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Cover Reveal: Brunch at Bittersweet Cafe
It’s that time again! I’m super excited to reveal the cover of my next book in the Supper Club series, Brunch at Bittersweet Cafe, coming on February 5, 2019. If you’ve read The Saturday Night Supper Club, you’ll remember Melody, Rachel’s bohemian pastry chef and best friend. And if you’ve followed me on social media, you’ll probably know that I went through a little macaron obsession this year while finishing up the book. So this cover feels rather appropriate.
Without further ado, here it is… Brunch at Bittersweet Cafe.
Don’t you love those colors? The eagle-eyed among you might have already seen a version of the cover on the paperback listing on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Why the change? Well, this happens more than you might think in publishing. Once the cover was uploaded, we decided it could use some tweaking to take it from good to great. And I’m very pleased with the final result!
In case you want to know what this one is about, here’s the back cover copy:
From the RITA Award–winning author of Five Days in Skye comes a sweet, romantic treat that will leave you hungry for more.
Baker and pastry chef Melody Johansson has always believed in finding the positive in every situation, but seven years after she moved to Denver, she can’t deny that she’s stuck in a rut. One relationship after another has ended in disaster, and her classical French training is being wasted on her night job in a mediocre chain bakery. Then the charming and handsome private pilot Justin Keller lands on the doorstep of her workplace in a snowstorm, and Melody feels like it’s a sign that her luck is finally turning around.
Justin is intrigued by the lively bohemian baker, but the last thing he’s looking for is a relationship. His own romantic failures have proven that the demands of his job are incompatible with meaningful connections, and he’s already pledged his life savings to a new business venture across the country—an island air charter in Florida with his sister and brother-in-law.
Against their better judgment, Melody and Justin find themselves drawn together by their unconventional career choices and shared love of adventure. But when an unexpected windfall provides Melody with the chance to open her dream bakery-café in Denver with her best friend, chef Rachel Bishop, she’s faced with an impossible choice: stay and put down roots with the people and place she’s come to call home . . . or give it all up for the man she loves.
It’s now available for pre-order at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and ChristianBook.com. Stay tuned for more buying links as they go live!
#2MinWritingTip – Plot and Story
I have a friend who is a brilliant writer, but she was struggling with a particular manuscript. After reading a few dozen pages, I immediately recognized the problem: while a lot of things happened to the character, and they moved the story forward, none of them actually mattered.
This is the main difference between plot and story, and it’s a distinction that trips up writers of all levels, from beginners to expert. In order for your plot points to create a story, they must do one of two things: move the main character toward a goal or move him away from it. That push/pull between a character’s desire and their current situation is what creates conflict, and conflict is what makes a story forward.
So a character might stroll through the center of town, saying hello to her neighbors and buying a bunch of daisies at the local flower shop. You’ve got some plot there. But it doesn’t tell us anything about what she wants or why any of these things matter to her.
But wait. What if she’s just gone through an ugly divorce–with the town’s mayor? The easiest thing would be to move away to a new town where she can start over. But this is her town, too, and she refuses to be driven out when the divorce is as much his fault as it is hers. Now that stroll through town takes on a new meaning and every interaction–positive or negative–moves her either closer to or further from her goal of staking her claim to life in town. Now we’ve got conflict, and consequently, we’ve got story.
[bctt tweet=”In order for your plot points to create a story, they must do one of two things: move the main character toward a goal or move him away from it. #2MinWritingTip #WritingTips”]
#2MinBookReview – Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties by Camille Pagan
This week’s book review is a woman’s fiction title I’ve heard a lot about over the summer and just finally came in at the library! (Love my local library, but that’s a topic for another day…) This is my first Camille Pagán book but it won’t be my last!
Tags: Camille Pagan, marriage, Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties, women's fiction
A Writer’s Life: Ronie Kendig
In this edition of A Writer’s Life, I’m pleased to welcome my friend and colleague, author Ronie Kendig. Ronie’s military fiction has won her the Christy Award, the Holt Medallion, and the Selah Award, as well as many others…and she happens to have a fantasy-writing alter ego just as I do! Please join me in welcoming her as she talks about a very important topic for writers– maintaining your mental health amidst the chaos of a professional writing career.
Ronie is also generously giving away one copy of her newest book, Thirst of Steel, to one winner… so don’t forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of the post!
“Crushed in the Chaos” Becomes “Crushing the Chaos”
“There is nothing to writing. All you do it sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Ernest Hemingway had it right—writing (for most creatives) is an act of pouring ourselves out onto the page. For me, it’s my therapy. Seriously not kidding. I’ve long said I’m not a very nice person when I don’t get to write, and that’s true. So very true.
But what happens when life crowds your time and your emotional resources? When you’re crushed between deadlines, family commitments, and simply living?
Our family has been through the wringer over the last five years, but the most recent eighteen months were downright brutal. Nine of those my husband didn’t have a job. And though I had multiple back-to-back deadlines, I found myself crushed in the chaos. I didn’t want to write because there was nothing left in me from which to draw. I think my muse was on life support.
“Just hang in there. This too shall pass.” I’d heard that so many times, and it was true. Only problem was that something else swooped in immediately after, so the stress remained, though the stressors changed. And I came to realize—I can’t live like this. Life was dictating how I should live, and that had to change. Because I discouraged and distressed. Out of that adventure in the chaos came three truths that helped me get back to writing, find myself and my joy again:
1.) Choice – It’s a choice. I know—that’s seems like such an oversimplified answer. It makes us want to reject it because it’s so simple. But Ronie—I have a deadline. I can’t just walk away. I have kids who need to be fed. I have dogs that need training and walking. I have . . .
Yes. We do. But the chaos should not manage us or dictate our reactions, which often create more chaos (maybe that’s just me). It’s our choice how we respond, but also how much capital of our emotional energy to spend on a stressor or disappointment. There were things I had to just decide they couldn’t swallow what little strength I had at the time.
2.) Protection – God has blessed us with a life and allowed us to be writers. I remember so many times—months on end—sitting down
to get a book finished and thinking with clenched teeth, “I have to write.” Because the deadline was there. Looming. Taunting. But I still had no energy. No time. No desire. Then I heard a message online from my previous church where we lived before, and the pastor said, “We don’t have to worship. We get to worship.” And it clicked that the same was true of writing—I don’t have to write. I get to write. It’s easy to fall pretty to the victim syndrome because we have so many demands on our time, but as stated in #1, it’s a choice. And that means. I *get* to write. It was pretty amazing how changing that thought from the have-to to the get-to altered perception and mood.
3.) No – That two-letter word is a very powerful and freeing word. As authors, we get caught up in the striving and doing, often to the detriment of our minds and bodies. Social media is a beast that demands so much of ‘us’ because this industry has transformed so much, the emphasis shifting to catering to readers rather than protecting (#2) and caring for the writers. There is truly only so much we authors can do to affect the success of our books, and most of that comes before it ever hits the shelves. While we need to be present and visible with our readers, we we also must protect ourselves and our choice (#1) by guarding our thoughts and time.
Again, those three might seem over-simplistic, but letting them become unmovable truths in my life has helped me find better footing while the chaos rages on. In essence, that’s learning to crush the chaos.
Ronie Kendig is an award-winning, bestselling author of over twenty titles. She grew up an Army brat, and now she and her Army-veteran husband live a short train ride from New York City with their children and retired military working dog. Ronie’s degree in psychology has helped her pen novels of intense, raw characters. Visit Ronie online at:
