Nadine Feldman, Author

celebrating strong female characters and whatever else strikes my fancy

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How to Make Magic, One Strawberry at a Time

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Years ago I had the great fortune to live on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. I had a spacious yard and created a big garden, complete with fruit trees. A large old fig tree came with the house, and I added four apple trees, a plum tree, and a pear tree.

It was magical.

I learned quickly, though, that “magic” doesn’t happen without “hard work.” Some plants needed to be moved to a different spot. Sometimes I had to get up at dawn to remove worms from the apple trees. There was endless weeding, composting, deadheading, and pruning to be done. I’m not complaining, though. I loved it!

We don’t often equate “magical” with “hard work.” Yet in the garden, or on farms, both of these exist side by side. Since I live on the East Coast now and no longer grow my own food, I visit some of the local farms and “pick your own” to bring me back to the joy of the harvest.

This photo does not do the place justice. I’m looking at an overview of the strawberry fields.

One of my favorite places is Fishkill Farms, where varieties of fruit roll one into the next. The strawberries are nearly finished, but the raspberries are coming in. Blueberries won’t be far behind. In the fall I’ll pick apples for applesauce. I’ll never tire of watching seeds becoming plants and then bearing fruit. It’s nothing short of miraculous!

The farm is beautiful, with undulating hills filled with fruit trees and mountain views. Each week when I visit, I am reminded of the magic and miracles of growing things…but I also know the hard work and diligence that goes into creating this magic. Farmers put in long hours for not enough pay. One has to do this work for the love of it.

As I finish The Factory Girl and the Fey and prepare it for its next step, advance reviews, I have experienced magic throughout the process. This book has engaged my imagination as no other before…and yet the magic emerges in part because of regular, sustained attention to it, with lots of revision and editing and waking in the wee hours because I understood how to change something that wasn’t quite working. It has meant many revisions, multiple rounds of editing, and a bit of insomnia. The “fruit” will be ready for harvest in the fall.

My farm visits replenish my spirit, providing a kind of active rest for the brain, one strawberry at a time. I find peace there in between my own bouts of hard work, giving me fuel to continue. I am grateful to the committed farmers who work so hard to make all this magic, which then helps me make mine.

Dad Memories

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Sunday is Father’s Day, so I thought it would be fitting to pay tribute to my dad.

It’s coming up on a year since my dad died, just shy of his 70th wedding anniversary and his 88th birthday. Not a bad run, but there’s never a good time to lose a parent, and his absence still feels odd and strange. Worse, his dying happened during COVID, so saying goodbye was equally odd. We drove from New York to Illinois with a full cooler of food, stopping only to get gas and use the rest stops.

Once we arrived, we stood at his window to talk to him. Dad wore hearing aids and had macular degeneration, so we’re unsure how aware he was of our presence. Mom had to balance her walker on landscaping rocks, and they didn’t let her in to see him, even though they lived in the same facility, until they determined he was near death.

My father was a quiet, reserved man (something I inherited from him), but he had his own way of showing his love. I recall a lot of little things: his determination to teach me to drive a stick shift, for example. We had a ’74 Pinto where the difference between first and third gears was so minimal it was easy to pop into third and stall out. No matter. He wanted me to learn in case I was ever in a situation where only a standard transmission was available. In fact, that happened some years later when I wrecked my car and didn’t have rental car insurance. The car I borrowed had a stick shift.

Every now and then Dad decided to bake something. It didn’t happen often, but when it did it was a big deal. After all these years, I still remember sitting with him while he made cookies, and the smell and taste of hot Snickerdoodles fresh from the oven.

In junior high, I got sick at a basketball game and had to go to the hospital. When we got to the ER, he picked me up and carried me, me worrying about his bad back while he did so. I was petite, but still, that was a lot of weight for a guy to lug around who had to spend a lot of time lying on his back on the floor with bent legs propped on a chair to relieve his pain.

When my first attempt at college failed miserably, he was the one who comforted me. “Take some time off,” he advised. “You can go back later.” I did, though it was much, much later than either of us ever expected. But in that moment he taught me how most things aren’t black and white, all or nothing. We can choose, and we can do life in a different order.

Mostly, I remember the love story between my dad and my mom. Married as teenagers, they provided an example of devotion that stayed with me. It took me a long time and a few divorces to find the equivalent of what they had, but I always knew what was possible.

His illness and death were rather sudden, with a swift downhill. It seemed like only a minute from the time he mentioned, casually, that he’d lost 25 pounds in a short time, to multiple falls, to hospitalization and the cancer diagnosis.

Now that he’s been gone a year, his absence is both more disconcerting and comforting at the same time. It feels good to remember all the ways he made a difference in his quiet, thoughtful way. He is always missed and always loved.

If you have fond memories of someone who is no longer with us, please share!

Book Review: The Accidental Gatekeeper

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*NOTE: I received an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.*

Carla Rehse’s new release, The Accidental Gatekeeper, is the first of a trilogy centered around Everly, a middle-aged woman who turned her drug-dealing husband into the Feds, and returned to her Central Texas hometown for safety…only to find she’s jumped from the proverbial frying pan into the fire.

Sitting next to Hell’s Gate, the town of Crossing Shadows, Texas, isn’t your ordinary Texas town. It may look like it, but it’s a chaotic mix of angels, demons, hellhounds, and a variety of other magical beings. Everly left years ago, denying her status as a “Marked” human, so she doesn’t get the warmest of welcomes upon her return.

Her main goal is to keep her grown daughter safe, a daughter who knows nothing of the family legacy. But before saving her daughter, she’s drawn into saving the town.

I liked Everly, in part because she’s not young. She has creaky knees and hot flashes, so she’s an unlikely heroine. I also loved the cheeky, snarky humor of the story. It kept me wanting to turn the page. The major characters were distinctive and fun, and the story moves less like a freight train and more like a supersonic jet…lots of action all the time.

This isn’t the type of book I normally read, so if you love what I’ve already written, you’ll enjoy this book. And I did, too, to a point. I would have liked to catch my breath here and there. The pace was a bit too breakneck for me. It also seemed like there were too many varieties of magical beings, which got a bit confusing.

Also, I am assuming (hoping) that since mine was a downloaded advance copy, the text formatting will get fixed in the final version. The formatting is inconsistent, making the book harder to read.

As a series, this book makes a good lead-in. It’s a complete story but leaves some unresolved threads as bread crumbs for the books to follow. I will probably want to know what happens next with Everly. (I have a pet peeve when a series book doesn’t have an actual ending, but this one does.) For an author writing a series, a reader wanting to continue is the ultimate goal.

The Factory Girl and the Fey comes out October 15! Coming soon: sample chapter and cover reveal. Stay tuned!

Update on The Factory Girl and the Fey

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We interrupt this regularly scheduled book review column because exciting things are happening with The Factory Girl and the Fey!

First, my copyeditor, Esther White, has completed her diligent work, and I am making the final tweaks to the manuscript based on her guidance. Kudos to Esther for her help!

Next, I have a cover! Happy dance! Lynne Hansen has outdone herself this time, and I can’t wait to share it. The good folks at Historical Virtual Book Tours will soon reveal the cover, and I can’t wait!

I’ll spend the rest of the month tidying up the manuscript, and I plan to put it on NetGalley by mid-July for advance reviews.

It’s definitely crunch time with all of this happening, but I’m very excited! I’m proud of this book and in the coming weeks will share more details about it. For more information or to add it to your Goodreads list, click here.

Cacao and Creativity

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When we first moved to our little town in the Hudson Valley of New York State a few years ago, I hooked up with a women’s group where we danced, shared, and drank ceremonial cacao. I’d never tried the stuff before, but I loved it as well as the ceremony that went along with it.

Of course, then the pandemic happened, and group events were canceled. A few months ago I decided I could do my own ritual and have been doing it twice a week ever since. I find my little ceremony to be calming and uplifting, a way to slow down, ponder, and re-center. This helps me be more productive in the rest of my week, so I see it as an investment of time.

Ceremonial cacao is a drink made from cacao that hasn’t had the butter removed. The cacao has been lightly toasted and fermented, so it’s less processed than cocoa. There are numerous health benefits attributed to ceremonial cacao, but I don’t know how much its properties have actually been researched. I’ll just say that I feel great after I drink it. I purchase mine from Soul Lift Cacao, though there are several great sources.

Unlike, say, a cup of hot chocolate, ceremonial cacao has little to no sweetener. I put a small amount of honey in mine after the cacao cools a bit (raw honey is never meant to be cooked), but I’m moving gradually toward no sweetener. The flavor is bold because of the amount of cacao used.

Here’s how I do my personal cacao ceremony:

  1. Before chopping the cacao, I take a good, long sniff of it. It helps set the tone for my brain that the ceremony is coming.
  2. I gather my materials, including good, filtered water, spices such as cinnamon, vanilla, and a pinch of chili powder, and a special cup and saucer that’s fancier than my everyday teacups.
  3. I chop the cacao into small pieces so it melts more easily. I use 1/4 cup, but if you’re starting out, start with less. Too much too soon can cause the body to rebel.
  4. I heat the cacao with some of the water in a double boiler, heating it gradually and adding the spices.
  5. Once it’s heated, I take it off of the stove, let it cool for a few minutes, then add the honey.
  6. I then pour myself a cup and go to a quiet space with my planner.
  7. For planning, I use the Dreambook Planner by Dragontree. It works great with the spirit of cacao! You may have your own favorite, but the Dreambook Planner helps me set goals and intentions, but also acknowledge gratitude and self-care.
  8. Once I’ve settled in, I say a prayer of thanks for everyone who grows, processes, and ships the cacao to me. I also ask for guidance from angels, guides, and the Fair Folk.
  9. I review my week to see what I’ve accomplished, what I learned, what stressed me, etc. I also look at my monthly and quarterly goals to see how I’m doing.
  10. Next, I use this information to think about the coming week.
  11. While I’m doing these reviews, I take small sips of the cacao after each section to let it in. I think one of the biggest benefits is the process of slowing myself down.
  12. Once I’m finished, I give a prayer of thanks again and close the ceremony with a sip of cacao.

Since I’ve been doing this, I find myself more creative, more disciplined, and less scattered. If you feel so inclined, give it a try!

Book Review: The Girls at the Kingfisher Club

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While working to finish The Factory Girl and the Fey, I went looking for books that might compare. Having not expected to write a “fairy tale,” I wondered if anyone else had written a story in the way I have.

My search has led me down an exciting rabbit hole, one where I am finding people who love folklore and fairy tales. It’s an exciting search, and The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine is one of the nuggets of gold I found along the way. It’s not similar to my story, but it’s still a lot of fun and well worth mentioning here.

The Girls at the Kingfisher club is a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, a German fairy tale that’s part of the Brothers Grimm collection (which themselves are retellings!). In the original story, twelve princesses were locked in their room every night by their father, but each night they would sneak out and go dancing. Every day their shoes were worn out. He invited suitors to vie for the right to marry one of the princesses. They had three days, and the requirement was for them to figure out how they were getting out of the house. If the prospective suitors didn’t figure it out in three days, they were put to death. Many men tried and failed, reaching their brutal end. Because it’s a fairy tale, though, someone figured out how they did it. He was rewarded with marriage to the oldest daughter.

In the retelling, the setting is Manhattan during the Roaring 20s. Our princesses are twelve daughters of a wealthy man who has no interest in his daughters whatsoever. His wife died in a final attempt to bring forth a son. Jo, the oldest, and Lou, the sister to which she is closest, fall in love with dancing and teach the younger girls how to do it. They sneak out into the night to the speakeasys to dance.

Naturally, problems arise, especially once the father catches on to what they’re doing.

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club is a tale of patriarchy, but it is also a tale of the resilience and strength of women. It is also a glimpse into a fascinating period of American history. There are no fairies in this fairy tale, but it’s a great example of how fairy tales can be used as a basis for new and enjoyable stories. I’ll be sharing more of these in future blog posts.

If you enjoy this blog, please consider purchasing one of my books. More information on the titles can be found here. The Factory Girl and the Fey will be available in October 2021. Stay tuned for more details!