Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Macchiato Mix Up Featured Short Story


For the month of September my short story "Macchiato Mix Up" 

photo courtesy of wikipedia


plus my list of Top Ten Inspirational Writer's Quotes is featured on the Bethlehem Writer's Roundtable Newsletter.

                                                  You can find it here

                       So maybe you'd like to grab your favorite beverage of choice and check it out.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Does Your Spouse Read Your Writing?

I'd like to welcome author, Vicki Crum to my blog today. She has been coerced agreed to share a little about her writing journey, her new release, some writerly camaraderie, inspiration, and (with much arm-twisting) some husbandly humor.

Suzanne -- Tell us, Vicki, what INSPIRES your writing creativity?


Vicki -- the oddest things will inspire a storyline from seemingly out of nowhere. 
Loving Luc is my first published novel, and the idea for it came as I was taking out the trash one day and saw a string of crows eyeing me from atop the electrical wires. 


There was an odd stillness in the air, an eerie feeling of déjà vu that I couldn’t quite explain. I saw my heroine clearly in my mind, along with the first few lines of the story, and I knew I had to write it. 

Suzanne -- how interesting. It's so true that you can find inspiration in the simplest of tasks. I don't think I'll take back the trash chore from my teenage son, just yet. :) 

You've been writing for a while, Vicki. Where did your first inspiration come from and how do you keep it going over the years?







Vicki --  my writing journey actually began in my late teens when a friend loaned me her copy of Kathleen Woodiwiss’ The Flame and the Flower. 

I became a voracious reader of romance novels from that day forward. It was several years later, when I was married with young children, that I found myself mentally rewriting various scenes I had just finished reading. This usually happened when I was out jogging, and my thought process went something like this: I wish (insert hero) would have said this, and (insert heroine) would have done that… Oh yeah, I would have liked that much better! 

Eventually I decided that instead of mentally rewriting other people’s scenes to suit myself, maybe I should try writing some of my own. I quickly learned it is much, much harder to create interesting characters and put together a cohesive plot that will keep the reader tuning pages late into the night than it is to write a few random scenes here and there! 

As for where I find the inspiration to keep writing year after year, I attribute that to my wonderful critique group and their constant encouragement, as well as that of my family, whose advice has always been ‘do what you love’. 

Suzanne -- you know I love famous author quotes, are there any that inspire you?


Vicki -- I have lots of favorite writing quotes. Here are two. 

        “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” 
                                                                Richard Bach 

        “The question isn’t who’s going to let me; 
                                it’s who’s going to stop me.” Ayn Rand 

And I read a terrific quote a few years back that has stayed with me, though sadly I can’t remember to whom it is attributable. It goes something like this, 

“I can’t imagine how many truly great writers the world will never know because they simply gave up and went away.” 

This has been a great reminder to me to never, never give up!

Suzanne -- thanks so much for those wonderful quotes. Let's move on to where you find your writerly camaraderie?

Vicki -- Belonging to an excellent organization like Romance Writers of America has also helped tremendously. It is an organization filled with professional writers, some published, some not, who are always eager to help and support fellow writers. I've been a member of the Orange County Chapter (OCC) of RWA since 1997 and have served on the board of OCC as Programs Director, co-chaired the Ways and Mean Committee, and worked as a co-oordinator for the special OCC author receptions.

Suzanne -- that sounds like a wonderful way to support and share the writing journey. Now, tell us your hilarious humor story.

My husband has always been supportive of my writing, but he has never read any of my manuscripts. He’s not a big reader, unless it’s sports-related. My husband’s best friend, Dave, who is a voracious reader across all genres, wanted to be the first to buy and read Loving Luc. My husband and Dave went to our river house to take care of some repairs, and one afternoon, sitting out on the dock, Dave was relaxing by reading Loving Luc on his Kindle. He decided to read a passage from a particularly intimate scene to my husband. Now, I feel that my sex scenes are fairly mild, certainly not what I would call overly-explicit. But apparently upon hearing what I had written, my husband’s face turned beet red and after a paragraph or two, he said, “Whoa—my wife wrote that?” His discomfort brought a quick end to the oral recitation. I guess that’ll teach him to pay more attention to what I’m writing!


Suzanne -- thanks so much for sharing that bit of husbandly humor. And now here's how we can all read Loving Luc by Vicki Crum --A contemporary romance with futuristic elements

Available on Smashwords, Create Space, and Amazon.com 


Maggie McAllister’s short, troubled marriage ended in tragedy the night her husband splintered his sailboat on a submerged reef. Remnants of David’s bloody clothing were found in the wreck, but his body was never recovered. Now, six months later, Maggie has come to terms with her shock and grief, but guilt over the contentious state her marriage was in at the end still haunts her. 
When a beguiling stranger from David’s past shows up on her doorstep and then manages to insinuate himself into her life, Maggie is forced to deal with an intense, unwanted attraction to the man, and worse, she can’t shake the feeling that Luc is hiding something, that he knows a lot more about David’s fate than he’s willing to admit. Despite Maggie’s best effort to remain indifferent to Luc, she finds herself falling in love with him. Little does she know that the very act of loving Luc sets Maggie up as a pawn in a battle between good and evil---a battle being waged by entities from another world---with Maggie as the ultimate prize.


Thanks again, Vicki for being so willing to share with us your writing journey. Good luck with your release.

As always, feel free to comment. 







Monday, August 11, 2014

Visit Anne Lange's Blog for My Favorite, Easy, Yummy Recipe

Come visit Anne Lange's Blog where I share a little about my writing, my newest release, and my favorite Football Party recipe--an easy, delicious Buffalo Chicken Dip.

A couple photos from my summer travels.


Along the Douro River in Portugal


Hope you'll hop on over to Anne's and feel free to comment.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

WORLD BLOG TOUR


Paula Mowery graciously invited me to be a part of the World Blog Tour.
She is a fellow author, and an acquisitions editor at Prism Book Group.  
You can find her here at her blog



I'm supposed to tell you a little about me, but first, if you haven't seen the movie 
Authors Anonymous and you're a writer run, leap, dash over to the closest Redbox and pay the buck. It shows and pokes fun at all the trials and tribulations of being a writer today.



Okay, a little about me. . .

I  traded my “eh” (being Canadian) for “y’all" (moved to the South) and by day I'm a wife and mother to two, almost grown children, and underling to three dogs. By night, I'm a blogger, and published author of fiction for both adults and children.  I'm a huge football fan but won’t declare a favorite team, vowing it’s safer for my health being that I live surrounded by Alabama, Auburn, Seminole and Gator Fans.  I love the beach in winter. My favorite holiday is April Fool’s Day, and serendipitously my son was born on April 1st. I'm adding yoga to my life, and probably another dog or two. And I still love to hang out at the library, sitting on the floor with a stack of books, often in the children’s section. 

As part of the tour, I’ve been asked to answer four questions on my writing.
Okay, here goes. . .

      What am I working on? Revisions, revisions, revisions. I am the Revision Queen.


Right now I’m revising a contemporary middle grade novel that I wrote during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November 2012. 


And I usually have some flash fiction or short stories in various stages of disarray on my big screen desktop too.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I’m not sure it does, other than it has my own unique writer’s voice, which I hope shines through and which tends to have some laugh-out-loud humor attached, I hope. 


                                                          Why do I write what I do?

To be honest, I love a shorter form of fiction. I’ve been published in flash fiction, short stories, and novellas. I’m currently working shorter children’s novels. I’m very much a see-the-big-picture type of person. I need to hold the whole piece in my head, and longer novels --80,000 words plus--strain my poor, puny brain.



How does my writing process work?

Not very well at times. But at other times I surprise myself. :)
I’ve been all over the map with my process, experimenting, learning as I go. 
With my current project and others, I’ve fast drafted. Which means I sit down and vomit, spew, hurl words on the page, thus necessitating the need for revision, revision, revision. 
But I’m also a life-long learner and I take oodles of online classes, gleaning sparks of inspiration, creativity, and knowledge from each one. Then I get to apply these to my vomit-on-the-page (thank goodness). 

Thanks, Paula for inviting me to share in this World Blog Tour and as part of the tour be sure to hop over to these three fabulous writer's on July 15th (or before) and find out more, and be sure to follow their blogs.


Connie Peck at http://mrspiddles.weebly.com/blog

Sia Marion at  Open Window Blog

Karen Cogan at  http://kecogan.wordpress.com/


As always, feel free to comment.


Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Summertime Writing: Inspiration, Humor, and Camaraderie


It's hard to find writerly inspiration with all the distractions of swimming, hiking, biking, water skiing, vacationing, or just lazing in the sunshine. Try to persevere and remember. . .

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."  Thomas A. Edison


          "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better." Samuel Beckett




And my personal favorite to give me solace through the submission process.


"Opportunity does not knock,
 it presents itself 
when you beat down the door."
Kyle Chandler











All the writing rules getting you down? Take heart and enjoy this humorous passage from Anne R. Allen's December 22nd, 2013 Blog Post. Anne writes. . ."Here is a little verse I stole from Dorothy Parker wrote about those rules, based on Dorothy Parker's hilarious poem, "The Lady's Reward"."


Rules for the Beginning Novelist
…with apologies to Dorothy Parker

Newbie author, never pen
Background story till page ten.
Use no flashbacks—no, nor prologue.
Never start your book with di’logue.
Set the hero’s hair on fire.
Keep the situation dire.
Write in genres tried and true
From a single point of view.
Tell your tale in linear time.
Avoid a plot that strains the mind.
No dead kids, bad priests, abuse
Or politics in your debuts.
Copy last year's biggest hit.
No one wants to read new @#%*
Make it light but never funny.
(Humor’s too subjective, honey.)

And if that gets you published kid,
You’ll be the first it ever did.


Because summer is the perfect time to read on good book, at the beach, by the lake, on the river...
I'm enjoying John Green's works: An Abundance of Katherines, Alaska, and The Fault in the Stars (recently released as a movie)

                             For some shared writerly camaraderie with this hugely successful author, 


                                           here are a couple of John Green quotes on writing.



"I know that books seem like the ultimate thing that’s made by one person, but that’s not true. Every reading of a book is a collaboration between the reader and the writer who are making the story up together."

"Read a lot. Read broadly. . .Tell stories to your friends, and pay attention to when they get bored. . . Write a lot."

So try to carve out some writing time in your summer schedule or barring that listen to John Green and read a lot. Preferably by a beach, a lake or river. Enjoy your summer.

As always feel free to comment.


Wednesday, April 16, 2014

My Top 10 List. . .

Inspiring Quotes by Famous Writers

As winner of an Honorable Mention in Bethlehem Writer's 2014 Short Fiction Contest I was asked to submit, along with a short bio, my top ten list. After banging my head fingers on the keyboard I finally came up with a list I find helpful on the long, and sometimes lonely journey that is my writing life. I find solace, inspiration, humor and camaraderie when I read the words of these famous writers.

photo courtesy of Wanna Commons Jenny Kaczorowski 

1.  These words by Ernest Hemingway have appeared on my blog before, but they remind me writing is no easy task and not to take it too seriously. 

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at the typewriter and bleed.”

2.  When I’m experiencing writer’s block Barbara Sher’s words often help. 

“You don’t need endless time and perfect conditions. Do it now. Do it today. Do it for twenty minutes and watch your heart start beating.”                                                

3.  When I’m facing a big project like an 80,000 word novel Mark Twain’s words fill me with hope. 

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and ten starting on the first one.”                                                                                                                                        

4.  My first drafts are often a messy pile of dog poop and C. J. Cherryh words give me permission to keep going. 

“It is perfectly okay to write garbage—as long as you edit brilliantly.
5.  I love writing short stories, but they are not easy as Henry David Thoreau reminds me. 
“Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.”
6.  I am not a big planner, outliner, or plotter and usually write by the seat of my pants.     E. L. Doctorow’s words remind me I don’t have to know everything about the plot before I sit down to write. 
“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”  
7.  Edgar Rice Burroughs words remind me to just keep writing, every day, lots of stories. 
“If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.”
8.  Revising can be my best friend or my worst enemy, but Oscar Wilde’s words remind me I’m not alone. 
“This morning I took out a comma and this afternoon I put it back again.”                
9.  There are many, many, many rules for writing well, but I like Robert Silverberg’s best. 
“Three Rules for Literary Success: 1. Read a lot. 2. Write a lot. 3. Read a lot more, write a lot more.”                                                                                                                
10.  And because I love Ernest Hemingway and a his hits of humor. . . 
“There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it’s like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.”    

As always feel free to comment or add inspiring words of wisdom, your own or another author's.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Victoria Caine's Humor, Inspiration and Camaraderie

I am pleased to be doing a blog swap today with another fellow Prism Book Group author,
Victoria Pitts Caine. Vicki's here to share a little humor, inspiration, writerly camaraderie. Take it away, Vicki.


My writing journey began over twenty years ago when I published a small article in an adoptive parent magazine. Then my super-mom gene took over and I enjoyed the events surrounding my daughter’s lives:  school, sports, music, dance and cheer.

When the oldest left for college in New Mexico, I began researching my family heritage.  After several years of investigation, I entered a genealogy writing contest and won honorable mention.  At that point, I felt the need to tell the story of my mother’s family.  I began writing my self-published historical novel, Rachel.




My own inspiration:  My first book, Alvarado Gold, evolved from a family story told in an old letter from my mother’s great uncle. My ancestors developed a town in Texas and periodically drove cattle to SeattleWashington. On one such trip, the brothers including my third great grandfather buried the money. The family continued to look for it well over a hundred years later and it was never found.

The verse that runs through the book is from Ecclesiastes 3:1-9, beginning with for everything there is a time and a season. When the church worship band played the song, "Turn, Turn, Turn" one weekend – I knew I had to get the story published.


Camaraderie:  Anything that brings writers together is a benefit. I think we all feed off of each other (in a good way). I facilitate a class once a week for writers where we read our work and do a short lesson. Most of all we share our sorrows and triumphs in the publishing arena. The triumphs usually are celebrated with cake!

Humor:  A funny story from my writing journey. . . for many years I attended a writing class taught by an accomplished author who had several Harlequin Romances under her belt. Several of the students in the class had traveled extensively to exotic places like Africa, Egypt and the Middle East.

We were required to read our WIP each week and I read a scene from my book Cairo that took place in a restaurant. I’ve never been to Egypt and found a virtual tour of an eating establishment on the internet which I described in the book.

When I finished reading, one of the women who had recently returned from Egypt looked at me and said, “I didn’t know you’d been to Cairo. I ate in that restaurant.”

Ah, the power of good research.

Be sure to check out Victoria's newest release: available here or here








Vicki lives in FresnoCalifornia, where she shares her home with her husband, her youngest daughter, two dogs, one very large cat, and about twenty fish.  Other than writing, she enjoys reading, craft work, and collectables. She also collects exotic gemstones. 

Thanks so much for swapping blogs today Vicki. Be sure to visit Victoria's blog 

As always, feel free to comment or ask Vicki questions.