Sometimes you hear or read a piece of wisdom and you think how sensible it sounds. You decide you're going to incorporate it into your life to help you lose weight, quit smoking, or something else you want to change or improve on. You might even start out following that piece of advice but soon you're back to those old, familiar habits, the advice forgotten or ignored. I know I'm more than guilty of doing this.
A week or so ago, my nephew stopped by for a visit. He competes in amateur boxing and is in training for a fight coming up in March. After he outlined the diet he's following (no dairy, no bread, no sugar, basically nothing other than plain poached chicken breasts, plain tuna, egg whites, steamed vegetables, and fruit) and how many hours he's in the gym per week, I said I was impressed. There would be no way I could give up dairy (I eat a lot of greek yogurt) or bread. I love bread. (Not the sandwich kind you buy from the grocery store, but the good bakery type.)
He laughed and said it's hard and that he dreams about doughnuts and is craving pizza. I praised his willpower. He pointed to his head and said, "It's not just what's in here, the whole mind over matter or willpower thing." He moved his hand to his chest and pointed to his heart. "It's what's in here. How badly do I want it? How badly do I want to win my match?"
His words resonated with me in a way that similar words never had before. Now when I find myself getting sidetracked from my writing, I ask myself how badly do I want to be able to write full time. It has made me get my butt in the chair and my fingers on the keyboard every single time.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Please Welcome My Guest
As a young girl, Linda was often
found lying on her bed reading about fascinating characters having exciting
adventures in places far away and in other time periods. In later years, she
read and then started writing romances and achieved her first publication--a
confession story. Married with 4 adult children and 2 granddaughters, Linda now
writes heartwarming contemporary and historical stories with a touch of humor
from her home in the southern California mountains.
From Confession Story to Indie Title
The evolution of Gingerbread
Wishes is a bit different than other stories I’ve created. The original
story was written in response to a request for holiday stories from the editor
of a confession magazine. For those of you who may not know, you can still find
these magazines that your mothers and/or grandmothers read in their youths (at
the time I wrote the story in 2003 or 2004, four editions were still in print).
True Story (first published in 1919
and once had a 2 million/month subscription base) and True Confession do appear on newsstands in certain areas of the
country, in addition to being available through both online and print
subscriptions.
Confession stories are always written in first person from
the woman’s point of view and the plot has a moral or a lesson learned. I
geared my story for the True Love magazine
where I’d sold several other stories that focused on the romance. Because of
the confessional nature of the stories (as if the events actually happened to
the author), the magazine editors always changed the names of the individuals
and locations. In my story, which was titled The Sweetness of Christmas at the time, the heroine lived in a
small town in Texas and wanted to explore options other than the family-owned
bakery. The complication was a new guy in town who made her rethink her
priorities and the lesson learned was to appreciate what you had. That version
of the story was rejected, and I believe the reason given was a story with a
similar theme had already been contracted. One good thing with confession
magazine submittals is they were kept on file for years, so a seasonal story
had a chance the following year. I accepted my rejection and didn’t give the
story another thought.
Until…in the late summer of 2012, I saw a call for
submissions to a Christmas anthology to be released by Still Moments
Publishing. And I remembered that holiday confession story so I hunted all over
to find it. (I’d suffered two computer malfunctions since 2004 and feared the
story was lost.) Finally, I found both a print copy and a file on a flash
drive. I set to work refreshing the writing style—was I wordy back in the early
2000s—changing from first to third person, and giving the hero (who also became
a single father and widower) a few paragraphs of his point of view. I added
more small town elements (town pageant with children’s choral performance, the
town’s reaction to her putting up the bakery for sale). That version, Wishes Come True, was sent and accepted
in less than a week, and became part of the Christmas
Magic anthology that released December 4, 2012. I loved having the print
version with the beautiful cover to share with my family that Christmas, and
the anthology received several 5-star reviews. But sadly, Still Moments
Publishing went out of business in March 2013 and so my story was no longer
available.
The 2012 RWA conference had several workshops on the
explosion of self publishing and early in 2013, I took an online course that
covered the how-to’s. I took to heart a couple of reviewer’s comments about Wishes Come True and dug into the story
with the intention of deepening the emotion and lengthening it. I added a
couple scenes in the hero’s POV to make the story more balanced and to give the
reader a glimpse of why he’s so quickly attracted to the heroine, gave the hero
and heroine more interactions, added a swish of a town legend, and added enough
threads that Gingerbread Wishes
became the launch story for a new contemporary sweet romance series centering
around the Sugar & Spice Bakery in Dorado, Texas.
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Widower Jordan Dawson, the town’s star quarterback from a decade ago, returns to his hometown with plans to develop a sporting goods store. He also hopes experiencing a small town Christmas will cheer up his five-year-old daughter, Jenna, still recovering from the loss of her mother.
Will the spark of interest Tora sees in Jordan’s eyes be the excitement she’s looking for?
Excerpt:
“Not really.” She lifted a shoulder in what she hoped looked like a
nonchalant shrug. This was probably the first of many anticipated explanations
she’d have to give. “I’ve always wanted to live in a big city.”
“Let me consult my files. I’ll see what I can do for you, Tora.” Mr.
Trenton juggled the cup and his sack while opening the umbrella. “This bakery
is such a tradition here that I can’t imagine the good citizens of Dorado
without it.” Bells jangled as he hurried through the door.
A pang of guilt pinched her conscience. His words formed the base of
every argument she had with herself about keeping the bakery open for the past
three years. “I’m sorry for the interruption. Now, you wanted hot chocolate and
coffee…”
His narrowed gaze scrutinized her face, and a slow smile spread across
his lips. “Are you Tora Hammond?”
A thrill danced down her neck. He knows
me? But how? “That’s me. Have we met?”
“I grew up in Dorado. I was several years ahead of you in school, but I
remember seeing you here in the shop.” He stepped close and extended a hand
over the counter. “Jordan Dawson.”
At the clasping of their hands, her mind filled with images of the town’s
golden boy—star quarterback of the Dorado Cougars and the school’s ace baseball
pitcher. They hadn’t shared the high school hallways during her years there,
but his trophies filled the top shelf of the Athletic Department’s display
case.
“Of course. Nice to see you again, Mr. Dawson.”
His hand eased away and lowered to the little girl’s shoulder. “Call me Jordan,
please. And this is my daughter, Jenna.”
Tora stood on tip-toes and leaned over the counter to smile at the girl
who gripped her father’s hand. A hand she knew from recent first-hand
experience was strong and capable. “Hi, Jenna. I’m happy to meet you. All the
kids call me Tora.”
“Hi, Miss Tora.”
“I’ll get your drinks.” She turned toward the back of the counter.
“Hold off a moment. I have to echo what that man said.” Jordan rested a
forearm on the counter, his mouth pulled into a tight line. “Dorado without a
bakery run by a Hammond woman would not be the town I remember.”
His praise warmed her heart, and she wished Gram could hear his comment.
But Tora had a plan and that involved making a big change. “I have confidence
the townspeople will survive.”
“People in the big cities survive, but people in small towns know how to
live life. They know their neighbors and show them they care.” A finger tapped
the donation coffee can and a metallic jingle sounded. “Believe me, I’ve lived
in both settings and there’s no comparison. You’re better off here.”
How could he know that? She bit
her tongue to keep from arguing with a customer and forced a polite smile.
“Well, I can’t wait to experience life in the big city so I can see for
myself.”
“Daddy?” Jenna’s voice trembled. “I’m cold.”
The child’s interruption came at the right time. “I’m sure you are,
sweetie. I’ll get your hot chocolate right away.” Without another glance at Big
City Dawson, she turned to her task. A few minutes later, she approached the
round table where they’d situated themselves and couldn’t help but notice he’d
draped his coat around his daughter’s thin shoulders.
After placing the mugs on the table, she held out a spoon and whispered
to the quiet girl, “Careful, the cocoa’s hot. Better start with the whipped
cream.”
Her eyes lit up, her mouth spread in a smile showing off rows of small
teeth, and she grabbed her spoon.
For some strange reason, that tiny response thrilled Tora. The child
looked like she didn’t smile much. “May I bring pastries or coffee cake?”
Jordan leaned back in the ladderback chair and glanced over his shoulder.
“Do you still sell apple fritters? Those were always my favorite.”
“We do. Shall I bring two?” She started to turn but felt his warm
fingers on her wrist. Ripples of awareness shot up her arm. When she turned to
look, she was captured by his gaze, steady and concerned. Her insides felt as
quivery as the middle of a jelly doughnut. What
is this? She’d never experienced such an immediate reaction to a man.
Purchase Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00HGUZSMC
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/392687
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Gingerbread-Wishes?store=ebook&keyword=Gingerbread+Wishes
You can connect with Linda at any of these links:
Linda will give away a digital copy of Gingerbread Wishes to one random person who leaves a comment AND their email address so be sure to do both.
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