Author: Erin

Friday’s CWTR: Every woman should embrace her inner goddess

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Goddess-Awakened-MEDCWTR: No, it’s not an acronym for an arcane operating system or a clandestine bureaucracy; rather, it’s my shorthand for new books I Can’t-Wait-To-Read (CWTR). And today I’ve got one that will put you in a heavenly mood, ready for a long weekend of reading…

The Goddess Connection Book 1 – Goddess, Awakened by Cate Masters

With a little help from a goddess, battling evil is a piece of cake for Jocelyn Gibson.

A descendant of the goddess Iris, Jocelyn Gibson may have forgotten about the realm of magic, but it hasn’t forgotten her. When Eric Hendricks is targeted by a demon, Joss must step in to battle the evil and save the town’s awkward, but endearing, vet…who also happens to be the man she loves.

Joss’s new inn, a culinary career specializing in cooking with lavender and a new love all make for a fine recipe of disaster. She needs to embrace her inner goddess and harness the powers she never knew she had before it’s too late.

The Goddess Connection Series

Every woman should embrace her inner goddess. What’s your connection?

In each novel of The Goddess Connection series, the heroine is somehow connected to a goddess. Her lifelong quirks will become strengths once she finds her true place in the world, and accepts herself for who she really is.

And in each, the heroine is encouraged to embrace her inner goddess. And the hero treats her like one! As it should be for every woman.

And be sure to check out the book trailer.

goddessad2About the Author

Cate Masters has made beautiful central Pennsylvania her home, but she’ll always be a Jersey girl at heart. When not spending time with her dear hubby, she can be found in her lair, concocting a magical brew of contemporary, historical, and fantasy/paranormal stories with her cat Chairman Maiow and dog Lily as company.

Excerpt

In starting her life over, Joss had expected some resistance, even some trouble, but not this. The bedroom floor boards trembled beneath her golden-slippered feet. Tendrils of an unseen power curled upward from deep within the ground, tingling through her toes. She paused to steady herself, then continued to put the finishing touches on her costume. The tremors grew into rumbles and their hum seeped beneath her skin. When their tiny wisps twined through her mind, she clenched her hands. Enough. Go away.

Thick as starlight on a clear summer’s eve, sweet as the lavender blossoms she had yet to plant, energy whooshed up through the cracks of the worn wood and out into the October night.

She gripped the bureau until it passed, the vibrations rolling over her in lessening waves. Bubbly, effervescent waves. “Third time tonight, Taz.” Each departure took longer, and more of the essence remained.

When the dog whined, she stroked his fur. “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt you.”

Even if tonight the waves were palpable enough to make her hairs stand on end. Oh, no, please.

Nothing could ruin tonight. More than a party, this event would determine her future. And after three years of grief, she’d never allow anything to trap her in its clutches again.

Writer Blog Tag: I’m It

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While playing tag this past Saturday with my nieces, I never expected to hear, “You’re it,” well into the following week.  Yet, it’s Thursday morning and  I’m still playing tag. This time, though, I’ve replaced my nieces with fellow writers.

Author Kristi Rose tagged me for the Writer Blog Hop–a series of questions about the writing process. You can find my answers below and be sure to check out Kristi’s, as well as the responses from the writers listed at the bottom of this posting (their websites are also great places to find reading suggestions!)

What I am working on/writing

I’m immersed, to the point of drowning, with the three E’s: editing, editing, and then some more editing. Yarn Weavers–an urban-fantasy-romance based on Mayan mythology (how’s that for a genre-buster?)–is due out from Lyrical Press next year and it’s getting a major polish.  A mystery about snake-wrangling brothers sits on the back burner.

How does my work/writing differ from others of its genre?

I take ordinary events or objects and give them a twist–a knitted scarf capable of finding missing children or a wig made from gold. Then I sprinkle in a few eccentric characters–a man who dresses like a candy corn or a girl who can read messages in the clouds–and send them on  an adventure.

Why do I write what I do? and How does my writing process work?

Current events and everyday encounters often get stuck in my imagination. Turkey vultures perched along the road look like a coven of witches or an ordinary tapestry resembles an opening to another world

These story ideas churn around in my brain for days, months, sometimes years, until they practically force their way out through my fingertips. Next I jot down several paragraphs or pages, whatever I can. Then I take a breath and make a rough outline of the plot and characters, filling in the blanks and reworking it as I go.

*****

Thanks for stopping by but you’re not finished yet–this game of tag never ends… Hop over to these author’s pages for writing insights and book suggestions: Anya Monroe, Kim Smith, and Desiree Holt 

Quick Picks: Watch Your Back – Murder on skis

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WatchYourBackAuthor Tracy Bilen has combined two of my favorite activities–skiing and reading mysteries-into an intriguing mixture of action, romance, and suspense.

The only catch… I’ll have to wait until April 2015 to read Watch Your Back (Tulip Romance) but I’m already looking forward to it:

“When sixteen-year-old Kate hears the boom that ends her parents’ life, she doesn’t even realize it has anything to do with her. Until the police arrive at her front door.

Sent to live with her aunt at a ski school in Vermont, Kate tries to adapt to her new life. But then Kate’s aunt is hit by a speeding car and a rogue FBI agent tries to force Kate into his car at gunpoint. She’s saved by Ryan, the risk-taking skier she’s only just met.

On the run, the two must unravel the truth about her parents’ murder in order to stop a terrorist plot and save their own lives.”

Detroit Workshop: The “humiliating miserable thing” called writing

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For those of you near Detroit, hop over to 826michigan’s “How to Write Like I Do” workshop on June 20. Jason Porter will present “Necessary Contradictions: Hating the Thing We Love to Do While Loving the Thing We Hate to Do.”

“Being successful as a writer demands the necessary contradiction that we are our harshest critic while simultaneously being our biggest fan. In this workshop we will honor above all else any and all tactics that return us to the writing process. Harmless tricks. Arbitrary goals. Writing with a pen. Closing our eyes. Unplugging routers. We will do whatever it takes to get us back to doing that excruciating humiliating miserable thing we can’t seem to get enough of: writing.”

Get all the details here. Proceeds benefit 826michigan’s creative writing programs for students in Detroit’s schools, libraries, and community centers.

Celebrating Fathers 4: The Biggest Bear

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DadBearMy father Stan Fanning wasn’t the fastest player in the National Football League, nor did he have the best arm.

But during the 1961 season, he earned his own superlative—the local media named him Chicago Bear’s “Biggest Bear.” His statistics—6 ft. 7in., 270 pounds—seem almost puny by today’s NFL lineup, but in 1961 when he swaggered onto the field and took his place as an offensive tackle, he was the biggest man in the game….

From my essay, Chicken Farmer to Chicago Bear (My Dad is My Hero, 2009). Read the rest here. My Dad Is My Hero

(Last in a series celebrating the men who have shown me the meaning of dignity and courage, as well as giving me a love for books, skiing, and RVing (and an appreciation for wrench collecting). Read the rest of the series: 1. Catching Butterflies with the General, 2. The RVing Gene, and 3. The Aggie Wrench Collector.)

 

 

 

Celebrating Fathers 3: The Aggie Wrench Collector

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Third in a series celebrating the men who have shown me the meaning of dignity and courage, as well as giving me a love for books, skiing, and RVing (and an appreciation for wrench collecting).

MomPeteSpain2011We arrived in Seattle as the Texas A&M Marching Band jammed on the cd player. P.T. (Pete) Rathbone steered his SUV with one hand and increased the volume with the other. My mom tapped along to the beat of drums while still immersed in reading the Wall Street Journal. And I sat in the backseat, cocooned by Aggie music, Cascade Mountains, and gray sky.

An Aggie alum, Pete plays the marching band every Saturday morning before the football team takes to the field. It’s a good-luck ritual, a reflection of Pete’s many interests, which range from farming to wrench-collecting to traveling.

Technically, Pete’s my stepfather but that word somehow reminds me of Cinderella and scrubbing floors–blame it on my strange imagination. Besides, Pete is more than a simple label—he’s friend, confidante, and co-conspirator. He’ll just as easily sit by your hospital bed as take you on a Caribbean cruise. He’s first to donate to a cause or tackle a pasture full of noxious weeds.

The Aggie music continued as we drove onto the ferry for Bainbridge Island. Pete, Mom, and I were silent, admiring the Seattle skyline to the rousing thrum of trumpets, tubas, and drums.

I had never cared much for marching band music before but that has changed, all because of a wrench-collecting Aggie with a generous heart.

——

The Idaho Statesman featured an article about Pete’s wrench museum, reprinted here in the Deseret News. And order his books here.

 

Celebrating Fathers 2: The RVing Gene

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Second in a series celebrating the men who have shown me the meaning of dignity and courage, as well as giving me a love for books, skiing, and RVing (and an appreciation for wrench collecting).

Camper Excerpted from my essay The RVing Gene (Rocking Chair Rebels, RoVers, 2001):

Is it possible that RVing could be passed through generations like blue eyes or big feet? The RV gene was lying in wait for me, deep inside my marrow, inherited from my grandfather Paul Fanning, who was born a nomad.

He packed up my grandmother and his four sons for the long move from Illinois to Arizona in the 1940s. The family station wagon towed a travel trailer with sleeping space for two. The boys slept under the stars….

Someday my grandnieces and nephews will see me, a white-haired lady, pull in front of their homes and hop out from behind the wheel of a motorhome. They will probably giggle at their crazy aunt and her big RV or, if they are teenagers, turn their backs in embarrassment.

But one will give me a big smile and beg to go for a ride, proving that the RV gene is alive and well.

 

 

 

Celebrating Fathers 1: Catching Butterflies with the General

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First in a series celebrating the men who have shown me the meaning of dignity and courage, as well as giving me a love for books, skiing, and RVing (and an appreciation for wrench collecting).

The sun-baked sidewalk burned my feet, and I slipped my flip-flops back on. My sister and cousins scampered ahead, a blur of tan limbs and bouncing ponytails.

I struggled to keep up–at 7, I was the youngest of the bunch—but my grandfather John Walsh hesitated. Swinging a net, he reached his free hand out to me. “Come on, Erin,” he said. “We’ve got some butterflies to catch.” He smiled, his ever-present fedora tilting back on his head.

I skipped over to him and clutched his hand, infused with confidence by his simple touch. A few paces away, butterflies flitted among wildflowers. My sister and cousins bounded through the tall grasses, shouting, “Look at that blue one.” And, “Give me your net.”

John—all of his grandchildren called him by his first name, something started by one of my cousins—winked at me. Still grasping my hand, he raised the net and tiptoed toward a resting butterfly. It fluttered away, escaping capture, and John shrugged, pulling me farther into the field, farther into life, making me a full participant in the day.

It was always like that with John. Despite the responsibilities that he carried throughout his life—escorting the dead home from France during World War I, guiding students through their studies as a school superintendent, and devoting years of service to Idaho as its Adjutant General—he always had time for an encouraging gesture and kind word.

He enveloped people with his quiet enthusiasm. He had a gift for saying the right thing and an enormous sense of humor, singing, “laugh and the world laughs with you,” when someone grew weepy and chuckling along with movies like “Animal House,” which he took my sister and me to see when we were teenagers.

Our butterfly excursion ended in a grass-stained jumble—dirty knees, blackened feet, and sun-burned noses. As the butterflies soared over the field, John steered us home, where my grandmother waited, ice cream treats ready, and the fun continued into the night with board games. The next day promised the same endless playing.

Yet, among all the memories, butterfly-catching with my grandfather has remained particularly clear. It represents the many times he made his grandchildren feel like the most important people in the world. Even today, I can see him holding my hand and drawing me into the world, armed only with a wink, smile, and butterfly net.

 

 

 

Quick Picks: Murder and Madness in Klukwan, Alaska

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I haven’t had a chance to read this one yet but I’m getting lots of recommendations from friends and family: The Whale House: A novel of the Northwest Coast  by Peter W. Andersen – “Based on actual events, The Whale House tells the story of Klukwan, Alaska, the legendary carvings that were created there, and how their immense beauty led the village into murder, madness, and war.”

Synopsis: Torture device invented by editors/agents or useful tool?

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Drafting a synopsis for my novella almost convinced me to quit writing altogether. I mean, why torture myself? But I pushed through the pain and strung together five double-spaced pages (way too wordy!), along with a query letter, and sent the bundle to my always-patient friend Lori Sawicki.

Apparently, she too had been struggling with a synopsis and had come across the following  advice from author Beth Anderson: “So–what does go into a synopsis? 1. What happens at the beginning. 2. What your lead characters want. What problem they’re each trying to solve. 3. What escalating roadblocks, both external and internal, you’ve set up to prevent them from getting what they want. 4. What happens at the end. How they solve their problems.” Read the entire posting here.

Then I stumbled upon Susan Dennard‘s excellent synopsis worksheet, and between Lori (did I mention her patience?), Beth, and Susan, I whittled my synopsis down to one page.

It helped… In fact, the novella now has a book contract but more on that in a later posting…

Not to say the synopsis got me there but it did force me to recognize an important plot hole, which I patched before sending the book off to publishers. Writing a synopsis is still a torturous process, yet I can see myself drafting one–probably making me a bit of a masochist–as a planning tool for my next novel.