WHERE IS JUDI FENNELL?

Wednesday, Judi Fennell showed up in the Atlanta area, she was also in Northern California and I heard she was in New York too. Thursday she was in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and I heard rumors she was also in the LA area. I'm getting reports of Judi Fennell spottings from all over the country.

Now, how is this possible you might ask? Does she have her own Lear Jet? Perhaps she worked a deal with I Dream of Jeannie who crossed her arms and blinked Judi Fennell to all these places?

No Jet and I know for a fact, "Jeannie" is a favorite of hers but alas, no help from there either.

The truth is Judi Fennell's debut book, In Over Her Head, scheduled to be released June 1st, has been released early and is showing up in Barnes and Noble and Border's promotion towers across the country.

Have you spotted her yet? If you do, take a picture for me and post it to Facebook, Gather, MySpace, your website, or any social network and send me the link. Be sure to list the store, the state, and the date. The person with the most Judi Fennell sightings, will win a autographed copy of In Over Her Head and one lucky commenter will win a Mer cell phone charm. This Contest runs until June 16th.

You may send the link to me via facebook, or pop in here (this article will be archived but you can click on it anytime) on the comment section with the words: Judi Fennell sighting and the link. Be sure to leave me your name and a way to contact you. I will go to the link and copy the picture for my Where's Judi photo album. This photo album will be my gift to Judi. Let the hunt begin!

Yesterday, I was able to catch up with Judi in Barnes & Noble, in Philadelphia. While I had her ear, I asked her a few questions:

So tell me Judi, how did it feel when you saw your books up for the first time?

You know? I've imagined it for so long that it wasn't as surreal as I thought it'd be... at first. Then, as I stood there, and realized, hey, this is really happening... this isn't your imagination... then, it was verrrrrry surreal. Almost out-of-body. Especially when a woman in the aisle said, "That's your first book?" then BOUGHT ONE! Of course, I signed it for her, and THAT was awesome!

You knew they'd be part of Barnes and Noble's Promotional tower, but what was your reaction when you saw them up at Borders?

I had noooooooo idea about the Borders tower. I cried when my publisher told me about the B&N one; when I saw it there in Borders, I was just dumbstruck. I had to go outside and check the sign to make sure I was in a Borders. I'm just so honored that they liked my story enough to do that. Mind-blowing.

I have to say, seeing your books up brought tears to my eyes and it wasn't even my book, lol! You mentioned seeing it in Borders, was this the Borders you frequent when you were writing the long hours on these books?

Actually, no. This was the opposite direction from my house. There are more bookstores in that direction and since I wasn't feeling well, I wanted to maximize my time out. I have to go to "my" Borders and see it there. More photo ops! :)

Did you do any impromptu book signings while looking at the displays?

I have to say that the staff at all the stores was very helpful - before they knew I was an author. Not that I could keep it quiet once they asked, "Do you need help?" Once they found out I was the author, the "do you want to sign them" immediately followed. I brought my "Signed by Author" gold foil stickers with me, because Borders' store stickers go on the corner and would have covered either my name or Reel's chest. Couldn't have that. So, all the stock got signed and I did sign the one buyer's.

Any plans for a book signing Event?

I'll be signing 6/6 from 1-3 at the Borders in North Wales, PA, and 6/13 2-4 at the Barnes & Noble in Plymouth Meeting. And tomorrow I'll be calling the correct people for two more stores to set up more. My mom is having a very large book signing at her home, so they are happening. Plus, I'll be signing books at the Sourcebooks Publisher Signing at National on that Saturday, around 3 pm. I hope to see lots of familiar names/faces there!

Congratulations, Judi! I know how long and how hard you worked to see this day. I'm proud of you my friend!

Be sure to look for Judi's book, In Over Her Head in your local bookstore and send me the link. If you spot Judi Fennell do take her home and give her a resting place on your bookshelf or your TBR pile. Be sure to be on the lookout for the next two in this series.

***
I have been writing for as long as I can remember. I seemed to have followed writing contests around, being a finalist in such online contests as American Title III, sponsored by Romantic Times BOOKreview Magazine and Dorchester Publishing, and two First Chapters contests, sponsored by Gather.com and Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books.

I grew up watching Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and The Addams Family--my mom looked like Elizabeth Montgomery and I had a special Barbie outfit that looked like Morticia Addams' dress. My favorite books are Bewitching by Jill Barnett and A Knight In Shining Armor, by Jude Devereaux, so it should come as no surprise that I like to write tongue-in-cheek lighthearted paranormals.

I love pop culture and manipulating language, so you'll find lots of puns, double entrendre, plays-on-words, alliteration, clichés, and twisting of phrases, as well as several one-liners in my stories that give me a few chuckles.

Now with kids, a husband, a house, a social life (Go Survivor Girls!), and two cocker spaniels named Vixen and Raven, I get to live my dream of being a writer!

Website: http://www.judifennell.com/

Shaking Things Up With Joel Goldman

It's my pleasure to have author Joel Goldman as my guest today. Joel has written six thrillers and his latest of his Jack Davis series is The Dead Man

I'm always curious what makes a writer choose a particular genre and what makes them begin to write. Joel says, "I started writing thrillers when one of my then law partners complained to me about another partner. I told him we should write a murder mystery, kill the son-of-a-bitch off in the first chapter and spend the rest of the book figuring out who did it. So, I did and I never looked back"

Joel shares a bit about the type of characters he likes to write and why.

I explore life through the stories I write, starting each book with the same question in mind. What happens when things go wrong, especially when no one is looking? Character and characters are measured by the answer to that question. Crime fiction poses that question when the stakes are the highest, when the answer determines not only who lives and dies but how well we do both.

Flawed characters make the most interesting subjects because authors and readers can identify with them, recognizing our own shortcomings and wondering what we would do in their place without having to bear any of the consequences. Creating Jack Davis allowed me to take this process one step further and learn more about myself as I asked what happens when the same thing goes wrong in my life and my protagonist’s life.

I practiced law for twenty-eight years, trying lawsuits all across the United States. In March 2004, I was in trial in San Francisco. I awoke one morning and, while shaving, began to shake uncontrollably. As Perry Mason and Denny Crain proved, you can get away with a lot in the courtroom but uncontrollable shaking is not one of them.

It took over a year and a half and examinations by doctors in New York, New Orleans and Phoenix to get a definitive diagnosis of my condition. I have tics, a neurological disorder with no known cause or cure and a name so totally unimpressive that no self-respecting telethon would ask it out on a date. It occurs so rarely in mid-life adults, that little is known about it. Its closest living neurological relative is Tourette’s Syndrome.

Tics is very idiosyncratic, meaning that there is no set pattern or typical course. The more I do, the more I shake, spasm and stutter. My symptoms vary over time, familiar shaking patterns fading into the background, replaced by spasms that hyperextend my neck, arch my back and twist my torso in ways that makes Cirque du Soleil jealous. Tics is not life threatening or life shortening but it is life annoying and it forced me to give up my law practice.

Fortunately, I already had a second life – crime writer. My first series, four books featuring trial lawyer Lou Mason, allowed me to channel the legal career I’d only imagined. Tics gave me the chance to explore the life I’d won in the be-careful-what-you-ask-for sweepstakes by creating a new character, Jack Davis, an FBI Special Agent, forced to give up his career by a movement disorder that makes him shake when he should shoot.

Jack’s life shakes apart in Shakedown (2008) in the middle of an investigation into a drug ring that claims the lives of everyone in a drug house and threatens the people closest to him. In The Dead Man (2009), Jack he struggles to find purpose in a life that is forever throwing him off balance while he tracks a serial killer who specializes in making deadly nightmares come true.

For more about my books and me, visit my website, http://www.joelgoldman.com/, send me a friend request on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php and click here to watch the video preview of my new book, The Dead Man - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t55cZ1ZnfV0

***

Joel became a ten-year overnight success with the publication of his first book, Motion To Kill, in 2002, introducing trial lawyer Lou Mason. Lou made his second appearance in 2003’s Edgar® nominated The Last Witness. He managed to keep getting in and out of trouble in Cold Truth (2004) and Deadlocked (2005), which was nominated for a Shamus award and has been optioned for film. Joel retired from his law practice in 2006 and still hasn’t looked back.

Joel and his wife have three kids, all out in the world happily doing what they want where they want to do it. They also have two cockapoos, Roxy and Ruby, sisters born on Valentine's Day that may never grow up. Joel is a fourth generation Kansas Citian and am named after his great grandfather who came to the United States in 1881. Legend has it that he overheard his parents arranging his marriage and decided to take his chances in the New World, leaving under cover of darkness. As Joel says, “I don't know whether the story is true but I subscribe to this quote from one of my favorite movies, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: When legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

"Enter a drawing for a free, autographed copy of The Dead Man, by posting a comment about me and my books with a link to my website or the video preview of The Dead Man on your Facebook page, My Space page or website and sending me the link by midnight, May 21 at joelkgoldman@gmail.com. I'll write the names down, put them in a hat, close my eyes and pick a winner."

Disciplined? Or Delusional?

My guest is Superromance Author Beth Andrews. Beth’s dream was to be published and this small time girl worked hard at improving her writing skills to accomplish that. Beth is no stranger to rejected submissions—years of them.

In 2006 and 2007, she caught a break for all her hard work. She was a finalist with two manuscripts in the RWA Golden Heart in 2006. In 2007 she won the golden Heart. It was bought by Harlequin Superromance and published as Not Without Her Family.

Today she talks about lessons learned and how she juggles family life and her writing.

I’ve never considered myself a particularly disciplined person but all of that changed when I decided to become a writer. Believe me, sitting at your computer each day producing pages takes what I call the Three Big Ds: Dedication, Determination and a boatload of Discipline.

Now, the first two I had covered. It’s easy for me to be dedicated to writing because honestly, I love writing. I love the entire process of writing from taking the initial idea and fleshing out into a full story, I love getting to know my characters, coming up with scene ideas and writing that first draft. I also love polishing those first pages into a final draft and using the revisions from my editor to make the story the best it can be.

Determination? Yep, I’ve got that too. From the time I decided I wanted to be a romance author I was determined to be published. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but that was okay because the end result was worth the years of honing my craft, submissions and yes, even those heart-breaking rejections.

But discipline? Ugh. Even just typing the word gives me the heebie jeebies. It goes against my very, laid-back, see-what-happens, there’s-plenty-of-time-to-get-things-done nature. Yet I knew that to be successful, to accomplish my writing goals, I’d need to suck it up and put my bordering-on-chaotic life into some sort of order. Here are a few tricks and tips I’ve learned over the years:

Smaller Is Better. This tip is from a NYT Bestselling author. When I asked her for some time management tips, she told me how she uses a regular Post-It note for her To-Do List. This works because it forces you to prioritize your goals and narrow them down into a manageable list. At the beginning of each month I write my goals for that month in a notebook. Sometimes this takes up two pages! Looking at the long list can be totally overwhelming but by taking this advice, I’ve accomplished more in the last three months then I ever thought possible. I simply look through my Master List, take the top 3-5 (depending on how small I write *g*) items and put them on a Post-It note. Then I work down the list and when the day is over, I simply toss the Post-It and start a new list tomorrow. (This can also be done on your computer. Just remember the key is to keep the list small and manageable.)

First Thing’s First. This is advice I’ve known and was reiterated to me by another NYT Bestselling author. Prioritize your To-Do List and take the first thing, the ONE thing you want to get done that day and get it done first. This advice works for full time writers and those who have full time jobs as well. If you’ve set aside an hour in the evening and the first thing on your list is to write 3 pages, do that first. An average day for me consists of getting my pages done first then my exercise and only after both of those have been accomplished do I allow myself to check e-mail and blogs (unless I’m the one blogging *g*) I’ve found that if I push back either of those items until ‘later’, I never get them done.

Chunk It. I discovered a while back that although I loved to multi-task, I wasn’t getting anything done. Oh, I was working on lots of projects and was busier than ever but nothing was ever finished. I knew I needed a change so I started Chunking. All that means is I concentrate on one thing at a time and I set aside certain times of the day or week to get them done. For example, I’ve now set aside Saturday mornings for writing blogs, updating my website and sending out mailings. Knowing I have an entire morning I can dedicate to these tasks makes it a lot easier to set them aside during the week and concentrate on my writing.

So, even though I still shudder at the word, I’m slowly learning how to become disciplined and I’m always on the lookout for more tips and tricks for making the most of my time. What about you? Anyone have any time management tips to share?

Which of the Three Big Ds is easiest for you? The hardest?

***

As a stay-at-home mother of three children, Beth Andrews decided to put pen to paper (or, in her case, fingers to keyboard) and pursue her dream of becoming a published author. After much trial and error, Beth discovered her writing process—daydreaming, mumbling to herself, playing Spider Solitaire…and writing, of course.

Beth’s stories have netted her three Golden Heart finals and in 2007—a coveted win. Her winning manuscript, Not Without Her Family, sold to Harlequin Superromance—marking the achievement of her original dream and the beginning of what she hopes is a long career writing the stories she loves.

When Beth’s not writing (or daydreaming, mumbling to herself or playing Spider Solitaire) she can be found making some of the many recipes she collects, redecorating her home or stringing beads together. She has been honored by her kids as “The Only Mom in Town Who Makes Her Children Do Chores” and “The Meanest Mom in the World”—as if there’s something wrong with counting down the remaining days of summer vacation until school starts again. To learn more about Beth, her books or to get her latest favorite recipe, check out her Web site.

Beth's website: http://www.bethandrews.net/
Blogs: Romance Bandits - http://romancebandits.blogspot.com/
Writers At Play - http://www.writersatplay.com/wordpress/

A NOT-SO-PERFECT PAST ~ April '09 Harlequin Superromance

HIS SECRET AGENDA ~ October '09 Harlequin Superromance

Beth is offering a copy of her latest book to one lucky commenter. We'll let you know who you are a bit later.

Creation, Destruction, And Re-Creation.

~Sia McKye~

Ominous clouds boil up on the horizon and the winds begin to blow. In no time at all, the storm is all around you. Jagged forks of lightning flash against the charcoal skies, and thunder vibrates through your bones and shakes the house.

Storms can be an assault to the senses and even tricking them. You watch in morbid fascination as trees bow in the wind and buffet your house. Above the sound of the thunder you hear a loud crack and you watch in incomprehension as the massive top of a tree breaks off and blows by your window, like a mere tree branch. Your eyes can’t believe it or the shock of watching trees come down like matchsticks. Falling trees close by feel like an earthquake—especially when more than one falls in succession. The blankness of your mind quickly dissipates and you’re running for cover.

Watching the raw fury of nature is, by turns, exhilarating, and awe inspiring, and humbling. It’s also terrifying. It’s the essence of creation. Creation starts with elemental and raw materials and builds something. Sometimes that first involves destruction of the existing, forever changing the visible material and recreating it. Creation, annihilation, and re-creation.

That’s true whether you are doing something as simple as breaking eggs to make a cake. Melting sand to make glass, or dynamiting a granite wall to make a tunnel. When writing or taking a situation, personality trait, building a story, or using words to change the face of a political structure. Words have power. The right words can make things clear or obscure, build or destroy depending upon how you use them.

It’s not always easy to take the raw ideas of a world and make it viable. Creating people for those worlds from a mere thought is both exhilarating and scary. Have you used the raw materials properly so those characters live, breath, and react, in the landscape of your world? Or have created paper dolls; stiff, unresponsive, and cumbersomely move them around your world by telling it all. Is your world real enough, so that the reader feels like they opened a door and stepped into your world seeing the wonders and able to connect emotionally with the people you’ve created?

If you’ve done your job correctly, your readers react become connected to the characters. The reader has moments of fear, worry, and anger. Their hearts speed up trying to outsmart the villain, the heart melts when the hero gets the girl. They feel satisfied emotionally after reading and participating in your world or story.

There are times when you look at your created world and realize it’s not feasible or you look at the paper doll you’ve been moving around and see you need to revise, terminate, and recreate. Painful and frustrating—especially if you understand the world isn’t working as you saw it in your mind, or a character doesn’t fit or is reacting hokey.

Writing is a labor of love. The force of creation requires energy. As we wrestle with our world and characters, choosing the right words and scenes, we feel limp when we're finished. If we’ve done the job correctly we also feel ecstatic. Have you ever gone back and read something you’ve written and feel a sense of awe with how it all came together? That tingle that tells you you’ve done a great job? It’s exciting, it feels good and you’re flying high.

Then comes your critique partner or your editor. Trepidation and excitement reign. Putting the finished piece on display requires courage because in the stark flash of lightning, flaws become apparent. Critiquing is also a form of creation, destruction, and recreation. It breaks apart the raw materials and reshapes them. You watch in morbid fascination as chunks of your manuscript are ripped away.

If done correctly, something better is recreated. If done incorrectly, you feel buffeted by the harsh winds, torn, and broken. You’re looking for shelter from the storm.

What makes you run for cover? What makes you feel buffeted and torn? Critiques? Rejections? Revisions? Deadlines?

Conversely, what gives you the feeling of exhilaration and awe? Pull up chair and grab a cup of your choice and let's talk about it.

***

Sia McKye has spent over twenty years in marketing and promotion. She's written and published various articles on writing, marketing, and promotion. She's a Marketing Rep by profession and also writes fiction. Sia has completed a single title romance trilogy and is busy at work on a fun paranormal series.

The Perfectionist and La Belle Vie

My guest today is Rebecca Ramsey, author of French By Heart, a slice of life book about her experiences living in France. She shares some thoughts on being a perfectionist and it's impact on her life and her love of writing.

I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date!

Sia, you were so kind to invite me for coffee, and here I am, showing up out of breath and behind schedule! To beg your forgiveness I’ve brought you a little bouquet of dandelions I snatched out of my yard and a box of Pims from my cupboard. It’s my favorite French cookie, sort of like a vanilla wafer topped with raspberry and dipped in chocolate. I hope you’re not allergic.

I write memoir, which means I’m an expert on embarrassing myself in public. Let me tell you, living in France was the perfect training. During my first days (years?) I stumbled through my life, speaking like a caveman. “What time bus come?” “Bill late. I sorry. No turn off water please.” I arrived in France as a perfectionist and left four years later, remarkably comfortable with my own slackness. This was just what my writing needed.

As a young girl I’d wanted desperately to write. I entered contests and won a few prizes, but could I make writing my life? It was too painful. I wrote marvelously in my mind, but something always happened on the way to the page. I’d psyche myself up with Simon and Garfunkel, (the records were old even then—I’m not that ancient) write a page or two, and throw myself on the floor in despair. My poor mother.

I decided to major in Biochemistry instead.

After graduation I spent my days in the lab, writing poetry in my mind. It was a sad little life. I’d jot out elegant descriptions of crystalline precipitates that no one would ever read, and I’d agonize over the mice I killed. Wasn’t there more to life? I finally quit to teach chemistry to high school students. We’d work on stoichiometry and titrate acids with bases, but I also made them write poetry and work on their observational skills. “But this isn’t English class!” the students would protest.

Thank goodness France saved us all.

In France I couldn’t be perfect, no matter how hard I tried, no matter how many hours I spent with Fabien, my handsome tutor. I had three kids to tend to, so I couldn’t hide in my house. The world would have to see me just as I was, an American idiot. And you know what? They didn’t care that I couldn’t speak perfectly! In fact, they seemed excited that I tried to speak at all. Old men would stop traffic for me and total strangers would offer me their help. They’d even invite me over for coffee and tell me how much I was improving!

Everywhere I turned in France, people were taking time to do what they loved. Why couldn’t I? My neighbor Alain spent his two hour lunch break playing his trumpet, Madame Charbonnier hid behind her hedges, reading stacks of trashy books, and Madame Fouriaux doted on a rose garden that filled my house with perfume. I started writing again, and this time I was kinder to myself. I put away my red pen and wrote page after page, never looking back. Okay, so that’s not true. I looked back a little. Old habits are hard to break. But now that I was more comfortable with my own mistakes, I let myself make them. I refused to quit.

I should admit to you that I had an unfair advantage, a little extra motivation in Madame Mallet, the strange old lady who spied on us from behind her lace curtain and called her nephew Le Spermatazoide, on account of the fact that he was conceived through artificial insemination. I’m telling you, anyone living across the street from Madame Mallet would have to write a book. My husband recently visited her on a business trip and told her about French by Heart. She looked at him coyly and said, “It’s about me, isn’t it?”

So friends, if you struggle with perfectionism, I wish you much humiliation! And your very own Madame Mallet!

***

After four years of la belle vie in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Rebecca Ramsey and her family are now settled back home in Greer, South Carolina. Between chauffeuring her children, observing her southern life, and keeping an eye out for French pastries, she writes every spare moment she can.

You can visit Rebbeca at her blog and website.

Rebecca's Blog: Wonders Never Cease, at http://www.rebeccasramsey.blogspot.com/

Rebecca's Website: www.rebeccasramsey.com

Reading – a Waste of Time or A Good Investment?

Debut Author Sherrie Hansen is my guest Over Coffee today. She is the proprietor of Blue Belle Inn B&B and Tea House, Queen Anne Victorian, in St. Ansgar, Iowa. Like the heroine in her novel, Night & Day, is an avid quilter.

There are those that don’t see reading as a gift. They see it as a tool and one reserved for either school or work. Reading for pleasure? A waste of time—unless you’re a child or old. Once you leave childhood, reading is a luxury. Outside of school, your time better spent on the business of life and work. Sherrie talks about her rediscovering the love of reading and how it’s shaped her writing.

Some of my earliest memories are of bedtime stories being read to me, and I loved to read books from the time I learned how. When I was in grade school and junior high I had special library privileges – because I had to jump on the school bus as soon as school was out. I was dismissed from class 5 or 10 minutes early each day so I could go to the library and pick out a book, which I would then read that night and return the next morning. On Sundays, I would check out several books from the church library. I read at least one book a day.

When I was little, my parents thought it was nice that I liked to read so much. They were proud that I was such an avid reader. But I was raised on a farm where everyone was expected to pitch in and help, and as I got older, what was perceived as cute became an irritation, especially to my Dad, who thought I should be working instead of “wasting time” reading. I took to reading late at night, sometimes in my bed, with a flashlight, half hidden under the covers, so my parents wouldn’t see the light. There are photos of me sitting at a picnic table or in the back seat of the car when we were on family vacations, reading, when according to my Mom and Dad, I should have been doing things with my family – hiking, swimming – the things “normal” kids do. When I tried to read, my sisters and brothers teased me. My parents yelled at me. Reading became a sore spot.

I stubbornly ignored them and kept reading… and writing. A poetry class and then, a creative writing teacher, inspired and encouraged me to write, to express myself. I was a straight A student, fueled as much by what I learned from the books I read as what I was taught in class.

But somewhere about the time I was a junior in high school, I started to accept the message that was repeated over and over again – at worst, that reading was a waste of time, at best, that reading was something people only did when they were too old to work and had nothing better to do with their time. I stopped reading for pleasure. My school courses became more demanding and required more reading, and I was involved in several extracurricular activities – choir, yearbook editor, 4-H, youth group at church – that required my attention and took a lot of time.

This was even more true in college. What free time I did have was spent talking with friends in my dorm. I started working and dating. I wrote reams of poetry while I was at Wheaton, exulting in first loves and new experiences, questioning, learning, growing up. But I read only what I had to.

I married after two years at Wheaton and moved to Germany. I continued my studies and wrote avidly – this time in the form of term papers and hundreds of hand-written letters to my parents, in-laws, Grandmas, and friends. But I didn’t read. I earned money and I worked. I gave up the fight and listened to the inner voice in my head that said I was being lazy when I sat down to read a book… that I should be working… that I should be doing something worthwhile, productive… if nothing else, seeing the sights and experiencing Europe.

It didn’t help that books written in English weren’t that readily available in Germany. No e-books back in the 70’s! But more importantly, my life was in crisis. My marriage was a mess, and I made a series of bad choices in the years that followed… choices that I was ashamed of, felt guilty about, and couldn’t talk… or write… about. I lost hope, felt depressed, eventually got divorced. I neither read nor wrote during this period. How can a person read stories with a happy ending when you are so cynical that you don’t believe in them? Writing seemed pointless. It didn’t solve anything, help anything, change anything.

I acquired a sarcastic wit as I fought my way back to emotional health and rebuilt my tattered financial status. I worked countless hours opening a business and eventually found both happiness and success. But I never opened a book.

It’s ironic now to think back on that time period — the fact that each of the rooms at my Bed and Breakfast is named after a book attests to the fact that I still had a passion for reading. The rooms are named after books I’d read as a child, The Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Secret Garden, and Sherwood Forest from Robin Hood. There are rooms from Sleeping Beauty, NeverNeverland A Wrinkle in Time, Heaven to Betsy, one of the Betsy – Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace… the books I’d loved as a child were the only books I knew, because I had stopped reading by the time I became an adult.

Then, a friend invited me to join her at Prince Edward Island for a week and a half. Her aunt and uncle owned a vacation house on the water, and had rented the one next door for us to stay. I arrived at the sleepy little island one summer day, and felt immediately at home. Plainly rural, yet beautifully scenic, it lives up to its Indian name, Abegweit, or land cradled by the waves.

I’d never been on a seaside vacation. My family camped, changing locations every night, seeing new sights every day, traveling hundreds of miles over the course of a week’s vacation. I was bored silly, or more accurately, fit to be tied, after 3 days.

My friend’s Aunt Doris was a reader. She handed me a book and told me to relax. I started Sandra Brown’s French Silk later that afternoon, sitting in an old lawn chair, overlooking the water. I had read six books by the time I left for home. She let me take another to read on the airplane. I had finished it by the time I reached New Jersey, and bought another at the airport to take me to Minneapolis. I haven’t stopped since.

I read everything Sandra Brown had ever written. I discovered Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jill Marie Landis, Dorothy Garlock, LaVyrle Spencer, Nora Roberts, Elizabeth Lowell, Debbie Macomber, Janet Evanovich, Linda Lael Miller, Pamela Morsi, Julie Garwood, Jennifer Crusie and more, devouring their books one by one. Bookshelves once filled with baskets and knick-knacks were now crammed with books.

A year after I visited Prince Edward Island and started reading again, I was inspired to write my first novel. I spent hundreds of dollars to fly to Colorado, rent a car, and attend a writing workshop led by Madelaine L’Engle. My employees, parents, and brothers and sisters all seemed to think I was wasting my time. Would writing pay off? It didn’t seem likely that I would ever get paid for the hours and hours I was spending in front of the computer, typing away.

This time, I again refused to listen. I kept reading… and writing. In my first published book, “Night and Day”, recently released by Second Wind Publishing, Jensen Marie Christiansen finds pure magic on Prince Edward Island, the place where I rediscovered my love of reading. Is it any surprise I chose this very special island to be the setting of Jensen’s dream come true?

Although my family has learned to accept my passion for books and writing, the entrepreneurial side of me is still bothered on some level that I may never net more than one or two cents an hour for the time and energy I’ve spent writing my books. But I have learned to be proud of my voice. I have learned that dreams really do come true. I have learned that I must write… and read. With every book I read, I am far richer than I was before.

***

By day, Sherrie Hansen operates a Victorian Bed & Breakfast and Tea House, The Blue Belle Inn. By night, she enjoys writing novels, blogging http://sherriehansen.wordpress.com/, quilting, playing the piano, renovating old houses and traveling. Sherrie and her husband live in Northern Iowa.

Night & Day is available for order through the Second Wind Website http://secondwindpublishing.com/ in ebook and paperback forms. Paperbacks are also available from Amazon and in Kindle format as well.

An ever better video of Night and Day!

Writing the Successful Synopsis

~Sia McKye~

Most of us have heard the groans of authors when it comes to writing a synopsis. I don't think I've ever heard or read of an author saying, "Oh, that's easy. You just do this, this and that—it's done." Uh, right. That's why we hear grown people almost in tears over it. Also why some authors won’t query agents or publishers requiring a synopsis.

I've look at a lot of sources—agent websites, writing websites, books and some pointers from my writing group. None of who have said, "Oh, easy-peasy." I admit that I've allowed that negative connotation influence me. I think the problem is, we have to confine our synopsis to one, maybe two pages. That should be simple, right? Two pages max. The problem comes in when we are talking about condensing a hundred thousand word document into one or two pages. Tell the story in one or two pages? Are you nuts? At that point we're looking at a mountain we have to take down with spoons and put it into two wheelbarrows. Not so easy.

I read an interesting quote by the author of A Higher Justice with regards to writing one. He said, "The goal is not to explain the entire book. The goal is to get the editor, agent, or reader hooked enough to read the sample chapters and see the market potential." I was always under the impression that we were supposed to tell the whole book and that was my stumbling block.

To overcome that mental picture of a mountainous mass to condense, I've decided to break it into workable sections. I'm only looking at it section by section. Not quite so daunting then.

From what I understand, a synopsis should have five key elements, according to the book, Give 'Em What They Want:

The opening hook—the opening sentences should pull the reader into the synopsis.

Plot highlights—detailing major scene of the story. Incident, reaction, and decision. There were some suggestions under this point, which I found interesting and helpful, in identifying those major scenes.

Quick sketches of the main characters—their motivations and conflicts, especially with each other.

• Do I need this scene to make the primary plot hang together?
  
• Do I need this scene for the ending to make sense?
  

Core Conflicts—No conflict, no story. Makes sense to me. There were some traditional categories of conflict, which I'd never heard of.

• Person vs nature
  
• Person vs society
  
• Person vs self
  

The Conclusion—tying up the loose ends without a cliffhanger. Editors and agents are not fond of guessing. You have to spell out your ending.

The argument is, if a writer can address these key elements, the synopsis shouldn't be too hard to write. I'm not convinced of this, but I'm going to try it. For sure, these points outlined here help an author to be sure all the essentials are addressed in your story, whatever the length of it is. I'll work on the elements and then when I'm comfortable with that, I'll work on the structure.

What are your thoughts on this? What have you found that works in writing a synopsis? Any good resources you’d recommend?

Any success stories?

***
I'm married to a spitzy Italian. We have a ranch out beyond the back 40 where I raise kids, dogs, horses, cats, and have been known to raise a bit of hell, now and then. I have a good sense of humor and am an observer of life and a bit of a philosopher. I see the nuances—they intrigue me.

I’m a Marketing Rep by profession and write fiction. I have written several mainstream Romance novels one of which I’ve out on a partial request. I’ve written and published various articles on Promotion and Publicity, Marketing, Writing, and the Publishing industry.

Aside from conducting various writing discussions and doing numerous guest blogging engagements, each week I promote and share authors’ stories, on the laughter, glitches, triumphs, and fun that writers and authors face in pursuit of their ambition to write—Over Coffee.