Karen Rose Smith's Blog

Pt 2, A LASTING CAREER

2012-02-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

This is Part 2 of my A LASTING CAREER blog series. One main point I'll focus on in this blog is--Treating Writing Like A Business.

At some point you will decide that writing is no longer a hobby, that you intend to put more time into it, that you are serious about being published whatever route you choose. When that time comes, you'll realize that you need to show up for work every day. Writing will no longer depend on your muse driving you. Self discipline and intent will drive you. If you intend to publish or be published, you will have to finish your manuscript. When I work on a full manuscript--rather than a synopsis or proposal--I set myself a weekly quota. Usually that turns into a daily page quota. However, if you feel too confined by daily productivity, a weekly perspective will give you more shifting ability. You can reward yourself with super-productive days by also giving yourself days off. Sometimes a WIP calls to us every day. Other times we need breaks to reconfigure the plot, to move deeper into character motivation, or simply to have lunch with a friend to reassert the fact that we have lives other than what we do each day.

Since our writing and everything you do to make it happen is a business, you have to give it the respect it deserves. If you tell your family and friends--I'm going to write every morning--and then you invite interruptions and distractions, they won't respect your work, either. But if they see nothing disturbs your focus but a real crisis or a planned break, they'll realize if your door is closed, it stays closed. They'll realize if you say you're writing, it's not a process that can be interrupted on a whim.

For today, I have one more point about writing as a business. (I have several more for next week.) Any and all communication surrounding your career should be thought of in a business context. That means constantly be careful how you deal with other writers and everyone you encounter about writing--from e-mails and telephone conversations with an editor to posts on an e-loop, Twitter and Facebook. I've seen posts on Facebook that make me cringe. And nothing is private. Too many times I've seen an e-loop post come back to haunt the sender. If you stick to the verified facts and filter emotion to a reasonable level, you won't regret it. If you're ever uncertain about a post, don't hit SEND. Think about it, reread it in a couple of hours and then decide if you want to give it wings into cyberspace, never knowing for sure where it will land.

More next week.

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THE PLANTING PROCESS--Week 3

2012-02-23T01:00:00.000-08:00

Each week, my blogs will be about an experiment in gardening. I'm just a writer who likes to watch plants grow into beautiful flowers and luscious vegetables. My watering can can make me smile as does everything about this hobby. That's why I do it, along with the reasons I mentioned last week. Requirements for taking care of everything I grow will become more arduous as the season progresses. For the next four-five months, the process will become more time-consuming.

Let's talk a little about soil. When I plant seeds, I use a seed-starting mix and a Miracle-Gro potting mix. I combine the two for non-edible plants in the bottom third of the pots or trays. For the tomatoes and other vegetables, I use all organic. Then I shovel in a layer of the seed-starting mix. I moisten these two layers. After I deposit one or two seeds in each pot or scatter them in the tray, I cover them with a thin layer of the fine soil. Be careful when using any of these soils. If they are dry, they puff up into your eyes. I wear glasses or goggles to prevent that from happening.

In the past, I've planted in individual peat pots. This year, in attempting to grow petunias, an article I read suggested I scatter seeds in a tray instead. Since last year's process with 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 sized pots worked well, I wasn't ready to give them up. And I'm glad I didn't. When petunias start to sprout, they are very tender and minuscule. They really have to be babied along. I found setting peat pots in a tray, watering from the bottom and then spraying the top gently was the most effective growing method, so I didn't kill those tender shoots. In a tray, that method isn't possible. I plant one to two seeds per pot and then thin by leaving the heartiest sprout. I can already tell I'm going to lose many more sprouts to thinning with the tray method. I'd rather dump peat pots that don't produce into the fertilizer pile, rather than destroying all those young plants. Just personal preference. I can also see that watering those trays could be detrimental to the plants. More on that as weeks progress.

As for watering... My trays sit on a heated plant pad under grow lights. I check them every morning. If they need water for their ten-twelve hours under the light, I water. But then I let the soil dry before the next watering. This keeps down mold and fruit flies.

I mark my peat pots and trays with colorful hors d'oeuvres toothpicks. That helps me sort colors. This year I planted Double Purple Pirouette, Merlin Blue Moon Hybrid and Prism Sunshine petunias. The purple and yellow varieties are popping up (pictures below). Not one blue petunia has peeked out of the soil. I have a blue garden and blue flowers can be difficult to grow! Either that's also true with the blue petunias or...they just need more time. I won't give up yet. We'll see what happens until next week! Has anyone out there had luck growing blue petunias or petunias in general?

© 2012 Karen Rose Smith

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A LASTING CAREER, Part 1

2012-02-20T02:12:00.000-08:00

I have been fortunate to have books published for 20 years and I hope to continue for another 20. I'm often asked--What is your secret?

There is no one secret. But there are a few concepts to keep in mind if you want a long-lasting career as an author. Examine your creative urge to write. A long-lasting author must have two important qualities--passion accompanied by perseverance. Passion will excite your readers. Perseverance will keep you focused. I could add another virtue to this list--patience. But patience isn't what it seems on the surface. It's not a quiet, sitting-back, let's-see-what-happens-next virtue. Patience is about holding onto your power and being confident in decisions you make. Sustaining a career often comes down to the ability to write, write and write no matter what you're waiting for. Patience is about plan A, plan B, plan C.

What else will contribute to a lasting career? Develop an awareness of your voice, the market and where you fit into it. Do you know your voice? The knowing isn't so much about genre as it is about what you bring to whatever genre you write. Do you have an emotional style, a charmingly sweet one, an edgy tone or a gift for humor? What makes your writing all yours and uniquely you? That's your voice. Now how does that voice play into the marketplace? You can write in a genre that never goes out of style--like romance or mystery--and try to cut yourself a corner of it. Or you can try to slide into the latest hot fad and hope it lasts, ready to make a jump in another direction if it doesn't. The market is what readers make it. If you write books that are uniquely yours, you can create a loyal following and affect the market.

More about the secrets for a long-lasting career next week!

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GARDENING AS THERAPY

2012-02-14T20:52:00.000-08:00

I bury the fact in a few interviews I've given that I have a condition called fibromyalgia which affects the muscles. I've had it for 28 years and it's one of the reason I began writing. I've participated in all kinds of therapies over those years. Three years ago I fractured vertebrae in my back and had to keep looking for alternatives. I consider cooking to be one of my therapies. Lifting pots and pans, pushing cookie sheets into the oven, reaching to the cupboards all work. But I needed more that I'd have the motivation to do.

My husband created a patio in our backyard. I love colors and flowers and vegetables for healthy cooking, so gardening has become part of my yearly routine. I love the Christmas holidays but not the winter days afterward. The first year I started with planting tomatoes. Nothing is better than fresh tomatoes to cook and to freeze for winter. I was clueless about planting and harvesting. To my amazement, the seeds I planted in my kitchen for Romas, Big Boys and Beefsteaks came up! My husband dug a yard garden and I was thrilled with what the 15-20 plants produced. Planting the seeds and watching them grow was as enriching for me as writing a book. The process drew me away from the computer to more standing time in order to water and transplant and stake and eventually move outside to the patio.

Last year I wanted to grow heirloom tomatoes. I watch cooking shows and chefs often talked about their enhanced flavor. I found a site online that had so many varieties I didn't know where to start. I chose them randomly according to color, variety and the story behind the seeds that had been handed down from generation to generation. I bought a plant heat pad and my husband rigged up a workshop light to help them grow after they were started in our kitchen. I ended up with over 90 healthy plants. My husband gifted me with a small greenhouse for Mother's Day and they grew three feet tall before we planted them out. (Warm weather was slow coming last year.) We gave lots of the plants to family, friends and neighbors.

This year I wanted to start the gardening process sooner. The tomato seeds are best planted in March and April. So this year I'm trying petunias which need a longer growing cycle. I use them in patio containers and as borders. I'm going to document my planting season this year with pictures. I will move from the petunias into tomatoes, sunflowers and zucchini. These photos are only the beginning. Stay tuned for next week's blog and photos on GARDENING AS THERAPY. (You have to look really, really closely to see the teeny petunia stem that popped up in a week in the last picture.)

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Article and photos copyright 2012 by Karen Rose Smith

EXPRESSIONS OF LOVE

2012-02-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day has always been special to me. When I was a pre-teen, my dad began remembering me as well as my mother on the hearts and flowers day. He would send her a Valentine's Day flower arrangement and send me a junior version. He remembered us both with cards. One year he gave us both gold heart pendants.

I'm not sure where my dad's appreciation of the holiday originated. He came from a family of ten children and extras were scarce. He was not an outwardly affectionate man or book-learning educated. He quit school after eighth grade to work. But he was a woodworking artist and later in life took up acrylic and watercolor painting. He was always thoughtful of my mother. He might bring home a piece of pottery she'd like or a swing for two for the patio for their anniversary. My dad was a generous man with a huge heart. He didn't express his feelings with words but he showed the people he loved that he cared with actions.

When I met my husband, I expected Valentine's Day to be special and it always has been. College sweethearts, we've been married for forty years. After our son was born, I suffered from post-partum depression, though then it wasn't recognized as such. My husband began a tradition then that has lasted to this day. The seven days before Valentine's Day he leaves me notes, cards or tokens of his love. After that first year, I did the same. Among those tokens this year--kitty-themed folders for my long-hand manuscript pages and notes, a solar hummingbird plant stick for my garden.

Like many women, I know Valentine's Day isn't about chocolates, flowers or jewelry. It's about an expression of love from father to daughter, mother to son, husband to wife. It's about realizing how precious each moment is with anyone you love and showing appreciation for them with an extra "I love you," a few more hugs, or a note left on a napkin with a "thinking of you" sentiment.

Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate the best part of ourselves we can give to those we love.

What did you appreciate most as an expression of love?

Do you have a special Valentine's Day tradition?

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Karen Rose Smith copyright 2012

SNOWED-IN?

2012-02-08T21:20:00.000-08:00

Do you like winter?

Living in Pennsylvania I'm used to four seasons. There are plenty of reasons to like them all. As a writer, I take photographs as well as notes on each one--the lilacs in spring, the zinnias in summer, the orange maple leaves in the fall, the blue of the spruce in winter. I don't just take notes where I live but where I visit, too. Great research. On my IPAD I list the location of the book I'm working on so I can follow the weather there while I write. That gives a feeling of accuracy as well as immediacy.

When people say they miss the seasons when they visit California or Florida, I think what they might miss most is the extremes of winter. It's the most dramatic season. This year in my area we had snow on Halloween and haven't had a measurable downfall since! This is so unusual, we are ready for snow.

I was with friends when we started the discussion on why we like to get snowed in.

We light the fireplace.
We talk to each other.
Schools are closed. (Teachers as well as students voted for this one!)
We can go sledding.
We can go into work later.
We do crafts.
We read.
There is silence outside.
We watch the birds at the feeders.
We get out grandma's afghans.
We bake bread.
We cook favorite food.
We have pancakes for supper.
We listen to music.
We're together.

I think that last reason says it all. What do you like most about being snowed in?

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Karen Rose Smith Writes Mysteries, too!

2012-02-07T07:56:00.000-08:00

Bringing a unique spark to every book I write has been my goal since I penned my first novel. I do that by exploring emotional issues, occupations and settings that I love the most. The many facets of relationships fascinate me. Of course, in a romance the main focus is on the couple. Yet I usually include family and friend subplots in my books because they are part of everyday life. Now I'm going to be focusing on family and friend relationships and how they mix with...murder!

I'm terrifically pleased to announce that I've sold a three-book cozy mystery series to Kensington Books. The series idea came to me more easily than anything I've written in a long while. I wrote up a blurb first, then an outline and finally chapters. Writing was such fun as I used favorite elements from my personal background. My maternal grandparents were immigrants from Italy and came to the United States in their late teens. My grandmother was sixteen and my grandfather eighteen when they married in Pennsylvania. My paternal grandparents emigrated, too. So it was only natural for me to create a sleuth (Caprice De Luca) with a large Italian family, including a Nana who gives her advice. And they all live in a fictional town between York and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

I'll be keeping most of the elements of the series under my proverbial writer's hat until closer to release time. But I know my readers will be interested in the theme of the series. My sleuth is a home-stager and the first book title--KNIFE-EDGED.

Writing a mystery is very different from writing a romance. I practiced with a novella and with elements I inserted into the backlist books that I indie-published last year. I think my subconscious knew I was headed this way. The process of plotting a mystery came so naturally there was no doubt in my mind as I began writing the book.

I'm so excited about this new road I'm taking. I consider it diversification. I'm not leaving behind romance or women's fiction to write mysteries. I'm writing all. A friend asked me how this will affect my "brand." Romance and women's fiction readers will hear my voice in my cozies. Family relationships as well as a little romance will still be the focus of my novels. We're living in a new publishing world and I hope my readers will gather 'round to enjoy more than one genre.

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Yorkshire Pudding from Guest Blogger Catherine Johnson

2012-02-06T20:29:00.001-08:00

From blogging friend Catherine Johnson

Yorkshire puddings were a huge Sunday lunch tradition when I was growing up in Yorkshire. Gravy from the stock of the beef mixed with good old Bisto granules. Most of the time we had the Yorkshire puddings first like a starter and then the main, but the odd time we'd have one of two small ones mixed on the dinner plate. The point back after the wary was to fill you up on Yorkshire puddings first because there wasn't much of anything else after. They are cheap to make and absolutely delicious. I'd love to say easy to make but you have to make sure the old is SO hot when you pour the batter in the trays. I've seen/made bad Yorkshire puddings. (not nice.) Anyway here's a website I found with the recipe and all about Yorkshire puds. From one pud to another.;)
Yorkshire Pudding

TAXES AND OTHER DRUTHERS

2012-02-05T22:17:00.000-08:00

I love the holidays. Over Christmas we see our son who lives across the country more than at any other time during the year. In those days between Christmas and New Year's Day, we also visit with family and entertain friends who we don't see often enough. But as soon as the holidays are a warm memory, the idea of tax preparation rears its head. That memory isn't warm--it's tedious! January is that month of the year when the previous year has to be studied, analyzed, and broken down into manageable bits. Each number has to make sense and match another in a checkbook, on a payment stub or on a charge statement.

I could dread tax preparation. Let's skip over the obvious. We have to pay in money we don't want to pay. (Though I do think of everything our taxes go to pay and try to keep an elevated opinion of those on better days.) During this January excavation into receipts, there are so many other things I'd rather be doing--writing, blogging, tweeting! However, over the years I've come to accept the fact that tax preparation is a chore like raking leaves, cutting the grass, preparing a meal, doing car maintenance. I've found if I approach it with a positive attitude, I can learn from it. I can see patterns and trends in my expenses and spending. If I look hard enough and think the scope of the whole procedure through, I definitely see changes I need to make. Most of all, I can let everything I've learned lead to me choose a course that will take me forward instead of backward.

If I haven't made financial new year's resolutions before gathering all the paperwork, I will after it's compiled.

So tell me. How do you approach doing taxes? Do you consider the experience positive or negative?

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EFFECTS OF DYSLEXIA

2012-02-02T20:13:00.000-08:00

     I wrote about a heroine in CASSIDY'S COWBOY who has dyslexia, a developmental reading disorder. I've researched the subject but I'm not an expert. This blog isn't about the condition itself, but rather about the effects of it.

     I had experience with dyslexia when I taught second grade. This disability concerns the part of the brain that decodes symbols. I believe teachers are more aware these days than even a dozen years ago and reading problems are caught sooner. Early intervention is paramount. But children have slipped through the cracks for many years. In my case as teacher, the learning difficulty manifested in behavioral problems. When a child feels he or she can't keep up with peers, when a child feels he or she is on the outside looking in, if this child feels unable to learn, behavior changes. Acting out is common. So is sullenness or withdrawal. A teacher working with parents tries to find the root of the problem. Now testing aids in this cause.

     My heroine had a reading disability that was never diagnosed. Her history in foster care helped her slip through the cracks until teachers and caregivers just considered her a difficult child. Fortunately she found a mentor who took her under her wing. But instead of addressing the problem, she helped Cassidy learn to live with it. Was she an enabler or a loved one helping Cassidy cope? Because she finally had people around her who cared, Cassidy learned tricks to hide her reading disability from those outside her circle. She had a great memory. In the same way a child memorizes a favorite book, Cassidy used her memory to retain information and absorb it. She learned to duck situations that could reveal what she felt was a flaw. Imagine the vigilance necessary to remember how signs read, the anxiety in fearing her secret will out. But in the end, Cassidy has to reveal her secret to the person she cares about most.

     Unconditional love teamed with a dose of reality wins the day in Cassidy's story. I wish all of our children could be so lucky.

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DEADLINES--What can they do for you?

2012-01-30T05:14:00.000-08:00

Do you dread deadlines or do they drive you?

     I'm a plotter, a thinker and an analyzer. I like to know what I'm going to do before I do it. Sometimes long before. Even when I take a trip, I research the motel, the kind of car I can rent, the whole area I'll be visiting. Yes, I plan. I do the same thing when I write. I outline and know how many chapters I'll have along with what conflict points I'll use in each scene. That way, whether I "feel" like writing or not, I can. It's easy to pick up where I left off and to know where I'm headed next. This structure allows me to go on tangents in the middle of a project or to take a different turn characters would like me to take. Within that structure, I find freedom.

     So what does this have to do with deadlines?

     Usually, I have two deadlines--a personal deadline and the actual contractual deadline. As with my appointments in daily life, I like to show up early. The same with turning in a book. Since I've been writing for a while, I know exactly how much time I need to turn in a manuscript. Because I'm a planner, I take into consideration blogs I need to write, interviews, outside appointments and family time...as well as leaving some space for the unexpected. Setting deadlines is like setting goals, and that's how I think of them. Yes, I was the type of person who didn't wait until the last minute to turn in my homework. If I waited, I didn't enjoy myself because the work lurked in the shadows.

     However, I have writer friends who work the opposite of the way I do. They don't plan. They don't plot. They write when the spirit hits best. An approaching deadline energizes them and they write most creatively under pressure. They love surprise and aren't thrown if they lose a week of writing. Whatever works. Whatever enables you to put words down the way you want them to be.

     When I e-pub a book, I have deadlines, too. I treat them the same way I treat my contracted deadlines. This enables me to write and produce a project--cover, formatting, going live--without procrastinating.

     How do you feel about deadlines? Do you set them? What do they do for you?

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WHAT IS SUCCESS?

2012-01-24T05:33:00.000-08:00

Just what does success mean to you?

I've been writing and selling books to traditional publishers for twenty years. My 78th will be released by a traditional publisher this year. When I began writing, success meant seeing a book in print. After six years of writing and finishing thirteen manuscripts, I sold two books in one week to two different publishers. I was happy. I kept writing at the same pace (three to four books a year), not really thinking about what happened next. I didn't have dreams of bestseller lists. I just wanted to continue to write and sell books my readers would enjoy. But the third book-- We really wanted to add on a garage. Of course, that got put on hold for other necessities until much later. Back then, whatever I earned was "extra" so we could spend beyond our monthly budget. That was success.

Do I dream big? At times I do. I go after what I want when I feel passionate about it. I remember writing the book of my heart, selling it and having such a terrible distribution I was sorry I ever handed it over to that particular venue. (That was before social media.) But success for me at that time was simply taking the time to write that book and appreciating every minute of doing it, not the income it brought in, however necessary.

I've ventured into e-publishing the past year with backlist titles and developed an e-book series that was a combination of backlist and original books. At the same time, I also wrote books for my present contract. I became involved with social media and blogging tours and all those strategies that are supposed top bring sales and success. Do I check my numbers on Amazon every day? Of course, I do. But I also ask myself--do I still love what I do? Do I feel successful when fluctuating numbers dip? Are my readers still enjoying my books? Can I write enough books to bring in a flow of income? I believe that is the secret now, whether you're an indie writer or writing for one of the big six--staying in the flow of your readers with old and new material.

Believe it or not, I still receive a snail mail in that P.O. box I've had for twenty years. And whether I hear by snail mail, by e-mail or by an Amazon or B&N review, I feel success again when a reader tells me how much a book has touched her life.

Writing for me has always been about connecting...about using any emotion I might have experienced to build a character who touches my readers in some way.

That is still the meaning of success to me and I hope it always will be.

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Twitter--I'm still not convinced

2012-01-19T06:31:00.000-08:00

Another blog post about Twitter. Maybe that's because we're all trying to understand the basics, how we can use it, and if the time we spend tweeting is worthwhile. Yes, I enjoy Twitter. But... A few days ago I realized how much time it's taking away from my writing. I've been in this business 20 years. I know I have to promote. No one else is going to do it for me. My idea of promoting over the years was to just keep writing books and having them published. Now I don't even have to wait for a publisher...I can publish them myself.

Over the past year I've put up backlist titles and some originals. I developed an e-book series. I have 18 books for sale on Amazon and most of them on Smashwords and Barnes and Noble. (Yes, I'm trying the KDP Select program so a couple are exclusive to Amazon.) The wonderful element of self-publishing is that I can watch minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day, and week to week numbers. The awful thing is also that I can follow the numbers. It can become an obsession until a writer realizes patterns, changes and what causes them. If she or he can figure them out.

Maybe Twitter has a cumulative affect. I'm still deciding. And I don't just promote. I try to interact with my followers around three times a day. But as more writers follow me, I'm seeing a constant Twitter stream of promotional tweets. I certainly can't RT everyone. I won't. Because I take that as a recommendation to my followers. When I'm beat over the head time after time after time with a Tweet, I either unfollow or just skip that person altogether when I'm skimming my stream. When I decide to follow someone, I check their Twitter stream. If they don't interact with followers, I don't follow. Oh, sure, I've made lists. But I have to be at my desktop to see them and I use my IPAD most of the time. What are those lists for, anyway? They're simply a way to skim even faster or not check a particular list at all. What IS the point?

Bottom line, I follow the numbers. Tweets do not have a correlation to sales in the short term...at all! Writing books and getting them out there works. Today, after this blog, I'm writing.

DO CONTESTS WORK???

2012-01-09T06:37:00.000-08:00

Probably every writer who has run a contest wonders if a prize or two brings readers to their books. Or are these people on the internet just veteran contest goers who enter every contest they find?

I've been posting a monthly e-zine since July 2011. No, that's not really that long in the scheme of things. I spend a lot of time and attention on it, writing about what's new, posting pics of my gardens, cats and food, posting recipes and...always giving a prize for the month. Actually usually two--a book and something else, many times jewelry. IN TOUCH with Karen Rose Smith

Yes, it takes time away from writing books. Yes, I've become a hobbyist with photographs. Yes, I enjoy doing it. All that aside, is the e-zine and the contest that brings readers to it worth my time when I could be tweeting! Seriously, I have to unplug at least one day a week to clear my head of promotion thoughts so I can create again.

I have an email list of readers who receive a notice of the e-zine as well as names of entrants from other contests I've run. Announcing it on Twitter and Facebook also, I average around seventy entrants. Last month I started an experiment. In the text of the contest announcement, I wrote that anyone who left a comment would receive two entries. I confirmed that with each comment I responded to. In December I had seven comments.

Deductions? Most readers who enter the contest don't care about a second chance at the prize--which in December was a rose ring, book and sachet from my garden. Most readers don't really read the e-zine. They just enter the contest. Contests are a lot of trouble and expense but they are worth it to attract loyal readers.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on the subject! Happy New Year, everyone.

Writing About The West With Feeling

2012-01-02T22:09:00.000-08:00

I remember when I wrote my first "cowboy" book. Immediately I became intrgued by the type of man who would own or work on a ranch--an independent, free-thinking man of integrity who valued the land and animals and his care of both. I've never lived on a ranch but I had memories to draw from. All through my childhood, I had access to a relative's farm. My cousin and I would play on and around the hay bales, hold and chase newborn kittens, and stand in awe watching the horses run in the pasture. I recall a foal named Muley and a white bull with a ring in his nose. Watching a calf come into this world was exciting, scary, and memorable.

The west has always called to me. When I wrote that first ranch book, I also wrote to guest ranches in Montana and Wyoming, hoping to find a genuine source for research. One ranch owner corresponded with me and we had many phone conversationa about running cattle and the requirements for keeping a ranch operating smoothly. She invited me for a visit and a few years later Wyoming and Montana became my reserach destinations. I wll never forget my visit to that ranch. We road in her pick-up truck, driving through pastures and over gullies, glimpsing antelope and jackrabbits, finding Teepee rings from so long ago. This was a family ranch and we learned the part everyone in the family played in making their life there a success. On that same trip, my husband and I drove through Wyoming and spent several days watching and photographing the wild horses in The Big Horns. Research took on an entirely new meaning as we caught the scent of sage, trekked through brush and spotted wild horses standing on a peak staring down at us. No words could describe it.

For me, ALWAYS HER COWBOY as well as CASSIDY'S COWBOY--both set in Wyoming--are the epitome of ranch books. I put everything I feel about the pioneer spirit of living in the West in both books, as well as everything I feel about the meaning of family. I hope that shines through to my readers. The West can be a universe of its own. A ranch can be a world of its own, a world where love can find a true home.

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WHAT TWITTER IS BECOMING!

2011-12-28T22:21:00.000-08:00

WHAT TWITTER IS BECOMING

Let me say first that I am thankful for each and every retweet. When my followers retweet me they think enough of my post to repeat it, enough of my book to recommend it, enough of my news to rejoice with me. It took me a while to jump into twitter but when I did I enjoyed it. It's not something I "have" to do each day. I enjoy checking in to see what's happening to the people I follow. But I've noticed something happening more and more that's a means of promotion--cross promoting. This is supposed to help a writer reach a larger audience of all those followers who are also cross-promoting.

I have mixed feelings about this because I signed up for twitter with one intention in mind--interacting with my readers. I know the publishing world and the means writers use to promote are changing. But my intention is still to find loyal readers who care about what I write and who will follow me into the adventure of writing the next book. When I tweet, I'm mindful of why my followers signed up to follow me. At first I wasn't particularly concerned with other writers following. But then I realized if they did, my readers could find me that way too and I could introduce my tweeps to some of the writers I like best. But in the past month
especially I've realized how this is all changing.

I considered joining a group but the criteria was promoting yourself at least five times a day as well as other authors. My ratio has always been about 3 to 1 of personal and content tweets to a promo tweet. I have 18 indie books published and rotate. Recently I've been invited to join promotions where one of the author's duties is cross promoting a few times a day. And this week my twitter stream became a river of writers' promos and not much else. I feel we're drowning out the very readers we want to listen to.

Sure, I realize the power of a band of writers supporting each other to earn their books recognition. But this week I considered learning how to make lists on Twitter. And why would I do that? To put friends and those I interact with in one list, social media support authors in another, and other followers who only send promos in another. And guess what I'll do for time management with those lists? I'll read the tweets of the friends and readers list, I'll glance through the supportive writers' list and if I have time I'll spin through that third list. But what I won't do is repeatedly post about books I know nothing about. And what about our followers? What do you think they will do when they make lists? Maybe search through their friends and favorite author lists and relegate spare time to that third list?

I've been published for twenty years, averaging 3 books a year. My main focus has always been my writing, even though knew I was running a small business. The business parameters are changing but my main focus is still my writing. If you follow me I will tell you that, and how I write, and that I like to cook and garden. My tweets are a slice of my life. That's the way I want to keep them so I enjoy tweeting, so my readers will know when my next book is coming out, so we can converse, interact, and get to know just a little about each other's lives.

Applesauce Bread Recipe

2011-12-18T09:26:00.000-08:00

Add caption

Applesauce Bread

3 cups flour
2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups applesauce
1 cup golden raisins
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sour cream

Grease and flour two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans or three 8 x 4inch loaf pans. (I used the 8 x 4)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat together eggs, sugar and oil. Pour in applesauce and mix and then sour cream (recipe says you can also use buttermilk. I used sour cream.) Mix in flour, baking powder, soda and cinnamon. Stir in raisins. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake 9 x 5 pans for 80 minutes. I baked 8 x 4 pans for 75 minutes. Test with toothpick. Should come out clean. Cool on rack for ten minutes then remove from pans for rest of cooling.

ENJOY!!!!

It Started With Nancy Drew

2011-11-29T17:27:00.000-08:00

Remember reading Nancy Drew? (Yes, I'm old enough to have read the originals.) I would religiously save my allowance, haunt our local department store, wait for that next volume to be in print. Why did we love those books? Sure, the mystery was great. But I devoured them for another reason other than the mystery. I always wanted to see what would happen next in Nancy and Ned's relationship!

Fascination with relationships is one reason I started writing romances. I began reading about friendship in ANNE OF GREEN GABLES and looked for kindred spirits. After that, in every book I read, I seemed to look for that friendship and the connection that helped two people understand each other and help each other through thick and thin. I believe that's why in my e-pub novella, ALWAYS DEVOTED, I decided to mix mystery with romance and put my couple together on a team trying to figure out what happened to my heroine's sister. I really like the idea of mystery mixed with romance. Do you? I value my readers' opinions because, after all, the books I write are for them.

In following the story behind the romance, I try to develop a friendship between my hero and heroine, to give them a basis to build on. What is better than a best friend? A best friend with chemistry, of course! Seriously, in any relationship trust is the issue. It's the glue. It's what makes a friendship timeless. My hero and heroine usually have a problem to solve--whether it's parenting a child, helping a loved one, saving a ranch, finding a lost sister. Solving problems takes trust, too. Just like Nancy and Ned had.

To think it all started with Nance Drew.

Buy Amazon ALWAYS DEVOTED

Writing About Veterans

2011-11-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

     Veterans are close to my heart. My father-in-law served in World War II and was a soldier in Patton's army. We miss him. My dad was also a soldier in World War II, and he is always close in my thoughts. Especially today. In addition, my college years were impacted by the Vietnam War and many of my high school and college classmates served. I wrote to a serviceman in Vietnam for two years and still have his letters with the details of his service there. A few years ago I wrote about a veteran hero in The Bracelet and beforehand read diaries that one of our community colleges had collected-oral transcripts of servicemen's lives in Vietnam. They touched me deeply and gave me greater respect and admiration for these men and women.

     In all my research, one thing was clear. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was ignored for years, although these veterans and their families recognized the symptoms all too well. I brought it to the forefront, not only in The Bracelet but in a SSE Twins Under His Tree. This issue is important because we need to remember what our soldiers face after they come home. Time doesn't always heal.

   When I began my research for my hero in Twins, I was interested in learning more about the National Guard...about men who didn't realize they'd be called to war and multiple tours of duty. The public information officer at a nearby Guard headquarters was instrumental in helping me develop my hero-from his career to his discharge. As the months went by, he was deployed to Iraq and answered many of my questions from there. In both of these books, I wanted to deal with the scars that are deeper than physical wounds and the power of love that can help heal them. My family members, classmates and servicemen I interviewed were honorable men, brace and quiet about they they'd experienced.

      On this Veterans Day, I want to give tribute to all who serve and pray that they are uplifted by the power of love.

2011-10-24T05:20:00.000-07:00

This is a thank you blog to all my readers who have made my jumping into ebooks a terrific experience. Where would authors be without readers? I've been in traditional publishing for 20 years. I still have the mailing list that I began in 1992 when my first book was released. Once a year I still update these readers with news and what's happening in my publishing life. Many of my readers aren't online and I receive snail mail from them. I love to receive those letters as well as email letters.
Over the past few years I've seen the changes in publishing. Years ago one of my titles Just The Husband She Chose was chosen for a trial program into ebook form. I was excited then but nothing much happened. E-readers were still out of the average person's range. Now however that has all changed. Last winter I decided to publish my back titles in ebook form. It took a while for readers to find me but now they are and I love this new format as well as print publishing. I believe there is still a place for both in this new publishing world. I like the ease and speed of downloading a book onto my kindle. But I also still like to hold that print book in my hand, to study that glossy cover, to turn down the corners on the pages. Old fashioned? Maybe. But I've been around long enough to realize not everything in life is black and white and we have choices. We don't have to choose one over the other because we can have both. At least for now.
So I'm pleased to say I've epubbed the first books I wrote and I've epubbed original new work, too. My epub series Search For Love is a combination of both. I hope my print readers and ebook readers will continue to look for my titles because I find myself speeding up instead of slowing down. And possibly in the future you will see novels from me that are other than romance! Right now my very first Special Edition is #13 on the Amazon Contemporary Romance Bestseller list and I want to thank my readers for that honor, too.

I just found this link for Kindle lovers. Go here to see some fabulous titles.

KINDLE 3

Apple Dessert

2011-10-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

A Facebook friend asked me for the recipe for this terrific apple dessert. Enjoy!

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups peeled, finely chopped or sliced apples

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. In large mixing bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract. Blend in dry ingredients. Stir is nuts and apples by hand. Transfer mixture to a prepared 9-inch pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until apples are softened. Cool. Serve with vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream.

Salmon with brown sugar and lemon

2011-10-16T06:33:00.000-07:00

It seems I've been blogging everywhere but here! I hope to post a new blog later this week. For now, a Twitter friend asked for this salmon recipe. I like "easy" and this certainly is. We have a new trend in our house. Instead of going out to eat, we use about half of that amount to eat in and splurge on the ingredients. I serve this salmon dish with steamed asparagus and red-skinned potatoes. Healthy, easy and good! Enjoy.

Salmon with lemon

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup packed brown sugar, plus 8 teaspoons

1 lb. salmon (original recipe says 4 salmon fillets. I keep it in one piece.)

1 tablespoon butter, melted

4 thin slices lemon

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Pour lemon juice into ungreased rectangular baking dish, 11" x 7 1/2" x 2"; sprinkle with 1/4 cup brown sugar. Place salmon in dish and drizzle butter over salmon. Bake uncovered 15 minutes. Turn. Place sliced lemon on salmon. Sprinkle with 8 teaspoons brown sugar. (If using individual filets, put one slice of lemon on each and sprinkle each with 2 teaspoons.) Bake until fish flakes easily with fork, 15-20 minutes longer. Serve with juices from dish.

IS CINDERELLA STILL RELEVANT?

2011-09-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

IS CINDERELLA STILL RELEVANT?

Remember the furor over the royal wedding? Kate became a princess and William became Prince Charming. We watched the vows with tears in our eyes and couldn't wait for that first kiss. Cinderella might be an ages-old fairytale but the storyline encourages dreams from the little girls who watch Disney-princess movies to the women who faithfully follow the Bachelor and the Bachelorette. Subliminally, our curiosity in relationships and interest in public romances is all about the happily-ever-after storyline. Can two people fall in love and commit to each other for a lifetime?

My husband and I recently celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary. I wouldn't be able to write romances from my heart unless I believed in them. When I was a little girl, I remember pretending a lace curtain was a bridal veil. My girlfriends and I reenacted the marriage ceremony. Recently by BFF's daughter asked if she could play dress-up with her mom's wedding gown. Are the dreams of little girls now any different than ten or twenty or forty years ago? Loving and being loved drive our collective consciousness. Have you ever been in the midst of a crowd at a wedding and watched everyone grow misty-eyed? The emotion that takes over—other than the love we have for the couple saying the vows—is hope. The Cinderella fairytale can give a woman hope that she can find love, look beautiful in a bridal gown and believe in the vows she recites on her wedding day.

Little girls aspire to be princesses. Many women long to believe they will find their one true love who is kind, gentle, charming and the man they can spend the rest of their lives with. Prince Charming doesn't have to be a "prince" on a white steed. He just has to convince the woman he loves that she's his Cinderella. Are fairy-tale endings possible? I believe women long to believe they are. That's why the romance genre lives on and why our hearts melt when a couple says, "I do."

Karen Rose Smith is the best-selling, award-winning author of 75 published romances. Readers can follow her on Twitter @ karenrosesmith and on Facebook (Karen Rose Smith author), visit at her website Karen's website for new releases. For contests and more detailed info and contests, they can follow her e-zine IN TOUCH with Karen Rose Smith.

Blog Tour!

2011-09-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

~September Blog Tour for
ONCE UPON A GROOM, Harlequin Special Edition~

Monday September 19 Guest Blogging at Mama Knows Books.

Tuesday September 20 Guest Blogging at A Book Blogger's Diary.

Tuesday September 20 Interview A Cozy Reader's Corner Reviews.

Tuesday September 20 Guest Blogging at Thought in Progress.

Tuesday September 20 Guest Blogging at Get Lost In A Story.

Thursday September 22 Guest Blogging at Romance Around The Corner.

Thursday September 22 Guest Blogging at Fresh Fiction.

Monday September 26 Guest Blogging at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.

2011-09-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hi, all! I posted that I was baking these scones on Twitter and a friend asked for the recipe. So here it is. Enjoy!

Cranberry-Orange-Pecan Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 plus separately 1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
8 Tablespoons--1 stick unsalted butter (frozen)
1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
1/4 cup ground pecans
1 tablespoon orange rind grated
1/2 cup sour cream (can be fat-free)
1 large egg
400 degree oven

Mix flour, sugar (1/3 cup) baking powder, soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture. Work in. Stir in cranberries, nuts, and orange rind. Whisk sour cream and egg until smoothe. Using fork, stir into flour mixture. Make ball. Pat onto lightly floured surface to 8 inch circle. Sprinkle with sugar. Cut into 8 triangles. On cookie sheet with parchment. Bake 15-17 minutes until golden brown.

Sometimes I make the scones like this. But others, I don't pat them on a floured board. I just form balls and press them onto the parchment. That usually makes 7 nice-sized round scones. It's a less messy clean-up! Another tip: grate the butter frozen but then after it's grated, let it six for about ten minutes. It's easier to work into the flour mixture.

Summer Treat

2011-09-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

Summer came and went so fast! We've enjoyed a few picnics with friends and family and this is one of our favorite desserts. I thought I'd post it today instead of a blog. Enjoy!

Oreo Icebox Dessert
30 Oreo cookies (after crumbled or crushed reserve 1 cup)
8 oz. cream cheese softened
2 cups confectioners sugar
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup milk
2 - 8oz. containers of Cool Whip

In oblong pan (9x13) crumble cookies. (Can be crushed in a food processor for finer crumbs.) In mixing bowl blend softened cream cheese, peanut butter, half of confectioners sugar and half of milk. Then add other half of confectioner's sugar and milk. Beat until smooth, then fold in containers of Cool Whip. Pour over cookies, sprinkle about a cup of crumbs on top and freeze overnight.

I'm a secondary character?

2011-08-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

I've always written secondary characters into my plot lines and fortunately my editors have never dissuaded me from using them. My books are emotional and stretch beyond the two main characters who are in love to their friends, families and other important people in their lives. Although I deal with hope, love, happily-ever-after--a few muscles and great eyes where the hero is concerned--I attempt to keep my characters real. Real people have backgrounds that have formed who they are. Usually those backgrounds arise from the family they were born into...or the lack of family they experienced growing up.

If I can cut a secondary character from my story, that character doesn't serve a purpose and possibly doesn't belong. I ask myself several questions. How does this character advance my plot? What qualities does this character contrast with or mirror in my hero or heroine? Does this character create conflict or add to resolution? Will my readers understand my hero's or heroine's motivation or flaws because of their interaction with this character?

I enjoy writing about children, teenagers and pets, and they're never just window dressing. Children bring out character traits in adults that the hero or heroine might never see without their presence--compassion, protectiveness, unselfishness. They can also release laughter that the hero or heroine has been held inside too long. Teenagers can cause a main character to reveal wayward tendencies, rebelliousness and stubbornness he or she has managed to corral over the years, yet peeks through when the hero or heroine is stressed or pushed to the wall. As an animal lover, I give pets in my books personalities and consider them secondary characters, too! If a woman or man is caring with a pet, chances are he or she will have empathy with children.

There are times when a writer can use a secondary character powerfully without that character making an appearance in the book. In The Bracelet, a fellow soldier who served with the hero and experienced the war situation with him had an important part to play. His interview with a reporter started the story ball rolling. His presence at the scene on the day of the event was a reminder to the hero that someone else had witnessed his actions and reactions. Both men experienced guilt and regrets, but this friend does not say a word in the novel, except through the hero's dialogue and introspection. Still, he makes an impact on the story line without being present.

When a sister, brother, wife, husband or child dies and the main character can't move past grief, that invisible secondary character can direct the course of the hero or heroine's life, as well as the plot line. Actions and reactions to memories of the loved one color what the main character does, says, and feels. Letting go of the past often means letting go of the very person the hero or heroine loved most. Guilt, regret and missing are intense emotions your characters can feel because of the absence of a loved one. This absent presence can impact a plot line.

If a writer can intertwine secondary characters with the main characters, as well as weave their stories in and out of the plot line, they will be essential, multi-dimensional and worthy of the title secondary characters.

Writers Live in the Future?

2011-07-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

Writers think in the future. Promotion and publicity surrounds my next publication so I'm usually thinking about that from the time I get a pub date until the book is released. Sometimes I write that year on my checks! I'm looking into the future for the copyedit, the AA's, the cover, sending out the review copies, the reviews themselves-- I think you get my drift. If not my book, then I'm considering or working on my next workshop, blog or e-zine. All of it is for a future date. Whatever happened to now?

Often I have to literally pull myself back. I must stay in the moment to write. These characters are with me here and now. They will tell me their story if I have the time and presence to listen. Living in now means I gaze into my husband's eyes when he's talking to me and I'm not thinking about my next scene. Now means brushing my cats and listening to them purr, filling hummingbird feeders while they chirp around me, sit near the garden to absorb peace and calmness the busy day tries to steal away.

Living in the future is part of the writing profession. But living in the now rewards me with the gifts I need to keep on writing.

Setting: All Important

2011-07-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

Where are my places of power? Where do I fill up creatively and spiritually? Where do I feel most confident, most peaceful, most like me?

When I choose a setting, I think of these questions because the setting I choose affects my books in an integral way. In my first few books, I chose the town where I grew up to be my backdrop for many reasons. Garnering local publicity was a big one. But I believe I mainly chose it for familiarity. I knew what shops and businesses were located downtown. I had a host of suburbs to choose from. The town was large enough so I could weave in anything I needed. Most of all, I knew it so well I could concentrate on all the other elements necessary to sell those books. Years later when I set a more expansive book there that dealt with the 1970's, I realized my heart was in my hometown and that shone through whether or not I'd realized the fact in my earlier books.

Sometimes I choose a setting because of my hero or heroine's background or career path. If I want to write about a venture capitalist, I could choose Chicago or New York City. A trauma surgeon would lead me to a more heavily populated area and have hundreds of patient contacts whereas a small town doctor would be involved with fewer patients over his or her lifetime. If I select a large city, I still create a community of characters because friendships and family bonds are critical in my novels. A hometown gives my hero or heroine roots. If my character is a newcomer, he or she can feel estranged from the residents, or see this place with a sense of exploration. My hero and heroine can shade a reader's opinion of any setting.

A fictional setting is often the easiest to use. I can give the town a flavor all of its own. My street names can be picturesque or utilitarian. I can build a hospital with a specialized Neonatal Intensive Care unit or create a lake for boating. Anything and everything I will need for my plot can be a product of my imagination.

For my Reunion Brides series that began in February, I chose a setting that is as important as any character. Miners Bluff is a fictional former copper mining town near Flagstaff, Arizona. Forests, canyons and mountains are infusing the books with their own special magic while I write. My heroes and heroines are surrounded by a natural beauty that infiltrates not merely the descriptions but the imagery I use as well. Because this is one of my favorite destinations that fills up my creative spirit—particularly Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon--my feelings about the area seep into the emotion and conflict. This setting becomes a character in itself.

Every setting should have a purpose. Before beginning a project, I ask myself—What does this setting accomplish? If I'm mindful of its purpose, it can become a major influence in whatever I write.
(For another of my favorite settings, my garden, check out my e-zine--IN TOUCH with Karen Rose Smith.)

Trimming Deadwood From Manuscripts

2011-07-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

"But I love that line!"

How often have you said this? How often have you heard other writers say it? How can that won't-let-go-of-it thinking affect your editing skills when readying a manuscript for submission?

I was pruning the hydrangea and rose bushes yesterday and realized I had to cut out all the dead wood and trim off roses still bearing petals to ensure future summer growth. Summer growth means more greenery, more blossoms, more long lasting beauty. I believe this is also true of the editing process to give a manuscript that page-turning quality.

First: we can't read lines individually, they have to mesh with the whole manuscript. Does the line add to the plot? Does it add to the conflict?

Second: pretty words are just that pretty words. A line could be musical and flowery and seem perfect but just not fit with a character's point of view and background. Would a man really think that about a woman? Would a woman say that in these circumstances?

Third: details paint a picture. But too many details clutter an emotional scene. Too many details take away from the conversation. Too many details can bore a reader.

Fourth: conversation has to read naturally. Do you read your characters' conversation out loud? Are there too many lines that stall the action? Are they all interesting, emotional, conflict-filled? Are can some of them go?

Fifth: tags can give a character depth, quirks, turmoil or just dialogue. Do you have a tag on every line? Do you need to? Or do you use "said" where the reader can gloss over it and save the adverbs for the more important dialogue?

A manuscript might have to sit a week before I submit it. I might need a little time and space to look at those words as an editor rather than as a writer who loves the look and sound of everything I write. Clarity is easier with a little distance. So before I send a manuscript to my editor, I take one more look, wait another day, have a little patience. Because the book might be better for it.

When Writing Began

2011-06-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

I thought I’d blog today on a subject many writers think about and readers want to know about--What got me interested in writing?
My interest in writing began when I was in high school. I had a superb English teacher who made poetry come alive. By reading it, I learned the poets expressed their feelings about any and all subjects, and I liked that. I was an only child from a traditional Italian Catholic family, and feelings weren’t communicated through words. Food maybe, but not words. So in high school I began expressing myself in poems. I submitted one to the high school literary magazine and it was published! That was my first taste of seeing my words in print. I also wrote for the school paper, but found I definitely liked writing essays much more than “who,” “what,” “where,” and “how” accounts. When I went to college, I began my first novel, loosely based on the Beatles (Paul as the hero was in my head). I took my first creative writing class and learned the technique of mastering the form of a short story. But, by far, my greatest adventure into writing started as a lark. My cousin and I wrote a script for the Monkees TV show. We sent it to all their concert venues that summer by registered mail! That was my first collaboration project and it was a ton of fun. We received an acknowledgement back from one venue that their manager had signed for it. We didn’t think we’d ever see the show produced, but it was exciting to think the script might be in their hands.
Writing has always been an outlet for me, a way to reach out to somewhere beyond my own world. My interest in it grew because I had one good experience after another that led me to try more. So now I’m interested in your writing experiences. Did you ever try creative writing just for fun? If so, why?
Have a wonderful day. Just a reminder that my June e-zine IN TOUCH is still available at: where you can enter my contest for a book and a keepsake box. I’ve decided to add five more book prizes, the winners to be drawn from readers who leave comments!

Bunnies And Other Distractions

2011-06-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

I'm sharing my gardens. At first I spotted the baby bunny in the garden at the far end of the yard where mostly lilies grow. A good place for him to live with protection, shade and lots of room. A few evenings later, he was half way up the yard in the lettuce garden. We have enough to share. (Can you tell I'm a furry creature lover?) The morning after that he was on the patio and shot past me from under the grill. Better protection against the rain? Since I've realized he's nibbling at my zinnias and sunflowers after they grow a few inches, I planted even more zinnias than he'd want to eat. (We always have to thin them anyway.) I maneuvered around the problem of growing sunflowers by starting a few inside, then putting a protective collar around them when I plant them outside. I have a few now that are about six inches tall. I'm not going to gather up the bunnies and relocate them...or do them any harm. I enjoy watching them and appreciate them as much as the flowers in the gardens.

Writing is my vocation. It's also my career and my job. I write at least three books a year. When I delve into my writing, when I pick up my tape recorder, I go to my figurative garden. But there are lots of bunnies constantly running around, gnawing at my time—email loops to keep me professionally informed, individual emails, phone calls from friends and relatives...and telemarketers. There are the deadlines for blogs, copyedits, posts to Twitter and Facebook, my e-zine and photos to be taken of prizes for contests. It would be easy to let all of it distract me from writing. My protection against it all? The answering machine, the on-off switch on the tech devices, the closing of doors, the escape to the garden with my tape recorder where I can leave it all behind. The compromise this year is a new time for writing. Now I mostly write at night when there are no distractions, when I can focus on my characters and plot, when my writing sweeps me away. Sometimes naps are necessary but life always seems to be about prioritizing.

I can coexist with my bunny friends.

I can write in spite of distractions.

After all, isn't life all about balance?

Writing Out-Of-The-Box?

2011-05-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

Since I am a romance novelist, I often ask myself--Does the market want me to think out of the box? Do readers want me to write out of the box?

Whenever I develop stories for a new series, I have to decide whether I'm going to write "traditional" romance plots that are known to sell well—after all, my career is based on keeping my numbers in a good range—or am I going to step out of the plotlines that are known bestsellers? My answer usually is to give my readers of mix of old and new, traditional and something a little different. Of course, then there's that word "fresh." I don't know how many times an editor has told me I've given a story a fresh spin and I had no idea what that meant! I was just writing a story I would like to read. I was developing characters who had strong backgrounds and personalities and the plotline followed along with emotional depth. I learned long ago that I write "emotion" better than I write anything else. Maybe that's what fresh means. If a story is one I want to tell, and I put my heart into each conversation, does that make it "fresh?"

If a story is out-of-the-box, it has to have exceptional emotional impact...because the truth is my marriage of convenience, secret baby, and cowboy books do sell well. Readers might say they want something different, but when my sales data comes in, I can see from that, they don't! Yet I have to stretch as a writer and challenge myself. My last series, the Baby Experts, consisted of six books. In the last three, I wrote about three touchy subjects—date rape, 9-1-1 survivors, and Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and their loved ones. The data is still out. In my present Reunion Brides series, I'm trying a variety of storylines. Yes, they are all reunion romances with high school classmates. There is a surrogate story made different by twins being in love with the same classmate in high school (one sister is the surrogate for the other), a ranch reunion book made "fresh" by the hero belonging on a ranch but being an Oscar-winning Hollywood director, a music therapist helping the hero's traumatized son. The next two are in stages of development. I'd love to hear from readers and writers on this subject. Please feel to comment and I will add my FWIW! (BTW, the picture accompanying this post is is my cat London sleeping IN the box. She feels safe and secure that way!)

Picnics--In Romances And In Life

2011-05-11T19:30:00.000-07:00

When I write a series, I usually have a yearly cycle. One book takes place in the spring and/or summer. I always look for different ways for my hero and heroine to connect. But some traditional plot points usually work and I use them! One of those is a picnic. I employ picnics for many reasons. First, my hero and heroine are enjoying the outdoors and I can insert pretty descriptions. I don't always have room to do that because the emotion between my characters is my top priority. But with a picnic...I can describe the uniqueness of that particular setting, the kind of flowers that bloom, the shrubbery native to the area, trees that are popular in that part of the country. Now to the important part of the picnic—the feelings between the hero and heroine. If I show a family picnic, the reader can find out all about relationships between brothers and sisters and parents and friends. If it's a quiet picnic for two, anything can happen--from a tender kiss to a full-blown love scene in a secluded glen. The picnic sets up an automatically romantic setting. (BTW, ants and other creatures don't usually invade my picnics!)

In real life, too, picnics are important. Right now, I'm planning a Memorial Day picnic. In my part of the country, that weekend signifies the official end of winter because the weather is finally nice enough to be outdoors. We gather with family and friends and everyone brings their favorite dish. It's a sharing time with lots of laughter and conversations both group and individual and plenty of s'mores for the kids...and the adults seem to have fun with the marshmallows and chocolate, too. We light the fire pit on the patio and enjoy a camping out feeling. I remember these times when the snow is falling and we're separated from loved ones for whatever the reason. We take lots of pictures and when the gathering is over, we are looking forward to July 4th when we'll do it again.

Picnics will always be a part of some of my books because they bring out universal emotions and satisfy a need to be outdoors...with the folks we like and love most.

Remember Pen Pals?

2011-05-06T05:27:00.000-07:00

Pen Pals were the rage in the 60's and 70's. I bought and subscribed to teen magazines like Teen Screen and one from England called Rave. In those magazines, teenagers from all over the world would list their addresses and likes in hopes of having another teen write to them. Yes, it was a different world. But that's the way we communicated without the internet. I had a few pen pals in England since I wanted to know about everything Beatles related! London, Liverpool, and the countryside fascinated me. I corresponded with about ten pen pals throughout my college years. I had also listed my name and photo in one of the mags, myself. Several serviceman in Vietnam and I corresponded during those years. Penpals were about learning of other cultures, supporting those who served, and making friends. We wrote about our life and our dreams.

I guess that's why I took to Twitter and Facebook so easily. No, I don't empty my heart out the way I did in those letters. But I still find it gratifying to make friends all over the world! I like staying in touch with readers and writers. It's the same process of putting down my thoughts into words and connecting with another person. I understand why teens today text the way they do. With my pen pals, using stamps and wax sealer (a fad at the time), I had to wait for weeks for letters. Texting, posting and emailing can be instantaneous. So we're all learning to express ourselves using these tech devices...as I once did using a pen and paper. We talk about how the world has changed. And it has. Yet our desire to connect with each other might be even more important now than it was years ago.

Do Free E-books Increase Sales?

2011-04-26T04:56:00.000-07:00

Do Free E-books Increase Sales?

I'm trying an experiment. We hear so much about free e-books and $.99 books in the present market climate. Especially for authors e-publishing their backlist, we have to ask the question—How do readers find us? With over 70 books for sale, about a quarter of those in e-book form, how do readers know my backlist from my current titles?

For Easter week, I gave away my re-release LOVE IN BLOOM, now an e-book, with a coupon at Smashwords.com. I've done this before and had about a dozen downloads. This time a blogger who posts free books picked it up and I had over 200 downloads! But I didn't sell any of my other backlist titles there. I sold two on Amazon. My husband, wise man that he is, told me to give those readers a chance to read LOVE IN BLOOM and maybe sales would go up! To give the readers who do return to my backlist a bonus, I lowered the prices on MOM MEETS DAD to $.99 on Amazon and Smashwords. The price cut hasn't reached Barnes and Noble yet. I'm going to allow the price to stay at $.99 for the month.

Something else I did when I decided to put up my backlist was design the covers all similarly. They have an identifying arch with my name as well as my logo. Since I have titles from three different publishers, I used a different color for each publisher but all in the same style.

I'm building a following on Twitter and Facebook and enjoy posting regularly. My e-books are listed on my website and my Facebook author page. If either writers or readers have suggestions on how to help readers find those titles, I'm interested! Please feel free to comment or e-mail me. And remember, MOM MEETS DAD is $.99 for the month of May at Smashwords and on Kindle. Happy reading!

Karen

The Moon As Muse

2011-04-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

There is something profoundly serene, enchanting and romantic about moonlight. There have been songs written about it. For myself, every romance novel I write usually has at least one moon scene. The chart of moon cycles is beside my calendar when I edit. I think I’ve always been mystified and intrigued by the moon. My childhood was marked by man’s first steps on the moon. When I was a teenager, my cousin and I would sit on a swing in my backyard under the moon, listening to a transistor radio and singing Beatles songs. Moonlight seems kinder than sunlight. Instead of showing our flaws for the world to see, it bathes us in a glow that is not so harsh. I can vividly remember one of my first dates with my husband on a college campus…under the moon. For whatever reason, I draw inspiration from it. My first release for Silhouette Special Edition I entitled WISH ON THE MOON. I just rereleased it as a e-book. As I edited and updated it I realized that twenty years ago, the moon had already inspired me.

Over the past two decades, writing has never been a hobby. It has always been my vocation and career. But as with any job, I look for elements that bring passion and sparkle to what I do. I want each couple to be unique, each romance to be truly theirs. That becomes more difficult after writing over seventy books. A few summers ago my husband decided to take on the project of putting a patio in our backyard. He did a wonderful job of it. And I got involved in decorating around it with favorite plants and flowers. This has become a hobby of mine. We literally have a farm to the rear of our yard and I love the bucolic feel of it. After eye surgery, I couldn’t enjoy the bright sunlight as I once did. So I began sitting on the patio at night. I also found the creative urge surrounding me more then. After my husband would turn in, I would go out on the patio with my tape recorder and just absorb everything with my senses. Some varieties of petunias have the sweetest scents at night. The firefly show from the grass to the treetops is almost as inspiring as the moonlight. Then there is that silvery white glow that seems to touch everything with poetic beauty. I could take a deep breath, start taping and become involved in my story world in a way that I hadn’t since I first began writing. Even when fall breezes in and there is a nip in the night air, I bundle up in a coat and blanket, sit on the patio and let the moon lead me into romance.

I believe all writers have a muse. The moon is mine. What is yours?

Little Things Matter: In Life And In Writing

2011-04-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about my cats is that they live in the moment! And they seem to appreciate the smallest gifts—the little things. I was labeling varieties of tomato plants on popsicle sticks. London and Ebbie seemed bored with another rainy day and no rainbows from the suncatchers. So I tossed a popsicle stick to each of them. Like kids, they each need one of their own. They played and played with them, batting them around, just lying on the floor watching them, moving the sticks a tiny bit with their paws and then sitting on them. The sticks were such little things that were giving them pleasure and exercise!

Life is made up of day-to-day moments. Some of them are important and some of them just shore us up for the next one. We've had a week of cloudy days and rain. But I found this beautiful little flower in my garden today along with the wonderful daffodil. And I smiled broadly, taking in the sun and letting it fill me up. I told myself to relax for just ten minutes, breathe and appreciate every little thing in my life, just like London and Ebbie can.

When I'm writing I have to, of course, concentrate on the big moments, the conflict moments, the most emotional moments in a relationship. But to give my characters real life, I have to concentrate on smaller moments, too. In my February release, His Daughter...Their Child, the hero and heroine ride to a canyon. The scenery, the striated canyon walls, the junipers growing by the stream, affect the emotions in the scene. It's a backdrop that allows them to stop and appreciate the feelings that are growing for each other. Little things that were common from a shared history in high school--like chocolate milk and biscotti at a friend's B&B--help them connect once more.

We know we're supposed to stop and smell the roses. I love doing that, too, when they're blooming. But I think we miss so many opportunities to smile, to fill up, to brighten someone else's day. I've found the little things matter--in writing...and in life.

To Update A Re-Release Or Not

2011-04-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Today I'm going to discuss a dilemma veteran writers face—to update or not to update? I've had over seventy novels published by traditional publishers since 1991. Every writer is facing the "new" world of publishing which includes the e-reader world. I've often had readers ask me for copies of my first novels, but I couldn't provide them when they were out of print. I've had the rights on eleven novels for some time now, but was waiting for the right opportunity to do something with them. Suddenly writers and readers have been thrust into a digitalized world and there is more demand for ebooks. I waited because in 2000 Harlequin tried a demo program for ebooks that I was a participant in that didn't take off. Now the market is different.

When I set out to e-publish my re-releases, I thought I'd just have to learn about reformatting, nuclear option, the style requirements of each digital publisher and finding an artist to develop a new cover. But after I uploaded my first two published novels whose plots revolved largely around a non-tech world (1992-93), I started reading the rest with a different eye. I decided to update them. The basic plots were still universal and, to my surprise, timely! A small town doctor (LOVE IN BLOOM) must make a career decision. A hero with a special needs sister (KIT AND KISSES) finds a heroine worthy of his love. A massage therapist helps a type A personality single dad de-stress (RIBBONS AND RAINBOWS). Two eight year old girls who are best friends want to see their parents—a single mom and a single dad—fall in love (MOM MEETS DAD). I think you get the idea. But, of course, the technological advances were missing. When I wrote these books, cell phones weren't common. We were listening to tapes not CD's. We watched videotapes not DVD's. So I went through seven more books with an eye to making those changes—along with a few others I found along the way. A former English teacher can never stop editing. But, also, I didn't upload two of the titles because I didn't feel they could be updated successfully.

So I guess this is a question I have for readers and writers. When a writer brings out her re-releases, do you want those stories updated? Or do you want them preserved in the time in which they were written? All comments and discussion much appreciated! With coupon code MA29F Readers can download a free version of KIT AND KISSES at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/48129.

My Grandmother's Pancakes

2011-04-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

To say my family was traditional is so true! My mother's family was especially "old country." My grandparents came from Italy when they were in their teens. My grandmother married my grandfather when she was only sixteen! I have their wedding photo hanging on my wall and it takes me back to another time and place.

My grandmother had seven children and my mom was the oldest. When I would visit my maternal grandparents and stay overnight, they often spoke in Italian. I might have felt left out, but I didn't. Italian created a bond between them that was as obvious as their roles. A barber, my grandfather had a shop on the first floor of their two-story row house. His job was to provide for his family and he did. My grandmother's role was to take are of everyone.

So what does this have to do with grandma's pancakes? Once in a while when we routinely went to their house for Sunday supper, my grandmother would forsake tradition! Instead of the usual multi-course meal, she would serve her home-made pancakes and eggs—any way you'd like them. I would help her mix the pancakes in a huge measuring cup with a hand beater afixed to the top. I'll never forget the aroma of those pancakes cooking in her cast iron skillet or their sweet, cake-like, melt-in-your- mouth flavor.

This weekend on Sunday evening, my husband and I made my grandmother's recipe for pancakes accompanied by scrambled eggs. The meal brought back many memories and feelings from childhood. I have more than one copy of the recipe so I don't lose it. I always want to remember the sense of heritage and family I feel when I enjoy those pancakes. I thought I'd share that recipe here with you.

Grandmother's Home-made Pancakes
Beat 4 eggs well by hand (very important)
Add—
2 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon baking powder.
Mix until the consistency of cake batter. Drop with ladle onto a medium hot griddle or skillet. (Wait until bubbles form on top surface before flipping.)You can also add cinnamon and serve with apple butter, butter and syrup.

Enjoy!

Seeds and Plots--What They Have In Common

2011-03-30T05:42:00.001-07:00

With the beginning of a new growing season, I've been planting tomato seeds. I'm concentrating on heirloom tomatoes this year because their flavor is supposed to be richer and sweeter. I ordered several varieties of seeds from cherry to plum to fine slicing tomatoes. What I love about the heirloom tomatoes is their history. The one I planted with the richest history and most elaborated one (Marianna's Peace), is the one variety that has popped up the soonest and seems to be the hardiest. The leaves are deep green, growing with vigor. I think they're going to make terrific plants. These seeds have been cherished, protected and promulgated since the early 1900's. Care and thought and lots of emotion have touched these tomato seeds.

Plots are very much like heirloom tomato seeds. An idea takes root in my mind like that tiny seed in the proper soil with the right amount of heat and light. Some ideas don't take root. They don't gather energy or germinate and no book grows. But others start with a conflict that develops into a plot or a character who generates conflict, or an issue that rolls through circumstances or a crisis that comes to a head. Suddenly conflict seems to draw light from the characters. The plot absorbs the proverbial "water" or energy from ideas generating ideas, developing into scenes, all of it uniting to produce a book. The richer the idea, the better it will grow. The more care given to the original premise, the better it will grow. The more emotion the characters generate, the further the plot is pushed. A rich storyline is rooted in the history, knowledge and research behind the plot. Plots and seeds are very much alike!

2011-03-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

I mentioned what I was making for supper on Twitter, and a new friend asked me for the recipe. I thought readers might be interested, so I've posted it here. I love to cook (that Italian heritage idea that giving food is giving love) and I have basic recipes that lend to different variations. This is one of them. Enjoy!

My version of chicken chili (We go light on the spices.)
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large sweet onion (about a cup)
1/2 cup grated carrots
5 tablespoons flour
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
2 cans chicken broth (14.5 oz cans)
2 cans Great Northern beans
1 can black beans
1 1/2 cups cut up cooked chicken (I bake an extra large breast when we have chicken the night before and use that. Rotisserie chickens work well, too, but that adds salt.

Topping can be sour cream, cheddar cheese, chopped tomato or whatever suits.

I use this basic roux (oil and flour mix) for everything from mustard chicken to a thyme beef gravy for turkey meatballs. You can adjust it according to your taste.

Using a high sided skillet, slightly heat the olive oil on medium, then drop in onions and grated carrots. Stir until the onion is translucent. The carrots will steam further in the cooking process. I mix flour, chili and cumin (you can add more of the spices if you like it hotter) and then sprinkle that mixture over the onions and carrots. Stir for a minute or two until the flour and spices are worked in.

Once you have a paste, pour in one can of chicken broth. Stir until gravy-like and then add the other can. Cook on medium to medium-high for about two minutes, constantly stirring to thicken. I use canned beans to make this a quick recipe, but I rinse them with water to cut sodium. I just open the cans, drain, use water from the spigot, shake them and then add to skillet. Stir in chicken(again as much or little as you want).

There are two ways you can cook until done. Either just let the chili on the stove and simmer for about 20 minutes. Or the method I like—just dump the chili into a crock pot (I spray mine with Pam) and turn on low for about three hours. The beans soften more, the spices have more zest, and the chili is ready whenever you want it!

There are so many variations on this. You can chop peppers and add them instead of the carrots. You can mix in chopped tomatoes with the chicken. I try to keep it as low salt as possible by rinsing the beans and not adding any additional salt. But salt to taste. It tastes even better the next day!

Cats and Exercise

2011-03-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

Since the winter weather doesn't want to give up, I thought I'd blog about something to keep us healthy during the year, especially in the winter. Did you ever notice how and when cats exercise? No one has to tell them to do a full body stretch when they wake up from a nap! Or to roll on their backs and reach up to the ceiling. Or to flex their paws and lay out long and lean against their scratching post. They relax in the sun to soak in Vitamin D, and at least twice a day they run through the house for aerobic exercise. Batting fake mice and tinfoil balls around the room as well as chasing rainbows from the sun catcher are extras they add when they are supercharged with energy. All of it comes naturally.

Humans on the other hand do not naturally take care of themselves, especially when it comes to exercise. Winter becomes harder on us as we age, especially if we don't belong to a gym or to the Y or join a walking or exercise class. When I was younger, I rode my bike, worked out at a gym, and did aerobics. But a back injury and then a knee injury put me on the sidelines where major exercise is concerned. I have fibromyalgia, so stretching has been part of my routine for many years as is exercising in a pool. It's amazing what a half hour two to three times a week can do for a body. So even if we don't like to or can't jog, or play sports, or swim, we can at least stretch. Maybe if we copy our cats' exercise regimen, we'd be healthier!

Birdhouses and Books

2011-03-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

By now, you can tell I'm always thinking about plots and books. If I'm in the garden, I'm peaceful and one scene might play right after the other in my mind. Today we put up new birdhouses. The old ones were falling apart. The roofs had worn through with the weather. The new ones are colorful and easy to see from our patio. This morning I was thinking that all the houses need are tenants. There are three birdhouses and I'm guessing that bluebirds, wrens and barn sparrows will be moving in. I can't wait to see the activity.
Studying those birdhouses and waiting for tenants, I was considering my new book. It's the third book in the series. I introduced the heroine in books one and two, so I know her to some extent. In the synopsis I fleshed out her character and the hero's. But I won't really know my people until I write about them and watch their backgrounds change and take shape. The secondary characters will evolve chapter after chapter. In a sense, I'm waiting for my tenants to move in! I'll get to know them each time I pick up my tape recorder and visit with them. Birdhouses and books. Hmmm. Who would have thought?

Desserts and Epilogues

2011-03-18T04:46:00.000-07:00

I came from an Italian heritage of sitting around the table—talking, laughing and arguing—and making each meal at my grandmother's house an event. Dessert was always a meal extender whether it was cannoli for Christmas, friend dough balls dipped in honey for Easter or Sunday dinner chocolate cake. Dessert gave us extra time to sit at the table and enjoy each other's company. My mother followed the tradition. She was a third grade teacher. Often she would bake layer cake or sponge cake in the morning before we caught the school bus! We'd either use it that night or freeze it for dinner with company on the weekend. Just as she served a salad and crunchy bread every night for dinner, she would serve dessert.
I've followed my mother's and grandmother's traditions because I like to cook. When my son was small, we baked and sold fruit breads at craft fairs. I entered cooking contests. He helped me make at least a dozen different kinds of cookies for Christmas to give away. Each meal was topped with something home-made. Now, of course, life and diets have changed. Fruit is often our dessert of choice. But once in a while I let myself go a little wild like with this apple clafouti I've pictured with this blog. ...Because sometimes we just need something special to remind us of traditions I'll never forget.

For me as a novelist, an epilogue is like dessert. Epilogues extend the story. They tell you where the characters have gone and what they've accomplished after the angst is over! The epilogue is the icing on the cake or the creme fraiche on the clafouti. When I spend an entire book with my hero and heroine, I don't want to leave them. I want to know what their everyday lives are about after their beginning romance turns into more mature love. So my books usually have epilogues. I hope you enjoy these extensions into my hero and heroines happily-ever-afters...and enjoy them as much as a luscious dessert!

Twinkle Lights and Spring

2011-03-16T06:10:00.000-07:00

I love twinkle lights. At Christmas we have them several different places—on bushes outside, along a garland on the stairway, in the wreath on the door. They add brightness to the holiday and to the dreary winter afterward. Now...as organized as my husband is, he likes to put all the decorations away at once. Yes, it makes logical sense since they go in the basement in a not-easy-to-access place. But this year I asked him not to touch the wreath on the door. Decorated with aqua gauzy ribbon, blue-green pine cones and white twinkle lights, it brightens long dark nights. But now we're approaching the first day of spring. Ebbie and London are watching the birds outside the window. Robins are arriving in droves. My Beatrix Stanley orchid irises are blooming and daffodils and hyacinths are sprouting. So this weekend, the twinkle-lighted wreath will come off the door.

We need a little brightness in our lives all year through. The bright colors of spring will decorate my gardens and my life. And I'll save the twinkle lights for next winter, enjoying the sights and scents of a brand new season today.

True Blue Flowers and Heroes

2011-03-14T05:54:00.000-07:00

Part of my garden is blue with delphiniums, a Blue-girl rose bush, blue pansies and bluebells. Blue is my favorite color. A picture in a flower catalog last fall caught my attention—a Beatrix Stanley orchid iris. I've bought flowers before that were supposed to be blue but turned out to be lavender or purple. But when the Beatrix Stanley iris orchid bloomed last week (an early bloomer), it was true blue! I began thinking about that description, and since I was developing a new book at that time, my heroes came to mind.
When I consider a hero for one of my plotlines, I give him a painful background, a rugged, sexy appearance, a career he is passionate about and a heroine who can not only catch his eye, but keep it for a lifetime. The men I create are never perfect. They do have flaws. But I lay the groundwork for one character trait that never changes—these men are true blue. They are loyal, full of integrity and have always stepped up to protect and defend. When they accept the vulnerability of loving, they become real heroes—true blue and steadfast husbands for the rest of their lives.

The Synopsis Struggle

2011-03-12T06:16:00.000-08:00

Writing a synopsis is just something I have to do. I need it to sell and I need it to get approved if I just give an elementary idea to begin with. Usually I spend a day or two putting it together then I tape it for my typist, refining as I go, then I edit the final product. Voila! But... There are times when the muse has taken a nap and the whole process is a real struggle. I'm in the midst of one, hence this blog.
I begin with characters, in this case series characters. I develop who they are (attempting to know them inside and out) and their backgrounds. I need this info to propel the conflict and plot. I figure out the opening and the black moment then I take out my index cards to plot story points. It sounds easy? Sure. Sometimes it is. This time it isn't.
First, I realized I needed more background material on the heroine. Then I realized the background on the hero and heroine's parents wasn't pushing the story. I rely on instinct a lot for storylines and something about this was bothering me. So I called my critique partner and let her be my sounding board. While I was telling her about background, it didn't gel just right. More hours and a walk in the garden later, and I figured out how to fix it. I hoped I was home free. I wasn't. The story points just kept getting stuck. So I re-examined everything. Hero and heroine were good but something was missing with the conflict. After all, if it was strong enough, those story cards would be finished. So I made the conflict more streamlined, lined up parallels, went over conflict points I could hit more than once. The story cards started to get filled up and I was on my way. I now have half a book, a black moment and an ending that works. Whew! So now it should be easy to create story points for the second half of the book, right? I'll let you know.

Meet London

2011-03-11T05:34:00.000-08:00

Our London is a gray tabby. She's Ebbie's half sister. When we brought Ebbie home in December 2000, her mom was pregnant again with another litter. After the new year we lost our older cat who had been sick for a while with hyperthyroidism. So we decided to bring home a companion for Ebbie. Her mom's litter this time was all gray tabbies. We chose the baby who was the smallest. When I picked her up and held her, she looked up at me and just settled in. I knew she was ours. We visited her until she was old enough to bring home. After a vet visit I had to keep her separate from Ebbie for two weeks until London could have another blood test. We kept her in a bedroom upstairs and I would bring her out to play with in another room, washing my hands and changing clothes afterward just in case. When London got the all clear from the vet, we put her in her pet carrier. I'd read that the cat already in the house shouldn't see you bring in the new one. So my husband left the carrier in my office when Ebbie was in another part of the house and then let her "find" London. After she sniffed around for a while, we let London out. They took off chasing each other right away with no malice, just sort of running together. Eventually they settled down at different spots for a nap.

When my husband and I were first married we had two cats that were inseparable. They slept together and groom each other. London and Ebbie have never done that. They are companions rather than close-up buddies. London has gotten more territorial as she's gotten older and Ebbie puts up with that, coming to me when London is rowdy. London is still the baby—demanding, moody and yet cuddly. Whenever I sit in my favorite chair, she jumps on my lap. Our household wouldn't be the same without her.

Meet Ebbie

2011-03-10T07:11:00.000-08:00

Since my blog title was partially inspired by my cats, I'd like to introduce them to you. I'll start with Ebbie because I don't know whether or not I can upload more than one picture. I had a friend who read my ARC for any typos. Her family had a farm. When we drove out there to pick up my manuscript, I saw Ebbie for the first time. It was one of those AAHH moments. We had a sick cat and didn't think we should bring another in. But Ebbie was sick, too, with a respiratory infection and she was outdoors. We went home and I couldn't sleep for a few nights thinking about her. It was that kind of connection from the start. So I made a unilateral decision (which is unusual) and said, "I'm bringing her home. We'll keep her upstairs if we have to." Ebbie went to the vet first but I spent several nights doing accupressure on her sinuses to help her breathe. We bonded in a way I've never bonded with an animal and I've had cats and a dogs all my life. After two courses of antibiotics, I took her to a holistic vet. Ebbie is now a beautiful ten-year-old who is my constant companion. I use a tape recorder to write. When I'm doing an emotional scene, she's right there, pawing at the tape recorder, nuzzling my nose, just making sure everything is okay. I love her dearly and she brings comfort and joy to my life. I'll post about her half-sister in my next blog!

Pruning Roses and Revision

2011-03-09T05:53:00.000-08:00

Pruning roses and revision have much in common! Our weather in PA this past week has been erratic yet milder. I couldn't wait to walk around the garden now that the snow melted. One of my first stops was the rose buses. We have five hybrid teas and two climbers in the back yard. ((More about names and colors in a future blog.) Each one is unique not only in the color, size, shape and fragrance of its roses but in the color, size and shape of its foliage. All of them survived the winter heartily with refreshing green color. But as soon as the weather stabilizes I will have to prune back these bushes, removing what looks like viable growth. I don't like to do that. Why can't I just let them grow? Because they won't be as healthy, won't be as ready for new life, won't produce as many roses by the end of summer. Extra wood and foliage will draw energy from the blooms, weakening them. I think you can see where I'm going with this. We write a book and it's our baby and we don't want to change one thing about it. But I've learned to trust my critique partner (another subject for another day) and my editors. When suggestions come with what I consider to be a finished manuscript, I know better than to react. I know I need perspective. I look at the project as a whole, then walk away for a little while or else answer the "easy" queries first. I might even take a walk in the garden. Then after a deep breath, I return to the project to trim or prune, to make changes that can enable new growth not only to this project but to all my projects. It's never easy, it can be hard work, it can sometimes be downright painful. But it's how plants and writers grow.

Cats, Roses...and Books!

2011-03-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

I'm new to setting up a blog so here goes. I chose the title Cats, Roses...and Books! for this blog because I'd like to discuss a variety of subjects as well as every day life. My every day life is mostly made up of two cats--Ebbie and London pawing their way into everything I do. This time of year I'll also start gardening, particularly planting seeds. Hopefully later this week I'll start petunias and heirloom tomatoes growing. I also love roses and like to take pictures of them all. Hopefully I'll be able to share those with you. Let's just stick cooking in here for the fun of it because whenever I have time, I like to be in the kitchen especially using fresh herbs and vegetables. Finally, I'll discuss my publishing life--next year will be my twentieth anniversary since my book first was released--and books! So I hope readers will feel free to jump in and discuss and question. I'm looking forward to an early spring.