Living the Dream

I want to take a minute to thank those who’ve opted to follow my blog. Inviting you to my online home is an honor and a privilege. I hope what you’ll find here will be worth your time and effort.

Today’s letter is T. I’m torn between talking about the trouble I have with marketing and the trouble I have with what I call stubborn characters.

In terms of marketing, I would say my biggest trouble comes from the fact that marketing IS NOT my field of expertise. I don’t understand how to target my ads and all that stuff, although I have taken online courses designed to help, and they have, but I’m by no means even good at it. If I had the money, I would hire someone to market for me. I have everything in place–the professional website https://mhsusannematthews.ca/ courtesy of my son who’s a web designer, professionally made covers that follow the current trends thanks to my cover artist and best friend, Melinda https://www.coveredbymelinda.com/ and my blog, which connects to my newsletter when I want it to do so. But, I suck at promoting myself, so unless that changes, I’ll always have trouble with marketing.

The second trouble involves my characters. I do my best to put each of my heroines in some kind of trouble. I also try to give them unusual occupations when I can. My favorite example of that is Trouble With Eden. Here’s the blurb:

Can two lonely strangers find love and happiness through a caring man’s bequest?

Fantasy author Jackson Rivers is fed up with the world. He wants to hide away from everyone and everything and focus on his books, preferring the worlds he creates in his mind to reality. When he discovers he’s inherited a house and a service station in a rural part of Eastern Ontario, he sees it as the answer to prayer. He may only own half of both, but surely, he and the coheir can come to some arrangement. He just wants to be left alone, and a house in the country sounds perfect. Sadly, an encounter with a moose changes everything, and when he meets the other heir, not a man as he’d envisioned but a woman, the embodiment of his newest fantasy heroine, his priorities change. If it’s time to let someone else into his life, this woman is the ideal choice.

Eden-Jane Walford, E J to friends, wants her life to stay exactly the way it is—unfettered—able to come and go as she pleases, living in her childhood home, answering to herself and the dad she adores. But fate tosses a monkey wrench into things. She’s a Class A mechanic and tow truck operator for Paradise Service Station and Towing, her adoptive father’s company, but when he dies suddenly, she’s in for a surprise. While he leaves half of his estate to her, the other half goes to a stranger, who just happens to be his biological son and knows absolutely nothing about the business. Sharing her home and the boss’s chair with this man will be more than a little challenging, especially when he’s the first man she’s been drawn to since her disastrous engagement fell through. Will the sparks between them lead to love or war?

And what kind of trouble is Eden in? Well, other than the obvious of having to live and share her business with a stranger, someone wants to buy the land to redevelop it. She’s not selling and has to convince her step-brother not to sell either. That won’t go over well with the developer willing to do whatever it takes to get it, including intimidation and murder. It’s up to Eden and Jackson to figure out who’s behind it all. You can peek into the first chapter here.

That’s it for the letter T, and today’s musical selection is for one of my followers, Lois Roelofs. Enjoy! Come back tomorrow for the letter U.

Check out blog posts from other participants here: https://tinyurl.com/w54yupwe

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales. This week, our word prompt is MOUTH. I’m continuing with Listen to the Stones.

Marina stumbled on the threshold and reached for the doorjamb to keep her footing. Her mouth opened in surprise, her gaze fixed on the sight of Jerome laughing and conversing with an attractive brunette, young enough to be his daughter. Who the hell was she? She glanced quickly at the bag in her hand.

Biting back a wave of jealousy so strong that it shook her, she cocked her head and pasted a false but hopefully welcoming smile on her face. After all, he was a guest here, and she was his hostess—nothing more. She wished she still carried Raven. The kitten grounded her, and at the moment she needed that.

“Hello. Professor Morrison, I didn’t realize you weren’t alone. I’ll let Maeve know we’re hosting a couple and make sure she brings a third cup for tea.”

He frowned, and then his eyes opened wide. “What? No! I’m quite alone I assure you. There’s been some mistake.” He swallowed and then indicated the young woman. “Lady Fraser, this is Ainsley Lennox, Maeve’s granddaughter who’s studying to be a weaver.”

Marina’s cheeks burned. Once more she’d jumped to conclusions, her favorite form of exercise these days. She nodded, looking at the bag the girl carried and recognizing it for what it was.

“Of course, your grandmother did say you would be along soon. She’s still in the kitchen.” She pointed to the flowered, soft-sided picnic bag. “That must be the mutton stew. I’ve never had any, but I’m sure it’ll be delicious.”

“All of my grandmother’s cooking is good, but the stew’s my favorite. ’Tis a grand pleasure to meet you, my lady.” She executed a half curtsy bow. “I’ll take these to the kitchen and then go back to get the other items you’ll be needing for the kitten.” She smiled at Jerome batting her eyelids.

Good Lord, the girl was flirting with him, and he was lapping it up the way Raven had lapped up the cream. Once more jealousy filled her belly, but she subdued it quickly. Despite her strong attraction to the man, she wouldn’t know if he were friend or foe until she asked him about his plan to purchase Fraser Hall and the land. Until she knew more, it was best to keep him at a distance. So why was she envious of the smile he gave the teenager?

That’s it. Come back next week for more. Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.

Welcome to the last full week of this year’s challenge blog. These 8 remaining letters are the hardest ones each year. While the first five aren’t too bad, I’ve always found the last three challenging, especially when trying to stick to a theme.

I’ve actually bounced around several ideas for today’s letter. I considered suspense, sex, satire, suspicion Stonehenge, and the Standing Stones of Calanais, but eventually decided on serial since my theme is about my writing hopes, aspirations, and issues.

During this blog hop, I have been following a couple of blogs where they are writing stories, with each episode related to the day’s letter of the alphabet. One, I can read and like, but can’t comment. The other I can read, like, and comment. You can read it for yourself at THE CURRY APPLE ORCHARD posts you’ll find on the main blog hop site I post at the end of my daily offering.

I am really enjoying reading these adventure stories, many of them ending in a cliffhanger, and it’s prompted me to consider doing something like it. At the moment, I kind of do with my Tuesday Tales posts.

Each week, a small group of authors including me, post a scene from their current work in progress based on a word prompt we work into the scene. The scenes are generally limited to 400 words. In many cases, they follow one another closely, but in others, a lot of action happens off-stage.

Tuesday Tales are published late Monday evenings with links to each particular post. As you’ve been following this blog challenge, you’ve already seen some of my posts.

While I enjoy the Tuesday Tales experience, it isn’t exactly a serial. I would love to write a serialized novel. Kindle Vellum seems to be the ideal place to do it, but unfortunately, that platform isn’t available to anyone but US authors. It’s a pity because many talented authors from other countries might take advantage of it if they could. I certainly would.

That’s it for my take on the letter S. Come back tomorrow for the letter T

By special request from one of my followers, I will post one of my favorite songs hopefully dealing with the letter and theme each day until the end of the challenge. Here’s today’s musical interlude. I was lucky enough to see Leonard Cohen in person in 1967.

Check out blog posts from other participants here: https://tinyurl.com/w54yupwe

If you’ve been following my blog, you may remember my January posts about my weight, writing, and life. You’ll also recall my comments on the weather, family, and planned vacation. At the time, I mentioned that 2024 wasn’t being too kind to me. That’s an understatement. Other than the amazing eclipse, things had not met my expectations.

Our cruise to the Caribbean was awesome, even if the weather didn’t cooperate and we saw more rain than ever. As predicted, I regained 4 lbs, putting me up to 168.

I got back to work following the diet and got down to 167.5, not huge, but since I developed new aches and pains, which impeded my ability to exercise, it could’ve been worse. The weather was cold, damp, and miserable, which didn’t help, and the temperature roller-coastered all over from 17 C one day to -8 and colder. It was the warmest February on record for us, but I didn’t care. It was also the hardest, least productive month ever for me. Why? Because my mother died on the 5th, and I was tossed into depression.

Suddenly, I had all this extra time on my hands and didn’t know what to do with it. I couldn’t focus on writing, reading, or anything productive. I played games on my phone, went where I needed to go with my husband or my sister, and let the world roll over me. Watching the world news depressed me even more. If we were truly civilized, there wouldn’t be all of the cruelty going on in the world today. We’re no better than the barbarians; we just have more efficient weapons.

My sister and I attended to estate matters and placed her ashes inside the niche with my father’s ashes on February 29. I thought the fact that it was a leap year and the date only comes around every four years would make it special, and Mom loved being special. It turned out to be the coldest day of 2024 here. Needless to say, the graveside service was short.

February morphed into March without any noticeable change to the crazy weather pattern. We had a couple of snowstorms, but everything would melt within 48 hours. Unfortunately, the heat was erratic, with more cold days than warm ones.

We didn’t celebrate Easter on 31. Instead, we waited a week since my son who lives in Norway was coming for a flash visit. That’s when my spirits started to rise. Having all three of my children here at the same time was wonderful.

To kickstart my writing again, I dove into the A to Z Challenge Blog again this year and continued working on Listen to the Stones, well aware that I intended to have it finished by now–the best-laid plans of mice, men, and authors.

My aches and pains are receding although they are far from gone. The needle on the scale is heading back in the right direction and I’m back down to 164. It seems I’ve done nothing on that front but spin my wheels. Hopefully, I’m heading in the right direction.

Let’s hope April showers bring May flowers and that the weather improves.

I hope your 2024 is doing better than mine.

This is the last post of the third week of this year’s challenge and incidentally, the last one with video music.

Today’s letter is R. There were a few R words I could’ve used that are all critical to my current WIP: reflection, reincarnation, reality, and recall, but the one I chose to focus on is remembering.

Memories are what give meaning to our life’s experiences and the ability to remember times, places, events, and people is what makes us who we are. The saddest part of growing old is forgetting things–not just why the hell did I come into the kitchen, but significant things like names. I have never been good at remembering names, but I do recall faces. Sadly, Mother Nature and Father Time aren’t always kind to us. Other than the color of her hair, my sister hasn’t changed. She’s always looked the same. My brother-in-law is a different matter.

In her later years, my mother remembered things that had never happened. She took a strand of truth and embroidered an entirely different life for herself. Working on my newest book, I’m wondering if those memories weren’t past life experiences. Memories of all kinds are important. Here are today’s songs about remembering and memories.

Come back Monday for my look at the letter S.

Check out blog posts from other participants here: https://tinyurl.com/w54yupwe

When I got to this letter, I was tempted to write about the mischievous, god-like character Q in Star Trek, the one forever getting the crews of the various ships he visits into trouble. I’ve given my latest anti-hero a few of his qualities–after all, the book is paranormal– but I’ve chosen to write about another q word.

I considered quest, quiet, qualities, even quintessential, but decided on questions–rhetorical questions that is, questions the characters ask themselves as they search for meaning in what happens around them.

Everyone know that a plot must answer the 5 Ws plus 1: who, what, where, when, why, and how. I am a huge asker of questions. I think some of that comes from my years of teaching when so much revolved around my asking the questions and students providing the right answers. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn’t.

In my personal life, I’m always questioning the things I do, the things I don’t do, and more importantly, the things I should’ve done and failed to do. I don’t expect anyone to answer the questions, but usually asking them brings me a greater understanding of life around me.

And so, in my novels, part of my voice, my writing style involves my characters asking themselves questions about motivation, other characters, situations, and what to do or not to do. Rhetorical questions aren’t asked to get information but rather to get someone thinking or to make a point.

For example, Am I being an idiot? I don’t expect an answer, but you get the gist.

Today’s songs are all about questions.

That’s it for Q and questions. Come back tomorrow for the letter R

Check out blog posts from other participants here: https://tinyurl.com/w54yupwe

Here we are again. Penny for your thoughts? I’ve rather enjoyed going down memory lane with music to add a touch of pizzazz to my posts this week, and today will be the same. As a romance author, regardless of the subgenre I’m writing, there comes a time when the main characters in the story have to meet their love interests. There has to be something that draws them to one another, something that makes them connect, and something that says he or she’s the one.

It doesn’t always work that way in real life. You know what they say about first impressions … real-life meet-cutes are sometimes ugly. I met my husband in the second week of my first year at university. I was living in residence, in a double room that shared a bathroom. I’d just washed my hair, something more involved in the late sixties than today, and was wearing an oversized quilted housecoat with my hair wrapped in a towel. We had divided up the chores, and it was my day to empty the garbage. I knocked on the connecting door and walked in, not expecting to find anyone there but Dee-Dee, my can-mate.

I can’t say exactly what I felt–embarrassment, confusion, interest, and maybe a little ‘Oh my God, how do I get out of here?’ He had short brown hair and was clean-shaven with gold-rimmed glasses. He wasn’t the jock type, but he had a gorgeous smile. He sat at her desk, wearing jeans, a sweatshirt with Bullshirt printed on it, a university jacket, and loafers. She introduced us while I prayed for the floor to swallow me, and mortified as I was, all I could say was “I’m here for the garbage.” I escaped as quickly as I could. Two weeks later, we would meet again. That time, he would drop a beer bottle on the floor, and I would step on it and get glass embedded in my foot. It would get septic, and I would end up in the residence infirmary for two weeks. Dee-Dee brought him over for a visit, and he apologized. I accepted graciously. What else could I do? It wasn’t as if he’d put me in the hospital on purpose. Two weeks later, he called the room looking for Dee-dee but she was away. I was the only one there, so he asked me if I would like to go to a party. I knew Dee-Dee had her eye on another guy, so I said, why not?

I made sure I looked a lot more polished when he came to get me. At the time, side ponytails were all the rage and I frequently wore one. Back then, I was a standard size 12 with a generous bust. Oh, to be a 12 again! Here I am in a Wonder Woman pose. LOL

It was an interesting evening. We talked, we danced, and we kissed. I met people that night who would go on to be good friends, and the next day when Dee-Dee came back, I told her, “That’s the man I’m going to marry.” Within a few weeks, we became an established couple.

Here we are 8 months later, going to the Spring Ball. We cleaned up nicely. Two years later, we married. The following year we welcomed our first child and we’re still together, going strong. Why? Because we weren’t blinded by physical appearances but let the physical attraction we felt grow into something more.

Today’s letter is P, and it stands for physical attraction. There’s no point in arguing the point. Physical appearances are important, and people, like magpies, are attracted to the best and the brightest. We have been indoctrinated to believe that tall, slender women, usually blonde in my part of the world, are the epitome of beauty, just like tall, muscular men are the ideal. Other aspects vary according to cultural and social norms. Some men are bearded, others aren’t. Some have long hair, others don’t. Some men are inked, others aren’t. But finding the right match shouldn’t be based solely on appearance. That plain guy who saves you a seat in the library could be the one you’re looking for. Lifelong commitment should be based on more than physical appearances or sexual proclivity. People need to get to know one another, develop shared interests, and enjoy each other’s company. If they can’t be friends, they probably shouldn’t be lovers. Time changes everything including appearances.

When you go fruit or vegetable shopping, you’re attracted to the plumpest, tomatoes or strawberries, the whitest cauliflower, the firmest cucumbers, and the bruiseless bananas. In 1924, when someone discovered the Jamaican tangelo, a combination of orange, grapefruit, and tangerine, he named it ugli fruit, and that’s the name it goes by, but the fruit is delicious.

I think it’s time that we as authors get away from the stereotypes and stop using physical attraction as the main focus of our guy meets girl situations. In my latest novel, Marina has two suitors, both almost identical in appearance, and each one stirs something in her, but until she gets to know them, she will never be able to choose between them.

Here are today’s songs for your enjoyment. Olivia Newton John’s video had me laughing out loud.

That’s it for today. Come back tomorrow for the letter Q when it’s all about questions.

Check out blog posts from other participants here: https://tinyurl.com/w54yupwe

Welcome to today’s blog post. I’ve tried to stick to my theme of writing about things that help and hinder me from succeeding as an author. I’ve touched on various things that motivate me and my characters, and I’ll give you another one this morning. Why do people behave the way they do? I talked about human nature yesterday. Today, I’m going to discuss one of the uglier traits.

O is for OBSESSION, and that’s never a good thing. When people become obsessed with anything or anyone, they go overboard. A few ideas include being so obsessed about weight that someone becomes anorexic or bulimic. For an athlete, it might be being so desperate to win that they’ll take anabolic steroids or anything else that will give them an edge. For someone obsessed with beauty, it might mean countless surgeries to look perfect and end up looking anything but. But, without a doubt, the worst kind of obsession is the one that involves another human being and leads to stalking and other negative activities, going so far as murder because, if I can’t have him or her, no one can. The stalker is a common theme in murder/suspense stories.

In my Harvester Files series, I use obsession in two ways. I have a crack team of FBI and Boston police officers searching for a man who kidnaps pregnant women and steals their babies. they will do anything to find and stop the monster. That’s one obsession and while not healthy, it’s at least understandable. The second type of obsession in the first book in the series, The White Carnation, is that the heroine has a stalker, one determined to make her his no matter the cost.

His obsession leads to kidnapping and several murders.

Now, since I’m making these musical posts this week, here are four songs about obsession.

As much as I might love The Police and that song, the lyrics are downright creepy. Come back tomorrow for a look at my choice for the letter P.

Check out blog posts from other participants here: https://tinyurl.com/w54yupwe

We’re exactly 2 weeks away from the letter Z. It’s hard to believe that means we’re more than halfway through the alphabet and the challenge. In between posts, I’m working on my contemporary, paranormal, romance suspense novel, Listen to the Stones. I’m about two-thirds through the plot and things are starting to come together although I hope the reader has begun to put the clues together, too.

Today’s letter is N, and I’m going to talk about NATURE and HUMAN NATURE and how they influence my writing.

Nature is easy. Whatever goes on around me can end up in a book. I have numerous books set in the winter, especially if we’ve had a terrible snowstorm and I can build on that. I’ve set stories in the middle of tornadoes, rain storms, and the fall with its changing leaves. I can use whatever nature is tossing at me to add atmosphere to a story–bad storms on dark nights? Who doesn’t like working with those?

The other kind of nature reflected in my writing is human nature. As one source put it, Human nature comprises the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. 

To that definition, we can add the four basic personalities: pessimistic, optimistic, trusting, and envious. To these add the universal traits: Intuitive, Self-Centered, Emotional, Motivated, Social, and Hopeful. Of course, you have the theory of ID, Ego, and Superego, but I’m not going there now. Suffice it to say I try to create well-rounded characters with both qualities and flaws. My pessimist may grow to be motivated and hopeful. My envious person may become less self-centered and more social. My optimist may need to realize the importance of emotions, and my trusting individual may have to accept that not everyone serves blind trust and needs to listen to his intuition.

Trust, love, envy, jealousy…they’re all part of human nature and since I started the week with music, here are a few songs dealing with human nature!

Well that’s all I have for you today. Tomorrow we’re going to look at the letter O

Check out blog posts from other participants here: https://tinyurl.com/w54yupwe

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales. Things are starting to come together. Our word prompt this week is BUTTON. I’m continuing with Listen to the Stones.

The moment he’d seen MacNish standing so close to her, implying that she was his, he’d seen red, the pain in his chest adding to his anger and discomfort. Keeping himself under control had been a monumental feat.

Heart pounding, Jerome removed his scarf and undid the first button at the neck of his shirt, hoping to force air into his constricted lungs. He inhaled deeply through his nose and exhaled through his mouth, praying that everything that had just happened hadn’t been a dream.

The agonizing pain in his chest that had struck him the moment he’d seen MacNish, a pain he hadn’t felt since that morning in his trailer on the film set, had disappeared, but the fact that he’d had it at all was worrisome. Maybe he should’ve had a doctor look at him the first time it had happened. While he’d dismissed it since the redness had vanished, maybe it was some indication of a serious cardiac issue and the shock of the encounter moments ago had been more than his heart could take.

Had he arrived too late? Had James MacNish beaten him and stolen his prize? Was that why he’d felt that incredible, irrational need to get here as soon as he could? He would fight until his last breath to keep her. His future depended on it.

He’d planned to befriend Lady Fraser to protect her and eventually convince her to sell him the land he wanted. Now, the prospect of marrying her and gaining everything he wanted loomed on the horizon, so close that he could almost reach out and grab it. What would Nathan have to say about this strange turn of events?

Jerome had never expected Lady Fraser to be his woman. And yet it made perfect sense. It would explain why his muse had been so closed-mouthed about her location, knowing the two—or was it three—were destined to meet here. How did James MacNish feature in all this? What role did he have to play? Marina had been born here on Lewis just as he had, but as the Fraser heir, her connection to the stones had to be stronger than his. Damn! What he wouldn’t give to know more about his birth parents. He needed to speak to Uncle Malcolm as soon as possible. Since he’d learned of his adoption, he’d been plagued by questions, including why they’d thrown him away.

That’s it. Come back next week for more. Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.