Book of the Week - 11/16/15

Two pieces of news this week. We have a new Book of the Week and No Place for Tears, the 4th book in the Fred Vickery mystery series is coming to your Kindle. More about Fred tomorrow. Today, it's 

Book of the Week 

Let's start with this week's featured book from my back list. The Children's Cop is part of the Women in Blue series published by Harlequin Superromance in 2004. The series tells the stories of six female police officers who became friends while in the police academy and features books by some of the romance world's favorite authors: Kay David, Roz Denny Fox, K.N. Casper, Linda Style and Anna Adams. The Chidren's Cop is second in the series.  

The lovely thing is that thanks to digital publishing, the whole series is available in e-book format. You can find them all here: 

The Partner by Kay David 

The Children's Cop by Sherry Lewis

The Witness by Linda Style
Her Little Secret by Anna Adams
She Walks the Line by Roz Denny Fox
A Mother's Vow by KN Casper 

You can read an excerpt from The Children's Cop by clicking here. 

I had a great time writing this book and working with five other talented and accomplished authors to come up with a cohesive plot line that would allow each book to work with the other books in the series, but also to stand on its own. 

Enjoy! 

About Mr. Congenlaity

This week's Book of the Week is Mr. Congeniality. I'll be posting the links and excerpt tomorrow, but today I thought I'd share with you the letter I wrote to readers when the book was published in 2002. People often ask writers where we get our ideas. In fact, next to how much money we make, it's probably the most-asked question we encounter. So here's a little about the idea for Mr. Congeniality.

July 2002

Dear Reader,

One of the questions that authors are frequently asked is where we get ideas for the stories we write. As a reader myself, I’m always fascinated to hear about those snippets of conversation, moments glimpsed from the train or the car, stories on the evening news, and songs on the radio that spark other imaginations and turn into the seeds from which stories grow.

Mr. Congeniality got its start about three years ago. I was half-heartedly watching a cooking show on television, trying to take my mind off the fact that I had to pay bills. I don’t remember what was on the menu or even which show it was. But I do remember glancing up once to see a chef (who was quite obviously from the city) standing along the bank of a stream in the mountains of the American West.

As I watched, the chef began pulling tin containers, linen napkins, and assorted trinkets from a saddle bag--things she’d hauled up the mountainside by horseback so she could create an artistic arrangement of hors d’oeuvres along the trail. By the time she cheerfully assured her viewing audience that presentation is vitally important even in the mountains, my bills were forgotten, Annie Holladay had come to life, and Dean Sheffield had crept into the shadows of my mind.

Photo from Unsplash

I’ve been visiting Annie and Dean off-and-on ever since that day. They weren’t always the easiest couple to work with. In fact, they were frustratingly uncooperative at times, and I officially gave up writing their story several months ago, making a solemn vow never to look at it or think of it again. The very next morning I was standing in line at the bank when Dean perched on my shoulder and began whispering the secrets I’d been searching so hard to find on my own.

Mr. Congeniality is a story about forgiving and healing, about loving and laughing, about letting go and hanging on. It’s about life with teenagers and all the joy—and occasional pain—that comes with the territory. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

~Sherry

I dedicated this book to my male cousins because I'm lucky enough to have the best cousins around. So once again, this is for you, 

Gary, Ted, Bart

Tony, Ray

Carter (Jeff), Chris, Jay, Todd

Blaine, Brad, Garth

Clay, Clint, Blake

Mike, Steve and Sam

        

Thanks for a lifetime of laughter and memories!

                              

Book of the Week - 10/19/2015

This week's Book of the Week is Keeping Her Safe. Originally published by Harlequin Superromance in 1997, it has also been released a couple of times as part of other imprints.

This was my third book for Harlequin and it was one of the hardest books I've ever written. The plot was simply too close to home.

Like far too many women in our society, I was involved in an abusive relationship. I was luckier than some and escaped with my life--but just barely. My kids and I went into hiding for several years after I finally managed to leave and, in fact, it's only been within the past few years that my youngest daughter (the basis for DJ's character) has had any kind of contact with her biological father.

Like Christina, my original plan was to tell my daughter that her father had died or moved away somewhere, but I soon realized that the best way to keep her safe was to tell her the truth. I was driving down the street one day after a conversation with her (she was just 10 at the time) when I began to wonder what might have happened if I had lied to her about her father.

Like many books, this one was born from a What if?  What if my daughter had grown up believing that her father was dead--and then he showed up on her doorstep one day? How would she feel about him? How would she feel about me?

From that, the idea for Keeping Her Safe was born.

Adam was the perfect match for DJ. Strong and trustworthy, with a bit of baggage of his own, he was just what DJ needed--and she was right for him. In writing him as the hero in this book went a long way toward healing some of my old wounds.

I knew the book would be hard to write, but I didn't realize just how tough it would be. I didn't know how to write the scene between DJ's sister, Laura, and Larry Galloway, and my daughters and I ended up doing some roll-playing with the help of a family friend. It ended up being cathartic for both my older daughter and me, but it was one of the most difficult things I've ever done.

Of course, it is first and foremost a romance--a story about truth and trust and the redemptive power of love,

You'll find an excerpt from the book and information on where to buy here.

Happy Reading!!!

One Downside of a Long Writing Career

I had a conversation with my oldest daughter the other day that made me look at my world in a whole new--and not entirely pleasant--way. We were talking about re-releasing the very first mystery series I ever wrote, the Fred Vickery mysteries. When I wrote those books, I created Fred as a mixture of my dad, who was in his 70s at the time, my maternal grandfather, who had passed away years before, my next-door neighbor, Fred, and me.

When I pictured Fred, I saw him as an elderly man, at least a full generation older than me. I based his speech patterns on those I'd heard my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents use. Fred was elderly. No doubt about it. If I imagined the books being made into a movie or a TV series, I pictured actors of the day taking the role of Fred -- Andy Griffith, maybe. The older Andy, not the younger Andy of Mayberry version. Andy in his 70s, just like Fred.

Even though I created Fred in 1992, which means in the real world he would have aged a good 20 years, in my mind he was still Andy-Griffith-in-Matlock-esque.

But the other day my daughter said something that blew me right out of the water. "Ooh!" she said. "If they made a movie now, Kurt Russell could play Fred."

Excuse me!?! What??? Kurt Russell?  No! No way!

To begin with, Kurt is my number one go-to hot guy. Kurt is not old enough to play Fred in a movie. Kurt is Wyatt Earp in Tombstone tough (and have I mentioned hot?) Kurt isn't 70-ish and slowing down. Kurt is timeless.

When I wrote my very first published romance, Call Me Mom, the hero, Kurt Morgan, was based on Kurt. Kurt was Kurt. Kurt still is Kurt. When I reworked Call Me Mom to be republished as Picture Perfect by Harlequin Heartwarming, Kurt was still ... Kurt.

But, as my mother always says, "If wishes were fishes, we'd all have a fry." I can't change reality just by refusing to acknowledge or even accept it. The fact is, I've aged. Kurt has aged. And the hot guy who was the hero in my very first romance novel probably could now play the septuagenarian in my very first mystery novel. I'm still not okay with it, but I'm not okay with a lot of things that show up in my world--like the fact that I'm not 30 anymore.

But I'll tell you one thing--if and when I write more books in the Fred Vickery series, I'm going to be looking at good old Fred in a whole new light!

Does the Race Really Go to the Swiftest?

In a world where the race goes to the swiftest, do you ever feel as if you're lagging behind? Struggling just to stay in the pack, never mind moving into the lead? Do you feel as if you're peddling as fast as you can and getting nowhere? Don't worry. You are not alone.

With all the advice out there, it's easy to get overwhelmed. It always has been, but now, with all the social media and the quick exchange of information from hundreds of thousands of people (dare I say millions) all at once, all the time, it's both better that it's ever been before and, somehow, worse.

Back a billion years ago, right after I sold my first book and became eligible to join the Published Author Network (PAN) of Romance Writers of America (RWA), I received a booklet containing advice about what to do after my first sale. The problem was, the booklet didn't arrive until just a few weeks before my first book was set to hit the shelves, and most of the advice was stuff I should have done weeks and months before. I remember staring at that booklet and feeling completely conflicted. I was exhilarated because I qualified to have the thing in the first place and but I also felt overwhelmed and a bit hopeless because it seemed to me that the advice had arrived too late to do me any good.

Yesterday, as I scrolled through the thousands of posts, tweets, and pictures and tweets, I found myself feeling much the same thing. I was exhilarated because, after years of living with an undiagnosed illness and the utter debilitating fatigue that came with it, I'm finally starting to feel well enough to make an effort to get my career back on track. But I'm also overwhelmed by the sheer volume of advice that's out there and feeling a little hopeless because in my weaker moments, it feels like too little, too late.

Part of my current issue, is that the publishing world has changed so much from when I first signed up for the race. Back then, it was all about getting your work in front of an agent and/or editor and what the Big 6 publishing houses wanted. Now, with the advent of independent publishing, there's so much more to learn it's mind-boggling.

That's okay. Really it is. Because while I have thoroughly enjoyed a 20+ year career working with a couple of the Big 6 publishing houses, and will continue as long as it's mutually beneficial, I'm also really excited by the freedom that going independent offers to authors. But going independent means that there are five or six other full-time jobs I need to take on to produce and promote my books in addition to the writing itself, which we all know is a more-than-full-time job.

And much of the "advice" available today doesn't come across as advice at all. It's demanding. It's delivered in the form of orders and rules. It's black-and-white, no questions asked dictates: 10 Things You Must Never Do or 25 Things You Must Do Immediately! because current wisdom says we must be bold, authoritative, and confident and we must never show weakness. (Oh what I wouldn't give for a touch of honest vulnerability!)

Much of this bold, authoritative, confident advice is worth listening to and considering, and even trying. But some of it doesn't make any sense at all (at least not to me). Some of it is counter-intuitive (why should it matter to my tweeting schedule how many people are following me on Twitter? Isn't the real factor that affects how many times my tweet will appear in their feed based on how many people they follow?) And a lot of it is conflicting: Don't use social media to promote your book is immediately followed by Always use social media to promote your book.


So maybe in this overloaded, overwhelming world some of the old rules should still apply:

• Be open. 
• By all means, listen. 
• Consider. 
• Especially if you're not exactly where you want to be in your career, be willing to try new things.
• Then keep what works 
• And discard the rest. 
• And write the best book you can

Ultimately, I'm not convinced that the race goes to the swiftest. I think the race really goes to s/he who doesn't give up. 

Announcing This Month's Release!

I'm getting ready to re-release A Time to Dream later this month and I'm pretty stoked. It was originally released by Jove Time Passages in 1999 as a paperback original, and it remains a reader favorite. As I went through the manuscript to make sure it was ready for a new life and tweak a line or two, I was really thrilled to discover how much I still love the story.

My designer is hard at work on the new cover, and I hope to have a cover reveal ready for you in the next few days.

Meanwhile, Zacharias and Shelby (Agatha) are two of my favorites in a long list of characters that I've spent time with in the past 20 years. It was great fun hanging out with the two of them, remembering all the twists and turns in their relationship and meeting their friends and family again. Yes I know they're fictional, but they're real to me. I hope they become real to you.


Set in Hannibal, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi River, A Time to Dream is first and foremost a love story about the longing to belong and the power of forgiveness--and who doesn't need that at some point in their lives?

Stay tuned for more details!


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photo credit: 112. Bowlegged: Third Floor the Inn at Cape May via photopin (license)

photo credit: Mississippi Palisades State Park via photopin (license)

Mapping it Out

Back when I first started writing the Fred Vickery series, I decided I needed to create a map so I could keep the town straight in my head. I didn't figure out that I needed the map at all until I'd written the whole first book and started on the second. Then, suddenly, I realized that I couldn't remember where the Frame-Up was in relation to the Bluebird Cafe, or how far Lacey's General Store was from the sheriff's office.

Getting myself on track took some doing, but within a couple of days I had a lovely hand-drawn (in pencil) map on a piece of grid paper. I kept it beside my computer and it served me well for six books -- although at one point around book #5, I lost the map for a little while (no, I never made a copy) and sent myself into a panic.

I learned my lesson from that experience, and now painstakingly (and slowly) create my maps in Excel at the beginning of a project so I can keep it current as I add new locations. It's not easy and it takes forever -- much longer than drawing a square and penciling in the name of a family or a store -- but it's also not quite so easy to lose.

Having the map is really important, especially when I'm working with a real location, which I'm doing in my current WIP. It has taken me all afternoon, but I finally have a map of about half the town of West Yellowstone, color-coded so I can see at a glance what's what. (And because color-coding things just makes me happy.)

Unfortunately, it's only half the town, and I realized late this afternoon that I must add a gazillion columns on the left-hand side of my in order to fit in the rest of the town on the map -- but hey! That's okay. Tomorrow is another day.

The Adventure Begins!

Okay, so I didn't quite make my goal of getting this book online by October 31 of this year. One thing I've learned about goals is that it's unproductive to spend time on regrets, Wouldas, shouldas and couldas can eat a person alive. 

So yesterday I uploaded my first work of fiction onto Amazon and thus begins the real adventure into self-publishing. Earlier this year, I put up one of my workshops for writers and that's been selling pretty well so far. My next project will be to get another workshop on Amazon. But my first love is writing fiction, so in my head this is where it really starts to count.

Oh, I know I'm a bit late coming to the indie dance, but I'm here now and that's what matters, right? Not only is this the first work of fiction I'm publishing on my own, it is literally my first work of fiction. It's the book that started it all when I got an offer from a publisher back in 1993. No Place for Secrets is the book that launched my publishing career 20 years ago, so it will always have a special place in my heart.

In an effort to figure out the world of independent publishing, I've spent time researching and reading what others who've gone this route have already learned. I've weighed the pros and cons of every choice and then I've tried not to agonize over the choices I've made. I thought about changing up the titles, but after brainstorming new titles for several weeks, I finally decided to stick with the original ones. I found a slew of titles I liked, but none that worked for good old Fred, Doc, Enos, and Margaret.

Over the past few weeks, I read through the manuscript again and made some minor revisions. I thought about updating the story and making it more current, but at the request of readers I opted to leave Fred and his friends in the mid-1990s where they belong. In fact, other than shaving off a few of the rough edges I found in my writing style, I left the story alone.

So it's up there on Amazon and now it's time to step back and let the story do the work. If this series is new to you, I hope you'll give Fred and the good folks of Cutler a try. If you're one of the many readers who considers these characters friends, I hope you'll enjoy going back to visit them as much as I did.

The Road to . . .

I have the very best of intentions. Really, I do. I begin every year vowing to be a better family member, a better friend, a better author. I vow to buy birthday cards for those closest to me and (better yet) actually mail them—on time! I know! The very concept leaves me breathless.

Every year I promise myself that I’ll blog regularly and fill the internet with witty chatter about my interesting life (the one I vow I’m going to have this year) and all my amazing activities (the ones I swear I’m going to actually participate in.)

And then reality sets in and 10 months later I’m looking at all the things I promised myself faithfully that I’d do this year, but haven’t, and I wonder what happened???

Sure, there’s work to do and books to write and the house to clean and the dog to walk and the cat to continually move from my lap to the floor so I can actually do all of those things. And there are illnesses and emergencies that get in the way. But not every day, and not all the time. So what happened?

I used to be one of the most prolific authors I knew. I was focused. Dedicated. Determined. That was okay, but I was also . . . rude. I rolled my eyes at excuses and thought that anybody could write three or four really good books a year if only they’d put their mind to it. I was convinced that anybody who was struggling to write must not really want to write.

Yeah. I know. I apologize to every writer in the entire world. I’m not joking.

I was one of those people you asked to take on a project because, as we all know, if you want something done you give it to a busy person. I worked three jobs at a time, or worked two and went to school in my spare time. I was a single mom, so raising the kids, running the house, keeping up the yard, and bringing home the bacon fell on my shoulders alone. I had to do it all, and I did. (Admittedly, I fell a bit short on some things. I mean, c’mon. It’s impossible to do everything well, right? Right? So let’s not talk about the yard, okay?)


But for the past few years I’ve felt as if I’m on the proverbial road to hell and that road really is paved with my good intentions. Somewhere along the way I hit the wall. I spent so long burning the candle at both ends that, apparently, the ends finally met in the middle.
I also encountered a few very challenging life experiences, a couple of which shattered my entire world. It has taken me a long, l-o-n-g time (and a whole lot of prayer) to find my way back from those. Back in my “everybody can write if they really want to” days, I didn’t factor in those earth-shaking, rock-your-world, leave you empty and shaking in the corner things that eventually happen to all of us.

I’ve always been an avid list-maker and goal-setter. But now, instead of producing long lists of tasks I’ve accomplished every day, I find myself staring at long lists of tasks I haven’t managed to complete. Lists are no longer my friend, they’re my guilty conscience.

But no matter how it happened, it’s way past time to get back on track. And I mean it this time.

Maybe I can’t fill the internet with witty chatter about my interesting and varied activities, but I can be honest about where I am and what I’m doing to pull myself up by my bootstraps.

Today I’m going to declare a dream and write it down with a date. My plan is to read through the very first book I ever wrote, which is also the first book I sold way back when. I recently got the rights to that series along with the rights to a few of my romances back from my publisher, and I’m going to release them all in Kindle format. That’s my big dream, but let’s take it one at a time.

Dream: Start with No Place for Secrets.

Date: Publish the book by October 31, 2013. That makes it a firm goal.

Steps: Since this book was written back in the olden days, everything after the first draft was done in hard copy, so the manuscript on my computer needs some work before it matches the finished product. So my steps are to read and polish one chapter at a time and celebrate the tiny victories along the way.
I remember this from back in the day: celebrating a small victory leads to more small victories. Repeatedly beating oneself up over small failures leads to inertia.

Action: Well … that’s pretty obvious. Now that I have my Grand Master Plan, I have to do the work. My plan is to track the steps here on my website, chapter by chapter, to keep me accountable. Steps + Action.
As for those birthday cards … my oldest niece has a birthday coming up later this month. I could wait until the beginning of the year and start over then, but why wait? I say, begin right where you are.

Inspiration: Phyllis A. Whitney

A quick blog post today. An thought that inspires me. I share it in case it may inspire some of you.

"You must want to enough. Enough to take all the rejections, enough to pay the price of disappointment and discouragement while you are learning. Like any other artist you must learn your craft—then you can add all the genius you like."  ~Phyllis A. Whitney

Editing Mark Twain

By now I'm sure most of you have read and discussed the decision to publish Mark Twain's classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, replacing the "N" word with "slave." I waited a few days to post on this topic because if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's to not go public with a statement while emotions are running hot. Were my emotions running hot the day the news about the new version broke?

You betcha.

I'm an author. Words are my medium, and I don't take kindly to the notion of mucking about with anyone's words, even that the person who wrote 'em has been dead for a while. Even if the words make me uncomfortable or offend me. I may not like what you say but, like Voltaire, I defend your right to say it.

According to my grandmother, I'm also a distant cousin of Samuel Clemens. I suspect it's true because she was heavily into genealogy and she wouldn't have made something like that up. So even though I haven't personally seen the genealogy chart that links my family line to old Cousin Sam's, my blood was boiling out of sheer family loyalty.

But now that I've had some time to think about it, I've changed my mind. Now I say, by all means, make the change!

If there's one thing this country doesn't need, it's an old, tired book reminding us how horribly African Americans were treated in this country just a few generations ago. Nobody wants to think about slavery, but if we must, at least let's take some of the sting out of the subject.

All that ugliness has caused a lot of bad feelings over the years. And all those bad feelings have caused a lot of trouble. So, forgetting entirely about the sensibilities of the world's sixth graders, I say that the very last thing we need hanging around is a reminder that race relations weren't always perfect, the way they are now.

The very best thing we can do is to shave off the sharp edges and produce a much gentler history for posterity. To hell with the truth! (Sorry Cousin Sam.) Let's make sure the past looks pretty so future generations will look upon us more kindly.

On second thought, maybe Cousin Sam would approve of this change. After all, he did once say:

"Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it." -- Mark Twain

We can economize truth right now with the removal of one horrendously offensive word. We can soften the blow so that that this generation will grow up not knowing how bad things really were. By the time these kids grow up, they'll be ready to remove "slave" and substitute it with "servant." Or maybe "friend." Why stop short?

In two or three more generations, we'll have softened the truth so much, our posterity will be able to recycle the stuff we've removed from history and start all over again. And the best part of that is, they'll think they made it up!


While we're discussing the subject, let's forget that Twain wrote political and cultural satire that wasn't intended for sixth graders in the first place. So let's dumb down the books a bit further and remove all the other poky-out parts that might jab somebody else in the conscience. No sense letting the old man get a dig in now that he's not around.

And maybe when we're finished with Twain, we can take a swipe at Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. I'm pretty sure there are some things we'll want to soften in the history of the holocaust, as well.

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. 

It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." 

-- Mark Twain

"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please." 

-- Mark Twain 

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word 

is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." 

-- Mark Twain

"All right, then, I'll go to hell." 

-- Mark Twain

_______________________________
from the blog On My Mind Today

Writing Powerhouse Scenes

Just a quick heads' up for those who are interested! I'll be teaching a workshop on Writing Powerhouse Scenes at Savvy Authors in January.

Today's market requires that writers keep scenes immediate so readers can be "in the moment" with the characters in your book. Yet writing scenes that happen in the moment is often difficult to do. Too often, we end up with scenes in which there's a delay between the action and the page, or with scenes in which the author resorts to "telling" to explain what just happened. 

In this workshop we'll talk about enhancing scene structure using its basic elements of goal, conflict and disaster in various ways that will keep the reader on the same page as the characters all the way through. The discussions and personalized feedback on your own work-in-progress will help you build powerhouse scenes that never leave the reader (or the editor) feeling left out -- even for a second!

WHEN:	Jan 3, 2011 - Jan 31, 2011
COST:	$15 for Premium Members $25 for Basic Members

For more information or to register, click here to visit Savvy Authors

_______________________________

from the blog On My Mind Today

Act, Don’t React

It may sound like simple advice, but "Act, don't react" is one of the most powerful things I know about writing.

Characters who are motivated by a negative desire are very difficult to motivate and move through a book as you write it.  When I say a "negative desire," I mean that the character wants an absence of something in their life. He wants to not accomplish something, or he wants to avoid something.  Maybe the character wants to avoid being fired. Maybe she wants to avoid a divorce. Maybe he wants to not get behind in paying his bills. She wants to not argue with her mother. He wants to not go back to his home town. She doesn’t want to work with her ex-husband on the big case. He wants to not have problems with the remodeling job he’s just contracted.  She wants to not fall in love ever again. 

So what's wrong with that?

Simply this: These people are reactors, not actors. Even though they’re very much like a great many real people, it’s extremely difficult to build reader identification with these people because they are not in control of their lives, and they are not really making any attempt to be in control. 

The fact is that if my hero really and truly wants to not return to his home town, it’s extremely difficult to make him go and still convince the reader that I’m telling the truth. If he really doesn’t want to go, he won’t go.  Period.  End of question.  It won't matter what reason I throw at him. So if I toss a reason at him and he caves in, all the pages I spent blathering about how he didn’t want to go now feel dishonest to the reader.

And that breaks the one and only real rule I have when it comes to writing. Never lie. Never ever lie.

I have found, through much struggle and hours of bashing my head against brick walls, that the best way to build reader identification is to give your character a goal that she is actively working toward. To make her sympathetic, regardless of what that goal is, she must have a plan for reaching it. It’s not enough to want. It’s not enough to hope. It’s not enough to dream. The character must have a plan and be brave enough to take the steps required to achieve it.

To tell the reader that the heroine desperately wants to keep her book store open, but then allow her to be buffeted by the winds of change, making her someone who reacts to people and events around her instead of someone who acts, is to be dishonest with your readers. If she is truly desperate, she will be the one to take action, and each time she runs into a setback, she’ll change course and try again.

People whose motivation is to avoid something will avoid it. If they don't want to go to the company Christmas party, they won't go. If they specifically (and honestly) want not to fall in love again, they will go to any lengths to avoid anyone who might make them change their minds.

Sometimes we mistake this struggle for conflict -- but it's a "conflict" on the surface only, and it’s not one that works well over the course of a novel because it's one-sided.  Conflict isn't conflict without two sides of equal strength.  The guy who honestly doesn't want to meet women will not start up a conversation with the flame-haired beauty by the punch-bowl. It’s just not going to happen. If you try to force him to do it, the scene you write will ring false to the reader. Either the character is being dishonest with the reader about what he wants or you are being dishonest in what you tell the reader. Either way, once the reader feels that you have veered from the truth, you’re in trouble.

Now turn that guy into the last bachelor in his group, someone who longs for love and commitment as much as he fears it or believes himself incapable of sustaining it, and you have real internal conflict. Both sides of the question have an equal pull on him, and the ensuing internal struggle is real and honest. This guy will step up to the punch-bowl and have a conversation with that stunning red-head, even though he argues silently with himself after every word he speaks aloud.

When we give our characters negative motivations and then force them to act against their will, we make victims of our characters. No person who is really made into a victim can feel strong and sympathetic to the reader. Maybe the Woman In Jeopardy is victimized for a few minutes, but what makes us like her and keep reading is the way she fights back.

Think about which of these two people you identify with most, and which you feel most sympathetic toward:

Deirdre is a 32-year-old woman who has been beleaguered by debt since her mother’s funeral. She has tried everything to get a loan, but no one will help her. After a particular harsh weekend during which she dodged bill collectors and process servers, Deirdre closes up her apartment and drives across three states to move in with a friend. If she’s lucky, she’ll find a job and maybe earn money before the bill collectors catch up to her.

Belle is a 32-year old woman who has been beleaguered by debt since her mother’s funeral. Belle has tried everything to get a loan, but no one will help her. After a particular harsh weekend during which she dodged bill collectors and process servers, Belle becomes desperate and takes a part-time job as a belly dancer in the evenings. She’s embarrassed and she doesn’t want anyone to know--especially not the members of her church group--but if she keeps her nose to the grindstone for six months, she’ll be debt free and able to concentrate entirely on her law career.

I think most of us like to believe that we’re the take-charge type who act instead of react, who move forward instead of stepping back when challenges arise. Because we want to believe that about ourselves, we are more likely to identify with and cheer for the character who takes charge, even if we don’t agree with the decisions she makes.

Before THE CHRISTMAS WIFE (Harlequin Superromance, November 2003) became an actual book, I struggled with the story for a year or more -- not with the actual writing of it, but with the conceiving of it. It's a reunion story, and the seed germinated when I was listening to the Toby Keith song, "How Do You Like Me Now?" There’s a book in that song, I said to myself, and I decided right then and there to write it -- but not the story Toby Keith told, and not until I could find an honest plot and people who felt real to me.

For months, I toyed with having the hero leave town shortly after graduation and stay away for years because of some incident. The hero was, of course, in love with the heroine all through school, but he never told her. Sound familiar? Well, it should. There have only been about a million romances written with that identical plot. And while there's nothing wrong with that, those of us trying to write the tried-and-true plots today had better include something that makes it different. 

I spent months (on and off) searching for the one thing that would make my story different. I tried to stay away from the tried-and-true story where the hero was a bad boy who got in trouble with the law. That’s been done. Besides, my own personal past just won’t allow me to find a convicted felon attractive no matter how tight his jeans are, or to believe that the kid who was in serious trouble all through high school has turned out to be a productive member of society. Could happen, but not in my personal experience, and I wasn't interested in hanging around any hero who fits that bill long enough to find out.

My personal truth is that bad boys are a whole lot of trouble with very little redeeming social value. I can’t write something I personally believe to be untrue and make a reader believe that it is true, so that particular plot was out for me.

I took the hero through many different incarnations during the months I struggled with the story's concept. He was a boy raised by loving parents, a boy raised by foster parents who were mean to him, a boy raised by foster parents who were nice to him, a boy raised by a loving aunt, a boy raised by grandparents. In every incarnation, I searched for the Inciting Incident that drove my hero away from Serenity, Wyoming in the first place (not so tough) and kept him away for 15 long years (big, big trouble!)

In every incarnation, my hero felt selfish and childish for refusing to set foot back in the town where he was raised -- and in every incarnation, every word I wrote felt like a lie because Beau/Nick/Jonah/Mark/Wyatt was actually not a surly vagabond who avoided Serenity like the plague. In reality, he was a friendly sort of guy who likes people and is well-liked in return. He proved that to me every time he came on stage, and each time I tried to force him to be something he wasn’t, I was being dishonest -- with him, with myself, with my readers.

After much gnashing of teeth, I decided to let the hero be what he is anyway, and to send the heroine away instead. (I wish I could come to these brilliant conclusions much faster than I do, but if wishes were fishes . . .) Anyway, I worked on that idea for at least a month, writing and re-writing scenes in which Emily/Kate/Annie/Libby/Molly comes back to town for some reason. I created an abusive ex-husband to keep her away, but that didn't work. She was too jumpy, and (again from my own experience) women who are too recently out of an abusive relationship are not heroine material. I created an abusive step-father to keep her away, but that just made her even more determined to not come back to Serenity where he was living. So weeks passed and I kept running up against a huge brick wall and getting nowhere.

Finally, I resolved once again to start over. I spent most of one day re-plotting the book with yet another scenario in mind, yet another set of circumstances, yet another motivating emotion. And then it finally occurred to me for the first time what my mistake was. I'd been trying to work with a heroine who was reacting rather than acting,  She didn't want to come back to Serenity, but I was turning her into a victim over and over again by coming up with ideas that would force her to return. 

But let’s say I made her come back -- why would she attend the homecoming parade? The game? Why would she go to the dance? The truth is, she wouldn't. Either she's lying about not wanting to be there, or I was lying when I said she did all these things. But I needed her to do all those things. I needed her to walk with the hero and spend time with his kids. If she didn't, how could I convince the reader that they would all be emotionally safe together by the end of the book?

The only way my story would work is if Molly wanted to be in Serenity and wanted to take part in every activity that came along. Anything else would have been dishonest, and the reader will always feel when you’re being dishonest with her. Always. You simply can’t hide a lie when you write one. It’s impossible.

Once I discovered the true reason Molly left town, I didn't have to force her back home again because she went willingly. She went because she was curious to know what happened to her old friends. She went because her recent divorce left her feeling adrift and she was searching for a place to belong. She went because in the process of being unhappily married, she forgot who she was. She’d lost her dreams, and she wanted to find them again. And most of all, she went back to Serenity to find out what really happened the night her mother died.

My advice to you is to look at the people in your current work in progress. Are they working actively toward something, or are they just busy trying to avoid something? Do they begin each scene with a specific goal in mind? Something they can accomplish in this moment? Or do they begin each scene with the same old desire to avoid the same old thing? Are they strong active characters, or are they victims of their own circumstances? 

After you study your own work, take a look at some of your favorite books written by other authors. I think you'll discover that the people you've enjoyed reading about most are those who are taking active steps to accomplish something specific rather than those who muddle through trying to avoid something -- those who act rather than react. 

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Talkin' about Conflict

I'm blogging about conflict today at The Rockville 8. Stop by and say hello if you have a minute! http://bit.ly/c1PTQc

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Beginnings

I’ve probably blogged about this before, but it’s been a while. I’m in the beginning stages of a new book in a new mystery series, and once again I’m reminded how much I envy writers who say they love starting new books. The first few chapters fly onto the page because they’re so excited about the new ideas, the new characters, and the new situation. There are times when I wish that would be true for me, but in my world, it’s just the opposite.

In the early stages of any new book, the words are hard to find and painful to excavate. No matter how much pre-writing work I do, I don’t know the characters yet so putting them in new situations and getting them to the other side is a long, agonizing process. Every thought, action, and reaction requires a lot of thought on my part as I try to feel my way into the character’s heart, soul, and mind.

Add to that the pressure to make the book’s opening interesting and filled with action. And the fact that I wrote the first three chapters months ago and have slept since then, which means that I’ve lost my connection with the characters and have to find it again.

I don’t really start feeling comfortable with the book until I’ve written at least 100 pages, and usually more. By page 125-150, I’m usually hitting my stride and feeling comfortable enough with the character to write whole scenes in one sitting. Before then, I’m lucky to write 2 or 3 pages in a day.

Getting back into a book for which I’ve written a proposal and submitted two or three chapters is equally painful. All that work to find the characters and then they sit on the shelf in my head while my editor is deciding whether or not to make an offer on the book. The good news is that I’ve done this 30 or so times over the course of my career, so I know that I’ll eventually find the connection again. But that still doesn’t make the process easy. 

All this to say that when I tallied my pages yesterday and realized that I’d somehow, inadvertently, unintentionally, and without noticing what I was doing, written 8 pages, I was ecstatic! Crossing fingers that I can repeat that when I get back to the book on Monday.

First Day at Work

Today was my first day at work since the move, and I was more productive than I expected to be. I've worked out a deal with the kids and grandkids to leave the house at 9:00 every morning and work somewhere else until noon since there's no way I can establish the focus I need with everyone under one roof and two grandkids who (thankfully!) love their Ooma and want her attention.


This morning, I spent the first hour at the beach, which was tough duty!

Even though I spent three months here in the spring, I'm still endlessly fascinated by my surroundings which seem exotic and foreign to me.The city crews were out this morning putting up Christmas decorations, and I'm completely in awe. I haven't yet adjusted to Christmas, flowers, and palm trees.

After my laptop battery was just about depleted, I loaded everything up, turned on the GPS and looked for the nearest library. Valerie and I had scoped out a couple of libraries yesterday and I found one on the other side of the county that had plenty of space to work and convenient cubbies with electrical power but no internet connection, which makes uploading workshop discussions or answering questions a bit problematic.  The library we found yesterday looks like this ... in November! Amazing!

Anyway, I managed to get today's discussion on suspense written while I was working this morning, but didn't make it to the actual writing of a book part of my day. Tomorrow, though, will be another day at the beach!
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from the blog On My Mind Today

Books: A Love Story

I'm blogging today at Finish the Damn Book about who and what inspired me to write.If you get a minute to stop by, I'd love to know where your inspiration came from. 

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from the blog On My Mind Today

Celebrating!

A few hours ago, I hit "send" on an e-mail that's been a long time coming. My latest mystery proposal is now in my editor's in-box, and I'm thrilled. The book is tentatively called DEAD ON ARRIVAL, and it centers around Katie Scarlett O'Banyon, a cop in West Yellowstone, Montana.

As difficult as the waiting period is, I'm ready to let the work do what it was created to do. Whether she loves it or hates it, offers to buy it or rejects it, I know that I did my best and now is the time for me to stand still and let the work speak for itself. 

Meanwhile, I'm ready to really dig into that romantic suspense I've been moodling on forever -- a grittier book set along Florida's Emerald Coast. This book is still in its very early stages, so stay tuned for more details!

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Copyright © 2009 Sherry Lewis

Writing: A Magical Journey

I'm going to take a minute to plug my local chapter's upcoming conference for writers -- and not only because I'm going to be there, or because I'll be giving a workshop during the PAN/PRO sessions on rediscovering the joy of writing. I'm going to plug the conference because it's always a good time, always informative and, once again, this year's line-up of speakers is stellar. Besides that, Park City is an incredible place to be at any time of the year. Hope to see some of you there! _____

“Writing: A Magical Journey”

~~Romance in the Mountains~~ 2009 Heart of the West Writing Conference Romance Writers of America® Utah Chapter

October 9 & 10, 2009 at The Lodges at Deer Valley in Park City, Utah

Featured Author and Keynote Speaker Rachel Gibson New York Times Bestselling Author 2009 RITA Award Winner for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance Four of her novels were named among the top ten favorite books of the year by Romance Writers of America. Some of Rachel's other awards and achievements include The Golden Heart award, the National Reader's Choice, Amazon Editor's Top Pick, Publisher Weekly's Quill nominee and Borders bestselling romantic comedy for 2006.

Awards Luncheon Keynote Speaker RaeAnne Thayne Author of more than thirty books for Bantam Loveswept, Silhouette Intimate Moments/Romantic Suspense and Silhouette Special Edition. Awards include: 2009 RITA Finalist, and two previous RITA nominations.

Featured Editor Amanda Bergeron Avon Books, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Amanda Bergeron joined Avon in Fall 2008. Along with Executive Editor Erika Tsang and Editor May Chen she has worked closely with authors such as Lynsay Sands, Jeaniene Frost, Loretta Chase and Anna Campbell. She is looking to acquire all genres of romance, particularly Regency historicals and dark paranormals, as well as commercial women's fiction. http://avonromanceblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/four-things-amanda-bergeron.html

Featured Agents To Be Announced

Conference Registration is open between April 15, 2009 and October 6, 2009***

See Conference Highlights for details on: PRO/PAN Workshops Conference Schedule Pitch Appointments Author Panelists Extra Meal Tickets Miscellaneous Information

Authors Participating in Booksigning

Conference fee is $149 for URWA members and $165 for all others. To register, complete the online registration form. You may either pay via PayPal or check. Please see Registration and Fee Schedule to sign up. -OR- Make check or money order payable to: Utah RWA Mail check with a copy of your registration to: Utah Chapter of Romance Writers c/o Heart of the West Conference P.O. Box 997 West Jordan, UT 84084

ONE DOWN ... ELEVEN TO GO

Last month, I blogged about my decision to take part in the 2009 To Be Read Challenge. At the time, I was struggling to read a book every two weeks -- not because I don't love to read, but because I was making everything else more important than reading. But I'm an author, and I can't do my job well if I don't read. Last weekend, my oldest daughter realized that I was spinning my wheels, which is something I tend to do more often than is good for me. She grilled me, as my daughters tend to do whenever they notice my world getting out of whack. "When you tell people what you do for a living," she asked, "what do you tell them?" "That I'm an author," I said. I mean duh! She nodded as if I'd just proved her point, not my own -- which is another thing my daughters do. "Exactly. That's your career, right?" Again ... duh!!! "So," she said, narrowing her eyes and getting ready for the kill shot. "isn't that what you should be doing all day instead of all this other stuff?" Oh. BIG duh! Yeah. I should be devoting my working hours to actually ... oh, I don't know ... working. At what I do for a living. Hmmm. What a concept. All this to say that I have a new work schedule, to which I'm sticking like glue. At 7:30 every morning, it's time to write, and I write steadily until 12:30 when I break for lunch. My lunch lasts an hour, after which I write again until 4:30 -- and then (and only then) can I tackle all the other things on my ever-growing to-do list. The beauty of this schedule is that when I break for lunch, I read. Yes! I actually spend an hour having lunch, relaxing, and reading! And because of this glorious new schedule, I read two (count them TWO!!!) books last week. And one of them (circling around so that I can finally get to my point) was from my 2009 To Be Read Challenge List! The Land of Mango Sunsets by Dorothea Benton Frank. I feel so very accomplished! _______________________________ Copyright © 2009 Sherry Lewis