Becky Lower's Blog, page 9

Seven Stories From Seven Authors

Every writer who congregates with other like-minded individuals has, at one time or another, taken part in a writing prompt exercise. Each person is given the same scenario or the same words to use, and asked to make up a story about it. It constantly amazes me that no two stories resemble each other, since they started at the same spot.

We are living in uncertain times these days, and, as authors, we tend to migrate to what makes us most comfortable. We write about what we are all experiencing. Seven of us romance authors have come together to write short stories about finding love in the midst of an pandemic. Love In The Time of Corona, Vol. 2, is now available for pre-order here: https://readerlinks.com/1/1090345 
Here's a taste of what you'll get: Defending the Tycoon’s Daughter by Kristi AvalonEscaping a threat against her wealthy family and the pandemic sweeping the country, Talia Hudson finds herself in an isolated mountain retreat with her handsome, aloof bodyguard. A scandal in Brett's past gives him good reason to avoid Talia yet he can't deny the attraction sparking between them. Will one night of passion lead to regret - or is he ready to risk it all for love?Shipmates by Chloe FlowersAfter a house fire destroys everything she owns, Tara needs a temporary place to live. In a weak moment, Officer Scott Merrick offers an unorthodox solution: sharing a cabin on his boat. Since he works the graveyard shift at night, and she runs the kitchen in her restaurant during the day, they’ll be like ships passing in the night, which is fine by both of them. They begin communicating by writing notes to each other. In the time of corona, it’s probably a bad idea to fall in love, but what if they are soul mates as well as shipmates?
Viral Dance by Sheridan Jeane
Free spirit Lily Lennon and CEO Josh Graves are opposites, or are they? When they’re thrown together in a cabin on Mt. Rainier following the coronavirus outbreak, she’s determined to have him to teach her to waltz. Can these two dance their way into one another’s hearts?
Choosing My Own Bananas by Becky Lower
Single senior Claire ignores her sister’s advice and decides to take advantage of her grocery’s early Senior Hour to do her own shopping. Widower Bert can’t believe his luck. The mysterious woman from the health club pool is right behind him in line. He and his friend refer to her as Esther Williams, but now he might get to know her real name.  And hopefully a whole lot more. 
Can social distancing actually bring people closer together?
The Royal Muse by Judy McDonough
New Orleans artist, Melody Landry, has had it with relationships and cheating men. She would much rather paint her frustration into money-making masterpieces. 
Reece Thomas has had enough heartache for two lifetimes. He would rather drown his sorrows with his trumpet and whisky than give anyone else a chance to rip his heart out. Love was the last thing on their minds—until they found each other.
Can the healing powers of music and art bring two bitter souls together in the midst of a pandemic?
Espresso, Paper, Love by L. A. McGinnisA stir crazy actress charms her way into a young doctor's life from the neighboring apartment building. It's one thing to exchange notes and coffee in a crisis. It's another to deny their growing attraction. Tipsy by Jen Sako
Furloughed from their upscale restaurant positions, server Barbera and Cavan, the restaurant’s sommelier, discover a virtual connection. But can their wine-fueled, digital bond survive in real life?  So, when you run out of those chores you've been putting off since forever, you now have seven delicious short stories to give you an ounce of comfort in this time of uncertainty. Here's the link again:  https://readerlinks.com/1/1090345 
And, of course, every author needs reviews. If you have a moment, please write a review and tell other potential readers which of these stories you liked the best. These are short stories, so your reviews can be the same! 

Toss a Lime in that Corona

This virus has us all going a bit bonkers these days. Staying at home. Only venturing out for food and medicine. Some romance author friends of mine decided to put their own spin on things and write some short stories about how you can still find love even if you are cloistered. Maybe especially if you're cloistered. I'll be anxious to see if there will be a rise in the birth rate in December or January. My friends had so much fun, they decided to publish a second volume of short stories and asked me to participate.

I hesitated, since I don't normally write contemporary, but then I saw a photo in the local paper of senior citizens lined up in front of the local grocery waiting in the dark for the store to open at 6AM. And it got me to thinking that love can happen at any age. You can find a way to have a good time, put a lime in your Corona. Even while waiting in a grocery line.

Once I got the inspiration and the idea, I couldn't wait to write the story. The anthology will be available to the public on April 22, but you can have a sample of my story today. I hope you like the excerpt from Choosing My Own Bananas. Since most people are spending more time at home now, why not curl up with a new collection of stories that give us all hope of coming out on the other side in a better place? Here you go:


Excerpt:

This was a mistake. She should have listened to her sister, who implored her to figure out how to use the on-line ordering system for her groceries. Then, all she would have had to do was drive up, pay an extra fee to have her groceries already bagged up and waiting to be loaded into her car. But other than having to pay someone to shop for her, an indulgence she could ill afford, she just couldn’t wrap her head around someone else picking out her bananas. Instead, she got out of bed before the sun broke over the golf course, and drove herself to the store, where she waited in the dark with all the other old folks in town. At least it seemed like every other senior citizen was queued up and waiting.“Good morning, Sunshine!” The man in front of her in line turned and saluted her with his coffee in its sparkling white container, wrapped with a slice of cardboard to keep his fingers safe. Maybe, if she’d thought to grab a cup of coffee before she left home, she’d feel a bit more sunny. As it was, she merely nodded to him and stared at her empty cart. “You’re Esther Williams, aren’t you?” The man attempted another tack of conversation. She should just ignore him, but Esther Williams? She glanced up at him. She checked behind her, but she was last in line, so he couldn’t be speaking to anyone else. “Are you talking to me?” “Yeah. You’re always in the pool at the health club, down at the shallow end. You wear that black suit with the see-through bits at the hip.” Holy crap! Seriously, she should have taken the time to get some coffee. Her brain was working at only a snail’s pace, but he had described her bathing suit in perfect detail. Who was this guy? And where was the snappy retort she should have had at the ready?

Sticks In The Air

There's a new home being built in my neighborhood, and my dog, Mary, and I have been walking by it for several weeks now. My dad was a builder and taught me everything I know about the building process. There's a lot that takes place before you get to this point in the process, when you actually can see 'sticks in the air.' For weeks, all we've been seeing is a hole in the ground, and then, suddenly, we're at the stage. 


Writing a novel is a lot like building a house. There's a lot of work that has to be done before you can begin to build the story. You have to create a solid foundation, plan where the high points will be and lay the groundwork. Only after you carefully lay out your plan can you start putting your sticks in the air without fear of having them collapse and fail. Consider them the plot points of your story. Once your plot is all good and solid, you can start adding things to make the work unique and the story line different from every other book out there. And only once the story line is running smoothly can you embellish the work with the elements that make it special. It all comes down to having a good plan before you turn over that first shovel of dirt. Or, in the case of a manuscript, before you write that first line.
I'm working right now on the final book in my Revolutionary War series. One of the things I especially love about writing historical novels is having the ability to plop my characters into the middle of chaos to see how they rise above it. For me, in order for a book to be considered a historical novel, especially in romance, is to use actual events as an integral part of the story. But that means I spend a lot of time building my foundation. I need to make certain I have the correct dates, the correct location, and in the case of the Revolutionary War, the right generals in charge. If I don't have a proper foundation for my story, I should not be surprised when the sticks begin to fall over. Mary and I will keep track of this house, now that the sticks are in the air. We'll watch as all the walls get framed out. Maybe we'll even sneak inside and try to determine the layout. Then, we'll watch as the pretty elements start to come in and the home gets a personality. Hopefully, my manuscript will proceed at the same rate, and develops a personality as well. 
Stay safe and write, everyone. You don't need to write a novel, but in these troubling times, a journal of a letter to a loved one will keep at least some of the panic you're feeling at bay. Stay strong. 

Take It Easy

Week Two of semi-isolation coming up. I have only been out once this week, for a quick grocery run. If it weren't for the constant barrage of doom and gloom on the news, it would have been no different from any other week, except for my three times a week trips to the health club. I'm retired, and the two writing jobs I have are done from home. I'm used to puttering around the house, walking my dog a couple times a day, and working on my little spit of land here.

So why am I sorting through my herbs, and arranging them alphabetically?


The short answer is I'm finding new ways to fill up my time. I'll spend more time on my manuscript and possibly finish the third book in my Revolutionary War series early. I'll increase the number of articles I'm writing for the internet each week, as long as they last. I'll prune my roses. I'll knock some books off my TBR pile. Maybe I'll even do my filing. 
I miss my health club, but they're providing on-line classes to do at home. Everyone's doing what they can to get by. So, as I am coached through my morning yoga for seniors class, I'll think of all the money I'm saving by not having to fill up my car's gas tank, getting my hair cut, going to the dentist or eating out. 
That will be my silver lining. Hope you can find yours. 

Staying Busy

Are you bored yet?

Since writing is a solitary endeavor, I'm used to being alone with my thoughts. So you might conclude I'm having an easier time with this forced isolation than others. You'd be wrong.


I cancelled my physical therapy sessions and put my health club membership on hold Wednesday, after a trip to the grocery store and the hardware store where I bought a carload of mulch. I figured I'd work on the mulching in the afternoons, after I spent the morning writing and I could stretch that out for at least a week. Sounded like a perfect way to fill up my days, right?

Again, you'd be wrong.

The mulching was done by Friday, along with the preparation of a batch of oatmeal cookies. I had not made cookies in years. Not even at Christmas.

Now I have to go through all the stock photo houses looking for images for cover art for my first Revolutionary War romance. Normally, I'd get irritated after the first hour, since it was taking way too much of my time. Now I'm looking forward to the challenge. It's either that, or go running from the house naked  like a crazy person. For the sake of the neighbors, I am grateful for the distraction.

Period Images, here I come.

Hunkering Down

Now that we've all been made crazy scared by the reports relating to the CoronaVirus, more and more of us are opting out of everything and staying close to home. Which, as it turns out, is not a bad thing to do. Think of all the books you can take off your TBR pile!

But, if lounging on the sofa or in bed, and diving into a book doesn't appeal, you can participate in other activities, like taking over the dining room table to put together that jigsaw puzzle you got as a Christmas gift. Or using up your yarn and knitting a pair of mittens or a scarf that will come in handy next winter. How about getting your flower beds ready for your spring planting? Or baking that new dish you discovered on the internet?

As for me, I'm going to spend my time writing, both for pleasure, which is what I call my novel writing, or for business, which is my side hustle job that helps pay the bills. And finding another side hustle job. Maybe working on the little bit of land that is in front of my condo, making it pretty for spring. Especially if it's sunny, since Mary loves to lay on hot concrete while I work.

Regardless of what you're into, this forced break in all of our routines should be viewed as a blessing in disguise. You can finally do all those things you've put off doing when work got in the way. Enjoy your time, hunker down, and stay safe, everyone.

Practice, Practice

I had lunch with an old friend this past week. Many years ago, when we both were much younger and had better eyesight, I taught her the basics of quilting. If you've ever tried this art form, you know the benchmark of your quality workmanship is how many stitches you can get to an inch of fabric when hand-quilting your pattern to hold the three layers together. My friend reminded me that I had managed between ten and twelve per inch, something she strived for but never could achieve.


Which, of course, made me think of writing. In many ways, it's like quilting. You begin with this pile of disorganized ideas, some big images in your head, some just niggling little details. Some are quite colorful and well-defined, some ideas are vague and monochromatic, but all are essential to holding the story together. Quilters and writers both take courses and workshops to hone our craft, and continuously work to improve on our art. 
And, if we're really lucky, we can progress from five or six stitches per inch to the lauded ten or twelve. 
Continuing my own comparison of quilting to writing, I consider having your first book published to be the equivalent of a seven-stitch-per-inch achievement. Making the NY Times best-seller list is a twelve-stitch event. Right now, with book #20 coming out in June, I'm somewhere around a ten. I'll keep working at it. 
Meanwhile, here's a picture of the last quilt I made, before my eyesight started to go. The pattern is called the Wild Goose Chase, appropriately enough, since I pieced it together during my travels from one side of the country to the other, finally finishing it when I returned to the east coast. I used at least eight different blue fabrics and six or seven red ones, but with one common theme. They all had to contain stars. The center pinwheel in each block is composed of red and blue striped fabric. Maybe this is what led me to my obsession to write American historicals? 

Finally, March!

Maybe it's because of the extra day in February, which only happens every four years, but it seems like February was longer than normal this year. While I shouldn't complain about the weather in NC, since I keep seeing weather reports of white out conditions and massive blizzards in other parts of the country, still I wish the weather would level out.

And I guess because I had an extra day in the month to think about things, I couldn't help but think about an old boyfriend of mine, who happened to be born on February 29. Even though he was really 24 when we were dating, more often than not he acted his true age of six.

Need I state the obvious? We broke up very quickly.

But since he acted like a child most of the time, and I'm writing a book that includes five children, I'm trying to remember some of the most foolish things he did so I can incorporate them into my book. Since my experience with small children is limited, I'm drawing on whatever I can.

Maybe the experience with the old boyfriend will finally be of some use.

So, where to you get your ideas?

Hoping For Ideas

To my faithful readers and friends–I need some brainstorming ideas.

Here's my dilemma: I have a hero who is a widower with 5 children. His wife died while giving birth to child #5. His uncle has sent him a governess from England to help him take care of the kiddos while he fights the Revolutionary War.

Obviously, hero doesn't want the governess–he wants his wife to still be alive.

Obviously, heroine doesn't want to be in America when she's never been more than five miles from home before.

So, other than making sure his children are well cared for and fed, what little things can my heroine do to worm her way into hero's heart? So far, I've had her keep a meal warm for him and kept a candle in the window so he won't come home to a dark house.

What else can I have her do? To be clear, she's not trying to entice him, but she is a caring woman. I want some little things that aren't calculated, but will sooner or later have hero realize he can't live without her.

What little acts of kindness do you do for your significant other that make them feel loved?

As a caveat to this, if you give me an idea and I use it in my story, I'll put your name in the acknowledgments!

So bring it on! There are no bad ideas if they make your partner feel loved and cared for.

Where Does My Inspiration Come From?

Right now, I'm working on a Revolutionary War trilogy. All three books are interconnected as the war began in earnest. Most folks don't realize the first protest against the British was the Boston Tea Party in 1773. The Declaration of Independence was written and authorized in 1776, but the war waged from 1773 to 1783, when the Peace of Paris Treaty finally signaled the end of the war. So there were a lot of battles and confrontations to choose from to highlight.

Fortunately, there are great characters in each book, and even though each book can be read as a stand-alone, some of the characters appear in all three books. Which makes things easier or more difficult, depending on your point of view. On the one hand, the setting (Rev. War in the northeastern US) and the major opponents (Sons of Liberty and George Washington, the British) are consistent from book to book, so I don't need to drown myself in research. But then, the downside is how to dovetail the characters together from book to book.

Hey, if writing were easy, we'd all be doing it, right?

One thing I've noticed about these books is even though they are grounded in the Rev. War era, I use modern day music as my inspiration for the first two–the boat in Book One is named Gladys Maria, honoring Gladys Knight, since the boat is bringing a woman named Pip to the colonies. Get it?















Book Two has a heroine who changes her name each time her circumstances change, but she began her life as Fancy. Her mother dressed her in a red gown and told her to be nice to the gentlemen and they'd be nice to her. Thank you, Reba McIntire, for that inspiration.













And Book Three was inspired by one of my favorite movies–Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. My hero is a widower with five children--Adam, Ben, Caleb, Daniel and Elizabeth. Except for the girl, all the names are compliments of the brothers in the movie.

Only a handful of readers will get the connection to any of these, but they are my inspirations and make me smile.

So what inspires you?