I’ve tossed all of your names into the cowboy hat and drawn three winners! Thanks to everyone who stopped by today and watched my book trailer.
Will these people please send me an email with their address at: SaintJohn@aol.com? I’ll get your book right out to you.
Smooches!
And the winners are:
Melinda Elmore
Joye
Colleen
I had great fun plotting and writing my novella for the April Mother’s Day anthology. It’s always tricky coming up with a Mother’s Day idea. Especially for inspirational romance, because these are sweet romances, so secret babies don’t really work. So I toss out ideas about where children come from and how old they are and who they will belong to. Yes, most ideas have been taken–about 50,000 times–so the plan is to do something unique with what may be a tried and true plot idea.
I can get a whole lot of mileage out of an orphan. When I teach my class on emotions next month: http://cheryl-stjohn-workshop.blogspot.com/ I will be sharing emotional triggers with my class. Triggers are tried and true elements that will endear the characters and evoke emotion from the reader. Mothers and children are good at creating emotional moments–so are children without mothers.
I’d had a heroine in my head for a while–a young woman who’d grown up in an orphanage and didn’t know who her parents were, so Olivia Rose was developed. I got her name from one of my beautiful Anne Geddes coffee table books. Olivia Rose was a baby Anne photographed who drowned a few months after her picture was taken. Being the baby lover I am, I was stricken by that story, and the lovely name stuck with me.
Emily is a young girl with a story much like Olivia’s. She was abandoned and doesn’t know her family. When the school closes, no one comes for her, so Olivia makes it her mission to find this little girl a family.
It’s a fairly simple story really, with a small cast of characters and a plain Montana ranch setting, but I’ve been hearing from those who’ve already read the story that people are considering it one of their favorites of my books. When I think I’ve written a book with an uncomplicated plot and no villain, that kind of reception always surprises me . I guess it just goes to show that everyone does love an orphan.
I’m giving away three copies today. I’ll draw names this evening, so leave me a comment to be entered.
Let me know how you like the trailer!
Thanks to everyone who stopped by Wildflower Junction today and left a comment. It was a pleasure to visit with you.
I placed all of your names in my cowboy hat and drew out three:
Vickie McDonough
Julie Steele
Karyn Gerard
Please send your address to me at: SaintJohn@aol.com, and I’ll get your autographed book out to you!
And for the rest of you, I’m posting the recipe for the cake that’s in the picture with my critique group. A couple of you mentioned it, and it’s one of my favorites to make and serve. I got the recipe from a neighbor many years ago, and have made it regularly since. Enjoy!
The super easy recipe calls for a Bundt cake pan. I have a silicone Bundt pan now and LOVE it! You just stick it in the dishwater and when it’s dry, stuff it into a baggie and tuck it away. I also have silicone muffin pans. Best invention ever! No more rusted tin or scraped-up Teflon.
Black Forest Cherry Cake
1 pkg (2 layer) chocolate cake mix (not pudding in the mix)
¼ cup olive or canola oil
3 eggs
2 cans (21 oz each) cherry pie filling
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine oil and eggs with a wire whisk. Add one can of cherry pie filling and beat with electric mixer until batter is smooth.
Pour into sprayed 12 cup Bundt pan and bake 45 minutes or until done. Cool in pan about 20-25 minutes, then invert onto rack to finish cooling. If you use a silicone pan, you can cool a little longer and the cake won’t stick, then invert directly onto cake plate.
Heat the other can of cherry pie filling and pour over the top and into the center of the cake. Slice and serve with whipped topping.
I am a writer who appreciates a good critique group or partner. I was in a critique group for a few years before I was published, and have been in one all the years since I’ve been published—and most of those years in a group that meets every single week. My group goes through stages. Stage of productivity, members moving away, and our process of screening a replacement.
Every January we each buy a datebook or planner and use it as a tool for the coming year. We share our goals and hold each other accountable. My friend *lizzie starr has a couple of great blogs on goal planning and using a calendar if that interests you. E and
It’s serious business, this critique group thing. You don’t invite anyone who isn’t compatible. You have to respect the people who are going to offer comments on your work. For me it has nothing to do with published or unpublished; it has to do with work ethic, knowledge or willingness to learn, and enthusiasm. I especially love having a new person or a beginning writer in the group because of their energy.
And frankly another brain ain’t nothin’ to turn your nose up at. I love my other brains during the brainstorming process or when I’m stuck. Sure, I get the ideas on my own, I put the pieces together and make all the decisions, but I only have one brain and one life experience. Getting feedback from other writers who have different perspectives AND understand the process of story writing is invaluable to me.
I know some writers who don’t like anyone else meddling in their stories—some find it changes their story too much. I go into the process with elements I’ve chosen that I won’t budge on, so the possibility of taking my story a wrong direction isn’t a problem or a possibility. I’m flexible about everything else because new perspectives keep me fresh. If someone in my group makes a suggestion that isn’t considered, it’s not because it was a bad suggestion; it’s just because that idea didn’t work for that writer’s story. We all understand that. Nobody gets her nose out of joint.
Our noses are all in joint, thank you.
Last year my started a different critique as well. Once a month, one of the members, Teryl Oswald, hosts an evening critique session to which all chapter members are invited. The members break up into brainstorming and critiquing groups and spend the evening working on each other’s stories. I enjoy it because it’s a terrific way to work with a more diverse gathering, hear other people’s ideas and stories and get to know chapter members I otherwise wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to know. It’s a great place for beginners to find help and instruction.
I got my author copies of my April Mother’s Day anthology, To Be a Mother. My story is called Montana Rose, and it involves a school teacher, an orphan, and a stubborn rancher. Today I’m offering autographed copies to three readers whose names I’ll draw from the comments. Since I won’t be blogging here again before Valentine’s Day, this will be my Valentine offering.
Smooches!
I hunted down the covers you mentioned and added a couple more of my own. The Jane Goodger book I bought purely for the cover, and it was the first book of hers I ever read. Now I enjoy her stories and might not have discovered her if not for the white cover. I had never seen a snow scene so striking, and because it was different it caught my eye.
And I located a couple with Nathan Kamp.
Some of us probably got bookstore or amazon gift certificates for Christmas, didn’t we? How many new books have you purchased so far this year? I’m guessing you already had books on your wish list and that you were waiting for them to be released. But sometimes those books just leap off the shelf at us. When I saw the cover for Her Montana Man for the first time, I was ecstatic. I didn’t think my good cover fortune could get any better. And then I saw the cover for Her Colorado Man. I experienced a moment of pure cover elation. Cover love. Cover adoration. I love that cover.
When I fill out my cover suggestions for the art department and marketing team, I select two or three key scenes from the book and describe the characters’ clothing and the weather and the time of day. And then I hold my breath. Sometimes the resulting image is nothing like I imagined, and other times it’s even better. This romantic depiction is from a scene during the Denver exhibition when Wes and Mariah dance under the stars, away from public view. You can even see the decorative lanterns in the background.
So imagine this: You’re standing in the checkout line, and the books catch your eye. One book in particular holds your interest. You pick it up, turn it over, and open to the first page. You must have this book. Into your cart it goes.
What was it that caught your eye? Something about that cover made you reach for the book. Maybe something about the back cover lured you in. Maybe you didn’t even look at the price
I’ll bet you can remember more than one time that you’ve picked up a book for the cover alone. I know I have. On the other hand, I’ve passed by some terrific stories because the covers turned me off. I can think of one in particular. I got the book in my stack of entries to judge for the RITA awards. I even put it off until the last, only to discover it was an incredible story that hooked me from the get go and never let up. I liked the author’s voice and style so much that I hunted her backlist and read as many as I could get my hands on. So what was it I didn’t like about that cover, you ask? It was a cartoon cover. I have never purchased a book with a cartoon cover—well except the others by that same author.
I think most of us have auto-buy authors – an author you buy simply because you know they’re going to deliver a story you will enjoy, no matter the subject or the cover. For me there are several of those: Sharon Sala, Anne Frasier, Janet Evanovich, Robyn Carr just to name a few.
I’ve purchased books based on reviews – sort of like movie reviews that tempt me. Not because the review was glowing, but because the synopsis told me the book was about a subject or character I knew I would like. I’ve bought books because someone recommended them to me. I have purchased a book because of an ad. That could have been because of the cover or the blurb. I’ve never bought one because of a quote on the front or because I saw the book trailer.
If I had to say where most of my book buying was done over the past couple of years, I’d confess it wasn’t done in stores, but online. Convenience is the reason – and because –sadly — the chain stores carry less and less of the mid-list books. At least one huge chain store near me (Target) no longer carries Harlequin or Silhouette lines!
Online book shopping is a whole different beast. You pretty much need to know what you’re looking for, or at least I do. amazon has that clever suggestion feature that shows what they think you’d like based on your previous purchases. And you can subscribe to any number of newsletters by your favorite authors to be prepared for their new releases.
But there’s something about looking at those covers…something about picking up that book, seeing it in person…up close and personal, covers are enticing. For me — If it has a western or an Americana look, I’m a sucker. There was a day when many readers would buy any book with Fabio or John DeSalvo on the cover. I’m probably in the minority of romance readers who aren’t impressed by cover models. In fact, if I recognize the guy on the front, it’s a complete turnoff for me. He has become a model in my eyes, not the fantasy hero I want to meet for the first time and fall in love with. I guess that’s it–a recognizable face spoils the fantasy.
I also prefer cover people with heads, thank you very much. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t like to stare and stare, trying to figure out where the story peoples’ faces are. I’m a bigger fan of bare backs with laces falling away than of legs and high heels, but that’s probably my historical preferences coming out. I will always buy a cowboy or a cowboy hat. And I don’t mind flowers.
And FYI: Desceptive cover, Catherine Anderson’s newest book Early Dawn is a western!
So what type of cover attracts you?
Have you ever bought a book just for the cover?
Do you buy books for the author’s name, no matter what the cover looks like?
What are your criteria for spending your cash on a new author’s book?
Have you ever bought a book because you’d met the author and liked him or her?
Picked up any beautiful books lately?
I don’t know what it is about Christmas trees that I love, but I can’t get enough of them. The tree is the best part of Christmas decorating. To read a history of Christmas trees and see photos of my Victorian tree,
CLICK HERE for last year’s blog on the subject.
This year I’m simply going to take you on a stroll down memory lane. Well, we can’t remember back as far as these early photos, but we can sure imagine being there. That’s what we do after all: Put ourselves inn another place and sometimes another time and imagine what it would be like.
When I think about early trees, I think of stories like Laura Ingalls Wilder and the settlers who strung popcorn and berries and made paper chains to have something to out on the trees.
Some people had beautiful glass ornaments they brought to America from other countries, but the common folk usually made do with what they had around the house or what they could make with feathers and scraps of fabric and lace and flour and water paste.
It was once the custom to place the gifts on the tree, as seen in the photo on the right. Can’t see that being practical unless the gifts were mittens and handmade items. Today Guitar Hero would never fit on a tree, and the branches sure wouldn’t hold a portable DVD player.
I never had a fondness for tinsel. It was often charged with static and clung to clothes and hands and was forever on the carpet and tangled in the vacuum. But the kids loved it, so we often draped all the branches ever so carefully and watched it sparkle.
I inherited a few vintage cardboard and glitter houses that were my grandmother’s as well as a plastic Santa and sleigh. Plastic was a new invention when she bought the set! She had a whole village with bottle brush trees and cotton snow. I think I must have inherited my love of Christmas décor from her. I sure came by the collecting bug naturally too.
My grandmother had an aluminum tree with a color wheel. Can’t land one of those cheap any more. They are hard to find and expensive when you do find one.
So many times we think the things we use were recent inventions, but just look at the photo below with all the dolls and see one of the first artificial trees! And it’s lit with candles. What a fire hazard. There were also feather trees.
I’m holding my annual Great Christmas Tree Tour on my blog and have enjoyed all the trees readers and authors have shared. It’s always so much fun to see how differently people decorate.
Christmas trees are like snowflakes: No two are ever alike.
I want to take this opportunity to remind you that HER COLORADO MAN is in stores this month. I learned that the warehouses have plenty in stock, so if you don’t find a copy, ask for it at your local bookseller and they will order a copy for you.
I have my shopping finished and my Christmas tree is decorated. How about you?
There are definitely plenty of things a writer needs to know before she starts to write her book. Characters don’t exist in a vacuum; they have occupations and homes and families and histories and nationalities and all number of things we need to know to make them three-dimensional and bring realism to the story.
My current book, Her Colorado Man, is set just outside a town I used in a previous story. Once I’ve done all the work for a setting, it only makes sense to get some mileage out of it. Colorado is a common setting for me. I own picture books, reference books and maps as well as books on plants and animals. I had another reason for the location, other than its convenience, however: I made my heroine part of a large German family who own a brewery, so I had to select a location to support the operation. The cold-water streams that flow from the mountains were perfect.
And then I had to know enough about brewing beer to decide which method they used and why, and which year would be workable. I chose a year when bottling was first being introduced and also a year that there was a huge Exposition in Denver. So my actual location and the brewery are fabricated, but everything about the people and production and operation and the time period are factual. Keeping facts as close to real as possible makes the reader believe.
I also had to know something about my hero who comes to this town from Alaska, where he’s been delivering mail between tent towns and postal stations. That research was probably the most difficult, because all the facts easily found about Juneau and the Yukon pertain to the gold rush, which didn’t happen until after my time period. So that part of my education took more searching.
So besides looking up breweries, their operation and types of brewing methods before I started, I searched for information on sled dogs, Alaskan temperatures, modes of travel and traditional Bavarian foods. I ended up with a binder full of facts and pictures. Sometimes I have to make an additional folder on one subject, like say liveries or beer making. In my opinion, you can’t ever know too much about your location or your topic or the cultures of your people.
Confession: I’m a paper person. I’ve learned to use PBWiki, personal online storage, but even though I have that ability and I’ve bookmarker the online information, I still want to be able to flip through my binder and put my finger on that list of names I was going to use. I need to see the paragraph about the competitive advantages of lager brewing over ale. That’s just me. If you are a writer, maybe you’ve got a smarter way to store your research, and if so, I applaud you. The important thing is that your method works for you, and you’re not losing writing time searching for something you’ve lost.
Now just because I have all that info doesn’t mean I will ever need to or that I ever should use it all. A writer knows far more about her subjects than she should ever use in a story. But she needs to know it, because if she didn’t, she’d make mistakes. I have many writer friends who love the research part so much that it takes on a life of its own. Once they start, they can’t stop.
Here’s how to know when to quit researching: If your study is cutting into your production, you’re researching too much. If you get caught up in the fact-finding and aren’t tallying a page count, you’re doing too much research. If you’re not putting words on pages, you’re avoiding writing. Give your study a rest and write the story. You can learn the rest of the details as you need them. I learn enough to get started and then I begin. When I get to something I don’t know, I simply google the subject. If I’m on a roll and need to know something, I leave an asterisk and come back to it after the muse is burned out for the day.
So, yes there is a lot a writer needs to know, but the wise writer knows when to call a halt get down to business.
Her Colorado Man is in stores now. It’s also available in hardcover through Doubleday and Rhapsody book clubs.
HER COLORADO MAN“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me. ” ~C.S. Lewis
I’m not an expert on types of teas. I just love tea and everything related, like china cups, chintz pots and pretty sugar bowls. We always associate it with the English, but tea originated in China over 5,000 years ago. The Chinese were aware of the health benefits we’re only beginning to recognize today. Later, Buddhist priests carried tea seeds to Japan. The first European to personally encounter tea and write about it was a Portuguese Jesuit Father in1560. The Portuguese developed a trade route by which they shipped their tea to Lisbon, and then Dutch ships transported it to France, Holland, and the Baltic countries. As far back as the 1600s tea was tremendously popular in France.
The first Queen Elizabeth granted permission for the British East India Company to begin trade routes and ports, which later led from spices to tea, cotton and other commodities. Coffee tea and chocolate were exotic beverages, which caused a revolution in drinking habits.
Before tea, beer or ale was the preferred morning drink. At first valued for their curative powers, they were soon counted among the necessities of daily life, and the utensils used in their preparation and service became essential as well. The practice of tea drinking arrived in colonial America with colonists from both England and the Netherlands and was established by the mid-seventeenth century, evidenced by the number of tea wares recorded in household inventories. The earliest of these were undoubtedly imported from abroad, but American silversmiths began producing teapots by the start of the eighteenth century.
In the 1760s, the British imposed that pesky tax on tea, and colonists took to smuggling tea or drinking herbal infusions. Outraged merchants, shippers, and colonists staged demonstrations, culminating in the famous Boston Tea Party. Paul Revere’s ride and the first shots fired at Lexington were but a year and a half away.
Political hostilities were eventually resolved, and Americans once again enjoyed tea time. Moreau de Saint-Méry, a foreign visitor to Philadelphia in the 1790s, noted the warmth and hospitality of these events. “The whole family is united at tea, to which friends, acquaintances, and even strangers are invited.”
Queen Elizabeth II continues a tradition started by Queen Victoria in 1860 and opens the palace gardens once a year to host three afternoon tea parties, each attended by 8,000 people! I’m all for an afternoon tea party, but I usually plan something a little less grand.
In the late 1880’s in both America and England, fine hotels introduced tea rooms and tea courts. Served in the late afternoon, Victorian ladies and their gentlemen friends met for tea and conversation. These tea services became the hallmark of the elegance of the hotel, such as the tea services at the Ritz in Boston and the Plaza in New York.
In 1904 at the World’s Fair in St. Louis, trade exhibitors from around the world brought their products. A tea plantation owner named Richard Blechynden had planned to give away free samples of hot tea to fair visitors, but a heat wave hit. No one was interested. To save his investment of time and travel, he dumped a load of ice into the brewed tea and served the first iced tea.
Four years later, tea merchant Thomas Sullivan of New York developed bagged tea quite by accident as well. He wrapped samples and delivered them to restaurants for their consideration. The restaurants brewed the samples in the bags to avoid the mess of tea leaves, an a marketing opportunity was born. I must agree I much prefer bags over loose tea, too.
It’s difficult to get a good cup of tea while traveling or eating out, because restaurants serve you a cup of hot water and a teabag. Pooh. Real tea is brewed in a pot. True aficionados will even quibble over the type of pot and the blend of leaves.
How to make the perfect pot of tea:
Unless your tap water has a lot of chlorine, use tap rather than filtered water. Tea adheres to the minerals in tap water for a better flavor.
While brewing the perfect pot of tea requires attention to detail, the quality of water plays a significant role in achieving the desired taste. To enhance your tea-drinking experience, considering the use of a reverse osmosis RO water filter can make a notable difference. If you’re interested in exploring the benefits of RO filters and how they can elevate your tea enjoyment, take the time to learn more about RO filters available, where you can also have control over your water’s Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) levels. RO filters are known for their ability to effectively remove impurities and contaminants, ensuring that the water used for brewing tea is clean and free from any unwanted flavors or odors.
Make sure your teapot is clean and run HOT water in it and put the lid on so the pot is heated. A tea cozy is a good investment, but several insulated hot pads will do in a pinch.
I use an electric kettle to heat water, but for years I used a stovetop kettle or a heavy saucepan. Bring the water to boiling. (Unless you’re steeping green tea. With green tea, you want to extract the nectar, not cook the leaves.)
The rule of thumb is one tea bag per cup of tea or person. You can estimate by measuring how many cups your teapot holds. I buy family size tea bags and I prefer Luzianne brand. To one family size bag I add one or two flavored bags, such as India Spice Chai, Bengal Spice or Apple Cinnamon, depending on how much flavor or spice I want.
When water is hot, pour standing water out of your teapot, place the teabags in and pour the hot water over. Place the lid on your pot and cover with the cozy or insulated pot holders to keep the heat in while the tea is steeping. This process is known as the “agony of the tea” and is quite beautiful to watch if you’ve ever seen it through a glass pot. Let stand for about 4 minutes.
When you pour your first cup, enjoy the aromatic scent. Sweeten if you like or add lemon or milk (not cream). There’s nothing like a steaming cup of fresh hot tea.
I drink three or four pots a day, summer and winter, and I much prefer it over coffee. Scones are my treat of choice when I host a tea party, but biscotti or a cookie will do. If you want to hold a tea party, simply pick up a few pretty cups and a tablecloth at your local thrift store. Set a vase of flowers on the table and enjoy the company of your friends.
CLICK HERE FOR A MAGIC CARPET RIDE TO MY FAVORITE SCONE RECIPE