Gaylen and Delia in N'awlins

This week the crazy Syler sisters are in New Orleans, home of jazz and jambalaya. I lived in Louisiana for four years, long enough to fall in love with more than the food and music. I fell head over heels in love with the people. Not everyone who hails from Louisiana is a Creole or Cajun, but all people there have a distinctively different cultural take on life. They work hard but know when to stop and feast and fellowship. They connect immediately with new friends and take you right into their homes and make you feel like family. While Gaylen and Delia walk into the lair of a sociopath, my heart returns to the haunts of N'awlins, the above ground cemetaries, the beignets and chicory coffee at Cafe DuMonde's, the jazz band down from Jackson Square at Preservation Hall, and the authentic "high teas" at Windsor Court. Lousiana, I miss you very badly!

A Tribute to Jane Orcutt

I remember Jane at an RWA convention many,many years ago. She was a quiet young woman and that surprised me. She was always a talktative sort within the chatter of our online community of pubbed writers. From that time forward, we made it a point to stay in touch and keep up with new releases. She once told me, "You're the only one that I allow to call me 'Janie'. Somehow when you say it, it sounds nice." She was so encouraging and that was a trait that would mark her as a friend to many Christian authors.

When Jane passed away March 18, 2007, on a Sunday, there was a cry of anguish that went up from Christian publishing. This week marks the release of her final novel, All the Tea in China. You may visit Jane's website, a site that has been a labor of love from friends, and order her book. All proceeds from Jane's books go to support her family.

http://www.janeorcuttbooks.com

Houston, a city of many countries

Gaylen and Delia make a stopover in the big Texas city of Houston. Houston is said to offer so many different types of restaurant fare that trying to sample all of the fine fare would be like visiting over 120 different countries.

Pasadena, Texas and the World's Biggest Shortcake

Gaylen and Delia take a side trip into Pasadena, Texas, home of the Strawberry Festival and mud volleyball. Thought you might enjoy watching the building of the world's largest strawberry shortcake.

http://www.strawberryfest.org/HEB-cake.html

I'm hungry.

Respect for the Sound Country

I’m poring over books and websites today. It’s out of respect for the sound country, the setting for Painted Dresses. I was reared with a respect for natural life. For kicks, my family would take day trips out into the woods where my mother would dig up wild African violets to bring home and plant. I was taught the snakes to tease and the ones to avoid. My sister and I swung from tree vines and caught toads and tadpoles. Nature was my nurturer.

Today I’m paying attention to the size of Longleaf Pines and the season of the Pitcher Plant in the Sound Country. There are small details that go into a story that either tell the truth about the landscape or ignore it. In a few weeks, I’m going back to the Sound Country with my notebook and camera. I want to be certain I get it right.

Traveling the Same Road

I write with specific readers in mind. There are certain scenes that cause me to imagine a woman identifying with that particular heroine because she herself has gone through that very thing. The story allows me to ask other readers questions like, “Is this what it felt like to you?” and “Do all women struggle like this?” or “Did you expect that when you grew up that things would be better in your family, between you and your dad, or you and your sister?” And when it wasn’t exactly as ideal as you thought, did you have to let go of that ideal? That is the kind of thing that is important to me as a writer, to remember who is sitting out there reading my story, what she has experienced, and what she might soon come to realize. It’s an inward road trip. The storyteller has the added benefit of taking others along on the road with her.
PH

Back to Pender County

I first found the region that has become the rich landscape for Painted Dresses on a road trip up to Topsail Island. I met several authors there in an annual round table party where local readers gather to pick the brains of novelists. It was a resourceful trip as I made a lot of headway into several towns. After driving up and down roads and stopping to chat along roadside stores and gas stations, I finally nailed down heroine Gaylen's home town in Boiling Spring Lakes. There's a long strip of road that runs right through town like a zipper called Fify Lakes Drive. From there sprang the story of Gaylen and Delia, two twenty-something and thirty-something sisters whose road trip is an inward journey for Gaylen.

Today I realized that after I finish Painted Dresses that I need to return to that area, specifically the towns that make up Pender County like Rocky Point and Burgaw. Several spring fests are coming up. I found a place online called Paul's Place. When I get there, I'll take pictures for you all to see (if he's around) of Paul and his famous hot dogs.

Today I'm wandering around inside the imaginations and the histories of these towns and wondering what trouble Gaylen might get into next.

PH