Category: The Write Path

A regular series where writers of all levels answer five questions about writing.

September 11, 2014 The Write Path Post a Comment

THE WRITE PATH with Julie Eberhart Painter

THe Write Path

Julie Eberhart Painter

In this series, my guests talk to me about their books. Today I welcome author Julie Eberhart Painter, who will be discussing Kill Fee with me.

So let me hand over my mic. The next voice you’ll hear will be Julie’s.

1. What is your book, Kill Fee, about?

Author interview

 

The mystery unfolds, starting with feisty bridge players, many older and more brave as they age. They have nothing to lose.

Although it’s a murder mystery, the underlying pulse is “What do people do in a pinch, and how do they handle their ambitions and far-reaching goals?”

Always in the background are the suspects, villainous Dorian and the avaricious relatives with agendas that have nothing to do with bridge.

2. What do you think attracts readers to your main characters?

Ishmael Merlin Dickey is a poet with an overwhelming desire for fame—and a little drinking problem. He wants to be the next Derek Walcott, the Caribbean Pulitzer Prize winner for Omeros, his epic poem. Ishmael has no lid on his desire to make himself famous, and latches on to the action any way he can.

The McNishes, two very old sisters and bridge partners in the game the heroine, Penny, runs, are the busybody gossips. They can make anything worse. When Penny’s uncle dies during the opening scene, they’re the first to tell the police he was murdered. The man was in his eighties.

The comic relief, as if this bunch needed any, is Penny’s Indian Hill Mynah bird, Bilgewater, the foul-mouthed fowl. He spent his formative years in a waterfront bar where he learned the expletives he uses to shock Penny’s visitors, especially Don, her new boyfriend and attorney.

Everybody loves Bilgie; he’s over the top. All my characters are colorful. Women can relate to Penny. “Pretty” Penny is deemed to be “too pretty,” but she’s a smart and determined sleuth.

Although it’s well animated, readers who don’t play bridge might not “get” the specifics of the duplicate game, where the object is to play the hand better than other pairs with your chosen partner.

Kill Fee is not a Tickets to the Devil kind of book, about duplicate tournaments. I doubt anyone would read the book for that information. This story is about a group of conflicted adults who sometimes resort to nefarious behaviors.

When Penny attends an environmental conference of magazine editors to sell her story, we see her away from the bridge table and plunged into a more serious situation when another body drops. The two deaths are linked, but the reader must pay attention at the beginning to figure that out. In my writers’ critique group only one person out of ten immediately picked up on the clue to the motive.

Author interview

3. What message do you hope the reader takes away from your book?

Reviewers like a good time, and the book was well liked. The publisher, Champagne Books, awarded it Best Book for 2011 in April of 2012. My Medium Rare novella was a runner up at Champagne Books in April in the humor category.

The message develops naturally. The old folks think Penny is a tart, but they will come to respect her and race to her aid by the end of the book. One could say part of the message is about fair play and starting over.

4. What do you think was it about your book that convinced your editor to publish it?

In a few words, it’s funny.

For me, I loved this character, Penny. When I wrote the first draft, I sent it up to Atlanta to a very good friend, my former duplicate bridge partner. We met in 1967 during her frisky years. She was beautiful and daring. I thought of her as my Little Iodine (from the old comic strip). As a divorcee, she did all the things that I didn’t have the starch or the freedom to do.

After reading the book, she phoned me here in Florida, where the book takes place in contemporary time.

​“Julie, I just love Penny!”
​“You’d better,” I responded. “She’s you.”

5. Comparing the ideas you had before writing the book with the finished product, would you change anything if you could travel back in time?

This book would never have taken so long if I had written it today. It was my first mystery. While my husband scuba-dived around St. Lucia, where Derek Walcott lived before becoming a Harvard professor, I sat on the porch at the topmost cabin of the Anse Chastenet and began to write. I must have rewritten the book fifteen times, especially after I developed the sequel, Medium Rare. That book brings with it Penny, Don and Bilgewater, but the other characters from Kill Fee are background as Penny meets new challenges when her friend, the psychic associated with the local hospice where Penny volunteers is stabbed to death with her own knitting needles.

 

Contact

Julie's avatar

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/813977.Julie_Eberhart_Painter

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/6926263-serendipitous-shades

http://twitter.com/julieepainter

https://www.facebook.com/julieeberhart.painter

September 8, 2014 The Write Path Post a Comment

THE WRITE PATH with Carol McPhee

THe Write Path

Carol McPhee

In this series, my guests talk to me about their books. Today I welcome author Carol McPhee, who will be discussing Alaskan Magic with me.

So let me hand over my mic. The next voice you’ll hear will be Carol’s.
Carol McPhee

1. What is your book about?

Alaskan Magic tells the story of fifty-something socialite Amanda Bennington who faces a crisis in her life when her husband ditches her for a much younger model. To counter her difficulties adjusting to a more spartan life, her father encourages her to visit her mother’s sister who lives in the wilds of Alaska tending wounded animals. Complications from a raven and other wildlife in the boondocks are minor compared to the bush pilot and natives that stumble into Amanda’s new environment.

2. What do you think attracts readers to your main characters?

My readers seem to enjoy the depth of my characters and the unexpected twists in their lives before achieving a happy-ever-after status. I prefer strong heroes evenly matched with strong heroines. I also like to present in them the same powerful perseverence it takes to finish a novel.

3. What message do you hope the reader takes away from your book?

I never start out to deliver a message. Sheer entertainment is my goal and when readers take the time to tell me of their enjoyment, I’m completely in heaven. Often readers let me know of parts that resonate with them and sometimes the section is not planned to stand out. Readers interpret their own meanings dependent on their life experiences.

4. What do you think was it about your book that made it so easy to attract your editor to publish it?

I’ve had no problem attracting editors to any of my 15 or so novels, so I must be doing something right. All I know is that to lose oneself in acts of creativity for hours every day is an unbelievable blessing.

5. Comparing the ideas you had before writing the book with the finished product, would you change anything if you could travel back in time?

If I could travel back in time I wouldn’t change anything about the writing of Alaskan Magic. I’m a seat of the pants writer and it always amazes me when characters and plot fall together to produce a storyline that works well.

Interested? You can find out more about Carol and her books on her website carolmcphee.webs.com

Other books by Carol McPhee:
Something About That Lady – contemporary romance
Undercover Trouble – romantic suspense
A Spirited Liaison – touch of paranormal
A Structured Affair – romantic suspense
Shadowed Pursuit – romantic suspense
Be Still, My Heart! – contemporary romance
Means To An End – romantic suspense
Jeweled Seduction – romantic suspense
None So Blind – contemporary romance
Natural Persuasion – romantic suspense
Natural Obsession – contemporary romance
Retreat To Danger – romantic suspense

August 25, 2014 The Write Path Post a Comment

THE WRITE PATH with Holly Hunt

THe Write Path

Holly Hunt

In this series, my guests talk to me about their books. Today I welcome author Holly Hunt, who will be discussing Tyrant or Tarsit with me.

So let me hand over my mic. The next voice you’ll hear will be Holly’s.

1. What is your book about?

Holly Hunt

Tyrant of Tarsit is a story wherein a woman – a regular, everyday woman – is dragged into a plot involving the invasion of a kingdom, the suppression of magic and the chaos of treason. Mayhem and a 200-year romance feature heavily in this short novella. There’s something for everyone.

2. What do you think attracts readers to your main characters?

I like to think that readers like my characters because they can see a little bit of themselves in them. From the dark and brooding hero to the woman not afraid to give everything a go, to the people who make up the worlds of all my stories. Everyone gets a chance to be a someone.

3. What message do you hope the reader takes away from your book?

I have only ever set out to write one story with a message, and that doorstop of a book was so twisted no one else could understand it! Tarsit has, I believe, two things that can be taken away from it. The first is that you should treat every setback as an opportunity. The other is that some people are never as black-and-white as they seem. In both cases, it will take a little bit of examination to see the truth of the matter.

4. What do you think was it about your book that made it so easy to convince your editor to publish it?

The cute romance between Lauren and Malcolm, the Spy’s bitter betrayal, the action… I think they have a lot to do with it. Juicy, ey?

5. Comparing the ideas you had before writing the book with the finished product, would you change anything if you could travel back in time?

I think I would have made the book longer, and taken the time to properly explain its place in the universe first introduced in Scale & Feather (even though Tarsit mainly takes place about 600 years before Feather – There are more stories from that universe coming, when I get back to it, I promise!) Tarsit and Arnhid are the first of the Southern States, which isn’t really explained in the novella.

Thanks for having me!

web/blog: http://rhythempoets.wordpress.com/
twitter: @hollyhuntauthor
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Holly-Hunt/111905542194012
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Tyrant-Of-Tarsit-Dark-Heroes-ebook/dp/B00C4NU46G

August 21, 2014 The Write Path 4 Comments

THE WRITE PATH with Jane Dougherty

THe Write Path

Jane Dougherty

In this series, my guests talk to us about their books. Today I welcome author Jane Dougherty, who will be discussing The Green Woman series, a YA dystopian series of unexpected depth, with me. Today, August 21, you can find the first book in her series FREE at http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Citadel-Green-Woman-Book-ebook/dp/B00JW86TYM.

So let me hand over my mic. The next voice you’ll hear will be Jane’s.

1. What is your book about?

Green Woman
The Dark Citadel is the first volume of The Green Woman series. There are three main volumes, all three available as of today, and so far six spin-off stories. The world of the Green Woman is a post-apocalyptic world where the human survivors huddle inside the protective crystal dome of Providence. It isn’t a futuristic story, not techy at all, and closer to allegory than an attempt at ultra-realism. In this future, after generations of post-nuclear darkness, the citizens of Providence have fallen back on the great human stand-by—religion. With no opposition, the Elders have created a theocracy, which has changed subtly from strict to downright evil. The only dissent is from the Ignorants, the underclass who believe in the old stories of a utopia, a sort of Garden of Eden, and the Green Woman, the keeper of the Memory of the world, who will make the Garden grow in its ruins. The story of The Green Woman is the story of the reawakening of humanity, a great starting over, and the fight to put evil back in its place, the Pit.

The Dark Citadel is the first episode, showing the nature of the Elders’ regime and introducing the central character—Deborah, the Green Woman’s daughter. Slowly, the green magic is wakening to rebuild the broken earth. Deborah’s mother fled Providence when Deborah was a small child, when she began to have visions of things the Elders would rather keep lost and dead. Deborah’s forced betrothal to the public executioner’s warped son is the catalyst that sends her on the hazardous journey to join her mother, who is reaching the end of her strength, and pick up the task of making those visions live again.

In the course of her journey through the arid wasteland that surrounds Providence, Deborah meets Jonah and learns about friendship, loyalty, and love. She develops from a bitter and angry schoolgirl to a young woman ready to take up her responsibilities, whatever they turn out to be.

The Green Woman is basically about the very ordinary nature of evil, and how it can be overcome by very ordinary love. There are two main types of evil that beset humanity: the flamboyant, biblical, demonic evil that we all find easy to understand and point the finger at; and the ordinary evil perpetrated by ordinary people on their fellow human beings. Deborah’s role is to show the people of Providence where these two types of evil meet, and to offer them something different.

Green Woman
2. What do you think attracts readers to your main characters?

Deborah is not an immediately appealing character. She is opinionated, careless with her friends’ feelings, and bitter. In her defence, it has to be said she has a lot to be bitter about, and if she wasn’t headstrong and opinionated she wouldn’t have had the nerve to speak out against what she considers unjust. My son told me how much he liked the character of Deborah. “She’s a real bitch,” he said, “but it’s what keeps her going.” By the end of the story she has matured enough to be more than a bitch, and to channel her anger and energy into creating something wonderful.

One beta reader worried that I would alienate readers with some of Deborah’s behaviour, but I didn’t want her to be a plaster saint. Yes, she does plough ahead regardless of the consequences for other people, but that’s because she is a driven character, not because she doesn’t care. She often feels remorse and regret, but something is always pushing her on to what she firmly believes is her destiny, even though she doesn’t know exactly what it is.

Of the other characters, my favourite has to be Jonah. He isn’t the classic hero—a strong, silent, smouldering hunk—he’s a runaway, used to living on his wits in an inhospitable world. He has no savoir faire with girls, he’s wild and unkempt and he does seems to know exactly how to ruffle Deborah’s feathers. Jonah’s great strength is his heart. It’s bigger than anything else in the story and runs as a thread through the entire series.

3. What message do you hope the reader takes away from your book?

When I made my first stumbling steps on what has turned out to be a very long journey, I had a single idea about this story. I was going to create a society full of all the things I hate most—religious bigotry, misogyny, repression, cruelty, conformism, ignorance—and let the people who suffer the most in this ugly regime show the way to something better. The Dark Citadel starts in a cruel and dismal dystopia, and I wanted a girl, one of Providence’s most unesteemed inhabitants, to be the first to reach out to a utopia.

If I want readers to take anything away from this story it’s that for a world to be a good place to live in it needs compassion, courage and love, and all of us, even adolescents, have to stand up for what we believe to be right.

What most reviewers have picked up on is the setting for the story. Perhaps because it is incredibly clear in my own mind, to the extent that I know the street patterns of some of the neighbourhoods and dozens of characters who don’t even get a mention in the stories. It might be their invisible presence populating the story that makes it striking to so many readers.

From Kate Wrath’s review:

‘This book is beautifully rooted in mythology, borrowing symbolism and power from a spattering of ancient stories, all twisted into a modern legend. Somehow a huge variety of things– centaurs, demons, post-nuclear potatoes– are all brought together into a picture that makes sense.’

From John Collick’s review:

‘The author has created a massive tapestry for the backdrop to The Dark Citadel – imagine a painting by Hieronymous Bosch designed by George Orwell and set in North Korea.’

Green Woman
4. What was it about your book that made it so easy to attract your editor?

I attracted a publisher very quickly through luck (whether good or bad is debatable). I found an acquiring editor who loved the story of The Dark Citadel for what makes it different from much of what is written for YA—the language, which doesn’t pull any punches, and the relative complexity of the ideas and plot. Unfortunately, she left the publisher before my book had finished the editing stages, and those differences that had attracted her seemed more like problems to her successor. I had such an unhappy experience with this publisher, like fitting a square peg into a round hole, that I was offered my rights back five months after publication.

One problem is that The Green Woman series is classed as YA. Much YA writing uses simple sentence structure and reasonably straightforward plot, partly because the category is assumed to include readers I would consider children. For me, Young Adult means a reader who has adult reading ability and is capable of understanding adult emotions, even if they might not be old enough to have had time to experience many of them. I write for anyone who falls into that category, not children. I prefer much richer language than is usual, and I don’t believe in making things easy emotionally just because thirteen-year-olds might be reading it.

5. Comparing the ideas you had before writing the book with the finished product, would you change anything if you could travel back in time?

The disastrous episode with my former publisher did have a more positive side. It introduced me to an editor who really loved what I write and who has followed me through thick and thin to critique and make suggestions on everything I’ve published so far. The second bonus was that getting my rights back and republishing allowed me to overhaul the text in the light of how the world develops in the later parts of the trilogy and the layers I added in the spin-off stories. It was as though I was discovering this world the more I wrote about it. The opportunity to go back and change details in the social order as well as the characterisations has been invaluable.

When you create a world, you have to have worked out its technology, social structure and beliefs, history and background as well as the geography of the place. The deeper the writer digs into the world, the more she will discover about it. Sometimes there will be some minor detail in the first book that doesn’t at all fit in with the society as it has developed by the end of the third book. For example, through dint of writing about them repeatedly, I got to know how the military functioned in Providence, its hierarchy of soldiers and militia. In the first book there’s a scene that I originally wrote with the militia using spears, through laziness really, because it made what happens in the scene easier to describe. By the time I had reached the second volume of the story it was obviously a cranky idea to have these thugs of policemen using spears, so when I revised The Dark Citadel I rewrote that scene and reorganised all the references to soldiers and militia to make it coherent.

Green Woman
Here are Jane’ links:

Blog: http://janedougherty.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MJDougherty33
Amazon author pages:
http://tinyurl.com/nholyft
http://tinyurl.com/m9xhyb6

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6953978.Jane_Dougherty

August 19, 2014 Books, The Write Path 2 Comments

THE WRITE PATH with Haley Whitehall

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The Write Path – Haley Whitehall

In this series, authors discuss their books, from what inspired them to what they hope readers take away from their work. My guest today is Haley Whitehall, author of historical fiction and romance.

Let me hand over my mic. The next voice you’ll hear will be Haley’s.

Haley Whitehall

1. What is Wild and Tender Care about?

Wild and Tender Care is my first historical western romance. It takes place in Colorado Territory in 1870. Dr. William Steere is a half-breed and is finding a hard time starting his own medical practice because of all the racial prejudice against Indians. He meets Ida Page at the Independence Day picnic and immediately has feelings for the fiery redhead. Ida is a former shady lady turned laundress. She reformed but the good Christians won’t let her forget her sordid past. Will the town let the two outcasts have their happy ending?

2. What do you think attracts readers to your main characters?

Both of my main characters have had a rough childhood and have more or less learned to be independent and look out for themselves. Underdogs always appeal to me but may not appeal to everyone.

Dr. Steere is an alpha male who is also charming and caring. Alpha males have always been a favorite with romance readers and I hope they will also like seeing his softer side. Ida is a strong-willed woman. Writers always put themselves into their characters, but she has more of my qualities than most. She has taken her tough lot in life without becoming bitter and just keeps fighting for her respect and place in society. I like a feisty heroine who makes the hero chase her.

3. What message do you hope the reader takes away from your book?

My message developed naturally as I wrote this book. I never really set out to tell a story with a specific theme or message in mind. The characters seem to find those out on their own. My message is do not give up on love. There is someone out there for everyone and the right someone will accept your past, faults and all.

4. What was it about your book that made you so determined it should be published?

I thought the message in Wild and Tender Care is one that many people need to hear. I was also tired of reading about strong alpha males who seem more like jerks than heroes in a romance novel. Dr. Steere is my kind of alpha. He is equally strong and caring. I think more romances need to show the tender side of alpha males.

5. Comparing the ideas you had before writing the book with the finished product, would you change anything if you could travel back in time?

There are a few passages which are still a little awkward. After several rounds of editing all the words seem to blend together and it is only after the book is published when I see the remaining flaws. I would like one more editing pass to clean it up, but really I am very pleased with this story and how it turned out.

Buy Links:
Liquid Silver Books ~ Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~ Barnes and Noble ~ ARe

 

Haley Whitehall

 

Author Bio:
Haley Whitehall lives in Washington State where she enjoys all four seasons and the surrounding wildlife. She writes historical fiction and historical romance set in the 19th century U.S. When she is not researching or writing, she plays with her cats, watches the Western and History Channels, and goes antiquing. She is hoping to build a time machine so she can go in search of her prince charming. A good book, a cup of coffee, and a view of the mountains make her happy. Visit Haley’s website at haleywhitehall.com.

Other Historical Romance Titles:

Midnight Caller (Moonlight Romance, Book 1)
Midnight Heat (Moonlight Romance, Book 2)
Midnight Kiss (Moonlight Romance, Book 3)
Soldier in Her Lap

Where to find Haley Whitehall:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/HaleyWhitehall
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LightonHistory
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5752677.Haley_Whitehall
Blog: http://haleywhitehall.com/blog/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Haley-Whitehall/e/B0078EO6CE/
Newsletter: https://tinyletter.com/HaleyWhitehall

August 12, 2014 Books, The Write Path, Urban Fantasy 11 Comments

THE WRITE PATH with Mary Buckham

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Mary Buckham

In this series, guest bloggers talk to us about their books. My guest today is author, teacher, head ninja and sometimes personal life coach Mary Buckham, who will be discussing Invisible Fears, part one of her Invisible Recruit series. You can find my review on her book here: Invisible Fears – Review

So let me hand over my mic. The next voice you’ll hear will be Mary’s.

1. What is your book about?

Maru BuckhamINVISIBLE FEARS is the fourth full-length novel in the Invisible Recruits Urban Fantasy series and the first in that series focusing on Kelly McAllister, a former kindergarten teacher turned covert agent to fight preternaturals. She also has an ability that has always set her apart—she can turn invisible. Which sounds fun, but is everything but, especially in this story.

Kelly’s the nice girl-next-door who always sees the glass half-full and she’s leading her first mission deep into the heart of equatorial Africa. She’s to find a rare item that is the key to understanding and stopping a dangerous threat to humans and preternaturals alike. She’s also looking for answers to how her beloved older sister died in this part of the world while doing relief work, a quest that opens up more questions than answers and puts her official mission at risk almost immediately. Danger is around every corner as Kelly struggles to complete her mission, protect innocent children under her care, and stay alive. Then there’s a hunky wolf Shifter who’s causing her all sorts of other complications.

2. What do you think attracts readers to your main characters?

Kelly is that kind, compassionate, genuinely good person we’d all like to be, or think of ourselves as being, pushed to the brink physically, mentally and emotionally. Some see her optimism as naïve and dangerous, especially in her role as a fighter against preternatural threats. Others see her in ways she’d never see herself. I think what attracts readers to her is her journey of self-discovery that’s as much a part of the story as surviving the external threats she faces.

3. What message do you hope the reader takes away from your book?

My book titles tend to reflect the themes of my stories. So in INVISIBLE FEARS Kelly must face a whole gamut of fears—external and internal. Attacks by a Smere goblin, a kidnapping by a sinister preternatural mercenary leader, slogging through the jungle, as well as learning the truth behind her sister’s death and her own hidden background. Facing the type of hurdles she has to face is not easy and doing so while struggling to remain true to who Kelly thinks she is, adds a whole other layer of complications for her.

4. What is it about your book that made you so determined it should be published?

Writing the first 3 novels and 2 novellas in the series focused on Alex Noziak, a witch/shaman with a wicked attitude and hell-for-leather approach to life. Writing about nice-girl Kelly was a 180% turn around to really get into her skin while seeing her through her fellow IR (Invisible Recruit) teammates and through her own world view. Just because she was a good girl did not mean she didn’t have issues and challenges, and it certainly made it interesting to put her into situations that would have stopped battle-hardened warriors, and see how she approached them. Because so many of my readers enjoyed Alex, switching to a new character, even one they recognized, was a huge risk for me as a writer and for the sake of the series. So far though the feedback has been very positive. Proving good girls don’t finish last!

5. Comparing the ideas you had before writing the book with the finished product, would you change anything if you could travel back in time?

This book was originally written for a major publisher as the 3rd book in a 5 book series they’d contracted with me for a few years back. But the month before it was due for release the publisher stopped publishing these kinds of stories so Kelly’s story was set aside. When I revitalized the series with a preternatural/paranormal element last year I took book 2 in the series and revealed elements of that character and her own challenges in 3 novels and 2 novellas. I’ll be doing the same with Kelly and each of the remaining primary Invisible Recruit characters. So 5 Invisible Recruit operatives, three novels each and as many novellas as I have time to write creates a huge story world and story arc to juggle.

In INVISIBLE FEARS, even though the core story concepts – Kelly, former kindergarten teacher turned operative and set in Africa – remained from the original finished draft, so much of the story was rewritten that it’d be hard to see what remains of that original story. As for traveling back in time I’m very, very glad now that these books were not published by the big NY publishing House because I’m having way too much fun writing and releasing them in a manner that allows readers to get them in their hands sooner rather than later. Which means the next novella about Kelly was released in July and the next novel—INVISIBLE SECRETS—will be in September.

 About Mary

Mary Buckham USA Today bestselling author Mary Buckham writes non-fiction; the Amazon best selling WRITING ACTIVE SETTING series (in e-format and now in book form); as well as fiction – Urban Fantasy w/attitude. Love romance, danger & kick-ass heroines? Find it in her Invisible Recruits series: www.MaryBuckham.com or www.InvisibleRecruits.com.

Intrigued? Grab your copy of INVISIBLE FEARS here:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1l9LcHe
B&N: http://bit.ly/1lDNIbX
Kobo: http://bit.ly/SV8kkK

August 6, 2014 The Write Path 1 Comment

THE WRITE PATH with Ruth Andrew

THe Write Path

Ruth Andrew

In this series, guest bloggers tell us about finding their way through the writing landscape. My guest today is author Ruth Andrew, whose Write Path has been anything but straight.

So let me hand over my mic. The next voice you’ll hear will be Ruth’s.

HOPE AND HAPPY ENDINGS

Ruth Andrew

1. What made you want to be a writer?
I can’t remember not wanting to write. My first short story, ‘Geometry from the Standpoint of a Spider’ was written when I was in high school. It was the way I worked out problems, but also the way I celebrated joy, and I loved geometry. This story was about a spider named Suzie who wove complicated webs in triangles, arcs and circles. By the time I reached college I knew that writing essays, humor and short fiction came easy for me.

As the years went by (college, marriage, children) I published short stories, essays, humor pieces and interviews in newspapers and magazines with large circulations. Marketing was also easy. I couldn’t imagine not selling anything I ever wrote and had the clippings to prove it. I even had one reprint article under my belt.

But one day life intervened, and I allowed a sad divorce to flatten me. The week I packed up my home office for a move to a small apartment I received two pivotal letters, one from an Avon editor asking me to write a library-edition teen romance, and another from an editor at Good Housekeeping, asking me to edit a short story I’d written. Suddenly editors were coming to me, even sending me Christmas cards that I had pinned to my bulletin board. I’d dreamed of this happening. But who can respond to writing requests when a grenade just blew up in your life? It took years for me to cross paths with those letters again. I abandoned an essential part of myself without even realizing it. Working, remarrying, and keeping my little family together were all I could manage.

2. What is the toughest part about writing?
Writing about problems in the past had helped me understand them. Except that now it no longer worked. I decided I needed to write something longer, like a novel, to write myself out of the deep pit of despair into which I’d sunk. After all, every job I’d ever had involved making order out of chaos, and I wanted order back in my life. When my energy returned I drafted out a novel with a knot in the middle, similar to the knot I could not unravel in my own life. I’d asked my protagonist to work out this problem, since I had been unable to myself. What was I thinking? No matter how many craft classes I took on plotting, deep POV, synopsis, character development or dialogue, no matter how many writing conferences I attended, how many critique groups I joined or how many agents asked for my unfinished novel, nothing worked. I stalled, quit writing, and told my writing friends and agents waiting for my novel that plotting was my nemesis. I couldn’t do it. And like we all hear from our mentors, if we think we can’t do something, we can’t.

At this point the short stories and essays I wrote no longer gave me joy, and humor wasn’t even on my radar. Even being newly published in a number of anthologies did little to re-light my writing fire. I wondered what the hell had happened. Writing had let me down. For me, wanting to write again proved to be the most difficult part of writing.

3. Can you share a moment where YOU suddenly saw the light?
My aha moment came while reading Time is a River by Mary Alice Monroe. It concerns the main character, Mia, who held my heart throughout this story. Near the end of the novel Mia was helping to unearth long-hidden water colors by a woman fly-fishing journalist. The painting was of a small brook trout caught by an elaborate dry fly with a hook firmly in its mouth. I will never forget the moment I read this line: The fish was rolling to its side, as though relinquishing the long fight. The words pierced my heart like an arrow.

In my mind I pictured the trout thrashing about in the midst of bubbles, being pulled into a net, exhausted, and relieved to give up the long struggle. Tears sprang to my eyes. I wanted that relief for myself and for the character I’d created for my unfinished novel. I’d given her a knot she could not unravel any more than I could unravel the knot in my own life.

It’s OK to give up. Sometimes it’s the only thing to do. Reading this line over and over, I knew that I had just programmed myself to let go of the knot in my own life and rework the knot in my novel as the responsibility of another character to resolve. It seemed so simple. As soon as I did that the words and ideas began to flow again, after far too long a time. Just let go. Friends we trust give us this advice. But it isn’t their knot, and it doesn’t always work. For me this did. And I have saved these words at the cellular level.

4. Whose style do you admire, or is there a line you wish you’d come up with?
I have admired the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald since college. I’d love to have written this line from Gatsby, where Nick describes Daisy’s friend, Jordan: She wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage. Simple words, but I have loved people like this for years. The words rang true for me on many levels. Whenever I read Fitzgerald his descriptions hit a nerve.

5. Describe your ideal reader.
I want to write cozy romances with characters who succeed in spite of insurmountable odds. Years ago a writer friend told me that a good book informs, a great book entertains, and a superior book changes you. I keep those words pinned to the bulletin board in my office and read them every day. I want to give readers hope in the midst of chaos. Hope is what I am all about as a writer.

 

You can read more about Ruth Andrew at her blog, www.beeconcise.com, or her website, http://ruthandrew.com. She is finishing her novel, Benson’s Cove, & hopes it will be a series.

August 4, 2014 The Write Path 3 Comments

THE WRITE PATH with Dorothy Callahan

THe Write Path

Dorothy Callahan

In The Write Path, guest bloggers tell us about finding their way through the writing landscape. My guest today is Dorothy Callahan, author of Taming the Stallion, Loving out of Time, Third Eye’s a Charm and her new book, A Decade for Darius.

So let me hand over my mic. The next voice you’ll hear will be Dorothy’s.

1. What made you want to be a writer?

I think it’s one of those things that people naturally gravitate to in their childhoods – some ride stunt bikes, some learn slight-of-hand, and those who are driven to do what the voices in our heads tell us to become writers. By middle-school, I was already writing poems and short stories. By fifteen, I wrote my first novel, a fantasy heavily inspired by my idol, Piers Anthony. Personally, no matter where I go or what I do, I identify with being an author. When my first book got published, I had never been prouder to say, “Hi, I’m Dorothy Callahan. I’m an author.”

2. What is the toughest part about writing?

For me, I’m a pantser, and sometimes the hardest thing is getting my characters to play nice and do what I want them to do. For instance, the story I’m working on right now has two characters who HATE each other, but I know they’ll be together by the end. I wanted them to have their first kiss in this chapter. I intended it. They are still antagonistic. She just shoved him away from her. I can’t win.

The weaknesses are definitely trying to self-market. I’m generally shy and reserved, so finding the drive to get gung-ho about selling my stories is a hat I haven’t yet learned to wear.

3. Have you experienced an aha moment, a piece of advice or a moment where something fell into place?

I’m sure I’ve had many over the years – each aha moment is a series of steps, always going up, up, until I look back and see how far I’ve come, but the top is still eons away. Writing is a craft, and crafts morph and change. (Look at ebooks from 5 years ago.) I’ve taken wonderful classes, from Deb Dixon to Margie Lawson to Mary Buckham, and each instructor pushes me, makes me focus and grow. I think every author who has followed the traditional steps to publication has experienced this.

The moment I saw the light was the email saying, “I’d like to buy your manuscript.” My husband had just come up to my computer, saw me staring at the screen saying, “Oh, my God, Oh, my God,” about twenty times, then the floodgates opened. I started leaping around, crying like a little girl, jumping into his arms and saying I need to call every single person I knew in the next fifteen minutes. I don’t remember much after that.

4. Whose style do you admire, or is there a line you wish you’d come up with?

I am totally enamored with Deborah Cooke’s Dragonfire series and Mary Buckham’s Invisible Recruit series. Brenda Novak is skilled in this arena, as well. I admire authors who can take a group of people, make them flesh-and-blood real to the reader, and then give each one his/her own story. (I started a dragon series about the same time as Ms. Cooke, but they are totally different stories. Plus, hers are published. Mine are in the perpetual edit phase.)

5. Describe your ideal reader.

My ideal reader is one who likes action mixed in with the romance. Even as a teen, my first novel had a giant battle scene in it. I’m still growing a fan base, so I don’t feel qualified to say “who I write for.” I can say that I am always thrilled to hear how my story has affected someone: what they liked, didn’t like, what I could change. I love feedback. In my twenties, my best friend would call every few days, ready for me to read what I’d written thus far. It was so rewarding to hear her shock, gasps, concern, laughter etc, as the story played out.

I guess one thing that will almost always show up in my books are animals, either real or fantasy. My characters love pets, mostly because I’ve had them my whole life. I have two published books right now that are set in a humane society. I thought it would be fun to write a “shelter series,” with the common setting being an animal shelter, but I’ve only partially explored that one.

 

Thank you so much for the opportunity to join your blog. Anyone interested in more can find me at www.dorothycallahan.com, Dorothy Callahan Author on Facebook, or Dorothy Callahan @Callahanauthor on Twitter. Want to chat? Email me at dorothycallahanauthor[[@]]gmail.com. I would love to hear from you!

Why not check out my books?

Taming the Stallion:
www.amazon.com/dp/B00AWWONEA

Loving out of Time:
www.amazon.com/dp/B00CJJVI9M

Third Eye’s a Charm:
www.amazon.com/dp/B00IKVF00Q

A Decade for Darius:
www.amazon.com/dp/B00KETDW16

July 28, 2014 Books, The Write Path 6 Comments

THE WRITE PATH with Laurie Gifford Adams

THe Write Path

Laurie Gifford Adams

In this series, guest bloggers tell us about finding their way through the writing landscape. My guest today is Laurie Gifford Adams. Her latest book Over The Edge is out now.

So let me hand over my mic. The next voice you’ll hear will be Laurie’s.

Laurie Adams

1. What made you want to be a writer?

I don’t think anything made me “want” to be a writer – I just always felt like I was one. I do know that any time I read a really great book when I was a kid, it would inspire me to write. Then, even into adulthood, that has happened. I guess reading the work and words of others encourages me to share my own. I LOVE telling stories.

2. What is the toughest part about writing?

Fleshing out the idea is the hardest part of the writing process for me. I tend to be a pantser. I plan what I think the book is going to be about and how I think the plot is going to flow, but every book I’ve written (except for the non-fiction Internet safety book) has taken a curve and gone in a whole different direction than I’d planned. I have to let the story go where it’s meant to go, though. It just feels more natural that way. Often the characters surprise me. They’ll say something so totally unexpected and I just have to sit back and laugh. I want to say, “Hey, I’m creating you. You can’t tell me what to do.” But they do anyway.

Do I have weaknesses? I think all writers do. My weakness is identifying too much with the characters. This definitely has an effect on the first draft. Fortunately, I have critique partners who spot those things that don’t quite ring true, and I have to go in and fix them. I’m sure I have many more weaknesses, but I hope my strengths outnumber the weaknesses.

I’m also not as good at promotion as I should be. I’ve always been a people pleaser personality, so if I think something might annoy people, I avoid it. I do love interacting and engaging with people, though, so social media is a great way to do that.

3. Have you experienced an aha moment, a piece of advice or a moment where something fell into place?

I have MANY “a-ha” moments when I’m in the midst of a project. Like most writers, I live the story in my head when I’m doing other things in my life, and as a result, I’m constantly mulling over the characters’ motivations for doing and saying what they do. Like most people, it’s often when I’m lying in bed trying to fall asleep or driving (so I can’t write) that the “a-ha” moments happen.

Also, I read and re-read my manuscript so many times throughout the process. I used to worry on the first draft that I wasn’t “bulking it up” enough, then, especially with Over the Edge, I realized the way my mind works. I always see more that needs to go in when I’m going through the manuscript in a condensed time frame at the end. At that point, those characters and their lives are so ingrained in my mind, that I can suddenly see that I had Dylan respond to his younger brother in a way that isn’t consistent with his character. So, now, I try to set aside several hours after I think I’m done just to read straight through again, looking for inconsistencies, weak areas, confusing dialogue, etc.

Other “a-ha” moments come as a result of reader expectations. When my critique partners or beta readers say, “Well, I thought this – or that – was going to happen,” I always stop and consider if that’s an important idea to explore. Many times I’ve changed or added scenes based on their expectations. This really makes it fun for me.

One more kind of “a-ha” moment was when I finally learned that if I get “blocked,” I needed to just come up and start writing anyway. Even if it takes me ten minutes to write one sentence, and even if that sentence is going to get deleted later, it’s progress. It helps me continue when I feel like I don’t know what to write next.

4. Whose style do you admire, or is there a line you wish you’d come up with?

I absolutely LOVE LaVyrle Spencer’s writing. Her heartwarming stories about regular people, in regular lives with regular struggles, are keepers, and I’ve read most of them multiple (and I mean multiple) times. There’s nothing pompous about her style. I went into mourning when she announced she was retiring. What a loss in my life!
I also really like Diane Chamberlain’s books. Her characters are also very realistic with problems, fortunately, most of us wouldn’t ever have to face. But she deals with these situations beautifully.
For really well-known authors, Sandra Brown is a favorite.
When it comes to YA or middle grade authors, I’m all over the place. I don’t care who wrote it as long as it’s a great story. I’m not a fantasy reader, though, so I never got on the JK Rowling or Suzanne Collins bandwagons. I read some of their books just to see what my students were reading, but I’m more interested in realistic fiction.

5. Describe your ideal reader.

My ideal reader is someone who loves a good story and wants to root for the character and his/her struggles. The reader realizes life isn’t all good, and that to appreciate the good we have to deal with the negative, too. I’ve been writing for the younger teen group because I hope to capture the reluctant readers.

My first book, Finding Atticus, was specifically written for my students because they were always complaining about what they didn’t like about the books we read in school. One of their biggest pet peeves was the characters or animals dying in the books. They like being on the edge of their seats with concern, but they also want everything to work out in the end. Who doesn’t want that? Why wouldn’t we want to feel GOOD when we put a book down? Even if there are tears (which my readers always tell me I’m good at pulling out of them), they’re good tears, not tears of sadness. (Well, okay, I do have to sprinkle in a little of that, too, so the characters’ lives don’t seem unrealistically perfect.)

I think I deliver real characters with real issues. I always hope readers will come away with their own “a-ha” moment when they get the point(s) I’m trying to make. I guess that will always be the teacher side of me. My books entertain, but they also teach a “lesson.”

A little about me. I was born and raised in the Finger Lakes of western New York. After graduating from Keuka College, I moved to Connecticut and married Jim, who is from there. I taught middle school English for 26 years and LOVED it. Those kids were definitely an inspiration for my writing. I got my Masters degree from the University of Connecticut at Storrs (Go, Huskies!) I also freelance write for the Reiman Publications magazines and for Finger Lakes Visitors Connection, a tourism promotion office for Ontario County, NY.

Jim and I have two kids, Carrie Beth and Nick and I LOVE my animals, too, so I always, always have a dog in my life, and right now that’s Mollie. I love to ride horses, so now I have Sasha, a palomino, and Lacey, an appaloosa. I also have a grandkitty named Scooter. Jim and I moved back to the Finger Lakes in 2011 and love living back in this area. Connecticut was good to me, but I love being “home” again.

When I wrote that about Sasha above, it reminded me of this. When I was a kid, I dreamed of having a palomino. Except for a couple of years, I always had horses or ponies, but never a palomino. They seemed out of reach, but that didn’t stop me from dreaming about owning one. I even made up stories as a kid when I’d tell my friends I was sure I was getting a palomino for my birthday or Christmas. The closest I got was a little chestnut pony. In my late forties, I finally made my dream come true when I bought Sasha. My point is, don’t ever give up on your dreams. Make them happen if there’s any way possible. After my horse died in 1997, I waited 13 years before I got Sasha, because I was determined I would own a palomino. I could have bought any number of horses in between, but I had a dream, and I stuck with it.

It’s the same way with my writing. I always dreamed of having people eager to have my books come out, and now that it’s here, it seems pretty surreal. There were lots of times in the past 30 years when I let my writing slide because I was busy with other things, but I never let it go completely because I had this goal I was pursuing, and now I’m enjoying every minute of it! It’s an awesome feeling.

My next goal: to make a best seller’s list. And I’m determined to get there.

I have three books out right now:

Laurie Adams
FINDING ATTICUS – an older middle grades novel that has also found a vast audience among adults, which I think is pretty cool…

Laurie Adams
www.RUinDanger.net – is an Internet and technology safety guide co-written with a former undercover cop (He approached me to co-write the book with him because he saw the need to educate kids and their parents)…

Laurie Adams
…and my newest is the YA novel, OVER THE EDGE. The issues I tackle in this novel are near and dear to my heart, so this story is very special to me. I feel like the story doesn’t only entertain, but it also has the potential to change someone’s life. (Long story with that.)

Where to find me or how to contact me:

My web page is www.lauriegiffordadams.com
Facebook is Laurie Gifford Adams – Author
Twitter: Laurie G Adams
I can be contacted through my website, and I LOVE to hear from people. I respond to everything – and I mean everything. I hope to hear from some (or ALL) of you!

July 21, 2014 The Write Path 6 Comments

THE WRITE PATH with Tricia Drammeh

THe Write Path

Tricia Drammeh

Welcome to Tricia Drammeh Week. A few months ago, I stumbled over this neat blog written by someone with plenty of good sense, featuring a variety of topics, presented in a fabulously entertaining way. Then I noticed the website’s owner is an author and a reader/reviewer — two of my favorite people rolled into one. I’m thrilled to welcome as a guest, not once but twice this week, Tricia Drammeh.

Tricia is the author of Better Than Perfect, a heart-warming book about how change can be good. Check it out — it’s received some glowing reviews.

So let me hand over my mic. The next voice you’ll hear will be Tricia’s.

Tricia Drammeh
1. What made you want to be a writer?

I decided to be a writer because I love reading so much. I love to escape into a fantasy world, and since I’ve been making up stories in my head for as long as I could remember, it seemed like a good idea to finally write them down.

2. What is the toughest part about writing?

The toughest part about the art of writing is sitting down and doing it. My greatest weakness is my tendency to procrastinate, especially when the words aren’t flowing the way I’d like them to.

3. Have you experienced an aha moment, a piece of advice or a moment where something fell into place?

Well, my aha moment goes back to my previous answer. I sometimes went for weeks without writing a single word and blamed my lack of productivity on writer’s block. The resulting guilt and self-loathing made it even harder to get back to the keyboard. Though I’ve read advice from other authors who tell writers to write no matter what, I never believed it was possible. How can I write if I’m not in the zone? A few weeks ago, I was discussing the cycle of writer’s guilt with a friend of mine, and we came up with the idea of a 200-word-per-day writing challenge. It doesn’t sound like much, but I’ve found that once I complete my requisite 200 words, I’m usually in the mood to keep writing. I have a sense of accomplishment each and every day, and don’t have to struggle with guilt.

4. Whose style do you admire, or is there a line you wish you’d come up with?

I admire so many authors, but Anne Rice and JK Rowling come to mind first. They have very different styles, but are both masters in the genres they’re known for.

5. Describe your ideal reader.

This is a really tough question. Since I tend to skip from genre to genre, it’s hard to choose a specific type of reader. I can say that in most of my books, I rely heavily on humor, though I wouldn’t consider myself a comedic author. So, I guess my ideal reader would have to have a good sense of humor.

Author Bio:
Tricia Drammeh is a wife, a mother of four children, and an author. She lives in New Hampshire with her family. When she isn’t writing, she can be found devouring books, chasing cats, and consuming vast amounts of coffee.

Links:
Website: www.triciadrammeh.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorTriciaDrammeh
Twitter: twitter.com/TriciaDrammeh
Amazon: Amazon.com: Better than Perfect eBook: Tricia Drammeh: Kindle Store