Lee Roddy’s Blog

I continue to be amazed at the number of people from at least 25 foriegn countries who log onto my blog. I’m dellighted to hear from some of them, such as the following letter from a woman in Germany.

She read the German translation of my “An American Adventure” series when she 10 or 11 years old. Her first letter to my website said she had vainly looked for 10 years or so  to find the books so she could re-read  them.  I hope you enjoy reading her second  letter, both of which she wrote in English.

Dear Mr. Roddy:

Thanks a lot for your reply, which made me very happy. It’s a great feeling to know that someone who wrote a story that  meant a lot of me in one time of your life actually takes notice of your existing.

What you said about books influencing lives is true, and it shows in this case, too. How many books have we read which just passed by and we never remember them any more?

And then are books  – like the ones you wrote - which I remember fondly years later, despite the fact I never owned them myself and thus didn’t just see them by chance in the shelf to remember. (That was also my main problem about finding them again.)

I didn’t remember your name, and most the character’s names are spelled differently in the German verrsion, or renamed.

I remember them because they drew me in when I read them. These are the books that truly mean something to me.

Yes, I am writing, fiction,  too, and I hope to be able to publish something sooner  or later. For now,  I’m writing  for the story, for the  pleasure of writing and for the experience  of exploring the world of the story and the  characters that live inside them.

And I sure do hope that maybe one time, the things I wrote draw someone into  the story and the characters that live inside them. 

Also, I’m very glad to say that I found a copy of “Overland Escape,” (translated backfrom German , the title would be “Two Escaping”) on Ebay  from a seller who would also ship them overseas. I’m looking forward to receiving the book and rereading it, and meeting  the old characters again- and in English this time.

Yes, of course you may put my email on your blog. Than ks a lot for your email. It truly brightened my day.

Charlotte Engels

This entry malfunctioned during posting, so I have to rewrite it. I’d appreciate your paience while that’s done.

Here’s a email that sprinkled sunshine and roses on my day:

Dear Lee:

I can still remember the first day I picked up your book, “Cry of Courage,”  in the “Between Two Flags” series. I was eleven and it was the first deries I truly ever got into. It was that book which first started me on a life of writing (the main character wrote and for some reason it finally clicked that I wanted to as well) and sparked a passion for reading.

I am not quite sure why it was that particular book that did so, but it did. I can still remember begging my mom to take me to the Christian book store so I could see if a new book had come out. Every year I waited to see what happened to Emily, Gideon and Nat. Even when I had outgrown the series I still looked forward to reading them and searched them out.

When I finished reading the last book, “Risking the Dream,” I contined to look for more books (feeling as if the book left me hanging), but it never came. For years it it has plagued me, wondering what happened.

I have graduated college with a bachelors in English and am studying to be a children’s libarian. I have literally read countless books (childern’s books being my forte,), but even with that, I still want to know what happened at the end of that beloved series that started so much for me.

I know I sound crazy, but it is something that has nagged at me every  time I think of those books. I have never had this problem before, and I do so much respect you and your writing. I suppose I am writing you this on the slim hope that perhaps you had intended to write more and because of the popularity of the books or perhaps some other project took presidence  -  you never returned to finish.

Whatever the case, would you please email me some closure, if you could. If not, I  understand, you are very busy man, and I do not wish to inconvenience you; but if you could, I think it could give my mind some relief.

I am so sorry this comment was very long, but I thoughI would thank ou for the series as is, and hope for some closure. Thank you for your time and the Lord bless you.

Melody Williams

* * *

Melody, and all of you who have written to say pretty much the same thing  about wanting to complete the series, book, here’s the explanation; I originally proposed this as a ten book series,  the publisher only wanted six. Then they sold out to a house that only does nonfiction. About five years ago I resold the reprint rigthts to another house on a contract which covered 40 of my award-winning juvenile series. I have been unable to get them to reprint the six original flag under contract. The house did’nt want 10 books, so I condensed my planned four remaining books into one wrap-up. I completely outlined it, showing what happens to each of the principal characters through the end of the war and in later life. But so far, no sale. It’s a moving story, even if I do say so myself, but nothing has happened, saleswise. However, your letter about “that beloved series” has prompted me to consider some options which give me hope. I’ll let you know how those develop.

Dear Lee:

I can still rememer the first day I picked up your book, “{Cry of Courage,” in the “BetweenTwo Flags” series. I was elevent and it was the firt series I truly very go into.

It was that book which first sarted me on a life ofwiting (the main characte wrote and for some reason, it really clicked that I want too as well) and sparked a

Dec.. 27, 2009

I don’t make New Year Resolutions, but annually I do try  to visualize what lies ahead and strive to achieve what I think I should. I invite you to  share your thoughts on this topic.

In a way, this blog is is a bully pulpit because it gets  hundreds of visits from the United States and many foreign countries. A posting here is a way to reach far beyond what most of us ordinary people could do in the past. Naturally, I favor comments that help other visitors have a better life because of something you and I might write.

For decades, in my teaching aspiring writers how to break into print, I urged them to follow an acrostic I created: OPNAD, which means Other People’s Needs and Desires. My goal for this blog in the months ahead is to try finding ways to help and encourage visitors to find answers to questions that threaten their tomorrows.

People are looking for answers in many places. Some find answers in church, but many of them have low attendance. That  indicates the absentees are searching elsewhere. Drug use is so rampant that many users vainly seek escape from reality there, but the end price is very high.

Still others search in many places, but often the answer doesn’t reside in places or things, but inside a person’s own heart and mind. It seems many people are unable to accept and act on that truth. They need help, encouragement and to be lifted up, if only by words.

 I am blessed to be a happy, fulfilled man with a wonderful family and friends. But I have had my share of wilderness experiences, so I have known pain and hard times. How about you?

I’d like to know what you plan to do differently next year than you did  this.  If this blog can be helpful in that way, it will focus on that.  After all, what good is a bully pulpit if it’s not used? 

Are you finding the suppport and encouragement needed in your life? If not, what are you going to do about changing that so you have what’s now missing?  I invite you to share how you found fulfillment in your life. Conversely,  if you are not there yet, what do you think it will take to get you there?

I’ve been blessed by seeing many Christmases and I hope to see many more. They  help me to remember that, in spite of the overwhelming emphaisis on gifts and commercialism, it’’s really about the birth of the Christ child.

This morning, as I have done for 40 or more years, I  prepared to re-read the accounts of this world-touching event recorded in  the books of  Matthew and Luke. In the next several days, I will daily read re-read  both accounts from start to finish. I invite you to join me in reading some of the stirring words available to us.

In my newspaper days, every year I tried to practice the old saying, “It is  better to light one  candle than to curse the darkness.” I did that to refresh the minds of readers who do not normally open a Bible, were  too busy, or have other reasons why they did not  take time to recall this part of their heritage.

As a person who made a living many years with words, I was always honored to remind newsper readers to notice how beautifully Luke wrote this story. He was master at presenting the events surrounding the birth of the Christ child. Oh, that I could write like that!

I still choke up when I read Luke’s magnificent prose, and reflect on what it means. I welcome you in  joining  me in reading both Matthew and Luke’s  glorious  stories from now until Chrirstmas. You might want to keep reading.

Whether you read those accounts or not, my prayer for you is that you have a joyous Christmas in the true spirit of the event, and you welcome the new year in faith and hope.

I’m writing this after an inspiring trip to Washington, DC, and Gettysburg, Pennslyvania.  On 10-17-09, my wife and I celebrated our 62nd wedding anniversary with cups of airline coffee during a two-hour delay, waiting for the United Airlines flight to leave Sacramento for the Washington/Dulles Airport.

I have already blogged about what an incredible woman I married, so if you want to re–read that, it’s in the archives under Blog#2, Noble Wife.

It was our first trip to the nation’s capital and Gettysburg, but Steve, our school teacher son, had traveled to both places before, so he accompanied us and greatly enriched our experience.

 I  had long wanted to visit both  areas,  especially so now that I’m well into writing another Civil War novel.

To help add authentic details to my story, I needed to walk where my fictitious characters walked;  to mentally live as they lived, and to feel what they felt in their anguished times of bloody war that started graves in Arlington where  more than 345 thousand are now buried. I needed to sit in Ford’s Theater and hear the single shot from the box where President Lincoln was assassinated just days after the war ended.

I got that and more, along with sudden lumps in my throat and tears that seeped, unbidden, under my eye lids. I pray that the emotions I felt there can be transfered to the printed page so my readers may vicariously share what real people did in that horrble conflict between the states.

To better appreciate our American heritage, I urge everyone who has not been to Washington DC , Arlington National Cemetery and the Gettysburg Battlefield to put them on a ‘must do” wish list — and then to work hard to make it happen.

Oct. 1, 2009

I am inspired to keep writing and teaching when I receive emails like these:

From a fomer student:

“Lee, it’s been over 20 years since I listened to you at the Professionalism Writing Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I’ve never forgotten the impact you made on me. In fact, your words, OPNAD — Other People’s Needs and Desires –is in cross-stitch hanging above my computer.

“I am writing a series of columns on writing for children for a web site, The Dabbling Mom. I would like permission to quote you from my notes at that conference.

“Since the years at those workshops, I have had success in the adult market. I am stepping up my effort in (writing for children) as it is my first love in writing.” Arline Chandler: www.arlinechandler.com.

Answer: I am happy to have Arline quote me.

From someone who likes my historical novels:

“I was just wondering if there was any update on the Between Two Flags series? I have been anxiously waiting for the of the story for years. Any progress in getting them in print?” Sharon Barshinger, who also quoted Isaiah 55-6-7.

Answer: Mott Media, the publisher holding reprint contracts for the first six novels, has not scheduled them. I have fully outlined the seventh and last book which shows what happened to the main characers  at war’s end and beyond.

From a Canadian Christian school librarian:

“For the return to school, I have D.J. Dillon and the Ladd Family Adventures featured on a counter-top display. There isn’t a day that goes by that those books are not either being checked out or coming back in, only to go out again almost immediately.Thanks for your contribution in good reading for our students!” Michelle Droogendyk, Rehoboth Library <library@rehoboth.on.c.

Answer: I’m delighted. I would love to hear from other school librarians about how they are using my books.

Discolvery: You may want to check out a new search engine, www.bing.com, where you’ll find an additional source of information including quite a bit about Lee Roddy Books.

It is letters like those above, and a new search engine, that inspire me to keep writing and teaching.

I was really pleased and surprised when Cicely showed me that my blog had recorded nearly 500 visitors on Sunday, Sept. 13th.  I have been so busy that I had not changed the contents since April.  I had strong reasons for having failed to keep my blog current.

Basically, Cicely and I have been on work overload for years and that must be lightened.  We are giving up some projects to focus on unfinished ones. From now on, I will try to frequently change my blog except when I’m traveling.

Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time to every purpose under heaven. Cicely and I are in transition from yesterday’s purpose to now and the immediate future. These involve serving you with our gifts of writing and teaching.

We sold our rural area house after 20 wonderful years there and moved into town where there is public transportation. Our new domicile is small but big enough for what we want to do. I primarily plan to focus on  finishing some partly written novels and replace some business travel with more on-line possibillities.

That will be assisted by something new from Amazon. Although they have always carried my books, they have now started an Authors Page where all writers with books in Amazon’s catalog will have their works together in one place. Presently, seven pages there are devoted to my works. A photo, author profile and other germane items will be added as I have time.

I’m pleased with the cooperation I’ve received so far in helping get my page up and running. They’re open to suggestions, so I hope they will accept my upcoming ones. I urge you to check out this site and give me your feedback. Here’a the link Amazon gave me.

http://amazon.com/-/e/B001HMPGFY

I  think that most of us do not realize the power each has to reach beyond our own homes and touch others who live in such countries as South Africa, Australia and Canada. I am struggling to understand how to  most effectively use the Internet, so I invite you to help me learn so that not only will we benefit, but so will others in far away places.

You use the Internet to contact me, just as women did recently from South Africa, Australia and Canada. I don’t exclude the 23 other foreign countries where viewers responded to my web site and those of you write from many states in the Union. But I have a special

purpose in focusing on distant countries, like South Africa. It may be something you will want to investigate for yourself.

I  received three emails from Nicoleen (Nicky) Dickinson, the librarian at Domino Servite School at Kwasizabaantu Mission in South Africa. She wrote in part, “Our school is 90 percent underprivileged Zulu children coming from very rural homes.”

 Nicky declared that these young readers enjoy my books so,much that they contininue re-reading them even through they are falling apart.” She added, “We are really trusting God for stock and resources.: (Read more of her letters elsewhere on this web site.)

I asked Nicky for a mission statement, then I looked at their website and decided I would invite you blog readers to consider whether you might want to investigate the possibility of some organaization (to which you belong) helping meet the reading needs of students in this  school. They want carefully screened books for their Christian-based environment. If you would like to know more, contact Nicoleen (Nicky) Dicksion by email: nicoleend@anazi.co.za..

The power in story is a theme that Al Janssen speaks about at writers’ conferences and other places. When I first heard Al teach this great truth, he was head of the publishing department at Focus the Family which produced many of my books. Al, now with Open Doors, inspired me to adapt his premise in my own teaching. I believe you will benefit from knowing a little more about how you can unlock the power of story in ways you may not have thought about.

God used stories to tell us about Adam and Eve and a host of other Old Testament personalities and what we can learn from their narratives. Jesus taught in parables. Abraham Lincoln made his points by telling simple stories. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the first novel to sell a million copies. Lincoln reportedly said when he met her, “So you’re the little woman who started this big war.” I don’t believe that, but it does illustrate the power in a story.

Television advertisements frequently sell products by a short drama. Parents commonly put their young children to bed by reading or telling them a story.

I have written more than 50 novels with the primary purpose of entertaining. If the reader is not entertained, he or she will not keep reading. But each of my stories wraps around a kernel of truth that has power beyond any I personally have.

A couple of quick examples: A boy wrote me that he didn’t believe reading a book could change his life, but one of my stories changed his. An attached note from his mother confirmed that her son’s life really had changed since reading that book.

A Christian school teacher told me that every year when she reads one of my books aloud, she gives students an opportunity to change their lives, and many had done so.

I invite you to send me a true story that made a difference in your life. I may share it with our visitors, many of whom live beyond our national borders.