Acclaimed Author Talks About Tipping And Her Lottery Wishlist

Author Jennifer Beckstrand with family. Photo

For fiction writer Jennifer Beckstrand, author of Huckleberry Hill, an Amish romance, there were three things she would do if she won the lottery. She told USA Today she would:

* Leave a big tip. After a lovely evening of fine or not-so-fine dining, haven't you always wanted to leave your server a big tip? I'm talking a wow-look-at-what-that-old-lady-at-table-15-left-me kind of tip. I've always wanted to do that, just to make someone deliriously happy. If I won the lottery, I'd go out to eat every night and leave $1,000 tips, even at In-N-Out.

* Shoes. I'd buy my frugal son-in-law 20 pair of new shoes because he only owns three. And pants. He needs more pants. And shirts. OK, he needs a new wardrobe. I'd send him to the department store with a credit card.

* Research. I'd donate a boatload of money to the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City in memory of my grandmother Mary, who died of liver cancer at age 43, and my mom, Anne, who is a proud cancer survivor at age 76.