Getting Back on Track

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By Evelyn David

It’s easy….way too easy…to get de-railed.

Over the last two months, heavy day-job responsibilities,
family illnesses and celebrations, the holidays, you name it, and the two
halves of Evelyn David have had trouble composing coherent grocery lists, let
alone creating murder and mayhem.

It’s not that I think 2013 is going to be any easier or less
complicated. Life is often like a roller coaster, slow, sometimes an excruciatingly
measured climb upward; perhaps a whiplash turn or two; then a calm, level track
with no dips or slips and the temptation to relax and just coast along; and
then a dizzying, stomach-dropping, but possibly exhilarating ride down. And
then it starts again.

So no, I don’t suppose or even want our lives to get less
complex. But the last couple of months of creative indolence have taught me
what every successful writer has said countless times. You’ve just got to park
your bottom in a chair and DO IT.

Anne Lamott, one of my favorite writers, in her brilliant
book on writing, Bird By Bird, talks about the creative process. I find it
reassuring – a lifeline when I don’t think there are any words I could possibly
put down on paper that would tempt a reader to enter my make-believe worlds. But
Lamott reassures me – and then makes me laugh:

“I know some very
great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great
deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly
enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All
right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much. We do not think that
she has a rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her.
(Although when I mentioned this to my priest friend Tom, he said that you can
safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God
hates all the same people you do.)”

So we’re back in the saddle again (a worn cliché, but heck
the Southern half is from Oklahoma, home of
The National Cowboy and Western
Heritage Museum).
We have already had multiple conversations about upping the danger quotient in
this novel. The stakes have to be high in order for the reader to care what
happens. So far, we’ve got one heart-stopping car accident, one fatal robbery,
and a drive-by-shooting – so I think we’re definitely back in murder and mayhem
central.

 I know writers who have daily word goals – and I sorta,
kinda do, but you know, life sometimes has a way of moving those goalposts. Instead
my resolution for 2013 is to buckle my seatbelt, it’s apt to be a bumpy ride –
and write, revise, edit, delete, but most of all, to
reengage my creative self in the wonderful world of make-believe.

Happy, Healthy, Have-Fun-Writing New Year.
 
Marian, the Northern half of Evelyn David

 


A Reason to Give Thanks includes: Giving Thanks
in Lottawatah, Bah, Humbug in Lottawatah, Moonlighting at the Mall, The Fortune
Teller’s Face, A Reason to Give Thanks, Sneak Peek – Murder Off the Books,
Sneak Peek – I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries

A Reason to Give Thanks
Kindle
Nook
Smashwords

 

Sullivan Investigations Mystery
Murder Off the Books Kindle – Nook – Smashwords – Trade Paperback
Murder Takes the Cake Kindle – Nook – Smashwords – Trade Paperback 
Riley Come Home (short story)- Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Moonlighting at the Mall (short story) – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

 

 

Zoned for Murder
Kindle Trade Paperback


Brianna Sullivan Mysteries – e-book series
I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
The Dog Days of Summer in Lottawatah– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
The Holiday Spirit(s) of Lottawatah– Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Undying Love in Lottawatah- Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
A Haunting in Lottawatah – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Lottawatah Twister – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Missing in Lottawatah – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Good Grief in Lottawatah – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords
Summer Lightning in Lottawatah – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

The Ghosts of Lottawatah – trade paperback collection of the Brianna e-books
Book 1 – I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries (includes the first four Brianna e-books)
Book 2 – A Haunting in Lottawatah (includes the 5th, 6th, and 7th Brianna e-books)

Romances
Love Lessons – Kindle – Nook – Smashwords

Mother’s Day

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By Laura Spinella


**This is an updated rerun of last year’s post on the occasion of my mother’s 84th birthday! She is happily celebrating with two of her grandchildren while I nurse a nasty pinched nerve. It’s kept my blogging/sitting/typing skill set to the bare minimum. So my apologies for the repeat, but I’m sure Mother doesn’t mind! Happy Birthday! 

There are certain things you can’t imagine in life, like how you might prefer summer to winter, and big holy crap things like a published book. The premise of this blog, I think, falls somewhere in between. Today is Mother’s 84th birthday. Last year we marveled over her Friday the 13th birthday, Downton Abbey-like manners, and sharp wit. This year we celebrate the same, less the black cat calendar date and with the addition of my book two later this year. Don’t tell, it’s a surprise, but we’ll be uploading ISABEL’S RHAPSODY onto her birthday present come November. By then I guarantee Mother will have mastered the 21st century instrument of the printed word.

And by the way, it is Mother. Let’s get the terminology correct. Every year I look at rows of greeting cards marked Mom, and wonder, “Who would I send that to?” The card is a struggle on a lot of levels. We’re not an outwardly demonstrative group. I know lots of writers who’d use a card or blog to gush at length. They’d post gooey Facebook notes about how much Mom means and mark it with endless emoticons. While I’ve been known to tug at the heartstrings when it comes to my characters, it’s just not the way we do it at my house. Think more the decorum you’d display for the Queen. So, I thought, instead, I’d share a little with you about Mother (also never preceded by a possessive pronoun) who lives in Pennsylvania with my father. He’ll be 87 next month; he calls her Tootsie.
Mother’s name is Clarabel, which never struck me as odd, but you can bet spell check just marked it with a big red line. She was born prematurely, and for all the fuss and care taken with preemies today, let it be known that they stuck her in a coal stove. Eighty-four years later, and she’s happy to tell you the story. Her father was an interesting self-made man who, during the Great Depression, built houses and roads in Pennsylvania. Driving down any of those winding macadam-covered paths, she’ll say, “Your grandfather built this.” She attended a one-room school house that still stands next to a chapel. A painting of it hangs in her dining room. She is the middle daughter, of a middle daughter, of a middle daughter. My sister, Christine, got to be the next middle daughter, her daughter, Keryn, wise enough to be a middle daughter too, keeping that genealogical marker going. Mother’s mother was named Nora, which rhymes with Laura, and I like to think was subconsciously intentional on Mother’s part. Interestingly, this came full circle with the titling of ISABEL’S RHAPSODY. Mother remarked, “Well, that’s almost like Clarabel’s Rhapsody, isn’t it?” Mmm, perhaps.  But I doubt Mother was on my mind as I worked a steamy Chapter Twelve! 
She didn’t go to college, and I think this has always bothered her. But post WWII wasn’t an era in which women and higher education were encouraged. On the other hand, do not confuse this with any mark of intelligence or drive. Mother attended Central Communications and Airlines Academy in Kansas City, MO, going on to become one of the first women in management at TWA. To do this, she had to move to New York City, quite an adventure for an 18-year old girl from rural Pennsylvania. There she met my father, whose job wasn’t nearly as important. (No worries, he makes his mark a little later in life. Perhaps his birthday falls on my next blog date.) Men significantly outnumbered women in the workplace, and Mother had her pick of suitors. She even brushed elbows with Howard Hughes who immediately washed his. As for my parents, the story goes that Mother had a date to meet a guy named Charlie Hiney under a clock in Times Square. My father showed up early and told him to get lost. My sisters and I are grateful for this intervention and a guaranteed childhood of torment!

The next thirty plus years take place on Long Island, where tradition was at the heart of most everything. Mother sewed like a five-star seamstress.  She could make doll clothes and real clothes and costumes and slipcovers. I’m not sure how this skill befell her, but I bet I had the best-dressed Barbies on the East Coast. I know I had the most incredible Halloween costumes. When I was eight, she broke her leg while ice-skating.  Mother never missed a beat, wearing a thigh-high cast from February to July. The Sound of Music is her favorite movie, and if you’re not of a Fox News, conservative mindset… Well, it would be my best advice you keep that information to yourself. I do.

My parents have traveled over the years. She’s enjoyed places like Italy, Israel and Austria. She’s not a resort type of person, though they did take a cruise last winter. She’d kvetched about the excursions, not the destinations or cost—well, maybe the cost—but mostly Mother was perturbed by the age restrictions. Apparently, cruise lines were not that excited about folks over 75 participating in their day trips. When she told me this I laughed under my breath, thinking: Good luck to whoever is running that show. Apparently, they hadn’t met Mother.

While that merely scratches the surface of Mother, I’ll leave it there, wishing her a happy 84th birthday and many more!

Love,
Laura Jean

Laura Spinella is the author of the award winning novel, BEAUTIFUL DISASTER, and the upcoming novel, ISABEL’S RHAPSODY. Visit her at www.lauraspinella.net   

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It…

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by Bethany Maines

It’s a new year! And you know what that means? Time for
resolutions! Personally, I resolve to stop obsessively watching old episodes of
the West Wing. (Actually, I really don’t, but in public we’re going to pretend
that I do because it’s embarrassing to obsess over a show that’s over a decade
old.) I’m also making the usual one about going to the gym more and eating more
vegetables. Which is also my husband’s resolution.  Only he’s far more serious about it than I am.  He’s actually resolving to try eating meat
free a couple of days a week. I fully support this idea, but it has kind of put
a kink into my regular dinner making plans. I just don’t have a repertoire of
vegetarian recipes yet. He’s been contributing some fun new meals and an
oil-free hummus recipe that is highly delicious, if slightly over the top in
roasted garlic, but we’re still low in the whip-something-up-in-a-pinch
vegetarian recipe department. So that will be my 2013 challenge – learn to cook
vegetarian.

If that weren’t enough of a challenge I’ve also decided that
2013 is the year that I will be putting out a new series of short stories. I’ll
be trying out new characters, self-publishing, and vegetarian cooking all in
one year and I don’t mind telling you that I’m a little bit worried about it
all. I’ll admit, mostly I’m worried about the cooking. I don’t like mushrooms
and every other vegetarian recipe seems to feature mushrooms, but the
self-publishing and new characters are also weighing a bit on my mind. I really
don’t want to starve while in the midst of a new creative endeavor. Not that I
will starve. I’m pretty sure I’ve got enough fat reserves that I can subsist until at least February before I actually start to starve, but if I go on steak
consuming rampage I’ll be blaming the great profession of writing. I cannot be
expected to produce sublime creative work or even moderately entertaining
creative work on a protein deficit.
And so, dear Stiletto followers, if you wish for a sneak
peek of my paranormal adventure Tacoma series you may visit
CityofDestinyStories.com. The first story, The Dragon Incident will be released
next week and I will give a free copy to the person who submits the best meat
free recipe between now and January fifteenth.  You may leave a recipe in the comments or email it to me at carriemae.agent@gmail.com! And
please remember… I hate mushrooms.

One-humped inspiration

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by: Joelle Charbonneau

During the last few months of 2012, I got a bunch of e-mails asking me about Elwood the camel from my Rebecca Robbins mysteries.  So to start 2013, I thought I’d explain where the inspiration for Elwood came from. 

Until my mother heard me speak at a signing, she assumed I put a dromedary smack dab of a rollerskating mystery set in small town Illinois because there is a popular skating spin known as a camel.  You’ve all seen it.  The skater has one leg on the ground.  The other is stretched out behind them while they go round and round and round. 

Yes!  My mother was (and probably still is) capable of preforming this move.  Me…not so much.

But alas.  Sorry, Mom!  I was not being quite that clever when I decided to feature a one-humped mammal into the middle of this story. 

So, why a camel you ask?  Well, let me tell you.  As you all probably know, in additional to writing books, I teach voice lessons.  Over the years my student roster has included middle school, high school, college age and adult students.  One of my incredibly talented singers happened to own and jump horses.  A few years ago, just before I started writing SKATING AROUND THE LAW, she came into her lesson, said hello and mentioned that she wouldn’t be able to make her lesson the following week. 

“One of my horses has to go to the University of Illinois” she said.

Unable to resist, I responded, “Wow. Smart horse.”

She laughed and explained that she was taking the horse to the large animal vet clinic at the university and that she was looking forward to the experience since the last time she was there she met a guy with a camel.

Yep, the whole camel thing caught me off guard, too.  She then went on to say that the guy who brought the camel to the vet wasn’t even the camel’s owner.  Turns out the guy in the waiting room was the next door neighbor of the farmer who owned the camel.  While the camel lived with the farmer, the two didn’t have the best relationship.  The last time the farmer tried to bring the camel to the vet without the neighbor’s help, the camel broke out of the carrier and raced down Route 57.

Okay–if you haven’t been to the middle of Illinois, that stretch of road is flat and filled with soybean farms and corn fields.  Just imaging a camel racing down the pavement along an endless sea of corn made me giggle. 

A lot.

A few days after that conversation, I began writing SKATING AROUND THE LAW, the first of the Rebecca Robbins mystery novels, and suddenly there was an ex-circus camel named Elwood smack in the middle of the story.   It just goes to show that sometimes you never know where you are going to find inspiration.

May 2013 bring you your own one-humped inspiration.  I can’t wait to see what this year is going to hold.

Happy New Year

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The end of the year has us going over what we’ve done in the past year. In keeping with a tradition I had when I owned a personal blog, below is my reading round-up.

Here is my 2012 reading round-up: This year I’ve read 231 books, up 3% from 2011. This does not include re-reads. I’ve read the following types of books: 191 mysteries, 15 thrillers, 11 suspense, 7 romantic suspense, 5 women fiction and 2 romance titles. I’ve discovered 40 new-to-me authors this year.

Because part of my day job is to looking at trends…I’ve been keeping track of the books I’ve read and purchased since 2006.

Below are my reading trends.

  • The number of books I’ve read increased by 94%. 
  • The number of books I’ve purchased/own increased by 128% which I attribute to my e-readers and free books offered. 
  • The number of mysteries I’ve read increased by 290% which I attribute to the number of cozies I read. 

Below is a graphical representation of my genre reading over the years.

So, what trends have you been tracking or watching out for?