Where is everybody? 

No, you didn’t arrive at the wrong place, and this IS the day when Chapter Four, Part One of Treasure Beach should be here to entertain you  But this year May has five Tuesdays, and Chapter Four demanded (bossy ol’ chapter) that I divide it into only four parts, so each would be rich and meaty.

With that in mind, instead of Chapter Four, Part One (which will debut next Tuesday) today I’m announcing an exciting new giveaway in honor of the upcoming publication of Sunset Bridge, Treasure Beach’s big sister, as well as the final full length novel of the Happiness Key trilogy.  

Your mission:

Between now and June 30th 2011, your mission is to send me any one of the following:

1. An original or family pie recipe. 
2. A link to an online pie recipe you’ve enjoyed making or eating in the past and the reason you chose it 
3. Any other pie-related link, story, or feel-good moment, and the reason you’ve included it.  Tell us about your first try at making a pie, watching your grandmother roll out pie crust, a pie that just didn’t work out or one that really did, etc.

Some Things To Consider:

1. I’ll be posting some of the entries, so by entering, you are giving me permission to share your contribution with my readers, properly attributed to you, of course. 
2. Respect copyright, if applicable, by simply linking, if your entry isn’t original, to the original story or recipe. 
3. Be sure you add an original sentence or two about why you chose your entry.  Emails with nothing except a link will not qualify for the giveaway. 

Some Things You Must Know: 

1. There’s a limit of one entry per person, although you are welcome to share more often. 
2. Because of the rising cost of postage, you must have a North American mailing address to receive a prize. 
3. You must also be willing to have your first name and hometown published here if you are a winner.

Prizes (the Fun Part):

Each Friday in June, random.org will pick one winner to win an assorted box of prizes, for a total of four. 

What kind of goodies?  Costume jewelry watches, Happiness Key T-shirts, aprons from Wanda’s Wonderful Pies, autographed novels, special soaps, pie charms, a vintage china pie plate, two unique pie servers, pie cookbooks and more. 

Then to top off the fun, on July 1st, to celebrate the arrival of Sunset Bridge at your favorite bookstore,  I’ll choose the winner of a grand prize, a choice of a Breville Pie Maker from Williams Sonoma, or a Kindle from Amazon.  The choice will be yours, unless one or the other of the prizes is no longer available.

Please email your entry through my website. 

Winners will be announced here each weekend of June and on July 1st, so check back often.

Let the fun begin.  And please return next week, when Treasure Beach resumes. 

Meanwhile, if you’re making the Happiness Key mystery wallhanging designed by quilt designer extraordinaire Pat Sloan, visit her website for the next, beyond-cute installment.

By now, maybe you’ve guessed who the  major character of Treasure Beach is going to be.  The first installment of the “novellini” went up on Tuesday, to be followed by many more.  Each Tuesday, right through July, a new part will debut.  Timewise the story fits snugly between Fortunate Harbor and Sunset Bridge,  at the very end of summer, and features the women of Happiness Key. 

I’m not ashamed to say Treasure Beach is in part promotion for the series.  If you haven’t read Happiness Key and Fortunate Harbor yet, I hope you’ll want to after reading Treasure Beach.  Then I hope you’ll run right out and buy Sunset Bridge the moment it hits the shelves of your favorite bookstore in July. All three novels are quintessential beach books, set on Florida’s gulf coast in a small, rundown beach community.  They feature four very different women who are sure, right from the beginning, that they have nothing in common, only to discover that friendship is the greatest equalizer.

There is a “fifth” female in the community, too.  Olivia Symington, age eleven and granddaughter of Alice, appears in all the novels.  While some of the other characters come and go, Olivia is in every book.  When I began to think about stories I hadn’t had time to tell, I thought about Olivia and knew Treasure Beach should be hers.

Once upon a time, Olivia had a larger role in the series.  She even had a point of view in Happiness Key, and we saw scenes through her eyes and heard her thoughts.  But as I so often do, I overwrote.  Happiness Key was too long, even by my standards.  Before I submitted the  manuscript, I knew it had to be cut.  And while Olivia’s scenes offered depth, they did not move the story forward.  So sadly, Olivia’s point of view disappeared in my final version.

And darn, I missed it.

Olivia has suffered a number of losses in her short life, and she suffers another at the end of Fortunate Harbor.  Her best friend Lizzie moves away without a word.  And while Olivia seems to take this in stride, I remember how devastating this can be in real life.   Don’t you? At eleven, a best friend is one of the most important people in a girl’s life.  And Olivia is an intelligent, sensitive child who carries a lot of baggage.

Since Treasure Beach was written after I completed Sunset Bridge, I knew what was awaiting Olivia in the final book.  I decided that I had been given a golden opportunity.  I could provide the transition for her, let my readers experience her thoughts and feelings in more depth, and set up some of the action in Sunset Bridge.  I could, at long last, give Olivia a voice.

Of course Olivia doesn’t exist in a vacuum.  She’s loved and watched over by all the women of Happiness Key.  So, of course, each of them appears in Treasure Bridge and is heard, as well.  We even get some hints of what’s to come. And trust me, it’s never a chore to write from Wanda’s point of view or to think about her pies.

I fell back into the community of Happiness Key as if I’d never been away.  Treasure Beach was as refreshing for me as a gulf breeze.  I hope you find it just as refreshing.

Note on March 8, 2012:  If you’ve just discovered this post, you’ll find it provides the background for a novella I wrote for this blog entitled Treasure Beach,  which debuted here with the following post and continued for every Tuesday all the way through July.  You’ll see I announced midway down the page that I would remove Treasure Beach  from my blog at the end of 2011, but instead, I gave my readers a year and a month to enjoy it, removing it today on March 8th, 2012.  If you weren’t able to read it, stay tuned for information about other unveilings in other places and for brand new novellas at Southern Exposure in the future.  The Happiness Key quilt is still on Pat Sloan’s website, with a link to it in this post.

Welcome to the housekeeping details for the unveiling of my brand-new “novellini”, Treasure Beach.  Each future installment will have a link back here for instructions, just in case.

Treasure Beach is a sequel to my novels Happiness Key and Fortunate Harbor and a “prequel” to the final novel of the trilogy, Sunset Bridge, which will be at your favorite bookstore in July 2011.  The story takes place between Fortunate Harbor and Sunset Bridge and doesn’t appear anywhere but here, on this blog.

Each Tuesday through July, I’ll publish a section, completing one chapter each month.  If you miss a week, don’t worry.  You’ll find the story logged in “Categories” (to your right) under “Treasure Beach.”  The most recent installment will always be at the top, so you’ll simply have to scroll down to find what you’ve missed.  Each will be clearly labeled by chapter and part.  Additionally each individual chapter will have the same photo to help identify it.

I’ll make a pdf available on the final Tuesday of each month with the entire chapter, for those of you who prefer a seamless read on your computer or eReader. 

Treasure Beach will remain here on my blog through the end of 2011.

But that’s only part of the fun.  To go along with the story, the fantastic Pat Sloan, quilt designer and good buddy, has designed a Happiness Key mystery quilt, to be unveiled right along with this story, a piece at a time on the first Tuesday of every month. 

You don’t have to be a quilter to join in the fun.  Watch the quilt unfold, along with those who are participating, by going to the Flickr folder, as well as Pat’s blog.  Pat is offering kits to make it easier, and the fabrics are gorgeous.  I’ll be making a quilt, too, and I can hardly wait to get to my sewing machine.  The quilt is absolutely charming, and well represents the novels.  Pat, being Pat, didn’t stop there, so she’s planned fun projects and other extras to go along with it every Tuesday and prizes each month.  

Tuesday, February 8, the fun begins, and on Friday the 11th I’ll  be blogging about why I chose this particular story among the many possibilities.  An insider’s look.  So check back then.

Thank you for reading along with us.  And thank you for quilting with us.  If you’re a newbie quilter and don’t know what to do, Pat’s solved that, as well.

Most of all kick back and enjoy. Let us entertain you.