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Tuesday, September 3, 2019

IWSG Post_The Hidden Pennies Indy Book Effect



When Annie Dillard was six growing up in Pittsburgh, 

she used to take a precious penny and hide it for someone else to find.

She would cradle it at the roots of a sycamore or 

in the hole left by a chipped out piece of sidewalk or some other hidden place.

Then, she would take a piece of chalk and draw huge arrows leading to it from either end of the block.

When she learned to write, little Annie would label the arrows: 

SURPRISE AHEAD or TREASURE.

As she would draw the arrows, 

she would be greatly excited at the thought of the look on the happy face of the lucky discoverer of her precious penny.


She would never lurk about waiting to see who it was.

It was enough just to know of the pleasure she was giving some lucky stranger.


And her imagination provided much more pleasure than the actual reality of seeing those faces I would suppose.

 Life is like that




How many lonely people do we pass 

that believe that they have drawn obvious arrows to the hidden treasure that they are?

Do they wonder why no one finds them?

Each person in our lives is a hidden penny ...

precious like Annie's penny, for they are all they possess of worth.

In a similar fashion, even our least read Indy Book

can become a needful Hidden Penny

to a browsing reader who finds surcease or solace in our hardly read book.

So, writer feeling unappreciated, take Heart:
  
Your book may prove a balm 
to a lonely soul.
 


“All great and precious things are lonely.”
- John Steinbeck

Have You Ever Been 
A Hidden Penny?


16 comments:

  1. That's a really great sentiment, Roland.

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    1. We may feel we touch no one with our books, but who knows if someone who needs a boost the most will find it in our words, right?

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  2. Replies
    1. Thank you so much for that. :-) May this terrible heat let up on both of us. I am in the state next to you: Louisiana.

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  3. SO very true. There is much loneliness around us. Just a smile, nod or a word can make a day be better for someone.

    Great post!
    Teresa

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    1. Ripples of random kindnesses make the world a better place, right?

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  4. What a clever little girl. Everyone is a special penny.

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    1. If we only take the time to really look. Emerson wrote that it was not what we looked at that mattered but what we saw. Thanks for visiting

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  5. This took my heart, Rowland. What a beautiful story, and how lovely your thoughts that sprang from it. Speaking of Indies, I met a reviewer for coffee the other day. For some reason he likes my books, so we've become friends. I told him about your stories. He wrote down your name and a couple of titles, so I hope he reads, loves and reviews you. He's an avid reader who reads widely and likes new concepts. Yay!

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    1. I thought each of us needs to know how often we might influence those of whom we know nothing. :-)

      And what a lovely thing for you to do with that reviewer, Lee! You are a champion friend. I hope he does like my books. And if not, well suffering builds character, so at least I gave him something! :-)

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  6. This is so lovely and equally sad. I love hiding things for my grandkids to find, you've inspired me to do more. Happy writing!

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    1. Doreen, I can almost hear your grandchildren's giggles. :-)

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