Emilie’s Books
Ah, Romance!
Right now many of my writer friends are getting ready to attend the Romance Writers of America conference in Atlanta. In case you haven’t heard, romance novels are still selling well, generating nearly 1.5 billion dollars in 2012. My old friends will greet other old friends and make new ones. They’ll meet the professionals in…
Read MoreSomewhere Between Luck and Trust: Lucas Ramsey’s Pasta e Fagioli with Shrimp
Lucas Ramsey, a major character in Somewhere Between Luck and Trust, is a gourmet cook and the author of a mystery series featuring Zenzo, a police detective whose cooking rivals Lucas’s own. Lucas invites Georgia to share a simple meal, pasta e fagioli with shrimp, which he has devised and hopes to use in a…
Read MoreSomewhere Between Luck and Trust: What’s It All About?
Where Luck Meets Trust, Miracles Can Happen Cristy Haviland served eight months in prison, giving birth behind bars to the child of the man who put her there and might yet destroy her. Now she’s free again, but what does that mean? As smart as she is, she has never learned to read. And that’s…
Read MoreRenovating a Novel and a House: How Much is Too Much?
Renovation is Not For Sissies: So what does a writer do when her home/workplace is filled with workmen and she has a book to write? In the beginning of May I left Florida believing I could settle into our 108 year old cottage in Chautauqua, New York. While there might be a few interruptions as…
Read MoreDo Authors Have Favorites? Lover’s Knot and the Shenandoah Album Series
So here’s what a novelist tells a reader who wants to know which of her own books is her favorite. “A book is like a baby. A mom loves all her children equally.” Right. . . I’m here to tell you it’s not true. I did not love all my children equally. Oh, sure, total…
Read MoreBook Clubs: Asking Questions to Deepen Understanding
When I decided to offer fifteen copies of Iron Lace (along with a king cake and phone interview) to raise money for diabetes research, I made my decision with the full knowledge that Iron Lace is one of my most popular novels for book discussion groups. Later I went back to my own website to…
Read MoreDiabetes Research, King Cake, and Iron Lace. What Do They Have in Common?
Author Brenda Novak’s annual auction to raise money for diabetes research in now in full swing. This year I’ve donated 15 autographed copies of Iron Lace for your favorite book club to read and discuss, a new Orleans King Cake to eat during the discussion–shipped directly to you from a New Orleans bakery–and a phone…
Read MoreGuatemala: An Endless Chain of Repression and Liberation
If you’ve been keeping up with the saga of my Shenandoah Album novels, you know that Endless Chain is being re-released today, this time in a lovely trade paper version, at a bargain price. Right now the book is $8.99 at Amazon. And it won’t be more than $9.99 anywhere else. To celebrate the re-release of…
Read MoreCreating Characters Over Thai Chicken Salad
Today was a “Ready, Set, Go” day. You know the kind. You jump out of bed and you start to run. As the day progresses, you run faster and farther, until by day’s end, you’re too tired to do anything except fall back into that same bed you jumped out of hours before. Tonight even…
Read MoreThe “Joys” of Technology
Mercury isn’t even in retrograde. I just checked, because despite my skepticism about all things astrological, I want to blame my techie failures in the past twenty-four hours on the alignment of the stars. No such luck, though. Even astrology has failed me. I’m stuck with my own mistakes, me and the increasingly complicated life…
Read More