Based on a True Story?

I get asked  often if my books are based on real life.  More accurately, I get asked if my books are my own love story written down.  The short answer is no.  My own story is precious to me because it's mine, but not something that I think others would find very interesting.  My books are pure fiction.

Having said that, there are a few elements that I can very much relate to in my stories.  In "Best Laid Plans", Kate and Jeff were high school sweethearts and my husband was my high school sweetheart.  Now we've been married for over thirteen years.  I do think that my own history made it so that I didn't feel like it was too far fetched to believe that Kate and Jeff could have been very strongly attached to each other even when they were teenagers.  To be honest, it sort of runs in my family.  My parents and grandparents were both high school sweethearts as well so I've seen that those high school relationships can become deep, lasting relationships.

Kate also has a peculiarity that I share.  It's the tea drinking.  I love the smell of coffee, but I can't stand the taste of it.  However, I absolutely love to drink tea!  I'm not quite as fastidious as she is about tea though.  I don't always have loose leaf tea and I don't always use a cup and saucer, tea pots or sugar cubes.  I do love it when I can take the time to enjoy all the pretty things that belong to tea, but they aren't necessary for me.

I also very much enjoy my food, just like Kate.  I'm not as good as she is about balancing it, but I'm working on it.  I absolutely love to sit down to a really good meal and both my husband and I love cooking so that means that I get to sit down to good meals often.  There have been times when I am really enjoying my food and tell my husband that food should not make me as happy as it does.  I figure that God created food to be enjoyed though, because even in Heaven we'll get to sit down to a feast!

Georgia from "Smell the Roses" and I don't share as much in common.  There is one thing that we do share, besides being short and blonde, and that is our tendency to cram our calendars full.  I really felt like God had me write Georgia's story to speak straight to my heart.  I used to just say yes to almost anything that came along, but now I have to look at my calendar and really think about whether or not it's worth it.  I've put myself in a near panic attack before by putting too much on myself, but I try hard not to make my life so crazy. Having three children definitely adds to my schedule - I have one who wants to do ballet, drama, choir, orchestra, you name it and another who wants to do sports.  My third is still too young to want to do extra activities and I'm thankful for that right now, but I know the day is coming when she'll be asking to do something, too.  I have to limit what my children do as well.  I don't want our family to never see each other or spend time together because we're constantly running to this practice and that performance and this game.  Sometimes the decisions are difficult, but I'd rather my kids focus on a few things that they truly love to do than to cram their lives full of activity for the sake of activity.

I guess the answer to the question is a bit more complicated than a yes or no.  No, my books are not based on my own love life.  Yes, there are elements of my characters or plots that have some basis in my own life.  I suppose that most authors have some element of themselves in their books.

Best Laid Plans
Smell the Roses

My Valentine

I suppose it would be normal to assume that an author who writes romance novels would love Valentine's Day.  It would probably be her favorite holiday - all those hearts and flowers and romance every where.  For me and my husband, we enjoy Valentine's Day and we observe it, but I enjoy many days of the year.  Honestly, I think that most days have something to celebrate, something to make it memorable.  Even the every day kind of days seem like they can hold buried treasure.  Sure there are days that I wish I could go back and redo the entire day or days that I wish had never happened, but all in all, I'm content with my life.

My husband and I are celebrating our nineteenth Valentine's together this year!  We used to buy gifts for each other, but, now that we have three children, the gift we value most is time together.  A few years ago we decided that our gift to each other would be a date night.  Sometimes, it's dinner and a movie and sometimes we send the kids off to one of the grandparents and get an entire night alone together.  This year we get a night alone!  My kids are excited - even now their suitcases are packed and they're anxiously waiting for me.  The grandparents enjoy a night with the grandchildren.  Joel and I enjoy getting to be just us once again.

Tomorrow I'll get my children back and I will be happy to wrap my arms around them and hear about all the ways they got spoiled while they were at their grandparents house, but for tonight, I get to go back in time and just be with my Valentine.  Those precious moments are sometimes hard for parents to grasp, but so important.  It's nice to have an evening where we're not "mom" and "dad", we're just Joel and Courtney.

I hope you are able to spend time with your loved ones this Valentine's Day, but even if you're alone, remember that 1 John 4:10 says "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."  There's no greater love than that!  Happy Valentine's Day!

Writer's Envy

I started reading a book that my friend, Meghan, gave me for Christmas. Not only was I completely envious that this author's book is 560 pages long (remember my struggle to make 200 pages?), but she is a tremendous wordsmith.  This author has a way of drawing you in from the first page and creating images with her words that are just fantastic.  Her use of similes and metaphors are phenomenal.  I was definitely envious of her ability to write.

But then I started thinking a little further about it.  First of all, I don't know how long she's been writing, but I do know that I am a novice.  I have already learned a lot, and I know that I have tons more to learn.  Some things I may learn in time, but even if I don't, the world is full of different types of authors and genres and that's a beautiful thing!

Another thing is that we write two very different genres.  I'm not quite sure how to describe this book's genre, but it's dark, mysterious, as Meghan put it, "other-worldly".  Her settings are as much a character as the actual characters in the book.  Description is extremely important for conveying mood and tone and you need to be able to see the old, crumbling castle to be able to get the proper mood of the story.  Mine are much different. Mine are light-hearted romances.  My stories are more about the situations and the interactions of characters than about any particular setting.

As far as length goes, I'm pretty sure most readers would be frustrated if I tried to keep writing for 560 pages.  I think there would be an "all right already" feeling to the book.  On the flip side, if the book I'm reading was only 200 pages, I think most readers would feel like all the build-up and suspense were a let down.  I'm still going to try to keep lengthening my books, but I don't ever want to get them so long that my readers end up frustrated, bored, or, worse yet, giving up on the story all together.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with where I am.  I know I'm still learning, but honestly, I hope that I'll still be learning for the rest of my life.  I write a genre that I love and I feel like I'm pretty good at telling a story.  Reading has always been one of my favorite hobbies.  I know that by reading other authors, I can learn a lot.  Not necessarily to imitate them, because everyone has their own style and personality, but I can still pick up ideas for how to use my words better or craft a better story.