A View from a Different Room by Daryl Wood Gerber

 LUCY BURDETTE: Today I'm so happy to introduce/reintroduce our friend Daryl, whom you all probably know as Avery Aames of the famous cheese shop mysteries. She's been having a ball researching her new series--which you can tell if you follow her posts on Mystery Lovers Kitchen. Welcome Daryl, congrats on the new book--and tell us more!

DARYL WOOD GERBER:

Thank you so much for having me on Jungle Red! I love it here. For those that might have noticed the title of this post, yes, you read it right...

I flipped around the more familiar title because sometimes that is what I need to do when I write. Look at something from a different angle. Step outside my comfort zone. See what is really there and not what I expect to be there.

This awareness came to me while I was driving north up the coast of California to do research for the first in what I hope to be a long and prosperous new series: A COOKBOOK NOOK MYSTERY. The series is set in the fictional coastal town of Crystal Cove and features Jenna Hart, a culinary bookshop owner who is an avid reader and admitted foodie. I had driven up Highway 101 and Route 1 many times. I live in Los Angeles, but many of my family live in northern California. These are familiar routes. There is beautiful countryside. However, this time as I was driving, I noticed more. Because I was doing research, I paid attention to every winery, store, and house. I noticed which barns were in good stead and which were neglected.  I noticed the terrain and its texture, which hills were gold, which trees were green, what needed water and what was thriving. I read signs. I now know where every fruit stand is along these roads. I also know that one farmer had a great sense of humor—he painted huge signs telling people what trees he had planted. 

You know what I mean…you drive along and say, what’s that, an almond tree? The trees were citrus and, according to the farmer, we do better if we eat more citrus. I saw a huge…HUGE… American flag hanging from a pole on private property. Wouldn’t you love to know why? It wasn’t like it was a former president’s abode. I counted all the hothouses that protected orchids. I noticed parks, racetracks, and golf courses. As I toured the area between Monterey Bay and Santa Cruz, which is where I’ve set my fictional town, I took note of the gentle valleys to the right and all the signs with images of hikers and bikers. California is super friendly to outdoorsy types, by the way.

What I particularly loved, as a result of this research, was that I became connected again with my state. I adore California, but I have taken it for granted. The majestic mountains, the rolling hills, the fabulous blue coastline. In addition, I realized I need to pay more attention to people. Lately, I have been doing my darnedest not to tune out everyone. I look at people. I make eye contact. I make mental notes of their style, their moods, and their quirks [great info for a writer]. And I smile just to see whether they will smile back…most will; many think I’m loco.

What have you noticed lately that surprised you? Was it always there? Are you aware when you zone out? 

DARYL WOOD GERBER aka AVERY AAMES writes the Agatha Award-winning, nationally bestselling Cheese Shop Mystery series. As Daryl, she writes A Cookbook Nook Mystery series, featuring a culinary bookshop and café owner. Daryl’s short stories have been nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, and other awards. As an actress, Daryl has appeared in “Murder, She Wrote” and more. Check out her recipes on her blog and friend her on Facebook.

Whose Idea Was THIS?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: That’s why they call it a cursor, right? Because that little thing on your computer screen flashes at you, saying “Well, what are you gonna do now?’ And there are moments in all of our lives—if you’re a writer or a reader or a teacher or a lawyer or a mom or all of the above--when we think: whose idea was THIS?

 

One of my first pals in mystery world was Daryl Wood Gerber, who is smart, vivacious and inspirational. She’s non-stop. She writes under two names (the other is Avery Aames) and has so many wonderful ideas that they just—bubble over at every moment.

So what are her tricks for staying positive? And creative? Today on Jungle Red—take a moment for reflection.

Being a “Creative” Can be a Challenge

                                                                            by Avery Aames

Being a creative person isn’t easy. Author, actor, musician, artist, fill in the blank. You have new ideas streaming through your head all the time. Along the way, you choose your profession, and then (unless you’re one of the lucky few who are discovered at the age of five to fifteen, i.e. Justin Bieber, Judy Garland, Lassie) you face rejection. You put yourself out there, with your ideas, your talent, your heart on your sleeve, and you pray someone will say you’re good enough.

And even when you do find success, because you’ve faced rejection ninety percent of the time, you find it hard to pat yourself on the back and say you’re good enough this time. You face a new project, and you wonder if you’ve fooled someone the other ten percent of the time.  You tell yourself that your success was just a fluke, a one-time deal. This time, they’ll see. They’ll know.

This self-doubt is a twist on the moral of the Emperor’s New Clothes. You know the childhood story, a Hans Christian Andersen classic. The vain emperor orders tailors to fit him with a new outfit. They convince him they’ve woven the most beautiful clothing, except they’ve woven nothing. They convince him that those who don’t “see” the clothing are idiots. Except now, as a creative person, you wonder if you are not only the weavers but the emperor, as well. You fear that you’re vain if you think your work is fabulous, and you fear that you’re one of the tailors who have woven something that is sheer fabrication, worthless, and not fit to be seen.

How do you overcome this? You don’t. But you can press on.

Or how about this:

1. Set two first draft writing goals: a short-term goal (words per day or hours per day) and a long-term goal (how many days, months, years to completion) and stick to those goals.  Be reasonable. Make achievable goals. Don't convince yourself that you can a write 5,000 words a day or write a 500 page book in 8 weeks. You will probably fail.

2. Visualize the end result. I close my eyes and envision a movie of how people will react positively when they receive and read my work.  I replay this movie often in my head.

3. Give yourself a reward when you reach your long-term goal: chocolate, the time to read a good book, a nice dinner out, a good firm pat on the back for a job well done. Okay, you can give yourself rewards for mini-goals, too. Sometimes you need those.

As an author, I sit down at my computer each day and try to fashion something new, unique, fun, challenging, or enlightening. Not everything I write is good. In fact, most days I think it stinks. I’ve been told by my husband that I always feel this way until the entire manuscript (short story, screenplay, blog) is complete and I’ve sent it off. And then I start all over again, at the beginning, questioning my talent and my worth.

All I can say to you is believe in yourself. Because you are your own worst enemy, you must be your own best cheerleader. Believe in yourself. Find sayings each day that will spur you on. Turn to a friend or a loved one for positive feedback. Call on a higher power if that will help. [It helps me.]

HANK: Sigh. I have a motto on my bulletin board: “What would you attempt to do if you could not fail?" On the other hand, I've also posted this photo which I tore out of Vogue.

So I use what I need.

What’s your secret to staying positive? A copy of Clobbered by Camembert, Avery’s newest, to one lucky commenter!

 

Don’t forget my offer of a Kindle, nook, or $100 gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice! Click here for details!

 http://hankphillippiryan.com/newsletter-7-12.html

***************************************************

Avery Aames is the pseudonym for Daryl Wood Gerber. As Avery, she writes the nationally bestselling A Cheese Shop Mystery Series. The first in the series, The Long Quiche Goodbye, won the Agatha Award for best first novel. The series is set in the quaint, fictional town of Providence, Ohio, and features Charlotte Bessette, a feisty cheese shop owner with a colorful extended family. Daryl writes short stories, the latest, "Palace on the Lake" has been nominated for numerous awards, and she has a new mystery series debuting in July 2013, The Cookbook Nook mysteries.  This new cozy mystery series features Jenna Hart, an avid reader, admitted foodie, and owner of a cookbook store in picturesque coastal California.

What would you title your autobiography?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Someone in the audince at Love in Murder (YAY, LIM!) asked me a question I'd never been asked before. "What," she asked, "would you title your autobiography?"

Well, that stopped me for a moment. And then I said: "The Juggler."

And I don't even have to explain why,right?

Which is why it's so perfect that Avery Aames here today---say cheese!--to talk about the same kind of thing. Avery writes the incredibly successsful Cheese Shop Mysteries, and she was one of my first friends in mystery world. Remember that, Avery?

AVERY AAMES: At Crimebake, right? Before either of us had sold a book!

HANK: Exactly. And little did we know, right?

Anyway, I'm at the Mystery Writers of America University today, teaching "What I Wish Someone Had Told Me" about the world of writing and publishing....and so it's even more appropriate that Avery's visiting the Reds today, talking about:

“BALANCE”
by Avery Aames

I have to admit, before I write anything else today, that I adore your blog’s new logo: It’s the View. With bodies. Of course, being a mystery writer (and perhaps a lazy reader), I first read “without bodies” and wondered whodunit.

I’m not typically lazy. In fact, I’m anything but. Ask anyone who knows me. I try to fit double the amount of what I can do into one day. I make an extensive to-do list and try to accomplish it, but at the end of the day, if I haven’t, how do I feel? Dejected. My self-worth is shot. And I’m hyperventilating with worry. Since January first, I have been trying to “fix this” aspect of my personality. I’m not sure I can, but I am attacking the problem head-on, one day at a time.

Balance. It’s hard to find balance in this crazy world. Everything is moving so much faster. Where did the horse-drawn cart and the laidback Tara-style afternoons go?

Balance. As a writer, we have deadlines, whether self-imposed or dictated by a publisher. For a long time, that was all the writer had to do...write. But nowadays, writers have to do more. Not only do we have to interact with our family and friends—and interact nicely because family and friends do not like a cranky writer—but we have to interact with the rest of the world, too. In this crazy new paradigm, writers have to be the whole package. We have to do our own websites and public relations. We set up book signings. We go to conferences. We blog. [I even have to cook and take photographs of what I cook for my blog. Who knew I’d have to be a cook and research tasty cheeses when I became a writer? Lucy, I know you know what I mean!] And we maintain a Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and whatever else personae.

I’m a Gemini, but even for someone with two distinct personalities [oh, yes, ask my family and friends about that!], wearing multiple hats is hard. The businesswoman can do a lot, but while she’s busy, the writer wants to write. And if the businesswoman takes control, the writer wants to hide under the covers until it’s safe. Sometimes she throws a tantrum. [That’s the little girl writer, of course.]

Have I said yet that I hate the Internet? I hate the obligation of it. But I love it, too. That’s a conflict. [Conflict is good in writing, not in life.] I resent that for business purposes we need a presence in the virtual world. On the other hand, I love the Internet because it draws so many fabulous and interesting people into my virtual room. I want to converse and learn and share. It’s fun. But when I hunger to write, how do I slam the door without seeming antisocial?

Writing is such a personal time. I love spending time with my characters. I enjoy getting involved in their lives. I crave for the times when I become lost in an “alpha state” of concentration and my characters come alive and talk to me. I hate when I have to break from that trance and return to social networking. Don’t get me wrong. I love sharing recipes and promoting my friends’ excellent work, and I truly enjoy hearing my friends’ good news, but the balance…

It’s all about balance. As I said, starting January first, I’ve been trying to find more balance. Set rules of when I can be online and stick to them. I’m meditating more with the help of a good meditation tape.

And I’ve even posted a note beside my computer to remember to: breathe when necessary.

Balance. What do you do to maintain balance in your life?

HANK: Sigh. That assumes we can.

Or what would you title your autobiography?

And the Reds will give away a copy of the Cheese Shop Mystery of your choice to a lucky commenter!

**********************************

Avery Aames is the Agatha award wining, nationally bestselling author of The Cheese Shop Mystery series, which launched in 2010 with THE LONG QUICHE GOOBYE. The latest Cheese Shop Mystery is CLOBBERED BY CAMEMBERT (Cheese Shop Mystery book 3). The Cheese Shop Mystery series follows cheese shop owner Charlotte Bessette as she dishes up tasty morsels of goodness while solving the murders that threaten to the peace and charm of the quaint fictional town of Providence, Ohio.
BUY LINK:
http://www.averyaames.com/book_sellers.html

WEBSITE:
http://www.averyaames.com/

BLOGS:
http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/
http://killercharacters.com/

BLURB:
Charlotte Bessette—proprietor of Le Petit Fromagerie, affectionately known in Providence, Ohio, as the Cheese Shop—is busy setting up her tent for the town’s Winter Wonderland faire, where she’ll offer fine wines and scrumptious cheeses. In the midst of the preparations, Charlotte meets an old friend of her mother, Kaitlyn Clydesdale, who has come back to Providence with plans to start a new honeybee farm.When Kaitlyn is found dead in the cottage of Charlotte’s assistant Rebecca, suspicion falls on Rebecca’s boyfriend, a honeybee farmer himself. Charlotte knows this beekeeper wouldn’t hurt a fly, so she decides to find the real killer. While the town buzzes with gossip, can Charlotte catch the culprit without getting stung herself?

PRAISE FOR THE SERIES:
“[A] lovely Tour de Fromage. It’s not Gouda, it’s great!”
—Lorna Barrett, New York Times bestselling author

“Absolutely delicious! This is the triple crème of the crop: a charming heroine, a deceptively cozy little town, and a clever cast of characters. This is more than a fresh and original mystery—Aames’ compassion for family and friends shines through, bringing intelligence and depth to this warm and richly rewarding adventure.”
~ Hank Phillippi Ryan, Agatha-winning author of DRIVE TIME

AND IN THE EXAMINER.COM, Crime Fiction in National review, The Long Quiche Goodbye was included as one of the best books of 2011.
~ http://www.examiner.com/crime-fiction-in-national/year-review-best-books-of-2011-part-2

No Matter How You Slice It!

HANK: The secret to her success? Cheese. More on that in a minute. But she's always got a smile and a warm welcome. She's the hardest workin' woman in show biz. (She was one of my first pals in mystery world--we started out as new Guppies together. Know what that means? If not, read on.) And she's a true friend of Jungle Red. We are button-burstingly proud of new national best-seller Avery Aames.

Avery is an overnight success! It just took about...two decades of perseverance and guts and dedication. And--along the way--some criticism. Yikes. Some pretty tough criticism.

Don’t Let Criticism Crush You!

AVERY: Criticism. What you do with it might speak worlds about who you are and where you are in your life.

My parents always thought I was talented. They praised me. They critiqued me, as well, but always with love. According to them, I could do anything if I set my mind to it. I happened to be an overachiever, so they didn’t have to praise too hard. I carried a mental whip in my head at all times. Do better, do it faster.

I had always loved to write. Around the age of eleven, I’d tried my hand at a number of Nancy Drew chapters. When I hit the impressionable age of twelve, I encountered an English teacher who advised me I shouldn’t consider writing my future vocation. In fact, I remember a comment on a paper from him saying that I had no talent.

Can you imagine writing that to an impressionable twelve-year-old? No talent? Whatsoever?

Because I respected the teacher, the comment speared an arrow through my creative soul. For the rest of the year, I tried to put the comment from my mind, and I concentrated on the thing in which I “was” talented…math.
And yet I liked the creative arts: writing, dancing, acting. So in eighth grade--when I was feeling pretty cocky and assured--I put aside the teacher’s words and tried my hand at writing a play. It was a snarky turn on The Night Before Christmas. It earned rave “peer” reviews. Laughs were good, silliness even better. I didn’t lord my success over my former teacher. I had moved on. [At least I had convinced myself that I had.]

Then I entered high school, and somehow I was “blessed” with another teacher who wanted to thwart me. As I studied Shakespeare, all of my former teacher’s negativity roiled through my mind. My hand froze when it came to putting pen to paper. I didn’t believe I could write anything worthwhile. Oh, I could write a thesis paper. I had the talent to argue a case. But could I write something creative? Not a chance. All trial chapters of my first mystery fell into the waste basket. All my poetry was shredded into confetti. Snarky plays? A thing of the past. I sought solace on the stage (with scripts or plays written by “masters). And I focused on math.

I moved on to college, and I chose as my major…math. That lasted about a semester. I truly understood algebra and geometry, but trig and calc and beyond? Oh, my, no. English continued to woo me like a siren. I wanted to read. I wanted to create. I returned to studying the written word by convincing myself that if I couldn’t “do,” then I could teach.

I would have been a good teacher, but life took a turn in my senior year. I was offered an opportunity that led me to Los Angeles, and I made a living as an actress for a number of years. I acted in “Murder, She Wrote,” and “Hart to Hart” and “Matlock.” I sold Wonder Bread and Kentucky Fried Chicken and Diet Pepsi. I danced and sang on stages around the country.

Along the way, I decided to try my hand at writing a screenplay.

What happened? You guessed it. All those little snipes from my teachers came back to haunt me. I stunk. I wasn’t any good whatsoever. But I was determined to become good, to erase the “tapes” in my head that said I couldn’t be. I took classes. I wrote a number of scripts. I won awards. But every time an agent rejected me, every time a fellow author would read my material and make a comment, I would crumble. Their words would splice through the scar tissue that had built up over the years--scar tissue knitted together with the words: You stink, you can’t do it, you might as well give up.

Luckily, I joined a Sisters in Crime Internet group called the Guppies. I had left Los Angeles (for my husband’s career) and I didn’t know where to turn locally for a writing group, but I wanted to write. I needed to write. I’d started writing my first mystery. It stunk. (I didn’t need my seventh grade English teacher to tell me.) I needed to learn about story arc, and developing character. I needed a critique group, and to learn everything I could about the business. I needed to learn how to handle rejection and how to persevere. (You’ve probably heard the phrase, “This is a hard business.” It is.) The group got me through the dark times, through the criticism, through the rejection. They still do.

I’m paid to write now (yeah!), but I will continue to get criticism. From my agent, from my editor, from those lovely reviewers (professional and non) who will that I stink and I should give up.

But I will persevere, because writing is what I love to do. Need to do. It is a journey. How I handle the criticism will tell eons about who I am.

Believe you can.
***********

HANK: GO Guppies! And such a good segue for Avery to bring it up--because tomorrow we're featuring the Guppies--and the very clever and helpful way they--I mean we!--we handle crit groups. And how you can get in on the fun! (Wait til you see some of the manuscripts that are ready to go...amazing! And thanks for letting me snag the Guppy logo.)

But for now...what's the meanest thing anyone's ever said about your work? Did you have a teacher or professor who gave you nightmares? Or did you have one that changed your life in a good way?

(I keep remembering that review someone got on Amazon, I forget who. But the review said: "Your book was so bad, I wish I could unread it.")

*************************************
HANK: I found that snazzy photo of actress "Daryl Wood" on IMDb....hmm..doesn't she look..familiar?
Avery Aames is the author of The Long Quiche Goodbye, the first in A Cheese Shop Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime. The Long Quiche Goodbye debuted July 6 and has already hit national bestseller mass market paperback lists -- #7 for Barnes and Noble and #13 for Bookscan. Avery likes to read, cook, garden, and do amateur photography.

She blogs at Mystery Lovers Kitchen, a blog for foodies who love mysteries, http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/

as well as at Killer Characters, a blog overtaken by cozy authors’ characters, http://www.killercharacters.com/

You can purchase The Long Quiche Goodbye at Avery’s bookseller page: http://www.averyaames.com/book1_sellers.html

And look for a sneak preview of Lost and Fondue, book two in the series, which may be found at the end of The Long Quiche Goodbye.

Happy Father's Day!

HANK: Happy Father's Day Jungle Reds! And we all salute ours today.

Here's my dad--I think this is in the 1950's or so, when he was the music critic for the old Chicago Daily News--so he taught me about music, and poetry, and writing and reporting, and I have exactly his sense of humor. He lives in DC now, retired from the foreign service.

Here's ROSEMARY's dad--and this is her sister Paula.. Looks like it's in the 50's too..

ROSEMARY: He was handsome, he could fix anything - and I used to sneak his unfiltered Camels when I was a kid.

And here, in the greenery:

ROBERTA: My papa really was a rolling stone. His idea of heaven was dragging an Airstream trailer around the country visiting Army buddies and other old friends. This picture was taken at Hidcote Gardens in England, the last big trip he got to take. I was so glad to share it with him! He's utterly devoted to his family--still talks to his brother every day by phone. Happy Father's Day Pops! You take the blue ribbon...

JAN says: My father (shown here in great early 60s) was the kindest man I've ever known. He used to tell me that when you age, you have to "think" about being a better person, because if you don't "think" about it, you slide backwards. He is my example of how to grow better with age.

HALLIE: The title of his memoir is my dad (he and my mom were screenwriters) in a nutshell - he did think he could do anything. The great gift he gave to us, his daughters, was the belief that we could, too.

And heres our guest dad--Avery Aames' father . (Aren't these photos wonderful?) And Avery has a special tribure to her father--and to all of ours.



By Avery Aames

My father is gone. Has been for years. So is my mother and I miss her dearly, but this blog is in honor of fathers, so I’m going to stay with that theme, if you’ll indulge me.

I still think of my father, my good friend, and know how proud he would be that I have followed my dream. Dreams. He died so young that he wasn’t able to follow all of his dreams. How many he must have had. Would have had. I knew some of them. I would have liked to know them all.

“Believe you can!” my father said to me. And yet he was also the person who said that achieving a dream takes hard work.

Over the course of my life, I have had plenty of dreams, plenty of goals. In my early twenties, right before my father died, I began my career as an actress. I was cast in a small play in Los Angeles, and he drove down to LA to see me act, dance, and sing. When I close my eyes, I can still see his smiling face, the twinkle in his teary eyes. He had encouraged me to follow my heart, and I had done exactly that. It didn’t hurt that he had given me an old car and had driven my luggage and me to Los Angeles to get started.

Over the course of my acting career, though my father had died, he cheered me on. Every time I performed, I could feel him saying, “Way to go!” When I wrote my first screenplay for myself to star in (every actress’s dream), I could feel my father giving me a thumbs up. [Side note: I never could figure out how to raise enough independent capital to get a screenplay on its feet.]

When it came time to move out of Los Angeles (don’t shoot me women’s libbers, but my husband’s career was on the rise), I gave up on my dream of starring in a TV series or a film. I’d had a good run. I’d made a living as an actress, but becoming a star was not meant to be. My father would have been the first to tell me that not every dream comes true, and it’s the journey that matters.

So I came up with a new dream of becoming a published author. When I was a young girl, I fell in love with Nancy Drew novels. At the age of ten, I thought I could write one—not an easy task, by the way. Kudos to all writers of YA novels! I think my mother stowed my manuscript in my Memory Book. I’ll have to dig it out. I’ll bet it’s not nearly as gripping as I thought it was at the time, but that’s another story. Because of my passion for mysteries and thrillers, I decided that was the kind of novel that I wanted to write.

At our first stop on the “See America Tour”—my husband, my son, and I moved to a number of cities. Orlando, FL was the first one—I crafted my first manuscript. It dealt with my father’s death, and it was not very good. I was too close to the material. As we moved to our second stop on the tour—Charlotte, NC--I wrote my second novel. Alas, that manuscript found it’s way into a drawer, as well. I wasn’t too close to the material; I just wasn’t a very good writer yet.

At that moment of realization, I could hear my father laughing. Know why? Because for years, Miss Perfectionist—his nickname for me—thought she could do anything the first time out. Oh, sure, he encouraged my dreams, but he also encouraged me to see myself clearly. I was too serious. I was too intense. I needed to laugh. I needed to lighten up. And I needed to realize that achieving any dream took work. Hard work. Ten years of semi-rejection as an actress had taught me part of that lesson. Ten-plus years of rejection as a writer was the Master Class. Meanwhile, I took writing classes. I joined critique groups. I got involved with Sisters in Crime and its online group, the Guppies. I wrote a lot of books—more than five, less than ten--before I was finally granted the contract to write A Cheese Shop Mystery series. With each book, I’d learned something new about writing, and more important, something new about myself. I had grit. Dreamers need grit.

I wish my father—and my mother—were here to celebrate my joy as this dream comes true. I’m thrilled to be the author of The Long Quiche Goodbye. I’m thrilled to be passionate about my work, about cheese, about writing. And I’m thrilled to be one of the lucky ones who had the tenacity to keep working to achieve my dream.

Don’t give up. As my father said, “Believe you can!”

Do you have someone—a parent, a friend, a spouse, a teacher—who inspires you to achieve your dream? Care to share who and why? Do you have a dream that you are trying to achieve now? Did you have one that you let go? Do you believe you can?

HANK: Happy Father's Day to all!

**********************

Avery can be found on her website at http://www.averyaames.com,/ on Facebook, Twitter, and on two blogs: http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/ and http://www.killercharacters.com./ She also has a booksellers page where you can purchase her book from any of your favorite bookstores: http://www.averyaames.com/book1_sellers.html Avery Aames is the pseudonym for suspense/thriller writer Daryl Wood Gerber. For more information about Daryl, you can go to her website at: http://www.darylwoodgerber.com/