Connecting with Readers

          This has been an extremely challenging week.

          I received edits for my historical novella last Friday, just before leaving for a weekend scrapbooking retreat. I got permission to hold off working on the edits while I got caught up on my scrapbooks and had a great time with friends. 

          So then I got home on Sunday afternoon and dived into the week. The first part of the week is always hectic - I took care of my grandkids, went to a band rehearsal, went to make hats with my sewing group, taught classes, went to orchestra rehearsal - all while trying to write and edit. 

          Not much got done.

          For some reason the edits this time were much more difficult for me to do. I’m not sure if it’s because there seemed to be more edits, or if this particular editor and I didn’t see eye to eye on certain things. What should have been a two-day job ended up taking all week. 

          I’d also signed up to host at a facebook event for authors and readers of sweet romance. Since I was still struggling with edits I started to wish I hadn’t made the commitment. But thanks to my writing partner, Stephanie Michels, I had a few gift cards to give away, so I quickly threw together a quick script, and I did my first shift on Thursday evening. 

          What fun! my hour wasn’t well attended, but the half-dozen ladies there were so warm and welcoming and engaged with each other. It was so much fun I was inspired to get a few more prizes together for my second shift on Saturday. Again, interacting with people who loved to read (as well as engage in a lot of my other hobbies) was so uplifting. I actually got my edits done and sent!

I can’t do a facebook party EVERY week, but in this case it did the trick and got me out of my funk. Thank you, ladies.

          Goal time: Other than the hats I hemmed on Tuesday, the only sewing I did was to make these sachets which I gave away on Saturday night. And I’m STILL trying to find time to read - I WILL get Savage Deception read - soon!

Romance: Not Just for Valentine's Day!

          

          I sold my first book to Astraea Press in the spring of 2011. The Legacy was published in July of that year. Since then, writing has consumed more and more of my life. I’d always thought I had one big novel in me, but since The Samurai’s Garden came out in 2012 there has been a constant stream of stories running through my head. Several of them came unexpectedly, such as my short story for the anthology, Love and Diamonds. The process for Operation Rhombus, my offering, went something like this:

          On the facebook page for Astraea Press authors, a tiny announcement went up. It was a call-out for short stories up to 5K in length, around the theme Love and Diamonds. Of course the 100-plus authors went wild. It’s quite an honor to be included in an publisher’s anthology. It means that the publisher acknowledges your writing as representative of their company. So we started speculating about how we could go about accepting this challenge. I knew I wanted my story to be different so it would stand out, so I started looking at the theme from different angles. A baseball diamond? Maybe, but there are other authors who actually coach sports teams and could undoubtedly write a better baseball story. Where else would you find diamonds besides a jewelry store or a diamond mine (which I also don’t know anything about)?

          And then it hit me. 

          I’d spent twenty-eight years teaching elementary school. For thirteen of those years I taught in a regular classroom, and math, especially at the lower grades where I spent my time, included shapes. A quadrilateral with four equal sides is called a rhombus, and I remember one of my students moaning one day, “Why can’t we just call it a diamond like everybody else?”

          And so the story of math teacher Paul Cramer and his lady love, English teacher Ellie Hartwell, was born. And fortunately for me, Astraea Press accepted it! Paul is an absent-minded hero. Ellie loves him, but for some reason he’s hard to find in the days before the big Valentine Dance. He’s busy with a new project called Operation Rhombus. 

          Here’s a short snippet:

          Hey, Miss Hartwell, How are you tonight? It's odd, seeing you here without Mr. Cramer."

          "Yeah, where is Mr. Cramer, anyway?"

          "He said he had to get some supplies for some school project," she told them.

          "School project?" I wonder what project that would be," a girl to her right wondered.

          The boy next to her nudged her. "Don't you remember? He was talking about it yesterday in trig class. Operation Rhombus."

          "Operation Rhom— Oh yeah! I remember now." The girl turned to Ellie. "Yeah, it's really important. But I thought he was going to go get the r- the supplies earlier in the week."

          "He probably forgot until today," another girl said. “You know how Mr. Cramer forgets to do things until the last minute.

          Everyone at the table laughed. Yes, they all knew.

****

Operation Rhombus and fourteen other stories in the Love and Diamonds anthology are available at Smashwords for half off this week, using code REW50. Here’s the LINK for the book!

The Grand Rapids Quilt Show

Today I spent a few hours at the DeVos Place in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. Each year, the American Quilt Society hosts a major event in seven cities: Phoenix (AZ), Lancaster (PA), Chattanooga (TN), Paducah (KY), DesMoines (IA), Charlotte (NC), and Grand Rapids. I had never been to a national quilt show before, so I talked my writing partner Stephanie Michels into going with me. We're finishing up the second in our Stitching Post romance series, set in a quilt shop in suburban Grand Rapids, so we thought we'd go and get inspiration for future books in the series.

We were totally awed by the sheer talent displayed in the quilts, sent in from around the world! My phone camera got a workout, and it was difficult to choose my favorites. I put several up on my facebook page, so if you've seen these pictures there, I hope you don't mind seeing them again.

These two were award winners. I love the workmanship in both, but the one on the left, "Capturing Brittany" really impressed me with the intricate and realistic detail.

There were quilts that used variations of traditional patterns:

And other quilts that were quite whimsical.

There were some that were so realistic they reminded me of photographs,

And others that made me smile for other reasons.

But what they all had in common was that each one was a testament to the dedication and hard work of the person who created it.  I think it's the same kind of dedication an author has when he or she spends hours upon hours crafting a single work. I only hope my books show a fraction of the same dedication as these wonderful creations.

     

Can't is a Four-letter Word

Writers often have to reach out to strangers for helping getting the details correct while we're writing about things out of our personal area of expertise. When I wrote The Christmas Phoenix, I contacted a local ice sculptor who not only answered all my questions about his craft, but also sent me videos of a show he and his crew had appeared on so that I could SEE how he worked. That went a long way toward helping me create the ice sculpting character, and it's no coincidence that the hero of the story has physical traits similar to him.

So when I started working on a story about a quilter who suddenly starts to lose her sight, I contacted Diane Rose, who had been featured in a video interview uploaded on YouTube. Diane is the creator of almost a thousand quilts - all sewn without the ability to see. You can watch the video here:

As you can see, Dynamo Diane doesn't let an "inconvenience" like blindness stop her from living her life to the fullest and doing the things she really wants to do! She gives motivational speeches and appearances, and shows people how they can do so much more than they think they can! Unfortunately, health problems have curtailed her speaking engagements, and thus her income, for the first part of the year, and she is now in the process of healing. But she would sincerely like to reach out to people, and is looking for venues to speak, especially in the Detroit area, during the second half of June.

I've had the pleasure of speaking to Diane personally, and I'm excited at the possibility of meeting her personally this summer! We're looking forward to meeting when she comes to Michigan. She is in need of venues to spread her message of inspiration and empowerment, so if you belong to an organization that would like to hear her, be sure to contact her via her website (http://theamazingquilter.com), or leave a comment below.

There are other ways you can help. Diane's website lists materials she needs to continue her quilt ministry. She is always looking for donations of fabric and thread. 

Right now, I'm headed downstairs to pack up some of my fabric stash to send her.

Out of Words?

 

I didn't put up a post last week. It was the first time in almost three years that I didn't post ANYTHING. That fact made me sad. I don't like it when a winning streak is broken. I tried, really I did, but I wasn't inspired by anything. Day after day I sat here, trying to think of something to write about, and came up with nothing. I didn't do a craft project, either  - actually I worked on some quilt tops but didn't finish any - so I didn't have anything to take a picture of. And since I haven't done much editing and had nothing ready to share from my writing projects, I didn't do my Sweet Saturday post.

It's not as if nothing at all happened in my life. I keep fairly busy, and so do the people around me. There's always a story in the paper that piques my interest. But nothing inspired me to write. I didn't add much to any of my writing projects, and I didn't write a blog post. I was – out of words.

This week, I went to my quilting group at church, and we had a special guest speaker. Carol Peters talked about Margaret's Hope Chest, a charity founded by her daughter, Caryn Vogelzang, after Carol's mother was mugged in a parking lot after buying groceries. Margaret was a quilter and her granddaughter was inspired to create the charity, making quilts for those who needed hope for whatever reason. They've given them to people who are suffering from tragedy, from economic troubles, or health problems. They've gone to children who are homeless at Christmas time. But the very first quilt went to the mother of one of the girls who killed Margaret. Carol spoke for almost a full hour about the journey their family took in the creation and development of Margaret's Hope Chest, but her audience sat, entranced. We were inspired. You will be too, when you read their story at their website. I was so inspired I went home, opened my laptop, and wrote.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that my inspiration comes from people who motivate others through their actions. In this case it came from two women have made enormous strides by listening to The Call. They are not sitting back, waiting for things to happen. Carol and Caryn are strong women of faith, the kind of women I like to read and write about. And now I have an idea for a story. So I guess I'd better get to work…

Carol Peters, of Margaret's Hope Chest

Scrapbooking in the Woods

This past weekend I went to a scrapbooking retreat. About twenty of us gathered at In the Woods Retreat Center and spent two full days working on our projects. I brought my laptop of course, but I spent a lot less time on it than usual. Other than keeping up on email (both home and work) and writing my daily 750 words, I worked on my pictures. I managed to get my family album caught up through last November.

I didn't get a lot of sleep, but the weekend actually energized me in several ways. I'm a list person, so I'm going to number them here:

1. I had extended "girl time" with people I enjoy. There's a lot to be said for that.

2. Looking at my pictures, I was able to re-live the events celebrating the good times. I've attended soccer games, orchestra concerts, school plays, and birthday parties. I have a wonderful family.

3. Women talk. We share what's going on in our lives. And while I do my share of talking, I also listen. We have our problems, but they're nothing compared to what some others are going through. My family and I are blessed.

4. Since I've been writing so much in the past year, I've spent a lot of time in the world of make-believe. But as they say, "truth is stranger than fiction". Sometimes the things that happen inspire scenes that occur in my stories. One of the ladies at my table had some interesting misadventures in the shower. Hmm. I wonder if I could write a comedy?

5. I did my weekly creative project! Here's a picture of some of my pages: