Diane Chamberlain's Blog, page 40

Gimme Shelter: The Winner!

Well, my loyal readers, you outdid yourselves this time! I've never had such an enormous response to one of my blog questions, and you made my job extremely difficult. You offered many, many ideas that would work well as a name for my fictional spit of water-logged land, and I had a hard time choosing. It was Glen, one of our frequent commenters (and one of our few male commenters), who helped me pick among my favorites. The winner is (drumroll, please!): Last Run Shelter, offered by Margo. Congratulations, Margo! Send me your address and I'll send you an autographed copy of The Courage Tree.

I liked the sound of Last Run Shelter, but it wasn't until Glen mentioned the connection to the old moonshine days that I knew it was the winner. It fits the history of my locale, or I should say, it gave my locale a new history.

So thank you all for your enthusiasm and inventiveness! I had a blast reading your five zillion ideas and playing with them in my imagination. And thanks, Glen, for adding your two cents.

I'm still in Wilmington after an incredibly full and fun day, which I'll post about when I get home. Until then, I want to thank all of you again for your help.

Gimmer Shelter (or win one of my books)

There is a setting in my work-in-progress, The Lies We Told, that I need to name. You, my readers, have helped me name both books and characters in the past, so I'm turning to you once again for inspiration. If I use the name one of you suggests, I'll send you an autographed copy of The Courage Tree.

Here's the setting: Picture a backwoodsy area of coastal North Carolina. In real life, there's a (much nicer) area called Holland Shelter on a tributary of the Cape Fear River. I like the word Shelter, which fits both the locale and the storyline. So I'm looking for "_____ Shelter".

_____ Shelter is actually a peninsula of sorts. Like Holland Shelter, it's on a tributary of the Cape Fear but that's where the similarities end. _____ Shelter is attached to the mainland by a long, very narrow strip of land, so that when the area floods and that strip is underwater, _____ Shelter becomes an island, cut off from the mainland. If you don't have a boat, you're trapped until the floodwaters go down. And of course, my characters don't have a boat.

The house in the picture (a real house I snapped on a recent trip to the area) belongs to one of the characters who lives in _____ Shelter, so you get an idea of what life is like. Not great. :(

The situation is scary from a pyschological perspective and to a lesser degree, from a physical perspective. But it's also an emotional story. As is usually the case with my books, there's a little bit of everything! So the blank in _____ Shelter should be a word that evokes trouble and mystery, with a healthy dose of poignancy.

I look forward to your ideas, and may the best ______ win!

For You Thriller Readers Out There!

I've invited thriller author Stacey Cochran to chat with us today. I met Stacey a few years ago when he and I spoke about publishing on a panel at Quail Ridge Books here in Raleigh. He's such a nice guy, it's hard to believe he could possibly write such scary books! Without further ado, here's Stacey.



Thanks so much, Diane, for hosting me today at your blog. I'd like to say "hello" to your audience and thank them for reading today. I am currently wrapping up a 45-day blog tour to promote the release of my novel Claws.



The book is a suspense thriller that concerns a wildlife biologist in Arizona named Angie Rippard, who is drawn into a police investigation when two of her brightest students are found dead one morning at a golf course that borders protected National Forest Land. She suspects that they were killed by a large mountain lion, but her position draws her into conflict with the resort's owner and with local politicians.



The momentum generated in the past month is unlike anything else I've seen in my writing career. I think the blog tour gave me a platform and made me accountable for marketing the book, but I could not have foreseen the result.



CLAWS hit a number of bestseller lists in the Amazon Kindle store, and this visibility has been remarkable. I've just spent the morning answering questions for interviews, for example, there is no let-up in sight.



This is the first time I've published on Kindle, and it seems like I've found myself in the middle of a phenomenon. Everywhere I turn online, people are talking about the Amazon Kindle and because my books are doing well there, I'm receiving a lot requests for interviews. Most of the discussions have been through blogs, podcasts, Skype, YouTube, and other online vehicles.



Nonetheless, it's been very fun, and I'm extremely grateful for how the novel has been received.



If any of your readers has questions about CLAWS, Amazon Kindle, or online marketing, I'm happy to answer any questions here as they come in today and will check back frequently.



Thanks so much, Diane, for the opportunity. And thanks so much to everyone else for reading!

Speaking to Book Clubs (Anywhere!)

Do you know that I speak to bookclubs via speakerphone? There have been some weeks when I make a call every single night. I always promise 20 minutes, but I have so much fun talking that I may ramble on for 30. The time just flies by. This week I spoke with a book club in West Chester, Ohio in the middle of the afternoon. That was a first. The name of their club is Lettuce Read! They'd read Before the Storm, and after our call, they sent me a picture. I love it!

If you'd like me to chat with your bookclub when you're discussing one of my books, just fill out the form on my website. I have to warn you that I've had to turn down some requests lately because of my crazy travel schedule as I promote Secrets She Left Behind, but I will do my best to accomodate you.

My Curious Readers

Today I received an email jam-packed with questions from a reader, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to answer her questions along with some of the others I've recently received. Here we go!


Q. I love your books and when I tell my friends about them, they ask what category they are in and I never know how to answer. Do you think they fit in a category such as mystery, romance etc? I never know what to say when I'm asked this question.

A. That makes two of us! My books don't fit neatly into any one category. I usually say my books are "part mystery, part suspense, and 100% family drama." However, a fan recently came up with an even better description when she said "Your books are about good people who screw up." I like that definition!


Q. When I go to the bookstore to look for your books, they only have a couple of titles. Why is that?????

A. This is, quite honestly, an improvement! It used to be that most bookstores only carried my most recent title, so I'm delighted to hear that your bookstore carries more than one. This should only continue to improve as more of my books are reissued. Remember that you can always order any of my in-print books for free through your bookstore.


Q. When I ask for your older books, the bookstore tells me they are out of print.

A. My earliest seven books (published by HarperCollins) are indeed out of print, and until recently, many of my older Mira books were also out of print. Please check the printable list of books on the book page of my website to get a current list of what is available. Every single one of my books, with the exception of those first seven, is available, so if your bookstore tells you differently, well. . . they're wrong. The more recent books are also available in e-format.


Q. If some of your older books are being reiussued, does that mean you're not writing any new books? I am worried that I will run out of Chamberlain books if you are done writing!!!

A. Oh, my goodness, where did you get that idea? I'm writing new books faster than ever and I have no plans to stop.


Q. I just finished Secrets She Left Behind, which was amazing, as was Before the Storm. When I tell friends they should read Before the Storm first, they wonder why it isn't mentioned as a prequel. Why is that?

A. For the long answer to this question, visit my June blog and scross down till you reach the Sequel Dilemma Revisited post. But here is the short answer: each of these books was written to stand alone, so that a reader could enjoy one without reading the other. This was also true of my Keeper of the Light trilogy. You're correct, though, that readers who read the two books in order will probably maximize their enjoyment.


Q. A friend of mine has Secrets She Left Behind in hardcover. How can I get a harcover edition?

A. Your friend must have purchased her book through the Doubleday Bookclub, which is the only place the hardcover editions are available.


Q. I love Jodi Picoult's books and your books are even better than hers! Keep writing!

Q. I hate Jodi Picoult's books and wish your publisher wouldn't compare your books to hers. Yours are so much better. Keep writing!

A. LOL!!


Thanks to all my readers who write to me with comments and questions. I read every single email myself and try to repsond within a couple of days. If you don't hear from me, it means your email was swallowed by my spam filter or went astray some other way, so be sure to resend. I love hearing from you!

Speaking at Quail Ridge Books

I always love speaking at Quail Ridge, one of my two favorite Independent Bookstores (the second being Quarter Moon Books in Topsail Beach). Quail Ridge does a good job getting the word out and it has a wonderful setup for the audience. I had such a good time. My favorite part of a speaking engagement is always the Q and A, because I love knowing what's on people's minds and there were lots of good questions from this audience.

If you've followed my blog for a while, you know I've been angsting over how to talk about Secrets She Left Behind without giving anything away in both this book and the prequel, Before the Storm. I think I pulled it off, but it was dicey! On the way to the store, I told John the things I planned to say and when I was finished, he said, "but you left out the danger!" I realized that I did. I'd left in the sort of warm cuddly parts--the introspection, the heartfelt struggles of my characters, but omitted the suspense that's so much a part of the story. If I spoke about the danger, though, I thought it would give too much away, so I simply told the audience ". . . and there's danger, too!" I think they got the point. I believe Secrets She Left Behind is a suspenseful book, not only because of the literal, physical danger inherent in the story, but also because of the emotional and psychological danger the characters must overcome.

By the way, I don't know if anyone besides me cares about Dr. Jakes in the book, but he is one of my favorite characters. I think he's the first therapist I've written about, and having been a therapist myself, I loved his scenes. I hope I was half as wise as he is.

I've heard from many of you that you're enjoying the book, and I'm so happy about that. When you write a book, racing toward deadline, you begin to wonder if it's any good at all. Then those reviews and reader comments start rolling in and you breathe a sigh of relief. Can you hear me sighing right now?

Marcus's Operation Bumblebee Tower

If you've read Before the Storm or Secrets She Left Behind, you know that my character, Marcus, lives in an unusual house.

After World War II, the US Navy ran a secret program called Operation Bumblebee on Topsail Island (where I just happen to be for the weekend). The program was designed to develop and test supersonic guided missles. The Navy built eight concrete towers, which were used to track and study the missiles. These towers still stand, a few of them incredibly ugly and plain, but several of them have been transformed into beautiful homes. It so happens that the friend's cottage John and I are staying in is right across the street from one of these homes. I thought you might like to see an example of what Marcus's house might look like, although his is not this gorgeous tomato red. Actually, in my imagination, Marcus's house is a bit funkier than this and has a partially flat roof and a metal ladder climbing up its side (all necessary for my story!), but you get the idea.

We're packing up to leave for home. This has been a very quick and lovely trip to the beach, but now it's time to return to reality.

The Women Helping Women Expo

I had so much fun last night! The event was a giant Expo full of women vendors of all stripes, showing off their wares and skills and businesses. It was so impressive. I'd been invited to sign books and I was able to meet loads of new-to-me readers, which is always a treat.

(This is a side note to Robin, the twelve-year-old book reviewer! I lost your card, so please email me your website info. Thanks!)

As I was sitting at my table, this stunning woman with fuscia hair walked up. I couldn't help myself: I had to run my hand over her hair and she was very understanding about my urge to do so. Then she told me her story. I thought she would say that she was a cancer survivor who was celebrating the regrowth of her hair after treatment. But I didn't quite have it right.

Her name is Diane Moore. A year ago, she lost her nine-year-old daughter, Colleen, to cancer. Colleen's wish, as her own hair began growing back in after chemo, was to dye it her favorite color: pink. To support Colleen, her friends and family also "went pink." It wasn't long after that that Colleen lost her battle with her illnes. But that is not at all where this story ends. By some amazing strength I can't even begin to understand, Diane took on a cause.

Although Colleen had been receiving treatment at a prestigious medical center, she'd received no counseling as part of that treatment. No emotional or spiritual support was offered by the medical center, and Diane knew how much her daughter needed that missing element in her care. In my former career as a hospital social worker, I worked at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC in the adolescent unit, where meeting the emotional needs of our young patients was viewed as an integral part of treatment, so I was appalled to learn of this gap in Colleen's care.

As a result of witnessing this lack of support, Diane created a nonprofit organization called Striving for More. You can read her blog and more about the organization here. If only I had more hours in my day, this is where I would volunteer my time. It's hard to imagine the loss of a child. Harder still to imagine that child without the emotional support that's so critical to anyone going through such a grueling illness.

Of all the people I met last night, Diane Moore will stay in my mind and heart the longest. It was a joyous and enjoyable event, and meeting Diane, with her pink hair and engaging personality, was anything but a downer. Diane has put her energy where her heart is, and I know her organization will touch many, many lives.

States' Rights

I'd like you all to welcome Alexandra Sokoloff to my blog. Alex is one of my Scribbler buddies here in North Carolina, and she is . . . well, she's one of a kind! And she's the master of intelligent, spooky books. I can relate a bit to what she writes below, since I lived in California for twelve years myself, including a year in Berkeley (when Alex was in diapers). I was only there long enough to get tear gassed once. But back to Alex. Please give her a warm welcome!

Thanks for having me, Diane!

So my new supernatural thriller, The Unseen, came out the same day as Diane's Secrets She Left Behind, which I can't wait to read!

Diane and I are both transplants to North Carolina, both now writing about the state, and Diane was actually rather intimately involved in my book. If you've been reading her posts regularly, you know that we're in an authors - um - support group - together, and besides lunches and coffee get-togethers, we do these wonderful writing retreats in which we go to a beautiful place for a week or so and work all day and then get together to problem-solve on our projects at night. And several of those retreats have been at the Weymouth Center, a wonderfully spooky mansion that became the model for the haunted house in The Unseen. I wrote a lot of the book on that retreat, and the house definitely influenced the story.


When you write ghost stories, PLACE is hugely important - it's got to be really a character in the book, just as much as the human characters are. But this week I've been thinking about PLACE and how it influences us as authors.

I've been doing a lot of interviews about the book, as we do, and it's been my experience with interviews that you always, always learn something about yourself and your work, and specifically your relationship to your work, from the questions you get asked.

Now, it makes sense that interviewers are focusing a lot on the California vs. North Carolina dynamic in my book, because it's about a California psychology professor who impulsively flees to North Carolina after she catches her fiancé cheating on her. (Actually, dreams her fiancé is cheating on her, in exactly the scenario that she catches him in later.) I wrote the book very much from the point of view of a fish out of water, experiencing this (very strange!) new place for the first time, and I and she had a lot to say about it.

But a question has been coming up in these interviews that surprises me - even though I've been asked it before. I just forgot, until I got it twice in a row this week:

"How did growing up in California influence you as a writer and your decision to become a writer?"

That got me thinking. Of course growing up in California had worlds to do with my becoming a writer, and I've been aware - maybe not for always, but for a very long time - that I was incredibly lucky to have been born there. Actually, I was incredibly lucky to have been born in the US to begin with, and to my particular parents in particular, but today I'm going to talk about California, and I hope the rest of you will see where I'm going and be moved to talk about your home states/cities as well.

Until just recently, except for short (a year or less) forays living in different states and cities, which I find an extremely inspiring and important thing to do, regularly), I have lived all of my life in California. Berkeley, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, San Francisco - alternating large stretches of time between Northern and Southern California (which are different universes, at least to Californians. I won't even get into the "What is Northern California, Middle Calif., Southern California?" debate).

I've also been lucky enough to visit every state of the Union. And it struck me from the time I was a very small child, on our yearly family cross-country road trips, that states in the US are really almost like different countries are on other continents. Every US state has a mythos, carefully crafted by tourist boards and state and local governments and its special geography and sheer weight of history. Each has its own dialect, its own political philosophies, its own way of dress, its state birds and mollusks and legends.

When you think of California, what do you think? The Gold Rush, the Hollywood dream machine, "fruits and nuts", hippies, free love, beaches, granola, feminists, surfers, yoga, cults, movie star politicians (sorry about that last one, people, not MY fault).

Those are the legends, but it's also all true.

If you want to be a movie star, come to California. If you want to be a movie writer, come to California. If you want to strike it rich, come to California. If you're gay you most definitely want to come to California.

Now, my parents are scientists and they didn't want me to go into the arts any more than any loving and caring parents ever want their child to go into the arts. But we were living in California and alongside my parents' parental messages ("Go to college, get a degree, find a steady profession, save for retirement") were all of these ever-present California messages: "Follow your dreams!", "Be yourself!", "Do what you love and the money will follow!", "Question authority!", "A woman's place is in the House - and in the Senate!", "Free your ass and your mind will follow..."

Well, you know. When those things are constantly projected all around you, you believe they're possible. It's like hypnosis.

So yes, while I had the challenge that every aspiring writer or artist has in breaking free of loving parental messages, I also had a lot of cultural programming - make that counter-cultural programming - in my favor. There's no question that made the whole career path easier.

After I graduated from Berkeley (and THAT is a place unlike any other, the People's Republic of Berkeley - it's like living in Wonderland, or Oz. It's no wonder at all that I can't write straight reality to save my life, because Berkeley is simply supernatural), my idea of a practical career plan was to move down to LA to become a screenwriter.

But in California, moving down to LA to become a screenwriter WAS a practical career plan. I had a degree in theater. I had a resume of production experience three yards long. I'd written, directed and produced full-length, large cast musicals.

When you're a writer no one ever asks to see a resume, of course, but it all meant that I had trained for the job - I wasn't some naïve, flying in on a wing and a prayer.

And in California, the movie industry IS an industry, just like any other industry. You are paid to do the work you do because if you're good at it, it makes the corporation money. It doesn't get any more practical than that.
But - writing - all writing - is also a dream job. And I believed I could do it because my state taught me to follow my dreams.

So I'm wondering. What are your state legends? How did your state and/or city influence your career path? Did it help or hinder your personal dreams?

PS - for those who were wondering, the state mollusk of California is the sea slug.

But that's another post entirely.

--Alexandra Sokoloff

I'm doing a very laid back, un-type-A blog tour for The Unseen in between running around doing the physical tour thing, so check here for updates if you'd like to drop in and explore other blogs. - Alex

The Sequel Dilemma Revisited

I can't sleep.

It's this dang sequel dilemma. Remind me never to write another one! I've done a few print interviews now about Secrets She Left Behind, and they've been easy because I could carefully choose what I reveal about the story and what I don't. But the speaking engagements and the TV and radio interviews will be coming up soon, and then I'll have to address what feels like an elephant in the room. Do I talk about the facets of Secrets that give away important elements of the first book, Before the Storm, or do I play coy and keep them to myself so someone who hasn't yet read Storm doesn't have her reading experience marred by knowing the major twists in the story. For those of you who haven't read either book, Before the Storm has a major who-dunnit in its pages. Secrets She Left Behind is, in part, about the person who-dunnit. And either book can stand perfectly well alone.

When I first started thinking about this dilemma, I decided I would simply talk about elements in Secrets that leave out the "spoilers." That would be challenging, and would also make me sad, because the who-dunnit character has such a significant role in the story. (This approach is made even more difficult by the fact that that character's identity is revealed on the back cover copy of Secrets, so anyone at a booksigning will know the answer as soon as he or she reads the back of the book).

But then I realized the real reason why I cannot talk about Secrets so cryptically. I can control what I say at a speaking engagement, but I can't control what my audience says. The first question I get during a Q and A can be a spoiler, and the last thing I want to do is censor my readers.

So I've decided--I think--to talk about the story in all its gloriously messy form and let the chips fall where they may.

Some of you have now read both books. Some only one or the other. I'd love your input once again on this insomnia-inducing issue.

You'd think I'm talking about something that would alter the future of all mankind. Geesh. It's just a book. I've got to get a grip!


Want to win a copy of The Courage Tree? Check out Emilie Richards' interview of me on her blog and leave a comment by June 3rd. Good luck!