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…because the discount on the best little writers’ conference in the west expires after that. Seriously, if you want a day of inspiration and enlightenment, come to the Field’s End Writers’ Conference. FE has a WordPress blog now, too. Visit to learn more about the stunning setting, incredible workshops by Priscilla Long, whose cult-like following expands every year. Girlfriends Mary Guterson & Carol Cassella who will be keeping it real for you. Gentleman George Shannon as the ever-effervescent emcee. Jim Lynch, who ignored an e-mail I once sent him, trying to ID something on my beach, so I’ll give him trouble about that. Mignon Fogarty, the one and only Grammar Girl. And…be still my heart…they are making collages! Do you hear me? COLLAGES. Best writing tool since peacock-blue ink was invented.
Post in comments if you decide to register. Do it! Do it NOW!
So here’s why writers don’t get cocky no matter how well their books are selling. The actual work of writing never changes. This is Lakeshore Christmas. Or it will be if I get my revisions done and make my deadline. After I sent this baby off to my publisher, my editor and copy editor had their way with it, and suddenly the baby is ugly all over again. The blue tabs at the tops of the pages are the revisions I’ve accomplished so far. The ones down the side are sections I still need to rewrite. By next week.
weekend o' fun
Oh, and yes indeed, that is fresh snow you see in the background out the window. Thanks for asking!
Oscar who? Just Breathe is up for a Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Award! Thank you, New England RWA! Here’s a list of finalists. Get reading!
Finalists are listed in alphabetical order.
***NEC Member
Short Contemporary Finalists
The Ride of Her Life – Natasha Moore
The Catcher and The Lie – Rita Oberlies
A Christmas Wedding – Tracy Wolff
Long Contemporary Finalists
Blame It On Paris – Jennifer Greene
Just One of the Guys – Kristan Higgins***
Just Breathe – Susan Wiggs
Historical Finalists
Enticing the Prince – Patricia Grasso***
Frontier Courtship – Valerie Hansen
A Knight Well Spent – Jackie Ivie
Romantic Suspense Finalists
Bed of Lies – Pam Champagne***
Under Fire – Beth Cornelison
Pitch Black – Susan Crandall
Erotica Finalists
Prince’s Fire – Cara Carnes
Immortal Kiss – J.K. Coi
Forbidden: The Revolution – Samantha Sommersby
Future/Fantasy/Time Travel/Paranormal Finalists
Red Fire: A Gods of Midnight Novel – Deidre Knight
Prey – Melina Morel
King of Sword and Sky – C.L. Wilson
When she was little, I used to stick her artwork on the fridge with magnets. So consider this a virtual magnet-sticking. Good going, kiddo!
twentysomethings, weddings, Chicago, food, life, fitness...
Reminder: It’s simple to keep all the blogs you read on one page with Google Reader. Here’s how.
Fireside.
Wiggs, Susan (author).
Feb. 2009. 416p. MIRA, paperback, $7.99 (9780778326175).
REVIEW. First published February 15, 2009 (Booklist).
For years, hard-living Bo Crutcher has worked diligently toward a New York Yankees pitching spot, but just when it seems likely, he learns that his son AJ needs a home after his mother is detained by the Texas INS as an undocumented alien. Kimberly van Dorn, a hotshot media-relations expert in Los Angeles, is also experiencing a dramatic life change. She has fled her abusive client-boyfriend for the safety of Avalon, New York, and her mother’s ancestral home. Having satisfactorily provided for the adult Bellamy generation in a string of popular novels, including Snowfall at Willow Lake (2008), Wiggs now directs the spotlight onto secondary characters readers have met in previous installments of her small-town contemporary-romance series, the Lakeshore Chronicles, poignantly revealing the catastrophic results of unjust immigration laws, especially on the American-born children of deported parents.
— Lynne Welch
Sister, niece and I picked the hike labeled “most difficult” in Snow Canyon. No wonder we were the only ones on the trail. Big payoff, though. Check out these shots of us scaling the volcano, looking down into the crater and out across the white rock and red rock canyons.
top o' the world
I’m proud to present The Ocean Between Us…in Lithuanian:
Susan Wiggs
Tarp mūsų – vandenynas
Greisė Benet turi viską: nuostabius vaikus, ištikimą vyrą Stivą. Jos gyvenimas pilnas kelionių ir įspūdžių. Bet netikėtai iškilusi vyro paslaptis sužeidžia ją iki sielos gelmių. Greisė suvokia skaudžią tiesą: daugybę metų besirūpindama Stivo karjera, šeima ir buitimi ji pamiršo save.
Atskirtiems kaltės ir ilgesio vandenyno Greisei ir Stivui tenka įveikti didžiausią gyvenime išbandymą ir išmokti amžinąsias širdies pamokas.
Atskirtiems kaltės ir ilgesio vandenyno Greisei ir Stivui tenka įveikti didžiausią gyvenime išbandymą ir išmokti amžinąsias širdies pamokas.
Iš anglų kalbos vertė Miglė Puzarienė.
I love to read and write with music playing. The playlist for writing Fireside is a thing of beauty, I gotta say. You can see it, listen to samples or get it for iTunes here.
If you’ve read the book, you know Bo is in a garage band with Noah Shepherd, Eddie Haven and Ray Tolley. I picture them a little like this:
It’s a cover by Bowling for Soup of an old classic, “I Melt With You” by Modern English, which I used to listen to endlessly when I was but a young whippersnapper. The Texas guitar in the video is great, and the bass line (In my book, Bo is the bass player) is nice and simple.
…and I really mean a flash because I have to go ski. But I am proud to report Fireside is on the Barnes & Noble Long List today. Yay! (This is a list to add even more titles to that towering TBR. Check it out.
The View From Here 