Author: Jennifer Lane

I’m not discussing Instant Messaging today. Instead, I’m talking about the Individual Medley, a race in competitive swimming. The heroine of my YA swimming-romance-murder-mystery Streamline–Audrey Rose–specializes in the I.M.

The individual medley features all four strokes in the following order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle.

This race is fun to watch because there are often lead changes. Rarely is one swimmer awesome at all four strokes (even Michael Phelps has an “off” stroke of breaststroke but “off” for him would be very “on” for most of us!) The I.M. does tend to favor breaststrokers though because that stroke comes at a pivotal part of the race.

Training I.M. is fun because there’s so much variety. Getting tired of butterfly? (My answer is always a resounding yes! My friend Joe calls my butterfly the “ugly”.) Flip over to backstroke. Backstroke shredding your legs? Time for breaststroke. And then bring it all home on the freestyle.

I.M. transitions require great technique and finesse. Here’s a short video showing two swimmers demonstrate the turns from fly to back, back to breast, and breast to free.

Now you’ll have some more knowledge for the swimming events in the Olympics this August.

In his sermon yesterday, the pastor asked us if we had an “Easter Heart”. In other words, is our heart strong and pumping, full of life? Has it loved? Has it broken? Has it resurrected?

The Easter heart made me think of my dear swimming friend Beth, who died in her sleep a few nights ago. She was only fifty years old, and one of the fittest people I’ve even known. Beth was a world-class swimmer, going 1:48 in the 200 yard Freestyle thirty years ago. That’s an excellent time even today! She often impressed me with her toughness, particularly when I witnessed her breaking the master’s world record in the 50 Freestyle.

Beth had a heart condition. Though her heart was full of life, love, and caring for those around her, her heart gave out. At this point I’m not sure if her heart problems led to her untimely death, but it seems likely.

Beth was a strong, independent woman. She would always pepper me with questions–she was truly interested in people–and seemed to know everyone on the pool deck. She held a demanding job as a video producer, involving travel and long hours, but somehow managed to progress toward her doctorate in Sports Humanities. We’d sometimes meet at the university library so she could work on her papers while I wrote my novel. She told me I made funny faces when I typed away at my laptop.

My face is now full of sorrow. Beth’s heart has been broken. But on Easter Sunday, her heart has been resurrected too. Swimmer, friend, curious mind, accomplished woman. Beth will always live on, in my heart.

Have you heard of the social networking site Goodreads.com? It’s like a Facebook for book lovers. As an author and reader, I love the site. Here’s my page.

Authors can list their works and interact with readers. It’s a bit dicey to respond to readers’ reviews, but I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to thank readers for their comments, and I’ve also liked to receive feedback that helps me improve as an author. I’ve learned not to respond to negative reviews (that’s an entirely different blog post!)

Readers can shelve books that they’ve read and want to read. My parents are in their seventies and sometimes start reading novels only to discover they’d already read them but forgotten. Goodreads is a great way to keep track of the books you’ve finished, and an excellent opportunity to hear about interesting books.

I’m so pleased I’ve learned about these novels on Goodreads from my over 2,000 friends there:

*The I-Team series by Pamela Clare…intelligent romantic suspense
*The Black Ops, Inc series by Cindy Gerard…hot & spicy romantic suspense
*The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward…I’m not a huge fan of paranormal romance but I gave this a try when Goodreads friends urged me

Library Thing and Shelfari are other reader sites, but I feel most at home on Goodreads.

Do you use Goodreads? How do you like the site?

The Art of Fielding, that is. Here’s my review for this literary fiction by Chad Harbach.

From Goodreads:

At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended.

Henry’s fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry’s gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners’ team captain and Henry’s best friend, realizes he has guided Henry’s career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert’s daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life.

As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment–to oneself and to others.

Two book club friends recommended this novel to me, knowing my young adult sports romance Streamline had just been published. I’m a former small college athlete and this well-written story was indeed right up my alley with its low-budget athletic departments, locker room banter, mental health issues like depression and eating disorders, and anxious, angst-ridden student-athletes. Fielding’s NCAA Division III baseball players spout poetry and write theses, deftly defying the dumb-jock stereotype.


The plot is intriguing, leading up to a wonderful NCAA championship game where it’s all on the line. Will highly-scouted shortstop Henry Skrimshander overcome his mental block and lead his team to victory? It’s tense and suspenseful, ending in a satisfying yet unpredictable manner.

I did have some trouble with the characterization of this novel. Mr. Harbach writes rich, complex characters but they didn’t grab me emotionally. The characters seem distant and aloof, like the reader’s sitting in the nose-bleed section and can’t make out their faces or expressions. Though they all suffer—particularly Henry—I didn’t find myself truly sympathizing or caring as much as I’d like.


Apparently Herman Melville once visited and praised Westish College, and the school now boasts his statue and the mascot of “Harpooners”. I don’t know about you, but reading Moby Dick in high school was sheer torture for me, and I enjoyed the subtle jabs to Melville and his novel in the story:


And over the years a thriving cult of Melvilleania had developed at the college, such that you could walk across campus and see girls wearing T-shirts with a whale on the front and lettering on the back that said, WESTISH COLLEGE: OUR DICK IS BIGGER THAN YOURS.


Mr. Harbach nailed the smelly, safe ambiance of locker rooms:


Locker rooms, in Schwartz’s experience, were always underground, like bunkers and bomb shelters. This was less a structural necessity than a symbolic one. The locker room protected you when you were most vulnerable: just before a game, and just after. Before the game, you took off the uniform you wore to face the world and you put on the one you wore to face your opponent. In between you were naked in every way. After the game ended, you couldn’t carry your game-time emotions out into the world–you’d be put in an asylum if you did–so you went underground and purged them. You yelled and threw things and pounded on your locker, in anguish or joy. You hugged your teammate, or bitched him out, or punched him in the face. Whatever happened, the locker room remained a haven.


The author has a deep understanding of the athletic experience, and in many ways this was an interesting read. I wish there was a sport psychologist on staff to help out these troubled athletes, but they are able to find their own way through the journey of college athletics.


See you tomorrow for my post “G is for Goodreads”!

Do you have a love or hate relationship with exercise?

I admit I love exercise. Lest you think I’m completely virtuous, I assure you I have a hate relationship with healthy eating. I guess one out of two ain’t bad.

Ever since I started competitive swimming at age eight, moving my body in some fashion has become a daily habit. High school and college swimming peaked at four hours of exercise a day (yes, swimmers are insane) but now I strive for an hour a day. Here are some of my favorite ways to spend that hour:

* Swimming laps with friends (two miles take us up to 90 minutes because we chat and insult each other so much between sets)
* Reading a novel on the exercise bike
* Walking with my iPod, plotting the next chapter of my novel
* Ellipticalling on the elliptical machine while playing Word Welder on the iPad
* Walking with a psychotherapy client during our session
* Strength training to pump *claps* me up! (remember Hans & Franz from SNL?)

Beyond the physical benefits, exercise is my therapy. There’s substantial evidence that exercise reduces anxiety and depression, possibly working even better than medication, and the mental health benefits are certainly true for me.

What’s your favorite exercise?

Join us for the Author Author Blog Bounce hosted by Omnific Publishing!

Author Hannah Downing, that is. Today is Hannah Downing’s Pieces of Us Anniversary Blog Tour! I loved this novel and gave it a 4 star review HERE.

Sometimes the world seems like a small place. A VERY small place.

The world felt itty-bitty this weekend when I met book blogger Dani from Refracted Light Reviews at Panera for lunch. Her YA blog was a co-host for the Launch Party of my novel Streamline last week, and when I discovered she also lived in Columbus, Ohio, we agreed to meet in person.

Imagine my surprise when I found out where Dani lives…in a city of 2 million people, she lives 100 yards away from me! We had a good laugh about living in the same condo complex for three years and never knowing it.

It was wonderful to meet Dani, and we also joined kickass book blogger Jenny from Supernatural Snark blog (who I’d met once before) for lunch.

Aren’t both of these gals adorable? I’ve met some of the nicest people through blogging.

What coincidences have you experienced through blogging?

Stay tuned for my “D is for Downing” post tomorrow. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.

Today’s A to Z post is a COVER REVEAL for Astarte’s Wrath by Trisha Wolfe!

Isn’t that cover gorgeous? I love her bangs. My pub sister at Omnific Publishing—Trisha Wolfe—is the author of Destiny’s Fire, and this prequel is surely another YA page-turner.

The title of this novel would’ve been perfect for yesterday’s “A” post but nooooo, Trisha just HAD to coordinate the reveal for April 2nd, so I got creative by using the blurb (the Battle of Actium) to find my “B”. (Just kidding, Trisha–I’m thrilled to be part of your cover reveal!)

Two thousand years before Dez Harkly developed her secret powers, Kythan Astarte vowed to free the Kythans from the binds that enslaved them to the Egyptian pharaohs and sorcerers. Discover the prophecy that originated from a very different time, and spans generations to link two very different girls…This is the beginning.

But when a conspiracy linked to Caesar, Caesarian’s own father, creeps its ways into Alexandria, Star must choose between helping her fellow Kythans free themselves of their servitude, or protecting her charge—the last pharaoh—while Egypt burns around her.

Looks fantastic! Thank you for stopping by for this challenge.

This is my first year participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

This challenge is an opportunity to hone my blogging skills and meet awesome bloggers by posting once a day through the month of April, following the letters of the alphabet.

Today’s letter is A. I tip my hat to book bloggers by highlighting Tee’s blog “A Diary of a Book Addict”. Tee helped launch my first YA novel Streamline a few days ago by interviewing the hero and heroine, Leo and Audrey HERE. Thank you, A Diary of a Book Addict!

It’s really fun to meet bloggers of all kinds, and on 4/3/12 I’ll discuss a wacko coincidence I discovered when I met a book blogger Dani at Panera yesterday.

Come join us for an evening of wine, soda, appetizers, and mingling! I’ll be signing my three novels: Streamline, With Good Behavior, and Bad Behavior.

Signing my young adult novel Streamline at a wine shop might not be my best idea ever, but we had so much fun at this location two years ago that I’m going for it.

And now it’s time for the Omnific Blog Bounce. Authors and readers, join us!