A Matter of Perception

by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson

The cold season is starting to set in. In my part of the country that means the temps are dropping into the 50s and 60s during the night and the 60s and 70s during the day. Love it! I know that later on we will probably have some ice and maybe a day or two’s worth of snow, but that’s all. We will have some cold weather, just enough so I can enjoy wearing my furs, and that will be refreshing after a summer of the sky constantly being on ‘broil.’

Still, that’s what we’re used to and we live with it. I think it’s all just what we get used to. In September The Husband and I went to Massachusetts to attend a friend’s wedding. It was beautiful even though the leaves had not yet started to turn. The temperatures were ideal. I rhapsodized about them, enjoying them and telling our friend that they were just perfect, as we had left temperatures still hovering around 100 at home. He laughed and agreed, but then said that for most of the winter there would be real cold and lots of snow – like he had 8 feet in his yard last winter.

Eight feet! That’s as tall as our ceilings at home. No, thank you. I cannot see how anyone could exist in such conditions, let alone choose to stay in them. But that’s just me… our friend and his new bride just love it there, so I wish them and anyone who else who likes it joy. Just don’t expect me to come visiting during the winter!

On the other hand, when The Husband and I were in Egypt in January of 2010, I was startled to see coats and sweaters and boots that looked like Arctic gear in a number of Cairo shops. I was even more startled when, later that same trip we were in the Valley of the Kings – half the country south of Cairo. I was wearing a short sleeve polo shirt, lightweight jeans, hiking boots, a sun hat and one of those sleeveless, multi-pocketed photographer’s vests – open, I might add. It was a very comfortable outfit and I was only sweating a little bit. I walked around a corner and literally bumped into a local man.

We stared at each other and I don’t know which of us was the more startled. He had on heavy jeans, boots, a shirt, a sweater and over all that a fur-trimmed parka. He was not sweating. Neither of us said anything, just kept staring as if at some strange alien species while we circled around each other enough to continue on our individual ways.

The point of this little weather report is that it all comes down to perception, and perception controls our writing. Whatever we write – sweet romance, erotica, mysteries, horror, whatever – there are some who are going to say ‘Ooh, how can you write that stuff?’ or ‘It’s all I ever read.’ What is important is not so much what genre you write, but which readers you reach. No one kind of book is going to please all readers, just like no one climate is going to please everyone. To try is kind of foolish, don’t you think?

Genre-bending is regarded by some as a way to try and reach more readers. Maybe it is, but if trying to expand your readership is the only reason you have a cowboy in a space ship having a romance with an alien fairy your story is going to be forced and flat. If having that cowboy in a space ship having a romance with an alien fairy is your story, the essence of why your story exists, go for it.

And that’s the important thing – the integrity of your story. One of the constants is that no story is going to be liked/read by everyone. You cannot please everyone, so you should only be concerned with being true to your story. Metaphorically, snow or sun, ocean or mountains, your story should be your prime concern. Write your story and let the readers come – don’t chase them. 

Winter Never Lasts Forever

Posted by Sandra Wilkins

         Softly, snow floats to the ever-whitening ground.  All of nature seems to pause as if to respect the peacefulness.  Children and adults alike press their glowing faces to the cold panes of glass in great anticipation. 

          Well…maybe not.  When Oklahoma recently had another round of snow, I was jolted to reality as I recognized a lot of people aren’t fond of the fluffy white stuff. Around here, there is the frantic run to the grocery store at the first mention of it.  Fretting and worrying seem to be natural responses to the news.  A few inches cause school and church closings.  Complaints about bad roads and freezing weather are on almost everyone’s lips. 

          Then, I think about those hardy New Englanders under feet of snow.  They must certainly be tired of the man-made mountains and frigid temperatures.  How they survive is beyond me.  My hat’s off to them—they might need it anyway.  

          I have the feeling I’m in a minority when it comes to liking winter weather.  I adore sitting at my kitchen table with my steaming cup of coffee and watching the flakes drifting toward earth from the gray sky.  I think it’s a lovely sight.  It’s a reminder to slow down and delight in the beauty around me.  When it melts a day or two later, the roads are clear and it’s only a memory.   

          Sometimes it feels as if we’re stuck in a repeating pattern of drudgery, but things do change.  It’s the way of life.  So, if you’re one of those who is tired of the dreary days of bone chilling weather or if you have a battered, worn soul—just remember—winter never lasts forever. 

         Sandra Wilkins is busy writing another series while home educating her two daughters.  Ada’s Heart, Rose’s Hope and Gwen’s Honor are her first three published wholesome historical romances.  Go to www.sandrawilkins.com to find out more about her and her books. 

Simple Pleasures

by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson

 It’s been a brutal winter so far, and for some of us it’s far from over. The news has been saturated with shots of gigantic snowdrifts and ice-choked lakes. It’s a dangerous time, when just the simple act of going to work can be life-threatening – if you can get there at all. Even here in the southern part of the country we are coated in ice and a huge number of schools and businesses are simply closed as we struggle to keep warm.

But, once all are well and safe at home, there are compensations. The work of spring – cleaning up and planting the garden, for example – is still safely locked in the future. There is only so much that can be done in the house and, in this season of hunker-down-and-keep-warm there is a disinclination to do housework. (For some of us there is always a disinclination to do housework whatever the season, but that’s the subject for another blog!) The power supply can be iffy, but there are the alternatives of fireplaces and candles and lots of quilts, all in a perhaps unwilling imitation of our pioneer forefathers’ lives.

Don’t get me wrong – I would have made a lousy pioneer. I like my modern conveniences, but still on occasion I can handle the primitive life, if for no other reason than to foster an appreciation of my current electrically powered and well-insulated lifestyle.

When the failure of electricity takes away the TV and radio and computer, we are forced back onto the old methods of amusement – reading, or charades, or board games, or (gasp!) just talking to each other. Of course, you can do these things with the power on, too, but when the power is on families unfortunately tend to fragment into their own spheres.

Whether you have power or not, when you are left to your own devices there is always reading. Even when the weather outside isn't frightful, there is an atavistic comfort in bundling up in quilts, perhaps in front of a cheery blaze if you are fortunate enough to have a fireplace, and reading a book. It doesn’t make any difference if it is a paper or an electronic book, though electronic readers will have to be recharged sometimes, which is a vote on the side of paper books… Anyway, add a cup of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies or, should you be so inclined, a nice hot toddy, and the scene takes on a positively desirable quality.

I realize that it might be considered simplistic or deliberately naïve to even think of taking pleasure from what to so many is close to a national tragedy. On the other hand, my grandmother always said the weather is inevitable, so if it’s going to happen anyway I believe we should go ahead and take what joy we can from it, even as we dream of spring. Happy reading!

In a Nif-Tea Mood for Reading

Today's a snow day for me, which allows me to get some reading in. And perfect timing. I got my tea delivery yesterday. Yes, you read that right. My tea delivery. I get a lot of things delivered. Books (naturally), gifts, clothing, coffee, and...tea. 

My daughter turned me on to the Republic of Tea when she went away to school a few years ago and needed her tea fix on a regular basis. I would send her shipments with new flavors and some of them sounded so good, I had to try them for myself. A few sips of Caramel Apple and Pomegranate Vanilla, and I was hooked. So, yes, every month, my girl (now living home again) and I sit with the catalog, fight over the free sample that comes with it, and try to limit ourselves to no more than six flavors per order. It's not easy. They have black tea, green tea, red tea, white tea, herbal tea, and matcha. There's oolong, rooibos, and decaf. Loose tea or bagged. The possibilities are endless! Last month, they started a Downton Abbey collection with specific teas and flavors based on the popular television show. It's enough to make an Anglophile dizzy.

This time around, we grabbed the usual Caramel Apple for me, along with a Kiwi Pear and a Caramel Vanilla; she opted for Goji Raspberry, Chamomile Lemon, and Vanilla Apple Hibiscus. 

I have separate love affairs with tea and coffee. Coffee is my writing beverage. It's an adrenaline rush, a jolt that gets my creative spark awake and sends my fingers flying over the keys. Tea is my reading beverage. It's a slower, settling-in drink. There's something comforting in a cup of tea and a good book--especially when it's cold outside and I'm toasty warm inside. The word "cozy" leaps to mind.

So, yes, while the snow swirls and the wind howls outside, think of me, cozy in front of a roaring fire, a cup of caramel apple tea by my side, my current book open on my lap, a cat purring beside me. Now, if only I could get my husband to wear a waistcoat...