Elizabeth G.: BFF and Beyond

Since Mother's Day was just this past weekend, I was originally going to call this blog "Mama said . . ." It was going to be filled with words of wisdom and sage advice I remember getting from my mother through the years. But a quick sampling of those long-ago tidbits (posted below) convinced me I needed to go in a slightly different direction.

Those maternal words included:

"Stand up tall, Suzy. Be proud to be tall." (As you know, my maiden name is Suzanne Simmons. I also passed my mother in height when I was eleven years old.)

"It would look odd for a tall girl to have small feet. Your feet are perfect for your height." (I wore a 9 AAA shoe by the age of twelve.)

"You're smart and talented and beautiful." (Words only a mother can get away with when you feel like you're a bungling and gawky teenager who hasn't grown into her own skin yet in any way, shape or form.)

Still, I miss hearing those sweet words of wisdom from my mother, even if they were mostly hooey at the time. That's where my BFF come into the picture. (Best Friends Forever.) We've recently blogged here at RWQ about the people we whine to, the people we can count on when the going gets rough/tough, and the friendships we consider priceless. I also believe as life goes on we women tend to "mother" each other with words of wisdom and encouragement, sound advice, and, yes, with love.

Last night at bedtime I watched a couple of minutes of an entertainment "news" show. I was simultaneously dumbfounded, amused, and horrified. Apparently Paris Hilton is going to launch a new reality show in which she searches for/interviews young women in the hopes of finding a new BFF. (I admit I laughed out loud and then turned the channel to Charlie Rose. :)

My BFF either married into the family (my sister-in-law), or was my neighbor four cities/corporate moves ago, or are writers I met through other writers or at conferences. And, yes, they offer advice and words of wisdom. Here's a sampling:

"Drink a glass of red wine in the evening. It may lower your blood pressure."

"That scene was brilliant." (One BFF's reaction when I read a few paragraphs to her over the telephone.)

"If it doesn't work, cut the damned scene, Sue." (LOLOLOL Okay, this wasn't a recent bit of imparted wisdom, but one a certain Quill has given me numerous times over the years.)

"I love you as a blonde."

"You look thinner. Have you lost weight?" (One of my personal favorites.)

"You don't look a day older than when I met you twenty years ago. (Also, a personal favorite.)

Which all goes to prove what great "mother substitutes" BFF can be! My love and thanks to each and every one of them!

What words of wisdom/sage advice, true or not, do you hear from or give to your BFF?

Have a merry month of May,
EG

Jayne gets out of the house

I did a signing on Saturday with three other writers who also happen to live in the Seattle area: Stella Cameron, Cherry Adair and Yasmine Galenorn. The event was at Barnes & Noble at Southcenter. (Okay, technically speaking the address is 300 Andover Park West in Tukwila but if you live around here you know it as the Southcenter B&N, right?). The store did an absolutely fabulous job and we all had great fun chatting with readers.

By the way, after the event each of us signed a lot of books for the store. Those signed books are now available at the B&N in Southcenter so if you live in the area and couldn't make the event you can drop by the store and pick up an actual signed book by Yasmine, Stella, Cherry or myself.

But what I really wanted to blog about is how wonderful it was to get together with the other writers before the event. Stella, Cherry, Yasmine and I hung out in the cafe, drank coffee and just talked. I dunno. Maybe we don't get out enough. We're writers, after all. But it just felt so good to sit down with friends in the business and chat.

As writers we necessarily do a lot of our work in isolation. We don't have those traditional water cooler conversations. We rarely have coffee or lunch together. So at times like this when we have an excuse to get out of the house and meet with other writers we tend to get a little excited. Add caffeine to the mix and I'm sure you get the idea. Okay, we probably got a little loud. But the cafe staff was very understanding.

What did we talk about? Well, Yasmine and I showed off our latest cover art. Cherry brought her computer and demonstrated her amazing new website (www.cherryadair.com). Stella told us about her delicious new psychic romance series which will be set in New Orleans. And, of course, we did a little whining. Trust me, no one can whine like an author. It's a gift.

We didn't talk about anything we couldn't have talked about on the phone or via email, of course. That really wasn't the point. It was just really, really cool to get together. Made me realize yet again that writers need each other the same way people in other professions need to talk to folks in the same field. And sometimes you need to do that in person.

What about you? With whom do you whine?

And the winner is.....

PJ!

Congratulations, PJ. Watch your mailbox, because your prizes are about to start trickling in. Enjoy!

small print: Please contact susan@susanandersen.com with your mailing address

This, That, and Every Other Thing

I'm so zoned these days, I don't have it in me to come up with a creative blog. Sorry.

So I'm just going to list the busy-ness of my life and hope y'all will forgive me for being boring.

I've included lots of photos to make for lack of creative content.

So first...

OUR CONTEST!

Don't forget that you get entered into the contest to win all the fabulous prizes above just by posting a reply to the blogs up to Sunday, Mother's Day.

At that time, we'll draw a random winner from all the posts in all the blogs!
Good luck!

Order of the day.

I'm going to go through the busy-ness of the last month or so, just for the :::cough::: fun of it, to show why I'm a wee bit zoned!


Clarification:
First, a clarification.

After my RT blog, I got a phone call from the RT conference coordinator, Jo Carol, and 2 calls from Carol Stacy, who runs the magazine. Both ladies were very gracious. They wanted me to know that, regardless of what the hotel told me, THEY did not cancel my reservation, the hotel did.

Given that the hotel was a real pit, and these ladies are both wonderful, I believe it. So I wanted to correct that part of my blog.
(BTW, they said they were told repeatedly that the construction would be done in time for the event, and when they realized it wouldn't, it really was too late to try to get 1200 attendees set up in a different spot.)

As to the rest of my blog, they were unaware of many of the less-professional happenings and were earnest in their desire to make the conference comfortable for everyone.

Spotlights:

I had a busy month of traveling here and there and everywhere. After RT, I had a smaller speaking engagement at our local college, Miami Hamilton, which was wonderful!

Next week I fly to GreenBay for a conference.

Last weekend, I got do a bookclub meeting with local radio host "Queen Janeen" at a Kroger store!
She and her husband Chris do the morning show for 103.5 WGRR.

I listen every morning.

Janeen is a hoot, and the bookclub ladies were fabulous!

Here I am with Janeen, and below is with the entire bookclub group!

Day to day:
The busiest part of my life is the day to day stuff.

You think writers write? Well we do, but there's SO much more involved.

Right now, I'm writing like a fiend to make the June 1st deadline for my current romance contemporary, featuring Michael "Mallet" Manchester in MY MAN, MICHAEL, due out in February 09.

But in the middle of long days writing, I also got galleys for SERVANT: THE ACCEPTANCE.

Galleys are the last time I'll get to see this book before it's published, so I need to read it very carefully for errors, which means I go from romantic comedy of sorts to more gruesome urban fantasy/horror.

Big brain switches!

Luckily, I have my trusty and invaluable assistant Whitney Price, who will also read the galleys to give me a fresh pair of eyes. Whitney has been a godsend, here when I need her, but not for 8 hour days.

And she read the first Servant book, which came out around her birthday, so she's boned up on the story.

The same day that the galleys arrived, my publisher asked me to write a reader letter for their newsletter, talking about the inspiration behind the THE POWER OF LOVE. This is a very special book because all 12 authors and their agents are donating all proceeds to my local Battered Women's Shelter.

The book will hit stands early June, deliberately timed to coincide with my and Dianne's annual READER & AUTHOR event.

I wanted the letter to really convey how important this project is to us. I'd like to do a benefit anthology every year, with proceeds going to different organizations.

The anthology that Stella is in, so far titled LOVE TAILS, will be out next year, with proceeds benefiting my local no-kill animal shelter.

These anthologies will be the gift that keeps on giving throughout the life of the book.

May the books have long lives!

I also got an email my editor asking if I could tell her what the next Servant book, tentatively titled SERVANT: THE KINSHIP, will be about. Well, I sort of know. I always sort of know about 8 books ahead of writing them. But to put it down in coherent words? Yeah... uh, no.

So I need to work on that as soon as I finish the galleys, and then finish the manuscript that's due.

Boy, having things-to-do on my plate always frazzles me!

While doing all this, I'm also finishing up mega big details for the 4th annual June READER & AUTHOR event. It happens June 6th-8th and I'm so excited!

(Note: Registration for the event is only $35 and is open till May 19th.)

We had MAJOR growth this year, which tells me that people are enjoying themselves. We went from around 160 people to 250! 107 of those are authors.

We also have a great representation of editors, publishers, agents and industry professionals.

One of the highlights of the event is our raffle. Tickets are sold throughout the event for donated raffle baskets. As you can see, last year we were able to make a very nice donaton to the Hamilton Co. YWCA Battered Women's shelter. (My grandson was along for the ride on that check delivery.) In the beautiful blue is my best friend, Dianne Castell.

This year, because the book proceeds will go to the Battered Women's Shelter, we'll be donating raffle money to the Conductive School of Learning for children with spina bifida and cerebral palsy.

That same day, I stopped by my local, very wonderful no-kill animal shelter to drop off a check for them too. I always do a special basket to raise money for the animal shelter. I could tell you some stories, but it'd make me cry, so let's just say, they are truly incredible with the care they give to needy pets.

Animals:
And speaking of pets!

You've all heard already how my husband and I trapped 6 feral cats, got them all neutered or spayed, got their shots, and then turned them loose again.

They forgave us for disrupting them by returning to our house for cozy shelter on our porch, and a constant fresh supply of food and water.

Well, not too long ago a new "kitten" showed up who was unfamiliar to us. She's truly beautiful with long black hair and one beige foot. I tried, I really did, but she's as skittish as they come and wouldn't let me get anywhere near her. She just wanted to eat, sleep, and be left alone.

Then a few days ago my husband said, "That kitten is looking kind of fat."

Uh oh.

Sure enough, the very next morning she'd dropped a litter in an animal carrier we have on the side porch to let the feral cats get out of the weather. In the photo, you can just barely see the babies. I didn't want to get so close that I spooked her, causing her to move them.

She has two black kittens, two yellow kittens, and one white kitten. Adorable!

But now I have to figure out how to keep her around long enough to get them ALL fixed. Six more cats to deal with. Oy.

But I'd prefer to get them taken care of rather than know they're running loose, maybe breeding more.

To make matters a little more difficult, a wily raccoon decided to take up residence on the porch, too. He's curled up there in the bottom space of that cat habitat, only a few feet from the carrier to the left, where the mommy cat and kittens are.

He crawls out early evening to eat, drink, and make a mess, then wanders off, only to return the next morning.

We have a cage to catch him in, but I don't want to leave it out overnight for fear the mommy cat will end up caught in there, leaving her babies unattended.

So far, he's not crawling into the cage before our bedtime, so we'll have to keep trying.

If anyone has any suggestions, let me know! I won't kill the raccoon, but I'd just as soon he hit the road.

Movies:
So you want to know what I do to unwind after all day marathons of writing and fending off raccoons and planning an event?

I hit the movies! Yay. LOVE sitting in a theater and watching a flick while eating popcorn and slurping cola.

Usually we go to matinees, but since I've spent all my days writing, we've had to go early evening when it's busier. Not idea, but at least I can kick the plot out of my head for a bit.

Movies I've seen recently are:

THE RUINS - scary, unique and fun! I enjoyed it, and laughed at the most inappropriate times. I guess I have a twisted sense of humor.

PENELOPE - Oooooh, I LOVED this romantic comedy. Just fabulous. A real feel-good movie.

PROM NIGHT - typical slasher movie. We were the only people in the theater over 15 I think.

21 - A Vegas card playing movie. Slow in spots, but once it got going, it was pretty good.

LIONS FOR LAMBS (a rental) - Typical news media crap. The actors were great, the message not so much so.

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHAL - HILARIOUS! I loved this movie. I was laughing out loud through most of it.

KING OF THE STREETS - Keanu Reeves gets better looking with time! He did a fabulous job in this action packed, twisting and turning, movie.

BABY MOMMA - Ridiculous and funny and it had some of the best "make you roar with laugher" lines I've ever heard.

88 MINUTES - Al Pacino is too old to have college students falling in love with him, but other than that gag-factor, I thought it was a good suspense flick.

IRON MAN - Oh wow. The best of the best! Can't wait for the next one. Even my friend, Dianne Castell, enjoyed it, when she usually only sees chick-flicks. Fun stuff!

LEATHERHEADS - Interesting only in that it was based on facts that formed the current football mandates. Otherwise... it sort of fell flat a lot.

So what about you? What's been happening in your lives lately? Seen any good movies? Read any good books?

Had any confusion?

After my long dish, you can surely tell us what's up with you!

Big hugs,

Name that dog, that dog, and that cat...

But first, don't forget our absolutely, humongous, splendiferous, staggeringly beneficent, overwhelmingly bounteous, outrageously munificent, unstintingly sumptuous. . . (half a mo', out of breath) MOTHER'S DAY CONTEST! Get your entries in by Mother's Day, then we'll make a random drawing for a winner. You lucky people!


-~~~-


Fluffy won't do it.

Rover is out.

For my love story--A KNOTTY TAIL--in which two dogs and a cat play major supportive roles, I need just the right names for my four-footed reprobates.



Two runts from a litter of Labradoodles, a boy and a girl, and a very svelte tabby lady of indeterminate but obviously upper crust beginnings (she told me so) are unwilling conspirators in A KNOTTY TAIL.




Devious, dastardly and downright cunning, this trio works to manipulate another pair of natural enemies: The Male and The Female.



You'll have to wait for TAILS OF LOVE to find out more of the story. Berkley and Lori Foster, with a little help from a few others including moi, are putting this anthology together to aid animal adoption.



You can help out by coming up with some fabulous names. Any ideas?



Cheers, Stella

Mother's Day Blowout!

Have we got a contest for you!! Well, actually, it's not so much a contest as it is a drawing. But the Quill Sisters are in the mood to talk Mums-- and I'm not talking flowers here. So from now until Mother's Day everyone who posts in response to our posts will be entered for a chance to win. And wouldja...lookit...

All
That
Loot!!!

Yes, my pretties, everything you see here can be yours. Why, you'll think it's Christmas, Momma's Day and your birthday all rolled into one when these babies start rolling in. (The mailman is gonna LUV you. Or maybe hate you--there's a lot of stuff, it could go either way) We've got books, books, a bag to carry them in, more books, a tee to wear while reading them, books and...did I mention books? All personally inscribed to you, natch.

So come on out of lurkdom and join the fun. You might be very glad you did.

Susan's sweet baby boy and strawberry waffles

Oddly enough, this isn't a story of my mother but about me. (And yes, I can hear those of you who know me well saying, yeah, yeah, isn't it always?) But becoming a mom was a very big deal for me. It took me several years to get pregnant. We went through a battery of tests, ingested fertility drugs, took temperatures on a Basal thermometer and had sex on a schedule. (sucks the joy right out of the act, lemme tell you) When my OB-GYN ran out of procedures and ideas, he sent me to the University of Washington's Fertility clinic.

The doctor who did the original workup was on an Endocrinology Fellowship from Ireland. So when he found a lump in my throat, everything fertility related came to a screeching halt. Turned out I had a cancerous growth on my thyroid. That was in December and I went home pissed off and discouraged. Which pretty much shows how young I was (25) because I wasn't as concerned with the fact that I probably had cancer as I was that they hadn't finished the tests. I decided then and there that I didn't need a baby, that we had each other, Steve was back in college, we had a mortgage and a dog and I was looking at weeks, if not months of tests, surgery and recovery --and that was more than enough.

You can see this one coming, right? Because having decided this, the next month I began waking up sicker 'n a dog and, yep, I was pregnant. So the Mother's day before our sweet baby boy was even born, the soulmate made me strawberry waffles for breakfast--a tradition that endures to this day.

(I love this pic. It was taken the day we brought our baby home from the hospital, then discovered 27 years later when we took the mantle off the fireplace. It's usually pinned to my bulletin board in my office)

We aren't talking Eggos--he makes his own waffles, combines fresh and frozen strawberries and whips up the highest fat cream in the universe. And, oh, mama, it is to die for. (Our son is a chef--I think he got his abilities more from his dad than from me) In the thirty-three years since that first Mother's Day breakfast, we've only missed our time-honored strawberry waffles once--and that was because the soulmate was on a three month start up on Ascension Island in the middle of the Atlantic and my son had to work.

So how about you? Have any Mother's Day traditions?

ELIZABETH RECYCLES

JAYNE: Boy, howdy, am I excited! When it comes to edgy, romantic thrillers no one does them better than Elizabeth Lowell. Her latest, INNOCENT AS SIN, is out now in paperback. It features a fascinating and very dangerous agent from the mysterious group known as St. Kilda Consulting. Gotta tell you, EL, I love the St. Kilda books!

ELIZABETH: What are friends for, right? I love your dust bunnies and the Arcane Society.

JAYNE: Thanks. Okay, let's get right to the good stuff. What gave you the idea for a thriller based on the illegal arms trade in Africa?

ELIZABETH: That’s easy. Headlines. When the son of France’s most powerful politician is accused of brokering/receiving bribes from the French/African oil trade, it intrigues me. A lot. As oil, like any other natural resource, is a source of cash, which is another name for power, rebels aren’t shy about hijacking a resource for their own uses.

JAYNE: But I read newspapers, too, and nearly all of the background of INNOCENT AS SIN was news to me.

ELIZABETH: Newspapers are just one information source. Books, magazines, internet sites, court transcripts, and hyperlinks in text are all great sources. There are some amazing blogs out there, including some by former government employees— everything from diplomats to special ops. (My husband is incredibly good at finding and assessing such blogs.)

JAYNE: You trust blogs?

ELIZABETH: About as much as I trust the average news reader on TV. Not much! But I’m not building a court case, so I’m free to juggle blogs from right, left, center, and parallel universes. Every opinion can suggest a piece of plot, an insight into a character, and a chilling appreciation of how fragile what we call civilization really is.

That’s the core of the St. Kilda Consulting books: the fragility of social order in an increasingly chaotic world. In the 21st century, big central governments seem either to disintegrate like the Soviet Union or move so ponderously that the transnational criminals easily evade national laws. Each victory for the criminals is a loss for civilization.


JAYNE: I love the combination of adrenaline and sensuality in your plots.

ELIZABETH: So do I! It makes the whole experience more intense for the reader—and the writer. People under pressure, particularly under threat of death, don’t have time to play dating games. There aren’t many shades of gray when you’re fighting for your life. All emotions are heightened. Greed, fear, lust, love, rage; everything is sharper, more urgent.

Kayla Shaw and Rand McCree discover that very quickly. They also discover that when everything is at risk, trust is a double-edged sword. Make the right choice and live. Make the wrong one and die.

JAYNE: Could you give us a little excerpt?

ELIZABETH: First some background. Rand McCree is an artist who is working for St. Kilda Consulting just long enough to find the man who murdered his twin brother. Kayla Shaw is a private banker who is being framed for money laundering. At the moment, Rand is painting a canvas for a “Fast Draw” competition being held at the Phoenix, Arizona, estate of Andre Bertone, whose vast fortune came from smuggling arms.


Rand’s first thought was that the surveillance photos hadn’t done Kayla justice. There were shadows and light, haunting sadness and laughter, heat and cold, a whole universe of possibilities in her fiercely intelligent eyes.

He felt like he’d been sucker punched.

“What do you think?” he asked her.

Kayla looked from the painting to the man. Somehow she expected artists to be short or slight or old or shy or … unthreatening. This man wasn’t any of those things. Tall, long-limbed, wide-shouldered, powerful, with gray-green eyes that could etch steel.

“I think,” she said, “that it’s too bad the subject isn’t worthy of the artist.”

Rand almost smiled, almost swore. She’d seen right through him, knew he thought the Bertone estate was a screaming paean to the bad taste.

What’s a woman like Kayla doing in a place like this?

But instead of asking the age-old question, Rand used a palette knife to blend some of the fresh oil paint, then applied a few dabs to the canvas. He squinted to measure the effect.

Then he gave Kayla a sideways look.

She was turned half away from him. If you didn’t look in her eyes, she seemed younger than he knew she was. Her body was athletic, fit, attractive, and so tightly strung she all but vibrated. Tan skin, black linen suit and a scoop-neck silk blouse that just revealed a small rose tattoo on her collarbone.

Rand wanted to lick it.

I hope you’re as innocent as I believe you are, Rand thought grimly. But innocent or not, we’re stuck with each other.

Maybe we should just lie back and enjoy.

“You know a good place for us to have dinner after this is over?” Rand asked.

“I kind of have another commitment,” Kayla said.

The look on her face said she didn’t want it.

“Can you break it?” he asked.

“I’m thinking about doing just that.”

“So I’m not entirely out of the running,” Rand said.

“Why do I feel hunted?”

“My technique must need work.” He turned to smile over his shoulder at Kayla.

And saw his brother’s killer.


JAYNE: Oh, yeah, this is definitely an Elizabeth Lowell thriller, all right. Hot and edgy; a real rush. Readers, take my advice and run, do not walk to the nearest bookstore or click on any of the links below.