With A Little Help From My Friends

Happy Sunday!

I'm getting ready for my two college kids to come home today. They're taking time off work and squeezing in a visit before school starts up again, and I couldn't be more excited. It's been more than 7, count 'em SEVEN months since I've seen my oldest! That's the longest ever. He's ready for some home time, and I'm ready for him to be home! My youngest, too. I saw him in May but even that's too long! So I'm putting sheets on beds, getting ready to stock the fridge here in a minute, etc. My oldest will meet Marge, my new puppy, for the first time. She's going to love him and vice versa. We're still working on some bad habits -- we keep the carpet cleaner out and plugged in if that gives you any clues -- but other than that and her love of barking at birds, she's loads of fun and so cute. My old dog, Tia, even likes her now, though she'd never admit it. She refuses to go to bed without Marge! Here they are sleeping in the back seat of the truck on a recent road trip. (Well, darn, can't get Blogger to download it. I'll try again later! Check back!)

While the guys are home I know I'll be tempted to set the writing aside, but I can't do it. I'll have to get up early and make my page count. The story is rolling along and I'm into it. Don't want to lose momentum! I love it when things start to click and the characters come completely alive!

I had my first booksigning for OFF HER ROCKER yesterday. It was great! I have so much support from friends and family members and that means so much to me. Also, loyal readers I only see when I have a new book out. It's like a reunion when I have a signing here in my hometown and everyone comes in. The signing was even more fun because my friend and fellow author Linda Castillo (www.lindacastillo.com) autographed with me. Her new romantic suspense novel, out this month, is called A Whisper In The Dark. Nobody writes chilling suspense mixed with a sexy love story like Linda. If you haven't read one of her books, you should! Be prepared to lose some sleep though!

I'll be guest blogging on Romantically Inclined for the next couple of days, the 14th and 15th. I hope you'll drop by there and check it out!
http://romantically-inclined.blogspot.com/

Have a great week ahead!

Jenny
www.jenniferarcher.net

Back In The Swing

Though I didn't bring home the gold, the Rita Award Ceremony in Atlanta was great fun! Writers spend a lot of time in p.j.'s and/or ratty sweats (at least this writer does!), so it was fun to get all glamourous for a change. Here's a photo of me with my good friend and fellow Rita finalist, Candace Havens before the ceremony began.

And one of my friend Jodi Thomas accepting her third Rita and an induction into the Romance Writers Hall of Fame! Very exciting! I was so happy for her.
To see more photos of the ceremony, stop by my website www.jenniferarcher.net and check out the News & Events page.

Barbara Samuel won in my category for her novel Lady Luck's Map Of Vegas. She is a fantastic writer and very deserving of the award. I've enjoyed her books for many years. I was just thrilled that Ally, Nick, Sonny and Warren, the characters in my novel The Me I Used To Be, had their moment in the limelight. I love them all -- they seem outside of me, is that weird? Writers tend to be weird, too, in case you didn't know!

Back to the real world of the ratty sweats. My new release Off Her Rocker is in bookstores this month! Walmart and other such stores, too. I hope you'll look for it. This story is one with "humor and heart," as my editor says. It's about a woman who, after 22 years of raising kids, feels like she's going crazy when she faces an empty nest -- until she reinvents herself while stranded in a little Colorado mountain village as lost as she is. You can read an excerpt at my website www.jenniferarcher.net.
Other great news! Off Her Rocker is available in audio from audible.com . You can download it onto your iPod, MP3 player or other audio device, including CD, for about half the price of buying an audio book in the bookstore.



And in other news, my novel My Perfectly Imperfect Life is available in large print hardcover this month, too. Check out the beautiful new hardback cover at www.jenniferarcher.net at News & Events.

I've updated my website with new movie and book recommendations on the Kickin' Back page, a new contest, and much more news. Hope you'll click on one of the links above and stop by. Meanwhile, I'll be hard at work on my latest work in progress. It's turning out to be quite different than I expected, which is ironic in a way since the title is What She Never Expected!

Happy Reading,

Jennifer

Blond Moments & the Bygone Story That Came Back To Haunt Me

Question: Can a blond person blame her idiotic behavior on being blond if the blond came out of a bottle?

Sometimes I think I'm losing it. Truly. A few days ago, I dropped by a jewelry doctor to have a necklace repaired. I had broken the tiny clasp...or so I thought. In two seconds flat, the jeweler informed me it wasn't broken, that it had just become unhooked from the opposite side.

HOW I MEANT TO RESPOND: "I'm so BLIND I can't see the clasp without my reading glasses."

HOW I RESPONDED: "I'm so BLOND I can't see the clasp without my reading glasses."

Well, the guy cracked up and I managed to see the humor in it, too. Then things got worse. I asked if he had ring guards. Let me back up. When I married, my husband bought me a beautiful, simple band. Many years later, he bought me a ring with a larger diamond in the center and two smaller ones on either side of it. I wear it with the band, but the diamond ring is always sliding around to the back of my finger. I thought a pretty guard would hold it in place, but this store didn't have any I liked. So I asked the jeweler if he could attach the diamond ring to the band. He said yes, and I proceeded to show him which ring I wanted on top and which on bottom. The minute the instructions were out of my mouth, I realized that it didn't matter -- neither ring had an "upside down." The jeweler's brow arched, his mouth twitched. "I just said something blond again, didn't I?" I asked. He couldn't stop laughing as he wrote up my receipt.

A funny thing happened on the way to our cabin last week. Before we drove into the mountains and past the point where I have cell service, I decided to check my voice mail. To my surprise, I had a message from a confession magazine editor telling me she wanted to buy my story (insert very suggestive title here.) What? I never wrote any such story.! I called and told her so. She put me on hold, and when she came back on, she read my name, address and the titles of four stories I'd sent her as a "package." She wanted to buy only one of them. The one called (insert very suggestive title here). A buried memory began to dig its way up from the bottom of my brain. My friend Ronda and I years ago...writing novels...suffering rejection after rejection...hearing about other aspiring novelists making a little extra cash by selling stories to the confession magazines...coming up with some ideas of our own...laughing about them...writing them up...sending them off. One of hers sold. I never heard a word...until almost a decade later, driving down the highway to my cabin in Colorado and checking my voice mail. So, guess what? I'm about to make a whopping one-hundred-thirty bucks on a "confession" story I made up and wrote ten years ago entitled (insert very suggestive title here) !!

If you haven't stopped by my website lately, I hope you'll click here to check out the recent update! www.jenniferarcher.net

Happy Monday,

Jennifer

Buffalo Chicks, Pirates and New Beginnings

There's nothing like a trip down memory lane -- at least if the memories are good ones! And if you make the trip with great friends, all the better. A few weekends ago, my college girlfriends and I got together at my house for a reunion. It's been 27 years since we graduated, and some of us hadn't seen one another in that long! For others, it had been ten or less years. We named ourselves the "Buffalo Chicks" since our school mascot was a buffalo. In keeping with the "chick" theme, as well as the theme "birds of a feather flock together," we wore feathers atop our heads, as you can see in the photo! In order of appearance, left to right, are Jeannette, Danita, Kay, Donna, me, Candy and Margarita. (Since the group photo is too dark in one place to see my friend Danita, I've added another photo of her with Jeannette. Danita is the one with the blue feathers, Jeannette is the one with the pink!.) For one wonderful weekend, we laughed and acted silly, ate, drank, shopped, laughed, watched movies, and laughed some more! We played a question and answer game about things that happened in our wild and crazy youth. To give you an idea, some of the questions were: "Who once told a cop that the next time she needed help, she'd call a hippie?" "Who once rolled a dead bird up in Jenny's car window by the wing?" "Who wore the bluest eyeshadow?" "Who won a whiskey guzzling contest?" "Who held Candy at bay in a locked bathroom by taunting her with a snake?" "Who corrected everyone's grammar?" "Who once sat on a cactus in Palo Duro Canyon?" The greatest thing about our time together was that, ten minutes after everyone arrived, the years melted away, and we were all completely comfortable with one another. It was as if we'd seen each other only the day before. We left, promising we wouldn't wait almost 3 decades before getting together again -- I'm not sure I'd have room in my house for all the walkers!

I saw the new Pirates of the Carribean movie a couple of days ago. Johnny Depp was as funny and fabulous as ever in his role as Captain Jack Sparrow. But I thought the movie was a bit long and had too many stories going on at once, which made it hard to follow at times. Still, it's worth seeing just to watch Johnny Depp in action. (In case you can't tell, I have a thing for Johnny Depp!)

My book OFF HER ROCKER should be showing up in stores in a couple of weeks. The prologue and chapter one are up on my website www.jenniferarcher.net I hope you'll drop by and take a look. The "Home" page has also been updated, as well as the "News and Events" page.

Just as soon as I sign off here, I'm starting a new book. Not reading one, writing one. It's called WHAT SHE NEVER EXPECTED. Wish me luck. The first step is always the most difficult one for me to take, for some reason.

Happy Tuesday,

Jenny

More Than Words

I received the coolest news from my agent last week! The Executive Editor of Harlequin’s More Than Words Program called her to ask if I’d be interested in writing one of the five novellas in the 2007 Volume 4 edition of the More Than Words Anthology, which celebrates women and their achievements. Of course, I said “yes!” The program is Harlequin’s primary philanthropic initiative, and there isn’t another publisher or company in any sector that so widely celebrates the good deeds of women. That really makes me all the more proud of my association with Harlequin, and I’m honored to be one of five authors chosen to write a novella for this wonderful program’s fourth annual anthology.

The third annual edition, More Than Words, Volume 3, will be available in October wherever
books are sold, or you can order it online at http://www.eharlequin.com/. In this unique collection of novellas, you will find stories of courage and determination written by Susan Wiggs, Karen Harper, Kasey Michaels, Catherine Mann and Tori Carrington. These award-winning, bestselling authors have kindly offered their time and creativity to write original short stories of courage and determination inspired by the lives and work of the five exceptional women selected as this year’s recipients of the Harlequin More Than Words award. And by purchasing the book, you will be supporting causes of concern to women. But let me back up and explain how the process works…

If you know a real-life heroine whose compassion is improving the quality of life in her community, a woman like Debra Bonde, founder and director of Seedlings Braille Books for Children in Livonia, Michigan, or Kathy Silverton, founder and president of Stitches from the Heart, a nonprofit organization that boasts ten thousand volunteers who send handmade baby and toddler items to to over 432 hospitals and charities, you can nominate her for the Harlequin More Than Words award at http://www.harlequinmorethanwords.com/. Any woman nominated should be someone who, with each act of kindness, each word of support, is proving that real-life heroines do exist. Five recipients are chosen each year from the nominees and are honored by Harlequin with: (1) $10,000 to advance the work of her associated charity (2) National recognition and promotion at www.HarlequinMoreThan Words.com (3) An all-expenses-paid trip to the award ceremony for her and a friend, and (4) A novella inspired by her life and work written by one of Harlequin’s “most acclaimed authors.” (That would be moi! ~wink~) For more details about the nomination process, please visit http://www.harlequinmorethanwords.com/. But don’t wait too long! The deadline is August 4.

Speaking of women, check back here soon for my next blog entry about my recent college girlfriend reunion. Six of my old college buds gathered at my house for a weekend of laughter and reminiscing. Some of us hadn’t seen each other in about 12 years! Wait’ll you see the funny photos! If I can get them on here, that is! I’m having trouble uploading shots for some reason! In the meantime, I hope you’ll visit my website at http://www.jenniferarcher.net/ and watch for the update which is coming soon. I’ll have updated news, new photos, and the first chapter of my August release OFF HER ROCKER.

Happy Reading!

Jennifer

Capital Murder

William Bernhardt, whose latest release is CAPITOL MURDER, was the keynote speaker at the Frontiers In Writing conference weekend before last.( www.williambernhardt.com)
His talk about the importance of books was both funny and moving. I would've sworn no one could possibly recite Hamlet's "To Be Or Not To Be" speech in under sixty seconds, but this man did it! He also talked of once being a young boy with a speech impediment that made talking such a struggle, he pretty much stopped saying anything, turning to the library and books, instead. It occurred to me that most writers I know had some childhood trauma -- sometimes minor, sometimes major -- that drew them to books and a passion for stories. Moving around a lot did that for me, leaving old friends and having to make new ones, adjusting to a new place, a new school, new classmates and teachers.

Speaking of stories, my author copies of OFF HER ROCKER arrived in the mail today! It looks great! Flipping through it, re-reading passages, reminded me of the fun I had writing this book once I found the golden thread that tied all the pieces together. Her name is Mrs. Needlemeyer and once she came to life, everything fit. I have one of my critique partners, Dee Burks, http://deeburks.blogspot.com/, to thank for that. When I couldn't figure out what was missing, she said, "Every little town needs a cranky old lady poking at everybody." Or something like that. And she was right! Actually, I don't know how I'd ever manage to write a book without ANY of my critique partners. Like the fictional Mrs. Needlemeyer, they are all golden threads -- they help me tie the pieces together. Unlike her, they aren't old and cranky and they don't poke at me, they're gentle!

See OFF HER ROCKER under "Coming Soon" at www.jenniferarcher.net or
at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0373881037/sr=1-6/qid=1150834998/ref=sr_1_6/104-8560021-9751120?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=books

This is already a crazy week. We have an outside remodel going on at my house and workmen are everywhere! The house is looking good, though! Also, I'm planning for a special weekend. Six of my college girlfriends, some of whom I haven't seen in many years, are coming in and staying at my house Friday and Saturday. We're having a girlfriend reunion! We have a lot of catching up to do and plenty of memories to relive! (Some of them should probably not have been lived the first time around, much less RE-lived!) :-)

Happy Tuesday,

Jenny

www.jenniferarcher.net

Frontiers In Writing

The weeks are rushing by and I'm having to run full speed to keep up! I'm a member of my local writing organization, PPW (Panhandle Professional Writers, http://www.panhandleprowriter.org/ )and last weekend we had our yearly Frontiers in Writing conference. Three cheers for Molly McKnight, our conference chairperson, as well as everyone else who worked to make the conference such a huge success. What a fantastic lineup of speakers we had! I'll be posting about them in the days ahead. First, there's Deborah LeBlanc who writes psychological suspense for Leisure Books. Deborah is not only a genuinely nice person, she's an interesting woman who doesn't shy away from researching her books, no matter the topic. In the name of research, she's been locked into a coffin for fifteen minutes and spent time alone in a dark, padded cell in an abandoned insane asylum! Check out her website and books sometime! www.deborahleblanc.com. I've also posted the cover to her latest release, A House Divided.

I was extremely honored and surprised when, during the annual conference awards ceremony, I was named PPW's Writer Of The Year for 2006! They gave me an absolutely beautiful engraved statue that now sits on the shelf above my computer. Each time I'm stumped, staring at a blank computer screen and a blinking cursor, I can look up at that statue and remind myself, "Hey, get your act together! You're writer of the year!" Seriously, the award is given to a member who has had a lot of positive things happen in their writing career over the past year. That's certainly been the case for me, I admit! I'm a lucky writer! Plus, I worked like a madwoman. (I was going to say I worked my butt off but, alas,it's still there).

Have a great weekend,

Jenny
www.jenniferarcher.net

Things I Wish I Could Do Or At Least Do Better

1) Cook (Someone asked my youngest son what food from home he missed most now that he's at college, and his answer was "Wienerschnitsel.")
2)Organize a kitchen and prepare a meal for company (My oh-so-domestic hostess-with-the-mostest friend Michelle and her daughter McKenzie from Durango spent the night recently on their way through town going to Oklahoma City. At dinner I had to dig through 3 drawers before finding salad tongs. At breakfast, I burned the bagels and almost set off the smoke alarm. 7-year old McKenzie asked me, "Why are you hurrying so fast?" Because cooking for other people, even bagels, turns me into a blabbering bundle of nerves, McKenzie.)
3) Drive and talk at the same time. (Once my friend Candy and I were driving to a nearby town for our friend Donna's wedding. I was behind the wheel. We had a non-stop conversation, wound up thirty miles off-course in the wrong town and made it to the wedding in time for the reception. Another time, my friend Kimberly and I were headed home to Amarillo, Texas after attending a conference in Colorado Springs. Again, I was behind the wheel and the conversation was endless. We missed the cut-off at Raton, N.M. and didn't even realize it until I saw a sign for Santa Fe almost an hour later.)
4)Parallel park. (This is the one requirement I flunked on my driver's test.)
5) Sew. (In junior high, my home economics teacher assigned special homework for me: "Sit in front of the television with a needle and thread and a small piece of material. Practice pushing the needle into the material through the top, and pulling it out through the bottom.)

There are many more, but it's too depressing to list them all at once! Good news! The Universe finally heard my plan and set it into motion (see blog post below). Six days late, but, hey... I'm sure I'm not the only one out there making plans. Even the Universe can only handle so much at once. I accepted an offer to write three more books for NeXt yesterday! The title of the first one is What She Never Expected. Of course, that's subject to change. Sandwiched was originally called A Change Of Seasons! Not sure of the other two, yet. Or the release dates. Anyway...I'm happy to be a contracted writer again!

Happy Wednesday,
Jenny

www.jenniferarcher.net

Hey, You? Universe? Didn't I Make Myself Clear?

On the recommendation of a friend, I recently rented a documentary/movie called "What The Bleep Do We Know?" It deals with quantum physics in a way that even my science-retarded mind can grasp. The whole thing is uniquely presented -- a fictional story plays out that is interwoven with short interviews of scientists and a mystic guru or two. My "beware of flake" warning bell clanged a time or two during some of the mystic dialogue but, determined to keep an open mind, I turned the bell off and listened. (Truth is, I have a bit of mystic flake in me. In my constant quest to "fit-in," I locked her away in my inner basement a long, long time ago as a kid when I discovered her musings were not socially acceptable to the mainstream. That's when I also acquired the warning bell to let me know when my own flake and others were creeping up on me!) One concept presented in the documentary is the possibility that we can affect our futures by our thoughts. So for weeks now, I've been sending the message out there to the Universe...daily...several times a day...okay, every hour on the hour (not really), that I would have a brand new contract to write another book by June 1 -- a story that intrigues me that's been knocking around in my head a while now. Well, here it is June 3 and, guess what? No contract. Not even an offer yet, though I've had hints one is coming "soon." Since I work with words every day, you'd think I made myself clear to the Universe. June 1. I know I said that! But maybe the request was interpreted as "sometime around the first of June," or possibly, "the first full week in June," or even, "the first full moon in June." It's easy to say things in a way that's misunderstood. It's easy to misinterpret. Who knows? Maybe even the Universe has problems with this.

Just yesterday my cosmetologist was microdermabrasing my face. (Yes, I'm still paying good money to be tortured in the name of vanity!) She told me that after returning home from a trip with her husband, she had found her razor in her 19 year old son's bathroom. Fearing he'd had his girlfriend over for the night while they were away, she confronted him. He blushed and told her not to worry, he'd used the razor to shave his legs. Apparently "girls like that," these days. From that conversation we segued into one about my book, My Perfectly Imperfect Life, which she told me she just began reading on another trip. "Did your son go with you on this trip?" I asked. "No," she answered. "He had to work. " A pause then, "Now, if I can just figure out why that black bra was in his pocket..." I burst out laughing. I thought she was talking about her son, and that she was the most naive mother of a 19 year old male on earth! Then it hit me she had switched topics midstream and that she referred to the big black bra discovered by Dinah in her husband Stan's pocket in My Perfectly Imperfect Life!

Haven't reported in on the reading front lately. Mary Alice Monroe's Sweetgrass was a lushly written story about family with a gorgeous southern setting that puts the reader "there." Currently I'm reading an unpublished novel written by a twenty-two year old young man--a friend and classmate of my son's. This is the first novel he's ever written and I predict a bright future ahead for him as a writer! It's wonderful to see fresh new talent, to hear a unique new voice, and interesting to see how a young man's thought processes work. (Sometimes a bit
unsettling, too, since I have two sons!)

Must go work on revising the YA, then I'm off to look for shoes for a wedding!

Happy Reading!

Jenny

Stability Is Highly Overrated

Summer has definitely arrived at my house and it proves to be a busy one! We just returned from a weekend trip to the mountains with family and had a wonderful time. My youngest son went back to college this morning and I'm playing catch-up! Meanwhile, I received the back cover copy a.k.a. "blurb" for my August 2006 release OFF HER ROCKER. Here it is!

“Enjoy every second you have with them. Tomorrow you’ll wake up, and they’ll be all grown.”

Twenty years ago, Dana Logan reacted to this statement like any new mother would—with disbelief. Tomorrow? Didn’t the years ahead stretch like a long, sunny road…with no end in sight?

Well, Dana’s just fallen into that end. Hard. It’s like her whole life has been a prep course—only, without warning, they’ve canceled the test. Her children don’t seem to need anything she is able to give.

Okay—so she’ll just have to find someone who does want what she has to offer. If she has to drive into Hell to do it….

Judging by the sign she just passed—“Welcome to Hell. Population 512”—she already has….

Off Her Rocker

For me, one of the rewards for finishing writing a novel is my first glimpse of the cover art. It's the first verification that my story is really going to become a book that will be on actual shelves in real live bookstores across the country! When an art department takes my idea and comes up with their own visual rendition of it, it's always interesting to see what evolves out of my creative force merging with theirs. My covers are never exactly what I imagined. Sometimes a few of the elements I'd envisioned are there, other times none of them are. No matter what, I'm always surprised in one way or another!

Today my publisher sent the cover art for my August release, OFF HER ROCKER. I imagined my heroine would be in a rocking chair but, other than that, nothing about this cover is what I pictured in my mind. Even the *type" of rocking chair is different. The good news is, I LOVE THIS COVER! It's better than what I pictured. It's fun, with eye-popping color. Now I can't wait to read the blurb my editor wrote for the back of the cover. When I do, I'll let you know what it says!

Happy Reading,

Jenny

Return

Long time, no blog! I've been busy meeting my self-imposed May 15 deadline to finish my Young Adult novel. I made it! It still needs work, but I reached the end, and I hope to have it polished up and on the way to my agent by June 1. One of the reasons I wanted it finished by May 15 is that my youngest son came home from college the evening of May 15 for a much-too-brief two week stay. I wish my oldest could've come with him but he had to stay and work. I won't see him until July. I haven't seen either of them since the first of January! Way too long! Anyway, whenever one or both of my kids are headed home, I think of this poem that my mother-in-law has inside the cover of her cookbook. She put it there when her children started leaving home for college. It never meant much to me until my own kids left home. Now it pretty much captures my mood when I'm anticipating their homecoming. It's really aimed at Christmas, but just change the words "Christmas" to "summer," "November" to "April," and "flakes" to something like "flutters" or "flashes" and it works for this season.

RETURN
by Linda Pastan

Instinctive as swallows
the migratory children
return at Christmas,
strewing the roads
with their brief colors,
moving like the weather
from south to north,
from west to east.
It is November, these flakes at the window
are only leaves.
But, already the ritual
readies itself.
It is the birth we prepare for,
the homing
of children...

Shakin' Up The Routine & Smellin' The Fun

My new puppy Marge is turning this former night owl into a reluctant morning person. Today, while walking at 6:45 a.m. (yes, you read that right -- A.M. -- as in six-friggin-forty-five in the MORNING), after I blinked the sleep from my eyes, I admitted to myself that there's something special about strolling around the neighborhood when the only sounds are twittering birds, the paper boy's rumbling truck, and a breeze rustling the trees that seemed to whisper hush every time one of my feet struck the pavement. Each morning, Marge seems to want to get up and out a little earlier, and she's shaking up my routine. In more ways than one. For instance, this morning she insisted on turning left to cut across the park rather than walking our usual route around it. So we did. Marge, who normally prances happily along at my side, strained at the leash a bit when she spotted the school playground. Since nobody was out for her to bother, I gave her some slack. A lot of slack. The closer we came to the swings and slide and merry-go-round, the faster she trotted until, finally, she ran, splashing through rain puddles, pouncing at fallen leaves, one ear flopped back, tail wagging. I wondered if she'd caught the scent of all the children who play there, day in, day out, and they smelled like FUN! This was a place to explore.

Since I'm not normally outside at such an early hour, I noticed things I miss on my usual later-in-the-day excursions: the morning mist on my skin, dew on the roses I pass by routinely, a pretty white-haired little old woman who lives down the street. I've never seen her before, but she was out to pick up her paper and we said "hello" to one another.

When Marge and I made it home a half hour later, I wasn't the least bit sleepy anymore. I only required one cup of coffee to kick my brain into gear instead of my usual two. As I made my way to the computer and my story-in-progress, I felt a little like Marge headed for the playground. For the first time in a long while, the writing ahead of me smelled like fun rather than work. I couldn't wait to enter the world where my characters live, to explore it, to discover what adventures they had in store for me.

Thank-you Marge for reminding me it's good for the attitude and the creativity to shake up the old routine every once in a while. But could we at least sleep until seven tomorrow?

Happy reading and writing!

Jennifer (yawn)

A Race To The Finish Line

When I'm writing a book, I prefer not to rush the process. Bringing the characters to life, working out the plot details, uncovering the theme or themes and figuring out how everything connects--imagery to theme to plot to character, etc., requires time. In order to get it right, I do best with plenty of months to put it all down, let it all percolate and brew. Sometimes a tight deadline pushes me along faster than I like. Or, sometimes, I fret over a story and procrastinate and put it aside, come back to it, then put it aside again and again, usually out of fear that I won't do the story justice, that I can't make it as fantastic on paper as it is in my mind. My young adult novel, for instance. The idea for this story came to me something like four years ago, and I started working on it immediately. It wasn't all procrastination and fretting that made me set it aside repeatedly; I signed contracts to write four other novels, all with somewhat short deadlines. I wasn't under contract for the YA, so I had to attend to the paying work first! Since finishing up those contracted books a couple of months ago, I've gone back to the YA, working on it almost daily. And fretting. And dragging my feet. So I've given myself a deadline. I WILL reach the end of the story by May 15, then spend the last half of the month reading it and digging deeper and molding it into shape. I'm zipping it off to my agent on June 1. You heard it here! I've said it, now I MUST follow through! I'll keep you posted.

This weekend, I took a detour on the path I'd planned for my reading. I have wanted to read the YA novel SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson for a long time, so when I saw it at Barnes and Noble, I bought it and temporarily postponed the book I was about to begin. I finished SPEAK in two nights. It's a great story. Dark and funny and heartbreaking, at once. The author perfectly captured the voice of a troubled teenaged outcast. I ached for Melinda and laughed at the wicked sense of humor she maintained even in the face of almost unbearable depression and humiliation. I really admired the author's skill in making me know exactly what emotion her character was feeling at any given time without "telling" me. Ms. Anderson's writing is subtle and powerful. This novel is a former National Book Award finalist. After reading it, that's no surprise to me. I highly recommend it for older adults as well as young ones!

Back to the writing! Happy Monday,

Jennifer

Movie Binge

I've been on a bit of a movie binge in the last few days. I'm behind and trying to catch up! I rented WALK THE LINE. LOVED it! I don't understand this -- I've never been a fan of Johnny Cash's or June Carter's music, but I really loved hearing it in the movie. Wish I had seen this one on the big screen. It did strike me that there are a quite a few parallels between Johnny Cash's life and Ray Charles' life. Both were raised poor. Both lost brothers during childhood. Both felt responsible for their brother's death. Both became music legends. Both developed a drug problem and had numerous extra-marital affairs. And both loved a strong woman who helped them turn their life around. I have a son who is a musician. I hope the above process isn't required to achieve success in the music industry!

The next movie I rented is LOGGERHEADS. This one is not filled with "big name" movie stars. It stars Tess Harper, Bonnie Hunt, Michael Kelly, Michael Learned (John Boy's mom on The Walton's!), Kip Pardue and Chris Sarandon. It won awards at Sundance and is somewhat of an "artsy" film. As with many films of this sort, it's full of angst and explores a touchy social topic. I thought it was well-acted, thought-provoking and heartwrenching. Some of the themes remind me of my novel, THE ME I USED TO BE.

Last, I rented MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS. This one received some Oscar nods, though I can't recall in which categories. Whichever, they were well deserved! It's funny and touching and the chemistry between Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins is fantastic. It captured the feel of the old 1940's big musical production movies I loved to watch as a kid. I really enjoyed it.

If you're looking for a good movie to rent and haven't seen these, I recommend them all!

Off to write. I sent a new proposal to my editor yesterday for another women's fiction novel. Now I have a young adult novel to finish up. I hope soon. It's called PICTURE THIS and I really want a publisher to buy it. It's about a sixteen year old girl who is an amateur photographer. It's funny and spooky and sad in parts. It's a nice change of pace for my writing and I'm having fun with it.

Have a good day!

Jennifer

Falling Out Of Bed

Whenever I go to the grocery store, I always swing by the book section. Yesterday I was surprised and thrilled to find my friend Mary Schramski's new release Falling Out Of Bed already on the shelf! Isn't the cover gorgeous? It has a May 1 release date so it's out a bit early. Mary and I emailed back and forth while she was writing this book so I know a little bit about the plot, and I can't wait to read it. It's a very emotional and uplifting storyline. And, if you've never read one of Mary's books, you should. She's a talented writer. (And I'd think so even if she weren't my friend!)Mary's taught me many things, such as how to tie a scarf, how to pack light, and how to feel better after consuming one too many teeny-weenie martinis. (Me, not her!) You can check out more about Mary and her novels at http://www.maryschramski.com. Take a look at her blog, too, while you're there.

I've finished reading Lani Diane Rich's novel Ex And The Single Girl , one of the other Rita nominees in the same category with my novel The Me I Used To Be. So, now I've read three of the other nominee's-- Candace Havens' Charmed And Dangerous, Susan Wiggs' Table For Five and Ms. Rich's. All great books! I've started a fourth, Sweetgrass by Mary Alice Monroe. Only one chapter into it, but her descriptions are lush! It promises to be another good one. After it, I'm going to read Mary's book before resuming my Rita reads.

Happy Sunday,

Jennifer

Wise Words

Recently, I read an article in the Romance Writers Report written by author Barbara Samuel (www.barbarasamuel.com) called Serving The Work. The article is aimed at writers, but I think the wisdom in it rings true for most any type of work anyone chooses to do. Her words are thought-provoking and simple, and I can't say them any better. So here are a few quotes from the article that have stayed on my mind. I hope they will speak to you, as well.

Ms. Samuel writes:

"What I do care about is honest writing, about giving whatever work you're doing the whole of your attention and passion."

"The point is to do it honestly, with your whole heart. Be passionate. Love the work."

"Serving the work, writing the right stories, taking the time to craft them -- whatever they are -- is what makes it worthwhile in the long run. There are no guarantees, of course. Pursuing art does not offer any, any more than life itself does."

And this quote from author Jean Rhys who published several novels in the 1920s and 1930s: "All of writing is a huge lake. There are great rivers that feed the lake, like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. And there are mere trickles, like Jean Rhys. All that matters is feeding the lake. I don't matter. The lake matters. You must keep feeding the lake."

Have a great day! I'm off to feed the lake.

Jenny

Book News!

Here's the hardcover large print version of SANDWICHED. The quality isn't that great, but you can get the idea. It's available from Thorndike Press and I notice it's already up for sale on Amazon www.amazon.com and at www.barnesandnoble.com! Very exciting! I can't wait to actually hold a copy! I've always dreamed of having my name on the cover of a hardback novel!

More book news. Rumor is a photo of SANDWICHED is in the May issue of Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine in a section on books celebrating mothers and daughters. It is in the “mainstream” category and only six books are included, including The Joy Luck Club and Little Women! Hey, I'm in excellent company. Those are two of my favorite books! Little Women is one of the reasons I wanted to be a writer in the first place. When I grew up, I wanted to be Jo. Another surprise...my agent tells me that THE ME I USED TO BE cover is featured in an article in Time Magazine in it's British version! I'm hoping to have a copy soon. Very cool!

I'm reading Lani Diane Rich's EX AND THE SINGLE GIRL, another of the novels nominated for a RITA in my category. This is a book that puts a smile on your face. Ms. Rich definitely has a sense of humor! The tone is sort of Southern chick lit. Think the YA YAs without the angsty subplot.

On the puppy front, Margie is learning fast to do her business outside, and she and my old lady dog Tia are getting along better, though Tia still doesn't think she's as adorable as I do. Margie has learned to fetch and loves doing it! Next I want to leash train her so we can go on walks, but so far she becomes terrified when I put the leash on her.

Happy Thursday!

Jenny

Meet Marge!

I'd like you to meet Marge, a.k.a Margie, my new puppy! We adopted her this weekend from the Animal Rescue Shelter. She's a 4 month old dachshund mix. Not quite sure what makes up the rest of the mix, though! She is a sweetheart and loads of fun. My 13 year old neurotic Brittany Spaniel is not as smitten. When Margie tries to roughhouse with Tia, Tia looks at me as if to say, "I'm too old for this. What were you thinking?" They are getting along better the more time they spend with each other, though. Margie is my reward for finishing my proposal and getting it off to my agent. Let's hope she brings me good luck in that area!

What If The Hokey Pokey IS Really What It's All About?

Weather-wise, today is horrible where I live, and I find myself dreaming of Hawaii and this particular gorgeous beach. We've been having 45 to 50 mph wind gusts all afternoon. Step outside and you just might find yourself swept up, carried away, then dropped somewhere in the next county. But I have the perfect thing to wash the grit from my teeth. Champagne! I found a very nice bottle of it in a box on my doorstep, sent to me by my publisher to congratulate me on my Rita nomination! Definitely makes the wind a bit easier to take.! This is what it's all about about -- one of those feel-good moments in life that should be cherished despite winds blustery enough to blow you over the rainbow, writer's block, a messy office or any other such malady.

Speaking of what it's all about, I had a phone conversation with my youngest son recently that reminded me of when I was twenty and confused about what to do with my life. Not too long ago, I had the same conversation with his older brother. I guess most of us go through that stage of being afraid of making the wrong choices and becoming a little paralyzed because of it. As mothers will sometimes, I caught myself lecturing about finding balance and direction and all that good advice that's easy to give but not so easy to follow. Later that day, stopped in traffic at a red light, I read a bumper sticker on a car in front of me that said: What If The Hokey Pokey IS Really What It's All About? Wouldn't that be a kicker? All this time we spend trying to pinpoint the perfect college major, perfect job, perfect book idea, perfect get-rich-quick scheme that's going to bring us perfect happiness, when a little Hokey Pokey jig once a day is really all we need to do in order to be happy!

I've done the Hokey Pokey a few times over the course of my life -- usually in a roller rink wearing skates before I was thirteen. I can't remember ever being unhappy while doing it, either. In my experience, doing the Hokey Pokey is good exercise, good for a few laughs, good for the soul. I'm thinking about calling both my sons and telling them to forget my lectures. Instead, I want them to stand up, take a deep breath and do the Hokey Pokey, then see what comes of it. Sounds like a good way to clear the mind of a lot of worry so it can focus, instead, on the little things that make a life truly successful, fulfilling and enjoyable. Perfect happiness. Could it really be that easy? Put your right foot in, put your right foot out, put your right foot in and shake it all about, do the Hokey Pokey and turn yourself around, that's what it's all about...

After I catch my breath, I think a little champagne's in order. Hokey pokey and celebratory champagne. Feel good moments. That's what it's all about.

Cheers!