Alchemy as you know, has to do with transformation. And K.B. has transformed. She went into the chrysalis of “would be” and now she is a “published” author. It’s so much hard work, and takes energy and courage, she is an inspiration to us all.

That sweet smile… hides a scheming, crafty mind

You know we’re big mystery readers here at Social Alchemy, and Kathy’s story offers up a very unique setting and time period as well as intriguing heroine, Concordia Wells. Here’s how Kathy introduces us to the world of her story:

The year is 1896, and Professor Concordia Wells has her hands full:  teaching classes, acting as live-in chaperone to a cottage of lively female students, and directing the student play, Macbeth.

But mystery and murder are not confined to the stage.  Malicious pranks, arson, money troubles, and the apparent suicide of a college official create turmoil at the women’s college.  For Concordia, it becomes personal when a family member dies of a mysterious illness, and her best friend is attacked and left for dead.

With her friend still in danger and her beloved school facing certain ruin, Concordia knows that she must act.  But uncovering secrets is a dangerous business, and there are some who do not appreciate the unseemly inquiries and bold actions of the young lady professor.  Can she discover the ones responsible…before she becomes the next target?

Don’t you just LOVE this cover?

I was lucky enough to score some Skype time with K.B. or Kathy, I had tons of questions. First I wanted to learn more about Concordia:

K.B. Owen: Concordia is named after the Greek goddess of harmony. But “harmony” only applied to her relationship with her father, who introduced her to the world of literature and the intellect. But she has always been at odds with her mother and sister, who embrace a world of fashion magazines, teas, and dances – she was never quite at ease in that sphere.  Concordia’s a square peg in a round hole, so to speak.  In the Progressive Age, upper middle class American women were still expected to follow a domestic path, make the right social connections, marry well, and secure an ideal home environment for their children.  Concordia, on the other hand, wanted to go to college and build an independent life for herself.  By this time her father – the one person who would have championed her dream – had died.  She defied her mother and did it anyway, which has put them at odds ever since.

RFH: Tell me more about her clothing, is it true she had to do all her detecting wearing a bustle?

K.B. Owen: At that time, the bustle was not as big as you are used to seeing them!  Her long skirts are more of an encumbrance during, shall we say, “active” scenes.  She does have a bicycling outfit, which feature bloomers, a shorter skirt and leggings.  Even she would admit it shows a shocking amount of leg.  Abbreviated outfits of this sort were acceptable for particular sports: golf, lawn tennis…even basketball, which was quite the rage in women’s colleges at the time.  Normally, though, Concordia wears the very ladylike shirtwaist and long skirts that were typical of the period.

RFH: What kinds of classes could a young lady take at one of these colleges?

K.B. Owen: In creating this world, I was fortunate enough to find some wonderful resources in the Smith College and Mount Holyoke course catalog archives.  Many of the offerings were based in the classics of the time: Latin, Greek, Rhetoric, Mathematics, and Moral Philosophy.  Schools often had specializations: Smith had an impressive Music Department, and I believe it was Bryn Mawr that offered an Astronomy specialty.  But some of the colleges in the south were more like finishing schools or female seminaries, offering courses in “domestic skills” subjects like child-rearing and sewing. People were conflicted about women’s higher education back then; some of the more progressive advocates wanted women’s colleges to be as academically rigorous as men’s colleges.  But there was also a demand for women to be trained in more practical, domestic subjects, too.  Many colleges offered both types of courses.

RFH: What inspired you to write a book set in this time period?

K.B. Owen: My doctorate is in 19th Century British literature, so I was familiar with the period. But I wanted to write an American mystery.  There are a lot of British series out there, but not as many set in the United States, and I felt more comfortable with American vernacular, obviously.  My mother-in-law was my specific inspiration for the women’s college setting.  After she passed away, we were clearing her desk drawers and discovered cool items from her college days. I thought it would be a fascinating setting for a mystery.  There’s also the fact that I taught college literature for nearly two decades, too, so it seemed a good fit.

RFH: And why do you write mysteries?

K.B. Owen:  My childhood reading – especially Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes – was largely responsible for that, I think!  And I never outgrew my love of mysteries.  Writing them has become a natural extension of that.  In my opinion, it’s a special genre, for a lot of reasons: the thrill of the chase, the battle of the intellect, the restoration of order, justice being done….  In an untidy, unfair world, that can be comforting.

And folks, there is more! K.B., that crafty lady, is running a contest!

Contest:

How about a little mystery fun…and a prize!  Each stop in K.B. Owen’s book launch tour has a mystery question (below).  The alphabet letter next to the correct answer is what you want.  By the end of the tour you’ll have enough letters to unscramble the answers to which ROOM, WEAPON, and SUSPECT.  But it’s just for fun, so even if you just want to answer one quiz question, email Kathy with the answer at kbowenwriter(at)gmail(dot)com.  She’d love to hear from you!  She’ll draw a winner from all the entries and announce it at Karen McFarland‘s blog (http://www.karenmcfarland.com), the last stop of the tour.  What could you win?  A free ebook copy of Dangerous and Unseemly, and a $25 gift card of your choice to either Starbucks, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble!   Full details (with the story of the untimely demise of Sir Reginald “Good Riddance” Crenshaw) at: http://kbowenmysteries.com/whodunnit-play-the-book-tour-game/

Good luck!

Email Deadline: Monday, April 1st

Question:
There was a mysterious incident in Agatha Christie’s life.  In her early adulthood, she:
T) was accused of murdering her first husband
U) disappeared for 11 days and when she was found had no memory of the time
V) had charge of the hospital pharmaceutical dispensary, in which a large quantity of poison disappeared
W) was rumored to have an illegitimate child

Now that your appetite for crime and bustles has been whetted, here are all the ways and places you can RUN NOW and get a copy of “Dangerous and Unseemly” for yourself and your friends:

Amazon Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Unseemly-Concordia-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00BIOACIC

Paperback (Amazon):
http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Unseemly-Concordia-Wells-Mystery/dp/0988997401

Barnes and Noble Nookbook:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dangerous-and-unseemly-kb-owen/1114666776?ean=2940016372143

Smashwords:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/284662

Kobo:
http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Dangerous-Unseemly-Concordia-Wells-Mystery/book-Fnt2SjyHfkC8405irj-b2Q/page1.html

Scribd:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/126454100/Dangerous-and-Unseemly-A-Concordia-Wells-Mystery

Thanks K.B. for sharing your information about this lovely book. And thanks everyone for stopping by.

Who could argue with her? We put our heads together and came up with a theme. Mom is a botanist so we decided to call it a Flower Power Party. We went through the mailing list, sent out the invitations and got the party started.

We rented a tent for the backyard, filled the house full of flowers and it wouldn’t be a party without music. The group Puamana, three beautiful women, lead by my friend and neighbor, Mihana Souza, serenaded mom with her favorite old time Hawaiian songs. We had Non deMello of Agnes Portuguese Bake Shop cater the event, and the food was fabulous. We couldn’t have asked for better weather.  Here is a collection of photos from the party.

Flowers in the livingroom…

I went through our old family photos and made a wall display. The oldest photo of mom was taken back in 1939, when she was a teenager.

the photos are mounted in album sheets, so they can all go into an album after the party is over.

yes, new patio furniture that MATCHES the house. My Martha Stewart Moment.

Our dog, Kona, waits at the front door, she knows the guests are about to arrive.

And they did, the guests arrived, everyone was so thrilled to see mom, and she was so happy to see them. There were friends from her work life, from when she first moved to Hawaii. We even had a couple friends who had just flown in for other reasons, but were so happy they could make it to mom’s party.

and mom got what she wanted, a house full of friends enjoying each others company.

congestive heart failure… not much fun

First off, a shout out to all my peeps for your kind words, thoughts and prayers for my mom and me. She is out of the hospital and on the mend. But she is still very weak. I’ve made the calls, so now is the time for friends and family on the mainland to travel here to visit with her.

Her hospital stay went well, she had a very sweet room mate, an older Japanese lady. When her curtain was pulled back, and I happened to look in, she always waved at me. I found out her name was Margaret. She seemed to be doing alright. But when I went to visit my mother on Thursday, I found out that Margaret had died early that morning. When I got there, at noon, Margaret’s body was still in her bed and her family was gathered around. There was a Buddhist priest conducting a ceremony for her.

I sat next to my mom and held her hand, we listened to the ceremony from our side of the curtain. It was very moving, the priest talked about how the Buddhists believe that Margaret’s soul was still in the room, that the family members should feel comfortable speaking in front of her. That she was on her way to a happier place. He chanted words in Japanese and struck a bell several times. It was very moving, and very peaceful.

Of course the nurses were worried, one of them came in and asked, “are you guys okay with all of this going on?” And we were fine. In fact at one point both of my parents had studied Buddhism for a time, so it was very appropriate. My mother and I were lucky enough to have been together with my father when he died, so she has a very realistic sense of what is going on. She’s told me that she isn’t ready to “go just yet.”  So, we will do all we can to make her happy and comfortable as possible.

That’s about all from here. I’m hoping to be back on track with Writing Matters soon. I will keep you posted on mom’s recovery. And again, it has been so heartwarming to hear from all of you. You guys are the best!

She is also going through that interesting phase that goes by many names: “sundowning” “hospital psychosis”, “twilighting.” Not very accurate attempts to discribe the confusion and disorientation that comes at this stage. My psychic friends all describe it as preparation for being born into the next world. She is singing songs to herself, she is describing parties that she is going to at night, and telling me about all the people she is meeting. When I walked into her room yesterday, she said, “well you know this is a field hospital, and they have us all in these cars, and they hook the cars up and drive us around.”

It would be very easy to freak out at this phenomenon, but I saw it with my father, and I know it is part of the process. When I’m with her and she does recognize me, we can still carry on a fairly cogent conversation. I ask how she’s feeling, if she is in any pain, and she can answer. And she bless her, she still has her wonderful sense of humor. When Conrad, one of her nurses came into give her her medication, I asked her if he how she liked having him. She said “oh yes, the best part is when he walks away and I can see his backside.”

It has been a long time since I have had to deal with hospitals, and all that goes on there. I am impressed with this one, Kuakini. The nurses seem to walk the tightrope of focused efficiency, and concern for the patient’s well being. One nurse impressed me, he is in charge of IV’s. That is all he does, he has been trained to know all the various types of IV’s that can be used these days. He came to mom’s room, was very polite, and incredibly gentle with her.  He changed her IV, and he used a sharpie to write the date, and after that he wrote a set of symbols I didn’t recognize. I asked him what it was and he said, “it is the Japanese symbol for Good Luck.” That is the sort of thing that makes this stuff tolerable.

And don’t you like her bling?

As things go, the doctor seems to think that she is still well enough to return to the residential care home in a few days. As to the next phase of the adventure, things have taken a turn and we’ll have to see what is around the next corner. I will do my best to keep up with my regular schedule. But don’t be surprised if I miss a day or two. I find it difficult to concentrate on much else.

Thank you all for stopping by, and for joining me on this adventure.

Here’s a fun walk down memory lane. Entertainment Magazine recently shot a series of Cast Reunions from “ET,” “Breaking Away,” “Melrose Place,” And “National Lampoon’s Vacation.”

And the best for last, who knew that the wonderful actor Sir Ian McKellan was a big Sir Mixalot fan? Here is is interpretation of “Baby Got Back.”

Have a great weekend everybody.

Happy Birthday to all my WANA1011 Classmates

In the summer of 2011 I was lucky enough to attend Thrillerfest in New York City. One of the most interesting sessions was conducted by Bob Mayer, a best-selling author of many of the best “boy” books around: military thrillers. The focus of his presentation was lessons he learned in special forces, and how he uses them in his writing career. Now, I’m not big into huge institutions like the military, but I am all about learning a more disciplined approach to my writing career. When I got back home I bought his book, “Write it Forward.”

While I was on the page, I also noticed another title, “We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media.” Written by Kristen Lamb. At this point, I had set up a Facebook page, but had no clue how to use it. At the conference the buzz words “branding” and “platform building” buzzed around my brain. I bought the book and also noticed that the author was teaching a class called, “Blogging to Build Your Brand.” I was like so many people, thinking that blogs were so 2005. But as I read the course description, I was intrigued and decided to sign up.

The rest as they say, is history. There were about 100 of us who signed up for that class. And the first thing Kristen had us do was all open Twitter accounts, download the Tweetdeck and all say “hello” to each other by using a hashtag: WANA1011. None of us at the time realized that what Kristen had created was nothing short of a social media miracle. We all got to know each other, first on Twitter, and through our class emails. It was a blast, especially for me, as I’m out here in the middle of the Pacific ocean, it’s so easy to feel “left out” of the conversations going on about publishing, etc. that are taking place on the mainland.

But this cured everything. Before you know it, I started this humble little blog, and from the start, I had traffic: all my WANA1011 pals. Since then we’ve been there for each other through rejections, through self-publication trials and triumphs. I couldn’t have finished my current novel without the love and support from this very special group of writers. We are the new paradigm. As a writer, you can no longer just bang away on your book, alone, in the dark, and expect to find success. You need a team. You need moral support. You need people willing to share their experience, their knowledge of the publishing industry, and you need people who “get it” Who understand how strange and awful the whole idea of being a “writer” really is.

Today is our WANA1011 First birthday. We are all posting this commemorative graphic, to celebrate our one year of fun, support, and love. Please take a look at all these names, we are from all over the country and the world. Proving that “social media” is not just fun and games. Our relationships are real, deep, and true. Thank you so much to all my WANA peeps. You have enriched my life in so many ways. Here’s to another year of WANA love!

I was doing this part in increments as my husband had not jumped on the same bandwagon as me. I was looking in the refrigerator and something caught my eye. Shoved way in the back was a giant bag of baker’s yeast. This bag is a remnant of when my mother used to live with us. She wanted to bake bread, and to do that you need yeast.

the staff of life for some, but not me

Looking at the bag brought back a flood of memories. Back in the day, when I was growing up, my mother would always bake bread for us. Both she and my father grew up during the Depression and that’s what families did. They also didn’t like the flavor and texture of “Store Bought” bread. Every week my mother would go into a whirlwind and bake several loaves of bread or a dozen or so buns, and we would all wait for them to cool off just enough, and then we would slather the bread with real butter and enjoy the flavors of butter melting into warm wheat bread.

My mother… back in the day

Many years later, my mother developed a bit of arthritis in her hands, and could no longer knead the dough, so my father volunteered to take over the bread making duties. Now, my mother is the kind of cook who just does everything on the fly, tossing in ingredients by hand, never using a measuring tool, she could just judge by looking at it, if there was enough salt, or oil, or flour. My father was Mr. Precise. When he took over he researched recipes, he bought a baking cloche, and he experimented with combinations of white flour, wheat flour, eggs, no eggs. Again, I would wait patiently for those new loaves of bread, or sometimes cinnamon rolls, to cool off just enough, so I could slather on the butter and enjoy the fruits of his labors.

My father… in a thoughtful mood

My father died ten years ago, and since then my mother has enlisted the help of a stand-up mixer with a bread hook, which made the mixing easier. But the enthusiasm for baking weaned as her Parkinson’s progressed. Now that she is living in a care home, one of her first complaints is about they bread. They bake their own rolls, but they use mostly white flour, and mom misses the flavor in whole wheat.

Looking at that bag of yeast in the refrigerator, I enjoyed looking back at our life, and knowing that my parents thought they were making healthy choices at the time. Now, I know better. That it was probably that wonderful bread that helped establish my cravings for all things carbohydrate. As much as I love my parents, and everything they have done for me, it is time for me to make the food choices that work best for myself. I took that bag of yeast and with at “thanks mom, thanks dad,” I dumped it right in the trash.

I like so many women I know, have suffered greatly from the myth that  “Food is Love.”  Food is food. And love is love. For those of us who have packed on the pounds, mixing up those two ideas lays squarely at the heart of the problem. We talk about all the foods that we “love” and “can’t live without.” Truth is, there are lots of great foods we can eat that fill us with the energy and nutrition that we need. But the key is eating the “whole” food, as close to as it exists in nature as possible. As soon as you start processing foods to extend their shelf life, you’re killing it, and making it something that will cause you problems in the long run.

I can report that in those first 27 days I have lost 9 pounds. I am sleeping soundly, I don’t miss the sweets. In fact my taste buds are now sensitive enough to taste the natural sugars in — lettuce. Yup, give me a cherry tomato, it tastes like candy. Every now and again, I will have a bite — one bite — of bread, as in one crouton. Or one corner of a pita bread. It’s fine, it still tastes great, but I no longer crave it and I would much rather slather butter over a pile of steamed spinach or use it to saute some mushrooms.

Are there any old food habits from childhood, or family “traditions” that in the light of adulthood, no longer suit you? I’d love to hear what you have to say. And as always, thank you so much for stopping by.

The first is a collection of “Craft Disaster” you know, when you start out a craft project and it just doesn’t come out the way you wanted it to? I kinda feel the same way about my book, but this too shall pass. But scroll through this gallery of craft ideas that just didn’t come out right.

And this has nothing to do with anything, other than I’ve been working with some wonderful new peeps from Canada: Lisa Hall Wilson, and Marcy Kennedy. (Hi ladies!) I’m such an ignorant American and don’t know much about Canada. This reminded me of a favorite Canadian import, “The Kids In the Hall,” and Scott Thompson’s character, Buddy Cole. Buddy was far a head of his time. Enjoy.

And while we’re at it, how about some fun from our favorite Scot, Billy Connoley:

Have a great weekend everyone, and thank you so much for stopping by.

Yes, I used a strong word in the title of this post: “hate” because in “Several Short Sentences on Writing,”  the author, Verlyn Klinkenborg quietly, simply, and very clearly cuts to the bone, every assumption you ever made about writing. Here’s a taste from the front jacket.

“Most of what you think you know about writing is useless. It’s the harmful debris of your education — a mixture of half-truths, myths, and false assumptions that prevents you from writing well. Drawing on years of experience as a writer and teacher of writing, Verlyn Klinkenborg offers an approach to writing that will change the way you work and think.”

He even asks you to think about typesetting. The book is written without the usual form of paragraphs. On purpose he breaks up his own sentences, adding line breaks, and setting certain phrases off by themselves. It doesn’t even look like any other book you read.  And he truly does ask you to think about how you write. In fact he asks you to think, and observe, how you think.

“The central fact of your education is this:

You’ve been taught to believe that what you discover

by thinking,

By examining your own thoughts and perceptions,

Is unimportant and unauthorized.

As a result, you fear thinking,

And you don’t believe your thoughts are interesting,

Because you haven’t learned to be interested in them.”

 

You mean all that time spent in college, I was being trained to not be interested in my own thoughts? He goes on:

“There’s another possibility:

You may be interested in your own thoughts,

But they don’t have much to do with anything you’ve

ever been asked to write.”

I agree with him here, and can recall so many class papers, articles, and even news stories that I was paid to write, which I had no interest in the subject and simply dashed off the words just to get the thing finished and turned in on time.

Now Klinkenborg links our un-interest in our own thoughts to our un-interest in what we notice around us:

“The same is true of what you notice.

You don’t even notice what you notice,

Because nothing in your education has taught you that

what you notice is important.”

And if you do notice something that interests you,

It doesn’t have much to do with anything you’ve ever been asked to write.”

Who many writing teachers have you come across who is courageous enough to tell you that your education is so lacking that what you think and what you notice is not important? Not many. Then he serves up the saving grace:

“But everything you notice is important.

Let me say that a different way:

If you notice something, its’ because it’s important.

But what you notice depends on what you allow yourself to notice,

And that depends on what you feel authorized, permitted

to notice

In a world where we’re trained to disregard our perceptions.

Who’s going to give you the authority to feel that what

you notice is important?

It will have to be you.

The authority you feel has a great deal to do with how

you write, and what you write,

With your ability to pay attention to the shape and

meaning of your thoughts

And the value of your own perceptions.”

I don’t know about you, but it took me years of struggle and of self-doubt and even after getting a degree in Journalism, I still wondered if I could ever “be a writer.” Because of all the baggage that goes along with our perception of who a writer is and what a writer does. And as Klinkenborg says, I am the one who has to finally decide, I have to give my self the “authority” to feel that what I notice and what I think are important, and your job is to learn how to communicate that importance to your reader.

And now that you have the authority to communicate what you notice and what you think, he walks you through countless observations on the process of noticing, asking the question again and again, what do you notice? He asks you to practice noticing and that “…it requires a suspension of yearning and a pause in the desire to be pouring something out of yourself. Noticing is about letting yourself out into the world, rather than siphoning the world into you in order to transmute it into words.”

Noticing is about “letting yourself out into the world,” I love that because he so turns the idea on its head. That as writers, we are to be absorbing life, to turn it into material. “Practicing noticing will also help you to learn about patience. And the nature of your mind. Noticing means thinking with all of your senses. It’s also and exercise in not writing.”

In a world where everyone is telling you to write fast, produce more, tweet this, post that, more, more more. Klinkenborg is asking you slow down and examine yourself, he’s asking you to take the time to focus on one thing, to really see the world around you, and to notice yourself, to question what it is you notice and why it popped out at you, why is it special to you?

And this is a lot of hard work. I told you, you would hate this book. I was curious and looked up the reviews of this book posted on Amazon. I laughed when I saw they ranged from five stars to one, with not much else in between. This revealed a lot about the reviewers, the one star reviewer show said, “a lousy read and doesn’t give particularly useful advice.” Here’s someone who is unwilling to examine how he thinks, and how that influences what he writes.

And I would disagree, the book is filled with many useful exercises. But they are not easy. They are not “five grammar mistakes everyone makes.”  They are more like drills, this is what he has to say about grammar:

“You don’t need to be an expert in grammar and syntax
to write well.

But you do need to know the difference between transitive

and intransitive verbs.

Between active and passive constructions.

The relation between a pronoun and its antecedent.

All the parts of speech.

The different verb tenses.

The nature of participles and their role as modifiers.

The subtleties of prepositions — the hardest part of

speech even for native speakers of English.

You need a toolbox of rhetorical devices, like irony, hyperbole,

And the various kinds of analogy.

You need an ever-growing vocabulary — and with it

the awareness that most words carry several meanings.

You need to look up even familiar words every time

you have a doubt.

And especially when you don’t have a doubt.

That is, very often.

That is, every time you write.”

I’ll be honest I don’t know the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb. I don’t look up words often enough, and prepositions and prepositional phrases still stump me. And it goes on. And it is fascinating, and I love this book. It is a great reminder that no, there are no tricks, no shortcuts, no magic formula to becoming a better writer. It takes lots, and lots, of boring hard work. This book is not for everyone. It is not for the wannabees. It is not for the writer looking for a quick fix. It is for creative souls who are willing to hunker down and work hard.

And which category do you fall in? How does it feel when someone questions you? Questions your thoughts and how and what you notice? I’d love to hear your reaction to this one. I better sign off and go look up some verbs. Thank you so much for stopping by.

Whattaya think? hmm, no low back support… next.

I keep saying here that I don’t want to sound all “airy-fairy” like I’m some kind of new age hippie. But it’s time I outed myself. I am a bit new age, I mean this blog is titled “social alchemy” so I’m going to own the alchemy that conspired to bring me to my new chair. I may have mentioned that I work with a personal trainer. Her name is Sherry and she is a magician. She knows how to bring bodies, literally, back from the dead. She used to work in L.A. and worked with NBA basketball players, movie stars, dancers, actors, surfers. She’s even dissected cadavers at a medical school to really see what nerve fibers look like, and how they work with muscle tissue, and how the tendons are really like springy rubber bands that help you move your limbs.

I’ve been working with Sherry for going on four years. One of her biggest pet peeves is choosing the correct tools for the job. Tools include the correct weights to lift, but extends to having your computer monitor at the correct height (eye level) and having proper lower back and lumbar supports in all of your chairs. That when you do sit in a chair, NEVER CROSS YOUR LEGS, as it rotates your hips in a weird way. And it is the first thing doctors tell their hip-replacement patients when they are in recovery (maybe if you didn’t cross your legs, you might never need a future hip replacement. She also advises that you sleep with a pillow between your legs (always, to keep your hips in proper alignment). To Sherry, having the correct chair is essential to good back support, to proper spine alignment, which leads to better brain support and don’t we need more of that?

Nice color, but the height isn’t adjustable… next.

So, I told Sherry about my dead chair and she warned me against going out and just buying something from a big box office store, or regular furniture store. She recommended that I look into serious office furniture like the kind you find in… big offices. Now those chairs come with a hefty price tag. But she assured me that she had one such chair and it lasted her for seven years. I was worried when I called the hubster, thinking he would balk at spending that kind of money — we are talking $800 for a desk chair folks — and he said he understood the necessity for the right kind of chair, that they had several in his office and he gave me permission to spend about half that amount.

I know you’re thinking — that much money for a chair? But writing is my profession, I will be doing this for a long time. And I needed to finish my book. I called Sherry and instead of a workout we went shopping. We went to a show room she had used before. She said sometimes, if the timing is right, they often want to get rid of older models and it is possible to get a deal on a good chair. I was hoping to just get something within the price range so hubster wouldn’t go ballistic.

Yes it is a throne… but waaay over the top… next.

We got to the place and met a lovely sales guy. Of course, he started with the top of the line chair, and ran through all of the bells, whistles, hidden knobs, panels, arm rests that swung in an out, etc. And it was three times my budget. But then he motioned to another chair that was off to the side, it wasn’t nearly as fancy. Sherry went and sat in it. From the look on her face, I could tell she was sold. She even said she felt like she was melting into the chair. I had to try it, and dang if she wasn’t right. I sat down, my low back was supported perfectly, I could lean back without feeling like I was going to fall over. The color – not my favorite. But the price? It was exactly in my range.

Now, this is where the really interesting twist comes in the story. The salesman said, “Do you want to take it home and try it out?” I’d never had a salesman ask me anything like that before. I looked over at Sherry, she winked at me. I said “Okay.” Then he went on to add, “As it turns out, the manufacturer’s rep is in town, if you take it home and you like it, I’ll talk to him and see if we can come up with a deal. No sense in bringing it back if you like it.”

Dang, I understand wanting to make a sale, but this was ridiculous. Then he proceeded to roll the car out to the parking lot, and got it in the back of my car. He handed us copies of his business card and said to call him when I made up my mind. He shook our hands and that was it. Yeah, he didn’t get my name, or my address, not even a credit card to put the chair on hold. As we drove off I looked at Sherry and she just laughed. “I told you we’d get a deal.”

Lo and behold! The miracle perfect chair…. sigh.

And the rest is history. I brought the chair home, made a few adjustments, and it’s the dream chair. The chair came home with me on Tuesday, I was able to work all day Wednesday with no problems, and finished the book on Thursday. If that was not “meant to be,” I just don’t know what is. I sent the salesman an email Wednesday morning and by the end of the day, i got the price quote — it was discounted well below my original budget. That made hubster happy.

I list this under “you never know” how things are going to work. When they flow, they flow and life is grand. So, how about you? How do you feel when that certain thing, or special something that you know you need, somehow manages to find you? I love hearing from you guys, and thanks as always for stopping by.