Month: December 2023

Guest Blogger ~ Eve Marie

~ patyjag ~ 5 Comments

 I write mysteries/thrillers because this is my book to go to as an escape. I will retreat to a book searching for a mystery or thriller with a protagonist who solves the crime and perseveres despite setbacks. This character motivates me. One of my favorite protagonists was introduced to me by my husband through the character of Jack Reacher developed by Lee Childs. I enjoy how the author develops a mysterious character that needs no personal belongings and just tends to show up when needed. I began my novel “The Bayou Heist” with two characters in mind and familiar settings including Florida and Bon Secour, Alabama. The two characters I developed were struggling with a business and needed a serendipity to happen. It did and this starts my novel of odd coincidences. It is also why I penned this phrase I heard while working as a teacher in the United Arab Emirates “Every man has two eyes but no one sees the same. “ I thought wouldn’t it be interesting if many threads in the novel are connected and these similarities lead the reader to discover more quirks and more coincidences ‘kind of like going down a rabbit hole’ one reader mentioned as you keep finding more rabbit holes leading the reader to discover more links between the characters. My favorite character is the detective from the Bayous using his eyes and senses and the Italian attorney to try to discover who left the money in the Bayous.

Along the way, I had to research various ideas to insert into my novel including the idea of finding a ‘cache’ which came from another blogger when she wrote about following clues to find a cache. For some of my characters, I  developed them by remembering people and stories  I heard along my journeys overseas as a teacher and as a student studying at the Sorbonne. Having the opportunity to meet some interesting people and live in some unusual places, I used the settings I was familiar with. The best advice I can give to anyone trying to write a novel is to write what you know about. The characters Faith and her husband, Timothy, own a cupcakerie. Another character owns a nursery. I am familiar with the ups and downs of owning a small business and also very familiar with nurseries in Florida. Then, don’t give up trying to get it published. Keep sending it away and keep good notes, be prepared to help with the editing process and realize it is not a sprint but a marathon.

Writing a novel, seeing it published, and then listening to your readers is very rewarding because it is an accomplishment that not everyone finishes. I am very grateful to my husband for putting up with me during this time and to a few bloggers who motivated me.

For a follow up, I am interested in continuing as a series with the protagonist, Faith, the Bayou Detective, Andre and the Italian attorney, Giorgio inhabiting a place in my series. The second novel will focus more on the small town background of Faith and a secret she discovers.

The Bayou Heist

“Everyone has two eyes but no one sees the same.” There is André, a detective from the bayous, trying to solve the Armored Truck robbery along with his trusty sidekick. On the other side are Faith and Eva, dropped into a situation which they didn’t see coming. After finding a stash of money hidden in North Georgia by robbers, the twists, turns, and coincidences caused by bumping into one another create an ironic ‘cat and mouse situation.’ Two innocents in over their head, two detectives chasing clues, and we have one bayou mystery that might just be unsolvable!

https://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Heist-Eve-Marie-ebook/dp/B0C44Q9QFM

Eve Marie was born in New York City and raised in a small town located in the Catskill Mountains where everyone knew your name. After graduating from Stony Brook University with an English degree, she spent several years working in Manhattan in the garment industry; as a real estate property appraiser with the city of New York and a girl Friday for local radio talk show host, Barry Farber, as well as a stint in the United States Navy. With a Masters Degree in TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages) she has taught in the United States, France, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. “For four years, my husband and I were the proud owners of Cupcake Cache (a small bakery). When writing, I like to reflect upon some of the people I knew and the places I have lived. When not writing, I can be found experimenting in the kitchen, walking my dog (Iago), or creating a ‘what if’ scenario for my next creative endeavor. Writers who inspire me include Stephen King, Edna Buchanan, Lee Child, Lisa Unger, and Ann Rule.  My favorite quote for inspiration is “Everyone has two eyes but no one has the same view” (Wael Harakeh).

http://cupcakecacheblog.wordpress.com

https://anoveltowrite.com/

Five New Year’s Confessions

~ dzchurch ~ 3 Comments

I’ve been scurrying around preparing for the January 15 launch of A Confluence of Enemies, the second book in my Wanee series. The fact that I’m scrambling doesn’t bode well for 2024.

And that’s not good since 2023 was a stinker. I think the earth has tilted too far, it seems darker at night than it used to and warmer outside, and oh, heck, what a mess. Resolutions for 2024, hardly. Instead, here are five things I confess need my attention:

Too Many People: I have a very crowded brain. I live in Wanee in my head and know all the preachers, teachers, and shopkeepers. And their children and grandchildren. I want my readers to know them, too. They’re great people, with their own foibles and dreams. But I need to be firm with them. You can’t be in this book! Maybe the next one — as the dead body — if you keep pestering me for your fifteen pages of fame. On the other hand, if you’re building a world for your readers, shouldn’t you populate it with characters readers want to watch grow? Sheesh.

Everyone’s name does not start with E. Note to self, just stop it. I carefully curate the names of my main characters, villains included, culturing their names like pearls. It is the rest of the folks that present problems. While reading the first draft of Of Waterworks and Sin, the future fourth book in the Wanee Mysteries, I discovered that all the female second banana’s names started with E. This makes some sense, since a century and a half ago the prairie was full of Ellies, Emmas, Ellas, Eleanors, and Elizabeths. As this is not the first time a letter has inhabited my mind, I need an alphabetical list of common first names for the era by my side as I write. Need, being the operative word.

The rhythm of the written word: I make sure the words used in my historical mysteries were in common usage when the books take place. And I attempt to follow the language constructs of the period, which were more formal and precise, leading to a deleterious effect on the simplest of descriptions. My first drafts are a hell of: the hat on the head of the lawman. Instead of the lawman’s hat, or better a black Stetson. The handle on the door. The roof over the porch. On a positive note, tending to these oddities results in more fulsome, precise descriptions. Or, so, I choose to believe.

Giant chapters. We’re talking humongous – up to twenty-two pages. I plot in days, not events. Days. Midnight to midnight. And since I’m writing historical mysteries, communication are slow … everyone is walking, talking, gossiping, visiting, leaving notes, clanking pots, making signs. None of this driving over in the car, dialing up the cellphone or texting the news. Wanee has a paper boy who delivers the daily paper. A telegraph office for news of the world. The local gossips at the dry goods store. Everything happens in person. That’s my excuse, dialog, getting to and from, moving through the labor of the day. In truth, I need to break my days up if for no other reason than to give my readers time to text someone about how much they are enjoying the book.

Stupid strange omissions. When will I get it through my head to include links to the preceding book in the series in my eBooks, or the series page, and in print in the print versions. How about my webpage? My newsletter? My Facebook page? My blog? You do it automatically, don’t you? I leave them off … everything … truly. What’s that about? So, here we go …

See, that wasn’t so hard, except for the Facebook part. Happy New Year, y’all!

THE GIFT OF PRESENCE

~ Kimila Kay ~ 2 Comments

Are you all ready for Christmas? I am, finally, and feel accomplished with all my gifts wrapped and under the tree. We traveled to our home town for the holiday weekend and are enjoying visiting with family and friends. Christmas Eve brings a few gift deliveries and tonight we will make my sister’s famous Lemon Shortbread Christmas cookies.

Looking back on the last few months, I realize though that I’ve been so immersed in holiday prep, I’ve missed out on actually visiting with friends and family.

Each year at the crack of dawn on the day after Thanksgiving, I’m up replacing my fall decorations with Santas and all things Christmas. This year, our oldest son, Norman, and his lovely wife, Kendra, along with our two adorable grandkids, Sloan and Carter, came for Thanksgiving. One of the things the grandkids have always enjoyed was decorating my tree. It was fun watching them sort through decades of ornaments, carefully putting them on my nine foot tree.

We always exchange gifts at Christmas, but it dawned on me the best part of this Thanksgiving was being present to experience them adorning our tree with memories from Norman’s childhood. We played games, watched the Ducks and Beavers play their last civil war game, and visited this and that.

It could be because I’m in my sixties now, or maybe because my mom passed several years ago, and along with her a lot of my holiday traditions. But I now think the best gift of all is being in the presence of family and friends.

I know Santa hasn’t delivered our gifts yet, but I’m already looking toward the New Year and thinking about how I can be more in the moment with my loved ones. The age old adage, “Your Presence is the best Present” should be the mantra we all follow.

So, as challenging as it might be, I’m going to focus on not being on my phone when I’m with others. Listening to my husband, Randy, when he wants to share a funny story or even his latest political opinion. (Insert eyeroll) I want to participate in the retelling of beloved family stories when I’m with my siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins, since so many of us have lost the elders in our lives.

My husband, Randy, isn’t much of a holiday prep guy and doesn’t quite understand all the Christmas hype. Of course, I’d love for him to join in my fun. But he enjoys meeting friends for holiday toddies and watching football. The camaraderie of yelling at the refs and cheering on your favorite team is his favorite gift. A gift that’s hard to wrap for sure but something Randy loves and … will remember forever.

Within my circle of friends, we no longer exchange gifts, despite the fact that I always find the best presents. However, there is nothing like laughing over memories of our adventures throughout the year. Sharing fun stories about our families. Plotting and planning where we might vacation together. Or working out the details for our annual girls’ beach week on the Oregon coast. Again, I’m reminded that the best part of these gifts is the presence of all these wonderful people in my life.

Of course, one of my favorite places to be is in my writing zone. I love being down the rabbit hole with my current WIP, “Willow’s Woods”, enjoying the characters of Stoneybrook. And I can’t wait to start my stay in Cabo where “Chaos in Cabo” takes place. I do know though that when I’m writing I am very not present. I tend to ignore everyone and everything, wanting to stay in my zone and focus on my process. The anticipation of what my characters might do next or where the story will take us keeps me enthralled.

But in the coming year, I do plan to take a break and pop out of myself and be in the moment. I can’t wait to enjoy all the presents in my future I’ll be blessed with by my presence.

Merry Christmas, Ladies of Mystery. I hope each of you, and your families, have a lovely Christmas and a blessed New Year!

A New (for me) Christmas

~ susanoleksiw ~ 8 Comments

Some years ago I listened to an education professional talk about her career, which had been full of surprises, not all of them good. She ended with the comment, “Change is the constant, attitude is the variable.” That’s been true of my life, and with my husband’s death eighteen months ago, I felt challenged to watch the attitude. Christmas now looks different to me, and it’s been full of good surprises.

I think of this holiday as one for children. This is not new to me and certainly not to thousands of other people. But this year I’ve had a chance to focus on how many others are like me, without close family and hoping to tone down the holiday chaos and frenzy and just enjoy our friends. 

My relatives, the few that remain, live a distance away. They don’t want to travel and neither do I. We exchange cards and letters, and wish each other well. I’m not alone. I have more friends without close family with children than with, and we’re all breathing a sigh of relief. We don’t have to go to the mall, wrap gifts, find something special for someone we don’t know well, bake and cook more food than we alone would eat in six months, and drive through weather that we would otherwise ignore from the warmth and comfort of our living rooms. And then drive home.

More than in previous years I’ve noticed that this has become a time to turn people’s attention to those with little or nothing. Several groups in my community, some organized and others informal, are gathering winter clothing, setting up holiday meals, getting homeless into shelters or apartments. Their drives for help and support are gaining traction, and with quiet gratitude they’re satisfying a cruel need and helping the rest of us find greater meaning in the season. This afternoon I’m taking a bag of new winter clothing to a drop-off box at a local temple for distribution on Christmas Eve. From the street this morning, during my early walk, I could see the drop-off box was overflowing. I’ll add to that.

Christmas Day has turned into a day of thanksgiving without the turkey and different decorations. I enjoyed the children’s Christmas when I was a child, and now I enjoy the adult version. With the loss of my husband I found a larger community, its members traversing the same changing seas as I am, all of us at different stages, riding a wave or sliding into a trough, heading to shore or leaving it, but all of us seeing and acknowledging each other. To my delight I prefer this new version of Christmas.

To all our readers on Ladies of Mystery, best wishes for the holiday season, however you celebrate or don’t celebrate.

Of Holidays, Memories, and WAY Too Much “Stuff”

~ Pamela Beason ~ 3 Comments

I mentioned in a previous post how much I detest the Christmas holiday, but I know that’s not true for many people. Christmas is a special time for those who are religious and for many who have children, too, and it can be a time to give a gift to someone who can’t afford the item or who would not otherwise have a gift at all. But generally speaking, among the middle-class folks I know, none of us need more “stuff.” Excess “stuff” is filling our garbage dumps and destroying our planet.

So, I really don’t like to give an unwanted item just for the sake of giving a gift, and I really don’t appreciate receiving those, either. What am I supposed to do with the perfume I’m allergic to, or the scarf I will never wear? Yes, there’s always re-gifting to someone else, but we have to be careful about passing it on or we might hurt the feelings of the person who originally gave the gift.

When I think about gatherings of family or friends, I have no great memories of gifts I received. Do you? My best memories are all of activities and laughter we shared. I hope that folks who gather for the holidays will do something fun together. My first choice would always be to get outside and go for a walk or snowshoe or build a snow woman a snow dinosaur or something physically active, out in nature.

However, I realize that not everyone is capable of rigorous outdoor activity, and often the December weather is not welcoming, either. So maybe, play a simple game that everyone can participate in, like charades. Or have a gift exchange where each person wraps one useful and inexpensive item, like a screwdriver or a soup mix or a set of cooking spoons, then draw from a central pool of wrapped gifts, and let each person keep their gift or trade for another gift that has already been opened (a white elephant gift exchange). That activity can be interactive, often hilarious, and everyone goes home with something that is at least useful.

If you must give a gift to everyone, consider giving a homemade item like cookies or jam or a soup mix, or give an experience, or even more precious, a gift of your time. You might offer to babysit for relatives or friends who would really appreciate an adult night out, or offer to help paint a room if you know someone who is remodeling, or promise to drive an elderly relative to visit friends, or teach someone who has always admired your sweaters how to knit. How about gardening help or a one-day use of your pickup to haul something? You can write out your promise and put it in a nice card with a bow on it.

If you’re not crafty or a great cook and you don’t have extra time to offer or possessions to lend, you might give a gift certificate for a local restaurant or movie theatre or bowling alley or theme park. Or if you are wealthy, give a whole weekend getaway to someone who really needs it. You can give the gift of a future event or holiday; the gifts don’t need to be immediate. We all need things to look forward to.

Gifts of your time, your creative skills, or an enjoyable experience are typically a lot more meaningful and useful than another piece of “stuff.” Focus on making memories instead of more credit card bills.

Most of us have way too much “stuff.” But nobody ever has too many happy memories. Happy Holidays!