10/15/2008

John Morganelli, author of The D-Day Bank Massacre, is running for Pennsylvania Attorney General in the November election. Mr. Morganelli, a resident of Northampton County, PA, has been an outspoken voice on behalf of the law enforcement community, and his frank talk about the need to abolish parole for violent criminals and stopping illegal immigration has earned him national recognition. Mr. Morganelli has been seen on a variety of national television shows, and was first elected District Attorney in 1991. For more information on Mr. Morganelli's campaign, visit his website at www.johnmorganelli.com. To order The D-Day Bank Massacre, click here.

By Amanda Linsmeier

In my opinion, as far as romances go, Legend by best selling author Jude Deveraux, is one of the best I’ve read. It’s a perfect mix of humor, plot twists and romance. Kady Long is a 30-year old chef living in Virginia. In fact, she’s one of the most famous chefs around. People come from all over the country to eat at Onions, the restaurant where she works. She’s also happily engaged to Gregory, the son of her boss. Kady can’t believe how lucky she is and yet she cannot stop thinking about the mystery man who’s haunted her dreams since childhood. With only the top half of his face visible in her dreams, the rest covered by a black veil, Kady doesn’t know who he is but she convinces herself that her Arabian prince must be Gregory, they look similar enough. As Kady runs a few wedding errands, she wanders into an antique shop and on a whim, purchases a rusty flour tin. Later, when she opens it, Kady is surprised to see a beautiful old-fashioned wedding dress, a pocket watch and a family photograph with the name Jordan on the back. To her amazement, the dress fits her perfectly. Having found no wedding dress as of yet, Kady knows this is the one she will wear to marry Gregory. But then Kady is overcome with a dizzy spell and when she comes to, she is no longer in her apartment but in the old Western town of Legend, Colorado. The year is 1873 and Cole Jordan is about to be hanged. What happens next is an amazing tale of time travel and love. As Kady tries to find a way back home, she is pulled deeper into this time period and into the arms of Cole. But then she learns a secret that changes everything in ways she never could have imagined.

Legend is warm and optimistic and lovely. I really fell in love with the characters, especially Cole. He is sweet and fun and he really opened up a side of Kady that I feel she was hiding. Kady is a joy to read and it’s refreshing in a romance not to read about a “perfect” woman. She’s also a very talented chef and for food lovers, this is a must read as she describes recipes and also puts on a feast that lasts for several days. Throughout the book she cooks everything from rattlesnake to croissants. I also couldn’t stop wondering about the mysterious Arabian man from her dreams. Who is he? Is he connected to Gregory? To Cole? And when you learn the answer, you will be surprised too. Legend is a wonderful romance novel that you won’t want to put down. And when you do, you’ll be wondering how long before you can pick it back up again!

In the jungle of daily life, writing time is hard to find. Best intentions flag in the heat and rarely recover by morning. You want to write, you have to write, but it’s just not happening, and the guilt feels like monkeys howling in your chest. Job, kids, errands, friends, family, finances—the time and energy you need are nowhere to be seen.

Stop looking. When you can’t find time to write, you have to make it. Hack it out of the vines; coax it down from the trees. Elmore Leonard wrote parts of his first novel, The Bounty Hunters, inside a desk drawer at the ad agency where he worked. Plenty of writers juggle full lives and demanding jobs and still consistently produce. If you’re committed, you can, too. Here are six ways to make it happen:

1. Commit. If your heart and mind aren’t in it, making time won’t help. You’ll get nowhere, and the monkeys will only howl louder. Make a contract with yourself, and ask someone who’s invested in your progress to hold you accountable.

2. Prioritize. Where does writing fit in the hierarchy of your life? Do you spend more time on less important things, like Facebook or house cleaning? Have these things become excuses to malinger? Rank your writing among everything else and determine how much time and energy are required to serve it.

3. Streamline. Where are you wasting time that could be spent writing? Can you double up anywhere? Rehearse your presentation while you jog, or make calls on the drive home instead of at the office? Search for minutes under every rock, and list the ways you can become more efficient.

4. Eliminate. Look for things to cut from your day. If something non-essential is poaching your time, and is a lower priority than writing, kill it. TV, anyone? If you’re zoned out on sitcoms when you could be at the keyboard, see number one above.

5. Energize. If you’re not sleeping, eating and exercising right, you won’t have juice to write before or after a long day. Ditch the myth that writers have to be drunk, stoned and disturbed to produce good work. Good writing and high energy come from treating yourself well—physically, mentally and emotionally.

6. Schedule. When this topic comes up, it’s fight or flight for a lot of writers. But a smart, adaptable schedule is crucial for freeing up time and staying on track. Because scheduling is so important, I’m going to cover it exclusively in Part Two of this series.

If you’re driven to write and feeling lost in the jungle, don’t beat yourself up. Guilt is a disempowering emotion, and under its influence everything becomes difficult. Let your drive become a motivating force. Do something to serve it every day, and congratulate yourself for making progress. The time and energy you need are out there, hiding in the underbrush. Once you flush them out, the monkeys will quiet and your writing can thrive.

Have a question for Doug? Click here to submit it to THE WRITE MIND.

Doug Kurtz is a published novelist, certified life coach and the owner of Write Life Coaching (www.writelifecoaching.com). He earned his MA in creative writing at the University of Colorado, where he also taught fiction writing. He currently lives in Boulder, where he’s busy coaching other writers and working on his next novel.

During a long career in news and public relations, and even now, I've met a lot of retired persons, and some seniors who aren’t retired, who said they'd like to write a book. That is a commendable ambition, but one that will take preparation, work and research. After fifty or so years, I think everybody has a story, fact or fiction, to tell. And trust me, its fun doing it.

However, keep in mind that it might be the most difficult and demanding thing you've ever tried, and yet, it might be the most fun and gratifying thing you've ever tried. Writing is easy. Doing it right is not. The most precious thing about writing when you are a senior is that you have time to devote to the craft which is of the essence.
Avoid disappointment. As the old axiom points out: "Don't put the cart before the horse." Learn the trade. I've played sports all my life: Football, baseball, and more recently tennis and golf. I learned that whether it's playing games or writing, the requisites are the same: "Know what the game is about before trying it."
That means spending time to learn about the kind of writing you want to do. For senior neophytes, a community college is the best source. Enroll in writing classes. Take time to learn the basics and be patient. That is just the first step in achieving your writing aspirations.

Questions/Comments? Contact Jim at james@jamesfalk.net, or visit www.jamesfalk.net.

James Falk, as a teen-ager, used to dream of being a big-time racketeer. Fortunately, his dream didn't come true. A 10th grade dropout, he finished highschool after four years in the Marines and went on to earn a B.A. in Journalism and an M.A. in Communications.

Anthony Capella is a British author whose novels, The Wedding Officer (now being made into a film by New Line) and The Food of Love have been translated into 22 languages. He also writes travel and food articles for the Sunday Times. The Various Flavors of Coffee is his latest novel.

Q: How did you choose to write culinary/romances?

A: I’m not quite sure. I’ve always liked food, and I spent some time working with Jamie Oliver, the British chef who’s done so much to make people aware of what they’re eating. But the truth is the idea for The Food of Love seemed to come out of nowhere for me. I realized that I liked setting books in that world, and it just took off from there. It isn’t some kind of genre I’ve invented – I just happen to have written a couple of books with the same theme.

Q: Respond to the comment that your works blend exotic adventure and erotic passion.

A: I guess that’s true to some extent. I think of my writing as being about sensuality – both in the way they’re written and also in their subject matter. Food isn’t just about pleasure; it’s also succor, and love, and tradition, and family. Most of my books are about having to make a choice between sensuality and duty in some way.

Q: You have said you made a conscious decision when writing Food of Love, not to write a literary book but instead an enjoyable comfort book. Explain your reasoning.

A: I wanted to write the kind of book I like reading. It’s very much like going to restaurants; I admire Michelin-award-winning places, but I don’t enjoy them and I almost never go back to them a second time. I like good food in pleasant surroundings: places that make you feel good, rather than dazzle you. And that’s the way I am with books, too. I like the kind of books that you reread when you’re in bed with flu, not books you have to work at or feel impressed by.

Q: What is the secret of a male succeeding in the mostly female written romance genre?

A: I’m not sure! (Have I succeeded?) Again, I think love is a universal subject. On the stage or in cinema, romantic comedy isn’t considered a female genre – no one thinks of Cyrano de Bergerac, which The Food of Love is based on, as a girlie play, or Twelfth Night for that matter, or Shakespeare in Love or Four Weddings and a Funeral. I write about love, certainly, but I don’t think of my stories as romance – I think of them as stories about people who discover the truth about themselves. Love is simply the catalyst which shakes their world upside down.

The Various Flavors of Coffee, for example, is the story of a young man who needs to grow up. His particular journey to adulthood is traced through his relationship with various women, but gaining the ability to love is the result of those experiences, not the whole focus of the story. If you like, it’s a story about romance, rather than a Romantic novel.

Carlotta Holton is the author of Salem Pact and Touching The Dead, and is a member of the National Federation of Press Women and an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association.

Carlotta Holton has just received her second award for Touching the Dead from the National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest. Click here to purchase the book.