You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘escapes’ category.
One of the questions I get most frequently is “How many books are in the Lakeshore Chronicles series? In what order should I read them?”
Today’s plan: Stay inside where it’s warm and curl up with a good book.
You can read the books in any order because each book is a complete novel unto itself, but if you want to go chronologically (and if you’re a fan of the Daisy Bellamy storyline, I recommend this), it’s
1. Summer at Willow Lake(a) “Homecoming Season” (a novella in the anthology MORE THAN WORDS: STORIES OF COURAGE)2. The Winter Lodge3. Dockside4. Snowfall at Willow Lake5. Fireside6. Lakeshore Christmas7. The Summer Hideaway8. Marrying Daisy Bellamy9. Return to Willow Lake10. Candlelight Christmas11. Starlight on Willow Lake
How many Lakeshore books will there be? Well, here’s a hint:
(This glimpse into the future comes to you courtesy of the multitalented Suzanne Selfors.)
I sent this snap to a friend to convince him to bring his family for a visit this summer. Taken from my beach:
Not sure why I thought of this but I like the thought:
One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.
— Sigmund Freud
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 http://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 http://www.fieldsend.org.
###
MEDIA CONTACT:
Kirsten Graham
Concept 2 Launch
(206) 890-3435
kirsten@concept2launch.net
kirsten graham
c o n c e p t 2 l a u n c h, LLC
creative consultants
innovation.connections.results
t.206.890.3435
e:kirsten@concept2launch.net
http://www.concept2launch.net
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!
The View From Here 