Growing up in an age without the assistance of electronic gadgetry made life a much different experience. It’s been said many times, “we had it so much rougher. Well, not exactly.

Exercise wasn’t even a real word. Who remembers hearing someone ask you to exercise? If someone said “move!” they meant from in front of the t.v. while Lawrence Welk was on. It was Saturday night, for pete’s sake.   We walked uphill to school, to a friend’s house, to the park –  every aspect of life was uphill. At least that’s how I remember things.

Tag was only to commence after dinner and continued until dark. On the uphill portion of the lawn. We rode our bikes down the middle of the street with no hands on the handle bars for hours. That’s hard at a slant. We knocked on the doors of neighbors, whether we knew them or not, just because it was something that didn’t require uphill motion.  Most of the time, that really annoyed them.

The only thing we did that didn’t involve movement was reading. There were weekly trips to the library and each school allowed you to check out two books at a time. You could always get around that by reading one during library time and then checking others out as you left. There wasn’t much for t.v.  Playing with electronics meant watching your can opener. Books were our everything.

I’ll admit to placing a Stephen King book discreetly in front of a math book while I was pretending to study intensely. (This really explains a lot about my inability to calculate when two trains may crash.  Going uphill, of course.) Today we might decide this type of adult literature is too intense for kids. But before electronics, this was our excitement.  If this type of adult reading caused nightmares in the mind of a twelve year-old, it was never to be uttered.

Today just thinking about the tiny print of those lengthy novels makes my eyes ache. We had more patience while thumbing through those rice paper-like pages trying to discern which character’s death might secretly keep us awake. But it was wonderful to live in those times.

And speaking of good books, I’m happy to announce the publication of my first, full-length novel! (Confetti, noise-makers, uphill victory lap)

Those of you who experienced life in a small town will understand the humor of life under a microscope. Everyone will enjoy meeting a very confused and heartbroken Keilah, wacky and mysterious Dee and loving and kind Rosabel, the best friend a girl could ask for.

 Positive reviews are the lifeblood of authors on Amazon, so if you wouldn’t mind, please leave some positive thoughts to help me get noticed by the hooty-toots at Amazon. (If you read my book, you’ll understand that term.) While you’re at it, if you’re so inclined, Bookbub also accepts good reviews.   https://www.amazon.com/Story-Keilah-Joann-Keder/dp/1733663908/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2?keywords=the+story+of+keilah&qid=1550446152&s=gateway&sr=8-2-fkmrnull