How adventurous are you?  On a scale of one to ten now, and remember, no one will know what you’ve decided.  Do you like challenges?  Are you happiest when you’re doing something you’ve never done before?  Do you get bored easily doing the same old, same old?  Then think of yourself as a ten, just a tad more cautious than say Harrison Ford in the Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Arnold the governor either in movies or real life.  After all, anybody who can govern California AND terminate life forms without remorse (on film, of course) is a classic ten.

How about ones?  Do you prefer your own home and hearth to any other environment?  Do you eat the same breakfast, lunch and dinner whenever possible?  Have you watched Casablanca or even Sex and the City so many times you can mouth the dialogue, because you prefer no surprises in your entertainment, as in the rest of your life?  You’re a resident of One City.  And if you’re married, I bet you’re married to somebody who also enjoys a lack of surprise and is perfectly happy with mac and cheese every Friday night.

I fall somewhere in between.  I’ve traveled, seen some fabulous places, enjoyed a diversity of people as friends (Happiness Key had to come from somewhere, right?) I’ve explored a variety of interests.  But with all that, I have to give myself five, at most, because there are some areas where I don’t want things to change, and some times when transitions are so exhausting I’m tempted never to willingly plan one again.

So having admitted this, here I am, on a brand new computer it’s taken days to put in some kind of working order.  And here I am about to pack for a new adventure.  Next week I’ll travel to Western NY to stay in our summer cottage with only Tracy, Wanda, Janya and Alice for company–well, Maggie, too, but you don’t know Maggie yet.  The ladies of Happiness Key and I are going to hunker down with my new computer for three weeks and see how much of the final installment of their story I can write.  Just me, Nemo the friendly beagle, whatever varmints enjoyed the winter as our guests, and my neighbors at Chautauqua Institution. 

The travel?  Fun.  Breaking in a new computer?  EEEEK!

I may not always be adventurous, but I am looking forward to this new experience.  And now that I’ve figured out how to load my documents and software, I may enjoy the computer, too.  However, if I don’t blog for a little while?  You’ll have a variety of scenarios to consider:

1–The cable guy didn’t show up to install the Internet

2–Emilie couldn’t figure out how to configure the wireless

3–Emilie is so busy chasing mice around the cottage with a broom that she’s too tired to blog

4–Emilie and the ladies of the key are so immersed in Sunset Bridge without the normal interruptions that she’s yet to come up for air.

More likely I’ll be telling you what it’s like to write and write and write some more.  That may not sound like an adventure to some people, but those gutsy Florida gals are always willing to share their adventures with me, and frankly at least at those moments, I’m a ten once removed. 

Now that summer is almost here, I hope you’re planning to leap out of your easy chair and have an adventure or two of your own.  We’d love to hear if you’d love to tell us.  Just click on comment above.  Never tried that?  It’s an adventure.  Give it a whirl.

The moment I heard that the Ashford Court Readers Group in Strongsville, Ohio was not only going to discuss Happiness Key, they were going to make food appropriate to my novel to enjoy together, I wanted to jump on a plane and join them.  This is my kind of book club.  Food and books.  Can anything beat this combination?

Instead I had the privilege of doing a phone interview, a raucous affair with all of us talking at once and lots of laughter in between.  I’ll confess I missed not sharing the Key lime pie and the Indian rice, too, but the camaraderie?  Priceless.

Book clubs have undergone a transformation.  Once a local ”literary” event we dressed carefully for and only attended after preparation with Cliff Notes and author biographies, now book clubs are social gatherings of neighbors or old friends, who gather together to enjoy an evening out, eat, laugh and yes, talk at least briefly about the book of the month. Like reading itself, gathering to talk about books should be a prime opportunity to escape and enjoy.

So, many thanks to the ladies of Ashford Court for a chance to enjoy their company if not their food.  And the latter?  Well, that reminded me of fabulous–and fabulously easy–brownies I had as a guest of the Cypress Point book club, here in Virginia.  If you’re hosting your own gathering, you might want to try these.  You won’t be sorry.

And if your book club is discussing one of my novels, don’t forget that like Ashford Court, you can invite me to participate by speaker phone.  Maybe I’ll make a batch of these brownies to keep in my freezer for just such a moment.  

Symphony Brownies 

• 1 approx. 20 oz packaged fudge brownie mix (preferably with chocolate syrup)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 7 oz Hershey’s milk chocolate Symphony bars

Directions

• Preheat oven to temperature on your brownie mix box
• Lightly grease an 11″ by 7″ baking pan–bottom only
• Prepare brownie mix according to directions using eggs, water and oil
• Stir just until mixed
• Pour half the batter into prepared pan
• Put unwrapped (duh) candy bars on top–Emilie breaks her for better coverage
• Top with remaining batter
• Bake 40″ or until toothpick inserted in center is only “slightly” gooey
• Cool before cutting

Enjoy!  Eat one for me.  Who knows, maybe I’ll join you.

“Pssst. . . I have a great idea for a story, but I don’t have time to write it.  I’ll tell you what it is and we can split the royalties.”

You think I’m kidding?  I’m not.  Every novelist has heard this offer.  Sometimes in the dentist’s chair, sometimes at a party, sometimes from a neighbor walking his dog.  Everyone who has never written a book has at least one idea that would make a fabulous novel.

And everyone who has never written a book believes just having an idea is worth at least half the profits.

Come closer and let me whisper in your ear. . . Ideas?  Ideas are the easy part. That old saying, “a dime a dozen?”  It’s not just a cliche. Figuring out what to do with ideas?  That’s the part that makes those of us committing ours to paper crazy.  All those famous literary figures with alcohol problems?  Not a coincidence.

Today I’m not blogging about characterization or plotting.  I’m not explaining how to break a story into scenes, decide on the viewpoint characters, describe the setting in a way that transports the reader to that precise fictional spot.  Today’s the day I tell you a secret, too.  That idea?  The one that seems so clear cut and simple and valuable?  That idea can be a million different stories depending on how it’s treated.

For purposes of marketing, fiction is broken into genres.  Walk into almost any bookstore and you can target the kind of book you most prefer by labels on the aisle or overhead.  Then you can go straight to your favorite, make a choice, and leave the shop happy–leaving the bookseller happy, too–all in a few minutes. Sometimes capitalism rocks.

But genre isn’t just about the way a novel is marketed to readers, or even to publishers at the manuscript stage, genre is also the way that you market the idea to yourself.  Almost any idea can be manipulated so that it fits on almost any shelf in that store.  The key is to decide where it best fits, and what you, as author, must do to put it there. 

One of the most surprising things I discovered early in my writing career (back when I was scratching my books on dinosaur pelts)  was that if an idea wasn’t working, I didn’t have to change it.  Instead I had to reset it. If the idea excited me, I simply had to find a way (simply?!) to set it so that the reader was excited by it, too.  I had to move it to a more intriguing location, add a subplot, change a character’s background or motivation.  The change had to be major. Tinkering with a novel?  Rarely a good idea.  Tinkering is like trying to fix an engine with a blown gasket by cleaning the spark plugs.  A waste of time.

Sometimes, though, an idea needs an even bigger overhaul. To belabor the car metaphor?  Sometimes we have to turn our Buicks into Porsches. That contemporary romance you thought you were writing?   Maybe it’s a historical.  Try setting it in Victorian England, amid the squalor of London’s streets, and maybe the story will finally come alive.  Or maybe you need to add a dragon or two and abracadabra, you’ve begun a sword and sorcerer fantasy.  An intriguing murder, and that one good idea could become a mystery series.  Cradle that one great idea in a coming of age story, and perhaps it will be the fascinating literary journey it was always meant to be.

So pssst. . . Don’t throw out your good ideas, and don’t tinker.  Certainly don’t offer to sell them to a working author who has enough of her own.  Keep what intrigued you in the first place, then see how many interesting ways you can put that idea together.  Finally, choose the way that’s working.  How can you tell?  Here’s another secret: You will know.  You’ll look forward to working on it every spare moment.

I love interviewing authors, but let’s face it, authors are some of my very favorite people.  Several years ago I went to a terrific writer’s conference in West Virginia and made two good friends.  Today you’ll get to meet one of them, Joanna Campbell Slan, who since that conference has gone on to publish a brand new mystery series for Midnight Ink.  Her latest, Photo, Snap, Shot is on bookshelves now.  I’ll let Joanna introduce herself in detail.  By the way, the other friend will make her author debut soon, and you’ll meet her here, as well.

Joanna will give away a copy of Photo, Snap, Shot to one reader who comments on this blog.  We’ll let random.org choose a winner on the morning of Friday the 14th. 

So, without further ado, here’s Joanna. . .

Joanna, you have your third mystery out right now in the delightful Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft series.  Tell us a little about Kiki your sleuth.  What makes her such an individual? 

She’s flawed, and she knows it. I mean, perfection is so over-rated. She loves too much, she worries too much, and she eats too much. In other words, she’s Every Woman. I think my readers appreciate her because they see a bit of themselves in Kiki.

You are a scrapbooker yourself, plus the author of several scrapbooking how-to books.  What made you decide to make Kiki a scrapbooker, and how does her craft flesh out the mysteries? 

A smart friend of mine suggested I write about scrapbooking. Her name is Emilie Richards, and she was right on target. I’ve been involved in the craft for a decade. After you’ve been around the block that many times, you understand the lay of the land. Kiki cares about saving memories. Really, that’s all you have to do to be a scrapbooker…have a life worth remembering. All that other stuff is fluff.

Your covers and titles are fantastic.  How much input did you have? 

I suggested that Midnight Ink’s artist Kevin Brown go to a local scrapbook store and have a look-see. Bless his heart. He “got it.” Before he starts to work on a new cover, he asks me if I have any thoughts about colors or iconic images. But the genius is all Kevin. What a scrapbooker he would be!

Can you give us some hints about the storyline of Photo, Snap, Shot?  Pique our interest please.

Kiki’s daughter Anya stumbles over the dead body of a flirtatious teacher who was involved in a mixed race relationship. The police think Anya might have seen the killer, so Kiki is forced to play amateur sleuth. Her snooping around leads her to suspect the murder has something to do with a 132-year-old secret society in St. Louis. Things go downhill rapidly after that! (Yes, the secret society is real! I’m hoping I live long enough to sign books!)

I know you’re a person with a variety of interests.  You’ve been a motivational speaker and author, a scrapbooking author, and now a mystery author.  What’s in store for your future?  Do you have other projects you’re planning?

We’re negotiating for Kiki Lowenstein Book #5, and I just turned #4 in last week. Other than that, I’m hoping to get a Virginia Drivers License this afternoon. That might qualify as a good career move, don’t you think? I mean I moved here, what, nine months ago? I could have been pregnant and had the kid already. (Now that would be something to write a book about! Emilie, if they pick me up on the way to your house, would you post bail?) 

I’m thinking a loaf of my homemade bread with a file baked inside.  But don’t tell the authorities!

I’ll confess these days I wince when I hear mother-in-law jokes.  I wince because I am a mother-in-law times three.  I have three wonderful in-law kids, and our family is enriched three-fold by their addition.  I’m hoping to be a completely different kind of punchline at the end of my life.  As goals go, that’s not so trivial, is it?

My husband’s mother Lillian passed on years ago.  She was beloved by her children, a constant optimistic presence in their lives no matter what was really happening.  We used to say that if Lillian’s house burned down, she would hold out her hands and tell us how toasty a good fire felt on a cool winter evening.  Had it burned down in summer, she would have run out to the store for marshmallows.  Since my husband’s father was ready and willing to spot the dark cloud in every silver lining, Lillian’s optimism was particularly well received by her children.

Lillian had a wild streak, although by the time I knew her, that streak had been tamed by five children, a full-time job and a crushing burden of housework and cooking that she allowed no help with.  I watched her march daughters and daughters-in-law out of her kitchen whenever assistance was offered.  Even more horrifying, I watched her stand between the stove and the kitchen table as the rest of the family ate, so she could better serve them.  Although I made certain never to repeat this tradition in my own home, I now understand that Lillian loved to serve, and her meals, no cookbook in evidence, were her pride, examples of the best of southern country cuisine.

Lillian’s youth was a different story.  She grew up in a small town in North Carolina but still spent time on the Navajo reservation in Arizona clerking in her brother’s store.  In her final years she still remembered a variety of Navajo phrases and the musical name someone had given her, which meant sparkling diamond–a fitting description.  Once in that wild and crazy period she pretended to be a reporter so she could snag an interview with Roy Rogers, and did. 

In her fourth year at Elon College, WWII was declared and Lillian quit to join the Waves.  She married a Chief Petty Officer and spent much of the rest of her life on Naval bases working as a secretary and raising children, but she still did handstands and cartwheels whenever she had the opportunity.  She had a beautiful smile and a fierce protective instinct that meant each in-law was under scrutiny until the day Lillian died.  She was a friend to everyone, but only a few people really knew her, and she was related by blood to each and every one of them. 

The bonds between in-laws are tentative and sometimes difficult. Inlaw jokes can be rooted in reality, but this week, devoted to motherhood, is a good time to look at the women in our lives who have “mothered” us.  I am grateful for Lillian, whose positive spirit lives on in my husband.  I’m grateful she fought to help all her children succeed and cared enormously if they did or didn’t.  I’m grateful that she never interfered in my marriage, and that I was able to witness the results of a lifetime of struggle to find the best in everybody.  Most of all, I am grateful that even at the end, when she was in the grip of dementia, her graceful, loving spirit continued to shine, and that she passed on, still knowing she was loved by everyone who had known her.

In honor of Lillian, I’ll be giving away three copies of A Mother’s Touch, which was just reissued for the holiday.  This is an anthology devoted to Mother’s Day, and my novella, A Stranger’s Son, appears there along with novellas by superstars Linda Howard and Sherryl Woods.  To enter the giveaway, comment here and tell us what you loved about your own mother-in-law.  (To comment simply click on “comment” on the top right of this post).  If you never had a mother-in-law?  Tell us about a woman who reached out to you somewhere in your life journey.  Random.org will make the final three selections for winners on May 14th.

This week some of you may have entered a Mother’s Day giveaway on my Facebook page by telling stories of your moms.  Although the prize is the same, this giveaway is separate, and you’re welcome to enter both, although there’ll only be one win per reader.  Long live mothers and mothers-in-law, and the good influences they can have on us. I hope to be counted in that number.

More than a year ago, quilt and fabric designer Pat Sloan and I began a block of the month project based on a quilt mentioned in Sister’s Choice, the fifth book in my Shenandoah Album series.  This month we’re pleased to say we have just posted the final pattern of the series, the layout(s), cutting, and sewing directions.

Those of you who have participated with us know there are two versions of the quilt.  Pictured here is Pat’s 12 block version, which is a decorative wall quilt.  My Advent version has 24 removable stockings to fill, one for each day leading up to Christmas.  Mine’s all done but the shouting, and I will post photos here next week so you can see the finished project.  I’m hoping it will be my granddaughter’s Christmas present, and that she will enjoy it for years to come. 

You can read more about the project by going here.

Along the way Pat and I offered a giveaway to one participating quilter and another for a quilter who finished all the stockings and posted the photos on our Flickr page.  Cathy won a set of my Quilt Along With pattern books and Sarah just won a grand prize of all sorts of goodies.  Congratulations to both women, and to everyone who persisted and finished the stockings.  Now, finish the quilt.

Didn’t do this but wish you had?  All the patterns will be archived at Pat’s website for at least a year, so you still have time.  Look around while you’re there.  Pat has a lot to offer.

And while I’m announcing giveaways?  Congratulations to Audrey, Emily and Marilyn who commented about my Rising Tides covers and chose the ones they liked best.  Each will receive copies of Iron Lace and Rising Tides in their latest mass market paperback version.

Feeling sad you haven’t won anything?  Check my Facebook page for yet another opportunity. Everyone who tells us a favorite memory of his or her mother will be entered in a giveaway for a copy of A Mother’s Touch, an anthology of three novellas in honor of Mother’s Day.  Random.org will choose three winners, so add your comment by May 6th for a chance to win.  You don’t have to ask me to friend you.  If you’re already a Facebook member, just click on the link above, and it will take you right there. 

More contests coming up in the near future, so please check back to see what the publication of Fortunate Harbor in July will bring.