Category Archives: mermaids

Beyond Talks with Imaginary People: Ten Reasons the Rest of the World Thinks Writers Are Crazy*

Pintip Mermaid1. At the table of a crowded restaurant, we debate the pros and cons of killing by poisonous gas or a slit to the throat.

2. Most of our texts to our friends read something like: “1236 words! You?”

3. We return to our manuscripts and add an adjective (only to take it out later in revisions) just so we can say we hit out daily word count.

4. We call our friends to share life events – “Brynn just got into college!” or “Brynn has a baby!” – and accept the ensuing congratulations like a proud mama, even though Brynn is not our daughter. Or niece. Or even a person, really.

5. One year later, we completely blank on Brynn’s name.

6. We convince our husbands to help us out with a sticky detail by contorting our bodies into complicated sexual positions. And when we figure out just the right angle, we pop up and rush out of the room, saying, “Thanks! Gotta get this scene down!”

7. We respond to highly erotic sex scenes by pointing out the missing commas.

8. We get caught checking out a teenaged soccer player, over two decades younger than us, because he reminds us of the hero in our book.

9. We make plans to meet up with our out-of-town best friend, with whom we’ve exchanged thousands of texts, emails, and phone calls, and ten minutes before we arrive at the destination, we turn to our companion and say, “Gee, I hope I recognize her.”

10. We spend hundreds of hours, over months or even years of our lives, sacrificing sleep and entertainment and time with loved ones, pouring our hearts and souls into a story that may never earn us more than spare change, may never be read outside a circle of our closest friends, may never amount to anything other than a file on our computer — and yet, we do it anyway. For the love of the story.

And then we get up the next day and do it again.

* This post is dedicated to Kimberly-Mermaid.

Best Lines Ever… Go!

Sometimes an author writes a line that sticks with you.  Here are a few of my favorites, including one of my own (yes, I know, presumptuous).   What are your favorite lines from other authors, but especially yourself?

For Sale:  Baby Shoes.  Never Worn.  Earnest Hemingway (a six line story competition)

“Sometimes a woman needs a man for company, no matter how useless he is.”  Lisa Kleypas, Sugar Daddy

“I have sex,” Grace shrugged.
“I meant with a man,” Claudia said dryly.
“Now why would I ruin something so good by inviting a man along?”  Sarah Mayberry,  All Over You

“You signed me up for an orgy?  My own mother signed me up for an orgy?”  Masha Levinson, Cruising for Love

 

September: The Other New Year

Denny (PortRoyale)Okay, this blog post is going to break the rules. I’ve got three topics here and am giving each one it’s own spotlight. So let’s go!

I know a lot of folks, most of us, look at January 1 as the beginning of the new year and the perfect opportunity to make a fresh start. We have resolutions, new diets, we throw things out of the closet we don’t need or no longer want to indulge in, all of which makes sense. The beginning of a brand new year and getting started on the right foot is soothing and invigorating–and critical to the human condition. We aspire to change even if we don’t always succeed. But as much as I love the first day of a new year, I am a huge fan of September.

It is my favorite month (but the other 11 are  high up there on my list of good, too:), but September is the beginning of my ‘new year’. Of course, it stems from years of going back to school and raising a child and the excitement of a new school year. But I love the  gradual change in season. The visual stimuli of color and cooler breezes and the anticipation of change. It relaxes me and the pressure is off. I’m not competing with the rest of the world’s new year’s resolutions. It’s all about September to me:)!

So what do I have in mind for this fall?

The past nine months, I’ve been thinking, breathing, doing nothing but writing books, working on getting an agent, working on getting published, writing more books–you get the picture. The most important thing I’ve learned so far in my new full-time writing world (or almost full time:) is that writing requires physical energy. A back that doesn’t hurt, lungs that don’t split in half when you have a deep belly laugh (that’s a shout out to a friend who needs to take better care of herself), and having the patience and confidence to do what you know you can do. In other words, taking better care of me has moved up on the list of things that MUST get done. All of us know how easy it is to forget about ‘us’. Women forget routinely, men do too. So I declare September as the month for you to redo, re-commit, re-challenge yourself to do more for yourself! I know I am.

Guess what I learned this weekend at the Writers’ Police Academy?

I write romance. I love a good mystery, suspense or thriller, but I need the love:)! There was so much fantastic information at WPA14, I couldn’t begin to share half of it, which means if you write romantic suspense and give a damn about authenticity in your stories, you MUST sign up and support WPA. But I’m a romance writer. And there are only so many facts I will have on a page.  But later this week, I will be blogging at my website about WPA14 – so stay tuned.

Outlander on Starz…

There is no logical reason for me to write about Jamie Fraser here – except why the hell not? Obsession is a wicked, wicked, beast. But Jamie is a sexy beast of a man (on the page and on the screen)…that’s all folks!

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I will remember you…

Mermaid CarleneLast month, I forgot to post here in the pond. I didn’t think about it a couple days beforehand and then forgot. I didn’t have something I was working on but then became overwhelmed with real-life things and ran out of time. I completely blanked. My monthly slot was nowhere on my radar and that’s saying something because Kerri Mermaid sends us weekly reminders when it’s our turn. That’s a weird feeling to not have a conscious thought about something you normally do as routine and put a lot of thought into. Since then, I can’t stop thinking about my fishy sisters and this pond and you, our friends. Maybe I’ve got a serious case of absence making the heart grow fonder now that I’m over here on the opposite coast, but I thought I’d share this today.

“It’s funny how we feel so much but cannot say a word.”~Sarah McLachlan

But I can, so here are my fishy sisters, in a word…

Alethea…stars

Dana…hugs

Denny…voice

Kerri…laughter

Kimberly…home

Loni…hands

Masha…sage

Pintip…more

Susan…life

Fishy kisses,

Carlene Mermaid

Iron Underpants and Sagging Middles

SusanMermaidOn Tuesday, our little family celebrated my beloved’s birthday. And, while it was a happy celebration, for me, it was bittersweet, too. You see, his birthday is two weeks before the start of school – and, for me, the signal that summer is nearly over. I need to get ready for school: my job, my real job, is in a school.

And that means my writing life, at least the life I’ve been living for the last three months, is almost over. No more planning my day around the hours of writing, no sketching out a scene on paper before hitting Scrivener. No more gleeful Facebook word count posts. No more staying up late.

I started the summer telling myself I would pump out 60,000 words before school started again. At this writing, I’ve gotten 36,000 done. I haven’t finished my story, I’ve made it to the middle. That’s it.

Where I write.

Where I write.

It’s SO tempting to throw up my hands and say, “Well, okay. You’ve failed again, you naughty girl. You said you could do it, and you didn’t, didn’t, did not. Shame on you.” Yes, I’m very critical of myself. It’s a problem, and I’ve been working on that.

Now, I catch myself. Hold on a minute, missy, I say to my inner critic. What did I do this summer besides write? Cuz I was sure wasn’t laying back and eating ice cream all summer long. Here’s what I did, I tell that silly inner critic:

— I completed six graduate credit hours, attaining 30 post-graduate hours, and that means a raise. That required four weekends of class, plus travel time, plus homework.

— I fixed two leaky faucets in our house, and that meant hours on YouTube, so I could learn how to take them apart and put them back together. And I spent $20 for the materials. Go, me! At a time when we need to save $$, I rock.

— I researched roofers (read: hours), took estimates (more hours), and signed a contract (still more hours). Next Thursday, the leaky roof will be ripped off. On Friday, I’ll wake up in a house with a brand new, weather-tight roof (note to self: make trip to hardware store for two things you said you’d get for the roofer – more hours).

— I started de-cluttering the house. Don’t even get me started on that, you know what I’m talking about: hours.

— I put together my author page on Facebook: Susan Jeffery Books. I have an online presence!

This, and so many other little things, have made my life better and filled my summer. Many times I told myself it felt that the entire summer was enchanted. Hubby decided we should go out every week this summer, just the two of us. So, we’ve seen Shakespeare under the stars, heard readings of new plays that are in development and participated in “talk backs” with the writers of those plays. We’ve enjoyed a picnic before every single evening out. We found a new place for better ice cream! (say it with me: more hours)

It’s not that I failed to make a goal. I’m allowing myself to re-focus, re-direct, and re-imagine my writing life. Sure, it cost me hours, and words.

Words alone do not make a life complete.

Not only that, I’m happy with the story I’ve put together. It’s funny and fresh, and I’m in the middle of writing the first love scene. Which, believe me, took a week or so before I’d caught the drift of what I wanted to say.

Even better, the story isn’t falling apart. There’s no sagging middle!

So here’s the moment where I pull on my iron underpants and congratulate myself: I had a good summer. No regrets.

I can say, with truth: I got a lot done.

How do you react when life takes time away from your writing? Do you get totally distracted? Or can you say to yourself, “Here is where I am needed at this moment. I’ll be right back!”

My next post will probably be about how I weathered the start of the school year and what happened to my writing mojo after September 1.

And yes, I will be back.

SusanMermaid

Lessons in Rejection

My heart has been breaking all summer. Over problems no parent can solve. About my inability to protect my children — from hurt feelings, from being excluded, frompintip the agony of rejection.

“I’d rather get a hundred rejections than have my child go through this,” I thought.

The sacrifice of a mother? Sure. But being a seasoned veteran of rejection, I also felt I was better equipped to deal with the pain.

After all, I’ve had LOTS of experience with rejection as a writer. And I’ve learned a ton. For example:

1. I learned to temper my expectations. Seven-figure deals, international book tours, movie adaptations — I’ve dreamed them all. But they didn’t happen, and they didn’t happen quickly. And so, my dreams are different now. Simpler. And they motivate me just as much. A career as a writer. My book on a shelf. Spending my days doing what I love most.

2. I learned that rejection gets easier over time. The very first rejection — whether it is the first one ever or the first on a particular submission — is always the hardest, at least for me. I don’t have the world’s thickest skin, but after years in this industry, I’ve had no choice but to toughen up. These days, I (mostly) react to rejection by shrugging and redoubling my efforts on the next book.

3. I learned to see the silver lining in every cloud. Most things are not all bad. In every rejection, we can find something positive to take away. A lesson about craft, perhaps, or information about the market. Maybe even a compliment on which we can focus. In the midst of the overall message – “NO” – these compliment can easily get lost. But as with anything else, the skill of honing in on the positive part, while ignoring the rest of the noise, improves with practice.

4. I learned to have confidence in myself. Writing is so subjective that it is impossible to please everybody. We can’t depend on external sources for validation (even though they are nice to have!) It’s not easy — this believing-in-yourself business. But when you’re faced with the decision of quitting or persevering, and you choose the latter time and time again, you develop that inner core. I’m not saying I’ve perfected the art, but I’m so much better at it today than I was a few years ago. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.

5. I learned why I’m really doing this. It’s not for the money or the recognition. Certainly not because it’s an easy career path. I write because I love it. Because I have stories to tell. Because I feel closest to my true self in my words.

I’ve learned all this and more by being rejected. And so maybe I shouldn’t try to shelter my children from the pain, after all. Maybe the disappointments of today are exactly what they need to prepare themselves for the bigger obstacles of tomorrow.

That doesn’t mean my heart won’t break when my child buries her face in my chest, and her tears soak through my shirt to scorch my skin. But maybe there’s a lesson in that, too.

Please share. What has rejection taught you? What makes your heart break?

Guilty Pleasures

Ever feel guilty about something that gave you great pleasure?

There are so many days in which we give to others that when we take time to do something we want to do, we feel guilty–or at least I do. A perfect example was last week:

My mom recently moved back into the home she was raised in up in Northern Michigan and I went up to see her for a week along with my youngest daughter. We drove twelve hours from Western Maryland to Northern Michigan and had a great time, just the two of us. It was our first ‘mother/daughter’ trip.

Now originally we were going up to help my mother paint and unpack but it ended up becoming a vacation of sorts. My sister who lives up there, near my mom, came over for the week. We spent days traveling to the towns I’d lived in when I was younger, out to my grandparents property, and up to see the sights at Mackinaw Island, Sleeping Bear Dunes and Grand Traverse Light House.

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The Grand Hotel, Mackinaw Island, Michigan

 

I did manage to put together most of my mother’s library (5 huge bookshelves in one bedroom) but there are still boxes of books (I get my love of literature from her). Still, part of me feels guilty that I was only able to do that much.

When I returned home, part of me felt guilty for spending money on my trip when it could have gone to something else and then I stopped…

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My baby girl sitting in The Grand Hotel

Why should I feel guilty about enjoying myself with my family? I splurged so my daughter and I could tour the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island–something I’d never been able to do when I was younger. But now I’ve been inside, took pictures, sat in the white rocking chairs on the worlds longest porch with my daughter and gazed out over the Straits of Mackinaw (where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron come together and the Mackinac Bridge rises in the distance to the right and Round Island Lighthouse is seated to the left).

The day couldn’t have been more beautiful. Daughter and I even braved the trek up Sleeping Bear Dunes, that week, (while my mother and sister opted not to–chickens! LOL!) to see if we could view Lake Michigan on the other side. We traversed up the main dune and over a few more, but when other visitors told us there were still a few more dunes to trek we decided to head back down as it was getting late and we were exhausted. Still we had a blast, worked up an appetite and slept so well that night!

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The Mackinac Bridge and the Straits of Mackinaw

So when I questioned my spending habits I tallied up the cost (which wasn’t a whole lot but I could’ve saved it for other things), and then tallied up the memories that were made…Priceless!!

What have you done for ‘guilty pleasures’?

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A wind blown Loni Lynne at The Grand Hotel, Mackinaw Island, Michigan

 

 

 

Mermaids & Friends: Piper Huguley

PreacherI met Piper Huguley in Atlanta at the 2013 Romance Writers of America National Conference. I can’t remember our first meeting, but I do remember running into her several times and doing what you do at conferences — talking about books, the conference, the workshops, the speakers, the authors. Everything you can chat about in five-minute encounters that take place waiting for elevators or chilling at the bar or a restaurant.

Oh, and I also knew she was a 2013 Golden Heart® finalist (now also a two-time finalist with her 2014 Golden Heart® finalist nod), so some stalking on my part might have been involved:)…

But she was always gracious and chatty, and funny, and we’ve been buds ever since. I may not be a regular inspirational romance reader, but I enjoy a good book, first and foremost, and I love her books, but also her marketing savvy, and her commitment to her Sunday blog posts! If you haven’t checked them out, please do — you’ll be wiser for reading them:)!

So, I invited her here to the Waterworld Mermaid pond to answer some of my questions about her newest release, The Preacher’s Promise, and in general share some of her awesomeness!

1). Denny asked: Tell us about your setting – time and location – how does setting help you tell the story of your protagonist?

Piper said: The Milford College series starts in 1866 Georgia. This is the Reconstruction Era that follows the end of the Civil War. It’s a time of great change, unrest and uncertainty.   I think it’s a lot like the Wild West where great opportunity existed alongside of turbulence and change. So when these forces of an educated African American woman comes in contact with a former enslaved blacksmith, there is bound to be conflict. They wouldn’t have come in contact at any other time.

2) Denny asked:  Pick a line from your book that you’d say ’nails’ the personality of your heroine and/or hero?

Piper said: Virgil says: “Don’t address people I don’t know by their first names. Especially not young women. I got manners.”

He won’t have anyone, not even the newly arrived schoolteacher, treating him as if he doesn’t know the rules of society. The line shows his pride, but at the same time highlights his vulnerability.

3)  Denny asked: You are a two-time Golden Heart finalist entering the world of indie publishing with two books debuting in six weeks, what’s next?

Piper said: Hopefully, people will be engaged in my series and I can continue to release Milford College stories. I’m still shopping my single title 20th century series and people will be able to learn about the Bledsoe Sisters.

4)  Denny asked: Name two books on your must-read shelf.

Piper said: Gone With the Wind.- Despite all of the difficulty with the way African Americans are portrayed, Mitchell still tells a captivating story. For me, the book serves as motivation—to tell a different kind of captivating story.Piper Huguley GH photo

Mules and Men – Hurston captures pertinent stories/reflections in the speech patterns of her fellow Floridians from the 1920’s and 1930’s and gives them their human dignity.

5)  Denny asked: What’s hot in historical women’s fiction and/or romance (besides your new book:)!

Piper said: The whole genre of “wife of” books seems to have cooled for the moment. I see a hopeful shift in readers being more receptive to a wider variety of time periods in historical romance. The genre will have a hard time continuing to thrive if people are not exposed to a greater variety of stories.

Thank you, Piper!

Now readers, Piper will be around all day so please ask away!

Piper Huguley is author of the “Home to Milford College” series, and to keep in touch, you can visit her blog, http://piperhuguley.com, or follow her on @writerpiper on Twitter, or find her at Piper Huguley on Facebook.The Preacher’s Promise (in print and on iTunes)

PreacherAmazon: The Preacher’s Promise (Home to Milford College Book 1) – Kindle edition by Piper Huguley. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Nook

Kobo

 

LawyerThe Lawyer’s Luck (in print and on iTunes)

Amazon

Kobo

Nook


 

 

 

 

Love=No Apology Necessary?

As some of you may recall, I went on a bit of a rampage a couple months back about Jerry Maguire’s “You complete me.” This led me to another annoying quote from a 1970 movie, LOVE STORY. In it, Ali MacGraw’s character tells Ryan O’Neal’s character, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

LoveStory.

Ugh. Double ugh.

How awful to never expect an apology from someone who has hurt you. And even more infuriating is the message it sends to us as well. If we behave badly, but we really do love the person, we shouldn’t have to utter the words. They aren’t necessary. What a cop-out. So apologies are completely unnecessary in a loving relationship? Why is it okay to lash out at someone you love because they should just KNOW you don’t mean it? That’s ridiculous.

I’ve noticed that children view apologizing as one of the worst forms of punishment, and this makes me wonder why. As a society, do we view apologizing as a weakness? An act of losing dignity or giving in? Do we think of it as giving someone power over us? Why is it supposed to be strong to be stubborn to a point where love no longer has a chance?

A healthy relationship should have a fair share of apologies. The give-and-take of apologies shows the other person that you care enough about the relationship to admit a wrongdoing or even a brief loss of temper. We have to meet people halfway with more than just empty words as well. For some people, mouthing the words “I’m sorry” is all that’s required, without any future changes in behavior. That’s even worse.

Children should learn to ask forgiveness in a manner that doesn’t feel like a punishment or a sign of weakness. As adults, it’s our job to teach them how to do that by example. I’ve apologized many times to my children, and I’ve never felt like I’ve somehow lost my footing as a mom. I think my kids respect me more for admitting when I’m wrong and saying so. It’s easy to pass the buck. To heap our failures at someone else’s door. To load blame onto someone else’s shoulders.

Asking for forgiveness has the potential to show vulnerability, and that very vulnerability leads to deeper understanding. We realize that when writing a scene in a book. We want our characters to go through hell and come out happy on the other side, but they should also be able to apologize with grace and without groveling.

John Wayne once said, “Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.” I disagree. I think it shows strength of character to apologize. It’s never okay to hurt someone’s feelings and then shrug it off. If we read a book where a character did this, we wouldn’t have an ounce of respect for him/her.

In the 1972 comedy WHAT’S UP, DOC?, Barbra Streisand’s character says to Ryan O-Neal’s (star from LOVE STORY), “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” He replies: “That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard.”

On that, I do agree. ☺

Can you think of a movie or book where one character apologizes to another, and it’s a pivotal scene? It doesn’t have to be a romance, but the apology has to be important.

I’ll leave you with a great quote by Ebehi Iyoha: “Sorry is hardest to say when it matters most.”

GH 2014 photo

Life on the Wild Side: My 2014 Summer PicSpam!

I take pictures, and during the past six months I’ve been on the road! From the WRW-DC Retreat in April, to RT Booklovers Convention in May, to RWA National Conference in July and then onto Las Vegas and then LA (GladiatorsUnite!). So for my post today, it’s a PicSpam!

Thanks to all of the folks I met for the first time, and for all of the friends I met again. And please feel free to “tag” yourself or others in comments. Or if you see a photo you must have, let me know, and I’ll email it!

I know most of the people in these photos, but see how many you can recognize! (And yes, there are a few repeats, I got lost in the maze of iPhotos:).

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