NOT YOUR USUAL SUSPECTS

A group blog featuring an international array of killer mystery, suspense, and romantic suspense writers. With premises and story lines different from your run-of-the-mill whodunits, we tend to write outside the box. We blog several times a week on all topics relating to romantic suspense and mystery, our writing, and our readers. We welcome all comments and often have guest bloggers. All our authors can be contacted separately, too, using their own social media links.

We find our genre delightfully, dangerously, and deliciously exciting - join us here, if you do too!

NOTE: the blog is currently dormant but please enjoy the posts we're keeping online.


Julie Moffet . Cathy Perkins . Jean Harrington . Daryl Anderson . Nico Rosso . Maureen A Miller . Sandy Parks . Lisa Q Mathews . Sharon Calvin . Lynne Connolly . Janis Patterson . Vanessa Keir . Tonya Kappes . Julie Rowe . Joni M Fisher . Leslie Langtry

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Giving Thanks: Here's To Friendship

A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.
Elbert Hubbard

Thanksgiving is on the horizon and I already know what I'm most thankful for: friends.  My personal circles range from those I made through writing to those I've known over a quarter of a century.  Some I only 'get together' through the Internet; others I'm at their homes week after week. They're all precious; they all enrich my life beyond comprehension.

For example this past Saturday I attend a Florida Romance Writers meeting. Being with others who get being a writer and understand the high's and low's is soooo comforting. I always come away with the love of writing renewed.  Then on Sunday afternoon I scrapbooked with two close friends. As we sat creating our latest albums, we enjoyed wine, good food and great companionship, not to mention gossip.

When I was young, little did I truly comprehend the true scoop of friendship. After all, family is blood and those connections are complex, but ultimately a family's duty, loyalty, tolerance and love flow from being related.

A friend, however, can choose to walk away at any time and not look back. The connection is based on that mysterious karma of simply liking another person. A tenuous thread that could snap at any time or strengthen over the years.

This vital fabric of my life is reflected in many of my books. The three law school friends in the Legal Weapons series who form a criminal defense law firm [Courting Danger, Courting Disaster, Courting Death]; Emma-Lee Dalton's relationship with her ailing college girlfriend in Chasing The Truth; and Gail Malloy's bond with Angela Rivera in Her Dark Protector. Although the women may differ on many things, they have each other's back. They listen, give comfort or a kick when needed. For them friendship is thicker than blood or water.

 What are your favorite stories of friendship?

:) Carol Stephenson

12 comments:

Anne Marie Becker said...

Great tribute to, and reflection on, friends, Carol. I think my favorite stories are about unlikely friends...kind of like the Lord of the Rings books, when people (creatures?) from different shires, etc., come together for a common purpose, and learn to like each other along the way.

Jean Harrington said...

Very heart warming blog, Carol. Strikes the perfect note for Thanksgivng. And BTW, I'm a Floridian too, Naples, and belong to my local RWA chapter, SWFRW. So we have something else in common as well as our books. In my own writing, my female protags always have a woman friend. I agree, that's an indispensible part of life--and fiction! Have a great holiday.

Rita said...

A favorite is hard to nail down. I think all the books I like have strong friends. The ones I write have friendships that are lay down your life loyal.
Carol ans JEan one of these days we'll have to meet- maybe in the center of the state.

Elise Warner said...

There are friends I think of as extended family and other friends I haven't seen too much of because we now live in different states but we keep in touch and when we do meet, the friendship is as warm as ever. A Thanksgiving toast to true friends.

Maureen A. Miller said...

I have made great friends here. :)

You never know when some of you might be in my next book!

Marcelle Dubé said...

I have friendships that are decades old (I don't want to discuss it) and some that are recent. Each one is a gift. Happy Thanksgiving, my Amercian friends.

JB Lynn said...

I'm still friends with my best friend from junior high. It's nice not to have to fill in any historical details when we swap stories. :-)

Toni Anderson said...

My oldest friend is a girl I met on the first day of secondary school. Then there was uni, and Post grad uni, and then work at different unis, and DH's friends, and then living in different countries and then being a mom and then being a writer. I think I've been blessed with a good friend from each and every situation. My hubby used to laugh at the idea of real friends being made over the internet but I think he sees it now. Great and valuable people, relationships that actually mean something. You guys rock. Lovely post, Carol :)

Carol Stephenson said...

Maureen, I look forward to being a Pip in one of your books. :) Carol

Carol Stephenson said...

Jean & Rita, would love to meet up with my fellow Floridians some time. :) Carol

Carol Stephenson said...

Anne, the bonds of friendship were remarkable in the Lord of the Rings series. What I loved most. :) Carol

Carol Stephenson said...

A Happy Thanksgiving toast to all my Not Your Usual Suspects friends. :) Carol

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