Wine and...

Quote of the Day:  The days of wine and roses laugh and run away, like a child at play. Henry Mancini

I started my weekend by waving good-bye to my big boy as he drove off into the sunrise of another year at college (in Texas, far, far away from his Mom in Minnesota). Off to the continued adventures of education, college life, and driving further down the road to a career. It was his first big road trip alone. I worried. He sent a text "Made it past OKC" (Oklahoma City), where he rested, then got up again the next morning and drove on, and texted one more time. "Made it to ttu."
Whew.

Wasn't it just last year that he was wearing his Star Wars t-shirt and holding my hand as he walked to Kindergarten?

Bye, Mom, see you in December.

 

To distract myself from separation anxiety, I attended the Wine and Words library event in the evening.

 

Ran into my hair-stylist and character inspiration, Aubrey!

Joined the writers and word lovers with the Blue Cottage Agency

 

We lingered long at the event of librarians, linguists, and lovers of words. The food was delicious and the wine was wonderful. I bid on a couple silent auction items (Chocolate & wine which went high) and stampers, which I thought I'd won, but alas, was outbid at the last minute.

It was a great basket of stampers.

Would have been fun at our Art Spa!

 

The library committee went all out and brought in five fabulous authors. Lorna Landvik, one of my favorite Minnesota authors and speakers, was the emcee. She used the song in the above quote to introduce the other authors, hilarious! I heard her speak a few years ago at the library, where I confessed that I am also a writer, and she wrote in her book, The View from Mount Joy, which I bought that day, "never accept no as the final answer".

 

Lorna Lanvik with my friend and publicist Krista Rolfzen Soukup

I bought Welcome to the Great Mysterious. Love that title. It will be the first in my new stack that I crack open and start reading today!

 

I told her that her comment that last time I met her meant so much to me. She asked me how my writing was going. I told her I was writing plays and reviews. She said that she also likes to write for the stage, which I knew. She's a fabulous actor, speaker, writer, stand-up comic. If she's ever speaking or performing near you, go! She's a hoot and a half. Plus, her books are terrific, her characters like friends.

 

I also met William Kent Krueger, author of Cork O-Connor mystery series and admitted that I was new to his novels, so I bought two.

The gals in my group, laughing about how many books we bought!

 

The other authors that shared their inspiration were Wendy Webb, also a mystery author, The Tale of Halcyon Crane and The Fate of Mercy Alban which is a murder mystery set at the Congdon mansion in Duluth (but, not the infamous murder, a fictional one). I had to buy that book! And, I met Sarah Pekkanen (a good Finnish name) who writes great women's fiction. I bought The Best of Us which is set in Jamaica, because it would be fun to go to Jamaica, at least virtually through a great girlfriend novel. Also, Sandra Brannan was there from the hills of South Dakota. (I think she sees dead people.) Her family runs a mine out in the hills and she seems influenced by the underbelly of the world, those dark tunnels where things are hidden, waiting to be discovered and brought to light. I bought Widow's Might after she described a very intriguing beginning of an 80-year-old widow, dying of cancer, who is being strangled...but why? I thought I was all set, standing with my gal group (since we're the wild and crazy book girls lingering to the last), waiting for Sandra to sign my book. She started talking about Lot's Return to Sodom which takes place during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. I just returned from the rally, my second one (read all about it on Ride off the Page). She told us that the details in that novel are real, as told to her by an FBI agent and a member of the Hell's Angels. It's a look into the dark side of motorcycle gangs, the part that the tourist industry doesn't really want us to know. I couldn't resist. I went back to the table and bought it, and had her inscribe it to The Biker Chef. She offered it up with a warning, "It's dark, hard to read at times, and very real." I'll let the Chef read it first.

 

I have one more confession, while the speakers were changing places, I checked my phone. (I thought it might be my big boy, and I was still a little worried even as I enjoyed the event.) I read a message from the Biker Chef that I might get an invite to the Food & Wine Extravaganza at Madden's for Saturday night. I'll give you the culinary tour in my next post. Until then,

 

Go. Create. Inspire!

 

Journaling Prompt:  Have you ever bought a book that you were afraid to read, and yet, had to open it just to see?

 

 

Open a Book

Quote of the Month: Open the window in the center of your chest and let the spirits fly in and out. Rumi
(My theme for this year's A to Z Challenge is Open.)

Millie and Willie, a sock puppet creation, are here to tell you their story during the April A to Z Blogging Challenge. Here's what can happen when you Open a Book.

Willie: When I was working on the railroad (hums a little of the song)

Millie: Willie, you're getting distracted from your own story.

Willie: Yes, well, when I was working on the railroad, all the livelong day.

Millie: Oh, for heaven's sake.

Willie: Sorry, I would be out two weeks, back a week, and so on. On the Saturdays that I was home, I'd pick Millie up and we'd go to a nearby town, walk around, shop, buy ice cream at drugstore soda fountain. I always got the cherry dipped cone.

Millie:  Sometimes, they had a special five spot cone. You could get a different flavor in each of the cone spots.

Willie:  Millie loves her ice cream. She never shared either, except when I had to hold her cone while she checked out a bookstore.

Millie:  I could get a little distracted by a bookstore.

Willie:  We bought our first copy of The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss together. Left foot, left foot.

Millie:  Right foot, right.

Together:  Feet in the morning, feet at night.

(bump heads and giggle)

Millie:  Ah, but I knew that he was the one when we stopped for a picnic and Willie pulled out a copy of A Farewell to Arms. He started reading it to me.

Willie:  We read it together.

Millie:  We read the dialogue like a play, kind of role-played Catherine and Lieutenant Henry.

Willie:  (raising eyebrows up and down) More than kind of, Darling.

Millie:  We've never gotten through the ending without turning into a puddle of tears.

Willie:  Mr. Hemingway sure had a way with words.

Millie:  I hear they have cherry dipped cones at the Chocolate Ox in Nisswa.

Willie:  Millie, what are you suggesting?

Millie:  After your doctor's appointment, I think we should take a drive up to Nisswa.

Willie:  (smiles, reaches for the old, worn out copy of A Farewell to Arms and hums, I've been working on the Railroad)

Come back tomorrow to find out who needs to join the Insecure Writer's Support Group.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Write about a book that you've read more than once. I think of "North of Hope" by Jon Hassler as my "comfort book."

Guest Hart Johnson

With briefs, your ears get cold...

It is my pleasure to share this space with a wonderful blogger and author, Hart Johnson from Confessions of a Watery Tart. Her blog is full of silliness and fun. Her book sounds delightful. After you read all about Hart and her first cozy mystery, you can come visit me at The Journaling Woman's Blog.

Take it away, Hart!

Boxers or Briefs?You know... one of my very favorite things about writing cozy mysteries is that I can be a little silly, and one of my very favorite things about MARY is I can be a little silly, so this seems the perfect spot to confess some of the silliness I managed to slip into The Azalea Assault. (Thank you for having me, Mary!!!) I mean most cozy mysteries have a little silliness to them—there is humor. It is just part of the style. And it is a nice departure for me, because my other stuff tends to get into some dark psychology. (I have a rotten streak, but don't tell anyone!)Not that murder isn't dark, but yah know? Nobody liked the guy ANYWAY! (those are the rules with cozies... killing people nobody will miss). But along with RULES, you get some allowances! And that is where I had my fun!Monty Python and Harry Potter nodsThe Burrow, my writing group, originally bonded over the Potterverse, though the Python love runs deep, too. At one point we made a pact to include a Python reference in every book we wrote... I threw in a Potter reference for good measure. I am eager to see if people notice.Crossdressing. Check.“I'm naked!” Check.And yes. There REALLY IS a boxers versus briefs debate. (though there is also support for going commando—this is ME writing this stuff, after all)Annie, my main character's best friend, provides the surest route to most of my silliness, but she isn't the only one. I guess I just figured if I was having fun, my readers would have fun. So there you have it. My silliness in a nut shell. Thank you for having me, Mary!!!

The Azalea AssaultCam Harris loves her job as public relations manager for the Roanoke Garden Society. It allows her to combine her three loves, spinning the press, showing off her favorite town, and promoting her favorite activity. She's just achieved a huge coup by enlisting Garden Delights, the country's premiere gardening magazine, to feature the exquisite garden of RGS founder, Neil Patrick. She's even managed to enlist world-famous photographer Jean-Jacques Georges. Unfortunately, Jean-Jacques is a first-rate cad—insulting the RGS members and gardening, goosing every woman in the room, and drinking like a lush. It is hardly a surprise when he turns up dead. But when Cam's brother-in-law is accused and her sister begs her to solve the crime, that is when things really get prickly.

Alyse Carlson is the pen name for the author some of you may know as Hart Johnson. She writes books from her bathtub and when she isn't writing, does research for a large, midwest University or leads the Naked World Domination Movement (your choice).LinksBarnes & Noble Paperback or NookAmazon Paperback or KindleConfessions of a Watery Tart

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  What pen name or alter ego would you choose?

Leo the Writing Cat

Quote of the Day:  To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music the words make. - Truman Capote

This is Leo. 

We went to the shelter in search of a new cat.

He chose us with a leap on my lap, an instant purr, and curious blue-green eyes.

On Friday, I went to Turtle Town Books, an independent bookstore in the little town north of my home.  I wanted to get a copy of Abercrombie Trail by local author Candace Simar for my dad for Father's Day.  I had read that one and bought the other two in the series.  It's an excellent historical novel set in Minnesota, 1862, during the early days of the settlers, mostly Scandinavian, and the Sioux uprising.  So well done. Interesting story line.  Well researched.

I walked into the store and saw that they had a book signing by an author from Wisconsin.  I bought three of his books, also to share with my parents.

Several siblings and I, plus a couple nephews, were at the farm for an early Father's Day celebration, and after a delicious noon dinner, I presented my folks with their new books.  Mom saw Stolen Genes, Stolen Children by G.R. Revelle and said she bought his book when she was at Hoestfest in Minot, ND.  She said, "It's a terrible book.  You all need to read it!"  She'd given her copy to my brother Phil, and sent this new one home with my brother Nathan.  Guess I'm fourth in line.  (I'm the fourth of six kids.)

Leo was also curious about these books from a Wisconsin author with Swedish roots.

At one point he licked the books. The first time I had lobster bisque, I told the waitress that it was so good I could lick the bowl.  Guess the same goes for books, just ask Leo.

While Matilda was the piano cat who sat next to each of my students while they came for lessons, Leo sits on top of the piano and enjoys the good vibrations.  He also sits on my lap when I try to type.  I haven't quite figured out how to work around that big, fluffy tail.

Go. Create. Inspire!

And, sink your teeth into a tasty book!

Journaling Prompt:  Write about a time when you had a chance encounter or a surprising discovery.

Reading Deprivation

Quote of the Day:  The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them. - Samuel Butler

During my trip to the West Coast, we visited this used book store.  My heart beat a little faster as I moved up the walk and anticipated the treasures that I might find inside.

I was not disappointed.  This place is huge, several rooms and extensions on rooms and rows and rows of books stacked on books and shelves bulging out and more books in the aisles.

A writer in a bookstore is as happy as a kid in a candy store!  Look, here's one called Cooking and Improvisation!  From the cover, musical score paper and food, I thought the book might be about blending music with new recipes, or some kind of new song/veggie medley.

The irony of loading my arms up with new-found treasures during this trip was that I was on a Reading Deprivation assignment from The Artist's Way that I'm working through.  During week four, we are told to shut the books, put down the newspapers, unplug from our computers, and deprive ourselves of the written word. The intent is that it creates a void that you fill with other creative energy and get you to observe life. I wasn't sure if I could do this.  I mean, I was traveling.  I like to read.  When I find myself in places where I have to be patient and wait, or am feeling closed in by too many people, I bury my face in a book, shut them all out and escape into the lovely words and images of a talented author.

I didn't do that on this trip.  Instead, I told myself I would play by the rules, keep an open mind, and talk to people and observe life as it moved around me.

This was actually a good thing.  I asked people about themselves, "Are you coming or going?  Where are you from?  Were you visiting relatives?"  One woman had been in my area visiting an old friend.  A bunch of military guys were going home one last time before they're deployed again.  My travel companion/cousin Angie and I had some great conversations.  I watched Invictus on the flight (thanks for you headphones, Ang!).

But, the rules weren't really defined.  Even if they were, could I really cut myself off completely from the printed word?  When I thought of not reading at all during this trip, the experiment took on a new perspective for me.  What if I couldn't read?  I mean, all I had to do was look up and see exit, Delta, baggage claim, etc.  I thought of how cut-off I'd be from a major form of communication.  I looked for other clues in signs and menus and travel directions that didn't require reading.  I knew that if I truly could not read, I'd have to ask for help, follow the crowd and hope they were leading me in the right direction, and I'd develop other coping skills.  I thought of people who can't read and are ashamed of it.  What lengths do they go to in order to cover up their secret?

At a restaurant they could ask the waitress what she recommends, look at the pictures and point or describe what they want.  They could wait until others have ordered and say, "I'll have what she's having."  We ate at a Moroccan restaurant.  I wanted to lean over to the next table and ask them what was on their plates.  It looked good.  Plus, that menu was really hard to read with it's tiny print in poor light.  I needed my reading glasses!

I think the only way I could truly experience being cut-off from the written word is to travel in a country where I didn't speak the language and they didn't have English readily available.  Not an easy thing. We Americans have it easy that way.

I have always had compassion for people who can't read.  When I watch A League of Their Own, I get weepy every time during a scene where a player is standing at the roster.  She's swaying back and forth, her brow is furrowed.  She's breathing in and out wondering if her name is up there.  The manager says, "If you don't see your name, you have to go home."  But, she can't even read her own name.  Finally, another player steps up.
Can you read, honey?
She shakes her head.
What's your name?
Shirley Baker
The helpful player runs her finger down the roster and stops.
Here it is. She looks at Shirley.  That's your name, Shirley Baker.  You're a Peach.  You're with me.
And, the tears flow down from Shirley's eyes and my eyes, and I feel her pain and shame and relief at knowing what she can't read for herself.

Later in the movie, May (played by Madonna) is teaching her to read.  The line they have her saying, her milky white breasts.
A look from another player.
May:  Just turn around, she's reading, isn't she?

During my journey home, I was done being deprived.  I pulled out a great find from that bookstore, Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas by Maya Angelou, first published in 1976, but new to me.  I nearly wept when I read the opening sentence, Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the spaces between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. And, I curled up in those words and images by the gifted Ms. Angelou and all was again right with the world.

Journaling Prompt:  Try going for a given amount of time without the written word.  What does that do to your interactions with the world?

Breaking the Curse of the Good Girl

Quote of the Day:  Emotional Intelligence is a portal to fulfillment in every area of life. - Rachel Simmons, author of The Curse of the Good Girl Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence

I have four sons, but no daughters, so you might be wondering why I've been reading this book.  I bought it first to help myself.  I suffer from this curse.  The author describes how many girls are taught that they need to "be nice."  They're made to feel like they must be happy, kind, shy, nurturing, and not too smart.  They list "bad girls" as the ones who stand out, wear flashy clothes, are creative, speak their minds.  Girls start to believe that they're only allowed to have "good" emotions, be happy, smile, be self-sacrificing, and in doing so, they lose themselves and become ashamed of having fears, anger, needs, and original thoughts.

I also read this book because every week creative, intelligent girls come to my door and sit on my piano bench.  I want to help them become authentic women who aren't afraid of hitting a wrong note, making a mistake, having a bad day, or shedding a few tears of frustration, because that's what it means to be real.  I want them to know that making mistakes is part of learning, and that you can't be perfect all the time, if ever.  Perfect, to me, is a dirty word.  I'm trying to eliminate it from my vocabulary.

I want to nurture their creative spirits and show them how to encourage one another and build each other up.

As a woman who teaches, nurtures, and counsels girls, I need to show them that I am a human being with a full range of emotions.  I make mistakes.  I have conflicts in relationships, and I embrace who I am, imperfections and all.  As a mother of four sons, I need to show them that women are not happy, smiling Barbie dolls whose needs are less important than theirs.  We all have needs.  We all have good days and bad days.  Sometimes we're able to care for others, and other times we need their care.  That's what it means to be in a relationship with someone and to live an authentic life.

Journaling Prompt:  Describe a strong, authentic woman in your life.

Publishing Changes

Quote of the Day:  You don't choose a story, it chooses you.  You get together with that story somehow; you're stuck with it.  There certainly is some reason it attracted you, and you're writing it trying to find out the reason. - Robert Penn Warren

That's what it is for me, dear reader friends.  The story is calling me and I must write it, my drama Coffee Shop Confessions.  As I'm about to fall asleep, I wake myself with a piece of dialogue that will fit my Lolly character.  Or, I'm having lunch with friends, and we're talking cars or kids or waxing or breastfeeding, and I whip out my stack of notecards and write "scene idea" at the top.  It's like I've been sent to an oxygen bar and have been sucking in new energy with every breath.  Scriptfrenzy starts tomorrow (April 1)!  I have my notecards filled, my laptop charged, and my coffee card ready.  Let the writing begin!

Before I go, I'd like to share a great newsletter post from Hope Clark.  She has a blog and an online newsletter, http://www.fundsforwriters.com/ in which she wrote this great insight on the changes in publishing.  This is for anyone interested in the publishing world as a writer and a reader.  Books aren't dead.  Even cats still love them.  But, we shouldn't be afraid of the newest ways to get our words out to people.  Enjoy the pic of the twins and Matilda enjoying storytime, and Hope Clark's words.

Used with permission from Hope Clark.  (You will all enjoy the youtube video that she shares.)

THE FUTURE OF PUBLISHING

In case you've not surfed the publishing news lately, this YouTube video came out entitled The Future of Publishing. It's amazing people from newbies to seasoned agents and publishers. Make sure you watch it all the way through in order to glean the effect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weq_sHxghcg
Bottom line is that reading material is here to stay. Unless you live under a rock, you've heard all the controversy and hoopla about electronic reading devices, ebook contract squabbles between publishing houses and Amazon, ebook pricing and ebook release strategies.

Yes, it's time you understood about ebooks. No, you don't have to go crazy, but just like you must digest the differences between self-publishing and traditional publishing, you need to realize the nature of ebooks. They are a separate negotiable item these days - another rights issue. Don't care to study the details? Land an agent. Don't care to use a literary agent? Then bone-up on ebooks, because you'll have to decide how you want your book presented to the world.

People on list groups, blogs and chats get a little flustered about ebooks, as if publishing is on the brink of destruction. It's not. It's modernizing. Do you realize that the evolution of the paperback book consumed the entire decade of the 1930's?

Albatross Books originated the concept but failed. Penguin picked up the baton and ran with it four years later, and a few years after that Pocket Books sprouted through Simon & Schuster. In the late 30's they were faddish, and accepted.

Point is that publishing methods will change over our lifetimes.

Why get hung up on whether you'll publish hardback, paperback or electronically? Consider them all. Welcome them all. Offer to be open to any and all methods.

Same goes for selling. You can't sell online without understanding how Amazon works, how electronic books work, how platforms work. You can't sell via bookstores without understanding returns, distribution, retail and wholesale values. Part of the fear and uncertainty comes from lack of understanding. Educate yourself
and remove the doubt.

Embrace all manner of the written word. Be willing to sell your words via all channels. The point is to write and spread your stories across the masses. Who cares how they buy it?

No, publishing isn't dead, as so many cynics have expressed of late. Publishing is growing. Some of us are just enduring growing pains.
Hope
 
Journaling Prompt:  What kind of books would you download onto your electronic device?  Do you have the latest greatest e-reader?  Do you want one?

Never Ending Stories

Quote of the Day: If I could have anything I wanted, I would choose story without end. - Annie Barrows

I loved every word of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows epistolary novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I started it a few days before Christmas, but read most of it on the snowy Saturday after the gifts were opened and the children were away. I took one short break to clear my driveway and get circulation back in my bottom, then promptly placed it back on the arm chair so I could rejoin all my new friends on Guernsey Island.

Isn't that how it is when you're immersed in a great book? You feel like the characters are your friends and you can't imagine life without them. When I was around 12-years-old I remember loving a book so much that as I neared the end, I feared having to let them go once the story ended, so I set the book down for a couple weeks before I'd allow myself to finish the book. I missed them so much. (Although today I can't remember just which book that was...maybe it happened more than once, but it likely had girls and horses in it!)

Annie Barrows says that many readers share this sentiment. She goes on to write: This profusion of questions, exclamations, and tales is the new version of the Society. Its members are spread all over the world, but they are joined by their love of books, of talking about books, and of their fellow readers. We are transformed - magically - into the literary society each time we pass a book along, each time we ask a question about it, each time we say, 'If you liked that, I bet you'd like this.' Whenever we are willing to be delighted and share our delight, as Mary Ann did, we are part of the ongoing story of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

We are joined in the society of readers and lovers of words and sharing words and stories.

I read the final few pages of this novel in the waiting room of the dentist office. Before the hygienist put her fingers and tools in my mouth, I had to tell her about this book. She wrote it down, another hygienist wrote it down, and she talked about books during my entire cleaning, which made it much more tolerable.

It's nice to know the story lives on. We keep passing it along. We keep sharing our stories, and we stay connected.

Journaling prompt: What are you reading right now, and what book would you recommend to a friend?