Susan Wiggs's Blog, page 27
July 12, 2013
Yummy book
Thanks for the love, Shelf Awareness. Fictional Stories, Real Food
There has been a growing trend over the past few years to write novels and memoirs that include recipes, although now it’s no longer a trend, it’s a genre. Obviously, some books are more successful than other with this; really, how many recipes for chocolate chip cookies can the market bear? But when it works, it’s very good. I still make the banana bread recipe (to great acclaim) from Molly Wizenberg’s wonderful memoir, A Homemade Life. Check it out.
Recent months have seen many entries in the book-with-recipes category. Susan Wiggs’s latest novel, The Apple Orchard, about a California apple orchard, an unwilling half-heiress to same, and the pleasures of food and family, is a captivating and charming story. So are the recipes, like lavender scones, and apple chutney. She says, “It’s always lovely to come across a recipe that’s good enough to share. My criteria for including a recipe in a book is that it needs to work thematically with the novel, it has to be delicious and it has to be reasonably easy to prepare. I like to picture my readers having their book club over and preparing something from one of my novels.”
June 27, 2013
How does MY garden grow?
snapdragons, chard and nasturtiums, oh my
June 26, 2013
June 16, 2013
Father’s Day
What can I say? He’s the best. Love you, Dad.[image error]
June 11, 2013
blank page
"For me, the big chore is always the same: how to begin a sentence, how to continue it, how to complete it." –Claude Simon, Nobel Laureate in literature
May 31, 2013
Dobry den, Prague!
May 26, 2013
Sometimes…
Researching a topic for a book haunts me.
Via mobile
May 24, 2013
Iceland
I (heart) seeing new places. This is called Gulfoss.
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> Via mobile
May 7, 2013
a special note to readers
Huge, humble and heartfelt thanks to you for cheering me on through the hard parts, encouraging me to do my best at all times, making me laugh and feel connected to this community. And thank you for buying THE APPLE ORCHARD . It means the world to me that you would let my stories into your world. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, as you can tell by these early scribblings. [image error] (illustration by richard stine, http://www.richardstine.com
Those of you who have been around for a while know I struggled to write this book through a crazy succession of life events from the ridiculous to the tragic to the sublime. If you hadn’t been there for me, and making me remember that what I do matters, I’m not sure I would have ever finished.
Every time you buy a book, or request it from the library, or download it, or loan it to a friend, or send it as a present, you are giving the author a gift beyond price. We might never meet in person, but I consider you a true friend. You mean more to me than you know.
Love and hugs,
Susan Wiggs
May 3, 2013
…but enough about me. Let’s talk about ME.
Image source: http://www.47project.com
I had such fun with these interview questions. The original post is here.
6 things readers should know about you:
1. I’m just like them–always looking for a wonderful juicy novel to savor.
2. I have a horror of being trapped somewhere boring without a book to read.
3. I believe that creating a nation of readers will transform our country.
4. When it comes to my personal life and family, I give it my all, every day.
5. When it comes to my career, I hustle. Every. Single. Day.
6. I look just like my author photo.
What would you say are the defining characteristic of your Novels?
Um, the awesome author photo?
5 best things about being a writer?
1. The author photo is my greatest work of fiction.
2. My commute is from the couch to the computer.
3. My work uniform is a bathrobe, fuzzy slippers, headphones and mug of coffee.
4. My readers touch my heart with the notes they send and post on Facebook and other sites.
5. If somebody treats me mean, they could end up dead in one of my books.
What romance book character you most identify with & Why?
Isadora in THE CHARM SCHOOL. She is smart, dorky, awkward and endearing…and modeled after yrs truly.
About the Book: The Apple Orchard
If you had to summarize the book for the readers here ….
Sisters, secrets, and surprises. One of my favorite reviews, spotted here: http://readfulthingsblog.com/2013/03/18/the-apple-orchard-by-susan-wiggs/ gives this summary. It’s the kind of review all authors dream about: “OH IT WAS HEAVEN! I wanted to stay wrapped up in this book forever. This is the kind of novel that fills your heart and soul with warmth and makes you just feel good! The recipes are to die for as well.
“This novel has one of the most beautiful opening chapters that I have ever seen. The descriptions of the landscape are so vivid and alive that you can almost smell the apples and hear the buzz of the honeybees. Immediately I was drawn in to this story and never lost interest throughout the entire book.
“The cast of characters in this novel are the kind of people that you don’t want to forget. They are such an inviting family with so much rich history and compassion for one another that I almost felt, in some ways while I was reading this I had returned home to visit my own family.”
What scene did you have most fun writing? why?
Chapter 11. Hands down. Right after the epigraph page and recipe for Julekake right before Part Seven. It’s the first scene I wrote of the novel and it stuck with me through every draft. Nothing says “page turner” better than a peaceful family Christmas in Denmark, disrupted by Nazi stormtroopers. Okay, maybe it wasn’t “fun.” It’s very dark. But riveting. I hope I did it justice.
Who would who cast in the role of hero and heroine if your book was optioned for a movie?
Tess Delaney needs to be played by that intense, driven redhead in ZERO DARK THIRTY. Ummm, what’s her name? Jessica Chastain! Thank you Wikipedia!
Dominic Rossi is tall, dark and Italian. Your readers are going to have to help me out. Tell them to post their suggestions on my FaceBook page. I don’t get out enough, clearly.
What are you currently working on?
Working title is THE BEEKEEPER’S BALL. It’s #2 in the Bella Vista Chronicles, because I just had to write about Isabel, the sister from THE APPLE ORCHARD.
What other releases so you have planned for 2013?
CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS, which will be in stores October 1. It’s Lakeshore Chronicles #10, and it’s crazy fun. A single dad does Christmas. Among other things.
Where can readers get in touch with you?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susanwiggs and on Twitter I’m @SusanWiggs.
