Cynthia Harrison's Blog, page 56

Absentminded Professor

Al has a couple of nicknames for me, but my favorite is “absent-minded professor” with the images it conjures of head in clouds and nose in books. And also being smart and professorial. It’s true, lots of things go over my head. But just lately I’ve noticed a decline in what I remember. I take a medication for stress that has a dark side effect: it mimics dementia.

Now, if I knew it was the meds, for sure, I’d be cool. But I am also a drama queen, so you know, I’ve been wondering. Could this be real signs of something? I have a doctor’s appointment with a new (female) physician and I’m going to tell her what’s happening with me and my meds. My current (male) neurologist loves pills. Hey, when I have migraine, I love them too.

But. On an everyday basis, I don’t love the pills so much. They sap my energy. The former Cindy was energetic to the point of perpetual motion that skipped into anxiety with the smallest push. This is similar to how bi-polar people must experience the world, even though the ”low” for me is a side effect of meds. I’m all evened out now, and while I adore the relief from anxiety, I miss the energy.

Really hoping this woman doc can set me straight on what to do. It took me months to get an appointment, she’s that good. I can still be the absentminded professor, but with an edge.

Death in the Family

Tomorrow, Al and I are headed downriver for a sad occasion. Not my immediate family, but a close family member, has died unexpectedly. My parents are here from Florida and we are all a bit numb. It was a shocking death. He was healthy and only a year older than I am. He hadn’t even retired yet. He left behind a devastated wife, two daughters, grandchildren, a sister…so many losses.

Death is unimaginable until it knocks on your door. Al asked what I would do if it had been him. I said I’d move west close to one of our sons. The one who has a grandchild first. I’d have a smaller place, cook less, read more, and grieve every day. Life, I think, would lose its color. It would be black and white for a good long while.

One thing I’m quite certain of, I would never marry again. I will never live with a man again. Or anyone. I will be alone and I will live alone. I’m a loner at heart, and so is Al. I think that’s why we get on so well together. Nobody else would fit the hole in my heart. My relative, who is my age and not only a relative but a friend, must feel this way too.

It will be difficult feeling all the sorrow, pain, anguish. Because it comes at me, it enters my thin skin and crosses into my blood as I pick up the emotions all around me. I have plenty of my own, but that’s just the way it works. Never easy for anyone. Least of all the one who has lost her beloved.

Blue Heaven is Free on Kindle

“Fall in love one page at a time.”  That’s just one of the nice things reviewers are saying about Blue Heaven, which is free on Kindle today and all week:)

Fun update: Yesterday, before my novel went free, it was almost #600,000 in the Kindle store. Now it is #453 for all Kindle books and #43 for “contemporary fiction.” People love free. I know I do:)

Rosie Interviews Me

What a great weekend. And now it’s Monday and it only gets better because Rosie Amber is hosting me on her blog! She asks about Blue Heaven so of course I told her the big news that starts tomorrow. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Rosie does!

I Love You More

♥ 28 years ago today, Al and I dove heart first into marriage. ♥

My third, his first. Was I a little bit embarrassed? Yes. I wanted to do it quietly with no fuss. My friends & family had already been to my big wedding with the veil and the dress and the church.

But Al wanted a wedding. A real wedding where he would invite all his family and friends and wear a tuxedo. He agreed it would be fine if I just wore a pretty dress suitable for a third marriage.

I let Al plan everything. He hired a DJ and a caterer and cleaned out his garage for the lovely cake his sister baked. He made space so the food could be set up properly. He hired people to erect canopy, tables, and chairs in his enormous leafy green yard. A Unitarian minister married us in a little church in town. Then on to Al’s house for the reception. His parents set up a bar in the kitchen and provided quite an array of liquor. A keg of beer got a work out on the patio where later, we danced.

And the next morning, after partying well into the night, he took me to Maui for a week. We almost missed the plane.

♥ 28 years ♥

That’s a chunk of change. Our song is “In My Life” by the Beatles, appropriate lyrics for someone like me who had loved much and perhaps too often. Somewhere in those years, all of our LPs were ruined in a basement flood. Since then, little by little, Al has been amassing a new collection of our old records. He still has a turntable with a fine diamond needle.

When I mentioned that I wanted to buy him a Beatles LP for our anniversary to my neighbor (and new BFF!) she said she had a stack of them in her basement and she’d bring them over and Al could choose one. She would not let me pay for it. Nice neighbor, right? She came over with the LPs and which one did Al choose? None other than Rubber Soul, my favorite. And as he turned it over and pointed, I saw yes, this one is the LP with our song on it. He’s so romantic.

Letter to Jenny

Dear Jenny,

You ask what inspires my books. It’s different for every book, but with Blue Heaven it all started with a visit to some friends’ cottages on Lake Huron. Yes, that is the exact setting of Blue Heaven. My friends had bought these run-down cottages as rentals and the wife did a great job decorating them shabby chic. She was amazing with fabric and paint. I’m sure the husband did the plumbing and so forth. I was simply charmed by that day, those cottages, and I never forgot it.

Inspiration sometimes needs to simmer. Maybe a year later, or even two, I told my husband my idea for a book. “Like Sue and Joe’s cottages.” He thought the idea was good, and even offered to take me for a nice long ride around the thumb. I took pictures and notes on that trip and the novel was born. A scratchy rough draft later, some friends bought a cottage in Caseville.

Everyone in Michigan knows Caseville is the top of the thumb. Visiting my friend, walking into town via the beach, all of that added to the setting as I worked on draft #2.

One final influence on this book is Mary Kay Andrews. I love her books; they’re fun and sassy and she almost always has a renovation element. She is the queen of shabby chic. I just checked her blog and she’s doing a real-life remodel on her own cottage. And there are pictures! I got to meet MKA once. We actually walked to lunch together! And she asked me what I was working on…I said nothing. I mean, I said the words “nothing right now.” Because walking beside my idol, I just blanked. But I was working on Blue Heaven.

As for the characters, I always give my female protagonists at least some of my own emotions but different lives than mine. I like feisty women who dig deep through tragic circumstances and come up with the prize: a happy life. So that’s Eva, who lost a job and boyfriend on the same day. As for Daniel, I called him Adam at first. And Eva was Eve. Get it? Garden of Eden? One of my working titles was “Remodeling Eden.” I decided the metaphor was too labored, but I did keep the name of the resort: Blue Heaven.

Thanks for asking about what inspires me! And enjoy your books:)

Sincerely, Cindy

And the Winners Are…

I have the winners of my print book contest and will be in contact for your snail mail addresses. You know, I think people prefer their devices these days. First time that’s happened. And I’m sorry to all my friends in Europe and Asia that I could not send copies your way. However, I have five free Kindle days coming up for Blue Heaven soon–October 1-5. You don’t need a Kindle to get an electronic copy of the book. You just need the app, which is free on iTunes. Put in on your phone, your laptop, or iPad. More info on that very soon.

 

Finally, Something For You:)

I’ve already announced that from October 1-5 Blue Heaven will be free for everyone on Kindle. You don’t need a Kindle to buy it, you just need the app, which is free on iTunes.

As is my tradition, in my blog birthday month, I like to give presents to my readers. I finally figured out what I want to send to the first four of you who comment on this post with a specific suggestion about what I should post next. I need four different ideas, folks. What would you like to read about here going forward?

As I transitioned from writer-seeking-publication into published author, I knew the blog would have to change from what it had been. I’d reached the goal I’d been pursuing for so long. I have a great publisher who has put out two of my three novels; they are willing to grow with me beyond romance into women’s fiction. Blue Heaven is the first in the “Blue Lake” series about a small tourist town on a big lake. And don’t worry, for me women’s fiction just means I get to tell two (or more!) love stories instead of one. I’m a die-hard romantic and am having so much fun creating stories about the people in Blue Lake, both newcomers and those with deep roots.

It took me a while to figure out that now I need to write for readers and maybe not so much for writers anymore. After eleven years, there isn’t much left to say about the writing process except if you want something NEVER give up. That’s how I snagged my dream.

Onto the prize. I now have three books in print: Your Words, Your Story, The Paris Notebook, and Blue Heaven. Well, Blue Heaven is set for world-wide release and print sometime in November. What I will do is send out all three print editions to the first four people (Sorry, USA only. Foreign postage is really expensive.) who present me with a great topic for a post in the comments. You will get the prizes when I get the Blue Heaven print editions, but the little contest starts now.

Another Shot at Love

At last, I can finally reveal the cover of Niecey Roy’s new title Another Shot At Love, due out this November. I’ve already raved about her Fender Bender Blues and have no doubt this ”New Adult Contemporary Romantic Comedy” will be just as deliciously fun. Best of all? It’s first in a series: What’s Love? Book #1.

Here’s the scoop:

Gen needs a date for the engagement party, but finding Mr. Perfect in a time crunch is proving impossible. Just when she’s about to give up, she face-plants into the crotch of the sexiest guy she’s ever met.

Matt Sesnick is everything Gen wants in a man except he’s not interested in a relationship.

Can she convince Matt to take another shot at love, or will Gen’s pregnant, hormonal older sister, her bridezilla twin, and all of her past Mr. Wrongs get in the way of their happily-ever-after?

 About the Author-

 Niecey Roy knew she wanted to be a writer from a very young age, but her moment of enlightenment came after watching the movie You’ve Got Mail. It was then she realized her place in life, and happily parked her butt on writing romance. Her dream was to create sexy vixens, hunky, halfnaked heroes, and above all, romance; lots and lots of butterflies in the black pepper flavored sunflower seeds and Visine as her weapons for mass-romance-novel-creation. When her fingers need a break, you’ll find her at a table with friends, drinking a few martinis and showing off a new pair of (sometimes ridiculous) high heels. She’s usually the loudest at the table and most often the one snorting with laughter.

Small Town Story

Like a dream come true, Al & I recently moved north to a small town an hour or so  from Detroit. Like so many small towns all over the country, downtown retailers struggle to survive, while big box stores and chain restaurants pop up just a jump on the freeway away. Who doesn’t love Target and Panera?

My new town was incorporated in 1827. We have historic public buildings, even pretty  Victorian houses, that have survived all these years. Many small farms and apple orchards remain intact.

Things could go either way for my new town: we could become the kind of community with a thriving downtown like Royal Oak or Rochester, or we could stand by helplessly as shop after shop closes, historic building after historic building gets boarded up or torn down. That almost happened here many years ago to our Octagon House, but the community stepped in to save it.

I have always loved reading novels set in small towns, where people have deep community roots and take pride in their history. I’ve never lived in a small town, however, until now. The downtown area is currently getting a little  make-over, adding a center turning lane to the two lane road. When all that is finished, I plan to spend time and money in my little downtown and hope it survives.

But life is not a romance novel and not every small town story has a happy ending. Which makes it even more important for me to keep my Blue Heaven characters and their small town intact. Working on the second and third novels in this new series makes me feel, however illogically, that in some way, I’m keeping the small town spirit alive.