A Technology Break

Hey there! Liz Johnson here. Back from vacation and plugged back into technology. You see, I took a break from technology last week.

My mom and sister and I just spent a week on Prince Edward Island, Canada--home of Anne of Green Gables. And I was unplugged the whole trip! No phone. No internet. No television. No twitter! Oh, my! For someone who practically lives on email, I thought I'd feel like I was missing my right arm. And I admit that the first day, I grabbed for my phone to check facebook, but it was turned off. So I stuffed it back into my purse. That was the last time I looked at it for a week.

Turns out that without my phone, I was free to phone I could revel in the beauty of the Gentle Island free from distraction. Without email I got to enjoy uninterupted conversation with two of my favorite people in the world. I got to focus on enjoying my vacation.

And when I had a book idea ... well, I had to hand write it! Shocking! I know.

I have to admit, it was one of the most enjoyable weeks, I've had in a long time. And I think being tech free was a big part of it.

Have you unplugged recently? How was your experience?

Some Friday Fun - Less Interesting Books

Friday is my favorite day of the week! It's ripe with anticipation for the weekend ahead. Somehow the workload in my office feels a little more manageable on Fridays. And sometimes it's even pay day!

So today, I thought we could have a little bit of fun with book titles--actually, less interesting book titles. Maybe like thousands of others, you caught the popular topic on twitter several days ago called Less Interesting Books. The idea behind it was simple: Take a popular book title and tweak it just enough to make the book a whole lot less interesting.

For example, The Great Gatsby becomes The So-So Gatsby. You can't wait to read the first. The second is ... well ... so-so. Here are some of my very favorites that were flying along twitter. Wish I'd come up with some of them!

1. Of Mice
2. Harry Potter and the Order of Takeout
3. Bored of the Flies
4. A Series of Not Too Shabby Events
5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Commerce
6. Love in the Time of Chicken Pox
7. To Somewhat Offend a Mockingbird
8. Minor Discomfort and Casual Resentment in Las Vegas
9. The Grapes of Math
10. There’s Waldo
11. Where the Wild Things Were
12. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Artist Formerly Known as Prince
13. The Call of the Skittish
14. The Second to the Last of the Mohicans
15. Farenheit 72 - the thermostat wars in offices across the country

In all seriousness, all the laughs got me thinking about the importance of book titles. What if Mr. F. Scott Fitzgerald had called his book simply Gatsby or Mark Twain had called his The Story of Huckleberry Finn? Titles have a power to draw readers, engage them from the get-go, and give them a reason to keep reading.

Take, for example, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. The title might not make readers bat an eye in modern book culture, but when this book debuted in the 1950s, it probably turned a few heads. When I was 8 and reading it for the first time, you can bet that I was way more fascinated in discovering who the witch was than I was interested in reading a book about blue dolphins. Speare's classic is still my all-time favorite book.

Titles tell a story of their own and are much more important than just identifying the story within. Now it's your turn to share! What book titles do you love? Are there any that you felt were misleading or not strong enough for the great book between the covers? What Less Interesting Book titles have you come up with?

Hometown Visits

Hi. My name is Liz Johnson. And I'm addicted to this season of American Idol. I just can't stop watching it!

In the past, I may have teased my roommate about her affection for the show, but I'm starting to understand it. Maybe, like me, you've made this show one of your weekly rituals. If so, you probably saw this week's episodes--where the top three contestants took trips to their hometowns. They were greeted by mobs of cheering hometown fans and visited areas of interest. Sweet Scotty McCreery visited the grocery store where he once worked. And in a particularly emotional segment, Lauren Alaina visited her hometown in Georgia, which was hit hard by the recent string of tornadoes across Alabama and Georgia.


Watching these clips got me thinking about my hometown. Really all of our hometowns. What is it about the town where we grew up that evokes nostalgia and a sense of belonging? I haven't lived in the smallish city in Arizona where I grew up in 5 years, but it's still home. Still the place where I know my way around and where I belong.

It also got me thinking about how authors--myself included--pay homage to our hometowns. Maybe it's the way we make our fictional towns resemble the real thing. Maybe it's the way we add our favorite restaurant into a story. Maybe it's the way we bring the quirky real characters to life on the page.

For me, it was in my first book, The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn, where my hero Myles reminisced about his high school football days at Yuma High playing the Kofa Kings. Neither school is my alma mater, but definitely a cross-town rivals. And when I shared that book with friends and strangers alike, they loved the Yuma connection.

So here's my question for you: Have you ever read a book set in a city you call home? Or have you written one and included some of your hometown favorites? What did you enjoy most about it?

Rock City

My parents flew out to visit me in Tennessee last weekend. What I hoped would be a really relaxing time, turned out to be moving weekend. And if you've ever moved, you know it's anything but. After two days, we were finally (mostly) unpacked in the new house and ready for to enjoy a couple days of fun in Atlanta and Chattanooga, TN.

All along our drive the first day, we saw signs for something called Rock City, which I'd never heard of before. So on our trip back to Nashville, we stopped to see what all the signs were about. And it was incredible.

If you haven't heard of it, Rock City is a naturally formed rock formation that seems as thought it's laid out with streets and avenues, all atop Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga. There are several stops on Lookout Mountain (and we stopped at them all), but the natural beauty of Rock City took my breath away.

Of course they've added bridges and restaurants and gift shops over the years, but the wonder of it all is this amazingly beautiful display of God's creation.

So what does this all have to do with suspense novels? The whole time I was there, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if someone were chased between the often narrow crevices. Or what if someone tried to dispose of a body between giant rocks? Was someone blackmailing the owner or hiding out from a stalker behind the counter at the fudge shop?

At every turn of the trail, I was reminded how amazing nature is at giving me ideas for stories. But sometimes ... well, sometimes we just need a moment of peace with our families and our God. And nature is pretty amazing for that too.

I hope you'll take a few minutes to appreciate God's creation this weekend. Whether it displays his power in a thunderstorm or his beauty in a sunset, it's all a reflection of the Creator.

A Helping Hand

Hey there! Liz Johnson here.

I'm a pretty independent person. I've always been this way. I like to be on my own, and I like only relying on myself. Maybe that's why I like being a writer. It's a pretty solitary activity, just me and my laptop.

But this week, I started a new prescription medication that literally laid me out. My head has been spinning, my stomach rolling for the last three days. I couldn't move to get food for myself or even drive myself home from work today. So I knew I was going to have to ask for help. No matter how much I wanted to be able to take care of myself on my own.

But before I could even ask someone to help me get some crackers for lunch, one of my sweet friends was off to Walgreens and returned minutes later with the only thing that sounded remotely appetizing. And when I needed to get home, immediately a friend drove my car home while another followed to take her back to the office.

In the midst of feeling my lowest, I was reminded why friends are called friends. Because they stick by our sides and offer a helping hand, even when we don't want to ask for it.

I hope this week, you'll take a moment to offer a helping hand before someone even asks for it. And also allow someone to help you.

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity." - Proverbs 17:17