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I’ll admit that I occasionally dream that the book I’m writing might just be “The Next Big Thing”.
I’ve known fellow Second Wind author, Pat Bertram, for several years and admired her not only for her storytelling abilities but for her savvy social media and marketing skills. So when Pat offered to tag me in an ongoing blog chain, “The Next Big Thing”, in which authors get to talk about their current Work in Progress, I jumped at the chance.
If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I just took advantage of NaNoWriMo to complete the rough draft of my current work-in-progress and that it’s set in Scotland – I’ve been posting photos from our trip to Scotland to help get me – and you – in the mood for a visit to one of the most beautiful, intriguing places on earth. Here are a few more details:
What is your working title of your book?
Wild Rose of Scotland
Where did the idea come from for the book?
A few years after I married my husband, who is a pastor, we went on a dream vacation to Scotland, where we stumbled upon a beautiful old church along Loch Awe called St. Conan’s Kirk. I was new to being a pastor’s wife, and having a lot of “eye-opening” experiences. In the midst of my “adjustment period”, Rose’s character came to life.
What genre does your book fall under?
Contemporary Romance
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
My husband, who has read snippets of Wild Rose, thinks Rose should be played by Kate Walsh from Private Practice. Although I’m not wild about her character or the role she plays in that show, she’s stunning, and looks the part. Emma Thompson’s quirky, upbeat personality and accent would make her a good match. I envision Ted as a young Sean Connery or Richard Chamberlain (think Thorn Birds) – or maybe Liam Neeson?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Can the church ladies of St. Conan’s forgive and forget Rose’s ill-advised romp with a common criminal when it’s captured for all time on Pastor Ted’s surveillance video – more importantly, can he?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
My publisher is Second Wind Publishing. Although they haven’t yet read the book or set a release date, I’m told they are eagerly awaiting the completion of my manuscript.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I’ve played with Wild Rose for the last 3 years and somehow managed to get 40,000 words written here and there along the way. I wrote the last 50,000 words in 30 days thanks to this year’s NaNoWriMo challenge.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Theme-wise, I have no idea. I’m sure there are some, but I don’t know of anything similar. Although my book does not have the paranormal aspects hers does, I hope I’ve captured the Celtic cadence and voice even half as well as Nora Robert did in her Irish Jewels Trilogy – Jewels of the Sun, Tears of the Moon, and Heart of the Sea.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Since it was God who led me to my husband and”made me a pastor’s wife when I felt like I was probably the least suited, most unlikely person for the role, I would have to credit Him. And, since God is also the master designer of this whole forgiving and forgetting concept… well, you get the idea.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Wild Rose is the first of a Wildflowers of Scotland trilogy and will be followed by Blue Belle of Scotland, set in the picturesque village of Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull, and… I’m tossing around Shy Violet or Sweet William of Scotland. We’ll see what happens!
And now, I’d like to tag Maggie Rivers, the writer who’s trying to get you to buy her a shoe! A very big shoe… Who will be agged next in “The Next Big Thing” blog chain? Maybe you? Coming soon – more great authors! (How’s that for a cliff hanger?)
I decided to write about my online aura bright and early this morning. As I lay in bed, slowly waking up, I had the words all planned out… clever words, put together with onomatopoeia and alliteration and all kinds of good “stuff”. And then my day began. My husband had an early morning doctor’s appointment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. I tried to go back to sleep after he left, but the phone rang several times in a row. I took room reservations for my B&B for a total of 16 nights and started processing the paperwork. I found out a friend had just gotten out of the hospital – and I didn’t know she’d been in. I answered an email about a do-it-yourself murder mystery party. I checked my email, facebooked for a few minutes, then got another phone call reminding me to email some photos to my ad rep at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. I followed Kaila’s instructions, had to resend one photo, and minutes later, proofed the ad. I had barely enough time for a quick shower and then it was off to the Blue Belle to fix lunch for several customers and throw together food, party games and prizes for Tanya’s baby shower. The party was a hit and Tanya liked the gift my husband picked out last night in the big city. My husband and I climbed into the car as soon as it was over and headed for Thompson, where we scrubbed out the refrigerator, returned some folding chairs that mistakenly got moved to Hudson, and reclaimed a few odds and ends that didn’t make it into the moving trucks last weekend. While Mark finished up at the house and said a few last goodbyes, I and my portable keyboard went to Merle’s house with Mary Ann so the three of us could practice for my upcoming birthday / Blue Belle 20th anniversary party. We drove the hour long drive home with a quick dinner stop at Subway in Lake Mills. Thank goodness they’re open until 10 p.m. Now, it’s after 11 p.m. and I and my aura are shot.
I was going to talk about the fact that some people have an encouraging online aura, others a humorous aura, and others still, an aura that’s sexy, cute or funky. Some of my online friends have a bitter, cynical aura. Some come across as being crabby, complaining and whiny. Some have a faithful aura out of which shines a love for God and their fellow man. What kind of silent vibes do you transmit over the internet? Does your online aura personify the kind of person you are in real life, or do you use the internet as an opportunity to set your alter-ego free? If you met an online friend in real life, would they immediately recognize you?
Your words and the things you post, twitter, share and like, all make a statement about who you are – what’s important to you. In cyber space, all we have are words. Make each one count! Let your words shine with the essence of you!
If the subject of internet romance / relationship fascinates you like it does me, get a copy of my first book, Night and Day, and find out how a chance online meeting when it’s midnight in Minnesota and daybreak in Denmark transforms the lives of Jensen Marie Christiansen and Anders Westerlund.
My goal this morning was to write a blog that made me sound perky and pleasant… the kind of person you’d want to buy a book from. Instead, I probably sound exhausted – because I am! (But in the best way possible.) Keep smiling.
My life has changed drastically since I last blogged. My husband has resigned his call to the church where he’s been pastor for the last 11 years. I knew his ministry there was coming to an end because of recent events within our church and the denomination that the church belongs to, but I did not know that it would happen so soon, or that it would be so sudden – or that the whole process of saying good-bye would be so painful.
One unfortunate consequence of this whole unfolding mess is that I have learned I am being cyber-stalked. Parts of my previous blogs, taken out of context, were read aloud at a church council meeting where my husband and I were then berated. This kind of thing hurts me deeply as a person and a writer. I have always tried to be honest but discreet in my blog posts. My intention has never been to diss others, but to honestly express my own feelings about the impact of certain happenings and actions on me. I have never even thought a bad thing about the women who were upset with me. Quite the opposite! Knowing that my words were twisted and used against me, and my husband, is a horrible feeling.
So what to do from this point forward? Clam up? Shut down? Shut up? Stop writing at a time I most need to release my angst, vent my frustration, ask for prayers and gain support from friends and family, many of whom my only connection to is online?
I suspect I shouldn’t care what the people who criticized me because of what I wrote think of me (although I do), but a concern is that my husband is obviously looking for a new call, and I really, really don’t want to do anything to jeopardize his chances. But when I think of trying to live out the next however many years under a gag order, not able to say what I really think or be who I really am, is is so disheartening that I want to cry. Am crying.
A year and a half ago, I was in a group at Gather.com called Shedding Light, led by the wonderfully insightful Mariana T. She asked us to make a list of the things we needed to shed, the things that are holding us back, and dragging us down. Among the things I listed were Clutter, Stress, Anxiety, Insecurity, Low Self-Esteem, Excess Weight, Inertia, Excessive Possessions, Computer Games and other Time Wasters.
To the past and future church council members who may be reading this – there you have it. You now know all of my vices. Look no further. Dig no deeper. It’s all right here.
The sad thing, as I read this list, is that instead of shedding the things on the list, I seem to be attracting them like a magnet. I feel like I’m inside a huge snowball, gathering unwanted masses of the above items as I roll downhill. I feel like I’m about ready to hit a tree and explode into a million fragments of icy debris. I can’t concentrate. I am terribly over-committed and way behind on everything, but I can’t seem to get anything done.
But maybe there is hope. I got my blog done, didn’t I?
Have you ever had Blog Fog – that sinking feeling that you have nothing blog-worthy to say?
That moment when you’re looking for the inspiration of a starburst and all you get is fizzle?
When you’re looking for a burst of life and all you get is thistles?
I’ve definitely been there… that moment when you’re craving bright sunshine, and what you get is a sunset in Death Valley…
When you’re convinced you’ll find crystal clear waters and all you see is rusty old crud…
When you desperately need a lighthouse to guide your way and what you see in front of you is a long, low, dark tunnel…
When you need a gushing waterfall of inspiration and all that bubbles up is mud.
Blog Fog is unlike Writer’s Block in that the words flow quite freely. But when you have Blog Fog, your brain is so bogged down in minutia that you can’t think of anything significant to say. It doesn’t work just to write, because all that comes out is drivel. There’s no comforting knowledge that you’ll re-write it twenty times before it goes to press anyway, so it doesn’t matter. When you blog, it’s out there immediately. As soon as you post it – and you have to, because it’s your day to blog – everyone will know that you’re not really brilliant after all, that your brain is just a pile of mush.
It’s hard to be clever when you’re under a lot of stress – when things are so busy at work that you’re putting in 12 hour days and still not making a dent in your pile of papers to file and things to be done. It’s difficult to think of a topic when a new first line for your book is running through your head and there are bills to pay and people coming for lunch and rooms to be cleaned and new employees who need to be told what to do.
But you have to try. You don’t want to gain a reputation as a difficult blogger – someone who misses their day or doesn’t attract the numbers the site is accustomed to. And you can forget about getting Freshly Pressed or Creating a Buzz, or getting Re-Tweeted or even Liked – not unless the fog clears.
You check your spam digest – maybe something will trigger an idea. Febreze Air Freshener… I’ll Help You… I Quit My Job and I’ve Never Been Happier. Hard to do when you own your own business. Although, there have been times I’ve been tempted. But maybe someday, someone will invent a pill that floods your brain with hard facts and novel ideas. It’s certainly possible.
Did you know that if you Google “blog ideas” you will get a list of helpful articles like “Need Ideas for Your Blog?”, “101+ Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle!”, “12 Typical Blog Post Types to Kick Start Ideas”, “Blog Post Ideas That Generate Buzz”, “How to Create Viral Blog Posts”, and “Killer Blog Posts” will inundate your screen. Unfortunately, when you have Blog Fog, it’s going to take more than a bunch of stagnant, stodgy old lists to make the fog clear. What you need is a stiff breeze to blow the fog out to sea.
Maybe if I turned the ceiling fan on high…
