Fuel for Thought

A topic for this blog post refused to come to me.  I guess my muse went on vacation.  Thanks.  Anyway, I couldn't think of one subject that I wished to write about so I'm sitting in front of my messy desk, watching the cursor flicker at me, and munching on pretzel sticks.  My fuel for thought. 

Delicious fuel to get my mind going--The buttery taste so creamy then the explosion of salt.  I'm in heaven. While munching on one, it came to me--my snack needs praise for the help it gives me.  Everyone has their snack that is comforting and stomach filling.  These stick pretzels do that and also help me think .  In college, I munched on them during a lecture.  Somehow, they kept me focused on the lesson even these years later, I get into the zone when I'm eating them. 

Some people use food as a reward.  The sundae if finish the revisions are completed.  A cheesecake if you write that synopsis.  I even read it in one of Kasey Michaels's books where her heroine who was a writer, would line up M & Ms (another of my beloved snacks) then once reaching writing goals would eat them.  Sound yummy.  We all need something to get through some tasks and every little thing helps as the cliche goes.

What is your favorite?  Do you have more than one?  Is the food a reward or is it your fuel for thought?

Who do you like to read?

As an author, I always find it interesting when people ask, "Who do you read?"

This question seems so simple, but when you really think about it...just how loaded is it?

-Does it speak to your knowledge as a writer?
-Does it speak to your knowledge of different genres?
-Does it speak to you as an individual?

These are some of my favorite books:


Absolutely amazing opening!




Hysterical!!!



Sad, but enjoyable.








But, what do these books tell you about me? Anything?

Why do you choose the books that you read? I pick a book for so many reasons: author, setting, genre, characters, but when I find an author I like, I buy everything they have. Because I know I will enjoy it, or at least I hope so ;-)


What would the books on your shelf tell me or anyone about you?

Nearly Didn't Make it to Scotland

Before I mention the first castle, I wanted to say that I almost didn't make it to Scotland, and was totally unprepared with what to do...what a near disaster!



This was the first castle we visited and it was very cold here! I loved this castle--only one room that was finished off and decorated, otherwise it was in ruins and trying to envision what it looked like when people lived here was more fun.



It was high above cliffs, surrounded by water on 3 sides and had a long way down stairs, then a long path up again until you came to the one entrance, easy to see anyone approaching by land or by sea.

Here was one of the rooms that would have been occupied by someone of status.

This shows some of the walls and one of the more finished buildings.

I love the water, and loved seeing the waves crashing on the rocks below the castle's cliffs. It's a long way down!

Here is one of the storage rooms. Note all the rocks were covered in green moss. It was cold and misty, cloud-covered, a cold breeze while we were here.



Note the thickness of the walls. Long drop off here to the rocks below!




This was the well where they would get their water. I was having fun getting a reflection of the castle in the water. I imagined a medieval people gathering to get water at the well for meals.

In the earlier days, arrow slits were part of the defense system. Later, they created round holes for guns.

Again, rocky, watery grave if prisoners tried to escape, and very difficult to access from down below. The castles were built with primarily defense in mind.


This was the chapel.

We were very fortunate that the place was virtually empty and so were able to get a lot of pictures without having a ton of people in them. :)



After we saw this castle, I felt the trip was worth all the while.

Every vacation should have a disaster or two to make them really memorable, right? Of course! So I made my flight just fine to Houston, to Newark, was getting ready to board for Edinbourgh, and my passport had expired the month before.

I have to say that the folks at Continental Airlines were wonderful. They helped me to get to Philadelphia on Amtrak the next morning and the security at the Customs House were wonderful, and the clerks there too, to ensure that I could get on my way. It was a sweat job getting a train, a taxi, a photo from Kinkos over half a mile from the Custom House, and all the while I'm lugging a bag (the other went to Edinburgh and was happily waiting for me there), very briefly noting historical monuments and buildings along the way in my frantic rush, a very thorough screening, and then hours later with new passport in hand, a rushed taxi ride back, which was the scariest part as the meter went out on the driver's taxi and he kept trying to get his phone that had fallen on the floor while slamming on his brakes when someone stopped in front of him in the traffic filled streets. Then the train ride back to Newark, back through security and on the plane that I should have taken the night before.

Which meant that I didn't have a night to sleep. As soon as I arrived in Edinburgh, I met my friends and we were on our way across Scotland!

The way I look at it was that I had never been on a train, never to Philadelphia, and so it was a unique experience. And it showed that an impossible situation was made possible. I will also say that I'm not the only one who has faced this crisis!!!Although I wished I had seen that my passport was nearly expired. But I've only used it once in 10 years, so I never even thought about that aspect!!!


Maybe it'll go in a book someday!!!

Have any wild adventures in traveling?

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male."
www.terryspear.com

Life is a balanced act

No, not a balancing act. A balanced one.

For the first time in months I'm working on a Work In Progress that I just love. The characters are really solidly in my head and the plot is tight, and I'm making huge progress. I'm averaging a chapter every other day -- a finished, polished, solid chapter. This is the way I used to write, before I got bogged down for some unknown reason, last spring.

The other side of the fulcrum? My home life is out of whack. Nothing major, just car trouble. I took the car in for its 30k checkup, expecting to spend $300-$400. Instead I'm spending 10 times that.

I'll give you a minute to pick your jaw up off the floor.

Yep, $3500. The car has been in the shop for a week, waiting for parts and/or being worked on by mechanics. Plural. This is a car that ran just fine. All I anticipated was a spark plug change, etc. But no...it turns out mice got in and made a nest out of the entire electrical system ("awesome," one service guy said. "It was awesome." Not the word I would use to describe it, but I get the point). EVERYTHING electrical has to be replaced.

Keep in mind: this is a car that is parked in a garage and is driven every day. Every single day. So it's been 'protected.' This begs the question of what is happening to my husband's car and his truck, which sit outside and are not always driven on a daily basis. You're right. I don't want to know until I've paid the bill for my car.

So there you have: the balance of life. On the up side of the teeter-totter: my writing. I thought I had lost the writing mojo because this summer was such a drag, writing-wise.

On the downside: mice.

And on the up-side: my cats, who now get to play in the garage now and again. They are going to have a field day...

Yep. Life really is a teeter-totter, isn't it?

Life's Colors

Today the phrase "take time to stop and smell the flowers" popped into my head as I drove to the grocery story. Mother Nature is more than generous to us here in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. One scene that always takes my breath away is the white, billowy thunderheads that look like puffs of cotton. On a certain stretch of highway, framed by tall pine trees, you can see the clouds waiting for you at the end of the road. Of course you never reach them, but it's fun to imagine grasping a bit of fluff and taking it home to dream on. I grabbed my camera and went back to capture the picture to share with you. The huge thunderheads were gone, but you can catch a glimpse of what we get to see every now and then when we're lucky and Mother Nature is in a creative mood.


My mother, an award winning oil painter, gave me the love of finding beauty around me. I didn't realize it at the time of my youth, but when my daughters spent time with her and came home talking about their time with their grandmother, I started to see her skills as an artist. Their favorite experience was when she would have them lie on the ground and watch the clouds. "If you concentrate very hard," she would tell them, "you can move the clouds around with your mind." Then they would have fun looking for different pictures in the clouds. Even now I take the time to see what I can discover.

Do you know clouds aren't really white? I learned this watching the movie "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" where Dutch oil painter Johannes Vermeer asks his housemaid-turned-assistant what color she saw when looking at the clouds. At first she said white, then no – yellow, blue, grey are the colors. When I went looking with my camera, I did happen to notice the multitude of colors in the clouds. Amazing how a compilation of colors can appear white.

This got me to thinking about our writing and how we each have our own individual voice. How does this happen? Can it be a compilation of our life's colors and those who've influenced our lives? Maybe who we are is determined by how we absorbed those experiences and share them with others. Is there one event in your life that might have had a great impact on how you write or approach your writing or job?

Guest Cindy Green

Today I am pleased to introduce multipublished Inspirational author, Cindy Green. PLease welcome Cindy.

Cindy , please tell us about yourself?
It’s good to be here today. To put it short and sweet, I'm an author, teacher, maid, mother, wife and accountant. I have degrees in history and education and taught middle school up until about six years ago. Now I stay home and homeschool my two boys. I was born in California and now live in North Carolina out in the country about a ½ hour from Raleigh . I've been married for 15 years. I'm published in several genres: Inspirational, historical, contemporary, young adult and suspense. Those are also the genres I like to read. I spend my (non-existent free time) reading, watching period dramas and doing my best to keep this house one step away from becoming a disaster area. To read my more in-depth bio, stop by my website.
Can you please introduce your new book to our readers?

Blurb: Best Friends or True Love? Only Santa Knows.

Kathryn Graham hates Christmas. She hates the snow, the decorations, the whole nine yards. Nick Pringle on the other hand can’t get enough of the season. He may be her best friend and fellow writer at Redburn Weekly Magazine, but sometimes his exuberance gets on her very last nerve. Now they’ve been assigned to cover the orphan toy drive story. It’s just a puff piece not the serious journalism Kathryn hopes for, but maybe—as Nick says—there are no old stories just new angles.

Nick Pringle has been in love with Kathryn practically since the day they met. When he realizes that she’s lost her Christmas spirit, he figures he’s just the guy to help her find it again. He enacts a plan to send her anonymous gifts from Secret Santa, but will any of this really make a difference in her? Will she ever see him as anything more than her smart-aleck partner even after their passionate kisses? Then again maybe he’ll get what he wants for Christmas after all.

From where did you get the idea for this story?
All I Want for Christmas is a best friend’s romance. I love writing the best friends romance because it’s wonderful to see friendship develop into love. Isn’t it right that they be friends first as that’s what cements the couple together. I started writing this book because my publisher at the time needed Christmas stories and I figured I could write one. Six days later, the first draft was finished. A whirlwind of writing. I felt as though I was but a vessel to my inspiration and had no control over it. A truly inspiring experience.

Cindy, who is your hero?
Nick Pringle is our tall, tawny haired, hazel eyed hero who is always well-dressed and well-mannered with never a hair out of place. He is Kathryn’s writing partner and friend. Nick is definitely the mild mannered reporter type. He’s the nice guy around the office who is always in good spirits, available to take hysterical phone calls 24/7, and he also happens to be in love with Kathryn. So, it’s no mistake that when he learns Kathryn has lost her Christmas spirit that he intends to help her find it again.

When I came to naming this character, I decided to think Christmas since this is a Christmas book after all. So, I named him Nick Pringle which is like St. Nick and the Pringle is close to Kringle. Nick Pringle. Silly I know, but it works.

Nick is mild mannered so much so that he doesn’t want to rock the boat with Kathryn. Of course, he likes to tease her; and he loves how riled she can get – but it is always in fun. He knows that he loves her now, but he doesn’t want to change things and ruin their friendship. But then he starts sending her gifts from a Secret Santa, and Kathryn starts falling for her Secret Santa because he seems to know her so well. This finally gets Nick to move into action culminating in the finale.

Please, introduce your heroine.

Kathryn is the dark haired, blued eyed heroine of our story. If you really want to understand her character, think “ Lois Lane .” I have to admit to being a huge Superman fan, and when I came to write this novella, I thought it would be great to use LL as my inspiration. Kathryn is not exactly like Lois, but you will see similarities. When it came to naming this character, I decided to use the name of a great newspaper woman. I named her after Katherine Graham, the famous journalist and later owner of the Washington Post. I changed the spelling of the name, making her Kathryn and the hero, Nick, calls her Kat.

A few words to describe Kathryn: smart, attractive, stubborn, and sometimes abrasive. She is the type that puts on a hard exterior but inside she’s mush. She isn’t close to her family, so she puts everything she has into her job. She wants to be a part of the legitimate press instead of having to write all these “puff pieces,” as she calls them. You know, public interest stories. She doesn’t find them important enough. To quote her, “Give me a shoot out, bank robbery or a scandal any day of the week. Then I’ll be happy.” Oh, and did I mention that she hates Christmas? Well, there is a reason for that. To find out why, you will just have to read the book. :) And then there is Nick. He is the one person in the world that she calls in the middle of the night and actually cares to spend time with. But she has never thought of him as anything more than a friend, and a best friend at that.

And one more thing – she is a bona fide Chocoholic!
All I Want for Christmas is available at Champagne Books, Amazon, and all those online book sellers.

Can you give us a backlist of your books?

I have several titles still available on my backlist. Inspirational (both historical & contemporary): A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Your Wedding, Relationship Rescue, Dilemma of the Heart, Snow Kissed. Suspense: A Night of NovelTea and NovelTea Next Door. Contemporary: All I Want for Christmas. Young Adult/Fantasy: Struck by Conscience, Historical Western: The Heart Never Lies.

FREE READS:I’d like to offer a couple free reads to the readers here. MY GRAND EPIPHANY is more of a contemporary, humorous chicklit-like story. You can download for FREE at White Rose Publishing. My other free read is called Second Chances. It’s a historical western set in 1878 Wyoming . Download it today at White Rose Publishing.

Future Projects:This coming January, I have another historical western coming from Champagne Books called Listen to Your Heart. I should also have book two in my Faery Guardian series come out in 2011--Sold my Soul to a Frog.

Where you can Find Cindy:You can visit me at my Website or my Blo, called Cindy's Musing. In addition, I have a Homeschooling Blog and a Teen Fiction Blog. They can also email me at cindy@cindykgreen.com. I’m on Myspace Facebook Twitter and Twitter for my YA friends. And I have a Newsletter. The latest edition should be going out soon.

Is your character a Gumby?

Blessed are the flexible for they shall not get bent out of shape.
––Kim Downey

I have followed this philosophy for years. Well, okay, I admit I’ve failed at times to bend with the breeze. However, my husband lives the above quote in an organic sense. He’s as calm as a summer sea––always. Which sometimes drives me to the point of distraction or, more importantly, as a fiction writer, to boredom. No romance author wants to write about someone who doesn’t emotionally react to events.

During story development I decide on a character’s flexibility. Is she limber as Gumby or rigid as a walking stick? Or somewhere in between? The differences lead to surprises, an important reason we keep turning the pages of a book. Here’s one over-used, classic example. To save her child, a prim librarian jumps on the back of a Harley with a tattooed, beer-guzzling biker. Since she’s an inflexible person her reactions jack up the scene. Lots of sparks fly between them.

I’ve written my fair share of scenes lacking pizzazz, usually as my first draft. My heroine is stuck on cruise control. That’s when I try revving pass the red line, overshooting her flexibility limit. Suddenly you’re writing emotionally-driven dialogue and action scenes. Hey, she yells at me while madly waving her hand, I’m totally bent out of shape here! Sorry, I tell her, but I get the fun bonus of vicariously jumping on the back of that Harley and wrapping my arms around a dangerous Hell’s Angel.

Another way to look at character flexibility is through the lens of ambivalence. Does my heroine see the world as black-and-white or shades of gray? I once read an article titled Why So Many people Can’t Make Decisions. It included a simple checklist to find your shade. The truth is we’re not totally in one camp or the other, which offers more opportunities to give my heroine conflicting opinions. Now she’s twisting in two directions and definitely giving me the evil eye.
I tell her I didn’t mean to create all this anxiety and stress in her life, but she is in the middle of my story. And the fun just gets better and better.

I’ll close by sharing a little secret. My husband has a motorcycle so I experience, firsthand, the thrill of riding behind a man with a hot, roaring engine between our legs. Talk about symbolism!

I’m always searching for additions to my writer’s toolbox when it comes to character development. If you have a favorite tool I’d love for you to share it with us.

My Favorite Things by Jaclyn DiBona

[Picture of Mona and Jaclyn as they met for the first time in August 2010 in Massachussetts]

This month has been tough.

Fretting and fuming to get my book published, along comes mother nature,
to show me whose boss,
Between eye doctors, and new glasses,
New hearing aids, at the tune of $3, 300.

Finding out I have spinal stenosis was bad enough,
Having to get shots in the spine didn’t sit well with me at all.

When my young doctor asked me if it was painful to move,
I was happy to see him gape in awe as he shook his head,
when I bent over and touched my toes.

Gleeful, I was on a roll, bending backwards, and forward, and threw in
a couple of twists for good measure to answer his question.

He frowned in disbelief, rechecked the ex-rays , and shook his head,
Much to my dismay, I still got the 3 shots in the spine.

I complained to my girlfriend that I was too young to have all these problems.
She gave me no sympathy, and told me that it was nothing at all,
and she sang to me this song.

Maalox and nose drops and needles for knitting,
Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings,
Bundles of magazines tied up in string,
These are a few of my favorite things..

Cadillacs and cataracts and hearing aids and glasses,
Polident and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses,
Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the pipes leak,
When the bones creak,
When the knees go bad
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad.

Hot tea and crumpets, and corn pads for bunions,
No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions,
Bathrobes and heat pads and hot meals they bring,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Back pains, confused brains, and no fear of sinnin',
Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin',
And we won't mention our short shrunken frames,
When we remember our favorite things.

When the joints ache,
when the hips break,
When the eyes grow dim,
Then I remember the great life I've had,
And then I don't feel so bad.

'My Favorite Things' about Aging By Julie Andrews

To commemorate her 69th birthday on October 1, actress/vocalist Julie Andrews made a special appearance at Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall for the benefit of the AARP. One of the musical numbers she performed was "My Favorite Things" from the legendary movie "Sound Of Music." However, the lyrics of the song were deliberately changed for the entertainment of her "blue hair" audience.

I may not be 69, but I still laugh whenever I hear the melody to this song. While visiting my cousins in the Vosges in France, I looked out my bedroom window, seeing the mountains I’d swear I heard Julie Andrews singing this song.

POSTED BY: Jaclyn Di Bona

Looking your Best

As far as I remember my mother repeatedly told her daughters they should never leave the house without looking their best. In her book, looking your best includes fashionable clothes and shoes, make-up and jewelry.

After being hospitalized ten times two years ago, Mom moved to an assisted living facility. She used a wheelchair to move around, had to raise her legs most of the day, inserted an oxygen tube in her nose to breathe better…and swallowed so many pills my stomach hurt for her.

Looking your Best. My mother practiced what she preached. Mom was always perfectly well dressed in pantsuits, and twin sweaters, and would never forget to wear her earrings, bracelets, necklace or rings. There was a beauty salon in her building. So Mom had her hair set and her nails done once a week. Salesmen from a couple of stores came twice a month to sell clothes to the residents of the assisted living facility. My mother was their best client. Although she was a professor before retiring, my mother’s hobby had always been fashion designing and sewing her clothes and her daughters’ clothes. Before moving to assisted living, she gave us her precious jewelry, and bought fashion jewelry to replace the expensive pieces.

My mother professed that being nicely dressed and jeweled helped her forget she was a very sick person, confined to her wheelchair or recliner. The other residents complimented her and tried to emulate her. The assisted living staff admired her positive attitude, and the compliments of an old gentleman filled her with pride.

If I forgot to wear makeup when I visited, Mom asked me if I was sick. When I explained I was too busy to pay attention to my appearance, I regularly received a lecture. Basically, it went as follows: I didn’t have the right to neglect myself when I was healthy; I should realize that an agreeable face and a nice smile went a long way to cheer people confined to their living quarters. A presentable person projects a good impression and commends respect.

Mom died two weeks ago. Everyone remembers her lovely smile.

Needless to say, I’m always aware of what people wear around me. Including my characters. While authors describe their hero and heroine’s eyes, hair, figure, I always have to describe their clothing as well to better characterize them and situate them in a scene.

In TO LOVE A HERO, my heroine, Dr. Cecile Lornier is a career woman. You will find her dressed in dark suits that match her profession of serious scientist. When she’s attracted to General Sergei, she will let Tania, her sassy Russian driver, influence her into buying more stylish, colorful outfits and of course a Russian mink chapka (hat) to warm her during the freezing Belarusian winter.

In FRENCH PERIL, the heroine, Cheryl Stewart, is a young graduate student practically living in jeans and t-shirts. Yet to attract the handsome count François, she won’t hesitate to follow his sister Marilène’s advice and buy a Frenchy black dress.

In BABIES IN THE BARGAIN, my first medical, Holly, the pretty resident lives in scrubs but wears a tight long black dress, slit up to her thigh, when the hero invites her to the opera. The dress is a killer and the hero can’t resist.

In Rx FOR TRUST, my heroine, Dr. Olivia Crane is a psychiatrist, a university professor and a single mother. At work, she favors professional suits and classic silk shirt, but as soon as she is home she changes into a velvet pantsuit that matches the color of her eyes. The French hero, Dr. Luc George dreams of seeing her in sexy shorts or sophisticated short dresses.

I have given examples of heroines. Yet the same goes for my heroes.

Are you a fashionista when it comes to your characters? How do you dress them? Do they look like the picture on your cover? Or do you avoid mentioning what they wear?

If you like to travel and love to read, come and enjoy my international romances. I will take you around the world through stories that simmer with emotion and sizzle with heat~

TO LOVE A HERO

FRENCH PERIL

BABIES IN THE BARGAIN

Rx FOR TRUST

All books also available at amazon.com

Confusion! What to write!

What do you write? Is it contemporary, thriller, suspense, historical, paranormal, YA and now steampunk, or all of these in one genre. Is it the trends you write, hoping to hit just the right story, at just the right time? Or do you just follow your heart and hope for the best.

I've tried them all for all the above reasons.

By the time a trend hits the shelves, it's headed towards it's expiration date. Agents have mail boxes stuffed full of queries and stories on the hottest genre. They go to conferences screaming, "Don't send anymore." Whatever the hot genre is, agents usually are bombarded by it. Although I've heard that for years about Vampires. They still seem to be a hot commodity. But yet at my last conference, the agents screeched about over stuffed e-mails boxes. At times it's all sooooo very confusing.

So what is a writer to do? Follow ones heart? Or follow the trends, and write yet another teen vamp story?

I've found personally the best stories I write, are directly attached to my passion. I've written the story of my heart, at least twenty times. No matter what I do with my writing or try to do with a manuscript, I always return to my passion for historical writing. I love the research, and making those new discoveries. I love taking historical events and famous individuals, and introducing them to my characters, which is like introducing them to me. I give my hero and heroine the feeling I'd get from meeting a King or discovering I was in the presence of a someone I admire.

After a long dry spell, moving around in the modern world of the contemporary genre, I've gone back to my passion, and will once more write another book of my heart.

What I've found when writing within that passion, every word, every page, and the manuscript as a whole suddenly becomes that book of the heart.

I'll leave behind what is the trend, and just hope for the best. After all the trends do turn around, and come back to what wasn't and is new again. If the historical genre is out right now, it will make that big U turn that happens in all genres and come back into vogue, eventually.

Write from the passion that drives you, and it will become the book of your heart. I know there is an agent out there who will recognize the emotion that drives a story, more then the trend.

What do you write? Is it from the heart or following the trends?