All About the Writing

Why Do Things Have to Change?

When we started out as babies, we had the greatest gig in the world. 

People brought us food, changed our clothes, and ran to do our bidding as soon as we made the slightest sound.  We got to sleep whenever we wanted.  People carried us around everywhere, along with bags full of stuff designed to take care of our needs at a moment's notice.  We set the schedule, and everyone else adjusted their lives to accomodate us.

It was like living the life of a rock star.  So why did we have to muck that up?

Well, when you really think about it, it was a tad difficult to whine and cry and even scream to explain what we wanted.  The dietary choices were nothing short of boring, with the same thing day after day.  And that whole diaper business. . .let's just call it an unpleasant motivational experience. 

Soon we realized there was an entire world of intriguing things outside our bed-with-bars.  We weren't satisfied to stay where we were, watching the world go by.  It was nice to be carried wherever we went, but we didn't have any say as to the destination, or the itinerary. 

It wasn't long before we had the urge to crawl, and stand up, and walk, and then race like hell to investigate everything labeled "No, no, don't touch".

When we are younger, we barrel towards the future, not knowing the outcome, which is what makes it exciting.  Yet, the more we experience in life, the more we view change as a frightening thing.  We drag our heels to avoid all of the discomfort, or pain, that often accompanies change.

As writers, we risk being called "mean mommies" because we insist on steering our characters towards situations they do not want to face.  We pry them loose from antiquated methods of viewing their safe little world.  We pretty much force them to make the choices that will liberate them from old, stagnant ways of thinking.   

And we admire them for doing it.  Because we know how hard it is to welcome change with a warm embrace, when our inclination is to rebuff it, pursing our lips with distaste. 

Maybe today is a good time to do something different.

Now I'm not advocating anything radical, like converting from a pantser to a plotter.  That's just crazy talk. 

No, what I'm suggesting is possibly changing the way you start your day, so that your writing has a higher priority.  Or maybe amend how you look at your writing, viewing it as a "get to" instead of a "have to".  Maybe stop focusing on how far you have to go in the journey to publication, and contemplate how far you've travelled.

Change doesn't have to be accomplished in huge leaps.  Sometimes it's enough to start with baby steps.

The Waiting Game

I started this blog two years ago, and decided I'd revisit the very first blog post I did. Naturally, being a writer, I couldn't resist the temptation to edit it, mainly so that it will fit your TV screen--er, I mean, to reduce the wordage a bit.  Anyway, hope you enjoy this blast from February, 2009.

Writing is a waiting game, at every level, from querying, to that moment the book is ready for readers to purchase.  Waiting is not an enjoyable pastime though.  Nobody ever says "Hallelujah! I get to WAIT!"

You can spend the waiting time by clicking on "Check Mail" so much that your email provider actually re-designs the program and eliminates that feature.  (I'm pretty sure it's coincidence Hotmail did that, but I managed to foil their evil plan and find a workaround.)

Since waiting will never be completely bearable, here are some things I've come up with to distract you from the waiting game. The best part is they even qualify as a productive use of your time, so you don't have to feel guilty for not writing (because they're writing-related).

1.    Write the dedication and the acknowledgment pages for your book. These can actually change, day to day, based on who has irritated you ("you are so out of my book after that snarky comment"), or inspired you ("I'm moving them up to the third paragraph of the dedication since they let me turn left in front of all that traffic").

2.    Figure out the casting for the movie version. Even if you don't get casting approval, at some point you will be asked, "So who did you envision playing so-and-so?"  If you've already thought this through, you won't have to fumble around for an answer while on live TV. Plus it's really fun to fantasize about plan those intimate meetings to discuss "character motivation" with the hunky actor playing the part.

3.    Write your Oscar acceptance speech. This is a synopsis of the people who deserve to be thanked (you don't want to be chided for leaving out Someone Important), as well as a chance to say, "This wouldn't be possible if I hadn't written a really kick-ass book".

4.    Plan your outfits for your personal appearances. This is too important to be left to the last minute. Nobody needs a wardrobe malfunction to upstage what a great book you've unleashed on the world.

5.    Write cover blurbs for your friends' books. This will give you practice writing succinct, pithy bon mots, and it will also generate good karma for when you need reciprocity for your books. If you don't have friends who write, practice writing succinct, pithy mal mots for those books that made you wonder how the author got published before you did. Just make sure you sprinkle some "bad karma repellant" around first.

6.    Prepare for your Oprah interview. You know you won't jump up and down on her couch, but you might get a little sniffly describing the long waiting game that is known as publishing. So rehearse what you'll say, and practice being modest.

7.    Write some questions for book clubs. Of course people will select your book for their monthly meeting. This is the book they've been waiting for, the one that makes slogging through all those other gatherings worthwhile. Plus you can steer them towards those passages that you really love, and that deserve a little extra love and attention.

8.    Outline your "How to Get Published" book. You've learned a lot about writing, and waiting. Once you're a best-selling author, you may not have time to write this book, so do it now, while it's fresh in your mind.

I'm sure you can come up with other great ideas for staying sane.  Feel free to share them!  We're waiting. . .

Today I Choose to Write

Sometimes we can make things harder than they need to be.

I've just read two different posts this morning about "choice".  It made me realize how we try to characterize our actions in a way that will make us blameless—that's one of our specialties as human beings—so if things aren't going the way we want them to, we try to find something to blame.  Something besides ourselves.

It could be fate, our insecurities, our obligations.  It doesn't matter WHAT it is so long as it fills the requirement of letting us off the hook.

I'm not pointing a finger at anyone, because I do this as well.  I couldn't very well recognize it, let alone write a post about it, if I didn't have master-level black-belt status.

Choosing to write can be hard sometimes.  We want it to be as effortless as reading.  Sometimes it can be that way, when the words flow out of us in a never-ending stream of brilliance.  Sometimes the characters are well-behaved and delightful, so why wouldn't we choose to play with them?

But a lot of times writing seems too hard.  We are trying to create something out of nothing, for goodness sake.  That requires superpower abilities, something that deities possess.  No wonder we would choose to "not write".  We can even conjure up good reasons for that choice.

The problem is then your stories stay in that embryonic stage.  They sit inside you and cause a great deal of discomfort, which grows, causing you to feel out of sorts.  It's like a virus has taken over somehow.  You try to make those annoying feelings go away by doing something else, anything but writing. 

How could you possibly write when you feel like this?

The only way to dispel that sensation is to write.  I joke all the time about avoiding and procrastinating, and they are valuable tools in the writing process—unless the avoiding and procrastinating turn into full-time careers.  If that occurs, what happens to your stories?  Your characters end up in some kind of purgatory, even though they have done nothing wrong, and truly deserve better.

I think most stories burst forth with a wonderful idea, and writers grab on to it with enthusiasm, and then when they realize they have to figure out the rest of it, they panic.  They wrap the story in layers of "I can't do this".  They are happy for the gift, but don't know how to make it keep on giving.  They choose to give in to the fear and anxiety, not realizing those will grow bigger the longer they avoid trying to write.

So today let's choose to write.  Think in smaller bites, and shorter timeframes.  Write a sentence.  Think of another one that could follow that.  Take 15 minutes of your lunch hour, and sketch out a scene or a blog post.  Combine writing with other tasks.  I've worked through troublesome scenes during the tedious job of stirring risotto, or scrubbing the bathtub. 

You don't need a huge block of time to accomplish a lot of writing.  We like to believe that, but it's not true.  What we do need is a huge block of commitment, as well as concrete evidence that we can do this.

Today I choose to write.

A Bookish Kind of Love

Sometimes the internet can feel like an antiquarian bookstore, filled with obscure research treatises and unexplored literary tomes.  You enter this vast place intending to look for one thing, but then you follow a link, and then another, and yet another, forgetting where you commenced your journey, but unable to let go of the tantalizing possibilities still ahead, beyond your reach.

This is how I recently stumbled across "Date A Girl Who Reads" by Rosemarie Urquico.  It's one of the most enchanting posts I've read in a long, long time.

It's presented as advice, detailing why a girl who reads is such a wonderful catch.  But it's also a love letter to those of us who have always lived our lives through books. 

If you're not a reader, it's hard to understand our obsession for books and the characters contained inside them.  It's not a chore, or an assignment, because we're not merely reading words on a page.  We inhabit the world created in that book.  We shadow the characters during their adventures, experiencing their joys and heartaches as if they happened to our own hearts.  If we could, we would jump inside that chapter and console the characters while giving them advice on what to do next.

In her post, Ms. Urquico delightfully depicts this intertwined relationship between a reader and her book.  Even better, she shows what a rich life can be had when one loves a girl who loves books.

I read this post several times, smiling and nodding my head knowingly at each new paragraph.  I had a hard time deciding which section I wanted to highlight, but I finally decided on this one:

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

The entire post is worth reading, and re-reading, so go check it out now if you haven't already.  I suspect it may become one of your favorites. 

I also guarantee the last sentence will make you smile.  For a really long time afterwards. 

My Love Affair with Twitter

I'm @BookEmDonna and I'm in love with Twitter.

I originally titled this, "To Tweet or Not to Tweet", but that was misleading, because this is not intended to convince you to participate in Twitter. 

This is also not a "Choose Twitter over Facebook" post.  I don't think it should be an either/or thing.  In fact, I get a little aggravated when anything is posed in that light: print vs. ebook, paper or plastic.  Okay, that last one doesn't really aggravate me. 

Still, why would we take an incredible array of choices, things we can use to suit our particular needs and personalities, and narrow them down to fewer possibilities?

As for Facebook, my hat's off to them for discovering how to make people gleefully spill all their personal information in an online venue.  That was an utterly amazing accomplishment—I mean that sincerely—and the 20-something creator deserves to be a multi-zillionaire.

Anyway, here are some of the reasons I enjoy being part of the Twitterverse:

1.  It's fun

There's a small amount of space to get your thoughts across, so it requires brevity, which we all know is the soul of wit.  Like a lot of folks, I was disdainful of this newfangled invention at first.  "Who wants to read about the tuna fish sandwich someone made for lunch?" I scoffed.  Well, nobody does.  But if you can twist that into a funny bit, or an interesting recipe, or a remarkable bit of social commentary, then we're dying to read about your sandwich. 

Twitter is like a series of clever one-liners.  There are tweets that combine pop culture references in humorous ways.  Current events are mashed together to create hilarious book and movie titles.  Politics and satire are BFFs on Twitter.  It's essentially a comedy club on my laptop.

The other day I tweeted, "This new anti-aging moisturizer feels like it is melting my face.  Like the bad guy in the Indiana Jones movie."  One of my buddies, @snarkychicklet, replied, "Check the ingredients.  Is Ark of the Covenant in there?"  I'm still giggling about that.  It's just one example of why I keep going back to see what's new. 

2.  It's informational

Who would have ever expected we would watch a revolution unfold via Twitter?  One of the most stirring things from that event was a Twitpic of Egyptian Christians holding hands in a protective link so their Muslim countrymen could be safe while they prayed.  It still gives me shivers.  It's possible I would have seen this later, on a news website, but to see it as it happens?  It is an incredible use of this new medium. 

On a less lofty note, one night Netflix streaming quit working, and I hopped on over to Twitter and found out it was a widespread outage.  I know, I know, what if Twitter goes down?  I don't even want to let that thought into my head.

3.  It's accessible

People on Twitter, affectionately known as "tweeps", are available in every variety.  It's like being at a big ole party, and you get to choose who you want to engage with, based on your interests. 

Celebrities have a lot of fun with Twitter, and it's easy to see who will have a devoted following for a long time, even if their current celebrity starwattage happens to dim in the future. 

There are also agents and editors and authors who share fun tidbits and advice.  Last Friday there was an organized chat called #askeditor, and several editors (from Harlequin, Grand Central, and Kensington) answered questions for a couple hours.  Maybe their answers weren't anything you haven't heard before about the publishing industry, but isn't it great that you can interact with someone from that milieu so easily, and instantly? 

This past weekend an author asked her readers whether they were interested in a story about one of her characters in a previous book.  She got a lot of instant responses, and generated some fun discussion about her books, from one simple tweet.

4.  It's a connection

In the Regency time period, you couldn't just walk up to someone and start talking to them.  You had to be introduced by someone who knew both of you.  Twitter has a 21^st century version of that.  When someone chooses to follow you, you get a message showing the people they follow in common with you. It's very civilized, as though Twitter is vetting everyone so you don't have to.

There are several people I interact with more frequently on Twitter, and it's always a bright spot when I see their tweets.  They tend to be other writers, who understand what it's like to wrestle with words on a daily basis.  Recently I've been participating in #1k1hr word sprints with a group of other romance writers.  Someone will suggest a time when we all write for an hour, in a "virtual" group, and afterwards we report our word count accomplishments.  It's stimulating and fun, and it has increased my productivity by at least a zillion percent. 

5.  It makes me happy

This is the best reason to do anything in life, isn't it?  With Twitter, I get to laugh, and chat with interesting and funny people.   I am inspired with new ideas, and exposed to intriguing information.  I get to utilize my love of words with others who feel the same way.

So these are the reasons I am madly in love with Twitter.  Will this last forever?  Who knows.  I do have a tendency to be fickle about my crushes, so it's possible something else will come along that takes care of these same needs in a better way. 

But until then. . .you know where to find me.

Writing is a Workout

This is a post that got overlooked way back in the beginning.  It makes me chuckle, and I hope it will do the same for you.

I recently read an article which promised several ways to burn up 500 calories a day.  If you do this seven days a week, you will burn off one whole pound.

Naturally there were all the suggestions you'd expect on there -- don't eat dessert (as if), and park far away so you can walk briskly to the dessert place (already doing that).

The one that really caught my eye, though, was the one about knitting.  Yes, knitting.  This article said that a few hours each day of knitting can burn up 500 calories.

Huh.

I haven't knitted in ages, and now that it's a cool activity, I'm tempted to give it another whirl.  Except I know I'd be doing that all the time, basically ignoring my WIP--especially now that I know how many calories I can burn.  Still, I could justify it since I'd meet my weight loss goal in no time at all.

But then my creative little brain came up with this idea: why can't WRITING burn up those kinds of calories?

I mean, when you knit, you're clacking some needles together, throwing the yarn over, all pretty tame stuff.  Nothing that I would characterize as strenuous (even when you get frustrated at having to rip out several rows, and expletives are being tossed out with all the work that was done wrong). You're sitting, not racing up and down the block when you knit.  At least that's how I learned how to do it.  It's a leisure activity.

Writing, on the other hand, is strenuous.  Even when it's going well, at the end of a good day of writing, it feels like you've run a marathon.  If there was a public service announcement with a picture of "this is your brain on writing", it would look like a sponge that's had every little bit of stuff squished out of it. 

Also, I can type really fast, which is probably why my wrists are so darned slim. They get first dibs at the calorie burning, and I can attest they are getting a great workout.

Besides all of those calories, there are the ones that are burned up from procrastinating, when you're running around the house watering plants and scrubbing the toilet to avoid putting your butt in the chair.  Or what about all the calories expended from the websites you surf -- hellooooo, SURFING? -- for research purposes. And the constant inbox refreshing? It's a wonder we don't all fall over from exhaustion after several continuous hours of that.

So now when I'm blasting away at the word count, I can be satisfied knowing I'm also blasting away at those lazy-ass calories.

I'm actually feeling a little faint from this blog workout.  I better take a break to hydrate and see what's in the fridge. . .

Leigh Michaels Interview

I'm interviewing Leigh Michaels about her very first historical, The Mistress' House.  Come over to the Romance Writer's Revenge to hear all the scoop.  Leigh will be there answering questions, and there is a chance to win two copies of this new release!

Superstition Ain't The Way

I heard a Stevie Wonder song the other day, one I've heard a million times – Superstition – and one line hit me in a different way than all the other times I listened to it:

"When you believe in things that you don't understand"

I realized that can apply not only to superstition, but to faith.  Superstition is clearly fear-based, while faith is hope-based.  I have a tendency to use both, since the primitive part of my brain is fairly well-entrenched, and I figure it can't hurt to knock on wood or wish upon a star to placate any entity willing to help me out.

Writing is definitely an act of faith, one that borders on hubris.  Here I am creating something that has not existed before, and I do this with the belief that it is worthwhile and worth the effort.  It feels like magic sometimes, because I'm watching something materialize in my brain that doesn't have a physical form until I start tapping on my keyboard. Once it does appear, I have to draw on my faith that I can take this vague-ish idea and form it into a cohesive, entertaining story. Readers have faith in me to give them an emotional experience with the words I put together in the way only I can.

However, faith is not something that you acquire once and then you're set for life.  If only.

A lot of things I write show up mere seconds before "I'm not sure this is going to work" shoots through my mind.  But I choose to believe it will, even when there's no guarantee.  I've learned those crazy-ass ideas are the ones I want to pursue because, more times than not, they work in an even more spectacular fashion than the "normal" or "safe" things do.

My faith has a tendency to ebb during the final stretch of the revision process.  After many hours and days chipping away the rough edges, and smoothing over boo boos that weren't visible before you started making improvements. . .the finish line keeps getting farther and farther away.  That's when faith starts to flicker like a light bulb ready to stop shining forever.  You're exhausted and dispirited and convinced you've finally met the challenge that was meant to annihilate you all along.  You'll have nothing to show for your efforts but a mass of broken paragraphs and massacred scenes that used to be a decent first draft, all of it covered with your blood, sweat and tears.

And yet. . .somehow it always works out.  It's the result of "believing in something you don't understand".  Maybe this is part of the process, breaking things down until the fear can no longer touch you.  Now, while you're in a more humble state, you can see what it was you wanted to do with this story.  Having a crisis of faith is actually what restores your belief.  It bolsters you for the next time you falter and want to give up.

Faith is what made you start writing the story, when nobody but you thought it was possible you could write.  Faith will get you through the process, because you know how much you want to create this story, no matter how many obstacles you encounter. 

Faith keeps growing with each word you write.

To Blog or Not to Blog

Today's Friday Fave is a reprint of a post I did last summer.  This topic has been discussed a lot lately, so I wanted to see what I had to say about blogging.  And this is what I had to say:

There are two schools of thought about writers who blog.

There are those who think blogging takes away from the time writers should spend writing their books.  And then there are those who think blogging stimulates the writer, so their book-writing time is more efficient and productive.

I attend the second school. 

I personally feel like blogging was invented just for me.  I've always wanted a forum for my musings, so a blog is a perfect outlet.  According to my blog stats, I don't have an unmanageable number of people reading my opinions ("no servers were harmed in the posting of this blog").  Okay, let's just say the traffic on my blog is "trending upward".  Still, I like having an outlet for ideas and thoughts that can't really be put into my manuscripts.  

I can only imagine what internet archaeologists of the future will think of some of my blatherings. . .but it does not dim my enthusiasm for this particular medium of expression.  It allows me to explore a variety of topics, but it also requires me to think in terms of succinctness, and clarity, and cohesion – all good things when it comes to writing books.  Each post needs a hook, a good close, and it should intrigue the reader into wanting more.  Sound familiar?

I will admit that blogging can be used as an avoidance tool.  (For more information on how to avoid PROPERLY, and PROFESSIONALLY, see my blog post on the Hierarchy of Avoidance here.)   Devoting large chunks of time writing blog posts that may never be seen by anyone besides the dust bunnies and empty Starbucks cups fighting for supremacy near your laptop – well, it can definitely give a writer a false sense of "having written".

And there's a boatload of maintenance once you finish your blog post: checking for comments, responding to comments, deleting spam, checking for comments – why aren't there any comments?, checking to make sure the blog is still working by emailing and calling everyone you know to check out your blog post and begging them to post a comment, looking at other blogs while waiting for comments to post. . .Wow, is it really 6 p.m. already?

So, yes, it can be a time sinkhole that will gobble up your entire day.

However, I have decided that semi-frequent blogging is a good thing to do. (Yes, "semi-frequent" is an oxymoronic, hedge-your-bets kind of word.  But it fits so well here.  And shouldn't writers get to create their own words?  At least occasionally?)

Here's how I see the benefits of blogging:  If you're a marathon runner, what would you choose to do? Sit at home and save your energy for the big day? Or would you run a little bit each day, to keep your running muscles in tip-top shape?

See?  That's the kind of thing I'm talking about.  A great analogy popped into my head when I was blogging my brain muscles.  It keeps the brain cells alert, receptive to other words and ideas that can be used when working on a WIP.  Blogging is a sort of writing warm-up, a way to limber up the brain. 

It also tempts your brain to come out and play, and then, before it's aware of what you're doing, you've pulled the ole switcheroo, plopping your WIP on the desk, and your brain shrugs and says, "Yeah, I guess I can work on that too."

Maybe your brain doesn't respond with a shrug, like mine does.  But I suspect it does have to be persuaded, and cajoled, and maybe even tricked into getting involved in the WIP.  This is what makes blogging, even semi-frequently, such a great writing tool.   

"It's just a blog post," I say, so my brain won't cross its arms and stomp its foot when I open a Word document.  It's the writing equivalent of sneaking applesauce into a baby's cereal.  They're getting what they need, and you're getting what you want. 

When I blog, my brain is happy, I'm happy, and the WIP is happy.  One day the blog will be happy too – when it finally gets enough comments to bring some servers crashing down.

Jack's Bar

I'm so thrilled about today's guest.  Fans of Robyn Carr's Virgin River series know Jack and the patrons of his small-town bar very well.  If you're not a fan yet, you will be in just a little bit.  So raise your glass and let's hear it for Jack!

There are two things you learn right away when you become a bartender—how to know when people want to talk and when they want to be left alone.

Hi. I’m Jack Sheridan and I’ve been running this little bar for six or seven years now. I’m the one that keeps up with the locals and meets the tourists—usually hunters and fishermen. There’s hardly a person in Virgin River who doesn’t end up in here eventually.

My wife Mel says men are not good listeners. They can’t help it, she says—they just want to fix things. Well, I beg to differ, I’m a very good listener! I listen a lot more than I talk, never mind what she says. But if I happen to just know how to fix something, am I supposed to keep quiet?  For example, when my young friend Rick came home from Iraq one leg short, I’d have been happy to listen if he’d talked, but he was screwed up in the head. So I did what any good friend would do—I told him what was wrong with him, then I threw him in the truck and carted him off to counseling and physical therapy. I’m sure he’ll thank me one of these days. But if I hadn’t pushed on him a little bit...okay, all right, maybe I should’ve been a little more patient.

And when I found out Preacher was getting involved with a woman who had a dangerous abusive husband after her, I just naturally wanted to warn him how that could end up not going too well. You know what they say about those domestic things. Okay, I admit I was wrong about that, but I think him cold-cocking me was overkill. And then when my sister was getting involved with one of my best friends, I felt it was only right and honest to point out to her how that could be problematic, given the number of women he’d already been through, including two wives. Okay, I’m a big guy—I can admit I might’ve been a little hasty there. But she is my sister, after all. And threatening to shoot me could have been mean-spirited.

I can’t help it if I hear things. I generally learn who’s out of work, who’s fighting with his wife, who has a baby on the way, who has bills they can’t pay. Then, of course, I find out things no one tells me—like who might be on the wrong side of the law, who might be in an all-out war against Cupid, who might have a shine for someone they just can’t have. Recently I learned someone thinks I’m his biological father! News to me! And get this—someone died and left a big pot of money to the town and put me in charge! Now, this is a good little town, but not a rich town and certainly not a perfect town. Don’t think you can dangle money in front of them and expect them to act the same. Kind of turned the place inside out.

People tend to expect their private stories to get spread around pretty quick here. I suspect they secretly like it, too. Takes a lot of the pressure off the burden of trying to keep secrets. The only people in Virgin River I know who you can absolutely expect to never tell are the town doctor, Cameron Michaels, and Mel, the town midwife. Frankly, I find that irritates the hell out of me. A little too self-righteous for me, but hey—I guess they get a pass for medical issues.

As for me, I hear it all. I see it all. People expect me to keep my eyes and ears open. They also expect advice and it’s usually good advice if I do say so myself. And I’ve been known to slip a time or two, but I’m pretty damn good with secrets. Sit up here at the bar, my friend, and tell me what’s on your mind. Worst case? Six hundred or so find out eventually, but only if it’s interesting. We’re connoisseurs.

Welcome to the river. Life is simple, good, and an open book. You’ll get used to it in no time.

Thanks, Jack, for giving us the "story behind the story".  I'm sure we'll have some questions for you, so feel free to pour another round and we'll start the interrogation!  (Just don't tell anyone how I won your visit here in a contest, okay?  We can just keep that between us.)

If there's anything else Jack can't--or won't--tell, hopefully Robyn Carr will be by later to spill some secrets.

But wait, there's more!  It looks like one lucky commenter will receive a copy of Wild Man Creek. 

So let's talk about Virgin River, and what it would be like to live there, or the people you'd like to sit next to at Jack's Bar.  

And don't forget, you can buy Wild Man Creek, along with all the other books in the Virgin River series, here.  Start making your list!