Falling in Love Again

"Love doesn't just sit there like a stone; it has to be made - like bread, remade all the time, made new." ~Ursula LeGuin

Here's what happens on the good days: I look at a manuscript after putting it away for a while and fall in love with the story and the characters all over again. I finished the first draft of One Night in Napa about 6 weeks ago and haven't looked at it since. Two days ago, I opened the file and started revising from Chapter One.

And I still really like it. I like my main characters. I like the minor ones, too. I like the storyline. About the only thing I don't like right now is the fact that I need to add about 14,000 words to get it to a marketable length (I'm aiming for 70K, for a mainstream publisher, though Samhain will take 60K and I'll send it to my editor there if no one else bites).

But despite that little (or not so little) glitch, I actually find myself looking forward to revising the novel each day. That doesn't always happen, believe me - sometimes it's much more of a struggle!

My goal is to have the story fully revised by the end of August. We'll see...

***
Oh, and the latest trailer I made:

Happy Friday!

"As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality." ~George Washington

First off, a big shout-out today to my writing friend (in real life ~ not in cyber-world!) Liz, who just won an honorable mention in the LASR Short Story contest. It will be posted on their site in August, so I'll make sure to have the link so you can read it then. Until then, give her a big congrats here, OK? She's a regular blog reader :)

And second, Happy Fourth of July!

My 10K Challenge

"If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk." ~Raymond Inmon

A non-writing-related post today:

This summer vacation, I decided to challenge myself to walking/running/covering 10,000 steps each day. This is inspired partly by Dru, who posts her steps each day, and partly by the fact that I'd like to conserve my driving and gasoline comsumption over the next couple of months. I live 2 miles from the closest small town, so yesterday I walked into town to mail some things and run a couple of errands. I'll do that a couple of times a week. And I plan on getting myself a helmet and actually riding my bike more than I ever have before.

I'll tell you, though, while 10,000 steps isn't really insurmountable, it definitely takes intention to get them all in! Yesterday I was running around all morning (putting up our pool...a story for another time), then did a bunch of errands, then went to an aerobics class at the gym, and I was still only at 8500 when I came home. So a few rounds around our property watering the flowerbeds and weeding took care of that.

10,000 steps a day...I'd challenge anyone out there to try it, even for a few days. Pedometers cost less than $10 - clip one on your belt and give it a whirl. You might be interested how many steps you do - or don't - take in the course of a day. There are a ton of articles out there about working up toward it - here's one. There are even sites where you can keep track of your daily steps. I don't keep track of my steps once I pass 10,000, though (I take off the pedometer and toss it on my bathroom counter 'til the next day :)

If any of you already keep track of your steps, how many do you average each day? And how do you manage to get them all in?

Writers' Wednesday: An Interview with Dana Marie Bell

Welcome to another edition of Writers' Wednesday! Today I'm chatting with paranormal romance author Dana Marie Bell. Enjoy - and remember, each comment you leave today counts toward my drawing this week...so let's hear from you!


Hi Dana, and welcome! Can you tell us a little about your background?

When I lived in Philadelphia I went to CAPA (Creative and Performing Arts High School). But my parents moved and decided I'd do better in a Catholic high school. (Can't you just hear the Psycho shower scene music?) I kept telling them that torture was against the law, but they just shook their heads and pointed to the bus stop.

I met my husband during my brief stay in college. I met him in February, and in April I told my dad that I'd found the man I was going to marry. We started dating in August, and we'd moved in together by October. I'd call it a whirlwind romance, except it took us seven years to finally get married. Now I'm a thirty-nine year old mother of two boys who keep me on my toes. I've been with my husband for seventeen years, and everyone who knows us thinks we're still disgustingly cute together. I write paranormal romances, though I've been known to pen contemporary romances or the occasional fantasy story. I love weres, vampires, mages and things that go bump in the night.

What a great story of true love! So when did you first begin writing? Was there an event or moment in your life that triggered your desire to write?

My grandparents had a small beach house in Wildwood, NJ. I remember coming home from the beach with this story running around in my head and asked them for pen and paper to write it down. On a bed in the guest room I wrote my first short story. I've been writing ever since.

Tell us about your latest writing project or published title.

The Wallflower is a novella that's part of Samhain Publishing's Cat Shifter Anthologies. It's also my first published work, and I'm really proud of it. It's about a woman named Emma who's dreamed of Max, her high school crush, for years. When Max comes home, it turns out he's been hiding a secret: he's a werepuma. And he's not just any werepuma, but the Alpha of the pride. He realizes Emma is his mate and marks her as his, but his ex is anything but happy over it. Emma has to prove to the pride that she has the strength to be the Alpha's mate as well as deal with a jealous ex who is hell bent on taking her position not only as Curana but as Max's lover.

To me it's a great story. I got my husband to read it, and I consider it a triumph that I actually got him to laugh out loud in at least two places.



Sounds intriguing! How do you go about developing your characters?

Develop? You're assuming I have control over them! In The Wallflower the main characters decided to have a fight in the middle of a scene where no fight had been plotted. They poked at me and hit me over the head with blunt objects until I agreed to let them hash it out. Turns out it worked, and they've been taunting me in a "we were right and you were wrong" sort of way ever since.

To me it's like I'm watching a movie, and my job is to put down on paper what I'm seeing in my mind. It doesn't always work out the way I planned, and the characters aren't always quite what I had in mind, but I'm usually pleased with the end result.

OK, what kinds of books do you like to read? Who is your favorite author?

Wait. I have to pick one? Only one? What about one for each genre and/or sub-genre? Can I get away with that?

I love sci/fi, fantasy, romance, paranormal, horror, mystery; I even read true crime stories. My husband and I own over two thousand books. We bought a house with enough rooms in it that we could have our own personal library just to house all of them. (My husband put the romances on a wall by themselves so the other books won't "catch their cooties".) My favorites? Sheri L. King, Lora Leigh, Mary Janice Davidson, Patricia Briggs, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Lois McMaster Bujold, Ann Bishop, Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, Steve Miller and Sharon Lee, Terry Pratchett, Lauren Dane… the list goes on and on. A friend of mine has a t-shirt that reads, "First I buy books. When I'm done buying books, I buy food and clothing." We're not quite that bad, but we're close.

Ah, I love that quote! And speaking of which, how do you balance writing with the rest of your life?

Each day is different. Some days, I can't stay on that tightrope. My toddler needs me, or my older boy is home sick from school and needs me, or I'm sick and need me, lol! Other days I can walk that tightrope on my hands while juggling six different things with my feet. A positive attitude helps, along with boatloads of caffeine and a Wiggles marathon.

I'm sure many of my readers will agree with you on that one! Can you describe your writing space for us?


There is a small black cat on top of my computer. His name is Gremlin, and he is evil, in a cute cat way. He likes to bat at my cursor in the middle of love scenes. (I kid you not. I made up an icanhascheezburger-type picture with the caption "Editor kitteh shows u wat u doin wrong" and posted it on my blog.) I have books piled up, music disks, files, and other assorted stuff that's likely to fall on my head if anyone sneezes too hard. Oh, and a desk lamp to light my way under the rubble, maybe alert the rescue team as to where I'm buried.



Dana, thanks so much for being here today. Readers are welcome to stop by her website and see what's up with her latest writing adventures!

Contest - One Week Only!!

Happy July, everyone!



To celebrate the one-week countdown to the release of my novel One Night in Memphis, I'm holding a really easy, really straightforward contest. Every time you leave a comment on my blog between now and next Tuesday - July 8 - your name will be entered into a drawing to win a free download of One Night in Memphis! To sweeten the deal, I'll throw in an autographed copy of either one of my print novels, Lost in Paradise or One Night in Boston, OR your choice of a novel from my read-and-to-be-given-away bookshelf. Oh, and chocolate, of course. No contest is complete without the sweet stuff, in my opinion.

So comment away for the next 7 days, and up your chances of winning!

And here's a video I had to mention, 'cause it's just so funny. (I can't figure out how to embed it here, so just visit this fellow author's blog and take a peek. It's hilarious...)

Summer Plans

"Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable; with the possible exception of a moose singing "Embraceable You" in spats." ~Woody Allen

Ah, the first Monday morning I'm not up before dawn and rushing out the door to school...kind of a nice thing :)

Goals for today? First and most important, go through FLEs for One Night in Memphis and return them to my editor. FLE stands for Final Line Edits, and it's one of the last steps before your book gets sent to the printer (or the electronic-file world, in the case of ebooks, I suppose). It's basically the proofreading step - an editor other than your regular one goes through the manuscript with a fine-toothed comb to find any errors the two of you might have missed. My editor said there were only a couple (I haven't opened the file yet...), so I hope it will be a quick read-through. And she's so sweet: she added, "The FLE LOVED your story, by the way!"

After next Tuesday, it's out in the world...wonder how the reviews will be? (Note to self: remember to apply skin-toughening cream over the next few days...)

After that, I suppose I could tackle the list of summer chores and projects that's now hanging in the kitchen. Dru asked the other day if I had summer plans beyond book promotions - well, we're taking a week's vacation to the Outer Banks with a group of friends in August, and we're going to a couple of concerts at Bethel Woods, but other than that, no big plans. Price of gas is keeping us pretty close to home!

What about you?

Why I'm Not Crazy About "Twilight"

"Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. 'Be very still,' he whispered, as if I wasn't already frozen. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. Then abruptly, but very gently, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat." ~from Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

OK, it's a huge best-seller. Teenage girls have read the entire trilogy multiple times. The fourth book, to be released this August, has bookstores across the country holding midnight parties a la Harry Potter.

My students fell in love with Twilight by Stephenie Meyer this year, so I eagerly picked it up a few weeks ago to find out why.

300 pages into it, I'm still wondering.

I know some of my blog readers have read and enjoyed this book, and I know most of you aren't teenage girls, so I'm curious to know what the big draw is.

Storyline: awkward teen Bella moves to a small town and finds herself inexplicably drawn to Edward, a perfect/ godlike/ beautiful/ dangerous "bad boy" sort of hero in school. The problem? Edward's a vampire.

My problem with this book? The first half is incredibly slow, a day-by-day account of what Bella wears to school, who she sits with in lunch, how she finds Edward so amazingly gorgeous she can hardly breathe when he's around...By the middle there is marginally more action, but I'm somewhere around page 350 and there's still not a whole lot going on.

My bigger concern, though, is the way the two main characters are developed. Bella is 15, plain and clumsy according to her own accounts...yet within the first month of school 4 boys ask her out. There's a whole lot of "poor me" whining on her part that drives me up a wall. Not only that, but her insecurity makes my teeth ache. She mentions how beautiful/gorgeous/breath-taking/perfect Edward is on at least every other page. OK, I get the teenage fascination with a good-looking bad boy who's out of one's league. But I get angry when an author reinforces the idea that a plain girl who's shy and not terribly graceful is not possibly worthy of someone with good looks. Bella is absolutely submissive to the mere idea of Edward, and her world revolves around the moments he looks at her.

And Edward, by the way, is not really a nice guy for the first half of the book. Here's the thing: if you're going to give me a hero, you better make sure I like something about him early on, despite his flaws. But Edward is rude, smirks (I'd like to count how many times the author uses that verb to describe his actions), and makes fun of Bella and other kids in the school. So when my students say, with great heaving sighs, "I want a guy like Edward," it pisses me off. Why are we still raising a generation of girls who think that it's OK for a physically gorgeous, unattainable guy to be emotionally manipulative? For a girl to throw away plans with friends and lie to her father for the mere chance of spending time with a good-looking guy who at one moment is kind and the next moment is incredibly distant and rude?

My students say, "Yes, but Edward's only keeping her at a distance to protect her...so he won't eat her. And he saves her life!" Yes, he does, more than once. He rescues her from being crushed by a careening truck and then later from being assaulted by a group of unsavory older men. For those reasons alone, I am finishing the book and reserving judgement, to see if Edward turns out to be a hero worth admiring. But I won't be running out to pick up the next book in the series.

I'd love to hear from anyone who's read Twilight and honestly enjoyed it from start to finish. Please tell me if I'm way off base here...

The Great Agent Search

"Forbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately; when lawful, they do not excite desire." ~Marcus Fabius Quintilian

Check out my lovely author page at The Long and the Short of It ~ don't they do a nice job?

***

I have begun the agent search for Summer's Song...we'll see how it goes. I read an interview with Gena Showalter the other day & she queried agents every time she finished a novel, for the first 7 she wrote. On the 7th she finally got representation!

So I'm sending out letters to test the waters...I've queried 19 agents and so far received 3 requests for sample chapters and one "no thanks." The nice thing is that I'm happy with Samhain, so if I don't get any bites on this novel, I'll keep writing and submitting to them. I like Summer's Song, don't get me wrong, but my fear is that it isn't "different" enough. Every agent's looking for the next totally original break-out novel, and I don't know in my gut that mine is it.

I do, however, have a story idea that I've been playing around with for the last few weeks. It involves different kinds of forbidden love, a ghost, and a mysterious death - and it was inspired by this piece of real-life news. If I tackle it, it will be different than anything else I've written. I just have to get up the energy!

TGIF: For Extra-Special Reasons, Today!

"I learned just enough in school to figure out that everything is not all there is to know." ~Anonymous

Yesterday one of my colleagues (who came to my launch party and bought Lost in Paradise) said, "I'm so glad that when I'm reading your book, I'm not thinking about you." Pause. "That's supposed to be a compliment." I laughed and said I got it - the heroine is not me and doesn't in any way remind her of me. And yeah, I took it as a compliment :)

***

FRIDAY'S FEAST:

Appetizer
What is the weather like today where you live?

Hot and humid - I feel sorry for all the schools that are holding their HS graduations today.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how career-minded are you?

Around a 9, I'd say ~ yesterday's post pretty much explains why.

Salad
What type of window coverings do you have in your home? Blinds, curtains, shutters, etc.?

Blinds in most rooms, that sorely need replacement (it's one of the things we haven't touched yet, after moving into this house 3 years ago).

Main Course
Name something that instantly cheers you up.

Either of my cats climbing into my lap and loving me :)

Dessert
How many times do you hit the snooze button on a typical morning?

Once - more than that and I'm running late...

***

Last day of school before summer vacation! Woo Hoo!!

Pomp and Circumstance

"I hope your dreams take you... to the corners of your smiles, to the highest of your hopes, to the windows of your opportunities, and to the most special places your heart has ever known." ~Anonymous

Last night our school held its annual graduation ceremony...always an overwhelming event. First of all, we graduate about 700 students each year. Miracle of miracles, it only lasts about 90 minutes (yes, really!) and every student gets to walk across the stage and have his/her name read. No speeches, and only 4 big awards given out.

So it doesn't last long.

But it's always a little emotional for me. Once you get past the arriving-two-hours-early-only-to-stand-outside-in-the-sweltering-heat element, and the packed-into-tiny-rows-of-chairs-like-sardines element, it's quite a nice evening.

Really, it is.

I'm caught between being so thrilled to see them graduate and being sad to see them go. Last night's class also managed to add to the mix by giving me a gorgeous and completely thoughtful gift. It's a good thing I was wearing sunglasses when they gave it to me so they couldn't see me tear up (was not going to cry! had spent a good 10 minutes doing my makeup).

And so the end of June always finds me in a melancholy sort of mood. We teachers spend so much time during the year trying to shape our classes, trying to help students learn the curriculum and manage behavior and keep up with grading and in the midst of it all try to form relationships that will help support them as they find their way into the world after they leave us...

It's exhausting.

And then often they tell us, that of all the things we hope they'll remember, they recall something different altogether. They watch us so closely - they see how we live our lives. They catch us in both our strong and our weak moments, and I think they learn more from watching how we carry ourselves, how we interact with others, how we make decisions and deal with adversity, than many of us realize.

My classroom is empty today, and my heart is sad.

Writers' Wednesday: An Interview with Tricia Jones

Welcome to Writers' Wednesday! Today I'm talking with fellow Samhain author Tricia Jones. Sit back and enjoy!

Tricia, thanks for being here today. When did you first begin writing? Was there an event or moment in your life that triggered your desire to write?

Although I’ve always made up stories in my head, for years the day job in adult education took up most of my energy. Then in 2000 I had one of those milestone birthdays and asked myself “if not now, when?” That’s when I started to write seriously for publication. I finaled in a couple of contests and that spurred me on to start submitting.

That's terrific - tell us about your latest writing project or published title.

Satin Lies, my latest contemporary romance, was released by Samhain Publishing on 3 June. The setting for Satin Lies is romantic Tuscany, one of my favorite places. It's a story about a woman who tries to protect the man she loves and ends up alienating him. Pregnant, she enters into a marriage of convenience with his brother. But when, years later, an accident claims her husband and leaves her with temporary amnesia, she is forced to confront the past and suffer the consequences of her deception as her former lover takes his revenge.

My first Samhain title, His Convenient Affair, was released in print just yesterday, so it’s been a pretty exciting month.

Wonderful news ~ congratulations! So how do you go about developing your characters?

First I get the germ of an idea for a story and the characters come from that. The characters develop as I write the first draft, by the end of which I know them pretty well. The second draft is when I really flesh them out. At a seminar, years ago, the speaker said that the creation of the characters should always come first and the plot should centre around them. That never seemed to work for me. I just couldn’t figure out how to “get” the characters first and then develop a plot for them. It just didn’t flow right. It took me a long while to trust my own process, thinking I was doing something fundamentally wrong. Now I go with what works for me.

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

Believe in yourself – first, last and always. Listen to the more experienced writers and take advice, but learn to trust your own instincts and do what works for you.

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

Not sure I’d call it writer’s block but I do stall from time to time. Those days when things just won’t happen no matter how hard you try. What works for me is taking time to do other things—physical stuff like gardening or even, heaven forbid, that pile of ironing that’s been waiting forever. It’s amazing how many times I’ve gotten unstuck while negotiating a particularly difficult drain that needs unblocking, or a stubborn weed that refuses to be pulled.

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

That sometimes you just have to trust the process. While I always have the theme, the black moment and the ending in mind when I start a book, I’m basically a seat of the pants writer and don’t always know where I’m going when I sit down to write. That can be scary, especially when the ideas don’t flow, but if you just keep writing magical things often happen. A book my editor is considering right now started out from a very specific idea, but somehow in the middle it morphed into something completely different and, I hope, better. I don’t begin to know how this works, but someone once said that life’s “magical” processes should never be questioned, just accepted. As long as the words keep flowing, I’m more than happy to go along with that...

Anything else you’d like to mention?

Just to say thank you for having me here today, Allie.

You're welcome! Readers, help Tricia celebrate her awesome release month by visiting her website and her blog, and make to check out her books, too!

A Contest! And What Happens When You Google Yourself

"The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom." ~Jon Stewart

I almost forgot to mention that The Wild Rose Press is hosting a contest, all summer long...and the grand prize is a SONY E-Reader! The fun part is that it involves reading some of their authors' works - so here's the link, if you'd like to enter. Great prize!

***

Have you ever Googled yourself? I read somewhere that 30% of us (or so) have. I was surprised...I thought that number was low. (But maybe I'm just overly curious or narcissistic). Anyway, I Google my pen name every few months to see what turns up. Usually, it's just what I expect, the various places my books are listed or sites where I've blogged or commented. But the other day, I was surprised by two of the search results I found. Apparently, One Night in Boston is for sale on Ebay. I'm not sure that's a good thing, but maybe any exposure is good exposure?

The other link I found was cool: a university library in Iowa offers a continuing ed. course in popular fiction/romance, and my article on the changing genre is one of the links in their course! I thought that was pretty neat...

***

Go on, do it. You know you want to Google yourself now...

Sales Numbers

"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." ~Pablo Picasso

I finally joined the world of 2008 and bought a laptop yesterday, complete with a wireless router so I can actually sit anywhere in my house and connect to the Internet. While I thought this would be a plus (so hubby and I don't have to negotiate time on our desktop), I can see how it can also EASILY become a huge distraction...I can't force myself to just write when with one little click I can be online. Hmm. Must find way to control the urge to surf while I should be turning out pages instead.

Now, to clarify yesterday's blog post, yes, I know that 49 book sales in one afternoon is a lot, and I know I'm a lucky girl to have so many friends and family turn out to support my habit (ahem...writing habit, that is...). I certainly don't anticipate those kind of sales anywhere else I'm going this summer. Hey, I've sat in enough Borders the last few months to know even one sale is good! If you're an author preparing for any kind of appearance, I would just advise to keep an open mind - you really can never tell who will show up or who will want to buy a book. Expect no one to buy anything at all, and you'll be pleasantly surprised if they do.

Finally, help me welcome a new author to blogger land: Dayana Knight, who writes paranormal romance and has a series coming out shortly. Stop by her blog and tell her hello!

A Beautiful Day for a Book Launch

"What is the disease which manifests itself in an inability to leave a party—any party at all—until it is all over and the lights are being put out?... I suppose that part of this mania for staying is due to a fear that, if I go, something good will happen and I’ll miss it. Somebody might do card tricks, or shoot somebody else." - Robert Benchley

OK, I lied. I do not have any pictures to share from yesterday's book launch party.

This is primarily because I forgot make sure I had my camera in my purse before I left - add that to the list of things I would change for next time.

Overall, though, it was a rousing success! Beautiful weather, first of all - 80 degrees and sunny all day long. This was nice because the library/resource center where it was held is oh so tiny, so the little front lawn with the extra picnic table was a nice place for people to hang out and chat.

I had lots of munchies and beverages - too much, probably, 'cause now I have lots of leftovers. However, I did discover a scrumptious punch recipe online that got rave reviews (a few people wrote down the recipe before they left the party!). It's down at the bottom of this post, if you're interested.

Most of my guests were family and friends, with a couple locals from the community who dropped in to visit. All in all, I sold 49 books - not too shabby!

What would I do differently next time?

1. Arrive earlier to set up. I didn't leave myself enough time.

2. Remember to eat. In a very weird way, it felt a little like my wedding reception: I was so busy chatting with people that I didn't have a thing to eat or drink all day. Translation: massive headache when it was all over.

3. Have a sign with the book prices. This wasn't crucial, but it would have prevented me from repeating myself 49 times.

Otherwise, for the time and money I spent on 3 hours of one afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised by how it turned out. And I like that every time I do an event, I learn more about my own marketing strategies and things that work/don't work.

On to the next one!

***

"Angel Punch"

One 12-oz container frozen pink lemonade
20-oz bag frozen strawberries
2 cups water
1 quart vanilla ice cream
2 cups lemon-lime soda

Combine half of all ingredients EXCEPT the soda. Blend in blender until smooth. Transfer to serving dish and repeat with the other half of ingredients. Chill until time to serve, then pour soda over the top.

Really, it was DELICIOUS - everyone loved it~

The Lake House

"Even though this is clearly impossible, it's amazing." ~from "The Lake House"

This is a terrifically romantic movie, if you haven't seen it (I watched it last night...for the 3rd time...). Go rent it!



I'm off to my launch party ~ pics here tomorrow!

Who Cares What the Reviewers Say?

"A writer should be joyous, an optimist... Anything that implies rejection of life is wrong for a writer." ~George Gribbin

These are the *real* reviews I like:

"You have amazing characters, gripping plots, a fantastic vocabulary, and fresh comparisons. I just had to drop you a note to let you know. I'm looking forward to your third book." ~ my good friend Jenny, a high school English dept. chair out in Ohio that I worked with years ago in a community college writing center. (Those words coming from a fellow English teacher mean A LOT.)

"I just finished One Night in Boston and found it engrossing and enjoyable." ~ my 81-year old aunt, God bless her.

And guess what? Sneak preview at some exciting news coming this summer...

Marianne and Ceri and I might be doing a Samhain author signing at a library or two in New Hampshire! Actually, I don't care about the signing or selling so much as having the chance to get together with 2 cyber-friends and fellow authors, in the real world. I imagine it will be a gab-fest more than a "meet and greet the fans" event - but that's OK. It's not set in stone yet but will hopefully work out. We'll keep you posted!

For Your Viewing Pleasure...

"Wine is bottled poetry." ~Robert Louis Stevenson

I have no words of importance today, so it'll be a visual blog post. You like that anyway, right?

The hostas around our pool deck (and yes, there is no pool there - we're getting a new one - hopefully soon!):

And the hostas around the side of our garage ( the middle ones look a little smushed 'cause I took this pic right after a terrific rainstorm yesterday. Those ones, incidentally, the deer will strip to nothing, if they discover them. The variegated ones on either side, the deer will leave alone. Stupid picky creatures...

Our container vegetable garden about a month ago, newly planted:

And as of yesterday, blooming pretty well (you can see the two upside-down tomato growers, hanging off the side - no salmonella for us!):

And finally, how I spent one day after work, earlier this week: touring a winery with my teacher friends (the oldest continually operating winery in the country, by the way, thanks to a need for sacrament wine during Prohibition). Hey, what other job gets you out and drinking wine at 4:00 in the afternoon?

Writers' Wednesday: An Interview with Lanaia Lee

Welcome to Writers' Wednesday! Today I'm happy to be hosting author Lanaia Lee. Settle in and enjoy the interview!

Hi, Lanaia, and thanks for joining me today. Can you tell us a little about your background?

Not much to give for my background in writing. I have only been writing for five years. Divine intervention, I would say. My poetry has won numerous awards and I'm hoping so will my numerous books I will end up writing. I had a stroke at 35, confining me to a wheelchair, so me being a Taurus, my husband calls me Sitting Bull.

Ha - love the nickname! So when did you first begin writing? Was there an event or moment in your life that triggered your desire to write?

Five years ago my husband dared me to write a poem. After writing it being curious, I posted it in several on line poetry forums, and the feed back was so positive, I continued to write. Poetry at first, then short stories and finally novals.

Tell us about your latest writing project or published title.

Right now I am working on a five volume fantasy series called Of Atlantis, book one realeased on May 17th, right now it can be purchased at http://www.rovalpublishing.net/, book two called Skulls of Salvation, to be released by the end of summer by A' G' Press, http://www.agpress.8m.net/, the press will publish my last 4 books. I also have a book of poetry available through A. G. Press, called Within Lanaia's Garden of Darkness, now available every where. Soon Of Atlantis book one will also be available everywhere.

That's great news! Now, how do you go about developing your characters?

My characters from Of Atlantis have been in my imagination since childhood. I was an only child, so some of my characters, I played with as a child. An only child seems to develop quite the imagination. My series is based on a lot of my own personal beliefs, so no problem in developing my characters.

OK, what advice would you give to new writers just starting out?

Any new author, make sure [to be careful] in dealing with anyone, especially from the Internet. There are people out there that will seduce you, by telling you, just what you want to hear, just to take advantage of you. So my advice is to be very careful and be absolutely sure of who you are dealing with.

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

I love mysteries and historical romances. My absolute favorite author of all time is Edgar Allan Poe, this man was a literary genius. Having died when he was only forty, I wish he had lived longer, so there would have been more of his work.

Ah, I'm a Poe fan too! What do you find most difficult about writing? What do you find most exciting or rewarding?

Sometimes in writing poetry, after writing over a thousand poems, sometime I get a bout of writer's block, but after a while of thinking, I always come up with a poem. After I write, I will read it aloud to my husband, and my most rewarding thing, is seeing the look on my husband's face. This tells me if he truly enjoyed my work. The most exciting thing is when friends read my work and comment. Remember those closest to you are your biggest critics.

Thanks for sharing your journey with us, Lanaia!

Allie, I would really like to thank you for taking the time to interview me and talk with me...and readers, remember to buy Of Atlantis!

Gardening Woes and Wows

"My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. " ~H. Fred Ale

I'm not much of a gardener. This will not come as a surprise to anyone who's read my blog for a while, but really, I do not possess a green thumb and have no great desire to develop one. I would much rather spend any free time I have reading or writing (or possibly drinking a good Merlot, but I digress...)

However, I'm happy to say that the vegetables we've started in containers on our front porch are actually growing. This is a feat in itself, as I'm always somewhat surprised to see seeds in dirt turn into green plants above the ground. Yesterday I was weeding (if you can believe it) and hubby came running across the driveway waving something in his hand. Thrilled, he produced two tiny green beans from one of our plants. Hooray! Actually, the lettuce is doing quite well too, and everything else seems to be growing and flowering. I'll take a picture and post it up here sometime.

The poor flowerbeds around the property aren't doing quite as well, though, mostly because it's been beastly hot and dry here, and also because most of the ground beneath us is slate and sand (a neighboring town is actually named "Slate Hill" - need I say more?). But they're doing OK. Except while I was weeding yesterday I found hoofprints in one bed. Yes, actual hoofprints, from the local deer. Yes, they're cute. Yes, I refuse to let hubby hunt them. Yes, I hate to see them hit along the side of the road. But they demolished my impatiens - demolished those and yet left the petunias completely alone.

Unbelievable.

Oh, well. Some things are still steadily growing, others are struggling, and others are thriving no matter what gets thrown at them (like the hostas...they're enormous...does anyone need any??)

Sort of like people, now that I think about it.

Countdown to End of School, and Party Plans, and Release Dates, and...

"We can make this thing into a Party, instead of a Memory." ~Will Rogers

Two weeks left of school...and I'm not sure who's happier, the students or the teachers!

I'll be spending this week (among other things that, you know, have to do with my day job) getting ready for my book launch party this-coming Saturday! I'm excited, if only because I'm holding it at a place that's really small and maxes out at about 50 people - which means if even 10 people come to my party, it will at least look sort of crowded and well-attended :)

And this is a shout-out to my local blog readers: everyone's invited on Saturday! (really) - Click on this link to find out more details.

I had a chance to visit my parents this past weekend, and my mom said to me, "You know, I got a little worried toward the end of Lost in Paradise. I thought maybe it was going to have a sad ending." Aha! So the black moment in the book works :) And see, that's the nice thing about the love stories I write - you can count on the fact that they have happy endings.

Speaking of love stories with happy endings, only three weeks and counting 'til One Night in Memphis releases!