6 Questions from the Porch Swing for Carmella Alessio

Perhaps the only character readers of Casting the First Stone liked less than Jim was his mother, Carmella. Even off the page, she's a little intimidating, but I managed to sit her down in a booth at her restaurant and fire off a few questions. Have one you'd like to ask? Post it in the comments and I'll try to get her to reply.

Where will we find you when you�re not on the page of the book we�re reading?

C: At the restaurant, making sure my daughters aren�t slacking off.

What�s something we�d be surprised to know about you?

C: None of your business.

What are your thoughts on children?

C: They should be seen and not heard. And some of them shouldn�t even be seen.

What regrets do you have?

C: None. Regrets are a waste of time.

Whom do you admire? My mother. She came to this country with nothing and she and my father worked hard to make sure my brothers and I were fed and clothed and had warm beds. Dominic and Francis graduated high school and Giovanni even went to college for a while until my father needed him at the deli. She raised us while my father ran the business and she did office work for the deli at night. No one worked harder than my mother.

Is there anyone who meets with your approval? Jimmy, of course, and Jim senior, my husband. 

All pictures courtesy of Pixabay. 

What picture in this post best matches your vision of Carmella? 

Post your answer in the comments and I'll enter you 

in a drawing for a $5 Amazon gift card (enough to buy both books :-) 

This drawing will take place sometime in July, after a few of these interviews have been posted.

Ahhh.....

Pixabay

I am in my happy place.

Yes, I am posting terribly late. Yes, I barely know what day it is. But I am in my happy place.

As I type this, I'm sitting on a screened-in porch at the beach. It's 73 degrees, there's a slight breeze and, aside from a few too many flies, I have nothing to complain about.

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks. A writing conference. My daughter's prom, end of classes and graduation. Her week at the beach. Her college orientation. Three graduation parties. A little bit of writing, a lot of packing and a house that looks as though someone shook it and turned it upside down.

But I'm not there. I'm here. At the beach. When I go home, there will be sorting and organizing and a return to real life -- perhaps even a schedule of some sort. I will get back into a writing routine, start thinking about fall classes, begin chipping away at the college shopping list. And, because it's summer, I'll also read, nap, relax and do everything on my list at a more relaxed pace.

When I get home.

For now, I am at the beach. On the patio.

In my happy place.

Friday Feature: The Ups and Downs of College Freshmen...and Their Parents

http://www.erhs.la/academics/college/

I'm typing this from a hotel room in Connecticut, having spent the day at a parent orientation. My daughter starts her freshman year of college in two months, and while she's on campus for her orientation, the staff at the college is spending time gently ushering parents into the new phase of life that is to come.

I made it through graduation with barely a tear. ("Pomp and Circumstance" got me, but I'm blaming that on classical conditioning). I grinned and applauded as my daughter received her diploma, largely because she was grinning. And proud.

This morning, I was genuinely amused by the enthusiasm of the orientation leaders, even as they whisked my daughter out of the car and into a dorm. I was more bothered by the lyrics in the music that was blasting than the efficiency with which my daughter disappeared.

qu.edu

But the speeches to the parents this morning? Those got me.

Mostly, it was the fact that they caught me off-guard. I thought of orientation as, you know, getting oriented. Figuring out who's who, what's what and which things are where. I wasn't expecting to be part of an opening ceremony which was billed as "saying goodbye," let alone a direct discussion about the changes we'd be going through as parents.

Yikes.

Once that was over, though, there were some good things to be heard. And so, in the spirit of this new phase of life, I wanted to share some information along the lines of what I heard this morning -- information that focuses on the ups and downs of college freshmen which, as it turns out, often follow a pretty predictable path.

I was warned that these next two months will go quickly. I was given advice about letting go and increasing responsibility. As a former school counselor and a current college instructor, none of this was surprising.

What's surprising is that eighteen years flew by so quickly.

6 Questions from the Porch Swing for Gregory Daniels

See below. Can you help?

Like most authors, I know more about my characters than will ever appear on the page. So, today, I'm kicking off a new feature in which I interview characters from Casting the First Stone and Chasing a Second Chance. Readers of Casting the First Stone may remember Gregory Daniels not for his legal skills (which he never got to show off), but rather for his unfortunate orange tan. Or perhaps you remember him for his ability to take Marita's mind off the unpleasantness of her custody mediation with Jim. 

Here's what Gregory has to say for himself. Have a question? Post it in the comments and he'll reply (via me, of course).

Where will we find you when you�re not on the page of the book we�re reading?

GD: At work, in court, in the law library or at the gym.

What�s something we�d be surprised to know about you?

GD: I worked as a barista to put myself through law school. I used to say I went from barista to barrister.

What are your thoughts on children?

GD: Hard to say, since I�m not a parent. My niece and nephews are pretty cool, but outside of that, I don�t have a lot of experience with kids.

What regrets do you have?

GD: Not trying harder with Marita. 

Whom do you admire?

GD: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Even at eighty-something, she�s feisty, smart and has a hunger to see justice served.

What was the deal with that orange tan?

GD (shakes head): Rookie error. I've given up tanning salons, and if I ever change my mind, I won't go back to that one again.  

What do you think Gregory Daniels looks like? 

Find a picture and post it in the comments and I'll enter you 

in a drawing for a $5 Amazon gift card (enough to buy both books :-) 

This drawing will take place sometime in July, after a few of these interviews have been posted.

If you submit a photo I think captures the character, I'll add it to the interview post --

and I'll credit you, of course. 

Muddling Through Monday

Pixabay

Today is a muddled kind of Monday. Celebration aftereffects have co-mingled with reality and the burgeoning independence of my newly minted graduate to create a mental morass that makes it hard to focus on a topic, let alone write about one.

Then I remember. Writers don't need to be constrained by anything as mundane and inconvenient as reality. If today is too confusing, too upsetting, too overwhelming, I merely need to leave it behind and enter the world of my characters. Doing so is hard work, and the on-ramp to this world is often uphill, but writing is also a vacation of sorts; it's a way to leave behind the puzzling pieces of the real world and weave a world of my own choosing where I am the master of what occurs. At least until my characters step in to voice their opinions.

Speaking of which, my characters will be doing the talking right here, beginning this Wednesday as I kick off a new feature where I interview some of the players from Casting the First Stone and Chasing a Second Chance. I've spoken with a few of them already (yes, I know how that sounds), so I have a few interviews ready to go, but I'm also happy to take requests, as I'm subjecting all of them to the same interview process.

Also, if you're looking for some fun summer reads, I hope you'll visit The Beach Reads Bonanza, a Facebook party which kicks off tomorrow at noon CST (1 PM ET). I'm up first, hosting from 1-1:30 or so, and will be followed by a flood of authors chatting and sharing book information. There will be games, prizes and great titles to add to your summer wish list, so I hope you'll stop by :-) The Beach Reads Bonanza runs through Monday, June 13.

And now, back to reality...or not. I hear it's overrated.

Photo: Pippalou via Morguefile

Friday Feature: Are You Bored Yet?

Pixabay

Ah, summer vacation. The long-awaited time of year when alarm clocks can be temporarily disabled, lazy days can stretch into lazy evenings and the sun is still out after dinner.

Ask any parent what the greatest summer affliction is, however, and most will agree. Sunburn? Nope. Poison ivy? Not that either.

Boredom.

Why is it that the very same kids who couldn't wait for summer to get here run out of ideas for entertaining themselves about fifteen minutes after vacation starts?

Inquiring minds really do want to know.

Boredom, as it turns out, is an area of interest for neuroscientists, who want to figure out what exactly it is, and what's at its root. And, although neuroscience doesn't have answers to those questions yet, researchers do know that boredom is often a trigger for binge-eating, and it plays a role in academic achievement -- or the lack thereof -- as well. Ready for a more dramatic connection?  Patients diagnosed with traumatic brain injury seem to have a higher rate of boredom than their uninjured peers.

How about you? Are you bored? Take the quiz here to find out.

Character Study

Created with Canva

When I set out to write a novel, the first thing I do is create my characters. Protagonists and those who interact with them regularly get serious treatment. Before I write a single word, or even let my imagination move beyond the inciting event or main idea of the story, I create a character profile. I know more about my character than will ever make it onto the page, but, for me, this is a necessary step in knowing how she (or he) will act once she (or he) enters the story.

Take Jim, for example. Angel's husband, Charli's father, Marita's nemesis. Readers of Casting the First Stone and Chasing a Second Chance have been quick to point out how little they like him. That's okay. I don't like him either.

The question is, do his actions make sense? Spend a little time with his mother, Carmella, and I suspect they might. Think about the expectations placed on him, how he got to where he is, what mistakes he's made and what his regrets might be. While the reader shouldn't have to think too deeply about these things, the author should know how those things impact his day-to-day, page-to-page behavior and should write him to be true to those things.

Secondary characters get less attention, and those who appear briefly get even less. While I often develop a little background for these characters (parents, best friends, other regulars), I typically know just enough to populate scenes with them. What I know most about them is how they fit in with my main cast of characters -- how they blend or work as foils.

Then, there are those who pop up, only to disappear within a chapter or two. They get a name, perhaps a job or another distinguishing role, and that's about it. These are the siblings, classmates, and rejected love interests.

Recently, I was thinking about one of those rejected love interests, Gregory Daniels. Originally, he was going to be a more significant love interest, then he had to go and be "beige" on his (offscreen) date with Marita. His fault, not mine. We know that he's an attorney, he's smart (he graduated from Harvard Law School) and he is, in typical walk-on fashion, able to be summed up in a label (metrosexual) that brings an immediate picture to mind. Never mind whether or not it's accurate; he'll be gone in a few pages.

Thinking about Gregory led me to another idea: character interviews -- something along the lines of the "Five Questions from the Porch Swing" feature I did with authors earlier this year. Starting next week, I'll be interviewing my characters here, asking each of them the same few questions, with one final question that's character-specific. Although I have ideas, I haven't finalized my questions yet, so I'm open to suggestions.

So, I'll ask you. What do you want to know? And, whom should I interview first?*

Created with Canva

*The only caveat is that we have to stick to my characters.

I can't claim to know why another author's characters would behave as they do.