Yesterday on my usual morning walk, I got about two steps past a house on the next block when I stopped in my tracks and stared at the sculpture in the front yard that my brain suddenly decoded as a bottle tree. There’s no telling how many times before I had passed the thing, looked and it, and thought, “Huh, that’s kind of neat” without knowing exactly what it was.

Now, there are no pictures of bottle trees in On Folly Beach, but suddenly I knew one when I saw it. Reading Karen White’s book changed how I perceive my own little world. Yep, that’s the power of fiction.

Has something you’ve read ever changed what you see in the world around you or how you see it?

But what makes a book big? There are how-to guides out there that propose to tell you what a Big Book is and how to write one. Albert Zuckerman’s Writing the Blockbuster Novel and Donald Maas’s Writing the Breakout Novel spring to mind.

Over at Muderati, Alexandra Sokoloff has a great discussion going on about what makes a book big. What’s your definition?

And a special shout out to Laura Griffin and Sherry Thomas of Austin RWA for their RITA wins!

Laura Griffin (left) and Sherry Thomas

Being a Golden Heart finalist is one of the greatest thrills of my writing career. Whatever happens at the awards tonight, I am honored that RWA has recognized me this way and honored to be among amazing people who make up the 2010 class.

Last month, I wrote my Golden Heart acceptance speech to remind myself not only to savor all the pride that I feel but to humbly thank those who have brought me this far.

Thank you, RWA, for guiding and supporting writers every step of the journey.

Thank you, Washington Romance Writers, for giving me my first and always writing home. You are dear to my heart.

Thank you, Austin Romance Writers, for being the oasis when I wandered in the desert.

Thank you, Clone Army, for trying to be quiet when it counts.

And thank you, my beloved husband Matt Rife, for always, ALWAYS saying, “I believe.”

Wednesday afternoon at the Scriptcene annual meeting and workshop, I’ll find out how “Package Deal” fared. Meanwhile, check out the wonderful Five Scribes blog to see what they have to say about the contest.

Saturday night, the Golden Heart® and RITA® awards gala tells the tale for Fortune’s Fool. This year, RWA celebrates its 30th anniversary, so there’s a fancy dinner leading up to the awards. Of course, I’m thrilled to be a Golden Heart® finalist, but having it come this year, this special year for RWA, makes it mean even more.

Thank you, RWA!

It’s the kind of wise advice that bears rereading.

It is skeeter-bitten bliss.

I love the smell of rain-settled dust and old wood there. When I was a child, all the camp house kitchens cooked on wood-burning stoves. Waking up to the aroma of wood smoke and biscuits baking was heaven. I would luxuriate in bed, anticipating the hot biscuits that appeared on the breakfast table with country ham and redeye gravy.

Gas ranges finally replaced all the old wood stoves. But when I catch a whiff of wood smoke somewhere, and especially if there’s a suggestion of something baking, too, I’m carried back to those early mornings on the camp grounds. Biscuits are my madeleines.

Mystery writer J.T. Ellison lives in Nashville and writes movingly about what it was like to have her world suddenly submerged. Read this piece and find a flood-relief charity to support. Ellison includes this link to a list of charities at the end. The video shows just what folks are dealing with.

Those who have lost everything are too many too count. Recovery is going to take a long time. My strong, brave, good people are equal to the task, but they need your help.

I’m more a blood red kind of girl. Deep, rich, bluish reds like crimson. Scarlet. Ruby. When it comes to roses, my tastes run along the same lines. Francis Dubreuil. Souvenir du Docteur Jamain. Empereur du Maroc. These all smell fabulous, too.

Empereur du Maroc

But never say never. I spend too much time looking at rose catalogues and other garden porn. Last spring, a shell-pink floribunda named English Miss caught my eye. I knew I might never grow a bloom as ravishing and flawless as the one the photographer captured, but she seduced me into ordering her. This morning, I found a perfect bloom in my garden, and I have no regrets.

Sometimes the thing you never thought you could love just is.

And the fragrance? Sweet.

English Miss

I love the Victorian-era-set Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters that starts with Crocodile on the Sandbank.

If you prefer contemporary settings, P.J. Tracy’s Monkeewrench is fantastic, as are the three sequels. A mother-daughter team writes them, and I think they have another book scheduled to come out this year.

For something more thrillerish, check out Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Their fabulous Pendergast novels are all eminently readable, but Preston and Child really step up their game with Pendergast Book 3, The Cabinet of Curiosities. The Diogenes trilogy within the series is flat-out wonderful. It starts with Brimstone, one of the best books I’ve ever read.

My favorite mystery writer from Britain’s Golden Age is Dorothy Sayers. Love her Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey. I think her first novel was Whose Body?. Gaudy Night is probably the one most people remember.

Josephine Tey is another Golden Age great. Miss Pym Disposes may be her best-known today and possibly her best work.

Contemporary British crime writers I especially like are Mo Hayder, Reginald Hill, and P.D. James.  Hill’s On Beulah Height is another of my favorite books.

Named for Sayers but covering every kind of mystery you can think of is discussion list DorothyL. There are tons of posts, and they can be overwhelming, but you could always simply delete the ones that don’t interest you: http://www.dorothyl.com/

Yep, I am a total book geek.