Blog Tour: Juliet's Answer

I'm not a Shakespeare fan. I never really enjoyed it when we had to read one of his plays in high school English class (except the time we had to make up a scene for Macbeth and my friends and I decided that the three witches got their prophecies from fortune cookies). I don't remember anything beyond the highlights of Romeo and Juliet. I hardly recall the Leo and Claire adaptation, to be honest. But something about Glenn Dixon's new memoir intrigued me. And once I started reading Juliet's Answer, I could hardly put it down.

Here's what this memoir is about:

Eat, Pray, Love (from a man’s perspective) meets Under the Tuscan Sun—a fresh, heartwarming story about a man who travels to Verona, where he answers letters addressed to Shakespeare’s Juliet, all in an attempt to understand heartbreak, to heal and to find love again.
In fair Verona where we lay our scene…When Glenn Dixon is spurned by love, he does something unusual. He travels to Verona, Italy, to become a scribe of Juliet, Shakespeare’s fictional character, all in an attempt to understand his heartbreak. Once there, he volunteers to answer the thousands of letters that arrive addressed to Juliet, letters sent from lovelorn people all over the world who long to understand the mysteries of the human heart.
Glenn’s journey takes him deep into the charming community of Verona, where he learns the traditions of the townspeople and becomes involved in unravelling the truth behind Romeo and Juliet—Did these star-crossed lovers actually exist? Did they live in Verona? Why have they remained at the forefront of hearts and minds for centuries? And what can they teach us about love? At the same time, we learn about Claire, Glenn’s unrequited love, the source of his heartbreak. Was she truly his soul’s match, or was she, like Rosalind in Shakespeare’s classic play, a mere infatuation who pales in comparison the moment his real Juliet enters his life?
When Glenn returns home to Canada and resumes his duties as a Grade 10 English teacher, he undertakes a lively reading of Romeo and Juliet with his students, engaging them in passions past and present. But in an intriguing reversal of fate and fortune, his students—along with an old friend—instruct the teacher on the true meaning of love, loss, and moving on.
An enthralling tale of modern-day love steeped in the romantic traditions of eras past, this is a memoir that will warm your heart.

I, like many other chick flick lovers, watched and enjoyed the 2010 Amanda Seyfried film, Letters to Juliet. That was the first time I remember hearing of Juliet's house and the letters people (mostly women) write to her. The movie barely scratched the surface of Juliet's secretaries. In fact, Juliet's Answer probably could have gone more in depth. But it's fine, almost better, that Dixon didn't because then it'd be more of a research book and less of a memoir. But Dixon gave me a much better idea of what it's like to be one of Juliet's secretaries. The idea that so many people write to a fictional character with their love problems is both heartbreaking and romantic. And that there are people who write back to those who leave a mailing address? That letter won't change the world but that response means the world to someone. 

Here's a true testament to how enthralled I was with this book. I started reading it just after Christmas...at the same time I got really sick. I took it with me on day 3 of a sore throat to the walk in clinic where I had to wait an hour and a half to have a doctor confirm my self-diagnosis of strep throat within about thirty seconds of examining me. Brutal and "poor little ol' me", I know :) But the time almost flew by as I kept my nose in the book and tried not to breathe on anyone. I was transported to Italy and Glenn's world as I sat on an extremely uncomfortable chair. If that doesn't say "engaging", I don't know what does.

I'm so intrigued by the fact that Romeo and Juliet may have actually existed. Had anyone else heard that before? Because I most certainly hadn't.

I think Dixon found a great balance of facts and personal experience. I really enjoyed how he put together his experience in Verona with what was happening with his love life back at home in Canada. Just one or the other wouldn't have been as engaging but weaving it together the way he did made for a great and interesting read.

And that cover? Between that and the way Dixon wrote about Verona I want to jump on a plane to Italy immediately. 

Juliet's Answer is a fairly quick and easy read but it's one that will stick with you for awhile. Glenn Dixon has written an absolutely lovely memoir that allows you into his past and his life while also educating you on a play you thought you knew. 

Now, as a bonus for my blog tour stop, here's a piece on "The Science of Love" from Glenn Dixon. Enjoy!

While writing my book, Juliet’s Answer, I looked at a lot of the research on love and much of it came down to this: love is not one single thing.  Many of the experts agree that there are at least three separate but related facets to what we might call true love, and interestingly, each facet has its own individual brain chemistry.

            The first and most obvious aspect of love is sexual attraction. It’s no surprise that this biological system is almost entirely controlled by the hormone testosterone, in both males and females. Of course, we all know that there more to love than sex, but we must admit that it’s a big part of it.

            The second facet of love in what is sometimes called the triangular theory of love is called intimacy. It’s includes touch, cuddling and hugging and kissing but it’s much more than that. This element of love also involves trust, it involves being able to share your dreams and your deepest secrets with the person you are with.  These connections are strengthened and controlled by the familiar neurotransmitters of serotonin and dopamine which light up the reward centers in our brains. A look can be enough, a gentle word or the warmth of your lover’s hand in yours.

The third facet of love is the most interesting. It is sometimes called commitment.  A wealth of research shows that there is an expiry date on the first two facets of love, a period many researchers peg at about four years. This is a part of the theory of evolutionary psychology –  the four year period being the span of time needed to bring a pregnancy to full term and then raise that child to the point where the little he or she can walk and talk and basically function in the world.  This, or so the research claims, defines an ‘window’ for many relationships, whether or not a child has been conceived.  But the third facet of love goes beyond this simple time frame. For the lucky few, love can last much longer, even an entire lifetime.  It is a matter of wanting to, a conscious decision that your life is the better for it.  It’s associated with a remarkable neuro-hormone called oxytocin.  This is the same chemical that causes goslings to imprint on the mother goose, it’s the same hormone that bonds a mother to her newborn baby and if you ever see an elderly couple walking hand in hand after all those many years, you can be sure that it is washing through their happy brains.

All these neuro-hormones and their associated neural pathways form the chemical moons that pull at the tides of love.  It’s complex of course but in this sense we are all, like Romeo and Juliet, star crossed, our fates sealed by our very own biology.

*An ARC was provided by the publisher, Simon and Schuster Canada, in exchange for a review for this blog tour. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Guest Post: Scott Wilbanks

Yesterday I shared my review of the new novel The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster. If you missed it, you can read it here. Long story short: I really enjoyed it. Today author Scott Wilbanks was kind enough to share a great post with all of us! In it he talks about how a bad first date led to him writing this novel. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

A BOTCHED FIRST DATE

I wonder how many writers can claim a botched first date as the inspiration for their debut novel? And if they could, how many would actually have the cheek to admit it? As Stephen King said, “Fiction is a lie, but good fiction is the truth inside the lie.” So here goes…

It had all begun so charmingly, really.

I’d lived in the Castro district of San Francisco for a good ten years up until that fateful moment, and can say with a good degree of certainty that our paths had never crossed until that peculiar weekend when I’d spied him at my regular neighborhood haunts five times.

The first of our encounters was so vivid that it even found its way into LEMONCHOLY’s pages.

The cars crawled. A hummingbird inched forward like a slow-motion sequence in a National Geographic special, its wings undulating in the exquisite fashion of a Japanese fan dancer. A dog floated upward in the park across the street, a look of pure joy frozen on its face, eyes focused on a Frisbee hovering inches from eager jaws and spinning so slowly that you could read the word Wham-O on it. Then, whoosh… time repaired itself and Christian was walking all too quickly past the face with the secret smile.

Okay, so I just gave away two secrets right there. Christian—Annie’s best friend, a young man burdened with a debilitating stutter—is based on me. And, as the excerpt reveals, I do love my melodrama.

But getting back to those mysterious encounters. As the narrative indicates, I quickly dubbed the object of my fascination “the face,” and by the fifth encounter (at the gym), one that involved my tank top and a joke about “third cousins, twice removed” that earned me a laugh, I had his phone number.

We met for coffee—a calculated decision on my part—what with dinner showing too much commitment, and drinks at the local pub showing too little class.  In my opinion, coffee for a first date is the equivalent of the third bear’s porridge. It’s not too hot, it’s not too cold, it puts everybody at ease, and is j-u-s-t right.

Truth be told, I’d thought everything was going swimmingly, that is until my date made it clear that it wasn’t by rocking back in his chair to declare, “I think we are destined to be great friends.”

Great… friends.

Not the comment you’d expect when you’re picking colors for a picket fence.—I might have been jumping the gun a wee bit, but who hasn’t? I’d even come up with a name for the dog the two of us would surely be adopting. Sneeze.  I’d already decided that we’d name him Sneeze.

Thirty minutes and a cataclysmic decline into tragically boring conversation later, I found myself driving home—fenceless, dogless (sad face emoji)—and with my tail tucked firmly between my legs when it occurred to me that things are only inevitable when you accept them as such. By the time I’d pulled into my drive, I’d concocted a pair of characters in my head—Annabelle Aster, a modern day San Francisco eccentric with a penchant for Victorian clothes, and Elsbeth Grundy, a cantankerous, old schoolmarm living in turn-of-the-century wheat field —pen pals who write one another between contemporary San Francisco and Victorian Kansas, depositing their correspondences in a brass letterbox that stands in some common magical ground between the two.

I ran upstairs, whipped up a letter from Annie to Elsbeth in which she asked for advice regarding her love-struck friend—me—and promptly emailed it to my date. I know, right?

The following day, I received a call. Amidst the laughter in the background, I was slowly beginning to grasp that my email had made the rounds at my failed date’s office and was a bit of a hit. More were demanded.

“Sadly, I cannot,” I said.

“Why’s that?”

Wait for it now…  (This part is positively diabolical.)  “Elsbeth hasn’t written back,” I responded, as if nothing could be more obvious.

Within the hour, there was an email in my inbox with Elsbeth’s name in the subject line. And while he’d certainly gotten into the spirit of things, I must admit that Elsbeth’s grammar was shockingly poor for a schoolmarm.

These letters became a regular thing, and ultimately formed the core around which I built the plot of my book.

And what my date’s prognostication, you might ask? We did become the best of friends. After all, how could we not? He’d inspired Edmond, the character in Lemoncholy who coaxes Christian’s secret to the surface, curing him of his stutter.

Sadly, my friend passed away two years ago, though I have a sneaking suspicion that he’s rolling his eyes at this little piece of drollery from Heaven.

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Guest Post: Faerl Marie

As promised, I have a lovely guest post from author Faerl Marie, author of  The Golden Apple as part of the CLP Blog Tour. My review went up yesterday, in case you missed it. I wanted to know how much importance the setting of this novel had in the story. New York City can sometimes become a character itself in books and movies and I wondered if Faerl had any thoughts on that. Enjoy!

It was important to set the novel in New York City because Poppy needed to move somewhere completely separate from her life with Josh, somewhere with a lot of contrast to the small, southern town she was used to. New York City is big and glamorous and it's a chameleon. It can be anything you need or want it to be and Poppy needed contrast, a place to hide, when she first arrived. Later in the novel she needed more familiarity and comfort and it became that.

The city did become its own character of sorts. It became a friend to Poppy. When she first arrived, New York was an acquaintance, sort of like Austin--a place she had visited a few times but had no real history or intimacy with. She starts out in Vivienne's neighborhood and the city is a friend of a friend. As she moves forward, away from her life with Josh and towards one with Austin she gets to know the city for herself, choosing a neighborhood (one that is close to Austin) and creating familiar feelings and "friendliness" with that part of the city. Once she doesn't need it to be an escape it becomes her home. 

Author Bio:
Faerl Marie is a graduate of the University of New Mexico with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and minors in English and Social Welfare. She has worked as a style consultant, personal shopper and wardrobe curator, among other things. Faerl Marie spends her days writing, dreaming about new stories and characters, walking her dog and adoring her husband. She lives in the idyllic mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico. "The Golden Apple" is her first novel.

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Guest Post: Laura Chapman

Welcome to my second stop on the CLP Blog Tour for Hard Hats and Doormats, Laura Chapman's debut novel. I absolutely loved this novel (my review went up last week) and today Laura is sharing a guest post with us. I wondered what it was like to get into the mind of Lexi, the main character. How did Laura create Lexi's personality and make her real? Enjoy!

Confession: Out of all the guest posts I’ve been writing to discuss the story behind my first novel, this is the one I struggled with most. I wasn’t quite sure how to put into words exactly what I’d done to channel my inner Lexi to tell her story and make it feel real.

When I wrote the first draft of Hard Hats and Doormats three years ago, it wasn’t much of a stretch for me to get inside my main character’s head. At the time I started the first draft, I was 24, two years out of college and in one of those awkward life phases. You know the kind – you’re not 100 percent happy about the direction your life is taking, but you don’t know what to do about it.

So you get moody, pouty and sometimes overdo it at the bar (not necessarily as a coping mechanism, but because you’re young and don’t always think things through). You make and lose friendships. You make good and bad decisions. You’re trying to figure out who you want to be and how you can become that person.

Like Lexi Burke, I sometimes spent too much of my life on the road for work and complaining about my job. I also liked meeting my friends for post-work drinks. We liked complaining about co-workers and bosses. Flirting with cute boys (because I was still thinking of men as boys at this point) and looking to each other for spiritual guidance.  

It wasn’t just me. Most of my friends were basically the same way. We were all fairly new out of college. We all had big plans, but we weren’t that close to achieving them.

When I needed to get into my character’s head – when I was developing her personality – I considered the most extreme emotions and thoughts I’d had in the previous two years. What made me happiest? What had upset me most? What was the worst character trait I showed? What was the best? Then I thought about the people around me. I’ve always been a fan of people watching (I’m sure other writers can relate), and I used some of those experiences to watch the way men and women in their twenties acted.

I came up with a few interesting characteristics I wanted to feature:

• A lot of us aren’t happy at work. At the time I wrote the first draft, the recession was still on its way to bottoming out. Jobs were scarce, salaries were low and we felt a little helpless about our professional futures.
• Many of us wanted our ideas to be heard and valued, but were finding it difficult, because of our young age.
• The number one social activity for young working professionals seems to be meeting in a bar after work on a Friday (or Monday) to vent about difficult projects and people. That activity has the potential to bring out the best and worst in people, which makes natural drama.
• People can be selfish, but it doesn’t mean they’re horrible. For my part, I felt so helpless about everything going on in my life, I was so me-focused. What was I thinking? What was I feeling? What did I want? How was I going to solve my problems? Lots of “I” thinking. At the same time, I was aware I was being selfish, and I didn’t want to be.

When I developed Lexi Burke as a character – when I got into her head – I funneled this chaotic mix of emotions and thoughts into my writing. In subsequent drafts – as my life changed, and these old problems became less important to me – I tried to keep that same mindset. The story was inspired by some of what I’d experienced or witnessed first-hand as a young professional. It was often messy. There were a lot of mistakes. But we learned a lot of lessons. My hope was by writing a story about characters that weren’t always perfect – and who made mistakes – I’d be creating a realistic book.

Perhaps what most surprised me through writing this story was how different my main character and I turned out to be. I was concerned I’d end up writing a fictional version of myself, because I was expressing so many of my emotions. Ultimately, Lexi and I ended up being two different people, who managed to share a few similar thoughts and emotions. Isn’t that a nice thought? You can be so different from another person – real or fictional – but you can still find a little common ground amongst your differences.

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Guest Post: Anna Garner

Last month (last year!) I reviewed the adorably awesome Sugar Spun Sister by Anna Garner (review is here), the first in her new Sweet Dreams series. I really liked it and while I was reading it I wondered how she came up with the ice cream shop idea. Happily, Anna offered up this great guest post that explains why she chose ice cream as her heroine's food of choice (and try not to be shocked like I was when you read her confession!). I hope you enjoy this post and buy a copy of this sweet novel for yourself!

I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM

My latest novel, Sugar Spun Sister, is about a girl with ice cream dreams. To clarify: my protagonist, Cricket, hopes to one day have her own ice cream shop, and in this story, she starts working towards her goal. Now, this may come as a shocker, but I have a confession to make: I’m really not a fan of ice cream.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t dislike ice cream. (Unless it’s coffee-flavored. Ick.) I find it to be a pleasant enough treat, but if I’m going to consume those kinds of calories, I’d rather have a cupcake or two. You might wonder then, why did I write a book that centers around ice cream? Well, it’s because I knew I wanted to write about a woman who opens her own food business. I did consider having Cricket want to open up a cupcake shop, but there have been so many chick lit books that involve cupcake shops/cupcake designers/cupcake connoisseurs that I wanted to do something different. Ice cream seemed like the logical choice.

All eighteen chapters of the book open with the name of an ice cream flavor that somehow relates to the action within the chapter, along with a brief note and a recipe. Here’s the first one, for example:

Chapter 1. Anaphylactic Surprise

(A.K.A. the ice cream that would kill my boss)

Ingredients: chopped strawberries, huckleberries, pecans, sugar, soymilk creamer, fresh ginger root (minced & cooked), soy yogurt, honey and carob bean gum powder

All of the recipes in the book are pretty much original. I spent many, many hours googling ice cream recipes, and some of these are similar to ones that are up there on the net, but I think I changed at least one or two things in each recipe to make it my own. Or Cricket’s own, rather. Some of them are completely original, like this first one here. I just wanted to include as many ingredients as possible that people are commonly allergic to, and still have it sound tasty.

It would be interesting to test all my recipes out, and I hope to do so one day. Talk about a fun idea for a book publicity event! Even though, as I said, I’m not that big on ice cream, I really would like to have a taste of “What a Girl Wants” (Cricket’s version of mint chocolate chip, made with Girl Scout cookies) and also “Delectable Dragons” (the sorbet made with exotic dragon fruit) and even “Love, Sweet Love” (the zingy strawberry and pink champagne flavor). Okay, perhaps I’m more into ice cream than I thought…

Guest Post: Cat Lavoie

Welcome to another stop on the CLP Blog Tour for Zoey & The Moment of Zen! My review of Cat Lavoie's second novel went up last week but to quickly recap: I loved it. Today I'd like to welcome Cat to Books Etc.! I'm always curious about the lives of authors. Where do they write? When do they write? And so on. So I asked Cat to share her writing schedule with us. I hope you enjoy this sneak peek into the writing life of one of my favourite authors!

I'm not quite sure what I am—a wannabe early-bird or a reluctant night-owl. All I know is that I wish I were the kind of writer who could wake up at five in the morning, put on some running shoes and jog a few miles, and then sit down in front of the computer—refreshed and energized—and crank out a few hundred words before the real work day has even begun. I have dreams about being that writer. (And I'm pretty sure dreaming of jogging is the closest I'll ever get to actual jogging.)

Truth is, I stumble out of bed—after hitting the snooze button a few times—and trip on Abbie the cat and somehow try to navigate the crowded bus and subway (still half-asleep) to get to my office. Once I'm there, surrounded by mountains of paperwork, I am itching to write. I count the minutes until my lunch break and when it's finally time to eat, I whip out my laptop and lose myself in my work-in-progress. I don't know why I'm so productive during that hour. Maybe it's the fact that I have a limited amount of time and I need to make every second count. Maybe it's because writing helps me escape dreary work days and I love bringing a bit of my dream job to my day job. Whatever it is, I'm so grateful for my little writing window that I sometimes forget to eat lunch. I know. Scary.

But the real work begins when I get home from the office. After taking care of the chores and getting everything ready for the following day, I can finally sit at my desk and write. I have to force myself to go to bed at a reasonable hour or I'll be sleeping on my paperwork the next day. But—if I let myself—I'd probably write until the wee hours of the night. Here's a picture of my work desk in an unusual state of tidiness. It might just be one of my favorite places in the world. 

Guest Post: Savannah Page

Welcome to my second stop on the CLP Blog Tour for When Girlfriends Chase Dreams! Today author Savannah Page has been kind enough to write a guest post for Books Etc. When I was reading the series I wondered what drew her to writing a series about such a dynamic group of friends so I sent along this prompt/question: Each book in the When Girlfriends… series features a different girlfriend. Did you always plan to alternate perspectives? And did you find that you had favourites? (I know that’s probably like asking a mother which child is her favourite!). I hope you enjoy Savannah's response!

In the earliest conceptualization stages of my When Girlfriends… collection I knew two things without a shadow of a doubt: 1) That I wanted a group of best friends from college to star in a friendship-themed set of novels, and 2) That each girlfriend would get her own story (and maybe, just maybe, two).

I wanted to alternate perspectives because I knew right away that each girl would grow on me and would have her own fab story to tell—they all just had to have their own novel. But I also did it as a way to flex my pen and better hone my craft. I had the main theme of friendship, and I had a solid set of characters, so with those things fixed I felt like I had a good chance to play with things that could be changed from book to book, like voice, tense, and POV. I knew before I even started that I didn’t want every single novel to have the same exact style. Similar, yes, so they can all be tied together as a family, but some differences here and there so I could show and practice versatility.

One of the toughest things, five novels in, has been to keep to my own distinct chick lit author voice, while at the same time have each character stand out as her own person and have her own way of telling her story. With each When Girlfriends… novel I want readers to feel like they’re still reading within the series/from the same author, but that they’re getting something new. Like they’re picking up a new diary.

As for a favorite girlfriend/novel? That’s a tough one! Definitely like asking a mother which child is her favorite. I really enjoyed writing When Girlfriends Chase Dreams because my day job is wedding-related (I blog for a wedding florist), and it was my NaNoWriMo baby. It was a blast to write, and Claire’s an endearing character. She’s full of so much energy and she’s just a sweetie (when she isn’t freaking out over planning her big day).

My latest release, When Girlfriends Take Chances, just might be my favorite. Emily is definitely an adventurer and free-spirited character. She inspires me and even reminds me to live each day to its fullest—take chances.

But, having said that, I still think that I’m most proud of When Girlfriends Make Choices. That novel made me push the envelope a bit and do something in both theme, style, and tense that I’ve never done. It took me longer than usual to write that one and I think the amount of time I invested, the constant rewrites, and the fact that I really wrote the book that was in my heart, make …Make Choices one of my absolute faves. Funnily, though, my favorite character just might be Sophie (When Girlfriends Break Hearts), but probably because I’ve been gathering ideas for her second book for a long while now. She’s been on my mind a lot!

Thanks for inviting me to guest post today, Kaley. I’m glad you could be a part of the tour!

Readers, don’t forget to enter the fabulous CLP When Girlfriends Chase Dreams Tour Giveaway. One lucky reader will win a 1 year subscription to the “Martha Stewart Weddings” or “Martha Stewart Living” magazine (print or digital). Details are at the CLP tour page.

Guest Post: Kathleen Kole

Welcome back for another stop on the CLP Blog Tour for Kathleen Kole's novel Tales from the Laundry Pile. I reviewed the enjoyable novel on Monday (the review is here if you missed it) and today Kathleen is here with a fabulous guest post. As I mentioned in my review, I was looking forward to seeing what characters from previous novels would pop up in this one so I wanted to know if the cameos were always a planned thing or if the characters just demanded more attention. I loved this post and I hope you do, too! 

Cameos... The Who, What, Where, When and How

Who:
When I wrote my first novel, I must admit I didn’t have the thought of allowing my characters to have cameos in later books.  I was writing that story, so that was where my thoughts centered.

What:
It was in my second novel, Dollars to Donuts, that the idea of allowing my characters to have cameos began to blossom.  I had become very fond of them and it seemed only right to allow them to flit in here and there in following Boxwood Hills based novels, adding their charms where applicable.

Where:
In my next book, Favorable Conditions, the first cameos came to light.  The story was a perfect fit for a certain vivacious twosome to story-hop, as well as a few other characters my readers would recognize (no spoilers!).

When:
All of that being said, I can assure you I chose who comes and goes in each novel.  My characters are “very good listeners” and do what they’re told! Haha!

How:
As for how I choose who, what and/or where a character might make a cameo, that depends completely on the story at hand.  As each new novel is created and the Boxwood Hills universe expands, former characters and their lives and personalities just fit in where they would naturally be.  Sounds odd, I’ll admit, but hopefully that makes sense.

So, there we have it.  The who, what, where, when and how my characters find their way into each other’s stories.  The Boxwood Hills universe is alive and well in my thoughts and nothing brings me more joy than to continue to write new tales and introduce my readers to more and more of the residents and their stories.

That being said, I sincerely hope Claire’s story in Tales from the Laundry Pile is embraced with as much kindness and openheartedness as have my other three.  I am blessed beyond measure to have such fantastic, loyal readers.

Thank you, Kaley, for allowing me the privilege of writing this guest post and thank you for doing me the honor of being a part of the blog tour.  Your support throughout my journey has been stellar and means more than words can say.
xxx

Blogger note: *blushes* 

Guest Post: Catherine McKenzie

I am so excited to have Catherine McKenzie on the blog today as part of The Savvy Reader tour for her latest novel, Hidden. I reviewed the book earlier this week and I loved it (you can catch the full review here). When trying to come up with a topic for Catherine to write about I thought about how she is always promoting other authors' works and decided that's what I'd like to know a bit more about. Read on for her response (and thank you to Catherine for writing this post!):

One of the great things I learned when I published my first book is how supportive most authors are of other authors. We sometimes read about literary "feuds" between some big name authors, but in general that's not reflective of what's going on in the general writing community. In reality, authors help each other in lots of little ways. From being "beta" readers (i.e. providing early feedback), to blurbing books (which I've been lucky enough to get from authors I didn't even know), to spreading the word about books they've read that they love, to providing a community of people you can lean on when you have your thousandth question about the publishing process. Writing can be a really solitary act, but authors supporting other authors helps make it into a community, which is awesome. Speaking of which, as you know Kaley, one of the ways that I like to support other authors is to spread the word about books I love. The current book I'm raving about is The Banks of Certain Rivers by Jon Harrison, which you can read more about here: www.thebanksofcertainrivers.com. You will laugh, you will cry, you will thank me for recommending this book.

Blogger's note: The Banks of Certain Rivers is a really great read and you can check out my review of the book here, if you're interested!

Guest Post: Jenn Flynn-Shon

Last week I reviewed Reckless Abandon by Jenn Flynn-Shon for the CLP Blog Tour. In case you missed it, you can catch up on the review here. Longish review short: I really enjoyed the novella! Today Jenn is here to share a little bit of insight on her writing routine. I hope you enjoy it!

The Time that Works Best for Creativity

Writers frequently run around saying they have certain times of day, times of year, they enjoy writing the most. As the winter fades away and record highs have taken over this week in Phoenix, Arizona I’m coming face-to-face with this very dilemma. What time of day should I make the effort to get the words out and what season do I find my best creativity comes rising to the surface?

I used to be a night owl and loved the quiet of the city after the ten o’clock hour. In my twenties I felt my best functioning hours were 10:00 – 2:00 on both sides of the clock. Staying up late meant sleeping in later in the morning and I was always most productive with creative thoughts right after I got up in the late morning. Now that I’m approaching forty I find the same thing rings true. The difference is I don’t think I could tell you the last time I saw two o’clock in the morning and now I rise at about 7:30 every morning.

 With a shift in my body clock while working in corporate America I noticed the shift in my productivity hours. Even though I’m working for no one but myself these days that same body clock has held fast. Now when I write I find my most creative thoughts come at around eight o’clock in the morning and by two o’clock in the afternoon I’m toast. I’m still most productive in the morning I just approach it earlier these days. But that isn’t the only change to my schedule. Time of year also plays a big role in my writing and effectiveness with creativity.

When I lived in Boston I frequently hibernated in the winter to avoid going outdoors in the harsh cold of our northeast winters. I completed NaNoWriMo a few years in a row during November and spent December through February editing and formatting. Once I moved to Phoenix that weather pattern was no longer as grueling and I found my natural tendency was to be outdoors in the winters instead. But I struggled with giving up my summers and the fun that tends to go along with them. That is until my first summer in Phoenix.

 Temperatures can hit anywhere from 100-115 here from June to August and sometimes, like this week for example, the temps can go out of control on either end of that summer season. The only thing I want to do during the summer now is to stay indoors in my air conditioned house, or be out in the pool, to remain as cool as possible. And this has sparked some creativity to bubble up. Last August I wrote Reckless Abandon, my latest Romantic Suspense and it only took me the month to get a good first draft down on paper.

 I set the novella in the middle of summer and the weather played a small background role for the main character, Shaw, as she experienced the different kind of heat that New York City has to offer in the summer as opposed to her dry but oven-like climate in Phoenix. The experiences of having lived in that thick and gooey kind of warmth helped me to write her reaction to it with more honesty. And I was able to take shelter from our summer heat by using that time to my best advantage with my work.

 Now as I’m working on the sequel I’m finding my creative juices are starting to rise with the temperatures. All winter long I was empty, there was nothing particularly creative rolling around my head. However, during that time I was collecting information while out and about meeting people, doing things, exploring, and living life. As a Writer I like things loosely structured and now, knowing my best times of year to collect as well as write, it helps me stay on track to completing my next piece of fiction without it feeling forced.

 As the temps heat up this spring I’m finding the next storyline for Shaw is heating up as well. Will I make the next book a scorcher? Only time will tell on that one but I can assure you I’ll be working on it first thing in the morning and spending the late afternoons in the pool. 

Guest Post: Colleen Oakes

Thanks for stopping by for my second tour stop for Elly In Bloom by Colleen Oakes. Before I started reading the novel (which I loved, by the way, and you can check out my review here), I knew there were some similarities between main character Elly and author Colleen. When it came time to suggest a post topic, I was curious to find out how Colleen found the balance between writing an autobiographical novel and a novel that happens to have a heroine with a few of the same characteristics she did. I love love love the post Colleen sent to me and I hope you do too!

At my book release party, my Dad approached my best friend Kim and asked her a hilarious question.  “Are you Kim?” he asked.  “Yes, that is my name.”  “No, I mean…are you Kim? Like in the book?”  She laughed. “Well, I’m not Elly!”  

My Dad smiled. “Well, of course not! Isn’t that my daughter?”

Often times, when you are the author of fiction, you can find yourself bordering the line between your own life and the bright, shiny lives of your own characters.  While I’m not sure this problem happens to the writers of say, science fiction (Am I am alien today? Nope, still me.), it can absolutely happen to writers who tread a little more in real life and a little less on the fantastical sphere.  Like say, if you used to be a chubby floral designer in St. Louis, and now you’re a chubby novelist writing a novel about a chubby floral designer in St. Louis.

Elly, my main character, is absolutely an embodiment of my own heart, my own insecurities, and a colorful collage of several extraordinary women in my life.  Her struggles with weight, food and men is very personal to me. She’s not a carbon copy in any sense of the word, but those fears that she overcomes are all something that I, or those I know, have conquered in their own life. As I wrote the book, there were times when I had to remind myself “That is what you would do, but it’s not necessarily what Elly would do.”  While Elly carries my heart within her pages and has a slew of issues that we share, there are also some key differences that kept me from falling head first into her life.  I luckily, have never found my husband tangled up in bed with a redhead.  I’m blessed to be married to an amazing man who is faithful and caring.  I do not have a weakness for artists, though I do have a weakness for beautiful things, be it a beach or a cute dress.  Elly has experienced the death of her mother, where I was lucky enough to treat mine to a movie this afternoon.  However, both Ellyn and I have a deep love for flowers and floral design. We both prefer hot chocolate over coffee, and we both tend to fall clumsily into the worst possible situation.  We can both be awkward, quick tempered and easily intimidated. And we’re both not entirely confident in dressing ourselves.

Finally, writing someone like yourself can be liberating, as if your typewriter suddenly took on the form of a therapist.  Writing someone like yourself can also be terrible, a revealing of your worst traits.  Walking the line between fiction and real life is at best a tightrope.  Veer too close to your character and you’re writing a very revealing autobiography. Veer too far and you are out of touch with the emotional heart of your story. 

They key is to keep a firm grasp on reality, while letting your rich characters play free in your imagination.  If you love them, you cannot make them into yourself. It’s a disservice to them, and to your story. 

And if you can’t do it alone, find someone to remind you. And then name a character after them.

About the Author
Colleen Oakes is a passionate Colorado native who really enjoys living in other places. She attended college in Bronxville, NY where she received her degree in Creative Writing. After college, she opened up a successful wedding florist before the writing urge came knocking. Now she is a night owl who does most of her writing in pajamas. When not drowsily hitting the keys, Colleen enjoys swimming, reading, and immersing herself in nerdy pop culture. Elly in Bloom debuted in September, 2012 via Amazon Publishing. She now lives with her husband in North Denver, where they are awaiting their first child through adoption. Colleen blogs about life (good, bad, and awkward) pretty frequently over at The Ranunculus Adventures. (http://ranunculusadventure.blogspot.com/) She is currently at work on the sequel to Elly in Bloom.

Connect with Colleen
Website
Goodreads
Facebook Author Page
Blog
Twitter
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Guest Post: Sara Palacios

Last week I had the pleasure of reviewing Love In Translation, the debut novel from Sara Palacios. (Read my review here if you missed it). Today Sara has a guest post for you all that talks about her road to publication. I'm always interested to see what it was like for an author to go from idea to actual book and I would like to thank Sara for this lovely post. I hope you all enjoy it!

I’ve dabbled in writing for a few years now. I finished my first book, BEAUTIFUL DISASTER, shortly after I graduated from college but didn’t really think that it was good enough. I think I saw it merely as practice and appreciated it for what it was. But then, I decided to really give it a go and write another book and see how it turned out. If I felt like it was good enough, then I would pursue publishing which was obviously the ultimate goal. So, I gave it another go and spent many months working on what would become LOVE IN TRANSLATION. Actually, back then it was titled A SUMMER TO REMEMBER, but I like the new title so much more. Anywho, I finished the book and thought it was decent, so I decided to give it to an editor. I began working with Erica McCormick who is a friend of one of my best friends and she was amazing. She really helped tighten the writing and reel me in during scenes where my writing was all over the place. After she went through it very thoroughly, I went through it again myself at least a dozen more times and really tried to make it shine. Then I presented the book to a really great gal pal of mine, Cristina Reyna. She read the book in its entirety and really helped help bring the story to life. After that, I sent my MS out to a handful of publishing agents and had a few bites, but nothing really solid so I decided to pursue self-publishing. By that time, I had been working with Samantha Robey over at Chick Lit Plus for roughly a year and saw firsthand how successful an author could be when self-published, so I went for it. I think deep down I was always intended to self-publish because I had so much fun with it all.  Luckily I had my husband to help me out with everything, and together we converted my book into ebook formats and designed the book cover (which was by far one of my favorite aspects of publishing). Then, I set a date and went from there.

Overall, it was a lot of work but it has been so worth it. I think ultimately the deciding factor was giving birth to my son. For so long I’ve dreamed of being a writer and had always been so scared to pursue my dream fully. Sure, I’d written things here and there but had never been published. After Ethan was born, I needed to prove to myself that I could do it and I needed to show him that he could do anything … be anything he wanted to be. How was I supposed to convey those messages when I was scared to do it myself? So, I dove in head first and went for it and I haven’t looked back since. Now I am on tour, with lovely bloggers (like you, Kaley) and I am having such an amazing time. I am so lucky that I have been able to do this and I am so grateful that I’ve been able to experience all of this. 

About Sara:

Sara Palacios is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a major in Advertising and a minor in English Literature. It was during her time in college that she really fell in love with the written word and ventured into writing her own stories. In addition to writing, Sara spends a majority of her time reading the works of other authors.  She reads most genres  – but thoroughly enjoys chick-lit, women’s and historical fiction. When she isn’t busy reading or writing, Sara enjoys spending time with family and friends. She is happily married, the owner of two precious doggies and a new mom to a handsome baby boy. Sara is also an avid animal-lover, runner, yoga enthusiast and wannabe vegan.

Connect with Sara:

Twitter: Sara Palacios

Facebook: Sara Palacios

Email: sararpalacios@gmail.com

Guest Post: Cari Kamm

Today I have the lovely Cari Kamm on the blog with a guest post to celebrate the release of her new novel, For Internal Use Only. I read her first novel, Fake Perfect Me, and really enjoyed it (you can check out the review here) so I'm excited to get the chance to read this one. Have fun with this guest post and stay tuned for my review of this novel!

Chick Lit is more than just a pretty face. This is why I don’t judge a book by its pink cover.  Chick Lit might be a quick read, light-hearted, and simply entertaining. But Chick Lit can spotlight characters with real issues that women face such as heartbreak, addiction, sibling & friend rivalry, negative body image & eating disorders, and even infidelity. In my latest novel, For Internal Use Only, the topic is the desire to find true love. In other words; living your fairy tale.

Life inspires me to create a character. This character leads me to produce the outline of the story I have in mind. Then over several months, I begin to realize where the characters are taking me. When a theme moves me, I sketch out an outline breaking down Act I, II & III and write up descriptions of the characters. Then, I just write. I don’t look back. I don’t reread. I would say it’s a crappy first draft and then I spend months on revising – editing – revising – editing.

Writing isn’t my job. It’s my daily habit. I begin first thing in the morning. I make coffee and hit the keys. Writing is my big morning stretch. I write from anywhere, anytime, and on anything. A notebook, a cocktail napkin, or even taking a photo of a person, place or thing that inspired me. I take a lot of photos to capture details that I want to write about later and add into a scene or character description. I love being surrounded by music, strangers, voices… simply just life. Throughout my own daily life, a moment may capture me and I think, “Wow... my character would eat that, do that, say that, adore that.”

I write a lot in New York City and also on my family’s ranch in West Virginia. Traveling pushes me as a writer in my descriptions. For example, in my first novel, Fake Perfect Me, the scenes in Italy where Isabella Reynolds is enjoying a creamy burratta in Rome... I wrote that scene while doing that exact thing. In my latest novel, For Internal Use Only, I was a passenger in a car on a major interstate in Atlanta writing a similar scene with my protagonist Chloe.

The plot, the characters, and the setting are all inspired from my daily life once I’ve created a character. I don’t go searching for inspiration, I prefer to bump into the unexpected beauty of life. Whether it is spotting a shadow, hearing a whistle, or walking through dog poop on the street because I was distracted with a scene idea (It’s happened!).

In November 2012, I participated in National Novel Writing Month and completed my third book. It’s my first romance novel! While traveling in Costa Rica last year, I had a dream, the theme for this new novel. I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and scribbled every memory of it that I could. I hope to release it later this year.

About the Author

Cari Kamm has worked in the beauty industry for over a decade, building brands, working behind the scenes, and even selling her own skin care line. She has a master’s in clinical nutrition from New York University. Kamm currently works in corporate social media management with clients in the beauty, fashion, and restaurant industries. Living in New York City with her mutt Schmutz, Kamm loves finding inspiration in the most unexpected places, being a novelist, and convincing her fiancé that ordering takeout and making dinner reservations are equal to cooking. More information can be found on her website, CariKamm.com. To check out the book trailer, click here: http://tinyurl.com/bdr7bfn.

Guest Post: Heather Thurmeier

I am so happy to have author Heather Thurmeier on the blog today with a fabulous guest post. I reviewed her novel Stuck on You the other day, the review is here if you missed it, and I absolutely loved it. As I mentioned in my review, I enjoyed that it played on the popular reality TV show The Amazing Race. The first novel in this series, Falling for You, did a similar thing with the show The Bachelor. While I don't watch The Amazing Race, I really like the idea of it and thought it was fabulous that Heather had her fictional TV show feature geocaching. Don't know what that means? Don't worry - Heather explains in her post! Enjoy!

Geo-What-Now??

Geocaching (pronounced geo-cash-ing) is a giant, worldwide treasure hunt. Using a handheld GPS unit—or cell phone with app—you look for caches based on their longitude and latitude coordinates. The cache you’re looking for might be as tiny as an acorn (called a nano-cache) or as big as a 5-gallon pail. Inside each cache will be a logbook where you can record that you’ve been there and the date of your find. The larger caches often have other things inside them as well like toys for the kids to take, trackable items you can take and leave at another cache, and any number of other things. It’s great fun and very satisfying when you follow that little GPS arrow all the way to the cache and find it! And it’s always a surprise about what you’ll find inside. My kids love going ‘treasure hunting!’

In my novel, Stuck on You, the characters go on a reality TV show inspired by The Amazing Race. But I wanted to make it different in a few ways. So I kept my contestants local to the New York Hudson Valley area and I made them have to geocache to find prizes and accumulate points to eventually win the ultimate grand prize at the end of the show.  I had so much fun thinking of different places and ways I could hide these caches to make my contestants work to find them. And let me just say, they got into some pretty interesting—ahem—and steamy situations while searching for caches.

For the next quarter mile, they walked in silence following the arrow of the GPS. A few more minutes and they should reach the cache. Paige leaned in closer to the unit, watching the distance on the screen decreasing. Ten more feet.
The ground fell away beneath her and she was suddenly on her back, sliding down a very bumpy surface. After a short slide, she came to a stop, staring up at the canopy of trees.
Ouch.
Footsteps pounded down the slope after her then Miles was down on his knees in the dirt beside her.
Well hello there, Mr. Muscles. Let’s get dirty together.
The image of getting dirty in the forest with Miles was a little more sex kitten than her usual train of thought. Did I hit my head on the way down?
Or maybe it was the influence of the super hot, super built man hovering over her with concern in his eyes that caused the shift in her mental state.
“Are you okay?” Miles asked, touching the side of her face and turning her head first one direction and then the other. Her eyes never left his.
“I’m fine. Just dirty—muddy,” she clarified. Not that he could read her mind, but still. “I’ll get up now.”
“Let me help you,” he said, standing over her and wrapping his large hands around her upper arms, pulling her up to stand in front of him. His hands dropped to her waist and she found hers groping his chest again. Seemed she couldn’t keep her hands off of him. Not that the rest of her complained in the least.
“Thanks,” she whispered, looking up to meet his gaze. The mix of concern and... something else made her breath hitch in her throat. Damn.
“My pleasure.”
Her feet went out from under her again, but this time she didn’t slide down the slope. Possibly because she’d managed to drag Miles down to the ground with her. Perhaps his body weight pressing her into the soft dirt was enough to stop her from going anywhere.
Definitely every inch of his tall, muscular body against hers was enough to cause the lightheadedness she now felt.
Or possibly the lightheadedness could be from his leg pressing against the junction of her thighs. He’d managed to anchor them both to the ground as she straddled his leg. Yes, that could cause lightheadedness to hit full force.
As could the length of something else currently pressing into her.
Either he suddenly had less blood traveling to his brain or he’d managed to shove a tree branch in his pocket on the way down the hill. A very large tree branch.

Geocaching with Miles sounds pretty fun, doesn’t it? Now I can’t guarantee you’ll have the same results as Paige, but geocaching with your friends and family is always a good way to get outside and enjoy nature together!

Author Bio:

Heather Thurmeier is a lover of strawberry margaritas, a hater of spiders, and a reality TV junkie. Her passion is contemporary romance—writing stories filled with laugh out loud moments, uber-hunky heroes, sassy heroines, and always a happily ever after. Author of romantic comedies: Meadow Ridge Romance series, Bunny Hills and Bikinis, and the Reality TV Romance trilogy. You can find out more about Heather's books, news and giveaways by visiting her blog: heatherthurmeier.com 

Guest Post: Mari Mancusi

Welcome to my second stop on the CLP Blog Tour for Love At 11 by Mari Mancusi. Today I have a great guest post from the author herself. After taking a look at her other novels, I was really interested to know why she decided to write chick lit and how she found writing it after writing YA, paranormal, and so on. What follows is her thoughts on that. I hope you all enjoy it!

I’ve always loved the supernatural—even from a young age—so it’s probably not surprising that when I started writing, I found myself penning tales of the extraordinary. My very first published book, A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur’s Court, was a time travel about a 21st century fashion editor who ends up reliving Arthurian legend. Later I did the Blood Coven Vampire series, which is a Buffy’esque vampire tale—heavy on the parody of books like Twilight.

But no matter what the time period or the supernatural element, my voice has remained the same. First person, snarky narrator, very grounded in our world—even as she experiences some pretty fantastical things. In short—I have a chick lit voice and I’m not afraid to use it!

So with Love at 11, it wasn’t as much of a stretch as it might seem. Sure, I couldn’t bring on a vampire to bite the executive producer when she started to become a pain in the neck. But just like Kat in King Arthur’s Court, Maddy is also a bit of a fish out of water, struggling to find her place in a very foreign world. And let me tell you from experience, at times a TV newsroom isn’t much less barbaric than a medieval castle.

It was refreshing, in fact, to tell a real story. A story close to my heart. In fact, I was literally assigned the “Cosmetics that Kill” story Maddy is supposed to be working on throughout the novel at my own TV station in Boston. I remember being so freaking frustrated at the ridiculous sensationalism we were pumping out every day. I just wanted to do some real journalism for once. But since I couldn’t quit—instead I poured out that frustration into a book. It was therapeutic to say the least. And ended up being one of the books I’m most proud of writing.

So while I still do love delving into the supernatural and exploring things that go bump in the night—there’s just something about getting real. And I’d love to do it again someday!

Guest Post: Rachel Schurig

Earlier this week I reviewed the fabulous novel In Search of a Love Story by Rachel Schurig for a CLP Blog Tour. (Missed my review? You can check it out here.) I am happy to announce that Rachel is here today with a great guest post! When looking into what else Rachel had written I realized I wanted to know: Why chick lit? What makes this her favourite genre to read and write? I hope you all enjoy this post. I definitely did!

Ever since I first read Bridget Jones’ Diary I've been pretty much addicted to chick lit. I will seriously read just about any chick lit novel I can get my hands on. I'm a serious reader who loves collecting books to re-read over and over again. My home office has four bookcases with one whole bookcase is dedicated to chick lit. Some of my favorite authors and favorite books are chick lit. I think it was a pretty natural transition for me to start writing in the genre as well.

So, what is chick lit, anyhow? I can’t tell you how often I'm asked that question by people unfamiliar with the genre. If you ask five authors that same question, chances are you’ll get five different answers. I keep it simple when describing chick lit. In my mind, chick lit is any novel with a strong female protagonist, a strong romantic element, and a humorous and/or light feel. The biggest difference, in my humble opinion, between chick lit and straight romance is that chick lit focuses primarily on the protagonist and her journey whereas a romance novel focuses more on the romance element. A chick lit book is more likely to deal with issues relating to the main character’s career, her family, and her relationships. I think there’s a misconception that all chick lit is completely fluffy and candy-coated with an overabundance of stilettos and shopping. While I like shoes and shopping as much as the next person, I think there’s definitely room in chick lit to deal with more serious subjects.

Marian Keyes, author of such chick lit classics as Watermelon and This Charming Man, is one of my favorite authors, and she definitely doesn't stick to the light and fluffy. She tackles issues like domestic violence, drug addiction, alcoholism, cheating, and infertility. Emily Giffin (Something Borrowed, Where We Belong) has written about infidelity and teenage pregnancy. Harriet Evans (Happily Ever After, I Remember You), has addressed such complicated issues as alcoholism and abortion. But each of these authors, and many others like them, somehow manage to write about these issues in a way that is both humorous and fun. To me, that is the mark of a good chick lit read.

I remember reading Bridget Jones’s Diary the first time and thinking, this is how my friends talk. Helen Fielding gave Bridget such a strong voice; she felt like a girl I knew, a girl I would want to hang out with. She felt like me. I think that’s what brings me back to the genre again and again; the relate-ability. Chick lit is generally told with a very strong narrative voice. A good author can bring you right into the protagonist’s head. You know how she feels about her life, about her friends, about her romantic experiences. Before long, she starts to feel like a friend.

That’s what I always try to accomplish in my books. I look to create a mix of light-heartedness, humor, and struggle to succeed for the main character. In my new book, In Search of a Love Story, Emily Donovan is searching for love with the help of her friends. She’s also struggling to find success in her career, deal with the lingering effects of the loss of her mother, and, perhaps most importantly, find her own voice. My hope is that I've created a character that people can relate to, and a story that’s enjoyable to read. Because really, isn't that what chick lit is all about?

Guest Post: Meredith Schorr

It's my second stop on the A State of Jane CLP Blog Tour. Thanks for stopping by! I reviewed the novel last week (check it out here if you missed it) and today's post was written by the lovely author, Meredith Schorr. I'm always interested in the process author's go through when they're writing so I asked Meredith how she figures out the characters in her novels. I hope you all enjoy this insight into the world of writing - I sure did!

Getting Inside My Character’s Heads

Thanks so much for having me on Books Etc., Kaley.  I follow your blog pretty often so it’s pretty cool to be a guest today!!
When I wrote my first novel, Just Friends with Benefits, it was fairly easy to get into the head of my main character, Stephanie Cohen.  That was because when I wrote Just Friends with Benefits, I sort of inserted myself into a fictional story about a woman named Stephanie.  I got Stephanie into more trouble than I’ve experienced personally and I like to think I’d be smart enough to avoid a few of the mistakes she made, however, when I wrote Stephanie’s reactions to things, I often asked myself, “Self – how would you react under these same circumstances?” and I went from there. 

For instance, Stephanie tended to overanalyze things Ad Nauseum, especially statements or small actions from men.  I had a tendency to do the same - before I evolved J.  Stephanie tended to drown her sorrows in drinks with friends, multiple rolls of sushi and a vigorous run on the treadmill.  I do the same.  If there was a full glass of water on the table, Stephanie would be the one to accidentally knock it over. That’s usually my role among my friends and family. This was not the case when I wrote about Jane Frank, the main character of my second novel, A State of Jane. Jane Frank and Meredith Schorr have very little in common personality-wise so it was not simply a matter of looking inside myself to see what I would say/do given a specific set of circumstances.  I basically had to become Jane while writing the novel.  And that is, in a nutshell, what I do while writing.  I don’t know how I do it – certainly not by hypnosis or any magic spell but it just happens.  When I write, I become my main character (assuming I am not already her)… Jane Frank is a Type A, list-making, neat-freak who, at least when introduced to the reader, truly believes that if you do everything “right”, things will work out just as you want them to.  Perhaps it is a result of her upbringing.  She grew up the youngest daughter of an upper middle class happily married couple.  She met her first boyfriend at 16 and stayed with him until she was 25.  She works as a paralegal but has a job in her daddy’s law firm waiting for her when she graduates law school.  And her older sister met the love of her life and is trying to start a family and follow in her mother’s footsteps.  This is how life is supposed to look to Jane and she sees no reason why anything should get in the way of that.  I knew all of this when I started A State of Jane and took it all into consideration when writing what decision, judgment call or choice Jane would make, how she would react to disappointment, how she might respond to her world crumbling around her.  I must confess it was kind of fun watching the world slam the door in Jane’s face for a little while.  It was also rewarding to see how she resolved her issues and, in doing so, became a better person.  As Jane grew up, I almost felt like I grew up a little too.  I guess that’s what happens when you become your main character!  Quite the incentive for the Happily Ever After ending J