A Sentimental Journey

A strange thing happened to me the other day.  I was hoping to take a short nap while my youngest granddaughter was taking hers, but while I was lying there, I thought of my high school band and vocal music director.  I don't know why his name sneaked into my mind, but instead of napping, I went to the computer and searched his name on Facebook.  I really didn't expect to find anything.  Instead, I discovered he's still in the town in Oklahoma where he settled two schools after he left us back in 1967.  And that town is having a celebration this weekend in honor of him and the community-type band--jazz band--he's put together. To say I was surprised I found him is an understatement.  He was a very special to person to many of us, and from reading the Facebook "Event" comments, we aren't the only ones who think so.

Mr. Rotter came to our high school at the beginning of my freshman year.  It was a small school of less than 200 students, but we had a larger band then than there is now.  And Mr. Rotter made us one of the best in the state.  Part of that had to do with the fact that he wasn't a whole lot older than we were.  As a band director he worked us hard.  He expected the best from us, and we gave it to him.  We won a I rating (the best) at a state-wide marching contest in the fall of his second year, his last at CHS.  He could play a mean saxophone, but he loved the trombone best.  Many of us still remember enjoying his rendition of Little Egypt on the piano...if we were lucky enough to talk him into doing it.

I won't be able to go to the celebration this weekend.  Life sometimes gets in the way of the things we'd really like to do.  But I'll be thinking of him and the students and adults who've been lucky enough to know him.  He's one of a kind.
 

Father's Day

Since yesterday was Father's Day, I thought I'd share some photos from our visit with my husband's 92 year old father at his home in Denton, Texas. He's one of the people responsible for me writing about small towns and the people who live there. He and my late mother-in-law told wonderful stories of growing up in Texas, southwest of Fort Worth. He lived in an area near Dennis, TX, on the Brazos River. He called it the "Big Valley," which is the equivalent of bottom land for those of us more familiar with large rivers. The house he grew up in is still there, in the photo on the left.

My mother-in-law spent the first 17 years of her life in Lingleville, TX, which is near Stephenville. She grew up on a smaller farm with much poorer soil, less water and more rocks. It was a tough life which she escaped though education, attending college where she met my father-in-law. Many of the stories he's told us through the years centered around people they stayed with and knew, distant relatives and friends of friends who helped out.

Yesterday we had a great visit, heard a few more stories (and some of them the second or third or tenth time,) and watched our grandchildren play in his spacious home. We treasure these visits and I always take lots of photos because I want the girls to remember their great-grandfather, whom they call "Dad." I doubt that they will remember the stories, but I have plans to record them on my Flip video and store them for the future. After all, Dad probably only has 10 or 20 good years left! Happy belated Father's Day to all the dads and to everyone who no longer has their dad to visit and listen to and get advice from, I hope you hold on to the all the good memories forever. Perhaps when the girls are older (like 25 or so!) I'll suggest they read my books for the essence of the stories from their great-grandparents and so many other Texans I've met in the past 39 years.

And a special memory of my dad, Art Chancellor, on one of our trips to the Smoky Mountains. I miss you, Daddy.

I’ve completely run out of ideas for a blog topic this month, so I thought I’d talk about researching settings. My stories for Harlequin American Romance are set in small town Colorado. Now, I don’t know about you, but I just can’t bring myself to set a book somewhere I’ve never actually been, nor that I’m on pretty familiar terms with.

I think it adds authenticity if you can bring the setting alive with sights, sounds and smells thereby capturing the atmosphere of a place. I have no idea how anyone does that without having been where their books are set.

Take it from me, you’ll never read a sheik book by CC Coburn because I have absolutely no interest in travelling to Saudi Arabia et al. Been there (sorta general region) done that, aint goin’ back!

I live part of the year in a small town nestled in the Colorado Rockies and get so much inspiration from this setting that it becomes an integral part of my books—a character, if you will. But I add layers to this setting by interviewing locals who work in the occupations of my characters.

At first, I was a little anxious about approaching people to interview them, half-thinking they’d discount me, as we see so often in the press, as just another hack writer of trashy books.

But the reaction has been quite the opposite. I’ve interviewed a County Court judge, been taken on a tour of the County Jail, interviewed the Sheriff and the commander of our town Fire Department (plus got to check out his firefighters and their quarters!) a veterinarian and a local rancher who all gave up hours of their time to answer my nosy questions. I’ve also interviewed rescue personnel and the head of the local ski patrol.

Each has been so generous in their assistance and supportive of my efforts to bring authenticity to the setting and the occupations of my characters and I’m very grateful for that. I reward their time and patience with a signed copy of the book they’ve so kindly helped me with, and although I’m not sure if they ever get around to reading them, I’m pretty sure they’re chuffed to see their names in the acknowledgement pages.

In a couple of weeks I’m heading back to beautiful Colorado with complimentary signed copies of my latest release, “The Sheriff and the Baby” to give to these wonderful locals.

Now if only I could find a hot ex-priest to interview…

I’m giving away a copy of “The Sheriff and the Baby” to celebrate its release this week. I’d like to know from readers if setting is important to them. And if you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Until next month!
CC

Tipsy Robins

I had planned to regale you with stories about our drunken robins today. This winter’s record lows froze the berries on our palm trees. When that happened, the palm berries fermented on the vine or, in this case, on the frond. Those same record lows sent huge flocks of robins into our heavily wooded, Central Florida back yard, and kept them there longer than usual. The birds gorged on the berries. Result—a goodly number of tipsy robins. So, we were going to talk about my drunken birds who, when they do manage to get off the ground, can’t fly straight. But…

I set off the house alarm at five a.m. this morning. So, instead of tipsy robins, I have some heavy duty apologies to make.

Especially to Dear Hubby. Last night was one of “those nights” when insomnia got the best of him. He was finally drifting off to sleep when the claxon sounded loud enough to give us both heart attacks.

I am sooo sorry about that.

I’m sorry, too, that, even though I punched the code and hit the cancel button, the monitoring company called…an hour later.

And I’m very sorry that by then I was on the treadmill and didn’t hear the phone ring. I’m sure that nice young police officer was just doing his job when he banged on our door. And no, it wasn’t my idea to invite him on a tour of the house. He just wanted to make sure no one was holding a gun to anyone’s head.

As long as I’m apologizing, I’m sorry that thieves broke into our car just before Christmas and that the house behind ours was robbed. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have had the security system installed in the first place.

Most of all, I’m sorry that, despite living in a normally quiet neighborhood in a very small and very quiet town, we also live in a world where security systems are necessary.

I promise not to set ours off at five a.m. anymore. All that racket disturbs the robins. And if there’s one thing worse than a drunken robin, it’s a tipsy robin with a hangover.

Things I'm Learning in Mineola, TX

Good morning from Lake Holbrook, where the weather has finally cleared. We've had rain and drizzle for several days, keeping us indoors and keeping some furniture deliveries away. We moved into the lake house last weekend and now we're looking forward to Thanksgiving here next week. Happy holidays to you and your family wherever you are spending turkey day. It is my most fervent wish that you do not spend the holiday at an airport!

I wanted to share a few things I've learned over the past two weeks. Keeping in mind that I'm a city girl and I only had what other people told me and my experience at our primary house, I was a little surprised.

1. If local people tell you they'll be here, they'll be here. (People from other communities may not be so reliable.) If they tell you they'll be here at 9:00 a.m., be ready at 8:00; they may well be early.
2. Give away plenty of autographed books, especially if the person you are giving them to has some knowledge of the area where they are set. Almost everyone is from someplace else.
3. Do not expect city amenities at restaurants, and do not expect to find a nice bar where you can go for a glass of wine with friends. If the VFW doesn't serve it, it doesn't get served.
4. Expect lots of stories about the origins of things and the histories of neighbors. This may not necessarily match the other histories you've heard or the legal records you've seen.
5. If they don't sell it at Wal-Mart, you probably aren't going to get it (new.)
6. Don't expect to go shopping anywhere but Wal-Mart after 5:00 or 6:00 p.m.
7. Don't expect to go out to a restaurant with dim lighting except on Friday or Saturday night, if then.
8. Ask if people will deliver large purchases, especially after explaining that you do no own a pick up truck. (Expect some looks of pity or disbelief.)
9. If something needs to be done, you can probably find someone's brother, cousin, neighbor or friend who will do it gladly for a reasonable price (unlike in a large city, where apparently no one really needs to work.)
And finally, on a personal note ...
10. Carefully consider what you need to take upstairs and what you need to retrieve from upstairs before running up and down the steps a dozen times in a row. At some point, you will lose the desire for mascara, clean socks and that magazine you were reading.

Happy Thanksgiving! Have a great week.

Victoria

Small Town Here We Come!

After living in large cities all my life, I'm finally going to be a small town girl! We look the plunge and bought a lake house in Mineola, Texas, which is about an hour and a half from Dallas. The house we found is a Victorian farmhouse style, two story home on Lake Holbrooke. Yes, it's peach, but it kind of works! Even my husband likes the color. There are big trees all around it. The house looks old, but it was built in 1994 and is modern where it counts - central A/C!

Living in Mineola, at least on the weekends, will be a real treat for me. It was one of the first places I visited when I was going to set a book (The Bachelor Project, HAR#844, Sept 2000) in a fictional small town. As program director of Dallas Area Romance Authors, I organized retreats to a wonderful bed and breakfast there in Mineola. We would sit out on the second floor balcony and talk writing (and maybe drink some wine) until we were all so sleepy we couldn't keep our eyes open. We usually went during the Iron Horse Fall Festival, the first weekend in November. The weather was cool and crisp and I think everyone had a great time. For me, though, the small town atmosphere of parades, local restaurants and stores, families and friends, really made an impression. I interviewed the chief of police in Mineola to get a feeling for law enforcement in a more rural area. Mineola had about 5000 people then and 5600 now.

The kitchen in the lake house is so cute. There are white cabinets with glass fronts, curtains instead of bottom cabinet doors, a gas stove (I haven't cooked on gas since 1971!) and a screen door that goes out to the back porch. The porch stretches the entire back of the house and is one of my favorite features. I can imagine sitting out there, much like we used to sit on the balcony of the B & B. I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at the lake. It's just beautiful. We went there on Sunday and the water just glistened from the autumn sunlight. There is a small dock for fishing or to tie up a boat, which we don't have. My son-in-law is in charge of getting a boat! My husband and I know nothing about boats. But then, I don't know a lot about country living, either, and I'm willing to learn. Maybe I'll turn into a small town girl yet. After all, Mineola does have at least one coffee shop that sells books, and I'll bet I can order up some good local gossip with my latte.

Small Town Quirks

I recently came across an interesting bit of trivia about Williams Lake, a small community in British Columbia. Since the late 1930s, townsfolk have celebrated Wrestling Day. No, not calf wrestling or mud wrestling. This was an official holiday that fell on January 2, the day after New Years.

Wrestling Day was started by two businessmen who noticed they weren’t getting any business that day—possibly due to cold winter weather or maybe because local residents were still recovering from the holidays—so they closed up shop and took an extra day off themselves. Besides, if Christmas could have Boxing Day, then surely News Years deserved a day, too.

The idea caught on. In 1942 the village council declared Wrestling Day an official holiday, and in 1959 a bylaw was passed, making if official.

For almost twenty years, local businesses remained closed that day but in 1976, the bylaw was struck down. Williams Lake had grown from a village to a town to a city, which meant more business and more businesses. And those businesses wanted to do business, even on Wrestling Day.

From my perspective—as someone who thinks there aren’t nearly enough holidays!—I think it’s unfortunate that Williams Lake no longer recognizes Wrestling Day as an official holiday, although I understand that some businesses do remain closed in honor of the old tradition.

What do you think? Should more communities have special holidays? Do you know of a town like Williams Lake that has its own quirky holiday?

Until next time,
Lee
The Writer Side of Life

Who Me? Interviewed?

It’s such a pleasure to be among all the wonderful HAR authors here on the blog. I’ve gotten to “know” so many more of them than I would have without it. Reading their blog posts and especially their interviews is always a delight, and I wish I had more time to comment. As Rascal Flatts sings, “Life is a highway” and some days I feel like I’m going 80 mph.


What inspired you to write your first book?

Reading. I hadn’t read romance for several years, and then my best friend steered me to Susan Elizabeth Phillips after reading the first few pages of It Had to Be You to me over the phone. I was hooked. After that, I consumed books, both single title and category. One Christmas I went out and bought as many Christmas themed category books that I could find. Of course I had to try writing one, and that led to another and another and another…


How did you make your first sale?

My short contemporary entry won The Maggie contest, and Mary-Theresa Hussey requested the full manuscript. To my surprise, she liked it enough to buy it for Silhouette Romance.


How long have you been published?

Rachel’s Rescuer was a March 2001 Silhouette Romance, so eight years total, although it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago. I had five books with Silhouette Romance before the line closed. My first HAR was published in 2008, so I’m a relative newbie here. I have to admit that I love writing for HAR even more than I did for SR. I think it’s the small town feel of HAR that makes writing them so enjoyable.


What helps inspire you when you write? Do you have any ‘rituals’ (like music, candles, a favorite scent) that helps you find your writing zone?

Music. Lots of music! I have 612 songs on my playlist of which 169 are designated as “writing” music (those romantic love songs), 134 are “walking” or upbeat dance music for when I need some pep, and the rest are Beach Boys, 50’s and 60’s oldies and a few Christmas songs. (Yes, I'm a music junkie.) If those aren’t enough, I listen to Pandora and have set up my own stations. If you haven’t tried Pandora, it’s free! And then there are all those candles…


Tell us about your family and where you live

I was born in and have returned to live in the biggest city in Kansas. No, not Kansas City. ;) Between then and now, I’ve lived in a small Kansas town and on a Kansas farm. My four daughters also live here. The two youngest live with me, the oldest of the four lives three blocks away, while the next oldest lives a little over a mile away. The two oldest have 5 children between them, now that my youngest granddaughter was born August 10. I also have a step-granddaughter. Every Saturday night we have Family Night and get together to talk and sometimes play board games. You’d think we see enough of each other during the week, but Saturdays are when we’re all in one place. It can get crazy with all the little ones, hubbies and an occasional friend or two.


Do you have any talents readers might find interesting?

Web design, although I don’t consider it a talent. I began playing around with it years ago and ended up enjoying it so much that I do it for real now. Drawing has never been one of my talents, but web design gives me the opportunity to work with colors and shapes, a real break from working with words, but still "creative."


What were you doing at midnight last night?

I was particpating in one of my newest guilting pleasures: Playing on Facebook. I dragged my feet about joining and now can’t stay away. Shameful, isn’t it?


If someone gave you a million dollars what would you do with the money?

I’d give a portion of it to charities, pay off my daughters’ houses (if their hubbies would let me), and buy myself a modest but roomy house. One never knows when family will return, or so I’ve learned--the hard way. Then there’s the dream of taking a Mediterranean cruise…


What's the strangest thing you've ever eaten?

Cactus. I spent tens day during the summer before my senior year in high school with 20 other teens on a working trip into Mexico. We stayed on a garlic farm that was used as a school in the winter months, and we painted the dormitories, both inside and outside. Because there was no refrigeration, we went into the nearby small village for food each day. Our adult “chaperones” insisted we try some of the more exoctic offerings. I’m usually not brave enough to try something new, but the cactus was great!


What are you reading now?

Honestly? Nothing, although I really enjoyed Susan Wiggs' Just Breathe about a month or so ago. I recently bought Barefoot, a women’s fiction book by Elin Hilderbrand and Judy Blume’s Smart Women. I read at night, but since I’ve been working on deadlines, reading has taken a back seat. Soon, though. Very soon.


Can you taste the difference between Pepsi and Coke? If so, which do you prefer?

Yes, in the blink of an eye! I took a taste test at the State Fair a few years ago and passed it. I don’t drink coffee, so Pepsi is my caffeine fix.


If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?

Greece, hence the dream of a Mediterranean Cruise. Ireland is my second choice. I’d probably like either one so much that I’d want to stay.


Are you working on anything at the present you'd like to share?

The Rodeo Rider is the first in a series of books set in the fictional town of Desperation, Oklahoma. The second book, Bachelor Cowboy will be out in January next year. I recently sold two more books, so I’m currently working on book #4 of that series and learning everything I can about Native Americans in Oklahoma. The heroine of the book is half Cherokee, and the research is proving to be more interesting than I’d ever imagined. Oh, and that heroine? She’s a surprise relative of one of the characters in The Rodeo Rider.


Describe your writing space.

My desk is neat and tidy, with only a pen, a paper, and my computer monitor. I can look out my window and see the ocean pounding against the rocks on the shore. Wait a minute. That’s my dream writing space. In the real world, my desk is covered with just about everything imaginable, including two fish and a cat. During the day I work on websites and chase grandkids. Writing is done at night. There are always snippets of notes from both littering my desk and sticky notes hanging on my monitor. My two-year-old grandson (he’ll be two on the 24th), likes to climb on my desk and steal M&Ms from the jar that resides on my desk and is rarely empty…unless he eats all of them. There are books everywhere, along with piles of paper that always need sorting. The window looks out onto the side of the house next door. My daughters and I switched rooms a couple of months ago, so there are still boxes to be sorted that wait patiently for me to find the time. There never seems to be time.


What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?

For a long time, I had a sign that hung above my desk that said, "Nobody is born published," so my advice is to read, read, read. And never, ever, ever give up on your writing. If you give up, you’ll never know if the next book or article or short story might have been The One. As far as selling that first, it always happens when you least expect it.

City Girl Writes Small Town

Hello. Happy First Day of Summer! Happy Father's Day!

We're talking about settings this month, and that sure plays a big role in my Harlequin American Romances. The first book I sold to HAR was set in a small Texas Hill Country town. (I love the Hill Country.) I had no idea when Melissa Jeglinski bought the proposal that I would end up writing only about small Texas towns. She suggested I continue the series, then Kathleen Scheibling suggested I begin a new Texas town when she became senior editor. That was fine with me because I'd just about run out of single twenty and thirty-somethings in Ranger Springs!

The odd thing might be that I'm a city girl. I've never lived in a small town. I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, where the metropolitan area is about a million people. Then I moved to Denver, Colorado, and after three years, to a suburb of Dallas, Texas. I was blessed to have wonderful Texas in-laws who told great stories of growing up in small towns. They had lived all over the state. Texas is a lot more than rolling grasslands, cattle and oil wells. Those are the settings we most often see in books and movies, but there is a huge coastline, wetlands, pine forests, desert and mountains way out west. If you've ever driven across Texas (in any direction) you know just how huge this state is.

I've had a lot of fun creating Texas towns, although there are some issues to consider. I really do try to base my settings in the reality of the region and the economy, without being depressing. Many towns are really hurting now, with industries closing, people being laid off from their jobs, high costs of everything, and a growing problem with drugs. We don't want to read too much about those realities, though, at least not without a happy ending. We need to put the issues faced by our characters in the context of rising above obstacles, solving problems and finding love.

Speaking of finding love, my husband and I went to see "The Proposal" today, and I highly recommend the movie. Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds are great together, and Betty White steals the show. The setting is a small town in Alaska, and specifically an island estate. The only way to get there is by boat, which the writer/director used very effectively. This is contrasted with the characters' "normal world," New York City. It's definitely a romance. Make sure you stay for the credits and the short conversations with immigration at the end.

Have a great Sunday, a happy Father's Day, and a wonderful summer. For those of you coming to RWA National conference this summer in Washington, DC, I'll see you there!

Small Towns--a Whole 'Nother World

Having lived in a small town during my teen years and after, I’ll be the first to admit that there are pros and cons to small town life. But I’ll also admit that I love writing books set there. Why? Maybe because it’s fiction, and I can show all the pros and skip the cons. You know, all the coziness of a small town without the gossip and everyone knowing everyone else’s business. Oops! I shouldn’t be telling tales, should I?

I was born in the big city and spent my early childhood there. Not BIG big city. Presently, our population is half a million, but that includes those surrounding bedroom communities. You know, some of those small towns. When I was twelve, we moved from the city to a small town where my mother was born and filled with relatives. Every time I mentioned someone from school, my mom would ask who “they belonged to”. More than likely, she knew something about the family, if not that we were somehow related, even in shirttail fashion. I became comfortable with it after a time and learned to adjust to a new style of life—a life full of cousins and knowing everyone and having lots of fun. Even better, I spent six years in the same school, more than I’d ever spent in one school before. It was heaven. Being a bit ornery, when my daughters attended school there later, I loved playing the “cousins” game with them, just as my mother had with me.

But after returning to that small town following my divorce and twenty-four years on a farm, I started to see a side to the town I’d never realized and wish I’d never known. Even my daughters noticed things had changed. So we’re back in the big city again, we being myself and my daughters, and I love having fast food within a few blocks, instead of a twenty mile drive away. I still miss the wide-open spaces of life on the farm and running in to friends in the small town grocery store. I’m saddened that the small town where I finished my youth became a refuge of city dwellers who eventually brought with them all the problems they should have left behind. I miss the small town it once was, so I fashion my fictional small towns on the good things I remember most. The funny characters who’ve lived there all their lives and make the town come alive, the friends who wave as you drive down the one or two blocks of “downtown” make small town living...comfy and warm and accepting.

Some of my best memories are of living in that small town, and I try to share some of those—although a bit fictionalized—with readers.

My Small Town Fix

This past weekend I attended the Hwy. 80 Garage Sale with my friend and fellow writer, Rebecca Russell. This is a garage sale/flea market along US Hwy 80 from Mesquite, TX to the Louisiana border, all through East Texas. I'd never heard of this event before looking on the Mineola, TX website, http://www.mineola.com/. It's similar to the "world's longest garage sale" held annually from Ohio to Alabama. In Wills Point we ate lunch at the Bluebird Cafe, a rustic little restaurant with great cheeseburgers and an impossibly sweet coconut meringue pie. We went to sales in people's front yards, in church parking lots, sold off flatbed trailers at the side of the road, and took advantage of some specials at antique stores along the route. I even bought a 1950s two seat glider that I'd seen when in the area back in July.

We stayed Friday night in Mineola, one of my favorite small towns, at the beautiful and gracious Munzesheimer Manor B & B, http://www.munzesheimer.com/. The Perry Room was large and the breakfast was delicious. We ate dinner on Friday night at Kitchens, a former hardware store and deli that is now a wonderful restaurant with a courtyard and aged brick walls. On Saturday we stood in line for burgers at East Texas Burger Company, a very old and popular restaurant that sells homemade fried pies and other desserts in addition to country cooking.

I've been to Mineola several times. It was one of the first small towns I'd ever spent time in because I'm a city girl. I grew up in Louisville, KY, a city of approximately half a million people when I lived there, and much larger now. After I married we moved to Denver, CO, where I was happily learning to garden, can, and make jelly when my Texan husband dragged me kicking and screaming to Dallas. After living here for 30 years, I'm no longer fighting to escape across the norther border, although I do threaten to rent a house in Maine ever summer.

But back to Mineola ... I organized a few writers' retreats there when I was program director for my local RWA chapter, Dallas Area Romance Authors, http://www.dallasromanceauthors.com/. We stayed up late on the second floor veranda of the (now private residence) Noble Manor B & B and talked about writing and our lives, complained about rejections and fleshed out characters and plots. We went during the Iron Horse Festival, an annual event that celebrates the railroad. After watching marching bands, prancing horses, and little princesses on flatbed floats, we ate from the carnival-type booths at the festival. Judy Christenberry and I even rode the twirling teacup ride! We shopped at the stores and enjoyed the atmosphere. I think perhaps I got the most out of the retreats because I was like a dry sponge, soaking in the small-town flavor. I even interviewed the police chief for the character I was developing for my first Harlequin American Romance, The Bachelor Project.

Whenever I need my small town fix, I go back to Mineola. Oh, I go to other towns also. I believe I saw a depiction of one of my photos from Graham, TX on the new cover of my December release. (Look at the picure to the left and compare it to my December cover for A Texan Returns!) Small towns just fascinate me. I listened to many stories of growing up in towns like Lipan, Lingleville, Mineral Wells, and Dennis, TX from my husband and in-laws. I learned a lot about what made a Texan from them. I learned a lot about what makes a successful small town from Mineola. So thanks, and I really enjoyed the Hwy. 80 Garage Sale. See you next year, East Texas, or before if I need another fix!