My Birthday Wish...To You

by Gina Ardito

Today's my birthday. How convenient that it's also my day to blog here at Classic And Cozy. Never mind how old I am. Let's just say, I passed the half-century mark a few years ago and leave it at that. With all those birthdays behind me, I have no need for additional gifts. Instead, I'd like to give all of you my birthday wish. I wish for you:

Books you can't put down.

Time to read them.

A cozy spot.

Love.

Laughter.

Good health. 

Magic moments.

People to share it all with.

Know joy. Embrace love. Give to others. Never stop learning. These are the keys to a life well-lived.

P.S.: To begin this wish, I've put my most recent release, REUNION IN OCTOBER, on free download from Amazon for Kindle this week. Beginning today through August 24. You can download your copy here.  

WHERE'S MY VACATION?

As the summer moves along swiftly toward the beginning of a new school year, it seems people everywhere are talking about vacations they've taken – they speak of Disney Land, Virginia Beach, an Alaskan cruise, Colorado, the Cayman Islands, Turkey, even Cuba.

I listen with envy – where's my vacation? I'm a grown woman, for goodness sake, perfectly capable of planning and arranging to take a real vacation. Yet my one trip to Disney World was in July 1976 during the Bicentennial celebration. I don't know that I've ever seen Virginia Beach; if so, I don't remember. I certainly never saw any portion of Alaska. We made a trip from Texas to Yellowstone National Park – almost 25 years ago. We once drove to Branson, Missouri. At the time, I'm thinking we were the youngest people in the city. If we went back today, we might fit in just right, age-wise.

Are we over-due for a real vacation or what? It's not that I don't have plenty of vacation days to take from my law firm job. Where have they gone? Not to the Caymans, that's for sure. I sometimes spend a week with my Mom who lives across the country. Other days are used for writer's conferences or family events – weddings, family reunions, and the like. Of course, I use some days to stay home and write – especially now that I'm faced with a very real book deadline.

To tell you the truth, I'm not longing to leave home and fly to some faraway place on vacation – I mostly wish I were longing to do so. If I could snap my fingers and magically be standing before Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon I'd do it. Do I want to see foreign countries before I die? I'm not sure – it seems like a lot of trouble to go through and a large unnecessary expense.

Why doesn't the joy of vacation out-weigh the hassle of getting there for me? Is it because I'm a homebody at heart? Or because I'm just as happy sitting home and reading books? Or my thrifty Pennsylvania Dutch upbringing won't allow me to spend the money? Or all of the above? Seriously, I keep saying – in a very vague way – that we need to get out and see the U.S.A.

I really ought to make plans now – because time flies – tempus fugit as my mother-in-law liked to say. She's not with us anymore – her time to travel has passed. Which ought to send me a very real message.

Do you love to travel? Where's your favorite place to go?

Mystery author Kay Finch is currently writing her new Bad Luck Cat Mystery series set in the Texas Hill Country to be published by Berkley beginning in 2015. Her Klutter Killer mystery, Relative Chaos, features a professional organizer who finds a dead body in a hoarder's garage. Kay lives in a Houston, Texas suburb with her husband, two rescue dogs and a cat. Visit her web site at www.kayfinch.com.

Meet Me Monday! Ten Classic and Cozy Questions for Sofie Couch

<<This is a new feature running the 3rd Monday of every month and will give you a chance to get to know our contributing authors on a more personal level.  Sofie Couch is the impetus behind the Classic and Cozy blog, so we put her on the hot seat first. >>

Okay, inquiring minds want to know why a writer? Certainly not for the fame and fortune or maybe it is?

I love story. I love storytelling. I love words as an artistic medium, which all sounds very fancy, but is really just an excuse to talk to people, whether through a book, (very one-sided), or in-person. I love wrapping myself up in words like a big ol' burrito and wallowing in the cheesey, beany, yumminess of it.

When did you first put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to create the your classic and cozy characters?

1987. I was living in Scotland - far from home. And while I had a permit to work in Scotland, it turns out that if they have two applicants for the same job and one of them is Scottish, they have to employ the citizen first. (Understandably so.) And as it turned out, if it was a job that no Scottish citizen wanted, it was probably one that I didn't want either. So I decided to do what I loved instead. I love reading, so I thought I might love writing. And Wah-Lah, a writer was born. (And no, those first manuscripts that were created in Scotland and printed out on A-4 dot matrix printer paper will NEVER see the light of day.

Do you have a set writing schedule?

Sure! Make coffee. Walk the dog. Write. Get interrupted. Shower. Drink more coffee. Run an errand. Write. Cook. Clean a toilet, write... :) Basically every second that's not consumed with other life essentials.

Is there a certain routine, food/drink, or location that summons forth the muses for you?

The afore mentioned coffee is a must. And I need either absolute quiet or a lot of white noise. I prefer working in the room adjacent to where my son is working. We're a good team and interrupt one another infrequently, yet we can both come up for air, knowing there's someone we love right in the next room to fire ideas off of.

What do you do when not writing?

The family owns an antique mini-mall, so I've just converted my space into a used bookshop. (I LOVE it!) I also dabble in property. I love a good renovation project and have several on-going, but once they are renovated, I rent them out. Here's the little Writer's Retreat that I rent through Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/487795 . It's a short-term rental, so when it's not rented, I can use it for mini writing retreat vacations. (Especially convenient because it's in my back yard.)

I imagine you’ve been reading all of your life (all great writers have.)  What was your favorite book as a child?

SUMMER OF MY GERMAN SOLDIER. It has a rather bleak ending, but as you know, that's not really an issue for romance writers. We just change the endings in our heads, so, s'all good!

Do you re-read books?  If so, which one have you re-read the most?

Definitely. And I REALLY love to read the books before, after and during the movie re-makes. For example, all of the different productions of Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, (don't miss out on Bride and Prejudice - hilarious!), Bleak House, Harry Potter - all of them, Sherlock Holmes and the series, SHERLOCK, SWEETLAND and the short story it's based on, "Gravestone of Wheat" by Will Weaver... Check them out! They're fabulous!

But there is more to life than reading, writing (and most  definitely arithmetic) what is your most memorable adventure in your life? (Follow on  Q--is there a reality show pitch in that?  :) )

I suppose the thing I've done that I'll have to tell the grandchildren about, (the grandchildren that I don't have - yet), would have to be Bodyguard Training School. Yes, you read that right. My older brother and I packed our bags, drove from east coast to west coast to California and took a month-long course on bodyguard training. We shot weapons at targets from moving vehicles, learned to do a boot-leg turn in a car, (and nearly drove off of a cliff), participated in some real-life bodyguard practice, etc. I think we could safely say there is a reality show pitch in that.

If you were on American Idol, what song would you sing to WOW! the judges?

Funny you should ask. Okay, it's not American Idol, but I will be playing banjo and singing at one of the local Farmers' Markets in the next month. I don't know about "wowing" anyone, but hopefully no one will run away when we play/sing: CRAZY (by Willie Nelson), WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN, WILDWOOD FLOWER, among others. It'll be three hours of ... well, intense pain for some, but I'll be joyously oblivious and just having fun with my guitar pickin' buddy.

 

Last question--movie rights. Who will play your two main characters when Hollywood comes knocking on your door? 

In the current Work-in-Progress? I'm going to go with Gerard Depardieux, and Andi McDowell.

Well, that was fun!  Thanks Sofie!

You can read more about Sofie Couch and her published works at www.sofiecouch.com 

Inspiration

by Sandy Cody

Writers (at least this writer) are always looking for inspiration. I don’t mean ideas. Most of us have more ideas than we know what to do with. Maybe I should stop saying “we” and say “I” because that’s who I’m really talking about. What I look for most is a way to tell the story that will make the vision in my head come alive in a reader’s mind and (I type this hopefully) in their heart. Sometimes I look so hard that I forget that the best ideas usually come from close to home. They’re all around me in my daily life - in the things I do and see and hear - and, most importantly, in the things I remember.

I'd like to introduce you to the source of my best memories - and definitely my best source of inspiration. Meet the McGee girls, five sisters who grew up on a farm in Missouri during the Dust Bowl years. The one on the left is my mother, the other four my aunts (obviously).

When I was a little girl, I loved to sit so still that I felt invisible and listen to my mother and my aunts talk about their lives, the people they’d known and the things they’d seen. You know the book that claims “everything I really need to know I learned in kindergarten”? I think everything I really need to know about writing, I learned from those family stories.

I wasn’t very old when I noticed that, even though they were all talking about the same event or the same person, certain details changed and, with different details, it was a different story. Without realizing it, I had just learned a valuable lesson about writing: the devil is in the details. A cliché? Yes, but true. Isn’t that why cliches become cliches?

There was a mysterious neighbor whose land touched my grandparents’ back pasture. He lived alone in a big house that my cousins and I were convinced was haunted (a conviction the sisters did nothing to discourage). Every sister had a different story to tell about him. Depending on the narrator, he was:

bad to the bone,

painfully shy,

proud and arrogant,

misunderstood and lonely

or (in the language of an era before political correctness)

a nutcase.

I wondered how the sisters could have such diverse perceptions of this man. Five girls had grown up in the same house, with the same parents, had been taught the same values, had known the same person and, yet, each seemed to describe someone totally unique. Another lesson for a writer-to-be: the power of point of view.

It even occurred to me that there might be five brothers with identical faces and different personalities. How else could five sisters have such varied accounts of the same person? I longed to know this man, to see which sister had it right. 

Eventually, I understood that they were all right. Each had seen a different side of the same complex person and each had filtered what they had seen through their own set of complexities. So I learned the most important lesson of all – that every human being is a puzzle and the writer’s challenge is to keep adding pieces until all the baffling inconsistencies merge into a recognizable whole. Do that, and you’ll have a character who lives beyond your pages and a story worth listening to.

How about you? What’s your best source of inspiration?

Let's Talk Romance Book Covers

Do you judge a book by it's cover?

Readers have been reading romance for centuries, but it wasn't until the 1940's that eye-catching cover designs were used to attract readers. These single process color covers with simple titles were responsible for helping to create the phenomenon that is the Romance Novel.

Personally, I'm a fan of the medical romances popular in the 1960's. I recently came across the above book and several others while on a trip to London. They were sitting in a box outside a used bookstore for the equivalent of 25cents US. The original price was 35cents. I am attracted more to the covers than the stories. You've gotta love a nurse in uniform with a somewhat threatening background.  

Here's a cover of another book in my collection. Back in the 60's, women were stay at home moms. Faraway themed stories were very popular.

When I published my first book, Brooklyn Ballerina with Avalon Books, it came under the category of a Career Romance. By then the color process had improved offering brighter color and more variants.

Today, indie authors are always in search of a cover artist who will produce a cover that not only attracts readers, but serves as brief story board for their novel. The options these cover artists have to work with is endless. 

When I needed a cover for my 1st self-published novel, I found my cover artist, Ravven. Her colors and details were exactly what I was looking for.  

Recently, MAC cosmetics introduced a new line "A Novel Romance" collection. The deep rich colors of the lipstick, nail polish, and eyeshadow are intense and pleasantly appealing like the colors on the cover of modern romance novels.  

Ludima Gus Burton — A Very Special Lady

Jean C. Gordon here with a tribute to Avalon author and personal friend Ludima Gus Burton who passed away July 23 at age 94. I met Ludima in the late 1990s when I belonged to the Saratoga Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. Ludima was a charter member of the chapter and served as Treasurer for many years. She sold her first book, Only for a Year, to  Erin Cartwright-Nuimata at Avalon Books in 1999, the same month I sold my first book to Avalon.

Our books came out June 2000. They're still available for Kindle. And we had our first book signing together, along with Classic and Cozy author Tracey Lyons, who later also sold to Avalon Books.

Ludima was 80 years old!

She went on to write three more books for Avalon . . .

 . . .  and published six more non-Avalon books after that: A Surgeon's Miracle, The Christmas Ball, Never a Cougar, Drew Get's It Right, Wife: Lost and Found, and His Son, Her Daughter, which was just recently released.

Before becoming an author, Ludima taught high school Social Studies at Northville Central High School in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate NY for many years. She began her second career as an author of sweet romances in 1991 at age 71.

Always ready to give encouragement, she was a popular speaker at conferences, book signings and events, and her positive and generous spirit will be greatly missed by all who knew her. She loved life, literature, her family and friends, and animals, especially her little dogs, Nikko and Buster.

Saddle Up!

By

Sandra Wilkins

          “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.”  That’s one of my favorite quotes from an old John Wayne movie.  The statement can apply to all kinds of situations—serious and not so serious.

          Not long ago, I did something I never thought I’d be able to do.  I’ll spare the details, but let’s just say my heart was thundering like a herd of horses, my mouth was as dry as the Sonoran Desert and I was shakin’ in my boots (well, black flats anyway).  I was wondering why I was putting myself through the misery.  After all, it wasn’t something I “had” to do.  I really wasn’t sure if I could go through with it.  But, I could feel the support of the others around me.  I knew I’d be safe in their hands.  While I didn’t perform as well as I would have liked, I didn’t disgrace myself either.  I actually had fun after it was over.  All in all, I’m so glad I did it.  It was extremely empowering to conquer a fear.   

          I think it’s good to push ourselves out of our comfort zones once in a while.  We might find a new pastime we can enjoy or make new friends in the process.  I think especially if you’re trying to bring joy to others it’s definitely a worthwhile pursuit. 

          Is there anything you’ve been hankerin’ to try but have been afraid to give it a go?  Why don’t you join me—and let’s “saddle up”!

    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.