Loss of an Artistic Genius
It’s hard not to think with great sadness about the loss of musical genius Prince this week.
Not long ago he dominated the music world with Michael Jackson and Madonna. He was a prolific creator, at one point told he had too much product to offer. He was rumored at one time to write a song a day, and is known to have a Vault of songs tucked away somewhere that no one has ever heard (yet). He also sang, wrote, produced, and played a litany of instruments, often recording his music one instrument at a time.
He was an original. Carson Daly said on the Today Show that in the 90’s, everyone imitated him, tried to be like him, tried to capture that magic sauce. Freedom was important to him, to be able to create anything he wanted to, and he stood up for that.
He was a musician, and he knew who he was. Original, flamboyant, prolific, joyful, confident. A show master.
Being a writer gives me a small inkling of understanding into the creative process. I don’t understand much about the creation of art, just that it is at times stressful, competitive, and difficult. To be a person who embraces all of that and so clearly knows who he is is a feat few of us master in a lifetime. To unlock that freedom within yourself and not be affected by outside pressures and become a full expression of who you are is…miraculous.
Rest in peace.
Along the Towpath
Just a reminder, dear readers…I’m giving away $10 Amazon gift cards to two randomly selected newsletter subscribers before my next newsletter goes out later this month (last week in April). All you have to do to be eligible is to sign up for my newsletter here.
I don’t know if you’ve had a childhood like mine–where there were two ways to get around, and your mom or dad driving you around wasn’t one of them! Our friends were the kids on our street (period) and if you couldn’t walk it or bike it to wherever you had to go, you stayed home. This is of course very different from today when we drive our kids EVERYWHERE.
The fabulous bike path tin the Cuyahoga Valley Metroparks.
Yes, it was a simpler time, yada yada. But I think the best thing I got from those years of getting around on our own (besides a love of independence and maybe even a sense of exploration) was a love of walking and of riding my bicycle. Sometimes I’m sad when I think my kids never got to experience going anywhere alone. (But the world is a different place now, isn’t it? More fears and worries, yes?)
I live in northern Ohio. We are a strong people here. According to the internet, Cleveland ranks as the 5th cloudiest city in the U.S., tallying in with a grand total of 55% of all days with heavy cloud cover (Thank you, Lake Erie!). Between the clouds and the long winters, we pride ourselves on a certain amount of mental and physical toughness.
One of the old locks (from the 1800’s) of the Ohio and Erie Canal.
So when the weather finally turns nice (around now, April) we Northeastern Ohioans come out in droves, I mean absolute droves, to our beautiful Metroparks along the old Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath trail. The leaves aren’t quite out yet, but these parks are stunningly beautiful whatever the weather. And the bike trails are phenomenal!
In these pics, you can see the glassy Cuyahoga river, fields that will be loaded with corn in a few months, and a quaint town along one of the bike paths. And most importantly, ice cream in my bike helmet at a half-way point. (Hey, it’s fuel for the journey!)
After weeks of buckling down to get a book done, it is a great joy to get out there in the beautiful spring!
Corn!…In a few months 🙂
The clear-glass surface of the Cuyahoga River.
Have a great week!
Meet Preston from A Man of Honor
–Hi, folks! I’ve got one more week of deadline! So in the meantime, here are a few items to share:
–Wanted to remind you to please sign up for my newsletter! (You can do this by clicking the “Join My Newsletter” button on the very top of the Home page here. My next newsletter will go out later this month and will include a prize for a lucky subscriber. To enter, all you have to do is be on the list!
–Meet my hero Preston Guthrie’s…um…chest. And I think you’ll agree it’s a very fine one! This cover is a little edgy, but then so is Preston…he’s’s a war hero but he’s still got a lot to fight for once he returns home…I’m excited to say that you’ll get to meet him on June 20, the release date of A MAN OF HONOR, coming from Entangled Publishing.
Back to work for me, and see you next week! (Please don’t drool on the dragon :))
Meet Sam and Lukas from This Loving Feeling
I’m approaching a big deadline, so instead of the traditional blog today, I wanted to share a few items of news:
–Wanted to remind you to please sign up for my newsletter! (You can do this by clicking the “Join My Newsletter” button on the very top of the Home page here. My next newsletter will go out later this month and will include a prize for a lucky subscriber. To enter, all you have to do is be on the list!
–Here’s my new cover for This Loving Feeling, my next Montlake book which is releasing July 19. Meet Samantha and Lukas!
I’m really excited for this book! If you’ve read the other Mirror Lake books, you’ve seen Sam first as a young college student tormenting her brother Brad, and then as a young woman trying to forget Lukas Spikonos, the sexy bad-boy auto mechanic who aged out of the foster system and who almost killed himself on his motorcycle by nearly wrecking into a chicken truck. And who finally left Mirror Lake…and Sam…behind.
Well, six years have passed–Sam’s all grown up now and Lukas has become a wildly popular recording artist…and he’s back! Here’s the blurb from Amazon:
Samantha Rushford’s future looks bright: the high school art teacher is getting ready to leave Mirror Lake and move to Boston with her ambitious boyfriend, and she hopes a diamond ring is just around the corner. But her past still has a hold on her—especially the bittersweet memory of her rebellious ex, who kissed her passionately before he left town without a word.
Since then, Lukas Spikonos has parlayed his rebel ways into life as an up-and-coming recording artist. When he shows up for a surprise gig at the high school prom, Sam is more dumbstruck than starstruck—he used the words of a poem she wrote about their breakup to create a number one hit. But Lukas hasn’t returned just to impress students; he’s facing some real-life responsibilities and needs Sam’s help. But she has her own unresolved issues about the life she wants to lead. Will the music—and the pull of true love and family—put their hearts back in harmony?
This Loving Feeling is up for pre-order on Amazon for a special pre-order price (the price will go up once the book releases.) (Note: it’s not necessary to read the other books first, even though it might be fun!) You can check out more here.
Okay, back to writing. Happy Saturday!
Where They Put the Books
My local grocery store has recently undergone a huge remodel. Shopping has become more stressful–and more decadent–as we are confronted with the largest array ever of any kind of edible product imaginable. We are blessed and over blessed to have a worldwide market of products at our fingertips. But that’s a different topic entirely–telling you how I really feel about an overwhelming amount of lettuce types or ten different kinds of milk or adapting to the sights and sounds of musical entertainment while I rush in to grab food. There’s a new way to shop, and I’m processing it. Let’s just say I never thought I’d live to see the day when buying an essential, food, was so based on impulse buys like anywhere else you shop.
Turns out, the placement of food products is based on (marketing) science. You can read all about it here. It’s no accident that the most popular products are on the second and third shells from the top, or that big companies pay for endcap placement just like publishers do in bookstores.
I was kind of shocked that I’d never thought about this particular product placement before the remodel: books. You know what I mean, the display of grab-n-go paperbacks that usually figure prominently somewhere on your way out. I can’t tell you when I last bought a paperback at the grocery store–maybe if I just had to have one right now, or if a book was (rarely) on sale, but I used to look–every trip. A quick glance to see what books were featured, what was bestselling, what genres of romance were prominent…it was a treat for me. A fun moment. A reward for hunting and gathering my food.
I realized something about how it was before: I’d tackle the grocery list then the store used to literally dump the shopper out into a prominent aisle that contained books. They were literally in front of your face and it was easy to wheel your cart a little to the right to browse them.
During the remodeling, I followed the books as they moved around into various out-of-the-way places. The worst was next to the beer near the front of the store. Not that books and spirits don’t go together, but this location was accessible either at the very beginning of the store flow (no time to browse when you’re all about business) or after checkout (too late).
So now the books are at the end of an aisle (convenient) but before dairy. Not in the prominent I-just-ran-right-into-the books-on-my-way-to-the-registers location that I loved. But not as bad as being stuck in the middle of the store next to the greeting cards. I have to readjust my thinking and steer up an aisle before my shopping’s done.
Maybe that’s a sign of getting older, not understanding change, but I’m adapting.
And hey, a book’s a book. Not much I wouldn’t do for one of those.