Ava, this is Houston. Are you there?

Sometimes I am a space cadet, and not in a good way. I mean, I don’t work for NASA, nor have they ever asked me to travel to outer space for my country. No, no. I am a space cadet in the Where-am-I-going?…What-was-I-doing-again?…or…Who-am-I-today?…kind of way. Not the best thing to say about one’s self, but in addition to being a space cadet, I’m truthful to a fault, and I’m also a pragmatist. So there you are.

I don’t know about you, but I lose everything. I mean EVERYTHING. My keys. My bank card. My phone.

That’s right…

MY PHONE!

I did *that* this week. Monday, to be exact. And losing my iPhone really means losing all of my contacts, my email, Twitter, and Facebook accounts… Needless to say I get the shakes when I can’t put my hand on my phone. (Which you would think would make me keep up with it better. But… Well, you saw the first paragraph about me being a space cadet, right…?) Everything I have is in my phone. I don’t remember anyone’s numbers, and it’s a good thing I don’t usually have to because… see paragraph one again.

Strangely enough, I can tell you every last detail about every character I’ve ever written. Not sure what that means, but I didn’t want everyone to get the impression that I’m a complete dingbat. Just about things happening in the real world in real time.

Anyway, I retraced my steps, figured out where I’d had my cell phone last and that was… the post office. Really?! The post office?! Where a million people come and go every day? That’s where I left my phone? Uh, yeah, it was. And, of course, by the time I realized I didn’t have my phone, the post office was closed for the day.

Yeah, the shakes set in. But not as bad as I had expected. Whether or not my phone was still at the post office, there was absolutely nothing I could do about it until Tuesday morning at 9am when I found out for sure. I was rather calm, actually. I went back over conversations I’ve had with various friends recently about people being inherently good or evil. I have friends in both camps, and I’m… Well, I *am* a pragmatist. I don’t think people are either inherently good or evil. I think some people are good and some people are evil. I give everyone the benefit of the doubt, until I’m proven wrong – but that’s the subject for a whole other blog.

I figured my phone would either be at the post office or it wouldn’t. It would all depend on who found it and what sort of person that person was. And no amount of worrying on my part was going to change the situation one way or the other. Whatever had happened had already happened, and I just had to wait until the next morning to find out which way it went.

I am happy to report that some honest soul turned my phone in and I had it back in my hot little hands at 9am the next morning. And so I would like to send out a big “Thank you” to the nameless person who discovered my phone. I would also like to say that I will no longer be a space cadet and I’ll keep up with my possessions better, but I *am* honest and I know myself too well to make that kind of statement, even though I would love for it to be true.

Are you like me? Do you lose things constantly? And what do you lose most? (Mine are my keys. I have to have several copies at various places so I can always get to where I need to be.) Or do you always know where everything is all the time? If so – do you have any tips for the rest of us? ... Nice tips that is. Don't tell me to get my head out of the clouds, because that's probably not going to happen.

Guest Interview with Paty Jager!

I'd like to take a moment to introduce one of my favorite western author Paty Jager, whom I've been a fan of for years. She writes the Wild West and makes it real. Her characters leap off the page and right into your living room as if they were right there with you. And the best part of her stories is she isn't afraid to break the rules and write uncommon plots and uncommon characters. I love that and I hope you will, too. So c'mon ladies and give a big "Scribe's" welcome to one of my favorite authors, Paty Jager! 

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

Thank you Lady Scribes for having me here today.

What genre(s) do you write?

I’ve published historical and contemporary westerns and historical paranormal. I’m currently writing a contemporary action/adventure and mystery series.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I’m a plantser. I plot a little and then fly by the seat of my pants. I start with an idea or character and stew and brew the story and/or character in my head a while. Then I start researching and writing bios on the characters and gathering information that will help with plot. Once I’ve determined the opening scene, a turning point or two and know the black moment, I start writing. I don’t make an outline or synopsis before I start writing, I just write keeping in mind the turning points and the ending.

Why do you think people should choose your books over another author?

I can’t tell you why to choose my book over someone else’s book. I can only tell you my books entertain with a smidgeon of humor, intriguing characters, and fast paced prose. And I like to have information in the book that might be enlightening whether it’s historical in nature or about a cause or lifestyle.

What do you hope readers take with them after reading one of your stories?

If they put my book down and feel they’ve been entertained, perhaps moved(not all my books are written to move the reader) and enlightened, I’ve done my job.

Is there a message in your novels that you want readers to grasp?

I tend to like to write about injustice and people finding justice or at least coming out better in the end than when the story started.

How long have you been a writer?

That depends on what you mean by a writer. I’ve written stories all my life but it wasn’t until the 80’s when I became a freelance human interest writer for the local paper that I became a “paid” writer. As for fiction, I started writing a mystery novel five years before I joined RWA(Romance Writers of America) in 1998.  I’m a wordsmith not a mathematician, so you’ll have to do the math. ;)

Please tell us 5 miscellaneous facts about yourself.

1)      I’ve driven in a powder puff derby

2)      I worked in a cosmetic department and a sandwich shop before I was married.

3)      I’ve owned a horse all but five years of my life.

4)      I hate skiing- snow or water.

5)      In high school I wanted to join the Peace Corps.

Bio:

Wife, mother, grandmother, and the one who cleans pens and delivers the hay; award winning author Paty Jager and her husband currently ranch 350 acres when not dashing around visiting their children and grandchildren. She not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

She is a member of RWA, EPIC, WW, and COWG and has eleven books and a short story published. Her newest venture is self-publishing ebooks.  Part of her learning curve for writing happened during the four and a half years she edited for an e-book publisher. 

Her contemporary Western, Perfectly Good Nanny won the 2008 Eppie for Best Contemporary Romance and Spirit of the Mountain, a historical paranormal set among the Nez Perce, garnered 1^st place in the paranormal category of the Lories Best Published Book Contest.

You can learn more about her at her blog; www.patyjager.blogspot.com  her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager and twitter;  @patyjag.

Logger in Petticoats – Fifth book in the Halsey Brothers Series

Hank Halsey believes he’s found the perfect logging crew—complete with cooks—until he discovers Kelda Neilson would rather swing an axe than flip eggs. As he sets out to prove women belong in the kitchen, he’s the one in danger of getting burned.

Strong and stubborn, Kelda Nielsen grew up falling trees, and resents any man who believes she’s not capable, until Hank. He treats her like a lady and has her questioning what that means.

As Kelda and Hank’s attraction builds, she hires a cook so she can sneak out and work in the woods. But will her deceit ruin her chance at love or will hardheaded Hank realize it’s more than his love that puts a sparkle in Kelda’s eye?

Excerpt for Logger in Petticoats

Kelda already stood by the door, a man’s black wool coat buttoned to her neck and a wool scarf wrapped around her head. Her flushed cheeks shone in the lantern light. Her gaze met his solid and unflappable.

 “If Kelda isn’t back in here in fifteen minutes you can come looking for us.” Hank said to appease Karl as he pulled on his coat,

 “I don’t know what you’re worrying about. No man is going to think of Kelda in the way you’re talking.” The door hadn’t fully closed when Dag’s voice cleared the threshold.

Kelda’s shoulders drooped proving she’d heard her brother’s comment. She walked around the corner of the cookhouse to a fallen log at the backside of the building. Hank wanted to catch up to her and wrap an arm around her shoulders. She was a fine woman. Any man would be dang lucky to have her for a wife. He stood in front of her as she sat on the log, her face pointed toward the men’s logging boots on her feet.

Hank crouched in front of Kelda, tipping her face up to read her emotions. “Your brother sees you only as his sister. You’re a woman any man would be lucky to marry.”

Tears glistened in her eyes. “I’m the size and body of a man. Men want a small delicate woman.” She wiped at the tears, and her hands clutched his. “Don’t make Far keep me out of the woods. It’s all I have to make me happy.”

Pleading in her eyes and voice sucker punched Hank. “Why would you want to work alongside men in the woods? Women belong in the home.”

“I don’t care to work inside. I love the outdoors and the labor of logging. Don’t keep me out of the woods. It’s the one thing I can do well.”

The strong grip of her fingers on his proved her strength. He had no doubt she was a skilled woodsman…woman. He pried her fingers from his hands and held them between his palms. “I’m sorry, but I can’t allow you in the woods. It isn’t proper for a woman to work like that. And what if you prove too weak to handle a job and someone else gets hurt?”

“Ooooo!” Her hands ripped from his grasp and rammed him in the chest. He started tipping backwards and grabbed the first thing in reach—Kelda’s arms.

He fell back into the snow dragging Kelda on top of him.

The surprise in her eyes quickly turned to interest as she gazed down into his face. Her body sprawled across Hank, pressing him into the snow. Even with the heavy clothing, her curves were evident as her relaxed body molded over his.

Hank pushed the scarf back from her face and stared into amazing eyes that glistened from the moonlight bouncing off the snow. Her gaze searched his. The rise and fall of her chest quickened. She licked her lips…

He held her head in his hands. Inch by inch, Hank drew her lips closer, wondering if the heat and passion he’d witnessed in her eyes would be in her kiss.

“Kelda!”

The male voice broke through the insanity of his actions. Hank rolled, rose to his feet, and pulled Kelda up with him.

Buy Links:

Kindle   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006YTKT2U

Smashwords  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/123943

Nook  http://tinyurl.com/7henkx3

The Most Important Line of Your Life

The first line of a book is arguably the most important line. Most readers today give a novelist fewer than seven minutes to spark their interest. Most browsers in book stores and on the internet read the back cover /blurb of the book then read anywhere from the first page up to the first three pages. They rarely read beyond the first three pages to see if the book captures them, so if you have ever had the argument that your book really starts to get interesting on page ten, you better take up a new line of thinking. In today’s impatient world, the reader, agent, or editor may not spare you beyond that first line – so make it count. The reader wants to know immediately they will enjoy your book, and if the first sentence is dull or confusing what is that telling the reader?

Sol Stein, author of Stein On Writing suggest there are questions you can ask yourself about your own first sentence to see if it engages the reader’s curiosity.

1. Does it convey an interesting personality or an action that we want to know more about?
2. Can you make your first sentence more intriguing by introducing something unusual, something shocking perhaps, or something that will surprise the reader.

I think the most important thing Stein conveys that a writer should remember about first sentences is that, “Your entire story or novel may depend on that first sentence arresting the reader’s attention. A terrific sentence on page two won’t help if the reader NEVER gets there.”

Obviously, I’m a believer in the importance of first sentences. In fact, I blogged last year about first sentences that have stuck with me for many years from some of my favorite books. Would the novels have been some of my favorites if they had not started off with a bang? I venture to say no.

I’ve asked members of my critique group to share some of their favorite first sentences so I could quickly analyze them here, and see if the sentences stand up to the Stein test. The first sentence I’ll share is one of my all time favorites.

1. “There was a scream, and the loud roar of fire enveloping silken hangings, then a mounting crescendo of shouts of panic that spread and spread from one tent to another as the flames ran too, leaping from one silk standard to another, running up guy ropes and bursting through muslin doors.” Author – Phillippa Gregory – The Constant Princess

What can I say about this opening sentence besides the fact that it is fabulously visual, conveys something shocking, unusual and an action that we want to know more about. Who started this fire, where is this fire, what is the deadly outcome of this spreading fire?

2. “I’d never given much thought to how I would die – though I’d had reason enough in the last few months – but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.” Author Stephanie Myers – Twilight *Sentence contributed by Jerrica Knight-Cantania

Talk about introducing an unusual and shocking situation! How could you not read on? – And boy did we! Millions of us.

3. "In every life there is a turning point. Author - Julia Quinn – When He Was Wicked *Sentence contributed by Olivia Kelly

Every person has experienced a turning point, therefore they can relate to how momentous it can be. This relation makes people want to read on to see what this characters turning point is.

4. “The day I died started out bad and got worse in a hurry.” Author – Mary Janice Davidson – Unwed and Undead * Sentence contributed by Louisa Cornell

This sentence is funny and intriguing, a bonus! The reader has to read on to see how someone who is dead can think it could get any worse. The sentence introduces a shocking situation.

5. "Scarlet O'hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were." Author – Margaret Mitchell - Gone with the Wind

* Sentence contributed by Lauren Smith

Now this is an unusual situation and person being introduced. The reader wants to know what’s so special about Scarlet’s charm that has men overlooking her beauty.

6. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." Author – Charles Dickens – A Tale of Two Cities * Sentence contributed by Marie Higgins.

This is an oldie but goodie. This sentence introduces a sweeping feeling of change and lets the reader know right from the start there is major upheaval going on. Humans thrive on problems, especially other peoples problems. Of course we will read on to see how the hope and despair, heaven and hell, and darkness and light play out.

I wish I had time to share all the wonderful sentences that my friend’s shared with me, but that would take up to much space, and I’m only allowed so much!

I’m about to embark on writing a new novel, and I’ve been playing with my own first sentence. I came up with three then asked myself which sentence lives up to the Stein test. Which one do you think I picked and why?

1. When it came to concealing her feelings, Lady Audrey Cringlewood was much like a chameleon matching the color of a leaf to outwit its enemies.

2. Lady Audrey Cringlewood had not driven the carriage that killed her father, but nevertheless, she was the reason he was dead.

3. "What I'm about to tell you," Lady Audrey Cringlewood's mother whispered, "must never be forgotten."

I’d love for you to tell my your favorite first sentence from a book near and dear to you and then tell me what it is you love about it.

Go make your first sentences shine!

Have a great day!

Julie Johnstone

The Marchioness of Mayhem