Guest Post: The Golden Hour by Margaret Wurtele

I am pleased to have Margaret Wurtele, author of The Golden Hour, to do a guest post here at Melody's Reading Corner today. I enjoyed reading The Golden Hour, which has a WWII setting and if you haven't read my thoughts on it, here's the link.

Without further ado, please give her a warm welcome.

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I’ve been asked to share a little about my writing life and to talk about the process of becoming a published author. My first two books were non-fiction (memoirs) and The Golden Hour is my first novel.

First, let me say that I’m afraid I’m the opposite of a writer. I am an extroverted, action-oriented person, who is loath to sit still at a desk. I am easily distractible, and any available alternative to writing will do: a ringing phone, accessible email, a hunger pang, and the neon to-do list that flashes in my brain. I say yes to far too many community projects, lunch and bridge invitations, and social events. Still, after a day spent writing, I feel more satisfied and complete than after anything else I do.

So writing three books required wrestling myself to the ground, and the novel was the toughest of all. In fiction, the blank page is especially daunting. While writing the memoirs, I had journals and the raw material of my own experience to draw from. In writing The Golden Hour, the characters and their interaction had all to come from my imagination. Finally, I came up with a firm personal rule: Nothing could be scheduled on Mondays – nothing at all. I would begin the day with cups of coffee, wandering about the house, going through mail – anything that attracted me. But all the while, the story was brewing in my head. Finally I would sit down about 2 or 3 pm and write furiously in longhand for a couple of hours. Whew! Then, the rest of the week, I could type, edit, and fiddle with it to my heart’s content. Then, I would wait in dread for the next Monday. It took me three years to complete a draft of the novel I could live with.

I sold my first book, Taking Root, without an agent. It was a spiritual and gardening memoir, and (with the help of a friend who owned a bookstore) I chose five or six publishers of spiritual and religious material and sent them the manuscript. St. Mary’s University Press called and wanted to publish it! I was lucky.

For my second book, Touching the Edge, I did find an agent, one who worked both in my home state of Minnesota and in New York. The manuscript was a memoir about parenting and the recent death of my 22-year-old son in a mountain climbing accident. It took at least a year of receiving one turndown letter after another, but finally John Wiley & Sons bought the book. My editor there had a beloved aunt who had lost her son, and he felt a particular resonance with my story.

That same agent was enthusiastic about the draft of The Golden Hour, and he eagerly offered me a contract. But after a few months, he disappeared. Something troubling must have happened in his life, because he was unresponsive and out of communication for many months. At last, reluctantly, I severed our contract. I took advantage of the break to hire an independent editor, who worked with me on the manuscript for several months. She was excellent, and it was the right thing to do. The revised manuscript was accepted by the first new agent I tried. She has Minnesota roots like mine, and I know a few of her other clients.

This is a terribly difficult market, and my agent kept my expectations very low. Her in-house editor made a number of suggestions, and finally they sent the manuscript out to a first round of five or six publishers. She was more skilled than lucky. The interest was there, and NAL/Penguin was chosen to publish The Golden Hour.

In the last few years, the world of marketing books has changed. This time around, it’s a new ball game: a website, a Facebook page, a blog tour. I am excited to have people begin reading The Golden Hour.

Margaret Wurtele is the author of two memoirs. She and her husband split their time between Minnesota and Napa Valley, where they are owners of Terra Valentine Winery. Visit her online at www.margaretwurtele.com.

Guest Post: Diana Spechler, Author of Who By Fire

Diana Spechler is the author of Who By Fire and I am very happy to have her to feature a guest post on my blog today.

Please welcome Diana Spechler to Melody's Reading Corner!

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When I was a child, my father wanted me to grow up to be a comedian. He used to tape Margaret Cho specials and make me study them. “Watch,” he would say, pausing the tape to show me one of her facial expressions, then rewinding to show me again. “She’s hysterical.” He would wag his finger at the television screen. “You could do that. You could do that!”

Years later, when Sarah Silverman hit it big, my dad was disappointed. “That could have been you,” he said, since, like Sarah Silverman, I’m Jewish and female, and (in his opinion, although not in the opinions of some other people…like, you know, those imbeciles who don’t love me unconditionally), I’m the funniest person ever.

But alas. I chose instead to be a writer, one who’s only kind of funny sometimes.

The closest I’ve come to “doing comedy” is dating a comedian. My boyfriend Chris does stand-up all over New York City. Every night, he goes from comedy club to comedy club, doing the thing that, if I were to do it, would make me vomit from self-consciousness: He climbs up on stages and tells jokes.

When we first started dating, I told him, “My dad always wanted me to be a comedian.”

“Try it some time,” he said.

“I should,” I said. “I’d be funny.”

“Everyone thinks they’d be funny,” he said. “Please try it?”

I was flattered. Did he, like my dad, think I could make it as a comic? “I couldn’t really,” I said coyly, glancing at him from beneath lowered eyelashes. But could I? I mean, could I? Oh god, maybe, just maybe, like my elementary school teachers said, I could do anything I set my mind to!

“Please? I want to watch you bomb,” he said. “It would be so, so, so funny.” He held my face in his hands and kissed me. “Please?”


When my first novel hit the shelves in September, my publisher sent me on a national book tour.

“I’m so scared,” I told Chris before I left. “What if people are mean to me?”

He tried to give me tips. “You’ll need to think of some stock comebacks. You’ll need to do crowd work.”

“What if some guy raises his hand and says, like, ‘I think I got dumber from reading your book’ or something?”

“Then tell him we all take risks. You took a risk by writing a book, and he took a risk by wearing that shirt in public.”

“What shirt?”

“If he’s wearing an ugly shirt.”

“I can’t tell a stranger he’s wearing an ugly shirt!”

“Baby,” Chris said solemnly, “yes you can.”


And then something amazing happened: After my book launch in New York, an audience member approached Chris and me. “You’re so funny,” she said, touching my arm. She turned to Chris. “She should be a comedian!”

When she walked away, I said, “You see? You see?”

“See what? That the general public has no idea what it takes to be a comedian? Just because one person, one random person, tells you that you should be a comedian--”

“She’s not one person. My dad says it, too.”

“Right, right, your unbiased father.”


But it wasn’t just a random woman and my dad. On book tour, every time I gave a reading or a talk, someone would approach me afterward and say, “You should be a comedian!”

“That’s fabulous!” I would say. “I can’t wait to tell my boyfriend!”

I would run outside as quickly as I could, and call to tell him the news. He was consistently delighted.

Just kidding. He wanted to kill me. And I kind of understood. His annoyance was like the annoyance I feel when people belittle the difficulty of my career. “Have I got a story for you,” some people tell me. “If you knew my life story, you’d make a million dollars. You’d be on Oprah.”

Right, I always want to say. Your life story is to my career what the Clapper is to a desk lamp. Thank god for you.

I mean, people should know how I suffer. People should feel sorry for artists. We are, after all, artists. By which I mean sensitive and fragile.

But because I’m a terrible person, I started to enjoy tormenting my boyfriend. “Three today,” I would call from the road to tell him. “Three new people who think I should become a comedian. And one asked if I was funnier than you.”

“What did you say?” he asked.

“I said yes,” I said.


Thus began my identity crisis. Maybe I was a comedian in the body of a writer. Maybe my inner comedian was screaming to be let out. Maybe my mean comedian boyfriend was repressing my inner comedian, like a hand pushing down on a jack-in-the-box lid. Maybe I needed to reassess my career path.

I was thinking like this by the end of my book tour because, in medical terms, I had lost my shit. The month and a half of travel had done me in. Being constantly “on” had contorted my face into a strange simulation of a smile, like the smile of an infant with gas or of a person who has undergone a frontal lobotomy. My insomnia, which had once been a condition, was now a lifestyle. My thoughts were coming to me in jumbled messes, like silly string.

When I was signing books at one of my last events, a woman approached me. “You know,” she said, “you should really do something with your sense of humor.”

“Do something?” I said stupidly.

“In your career,” she said.

I brightened. “Like be a comedian?”

She squinted her eyes into slits and shook her head. “No,” she said. She patted my hand. And then she uttered the sentence that made my whole book tour, my whole year, my whole life, the sentence I have since repeated to Chris approximately seventy-six thousand times (as in, Have I told you about that woman who said…): “You’re too smart to be a comedian.”

*****

Diana Spechler’s fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train Stories, Moment, Lilith, and elsewhere. She received her MFA degree from the University of Montana and was a Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University. She lives in New York City, where she is at work on her second novel.

Please visit Diana Spechler's website and say hello and be her fan on Facebook.

Read what other readers say and/or buy her book at Amazon.

Blog Tour: Christine & Ethan Rose, Authors of Rowan of the Wood

Today I am thrilled to be hosting authors, Christine and Ethan Rose on their virtual tour of Rowan of the Wood. This is a fantasy novel for pre-teen and teen readers that adults will enjoy too. The book, which is the first for spouses Christine and Ethan Rose, is an engrossing story of magic, timeless love, and tragedy. Rowan of the Wood was recently named a 2008 National Best Books Award Finalist in the young adult fiction category.

Please welcome Christine and Ethan Rose to Melody's Reading Corner!

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After a millennium of imprisonment in his magic wand, an ancient wizard possesses the young boy who released him. When danger is nigh, he emerges from the frightened child to set things right. Both he and the boy try to grasp what has happened to them only to discover a deeper problem. Somehow the wizard’s bride from the ancient past has survived and become something evil.

Excerpt from book:
A quick set up for this section. Cullen is trying to bury his last remaining book in a safe place so he mean foster father won't take it from him. The safest place he can think of is in his special tree-cave, so he digs and digs and finds something buried there already...

“A magic wand!” he exclaimed, as he examined the strange knotty piece of wood. It was about as long as his arm from fingertip to elbow.
The wind died down as suddenly as it had picked up, and the clouds moved away from the moon. The wind didn’t fully stop, however. It whispered. All the trees were whispering in harmony with the wind and the stars and all life around him. They whispered, “Seann.”
“What?” Cullen asked out loud, in spite of himself.
They whispered again, “Seann, Seann, Seann–Daonnan Seann.”
“Daonnan Seann?” Cullen asked.
Was he hearing things? That didn’t make any sense! But as soon as he spoke the words aloud, the wind whipped into a frenzy around him, blowing much more fiercely than ever. A huge bolt of lightning cracked directly above the grove. He jumped out of the tree and screamed, opening his hand to drop his wand; but it didn’t fall. It stuck like glue. He tried to shake it off, but it wouldn’t budge. Terror filled him, body and mind.
The wand in his hand began to grow. First, it sprouted vines and wrapped around his hand, then it began to crawl up his arm. Cullen fell to the ground in utter terror, thoughts of alien invasion throttling his senses. His mind raced and he screamed inside his head, but it didn’t reach his mouth. He was too scared to even scream. Up and up his arm the vines grew. They felt cool and warm at the same time, as they snaked through Cullen’s jacket. When they reached his throat, they spread out down his chest and back and around his neck. Now Cullen really panicked. He would choke to death! He would die out here, alone! No one would find him. He would rot here alone. He desperately clawed at the vines around his throat with his free hand, feeling them squeeze the breath out of him.
Then they were gone.
The wind stilled.
The sky cleared.
The forest was silent.

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An interview with Christine and Ethan Rose:

Melody: What inspired this story?

Christine: Our inspirations began decades ago, and this book is the culmination of a lifetime of reading and dreaming. I found more immediate inspiration in my nephews. They were just 5 and 3 at the time I had the initial concept for this book. I found so much joy through their joy of discovering magic wands and playing as if they were superheroes, that I wanted to create a magical superhero to add to that magical joy.

Ethan: Christine came up with the basic storyline, but since I grew up in the redwood forest in a home for unwanted kids, it inspired a great deal of my own contributions.

M: What is most challenging while writing this story?

C: Making the time to write! Then when I made the time, getting into the zone of writing... unfortunately, it's not just a switch you can turn on, although it does get switched off pretty quickly with the slightest distraction! Finding the patience to let the entire process unfold was (and continues to be) a huge challenge for me. It's a long, long process. From conception to publication was three years...and now comes the promotion!

E: For me it was finding time to write. I run a small construction business, which is like having two full-time jobs, so I really had to schedule time off from that to get any writing done at all.

M: Tell us more about the protagonist. What factors of the protagonist do you think will influence the young readers in particular?

C: The name of the protagonist is Cullen Knight. He's 12, and he's having a rough time in life. Like many of us experience in school (I certainly did), he's an outcast. He doesn't really fit in with anyone other than his own two misfit friends. He has a difficult home life, so he prefers to be anywhere else other than home, even school! His favorite thing is to spend time reading in the redwood forest. Even though Cullen thinks he's a coward, he finds strength and courage through his fear.

E: We really tried to make Cullen a real person. He is not anything spectacular, like an unknown prince awaiting his appointed place as a person of consequence. He doesn't have anything particularly special about him, except maybe that he is a good person who tries to do his best. He is just someone who got his wish and is trying to deal with the consequences.

M: What do you think are the pros and cons of co-writing?

C: I had a great time writing with Ethan! We wrote the book together with deep respect for each other's process and ideas. Ethan's strengths compensated for my weaknesses and vice versa. Instead of composing together, which I could see many more problems arising if we were to have written it together that way, our "co-writing" took place in the revisions, which is the bulk of the writing process. Rowan of the Wood was my concept, my story; so Ethan deferred to my vision in this case.

E: The best part is having someone with whom to bounce ideas back and forth and also having someone to expand or clarify one's writing. I can't think of anything negative about the experience of writing with Christine.

M: Finally, are both of you currently working on other novel(s)?

C: We are currently working on the sequel to "Rowan of the Wood." It will be a series of five books in all. I also have another story or two working in the deep corners of my mind. Ethan has been working on his own hero's journey novel for about ten years, and he continues to work on that when time permits.

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Christine and Ethan Rose have marvelous imaginations. Often finding their inspiration among the trees, they write as they lead their lives - with plenty of adventure, magic, and love. Ethan grew up in foster care in Northern California reading every fantasy book he could get his hands on (and still does), while Christine holds her M.A. in Medieval/Renaissance Literature & Folklore. Their premiere novel, Rowan of the Wood, follows the magical adventures of a young boy after his life merges with that of an ancient druid. They enjoy traveling and relaxing with their family: three dogs and a cat named Shadow.

The authors are also hosting a contest on YouTube and giving away a digital camcorder just for following four simple steps. Check it out!

The authors will be available all day today and tomorrow to answer your questions. Every comment on this blog is an entry to win a signed, limited edition print of Christine's Green Man II painting. The authors are also giving away autographed books and over $600 in other prizes through their website.

Rowan of the Wood’s Geekalicious Yuletide Blog Book Tour Dates:

Thursday, 12/4: YA Book Realm
Friday, 12/5: Bookluver
Saturday, 12/6: Free Book Friday TEENS
Sunday, 12/7: Dejah View Book Review
Monday, 12/8: Harmony Book Reviews
Tuesday, 12/9: Bookish Ruth
Wednesday, 12-10: Flamingnet YA Book Blog
Thursday, 12/11: Midnight Twilight
Friday, 12/12: Free Book Friday TEENS
Saturday/Sunday, Dec 13/14: Tweeting
Monday, 12/15: Someone’s Read It Already
Tuesday, 12/16: Fresh Fiction

Guest Appearance: Marsha Altman, Author of The Darcys and the Bingleys

Today, I have the pleasure of having Marsha Altman, author of The Darcys and the Bingleys as a guest on my blog.

Two days ago, I approached Marsha and asked if she is interested in making a guest appearance on my blog after receiving a reviewer copy of The Darcys and the Bingleys from her. I was thrilled when she said yes.

Now please join me in welcoming Marsha Altman!

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Instead of going on and on, I’ve decided to invite Alternate Reality Me to interview myself, as she has not published a novel in her alternate reality.

Alternate Reality Marsha: Also we’re ruled by crab people. First question: What’s the book about, in comparison to the other Austen sequels out there?

“The Darcys and the Bingleys” is one of those immediate sequels, that picks up at the end of Pride and Prejudice and continues on for a few years. Actually part of it takes place during Pride and Prejudice, as Jane Austen summarized the wedding and the following Christmas for Mr. and Mrs. Darcy and I start three days before the wedding and follow through that.

As to the other sequels, there are some rewrites (in which the story takes a different course or is set in another time period) and some versions of Austen’s novel from other character’s point-of-view, mainly Darcy’s. This is not that. This is a sequel to the events in a blatant attempt to cash in on the popularity of the first book. You know, like the movies.

Alternate Reality Marsha: You’re not coming off very altruistic here.

Let me make this clear: I love Pride and Prejudice. I love it so much I wished the story went on. I love it so much I even bothered to imagine what would happen afterwards and then write it down, post it on a public forum, be laughed at for all my mistakes, then stake my entire career as a novelist on said story.

Alternate Reality Marsha: Do you think Austen would appreciate your efforts?

Hard to tell, but I did make the customary pilgrimage to Chawton (where she wrote Pride and Prejudice) and Winchester Cathedral (where she’s buried) to pay my respects. The exchange rate was a killer. Did you know no buses go to Chawton? You have to take a cab. You look at the meter and say, “Wow! Thirty bucks. Well we have been driving for a long ... wait, no that’s thirty pounds! That’s sixty bucks!”

Alternate Reality Marsha: Your novel has been on shelves for almost three months now. How do you think it has been received?

I knew the Austen purists were never going to completely like it, because nobody wants their interpretation of the characters from Pride and Prejudice contradicted, so you either play it safe and the characters come off kind of flat and the purists like it, or you give the characters your own spin and people have to choose whether to accept it or not. Most people seem to have accepted it. Honestly, you can stray pretty far in an Austen sequel, and if the fact that I made Darcy a lush in his University days is the biggest complaint someone has, then I’m happy with that. I want people to enjoy the book. If they think it’s a great classic of literature, great, but that unlikely anyway. I just want them to laugh at the jokes and care about the characters, and I’m wiling to settle with only the former.

Alternate Reality Marsha: It says on the Sourcebook website that a series is in development. What can readers expect in the future?

I’m very excited about book 2, which I think is a solid storyline. The first book, which is split into two parts, was getting my feet wet in the world of Austen, and introducing the reader to my interpretation of the characters. I didn’t go out to wildly contradict anyone’s worldview. In the second book there’s a bit more intrigue, and I start introducing some ancient Darcy family history that becomes relevant to the current cast. The third book goes deeper into that, and since it takes place during 1812 and Napoleon’s Russian campaign and some of the characters are stuck on the Continent, there’s a bit more foray into historical fiction. In my opinion, just marrying off the cast to one another can only be so interesting. Jane Austen could make it really interesting. Jane Austen could make a story that was essentially about dating into a classic of Western literature. I’m not Jane Austen.

Alternate Reality Marsha: What else do you write?

Before I got involved in Austen fanfic (and I will not hesitate to call it fanfic, because it’s fiction written by a fan), I mainly wrote urban fantasy and cyberpunk, which is a much harder market to break into than historical romance or general fiction - however you want to categorize The Darcys and the Bingleys. Eventually I hope to be published in some other genres, but having a series of historical fiction based on Austen is pretty all-consuming at the moment.

Alternate Reality Marsha: If Jane Austen was alive today, how do you think she would feel?

Much better, because her disease is now treatable with cortisone.

More about Marsha Altman
More about the book The Darcys and the Bingleys