Go Phillies!
It is no coincidence that I accompanied my daughter's 8th grade class to New York in 2004 and that we visited Yankee Stadium.
Where I placed a small, teeny tiny curse.
And look who won the World Series in 2004. The BoSox baby!
I rest my case.
I hate the Yankees.
Go Phillies!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Cantor Workshop October 17, 2009
So, here's what you need to know about Goal, Motivation and Conflict for Singers!
Based on Debra Dixon's book, GMC: Goal, Moivation and Conflict, I've adapted these tools so that singers can use them to bring more emotion and immediacy to their work. It's very easy! All you have to do is remember to express every aspect as an action verb.
Let's take Psalm 51. What is the singer's goal? In other words, what does he want? He wants to confess his sins and receive forgiveness. What's his motivation? In other words, why does he want to confess and be forgiven? He wants those things so he can feel once again God's favor. What's his conflict? Again, what's getting in his way? He is fighting against his own ability to admit his guilt and accept God's forgiveness. But you might have a different idea about any of those three questions. The main thing is to always express things as an action. Turn "to be happy" into "to cheer myself up." You get the drift.
Please let me know if you have questions! I hope to see you on 10/17!
Based on Debra Dixon's book, GMC: Goal, Moivation and Conflict, I've adapted these tools so that singers can use them to bring more emotion and immediacy to their work. It's very easy! All you have to do is remember to express every aspect as an action verb.
Let's take Psalm 51. What is the singer's goal? In other words, what does he want? He wants to confess his sins and receive forgiveness. What's his motivation? In other words, why does he want to confess and be forgiven? He wants those things so he can feel once again God's favor. What's his conflict? Again, what's getting in his way? He is fighting against his own ability to admit his guilt and accept God's forgiveness. But you might have a different idea about any of those three questions. The main thing is to always express things as an action. Turn "to be happy" into "to cheer myself up." You get the drift.
Please let me know if you have questions! I hope to see you on 10/17!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
A release date!
I am thrilled to let you know that I have a release date for Mike's Best Bet! Set your calendars to April 30, 2010!
Also, for those of you in the Ithaca area, check out this year's Star Search presentations, The Quest For the Onion of Doom, Friday evening, August 14, and the new show CSI: Macbeth: LMNOP, Friday evening, August 28. Curtain times for both shows in 7:30. Admission is free, unless you want to make a donation! Come on out and support the kids!
For those of you who don't know what Star Search is, it's a musical theater camp for teens (10 to 16). We do two shows, for which I write the scripts. The idea for the class is that we strengthen you weaknesses and challenge your strengths. Each camper must sing, dance and act, whether they're good at it or not. We've been doing this since 1988 and have had a lot of success. Some parents have told us the camp was life changing for their kids!
Also, for those of you in the Ithaca area, check out this year's Star Search presentations, The Quest For the Onion of Doom, Friday evening, August 14, and the new show CSI: Macbeth: LMNOP, Friday evening, August 28. Curtain times for both shows in 7:30. Admission is free, unless you want to make a donation! Come on out and support the kids!
For those of you who don't know what Star Search is, it's a musical theater camp for teens (10 to 16). We do two shows, for which I write the scripts. The idea for the class is that we strengthen you weaknesses and challenge your strengths. Each camper must sing, dance and act, whether they're good at it or not. We've been doing this since 1988 and have had a lot of success. Some parents have told us the camp was life changing for their kids!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Surprised By Joy
Let me take my writer hat off and put my conductor hat on. My fabulous group, The Finger Lakes Women's Chorale, will present a concert entitled "Surprised By Joy" on Sunday, May 3, 4:00 PM at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Ithaca. We will be accompanied by the amazing Christopher Morgan Loy, Glenn McClure and Michael Wellen. The program is as follows: This is the Day (Gerald T. Smith) "Kyrie" from Saint Francis in the Americas A Caribbean Mass (Glenn McClure), "Gloria" from the Mass for Bishop Clark (Dominick DiOrio), In the Beginning (Imant Raminsh), Salmo 150 (Ernani Aguiar), Alleluia (Joseph Gregorio), The Beatitudes (Damijan Mocnik), Dancing (Scott Tucker), "Creo en Dios" from Misa Pequena (Francisco Nunez), Festival Sanctus (John Leavitt), "The Lord's Prayer" from Bethesda Evensong (Gwyneth Walker), Agnus Dei (Sonja Poorman) and Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down (Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory).
Hope to see you there!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Mike's Best Bet
Yay! I got the galleys proofed and soon we'll have a release date for my first book, Mike's Best Bet, coming soon from the Wild Rose Press! This is the first book in my At The End Zone series.
Here's an excerpt:
He took his hands out of his pockets and held one out to her. “Dance with me.”
She shouldn’t, she really shouldn’t, but she made the mistake of looking into Mike’s green flecked eyes. They were so hot, they practically scorched her. Oh boy was she a goner. She put her champagne down, put her hand into his, and followed him onto the dance floor.
He put his hands on her hips and pulled her in close to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and melted against him while the band played Duke Ellington’s “Prelude to a Kiss”.
Mike moved with all the elegance and grace of a natural athlete. The band’s alto sax lovingly crooned a hot melody that seemed made just for them. Andi sighed and lost herself in the moment.
It shouldn’t feel so good to be held by this man, but it did. He felt warm and solid and safe. Only traces of his after shave lingered, so her nose caught elusive wisps of wood and spice. His thumbs rubbed up and down on her hips, which made her shiver. He didn’t know the song, but hummed along anyway, off-key. She couldn’t remember when she last had heard more beautiful music.
The music ended. For a long moment they remained locked against each other, unaware of the applause that replaced the music. She looked up at him, then away. She didn’t want him to see more than she was ready to show him.
I will be back soon with a release date and info!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
When good authors have crazy message boards
There are many authors who have message boards where they can interact with their readers. Upfront this looks and sounds like a good idea. It has its pitfalls. Let me elaborate.
Cliques arise and new posters who disagree with the point of view of the ruling clique are ostracized. A case in point: I once posted an opinion on an author's board and it was not widely popular. The in crowd disagreed with me, but did they disagree with me up front? No, they started a new post, special for them, quoting and belittling my opinion and talking about how wrong I was. It was cowardly on their part and made me revise my opinion of the author as a person and her moderators (who of course were in the clique). I won't post there again. Will I buy her books? While she keeps on writing stories I want to read, and not stories the clique demand.
Which brings me to my second point, when an author changes the direction a book series is going in because the posters on her message board demand it. I've seen an author change rules of her world to accomodate what her posters want to see. It sucks, to be blunt. Most of the readers out there are off line - how are they going to keep up? Probably they won't and will stop buying the books, especially if the author makes the leap to hardcover.
My last point ties into the one above. Special stories that are only available on the website. Many times these stories contain content that's going to be germane in the next book and if you're not in the loop, you're really confused. And that's just bad business.
Doreen
Cliques arise and new posters who disagree with the point of view of the ruling clique are ostracized. A case in point: I once posted an opinion on an author's board and it was not widely popular. The in crowd disagreed with me, but did they disagree with me up front? No, they started a new post, special for them, quoting and belittling my opinion and talking about how wrong I was. It was cowardly on their part and made me revise my opinion of the author as a person and her moderators (who of course were in the clique). I won't post there again. Will I buy her books? While she keeps on writing stories I want to read, and not stories the clique demand.
Which brings me to my second point, when an author changes the direction a book series is going in because the posters on her message board demand it. I've seen an author change rules of her world to accomodate what her posters want to see. It sucks, to be blunt. Most of the readers out there are off line - how are they going to keep up? Probably they won't and will stop buying the books, especially if the author makes the leap to hardcover.
My last point ties into the one above. Special stories that are only available on the website. Many times these stories contain content that's going to be germane in the next book and if you're not in the loop, you're really confused. And that's just bad business.
Doreen
Friday, January 9, 2009
The book I forgot!
Of course I forgot a book to my fave list. I'm known far and wide for my awesome forgetting skillz. Anyway, the book that should be on everyone's list is Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss (RIP). The heroine is the one with the ego and the power in the relationship. The hero is never hurtful to her in the least and is pretty much perfect. When she finally wakes up and gets over her snobbery, I want to cheer. Certainly for the time in which the book was written, the 70s, this was quite a refreshing change over the so-called bodice rippers. Over the years Woodiwiss' writing style became obsolete, but she was a ground breaker in those early days of the genre. Comparisons between Woodiwiss and Rosemary Rogers are inevitable and I am solidly on Team Woodiwiss. Rogers' books always felt, to me at least, like a man wrote them. Your mileage may vary, so let me know how you feel about that!
Doreen
Doreen
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Doreen’s Top Ten Romances and Why
As this is a new column, I thought I’d kick it off with a topic everyone has an opinion about: what are your favorite books and why?
Brief aside – this column is open to anyone! Please feel free to submit a question and some commentary designed to start some discussion and away we’ll go!
So, without further ado, here is my list!
Through a Dark Mist, by Marsha Canham. This is my all time favorite romance. It is a medieval and chock full of authentic period detail. Canham’s prose is dense and rich with detail, but still thoroughly readable. I’ve heard described as too bloodthirsty, but to me, the vigor of the detail of her battle scenes are what propel you so forcefully into her story. And what a story! Her plot is full of twists and always plausible. She does some fun things with point of view, starting the book in the heroine’s pov, telling the rest of the entire book as a flashback, bringing the story to the same scene, only now told from the hero’s pov. Her dialogue is magic, the romance and attraction yummy. I do a re-read of this book every year and find something new to love every time.
Dreaming of You, by Lisa Kleypas. I’ve seen this described as the most perfect romance ever written and it deserves the praise. A historical set in the regency period, neither the hero nor the heroine are from the nobility. Both characters have achieved some sort of notoriety, the hero as the owner of the most successful gaming club in England and the heroine as the author of a wildly popular novel. This story has some of the most romantic dialogue I’ve ever read. There’s really not much in the way of plot, which might be a fault for some, but not for me in this case, because the romance is so amazingly written.
I love Susan Elizabeth Phillips and while I love all her work, Heaven, Texas has to be her best. Her characters are amazing and incredibly lovable. The secondary romance between the hero’s mother and former bad-boy made good is one of the most sparkling aspects of this multi-faceted book. The dialogue is perfect. The re-telling of the Cinderella story is still up-to-date, even though it was written over a decade ago. This is a textbook case of show don’t tell. It should be required reading for all writers, I don’t care what your genre is.
Anyone who talks to me about books for more than five minutes knows that I worship at the altar of Suzanne Brockmann. There have been books I’ve liked better than others, obviously, but they’ve all got special places on my keeper shelves. Her recent books are moving beyond romance and while I’m good with that not a whole lot of readers are. So, I’ll go with my first Brockmann, Prince Joe. It has a delicious romance, packs in a heck of a lot in a Silhouette Intimate Moments and is just a great little book. Second place goes to one of her early Loveswepts, a romantic comedy called Kiss and Tell. This is one of the greatest heroes she has ever written. I’m a sucker for a hero who has been in love with the heroine forever and finally gets the girl. Ask me in January if this is still true. I loved Into the Fire and if the reviews are any indication, her 1/27/09 release, Dark of Night, is going to be my new favorite book. I love me some Decker!
Completing my trio of “Susans” is Susan Andersen. Her last release by Kensington is called Exposure and is a great romantic suspense, with another winner of a hero. Elvis was injured while on the job in the big city and has moved back to the small town where he grew up. He is disfigured and has a hook where his hand used to be. The heroine and her daughter bring Elvis back to life and the transformation is wonderful to watch.
Michele Albert used to write under the name of Michele Jerott. Her second book under that name is called All Night Long. The hero is a Wisconsin dairy farmer, Rick, with red hair and a mustasche (not your usual tall, dark and handsome). He’s just been through a brutal divorce and wants nothing more than to be left alone to pick up the pieces of his life and maintain a relationship with his daughter as she changes from a little girl to an adolescent. The heroine, Annie, is a photographer who is researching a battle from an Indian war that took place on his land. He grudgingly allows her to work in his house and explore his farm searching for her answers. The plot is unusual, the characters fun and the resolution fully satisfying.
Tami Hoag wrote romance before she wrote suspense. She began writing romantic comedy for Loveswept and moved into romantic suspense when she went single title. One of her first, Lucky’s Lady, makes my list. Lucky is one of those scrumptious Cajun heroes, an artist turned soldier turned jack of all trades who has seen too much of the worst in people. The heroine doesn’t ever entirely tame him. She’s a good girl with a good pedigree and he manages to unlock all the passion that been bottled up inside her all her life. The rest of the book is populated with quirky characters and a great mystery. Did I mention the book is hot? Oven mitts are required apparel when reading this book
My favorite Jennifer Crusie comes next, and that’s Fast Women. It skirts that fine line between romance and women’s fiction, but the end of the book puts this one solidly in the romance column. This book contains the usual Crusie snappy writing and understated humor and the friendship between the women is the thing that really appeals to me in a big way.
I’m going to cheat with Nora Roberts. I’m going to count her Born In series as two books. Of the three titles in the book, Born in Fire, Born in Ice and Born in Shame, Born in Shame is my favorite of the three. Of course, they are wonderful romances, the heroes are off the chart sexy and the heroines likeable and interesting. The books on the whole, however, deal with one of my favorite topics, why do we artists do what we do? There’s not an aspect of the artistic life and process that she doesn’t explore, from making art as a profession to selling it, from homemaking to international gallery owner, from singing in a pub to writing New York Times bestsellers. She also explores the complicated and tangled ties of what makes a family and how people can be deeply connected by what appears to me the most trivial detail. Rich and thought provoking, I also re-read this series once a year and again, always find something new to think about, either about my music or my writing, or about my teaching others to be artists.
So, there’s my list! What’s on yours? I'd love to know!
As this is a new column, I thought I’d kick it off with a topic everyone has an opinion about: what are your favorite books and why?
Brief aside – this column is open to anyone! Please feel free to submit a question and some commentary designed to start some discussion and away we’ll go!
So, without further ado, here is my list!
Through a Dark Mist, by Marsha Canham. This is my all time favorite romance. It is a medieval and chock full of authentic period detail. Canham’s prose is dense and rich with detail, but still thoroughly readable. I’ve heard described as too bloodthirsty, but to me, the vigor of the detail of her battle scenes are what propel you so forcefully into her story. And what a story! Her plot is full of twists and always plausible. She does some fun things with point of view, starting the book in the heroine’s pov, telling the rest of the entire book as a flashback, bringing the story to the same scene, only now told from the hero’s pov. Her dialogue is magic, the romance and attraction yummy. I do a re-read of this book every year and find something new to love every time.
Dreaming of You, by Lisa Kleypas. I’ve seen this described as the most perfect romance ever written and it deserves the praise. A historical set in the regency period, neither the hero nor the heroine are from the nobility. Both characters have achieved some sort of notoriety, the hero as the owner of the most successful gaming club in England and the heroine as the author of a wildly popular novel. This story has some of the most romantic dialogue I’ve ever read. There’s really not much in the way of plot, which might be a fault for some, but not for me in this case, because the romance is so amazingly written.
I love Susan Elizabeth Phillips and while I love all her work, Heaven, Texas has to be her best. Her characters are amazing and incredibly lovable. The secondary romance between the hero’s mother and former bad-boy made good is one of the most sparkling aspects of this multi-faceted book. The dialogue is perfect. The re-telling of the Cinderella story is still up-to-date, even though it was written over a decade ago. This is a textbook case of show don’t tell. It should be required reading for all writers, I don’t care what your genre is.
Anyone who talks to me about books for more than five minutes knows that I worship at the altar of Suzanne Brockmann. There have been books I’ve liked better than others, obviously, but they’ve all got special places on my keeper shelves. Her recent books are moving beyond romance and while I’m good with that not a whole lot of readers are. So, I’ll go with my first Brockmann, Prince Joe. It has a delicious romance, packs in a heck of a lot in a Silhouette Intimate Moments and is just a great little book. Second place goes to one of her early Loveswepts, a romantic comedy called Kiss and Tell. This is one of the greatest heroes she has ever written. I’m a sucker for a hero who has been in love with the heroine forever and finally gets the girl. Ask me in January if this is still true. I loved Into the Fire and if the reviews are any indication, her 1/27/09 release, Dark of Night, is going to be my new favorite book. I love me some Decker!
Completing my trio of “Susans” is Susan Andersen. Her last release by Kensington is called Exposure and is a great romantic suspense, with another winner of a hero. Elvis was injured while on the job in the big city and has moved back to the small town where he grew up. He is disfigured and has a hook where his hand used to be. The heroine and her daughter bring Elvis back to life and the transformation is wonderful to watch.
Michele Albert used to write under the name of Michele Jerott. Her second book under that name is called All Night Long. The hero is a Wisconsin dairy farmer, Rick, with red hair and a mustasche (not your usual tall, dark and handsome). He’s just been through a brutal divorce and wants nothing more than to be left alone to pick up the pieces of his life and maintain a relationship with his daughter as she changes from a little girl to an adolescent. The heroine, Annie, is a photographer who is researching a battle from an Indian war that took place on his land. He grudgingly allows her to work in his house and explore his farm searching for her answers. The plot is unusual, the characters fun and the resolution fully satisfying.
Tami Hoag wrote romance before she wrote suspense. She began writing romantic comedy for Loveswept and moved into romantic suspense when she went single title. One of her first, Lucky’s Lady, makes my list. Lucky is one of those scrumptious Cajun heroes, an artist turned soldier turned jack of all trades who has seen too much of the worst in people. The heroine doesn’t ever entirely tame him. She’s a good girl with a good pedigree and he manages to unlock all the passion that been bottled up inside her all her life. The rest of the book is populated with quirky characters and a great mystery. Did I mention the book is hot? Oven mitts are required apparel when reading this book
My favorite Jennifer Crusie comes next, and that’s Fast Women. It skirts that fine line between romance and women’s fiction, but the end of the book puts this one solidly in the romance column. This book contains the usual Crusie snappy writing and understated humor and the friendship between the women is the thing that really appeals to me in a big way.
I’m going to cheat with Nora Roberts. I’m going to count her Born In series as two books. Of the three titles in the book, Born in Fire, Born in Ice and Born in Shame, Born in Shame is my favorite of the three. Of course, they are wonderful romances, the heroes are off the chart sexy and the heroines likeable and interesting. The books on the whole, however, deal with one of my favorite topics, why do we artists do what we do? There’s not an aspect of the artistic life and process that she doesn’t explore, from making art as a profession to selling it, from homemaking to international gallery owner, from singing in a pub to writing New York Times bestsellers. She also explores the complicated and tangled ties of what makes a family and how people can be deeply connected by what appears to me the most trivial detail. Rich and thought provoking, I also re-read this series once a year and again, always find something new to think about, either about my music or my writing, or about my teaching others to be artists.
So, there’s my list! What’s on yours? I'd love to know!
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