Category: Uncategorized

Life, Liberty, and Pursuit by Susan Kaye Quinn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sweet and Satisfying Young Adult Romance!

Susan Kaye Quinn has created a warm, wet world in her debut novel Life, Liberty, and Pursuit. Eliza and David meet when he rescues her from falling into a swimming pool, and they continue to have cruise ship adventures on their whirlwind romance until they’re faced with the saddening prospect of a long-distance relationship. Susan keeps the reader in suspense the entire novel about what choices Eliza and David will make in navigating their murky future.

At first I thought “Here we go again with another wimpy damsel in distress” but I was very pleasantly surprised when Eliza proves her own mettle by rescuing David right back. They throw out a metaphorical life raft to each other, not only to save a life but also to save liberty and pursuit. I thoroughly enjoyed how their love and support enabled each to develop and to reach new heights. They became stronger individuals as a result of their union. As the character Nicholas states on page 191, “That’s what love is supposed to be like. It’s supposed to make you better.” I couldn’t agree more.

A wonderful read, Susan!

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Have you heard of the site goodreads.com? Seems like I’m living over there these days. I describe it as a Facebook for those who love to read.

I held a giveaway of my new novel With Good Behavior, and would like to announce the winners! Because I don’t know their Goodreads usernames, I’ll refer to them by the first name here (you know who you are). Congratulations to the winners, and I’ll get your books out to you next week!

I also just reviewed a book on Goodreads. Seems like vampire books are all the rage, so I figured I’d give The Vampire Diaries a try. Some of my Twilight friends suggested that I read it because I’m writing a little story about Edward and Bella in therapy (hee hee).

The Vampire Tapestry: A Novel by Suzy McKee Charnas

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What an interesting vampire book. I’m not very familiar with the genre (Twilight is my only reference) and The Vampire Diaries is very different from the Twilight series. There are five novellas featuring Dr. Edward Lewis Weyland: a tall, suave, gray-haired, slightly stooped vampire. (This book was published in 1980 and due to the name “Edward Lewis” I kept picturing a taller version of Richard Gere from “Pretty Woman”!)

Dr. Weyland scoffs at those who believe vampires have fangs (his method for sucking blood is rather cool, I thought) and he is more destructable than the Cullens but still manages to live for centuries. His palpable disdain for the humans upon which he feeds is realistic yet kept me at a distance from his character. I found it hard to connect to Dr. Weyland’s austere personality.

Of the five novellas, the one I liked the best (and the one that won the Nebula Award) is “Unicorn Tapestry”, featuring Dr. Weyland in therapy. I give this novella 4 stars . . . it is fascinating to see a vampire come clean about his true nature in therapy. At first the female psychologist thinks he must be delusional but then she begins to wonder if he’s really telling the truth, which prompts her colleague to recommend therapy for the psychologist, worried that she’s enabling and buying into the delusion. This section ends in a very satisfying (and sexy) way. The only reason I don’t give this novella 5 stars is that the psychologist’s style seems quite cold to me, like many of the fictional therapists I’ve read in books or watched in movies (but that’s my little pet peeve). I think effective therapists are likely much warmer in real life.

Overall, it’s an intellectual read. Besides Dr. Weyland, I grew attached to the characters Katje, Floria, and Irv, and wished their stories were woven throughout the novel. I disliked the extreme detail about the opera Tosca, which I’ve never seen.

For those vampire lovers out there, I think you will enjoy this book.

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After getting some things together, I have just ordered a bevy of books (copies of my novel With Good Behavior from Omnific Publishing) to try to set up a book signing in Columbus, Ohio. Frankly, I’m terrified by the prospect of approaching a small bookseller and asking if they will schedule a book signing. I know that being prepared can help lower my anxiety, so I’m seeking your advice on the process.

I’ve read some recent blog entries describing how the writing process is a lot of hard work. While I totally agree with that statement (especially after wrestling with my work-in-progress yesterday), I find the idea of marketing my book to be even harder work. My dad is always one to share articles from newspapers and magazines with me, and he recently clipped out a newspaper interview with author Lee Child, one of my dad’s favorite authors. Mr. Child had a great quote in the article:

I think that quote accurately encapsulates the publishing process, at least in my experience so far. I’ve never been one to shy away from hard work (well, except for dreading the occasional swim practice from hell in high school and college) so I want to embrace this book signing thing as part of embracing the larger process of marketing my novel. Will you help me?

Some great advice I’ve already heard about setting up a book signing:

1. Bring a group of friends with you. (Luckily my book club has offered to help.)
2. Bring some yummy treats for the staff of the book store. (Thank you, Elizabeth Harper!)

Beyond that, I’m at a loss. For those of you who have approached book stores, what are your words of wisdom? I’m especially interested in hearing from authors working with small publishers or who have self-published, using print-by-demand publishing, but I’ll take any advice. How did you price your book? How did you manage your anxiety? What worked and what didn’t? Thank you!

Also, it’s time for Meet an Author Monday through our weekly Blog Hop. See instructions on Lisa Sanchez’s blog http://www.calicheermom.com/2010/08/meet-author-monday_23.html

For those of you new to the blog, here is a summary of my novel:

In a world gripped by organized crime, family dysfunction, and dim hopes of redemption, can true love persevere? For Sophie Taylor, a beautiful psychologist who lost everything when she violated an ethical boundary, and Grant Madsen, a handsome naval officer who sacrificed everything to protect a loved one, finding that love may carry an unbearable cost.

Starting their lives over in Chicago, both are fighting influences from their family and running as fast as they can to escape the past. When their paths cross outside the parole officer’s door, the attraction is instantaneous. But a hidden connection may not only shatter their fledgling love, but prove deadly to them both.
 
To read an excerpt (the first chapter) of With Good Behavior, please visit HERE or click on the book cover to your right.

Oh, and don’t forget to enter my goodreads.com book giveaway if you haven’t already. The giveaway ends 8/25/10.

Recently I posted a piece of writing online (an action scene containing a lengthy flashback to an event occurring in the protagonist’s childhood) and asked for some reader feedback about flashbacks in fiction writing. Readers were split in their opinions about flashbacks: some loved them and some hated them.

As a psychologist, I adore flashbacks. I believe that our pasts have immense influence on our present experiences and world views, and catching a glimpse of that past can be enlightening for the reader. However, other authors totally avoid flashbacks in their writing. I recall when author Jennifer Crusie shared her negative opinion in a writer’s workshop I attended.

“What do you think of flashbacks?” one scruffy, young male author had asked.

Jennifer Crusie wrinkled her nose in distaste. “I think they’re a sign of a lazy writer. If you can’t figure out a way to explain plot and character in the present, you probably shouldn’t be doing this.”

I felt dismayed by her answer, thinking about the nine-hundred and thirty-three flashbacks in my recently completed novel.

Another author, this one a large-and-in-charge woman in her fifties, butted in. “But don’t flashbacks give insight into the character, if they’re well done?”

“Flashbacks totally interrupt the flow of the narrative,” Jennifer dismissively replied.

A sense of panic set up camp in my stomach.

And we’re back to the present. Hi, reader! *waves* I bet you didn’t expect a flashback in a blog entry, eh? I told you that I loved them!

I believe that flashbacks can have their place in an emotionally evocative story, as long as they are not too plentiful, confusing to the timeline, or disruptive to the narrative. eHow.com has some tips for managing flashbacks effectively here, for example. What do YOU think of flashbacks?

It’s time again for Meet an Author Monday! If you like, you can flash back to the past three Mondays and read the instructions for our blog hop, but it’s basically a chance to meet new authors, hopping from one blog to another.

Today’s cheesy post title comes from my recent viewing of Wicked. After seeing that musical, which was immensely better than the book in my opinion, The Wizard of Oz phrases are on my mind (the touring production is fantastic, by the way! I highly recommend the show).

Anyway, I have several announcements to share:

1) My author website https://jenniferlanebooks.com/ is now complete. Please visit the tabs above to peruse the site, including the book video trailer link from the home page (or you can click on the youtube button to your right). Micha from Omnific Publishing did a wonderful job making the video trailer and I think it’s a perfect representation of With Good Behavior.

2) Jenni Conner from the Seattle Examiner website helped me expand upon a past blog post for the article “Jennifer Lane Is Having an Identity Crisis: Psychologist, Writer, or Psycho Writer?” which you can find here.

3) Finally, it’s Monday, so you know what that means . . . Meet an Author Monday! It’s time to hop some blogs, people.

For more complete instructions, please scroll down to the blog post below. The Blog Hop is for both authors and readers, as a way to network your blog and your books.

*Authors, keep the blog hop going by copying and pasting the instructions, crazy-girl-surrounded-by-books button above, and the “Get the Code” link below into your own blog. Also, add your blog when you click on the “You’re Next!” link on Lisa Sanchez’s Confessions of a California Cheer Mom blog.

*Readers, hop from blog to blog to check out some new authors.

As we enter week three of the “author blog-hop” (see below), it’s time to reflect on the effect of computer technology on writing and our lives. When Lisa Sanchez introduced the concept of a blog hop to the group of authors at Omnific Publishing, I asked myself, “Blog what?” I’m just getting accustomed to the idea of a blog, and now it’s hopping?

Fortunately Lisa was patient with us technotards (thanks qjmom for the word techtard) and now the hop is a great way to cruise over to multiple author blogs/websites to meet authors and readers. A definite plus of computers is the ability to post this message and discuss ideas with people all over the world. I’m also struck by some definite disadvantages of the technological wizardry assailing us daily.

Here are some pros and cons of computer technology as I see them:

Pros

• The opportunity to chat with you fine people on this blog.

• Facebook, twitter, and goodreads are places I can keep up on my friends’ lives like never before.

• I’ve met some incredible people on fan forums for my favorite books and TV shows. Two women I’ve befriended online—one from South Africa and one from France—have blessed me with wonderful support of my writing. Very cool!

• Researching facts when writing is much easier online than trudging to the library. Thank you to my editors at Omnific Publishing for correcting the instances when my quick online “research” wasn’t entirely accurate! Hee hee.

• I can post a music playlist for my novel With Good Behavior on my blog? Really? Technology continues to amaze me. (See playlist on the right).

• From what I understand, ebooks are revolutionizing the publishing industry, and obviously the internet is essential for the ebook market.

Cons

• The frustration of computer cluelessness. I purchased the domain http://www.jenniferlanebooks.com from domain.com four months ago and my author website is STILL not pointing to this domain (the site’s finished though—this blog is part of my website). Apparently domain.com is not user-friendly at all; therefore I’m now in the process of transferring my domain to godaddy.com so that my web designer can get the site up where it belongs. Naturally this process is totally confusing to me, and nothing can test my poor frustration tolerance like computer problems. I scream and cry like a two year-old on a tantrum.

• Does the constant distraction of technology make us more stressed out? One reason I believe the answer is yes comes from my work as a psychologist. I have worked in university counseling centers that cannot keep up with the increasing psychopathology and counseling needs of college students. Why are more young people suffering from mental health problems? One theory is that the constant bombardment of mp3 players, smart phones, laptops, e-readers, texting, multiple email addresses, social networking sites, video games etc. is overwhelming our sense of peace and focus. Instead of being mindful, doing one thing at a time, we have become mindless multi-taskers.

• I have to laugh at my own frantic technological behavior. On a typical day, I see two new tweets so I open twitter, soon to be distracted by a gmail email announcing I have a new friend at goodreads.com. Then I notice that a private message just came in on facebook, and I chuckle at a long-lost friend exclaiming “OMG you wrote a novel?!” Then back to my work email, discovering that a psychotherapy client wants to reschedule. Soon after I’m checking out a review on another site or typing a blog idea before I forget it. After hours of this techno-binge, I feel anxious and frazzled, and I somehow can’t understand why I didn’t get any writing done that day.

So what do you think? What are some technological pros and cons in your world? Are you a technowhiz or a technotard? Please post a comment and then hop on down to our author blog-hop!

Blog Hop
Good morning, readers and authors! It’s Monday, which means it’s time for the author blog hop.

Here’s how it works:

READERS: Follow as many authors as you like. Just follow the Linky list and hop from author to author. The idea is to find as many “new to you” authors as you can, and hopefully some great new reading material as well. Leave a comment as you hop from blog to blog! We’d love to chat with you!

AUTHORS:

•Follow the Meet an author Monday host (Cali Cheer Mom) along with any of the wonderfully talented authors on the list.

•You will need to enter your name and blog url into the Linky tool.

•Grab our super cute button and place it in a post. (THIS IS IMPORTANT!) If you don’t create a post for the hop, your readers won’t have a place to comment, and the hop will stop with you. So create a post, paste in the Linky code and start hopping!

•The purpose of the hop is to meet “new to you” authors and discover great new reads. Follow as many authors as you can. Leave a comment and introduce yourself!

•If you’d like to share the Linky list in a post on your blog ( Please do!) just follow the link and copy/paste the code into a blog post.
 

For readers: Follow the Meet an author Monday host (Cali Cheer Mom) along with any of the wonderfully talented authors on the list at the bottom of this post. The purpose of the hop is to meet “new to you” authors and discover great new reads. Follow as many authors as you can. Leave a comment and introduce yourself! We’re all happy to chat and get to know our readers. You’re the reason we write!

For writers: If you have a book under contract or for sale, join the hop by entering your name and blog url into the Linky tool. Then you can grab our super cute button and place it in a post. This enables others who are participating in the hop to comment as they explore your blog. If you’d like to share the Linky list in a post on your blog, just follow the link and grab the code.

I was just reading a blog post about writer’s personality traits at http://victoriamixon.com/2010/07/13/6-personality-types-who-will-succeed-as-writers/
(thank you to Julie Musil for compiling some great articles at http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.com/2010/07/best-articles-this-week-for-writers_23.html) and it struck me that I don’t really consider myself a writer at this point. I’m a psychologist, not a writer, right?

I only started writing fiction about three years ago, on a lark, and it feels startling that I have a published novel out there. (I also feel very fortunate!) Less than two weeks ago Omnific Publishing released With Good Behavior–that reality is still sinking in. Every weekend I find myself becoming a little more immersed into writing. It’s been a blast learning about this craft as well as meeting dedicated authors and voracious readers.

Then Monday hits and I’ll pull myself away from the writing world to sit down with my psychotherapy clients. Some days it’s a rather jarring transition. Suddenly the “characters” in my world are behaving in unpredictable, initially puzzling ways (though once I get to know clients better, their choices make perfect sense). The interpersonal connection of therapy is deep and intense (on a good day) whereas writing can be a very solitary activity.

There is some overlap between therapy and fiction writing, though. Therapy is all about story-telling after all. Both therapy and writing require introspection and emotional sensitivity, as well as a fascination with people—their strengths, their quirks, their relationships. Therapy necessitates perseverance and optimism, which have served me well when staring at a blank Word document.

I’m curious about my future directions for career and identity, and I’m sure it will be an interesting ride. Certainly I’m not the only one who has a “day job”, writing on the side. How does writing fit into your identity? How has your writing career evolved?

In With Good Behavior, Grant and Sophie are both trying to make it on the outside. One condition of their parole is that they have to get employed, and Grant manages to find a job on a Chicago architectural cruise ship. Have you ever taken an architectural cruise? I thoroughly enjoyed hopping onboard myself in the “City of Broad Shoulders” in the summer of 2008, when this story takes place.

The Chicago Spire was one architectural marvel on the tour, just beginning construction. (Unfortunately, construction of the Spire has now halted due to the financial crisis facing our economy.) Once I saw an artist’s rendition of this amazing building, I became overwhelmed by the endless possibilities for using its design in a romance novel, and I simply had to include the Spire in WGB. When you see the drawing, I think you’ll know why:

                                                                    
                                                                          ‘Nuff said. 😀