Catching up with Deanne Wilsted

If life is a journey, then the Genre-istas can certainly celebrate having enjoyed every mile along the way. Thank you so much to the crew for having me back to help celebrate this Sixth Blog-O-Versary! I am so proud to be counted among the amazing group of writers that have helped contribute to the blog’s success. 

To help celebrate the success of Romancing the Genres, I’m offering all of my Kindle books for just $.99 on Amazon for a short time from May  22^nd. You can find them here: amazon.com/author/deannewilsted

Throughout the ups and downs of parenting, moving, and publishing, my characters have continued to inspire my writing and driven me to get their stories out there. 

I completed and published my third novel, Molto Mayhem, set entirely in Italy. It has received great 4 and 5 Star reviews on Amazon… especially for my descriptions of Italy. Part Letters to Juliet, part Notting Hill, Molto Mayhem captures the reader's heart with quirky characters and delicious descriptions of food and setting. I tried to treat perceptions of grief, religion, and Italy in the book with my usual trademarks of humor and honesty. 

After receiving my rights back from my publisher for my second novel, Untangling the Knot, I have redesigned the cover and re-published so people can continue to find this sweet romantic story about Gabriella the church wedding coordinator who unintentionally gets all the plans wrong due to her growing attraction to the groom and his kids. In particular readers have really resonated with my depiction of the kids and the church priest in the story. And I wanted to make sure the novel would continue to be available (with some edits, but otherwise unchanged) along with my first novel, Betting Jessica, and my newer one, Molto Mayhem. 

Finally, my creative brain is back in gear with the start of a new novel set in England. It is a mother daughter journey this time…. With a little romance thrown in. The conflict? Mother wants to visit Jane Austen tourist sites, while her daughter is only interested in Harry Potter. Can commercial and literary fiction co-exist for this mother daughter duo? Or are the two genres, and the two characters’ personalities, perhaps not as far apart as they might imagine? 

I’m writing my own journey as I go along but love to share it with fellow travelers. 

You can drop me a note at dwilstedauthor@outlook.com or follow along on my journeys inspired by love at:  

Twitter  - https://twitter.com/dwilsted 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DeanneWilstedAuthor/ 

Website - http://www.deannewilsted.com 

Overheard on... Romancing the Genres

“Do you think Jesus lit a menorah?”

November is Holiday Story Time at Romancing the Genres- a gentle reminder I get every year to begin browsing holiday children’s books for my daughter. One of the books I found this year, called A CHRISTMASMENORAH: How a Town Fought Hate, by Janice Cohn, challenges the typical expectations from a Holiday book though.

During this last year my monthly Romancing the Genres post has explored the question of literary tension. Now, with a new year almost upon us, I’ve decided it is time to change the focus a bit- from tension to character depth. Who are the characters we love (or hate?) as readers and writers? Why do we relate to them? How do they draw us in or push us away?

As a writer I consider this question often. But it was while looking at Holiday stories that I finally grasped the greatest barrier to writing deep characters: stereotypes.  Just as last year I discussed how sentimental clichés affect authentic holiday writing, the example of Jesus as a character enlightened my understanding of easily trapped we can become in stereotypes. Without deep point of view the sweet character easily becomes Pollyanna while the buxom blond becomes Marilyn Monroe.

Our stereotype of Jesus is informed by the traditions of him and Christmas which have been built over centuries. Somehow Jesus in a manger goes directly from baby to adult with few images of his life in between. But somewhere along the line this baby grew up, first becoming a toddler, then a young boy, and then, even a teenager. Just like all kids his mom and dad probably fought with him. He had friends- people he liked and didn’t like. He even may have grumbled about his studies. And though he probably didn’t light a menorah, other than in the temple it was very rare back then to have candles, he did celebrate Hanukkah.

To write a ‘Holiday Story’ is to include all of the aspects of the season, not only the ones that stem from stereotypes.

Last year I proposed a writing/reading exercise about avoiding clichés. It seemed appropriate to bring it back out this year with the twist of developing a holiday character who didn’t enjoy any of these stereotypical holiday symbols. Give it a try, and then ask the guest authors what they do to avoid stereotypes in their writing.

Here are some traditional Holiday items. Without using any of these symbols, can you write a holiday paragraph from one character’s point of view? Include it in the comments section so we can all appreciate the hard work. Or as a reader, let us know the non-traditional triggers that remind you of the holidays.

Either way, whatever you do, do NOT use any of these words or symbols:
- Turkey, stuffing, gravy, etc.
- Christmas Tree
- Stockings
- Candy-canes, gold coins
- Santa or his reindeer
- Sugar-plums (or any reference to the Nutcracker)
- Pilgrims, Mayflower
- Cookies
- presents
- candles
- dreidel

Here is to a wonderful Holiday Season for everyone.

Deanne Wilsted
www.deannewilsted.com

Overheard at... the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland

“Listen to the fragrance.”

This line from a poem inscribed in the Lan Su garden has haunted me since I read and blogged about it a year ago (Overheard at... Art in the Pearl). I love the idea that our senses can be used to understand what is beyond our traditional comprehension. As Romancing the Genres plunges into the heat of August, we bring with us a focus on reader resources, spotlighting guest bloggers on the topics or book reviews, book clubs, and libraries. More than the blogs themselves, I am looking forward to hearing comments from our readers (wink, wink… that would be you!) about which resources they use to help them choose books.

Obviously dedicated readers know all about Goodreads and are probably well trained in how to use the Amazon system to narrow down their favorite picks. My husband is a pro, for example at searching Amazon for new books coming out by his favorite authors and then saving them to his wishlist or getting on the waiting list for when they are available at the library.

But when I look back, it seems like my favorite books have found me. I have been riding on a train and seen a cover that struck me, or been searching for one book and found something entirely different that called out to me. Like the moment when we ‘listen to a fragrance,’ sensing the presence of a great book is sometimes so unconscious I am not even sure most of us could articulate why or how it happened. All we know is that we walked into Barnes and Noble prepared to buy The Hunger Games (because, of course, we saw it mentioned on some great blog or something;>) and walked out with a copy of love poems.

And if sometimes that relationship, like many, deceives us and we sell the book back to Powells for a pittance, well, so be it. Because the very best reader resource I know is our own open mind and our willingness to try.

By Genre-ista: Deanne Wilsted

Author of BETTING JESSICA and UNTANGLING THE KNOT

www.deannewilsted.com

@dwilsted

Overheard at... the beach

“My son wrote this really clever, funny story when he was in fourth grade. I’ve held onto it thinking maybe someday he’d want to publish it.”

I am convinced when we look back someday we will find this is the age of the writer. There is such promise in the opportunity to make our work available to readers. And nowhere is this clearer than with young writers and poets (or sometimes those who are both!)

July on Romancing the Genres will spotlight young writers. Young writers bring their own perspective and voice to writing. They also bring fresh content that can sometimes seem controversial to adults. It is a fine balance, I think, between promoting their writing style, their academic learning and their freedom of expression.

It is fitting for this post during our charitable subject month, that I get the opportunity to thank some wonderful organizations out there who are helping kids learn to walk this balance while supporting and building their motivation to write:

-          Our very own, local, Willamette Writers has a nationally known program for kids, Young Willamette Writers (http://www.willamettewriters.com/YWW/yww.htm)

-          826 National aims to “provide under-resourced students, ages 6-18, with opportunities to explore their creativity and improve their writing skills…” and much more! (http://826national.org/about/)

-         Another local organization, Write Around Portland, “…Bring(s) free 10-week creative writing workshops to hospitals, schools, homeless youth shelters, senior centers, low income apartments, prisons, social service agencies and treatment facilities…” (http://www.writearound.org/index.html)

-         The Association of Writers and Writing Programs takes the learning back a level, by supporting those who teach kids how to express themselves (showing how to build a well, so to speak rather than building it for them) (https://www.awpwriter.org/about/our_history)

-         Young Writers Society is an online community for young writers age 13+ (http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/)

-        The Young Writers Project out of VT and NH has a great format for others to use in supporting young writers (including developing fun writing prompts to kick start imagination) (http://youngwritersproject.org/)

-         Who hasn’t heard of NaNoWriMo? But did you know they have a special Young Writers Program: (http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/)

The list could go on and on. Whether you are an established author, or a new writer, getting involved in one of these organizations helps all of us, kids and adult volunteers alike, continue to grow as writers.

Deanne
Journeys Inspired by Love
www.deannewilsted.com
Follow me - @dwilsted
or     https://www.facebook.com/DeanneWilstedAuthor

Overheard on...Romancing the Genres

Deanne Wilsted and Friend

“This is why I write historical romance, even if it means trawling through dusty books in the library” by Margaret Tanner on 9/10/11 (which in itself is funny!)

As many of you may already know, I have a penchant for overhearing the most interesting conversations: potty talk by kids (and sometimes adults!); business men / women discussing their next boondoggle; politically charged debates; even a sad teenage breakup. Each of these topics and many more have been game in my blog about the things I overhear. At first I was worried about the day someone I knew would read it and recognize themselves in my writing. So far, it hasn’t happened… or if it has they hopefully have not been offended enough to challenge me on it.

I think this is because the overhear is typically only a jumping off point for me. The real story is not what was said, but what it led to inside of me. For example, the potty talk one was about how innocently sincere children can be and how useful it would be if we could all be as honest in our dialogues. The break-up led to a blog about body language and how to use it in our writing.

Each time I catch a snippet of conversation I try to store it so I can use it for a future blog or novel. Sadly, my storage device (aka brain) loses memory at an alarming rate. Many overhears I am able to write down before they disappear… and some my friends or family remember and share with me… but others are simply lost, like so many beautiful shells in the ocean.

Contemporary writing is all about capturing and recreating details like these. Unlike historical romance which requires looking back in time for context and culture (and apparently through dusty books!) , my research is drawn from how people act immediately or in the wider world around me. Setting is therefore critically important, since unless I know the locale personally, I set myself up for a lot of online research and perhaps even travel.

In my second book, Untangling the Knot, which should be published before the end of 2012, my heroine, the church wedding planner,  flees after realizing she has fallen in love with the groom and his two adorable children. The fact that she has been subconsciously sabotaging the wedding drives her Catholic guilt to a whole new, unacceptable level and leads her to Italy; the very place where she can exorcize her own demons.

The good news while writing this was that I had spent a bit of time in Italy… the better news was that Italy has always been one of my favorite places in the world… and the very the best news was that last year a close friend got married there and so I had multiple reasons for a return trip. I loved the setting and the research I did on Italy so much, in fact, that I set the entirety of my third novel, Molto Mayhem, there.

When people ask me how I come up with the stories I write I often wonder, how do they not? Inspiration surrounds us, in the trips we take, the conversations we share and the details we observe or overhear.

I feel incredibly lucky to have an excuse now for my snooping; and even more fortunate that most of my research takes place at Starbucks. For me it is far more fun to be surrounded by interesting (if hopped up) people than by stacks of dusty books.

Deanne Wilsted was convinced of her particular writing talent when she won an Honorable Mention award at her local county fair at age eight. Since that point, writing has been her passion… even when it was not her day job. After years of working in business she decided to pursue writing as a career in 2001 and has since produced three novels; Betting Jessica (available on Kindle), Untangling the Knot (scheduled to be published at the end of the 2012), and Molto Mayhem (currently in revision). 

Deanne is an active member of Willamette Writers and is current President of Rose City Romance Writers, the Portland chapter of Romance Writers of America. Her blog, Overheard at… can be found at: http://www.deannewilsted.com/my-world---blog.html.

When Deanne is not writing she spends her time goofing off with her husband, young daughter and crazy dog… or daydreaming about her next trip to Italy and beyond.