Running With Quills, Blogsite for Jayne Ann Krentz, Elizabeth Lowell, Stella Cameron, and Suzanne Simmons
Susan Andersen
Suzanne Simmons



Stella Cameron
Stella Cameron




Kate Douglas
Kate Douglas




Lori Foster
Lori Foster



Jayne Ann Krentz
Jayne Ann Krentz




Elizabeth Lowell
Elizabeth Lowell




Carla Neggers
Carla Neggers











  • Welcome to Running With Quills, your online newsletter designed to keep you up to date with what your favorite authors (that would be us) are doing throughout the year. Here you will find the release dates of our new books and get information about our backlists. We'll preview our cover art here long before the books hit the stores and we'll keep you informed about works-in-progress and special projects. You'll also receive advance notice of signings and appearances. From time to time we'll give you a peek at our worlds, tell you what we're reading, and introduce you to some new authors.

    Congratulations to Susan Andersen and Jayne Ann Krentz for ranking among Amazon.com Editors' Best of 2009 in Romance!

    Monday, May 04, 2009

    The Rise and Fall of Stella’s Brilliant Birdbath



    Works of true originality are more rare than we sometimes think. A creation that transcends even the efforts of world-renowned artists in the field may only come along once in a generation–or less often.

    As you will see from the photograph, Stella Cameron’s Tea Break was such a masterpiece. I discarded Jill Marie Landis’s alternate title–Crackpot–as too obvious. Jill tried to insist that there was a deeply meaningful subtext there. What can she have meant by that?


    A Pictorial Account of Triumph and Disaster







    A heavy box within a heavy box, twenty-eight feet of bubble wrap, and $38.00 postage later, and all I had left was a badly beaten-up package filled with mini-rubble. Out of respect, I knew I must save some small memento of what had been. In the third photo you see what I had to choose from. The rest was dust...


    Happy May, my flowers,
    Stella

    Q: Do you remember an incident that left you disappointed? The loss of something that may have had no intrinsic value, but which held a lot of happy/sentimental memories for you?

    * * *

    My friend, Alexis Morgan, brings her own unsinkable enthusiasm and inspiration to her fabulous Paladin Books. She kindly agreed to send a copy of DARKNESS, the fifth book in the series, to the lucky Quiller whose name we draw from visitors through Tuesday evening. Thank you, Alexis!

    50 Comments:

    Blogger Jayne Ann Krentz said...

    Oh, Stella, what a catastrophe! Your bird bath was a true work of art. Sheer genius! A gift to the ages.

    And now all that's left is rubble. Sort of reminds one of the ruins of Pompeii. Or something.

    Good thing you write for a living, huh?

    --Jayne

    12:30 PM  
    Anonymous Cissy said...

    Stella, your birdbath was so gorgeous.

    12:40 PM  
    Anonymous kris b said...

    Oh stella it was beautiful! I am sad for you hard work!
    the thing I miss the most that was lost to me was the first time my very old computer crashed with all my pictures on it and I coudnt get them out!~ they said it was safe! I beleived them! now I use discs too! but it left me very sad to have lost those views of precious memories!

    kris b

    1:26 PM  
    Blogger CJ said...

    I am so impressed! Great work! Even broken, it's beautiful.

    I have moved around a decent amount since college, and consequently, some things have gotten lost along the way. I still miss my ginormous book that comprised all of Jane Austen's novels. I know I could easily replace it... but I don't want to! I want my old one!

    2:52 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Oh my!

    Georgeous to remember.

    Louis

    3:23 PM  
    Blogger Tina said...

    That's terrible about your birdbath! You must have been so upset when you opened the package!

    My minor in college was art studio and my artistic focus was silk painting. I had about 10 of them--most of them 4' x 4' but a couple were even bigger--wrapped around a large tube. (That's how you are supposed to store them.) Most of them were crap but I thought a couple of them were really good and I was always going to mount them properly whenever I could I afford it. When I moved up from Florida to Kentucky, I thought that my son had packed it and he thought I had and it got left behind. By the time I realized that they were not in the truck (and I tore it apart!), it was too late--the former landlord put them out in the garbage. I'm sure that no one would have paid any real money for them, but they were mine and I loved them.

    4:04 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Pompeii? Why Jayne--we obviously both see the real tragedy in the destruction of the BB.

    Stella

    4:09 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Thank you, dear Cissy. Sniff.

    Stella

    4:10 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Kris: Your photographs? That is so utterly horrible--I can feel my own tummy drop at the thought.

    Stella

    4:11 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    CJ:

    I fully understand. There is no replacing something that held the fingerprints and the reactions you felt when you had the original.

    Stella

    4:12 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Hi Louis:

    Thank you very much.

    Stella

    4:13 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Tina:

    Ick. Moving is the best way to lose treasures. I'm so sorry.

    Is that a picture of your baby? Now there's a special treasure:)

    Stella

    4:15 PM  
    Blogger Tina said...

    Is that a picture of your baby? Now there's a special treasure:)That's my grandson. I only get to see him a couple of times a year because my son is stationed in Norfolk, VA. The picture is from when he was a year old. He's 17 months old, now, and looks very different, but I don't have the latest pictures on my computer. He's a real doll, though, isn't he? [/dote] :)

    4:23 PM  
    Blogger Katherine said...

    I had a 1953 English Farthing that was given to me as a good luck piece at my first performance as a dancer many ages ago. The dancer who gave it to me acted as a mentor for life as well as for how to be a professional dancer for this scared little 16 year old living thousands miles from home. I had it mounted so I could pin it inside my costume or wear it on a chain, it saw me through many nervous moments and a broken back that ended my dancing career. It was stolen, along with the rest of my jewelery when my apartment was broken into a few years ago. I didn't have much in the way of "nice" pieces but I really miss my little wren (the image on the coin and his nickname for me). Every time I see the wren that lives in my yard I remember that piece and the person who gave it to me. It could certainly be replaced but it wouldn't be the same at all.

    4:27 PM  
    Anonymous Lou said...

    Stella - such fleeting beauty... sigh!

    In moving, I lost a very old beautiful cut crystal candle holder that had belonged to my Grammy. It was part of a pair. Now I have one...

    Jayne - congratulations - Perfect Poison is #5 on the NYT best seller list!

    4:29 PM  
    Blogger Karen W. said...

    Sorry about the birdbath.

    I've had some of my beloved plates and snow globes broken, and even though they might not have been terribly valuable, they were special to me.

    I guess these incidents sometimes happen to remind us not to get too attached to "stuff." :)

    5:33 PM  
    Blogger susan andersen said...

    ohhhhhh. It was way kewl, Stella--my kinda funky art. Who were the mail handlers, gorillas?

    I left my camera on the train to the Hague in the neterhlands on my last day of vacation some years back and lost 1/2 my photographs. Bummed me out, lemme tell you, and it didn't even occur to me to buy a disposable camera for my last day to at least capture some new pics until I was heading for the airport. Sigh.

    6:16 PM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Oh, Stella! It was so pretty and you made it for your home. I love stuff like that.

    I once lost a very expensive spaghetti pot during a move. Of all the things I have lost or that have been damaged over the years, I find I still miss that pot.
    Hey, it was a really great pot!

    Loved Cypress Nights!
    Lynne Thomas

    7:22 PM  
    Blogger RachieG said...

    Oh! I just hate it when stuff breaks!! Sometimes it can't be helped, but it still is pretty sad. We used to have this gorgeous angel on our front step that was concrete. My cocker spaniel Scarlet would sit next to it and I have some amazing pictures of the two of them with similar expressions. A few weeks after Scarlet passed away, the angel was broken. I honestly cried...not for the angel but for what it represented to me.

    Couldn't be helped but it's still sad!

    8:10 PM  
    Blogger Kate Douglas said...

    Stella, I am so sorry for the lost work of art...can't help but think that the birds will never realize what they missed. :-(

    As far as losses--two things come to mind. The little wooden plaque I got for the very first three chapters I ever entered in a romance writing contest in 1984--I won first place and that was the impetus I needed to keep writing in spite of the rejections. It disappeared during our last move. The other was an old .22 rifle that had belonged to my husband's grandfather. It was stolen when our house was burglarized about fifteen years ago--so many truly valuable things taken, but my husband still mourns that little rifle with the bent barrel that his grandfather carried while driving a freight wagon in southern Oregon back around the turn of the last century. Sadly it didn't even work and probably ended up in the trash somewhere.

    9:11 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Tina: You dote away--it's wonderful and completely good for the soul.

    Stella

    10:49 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Katherine:

    There is no way to replace that farthing. When I started to read I was thinking, "we can find another one of those," but then I realized there was only one.

    I'm sorry.

    Stella

    10:53 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Lou:

    I was given a Royal Dalton chocolate set as a wedding gift and didn't notice it had disappeared in the move from England until several years later.

    Darn it that you lost the candlestick.

    Stella

    10:55 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Karen: I absolutely love snow globes.

    You're right about not getting too attached to "things" of course.

    Stella

    10:57 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Susan:

    Thank you for appreciating my funky bird bath:( I think I working toward making another one. It's so hard to find the time for these things when you're working full steam.

    Losing photographs is the pits and even if you do get to retake some of them they never feel the same somehow.

    Stella

    10:59 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Hi Lynne:

    I'm delighted you enjoyed CYPRESS NIGHTS:)

    Of course you miss a wonderful pot. Now you can't cook spaghetti ever again . . .oh, sorry, I was imagining my reaction, not yours!

    Stella

    11:01 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Rachie:

    So many of us are sentimental. At least we no longer have to hide the fact--as long as we don't care if someone makes fun of us. I don't.

    You'll have to put up a picture of Scarlet and her angel.

    Stella

    11:04 PM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Kate:

    Hang with the memory of when you heard you had won first prize. Just thinking about those things seems to freshen the memory and repeat the rush.

    Double boo on the rifle. It sounds delightful and something you want to keep for your family.

    Stella

    11:07 PM  
    Blogger Laurie said...

    I lost a beautiful tiger's eye ring that I had been given as a gift from my then best friend. Sentimental value as my friend has now passed on.

    3:09 AM  
    Blogger host said...

    Oh, Stella I'm so sorry. Your bird bath was a true work of art.
    Just recently I broke my bedside lamp which was a gift from my great grandma. It was all my fault, I was angry that I have to clean after the guests (that wanted to see my bedroom and went inside with their muddy shoes on) I didn't look where the tube of vacuum cleaner is and knocked the lamp down with it. Now it’s beyond repair. I was so sad. I keep telling myself it's only a lamp but it doesn't work :(

    4:10 AM  
    Blogger wstridgerunner said...

    Oh Stella! I'm so sorry! Don't let it get your creativity/recycle genius down though; there is all kinds of pieces and parts of pieces of stuff that needs re-done! :)

    And yeah, there's been a few things that were lost/destroyed over the years, that was worth all in my eyes;

    6:45 AM  
    Anonymous Tammy said...

    Stella, I am so sorry I know what that feel slike, I make ceramics for aliving and I HATE mailing anything cause I swear chimps handle it, and if something arrives in 1 piece I consider it amazing!

    If you remake it and decide to use the teacup again on the top - which you could do, the I'd suggest using CLEAR silicone to attach it to the main body of the birdbath. I found out the hard way that anything tha'ts attached before shipping - even if it's really well attached wont' in all likelyhood still be attacahed after shipping. The clear silicon allows you to make the pieces separate, yet it gives just as good a hold. And it's non-toxic for the birds if you dont use a lot.

    Hope that made sense. If you want more info just email me.

    6:50 AM  
    Blogger Laura said...

    Back before there were all these self-storage places my folks stored a bunch of their belongings with a storage company. An old persian rug, a Seth Thomas mantle clock and mom's wedding china were among the stuff the company 'lost'. The value wasn't the most important loss to my folks. It was the sentimental value. The company settled with them but it didn't make up for the theft.

    7:45 AM  
    Blogger Lori Foster said...

    I thought it was lovely! What a bummer that it got broken. But I'm so glad you had photos to share with us!

    Once, on a grade school bus, a "bully" broke a pretty flower-thingy that my middle son had made for me. The kid who deliberately broke it was one year younger than my oldest son, so my oldest "talked" to him about it - and the kid stopped being a jerk. But sadly, the flower-thingy was gone.

    That was a time when I so badly wanted to be ME in my son's body so I could have demolished that kid. LOL

    I detest bullies, and parents who call it "boys being boys." Ugh.

    Hugs to all,

    Lori

    9:35 AM  
    Blogger tetewa said...

    Sorry to hear about the birdbath but glad to see that you had pictures!

    11:01 AM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Laurie:

    I think it's mostly about the sentimental value and the simple things.

    Stella

    11:28 AM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Host:

    Are you absolutely certain the lamp can't be repaired?

    Boy do I know how that rush of annoyance can fuel negative energy! Been there a few times...

    Stella

    11:30 AM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Runner:

    I am trying to convince myself I'll eventually have some spare time to make another bird bath:)

    Stella

    11:32 AM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Hi Tammy:

    That's interesting. I used a ceramic glue--comes in a tub and is like thick, grayish toothpaste, only a bit grainy. I'll remember your suggestion.

    I also used E6000 to adhere some of the small stuff.

    Stella

    11:36 AM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Laura: Argh! Wonder what really happened to your folks' things.

    Stella

    11:37 AM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Lori:

    Is there anything as strong as a mom's desire to avenge a child's pain or sadness? A boy took my son's new basketball and "disposed" of it. When I called the kid's mother and politely asked if she could help with this, she said, "That's your problem, BABE." Grrrr--that was a long time ago but I've never forgotten my amazement!

    Hugs, Stella

    11:41 AM  
    Blogger Stella said...

    Tetewa:

    What a super name:)

    I'm glad I took the pictures now, particularly the one of what was left. That was Jayne's idea but wouldn't have been possible if Jerry hadn't waited for me to go out then set out on a new career--dumpster diving! I shall always smile when I think of the kindness and caring in that nasty undertaking.

    Stella

    11:44 AM  
    Blogger elizabeth said...

    Oh, honey, what a mess. (((hugs))

    And please tell Alexis Morgan, that if she wants my blog spot in two weeks, I'd love to host her. (Yep, a fan.)

    1:48 PM  
    Blogger Stella Cameron said...

    Hi EL:

    These things are supposed to make us stronger:)

    Alexis will be blogging for her new release and I have her lined up. Thanks for the offer--I know she'll appreciate the thought.

    Hugs, Stella

    2:03 PM  
    Blogger Carrie said...

    Hi Stella,

    Sorry I missed this topic! That would have been beautiful in a garden!

    Something that impacted me for life - I was four we were at Disney World (in the late seventies, before there was Epcot or any of the other additions). I had my heart set on riding the spinning dumbo ride (okay, it's a plastic elephant that traverses a circle and goes up and down) and I waited in line for what seemed like forever. Then, just as I got up there, it started to rain, and they couldn't run the ride and I had to get off!

    Oh man, it would be another 14 years before I could go back and all I could ever really remember of that first trip to DW was not riding the dumbo ride! I also remember getting stuck in It's a Small World and hated that song for a long time after that.

    Something else that scared me for life - While I began to remember how much I liked the Pirates of the Caribbean, by the time I got back there the second time, it had been overhauled to be politically correct. I was eighteen and I could have cared less that the pirate was chasing the lusty serving wench! In fact, that's one of the things I had been looking forward to! Let down yet again...

    The rest of the trip was cool as it was my gift for graduating from high school!

    Carrie (from Wisconsin)

    9:34 PM  
    Blogger Stella Cameron said...

    Oh, Carrie: Those disappointments from childhood last forever, don't they? Boo on the Dumbo ride. And Pirates of the Caribbean scared me--a lot of things do.

    Now, concentrate on all the good things you've done and I'll do the same:)

    Stella

    10:19 PM  
    Blogger DFender said...

    Aw Stella, whatta work of art. You're creative with crafts AND you can write? Color me jealous!
    ;-)

    Deb

    7:59 AM  
    Blogger Stella Cameron said...

    Thank you, sniff, Deb:)

    Stella

    12:23 AM  
    Blogger Jill said...

    Hi Stella,
    I suppose there is something to be learned here...take joy in the process and all of that, but oh crumb! I could just see the birdbath on your "lanai" in Kirkland, the birds gathering around waiting to take turns sipping from the crazy cup. Then again, I suppose a cup and attached saucer that fabulous felt that it was a crime to be glued down to something else entirely.
    The best laid plans and all that.
    Hang in there.
    xo
    J.

    6:11 PM  
    Anonymous Jan said...

    "GASP!!" how truly tragic, Stella....

    Well I got 2 of the most beloved kitties, that decided to use my special double chair as their scratching post, as well as my georgous dresser, my kitchen cabinets, most doorways & a lovely quilt that is so full of holes, my DH and I decided to just rip it into 2 smaller sections for the kitties to used in their beds....they love it!!

    Plus I traveled 2500 miles with all my stuff and only lost a favorite vase...then I been here a few months and broke my favorite batterbowl & basket mould..so I get relate, Stella....keep the chin up, just maybe another one will form :-)

    7:17 PM  

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