Cozy up between the holidays

I’m excited. The paperback version of the new book is LIVE! At least at Amazon. Barnes & Noble seems to be taking a little longer over the holidays. With the winter weather, I like to curl in my favorite chair and read. This one will take you to warmer weather, intrigue and, or course, finding that special someone.

Amazon | BN

Wishing you all Happy Holidays! Thanks for walking this journey with me!

Want to see the new cover?

The final installment of the EPITAPH series will be hitting the stores in January. I have to say I love the new cover! The background in the front cover photo was taken at an Arboretum, a hedge maze that helped to inspire the story, and the photo on the back cover was taken at another public garden, a scenic grove. But enough gushing about the cover. Let me tell you about the book!

You can buy it HERE

In this final installment, we get to meet the last of the Benson brothers, and if you follow my blog, you know I struggled to write his story, but the more difficult characters are often the most interesting to write. I have to get to know them better than the "easy" characters.

Here's a sneak peek:

All the books stand alone, but if you want to get caught up, check out the rest of the books in the series (did I mention the first in the series is FREE?)

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Our furry companions

If you follow my blog, you know I'm a cat lover, and you've read the stories about my entertaining cats. Life, as they say, moves on.

This month I had to say goodbye to my blonde assistant. For a dumpster rescue, I never expected she would live to ten years, much less to almost 20. She was 19 this past September, and full of life, if a step slower. She grew hard of hearing (there are very few cats you can actually sneak up on), and she had her off days as she became a "grandma cat." My heart is broken every time I look at the empty corner in my office, or touch her favorite blanket that became her "nest," her favorite place to sit in the whole house. She was a beautiful cat and very much a part of our family. She always welcomed the kids back home, and even the grandkids when most cats would hide from small children.

If you've ever wondered if you should adopt a pet, I'm here to tell you it is a rewarding experience, much like having children. There are the training issues, the messy times, but when you are still and they love you, there's no other feeling like it.

As she crosses the rainbow bridge to join the pets who have gone before her, I thank her for 19 years of love and companionship.

Snester (say what??)

While I was proof reading my latest work, I stumbled upon this word: snester. WHAT??

I seldom miss typographical errors while I'm writing thanks to the technology that points out errors immediately. Even after I've finished, I generally don't find more than three or four typos in the entire manuscript (not misuses, typos). So when I was reading and ran into this word, I was dumbfounded. What the heck was that word supposed to be? The obvious answer came to me after only a few short minutes.

It brought to mind a published book I read that had a similarly odd word. I spent way too much time looking for the post I wrote about that word, but it didn't take long to figure out that the author in that instance had replaced the word tuna in her manuscript. Instead of searching for the whole word tuna, she did a global replace, which inserted the substitute into the word for-tuna-tely, which turned it into something else entirely (which word escapes me at the moment). One would hope these types of things would jump out BEFORE publication.

paper wasp nest

Which brings me back to snester. I'd written about bees and wasps and hives, and one of my critique partners pointed out that wasps build nests, not hives. He was right, of course, so I did a search and replace for hive and replaced it with nest. And I forgot to enable "search for whole word only." The mystery word? S-hive-r. The plus side to my boo-boo was that I discovered that I'd overused the word shiver!

Aside from giving me a good laugh while I was proofreading, goofy made-up words are a good reminder to be careful when you do a search and replace! Check that little box that says "search for whole word only" or watch for "match case" in those instance where capitalization applies, as well.

The final curtain

It's done. The last Epitaph installment is with the editor. Bittersweet, when a series comes to an end.

With every ending comes a new beginning. My plan is to take the holidays off, catch my breath. Do all the things I've been putting off in the mad rush to finish, and yet another story is never far behind. I have thoughts of a new stand alone, and I have ideas for a new series. I'm also thinking of expanding my brand, for those folks who don't appreciate the steamy bits. With recent world events, I'm leaning to the sweeter side of romance. Can't say for sure until I sit down and write the darn things.

For this week, I'm going to hug my 19 year old "blonde assistant" cat. I'm going to clean my house. I'm going to do my Christmas shopping and I'm going to check my Christmas cookie recipes for the best ones to make this year on "cookie baking day." I'm going to clear more of my TBR list. So many great books from authors I admire and enjoy. And I'm looking forward to spending more time with my family and friends. For this week, I'm going to smile and appreciate all the little things and when I get my edits back on Friday, I will begin preparing Epitaph 7 for it's release in the new year.

Thanks to all of you for encouraging me to keep on keeping on!

Catch up on all the Epitaph books here

Giving Thanks

It's always nice to take a minute out of our lives to give thanks for all we have. How appropriate that we have holiday for that!

I am thankful for my family - My husband. My children and the people they've chosen to spend their lives with. My grandchildren. My sisters. Aunt and uncles, nieces and nephews, cousins.

I am thankful to have had the opportunity to share my home with pets.

I am thankful for my friends.

I am thankful for the people who read my books. You have no idea how much it means to have someone appreciate the fruits of my labors of love.

I am thankful for my faith. I have been blessed, and on those days when I need to remind myself of that fact, I'm grateful to have blessings to count.

I am thankful for food on my table and continued health.

Wishing you all a
Happy Thanksgiving.

If it's worth doing...

I'm very excited to tell you I've finished the first draft of Epitaph 7! That's when the real work begins, the checking through it for continuity and holes and "what was I thinking there?" The getting a finished product ready for the editor.

As I finish writing a book, my brain is usually spinning ahead to "what's next." In this case, I'd already decided to give myself a break over the holidays. Finish off Epitaph 7 and give my creative juices a breather. Wouldn't you know it, my imagination had other ideas. In between my OCD to finish what I have, I got excited to start in on my next project - except my next project would come with a February deadline. That's pretty ambitious, and for someone who was looking for time off, will I short-circuit myself? It would mean rushing through completing this one or rushing through writing the next one. This is where the old adage "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right" has been front and center in my head.

I always strive to bring the best product forward. The original Epitaph novel is an example of that. I started that book in 2009, but I couldn't get it right. Even I knew it wasn't working, but I couldn't let it go. It took me seven years to figure out what was wrong and fix it, but rather than try to force a sub-par book to market, I took my time. I'm pleased with the end result, and the rest of the series that it spawned, and I'm glad I took the time to get it right. Likewise, I can't rush the final installment to market until it's done "right," and I don't want to hurry the new story at the risk of making a muddle of it. Once I start the new project, I'm not sure I'll make the February cut-off, but the new story is speaking to me. In a loud voice. Clearly. So it will be written. If I miss the cut-off, I'll wait for my next opportunity to present it, or I'll follow Plan B (yes, there actually is a Plan B).

The moral of my story (and shouldn't there always be a moral?) is to follow your heart, and if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well/right, even if it takes a little extra time.

When the antagonist is a family member

As I was working through plot points on my latest work in progress, I was trying to decide my antagonist's character arc -- and struggling somewhat since the antagonist is a family member. Coincidentally, I was concurrently reading a book by another author in which the antagonist was also a family member. Brilliant! I figured I could see how she handled the situation, even in a different genre, to see if I might be able to apply similar tactics.

Nope.

Having a family member as an antagonist opens a whole new can of worms. In the leisure reading I was doing, the author actually killed the guy off! Family member and all! The hero was conflicted on several levels about what to do with him and actually told his law enforcement friends not to kill the only family he had left. Granted, the villain was beyond redemption and in a tough spot, but there were so many other ways the author might have dispatched him. Let's just say I was horrified at the route she took. The guy had assassins after him, for heaven's sake, and she let the hero mortally wound him and one of the law enforcement guys (who'd been asked not to kill him) shoot him dead, all while the assassins had a gun trained on the him. ARGH! My sense of honor was offended. My sense of "this is fiction! You get to decide how this man dies" was offended. Of all the options... and then "the hero is now free to live happily ever after." WAIT! WHAT? This is his last remaining family! Despite the antagonist being beyond redemption, there were other ways to dispatch him that might be less traumatic to the hero and the heroine he was trying to protect. Needless to say, I will not be applying any of these options to my antagonist. Which takes me back to how best to deal with dispatching MY antagonist.

In my work in progress, the antagonist is evil, but she's in over her head. I'm thinking she might get jail time, but I don't think its serious enough for her to be killed over (contrary to the book I just finished - that guy definitely deserved what he got, but as a reader, I would have preferred by other hands). So I'm back to muddling around inside my own head meting out justice to the bad guy to the satisfaction of our protagonists.

Sometimes this author stuff is heady!

Happy Halloween!

Are you a Halloween ghoul? Or a denier?

In my experience, people seem to go all in, or ignore Halloween completely. During my walks around the neighborhood, I encounter displays of giant spider webs, headstones with clever names (Ivan Churblood), ghosts, witches, and a host of other decorations. Me? I'm lucky if I remember to take out my haunted house candy holder (shout out to my crafty sister who made it for me!) Outside decorations? I'm boring. I don't even put out a pumpkin anymore.

I enjoy the spooky movies - not the slasher flicks, but the ones that rely on your imagination to scare the poop out of you. Which brings my to my newest binge watch - The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix (thanks, Stephen King, for the recommendation). I was a fan of the original black and white movie (the remake, not so much), and while the series does introduce tangible ghosts (which is less scary), it's an interesting interpretation of the book. Another of my favorite old time scary movies is The Uninvited.

And then there are the spooky books (insert EPITAPH series plug here - although my ghosts are less scary than the people they haunt). The book that scared me to read was The Amityville Horror. Couldn't have it in the same room with me when I finished (although I was fairly young when I read it). I recently saw a funny Halloween post where someone said their mother-in-law had read the Exorcist and had a similar reaction, threw the book into a lake. The person who posted thought it would be funny to buy another copy, soak it for a day, and put it somewhere her mother-in-law would find it. The book that wouldn't die!

What are your favorite Halloween traditions? Reading? Decorating? Binge watching? Or nothing at all?

The Epitaph Series

Small town charm(s)

Every town has it's "thing." I grew up in the "Lilac Village," where they have a park filled with lilac bushes and tulips and every May they have a lilac festival when the flowers and bushes are in bloom. They have a parade and, while I was growing up, they also selected a lilac queen and her court. 

I recently visited a village founded post-WWII where their claim to fame is their chimney charms. 

For $10, you can walk around and look at the different decorations on everyone's chimneys. From Angels (#MyLifeIsAMusical, can you hear me singing Amy Grant's Angels Watching Over Me?) to Mickey Mouse, to firefighter boots and badges, to frogs and beyond. No, I haven't done the tour yet, but I fully intend to! In fact, a book or two ago, while I was thinking about what comes after The Epitaph Series, I was inspired by the row houses built for the returning vets, alongside free-standing houses. The neighborhoods are grouped together by alphabet - "I live in the D's" or "I live in the F's" - where all the surrounding streets start with the same letter. There's a statue of Normal Rockwell sitting before an easel in the downtown area. A fountain dedicated to Eleanor Roosevelt. A little girl statue twirling an umbrella.

What is your hometown famous for? Or where was your favorite "famous" spot to visit?

Christmas books?

All my usual book newsletters are sending me Christmas book recommendations. Now I am a big fan of Christmas, and I do love holiday-themed books, but it isn't even Halloween!

I suppose it isn't long before it's time to get in the holiday spirit, but I'm not ready! Should I add them to my TBR list in anticipation? For me, it's a "not yet."

I have a similar problem clothes shopping. The stores are always so far ahead of the seasons that I don't know what to buy. I want something I can wear "now," not in another month or two. Most likely, by the time we get past Halloween, those holiday reads will be harder to find. What's a reader to do?

I'm still looking for spooky reads, Halloween ghosts and witches. Give me another week and then I'll look for a Christmas read. Which brings me to recommendations. Are you looking for a ghost story? Checking out my Epitaph series. But if you're looking for that holiday read, Mist on the Meadow is my kooky way of incorporating a holiday into a book -- Christmas traditions, romance, and a mystery, too.

I'm working on the final installment, the last Benson, in the Epitaph series. This author wants to hear from you. Time for a new series. More ghosts? More romance? More mystery? Or something completely different?

Writing Romance in the MeToo Era

I have to say the headlines, especially in the last couple of weeks, have impacted me quite a bit, to the point where I questioned the wisdom of trying to write romance in a fractured world. I've heard several other romance writers express the same frustration, the same crippling sense of helplessness in a world of male entitlement that makes bringing two people together a challenge. I want to share with you what one of my friends told me, something that has helped me move forward. She put it so eloquently, I had to share.

"In contemporary books with strong female characters like yours, it's important to give women hope and an escape from the news... Imagine how sad our world would be if women gave up on the hope of a beautiful romance in their lives.  Your last book ... showed a woman surviving what so many women go through and coming out stronger on the other side with the help of a man who truly loves her. There will always be ups and downs in every romance, be it fictional or true life, but ... I think it's important to write those stories. I hate to see a woman's choice become all or nothing."

 Thanks, Jennifer. Me Too.

The perfect apple

A couple of years ago, my son took us to an apple orchard in Wisconsin. It's just a small place, not like some of the mega-farms and orchards where they have mini-carnivals and a shop full of overpriced accouterments and mixes and what-have-yous. They sell apples, and make cider donuts, and have other apple related food -- and yes, they have a couple of the mixes and what-have-yous. I sampled some of their apples and bought some. Nice texture (not chewy or mealy), nice flavor (not too tart, not too sweet but definitely flavor). 

This year, on an excursion north, DH and I stopped at the orchard again and I got more apples, and I remembered why I liked them so much. The problem is I only bought one pound (for $1.00 a pound!). I checked the grocery stores around my house for that variety and came up short, so I went to our local pumpkin farm and bought a peck of apples I thought would be similar in taste. BOY was I wrong. Nevertheless, I was eating them. Then I stopped at a grocery store I don't frequent very often and discovered - MY APPLES! So I bought three pounds (for $2.49 a pound). Brought them home and they were .... mealy. More disappointment.

Last weekend, we took another excursion north and stopped at the orchard. Oh wait. I already have a peck from the pumpkin farm and three pounds from the grocery. (counting on my fingers - how many apples is that?) But these are the GOOD apples. So now what do I do? I bought a five-pound bag. 

I've been eating the apples from the orchard first (obviously), but I don't want to waste the others. So I started looking up recipes and found one for apple rings. Perfect for the chewy apples, I'm thinking (and I was right!) So I thought I'd share the recipe with all of you!  Happy October - happy autumn!

Spiced Apple Rings

Apples (My baking sheet fits about two apples, so you can plan accordingly for how many you want to make)

2 Tbsp Cinnamon

1 Tbsp Ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cloves

Preheat oven to 200 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Wash and core the apples, slice them thin and place them in a single layer on the baking sheet (you might prefer to eat the ends raw rather than bake them).

Mix the spices together and sprinkle over the apples (I use an empty salt shaker to keep the spice mix). 

Bake the chips for an hour and a half. (Your house is going to smell heavenly while they're baking!). Remove them from the oven and flip them to the other side, sprinkle some more, and bake for another hour (up to an hour and a half). Check the crispiness for how you prefer them and cook them longer or turn the oven off. Leave the apples in the oven while it cools down. That allows them to get crunchier.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

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Life in the Big City - Chicago

As part of the day job, I frequently make trips into The Big City of Chicago. Some people love the city, and I'll admit, there are days I look forward to the adventure, but it's a long commute, and most days, its "the Big City." I'm not a city sort of person. Give me the wide open spaces. With that being said, there are lots of things you see in the city that you don't see in the suburbs or those wide open spaces.

YUM!

Frequently, man-on-the-street marketers hang around the train stations at rush hour handing out free
samples. Most recently, they handed me two milk chocolate Lindor balls. How can you go wrong with chocolate? And Lindt? My Favorite! Those fine people started my day off with a smile.

As I continued my trek over the bridge that crosses the Chicago River, I encountered a busker playing bagpipes. I didn't stop to take a picture because, contrary to the picture I'm showing you here, he was NOT wearing a kilt or any sort of traditional garb (or blowing flames from his pipes), but he was very good, and he was playing Scotland The Brave. With chocolates in hand, he made me smile and want to cry out "Wha-Hae!" (but again, I didn't.)



via GIPHY

There are often buskers, from the Bucket Boys who pay plastic buckets like drums, to violinists, to saxophones to trumpets and beyond. I have yet to hear one that isn't impressive. There are festivals and open-air markets, and you never know who you might see walking the streets. These are the things that make going to the city an experience, things that make you smile rather than clutching your belongings tightly and putting your head down.

At the end of my day, I frequently encounter a woman sitting on the bridge reading a book. There are also veterans outside the train stations, down on their luck, many of them missing limbs. They are a stark reminder that we have much to do to help those in need.

The city. An adventure any day of the week. I may not be a "city person," but I am proud to call Chicago and the surrounding area my home.

Writing as Therapy

One of the reasons I started my writing journey is because it was cathartic. I could escape from life for short spans of time and let my imagination run wild. Make up an alternate reality. There were years when I didn't write, when I was exploring who I was going to become when I finally grew up, but I always came back to writing. It has always been a part of me.

On the flip side, there were times I couldn't write, during those peak stress times in life. Some of the more popular stressors - Buying a house. Changing jobs. Death. Getting married/divorced. The birth of a child.

There's a delicate balance. While I often use writing as stress relief - an escape from the pressures and stress of the day job, I have discovered there are certain stresses that require a different outlet. Like walking, or exercise. Some distractions demand more "head space," which crowds out the imagination required to write. This is where discipline kicks in.

As an author, I try to write every day. Create habits. It's a job, and it needs to be done. There are days when it's impossible to write depending on where life decides to insert itself into my schedule, and like exercise or sports, when you don't do something regularly, you get "out of shape." The key is to not get too lazy, to get back into the routine as quickly as possible.

So what's this all about? DH and I have been trying to buy a new house, and I've been through a week of offers and counteroffers and -- hello? -- buying a house is a major life stressor. I'm also trying to write the final Epitaph installment, a book I have a thin outline sketch for but I can't seem to get off the proverbial runway. I have all the information I need to dive him and write like a fiend, but the words aren't working the way they're supposed to! Every book has its idiosyncrasies. I didn't think I'd finish THE SCULPTOR as quickly as I did, but those words practically flew from my fingers to the page. (Hey, did I mention that book released yesterday?? Do you have a copy yet? I personally think it's one of the best ones in the series.) Yes, this book will get written. Routine means I'm putting words down, even if they aren't the best words. It's okay to write crap in a first draft. I'll clean it up later, when my focus is back. The important part is to keep the discipline, not to break from the routine.

Now! In case you didn't know it, the first in the Epitaph series has been free all summer, but that's going to end soon. If you don't have a copy, now is the time to go get it! And as my final hurrah to summer, I've teamed up with a bunch of other authors of small-town steamy romances. Two lucky winners can win a HUGE collection of books (my contribution is THE SELKIE), and we're giving away an ereader to a grand prize winner. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you got this information in your mailbox. Enter the contest by clicking here: http://bit.ly/steamysmalltowmrom-sep18. Good luck!

To plot or not to plot

As an author, I've generally written by the seat of my pants, stopping only when I realize the story isn't going anywhere. I do like diving in without a direction, but even as far back as Living Canvas, I discovered there needs to be a road map. I seem to be needing one sooner in the process these days. While I still like to start out blind to get to know my characters, my companions on the journey, I need to figure out what’s going on before I write too many words. 

As I work on the final EPITAPH installment, I have discovered there’s no shame in plotting. I can still be amused with detours that will undoubtedly happen along the writing process. Plotting/an outline is just a general direction to travel, not the only road to get there! 

Some authors (myself included) like to be surprised while we're writing by an unexpected turn of events, and that can be incorporated into an outline simply by adding "something bad happens here." That leaves the road open for creativity and subconscious cues that come from the characters on the page. 

The answer to the age-old question? In my humble opinion, you can have the best of both worlds. Take along your atlas on that road trip, but be prepared for a detour or an uncharted point of interest. Those unplanned stops are generally what makes the trip the most fun.

Click here for buy links

Meanwhile, I have to tell you (cuz I'm SO EXCITED) that the penultimate EPITAPH book is coming out NEXT WEEK! Here's a link for you to buy it now so you don't forget!

Gardens and Topiaries

My latest obsession is topiaries. This from someone who definitely does NOT have a green thumb.

I'm very fortunate to have a house once inhabited by someone who knew how to garden. I've been able to plant and have success, although not nearly as much as the previous owner. With very little maintenance, I can actually grow things! I have tremendous respect for people who take the time to make their plants more beautiful. When I walk around my neighborhood, many of the yards have beautifully landscaped gardens.

With a little fresh air and sunshine, this is what my vegetable gardens look like. For a number of years, I had a strawberry patch that thrived out there, but with a couple of years where I was unable to do any gardening, even the strawberries suffered from lack of attention.

Inside, I've had *this* plant for probably 20 years. It's an ivy, and I have it creeping over my cupboards. It keeps growing, but this is what it looks like. Bare vine on one side, leaves on the other.

When I visited Disney, these sculptures were made from flowers and plants. Aren't they amazing?

Tall Tales

How many people are familiar with the tales of Paul Bunyan and Babe, the blue ox? I grew up with these stories in the upper Midwest, but it occurs to me that to people in the lower half of the United States (or outside) he might not be as recognizable.

The legend of Paul Bunyan is a tall tale about a giant lumberjack, perhaps more well-known in the north woods. It is said the 10,000 lakes that make Minnesota famous are Paul's footsteps.

On a recent trip to spend time with relatives, we stopped at a "cook shanty" for breakfast, lumberjack style, complete with this lovely statue of Paul and his sidekick, Babe, the blue ox. It brought to mind lumberjack cartoons I used to watch on Saturday mornings when I was a kid.

In the Epitaph series, I've made several references to the Benson brothers as "built like football linemen," but in the upcoming installment, the "new girl in town" envisions Thad Benson as Paul Bunyan (as an avid reader, she has a very active imagination).

I always enjoy revisiting old legends and folklore when I write. What are some of your favorites?

Watch for the next in the Epitaph series, coming this fall.

The first five EPITAPH books

Going on a Troll Hunt

What does an author do when she's between stories? Most often she keeps writing! But those are the moments when I find my best sources of inspiration, when I venture out into the world to discover new things.

I'm getting into the mind frame of my next character, who works with plants and trees and such, so what better place to visit than an arboretum? Actually, there is another place that serves as inspiration for my new setting, and I'm also planning a return trip there, but they don't have trolls.

Yes, trolls.


On a very warm day in the middle of the summer, my dear husband agreed to accompany me on a troll hunt. The arboretum covers 1,700 acres of land filled with trails and activities. To complete the troll hunt, we would have had to find six trolls and cover approximately six miles of trails. Some people abbreviate the miles by driving to parking lots that are close by, but as someone who enjoys hiking through dells and glens and meadows and trails, I opted to hoof it. We didn't cover six miles, and we only unearthed four of the trolls. Guess that means I have to make a return trip!

We found an aggressive troll who threw boulders at cars, a sneaky troll who lays in wait for unsuspecting prey to stumble into his trap, and a troll hiding behind a tree. Our fourth troll was actually the troll hideout, complete with giant toothbrush, cooking pot, basket and a wood-frame teepee. Everything in their camp was oversized.

Troll Trap!

Did I find the inspiration I was looking for? Yes! The hedge maze promises to figure prominently in Epitaph 7. The trolls? Not so much inspiration, but what a fun idea. I loved coming around the corner on a trail and finding a troll hiding in the trees.

Troll stew?

Birth Order

I've read the books, the articles, the psychology. Where you fall in line with your siblings tells a lot about who you are as a person. I subscribe to that - a little bit. But as with any rule, there are exceptions.

I married an "oldest" child, who firmly believes in the idea that the "youngest child" (looks at self, yep, I'm one of those) is always spoiled and gets away with things the oldest never could. I beg to differ. As the youngest child, it was assumed I would follow my older siblings and commit the same or similar transgressions, hence, intervention methods were taken. It took me a long time to figure out how come I was blamed for certain things I never did! Why my parents assumed I would act a certain way.

Don't get me wrong, some of the psychology is spot-on and I'm not here to tell you none of those birth-order traits apply to me. I am here to tell you some of those birth order traits apply to all children, no matter where they fall in the natural order.

So what's the point today? Bryan Benson.

For those of you following my Epitaph series, you might have read my concerns that Bryan was annoying me too much to get his own darn book. I'd committed to writing 7 Epitaph books, but when it came to that final sibling, I had a hard time relating to him, until I considered his birth order.

Bryan is NOT a youngest child. He's technically a middle child, but as I was writing Epitaph 6 (which is with the editor as we speak! YAY!), I figured I should give Bryan a chance to show me he was worthy of his own story, and you know what? He did. He has two older brothers who give him grief and a younger sister with "special talents." Is it any wonder this guy has issues? In each of his siblings' books, he's framed from their perspective. Of course they love their family, but they also don't consider his feelings all the time. He's their brother, after all. In Bryan's case, birth order does matter, and in order to write his story, I had to take him away from the bosom of family to give him a chance to grow and thrive and show the world there's more to him than being Amy's older brother and Thad and Garth's little brother. The more he showed up in Epitaph 6, the more I knew he deserved his chance in Epitaph 7.

Where do you fall in the birth order? How has it shaped the person you've become?

Are selkies really a thing?

Had a reader ask me recently if Selkies are really a thing or if I just made them up, so I thought I'd share my answer with all of you!

When I started the Epitaph series, all those darn McCormicks ended up with red hair (as is somewhat common among the Irish) with one notable exception. Liam's hair was black. I always knew Liam's story was going to involve Selkies -- yes, it's a genuine Irish legend and NOT something I made up.



Her's the official line on selkies (courtesy of Wikipedia):

A typical folk-tale is that of a man who steals a female selkie's skin, finds her naked on the sea shore, and compels her to become his wife.But the wife will spend her time in captivity longing for the sea, her true home, and will often be seen gazing longingly at the ocean. She may bear several children by her human husband, but once she discovers her skin, she will immediately return to the sea and abandon the children she loved.

Male selkies are described as being very handsome in their human form, and having great seductive powers over human women. They typically seek those who are dissatisfied with their lives, such as married women waiting for their fishermen husbands. In one popular tattletale version about a certain "Ursilla" of Orkney (a pseudonym), it was rumored that when she wished to make contact with her male selkie she would shed seven tears into the sea.

I've always been fascinated with fairy tales and folk tales - even the "Grimm" ones. When I set out to write THE SELKIE, I checked deeper into that particular legend, including watching an excellent movie called The Secret of Roan Inish (I would recommend it!). I also read another author's take on the legend, which was kind of fun. Roses bloomed all over the selkie's cottage out of season when the selkie's relative moved in. Naturally, when writing my version, I added my own spin, a little something known as artistic license.

The first five books

Crepuscular rays - Fingerprints of God

Q:  How many times do I hear people asking me what goes on inside an author's mind?
A: More times than I can count!

Today, I share with you some of those thoughts...

When I left the house this morning to take my morning constitutional, the dew point was still high. The sun was still rising. Combine the two and you get a beautiful combination of a natural phenomenon called crepuscular rays. As a woman of faith, this phenomenon presents itself to me as God shining down on me. Well, maybe not me in particular, but on the world, as if the morning fog makes His presence known in a more visible way.

All along the walk, more rays of sunshine, reaching to the sidewalk through the trees, lighting my path. These are the days I feel well and truly blessed. These are the days I know I don't walk alone in this life. With this natural display, God makes himself visible, touching the earth, all-encompassing, raining sun on every inch of the road I walk. Today was particularly impressive in that I had to walk through those rays to get to the sidewalk, through those rays all along my route. What a feeling of peace and comfort.

Goin' to the Chapel...

This past weekend, my one and only favorite son got married! Be prepared for parental gushing.

Proud Momma

You watch them grow from cuddly little children, to stubborn teenagers, to overwhelmed when they have to step into the "grown-up" world. I'm so darn proud of both my kids for having completed these steps, and they've each taken different roads to get there. Now, as I watch them both in the happily ever after phase of their lives, there's a feeling of melancholy that they're not my kids anymore. Of course they are! but they're all grown up and living their own lives now, and that's how it should be. The bonus is that in addition to having two children, now I get to "adopt" two more -- a strong son-in-law who adores my little girl, and a lovely daughter-in-law who is "amazing." Oh, wait. It doesn't end there! I also have two adorable little "Gs" -- the granddaughters, who are bundles of love. No, I haven't lost my children, my family has grown, and very likely, it will grow some more.

With that being said, I'm not going to embarrass my babies in a public forum, although I would love to do nothing more, by relating all the wonderful memories and joys that come from raising two such capable people. Instead, I'll just tell them both how very much I love them, and how very happy I am that they've found their happily ever afters. No, the story doesn't end here, there will still be conflicts to overcome, just like in the story books, but I'm confident they have found partners who will stand by them and who they will stand by.

Playing with dolls?

Usually, when I need to think through an idea or a plot point, I take a walk and "have a conversation" with my characters. I explore what they need to convey, what the consequences are, what a discussion might look like. Over the weekend, I was trying to decide what sibling rivalry among three grown sisters might look like, but because it was the weekend, my Dear Husband joined me, which meant I talked to HIM and not to my characters. So when I got home and sat at my computer, for whatever reason, Barbie dolls jumped into my head--as in "maybe I should act this out with my Barbies." (Except I don't have any Barbies anymore.)  

True confession time. When I was a kid, I loved playing with dolls.

Instead of resolving my plot point, my thoughts carried me away to all those people who ask me where I get my ideas from and how I find character names and traits and settings and plots and "How did you think of that?" in general. My pat answer is that I have a very active imagination--and I do. Playing with dolls might have been my first outlet. No, maybe it was the second. 

I was barely old enough to write the first time I knew I wanted to write books. I hand-wrote a story about a mother cat and her kittens (yes, I still remember!). Sent it off to Simon and Schuster (which means I must have been old enough to know how to address a letter). And boy were my parents surprised when I got that rejection letter back! But I digress...

Dolls. When you played dolls, didn't you make up a life for them? Things for them to do? Drive Ken and Barbie around in the Barbie Convertible? Dress them up for work? At the end of the day, that's what authors do. We decorate the Barbie house. We dress Barbie up for her day. We send her out with her friends. We make up things for her to do. 

I remember playing with dolls longer than some of my friends. Maybe, I still do.

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What happens when you don't like your characters?

One of the fun parts of writing is redeeming an unlikeable character, at least that has been true for me.

In the past, I have written some heroes who were too good to be true. They were fatally nice guys.

Then I met Cinda.

I had a hard time delving too deep into personalities, but with feedback on LIVING CANVAS, I decided to take on a challenge. An unlikeable character. She was so much fun to "redeem" that I took on another challenge, a faulted hero. He'd committed a serious relationship sin with one of my perfect characters, which required some serious consideration to repair. Yes, I grew as an author, and I discovered how much fun it could be to "fix" broken people rather than sigh over perfect people.

But what happens when characters are beyond help?

When I developed EPITAPH as a series, I meant to take each of the siblings of that couple and spin them into their own books. Three Bensons and three McCormicks. Each of those siblings presented themselves with unique personalities that I enjoyed developing, and there were family issues to take into consideration which affected them all differently. But I ran into a problem. One of the siblings just struck me as... how to put this politely... not too bright? So I figured I'd stop one book short and that particular sibling wouldn't get his spin-off.

As I'm writing the next installment, I reminded myself that I've redeemed characters who were beyond help before, so maybe if I paid attention to him in this story, I might be able to shore him up enough for his turn after all. The problem is I still don't like him. I have been trying to give him reasons and excuses and his own set of issues, but the guy is just a dim bulb. Can I write his story? That's a definite maybe. I've discovered some things about him that might have developed his personality, so he's got a 50/50 chance right now.

I met Mary Balogh at a conference once, a renowned romance writer, and she told a story of one of her books where she got about halfway into the story and it wasn't working for her. As she went over her work, trying to figure out what was wrong, she realized the hero and the heroine weren't meant for each other, so she threw out what she had and started over, finding a better match for her heroine. Our characters don't always respond the way we expect them to. They take on a life of their own.

As an author, I get to create the world I write in. I don't know how this character turned out to be so goofy (to use a less offensive term). I never intended for that to happen, but it seems he's not done talking to me yet.

The Time Warp Continuum

Call Captain Kirk.

Where are those darn standing stones when you need them?

Calling H.G. Wells.

One of the frequent issues I have while writing is continuity. Sometimes, it's a simple slip of the brain. Sometimes it's a major malfunction.

While writing THE ARCHITECT, I realized my time line wasn't clear, so I went back through and marked each day to make sure it was right. When I handed it in to my editor, she called me out, telling me I was missing days. But I wasn't! I'd checked! So I went back through and clarified which day was which because -- and this happens more often than not -- my timeline wasn't clear.

I'm about halfway through with the next EPITAPH installment, and as I'm going back through and checking for details that need to carry through the story, adding details that might be missing, I stumbled on a time warp. No surprises. So I started labeling the days at the chapter heads to keep them straight. I went from Saturday, to Friday, to Sunday, to Monday, to Friday. All these days in two chapters, which only encompassed the passage of two days. Wait. WHAT? Argh.....

Some people use Scrivener (a writing program) to help with such situations, and this is the first time I'd actually wished I'd written the darn book in the program instead of my normal meanderings in Word. So now, instead of writing "new words" to reach the end of the first draft, I'm rewriting chapters to correct the mistakes I've made.

How to avoid this in the future? One of my friends puts a date and setting stamp at the head of each chapter, which is probably the easiest way. Another option is to follow your outline. Some authors have plot points and chapters mapped out ahead of time, which is also a good way to stay on track. Some use sticky notes or whiteboards to keep their timeline straight. While I do outline to a certain degree, I'm largely a pantser (write by the seat of my pants), which is where I run into trouble.

How am I going to fix this? Adding author notes to what I've written/will write - for my reference - showing what day it is for every scene change. Unfortunately for me, that means a lot of extra work that I could have avoided had I been paying attention to what I was writing! Darn those characters for carrying me off!