Really, what could be more fun than populating a Pinterest Board with illustrations for my Goddesses Anonymous novels, beginning with the first, One Mountain Away?  Apparently nothing, because that’s how I’ve spent my free time this weekend.

Pinterest, for those of you who don’t yet frequent it, is a virtual pinboard, a place to organize and share all the beautiful things we find on the web. Unlike some other social media sites it’s simple to use.  I avoided attending the party as long as I could, but once I walked through the door, I couldn’t turn back.  What fun!  Each time you return, you’ll find gorgeous images, delicious recipes, tips and tricks of all kinds just waiting for you to enjoy.  Find people with similar tastes to follow or branch out in new directions, and repin to your heart’s content.

Like most pinners, I’ve started all kinds of boards.  For instance I have one called Cottage Dreams with ideas for the Victorian era cottage we’re renovating in Western NY.  That board has turned out to be surprisingly useful.  Among other things, when I try to explain something to our contractor or architect on the telephone, I can pull up my board and miles away, so can they, to see what I’m talking about.  I’ve also learned what I like and what I don’t, simply by examining the pins I’ve added and analyzing what it is about them that appealed to me.

From the beginning I’ve had an Asheville board, to introduce my readers to the setting of my Goddesses Anonymous novels.  Asheville Life and Scenery can’t hope to capture the beauty of the city and surrounding area, but I sure make a good stab at it, thanks mostly to my son’s beautiful photography.    This weekend, though, I realized I wanted to do more.  The books are about more than spectacular Blue Ridge scenery.  They’re about people, ideas, possibilities.  So I’ve started two new boards.

Goddesses Anonymous features photos of the surrounding scenery, but also some of the characters and elements from the novels.  I’ve just started pulling the board together, but I found a wonderful litter of goldendoodle puppies to share, several of my characters (Harmony is absolutely perfect), some wonderful service dog images, the inside of Charlotte’s homestead, and more.

Wisdom of the Goddesses is completely different.  The women of the Goddesses Anonymous novels are changed and inspired by many things, including each other, and I wanted a place to gather what they’ve learned and are learning.  I hope you’ll enjoy that one, too. Expect it to grow quickly.

Pinterest boards are an ongoing process, so check back from time to time to see what’s been added.  Before long I’ll be pinning images for the second book in the series, Somewhere Between Luck and Trust, coming out next summer.

Give Pinterest a try, and let me know what you think.

My husband is about to go on sabbatical.  This is one of the perks of his profession, a chance to study and think for months every so many years.  He’s done some wonderful things; we’ve done some wonderful things together, but I’ve always written while we’ve been away.  There are no sabbaticals for writers.  We call that being unemployed.

Years ago we had the opportunity to go to Australia and New Zealand for six months on our very first sabbatical as a family.  We packed up all four children, ranging from four to fourteen, and off we went.  There were no “laptops.”  We shipped a Radio Shack Model II computer in the luggage compartment of the airliner.  I remember watching from a foreign port as it was loaded on a conveyer belt and dropped from on high into the hold.  Chalk up one for Radio Shack. Not only did it survive, I wrote a book on that computer while we were away.  A little book, true, but a book nonetheless.

Ten years later we went to Australia again, and that time we took a real laptop.  Two days into the trip the computer died.  Try getting a US computer fixed in Australia.  Try buying a new computer in Australia that will work once you get it home.

I had a book to write.  I pulled out my yellow legal pad and dug in.

And that’s when the kindness of strangers came into play.  Adelaide, Australia, where we were living, had a romance writers group.  They asked me to speak, and I was happy to do it.  These were truly lovely women.  I’ve never met nicer.  The next morning, though, I woke up to a phone call. As an icebreaker I’d told the group my computer story, and a member who heard it or heard about it had cleaned up her laptop for me to use.  She didn’t know me.  Now I’m not even sure she was at the meeting.  But she dropped off her laptop that afternoon.  She told me just to give it back before we left.  I wrote a book on it.  A little book, true, but a book nonetheless.

Ask yourself how many times strangers, people you’ve never met and will never meet again, have come to your rescue.  It’s astonishing, isn’t it?  You may need more than your fingers and toes to count them all.  That one stands out for me.  What a sweet memory it is.

This time, we aren’t going to Australia, and we aren’t hauling children.  We’re starting in Chautauqua, New York, and today I typed “the end” on the book that will be due at the end of September.  Instead of writing steadily I’ll spend this first month of my husband’s sabbatical making changes at my leisure, blogging, answering email and thinking about my next novel.  But if something goes wrong, do I want to depend on the kindness of strangers?  Nope, I’ve taken precautions.  The book is on my laptop.  It’s also on a flash drive.  In addition I’ve emailed it to myself in its entirety and put it on my eReader.  As my final piece of insurance, I’ve bought a netbook, just in case my laptop succumbs, as laptops seem prone to do.

Do I still trust in the kindness of strangers?   Absolutely. My faith is strong.  Need proof? 

I still haven’t learned to change a flat tire.

Yesterday when my husband told me to look outside, I expected to see one of our local foxes.  Or deer.  Instead look who was visiting.  Unfortunately the SIZE of this guy isn’t clear.  Our blue heron friend was about five feet tall.  I’ve never seen a larger one.  I was thinking ostrich.

The photo is taken through my window and screen, but moments after I snapped it, he flew away.  I’m surprised his wing spread didn’t create a pseudo-eclipse.

Did I mention I live in a suburban neighborhood in Northern Virginia, about 10 minutes, as the blue heron flies, from the White House?  My son, who lives a mile and a half from a paved road, says we see more wildlife here than he does.

So why did Mr. Heron visit?  Because we have a pond.  A pond without fish.  Last year, one of his buddies made a stop.  Moment of silence, please, for the quickly departed.  Hint here, if you want a pond AND fish, a pipe of some sort for the residents to hide in is a good idea.  Even if you live ten minutes from the White House.

Lagniappe.  It’s everywhere!  Tell me about yours.

I loved many things about my years in New Orleans, not the least of which was the local custom of giving ”lagniappe” which simply means something extra and unexpected. Just having a word to express the idea made it easier for me to appreciate lagniappe when it was offered to me.

Several weeks ago I received writer lagniappe. When we sell our books, we sometimes also sell the rights attached to them.  Audio rights.  Film rights, and others too numerous to mention here.  Back in the 1980 and 90s when I was writing romance novels for Silhouette Books, my publisher always kept the film and audio rights as part of my contract.  Since I doubted any of my romances would make their way to the big screen, this was fine with me.  I knew my publisher would do whatever they could to make that happen, and in the meantime, I just left the worrying to them.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I received an email two weeks ago telling me that two of my novels were going to be made into television movies.  In Germany! 

Lagniappe.  Most decidedly.

From Glowing Embers and Smoke Screen were the first two books of a four part series we called the Tales of the Pacific.  From Glowing Embers begins on an airplane to Hawaii.  I won’t tell the whole tale, but six people are brought together on that flight by an impending hurricane.  The rest of the story follows them into their own novels. 

Smoke Screen was the most complex of the four.  Set in New Zealand on the North Island, it follows the story of a woman with secrets who begins to find answers in “Waimauri” in the Island’s thermal area.

I don’t know how true to my books the screenplays will be, and I don’t know how these particular novels were chosen.  I do know I loved writing them both, that having a four book series set in exotic (for me) places that also included Coober Pedy, South Australia, and Kangaroo Island, South Australia, made them special.  I’d just been everywhere I wrote about, dragging four small children behind me, and I was delighted to find a series in the midst of wonderful times, as well.

Right now I’m waiting to hear what, if anything, I’ll be asked to do.  There was talk of flying to New Zealand, and talk of going to Germany.  I’m up for any adventure, so stay tuned.  But really, how much lagniappe can any one person expect?

Here’s a little for you.  If you click on German cast list
 you’ll see the cast of Smoke Screen, which is being filmed now.  These are gorgeous folks, aren’t they?  I can see them in the roles. 

Now, if I only spoke German!