This coming February, Lucy Arnaz and Richard Klein will be reprising their roles in They're Playing Our Song for one night in a concert in NYC...and guess who has tickets? Yep, me!! I'm so excited. I grew up with this musical. You see, my mom went to New York and saw the original show. She bought the album (now known as vinyl by my kids) and brought it home. I fell in love with the songs on their own merit, but also because my mom loved it so much.
When I was writing These Three Words, the hero is a man of few words. One song from the show played over and over again in my head as wrote his scenes. Fill in the Words. It was his theme song. So when I go to that show (!!!!) I'll be thinking of my mother and about the hero of These Three Words. Of all the books I wrote, this one was her favorite. I think it was the music connection. I hope it reminded her of her first trip to NYC.
Smells. Foods. Music. They all can take us back into the past. They can take us tumbling into our memories. I mentioned last week that Pillsbury's Cranberry Bread will always make me remember my grandmother...she made it every holiday. The smell of hyacinths always make me think of my surrogate grandfather. But for me, music is my strongest trigger. Lawrence Welk makes me remember weekends at my grandmother. They're Playing Our Song and Steve and Eydie's That Holiday Feeling will always say Christmas to me and remind me of my mom.
Memories. Our past influences our present and that influences our future. That truly was the theme of These Three Words. Two people who lost each other until their memories pull them back together. My tagline for the book is Sometimes the Greatest Love isn't Discovered it's Rediscovered. Memories. They can change our present and our future. And for me, they can help me write a story that I hope resonates with readers.
Susan just got home and we'll be posting the next Trippin' video tomorrow or Wednesday. In the meantime, come hang with me in my garden! I'm spending the week talking about my book series. I had so many people ask for series in order, I put up a page on my website. I really try to write the books in a series so they all stand alone. So if you start mid-series, you should be fine, though you'll probably have an inkling you missed something. LOL
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The first series I'm going to talk about is...you guessed it, my Maid in LA Mysteries. When I put up the first book, Steamed, it was just for fun. A lark. I'd never written a cozy mystery, but the main character, Quincy Mac, had been niggling at me. She worried about her kids, her business and after she cleans a murder scene, she worries about going to jail and being forced to get a tattoo.
One book led to another. Quincy's kids got older, she fell in love and built a new career for herself. I thought I was done with her series after book 4, Swept Up. I even wrote a nice little Where Are They Now post at the end of the book to give everyone a real sense of ending. And yet...last month, the 5th book, Polished Off came out. I know. Either I wasn't done with Quincy yet, or she wasn't done with me. It's been ten years since the last book. Her life has continued to change and evolve.
Change and evolve. That is the fun of writing series for me. Like I said in the video, they're the same but different. Characters and even settings evolve and change. That's the fun of writing series.
Here are all five books in order: Steamed: Amazon & BN Dusted: Amazon & BN Spruced Up: Amazon & BN Swept Up: Amazon & BN Polished Off: Amazon & BN If you're reading on Kindle, you can get the first four books in one bundle: Maid in LA Mysteries. It's a lot cheaper that way.
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Another series is my Word of the Heart series. Each book was written as a total stand alone. The first book, Carry Her Heart, is about a mother who gives her child up for adoption, then builds her life around that child. Pip is a character who is near and dear to my heart. I love that she worked as a kindergarten story lady. I did that for years and years. I still adore children's literature. Classics like, The Wild Baby, (I did a YouTube video of that one), Wolf Story (we just finished reading here again) and newer books like the Knuffle Bunny books, The Book with No Pictures and Andrea Beatty's STEM series of stories.
Carry Her Heart in Turkey
Okay, back to Carry Her Heart...It's truly a Romance+ story. What's that you ask? A book that at it's heart is a woman's journey...a journey that includes a romance, but that romance isn't the point of the journey. Does that make sense?
I argued with my editor about the ending. I can't really tell you how it ends, but know that I won.
The second book in the series is These Three Words. I use the tagline Sometimes the Greatest Loves aren't Discovered, They're Rediscovered a lot for it because it truly sums up the story. A couple who's marriage is on the rocks rediscovers each other. Two things that stand out for me in this book. First, it was my Forest Gump book. The heroine has a number of strangers who come into her life and force her to look at her relationship in a new way. The second thing is I used They're Playing Our Song in it (check it out). I lost my mom a year ago, and I love that she got to read this homage to her. She loved that musical. And because she did, I did. (Dear Broadway, please bring back a revival!!) Toward the end, you get a bit of a clue about what is happening in Pip's life. Finally, Hold Her Heart, is Pip's daughter's story. Yes, Amanda (Siobhan) has come home. It's not exactly how Pip imagined it. But it is a true homecoming story. These books are all first person in the heroines' points-of-view, so Pip's better half doesn't get much from his point-of-view moments. There's a letter at the end of Carry Her Heart (that makes me cry Every Single Time) and the opening of Hold Her Heart (which also makes me cry Every Single Time). I know, it's ridiculous. I wrote the books. I knew/know how they end (hint...all my books have Happily-Every-Afters) but still, Ned does me in. Carry Her Heart: Amazon, Audible, BN These Three Words: Amazon, Audible,BN Hold Her Heart: Amazon More series tomorrow! Holly PS. The first two books are on sale for another week!! If you've never read the series, it's a good time to check them out!
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As always, you can find my ebooks, paperbacks, hardbacks, audiobooks and available through Kindle Unlimited. They're also available in a lot of other languages. I hope there's something for all of you!
Music has always played a part in writing. Beth recently wrote me and said that Sarah McLachlan's Full of Grace reminded her of Just One Thing. (Thank you again, Beth!!) I loved that she made that connection because not only did I agree, but I do that kind of thing all the time.
For instance, in August's Her Second-Chance Family Sister Hazel's song, Concede really struck me as the song for the heroine's battle to reach her foster daughter...
In My Valley Ridge series, the third book, A Walk Down the Aisle has a couple who was meant to be together but thinks they're over. I loved As You Turn Away as the heroine's theme song. I could see her listening to this and crying as I wrote her book.
And Same Time Not Summer Keri Noble's Piece of My Heart really fit. I really love the imagery of the song...
So it comes as no surprise that November's These Three Words has an inspiration as well. It is the strongest one yet. When I was young, Dad took Mom to NYC and they saw They're Playing My Song. Mom bought the album (yeah, I know, I'm dating myself! LOL) Robert Klein and Lucy Arnaz in a Neil Simon, Marvin Hamlish and Carole Bayer Sager show. I mean, come on. Even as I kid I recognized the magic of those people and that show. (And really, really, really I want a revival of this one. I'd get front row tickets for it!!) One song in particular always really touched me, Fill in the Words. When I started writing These Three Words, I realized early on that this song could be my hero's theme song. He's a man of very few words, but a very big heart.
How about you? Do you ever read a book, then hear a song and think, yes...that's it??
