Emilie Richards's Blog, page 90
July 24, 2014
Fiction Friday: The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
We’re having the busiest summer here in Western New York. As some of you know I live at Chautauqua Institution from May through September, and we’re right in the middle of the nine week season of music, lectures, dance and art, as well as books. Yesterday I took in portions of two lectures, a vocal concert, part of a production by the Charlotte Ballet and hosted a wine and cheese gathering of neighbors on my porch to meet my guest this week, writer Karen Young.
The New York Times just published a wonderful article about the institution, which gives you a good sampling of what goes on through the eyes of a first-timer who was here Week One.
The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle is one of the oldest book clubs in the world (1878). Each season nine books are chosen to be read by anybody who wants to participate. Those “Chautauquans” (which means anybody who has ever been here) who sign up to graduate from a CLSC class must read twelve books from the CLSC book list which has been compiled from all annual selections over the decades and pay four years of class dues. The ceremony is historic and memorable, and the banners each class makes are paraded through the grounds to the strains of a brass band.
Before you ask no, I have yet to graduate. Right now there isn’t enough time to get too serious about reading books which have nothing to do with my writing or the author book club I’m part of. But someday. . .
I thought you might enjoy seeing this year’s list. Have you read any of these? There are several I’m putting on my TBR (too be read) list, but so far I’ve yet to begin. If you have read some or some from the full booklist I linked to above, let us know your thoughts.
Week One: The Boy Detective by Roger Rosenblatt
Week Two: On Such a Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee
Week Three: What I Did by Christopher Wakling
Week Four: Our Declaration by Danielle Allen
Week Five: When Winter Come: The Ascension of York by Frank X Walker
Week Six: Why Soccer Matters by Brian Winter
Week Seven: Andrew’s Brain by E. L. Doctorow
Week Eight: The Name of Things by John Colman Wood
Week Nine: Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death at a Storm Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink
The authors of each of these books will be here to speak on their particular week, plus there will be book reviews and discussions to go along with them. Book heaven? I think so.
Book clubs are vital for introducing us to fiction and non-fiction we would never otherwise experience. Even if you don’t come to Chautauqua, you can read along and enjoy these selections. Let us know if you do.
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July 21, 2014
Titles: What’s Your Favorite?
I have a guest with me this week, my dear friend Karen Stone Young, whom I met back in the 1980s when we were both writing for Silhouette Romance.
Karen and I have remained close ever since, and now she’s with me at Chautauqua Institution for our week on the American West.
There are two kinds of house guests at Chautauqua, those who “get” what goes on here, and those who haven’t a clue. Karen is the first and we spent a lovely day at lectures, a chamber music concert and now a walk to the lake followed by the Charlotte Ballet in our outdoor amphitheater. Life is good, but my blog will necessarily be short.
Last Friday I asked you for suggestions for titles for my new book in progress. You were great, and I much appreciate your input. Would you like to give a little more?
Right now the following titles are in the running. My publisher could squelch them all, but we hope not. Do you have a favorite? Let me know.
The Color of Light (suggested by one of my readers)
The Color of Dreams
The Color of Sunlight
The Light of Distant Stars
The Distant Light of Stars
Would you pick up a book with any of these titles simply because you found them evocative and wanted to know more?
I love the way you respond when I ask a question, and even if I can’t answer every one of you personally, please know I pay close attention to everything you say.
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July 19, 2014
Sunday Inspiration: “Laugh When You Can.”
Happy Building, photo by Jose Manuel Rios Valiente at Flickr
Laugh when you can.
Apologize when you should.
And let go of what you can’t change.
Love deeply and forgive quickly.
Take chances and give your everything.
Life is too short to be anything but happy.
You have to take the good with the bad.
Love what you got.
Always remember what you had.
Forgive, but don’t forget.
Learn from your mistakes but never regret.
People change and things go wrong,
But always remember that life goes on.
- Unknown
Life can be hard. It’s not easy to figure out how to live the way we can and should. But when I think about it, I realize there are clues everywhere for living a better life. Every line is a path that can be taken towards love and happiness. All we have to do is keep walking that path and keep searching.
Where do you find your best clues?
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July 17, 2014
Fiction Friday: Popular Novels and Bestseller Lists
Welcome to Fiction Friday.I thought for fun today instead of excerpts, I would look for popular novels in four different places. Last week I listed ten novels from the most recent entrants in my July book giveaway. In order to be eligible to win one of three copies of Somewhere Between Luck and Trust, Book Two of the Goddesses Anonymous series, my newsletter readers had to email me with the name of a book on their summer reading list.
Today I thought it would be fun to check other sources for books to consider for your own list.
First I went to Goodreads, a website where readers can and do make their opinions known. Goodreads has a “popular” menu and the number one spot today was Beautiful Oblivion by Jamie McGuire. This romance is #1 in the Maddox Brothers series about a woman who tends bar and a man who works in a tattoo parlor.
While I’m not familiar with McGuire’s work, from the review she clearly already has a following for other series of novels she’s written. Goodreads is certain this one will be a huge hit, as well.
Next I visited the USA Today Bestseller List where I found The Fault in Our Stars in the number one slot. The USA Today list combines fiction and non-fiction and doesn’t segment books into types.
This novel has been a major bestseller on every list, and right now it’s also tops at Amazon, which was my third source.
My book club has already put this one on our to-be-read schedule for the year. The Fault in Our Stars is the story of Hazel, a young woman with terminal cancer and the young man who changes her life. I’ve seen the movie trailer and look forward to both novel and film. How about you?
Finally I visited the New York Times list, possibly the most prestigious of all. The Times does divide lists into categories, so I visited the fiction list, which includes both print and ebooks. Number 1 this week is Invisible by James Patterson and David Ellis. The story is about Emmy Dockery, an FBI researcher obsessed with finding the connection to hundreds of unsolved cases.
Do you choose books by reading bestseller lists? Do you choose by the recommendations of friends? Of the three books I’ve listed here, which sounds like the one you might want to try first?
So many factors go into making a book a bestseller. If you’ve read any of these, let us know what you thought. Now that I’ve read the blurb about Invisible, I might just look for this one myself the next time I’m in the mood for a thriller.
If you want to purchase any of these novels here are some online links:
Beautiful Oblivion at Amazon, or B&N
The Fault in Out Stars at The%20Fault in Our Stars[image error]Amazon,or B&N
To find an independent bookseller near you who has these books, go here.
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July 14, 2014
Help! You Know I Need Somebody. . .
This has been a busy writing week for me on a brand new novel. This is the fourth book in my Goddesses Anonymous series, and I’m really enjoying the way it’s all coming together. I’m delighted to see my chapters growing and my characters taking shape. I’ve already had a few surprises and a few revelations, which is exactly the way I like it.
Instead of blogging today, I thought I’d ask you for help. If you’ve been reading along here you know how important titles are to me. This fourth book has no title. When I suggested the story I called it A Fine, Clear Light. And while my publisher liked that, they decided it wasn’t emotional enough. I’m supposed to suggest new titles, and while I’ve given them a few more, I thought you might like to help.
Now, will I give away the plot or even the major characters? Nah. . . I’ll keep you guessing awhile, which, of course, makes it harder. But I can tell you this. When I think of this novel I think of light. Light coming in through windows. Light in the sky. Starlight. Sunlight. Radiant light.
Is that enough to get you moving? If you’re inspired, let us know your suggestion. Even wonderful suggestions don’t necessarily lend themselves to this plot, so don’t feel badly if I can’t use what you come up with. But have fun and see if you can title my book. You will have my eternal gratitude if you do.
If you don’t want to make your suggestion in a comment, you can always email it to me here.
Have fun and don’t try too hard. Sometimes the best titles just appear, and maybe this one will, too. Thanks in advance for trying.
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July 12, 2014
Sunday Inspiration: Giving Is the Best Communication
I can’t stand watching most commercials. They seem to always be trying to sell me something I don’t need and don’t want. So I use my DVR to skip right over them.
But every once in a while, there is a commercial that goes right for the heart and that promotes what’s best in us instead of what’s worst. And sometimes they come from other countries.
Try to watch this one without shedding a tear or wanting to do something for somebody else. I dare you.
Do you have a favorite commercial that has motivated you to be more generous?
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July 10, 2014
Fiction Friday: What Are You Reading?
My last email newsletter offered readers a chance to win one of three copies of Somewhere%20Between Luck and Trust (Goddesses Anonymous)[image error][image error]The Collector by Nora Roberts (romantic suspense) and The Other Woman by Hank Phillipi Ryan (a thriller).
Two historical novels were mentioned, the long-awaited 8th book in the Outlander series, Written%20in My Own Heart's Blood: A Novel (Outlander Book 8)[image error]Meet the Earl at Midnight by Gina Conkle, which takes place in the Georgian era in England.
Two inspirational books are also on my twelve readers’ lists. A Miracle of Hope by Ruth Reid is an Amish Christian fiction romance, and How to Hear from God by Joyce Meyer is a non-fiction novel about prayer.
Finally Son of No One by Sherrilyn Kenyon rounded out the list, the only paranormal novel in the twelve. Remember, though, I only chose the last twelve emails I received, there were many more emails with many other books. In fact I believe this is the most entries I’ve ever received.
So there they are, more possibilities for your own summer reading. I purposely left out the readers who have my own novels on their summer list so that you could have some different suggestions, too.
If you’re not signed up for my monthly newsletter, you can add your name here. Meantime, what are you reading? I hope your summer is filled with stacks of great books.
**I’ve linked all the books to Amazon, where I’m an Associate. But buy them anywhere books are sold and the authors will be thrilled.
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July 7, 2014
Starting a Novel, the Truth
Dream with me a moment, okay? I’m sitting against a massive oak in a field of wildflowers, skirt spread around me, birds chirping, brook running merrily just a few feet away. In my lap I have a notebook and a fountain pen. The notebook cover is a vintage quilt pattern, hand-stitched and. . .
Okay, I’ll move on. As I sit there, listening to brook and birds, the idea for my first sentence forms. It’s so perfect I capture it in my beautifully flowing calligraphy.
I’m starting a novel. The rest will be just that simple. Perfect sentence after perfect sentence.
Here’s the reality. I don’t think I own a skirt, and the one dress I do own wouldn’t be happy in a field. It would wrinkle and crumple under me as I try desperately to get comfortable. Every notebook I’ve bought or been given is empty, and my handwriting has atrophied from disuse so that even I can hardly decipher it.
I’m fairly certain the brook would overflow and the birds would target me for more than symphonies as I waited for inspiration.
(I’m also fairly certain that I don’t look like this photo and never had lovely auburn hair.)
Truth is, I might think I’m starting a novel, but I wouldn’t get a thing written in that field. If I did somehow manage to put a sentence on paper, it would change a hundred times over the course of the book.
Writing is not particularly romantic, and the longer I write, the less I wait for inspiration or search for the perfect atmosphere in which to do it. Writing is hard work, and knowing that? Going into it, knowing that sentences will be rewritten so often that by the time the book goes to an editor, they won’t resemble their first incarnation? That is more freeing than bird song and babbling brooks.
Know this. No matter how you’re starting a novel you’re probably wrong. If you accept that, you then have permission to put that beginning on paper anyway, because you know it’s simply that, a beginning. You are only starting a novel, and you are entitled to dead ends, to false starts, to lifeless characters and preposterous story ideas. You aren’t just entitled, you are honor bound to experience them. If you don’t, then you’re a hobbyist, not a novelist.
This past week I began a new book, due at year’s end. I titled it A Fine Clear Light, and my publisher said, “really?” So let’s call that my working title. Here’s what I knew I had to accomplish in the first chapter. Are you ready?
Immediately introduce my major character and show conflict on the horizon
Sow seeds for the multiple interwoven stories to come
Add an action scene to description and dialogue
Give a glimpse of an important issue that will figure into the story
Introduce two men who will play important roles in my major character’s life
Set the scene, both region, town and particular place
Involve the reader so that by chapter’s end, she/he will want to turn the page.
Not romantic, I’m afraid. Not at all. That’s a lot to do in a field of wildflowers. I accomplished this in the smallest bedroom of our tiny summer cottage with two sets of guests tramping through the halls and children banging basketballs in the street below. I wrote a little, smiled, turned off my computer, turned it on again, gasped in horror, deleted what I’d written, tried again. All over the period of a week.
Is my first chapter of the book formerly known as A Fine, Clear Light finished? Not by a long shot. But I’ve now written the second, and in a moment will begin the third. I will revise and revise again, because that’s the way I write. I want it “right” so I can go on and “write” the rest, and that works for me.
Starting a novel isn’t for the faint-hearted, but knowing you can edit and erase to your heart’s content? Knowing that you don’t have to write perfect sentences or create perfect plots and characters right out of the starting gate? There’s a wisp of romance in that, and here’s why. Someday, when the book is all completed and you’re holding a copy in your hands, you can head to that wildflower field, lean against that massive oak, and savor everything you did.
Unless, of course, you’re busy starting your next novel.
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July 6, 2014
Sunday Inspiration: Freedom
Photo by Anthony Quintano on Flickr.com
Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect. -Eleanor Roosevelt
I hope you are having a wonderful 4th of July weekend.
One of my favorite historical figures, Eleanor Roosevelt, reminds me what the 4th is all about. It’s more than a celebration. It’s a call to live out our freedom responsibly, to carry our own weight, to protect and expand freedom for those who don’t have it.
How do you live out your freedom?
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July 3, 2014
Fiction Friday: Meet Kathryn Shay and Bayview Heights
After being in an anthology together last year author Kathryn Shay and I learned that we live in the same place during winters, and not that far apart in the summers. So we now have a local writer friend to turn to when the need to discuss our work and what we’re doing becomes overwhelming. What a wonderful thing. I love my writer friends.
I know you want to get to know her, too. Here’s some more to ponder.
A New York Times bestseller, Kathryn Shay has been a lifelong writer and teacher. She has written 52 books—15 self-published original romance titles, 36 print books with the Berkley Publishing Group and Harlequin Enterprises and 1 mainstream women’s fiction with Bold Strokes Books. She has won five RT Book Reviews awards, four Golden Quills, four Holt Medallions, the Bookseller’s Best Award, Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year and several “Starred Reviews.” Her novels have been serialized in COSMOPOLITAN magazine and featured in USA TODAY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and PEOPLE magazine. There are over five million copies of her books in print, along with hundreds of thousands downloaded online. She lives in upstate New York with her husband and children.
When I asked Kathryn to share an excerpt, she chose this one, from Cop of the Year, one novel in the Bayview Heights Trilogy that’s only $.99 right now–but only if you act quickly. Because the price goes back up this weekend. There are buy links at the end of today’s blog so you can find out more.
Here’s what Kathryn said about Cop of the Year:
Bayview Heights has one of the best educational systems in the state due to the dedication of teachers, administrators and the community. But they have their problems, too. Gangs are encroaching from the city, the town newspaper is criticizing them, and an angry board member objects to some innovative classes. These issues frame three intense romances where teachers must overcome personal issues as well as professional ones.
In COP OF THE YEAR, Captain Mitch Lansing is assigned to Cassie Smith’s high school classroom and sparks fly. He’s by-the-book, and she’s unorthodox and innovative in her teaching methods. But when Mitch develops an unstoppable bond with her students, Cassie finds her attraction to him irresistible. “An emotionally powerful tale that leaves you breathless.” RT Book Reviews
And now, an excerpt for you to enjoy.
****
“Am I under arrest?”
Mitch glanced at the kid draped on the wooden bench in the squad room. “What did the officer who brought you in say?”
“Can’t you just answer a freakin’ question?”
Mitch sighed. Insolent punk.
“No, you’re not under arrest. But if you don’t keep your mouth shut, I could probably find a reason to keep you here.”
Burning brown eyes held his. “Yeah, well you’ve already done enough damage. What’s a little more?”
“A record of arrests doesn’t look good, Battaglia.”
The boy settled down, and Mitch stared him. “Who do you think took the scalpels? Since you contend you didn’t.”
Battaglia raked a shock of thick black hair off his brow. “I don’t know. There were lots of people in the operating room. Other orderlies, janitors, the guy to pick up the anesthesia stuff. Hell, maybe some nurse on crack took them to sell.”
Mitch eyed the kid’s jacket, lying on the bench next to him. The Blisters was printed in large capital letters on the back, surrounded by exploding fireworks in vivid red. Blood red. “You sure you didn’t take them? For the next street fight? I hear scalpels are the newest weapons of choice.”
“I don’t fight.”
“No, you go to tea parties with your gang buddies.”
“Listen, man, if I’m not under arrest, why do I have to stay here?”
“Because you’re under eighteen. Our town ordinance says an adult has to sign you out if you’re picked up by the cops for any reason.”
The boy stood, almost matching Mitch’s height. “I didn’t do anything.”
He tried for patience. “Did you call someone?”
Eyes full of resentment stared back at him. They were dark and hostile.
“Johnny, what happened?” a deep female voice called from behind Mitch.
He turned to see a woman in the doorway. This was the kid’s mother? God help him. She couldn’t be more than thirty. His policeman’s mind cataloged her features. About five-seven, tall for a woman. Her carriage was an odd combination of athletic grace and streetwise toughness.
“Johnny?”
Battaglia went to her and she grasped his arm. “Sorry to get you up, Cassie. I didn’t know who else to call.” He leveled a venomous gaze on Mitch. “This pig said I need an adult to get me out of here.”
“Are you his mother?” Mitch asked.
“No, his English teacher.”
“His English teacher? Over at the high school?” He looked down at the signature. “Smith. You’re Cassandra Smith?”
She frowned. “Do we know each other?”
“Not yet, Ms. Smith.”
“What do you mean?”
“On Monday, I’ll be part of your class for the next ten weeks.”
“You’re joking.”
“I wish I were. You can blame the Resiliency Program cooked up by the school board and the town officials. They seem to think schools working with the police force will help make kids more resilient in dealing with today’s pressures.”
“I’ll never allow you in my classroom,” she said implacably.
“I never thought I’d come.”
***
Buy the Bayview Heights Trilogy:
Amazon
Amazon UK
B&N
iTunes
Kobo
Smashwords
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