Three years later and where I’m At with Writing #ROW80

Posted on by

Four years ago today I never once had it enter my mind that I was going to have written four going on five books. My first book – Friends of Choice – was just a pipe dream. Now I am able to say I am closing in on the first draft of Along Came Neil. I have a minimum of 14k words to go. I never even thought back then that I would consider writing a romance.

My book, Friends of Choice, it was written for me. I had fears living deep down inside me that needed to come out. This book banged around in my mind after my daughter left home unexpectedly when she turned 18. A friend of hers told her that now that she was 18 she could move out on her own and not finish school.

Things have a way of not turning out the way you plan. I had planned on going to my daughter’s graduation that never happened. She still has not passed her test for her GED either. I hear she is close but I don’t know how close she is to getting a high enough score.

You see, things didn’t turn out the way she had expected. She figured getting her GED would be easy Peasey. Not –

Then when I started writing Aaron & Keja, that book was just for fun. It was my way of toying with writing and publishing and just having plain old fun with my stories.

Witch Book came next. I enjoyed writing that book so much that I had the first draft written in sixty days. Almost a NaNo Wri Mo achievement, I just missed it by a month.

With Road Salt, my writing took on a more serious note. With this book I was on a mission after my son entered a residential drug rehab and had been in the program for almost six months.

He had been so proud to tell all the counselors that his mom wrote books he had me passing Friends of Choice around his rehab house. His counselor liked it so much she asked me what are you going to write next. I gave it some thought. There were topics in the news to choose from that dealt with substance abuse. The first one I thought of was snitching.

I presented the idea about snitching to his counselor – she didn’t like the idea. I didn’t give up. I was determined to come up with a new topic that she would approve of. It wasn’t like she was my publisher or editor. It was more about the beliefs of the program he was in. I wanted to write a book that his counselor would find acceptable.

Then I saw her – one Sunday morning on the local TV news station. She was talking about the dangers of Bath Salts – a new designer drug that was having devastating effects not just in the US but world wide. It was being sold globally in our own store fronts legally and online.

So the next time we met with her I told her what I came up with. I pitched it to her and she loved not just the idea of the book but also the name.

That is how Road Salt came to be.

I look back on that past year while I was struggling to come up with the next title and how my desire to write began to change.

Call it inspiration or desire – I now call it a need because each story has made me feel good when they have been completed.

How is your writing week going?

Tell me I’d love to hear from you.

What has inspired you to write the book you are working on? Is there a cause that is a driving force in your life?

Cheer on other ROW80 writers by visiting the Linkey List.

Related articles

Pepperell – Where I grew Up

Posted on by

When you are young, most times you can’t wait to go off on your own never thinking about how you may never return to your hometown. Then as time goes by and you begin to reconnect with old friends you return home to find that your home has changed so much over the years.
Places and buildings change. The town doctors die. Old buildings renovated and neighborhoods are forever changed along with the miles and miles of woods you used to roam.
So this is a YouTube video, a former classmate of mine made, and since I enjoyed seeing it so much, I decided to share it with all of you.

This is where I grew up:  Pepperell, Massachusetts

Excerpt from Road Salt

Posted on by

This is one of my favorite chapters from

Road Salt – Karla’s mom is pretty mad at her for walking out the door when she reminded her that she was grounded.

Hello – 911?

Mrs. Centon hollered, “Karla, you get back here right this minute!”

Karla ignored her and kept right on walking away with her friends. She yelled to her one more time only to see her break out into a jog with her friends and quickly disappear down the street.

Mrs. Centon fumed, “Not again, I will not let you get away with this again!”

Her daughter had done this to her just the other day. She had walked right out the door knowing full well that she was grounded and not allowed outside. Her room was where she belonged, working on her school work, not outside keeping company with hooligans.

“Walk out on me, will you, I’ll show you,” she continued to say. Her words slurred a little but she never took notice while she took another small sip of her scotch and tonic.

That child of hers had not been the same ever since they had moved here some two months ago. She had no idea as to why her daughter was behaving like this. Ever since that first week here, Karla had become rebellious and disobedient and her husband would do nothing about it. He was useless when it came to disciplining their child.

Where the hell was he anyways? Shouldn’t he have been home an hour ago?

They had moved here so that he would be closer to work, but still he was never home on time. Maybe he was keeping company with someone else. No, she shook the notion out of her head, that wasn’t like him. He was a very loyal husband unlike some of her friends’ husbands.

But the fact was, he was never around anymore. But she would deal with him later. Laurette had to do something about her daughter or she was going to get worse. What could she do, she wondered?

Then the idea struck her. She took one more sip of her drink and picked up the phone and dialed 911. It was answered almost immediately.

“Hello?”

“Hello,” said Mrs. Centon. “I want to report a run-away.

My teenage daughter just ran away from home.”

“Maim’, this number is for emergencies only.”

“But this is an emergency. Did you not hear me? I said my daughter ran away from home.”

“If you wish to report a runaway teen then you need to call your local police station, Mrs. Centon.”

“What’s that? How do you know my name? I didn’t tell you my name,” Mrs. Centon slurred. She was bewildered over the fact that the operator knew who she was.

“Maim’, your phone number showed up on my caller id,” answered the operator, “and if you do not need emergency medical assistance then you need to hang up your phone. This line is for emergency use only.”

“Well, I never heard such a thing. Isn’t this the police station?”

“No Maim’…”

“Can’t you connect me to the police station; I mean you are an operator, right?”

“No Maim’,” answered the 911 operator, “we do not have the facilities or the equipment to forward phone calls for anyone.

You need to hang up so this line will be open to receive emergency calls, a life may depend on it May I reiterate this line is for emergency use only.”

Mrs. Centon was about to continue her argument with the operator when a rap sounded on her screen door. Instead of hanging the phone up properly she set the receiver down on the living room chair.

The 911 operator continued to say, “Maim’ I am sorry, you have left me no choice. I have reported your call to the police. They should be at your home within the next few minutes.”

Mrs. Centon forgot all about the phone. She could see the two police officers standing at her door looking in at her.

“Can I help you officer,” Mrs. Centon asked with a heavy slur. She held open the door allowing both officers to enter into her home.

While one officer questioned her, the other one crossed the living room to where the phone receiver was resting in the chair and hung it back on its hook.

“Ma’am, my name is James and this is Officer Theresa, what seems to be the problem here?”

“Well it’s about time you got here,” Mrs. Centon said as she staggered across the room to where her drink was setting on the end table next to her chair.

“I want to report a runaway.”

Theresa took out her pad of paper and began writing down notes as her partner continued with the questioning. At the same time she noted how intoxicated the woman seemed to be.

“Who is this runaway in relation to you,” asked James.

He moved closer to the woman and got a strong whiff of her breath and knew that they needed to handle this carefully.

“It’s my daughter Karla,” the woman fumed.

“Is it alright if we sit and talk,” asked Theresa. She could see that the woman was close to teetering over from her loss of balance.

Mrs. Centon sat down on the edge of her chair. She was still agitated by Karla’s disobedience and waved her hands about her in strong gesture.

James took a seat next to Theresa and continued on with the questioning.

“So how old is Karla and when did she run away?”

“Karla is sixteen and she ran away a little while ago.”

“Ma’am can you tell us what took place to make you think that your daughter ran away?”

“Well for one thing, she was with those kids…the ones I don’t want her around and she knows that she is grounded, but she left with them anyways.”

Theresa asked, “Did she take any of her belongings with her?”

Karla’s mom looked at the police woman strangely before answering.

Mrs. Centon scowled, “Are you implying that I am lying?”

The officers could see how agitated the woman was and knew that this was due to her high consumption of alcohol. It would be best for all if she could be left in peace to sleep it off.

Officer James scribbled a few more notes down on his pad.

“Tell you what Mrs. Centon, we will go and find your daughter and see to it that she returns home.

Can you tell us in which direction she went?”

Laurette stood up and swayed. She had to grip on to the edge of the arm of the chair to steady herself before she was able to indicate by pointing in the direction she had remembered seeing her daughter go, “She went down the street in that direction with her friends. I don’t know what is down there but I do know it is not the school or the Library.

Thank you officer…James,” Mrs. Centon leaned a little bit toward James so she could see his name on his badge. At the same time she glared at Officer Theresa. It irked her to have the woman question her on whether or not her daughter really ran away or not. Of course she ran away…

She waited for the two officers to leave. As soon as they were gone she locked the door behind them and staggered to the bed room. She could barely keep her eyes open and her balance was getting worse. She had to steady herself by grabbing on to any solid surface that was near her like the counter top in the kitchen and the walls in the hallway to keep her from falling down.

The bed was as comfy as it had been when she had awoken around noon time. Mrs. Centon nestled herself among the unmade sheets and blankets and fell fast asleep, never taking the time to change in to any kind of sleepwear.

Outside the house the two police officers walked back to their car. Many times they came across people who were under the influence just as Mrs. Centon was, so they knew they had to take care as to how they were going to handle the situation. Most likely she was making something out of nothing because of her intoxication. Drunks tended to do that.

“Let’s go pay Karla a little visit and see what she has been up to,” James said to his partner as he put the car in gear and drove in the direction toward the basketball court, “Hopefully she has been staying out of trouble since we last saw her.”

House of Skeletons

Posted on by

Italo Calvino said: The more enlightened our houses are, the more their walls ooze ghosts.

Image credit: “love Don’t live here anymore…” – © 2009 Robb North – made available under Attribution 2.0 Generic

House of Skeletons by Linda Nelson – © June 12, 2013

Tara loved the house she grew up in, she hadn’t been back home in over twenty years. How time flies and things change.

She pulled up to the curb and put the car in park. Tara could see the property from her car. A rickety For-Sale sign hung on a wooden post. She wondered how long the property had been for sale. How could the home that she had loved so much fallen into such disrepair?

“There it is,” she said to her best friend Maddy. “That’s where I grew up.”

“That is the house you are going to buy?” Maddy asked. “Your kidding me. You can’t fix that unless you plan on bulldozing it down.”

Tara got out of the car and walked briskly toward the rundown home, Maddy followed close behind. “I’m not going to plow this house into the earth. I can fix it, I know I can.” She poked her head in the doorway where the door was off it’s hinges and leaning up against the wall. Dirt billowed in the front door, spilling across the floor.

Tara stepped over the threshold to look about the building. The Real Estate agent would be there any minute.

The back part of the house was missing where the kitchen and the dining room used to be. All that remained of it was the broken caved in bricks. She had helped her mom bake many a cake and cookie in that kitchen. Her mom passed away while she was in her second year of college.

She could still picture her dad sitting in his recliner in the living room. The chair was no longer there, but her memory was, there he sat watching many a ball game on Saturday afternoons. None of the furniture remained, just the memory of it in her mind. A single tear streaked down her cheek.

Tara’s dad passed away six months ago from a heart attack. Being an only child now meant being alone. But she had Maddy, her best friend and the closest she had to family. Maddy was like a sister to her.

“Hello,” A voice called from outside the house.

“The Agent is here Tara.”

“Okay, can you tell her I will be right out?”

Tara waited for Maddy to step outside the doorway before she crossed what was left of the living room and stooped before the dusty fireplace hearth. There she found the loose brick and underneath it the ring she had hid when she was five. How her mom had gotten into so much trouble for reporting her engagement ring missing. Her dad was rip shit. Tara never told anyone that she had taken the ring. Today she couldn’t remember why she had taken it and not given it back. It was just water under the dam, and all she had left of a memory from a time long ago.

She left the home and stepped outside to greet the Real Estate Agent whom Maddy was now questioning about the price of the property.

“I’m sorry to say. I can’t sell it to you. The property is taken. It was sold last night.”

“Can’t we counter the bid?” Asked Maddy. She looked toward Tara out of concern.

“I’m sorry to say, the owner has already accepted the sale. The property has been paid for in cash up front.”

Tara’s eyes welled with tears. She was too late. She clutched the ring in the palm of her hand that was thrust deep inside her pocket. At least she had that. “It’s all right Maddy.”

“Can I show you another property?” the agent asked.

“No never mind. I only wanted this one because it was where I had been born and raised,” answered Tara. “Thank you for coming out to meet us.”

“Are you sure, I have other properties like this one.”

“No this was the only one I wanted. But can you tell me who bought it?” Tara asked.

“Oh yes, a very nice elderly man. I think he said his name was Barry Cooper.”

Tara felt the blood leave her face. She had no idea her uncle Barry was alive. Her folks told her that he had died when she was five and was never allowed to ask about him ever again. That was until she had entered college and had done a little bit of investigating that turned up a hidden secret. Apparently her Uncle Barry was her real father. No one knew except her dead parents and her. So the skeleton was about to return home and look in the closets and Tara would pay him a visit when he did.

Getting back into the Swing of things for #ROW80

Posted on by

For the past few weeks I have had a little bit of trouble thinking of how Along Came Neil was going to progress. I just couldn’t figure out how to get them from point A in the story to point B. Then there was that missing twist element. I always have to have a twist in the story and the fact that I don’t want my readers to see it coming.

I was just plain stuck.

I’ve never really written a romance before. I have read a few and found them to be kind of humorous. Especially the romances from Stephanie Bond, I like her stories.

So when it came to writing Along Came Neil, I really have to plot and think about what has to happen. It has to be just so or else it isn’t going to work.

I guess it is kind of like how an artist who normally only sketches with a pencil decides to try their hand at painting. They know the technique but they also have to take care with their brush strokes or the picture won’t come out quite right.

If I sat down to write a fantasy it would be a different story. I know I could whip through that in a matter of a couple of months. Reading and writing fantasy is just me. I can really get deep into the story once I start letting go of my imagination. I know the story is all make-believe.

But writing a Contemporary Romance seems too close to home. The characters tend to be more realistic and everyone has their expectations and desires.

Last time I was stuck my friend Linda Kepner said blow something up. I did, I made the kids catch the kitchen on fire.

Well that worked for a bit. Then I got stuck again. Something unexpected and dramatic had to happen. So, on my Facebook author page I ran a poll. What can go wrong with a car while taking a date to the semi-formal dance?

I got some good feedback that helped me brain storm. Thanks – fans! Your help was greatly appreciated.

Then I bounced the same question off of Mike and he gave me a great brain storm. I won’t tell you what it is and spoil the story. What I will tell you is that once again I have drawn from an incident that happened to one of my kids in the past year or two. Still I won’t tell you about it and spoil the story. (lol)

Now I am getting much closer to the end of the story. I have a minimum of 17k words left to go. How hard can it be to write 17k words? It should be a piece of cake.

I estimate that I should be done with this first draft – time to set the final goal – by the fourth of July.

If I don’t make this goal than either there is either a dramatic event that has happened in my life (something to use in a future story) or this book is going to be longer than any of the books I have ever written.

Stop by our ROW80 Linky List and cheer on the progress of other fellow writers – Linky List

June NHRWA meeting:

LOL- this blog is written backwards this month. Usually I begin with the meeting tidbits and end with my ROW Update.

I hear it is okay to be different once in a while…

So yesterday our speaker was Hilary Weisman Graham. She is a writer/award-winning filmmaker/screenwriter from southern NH.

Hilary spoke to us about how she had gone about marketing her book Reunited. By the way, I won this book in the chapter raffle. I am looking forward to reading this YA book about a road trip taken by 3 ex-best friends after they have graduated from High School, only their road trip is not based on dark matter like my on road trip book Road Salt. It should be a fun read.

She told us about her marketing plan she used on her new release from a year ago and told us how she had gone a little bit overboard with expenses but she had fun while doing it. When she was asked if she would do it that way again she said she probably would not.

 – Good to know – It is alright to put a spending limit on your marketing plan. There is such a thing as a little bit too much.

The best tidbit she shared was how she had better book signing success when she teamed up for book signings at bookstores with two or three other YA writers like herself. It gave the audience more of a selection to choose from. – Good to know –

Now I just need to find a few more YA writers in New England and network with them on book signings and I will be all set.

Things happen in due time – so if any of you YA writers are in NH or Ma, even Vt – I would be very happy to join you in a book signing event. Just contact me and I’m sure I can fit you into my schedule.

Memorial Post #ROW80

Posted on by

Memorial Weekend is here. This is the weekend that most folks kick off their summer cookouts and open their pools for the season, even campgrounds kick into full swing with their campers.

This year I’m glad I’m not one of them. It is a cold Memorial Weekend here in New Hampshire. It is one of the coldest I can remember. Snow even fell last night. I saw it. It even stuck to my mom’s skylights in her bedroom. She made sure to point this out to me last night when I could believe my eyes when we saw the flakes falling from the sky in big globs. It is not like we live in Northern New Hampshire either. We are down on the Massachusetts border.

I was worried about our garden. But Mike reassured me that they would be alright even though we didn’t cover any of the plants.

We didn’t wake up to any snow on the ground, thankfully, like some people did in the western part of the state. But it was cold none the less.

The first thing I did in the morning was look outside at the garden. Everything looked like it was still alive. Thank God… My zucchini has been growing so good.

Cold weather does have its advantages though. Since I don’t like it, it made it much easier to stay inside and write.

ROW80 Update:

I have finally pushed past where the kids catch the kitchen on fire. Everyone made it out alive. I won’t tell you who saved the day. You’ll have to read the book to find out. But I am happy to say I added over 3k words to the file today. That is more than I set out to write.

When Kate posted that we should have a goal of 250 words because of the holiday I figured I could at least do that.

Well, well, well, what do you know? I got to the 250 words and kept right on going. How about that?

I think I surpassed my ninety minute writing spurt too, so now I can go back to gaming for the rest of the day while I try and plot out what will happen when the boys ask the girls to the dance.

Have a Happy Memorial Weekend and stay warm and safe everybody.

Writers’ Group Share

Posted on by

Today was my Monadnock Writers’ Group Meeting. I have missed several of the meetings this year along with these posts to go with them. But anyways, here goes… This post is full of great stuff!

Our speaker for this month was Lisa Luedeke. She is a Teen/YA Contemporary Writer like myself. Last August she published her first work, Smashed, with Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry Books. She was a former English teacher turned Professional Editor/Publisher for literacy imprints at Corwin. Her original dream was to be a writer.

Smashed is a stand-alone novel about addiction, secrets, lies and hope as a Teen Field Hockey star hooks up with a bad boy putting her hockey scholarship on the line. A must read for teens.

I would like to welcome Lisa to our writing world and may others look forward to reading her works as I do.

 

Last week was the NHRWA Chapter meeting in Bow, NH.

Our speaker was none other than Cathryn Parry. She talked to us about how important hooks are to our writing. She was very informative and named a good source book to look up about Hooks. It was Got High Concept by Lori Wilde. I quickly got my Kindle copy and found that she was right. It is full of all that hook information all us writers are looking for. Everything in this book touches on what she talked about during our meeting.

Unfortunately I didn’t take very good notes during this meeting. I was too busy listening to her. But that is okay. This source book took the place of my notes.

 

Future News:

I hear that the NHRWA chapter has successfully book Deb Dixon for a Workshop Weekend in NH next spring. I will keep you all updated. I hear that this event is something I really should be looking forward to. And after taking a quick peek at her site, I kind of can’t wait. They have booked so many great speakers so far this year and if they are getting so excited about this gal then it must be something really great.

 

ROW80 Update:

Last week I found my very first critique partner. Yea J

I added 1k words last weekend to Along Came Neil and so far, as of last night there was another 500 words done. I am now at the Burning down the House scene. I hope to make this scene funny and an ice breaker for the characters, not so much as a tragedy but more of an embarrassment than anything else.

So how are you doing with your writing this week? I would love to hear from you.

And don’t forget to check out the above mentioned books. I think you will really like them.

Let them Burn the House Down #ROW80

Posted on by

What do you do when your characters start doing the same thing over and over again and your story starts to sound repetitious because your antagonist and heroine just don’t get it?

Put them in a room together and let them duke it out?

But if they keep fighting will they ever start to change?

I have been stuck with Along Came Neil for almost a month. I have had a hard time moving forward with the story. The girls from my RWA chapter said I am suffering from the Sagging Middle Syndrome.

So how do you get past this point?

I have yelled at the screen, “Somebody do something!”

The words on the screen just stared back at me.

But today on our way to our NHRWA meeting my friend Linda Kepner said, “When in doubt blow something up.”

They’re only teens…

What can teens blow up?

By George – How about the kitchen?

Teens who do not know how to cook in the kitchen equals – disaster…

Excellent!!!

Thanks for the idea Linda K… Now to get busy setting the kitchen on fire so Karla and Ashley can finally, maybe – stop fighting and get on with the story.

NHRWA Chapter Writing Challenge

Oh I have a request for anyone who might be interested in helping me out. We have a monthly writing challenge in our NHRWA Chapter. This month we are to have one chapter of the manuscript we are currently working on read and critiqued by someone who has not read any of our works. So if anyone is willing to read a quick chapter of my Teen Contemporary Romance give me a holler. It would be most appreciated. You can tell me how much you hate the story if you would like. I am game and I have tough skin and I’m ready to learn to write better.

 

Stop in and cheer on other ROWer’s and if they are having a sagging middle, end or beginning like myself tell them to burn down the  noun of their choice. Just like Mad Libs. I always loved Mad Libs when I was a kid.

—->  Linky List

Planting Plots #ROW80 Check-in

Posted on by

Spring has sprung here in New Hampshire and it is about time. I got so tired of the snow and the cold. A bad case of cabin fever has been troubling me since February. But that is over now, thank God.

Yesterday I planted and planted and planted all seeds mind you. Mike tilled the garden plots for me (yes that is right, plural plots) and I planted in them.

We have hopes of a good crop for this year. I planted Butternut Squash, Zucchini, Yellow Crookneck, Cucumbers, Patty Pan Squash, Purple Top Turnips, Yellow Beans, Snow Peas, Green Beans, Carrots, Parsnips, and a bit of Radishes.

But we’re not done yet. Mike has plans for a plot or two of Corn and we still have yet to buy our tomato and pepper plants. Oh and don’t forget the Cabbage too.

Our chickens complained. They wanted out of their pen to free range in the yard. Before he was done tilling the first plot they were allowed out for one last time until after harvest time. They are our tick patrol and they do a really great job too with keeping the tick population in check.

There was not one mole hill to be seen in our yard once the snow melted. That must mean that the grubs are getting pretty scarce too.

We have to be careful about letting them out to free range during the rest of the growing season. They can take out a head of cabbage in less than two minutes. – Not funny –

ROW80 Check-In:

So I was very busy yesterday but I did manage to push past where I was struggling in my story. I think I have come up with some sort of temporary solution to the storyline. I just need to play with the plot a little bit more before I will know for sure. Writing romance for teens is challenging or so it seems to be for me, but I will persevere and figure it out in the end. It just might take me a bit more time to properly write this story.

“Plots are just like planting a garden from seed. It takes time for them to germinate and bring forth the fruits of harvest.”

Sneak Peak – Along Came Neil

Posted on by

For the past couple of weeks I have not made much progress on Along Came Neil. I have been too busy cooking the plot or just plain stuck as to what my character should do next.

This always happens when I get to the middle of the story. I guess this is because I like strong tension between characters but I don’t want the story to be to repetitious. My characters have to create new ways to get back at each other. They have to be creative.

It is kind of like pulling an elephant out of your hat.

So whenever I get to this point I know that to help motivate me to keep going on I must start making my book cover.

Well I have now done so.

Here it is:

 

I like it because it shows two girls who are possibly fighting over who is going to be the one.

Will it be Ashley or Karla he takes to the dance? If he takes Karla to the dance, what will Maggie do about it? She promised her friend Ashley she would take care of Karla once and for all. What could she possible have up her sleeve and will she succeed?