Ask Elnora--About Diamonds??? Lenora Worth

Elnora has diamonds on her mind. And in celebration of my current release "The Diamond Secret" I'm going to give away one book and one very pretty kind-of-diamond-looking necklace. (Since I can't actually afford to give away a real diamond!)All you have to do is tell me about your favorite piece of jewelry. Or what kind of jewelry you'd like to have. I'll draw a name from all the blinging bloggers!

The necklace is lovely. All the talk about diamonds got me to thinking about the real jewels in life. Friends. Some friends are like rubies--they are vibrant, bold and willing to take on the world. Other friends are pretty blue sapphires--dainty, happy and always sparkling. And some friends are emeralds--lush and quiet and strong, earthy. Then there are diamonds--brilliant, shining, multi-faceted, elegant and full of possibilties. What would we do without our friends? Right now, I have a friend who is suffering greatly. She needs our prayers. She is a true gem. It would be good for her to look up and feel the prayers of so many other gems sparkling around her. We can do that, right? We all started out like a lump of coal, but we've been refined by fire, shaped by the Master's hand and formed in His image. Some friends are truly more precious than rubies. Do you have a friend who is a jewel? Let's discuss.

Ask Elnora--About Setting?? Third Friday Writing--Lenora Worth

It's that time again, bloggerville! Time for Third Friday Writing! Elnora loves the third Friday of each month since we get to talk about--what else--writing! Today's subject is setting. It was a dark and stormy night--in New Orleans maybe? Or what about New York City? Or how about it was raining cats and dogs in Dodge City? Okay, I've got it. It's raining men in Winslow, Arizona. But maybe it doesn't really rain there all that much? Setting is as important to a story as plot and character. When we write a book, we have to decide who, what, when, where, why?? Did I leave anything out? I always add how, too. Just in case. The where is all about setting. We don't want to wrie a whimsical story about flowers with a dark, dead forest kind of setting. Unless of course there is only one flower growing in that dark forest and the prince has to pluck it to save the princess and he knows if he sets foot in that forest, dire things will happen to him. See how the forest becomes part of the setting. I love to use setting like a character. For example, my August release "The Diamond Secret" is set in New Orleans. So it's all about the vibe of this unique place--a saxophone player down the street, the sound of the streetcar rolling by, the smell of the river--part decay and dampness and part fishy and fresh. Or the hiss of a cup of coffee being pulled at the Cafe du Monde and the clop, clop, clop of a horse drawn carriage. New Orleans lends itself to sights, sounds, smells and definitely taste and touch. Setting allows us to build our own world within the world we already know. When we describe a room, a home, a yard, a neighborhood or a town, we want the reader to stroll along with us and see what we see. I love a lush, interesting setting. If the mood of the story is dark, I make sure the setting is a bit dark and menacing. If the mood is lighthearted, I make sure there is a hometown cafe where everyone gathers and that the whole town is bursting with greenery and pretty places. If I'm writing a suspense I try to make sure even the trees are creepy and dangerous. If my setting is near a big body of water, I use that to my advantage even when I'm giving my characters a narrative, as in--her heart filled with a joy as vast and deep as the bay. Setting can add a richness to our stories and give our readers a true journey into a new world. So let's discuss setting. What's your favorite kind of setting?

Ask Elnora--About A Good Egg?? Lenora Worth

Hello, my little chicks. Do you like the picture up above? Elnora is in there somewhere. But can you guess what kind of picture this is? Okay, I can't wait to tell you. It's a mini-me inside a sugar egg! My dear friend and Church Lady Extraordinaire Miss Becky made a huge sugar egg and put me inside it. Elnora was so tickled to see myself in there, but she also added bookshelves behind me and a copy of my own book in one corner (Body of Evidence--the one that made the NY Times Bestseller List). She added a pink ribbon because a couple of years ago, I spoke at the group she and several other women started--"The Cancer Girls". They have all survived breast cancer! This egg looks good enough to eat, but then I couldn't stay hidden away in that sparkling sugar shell if someone ate it. It's like being in a tiny cocoon. And it's got major bling and girly flowers all over it.

Isn't that the cutest thing ever. Miss Becky is a big fan and reads a lot of our books. When she dropped by, I looked like death-warmed-over. Elnora had just and I mean JUST finished a Love Inspired that was due TODAY! Finished it yesterday at around 3 PM, thank you very much. I had on no makeup, grimy clothes and stringy lifeless hair. I had settled in to watch Big Daddy pack and to guess all the questions on Jeopardy. But when Miss Becky calls, one gets up and puts some color on. She always brings something wonderful. Even my son used to love her visits because she shows up like Mary Poppins, as if she knows you are having a bad day and she has chocolate brownie muffins and divinity--yes, divinity--even in the middle of summer. And we all flock to that metal tin like birds to a feeder. Sometimes she even throws jelly beans in there! Or little trinkets that remind us that God loves us.

Miss Becky is one of those thoughtful ladies, who, no matter her own pain or fatigue, just knows how to make others feels special. I bet you know someone like Miss Becky. She's a good egg, no doubt. When she brought my egg, she told me to keep it cool since it's made of pure sugar. We don't want it to melt. It will make the trip to Florida with me, if I have to hold it all the way and it will have a place on my office shelf. To show her my appreciation, I handed her a newly minted, fresh from the hunky UPS man to my house, copy of my August release The Diamond Secret. It's no secret that we all need a friend such as Miss Becky. She knows how to make you smile, even inside a luscious sugar egg. She said this one is her masterpiece. I say "Miss Becky, you are the masterpiece." Now ladies, let's hear about the Miss Becky's in your life. Let's discuss all the good eggs out there. Do you have one???

Ask Elnora--About Diamonds??? Lenora Worth

Hello, my sweet summer friends. It's always exciting when a new book is coming out. My next one will be out this August. It's a suspense--We love those, don't we? "The Diamond Secret" is set in New Orleans. What better place for a treasure hunt and lots of strange clues that all come together? My hero, Cullen Murphy, is Irish. Sigh. Irish and ambitious. My heroine Esther Carlisle runs an antique shop that she inherited from her stoic father. Cullen comes looking for an infamous diamond but discovers a diamond in the rough in prim little Esther. While she's always longed for a grand adventure, Esther is too sensible to fall for the good-looking adventurer. It's Indiana Jones meets Southern mystery. It was so much fun to write this book. After all, Elnora knows that diamonds are a girl's best friend! Unless someone is trying to kill you in order to get a diamond. That got me to thinking about grand adventures. Who amongst us has been on one? Who amongst us is afraid to go on an adventure? Recently, some friends took Big Daddy and I out on a boat ride. Elnora doesn't really like big bodies of water, except to look out on them while enjoying coffee and a good book and maybe some chocolate. It's safe to sit and read about adventures but ... to go on one? What if I break a nail or worse, a leg? What if bad guys do start chasing me? Anyway, I went on this boat with friends and we went out into the big bay. The really big bay. And we kept on going until we reached a little sliver of a sand bar that had a sign post at the end which told how far away certain places were. The sign also had the words "Skull Island" and "You are here" on it. So there I stood on Skull Island out in the middle of the really big bay and of course, my writer's mind was coming up with all sorts of scenarios. How did Skull Island come to be known as Skull Island? Were there really skulls on this island and did I really want to know that? While there, we saw a stingray and I thought about being out in the ocean on a raft with sharks and stingrays all around. Frightful. But it all ended okay since we got back in the boat and started home. The boat captain (we'll call him Bennie) also pulled the boat up to another kind of secretive place which could only be reached by boat or a long, long road that seemed to go nowhere. Of course, my mind went into imagination land again. Who lived on such a desolate, bug-infested place? Modern day pirates, drug runners, criminals and misfits, murders and mad men? I didn't want to find out. So when the boat got stuck in the shallows, I sent up a little prayer. I did not want to spend the night with whoever lived in the two houses we saw from the shore. Thankfully, we managed to get back out into deeper water and then we headed home. I had survived Skull Island and what was probably a band of pirates. The next week, our captain sold that boat so I won't be taking anymore trips like that for a while. But my mind is still out there, wondering while it's wandering. For Elnora, those few hours were grand and scary and interesting. What kind of adventures have you been on? Let's discuss this some more. I had fun talking about this over on the Love Inspired Authors Blog yesterday, so I thought we'd continue it today in celebration of my next book and in celebration of all the adventures, large and small, that we find in life. We are blessed to have adventures, right??? :))