My First Time by Debra H. Goldstein


First times can be sweet,
scary, not quite perfect, or like a moon rocket perfectly shooting into orbit.
There are lots of ways to define first times. A mother recollects the first
smile, the step, the first words. A young woman remembers her first heels,
first make-up, and a few other firsts I can’t mention in the context of this
blog (but feel free to go back in your own mind for a moment). For a writer,
there are many firsts that create memories and sensations that can never be
duplicated.
I have been fortunate that
in my short writing career, there have been many instances of happy dancing.
When my essay, Maybe I Should Hug You, won an Alabama Writer’s Conclave
Nonfiction Award, I was thrilled. Of course, when MORE Magazine published it
online as More Hugs, Less Fear, my feet came off the ground even further.

When I received an email
offer of publication for my first book, Maze in Blue, my initial reaction was
“Oh, Shit” followed by “No, Shit.” Holding that first book in my hand was
almost as much of a high as the moment I held my first child. When six months
later, Maze won a 2012 IPPY Award, I was jazzed.
Other writing awards,
publication of twenty-four short stories, and the acceptance and publication of
Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery
have made me extremely happy, but they haven’t been “firsts.
This week, I experienced
another first that brought me out of the low profile I normally keep. Not only
was my first story published in the May/June edition of Alfred Hitchcock
Mystery Magazine, one of the most prestigious magazines that mystery writers
die to be accepted by, but my name was included on the cover.  Happy dancing.  Credibility. Excitement. Gratefulness.
I haven’t come down to
earth yet, and I hope I don’t for quite some time; however, this first is
tinged with a different aspect. It highlights the reality of the choice I made
to follow a passion.

One story will not bring
me to the same level as the other writers I deeply admire and share the pages
with, but it sure is nice rubbing elbows and breathing the same air as them,
even for a few minutes. A first that will stay with me no matter how my career
continues.

Clicking Our Heels – Writing: Passion or Work?

Clicking Our Heels –
Writing: Passion or Work?

Stiletto Gang members all
write, but the question is why? Read on to find out whether we consider writing
a job, a passion or a hobby and whether our emotional reaction to it has
changed.

Kay Kendall – I consider
writing to be my calling. I have always written, even in my previous job. I
just never wrote fiction before I took it up ca. 1999. I didn’t think I had any
stories to tell. Now I do have them. I just needed more confidence, and a bit
of age, in order to feel comfortable in telling my stories. 

Linda Rodriguez – To me,
writing is my vocation, which means it’s my job, but it’s also a passion.

If I
never needed to earn another dollar again, I would still write.

Sparkle Abbey – It’s
always been a passion and for both of us simply a part of who we are. Like many
others we’ve always written and have had a love for words. Since signing a
contract for our first four books in 2010, it’s had to become more of a job
because we have deadlines to deal with. That’s been an adjustment but one we’re
okay with. We just signed a contract for more books, so we’re excited to
continue writing the Pampered Pets mystery series. 

Cathy Perkins – Writing is
both a (second) job and a passion. Being time constrained takes a toll on me,
especially when my creative side has to take a back seat to the part of my life
that comes with a paycheck. Fortunately, my husband sleeps through me turning
on the light at 3 A> to scribble down scene ideas and snippets of dialogue. What,
your subconscious doesn’t keep right on writing at night? 

Kimberly Jayne – Writing
is definitely not a hobby for me. It’s a job that I’m passionate about,
although I dislike referring to it as a “job,” which for me carries a negative
connotation. It reminds me too much of the day jobs I’ve had over my lifetime
that I didn’t want to go to each day but, of course, had to. Writing has become
more important to me over the years because I feel, like many, that time is
running out to achieve the many writing goals I had set for myself when I was
in my twenties. If fulfills me in a way it didn’t previously as well, which I
think comes from acquiring the confidence and competence in my skills and
talents that I didn’t have when I was young. 

Debra H. Goldstein
Passion. I walked away from a lifetime judicial appointment to pursue writing,
at whatever level I am capable of, because of the joy it gives. 

Paffi S. Flood – As a job.
I have a routine to where I’m at my laptop every morning at 9:00 to do
something. It isn’t always writing. It could be something as simple as plotting
out a scene for clarity,

but I do it. That’s the only way I can make progress
on my manuscript.

Jennae Phillippe – All of
the above. Sometimes it feels like more work than other times. I am at my best
when I can tap into writing as a passion, and at my worse when it feels like a
chore. I think when I start to think like a publisher and imagine what sort of
stories are marketable, it feels the most like a job, and when I think like
that 14-year-old kid who just wanted to write fantastical stories, I enjoy it
the most. I just need to think like a marketing savvy 14-year-old and I’ll
crack the writing code. 

Bethany Maines – With my
day job as a graphic designer, I’ve learned that having a passion IS work. But
writing has evolved over time to be something that was just for me, into
something that is more outward facing and shaped for an exterior audience. 

Paula Gail Benson – Yes.
Since 2013, when I seriously began making submissions, it has been a job. It
remains a passion. It’s no longer just a hobby, because even if I’m writing to
help a group with which I’m affiliated, I have to take credit for my prose and
know it will be judged with professional standards.

Short post

This week is an exciting week for me as I will be awarded the MWA Raven Award on Thursday. I have to give a speech. Too frightening for me, but I’m going to do it. I wrote it. I read it out loud. Made changes and I hope I don’t ramble when I get up to the podium. All my life, I shied away from public speaking. This will definitely be a stepping out of my comfort zone moment.

So, tell me, how do you cope with stepping out of your comfort zone?

Life Lessons

by Linda Rodriguez
I’ve been around for a lot more than
a few years. And, stubborn as I can be, I’ve learned some things
along the way. Oddly enough, it’s not the big lessons that have
made a difference in my life, but a series of small rules for happy
living that I’ve learned to make a part of my daily life. 

  1. Do at least one thing a day that
    gives you pleasure. 
  2. Live your life in chapters. Focus
    on the chapter you’re in now. You don’t have to do/have/be it
    all now!
  3. Don’t get overwhelmed. Break
    everything into baby steps. One page a day is a book in a year.
    Fifteen minutes a day on any overwhelming or distasteful task adds
    up and eventually will lengthen on its own. The ordinary kitchen
    timer is your friend.
  4. Always clean up your messes.
  5. Be kind to yourself and others.
  6. Give something back.
  7. Use it, appreciate it, or lose it.
    Your body, mind, belongings. Remember, unapplied knowledge is
    wasteful (f not tragic).
  8. Make time to do often what you do
    well and enjoy. Spend time with people who think you’re great.
    When the world isn’t noticing you, notice and reward yourself.
    Give others recognition, in turn.
  9. Make quiet time for yourself alone
    every day. And a corollary is have a place, even merely a spot,
    that’s just for you. Use it for devotions, meditation, journaling,
    or just reading. Give yourself 10 minutes of silence every day.
  10. Pay attention
    to your breath. Conscious breath control can help you control
    stress, worry, and fear and replace them with calm and peace.
  11. You create the path you’ll walk
    on in life with your words. Think before you speak. Remind yourself
    that, to a great extent, you are creating your reality when you
    speak.
  12. Pay attention
    to your own emotional needs and desires.
  13. Decide what you
    want your life to look like. Write it down. In detail.
  14. Act “as if.”
    Imagine if your desired life were here now, if you could not fail.
    What would you do? Do it.
  15. Conserve your energy. Rid your
    life of energy thieves—negative people and habits.

What about you? What rules would you
add to my list?

Taxis, Uber and Career Path Choices

By Cathy Perkins

I had to go to LA for the day job this week. At LAX, I
trotted out to Ground Transportation. I’d heard LA didn’t allow Uber drivers in
the ground transportation aisle (where the nine million shuttles and taxis
wait), so I grabbed a taxi to head to my meeting. The driver shot away from the
curb before even asking my destination. 

Who knows, maybe he was afraid his fare
would escape.
After pulling up the street address from my email and
sharing the location with the driver, I opened an app to track our path to the
destination. The driver was livid and told me in no uncertain terms that he
didn’t want me telling him where or how to drive. Or that I thought I knew
better than he did how to get where we were going. There might have been a few
other “rules” thrown around, but I’d quit listening by that point.
I’m still not entirely sure what his actual objection was,
but I muted the sound and left the app running. Okay, part of the reason I run
the route app is security. I’m in a city I don’t know well, with a person I
don’t know the first thing about.  And
he’s not exactly making me feel safe as he drives like a maniac, squeezing into
non-existent gaps in traffic, alternating between sixty and zero in shoulder
wrenching seconds. (Yes, I put on my seat belt!) The other reason for running
the app is to put names to the streetscape flowing past my window. Oh look.
That’s Marina Del Ray with all the fabulous boats. I didn’t know Loyola
Marymount University had a campus here. It’s lovely.  
Somewhere along the way this driver ranted about Uber. By
this point, I’d tuned him out and looked at the window (while keeping a surreptitious
eye on the app and the route). When the meeting concluded and I needed a ride
back to the airport, who did I call? You got it in one. I tapped the Uber app
and a driver appeared within minutes.
The Uber driver’s car was new and spotless. The driver
himself was charming. In spite of what you may have read about some
disgruntlement among Uber drivers, this guy loved his job. He drove full time,
but set his own hours and avoided the late afternoon crush of LA’s notorious
traffic. I got the impression he spent most afternoons at the beach before
returning to the streets for several more hours of evening driving. (Great way
to get home from a club or restaurant if you’ve like to have a glass of wine
with dinner.)
The other information he freely shared was his business
structure. Because he’s been with Uber for over four years, his percentage of
the fare has increased from 80% to 90%. With his portion of the proceeds, he
covers all his own expenses, including the decision to upgrade (and afford) the
car he was driving. His positive ratings from passengers apparently also move
him up in the ranking for notifications in his area when he’s looking for his
next fare.
In the waiting area at LAX, I couldn’t help but compare the
two transportation modes to the evolving status of publishing. Taxis and
traditional publishing seem established and “safe” while Uber and independent
publishing seem riskier. That risk level in the newer technologies drops,
however, as the concept grows and evolves.
So how does transportation compare with publishing? While a
few big names still pull in significant advances from traditional publishers,
midlist authors have been cut left and right. Royalty rates are puny and print
runs are decreasing. On the plus side, the publisher covers most of the
production costs for the book. Likewise for the taxi driver, the rate of pay is
reduced, but the cab company pays more of the expense—which sometimes means a
sleek towncar and at others, a rust-bucket you hope makes it to your
destination. The author may be assigned a top notch editor and talented cover
artist, and receive superb marketing placement. Or he or she may end up with a new
untested editor and little publisher support.
Like the Uber driver, the independent author can potentially
earn a much larger royalty but also must cover his or her business expenses.
The author has the choice of where to spend and how much capital to allocate.
New car/clean up the existing vehicle? Hire a top notch editor/ask a friend to
beta read? What can the author competently handle and where is it better to
hire experienced assistants? Each step has financial repercussions. And each
person must make the career choice they feel is correct for them.
The most important decision the author (and driver) must
make however? What will give the passenger/reader the best experience?
Because isn’t that what it’s all about?

By the way, I’m sure you’ll be surprised to hear that next
time I’m in LA, I take Uber rather than stepping into that taxi.

An
award-winning author of financial mysteries, Cathy Perkins writes twisting dark
suspense and light amateur sleuth stories.  When not writing, she battles
with the beavers over the pond height or heads out on another travel adventure.
She lives in Washington with her husband, children, several dogs and the
resident deer herd.

Visit her at her website or her Amazon author page.

Libraries I Have Loved

By Kay Kendall

Last
Saturday I celebrated National Library Week by giving an invited talk at the
Bellaire City Library. This fine facility is located in an incorporated city
located within the Houston metropolitan area. The occasion presented the
opportunity to ruminate on what libraries mean to me.
My small
hometown in Kansas had a Carnegie Library, a place that played a prominent role
in my

Carnegie Library, El Dorado, KS

life, especially in my grade school years. Like most other writers, I’ve
always been an inveterate reader. I cannot recall a time when I was not
surrounded by books. Each summer saw me in the cool confines of the old stone
building, selecting books to take home and devour. Mother would be upstairs
checking out books for grownups and I would be in the basement where the
children’s books were kept. It was cooler there, and in the early years that
was important, before our home was air-conditioned.

As background for my talk last
weekend, I researched details about the vast number of libraries across America
that Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie donated. Between
the years 1883 and 1929, there were 2,509 Carnegie libraries built, both in
public and in university library systems. Of that number, 1,689 were built in
the United States.
By the time Carnegie made the
last grant in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly
half of them built with construction grants paid by Carnegie. He also
underwrote construction of many libraries across the English-speaking world, as
well as numerous non-English speaking countries. I cannot imagine a greater
legacy to have than his.
“My” Carnegie Library in El Dorado,
Kansas, was built in 1912 in the classical revival style. I am pleased to say
that it still exists, being now repurposed and added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1987. A survey made in 1992 of Carnegie Libraries in America found that
1,554 of the 1,681 original buildings still existed, with 911 still used as
libraries. Two hundred forty-three had been demolished, while others had been
converted to other uses, like “my” library in Kansas. For a time when I was
in high school, it had even served as the city-funded hangout for teenagers. I remember dancing to an Elvis tune in that place (dubbed The Cage), and it felt almost
sacrilegious to me.
Strahov Monastery Library, Prague (see below)

I have used more grand and extensive
libraries, but clearly this—my very first—library means
the most to me. It offered the thrill of countless books to read—ones
I could check out as fast as I could read and return them. (My eight-year-old
grandson is like that now, reading three to four books each week. He taught
himself to read at age four. I had heard of that but had never seen it with my
own eyes. I was amazed).

Libraries have been important to the advance of human knowledge
for many millennia. Babylon is credited with having the first known library, and
ancient Egypt comes next. Of course the industrious Romans made improvements with their
libraries. Benjamin Franklin founded a subscription library in Philadelphia in
1731, a precursor of public lending libraries. Carnegie’s American libraries pioneered
open stacks, thus enabling the joy of browsing.
In closing I want to salute the most beautiful library I
have ever seen—not in photographs but in real life, in person. Twenty years ago
I visited the Strahov Monastery in Prague, situated on a hill high above the city’s
famous castle. I walked down a corridor in the monastery and peeked in an open door, marked by a
satin rope across its threshold. And what I beheld made me gasp out loud. The vision
I saw was the Philosophical Hall, one of two vast rooms built in the 1700s for
the monastery’s ancient collection of books. This was a veritable temple to written
human knowledge.
If you are ever in Prague, I suggest you go out of your
way to visit this splendid place. A photograph is included here to give you a
hint of its beauty.
What libraries have meant the most to you? Do you have a
favorite? Were you able to study in the stacks in college? I could not.
Whenever I heard footsteps, my head would pop up to see if it was someone whom
I knew.

~~~~~~~

 
Read the first 20
pages of Kay Kendall’s second mystery, RANY DAY
WOMEN here!
http://www.austinstarr.com/ 
That
book
won two awards at the Killer Nashville conference in August
2016—for best mystery/crime and also for best book.  Her first novel about
Austin Starr‘s sleuthing, DESOLATION ROW, was a finalist for best mystery at
Killer Nashville in 2014. Visit Kay
on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

The Good Parts

by J.M. Phillippe

I have a confession to make: when I read books, I tend to skip through large swaths of text. It started when I was a kid, reading fantasy novels. I adore fantasy novels. But without fail, every fantasy author I have ever read has spent a tremendous amount of time describing things. Now, when you are creating a world mostly from scratch, there are a lot of new things to describe. World-building takes a lot of time (as I am learning, since I am now writing a contemporary fantasy novel), and authors want to make sure that effort shows in their book.

And while I know there are readers who really appreciate those long, detailed passages that describe all the unique things of that magical new world, I am not one of them. I find myself skimming, searching out the gist of whatever is being described — the character likes fancy clothing or the home is drafty and cold — and then move on to dialogue and action. Sometimes I have to go back and actually read something I’ve skimmed through because I’ve missed something important, but mostly I can get away with skipping entire paragraphs without missing anything significant. 
This is not just a fantasy and science fiction problem either — I have ready plenty of mysteries where characters are described like the author is working with a sketch artist, and romances where the heroine’s wardrobe has gotten more page-space than the love scenes. 
I should say that I have never not enjoyed a book because I skipped over the long descriptions — in fact, some of the best lines I have ever read have been in those passages (when I have read them). They just tend to interfere with my primary driving force as a reader — to find out what happens next. 
Now that I am trying to create a new world, I find myself writing those same long passages that describe everything. And honestly, I have been wondering just how much I have to actually include — and how much I can get away with leaving out. It is an essential question for every writer — how much can you trust the reader to fill in the blanks? 
I know there is no one-size-fits-all level of description that will satisfy every reader, and certainly I may be on the far side of the spectrum in the number of scenes I gloss over. And while there probably are more writers not writing enough vivid description, I also don’t want to be one of those writers that overdoes it either. But it’s a hard balance to achieve. 
But, since I am making my confession, I should also make my apologies. To most every author I have ever read, even the ones I loved — I am sorry for not actually reading all the words you wrote. I am sure they were amazing words. Gorgeous descriptions. Pure poetry. I likely skipped your best lines. 
But I probably loved your book, anyway.
***
J.M. Phillippe is the author of Perfect Likeness and the short story The Sight. She has lived in the deserts of California, the suburbs of Seattle, and the mad rush of New York City. She works as a family therapist in Brooklyn, New York and spends her free-time decorating her tiny apartment to her cat Oscar Wilde’s liking, drinking cider at her favorite British-style pub, and training to be the next Karate Kid, one wax-on at a time.

Meet the Authors of the 2016 Agatha Best First Novel Nominees!


Each
year at Malice Domestic, writing excellence is recognized by the Agatha awards.
This year’s nominees for Best First Novel are (in alphabetical order by first
name):
Best First Novel:
Terror in Taffeta by
Marla Cooper (Minotaur)
Murder in G Major by
Alexia Gordon (Henery Press)
The Semester of Our Discontent
by Cynthia Kuhn (Henery Press)
Decanting a Murder
by Nadine Nettmann (Midnight Ink)
Design for Dying by
Renee Patrick (Forge Books)
Today,
the Stiletto Gang welcomes Marla, Alexia, Cynthia, Nadine, and Renee (
the pseudonym for married authors Rosemarie and Vince
Keenan)
. Thanks for stopping by to share your work and thoughts
with us!—Paula
Gail Benson
What writing habits enabled you to
complete a novel?
MARLA:
I’ve
never been one of those writers who gets up two hours early every day so she
can have dedicated writing time. But I did find a handy way to trick myself
into a consistent writing practice. For me, getting started is the hardest
part. So when I’m writing a novel, I make myself sit down and write 50 words
every day. That’s all. Just fifty little words. They don’t even have to be good
words. Most days, I end up getting into my groove and writing a whole lot more
— but just getting myself past the resistance makes all the difference.

ALEXIA:

Having deadlines helps
me. I hate to disappoint (one of my hang-ups) so being accountable to another
person for turning in pages prompts me to get the pages written.

 


CYNTHIA:
One
thing that’s helped me is to allow the entire first draft to be a kind of a
joyful keyboard pounding, in which I don’t evaluate or second-guess anything; I
just write until I have a complete story. Then comes the deep and intensive
revision phase, in which there is not only second-guessing, but also
third-guessing and fourth-guessing and so on…times infinity (or so it feels).
NADINE:
Besides
the fear of regret, which isn’t really a habit but it feels like one, I would
do writing sprints with a friend. We would text to set a start time and then
write for thirty minutes, checking in with each other when we were done. It was
a great way to hold each other accountable and we both would often keep writing
past the thirty minutes. Currently, I’m trying to do Magic Mornings where I
wake up and write first thing without checking the Internet or my phone. It’s
still an effort but I’m hoping it will become such a habit that I never miss a
morning. I might be hoping for a while as it’s very tempting to look online
when I wake up.
RENEE (Rosemarie and Vince):
We
were both raised Catholic, so we each have two powerful motivational tools on
which we can rely: guilt, and the fear of guilt. They power us through every
endeavor, but when combined they are nigh upon unstoppable. To any and all
aspiring writers out there, we say find yourselves a co-author. Knowing that
you will have to answer to a trusted friend or loved one for missed deadlines,
mixed metaphors and botched jokes will keep you typing until your fingers ache.
  



What shoes would you, your protagonist, or
another character from your novel wear to the Agathas banquet?

MARLA:

So,
about the shoes: As a destination wedding planner, my main character Kelsey has
to sacrifice style for practicality since she sometimes is on her feet for up
to 8 hours at a time. But for the Agathas, she’d have the night off from
playing party planner, so she’d probably break out the Laboutins in the back of
her closet. (She inherited from a bride who bought them in three different
colors “just in case,” but couldn’t be bothered to return them.)

ALEXIA:

Gethsemane would wear some bad-ass high-heeled boots. Because I
can’t wear them and Gethsemane was born out of wish-fulfillment. 

CYNTHIA:

Lila
would be planning to wear her favorite black Doc Martens lace-up boots, but her
cousin Calista would talk her into some still-in-the-box Jimmy Choo pumps, a
gift from Lila’s mother that has been languishing in her closet.

NADINE:

As
for shoes, I’ll choose Tessa for this question as she loves clothes and fashion.
In Decanting a Murder, Tessa wears a pair of navy blue Manolo Blahnik heels but
I think for the Agathas banquet, she would go for a bright red pair that were
several inches high. Katie Stillwell would probably wear very small heels,
unless Tessa talked her into some tall ones again.

RENEE (Rosemarie and Vince):

Lillian
Frost would choose a high-heeled sandal in sparkling silver but Edith Head
would suggest a more practical black kitten-heeled pump. And thank you for the
invitation but Edith couldn’t possibly attend, she’s much too busy.

Not a Happy Camper

Not a Happy Camper by Debra H. Goldstein

Ripped off!  Violated!  Pissed. All emotions and thoughts going through my mind this morning when I picked up my Mah jongg change purse and discovered it was significantly lighter than when I put it in my car’s console Friday morning.

It was only four dollars in quarters lighter, but I was bummed.  Was the culprit the clean-cut valet who parked my car when I met my daughter in Atlanta for brunch on Sunday? Was it the nice duo who vacuumed my car and its mats at the carwash? Could it have been the industrious young man who spent so much time wiping and polishing my car when it rolled out of the wash?

I don’t know. 

What I do know is how much money should have been there for next week’s game. 

I don’t count my Mah jongg winnings every week, but instead of transferring it from my purse to the car’s console and leaving it there until I play the next week, as I did until this morning, I accidentally carried it into the house last Thursday.  Understand, I stake myself $5 every January and watch it go up and down throughout the year. Occasionally, the stake runs out before year’s end, but most of the time it is enough to entertain myself once a week for the year.  When I took it into the house and out of my purse last Thursday evening, I realized it was heavier than usual.

I counted it.  I was up.  There was $9.75 in the change purse.  Happiness.

After the car wash today, I opened the place in the car where I keep my mah jongg card, change purse, coupons, a few quarters for parking, parking passes, and sunglasses.  It wasn’t in its usual neat order.  All but two of the six parking quarters were missing and the change purse was skewed out of its normal location. I picked it up and discovered the purse felt thinner and lighter.  It was.

I counted it. There was $5.25.  Bummer.

In the future, the maj money will come out of the car – the six parking quarters will remain.  I’ve learned my lesson thanks to someone who is up $5.50 in quarters.  What’s even more frustrating, I tipped each of the suspects.  Sign me, Not a Happy Camper.

Production for Use

by Bethany Maines

In the movie His Girl Friday (Cary Grant & Rosalind
Russell), a light hearted screwball comedy that centers around a newspaper
editor and his ex-wife/top reporter as they attempt to get the big story and he
attempts to prevent her from marrying someone else. Under the froth, romance,
laughs and lightning fast dialogue the plot also deals with a poor schlub who
shot a cop and is getting the death penalty mostly due to politics and in spite
of the fact that he’s not really dealing with a full deck.  In the movie, Rosalind Russell interviews the
schlub and asks him what crack-pots he was listening to in the park while he
was whiling away his unemployed time.  The
soapbox ranter he listened to the most, the one the made the most sense was a
man who talked about “production for use.”
That phrase crops up for me time and time again as a
philosophical touchpoint.  When I’m
writing I will periodically ask myself, what use is this scene?  What has it been produced for?  Is the way in which I have presented the scene—from
POV, to word choice, to start and finish points—the best, most useful way, to
achieve the goal?  If the action of the
characters is correct, then are the emotions within the scene hitting the right
notes?  Often times as writers will get
bogged down in telling who went where when and we forget to also incorporate the
emotion, the driving force that pushes the character into action.  The same can also be true in reverse.  I have spent whole pages blithering on about
a character’s feelings (Reminder to self: No one gives a crap.  It’s boring. 
Stop doing that.) and forgotten to advance the plot at all.  And then, even if the emotions and the
actions are right, is everything told in the right words—is the style of the
telling the best way to tell it?
This level of thinking is difficult because it forces me to
objectively look at the story and check in on the individual elements of style,
tone, and content.  And generally, for me,
that can only be done after I have completed a draft and I’m working in the
editorial phase.  If that all sounds like
a lot of work, then you’re correct, but I like to think my readers appreciate
it.  After all I put a lot of work into producing
a book for the use of readers to enjoy.
***
Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie
Mae Mysteries
, Wild Waters, Tales
from the City of Destiny
and An
Unseen Current
.  
You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.