Sydney Avey's Blog, page 16

Know Your Place

One of my happy places

Do you know your place? Is it where you were born and raised, went away to school, moved across country to live with the one you love, or found your dream job? Is it a landscape that soothes or inspires you, one that you visit often oronly in your imagination?

Yesterday a writer friend shared that she has been invited to sign copies of her memoir in the very heart of where her story happens. Today another writer friend confided that her husband is being transferred—she ge...

Island Vista

Whidbey Island

Wherever you roam, is there a vista you call home? Not a specific address, but a familiar landscape? For me it’s a mountain valley. I grew up tucked close to a coastal mountain range that gave me a feeling of well being and sense of eternity. In the chaos of life, I could literally look to the hills and find peace.

These days I perch in the Sierra Foothills beneath the towering granite peaks of Yosemite. For a change of scene, I migrate to a desert retreatwhere theWhite Tank Moun...

Hopping

The only hopping I usually do is in my aerobics class, and I complain while I do it, but Connie Miller Pease invited me to blog hop and I agreed. What is a blog hop? It’s a game of tag bloggers play in hopes of widening their circle of friends. Here’s how it works: I get tagged and given four questions to answer in a post; I tag another blogger who agrees to post answers the same four questions a week later; We try to entertain you and engage you in our process.

1. What are you working on righ...

Writing California: Santa Cruz

Author Sherry Kyle does not want to give away too much, but she will say that West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz plays an integral part in her contemporary story about two women’s journeys to find hope and forgiveness in a season that may change their lives forever.

“The Heart Stone is my second book set in Santa Cruz, ” Sherry says. “My first contemporary novel, Delivered with Love, is set in Capitola, a small coastal town of Santa Cruz. My next novel, titled Watercolor Dreams, is a historical ro...

Writing California: Belmont Shore, Long Beach

Heather S. Rivera knew when she met her protagonist that Tess lived on Belmont Shore in Long Beach. Heather and Tess met in a creative writing class during a guided meditation.

(Ed. Note: I once thought it might be fun to go on a cruise and impersonate my character. Heather comes close to doing what I dreamed of!)

In Heather’s words

“While I was in this relaxed state the protagonist began speaking to me. She hasn’t stopped talking. I first saw her sitting on a curb cutting her jeans with a piece...

Writing California: Twain Harte

Ski resorts pair well with romance and Twain Harte offers just the access that inspirational romancewriterMariaMichaels feels is perfect for her debut novel Harte’s Peak. Michaels fell in love with Twain Harte, a little jewel of a town in the heart of the Sierras, on her first visit 1999.

“I took some creative liberties and because of that I renamed the town Harte’s Peak,” Michaels said. “You can doalmost any story in a California setting!”

We’ve got it all, baby – beach, mountains, snow, histo...

Writing California: Point Reyes, Cow Heaven

Pierce Point Ranch Point Reyes

Jenni Brummett drew inspiration forRibbon of Fogfrom a Marin County food magazine feature about the local dairy industry history in “Cow Heaven”, Point Reyes. The article told the story of an entrepreneurial woman who recognized San Francisco’s need for fresh cheese in the 1850’s.

Point Reyes cooling fog provides the perfect setting to age cheese and make butter, not to mention historical fiction laced with suspense and romance. Jenni focused on the early years of...

Writing California: Earthquake country

Lorrie Farrelly’s contemporary romantic suspense novel Dangerous travels the rural roads that crisscross earthquake country; the dry rolling hills, chaparral, vineyards, undeveloped lands and higher mountain passes of a small lakeside California town. Burned-out Cam Starrett seeks haven from the tragedy, grief and anger in Chima Valley, a fictional town nestled in the hills inland from Santa Inez and Los Olivos, north of Lake Cachuma (called Lake Pasqual in the book).Here Cam encounters schoo...

The Beanpunk Café

Avatar by Tana Bevan

Life happens attheBeanpunk Café. Hammered copper double doors in front swing open and shut all day, letting in heavy hot air to battle the hard working desert cooler in the fictional town of Nearfield, USA.

Fall into a leather cushioned sofa; set your mug on the rough wood table fashioned from a shipping container fitted with train wheels for legs; sip exotic coffees–pewter mugs of m.u.d., a coffee blend of Mbeya, Urubamba and Djimah beans or artful layers of espresso and G...

Writing California: Big Sur

Mary Stewart Anthony set her memoir on the rugged coast of Big Sur, a place where she dropped out of sight, society and her mind. Love Song of a Flower Child is the story of a Hunter College graduate who felt trapped in the Big Apple in the late Fifties and took flight to Berkeley.

The oldest of eight children, the renegade Catholic school girl joined the merry band of pranksters and hippies in the Sixties before escaping into a wilderness of spiritual experimentation in Big Sur. There the sin...