Author R.L. Griffin -- Review and Interview

It’s my pleasure to have author R.L. Griffin to the blog! She loves to write in the New Adult genre—one of my favorites. Following her interview is my review of her novel By a Thread.

Jennifer Lane (JL): Welcome to the blog, RL! I'm psyched to meet you at the New Adult Sleepover Weekend in December. How did you get started writing?

R.L. Griffin (RLG): I've been "writing" all my life, but I wrote my first published work while I had so much free time in law school. *sarcasm*

JL: You're an attorney, correct? How do law and writing fit together?

RLG: As an attorney you have to write long boring briefs and arguments that are very dry.  I love creating people's stories and so writing gives me the ability to do that.

JL: How do you juggle working, writing, and motherhood?

RLG:  Poorly.  I don't sleep very much.  I do try to make sure I'm the best mom I can be to my son when I can.  I do work long hours so I try to make up for that on the weekends and my husband and I take turn going to all of his sport practices.  My firm is really good about letting me do mom things.  I make it a priority.

JL: What drew you to write in the New Adult genre?

RLG:  I honestly think it’s such an interesting time in your life.  You are just getting all the responsibility of adulthood and dealing with major issues, but you still don't have tons of life experiences to make great decisions all the time.  It makes for an interesting story.

JL: What's next for you?

RLG:  Tension, the continuation of By A Thread comes out August 1 and I'm already working on the third book in the series.

JL: Can't wait! Thank you for stopping by and good luck with your writing.

By A Thread by R.L. Griffin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Picking Up The Pieces

Author R.L. Griffin and I will attend the New Adult Sleepover Weekend in Savannah, Georgia in December, 2013 (more info here: http://newadultsleepover.blogspot.com). When I discovered she writes my favorite genre of romantic suspense, I definitely wanted to read her novel! And I'm so glad I did.

Stella and Jamie were student-athletes at the same university. They fell in love and got engaged, then moved to Washington, D.C. to live together. Jamie starts a career with the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) and Stella is about to start law school.

Things seem perfect, right?

WRONG.

When Jamie dies in a car accident, Stella falls apart. Girlfriend's definitely hanging "by a thread" as she defers law school for an alcoholic bender into depression. I was horrified when a drunk Stella responded to grieving messages on Facebook from Jamie's friends, like:

hey d-bag, Jamie probably doesn't even remmdher your name

! Jamie's roommates Patrick and Billie take care of Stella and her dog Cooper, slowly nursing her back to health. She meets a bartender named George and eventually starts living again, though it's an empty life.

Stella's so low for most of the novel that at times it was hard to find her likable. Apparently she's quite beautiful since she draws the attention of many men despite her hard, rejecting shell. (Or maybe that speaks to the old adage that we want what we can't have?) Of course I wanted to throw her into treatment for her alcohol problem. ;-)

I did enjoy Patrick, who's like a brother to Stella, as well as George. Saint George puts up with all kinds of blow-back and bitterness from Stella, but he's always there for her, supporting her. Her law-school friend Millie is fun. I loved Millie's name for the line of muscle on a fit guy's lower torso: the arrow muscle. Yeah! Fiance Jamie's character is rather unknown, which makes me wonder if there will be a sequel.

My favorite part of the story was the mind-blowing ending. I didn't see that one coming! The return to events mentioned in the prologue gave me a better understanding of Stella and the parts of the story that earlier frustrated me.

Check out this New Adult journey of healing!

View all my reviews

Editing Has Made Me Crazy

Have I mentioned how much I love the editing team at Omnific Publishing? Jessica Royer Ocken has taught me so much about the right way to write. Mostly I'm grateful for this knowledge.

But there are times when I think I've learned too much, like when typos and grammar gaffes interfere with my enjoyment of a novel. I'll be happily reading a story with good plot and characterization but then halt, wide-eyed, with horror.

Blond is an adjective, BLONDE is a female noun!

A comma doesn't belong there, people!

It's effect, not affect, when describing a noun.

Editing know-how also drives me up a tree when friends make an error in language. I mean, really--who cares? I'm nowhere near perfect at the spoken or written word. Yet when a colleague says something like "It's the same for her and I", I want to shout "Her and ME! It's ME, not I!"

Today my psychotherapy client told me she "could care less" about something.

I had to restrain myself from correcting her with a maniacal "It's COULDN'T care less!!!"


I need help.

And I need validation. Has this happened to you? How has editing made YOU crazy?

The Mother of All Blog Bounces

Happy Mother's Day! Please join Omnific Publishing authors as we celebrate our mothers on our weekly Thursday Blog Bounce.

Today we discuss how our mothers have influenced our writing.

With her encouragement and kooky sense of humor, my mother had an early influence on my imagination. She enrolled me in art classes before the age of five (too bad the lessons didn't stick!) My mom valued education and the power of the written word, especially for firing off letters to politicians who weren't doing their job! And, my mother is a lot of fun. I remember her driving me and my neighborhood teammates home from swim practice one night . . . for some reason she started making animal noises. We had a blast imitating chickens, rabbits, and wookies.

Here's an example of a movie that cracks us up (Every Which Way But Loose):



Finishing a novel takes bountiful hard work and perseverance--qualities my mother instilled in me. The fact that she's still working four days a week in her seventies is testament to her work ethic. And she definitely had to be persevere to overcome dysfunction in her family of origin.

I can be an anxious perfectionist, but my mom has helped me take myself less seriously. When I was grumpy after a long day of school and two swim practices, she asked me if I wanted to quit the sport. That question freed me up to make sure I was swimming for the right reasons. When I beat myself up after disqualifying a relay at the NCAA championships, she asked me if I would remember that race in one year, which helped me chill out. My mom is great at putting things in perspective.

Currently, my mom probably knows more about my psychologist career than my writing career. She used to enjoy reading fiction but she's a little too hopped up on thyroid medication to sit down and finish a novel these days, ha ha. I know she's in the background supporting me, though.

Now bounce over to these participating authors to check out their awesome moms!

A New Way to Use the Treadmill

Bored with your workout routine?

Check out this fun idea to spice up your workout!

I'll be back on Thursday for the Mother of Blog Hops.

Insecurity and Judgments: Writing Hiatus

I almost missed ANOTHER month of the IWSG! But I'm posting during a break in psychotherapy clients.

Thank you to Ninja Alex for developing this supportive author meme.

I've been embroiled in some good stuff with my psychologist career lately, so writing/blogging has taken a back seat. My fourth novel has been under contract for a while with Omnific Publishing, and I can't wait to start with the edits. I finally started writing my next novel -- a New Adult romance with sports and politics -- but I only have about 500 words so far.

I could get really insecure about this hiatus in writing, saying things like:

"I should have started another novel by now."

"The NA genre is hopping and I should strike while the iron's hot."

"Maybe I'm being lazy."

But I don't think these judgments will help anything. Instead, I'll use the NONJUDGMENTALLY mindfulness skill. According to Marsha Linehan, Ph.D., the nonjudgmentally skill is:

* See but DON'T EVALUATE. Take a nonjudgmental stance. Just the facts. Focus on the "what", not the "good" or "bad", the "terrible" or "wonderful", the "should" or "should not".

* UNGLUE YOUR OPINIONS from the facts, from the "who, what, when, and where".

* ACCEPT each moment (this doesn't mean you like it or agree with it).

 To practice this skill, I'll examine the facts, like "I feel anxious that I'm not writing frequently right now" or "The psycho part of my psycho author career has needed more time recently".

Have you experienced an ebb and flow in your own writing career? How do you deal with judgments and insecurity?

The Liebster Award...Yah!

Danke to awesome author Nicki Elson for bestowing the Liebster Award upon me. LIEBSTER is a German word meaning sweetheart or beloved person. Nicki is indeed a LIebster!

This award is given to bloggers by bloggers and gives glimpses into our lives. We give 11 fun facts about ourselves, answer 11 questions, pass the award on to 11 bloggers and then ask 11 new questions.

Okay, sadly I have to decrease the number from 11 to 5. I’ve had a really long day at work and I still need to do some cleaning for book club tomorrow night.

5 Fun Facts about Me:

1. I speak a secret language called “ive”. We spoke it on my college swim team. Here are those same two sentences in ive: Ivi spiveak iva sivicrivet livanguivage civalled ivive. Wive spivoke ivit ivon mivy civollivege swivim tiveam.

2. I’d like to get a dog, but I don’t know if I’m ready for the responsibility.

3. My friend Eric and I judge those who don’t understand swimming etiquette at our pool. We’re harsh!

4. Almost all of my past boyfriends have turned out to be gay. I like the unavailable types.

5. My toes are as long as some people’s fingers. Flipper feet!

Questions from Nicki:

1. Les Mis or Sweeney Todd?

Les Mis fo shizzle! Jean Val Jean is one of my fave characters.

2. What are the toppings on your dream hamburger?

Pickles, cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, ketchup

3. What city (that you've never visited) do you most want to visit?

Barcelona, Spain

4. Favorite city (that you have visited).

Chicago! (duh)

5. You can only choose one: would you rather write a book that's a best seller or a book that's highly acclaimed?

Best seller. I’m shallow that way. And “highly acclaimed” is so subjective. I’d rather write a book that makes ME proud and that evokes intense emotion in readers.

Now I get to pick 5 bloggers and ask 5 new questions. I choose (and if you've already been tagged for this award, consider your "obligations" fulfilled):

1. Debra Anastasia

2. Kyra Lennon

3. Elisa Dane

4. Darcia Helle

5. Hannah Downing

Your new questions:

1. What’s your favorite romantic couple? (stealing this one from Nicki)

2. Briefs or boxers?

3. When you became an author, whose support or lack thereof surprised you the most?

4. What do you listen to on the car radio?

5. What’s the kindest thing somebody did for you?

Please stop by to let me know when you've posted your answers because I definitely want to read them!

The Liebster Rules: 1. The Liebster Award is given to bloggers by bloggers. 2. Each blogger should post 11 facts about himself / herself. 3. Each blogger should answer the 11 questions that are asked by the nominating blogger. 4. Choose 11 new bloggers to nominate for the Award and link to them in the post. 5. Create 11 new questions for your nominees. 6. Go back to their pages and tell them they've been nominated. 7. No tag backs.

Breathe.

How have you felt since the Boston Marathon terrorist attack?

I've felt horror, disgust, rage, and sadness. Right now I feel numb.

And this is from miles away. I can't imagine how I would feel if I'd been on ground zero, witnessing the carnage.

But I can imagine what it's like to face trauma such as rape, abuse, accidents, and crime. I hear it from my psychotherapy clients all too often.

Survivors of trauma like bombings or abuse may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a clinical syndrome I detail HERE in my Psycho Author series. Quite a few of my characters have struggled to heal from PTSD.

What's a simple tool to help anyone who's endured a traumatic event? BREATHE.

When we get scared, our breathing changes, becoming quicker and shallower, or stopping for a moment. Such changes only serve to increase our panic and tension.

Simply paying attention to our breath can help calm us when we're feeling stressed. But deep breathing, aka diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing, is even more helpful.

1) Take a few moments to notice your breath. Breathe in through your nose and out your mouth. Let your body's natural rhythm of breathing gently become slower and deeper, but still easy and relaxed.

2) Let that breath go deep into your belly. Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly (below your belly button). Keep the hand on your chest still, while pushing out the hand on your belly with air.

3) The diaphragm is the muscle lining beneath your lungs. Feel the diaphragm push down as you inhale.


I hope that noticing your breath helps you deal with the multitude of feelings from the Boston Marathon or other traumatic events.

BLURBS!

Why do authors complain about writing summaries of their novels for the book jacket?
Because it's TOUGH. Waaaah!

A good blurb captures the voice of the novel. It entices the reader without giving too much away.

We're starting to edit my fourth novel On Best Behavior (The Conduct Series #3), and we need the book blurb for a press release.

Here was my first effort at writing the blurb:

On Best Behavior is the third and final book in The Conduct Series—romantic suspense with a psychological twist. Following a pardon by the Governor of Illinois, ex-cons Sophie Taylor and Grant Madsen are free to pursue their love. But planning a wedding is never easy, especially when the Russian Mafia want you dead.

Grant fights the forces that have hurt his loved ones by working undercover for the FBI to infiltrate the Russian Mafia in Chicago. Sophie dives into swimming with Grant’s nephew Ben, and into a career as a psychology professor. This time it’s Ben’s turn to heal through therapy sessions with Dr. Hunter Hayes.

Too bad the Russians aren’t their only threat. Grant’s father Enzo Barberi discovers it was Grant who thwarted his plan to break out of prison. Enzo possesses an overdeveloped sense of vengeance and ****. It’s unclear who will kill Grant first—the Russians or his Italian family—until Sophie scrambles to save her fiancé. Can love win over evil?

The good news is that blurb writing does get easier with practice. The bad news is that this blurb felt disjointed. So I turned to my trusty editor Jessica Royer Ocken for help. Her first suggestion was to eliminate the clause represented by **** because it gave too much away. Whoops!

Here is what Jessica came up with, which I like much better:

Following a pardon by the Governor of Illinois, ex-cons Sophie Taylor and Grant Madsen are finally free to pursue their love and the life that lies ahead for them. But planning a wedding is never easy—especially when the Russian Mafia wants you dead.

Nevertheless, On Best Behavior—the third and final book in The Conduct Series—finds our favorite couple moving forward, despite the odds. Grant now fights the forces that have hurt his loved ones by working undercover for the FBI, and he has infiltrated the Russian Mafia in Chicago. Sophie dives into swimming with Grant’s nephew, Ben, and into her career as a psychology professor. Thankfully, now it’s Ben’s turn to heal through therapy sessions with Dr. Hunter Hayes.

With so many things going right for Grant and Sophie, it's too bad the Russians aren’t their only threat. When Grant’s father, Enzo Barberi, discovers his own son thwarted his plan to break out of prison, his overdeveloped sense of vengeance flares to life. As Sophie scrambles to save her fiancé, it's impossible to say who will kill Grant first—the Russians or his Italian family. Can love triumph over evil? Are hard work and a pledge to be on best behavior ever enough? 

Once again, author Jennifer Lane brings a harrowing tale of romantic suspense with a psychological twist, and it's sure to leave readers breathless. 

Authors, how difficult do YOU find the blurb writing process? Readers, what types of blurbs are your favorite?

   And soon we'll work on a book cover, too. :-)

On Best Behavior

by
Jennifer Lane