Bell Bridge Books

IN MEMORY OF TRISH JENSEN

Last week the literary community lost one of its own. A champion of the written word and a talented author. Trish Jensen will be forever missed. Her words will continue to live in the hearts of her fans and pages of her books. In the words of her friends:

“I’ve known Trish Jensen for more than twenty years, first online and later in person. I remember when she made her first sale. I remember when she hit the USA Today list with one of her earlier books, and she didn’t seem to realize what a major accomplishment that was. I remember when she fell in love with her computer-geek boyfriend, and, some years later, when she fell out of love with him and sent him on his way. I remember when she was stricken unexpectedly by liver failure, and she was told she needed a liver transplant. A bunch of her writer friends organized an auction to raise money for her. I critiqued a bunch of manuscripts, for which the writers generously paid into the Trish fund. We were all so glad we could do SOMETHING for our Trishie.

And then she got her new liver and recovered, and she was back, as feisty and funny as ever. She and I disagreed on politics, but we never let those disagreements get in the way of our friendship. She was curious about Judaism and frequently asked me–no expert on the subject, but with the basic knowledge that comes from growing up in a reformed Jewish family–questions about the religion’s beliefs and practices. She was a Penn State fanatic, although she always cheered with me when the Patriots won a Superbowl. (I can’t prove it, but I think she might have had a crush on quarterback Tom Brady. <g>) She loved shopping at Chico’s. She doted on her dog. I think the dog ate better than Trish did–although I always meant to get Trish’s vichyssoise recipe. That was one of her specialties.

The last time I saw Trish was at the Ninc conference in 2011. I was hoping she’d come to this year’s conference. Three years was way too long to go without a hug from Trishie. I can’t believe I’ll never again get one of her emails asking about why Orthodox Jews aren’t supposed to watch TV on Friday nights, or a collage of adorable animal photos, or some silly joke. At least her books will live on, as will the love of her friends.” —USA Today Bestselling Author Judith Arnold

“For those of you who are Trish Jensen’s friends in real life, my deepest condolences.  But what a tribute to an extraordinary person that she touched people who didn’t know her in everyday life as well.  She promoted, cheered, and fought for us whether we were newbies like me or longtime bestselling authors.  My heart goes out to her family and friends. She’ll be missed, but never forgotten.” —Donnell Ann Bell, author of The Past Came Hunting, Deadly Recall, and Betrayed.

“I’m one of those lucky ones who has known Trish for years. She was always as she was here, the first to cheer, the first to support, and passionate in defending anyone or anything she loved.

I’m not feeling very lucky this morning. But I’m glad her pain is over, even if mine is just beginning.

A dear, sweet friend, author Trish Jensen, slipped away from this world early this morning. In all the many years I knew her, Trish was the first to jump up and cheer for anyone’s achievement, no matter how small, and was always there with support for everyone she knew. We nearly lost her a few years ago, so I suppose this extra time was a gift, but I’m having trouble feeling grateful for it when it wasn’t supposed to end yet. Later I will, I’m sure, but right now I’m just horribly sad. The world needs bright spirits like Trish.

About Trish being a force of nature, as Lynn said. Jill Barnett and I were messaging and got onto about there better be dogs in heaven, for Trish. And said if there weren’t she’d turn around and leave. And then I realized no, she would start a campaign and rally the troops to demand a rule change!”—USA Today Bestselling Author Justine Dare

“While many of us are homebodies, we writers know how to connect with each other across the miles, and Trish was always the first to step up.  She started the BBB authors loop, and then she made it work.  She introduced newbies and made them feel welcome.  She was first to encourage, first to raise a virtual toast, first to sympathize.  She didn’t just send positive vibes–she was positive vibes.  Trish was a generous friend.  I miss her already, and I will treasure her stories.”—New York Times Bestselling Author Kathleen Eagle

“There are people who knew Trish much better than I did, but I she always made me smile and made me feel like the little things in my life were important.  I will miss her sunny personality and am so glad I have her books so that I can continue to feel her presence. ” —USA Today Bestselling Author Katherine Garbera

“Trish was a loving and loyal friend, an author who made us laugh and touched our hearts.  She loved animals and she was always there to cheer people on and give them support in any way she could.  I will miss her very much.”—Eve Gaddy, author of Cowboy Come Home, Uncertain Future, and Too Close for Comfort

Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place.—Mark Twain

“Trish was very much a sunny spirit, and her books are a legacy that will be enjoyed for years to come.”—Lynn Kerstan, author of The Big Cat Trilogy

“I didn’t know Trish other than from the BBB Loop, but with all of the tributes to her that I’ve read today, I wish I had known her. The tributes show just how much she was loved and how much she gave of herself to others. It sounds like Heaven got another angel.” —Vickie King, author of Carly’s Rule

“I’m partial to funny writers–or rather writers who write funny books–and the writing world lost a good one today with the death of Trish Jensen.  I first read her when I judged her entry in the West Houston Emily contest.  Right away, I knew she was going to sell that book–and I told her so.  She did and it was published as THE HARDER THEY FALL.  We’ll miss you, Trish.”—USA Today Bestselling Author, Heather MacAllister

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If I can’t make myself giggle while writing, I’m a goner.

Okay, Amazon just informed me that my book has shipped. I think I’m going to sleep with it. The cover is so beautious, I can’t wait to see it in print.

I’m really liking fan girls. What ARE fan girls, anyway?

I’ve been going through emails from Trish. Hundreds of conversations. In the past few years I got to know Trish better than I realized. Now I miss her as if we were lifelong friends.

My books just arrived. OMG, he’s more gorgeous up close and personal. Guess which dog is being bumped out of bed in favor of a book? He’s GORGEOUS. — Trish, pathetic, I know, but I take thrills where I can get him . . . errr, them.

Mainly, we discussed her books. The old ones being re-issued by Bell Bridge, but also the new one she was planning to write next. But in the course of “business talk” we also covered a crazy-quilt funhouse of you-name-it: talk show hosts, Teddy Bears, dogs, cats, our shared advocacy for animal shelters, old boyfriends, people she wanted to smack with a cooking pot, people I wanted to smack with a cooking pot, and much, much more.

On the success of a relatively mild promo success:

We’re #2! We’re #2!
Okay, back to polishing book and won’t look again for at least . . . you know, at least fifteen minutes. 🙂 — Trish

And when Against His Will reached No. 1 on the Barnes & Noble bestseller list?

Muchas Gracias!  This takes the sting out of the pictures my sister keeps sending me from her Caribbean cruise.

Sprinkled through all that chat and those work discussions was a comforting bond of friendship and life itself. That’s what I’ll miss so much. —New York Times Bestselling Author Deborah Smith

“I first met Trish Jensen when she signed onto GEnie’s RomEx roundtable. She and I became instant friends, and after chatting with her for only a few minutes about her writing, I said you’re next. It wasn’t long after that when she sold her first book. I was so proud. She also wrote reviews for Pen and Mouse during that time, and I was the recipient of one. To this day, it is one of my favorites. I still quote her whenever I can. She wrote: “laugh, cry and fall in love.” And that describes my relationship with Trish. I have watched us both laugh, cry and fall in love. She held my hand while my husband was dying, and was my champion when I became a basketcase after I lost him. When my grandbabies were born, she sent gifts and demanded pictures. Her sense of loyalty knew no bounds. To be Trish’s friend was to be blessed beyond measure. And I have been so blessed. All the puppies in Heaven are getting a belly rub about now. Miss you.”—Deb Stover, author of Maid Marian and the Lawman

Writing as a Mom

by Katherine Scott Crawford 

This month, everything is starting to bloom in my tiny town in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Heck, the trees began budding in February—early for us—and the daffodils are just beginning to show their sunny heads. Even the chickens in my neighbor’s chicken coop seem to be clucking more frequently, and with a bit of sass.

Yep, everything is blooming. Including my belly.

Well, that’s putting it kindly. I’m in my third trimester of pregnancy, and I currently resemble your basic ocean liner. From the front, from far away, if I’m wearing all black and you squint when you look at me, I still appear pretty normal. But then I turn sideways—slowly, very slowly—and the fog horns blow. I need one of those beepers moving vans have, to warn folks when I’m backing up. 

When I was pregnant with my first child, now three and a half years old, I couldn’t count the number of people who told me, “Oh, you’ll be so inspired by pregnancy and motherhood. Think of all you’ll have to write about!”

And while I’m certain this will, at some point, be the case, for the most part it’s been hogwash.

For some reason, when I’m “with child,” my body blooms and my brain power wilts. That baby just sucks up all my creative juices (and my reason) like one of those expensive and super-powered Dyson vacuum cleaners. You know, the kind that can take down dog hair. 

I’m quickly discovering why many of my favorite writers, especially women, published their first novels in their mid-forties and beyond: their kids were grown.

Just as no one really tells you when you become pregnant about how your backside will start to look like—as Olympia Dukakis so eloquently put it in Steel Magnolias—“two pigs fightin’ under a blanket,” no one tells you that pregnancy and new motherhood can zap your creative juices. That you’ll be so exhausted you’ll fall asleep by 9 p.m.

That when you’re sitting in the rocking chair in your child’s bedroom, and you bend over to pick up a book off the floor, you’ll topple over like a felled tree. Oh, wait. Maybe that’s just me.

They joys of motherhood, and yes—even sometimes pregnancy—are at times too many to count. My lips are beautifully full these days. If the rest of me didn’t look like a beach ball, they’d be pretty hot. And that baby movement across the belly, the roll and tumble of a sweet new life, is beyond cool.

As for my writing mojo? That powerful magic that appears when all my creative cylinders are firing? Well, heck. It’s taking a 9 month siesta. And if this new baby is anything like my first child, that siesta might stretch into a whole year. But I’m okay with this. Or at least I’m learning to deal with it.

Why? Because I know the mojo will be back, and will appear at the oddest of times. Kind of like all those lovely blooms popping up in my town … evidence of an early Spring.  

Keowee Valley is $1.99 today at Amazon and Apple.

Katherine Scott Crawford was born and raised in the blue hills of the South Carolina Upcountry, the history and setting of which inspired Keowee Valley. Winner of a North Carolina Arts Award, she is a former newspaper reporter and outdoor educator, a college English teacher, and an avid hiker. She lives with her family in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she tries to resist the siren call of her passport as she works on her next novel. Visit her at: www.katherinescottcrawford.com.

Writer’s Unblock

By Eve Gaddy

I was thinking about what to blog about and nothing was coming to me.  That made me think of something I’ve faced many times in my writing career.  I know some writers who don’t believe there is any such thing as writer’s block.  All I can say is be happy you haven’t experienced it because I’m here to tell you, writer’s block is real.  And it’s not fun.

There are many reasons for writer’s block and I’ve experienced a number of them.  Burnout, death of family or friends, health issues, moving, divorce, family issues, all of the above.  I’m sure there are many more.  Most of the time I wanted to write but just couldn’t for various reasons.  My last bout with it I was convinced I’d retired.  In fact, I didn’t write at all (other than emailJ) for a long time.  I didn’t think I’d ever write again.  When I finally did start again, it was a book that was a departure for me from what I’d been writing for so long.  Maybe I just needed to write something completely different.  A book for me, one that I didn’t worry about selling but just wrote it the way it needed to be written.  A book of the heart.

Many times I think the problem underlying writer’s block is burnout.  Some of us tend to be a bit obsessive (what, me obsessive?).  We might concentrate so much on writing we don’t do much else.  And eventually we burn out.  I felt as if my creativity had absolutely dried up.  So I decided I’d go back to the creative things I used to do before I started writing. 

I took up needlework again.  I used to do a lot of needlepoint but quit soon after I first published.  I stopped with just a small amount left of a very complex project, a landscape of the Seine River.  I’d always wanted to finish it because it was gorgeous.  So I picked it up again and finished.  Since then I have needlepointed numerous Christmas stockings, some of them working from a counted cross stitch pattern translated to needlepoint.  I’ve also made some Christmas ornaments and various other things in the past few years. 

I still couldn’t write.  So I took up another craft I’d given up.  In fact, I hadn’t done it since high school.  My daughter found out she was having twin girls.  What better time to pick up knitting again?  I knitted all sorts of things, including a number of baby blankets.  Since then I’ve knitted many different things, ranging from afghans to socks.  Now I alternate working on needlepoint or knitting and usually have several different projects going.  I could never do that with writing.  I have to totally immerse myself in a book until I finish it.  I don’t have to do that with needlework and it’s fun. 

For me, needlework lets me be creative, but in a different way from writing.  I have to think, but again, in a different way than writing.  But somehow that sort of creativity allows my writer’s brain to start working again.  Sometimes the solutions to problems I’m having with my current manuscript come to me when I’m doing needlework. 

There are a lot of ways to jump start your creativity.  These are just some things that helped me, and that I enjoy a lot.  Have you ever had writer’s block?  If you have, what did you do to help you get started again?  What are your tricks for dealing with it?