Susan Wiggs's Blog, page 8

then & now

Here’s the backstory of that iconic photo you’ve probably seen, a 1952 classic by Ruth Orkin, titled “An American Girl In Italy.”

(c) Ruth Orkin

Photography plays a big part in MAP OF THE HEART. And this story also highlights themes of feminism and harassment in THE OYSTERVILLE SEWING CIRCLE. In 1952, the Cosmo article said “”Public admiration … shouldn’t fluster you. Ogling the ladies is a popular, harmless and flattering pastime you’ll run into in many foreign countries. The gentlemen are usually louder and more demonstrative than American men, but they mean no harm.”

What advice would you give a young woman abroad today?

And how’s this for progress?

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Carolyn Kaster/AP/REX/Shutterstock (10095150b)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., right arrives with her guest, Ana Maria Archila of New York, N.Y., to hear President Donald Trump deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington
State of Union, Washington, USA – 05 Feb 2019

How’s that for progress? Have we come a long way? Not far enough? Discuss! 

#MapOfTheHeart #FindYourWayHome

#MeToo #WithYou #TheOystervilleSewingCircle #MendYourHeart

The post then & now appeared first on SusanWiggs.

my good deed for the day : : taking your excuses away from you

I hear it from emerging writers all the time. From working writers, too, for that matter. I’ve got a great idea for a novel. I’m going to sit down and write it as soon as I…

…get my day job under control

…quit my day job

…get my final kid into kindergarten

…into college …out of jail

…get my finances in order

…fix my marriage …fix my kid

…finish painting the house

…pay off the car

…clean the can opener

…clean the rain gutters

…get the puppy housebroken

…retire from my job

…finish binge-watching the third season of _______

…get my Bachelor’s…Master’s…PhD…LLB…MD

…pay off my student loans

…read all the Outlander books

…check in with my nineteen thousand Facebook friends

…upgrade my computer

…make tenure

…landscape the yard

…take a vacation

…host my book group

…teach my teenager to drive

…finish knitting this sweater

…forgive my parents …forgive myself

…get over my fear of failure …get over my fear of success

…get permission from my parents/spouse/children/therapist

…hire an agent

…learn to use the subjunctive case

…quit worrying about what my family will think of my story, especially the dirty parts

…stop smoking/drinking/drug of choice/playing online games

…figure out the business of publishing

…lose 20 pounds so I look good in my author photo…

…as soon as I ________________ [fill in with your favorite excuse]

You name it, and a procrastinating writer has said it. How do I know? Um…. So here’s a dirty little secret. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the cruel reality is this. There will never be a good time to write. I wrote my early novels while holding down a teaching job, raising a young child, managing a household with two dogs and a lot of chaos, financial uncertainty, car trouble, you get the picture. And yet I wrote two books a year during that time.

I learned early on in my journey that life will always intrude. That’s what life is. Be glad for that. If you have no life, you have nothing to write about.

The good news is, there’s a simple solution. Make time for the things that are important to you. If writing your story is important, make time for it. Simple as that. Turn off the TV, stop the streaming service, leave the dishes undone, close your e-mail, turn off your phone, grab a notebook and pen, and tell your family, “Don’t interrupt me unless your eyes are bleeding.” You’ll be surprised by the respect they give you.

The way you spend your day is the way you spend your life. So quit being your own worst enemy and start being your own best friend. Make time to write, even if you don’t have time.

It’s a fresh new year. Great time to make a fresh new start.

I have procrastinated my way through the writing of many books. Somehow, despite my best efforts to sabotage myself. the story emerges. The Oysterville Sewing Circle hits the shelves this year–a Wiggs book, but something completely different from me. And Map of the Heart is a giveaway on Goodreads right this minute. There’s a lot of love and truth in these books. Let me know what you think.

The post my good deed for the day : : taking your excuses away from you appeared first on SusanWiggs.

lucky you

Calling all booklovers! The good readers at Goodreads are giving away 30 (yeah!) copies of the new premium edition of Map of the Heart. The large size paperback comes complete with extra bonus material, including some seriously thought-provoking discussion questions.

Map of the Heart for good-hearted readers and book clubs everywhere.

Click here to read more, and to enter the giveaway.

Backstory: After The Apple Orchard and The Beekeeper’s Ball became  bestsellers, the research into WWII resistance activity piqued my interest in hidden history, particularly as it relates to living history.

Find your way home.

Being elbow-deep in elder care has also given me a keen appreciation of the memories our parents and grandparents keep in their hearts.

thank you for your service

As Camille in Map of the Heart learns, not all memories are happy ones, but we can find a way to our own happy ending if we’re willing to take the journey.

I saved this picture because it reminds me of Lisette from Map of the Heart

It’s not all toil and trouble though, this book. Camille has a super-cool job and her mom has a French home goods boutique filled with treasures.

Footnote for fans of The Bella Vista Chronicles: I know I sound like a broken record, but I do want to write the third book in the series. I hope I can get to it one day, because as you can imagine, there is still a very big story to tell, and many questions to answer. Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience!

Meanwhile, The Oysterville Sewing Circle is available for pre-order!

Happy New Year and Happy Reading to All!

I can’t wait for you to read this book! It’s an August release but you can preorder it now.

The post lucky you appeared first on SusanWiggs.

STARTING NOW

I’m starting this year the same way I’ve started every year since I can remember–doing something I love.

Call me crazy, but I even love doing revisions.

The trouble is, I love doing a lot of things. Being with people I love–family and friends.

What’s better than a drink and a laugh with a good friend? I MEAN REALLY

Seeing the world.

overlooking the Calanques of Cassis

Working on my next novel.

tick tock… I call this the “deadline sweater” and I’m already sweating a deadline

Thinking about my upcoming novel and getting excited for people to read it.

I can’t wait for you to read this book! It’s an August release but you can preorder it now.

Thinking about the many wonderful books I’ve read this past year.

        

Looking forward to the books I want to read this year.

[image from whatshotblog.com]

Thinking about food. I think about food all the time.

Every great love story has a beginning…(and who doesn’t love pancakes?)

Feeling grateful for the many wonderful things in my life–family, friends, animals, good health, people I work with, a job I love, and readers I’ve never met except through the books I’ve been so very privileged to write.

What about you?

What’s on your calendar for 2019?

Thank you and Happy New Year!

#newyear #2019 #writing #reading #travel #gratitude #fiction #newbooks

The post STARTING NOW appeared first on SusanWiggs.

What’s on your shelf?

What fresh hell is this? What’s wrong with this picture?

 

Who does this? WHO DOES THIS?

According to this Buzzfeed article, 87% of us thing the practice of shelving books “spine in” is an abomination. The other 13% probably are too young to read, eh?

Here, I fixed it. Show me your books spine out! Post a photo in comments!

#books #reading #homedecor #decorating

The post What’s on your shelf? appeared first on SusanWiggs.

a Christmas memory

My grandmother was a lifelong reader who had a quirky little habit of “rating” a book she’d just read. Long before the Internet was a thing, she had a system of her own. On the inside front or back flap, she would put a little star if she especially liked a book, followed by her initials–“MB”. She was kind of stingy with the stars but I remember some of the books she loved–Came a Cavalier by Francis Parkinson Keyes, the “Rhanna” series of books by Christine McDonald Fraser, Captain from Castile by Samuel Shellabarger.

 There was one special book that rated not just a star but an exclamation point, surely the highest praise from a very particular reader. I remember finding that book on her shelf when I was just a girl of perhaps twelve years old. I was intrigued by the interesting cover art, which resembled a French advertising poster, and even more intrigued by the title of the book: Dandelion Wine. There was another set of initials endorsing this novel–“CLB”–my mother. I figured a book beloved by both my grandmother and my mom couldn’t be half bad, and so I read it.

 
Dandelion Wine turned out to be the kind of book you fall into, starting with the first page. There’s something about the voice and timeless sense of place that draws the reader into that fictive dream, that alternate reality we find so absorbing and comforting. I’d always been a voracious reader–that annoying toddler foisting The Pokey Little Puppy on any unsuspecting adult who would read it to me, the self-important first grader reciting Yertle the Turtle by heart, the geeky twelve-year-old obsessed with Anne of Green Gables and her torrid affair with Gilbert…but Dandelion Wine was a book I finished, and then turned right back to page one and read it all over again. After the second time through, I very stealthily found a pen and added my own initials to the back flap of the book, then returned it to my grandmother’s shelf of beloved favorites. 
 
As the years went by, her eyes grew dim and her penmanship turned spidery and indistinct, but her love of books and reading never flagged. She lived to the ripe old age of 95, and when she passed away, she left behind a small but beloved collection of books. Things were crated up and shuffled around as things have a way of doing in the aftermath of a long and eventful life.

 
My own daughter, Elizabeth, turned out to be as avid a reader as her predecessors. Each year, I tried to find a special book to give her, one that would go on her keeper shelf–a signed edition of Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Berger, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle—also signed. The Golden Compass, Harriet the Spy, Treasure Island.
 
One Christmas, not long after my grandmother died, I found the perfect gift for my daughter–my grandmother’s original copy of Dandelion Wine. It didn’t look like much by then. The cover art seemed lackluster, the pages had yellowed, but it was a special joy to see the initials of my grandma, my mother and twelve-year-old me, carefully inscribed in the back of the book. In time, she read the novel too, and added her own initials to the list. 
 
More time passed, and Elizabeth went away to college and grad school, and she had a daughter of her own—the beloved Clara, named after my own mom. And again, books were boxed up and lost in the shuffle, but Dandelion Wine resurfaced just a few years ago, looking tattered and worn, the way a well loved book should look. Even better, it had four generations of readers’ initials endorsing it. 

On a whim, I scanned the cover and back flap, and sent the picture to Ray Bradbury with a letter telling him this story.

To my amazement, I received a note back from Mr. Bradbury, who was 85 at the time. He enclosed a Christmas chorale he’d written and signed.

It was one of those Christmas moments–unexpected, unasked for…and indelible.

Wishing you and yours all the joys of the holiday.

Susan

Special Note: The ebook of my latest novel,  Between You and Me, is $1.99 today only! Get yours here.

The post a Christmas memory appeared first on SusanWiggs.

Holiday Offer

Dear Federal Workers,

If you’re furloughed or lose pay due to the #TrumpChristmasShutdown and you’d like a signed book from me, send your mailing address to susanmwiggs@gmail.com and I’ll send you a book. Thanks to @elinhilderbrand for inspiring this offer!

email

Peace and love,

Susan

#TrumpShutdown #books #reading

The post Holiday Offer appeared first on SusanWiggs.

Still working…30 years later

Working Girl with Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, and so many other recognizable faces. I loved everything about this movie. WHO’S WITH ME? And who is sad that we still have such a long way to go?

If you haven’t seen Working Girl, you need to. Seriously.

If you’re a writer and you haven’t seen it, then you have homework to do. I learned one of the best character arc lessons in my writer’s arsenal. Want to know which one? Watch the movie and track her wardrobe and body language each time she makes the crossing on the Staten Island ferry. See? Character arc in three simple steps. Shout out to Michael Hauge for that bit of wisdom.

“Let the River Run” was my anthem in the 80s. What was yours? What’s yours today? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv-0m...

#amwriting #classicmovies

The post Still working…30 years later appeared first on SusanWiggs.

#SmallBusinessSaturday

Shopping tip: Meet your favorite author at your local bookstore. Shout out to all the bricks-and-mortar shops that sell our books! @EagleHarborBook @bnkitsapmall @libertybaybooks

[image error]

#smallbusinesssaturday #booksigning #authors #books #holidayshopping

 

The post #SmallBusinessSaturday appeared first on SusanWiggs.

thankful.

I’ve always had mixed feelings about autumn. On the one hand, it’s hard to say farewell to the glorious summers we enjoy here in the Pacific Northwest. On the other hand, it’s the perfect season for jeans, boots, big sweaters, apple cider, and books. Check my Instagram feed for snapshots of a glorious hike I made with my brother and sister to Snow Lake in the Cascade Mountains. My brother is a plein air artist. My sister–a teacher, and my best friend.

What am I up to this autumn? Catching up on the amazing reader feedback on Between You & Me. I’ve never had quite such a passionate reaction to a book before, and I’m a bit overwhelmed by all the notes. You’ll get a reply eventually, I promise! I’m overwhelmed and grateful to hear from readers.

Speaking of readers, please save the date for these upcoming events– Florida’s Bookmania! I’d love to meet you in person!

Besides reading and writing, I’m up to baking! These pumpkin rolls are addictive and easy enough to make with a cute child, if you happen to have one handy.

I’m putting the finishing touches on The Oysterville Sewing Circle, coming in August 2019. It’s a book that took over my life as no book ever has before, and I can’t wait for you to read it!

And I’m welcoming the re-releases of many fan favorites. I’m especially thrilled with the premium editions of The Lakeshore Chronicles. For those of you wondering if there are more Lakeshore Chronicles in the works, the answer is “not now.” But never say never. You’d better believe I have lots more adventures planned for the Bellamys of Avalon.

I get the same question about the Bella Vista Chronicles. Where’s Book 3? The good news is, there is definitely more to the story of Erik, Isabel and Tess, Jamie’s baby…but my writing schedule is full at the moment with my next stand-alone novel, A Brief History of Happiness.

I’ll leave you with this lovely postcard created by my publisher for Family Tree, which takes place in the fictional Switchback, Vermont.

Happy Reading,

Susan

The post thankful. appeared first on SusanWiggs.