Behold Summer
June 2023 Newsletter from Charlotte Rains Dixon
Hello!
Hello from Portland on a beautiful last day of June. (Once again sneaking my monthly newsletter in under the wire.) I hope summer (or winter if you’re Down Under) is treating you well so far. It’s been beautiful here but we are in for some hot, hot temps just in time for the Fourth of July. I’m feeling lazy relaxed and in full-on summer mode, but paradoxically, I’m still getting a lot of writing done. Maybe all those people urging me to relax and take care of myself are onto something. Huh. Anyway, read on for all the latest and thank you for being in my author community.
CRD Book News
In my last author newsletter a month ago I was just home from England and eager to get back to writing after a grueling teaching schedule. Haha, it was actually fabulous. (And we will be doing it again next year—taking writers to England, France, and Italy so stay tuned.) But I have been hard at it, and with fresh eyes (thank you, travel) I had a couple inspirations to make The Matchmaker’s Temptation even better. (You can read more about that here.) I’m excited about it and the rewriting is going very quickly. Before I had my inspiration, I was lolly gagging, to be honest, but lately I’ve been working on it with excitement every chance I get. So the pub date should be about the same. Oh that’s right, I don’t have one yet. I’m going to say it will be sometime in September. You heard it here first.
You can read a description of the book here. The wait will be worth it. Or so I hope! Meanwhile, look out for special Christmas in July deals for Let There Be Snow. Because, who doesn’t love Christmas in July?
Current Obsessions
Besides writing (my first and most long-lasting obsession) currently my passion is for french textiles. One of my favorite fabric and stitching supply sources is a company called French General. They have a tiny store in L.A. and, wait for it, a French chateau in, um France. (Duh.) This spring they offered a 6-session series of zooms live from the chateau and a kit of French fabric to go along with it. You’ve never seen anybody leap to sign up as fast as I did. The sessions are wonderful and every week we are tempted with more antique textiles they have found at the brocantes (flea markets selling antique and vintage goods). One early morning I saw on Insta that they’d posted antique chemises and was able to snag one before they sold out. (There are benefits to rising before the sun.)
Did I mention the heroine of my The Matchmaker’s Temptation, Bridget, is a stitcher? She is. But she is the opposite of me when it comes to stitching—a total perfectionist, whereas I tend to be more of a loose, intuitive stitcher. As the events (there just might be love involved) of the novel transform her, her stitching changes, too, from tight and controlled to more free-form.
The power of stitching for me is this: the rhythmic motion of pulling thread in and out, in and out sets my mind free and it roams all over. It is an excellent companion to writing for this very reason.
Recipe
Salmon! Because who doesn’t like salmon? I don’t know if we can be friends if you don’t like salmon.
I got this from a knitting website I subscribe to (between stitching and knitting and writing, there are a lot of subscriptions flooding my inbox). Scroll down to the bottom for the easiest salmon recipe ever—it’s salmon, olive oil, grainy mustard and salt and pepper. We eat a lot of salmon around here so I’m always looking for simple ways to cook it. (Pic is a stock photo, not the actual recipe itself. I am being uber careful with images after I got in trouble for not having a license for one I used on the Let’s Go Write website. A spendy little mistake.)
So that’s it for now. Writers, I also write a Substack on writing, which you can subscribe to here, and a Sunday weekly newsletter that has been described as a non-religious homily about creativity. Yeah, a bit confusing I know. But I’m aiming to unite the two in wedded bliss later this summer.
Meanwhile, I wrote my subscribers a story. If you haven’t downloaded your free story yet, you can do so here. It’s called Dreams Do Come True and it will take only a few minutes of your precious time to read. And if you have friends who would be interested in this newsletter, please do share it with them. If they subscribe, they’ll get a free story, too.
And remember you can buy all three of my novels online. Here’s my Amazon author page where you can find them all. The Bonne Chance Bakery, Emma Jean’s Bad Behavior and Let There Be Snow. I’d love it if you read and shared a review.
Thank you for reading and see you next month!