Sara Reyes | Book Signings ... what's the point?

Well, let's see...

you get to meet other readers and talk about books,..and husbands, children, pets, ghosts, vampires and zombies. Uh, haven't you noticed that your conversations range off the "normal" pattern when you get involved with readers?

Michele Bardsley
Originally uploaded by freshfiction

Signings are when you meet your local celebrities. Yes, it's an easy way to be the local prez hilton or gawker. "Celebrities" write books and what they love the best is to sign them. So, go hang out at a signing and you'll get to shake the hands of someone you normally see on television or even in the movies. This week it was Martha Stewart, but we've met football stars, actors, soap opera stars, celebrity chefs, television personalities and more. It's always a kick to shake Alan Alda's hand on Sunday and see him live on the Today show on Tuesday. I mean, seriously, you get to be a fan stalker and not considered too weird. After all, it's literary, right?

Plus, they all come with books. And since the majority are held in a book store, if you get bored, there is always another book around the shelves.

Isaac Mizrahi
Originally uploaded by freshfiction

Small plug...a new independent book store opened in our neighborhood...it's been YEARS since we had an independent bookstore selling new books. This one, Legacy Books, is located in a new urban center, you know, one of those new sections of suburbia with shopping, dining, apartments/condos and offices. Legacy Books started out with a bang...and Isaac Mizarhi. The store is great because they also have a kitchen demo area so we'll get to "taste" when they do cookbook signings. Much more fun than just your imagination. It's a nice three level store and we've got high hopes. Free wifi too *grin* they just have a shortage of electrical outlets otherwise I'd hang out more.

What's your favorite book signing?

Sara Reyes
DFW Tea Readers
Join us at our annual conference -- Reader 'n 'ritas

Marie Bostwick | Fiction and Addictions

It’s time for a confession. For years now, I’ve harbored a secret addiction.

I’m not talking about my addiction to books. For writers, a book fetish simply goes with the territory. Right now, my nightstand is piled so high with books that if the stack toppled and fell on my foot, I’d end up with several broken toes. You understand what I’m talking about. Probably your nightstand is in the same condition. If not, you wouldn’t spend your time reading Fresh Fiction blogs, would you?

No, the addiction I’m talking about is much more personal and insidious. Until recently, I’ve been in denial but the time has come to face the truth. I’m addicted – to fabric. I’m a quilter, Dear Reader, and I’ve got it bad.

My home in New England is loaded with quilt shops and I can’t bypass any of them. There is a particular store in the wilds of New Hampshire that I been known to drive three hours out of my way to visit. Not three hours round trip - I’m talking three hours each way! Imagine how that went over with my kids, who thought they were just taking a little drive to see some fall foliage and buy cider only to find themselves trapped in car with a crazed woman who would let nothing stand between her and the mother of all quilt shops. They’ve never forgiven me for that one and really, I don’t blame them.

But what my family doesn’t understand is that this isn’t my fault. Though I’ve got more fabric than I could quilt in a lifetime, the need to continually add to my stash has grown from a pleasant pastime to an irresistible urge. Whenever I visit a quilt shop, I tell myself I’m just going to stick to my list, buy only buy what I absolutely need and that is all. But the second I walk through the shop door and see those delicious colors and patterns, the moment I run my fingertips over those sensuous bolts of clean, crisp cotton, I lose all reason. Yesterday, I ran down to my local quilt shop to buy one yard of fabric, just one, for the sashing on a wall hanging. I walked out with six! Including a yard of novelty fabric that has a bunch of jewel-toned Japanese fish kites. It’s gorgeous but…what was I thinking? I live in Connecticut; there isn’t a touch of the Orient anywhere in my house! Make that in my whole county! I’m telling you, this whole thing is getting out of hand.

Fortunately, I’ve finally found a way to justify my fabric compulsion and to combine two of the things I love most – writing and quilting.

My new book, A SINGLE THREAD, is set in a small New England village, much like the one where I live, and tells the story of Evelyn Dixon, a Texas homemaker who, after an unwanted divorce, fulfills her youthful dream of opening her own business,Cobbled Court Quilts…but it’s not an easy journey.

A SINGLE THREAD is my first full-length contemporary novel and I’m thrilled that the early reviews have been so good. Publisher’s Weekly said, “Bostwick’s polished style and command of plot make this story of bonding and sisterhood a tantalizing book club contender.” New York Times bestselling author, Susan Wiggs kindly said, “By the time you finish this book, the women in A SINGLE THEAD will feel like your own girlfriends--emotional, funny, creative and deeply caring. It's a story filled with wit and wisdom. Sit back and enjoy this big-hearted novel, and then pass it on to your best friend.”

A SINGLE THREAD is a novel of sisterhood and friendship that will appeal to all kinds of women, dedicated crafters as well as those who have never threaded a needle and never want to. I think you’ll fall in love with these characters just as I have and will want to read about them again. And that’s a good thing because A SINGLE THREAD is the first title in a series I’m calling the Cobbled Court novels. This means that I’ll need to continue doing research on quilt shops, quilting, and buying lots and lots of fabric.

And that, Dear Reader, is a very good thing. Anybody up for a ride to New Hampshire? I know this great quilt shop…

Marie Bostwick
www.mariebostwick.com/

Janet Dean | Orphanages

Thanks to Fresh Fiction for inviting me to guest blog today. November isn’t usually the prettiest month here in the Midwest, but it’s still a favorite of mine. I’ve always loved the Thanksgiving holiday and our first child was born in November. Although our daughter’s original due date was November 13, as babies will, she came a little later. Even with little sleep and the extra pounds I could have done without, we put our firstborn at the top of our “thankful for” list that Thanksgiving. And there she’s remained, joined by her younger sister and down the road, their husbands and our four grandchildren. Family means a great deal to me. Perhaps that’s why I was fascinated the first time I heard about the orphan train and decided to use this slice of history in a book.

Before writing my novel, I researched the orphan train phenomena. Between the years of 1853-1929, over 250,000 children were sent by train to new homes in the Midwest and beyond. The idea to place out orphans originated with Methodist minister Charles Loring Brace, founder of The Children’s Aid Society. At the time Brace came up with the plan, immigrants were pouring into the country. Problems with poverty and disease were staggering. Brace saw children working in sweatshops, peddling newspapers and living on the streets. His and other orphanages overflowed. He decided relocating these children to homes in agricultural areas would give them a chance for a better life. For some, it did. Others lived more like indentured servants than members of a family.

My “what if” moment became the kernel for Adelaide’s story in Courting Miss Adelaide, Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical, September, 2008—What if a lonely spinster wanted a child and saw the orphan train as her last chance for motherhood? Though the town fathers refused to give a single woman a child, Adelaide wasn’t a quitter. Her life and that of editor Charles Graves becomes entangled with two of those orphans. Already at odds over dual ownership of the town newspaper, tensions rise for Charles and Adelaide when she insists a respected man in town is abusing William and Emma, the orphans in his care. Charles and Adelaide’s investigation tests their faith, threatens their livelihoods, and then their lives, yet, neither can turn away from a child in jeopardy.

It breaks my heart to think of children suffering under the hands of adults, especially those who are to love them. Sadly, the problem is still with us today. My prayer is that all children may one day live in the happy, safe homes they deserve. Until then, I hope someone will notice the abuse and speak up as Adelaide had the courage to do. To me family isn’t restricted to those sitting around our tables this Thanksgiving. Family includes all of us.

My second book, Courting the Doctor’s Daughter, Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical, will release in May 2009. As I write my third book while leaves are falling and we brace for another winter, I want to express my thanks to all my readers. Your letters and e-mails are a huge blessing and I’m grateful for your encouraging words.

Janet Dean

www.janetdean.net/
www.janetdean.blogspot.com/
www.seekerville.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth Amber | Lustworthy Pin-up Guys

As I write each novel in The Lords of Satyr series, I always have an idea of what the hero looks like in my head. And pinned on my wall. Since my pin-up guys are cut from magazines, they’re usually actors, musicians, models--someone I consider lustworthy. He has to have the right hair, eyes, and muscles.

But most importantly, my pin-up guy(s) must capture the mood of my hero. It’s the mood that inspires me and reminds me who my guy is, inside and out, lest I forget over the months it takes me to write a novel.

For The Lords of Satyr series, which is historical paranormal erotic romance, I found at least some of my inspiration in a single statue I saw on a trip to Europe a few years ago. I was writing about half-satyr half-human males. Imagine how thrilled I was when I stumbled on this life-size statue of a satyr male in the Louvre! I took so many photos of it, I’m pretty sure I worried the hovering guard. I explained to her that I was writing romances about satyr brothers in Tuscany and showed her bookmarks. She was intrigued—or maybe that was bafflement I read on her face due to the language barrier. Either way, she was happy to have me autograph the bookmark, which she pocketed. But she still kept an eye on me.

The face of this statue doesn’t match what I envisioned for any of my satyr guys—Nicholas, Raine, Lyon, or Dominic. I’d find those faces elsewhere. But talk about mood! This alpha guy has what I remember Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City calling great “throw down” when it comes to his women. And the statue as a whole has a voluptuous, sensuous mood that’s perfect for what I wanted.

Like many authors, I don’t see my covers until long after my novels are finished, so I can’t base my heroes on the cover models. Rather, the marketing department and my editor choose the covers based on their vision of the heroes I’ve written. And I have a feeling readers put their own spin on every hero they read as well. I know I do.

In my November e-newsletter, I asked members to rank my four book covers in order of preference. Each cover depicts a single image—the satyr hero. Results are still coming in, but so far, one cover has been ranked last most often. It’s Raine, the most naked of them. Interesting. Still, three readers who ranked this cover last said it was the one that initially drew them to the series. They found the other books afterward. If you’d like to weigh in, visit www.elizabethamber.com/ to join the newsletter and vote (for a chance to win a book). I plan to pass the tally on to my editor.

How important are visual images of heroes to you? If the guy on the cover doesn’t fit your image of the hero, does it dampen your interest in the book itself? Is there one truly lustworthy romance cover that has stayed in your head for months or years? Which is more important to you--the specific look of the hero on the cover or the mood of the cover? Do you even want to see the hero on the cover?

I hope you’ll leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of my newest release, Lyon, The Lords of Satyr. I’ll randomly select a winner from among the commenters a week from today.

Elizabeth Amber
Nicholas, The Lords of Satyr
Raine, The Lords of Satyr
Lyon, The Lords of Satyr
Dominic, The Lords of Satyr (March 2009)

Tracy Wolffe | Traditions

When I sat down to write A Christmas Wedding, I had a lot of different things in my head that I wanted to get across to my readers. I wanted to create a super-strong female character who wasn’t afraid to take on the establishment—and win. I wanted to tell a story about horseracing and the world of thoroughbreds. And I wanted to tell a story of love—with all its ups and downs, a story that showed how difficult marriage can be sometimes, but also how worthwhile.

But as I was writing the book, something else worked its way into the pages, and it became not just the story of a relationship between a man and a woman, but the story of that woman’s—of Desiree’s—relationship with her father and husband and children and the very male-dominated world in which she lives. It became a story of old and new, of borrowed and blue. Of hanging on to old traditions and making new ones—something I think is particularly apropos to the holiday season beginning to unfold around us.

For Desiree, keeping old traditions and making new ones was often a matter of necessity—playing hardball in a man’s world often requires a blending of following the herd and blazing new trails. For me, unlike Desiree, keeping traditions—or making new ones—has been largely about choice.

One holiday tradition I love is baking a huge number of cookies with my mother—and my children—on the days leading up to Christmas. Of assembling trays and passing the cookies out to all my neighbors, who have come to depend on the tradition as much as we have. Two years ago we were late passing out the cookies, and when I finally made it around my neighbors all breathed a sigh of relief and told me they’d been afraid I had forgotten them that year.

I also love filling my house to the brim for the holidays—with friends and family and acquaintances who don’t have anyone else to celebrate with. It’s a tradition I learned from my mother, who learned it from her mother and nothing thrills me more than putting on a huge buffet at Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s and feeding thirty or forty or more people. At the same time, I love that Christmas Eve is all about my immediate family—my husband and children and mother and I go to Mass and then out to a fancy restaurant to celebrate the holiday (and a meal that I don’t have to cook ;)

And one last tradition I can’t do without—one that I started a number of years ago and hope to pass on to my children. The tradition of service, of giving to those who don’t have the family and friends and support system that I have. At least once every couple of months—not just during the holidays but throughout the year—I make a point of taking a bunch of food to my county’s food closet and of volunteering to cook at one of the many soup kitchens in town. So far, it is only my oldest son who comes with me, as the others are too young, but as they grow I hope to make it a family affair—one that helps my children understand that not all kids have Wiis and Nintendo DS’s and that not having Playstation 3 because their Playstation 2 works just fine does not make them underprivileged.

So, what traditions do you observe every year? Have they been passed down from your parents and grandparents or have you started them as you became an adult?

Tracy Wolff
tracywolff.com

Stephanie Julian | A Writer’s List of Thanks

Since November is the month when we give thanks for being lucky enough to live in our great country—and since I figure I’ve given enough tax dollars to the government to say thanks for the next fifty years—I thought I’d list all those things that we, as writers, should be thankful for every day.

Ergonomic chairs. Pretty self-explanatory.

Agents. The first line of defense in any writer’s arsenal against rejection. It’s not that you don’t get rejections, it’s just that she gets them first. Yes, they still sting but having someone who believes in you makes it all a little better.

Writing buddies. Knowing I can call them, day or night and bitch about my uncooperative muse makes me breathe easier.

Call waiting. Don’t recognize the number? Ignore. Recognize the number as your mother-in-law’s? See response to first question.

Cattle prods. For those days when the kids demand to know why they don’t have any clean underwear and what exactly you did all day if you didn’t do wash.

Tazers. For the husband on vacation (or retirement) who walks into your office as you’re furiously typing away, leans on the door and says, “So, what are you doing?”

And the thing I’m most grateful for as a writer? Junior Mints. Decadent little discs of dark chocolate and mint. Nectar of the Gods.

I went through several (okay, more like too many) boxes as I wrote the fourth installment of my Magical Seduction series from Ellora’s Cave. SEDUCED AND ENCHANTED is my own take on the Sleeping Beauty story, set in the contemporary world where the descendents of the magical Etruscan race are alive and well and living among us.

Linchetto Rio de Feo has just met the woman of his dreams. Rosie Bianchi is smart, sexy, sweet…and cursed. She’s got an evil dead witch on her tail and a secret even she doesn’t know anything about.

Rosie can’t believe her good luck. The gorgeous guy she just met is Prince Charming material. But after one night of hot sex, Rosie wakes up with magical powers and is thrust into a battle for her life.

Love will need a little help and a little luck, but where there’s an enchanted rose hedge and three godmothers, there’s magic.

Want to read an excerpt? Check out my website at www.stephaniejulian.com/. You’ll also find excerpts from the other three books in the series and a whole world of Etruscan magic that you never knew existed.

I love writing about magic in our everyday world and I’m thankful that others are enjoying my series as well.

What are you thankful for?

Stephanie Julian

Sandi Shilhanek | Reading Slump

Over the course of the last few weeks we’ve discussed many different things, and hopefully they’ve been as entertaining for you as they have been for me, but what’s on my mind this week might be a tad depressing.

At the beginning of a new month my yahoo groups discuss what they read the previous month, and what new books they’re anticipating during the current month. It’s one of my favorite times to see what books I might have missed out on, and what books I might not be aware are coming.

For October I only read four books. To me that’s a tad depressing. I know I can read more than that. Why didn’t I? The only thing I know for sure about that is that you don’t know because you’re not me, and weren’t there for my various moods, real life moments, and perhaps poor book choices. Do four books when I can read perhaps as many as 10 in a month constitute a slump?
Of course I want you to say no…four books is great you’re not in a slump. I only read three books, so you did one better than me, but realistically that’s not going to happen, so I’ll probably have to suck it up and admit to being in something of a slump. Now to figure out how to get out of it!

Here’s where I’m open to suggestions…what do you consider to be a reading slump? What do you do if you find yourself in one, how do you get out of it? Maybe the four new books I bought this afternoon will bring me out of mine…who knows, but I’m off to explore the shelves to see which book is going to be the slump breaker for me!