September 2, 2018

Bitter/Mercy Interview

The Lourey-Baker Doublebooked blog tour is stopping here! Read on as I interview and am interviewed by Shannon Baker, author of the recently-released BITTER RAIN. If you like strong female characters (and who doesn't?!?), you're gonna love Shannon's writing.

Shannon: Jess, we’ve been bopping around the internets on our Double-Booked Tour talking about all kinds of

things, but we haven’t really talked about our new books. So, tell me the quick lowdown about MERCY'S CHASE.

Jess: Thanks for asking, lady! In this sequel to SALEM'S CIPHER, out September 8, FBI cryptanalyst Salem Wiley is sent to London, where she discovers that Stonehenge is actually an ancient code that holds the secret to the greatest feminine mystery of all time. Woot! Tell me something about BITTER RAIN, the latest in your engrossing Kate Fox mysteries.

**Shannon**: In BITTER RAIN, Kate investigates the disappearance of her deputy’s younger sister, bringing all kinds of feelings of loss and worry over Kate’s own missing niece. Of course, there’s Kate’s meddling family to contend with and all the quirky characters that populate her Sandhill’s home.

I love the Nebraska Sandhills and since it’s a unique place, I like to write about aspects of it most people wouldn’t know. I can’t remember what got me thinking about the town of White Clay (Dry Creek in Bitter Rain) but I was horrified to find out this town with the population of 12 people sells 4 million cans of beer annually. It is located two miles from the dry reservation of Pine Ridge and is purveyor of so much tragedy.

The Kate Fox books contain a fair amount of humor, so writing about someplace so bleak was challenging since I didn’t want the book to be something readers wouldn’t expect. But life is always like that, isn’t it? We laugh, we cry, we feel loss and celebrate victory, sometimes simultaneously. Wow, that’s pretty deep for me. I think I need a nap.

Jess, you did some interesting research involving travel for MERCY'S CHASE. Tell us about that.

Jess: Between you, me, and the world wide web, I planned my honeymoon around researching the book. My husband, Tony, and I booked a small-group tour inside Stonehenge, rodeup in the London Eye, toured Parliament, touched down in Scotland, and explored Wicklow County and St. Brigid’s Cathedral in Ireland. It all went into the book!

Here I am inside of Stonehenge:

A real challenge in writing MERCY'S CHASE was continuing to advance Salem’s character. In the first book, she went from agoraphobic computer genius to FBI cryptanalyst. Getting her to cross the pond in MERCY'S CHASE took some finessing, but I think it set her on a path that will allow for many books to come. Can you tell me about Kate’s character arc?

Shannon: The Kate Fox series is the first time I ever planned for several books. I set Kate up with lots of brothers and sisters thinking I could have them all involved in some adventure in different books. But Kate is growing and changing with each book and I’m enjoying her journey.

Unlike some of my earlier protagonists, Kate is headstrong and pretty solid in who she is. But she faces challenges and needs to find her way. In Stripped Bare, she loses everything she’d built her life and future around and needs to find other avenues of opportunity. In Dark Signal she’s figured out how to get some traction under her wheels. And in Bitter Rain she’s making a place for herself and thinking about where she wants to go. The next book will involve Kate’s search for her niece and will take Kate out of her familiar setting to navigate the bright lights of the city.

Jess, what’s next on the horizon for you? Indie pubbing? New books?

Jess: I have a book of my heart out on submission. It crunches two timelines: that of the abduction of Jacob Wetterling, which happened in 1989 just up the road from where I grew up, and two weeks of my life when I was 12, which would have been 1982. Please send positive publishing thoughts for that one! Then, the plan is to write APRIL FOOLS, the last in the Mira James Mysteries, before...I don’t know what. What should I write next??? What are you writing next?

Shannon: It’s a whole new publishing world out there full of opportunity and sinkholes. I’m thrilled and terrified at the same time. I’ve thrown chips into the indie pub basket with writing steamy romance and now with BITTER RAIN.

I wrote a book I’m proud of but was a totally different direction for me, and sadly, it didn’t tickle the enthusiasm of the New York houses. I’ve got another suspense plotted and would like to get after that, but there’s a Kate book calling, and this romance gig. So, as I write this, I’m really a fart in a skillet, trying to figure out my direction.

Please, in the comments section below, let Jess and Shannon know what you’d like to see from them next, and ground these two skillet farts. All comments will automatically enter you to win a signed copy of BITTER RAIN or MERCY'S CHASE!

Sign up for Shannon's or Jess' newsletter for another chance to win, and to automatically receive a Kate short story from Shannon and MAY DAY from Jess. You can also find out more about Shannon on her website. Finally, read the blog post right before this one to find out our next (and previous) tour stops! There's laughter, cocktails, and writing insight at each stop along with more chances to win.

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August 9, 2018

Blog Tour!

What
Join Shannon Baker and me for laughs, free book giveaways, and WISDOM on our Third Annual Double-booked Blog Tour!
When:
August 3-September 26, 2018
Where:
August 3: "Better as a Duet" on Career Authors
August 23: "Two Middle-aged Introverts Write a Sex Scene" on Criminal Minds
August 26: "Write What You Fear" on Writer Unboxed
August 27: "The Five Stages of Author Grief" on BOLO Books
August 29: "Tools and Tricks that Changed the Game" on Femmes Fatales
August 31: "Write a Great Scene" on Fiction University
September 2: “Author Interview” here, on my own blog!
September 4: "The Unexpected Places Authors Get Their Ideas" on Wicked Cozy Authors
September 8: "A Day in the Life of Our Characters" on Dru’s Book Musings
September 11: "Your Theme Is Your Brand" on Write Now! Coach
September 13: "Most Embarrassing Author Moment" on Jungle Red Writers
September 15: "Create an Author Persona" on The Creative Penn

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June 13, 2018

Tetris

Are you familiar with the video game Tetris? I’ve loved it since I first played it in the 90s. In the game, falling blocks appear at the top of your screen. If you rotate and shift them so they click neatly into place before they reach the bottom, a whole row disappears. That allows you access the next row, and then the next row, and the next, finally clearing away all the clutter and winning the game.

In short: to reach and fix the foundation, you must start from the outside and work your way in.

It’s the same theory behind writing to heal. You come at it from the surface, lining up feelings as best you can. Maybe you have a vague unease from your childhood or a nagging sense that you’re a fraud and everyone is going to find out. You start by writing about what made you feel uneasy or shameful today, putting aside ten minutes (set your timer) to write without judgment.

That clears away the top level.

Tomorrow, you go a little deeper, fishing for memories of feeling out of place or ashamed in your life. List as many as you can in ten minutes. The next day, pick one of those memories that pinged for you and explore it in a ten-minute writing sprint, bringing in as much detail as you can. Who else was there? What did the emotion feel like in your body—tight chest? Tingling ears? What words were said? Don’t try to make sense of it. Describe it.

Keep writing about the memory, going as deep or as broad as you need to go. Once you have all the juice squeezed out of the memory, I recommend one of three routes:

--Transform it into a short story. Change names, locations, time periods, whatever is needed for you to feel comfortable calling it fiction. Then publish it. Look for a short story contest, start a blog, go to Kindle Direct Publishing and upload it, email it to a friend who likes short fiction, whatever makes sense to you. Your goal is to have at least one person read it.
--Tell someone you trust about the actual memory.
--Post the memory and your feelings/realizations around it to social media. This is for the exceptionally brave. It has been my experience, without fail, that when I make myself vulnerable and authentic on social media, I get the same in return. That doesn’t make it any less terrifying to reveal a super TRUE part of me, though. That said, if you feel comfortable doing this, you’ll not only be helping yourself and getting a better idea of who your tribe is, you’ll be putting healing truth into a world that sorely needs it.

Whichever of those three ways you choose to share your story, you’ll find something beautiful happening: that “row” (ie, that specific personal block) disappears. You’ve lined up the feelings and the memories, and they no longer have the power to trigger or blindside you.
As a bonus (in a “take your vitamins, you’ll feel better” sort of way), you now have access to the row right below it. Come at it this next personal block the same way. Then go to the next row, and the next, clearing away the clutter and winning the game, which to me looks like living an authentic, confident life, one steered by integrity and true connection.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR REWRITE YOUR LIFE, TETRIS-STYLE
5-Day Exercise

1. DAY ONE: Set a timer for ten minutes. At the top of your paper, write, “I feel…” Write without judgment or pause until the timer goes off, getting all your feelings down.
2. DAY TWO: Choose a feeling from the Day One freewrite. Set a timer for ten minutes. At the top of your paper, write, “Things that make me feel (Day One feeling) are…” Write without judgment or pause until the timer goes off, listing everything that makes you feel that way.
3. DAY THREE: Choose a memory from the Day Two freewrite. Set a timer for ten minutes. At the top of your paper, write, “What I remember about (Day Two memory) is…” Write without judgment or pause until the timer goes off, describing everything you can recall about that incident, particularly sensory (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch) details.
4. DAY FOUR: Repeat Day Three activity as many times as needed until you feel like you have squeezed all the juice out of the memory. You’ll know when this is.
5. DAY FIVE: Choose how you’re going to share your story: craft it into a fictional short story, tell a friend, or post on social media. If you go the short story route, I recommend reading Damon Knight’s Creating Short Fiction for guidance. If you’re choose the posting to social media route, check out Brene Brown’s, Elizabeth Gilbert’s, and Nora McInerney’s Facebook pages for models as well as a glimpse into the sorts of responses you may expect.

Five days of writing. A lifetime of relief.

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