The Button Legacy: Emily's Inheritance Blog Tour, Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway with Ginger Marcinkowski

Today’s post is written by Ginger Marcinkowski, the author of The Button Legacy: Emily’s Inheritance. Below her post, you’ll find all the information about her newest book.

Let That Baby Go

Writing your story can be both exhilarating and exasperating, like having a baby that refuses to spurt from your loins. When the baby (story) does emerge, all writer’s think it’s the most beautiful baby in the world! They know everyone will want to see their baby, hold their baby, and fawn over their baby the same way they do.  Then one day, they decide to take the baby outside for the first time.  They walk around the neighborhood looking for someone to confirm that their baby is beautiful.  A stranger peeks into the stroller, but winches, and walks away. Surely, they think, it can’t be so! What do they know! So the writer moves on seeking approval from the next person they pass. Another stranger pulls back, and then another. The writer begins to stop stranger after stranger urging them to stop and look at their baby. Most won’t, but when one does, they say. “It’s sort of nice, but if I were you, I’d take that thing home and dress it up a bit.” The writer is appalled, but all of a sudden they realize that maybe their baby IS ugly and that no one wants their baby!

Eventually, the writer gets discouraged, takes the baby home and keeps it hidden as they work on making it prettier. They let it grow a little, and then slap a bit of makeup on it, deciding months later, that it’s time to take their baby out again. This time they KNOW it’s a beautiful baby. They’ve spent time making all the changes needed to make their baby more attractive to the world, but are unsure as to whether they should walk it around the block once more, soliciting favor or just pin a note on it and let it go into the yard by itself. The writer knows how vulnerable their baby will be, but they realize that maybe the baby just needs to wander on its own. Should a writer do that?

My advice? Don’t worry about that baby! Pin a note on that kid, open the front door of your house, toss the kid into the yard like a bad tomato, and slam the door.  From there, don’t even look out the window.  Don’t worry if neighbors come out to check on the baby, or let their Doberman. Pretend like that baby didn’t even exist. Use your time
wisely. Go into the bedroom, dream up a significant new story, and make another baby. Maybe this one will be prettier the next time around.

I threw my own baby into the yard last year, and waited for it to return with someone who would love it the way I did.  For a while, it laid on the front lawn like a newly chopped log. People on the sidewalk rushed by, hardly noticing the thing, until one day, I looked out and someone was staring at the note that was pinned on my baby! They left a short time later and told a few friends about the pretty baby they had found. Soon there were more and more people stopping by to ask about my baby. That’s when I realized my baby WAS interesting! Not long after that, a total stranger banged on my front door, and asked me if they could HAVE my baby! They LOVED it!

The Button Legacy: Emily’s Inheritance was published in July 2014 by Vox Dei, an imprint of Booktrope Publishing. Sure, a writer may have to pretty up their baby a bit like I did before she hit the bookshelves, but my, was it worth the wait! And the best thing is? I was already in the bedroom making another baby! So, don’t be shy! Write the best you can write and throw the work out there. Others will decide if “your baby” is worth adopting or not. In the meantime, keep making babies!

Here’s an excerpt from my novel, The Button legacy: Emily’s Inheritance.

“It’s there, John! It’s there!” A moment later, Ellen’s arms were swishing at her skirt, her body circling as though she were a dog chasing her tail.

John had little time to respond, with his wife dashing around the kitchen. “Slow down, Ellen, and let me get a look.” John grabbed his wife’s arm and spun her around just in time to see a field mouse disappear under her dress.

Ellen’s scream was long and loud, decibels above any noise he’d ever heard her sing. In one swift moment, Ellen had rushed out the kitchen entry, flinging the screen door open and allowing it to slam in John’s face as he followed. John watched her as she twisted and twirled, jerking her skirt from her body, big white buttons popping from the dress and skittering across the yard.

A grin began to cross his lips, as soft as a gentle sunset. His wife stood panting in the dirt driveway. Her dress was lying six feet from her, the mouse now long gone in terror. She was covered with a sheer white slip and nothing more. Her hair had fallen to her shoulders, disheveled, with bobby pins protruding from what was left of her braid.

“Don’t you laugh at me, John Polk!” she said, bending to collect what was left of her clothing.

“Ellen?” Neither John nor Ellen had seen their guests appear from the path behind the house. Mrs. Park, Laura Cogswell, and Mrs. Belcamp stood, mouths agape, with their arms full of quilting swatches.

Ellen’s eyes darted between her husband and her friends. John watched a look of horror creep over his shy wife’s face. God help her. She took a deep breath and, without so much as an explanation, squatted to pick up her clothes and moved toward the kitchen door. “Come on, ladies!” Ellen spoke over her shoulder. “We’ve got God’s work to do.”

The women first eyed John and then each other, shrugged their shoulders, and followed her into the house. A glint of sunlight bouncing off something white caught John’s eye. He moved toward it, bending to retrieve one of Ellen’s dress buttons from between the blades of the unshaven lawn. He held it to the sky and smiled.

By the time he returned to the kitchen, Ellen had dressed and was busy serving coffee and fresh rolls to her guests. She had always been a server, a reminder to him of the biblical Martha. Good and gracious. Their eyes met—hers signaling a warning, his playful. He walked past her to the oak hutch and reached for the tin box that perched there. Even though Ellen was not facing him, he could see her back straighten as the button dropped in, clamping yet another story inside.

The Button Legacy: Emily’s Inheritance

by Ginger Marcinkowski

BLURB:

Based on the true story of one family’s spiritual saga revealed through buttons that have been secreted away in an antique box, and that ultimately hold the key to each generation’s salvation.

Ginger Marcinkowski’s first novel, Run, River Currents featured Emily Evans, who as a girl shared a special understanding with her grandfather, John Polk. Despite the scars of her father's abuse John taught her to look to the future in faith, promising Emily God's grace can be seen even in the simplest thing—a button.

Years after her grandfather John's death, the unexpected delivery of a decorated tin, still brimming with odd-colored buttons is delivered to Emily. The reappearance of the family buttons unlocks joyous memories and guides Emily to realize a secret her grandfather promised lay within the stories of that worn button box; the healing power of prayer. In The Button Legacy: Emily’s Inheritance each button connects one generation to the next as their interrelated stories unfold across the timeless landscape of their spiritual journey.

Book Links

Amazon  *   Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ginger Marcinkowski was born as one of eight siblings in northern Maine along the Canadian border, a setting that plays a prominent role in her novels, Run, River Currents and The Button Legacy-Emily’s Inheritance.

Her debut novel, Run, River Currents, was published in August 2012, was a 2012 semi-finalist in the ACFW Genesis Awards and a 2013 Kindle Book Award Finalist. The Button Legacy-Emily's Inheritance, will be released in July 2014. An interesting fact about Ginger is that she is a million-mile flier with United Airlines and had been a multi-million dollar travel agent in the past. Her travel experience will be the catalyst for a new series of mysteries whose main characters are travel agents.

Author Links

Website  *  Twitter  *  Facebook  *  Goodreads

AMAZON Author Page

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