Marching on wedges to my own drummer

WOW! I can’t tell you how excited I was to be asked to join the Stiletto Gang. I mean, so many of the authors on this blog are the ones lining my bookshelves. Being offered a spot in the blog family made me dance the tarantella in my living room before I gave my answer – a resounding YES! Only, now I have to confess something and I’m worried it’ll get me kicked out of the club.

I don’t wear stilettos.

Before you start digging around in your refrigerators for those overly ripe tomatoes, let me explain. I think stilettos are awesome. Stilettos are sassy. They make a great weapon if you want to lay waste to someone’s toes and they make legs look like they go all the up to here. (Okay – you can’t see me holding my hand over my head, but you get the point.) The weapon part I love. The sassy part is totally awesome. The tall part….well, adding extra height to my legs means turning me from an already tall person into an Amazon.

Yeah – I’m tall. Add in the red hair and you have a person that sticks out like a sore thumb.

That’s not to say I don’t wear heels. I do. Well, I do now. When I was a teen I was agonizingly aware of my height and refused to wear heels. Over the years, I’ve learned that my height isn’t any less noticeable in flats, so I’ve embraced the idea of towering over folks. But stilettos still don’t work for me. The tiny heels that look so sexy on everyone else always make me feel like I’m going to end up flat on my face. And face it – as a red head, I’m a magnet for trouble. Have you ever tried to run away from someone in stilettos? I’d be nose to nose with the floor in minutes. Which is why my feet sport wedges. On wedges I can run like the wind.

So there’s my dirty little secret. Although, I guess all things considered really isn’t all that surprising. For some reason, I never am able to completely conform to the way things are supposed to be done. The cozies that I write aren’t really cozy…at least that’s what I am told. I guess a socially frisky grandfather and a hat wearing camel aren’t par for the cozy course. When I tried to write a ‘real’ cozy for my next series I ended up writing something I’m told is even less cozy. Thankfully, an editor was okay with that. And now….well, the new book I’m writing isn’t even in the same hemisphere.

I guess I’m doomed to march to the beat of my own drummer while wearing wedges. They are still sassy and sexy. And while they clomp instead of click down the hall, they are all me. So please, make me feel less like a rebel. Tell me what rules you break in your writing and in your every day life. And hopefully, the Stilettos will let me stay a member of the club long enough to see your replies!

Happy Tuesday all!
Joelle Charbonneau - the new kid on the block:)

Dating in the 21st Century

The last two weeks have been busy ones in the household of the Northern half of Evelyn David. It was my husband's birthday and our anniversary. Though he's a (very, very proud) grandfather now, in the important ways, he's still the intelligent, kind, generous, funny seventeen-year-old guy who picked me up in his Dad's Oldsmobile to take me to my junior prom. His once fiery red hair is now softened with white, but he's still seriously handsome with a killer smile. He is the smartest guy I know. If you're looking for someone to be your lifeline on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," call him. He has an amazing capacity to know something about everything. He is a rock in a crisis; a marshmallow when it comes to Ms. Riley, our granddaughter.

Without sounding too much like an old fogey, although I readily admit that I am one, I'm old-fashioned about courtship. Though I've encouraged my unmarried son and daughter to try Internet dating, in fact, there is something about the pre-Match.com method of girl meets boy, face-to-face, and actually goes out on dates (not e-chats) that is appealing. It was love at first sight for me, and I didn't over-analyze it. My gut instinct told me this guy was a keeper.

Are we raising a generation who are personally risk-averse, while professionally daring? When I was in my twenties, holding on to the same job for 25 years was considered a smart career move. Today if you're in the same job for 5 years, you're either President of the company or stagnant. It seems to me that our kids have no trouble changing jobs or partners. I understand that in this new corporate environment there is no incentive to be loyal to one company or brand, but how about in love?

Is the corporate "it's just business" environment carrying over to personal relationships as well? Is the skyrocketing divorce rate evidence of that? I once thought that Internet dating sites were a good alternative to the bar scene. I understood that once you had graduated from college, it was harder to meet potential mates. Certainly, you didn't want to date anyone with whom you worked – but where else would you meet someone if you were working long hours?

But now I've seen the jaded side of these web match-ups. Sure I can list several very happily married couples who met on one of those sites. But I can also point to countless under-30-somethings who spend a long time chatting on-line with various potential love interests without ever committing to meeting in person. At some point, it seems to me, you've got to bite the bullet. You've got to invest in face time. They would argue that the pre-date dating winnows out the losers in the group. I suspect that it makes those verbally precocious more attractive and downplays those who may not be quite so glib, but have real substance.

Not sure where I end up on this modern-love dilemma. How about you Stiletto Faithful? What do you think about Internet matchup sites?

And in the meantime, Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary to Pop-Pop.

Marian, aka Grandma, the Northern half of Evelyn David

Brianna Sullivan Mysteries - e-book series
I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
The Dog Days of Summer in Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
The Holiday Spirit(s) of Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Undying Love in Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
A Haunting in Lottawatah - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

The Sullivan Investigation Series
Murder Drops the Ball (Spring 2011)
Murder Takes the Cake- Paperback - Kindle
Murder Off the Books- Paperback - Kindle
Riley Come Home (short story)- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

Romances

Love Lessons - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

My Theme to A Summer Place

By Laura Spinella

Recently, I read a post by Alice Hoffman. It said she was going away for the summer to write. It’s seems like an appropriate time of year to escape and change venues, a seaside locale full of sunshine and inspiration, surrendering that off day to the beach if need be. It must be good to be Alice. I also read a blog where another writer, not quite as famous as Alice, decided to move to Paris for the summer. I’m sure the atmosphere there is equally divine, and, clearly, her pockets full of cash.

 

Things work a little differently around here. As writing time goes, summer means intruders and disruption. Granted, they are the other people who live here. But I prefer the nine months of the year when public education and college demands their attendance, thereby facilitating their absence from here. During the summer months, these people are exclusively mine, blasting reruns of Saved by the Bell three feet from my sunroom, where I write, and wanting to know if this is the last of the Gatorade. Apparently, I am the only person in my house capable of peering in the pantry and solving this burning question. This summer, we have a new distraction. When the school-is-out flag dropped, I noticed that the TV watching was limited compared to the past. I breathed a sigh of relief as Boy Meets World met with the off button at a reasonable 9:30 a.m. But it was false hope as a distinct and steady swishing sound—kind of like a mini rollercoaster—rumbled at that back of my head. It seems my fourteen-year old son, and his band of skateboarding cohorts, have seized the driveway, which, naturally, borders the sunroom. Here they have created a valley of ramps and runs where no flip or grab shall go unmastered. (What this kid could accomplish if he put half that much effort into his schoolwork) I admit, it’s good to know where he is. Grant Robert and his sweaty, tick past the tock of puberty, friends are happy to spend their summer in the safe haven of my driveway. Something tells me their parents are even happier.

My daughter, who goes to faraway college, is home too. She doesn’t skateboard. Mostly, she lets me know how unjust the world of retail is. How dare they insist that everyone show up for a staff meeting before the store opens? And do you have any idea as to the number of people willing to shop on a Saturday in July, hell bent on dismantling the wall of jeans she just folded…Let me tell you, it’s appalling. On these occasions, I look up from the sticky plot point I’m on the verge of rectifying and nod in sympathetic agreement. I smile as she stomps off and mumble, “Maybe come fall you’ll study that much harder in microbiology.”

Yesterday, the whole kit and caboodle, husband and kids, went to the beach in Rhode Island. I’m holding out for the beach in Paris, so I declined. At 9:45 in the morning there was complete silence. Well, silence except for the one boy who didn’t get the message. I spied him meandering up our driveway, skateboard in hand. Auggie, our golden-doodle who loves to put the fear of God in teenage boys, ran him off in short order. Again, I was alone. I was going to sit in my sunroom and write. Like other summers, however, I was soon reminded that once your schedule is disrupted, it’s not easily reacquired. I wasn’t in the mood; I wasn’t particularly inspired. The sunroom was too sunny, not to mention sauna-like. I took a break, went to the kitchen and discovered that we were, in fact, low on Gatorade. I put the writing aside and went to the grocery store. Hours later, the kit and caboodle returned from the beach, sandy and full of sunburn. Televisions turned on and complaining commenced, “Why did they schedule me for Sunday? I hate working Sundays!” I smiled as higher education earned another point. In between, there was surprise expressed over the Steak Salad feast I’d prepared. “When did you have time for this?” asked my eldest daughter, who is brilliant, aside from the fact that she can’t boil water. “Oh, I just felt like making it,” I replied. “After all, it is a family favorite.”

I’ve got a twin billing at the moment! Catch my 5 Do’s & Do-Over at Chick Lit Is Not Dead, where I tell you what you should do naked. Lisa and Liz are giving away 5 copies of BEAUTIFUL DISASTER. Also, the Book Club Queen is running a fun Q&A and a fabulous review, declaring it a five-crown book club read!

If you’re hungry, Steak Salad:


1lb flank steak, marinated
1lb shrimp, peeled (I marinade the shrimp in butter & lemon)
2 roasted red peppers
3 ears roasted corn, shucked
1 red onion, grilled
1 small eggplant (or any other veggie you like roasted)
1 can mandarin oranges

Feta cheese

Roast all your veggies together ahead of time, grill steak & shrimp. On a LARGE platter, arrange a bed of lettuce, sliced steak & shrimp, top with grilled veggies. Add oranges and top with cheese. Everybody here like to top it with their favorite dressing, but you can top the whole thing with one kind. Enjoy!

What We're Reading!

We thought it would be fun to share what we’re reading right this moment! So here’s the scoop on which spines we’ve got cracked and those covers we just closed.

Bethany: I'm reading GEEZER GIRLS, a crime novel by British author Dreda Say Mitchell. The first couple of chapters aren't thrilling me (a garter can NOT hold up a .357), but I really want to like it, so I'm gonna give it little bit longer. And of course, I'm waiting for LITTLE BLACK DRESS to arrive in the mail! (Wish I could speed that up for you, Bethany! :->)

Joelle: TORN (the debut book for the Kensington KTeen line) by Erica O'Rourke. And hey--I also ordered LITTLE BLACK DRESS. I'm feeling like I'm one of the family! (Aw, thanks, Joelle! And you are!)

Laura:  Emily Giffin's LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH.  Very entertaining, fun fast read!

Lori:  I just finished SHELTER by Harlan Coben (comes out in September--his first foray into the YA world).  But I also just read NO REST FOR THE DEAD, a collaboration of 25 mystery authors. Pretty cool!!! (Here’s an excerpt from Lori’s review:  When I read the preview for this book I was immediately enticed. So many great authors all in one place?! A readers dream come true.  Was it possible for twenty-five different authors to write one seamless story? I would quickly find out that the answer was – heck ya!)

Maggie: I'm reading THE SPELLMANS STRIKE AGAIN by Lisa Lutz. Love, love, love this series but haven't had time to read the latest installment until now. It's about a family of private investigators and when I say family, I mean it--the youngest is a teenager. They are constantly getting into each other's business and sabotaging each other's plans. It's hysterical but with a pretty good mystery embedded. One of my favorite series.

Maria: I just finished MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins. It was a great ending to a great trilogy!

Marian (Northern half of Evelyn David): I just finished BOSSYPANTS by Tina Fey. A hoot! Am re-reading MURDER ON A GIRLS’ NIGHT OUT by Anne George. Great characters, delightful humor.

Marilyn: I’m reading two books, one is Kris Neri’s REVENGE FOR OLD TIMES’ SAKE, which is delightful, and an ARC of a YA novel called JANE JONES:  WORST VAMPIRE EVER by Caissie St. Onge—which is also the name of the heroine. Clever story and I’m enjoying it.

Rachel: Just finished DEAD MAN’S SWITCH by debut mystery author Tammy Kaehler. This is a great choice for fans of a strong female protagonist as it features a resourceful amateur sleuth who is also a racecar driver. Girl power! Kabam! I'll blog about this one soon over at Write It Anyway. Next up for me is a beta read for my thriller writer pal CJ West, whose new one is called ADDICTED TO LOVE, and then I think I'll finally show up (years) late to THE HUNGER GAMES party (Suzanne Collins) because I've just heard too many good things not to give it a try.

Rhonda (Southern half of Evelyn David): I just finished STILL MISSING by Chevy Stevens. This is an excellent psychological mystery. A real estate agent was abducted during an open house. She was missing for a year. The book starts after her return. She is seeing a psychiatrist and one chapter at a time she tells us, and the psychiatrist, what happened to her then and what's happening now. STILL MISSING is a fascinating, well written novel. The book has a very unique plot construction with its one session at a time method of conveying the story. Definitely not for the squeamish. There's some sexual content, although not as graphic as you might suppose. I highly recommend it. Next up – THE GIRL WHO DISAPPEARED TWICE by Andrea Kane.

Susan:  I just finished A PUG'S TALE by Alison Pace, which was adorable.  It's about a woman who works in the restoration department of the Met.  She's dog-sitting her boyfriend's pug, Max, while Ben is halfway around the world doing pro bono legal work, and she realizes a painting hanging in one of the galleries is a forgery.  The thief leaves her notes, like a scavenger hunt, until she figures out whodunit (with Max helping, of course!). Now I'm reading EARTHLY PLEASURES by Karen Neches about a greeter in Heaven who's sent down to earth. I'm really enjoying it!

So tell us which book you’ve got open right this minute! Or one you just finished. We’d love to hear what everyone else is reading.

Turning "Off"

I’m the kind of person who when faced with nothing to do, a long stretch of interrupted peace, finds something to do.  I’m not good at relaxing.  Mr. Maggie often refers to it as my “on/off switch.”  He says that if I’m not “on,” I’m “off,” which usually means that I’m asleep.  I have a hard time turning off my mind and my body, which is why doing yoga has proven spectacularly unsuccessful for me.

The last few weeks, however, have forced me to do just that—turn off while awake.  I have just finished a day job project that required me to get twenty books revised and to the printer—all in India, no less—by the middle of June for a mid-July collective pub date.  To say that the project nearly did me in is not an understatement.  (For proof, you can ask either the northern half of Evelyn David or Susan.  They have heard enough whining to last a lifetime.)  I had to deal with the first round of edits on my next book (PHYSICAL EDUCATION, out in November) and then the copyedits.  I have a number of other projects for work in various stages of readiness, and with varying degrees of author compliance.  By say the twentieth of June, my brain was fried.

So, I decided to play against type and take a few days off.  At first, it was an unsuccessful experiment, with me going deep into the bowels of the Barbieri basement (you remember, the one with the vermin) and beginning to clean.  Three giant black plastic bags later and I was only mildly sated in my quest to bring order to the house.  Suffice it to say, we still have a long way to go, but we’re getting there. Then there was the issue of packing child #2 for camp.  That took all of two hours.  I still had a lot of energy and not a lot of things to do.

I decided to read a book.  And then another.  I took long, meandering walks down by the river, through town, and even through the woods.  I spent a lot of time at the Laundromat while waiting for the delivery of our new washer.  I bought a notebook and started outlining chapters for a new book I’m working on.  I wrote down a few ideas for yet another book.  I wrote the beginning of the new Alison Bergeron book.  And I started to see the benefit of this relaxing thing, this turning off of the mind.  By turning off the mind, I discovered, you are actually turning it back on, and are able to think.  And for a writer, that feeling is priceless.

I guess I’m finding that there is a lot competing for space in my over-packed brain so I’m going to have to think of ways to carve out time to get some thinking done, as sad as that sounds.  When do your best ideas come?  When you’re busy?  Or when you’re “off”? 

Maggie Barbieri

Sneak Peek of My New Cover

This is the cover for my next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Bears With Us, due out mid August.

When I was asked by the cover artist what I wanted on the cover, I said a stylized Native American looking bear. Did I have a picture in my mind? No, but this particular artist has done all my covers and she has always been able to come up with something that fits the story and looks like a Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery.

I was on vacation when the publisher sent me a picture of the cover--I was and am ecstatic. She definitely nailed it.

In this particular book, the mountain community of Bear Creek is plagued by bears. Though there is a fish and game warden, he can't be every place at once and Tempe finds herself having to chase bears out of people's homes. Of course there's plenty more to keep her busy, but for awhile the bears are her biggest problem.

I've been fortunate with all my covers lately. Both publishers have artists who really aim for giving a hint of the book and trying to interpret the author's vision.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Enjoy the Holiday!

Brianna Sullivan Mysteries - e-book series
I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
The Dog Days of Summer in Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
The Holiday Spirit(s) of Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Undying Love in Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
A Haunting in Lottawatah - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

The Sullivan Investigation Series
Murder Drops the Ball (Spring 2011)
Murder Takes the Cake- Paperback - Kindle
Murder Off the Books- Paperback - Kindle
Riley Come Home (short story)- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

Romances

Love Lessons - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

I've Got the My-New-Book's-Out-in-Two-Months Jitters

by Susan McBride

Yeah, it starts early.  Like, long before your book hits the shelves in any brick-and-mortar stores.  When it's available for pre-order online, only usually your cover art's not even up yet and there's no description.  Just your title and your name, and a lonely box that says, "Cover Unavailable."

Even if you've got another book to write that's supposed to be keeping you busy, you're thinking about it.  You can't help it. People keep sending you things, like copy edits, galleys to proof, and other stuff involved in the production process that always requires your immediate attention.  Although you try to put it out of your head, they won't let you.  It's like pine needles from your Christmas tree.  You think you've got them all swept up and yet, when you vacuum in July, there they are. 

You can run but you can't hide.  You can fight, but it's a lost cause.  You can pull yourself up by your bootstraps, shake off the dust, and get right back up on that horse...well, you know what I'm getting at. It's called the My-New-Book's-Coming-Out-Jitters. And there are obvious symptoms, and I'll describe a few in case you think you've got jitter fever coming on.

For starters, you can't help looking at your online numbers.  I know, I know.  You've told yourself you wouldn't do that any more.  But it's a new book, one you've poured your heart into.  Surely someone's ordered it by now?  So you take a peek, certain you'll be amazed by the digits.  And, yes...yes, you definitely are.  Because isn't it not a good thing to be at one million?  Should you call your mom and ask her to order?  Should you pretend you didn't see?

Then there are the bad dreams.  Nightmares to be specific.  You're at a writer's conference and one of your best friends approaches, telling you she's talked with your publisher and your new book only has a 2% sell-through.  That, for sure, is a very bad thing.  You wake up in a cold sweat, gasping for breath.  Then you look at the calendar and realize the book hasn't come out yet.  You're safe.  For now.

You start Googling, looking for early reviews.  Only you keep coming across ad copy for the book that isn't your favorite.  It's everywhere.  Along with your old bio that you wrote specifically for the last book that had to do with things this new book has nothing to do with.  Do you:  (a) panic and whine to anyone who will listen (always my first choice); (b) suck it up and ignore it; or, (c) stop spending so much time online looking at stuff that makes you crazy and FOCUS ON THE BOOK THAT'S DUE IN A FEW MONTHS.  Hmm, now that's a tough choice.

I'm not sure this disease appears in any medical textbook or if it's acknowledged by the CDC.  Still, it exists.  And the most frightening thing about it:  there's no cure.  None that I'm aware of anyway. Sure, some authors say a couple drinks ease the pain. But as Maggie knows, I'm no drinker. Others suggest a long vacation, but I've got two deadlines this year.  So that's a no-go.  A lobotomy could be the answer only, yeah, I think I'd miss those two deadlines for sure if I went that route.

Did I mention that Little Black Dress is out two months from today?  (Well, it's officially a September 1 book, but it releases on August 23.)  So I expect my jitter fever to go sky high in the ensuing weeks.  You might want to keep your distance.  I've heard it's not catching but you can never be too sure.