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!

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?