In Which the Ladies of the R8 Leap into Summer

This summer the ladies of the Rockville 8 have a whole lot of fun planned,

from vacations to new books to a little something, something extra.

J. Keely Thrall:

Vacation: A staycation! Sadly, I’m not headed to RWA Nationals this year, but I *am* looking forward to spending some time at my condo’s pool! And wonder of wonders, I think it will be TWO FULL WEEKS. Aaaah, I can already feel my shoulders dropping from up around my ears as I turn into a boneless sloth...

Book release: Protecting His Own, by Cherise Sinclair, latest in her popular Masters of the Shadowlands series.This is a companion novella to the book Breaking Free, a look into Beth and Nolan's HEA. I'm also on tenterhooks for the next "Beyond" book from writing duo Kit Rocha. This post apocalyptic franchise swept me up in a whirlwind earlier this year and I'm salivating at the thought of getting my hands (and eyes) on the next installment of kinked out fun.

Movie: Star Trek Beyond (or pretty much any geek movie franchise installment. I’m not picky!)

Lagniappe: Earlier this year I submitted a MS to Entangled and received a "revise and resubmit" letter from one of their editors, with a due date of late June. Totally stoked to send it the requested edits and see where it takes me!


Misha Crews:

Vacation: I've been invited to Williamsburg, VA for a week's writing retreat. It's been years (decades?) since I've been to the Williamsburg area, and not only am I looking forward to hanging out with some writing friends and getting some good work done, it will also be fun to get reacquainted with a part of the state that I don't get to visit very often.

Book release: Neil Gaiman's The View from the Cheap Seats, which will be released at the end of May. I've pre-ordered the audio book, which he narrates himself (swoon!). Here's what the publishers say about it: "An enthralling collection of nonfiction pieces on myriad topics–from art and artists to dreams, myths, and memories to comics, films, and literature – observed in award-winning #1 New York Times bestselling Neil Gaiman's probing, amusing, and distinctive style. An inquisitive observer, thoughtful commentator, and assiduous craftsman, Neil Gaiman has long been celebrated for the sharp intellect and startling imagination that informs his fiction." Can't wait!

Movie: Hello, My Name is Doris. (It came out in March, but I missed it in theaters; now eagerly awaiting the dvd.) This movie looks hilarious and heartfelt, and those are two of my favorite things!



Lagniappe: Actually finishing my novel! I've been working on this book for years, and it seems unfair to leave the characters in limbo like that. It will be great to get it done and out into the world, and then get on to the next novel. It's going to be a great summer.




Mackenzie Lucas:

Graduation: My middle son is graduating high school in little over a week. Hoorah!!! I'm looking forward to this in that bitter-sweet way emptying-nest mom's do. Then summer will be all about preparing him for going off to university in August. I'm also looking forward to my own graduation from massage therapy school at the end of August. Yeehaw. Ready to get out there and get my business rolling.

Vacation: Hopefully a family vacation to the Outer Banks in July, if I can get it planned in the midst of the chaos that is my life right now.

Book release: Sweet Little Lies by Jill Shalvis. This is a new series start by Shalvis, set in a coastal town, probably much like her popular Lucky Harbor series. Can't wait to devour this one when it

comes out on June 28th.

Movie: Bad Moms, which comes out July 29th. Looks hilarious. And, oh-so irreverent, and yet strangely applicable from the trailer.

Lagniappe: I had to look this one up, because I didn't know what it was ... it's broadly known as "something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure." So, my lagniappe for the summer is looking forward to enjoying the sun and fun one day at a time as it comes, and to writing a new novella set in the Essence world as well as the first book in a new series. As well as enjoying my kids this summer. Guess I've got a lot of lagniappe.

Lisa McQuay:

Vacation: Outer Banks. A corner condo with an ocean view and a screened porch with breezes from the front and side. I can't wait to slow down, walk on the beach, read and just plain chill. It's been a hectic 2016 thus far.

Book Release: Kiss Me That Way by Laura Trentham. I read her historical series, Spies and Lovers, and absolutely loved the books. It's released on May 31, 2016 and I can't wait to try one of her contemporaries.

Movie: Jason Bourne. My husband and I love, love, love the Bourne movies and have watched them over and over. When I told him recently that the "Tires felt a little splashy on the way over here," he knew EXACTLY what I was talking about. I was so excited when I saw the advertisement on TV for the new movie that I ran to the next room where he was to tell him the good news.

Lagniappe: Finish my current Romantic Suspense novel. Get it to the agents who requested it. I'm currently doing a schedule to make that happen.

What are you looking forward to this summer?

At Grandmother's House

My grandmother's kitchen had an enormous pantry. A walk-in closet for your canned goods and spare cooking pots. It had it's own door. My house did not have a pantry. We had cabinets. And stainless appliances. Grandmother had an avocado green oven. When it was cold, I'd walk into the kitchen and the oven would be wide open, heat pouring from it to warm up the room.  Her table was small and square. It was a work table in a kitchen with very little counter space.  

Summertime, I learned to shell peas, snap beans and make deviled eggs at that table. Grandmother would sit in one of her dark dresses, with the smock-type apron on, working on a bowl full of something green. Meals did not make themselves at Grandmother's house. Vegetables, at least in the summer, did not come from the can, jar or freezer.

I can't recall if there was anything pretty hanging on the walls. Grandmother hung a large mirror over her sink. Mom said to check her hair, I say to spy my brother coming up behind me to snap me with a towel. Next to that was a National Geographic map of the solar system. On a shelf to the right of the sink I'd find the jar of Tang - the orange juice of the astronauts. And because she was a grandmother, she also had strawberry Quik. We only ever had the chocolate kind at home.

Inside of Grandmother's kitchen, I was taught to help prepare food. I learned the rhythms of cooking and life. Vegetables had to be washed, trimmed, snapped, shelled, shucked, peeled, chopped.  Dealing with vegetables was all about action verbs and in the moment. Inside of Grandmother's kitchen, I worked. There was no dishwasher, save the grandchildren. We'd stand at that enormous white enameled sink and wash every glass and every plate and every spoon. By hand. With a sponge and hot water and set them, one by one, on the slanted, rippled drain. Water would sluice back down into the sink. Even to today, captured somewhere in my nostrils, is the pungent sharp smell of hot dish-soap and plastic cups.

Summertime at Grandmother's meant an enormous family reunion at the Leonard house. Complete with Aunt Didi's ham biscuits, Grandmother's corn pudding, and juicy sliced tomatoes. There were deviled eggs with a sprinkle of colorful paprika. Potato salad. Macaroni salad. Old ladies in dark dresses with blue or apricot tinted hair set in curls. Some women still wore their hair in old-fashioned buns, like my great Aunt Grace from down Mecklenburg County.

I was the youngest child - apart from little Stevie - and he didn't count because he was little and a boy. I either had to keep up with my older siblings and cousins or go sit with mom. Or I'd simply head to The Magnolia Tree. A tree so big at the front of Grandmother's house that six cousins could be up it at once and there was still room for more. It was shady and cool beneath that tree, shelters by the large tough dark green leaves that were brown underneath. We'd hear "Don't climb that Magnolia" behind us as we headed straight up her branches. I rode my first horse on the limbs of that tree. Possibly my first dragon. I certainly fought my first Civil War battle there, and ruled my first tree kingdom.

I wonder what my siblings and cousins would remember about going to Grandmother's? Probably something completely different than me. What are your strong memories of summer and shelling peas? Of white rail fences to be climbed on and pecan trees to run under? Were you chased out of the house by parents who wanted to actually speak with another adult and wasn't there to entertain the children? Was the TV either off limits or simply not considered an option when there might be horses to be seen? Tell me!

How the Rockville 8 spent our Summer Vacations

Wrapping up the summer here at the Rockville 8, and turning our thoughts toward the fall. What did you do during YOUR summer vacation?

Marjanna Bogan:

Horseshoe crab. Stuck on the rocks. You have so many legs and a very spikey tail.

Horseshoe crab. Stuck on the rocks. Are those really eyes on your shell or just camo?

Horseshoe crab. Stuck on the rocks. Stretching your stretchless exoskeleton to free yourself.

Horseshoe crab. Stuck on the rocks. If I rescue you, am I going against nature?

Horseshoe crab. Stuck on the rocks. I feel you are a metaphor for my summer.

This summer.

I buried my father and rescued a horseshoe crab that was stuck on the rocks.

Technically, we threw Dad under the boat.

I did, however, actually pull the horseshoe crab free from where he (she? who the hell knows) was wedged in the rocks by the surf.

I also drank a lot of vodka. With and without family and friends. I'm not sure if one or the other makes it taste better. Perhaps I should experiment more with that.

But I expect I have the autumn for that.

 

Nichole Christoff:

Twisted! That sums up my summer. First, the spring weather got twisted and thought it was summer. Then, summer cooled down and behaved like spring. That make for great opportunities to get outdoors--until I twisted my ankle. My high grade sprain should be all healed by New Year's. In the meantime, I'm ready for full-on fall. Bring on the pumpkins and falling leaves! I'm nearly done with my latest novel and I'm starting a new day job. I'm an adjunct professor at a small, private university. So no more twists and turns, please. At least, not until winter.

Misha Crews:

This summer my husband and I celebrated our anniversary with a trip to our favorite getaway: Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. If you've ever been there, you'll completely understand why we're in love with the place. If you haven't had a chance to see it for yourself, then you should go. Now. (I'm not kidding, get going!) The time away from work, phones and even (gasp!) the internet gave us a chance to decompress and reconnect with each other. And it even brought me to a breakthrough on my latest writing project. It was a winner, all around! I hope that everyone reading this had a wonderful summer, and best wishes to you for a beautiful and happy autumn!

Mackenzie Lucas:

Low-key summer for me. Pretty much my full vacation encompassed RWA Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia in July; the road trip to and from Atlanta on the I-81 corridor through the Shenandoah Valley (two nights down, two nights back); and a trip to Pittsburgh to take my oldest to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh for a Summer Studio program so he could figure out if he’d be interested in applying to their Game Art & Design program after high school. He’s sent in his application and is waiting on letters of recommendation from his high school teachers. Sigh. Yes, we’ve started the college search and application phase for No. 1. The other two will follow in quick succession. So hold on for the ride! The big news for me this summer was that I sold my first manuscript to a traditional publisher. My debut contemporary romance novel Essence will be published by Soul Mate Publishing in spring 2014 in e-book and six to eight months later in print. I’m very excited about working with Soul Mate Publishing on this project! That’s about it for me this summer. Ready for fall to commence. ;0)

Lisa McQuay:

Summer is my favorite season of the year.  I’m happiest during this time of year.  I love all of the daylight hours we have.  Being able to run out the front door without bundling up.  Not having to study with my daughter for a vocabulary quiz or run around and get tons of things for a school project.   Walk the dogs in the evening after the day cools off. 

This past summer was a busy one for me.  Working full time, volunteering as treasurer, attending the RWA National conference, and shuttling my daughter between summer activities, doctor, dentist and orthodontist appointments left little time for deep introspection.  The week long vacation to Nags Head, NC was a welcome break that ended all too quickly.    

My father’s birthday always falls somewhere around Labor Day weekend, so a family party is always on tap sometime in the three days we’re off.  This weekend, the party falls on Sunday so I’m busy baking a cake, making macaroni salad and buying a gift.   My brother volunteered to bring the ribs so I took him up immediately on his offer. 

I did some writing in between all this but not as much as I wanted to.  So, now that fall is around the corner and school has started, I’m rededicating myself.  Right after the birthday party…

Evie Owens:

Evie is on deadline, hard at work finishing up a piece for an anthology, so she was not able to submit something for this blog piece. We’re super excited for her coming publication. Go, Evie, go!

Keely Thrall:

Summer seemed like it took an awful long time to get started. All that rain and cool just didn’t say summer in DC. It wasn’t until July that things kicked off for me – I attended RWA Nationals mid-month, then was home for a week before heading to Paris for 4 days (see my post on that here). August has seen me get loads of writing in, as well as happily receive the news that I’m a finalist in the Lone Star Writing Contest (paranormal category). Looking forward to more writing this fall and reconnecting with my WRW pals.

Shellie Williams:

Sometimes life IS a bowl of cherries and like "sudden fame" a lot goes on before the bowl of cherries arrives. This summer I had to dance with my own special devil: patience. I'm not good at patience. I'm more of an action kinda girl. But all summer, I had to wait and be patient. Would I get the job I had set my heart on? Would I final in the Claymore Contest for unpublished authors writing in mystery, thriller and crime genres? Patience, grasshopper was my mantra...and my reward. Yes, I got the job and I've already dreamed up a story idea: Murder at the Arts Barn. (Yeah, the title needs some work.) Lastly, I finaled in the Claymore contest. I was one of 10 finalists. Killer Nashville hasn't released the final winners yet, so I'm still practicing patience.  Breathe, grasshopper, and have a cherry.

One Is Silver and the Other Gold

With the end of summer right around the corner, we in the Christoff household are making the most of the fleeting season. You can find us in the great outdoors nearly every weekend now. And if the evening is crisp and cool, you'll find us gathered around a campfire.

A Christoff Campfire

Do you remember that old campfire song? The one about friendship? You know the one I mean. It reminds us to "make new friends, but keep the old." Why? Because "one is silver and the other gold."

These words were never more true than this weekend when one of my oldest friends brought her family to my campfire circle. She and I were kids ourselves when we met at camp almost thirty years ago. But if you'd have seen us this weekend, you might've thought we were still kids with the way we joked and laughed.

Around my campfire this weekend, my friend reminded me of who I used to be--and who I still am. Seeing myself through my friend's eyes, I remembered my strengths. And I remembered those strengths had always been a part of me. Best of all, in the golden glow of the campfire, I remembered those strengths had been with me for so long, they probably weren't going to go anywhere without me.

When autumn comes and winter is finally here, and all the pressures of daily living put a damper on my spirits, I'll look back on those summer evenings, both recent and long ago, with my friend. I'll remember what it is to be a friend. And, thanks to my friend, I'll remember I can be myself.

As I look forward to the seasons to come, I hope I'll always make new friends. I hope I'll always keep the old. Because one is certainly silver, and the other is the truest gold.

Now it's your turn to talk to the Rockville 8. Do you have a friend who's as good as gold?  What does her friendship mean to you?

What we did on our summer vacations!

Remember those reports we used to do back in the day, "What we did on our summer vacation?" Well, the R8 thought we'd revive the tradition this year. In honor of Labor Day, below we share what kept us busy through the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer:

Shellie –

I engaged in some experiential learning with a jetski ride around the Currituck Sound while vacationing in the Outer Banks. I admit to a certain nervousness about getting on this machine, but it turned out to be easy and fun. As the beefcake who set me up on the jetski said: “It's pretty easy. Squeeze the lever and it goes--like a bullet."  

Candy –

Summer of Fun! What a great summer. Lots of travel and friends and family for me this summer. June started off with a bang when I attended the In Your Write Mind writers’ retreat at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. Awesome time hanging out with my grad school buddies and attending writers’ workshops.

July brought a trip to the RWA National Conference in Anaheim, CA. Spectacular workshops, rousing keynote speakers, and lots of wine and fun with my romance writer friends--both old ones and new ones. Thank you! Pitched stories to agent Sara Megibow and Harlequin editor Brenda Chin. Great conference. Well worth the time & effort! 

Finally, August rounded out the perfect summer with a family trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. We spent a week with my brother’s family at a resort on the beach. It was a blast. Seven males and two moms in a three-bedroom, three-bath condo. Well, to be fair, we weren’t inside all that much. Fun in the sun, on the beach, and at the lazy river. Enjoyed every minute of my summer and the memories I built! 

 

 Nichole –

My summer's been a bit light on vacation, but it's been a great season all the same. I kicked off my summer on a sticky day in May when I graduated with a master's degree from Georgetown University. That day was the culmination of three, long years of hard work. Whew! By midsummer, I wrapped up revisions on my Work In Progress, and sent the manuscript to my agent. Writers hope for that moment. I'm thrilled I got to have it. Now, at the end of summer, I'm knee-deep in a new manuscript, reading all the light-hearted books I can get my hands on, and making plans to adopt a dog. Good books and a new best friend can make for a vacation any day.

 

 

 

 

Evie –

Holy cow, June, July, and August just flew past me this year. Looking at my calendar I see that I spent lots of quality time with my writing friends, ten incandescent days with my kids and grandkid in town, and last but not least, I turned 50. I also see that I didn't spend a lot of quality time with my butt in the chair and my hands on the keyboard. I will be changing that this weekend. But if I could sum up my summer in one picture, it would be this one, of my granddaughter playing in the bubbles. It's going to be my screensaver this winter, when the temperatures take a dive. 

Lisa –

I spent the summer near the water, charging my batteries for the coming winter (summer is my favorite season).  We also took a trip to Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota.  Some of the things we saw were Pikes Peak, Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone.  It was a great opportunity to revisit some places I'd visited as a child and to learn about some new ones.  And, of course, it was an opportunity to spend time with my family, which I treasure.






 


Keely –

My summer jump started with a week in Boston visiting my dad and stepmother over the Fourth of July. What a walkable, beautiful city (not something I ever said before the Big Dig came a-knockin’)! Though I admit, I didn't do a lot of walking in my cheetah print mules. I'm fashion forward, not a masochist! Later in the month, I popped up to Berkeley Springs, WV for an awesome and productive writing weekend with some chapter-mates. And in August I had the pleasure of meeting up with my Thrall family relatives in Long Island for a little mini-family reunion. Oh, and I started a kitchen renovation. And, and, and…actually, I’m kinda ready for fall. Cooler weather, less travel, and…progress on the new kitchen!

Tell us, what did YOU do on your summer vacation?