WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH

My guest is western romance author Joanne Kennedy. She shares with us her recent battle with Chronic Pain—how she's coped with it and distractions that have helped.

Sometimes when the going gets tough, the tough need a little escape from reality. That’s why I love romance novels. There’s nothing like plunging into the glittering world of the Regency era, joining hunky Navy S.E.A.L.s on a stateside mission, or riding the range with a hot hunky cowboy to take your mind off your troubles.

Once in a while, I hear from a reader who says my books helped them through a difficult time. Writing stories that offer solace when someone is ill or dealing with loss gives my work a whole new purpose.

But this year, the roles were reversed: It was knowing that there were readers out there waiting for my stories that kept me going through my own tough times. Because last year I joined the estimated 35 million Americans who suffer from chronic pain. 

It’s not easy to admit to this. I feel like I’m coming out of some dark closet, or admitting to alcoholism. Though there shouldn’t be a stigma surrounding something you can’t help, we instinctively keep pain hidden, like an injured animal who crawls off and hides so no one will see his vulnerability. We don’t want to risk being dismissed as neurotics or hypochondriacs. Besides, we all know the surest way to end a conversation is to answer the question “how are you” honestly.

In some ways, I was lucky. The source of my pain was obvious—jaw joints severely degenerated from arthritis, and two discs in my neck that protruded into my spinal cord. So nobody dismissed my pain, and there were concrete solutions. But millions of people, especially women, suffer from illnesses like fibromyalgia that are more or less invisible. In addition to being in pain, they have to deal with the fact that some folks—sometimes family and friends, and even doctors—don’t believe their suffering is real.

That’s why those of us who deal with chronic pain need to talk, not about the problem but about the solution. And the first solution is the talking itself, because it’s hard to solve a secret.

The best solution I’ve found is distraction, and the best distraction is creativity. The only really bad days were the days when I couldn’t perform the physical task of writing. For two weeks after my neck surgery, I couldn’t type; I could barely hold up a paperback book and read. All I can say is thank God for podcasts and audio books! They kept me sane.

Once I could write again, I could escape reality and lose myself in my characters and their world. My heroine in Cowboy Crazy is a little troubled and angsty, probably because of how I was feeling when I wrote the book. But rodeo cowboy Lane Carrigan helped her through her tough times, and he helped me, too.

All things happen for a reason, and I learned a lot from this experience. I learned that it’s important to have balance in your life—to get up and walk rather than spending eight straight hours at the computer. I learned that it’s important to listen to your body, and make adjustments when it gives you a little twinge to remind you you’re not taking care of it. I learned to keep trying, to persevere and never give up. Recently I found a doctor who’s able to help me, and I feel like I’m finally on the road to recovery.

Most of all, I learned to appreciate what I do and the people who allow me to do it. Thank you to all my readers for keeping me going. You have no idea how much it means to know you care about my stories. Because of you, the characters I love actually live out there in hearts and minds, and bringing them alive for you is what kept me going through some very difficult days.

• What keeps you going through the hard times? Do you treat yourself to something special, lose yourself in a good book, or take off on flights of creativity? 

COWBOY CRAZY BY JOANNE KENNEDY

 IN STORES JUNE 2012

Sparks fly when sexy cowboys collide with determined heroines in a West filled with quirky characters and sizzling romance. Acclaimed for delivering “a fresh take on the traditional contemporary Western“ Joanne Kennedy’s books might just be your next great discovery!

From stable to boardroom…

Sarah Landon’s Ivy League scholarship transforms her from a wide-eyed country girl into a poised professional. Until she’s assigned to do damage control with the boss’s rebellious brother Lane, who’s the burr in everybody’s saddle. He’s determined to save his community from oil drilling, and she’s not going back to the ranch she left forever. Spurs will shine in this saucy romp about ranchers and roots, redemption and second chances.  EXCERPT

To purchase Joanne’s latest release, Cowboy Crazy, please visit ganxy.com/p/62834.

Joanne Kennedy is the author of four contemporary Western romances for Sourcebooks: Cowboy Trouble One Fine Cowboy, Cowboy Fever, and Tall, Dark and Cowboy. She brings a wide variety of experience, ranging from chicken farming to horse training, to her sexy, spicy cowboy stories. She is a 2011 finalist in the prestigious Romance Writers of American RITA© Awards, for One Fine Cowboy. Joanne lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where she is working on her next book, Cowboy Tough (Fall 2012). 
For more information, please visit http://joannekennedybooks.com/. 

BREAKING CODES

It's my pleasure to welcome back Donna MacMeans to Over Coffee. I thought it quite interesting to find that there were personal ads for finding companions and mates as early as the 1800's. Precursor to dating sites in our day. A lesson in the more things change the more they stay the same.
One commenter has the opportunity to win an autographed copy of Donna's latest release, The Casanova Code. 

A few years back, a friend sent me an article about Victorian personal ads:  man seeks woman, woman seeks man...yes, they had those sort of things back then, only they were more eloquent in their phrasing.  Here’s an example:

B.78 Middlesex – Age 25; fair, slight, fond of music, and a lively temperament; would like to make the acquaintance of an educated, refined man not under 30; not necessarily for marriage; wishes to correspond with a gentleman who is cultured and of a sympathetic disposition, either a business or professional man, but must be at least 30, and not more than 50; not a clergyman; a man of broad views and fond of music.July 1898

The ads make perfect sense when you think about it.  The industrial revolution brought people into the cities, expanding the population and changing the methods used to find a life partner.  Personal ads came into being about fifty years after newspapers began to widely circulate, but it wasn’t until the Victorian period that the ads became common.

Which got me thinking...(always a dangerous development)...what if someone knew that a notorious rogue was behind the placement of an ad for a quiet, unassuming female, and what if that someone felt obligated to warn any respondents of the danger they faced.  Thus my group of women determined to save other women from unscrupulous men was born - The Rake Patrol.

I discovered something interesting in my research of personal ads that helped shape the first book in my Rake Patrol series.  Sometimes the personal ads were written in code because the two correspondents didn’t want others “eavesdropping” on their otherwise public conversations. I gave my heroine, Edwina Hargrove, the ability to break code and read some of those secret conversations.  That particular talent gets her in more trouble than she ever imagined possible.

 

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, BAM

THE CASANOVA CODE:

“A refined gentleman, age 25, of wealth and education, seeks the acquaintance, with a view to matrimony, of a high-minded, kind-hearted lady who prefers an evening of quiet conversation to the lively demands of society.”

Edwina Hargrove knows that this “gentleman” was, in fact, Ashton Trewelyn, a rake notorious for seducing the young and naive. In fact, five decent women have already been tricked and bundled off to the continent for scandalous purposes. There was a way to thwart his scheme though—by shadowing this devilishly handsome Casanova and warning his prey.  If only it were that simple.

Wounded and weary, Ashton Trewelyn returns home to London from the King’s Royal Rifles but soon discovers a coded message that has implications for the Crown and his family.  His only hope to unravel the mystery lies in the enigmatic Edwina’s ability to recognize patterns.  Even as he leads her on a path of secret societies and risque temptations, he discovers she arouses his jaded soul with temptations of her own.  Must they risk everything to decipher Casanova’s Code? EXCERPT

Secret Codes, secret societies, sexy heroes - what more could you want in a romance?  I had a great time writing THE CASANOVA CODE and I’m hoping your readers will enjoy it as well.  Someone leaving a comment on the blog today will win an autographed copy.

I suppose the modern equivalent of personal ads are the online dating services.  

• Have you ever tried one?  Would you ever try one?  What attributes would you advertise for in a partner?  Would you be honest about yourself or take creative license (grin)?  Let’s chat!

(BTW, the first personal ad came from a book called “Classified, The secret history of the personal column”  written by H.G. Cocks, which according to the copyright page, stands for Harry Cocks  - Yup, you read that right.  Poor man!)

Before beginning her writing career in earnest, Donna MacMeans kept books of a different nature. A certified public accountant, she recently abandoned the exciting world of debits and credits to return to her passion: writing witty and sensuous romances. Her debut novel, The Education of Mrs. Brimley, won the 2006 Golden Heart for Best Long Historical. Her second book, The Trouble with Moonlight, won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award for historical love and laughter. Originally from Towson, Maryland, she now resides in central Ohio with my husband, two adult children and her kitty keyboard companion, Shadow.

Visit her website 

or Facebook, Twitter

DIVING INTO SELF PUBLISHING—Part II

If you missed Part One, you can read it here.

One of my pet peeves is an author putting out a product that isn’t professional. Your name is your reputation and it’s hard to build a name and brand that represents good quality and all too easy to damage with shoddy work. 


There should be certain expectations that come with the name on the cover of the book. The reader has the right to expect to get as good a story as they would if the book was traditionally published in both content, copy, and cover art. Content editing: does the story work, does it start in the right place, is the POV correct, is there enough tension, conflict, and motivation to carry the story? A good story is so much more than having a manuscript written without errors and in perfect English (copy editing). It’s about writing to entertain a reader and that’s much more difficult. Content is everything and that’s true whether you’re a small indie publisher or self-publishing a book.

In part One, Judi spoke about the whys of self-publishing and the need for self-published authors to put out a professional story and some of the downside.

 “self-publishing isn’t all wine and roses. Self-published authors now take on the role of publisher as well as author. That means no advances and all the up-front costs: Editing (story, copy, line…), a cover, formatting, ISBN, copyright, marketing. You have to be your own editor, art department, publicist, and marketer in addition to being a writer and businessperson.”  

Judi Fennell continues her thoughts on producing a professional looking product. Especially when it comes to the cover art and the technology of producing a high quality book to sell. 

Covers are arguably the best marketing tool you have after word-of-mouth. If the cover is appealing, people will “pick it up.” How many times have authors complained that their cover looks nothing like the book? I actually had to change my heroine’s hair color based on a cover because the Marketing Department loved the image they’d selected for the cover. Okay, I went with it (heck, she was a genie—she could change her hair color at will if she wanted), but guess what?

They changed the cover.

Luckily, they used another model with the same colored hair, but there you go. My vision altered. (I do love the cover, though, don’t get me wrong. And I’m fine with the hair color change; it’s just part and parcel of the TP business.)

BUY KINDLE ADDITION

But when I set out to do my cover for Beauty and The Best I knew there were elements I wanted on there. Definitely the hot guy. He’s headless because, sadly the face doesn’t always match the body… But I got to choose him. (And, yes, it was tough. Seriously. Think about all the hours I spent scrolling through pictures of half-naked guys. It was rough.)

I wanted to show the humor and the guardian angel element. That would be the cat with the cockeyed halo.

I wanted a white background. My work has been compared to a lot of contemporary authors whose TP covers are white, and even though this book has the guardian angel slant to it, it’s essentially a contemporary romance.

I wanted to capture Todd’s art and the paint-splattered drop cloth that plays a nice part in the story. But I couldn’t put all of these elements together.

Enter my cover artist, Kim Van Meter.

I’d done research, looked at different cover artists’ work and their turnaround times, and Kim was the one I went with, but there are others out there who do work that is just as amazing. I love the cover and have gotten awesome feedback from readers.

And it looks FABULOUS in print.

Print, you ask? How do you print books if you’re self-publishing? Doesn’t that cost an arm and a leg? Don’t you need to store thousands of books in a warehouse somewhere?

No. You don’t.

I use Createspace for my print versions and, while the books are a little more expensive than TP print books, readers who want the books in physical form are getting an awesome product (if I do say so myself). It’s gorgeous.

So how does one actually self-publish?

Write the story. I can’t stress that enough. You can spend hours, days, weeks, on the other aspects, but if you don’t have the story, you’re wasting your time. Use beta readers to get the story as best as it can be. Then hire an editor. Edit your book. Make it the best it can be. Those people who do no promoting and their books skyrocket? That’s because they’ve done their homework on the most important aspect of this business: they wrote the best book they could.

Get a cover. Whether you do it yourself or you hire someone, make this cover PROFESSIONAL looking. I can’t stress that enough. Nothing says “cheap product” than a sub-par cover. Research other books in the genre you’re writing. Take a look at the best sellers. What is it about their covers that grab your attention? Who are the cover artists? What elements do you want on your book?

Deal with the technology. Or, if you don’t want to figure out formatting and uploading and ISBNs and Bowker’s site, and whether to do KDP Select or Nook First, or free books, or giveaways… hire someone.

*** Full disclaimer: I have a formatting site: http://www.formatting4U.com. Check me out. Many satisfied REPEAT clients and reasonable prices. Referrals for other services. Excellent turnaround time. And hand-holding all the way. ***

Self-publishing is a business all on its own in addition to the writing business. That’s very important to remember. You have to switch hats from the comfortable creative author hat to something that’s maybe outside your comfort zone. Join some indie and self-pub loops; the information you can find there FOR FREE is priceless.

But most of all, write. Having one book up is nice, but it’s the multiplier factor of having more than one, especially if it’s a series, that will bump up your sales to where you might be able to leave the Day Job and focus solely on your writing. I’m not there yet, but I’m hopeful.

Am I still pursuing TP? Yes. Why, if self-publishing can be the way to Day Job and artistic freedom? Because, as with anything else, having all your eggs in one basket might not be the best thing. Publishing is constantly changing; no one knows what will happen next. I’d hate to ditch the security of a Day Job for the Wild West of Publishing only to have a tornado come along and turn that Wild West into a dustbowl. But that’s my path; it might not be yours. I know other authors who say they’ll never traditionally publish again. Why give away 64% of their royalties? It’s a compelling argument and may change my mind as I bring the next books to market. (Look for If The Shoe Fits, book #2 in the Once-Upon-A-Time Romance series after Beauty and The Best, and Through The Leaded Glass, a RenFaire time travel romance coming soon!)

And a peek at Magic Gone Wild which comes out August first: 

You can read a short excerpt Here.

Judi Fennell has had her nose in a book and her head in some celestial realm all her life, including those early years when her mom would exhort her to "get outside!" instead of watching Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie on television. So she did--right into Dad's hammock with her Nancy Drew books.

These days she's more likely to have her nose in her laptop and her head (and the rest of her body) at her favorite bookstore, but she's still reading, whether it be her latest manuscript or friends' books.

PRISM and Golden Leaf Award winner and ARe best-selling author, Judi loves to hear from her readers. Check out her website (www.JudiFennell.com) for excerpts, reviews, contests and pictures from reader and writer conferences, as well as the chance to "dive in" to her stories.

DIVING INTO THE SELF PUBLISHING POND

This is part one and I'll be running part two on Monday, June 4th.

A 'Round the cup discussion. 

Most writers, who want to be published, are reaching for traditional publication. That's their goal. These authors have worked long and hard to be traditionally published. Now, we have traditionally published authors who are self-publishing many books in addition to their traditionally published work. Why?


I asked a friend, Judi Fennell, to give me her thoughts on why she chose to also self-publish a series of books. What's the appeal? How hard is it? Now that she has books in both markets, I was curious about what conclusions she drawn. So she shared her thoughts on why she chose to dip into the self-publishing market. One thing stands out in these articles—these authors (I know many) have a different mindset when it comes to the business of writing. They have to be to make it a success.

Those of you who have seen my Tritone Trilogy (Mermen off the coast of the Jersey Shore), may recognize the “dive into the romance!” tagline. It was funny, punny, and tied the series with the romance, but now I’m using it to talk about the fact that I’ve dipped my toes into the self-publishing pond with Beauty and The Best. 

Why, you ask?  I mean, I’ve worked so hard to be traditionally published (5 books, #6, Magic Gone Wild, comes out August 1 and is available for pre-order I'll have a sneak peek of this one on Monday!), why go the self-pub route? 

I’m like a lot of other traditionally published writers, and those who haven’t yet been traditionally published (henceforth TP): we have books that NY just doesn’t know what to do with. Self-publishing gives us the opportunity to share our books with readers.

NY has big rents. They have overhead. They have salaries. They used to have marketing budgets and editors who could grow an author.

Not anymore.

Nowadays, it’s all about the bottom line, especially with the new kids on the block: Amazon. To achieve those bottom lines, NY needs to make sure they’re going to make money on a book. It’s not always advisable, then, for them to take a chance on a new author, or a new subgenre, or a storyline they haven’t seen before, or finish out a lackluster series. Tried-and-true is pretty much the way they hang.

But publishing is changing. Reading is changing. And the reading public is changing with them. E-Readers are now on our phones. Kindles, Nooks, iPads are all over the place. I was one of those who thought I’d never give up on paperback books, but I have to say, that One-Click buy button makes everything sooooooo easy. Especially if I finish a really good book at 11 pm and just have to find out what happens in Book #2. I can get it instantly.

We were on vacation two years ago and on the plane, Kid and I were talking about a book I recommended. We opened up the eReader and downloaded that book before the “Turn off your electronic devices” call sounded. Kid was entertained the entire plane ride (which meant Mom got to enjoy her book…)

You can read more HERE

But back to the reason I self-published. My first book (and yes, there will be more) was my American Title III finalist, Beauty and The Best. This book had come this close to being picked up by TP, but two editors left the day I’d submitted revisions to them. Yeah, two at different houses at different times. I’d gotten that far and then nothing. My current editor has seen it twice, but she didn’t “know how to market guardian angels.”

Um, okay. I will.

Readers have seen this story for years. It was in the American Title contest. It was in the Gather.com/Simon & Schuster First Chapters Contest (the only Romance to make the Top 20 finalists out of over 2,600 manuscripts). Its won contests. The opening line is a keeper:

There’s a naked man in my kitchen.

Now, finally, I have the ability to bring it to my readers.

I’m on a lot of self-pub and indie loops and I see the same thing with other writers. Their editors didn’t know what to do with this new subgenre they’re writing. The editors didn’t want to change what was working. So the authors have put these stories up themselves and, finally, they’re able to make a living at being a writer. I say finally because a midlist TP author really can’t, not with one or two books out a year and a 6% royalty rate.

Plus, authors can now bring out more books a year, at a lower price, which is not only to their benefit, but also their readers’. Compare my TP book prices of $5.38, to the $2.99 I can offer Beauty and The Best at. Self-pub authors see sales figures HOURLY rather than twice a year.

What’s the appeal of self-publishing?

1. The ability to actually make a living as a writer
2. The ability to put out more books a year.
3. Self publish backlist rights to books the author has written 
4. Ultimate control over our story from editorial to the cover (something most TP authors have ZERO say in. 
5. See monthly income rather than twice a year—as TP contracts pay 
6. Self-published authors are paid 70% of the cover price (compared to 6% TP) 
7. Write the stories we've always wanted to write but no one “knew what to do with.”

Of course, self-publishing isn’t all wine and roses. Self-published authors now take on the role of publisher as well as author. That means no advances and all the up-front costs: Editing (story, copy, line…), a cover, formatting, ISBN, copyright, marketing. You have to be your own editor, art department, publicist, and marketer in addition to being a writer and businessperson.

Sure, there are stories of people putting a story up and doing nothing else and the book takes off, but that isn’t the norm. You have to get the word out. You have to have a good, professional product. Your story could be great, but if you don’t have a clue about spelling or grammar or leave plot holes wide-open, readers will call you on it.

Covers are arguably the best marketing tool you have after word-of-mouth. I’ll talk about that more on Monday with part two. How to choose the right cover, editing, and how to actually self publish a book.

• Writers, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on publishing—whether you've gone both ways or by passed traditional publishing altogether. What are you seeing?

RETURNING TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME

MARGARITAS AT SUNSET

My guest is Lisa Brackmann. I'm glad to have her visiting Over Coffee again. If you remember, I interviewed Lisa last year when her debut—ROCK PAPER TIGER (Year Of The Tiger in the UK)—was released. 
Lisa's second book, GETAWAY (Library Journal Reviews lists it as a must read this summer), has just been released. Lisa is currently down in Puerto Vallarta (hence the margarita above, directly from her to us) attending a book event and will be checking in from Mexico through out the day.  

I’m here in Viejo Vallarta, a few blocks from the beach, close enough to feel the ocean breezes. To my left is a ravine, where several donkeys stomp on the hillside, waiting for their nightly appearance at Ánadale, a bar down the street in La Zona Romántica.

At this point, some of you who read my latest novel, GETAWAY, may be saying, “Waaait a minute. Didn’t you just write a scary book about an American woman who goes on vacation in Puerto Vallarta, and things go very, very wrong? Aren’t there headless bodies on every street corner?”

It is true that there are some very scary stories coming out of Mexico, largely centered on the violence that has exploded since Mexican President Calderón declared war on the drug cartels a few years ago. This war has claimed upwards of 40,000 casualties, and though most of them are involved in the drug trade, journalists, officials and innocent bystanders have also been targeted or caught in the crossfire.

All of that said, it’s important to understand that this violence is largely localized, focused mainly in the border zone or in other areas where different cartel factions vie for control of the market.

Puerto Vallarta is still a safe destination for tourists and a wonderful place to spend your vacation. In fact, every time I visit, I ponder relocating here. I could live in this town. Write on a terrace cooled by ocean breezes. Take a break on Los Muertos Beach. Have a margarita or two.

So, why did I write a book that made the place seem dangerous?

My primary reason was that I am familiar enough with the location that I felt I could do the setting justice. A lot of readers want to be taken to an unfamiliar place and get a sense of what it might be like, and providing that experience is one of the things I most enjoy when I write books.

The other? It’s the job of a suspense author to, well, provide suspense.

This trouble looks pretty 

good to me, especially after a 

Margarita or two...

So, after deciding that I would set a suspense novel here, I had to figure out where the suspense would come from. I had a sort of vision, of an American woman on vacation, sitting on the beach, watching the passing carnival of tourists and locals, drinking beers, selling trinkets and serapes. She was unhappy, I knew that, but I didn’t know why. I wrote the first chapter, and figured that part of it out. Set up the situation that would get her in trouble.

Then, I had to determine what that trouble was.

You work with what’s plausible, or at least with what you can sell as plausible. Involving the drug trade in protagonist Michelle’s problems made sense. But I hope what people will take away from the story is not, “Mexico is scary!” and that the drug trade is a Mexican problem, one that has nothing to do with us in the US. But rather, that the story deals with corruption in general, and on both sides of the border.

A friend of mine who lives here asked, why would setting a crime novel in Puerto Vallarta be any different than say, setting one in Los Angeles? I think it’s a very good question.

Most Americans wouldn’t hesitate to visit Los Angeles, setting of countless crime novels, or New York, or Navaho country, or Oslo, or Beijing, or most of the places where countless authors have created fictional mayhem. In the case of Mexico, it’s true that there are areas you probably want to avoid, but I think that the many stories of drug violence with little to balance them have created a perception that does not match the reality of the country. Yes, the drug war is one reality. One aspect. And it’s a tragedy of epic proportions.

But, life goes on as well. And in most of Mexico, life is peaceful and ordinary.

So, adiós, for now, from Puerto Vallarta! It’s time for me to walk down to the beach, and have a margarita.

~*~*~*~

GETAWAY  Available in stores and online bookstores.

AMAZON, B&N, BAM, POWELLS

Michelle Mason tells herself she’s on vacation. A brief stay in the Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta. It’s a chance to figure out her next move after the unexpected death of her banker husband, who’s left behind a scandal and a pile of debt. The trip was already paid for, and it beats crashing in her sister’s spare room. When a good-looking man named Daniel approaches her on the beach, the margaritas have kicked in and she decides: why not?

But the date doesn’t go as either of them planned. An assault on Daniel in her hotel room, switched cell phones and an encounter with a “friend” of Daniel’s named Gary gets Michelle enmeshed in a covert operation involving drug runners, goons, and venture capitalists. Michelle already knows she’s caught in a dangerous trap. But she quickly finds that running is not an option. If she’s not careful, she’ll end up buried in the town dump, with the rest of the trash. Now she needs to fight smart if she wants to survive her vacation. EXCERPT

"Brackmann strikes exactly the right mood in this frantic look at an ordinary woman who can't seem to claw her way out of the mess in which she's managed to land."—Kirkus Reviews

Getaway:  

My Review 

~*~*~*~

Lisa Brackmann has worked as a motion picture executive and an issues researcher in a presidential campaign. A southern California native, she currently lives  in Venice California, with her three cats. Her critically acclaimed debut novel Rock Paper Tiger, was an Amazon best book of 2010.

You can find Lisa: Website, Twitter, Facebook

Kat's Monday Maundering – Toys for the Reader’s Brain

Here's to you Kat! And Thank you.

First of all, no, I’m not Sia. Sia has kindly allowed me to hijack borrow her blog while she takes a well-deserved rest and enjoys the long weekend. With any luck, she’s sitting by a pool with an iced coffee (or other adult beverage!).

Today’s blog topic was prompted by reviews I read on a book I loved, by people kvetching remarking they were unhappy with what they viewed as an unresolved, ambiguous ending. To them, I want to say pffft have you never watched Gone With the Wind? Shane? Read pretty much any literary novels?

I remember seeing Gone With the Wind for the first time when I was 15, as part of a class assignment. Rhett delivers his lovely line and slams the door. Scarlett cries and says she’ll think about things tomorrow. Fade to black. Lights up. I remember standing and yelling “I sat through four hours of boring war scenes and two intermissions for this??? This non-ending?? This…this…” At that point I became pretty much incoherent.

Many years later I watched it again. And discovered that I loved the ending. I loved discussing and debating it with friends. Did Scarlett chase after Rhett? Chase after someone else? Learn her lesson and become a nicer person (pffft!) Margaret Mitchell didn’t spell it out for us because she trusted us, as readers, to be discerning enough to figure it out ourselves. She didn’t need to wrap a pretty bow around it and deliver it on a silver platter. When asked, Mitchell herself said she did not know and said, "For all I know, Rhett may have found someone else who was less difficult."

The movie Shane ends much the same. The hero kills the villain and saves the town, but is wounded in the process. He gets on his horse and rides away into the sunset. Does he die? Find a doctor? Go on to save some other town? Marry Miss Kitty (oops, wrong Western). The thing is, we don’t need to know. The ending is satisfying just as it is, and the discussion/debate around it is even more entertaining.

So long as an author ties up all the major plot points, vanquishes evil (at least temporarily), and has cemented a memorable protagonist in my mind, I’m satisfied. Does the hero live to fight another day? Does the heroine look toward the future—no matter what it may hold—as a changed (or not!) person? I’m good with that.

I look at ambiguous/open/temporarily resolved endings this way: Let’s say on Christmas morning, you are given two presents. The first is all tied up with silvery wrapping paper and tied up with a pretty bow. Inside you find a doll house—the walls are decorated, it’s filled with tiny furniture, and comes with a little doll family all ready to move in.

The other package isn’t nearly as pretty—it’s kind of lumpy and unwieldy and has sharp corners poking out. When you unwrap it, you discover a pile of Legos. OK, so you can make your own doll house with them. Or you could build a skyscraper. Or a rocket. Or a pirate ship. They can be just as entertaining as that pretty ready-to-go gift, but some assembly is required. You’ll need to think. You’ll need to use your imagination.

But Legos—that daunting pile-o-stuff—comes with the best thing of all: possibilities. They can become whatever you want.

And so it is with books that have those open, ambiguous endings. When I read books like that I thank the author for respecting my intelligence, for trusting that I will discern their meaning, and for gifting me with whatever possible ending I can imagine for the characters.

***SPOILER ALERT***

If you’re up for a “flying off into the sunset” kind of ending, one that manages to combine BOTH a wounded hero AND a woman trying to figure out the next step in her life, I highly recommend the newest thriller from Lisa Brackmann, Getaway. Lisa herself will be here to talk with you on Wednesday, but I love her work so much, I wanted to recommend it ahead of time!

• So tell me: do you like your endings wrapped up with a pretty bow, or do you walk on the wild side and play with Legos?

Kat Sheridan is a recovering project manager and business analyst whose hard-bitten persona has always hidden a secret romantic. She likes her stories with a dark and dangerous flavor, so long as—in the end—the villains are vanquished and true love triumphs. She is inordinately fond of glitter nail polish, shiny things, bourbon, and any comestibles on which frosting can be placed.

Kat splits her time these days between the Midwest in the summer and the South in the winter because she dislikes snow, driving on ice, and wearing shoes (except for flip-flops, preferably with rhinestones). Her peripatetic life is shared with her own real life hero who shows her every day what happily ever after means.

Taking A Much Needed Break

I'll be taking advantage of the long Memorial Day weekend to take a nice break. Plan on getting in some fishing (perfect time for thinking and dreaming) and a few other things to relax. I'll have my notebook and trusty pencils for writing. I'm having fun with this one. 


Wednesday, May 30th Lisa Brackmann will be my guest. Monday, June 4th will be my Insecure Writers article. Wednesday, June 6th historical author Donna MacMeans and on Friday, June 8th I will have Joanne Kennedy.

• Do you have any plans for this Memorial Weekend?