Snowflake warning

I read a blog post recently about word etymology at a time when it was very relevant. The author points out how word usage has metamorphosed over time to change in meaning, sometimes only slightly and sometimes more dramatically. For those of you who are word nerds like me, here’s a link to The Kill Zone. Of particular interest was the commentary on indigenous.

My upcoming release, UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES, releases next month, and it travels into Native American territory. In order to accurately portray the culture, I reached out to a fellow author who is Native American (shout out to @SR Howen). She was very gracious and offered me several references along with her own personal experience. She also suggested the word indigenous to refer to Native Americans, along with “don’t refer to them as” terms. I also contacted another resource who did a sensitivity reading for me and got a “second opinion.” I chose to add a disclaimer that reminded readers this was fiction, and some of what I’d written is protected and private and because I wrote it, and it isn't necessarily accurate (this is fiction, artistic license). This is what my editor called “a snowflake warning.” Look at that! Another etymology change around the use of the word snowflake!

My editor pointed out my use of the word indigenous and how “technically “ it could be misconstrued or inaccurate. If I hadn’t been specifically pointed to that term by someone who “lives the life,” I might have reconsidered my word choice. This is one time I have to overrule my editor.

It's a challenge in these times to be considerate of everyone's feelings, but it's something I do strive to do - hence a sensitivity reader. At the end of the day, everyone's experience is different. When I wrote COOKIE THERAPY, the firemen I interviewed (three of them) gave me different approaches to the climactic scene, to the point where the scenario I worked through with one was deemed as impossible and deadly by another. I won't always get it right. The best I can do is get close enough and hope people forgive me for my mistakes. After all, everybody's experiences are different, after all, and that can even vary by geography. In the end, I can only hope I created an enjoyable reading experience.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES releases May 12. You can preorder now, or if you follow me at Amazon or Bookbub, they'll email you when it goes live.

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When tropes become real life

You're going to see a lot of quarantine/stuck together novels in the near future, except it won't be a standard manufactured trope. Now, it's real life!

How many of you have read a book about people stranded in a cabin in the snow (or The Stanley Hotel...)? It's a fairly common trope. Throw two people together where they aren't able to escape and see what happens. Yes, it could happen, and sometimes does, but those types of things don't often catch people unaware, and not for days at a time. I saw a movie where a pilot and a flight attendant get grounded due to weather, and she invites him to her family's home. I bought the premise, until they were grounded for several days. I think it turned into four or more days before it was over. Most airports dig out before then, so they lost my suspension of disbelief.

But now? My sister was nearly stranded when the travel ban was first implemented. People weren't able to return home, or to leave. With the state of things now, people quarantining and travel restrictions, we're living the trope. I read a story about people who'd traveled to meet someone, people who were on a first date, and suddenly they couldn't go home and that first date turned into a very long date.

For the most part, it seems most travel restrictions have allowed people to return home, but there are exceptions, and those exceptions are what light up an author's imagination. The possibilities abound, from worst case scenarios to being comically trapped with the one person you'd least like to get stuck with, to people eager to take advantage of the situation where it doesn't work out the way they hope.

Have you had a pandemic experience that put you into a situation you didn't expect? Quarantined unexpectedly or unable to travel home? This author would love to hear your stories.

I'm also excited to share with you that Hillendale #2, UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES, is releasing next month, May 12. If you're the preordering type of person, you can do that now. Otherwise, if you follow me at Amazon or Bookbub, they'll shoot you a reminder when it drops.

Get it here

Libraries and book lending

When I was young, I spent A LOT of time at the library. Go figure, right? I pored through my favorite authors, discovered new authors, discovered new genres! Found my happy place.

Some would say libraries are fading away. To them, I say hogwash! Libraries continue to be relevant, not only for the expansion they've done to accommodate an ever-changing market, but in times like this where they step forward to continue to help.

Most libraries help their communities in numerous ways other than just lending books. They also have computer libraries where people who are out of work and financially strapped can search for jobs, they are polling places and census recorders. They offer community programs and learning opportunities. The list goes on.

During the pandemic, my local library has moved to a virtual platform. Everyday they have a schedule that includes a librarian reading a book or sharing a recipe. They're showing how to make face masks and doing birthday shout outs. They're awesome.

But what about checking out books? Well, I'm glad you asked! Most libraries offer a virtual lending library. Mine uses Hoopla. Some use Overdrive. You can check out e-books! Don't see what you want? Ask them to get it for you. Many e-books are free for libraries. And while I'm on this topic...

I'm not a fan of subscription book services, and yet in these strange days, they certainly have their place. I don't put my books on Kindle Unlimited simply because Amazon requires you to be exclusive to them in order to qualify. I prefer to share my books with people who shop more places than Amazon, like Barnes & Noble, or Kobo, or Apple... or other subscription services, like Hoopla, or Overdrive, or Scribd (to name a few).

When so many people are suddenly unemployed, buying a book can be tough. On the other hand, books are the perfect escape from the anxiety of the day (I know I've been losing MYSELF in reading more). Libraries and subscription services are the perfect answer.

Do you borrow books from the library? (I do!) Do you use a subscription service?

Inquiring minds want to know!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program

During these challenging times, authors everywhere are talking about how difficult it is to write. One of my buddies even commented that we couldn't write a realistic contemporary book without including the current lock-in environment. True, but we do write fiction, so we get to make the rules. We get to set the "perfect world" scenarios. We also get to include the reality that could make for apocalyptic reading.

I've been trying to move forward with Hillendale #3, and even with a reasonable facsimile of an outline, I've been struggling to move ahead. So many distractions to deal with, both personal and global. And then something fun jumped out at me.

The Hillendales have been fun to write from the standpoint of they are a different tack for me, away from my usual romance or romantic suspense. I MISS my happily ever afters, and I've been itching to write one, but I feel compelled to finish my trilogy of witchy books.

And then a news story jumped out at me. In fact, a couple of them. New sources of inspiration in these times where we're locked inside. In fact, it made me stop to consider switching gears to write the new idea instead of Hillendale 3. Or write them simultaneously. Or, or, or...

I did some additional research on the new idea and realized the article was the full extent of what I needed to know. Then I wrote down my thoughts on how to spin it into a story. And then I stopped to consider my course of action. I floated the idea by a friend who said:

"You could be like Robert B. Parker. He'd work on a Spenser in the morning and a different series book after lunch. Or Asimov, who had a bunch of typewriters and when he got stuck on one story, he'd move to a different typewriter and work on that one."

We also talked about getting confused between one story and another, keeping storylines straight. Considering these are two completely different stories, I don't think I'd have that problem, and yet I tend to be pretty singularly focused. While my day job required the ability to multi-task (and I was able to do that pretty well), there comes a point in the process where you have to focus on one thing at a time. (Which, as you are following my random train of thought, you'll see I've made my point both for and against.)

In the end, I prefer to immerse myself in one world at a time when I'm writing. I walk the streets, get to know the characters, face their challenges alongside them. The analogy here is that if I start a second story, I'd be like those radio personalities who shuttle across the country to do one show in L.A. and another in New York. That just sounds exhausting.

So here I sit, committed to finishing Hillendale 3 (unless my editor comes back and tells me she's bored to tears with Hillendale 2), but I've also made some story notes to get started on "the next one." Because that guy's story NEEDS to be told.

How are you all doing with the lock-in? I've been trying to Facetime or Skype with the people closest to me. What a great invention, huh? The next best thing to being there, and yet I miss being able to hug them. We'll get through this! #InThisTogether.

Going down the rabbit hole

I’ve officially reached the point where I believe we’re living in a horror novel. Didn’t Stephen King write this? The Dead Zone. The Stand. A modern day prescient writer.

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed at all the pretty landscape pictures when a video from a nurse autoplayed at me. How awful is it that warnings like the one she recorded have to be broadcast at all? That people don't seem to understand how dangerous this virus is? Hospitals have to decide who lives and who dies because, as she put it, instead of doing everything they can to save patients, they no longer have the resources to do so. Yes, I've been reading the stories, from the time these horrible decisions had to be made in Italy. Yes, I'm horrified, but I'm also doing my part to stop the spread. I can't understand why some people aren't.

We're in this together. I know that not everyone understands the concept of common sense (and try to make sense of any of this!), but the message we're getting from our governor here in Illinois is clear. Stay home. And most states are on board with that idea. I see people in the grocery store who don't take this warning seriously, they go laughing and filling up the aisles and dare me to ask for my "safe distance." I turn around and go the other way, and I wish them well.

I've been limiting my FB time these days to maintain my sanity, and when I'm there, I try to skip past all the ugliness - not because I want to turn a blind eye, but because I can't deal with the divisiveness and the fear and the pain. We all feel it, some more than others. I've always been an introvert, and I'm tellin' ya, I could easily become agoraphobic. This pandemic is providing the training, for sure! With that being said, I'm grateful for the opportunity to get outside and take a walk when the weather is cooperative. I wave to everyone I see because we all need a smile and a friendly face. And then I come back inside and lose myself in the worlds that I create - or at least I try to. When you're living in a Stephen King novel, it's hard to write something optimistic, but I try. And when I can't, I lose myself in my favorite authors, catching up on my TBR.

Is it wrong that I'm currently reading a Stephen King book?