Free Reads

by Suzanne

We've had a new addition to our family. A brand new baby boy! He's as cute as his mother and father, and as bald as his grandfather! (That's him over there--->)

Needless to say, I had to put blogging, writing and reading on hold for a bit. Since I have what my husband calls, "the ultimate Grandma job".

And he's right.

I'm lucky in that I have the ability to chose my daughters' doctors, hospitals, nurses AND I get to be in the delivery room for the birth of everyone of my grandchildren. Now, before you think I get all bossy in there, my coworkers will tell you, I play the role of mom/grandmother and not nurse. I don't get in their way and I don't tell them how to do their jobs. Uhm, I shouldn't have to, I trained all but two of them! :)

So now life is getting a bit more back to normal. I have time to read and visit some of my favorite blogs, like our own Bandit Lair, The Romance Dish, The Romance Writers Revenge, etc...

I've managed to start a new project in my writing. Besides working on my next erotica, revising my western historical mail-order bride story for possible publication, I've started writing some "extras" for my website for people to read. (I had hoped to have them up by now...but that baby came four weeks early!! Impatient boy!) But let me tell you a little about these "extras".

If you've read The Surrender of Lacy Morgan, then you know there are five adopted sons who grew to adulthood on Los Hombres ranch under the guiding hand of their mentor, Anson "Cap" McCarthy. Some tragedy or tragic occurrence left these boys on their own when Cap found them.

So.....I thought it might be fun for my readers to hear each of the boys' stories about how they met Cap. The first three are up today...Quinn, Dakota and Will, with Nico and Ian's stories to follow shortly after. I'd love for y'all to take a look at them, let me know your opinion. You can read them now @ www.suzanneferrell.com

And for those of you who haunt websites, have you found any with extras or free reads you like? What did you like about them? Did they make you want to read the back list of the authors? Did they make you crave more of their series or characters?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

by Caren Crane

I have lately been reflecting on the fact that most of us do not like change. I certainly do not. I don’t rush toward it with abandon, welcome it like a long-lost lover nor make up a guest room for it when it arrives. I was reminded of this when watching Return to Cranford, a wonderful early Victorian-set BBC series based on the writing of Elizabeth Gaskell (author of North and South!). The original Cranford series was delightful and I enjoyed the reprise very much. Both series, however, dealt with the staid and traditional people of Cranford having to deal with a Dread Change – the coming of the railroad to their village.

It is hard for me to imagine what a huge impact this had on rural England, but the series did a good job of making me empathize with their plight. I had no trouble believing the changes in their lives shook them to the core, for the stages of change are like the stages of grieving for me.


1. DENIAL – I usually start out resisting change at a visceral level, by denying it is really happening. It cannot. It will not! Only when my buried head, the fingers stuffed in my ears and the chanting of “la la la” don’t hold it at bay do I move on to the next step.



2. ANGER – Next is the tempestuous storm of change-induced anger. Why is this happening to me and mine? It is wrong! Unfair! Undeserved! Inconvenient? Um, okay, that’s the crux of it. Change is most inconvenient, especially when it means changing things I enjoy and am comfortable with, like my daily routine or spending habits.




3. BARGAINING – This is a short-lived stage of change for me, since I am a pitiful bargainer at the best of times. I never bargain with God, since I figure He knows me too well to believe any promises made in the heat of the moment or from abject terror of the unknown. I tend not to bargain with people, either, which may be healthy or may just mean I miss out on some good deals. Hm.



4. DEPRESSION – Next comes a stage I’m really, really good at. I can do depression with the best of them. I am the Queen of the Lament! The only problem is, I get bored with depression in a hurry and my natural optimism buoys me back up. Job loss hasn’t kept me down long, either my or my husband’s, and having to move hasn’t done so either. I’m sure something really horrible like losing my house could put me in a real funk, but I’d find a silver lining eventually. My husband doesn’t understand the optimism thing, but it’s very real allows me to pull myself up by my bootstraps no matter what happens.


5. ACCEPTANCE – The taste of acceptance is often bittersweet. Sometimes far more bitter than sweet. Still, acceptance of change does make it easier to handle. I love peace and for things to be settled and calm, so the sooner I accept whatever change comes my way, the better off I am.

Still, I feel for my friends in Cranford. Those great steel machines, belching smoke and steam into the once-pristine air of Cheshire must have upset the dear people to no end. But change, like death and taxes, is inevitable no matter where we live and can often be beneficial.

In high school, we moved in the middle of my junior year and the middle of my senior year. Two Dread Changes. While there were many difficulties as a result (hello, no junior or senior prom for me!), I think overall the changes were good ones. Better high school the first time and better lifestyle the second time. I have loved my 28 years in North Carolina (not to mention my native NC husband) – a state I might never even have visited had it not been for the second Dread Change!

Are you a change lover or a change denier? Do you leap to catch the curveballs life throws you or do you duck? Have you had a change that seemed bad at first, but turned out to be great in the end? Do share!

Life Changes

by Christie Kelley

My oldest son graduated high school on June 3rd. It was a lovely ceremony filled with laughter, tears, and some wonderful memories. As I sat in the stands watching the some of the children that I’ve known since my son was in second grade, it hit me that not only is my son’s life changing, but mine as well. It was time to realize that my son was now an adult.

What a strange concept!

The idea of having another adult in the house is finally starting to sink in. He still won’t be 18 until July 4th, but he certainly isn’t a child any longer. I started noticing the change him in about a year ago as he came out of the hormone induced middle teen years. Suddenly, my son wasn’t just telling me what video game he’d played that day, he was talking to me on an adult level. We were having philosophical conversations about life and the world.

And the truth is, I love it.

He’s turned out to be a wonderful young man. I count myself fortunate that he’s decided to live at home for two more years and attend the local community college before transferring to a bigger university.

My younger son just turned 13 so as he enters those awful teen years, it’s nice know that he too will eventually come out of it. Hopefully, he will get through those years as well as my oldest did.

All these things made me think about other upcoming changes that we all go through. Several of the bandits are going through their own changes. Some have children leaving for college this year. Others will be empty nesters for the first time. Others have to deal with an ailing parent. I know change is supposed to be good, but it can cause all kinds of emotions to run through us, too. It's nice to know we can share these emotions with our friends.

So what about you? Do you have any upcoming life changes you’re dealing with? If you have children, how will you (or did you) deal with your kids leaving home whether for college or for good?

THAT MOMENT IT CLICKS

by Suzanne

No this isn't a discussion about my digital camera or my ability to take really cute pictures of my grandkids, (although I do and they are!). No that clicking you hear is the light bulb going off over your head when you suddenly have a great idea. Or that moment when everything falls into place like cubes in a game. Or that moment when you know, deep down in your gut that something is right, or God forbid, something is wrong.

Click.

What? You think I'm a little loco in la cabessa? Well, I may be, but let me give you a few examples that reinforce my belief in the power of the click.


1978...Mount Carmel School of Nursing. At 19 years old, I'm a senior doing my mother-child rotation, this week in Labor and Delivery. I'll graduate in the spring. I've got my plans for what I'll do with my career. I've adored two nurses my whole life. My mom, who was a surgical scrub nurse and Hot Lips Hoolihan from the M*A*S*H TV show--another surgical nurse. I'll go straight into the OR and follow in their footsteps. But first, I have to finish school. Today, I'm standing at the foot of a delivery table watching my first baby being born. As the head, then shoulders, then body emerges, tears fill my eyes and there's a loud "click" in my head. I realize in that moment that my plans are forever changed. THIS is what I want to do.

Fast forward three years. Met my husband. No the click didn't happen then. A month later we went on our first date. We spent the evening eating pizza, then going to a dance club, but didn't dance too much. But afterward, when he kissed me goodnight, CLICK. Not the kind of electrical current thing that would make us vulnerable to be around in a thunderstorm kind of click. Just the, this is the one I could spend my life with and be happy, kind of click. That was more than 28 years ago and counting.

Sometimes my "clicks" are subtle and I have to listen very closely to them. Occasionally, I'm staring at a fetal monitor strip and I just get that feeling deep in my gut that says, "Click, this baby is in trouble." It comes with time, experience and training, but when I listen, then the doc listens to me, things usually come out good. Sometimes, it's a quiet "click" about one of my kids, or a friend, or my parents. You know, that urge to make the phonecall, just because they've been on your mind all week long? And when you do...sometimes it's just your voice they need to hear at the dreadful moment in their lives? CLICK

Another click happened while we lived in Florida. I'd always played with writing scenes when I was bored and had nothing to read. This particular night I wrote a great scene about a heroine escaping up a hillside from a man she knows is a killer. It was historical, the hero is her husband, but doesn't know she witnessed a murder and doesn't know she's fleeing town in such a precarious situation. Oh yeah, it's winter, it's Colorado, and she's eight months pregnant. It's also the middle of the book. That's when the "click" happened. Why was she fleeing? Who did the murderer kill? Why hasn't she told her husband? (That's my image of the hero..)



CLICK! I was hooked. 395 pages later, I'd written my first book!


I've started a new book--a sequel to my story THE SURRENDER OF LACY MORGAN. I've known the hero for over a year now, (imagine Shemar Moore from CRIMINAL MINDS in jeans, chaps and a cowboy hat...yumm...okay, you don't have to imagine, I'll show you...)...er, I digress.

Anyways, I know his backstory, his conflict, his needs. I knew who his heroine is...but I know nothing really about her. With free writing I figured out her motivation and some of her backstory. Then I wrote the first scene of the book, then rewrote it, then rewrote it and yet again. Finally, I let her be proactive to a particular problem, the one that sets her out on her journey... and CLICK!! Yep...gonna be a good story!!!




So, how about you? Ever hear your own "clicks"? That moment in time when your life changes? Your story changes?

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TURN SIGNALS?

by Suzanne Welsh

Have you ever been riding along, minding your own business when someone jumps from the right or left lane directly in front of you without any kind of warning? Their inconsiderate, spontaneous action forces you to make a decision, hopefully quick enough to prevent the crunch of metal on metal and the deployment of airbags. The biggest aggravation is they do it without issuing a turn signal. That tiny little piece of their car that takes one or two seconds to activate. Just poof, they jump lanes and God forbid you're having a conversation with your wayward characters and miss their lane change.

Just this week this happened to me on the thirty minute drive to work. Since I work twelve-hour nights, my commute to the hospital takes place during the evening rush hour when people are trying to get home to dinner or take the kids to soccer/baseball/basketball games. This particular day three people jumped in front of me on one trip alone. (Ergo the blog idea.) None of them used their turn-signals. I could blame it on them being teenagers, but they weren't. Maybe they were on their cell phones? Didn't look like it. Perhaps the kids were fighting in the back seat? Nope. No kids in two of the cars. Maybe their signals were broken? Possibly, but not very likely. It simply happened and I had to deal with it.

There's a line from one of my favorite movies, While You Were Sleeping, that stuck with me long after the movie's HEA. Peter Boyle plays Ox Callahan, the patriarch of the family Lucy (Sandra Bullock) falls in love with. (The family, not Ox.) It's a quiet Sunday morning and Ox is reading the morning obituaries because he's an estate buyer, a company he runs with his son Jack, (Bill Pullman). Jack brings him a box of illegal donuts not allowed on his low fat diet. Ox, says "You know, sometimes life is good. Everyone's healthy, everyone's happy, things are running smoothly." That's when Jack pulls a left turn and says, "Pop, this isn't one of those times." We know Jack's unhappy helping with the business and wants to build beautiful hand-crafted furniture instead. But poor Ox is clueless until this moment. No turn signal. (Although I think those donuts might've been Jack's turn signal for his dad.)

That's how life is. You're going along minding your own business and poof, some drama happens. A son gets engaged, a daughter says, "I'm pregnant", the dog breaks his leg, you're offered a new job you didn't know you wanted much less needed. You have your Ox Callahan moment. Your course is now changed. You must make adjustments in your speed or use your skills to maneuver around the obstacles.

Writing is like that, too. At least for me. I've got my inciting incident, my characters are fully formed in my mind, or starting to gel quite nicely. The plot is taking shape out of that gray foggy mist I call plot-land. The letters and words are flying onto the pages, and poof, the heroine pulls a gun on the hero and says, "Get me the hell out of here." Okkkkkkkaaaaaaay... Never saw that one coming. Or the heroine is riding along tied to the pommel of her horse and poof, a cougar jumps from a cliff onto her and her mare. Yep, didn't see that one coming. Or the hero is minding his own business driving the sheriff's car around town and poof, finds a woman standing on a car riffling through the bank's trash dumpster. Okay, maybe I saw that coming, but he didn't.

Even without those signals that a change is coming, life and writing's surprises can be rewarding. The son married a lovely young lady. Daughter gave me a beautiful granddaughter to enjoy. Dog made great photography with the lampshade on his head. Job turned out to be great fun and more money. The heroine with the gun? She was complex and dear to my heart. The heroine attacked by cougar, has great fortitude. The sheriff? Sexy, funny and worth the heroine's love.

So dear readers, have you ever had one of those no-turn-signal moments in your life? Or if you're a writer, in your story? Did it turn out worse or better than you imagined?