The British Are Coming, Y'all!

Food, More Food, and an Interview

 Last Thursday night, I attended a booksigning at Quail Ridge Books for author Krista Davis. Her first book, The Diva Runs Out of Thyme, has recently been released. She talked about writing her "food" cozies. Then she read a couple passages from the novel. Krista very graciously asked me to stand up and talk for a few minutes about my books. And she'd brought mouth watering, home-baked treats from Virginia: bourbon pecan pie, pumpkin cheesecake, something chocolate (which I didn't sample because there were those other scrumptious, unique sweets to dispatch!), and cider, white wine, coffee, and tea. Way too much food left when the event was over. Since I didn't want Krista to injure herself by loading all that food in her car and transporting it back to Virginia, I nobly volunteered to lighten her load and take goodies home to my guys. The stash vanished within ten minutes after I walked in the door. I enjoyed meeting my sister Guppy face-to-face finally, after corresponding with her several years online, and wish her luck on book sales!

 Last Friday, I made a presentation for the Brown Bag Book and Lunch Club at the East Regional Library. The topic was how reenacting has helped me write my fiction. Attendees asked questions about reenacting as well as how I researched historical fiction. The librarian who coordinated the event, Janet Morley, provided "period" food: cornbread, molasses cookies, apple brown betty pie, and cider. Again, there was food leftover, so I nobly volunteered to relieve Janet of extras. Again, the food vanished almost as soon as I got home. I'm scheduled to return to East Regional Library March 2009 for a presentation associated with National Women's History Month.

And there's an excellent interview of me in the November 2008 issue of Mary Buckham's online newsletter! Sign up for the newsletter today from Mary's web site. Every month, you'll receive good advice on the craft of writing. Regular contributions from editing guru Margie Lawson and publicity guru Theresa Meyers...and it's free. What a deal!

Grasshopper is grateful to Krista Davis, Janet Morley, and Mary Buckham for their generosity.

Treats (and No Tricks) in Haunted Hillsborough

Seems I've driven past the exit for Hillsborough, NC at least a dozen times on my way to appearances in cities such as Boone, Greensboro, and Kernersville. Before yesterday, the only times I'd been in Hillsborough were for a living history encampment and a reception for the North Carolina Writers Network. On neither occasion did I play tourist.

Hillsborough was the site of important activity in North Carolina's Colonial history. June 1771 in Hillsborough, Royal Governor Tryon hanged six farmers who'd participated in the Regulator Rebellion, which led up to the Battle of Alamance. And February 1781, Lord Cornwallis encamped his army in Hillsborough for about six days before heading off to engage Nathanael Greene in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. I'd been turning around an idea in my head for book five of my series that involved Hillsborough in 1771 and 1781. Time for on-site research.

In geek-research mode, I was halfway to Hillsborough yesterday morning when I realized it was Halloween. That meant the folks at the visitor center might be gearing up for a Haunted Hillsborough tour. But Elizabeth and Dee at the Alliance of Hillsborough soon had me armed with a map of historical sites. The historical district is easily accessible on foot. I couldn't have asked for a lovelier autumn day for a walking tour.

Incidentally, the Alliance of Hillsborough and the visitor center are located in the charming Alexander Dickson House on East King Street. Copies of the family crest and lineage of Lord Cornwallis hang on a wall inside the house. Cornwallis's name is found all over North Carolina in the name of streets, subdivisions, etc., perhaps because North Carolina was his final stop before he marched to Virginia (and eventually Yorktown).

 The site where the six Regulators were hanged, on a hill near the Eno River, is a brief walk from the visitor center along a peaceful, winding path. A plaque on the ground within the monument says, "On this spot were hanged by order of a Tory court June 19, 1771 Merrill, Messer, Matter, Pugh and two other Regulators." (Mateer's name was spelled incorrectly as "Matter.") Where were these six guys buried? Ah, your guess is as good as mine -- and what excellent fodder for a historical mystery.

 Across the street from and just to the west of the visitor center is William Courtney's Tavern. Benjamin Merrill, one of the hanged Regulators, built the "Yellow House" a few years before his execution. While Cornwallis was in town, to ensure his safety, he alternated staying between this tavern and Faddis's Tavern next door, a building that's no longer in existence.

Across Churton Street, on West King Street, the Masonic Hall was built on the location where Edmund Fanning's Hillsborough house stood. Fanning, the Register of Deeds for Orange County, was great friends with Governor Tryon. Possessed of no surplus of integrity, Fanning became a target of the Regulators, who protested his crooked transactions by trashing his Hillsborough house in 1770.

Just a bit farther to the west, the property on which Twin Chimneys stands was part of Edmund Fanning's estate. Although this house is a private residence, I had communicated via email with the owner, Virginia Smith, the previous day about some information she possessed to aid my research, and she and her husband invited me into their home for a tour. Virginia and I went out for a late lunch at the Saratoga Grill, within walking distance of Twin Chimneys, near the intersection of Churton and King Street. The Smiths assure me their home isn't haunted, but they had a legend associated with the house to tell the little goblins that night.

 An old cemetery on Tryon Street holds one of the final resting places of William Hooper, signer of the Declaration of Independence for North Carolina. I say "one of the final resting places" because his remains were moved twice before being placed in this location, and some of him elected to stay behind in the other spots. Hooper's grave is tucked into a corner of the cemetery accessible through overgrown boxwood hedge corridors and spider webs. The irony wasn't lost on me that at high noon on Halloween, I found myself prowling around a spider-webby cemetery. The things we do for research.

 West of the cemetery on Tryon Street is the Nash-Hooper house, a private residence, and a national historic landmark for having been Francis Nash's home, later purchased by William Hooper. Nash led a militia company in the Battle of Alamance against the Regulators, and just a few years later was a Brigadier General in the Continental Army. Hooper and many Patriots were also allied with Governor Tryon against the Regulators, disproving notions that the Regulators were early Patriots.

I found Brick Alley Books, an independent bookseller, while walking through parking lots between Tryon and King Street. The owner, Julia Williams, chatted with me about my series, particularly in conjunction with Hillsborough's annual Revolutionary War event in February. Brick Alley Books hosts a holiday open house for Hillsborough authors the evening of 5 December.

A number of Hillsborough residents paraded around in their Halloween costumes. I saw witches and vampires and a prison inmate. And one lady was dressed as a fairy, her translucent purple wings so huge that she had trouble fitting in the doorway to a shop. Which leads me to wonder how she visited the W.C.

Although I now have enough information to start the first draft of book five (when I can block out the time!), I just scratched the surface of Hillsborough's historical wealth. I spent about five hours there and could easily lose a few days in Hillsborough. I'll be returning to the area soon for another history fix. Gotta visit the site of the Battle of Alamance.

Grasshopper thanks Elizabeth and Dee at the visitor center, Virginia Smith, and Julia Williams for their time.

Next up: a presentation and reading for the Brown Bag Book and Lunch Club at the East Regional Library in Knightdale, NC, on 7 November.

Carolina Crimes 2008, and Another Guest Blog

In place of the annual Cape Fear Crime Festival last Saturday afternoon, Dorothy Hodder and Phyllis Smith at the New Hanover County Library in Wilmington, NC arranged two panels of authors. All authors had books released in 2008 that dealt with the Carolinas and had ten minutes to tell the audience about their works.

Authors on the first panel, left to right: Bill Floyd, Jacqueline DeGroot, Russ Hatler, Judy Nichols.

Authors on the second panel, left to right: Joyce Lavene, T. Lynn Ocean, Jim Lavene, Amanda Lamb, Suzanne Adair.

After each panel, the library provided refreshments and a booksigning. Many thanks to the New Hanover County Library, Dorothy, Phyllis, and Two Sisters Bookery for a fun afternoon.

Today Fiction Matters posted my guest blog on the obligations of the historical novelist to readers. I don't know about you, but I hate reading through pages of historically accurate descriptions. In my opinion, the primary obligation of any novelist is creating riveting drama and compelling characters. Stop on over and tell me what you think.

First Guest Blog, An Excellent Review, A Stellar Book Blurb

Over the next few weeks, as I continue my physical author tour, I'll be guest blogging on some sites. Here's the link to "The South's Other War," my essay posted today about (what else?) the Revolutionary War in the South, on "Southern Authors: a Good Blog is Hard to Find:"

http://southernauthors.blogspot.com/2008/10/guest-blogger-suzanne-adair.html

Stop by and leave me a comment!

Camp Follower has received an excellent review from Armchair Interviews:

http://reviews.armchairinterviews.com/reviews/camp-follower-a-novel-of-the-revolution

John Buchanan, respected Revolutionary War historian and author of The Road to Guilford Courthouse, says of Camp Follower: "The smells, sights, and sounds of the Revolutionary War in the Carolina Back Country have nowhere been better depicted than in this thrilling novel of conflict and suspense. Suzanne Adair is a gifted storyteller, and her latest book deserves a wide audience.

Grasshopper thanks Armchair Interviews and John Buchanan.

Skill Building for Writers

The Southeast chapter of Mystery Writers of America (SEMWA), the Triad chapter of Sisters in Crime (Murder We Write), and the Writers' Group of the Triad united efforts to sponsor a free, one-day writers' workshop Saturday 18 October at the Greensboro Central Library in Greensboro, NC. I drove over to catch up with what other authors were doing, meet authors and writers with whom I've corresponded in email, and listen to the excellent presenters.

Beth Sheffield, who heads up the readers' advisory service for the library, kicked off the day with guidelines for published authors on preparing a discussion guide for book clubs and reader groups. Her handout listed generic samples of book discussion questions and the building blocks for good questions. She suggested that authors also provide an information packet for facilitators; it differs from the list of discussion questions in the following ways:

• Accessed primarily by discussion group facilitators
• Cross-references page numbers from the novel with discussion questions on the list
• Notes the author's perspective on plot twists and characters

Last fall, I'd developed discussion questions for Paper Woman based on Read 'Em Their Writes: A Handbook for Mystery and Crime Fiction Book Discussions, by Gary Warren Niebuhr. Soon as events slow down a bit for me, I'll create a similar list for The Blacksmith's Daughter and Camp Follower, create facilitator guides for all three books, and post these resources on my author web site.

 Karen McCullough, president of SEMWA, based examples in her session about how to plot a novel on the five-act story structure. She analyzed the structures of The DaVinci Code and "Star Wars" to demonstrate the rising action, crisis, and easing of tension in each act. Her handout on tried-and-true plotting structures included the Mythic Structure (aka the Hero's Journey).

 After lunch, NY Times best-selling author John Hart, who won the Edgar award, shared his route to publication and answered questions from the audience about writing. John has two "trunk" manuscripts, written while he had a day job. (In other words, stuff he refuses to sell because of its lack of quality.) When he decided to go full-time at writing, he'd been employed as an attorney. He'd noticed the improvement curve between the two unpublished manuscripts, and at the same time, he couldn't stomach the thought of legally representing a guilty child molester. Here's some of the wisdom he shared:

• Before the agent, editor, or publisher sees you, they see your words upon the page. That's why excellent writing, passion, perseverance, and faith impress them more than a "sexy" package.
• A mistake commonly made by beginning writers is querying top agents. These agents are way too busy with their seven-digit-advance clients to bother with queries from first-time authors. Instead, query agents from halfway down the letterhead of established agencies. They'll be hungry.
• If an agent wants your material, s/he'll usually jump on it within a day or so. If the agent has had your material for more than three months without responding, they likely don't want it.
• Publishers maintain/pay attention to their stables. A first-time author is a necessary evil that warrants a little PR on the debut novel, but after that, the author is left to sink or swim. A small percentage of first-timers will pay off down the road, and that's the main reason why publishers sign contracts with them.
• Find a publisher with a marketing budget. It takes a hefty dollar commitment from a big publisher to boost an author on top, on the "front table" of Barnes & Noble. This means an author has to pursue every opportunity to get noticed individually by the publisher, to ensure that the publisher's extra commitment will happen. John "stalked" a top author until he got a cover blurb from him. That boldness caught his publisher's eye and elevated him from a one-page ad to a two-page ad in the catalog his publisher sent to booksellers in advance of book releases.

My observation on John's strategies: I found his level of self-promotion, assertion, and initiative typical of how men navigate their careers in Corporate America. Most women are uncomfortable pursuing careers with such determination. In particular, women authors retreat from most marketing challenges.

 Agatha-award winner Chris Roerden, shown here on the left with sister Guppy Teresa Fannin, spoke from a professional editor's point of view on voice, craft, and the secret to getting published. Tips she offered: make endings unexpected, leave backstory out of the first chapter, rewrite junk (filler) phrases such as "took a breath" and "shook his head" to make them fresh, and don't hesitate to use understatement or overstatement appropriately. The attitudes of the protagonist and the author are great determinants of the elusive "voice." Junk phrases often smother voice.

A panel, "10 Essentials for Getting and Staying Published that Writers Don't Want to Believe!" wrapped up the day. Karen, John, and Chris hit on the following points, more than ten, many of which I've belabored on discussion lists:

• Editors at publishing houses don't have time to edit and will reject a first-timer's manuscript if it isn't very close to publishable.
• Don't try to write like the next _____ (substitute name of bestseller author). Don't let someone else dictate what you write or steer you into a trend. Trends are elusive and fleeting. You cannot write to trends. Write who you are.
• One of the best ways to find voice is to give your protagonist stakes that are unique and personal, and make the reader care about the resolution of those issues.
• Front-line editors at publishing houses usually won't read past the second paragraph of a submission. Your material has to be better, not just as good, as what's currently selling well.
• The average number of completed "trunk" manuscripts for first-time, published authors is 4.5. You aren't likely to sell your first completed manuscript. First manuscripts aren't very good, and most agents and editors know this. (During my recent talk with Mary Buckham, she mentioned that most first manuscripts are autobiographical and thus unpublishable.)
• Don't admit to agents and editors your number of trunk manuscripts. Don't admit how long it took you to write your submitted manuscript.
• Don't expect to sell the first draft of a manuscript. Rewriting is where you make yourself a genius. When you rewrite, make sure that every scene advances the story.
• To produce a compelling book, focus on creating a gripping plot and set of characters. You don't have to save the world with a contrived, outrageous, superhero ending. Make your plots and characters as realistic as possible so they resonate with your readership.
• The gamble that publishers take with first-timers is that the fan base will grow instead of flat-line. If your sales flat-line, it kills your career. This stagnant fan base is what a writer who self-publishes can most often expect. You're better off without that kind of history. (In other words, if you want a career in writing, resist the impulse to self-publish.)
• Being published two or three times, even with increasing sales, doesn't guarantee your next contract.
• In 1998, the average published author made $7000 per year. That figure hasn't increased appreciably. This isn't a career at which you're likely to get rich. When lightning does strike, a good percentage of it is luck.
• Don't send glitter, photos, food, or other gifts when you query. What you're trying to impart in a query is that you're professional. Gimmicks don't achieve that and, post-9/11, will be discarded.
• For fiction writers, learn how to write the type of book proposal used by nonfiction writers. More agents and editors are requesting these so they can see whether the prospect is marketing savvy and professional.
• When an agent or editor responds to your query with, "This isn't right for us, but send your next manuscript," s/he is not saying that they hate your writing. This is one of the most positive responses you can get. Yet more than 50% of writers don't send that next manuscript because they interpret the statement as negative.
• Expect agents and editors to treat you professionally. Approach your interactions with them professionally. What you write is art, but the publishing industry is a business. Treat it as business, not as art. Get involved, and educate yourself.

Distributed at this event was the first edition of a bibliography of mystery novels, true crime, and related nonfiction written by authors who currently live in North Carolina. The bibliography is "offered for the enjoyment of readers" and "for distribution by NC libraries." Nancy Gotter Gates, Rebecca Floyd, Chris Roerden, and Beth Sheffield compiled and printed the initial draft. An electronic copy of the bibliography is available on Murder We Write's web site.

My Honda provided an unexpected source of humor on this trip. Halfway to Greensboro, the muffler called it quits, so I roared into the parking deck near the library sounding like I'd come straight from the 'hood. When the Skill-Build was over, my Honda bellowed back to Raleigh, surpassed in volume only by two bull pickup trucks brocaded with Bond-o. But ahhh, to pull into my driveway and receive such appreciative grins from my teenaged sons: check out Mom's pimped-out ride! Better than homemade chocolate chip cookies! I had the muffler replaced today. I always suspected that the reserved exterior of my Honda hid a savage growl. Kinda like perimenopausal women.

Next up: A panel and booksigning for an afternoon of Carolina Crimes at the New Hanover County Public Library in Wilmington, NC.

Meeting a Master: Mary Buckham

Come on, you know Mary, right? She's the author of several novels, and she teaches outstanding workshops, online and in person. I was Grasshopper for her online workshop January 2007, "Plotting with the Mythic Structure," aka the Hero's Journey, and I gave her an acknowledgment for it in Camp Follower.

 Last Saturday, I finally got the opportunity to meet Mary in person when she came to Raleigh to teach "Plotting with the Mythic Structure" to the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers. We met briefly before the workshop started, and I gave her an autographed copy of Camp Follower. That night, after she'd eaten dinner and returned to her hotel, she called and invited me to drive over and chat with her. And chat we did, for about two hours in the hotel bar.

How many more excellent workshops will Mary be teaching?  Hmm, she wants to return to her fiction, and switching between writing and teaching modes is difficult. She sure has some intriguing, unique ideas for fiction, and I cannot wait to read the novels that come from all that. Like me, Mary enjoys the challenge of exposing readers to a protagonist that they've been historically or culturally conditioned to dislike, then making readers like that character. Fun! Mary is constantly analyzing what she's read, especially series, to find out what works and what bombs. She talked about rereading two series that she'd enjoyed on the first pass, comparing them, and discovering that one no longer held up. Seems a book or series has staying power when the themes in it rise above any novelty setting, plot, or characterization the author introduces. Gimmicky books fail this test. And Mary also plugged for Margie Lawson's workshops. In case you didn't hear my victory whoop in my posts about Moonlight & Magnolias, I'll stump for Margie's workshops again: "The EDITS System," and "Power Up Emotion."

But Mary and I talked about lots more than just "shop." Personal baggage inspires each of us to write what we write. She and I exchanged some of those stories. I'm beginning to wonder whether all of us Baby Boomers had the same parents, teachers, authority figures: fire-hardened in the Great Depression.

You know, Mary didn't have to invite me over last Saturday night. She had a red-eye flight out of Raleigh the next morning, was exhausted after teaching all day, and thought she was coming down with a cold. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she'd just chatted on the phone with me a few minutes. But Mary Buckham in person goes above and beyond what we expect, just as she does for students online.

Sign up for her workshops. Catch her in person when she comes to town.

Having met a Master, Grasshopper is honored and humbled -- and looks forward to meeting her again.

Moonlight & Magnolias 2008, Day 1

Herein begins the four-day adventure of a mystery/suspense author in the World of Romance.

Before I left Raleigh on Thursday 2 October to head for Norcross, GA (metro-Atlanta) and the Moonlight & Magnolias conference, I'd been forewarned that there was very little gas to be found along the way in Charlotte, NC or metro-Atlanta. All this was supposedly a legacy of Hurricane Ike -- remember all the gobbledygook that started when I was in Burnsville, NC a few weeks ago for the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival? Nevertheless, I'm sure there was a heavy political element in the shortage. About halfway between Raleigh and Charlotte, I began seeing gas stations with empty pumps. But I'd formulated a plan. My '92 Honda didn't like the mountains, but it gets close to 40 mpg on the highway. (I'm serious!) Although I could easily have driven to Norcross on one tank of gas, my plan was to refuel off I-85 in Greenville, SC. Fortunately I found gas in Greenville. Turns out that Norcross was almost devoid of gas.

In 2001, I moved from Duluth, GA (near Norcross) to Raleigh. Traffic congestion and development in the northeast metro area of Atlanta had gotten way out of control, along with crime, plus I was looking for a better school system for my sons. This trip to Norcross confirmed that I'd made the right decision by moving. The trees I remembered had been replaced with concrete and asphalt. Despite the absence of gas in Atlanta, there were far more vehicles on the road than when I'd lived there. It didn't look as though all that extra asphalt had been installed quickly enough to keep up with Atlanta's population growth -- always the case during the fourteen years I lived there. People complain about the traffic in Raleigh, but they must never have driven in Atlanta.

The last time I'd attended Moonlight & Magnolias, one of the largest regional conferences of the Romance Writers of America, it was held near Perimeter Mall. This year the venue was the Hilton Atlanta NE. When I arrived, my brother was waiting for me. He lives in metro-Atlanta and had braved rush-hour traffic to take me out to dinner. What a wonderful guy! He helped me carry my stuff to my room, and while I was unpacking, a hotel employee brought me the box of Camp Follower copies my publisher had sent to the hotel. This was my earliest opportunity to see and hold the finished product of Camp Follower, so the moment when I opened the box was special, made more magical because my brother shared it with me. He was the first one to lift a copy from the box, and he insisted on thumbing through it so he could sniff that "new book" smell.

 Back downstairs, I checked in at the M&M registration room. A cheerful young lady named Rocky handed me all my conference materials and a goody bag. Then she affected shyness and asked, "Are you over twenty-one years old?" Across the table she handed me a small bottle with blue liquid in it. At my puzzled expression, she happily announced, "It's vodka!" So my goody bag contained vodka, chocolate, lip gloss, and steamy novels. (Hello, Mystery Writers of America, take some notes.) After I returned from dinner with my brother, I ate the chocolate, tried the lip gloss, and skimmed through the steamy novels. But today, two weeks later, I still haven't drunk the vodka. Maybe I'm leery of it because it resembles what filled the glass of a Romulan ambassador on an episode of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."

Moonlight & Magnolias 2008, Day 2

For most writers on the get-published track, a huge hurdle is pitching a book concept and obtaining buy-in from an agent or editor. The art of pitching is so in-demand as a topic that writers conferences often provide attendees the opportunity to work on their pitches with established authors plus make pitch appointments with agents and editors. M&M made both opportunities available. Although I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into, I volunteered to work with writers on tweaking their pitches at the Pitch Workshop, organized by Ana Aragon, from ten o'clock to noon Friday morning. I arrived a little early and introduced myself to GRW president Anna DeStefano and Tanya Michna / Tanya Michaels, both warm and welcoming ladies. Other authors soon arrived, the tables filled up with writers, and we got to work.

Each writer at my table had a seven-minute pitch appointment scheduled with an agent or editor on Saturday. Seven minutes was good news. That meant we weren't dealing with the typical elevator pitch, where you try to draw a comparison in hopes of making a connection and securing an appointment later with the prospect -- all in about thirty seconds. (Example of comparison: "My book is 'Pirates of the Caribbean' meets 'House.'") Seven minutes means that you have a "captive audience." So you craft your pitch to build interest such that the prospect begins to ask questions: who, what, when, where, how, why. But most importantly, you engage the emotions of the prospect. What I initially heard was material with the emotional hit of a resume. The information in the "resume" is important, but I told each of woman at my table that they also had to make me care. "Tell me something that grabs at my heart. How do these challenges affect your protagonist physically, psychologically? Show me." When the session was over, they each had a better idea of how to modify their pitches. I got feedback from most of them Saturday. Prospects had requested partials. Huzzah for my pitch students!

 From 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., I had the option of attending a published author workshop on brainstorming. Instead, my intuition prodded me to attend an intensive workshop conducted by Margie Lawson from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. One editorial comment I'm so tired of receiving is, "Needs more emotion here!" I knew I wasn't quite grasping some Big Concept that my editor was trying to impart upon me. Even though I followed his suggestions, I always felt as though I were writing his words, not mine. I wanted to change that, move my writing to the next level. The enlightenment I took away from this workshop -- a jam-packed amalgamation of Margie's workshops "Power Up Emotion" and "The EDITS System" -- was that body language might carry emotion, but it doesn't serve the same purpose as showing a character's involuntary physical reaction to emotion. (For an example, the difference between making a character tighten his lips with anger -- a voluntary action -- vs. having his pulse hammer with anger -- involuntary.) Grasshopper's editor had pegged her many times when she wrote the former but the latter was needed. This realization blew me away. I examined a first-draft of Chapter 1 from A Deadly Occupation (book 4 of my series), and immediately I recognized passages where I was substituting the former for the latter. I rewrote chapter 1 the following week. The difference was incredible, as if I'd bypassed several tortuous drafts and gone straight into a refined later draft. Many published authors don't take Margie's class -- perhaps because they don’t care about improving, or they don’t want to know what they're doing wrong. If you do nothing else for yourself this year to improve your craft, I recommend that you take Margie's online course on this material. Huzzah for Margie Lawson! And thanks to Tami Brothers for organizing the workshop!

 Tanya Michna provided words of welcome for all attendees at a reception from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. I spoke with a number of romance authors who all knew each other, but they each made me feel at home. To Rita-award winner Catherine Mann, I finally admitted that I had a tough time reading a romance all the way through. My modus operandi is to read a few pages into a romance, lose steam, skip ahead to the sex, then close the book. I wanted to know what it was about romances that drew women (and some men) to them, over and over,  reading them page-by-page. After all, romance is the best selling fiction genre out there. What voodoo does romance do-do so well for readers? Catherine said, "It's all about the emotion." So that I could see what she meant, she promised to give me a copy of one of her books. (And she made good on her promise the next day, but I haven't had a chance to read the book yet.)

From 7:30 to 9:00 p.m., I attended a faculty dinner for workshop presenters, editors, agents, and featured speakers. Margie Lawson sat to my left, so I got to chat with her more, an honor. On the other side of her was Haywood Smith, who writes wickedly funny hen lit about the Red Hat Society in Atlanta. (Gosh, I wish the Red Hats would invite me to join. They sound like so much fun. And I finally qualify for entrance.) On my right sat Abby Zidle, an editor at Pocket Books, and one of the pitch prospects. I talked with her about the pitch workshop that morning, and she confirmed that most people who pitch give her the resume version, not the emotional hit. She also said that if a writer's material sounds as though it might fit with what an agent represents or a house publishes, the writer is invited to submit a partial. Agents and editors cannot tell from talking with a writer whether they actually know how to write, so they need a sample. In addition, Abby admitted that new clients are seldom found at conferences. She attends conferences to get the name of Pocket Books out there and help writers. On that final point, a pitch holds up under scrutiny and sparkles when the writer has crafted her work well enough to recognize the deepest themes of her work, beyond the superficial dressing. Only then can she articulate the book's emotional message.

We did have an icebreaker activity at the table involving shoes. Sandy Elzie, on the M&M committee for speakers and presenters, started us off with a question about what we remembered about an early pair of shoes. Everyone else talked about fashionable little things with straps or hints of heels. Not me. I recalled a pair of sneakers that my little sister pooped into while she was potty training.

By 9:00 p.m., I was torched and wanted nothing more than a shower and a bit of light reading before I fell asleep. Alas, that didn't immediately happen. I had to switch hotel rooms because the toilet in my first room quit working. An unromantic end to a day, what hey? But Huzzah! for the hotel staff. They made the room switch efficiently and courteously. By 10:30, I was zzzzzzz.

Moonlight & Magnolias 2008, Day 3

Saturday dawned early. Too early. What was amazing was how wide-awake and sensational Anna DeStefano looked while welcoming the crowd of hundreds during the continental breakfast. I'm a morning person, but I don't look sensational in the morning, you know? Maybe I should have sampled that Romulan blue vodka Friday night.

Human error at Ingram had left the local Waldenbooks, book supplier for the conference, with the inability to order my second title, The Blacksmith's Daughter. The error also prevented Waldenbooks from putting the stock I'd brought of the title on the table for sale in the conference bookstore. Seemed rather absurd that they could sell titles one (Paper Woman) and three (Camp Follower) but not the middle book. I attempted to straighten out the mess before the conference sessions got underway, but I was unsuccessful.

After the revelations I'd received from Margie Lawson's workshop the previous day, no way was I going to miss her "Deep Editing" session from 9:00 to 9:50 a.m. Margie discussed rhetorical devices that employ cadence to improve a line or passage. They add power by speaking to the reader's unconscious. I realized that I was already using a number of these rhetorical devices intuitively. Huzzah!

My session, "Writing the Hero's Journey: Twelve Steps to the Elixir," followed Margie's session, and I thank everyone who attended for coming. If you know anything about the Hero's Journey, you know there's a lot to it. All I could do in my fifty minutes was give an overview of the stages. Thank goodness I had the visual of my PowerPoint presentation to reinforce the four-page handout I'd sent for the conference booklet. Otherwise, everyone would have been lost. Several attendees afterward thanked me for giving them such a concise presentation on the topic. Others asked if I'd email them the presentation; I'm having it converted into a .pdf file for that purpose.

Immediately following my session, I wound up mentoring a writer. The same sort of informal mentoring happened to me twice on Friday. What a cool experience. Grasshopper is humbled and honored to be sought out by other writers. In listening to these women, I learned that not everyone at this conference writes just romance. Some write science fiction, mystery, and romantic suspense. Okay, that'll teach me to have preconceived notions.

The dessert at lunch was some sort of dark chocolate cake-thing that I didn't ignore. Did I mention there was an abundance of chocolate at this conference? Attendees handed it out like it was Halloween candy. I was able to resist the milk chocolate and white chocolate, but I knuckled under whenever prompted with dark chocolate. I didn't used to care about chocolate until I won the Guppies Chocolate Challenge in October 2005, and someone sent me dark chocolate. By the time I won the Challenge again in March 2008, I'd become deeply enamored of dark chocolate. It's good for you, right?

Anna DeStefano announced the Sandra Chastain Chapter Service Award winner, Nicki Salcedo. Nicki co-chaired the conference with Michelle Newcome. The lunchtime keynote speaker was Teresa Medeiros, who had provided copies of her latest release, Some Like It Wicked, for everyone at lunch. Another free book -- huzzah! Teresa gave a keynote that alternated between hilarious (for example, she had a childhood crush on Donny Osmond) and thought provoking (as in when she quoted Michael J. Fox on getting bad reviews: "What they say about me is none of my business."). On the latter point of reviews, it's worthwhile to remember that we don’t write for everyone. We cannot possibly do so. If you're published, the next time someone corners you and tells you what's bad about your latest release, Teresa suggests that you respond with the wisdom of another author caught in similar circumstances: "I'm so sorry, but I didn’t write it for you."

 I attended a Q&A with Teresa for published authors from 1:30 to 2:30. Some of Teresa's observations follow:

• She and her editors thought paranormal historicals would find a thriving market, but they discovered that the readers for her paranormal books want urban fantasy, not historicals. And readers of straight historical don’t cross over to dark vampire novels like those she experimented with.
• Advances are a form of profit sharing. The more a publisher pays, the more s/he must invest in an author. Even with enormous advances that supposedly don’t earn out, the publisher is still making money off the author.
• She believes that her writing now, after so many published novels, has become less wordy, more concise.

When she autographed my copy of Some Like It Wicked, I told her that I write mystery and suspense with just a little bit of romance in it. Writing explicit love scenes drives me bonkers, makes me all hot and bothered. She laughed, hugged me, and said I was going about it all the right way. Attention, everyone, here's the official word from a New York Times bestselling romance author: if writing that steamy love scene makes you lusty, you're writing it correctly.

I sat in on part of Teresa's presentation for the general public and, to my surprise, found it sparsely attended. I think the sugar buzz from lunch had worn off a lot of women, and they'd retreated to their rooms for naps. I probably should have done the same.

From 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., I participated in a multi-author book fair and autographing. Seated between Ana Aragon and Nancy Knight, I pushed my own stash of dark chocolate, sold books, and chatted with several people from Raleigh and North Carolina, plus Catherine Mann (a Maggie finalist, published, single title, who didn’t win), and Nancy Northcott (a Maggie finalist, unpublished, single title, who did win). Somewhere in there, we had another sighting of Anna DeStefano. Who designs her wardrobe, Bob Mackie?

By the time of the Maggie Award presentations at 8:00 p.m., I'd burned out the warp coils and was running on impulse engines, but I psyched myself into that final burst of energy, held out just long enough for the awards ceremony. In the ballroom, candlelight at the tables glowed on the sequined dresses and jackets of hundreds of happy romance writers. I'd remained in the staid business suit I wore all day. Hadn't even packed my cute red dress and matching pumps because I suspected that my feet would feel like tenderized meat by the end of the evening. Yea, verily, was I ever spot-on for that one. But for all those ladies who did dress up, they sure knew how to use bling.

The awards ceremony was over around 9:30 p.m. A DJ cranked up the disco hit "Got to Be Real" by Cheryl Lynn, the mirrored disco ball on the ceiling started twirling, and the chocolate appeared. My cue to leave. No way would my feet allow me to jump into in the Electric Slide, the Boot Scoot, and the Bump. You know you're getting old when the music is too doggone loud. But what an appropriate finale to M&M!

Moonlight & Magnolias 2008, Day 4

Sunday dawned even earlier than Saturday. Spirits at the continental breakfast were subdued, as if by then all attendees felt "rode hard and put away wet," as the Southern saying goes. Nicki Salcedo 'fessed up that she'd gone to bed around 2:30 or 3:00 a.m. I did see her partying on that dance floor, celebrating her service award. Can't say I blame her.

While most people hustled off to the cold reads for unpublished authors, I headed for the Koffee Klatch for booksellers, librarians, and published authors organized by Berta Platas. Unfortunately, not many booksellers showed up, and there were no librarians. (The gas shortage might have had something to do with it.) Several nice folks from Borders bookstores came to the event. I met PJ Audenmore, who works at Booksmith, an independent bookstore in Seneca, South Carolina. I also spoke with Andrea Williamson and will be posting a guest essay about women's roles in the Revolutionary War on their blog 20 November.

 Other than that, I chatted more with the authors and tried to unload more of my chocolate on them, but I think everyone was maxed out on chocolate by then, ready to head off home. Here's a picture of Haywood Smith and me at the Koffee Klatch. I'd read a little of Some Like It Wicked the night before and discovered that Teresa Medeiros had some evil redcoats in her book. I told her that I had to switch gears to read it, coming from a background where I reenact on the Crown forces side. (After I returned from the conference, I read more into her book and found out that she'd woefully underused her redcoats, so I emailed her the suggestion that the next time she deployed America's primordial demons, she make them sexy as well as evil. I haven't heard back from her. I'm sure she thinks I'm crazy.)

Had an uneventful trip home to Raleigh. But I really was glad to be home. Sunday, when I'd left Atlanta at 11:30 a.m., the highway was already congested with traffic. Be it ever so humble, folks…

Grasshopper thanks the entire M&M committee for the opportunity to be part of a well-executed event.