Here’s a link to the newsletter that I sent out yesterday to my mailing list.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Rose McCauley was one of my critique partners several years ago! Our group was struggling to get that elusive publishing contract! Well, last September, Rose received a nice surprise at ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) Conference! She received her very first book contract from Barbour for a Christmas novella! I received an email from Rose yesterday, telling me about her updated website and she’s also received her book cover! Isn’t it pretty?

Visit Rose’s website and her blog! Leave her a comment and congratulate her on her recent success! I especially like her tag line: Stories from small towns with huge hearts. I know it’s a bit into the future, but, when Autumn comes, if you see Rose’s book in Walmart or the bookstore, pick up a copy for yourself or give as a gift to a friend or family member! I look forward to reading her Christmas story! I’m sure it’s wonderful!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

My sister, an artist named Raquel Dowdy Stallworth, has started a blog entitled Easel And Plate. Stop by and check it out. Become a follower if you wish! 🙂

~Cecelia Dowdy~

I will be posting a book giveaway soon. Stop by over the next few days for details…

~Cecelia Dowdy~

I’m going off on a tangent. This post has nothing to do with Christian fiction or even secular fiction, per se. I just finished reading The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi . This is NOT THE VERSION THAT IS MOST FAMOUS VIA WALT DISNEY!!
SPOILERS BELOW!!!

I purchased the Kindle version of this book for only 99 cents, however, there is another Kindle version out there that’s free.

This book was written in Italian in 1881. It’s considered a classic and it’s a fairy tale. If you’ve read The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales, then you can get a taste for what Pinocchio is like because it’s very similar to those, except it’s much longer.

Wait a second. Do you enjoy Christian fiction? Give my books a try.  Now, back to Pinocchio!

This was a very dark story, and I wouldn’t be reading it to my five-year-old child. I think it might be appropriate for ages twelve and over.

I kept seeing things throughout the story that reminded me of the Bible. I’m not sure if that was the author’s intention, though. Pinocchio is a wooden puppet, created by his father, Geppetto. He keeps getting into mischief. For example, instead of going to school, he pawns his schoolbook for the fare to a puppet theater. Whenever he’s supposed to be doing something right, he ends up making the wrong decision. The blue fairy, who’s Pinocchio’s “adopted mother” always forgives Pinocchio for his mistakes (kind of made me think of how Christ forgives us whenever we mess up, no matter how many times). Throughout the tale, Pinocchio finds himself in various mishaps. He tries to find his poor father throughout the book, and Pinocchio’s conscience does get to him as time goes on. At first, he’s an ungrateful puppet, only wanting others to do as he pleases. When Pinocchio finds himself in the belly of a huge shark, near the end of the book, he ends up finding his father within the shark’s belly. They reunite, and manage to escape from this huge beast. That part of the story reminded me of Jonah being the belly of a whale.

Also, the theme of temptation and sin kept popping up, too. Pinocchio would try to do the right thing, but, something, or someone would appear tempting him to do wrong…and he usually did the WRONG thing. Kind of reminded me how, as humans, we can be easily tempted into sin, especially if we’re persuaded by those who have power over our minds.

This story was so DARK!! Pinocchio gets hit with a whip, he’s hung from a tree and almost dies. The blue fairy rescues him from the tree hanging around the middle of the book.

I also noticed the subject of hunger kept popping up. Pinocchio spoke often of being hungry, and he was a lazy puppet! He didn’t want to work for food, and wanted others to bow to his command. It was quite sickening after awhile.

He discovers he wants to be a real boy around the middle of the story. The Blue Fairy promises Pinocchio that he can become a real boy, but, before she can make it happen, Pinocchio, messes up again, not making the right decision. He’s forgiven and changed into a real boy at the end.

Have you read this book, or any other ORIGINAL fairy tales? What do you think of these unusual stories? Usually, people think about Disney’s sanitized versions of these dark, haunting tales…

Update 6/11/2021 – Amazon Prime – I viewed the Italian movie, Pinocchio. From what I can recall, this movie followed the book. You should give the movie a try, especially if you don’t feel like reading the novel!
~Cecelia Dowdy~

I plan on posting a book giveway later this week. You may win a box of Christmas books! 🙂 Check back later for details…

~Cecelia Dowdy~

I’m blogging over at Writers’ Rest today about the movie Inception! Come on over!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Photo use courtesy of photographer Filomena Scalise

I went to a woman’s conference at my church yesterday and the event focused on the needs of millions of children around the world. I’ve been seeing this need mentioned on a few other blogs, too. Over 2 million deaths per year are caused by unsafe drinking water. Over a billion people don’t have access to clean water – they sometimes have to travel a long way to get their water and the water that they do get is full of parasites and it’s just dirty! Causelife is an organization that’s trying to provide clean drinking water to people around the world. Take a look at their site and consider donating if you’re able. I did give at yesterday’s women’s conference.

I’m not sure if this young man, Brian Garcia’s, testimony will be of interest to the readers of this blog. This man’s story resonated with me because of my background with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Feel free to watch the video here. I really enjoyed watching this so wanted to mention it to you.

I can’t get the Giants/Nephilim out of my mind. I’ve already blogged about them twice, and I keep thinking about those giant grapes!

One blog reader commented that the fruits and vegetables were much bigger a long time ago and that I needed to study archeological anthropology to come across this fact. I think I’ll do that and see what I can find! I’ll let you know what I come across!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

My sister works at the Discovery Channel in Silver Spring and I was worried, shocked, and horrified and I found out about an armed man, James Lee, had entered the building and had fired a few shots and took hostages. It also appeared that he was strapped with bombs. My sister called me quietly from her office, leaving me a voicemail stating that they were in lockdown. My heart was beating hard and I was sweating hard as I prayed and called people that I knew. I was relieved when she called me about ten minutes later and said that they’d exited the building.

I’m glad the whole situation is over. It was just a bit too close to home for me! 🙁

~Cecelia Dowdy~

We’re getting ready to send our child to school this Monday. It’ll be his first day of kindergarten and we’ve been buying uniforms and supplies. We’re still not done with all of our purchases. If you recall, on this blog post, we grappled with sending our son to public or private school. We decided to send him to a private Christian school. I tried to talk to the public school about the curriculum and to the new kindergarten teacher….but all I got was the runaround! 🙁

I was already having trouble with the public school and our son wasn’t even enrolled yet! I couldn’t imagine what would happen once he was a student – I was already frustrated enough! 🙁

So far, I’m pleased that this school has answered my questions and has shown me their curriculum. I was satisfied with what my son would be learning during his first year of school. His first day is this Monday, August 23.

I have some books that I need to review for this blog. I’ll be doing that soon.

~Cecelia Dowdy~