Pushing The "Write" Buttons

 

 PUSHING THE ‘WRITE’ BUTTONS

by Cj Fosdick

“My avocation was ignited by sugar.”     

 

           Remember Candy Dots? Sometimes called buttons, those little rows of rainbow sugar were easily peeled off long white strips of paper. Penny candy and nickel chocolate bars were once sweet rewards. Neighborhood Groceries or “Dime stores” displayed glass canisters of candy that could be scooped into little bags for little cravers deliberating over choices like Atomic Fireballs, Root Beer Barrels, Sugar Babies, Blackjack Gum, and Taffy squares in four flavors. In those good old days, it took only a dime to get a fix.  

            When my adult mouth was recently under construction for implants, I was shamed into recall. Did the origin of my porcelain decline begin with a landmark splurge after winning my first writing contest? A five dollar prize in the hands of a ten-year-old with a sweet tooth was dangerous. I blew it on Candy Buttons.  The win propelled a normally shy little redhead to the front of her class for Show and Tell. I like to imagine classmates were more awed by proof of my new literary status than the candy strips I distributed.  

            Decades later, as I prepared a power point presentation for Book Clubs and organizations interested in the novel journey of a writer with a crammed portfolio and sore gums, I was reminded of those Candy Buttons and what literary lessons I might salvage from bittersweet splurges:

            Everybody loves a winner!  True. It is easier to get noticed when you can show you have some credible awards and great reviews. This requires losing enough humility to put yourself out there. I try to do a lot of 21^st century Show and Tell now that I’m an award-winning author of several books. 

            Marketing means spending to receive!  So true. Candy was once a sweet incentive to grow attention. Not so much today. Adult readers in a market with more supply than demand crave discounts, free books, gift certificates or even trendy gadgets to win their attention. Book parties--online  and off--feature incentive give-a-ways to promote a book. However, the price of those give-a-ways and necessary ads, as well as reviews and promo services, can take a bittersweet bite out of royalties. New novelists are like minnows swallowed up by bigger fish with a publisher or a unique platform that attracts schools of followers. I think of “50 Shades of Gray”—and turn 50 shades of green over the 16,000  reviews it garnered and how the book saved a Publishing House. No candy or freebies required? 

            Creative people need to promote creatively!  Right. When a promotion works well, writers are encouraged to repeat the success and always think outside the box. Candy Buttons inspired celebrity a half century ago. Are they still sold—like candy cigarettes and tootsie rolls? In a historic Minnesota town close to home, a chocolate shop sold me five packages of nostalgic Candy Buttons for $6.00 which inflates the childhood price by about 1000%. Still, it’s a small price to pay for renewed celebrity and more readers. When I present my “Novel Road” power point to Book Clubs and aspiring authors, I’ll have a sweet reminder to give away with bookmark swag. It feels right—a nostalgic treat to promote a taste for my nostalgic brand of fiction. 

         Cj Fosdick still craves chocolate, but collects sweet rewards from her Romantic Suspense/Time Travel  trilogy that began with The Accidental Wife, and a shorter Amazon audible titled Hot Stuff .  Follow her on FB, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter and sign up for her 4 seasonal newsletters featuring novel excerpts, author and reader spotlights and even some sweet-tooth recipes.

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 WRITING IN THE AGE OF COVID  by Cj Fosdick

   Social distancing is familiar to all determined writers.  We sit at our keyboards for hours when the muse clicks, feeling fortunate if we have a place of solitude, free of interruption. The engine that drives us is a deadline, storyline,  or even a line of persistent characters who nudge and push their way into the plot.  Starting early in the day, working all day or half days or even finding productive spurts in the wee hours before dawn depends on our biology and stamina.

   Most writers label themselves pantsers or plotters.  Pantsers write by the seat of their pants—opening up to a free flow of ideas and tangents that often need to be corraled in another draft.  Plotters discipline their writing with outlines and goal planning, maybe even setting time limits to spend on each chapter before moving on.  I’ve tried each method, but have found the discipline of plotting  too rigid to hold back a wandering  muse. The  research I include in each novel often pushes me in new directions. Add characters who come alive in dreams, whispering demands that make sense. Persistent demands.

  With the last novel in my trilogy, I had a surplus of characters, conflicts, two eras, two love stories and a true Irish scandal that overshadowed everything.  When I thought I had finished writing, I had over 111,000 words. After a month of editing, I culled it down to 88,000 words. Letting it marinate over time led to some insightful changes and a tighter manuscript after self editing.

  As much as I hate to credit a deadly pandemic with anything positive, I have to admit that  social isolation pushed me to the finish line.  A year ago, before the November-December holidays, I predicted I was just a few weeks from finishing the novel. Silly me! Who can  concentrate on writing with the pulls of baking, decorating, shopping and partying in the holiday season.  Add to that a dark saga of unexpected family problems after New Year’s--putting all writing on hold for months.

     April Fool’s Day was the gateway to renewed novel immersion. It was also the gateway to an explosion of Covid 19 in the U.S.  By Easter, the U.S. had over 500,000 cases and over 20,000 deaths. Ten days later the death count had doubled, with a person in the U.S. dying every 32 seconds.  I took a break to sew three dozen masks for family and friends, but depressing statistics along with daily breaking news was a hard challenge to novel concentration. Our Social contact was limited to a weekly visit to local groceries. Still I plodded on.

     By mid July, I finished the last chapter and another full edit. The novel was complete...I thought.  After submitting it to my publisher's editor, along with a character list and glossary of Gaelic words, she informed me she couldn’t even read it until September. Was social isolation pumping out a record amount of manuscripts to keep editors busy? I could not wait with a book that had no hope of release in 2020.

   Time to revaluate. When I turned from writing stories and articles to writing novels, I thought it would be a snap to do one a year. I fell short of that aim, but I do envy writers who can pump out more than one novel a year! If Covid was the spur to my novel finish, I was determined to keep pace with a release before the holidays. Going Indie was the only way that could happen in the age of Covid--barring any threat to personal health and more unexpected drama.

    Fortunately,  with the help of Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), I was able to publish both the Kindle and Print versions of  The Accidental Heiress before Christmas 2020.  I encourage you to take a look and, if you like it, look at The Accidental Wife and The Accidental Stranger too. 

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SOPHIE--A RESCUE MIRACLE!

    SOPHIE’s CHOICE was not to spend 6 yrs. as a breeder dog in Texas, I’m certain. With little knowledge of how she became anxious and scared of everything, we can probably guess. She was sent to a pound when her owner became sick we were told. She was there for weeks with swollen nipples from nursing puppies. How did she get from Texas to Minnesota in January? We lost Hannah, our beloved 11 yr. old white Schnauzer, unexpectedly before Christmas. Within the hour of her traumatic death, our daughter, who manages a Rochester Humane Society for dogs and cats, was called about a white female Schnauzer in Texas who needed to be rescued from certain euthanasia. KARMA?  I immediately  thought of the the movie, “A Dog’s Purpose?” 

    We have loved a parade of dogs, cats and horses over half a century and learned that a broken heart heals faster when one fur baby replaces another. The only puppy we raised was our first Schnauzer, a salt-pepper male who lived 16 years. All the others, along with 4 cats and some of our horses were amazing, loveable OLDER RESCUES who made us laugh...and cry when they passed over the rainbow bridge. All had unique personalities, some with a few challenges.

    SOPHIE, the sofa dog, is by far our most unique challenge. Thin and terrified, afraid of people, animals, loud noises, sudden moves, doors and storms, she didn’t know how to go up or down steps, sit, walk on a leash, bark, or even respond to her name. Afraid to even eat and drink, I had to hand feed her at first and carry her outside and upstairs to her doggie bed. After 100 days in our home, she has barked only twice. (I was afraid she was mute or deaf.) She can now do steps and walk outside, but runs -like she's being chased- only from her bed upstairs to the sofa downstairs where she stays ALL day, with trips outside only when we take her to do her duty or go for a walk. 

    She is beginning to respond to simple cues AND her name, which we changed to SOPHIE JO--the sofa dog-- since she never responded to the name she had. In January and in the throes of a record breaking MN winter, every little success was like one step forward, two steps back. It's almost even now. She loves being petted and massaged, is beginning to trust and doesn't tremble unless she hears thunder. When we leave the house, she runs up to her bed and doesn't come down to her sofa until we return. As I sit beside her on the sofa, writing my latest novel on my laptop, we have bonded. She loves me best. :)

    TEXAS PUTS DOWN  200 animals a day. In a graphic report, read through a veil of tears, 25,000 animals were euthanized in one year in San Antonio alone. They changed their policy of gassing the animals en mass, to a more humane euthanizing system when the caretakers became traumatized by the suffering animal's death cries. They do NOT have neutering policies in Texas, which may explain the animal surplus. Many other states also do not have Minnesota’s no-kill status for lost, homeless or unwanted dogs and cats. My daughter adopts shipments of dogs from places like Texas, finding over 1,000 pets a year the “forever home” they deserve after they are neutered and chipped, get up to date inoculations and even extra medical care when needed. One dog hit by a car was even adopted soon after a leg had to be amputated. Posting the animals on Rochester's Paws and Claws website,  pawsandclaws.org  and on FB has been so effective, many of the dogs are adopted within days.

   HEALING HEARTS of humans and pets are necessary miracles any time of year. Puppy Mills and Disreputable Breeders may lose some business if more people checked out the the vast supply of adorable rescues in Humane Societies in most cities. Rescues even range from mutt to pedigree (like Sophie)--all of them waiting for their “forever home.” A lot of movie dogs, like Benji, were rescues who were smart and easy to train. Sophie may be slower to learn but she has won the Fosdick hearts and our healing...and hers...is resurrecting new life and love this Easter. We count it a miracle as we imagine what a PTSS veteran she must be. Sophie has indeed found her forever home!       
                                                                                                                                                                 Cj Fosdick

                                                     

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HISTORIC CONFLICT IN YOUR TOOLBOX?

1/22/19...     The Power of History lingers in the toolbox of authors. Every book written with diligence includes some research.  Even Sci-Fi and Fantasy writers have to research

what often is a thin line between truth and imagination. Science breaks barriers all the time, turning what once was a dream or quirk of imagination into reality. Airplanes, automobiles, spaceships, submarines, reactors and robots—all were once locked in the imagination and dreams of inventors and writers. There was a time when such dreamers were ridiculed or even killed. Remember, the earth was deemed flat, until ancient navigators proved otherwise.

     History always fascinates me, particularly the drama of conflict, its collateral damage and after-shocks. You’d think that lessons learned from the world’s earliest conflicts to Cyber Wars would serve as cautionary tales for the future. But human nature prevails over caution. And conflict always makes for a good story. Whether it’s spun into a tapestry of war and/or romance between characters, it will be a measured requirement by agents, editors and ultimately readers who determine the next BEST SELLER. Think of Gone With The Wind, a novel which rolled multiple conflicts—real and imagined—into an international best seller that remains on every list of all-time favorite novels. Granted, the movie version gave it a huge boost. Casualties of America’s Civil War reached 1.5 million—more than all combined wars involving American soldiers. Over 65,000 books have been written about this devastating period.  A hundred seventy years later, that war still engages controversy. Think about the recent statue and flag conflicts in the South.  Collateral damage lives long when immortalized in written history about a war that decimated America’s population, ended slavery, accelerated Industry and subsequently grasped the 19^th Century need for American settlement of the West. (Another favorite era of romance and tragedy.)

      Almost 40 years ago, I was writing my first novel. The storyline covered the colorful era that accelerated western settlement after the Civil War. Western posts meant to protect settlers from Indians were springing up everywhere in the American West. The novel’s POV was from a German/Irish heroine and a half-Sioux hero who as children were caught in opposing massacres between Indians and whites. Navigating through historic times and their own prejudices, they grow up to find each other in a love story with conflict that was an epic write—over 700 pages. The size for a lst novel had something to do with ultimate rejection. Devastated, I packaged the typed ms. and put it on ice.  Literally.  For 30 years it was shelved in a garage freezer while children, pets, homes and horses took control of my life.

     Writing was on the back burner, unless it was an occasional article or short story. However, one of the living characters in that huge novel was General Luther Prentice Bradley, the commander of Ft. Laramie from 1874-76.  Coincidentally, this same commander had survived the Civil War. While researching that first novel, I had written to Bradley’s living grandson in 1978. Prentice Bradley, the

aging grandson sent me valuable historic anecdotes his father recalled as a child living at Ft. Laramie. It was many years later that coincidence. . . or karma would defrost the freezer novel, which was eventually scanned into a computer word file—with a lot of formatting errors to correct. 

     The Publishing Industry at the time was just beginning to recognize the threat of self-published authors who dared to forego agents and the dreaded “slush pile” of hope. Still, I began to pitch the book to agents at Writing Conferences and got similar blowback. Too long. Could it be a series?  Could you write a shorter book first, establish a website, platform and base? From a dozen Conferences all over the country, I learned what I didn’t know I needed to know and much of that had to do with persistence and timing. 

     Fast forward to empty nest, empty barn and finding a publisher for the shorter book I was now pitching—The Accidental Wife—with a contemporary heroine who was now a descendant of my freezer book heroine. About this time, someone online found my letter to the now deceased grandson, Prentice Bradley, in U.S. Army History archives in Pennsylvania. New contact was formed with the great grandson of General Bradley. Robert D. Bradley and I have

been pen pals for years now. I was an enthusiastic cheerleader when he decided to self publish his great grandfather’s Civil War letters written home. After he sent me a copy of the project in the hands of Create Space, I helped to edit some of his personal contributions. He sent me the print version last fall, titled BRADLEY’S LETTERS SENT HOME—available also in the eBook version on Amazon. I was first to review the book on Amazon as “a gift to history” because of the amazing, eloquent and revealing letters from the General who had become a character in that freezer book yet to be published. Bob has also become a man-fan of my Accidental Series, frequently sends me something to laugh about, and is providing me with more great historic and family detail I can add to the freezer book—defrosted and warming on the horizon into a new series from Cj Fosdick! Stay tuned. 

GAMING CHRISTMAS! by Cj

11/23/18...  Moving beyond the Santa Claus stage means entering a new phase in celebrating Christmas. The kids have grown into teenagers, college students and beyond. No more transformers, doll houses, rocking horses and bicycles. No more home visits by a family-designated costumed Santa. At least not until there are grandkids. A practical gift exchange and dinner or buffet now tops the home agenda of many families celebrating Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

However, tearing those older kids away from their cell phones and social media toys for gift opening and gorging now requires something interactive to grab—and hold—their attention.

 Games.

 For several years, we have achieved this with gift games that are surprising and creative. Going through the letters of C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S, we buy one gift at a designated price that represents the letter. For instance, “C” could be cinema tickets, a cashmere scarf, camera, collectibles, crafts, Costco gift card, even cash, etc. (In one of our “S” years, I ended up with a giant sock monkey in a sailor hat, while someone else chose a box of frozen steaks.) Gifts are wrapped and put under the tree. We then choose numbers and number one picks a gift and opens it. Number two either chooses a gift from under the tree or steals number one’s gift and so on. Whoever has a gift stolen down the line immediately picks another gift.

Rules are established ahead, besides designating the amount to be spent. Can someone steal more than once? Can the gifts be tagged with M or F for male or female? Can the hostess provide a final grand prize for the most creative or popular gift? Even with small children in the family, this works as they open their gifts from everyone first, and while they play with their toys, we play our letter game. Variations of the words we go through can be “Holiday-Noel-Snowman-Winter,”etc. Buying only one gift per person makes this game very affordable in large families or groups and clubs. We established a $5 max with a group of 14 friends that met during the holidays.

In recent years, after a buffet, our family looks forward to playing card and board games like 13 Skidoo, Rummikub, Spoons, or Play Nine. We each bring a $10 gift card of choice and whoever wins a game round chooses a gift card. Nobody can win twice until all players have won at least once. As a hostess, who is trying to downsize, I varied this by wrapping up white elephant booby prizes to give to the losers. Everyone now looks forward to Gaming Christmas!

WAS IT THE ROAD TRIP FROM HELL?

1/23/18...   WAS IT THE ROAD TRIP FROM HELL? Not if God, Garmin, and a determined hub could help it! Covering over 4300 miles (round trip thru 14 states), our trusty  Rav4 maneuvered us through 2-6 lanes of speeding traffic, and around hundreds of semi’s, detours and construction zones to destination—California! The InD’tale Writer’s Convention at the Marriott Hotel in Burbank was a 3 day respite--if you could call it that--for  3 weary passengers (including our  patient furbaby Hannah Jo.) 

AFTER FULL DAYS OF CLASSES— e.g. Branding, Marketing, Mastering Blurbs, Smashwords,

Body Language, Finding Your Core, Hiding a Body, and How to Write Villains you Love and Heroes you Hate, besides keynote addresses that drew tears and applause, a 4 hr.Book Sale, a Reader Rave luncheon, evening entertainment that included a Murder Mystery Dinner, Karaoke Contest, and the annual Rone Awards Gala, I was sure my own body language was slammed to the core! Good thing I was wearing the I.D. badge I was given!

 AS ONE of 3 FINALISTS in the Time Travel Category for The Accidental Stranger,  I was a runnerup, happy to be included in a literary award that had more criteria for winning than the Academy Awards. Meeting a LOT of best-selling authors that weekend was a highlight; also sitting next to the legendary ANNE PERRY who has sold over 30 million books in 33 series and still writes as she nears 80 years. I was shocked when she told me she writes ALL her books in longhand and doesn’t know how to do FB.! Not so shocked that she believes 80% of books are sold by word of mouth & reviews--or even that readers care more about relationships than WHO Done It !        

I left the WC with a big satchel of new books by authors new to me, a new smartphone filled 

with photos, a yellow tablet filled with journal notes, and a LOT to think about.  I Already read Suzan Tisdale's Rone winner with a highland theme,"The Brody Bride."  Suzan, with me at the Book Sale, is proof that Indie authors rock! 

THE LEG HOME had it’s own highlights. Besides the memorable scenery flashing by, esp. in Utah and Arizona, we met and dined with a great half-uncle and his wife that I didn’t know existed until I joined Ancestry.com last February.  (A long story that feeds a future mystery in my growing novel agenda. Chuck Seider has 2 sisters as well, one of them a redhead born just weeks before me.  Two great aunts !  :)  

WE ALSO CHECKED OUT  five Arizona snowbird communities for seniors. Weather and facilities were great. Lack of green and no lack

of traffic gave us pause.  Shortening a MN. winter appeals; an annual road trip—not so much anymore.  Stopping for a couple hours in Dodge City was fun and finding not one, but two Cracker Barrels to eat & shop at on our last day was a treat. Regular meals, aside from snacks or fast food and comp breakfasts, allowed our itinerary of 600+ mi. per day—before dark. Hannah Banana was elevated to "Hannah the Easy Rider,"never once  whining “Are we there yet?” She loved multi daily walks and left the barking to our driver, who had some disputes with Ms. Garmin.  At home, Hannah  helps me post her day-by day journey on FACEBOOK.  Note her favorite Kansas souvenir!  

FREEBIE HALLOWEEN BONUS!  For the first time ever I'm offering  my RONE special, "THE ACCIDENTAL STRANGER" FREE only in October and ONLY on SMASHWORDS   for a click and a grin! As  always, a review is also appreciated. 

ROYAL READER/FAN BIOS will continue next month with Jennifer Querry, a nurse I met in a Wyoming ER  after a  Denver WC/research trip to Wyoming in 2015. Nurse Jennifer, Dr. Hawley—AND the hospital are in The ACCIDENTAL STRANGER!  That thin line between fiction and reality works!  (Well, maybe not in politics!)

BAKING in KEYWORDS by Cj Fosdick

    8/7/18...  Every published  book, like every other marketed product, has keywords that identify its genre and basic content—kind of like ingredients in a recipe. They affect ranking, sales and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Keywords for my Accidental Series are Time Travel, Romance, Suspense, and sometimes, even Western. I like to think my books offer even more ingredients: a good pinch of humor, a cup of comparative culture, a pint of history, a box of animal crackers, folded into settings well creamed with a mixed-nut addition of characters beyond those who reflect red hair and green eyes.

   How does one begin to pigeon-hole a multi-genre book?  Compare it to shopping for a mild salsa, only to find it burns like wasabi and raw cayenne. This became clear to me when some reviewers confessed PLEASANT surprise, admitting the Accidentals were not what they expected, or even what they were used to reading.  Here is a example of how my 45^th (recent Amazon reviewer) was surprised by reading “The Accidental Wife”:

   This is an amazing book! I am still reeling from it! Normally, I do not read westerns, or fantasy, just stick to romance for the most part. Reading the description to this book, I was intrigued by the unique plotline, so I decided to read it. It surpassed all my expectations!  This book is well written, full of the introspection and definition of unforgettable characters. It is a love story and at the same time, it is a glimpse at what life was like for the settlers of Wyoming. There is an interracial marriage of a part Sioux Indian and our protagonist. He is the most adorable, simple and intense man I have read in a long time. He is cultured and yet in recognition of his roots, he is in tune with the Earth, willing to live off the land in peace with his family.  5 stars—An Amazing Story you will not want to put down!  (BOTH Accidentals on sale.)  https://amzn.to/2IdLXFh                                  

  Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series must have encountered similar problems with genre description, maybe because DG used her scientific background and love of research to show how Claire—a contemporary doctor—could outsource her medical knowledge 200 years into the past. For me, it was fascinating to see how resourceful and creative a strong, intelligent woman could be in an era that killed witches and honored the superiority of brawny warriors and flawed Kings. The history/culture element in her series was enlightening. The romance and character conflict was hot; the battles were exciting.

   Her books were promoted as Time Travel, Fantasy or Romantic, but more in the Mainstream vein.  A multi-genre book is like a good recipe with numerous ingredients. Until you taste the final product, you may not know the end product is a treat to repeat. By virtue of nine best sellers and a TV series on Starz, DG baked a feast that has a over 33,000 Amazon reviews, a million fans…and the bucks to prove it.  Color me green!

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CHARACTER NAMES THAT SING! by Cj Fosdick

 7/12/18...    Uriah Heep, Pippi Longstocking, Ichabod Crane, Ebenezer Scrooge, Holly Golightly, Huckleberry Finn, and Katniss and Primrose Everdeen. Who can ever forget character names that sing in the classic stories and films we all love?  No doubt the authors who created them set out to tweak memorable impressions of the characters they named, as well as the titles of their books. Would their novels be less memorable…or less successful with more pedestrian names and titles? Is there a psychology involved in these choices?  Do supporting characters need pedestrian names to make the main characters more memorable? Villain names can swing either way.

     I spend an inordinate amount of time choosing character names and book titles. My character list was long for book three in my Accidental Series--The Accidental Heiress. The process is more disciplined than accidental, however. Because the book was set in Ireland, it took several days to research, google and compile a master list of Irish first names and surnames with brief meanings. Did the names trip on the tongue and fit character profiles?  Were they true to the era, country and culture?  Too modern?  Too American?  Too close to other character names? Did the syllables vary in both names?  Did both first and last name end in the same letter or syllable?  Sometimes that works, sometimes not: (Mary McGary or Galen Moran). 

     After pairing favorite combinations, I tweaked the profiles and slept on the decisions and alternates before making final choices.  Since this book involved an ancestral mystery, I had to create an O’Brien family tree with birth and death dates for easy reference, particularly for the family graveyard chapter that finds my honeymooners looking for a specific grave.  For quick reference, I pinned the family tree, along with Irish words and phrases and miscellaneous notes to a portable bulletin board for quick access. Before I hit chapter ten in the new book, a few names were also changed. 

     Did Shakespeare go to such lengths? “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," as Juliet points out to Romeo in one of the bard’s famous quotes—which brings to mind another consideration. Romantic couples need names that sound as compatible as Tristan and Isolde, Claire and Jamie, Nick and Nora. Would Scarlett and Steve be half as memorable as Scarlett and Rhett?

     Often, I like to thank friends or favorite relatives for their support by naming minor characters after them. Maria Schmidt, who was the riding instructor of heroine Jessica in The Accidental Wife, was once one of my riding students. Stella Lowry, Jessica’s boss in the same book, was really the late Sandra Lowry, the archivist and librarian of Ft. Laramie for over 35 years. Sandy was my historical “google girl” for years. When I told her I was naming a character for her, changing her first name to Stella, she laughed. “My mother-in-law’s name is Stella Lowry.” (The coincidence wasn’t lost on me; there have been several “Twilight Zone-like” coincidences in the series, but that’s another story.)

     Choosing names for my real children, even names for some of our pets didn’t take this much planning.  But the prep and research does work. My fictional characters  (Tallie, Scout and Emery) approve of their unusual names, and readers do remember them. I can’t wait to introduce Caitrin, Cormac and Quinn in the new book!

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MORELS & MORALS by Cj Fosdick

6/11/18... June is blooming with both. MOREL mushrooms poke through Minnesota earth in wooded areas and around deadwood that surrounds our home each spring. My eagle-eyed daughter—who once could spot a 4 leaf clover while sitting atop a horse—has not lost her uncanny talent. Mid May, she quickly filled two plastic bags with the brainy-looking fungi while I spotted only freckled mushrooms that were big as dinner plates. Google and FB to the rescue!  My dinner plate mushrooms were called pheasant backs, according to a FB friend who suggested the edges were more edible than the middle. (Breaded and fried, the morels are a gourmet favorite for us—and most upscale restaurants when in season.)

Connecting some dots with MORELS in mind, I was already deep into research—reading Irish fairy tales for Book 3 of my Accidental  Series.  Of course, fairy tales are known for their MORALS—silly or serious. And the Irish are definitely noted for their enchantment with leprechauns and faerie folk—the sidhe who star in their tales and superstitions.

Sometimes, themes in fiction also drip into the morality pool. And if the moral in The Accidental Wife is that a grieving woman can be transformed in a summer of time travel to find her soulmate in the 19th century, the mirror image of that plot is the soulmate can spring ahead to reunite with her again in the 21st century sequel, The  Accidental Stranger.  (Time travel is a nifty plot filter when a man loves two nearly identical women and a woman loves two nearly identical men in the same family—each a  century apart.) I’ve considered an alternate MORAL in both books:  The transforming power of love bridges time—with twists and turns—to find that sweet “forever.”  Here’s hoping a cool drink, good summer reads and gourmet mushrooms are on your menu! I just added a cherry to my favorite summer pie: The Accidental Stranger is a RONE FINALIST in the Time Travel category!

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