Who Went Away. A love for music, in this case, New Orleans jazz and blues, prompted me to create a piano- and clarinet-playing father and a little girl bursting with a desire to follow in her father’s heart-steps.

Things came easy, just like the Big Easy, New Orleans, once I got a bare-bones outline for the plot. Several octenagenarians, including a tour guide and a master gardener, brainstormed gleefully. I also contacted two firemen and my usual cast of experts, like the world’s professional on car parts (who lives here Bloomington-Normal, Illinois!) and my standby, patient Dr.Slotky and his nurses.

It truly takes a village to write a book! And I’m not even TALKING about my critique partners, the publisher’s amazing editors, PR folks, and marketing!

God truly provided the right person, the right information, at exactly the right time. I am so grateful to be here today and share this story with you!

For more about Patti, visit her website at www.pattilacy.com . Purchase The Rhythm of Secrets and read the early reviews at http://www.amazon.com/Rhythm-Secrets-Novel-Patti-Lacy/dp/082542674X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294763632&sr=8-1 .