Suzanne Jenkins's Blog: 2sheepinthecity.com, page 5

Free Kindle Pam of Babylon

Free today through Saturday, Pam of Babylon is the first in the series of five books. Book two and three are just 99 cents.

Women's fiction with adult themes.

http://www.amazon.com/Pam-of-Babylon-...

I hope you will get it and enjoy!

Just for fun, Pam wrote a guest blog post updating us with her latest news. http://2sheepinthecity.com/2013/05/24...

Finding Truth in Fiction

My discovery of the truth behind Native American adoption in the US during the 1940's - 1970's came about during research for my work in progress, a story about a woman who discovers she was adopted as she lay dying and her daughter's journey to find the birth parents her mother never knew. http://2sheepinthecity.com/2013/05/14...

Giveaway-Wedded to the Land

HI! Today is sunny and freezing cold. Is this May or March?

My friend, author Joan Donaldson is having a giveaway here on Goodreads. Don't miss out! She's offering ten books.

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

Enjoy your week!

Suzanne

The Emotions of the Writer; the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The most difficult issue I have as a writer is insuring that words going down on paper are telling a story and not just occupying space. Often, an idea will come to me as I’m writing and not a second before. I might have a general idea of the story, but the details come later. After writing, I might ruminate on what’s been written and go back later to delete it all. I’m in the process of doing just that with my current story, Alice’s Summertime Adventure. It sounds so bucolic. Alice lives in south Jersey, not far from the Delaware Bay. She is going to spend the day sunbathing in her yard. I could smell the mossy smell of peat and scrub pine, and even the motor oil of a trawler leaving for a fishing trip. And then reality set in and I remembered that readers want something more than the visceral memory I have of the Jersey shore. That is where the real story telling comes in; the journey of Alice and her children. It will not be a light hearted read.

The Greeks of Beaubien Street has its origins in my love for Greektown. It is the birthplace of my family’s traditions. We didn’t go to church like some Greek families; to the big Orthodox Church in Detroit. We also didn’t speak Greek, nor have many relatives who spoke it, or go to Greek School. After my grandmother died, our relatives migrated to California, leaving my family alone in the Detroit suburbs. We no longer had the benefit of other Greeks around us. Our family still loved to eat however, and that meant trips to Greektown to shop, to the Eastern Market on Gratiot for fresh meat and cheeses, and to a little Greek grocery store on Joy Road. I distinctly remember refusing a night out with girlfriends as a teenager because my father was putting on a spread for my mother’s large, English extended family. They came in droves to eat. So our “Greek” life centered on food. It was what made us Greek. I wanted to capture that in my story, but realized that few people want to read my about childhood memories. I would have to come up with a story that was intriguing enough to spend precious time reading. I think I succeeded.

I fantasized about what Greektown meant to me and what it might have been like to live there. I imagined a community of people who lived in the apartments above their businesses. At first, I thought it might be a safe, warm loving place to raise children. By the time my characters are living in Greektown though, it is no longer inhabited by Greeks. They are isolated from other Greeks, just like I was growing up.

Over the course of the book she makes several heartbreaking discoveries about her family. They are in contrast to the horrors hidden by the rose gardens surrounding the house of murder victim Gretchen Parker. The white, cottage-like Cape Cod in the quiet Detroit suburbs was the antithesis of Jill Zannos’ home. The Parker’s house looks so inviting, but don’t be deceived.

I definitely don’t write warm and fuzzy. Where does the darker stuff come from? Today, another long conversation with my aunt revealed that she believes everything I have experienced in my life is leading up to these stories. It gives some meaning to some of those I regret. There are events in The Greeks of Beaubien Street that shocked me as I was writing, as though I were reporting the crimes committed. I deliberated whether or not to leave the more shocking material in the book when I came to the conclusion that the perverse stuff is purposeful. It forces the reader to make a judgment about the perpetrator, and hopefully, make a comparison with the simple, Greek father.

Yesterday, as I was writing Alice’s story, I started sobbing as a part popped into my head that was almost too much for me to contemplate. Where the idea came from is an unknown, but it is devastating. My husband came in to my office to make sure I was okay when he heard me crying. He asked me why I insisted on writing about topics that cause pain. The truth is that I am intrigued with the deepest of human emotion. Death, betrayal, humiliation; they are all experiences that I am eager to delve into. I want the reader to feel the emotion of the sufferer. All of it. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

FREE Kindle A Prayer for My Mother

Good morning! I'm spending time with my little grandson this week. Here's a picture of us. https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.ne... Being with him reminds me so much of my mother. I was with her when she died, and two days later, my grandson was born.

A Prayer for My Mother is a compilation of blog posts on aging, death and grief. It's a short little booklet. http://www.amazon.com/Prayer-My-Mothe...

Enjoy your week!

Suzanne

Spring Is Here!

Finally, one day of spring. Today it's supposed to reach eighty-two degrees, which isn't very spring-like. It reminds me of NJ where we would go from winter to summer.

My sheep were sheared yesterday, in the nick of time. Go here to see a picture. https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...

Enjoy the weather wherever you are.

Fondly,

Suzanne

The Weekend!!!

I love the weekend. Even working from home, we look forward to Saturday and Sunday with as much excitement as when we commuted to the city for jobs. My favorite weekend is one in which we don't have to leave the house, or if we do, it's for something like taking a walk on the beach or going for a hike. (A very slow hike.)

Get some rest this weekend, or have some fun, or better yet, some love. I don't care for weekends that start out with stress; either bad news or bad mail. I tell my husband not to look at the mail on Friday.

Whatever you do, I hope it's wonderful. Even if you simply stay inside and watch movies all weekend.

xoxo
Suzanne

Thank You!

A heartfelt thank you to all who got The Greeks of Beaubien Street.

The cover reveal for The Princess of Greektown happened during the giveaway.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...

Have a wonderful rest of your week.

Suzanne

Event! I Love Events

My favorite surprises when I get my morning email are invitations from authors to their goodreads events. I often see friends of mine attending and also people I follow on twitter. I feel like I'm developing relationships through social media.

So I decided to have my own event. It never occurred to me to do so when I am participating in a giveaway on Amazon. I am so grateful for my friends here on goodreads and didn't want to take advantage of you by spamming with offers, as tempting as it is. I do enough of that on Facebook;-)

Anyway, April 23 and 24th, Tuesday and Wednesday, I'm offering The Greeks of Beaubien Street FREE in Kindle Format. The second book of the series, The Princess of Greektown will be out this summer.

These books are not for everyone, as my Pam series is not. The Greeks books are regional; Detroit, and they are also full of my personal ethnic experiences growing up in a dysfunctional Greek/American household in the Detroit suburbs. I juxtapositioned that along side the graphic murder investigation so there would be something interesting to read.

You can read a short excerpt on my blog here, http://suzannejenkins.net/cousin-andy... I wanted to honor my parents in some way when I was writing and including their recipes in the narrative was one of the ways I was able to do so.

Here's the Amazon link for the US http://www.amazon.com/Greeks-Beaubien...

And the Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Greeks-Beaubi...

Thank you again for your support. I hope you will take advantage of the offer and that you enjoy reading!

Fondly,

Suzanne

Yet Another Interview

Thank you for your interest! How much do you really need to know about me? I hope each interview offers something you can take away that's positive. This one was featured at www.blogcritics.org

http://suzannejenkins.net/another-int...