​I have posted other blogs about my relationship with my muse, Brigid.  Over the last few weeks I have needed help with writing craft issues and our work together has moved a direction I never expected.
Several weeks ago I decided I wanted to write a scene that would foreshadow a major event in my protagonist, Ian Murphy’s life, an event that changes his direction in life.  My first idea was to write a dream sequence.  I googled how to write a dream sequence and most recommendations were to not write a dream sequence.  I asked a writer friend and he gave very little advice and I was uncomfortable with my decision after my Google research.
I contacted Brigid and asked her opinion of writing a dream sequence.  She said, as a reader, she wasn’t fond of dream sequences.  Then she asked why I wanted to write a dream sequence.  I can’t imagine why I didn’t share my purpose initially, but it happens.  She understood why I wanted a scene to foreshadow at this point in my manuscript and suggested writing a déjà vu scene rather than a dream sequence.  She felt the déjà vu scene would be more understandable by readers and didn’t have the pitfalls of writing a dream sequence.
I then googled how to write a déjà vu scene and was surprised that I couldn’t find any articles on that topic.  I did find a lot of articles on explaining déjà vu and various types of déjà vu, which did help me.  I started with a blank page and just wrote.  When I read my draft it felt clunky and I wasn’t pleased with it.  I sent the scene to Brigid and asked for her suggestions.
Within a day she sent me not only suggestions but edited the scene and gave me alternative sentences.  One sentence she wrote gave the exact impression I wanted: Again, the overwhelming sense of familiarity washed over me and I my chest tightened.  My draft lacked imagery and Ian’s physical reaction.  I asked Brigid if I could “steal” her suggested sentences.  She responded by telling me I couldn’t steal what was freely given.
I merged Brigid’s suggestions and made a few other edits and sent a third draft to Brigid sharing my view that the third draft worked and accomplished giving the reader a good foreshadowing.  Brigid agreed so I knit the scene into my manuscript.
The thrill for me was that we were writing together.  It was not just a one way conversation with me looking for support or inspiration or craft help.  We wrote together.   This is my third novel and I have never collaborated with anyone while writing the initial draft.  It is a completely different experience than working with a copyeditor or content editor and I’ve finished a manuscript.
It is a joy to write with Brigid because it changes my world.         

​Last Saturday I participated with 36 other others in an afternoon book festival.  The library is located on a main arterial road in West Allis and has a very large parking lot.  The festival was located in the entrance atrium and two conference rooms just off the atrium.
An author’s location was determined by when you sent in the table fee.  I was the first author to send in my fee so I had the primo location.  The primo location turned out to be just to the left of the interior entrance to the library.  My table was set next to the automatic door so that when the door opened it hit the edge of the table and trapped me behind the table.  I didn’t have anywhere else to go so that wasn’t a problem.  Sixteen of the thirty-seven authors were located in the atrium.  The table fee was used to provide door prizes and snack food for attendees.
The librarian organizer promised that their library had a reputation for a lot of patron traffic on Saturdays.  The theory was that people coming to a library are readers which should be perfect for authors selling books.  The theory, as it turns out, is flawed.  People visiting the library are readers but they borrow from the library, they don’t buy.  I had several people walk up to my table and boldly announce that they don’t buy books.  But they did want to engage in conversation with an author and fulfill their own social needs.  In side I was screaming to myself to move along, let people who will buy my books come up to the table.  I did have to use my best diplomatic skills to get folks to move along.  Several times I suggested they visit the room with fresh snacks.
The event was scheduled from 1:00-4:30 pm.  The library was open until 6:00 pm so it wasn’t clear to me why the event ended at 4:30 – my guess is that it had something to do with the librarian’s work hours.  At 4:00 pm they had a Question and Answer session with 10 authors selected at random.  The authors around my table all agreed that 4:00 would be the effective end of the event and we were right.
It was sad by the two authors on my left and the three authors on my right had a total of about three sales for the entire day.  As the romance author to my right said, she talked to a lot of readers.
I was fortunate; I sold enough books to pay for the table fee and my gas to drive to the event from my net proceeds.  So, financially the event was a success if my direct costs are covered.  My measure of success isn’t financial.  I am a legacy author not a wana be commercial author.  I did meet a number of interesting people.  One fellow told me he didn’t like the Irish because he said they believed in unicorns.  There have been a number of reasons the Irish are disliked but his was the most unique.  I tried to convince him that there are no unicorns in Irish mythology; I don’t think he believed me.  I suggested he try the snacks in the conference room.       

Wisconsin Public Libraries always support Wisconsin Authors.   On Saturday March 19, 2016 the West Allis Library at 7421 West National Ave. West Allis, WI is hosting the WISCONSIN AUTHOR FESTIVAL from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm.  The event is for all ages of readers.  Come and meet authors, purchase signed copies of books, enjoy treats and giveaways.  At 4:00 pm there will be an Author question and answer session.
I will be selling my two historical novels:  Murphy’s Troubles and Out of Darkness at a special Wisconsin Author Festival price of TWO BOOKS FOR $20.
 
www.westalliswi.gov/library
http://www.facebook.com/WestAllisLibrary/
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​I have been a reader all my life.  In large part, because my father didn’t believe in buying books, I relied on the public library, which also turns out to be fine because the result has been that I love libraries, they feel like home.
For most of my adult life I’ve also belonged to a book club.  I’ve been a member of the Tuesday Morning Book Talk for about 16 years.  The variety of books we’ve read and commented on in that time is awe inspiring.  I also lead the discussion for the Wednesday Afternoon Book Club at our local library.  I’m in my second year of being the group leader.
Most months I read at least two books a month to participate in these book groups.  Pew research indicates that half of the American population reads five or fewer books a year and have read five or more a year.  Pew also found that in 2014 23% of Americans didn’t read one book a year.  I’ll never forget the story of a friend that purchased my first novel, Murphy’s Troubles, and told me it was the first book he read since high school, and he’s a successful retired insurance agent.  I joked with him that I was going to make him a character in my second book, Out of Darkness, and I did.
The point is, not to brag, but I feel I have some reading chops.  I have learned that becoming an author myself, my reading and appreciation for fiction, in particular, have changed dramatically.  I now view every book as a learning tool and I now analyze the craft or lack of it much more than I’ve ever done before.
One book group recently read The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides, a Pulitzer Prize Winner.  I waded through half the book and never could be empathetic or even care about any of the characters.  I researched Litlovers.com for reviews and an analysis, certain I was missing something.  I learned the theme of the book was about young folks and relationships.  What I read was about drifting college kids having sex as often as they could.  In terms of craft there are many passages that drift off into arcane detail that I found boring.  I gave it up.
The next selection was Richard Russo’s Straight Man.  I am a huge Russo fan and even had the chance to meet him at the Wisconsin Book Festival several years ago.  Straight Man is a 1998 book about a middle age college professor who has been the interim department head of an English department for a tiny college.  The book is touted as being very humorous.  William Henry Devereaux Jr.  is a “wisenheimer” that never quits.  I found the character exasperating after about 200 pages rather than funny.  Again, I couldn’t care less what happens to Devereaux.  Russo’s craft is exhilarating and I enjoy how he can manipulate a scene.  Russo is known for having loose plots and in Straight Man finding a plot is like finding a needle in a haystack.
So . . . reading for me has become more complex and I find my patience reduced to a minimum.  I feel ambiguous about this change, I don’t know if I’m a better reader now that I’m an author, or more of a snob.  I am certainly more analytical.  Many authors, including Stephen King, demand that anyone who wants to be an author must also be a voracious reader.  That makes sense and maybe the point is that by reading others, as an author, we learn.  I’m not sure.
What kind of reader are you?  Send me an e-mail at [email protected]. 
     

​About a year and a half ago my friend began playing around with the idea of bee keeping.  He and his wife live on a rural 2.5 acre wooded lot with two huge gardens and a lot of flowers, an ideal setting for bees.  He found a groupon for a beekeeping class based in an urban area.  His wife wasn’t interested in beekeeping so he asked if I would be interested in attending the class with him.  He said it would be no risk to me; he would pay for the class with his groupon coupon.  What’s to lose?
We attended a four hour class that was well taught and at the close of class donned our protective wear and went to inspect six bee hives.  Anyone with an interest in gardening or eating is likely aware that the bee population in America is plummeting and no one seems to understand why.  I like to garden and have always had plants for pollinators like honey bees, bumble bees, butterflies and even hummingbirds.  It was a small step to beekeeing.
My friend is the one with the scientific mind so he borrowed several books from the library on beekeeping and we went to another class on beekeeping at the local library.  We decided to take on beekeeping as a team and split the cost.  We bought all the equipment including the bees so that we could each have a hive to tend.
The bees arrived late, in May.  The honey flow usually occurs in July in southern Wisconsin so we had to scurry to make our bees comfortable and have them start building comb and having babies to be worker bees and drones.  About two weeks after we set up our hives we noticed that my hive wasn’t thriving – there didn’t seem to be many bees and for weeks no comb was built.  That meant only one thing – the queen had failed and been rejected and was cannibalized.  I ordered another queen and carefully introduced her to the brood but then went on vacation to France.  My friend checked on the queen every other day.  When I returned from vacation he reported he had looked but couldn’t find my queen.  We checked his hive to make sure we knew who to look for when searching for the queen.  We found his queen lickety-split, there was no doubt.  Then we checked my hive – vacant.  It was too late in the season to try to add a third queen to my hive. 
We decided to merge the two hives.  His bees accepted my bees and all appeared to be going well.  It was June by now and our bees were still working hard to make brood.  We didn’t add the special box to collect honey in (called a super) until mid-June.  Everyone in the Dane County Bee Association was reporting collecting honey on a regular basis.  Our box remained empty.  The bees used all their energy to make honey for them to get through winter and ran out of time to share their golden liquid with me and my friend.
The last obstacle was winter.  In our Bee Association meetings we learned how to construct a sleeve around the hive with house insulation which we did, taped together with duct tape (I’m too embarrassed to share an image).  We then constructed a wind barrier for the hive.  We then began a series of prayers to the bee god.
This past weekend the temperature soared to 55 degrees F.  Bees will fly out of the hive at 45 degrees.  I received a text from my friend with a brief video of bees flying in and out of our hive BEES! His text exclaimed.  I rushed over to his house.
We slid into our protective gear for the first time this year.  The bees were swarming around the hive and weren’t too pleased with our visit.  We pried off the top and found they had devoured about half the sugar we left for them as a supply to get through winter.  We lifted the lid for the top box and were greeted by thousands of bee’s busy making wax and protecting the queen.  BEES! we shouted together.
We put the hive back together and danced the Happy Bee Dance.  Members of our been association reported losing from half to all of their bees last winter.  We had been successful in wintering over our bees in the first year.  I am now bubbling over with hope, looking forward to pounds and pounds of honey and all the wax I need for candles or lip balm or whatever.     
P.S.  We had 5 inches of snow yesterday.  Oh no!!!