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?”
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
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)...
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)...
Sunday, July 12, 2009
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~
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~
Saturday, July 11, 2009
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!
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!
Friday, July 10, 2009
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?
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?
Thursday, July 09, 2009
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!
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!
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
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.
“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.
Monday, July 06, 2009
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?
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?
Sunday, July 05, 2009
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 milk2 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?
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Happy Fourth of July!
"The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation."
~Woodrow Wilson
Wishing all my friends in the US a very happy July Fourth!
We actually have 2 parties to attend this afternoon: one a small BBQ, and the other an ENORMOUS family reunion. My own family is quite small, but I married into a family that, with all extended relations, is supposed to number over 100 today. Yikes!
What are your plans for today?
Friday, July 03, 2009
Where to Set a Story?
"What is a city but the people?" ~William Shakespeare
A couple of readers asked me yesterday how I decided on Napa Valley for my latest novel. Hmm...that's a good question!
Since I began writing my "One Night" books a few years ago, two things came into play when choosing settings. First, I wanted to use locations I had actually visited. I know, with the Internet these days you can research just about anywhere in the world and get the details you need for a setting. But for me, I write a better story if I can draw upon actual sensory memories. What it looks like through my eyes. What it smells like, feels like to walk down a certain street. What the light looks like when the sun starts to set. Those sorts of things.
The second thing I consider in choosing location is marketing. Yes, it's not the sexiest reason, but there it is. I want to choose areas of the country (and perhaps in time, the world) that appeal to different people and readers. Not just the East Coast. Not just big cities.
So One Night in Boston was my first book, set in a city I knew very well -- then One Night in Memphis, where I spent one crazy night with my best friend after college (still a big city, but in a much different part of the country) -- and then One Night in Napa. In choosing Napa Valley, I wanted someplace in the western part of the U.S., and my husband and I spent time in Napa during our honeymoon, so it was already filled with romantic memories :) It's also a small, sleepy area, which is a nice contrast to the rush of the cities in my other books. Most of this story actually takes place inside a mansion in the hills of Napa, with just a few scenes in the town itself.
What's next? Well, ideas for both One Night in Savannah (South) and One Night in Cleveland(Midwest - and hey, it's the home of rock and roll!) are percolating on the back burner. I also have ideas for a book set on a coast in a haunted lighthouse. And I'm thinking that a trip to London or Paris might be in order sometime, just in the name of research! Why confine my One Night books to this continent, right??
A couple of readers asked me yesterday how I decided on Napa Valley for my latest novel. Hmm...that's a good question!
Since I began writing my "One Night" books a few years ago, two things came into play when choosing settings. First, I wanted to use locations I had actually visited. I know, with the Internet these days you can research just about anywhere in the world and get the details you need for a setting. But for me, I write a better story if I can draw upon actual sensory memories. What it looks like through my eyes. What it smells like, feels like to walk down a certain street. What the light looks like when the sun starts to set. Those sorts of things.
The second thing I consider in choosing location is marketing. Yes, it's not the sexiest reason, but there it is. I want to choose areas of the country (and perhaps in time, the world) that appeal to different people and readers. Not just the East Coast. Not just big cities.
So One Night in Boston was my first book, set in a city I knew very well -- then One Night in Memphis, where I spent one crazy night with my best friend after college (still a big city, but in a much different part of the country) -- and then One Night in Napa. In choosing Napa Valley, I wanted someplace in the western part of the U.S., and my husband and I spent time in Napa during our honeymoon, so it was already filled with romantic memories :) It's also a small, sleepy area, which is a nice contrast to the rush of the cities in my other books. Most of this story actually takes place inside a mansion in the hills of Napa, with just a few scenes in the town itself.
What's next? Well, ideas for both One Night in Savannah (South) and One Night in Cleveland(Midwest - and hey, it's the home of rock and roll!) are percolating on the back burner. I also have ideas for a book set on a coast in a haunted lighthouse. And I'm thinking that a trip to London or Paris might be in order sometime, just in the name of research! Why confine my One Night books to this continent, right??
Thursday, July 02, 2009
One Night in Napa Blog Giveaway Contest!!
In honor of my contemporary romance novel One Night in Napa, which will be releasing in ebook on July 21st, I’m hosting a fantastic blog giveaway from now ‘til then. All you have to do is leave a comment each day, right here on my blog, and you’ll be entered to win the prize package.
Every comment earns you another entry, so chat away!
What can you win? Well, since the book is set in Napa Valley, wine country of California, I thought it was only fitting that I help the winner host her very own wine and cheese party. So…if I draw your name on July 21st, here’s what you’ll receive:
Download of One Night in Napa ebook
Signed cover flat of One Night in Napa (‘cause I love the cover soooo much)
Signed cover flat of One Night in Napa (‘cause I love the cover soooo much)
Wine tote
Adorable hearts corkscrew and wine stopper
Coasters
Wine charms
Cheese plate and spreader
Adorable hearts corkscrew and wine stopper
Coasters
Wine charms
Cheese plate and spreader
All you have to provide is the wine and the goodies! (Please note: I can only ship the gifts to the US, though if you're an international winner I'll gladly award you the ebook AND any other ebook download from my backlist.)
Now…let’s celebrate! Less than 3 weeks until the big release day!
Now…let’s celebrate! Less than 3 weeks until the big release day!
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Writers' Wednesday: An Interview with Casey Quinn
TOMORROW'S BLOG POST WILL HAVE ALL THE INFO YOU NEED FOR THE ONE NIGHT IN NAPA BLOG GIVEAWAY ~ CHECK BACK THEN!!!
Welcome to another edition of Writers' Wednesday! Today I'm chatting with the author of a poetry collection, Snapshots of Life, Casey Quinn.
Welcome, Casey! Can you tell us a little about your background?
Well, I live in Charlotte, North Carolina with my wife and two dogs. I work at a bank but always have hopes of writing full time.
I always had enjoyed writing just a little bit here and there but in the last five years I have really started to take a more serious approach to it. Carved out time daily to write either a few hundred words towards fiction or a poem. Started to send out some of my writing to print and online publications to see if it would be accepted and have had some pretty good success with it. Enough to keep me motivated and not stop. I mostly write short fiction and poetry where my focus is on poetry. I am also the editor of the online magazine Short Story Library – http://shortstory.us.com and the publishing company ReadMe Publishing – http://readme.us.com
Tell us about your latest writing project or published title.
My first poetry collection was published in 2009 called Snapshots of Life by Salvatore Publishing. The collection has been pretty well received from the feedback and the sales it has gotten. I was nervous at first with putting my work out there in front of people, you never know if A. They are going to buy it and the B. If they do buy it what they think of it. So far the experience has been great and I have found myself surrounded with a good deal of supportive people I have met over the years.
Here are some of the reviews the book has received so far:
"Casey Quinn is the real deal. There's no pretense in his poetry. No fakery. He just goes out there, day after day, and gets the job done. You can't ask for anything more than that." - poet John Yamrus.
"Snapshots of Life is a good first effort by budding poet Casey Quinn." - poet RD Armstrong.
"Quinn creates poetry that reads like the verbal equivalent of an expressionist painting or a punch to the gut. You read it and get it immediately." - Marc Schuster, Small Press Reviews
The book is available at the printer - http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/snapshots-of-life/6008842 but will also be available on Amazon and other online retailers at some point.
Great reviews - congrats!! Now, how do you balance writing with the rest of your life?
For me the key is never to try and overdo it. I try to set a pace and keep at it. I think the most prolific writers are the ones who can just be consistent enough to write something (anything) every day. Write 100 words. Write 500 words. Write a poem. Something. Every. Day. With that being said I also need to balance my editing and publishing responsibilities on top of my writing and work and home life.
Usually I will try and spend one hour each day and dedicate it to writing. I spend every Saturday and Sunday morning from 6:00 AM to about 10:00 AM reading submissions and getting the magazine ready for publication. In the other hours I try not to think about writing at all really. I try to just spend time with my wife, go for a jog and of course, need to work during the days from 9 -5.
Most of my writing ideas just come from interactions with daily life. Something I saw during the day, a conversation i overheard or something I was involved with. The key to my writing is getting out there and just trying to experience stuff. Stuff becomes notes for eventual writing. So for me, the balance of writing and the rest of my life are in harmony. The rest of life serves to provide fodder for writing.
When you write, do you use the computer or compose by hand, oral dictation, or some other method?
Well, I take notes all of the time. I write on a scrap piece of paper an idea that popped in my head or a moment which struck me as poetic. These pieces of paper get piled on my desk. Eventually I type them up on the computer in a notepad document on my desktop that is just called “notes”. These notes I save for a rainy day when I have nothing interesting going on and no motivation to write. I open up this document and pick something and write about it.
These notes come all the time though. Sometimes in the middle of work I have an idea and write it on a scrap of paper and shove it in my pocket for future reference when I get home. Sometimes the idea is so big it turns into a poem all at once. Unfortunately a lot of times I scribble with pen and paper and a week later when I try to work on the notes I can’t read my own writing and the idea is lost forever.
What advice would you give to new writers just starting out?
Writing poetry has to be because you really just love it. There is no fame or fortune in poetry. If you are easily frustrated by rejection or have big dreams becoming famous by writing poetry, stop and go do something else.
I have heard a lot of people say they write poetry because they have a story that needs to be told. A very specific story. One that describes a moment in life, a snapshot or second that they experienced and felt it poetic. Felt that others should feel the same moment and experience it on their own.
Too many poets starting out cover topics like life, death and love. These topics are too grand, too broad. If you want to write about love write about how you listen to her sing somewhere over the rainbow in the morning when she makes breakfast and she doesn’t know anyone is around listening. Show us love. Show the reader a moment when you experienced it. Don’t use broad terms or vague references. Don’t use words like “love” in a poem when you can show love and make it more impactful and meaningful.
Casey, thank you so much for being here today! I don't have the opportunity to interview many poets, so this blog post was a special treat !! Readers, here's a taste of Casey's work:
my niece
i talked to my niece
today
i had not
seen her
in years
i told her
how tall she got,
how grown up she looked,
how smart she seemed.
she told me
how fat i got,
how old i look,
how dumb i am.
it’s really great
to catch up
with the family.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
I'd Go Back and Do It All Again
"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck
Marianne had an interesting tag on her blog the other day that I'm borrowing for my own:
Choose 5 life situations you would repeat in slow motion (not change at all, but just repeat). Here we go:
1. College. All 4 years of it, even the icky, hard, and heartbreaking parts. It was such an enormous experience, that changed me (mostly for the better) in so many aspects and showed me who I was and who I was capable of becoming. Plus for the most part, it was fun!! Almost all of it.
2. The 2nd and 3rd years I lived in Cleveland (I was there for 4; the 1st and 4th weren't so hot). But the middle two: I was finishing grad school, teaching full-time for the first time in my life, I had great friends I spent almost all my time with, and the city was booming with great sports teams and new construction and a night life that has since died away. Sigh. I really do miss it.
3. My first year living and teaching here in Orange County, NY. I moved to a place I never heard of, to take a newly created job that was resented by a number of current teachers. It was the most challenging year of my professional life -- but I also met some wonderful people, including my husband!
4. Traveling to Europe with my husband, sister, and brother-in-law the summer of 2005. It was my first time abroad, and I loved every part of it, even hiking for 2 days in the Alps in the pouring rain. Yup, even that. I love experiences where you really get outside your comfort zone. I think you learn the most about yourself then.
5. May 2006. The class of 2006 was one of the best group of students I ever taught. They were 16 girls who got along marvelously and were the highest achievers I'd seen together in one room. That spring, we went on a conference to NYC and met a world-renowned teacher from CA, who was so impressed by my girls that 2 weeks later he came to our tiny classroom to talk to them some more. We went to each other's softball games and plays (and sadly, one parent's funeral). And we all cried together on the last day of school, when they gave me a card that said, "You have shown us the kind of woman we want to become."
I'm not tagging anyone, but if you want to, share your own 5 life situations you'd repeat in slow motion, either in a comment here or your own blog post. It's interesting to think about...
Marianne had an interesting tag on her blog the other day that I'm borrowing for my own:
Choose 5 life situations you would repeat in slow motion (not change at all, but just repeat). Here we go:
1. College. All 4 years of it, even the icky, hard, and heartbreaking parts. It was such an enormous experience, that changed me (mostly for the better) in so many aspects and showed me who I was and who I was capable of becoming. Plus for the most part, it was fun!! Almost all of it.
2. The 2nd and 3rd years I lived in Cleveland (I was there for 4; the 1st and 4th weren't so hot). But the middle two: I was finishing grad school, teaching full-time for the first time in my life, I had great friends I spent almost all my time with, and the city was booming with great sports teams and new construction and a night life that has since died away. Sigh. I really do miss it.
3. My first year living and teaching here in Orange County, NY. I moved to a place I never heard of, to take a newly created job that was resented by a number of current teachers. It was the most challenging year of my professional life -- but I also met some wonderful people, including my husband!
4. Traveling to Europe with my husband, sister, and brother-in-law the summer of 2005. It was my first time abroad, and I loved every part of it, even hiking for 2 days in the Alps in the pouring rain. Yup, even that. I love experiences where you really get outside your comfort zone. I think you learn the most about yourself then.
5. May 2006. The class of 2006 was one of the best group of students I ever taught. They were 16 girls who got along marvelously and were the highest achievers I'd seen together in one room. That spring, we went on a conference to NYC and met a world-renowned teacher from CA, who was so impressed by my girls that 2 weeks later he came to our tiny classroom to talk to them some more. We went to each other's softball games and plays (and sadly, one parent's funeral). And we all cried together on the last day of school, when they gave me a card that said, "You have shown us the kind of woman we want to become."
I'm not tagging anyone, but if you want to, share your own 5 life situations you'd repeat in slow motion, either in a comment here or your own blog post. It's interesting to think about...
Monday, June 29, 2009
It's Almost Release Month!
In honor of July being the release month of One Night in Napa, I'm going to post a few excerpts each week, to whet your appetite. I'm also running a month-long contest, beginning Wednesday, and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment each day. And during release week itself (July 21-24), I'll be appearing as the guest blogger in a few different places, so you can enter more than once each day.
Want to know what you can win? Come on back later this week to find out!
In the meantime, here's a peek at the first time we meet the hero, Grant Walker:
Grant knew it was going to be a long day when he woke up and couldn’t remember the name of the woman lying beside him. His head throbbed. His stomach roiled. Late morning sun slanted across his face, and he squinted. He lifted himself onto one elbow and ran one hand over his stubbled jaw, then rolled over and stared at a digital clock he didn’t recognize.
He heard the sound again, the one that had jerked him from sleep. Somewhere across the room, his cell phone beeped. What the he—? Was it the weekend yet? Or was he supposed to be at work? Why did the room smell like vanilla? He groaned and struggled to pull sense from his sleep-muddled brain.
“Babe?” A manicured hand snaked out from the covers and caressed his bare chest. “Everything okay?”
Babe? He blinked, and the room swam into focus. “Um, yeah.” He slipped from between satin sheets, planted one foot on a throw rug, and ended up on his ass next to the bed.
She giggled.
He swore under his breath and pulled himself up. The room was small, decorated mostly in pinks and lavenders. A collection of candles sat on a pink-and-white dresser across the room, and for one horrifying moment, he thought a Hello Kitty stuffed animal stared at him with black plastic eyes. He shook his head and looked again, and the cat changed into a pink dragon with wings. Still a stuffed animal, though. He kept his gaze on the ground so he didn’t see any others. Near the door, his keys, phone, and boxers lay in a heap beside a leopard print bra and something made of clingy red fabric.
Grant licked his lips and silently called himself a few choice words. Again. I did it again. Maybe his father was right, after all.
He searched the bedroom until he found the golf shirt and shorts he remembered wearing the night before. Shots of tequila, he recalled. And a blonde at the end of the bar with a gorgeous rack and pouty lips who wouldn’t stop staring at him. His two vices, served up neatly at Mick’s, the local watering hole conveniently located at the end of his block.
“I’m late. Really late.” Now he knew what day it was, because he only hit Mick’s for their Thursday night wing special, which meant it was Friday. The day of his final interview with Francesca Morelli. And his last chance to please his father or lose his job, condo, and sports car in one fell swoop.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
On Book Signings
"If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful." ~Jeff Bezos
Here's the thing about doing book signings: even if/when you don't sell a lot of books (which was the case yesterday), you accomplishment a couple of things.
First, you get yourself out in the public eye. Customers in bookstores will often pick up a bookmark/magnet/piece of chocolate (oh yes, definitely chocolate!) as they pass your table. You also make contact with bookstore managers. And you force yourself to talk about your book(s) to people you do not know, which I think is just good personal development all the way around.
Second, you get a chance to meet and talk with other authors. I always love catching up with these women, most of whom I only see every few months, or in virtual world on various loops, so it's always nice to see what people are up to: what they're writing, what's selling, what conferences are coming up, etc. It's also quite interesting to talk business. I spent a lot of time listening to what Stella Price and Cat Johnson had to say about various small presses and what might be coming down the line for them. Since I don't interact with a lot of publishers, it's pretty interesting to hear what's being dicussed over drinks/coffee/lunch when some of the head honchos get together.
Bottom line: it's important to write, it's important to promote, and it's also important to network. Don't forget that!
Here's the thing about doing book signings: even if/when you don't sell a lot of books (which was the case yesterday), you accomplishment a couple of things.
First, you get yourself out in the public eye. Customers in bookstores will often pick up a bookmark/magnet/piece of chocolate (oh yes, definitely chocolate!) as they pass your table. You also make contact with bookstore managers. And you force yourself to talk about your book(s) to people you do not know, which I think is just good personal development all the way around.
Second, you get a chance to meet and talk with other authors. I always love catching up with these women, most of whom I only see every few months, or in virtual world on various loops, so it's always nice to see what people are up to: what they're writing, what's selling, what conferences are coming up, etc. It's also quite interesting to talk business. I spent a lot of time listening to what Stella Price and Cat Johnson had to say about various small presses and what might be coming down the line for them. Since I don't interact with a lot of publishers, it's pretty interesting to hear what's being dicussed over drinks/coffee/lunch when some of the head honchos get together.
Bottom line: it's important to write, it's important to promote, and it's also important to network. Don't forget that!
With western romance/military romance author Cat Johnson (don't you love her boots?!)
Saturday, June 27, 2009
First Day of Vacation!
"In summer, the song sings itself." ~William Carlos Williams
OK, New York is always notably the LAST state in the country to finish exams and graduations. But here we are, finally, at the beginning of summer vacation. Hooray!!
Here's a picture from our graduation, this past Wednesday. Isn't it lovely?
And I'm off to a book signing this afternoon (2-5 pm at the Barnes and Noble in the Palisades Mall in Nyack NY, for anyone close by). Haven't done very much at all in terms of promo efforts these last few months. That's on my agenda to work on this summer (along with, oh, I don't know, a few hundred projects around the house...)
OK, New York is always notably the LAST state in the country to finish exams and graduations. But here we are, finally, at the beginning of summer vacation. Hooray!!
Here's a picture from our graduation, this past Wednesday. Isn't it lovely?
And I'm off to a book signing this afternoon (2-5 pm at the Barnes and Noble in the Palisades Mall in Nyack NY, for anyone close by). Haven't done very much at all in terms of promo efforts these last few months. That's on my agenda to work on this summer (along with, oh, I don't know, a few hundred projects around the house...)
Friday, June 26, 2009
R.I.P.
"The idea is to die young as late as possible." ~Ashley Montagu
Wow, what a sad week for the entertainment industry and the world in general. Today, a moment of silence and memory for Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson hit it big when I was in middle school/high school. I will never forget what a huge icon he was -- the glove, the jacket, the crazzzy music videos (Thriller, of course -- what a terrific song/performance). And even though he got a little, well, eccentric as time went on, he's still credited with changing the world of music and dance forever.
A woman I work with was talking about Farrah, and how she represented an entire era of movie/TV starlets. She remembers how all the guys in college had THAT POSTER of Farrah hanging on their walls. It was so sad to see how she suffered near the end of her life, and for that reason, I'm glad at least her pain is over.
And Ed McMahon...talk about the voice that changed television, right? Such a vibrant, larger-than-life kind of guy. I'm sure the Johnny Carson fans are missing him more than ever this week.
RIP.
Wow, what a sad week for the entertainment industry and the world in general. Today, a moment of silence and memory for Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson hit it big when I was in middle school/high school. I will never forget what a huge icon he was -- the glove, the jacket, the crazzzy music videos (Thriller, of course -- what a terrific song/performance). And even though he got a little, well, eccentric as time went on, he's still credited with changing the world of music and dance forever.
A woman I work with was talking about Farrah, and how she represented an entire era of movie/TV starlets. She remembers how all the guys in college had THAT POSTER of Farrah hanging on their walls. It was so sad to see how she suffered near the end of her life, and for that reason, I'm glad at least her pain is over.
And Ed McMahon...talk about the voice that changed television, right? Such a vibrant, larger-than-life kind of guy. I'm sure the Johnny Carson fans are missing him more than ever this week.
RIP.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
New Edits on my Plate...
"Writing is the hardest work in the world. I have been a bricklayer and a truck driver, and I tell you -- as if you haven't been told a million times already -- that writing is harder. Lonelier. And nobler and more enriching."--Harlan Ellison
Thank goodness this Friday marks the end of the school year (for a variety of reasons)...because yesterday my Samhain editor emailed me the edits for Summer's Song.
The book has an ebook release date in mid-November, which is exciting, but it always amazes me to realize, even after you sign a publishing contract, that so much work remains. I really like my current editor, but she's a stickler. Really. I skimmed the email of all the things she wants me to address (I didn't even look at the manuscript itself yet) and was so overwhelmed I had to close it again before I started hyperventilating. Little things, like removing some dialogue tags or changing references from pronouns to proper names. Big, messy things, like putting an original scene back in and changing other scenes that if affects.
I know it will be a better story because of the edits. But oh, how they intimidate me the first time I get them!
*****
I'm blogging over at Samhain's blog today -- want to come and visit me?
Thank goodness this Friday marks the end of the school year (for a variety of reasons)...because yesterday my Samhain editor emailed me the edits for Summer's Song.
The book has an ebook release date in mid-November, which is exciting, but it always amazes me to realize, even after you sign a publishing contract, that so much work remains. I really like my current editor, but she's a stickler. Really. I skimmed the email of all the things she wants me to address (I didn't even look at the manuscript itself yet) and was so overwhelmed I had to close it again before I started hyperventilating. Little things, like removing some dialogue tags or changing references from pronouns to proper names. Big, messy things, like putting an original scene back in and changing other scenes that if affects.
I know it will be a better story because of the edits. But oh, how they intimidate me the first time I get them!
*****
I'm blogging over at Samhain's blog today -- want to come and visit me?
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Writers' Wednesday: An Interview with Lynn Reynolds
Welcome to Writers' Wednesday! Today's featured author is Lynn Reynolds. Enjoy!
Lynn, when did you first begin writing? Was there an event or moment in your life that triggered your desire to write?
I've been writing stories ever since I could pick up a pen, I think. My first big success was a series of stories I wrote in high school that parodied most of the teachers there - that was a huge underground hit with my classmates, which just encouraged me to keep writing!
Tell us about your latest writing project or published title.
My new book is called THIRTYNINE AGAIN. It's the story of Sabrina, a fortyish breast cancer survivor who's trying to get back to her normal, quiet life. She discovers her fiance is leading a double life and the next thing she knows, she's on the run from him, the Mexican Mafia and a very sexy undercover agent investigating the case. Because the heroine's a breast cancer survivor, as are a couple of my friends, I'm donating a portion of my royalties to breast cancer awareness charities for this book.
What advice would you give to new writers just starting out?
Patience! Really. I was in a big hurry to get my first book published, but I am not a really fast writer. Now everyone keeps asking me what I have coming out next, and I don't have anything else lined up for publication at this time. In retrospect, I wish I'd piled up a few manuscripts so that I'd have had something else immediately ready to submit to a publisher as soon as THIRTY-NINE AGAIN came out!
I'd also tell them to read a lot. I think that's the best way to learn to write - by reading what you enjoy, and not worrying too much about rules and theories about what you SHOULD write.
What kinds of books do you like to read? Who is your favorite author?
I read a little of everything. I love Jane Austen because she did such a fantastic job of depicting the details of every day life and making them fun and interesting. And of course, she created Mr. Darcy, the sexiest man in literature as far as I am concerned. I also love a lot of contemporary romance writers like Tori Carrington and Lani Diane Rich. And I really like a well-written mystery - Julia Spencer-Fleming is a favorite of mine. I also enjoy a lot of science fiction and fantasy - you name it, I've probably read it!
How do you balance writing with the rest of your life?
Haha. I don't! Really, this is a skill I'm still working on developing. I tend to get lost in my own little world when I'm writing, and I've realized in the last year that I need to find a way to balance it a little better with spending time with family and pursuing other interests. I could definitely use a course in time management!
What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I like to garden and cook. I also enjoy traveling, mostly on short day and weekend trips right now because we have a son whose interested in local historical sites. I also enjoy running, although not as often as I'd like to (or should)!
When you write, do you use the computer or compose by hand, oral dictation, or some other method?
I always do my first drafts by hand. I just use an old-fashioned copybook and a pencil. Never
have to worry about whether I have a wi-fi connection or whether my batteries will run down!
What is your favorite movie? Did it inspire your writing in any way?
It's not necessarily my favorite movie, but one movie I really enjoyed was Bridget Jones Diary. The movie and earlier book definitely helped inspire the tone of voice I used in THIRTY-NINE AGAIN. I think Bridget is someone that many women, single or married, can relate to. She never feels like she's quite good enough at anything she does. She's a bit klutzy, not the best at her job, not tremendously sexy - but she's honest and good-natured and devoted to her friends. And in the end, that's all she really needs to help her find her own Mr. Darcy!
Lynn, thanks so much for being here today. Readers, make sure to visit Lynn's website to find out more about her current and upcoming books. Take a moment to check out her book trailer too!
Thanks for having me as your guest blogger today, Allie!
Lynn, when did you first begin writing? Was there an event or moment in your life that triggered your desire to write?
I've been writing stories ever since I could pick up a pen, I think. My first big success was a series of stories I wrote in high school that parodied most of the teachers there - that was a huge underground hit with my classmates, which just encouraged me to keep writing!
Tell us about your latest writing project or published title.
My new book is called THIRTYNINE AGAIN. It's the story of Sabrina, a fortyish breast cancer survivor who's trying to get back to her normal, quiet life. She discovers her fiance is leading a double life and the next thing she knows, she's on the run from him, the Mexican Mafia and a very sexy undercover agent investigating the case. Because the heroine's a breast cancer survivor, as are a couple of my friends, I'm donating a portion of my royalties to breast cancer awareness charities for this book.
What advice would you give to new writers just starting out?
Patience! Really. I was in a big hurry to get my first book published, but I am not a really fast writer. Now everyone keeps asking me what I have coming out next, and I don't have anything else lined up for publication at this time. In retrospect, I wish I'd piled up a few manuscripts so that I'd have had something else immediately ready to submit to a publisher as soon as THIRTY-NINE AGAIN came out!
I'd also tell them to read a lot. I think that's the best way to learn to write - by reading what you enjoy, and not worrying too much about rules and theories about what you SHOULD write.
What kinds of books do you like to read? Who is your favorite author?
I read a little of everything. I love Jane Austen because she did such a fantastic job of depicting the details of every day life and making them fun and interesting. And of course, she created Mr. Darcy, the sexiest man in literature as far as I am concerned. I also love a lot of contemporary romance writers like Tori Carrington and Lani Diane Rich. And I really like a well-written mystery - Julia Spencer-Fleming is a favorite of mine. I also enjoy a lot of science fiction and fantasy - you name it, I've probably read it!
How do you balance writing with the rest of your life?
Haha. I don't! Really, this is a skill I'm still working on developing. I tend to get lost in my own little world when I'm writing, and I've realized in the last year that I need to find a way to balance it a little better with spending time with family and pursuing other interests. I could definitely use a course in time management!
What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I like to garden and cook. I also enjoy traveling, mostly on short day and weekend trips right now because we have a son whose interested in local historical sites. I also enjoy running, although not as often as I'd like to (or should)!
When you write, do you use the computer or compose by hand, oral dictation, or some other method?
I always do my first drafts by hand. I just use an old-fashioned copybook and a pencil. Never
have to worry about whether I have a wi-fi connection or whether my batteries will run down!
What is your favorite movie? Did it inspire your writing in any way?
It's not necessarily my favorite movie, but one movie I really enjoyed was Bridget Jones Diary. The movie and earlier book definitely helped inspire the tone of voice I used in THIRTY-NINE AGAIN. I think Bridget is someone that many women, single or married, can relate to. She never feels like she's quite good enough at anything she does. She's a bit klutzy, not the best at her job, not tremendously sexy - but she's honest and good-natured and devoted to her friends. And in the end, that's all she really needs to help her find her own Mr. Darcy!
Lynn, thanks so much for being here today. Readers, make sure to visit Lynn's website to find out more about her current and upcoming books. Take a moment to check out her book trailer too!
Thanks for having me as your guest blogger today, Allie!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
What's Your Inspiration?
A friend recently introduced me to the poetry of Pablo Neruda, and I'm loving it. Quite passionate, and I'll tell you, it's going to have a permanent place next to my computer in times when I'm searching for inspiration. Here are some lines from "And because love battles..."
...I don’t know anything about light, from where
it comes nor where it goes,
I only want the light to light up,
I do not ask to the night
explanations,
I wait for it and it envelops me,
And so you, bread and light
And shadow are.
You came to my life
with what you were bringing,
made
of light and bread and shadow I expected you,
and Like this I need you,
Like this I love you,
and to those who want to hear tomorrow
that which I will not tell them, let them read it here,
and let them back off today because it is early
for these arguments.
Tomorrow we will only give them
a leaf of the tree of our love, a leaf
which will fall on the earth
like if it had been made by our lips
like a kiss which falls
from our invincible heights
to show the fire and the tenderness
of a true love.
What inspires you to write? What breaks up writer's block, or gets you through the spots when the words seem wrong? Music can do it for me too, though most of the time I prefer silence for actual writing. But I know authors who have specific playlists for different kinds of writing.
I'm interested: what about you?
...I don’t know anything about light, from where
it comes nor where it goes,
I only want the light to light up,
I do not ask to the night
explanations,
I wait for it and it envelops me,
And so you, bread and light
And shadow are.
You came to my life
with what you were bringing,
made
of light and bread and shadow I expected you,
and Like this I need you,
Like this I love you,
and to those who want to hear tomorrow
that which I will not tell them, let them read it here,
and let them back off today because it is early
for these arguments.
Tomorrow we will only give them
a leaf of the tree of our love, a leaf
which will fall on the earth
like if it had been made by our lips
like a kiss which falls
from our invincible heights
to show the fire and the tenderness
of a true love.
What inspires you to write? What breaks up writer's block, or gets you through the spots when the words seem wrong? Music can do it for me too, though most of the time I prefer silence for actual writing. But I know authors who have specific playlists for different kinds of writing.
I'm interested: what about you?
Monday, June 22, 2009
I've Been Tagged!
Well, I haven't done a blog meme in a REALLY long while, so I was happy to play along when Diane Craver tagged me yesterday. It's a "Four Things" meme...here you go!
Four Movies I can see over and over
Slumdog Millionaire, The Lake House, Gone with the Wind, Dirty Dancing
Four Places I have lived
Rochester, NY; Cleveland, OH; Providence, RI; Orange County, NY
Four TV shows that I love to watch
Survivor; Life; Fringe; Rescue Me
Four places where I have gone on vacation
Hawaii; Outer Banks, NC; Germany; Canada
Four favorite foods
Dark chocolate; apples; yogurt; edamame
Four websites I visit
Facebook; my school's home page; my author website; AbsoluteWrite
Four places I would rather be
On a Maui beach; in Zumba class; in a bookstore; hiking in the Alps
Four things that I would like to do before I die
Visit London and Paris; sign a contract with a NY publisher; swim with dolphins; reconnect with a certain person from my past (how's that for 4 TOTALLY different things??)
Four novels I wish that I was reading for the first time
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; It; The Count of Monte Cristo; Entwined (this last one of course is written by me and published by a NY publisher!)
Four people to tag
I'm cheating on this one and not tagging anyone in particular. If you'd like to play along, just let me know!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Happy Father's Day
My father passed away in January, so this first Father's Day without him is particularly tough. Today, in his honor, I'm posting this poem that I found on Billy Collins' 180 Days of Poetry site (by the way, the site itself is pretty cool...you should check it out). It's the kind of poem I think my father would have written for me:
For My Daughter by David Ignatow
When I die choose a star
and name it after me
that you may know
I have not abandoned
or forgotten you.
You were such a star to me,
following you through birth
and childhood, my hand in your hand.
When I die
choose a star and name it
after me so that I may shine
down on you, until you join
me in darkness and silence
together.
For My Daughter by David Ignatow
When I die choose a star
and name it after me
that you may know
I have not abandoned
or forgotten you.
You were such a star to me,
following you through birth
and childhood, my hand in your hand.
When I die
choose a star and name it
after me so that I may shine
down on you, until you join
me in darkness and silence
together.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
A Special Weekend Writer's Feature: Larry Kaplan
Today I'm happy to introduce Larry Kaplan, who's stopping by on his blog tour to promote his new release, House of Ghosts. And at the end of this interview you'll find details on how to win his book! Here's a blurb to whet your reader's appetite:
Imagine that Raymond Chandler wrote The Winds of War and you can begin to understand why House of Ghosts is such different and compelling detective story. Detective Joe Henderson is the modern incarnation of Philip Marlowe--hard boiled, hard drinking, hard loving, delightfully cynical, offering wry observations of life in the age of Starbucks.
The tale begins in the sweltering summer of 2000 when Preston Swedge, an alcoholic recluse and World War II veteran, has died in Westfield, New Jersey. At his estate sale, retired local police detective Joe Henderson discovers a 1944 diary describing a rogue attempt by a Jewish-American pilot named Paul Rothstein to drop his bombs on Auschwitz's killing complex where nearly 300,000 captives were about to be murdered.
With the fortitude of a Maccabean zealot and the patriotism of an American freedom fighter Rothstein had set out to defy his commanders who had prohibited any attempt to save Jewish lives. Joe Henderson's curiosity launches him on a crusade for the truth and a shocking revelation when he tracks down the last living witness who can solve the mystery of why the raid never happened.
Epic in its breadth, House of Ghosts sweeps effortlessly from contemporary Westfield, New Jersey to the Princeton University of 1939, and on to the aerial battle above Italy and Poland in 1944. Along the way you'll meet up with notables such as Charles Lindbergh, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr., General Fulgencio Batista, and Alina Gilbert, the exotic dancer who helps to make this the hottest summer on record.
Larry, welcome to Allie's Musings. Can you tell us a little about your background?
I graduated from the NYU College of Dentistry in 1979, completed a residency at the Mt. Sinai Hospital, NYC and have been in solo practice practice since 1983. I live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with my wife Anne, two dogs, four cats, and a parrot named Boeing. Michelle and Richard are my children from my first marriage.
I grew up in a middle class section of Union, New Jersey with my parents, Jack and Selda and older brother, Ron. A child of the 1950s, I played punch ball in the street, didn’t go to camp, and didn’t talk back. It was a world where kids rode their bikes to get where they needed to go, mothers stayed home, and no one had two cars. And most important, people gave a damn about each other.
My dad was a dental technician; this inspired me to go into dentistry. So, in 1979, I graduated NYU's College of Dentistry, then completed a dental residency at Mount Sinai Hospital, NYC. I stayed in Jersey, opened my dental practice, and lived the life of a successful suburban doctor. That could have been the whole story of my life. But that wasn't the way it turned out.
Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do about it?
I’ve been blessed or cursed with a fertile imagination and have never faced dealing with writer’s block. I have more plots than time to write with three manuscripts currently under construction. My problem is when writing a novel, I lapse into the motor-mouth mode and have to edit and re-edit, paring out the extraneous.
Describe your writing space...
Larry, welcome to Allie's Musings. Can you tell us a little about your background?
I graduated from the NYU College of Dentistry in 1979, completed a residency at the Mt. Sinai Hospital, NYC and have been in solo practice practice since 1983. I live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with my wife Anne, two dogs, four cats, and a parrot named Boeing. Michelle and Richard are my children from my first marriage.
I grew up in a middle class section of Union, New Jersey with my parents, Jack and Selda and older brother, Ron. A child of the 1950s, I played punch ball in the street, didn’t go to camp, and didn’t talk back. It was a world where kids rode their bikes to get where they needed to go, mothers stayed home, and no one had two cars. And most important, people gave a damn about each other.
My dad was a dental technician; this inspired me to go into dentistry. So, in 1979, I graduated NYU's College of Dentistry, then completed a dental residency at Mount Sinai Hospital, NYC. I stayed in Jersey, opened my dental practice, and lived the life of a successful suburban doctor. That could have been the whole story of my life. But that wasn't the way it turned out.
Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do about it?
I’ve been blessed or cursed with a fertile imagination and have never faced dealing with writer’s block. I have more plots than time to write with three manuscripts currently under construction. My problem is when writing a novel, I lapse into the motor-mouth mode and have to edit and re-edit, paring out the extraneous.
Describe your writing space...
My desk isn’t sterile. It looks completely disorganized, but as hard as it is to believe, I can find everything at a moment's notice as long as the moment is extended and stretched. Being locked in an undisclosed location doesn’t work. Occasionally, I’ll shift to the porch and hang out with the cats.
What do you like to do when you're not writing?
Unfortunately, my writing career to this point hasn’t allowed me to give up my day job. Running a full-time dental practice and dealing with the detritus of daily life fills out my calendar. Anne and I are active in a number of community organizations that pinch into our off hours. Living in the “country” two minutes from the Delaware river affords plenty of recreation choices. Last but least, the four legged “kids” filter into the mix and my big-mouth parrot is never short on demanding shoulder time.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book(s)?
I’m not interested in writing the run of the mill mystery. Anyone can murder a character, commit the most heinous crimes, and live an alter-ego existence. While the Joe Henderson mystery series carries many of the same characters, different issues are examined—historical, medical, and political. Contrary to my mother’s opinion that she has the two smartest boys, I spend an inordinate amount of time researching a topic. I find it amazing that I can conceive, do the research, and cobble the bits together. Maybe my mother is right after all.
What is your favorite movie? Did it inspire your writing in any way?
I’ll be fifty-seven in July and that puts me on the cusp, no dental pun intended, of being an old geezer. I don’t watch a lot of movies, but do tune in Turner Classics on the cable. The flicks of Bogart and Gable, tough guys doing right in the end somehow filter into my writing. The war picture Twelve O’clock High with Gregory Peck played into the House of Ghosts character Paul Rothstein.
Larry, thanks so much for being here today. Is there anything else you'd like to mention?
Writing is tough. It is a full boar commitment, filled with promise, joy, anticipation, and rejection. I’ve learned not to take things personally, to put the rejection slips in the folder marked “dumb bastards” and to keep at it.
Readers, I hope you've enjoyed today's peek into Larry Kaplan's world. For a chance to win an autographed copy of his novel, go to his tour webpage and enter this PIN: 3738. And have a great day!
Friday, June 19, 2009
A Special Friday Feature: An Interview with Tamela Quijas
Happy Friday! I'm pleased to welcome author Tamela Quijas today...enjoy her interview!
Tamela, welcome to Allie's Musings. Tell us a little about yourself...when did you first begin writing? Was there an event or moment in your life that triggered your desire to write?
I am a fanatical reader and began writing in my early teens. For many years, I would write novels then carefully pack them away. Recently, I decided to fulfill my lifelong dream and become a published author.
Tell us about your latest writing project or published title.
Currently, I am putting the finishing touches on my latest paranormal romance, Blood of the Beast. I'm hoping to have the novel available on Amazon in a month's time.
Set in New Jersey, the tale involves a police detective (Valentina Kureyev) who is investigating a series of unexplained murders that are plaguing her city. With the aide of an obscure museum curator (Demetri Daskova), who harbors dark secrets of his own, she seeks the serial killer that haunts the streets.
Valentina is a complex individual. She's been with the city's police force for a number of years and, as Demetri phrases it, she's gritty and abrasive. Val is dedicated to her job and is obsessed with finding the serial killer that is leaving bloodless corpses on the doorsteps of her community.
Demetri is in charge of the Russian Antiquities Department at the local museum. There are matters about him that are unexplainable and dark. The murders, and the unwitting involvement of a local priest, brings the two individuals together.
The curator forces Val to accept his assistance in locating the killer, enlightening her with the unknown and the unexplained.
Perhaps matters would have been simpler if Val's grandmother wouldn't have a picture of Demetri Daskova in her possession: a Photograph that is over a hundred years old.
Ooh, sounds great! Now, how do you go about developing your characters?
That's a tough one to explain. My characters have a basic outline in my head that evolves as I write. I haven't any formula, each person seems to burst from the computer with every word.
What advice would you give to new writers just starting out?
Patience. New writers require a lot of patience in the publishing and writing fields. There isn't anything that just happens overnight and don't ever be discouraged. Writing takes an immense amount of dedication.
What kinds of books do you like to read? Who is your favorite author?
I read everything! My favorites have always been Jude Deveraux and Johanna Lindsey. Others: Dan Brown, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Alexander Dumas, Edgar Rice Burroughs, there are too many to name.
What do you find most difficult about writing? What do you find most exciting or rewarding?
The most difficult thing about writing is not being too obsessed with the edits. I can edit a novel to death!
The most exciting---seeing my work in print and actually holding it in my hand. Secondly, having a fan that 'sees' the images I have attempted to portray in my work.
How do you balance writing with the rest of your life?
I have to force myself to not spend more than four hours a day on a Work In Progress. Otherwise, there is an obsessed fanatic in me that will write from dusk til dawn.
Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do about it?
I HATE writer's block. When I wrote Angel's Fire, Demon's Blood, I suffered a writer's block that took two weeks to overcome. It was debilitating in all aspects, I couldn't focus on reading, writing, or watching tv. I finally found something that made the dreaded curse disappear----I read excerpts of my project to one of my daughters (I have seven children) and she started asking the who, what, where, when and why questions. Before I knew it, fresh ideas began to pop up. My teenager is currently my sounding board for story development...Bless her heart.
What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I homeschool my youngest son and juggle motherhood with my seven children, all ranging from ages 30 to 8 years old. I cook a lot, if that's not obvious by the headcount in my home. Also, I enjoy chatting with my fans and friends on the internet.
Tamela, thanks so much for being here today! Anything else you’d like to mention?
Please stop by http://tamelaquijas.wordpress.com or http://www.myspace.com/tamelaquijas and visit with me! I would love to hear from you!
Tamela, welcome to Allie's Musings. Tell us a little about yourself...when did you first begin writing? Was there an event or moment in your life that triggered your desire to write?
I am a fanatical reader and began writing in my early teens. For many years, I would write novels then carefully pack them away. Recently, I decided to fulfill my lifelong dream and become a published author.
Tell us about your latest writing project or published title.
Currently, I am putting the finishing touches on my latest paranormal romance, Blood of the Beast. I'm hoping to have the novel available on Amazon in a month's time.
Set in New Jersey, the tale involves a police detective (Valentina Kureyev) who is investigating a series of unexplained murders that are plaguing her city. With the aide of an obscure museum curator (Demetri Daskova), who harbors dark secrets of his own, she seeks the serial killer that haunts the streets.
Valentina is a complex individual. She's been with the city's police force for a number of years and, as Demetri phrases it, she's gritty and abrasive. Val is dedicated to her job and is obsessed with finding the serial killer that is leaving bloodless corpses on the doorsteps of her community.
Demetri is in charge of the Russian Antiquities Department at the local museum. There are matters about him that are unexplainable and dark. The murders, and the unwitting involvement of a local priest, brings the two individuals together.
The curator forces Val to accept his assistance in locating the killer, enlightening her with the unknown and the unexplained.
Perhaps matters would have been simpler if Val's grandmother wouldn't have a picture of Demetri Daskova in her possession: a Photograph that is over a hundred years old.
Ooh, sounds great! Now, how do you go about developing your characters?
That's a tough one to explain. My characters have a basic outline in my head that evolves as I write. I haven't any formula, each person seems to burst from the computer with every word.
What advice would you give to new writers just starting out?
Patience. New writers require a lot of patience in the publishing and writing fields. There isn't anything that just happens overnight and don't ever be discouraged. Writing takes an immense amount of dedication.
What kinds of books do you like to read? Who is your favorite author?
I read everything! My favorites have always been Jude Deveraux and Johanna Lindsey. Others: Dan Brown, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Alexander Dumas, Edgar Rice Burroughs, there are too many to name.
What do you find most difficult about writing? What do you find most exciting or rewarding?
The most difficult thing about writing is not being too obsessed with the edits. I can edit a novel to death!
The most exciting---seeing my work in print and actually holding it in my hand. Secondly, having a fan that 'sees' the images I have attempted to portray in my work.
How do you balance writing with the rest of your life?
I have to force myself to not spend more than four hours a day on a Work In Progress. Otherwise, there is an obsessed fanatic in me that will write from dusk til dawn.
Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do about it?
I HATE writer's block. When I wrote Angel's Fire, Demon's Blood, I suffered a writer's block that took two weeks to overcome. It was debilitating in all aspects, I couldn't focus on reading, writing, or watching tv. I finally found something that made the dreaded curse disappear----I read excerpts of my project to one of my daughters (I have seven children) and she started asking the who, what, where, when and why questions. Before I knew it, fresh ideas began to pop up. My teenager is currently my sounding board for story development...Bless her heart.
What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I homeschool my youngest son and juggle motherhood with my seven children, all ranging from ages 30 to 8 years old. I cook a lot, if that's not obvious by the headcount in my home. Also, I enjoy chatting with my fans and friends on the internet.
Tamela, thanks so much for being here today! Anything else you’d like to mention?
Please stop by http://tamelaquijas.wordpress.com or http://www.myspace.com/tamelaquijas and visit with me! I would love to hear from you!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
An Interview
"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
I forgot to mention this when it was posted, but here's a fun author interview I did over at Wendy Burt-Thomas' blog last month, when One Night in Memphis came out. You might find out a thing or two you didn't know about me, or the book!
I forgot to mention this when it was posted, but here's a fun author interview I did over at Wendy Burt-Thomas' blog last month, when One Night in Memphis came out. You might find out a thing or two you didn't know about me, or the book!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Writers' Wednesday: An Interview with Charity Tahmaseb and Darcy Vance
Welcome to Writers' Wednesday! I'm thrilled today to be hosting Charity Tahmaseb and Darcy Vance on their blog tour to promote their debut novel, The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading. Here's the blurb for this fantastic YA novel:
When Bethany -- self-proclaimed geek girl -- makes the varsity cheerleading squad, she realizes that there's one thing worse than blending in with the lockers: getting noticed. She always felt comfortable as part of the nerd herd, but being a member of the most scrutinized group in her school is weighing her down like a ton of textbooks. Even her Varsity Cheerleading Guide can't answer the really tough questions, like: How do you maintain some semblance of dignity while wearing an insanely short skirt? What do you do when the head cheerleader spills her beer on you at your first in-crowd party? And how do you know if your crush likes you for your mind...or your pom-poms?
One thing's for sure: It's going to take more than brains for this girl genius to cheer her way to the top of the pyramid.
Darcy was kind enough to chat a little about the book and the background of this writing duo...
Darcy, congrats on your release! You both must be so excited! Can you tell us a little about your background?
I’ve been a college dropout five times – mostly because I couldn’t decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. Despite that, I’ve worked in Human Services most of my adult life, first in unemployment offices, then at an agency that served children and now I work as the Volunteer Coordinator for a mental health center.
Tell us about your latest writing project or published title.
The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading is a novel for teens and young adults. It’s about two smart, kind of geeky girls who, through an unusual set of circumstances, find their way onto the varsity cheerleading squad. It’s the story of their season on the squad.
Geek Girl’s Guide started out as my co-author’s solo novel. She had written the first several drafts of it, and it had already finaled in at least one contest, before I got involved with the project. Charity was seeking an agent to represent the book when, through another unusual set of circumstances, I had a conversation with an agent about her story. He asked me to encourage Charity to make changes to the manuscript and resubmit, but Charity was reluctant. I badgered her about it relentlessly and even went as far as rewriting her first chapter for her, but nothing would change her mind.
Then my son was diagnosed with cancer. Charity was a huge support to me during those first weeks after the diagnosis – her inbox was always open. When I sent her a message thanking her for being such a good friend, she responded right away saying something like, “I just wish I could do more but we live so far away from each other; it’s not like I can pop down the street and deliver a hotdish to you.” But the next day she did exactly that.
She sent another email to me, inviting me to join a private online group for just the two of us. In her invitation she said, “Remember that story, the one about the geeky cheerleaders? What if we worked on it together?” Charity knew that I needed something else to think about besides my son being sick. She also knew that I needed money – cancer is a really expensive thing to fix.
We worked on the book together throughout my son’s illness. My son’s treatment was a success and so were our efforts with the book. Eleven months after my son was first diagnosed, his doctor told us she thought everything was going to be okay. By that time, Charity and I had revised the entire novel, found an agent, and our agent had sold our book to Simon Pulse!
Last week, on June 13th, my son celebrated two years of being cancer free!
Wow, that's such an inspirational story! What advice would you give to new writers just starting out?
Write because you love it – even on those days when writing doesn’t love you back.
What kinds of books do you like to read? Who is your favorite author?
I have always been a “streaky” reader. As a child, I once spent an entire year reading nothing but basketball novels. I’ve had periods of reading only historicals, only fantasy, only mysteries, only women’s fiction. These days, I read a lot of Young Adult novels – partly as research, but also because I love the stripped down, “story first” way many of them are written. I’ve also been trying to revisit some classics and occasionally I read adult fiction like Jodi Picoult, or mysteries (I heart Sue Grafton) just so my entire reading life isn’t all about the OMG ; )
My favorite adult author is John Irving (A Prayer for Owen Meany, World According to Garp) and my current favorite YA author is John Green (Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns).
What do you find most difficult about writing? What do you find most exciting or rewarding?
The most difficult thing about writing for me is starting. If I can make myself write those first sentences of the day, then I generally enjoy my writing session. I am easily distracted though, so it doesn’t always happen. The second most difficult thing for me is plotting. Oh how I stink at it! My characters would prefer to meander endlessly down the path of doing and talking about nothing of consequence. The most rewarding thing about writing is the writing itself. I just really enjoy seeing those words pop up on my computer screen – and then there’s that moment when I type ‘The End’ … that’s pretty delicious too!
How do you balance writing with the rest of your life?
Poorly.
What do you like to do when you're not writing?
READ! I love to read. I also like to listen to music, especially live music. I like to hang out with friends and family, watch movies, play Tetris, and go for long, aimless drives in the country.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book(s)?
Hands down, it was this: When Charity and I first started working together on this project, parts of it were hers and parts of it were mine. Along the way, it started to become impossible to tell who wrote what. The novel became our characters’ story. It was magical!
That's so cool...OK, last question: What is your favorite movie? Did it inspire your writing in any way?
My favorite movie changes all of the time. I like movies but I suspect I don’t like them in the same way an afficianado does. To me, they are entertainment. I can’t remember much about them even a week later. Having said that, I would LOVE to write a story like Slumdog Millionaire. That was amazing!
Ah, yes...Slumdog Millionaire. I'll second you there! Darcy, thanks so much for being here today, and best of luck in your blog tour, sales, and future projects!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Good News!
"All human wisdom is summed up in two words: wait and hope." ~Alexandre Dumas
Actually, today's good news is not mine, but my friend Liz's, who just found out that her manuscript Playing for Keeps has been recommended to the senior editor at Harlequin Blaze! A line editor had requested it at a conference, and she sent it in I think about 6 months ago (Liz, correct me if I'm wrong). Here's the perfect lesson in patience too, because I've heard how slow-moving NY publishers, esp. Harlequin, can be in responding to submissions. 6 months is a long time to wait and hear whether or not your baby is cute enough to win that modeling contract :)
But...yesterday she got the email from that original editor that the story was moving up to the senior line editor. So I suppose there's more waiting to come now, but still, it's an exciting day for her. Do me a favor and drop by Liz's blog to tell her you're keeping your fingers crossed for her, OK?
Actually, today's good news is not mine, but my friend Liz's, who just found out that her manuscript Playing for Keeps has been recommended to the senior editor at Harlequin Blaze! A line editor had requested it at a conference, and she sent it in I think about 6 months ago (Liz, correct me if I'm wrong). Here's the perfect lesson in patience too, because I've heard how slow-moving NY publishers, esp. Harlequin, can be in responding to submissions. 6 months is a long time to wait and hear whether or not your baby is cute enough to win that modeling contract :)
But...yesterday she got the email from that original editor that the story was moving up to the senior line editor. So I suppose there's more waiting to come now, but still, it's an exciting day for her. Do me a favor and drop by Liz's blog to tell her you're keeping your fingers crossed for her, OK?
Monday, June 15, 2009
Overheard in Passing
"I find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book." ~Groucho Marx
Just a quick story for Monday:
I was at a BBQ yesterday afternoon with a bunch of good friends, and one of them (a rough and tumble kind of guy) said to me, "Hey, I bought your books the other day and gave them to M____ (a mutual friend's mother)."
Me: "Wow, that's nice. Thanks."
Him: "Yeah, and you know, I started flipping through them when I was waiting in line. They're pretty easy to read. I actually got caught up in the story for a minute."
I laughed. Hey, if this guy can get caught up for a minute, it must mean I'm doing something right!
Just a quick story for Monday:
I was at a BBQ yesterday afternoon with a bunch of good friends, and one of them (a rough and tumble kind of guy) said to me, "Hey, I bought your books the other day and gave them to M____ (a mutual friend's mother)."
Me: "Wow, that's nice. Thanks."
Him: "Yeah, and you know, I started flipping through them when I was waiting in line. They're pretty easy to read. I actually got caught up in the story for a minute."
I laughed. Hey, if this guy can get caught up for a minute, it must mean I'm doing something right!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
What's in a Title?
"Books have to be read (worse luck it takes so long a time). It is the only way of discovering what they contain. A few savage tribes eat them, but reading is the only method of assimilation revealed to the West." ~E.M. Forster
How much does the title of a book influence your decision to read it? Or at least to pick it up in the store and ponder? I'd say book titles don't normall have a huge effect on me, but if I see an intriguing/very different one, it probably will catch my eye.
Yesterday at my local RWA meeting, the discussion turned to titles; specifically, to the fact that one of our members recently submitted a manuscript to a Harlequin line and changed the title to be more in keeping with what they look for. Apparently they like to include "key words" in their titles, that their faithful readers will recognize and look for. (secret, baby, brother, baron, bride, etc.) Another of our members, published in Harlequin Historical, agreed, though she said it doesn't matter what title you use when you submit, because Harlequin will change it. In fact, she has been asked to submit up to 50 -- yes, 50!! -- titles for a single book for them to consider.
In addition, Harlequin will use those "key words" even if they don't have much to do with the plot. "Bride" is one of the most famous. The first book our Harlequin Historical author published had the word "bride" in the title they decided on, even though the story had nothing to do with one. When she explained this, they said, "Well, does the heroine get married at the end of the story?" "Um, yes...there's a proposal, anyway." So, because there was a HEA with a marriage on the horizon, the word "bride" remained part of the title.
Interesting, right?
I've seen discussion on some author loops about writers who would never agree to a title change if they got a publishing contract, while others don't care at all what their book is called. Me, I've been lucky enough at this point to have my titles kept exactly the same as when I submitted, but I would probably consider changing them if asked. I mean, it's the publisher's job to know what sells and what their customers like and look for.
What about you?
How much does the title of a book influence your decision to read it? Or at least to pick it up in the store and ponder? I'd say book titles don't normall have a huge effect on me, but if I see an intriguing/very different one, it probably will catch my eye.
Yesterday at my local RWA meeting, the discussion turned to titles; specifically, to the fact that one of our members recently submitted a manuscript to a Harlequin line and changed the title to be more in keeping with what they look for. Apparently they like to include "key words" in their titles, that their faithful readers will recognize and look for. (secret, baby, brother, baron, bride, etc.) Another of our members, published in Harlequin Historical, agreed, though she said it doesn't matter what title you use when you submit, because Harlequin will change it. In fact, she has been asked to submit up to 50 -- yes, 50!! -- titles for a single book for them to consider.
In addition, Harlequin will use those "key words" even if they don't have much to do with the plot. "Bride" is one of the most famous. The first book our Harlequin Historical author published had the word "bride" in the title they decided on, even though the story had nothing to do with one. When she explained this, they said, "Well, does the heroine get married at the end of the story?" "Um, yes...there's a proposal, anyway." So, because there was a HEA with a marriage on the horizon, the word "bride" remained part of the title.
Interesting, right?
I've seen discussion on some author loops about writers who would never agree to a title change if they got a publishing contract, while others don't care at all what their book is called. Me, I've been lucky enough at this point to have my titles kept exactly the same as when I submitted, but I would probably consider changing them if asked. I mean, it's the publisher's job to know what sells and what their customers like and look for.
What about you?
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