Friday Fun Facts

Today's fun facts? They revolve around book signings/appearances. Are you an author who's done some/a few/one? Are you a reader who's attended one? Leave me a comment and you'll be entered into my August blog giveaway: the prize is your choice of either a download of Diane Craver's brand new release Whitney in Charge, a download of my newest release One Night in Napa, or a print copy of The Write Ingredients, a cookbook of yummy recipes collected and organized by Lori Foster and featuring Samhain authors.

So anyway, I've had the opportunity to do a few different kinds of public appearances with my books, including straight-forward bookstore signings, conference presentations, readings, book club discussions, and craft fair appearances. Tips? Here are my top 10:

1. Bring your own books. Even in the cases where the store/conference/club has planned to order them for you, things might fall through (or you might sell out!!). Always carry at least 10 copies of your title(s) in the trunk of your car in case this happens.

2. Prepare. Know what you'll be doing. Sitting behind a table and greeting potential customers? Speaking? About what? Your book? Getting published? Romance sub-genres?

3. Following up on #2, bring good ol' swag. Always have bookmarks and/or business cards. Brochures, magnets, excerpt booklets, candy...whatever you're using for promo this time around, bring it and set it out in plain sight. Encourage hesitant browsers to at least take something small. Many times they'll linger long enough to pick up a book and read the back...and then you're halfway to a sale!

4. Arrive early. I mean, that's kind of a given, but know where you're going (especially if you've never been there before) and plan to get there at least 20-30 minutes before your appearance is scheduled to begin.

5. Smile and say hello. Be happy about your books! Talk about why you write, or what your latest book is about. Ask potential customers what they like to read. Be friendly. Be honest. Even if someone doesn't buy your book or take a bookmark. It's OK. They'll be back ;)

6. Enlist people to help you. I was at a book club discussion this week and I brought my sister along. While I mingled with people after the talk, she stood at a table in the back of the room and sold my books. 10 in less than 10 minutes. Not too bad - and it freed me up to sign books and speak with others. At a Borders signing back in May, I ran out of books -- and my hubby ran out to the car to get the back-up box I'd brought while I sat at he and stalled my potential customers (see #1).

7. Bring water (or something else to drink). I spoke a book club this past week and it was about 80 degrees in the room. I usually bring a bottle of water, but this time I forgot. Not good!

8. Be kind to the people making your arrangements. Bookstore managers, craft fair coordinators, librarians...they're all doing you a favor by setting up an appearance for you. At the very least, send a thank-you card or email after you're through. Or consider bringing a small token of thanks with you. Those people will be the ones who schedule future appearances for you...and the ones who talk up your work when you're not there :)

9. Send promo materials ahead of time. If you can, send bookmarks, or a poster/flyer advertising your appearance. Don't leave all the work up to the person setting it up for you (see #8).

10. Read. If you have the chance, and you feel comfortable doing it, read an excerpt from your latest (or favorite) book. I've discovered that people really do like hearing authors read their own writing. And if you pick a particularly juicy part (or a good cliff hanger) you may make a sale or two!

So...what else would you add to this list?

Writers' Wednesday: An Interview with Christine Columbus

Welcome back to Writers' Wednesday! Today I'm happy to introduce a fellow Wild Rose Press author, Christine Columbus. You're gonna enjoy this one!

Christine, can you tell us a little about your background?

I have lived my entire life in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am a Romance Novelist for The Wild Rose Press, with a number of short stories and soon to be released novel, The Perfect Country and Western Story. My latest poem appeared in the Bloomington Art Center’s Literary production Reflection. My flash fiction appeared at MnArtist.org. Other publishing credits include creative non-fiction, poetry and children’s fiction stories.

Yes, Christine Columbus is my real name, but when my Mom agreed to let my Dad name his 6th child Christine Columbus she thought he would have been smart enough to spell Christine with a “K.”

My favorite comment from a teacher was Patrick at the University of Iowa who wrote that he looked forward to reading my work because I was a glitter of gold in a box of sand. For some unknown reason I always visualize a kitty litter box.

LOL...Okay, tell us about your latest writing project or published title.

My novel The Perfect Country and Western Story… was just a blast to write and is a very fun read – even if you don’t like cowboys or music. – Remember the story of Cinderella – Well, instead of a prince and a glass shoe… There is Alexandria who is going to a country festival with an autographic Toby Keith cowboy hat and she is trying to find the cowboy that the hat belongs to.

What advice would you give to new writers just starting out?

Everyone says, “Write what you know.” Which I found very intimidating- because all I know is working full-time, being a single parent and raising 2 children and training 1 dog…or was it training 2 children and raising 1 dog.

So, I say just write… write anything that you think someone might read…because for me I write because I love to have people read my stuff…And when I wasn’t published I took classes because I knew the teachers would have to read my papers – or I write letters – or emails…as long as someone is reading – I am happy.

I like that advice! Now, how do you balance writing with the rest of your life?

I am really lucky… I hate watching TV and I hate cleaning. So, when I get home from work – after taking a long walk … I have to entertain myself. My kids are 20 and 21 and are in college – so they are only home for the summers. So, I write because …I don’t have anything else that I would rather do…

Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do about it?

No, writer’s block…just dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing toilets..block…and occasionally I don’t want to exercise block…

Describe your writing space (or include a picture!)

Nice! Can I join you sometime? (just kidding) All right, what do you like to do when you're not writing?

Pretend I’m a Harley Chick….

Chrstine, thanks so much for being here today. Anything else you’d like to mention?

Don’t be afraid to Live Your Dreams… instead of holding on… let go. And thank you for reading.

Readers, you can find out more at Christine's website, http://www.christinecolumbus.net/, and her Wild Rose Press author page. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

Monday's Mentionables: Royalties, a Car, and a Reunion

"Never go to your high school reunion pregnant or they will think that is all you have done since you graduated." ~Erma Bombeck

Let's see...what's worth mentioning today??

I made my second highest (ever) earnings in royalties for July -- not saying this is a lot, don't get me wrong, but with the release of One Night in Napa plus the little hit my backlist of titles got, there was an actual plus number on my royalty statements this time :)

I'm in the process of buying a new car (and this is a totally separate story which deserves its own Monday Mentionables post, I'm hoping next week when I actually own it...) and finally,

I attended my 20th high school reunion over the weekend and had an AWESOME time. Here are some pics:

With my husband at the Friday night mixer (he was helping me hand out Mardi Gras beads to our classmates...until I told him that no, the women did not have to flash anything to get the beads LOL)

Reunited with some gymnastics teammates & trying out our old moves

With my sister at the Saturday night dinner (she was taking pictures for us...she will have you know that she is 3 years younger than I!)

With 2 of my planning committee members at the dinner

Friday Fun Facts

This week's fun facts: since I'm going to my (gulp) 20-year class reunion this weekend, I thought it would be neat to look back in time at what was big (hair, of course) in 1989...

Songs:
Like a Prayer
Rockin' In the Free World
Free Fallin'
Love Shack
Bust a Move

Movies:
Batman
Look Who's Talking
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
The Little Mermaid
Driving Miss Daisy

Major News Events
Berlin Wall Falls
Exxon Valdez Spills Oil in Alaska
Ring Around Neptune Discovered
Chinese Students Killed in Tiananmen Square
Ayatollah Khomeini Dies

Books
Clear and Present Danger (Tom Clancy)
The Dark Half (Stephen King)
Daddy (Danielle Steel)
Caribbean (James Michener)
The Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie)

And, since I'm a child of the 80s, I was brought up on John Hughes' brilliant adolescent-angst movies, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Some Kind of Wonderful among them. Very sad that he's passed away.

What about you? Remember where you were/what you were doing 2 decades ago?

Writers' Wednesday: A Peek at Carly Phillips

Welcome to Writers' Wednesday! While I'm in the process of dusting off and updating my blog this week, I don't have a "live" author interview today. Instead, though, I'll point you in the direction of the featured author interview up on my local RWA chapter site, with Carly Phillips. Carly is the author of best-selling novels Lucky Streak and The Bachelor, among many others. While she's usually busy traveling/writing/juggling promotional events, she does still take the time to stay in touch with the members of our group, where she started all those years ago.

So...take a visit to our site and read up on the latest Carly news. Then, come on back here and leave a comment telling me which piece of info you liked the best, or found most interesting. Hey, remember it'll put you in the running for my August giveaway contest!

Hope you enjoy the interview!!

Monday Mentionables

"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world." ~Ada Louise Huxtable

Welcome to the first day of my "revised" blog...where I'll only be posting 3x/each week -- but I will be offering a giveaway to one lucky commenter each month! What's August's prize? Your choice of either a download of Diane Craver's brand new release Whitney in Charge, a download of my newest release One Night in Napa, or a print copy of The Write Ingredients, a cookbook of yummy recipes collected and organized by Lori Foster and featuring Samhain authors.

*****

Worth mentioning this week:

I'll be signing copies of One Night in Napa at the Waldenbooks in the Oakdale Mall in Binghamton, NY on Saturday, August 29, from 1 - 4 pm.

I'll also be at the Monroe Cheese Festival in Monroe, NY, on Saturday, September 12, from 1 - 4 pm and the Pine Bush Harvest Festival in Pine Bush, NY, on Saturday, September 19, from 10 am - 4 pm.

Finally, my local RWA chapter is holding a luncheon workshop on Saturday, September 12 to welcome potential new members and have an informal meet and greet of its published authors. You can find more information here.

*****

Finished my edits for Summer's Song yesterday, and for the first time I don't have a book under contract to think about! That's both good and bad...now I have to figure out what direction I want to go next, and which project I should focus on. Ah, decisions, decisions!

Some Blog Changes...

"When you are through changing, you are through." ~Bruce Barton

Since reaching 1000 blog posts the other day, I've done some thinking and reevaluating, and the result is going to be some changes here at Allie's Musings. I won't get into the question of why-and-who visits blogs, why-and-why-not people comment, why-and-who keeps blogs in the first place. While I think blogs can be useful for authors, you also have to start looking at your content and who you're trying to reach. Is your blog personable and casual? Is it a forum for marketing yourself? Is it a place to share highlights about other authors and books or a way to reach potential readers/editors/agents? All of the above or none?

I have a steady stream of regular visitors, from what I can tell thanks to Google Analytics. However, I don't visit and comment on enough other blogs - nor do I have enough riveting content of my own - to keep growing my readership exponentially, which I think should probably be the goal of a writer's blog. And with my full-time teaching job and my own writing, it sometimes becomes a challenge? burden? to write an engaging blog post each day.

So...that was the long way of saying that I'm going to scale back my blog posts to 3x a week. For a few months, anyway, I'm going to post for Monday Mentionables (anything notable going on with my own writing); Writer's Wednesday (author interviews), and Friday Fun Facts (interesting tidbits for writers). And each month, I'll give something away to one lucky commenter: a book, or a download, or a gift certificate, or a goodie basket...or something to attract those lurkers who visit and read but rarely comment. :)

The official change will begin this Monday, August 3...hope you'll come back and join me!

1000!!

"It is not down in any map; true places never are." ~Herman Melville

Oh my gosh...it's my 1000th blog post!! How did that happen? Have I actually been blathering on for close to 3 years here at Allie's Musings? Hmmm..

I'm afraid I don't have anything profound to say today in celebration, except that I'll be running an August contest here on my blog that will begin tomorrow, so make sure and check back.

Spent the last two days with my sister at Mohonk Mountain House, a lovely old resort near New Paltz, NY, which reminds one at every turn of the movie Dirty Dancing (sigh...). It was wonderful, especially the food and the grounds and the hiking. Pictures up here soon, I promise!

Writers, you might want to check out Dayana Knight's blog this week -- she's talking all about getting more exposure and revising your "brand." Also, there's a new bookstore looking for promo items from romance writers, as shared by one of the authors on my Samhain loop. If you're interested in the contact info, email me at allieb@allieboniface.com

The Annual Sister Trip

"Sisterhood is powerful." ~Robin Morgan

Regular (and long-time) blog followers may recall that each year, my sister and I take some kind of trip together. This year it's a rather abbreviated one, since we both have had incredibly busy years, but we're still doing a getaway tonight - tomorrow to a local resort, hiking and eating scrumptious foods and hitting a spa. So...I'm off to get ready -- probably won't be back here 'til later tomorrow, so have a great couple of days!

This 'n That

"Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does." ~Steuart Henderson Britt

Sunday evening I participated in a chat at the Samhain Cafe - my first one, believe it or not, and it actually went quite well. I should probably do them on a more regular basis. Anyone else participate in online promo events like that regularly - and do you find that they increase your sales/followers?

Working on my second round of edits for Summer's Song. I will be so glad when they're over with! I forget how tedious it can be to go through a manuscript with a fine-tooth comb, over and over. Sigh. What did my editor and I find this time? Lots of instances of people turning on/turning off/adjusting the radio in their cars. What the heck? That's a new one for me. Suffice to say most of those scenes are gone now!

50 pages done, 130 to go...

Query Letters - Yet Again

"Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area." ~Nadine Gordimer

Well, check one off the list: I've finished the synopsis for Entwined. It's a bit of a mess, but it's finished, and working through it, I actually identified some problems right off the bat. So that's positive.

Then I was trolling online yesterday, looking for guides to writing query letters. Yes, I've written a bunch, but they don't seem to get much easier, and any help is usually good help. I came across this guide on AgentQuery (which, by the way, is a terrific source if you're searching for a literary agent) - you might find it helpful: How to Write a Query.

And I made my first attempt at a query for Entwined. I'm a few months away from sending it out, but I still thought it might be good practice to come up with something. So...what do you think??

When scholar Chase Hatfield travels from upscale California to conservative small-town Iowa to research the recently deceased poetess Maggie Silverstone, he falls for her daughter Natasha, translates a never-before-seen journal, and uncovers a secret that threatens to expose the greatest love story ever told.

Set in two different time periods thirty years apart, Entwined is a 90,000-word literary romance novel that follows two separate love stories while exploring the ideas of soul mates and reincarnation. Maggie Blue and Bruce Silverstone meet as undergrads at Blakely College and fall madly in love, despite past secrets that threaten to keep them apart. Thirty years later, when they perish in a car accident, their only daughter Natasha is left to pick up the pieces of their brilliant academic careers and soldier on.

When Chase Hatfield, an aspiring PhD student, enters her life, it is only a matter of time before these two fall in love as well. But puzzling things are occurring at Blakely, from the discovery of a skeleton in the basement of Silverstone Hall to a spirit that hovers over Natasha day and night. When Chase discovers a journal with a secret that could destroy not only Natasha’s life but her parents’ legacy, he is forced to make a heart-breaking decision and turn his back on the greatest love he has ever known.

Told in both past and present narrative, journal entries, and poem fragments, Entwined is a unique piece of women’s fiction that examines what makes people fall in love, despite the greatest of obstacles or social conventions.

Two Recommendations

"The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking." ~A.A. Milne

Movie: Watched "Gran Torino" last night and liked it much better than I thought I would. I'm not a big Clint Eastwood fan (sorry...), but I liked him in this a lot. It's the story of a widower living in a rough LA neighborhood who befriends the Asian family next door. Eastwood plays the rough, close-minded guy with a thousand preconceptions and biases that slowly disappear as he gets to know his neighbors. A Korean War veteran, he becomes a role model to one teenage boy and helps protect him from a gang that's trying to initiate him. It's violent in a couple of spots, but the overall theme is a good one and the acting was great. I definitely recommend it.

Book: I'm in the middle of Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli - anyone read it? It's a YA novel that some of my former students recommended. Takes place in an Arizona HS and revolves around a new student - Stargirl - who is utterly different in looks and actions than anyone else the students have ever seen. I'm only about halfway through, but so far it's a nice look at the conformity of adolescence and how individuality is tough to find and keep but priceless in the power it brings one's self and others.

So...there you have it. If you've seen any good movies or read any good books lately, let me know! I'm always on the lookout...

A Beautiful Saturday!

"In summer, the song sings itself." ~William Carlos Williams

It's a gorgeous day - finally! This entire summer feels as though it's been rainy and cool. But today looks as though it's going to be beautiful and hot and sunny...so I'm off to do a million things this morning before a friend's BBQ this afternoon.

In the meantime, why don't you stop over and visit Diane's blog, and check out the trailer for her upcoming book - or Liz's blog, and read about her adventures at the RWA conference in DC?

Hope you have a wonderful Saturday too!

A 4-Star Review!

"My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out." ~Ronald Reagan

I'm so excited because I was Googling myself last night (yeah, I use Google Alerts, but it doesn't always turn up everything) and I discovered that One Night in Memphis received a 4-star review from Romantic Times! Very excited!! The only problem is that I don't subscribe, and you can't read the review online until 2 months after the print issue comes out...so if anyone out there is an RT subscriber and can send me the actual review (allieb@allieboniface.com) , I would be eternally grateful!

Now, of course, begins the waiting and fingernail-chewing for reviews of One Night in Napa. I confess it's gotten a little easier to read reviews of my work since the first book, but I still cringe a little. And Mrs. Giggles? Oh Lord help me if/when she reviews Napa!

Update: Thanks to my fellow SP authors, here's the RT review!

Thrilling action and suspense complement a budding romance in this touching story of two people finding new beginnings. Appealing secondary characters add depth to an engaging plot.

Summary: Fed up with Sean's constant vows that he's leaving his wife, Dakota ends the relationship and heads to Memphis for a reunion with a girlfriend. She wants to relax, party and forget the past year. Ethan, meanwhile, still mourns the wife he lost to cancer more than a year ago. Basketball buddies convince him a night on Beale Street is what he needs to start living again.Dakota first spots Ethan on the basketball court, and both are pleased when they meet again in a downtown club. After a couple of false starts they begin to share what is meaningful in their lives. But their blossoming relationship is threatened when a violent Sean appears.

Welcome Paul Midden!

Greetings, readers! Today I'm happy to host author Paul Midden, who's in the middle of a blog tour promoting his new book, Toxin. At the end of this interview, you'll find information on how you can win an autographed copy...so sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Blurb:

Jake Telemark, a junior senator from Wisconsin, enjoys his position as a moderate, common-sense legislator in Washington, D.C.—until the phone call that changes his life forever. Isadore Hathaway, daughter of the late Frank Hathaway, a renowned senatorial powerhouse, demands to see Jake immediately. During a mysterious meeting with Isadore, Jake learns an uncomfortable truth: a group of fanatical right-wing evangelicals, who call themselves The Bookkeepers, are planning to destroy the US democracy.

Shocked by Isadore’s revelation, but initially unwilling to get involved in something he can scarcely believe, Jake soon learns why Isadore Hathaway singled him out for this clandestine meeting: she’d uncovered a part of Jake’s past that he’d fought to keep hidden, not just by law, but by of the demands of his sanity. Isadore’s plea is both startling and matter-of-fact: she wants Jake to kill the men involved in this sinister plot—because if Jake doesn’t kill them, they will kill him.

When parts of Isadore’s scenario begin to come true, Jake becomes ensnared in a dangerous and deadly plot. With the country at risk and freedom hanging in the balance, Jake is thrust into excruciating circumstances. Forced to confront the demons of his past, and the demons that threaten the future of the country he serves, Jake inconveniently falls in love with Isadore. As this burgeoning relationship plays out against the backdrop of the most tumultuous time in US history, Jake Telemark must wage an intense tug-of-war between his promise to never harm another human being, and his duty to the country, and woman, he loves.

Sounds like a great thriller, Paul! Can you tell us a little about your background?

I have spent my adult professional life in clinical practice as a psychologist. I run a treatment center for Catholic priests and religious. Because it is later in my career and because my duties are primarily administrative and clinical oversight, I have some time on my hands. For a good while that was taken up with a home rehab project that my wife and I began about twelve years ago. Mercifully that is well in hand: we live in a beautifully rehabbed 1895 gem in an older section of St. Louis.

When did you first begin writing? Was there an event or moment in your life that triggered your desire to write?

Writing fiction was not something that I thought much about, at least not since some creative writing classes in college a million years ago. But one day I was preparing a talk, and, to keep my anxiety under control, decided to write out the entire presentation. In the midst of that stressful experience, I realized that I enjoyed the writing part. Not so much the presentation part, which has been a bane in my professional life. In any event, the day after the presentation, I sat down and began writing my first novel, Absolution.

I had fortunately read Bird by Bird by Ann LaMott, in which she described how she wrote: 500 “shitty” words a day, every day; revised the next day with 500 more “shitty” words added. This approach fit my temperament perfectly. It only took about four months to finish a 100,000 word novel. I have since written two more, using the exact same method.

Great philosophy! Now, tell us about your latest writing project or published title.

My most recently published book is Toxin, the one under discussion during this blog tour. It’s a first-person narrative, a thriller, and a fun read. It was equally fun to write. I deliberately decided to approach narrative works in differing formats to see which ones I like the best and which ones I am most comfortable with. I learned from Toxin that, while writing in the first person is fun and makes for a fast read, it is very limiting in plumbing the personalities of other characters. Not impossible, but there is just less access.

My most recent work, which is as yet unpublished, is entitled One Voice Too Many. It returns to the third person narrative style and recounts the story of someone who loses the internal battle with sanity. Because of a quirk in my writing style—the climax in my books is almost always at the beginning—I am not giving too much away. But the book is not a thriller so much as it is a heartbreaking story of a guy who gives life all he can but may not be able to make it work. Or work safely.

How do you go about developing your characters?

This is one of the most surprising and curious elements of writing fiction. The strict answer to the question is: I have no idea. Because when I write I do so daily, each character develops a little each day. This does not seem to me to be a deliberate process on my part. The subjective experience is that I am as interested in how each person develops as a reader would be; I just happen to be the medium through which these characters come to life. Many of us overeducated types—especially psychologists--like to analyze this sort of thing, but the truth is writing is an inherently creative process that is not always logical, and the origins of it lie in an area of our consciousness that is not directly accessible to us. The unconscious maybe, or regions of the brain where integration happens outside our deliberate awareness.

What kinds of books do you like to read? Who is your favorite author?

I read widely. I do read fiction, although I would be hard pressed to name a single author. I like many: John Irving, Wally Lamb, even Dan Brown. I like to read history and current affairs. I read some psychology, but usually only major works where an especially talented psychologist integrates a wide range of information and forges genuinely new ground. Such works are limited; think Jerome Kagan and Three Erroneous Ideas, or Judith Rich Harris’ The Nurture Assumption.

The best book in English that I have ever read is The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which took a while to read but which was an unremitting pleasure. It is a well told story and is filled with wit and wisdom, all encased in language that is just beautiful.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book(s)?

It is this business about how books essentially come to life on their own terms and how they are mediated by writers. It’s humbling, really. I used to think it was all about grammar and structure and deliberate architecture, but those things flow when the creative spigot is on. I love that process, although it can be frustrating. I do have control issues.

Paul, thanks so much for being here today!

Readers, Paul Midden is giving away a signed copy of Toxin to one lucky tour visitor. Go to his book tour page, http://paul-martin-midden.omnimystery.com/, enter your name, e-mail address, and this PIN, 2241, for your chance to win. Entries from Allie's Musings will be accepted until 12:00 Noon (PT) tomorrow. No purchase is required to enter or to win. The winner (first name only) will be announced on their book tour page next week!

Writers' Wednesday: An Interview with Monica Martinez

Welcome to Writers' Wednesday! Today I'm chatting with Monica Martinez, erotic romance author who's published a collection of short stories and is now looking forward to the release of her novel Caught Up. Since much of her content is R+ rated, please visit her website directly if you're interested in finding out more details about her books. She also has a number of appearances coming up in the next few months. In the meantime, let's see what makes this author tick!

Hi, Monica. When did you first begin writing? Was there an event or moment in your life that triggered your desire to write?

I began writing poetry at the age of twelve just to cope with the things I was going through. Some pain, some happiness.

What advice would you give to new writers just starting out?

To follow your dream. It can be an amazing journey.

What kinds of books do you like to read? Who is your favorite author?

I like to read fiction. My favorite author is James Patterson

How do you balance writing with the rest of your life?

Well I'm a Virgo so I'm extremley organized! I write once everything else is done. I have a schedule: I come home to cook and have dinner with my family then spend time doing homework with my lil man. After that we hang out for an hour and he goes to take his bath and then we read before I put him to sleep at 9:00 p.m. From 9-11 I spend time writing.

Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do about it?

Sometimes and when it happens I get on the phone with my girlfriends. I'll go back to my computer in a day or two.

What's your ideal writing space?

Actually I write while I'm in my bedroom relaxing with no noise.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?

Catch up on my reading.

When you write, do you use the computer or compose by hand, oral dictation, or some other method?

I write on the computer usually however, if I'm somewhere I don't have my laptop I will buy a book and write.

Monica, thanks for being here today! By the way, you have a great website, very user-friendly and chock-full of info. Readers, if you'd like to know more about Monica, please go ahead and visit. And have a great day!

It's Release Day!!!!!

I'm so excited - it's release day for One Night in Napa!

I'll tell you a dirty little secret, too: this is my favorite "One Night" book. I'm not sure why...I juts love the characters and the story and the secret twist at the end. And I remember very clearly where I was when I thought of the original concept, a couple of years ago: driving down the highway, heading home from visiting my parents. That "what if..." snuck into my head and wouldn't go away.

Plus I love the cover!

Finally, a big CONGRATS to Tamsyn, the winner of the One Night in Napa Blog Giveaway!!! Tamsyn, email me at allieb@allieboniface.com so I can get your address and send the prizes your way!

Everyone else...I would love it if you stopped by http://www.mybookstoreandmore.com/ and picked up an e-copy of One Night in Napa today...and please let me know how you like it!!

The Struggle to Make Sense of Things

"When we read, we stat at the beginning and continue until we reach the end. When we write, we start in the middle and fight our way out." ~Vickie Karp

I love this quote...

So I am back struggling with my latest WIP Entwined - the women's fiction/literary romance/with paranormal elements that I started about 8 months ago. I'm about 60K words in and really love much of the concept...I just can't figure out some of the plot and how to get to the ending I want.



I usually outline my stories, but with this one I went to the extreme (for me, anyway - some authors I know do this for every novel they write): I wrote every scene on an index card, color-coded for different characters' POV, and laid them all out. Here's what our bed looked like yesterday afternoon:







While I thought this might be an exercise in futility, it turned out to be more helpful than I expected. I was able to see, just by looking, whose POV I needed more of. I was able to move scenes around and add scenes in a very visual manner. And I think I have a better idea of where things should go now.


My goal for today is actually to write the synopsis for the story (again, I never do this before the book is done) - I'm going to send it to a couple of beta readers for feedback, because what's inside my head is clear to me, but I need to make sure it makes sense to others. Sooo...I'm off for more struggling.


Hey! Today is the last day you can comment and enter to win the One Night in Napa Blog Giveaway ~ so I'd love to hear from you! The winner will be announced right here tomorrow, to help me celebrate my release!

Lessons Learned

Yesterday: I sold 26 books at my local author appearance...not too bad considering the weather was sketchy and there weren't as many people as last year. One lesson learned, though: even though this was held in my (small) hometown, and many people there know me by face, next time I'll make sure to have a sign with my "real" name in addition to my pen name. I know that's an individual decision, and some authors don't ever want to give their real names when out on appearances, but in this case it would just make sense for me.

****

Did I mention that I have a new nephew? He arrived July 1st ~ here are some pics of Drew Robert and his proud aunt:

My Annual Local Author Appearance

"Your hometown is where they can't figure out how you did as well as you did." ~Anonymous

Though I do a few "local author" signings in and around where I live now, I love coming back to the town where I grew up to be a true local author and see all the people I remember from my childhood. Today is the annual craft fair (do all small towns in the New England/Northeast have these?), and for the second year I have a booth with my books.

Last year was such fun: it was so nice to see former friends and classmates and teachers and parents of friends, and they were all so thrilled that they "knew me when..."

Though it's supposed to be touch and go with the rain today, we're crossing our fingers for decent weather (and lots of sales, of course!)

One Night in Napa - The Trailer!

Tuesday July 21 is release day for One Night in Napa...and for one more way to whet your appetite, here's the trailer, just finished yesterday by Yours Truly. Hope you like it!

One Lovely Blog

I almost forgot! (how bad of me...) - both Diane and Marianne gave me this lovely award a few days ago. Thank you so much! Here are the "rules" that go along with it:

1. Accept the award, along with the person's name who gave it to you and their blog link.

2. Pass the award to other blogs.

3. remember to contact the other bloggers to let them know they've been chosen for the award.

I'm passing this along to Dayana and Liz...and taking the rest of the day off from blogging.

Hope you have a great Thursday!

Writers' Wednesday: An Interview with Cate Masters

Welcome to Writers' Wednesday! Today I'm excited to help fellow Wild Rose Press author Cate Masters celebrate the release of her contemporary romance Going with Gravity. Here's the blurb, to whet your appetite...

Publicist Allison Morris plans her own life – what’s left of it – around the life of her boss Michelle McCarter, the ex-wife of a famous rock star. When Michelle needs emergency public relations patchwork in Hawaii pronto, Allison arranges a flight to the dream destination. At the airport, she meets Wes Hamilton, a six-foot-three sun-bleached blond whose blue eyes and dazzling smile rekindle her fizzled-out sizzle. A world-renowned surfer, Wes captivates her with his charm and wit, though his easy fame and on-the-edge lifestyle are the polar opposite of her own. When their jet loses its fuselage in mid-air, she takes advantage of what she thinks are her last minutes alive with Wes. The plane lands safely. Wes takes care of her when her carefully constructed life begins to unravel. When Michelle accuses Allison of using Wes to gain fame for herself, Allison’s world falls apart in an explosive confrontation. Wes is waiting with open arms when she has nowhere else to go, but can Allison learn to stop planning and go with gravity?

Cate, congrats on your release. First, can you tell us a little about your background?

If you promise not to yawn… I was a very shy, quiet kid. Because my family lived out in the country, I was also a bit lonely. Maybe that’s what led me to writing. I certainly spent a lot of time in my own head (and still do!) and had a very overactive imagination (and still do!). Writing took a long breather while I raised my kids, but when I went back to it, it felt great. And I was more determined than ever – I took any classes or workshops I could squeeze into my schedule, bought many books on craft, joined writers’ groups and critique groups. Lots of rejection helped me grow a thick skin over the years. Last year, my hard work finally began to pay off in a string of acceptances – woo hoo!

That's wonderful! Tell us about your latest writing project or published title.

Today, The Wild Rose Press released my contemporary short romance, Going with Gravity. I’d read a news article about a plane losing its fuselage mid-flight, and it managed to land with no injuries. Such intense drama made me wonder: Hmm, who could I put on that plane, in that situation? To add to the tension, I devised two polar opposite personalities: an uptight career woman and a live-by-the-seat-of-his-shorts surfer. Set in a paradise I’ve always wished I could visit – Hawaii. (I love that writing allows me to visit cool places vicariously through my characters!)

What advice would you give to new writers just starting out?

First, learn the craft, and keep writing as much as you can. Second, circulate your stories, and don’t let rejection get you down. Many bestselling novels went through hundreds of rejections before publication (read Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul for a boost!). If a publisher rejects your story, take any criticism as positive: they cared enough to let you know what needed work. Resubmit as soon as you revise. Writing is equal parts perspiration and perseverance. Follow your bliss!

Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do about it?

I don’t often hit a snag like writer’s block, but occasionally. Writer’s block is a signal, I believe, to step away from a story. Sometimes when we concentrate too hard on a thing, the focus can become too narrow. Stepping away can renew the story, help me see what element is missing -- maybe I didn’t develop a character deep enough, or follow an idea far enough. It always leads to something better, in the end. Plus, I’m always working on several stories at once, so if one throws up a road block, I detour to the next.

Describe your writing space (or include a picture!)

Ah, my writing space is my little sanctuary. When we moved a few years ago, I was lucky enough to be able to finally have a room dedicated to my writing. It’s very soothing, all in shades of blue from sky to indigo. Photographs of all sizes decorate the walls, and my books line the shelves (with another ten boxes or so lurking in the closet). My computer screen is extra-wide so I can have two or three documents open at once – the story plus a few background files if I need to refer to something. The trailer for Going with Gravity includes a peek at my PC, dressed up with stickies and other props for the role. Here’s the trailer:



Lovely! Now, what do you like to do when you're not writing?

Lately, if I’m not writing, it’s not by choice! I’ve learned to treat my writing as another job and dedicate as much time to it time as possible. Marketing is the necessarily evil component to writing. Another component is making book trailers, but I find that a lot of fun, and use much of my own photography. When I am able to take a breather, I love to just sit out on our back deck under the stars with my husband and a glass of wine, and listen to the frogs singing in the pond. Ahhh.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book(s)?

For Going with Gravity, I was surprised to learn how evocative the Hawaiian language is. With just a few syllables, words take on complex meanings. The meaning of the word Hawaii itself is such a gorgeous example – ‘Ha’ means ‘the breath of life’ and ‘wai’ means ‘fresh or living waters’ plus ‘i’ refers to ‘the divine in each of us.’ No wonder it’s such a beautiful inspiration! Someday I hope to find out for myself.

Cate, thanks so much for joining me today -- best of luck for tons of sales!! Readers, make sure to visit Cate's website to find out more...

One Week!!!!

Just one more week until One Night in Napa releases in ebook...aren't you excited?? I know I am! Here's today's excerpt: the first meeting between hero and heroine...and then a later interaction...

The woman on the other side of the door nearly fell into his arms. “What the hell—let go of me!”

Grant blinked, confused. He’d instinctively grabbed at the first thing he saw, determined to catch the intruder. By mistake, he’d gotten his hands on a pliant arm and one very small breast. He stepped back at once and raised his palms. “Whoa. Sorry.”

The petite stranger dressed in bright turquoise and denim glared at him. Dark eyes flashed. “Who are—what are you doing?” Her gaze took him in, head to toe, and dismissed him in less than a second. “Miles, who is this?”

“Hey. No offense, but who the hell are you?” Grant didn’t recognize her face from any of the local news channels, and she sure wasn’t dressed to do an interview, in that ridiculous getup. She wore a miniskirt, but her feet looked damp, and he wondered whether she’d somehow waded through the moat to get here. No way. Impossible. On the floor behind her sat a black suitcase and a small red purse. The external door remained slightly ajar, and a breeze moved through the room. As they stood there facing off, she crossed her arms and lifted her chin.

Grant turned to Miles, a dozen questions on his lips. But the oddest expression lit the old man’s face. Grant looked back at the young woman dressed in mismatched clothes with a butch hairstyle that did nothing for her face. She wore too much eye makeup. She had a ring in her eyebrow and a glittering stud in her nose. And she was glaring at him...


FOUR HOURS LATER


By the time he caught up with her, she’d poured herself another glass of wine. “Care to join me?” She laughed, but it sounded bitter. Resigned. “Only if you leave the camera at the door, though.”

He shrugged the bag off his shoulder and took the glass she offered him. “No pictures,” he agreed. “Then how about some conversation?”

She sighed, and he wondered if he was pushing his luck. He didn’t care. She mesmerized him, the way her gaze moved around a room, the way she filled up a space. “Hell, okay,” she said after a long silence. “As long as we’re stuck here. But off the record.”

“’Course.”

They sat at the table in the breakfast nook. Her back was mirrored in the window behind her, and Grant had to stop himself from staring at her long neck, her chopped-off hair, the way she held her chin a little higher than she had to.

“Me first.” He took a long drink. “So why’d you leave?”

She choked on her wine. “Start with the easy questions, why don’t you?”

“Sorry.” He thought a minute. “Okay, why’d you cut your hair?”

She pursed her lips. “That’s not really a good question, either.”

“Fine. Then you start.”

She looked hopeful. “I can ask a question?”

“Sure. Then I get one. We’ll take turns.”

One corner of her mouth lifted. “Fine.” She took another sip.

Grant shifted in his chair and tried not to watch the way her mouth met the rim of the glass.

“Why did you go into journalism?”

He pushed his glass away and laced his hands behind his head. He hadn’t expected that question. “You want the real answer?”

“What do you think? Are we just going to sit here and lie to each other?”

But he wasn’t sure she did want the truth, which was that he’d almost flunked his way out of college, and writing for the paper was the only way his father would save his last two semesters. He’d given in to blackmail of sorts, and it had haunted him ever since.

“Hmm.” He caught the stem of the wineglass between his fingers and spun it. “Guess it was destiny. My grandfather founded the Chronicle sixty-five years ago. My father ran it from the time he was twenty. Neither of my brothers wanted to work there, so I was the last one left. Graduated from UC Santa Barbara and didn’t have much else going on, so…” That sounded good. And more than half-true, anyway.

“What do your brothers do?”

But Grant shook his head. “One question. That was it. Now it’s my turn.”

She rolled her eyes, but a smile skittered across her face. “Go ahead, then.”

“What’s the first memory of your father?”

Kira studied her wine for a long moment before looking back up at him. Brown eyes grew serious with memory. “I guess I was maybe three or so. He used to play with me outside, on the back lawn. He’d roll these giant plastic balls across the grass, and I’d try to stop them before they got to the moat.” She smiled, and Grant loved the way it lit up her face. “I didn’t realize Martin—he worked security here before Simon—I never knew he was about ten feet behind me, ready to catch them if I missed, until I was older.” She paused. “I never missed.” She tipped the wine bottle to refill her glass.

“Okay,” he said. “Your turn.” But he almost didn’t want her to ask. Not because it meant answering, but because it meant she’d stop talking for a minute or two. He liked the lilt of her voice.

She sat forward on her chair, elbows on the table like a little girl. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

He laughed and arched a brow. “Interested for personal reasons?”

She colored. “No. Of course not. I was just wondering if there was any female out there dumb enough to fall for your lines. You know, on a regular basis.”

“Ouch.”

She grinned. “Too close to home?”

“Maybe.”

“You’re not my type, anyway, Walker.”

He wondered if that was true. “That’s too bad.” He rested his hand on hers for a moment, until she pulled it away. “No. I do not have a girlfriend.”

“Why not?”

“Hey. One question at a time. I warned you.”

She pretended to pout. “Yeah, but your answers aren’t detailed enough.”

“Now who’s the reporter?”

Summer Reading Suggestions??

Summer is a beautiful time for so many reasons...the warmth, things in bloom, vacation for us teachers...and also a chance for me to catch up on my reading. I reviewed Loving Frank last week, and I finished Looking for Alaska while I was on vacation (review below), and now I need some suggestions.

Any good ones? What books have you read recently that you'd highly recommend?

***

Looking for Alaska by John Green

I think this is considered Young Adult, though I'd recommend it for anyone over the age of 16. A few of my students read it last year and loved it, so I thought it was about time to give it a try. Guess what? I loved it too, more than I thought I would. I've heard it called a "modern day Catcher in the Rye," though don't let that throw you if you didn't like the original -- I didn't either.

Short summary: it's the story of Pudge, a 16 year old boy who goes to a boarding school in Alabama. He's never really had any friends before, but there he meets his roommate, nicknamed "the Colonel," and Alaska, a girl unlike any other. She's complex beyond words, moody, beautiful, and she introduces Pudge to cigarettes, wine, and how to play the best pranks. The friendship that develops between the 3 of them is really well done and believable. Also interesting is the story structure: the first half of the book counts down: "one hundred days before," "eighty-two days before," etc. You don't know what THE EVENT is, though it happens mid-book and then the chapters become "two days after," "seventeen days after," etc.

The author explores a lot of complex topics, besides just coming-of-age, which he does well too. And I know I've posted this video here before, but it's worth another look, because Looking for Alaska has been challenged/banned in certain schools where it's part of the curriculum. I highly recommend this books; it's a quick but thought-provoking story. And if you've already read it, let me know what you thought! (without giving away WHAT HAPPENS of course)...

Working on Edits!!!

"I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil." ~Truman Capote

I am furiously trying to finish up edits for Summer's Song today. The ebook doesn't release until mid-November, but today's my deadline for first-round edits, so it looks like the glorious sunshine and yardwork will have to wait. What did I struggle with most this time? Well, here are the major areas my editor wanted me to address:

Getting rid of filter words. Since the book is mostly written in deep POV, she doesn't like watched, realized, thought, felt, etc. Just state the emotion or the actual thought and get on with it. Example: He wasn't the most handsome man she'd ever seen, Summer thought, but something about Damian got under her skin and stayed there. Permanently. (eventually deleted all these kinds of "character thought..." tags)

Getting rid of extraneous dialogue tags. ("he said" etc). I guess I had a lot of them that I didn't really need. Funny -- I haven't had that problem in my earlier stuff, but then again, this is one of my earlier works, written back in 2002-2003.

Editing for continuity. I had a few errors in people's ages, vehicles, the timeline, etc. Nothing I couldn't iron out.

Inserting a previously deleted scene. This was the most challenging, since the editor wanted me to put back in a scene I had taken out (she read 2 versions of the story before offering me a contract). Of course, putting the scene back in meant also adjusting how it affected both earlier and later scenes, so....lots of work there.

Now I'm going through it one more time, revising anything I see that needs attention. Hoping to finish by this evening, but it's gonna be a challenge~

Pictures from Cleveland!!

I spent the last few days in Cleveland, Ohio -- hubby was attending teacher training at a college there, and since I lived there in the mid-90s during grad school and after, I went along to visit my old haunts. Lots of fun! And lots of memories too. Here are some pics:

The Cleveland Browns new football stadium and the Cleveland skyline


Sunset over Lake Erie

Wind turbine outside the Great Lakes Science Center downtown


Visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

Author Websites - What Do You Think?

"Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will." ~Goethe

I read an article in the recent Romance Writer's Report about author websites. The target audience, of course, was writers, so the article talked about the pros and cons of websites: when you should get one, what you should include, who should design it, etc.

For both readers and writers out there, what's your take on author websites? Do you look up a favorite or new-to-you author to see if s/he has one? Do you visit any regularly? What do you like most about author websites, and what do you like least?

An Interview with Rosemary and Larry Mild

Welcome to a special Thursday author interview - Rosemary and Larry Mild, who are currently in the midst of their blog tour for their mystery novel, Boston Scream Pie.

Rosemary and Larry Mild have published award-winning short stories and essays. Members of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Maryland Writers Association, the Milds divide their time between their homes in Maryland and Hawaii. Most of all, they treasure spending time with their five grandchildren in Hawaii and South Carolina’s horse country.

Enjoy their interview -- and yes, any comment you leave on today's post will also enter you into the One Night in Napa Blog Giveaway Contest! Plus, read through to find out how you can win an autographed copy of Boston Scream Pie as well. Take a peek at the synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Caitlin Neuman, a Maryland high school student, is plagued by a series of bizarre nightmares about a horrific car accident on a snowy road. The lone survivor of a car crash that claimed both her parents and twin sister years earlier, Caitlin was too young to remember the details of that fateful night. But are these present-day nightmares simply Caitlin’s mind working out the past, or is there more to these vivid images that haunt her every waking moment?

As the harrowing images escalate, Caitlin takes matters into her own hands and seeks out the one source she knows can solve the mystery of the nightmares: retired Baltimore detective Paco LeSoto.

For any other detective, such a case would seem impossible. But for Paco LeSoto, nothing is impossible. Paco, after all, has both a keen ability to solve mysteries, and the loving support of his wife and biggest cheerleader, Molly, a woman whose deliciously skewed language, exquisite culinary skills, and shrewd cleverness are equaled only by her girth.

As Paco and Molly set out to find answers, they’ll uncover a string of unsolved deaths and a case of mistaken identity buried deep in the past. As the clues mount and the tension builds, Paco and Molly are led to a nearby family embroiled in a crisis of its own.

Newlyweds Newton Boston and his blonde bombshell wife Delylah are mired in their own family turmoil as Delylah’s adult children churn up trouble that threatens this already-fractured family. But what Newton doesn’t know is that four dead husbands lie in Delylah’s past. When another Boston family member dies under suspicious circumstances, all clues point to murder.

Can Paco and Molly stop another killing, bring justice to the culprits, and right an egregious wrong from the past—before it’s too late? As they uncover the sinister clues, Paco and Molly will either shed light on a long-hidden secret, or stir up a recipe for disaster.

Congratulations on your release! Can you tell us about your latest writing project or published title?

LARRY: There are several things that come to mind. First, there is the finished novel, Cry ‘Ohana, A Young Hawaiian’s Search for His Family. It’s been around for awhile, mainly because of its epic length (470 pages). ‘Ohana means family in the Hawaiian language, and although its theme explores the wonderful multicultural nature of Oahu, it’s full of suspense, adventure, murder, despair, and romance. It’s the novel Rosemary and I cut our teeth on.

Second, there’s the novel Death Goes Postal, A Dan and Rivka Sherman Murder Mystery. Its theme traces printing artifacts from the time of Gutenberg to the present in a series of vignettes, while murder, kidnapping, and suspense accompany the search for the artifact cache. Third, we have a repertoire of short stories (dozens even). Many have been published in e-zines online. Our soft-boiled detective series (four Slim O. Wittz stories) will be published in four online issues of Mysterical-E, beginning in Fall 2009 .

ROSEMARY: Death Goes Postal is Larry’s personal baby, in about its second trimester.

How do you go about developing your characters?

LARRY: Rosemary agrees that I’m the more devious of the two of us, so I’m mostly involved with plots. The characters I create are mere skeletons fashioned out of essential story requirements. Rosemary takes my skinny runts and flushes real people out of them—appearances, personalities, attributes, emotions, reactions, and expectations.

ROSEMARY: Without Larry’s talent for inventing plots and characters, I couldn’t write fiction.

Who is your favorite author?

LARRY: My all-time favorite is Ken Follett. His Pillars of the Earth and World Without End are magnificent examples of the historical novel—plot, characters, suspense, excitement, and an education (12th and 14th century England).

ROSEMARY: I’m crazy about many authors, but not necessarily about every book they’ve written; quality often varies or the subject doesn’t turn me on. At the top of my list is Tolstoy for Anna Karenina (but not War and Peace). I, too, love Ken Follett’s historical novels—and Hornet Flight, about the Danish Resistance in World War II.

What do you find most difficult about writing?

LARRY: Re-writing the first chapter and its “hook”— I never know when I’ve done enough or too much.

ROSEMARY: Fresh descriptions of characters. I find it hard to be original describing hair, faces, gestures, etc. I’m still working on that, and trying a little poetry too.

How do you balance writing with the rest of your life?

LARRY: I write four to five hours a day, six days a week when we are at home. This leaves plenty of time for all our other activities. Ain’t retirement wonderful? It’s the queries, submissions, marketing, publicity, and other necessary evils that steal precious time from our lives.

ROSEMARY: Larry has a waaaaay longer attention span than I do. He has a high concentration ability no matter what he does, whether it’s writing, fixing our fence, or doing carpentry. He’s a jack-of-all-trades, master of just about everything. Me? I go to Jazzercise, which satisfies my suppressed desire to be a Rockette. I’m also an obsessive birdwatcher and commune with our resident birds throughout the day. What a happy distraction, and any time I spot a new visitor, it makes my day.

Do you ever suffer from writer's block?

LARRY: Mostly I walk around with what I plan to write before I sit down at the keyboard. So writer’s block is a rare ailment for me, but it does occur.

ROSEMARY: No writer’s block, but I also write nonfiction and am dealing with a tough subject: a second edition of Miriam’s Gift: A Mother’s Blessings—Then and Now, my memoir of our daughter killed in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I remember that event quite vividly, as I was a teenager living in upstate NY at the time, and several Syracuse University students were on that flight.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?

LARRY: My ailing back has curbed our love of tennis. We take long walks on the Baltimore/Annapolis trail a mile from our home. Swimming’s great, and so are crossword puzzles and reading. We also enjoy world travel—Japan, China, New Zealand, Australia, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Canada, Israel, Egypt, the British Isles, and most of Western Europe. Visiting the kids and grandkids in Hawaii and South Carolina is most cherished.

ROSEMARY: We watch my favorite show, Jeopardy! My comic essay about taking the test to get on the show appeared in Slow Trains, winter 2009 issue.

Thank you so much for being here today! Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

LARRY: I enjoy rubbing elbows with mystery fans and other mystery writers. There’s an important feedback connection to be made, so we attend as many genre conferences and conventions as are practical. Since October 2008 we attended Bouchercon in Baltimore, MD; Maryland Writers’ Association in Linthicum, MD; and sat on panels for Left Coast Crime on the Big Island, Hawaii, and Malice Domestic in Arlington, VA. We also favor our luncheon and dinner meetings with Sisters in Crime (both the Chesapeake and Honolulu chapters) and Mystery Writers of America.

ROSEMARY: I get a kick out of the pearls of wisdom from mystery authors like Harlan Coban (Tell No One):
“Isn’t every good writer full of fear and insecurity?”
“If someone tells me he never rewrites, I don’t want to party with him.”
“If an author is super-confident, he’s either over the hill or someone else is writing his books.”

Readers, for a chance to win a signed copy of Boston Scream Pie, simply go to Rosemary and Larry's blog tour page and enter the following pin #: 4415.

And have a great day!

Loving Frank

"...this noble woman had a soul that belongerd to her alone -- that valued womanhood above wifehood or motherhood. A woman with a capacity for love and life made really by a...finer courage..." ~from Loving Frank

I recently read Loving Frank, a historical novel based on the life of Mamah Cheney Borthwick, a wife and mother who became Frank Lloyd Wright's mistress from 1907-1914. Anyone else read it? I originally picked it up for a couple of reasons: I knew a bit about Wright but didn't know he had this scandalous love affair; the book received rave reviews; and the book was also billed as a great love story.

What did I think?

I did enjoy it, though not as much as I thought I would. In places it's a little slow. There's an awful lot about the details of their travels together, about his creations and his horrific business sense, and her own discovery of her self. Actually, that last element is the focus of the book, overall, and I did like that part of it. Though not too much is known about Mamah historically, the author does a nice job painting her as a woman torn between duty to family, spending her life with her true soul mate, and developing an identity and voice of her own.

At times it's hard to get beyond the fact that she virtually gave up her life with her young children to follow this man she loved around the world. She's an adultress, and some readers will probably struggle with understanding or sympathizing with her. But I did enjoy the way the author makes both characters come to life. You really get an insight into Frank Lloyd Wright the man, beyond the famous architect.

It's a dense novel but richly written. The ending is a bit of a surprise if you don't know what happened in real life -- and I didn't. But I admire the author for taking on such an interesting piece of history and making it come to life. I'd give the book 3.5 stars, but if you like historical novels/reading about true people in history, you'll probably enjoy Loving Frank.

Meet the Heroine of One Night in Napa!

OK folks, it's two weeks and counting until One Night in Napa releases in ebook, so here's today's excerpt. Meet Kira March, the unconventional heroine who has spent the last few years trying to get as far away as possible from her former life. Of course, in a matter of hours, she's going to be thrust back into it, but for now, here's one of the first times we meet her...

A towel wrapped around her head, Kira stepped from the tiny bathroom into the kitchen of the apartment she and Isha shared.

“What the hell is that?”

“What?”

The moon-face woman pointed. “You got another one?”

Kira glanced down and ran a fingertip over the small black symbol on her hip that peeked over the top of her boy shorts. It still stung, though she’d had it inked there almost a week ago.

“Oh. Yeah. Moment of weakness. And too much sangria with Scotty.”

“You get it downtown?”

Kira nodded.

“They’re not supposed to do it if you’re drunk.”
“I wasn’t, not really.” Just stupid, she added silently. She’d given in to memory on whim and a dare, and for the first two days, she regretted it completely. Most of the time, she had no desire to remember the life before she came to Yuba City, and before she became Kira March. Yet another reason not to consider that job offer in LA. At all.

Isha frowned. “What is it? Some kind of Chinese symbol?”

“Greek letters. ‘Gnothi sauton’,” Kira said, reading the words upside down.

“A sorority?”

Kira laughed. “Nope. It’s a phrase that was supposedly carved into the temple of the Oracle at Delphi.”

“What the—where?”

“In ancient Greece. It means ‘know thyself’.”

Isha frowned at her. “Huh. That’s pretty philosophical.”

Kira shrugged. “I guess. But I liked it.” The tattoo artist had scripted the tiny Greek letters perfectly; the entire phrase spanned less than an inch across her skin. Still, it was there, branded to her. Forever.

Isha picked up the remote and pointed it at the eight-inch-screen television in the corner by the refrigerator. “The View is doing their whole show on Edoardo Morelli this morning.” She propped her elbows on the countertop. “God, he’s gorgeous. Did you see him in Another Tomorrow?” She sighed and chewed on the end of her braid. “Just heard he has another movie coming out later this year.” She wriggled in anticipation. “I can’t wait. I don’t know if it’s in Italian or English, but I’ll tell you, I don’t even care. I’ll read subtitles all night long for that man. He’s so…um…yummy, you know?”

Kira cringed. ‘Yummy’? How old are you, twelve?”

“Shut up. You know what I mean.” Isha stared from the television to Kira and then back. “See, if you took that assistant job in LA, maybe you’d run into him.”

Kira shivered. She couldn’t think of anything worse.

“Or maybe you’d get to work with him. You really don’t think he’s hot?”

“Nope.” The show’s hosts giggled and cooed as they watched a trailer for Morelli’s latest movie. Kira grunted. Was she the only twenty-five-year-old in the modern world who didn’t find that man attractive? “Foreign good looks are overrated.”

Isha laughed. “Whatever. Not like you would kick him out of your bed.”

Kira didn’t answer. She ran one finger along her eyebrow ring and watched the shadows of the television turn from yellow to blue to brown and back again.

Isha was eyeing her. “Is this one of your moments again?”

“My ‘moments’? What does that mean?”

“Sorry. That’s not…I just meant…you never knew your dad, right?”

“Not really.” Kira stuck her glasses back on.

“So this is a father thing.”

“A ‘father thing’?”

“Yeah. You go through these phases where you super-analyze all the other father-daughter relationships you come across. ‘This one’s unhealthy.’ ‘That one’s smothering.’ ‘Edoardo Morelli’s an ass for letting his only child run away.’” Isha paused. “But she was eighteen, not ten. She knew what she was doing.”

“Maybe.”

“Listen, I don’t blame you. I don’t—I would never know what that’s like, growing up without knowing my parents. And I’m not saying it’s right, if he really did abandon her. Or force her to leave. But…” Isha’s gaze moved back to the television, where the face of the movie star filled the screen—dark eyes, dark hair with a touch of gray at the temples, laugh lines sketched across tanned skin. “I just don’t think I could say one way or the other, you know, whether he’s a bad guy. Just because his daughter up and left one day. Maybe he did try to find her. Maybe he followed her. Maybe she’s the one who didn’t want to be found.”

The camera zoomed in for another close-up of the actor, and Kira ducked into the bathroom while she still had a chance. She wondered if it was time to start thinking about moving again. Four years was the longest she’d spent planted anywhere, and though Isha seemed the nicest of the roommates she’d had, it was only a matter of time before she started stringing details together and found out who Kira really was.

She opened the blinds to let in some light. Three fresh coats of mascara, eye liner, and lip gloss, and she’d be set. She tried to keep it on the light side during the day, ever since her boss told her the Goth look was scaring off customers.

It’s not Goth, she wanted to tell him. She wasn’t depressed or suicidal; she didn’t listen to Marilyn Manson and she rarely wore all black. She wasn’t into sadomasochism, either. It wasn’t a Gothic look at all. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was. It’s just me, just vintage Kira March.

Problem was, she wasn’t sure exactly who that was, either.

Happy Anniversary!

"I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life." ~Rita Rudner

Today my husband and I are celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary. Amazing how time flies!

No big plans for celebration, though we'll go out to dinner tonight. On our first aniversary, we got into the habit of trying to choose gifts for each other that were in keeping with the traditional list of gifts. But 8 years is bronze. (??) Hmm. I'm still at a loss. Anyone have any good (inexpensive) ideas for a bronze-themed anniversary gift?

Holiday Berry Trifle

I made this dessert to take to a party yesterday:

It's always a big hit, and it's SO easy to make and relatively low in calories (as far as desserts go, anyway!). Thought I'd share the recipe with my readers today.

HOLIDAY BERRY TRIFLE

Ingredients

3 cups cold milk

2 pkgs. (4 oz) instant chocolate pudding/pie filling mix

1 tub (12 oz) whipped topping

1 9-inch square pan of baked brownies, cut into 1-inch squares

1 pint raspberries*



*This is what the original recipe calls for. I used a pint of blueberries and a quart of strawberries yesterday.


1. Pour milk into a large bowl and add the pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes. Gently stir in 2 cups of whipped topping.


2. Place 1/2 the brownies cubes into a large serving bowl. Top with 1/2 the pudding mixture, 1/2 the fruit, and 2 cups whipped topping. Repeat layers and end with remaining whipped topping.


3. Refrigerate 1 hour or until serving time.


(Incidentally, I use skim milk, low-fat brownie mix, and fat free-sugar free whipped topping, and it still tastes delicious.)


Do you have a favorite holiday recipe?