The Fortune Telling Tea Shop From Madame Antoine

So I was doing some research for the second book in my Main Street Witches series, Fortune Favors The Witch and finding pretty much nothing inspiring. There's a lot of vintage fortune teller material out there, but the main character in the book, Luanne, is a very modern kind of fortune teller. She trades stocks and has an astrology app and, like everybody else in Banshee Creek, mixes material from different cultures and traditions. Finding a good fit was hard.

Then I came across Madame Antoine, a Korean drama about a fortune teller and a research psychologist. The series is adorable. The actors are charming and sweet and the plot is intriguing.

And the sets.

The sets are amazing, particularly Madame Antoine's tea shop. It's adorable. 

Madame Antoine has a little fortune telling alcove with a glass beaded curtain and plush upholstered chairs. I love everything about it. It's bohemian and cozy and charming.

Here's another viewpoint. Notice the giant birdcage on the left.

The tea shop has the lower level of the building and it seems to be underground. Here's the entrance.

 And here's the waiting room.

Madame Antoine also has a small kitchen with a gorgeous cupboard full of vintage china. I love it.

Here's a close-up of the beaded curtain. I absolutely adore this curtain.

Here's a closer look at Madame's upholstered chair. I love how the dark contemporary fabric looks against the lighter vintage elements in the room. Very well done.

There's lots of tiny details like that. For example, the tea shop has an antique phone!

Madame's bedroom loft is also outfitted in a vintage style. It's Korean Anthropologie!

Here's a look at the other side of the tea shop. It's dark and masculine with a rustic feel. I imagine that this is a more traditional Korean tea shop look. The contrast probably works in Madame's favor as her fortune telling alcove feels magical in comparison.

This goes to show. You never know where you'll find inspiration. You can check out Madame Antoine through the Dramafever site/app. Hungry for more fortune-telling fabulousness? Fortune Favors The Witch will be out later this week. You can check out an excerpt here. Or you can purchase the first book in the Main Street Witches series, Here Comes the Witch, here.

Link Fiesta

Interesting Goodreads thread on romance subplots in cozy mystery books.

I'm a #1 best-selling author...and a nanny.

Four ways to grow your blog following and Five ways to live your dreams.

10 things I learned from Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic and 14 things to remember as a self-employed person.

Memorial Day Lake Trip - Hayward, Wisconsin

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Hayward, Wisconsin. It's a small town in Northwoods country with lots of lakes and hiking trails. The weekend was cloudy and raining, which meant that we did no fishing or hiking. We did, however, get a lot of reading and napping done. I see that as a successful vacation.

We got some sun on Sunday, so I got to take some pretty pictures.

We stayed in Great Pines, a vacation lodge with rental cabins. It's a great place with tons of lakeside charm and I recommend it wholeheartedly This was our cabin (chainsaw art included).

Here's a close-up.

This is the inside of the cabin. It's very cute and lodged. We stayed here last year and our place inspired Sebastian's cabin in Snowbound with Ghost.

More cabin decor. The stairs lead up to the loft master bedroom.

Here's the second floor master bedroom.

It has a fireplace.

Another bedroom.

And another.

I even had a writing desk (that's where I'm writing this post!). Isn't it adorable?

Bookshelves.

Another view of the living room.

 Kitchen table.

Kitchen.

 Antique-looking stove. I love this thing!

We didn't do much cooking on it, though. We got most of our meals in town. Our favorite places include the Norske Nook (fabulous breakfasts!).

Piller's Poor Boys' in Spooner (fabulous sandwiches!)

And Old Southern BBQ in Hayward.

We had a great time!

Inspiration Song for Snowbound With Ghost

I'm editing my books (including Snowbound With Ghost) in preparation for the big rebranding in February. As a result, I went back to my writing soundtrack and found this gem by Train. It has a lion, a mariachi, and David Hasselhoff and it's hysterical. Check it out!




And, yes, the song is aimed at Sebastian's ex, Ariel. Appropriate isn't it? (BTW, here's the behind the scenes video. Very funny.)

Paranormal Romance Blog Tour - What My Research Files Look Like.

One question I often get from readers is "how do you know all this stuff?" That's because the Banshee Creek books are a veritable cornucopia of obscure legends and folklore. Remember when Lorelei and Rory would go off on tangents in Gilmore Girls? My books are a paranormal version of that.

That means I'm researching stuff all the time. I usually post my research links on social media so you can have access to them if you follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter. Right now, there's a couple of things that have caught my eye.

This "Ghosts and Gadgets" video by the Morbid Anatomy Museum in NY, for example:

Isn't that fascinating? I read up on this stuff and, yet, I was not familiar with the Spirit Trumpet. It sounds a lot like the Spirit Boxes my characters use. I can't wait to put a Spirit Trumpet in one of my books. I also love how he speculates that the advent of electricity and the telegraph gave rise to the Spiritualist movement. Very interesting.

The narrator, Brandon Hodge, collects spirit communication devices and he has a website www.mysteriousplanchette.com where he catalogues his collection and explains the history behind the items. That site is going to be a huge time suck for me. I love early spiritualism.

I've also been reading up on the history of the Fairfax Bunnyman. It's an old Virginia urban legend that seems to have been partly true. Again, the theory is that the legend was a response to the rapid suburbanization of the area. There's even a Bunnyman horror movie, which I'm not planning to watch because, even though I'm a paranormal romance author, I'm too chicken to watch horror movies.

Finally, I'm really into Thomas Gainsborough's ghost cat picture, The Painter's Daughters With A Cat.   Isn't it a cool picture? Can you find the cat? It took me a while to find the grinning cat.

It's the painting that inspired Alice In Wonderland's Cheshire Cat. Isn't that interesting?

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my research files. If you want more geeky paranormal awesomeness, check out my Banshee Creek series or subscribe to my newsletter and get the first Ghost Hunters After Dark novelette, One Night With The Golden Goddess.

Enjoy the rest of the blog tour!

Link Fiesta!

J A Huss on the importance of marketing. Wow, this post makes me feel like a total slacker even thought I busted my butt for the Banshee Creek launch. She has more posts on self-pub advice here. I love her post on book trailers. It's so useful! She's also running a Christmas promo (mostly New Adult) this year and has invited authors to join.

Excellent advice from a bricks and mortar bookseller. Applies to all walks of life.

Halloween Margaritas!

How Banshee Creek Got Its Name.

Did you know Banshee Creek was based on a real place? It is! I was searching through maps, looking for a place to plant my fictional Virginia town, when I found a Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve in Loudon County.

In the early part of the 19th century, the region was populated by Scots-Irish immigrants, and the owner of the farm was one of them. In the Gaelic language, "banshee" is a female spirit and "reeks" refers to hills and dales. 

The nature preserve's website explains the origins of the strange name.

"According to the story, one night the farmer went into the town of Leesburg to attend to personal business and also paid a visit to the local saloon. While traveling back to the farm, the wind howled and the animals of the night made much noise.  Upon arriving home, the farmer was in such a state of mind that he claimed that he heard a banshee on the reeks. The phrase was altered over the years and the area became known as "Banshee Reeks".

I stole the story and used it as the legend behind my little town. I had to change the name, though. "Reek" may be a hill in Gaelic, but in modern day English it means "stink." That's not the kind of thing you want associated with you idillic (albeit slightly haunted) small town. A small rivulet called "Goose Creek" crosses the preserve and that gave me the idea for a name. That's how "Banshee Reeks" became "Banshee Creek."

In my mind, the town looks a lot like Middleburg, VA (except it's not as wealthy, it has a lot more Victorian architecture, and it has a lot more ghosts). You can see some inspiration pictures in Pinterest. You can also visit Banshee Reeks and even camp out for the night. Who knows? You might find a Banshee in the "reeks."

A "Slightly Haunted" Victorian FSBO

Hooked on Houses found a FSBO listing for a "slightly haunted" Victorian. Here's a picture of the house.

Cute, isn't it?

The listing states:

"Built in 1901, this Victorian home in the Hollywood section of Dunmore features 1850 sf of living space with an additional 1350 sf of partially finished space. Original hardwood floors throughout entire home. 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms. Off-street parking. Freshly painted. New moulding throughout entire first floor. Slightly haunted. Nothing serious, though. e.g. The sounds of phantom footsteps. A strange knocking sound followed by a very quiet (hardly noticeable, even) scream at 3:13am, maybe once a week. Twice a week, tops. And the occasional ghastly visage lurking behind you in the bathroom mirror. Even still, this occurs very rarely and only in the second floor bathroom."

Fabulous. This is exactly what a Dogwood Falls Realty listing would look like. My favorite part is "hardly noticeable, even." I can totally picture my main character saying that. But, really, what's a little phantom screaming if you get original hardwood floors and stained glass windows? I mean look at this foyer.

And maybe this is the bathroom where a "ghastly visage" lurks behind you when you look in the mirror? I respect a homeowner who decorates around the paranormal phenomena. I love the purple walls and the matching paint job on the clawed foot bathtub.

The house is located in Dunmore, PA and it's a steal at $144K. Nearby Scranton has quite the paranormal history, including the de riguer ghost tours. It has no less than FIVE paranormal investigations groups, as well as a Harry Houdini Museum with its own Psychic Theatre, which carries out group seances.

I'm saving this for when someone tells me that my "small town contemporary" is a little too fantastic. Guess what? Life is a little too fantastic. You just have to look in the right places.

Link Fiesta

Thinking of doing an idea/inspiration board? Here's a great Ikea hack for a fabric-covered bulletin board.

Emily Henderson turns a sex dungeon into a home office. I kid you not.

Catherine Ryan Howard on setting goals and working toward achieving them. Great post!

The CS Lankin "genre v. platform" experiment as discussed in Kindleboards. Lots of food for thought there. Myself, I follow the "write what you love" path, but the "pick an underserved niche and write the hell out of it" strategy seems to be quite effective. It also worked for the dinosaur-porn writers.

Link Fiesta

Jennifer Crusie explains why Trouble is not Conflict. She also explains why Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. flounders.

A beautiful bedroom makeover by Emily Henderson. I adore the wallpaper and the curtain hardware she uses is pure win.

A blog devoted to vintage 50's and 60's horror paperbacks. Fabulous!

Link Fiesta

A house shaped like an acorn? The decor is very eccentric and very British (it even has an AGA stove). I love it!

Emily Henderson decorates a sunroom. Skinny sunrooms can be very tricky. We had one in our last house and we couldn't figure out what to do with it. Emily turns this one into a breakfast area/children's playroom. It's so pretty and creative.

A vision board by designer Samantha Gluck. I really have to make one of these. This one looks great!

How to build a haunted house attraction. Interesting article. I didn't realize this was an industry.

Great advice from Chuck Wendig

Hard Core!

I've been editing my WIP (the editing, it's like Dracula, it never dies!). I've also received a lot of comments from beta readers, critique partners and contest judges. The criticisms are not unexpected, I know the book's weak spots. However, some comments have been surprising. Readers love my book, and the parts that they love are the crazier, kookier parts. I did not expect that. I thought judges would hate those parts.

So I've been thinking about those comments a lot. I've also been thinking about authors and creators that embrace their crazy. This includes, J.R. Ward, Kresley Cole, the Sharknado creators. I mean, clawed Valkyries? Flying sharks? Who'd have thunk it? 

So I wonder... can I do it? Can I go the full Sharknado on this book? And if I do it, will it work?

I don't know, but the great thing about this "aspiring author" gig is, I don't have anything to lose. I can always edit stuff out. Yes, that means moar editing. Ugh.

But, I'll give it my best shot. In the immortal words of Buttercup:

Powerpuff Girls image owned by Cartoon Network.

Link Fiesta

Adorable hobbit-like house in Colorado. This is such a fun house!

Susan Kaye Quinn on emotional structure in your book.

The Save The Cat Excel spreadsheet. This is fabulosity! Here's a post on how to use the spreadsheet. And a spreadsheet for romance novel arcs. All via Jamie Gold.

I love Emma Stone's lipstick commercial for Revlon. Now, I need to write a heroine with red hair, red lipstick and a black leather jacket. Or maybe one with killer water-gun skills and a taste for coral lipstick and macaroons.

Great RWA2013 Tweets - Kristan Higgins

The Kristan Higgins talk at RWA2013 sounded fabulous. The tweets were absolutely amazing. Here's a sampling:

A 17th Century Italian Castle

I came across this Architectural Digest article while researching 12th century castles for my book. The castle and furnishings are from the wrong time period, but I love them nonetheless. What a space!

Check out Architectural Digest for some amazing pictures.

Inspiration - Ghost Subway Station

The Daily Mail recently featured an article on NYC's City Hall Station. The subway station is the terminus of the 6 train and was originally built in 1904. It is no longer in use.

The pictures are breathtaking. Go to the site to check them out.

My PNR is set in NYC and I'm seriously considering writing a scene taking place in this station. The tiles, the stained glass, it's all beautiful.

The architect was Rafael Guastavino. He was a vaulting pioneer and also designed the central foyer for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on the Upper West Side and other NYC landmarks.

Inspiration - Costumes

I'm looking for a necklace for my heroine. I like this:

And this:

Which one do you like the best? Oliva's or Carrie's?

Photo credits unknown.