EXCERPTS FOR Claire at Edisto:
EXCERPT #1
Claire
couldn’t remember how long she’d stood in the same spot. Rain poured down in
sheets, dripping off her umbrella, soaking into her shoes, puddling around her
feet. Through her tears, she watched the water run in rivers over the freshly
covered gravesite in front of her, beating down the remaining flowers not yet
removed, pooling in the spots where chairs and tent poles stood earlier. Now
and then a rumble of thunder sounded in the background as if angry over the
unexpected death of a man so young….
Hearing
footsteps, Claire glanced behind her to see Parker making his way now across
the cemetery under a broad black umbrella….
Claire
reached down to retrieve a red rose from one of the floral arrangements left
behind, turning the flower over in her hands. “However did you stand it when
Ann died?” she asked at last.
“We bear
things because we have no choice to do otherwise,” Parker answered….
“It’s going
to be hard being here day after day without Charles. There are too many
reminders of him everywhere. A change as soon as we can make one might be best
for us.”
EXCERPT #2
Her
parents, of course, expected her to move home to live with them for a time
until she could establish a new life for herself and the girls. It seemed
sensible on the surface….
As Claire’s
father kindly said earlier that day, “We want to help, Claire. This transition
time will be hard for you. You need your family.” But many old, unresolved
issues still lingered within her family, and if Claire moved home—even for a
season—she’d need to deal with them on a regular basis again. Not an easy
concept to face….
Even while
Claire smiled and conversed, trying to be pleasing and appreciative to all, she
felt like crying. Why did you die and
leave me in this situation? she asked Charles in her mind. It wasn’t your time. I won’t believe that.
The girls and I need you. Our life was built around you. Whatever will we do
now?
EXCERPT #3
Parker
expected to stay a night at Claire’s for Charles’s funeral, two at most, and
then to head back to his antiques store in Beaufort. With the weather now
warming in early May, the tourists were beginning to arrive in greater numbers
along the South Carolina coast and Parker hated to leave his staff to cover the
store without him for too long. However,
the situation with Claire needed more thought.
He’d
assumed Claire had more viable options available for her future. …Parker knew
Conrad Hampton, Claire’s father, was a wealthy and powerful man from old money.
Knowing that and remembering the size of their home, he had assumed Claire
could move back there for a season with the girls and that her family would
support her as she adjusted to Charles’s death, moved through her grief, and
settled in to what a psychologist friend of his called “a new normal.” Now
after listening in on the conversation between Claire’s mother and sisters he
wasn’t so sure.
EXCERPTS FOR Return to Edisto
EXCERPT #1
“Now tell
me what you’re doing heading to Edisto? Is everything all right?”
“Why should
something be wrong? Don’t you think even a workaholic like me needs a vacation
now and then? Aren’t you always telling me that?” Mary Helen had no intention
of dumping problems on Suki before a show.
“Well,
yeah, but…”
“So I’m
taking a break. It seemed like a good time.”
There was a
small silence. “I wish I could be there with you. Edisto is our happy place.” …
That’s
where Mary Helen headed now, to Edisto Beach, where her family had vacationed
since her earliest memories, and where she, her mother, and sister lived after
her father’s death seventeen years ago. … The beach helped to sooth their hurt
and sorrow then, and Mary Helen hoped it would do the same for her now.
EXCERPT #2
It seemed
odd arriving at Oleanders without her mother, her sister, Parker, and a
welcoming committee of friends and neighbors. But Mary Helen needed some time
alone before facing them all. Life had a way of blindsiding you when you least
expected it, and no matter how wise and mature you thought you’d become, those hits
always hurt for a time. This one had been a doozey. …
Exhausted
from the trip, and the stressful adrenalin high she’d run on for the last week,
Mary Helen dropped into a wicker chair on the porch. She leaned her head back,
letting the panic and worry of the last days drain gradually out of her. Safe
here, she could decide what to do next about her life. It wasn’t as though
she’d died or anything, it simply felt like it. A line from one of her mother’s
books slipped into her mind: Every time
a dream dies, a part of you dies, too.
EXCERPT #3
Scenes from
the past week seeped into her mind and Mary Helen let the tears stream down her
face again. She wasn’t the crying type, like Suki, but the events of the week
and the strain of it, coupled with Kizzy Helton’s words seemed to open up a
huge pocket of grief inside her. She let herself sob as emotions swamped her,
knowing the release probably good for her, while hating herself for giving in
to tears.
“I can’t
remember the last time I saw you cry,” a voice from the doorway said.
Immediately
recognizing the voice, Mary Helen hated to even open her eyes. She knew who it
was. “Go away, J.T. I don’t feel like company.”
“Looks like
you might need some though.”
She heard
the screen door shut and his steps walk across the porch. Opening one eye a
little, she saw him drop into a chair beside hers.
“I really
don’t want to talk to you right now.”
“Give it
up, Mary Helen. I’m not leaving.”
EXCERPTS FOR Edisto Song:
Excerpt #1
Eito turned to
frown at her. “You are still not well. It concerns me—that deep cough I do not
like to think of you performing when you are ill.”
She shook her
head, glancing across the room at the small baby grand piano which dominated
the space in the living area. “A concert pianist performs tired or not, well or
not. Surely you know that. I’ve performed all winter since I got sick after the
holidays. I’ll be all right. I just can’t seem to get rid of this cough and I
often get so tired at the end of the day.” She shivered, not wanting to mention
how often a touch of fever flared in the afternoons, too, draining her
strength….
“You are pale. You
have dark circles under your eyes. You are tired all the time, not yourself.
You cough too much and often are feverish. I would ask of you… Stay here in the
city and rest a few weeks. Then return to the tour, well, in good health, and
able to give it your best…. It would not be good if you broke down at a
performance.”
Excerpt #2
A few minutes
later when her call came to head onto the stage, Sarah felt dizzy and unsteady
on her feet. Detached from herself in an odd way. She kept experiencing
disjointed thoughts, too. Seeing spots before her eyes. Struggling to breathe.
Somehow she walked
out onto the stage to thundering applause. How kind people were. The conductor
gave her a little bow, the members of the orchestra watched her, waiting, ready
to accompany her. She found her way to the piano bench, sat down, arranged her
dress, and reached toward the keys but found her eyes blurring again. …
She heard the
orchestra begin then, but the sound grew suddenly dim, her body felt peculiar
and detached, her head dizzy and weightless. Then everything slipped away and
she crumpled and slid off the piano bench to the floor.
Excerpt #3
Andrew smiled as
he saw her come out on stage to enthusiastic applause, dressed in a floating
white dress with the red cummerbund and shoes she’d become known for, her fair
hair shining like a halo in the stage lights. Seeing her move closer to the piano,
he leaned forward, suddenly not smiling anymore. Something was wrong. She’d
almost stumbled and her smile looked plastic, her face as white as a sheet. …
Would she be all right? he wondered. Should he do something? Ever since Suki
had been a little girl, Andrew had always felt tuned in to her in a way not
many were. He could feel her moods, her love for her music. He’d been her
support through the years as her gift had grown, along with her family and her
teachers like Morgan Dillon.
Suki sat down on the
piano bench, shaking her head slightly as if dizzy. Not everyone would have
noticed, but Andrew did. She took a moment a little too long to adjust her
dress and her seat. Acting awkward in her movements, when usually so poised.
When she put her hands toward the piano to prepare to play, … he saw her head shift oddly, her hands drop
from the piano, her body seem to go limp, and then she fell over toward the
orchestra, sliding off the piano bench in a faint.
 |
What are you passionate about? I
am passionate about my writing … I think if you’re not passionate enough about
writing to do it with all your heart, then perhaps it isn’t your calling.
Writing is a much harder and more disciplined work than most people realize,
and I think you have to be a little obsessed to be a writer! As Fabienne
Fredrickson said: “The things you are passionate about are not random; they are
your calling.”
What do you do to unwind and relax? There
is nothing better to help me unwind and relax than getting out in nature to
hike the trails in the Smoky Mountains nearby, to walk in a lovely park or
garden, or to explore beautiful places outdoors. When the weather is grim and I
can’t get out … I relax and escape in books. I’m an avid reader and I read a
book or two a week around my writing. “Just the knowledge that a good book is
waiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier.” [Kathleen Norris]
How did you find time to write as a parent? I
didn’t! Full-time writing was not a part of my parenting years, except for
business or academics. Those were busy, hectic, full years of raising my
children, working full-time or at least part-time, leading scout troops,
entertaining neighboring children, working at the school and church in various
roles, going to ball games, skating rinks, and running the kids to all the
lessons and activities they were involved in.
Describe yourself in 5 words or less! I’m
a classic ENFJ Myers-Briggs type …. An idealist, teacher, creative
communicator, and artisan.
When did you first consider yourself a writer? I
always “piddle wrote” for fun, and I wrote for business and the college courses
I taught, but I didn’t consider myself an “true writer” until my first books published. Do you have a favorite movie? My
favorite movie was an old classic called Spencer’s
Mountain by Earl Hamner, the prelude to the Walton’s television series. My
heart so identified with John Boy’s yearning to be an author. I also love
rewatching all the old musicals like Hello
Dolly, The Sound of Music, and
the Rodgers and Hammerstein classics.
Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie? Readers
tell me often they can visualize my books as Hallmark or Lifetime movies, but
the book I can most easily see in film is one of my older novels called For Six Good Reasons. The early scenes
in the first chapters feel like a great movie opening … and the antics of the
six Stuart children in that book would bring movie viewers a lot of smiles.
What literary pilgrimages have you gone on? My
“trips and pilgrimages’ have all been around the Southeast area where I live.
All my novels, and the guidebooks my husband I write, have resulted from
“visits” to all the main settings or places in our books. We’ve hiked all the
trails in our Smoky Mountain hiking guidebook The Afternoon Hiker, visited all the parks in our two TN and SC
state parks guidebooks and explored the places where my Smoky Mountain novels
are set—Gatlinburg, Townsend, Wears Valley, Cosby, Bryson City, Maggie Valley,
and more. Nearly every summer since the 1980s, too, we vacationed at Edisto
Beach, SC, where my coastal trilogy is set.
As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot animal? Definitely
a cat. I’ve always had cats and feel a link to their strong independence and
their loyal affection to those they love. When I was a baby a stray kitten
showed up at our door and immediately bonded with me, jumping in my crib to nap
with me. I’ve had cats ever since. |
Thanks for sharing about my Lowcountry South Carolina titles ... and I also appreciate you sharing excerpts and interview questions! Hope you and your followers all enjoy these books set at our favorite beach vacation spot. ... Lin Stepp, Author
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