Tuesday, January 31, 2017

WHAT WOULD YOU MISS? by DeeDee Lane


Please welcome our guest today, DeeDee Lane. Comment and/or share your thoughts with DeeDee for your chance to win a 10 dollar Starbucks Gift Card!  Must have a USA mailing Address – Drawing will be held on RELEASE DAY – February 22nd, 2017.
At one point in writing MY TRAVELING MAN I had to ask myself what Alice (the novella’s heroine) misses when she goes back in time. What does she most yearn for from her modern life?  Instead of focusing on the HUGE things like family, electricity, and women’s voting rights I decided to focus on small everyday things. I brainstormed a large list for Alice and narrowed it down to: three star Chicken Pad Thai, a blow dryer, and Advil…everyday things she didn’t miss until she didn’t have them anymore.
Now that I have some distance from the story I’m asking myself what I would miss if I was traveling on the Oregon Trail for seven months. I would imagine some of the pioneers moving WESTWARD HO, missed things like planting a summer garden, making a meal on the stove, water from a well that was clear, cold, and safe to drink.  But what would I miss if I both traveled back in time and made the long trek to Oregon Territory in a covered wagon?  To make it more challenging I took family/friends, electricity and voting rights OFF the table.  I also acknowledged this whole question is based on a lot of privileged assumptions I am able to imagine because I live in the United States of America.
I’d miss my magazine subscriptions – I love getting magazines in the mail! I never remember when they are coming so they’re always a surprise: Cook’s Illustrated, Smithsonian, and Romance Writer’s Report.  Hmmm…come to think of it, I’d miss the mail!  Wait wait…the little things. Okay, I’d miss Jiffy Peanut Butter…yes, I’m an adult…and yes I still love peanut butter toast for breakfast. I’d miss shoes with cushioning and support built into the foot pad.  I really don’t want to think of life without my Duomax, Floride, IGS Asics!
What about you?  What would you miss? As writers I think we can all agree our laptops, computers, netbooks but what else?
As I get ready to release MY TRAVELING MAN that finishes the four part Slip in Time series I am well into my next writing project.  I’m left with one final thought—something Alice discovered as she did “without.” I can do without an awful lot of stuff, big or small, if I have love. This love can include; love with an individual, a family member, or an overall approach to life that includes being loving and kind to my fellow human beings as we make our life’s journey together. 

Book Blurb:

My Traveling Man

By DeeDee Lane

20,000 Novella – Romance – Subgenre: Western, Fantasy

My Traveling Man is the fourth installment in the Slip in Time Series 

Alice Hanstrom prefers books to people, facts over feelings, and in her world, “adventure” is just a word in the dictionary. That is until the night she braves shadowed hallways of the Cowboy and Western Museum in pursuit of a long-lost diary. Her search of an antique covered wagon halts abruptly when the museum slips Alice back in time.
Thomas Bristol is an experienced wagon master. On a daily basis he deals with cholera, exhausted oxen, and river rapids on the treacherous journey to Oregon Territory. But he’s completely flummoxed when a mysterious woman appears in Big Blue River.
On the trail, Alice and Thomas strive to balance his love of roaming adventure and her desire for predictable orderliness. As the wagon train reaches Independence Rock, the sparks between them catch fire. But can such different people become equal partners in love…and can their love survive the slip in time?
Excerpt:
Alice bent her lanky frame forward to squint at the notation scratched in the corner of the diary—scribbled in a different hand, less confident, childish.

I’m hiding Mama’s last diary in our covered wagon’s secret hidey hole ‘til she’s in her right mind.

The wagon mentioned was in the museum’s storage basement, two floors down. Alice’s stomach fluttered and hopped. Every part of her yearned to find the “hidey hole,” be the one to find the diary not just write about it afterwards. Before she could talk herself out it, Alice exited the research library to set off down the darkened corridors of the Cowboy and Western Museum. Her footsteps made soft thwacks on the marble floor. She, Alice Hanstrom, intrepid scaredy-cat, was on an adventure. How thrilling, how positively mind–blowing, how…. Alice flinched away from a creaking noise to her right. 

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16 comments:

Margo Hoornstra said...

Welcome, DeeDee, and best of luck with My Traveling Man. Love your cover! What would I miss? Aside from the obvious conveniences, probably sun screen or sunburn lotion. Would definitely want a hat.

Leah St. James said...

Hi, DeeDee. So nice to have you with us today! I love time-travel stories, and this is one period of time I've thought a lot about. (I was hooked on the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and went through a whole phase where I was reading similar stories of life on the prairie or in the wilderness.) Anyway, hands down, I'd miss indoor plumbing. (You didn't take that off the table, did you?) I've spent enough nights in Girl Scout camp (trekking in the black of night to the latrines) to make me get down on my hands and knees and thank the heavens for indoor plumbing. :-) For little stuff, maybe products to keep me feeling clean and fresh while traveling. :-) Great topic. Best of luck with the series!

Brenda Whiteside said...

My Traveling Man sounds like a good read. Good luck. I have to agree with Leah. Life without indoor plumbing would be tough.

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

Welcome to The Roses. We're thrilled to have you. Your series sounds great. What things would I miss? Indoor plumbing, my recliner, and my stash of books. Oh, was I only supposed to pick one? Well, I'm a romance writer not a mathematician. Sorry.

Rolynn Anderson said...

Thanks for joining us, DeeDee. Your new book sounds like fun and the excerpt is a a clever way to slip in time. I'd miss being clean. I TV/movie-watch some gritty Westerns and I cringe. The new series TABOO on TV gives me the willies because everyone is filthy. Imagine the body odor! Takes romance right off the table, baby; imagine how dirty the sheets are! Yup, I'll slip around in time as long as showers are available.

Jannine Gallant said...

Love the whole western movement period in history. But with my recent 5 day power outage still fresh in my mind, I'm not so sure I'd want to live through it. I'd miss my coffee pot and my refrigerator. The kitchen must-haves are critical!

Barbara Edwards said...

Welcome DeeDee,
I'd miss tea bags.
I know, there was loose tea, but its not the same.

DeeDee Lane said...

Hey Margo! I'm with you - I need SPF 50 in the hot summer sun so sunblock would definitely be the ticket. I did include this in the story as I have a young boy riding the covered wagon on the day after he gets sunburnt. It's a minor moment so don't sneeze or you might miss it! Thanks

DeeDee Lane said...

Hey Leah, Plumbing is definitely not off the table! Yikes! Can you imagine. It's one of the reasons I haven't been brave enough to tackle Regency stories - don't you somehow have to mention the plumbing somehow - how un-romantic is that?

Best to you!
Enjoy a nice hot shower today!

DeeDee Lane said...

Thanks for having me here Brenda! It is a pleasure to be amongst so many talented writers. Best to you!

DeeDee Lane said...

Hey Vonnie, I love thinking of you with a big stash of books on your recliner. What a great way to spend a rainy day...or any day for that matter. Have a wonderful February 1st!
Best to you!

DeeDee Lane said...

Dear Rolynn, I have also not watched TABOO but for the reason that I think it would give me nightmares. The lead actor is sooooooooooo ywoicks! something else! He would definitely NOT give me nightmares.
Best to you!
DeeDee

DeeDee Lane said...

Hi Jannine, I feel you on the coffee maker - my husband and I have been using the pour over method to get us down to one cup a day but sometimes I just miss the scent of the burbling, steaming coffee maker. ENJOY!

DeeDee Lane said...

TEA BAGS! Yes! I recently found a spicy chai tea bag down at the Seattle Pike Place Market and I am hooked. It's so good at about 4 in the afternoon with a little milk and maybe a bit of honey. Keeps me working on those edits if you know what I mean. For example...how many times can one writer use THAT in her writing....I'll tell you, judging from the edits I'm working on right now...ALOT!

Best to you!

Alicia Dean said...

Welcome...sounds like a great story! I would miss the things you mentioned, but also television, lights, electricity, air conditioning, showers... the list is endless! :)

DeeDee Lane said...

Hi Alicia, I guess we can all be glad we live in this time period. I even miss air conditioning living in the Pacific Northwest because it's not as common here! Thanks for your kind welcome.