No rules. Just write.

Is it possible for a writer to run out of imagination?

2011-07-29T10:29:00.000-04:00

This morning I came across this quote from novelist Will Self (hat tip to Advice to Writers):

Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea forever.

At first glance, that looks like pretty good advice. But after a moment's reflection, I'm not so sure. While I've been known to carry notebooks, and have sometimes found myself scrambling for paper and pen because I was not carrying a notebook, I believe Mr. Self should rethink emphasizing that always.

Imagination is not a river that runs dry. It may flow swiftly at some times and sluggishly at others, but it's always there to draw from as long as a writer can calm her nerves and discipline herself to stop whining about being "blocked" and just sit down and write something, anything, even if it's garbage. Because even when our writing is garbage, that garbage comes straight from our imaginations. And we'll have plenty of opportunities to clean it up as we continue to hammer out our stories.

I agree that it's a good idea for a writer to carry a notebook. After all, she might be standing in the checkout line at a grocery store when she's struck by a fantastic idea for Chapter Three. And if she's unable to write it down, she might forget it before she gets home. But I disagree with Mr. Self's assertion that a writer must always carry a notebook and his implication that it's such a terrible, terrible thing to lose an idea.

I'll admit to being annoyed when I've lost ideas. Just yesterday morning, I lost one because I was in the shower and didn't have a Moleskine notebook handy and I didn't want to jump out and run for one without first rinsing the shampoo out of my hair. But it was no big deal, really. As someone who exercises her imagination on a daily basis, I know good ideas are a dime a dozen. So what if I lose one now and then? Another one will be along in a minute or two, and it might even be better than the one I lost in the shower.

I'm not saying writers shouldn't carry notebooks. I'm just saying we shouldn't obsess over having pen and paper handy at every moment of the day. Because nothing hampers creativity more effectively than the fear of losing it.

Because I can do better, that's why

2011-07-26T07:59:00.000-04:00

I've never shared this story except with my family and a couple of my writer pals, but I did something rather unusual after turning in my last contracted manuscript to my Harlequin "Love Inspired" editor: I admitted that I didn't believe what I had given her was my very best work.

I'd been laboring under a tight deadline, and I'd run out of time. So the day before it was due, I overnighted my manuscript to New York City. It wasn't perfect, but I figured that was okay because my editor was bound to ask for one or two small revisions. When I addressed those, I'd have an opportunity to tighten up the story. And then by the time I mailed in the revised manuscript, I'd have produced a novel I was as proud of as I was of my first three books.

Things didn't go according to my plan. My editor called to say that she "loved" the book and that she was sending off the paperwork so somebody would cut me a check for the "on manuscript acceptance" portion of my advance.

What followed was the most humbling experience of my career. I admitted to my editor that I wasn't satisfied with the manuscript I'd sent her. Then I asked if I could have it back for two weeks.

Not necessary, she said. I love the book you've written.

But I can do better, I insisted. Please let me have it back.

She was plainly shocked. She was very familiar with authors requesting deadline extensions, but I gathered it was the first time an author had asked for a manuscript back after she had accepted the final submission. She tried to talk me down from what she no doubt believed to be an odd case of nerves for a previously-published author, but in the end she gave me two more weeks. I worked twelve- and sixteen-hour days, but when I sent that puppy back to New York, I was happy with it.

That book, At His Command, was published in the autumn of 2008. While it's my least favorite of all my books (because it was Book Three of a six-author "continuity series", and I had to weave in subplots and minor characters that appeared in the other books), I'm still very proud of it.

Those of us who aren't kids anymore can remember the TV commercials Orson Welles did for Paul Masson wines some thirty years ago: "We will sell no wine before its time." Well, I promised you all a brand new novel this month, and the month is almost over. Until this morning, I still thought I could pull this off: I'd simply run through the manuscript one more time to check for typos, and then I'd spend the next couple of days formatting and uploading it to Amazon's Kindle Store and Barnes and Noble's Nook catalogue and so on. But I've been uneasy about this planned release for the past week or so, and my conscience is now demanding that I give the book some more time.

Look, I know I don't belong on stage with the world's best romance writers. But I like to think I'm a decent writer who has occasional flashes of brilliance, and more than a thousand of you (yes, really!) have written or e-mailed to tell me that you have enjoyed my novels. So please take me at my word when I say this new book is simply not finished yet. "Good enough" is not good enough for me, and I don't think it's good enough for you, either. So if it takes two more weeks or even a whole month of polishing to make sure this novel is the best I'm capable of offering you, then I am going to take that time.

Your understanding and patience will be very much appreciated. If you want to follow my progress, be sure to watch this blog and my Facebook page.

Writing my heart out: New book coming soon!

2011-07-08T14:17:00.003-04:00

[Edited on July 9, 2011.]

I'm still on track to finish my inspirational romance e-book and release it in Amazon's Kindle Store by the end of this month. Other e-book formats and perhaps even a print-on demand version will be available soon after that.

Today I took a break from working on the manuscript to try my hand at creating a cover for the book. Here's what I'm thinking about going with:

A note to those viewing this on my blog page: The purple border is not part of the bookcover, but is a decorative frame automatically added to all photos on this blog. There is no border on the actual cover.

I am aware that the teaser is diffucult to read. The plan is to entice e-book shoppers to click on the cover image to enlarge it so they can read that fine print. Pulling people deeper into an advertisement is supposed to increase the likelihood of their making a purchase. (You can click the image right now, if you like, and see it full-size.)

I'd love to see some comments on this. If you hate the cover or even the title, please say so. All of this is a huge experiment for me, so I will carefully consider all honest opinions and suggestions.

Want to write better dialogue?

2011-06-23T11:19:00.000-04:00

I just happened upon this over at Jon Winokur's Advice to Writers:

1. Dialogue should be brief.

2. It should add to the reader’s present knowledge.

3. It should eliminate the routine exchanges of ordinary conversation.

4. It should convey a sense of spontaneity but eliminate the repetitiveness of real talk.

5. It should keep the story moving forward.

6. It should be revelatory of the speaker’s character, both directly and indirectly.

7. It should show the relationships among people.

--ELIZABETH BOWEN

This advice is clearly for aspiring authors, but I figured it wouldn't hurt me to go down the checklist and make sure I've been staying on target in my own writing. I must say, though, that dialogue is the part of novel-writing that has always come easiest to me. Even as a beginner, I had no trouble with points number 3 and 4, which seem to be the ones that trip up almost every other inexperienced writer. I've had to work hard in other areas (description, for example), but I can write dialogue in my sleep, and that's probably why I got published. (I am not a strong plotter, but I can write a compelling conversation, which is a must for anyone submitting character-driven romances to the traditional publishing houses.)

If you're not sure what Bowen means by "routine exchanges of information" here's a hint:

"Jack, it's been ages! How have you been?"

"Just great. How about you?"

"I can't complain. How are the wife and kids?"

"Good. Yours?"

"The same. How are you liking that new job?"

"Lots of new challenges. I miss the old place, though."

"And we miss you, believe me."

All right, enough. I'm afraid I'll injure my brain if I force myself to write any more of that drivel. But you get it, right? Jack and the other guy used to work together and they haven't seen each other in a while, so now they're catching up. The above conversation reads like it was transcribed verbatim from a real-life exchange, and that is precisely what's wrong with it. It will not work in a novel because novels aren't about real-life conversations any more than Van Gogh's paintings are about sunflowers.

If you're writing dialogue today, you might want to bear in mind that suggestion is one of the most powerful tools a writer can wield. You don't have to write a full conversation at all. Just make your readers believe that you did. Here's an example:

He hadn't seen Jack in more than a year, not since he'd left his old accounting firm, Bean, Bean, and Bean. They exchanged a handshake and asked about each other's families, and then after a nervous glance around the coffee shop, Jack leaned forward and spoke in a low, urgent voice.

"What have you heard about the investigation?"

"All I can tell you, Jack, is that the SEC asked me a few questions. But we expected that, didn't we?"

"You didn't tell them about--"

"Of course I didn't tell them. I'm not a fool, Jack!"

See the difference? Hurry past the inconsequential stuff and get straight to the juicy parts. That'll keep your readers reading.

Great video: 29 Ways to Stay Creative

2011-06-11T08:41:00.000-04:00

I'm posting this especially for my writer pals, but I think the rest of you will appreciate it, too.

Now, everyone get out there and have a great weekend!

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

First things first: opening lines

2011-06-07T08:47:00.000-04:00

I'm sure no sentence in any novel is tweaked, rewritten, twisted, pared down, built up, thrown out, reinstated, and in general, agonized over as much as the first line of Chapter One. (Look! I'm clairvoyant! I see scores of writers emphatically nodding their heads!)

As of yesterday, I've rewritten the opening sentence of my upcoming novel at least a hundred times. And while regular readers of this blog are aware of my sad tendency toward hyperbole, I assure you all that this time, I'm not exaggerating. Not one bit.

A hundred times, did I say? No, I'm very sure two hundred is closer to the truth.

I've been happy with the first line of this book dozens of times. But I've always awakened the next morning and thought, no, it's just not there yet, and tweaked it again. But today I've had a breakthrough. Today I liked it even more than I did yesterday morning, which was even more than I liked it the morning before that, and that never happens.

And no, it's not that I'm just sick of writing it and willing to settle. I'm happy with it. So I'm pausing just long enough to write this triumphant post, and then I'll get back to my editing.

This has been an extra-difficult first line to write because this book is a bit different from the four books I've written for Love Inspired. One of the main differences is that you won't see the hero and heroine meet in Chapter One, which is something Love Inspired editors insist on because market research has shown that's what their readers want. So if I'm going to throw you nice people that kind of curve, I'm going to have to engage you right from the start on such a deep level that if you notice at all, you won't stop reading.

Yep, that's a lot of pressure. I must begin weaving that magic from the very first sentence. But as I look at this sentence now, I'm thinking, yeah. This will do it.

Can you see me now?

2011-06-05T19:59:00.002-04:00

Are you following NRJW via daily e-mails or a feed reader? If so, you're missing my stream of Facebook status updates in the blog's sidebar.

Hey, it's no biggie. I'm just posting things like fun and interesting links and videos plus a few pictures of my flower gardens. But if you're a Facebooker and would like to view those little gems, may I suggest that you click right here right now and "like" my Facebook page?

There. I don't know about you, but I feel much better now!

A fitting memorial

2011-05-30T06:53:00.001-04:00

At six o'clock this morning, I was awakened by the sound of cannon fire.

It happens every Memorial Day, when the men at our town's local VFW hall (which is just three blocks from my house) fire the old cannon on their front lawn. It surprises me every time; I'm startled awake and after three or four shots I recognize the sound and realize it's Memorial Day again.

There is never any warning. No notice in our local paper that the old guys will be shooting again this Monday in the morning twilight. And there are never any photographs of it afterward. Nobody gets their name in the paper for having participated. I can't even tell you how many shots they fire, because I'm always asleep when they begin, and after that I'm too confused to count, having been so abruptly awakened. Five or six, maybe. I like to think there's some signifigance to the number, whatever it is.

There's something about the abruptness, the complete lack of warning before and absense of explanation after, that touches my heart. The booming of the cannon reminds me of the shocking devestation of war, the horrendous loss of life. And so this annual early-morning observance seems very appropriate to me.

So this morning I was comfortably asleep in my warm bed when I was once again jarred awake by the sound of cannon fire. After a few seconds my confusion dissolved and I thought, Oh, yes. I'd forgotten. It's Memorial Day again, isn't it? And then I imagined the response of those veterans floating back to me on a morning breeze that also carried the acrid scent of gunpowder:

Yes. It's Memorial Day. And we have not forgotten.

Going digital

2011-05-28T10:00:00.052-04:00

This past week my publisher released a digital version of my long-out-of-print first book, Finding Hope (Love Inspired, 2003) in all of the major e-book formats. I figured that in a week or two, I'd get around to doing some low-key promotion for it. You know, make an announcement here on the blog, and so on. But to my surprise, the book has been selling itself quite well (at least at Amazon's Kindle Store, which is the only one I watch.)

I can't explain that. My 2006 release, A Family Forever, was digitized earlier this year, also without promotion, but that one hasn't taken off (again, I'm talking about the Kindle Store). In my opinion, A Family Forever is the better book. But like so much else in publishing, what sells and what doesn't and why is a mystery to me.

With this latest release, all four of my Love Inspired books have now been digitized. I'm happy about that because I'm tired of apologizing to readers for the paperbacks being out of print and unavailable except from resellers at Amazon, eBay, and the like. From here on out, I will suggest to interested readers that they simply download my e-books. After all, it's not necessary to have an e-reader as long as you have a computer. PC users, for example, can snag Amazon's free app, Kindle for PC. (It's a quick and easy download. Get that and one of my books and you can be reading in less than five minutes.)

My other two books, A Season of Forgiveness and At His Command, were released simultaneously as mass-market paperbacks and e-books in 2007 and 2008, respectively, so they've been out for a good while now. I just mention them so everyone can round out their collections. (Who, me? Humble? Not in the least.)

Perhaps you've noticed that all of these highlighted titles will take you to the books' Amazon Kindle pages. Yes, I'm an Amazon affiliate, but I make only pennies on these referrals, so that's not my motivation. It's just that I'm a longtime Amazon customer and fan, and this keeps things simple for me. Of course the novels are available at Barnes and Noble and at all kinds of other e-book stores.

Less than two months from now, I plan to release a brand-new novel as an e-book. It'll be similar in tone to my Love Inspired books, but quite a bit longer. And it'll feature a rock-star hero, which is the reason Love Inspired declined to publish it. (Don't fault my editor: market research has shown that many of the older Love Inspired readers just aren't sympathetic to famous heroes such as actors, pro-sports players... and rock stars.) But you'll be hearing more about that book here on the blog very soon, trust me.

Imagination and inspiration and romance

2011-05-27T11:16:00.001-04:00

When I opened my front door this morning to get our newspaper, I saw the sweetest thing: a man in a business suit walking his young daughter to school, their eager dog straining against the leash the man held. The girl appeared to be at least ten--plenty old enough to walk to school by herself in our very safe neighborhood, especially as there's a crossing guard on the corner who can see up and down the street. But she was skipping along beside her Daddy, holding his hand and chattering like she would never stop. His head was bent attentively toward her and he wore a besotted smile that melted my heart.

This is what it's like to be a novelist: You observe things, you feel things, and then you set your imagination free to fill in all of the details of the story.

And then you write it all down.

Here's how my mind was working as I shut my front door, newspaper in hand: Does he walk her to school every day? Probably not, because I've never noticed them before. So today was special. Why? Was he just back from a long overseas business trip, or was he about to embark on one? Was this walk a birthday treat for the girl? Was the dog a new addition to the family, and had the girl asked if her new pet could walk her to school?

There may not be a romance novel in any of that, but all of that imagining might help to fill out a scene in my next book, or it might provide some ideas for secondary plots or characters. Even if it doesn't, using my imagination in that way strengthens it in the same way that exercise tones the muscles of my body.

But a romance novelist isn't just a person who imagines. Everyone imagines at one time or another. A romance novelist simply can't stop imagining, not until the story is finished and emotional justice has been meted out and the main characters get the happy ending they so richly deserve.

Life is full of ups and downs. This side of heaven, rewards aren't always given when they're earned. So a great deal of the fun for Christian romance novelists is bestowing rewards on the characters we've created--characters who have suffered tremendous emotional hardships but have bravely bourne them, growing in wisdom and faith. It's deeply satisfying to close a book that leaves the hero and heroine standing together and facing a future packed with exciting possibilities.

You might be surprised to learn just how often Christian romance authors hear from readers who say our books haven't merely entertained them but actually helped them cope with their troubles. It doesn't seem to matter that the characters and situations in the books aren't real. Readers simply enjoy stories about plucky heroines dealing with problems they (the readers) can relate to. So maybe it's not all that surprising that many readers end up relating on such a deep personal level that they're able to draw encouragement and inspiration from the stories.

Yes, inspiration. "Heartwarming inspirational romance" isn't just a clever tagline at the top of every Harlequin "Love Inspired" novel, it's a what those and other Christian novels are. I'm not going to pretend that the books are meant to be lessons in Christian living. They're entertainment. But when novelists show Christian characters struggling through hardships and growing in their faith and overcoming, some people are going to see themselves in those stories and come away thinking that if they'll just trust God a little more and try harder to live right, then they, too might find contentment in this life.

Of course, not every lonely woman is going to end up with a hunky hero, the way they do in books. But at their heart, inspirational romance stories are not about women finding that perfect man, but about women finding themselves by drawing closer to God. It's not getting hitched to the hero that makes a heroine's life worthwhile. It's her realization that her life is worthwhile that gives her the confidence that makes her so attractive to the hero.

Not everyone understands that. One of my favorite cousins, a never-married U.S. Army chaplain, thinks even Christian romance novels encourage women to be dissatisfied with their lives. While I always want to point out that Jesus told parables because people respond to stories, there's probably just no convincing anyone who won't sample an inspirational romance novel or even read a blog post like this one. Would those people change their minds, I wonder, if they could see the hundreds of letters and e-mails I've received from women (and men!) who have eagerly shared what my books have meant in their lives?

Of course I'm aware that whenever my books have changed lives, it was all God's doing and not mine. All I'm doing is writing made-up stories about Christians growing in their faith.

And I just can't tell you how very much I love it.

I feel like such a dummy!

2011-05-24T09:51:00.001-04:00

Still in "spring cleaning" mode, this morning I accidentally deleted nearly a hundred (!) comments on this blog, including all but one or two of the ones on the last several posts. Sheesh!

So very many of you, both old friends and new ones, have kindly taken the time to leave comments encouraging me or providing interesting discussions here at NRJW--and now scores of those comments are gone forever. I'm terribly sorry!

By the way, did you all notice the "Reaction" boxes I appended to the bottom of these posts yesterday, just for laughs? Maybe I should go back and add a checkbox that says "Dumber than a rock."

A new beginning

2011-05-23T11:00:00.005-04:00

Last fall, after a long dry spell during which I dealt with some health problems, I started writing again. Then in December I posted here on NRJW that I was about to submit a book proposal to my editor. I did submit, and last month I received her reply.

The story, she said, did not fit the tone of the Love Inspired line.

Okay, I knew I was taking a chance. I even told her that. But I really liked the story, so I had to give it a shot. And as it turned out, that "bad news" from my editor opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

I decided to publish this novel myself, as an e-book.

I want to say that I've enjoyed writing for Love Inspired, and that I'm deeply grateful to them for publishing my first four books. But I have often wished I could write a longer story and perhaps color outside the Love Inspired guidelines. And now I have that chance.

I plan to release my e-book in July.

At this point I don't know whether I'll submit to Love Inspired again. The door is still open; my editor invited me to send something else, and she said they were eager to have me back under contract. I'd be honored to write for them again, but right now I want to finish this e-book. After that, if a story suitable for Love Inspired pops into my head and I can get a proposal on my editor's desk before she forgets my name, I'll do that.

I can't wait to see what happens next!

Notice anything different?

2011-05-22T16:27:00.003-04:00

Unless you're viewing this post on your feed reader or via e-mail, you've probably noticed that NRJW has had a facelift. (Does it look younger?) All of the old posts are still here in the archives, but I'm going for a super-clean look now. I may add a couple of bookcovers in the sidebar, but that will probably be it.

I've made similar changes to my website. Go there if you want to read long excerpts from each of my books and see ordering information. (Here's some news: Finding Hope and A Family Forever have recently been digitized, so now all of my books can be downloaded to your favorite e-reader or even your PC.) Don't go to the website if you're looking for writing tips. I've cleared all of those pages because they were sadly dated and I'm no longer interested in maintaining them.

In recent months a number of people (okay, six or seven) have asked why I didn't accept their "friend" requests on Facebook. I always reply that my Facebook profile is very private, and almost exclusively for my family. But I have just created a Facebook "author" page, and I'd be flattered if you'd check that out. I plan to avoid duplicating the content that you'll see here on the blog, so if you're reading both NRJW and my FB page, don't worry about seeing everything twice everything twice.

I turned fifty-five a couple of months ago, and since then I've been editing just about every aspect of my life. I'm cleaning out closets and drawers at home, updating contact lists both here online and in my personal life, refurbishing the website and this blog, and so on... and I'm loving my new uncluttered life.

Remember the novel I was working on at Christmas time? I finally submitted it to my editor. Tune in tomorrow to find out how that went.

The swirl and swing of words: Writing beautiful sentences

2010-12-21T12:06:00.005-05:00

Last night I read a book review complaining that a certain romance novel tried a reader's patience because the sentences were too short and simple. I immediately lost interest in the book. Choppy writing turns me off, too. It's almost insulting to be presented with the same banal prose I read in first grade when we were supposed to be having all that fun with Dick and Jane: See Spot. See Spot run.

You might have noticed one of the quotes this blog's sidebar:

"I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions."

--James Michener

That first sentence gets straight to the point: I love writing. It gives us information but it does not engage our imaginations. It's the second sentence that does that. When we read, "I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions," we're drawn into a mesmerizing rhythm that arouses our feelings.

Short sentences tend to convey facts rather than elicit emotions. And since I read romance novels for the emotional ride, I'm not going to be interested in a book full of short sentences. I want novels with heart, novels that tantalize with words put together so beautifully that I'm caught up in their rhythm. I want stories that draw me in and carry me along. I want to feel like a passenger in a train car that rocks me gently as it speeds toward my destination. And it's primarily words that give me that experience. Plot is secondary.

So you'll see a lot of longer sentences in my writing. You might already have noticed that commas are my good friends. And I am positively in love with semicolons, I don't care how much bad-mouthing they get on writers' e-mail loops. The little darlings are darn useful for extending a sentence that's swinging along so well that I can't bear for it to end.

Of course I throw in the occasional short sentence to break things up. Paragraphs full of nothing but long sentences can be wearying, so I write in intervals, the same way I work out on my treadmill: fast, slow, fast, slow. It keeps things interesting. Also, the occasional stripped-down sentence is great for startling readers, for amusing them, and so on. I'm just careful to conserve their strength by employing them only when necessary.

A romance novelist looks back... and forward

2010-12-13T14:20:00.004-05:00

Ten years ago this month, I read something called an inspirational romance novel. I was intrigued by the concept of wholesome love stories for Christian women, and even though I'd never dabbled in fiction-writing, for some reason I thought I might be able to create something as entertaining and as encouraging as what I had just read. So I sat down at my computer that very afternoon and became a writer.

I immediately loved everything about the writing process: the plotting, the research, creating the first draft--and even the rewriting and the editing. So nine months after I started banging out that first scene, I had a completed, highly polished manuscript ready to send to the publisher I'd targeted. I queried and was invited to send in the full manuscript. Then I sat down to wait.

Several months later, in March of 2002, I was contacted by an editor who "loved" the story and wanted to buy it. That first book, Finding Hope, was published in July 2003.

I am not a prolific writer. I've had just three other books published since that time, the last of them two full years ago. As I posted here the other day, some pesky health issues derailed my writing for a time, but I'm back in the saddle again, so as soon as I write a synopsis I'll contact my editor to see if she remembers me and if she'd like to see a new submission.

I'll let you know how that goes.

The obligatory Hey, I'm Blogging Again! post

2010-12-07T15:21:00.005-05:00

Well, I'm back. Yes, it's been more than a year, but my life hit a couple of bumps that made me lose interest in blogging for a while. I was always going to get back on track next week or next month or...

If you ask me, few things are more boring than a blogger who goes on an on about what's been happening in her life and how that all has prevented her from blogging. But I'm about to do that for the tiny percentage of readers who don't think it's boring, so the rest of you might want to go ahead and stop reading right here. I'll understand. Hey, I'd wander off, myself, except that--Whoops!--I'm the blogger. So I'll just get on with all the explaining and forgiveness-begging and so on.

My warmest thanks to everyone who has e-mailed to ask if I'm still alive and still writing romance novels. Yep, I'm still alive, and I've started writing again (I'll talk about the writing in future posts). I've had a long, hard struggle with several health problems, including vicious and alarmingly frequent migraines and other headaches, a long bout with cellulitis that put me in the hospital three times, and the sudden onset of Type 2 diabetes. The diabetes was a real surprise because just a couple of months after a complete physical showed my blood glucose was normal, routine tests during my first hospitalization revealed that I was hitting close to 300mg/dL. ("Honey, are you diabetic?" the nurse asked. "No," I said. "Uh-oh," she said, and the next time I saw her she was holding a syringe full of insulin and asking which hip I wanted her to jab.)

Just a year before I was diagnosed, my beloved mother-in-law had died of complications from the disease. I'm a Christian, so death doesn't scare me, but I'm not a big fan of pain and suffering, so I started doing research on the internet. I read tons of articles about diabetes, and the more I learned, the less it looked like a death sentence. Diabetes can be managed; many if not most Type 2 diabetics can achieve fairly normal blood sugars (halting the threat of pesky complications like blindness, kidney failure, and nerve damage that can lead to foot amputation), but only if they're willing to make the dramatic lifestyle changes necessary to lower their blood sugar. (Medication can help, but is rarely enough by itself.)

So I made some dramatic lifestyle changes. I'm eating much more healthfully now. I'm checking my blood sugar several times a day so I can tweak my carbohydrate intake as needed. (For you carb-counters out there, I get 100-120 grams per day.) And I'm exercising for thirty minutes a day, six days a week.

I've lost more than 75 pounds. Family members and friends say they're "proud" of me, but that kind of bothers me because it suggests they were disgusted with me before. Just be happy for me, I tell them. I don't want to be praised or admired for losing weight, not when our society is so darned obsessed with how everyone looks. I have never hated myself for being fat, and if any of you reading this hate yourselves for being fat, please let me know so I can give you a stern talking-to.

I'm still fat, by the way, but at least now I can walk two miles and not die (unless, of course, I get hit by a bus or something). I don't have a "goal weight" because, again, I don't like everyone's preoccupation with size. I'm just plodding along, eating my whole foods and strictly limiting my carbs and trying my best to be unsedentary.

I'm now certain that being diagnosed with diabetes was the best thing that could have happened to me, health-wise. Because without that, I might never have gotten serious about things like weight loss and exercise and good nutrition. Amazingly, I'm far healthier now than I was just a year ago, before I had diabetes.

For those of you who know about these things, my first Hgb A1c test after being diagnosed in early March was 9.4. By the end of July it was 6.1. But since that time I've lost more weight and started exercising, so my daily blood sugars have dropped to the point that my next A1c result will probably be in the mid-fives, which isn't just pretty good for a diabetic, but normal. (I'm not on insulin. I'm currently taking 1500mg of Metformin a day, but will be cutting back on that after my next doctor visit.)

So. If that's way more than you wanted to know, I apologize. (But I did warn you not to keep reading, didn't I?) The thing is, now that the excuses and explanations are out of the way, I'm ready to start blogging again. Please tell any of your friends who might care.

Crazy in love with Japanese anemones

2009-08-20T19:05:00.010-04:00

I wonder why Ogden Nash never wrote a poem about Japanese anemones? The words roll trippingly off the tongue and suggest all kinds of delicious rhymes:

Japanese anemones.
See them dancing in the breeze.

They're my favorite late-summer flowers. Their strong, graceful stems rise high over lovely mounds of foliage to offer up unscented, nearly translucent flowers featuring adorable green-ball centers surrounded by egg-yolk-yellow ruffs. I mean, just look at this beauty:

I must plant some more of these
Japanese anemones.
The whites are charming, but I think
I should also have some pink.

Rhubarb cake recipe

2009-07-02T20:31:00.005-04:00

If you watched yesterday's Road Trip video, you know I enjoyed some rhubarb cake at a family reunion in Owatonna, Minnesota last Saturday. I don't think I've ever posted a recipe on this blog, but friends have been e-mailing, so I'll just drop the recipe here (Thank you, Gloria!) and point everyone to the link.

I don't know where this recipe originated, so I'm calling it:

Cousin Gloria's Minnesota Rhubarb Cake

1½ cup brown sugar
½ cup shortening
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 t. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1½ cups rhubarb
2 cups flour

Spread in a 9 x 13" greased pan, then mix topping:

½ cup sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts

Add topping and bake at 325° for 45 minutes.

I just got the recipe today and haven't tried it yet, so let me know if I've got something wrong. Gloria didn't say whether she used frozen or chopped fresh rhubarb, but I'm sure either would work.

This is a fairly coarse snack cake, and not terribly sweet. I'll serve it with morning coffee or afternoon tea rather than as a dessert. The rhubarb adds a wonderful tartness.

UPDATED AUGUST 20, 2009:

Can't believe I made such a dumb mistake, but I neglected to include the baking soda in this recipe! My deepest apologies to those of you who tried the cake and wondered if you had done something wrong. (The recipe you see above has been corrected.)

A Twitter friend has asked about the topping. I assured her it is not a streussel topping--no butter, no flour. Just sugared nuts.

My husband made the cake last weekend. It's a very simple snack cake, but we loved its moistness, its sugary, nutty topping, and the tang of the rhubarb (he used fresh, uncooked).

Road Trip

2009-07-01T17:58:00.002-04:00

We just got back from a quick car trip to Minnesota, where we attended a family reunion with our eldest son. Here's a video that might amuse some of you:

See who's reading romance: The 2009 RWA Reader Survey

2009-06-16T12:11:00.008-04:00

Romance Writers of America recently posted its (May) 2009 Reader Survey, a web-based survey of romance fiction readers. Here are some facts uncovered by the survey on our favorite genre's current readership:

74.8 million people read at least one romance novel in 2008.

The core of the romance fiction market is 29 million regular readers.

24.6 percent of all American [sic] read a romance novel in 2008, versus 21.8 percent in 2005.

29 percent of Americans over the age of 13 read a romance novel in 2008.

Women make up 90.5 percent of the romance readership, and men make up 9.5 percent.

The heart of the U.S. romance novel readership is women aged 31–49 who are currently in a romantic relationship.

Pop over to the Readership Statistics page of the RWA website for more information on today's romance readers, including purchase behavior and some surprising tidbits like this:

45.1 percent [of survey respondents] were not aware that authors receive no royalty payment for the purchase of used books.

Sunday evening garden tour

2009-06-14T19:51:00.009-04:00

Last fall, my hunk o' burnin' love got tired of being my garden slave and started his own garden in the dappled shade of our woodsy backyard.

It's looking pretty good for a first-year shade garden. Today I dragged the teakwood glider over so we can sit there together and watch his hostas, ferns, astilbe, lily-of-the-valley, and coleus grow into lush waves of color and texture.

Speaking of garden seating, the smartest thing we have ever done in our yard and gardens was to scatter plenty of tables, chairs, and benches around. (No, it doesn't have to be expensive. You can scour flea markets for sturdy, inexpensive furniture.) We sit outside nearly every day because everywhere we look, there's an inviting seat. I take my computer out to the patio or to the back yard where I can see and smell flowers, hear birdsong, watch butterflies and bees and hummingbirds and so on while I'm writing.

Have you tried writing outside? It's a change of pace and a treat for the senses that will refresh your writer's spirit. If you don't have a laptop computer, just print some pages to edit outside. Even if you live in a city apartment and "outside" means the fire escape, you can sneak a pot of colorful petunias and a comfy chair out there, right? Make it your summer office.

Back to my husband's shade garden. Here's a close-up, seen through the spray from a sprinkler. Looks like an Impressionist painting, doesn't it? (Click on the pic to see the amazing full-size image.)

Oh, look. A few more sunny days and I can pluck the season's first strawberry. If my husband doesn't beat me to it. He did last year, the rat--and his face took on a blissful expression as he described how warm and tart and sweet it was. The rat!

Here's part of the front garden. I love the red-tipped barberry bushes, but they're getting out of hand. Must cut them back because this garden is supposed to be all about the flowers.

I noticed today that the lilies are budding like crazy. There will be lots of flowers next month... unless the wretched deer come along and nibble off all the buds like they did two years ago.

If you like my garden photos, keep an eye on my Twitter feed, because I've been linking to pictures from there instead of posting them all on this (ahem!) writing blog. You don't have to join Twitter. Just watch the stream (you can also see it in the sidebar of this page) and click the link whenever I post a photo.

And now, I'll get back to writing romance. Here's hoping we all have a fun and productive week.

Should you hire a book doctor?

2009-06-10T18:32:00.005-04:00

Today one of my Twitter pals asked if it's worthwhile for an unpublished writer to have her manuscript professionally edited before sending it to a literary agent. At the risk of offending those who make money editing manuscripts for unpublished writers, I must say that paying a "book doctor" to edit a manuscript in the hope that she will transform it into a salable novel is a colossal waste of both money and time.

Self-editing is a huge part of writing well. A writer who has not yet learned how to ruthlessly edit her own work simply isn't ready for publication. Even major tweaking by a paid professional won't turn the lackluster manuscript of such a writer into anything that would interest an agent or a publishing house.

Publishers are used to looking past grammatical and punctuation errors and even awkward scenes dropped here and there. They know all that stuff can be cleaned up because they do it every day. They're always impressed by a "clean" manuscript, but what they're really looking for is a gripping story told by a talented and skillful writer. That being the case, paying a book doctor to make your story more tempting to agents and publishers makes about as much sense as painting a pig's toenails so it will fetch a higher price at the livestock auction.

A published writer is someone who has learned how to edit her own work. She knows how to tell a good story clearly and concisely. She puts words together in such a way that her sentences sing, her paragraphs dance, and her scenes and chapters begin and end gracefully. Some of that ability came from raw talent; the rest she developed through hard work and by paying close attention to the technique of published authors she admires.

Have you ever eaten at a restaurant where the paint was peeling off the walls and the table was sticky but the food was fabulous? If so, you probably went back again and again for the great food. Contrast that with the experience of dining in a scrupulously clean establishment with cloth napkins and sparkling glasses--and ordinary, unimaginative food. Do you go back to those places? Not if you can help it, you don't.

Publishers know how to take a great story told in an engaging way and turn it into a good book. They're not afraid to buy manuscripts that are a little bit awkward, a little bit messy--as long as those manuscripts sing and dance and fascinate.

The bottom line? Depending on your current level of writing skill and how teachable you are, paying a reputable freelance editor might help you learn some valuable lessons about grammar, word usage, and basic story structure. What it will not do is take a story that's not quite ready for publication and turn it into something wonderful.

You will have to do that all by yourself.

Yesterday in the garden

2009-05-26T08:41:00.003-04:00

Picked up this jazzy red watering can over the weekend. Just looking at it makes me grin.

Yesterday I sat on the bench in my front garden and stared for a good ten minutes at these shocking blue irises with their bright slashes of yellow. We planted just six last autumn because I wasn't sure they'd do well in this spot. Now I can't wait to get more.

If you're viewing this on a large monitor, you'll notice the patio is all weedy. I like the bits of bright green moss, but the weeds have got to go. (I'll get my hunk o' burnin' love right to work on that!)

I've forgotten the name of this rose, but isn't it a beautiful color?

These delicate blue campanulas just don't photograph well. This is the best I could do.

Welcome, summer!

Memorial Day: Folding the flag

2009-05-24T23:55:00.004-04:00

I spent more than an hour over at YouTube looking for a good video to share with you all on this Memorial Day. My selection might surprise you, but I hope it will move you to spend a few minutes giving thanks for those brave Americans who have sacrificed their lives in service to our country.

Near the end of each funeral conducted at Arlington National Cemetery, the American flag covering the military service member's casket is carefully folded into a neat triangle and presented to the next of kin.

"It's done very reverently because...it's the token of gratitude from our nation to [the service member's] family."

A step-by-step guide to enjoying a glass of lemonade on a sunny summer afternoon

2009-05-23T15:15:00.011-04:00

It's Memorial Day weekend, so I thought I'd remind everyone how to make and enjoy a refreshing glass of lemonade. Here are the basic steps:

1. Be sure to make your lemonade on a hot, sunny afternoon--especially if you have just cut the grass. (Or if someone has just cut the grass at the park nearest your city apartment.)

2. Don't trust others to make your lemonade. Do it yourself. You will want to be in complete control of fine-tuning the sweet and sour balance. It's perfectly fine to start with a packaged mix, but be sure to use less water to make it extra sour and extra sweet (because you're going to add a whole tray full of ice cubes when you're finished).

3. Forget the ratty old Tupperware thing you've had for three decades and use a glass pitcher. Nothing looks as inviting as a sparkling, sweating glass pitcher full of icy lemonade.

4. Slice and add one whole lemon. This is crucial for reasons of appearance, aroma, and flavor, so if you don't have a lemon, go borrow one from your neighbor.

5. If you grow your own or can buy it at your local market, add several sprigs of fresh spearmint. This is almost as important as the lemon. (Unless you don't like mint--and if you don't like mint, what in the world is wrong with you?)

6. Now fill a tall, clear glass. For some extra zing, add a splash of pomegranate juice and/or some tonic water. Up to you. Garnish with a lemon slice and more spearmint. (I meant to photograph my glass of lemonade for you, but the glass just couldn't seem to stay full long enough for me to aim and focus the camera.)

7. Take your lemonade to a shady spot outside. A bench near some blossoming honeysuckle is ideal.

Or sit next to a splashing fountain.

And now, the last and most important step for enjoying your lemonade:

8. Do not sip it. Gulp it. And allow a sweet, sticky drop to slide down your chin the way you did when you were five years old and your grandma let you drink lemonade until your tummy felt funny.

After that first long pull, be sure to wipe your mouth with the back of your hand and say "Ahhh!"

There. Isn't that delicious?

And aren't you glad you're not a bird? You are able to enjoy an icy glass of lemonade on a fine summer afternoon.

And you don't have to worry about being eaten by the neighbor's cat while you're grabbing a quick drink out of a fountain, either.