Patty Froese

By Alana Lorens

If we’re to believe the marketing ploys of some retailers (yes I’m talking about you, Abercrombie and Fitch), the only people who are worth socializing with are those who        are beautiful/handsome, thin and can afford to pay $30 for a T-shirt, $50 for a  pair of cut off jean shorts or $100 for a pair of jeans.

“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the  not-so-cool kids,” says A&F CEO Mike Jeffries.

What does that elitist attitude bring to the table? What message does it pass on to these privileged few?

For a lot of kids, it demonstrates that they  are special, that they belong to a exceptional class of people who don’t have to play by the same rules as everyone else—those who can’t compete either with their popularity or their wallet. They’re the football quarterback who gets away with sexual assault because no one wants to prosecute him, or the        doctor’s daughter who shoplifts at the local mall, but instead of calling the police, the store managers call her parents.

But does it make them better people? Not necessarily.

What makes a good person? The Greek philosopher Aristotle  defined a good person as someone who thinks and acts in accordance to virtue. So someone who acts in alignment with a ethical and moral compass is therefore “good.”

How do you get a good moral grounding? Many would suggest that religious teachings such as those in the Bible provide guidance. Parents who teach their children a firm grip on right and wrong also  make a big difference in how those children perceive their path in the  world. Teachers, athletes, and even celebrities can be teachers, demonstrating the benefits and lessons of acting in a moral way. How proud parents are when their children, even those who end up buying ten pairs of jeans at the Salvation Army instead of one pair at Abercrombie and Fitch, make those good choices!

In my March release, BY ANY OTHER NAME, we  get the chance to compare two teenaged boys–Mark, the son of heroine Marisol  Herrera Slade, and  Jon, the son of hero Russell Asher. Mark has been raised on a shoestring lifestyle by Marisol, a single mother who        now earns a living as a mommyblogger. Jon is a spoiled darling of his mother’s rich family, who has everything he could ask for in life, and a grandfather who funds it all without requiring him to be responsible. Jon’s  mother has cut Russell out of their lives, to their detriment.

When a boating accident occurs through Jon’s  negligence, putting Mark and his grandfather in the hospital emergency room, we see what sort of character each has. Even Russell has to approve of Mark’s moral fiber over his own son’s. What a sad situation. Here’s an excerpt:

“Tiffy, you can’t keep me from the boys. They need a father.”

“They have all the family they need.” She crossed to the bottom of the slightly curving stairway that led to the open hallway of  the second floor, and picked up the cordless phone. “Now, either you leave voluntarily or I will call the police to report an intruder in our happy home.”

Russell caught movement out of the corner of his eye on the second floor landing. Jon and Barret stood there, looking down on him, in every sense of the words.

Tiffany started to dial the phone, and Russell held up a hand.

“Look, Tiffy. Fine. You win. They don’t want to see me, and frankly, I’m very disappointed in them. Give me five minutes, I’ll say goodbye, and I won’t be back. All right?”

He only half bluffed.

She studied him a moment, her expression showing doubt in his sincerity, but she hesitated and put down the phone. She glanced up at the boys, but didn’t call them down.

“You boys want to do this eye to eye like men?” Russell asked them.

 They didn’t move. Barret looked at his mother, but his feet stayed firmly planted on the Persian rug runner.

“I didn’t think you had the guts.” Russell sighed. “You think your mother’s going to always be able to get you out of trouble, no matter what you do. I hope for your sake, then, you decide to make good choices.”

He eyed them intently. Jon didn’t flinch, but Barret looked away again, to his mother, seeking support.

 ”I just want you to know that I’m here for you, too. I’m not going to impose myself on you any more, unless you want it. I may not be able to buy you what your mother can, or pay off people you hurt, but I can help you be better men. You need to be good men in this life.”

Russell felt his throat close up and he pinched his leg through the lining of his pocket to keep himself from showing the pain and regret flooding over him. He was going to get through this. He was.

He coughed to loosen his voice. “You boys know where I live, and you  know my email and my phone number. I’ll wait to hear from you.”

A deep breath escaping him as he finished, he caught Tiffy’s gloating face and resisted the urge to walk over and slap it off her. A final glance upward showed Jon still giving out the company line, but Barret looked a little shaken. Maybe he could be saved.

Maybe not.

Keeping his shoulders straight and his head high, he turned and walked out of the house.

*****

Up-and-coming mommyblogger and single mom Marisol Herrera Slade returns to her old hometown in western Pennsylvania for her 20th high school reunion, reluctant        and yet compelled to see her high school sweetheart, Russell Asher, who dumped her for the homecoming queen.

Russell’s marriage to the golden girl, however, ended in a nasty divorce, and he has been systematically excluded from his sons’ lives. In his Internet wanderings, he’s found feminist blogger Jerrika Jones, who glorifies single motherhood, essentially putting a stamp of approval on what’s happened to him. He’s vowed to take this woman down if they ever should meet.

What he doesn’t know, when he thinks to rekindle what he had with Marisol, is that Marisol and Jerrika are one and the same. When he discovers the truth, will his drive for revenge derail any chance they have to reunite? Or will they find they have more in common than they ever expected?

Meet Michelle L. Levigne as she blogs about creating characters. Ever wonder where a writer’s ideas come from? Michelle gives us a peek into the workings of her creative mind.

****

The Velveteen Rabbit wanted to be real, and so do our characters. At least, they would if they could think. And that’s what we want — characters so real they take over the story.

In my newest Tabor Heights novel, Cooking Up Trouble, I had to take Audrey beyond the pretty community theater actress readers saw in previous stories. First, I changed slightly ditzy to accident-prone. Much more sympathetic.

Her self-image problem makes her clumsy. The only place she is graceful is on stage, when she’s someone else. She likes being invisible when she’s offstage — that means she doesn’t want to be a star outside Tabor Heights.

Okay, if Audrey is happy staying in Tabor, what does she do for a living?

Here, I considered the needs of the story. Audrey and Steve team up to protect Max, his half-sister, from a paparazzi invasion while she prepares for her wedding. Their father is a Hollywood legend. Audrey is involved in the wedding. How? Not a bridesmaid — cliché.

At this point, Audrey waved a mixing bowl and wire whisk at me. Okay, so she’s a cook — and went to culinary school. Presto — she’ll bake for Max’s wedding.

Then it hit me: Dinner theater. Audrey loves the theater, and cooking/baking. She’s daydreamed about doing dinner theater. Instant sub-plot. She’ll team up with Steve to create the dinner theater. That pushes the two of them together. But I need something to push them apart.

At this point, I changed the original title, Scene Stealer, to Cooking Up Trouble. That’s what happens when you get to know your characters and they start to take over!

Audrey’s problem that pushes them apart has to be a secret pain. Something she’s ashamed of. Big enough to build a wall.

What about Audrey’s family? Does she have one? She doesn’t talk about them. I decided she’s from Philadelphia — American history, Founding Fathers, snooty society. Her family looks down on her for being involved in theater and going to culinary school.

Hmm, not enough to be estranged. Audrey is hiding in Tabor and uses a stage name. Why? So her family doesn’t know she’s succeeding.

Why? Deep-seated hurt.

Then it struck me — Audrey is illegitimate, and her family punishes her for her parents’ sins.

That led to a cascade of associations. Max is illegitimate, too, but accepted. Both her families get along. Audrey is jealous, and ashamed of her jealousy. She can’t tell anyone what she’s feeling — because she never confided her family problems to anyone. She certainly can’t confide in Steve that she’s having trouble with his newly discovered half-sister. She’s Max’s friend, cooking for the dinner theater owned by Max’s stepfather, and baking for her wedding.

Tangled enough for you? And that’s just one character. But now Audrey is real enough to take off on her own, sometimes writing scenes and reactions for me — making my job a little easier. Because when the details get thick and solid enough, it’s more like I’m reporting what real people are doing, rather than making it up as I go along.

And that’s when writing is FUN.

 *****

Audrey lives for cooking and acting. When the Randolphs experiment with dinner theater, they turn to her to head the kitchen.

Steve returns to Tabor Heights to get to know his new sister, Max. Creating a dinner theater fascinates him, and soon so does Audrey.

As Max and Tony’s wedding draws near, so do paparazzi spies. After all, Max is the daughter of celebrities. When Audrey discovers a spy in her kitchen, she spins lies to protect her friends, but finds she needs protection when she is cast opposite Steve in Romeo and Juliet — and the media speculates she’s auditioning to join the celebrity family. Steve becomes her defender and partner in thwarting the paparazzi. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” is more than true for them, but past difficulties and shameful secrets may be building a wall too thick for even friendship to endure.

 Pick up a copy here!

I just got the cover for IN THE MORNING, due out in June 2013, and I couldn’t wait to share it with you!

Anne Baker is a prominent attorney and devoted skeptic. She didn’t think she needed faith until a new neighbor moved in next door–the most likable Christian she’s ever met. He’s also probably the most handsome, and the new youth pastor at a local church.

When Anne takes the criminal case for one of her neighbor’s young church members, she’s forced into a working relationship with Pastor Mike, and she finds herself face to face with her deepest heartbreak–the daughter she lost.

Mike didn’t know why he felt called to this little town, but when he meets his beautiful new neighbor, he has a feelings she’s part of the reason. But she’s a non-believer and he knows that he has to step very carefully, both for her sake, and for his position as church pastor. So why does he feel so drawn to the one woman he needs to keep at arm’s length?

Does God want Mike to be her husband, or is he supposed to step back and let her find happiness with the father of her daughter?

I’ve finished up my Christmas novella–a story about family, unexpected romance and longing. This one is due to be released through Desert Breeze Publishing December 2013.

The owner and CEO of a marketing firm, Andrew Holmes, asks his assistant to work Christmas in order to finish a big project for the new year. The hitch? She’s got to go with him to his home town, and if she’ll agree, she’ll earn herself a hefty Christmas bonus.

Millie Johnson was planning on quitting her job anyway, but decides that the money is worth it for her last bit of overtime. She doesn’t expect to fall in love with his family–a quirky mother, a big-mouthed brother, and a sister-in-law who longs for a baby.

But when a little boy arrives at the house one evening with the news that one of the Holmes men is his father, Christmas turns from a quiet working holiday into the kind of gathering where the truth starts tumbling out.

Can Millie stay strong enough to escape unscathed?

****

This was a fun story! I wrote it over this last Christmas season, and only recently dug it back out again to edit and get to the hard work of polishing it up and getting it into shape. I loved rereading it, so I hope you will all enjoy this story as much as I did.

I know I haven’t been posting here as often as I used to, but I’m still around! (Just busy working…)

Keep your eyes open for my June release IN THE MORNING, and don’t forget about my Harlequin Love Inspired writing over at my Patricia Johns blog.

I read an article recently (and for life of me can’t find it again to link to it properly) written by a women who lost 180 lbs. She’d been trying unsuccessfully to lose weight for years, and when she finally did it, she thought that life would suddenly change. The world caters to the thin, from airplane seats to fashion. Plus-sized women are told from every media source possible that they aren’t “right” until they’re skinny.

So once she got thin, she thought that all those doors would open for her. That she’d look in the mirror and see someone beautiful, but she discovered something she never expected–she still saw flaws. And she didn’t like herself any better than she had 180 lbs ago.

I think we all fall for that trap. We have a metal list going of our “flaws. ”

Once I lose ten/twenty/fifty pounds, then I’ll feel beautiful.

If only my skin were clearer, then I’d feel confident.

It’s my hips/stomach/thighs/cup size. If it were different, I could compete.

No one tells you that changing that one thing about yourself isn’t going to change the most important thing–that voice of criticism in your own head. That voice is a bully. If you change one thing to please her, she’ll just pick on something else. And like any bully, you don’t have to change anything. You just have tune her out.

Be healthy. Be happy. And for crying out loud, let’s say something nice about ourselves for a change. You’re gorgeous, and you don’t have to convince anyone else about that little fact. You only have to convince yourself!

****

Tricia Hunter was an extraordinary beauty…before a horrible bus accident left her irreparably scarred. In an effort to accept the things she cannot change, she heads to her uncle’s cabin for some time alone.
Forest ranger Jesse Reynolds recognizes Tricia the minute he sees her, but nothing flickers in her eyes. That’s fine by him. The same accident that stole her good looks killed his fiance, and he simply can’t bring himself to feel sorry for Tricia like everyone else in her life seems to do.
Thrown together in the autumn woods, they are faced with the past, an uncertain future, and a struggle to find out why God allows terrible things to happen.

This morning, I woke up to the news that I’m the 2013 Epic Ebook Award winner for the Spiritual/Metaphysical category. I’m absolutely thrilled!

Gail Delaney, the Editor in Chief and owner of Desert Breeze Publishing attending the award ceremony and fired off a FB message to let me know the good news.

The other writers who were nominated included Stephenia McGee and June Foster, two excellent writers who are also published with Desert Breeze Publishing. I’m so honored to be grouped with these fine ladies, and quite honestly, I expected to hear that one of them had won! So if you’ve already read my book, pick up one of theirs!

Click the image for details

Click image for details

Click image for details

And don’t forget my Free Read, a short story about Aunt Eunice’s secret love…

Click image for details–this one is FREE

I’m so honored to have won this award, and I’m honored to be writing with such an excellent group of authors with Desert Breeze.