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Interview!
You can read my interview HERE.
New Novel Coming
The story involves a dysfunctional family that experiences a sudden violent act, and given their history, each family member is tempted to point their finger at one another.
Each one of them has a motive, but maybe the answer is much simpler than that.
Than again, maybe not.
Look for a release announcement in the next month or so!
Anthology Fans, Unite!
The one thing all eight of my protagonists have in common is "home", either searching for it or saying goodbye to it. Or discovering they've actually already found it. Some of the stories are suspenseful, some are bittersweet; I like to think all of them exude a ray of hope. I'd be honored if you'd check them out!
Place as a Character
I never lived in a heavily populated area until I moved to one a quarter century ago. It's not that I resided in a one-stoplight hamlet with one dilapidated convenience store, but I knew the streets of my town, how to get around without encountering a daily dose of road rage and strangers who never make eye contact. When malls were still the place to shop, I'd never fail to run into someone I knew, either an old schoolmate or a distant in-law or a former work buddy. There was a certain comfort in knowing people, and even if I didn't know them, when push came to shove, they stood at the ready to help me out, such as the time I drove my car into a ditch in a futile attempt to get to work during a snowstorm, I hiked to the nearest home that had a light shining in its window, and the owner not only ushered me inside, but offered me coffee as the snow melting off my boots formed little puddles on his nice linoleum. (This was before cell phones.)
Small towns, much smaller than mine, have a character all their own. They're hefty, confident. They're not going to be pushed around, but they will sit you down at their kitchen table--you, a complete stranger--and offer you a homemade caramel roll. Small towns also have manners. They're not nosy. Scratch that. They're just as nosy as every other town, but they keep it well hidden, except during gossip sessions across a shared fence, as they're complaining about the rabbits gobbling up their garden lettuce.
There's a common myth that small town people are suspicious of strangers. They aren't. They're just curious. Why'd this guy choose this place to stop? Is he having car trouble? I'd better call Bill to come over and help him out. Well, if his engine's okay, he's probably lost. Wonder where he's from and why he took the county road to get to where he's going. The highway's a lot faster.
If you happen to move to a small town, unless you're the gregarious sort, but not overly gregarious, the residents will first examine you from a distance. "Did you see that someone moved into the Larson house?" "Ooh, what do they look like?" (Meaning, they aren't weird, are they?) Soon you'll get a friendly wave or two as you take a stroll around the block. You'll stop to admire someone's bed of purple Dutch crocus and the woman wielding her hand trowel will rise up, brush the soil off her hands and start up a conversation about perennials, which you know nothing about, but pretend you do to keep this new chat going. The first time you stop into the town's hardware store, you'll get some sidelong glances and the clerk ringing up your ten-pack of cabinet pulls and your Phillips screwdriver will be formally courteous, until your third run to the store, when he starts asking about your home projects. The checkout woman at the tiny grocery store might not even greet you as she starts scanning your bag of oranges and half gallon of milk, but next time she'll greet you with a knowing, "Hi!"
But it's not just the people who form a small town's character. It's the oldness, the still-breathing history. An eighty-year-old farmhouse that was once situated out in the countryside, but now, thanks to progress encroaching on it, is perched just on the edge of the village. It's been updated a bit, and there's a four-wheeler parked off to the side and one of those metal whirly gig lawn decorations planted on the front lawn, but the house's bones are still there to remind everyone of what used to be.
After a long day on the road, our family might stop into a small cafe that looked inviting, with its cedar shakes and a sign hanging on the side of the building that read, "Alma's". Outside the sun was hot and it baked our skin as we tumbled out of the car, but the cool darkness inside Alma's was just the balm we were craving. We strolled past the slow-revolving pie case with lemon meringue peeking out at us, tart and juicy, slid into a booth and ordered up a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy, suddenly shivering for a hot meal. It was two p.m. and we had the place to ourselves, except for (probably) Alma, who did double duty as our hostess and server. Heavy clear salt and pepper shakers with metal tops nestled on each side of an aluminum napkin dispenser, next to an amber glass ashtray--apparently, the county health police weren't trolling for tobacco violations--yet. Alma was efficiently businesslike when taking our orders, not rude, yet not yee-hawing at the sudden appearance of interlopers. Aside from the regular breakfast crowd, ours was likely her biggest profit of the day.
Once, in the South Dakota wilderness, we came upon an old (read: broken-down) silver or gold mine. It was impossible to know which, and we (I) had to stop and explore it. There it sat, abandoned, somewhere along where the highway carved a ribbon through the hills. It turned out the mine wasn't much to see, its crunching grey timbers dangling akimbo, yet I was thrilled to discover something old; ancient, really, smack in the middle of nowhere. I've never once found an abandoned anything in the city.
Do people give a place its character or does place make them the people they are? I think it's symbiotic mostly, but a place seeps into people's bones, molds them in ways even they don't recognize.
I like "places". They talk to you if you listen closely enough. So, yes, whichever place I choose for my stories, it deserves a supporting credit, just as much as the people who live there.
Q&A Time!
Running From Herself has been selling well (thank you!) and since I list this site in the back matter of my books, questions about the novel have begun to trickle in. I love it! I've been collecting them, and I finally have enough to share here. I'm hoping this will be an ongoing topic, so please keep those questions coming! I have a handy contact page just for that purpose.
"I don't understand how Mick let Leah go so easily when they got back to Nashville. Why didn't he fight for their relationship?"
Ahh, well, Mick, while a professional musician, didn't travel in the same circles that Leah did (or he believed, would), and after playing together on their mini-tour, he knew that her star was ascendant. Mick was truly in love with Leah by that time, but he didn't want to hold her back, or worse, settle into a relationship with her that he worried she would outgrow over time.
"Leah could be so aggravating! She put up with way too much! Sometimes I wanted her to really let someone have it!"
When Leah's flight touched down in Nashville, she was completely lost. Singing in a bar band was no preparation for suddenly becoming an artist under contract with a major record label. She knew no one in the city, and thus had nobody to lean on for advice, so whatever the label told her to do, she did. Leah assumed this was "just what you do" to establish a career. And she didn't want to earn the label, "problem artist".
As you know, she did fight back on issues that were crucial to her. But she had to tiptoe her way through them--stand up for herself without alienating the people at Silver Sounds.
"My favorite character is Paula Barnes. Not a question. I just wanted you to know that."
Paula Barnes is my favorite character, too! I'm so glad you like her. I think she's a hoot. She could be frustrating to Leah at times, because her down-home advice was often stuffed with colloquialisms--most of which I made up, by the way (they're not true Southern sayings, as far as I know). I also enjoyed her "take no prisoners" attitude, which was such a contrast to Leah. I also love her kindness and generosity, mixed with a huge helping of quirkiness.
Fun Fact: Paula was never meant to be a major character in the story. When Leah showed up as a last-minute slot-in at the Big Blast and no one had arranged for a backup band, somebody had to step in, and that's when I decided that a star would "lend her" their band. When Leah went backstage to thank Paula afterward and once Paula started talking, I knew she was going to be a keeper.
"Are you planning to write a sequel?"
I've been asked this a few times, and I'm toying with the idea, but I think I would focus on another character besides Leah. Any suggestions?
Do I Really Write Women's Fiction?
In the days when I was a prolific reader, books were labeled either fiction or non-fiction. I didn't have money to buy books, so I visited my local library every week. One of the things I did each time was scan the library's posted list of bestsellers, and I'd put my name on the waiting list for any book that was listed; I didn't care what its theme was. If it was a bestseller, it had to be good, right? And I wanted to read good books. As it turned out, some of them weren't to my taste, but I still read (most of) them all the way through. Books for me back then were a scarce commodity, and I treated them as such.
One of my favorites was The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough. In fact, once I read it, I signed up for the wait list again and re-read it. I notice that on Amazon the book is categorized as contemporary literary fiction, historical Australian and Oceanian fiction, and 20th century historical romance. Also family saga fiction. What? No women's fiction? How can that be? When it was originally for sale in bookstores, one would find it on the "fiction" shelf.
That's the problem with today's obsession with labels. And perhaps with the abundance of inexpensive books. Readers are missing out. They're limiting their choices.
In the past I categorized my books as women's fiction because they had to be slotted in somewhere, and my protagonists were women, after all. Now I prefer contemporary fiction, because for one thing, no one seems to understand what women's fiction even means. And choosing women's fiction is limiting. I applaud the one man who bought the book, even though it does have a female main character. Most men probably wouldn't.
What is women's fiction, by the way? This article from the Women's Fiction Writers Association describes it well.
"In
many stories, there is a substantial character arc that supplements the
plot, but in Women's Fiction, the focus of the story IS the character
arc; the change of the protagonist's worldview IS what the story is all
about.
In the novel's beginning, there is a misbelief or a
character flaw that the protagonist has, and the external events of the
novel (plot) force the protagonist to change their misbelief/correct
their character flaw toward the end of the novel."
In other words, women's fiction is about life—real life. I would wholeheartedly embrace the women's fiction label if it wasn't so limiting. I like reading about a woman's journey to find herself or to find her true purpose, and I like experiencing all her stumbles along the way. I can relate! Sure, romance is incorporated into every one of my books, just like in real life, but the romance isn't the main plot.
A lot of readers see "women's fiction" and assume that it's romance. Romance has specific story beats that must be adhered to: the "meet cute" (as they call it), the conflict, and the HEA (happily ever after). That's a simplification, of course, but every romance novel must have those beats, especially the HEA.
My novels don't necessarily have an HEA, but usually they do. Only my HEA's are about the main character finding her true place (at last). Often that does involve her love interest, but love is only part of the bargain. If she can't be happy with her true self, all bets are off.
I like a story to unfold—like a downy blanket—I sink into the story all warm and comfy and let the world pass by. I'm not the type of reader who goes for "shoot 'em up" tales, unless the good (or bad) guy has some sort of personal story that's interesting. I'm a fan of the human condition.
In Running From Herself, if Leah even knows what her true purpose is, she sure spends a lot of time denying it. She's too focused on "the thing she's supposed to be", a thing that has always consumed her identity, and as far as she knows, always will. She's adept at convincing herself that certain things are true, even when they're not—such as the man who by all appearances should be her life companion.
While I dislike genre classifications in general, one of the categories I chose for this novel was "coming of age", which one may think of as a story about a young-ish person, but in reality it's this:
"...personal transformation and finding one's place in the world. This journey can happen at any stage of life."
Coming of age is actually an apt description of this novel. Perfectly apt, in fact. I like that description—it fits.
So, as you can see, I'm ambivalent about book categories in general. I don't like 'em, but my books have to have 'em.
All I like is a good story.
About Starting Over
Finding your way in life is hard. You get all kinds of advice, and some of it might not feel right, but you take it anyway, because you trust the person giving it. They surely must know better than you. When that advice doesn't pan out, you try again; and you make all kinds of mistakes along the way.
I thought about all those false starts as I was writing Running From Herself. Leah was so sure of her life's purpose for years, until she wasn't. Singing was her security blanket; it kept her warm and cocooned. Then one day the blanket unraveled and she had to start over. As much as she thought she knew the ways of the world, every new day now tested her.
I think we all go through times like that, no matter our age. Things we once relied on suddenly no longer exist, and we have to feel our way blindly into the next chapter. Do we simply accept the forces that change our existence, or do we make our own new path?
An Author's Research
Write what you know? Come on; how boring would that be?
Like any writer who's ever included a murder in their story, I sometimes wonder what the FBI would make of my search history. "But I'm a writer!" I'd wail as they were dragging me away in handcuffs. In Shadow Song, when Ashley discovers her boss's dead body in the woods, I had to learn how long it takes for rigor mortis to set in. Unlike pylon signs, that actually was important to the story. (I've also researched arson techniques ~ for a couple of books, in fact. I certainly hope no suspicious fires erupt in my vicinity.)
If authors were to list their research topics, someone would be right to question their sanity. That twirling pie case in a diner? Beats me what it's called. I had to look it up. The answer was disappointing ~ it's either a "display case" or a "dessert case". I was hoping for something fancier; some sort of diner lingo I could throw in. Why did the term matter? Well, although it was included in a minor scene, I couldn't just call it "the thing", which appears to be my fallback. "The pie thing" doesn't have much of a ring to it.
I searched and searched for info on early ferris wheels ~ How were they powered? What were they constructed from? When did the first one come into existence? And guess what ~ I wrote a whole chapter about a farmer in the 1920's building one out of spare and bartered materials, and then I deleted it. Even worse, he and his wife spoke French, a language I don't know, so I had to use Google Translator to translate their conversations from English. The whole thing was a debacle. All ideas are not sparkly, and many waste valuable writing time.
When Karen Grace set out to renovate a dilapidated motel, I, not being familiar with any tools besides a hammer and a screwdriver, needed to learn how to pull up old carpet and how to refinish hardwood floors, as well as how to remove cracked, rust-stained bathroom tiles. And that was only the beginning.
The more obscure a piece of information is, the longer it takes to find the right answer, which really pulls a writer out of her story. By the time I do find what I'm looking for, or not find it, I no longer feel like writing. I grew so weary trying to find the harvesting period and crops grown in the Upper Midwest in the nineteen fifties, I no longer gave a damn.
A couple of my books span decades. Thus, I had to learn peripheral facts surrounding World War II ~ things no one would even ponder, like what did a woman read in the newspaper that was delivered to her rural mailbox? What songs were playing on the jukebox at the local tavern? A minor character was killed in a battle. Which battle? I needed to find out the major battles of the particular year in which it happened, and specifically battles in Europe. Even for a book that started out in the late 1960's, I "sort of" knew about the period, but obviously I didn’t know enough. I’ve had to learn the slang of different eras, depending on the book. I remember finding a site that grouped slang terms by decade, but I didn't necessarily trust it. Some of its terms seemed to derive from Happy Days. (Side note: Did you know that the term "nerd" was created by the Happy Days writers?)
All in all, though, I don't regret spending that time. It was important that my stories were accurate and not delusional. I'd sometimes picture an expert on a particular topic reading my book and throwing it against the wall in disgust at the implausibility of what I'd written. They still might throw it against the wall, but not because of that. Plus, I learned things; not useful things, but I'd kill in a game of trivia.
And if you'd ever like a discourse on pylon signs, feel free to ask.
My Books Are Now Available on Audible!
All my books, except one, are now available in audiobook format. I used virtual voice narration, because I'm a penniless author (as you know), but virtual voice has come a long way! I picked the best voices that fit the tone of the books, and I'm quite pleased with them. If you'd like to take a listen, the links are on my BOOKS page.
What Have I Done? (My 2024 Recap)
While I can’t claim enough accomplishments to complete a Top Ten List, 2024 was still a good year for me in publishing. It’s good to look back on the past twelve months, the highs and yep, even the lows (because we learn from those). I think we should all take at least a few minutes to remember that time before we wave goodbye to it. So herewith is my Top Five:
💓In January I published Lies and Love, a novella about Drea, who reluctantly returns home to manage her family’s souvenir shop when her dad is too ill to work. A newcomer takes over the abandoned newspaper office next door, and Drea falls head over heels for him. Unfortunately.
💓Then in March, I took my less than stellar second novel, published way back in 2018, and revised it into a novella, now titled Whispers in the Dark. I felt it was bad luck to retain its original title, plus while I kept the original concept, I managed to turn it into a much better story. Whispers in the Dark features “Sam”, not her real name for reasons that soon become clear, toiling as a late-night disc jockey in a small, out of the way town. Someone she barely knew drove her to run away, right after she killed him in self-defense. But now she’s not so sure he’s dead.
💓June saw the debut of Inn Dreams, another novella, this one being my lengthiest to date. In Inn Dreams, Karen fulfills her lifelong dream of buying an old motel to renovate, except she soon awakens to the reality of just how much work the dilapidated business requires and how much it’ll cost her. While her new town seems friendly enough, there is one person who’s not thrilled she’s taken up residence there, and that person does all they can to force her out.
💓I’ve learned. (This doesn’t have a specific month attached, because it’s an ongoing process.) When I wrote my first novel in 2016, I assumed that both writing and publishing were easy. You write it, give it a once-over to check for any mistakes, then you publish. Guess what? That doesn’t work. This year I’ve become much more invested, by researching genres, book cover design, craft, which includes the art of good openings, as well as the five basic types of endings. I’m still dabbling in becoming a better editor by watching videos and grabbing advice wherever I can find it. I’ve even learned about titles as they relate to my genre ~ what constitutes an intriguing title versus one that is too easily skippable. I also attempted to learn a bit more about the ins and outs of marketing. While I research a lot for my stories (you wouldn’t believe the completely useless things I’ve learned far too much about, such as pylon signs), this education is for my overall improvement as a novelist. The knowledge I’ve gained has fortified me. In 2025, you can bet I’ll be doing more.
💓Around early fall, I started my most ambitious project, another full-length novel, which I haven’t attempted to do since 2021. Its first draft is finished! Still, a lot of work remains. I’m now starting the editing process, and then I’ll need to not only come up with a title, but a cover, among some lesser incidentals involved in the publishing biz. I have to say, I love this story! My protagonist is Leah Branch, who toils for years as a singer in a local band, until she quits and leaves her old life behind. She stumbles upon a town called Chance, and that’s where the story really begins. Come hell or high water, this novel will be published in the coming year.
I’m feeling pumped about the coming year. My still untitled novel is my best ever, and I can’t wait to share it with the world. But 2024 was no slouch, either.
Why a Novel About the Music Business?
Even though music was my first creative pursuit, I’ve never
written a novel in which the main character is a singer. Maybe that’s because I
enjoy exploring unfamiliar worlds and learning about them as I go, but
somewhere along the way I hit upon the idea of focusing on the music business ~
not the glamour that everyone imagines, but the hard slog of, first, a local
band singer’s life, and later the tribulations of trying to make it in the big
time. Nope, I never was “big time”, but I’ve been immersed in music my entire
life and I’ve absorbed a lot of the realities of that lifestyle (and of course,
since I’m writing fiction, I’m throwing in a bunch of imaginary scenarios, too
~ some kind of fun scenes, at least fun for me to write, in which things don’t
go exactly as planned). Especially
because Leah is new to that world and completely on her own, she’s treading a
lot of precarious waters. And unlike 99% of singers who’d give their right arm
for a break, she only landed her recording contract through a fluke. In fact,
she’s not even sure she wants it.
What I can bring to this novel from my own experience is songwriting and recording. I wrote my first song in 2001, and that was only because my husband (who is an accomplished songwriter himself) kept nagging me to do it. When I learned that my best friend from childhood had died after a sudden illness, I picked up my guitar one night and a song came rushing out. It was by no means a great song, but it showed me I could do it. Since then I’ve written too many songs to keep track of, again, not all of them great, but there have been a couple! My husband and I are a recording band, not a performing one. We release our songs to the world (he’s the producer) and let them take wing or not. A few of them have! But singing is not my strong suit. Yes, I can generally sing on key, though it may require a few takes to eliminate the clinker notes, and I’ve been told I have a pleasing, smoky voice. What I do know is, which I’ve incorporated into this novel, recording is not like it’s portrayed in movies or on TV. It’s painstaking and not a barrel of fun. A take can go completely right, but if one tiny thing goes wrong, then it’s time for take two or twenty-two. Don’t worry; this novel isn’t getting into the nitty gritty of studio work, but it does incorporate elements that I’m familiar with, and hopefully this gives the novel its authenticity. Writing it has been a fun ride.
P.S. You can hear our music on Spotify.
I Wrote a Song for My Novel
I had to. The novel is all about music and the music business, and I knew that at some point that a song or two would need to show its face. While Leah, the main character is trying to make her mark as a singer, she also dabbles in songwriting, and her superstar mentor, Paula Barnes, is a fan. When Paula is getting ready to go into the studio to record a new album, she asks Leah to write some songs for it. One song in particular is quite personal and specific to Paula’s life, maybe too specific and personal, Leah worries. She convinces herself that the song has offended the star, which is why she’s gotten no callback regarding any of the songs she sent.
Eventually, the subject of that song arises, and while I’ve referenced its title a few times in the novel, it seemed unnatural not to at least provide a hint of it. Thus, I wrote a song. I’m fairly certain that no one has invented singing book pages yet, so it would be more correct to say that I wrote lyrics. (I did have a melody in my head, though, as I was writing them.) It’s literally been years since I’ve written a song, but I found that it came right back to me!
For a couple of reasons, an author is reluctant to use song lyrics in their novel. Number one, you can’t just grab some famous lyrics to use for your own purposes unless you either want to pay a hefty fee or be threatened with a lawsuit. So, actual songs are out. Just as important, though less financially fraught, even including the author’s own lyrics would fast become boring to a reader. That’s why the closest I’ve come before this scene to referencing a song was to make up a title or two. I only wrote a half-song this time because portraying it was important to the scene.
So, win-win for me, I guess! I got to dust off an old talent and put it to use!
Do You Like Freebies?
I love freebies (giving them away and getting them). All you need to do is sign up for my newsletter or simply contact me via the contact form at the bottom of my home page. No commitment required!
My Writing Process
I like surprises, and that includes surprising myself. If I already knew the beginning, middle and end of my story, I would have no reason to write it. My "discovery writing" has led to some wild places I could have never planned for. What did I know about the world of professional poker, for instance? Nothing. But once I led myself there, again in Shadow Song, I had to learn. (Carnival rides, too, for that matter.) The legal process? I knew only what I'd seen on TV procedurals, and who even knows if those scenes are realistic? Sometimes I kick myself for going down a particular road, but my stories are so much better for having done so.
So, if you read one of my books and you think, "I never saw that coming", you're not alone. I never saw it coming, either.
Inn Dreams is Now Available!
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Writing my latest novella, Inn Dreams, turned out to be a
marathon! Authors maybe shouldn't reveal their behind-the-scenes struggles, but
there's a Writing my latest novella, Inn Dreams, turned out to be a
marathon! Authors maybe shouldn't reveal their behind-the-scenes struggles, but
there's a reason this book took so long to finish. Initially, I thought it was
done, but when I re-read it, I realized that it was too sparse and it didn't allow readers to immerse
themselves in the story. There was a side character who was only alluded to,
but never made an appearance, and I began thinking how much better the book
would be by including her. Well, this led to countless opportunities to expand
the story, and by the time I was finished I'd doubled my original word count.
Inn Dreams is by far the longest novella I've written; still too short to be considered a proper novel, but it's weighty by novella standards. I'm so proud of it and I can't wait to share it with you. (Click on the image to explore.)