Emily Brightwell – Never Tell Me The Odds
May 2, 2006 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Author Interview
By Dana Diamond
What do you expect out of a cozy mystery author? Sweet, gentle and demure?
How about warm, funny-as-hell and candid about everything from grave robbing to muses and the worst advice she’s ever received! After thirty-plus books and eighteen years in the business, cozy mystery star, Emily Brightwell, knows what it takes to make it in this business. Lucky for us, she sat down to dish with me for Orange Blossom’s The OCC Interview.
Q – Are there any words of inspiration on your computer, in your office or in your mind when you write?
A – “Never tell me the odds†and “Crap can be fixed.â€
Q – Do you have any writing rituals? Schedule?
A – My Mrs. Jeffries books are always 11 chapters long and I also do the ritual cleaning of the office whenever I start a new book. Actually, it’s about the only time my office gets cleaned.
Q – What is a cozy mystery?
A – A comfortable setting, a murder that isn’t graphically described, a list of suspects and no sex – though sex can be a motive for the crime.
Q – Why do you think cozy mysteries are so hot right now?
A – Maybe we’ve all over-dosed on serial killers, CSI, and too many episodes of Law & Order. The popularity of the sub-genre waxes and wanes, sometimes it’s hot, sometimes you’re only writing for a niche audience. But I love writing them.
Q – Among other things, your Mrs. Jeffries books are known for their accurate depiction of Victorian England. What is the best or most interesting piece of information you’ve found?
A – I found that the spikes on top of iron fences surrounding Victorian graveyards were put there to cut down on grave robbing. Robbers used to steal corpses and then sell them to medical schools.
Q – What’s next for Mrs. Jeffries and the rest of the cast? Is there anything you can tell us without spoiling any surprises?
A – There is a surprise coming in the book that I’m working on right now – I just hope it doesn’t make everyone hate me.
Q – What are you dying to try next? Why?
A – Actually, I’d love to write a political thriller. I hope to do so one day.
Q – You’ve written YA’s and romance too. Which is your favorite genre to write in? Why?
A – I love all genres, but I most enjoy writing mystery and YA. Romance was actually very difficult for me.
Q – Why was romance difficult for you?
A – Because I kept killing people.
Q – Which is your favorite of your books? Why?
A – My favorite book is the very first YA I ever wrote; Remember Me became very special when a dear friend died as I was writing the manuscript. I couldn’t write the last ten pages – and I swear, this is true, I was in my office feeling sorry for myself when I suddenly heard Nancy’s voice in my head. She was a schoolteacher so her voice was very distinctive – she said, “For goodness sake, Cheryl, quit procrastinating and get those last ten pages done. I want to see how you’re going to end it.†I finished the book in less than an hour. The book was dedicated to her memory. She was a wonderful person and I still get fan mail for this book.
Q – Is there a downside to success? Or what are the challenges that face you now that you are a success?
A – There is no downside to success.
Q – How do you stay motivated? What drives you to keep writing?
A – Pure and simple, I love to tell stories. I just wish I could tell them without having to put in so much hard work.
Q – Muses or hard work?
A – Hard work – if I waited for my muse I would spend most of my time sitting on the couch watching Korean Soap operas (which, by the way, I do enjoy but only if they’re dubbed in English)
Q – What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
A – I heard it in a Star Wars movie – it was Han Solo and he said, “Never tell me the odds.â€
Q – Worst advice?
A – I’ve heard plenty of bad advice – but the absolute worst was to send a “thank you†note to editors who reject your work and make it clear they have no interest in seeing anything else from you. Rejection is bad enough, thanking someone for it is just one step away from out and out masochism.
Q – What is the one thing you’ve never been asked, but you wish someone would?
A – I wish someone would ask me how many words I’ve written that didn’t get published!
Dana Diamond is the OCC/RWA Secretary, a columnist for OCC’s award winning Orange Blossom Newsletter, a contributer to The Writer’s Vibe and hard at work on her book. You can visit Dana at http://www.danadiamond.blogspot.com/ or http://thewritersvibe.typepad.com/the_writers_vibe/
Kitty Bucholtz: Super-Creative in the Land Down Under
April 7, 2006 by A Slice of Orange in category ArchivesSince my husband John got a temporary job on a film in Sydney, Australia, life has been far more interesting. “Interesting†in this case means both good and hard. I’ve realized as I’ve gotten older that a hard life is not the same as a bad life, so I’m not going to classify anything here as bad. But there are hard parts.
Probably the worst is the cockroaches. Not the two or three a year you see in some apartments. I’m talking set a place ‘cause they’re coming for dinner, try to kill them while shampooing, watch every shadow for movement quantities. A good day means I don’t see any. A hard day is killing nine in the time it takes to get ready for church Sunday morning. (Swearing nine times before church isn’t conducive to a worshipful attitude, but I find myself unable to keep my mouth shut when they come rushing out at me.)
John decided from the beginning of our adventure that we wouldn’t complain about the hard parts. We’d say, “That’s okay, we live in Sydney, Australia!†We wanted an adventure and we got one. We’re both doing what we’ve dreamed of for years – he’s a computer animator on a film, I’m a full-time novelist, and we’re traveling the world. How can we complain?
And yet, there’s still the matter of those nasty roaches. So I named one of the villains in my superhero novel Cockroach. He’s small, agile, works mostly at night and has no regard for humanity. When I found a cockroach on my pillow last night, I decided my villain would leave something at his crime scenes, something foul and fear-inspiring, to let everyone know he’d been there. Perhaps one of my superheroes will lose his grip and start seeing villains in every shadow the way I sometimes see imaginary cockroaches in the shadows of our apartment. A strange and lovely transformation usually occurs about then. I get so wrapped up in incorporating new ideas into the book that I forget the cockroaches!
Of course, that part of my brain sometimes stays active during inappropriate times as well. Like when I was enjoying some personal time with my husband and my necklace kept banging him in the chin. As I moved it behind my back, it occurred to me that a homing device or other signal could be put in a superheroes necklace to let her superhero husband know if she needed reinforcements. Or a communications device could be put into both of their wedding rings. Or maybe…
About this time, I realized I wasn’t focused on the current activity. There was no way I could stop and ask for a pen and paper; I could only hope I’d remember later. But recently I got ticked off at myself because I thought of something really cool in the shower and by the time I dried off and found my notebook, the idea was gone. While I was muttering un-nice things about myself, the thought popped into my head, “That’s okay, I’m a writer.†In the space of a few heartbeats, all my frustrations and hopes and successes of the last three months coalesced into an “Aha!†moment. What do I have to complain about? I’m a writer!
The distractions are as much a part of a writer’s life as cockroaches are part of the life of a world traveler. That’s okay. I’ll figure out creative ways to deal with them. The frustration that I’m no longer employed, yet I don’t spend those extra forty hours writing, is normal. It’ll take time to build new habits to go with my new job just as it took time to learn new money and bus routes and vocabulary in a new land. The successes are too often ignored? That’s okay. Writers are like that. I’ll find fun ways to celebrate – and fun ways to remind myself to celebrate. If I’m creative enough to build a whole new superhero world out of my imagination, I’m creative enough to meet these challenges.
So after three months down under, I’m learning to be a lot more flexible and forgiving and creative as I adjust not only to a new country, but to my new life as a full-time novelist.
And that’s super-okay.
Kitty Bucholtz
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Only one cockroach was killed in the writing of this article. For more on our adventures, go to http://johninaustralia.blogspot.com.
Announcing the Winner of the 25 Days of Romance Contest…
March 6, 2006 by A Slice of Orange in category 25 Days of Romance tagged as Contest - 25 Days of RomanceBefore we announce the two runners up and the winner, the Orange County Chapter of RWA would like to thank Mary-Theresa Hussey, Executive Editor for Silhouette, for agreeing to judge this contest! Mary-Theresa is always gracious and generous with her time, expertise and talent to help out our chapter, which is why the Orange County Chapter of RWA awarded her the very first Helping Hand Award.
Thank you, Mary-Theresa Hussey!
And now it’s time to announce the two runners up and the winner. Starting with the runners up first…
The 2nd Runner Up is…
MR. PERFECT by Dana Diamond!
The 1st Runner up is…
ROMANCE HEROES; ALWAYS THERE WHEN YOU NEED THEM by Michelle Thorne!
And now the winner is…
FAIRY TALES DO COME TRUE by Gillian Doyle!
Thank you all for submitting and reading the blogs, and for making the 25 Days of Romance a success! FAIRY TALES DO COME TRUE by Gillian Doyle will be recorded as a pod cast and the link to that will be posted on the OCC/RWA website by Saturday, March 25th.
Coming Through
February 26, 2006 by A Slice of Orange in category 25 Days of Romance, Contests, From Our Archives tagged as Contest - 25 Days of Romance, Contests, Maureen Child, Valentines Day
A Slice of Orange is closing the 25 Days of Romance Contest by bringing you a Bonus Blog from Maureen Child. We plan to announce the winner of the contest on March 6th. Thank you all!
On Valentine’s Day, my daughter Sarah called on her drive home from work. We usually get a lot of chatting done while she’s stuck on the freeway and that day was no different. Of course, the conversation turned to Valentine’s Day and she asked me if her father had given me the box of See’s Bordeaux that has become tradition in our house. When I assured her he had, she said, “Your sweetheart always comes through, doesn’t he?”
It wasn’t until much later that I realized how true her statement really was.
Mark and I were married when we were kids (although we were not twelve as Sarah insists) and we’ve been married a long time. We sort of grew up together and I can honestly say that even when he makes me nuts, I’m still nuts about him.
Nothing shakes Mark. Where I’m volatile and explosive, he’s steady and quiet (not that he gets much chance to talk around me). He’s the patient one and I’m the one most likely to erupt like some long dormant volcano suddenly springing to life when everyone least expects it. We were a team when the kids were little and now that they’re grown we’re still a team. The team we were when we first started out. And it’s even more fun this time.
Mark is the rock in my world. I’ve always been able to count on him. When my car breaks down in the worst possible place at the worst possible time, I know I can call him and he’l ride to the rescue. When I’m feeling like the world is crashing down around me, he makes me laugh like no one else ever has. When I’m on deadline, he listens to me whine. When I’m obsessing about a new book, he never asks what I’m doing as I stare blankly into space.
And back when I was sure I’d never sell a book, Mark always believed in me.
Romance isn’t just the stuff we write books about’the first flush of love, the excitement charging the air. It’s also about being there for someone every day. It’s about laughing together over jokes no one else will ever understand. It’s about holding hands in the movies and dancing in the kitchen.
It’s about always coming through.
Maureen Child
http://www.maureenchild.com/
EXPECTING LONERGAN’S BABY, Desire, April, ’06
STRICTLY LONERGAN’S BUSINESS, Desire, May ’06
SATISFYING LONERGAN’S HONOR, Desire, June ’06
Reflections of Love
February 25, 2006 by A Slice of Orange in category 25 Days of Romance, Contests, From Our Archives tagged as Contest - 25 Days of Romance, Sandra Paul, Valentine's DayBy Sandra Paul
“I have a great idea!” I told my husband enthusiastically. “Why don’t we put mirrored closet doors in our bedroom? It will not only give the room more depth, it will bring in more light!”
“Why don’t we just buy another lamp?” he replied dryly. “It would be easier.”
Obviously, he didn’t share my enthusiasm. Possibly because I’d been coming up with “great” ideas to improve our fixer-upper ever since we’d bought it two years earlier. Since then, my husband had spent nearly every weekend replacing windows, repairing walls, re-roofing, hanging siding, ripping out carpets, nailing down floors, fixing plumbing, laying bricks, cementing, yanking out tree stumps, laying a lawn, drywalling, plastering, and painting.
All of which he now reminded me of in unnecessarily specific detail.
“But the bedroom is a special project,” I reminded him in turn. “I envision it as our personal, private haven where we can relax. A getaway from the kids, pets—and endless chores.”
I think it was the chore bit that got him. At any rate, he didn’t argue further but put in the mirrored doors for me the following Saturday. When he finished, I stood in the doorway of our newly redecorated room, admiring how the lamplight bounced from the softly glowing burgundy walls to the gleaming mirrored doors and back again. I was totally thrilled with the result of my latest great idea. . . until the next morning.
While lying on my side, I opened my eyes—and stared in horror at the image before me. Less than four feet away was my own reflection, revealed in unforgiving detail in the harsh morning light. My once blonde hair looked dull and lifeless. My eyes were red and swollen almost shut. My skin was puffy and blotchy.
Involuntarily, I made a sound between a horrified gasp and a moan that caused my husband to sit bolt upright next to me.
“What is it? Are you hurt?” he demanded, leaning over me. He tugged down the sheet I’d lifted to cover my face.
“No, it’s those mirrors!” I blurted without thinking. “I look so awful. And now I’m going to have to face that fact, every single morning when I wake up!”
His green eyes widened with surprise, and then narrowed on my face. He stared at me as if he’d never seen me before.
Which was so not true. I’d first met those green eyes when we were in high school. We’d now been married over 20 years, and during those years, we’d spent less than twenty nights apart. I’d studied his expression countless times during countless days, hours and seconds. There was no face on earth including my children’s, I suddenly realized, who I gazed at more often than his. And if that was true for me, then it had to be true for him as well.
Shuddering at the thought, I jumped out of bed as he started to say something, wishing I hadn’t called my looks—or lack thereof—to his attention. I kept busy all day, avoiding mirrors, avoiding my husband’s gaze. And I went to bed that night, determined to forget the whole thing.
But when I awoke the next morning, I was lying on my side again. And I knew, without even opening my eyes, that I was facing those darn mirrored doors. It doesn’t matter; just don’t look, I told myself. I took a deep breath, and resolutely opened my eyes.
My gaze locked; I stared at the doors in amazement. Then my eyes grew misty. But that didn’t matter, because what I saw is forever imprinted on my mind and heart.
Sheets of notebook paper covered the glass. On them my husband had written, “You are beautiful. And I love you.”
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