Thank you so much for supporting Michelle's week in the spotlight. Michelle has written a short Christmas story, that she will post on her website as a PDF that readers can download.
The title is "One Small Child," and takes place just before Christmas at the end of Year One in the Tabor Heights Series. There's a nice blank gap between the last story of Year One, which ends in November, and when Year Two starts in early January.
The links for Michelle's website are at the bottom of the page.
Enjoy the Excerpt!
Smiles
Moderator Steph
**********
"Are you two fighting about something?" Drake asked.
"We'd have to be talking to fight." Dinah lifted the cutting board and scraped the celery off it into the bowl. "She hasn't come by, hasn't called, since I got home."
"Maybe she didn't know when you got home, and she's been waiting for you to call?"
"She has a point, dear," Mrs. Ashcroft said.
"Gretchen left messages for her." Dinah shrugged and reached for the tomato and concentrated on coring it before slicing. Drake knew it didn't take that much effort to take out the area where the stem attached. Something bothered his sister.
Still, he couldn't help snapping at her. "You left it up to Gretchen to tell Stacy you were home? Mom, what's wrong with this picture?"
"Gretchen has been very helpful. She's been helping even before the girls came home." Mrs. Ashcroft handed him the divided glass dish to hold the olives and artichokes. "All the things I would have asked Stacy to help with, Gretchen already thought of and took care of them."
"You wouldn't have had to ask Stacy, either. If she knew what was going on." He grunted as he got the second jar open and dug in with two fingers to scoop out a piece of artichoke heart. He grinned when his mother slapped his shoulder -- after he had the piece in his mouth.
"Something is bothering her," Dinah said, plopping the pieces of tomato onto the top of the salad. "She hasn't come by, hasn't called. She hasn't emailed, either."
"Did you email her? Call her? Stop by her house?" Drake sighed when his sister just shook her head and wouldn't look at him. "Di, you're the one with the open schedule. Stacy has to work. You know she'll drop everything for you, but you have to let her know you're here, first."
"She obviously knows I'm home, because she brought that present by."
"We did send her an invitation to the party," Mrs. Ashcroft offered.
"Stacy shouldn't need an invitation. She's just about family." He settled down on a stool pulled up at the counter. What was wrong with his mother and sister that they didn't seem to realize something was very wrong? Or was something wrong with him, that he thought Stacy was being hurt?
"True," his mother said. "Did she say anything was going on, the last time you two talked, Dinah?"
"We haven't really talked..." Dinah slid the salad bowl into the refrigerator. She barely met Drake's eyes before turning to their mother. "I got a Christmas card from her. That's about all the contact we've had for the last year or two."
"How come? What'd you do to make her angry?" Drake asked.
"What makes you think I did anything?" She glared at him and turned to walk out the door.
"Because Stacy is like a duck -- most of the time it rolls right off. Takes a lot to get her angry," he said, catching her arm to stop her.
"I wouldn't know. She just stopped writing."
"Did you ask her what was wrong?"
"If you're so concerned about Stacy, how come you don't write to her? How come you have to find out how she is by asking me?"
"Dinah!" their mother scolded. She stepped over, somewhat blocking her in, so Dinah had to step around her to get out of the kitchen. "Why did Stacy stop writing? What did she say in her last email?"
"I can't remember... exactly." Dinah wouldn't meet her eyes now.
FIND MICHELLE AT:
www.Mlevigne.com
www.Tabor-Heights-Today.blogspot.com
www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com
buy:
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-383/Tabor-Heights-Year-Two-cln-/Detail.bok
Showing posts with label Invitation to the Wedding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Invitation to the Wedding. Show all posts
Friday, 21 December 2012
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Author Spotlight - Michelle Levigne talks about bullies
In "Invitation to a Wedding," our heroine faces the ultimate nasty trick, played on her by the "mean girls" who have come back to town for the wedding celebration of her best friend from childhood.
Stacy was the housekeeper's granddaughter, and even though the Ashcrofts treated her like a member of the family, obviously the other "social elite" families in Tabor Heights didn't agree with them, because their daughters grew up trying to keep Stacy in "her place," and interfere with her friendship with Dinah Ashcroft.
I've never had anyone play such a nasty trick on me -- try to keep me from a friend's party, or cut me out of an activity where I had every right to be there, but I've suffered other "slings and arrows" of abuse, criticism, mockery, and people telling two different stories to keep two sides apart. (Does that make any sense?) The best tactic when dealing with "social bullies," as I call them, is communication. Stacy and Dinah drifted apart and stopped communicating. The bullies never would have gotten between them if they had talked to each other.
Instead of believing someone when they say, "Jenny doesn't want to hang around with you," confront Jenny directly. I wish I had learned that lesson years ago. There are people who believe I hate them, when it turns out that a third party told me they didn't want to be around me, and then told them the same thing about me!
I dream of the day when these people who discouraged me and bruised my feelings and my dreams will want something from me ... and yes, I admit, I want to "get some back" at them.
It's not nice. It's something I'm working on. My favorite scenario, practiced many times in my imagination, is for them to come up to me at a booksigning with some friends they want to impress. They'll exclaim about how great I look, and how well my books are selling, and they're so glad for me -- and when they try to hug me, I'll pull back and say, "Sorry, I don't recognize you. Where do I know you from?"
I hope I grow to the point that I forget about the bruises, the hurt feelings, the lies people have told about me, the mockery -- so that when someone shows up, claiming to be an old friend, it's the truth when I say, "Sorry, I honestly don't recognize you. Where do we know each other from?" And when they tell me, I'll be glad to see them.
That's the biggest triumph over bullies. To lose the hurt they tried to inflict on us. To succeed despite their mockery and lies and trying to put us in what they believe is our "proper place."
FIND MICHELLE AT:
www.Mlevigne.com
www.Tabor-Heights-Today.blogspot.com
www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com
buy:
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-383/Tabor-Heights-Year-Two-cln-/Detail.bok
Stacy was the housekeeper's granddaughter, and even though the Ashcrofts treated her like a member of the family, obviously the other "social elite" families in Tabor Heights didn't agree with them, because their daughters grew up trying to keep Stacy in "her place," and interfere with her friendship with Dinah Ashcroft.
I've never had anyone play such a nasty trick on me -- try to keep me from a friend's party, or cut me out of an activity where I had every right to be there, but I've suffered other "slings and arrows" of abuse, criticism, mockery, and people telling two different stories to keep two sides apart. (Does that make any sense?) The best tactic when dealing with "social bullies," as I call them, is communication. Stacy and Dinah drifted apart and stopped communicating. The bullies never would have gotten between them if they had talked to each other.
Instead of believing someone when they say, "Jenny doesn't want to hang around with you," confront Jenny directly. I wish I had learned that lesson years ago. There are people who believe I hate them, when it turns out that a third party told me they didn't want to be around me, and then told them the same thing about me!
I dream of the day when these people who discouraged me and bruised my feelings and my dreams will want something from me ... and yes, I admit, I want to "get some back" at them.
It's not nice. It's something I'm working on. My favorite scenario, practiced many times in my imagination, is for them to come up to me at a booksigning with some friends they want to impress. They'll exclaim about how great I look, and how well my books are selling, and they're so glad for me -- and when they try to hug me, I'll pull back and say, "Sorry, I don't recognize you. Where do I know you from?"
I hope I grow to the point that I forget about the bruises, the hurt feelings, the lies people have told about me, the mockery -- so that when someone shows up, claiming to be an old friend, it's the truth when I say, "Sorry, I honestly don't recognize you. Where do we know each other from?" And when they tell me, I'll be glad to see them.
That's the biggest triumph over bullies. To lose the hurt they tried to inflict on us. To succeed despite their mockery and lies and trying to put us in what they believe is our "proper place."
FIND MICHELLE AT:
www.Mlevigne.com
www.Tabor-Heights-Today.blogspot.com
www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com
buy:
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-383/Tabor-Heights-Year-Two-cln-/Detail.bok
Monday, 17 December 2012
Author Spotlight - Q&A with Michelle Levigne
STEPH: I don't know much about "Invitation to a Wedding." What's it about?
MICHELLE: Drake Ashcroft, ex-Marine now in seminary, comes home for the wedding reception for his sister, who eloped with his best friend from the Marines. He finds a present on the back step, left there by Stacy Belmont, granddaughter of their former housekeeper. The problem is that Stacy grew up with Drake and his sister, Dinah, and he knows the two girls promised to be each other's maid of honor -- so why isn't Stacy helping with the preparations for the party?
As Drake investigates, he learns that the some people in town haven't outgrown their childhood rivalries and petty nastiness, and the "mean girls" still have it in for Stacy. It turns into a race against time to get Stacy to the party, but he's going to do it, even if he has to kidnap her.
STEPH: How long did it take you to write?
MICHELLE: The first draft took me a month. This year, I rough drafted six of the eight novels for Year Two, giving myself a month for each one. Then, after letting it sit for five months, I went back and revised it. I had to wait until all the books were roughed so I could put together my calendar of when and where things happened in Tabor Heights, because I needed to refer to that calendar when Stacy and Drake correspond for most of the year. I was starting to panic, because the deadline was approaching for turning the book in, and I hadn't started the revisions yet! But I made it. Somehow. And I'm pleased with the story. At least, I think so ...... Still too tired to be sure it turned out right!
STEPH: How much research did you have to do?
MICHELLE: Not much. I already had the setting, a good idea of the characters, their shared history -- and lots of experience with the problems caused by lies and social maneuvering and "mean girls" trying to rule the world. The biggest chore on my list was getting all the other books written so I knew what happened when in the different storylines, so Stacy could mention some of the events -- but definitely not all of them! -- when she emailed Drake through the year.
STEPH: How does the cover reflect the story within?
MICHELLE: I think it arouses some curiosity, from the moment someone realizes it's an invitation that's been tossed into the wastebasket before it even got mailed. It's not an accurate picture, because the evil Gretchen didn't actually throw away Stacy's invitation, she just made sure it never got mailed. But as it reflects the "heart" of the story, the conflict, and the problem to overcome, it's spot-on. Jenifer and her staff always do an incredible job with the artwork.
STEPH: Stacy is the heroine. What are her strengths? Weakness?
MICHELLE: She is smart, and she is generally an upbeat, caring, kind, generous person. Right now she's going through a rough time in her life -- she just had her first Christmas without her grandmother, who raised her, and the family that treated her like she was one of their own has basically left her out in the cold because of some crises of their own that they went through over the holidays. Plus, a year of silence between her and her best childhood friend has culminated in "Retchin' Gretchen" (yes, you'll find out where the nickname came from!) acting as maid of honor, when Stacy and Dinah promised to be each other's maid of honor. Stacy doesn't want to dwell on her hurt, but it's hard. She has some pride issues, although the people who love her would argue with that. She's trying so hard to be strong and not let the "mean girls" know they hurt her, that she's hurting herself even worse.
She needs a Prince Charming.
STEPH: What does Drake find appealing about her?
MICHELLE: There's no one specific characteristic in Stacy that smacks him between the eyes. She's the perfect minister's wife -- but Drake doesn't want to use that label, because Stacy herself is important to him, not just what she can offer. She has always been there, a key part of his life, but he doesn't realize it until she's gone, until there's silence when he expects some input from her. It's a situation of, "You don't know what you've got until it's gone." As he scrambles to make things right, to bring Stacy back into the family circle where she belongs, he realizes that she's no longer an adopted kid sister to him -- she's become someone very important, and he needs to take some time to analyze just how and why she is important, and figure out what he's going to do about it. One thing he knows for certain: He's not letting Stacy slip out of his life again.
STEPH: What is the theme of the novel?
Ugh. I hate these questions! I'm thinking about the people, not what I want to say through them. In theater class and playwriting class, we were always told, "If you want to leave a message, use Western Union."
But the overall concepts being explored deal with communication, with ideas of family that extend past blood bonds, with the subtle ways we hurt the people we love without even realizing it, and maybe how we are so busy we lose things and people who are precious to us, and don't even realize it until it's nearly too late.
STEPH: As a writer, where do you draw inspiration from?
MICHELLE: Is it a cop-out to say "Everywhere and everything"?
STEPH: Yes! (grin)
MICHELLE: Inspiration comes from things that catch my attention. Like a snippet of a story or situation in a TV show or book or movie that sticks in my mind. Case in point, the half-episode of "Northern Exposure" that I mention in another entry on this blog. It presented an unhappy situation for someone, and it stuck with me, so when I was looking for story ideas, that one was waiting to be used.
Inspiration comes from things that make me angry -- issues and situations and injustices that I want resolved. Or I want to totally humiliate bullies, or bring about justice for someone who in real life will never taste justice. Things that make me say, "Wow -- cool." Even things that make me shudder and take a step back and avert my eyes -- but the image is still there, lingering at the back of my imagination, to eventually come out of hiding and say, "Use me!" when I need a painful or terrifying or unbalancing situation.
Story ideas don't come to me in one piece. I put all sorts of pieces together and trim them to fit, or melt them, or add water or whack them really hard a couple thousand times until they change enough to slide into the opening available. Some stories need major surgery before they work. Others just slide together as if they were always meant to be. Sometimes I only do two or three drafts. Other times I write and rewrite and rewrite and put it away for a year or two and bring it out and rewrite again and put it away and bring it out again and ... put it away, in the hopes that someday, I'll figure out what's not working, so I can fix it.
Writing is craft and talent and inspiration and luck and stubbornness, all mixed together.
STEPH: Do you have an ebook reader? If so, which one?
MICHELLE: I have one of the first Nooks, plus I have an iPod Touch and iPad with Nook, iBooks, and Kindle loaded on them. I like the flexibility offered by the three different programs. For instance, I have all the PDFs of my own books in iBooks, so I can show them to other people, let them read a few paragraphs if the situation presents itself, and I can also go through the PDFs to refresh myself on different people's stories. Much easier than getting into my computer and digging up the PDF. I like the instant connection of reading on the iPad -- no need to wait for the system to boot up and the menu to appear, like I do on the Nook. However, there's something simple and easy about my Nook, and I enjoy being able to sit down and read and not be able to do anything but read while I'm using it.
STEPH: Fun question: Do you put a star or an angel on the top of your Christmas tree?
MICHELLE: I don't have a Christmas tree! (waaaaaaah!)
I do have a ceramic Christmas tree my Mom made years ago, with an electric light inside it and clear plastic colored bulbs.
This year is my first year in my new place, and I've pulled out Christmas ornaments I haven't seen or used in years. I bought a spool of wide ribbon -- white with red snowflakes -- with wire reinforcing on the edges, and put a length across the wooden mantle of my fireplace, and another across the wooden frame of my living room window. Then I hung my ornaments on these ribbons. It looks pretty cool.
Maybe at the end of the holiday season, when everything is on sale, I'll go shopping for a tree topper to use next year ...
FIND MICHELLE AT:
www.Mlevigne.com
www.Tabor-Heights-Today.blogspot.com
www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com
buy:
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-383/Tabor-Heights-Year-Two-cln-/Detail.bok
MICHELLE: Drake Ashcroft, ex-Marine now in seminary, comes home for the wedding reception for his sister, who eloped with his best friend from the Marines. He finds a present on the back step, left there by Stacy Belmont, granddaughter of their former housekeeper. The problem is that Stacy grew up with Drake and his sister, Dinah, and he knows the two girls promised to be each other's maid of honor -- so why isn't Stacy helping with the preparations for the party?
As Drake investigates, he learns that the some people in town haven't outgrown their childhood rivalries and petty nastiness, and the "mean girls" still have it in for Stacy. It turns into a race against time to get Stacy to the party, but he's going to do it, even if he has to kidnap her.
STEPH: How long did it take you to write?
MICHELLE: The first draft took me a month. This year, I rough drafted six of the eight novels for Year Two, giving myself a month for each one. Then, after letting it sit for five months, I went back and revised it. I had to wait until all the books were roughed so I could put together my calendar of when and where things happened in Tabor Heights, because I needed to refer to that calendar when Stacy and Drake correspond for most of the year. I was starting to panic, because the deadline was approaching for turning the book in, and I hadn't started the revisions yet! But I made it. Somehow. And I'm pleased with the story. At least, I think so ...... Still too tired to be sure it turned out right!
STEPH: How much research did you have to do?
MICHELLE: Not much. I already had the setting, a good idea of the characters, their shared history -- and lots of experience with the problems caused by lies and social maneuvering and "mean girls" trying to rule the world. The biggest chore on my list was getting all the other books written so I knew what happened when in the different storylines, so Stacy could mention some of the events -- but definitely not all of them! -- when she emailed Drake through the year.
STEPH: How does the cover reflect the story within?
MICHELLE: I think it arouses some curiosity, from the moment someone realizes it's an invitation that's been tossed into the wastebasket before it even got mailed. It's not an accurate picture, because the evil Gretchen didn't actually throw away Stacy's invitation, she just made sure it never got mailed. But as it reflects the "heart" of the story, the conflict, and the problem to overcome, it's spot-on. Jenifer and her staff always do an incredible job with the artwork.
STEPH: Stacy is the heroine. What are her strengths? Weakness?
MICHELLE: She is smart, and she is generally an upbeat, caring, kind, generous person. Right now she's going through a rough time in her life -- she just had her first Christmas without her grandmother, who raised her, and the family that treated her like she was one of their own has basically left her out in the cold because of some crises of their own that they went through over the holidays. Plus, a year of silence between her and her best childhood friend has culminated in "Retchin' Gretchen" (yes, you'll find out where the nickname came from!) acting as maid of honor, when Stacy and Dinah promised to be each other's maid of honor. Stacy doesn't want to dwell on her hurt, but it's hard. She has some pride issues, although the people who love her would argue with that. She's trying so hard to be strong and not let the "mean girls" know they hurt her, that she's hurting herself even worse.
She needs a Prince Charming.
STEPH: What does Drake find appealing about her?
MICHELLE: There's no one specific characteristic in Stacy that smacks him between the eyes. She's the perfect minister's wife -- but Drake doesn't want to use that label, because Stacy herself is important to him, not just what she can offer. She has always been there, a key part of his life, but he doesn't realize it until she's gone, until there's silence when he expects some input from her. It's a situation of, "You don't know what you've got until it's gone." As he scrambles to make things right, to bring Stacy back into the family circle where she belongs, he realizes that she's no longer an adopted kid sister to him -- she's become someone very important, and he needs to take some time to analyze just how and why she is important, and figure out what he's going to do about it. One thing he knows for certain: He's not letting Stacy slip out of his life again.
STEPH: What is the theme of the novel?
Ugh. I hate these questions! I'm thinking about the people, not what I want to say through them. In theater class and playwriting class, we were always told, "If you want to leave a message, use Western Union."
But the overall concepts being explored deal with communication, with ideas of family that extend past blood bonds, with the subtle ways we hurt the people we love without even realizing it, and maybe how we are so busy we lose things and people who are precious to us, and don't even realize it until it's nearly too late.
STEPH: As a writer, where do you draw inspiration from?
MICHELLE: Is it a cop-out to say "Everywhere and everything"?
STEPH: Yes! (grin)
MICHELLE: Inspiration comes from things that catch my attention. Like a snippet of a story or situation in a TV show or book or movie that sticks in my mind. Case in point, the half-episode of "Northern Exposure" that I mention in another entry on this blog. It presented an unhappy situation for someone, and it stuck with me, so when I was looking for story ideas, that one was waiting to be used.
Inspiration comes from things that make me angry -- issues and situations and injustices that I want resolved. Or I want to totally humiliate bullies, or bring about justice for someone who in real life will never taste justice. Things that make me say, "Wow -- cool." Even things that make me shudder and take a step back and avert my eyes -- but the image is still there, lingering at the back of my imagination, to eventually come out of hiding and say, "Use me!" when I need a painful or terrifying or unbalancing situation.
Story ideas don't come to me in one piece. I put all sorts of pieces together and trim them to fit, or melt them, or add water or whack them really hard a couple thousand times until they change enough to slide into the opening available. Some stories need major surgery before they work. Others just slide together as if they were always meant to be. Sometimes I only do two or three drafts. Other times I write and rewrite and rewrite and put it away for a year or two and bring it out and rewrite again and put it away and bring it out again and ... put it away, in the hopes that someday, I'll figure out what's not working, so I can fix it.
Writing is craft and talent and inspiration and luck and stubbornness, all mixed together.
STEPH: Do you have an ebook reader? If so, which one?
MICHELLE: I have one of the first Nooks, plus I have an iPod Touch and iPad with Nook, iBooks, and Kindle loaded on them. I like the flexibility offered by the three different programs. For instance, I have all the PDFs of my own books in iBooks, so I can show them to other people, let them read a few paragraphs if the situation presents itself, and I can also go through the PDFs to refresh myself on different people's stories. Much easier than getting into my computer and digging up the PDF. I like the instant connection of reading on the iPad -- no need to wait for the system to boot up and the menu to appear, like I do on the Nook. However, there's something simple and easy about my Nook, and I enjoy being able to sit down and read and not be able to do anything but read while I'm using it.
STEPH: Fun question: Do you put a star or an angel on the top of your Christmas tree?
MICHELLE: I don't have a Christmas tree! (waaaaaaah!)
I do have a ceramic Christmas tree my Mom made years ago, with an electric light inside it and clear plastic colored bulbs.
This year is my first year in my new place, and I've pulled out Christmas ornaments I haven't seen or used in years. I bought a spool of wide ribbon -- white with red snowflakes -- with wire reinforcing on the edges, and put a length across the wooden mantle of my fireplace, and another across the wooden frame of my living room window. Then I hung my ornaments on these ribbons. It looks pretty cool.
Maybe at the end of the holiday season, when everything is on sale, I'll go shopping for a tree topper to use next year ...
FIND MICHELLE AT:
www.Mlevigne.com
www.Tabor-Heights-Today.blogspot.com
www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com
buy:
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-383/Tabor-Heights-Year-Two-cln-/Detail.bok
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