The Story Behind ... One for the Road

One for the Road is about Suzanne Martin, a photojournalist who starts a vineyard after her husband dies in a car wreck. The story follows Suzanne as she builds a new life on an abandoned farm near Cobalt Mills, Virginia. Suzanne quickly learns that not everyone is happy with her new venture, particularly the owners of a larger vineyard up the road. As strange incidents on the farm grow dangerous, she must take matters into her own hands or risk losing everything.

One for the Road is the first novel I completed. It took me a long time to work through the middle of the story. I credit the Anne Lamott book Bird by Bird for giving me the encouragement to keep writing.

The idea for the book came after my husband and I took several wine tasting trips and decided to look into starting our own vineyard. (I'm told many people come back from wine-tasting trips with this fantasy.) We spent months researching possible locations, viticulture and wine making. We eventually realized that taking on the triple business of farming (growing and harvesting the grapes), manufacturing (making and bottling the wine), and retail (running the tasting room) was more than we could manage.

We made the right decision, but I was still intrigued by the idea. That’s when I decided to write a novel about a woman who takes on the challenge of starting a vineyard. I used everything I’d learned in our research to help Suzanne start her new life, a life that grows and changes throughout the story just like her fledgling grapevines.

About the Books

Chasing Leaves

Yesterday I went to a luncheon and the parting gift was a violet. It was meant to symbolize the power of one generation giving back to its community for the benefit of the next generation. Legend has it that planting a violet leaf in potting soil will cause a new plant to grow.

Writing a novel produces some spare leaves for planting, too. They're the tangents snipped off in editing, the ideas that don’t fit the plot, and the characters who fall away.  Some of these leaves wilt and die, while others are reborn in new plots and new relationships. With luck, they blossom into something lovely.

Memorial Day Weekend Menu

We’re invited to a picnic on Saturday and hosting one on Sunday. For Saturday, I’ll bake and take brownies using the recipe I tried last week. My husband said they were the best brownies ever and asked for a repeat. With luck my neighbor’s kids will like them as much as he did!

On Sunday, we’re hosting our in-laws at our house. I’m still tinkering with the menu:

Appetizers:      

• Spinach dip with toasted pita triangles: a standard spinach dip recipe – an old standby
• Crudités with ranch dip: the kids love celery, carrots, and cauliflower smothered with ranch dip

Main Meal:      

• Baby back ribs: This is a good choice for my in-laws because they’re particular about food being well-done (as in cremated). Rather than gnaw our way through burgers as tough as hockey pucks or sausage that doubles as beef jerky, I’ll simmer the ribs in beer (a pilsner) for an hour until they’re fully cooked and then throw them on the grill and baste them with barbecue sauce to finish them off.
• Pasta salad: This is also a good choice for my in-laws because my mother-in-law doesn’t eat mayonnaise, which knocks most of the traditional picnic salad choices off the menu. I’ll toss the pasta salad together using baby bow-tie noodles, sliced grape tomatoes, diced cucumber, a little sweet onion, sliced black olives, diced pepperoni, and diced green pepper. I’ll add salt and pepper and Newman’s Own Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing to hold it all together.
• Baked beans: I have a great recipe for homemade baked beans, but I usually go with Bush’s. They compare to homemade and are easier to deal with.
• Green lettuce salad: I like Bibb lettuce, tomato, green pepper and cucumber. Not sure about dressing yet.

Dessert:           

Strawberry shortcake: Strawberries are in high season. I’ll bake (or buy?) a vanilla pound cake and slice it, then add sugar-coated fresh strawberry slices and whipped cream.

Beverages:

• Chateau St. Michelle Riesling
• Sam Adams Summer Ale
• Iced Tea
• Water

                                   

My garage is clean thanks to freshman speech

This morning my husband thanked me, unsolicited, for launching the Great Garage Clean-Up of 2011. Last weekend we swapped out winter sleds for summer bikes, rock salt for weed-and-feed, and swept out the road cinders and dead bugs that accumulated over the long winter.

The toughest task was tackling his toolboxes – five of them – and organizing the tools. When we were done, he was amazed to find he had three full sets of the same kind of sockets. I was not so amazed, but I ended the day happy because if I need a screwdriver or hammer I know where to look.

I was thinking about the clean-up on my drive to work this morning. Several (okay, many) years ago I enrolled in a tiny liberal arts college in Nebraska. It was my first semester and I had freshman speech. A young classmate told us that she intended to be a housewife and hadn’t planned to go to college. But when her husband returned from the first Gulf War he decided to get a degree. As a married student he had the option of getting a nicer dorm – an apartment, really – if his wife went to college with him. So they both enrolled.

One day, this young woman stood in front of the class, as nervous as the rest of us, and delivered a five-minute instructional speech on how to clean a house. She said she didn’t feel like she had much to contribute, but that housecleaning was something she knew how to do well. Her instructions went something like this:

1. Start small. Start with the smallest room in your house and clean it. The sense of accomplishment will help you move on to the next smallest room.
2. Start high. Start by dusting off the highest points of the room – the light fixtures, ceiling fan blades, etc. Then move down to the next highest thing, like window sills and counters. Do the floors last so you pick up all the dirt that fell from the higher spots.
3. Pick a corner and work your way out of it. Instead of being overwhelmed by clutter (say in a basement storage area) start in one corner of the room and work on only those items in that corner. Once it’s clean, move to the next section of the wall. Work your way around the room and at the end everything will have its place.

It’s hard to believe it’s been so long since I sat in that classroom. I transferred to another school after my first semester and lost touch with the people I’d met. But I think about the young woman from my freshman speech class every so often. I wonder if she graduated, if she stayed married, if she had children, if she started a career or made a career at home. I wonder if she remembers the speech she gave – the simple speech that’s helped me clean my rooms, organize my husband’s tools, and keep things neat around the house for the past twenty years.

More on the Blogger vs. Tumblr switch

I created my Blogger site a few weeks ago. Until then I used a Tumblr blog exclusively. I switched because I wanted a blog that doubled as a website. Blogger’s templates fit the bill. At the time, I thought I might eliminate my Tumblr blog entirely, but I’ve decided against it. Here’s why:

Mobile

Tumblr is easier to update on the go. I use an iPad with the free Tumblr app, which is fast and nearly fool-proof.

Followers

Tumblr’s interface is more elegant when it comes to following and being followed.

Dashboard

The dashboard is well-designed so it’s easy to see what other people post. Blogger's feeds aren’t as visually compelling. I scroll through the posts on my Tumblr dashboard for enjoyment, whereas scrolling through my Blogger feed can be a chore.

Feeds

Tumblr accepts my Blogger feed (but not vice-versa, or at least not easily – it involved widget-creation and signing up for more free services, etc.). It also sends my posts to Twitter when they’re created, with no time lag.

In Blogger’s defense, it offers features that I prefer, namely the ability to look more like a traditional website and great usage stats. I’ve tried more than thirty of Tumblr’s templates and I haven’t found one that consistently looks as clean as my Blogger site.

For now, I plan to keep both blogs active. I’ll use Tumblr for speedy on-the-go and photo posts and Blogger for more substantial entries.