Another Grandedame

Hi, all. I'm Jan Daugherty. At the time we wrote the Trouble With Romance stories, I lived in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh, PA. A couple of nearby townships were Moon and Mars. My first thought was a title like "Between Moon and Mars" but that suggested a paranormal, and I'm not strong in that area. My next door neighbor was a young and handsome professor of Psychology -- that was closer to something I could write about.
I'm not sure all writers or even any writers follow the same idea trail, but for me, my best success tends to be weaving together scraps of experience. Even the idea for Trouble was from experience. When I lived in Central Texas, a family up the street adopted a kitten. The daughters of the family tried out a dozen or so names, but their dad kept saying "That cat is nothing but Trouble". Needless to say, the name stuck. Later, the girls grew up and went away to college and the parents moved to Beaumont for his job. They caged Trouble and moved him when they went, but weeks later, we began seeing Trouble in the neighborhood. We all put out food and water as necessary and when the family came back for a visit, they took Trouble home with them. Months went by, and Trouble appeared back in the neighborhood looking hale and healthy. His family decided not to try to move him again because the trip back was so long and hard. Actually, the cat seemed to do very well, but he had obviously made his own choice of a place to live. The neighbors adopted him and we all went together to pay for his anual visits to the vet, but otherwise we left him alone. His daily routine was to sleep on the Smith's back porch, eat breakfast with the Williams, take his morning nap on my rain barrel, and so forth through the day. He lived out his life as the neighborhood cat, pampered by everythone around.
In the story I wrote, there was a woman who was almost obscessed with keeping the neighborhood clean and attractive -- and of course, I knew someone just like that once.
Bits and pieces, the building blocks of a story.
I've been enjoying the "pet peeves" string. At the moment I'm feeling mellow, but later, I'll probably add to that. Yours, Jan

'mature' audience

Recently I had an opportunity to pitch to agent Deidre Knight, who liked my plot but asked if I'd considered gearing it toward the 'older' market, i.e., Harlequin's NEXT imprint. It's a short contemporary (finished), and my characters were already in their thirties, but I found I could up the age without too much difficulty. Of course I ran out and bought a few current NEXT titles. The majority of these stories are told in 1st person, and I'm not too crazy about writing in 1st person. She assured me there aren't any set rules for this line, and that's the beauty of it. The premise for this line is after a woman's children leave the nest, or a divorce, or partner's death, or a devastating career change, what's NEXT? My question is, does anyone in Grande Dames read the books in this line? Like them? Plan to write for NEXT? I do agree it's a wide open market, what with the baby boomers coming of age (sorry, I missed that era by a few years!), and we are certainly qualified to fill the need there, but are we? Deidra Knight is coming up on 40 she told us, and I think she would certainly be open to queries from anyone thinking about pursuing this market.
~Judy Ballard

My first blog here---where do ideas come from?

Hi, I'm Carol, transplanted Midwesterner now living 40 miles north of NYC in a small, fairly quaint village. Three sons, all married, two darling grands, retired husband [why can't he go out for lunch!} and I'm working hard on two women's fiction books, passionately pitching whenever I have a chance. Working on a request for 3 chapters to an editor. Now, on to: Where do ideas come from? LIFE! My son and daugther-in-law are on a cruise. Which is why I have a big yellow Lab asleep on my couch right now. Last night, after American Idol, I checked news channels and got a shock. A man had disappeared off a cruise ship. Yes, THAT ship. Thank God they had his name and a photo. But it raises many questions and ideas---and since the son on the ship is a police officer who tends to notice everything, I'm sure I'm going to get some interesting facts when he gets home. It is a tragedy and I am ever mindful of the fact that that was someone's son who went overboard, but the writer in me is saying, hmmmmm, what if a serial killer or a terrorist decided to target cruise ships? A mysterious death on s ship where the body was found, not overboard, would provide more clues, and it could even be a 'cozy' with an on-board frequent crusier lady solving it. You might have to go on a lot of cruises to develop this------Not the sort of thing I would write, most likely, but I'll throw the idea out there! Carol

CHECKING IN

Just checking in to say 'Hi-ho!' to all the other Grand Dames and readers. I'm KD, aka Emma Kennedy, the Grande Dame living in Europe. Though for this "TROUBLE" anthology my story was set in New Mexico, "Trouble After Taos." I sold a copy of our anthology to my neighbor, a German poet who reads English (+ German & French. --lucky lady) She liked the idea of having all heroines in our anthology over age forty. --as is she. As are all Grande Dames, --natch.
So do we have much of an audience, she wanted to know, considering the unrealistic trends of the hyper-youth conscious American culture. --BTW, Europeans aren't so frenetic about "looking young." Trust me, they aren't. I've lived in Europe/Eurasia for what will be 21 years in July, and done my share of Euro spas and nude beaches in southern Spain. And I have grown to love the more natural, accepting European outlook on life. So. Do our over-40 heroines have an audience in the States? Well--we should! --we certainly should. Shuffling through my pile of clippings I ran across an article from a Newsweek mag. saying that by the year 2010 over 38% of all Americans will be age 60, the largest percentage for that demographic, ever. So even if they are dead-set on "looking younger" then that makes our 40-ish heroines relevent, yes? 8^) --KD--

Oops, I forgot...

In my haste I forgot to introduce myself in the last post to those of you who will be new to the Grande Dames...My name is Ann Morris...and I'm also a contributor to The Trouble With Romance Anthology...

Jane,
Your idea has given me one as well. I've been toying with the idea for a while about writing an article for my Chapter newsletter on Story and Character...more specifically, What readers view as more important...The Story itself or The Characters that carry it?I'd love comments on this from anyone.Thanks, Ann

Hello and pet peeves.

I'm Jane Toombs, published writer and one of The Trouble with Romance Authors. It's a really good anthology--check it out by clicking on the Treble Heart link on the home page of our blog. I'm trying to do an article about what irks readers to find in published books--pet peeves that truly annoy them. I'm not using any names, all I want is permission to quote whatever you tell me. Since writers are also readers, feel free to post your pet peeves, whichever you are, even if both. Jane

It's a baby blog!!! We're all grande dames!!!

Here I am, the first one on our very own Grande Dames blog!!!
Welcome! My name is Judith Fox or Jude
I'm a writer and yet I'm at a loss for words! I'm the Canadian Grande Dame and proud of it!! Both of being a Canadian and being a Grande Dame. We have been around for a few years now together through all kinds of weather--with loads of talent. Mary O'Gara is the one who took the time to get us a blog site. Thanks Mary!!
Well, it's my bedtime in the Pacific Northwest of Canada, and just want to say I hope any visitors here take the time to see our anthology "Trouble with Romance", and the cover page...all great stories by the Grande Dames
YawnO Good nite....hope to see you on here soon.