How Hard Could it Be? by S. W. Hubbard

LUCY BURDETTE: I've loved my friend Susan (S.W.) Hubbard's books since her first Adirondack mystery. When I heard that she was making the big leap to try women's fiction (as I am), I knew we should hear all about it. Welcome back to JRW!

SW HUBBARD: Have you ever looked at a photo and said to yourself, “I bet I can do that. How hard could it be?”

I had that experience twice recently.  First, my college friend Elliot posted pictures on Facebook of him and his family hiking around Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps. Every photo showed glorious scenery in the background with a happy Elliot and his family beaming in the foreground.

My husband Kevin and I both love to hike, so I showed him the pictures. “We should do this!”

Kevin did the research and reported that the trip would require us to hike nearly one hundred miles in nine days, starting in France and hiking through Switzerland to Italy and back to France. “I’m not sure we’re up to this,” Kevin said. I knew he meant, “I’m not sure YOU’RE up to this, Susan.”

Oh, pish! How hard could it be? After all, Elliot had done it. He and I are the same age, and he’s never been a hard-core athlete. Indeed, Elliot is more of a bon vivant. He and I once took a hike in college in which all we packed was a bottle of red wine, a baguette, and some brie.

No water.

I assured my husband I was up to the challenge, and we booked the trip. I steadfastly ignored his exhortations to do some 10-mile practice hikes in New Jersey. Who wants to hike ten miles through nondescript woods when it’s buggy and hot? 

In July, we departed for the French Alps.

Okay, I would never, ever admit my husband was right on a blog with a wide international readership such as JRW. However… hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc is harder than it looks. I’m very glad I went (and I DID cross the finish line), but it was challenging. As in, I thought my heart would explode out of my chest climbing up those trails.

Which brings me to my second, “how hard can it be?” moment. Earlier this year, I decided I wanted to break out of the mystery genre and try my hand at women’s fiction. Readers are always telling me how much they love my characters, so maybe I could  write a book that’s all about the character development and leave out the mystery altogether. Why, I bet I could whip out a novel like that in no time, freed from the pesky clues, red-herrings, and plot twists of mystery-writing. How hard could it be?

Hmmm. About as hard as hiking a hundred miles in the Alps, as it turns out. 



You see, mysteries come ready made with conflict because of that dead body in the first fifty pages. In women’s fiction, an author has to work to keep the conflict strong enough to move the story along. 

I had a great hook: a young woman marries a much older man and when she finds herself a widow at age 45, she sets out to recapture the endless possibilities that life offers at age 25. And I had a familiar setting: Palmyrton, NJ, the fictional town where my estate sale mysteries take place. Some of the characters from the Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery series make cameo appearances in this new novel, Life, Part 2. But the story belongs to Lydia Eastlee. She trades her big McMansion for a funky starter bungalow, adopts a rescue dog, and launches into a new career she’s unprepared for. And did I mention the sexy young carpenter remodeling her kitchen? No one gets murdered, but there’s plenty of laughter and tears along the way as Lydia rebuilds her life.

As with the hike, I had fun, learned a lot, and tested my stamina as I wrote Life, Part 2. But I sure didn’t save time. Maybe on the sequel. 

When’s the last time you launched into something that was harder than it looked?

S.W. Hubbard’s newest novel is Life, Part 2, the first installment of her new Life In Palmyrton women’s fiction series. She is also the author of the Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery Series and the Frank Bennett Adirondack Mountain Mystery Series. Visit her at http://swhubbard.net


And here's how to order the books:

Life, Part 2

Palmyrton Estate Sale Series

Frank Bennett Series

Learning to Fly By Heather Webber @booksbyheather

 Lucy Burdette: I'm so excited for today's guest. I've known Heather for a long time as a fellow denizen in the cozy mystery universe--and as you'll see, she survived the merger and downsizing of Penguin Random House with flying colors. I was delighted when I heard that she'd sold her first women's fiction (to Hank's editor, yay!) Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe will be published on July 16 and I cannot wait to get my copy. Welcome Heather!

Heather Webber: At the end of 2014, my husband and I finally joined the twenty-first century by signing up for Pandora, the music streaming service. We quickly added our favorite songs and music from the Beatles was included on our playlist. But as much as I enjoy the Beatles, for some reason I’d never heard “Blackbird” until Pandora suggested it.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

-The Beatles

I became obsessed with the song, listening to it again and again. I was haunted by the above lyrics. The writer in me took notice, and a story idea sparked for a women’s fiction/magical realism novel.

Broken people with emotional wounds. Learning to metaphorically fly.

Almost every character—and even the fictional town of Wicklow, Alabama—is broken in some way in Midnight at the Blackbird Café.

But how to heal everyone?

That’s where the blackbirds come in. If blackbirds could sing messages in the dead of night, what would they choose to tell us? What do we most want to hear? Blackbird research led me quickly to the Song of Sixpence with its “four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie,” and then a tidbit in Celtic folklore revealed that blackbirds were considered guardians and messengers of the "Other world.” With that, the heart of this book took form. What if blackbirds with their songs could pass messages from dearly departed loved ones through, of all things, pie, to bring comfort and love to those left behind?

The only problem with my story idea was that I didn’t have the time to write it. In 2014/2015 I was writing two to three books a year for Penguin-Random House (as Heather Blake). Finding additional time to write a 90-100k word book seemed impossible.

Then toward the end of 2015, PRH abruptly downsized their cozy line. I decided that if I was going to make a change, career-wise, this was the time to do it. Suddenly, the impossible seemed possible.

So I took a chance…and learned to fly.

Questions for Heather?

Midnight at the Blackbird Café is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm.

Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café.

It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can’t stop talking about.

As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.

Read an excerpt of Midnight at the Blackbird Café

"Webber infuses her charming Southern small-town tale with lighthearted magic and gentle humor, and the cast of supporting characters adds to the quirky fun. Readers of Sarah Addison Allen and Joshilyn Jackson will enjoy spending time at the Blackbird Café" – Booklist

Heather Webber, aka Heather Blake, is the author of more than twenty-five novels. She loves to read, drink too much coffee and tea, birdwatch, crochet, and bake. She currently lives near Cincinnati, Ohio, and is hard at work on her next book.

The Bitches of Brooklyn have arrived!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well, I know I'm a writer, but this is impossible. How do I begin to tell you..well, I'll start with a tiny story.

Two newbie writers, strangers, show up at the same house at the same time for a Sisters in Crime meeting. One is a master gardener working on her first novel, one in a TV report working on her first novel. they're both wearing black, both happily married, both hard workers, and both basically clueless about the publishing world. Well, wait, the reporter was clueless, the gardener wasn't. Anyway.  They're thrown together on an impromptu panel when the scheduled speaker doesn't show up...and they've been talking together--constantly--ever since.

Rosemary, Jan, Roberta,Hank, Hallie--the original Reds!

That was--gosh, maybe eight years go? And Rosemary Harris and I have been though the trenches since then. You know our stories-- our successes and our adventures, and our travels and even a few escapades.  That encounter grew into..Jungle Red. And here's a photo of us from around that time...

And now, dear RO is embarking on yet another new adventure. Her new book--NOT a mystery but a chic, sleek, funny, wry, witty, clever, emotional and hilarious novel called--well--let Ro tell you.


And let me admit, this brings tears to my eyes. Ro, I love you.

ROSEMARY HARRIS: You...you're amazing! And too kind.  Right back to ya. That day was prophetic. We fell into it as if we'd been giving talks together forever! This book is a new adventure for me. And it's been fun.

Ever felt like you were sitting in the middle of a scene from a book or movie? One that's already been written or one you could see yourself writing?

I had that feeling about three years ago and it was the inspiration for my new book, The Bitches of Brooklyn.

Four friends and I had planned an all-girls weekend in Sedona. We had discussed and agonized over the location for months (we'd be coming from all parts of the country and wanted to be fair in terms of time and expense.) One of us even created a spreadsheet so we could compare the various choices. (She's an accountant.) And then, at the eleventh hour, one of us had to cancel. If I'm not mistaken she had lobbied hardest for the place we finally decided on. That first night - without her - was interesting.

We didn't trash her (hint about the book?) But I did start to think, hmmmm what if she DIDN'T have a last-minute work obligation?

Happily she didn't suffer the grisly fate my missing character did in the first draft. And she didn't do what my character ultimately did - send a note saying that she'd run off with one of their men.

That was the genesis of The Bitches of Brooklyn and in it the four women at the heart of the story, childhood friends named Jane (a bakery owner), Rachel (a vet), Clare (an unemployed producer) and Tina (a teacher and fledgling novelist) spend the weekend eating, drinking and reevaluating their friendships, their marriages, their jobs and their memories. But when Monday comes, these babes want answers. And they go to vastly different lengths to get them.

For me, it was a lot of fun not to feel obliged to have bodies dropping all over the place and to have a non law enforcement professional irrationally inserting herself into a crime scene. Think Paula Holliday with misdemeanors instead of felonies! And...hallelujah...unlike most cozy heroines, they get to have sex.

There's a fair amount of humor - because I can see the humor in practically anything. And if you liked Paula, Babe and Lucy, I think you'll have fun with The Bitches of Brooklyn.

Available as an Amazon download for only $1.99. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3XMPN0

(Don't have a Kindle? I just learned Amazon offers free Kindle apps so you can read a Kindle book on virtually any computer or device. Who knew? http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_390220_30905230_sa_menu_karl?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

HANK: Rosemary! You are brave and fabulous. ANd I know this will instantly be picked up on Lifetime TV! (Would that be fun or what?)  I have a question for you--was it difficult/fun/challenging to write a that's not a "mystery"?  

ANd how about you, Reds--do you have a good friend--who, one day, surprised you? I do--but--hilariously--I can't tell you about it. SInce I promised to keep it secret. But you--you can tell us! But first, go download THE BITCHES OF BROOKLYN.  And toast to our dear RO--who has done something wonderful!