Top Five Disturbing Things Found While Cleaning Out My Fridge

 So, I finished my personal edits for the second book in my LOVE AND CHAOS SERIES, ROCKED BY LOVE and sent it to my first round editor. As many of you know, when I get near an end of a book, I get obsessive and everything else goes by the wayside, email, marketing, cleaning....

Then, once it's sent off, I play catch-up on all the things I've ignored. Yesterday that was cleaning out what our family calls "the lazy freezer" and the refrigerator. We call it the lazy freezer because we have a big upright freezer in the basement storage room, and when one doesn't want to walk the fourteen steps to it, you shove it in our side-by-side freezer, which makes it the lazy freezer. 

Here are a few things that were disturbing in this endeavor. If you have a weak stomach, you'll want to stop here. 

1) The things that were long expired ~ First, I'll show you a picture of the item that we'll call the runner-up. This bottle of Durkee's expired in 2018. It has clearly survived a few refrigerator purges. 

But the big winner was the white cooking wine which expired in...2017! I'm sure the last time I cleaned the fridge I was like, "Come on. Does white cooking wine really even expire?" But I do have my limits, and three years means you don't make the cut even in my handbook!

2) The things that had been in there forever and weren't expired ~ I mean, what do they make this stuff out of if it takes ten years for it to expire? These maraschino cherries expire in 2022!

This hot sauce expires in 2024! I guess nothing could live in that stuff, including bacteria! 

3) I had a piece of Bailey's chocolate cake in the freezer. I put it there because I gave up chocolate for Lent and St. Patty's Day fell during Lent. The thing that is disturbing is that a piece of Bailey's chocolate cake went to waste! 

4) I found it disturbing when things foamed up when being pitched. They aren't supposed to do that.

And-

5) When things that were not wine smelled like wine while being pitched. This means they had crossed over into the fermentation process, and that ain't right.

Thanks for reading! I hope you don't have to go through this disturbing process any time soon! I wonder what I'll find when I finish writing Book Three of the LOVE AND CHAOS SERIES, ROCK IT TO THE MOON.

If we were to clean out your fridge right now, could you beat me? Or are you good about checking those dates on your condiments, etc.?

Walking the Line

Ahh...romantic suspense is a tight rope! If your villain is too obvious, your reader isn't happy. If they come out of left field, your reader isn't happy. So you have to find that sweet spot in between. Only thing is, the sweet spot shifts depending on the reader.


I'm going to be upfront with you--not everyone likes every one of my books. Gasp! The horror! I received a five star review this week and a three star review, on the same book. Reading through my reviews I find that one reader said the book kept them on edge, while another reader said it wasn't the nail-biter they were looking for, because they figured out who the killer was early on. One reader said the characters felt very real, another said the opposite. Love the romance, didn't feel the connection between characters. Arghhh! It's enough to drive a poor author crazy! And it's not that one reader doesn't like all of the aspects, like they are a Negative Nelly. One who likes the suspense line, doesn't like the romance. One who likes the romance, doesn't like the suspense.



What I do pride myself in, though, is most of my "bad" reviews still say something like, all-in-all, though, it was an enjoyable read, or, despite missing this or that, it was well-written and the characters were well-developed. It's funny, as an author, to hear different fans say what their favorite book of mine is. One will gush over BLACKOUT, but for another, their favorite is ABANDON ALL HOPE. It's just interesting what the reader brings to the book, and takes out of the book. One example is the three star review I got today was from a reviewer that gave me a five star review on another book a few days ago. She admitted to comparing the two, and they are just way different. BLACKOUT is a contemporary romance with a lot of deep emotion and angst. BETWEEN ROCK AND A HARD PLACE is a romantic suspense, and while it deals with some tough issues, the focus is on the relationship and the case. So you have to ask yourself, what book preceded mine? Where was the reader coming from, what was happening in their lives that might color their perception of your book.



As an author, then, it's hard sometimes to tell what you are doing right, and what your are doing wrong. You have to listen hard to the feedback and if you see something consistent in what readers/reviewers are saying, then you need to take a closer look at that.



For instance, I've had several readers say that my heroine in BETWEEN ROCK AND A HARD PLACE is weak or immature. I want to say, yes, she is. She lost her parents at a young age in a plane crash SHE walked away from. Since that time she has been totally controlled by an overbearing uncle. She hasn't had room to grow, and she is only twenty-four. Know any immature twenty-four-year-olds? That being said, I missed the mark somewhere along the line by not emphasizing these things to my readers. (Again, you walk a hard line with what to tell your readers. Some will say, don't spoon feed things to your readers, they'll get it. Others will say, you have to hit them over the head.)




I also get some flack about my rock stars not being mobbed every place they go. I've written blogs about this before, but I will contend that if you are a star and want to keep under the radar, you can. Sure paparazzi hound certain stars, but have you seen how some stars manage to keep out of the headlines? I understand that readers of this genre normally see a huge emphasis on the star aspect of it. I focus more on the relationship angle. Does that mean I can't throw a little more harassment my rock stars' way? Absolutely not. Readers sometimes want what they are familiar with, what has been presented to them by others as "the life of a rock star." They want their books to be realistic, but their "reality" may be defined by stereotypes. However, although rock stars' lives vary as much as yours and mine do, there are some things they share in common. And if my fictional rock stars are making choices to avoid the media attention, (for instance, wearing disguises, eating at off times, avoiding public areas, all of which my rock stars do) then maybe I need to emphasize that more. (But don't bang them over the head. Got it.)



In some ways, that is what I like about this line of work. If you take it seriously, you are always learning more about your trade, so there are new challenges in every day, in every project. Well, I've talked long enough. I'd love to hear some of your thoughts on the subject. Authors, do you contend with some of the same issues? Or does everyone love all of your books? [If this is true, I don't want to hear it! ;) ] Readers, are there certain things that authors do that really drive you nuts? Have you ever known that a book you read hit you the wrong way, but not because of the strength of the book itself but because of something going on in your life? Please leave a comment, and if I get some good interaction going on I'll give away an e-copy of BETWEEN ROCK AND A HARD PLACE, so you can judge for yourself.



Thanks for reading!

Now, I've got this song running through my head, and I'm going to get it stuck in yours, too, if you dare to click below! ;) 
(What is up with me posting all these country songs lately? I swear I'm a rock girl!)

Okay, just to balance things out, I need to throw a little Ricky Nelson at ya that has to do with the subject, too. Enjoy and have a nice weekend!