Our May Round Robin Blog Hop asks the question, Does writing change the author? Do you think your writing has changed you in any significant way?

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Writing almost has to change the author for so many reasons. The most obvious would be when your first book, poem, short story or essay is published. That sense of achievement changes us. It gives us confidence to sit down and write the next one. When we enter our work in a contest and it places or wins it’s another shot in the arm that changes how we see ourselves and our work. But beyond that is how we change just from the writing itself.

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Many of our inspirations come the world around us. Things that happen not just to us, but to those we know, work with, live with and even just those we share a moment in line at the grocery store chatting with. And those events change us. Not just the events themselves, but the impact they have on us and others, and the reactions and attitudes of those affected. And some of those changes become a part of who we are, therefore they seep into our writing and change not just ourselves but our writing as well. As a glaring example, consider the events of 9/11. Events like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or the assassination of President Kennedy and a terrorist attack in the heart of New York City rob us of a sense of security – it’s a shared and horrified loss of innocence. And it changes us. The reactions of those dealing with the results change us as well.

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When we incorporate these shared events, both joyous or horrific into our stories, all authors end up doing some level of research to better understand all the aspects of the event in order to get our stories right, and to add authenticity.  And that research broadens our personal understanding – so how can it NOT change us?

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Speaking of research, for authors especially, the digging into details, historical or factual about places, times, events and places adds to our understanding of the world, and that again changes who we are and how we think about ourselves. If you need to incorporate a gun into your story but you’ve never shot one, or even held one, you have to do a little research and learning about firearms impacts your understanding of how they are used, or misused. You’re writing a historical set in Victorian times and you dig into women’s garments at the time so you can dress your characters properly. And suddenly knowing how many pieces of clothing a woman had to don every day gives you a whole new appreciation of how good you’ve got it when you can slip into a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt and call it done. So, no matter what detail you are looking into, it has to change your appreciation for what you already know.

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Learning how others live, the mores and expectations of societies, both ancient, historical and current changes who we are as people. I spent two years in the Peace Corps in a very conservative Christian country. I was 56 when I left so my morals and expectations, what I was used to was very much a part of who I was as a mature adult and yet . . . .  By the time I came home from Tonga, I felt a little shocked by the extreme lack of clothing when I saw a woman in a bikini. While I was there, a cruise ship came into our harbor and many of those aboard came ashore. I was told they were instructed to be modest in dress because Tongans are always modestly dressed, but when I saw some of these vacationers wandering down our streets even I was offended, in spite of whatever efforts they might have made. The first time I went shopping after returning home, I was totally overwhelmed with the variety and volume of options available. I’d forgotten what it was like to plop down to watch TV in the evening or toss my laundry into a machine instead of doing it by hand. And all this in just two years of living in another culture different from my own. As authors, when we write about places and times different from our own, we do our research and it might not change us as much as my two years in Tonga changed me, but it still effects how we look at people and places and it changes us.

And that’s just the research part of our writing.

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There is also the character arcs and story arcs we create. Most of us grow WITH our characters. Things our characters are learning are things we are learning while we write their stories. Years ago, when I was pretty young and thought I knew it all, a man far wiser than I said something that struck me as profound, and his words have stayed with me. I can almost hear his voice even all these years later saying, “The day we stop growing is the day we start dying.” Growing means change. Always. From the inches a child gains as they move from childhood into adulthood to the thoughts, emotions and maturity of our being for our entire life.

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I think one of the biggest things we gain as writers is empathy. If all our characters were just like us we might not learn much, but our books would be boring indeed. So, we branch out. We find out what it’s like to grow up with an alcoholic father, or live with prejudice, what it’s like to be a battered wife, or a geek – brilliant but different from our peers. Of course, we draw on what we know and incorporate much of that into our writing, but we also look around us and pay closer attention to what it might be like to be the mentally challenged bagger at the grocery store. We hear how one cop commits a horrific act and suddenly we have to consider what it must be like to be a good, dedicated cop with a target on your back as soon as you put on your uniform. As difficult and painful as it is to have a doctor bring us bad news about ourselves or a loved one, what must it be like to be the bearer of that kind of news – over and over again? Or the ER nurse or doctor who fights with everything they have to save a life and then have to call it and admit defeat? Or even the mundane – what must it be like to be a hard-working, loyal employee who never gets the promotion or the atta-boy for a job well done?

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Writers do a lot of people watching. We see the strain on the faces of those who work in difficult jobs, or the soldiers, dressed in their formal uniforms to tell a family member their loved one is never coming home again. We watch with appreciation the amazing patience of an airline clerk being screamed at by irate travelers over a delayed plane. We watch a harried mother coping with a tantrum in the middle of a grocery store, or a father consoling his son after he struck out with the bases loaded, and we learn a lot about people that way. People who handle things differently than we might. It changes us and our appreciation for others and the gifts they bring to the world.

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I’m not the sort of person who has ever spent a lot of time soul searching my strengths and weaknesses or laboring over my failings, but every now and then I see bits of myself in my characters. Usually less pleasant bits of myself and I’m shocked. OMG – That’s me! And that sudden realization has often forced me to change – to become someone I like a whole lot better. So, with my wise friend Harvey’s advice in my head, I have refused to start dying, which means I must continue to grow and my writing has been a part of that growing and changing. I pray God it will continue to be a part of me until the day I leave this earthly self for something even better.  

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Hop on over and see how these other authors view how writing has changed them:  

Anne Stenhouse 

Marci Baun 

Diane Bator 

Connie Vines 

Dr. Bob Rich 

Fiona McGier 

Judith Copek 

Helena Fairfax 

Beverley Bateman 

Rhobin L Courtright 

The topic for this month's Round Robin Blog Hop is: How do you choose your characters' names? Are there any you avoid?)

Character naming is one of my favorite parts of creating a new story world and most of the time I spend a lot of thought on it, especially for my main characters. The choice of a name is part of creating the character itself because it needs to fit. It needs to sound pleasant and memorable and it needs to fit the era, time, place, social status, ethnicity and personality. Most of all, it needs to plant an indelible image of a character in your reader’s mind. One he cannot turn his back on. A character he can care about, cheer for and cry for, laugh with and triumph with. You only have one chance to make a first impression whether you’re going for a job interview, a blind date or creating a new character. Your character’s name is the first thing the reader knows about your character. Even before they open the book, your protagonist’s name is on the back cover and in the blurb. MAKE IT COUNT!

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I have a baby naming book on my shelf next to Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Character naming sourcebook that includes names listed by ethnic or heritage backgrounds, and another book listing all the surnames found in the US that tells me where those names originated. The books include meanings and historical use, pet or nicknames. There are online baby name lists and there is also a site listing 100 most popular names in any given year to get a historical perspective.

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For my heroes and heroines, whose personal lives I’ll delve into beyond just the plot of the story, I’m careful to pick names that have nicknames that sound just as well with the surname as the given name does because sooner or later someone in your story will be using a nickname. Mom or dad might call their child Cameron or Margaret or Alexander for their offspring’s entire life, but siblings, schoolmates, co-workers, lovers and friends will find ways to shorten it. My oldest daughter was named Roberta after her dad’s childhood friend. She’s been Bobbi all her life. My second daughter, Rebecca was Becky growing up. So when daughter number three came along I named her Lori thinking that no one would ever shorten it. Hah! That joke was on me. Her gymnastics coach called her Lor. Thus, for my story characters, I am careful to choose a name that has a nickname that I like, that fits the character, the story and the era.

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I also pay attention to ethnicity. It’s not that a blue-eyed, blond can’t be named Jahzara or Diego, but the reader will unconsciously see something very different when they say the name in their mind, just as Sven or Fiona would be unlikely to have dark swarthy features. Unless this confusion is what you are aiming for. The same goes for sex. You can name a girl Stevie, but make sure that masculine nickname fits the personality you are going to endow her with. In my mystery series, my heroine is named Jessalyn Quinn. Her dad called her Jessie-girl, but mom and her uptight ex-husband always call her by her full name so when she decided to become a cop, pursuing a (female deputy) career both mom and the ex disapproved, my heroine decided to call herself Jesse. It fits the personality I have given her, the determination she displays to become her own person post-divorce and the reputation she gained for herself early on in the world of law enforcement. She’s a sexy, diminutive red-head who managed to subdue three far larger thieves in a convenience store hold-up when she was barely off probation, so when a new deputy meets her for the first time, his reaction is a double take followed by the comment, “You’re that Jesse Quinn?” My original choice was Jack, but then I realized there were three female law enforcement characters named Jack on popular TV series, so instead she became Jessalyn and Jesse instead of Jacqueline and Jack. Her red hair and feisty personality goes well with the Irish heritage suggested by Quinn.

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Another consideration is what era or time have you set your story. Is it in the past when many of the names we are familiar with today were either unheard of or uncommon. In Gone with the Wind Ashley is a man. During that same time period Evelyn was also a masculine name so you wouldn’t want to name a female character Ashley or Evelyn in the 1800s, just as you wouldn’t choose Milika or Tayshaun in Regency England high society, or even in the black communities of the American south during that same time period. If your story is set in the US during the last 100 years, you can google most popular names in Social Security records to find what was and was not common at the time. Google has become a great resource for finding appropriate names for any ancestry or ethnicity in any era, country, or social status.

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Another note on historical names is the meaning of some/many surnames. Today you hear about a man named Cooper and you might think actor or soldier, but in ages past Cooper meant someone who makes barrels. Smith, Taylor, Wainright (Wagon maker) and dozens of others began to be used when surnames first became a thing. Don’t forget there was a time when surnames were not used at all. And in some societies, the surname was simply your father’s or mother’s name added to your own, as in Elias John, who was Elias the son of John. Some surnames were place names: Hill, Ford, Rivers etc, or descriptive like Cameron which means hooked nose in Scotland. Many names have meanings that we more or less ignore today, like Alexander which means protector, or Gabrielle – God’s Servant. And then there is always the Bible from which a huge portion of the names we hear every day originated either in their current form or an earlier spelling. Another thing to consider in historical settings would be social standing. Billy Bob would not be a Harvard professor and Montgomery equally unlikely for a dirt farmer in Iowa.

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There are general rules to at least keep in mind when naming your characters. I’ve heard it mentioned in several places not to use the same first letter too often as Keith, Kevin and Ken can confuse the reader. Even if you have two sisters, who happen to be twins, using Sheila and Sasha could become a brain game for the reader to recall which is which. Best-selling author Stuart Woods, for reasons I’ll never understand has a protagonist named Stone Barrington, which is fine, until he falls for a beautiful woman named Arrington Carrington. I hadn’t read far into that book before wanting to throw up. I have no idea why this seemed like a good choice for the woman’s name.

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Naming a character should include thinking about the impression you want this character to make. Claud Bumblefoot would not inspire nearly as much confidence as James Bond or Sherlock Holmes. If you want a softer side for a top cop, ace flyer, super spy or sleuth, avoid the single hard syllable first name. No loss in stature with names like William or Lawrence. You want a take-charge woman, consider Sidney, Dallas or Elizabeth. Pansy might teach kindergarten and Brandy mixes drinks in a bar.

Think about the characters you’ve met over the years in books. What kind of impression does their name leave in your mind? Peter Pan, Jane Eyre, Heidi, Darth Vader, Rocky Balboa, Scarlet O’Hara, Forrest Gump, Charlie Brown, Mary Poppins,  or Buffy Summers. Admittedly, the personality and achievements attributed to each are part of that impression, but what about when you first met them, before you got deeply into the story? Did the choice of name tip you off? Consider - Jack Reacher, no middle initial. Does that name suggest anything other than a no-nonsense man on a mission? 

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To Summarize:

1. Capture the personality
2. Consider the heritage, ethnicity, social standing or era
3. Make the first and last name flow off the tongue with ease
4. Vary the names of your characters
5. Keep the genre in mind
6. Are you going to use nicknames and if so, make them fit the personality
7. If your name breaks the rules, let the reader know the reason

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I confess, I spend far more time on picking out just the right names for my characters than many authors and have been known to change a name in the middle of writing when the name just doesn’t feel right as the character develops and grows. I also confess that there are a few characters that have popped onto the page, named themselves and proceeded show me how important they are to my story. Lucas Trevlyn in Keeping his Promise and Zoe in Falling for Zoe, among others, came into my head already christened and ready to join the action.

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Among many books on the topic, the one I always recommend to new writers (and have loaned out many times) is The Writer’s Digest Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon. But why not hop on over now and see how these other authors go about naming their characters.

Anne Stenhouse 

Victoria Chatham 

Beverley Bateman 

Helena Fairfax 

Dr. Bob Rich 

Marci Baun 

Judith Copek 

Connie Vines 

Fiona McGier 

Rhobin L Courtright 

Welcome to the Round Robin Blog Hop for March 2021 - How do you develop tension in your writing?

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Although the Hallmark channel movies are immensely popular, how many of you have snored through one? I generally turn them on at Christmas time as company while I’m busy with holiday projects, but unless I have something else occupying my hands and head, my mind wanders from the movie far too easily. Why? Because of the lack of tension. Yes, they are romances and yes, there is some inner conflict – usually some past romantic break-up – but the rest of the story is all fluff. But if I switch over and watch, say, NCIS LA, the tension cranks up frequently, each time higher, to a crescendo at the climax and my brain, whatever I’m doing, is yanked back to the action on the screen.

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This is called tension and if you want your readers to stay glued to your book, you need to follow the NCIS LA model rather than the Hallmark one. You want your readers to be forcing their eyelids to stay up late at night because they simply HAVE to know what’s going to happen next. Years ago, when I first got back to writing after my kids were grown and I had an empty nest, I joined a writers group and the speaker at the very first meeting I attended was Tess Gerritson, best selling author of medical thrillers and creator of the Rizzoli and Isles series (in books and on tv.) One comment in her presentation struck me at the time and has stayed with me ever since.

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“If things are going too well for your heroine, throw a new fence in her way.” She went on to elaborate, but I’m sure you get the picture. Your hero is about to win the race, so stick out your foot and trip him. That is one way to create tension, especially when things are beginning to sag.

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Right up front here I would like to recommend an excellent book written by Debra Dixon, author, editor and publisher with the title. G.M.C. Goal Motivation & Conflict – the building blocks of good fiction. An excellent reference for all beginners and something that lives in any seasoned author’s soul. All your main characters and even some of your minor ones will have a goal, motivation and something that gets in the way of achieving it – the conflict, and that creates the tension. In Suspense and thrillers that conflict is right up front, looming large over the hero’s life and goals. In a romance, or in women’s fiction, it might be more subtle, but it’s there. Every good character needs something to strive for. They need a believable reason to want it. And something must stand in their way, challenging them to grow, and overcome.

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I began writing romance and that formula found in Ms. Dixon’s book works for both the hero and the heroine, preferably with both inner and outer conflicts in direct opposition to the other’s issues. For instance, the outer conflict might be that she’s a city girl and he’s a cowboy who can’t imagine living anywhere but on the wide open range. Or your heroine is the owner of a small bookstore that’s been in the family for generations and the hero is the front man for a company trying to buy out all the business owners to put up some big modern condo complex. Your hero is desperate for a loan and your heroine is a responsible bank loan officer who sees him as a poor risk. In most fiction, but especially romance, there is an inner conflict as well. In romance, it’s something that makes falling in love with that particular person a bad idea. Sometimes it’s a history – he broke her heart in high school and she’s not about to give him a second chance. She’s a wall-flower and he’s a jock and it seems like they have nothing in common. Or maybe everyone she has ever loved in her life has met with an unfortunate end and she’s afraid to love anyone lest she doom them to a similar fate. Or his mother has been a liar and a cheat for as long as he can remember and he doesn’t trust women. That’s what creates tension in a romance. Two people, drawn to each other physically and mentally, but with some inner turmoil that keeps them from letting it just happen.

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I’ve often been told my romances could be main stream or women’s fiction, though because I write what I see as real life. No one lives in a bubble where it’s just the hero and heroine and their relationship. We have kids and inconvenient relatives, co-workers, bosses, landlords, neighbors, dogs, cats, mortgages, cars that break down. The list is endless and I throw a lot of that conflict at my characters. In Falling for Zoe, my hero is coping with a mother with Alzheimer’s, a teen age daughter and 5 year old twins. The last thing he needs is another woman in his life. But that’s how love sometimes happens, in the midst of life however crazy it is.

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Iain’s Plaid, my time travel is a romance so it ran on inner and outer conflicts for my hero and heroine but added to that was the schism of time. She was thrust without warning into a time two hundred years earlier, which added a whole new layer of tension.

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The Candidate, one the first books I wrote, my hero is running for president against two other candidates. It’s a close race and any of the three have a shot at winning. The obvious and starkly different campaign promises and the lengths each man will go to win offers much of the tension, but the secrets each hides, that could be their undoing cranks that up. On the first page, my hero is presented with an unwanted reminder of a past he’s done everything to forget. He struggles with this unleashing of memory and pain while trying to keep his campaign on track. When I initially wrote that book, it was all his story, told from his point of view and it was mostly about his personal odyssey, and trying to stay focused on the campaign in the midst of that turmoil. But an editor who liked my premise suggested there was not enough tension. After considering my options, I broadened it by looking into all three campaigns, two from the candidates’ POVs and one from the campaign manager’s. Then I added POV opportunities for two other important characters whose very presence added trouble for my hero. Letting the reader see other points of view and what the hero is up against that he is not aware of added that tension my editor was looking for. The way you’d feel if you saw someone slip a rufie into a woman’s drink when she wasn’t looking and you want to shout “Don’t drink it!” but she can’t hear you as she picks up the glass and brings it to her lips.

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When I began writing mysteries I discovered a whole new challenge to keeping the tension going. I’m writing what they call police procedurals (as opposed to cozy mysteries or suspense) and in spite of what you see in movies and on TV, police work, like they say of soldiering, is 90% tedium and 10% terror. Police work also involves huge amounts of paperwork and reports. Some interviews of suspects can be tension filled, but more often they are just question after question, a detective’s effort to wear the suspect down until they spill something they meant to keep to themselves. None of which makes for interesting reading or adds much tension to the story. Another best-selling author, C. Hope Clark, made a comment when critiquing the first few chapters of my first mystery that I needed to have another dead body show up.

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But it couldn’t be just any dead body. There had to be a connection and it had to complicate the ongoing investigation. One of my characters is convinced he knows who did it, and my heroine disagreed, but suddenly there is another body – one that is clearly connected, and yet the ME declares the time of death to coincide with the when their hot suspect has an air tight alibi. Now what? Are there two murderers working together? Was the first suspect innocent? Maybe the murders are not connected or perhaps they are a copy-cat? Whatever the cause, it had to disrupt the investigation’s momentum and create tension.

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Another way to add tension to a murder mystery is to suddenly have your hero or heroine get too close to figuring things out and acquire a target on their back. Or there is a disagreement with someone in the department, especially a supervisor. Tension is often added by expanding the number of people on the case, bringing in the FBI for instance. If you watch Blue Bloods on TV you will have met the US Marshal who rides roughshod over anything either Danny Reagan or his father, the commissioner, are doing and tensions run high. Or the governor calls in State Police without consulting the NYPD. In one season the mayor appointed a woman to “oversee” the police department in what he called an effort for transparency. All of these conflicting power bases add tension. In another season a psychopathic serial killer got under Danny’s skin and taunted him, ending with a threat to his family. I can’t claim to be nearly as good as the writers for this show, but their example helps me to see places where I can add tension to my stories.

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I’ve not written suspense or a thriller, medical mayhem or young adult, so perhaps you should check out some of these other authors and see how they create tension in those genres.  

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Marci Baun 

Dr. Bob Rich 

Victoria Chatham 

Connie Vines 

Diane Bator 

Rhobin L Courtright 

Round Robin Blog Hop Feb. 20 - Where do you get your ideas for stories?

This year is moving at the speed of light – February is almost over and I’m just getting used to writing 2021 on things and crossing off things I need to get accomplished before, hopefully, life gets back to something more like normal. But, back to the question above – where do I get my ideas?

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Two of my books, one a mainstream political intrigue and the other part of a romance series both have Vietnam Veterans as the main character: one coping with the return to civilian life amidst the chaos of a country divided over that war and the other revisiting emotions and grief he thought he’d left behind years ago. The second (The Candidate) came to me after I’d been to see the stage play Miss Saigon, the first (Worry Stone) after spending a night with my brother stretched out in front of a fire with more than enough beer in our systems while Scotty shared some of the anguish his experiences visited on him.

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My time travel story grew out of a sailing trip to explore a now abandoned island off the coast of Maine that has a history predating the arrival of the pilgrims in Massachusetts. Being something of a history nut, I wanted to see this scrap of land, and once out there, wondering about the men and women who once lived and worked there, I stood at the edge of a very large cellar hole gazing down at the sparkling blue water of the harbor. When the big chunk of granite wobbled, I jumped back, not wanting to fall and get hurt. But later, on the sail home, my writer’s brain kicked in and I asked myself the question, “What if I had fallen and hit my head, then woke in a different century?” And Iain’s Plaid was born.

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Because I enjoy reading about the less well known and often amusing bits of history, I’ve come away with other ideas for books I’ve written, like one revolving around a fire that destroyed a good part of the picturesque Maine coastal town of Camden. Growing up just outside of Boston Massachusetts and having wandered the streets, buildings and cemeteries from as far back as the 1600s, there are dozens of plot ideas I have jotted down notes for. I spent five days in Pennsylvania visiting towns with names like Intercourse and Paradise, both with history that dates back to the Revolutionary War. I visited a living history museum that portrayed life the way it was in the 1800s and then spent the night in an old coach house (now operated by Best Western) that was a hostel on the road between Philadelphia and Harrisburg back when our country was still just a collection of British colonies. LOTs of great ideas for stories, either historic, time travel or even contemporary.

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The book I’m currently writing is part of a mystery series, but an experience my sister had appears in the story as part of the plot. When my sister and I were cleaning out my dad’s old woodworking shop she discovered some “unexplained ordinance.” Being pretty sure it did not belong in the dumpster we’d been tossing stuff in, she put in the car and took it to the police station to ask how it should be disposed of properly. As you might imagine, the cops took this very seriously, wouldn’t let her return to her car even to collect her dog, panting in the back seat, until the bomb squad had checked it out. Annoying at the time, it was funny in the telling and I decided it needed to be part of one of my stories.

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Other stories I’ve written have come straight off the front page of the newspaper. Others involve real life incidents that I had to research after the fact. In Healing a Hero, I needed to have a reason why my hero and heroine would have lost touch after they fell in love while he was on compassionate leave fourteen years earlier. In a world of email and cell phones this was going to be a major challenge, but I’d subscribed to the Marine Times while writing this book because my hero was an active duty Marine currently recovering from injuries and I needed to know what kind of action he might be eager to get back into. And one issue of that paper had a story about a ship that was about to be decommissioned and two men who had served aboard her were interviewed. One was a sailor and the other a Marine. The ship had been in port in Perth Australia and these two men, like most of those who’d been given shore leave, were at a bar downtown when the MPs came rounding up all the sailors and Marines to return to the ship immediately. Such an unusual order had them wondering what was up. Then urgent discussions about the trade center in NY started circulating and the bartender reached up to turn on the TV over the bar just in time for the horrified Americans to watch the North Tower crumble into the ground. The ship they were from had been ordered back to sea and once on it, the orders were for NO COMMUNICATION. Their families would be notified about where they were and that they were okay, but there would be no phone calls, and no emails going out until further notice. My problem of how my hero and heroine had lost touch was answered and much of my plot revolved around that real-life experience.

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Some ideas come from events in my own life or the lives of family and friends. I’m still trying to figure out how to incorporate the night my sister and I broke into a hotel in Inverness Scotland into a story. (That’s a story for another blog.) But coping with widowhood and becoming a single parent is something I lived through and so it became part of Keeping His Promise. My mother had Alzheimers and I used that experience in the first book in that series, Falling for Zoe. Sometimes we have to go looking for ideas. My cover artist took one look at the photos I posted of my new puppy and started brainstorming ways I could incorporate the pup into my writing so she could create a cover with a dog on it. Or maybe you’re cleaning out your attic and you find a journal someone wrote. Maybe a family member, or perhaps a total stranger, but as you read their words: their thoughts and loves and lives, an idea comes to you for a story, or you realize, with a little twisting of facts you can take that very plot and turn it into fiction.

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I think most writers start out our stories with just a nugget of an idea. Maybe it was a dream we had, or a story we heard from a neighbor, or, as I’ve suggested, triggered by and event in the news, or even just a funny joke someone told. Maybe it was a photo you came across – the kind that makes you ask what’s going on, or ask questions about the expressions on the people’s faces. But it sticks in our mind and we worry it over like a dog with a bone, looking at it from every angle and considering all the what ifs. Rarely does a plot come to us all fleshed out and ready to write. So, like the mustard seed that starts out so tiny, we plant the idea and water it and eventually it grows into a magnificent tree – a story with characters and a plot and everything one needs to have a grand adventure between the covers of a book.

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So, now you know how I find my ideas – check out how these authors find plots for their books:

Anne Stenhouse 

Beverley Bateman 

Connie Vines 

Diane Bator 

Dr. Bob Rich 

Fiona McGier 

Helena Fairfax 

Marci Baun 

Victoria Chatham 

Judith Copek 

Rhobin L Courtright 

Rhobin is putting us on the spot this month asking: What is on your writing to-do list for this year? Do you have any long-range goals or just wrap-ups?

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Where to start? Considering it’s already the 23^rd of the month and my goals for the year, prior to writing this blog were kind of vague wishes, it really was time to get serious. I used to make New Year’s resolutions for all aspects of my life and most of the time kept them, but the last few years I’ve slacked off. I don’t want to admit it might be my age, but if I’m honest, it probably is. I’ve been retired for ten years now and finally come to a point where I’m happy just to enjoy each moment of my day without feeling like I have to accomplish something. There’s always tomorrow, isn’t there? Of course, we all know that eventually my tomorrows will run out, but for now, life is pretty good. My personal life, anyway. We won’t get into the contentious politics and outright hostility in my country, or the devastating effects of Covid 19. I’m just thankful to be healthy, active and enjoying life, even if parts of it are via various online entities.

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But back to my writing goals. Sort of related to my writing is my reading. As an author, I know how vital it is to have reviews for your books, so my first resolution is to read a book a week and write a review. So far, I’m up on that, having posted #3 and soon to post the 4^th.

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I got derailed last fall halfway through FRAMED, the second book of my new mystery series. First it was a problem with plotting – I’m a pantser so plotting is a major challenge. Then it was the final days of my furry buddy’s life and his passing that left me feeling lost and aimless. I did a lot of walking and a lot of missing my dog. At first, I said I wasn’t going to have another pooch, it was too hard saying goodbye, but before long I realized this house and my life just felt way too empty. Duffy had been a great dog and his paws will be hard to fill, but I needed to try. So, the hunt was on at rescues and online. I finally ended up on a waiting list for a Golden Retriever puppy that was born on November 30. I will pick her up in two days and I’m eagerly anticipating her becoming part of my life, although I admit Jessi is going to be a serious distraction for a while. But in spite of housebreaking, training and playing with Jessi, I am determined to get FRAMED finished and off to the copy editor now that the holidays are past and I have no more excuses. I have faithful readers asking when my next book is coming out.

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I am also noodling on story ideas for another book in my Camerons of Tide’s Way series. Many of my readers have asked if I’m ever going to write another, but my original plan was for 6 books, and that’s how many I put out there. However, in KEEPING HIS PROMISE a secondary character walked on stage about two thirds of the way through the book. It was a character I suddenly realized I needed for the story and hadn’t created before the book began, but here he was, demanding my respect and a place in the story. At the time, I didn’t think too much about where he would go in the future, only what his place was in that book, but since then I’ve begun to wonder how he made out with his project. And, since the series itself is contemporary romance, I’m going to have to find him someone to fall in love with. So, that is another of my goals for the year. Once FRAMED is off to the editor, I’ll start working on Lucas Trevlyn’s story.

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I am also entering a short story for the first time in the contest to be included in the annual Florida Writer’s Anthology. Every year, they put one out with 30 or so short stories, the best of all that have been submitted. There is a theme to the anthology and this year, that theme is Footprints. I’ve got my first draft of that and will be working on polishing and getting it submitted.

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Then comes the marketing stuff. I am horrible at marketing. I hate it and manage to procrastinate on all the stuff I do take on, and dismiss a lot of options I might do, but choose to ignore. This year, I want to try putting some of my indie books on sale via Amazon. I’m also going to look into Goodreads options. At the start of last year, I planned to walk into shops downtown here in St Augustine that carry books by local authors (both book stores and shops that cater to tourists.) But Covid happened and walking into any place was totally out of the question when BULLSEYE, my first book set right here in St Augustine came out in late February. I kind of thought by fall I might follow up on that, but the next wave of cases and tightening of precautions got in the way. So, now I’m planning to take FRAMED, as soon as it’s out along with BULLSEYE and see if I can make that happen. Hopefully the vaccinations will be well under way and life getting back to normal again on main street here and all across the country.

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Lastly, I am going to make a better effort with my newsletters. Last year I totally slacked off after the announcement of BULLSEYE’s release. In the past, I’ve showcased other authors and their new releases as well as my own, had “interviews” with characters from my own books and others, as well as just touching base with my readers.

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Those are my goals: two new books written and released, a short story I hope will make the cut in the FWA 2021 Anthology - Footprints, 52 book reviews and a more aggressive marketing effort, including a return to writing newsletters.

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Check out what the other authors in our Round Robin Blog Hop plan to do this year:

Victoria Chatham 
Beverley Bateman 
Connie Vines 
Dr. Bob Rich 
Anne Stenhouse  
Diane Bator 
Fiona McGier 
Judith Copek 
Rhobin L Courtright 

Marci Baun 

Just released ...

Liz Johnson single-handedly raised an exemplary daughter—honor student, track star, and all-around good kid—despite the disapproval of her father and her small town. How could that same teenager be responsible for the death of the high school’s beloved football coach? This is Texas, where high school football ranks right up there with God, so while the legal battle wages, the public deals its own verdict.

Desperate for help, Liz turns to a lawyer whose affection she long ago rejected and attempts to play nice with her ex-husband, while her daughter struggles with guilt and her own demons as she faces the consequences of an accident she doesn’t remember.

Available everywhere - find Buy Links at: CaraWrites.com/blind-turn 

Skye: Today I am pleased to welcome Liz Johnson, the main character in Blind Turn to Blogging By The Sea. Nothing better for getting to know a new character like meeting them in person.  Liz, it's such fun to have you here today. I'm wondering what your life was like before Cara decided to plop you down in this book, Blind Turn. 

Liz: My life was okay—not exciting, but okay. My only daughter, who I basically raised by myself since her father was too busy with his fishing boat, his hunting dogs, and a rotating cast of girlfriends, was just beginning her junior year of high school. Besides being an all around great kid, Jessica had excellent grades and was a stand out track star. Based on my income working as a nursing home day manager, we had high hopes for her to get a scholarship to a good school which would lead to a successful career and a great life, somewhere beyond this tiny Texas town where most of the time we feel like we live in a fishbowl. I was solely focused on Jess, and hadn’t begun to think about what my life would be like without her. Being her mother had defined my life.

Skye: I was a single mom for a good part of the years when my four kids were growing up. I know what you mean about they kind of define who you are and it really is hard to figure out who you are without them. What do you see as your strongest characteristic?

Liz: I’m determined—I set my mind to things and don’t let circumstances or people get in my way. When it came to Jess, I was willing to sacrifice my own happiness and dreams to be sure that she had a good life and a chance at something more.

Skye: So, before Jess, were there any secrets in your past that make you blush?

Liz: Doesn’t everyone have secrets? In our tiny town, it’s hard to hide them. My biggest secret became obvious to everyone when I got pregnant the spring of my senior year. Until that point, I was the smart kid headed to Baylor to study biology, but once my secret was out, my whole world changed.

Skye: I can only imagine. Becoming a mother is a life changing experience at any point in your life. But tell me, Do you ever argue with your author? Like maybe you didn't want to be an unwed mother.

Liz: I argued a little with my author, only because I wanted to share my side of the story. For a while, she planned to tell Jessica’s story and mine was only backstory, but eventually, she let me have my say.

Skye: As it should be. So, what is your biggest joy in life?

Liz: My daughter has always been not only my biggest joy in life, but the focus of my life. After the accident, finding joy in anything was much harder, but in the end I think I expanded not only my definition of joy, but my openness to it.

Skye: Is there anything about yourself you’d change if your author listened to you?

Liz: That’s a hard question—I don’t feel ashamed about anything in my life; I have no regrets. Sure I wish a few things had been different, but if they were it might have changed the outcome and I love my happy ending.

Skye: Tell me about a couple your fellow characters that you think make this book engaging.

Liz: Well, I already mentioned my daughter Jessica- the light of my life and also a typical teen struggling with who she is and who she wants to be. But there’s also a quirky kid next door named Dylan, who despite some questionable wardrobe choices and being several years younger than Jess, proves to be a real friend who helps her when she needs it most by being honest and available. I probably have to mention my ex-husband Jake who lives in a falling apart housetrailer with two smelly hound dogs and fixes cars for a living. Jake has never had any trouble finding fun, in fact, that’s probably what drew me to him but also what ended our ill-conceived marriage. There’s another guy I’d love to mention, but I don’t want to give too much away. Plus a high school guidance counselor, my sister in Minnesota, and the victim’s widow who shared their wit and/or wisdom at just the right moments,

Skye: Well, I'm looking forward to meeting these folks. I love quirky characters - they add such color to a story. And, as you say, support and love often comes from the least expected places. And now that your story is out there for folk to dive into, tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

Liz: Cara writes all sorts of things beyond novels—blogs, freelance articles, and two memoirs about her experiences fostering dogs. She also co-founded a non-profit called Who Will Let the Dogs Out to raise awareness and resources for shelter dogs. She has three of her own dogs, plus two horses, a barn cat, and a dozen chickens in addition to a rotating roster of foster dogs and cats. Readers can find information on all of that (and lots more) at her website: CaraWrites.com

Skye: Thanks so much for joining me today, Liz. It's been a real pleasure. 

Readers - you might also want to check out Cara ßue Achterberg's book, One Hundred Dogs and Counting. 

A challenging foster dog invites an experienced foster mama to explore where the endless stream of unwanted dogs is coming from and how it will ever end.

After welcoming her one hundredth foster dog (and her puppies), Cara grabs her best friend, fills a van with donations, and heads south to discover what is really happening in the rural shelters where her foster dogs originate. What she discovers will break her heart and compel her to share the story of heroes and villains and plenty of good dogs, in the hope of changing this world. Cara fosters her most challenging dog yet and she and her husband are pushed to the brink of what they will do to save a dog. Cara wonders why the need seems endless. She hatches a plan to head south on a Thelma & Louise-style road trip. Each stop exposes more of the realities of rural animal shelters. The hopelessness seems unsurmountable until they discover one shelter, deep in South Carolina that has found the answers and is truly a ‘no-kill’ shelter. One Hundred Dogs and Counting will introduce the reader to many good dogs, but also to inspirational people sacrificing personal lives and fortunes to save deserving animals. It will offer not just the entertaining stories of plenty of loveable good dogs, but the real problem of unwanted animals in our rural shelters, and how the reader can be part of the solution.

Our December Round Robin Blog Hop assignment was: Write a short story, flash fiction, or use an excerpt from one of your books. I considered an excerpt. Or perhaps digging out one of my short stories not yet shared here. But then this came into my head - or maybe it was my heart. It started out to be fiction, but I'll be honest - it's really my life over the last two months since Duffy crossed the Rainbow Bridge to wherever beloved pets go. If you've ever had a pet, you'll understand. If not, I hope you enjoy the story anyway. And Happy Holidays to you all, however you will be celebrating. 
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The vet and I were both on our knees, my face buried in his silky fur as Duffy passed from this life to the next. The vet, her eyes damp, gathered up her things and prepared to leave us, giving me permission to stay with Duffy as long as I wanted. But my furry buddy was gone. Everything good about him was in my past. He could no longer lick away the tears that continued to slip down my cheeks. I hugged him one last time, then stumbled weeping from the room.

I don’t know if there’s a rainbow bridge, or not, but I pray there is. For Duffy’s sake. I want to think of him romping and playing, not crippled with age and unable to get to his feet on his own, no longer able to walk to the beach for a swim, or gallop over the sand with joyous abandon.

Duffy was special. I know, everyone says that, but really, Duffy was extraordinary and the hole he was leaving in my life was enormous.

MacDuff been a rescue, born on the streets of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and picked up along with his mom and siblings. I’d adopted him from a photo online and agreed to meet the truck bringing him out of that chaotic place along with dozens of other dogs.

A fuzzy ball of black fluff. They told me he was part Labrador retriever and part Australia Shepherd. The shepherd part wasn’t in question since he’d been with his mom when rescued, but as he matured it was increasingly clear he was more likely flat coat retriever than lab. I’d never heard of flat-coats when the vet mentioned that breed so I googled them and found they were considered the Peter Pan of the canine world, playing like puppies for most of their life. And he certainly lived up to that. Even on those last, painfilled days when struggling to his feet was a chore, he’d still bring me a toy and want to play tug of war with it.

Duffy was torn between his genetic inclinations to fetch and herd. When my grandchildren were small, he’d try to round them up and keep them away from dangerous things like water and streets. He’d gently put his mouth on people’s wrists as if he wanted to show them something or take them somewhere. But fetch was more like keep-away. Once you’d thrown the ball or toy, getting it back was the challenge and he loved teasing you, seeming to offer the toy, then snatching out of reach at the moment your fingers closed around thin air. He outgrew the herding thing, or perhaps it was my grandchildren who outgrew his thinking he needed to protect them, but he never outgrew his desire to play and he always enjoyed being with my grandkids.

Swimming was another of his favorite things. Any game played in the water at the lake always included him, and he especially liked it when it involved things that got tossed back and forth like frisbees that he could snag and carry ashore. The waves at the ocean didn’t faze him in the least. On hot days, he’d walk in up to his belly, sit down facing the shore and let the waves break over his head. If I went in, he was game to swim at my side, for as long as I wanted to be out there.

At home, he elected himself the welcoming committee for our neighborhood and since there are a number of rentals here by the beach, he was always making new friends. Everyone knew him and he knew everyone. But he was also my self-appointed social director. It wasn’t enough for him to greet folks passing by our little bungalow on their way to the beach. Once he’d greeted whoever was out there, he’d hurry inside and thrust his nose under my wrist, interrupting my typing and insisting I get up and go out to chat with whoever had stopped by.

Often, for no particular reason, He would push his head between my thighs. My brother informed me this was a doggy hug. And, perhaps it was. Duffy did it often and it sure felt like I was being hugged. That along with the eager, tail-wagging welcomes every time I’d been out for ten minutes, ten hours or ten days, made it clear how happy he was to see me.

And now that he was gone, my heart and my home were going to be horribly empty.

So, I’m never getting another dog. How could I ever find another canine that special? I could never replace the love, acceptance, and joy that nearly fifteen years with Duffy brought me.

It’s been two months and still . . . when I out of my recliner to head to bed at night, I want to bend down to pat his silky black head. It seems impossible he’s not sacked out there in front of my chair where he’s always been, and come morning, there’s no one eager to share my breakfast eggs. I haven’t skipped our midnight walks, though. Even on rainy nights, I’m out there making our usual rounds, remembering how he stopped here to add his calling card to a favorite clump of sea oats, or there to sniff along the ground to see who else had been by. I still slog through the soft sand near the sea wall when I go to the beach because that’s where he was most intent on sniffing things out. But then my heart aches when I remember I will never again feel the softness of his fur brushing against my bare skin as he walks close to me in the dark.

I got almost as many sympathy cards for MacDuff as I did when my dad passed away two years ago. I have them hanging on a ribbon in a doorway reminding me how much my friends care, but they also remind me how many people knew and loved Duffy. How could I possibly replace a dog like that?

 . . . . . . But then I see a face like this one, and I realize it’s not about replacing Duffy. It’s about offering another dog a fur-ever family and finding joy again in the wagging, comforting love of a canine companion. (Sadly, this adorable pup was adopted before I got to the shelter, but there will be others....)

So . . . maybe I will get another dog . . .

Thank you, Duffy – for teaching me about unconditional love, the joy of an eager welcome, a warm body to cuddle and the solace of a wet tongue to lick away tears when life gets tough. Maybe it is time to share my bungalow with another extraordinary fellow like you.

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For your holiday reading pleasure - hop on over to see what these other authors have for you today.

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Anne Stenhouse  
Victoria Chatham 
Diane Bator 
Helena Fairfax 
Dr. Bob Rich 
Connie Vines 
Fiona McGier 
Margaret Fieland 
Beverley Bateman 
Rhobin L Courtright 

This month we were asked to review or recommend a book, a short story, or an online article. Just in case you're interested in what we authors like to read when we aren't writing our own stories...

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A few months ago I was out for my daily walk on the beach and noticed a woman sitting in a beach chair only a few feet from waves running up the sand. Her husband, thigh-deep, with a fishing rod in hand stood nearby. Knowing they were not locals, I stopped to mention the tide was coming in and in a short time she’d be surrounded. She reached down to pull her bag into her lap just as one eager wave swirled up around her feet and laughed. Then we got chatting about the book she’d been reading and books in general, and of course, I handed her my card and mentioned I was an author. When I revealed I was working on a new mystery series, she asked if I’d ever read the Miss Fortune books by Jana Deleon.

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I hadn’t. Hadn’t even heard of the author, but as soon as I got back to my desk I checked them out since my new friend assured me I’d enjoy them. I ordered up book one in the series: Louisiana Longshot.  That night I started reading and before I knew it, the clock told me it was bedtime. So, I took it to bed and read some more until my eyes would NOT stay open. When I finished it the following day, I was very happy to find there were 18 books in the series and also that Amazon was willing to sell me the set for a discounted rate. I read a lot of books, usually more than one at a time, so I’ve still got a couple books left to read, but I have enjoyed this series immensely.

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Miss Fortune Redding is a CIA assassin who has managed to get herself on a very nasty man’s hit list and now has a price on her head. Even worse, there appears to be a mole in the CIA, so to keep her safe until they can deal with the problem, her boss sends her to the Podunk down of Sinful Louisiana to hide, disguised as his niece who just inherited a house from a distant relative. Fortune arrives, pretending to be a school librarian on summer vacation while the real Sandy Sue Morrow, a former beauty pageant contestant, tours Europe. What could possibly go wrong?

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Until the dog Sandy Sue also inherited from the great aunt manages to dig up a bone. A human bone. Buried in her back yard. Then Fortune is befriended by two old ladies with a lot of secrets of their own and a past most of the town is totally unaware of. Fortune isn’t the shrinking violet the woman she’s pretending to be is, and she’s off to solve the mystery of the resurrected corpse. Add in the handsome Deputy Carter LeBlanc who has an eye for Fortune long before he finds out about her past, Celia who takes an instant and intense dislike of the newcomer in town, and you are off to a wonderful romp of a mystery with more twists than a corkscrew. Fortune has to stay one step ahead of ever getting hauled into the sheriff’s office because she’s poking into things Carter thinks should be left to law enforcement. If she’s ever fingerprinted the jig will be up and her cover blown.

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Her new elderly friends should have been safe to hang out with, but Ida Belle and Gertie were spies once upon a time, have seen their share of war, are handy with weapons and just as eager as Fortune to solve the mystery behind Deputy Carter’s back. Ida Belle drives like she was in the Indy 500, on land or through the bayous. Gertie carries a handbag filled with things Fortune thinks she’d rather not know about. All three are always armed and manage to get into more scrapes than a gang of mischievous boys out of school for the summer with no supervision.

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The Miss Fortune Mystery Series is laugh out loud funny. Sinful, Louisiana is Mayberry on the surface with an underbelly of crime and disorder that frustrates and disappoints the upstanding young deputy who thought it would be a nice quiet hometown to return to after his time in service as an elite warrior. Jana Deleon’s plots are outrageous, ingenious, intriguing and impossible to figure out before the big reveal. Her characters are colorful, and diverse and some of them make you smile just by walking onto the page. A series without violence, sex or swearing. Clean reading but without the preaching. There is a hint of romance, more than a hint of mischief, a dollop of suspense and plenty of mystery, equaling hours of enjoyable reading. Did I mention there are 18 books in the series, and this author is still writing.

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But perhaps mystery isn’t your cup of tea. Or maybe you like a little heat in your romance. Or violence in your suspense. Check out what these other authors have read lately that they thought is worth recommending.

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Margaret Fieland 
Diane Bator 
Anne Stenhouse  
Connie Vines 
Fiona McGier 
Dr. Bob Rich  

Beverley Bateman 
Rhobin L Courtright 

This month our Round Robin Blog Hop question is:  What is your favorite book(s) of all time in your favorite genre(s)?

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My eyebrows went up when I read this topic – How in the world could I possibly name a single favorite book of all time? Just not possible! You’re talking to a person who actually has a library rather than a “study” where I write that boasts floor to ceiling bookshelves on three walls – all filled with books of some importance. I’ve given away more books than I currently own to give you some idea of the number I’ve read in my lifetime. Add to that a well-used library card. I don't even have a favorite genre. There are a few genres I don't care for, but I read and enjoy action/adventure, mystery, suspense, mainstream and some less mainstream romance.

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Part of the reason there isn’t just one best book is because there are just too many that have touched me deeply, even changed my perspective on life, or given me pleasure over and over again. But also, because I am an ever-evolving person. I am not the same person who loved Heidi at the age of 8, or the young woman who discovered Georgette Heyer. I’m not even the same person I was when I first read Outlander shortly after I became a widow. Even my attitude toward books in general has changed. Once upon a time, if I’d purchased, been given or even just borrowed a book from the library, I was determined I’d finish it however boring or difficult it might turn out. But, let’s face it, even if I live to be 300, there’s no way I can read all the great books out there, probably not even all those currently in my TBR pile either in print or on my Kindle, so if a book isn’t really good, it gets tossed, even ones I’ve paid good money for.

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So, let’s consider a few that stand out. As I mentioned, as a kid I fell so in love with Heidi I wanted to be that little girl living on the mountain with her grandfather and Peter. Definitely one of my favorites. I read every single book that Georgette Heyer wrote. I loved her rich cast of diverse characters. Even in the regencies, set in the same place among the same strata of society, she created wonderful characters, some of who have stayed with me all these years, but then I found her historical, The Conqueror. For someone who barely passed history in high school, this book was a revelation. Suddenly a historical figure came more than just a name to memorize for a test. That discovery led to an interest in English/Scottish history my high school teachers would find nothing short of amazing.

One of my former employers, after discovering I loved to read, brought me a copy of Killer Angels, a book he’d been required to read in officer candidate school. Another eye-opening book. This one told the story of the four days of the Battle of Gettysburg, seen through the eyes of the men who fought it on both sides, from grunt to general. That turned my historical reading from the isles across the Atlantic to my own country. Michael Shaara’s son, Jeff, picked up where his dad left off and has written books about all of America’s major wars and I’ve read them all, but my favorites were Rise to Rebellion and The Glorious Cause, which tell the story of how our nation became The United States of America. Those two books give the reader a far better understanding of what our forefathers put on the line to stand up to the most powerful army in the world at the time, a monarchy that considered us nothing but rabble and a Navy that outclassed even the Spanish Armada, and again, it was told through the eyes of many who participated, on both sides of the war. Thoroughly researched through dispatches, letters, journals and news articles at the time, those men and women became people for me. People who had put everything on the line, including their reputations, their property and even their lives. So, I would have to say those two books are among the top of my list because they gave me a better understanding of the meaning of Freedom and the price it costs, both to gain and to maintain. My Book Iain’s Plaid was inspired in part by the stories and history found in those two books.

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House of the Purple Hearts, by Paul Solotaroff cut deep into my heart. It is the story of men and boys who came of age at the same time I did, but who went off to fight an unpopular war, then came home to little thanks and a lot of scorn. This non-fiction account of the struggles these young men fought after they came home actually began my serious attempts to write a novel. (I’d been dabbling at writing ever since high school, but an early marriage and a houseful of kids derailed that for many years.) Some parts of three of my current books in print, The Candidate, Worry Stone and Healing a Hero, took shape in my mind after reading House of the Purple Hearts, so that book has to be on the top of my list, too.

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In my spiritual life there are two books that stand out. One is Two From Galilee, by Marjorie Holmes. Written as a novel, it’s the story of two real people whose lives were touched by God: two people chosen by God to provide an earthly home for His Son. Another author who made important people from the past, only partly understood, real. Mary and Joseph weren’t just remote figures I read about in the Bible, or thought of as our Lord’s parents – they were real people - a teenage girl and a young carpenter—alone, frightened, in love, and faced with family conflict, a hostile world, and an awesome responsibility. How could that NOT color everything about the faith I’d grown up with and continued to believe? That was followed by Three From Galilee, the missing years of our Savior’s life on earth.

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But it took Michael Quoist, a French Catholic priest, theologian and writer to deepen my prayer life. His book, Prayers, doesn’t use the flowery, lofty words heard in church and read in prayer books, but the down-to-earth language of everyday people, praying in every day situations. For the first time, the Stations of the Cross became meaningful to me. Instead of simply rattling off the same prayers at the speed of a gatling gun, he stops to consider what that last walk of Christ was really like. The agony, the heartbreak, the loss and the anguish of all who witnessed it. That changed my personal prayer life forever and gave far more meaning to Good Friday. Wherever I am, every year, I follow that journey with Quoist and my Lord.

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And last, but certainly not least, my favorite novel of all time is Outlander. Long before Sam Heughan and Starz made it a popular series, I read Outlander and fell in love again with the history of Scotland (where many of my ancestors came from, by the way) and a young Scot named James “Jamie” Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser. I am not so enamored of the later books in that series or even the Starz TV series, although I have to admit I think Sam Heughan is pretty damned sexy. Diana Gabaldon seems to be so in love with her research that she includes way way more minutiae about the time period than I can possibly stay interested in and a 300-page story becomes a 1,000-page drag. I haven’t read the most recent of her books, but I’ve read Outlander several times and probably will again before I leave this earth.

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If you had all day, I’d tell you how much I like Jack Reacher, Jack Ryan and Mitch Rapp, to name a few favorite heroes, but that’s for another blog perhaps, a blog about our favorite series.  But until then check out what these other authors love to read and why.

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Anne Stenhouse  
Diane Bator 
Connie Vines 
Dr. Bob Rich 
Fiona McGier 
Victoria Chatham 
Helena Fairfax 
Beverley Bateman 
Rhobin L Courtright 

Our September Round Robin Blog poses this question: Most novels have an easily understood point to make to the reader, do your stories ever have more subtle or intuitive themes?

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GOOD QUESTION!  I almost opted not to participate this month since every time this specific question comes up when I’m discussing a current work in progress with a critique partner, my answer is always “I don’t know.” Sometimes I wonder if it’s because I personally fail to ask myself those questions about my own life. When tragedy or hardship comes into my life, and there has been plenty, I never ask myself what lesson am I supposed to learn. I’ve been hurt. I’ve cried. I’ve had setbacks and hurdles to overcome, had my trust betrayed, my love scorned, lost precious family members far before their time. And yet, I never ask if there was a lesson to be learned. SO, maybe it’s me and my survivor approach to life that leaves me stumbling when someone asks what the theme of my story is.

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But then I look back at my stories all written and published and I realize there were lessons to be learned, or themes if you prefer to call them that. Years ago, when my husband was coping with on and off sessions of chemo for cancer, he was a very unhappy man, even when he was in remission and going about his usual pursuits. We were speaking to a very wise counselor at one point who made the point that it was my husband’s job to find joy and pleasure in the good things in his life, but it was NOT everyone else’s job to make him happy, which was his default setting. That one comment gave me a great deal of comfort because I felt like I was failing as a wife; not loving him enough, not saying the right things, doing something wrong, not doing something right. And this man gave me permission to see that my husband’s happiness or lack was not my job. That lesson, unconsciously perhaps, found its way into my book WORRY STONE where my hero struggled with the toll of war and guilt and my heroine started out believing that her love would be enough to heal him. Both had to grow through that story -her to realize she couldn’t fix what was wrong and he to understand that he needed to ask for help, reach out, and fix himself. The same lesson winds its way through LOVING MEG.

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Another common theme that finds its way into several of my stories is that “second chance.” Opportunities to make changes in the direction of a life. Or a second chance to fix things that are broken. And sometimes just the courage to open a heart to love in spite of having previous hurt, either from betrayal of an unfaithful lover or the loss through death of someone close. That theme appears in one form or another in FALLING FOR ZOE, HEALING A HERO, TRUSTING WILL and KEEPING HIS PROMISE.

My mainstream novel, THE CANDIDATE, explores the themes of Honesty is the Best Policy and Be True to Oneself. The photo handed to Matt Steele at a campaign rally jerked him back to a time he’d done everything to forget, to emotions he never wanted to relive, and in the midst of a hotly contested race for the White House the photo challenges everything Matt thought he knew about himself. The choice he faces to put honor on the line could change the outcome of the election.

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My new Jesse Quinn Mystery series is different. The main thought in my mind is – it’s a mystery to be solved. What other lesson should there be? But even as I say that there are always take-aways. Perry Mason was great at Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover, and Lieutenant Columbo was a master at Persistence Pays Off. In my mystery, BULLSEYE that theme might be “Be Suspicious of Conspiracy Theories.” Or, for any good detective, look at ALL the angles before zeroing in on a solution. Jesse overlooks one of the most obvious persons of interest as she and her partner chase down a theory that seems to have a lot of traction and in the end, that focus almost costs another detective his life. The second book in that series is still being written and as I consider themes while writing this blog, there are a few different threads so far. But then life always has more than one lesson to be learned and themes are often subtle. So, maybe I won’t know what the main theme is until I’ve typed the end. We’ll see…

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In the meantime, check out some of my fellow Round Robin Blog Hoppers and find out if and how they incorporate themes into their stories.

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Connie Vines 
Judith Copek 
Diane Bator 
Fiona McGier 
Dr. Bob Rich 
Anne Stenhouse  
Victoria Chatham 
Helena Fairfax 
Rhobin L Courtright