Welcome to the Viola Shipman Heirloom Newsletter!
Announcing news about my new novel, our new Viola Shipman Spring Gift Line as well as upcoming appearances!
SPRING 2024 ISSUE
News from Viola!
HAPPY SPRING!
I hope spring has sprung in your area, flowers are blooming and temperatures are warming. Our family is sure enjoying spring and had a blessed Easter!
BIG BOOK NEWS!
I just signed a new three-book deal with HarperCollins! LOTS of books coming!
And I just completed edits on my brand new novel, THE PAGE TURNER, which will publish April 2025! I cannot wait to share more about this deeply personal and very special novel in the coming months!
Have you caught up on your Viola reading? I have twelve Viola Shipman novels. If you haven’t read them all, now is the time to catch up!
You can check out all my books on my website!
OUR NEW SPRING GIFT LINE IS OUT! GREAT GIFTS FOR A GREAT CAUSE!
We just launched our new "Spring Fling" gift line in conjunction with Urban Vine, the nonprofit we work with who employs workers on the spectrum. Proceeds go back to Urban Vine to provide these incredible souls a purpose, job and community. Your support truly makes a difference in the lives of those on the margins!
I hope you will shop to celebrate spring AND a good cause! Click HERE or on the link below to shop (and please spread the word!):
https://urban-vine.com/collections/viola-shipman-s-tea-time
KITE TEA TOWEL
This is THE towel inspired by the one at my Grandma's house! This towel features a quote from THE CHARM BRACELET. Quote and art is embroidered by Urban Vine's own son, Noah. The McLeod Classic Country Tea Towel is 100% Cotton and measures a generous 20"x 28".
GARY'S GORGEOUS ARTWORK!
(Hydrangea Gift Cards, Insect Series & Spring Has Sprung Greeting Card/Magnet Set)
Gary Edwards created a spring set of hand drawings celebrating nature and flowers using oil chalk pastels. These are greeting cards, but can also be framed as beautiful, inexpensive artwork in your home (that's what we do!).
Hydrangea Gift Cards are 4x6 & include five with envelopes (quote inside is from The Heirloom Garden: "The hydrangeas remind us to be colorful!")
Insect Series are 5x7 and include quotes from a variety of Viola novels and five different images/cards: Bee, moth, butterfly, dragonfly and ladybug.
Spring Has Sprung Greeting Card/Magnet Gift Set was created by Gary during our Easter craft show! Features a Viola quote (Shimmer, Sparkle, Shine!) inside the 5x7 card plus a bonus gift, 2x3.5 magnet.
VIOLA CORK BOOKMARKS
Beautiful, embroidered bookmarks designed and created by Amy's son, Noah. Pressed cork in two different color options, backed with soft, white felt. The perfect gift for you or the book lover in your life!
MICHIGAN CHERRY ALMOND SPOON SET
This adorable cherry spoon was created by Hannah Joy Spectrum Design. This is paired with two single serve bags of tea (Michigan Cherry Almond & Friends Four-Ever Green Tea).
CHERRY NOTEPAD WITH RED CHERRY PEN
Click the link to check out how cute this is! This whimsical notepad — which includes a red cherry pen — was created in honor of Erma Bombeck & sold like crazy at the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop! Features humorous, touching quotes from Wade & Erma!
LAND THE PLANE, GERALDINE!
STICKERS & MAGNETS
My mother was a true Southern storyteller. She never met a period or comma in her life. She could tell stories that lasted for DAYS. My father, Ted (note the nametag in the photo online!) a chemical engineer, would get so annoyed that he would storm out of the room and yell from another, “LAND THE PLANE, GERALDINE!” Every time I tell this story, people wanted that phrase on something ... here you go!
HANDCRAFTED TEAS (Loose leaf & Bagged)
Urban Vine is know for its organic, handcrafted teas! Lavender, peppermint, elderberry, blueberry, green to black. Options include caffeinated and non-caffeinated. Michigan Almond, Ozark Pearls & Lemon Lavender make a great Iced Tea!
My Erma Bombeck Speech & Upcoming Events!
I had the distinct pleasure of being the closing keynote speaker at the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop. Erma was a huge influence on my life and writing growing up in the Ozarks in the 1970s, and I remember my mother and grandmother reading her column, At Wit’s End, in our local paper. After a long week of work, they would pull up chairs to my grandma’s pink Formica table, pour two cups of coffee and read her column together. I remember watching their faces lift, lips curls, and, eventually, they would bust out laughing. I thought that if I could make those I love — and didn’t even know — smile or laugh, boy, it would be the greatest job in the world. My grandma ended up buying me an aquamarine Selectric typewriter so I could write like Erma, and one of the first things I ever wrote was a letter to Erma telling her how much my mom and grandma loved her, and how I dreamed of being just like her. She actually wrote me back, sending an autographed picture and a note that read, “Keep writing, laughing and believing, Wade.”
It was fortuitous advice. I also shared how, in my rural middle school talent contest, I made the horrific mistake of singing DELTA DAWN (the Tanya Tucker version, of course!) – while holding a faded rose, no less – in front of a crowd that made the fellas from Deliverance look like the Jonas Brothers. I was essentially heckled off stage.
I ran off that rickety runway directly to my mom and grandma and yelled at them, “How could you let me humiliate myself like that?” My grandma said to me, very calmly, “No one should ever stand in the way of you being you.”
As if they knew I were going to bomb, they had gifts waiting to ease my pain: A little, leather writing journal and a copy of Erma Bombeck's The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank. Inside, my grandma had inscribed, “Keep writing, laughing and believing, Wade!" just as Erma had written to me, One of the highlights of Erma (and there were many) was when the audience serenaded me with DELTA DAWN during my closing keynote address, proving EVERYTHING I had just talked about in my speech: We must overcome the fear that holds us back and is present everyday to become the people we were meant to be, and unconditional love can change the world. And then they gave me a standing ovation!
UPCOMING APPEARANCES
I have a number of special speaking engagements this year. As more are scheduled, I will add them to my website, which you can check out here!
***SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 4:00 p.m. ET***
Midwest Literary Walk, Chelsea, Michigan
Chelsea First United Methodist Church | 128 Park St.
Serendipity Books selling books; signing after event
***THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 7:00 p.m. ET***
Romeo Reads 2024!
An Evening of The Recipe Box!
Squirreled Away Books selling books
***THURSDAY, MAY 23, 7:00 p.m. ET***
How Libraries, Books & My Grandma Saved My Life
Iosco-Arenac District Library and the Tawas City Library Friends
Tawas Bay Playhouse (small auditorium venue)
401 Newman Street - East Tawas, MI 48730, United States
FREE! For more info, call: 989-362-2651
***THURSDAY, MAY 30, 6:00 p.m. ET***
An Evening with Viola Shipman
The Riviera Theatre
Sponsored by the Three Rivers Public Library
Lowry's Books & More selling books
FREE!
Get your tickets HERE!!
***MONDAY, JUNE 3, 7:00 p.m. ET***
An Evening of Heartwarming Tales with Viola Shipman
The Ideal Theatre, 607 N. McEwan Street - Clare, Michigan 48617
Tickets are $15 and can be purchased HERE!
Sleepy Dog Books selling books
***SATURDAY, AUGUST 3***
100th Anniversary of the Coast Guard Festival
Riding in parade sponsored by The Book Cellar
***MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 6:30 p.m. ET***
Farmington Community Library
32737 W. 12 Mile Road - Farmington Hills, Michigan 48334
Book Beat selling books
WINE & WORDS WITH WADE!
Tune in to Wine & Words with Wade on the Viola Shipman Facebook Page
every Thursday at 6:30pm ET. It's one of the longest-running author podcasts (now in its fourth year), and a great way for us to stay connected. This spring and summer, we look forward to introducing you to some wonderful author guests, including RaeAnne Thayne, Katrina Kittle, Heather Webber and so many more!
P.S. We are also planning more fun-filled Viola Shipman Readers’ Weekends that take you behind the gorgeous settings of my novels and show you my inspiration and favorite places! The perfect vacation for book lovers! One will be in Palm Springs (the setting for THE SECRET OF SNOW) in March 25-29,2025.
E-mail gary@violashipman.com if you want to sign up or receive early information.
Now, let's sing it together to celebrate spring!
Delta Dawn,
What's that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
XOXO!
Wade, as I click on the various events being held in Michigan related to your books I am beginning to see that you are a hometown hero there! I especially love Romeo Reads 2024 where the libraries have created numerous events related to The Recipe Box! This is not the first time I have wished I lived in Michigan so I could attend these events! I hope there is something special I can attend this year that will feed my soul the way our trip to Frankenmuth did last fall! xoxo
Congratulations on all of the wonderful news!