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This was TOO CUTE not to share . . .

Happy Leap Year, everyone! 

For the last several weeks (or has it been months?) I’ve been featuring the upcoming Jane Austen movie on Fun Fridays. But those of you who aren’t Jane Austen fans are in luck this week! I am featuring an author whose books I’ve devoured, but there is no formal Regency society or courtship rituals here.

Fire Study is the third book in the debut fantasy series by Maria Snyder—a wonderful author I met in Seton Hill University’s Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction program. This is one of the ABA books on my 2008 Reading List this year . . . though I would have read it anyway! I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books and cannot wait to delve into this one.

The series begins with Poison Study, in which Yelena starts her adventure in a dungeon, waiting to be executed for murder. She is given a choice of the noose or to become the new food taster for the Commander of Ixia—a military dictator paranoid of being poisoned. She chooses the job, and learns how to taste foods for poisons without dying. Life in the castle is full of hazards: the General, whose son she killed, wants revenge; rebels plot to seize Ixia; and Yelena develops magic she can’t control—magic which is forbidden in Ixia and punishable by death. As she searches for a way to freedom, Yelena is faced with more choices, but this time the outcomes aren’t so clear.

In Magic Study, Yelena is on her way to be reunited with the family she’d been stolen from long ago. Although she has gained her freedom, she can’t help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways, and her newfound friends and relatives don’t think it’s for the better. Despite the turmoil, she’s eager to start her magical training. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved in a plot to reclaim Ixia’s throne for a lost prince, and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians. If that wasn’t bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with her new enemies.

And now, at long last, the third book in the series. Fire Study continues Yelena Zaltana’s adventures. When word that Yelena is a Soulfinder—able to capture and release souls—spreads like wildfire, people grow uneasy. As the Council debates Yelena’s fate, she receives a disturbing message: a plot is rising, led by a murderous sorcerer she has defeated before.  Drawing on untested skills, Yelena becomes embroiled in the desperate fight to stop the Daviian Clan from unleashing a Fire Warper. Unfortunately, fire is one element she can’t control even if her life depended on it. And there is more at stake than just her life. Yelena’s journey is fraught with allies, enemies, lovers and would-be assassins, each of questionable loyalty. She will have one chance to prove herself—and save the land she holds dear.

Meet Author Maria Snyder

What was your inspiration for writing Fire Study?
I wanted to explore the uses and abuses of power in this book. Poison Study, which is the first in the Study series, concentrated on Yelena’s inner conflicts and her self-confidence, and only touched briefly on magic. Magic Study focused on discovering the extent and type of powers Yelena possesses. In the third book, I wanted to show the extent some magicians will go to gain power over others. Using magic to solve problems can be addicting, and, in Fire Study Yelena realizes how much she depends on her magical abilities. She must learn how to balance the use of her power with more mundane methods and to discover that completely turning your back on magic isn’t the right answer.

What sort of research did you do to write this book?
In order to write the scenes with Opal, a glass artist in the book, I needed to enroll in glass blowing classes. The teacher made it look so easy to gather a slug of glass. But when it was my turn—yikes! It was HOT! The big vat of molten glass was kept in a rip roaring furnace at a toasty 2100 degrees Fahrenheit. I held a metal rod, and, while squinting through an eye-melting orange light, I dipped the end into the thick goo and spun it, gathering a glob of glass onto the end. The incandescent glob glowed as if alive.

Once acquired, the slug then needed to be quickly shaped. Glass cooled at a rapid pace, and, even though heat waves pulsed from the slug, it didn’t stay pliable for long. My first paperweight was a misshapened blob. After hours of practice, my ability improved, and I created a paperweight worthy to hold down my next novel’s manuscript pages.

I learned that working with glass required deft coordination, arm strength, tons of patience, and a good partner—it’s a good thing I have a day job!

Who are your favorite authors and books now and when you were growing up?
Currently my favorite authors all have humor in their books. Since my life is so stress-filled and complicated, I’ve been enjoying light and fluffy reading with Mary Janice Davidson’s vampire series and her new mermaid series, Connie Willis is another favorite of mine, and I’ve recently discover the mystery/suspense thrillers of Harlan Coben. Growing up, I started with mysteries because that is what my mother enjoyed. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys were my favorites before I graduated to Agatha Cristie, Dick Francis, Robert B. Parker, Barbara Vine, and Ed McBain.

Who has influenced you in your writing?
I read a ton of mystery novels growing up. My favorite mystery author is Dick Francis and his books have influenced my writing style. I also use first person point of view and try to keep the story’s pace moving. My cliff hanger endings are a direct result from his books; I can never stop reading one of his books at a chapter break. My favorite fantasy writers all have strong female protagonists and interesting characters in common. Barbara Hambly’s books have a nice mix of action, character and humor—all essential elements to what I consider good fiction.

What is it about fantasy/science fiction that attracts you?
As a writer, the attraction is in exploring new settings and characters and not having to worry too much about what is physically possible or not. I make my own rules about my world and, as long as I stick to them, can explore various problems generated by the unique setting and situation. As a reader, I enjoy traveling beyond my everyday world to a new place full of wonder and surprises.

What (besides writing) do you do for fun?
I love to travel with my family. Exploring new places and meeting new people and experiencing other cultures are wonderful for the writer’s soul—I also enjoy playing volleyball, reading and I dabble with photography.

What are you writing now?
I’m writing the fourth book based in the Study world titled, Storm Glass. Set five years after Fire Study, Storm Glass has a new protagonist and she’s the reason for the new series title. Storm Glass will be out December 2008. Here is the cover copy of the book:
“As a glassmaker and a magician-in-training, Opal Cowen understands trial by fire. Now it’s time to test her mettle. Someone has sabotaged the Stormdancer clan’s glass orbs, killing their most powerful magicians. The Stormdancers—particularly the mysterious and mercurial Kade—require Opal’s unique talents to prevent it happening again. But when the mission goes awry, Opal must tap into a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening. And the further she delves into the intrigue behind the glass and magic, the more distorted things appear. With lives hanging in the balance—including her own—Opal must control powers she never knew she possessed…powers that might lead to disaster beyond anything she’s ever known.”

Did you always want to write? Or did you stumble into it? How did you get where you are now?
I started writing because of boredom! My first job after college was as a Meteorologist for an environmental consulting firm. The amount of work came in waves, and we were either extremely busy or very bored. During the slow times, I started writing a short story. Ideas were always floating around in my mind, but that was when I began using them. I submitted my first short story for critique at a writing conference in Philadelphia, and when the workshop leader gave me 7 out of 10, I thought that was pretty good for a first effort and decided to stick with writing for a while. After my son was born and I only had about one hour a day to myself, I had to decide what was important enough to spend that precious time on. Most days writing won.

And Now . . . an Excerpt from Fire Study:

The man stepped from the midst of the roaring bonfire. Scorched black from head to toe, small flames clung to him like feathers. He advanced toward me. I broke my paralysis and scrambled away from him.

“Did I surprise you, my little bat?” the man asked. “Counted nine when there really were ten. Hot little trick.”

He knew my conscience had flown with the bats. But who was he?

I scanned the surrounding jungle, looking for my backup. Leif and my friends were at the edge of the clearing.

“No help from them, my little bat. They will burn if they come any closer.”

I tried to project into the flaming man’s mind, but his mental defenses proved impenetrable, a Warper of incredible strength. Running out of options, I glanced behind me and caught sight of my bow.

The blazing Warper pointed and a line of fire appeared between me and my weapon. The moisture evaporated from my mouth. I tasted ashes. A wall of hot air pushed against me and the Warper was before me.

“Fire is your downfall, little bat. Can not call it. Can not control it.”

My body roasted as if I had been staked to a spit over a giant campfire. Just when I thought I would faint, he extended his hands and a bubble of cool air caressed my skin. The break from the heat an intoxicating relief. I swayed.

“Take my hands. I will not burn you. Travel with me through the fire.”

“Why?”

“Because you belong to me.”

Yesterday, I left off on the idea of contests being personal. So many people will tell you when you get your results, “It’s not personal, don’t take it personally.” And if you don’t think all authors feel the same way about our “babies” going out into the world, let me refer you to Anne Bradstreet’s poem “The Author to Her Book,” which was written in 1678.

I’m sure most people have seen the movie You’ve Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. If so, you’ll remember this exchange when they’re talking about her specialty bookstore’s being forced out of business by his big-box bookstore:

Joe Fox: It wasn’t . . . personal.

Kathleen Kelly: What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn’t personal to you. But it was personal to me. It’s personal to a lot of people. And what’s so wrong with being personal, anyway?

Joe Fox: Uh, nothing.

Kathleen Kelly: Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.

What I’m about to say next may be controversial, and there may be people out there who will disagree with me, but this is my advice: Let it hurt the first time you read the comments. Don’t shield your emotions; don’t pretend it doesn’t make your stomach churn, your head spin, your skin go clammy. Cry. Mourn. Get angry. Grieve. Kick cabinets. Yell to the ceiling, “These people are stupid, and they just don’t get it!” (But, please, do this in private. Do not vent these feelings publicly . . . or you may come to sincerely regret them.)

Then set it down and walk away. Let it sit there for a couple of days while you go through the seven steps of the grief process. (Shock, Guilt, Fear, Depression, Denial, Anger, Acceptance.) Once you get to the acceptance stage (you’ll know it because you won’t cringe or cry or seeth with anger whenever you see the manuscripts sitting on your desk—you’ll want to look at them), then read through the comments again, and you will be surprised by how not personal they are.

I’m not going to sit here and say “don’t take it personally” . . . especially if this is the first time you’ve ever entered a contest or gotten feedback on your writing. Take the comments personally—just not as a personal insult. Take it that there are at least two or three people out there who care enough about YOU as a writer to take the time to read your writing and give feedback on it. That is so much more than the majority of beginning authors have, those who are out there struggling, on their own, trying to figure out how to do it with no support of a writing organization like ACFW and no feedback, guidance, or mentoring from more experienced writers.

Then, once you get over the personal part, it’s time to get down to business—revisions. Rather than repeat what I’ve already expounded upon before, let me refer you to Critiquing Step 4: Putting the Crits to Work.

Be very cautious when reading your contest critiques. Not every comment you receive will be helpful or—much as I, as a judge, hate to admit it—correct. Sometimes those of us who serve as judges have been told something by someone else (another contest judge or a mentor) in complete honesty and integrity that just isn’t right, but we believe it’s true because of the source we received it from. So take every comment with a grain of salt, not as biblical truth. They are suggestions based on the judge’s knowledge and OPINION to make your piece stronger, not an editor’s mandated corrections.

Ask questions. Post them here or your writing group’s forums or e-mail your crit partners. Go to your favorite authors’ blogs or websites and contact them to see if they have the time to answer the questions for you.

Whatever you do–do not get discouraged. Keep writing. Keep studying. Keep entering contests. Learning the craft of writing is a long process, and this is just part of it. And look at it this way: not finaling/winning a contest is good practice for being rejected by agents and editors in the future. Hopefully, by going through this process, it will mean fewer of those rejections and more sales!

There’s a lot of discussion going on these days about entering writing contests—the deadline for the ACFW Genesis contest for unpublished writers is March 1, and while entrants were encouraged to get their entries in by the beginning of this week, I know there are still some out there who are frantically trying to put those finishing touches on the fifteen pages or figure out how to write that one-page synopsis.

What sometimes gets lost in all the freneticism (is that a word?) of preparing an entry for a contest is the reason why one enters the contest in the first place.

I’ve mentioned before that I entered my first unpublished-author contest in 2002 (What Matters Most, my first complete manuscript into the Noble Theme contest at the first-ever ACRW conference). I hadn’t planned to enter, but then, the night before the postmarked-by deadline, I felt God urging me to enter. So I did. I was afraid that if I entered, I would get sick to my stomach, that I would regret it as soon as I handed that flat-rate envelope over to the postal worker. But I didn’t. I actually felt good about sending it. I received an Honorable Mention certificate that year . . . probably because there were only a few entries, so they decided to give us all something. Because when I look back at it now, it sure wasn’t worth mentioning. But the feedback I received from the two judges was invaluable and helped me so much on certain aspects of my writing—tightening my POV, showing not telling, fully developing my characters, and making sure each scene is important to the movement of the story.

I entered two manuscripts the next year (2003): The Best Laid Plans (follow-up novel to What Matters Most) and Love Remains. Neither finaled. The feedback was a little less “honorable mention” and a little more “you can do better than this—and here’s how.” Those were a little harder to take, but, after a few weeks, I really gleaned a lot from them.

In 2004, I entered the manuscript I was sure was not only going to win the contemporary romance category, but would be chosen for the Janet Kobobel Grant award for the best overall manuscript: the first draft of Stand-In Groom, then titled Happy Endings Inc. It was the strongest story idea I’d ever had, and it got me into graduate school. And my crit partners liked it. Not only did it not final, I got some pretty harsh feedback on it in addition to middling scores. I wasn’t happy. But, after a few weeks, I was able to really see the points made by the judges (especially having served as a judge myself in the contest that year) and eat humble pie and realize my manuscript wasn’t all that.

In 2005, because I was Vice President and therefore over the contest, I wasn’t eligible to enter—but I did a ton of judging, I’ll tell ya! (More on judging in another post.)

Finally, in 2006, with three full revisions on the manuscript behind me, and thesis submission and master’s graduation ahead of me, I entered the new version of Stand-In Groom into the newly named Genesis contest. After I entered it, I ended up doing another revision of the manuscript, which included cutting almost three pages from the opening chapter—the opening chapter that was, at that moment, being judged for Genesis . . . and guess what? I came in SECOND PLACE in my category.

Monday, there was a post on the Seekerville Blog about first chapters and how some writers get caught in a hamster wheel of being a professional contest entrant instead of striving to be a published writer. They spend so much time working on their first ten, fifteen, or twenty-five pages to enter into contests, but never finish a manuscript—or if the manuscript is completed, they never spend any time revising the rest of it but just keep tweaking the first part based on contest judges’ feedback. And it really made me think about why I chose to enter HEI/SIG that second time. Here’s part of the comment I left there:

So while I did enter it twice, in two vastly different incarnations, entering it into the contest wasn’t my main focus–it was the litmus test to see if it was ready to be submitted to editors and agents.

It seems to me that one flaw, one drawback for people who are addicted to entering contests is that they’re using the contest judges’ feedback as their critique group—and as their validation as a writer. If they don’t get good feedback, if they don’t get good scores, if they don’t final, if they don’t win, if they don’t do as well in this contest as the last one, or whatever, they lose confidence in themselves as writers. Contests aren’t for personal affirmation or for summary judgment on whether or not you’re “good enough” to pursue publication. Contests are market research. Contests are great for getting anonymous feedback on your manuscript. But entering contests should not be our writing goal. Our goal in entering a contest should be to make sure that we’ve got the strongest story possible before submitting it to editors and/or agents. They’re the litmus test, not the be-all-and-end-all of becoming a writer. Two years ago, I made promise to myself that I would become ineligible to enter unpublished-author contests in 2007. And as of December 7, 2007, I am officially ineligible to enter the Genesis or any other unpublished-author contest! Make that your goal this year—to use whatever contest you choose to enter this year your springboard to becoming ineligible to enter it next year.

Finally, on another note, people will tell you that the feedback you get on your contest entries isn’t personal. I disagree. Even though as a judge, I don’t know whose manuscript I’m judging, it’s still personal for me. I know that there’s a person on the other end of that entry who’s going to read the comments I’m making, see all of the highlighting and marking I’ve done, and take it very personally (which we’ll get into more in another post). Anything having to do with someone’s writing is very personal! And even as anonymous judges, we have to keep that in mind—while still making sure that we’re giving the strongest and best feedback we can possibly give. So in the coming days, I’ll try to shed a little light on contests from my perspective as a finalist and as a judge. And my crit partners will be dropping in with words of wisdom from their experiences as contest finalists and judges as well.

Why do you enter contests? What do you hope to gain/learn? How much money do you spend in a year entering writing contests versus postage on sending out submissions to editors/agents? How much time do you spend preparing contest entries versus queries/submissions to editors/agents? Do you enter more contests than you send out queries? How has feedback from contests helped/hindered you?

Since I have to have a new headshot turned in by March 1, I need y’all’s help!

Friday, I had my photoshoot! I’ve chosen some of my favorites and I’d love your feedback on which you think I should send to Barbour for my marketing materials (click on image to view full-size–and these are the raw images–the background will be cropped/photoshopped to make sure it’s plain) . . .

Photography by Melinda Rathjen; photoshoot director, Georgina Chidlow Rucker.

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The third (and final) part of Pride & Prejudice airs this Sunday on PBS. Before we get into some more serious discussion of Pride & Prejudice, I thought I would pay tribute to all of my friends who actually like Colin Firth with this little video I found on You Tube:

Now, back to the scholarly stuff . . .

All throughout her life, Austen was exposed to nearly every level of society from royalty to poverty. Through these experiences, she learned the importance of money and social connections to make one upwardly mobile. While England has always been seen as a country where “climbing the social ladder” was nearly impossible, it was during Austen’s lifetime that the combination of the war between England and France and the Industrial Revolution brought “persons of obscure birth into undue distinction, and raising men to honors which their fathers and grandfathers never dreamt of” (Persuasion 14). Men of “obscure birth” entered the Royal Navy and could, if they were intelligent and caught the notice of their commanding officers, rise quickly through the ranks. The higher a sailor’s rank, the greater the share of profits he received from the bounties paid by the government for capturing French warships—not to mention a share of any cargo the French ship might carry (this is seen in the character of Captain Frederick Wentworth in Austen’s last novel, Persuasion). Additionally, due to the changing economy brought on by the Industrial Revolution, merchants and tradesmen who would have otherwise been among the lower classes, made considerable amounts of money and established themselves amongst the landed country gentry, as did Mr. Bingley’s father in PP.

It is his pride in his own higher social status that leads to Darcy’s “ungentlemanly” first proposal halfway through the novel. “’Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections? To congratulate myself on the hope of relations, whose condition in life is so decidedly beneath my own?’” Darcy asks Elizabeth upon her outrage at his denigration of her family and connections (PP 127). He also admits to her that he has separated his friend Bingley from her sister because of these low connections. “’Towards him I have been kinder than towards myself’” (PP 126).

In the end, however, Austen leads her readers to understand that “human worth is to be judged by standards better and more enduring than social status” (McMaster 129). Even before his poorly-executed first proposal, Darcy recognizes the “ill breeding” of his aunt (PP 115). He takes Elizabeth’s accusations to heart when she first refuses him and begins to examine his own character and the way in which he has acted toward those around him. He not only encourages Bingley to marry Jane Bennet, he goes to considerable expense find his nemesis, George Wickham (who had tried to elope with Darcy’s own sister a year earlier), and Elizabeth’s sister Lydia, who have run off together. Darcy pays off Wickham’s considerable debts in an amount exceeding £10,000 (an entire year’s income for Darcy), and witnesses their forced marriage.

Elizabeth’s connections are, at the end of the novel, lower than they were to begin with; however, Darcy admits to her that he acted only out of his love for her and confesses that his feelings are still “unchanged,” that he still loves her (PP 239). Throughout the last half of the novel, Austen delves deeper into Darcy’s character and at this point, the reader realizes that it truly is not Darcy whose feelings have changed, but Elizabeth’s. He fell in love with her in spite of her social connections. Even knowing that her status has changed for the worse, his love for her is more important and has helped him overcome all of his internal objections. Elizabeth has learned to overcome her prejudice against a man she saw as haughty and conceited and learned to love him in spite of his overt pride in his rank in society.

Even though Elizabeth is a “gentleman’s daughter” and Mr. Bennet is closer to being Darcy’s equal in rank, being a landed gentleman, it is not Mr. Bennet but Mr. Gardiner, the humble tradesman living in Cheapside, whom Darcy comes to admire: “With the Gardiners, they were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth really loved them” (PP 254).

In fact, the Gardiners played a key role in bringing Darcy and Elizabeth together. It was the Gardiners’ idea that they visit Pemberley when on their summer tour, and it is on this visit that Elizabeth learns to see that some of Darcy’s pride in his place in society is warranted, especially when she compares the seriousness with which he takes his responsibilities to her father’s flippant attitude. It is also on this visit that she sees Darcy in his natural, more comfortable environment and realizes that she has truly come to love him and realizes that much of his pride is not misplaced. On the subsequent visits during the Gardiners and Elizabeth’s stay in Derbyshire, Darcy comes to see Mr. Gardiner as a man of intelligence, wit, and good humor with whom he shares a love of the outdoors, especially fishing. While not his equal in rank, Darcy realizes he has found an equal in mind and disposition.

It is through the contrast of these relationships—by showing Lady Catherine to be not only ill bred but “every bit as ludicrous as Mrs. Bennet” (Johnson 354), by depicting Elizabeth as much more interesting and loveable than Miss de Bourgh, and by making Mr. Gardiner more worthy of respect than Mr. Bennet—that Austen created her most poignant commentary on the importance of social status when considering marriage. “The importance assigned to class distinction is the source of much of her comedy and her irony, as of her social satire” (McMaster 129). She doesn’t discount the importance of rank or connections; indeed, in none of her novels does she have someone marry completely outside of their social realm. What she does is ask the reader to see “with a critical eye” the “automatic social responses” for what they are: prejudice (Duckworth 309). Once Darcy overcomes his pride in his own perceived greatness and his prejudice against Elizabeth’s assumed lowness, he realizes that while her connections may be poor, she is his equal in mind and temperament, and she is the wife he wants.

Works Cited

I’ve never done this before, but since this week I’m trying to concentrate on building up some momentum with writing Menu for Romance, the follow-up novel to Stand-In Groom, instead of trying to think of something to blog about, I thought I’d post the opening scene. So here goes . . .

MENU FOR ROMANCE
Copyright © 2008 by Kaye Dacus

Chapter One

“Happy New Year!”

Her thirty-fourth New Year and still no kiss at the stroke of midnight . . . or any other day or time. Meredith Guidry stood in the doorway leading into Vue de Ciel—the cavernous sky-view event venue at the top of the tallest building in downtown Bonneterre, Louisiana—and swallowed back her longing as she watched hundreds of couples kiss.

A short burst of static over the earpiece startled her out of her regrets.

“Mere, we’re going to set up the coffee stations and dessert tables,” the caterer’s rich, mellow voice filled her ear.

She clicked the button on the side of the wireless headset. “Thanks, Major.” Turning her gaze back to the main room, she tapped the button again. “Let’s slowly start bringing the houselights back up. I want us at full illumination around twelve thirty.” She strolled into the ballroom, the floor now covered with shiny metallic confetti, the hundreds of guests milling about wishing each other a happy New Year. Out on the dance floor, a large group of men stood swaying, arms about shoulders, singing “Auld Lang Syne” at the tops of their lungs along with the jazz band.

“Let’s make sure tables are bussed.” Pressing her finger to the earpiece to speak over the network made her feel like those secret service agents in the movies who were always talking into their shirt cuffs. “I’m seeing several tables with empty plates and glasses.”

She kept to the perimeter of the room, doing her best to blend in with the starlit sky beyond the glass walls, barely repressing the feeling of being the loner, the kid no one else paid any attention to . . . the woman no man ever gave a second glance.

“You look like a kid staring through a candy store window, wishing you could go inside.”

Meredith’s heart thumped at the sudden voice behind her. She turned. Major O’Hara grinned his lopsided grin, his chef’s coat nearly fluorescent with its pristine whiteness.

“How’re you holding up?” He squeezed her shoulder in a brotherly way, his azure eyes gentle.

She sighed. “You know me—I operate on pure adrenaline at these things no matter how little sleep I’ve gotten the night before. So long as I stay busy and don’t slow down, the fatigue can’t catch up with me.”

“And stopping to grab a bite to eat would have meant slowing down?”

“Yep.” Coldness embraced her shoulder when Major lifted his hand away.

“I set aside a few take-home boxes for you—and Anne. I told her I’d be sure to save a little of everything.”

Anne. Meredith’s cousin and best friend. Her inspiration and mentor. Owner of a stellarly successful wedding and event planning business, Happy Endings Inc. And friends with Major O’Hara on a level Meredith could never attain.

“And if you see him, tell George I’ve been experimenting with that plum pudding recipe he gave me. I’ll need his expert opinion before I can officially add it to my repertoire.”

“I’ll tell him—but you see him more often than I do.”

“Yeah, I guess so. I’m glad we convinced Anne to fall in love with him. Finally, having another man’s opinion when we’re all working an event together . . .” He winked.

Meredith quickly turned her eyes toward the window so he wouldn’t see how he affected her. It would only embarrass him—and mortify her.

He tweaked her chin. “Come on. Back to work for the bosses.”

Over the next hour, Meredith poured herself into her work to try to keep exhaustion at bay. The last few guests meandered out just after one thirty. Meredith turned on all of the lights, their glare on the walls and ceiling of glass nearly blinding her. She tasked her staff to stack chairs, pull linen from tables, and clear the room.

She directed the sorting of the rented decorations and materials into different dump sites around the room. Tuesday, she would meet all of the vendors here to have their stuff carted away so the building maintenance staff could get in here with the carpet steamers and buffer for the dance floor.

“Miss Guidry, are these your shoes?” Halfway across the room, one of the black-and-white clad workers held aloft a pair of strappy, spike-heeled sandals. Meredith’s medium-height, pointy-toed brown pumps rubbed her feet in a couple of places after six hours—but nothing like the pain those sandals would have caused.

“Lost and Found,” she called over the music throbbing through the room’s built-in PA system. Not what she would choose to listen to, but it kept the staff—mostly college students—happy and working at a brisk clip. That made three pairs and two stray shoes, five purses, sixteen cellular phones, and one very gaudy ruby ring—and those were only the items Meredith had seen herself. Her assistant would be fielding phone calls for days.

Vacuum cleaners roared to life—a wonderful sound as it meant they were getting close to quitting time. A couple of guys loaded the last of the ten-top round tables onto a cart and wheeled it down the hall to the freight elevator, followed by several more pushing tall stacks of dark blue upholstered chairs on hand-trucks.

Vue de Ciel expanded in all directions around her. She hugged her arms around her middle. She’d survived another New Year’s Eve Masked Ball—being surrounded by more than eight hundred people with covered faces and hidden eyes, who could very likely have been watching, grading, judging Meredith’s performance and her ability to handle an event of this magnitude on her own.

* * *

The soprano of flatware, alto of china, tenor of voices, and bass rumble of the dish sterilizers created a jubilant symphony that thrilled Major O’Hara’s heart.

Simply from the questions the food and wine columnist from the Reserve had asked, the review in the morning newspaper wouldn’t be good. It would be glowing.

“Chef, stations are clean, ready for inspection.” Steven LeBlanc, sous chef, wiped his hands on the towel draped over his shoulder. Though Steven’s white Nichols State University T-shirt was sweat-soaked—much like Major’s own University of Louisiana-Bonneterre tribute—the kid’s blond hair still stood tall and stiff in mini-spikes all over his head.

Major hadn’t yet been able to find anything that would keep his own hair from going curly and flopping down onto his forehead in the heat and humidity of a working kitchen. Yet asking Steven for hair styling tips—Major grunted. He’d rather slice his hand open and stick it in a vat of lemon juice.

He followed Steven through the kitchen, inspecting each surface and utensil, releasing some of the staff to clock out, pointing out spots missed to others.

“Civilian in the kitchen,” rang out from one of the line cooks.

Meredith, stately and graceful, light hair set off to perfection by her brown velvet dress—like strawberries served with chocolate ganache—swept into the kitchen, drawing the attention of every man present. If she knew she had that effect on his crew, she would laugh her head off and call them all nuts.

“I’m ready to release my staff, unless you need any help in here.” She even smelled vaguely of strawberries and chocolate . . . or maybe that was just Major’s imagination.

“I think we’ve got it covered.”

“Dish washing station cleared, Chef!”

“See?” He grinned at her.

She graced him with a full smile, then covered her mouth as a yawn overwhelmed her. “I’ll let my kids go, then.” She pressed her hands to the base of her neck and rolled her head side to side. “I’ve got to run down to my office to get my stuff.”

“Why don’t I meet you at your office, since I have to come downstairs anyway?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll be fine—”

“Mere. Stop. I will come to your office to walk you to your car. You’re lucky I’m not insisting on driving you home myself.”

Her nutmeg eyes flickered as if she were about to argue, then her smile returned. “Thank you, Major. I’d appreciate that.”

Good girl. “That wasn’t too hard, was it?” He limited himself to once again laying his hand on her shoulder instead of pulling her into a hug. “Go on. I’ll make sure everyone gets clocked out, and lock up and turn out the lights.”

Meredith nodded and departed. Major rounded up the last few stragglers and watched them run their cards through the slot on the computer. Returning their happy New Year’s wishes, he ducked into his office at the rear of the kitchen, grabbed his orange dry-cleaning bag along with his duffel, turned off his computer and light, and locked the door.

The brass nameplate winked in the bright kitchen light. MAJOR O’HARA, EXECUTIVE CHEF. He grimaced. What pride he’d taken eight years ago when Mr. Guidry offered him the position—saving Major years of working as a sous chef, never more than the second in command.

He heaved the two bags over his shoulder. Meredith’s parents had been better to him than he deserved, had given him the flexibility in his schedule no other employer would have given. They had also given him their blessing—their encouragement—to strike out on his own, to open the restaurant he’d dreamed of since working for Meredith’s aunt in her catering company throughout high school and college. The restaurant he’d already have, if it weren’t for his mother…

I have two books sitting on my desk right now . . . well, I have more than two, but there are two that concern me right now. One of them is How to Open Your Own Restaurant and the other is Starting a Small Restaurant: How to Make Your Dream a Reality. I checked them both out of the library a little more than a month ago, and renewed both of them the day they were due. I have as yet to crack either one open (we can keep things for three weeks and renew twice for up to nine weeks total). These are research for Menu for Romance, in which the hero is leaving his steady job as an event caterer for the biggest business in the city to start his own restaurant (originally it was to start a catering business, but after brainstorming with crit partner Erica, I decided a restaurant made more sense). I’d already started reading The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute as research into Chef Major O’Hara’s character, which has given me tons of ideas for little quirks to give him—such as his complete disgust of watching TV chefs stick their finger into something to taste it, or even worse, taste off the stirring spoon and then put the stirring spoon back into the dish. Getting into his head also made me nearly nauseated when trying to watch Ratatouille the other day. All I could think of was how gross it was for a rat (who had just recently been in the sewer, mind) to be running around all over the kitchen floor and jumping into pots and pans—some with food in them going into the oven! Major may have ruined that movie for me forever.

I’ve also picked up on little tidbits like the fact that the towel that chefs tuck into their apron at the waist (side towels) are not used for wiping their wet hands on. They’re used only for handling hot dishes/pans:

And a word about side towels. The Culinary inported these sturdy items—gray-and-white cotton cloths that students tuck into their apron strings—from Germany because it couldn’t find acceptable ones in the United States, and they were excellent tools. At this stage in a student’s career [the first week], the towels were crisp and clean, all but new. “Side towels are not for wiping your board,” Pardus said. “They are not for wiping your knife, they’re not for dabbing your brow. They’re for grabbing hot things. Things are going to be hot. Anticipate it, expect it.” (from The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman, pgs. 18–19)

And I had Major’s sous chef wiping his hands on the towel tucked into his apron! No, no, Steven! Oh, and that’s another thing I learned—the sous chef is the second in command in the kitchen. He’s in charge when the executive chef is away. I had originally used the term for any of the “underling” cooks in the kitchen, instead of calling them by their appropriate, more specific titles, which I’m still trying to learn. (Oh, and by the way, Top Chef 4: Chicago, starts March 12 on Bravo!!!)

Erica’s Friday Five post, about what she learned working at McDonald’s, got me to thinking about my first job, which was also in a restaurant. One of my goals for this week is to spend at least two hours looking through these two start-your-own-restaurant books and see what other interesting tidbits I can come up with.

And since I’ve already mentioned Erica twice, I’m going to do the meme she tagged me for yesterday:
Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
Find page 123. Find the first 5 sentences. Post the next 3 sentences.
So, here it is, from The Making of a Chef:

“Does the cream keep as long once you’ve done that?”
“It keeps better,” Smith said. “More fat, less water. . . .”

What research books do you have sitting around unopened that you really need to get around to? What part of your WIP needs some research that you haven’t done yet? What interesting little tidbits have you learned through research that gave you greater insight into a character—and helped develop quirks that make the character unique and three-dimensional? Do you have an hour or two this week you could commit to research?

Yesterday, my pastor’s sermon topic was on tools to becoming a more godly parent. Needless to say, if I’d known ahead of time this is what the topic was going to be, I probably would have saved myself the hassle of getting out in the pouring rain and 40 mph wind and slept in. (Okay, I did enjoy the music part of the service and was glad to be there for the fellowship of friends.) So I spent the twenty-five minutes of the sermon time brainstorming the next couple of chapters of Menu for Romance, while still listening to why parents shouldn’t let their boys take lessons from Flava-Flave on how to treat women, nor allow their girls to take behavior and fashion lessons from Paris Hilton.

This made me think about all of the places and events where I’ve “stolen” writing time. Three years ago, just before the 2005 Nashville ACFW conference, I took Rachel Hauck and Susan May Warren to the Bluebird Cafe for writers’ night. Rachel was researching her Nashville-set chick lit novels, and Susie and I were along for the fun. While we were sitting there enjoying the music as performed by the people who originally penned it (not the people who recorded it), I dug down into my purse for a pen and grabbed the stack of napkins (yes, paper napkins!) from the middle of the table and started writing. I’d been so extremely busy for weeks preparing for the conference (this was back when I was VP of ACFW) that I hadn’t had a chance to get any writing done . . . and I had a full revision of my thesis novel due in about five weeks and needed to rewrite at least the first three chapters. I enjoyed the music, had a good time with Rachel and Susie, and got about five napkins covered with the new opening scene of my novel (what’s now Stand-In Groom), which was probably the only writing I got done in about a two week span of time.

A few months before that, I’d gone to Baton Rouge for Memorial Day weekend to attend a family wedding. While there, my cousin and his wife were giving a concert at my grandmother’s church’s Saturday night “cowboy” church (dinner, Southern Gospel music, a short sermon). We were still seated at the long table, which had been covered with white butcher paper. Shortly after the music started, I once again dug for a pen in my purse (I always have four or five with me). A few weeks before, I’d written the opening chapter to an idea for a historical novel to submit for workshop critiques at school. I’d been cogitating on the ideas for the characters for a while, but I wasn’t sure exactly where the story was going. So I started brainstorming ideas right there on the tablecloth! By the end of the evening, I ended up taking home a two-foot by three-foot section of butcher paper where I clearly outlined the two directions I could take the story—either Julia could stow-away on William’s ship or she could make a business arrangement with him where they would marry so she could return to Jamaica aboard his ship. I wrote notes for both scenarios and the pros and cons of each. When I returned to Nashville, I knew exactly which decision Julia was supposed to make and moved ahead with writing Ransome’s Honor. (Yes, I was writing RH while in revisions on HEI/SIG.)

And yet I still seem to waste so much time that could be given over to writing . . .

What are some instances of time you’ve “stolen” from another activity or event to write?

Last week, I updated my reading goals—and I’m doing better than I’d thought. So this weekend, I’m going to revisit my Writing Goals for 2008:

1. Send in four applications to teach at the ACFW conference: Showing vs. Telling, Critical Reading, Critiquing, and either POV or Setting. DONE

2. Turn in revisions on Happy Endings Inc. Stand-In Groom early. I learned I will not receive changes from Barbour until around March 1. But I have printed the full ms and will start copy editing it this weekend. I have already made changes to the scenes where Major and Meredith (the hero/heroine in Menu for Romance) appear.

3. Volunteer as a judge in the ACFW Genesis contest. DONE. I’ll be judging in the contemporary and historical romance categories.

4. Complete A Major Event Inc. by June 30, 2008 to submit to Barbour by the first week of July. Yikes. Need to get to work on this. So far, all I’ve completed are the first three chapters. I did do some brainstorming this past week to nail down some important plot points, so hopefully, since this is a long weekend for me, I’ll be able to meet my goal of getting chapters 4–6 out to the crit partners this coming week.

5. Complete revisions on Ransome’s Honor; begin work on Ransome’s Crossing. The second draft of RH is complete and has been critiqued, and the proposal went to Chip at the beginning of February. Now I need to stitch together the chapter files, make a few more minor revisions, and the ms. will be in a good enough condition that I’ll be confident in sending it out to editors who request the full. I have made a couple of attempts at starting RC, but nothing that has led me to a point where I feel like it’s a strong opening.

6. Develop and implement pre-release marketing plan for HEI. Still in the “thinking about it” phase on this.

7. Attend Alumni weekend at SHU—possibly co-teach a workshop. I know the co-teaching of the workshop isn’t going to happen. I’m not sure this is the wisest way to spend my money (or vacation time) this year, so I’m still praying about it. But I’ll need to make a decision soon if I’m going to get a hotel room anywhere within about 10-20 miles of Greensburg.

8. Pitch the Ransome Trilogy to at least four editors at ACFW conference. As mentioned above, I sent the proposal to Chip a couple of weeks ago. If it hasn’t sold by time of the conference, I’ll be sure to do this then.

9. Sell the Ransome Trilogy. See #8

10. Schedule at least one book signing event for January 2009 (yes, I realize that’s next year, but the work will have to be done this year). See #6