Are You Like a Sea Turtle?

Hi and Welcome to my Blog:

Thanks for stopping by.  Please take a look around and make yourself to home.  You will find information about my third novel, Cape Cursed, where to purchase it, and the other books I've written as well as learning what goes in my life and in my "lane brain."  (That was the annoying nickname the boys called me in grade school.) 

Also, be sure to enter the raffle to the right and sign up for my newsletter so you will be the first to know when I have a new novel or a giveaway going.

You will notice that my prize is a $25 gift certificate to the OBX Store. For those of you who may not be familiar, OBX is a nickname for the Outer Banks, the thin strip of barrier islands on the coast of North Carolina famous for beaches like Corolla, Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Cape Hatteras.

Map of the Outer Banks-Courtesy NOAA, via Wikimedia Commons

Cape Cursed is set on the Outer Banks because I love it there. It's not the most beautiful beach I've ever been to, or the warmest water, (anyone who's ever waded into the ocean there and gotten leg cramps from the frigid water will attest to that), or the most welcoming of waves (I've been dumped on my butt too many times to count).  But there's something about the place that has captivated my mind and compelled me to set my novel there.  Maybe the place has been imprinted on my brain, but I have a theory about our affinity for certain beaches.

Maui Sunset-Courtesy Earthman via Creative Commons

Two decades ago, my husband and I went to Hawaii. While there, we had the good fortune to attend a luau on Maui. We were seated in a grove of hibiscus, anthuriums, and plumeria near a white-sugar beach at sunset. Also at our table were three other couples. They were all from New Jersey and all of the men in the group had served in World War II. As we ate and watched the sun set in a dazzling splash of red and orange over the inky Pacific, one of the men commented, “The beaches in New Jersey are prettier.”

I almost choked on my Kalau pork. I hadn’t been to a New Jersey beach, but I’d been to other beaches on the Atlantic coast, and I knew they weren’t as lovely as the one on which we were presently dining. My husband and I said nothing, but made eye contact, indicating that we both thought our table mate had enjoyed one too many Mai Tais.  But he may have only been acting like a sea turtle.

Sea turtles return to the beach where they were hatched to spawn, indicating that their birth beach leaves a lasting impact. Well, I think people are a bit like turtles; we also bond with the beach. I’ve noticed that the beaches people frequented when they were young made a lasting impression on them.

The hero of Cape Cursed, Parker Swain, definitely has a tie to the beach and the fictitious stretch of land called Cape Destiny, where the book is set.  Since I live in the east, I mostly know people who have affinities to eastern beaches like Cape May, Ocean City, Myrtle Beach, and Hilton Head.

Do you think people form attachments to certain beaches? Do you have a favorite beach? Why do you think you like that beach so much?

It's Finally Here! Cape Cursed Makes Landfall Today!

The watches have come down and the warnings have gone out!  Red flags snap in the wind as the black storm clouds gather and roll ashore.  The roaring surf pounds the beach, as the rain, like silver darts, pelts your face.  The blowing sand stings your legs while the wind shrieks in your ears so loudly no one could hear you if you screamed. 

Prepare yourself now because Cape Cursed is making landfall, and you have no means for escaping this Category 5 of a romantic suspense novel.   Cape Cursed, my new novel, barrels in packing a surge of suspense that knocks you off your feet and a blistering romance that sweeps you up and carries you away.  Cape Cursed is now available in paperback from Amazon and digitally in the Kindle and Nook Stores and at Smashwords.

Here’s a bit about the novel:

Inspired by the actual relocation of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse in 1999, Cape Cursed is set on the fictitious Outer Banks location of Cape Destiny, North Carolina.  Bliss Sherman comes to the cape determined to make a name for herself and her new firm by accomplishing an incredible engineering feat—moving the Cape Destiny Lighthouse inland before it's swallowed by the Atlantic Ocean. 

Cape Hatteras relocation from the National Park Service.

Bliss, who has struggled with dyslexia, discrimination, and betrayal by her ex-husband and former business partner, Jonathan, faces her greatest challenge when she falls in love with the handsome, mysterious descendant of the lighthouse keepers, Parker Swain, who vehemently opposes moving the lighthouse.

When Bliss is viciously attacked, she begins to wonder if the curse that is rumored to be attached to the lighthouse may be true.  Who is sabotaging the move?  Who is trying to ruin her?  Who wants to kill her?  When all clues point to Parker, she dismisses her suspicions, deciding to trust him and her heart, but as the evidence mounts against Parker, she begins to doubt not only herself and her heart, but Parker. 

Can she trust her judgment?  Can she trust Parker?  Most importantly, when she is trapped inside the lighthouse with him during a hurricane, can she trust Parker with her life? 

I chose September 1 to release the books because that date is the peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean, and I hope Cape Cursed will be the peak of your reading season. 

This book, for those of you who have read my other novels, (by the way, thank you!)—St. Anne’s Day and A Shepherd’s Song—is a bit different.  Unlike St. Anne’s Day, which was a romantic comedy, and A Shepherd’s Song, which was a heartwarming Christmas story, Cape Cursed is a romantic suspense in the style of Mary Higgins Clark. 

Since Cape Cursed is set on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and I’m so fond of that stretch of beach, I’m raffling a $25 gift certificate to the OBX store to celebrate the book’s release.  This online store has everything from jewelry and T-shirts to stunning beach photographs and books.  The raffle concludes at midnight on September 3.  So don’t forget to enter.

Outer Banks-Photo by S. C. Miller 

As usual, if you’ve read Cape Cursed or any of my books, please post a review wherever you purchased the book and on Goodreads if you are a member.  The more reviews, the more these sites suggest the book to people browsing for a new read. 

Also, if you like my books, please spread the word to your reading friends and family.  I truly appreciate it.  I love hearing your reactions to the stories, and I also love meeting you.  I have a few events scheduled for the fall.  If you are interested in having me come to your book club, library, ladies group, etc., please email me.  There is no fee and we always have a good time!

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend & Enjoy Cape Cursed! 

Tag--I'm It!

Thanks, Lily Silver, for tagging me for The Next Big Thing Blog Hop.  Lily has a new book The Rock Star Next Door .  It is a modern fairy tale, and who doesn't need a good fairy tale?

The Next Big Thing originated on the She Writes site, as far as we could work out, and is designed to raise awareness of our work, or work in progress. We do that by answering ten questions about it. We graciously thank the person who nominated us, and tag five other authors whose work could well be that NEXT BIG THING.

Lily's book was featured in the Thanks for Great Book Blog Hop & Fall Book Release event that just concluded.  Click here to read more about it.

Now, it's my turn to answer the questions and tag five more writers.  So far, I've struck out on tagging anyone.  If you are interested, please contact me.  It's really not hard and a great way to spread the word about your NEXT BIG THING.

My latest novel, A Shepherd's Song, also debuted during the Thanks for Great Book Blog Hop, but since we are talking about the NEXT BIG THING, I'm going to preview the next book that will come out.

What is the title of your next book?

The title of my next book, which will come out in late spring, is CAPE CURSED. 

I just love the cover my designer created.  

Where did the idea come from for the book?

For more than 20 years, my family has vacationed on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Some years ago, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved inland--a major engineering feat--to save it from the encroaching Atlantic Ocean.  I wondered what would happen if a  Yankee girl's company came to the Outer Banks to move a beloved lighthouse?  Thus CAPE CURSED was born.

What genre does your book fall under?

CAPE CURSED is a romantic suspense.  

 Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Bliss Sherman is the heroine and she is half Korean.  No Asian/American actresses came to mind so I googled some.  Sonia Couling best exemplifies the beautiful woman I see in my mind when I think of Bliss.  

Parker Swain is the handsome descendant of the lighthouse keepers.  He's blond, soft-spoken and a Southern gentleman.  Tim McGraw would be a good one or Matthew MConaughey.  

Nancy Klempner is Bliss's faithful assistant.  She's an athletic, blonde, older woman.  If we could frump up Nicollette Sheridan, she'd be perfect.


What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

When beautiful Bliss Sherman arrives at Cape Destiny to move the cape's beloved lighthouse, she faces an even greater challenge when she falls in love with the handsome, mysterious descendant of the lighthouse keepers, Parker Swain, who is vehemently opposed to her moving the lighthouse and who may be trying to kill her.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? 

I'm a control freak.  I like self-publishing.

 How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

In all honesty, I' don't know. I've lost track.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? 

I'd say it compares to the seaside moodiness of du Maurier's classic Rebecca.  

 Who or What inspired you to write this book?

Strangely, one of the former secretaries where my husband's worked inspired me.  She was  very possessive of the company, even though she had no vested stake in the organization, other than being a regular employee.  Nancy is Bliss's assistant and is devoted to the company much as my husband's co-worker was.  

What else about your book might pique the reader interest?

The Outer Banks is a very romantic as well as treacherous place.  It is called the Graveyard of the Atlantic.  I wanted to capture the romance and danger of that stretch of coastline. 

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to contact me if you'd like to be THE NEXT BIG THING.    

Take It Easy

Several years ago while on vacation at the Outer Banks of North Carolina, my husband, sons, brother and I decided we would like to try our hands at kayaking. We booked a tour, and on the day of it met our guide, Jimmy, a handsome young man with shoulder-length, wavy brown hair in the parking lot of The Pig Man’s Barbecue. Jimmy emerged from his truck wearing a great big smile, but no shoes. His slow, Southern drawl and genteel demeanor made us all downshift our accelerated pace a bit.

When we booked the tour, I had assumed that we would be plying the placid waters of the marshy Albemarle Sound, but Jimmy informed us that we would be heading about 45 minutes inland to a place called Buffalo City, North Carolina. As we drove, it seemed as if with every passing mile we were heading back further into time as civilization rapidly disappeared. When I saw the “Beware of Bears” sign, I realized this was not going to be simply a new form of canoeing.

Outside of the Wyoming Prairie, I have never been to a more remote place than Buffalo City. Situated in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, Buffalo City was once the largest town in Dare County, with 3,000 residents. It existed from the 1870s to the 1950s. From after the Civil War until 1920, it was a logging community, and after that, it became one of the chief producers of moonshine during Prohibition, exporting its contraband to Speakeasies all over the East Coast. After Prohibition ended, the population dwindled and the town was eventually abandoned. Today, you would be hard pressed to find any evidence that the place had ever been inhabited. The only visible sign of life outside of the few kayakers there were the insects that were the size of predator drones and just as fierce.

We doused ourselves in bug spray and listened to Jimmy’s instructions on how to get into the kayak, how to hold the paddle and how to stroke the water. He stressed that you just put the oar in the water and draw it back toward yourself. Simple enough. Before we embarked, Jimmy also dropped this little tidbit: “Oh, by the way, it’s called the Alligator River because there are alligators in the water.”

How comforting to know.

I probably would have been fine had we been on a large body of water, but we were to head down a series of narrow, bayou-type canals, about 12-feet wide, to a lake. I paddled furiously, but I kept going perpendicular and running into the shore. My husband circled back to see if he could help, but I told him I was OK. Finally, when I was so far behind the group, my brother came back and in true brotherly concern said, “Come on doofus, I’ll tow you.”

When we finally got to the lake, Jimmy taught us how to howl and call the red wolves that inhabit the reserve and how to catch dragonflies and put them on the front of your kayak to ward off mosquitoes. Jimmy also taught me something else out on the lake: I was going at kayaking too hard. Instead of gently, lightly stroking the water, I was paddling like I was a galley slave in Spartacus. He told me to take it easy, and when I did, I began to glide across the water with little effort. And in the right direction!

 I’ve discovered that I often do that—I go at things too hard when easy-does-it would work better. Maybe you do that too. Recently, I got a contact lens to help my vision when reading. I had so much trouble removing the lens, I irritated my eye and made it bloodshot for a whole day. Since then, I’ve discovered that I was going at it to hard and a gentle touch is all it takes to remove it. Many of us want to get in shape and start out on restrictive diets, exercising for considerable lengths of time. Fitness experts are always advocating that little changes can yield great results, but that seems too simple to be true.

Saving more money is also a worthy goal that many of us aspire to, but we often attempt to do it by being too Draconian and taking a hatchet to our budget only to fail. I like to track my spending online through my bank. The program it employs lumps all expenses into categories for me. Often when I look at the totals for expenditures like dining out, entertainment or groceries, a little box appears that says something like: Cut 10 percent and save $1,200 a year. Cutting back that small amount seems doable and would bring great rewards.

Many of us have been conditioned to believe that the only way to do something is with a “go-big-or-go-home” attitude, but I’ve learned that Jimmy’s easy-does-it approach is often all that it takes to achieve the best results.

Published in the March 2012 Issue of Northern Connection magazine