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I don’t actually travel that much because the writing schedule doesn’t allow it. However, after updating the schedule of appearances on my web site, I sat back and thought, yikes.
I’ve taught myself to travel light. Not out of any particular virtue, but because waiting for checked luggage to appear is too tense for a traveler who has to catch a ferry. Those extra ten (sometimes more) minutes can mean the difference between catching the 8:I0 and the 9:00pm boats. Doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but at the end of a transcontinental journey, trust me, it matters. So my rule is that I have to fit everything for a trip of any length into a carry-on-sized rollaboard, and a largish shoulder bag. This includes my purse and laptop. If it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t come. My mother–who has been known to fly from Sydney to Seattle with nothing but a pocketbook–sometimes says, “Bring twice as much money as you think you’ll need, and half the clothes.” She’s right, of course.
Anyway, I would love to meet you! I have upcoming appearances in Bainbridge Island, Washington, Seattle, Los Angeles, Crested Butte, Colorado Ketchikan, Alaska, Sacramento and Cannon Beach, Oregon. Please see http://susanwiggs.com/schedule.shtml for details on these and other events.
…we passed by the place where Tater Tots are made. I guess it never occurred to me before that “Ore-Ida” comes from the fact that it’s located on the Oregon-Idaho boundary. Who doesn’t love Tater Tots?
Win a trip to Willow Lake! I’m not kidding. Check it out here: http://www.eharlequin.com/swinvitation.html?swid=100006
*** CALENDAR ALERT ***SAVE THE DATE
WRITING IN THE GARDEN OF THE GODS
Field’s End Writers’ Conference 2008
WHO: This year’s line-up of authors and speakers includes: Roy Blount, Jr. (keynote speaker), Stephanie Kallos (opening speaker), Knute Berger, Alice Acheson, Lyall Bush, Laura Kalpakian, Thomas Kohnstamm, Rosina Lippi aka Sara Donati, Jennifer Louden, Nancy Pagh, George Shannon, Charley Pavlosky, Sheila Rabe aka Sheila Roberts, Suzanne Selfors, David Wagoner, and Timothy Egan (closing speaker). Professional actor Ron Milton will be on hand for the Page One sessions.
WHAT: Third annual Field’s End Writers’ Conference, “Writing in the Garden of the Gods.”
WHEN: Saturday, April 26, 2008
9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
WHERE: Kiana Lodge
14976 Sandy Hook Rd. NE
Poulsbo, WA 98370
DETAILS: This one-day conference, held at the spectacularly beautiful Kiana Lodge near Bainbridge Island, is a combination of lectures and breakout sessions presented by an eclectic group of people in the literary world.
The day offers three groupings of breakout sessions. Guests will select three workshops to attend according to their interest (literary fiction, poetry, nonfiction, screen writing, dialogue, genre, travel writing, editing, journalism, historical fiction, and commercial fiction). Each breakout session will also offer a Page One workshop, where conference guests can anonymously submit the first page of something they’ve written for possible live reading and critique by the guest authors.
Lunch is provided and there will be an early evening wine and cheese reception and book signing providing conference guests, authors, and speakers a chance to mingle. Shuttle buses will be available to carry walk-on ferry passengers to and from Kiana Lodge.
Registration begins February 1, 2008. Early registration is recommended as the conference is limited to 250 guests and has sold out in the past. Cost to attend is $135 if you register before February 28, 2008 and $150 after March 1, 2008. Groups of 5 or more can register for $130/person. To register for the 2008 Field’s End Writers’ Conference, visit www.fieldsend.org.
Founded in 2002, Field’s End is a writers’ community whose mission is to inspire writers and nurture the written word through lectures, workshops, and instruction in the art and craft of writing. Located across the Puget Sound from Seattle on beautiful Bainbridge Island, Field’s End is an affiliate of the nonprofit Bainbridge Public Library, which is located at 1270 Madison Avenue on Bainbridge Island. For more information, call (206) 842-4162 or visit www.fieldsend.org.
###
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I’m blogging in Italy today–the next best thing to being there!
Okay, she knew this would make me blush but never mind that. Geri Krotow’s debut novel is wonderful, as I knew it would be. Here’s a very sweet post from one of my best friends. Here’s a contribution from Geri:
My dear friend Susan Wiggs has offered to let me blog for the sake of promoting my November release, A RENDEZVOUS TO REMEMBER, a Harlequin Everlasting Love novel. But I figure that if you’re reading this blog on a regular basis it’s because you know and love Susan and her work.
So why blog about me? I’m going to blog about what you come here for—Susan. Of course I hope you go out and by my book, and more importantly, love it. This is my first published novel, and it’s quite the “full-circle” moment. And in my circle of life, especially my writing life, there have been key sister-friends along the way. Some things are meant to be. In spite of what seem to be long-to-impossible odds, people beat terminal diseases. Lovers reunite. A lost pet finds its owners after a long trek across state lines.
And so it is with friends. Some friends we feel an immediate bond with, regardless of any apparent (or unapparent) dissimilarities. One of my “miracle” friends is Susan Wiggs.
I met Susan in July 2000. I remember when because it was my very first Romance Writers of America National Conference, and it was in Washington, DC that year. As Patricia Potter once said at a Memphis RWA meeting, I felt like I’d “died and gone to heaven with all the other writers.” This was a place I belonged. It took a while to find it, but I did.
Very unpublished and somewhat naïve of professional boundaries, I went up to Susan at the book-signing and asked her which island she lived on in Puget Sound. At her hesitation (did her blue eyes see a psycho-rabid-fan?) I hurried to tell her that our Navy family had been stationed in Washington, and was due back, also to an island in Puget Sound. She smiled, told me where she lived, and encouraged me to contact her as soon as I relocated to the Seattle area.
I did just that, and through her guidance found the Peninsula Romance Writers. Susan became one of my mentors. I’m not sure it was ever her choice to mentor me, as I immediately took advantage of any sage advice she shared. I soaked up any knowledge like Sponge Bob in the Sahara. Susan encouraged me to not only follow my dreams, but to do so with no-holds-barred. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” is a phrase that’s passed her lips more than once. And it reflects in Susan’s continuous series of richly written, highly acclaimed, and reader-beloved, novels.
Perhaps the greatest honor I’ve shared with anyone I shared with Susan and her husband Jay when they came to help celebrate my husband’s Navy Change of Command. Susan went on to write THE OCEAN BETWEEN US which I watched, from our overseas tour in Italy, become a New York Times Bestseller. Then of course there was RWA National 2006, in Atlanta. Susan asked me to take her place at the RITA awards, and not only did I do that, I was honored to accept, on her behalf, Susan’s RITA for LAKESIDE COTTAGE.
One thing I’ll always remember about Susan is her fearlessness. We once explored the streets of Naples, Italy together. She calmly sat in the passenger seat of my minivan as I whipped up an alley in the ancient, chaotic city. When I got too close to the lamp posts, and inadvertently smashed off the passenger side mirror, Susan barely screamed.
Where and when others would cower in complete terror, or give up, or fail to reach out a helping hand, Susan remains steadfast and true. She’s been there with me when I sold, when I’ve won a contest, and when I’ve received the umpteenth rejection for the same manuscript.
Susan didn’t wait for me to ask, but offered a quote for my novel to my editor. For those of you not in the publishing industry, this is beyond generous. It is downright remarkable.
The world needs more Susan Wiggses in it. Yet, there’s only one Susan, and I’m so grateful to call her my friend.
Who’s been an anchor in your life?
For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.–Ernest Hemingway
I nearly forgot a career milestone this month. It’s the tenth anniversary of my first book with Mira Books, my current publisher. 
The Lightkeeper was a seaswept, Beauty-and-the-Beast-style romantic epic that takes place on the Washington coast in the 1870s. The setting is literally the ends of the earth, on the Long Beach peninsula at the mouth of the Columbia River, an area notorious for raging seas and terrible shipwrecks. The original title of this book was The Edge of Forever, a title I still love (and a tribute to the Star Trek episode “City on the Edge of Forever”), but The Lightkeeper is probably stronger and definitely more straightforward.
The Cape Disappointment lighthouse still stands. 
When we visit this area, we love to stay at the dog-friendly Lighthouse (where else?) or the Klipsan Beach Cottages. A walk through Oysterville is a trip back through time. Every time I go there, I feel like writing stories misted in spindrift. It’s a place where I find myself writing better than I can.
This book has one blooper that I know of–there’s no way the characters can be drinking marionberry cordial, since marionberries weren’t introduced until the 1950s. Thanks to alert readers, that will be corrected in future reprints. 
Happy 10-year anniversary to me and Mira Books!
So I splurged a little on a dress for a meeting with my publisher and the very, very writer-friendly people at Barnes & Noble in fabulous downtown Manhattan.
And okay, I splurged on the shoes, too. And, um, the bag. As a working writer, 90% of my clothes are the kind of thing you wear to clean out the garage. The other 10% of my wardrobe looks more like this. And how did I earn this hot little number?
See for yourself. This is a shot of me at a booksigning–yes, a booksigning–at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The day was organized around an air show, and there were tables and booths set up in the hangars along the air strip. I found myself sharing a table with an army ranger and his pet, Roxanne the Snake. The ranger wanted me to hold his snake. I said no. I hid behind my tower of unsold books. He insisted, so I told him I would only hold his snake if I sold all these books. (I never sell out at a signing.) But people kept buying books, and I was down to 3, so the ranger bought them all and I had to make good on my promise to hold his snake.
The snake seemed to like me. The ranger did not, because I told him his snake felt like a purse.
Anyway. Here I am with Roxanne, smiling through my inner silent screams of horror, earning any damn dress I want. For life. So there:
Note that this shot is slightly blurry. Why? Because Mr. Manly-Man Husband of Mine was standing about Note that this shot is slightly blurry. Why? Because Mr. Manly-Man Husband of Mine was standing about fifty yards away, too afraid to come closer, so this is with the zoom lens. And, I admit, I was not exactly holding still.
Diane von Furstenberg has to get her inspiration somewhere, right?
Shop on!
Special bonus material–I spotted this on Story Broads:
I want a red dress.
I want it flimsy and cheap,
I want it too tight, I want to wear it
until someone tears it off me.
I want it sleeveless and backless,
this dress, so no one has to guess
what’s underneath. I want to walk down
the street past Thrifty’s and the hardware store
with all those keys glittering in the window,
past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old
donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers
slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly,
hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders.
I want to walk like I’m the only
woman on earth and I can have my pick.
I want that red dress bad.
I want it to confirm
your worst fears about me,
to show you how little I care about you
or anything except what
I want. When I find it, I’ll pull that garment
from its hanger like I’m choosing a body
to carry me into this world, through
the birth-cries and the love-cries too,
and I’ll wear it like bones, like skin,
it’ll be the goddamned
dress they bury me in.–Kim Addonizio
You never know when you’re going to need this–How to say “Cheers” in any number of languages. It’s a long story–like, 110,000 words long at this point–but I needed to have a character say “Cheers” in a South African dialect: “Amandla!”
I can’t vouch for its accuracy but the French and German are trustworthy.
According to this chart, you toast somebody in Asturia by saying, “Gayola.” I can think of some places that would get you a punch in the nose for that. And others that might get you a date…
Slainte,
Susan
Would you please see if you get “Sunrise Earth” on your telly? …And then set your DVR to capture it every day, preferably in High Definition? It’s the sort of program to put on while you’re fixing your morning coffee and then staring dully around, trying to figure out what to write for the day. That’s how it works for me, anyway. I have the prettiest sunrise view in the world, right here (see photo above) but I seriously love getting up with the bison of Wyoming, or with frogs on the Amazon, or the fisherman of Sri Lanka. The only sound track is the natural sounds that take place in the scene. Anyway…check it out. There’s nothing else quite like it on TV.
I made a donation to Brenda’s auction. The winning bidder gets a weekend stay in my guest house, where you’ll see I’m not exaggerating about “The View From Here.” I’ll even make you cranberry-orange muffins for breakfast and take you for a boat ride, weather permitting. You can hide away and work on 
your novel, take a walk on the beach to the day spa or just hang out and do nothing, which is way underrated, if you ask me. So take a look at Brenda’s auction and make a bid on this or other fabulous items. Why? Because she’s raising money to find a cure for juvenile diabetes. I learned quite a bit about Type 2 diabetes (the auction is for Type 1 but everyone can benefit) while writing Lakeside Cottage; the disease touches so many lives. I can’t begin to tell you how important this is, so I’ll let Brenda tell you herself:
Help Brenda Novak make a difference to her son and others suffering from diabetes—shop at her 3rd Annual On-line Auction, May 1 – May 31st at www.brendanovak.com where you can bid on over 600 items, many of which can’t be found anywhere else. It’s easy (works like E-Bay), it’s fun, and all the money goes to research. As an added incentive, the person who places the most bids over all will win a $1500 prize package that includes a brand new laptop computer and a digital camera. So bid early and bid often! Here’s just a sample of what you’ll find:
*R/T Airfare for two to Seattle (from any city Alaska Air flies), hotel stay in downtown Bellevue, $100 to spend at the mall, a trip to the day spa and an invitation to Jane Porter’s launch party for her new book, ODD MOM OUT
*Trips and stays to many places, including a two-night stay in NYTimes Bestselling Author Susan Wiggs’s Guest Cottage in the beautiful Pacific Northwest
*Lunch in NYC at the posh Five Points Restaurant with historical romance author Kristina Cook and her agent, Marcy Posner of Sterling Lord Literistic
*The opportunity to be swept away in a limo at the RWA National Conference in Dallas this summer to have dinner at an elegant restaurant with Brava Author Diane Whiteside
*A handmade quilt featuring the autographs of many NYTimes Bestselling authors, including, Meg Cabot, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Janet Evanovich, Julie Garwood, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Suzanne Brockmann
*Elegant High Tea for Six with NYTimes Bestselling Author Debbie Macomber at the landmark Victorian Rose Tea Room in Port Orchard, WA
*A gourmet dinner with NYTimes Bestselling Author Christine Feehan served in the home of Brenda Novak.
*A Web Site design of up to five pages, including a Flash header element from Stonecreek Media
*A Month’s Worth of Mentoring for any aspiring writer from Bestselling Author Roxanne St. Claire*A Limo Wine Tour for Five with NYTimes Bestselling Romantic Suspense Author Allison Brennan (Napa Valley)
*A designer bookbag stuffed with so many goodies it’s worth nearly $400 from talented author Dianna Love Snell
*Hundreds of gift baskets
*Hundreds of Autographed books
*Critiques and/or lunch/breakfast/tea with agents, editors and multi-published authors
*Much, much more!
This week, I’m a foster mom. Sonny the lab-mix has come to stay while his people are on vacation. He loves the beach! Who doesn’t love the beach? Gorgeous morning and a good writing day to boot.
I’m starting something new (the novel formerly known as Untitled), had a wacky brainstorming meeting with my writers’ group (aka the Brain Trust) and researched* a whiz-bang opening sequence, complete with flying bullets and catering vans careening off into the North Sea. Sophie Bellamy is in for a bumpy ride.
*If you live anywhere near The Hague, Holland, I would love to hear from you! I have some questions….
I went away for the weekend–to Klipsan Beach–to find a title for my new book. My ever-wise editor wants it to reflect a) a sense of place and b) a feeling of escape. So I escaped to a place with a strong sense of place and I’m waiting for a lightning bolt of inspiration. You’d think after 30 books, I’d know better.
The book will be published in February 2008. It’s another of the “Lakeshore Chronicles” books about the made-up Catskills town of Avalon.
How do you find the right title for a book?
Pardon me, I have to insert a quick kvell. Just had the nicest 3-way. On the phone, you guys, on the phone. My editor and agent called to let me know The Winter Lodge made it for a third week on the New York Times list and has even climbed several notches. Plus while we were on the phone, my agent (in Manhattan) spied a naked man out her window. Life is good.
I want to go to Istria.
Also Puerto Escondido and someplace in the Bohemian forest where there are castles. And Nantucket. I’m afraid my literary agent will divorce me if I don’t get to Nantucket one of these days. Decisions, decisions.
But here’s the thing. I live in the best place on earth. It’s easy to settle into a comfy inertia and not go anywhere.
Then I remind myself of what happens when you travel–the things you see and the things that happen to you, the surprises you can’t plan for and the experiences you’ll never forget–when you step out into the world. So okay. I’m up for it.
How do you choose where you want to travel?
So until I plan that trip to Istria, here’s a recipe for a cake from the region:
Okrugli Vrsak
Yield: 1 cake
1 1/2 c butter
1 lb confectioner’s sugar
6 eggs
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond flavor
1 lemon peel, grated
4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
a handful of dried fruits and nuts
Cream butter and sugar; add eggs, one at a time. Add all the flavorings and salt. Add flour and baking powder. Mix only long enough to make it creamy. Add the dried fruits and nuts. Bake in greased and floured tube pan or loaf pan for 1 hour and 15-25 minutes, or until done, at 325 F.
Source: Mary Aziz
“Our Favorite Recipes” St. Anthony Croatian Catholic Church
Typed for you by Karen Mintzias
News Flash! We’ll be talking about this event live or on the Web on KINK-FM on Thursday, February 8, at 9:00a.m. Tune in to 102FM in Portland, or listen on the Web. See you on the airwaves.
Sometimes, serendipity is the best travel guide. I had never heard of The Ocean Lodge in Cannon Beach, Oregon before the manager, Wendy, contacted me several years ago. She had read The Lightkeeper which takes place in the vicinity, and was inspired to create a theme weekend for guests, called “Romance and a Storm.” My job was to be author-in-residence for a long weekend, chief Eater of Chocolate Waffles and head letter-writing guru. Since Valentine’s Day was approaching, I decided the writing exercise would be “How to Write a Love Letter.”
For this writing exercise, the only assumptions were that a) everybody loves someone and b) everybody can write. In our diverse room full of people, we had women of all ages, a couple of well-behaved young husbands (any guy who would attend a workshop called “How to Write a Love Letter” automatically falls into the “well-behaved” category) and a kid who was more interested in the chocolate-syrup pump in the breakfast room than any stinkin’ love letter.
In the back of the room was a burly man in a plaid flannel shirt, a red knit cap on his head and lace-up boots, with his sleeves rolled back to reveal beefy forearms. He held his pen like a blunt instrument. He was easily more than six feet tall and had the body of a linebacker. So I’m thinking, this better be good, because this guy could hurt me.
The writing process for a simple love letter starts with brainstorming and visualizing. I encourage people to picture their loved one (sweetheart, mom, child, pet, anyone they like) and to jot down some key phrases and feelings that come to mind. Ultimately, the goal is for them to put their heart on paper in their own unique, sincere way. Everyone went about it with gusto. I looked at Paul Bunyon in the back of the room and was amazed to see him weeping. He wrote and wrote, longer than anyone else, his big shoulders shaking as his pen moved steadily across the page. Then he blew his nose, gruffly thanked me and ducked out.
I found myself envying the recipient of that letter.
The Ocean Lodge tends to have that effect on people. It’s a place so close to the edge of the world that you feel as though you can touch infinity. People who don’t ordinarily write things pick up pen and paper. Unartistic people grab or pastels and sketchbook, and non-athletes find themselves taking a beach walk or hike with a camera. That’s what an Ocean Lodge Event is all about. I have one coming up later this month.
Please join me for a reception, booksigning and writing workshop in this magical place, February 23-25.
My publisher sent me to an event in Portland called the ABA Winter Institute. It’s a meeting of independent booksellers who seem to care more about what goes into creating a fabulous author event than they do about the countdown to the superbowl.
The author reception and booksigning featured writers with books just out, or galleys to give away. My favorite kind of signing–the books are free, and the room is full of avid readers. What’s not to like?
I made a new friend–Pam Jenoff, who is adorable and talented–got to visit with an old friend–the amazing Cassandra King, introduced myself to a writer I’ve always admired, Frank Deford. He gets the prize for best-dressed writer ever, anywhere. Eat your heart out, Tom Wolfe! There’s a slide show of the event here.
I came home with some incredible-sounding books– The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle, The Society of S by Susan Hubbard, Cassandra’s Queen of Broken Hearts, The Dead Father’s Club by Matt Haig and Pam’s debut novel, The Kommandant’s Girl.
So guess what I’ll be doing during the Superbowl? Decisions, decisions.
