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Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life
AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
Dear Reader,
Today's guest column is written by Deirdre Donahue, a book reviewer for USA TODAY. In fact, that's how I met Deirdre. Two years ago, Deirdre interviewed me for a story she was working on, when my book Muffins and Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life was released. Please welcome Deirdre to the book clubs. Send an email, she would love to hear from you and will definitely reply. Her email address is: [email protected]
Welcome Deirdre, take it away...
"Pixie Dust"
How to explain the alchemy of words and imagination that result in fictional characters who jump from the page and into a reader's heart?
The only answer I can give is "pixie dust," the magical X factor that some writers possess. It can't be taught in a creative writing program nor can an editor bestow it. It has nothing to do with genre and everything to do with an author's voice. You can discover it in inexpensive paperback romances as well as prize-winning literary novels.
I can't define it though I can describe the sensation of finding it, usually in the very first paragraph. The back of my neck tingles and I feel compelled to keep reading. This compulsion can turn a novel into an enemy of productivity. Neither my boss on the phone nor my children can distract me. Meals cooked while I am so engrossed are haphazard at best, and, at worst, a danger to health. I never text or talk on my cell phone while driving but I have read passages from certain novels--Stephen Carter's The Emperor of Ocean Park for one--while stopped at red lights. Only the honks of annoyed drivers made me realize the light had turned green.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry even challenged my maternal devotion. Returning home from my first business trip away from my then-toddler son, I inhaled this tale of two ex-Texas Rangers leading a cattle drive north. The deaths of certain characters required me to leave my economy seat to weep in the airplane bathroom. After the plane landed, I sat in the terminal and finished the last chapters before going home to my little boy. Though that extra hour alone with his father didn't hurt him, my inability to stop reading still embarrasses me.
When confronted with "pixie dust," technology has only eroded my will power. For a time, I was a slave to my eReader, incessantly downloading books. I have now mostly returned to the printed page as my preferred platform but my digital library reveals my passion for romance novels. It began with Rachel Gibson's Nothing But Trouble, part of her addictive series about a fictional Seattle professional hockey team. Noticing it on the USA TODAY bestseller list, I downloaded a free sample. Enchanted by its humor and insight, I bought the eBook and gobbled it up that night. The next morning, I bought all of Gibson's eBooks. Faced with the collapse of my 19-year-marriage and print journalism's uncertain future, reading her romances boosts my spirits. Part of their appeal is the guarantee that, here at least, the endings will always be happy. Gibson's "pixie dust" is how she creates laughter and surprises along the way.
After my mother died from a heart attack, Bridget Jones's Diary became something even more remarkable--a distraction from grief on the train ride from Washington D.C. to the funeral on Long Island. In the middle of one of life's hardest journeys, I found myself laughing out loud at this charming tale about an imaginary young Londoner's search for her own Mr. Darcy. I remember putting down the book to marvel that Helen Fielding's heroine had made me forget for a few moments my sad destination.
Such is the power of "pixie dust."
When Deirdre's not writing about books for USA TODAY, she's busy working on her first romance novel. Send Deirdre an email. She'd love to hear from you and she will reply. Email: [email protected]
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.muffinsandmayhem.com
AUTHORBUZZ: REDWOOD BEND (Fiction) by Robyn Carr
Can changing a tire change your life?
While driving along the mountain roads to Virgin River with her twin boys, Katie is stopped short by a tire as flat as her failed romance. When Katie's having trouble changing the tire on her SUV, Dylan Childress, enters the picture, a sexy, leather-clad biker on the motorcycle trip of a lifetime with his buddies. While the guys check out her tire, Katie and Dylan check out each another.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on REDWOOD BEND to find out more about the book and the author, Robyn Carr. Send her an email, she'd love to hear from you.
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