I slept at Nora Roberts’ House!

Okay, not really.  I slept at Inn BoonsBoro owned by Nora Roberts and her husband Bruce Wilder.

What a thrill.   Walking into the Inn was like walking into a best friend’s house.  I knew every room and furnishing.  I knew about Luther’s railings and the names of the all the guest rooms.  And I couldn’t wait to try out the bathrooms and heated towel racks.  I knew about everything, even though I’ve never been to Boonsboro, Maryland.   

How?  Because I’ve spent hours with the Montgomery boys and their brides as they created an inn out of the oldest building in town. 

I read it in Nora’s books. 

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Writing a book is about creating a world that readers want to visit and then come back to again and again.  That’s what Nora has done.  Her trilogy, Inn BoonsBoro, chronicles the renovation of the actual Inn by the fictional Montgomery men.  I stepped off the pages and into the Inn and knew the features of each room as Ellen, the live-in innkeeper showed my husband and me around.  The entry has a beautiful tile rug.



  



Our room, Titania and Oberon, had a fabulous draped bed with cashmere throw and a huge copper tub along with a magic toilet.  (Very strange to have a heated seat along with a dryer.  Unfortunately, the bidet parts weren’t working.)  Our porch overlooked Main Street, although I was disappointed that Liza, the ghost, didn’t show up.  The books and video in out fairy bower of a room were—you guessed it—Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. 

             

 

Ever since I heard that the books were about an actual Inn, I wanted to go.  The marketing concept and reach intrigued me.  So I bid on a one night’s stay in the 2012 Brenda Novak Auction for Diabetes. 

And the marketing isn’t limited to tying her books in with the Inn.  Each room has a signature scent for infusers, soaps, and bath salts created by a local artisan.  (T&O’s was pixie dust.)  I was able to buy any of the Inn’s amenities and a mug over at Gifts Inn BoonsBoro.   

The gift shop is across the street from the inn and next to Turn the Page bookstore and Café owned by Bruce Wilder.  The bookstore was a busy place, but my favorite room, was the room filled—with Nora’s books. 

There are two restaurants across from the Inn, both owned by Nora’s sons.  Vesta, which appears in her books and is run by the heroine from The Last Boyfriend and Dan’s, which is MacT’s Restaurant and Tap in that same book.  Don and I enjoyed dinner at Dan’s on our first night. 

My husband had his hair cut by Dick who appears in all three books.  Dick insisted we check out Crawford’s (also mentioned), where the sign indicated Restaurant, Guns and Ammo.  (You really could get all three in the store.)

The artwork throughout the Inn is by local artists and available for purchase.  The wine I drank during the social hour in the Lounge was local and carried an Inn BoonsBoro label.  The tea was designated by each of the rooms.  I ended up drinking Eve and Roarke’s Irish Breakfast.  But my husband’s favorite amenity was the Jameson whiskey available in the Library.

In talking with the wonderful Inn staff, their pride in this incredible boutique hotel is evident.  Not only has Nora rehabilitated a local eyesore, she has brought business to a small community (3,339), created opportunities for local artisans and linked everything to three wonderful books. 

Before, she was my hero because of her outstanding books and career.  Now, she’s allowed me the pleasure of walking through the pages of her stories. 

Thanks Nora!  We’ll be back.

The Importance of Reading

I love to read.  I read everywhere. If I have a chance to sit or lie down, it will be with a book or eReader in hand.  Taking a bath, eating breakfast, or finishing my word count for the day; all call for the reward of becoming immersed in someone else’s world. 

 

If you read my last column, you’ll know that when I started writing, I was pretty clueless. (Hoping this has changed.)  I wrote that first book and didn’t realize I’d written a love story.  But after joining Midwest Fiction Writers (MFW), I thought I just might be a romance writer.  And at a meeting, I first heard the refrain—Read Your Genre.

I’d never read a romance.  I was better than that, more intelligent than a woman who reads those books.  I was a CFO who couldn’t be caught reading a bodice-ripper. 

But during my next trip to B Dalton, I bought my favorite sci-fis and thrillers and then snuck down to the Romance section and tucked some books under my favorite Ben Bova and Michael Crichton.

Thank goodness.  I don’t know which book I picked up first, To Whitney, My Love or a Nora Roberts, but I fell in love. 

I saw the light.  I converted.       

I bought backlists.  (B&N second-hand book stores back then.)  Found authors through anthologies.  And read and read and read.  And assumed that all authors did the same.  To my surprise, I’ve talked to writers who don’t make the time.

Last year, during Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ address at the Spring Fling conference, she chastised writers to read.  To paraphrase:  “How can you expect to be writers, if you don’t read what’s being purchased by editors?”  She clarified that her comment wasn’t insinuating that we should become mimics, but that we need to understand what was being published.  And further, if we wanted to be best-selling authors, we needed to read best-selling authors.

I should note that Connie Brockway mention at an MFW meeting that she couldn’t read when she was writing because of the confusion of voices, but as a mother of 5 kids, I’ve always been able to segment life from work. 

In a Mary Buckham Pacing class, her comments on reading went deeper.  Read the genre you want to be published it, but don’t look to books published more than five years ago.  Newer books reflect what the editors are currently buying. 

I’ve taken their advice one step further.  I try and read debut novels in my genre.  Then I ask: what caught the editor’s eye?  What distinguished this book from other manuscripts I’ve read in contests?  What allowed this author to break down the barriers to publication?

So my humble advice?  Don’t feel guilty when you read.  I don’t.  I’m just doing research.