North Carolina’s rich heritage includes the geneses of many well-known and much-loved food products, the likes of which have earned us serious bragging rights. But, as gracious Southerners, we let the food speak for itself instead. Keep reading to learn more about famous brands born in the Tar Heel State, and to find out how I incorporated each of them into my book, Grace & Lavender.  
 
Pepsi-Cola:  Invented in New Bern, NC (Craven County) in 1893 by Caleb Bradham, who made and sold it at his drugstore. The name Pepsi-Cola was first used in 1898.

Georgia may have that other cola favorite, but we're proud this world-famous product got its start on our coast.

Fun fact: New Bern is the second-oldest colonial town in North Carolina.
 
Cheerwine: A cherry-flavored soft drink made by Carolina Beverage Corporation of Salisbury, NC (Rowan County) since 1917. This unique soda is sold across the Southeast, but is best known in the Carolinas and Virginia. The company also markets Cheerwine flavored ice cream, sherbet, and cream bars, sold mainly in Food Lion supermarkets (also referenced in the book), which is based in Salisbury as well.

Fun fact: Rowan County is also home of the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer.
 
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts: Founded in Winston-Salem, NC (in my county of Forsyth) in 1937, in a rented building located in what is now historic Old Salem. While Krispy Kreme was sold to a Luxembourg-based company in 2016, Winston-Salem remains the World Headquarters and home of the Krispy Kreme Support Center. Corporate operations moved to Charlotte, NC in December 2017.

Fun fact: The influence of the Moravian settlers who established the town of Salem is evidenced, in part, by the many active Moravian congregations in Winston-Salem today. The motto of the Moravian Church is: "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, love."
 
Texas Pete: A Louisiana-style hot sauce developed and manufactured by the TW Garner Food Company in Winston-Salem, NC. Texas Pete was introduced in 1929 by Sam Garner, operator of the Dixie Pig barbecue stand in Winston-Salem. (Some people here enjoy Texas Pete on everything! I've seen it doused on pizza and scrambled eggs.)
 
Fun fact: A hint about the location of the fictional town of Springville, NC in my book, comes from the quote, “The best hot sauce in the world is made just down the road.”
 
Mount Olive Pickle Company: Founded in the mid 1920s in Mount Olive, NC (Wayne County). The company's primary product is pickled cucumbers, but it also supplies canned peppers and relishes, and other pickled products. Mt. Olive is the largest independent pickle company in the United States. The company employs over 500 people, and as many as 800 during the busiest intake season each summer.

Fun fact: On New Year's Eve, Mt. Olive Pickle Company drops a three-foot pickle down a flagpole into a pickle tank, but at 7 p.m. instead of midnight.

One of the most fun parts of publishing my first book has been the cover design process. When I opened the initial email from Hannah, Creative Director at Ambassador International, I was so excited! She sent me some great concepts, then we worked together to decide on the right cover for "Grace & Lavender." I thought it would be fun to show you the covers that I didn't select and explain why.

The vision I originally gave Hannah was for a store front, where the title would be the name of the store on the window. I envisioned it like a painting rather than a photograph. I told her I preferred not to use faces on the cover, because I wanted the reader to come up with their own ideas of how the characters look. I also gave her an awesome photograph of the Blue Ridge Mountains, taken by my friend Keith Sidden, who is an outdoor enthusiast and a great photographer/videographer (check out his Instagram), and I asked if it could be used on the back cover of the book.

The first option she sent was a store front textured to look more like a painting and colorized a lavender tint. What I didn't notice at first, is that she had taken the photograph of the mountains that I'd sent and made it a reflection in the store window. This was a really cool concept, but it didn't do the photograph justice and the store front was not like the one described in the book.  (Unfortunately, we weren't able to use the mountain photo on the back cover either.)

At the same time she sent Option #1, she sent me Option #2 below. This is a very attractive cover, but there were two things not right about it. The girl does not look like the character Grace--who is smaller and has straight, dark hair--and, in the story, Grace never visits a lavender field.

I liked how she used a tag for the background of the title, and she actually managed to get the photo of the mountains on the tag, too! (But it still just didn't do the photo justice.)

I liked the lavender field and the tag concept of Option #2, and I mentioned possibly making the scene brighter, maybe with some sky. and making the field more dimensional. Option #3 below was very close! She put an arrangement of lavender in the foreground and the open field in the background. And it had sky which brightened up the look. But the tag didn't feel like a "boutique" soap store to me. It needed some touching up. 

She also sent Option #4 with lots of sky and an awesome embellishment around the title. I'd sent her something similar that I liked from another book, and she delivered on it! But one problem was that the image is from a lavender field in France, not the foothills of North Carolina. The mountains were pretty, but they weren't "my" mountains.

Finally, we arrived at the cover image that is soon going to press! The tag used for the title background is perfect, and she even made the little string wrap around to the back of the book. The Blue Ridge are in the background and given a purplish tint.  I love it!

There are lots of directions we could have gone with cover images, but I am very pleased with my first book cover, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with for the cover of "Where I Was Planted", which will be in the Creative Design phase soon!

There's a lot of talk right now about "things" that bring you joy. Thanks to Ms. Kondo, people everywhere are soul-searching and coming to the realization that less is more. While I seriously need to declutter, my coffee mug collection won't be going anywhere. Because, silly as it may sound, they make me happy.

As a disclaimer, this isn't a devotional post. It's a just-for-fun post. But I can't pass up the opportunity to say that material things may make me happy, but Jesus is the true giver of joy. "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Psalms 16:11 (Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post.)

I currently have nine mugs in my collection. I don't seek out new ones, but I'm sure more will eventually be added. There are some mugs in my house that aren't part of the collection, because they aren't special. They're just mugs. 

Because these are special to me, I'd like to share them with you. Aside from the fact that I really, really love coffee, and I'm grateful for any vehicle that brings it to my mouth, I love each of these for different reasons.

Let me tell you about them, in no particular order:

There you have it. My nine special mugs. I decide which one to use each day based on my mood (and which ones are clean.) I probably reach for my bird mugs the most.

Much of myself comes out in my book characters. So it's no surprise that many of them drink coffee. I'll leave you with this excerpt from 'Grace & Lavender'. Thanks for reading!
 
"Colleen took another long sip from a coffee mug she had used for over twenty years. It was white with World’s Best Mom on it in large, black letters. Coffee was another of the many things for which she was truly and sincerely grateful. Coffee, a good book, perfect four-part harmony, the sight of the first crocuses in spring- Colleen had an aptitude for recognizing simple joys. And despite her longings, it could never be said that she wasn’t satisfied with what she’d been given or wasn’t grateful for everything she had."

Join the scavenger hunt to see the full cover of Chad Pettit's “Fate of the Watchman” and also look for clues to win a $10 Barnes and Noble egiftcard and a free digital pre-release ebook of “Fate of the Watchman”!

This post is stop #5 on the Cover Reveal Scavenger Hunt for “Fate of the Watchman”,  a novella from fellow Ambassador International author Chad Pettit. The book releases on October 1, 2018 and will be followed by Chad's second full-length novel “Fate of the Redeemed” {release date TBD}.

Please read the details below carefully. The hunt begins August 30, 2018, at Reading is My Superpower (www.readingismypower.org) and ends on September 7, 2018, at Chad Pettit's site where he'll reveal the cover for his book! (Keep reading for a teaser of the cover!) There are 9 stops on this scavenger hunt, and you will find a CLUE IN RED at each stop.

This is your clue here at stop #5:  "WHO

Your next stop is the website for author Allison Wells,  www.allisonwellswrites.com.

Write all your clues down as you find them! When you find all nine, unscramble and enter the clues into the giveaway entry form (link below). The giveaway will remain open until September 9, 11:59pm EST. Winner is subject to eligibility verification and will be notified within 24 hours of the giveaway ending and has 48 hours to respond before an alternate winner is selected. No purchase is necessary and this promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Instagram or Facebook.

Thanks so much for stopping by my site and participating in the “Fate of the Watchman” Cover Reveal Scavenger Hunt and Giveaway. 

Who is Chad?
Chad Pettit grew up in Oregon with books and the mountains to help his imagination grow. After high school, he spent ten years in the Army, travelling and deploying all over the world, including two combat tours in Iraq. After the military, Chad earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Texas A&M University-Central Texas, and then he started teaching English at an early college high school in central Texas. Chad currently serves in a local church as a deacon and the Sunday school superintendent.

What is “Fate of the Watchman”?
Lester Sharp is a workaholic, obsessed with the success of his business and oblivious to the world around him. All of that changes when a peculiar stranger comes into his shop asking for food and help. Lester soon finds himself on an impossible journey around the world to bear witness to some of the greatest tragedies a person can know, all frozen in a single moment of time. In this challenging and gripping novel, debut author Chad Pettit, delivers a supernatural, pulse-pounding adventure in which Lester Sharp is in for the longest second of his life and learns lessons to last a lifetime.

For more information about Chad Pettit & “Fate of the Watchman” visit:
Website: www.chadpettit.net
Twitter: @pettit_chad
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChadPettit.Writer
Instagram: chad_pettit_

For more information about Ambassador International please visit:
Website: www.ambassador-international.com
Twitter and Instagram: @AmbassadorIntl
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AmbassadorIntl