Hello, Ladies ~

As Thanksgiving approaches, I find myself reminiscing about last year’s holiday, which was the last family celebration I had with my sister, Lori, and uncle, Terry. Of course, we never truly know when we’ll be called home, but I sensed at the time that it would be their last holiday season here on earth.

Every effort was made to enjoy all the trappings and food that come with Thanksgiving and Christmas. We cooked, laughed, and took lots of pictures to capture the special moments.

As I put up my authentic, fake Christmas tree today, a pang of nostalgia pricked my heart knowing I will most likely never trapse through the woods in search of the perfect Noble tree. Large family holiday gatherings are now a thing of the past with the loss of my sister and uncle.

My mini-melancholy vacation was interrupted when one of my Beta readers called with input on “Chaos in Cabo.”

“I loved this book, Kimila,” she said. “I think this is the best book you’ve written so far. I loved all of the emotional turmoil your main characters faced. Their struggles brought them to life, and I couldn’t wait to see how they worked through their issues.”

I choose Beta readers who I know will always be honest with me. I appreciate being told what is wrong with a character or storyline. Knowing where the problems are helps me rewrite the book and bring everything into a better light.

When I finished “Chaos in Cabo,” I didn’t think it was very good. I attributed my concerns to the fact that the book had been written in starts and stops due to the rough journeys of my sister and uncle. Every time I stopped working on the book, I would lose track of the character arcs and storyline. When I was able to get back to writing, I’d have to read from the beginning to reintroduce myself to the story and find my rhythm.

I’ve never suffered from writer’s block, but the weight of my family’s struggles kept me off balance. And then there are those emotions … sadness, anger, confusion, hopelessness … and many more.

Had my emotions bled into my writing? Did the upheaval in my life thread its way into my characters’ lives? Could it be I had channeled my cornucopia of feelings into my story?

“Chaos in Cabo” had three Beta readers, and I was anxious to hear what the other two had to say. When my next reader texted to see if I could talk about the book, I said I’d call her from my car. “No,” she texted, “I want you to focus on what I have to say, so call when you can listen.”

Alarm bells went off, but I called as soon as I could. Her first words were, “This is the best book yet! The characters were so interesting, I didn’t want their stories to end.”

The conversation continued and was similar to what my first Beta reader said. Imagine my delight when I received the same fabulous feedback from Beta reader number three.

I think as writers we bring parts of ourselves and our lives into the stories we write. Maybe it’s a favorite childhood memory that we have a character share with readers. Or a broken heart served up at the hands of a partner who cheated or left without a valid reason. Then there’s the void left in your life when someone dies.

In “Chaos in Cabo,” my heroine, Detective Socorro Cortés, enlists the help of her former fiancé to solve the murder of his niece’s boyfriend. While trying to solve a murder that she thinks is linked to a scam calling crew, she has to deal with another ex who is trying to win her back. Oh, the emotional rollercoaster she rides!

Lieutenant Amado Peña just wants to help his niece and leave Cabo San Lucas as soon as possible. He knows he can’t risk having Coco break his heart again. But when he’s drawn into her efforts to solve two crimes she believes are connected, he finds himself also wondering whether he still has feelings for Socorro Cortés. Can a broken heart learn to love again?

Alida Burton has two goals in life: to remove abusive men from the planet. And to make as much money as possible from unsuspecting marks. Given her cruel treatment at the hands of previous males, Alida has no intentions of falling in love—ever—until she meets Antonio Ruiz. Could it be that even someone as damaged as Alida can overcome her hatred and trust a man?

The wonderful feedback from my Beta readers has reminded me that even the hardest times in our lives can produce small blessings. “Chaos in Cabo” might have taken longer than my normal timeline to write, but I’m thankful that my emotional baggage allowed me to create unforgettable characters with stories that readers don’t want to end.

Ladies ~ I hope your Thanksgiving holiday brings much joy and many blessings. Gobble, Gobble!!!

Hello, Ladies ~

While I am sad about the loss of three family members over the last three months, I am also relieved that the past eighteen months are behind me. I’m finally back to weaving words together as I work on three novels at once.

I know it sounds daunting—and maybe even a little crazy—but being immersed in a story is my happy place.

The wonder I have for my creativity is endless. I mean, how is it possible to have a character in “Lost in Loreto” looking for a missing wife? A wife, he thought, had divorced him. And at the same time, I’m back in Stoneybrook following Wyatt and his deputies as the hunt for not one, but two killers in “Fatal Falls.” Then, just to keep things interesting, I’m sailing on a 1757 Schooner as it tries to outrun a Spanish Galleon with three youngsters who have been transported from the present back in time in my middle school fantasy novel, “Midnight Sail.”

I’ll admit that while I was dealing with what seemed like endless family issues, I felt that my creativity had abandoned me. It seemed every time I sat down to work on my novel at the time, “Chaos in Cabo,” that I couldn’t string together two sentences that read well. Still, I plodded along, working and reworking sentences, rearranging paragraphs, and adding more chapters.

I’m not going to lie, when my Beta readers reported back that they loved the book, I was thrilled. One even said she thought it was my best book yet. What?!? Now, armed with renewed confidence that my creativity works just fine even if I’m a little distracted, I’m excited again to have three projects to work on at once.

In “Lost in Loreto,” I’m back in Mexico. As luck would have it, I get to visit this city in March while on a Mexican cruise of the Sea of Cortés. I’m excited to stroll the same streets my characters walk. But mostly I like the idea of verifying some of the things I’ve learned about the city via Google searches. Even though I sometimes take creative license with locales, I try to stay as true to the places in my books as possible. Something else I’m excited about with this book is the character dynamics, which already offer huge potential for fun character arcs. Oh, and did I mention there might be a rattlesnake that doesn’t actually have a rattle at the end of its tail?

Of course, my favorite part of being back in Stoneybrook is that I get to write a story thread that honors my son, Derrick, the model for my autistic fictional deputy. I love all of the Stoneybrook characters, most of whom reflect the personalities of people in my life. But it’s also fun creating new characters, and in the case of “Fatal Falls,” the villain is taking an even darker turn than I had planned. One of the upsides of an evil villain is plotting how he will get his just desserts.  Another upside to writing about the town of Stoneybrook is that it’s similar to creating a fantasy or sci-fi world; I can bring my imagination to life in various ways.

Okay, so I’m guessing you’re all scratching your heads, asking how she can write a kids’ book when she’s so dark and twisty. I have had the idea for “Midnight Sail” since I still had kids at home. Then I was going to write the book for my grandkids, now fifteen and thirteen. But a good idea never truly leaves you, and one day I met a ten-year-old boy who brought my main character, Cyrus, to life. After our chance meeting, I couldn’t let go of his winning personality and curious mind. When I started working on the book, it seemed meant to be, because the other characters presented themselves with little effort. Once again, I found myself “sailing” Google, researching pirates and old vessels that once sailed the Oregon coast. As a native Oregonian, I was shocked at the many pirate stories I discovered. Turns out my buried treasure story idea from forty-plus years ago wasn’t such a stretch after all.

Obviously, I’m thrilled to be back in my writing groove. Whether it’s a brief note in the Halloween cards I send to my grandkids, great-nieces and great-nephews, or writing a blog I hope others will enjoy, all writing is good writing.

So, I must bid you adieu and get back to those three stories!!!

Happy Halloween, Ladies!

Hello, Ladies ~

Have any of you cried when you had to kill your villain? I’m not sure why, but it upset me greatly when my villain in “Chaos in Cabo” sailed off a cliff in a hail of bullets. I sobbed as I finished Alida’s story, trying to find comfort in the fact that she sacrifices herself to save Antonio, the man she loves.

Or maybe I listened to a recent reader who said, “I love that your villains find redemption, but don’t you think they should also pay for their crimes?”

Years ago, when I submitted my very first manuscript, “Murder in Margaritaville,” to agents and editors, I received the standard “No Thank You” form letter. But each letter had an interesting addition: You do write a very good villain.

Encouraged by the repeated comment, I studied how I had written my villain. Of course, as with all my characters, my villains are created with traits from people I’ve met throughout my life. From men who treated me badly to women who betrayed our friendship, I have a plethora of evil qualities to attribute to my villains.

I also learned from studying how I wrote my very first villain, Damian Garza, that his character had more depth than my heroine, Clara. Another tidbit was that I wrote Damian in third person instead of Clara’s narrative in first person. However, the biggest revelation was discovering that writing in the voices of my three main characters — the heroine, the hero, and the villain — allowed me to create more three-dimensional characters.

“Murder in Margaritaville” would never obtain an agent or publishing deal. Luckily for me, though, my fabulous friend, Paty Jager, helped me begin my self-publishing journey, and this novel became “Malice in Mazatlán.”

The words, “You do write a very good villain,” have stuck with me throughout my writing career and helped to hone my process. I always start with a title because, for me, the title guides the story. The next book in my Mexico Mayhem Series is “Lost in Loreto.” It took me a few months to decide who was lost and what had caused them to be missing. The cause, of course, originates from my villain’s actions. When the opening line appears in my writer’s brain, I get giddy with excitement to know how the story begins.

Now that I know my villain’s crime, I spend time with him or her asking those pertinent questions: Why? How? When? What? Where? At the beginning of my villain, Arlo’s story, he has no redeeming qualities at this point. But I know from experience that it can change as the other characters begin their search for the missing Gabriella.

In this series, my hero, Javier, is a character who has moved forward from “Chaos in Cabo,” but I needed to introduce a new heroine. In “Lost in Loreto,” this character was a bit of a challenge. When Scarlett Quinn finally materialized, I was thrilled with the direction the story would now take. Oh, what “fun” she’s going to cause.

I usually know the general storyline of the novel I’m writing, although I’ve had characters change the trajectory of their story, which changes everything. In “Lost in Loreto,” I knew as soon as I researched the location of the crime, fleshed out my victim, and wrote the first chapter … what awaits my villain, Arlo. And if my characters stick to their roles, I doubt any tears will be shed when Arlo receives his “punishment.”

Even though I’m back to working on my next WIP, tears still fill my eyes when I think about Alida. I know she needed to pay for her crimes in some fashion, but until I wrote her last two chapters, I didn’t know she would be the one to end her story.

I’ve written six novels and three novellas now, and I’m so thankful for the creative license that self-publishing allows me. Without anyone demanding a finished product by a certain date (except me, of course), I can work on three different books at the same time if I want to.

But I’m also thankful for the time those agents and editors took to tell me: You do write a very good villain.

Happy writing, Ladies, and may all your villains be deliciously villainous!

Hello, Ladies ~

When I was a kid, I loved playing the game of “Clue.” Piecing together the clues to decide if Miss Scarlett killed the victim with a candlestick in the conservatory was exhilarating.

And was there anything better than watching “Perry Mason,” “Matlock,” or “CSI?” I would settle in to watch these shows armed with a pen and pad, making notes of possible clues to help me solve the crime before the episode ended.

A few weeks ago, a writer friend and I were talking about writer’s block, something she’d been struggling with. When I said I never suffer from writer’s block, she raised an eyebrow.

I continued, sharing that my brain sort of takes over and directs my fingers across the keyboard, or guides the pen in my hand across a blank page.

“Can you give me an example?” she asked.

My response, then became my blog for this month …

While I don’t write mysteries per se, I do like to add a touch of mystery to my books. In my first novel, “Peril in Paradise,” I discovered that my writer’s brain had automatically planted clues about my crime and villain. In my series México Mayhem, the reader knows who the villain is from the beginning, but I still create a sense of mystery by adding perfect hidden gems to keep the reader guessing.

Two of my favorite additions were characters who weren’t meant to be in more than a couple of scenes. In “Peril in Paradise,” I created Billy Boyd, who becomes my villain Damian’s cellmate. I didn’t know when I created Billy, initially intending for him to add color to a few scenes with Damian, that he would become his own interesting character.

In “Malice in Mazatlan,” Alba’s only purpose was to paint a picture for the reader of how difficult my villain, Sarita Garcia, could be. But Alba ends up stealing a scene and becoming a perfect hidden gem.

As I reread the current WIP for my México Mayhem Series, “Vanished in Vallarta,” I realized I had added some hidden gems during the first draft that I could now use as clues for the Hero and Heroine as they try to tie a suspect to a murder. When I edited the Villain’s chapters, I discovered I’d done the same thing with her storyline.

Every time I find these intriguing nuggets, I’m in awe of how my brain has placed a little of this and a little of that in the right places of the storyline, which I can now turn into tantalizing tidbits for my readers. Another fabulous thing occurred, too. Without knowingly inserting this information, I created a storyline for my next book, “Lost in Loreto.”

In the first novel, “Redneck Ranch,” of my Stoneybrook Mysteries, I added stab wounds to my victim and placed her on the dirt floor of an old barn. But I didn’t know at the time the stab wounds would reveal Morse Code for a number or that the barn floor being void of blood would suggest a different crime scene for this victim.

I just finished a short story, “Jamboree Jealousy,” for an anthology, and when I did my read-through, I smiled at the hidden gems I’d already added to the story: A missing cowboy hat. A gold hoop earring. A few pages with lyrics for a song.

I hope there are many Hidden Gems in your writing endeavors, too! Happy Writing, Sisters!

Happy Summer, Ladies ~ I wanted to start by thanking all of you who reached out during my sister Lori’s illness, and to let you know she passed away on June 2^nd.

My sister, fourteen months younger than me, always challenged me to be a good big sister.

Lori loved tossing her baby bottle from her crib and squealing until someone would retrieve it. Our single mom, Rita, would be busy cooking, cleaning, or getting ready for one of her three jobs, so I would toddle over and hand my baby sister her bottle. Lori would enjoy it until she wanted attention again and then toss it overboard again.

Lori challenged me to be my sister’s keeper when we were little girls. My job was to hold her hand, ensuring she stayed out of trouble when Mom took us shopping or to visit our grandparents’ small mom-and-pop store. On one exciting trip to Sears to shop for new summer sandals, I let go of Lori’s hand, and she wandered off.

“Where’s your sister?” Mom asked, frantically looking around the store. I shrugged and looked around, too.

My mother shrieked and raced toward a display of bathroom toilets, where my little sister sat perched on an avocado green throne.

“I go big girl potty, Mommy.” Lori beamed despite Mom snatching her from the toilet. She pulled up my sister’s panties and smoothed her sundress. Before leading her away from the display, my mother made the mistake of looking in the bowl where Lori had left a tiny brown deposit.

Needless to say, we didn’t go back to Sears for a few years.

As teenagers, Lori challenged me to be a less stuffy older sister. I was prone to wearing turtlenecks and loose-fitting Levi’s, while Lori preferred a hipper wardrobe of scoop-neck T-shirts and tight bellbottoms. One day, she and I went to the Medford Center to do a little shopping. Even though enough time had passed and we could have shopped at Sears, we decided on JC Penny’s. Lori stuck me in a dressing room and brought me clothes to try on.

I wore one of my new outfits to school the next day: a yellow blouse with cap sleeves and dark blue denim bellbottoms. I finally got my first compliment from a boy I liked when he said, “Nice jeans.”

As adults, Lori became an unwavering source of support when my son, Derrick, was diagnosed with autism, and I found myself a divorced mother of two. She watched my boys. She encouraged me to date. She taught me how to dance.

Despite her helpfulness, my relationship with my sister was also difficult. Sometimes I wanted to walk away from her instead of trying to mend whatever bridge she’d burned. So, as I said at the beginning, my sister Lori was challenging, and I share this story because I believe our relationship taught me how to shape characters for my books.

Whether I’m writing a Hero, a Heroine, or a Villain, I know I infuse my characters with some of Lori’s personality traits.

Clara in “Peril in Paradise” has Lori’s indomitable determination to find revenge for her daughter. In “Redneck Ranch,” Harley and Busy’s best friend relationship is a take-off of mine and Lori’s sisterhood. In “Vanished in Vallarta,” Jade is on a mission to find her missing little sister.

My female or male villains reflect some of her flaws, too, such as her unreasonable jealousy or sense of entitlement. Though Lori wasn’t necessarily evil, she did have a mean streak that, at times, she directed at me.

Over the last seven months, Lori challenged me to be a better writer. A better storyteller. A better editor.

She wanted to help me edit my current novel, “Chaos in Cabo.” I set her up with chapters, blue and red pens, and the nine things I look for in each chapter. The senses: Sight, Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch. And the nuances, I think, bring realism to my story: Accessories, Clothing, Eyes, Hair.

Lori valiantly tried to read each chapter and mark these items off the list, but she had a hard time focusing on the story. However, she did ask good questions, so the end result for me was that I was able to explain my editing process to another writer who asked if I would edit her novel.

My sister Lori was a challenge to the end. She died on June 2^nd, my son Derrick’s birthday.

We had a lovely family day on June 1st, her son’s birthday. We played games, ate pizza, and enjoyed an ice cream cake. I spent the night at her house, and we stayed up late talking and laughing.

The next morning, Lori seemed a little tired but otherwise fine. She commented about not being able to get into heaven if you weren’t always a good person. I told her that if she wanted forgiveness, all she had to do was ask God. She got quiet for a few minutes and closed her eyes. Then she said, “I feel bad that I get to see Derrick before you.”

My phone pinged because someone liked my Facebook birthday post for Derrick, and I showed Lori his picture.

She grabbed my hand, and my sister, who never asked me to pray with her before, said, “Can we say a prayer for Derrick’s birthday?”

I nodded and said, “Happy Birthday, Derrick. We hope you’re having a great day in heaven. Aunt Lori and I are laughing about Grandma Rita and Grandma Betty arguing over who gets to bake you a cake. I love and miss you, big guy! Aunt Lori wants to say something.”

Eyes closed, she squeezed my hand and said, “Happy birthday, Derrick. I miss you so much. And I want you to know I’m coming to see you soon.”

Lori drifted off to sleep and seemed fine throughout the morning. Then, just after noon, her breathing became labored, and she appeared to be in a coma. Her husband called the Hospice nurse, who was running late, and she said she would be there as soon as possible.

Keith and I took turns holding Lori’s hand and making her comfortable. Neither of us was in denial that her time was near, but neither of us was ready for her to go.

My challenging little sister went to heaven at 1:50 pm on Monday, June 2, 2025.

Several people said to me after Lori passed away that they were sorry she died on Derrick’s birthday, to which I replied:

“I’m not because I believe my loving son reached his strong hand down from the heavens and said, ‘Come on, Aunt Lori … it’s time.’”

Over the rainbow and from heaven, my little sister challenged me to lean into my faith and share her peaceful passing with others.

Hug your family members, Sisters!