From Monday, July 21, through Friday, July 25, I’ll be spending time online each day answering readers' questions at Center Stage, the new event venue at bn.com. In anticipation, I spent a while on the phone yesterday with my contact there, Maria Hoffman, who guided me through the process, from login to reading and replying to questions. I’ve done this before, so it came back quickly. Very easy, actually.

Not so easy is focusing on Suddenly, which is the book being headlined for this chat and the one that readers may (or may not, if they’ve read my newer work) focus on. Suddenly was originally published in 1994, which means I wrote it in 1993. It was recently issued in hardcover for the first time, hence its focus during the chat. But, all these years later, what do I remember of the book?

Well, I remember that my main characters are pediatricians in practice together, and that my original title was Mara’s Story, since the book opens with one of those doctors, Mara, dying under circumstances that suggest suicide. I remember that some of the book is set at a gorgeous New England prep school, that it involves the adoption of a precious baby, and that there is a kitten. Oh, and I remember Paige and Noah.

Too many of the details, though, I just can’t recall, and you can bet that visitors to the chat room will ask about those. So guess what I’ll be doing this weekend? Rereading Suddenly. Why not do the same yourself, then log on here and join me? I’d love to answer your questions, about Suddenly or any other of my books!

Posted by Barbara Delinsky at 06:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Think that only grandmothers knit? You’re wrong on two counts. First, I belong to knitting groups whose members include many twenty- and thirty-somethings. Second, those grandmothers in my groups don’t call themselves “grandmother.” They’re Mimi, Lala, and Grammi with an i, a whole new generation of with-it women who happen to have children who have children.

Knitting has changed right along with the women who do it. Those of you who’ve read Family Tree will already know this. Yarns today are exquisitely hand-dyed, needles are hi-tech, and patterns include stitch variations that would have shocked my grandmother right along with the Excel program generating them.

So why do people look down their noses at knitters? Is it zenophobia? Misogyny? Needle envy?

I do what I can to change the image. When I travel, I knit. I sit in airports wearing classy business attire – and I look pretty good, if I don’t say so myself – and I knit. Men occasionally ask how I got my needles through security. Flight attendants occasionally ask about the yarn I’m using (more intelligent questions, here). I am definitely noticed.

What kinds of things do I knit? At any given time, I have four of five working projects. I am currently (a) finishing a sweater for my youngest granddaughter, (b) working on a (sleeveless) sweater for me, (c) knitting a pair of gloves, (d) doing blocks for an afghan, and (e) making a wrap. The sweater for me is pure silk and includes ribbing with a twisted stitch that gives a beaded effect. The gloves are of fine-guage merino, hand-dyed, and knit with a picot edging around the long cuffs. The afghan blocks are done with a technique called mosaic knitting, a different pattern each month. And the wrap is from a pattern inspired by one of DKNY’s signature sweaters.

Very different stuff. I may not live long enough to see the image change, but some of you will. One thing’s for sure. If the cost of gas keeps climbing, self-starting hobbies like knitting will look better and better.

Posted by Barbara Delinsky at 06:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Those of you who’ve been following me for a while know that I have a lake house. We actually started shopping for it at the same time that I was researching Lake News. If you’re familiar with that book – or have read my recent blogs about Lake Henry – you’ll know what the appeal is. Time spent at the lake is very different from city time. Lake time moves at a slower pace. The smells are of hemlock and pine; the sounds are of loons. The night skies are alive with stars we can't see in the city. The local country store is well stocked with cookout fixings.

Our lake isn’t always quiet. Fireworks are legal in New Hampshire and well-used, particularly in July – and the light shows are fabulous. The occasional noise at 1 AM isn’t as welcome. But we do love hearing the sounds of summer guests visiting families around our cove. They’re joyful, excited sounds. And we never complain, because when our own clan gathers, it’s our turn to make noise.

They’re coming in batches through much of this summer. That means lots of prep work on my part. Some of the groceries have to be bought at the last minute – 2% milk for this one, light chocolate milk for that one, whole milk for the other, formula for the baby. Items with a longer shelf life I buy in the city and take north with me – favorite granola bars, favorite breakfast cereals, favorite Yo-Baby flavors. Frozen yogurt is something else. With precious little to be found at the lake, I buy quarts of our favorite soft-serve, freeze them solid, and drive them up in insulated bags. Forty seconds in the microwave and the quart is soft-serve again. Over or under fresh, plump, sweet blueberries? It’s the best dessert.

We always hope for good weather, which means having plenty of beach toys. I’ve just bought a supply of new ones to replace broken ones, and we’ve cleaned up the water tubes, inflatable floats, and water skis. New Hampshire weather is not always good, though, so I’ve also bought a fresh supply of crayons, construction paper, and Play-Doh. I bought Zingo, which is the kids’ favorite game right now (a version of Bingo, but with pictures of a foot, a house, a cat, etc., in place of numbers). I’ve stocked up on paper goods for our nightly cookouts and have transferred sippy cups, straw cups, and plastic dishes from city to lake. Same with bed rails. Same with tricycles. Same with the bin of rubber balls.

Are we exhausted yet? Better not be, because the fun starts soon. And I say that in all seriousness. There is nothing better than having family with us at the lake.

The loons may even cooperate this year. A pair is currently nesting in our cove. If all goes well, we’ll have a loon chick or two soon. And watching those tiny furballs riding on their parents’ backs? Given that loon health is thought to be a harbinger of human health, I’d call that priceless.

Posted by Barbara Delinsky at 09:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The last you all heard from me on this topic, I was working single-mindedly to finish While My Sister Sleeps. So what happens once I type THE END on the final page?

Actually, I don’t type THE END on the page, since the powers-that-be would only have to delete it. When was the last time you read a book with THE END printed on the last page?

But it’s there in my mind. Filled with joy, relief, and no small amount of apprehension, I email the whole manuscript to my editor in New York. Then I settle in for a few days of mind-rest. I mean, for the first time in nine months, I can’t work on the book. It’s out of my hands. I wait for comments from my editor. In the course of my career, this has taken anywhere from three days to three weeks. My current editor is the three-day person. Literally, I emailed the manuscript to her on Friday and on Monday she called me with a few suggestions for revisions. The operative work here is “few.” She loves the book (as does my agent, who read it at the same time)! But there were several things she wanted me to rework.

A writer’s dream is for her editor to say, “It’s perfect – there’s absolutely nothing I’d change.” But I am not a prideful person. When my editor says, “I love this book but think it would be even stronger if you brought David in sooner and made Nick simply Molly’s friend, rather than her lover,” I listen. And doing revisions is nowhere near as difficult as the initial writing of the book. It’s modifying what already exists. Easy.

I made the revisions, emailed the new manuscript to my editor, got one or two additional small requests. Then it was done. The whole revision process took a month. And While My Sister Sleeps is now in the production pipeline in New York.

That’s it? Not quite. Now the business side starts. To begin with, I flew down to New York for meetings about the publicity and marketing of this book. These were fabulous meetings – really brainstorming sessions – and we came up with some great ideas. Doubleday has set the pub date at February 21. Mark your calendars, please.

Back home, I’ve set to work doing web stuff for While My Sister Sleeps. You can already read a summary of it on the book page. BTW, no final cover yet. We had a preliminary one, but the art department wanted to reshoot one of the characters. While they’re doing that, I’ll be writing the script for a trailer, to be taped in August. I’m also researching locales for new author photos for the HOME page of this site. Think lush plants and gauzy greenhouses … Boy, do I hate having my picture taken. Always a challenge.

More challenging, I now have to come up with a plot for my next book. Any ideas?

Posted by Barbara Delinsky at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

My blog of 6’18 referred to An Accidental Woman as a “companion” to Lake News. Does that mean sequel? In my mind, no. I think of a sequel as a book that picks up the same characters where they leave off in an earlier book and tells more of their story. An Accidental Woman does use the same little lake town and does revisit the same characters as in Lake News, but the main characters from the first book become secondary to allow focus on a different group of people.

OK. Maybe I’m arguing semantics here. But I truly don’t see An Accidental Woman as a sequel. Both books stand on their own.

I first conceived of the Lake Henry books as a foursome, each celebrating a different New England season. There would be apple cider making in the fall, maple sugaring in the winter, leafing out in late spring, and tourism in summer. Truthfully, it was a marketing move; readers love revisiting the same places. And hey, I’ve designed and built more towns than you’d ever believe. The idea of not having to create a town from scratch was appealing.

I wrote Lake News in 1998, wrote The Vineyard in 1999, The Woman Next Door in 2000, then, in 2001, wrote An Accidental Woman. I thought it would be easy. Wrong. Although An Accidental Woman focused on Poppy Blake, the handicapped sister of Lake News’s Lily Blake, many of the other characters carried over – and I had to get them right. By “right” I mean keep them consistent with the first book. Their appearance, their interests, even the streets of the town had to be consistent – because if there’s one thing I’ve learned as a writer, it’s that if I make a mistake, you readers pick it up.

Way back, in Coast Road, I referred to a Volkswagen having radiator trouble; an astute reader pointed out that Volkswagens don’t have radiators. More recently, in The Secret Between Us, I referred to Dylan Monroe playing in the ninth inning of his Little League game; a savvy reader reminded me (how could I have forgotten, after sitting through so many of my sons’ games?) that Little League games only have six innings!

By the time I was done writing An Accidental Woman, my copy of Lake News was riddled with so many Post-Its that I didn't know which ones marked what. More importantly, by that time, I was tired of Lake Henry. Creating a town from scratch, with the freedom from accountability that allowed, suddenly didn’t seem so bad!

Many readers have asked if there will be a third or fourth Lake Henry book. Right now, none is on the drawing board. Perhaps you can understand why?

Posted by Barbara Delinsky at 07:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As of Tuesday, June 24, Family Tree is out in mass market paperback. To mark its publication, I’d like to give away the two final knitting kits I have here at my house.

Those of you who have read about Family Tree on my site know that knitting is part of the protagonist’s past, something she loves doing, something that soothes her. The same goes for me. I have always been an avid knitter, which is why our partnering with the Berroco Yarn Company for the Family Tree tour was so exciting. Prior to the book’s original publication, I had the joy of visiting Berroco and working with master designers Margery Winter and Norah Gaughan to create the “Family Tree Knitting Collection,” which consists of patterns that are either knitted by or worn by various characters in the book.

Each of the kits I’m giving way in this contest contains 20 (yes, 20!) balls of Berroco Pure Merino, a pair of gauge-appropriate needles, and the “Family Tree Knitting Collection” pattern book.

What do you have to do to enter the contest? Simply visit CONTACT and send a note asking to be entered in the drawing. The deadline is Labor Day – that’s Monday September 1, so that the winners will receive their kits just as they’re starting to plan their knitting for fall and winter. Not a knitter yourself, but know someone who is? Why not enter to win a kit for them? They’ll love you forever.

Posted by Barbara Delinsky at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What with the cost of gas, it’s getting harder to plan trips. Want a quick escape that won’t use any gas at all? Why not pick up a book and visit a tiny lake town? Lake Henry, of Lake News, is just the one.

What’s so great about tiny lake towns like Lake Henry? Well, for starters, they’re on lakes, which immediately makes them special. They’re picturesque and they’re clean. For another thing, they’re small, caring places where people know each other and notice when something’s wrong. For a third, they’re seasonal, which means that summer brings an influx of visitors, which means income for locals, while the arrival of Labor Day brings a sigh of relief. For a fourth, they have charm.

Charm is one of the first things I think about when I think about Lake News, which recently made its debut in trade paperback. Lake Henry, where this book (and its companion, An Accidental Woman) is set, has that charm. Lake News takes place in the fall and talks about the making of apple cider; An Accidental Woman takes place in late winter and deals with the making of maple syrup. Both are quintessential New Hampshire and have a charm even beyond the characters.

Is there a real-life Lake Henry? Not formally. In my mind, it’s a combination of Squam Lake and Lake Winnipesaukee, right up there in the lakes region of New Hampshire. If you’re one of those readers who are planning a “Barbara Delinsky Tour” of New England, definitely make central New Hampshire one of your stops.

If not New Hampshire, where? Tell me if you’ll be traveling this summer and, if so, where you’re headed.

Posted by Barbara Delinsky at 09:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)