Saturday Farmer's Market

In this excerpt from my WIP, MAGGIE RISING, Maggie and her BFF Robin are visiting the Saturday morning Chico Farmer's Market. As Maggie explains, the Saturday morning affair is somewhat different from the street fair offered on Thursday evenings:

Saturday was another Chamber of Commerce day, as nearly perfect as a day ever gets. I enjoyed our ride into town, past the cemetery and along the creek to the large parking lot where the market gathers. It was filled with vendors’ pavilions, produce and products for sale, and wall-to-wall, shoulder-to-shoulder shoppers. This market was always much smaller than the Thursday night affair. Though there were usually musicians on one side or the other, there were no belly dancers, no jugglers, no bounce houses or two-story inflatable slides. Saturday’s market was more business than pleasure. 

It was also quintessentially Chico—the neo-hippies with their dreadlocks and fabric shopping bags mingling with gray-haired couples holding hands and well-dressed younger families with toddlers in tow; the Hmong farmers working their booths side-by-side with the lilywhite fifth-generation growers whose ancestors had been among the area’s first non-native settlers; the potters and jewelry artists hawking their wares beside the folks with the petition to legalize recreational marijuana, while conservative politicians smiled and shook hands and kissed babies in the next booth over. The whole place smells delicious—scents of fresh produce or yeasty bread mingling with the patchouli oil and sandalwood on the artisans. 

“Are you looking for anything special?” Robin asked as we locked our bikes.

“Really just the usual,” I said. Robin and I made a ritual of coming into town for fresh fruits and vegetables most Saturdays. 



I liked being able to share one favorite facet of my hometown. I hope others will enjoy it vicariously. MAGGIE RISING is currently with my agent, hoping to find a publisher soon.


Susan Aylworth is the author of eight novels now out of print, but available as e-books for Kindle, Nook, and all other e-reader platforms. Her ninth novel, now retitled ZUCCHINI PIE: GRANNY'S RECIPE FOR LIFE, is coming in June from Covenant Communications. A tenth book, her first historical, has been accepted as is in process, to be published in 2014. MAGGIE RISING is her 11th book.

Making it Sound Right

One of my challenges in the effort to write YA (written specifically for Young Adults) is the dialogue. It won't do for my seventeen-year-old character to speak as I do, nor for her to speak the way I did when I was seventeen MANY decades ago. She needs to speak like today's high school seniors. I've struggled with that. But I think I'm making progress.


Below is a conversation between my Main Character, Maggie, and her friend, Julia. See if you think they sound like seniors to you: 

“Do you have anything to eat around here?” she asked, so I made another veggie panino. For a girl so obsessed with what everybody else weighs, tall, lean Julia can really pack away the food. She finished the first one and asked for a second.

While she ate, she filled me in on where the parties were planned for this evening. “Of course,” she said, arching an eyebrow, “we could always invite people here.”

“Oh no. Not again.” I shook my head as I backed away from her. “I thought I’d never get this place back to normal when you pulled that on me last time.”

“You’re more of a party animal than you let on.” Julia nodded sagely. “Things were really just getting started when we had to shut it down—”

“Get real, girl. There were probably sixty people here. In this little space! And more were coming every minute.”

“Not my fault.” Julia swallowed a bite of zucchini. “I only texted three fun couples—plus Tyler Watts for me and Tyler King for you.”

“And look how that turned out. Tyler Watts never showed and Tyler King brought his own date—some chick from Chico High. And whose idea was it to bring a keg?”

She giggled. “I don’t know, but it would have made the party. I’m just glad the guys got it out of here before the cops showed up. Did you ever figure out who called them?”

            “I really couldn’t guess,” I said, looking away. Best if she never figured out that I got desperate, texted my brother and asked him to play the role of the disgusted neighbor. He gave me three minutes and then called the cops in to clear everybody out of Aunt Betty’s place before I got her business shut down for sponsoring under-aged drinking or some such weirdness.

 

Susan Aylworth is the author of eight traditionally published novels. Her ninth, A SECRET FAMILY RECIPE, will be available from Covenant Communications in June. Her first eight novels are all available now for e-readers. She loves to hear from readers and other writers. Contact her here or at susan.aylworth.author@gmail.com, on Facebook or @SusanAylworth.

Loving Chico

OOPS! First, my apology: I'm sorry, folks, but my automatic time scheduler failed me and this didn't come online when I expected it to. It's here now!

The little town where I live in northern California has much to commend it. I've loved this community for decades now and, when I chose to set a new WIP here, I decided I want my readers to love it as much as I do. I'm taking the opportunity to share some of the things I love most about our little community. Here's one quick bit of description from MAGGIE RISING:

Saturday was another Chamber of Commerce day, as nearly perfect as a day ever gets. I enjoyed our ride into town, past the cemetery and along the creek to the large parking lot where the market gathers. It was filled with vendors’ pavilions, produce and products for sale, and wall-to-wall, shoulder-to-shoulder shoppers. This market was always much smaller than the Thursday night affair. Though there were usually musicians on one side or the other, there were no belly dancers, no jugglers, no bounce houses or two-story inflatable slides. Saturday’s market was more business than pleasure.

It was also quintessentially Chico—the neo-hippies with their dreadlocks and fabric shopping bags mingling with gray-haired couples holding hands and well-dressed younger families with toddlers in tow; the Hmong farmers working their booths side-by-side with the lilywhite fifth-generation growers whose ancestors had been among the area’s first non-native settlers; the potters and jewelry artists hawking their wares beside the folks with the petition to legalize recreational marijuana, while conservative politicians smiled and shook hands and kissed babies in the next booth over. The whole place smells delicious—scents of fresh produce or yeasty bread mingling with the patchouli oil and sandalwood on the artisans. 

That's just a taste, of course. Before Maggie has finished, she is going to show readers all that's best about my hometown.

Susan Aylworth wrote her first "novel" on a yellow legal pad when she was nine years old. Her first eight published books are now available in digital form for Kindle, Nook and other e-readers. Her ninth novel, A SECRET FAMILY RECIPE, is due from Covenant Communications in June, 2013.

My Muse Has A.D.D.

For some years now I've joked about my muse and how she (I know she's a she) can't seem to stick to a single genre. Although my first seven books were romances, and #8 was too, that eighth one began to diverge and became a little bit of something else--what, I'm not exactly sure. The editors at Covenant liked it and it came out with "romance" in the description.
Book Nine took a while, and largely because it's such a huge departure. A SECRET FAMILY RECIPE, due out in June 2013 and also from Covenant, is the story of a family, broken years before by adultery and divorce, now struggling to piece itself back together and forge new connections. The title does not disappoint and there are indeed recipes at the beginning of each chapter, but romance? Maybe some touches here and there, but this is a story about a struggling family. The word "romance" will not appear in the description.
Last month Covenant and I signed contracts on Book Ten, which won't appear for another year or so, and talk about departures! EASTWARD TO ZION is historical. It starts in Sydney, Australia in 1852 and follows James and Eliza as they find one another, fall in love and marry (the romance part), but it continues to follow them as they meet Mormon missionaries, convert and gather to Zion, ending in Deseret in 1860. It's a religious story, an adventure, a tale of connections to friends. Muse and I had a great time working on it.
So where is my muse headed now? Would you believe Young Adult Paranormal Detective stories? I'm working with my agent to place MAGGIE RISING with a large New York house--if I can get the YA elements down correctly.
There are more YA stories floating around in my muse's territory, where she lives in the back of my brain. She has romances back there, too, and another family saga. She and I both enjoyed doing the research for historical fiction; maybe there will be more of that as well.
All I'm certain of is this: Where she goes, I will follow. She makes "branding" difficult, but she hasn't misled me yet.

Susan Aylworth's first eight books are now available in digital editions for Nook, Kindle and other e-reader platforms. Watch for A SECRET FAMILY RECIPE this June.

Resolutions for 2013

My last post was on Old Year Resolutions, but I have a few for the New Year, too. These are all about my writing life (those for my personal world I've written down elsewhere), and they're more nebulous than I'd like, since much involved in traditional publishing is not in my hands, but I have them. Perhaps you can compare to see if any of yours are similar.

1. I have a book coming out this year, published by Covenant Communications, and I'm setting goals for how to get the word out. The story is about the Burnetts, a Mormon family struggling with a death, but it can apply to any family of any religious background. It has recipes in every chapter, but it's about a much bigger question: What recipe can you use to mend a broken family? Watch for A SECRET FAMILY RECIPE, coming in June.
2. I'm up to eight books available now for e-reader devices and I'm devising goals for publicizing these. I plan to grow my Twitter community, use Facebook and other social media to let people know about these sweet love stories, and trumpet the fact that I actually got a personal recommendation from Debbie Macomber. Really! Maybe that will help?
3. The eight mentioned above include six from the Rainbow Rock series. I'm currently writing a seventh. Set a decade or so from where the last book left off, RETURN TO RAINBOW ROCK begins with Marcie Carmody coming home in disgrace, ruined both socially and financially by her ex-fiance who has left her for another woman. She thinks she has it rough until she meets Ryan Fields, abandoned by his wife who has also taken their children. It's a story of growth and maturation, mistakes and second chances, or as William Faulkner once said about "the only plot there is," it's a story of "sin and redemption." I plan to have it online by June.
4. When I get Marcie comfortably settled in Rainbow Rock, I am going to marry off her step-brother, Danny, who is now an officer for the Arizona Highway Patrol. That story is already giving me delicious moments of anticipation.  ;-) 
5. MAGGIE RISING, which I previewed in my last column, is with my agent now. I'm making some revisions appropriate to a specific genre and audience (TBA) and I hope I'll have a contract for it soon.
6. Mostly I intend to spend less time at the "day job" and more becoming a full-time, professional novelist--my dream since I was eleven years old. Let's see how I do.

May you have success with your own goals for this Good Luck Year, 2013.


Susan Aylworth is the author of 11 novels--8 published, the 9th soon-to-be, the 10th contracted, and the 11th with her agent. She hopes to write dozens more. Connect with her here or at www.susanaylworth.com or follow @SusanAylworth.