Today I’m thrilled to share an article from my hometown paper.

Petrak: In search of the perfect beach book

By Lynn PetrakPioneer Press

She dug her toes into the warm sand, as if anchoring herself for some much-needed solitary time along the shore. Her children ensconced several yards away, busily burrowing and building castles topped by sturdy blades of seagrass and the occasional shard of driftwood, she felt herself relax, finally, after what seemed like an endless cycle of wake-run-work-drive-sleep.

She slid one hand into a canvas tote, felt around the towels for a hard spine and pulled out the book that had caught her eye on Amazon a couple of weeks ago, during her lunch-hour browsing time.

"Literally couldn't put it down," one online reviewer had enthused, though she figured that was a bit of hyperbole just to get placed higher on the reader comment page.

"A perfect beach read," added another, a statement that, along with the enticing cover of an azure sky with a lone seagull, propelled her to hit the "Add to Cart" button in a rather impulsive moment.

Propping the hardcover in her lap, she turned the stiff few pages and began reading: "Gwen should have known that he'd be up front by the casket, glad-handing various aunts and family friends who smelled of linen soap and who laced tissues through their knotty fingers. Always the comforter, the charmer, the center of attention even when it was supposed to be about someone else…"

Okay, I might have made up the first couple paragraphs, but the fact remains that I've been looking for a good beach read in advance of my annual Michigan vacation.

 To me – and many others – a good book and a beach chair go together almost as much as sun and surf.

Searching for a good book, I started wondering about the works of local authors. After a quick search, I found that there are, indeed, several published authors living in this community who have penned books worthy of beach-time reading or, for that matter, anytime reading.

One example is a book of short stories called "No Turning Back" by La Grange resident Dan Burns. Published by Chicago Arts Press, the book includes "an eclectic mix of stories that expand the boundaries of genre and imagination," according to the author's website, http://www.danburnsauthor.com.

Kevin Guilfoile, meantime, put La Grange on the literary map nearly a decade ago with his popular novel, "Cast of Shadows," which was followed by another tome with positive reviews by the New York Times called "The Thousand."

Allyson Hayes of La Grange, who has appeared in this column before, just finished writing the third in her series of "Reality Series" books, published by the Wild Rose Press. Her first short story, "Reality Re-Do," came out last fall.

There are probably others, especially in this era of e-books, blogging and self-publishing. And you never know: in 2016, you could be settling down on the shore reading "Tales from the Minivan: Get Me to the Beach Right Now!" by Lynn Petrak.

Or not.

Lynn Petrak is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/la-grange/lifestyles/ct-dlg-petrak-vacation-books-tl-0709-20150702-story.html

         Saying Goodbye to Characters

            You know that bittersweet moment when you finish reading a book and can’t bear to part with a character you’ve come to love for 300 pages? I’ve tried to make my characters as memorable and hope someday to invoke that emotion in my readers, but I never thought about having that same feeling when writing about a character.

I’m currently putting the finishing touches on the third book in the Reality Series and finding it tough to say goodbye to Beth and Scott. They’ve been with me for a couple of years now, but it’s time they made room for the other voices in my head.

I realize it’s the appropriate time to end of their story. I’m even happy with the ending I wrote for them, but the act of actually ending their place in brain has me conflicted.

            I introduced them to each other, made them fall in love, and gave them a few hurdles to jump over and a few beds to fall into. I’ve gone into their pasts and secured their future. My work here as their creator is done. So why do I feel like I’m abandoning them?

I’m aware they are fictional and their fate in my hands, maybe that’s exactly why it feels so daunting to say goodbye.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this sentiment and realize there must be ways to conquer this feeling. For now I’m going to heed the advice of another writer friend of mine and proceed to re-read the third and final book until I feel like I’m sick of Beth and Scott.

 I can only hope my readers are happy with the ending and just a little sad to see their story come to a close.

                                             Verbing

        

    Verbing – the act of using a noun as a verb in everyday speech.

            No, that wasn’t from Webster’s or Oxford’s dictionary. This is an observation of mine of late, especially in my household of teenagers.

            It’s not a new phenomenon, but it seems very popular lately. You may not even recognize it as odd anymore, or may be doing it yourself. Have you googled, lately?

            The first time I noticed the grammar abuse, I was driving a carful of sixth graders to a volleyball game a couple of years ago. From the driver’s seat I overhead this exchange:

            “Who are we versing today?”

            “I think we’re versing St. John’s.”

            I whipped my head around to face my daughter in the backseat.

            “Please tell me you didn’t just say versing.”

            “Why?”

            “You’re playing St. John’s, not versing them.”

            “But it’s us versus St. John’s, so we’re versing them.”

            Ah, twelve year old logic. I waited until we were home from playing  St. John’s and explained that you can’t just take a noun and  use in verb form.

            “Why not?”

            “It’s just not right.”

            “But everybody does it.”

            This time the twelve year old logic had a valid case. Everyone was doing it. Does that make it acceptable? Webster’s and Oxford will add a word simply because it becomes part of our vernacular and since verbing seems to be trending I wonder if it will become accepted as well

            Personally, I believe it’s similar to the use of slang. When new words pop up, used only by certain demographics at first, they usually become generally accepted. I haven’t noticed too many new slang terms from my high school age daughter or her middle school sisters. They still use, 'awesome' and 'cool,' though they do use text-speak abbreviations. So possibly this trend of verbing is the new slang and as such I plan to use it in the same way I would use slang in my writing, sparingly and only in age-appropriate situations. I might have the child of a character use a term or incorporate one that has been generally accepted over the last decade, such as googling.

           

  Unless my characters are hipsters, I will not be using brunching, gaming, tindering, or juicing.

            I’d love to hear your thoughts on incorporating this trend into your own writing or just share some of your favorite or least favorite of these new terms.

            

Back to novelling.

The Reviews Are In!

Well, one at least.  While I'm eternally grateful to all my friends and supporters for their Amazon and Goodreads reviews, yesterday I received a 4 start accolade from Long and Short Reviews and am eager to share.  What better way to end a blog drought than with a review? It also gets me off the hook with trying to come up something.
Seriously though, this came at a perfect time. I've been a bit stuck with a rewrite for the sequel and this re-lit the fire I desperately needed.
Thanks so much!

 http://www.longandshortreviews.com/book-reviews/reality-re-do-by-ally-hayes/

Reality Re-Do by Ally Hayes

January 6, 2015 By completedreviews Leave a Comment

Reality Re-Do by Ally HayesPublisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Contemporary, Romantic Comedy
Length: Short Story (114 pages)
Heat level: Sweet
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Willow

Following her husband’s sudden and tragic death, Beth Franklin finds solace in her couch, watching Dream House, a home improvement show – until she tires of the show’s routine and writes into the network, suggesting a plot twist.

When TV executives ask her to consider appearing on the show, she finds herself not only renovating a house, but her own life when she and co-host, hottie Scott Roberts, hit it off.

With broken hearts in common, Beth and Scott take a risk on love, surprising not only themselves but the show’s viewers, as well.

The novella – Reality Do-over – is definitely every Fan-girl’s dream!

Beth Franklin is ready to move on with her life. To do this she gets her favourite reality television show to help her, but finds more then what she could of hoped for – that being Scott Roberts.

Scott Roberts, co-host of Dream house and Beth’s celerity crush is everything a main love interest should be – sweet, caring, gorgeous and most importantly truthful. Scott is definitely going on my list of fictional crushes.

The character development of Beth was brilliant. I was along for the ride a she tired to figure out how to continue her life after her late husband’s accident. I was truly blown away with Beth as she built her life back up from scratch after it crumbled around her. I was especially amazed with the fact her close friends and her daughter didn’t question her grieving method of ‘channel-surfing’ and help her out as the story goes along.

Ms Hayes has created a beautiful written story that I literally could not put down. I needed answers to the questions that had me bitting my nails right up to the last sentence.

This novel is perfect for all those who have ever fantasized a life together with their celebrity crush. I highly recommend it.

Wild Wild Women: Finding Love After Devastating Loss

Beth and I were recently interviewed on Wild Wild Women blog. Get to know both of us a little better.



Wild Wild Women: Finding Love After Devastating Loss: Following her husband's sudden and tragic death, Beth Franklin finds solace on her couch, watching Dream House, a home improvement s...

A Loaded Question

My husband returned from golfing on a few Sundays ago and asked sheepishly, “Do you want me to read your book?”

I didn’t answer him right away, instead, I asked who he had been playing with that morning.  Sure enough, of the foursome, two were husbands of friends of mine. They had asked him about the book, it had just released days before.

My husband has never asked to read anything I’ve written, and to be honest I never really wanted him to while I was in the hell that is querying and submitting over the years.  I was getting daily rejections from strangers, I didn’t want to add him into the mix.  I wasn’t keeping my writing a secret. He always knew what I was working on, and I always involved him in the status of the manuscript, whined about agents and the process, and of course indulged him whenever I got news, a request for full or some small encouragement from an agent or publisher. He was part of the process.

Until I wrote a romance.

I told him I was taking a new approach, had an idea for a romance short story that could become a series that I would pitch to smaller, friendlier publishers and skip the whole agent-rejection masochism. “Sounds like a good plan,” he said and left me to write and submit without much  input this time.

I never offered to have him read Reality Re-Do, he never asked.  He celebrated with me when I signed a contract with the extremely friendly and wonderful publisher, The Wild Rose Press, encouraged me through edits and even gave a thumbs up when he saw the cover. He was my first fan.

But he's never read it.

And now, a month later, all of our friends have. 

We were at a small gathering yesterday and my friend’s husband asked my husband what he thought of it.  When he replied he hadn’t read it, he seemed uncomfortable and gave his standard answer, “I don’t know. It’s weird, isn’t it?’

Immature answer or not, this is the question I’m left with – is it weird to have my husband read a romance I wrote? It’s not explicit in any way. It’s  sweet, with ‘behind closed doors’ scenes. Now that he’s asked this loaded question, I don’t know how to answer, “Do you want me to read your book?”

To paraphrase my husband, I’ll pose the question to you – “Is that weird?”

Would love to hear if your spouses read your romances and their reactions.

Imagined Release Day v. Reality Release Day

For years now I've dreamed of today.  Not specifically, September 3, 2014, but the day I would become a published author. Yup, I get to say those words now and will probably work it into every conceivable conversation.

Today is my Release Day.  I've imagined this day for years, not particularly for Reality Re-Do, but for any book.  For the past year, I've had the pleasure of being able to actually imagine a release day for this novella - a short, sweet romance that I believe is the perfect start to my career.  Since May, I've known the date.  Since then, September 3rd has been THE DAY.  Now, in the afternoon of this momentous occasion I have some observations:

I am overwhelmed, humbled and grateful for the support in the writing community, especially at The Wild Rose Press and #amwriting followers on Twitter.

I've actually enjoyed Facebook this week.

My imagined day was a far cry from real one. I pictured myself surrounded by fans, signing autographs, sipping champagne and graciously accepting praise while wearing a ball gown. My hair in an updo, my nails freshly manicured.

My real day involved making lunches at 5:45 (I was just informed they were, "disappointing"), doing release day laundry, release day vacuuming - vacuum broke and spilled an entire canister worth of dirt on my kitchen floor which resulted in release day sweeping and mopping.  My hair is not in an updo, but blown dry because I showered at 1:30 pm.  I'm squeezing this post in now as I will be driving to soccer and basketball shortly, followed by making dinner, picking up oldest daughter from the train and attending youngest daughter's open house at school.

There were no books to sign, but there were links to share and a gorgeous cover to post, tweet, pin,
and many people to thank.

So this is my reality, but it's Reality Re-Do's release day - and I couldn't be happier.