Lorenda Christensen's Blog, page 6

A (Somewhat Disappointing) Experiment Involving an 18th Century Recipe

For my sheepish and belated debut on the Firebird blog, I thought it would be fun to try a recipe related to my Golden Heart finaling manuscript, Scandal in Spades.  Unfortunately, I checked the manuscript and the only food mentioned in the book was roasted goose:

(My heroine, Clarissa, is watching Septimus, who she knows to be insincere, charm some young ladies by expressing a feigned distaste for the hero’s fowl hunting)

“I agree, Miss Graden,” Septimus said. “Hunting is a barbarous sport. Falling innocent birds from the sky.” He shook his head. “I prefer to fish the sea.”
“Are birds more innocent than fish?” Clarissa asked.
“Well, large fish eat small ones,” Verity supplied.
“Oh yes,” Patience added, her adoring gaze fixed on Septimus. “To fish is certainly better than to hunt.”
“Tell us, Lady Clarissa,” Septimus asked, “what do you prefer?”
Clarissa smiled. “Roasted goose.”

I should explain that I am *not* (for good reason) the primary cook of my household. Attempting a meat recipe from an 18th century cookbook might well be the end of me, my kitchen or both. However, when holidays roll around, I am in charge of desserts. My heroine grew up on an estate in the South of England known for its apple orchards. Surely I could manage an eighteenth century apple dessert!

I chose A Pupton of Apples from the intriguingly named The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy which far exceeds any Thing of the Kind Yet Published by Hannah Glasse published in the year 1747. What’s a pupton, you ask? Well, in The Huffington Post’s food encyclopedia, Gilly Lehmann, an authority on the history of English cookery books, defines the term as “a dish of small meat items (usually pigeon) with a garnish, encased in a crust of forcemeat bound with egg, and baked. The name came from the French poupeton, and was transmogrified in English into ‘pupton’, or ‘pulpatoon’.” He goes on to say “these dishes were falling from favour by the middle of the 18th century” because “they all suffered from the opprobrium heaped upon fancy French imports.” Although A Pupton of Apples contains no meat, I believe Ms. Glasse calls this dish a “Pupton” because the apple slices are bound with egg and baked, or, perhaps she was trying to give her apple dish a bit of French flair.

Here’s the recipe & notes on my attempt:

Step one: Pare some apples, take out the cores and put them in a skillet.

Some, I decided, meant five. And, I figured she probably meant that I should put the sliced apple in the skillet, not the cores.

Step Two: To a quart mugful heaped, put in a quarter of a pound of sugar, and two spoonfuls of water. Do them over a slow fire, keep them stirring; add a little cinnamon.

I chose Medium heat as ‘slow fire’ and followed the directions.

Step Three: When it is quite thick and like marmalade, let it stand until cool.

About a half hour of stirring later, my apples looked nothing like marmalade–probably because I chose the wrong type of apple. But, onward…

Step Four: Beat in the yolks of four or five eggs and stir in a handful of grated bread and a quarter pound of fresh butter then form it into what shape you please. Bake it in slow oven. 

As it happened, it pleased me to place my mush in a rectangular bread baking dish. “Slow oven” I decided meant 325 for a half hour.

Final Step: Turn it upsidedown on a plate for a second course.

I wish I could say A Pupton of Apples was a smashing success, but my first foray in ‘eighteenth century’ cooking was, essentially, eggy apple crisp. 

Are there recipes in your favorite books that you have tried/would like to try (either books that you’ve written or ones that you have read)?

Spotlight on HOME TO STAY: An Anchor Island Novel

If you’d have told me when we all got those fortuitous calls back in 2012 that two years later I’d be celebrating the release of my third book, I’d never have believed you. So it is with great amazement and gratitude that I’m doing just that.

HOME TO STAY is the third book in my Anchor Island Series, set on a remote island at the base of the Outer Banks. In this installment, we get to watch Randy Navarro, the local fitness club and water sports owner and friendly mountain of a man, win the heart of skittish and mysterious Willow “Will” Parsons.

Here’s the blurb:

Willow Parsons’s two new best friends are getting married, putting her squarely on the sidelines of romance—which suits her just fine. After escaping the ultimate Mr. Wrong, she is more than happy to spend her days slinging drinks in Dempsey’s Bar & Grill, and her nights alone. But her Anchor Island refuge has just one catch: muscle-bound charmer Randy Navarro.

Everyone in town knows that Randy, owner of the local fitness club, is a giant teddy bear. Everyone, it seems, except for Willow. He’s convinced that her avoidance is more than just playing hard to get, and is determined to uncover the secrets that keep her on edge. But when old fears are dragged into the light, can Randy get Willow to stay and fight for their love…or will she take flight, leaving both him and Anchor Island behind?

Home to Stay is a charming, romantic tale about following your heart to find where you belong.

Though I’ve known since I was writing book one (MEANT TO BE) that these two characters would end up together, they were the most reluctant imaginary people to accept the spotlight. But once the stopped fighting me, the story flew by and I was extremely happy with the way it turned out.

Here’s what the reviewers are saying about HOME TO STAY:

“If you’re looking for a sweet contemporary with a little bit of intrigue…look no further. This…will leave readers longing for an oceanfront bar to hang out in.” —RT Book Reviews, 4 stars

“Another cute, romantic trip to Anchor Island…a hugely enjoyable read.” —Fresh Fiction

“I don’t think that there is a more appealing hero than the Teddy Bear type, especially if they are ‘large enough to deserve his own zip code’ like Randy Navarro. Terri Osburn definitely got my attention when she wrote him into the story!” —Leigh Davis, Heroes and Heartbreakers.com First Look

And here’s the book trailer:

 

There will be one more book in the series, called MORE TO GIVE, that will be out later this year. Before we leave Anchor Island, there will be weddings, babies, another unforgettable pet who steals every scene he’s in, and of course, one more happily ever after.

If you’d like to learn more about the series, check out my website here. And I plan to post an update very soon about the anthology Kim Law, Liz Talley, and I are putting out later this year, plus more on the new series set in Ardent Springs, TN that starts next year.

Now, let’s talk series. What is your favorite series ever, and why? One lucky commenter will win a $10 Amazon gift card and some fun Anchor Island book swag. (US only)

 

Following The Rules in Genre Romance-How I FINALLY Sold

Warning, this is a LONG post because it took me a LONG time to get published.  You may want to take a second and grab a snack. Or perhaps your favorite adult beverage.

I am, by nature, a rule follower. Well, when it comes to driving, paying my taxes, doing unto others and such, but not when I write. I like to write stories I’d like to read, which because I AM such a rule follower in my everyday life are stories that blur the so-called genre rules. Stories that might not fit a ‘line’ or about subjects considered unmarketable by the powers that be.

About ten years ago, I sat down and wrote my first ‘masterpiece.’ I then found MY PEOPLE when I walked into my local RWA chapter’s monthly meeting. (Land of Enchantment Romance Authors) Soon I was encouraged to enter their contest and lo and behold I won first place! The final judge, an editor at Harlequin, requested a full and I thought, So what’s so hard about this?  Yeah, I soon found out via my first ego shattering rejection letter. The missive pointed out my many flaws as a writer. But she loved my voice. So I had one little thing to hang onto….

So over the years I wrote a few other stories that didn’t strictly follow the rules but I enjoyed the heck out of writing them. Then with practice I got a little better at the writing part, but still not at the rule following aspect.  Did these publishers really think readers were going to notice when that imaginary line was crossed if their eyes were blurry with tears of laughter? I said, nay! *throwing my fist above my head for emphasis.  But alas, I was wrong once again.

So I said PFFFFT to that and decided to get serious and write a short Harlequin-style fun book to get my feet wet in the publishing world. My evil plan was to win them over with my VOICE, and then maybe they’d gloss over the non-rule following I was trying so hard not to do, but did anyway. You can imagine how that went, too. But I did win a Golden Heart award for that book so I had the satisfaction of knowing there are some closet-rule-breaking editors out there ;0)

Backing up a bit, the Golden Heart final meant I had an excuse to ask the agent I really wanted (who’d told me earlier I was a strong writer, but I needed to comply with a certain word count)  if she’d consider taking me on.  When we talked on the phone I promised I would really, really try to toe the line in the future. Either I simply exhausted her with my fast talking ways, or she decided to be charitable that day, Jill Marsal asked if I wanted to give it a go with her. YAY.

So we submitted my Golden Heart book with added word count to one publisher. Then I took away the extra word count, and restructured the ms more Harlequin style and resubmitted elsewhere. In the meantime we shopped another book. As time passed and editors kept saying, “I loved the voice, but…” I finally asked my agent what I needed to write so she could sell it. She told me small town contemporary is selling well, but it has to have something unique. It can’t be generic. Easy peasy, right?

Not.

I slaved, and I sweated, and I wrote, and I deleted for nine long months. I endured many pursed lips and head shakes from my critique group telling me to go back and try again. (Damn that straight and narrow path! But I LOVE my critters more than chocolate)   By the time I typed ‘The End’ I HATED my small town, unique contemporary ms that followed every stinkin’ rule I could find.  It was almost 80 thousand words exactly, it followed a three act structure, I tried to add humor, some extra heart and to make the setting a character, and still, I worried no one would ever want to read such drivel.

But I’d done my best and that’s all I could do short of slitting my wrists, so I attached the ms I titled Best Kept Secrets to an email and sent it to Jill. This was on a Monday morning. The next morning the phone rang right before eight o’clock. I glanced at the caller ID and my stomach clenched. It was Jill. There was no way she could have read my WHOLE book in one day; obviously this was going to be bad news. So I drew a deep breath, thanked God for my day job, and said, “Hi, Jill?” She said, “Hi, Tammy. I’m calling so early because I want to tell you how much I LOVED this book!”  Other words were spoken and I may have slapped a hand over my mouth to stop the screams of joy as I jumped up and down, but it’s all such a blur I can’t quite recall.

About a month later we had three offers for Best Kept Secrets. Two digital first from NY and one from Montlake. We tried for print deals from NY, but to no avail. It seems you have to write Harry Potter or some such to get a print deal as a debut author these days. (Or perhaps just a better book than mine.  ;0)

So after much consideration, I am happy to finally say I am going to be a published author– we took the Montlake deal. I have to change the title though. Sandra Brown decided to make the NYT list last month with my title but I guess I can be a good sport and let her have it.  (I’m considering a few other titles but my favorite is:  Secrets, Lies and Chocolate Mousse Pie. So if you were thinking of using that title, don’t!  I WILL come after you!)

I’m already busy writing the second book in the series and still talking to a different editor about my Golden Heart book.  Crossing fingers that one sells too. So if I haven’t put you to sleep by now with my long tale, may I please give those of you trying to sell a manuscript a piece of advice? STICK TO THE RULES….at first anyway. Stay tuned to see if I can break some rules after my fourth or fifth book ‘cuz that’s still my evil plan.  ;0)

 

What drives or drove you nuts about the path to publication?

 

As I Get Closer to My Book Release…

“I’m just so nervous. You know? And I’m also very excited. I’m nervous and I’m excited. It’s all very mixed up.” 

That’s one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies, 10 Things I Hate About You. Granted, it’s no “Remove head from sphincter, then drive!” or “I know you can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed? I think you can in Europe!”

But I love the line because of the way the actor delivered the line, and because I can totally relate to it. He’s the audio-video geek about to enter the world of the cool kids at the party of the year. I’m the geek about to enter the world of the cool kid authors.

In just a few short months, my debut novel, TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD, hits the virtual bookshelves and as I get closer, I keep getting hit with firsts.

A few weeks, I was hanging out on Twitter (because that’s what I do best), when author KM Jackson mentioned that she was getting swag ready for Romance Slam Jam, an upcoming reader conference I’m attending. “Umm, swag? I have to bring swag?” I asked. “You’re an author now Jamie, so you got to start acting like it” was the response. Oh. Right.

This will be the first conference I’ve attended where I’m not an aspiring author hoping to get the attention of an agent or editor. Now, I’m an author trying to get the attention of readers. Gulp.

So I did some Internet research on the types of swag available. I also thought about the type of swag I like. Useful. It needs to be useful. For me, that meant lip balm and pens were the obvious choice. I scoured sites looking for the type of pen I wanted at the price I wanted. They came a few days ago and they’re so pretty and purple and pretty. I didn’t have as much luck with the lip balm. The labels were printed in black, not purple like I wanted. No bueno, so back they went. Hopefully, I’ll get the replacement shipment of lip balm with purple labels before I leave next week. *wipes brow*

But the new experiences didn’t stop at promo items. No, sirree Bob.

The past few days I’ve been working on my first set of copy edits ever. I know some authors have horror stories about copy editors trying to rewrite their stories. That has not been my experience, thank goodness. My copy editor is excellent, and I’ve made most of her changes with no hesitation.

But I have learned a few things about myself.

I hate when people misuse commas by haphazardly putting them in places where they have no business being. I didn’t realize that my aversion to comma overuse led to my comma underuse. Long live the comma!

I’m also stubborn. OK, I knew that already, but it’s really been driven home to me as the copy editor wants me to change something like “fundraiser” to “fund-raiser” and I head straight to the Internet to find some shred of evidence to back up my conviction that it should be “fundraiser.”

Oh, and speaking of “Internet?” I really, really hate when it’s not capitalized. The Chicago Manual of Style agrees with me. The Entangled Published Manual of Style does not, as my editor informed me on Twitter after I maybe, sort of said I wouldn’t accept the change to making it lowercase. *cries*

In other words, my copy edits are a learning experience that move me one step closer to being an author.

So yeah, I’m just so nervous. You know? And I’m also very excited. I’m nervous and I’m excited. It’s all very mixed up.

 

Oh, and I give you permission to tell me everything is going to be okay. And to tell me about a time when you were nervous and excited.

Saved By The Bell!

Celine, book one in my trilogy called When Hearts Dare, is due to release October 7th. This week, I sent in my acknowledgements and dedication pages to my editor. It’s been a long-held tradition for an author to dedicate his or her book to someone special. The one for Celine is particularly special to me, and here’s why:

Celine is actually a book I began to pen back in the 80′s. I’d write a little, then put it aside with the thought that I just wasn’t good enough, and I needed to let it go. However, the story refused to let go of me, so little by little, the story unfolded as if it had a mind of its own.

One night, I was at a crowded cocktail party when my friend introduced me to a wealthy socialite everyone held in high esteem. For some odd reason, my friend ended the intro with, “And she’s writing a book.”

The socialite turned on me. “Oh, for God’s sake! Everyone and their brother thinks they can write the Great American novel. Is your degree in literature or journalism? No? Then give it up because you are as stupid as the rest of the idiots trying to write the Great American Novel!”

I was too stunned for words, and although I had managed to hold my head high, I felt like crawling into a hole. Everyone was staring at the three of us.

My friend said to the woman, “Hey, why are you being so nasty?” Without another word, the socialite walked away. I was so floored, the first chance I got, I discreetly exited the party. At rock bottom, I decided she and every other person who scoffed at me was right—I had no business thinking I could write or sell a story. I went home and lit a fire in the fireplace. I sat in front of it for a long while with my only copy of the manuscript in my lap and contemplating a whole lot of things (I know some of you are nodding in agreement here). I was ready to toss the pages into the flames when the phone rang. The caller was Connie, my niece from California. She wanted to tell me that she’d been talking to another niece in Minnesota who was about to graduate from the same high school I had attended. Tina said her English teacher asked if she was related to Kathleen Bittner.

Tina said, “She’s my aunt.” He asked what I was doing, and again, for some strange reason, Tina said, “She’s writing a book” (I had no idea she knew I’d been trying).

He said, “I always knew she would. She wrote a paper in the eighth grade and for twenty-five years, I’ve used it as an example for all my students on how to write.”

Gosh, was I floored (and in tears)! Obviously, I did not burn the book. Connie’s phone call came not just minutes, but seconds before the entire manuscript went up in flames! I do believe I experienced a little miracle.

The next day, I phoned the teacher, and we had a long chat. A week later, I received the paper I had penned those many years ago. Even though it had been written by a thirteen-year-old, my author’s voice, the humor, visualization, story arc, they were all there.

I was amazed.

Celine went through so many rewrites that it’s not the same story I started with, but it will forever be dear to my heart as the one that gave me the hope and courage to carry on.

So that’s the story of how I came to dedicate Celine to my niece Connie.

What about you, do you read the dedications and acknowledgements in books? As a writer, do you have a cute or touching story as to why you dedicate a book to a certain person? I’d love to hear it.

Here’s the little blurb my publisher put on the back cover of the book:

From Plantation era New Orleans to the untamed American West, here is the sweeping, unforgettable tale of a headstrong young beauty and the man she is destined to love.

Kathleen has four books releasing this year, beginning June 9th with The Seduction of Sarah Marks. Her fifth book, the third in the When Hearts Dare series is scheduled for a 2015 release.

Hope and Change

I wrote this post several years ago. It’s still relevant today, as once again I contemplate changes in my writing career.

While I worked out at the gym, a woman and I talked about change. She’d seen a bumper sticker that read, Hope and Change: I’ll take the hope, you keep the change. That made me laugh, and I needed to laugh that day.

 A big change for me, back in August 2011, was the loss of my beautiful, elderly Akita dog. She loved me unconditionally and thought her job was to soften some of my harder edges, and she taught me more about love than any human ever has. She’d stop to meet and greet everyone, and she helped me to make friends in my new community.

 Change is often hard to accept, yet when we embrace it new insights and adventures can bloom. I think the key to being happy in life is to keep learning, growing, and changing with the times. To grow, we learn, and in learning we teach. In teaching we lead, and in leading we make mistakes. Making mistakes reminds us that we’re human. When we learn from our mistakes and embrace new things we cause forward movement, and when we work to change things in ourselves it will cause things around us to change. I like that last part of the sentence, and I’m almost certain it came from Dr. Wayne Dyer (I read a ton of information about change and personal transformation, so I can’t be positive) but let’s give it to him. : )

 Truthfully, I think we’re a lot like snakes. Not all slimy and slithery with fangs that can poison, but in respect to their skin. We need to shed our skin every once in a while, just like the snake does, and leave that old crusty thing by the side of the road so we can move on to embrace the new. We must make changes to prevent ourselves from falling into resignation, or doom and gloom, or I’m-too-old-for-that thinking. Life in the same dry old snake skin can prevent movement, and it lacks in luster. We want to show all of the shiny colors of our skin. 

Today, I venture into another change as I send off a manuscript to an independent copyeditor. I have a new shiny skin. Yay! It’s only a first step, but I’m exploring, growing, and I may yet become a hybrid author. So what about you? How do you accept change? Do you withdraw, battle through, dive straight in, or learn all there is to know and proceed with caution?  

 

Robena Grant writes romantic suspense, and contemporary romance. Her latest novel: Gone Tropical 

is now in world wide release and available in print and all eBook formats.

To learn more about Robena please visit www.robenagrant.com or catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+

 

                                     

 

Welcome 2014 Golden Heart Finalist Piper Huguley!

Hey, everyone, today we’re joined by another 2014 Golden Heart Finalist, Piper Huguley, who is actually two-time finalist! I asked Piper to talk about a really cool contest that I’m not sure a lot of people know about. So take it away, Piper!

Thank you, Jamie, for inviting me to talk about the ABNA (Amazon Novel Breakthrough Contest) contest today. Ever since I reached the quarterfinals of this contest last week, I’m surprised by the number of my writing friends who don’t know much about the contest. So, I’m happy to provide an introduction to it.  I know a number of us Golden Heart folk are striving for publication, but if you find things haven’t worked out your way by next January or February, you might want to give it a try.  Even if you’ve self-published with Ammy (some ABNA speak) – Jamie here: Ammy is Amazon if anyone is slow like me. It took me a second to figure it out! – you can still enter!

The ABNA contest has been in existence for six years.  Everyone used to be lumped in together. That made the Romance people very unhappy, because they got no respect (they still don’t by the way).  Last year, they broke up the contest into five categories:  General Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror, Romance, and Young Adult Fiction.  People seem to be happier with this way of doing things, so they kept things the same. About six weeks before they open up the window, Ammy will say the contest will open the submission window soon.  If you have a complete manuscript and a pitch (300 word book blurb) ready, enter!  It’s free. And to me, this year, it has been an opportunity for free publicity as I launch my self-publishing endeavor.

The contest is capped at 10,000 entries. Once Ammy gets that 10k entry, the submissions window closes.  Over the past two years that I participated, the window closed the day before the deadline.  To enter you have to put in your pitch, your partial (3000 to 5000 words), and the complete manuscript.  They also ask for a photo, but you don’t have to give it if you are shy.  Here’s how it works:

First Round: This is where Ammy editors judge the pitch.  This round frightens a lot of people.  Ammy has discussion boards of its own where people discuss and exchange pitches.  (I’ve toyed with self-pubbing a book about writing pitches—I’m not trying to brag when I say it is a strength of mine.)  After about month, the first cut comes—down to 400.  So if you figure about 2000 people in each of the 5 categories (2000 times 5 is 10,000—Math is not a strength of mine, so I have to check) then about 1 of 5 entrants have survived this cut.

Second Round:  Now two Viners (frequent reviewers on Amazon) will read and rate the Excerpts.  100 of the 400 in each category will survive this cut (1 in 4) to advance to the quarter finals. What are the viners looking for?  Overall strength, prose, style, plot, hook and originality.  I think originality is a sticking point for a lot of people.  Ammy is looking for something new. There are a few reviewers who complain on the boards about my entry, but they always forget originality is part of the judging.  And I have that originality part of the score captured. 

Quarterfinals:  Abbie Roads, my 2014 GH sister, and I have advanced to this round.  Now, a single (wah!!) reviewer from Publisher’s Weekly (PW) will read the full manuscripts and write a review.  Still, this is a prize at this point. Not everyone is reviewed by PW and if you are planning to self publish, this can help in your publicity—if they have something nice to say. The cut for this round, which takes about two months, plummets from 100 to 5 in each category (1 in 20). *gulp*

Semi Finals: It takes about two weeks for the Ammy editors to review the semi finalists and decide on one finalist in each category. That one person will be awarded an advance of $15,000. The book will be published by Ammy. Sweet.

Finals: The public votes among the 5 finalists over two – three weeks. The top vote getter gets the Grand Prize of a $50,000 advance. Even sweeter.

I’m not sure why this contest doesn’t close faster than it does. After all, it’s free. Even though there has been a good deal of snark on the discussion boards (a hot topic right now is the authenticity of entry for Romance Quarter-Finalist Dick B. Long), there’s a lot of opportunity for publicity here.  If you are interested in investigating my originality or my pitch skills, here is the link to my entry The Preacher’s Promise.

You have to download it to your Kindle or Kindle app to be able to see it (it is an Amazon contest after all). If you would like to review it, please do so! The reviews may or may not figure into my advancement into the next round (who knows?) but Ammy does offer contracts to entries from the quarters on. I would love 15K, but a contract would be a nice consolation prize! 

Have you ever entered the ABNA?  If not, would you take the plunge next year? What would make you decide against it? 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Piper G Huguley is the author of “Migrations of the Heart,” a five-book series of inspirational historical romances set in the early 20th century featuring African American characters.  Book one in the series, A Virtuous Ruby won the Golden Rose contest in Historical Romance in 2013 and is a Golden Heart finalist in 2014.  Book four in the series, A Champion’s Heart, was a Golden Heart finalist in 2013.  Book one in her new 19th century historical series, The Preacher’s Promise, in the “Home to Milford College “ was a semi-finalist in Harlequin’s So You Think You Can Write contest and will be self-published in summer 2014.

She blogs about the history behind her novels at http://piperhuguley.com. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and son.

Welcome 2014 Golden Heart Finalist Marnee Bailey!

Hey all! Today, we are very lucky to be joined by 2014 Golden Heart Finalist Marnee Bailey, who’s going to talk about something very near and dear to her heart! Take it away, Marnee!

Hello Firebirds and thank you for having me on your blog today!

I’m Marnee Bailey and my manuscript, ALTERED, is nominated for the Golden Heart in the Young Adult category this year.

I didn’t start writing Young Adult. I’ve flirted with my fair share of sub-genres.  I’ve had flings with some, longer entanglements with others.  I still intent to write more historical romantic suspense in the future. But I’ll admit, right now YA allows me do most of the things I’ve enjoyed elsewhere, all in the same spot.

First, the romance. Is there any other time in a human life as rife with hormones and drama as the teenage and early twenties?  For me, that’s a no.  I’m in my mid-thirties with two kids.  Drama and chaos happen AROUND me now, not TO me.  And that’s fine by me, thankyouverymuch.

Suspense. I write stories filled with action and adventure. There is limitless ability to write suspense stories in YA. If you browse the YA racks at any well-stocked bookseller, you’ll find everything from romance in the band room to vampires and dragons. That’s pretty much free reign over all the action-y things.

But what I love the most is the age-range. I write older kids. Seventeen and up, even twenty and twenty-one. They’re seeing the end of high school or they’re in college or the real world. I remember those years (vaguely) and I recall the decisions, the feeling of suddenly being thrust out into “THE WORLD” where I was told I could do anything I wanted.

Then I remember learning that I could maybe do anything I wanted, but I couldn’t do everything.

When I taught high school, before my first son was born, I remember thinking that these kids got a bad rap. There are low grumbles in the world, adults questioning the intelligence/responsibility/fortitude/etc of the next generation. I can’t help but think every generation worries about the one right after it.  Or two after it, or whatever. But I feel like there’s never a time in our lives that we feel the weight of possibility as heavily as those years. During those years, we figure out that we’re part of this great big world and that parts of it aren’t nice. And in those years, we think with our greatest level of conviction that we—US—can do something to change it.

I really love that idealism.

So, do you agree with me about the idealism of youth? Do you miss those teenage years? If you’re a writer, what do you write?  And what are your favorite things about writing what you do?

Thank you so much, Firebirds, for having me here!  I’ll be hanging around to chat today, so please leave me a message.

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Marnee Bailey writes upper-YA and romance novels filled with heart-stopping action and tons of emotion. She is a 2014 Golden Heart® Finalist.

She holds a BA in English literature from Dickinson College and used to teach high school students. These days, she stays home to wrangle her own children. Originally from a small town in Western Pennsylvania, she now battles traffic in southern New Jersey where she lives with her hero husband and their happily-ever-after: two very energetic boys. When she isn’t writing, she can be found refereeing disputes between her children, cooking up something sweet, or hiding from encroaching dust bunnies with a book.

She is a member of Romance Writers of America as well as a member of its New Jersey, Young Adult, and Beau Monde chapters. In addition to the Golden Heart Contest, she’s had the good fortune to final in the Daphne Du Maurier, the Merritt, the Linda Howard Award of Excellence, the Fool for Love, and the Put Your Heart in a Book contests.

Contact her at marnee.bailey@gmail.com.

 

 

Blocked? Take your inner artist out for a walk.

One of the most valuable ‘how-to’ books I’ve ever read is Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way.  Whenever I have that ‘blocked’ feeling – you know the one?  – I reach for Julia.  The book is so thumbed, it’s a pile of pages I keep in jiffy bag.

I hate that blocked feeling.  You have a task to do, you can’t seem to get going with it.  It’s there when you wake up in the morning, because you dreamed about it.   It nags you all day, like a mouth ulcer.  Julia Cameron understands why , and has practical ways of dealing with uninvited blocks.  Even if you aren’t engaged in a traditional artistic pursuit, her ideas have relevance.  Life itself can be a creative exercise.  Everything feels kinder and more fun when approached in a playful spirit.

I realise that I chose this as my blog subject because I am currently creatively stuck.  While my novel-in-progress is going well, there is some artwork I desperately want to do, which I cannot get started on.

I circle my work table like a fox eyeing a chicken run.  I sit and think.  I look at books of other people’s work.  I make cups of tea.   I do anything but apply lines to paper.  Aged eighteen, at Art College, I first discovered this tendency.   My hair grew thin, I was a furnace of unresolved misery and eventually, I ran away.  To London which, for a time, was even more stressful.   I stuffed my art materials at the back of a cupboard and left them there for two decades.  Not blocked, paralysed.  And now, stasis has struck again.   

‘Take your artist for a walk’ says Julia Cameron.  Give your inner Picasso a day off.   Press refresh.  Have fun.  Or if you can’t have fun, have any sort of experience.  Just make it different.

I’m recovering from major surgery and am not allowed to drive yet, so I can’t zip off to the coast, to an art gallery, or ride a roller coaster.  The friends I’d normally ring up are either away or indisposed.  I could ring for a magician or a balloon artist, but it’s Easter Sunday.  So, as we used to say where I grew up, I must mek me own fun.   I’m going to do something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, which is way out of my comfort zone.  I’m going to paddle in the stream at the bottom of my field and while I do it, I’m going to notice ten things in nature that I’ve never noticed before.

This may seem a somewhat underwhelming afternoon whoop-up, but I’m working within my limits.  And the whole point of taking your inner artist out on a jolly, or in my case, a splosh, is to create a shift in perspective.  I don’t know about you, but I can live happily inside my comfort zone, avoiding challenges and change.   Being rigid is good for some things (roof joists spring to mind) but it has no place in creativity.   Creativity is about risk.  It’s about pushing boundaries while accepting that the end result might be disappointing, or even catastrophic.   I sing in a choir and there’s a lady there who throws out angry looks whenever somebody sings a wrong note (though interestingly, never when she sings one).  I tell her all the time that nothing begins in perfection – we need to allow ourselves to make mistakes.  Why else would singers rehearse?   At the same time, I  am refusing to paint because I’m scared the end result will be awful.  I’m giving myself angry looks.  Time to stop.

Two hours later . . .

 

You never have to ask dogs twice to come for a walk.  We headed down the fields that are rock hard following a dry spell, to the stream which has no name, and which is a middling trickle.   I stare at its stony bottom dubiously.  I tell myself it only looks greeny-brown because of overhanging trees.  Rusty, my big Labrador, hurls himself in.  He has no blocks.   My little Lab, Amber, waits for me to take the lead.    Off with boots and socks, throw them to the other side, and I slither.  Yeeaw. How can water be this cold in April?   Amber stares at me, wondering what on earth I’m dithering for.  I start moving.  Youch!  Sharp stones.  I pull myself up the far bank with the help of a sapling and sting myself on a clump of nettles.   I’m in a small patch of woodland, through which I walk twice a day and which I know intimately.  Irritated and uncomfortable, I set myself to noticing ten new things.   It takes a while.  My blocks and I are having a stand-off.  But in the end, they give in.

 

Cow Parsley in early spring is amazingly soft, and its buds curl under like the scroll of a violin.
The fallen bough of an oak tree has 110 rings and is one fourth the circumference of the main trunk, making the mother tree around 400 years old.
Fungus like chewed winegums grows on dead branches of beech trees.
The bark of a living beech is absolutely smooth.  Squirrels could slide down it like firemen slide down poles.
Leaves sprout directly from beech branches, like the leaves on the classic Tarot wand.
The water in the stream sparkles and shimmers even when there is no wind and the trees above are absolutely still.
Ivy only seems to colonise the hawthorn trees.
The oilseed rape in the field behind me is so sulphurous, my eyes are stinging.
The soil is cracked like the markings on a giraffe’s neck.
A tiny hedge sparrow pumps out a song three times its body weight.

The Dress Thief, Natalie Meg Evans’ novel set in 1930s Paris is out in ebook on May 29th, and in paperback on June 5th.  Available to pre-order from Amazon etc.

Small But Meaty: Why Readers Love Small Town Settings

Small towns. They’ve taken the romance world by storm. North and south. East and west. They’re everywhere. But why.

Here are three reason why I think readers love small towns settings.

They’re small – I know. A given, right? But seriously. The close proximity of the city limits makes reading about characters in a small town story equivalent to watching fish in a bowl. They can’t go anywhere. They’re stuck. Not that all characters are stuck where they are, but their options are often limited.

And like the fish, the characters have to deal with those around them. There’s no avoiding the guy who dumped you at the prom. He’s still there. He got hotter as he got older. He’s been riding his motorcycle by your house at night and you never see him during the day and is he looking extra pale? Stuff is about to go down.

It’s quaint – This is the given with small towns. Few places in real life actually offer all the charm and Norman Rockwell-like things we’ve come to associate with small town America, but the dream lives on in romance novels.

There’s a town square where everyone comes out for the Founder’s Day celebration and that girl you pined for in high school who wouldn’t give you the time of day is working the baked goods table and when did she get back and holy heck did she just smile at you? Dude, stuff is about to go down.

It’s believable – Readers need to relate to and connect with a character to really invest in his or her story. In real life, whether we live in a booming metropolis, cookie-cutter suburbs, or a town the size of a postage stamp, our lives are relatively small. Our daily personal experiences likely happen between work and home. Our sphere of friends and acquaintances is small compared to the vast number of people in our city, county, or state.

This means stepping into a small world where everyone knows everyone else is instantly relatable. So when a character’s history teacher starts dating her mom and brings his son over for dinner, whom said character just happens to have a massive crush on but has never admitted to out loud because her best friend totes has the hots for him… you guessed it. Stuff is about to go down.

Obviously, this in no way means books set in large urban settings aren’t as good. They simply appeal for their own reasons. But today, let’s explore the small towns. What are some of your favorite small town romance settings and why do you love them so?

Terri Osburn is the best selling author of the Anchor Island series of small town contemporary romances from Montlake Romance. Book three in the series, HOME TO STAY, releases May 1, 2014. Learn more about Terri and her work at www.terriosburn.com.