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What were your growing up lessons?
By Carol / July 9, 2014 /
“Tuck in your shirt or you look look like a bum.” That’s a lesson my husband learned from his mom. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” That’s something my mother taught me.
We all carry life lessons we learned as we were growing up. Sometimes those lessons cross each other up because life is seldom black and white.
Lessons of life are one of the things I’m talking about with P.C. Zick on Author Wednesday at her blog Writing Whims. Here’s the start of the discussion. I hope you’ll join us for the rest.
Before you make the jump, what was a lesson you learned from your parents? Please share.
Author Wednesday – Carol Bodensteiner
Welcome to Author Wednesday. Today I’m pleased to introduce you to Carol Bodensteiner. Carol released her first novel, Go Away Home, this past month, and she’s stopped by to talk a little bit about writing this World War I-era novel set in rural eastern Iowa. Her first book, Growing Up Country, is a memoir of growing up in Iowa in the 1950s. It’s so nice to have you visit today, Carol. Congratulations on publishing your first novel. Tell us about Go Away Home.
What’s the one sentence pitch for this work of historical fiction?
Thanks for inviting me to Author Wednesday, P.C. Go Away Home is the story of a young woman’s quest for independence and the right to decide her own future set against a twentieth century backdrop when options for women were limited yet social change was occurring and the Great War was on the horizon.
What is the main message you wanted to convey in this novel?
Go Away Home explores the reality that life is not as simple, or the choices as clear-cut, as we often hope they are …
And don’t forget to leave a lesson!
One lesson my dad taught me, and I’ll write it in German (because that is how he told it to me) and then translate it: “Mann sagt immer die Wahrheit, aber alle Wahrheit sagt mann nicht.” Translated: One should always tell the truth, but one should not always tell ALL truth.
That’s a good one, Elfrieda. Very wise.