Annette Mori's Blog, page 46

Becoming Naive Again

Just the other day I was in a meeting with my Volunteer Director who was telling me about how the Executive Secretary for the clinic called her in a huff (my words not hers because the Volunteer Director is a very gracious woman). Apparently one of the volunteers sent a woman up to the third floor administrative suites when the person asked where they could take care of their bill. The secretary said, “What do we need to do to get YOUR volunteers to give the right information? We put a sign down there for them. This is a patient disastisfier.” The Volunteer Director told me she called the ninety year old volunteer to give her some education on what to do when patients asked about paying their bill and when she asked what the sign said, it was definitely not clear to her, so she was wondering how it could possibly be clear to her ninety year old volunteer.

I told her that we all needed to become naïve again. I wanted to somehow help this Executive Secretary understand this concept. I wanted her to get rid of her irritation and instead replace that with honor and praise for her devotion. Volunteers give freely of their time. They aren’t getting paid and they often add a lot to the patient experience.

So what does that saying mean? How does it relate to writing? Be patient. I’ll get us there.

I’d heard this saying, become naïve again, in a customer service training many years ago and it has always stayed with me. No matter what profession you are in, you become the expert and most of your customers don’t have a clue about your area of expertise. For me, that means that I probably get the same question about the Family Medical Leave Act or some other human resource law nearly every week. I might even get the same question from the same person who has forgotten the answer because the last time they asked was a year ago. I eat, live and breath human resource law. That’s what I do for a living. However, for everyone else I might as well be speaking a foreign language.

Thus the concept of becoming naïve again. I need to put myself in everyone else’s shoes and try to forget that I fundamentally know all the in and outs of my profession. I need to become naïve again. When I do that I can have the patience and grace to explain things over and over again without getting pissy or frustrated. Every single one of us in a helping or service profession, must learn to become naïve again.

This is especially true for the medical profession. Don’t you hate it when doctors or nurses start tossing around medical jargon that you have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. I’ve been in hospitals for over twenty five years and I still get lost in the vernacular sometimes. NPO, CBC, CAUTI, and the list goes on. They toss those terms around like candy during Mardi Gras. I always remind staff in our new employee orientation to become naïve again so that we can thoroughly explain everything to patients and families who are scared, sometimes alone, and often in pain.

Sometimes my beta editors have to remind me of this very concept when I write about things that are extremely clear to me, but my readers have absolutely no clue what I’m talking about. One of those was my use of the terminology, “fashion don’t”.  My beta reader asked what is this?

I wrote back. “Haven’t you ever read Glamour magazine?”

I am sure she was laughing out loud at this point when she responded, “Do I seem like the type of person who reads Glamour?” I’m paraphrasing here….

Glamour used to have a section in their magazine where they would showcase people wearing certain outfits that they considered, fashion do’s and fashion don’ts. I’m not sure if that still is a feature because I haven’t glanced through the magazine in years. It was a favorite of one of my sister’s and out of boredom, and to be honest, the desire to see scantily clad beautiful women, I would sift through the pages.

This is why beta readers and editors are so important. Writers fundamentally know their story so it is easy to forget that a reader might not be able to pluck out what’s locked inside the writer’s head. Thus, I need to heed my own advice and become naïve again. I suppose this advice is just a different way of stating that sufficient detail is needed to create the emotion and connection to the story.

When I talked to my Volunteer Director the other day, I had an ah ha moment and understood more fully the concept of show, don’t tell because that trick alone helps me become naïve again.

I sure hope that my beta readers and editors caught all the times I failed to become naïve and you can enjoy my books without asking questions to yourself about what I was trying to convey!

A link to the first chapter of Asset Management: First Chapter of Asset Management,.  My first novel, Love Forever, Live Forever, is available in both e-book and print format. Links below will get you to all the places you can purchase the book.   Keep scrolling down for the links to Asset Management. Thanks for supporting a new writer!!  Coming soon is my two new books, Out of This World and Locked Inside.

Amazon              Affinity E-Book Press         Smashwords        Barnes and Noble     Bella Books

Here are the links to Asset Management:

Amazon         Affinity E-Book Press      Smashwords     Barnes & Noble     Bella Books

A Mature Woman’s Romantic Picnic Lunch

 

This past weekend we were supposed to go to the Oyster Festival in our state and camp with some friends who were also scheduled to play music for the festival. We offered to bring some food for the long weekend and because our lives are so busy right now, my wife decided it would be much easier to just order some curry chicken cashew salad and California potato salad from Puget Consumer’s Co-Op (PCC) Market. She ordered 4 quarts of each, as well as two containers of Tai Steak Salad. We would have plenty of food for the weekend for our growing group of friends. We’d invited my two nephews and my nephew’s wife and they were excited to meet up with us and our friends. Since my wife makes the best Mojito’s she’d gone to the Mexican market the weekend before and bought 30 limes. The alcohol would be flowing freely and it was destined to be an epic weekend aside from the fact that we would be camping for 4 days. Have I mentioned that my idea of camping is staying at the Holiday Inn?

Because this event is so much fun, I agreed to the less than ideal conditions that camping presents for me. I have a compulsive need to shower every day and God forbid I am not able to blow dry my hair. If they can invent a way for a 450 ton hunk of metal to fly in the air, why can’t someone invent a solar or battery powered hair dryer. I did an internet search a few years back because I was convinced this necessary item existed. It did not.

My wife offered to set up a solar shower for me. However I knew from past years that no amount of sun would turn that freezing ass cold shower into an enjoyable experience. She promised to add boiling water to it. I had to compromise and agree to take my baseball cap in lieu of properly drying and styling my hair. Alas, it’s the little things that make a marriage work. My wife loves camping. I do not. Enough said.

Unfortunately a tragedy at work sidetracked our plans and I needed to stay in Moses Lake for the weekend to make my rounds and make sure the staff were doing okay. Secretly, I cheered not having to camp this weekend, but at the same time lamented over having to miss the festival and hang with our friends. Have I also mentioned I love oysters and seafood. I would not get my oyster fix and we had an outrageous amount of chicken and potato salad to eat. I envisioned eating this until Thanksgiving. I don’t think this kind of food freezes well. Or does it?

On Saturday morning my sweet wife went to get me coffee and when she came back she asked if I had a lot of writing or re-writes to do this weekend. I told her no that I’d already finished my re-writes. My wife has been very supportive and patient with me, especially since we only see each other on the weekends and oftentimes I get distracted with a story idea or have work to do on re-writes. She was thrilled to learn that we could have a nice date and asked if I wanted to do a picnic lunch. I readily agreed. We had some chicken and potato salad to dig into. She dropped me off at work to do my rounds and then went to the farmer’s market to pick up a few items, including this wonderful pie from Rhonda’s pies. We always have to have something we call a sweety treat from the farmer’s market Sometimes it’s caramel popcorn made from locally grown corn and when that’s not available, we get a pie.

She picked me up about 45 minutes later and I asked, “Where are we going today?”

“I thought we’d go to the Martin Scott Winery,” she responded.

I laughed. Of course my wife would find a way to combine a romantic picnic lunch with wine tasting. Besides camping, I think wine tasting is her favorite thing to do. I wondered what the winery owners would think of two mature lesbians setting out our lunch fare at their beautiful winery. As it turns out it wasn’t an issue at all.

My wife carried the cooler outside and set it on one of the wrought iron tables. We’d staked our claim at a spot in the sunshine that had a spectacular view of the Columbia River, surrounding orchards, and wineries. We planned on tasting some wines and choosing a bottle to pair well with our food. In reality, I haven’t the foggiest idea what pairs well with what, but I liked the idea that my wife has a sophisticated enough palate to choose wisely. Since I am a lightweight, I made sure that the person pouring only gave me a small amount. I was already going to stumble away from lunch after sharing a bottle with my wife.

My wife never met a stranger (she claims she is not an extrovert, but I have tons of evidence to the contrary). As we began to taste the different white wines, she offered some of our picnic lunch to the woman who was pouring the wine. So after we chose a bottle (a 2013 Peddler White), my wife dished up a serving for the pourer and we moved our chairs out to an area with full sun.

The view was spectacular, the sun was shining, and we had chairs with backs to sit on and enjoy our meal. Frankly, I never want to picnic any other way again. Lugging the bottle of wine, food, utensils, blanket and everything else to a remote location is overrated. I didn’t have to suffer through brushing away ants or flies and I could lean back in my chair instead of trying to find a comfortable position on a blanket. At my mature age of 56, I appreciated the support to my back which is often temperamental.

I highly recommend not giving up romantic picnic lunches no matter how long you’ve been married to the same woman. However, you might consider broadening your horizons and choosing an unconventional location.

If you want a somewhat unconventional romance, check out one of my books. I am excited about two upcoming novels, Out of This World and Locked Inside that come out in November and December.

A link to the first chapter of Asset Management: First Chapter of Asset Management,.  My first novel, Love Forever, Live Forever, is available in both e-book and print format. Links below will get you to all the places you can purchase the book.   Keep scrolling down for the links to Asset Management. Thanks for supporting a new writer!!

Amazon              Affinity E-Book Press         Smashwords        Barnes and Noble     Bella Books

Here are the links to Asset Management:

Amazon         Affinity E-Book Press      Smashwords     Barnes & Noble     Bella Books

GRNW and The Three Rs

I was asked if I was going to do a blog on my experience at the Gay Romance Northwest Meet up on Saturday and I had to ponder what I might want to say about the event.

Since I am relatively new to the lesbian fiction world as an author, I am still learning all the ins and outs. This conference was a bit of an eye-opener for me.

I decided to attend the conference because it was so close  – only about 75 miles from my house in Cle Elum. I didn’t know what to expect, so I schlepped a box full of books, t-shirts, postcards, and a poster to take to the book sale event. There were a total of fifty authors at the event. I was delighted to be amongst the other authors.

I sat across from Radcliffe, who was so gracious earlier when I asked her to sign my program. Have I mentioned that I am a huge fan of hers. I have every single book she has written so far.

I was two doors down (two seats away) from Andi Marquette, another favorite author of mine and we got a chance to chat as we waited for the readers to stroll by our table. Andi was absolutely hysterical, adorable, charming (you get the picture) as she selflessly walked around trying to get the readers to notice Kate, another lesbian author and I. I’d heard of Ten Little Lesbians, so I promptly bought Kate’s book. RG Emanuelle bounced over to our table from her spot around the corner and we all had a chance to socialize and have a good time during the two hour book sale/signing. While I was leaving I ran into Karelia Stetz-Waters who was so sweet and bought my book. She’d sold all her books or I’d have gotten the paperback version of one of hers. Now I get to look her up and get her e-books because she sounded like my kind of writer.

So why was this conference an eye-opener for me? When I first sat down in the audience, I noticed that it was mostly women. I thought to myself, awesome, maybe there was an equal amount of lesbian fiction and the conference would not be overpowered by m/m romance (not that there is anything wrong with m/m romance, it’s just not what I generally tend to read). Boy was I wrong. Apparently a lot of straight women love m/m romances. Who knew?

Sorry if I am politically incorrect with my terminology (straight, lesbian, etc), but I just learned the terminology straight-identified and I thought it would be disingenuous to use a term that I’d not heard before. Is lesbian-identified the correct terminology as well? I think I’ve been living in rural Washington far too long…

A few women stopped by our table and wanted to know where the f/f romance books were because it seemed that most of the authors wrote m/m books. We were happy to let them know about our books.

Although there were not a lot of readers who were looking for our genre, I decided I would probably return next year. Why? Because the opening speakers were outstanding. The panels were very educational. Finally, I had a great time talking to the other f/f authors.

I agreed with some of the thoughts about how to make lesbian romance more visible and here is where the three Rs are relevant. We need to: Read, Rite (yes I know it’s spelled write – work with me people), and Review lesbian fiction.  There are so many great books out there now. I used to have a hard time finding my next novel, but now I have a very long cue. Take the time to review a book you enjoyed. Authors need to keep producing those great books. Readers need to tell other readers about those wonderful lesbian romance novels you’ve read.

I’m not even going to share my usual commercial break about my books because I think by now you know where to find me. Happy reading, writing and reviewing!

Crazy Cat Lady…Oh wait that’s me

I’ve often wondered at what point does someone evolve from softhearted animal lover to crazy cat lady? Is there a specific number of cats that result in a flip of the switch? Three cats is a normal lesbian, four to five and you are softhearted, six means you are skirting the edge, and then bam seven means you’ve toppled over into crazy cat lady.

Some of you may be following my kitten videos, so you know that my wife and I rescued two kittens living in the engine of a vehicle. We both crawled under the carriage of the car, unscrewed the plate underneath the engine, and then I grabbed the two little furballs.

The plan was to foster them. Yeah right. We absolutely love the little buggers now. When the person who was going to take the little girl backed out – I did the happy dance.

Everyone kept posting on Facebook questions/comments like:

How can you possibly split them apart?
They play so well together.
Have you named them yet?
They are so adorable.

I was starting to feel like the worst lesbian in the world. How could I possibly split them up? They do play well together. I’d already talked to my wife and she agreed we would keep the little boy, so I named him Grayson. What kitten isn’t adorable?

When baby girl, who was supposed to go to another family, started snuggling up with me at night and stayed practically the whole night in my arms, I became attached. I’m a lesbian for God’s sake. Her name is Nicki after the first main character in my debut novel. My wife tossed the name out and I said sure why not.

I think what has me questioning whether I’ve fallen over the edge is the addition of a another kitty to our family. Here’s how this transpired. The woman who kitty sits for us when we go out of town for more than a day, rescues cats and dogs. Yeah, you know where I’m going with this, don’t you? Some rotten bastard had tethered this poor older cat their back yard. The kitty sitter asks my wife, “Do you know someone who would take an older cat, even if they become a barn kitty?”

Well…we already feed all the feral cats in both neighborhoods that we live in (Moses Lake and Cle Elum), so I pipe up and say, “We can just have him live on our three acres in Cle Elum. We have that old dog house or we could open up the garage and make a little spot for him.”

Mister TomKat is now being acclimated to his new home in our garage. Unfortunately we have to keep him in his cage for a few days.

So this question of how many pushes you into the Crazy Cat Lady territory is very relevant to me. Before we started the recent craziness, we had three. We now have six if you count the latest Mister TomKat. Someone please tell me if I’m riding the edge or have already crossed over? Can I rationalize cats that live in our garage don’t count, just like we don’t count the feral cats? Does that mean I can adopt one more? Inquiring minds need to know the answer to these question, so that the next time I feel compelled to save a kitten, I have full disclosure of the consequences.

I didn’t reveal my obsession for cats in my novels until introducing a cat in my third book, Locked Inside, due for release in December. The two books that follow have more than a walk on part for my cat characters. I figured I would ease the readers into this lest they find out too soon about my cat preoccupation. If you are someone who prefers dogs, no worries because my first two books are cat free zones.

Regardless of if you love or hate cats, I hope you decide to give my books a try.

A link to the first chapter of my new book, Asset Management: First Chapter of Asset Management,.  My first novel, Love Forever, Live Forever, is available in both e-book and print format. Links below will get you to all the places you can purchase the book.   Keep scrolling down for the links to Asset Management. Thanks for supporting a new writer!!

Amazon              Affinity E-Book Press         Smashwords        Barnes and Noble     Bella Books

Here are the links to Asset Management:

Amazon         Affinity E-Book Press      Smashwords     Barnes & Noble     Bella Books

Olde Dogg Seafood

Experiences, even bad ones, are fodder for my blogs. Here’s what happened last weekend…

I live in a small community in the middle of the State during the week and my wife lives in an even smaller community on the other side of the mountains. Unfortunately, our jobs make it inconvenient to live in the same place during the week due to our opposite commutes to work. We take turns traveling back and forth on the weekends to spend time with each other and our options for date night are quite limited.

Since we both like good food and specifically seafood, we thought we would try this restaurant out in the town that I live in during the week. I can’t recall who told me it was decent seafood, which is a good thing because I would want to scream at the person, “What the hell were you thinking?”

We have our favorite places to eat, but the options are very limited in this small community, so we were desperately seeking out new options for date night. I suggested we try out this place and my wife agreed.

I am now asking myself, “What the hell were you thinking?” Our first clue should have been that seafood and the middle of the state are not a good combination. Sure, Moses Lake has water, but the fish that comes out of that lake is not the kind of fish anyone would want to consume.

We walk into the place and it screams red neck with an unusual twist. The walls are purple. Yes, that’s correct the place has purple walls. This was not going to be a refined seafood restaurant, but I tried to assure both my wife and myself that outward appearances aren’t always a determinant of the quality of the food.

“You know,” I started to say, “the best places I’ve ever eaten at were little dives.”

My wife skeptically nodded at me and narrowed her eyes at the bar.

The waitress, who looked like she hadn’t eaten in a week, came over to take our drink orders.

My wife asked about the drinks and she couldn’t answer any of our questions, so she brought over a man who seemed to have a greater knowledge of things. I don’t even remember what we got, I think it was the Dogg Treat. It was definitely not a treat. My wife didn’t finish hers, but I needed to numb my senses so I chugged mine down and sheepishly said, “It’s not too bad.”

We both love crab cakes, so we thought it would be a safe choice for an appetizer. My wife ordered the halibut and I ordered the chicken stuffed with crab. I wanted to order the halibut, but it came with a spicy relish and I don’t like hot and spicy food.

Five minutes later the waitress came back to tell us that they only have one crab cake. We declined to get the remaining crab cake and cancelled our appetizer order. I wanted to remain positive so I smiled and said, “We always get too full from appetizers anyway. Probably a good thing.”

Another twenty minutes passed and the waitress brought out a plate with three crab cakes. “The chef found these.”

I looked at my wife and she raised her eyebrow at me.

We choked down the crab cakes. Again, I tried to remain positive. “Well they aren’t the best, but we have had worse. There is something interesting in the mix.”

“Yeah, it’s mustard,” my wife stated with disdain.

The place was relatively empty as they started to remove tables. Then we noticed a man just sitting on a stool on the other side of the restaurant. He was just sitting there and one of the waiters brought him a drink. I wanted to know why he was there. So I said to my wife, “Why do you think he’s sitting over there?”

“I think he’s the bouncer?”

“Really? But, the front door is over there.” I pointed to my right which was in the opposite direction from where he was sitting.

My wife shrugged.

I just had to know. So I gestured for the the waiter who seemed to know more than our waitress to come over and I asked, “Hey, I just have to know what is that guy doing over there?”

“I know he’s so serious. I told him he was freaking people out. We hired him to check IDs at the back door. We have a Mexican dance group coming tonight. It should be a good show,” the waiter replied.

After the guy left, I couldn’t help myself. “We should stay and watch the show.”

My wife just glared at me.

Finally, the waitress brought our food. My wife took one bite and made me try her halibut minus the spicy salsa. It was beyond horrible. I looked sympathetically at her. I hadn’t tried my chicken yet. “You can have some of mine, chicken is really hard to screw up.”

I took a bite of my chicken. I grimaced. “Okay, maybe they have some really talented chefs back there, sorry hon.”

She took a bite of her potatoes. “The potatoes aren’t horrible.” She took a few more bites and then pushed her food away.

I bravely took nibbled on some of my meal and then threw in the towel.

We usually leave a lot more than a twenty percent tip because we like to get to know the locals and make sure we get good service, but that night we only left twenty percent. We would never be coming back.

As we left the restaurant we starting laughing. What else could we do. My wife said, “You have to write a blog about this. It was too damned funny not to.”

I agreed.

It’s always these kind of occurrences that make life interesting. If you are ever in Moses Lake, Washington, I recommend staying away from Olde Dogg Seafood.

What I don’t recommend staying away from (commercial break) is my two books!

A link to the first chapter of my new book, Asset Management: First Chapter of Asset Management,.  My first novel, Love Forever, Live Forever, is available in both e-book and print format. Links below will get you to all the places you can purchase the book.   Keep scrolling down for the links to Asset Management. Thanks for supporting a new writer!!

Amazon              Affinity E-Book Press         Smashwords        Barnes and Noble     Bella Books

Here are the links to Asset Management:

Amazon         Affinity E-Book Press      Smashwords     Barnes & Noble     Bella Books

My Father’s Daughter

Well shut the front door – I am my father’s daughter. The acorn did not fall far from the tree. When my wife says this to me, I am a little offended, but I’ve come to realize that I do share a number of his traits, both good and bad.

When did this epiphany come about? Right after I posted Coloring Outside The Lines, a kind reader/author noted a huge inaccuracy with one of my statements. I really appreciated when she sent me a private message to point it out and gently suggested that Word Press allows you to edit your blog easily. I laughed out loud at the absurdity of my original statement when she did the math for me. It’s a good thing I can laugh at myself.

My original statement said that, I literally read thousands of books a year, which as the person pointed out would suggest that I read 5.5 or more books a day. Unless that is all I did twenty four seven, or practiced Evelyn Wood’s speed reading skills, this is impossible. I promptly changed the thousands to hundreds.

Yes writers do embellish, but this was a tad bit more than embellishing. That is when I realized I am my father’s daughter.

My father is a fisherman and a storyteller. Combine the two and you get someone who has the propensity to tell an outrageous yarn. The fish he caught were always ten times bigger. He was the world’s greatest fisherman (in his eyes). Yet, one thing I’ve always loved about my father is his ability to tell entertaining family stories. They are always much larger, more dramatic, and definitely more entertaining than what I remember of the actual events.

I’m not a fisherman, but in everything I do, I tell stories and I embellish. For example, I do new employee orientation and in an effort to keep the new employees engaged I warn them that, I tend to embellish on my stories and sometimes they are the honest to God truth and other times, well….

The most outrageous story I tell in orientation is that I have a five year old daughter (I’m fifty-six). I tell this story to demonstrate the attitudinal equation (look it up it is really cool). The story goes something like this…My daughter spills milk on a report that I’m supposed to turn in to my boss in the morning. In my first version, I yell at my poor five year old daughter and as a result she has a very negative reaction to me. She cries and goes to her fictional room and locks her door. I ruminate over the fact that one should never have a locked door for a five year old. My yelling creates a certain outcome. In the second version, I tell the new employees that maybe I’m not such a bad mother after all. I tell my fictional daughter, Heather, that everyone spills milk sometimes. The new outcome is that she greets me that night with a hug and a I love you. The whole point to the story is that if we think our responses to the events that occur in our lives everyday do not affect the outcomes, we are naïve, because they do. So choose wisely. The section of the class is on Choose Your Attitude.

Sure, this is a nice story and the new employees lap it up (pun intended), but I’ve never had kids, so it is completely outrageous. In my defense, I do tell them that not everything I say is one hundred percent truthful. I tell stories to entertain and fortunately get positive reviews with my way of doing orientation. However, it got me to wondering. Could I be equally effective if I told more truthful stories? Nah. Thanks, Dad, for showing me how to tell a good yarn.

However, there is nothing better than having a good editor call you on your bullshit, or your lazy, sloppy, research. Every day I get better at this and appreciate whenever someone points these errors out. I always admit that I am a work in progress. I do need to review things more carefully and not depend on the wonderful editors, especially in my blogs, because I don’t have an editor handy to check my words.

This is as honest as I am likely to be – no embellishment and no bullshit. My books on the other hand are pure fiction with a fair amount of embellishment and bullshit.

A link to the first chapter of my new book, Asset Management: First Chapter of Asset Management,.  My first novel, Love Forever, Live Forever, is available in both e-book and print format. Links below will get you to all the places you can purchase the book.   Keep scrolling down for the links to Asset Management. Thanks for supporting a new writer!!

Amazon              Affinity E-Book Press         Smashwords        Barnes and Noble     Bella Books

Here are the links to Asset Management:

Amazon         Affinity E-Book Press      Smashwords     Barnes & Noble     Bella Books

Coloring Outside the Lines

Self awareness is a bitch….

I just discovered something about myself as I was giving my beta editor fits. I color outside the lines-especially when I write in first person.

So here’s the deal…I never took a writing course, never went to the GCLS writing academy, didn’t major in English, but that didn’t stop me from writing my first novel at age fifty-five.  I had a dream, a lot of free time at night, and a love of books. I read literally hundreds of books each year and thought, what the hell I think I can do this. I typed furiously on my computer, laid out my first manuscript, and sparked an interest with Affinity. They set up a Skype call to say my book had potential, but the caveat was that it needed a lot of work. Who knew there were rules I had to follow-pesky little things like I can’t head hop or move back and forth between past, present and future unless I want to completely frustrate the reader.

I love writing in first person, but I tend to babble and combine memories and future events with the person talking in real time. This is a huge challenge for the editors because I want to write in a way that sometimes foreshadows, but presents the events real time.

Fortunately for the beta editor, my last book was in third person and apparently I color inside the lines a bit better in third person. I’m just glad that Affinity hasn’t kicked me off the Island yet. My mentor, Erin and the beta editor, Kay patiently explains where I’ve violated a rule or made it difficult for the reader to follow and I attempt to fix it. Sometimes I’m as compliant as a minion and sometimes I do it kicking and screaming and it takes a Skype call to my mentor to calm me down. Thank God for Erin and her patient, compassionate style. Love that woman (not in a romantic kind of way cause I’m married), but as a lifelong friend who gives freely of her time and expertise.

I suppose I should thank my mother who was an English teacher because she was able to instill a few grammar rules into my stubborn head. I do know the difference between they’re, there, and their. I might add it bugs me when I read a book and the author does not know the difference.

Fortunately for me, there are some readers out there who describe my color outside the lines style as:

“The way this story was told is so original.”

“This story is not only truly entertaining, but delightfully ingenious.”

“What a breath of fresh air.”

For my second novel, because I wrote it in third person, the originality theme was replaced with comments about it being fast paced, easy to read, a page-turner and an outcry for a sequel. Since there weren’t comments about original style, I concluded that my coloring outside the lines was limited to first person.

Locked Inside, my third novel that comes out in December is first person…so I suppose readers can once again look forward to a bit of unconventional reading. I am stubborn, so I suspect I will NEVER give up on coloring outside the lines, but I will listen to editors because as my wife so eloquently put it: “The edited version of your book is so much better.”

Breaking now for commercial….here is the shameless plug to buy my books…

A link to the first chapter of my new book, Asset Management: First Chapter of Asset Management,.  My first novel, Love Forever, Live Forever, is available in both e-book and print format. Links below will get you to all the places you can purchase the book.   Keep scrolling down for the links to Asset Management. Thanks for supporting a new writer!!

Amazon              Affinity E-Book Press         Smashwords        Barnes and Noble     Bella Books

Here are the links to Asset Management:

Amazon         Affinity E-Book Press      Smashwords     Barnes & Noble     Bella Books

Childlike or Childish

I find it fascinating how a writer can describe a character who has childlike qualities with positive connotations such as having childlike wonder, innocence, openness to the world, creativity, curiosity, etc. You all get the idea. Yet that same character might also be described as childish, immature, or infantile – all very unflattering attributes.

This got me to thinking about creativity and how we beat this out of children, not literally in most cases, but sure enough society ensures that we all march to the same drum beat and pay attention to societal convention. I’d like to make a bold statement and say what the hell is wrong with being childish if you can retain that sense of wonder, openness, and creativity?

This got me to thinking about when I used to work for a hospital that taught a section on creativity and innovation in our new employee orientation. I suggested the song, Flowers Are Red, from the late Harry Chapin, which was an excellent illustration of what I just suggested about societal norms and conventions. Most teachers, like the first one in the song, teach children to only paint flowers in red and green, thus crushing their natural creativity.

We facilitated this exercise where we asked the adults to think of as many ways as possible to reach a luscious piece of fruit at the top of the fifteen foot tree. Adults in general run out of ideas after about ten. Children, on the other hand, can come up with more than one hundred ideas. I find this very sad.

I then started  thinking about fiction. Stay with me people…I’m a writer and have a weird stream of consciousness. I’ve heard on occasion a review of fiction, even science fiction, where someone mentions that a part of the book is totally unrealistic. I always scream at my computer screen (that’s where I generally read those reviews) that it’s fiction for God’s sake. I used to scream at the TV in the same way when I heard a politician’s inane sound bite, then I gave up TV for lent. Eventually, I gave up Catholicism for lent. Best lent year ever.

When writers give us fiction, I want that happy ending. I read to escape my conventional, boring, and sometimes disappointing life. I want the unconventional. I want outlandish characters and events. That’s why I read fiction versus non-fiction. I suppose if a reviewer ever says my work is immature or unrealistic, I’m going to celebrate because that means I haven’t lost my creativity. Cheers to all those authors out there that write something just a little bit different.

I’d like to think that my books have an element of that creativity, so I hope you will check them out. Love Forever, Live Forever and Asset Management are both currently for sale and Locked Inside is due for release in December. Links below should help make it easy to purchase!

Here is a link to the first chapter of my new book, Asset Management: First Chapter of Asset Management,.  My first novel, Love Forever, Live Forever, is available in both e-book and print format. Links below will get you to all the places you can purchase the book.   Keep scrolling down for the links to Asset Management. Thanks for supporting a new writer!!

Amazon              Affinity E-Book Press         Smashwords        Barnes and Noble     Bella Books

Here are the links to Asset Management:

Amazon         Affinity E-Book Press      Smashwords     Barnes & Noble     Not up on the Bella Books site yet – sorry

I Just Make That Sh@% Up

Currently I sit on a health insurance trust board and we meet three to four times a year. Prior to every meeting, our group gets together to enjoy fine wine (lots and lots of fine wine), good conversation and great food.

This past weekend my wife and I hosted the traditional drink and be merry night before the meeting event at our house. Greg, one of the consultants to the board and I had bonded five years ago over our shared Sicilian heritage. When my mom was still alive, Greg insisted I call and ask her where granddad was raised. I found out and promptly informed Greg who knew exactly where that small town was in Sicily. I have since forgotten. I think we’ve already established through previous blogs that memory is not my strong suit.

Greg is a real sweetheart and bought my first novel, Love Forever, Live Forever. After a few glasses of wine (okay maybe a tad bit more than a few), he tells me, “I was really thrown for a loop when in the middle of the book you had that vampire twist.” He went on to ask, “Where did you get all the information on vampires? Did you have to do a lot of research on them? You know, learn about the vernacular. I found all the terminology fascinating.”

I laughed and told him, “I just make that shit up.”

“Really?” he questioned.

At this point, I am now doubled over in laughter. “Greg,” I start, “you do know that vampires aren’t real. It’s fiction for God’s sake. I don’t have to stick to all the vampire folklore. I didn’t really like the fact that they couldn’t go out in the sunshine, but I couldn’t just make it so they could without a certain set of challenges.”

“The way you described making new vampires – I forget the terminology you used – that was fascinating,” Greg added.

“Yep, just made that shit up,” I said again. “I took a little bit of folklore then added my own brand of paranormal myth.”

I figured if the author of  the Twilight series can make her vampires sparkle in the sunshine and deviate so dramatically from vampire folklore, well then so could I.

One of the reasons I love paranormal, science fiction, spy and fantasy stories is because I can make up any crazy shit that floats through my demented brain – and I do.

Conventional romance has a lot less flexibility so it isn’t as much fun to write. I suppose that is why the next book that is coming out, which is more conventional, had to contain a theme that is near and dear to my heart. I’ve been told by betas that it is my best work so far and I have to admit it is my favorite. I know I’m not supposed to say that because it’s like revealing your favorite child or furbaby.

Fiction, no matter if it is conventional or unconventional, still always allows the writer to make shit up, it’s just that science fiction, fantasy, spy and paranormal broaden those boundaries.

If there is anything you can count on, it is to expect the unexpected from my novels, with hopefully a small amount of humor woven into the fabric of the story.

Happy reading everyone. I hope you’ll consider reading some of my “made up shit.”

Love Forever, Live Forever and Asset Management are both currently for sale and Locked Inside is due for release in December. Links below should help make it easy to purchase!

Here is a link to the first chapter of my new book, Asset Management: First Chapter of Asset Management,.  My first novel, Love Forever, Live Forever, is available in both e-book and print format. Links below will get you to all the places you can purchase the book.   Keep scrolling down for the links to Asset Management. Thanks for supporting a new writer!!

Amazon              Affinity E-Book Press         Smashwords        Barnes and Noble     Bella Books

Here are the links to Asset Management:

Amazon         Affinity E-Book Press      Smashwords     Barnes & Noble     Not up on the Bella Books site yet – sorry

Where Did I Put The Soap?

I just read RG Emanuelle’s blog and it rang so true.  Finding things to blog about is hard sometimes.  I chose the title Everyday Occurrences because that’s what I usually blog about those everyday funny bone moments when I say something silly (it’s usually me) and my wife starts laughing out loud.  Here’s what happened a few days ago…..

The other day I was in my shower (by myself so get your minds out of the gutter) and there was a tiny little nub left of my soap (it’s so tiny you can’t even see it in the picture below). I opened the shower door and created a path of water to the cabinet in search of the brand new soap we had purchased from the farmer’s market a few weeks prior. Nico, my cat, was slurping up the puddles. Drat, no soap. I walked back into the shower and made do with the tiny sliver. I might have added the tiny bit of shampoo I had left to create the requisite amount of suds. I’d waited until the last minute to let my wife know that I was running out of shampoo.

If you haven’t figured this out yet, I am notorious for waiting until the last minute to replenish my supplies. In fact, I don’t replenish them at all-my wife does. I do a by the way conversation either on the phone or when we see each other-which is only on the weekends.

On the weekend, my wife and I are in bed almost ready to doze off and here is how the conversation went:

Me: Hon, where did we put the soap we bought at the farmer’s market?

My Wife: We?

Me: Yeah. Did you hide it somewhere?

My Wife: Laughs hysterically. Why are you asking me? Don’t you remember where you put it?

Me: No. That’s your job.

My Wife: You live in the condo during the week. I only visit.

Me: And? Your point?

My Wife: I’m pretty sure you put it somewhere.

Me: Okay where did I put the soap?

My Wife: Did you check the bath cabinet?

Me: Loud hmmf. Yeah.

My Wife: The other bath cabinet?

Me: Sheepish response…um no.

My Wife: Laughs again. Why do I have to keep track of these things?

Me: I’m not good with details.

My Wife: How is it possible that you lead a Division? Don’t you have to be good with the details?

Me: I surround myself with detail minded people. I’m more a big picture person. You know, visionary leader.

My Wife: I didn’t know that.

Me: Laughs hysterically. How can you not know that about me? We’ve been together for eleven years and married for two.

My Wife: I guess there’s still a lot left to learn about you.

Me: Hmmm. I guess that’s a good thing. Can you please keep track of these things in the future now that you know this about me? You know I need a keeper.

My Wife: Laughs hysterically.

I never quite got a response, so I can only hope the laughing was intended as an acknowledgement that this is an important role for her in the future. My wife does a good job of taking care of me.  I need a keeper.

I still haven’t found the soap we bought. Who knows where I put it? The condo is only 1,000 square feet. It can’t be that hard to find…

I told my wife I would have to write a blog about this because it was just too dang funny.

P.S. I found the soap in the other bathroom cabinet where my wife suggested I should look.

I try to add a bit of humor here and there to my stories, so check them out. Maybe not the roll on the floor stomach hurting laughter, but a few laugh out loud moments (so I’ve been told).

In case anyone is interested…here is a link to the first chapter of my new book, Asset Management: First Chapter of Asset Management,.  My first novel, Love Forever, Live Forever, is available in both e-book and print format. Links below will get you to all the places you can purchase the book.   Keep scrolling down for the links to Asset Management. Thanks for supporting a new writer!!

Amazon              Affinity E-Book Press         Smashwords        Barnes and Noble     Bella Books

Here are the links to Asset Management:

Amazon         Affinity E-Book Press      Smashwords     Barnes & Noble     Not up on the Bella Books site yet – sorry