Beryl Singleton Bissell | One Writer's View

Have you ever written to tell an author how much you've loved their book and then waited, hoping for an answer, in vain? I'm not one of those unresponsive authors. I love getting fan mail and make a point of answering every letter I receive. I even invite readers to stop by should they be traveling through this area, and I get quite a few such visitors, all of whom are stunned by the view of Lake Superior my writing desk provides.

"How do you ever get any writing done with a view like this?" they ask. Yesterday I had several such visitors -- a reader from Wisconsin who brought her daughter and her husband, another reader from the Twin Cities who arrived with her hubby and four ears of freshly grown corn, a young man and his two small children who wanted to see the small shed where I write.

This view is actually one of the reasons I became a writer. Moving to this pristine and fairly remote area nine years ago changed me from a writing hopeful into an actual author. Prior to moving here, I'd worked for a literary publisher in Minneapolis where, surrounded by great writing, I'd wondered what I had to say that others hadn't said already -- until I overheard my son proclaim that he thought he was damned because his mother had been a nun and his father a priest.

Daily, I'd walk the lakeshore pondering how best to construct this story for my children. Writing memoir forces the writer to examine the beliefs, events, and choices that have shaped a particular portion of their lives. Mine demanded confronting doubt and darkness as well. The lake's unbridled power showed me how ruthlessly I'd need to plumb the depths of my heart to summon the truth. Six years and eight drafts later an agent grabbed the manuscript and sold it within days. Within the year, my memoir, THE SCENT OF GOD, hit the bookshelves and the letters started flooding in.

I am now working on the sequel to that memoir and two weeks from now, on Friday, August 24 at 10:45 a.m., will speak about it on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). The host of MPRs Midmorning Show, Kerri Miller interviewed me last summer when THE SCENT OF GOD was released and wants to know how the sequel, which deals with the sudden violent death of my beautiful, tormented 24-year-old daughter, is progressing.

Like all mothers who have lost children to murder or suicide, I wrestle with overwhelming grief and a sense of failure that my love could not protect or save my daughter. As I gather hundreds of pages of notes from my journals and medical and psychiatric records, I find myself -- not trying to resolve the mystery of my daughter's death (which remains unsolved in the files of the homicide division of Minneapolis police department) -- but in trying to uncover the child that lay beneath the façade she presented to others. I realize that I really did not know or understand my daughter and so I think of this book as a "looking for" rather than a "losing of" Francesca. And daily, as I did with my first book, I walk Lake Superior's shoreline to ponder how best to tell this story. And then I return to my writing shed to summon the words I need.

I wonder how the places you've lived have affected or changed your lives. I am offering a free signed copy of THE SCENT OF GOD to one of you who shares your experience in a comment to this blog. Wishing you peace and every good.

Beryl is the author of THE SCENT OF GOD and was named "Best of 2006 Minnesota Authors" by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Her book was a Book Sense notable for April 2006.

You can visit Beryl at her website: berylsingletonbissell.com, or, at Gather, or her blog/

Debby Giusti | Pinch me, I must be dreaming!

My second Love Inspired Suspense from Steeple Hill came out this week! Seeing SCARED TO DEATH on the shelf in my favorite bookstore is the continuation of a dream come true that started in April when my debut novel, NOWHERE TO HIDE, was first released.

If you’ve ever worked to accomplish a goal that at times seemed almost unobtainable, I bet you can relate to the elation I feel having two books in print. The path to publication can be long and winding, filled with dead ends and detours. Constructive feedback is hard to come by, yet rejection abounds. Taking an idea and developing it into a full-length manuscript demands intense effort and self-discipline.

Unfortunately, many would-be authors don’t persevere long enough to see their books in print. Because perseverance and determination are the key. Everything else can be learned.

I made it because I kept trying.

So can you. No matter what you’re hoping to achieve.

Most dreams start with a tiny spark of an idea. For a writer, the process usually begins with a “what if!”

What if a woman’s husband was murdered and the people who killed him are now after her son? If you read NOWHERE TO HIDE, you’ll recognize that storyline.

And the “what if” for SCARED TO DEATH? What if a woman answers an estranged friend’s call for help and ends up in the middle of a sinister medical scheme that’s killing people in small town Georgia?

My third book, MIA: MISSING IN ATLANTA, comes out in March. What if a returning war hero’s search for a missing girlfriend leads him into a web of corruption and exploitation that almost costs him his life?

I’m working on book four now, with book five and six in the lineup. Guess that means I’m hooked on writing stories and seeing them in print.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Right now, I need to know what you think of SCARED TO DEATH. Visit my Web site, http://www.debbygiusti.com/, or post a comment on my blog, http://www.ladiesofsuspense.blogspot.com/

I’m waiting to hear from you.

Wishing you abundant blessings and may all your dreams come true!

Debby Giusti

Back to My Roots - Carly Phillips

I started writing family stories. Seriously. I thought I would sell to Silhouette Special Edition and I tried. Boy did I try … but it wasn’t meant to be. Seven years, ten manuscripts, I caught on. Shorter contemporary seemed to be my style. In 1998 I sold to Harlequin Temptation/Heat and in 1999 BRAZEN was published. I wrote category for two years before segueing into single title contemporary with THE BACHELOR, THE PLAYBOY and THE HEARTBREAKER. Since then, all my trilogy or linked books have been light and fun – until CROSS MY HEART and SEALED WITH A KISS. In those books, I took a turn back to family mixed with drama and less lightness … it’s been a good break. A fun break. It seemed right when CROSS MY HEART was in hardcover to try something different. But I listen to my readers and I know they want more of my lighter books, more often.

SO A NEW YEAR IS COMING – and in 2008, I’ve decided to return to the light books that my readers love, all in PAPERBACK. I know that for everyone’s wallet, this is a good thing. I know that as a reader, as much as I enjoy the variety of books on the shelves, I love fun contemporary which is why writing it again is bringing me a lot of pleasure and enjoyment. I’ve just finished HOT PROPERTY which is the last in The Hot Zone series which will be out in July 2008 and an as of now unnamed new book and the beginning of a three book series in September 2008 – hero based. Light. Fun.

How about you? What do you enjoy reading? Paranormal? Light contemporary? Dark romantic suspense? What floats your boat and what can’t you get enough of for your reading pleasure?


NY Times Bestseller, CARLY PHILLIPS

www.carlyphillips.com (see the video!)

www.plotmonkeys.com (blog)

Plano Book Club - Note from this month's author, Linda Conrad

Man, how I love reading good books! And geez, how I hate finishing one! If it’s a really good book that hooks me into the characters’ lives, then I want to know more! What happens next? I want to know whether the best friend finds her own true love. I want to know if the brother will ever change his ways and find a woman who can tame him. I just want to know more!

I guess that’s why I almost always write linked books and make up my own mini-series. Some readers tell me they feel the same way I do, that they love books in series. Others seem to feel somehow cheated that they must find and buy more books to satisfy their curiosity. I make sure each book tells its own story, but I guess I can’t help hinting that there might be more to it. And I suppose therein lies the problem. Sigh.

Which brings me around to my newest series of books, the Night Guardians, and the reason I'm so looking forward to talking with the bookclub!

The Night Guardians is a series of six books I've written for Silhouette Intimate Moments (now called Silhouette Romantic Suspense) The series tells the story of a new cult of shapeshifters spreading evil and terror on the big Navajo reservation in New Mexico and Arizona . These shapeshifters, known as ‘Skinwalkers,’ are familiar to the Navajo from their ancient stories and legends. The heroes of the Night Guardians are Navajo medicine men, calling themselves the Brotherhood, who have banded together to fight the evil.

My latest book is book number five in the series. Called SHADOW WARRIOR, it’s the story of Michael Ayze, a professor of Anthropology at Dine College . He knows the most about the ancient legends and feels the answer to conquering the Skinwalkers lies there instead of fighting them openly. As if he doesn't have enough troubles, his younger brother’s widow and son have now appeared in the midst of the danger. One look at her reignites deep emotions in Michael that he’s denied for years.

It seems unseen universal forces are trying to bring Michael to his knees. Respect for tradition, natural disasters, even his own mother are pushing him closer to the woman he only wants to protect from the deadly dangers waiting in the night.

I had such fun researching and writing this series. I'd love to talk to the bookclub about it! Depending on the quantity of food and drink consumed, we can chat about just nearly anything! Any of the Silhouette Desires I have written in the past or any of my plans for the future. Everything is fair game except the surprise ending to the Night Guardian series! I can’t wait!

Thanks for you help!

Linda Conrad
http://www.lindaconrad.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/lindaconrad
2007 RT Reviewers Choice Award winner for SHADOW FORCE!
WisRWA '07 Write Touch Readers Award second place for SHADOW WATCH!
2007 Desert Rose - Golden Quill Award nominee for SHADOW WATCH!
Don't miss the final book in the Night Guardian series:
SHADOW WHISPERS - Silhouette Romantic Suspense - coming September 07

Guest blogger - Marta Acosta

Paranormal fiction continues to be very popular right now, which is good for me since I’m now writing the third in my Milagro De Los Santos series. The last thing I need is for vampires to lose favor with the public, thereby forcing me to do something unpleasant, like getting a real job. (The New York Observer just ran a story in which writers confessed the hardship of being successful. Honestly, it made me want to smack these whining nitwits upside the head with an unabridged volume of Shakespeare’s tragedies.)

As fictional characters, vampires have it all over other paranormal creatures. Mummies are always unraveling, and you can’t understand a thing they say through all that fabric. Cannibal zombies smell bad, have rotting flesh, and want to eat your brains. Don’t even try to write a clever conversation with a zombie; it can’t be done. Demons are too metaphysically ambiguous, and ghosts are useless as love interests since they lack corporeal being. Werewolves have a following, but writers constantly struggle with the perplexing problem of clothing. Half of werewolf books are devoted to the shapeshifters’ ripping off their clothing during transformations, and then finding themselves stark nekkid behind the 7-11 dumpster.

There are miscellaneous faeries, warlocks, elves, and mermen in paranormal fiction, but they just don’t have the allure of the vampire. The modern vampire is eloquent, attractive, well-dressed, and successful. You can take them to just about any social event so long as you keep them from sunlight, crosses, stakes through the heart, and garlic-laden Mediterranean cuisine.

They’re powerful and have a seductive undercurrent of danger, but they’re not so crass that they’ll drain you of blood in the middle of amusing banter. Nope, a writer may let the conversation flow when vampires are in a scene. And if a writer is given to ornate dialog, there’s no better spouter of such chat than 400-year-old vamp. Many popular vampires spend an inordinate amount of time being melancholy and thinking about sex, which readers find intriguing. In real life, someone melancholy who thinks a lot about sex is probably trolling chat rooms for underage girls and claiming he likes strolls on the beach and cuddling. But I digress.

A cultural anthropologist could probably tell you why our society is now drawn to paranormal stories. I sat in on an anthropology class once (I left when I found out there would be no field trips to dig up bones and artifacts), so I feel qualified to propose my own theories.

Theory One. In the post-9/11 world, we want to know that heroes and heroines will protect us from unexpected and powerful dangers. This doesn’t quite work when you consider that Anne Rice rocked the book world long before 9/11.

Theory Two: Reading scary stories makes our adrenaline kick in, good for a cheap thrill. This is true for the really scary stories, but most paranormal fiction doesn’t come close to the spine-tingliness of most horror books.

Theory Three: People want to fantasize about having their blood sucked. Well, I think more people fantasize about winning the lottery, yet there’s not a “Lottery Winner” genre of fiction.

Theory Four: In our banal, sanitized “Paper or plastic?” lives, we yearn for characters with more primitive appetites for sustenance, sex, and power.

Theory Four: Paranormal fiction presents characters with dilemmas that are not easily resolved by standard means. They can’t run to the police about an elf, file a lawsuit to stop harassment by a vampire, or talk to a therapist about a were attack. They’ve got to be self-reliant, imaginative, and brave, and readers enjoy those qualities in a lead character.

Okay, Theories Three and Four work for me.

When I wrote Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, I intended my book to be a romantic comedy wherein an impoverished, yet appealing heroine, Milagro, has to deal with people who think she is beneath them. The characters needed to successful, attractive, and sophisticated; modern vampires fit my needs perfectly as the rich snobby family that treats Milagro as if she’s an unaccomplished, tacky skank. She proves herself, but learns that their sophistication is a veneer for darker instincts; there’s a delicious frisson of sex, danger, and power.

Well, when you’re at the top, you get to look down, and vampires are definitely at the top of the paranormal food chain.

Marta Acosta is the author of Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, a Fresh Pick of the Day, a BookSense Pick, and Catalina Magazine’s Humor Book of 2006. Her second novel, Midnight Brunch, was released in April 2007. Her website is www.martaacosta.com.

Book Club Rewind - Shanna Swendson

Book club last night was great. Of course, that had a lot to do with fact that this month's author, Shanna Swendson, was there in person rather than over the phone. Shanna, Harry Potter fan that she is, even provided a couple of meal suggestions for June or July's (I forget) Harry Potter themed book club menu. Besides that, how could you not like someone who has enough humor to admit that her longest relationship so far has been her four year crush on one of the local TV news guys?!

The idea behind her Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. series came from a trip to New York City with friends after she had some knee surgery done. There Shanna was moving around NYC not totally sure footed and she received nothing but kindness and assistance from the locals. Her friends apparently did not get that same polite experience in NYC. A few years later, she thought to combine the concept of the two different experiences she and her friends had in NYC with her love of Harry Potter (did I mention Shanna's a fan) and Chick Lit (which she sees as the style most like her life). The Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. series was born!

So what is next in the series? The fourth book, Don't Hex With Texas, is written and scheduled to be released in January 2008. Shanna said that book three, Damsel Under Stress, was written as a two part-er and that book four was planned for release sooner than the following May (the previous three books were released in the month of May). The fourth book will have a satisfying ending, but that the fifth and final book (currently unwritten) would wrap everything up if it were published (and that my friends is up in the air right now unfortunately).

TV and movie possibilities for MSI series? There was almost a TV deal. There is a possibility of a movie deal.

Shanna is currently working on a proposal for a Young Adult book. The YA book would probably be a standalone paranormal. "Grimms' fairy tales invade Grey's Anatomy."

What does Shanna Swendson like to read when she is not writing:
- Chick Lit
- bargain bin books (She's on tour right now and is seriously binge purchasing bargain bin books.)
- recently read and recommends Babe in Toyland by Eugenie Seifer Olson.

Some of her notable quotes from the evening with our book club:
- "My legions of minions plotting against..."
- "Certain books can only be read in certain weather."

Plano Book Club - Note from this month's author, Shanna Swendson

If there's anything I like more than reading books, it's talking about books, so I'm really looking forward to meeting with the book club (eating comes right behind talking about books, so I'm anticipating the food, too).

I write a series of books that could be called fantasy/chick lit or else light urban fantasy, depending on whether I'm talking to a chick lit reader or a fantasy reader. When I started submitting the first book in the series to agents, I wasn't sure which side of that line it really fell on, so I looked for an agent who handled both genres and let her decide what it was. Now I don't worry too much about genre and just write my books, which have a mix of humor, fantasy, intrigue and romance. The best way I can think of to describe the tone and content of my books is by saying "Bridget Jones meets Harry Potter." A grown-up Harry, of course.

The fun thing about writing a series with the same main characters is getting to watch the characters grow and their relationships develop. The first book in the series, Enchanted, Inc., introduced my heroine, Katie Chandler, to the world of magic and to magical people, including a certain very intriguing young wizard. We saw her get deeper into the magical world as she struggled with her own unique abilities in the sequel, Once Upon Stilettos. In the most recent book, Damsel Under Stress, she seems to have everything more or less together -- at least at first. She's finally got the relationship of her dreams starting and she's doing well at work. But, of course, things can't go quite that smoothly for her, and next thing she knows, everything she cares about is in jeopardy and she may have to make some tough choices. There's at least one more book in the series coming, and I have plans for one more after that. Depending on how much wine they make me drink, the book club might even manage to get some hints for the future out of me.

Shanna Swendson
Damsel Under Stress, May 2007
Once Upon Stilettos, May 2006
Enchanted, Inc., May 2005
http://www.shannaswendson.com/

Guest blogger - Robyn Carr

The invitation to blog here today came at a perfect time – the third installment in the Virgin River series – Whispering Rock – will be released in a few days. And I’ve just experienced the most amazing couple of months.

When I started Virgin River, beginning like I always do – on page one, flying by the seat of my pants – I was writing one story, one romance. I became acquainted with Mel Monroe, a nurse midwife in search of peace and meaning in her troubled life. Enter Jack Sheridan, a retired marine who built a small country bar and grill in a town of six hundred because it was the perfect place for him to hunt and fish and wind down from a life far too adventurous. I was getting acquainted with a couple of remarkable people. By the time I was a hundred pages in, I knew there was more than one book in this town. When I met the marines who still hung tight after serving in combat together, frequently gathering in the pristine beauty of the redwoods to hunt, fish, play poker and rally around their leader, Jack, I knew they would be the spinal column for a series. When I met the women, I met the heart.

I wrote like a fiend, like a driven lunatic, the pages stacking up faster than I could count them. Then it got interesting. I had a few people in my life I could pass research questions through, but I had to get serious about this project. I went to Humboldt County, California, the actual setting for the series, and found it to be much more rural and rugged in the mountains than I’d imagined, not to mention more beautiful than I thought myself capable of describing. I went in search of and found law enforcement professionals, hunters, fishermen, business owners, locals. I visited towns, large and small, and went in search of towns that made the map, but were so buried in the mountains, I couldn’t find them! I engaged the expertise of a nurse practitioner and a midwife who had experienced both big city medicine and rural medicine, two incredible professionals dedicated to serving their women. I spent time with marines and heard their stories.

And revised, revised, revised. I passed the manuscripts for the first three books through so many hands and took note of so many professional opinions, I had to create a notebook to follow the books! At final draft, I had a series filled with passion and adventure, with heart and humor, anchored by Mel and Jack – the nurse midwife and the marine-owner of the local watering hole, two people whose driving purpose is to serve the town and their friends.

I thought the payoff was going to come with the release of the books – three in three months – Virgin River, Shelter Mountain, Whispering Rock. But I was wrong – the payoff came in the form of emails – dozens and dozens of them, more than I’ve ever received in my career. Not only did people write me that they loved the series and couldn’t wait for the next book – they wasted no time in telling me who they wanted to read more about. I had countless requests to deliver Jack Sheridan to the homes swooning women! (Get in line, ladies!) I was given running commentary as to when readers laughed out loud, when they cried.

The most illuminating communication came from the families of military men and women. Now, Jack and his boys are not active duty marines, and the stories are not about military conflict. But these men are shaped by their life experiences and there was something about their commitment, their strength of character and loyalty, that brought the wives, mothers, grandmothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters to me through notes and letters. I answer every email personally and will until I am completely overwhelmed (please God!) and I wrote back to every one of them. I offered far too many condolences. It is not an easy life for the supporters of our military; it’s harrowing and emotional, and they hold up like finely tempered steel – with astonishing courage and incredible love. They aren’t just patriots – they take it to the next level, it’s personal, it’s part of their existence. And I was reminded that it’s not temporary – it’s a way of life. These emails, these people, validated Jack, Preacher and the guys.

So here it is – my experience in creating this series was quadrupled by my experience in hearing how it’s been received. I am humbled. I am honored. And I’m darn lucky and awful proud. Who knew? We work, we write, we plunder along trying to make that connection. When you get the message through readers that you’ve touched them in a personal and vital place, it’s simply amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone of you who has written to me. I welcome your thoughts, and I listen.

Robyn Carr
Whispering Rock, June 2007
Shelter Mountain, May 2007
Virgin River, April 2007
http://www.robyncarr.com/

Romantic Times -- Houston, Texas

Jade Lee and Sasha Lord were having a great time at the RT Booklovers Conference in Houston. It's only Friday afternoon and Jade's quiet -- no voice! But she was able to stop by and chat with the Fresh Fiction crew for a time on Friday afternoon. She was joined by Sasha Lord who told us all about the book she's finishing to be published in 2008! And it sounds terrific since she confessed to keeping it under her pillow at night! Sounds like a keeper to me if the author doesn't want to let go of it!

Jade's next book will be on the shelves in June, TEMPTED TIGRESS, the sixth in the Tigress series of very sensual historicals set in China. Another winner guaranteed!

We also ran across an old friend from DFW area -- debut author Tracy Garrett. She was excited to show us the promo postcard for her book TOUCH OF TEXAS, on shelves October 2nd at a very special price! The cover is DE*lic*ious! Gotta love the cowboy, especially a Texan cowboy!

It is tiring to be go-go-go at the RT gathering. We spotted a grouping of authors lurking, ah, resting, under the escalators. JC Wilder, Stacie Klemstein, Isabo Kelly and Linnea Sinclair took advantage of a quiet corner, semi smoke free, to rest and view the crowds around the bar! We caught them in "action."

Cowboys and vampires were the theme for Friday night's activities and the hallways and bar were crowded with stetsoned cowpokes and dance hall beauties at the Hyatt in downtown Houston. Our view from the window of the 28th floor belied the frentic activity in the lobby below. It was not your usual Friday night in Houston -- the vamps and cowboys came out to play!