Question # 3

Looking for Question # 3 in my Chance-To-Win-A-Copy-Of-DANGEROUS-ALTERATIONS challenge?

Rules and Question # 1 can be found in my Oct. 17th post, while Question # 2 can be found in yesterday’s post.

Today’s question also comes from DEATH THREADS (Book 2):

Q: What was the special ingredient Margaret Louise added to her Sweet Potato Pie recipe?

**Remember, don’t put your answer in the comment section. Simply add it to your answer from the first two questions and set it aside until next Monday (Oct. 24th) when I share the final step in the challenge!

Good luck!

~Elizabeth

Question # 2

Looking for Question # 2 in my Chance-To-Win-A-Copy-Of-DANGEROUS-ALTERATIONS challenge?

Rules and Question # 1 can be found in yesterday’s post.

Today’s question also comes from SEW DEADLY (Book 1):

Q: Milo Wentworth (Tori’s love interest) is a school teacher.  What grade does he teach?

**Remember, don’t put your answer in the comment section. Simply add it to your answer from yesterday’s question and set it aside until next Monday (Oct. 24th) when I share the final step in the challenge!

Good luck!

~Elizabeth

Question # 1

In preparation for the upcoming release of DANGEROUS ALTERATIONS (book 5 in the Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series), I thought it might be fun to have a treasure hunt of sorts. This hunt  will take the form of a daily question with answers that can be found in the previous four books.

A question will be given every day this week (including today). Keep track of your own answers as you go. Then, come next Monday, I’ll tell you where to send them. Then my part kicks in.  I’ll go through the answers sent to me, putting the names of folks who have ALL FIVE CORRECT ANSWERS into a hat.

From that hat, I will select TWO winners–each of whom will receive an autographed copy of DANGEROUS ALTERATIONS.

Sound good?

Today’s Question is based on SEW DEADLY (book 1):  

Q: One of the sewing circle members gives Tori a very special gift.  Who is that circle member AND what did she give Tori?

**Remember, do NOT put your answer in the comment section.  Just write it down somewhere near your computer and hold onto it, adding each day’s correct answer to your notes.  Then, next Monday (Oct. 24th), I’ll tell you where to send all 5 of your answers!  If you do…and they’re correct…you might be one of the two people randomly selected to receive an autographed copy of DANGEROUS ALTERATIONS!!!

Good Luck!

~Elizabeth

Special Delivery

Look what the UPS man just brought me…  

One Hot-off-the-Press copy of DANGEROUS ALTERATIONS!!!

Yes, Launch Day is getting closer (November 1st)!!

Want it the day it comes out? Well, DANGEROUS ALTERATIONS can be pre-ordered in print or e-book right now!

~Elizabeth

Home

After spending a few days away from home for the Bouchercon 2011 mystery conference, I’m now back–ready to write (I better be), ready to blog (I’m here, aren’t I?), and ready to try and find the motivation I’ve been lacking for just about everything.

This year’s conference was in St. Louis. The moment the plane touched down at Lambert, I felt this overwhelming sense of happiness. And it wasn’t hard to figure out why.

I was home.

Despite having been raised in the northeast and making many subsequent moves to places like; Ohio, South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee, St. Louis is the place I consider “home.” 

Now, when I say “home,” I’m not referring to the actual structure where I put my head at night–that’s in New York with my family. What I’m talking about is the rest of the stuff–the sense of place, the overall feel. And in that respect, St. Louis is home for me. I suppose that’s because I spent the most years there…17, to be exact.

It’s the kind of “home” where I can find a way to get to a particular place in a half dozen different ways, at least. The people make me smile (just the folks working at the hotel made me ache for that midwestern friendliness). Heck, seeing the devastation at the St. Louis airport (from April’s tornado) made me sad because it affected people “at home.”

All too soon, it was time to think about leaving. But I’ll be honest, I’m already trying to figure out when I can go back…

So, if you’ve moved a few times in your life, what’s “home” to you? Is it the place where you were born? The place you live now? Or a stop you had along the way?

~Elizabeth

Hugs All Around

In honor of Labor Day, I’m taking the day off to enjoy with my family!!

{{Hugs}}

~Elizabeth

FB-ing

I’m not a big television watcher nor do I play video games. For me, they’re just time wasters and I don’t really like to waste time.

That said, I’m very definately a home body. Sure, I love to travel–and by love, I mean LOVE–but when push comes to shove, I like to be home, making memories with the people I hold most dear. I like playing games, I like cuddling, I like taking walks, I like looking through photographs, I like learning new things about the people around me.

But the one time waster I do enjoy (but in short spurts only) is Facebook. Don’t get me wrong, I’m aware of its pitfalls. I’ve heard of the cases–some from close friends–where issues have occured between friends, spouses, etc. And that’s why I use it sparingly. But, every once in a while, it’s almost a blessing…

Just this past Sunday morning, when Irene was whipping around the house and keeping me on edge, I went onto FB and had a back and forth with a friend in the city. Like me, this particular person was also listening to the pounding rain and the strong winds, only for those ten minutes or so, we were no longer experiencing it alone. 

Last week, I loaded a small handful of pictures from my youth onto my personal  page, one of which was a class photograph from sixth grade. Within minutes, people in that very photograph were weighing in with comments that made me laugh out loud–people who remembered the “Mr Kotter” lookalike that was our teacher that year…people who remembered the uniforms and the girl with the straight brown hair sitting in the front row.

That’s when I like FB–when it affords the opportunity to share a moment in time with people who remember it, too,  and when someone else’s presence (albeit via a screen) makes you feel less alone than you’d otherwise feel in a particular situation. It’s when it overtakes life–the one you should be living with the people who’ve chosen to live it with you–that it’s time to shut down your account and walk away. The people who are truly part of your life will still be there even when the screen is dark.

So tell me, do you do the FB thing? What do you like/dislike about it?

~Elizabeth

The Storm

As Hurricane Irene sets her sights on the east coast this weekend, I find myself taking a trip down memory lane–to when I lived literally one mile from where Hurricane Hugo made landfall in 1989.

I was just out of college and working my first real job. I had my very own apartment (with no furniture to speak of, but that’s beside the point). And I had some dear friends who lived on the barrier island where the storm did make landfall.

I’ll never forget the feel of the air as I carried my little tv out to the car the morning of the mandatory evacuation. To say everything was chillingly still would be an understatement. It was truly eery…as if even the birds and wildlife knew something was coming. Yet, other than that, everything looked the same.

Twenty-four hours later, nothing looked the same. I stared at the images on the news over the next few days, trying to accept that the place they were showing over and over again was, in fact, the same place I’d fled.

I remember going back after three or four days to recover whatever I could from my apartment. I remember just how sad it was to witness the utter devastation Charleston had endured at the hands of Hugo and to realize this town I loved so much had been forever changed.  I was relatively fortunate in the grand scheme of things because I was young, I could take everything I’d salvaged in the evacuation and stay with family in the northeast for a few months.

So I’d lost an apartment, no big deal. I could rent another. Just about everything I owned as a fresh-out-of-college kid fit in the hatchback of my Plymouth Horizon. Yet so many others had lost homes and a lifetime worth of special keepsakes they would never recover.

The people of Charleston haunted my thoughts for months after Hugo. The television coverage was painful to watch at times. But, eventually, they rebounded. Today, you’d be hardpressed to find too many indicators of Hugo’s visit. Homes have been rebuilt, trees have been replanted, and families have tucked their lifelong memories inside their heart and set about making new ones.

I don’t know if anyone in the storm’s path is reading this blog today. But if you are, you’re in my thoughts and prayers. Get out of Irene’s way and stay safe. 

~Elizabeth

Where Should I Go?

As the release for DANGEROUS ALTERATIONS (Southern Sewing Circle #5) draws closer, I find myself flipping to the November page of my calendar and wanting to fill it with speaking engagements–libraries, clubs, book stores, etc.

So, if you know of a good venue/group that might enjoy having an author come and speak, give me a shout.  I’m open to driving as far as five hours (depending on the program), and I always like to try one new “airplane kind of trip”  with each release.

Oh, and if you have a small book club and have access to SKYPE, I can always visit during your meeting via the internet (and I’ll even wear some professional-looking duds for the occasion)!

~Elizabeth

Whisk Away

Although we just got back from a week’s vacation in Virginia (inland), I have this really strong urge to whisk away for 24 hours. I can’t quite put a handle on where I’d like to whisk-away to, I just know I want to do it.

It’s not that vacation wasn’t fun, because it was, but with a huge deadline looming as soon as I got back, it’s positive effects didn’t last as long as normal.

So tell me, have you ever whisked yourself (or been whisked by someone else) away for a 24 hour period? If so, where did you go and what did you do?

~Elizabeth