Beth Carpenter Books

Today, August 9th, is National Booklover's Day, so I decided to take a photo of my bookshelf. Right. Like I have one bookshelf. I decided to show you my pretty shelf, the one with some of my favorite hardbacks. But that's not really representative. My bookshelves are not neat and tidy and arranged in decending order of size. Here's one of the three main bookshelves in the downstairs hall. Once upon a time, the mysteries were in alphabetical order by author, but then I ran out of room and had to stack others in front and, well, you know.  Plus, there's the bedside bookshelf, which is just a random mess. And the cookbook shelves. And random piles of books, like these I brought home from the RWA Conference. Plus the one thousand four hundred and seven books in my kindle library. Not to mention the garden books in the sunroom and the writing guides, and the how-to books in the basement, and some hand-me-down books in boxe...

Have you ever suffered from temporary book amnesia? That disorientation you feel when you finish a really good book, look around the room, and wonder for a moment where you are and how you got there?  Kind of like half the atoms in your brain are still in that fictional world? I’ve experienced this phenomenon all my life, but now it's climbed to a new level. I’m currently writing book #3 of the Northern Lights Series. Meanwhile the first book, THE ALASKAN CATCH , comes out in August, so I’m working on excerpts and articles for marketing that book. The second book, A GIFT FOR SANTA , comes out in December and I've been working on frontmatter and am expecting edit notes for that one any day.  All the stories are related, but have different characters and plot lines. Plus, I have a couple of different non-writing projects that need my attention. Sometimes, I find myself staring at a my keyboard, trying to remember what I'm supposed to be working on....

It’s that time of the year when my reading preferences, which tend toward to sentimental anyway, veer into what some would call sappy. I love a good Christmas story, with tears and laughter, redemption and happily ever after. Cold dark nights, a warm cup of tea, and a dog to curl up beside me on the couch make this the perfect time of the year to settle in for a read. Yes, traditionally, the dog would be at my feet, but Roxy insists if she's under my blanket, we'll both be warmer. There are a few stories I visit almost every year, like favorite relatives. First is the classic, Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol .  The ultimate story of redemption, Ebeneezer Scrooge becomes a new man overnight after seeing ghostly visitors. What may be my all time favorite, Winter Solstice  by Rosemunde Pilcher, is the story of a man who’s lost everything and the people, especially one amazing woman, who bring joy back into his life. Recently I finished a wonderful...

One of the sounds of summer at my house is a rumbling in the skies. No, not thunder. Thunder is rare around here. I live about a mile from an air force base, and every July means the air show. I’ve attended a couple of times, but usually I just go outside on my deck to watch the jets tear across the sky  in close formation. They’re moving so fast, I see them before I hear them. By the time the sound arrives, they’re moving out of sight. As I stand there on the second story deck waiting for the jets to appear, it's interesting to watch the people enjoying a summer Saturday. One neighbor mows her lawn, another unpacks after a fishing trip. A couple walks their dog, and a boy rides by on a bicycle. As the roar of the jets dies away, I can hear the children giggling at the playground in the park. It reminds me of books I’ve enjoyed. There are the thrillers, like the Da Vinci Code. Just as I’m in awe of the skill of the pilots to fly in formation at almost the speed of soun...