Book club love

I was supposed to be there, and I was so sorry a looming deadline caused me to miss out when a group of lovely readers, members of the Happy Bookers book club, recently met one evening to discuss CROOKED LITTLE LIES.

I can honestly say I write for book clubs or more accurately for the member discussions they give rise to. Readers form clubs for that very reason, so they can talk about what they’ve read. A book is a great way to discuss the good stuff, the sometimes-hard life stuff. You can review a fictional situation and the resultant actions of a character with far less emotional investment than if those same circumstances were personal. Unlike real life, reading about a difficult journey gives us distance, a perspective, and time to sort through our feelings. It’s easier to talk in the abstract and still, it can be its own form of therapy. That’s always my hope, anyway, that along with sheer enjoyment, a story I write will be inspiring of openhearted, in-depth and spirited conversation.

The members of the Happy Bookers called me before they began what I heard was a lively discussion of CROOKED LITTLE LIES. They passed the phone around to say how much they enjoyed the story and a bit about what it meant to them. I was thrilled.

Thank you Happy Bookers! Your phone call that evening was a delight.

Pictured are: Jink Willis, Teresa Brown, Beth Fletcher, Sandy Singletary, Betty Channing, and Julie Jakubson

Members not shown: Carol McVey, Shirley Morrell, Jane Presley, Windy Bordo, Mary Van Compernolle and Rebecca Gilman

The art of waiting

The book ready to go!!

It's almost impossible not to draw a parallel between the birth of a child and the birth of a novel into the world. As a mother, I mean. Maybe it's different for dad authors. The biggest similarity, for me anyway, is the waiting. The closer the day comes, (or in the case of the kids, the closer it came) the more antsy I get, the more nervous and excited. Normally it's easy to lose myself in the writing of a new story, but for some reason that only works sporadically in the final weeks before a new book--one so many have worked on so long and hard, one I've dreamed of long before I set down the first word--comes out.

It seems whether it's books or kids, I need a bigger distraction, one that's more physical. As time shortened before the childrens' arrivals, I cleaned obsessively. I made drapes. I stitched entire layettes, flannel gowns with silk-ribboned drawstring hems, little embroidered jackets, tiny overalls with puffy, decorative trapunto knees. T-shirts with snap shoulders by the dozen.

The distraction still under construction...

Now, as the day approaches for CROOKED LITTLE LIES to make its debut, I'm gardening like mad, making a miniature fairy garden this time to defray the anxiety of waiting. I think, if I'm not mistaken, a few fairies have come to scope out the location. Sort of like I hope a few readers will scope out this post and possibly even look for the book on Amazon. Oh, I can't even say how delicious the build-up is. You know what they say, anticipation is everything!

I can't wait to share CROOKED LITTLE LIES with the world! It's coming in August!

A bouquet of good news

I am thrilled to announce that the publication date for my latest novel has been moved up from the fall of 2015 to July 21, 2015!

Since before Christmas, I’ve been in revision mode, working long hours and so absorbed that there have been days when I scarcely registered the sweep of the sun. I would look up and notice it was dark. The work has been intense, but I love it. There’s something magical to me in the editing process especially when you have expert guidance, which I do in my lovely editor, Tara Parsons. With the input from her lighting my imagination, the story has taken on added nuance and layering. Everything about the characters, pacing and plot has become fuller and richer until the story is real to me. I often dream about the characters or find myself wondering if they’re okay now, and on the heels of such a thought, I’ll be startled to remember these folks are figments of my imagination. And that’s the second bit of good news. The revision is done!

Anyway, after being in the tunnel so to speak with this project all this time, I was elated to learn how quickly it will be out in the world. Just in time to slip into your beach tote. I’ve said it before and can’t help saying it again that I can’t wait to share this book with you!

Out this week: SAFE KEEPING

I'm happy to announce the release of my latest novel this past Tuesday. SAFE KEEPING is the story of another family in my fictional town of Hardys Walk, TX. The Lebays could be your next door neighbors. In fact maybe your kids went to school with theirs. And when their son is arrested for murder, your shocked. You talk with your neighbors and nod your head with the rest when they say how relieved they are it isn't their kid. You lie awake, staring at the ceiling wondering what you would do. It isn't the first time for the Lebay kid, either, who really isn't much of a kid at 34. The police questioned him a year ago about another girl who was found murdered in the same stretch of woods near the Lebay home--near your home, you think. It's close, too close. You thought you knew those folks. You go to church with them, shop at the same grocery store. They keep up their property just like you.

You can't imagine the heartbreak that's going on behind their closed door.

You can't imagine the revelations either, the awful truth that is bound to come out now. Because it's hard to hold onto your secrets when you're put under pressure, when the very lives of your family, your children, and everyone you love is threatened.

I really loved writing this book. The idea came from the time I lived on prison grounds and met the families of the inmates. They were ordinary folks for the most part who were given such a hard path to walk, caught up in a heaving sea of emotions from love for their son to anger over how he could have done the crime he was incarcerated for. They often felt they were jailed, too. It was heartrending, but also awe inspiring to see their courage in facing the crisis and weathering it. Often they said their family was stronger. SAFE KEEPING explores a lot of this territory. It seems the ultimate test of a family's love to have one of its members arrested for taking the life of another human being. While I was writing I kept getting this image in my mind of a person caught in horrific flood waters, how they struggled to hang on to the limb of a tree, or whatever solid, anchored thing they could find, but gradually, as they were battered by the wind and the water, their grip loosened, and finally there was no choice; they had to let go. So it is with the Lebay family. But it's often like that when we're hammered by some calamity. You can't plan for them usually; you can't prepare. So often all you can do is hang on, and ultimately, a lot of the time what we're forced to do is let go. It's scary. No one can predict the outcome. It's like this novel. The ending was so unexpected. Even for me. And I'm the author. So much for plans, huh?

One final note, another novel from MIRA, a very fine novel, THE RETURNED, by Jason Mott, was
also released in paperback this week, at a lower price point. I was glad to be in such good company. If you haven't read THE RETURNED, I can highly recommend it, and in case you didn't know, the television series, RESURRECTION (ABC, Sunday nights. Check your local listings.) is based on Jason's book.

Announcing EVIDENCE OF LIFE, a brand-new edition

Initially published by Harlequin/MIRA in the spring of 2013, a brand-new, mass-market edition of EVIDENCE OF LIFE goes on sale today. The story centers on a woman who is caught in a web of lies after her husband and daughter go missing during a camping trip to the Texas Hill Country. As she undertakes a search for them, certain facts come to light, challenging everything she believes about her family and her life. In addition to the beautiful new cover, this reissue includes the first chapter of SAFE KEEPING, my latest novel, coming from Harlequin/MIRA in March of this year. SAFE KEEPING is the story of an ordinary family, in particular a mother and daughter, who are forced to confront the unfathomable when their son and brother is arrested for murder. How far will they go to save him? How far would you go to protect a family member accused of a horrible crime?

 

I’m thrilled on so many levels to see these books come out, but I’m especially happy for the opportunity it gives me to say thank you again. One year ago I was on the verge of one of the most exciting adventures of my life when EVIDENCE OF LIFE first became available to readers in the form of actual hard copies they could hold in their hands. Since then, it’s been a rollercoaster of ups and downs, and I wouldn’t trade one minute of the ride. So often when the going gets hard, it’s tempting to give up on a dream. I’m so glad I didn’t have to give up on this one, thanks to Barbara Poelle, my fabulous agent, and to Erika Imranyi, my wonderful editor. A year ago they were fairy godmothers in star-spangled dresses, wielding magic wands. They still are, but now I also number them as friends. Thank you more than I can say, you guys! A boatload of thanks and joy to Readers everywhere, too. It’s all of you who make this dream possible for all of us who work in the publishing industry.

Loved this novel: Garden of Stones by Sophie Littlefield

How far would you go as a mother to keep your child safe from harm? What could you be driven to do, if like Miyako Takeda in Sophie Littlefield’s beautifully rendered and touching novel, Garden of Stones, you knew that, ultimately, you could not be there to protect your young daughter from the horrible assault you know lies in wait for her? The answers to these questions would be difficult enough under ordinary circumstances, during peace time. But for Miyako and her daughter, Lucy, who are imprisoned and subjected to the inhuman treatment those of Japanese descent endured while they were kept in the U.S. interment camps during World War II, the times are anything but ordinary. When the story opens, it is some thirty years later, and a man, an American, who was associated with the camp, is found murdered. It’s a mystery and a source of terrible concern to Patty, Lucy’s daughter, when her mother is implicated. Unaware of much of her mother’s and her grandmother’s painful history, Patty assumes her investigation into the matter will prove her mother’s innocence. But what Patty learns, through a series of shattering revelations, will alter forever her ideas about herself and her courageous and lovely mother and grandmother. In this poignant narrative, a tragic history is recounted, and the true bravery of women and mothers is explored; there is the murder of a man, too. The ending contains unexpected twists, and a haunting question: Who is really responsible? Who committed the more heinous crime?

Cinderella: It's not just a fairy tale....

I think I know a little bit how she must have felt on that magical night! One week ago today I received word that a long-held dream had come true and just as magically, like that, my life changed course. I was a freelance writer/editor and author who six months ago had indie published her own fiction in e-book format. Now, in addition, my fiction is to be print published. I will hold in my hands an actual book and when you have loved books your whole life the way I have this is a gift, a true miracle. I am especially grateful, too, because it was the love of books and reading that inspired my desire to write. I wanted to give back, or give on, the wealth of joy that I found in stories. To me reading a story is like opening a door into another world, one I can’t experience in any other way. It is a way to explore human nature and to peer into its mind. It is a way to know myself. My big sister taught me to read. We’ve shared the love of reading our whole lives. Together with our mother we have always revered books. In life there is so much change and upheaval. For me books are the one constant, the single reliable presence. The source for light and joy. They have lifted me out of myself, provided me with inspiration, moved me to tears and to laughter. Taught me to think, helped me to discover and to question. Now there is this possibility for me to give this same gift to others through my stories, to give pleasure, to give food for thought and imagination.

Some have voiced concern that as the result of the electronic revolution, printed books will be lost to the world. Maybe, although I can’t imagine it and don’t ever want to see that happen. In any case, the art of story will never be lost. It’s woven into our DNA, threaded into the very nature of life. The universe itself tells a story.

In some of my indie book reader mail and reviews, readers have said they felt as though they were with the characters or living in the character’s heads while reading the stories. I love knowing that the world I create in a book and the people who are brought to life from the page are that vivid. I love hearing that a reader has been moved by a story, that something inside them has shifted as a result, a thought, a belief, perhaps a judgment against or a prejudice is reconsidered.  One reader said reading gave her relief from disturbing issues in her own life, that for awhile she was just lost in a different world. I wish there were a way for me to convey to every reader how much these comments mean to me or how thrilled I am for this new opportunity to reach many more readers, to put something solid into their hands … a gift with beautiful art on the cover and pages to turn.

EVIDENCE OF LIFE will be published by MIRA in April of 2013. The process is unfolding now and I have so much to learn, but it is such a joy because every day I will be doing what I love to do. Thank you to Barbara Poelle, my wonderful agent, whose guidance and insight honed the novel’s focus and thank you to Erika Imranyi, my fabulous editor at MIRA, whose enthusiasm and encouraging words have made me that much more determined to be the best writer I can possibly be. They have both inspired in me a desire to work harder, although when it is so gratifying to me, I almost can’t think of it as work.

I am planning to chronicle the journey here, from now until next April I’ll post about progress on a regular basis. I don’t want to lose the memory of one minute of this experience. I hope you’ll want to join me.

On Facebook the other day, I commented that I was so happy I caught myself skipping in the grocery store parking lot. I didn’t even care that people stared. That’s having joy. I so hope I can share that here, sprinkle it around so everyone feels the benefit. People should never be too old to skip or to dream or to have their dreams come true. They should never be too old to believe miracles can and do happen.  I know because one has happened to me.

Buy This Book: Come Back To Me

Come Back To Me, by Melissa Foster, is a compelling portrayal of what happens when the human heart is subjected to loss and uncertainty. It is a story that proves that the language of the heart is spoken and understood in the same way the world over regardless of the hostility that is generated through our differences when it comes to matters of race, religion or culture. It is also a story that illustrates that hope is always possible.

I love the title of this book: Come Back To Me. It is what we ask, universally, of those we love when they leave us whether they are going to fulfill an obligation to their country or to pursue a dream. It is the truest test of love when we can open our hands to set the one we love free. The story begins with this request, but, ultimately, it becomes a story about courage and coming to terms. It is about being brave in the face of danger and keeping faith right in the teeth of every logical argument from every friend we have who says we’re foolish. It’s about being true to yourself and what you believe in no matter how often those beliefs are tested. Be prepared, though, for an ending that may not be quite what you expected.

For more about Melissa, visit her website.

The Ninth Step: It’s arrived and is now available for downloading from Amazon

I have heard other authors compare having a new book come into the world to the birth of a child, but for me, it feels more like sending a child off to their first day of school. At two different times, I left each of my sons at the kindergarten classroom door wondering what if he’s dressed wrong? What if the other children make fun of him? What if he’s missing something vital? What if no one likes him? When my second son, David, was born, Michael, his older brother, suggested quite strongly to me an hour or so after we brought David home that his visit had been long enough. I could return him to the store now, where I got him, and put him back on the shelf. I’m remembering that today, and smiling, I think: What if readers have the same reaction to my new novel? What if they just want to put it back on the shelf?

So it is with some new-mother anxiety and a lot of joy and excitement that I announce the arrival of The Ninth Step, a story of love and betrayal, of revenge and forgiveness.

Thank you readers and book lovers everywhere and thank you to Amazon Kindle and other Indie reader venues. You’ve opened the door to what seems a limitless horizon!