Breaking the Code of Silence—by T.K. Thorne

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Writer, humanist,
          dog-mom, horse servant and cat-slave,
       Lover of solitude
          and the company of good friends,
        New places, new ideas
           and old wisdom.

We are living History, a moment of angst and hope, of isolation and involvement, a time to look deep.

In the beginning of my novel, House of Rose,
my police officer heroine shoots a man in the back. I deliberately
placed Rose in that situation, because it put her in trauma, and that is
how character is built. I wanted readers to experience that from her
perspective, to be uncomfortable. Having to pull the trigger is not a
comfortable place. I am a former police officer, and, like my fellows, I
always dreaded having to make such a decision and having to live with
it—right or wrong.

My fictional shooting is a circumstance very far from the blatant
lynching of George Floyd, which—along with a dark cloud of other racial
encounters and shootings—have stained the badge that so many wear
proudly and with honor. For the first time in my memory, law enforcement
officers have broken their “code of silence” and stepped forward to
voice their outrage, some to walk and pray with protesters.

I am proud of those voices, but I understand they do not make black people feel safe.

I am not black and not trying to imply I understand what it feels
like to be, but I am listening and trying to imagine that and to relate
it to my own experiences. I am Jewish.

Recently, I watched a documentary on the growth of anti-Semitism in
the world, including the U.S., and it awoke in me something that I try to ignore in my daily life, an underlying fear of being different
and what might happen to me or those I love because of who I am and
what I believe. The outpouring of sympathy and expressions of horror at
the Tree of Life massacre did not make me feel safe either.

How are we not beyond this? I yearn for there to be no need
for police to have to make awful decisions or even to be armed, only to
perform their highest calling—solving problems, protecting and helping
people. I yearn for soldiers to put down their weapons and say, “Ain’t
gonna study war no more.”

I also research and write about history and know we have moved the
needle significantly from the past, but we have not left the darkness
behind. It is a chasm looming before us. I fear we are on a precipice as
a country and world.

What can I do?

I am a writer, so I am doing what I do—writing about my pain,
confusion, my passion for justice. Sometimes I do that through my
characters, but sometimes I just have to struggle for the words in my
own voice.

T.K. is a retired police captain who writes books,
which, like this blog, roam wherever her interest and imagination take
her.  Want a heads up on news about her writing and adventures (and
receive two free short stories)? Click on image below.  Thanks for
stopping by!

https://tkthorne.com/signup/

This Land is My Land. Fifty-three percent estimate DNA Indigenous to Americas, Mexico, North America, Haiti and Dominican Republic, and Northern Africa. by Juliana Aragón Fatula

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June 25, 2020

Juliana in 1971

Juliana and the Chicana Icon, Denise Chavez


Dear Reader,

I am disgusted by the turmoil in this country about race.
The hate against people of color and their dark skin makes me outraged. I
cannot pass for white. I am married to a white man and he cannot pass for
Mexican Indian. We are a mixed-race couple living in southern Colorado, in
Trump Country. This is my land.

I have hope for the future; however, my depression has
changed to anger with a heavy heart filled with rage. The state of the country
disturbs me for not just the U.S., but also the planet. I have discovered in my
genealogy research many heartbreaking stories of my ancestors.

I am Chicana, fifth generation indigenous to Southern
Colorado and my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents
are buried in Villa Nueva, New Mexico, Alamosa, and Cañon City, Colorado. If
you do not understand the difference between Chicana/Chicano and Mexican
American and Hispanic, read some books and learn the difference.

My dark skin is from my Native American ancestors. My
sister’s fair skin is from the Spanish ancestors. I don’t speak English only,
but I don’t speak Spanish. I speak Spanglish. My ancestors had large families.
My parents raised nine children in Southern Colorado. My cousins are in the
hundreds. We are a tribe. We are Mexican Indians/Chicanos/Mestizos/mixed blood.
We are not Hispanic. That is a governmental label. There are Chinese Chicanos,
Black Chicanos, etc., and we come in all colors.

My ancestors were Navajo and Ute. I discovered
documentation by Indian Agent, Lafayette Head, who sold Native American orphans
and women to farmers. My great-grandfather was a four-year-old Navajo orphan
sold to the Gomez family in Alamosa for food and horses. I discovered documentation
that my great-great-grandmother, Abrana Quintana, was full-blooded Ute, but the
publication does not state how she ended up married to a white man, a minister
named Albert George Jacobs in Alamosa.

Her daughter, half-white and half-Ute, married my great-grandfather,
Jose Gomez, a full-blooded Navajo, and my grandmother on my mother’s maternal
side, Febe, was mixed blood. My mother’s father, Miramón Mondragon, was a
Mexican Indian, but I haven’t found any documentation on where his ancestors
originated, but they lived in Southern New Mexico and migrated to Alamosa in
Southern Colorado during the 1800’s. He was most likely, Apache, Navajo,
Pueblo, or Ute. That information alludes me. My mother’s side were dark skinned
like me.

My father’s grandfather was Navajo, Diné from Villa
Nueva, near Santa Fe. I don’t know how he came to be named Aragón, but my
belief is that he was raised in one of the Catholic missionaries and was sold
to a farmer named Aragón. My grandfather, Juan Aragón, married a Mexican
Indian/Spaniard mixed blood. My father told me that his grandfather was a
Navajo sheepherder and he didn’t speak English. I know their names but little
else about their history. They were peasants and baptized, married, and buried
Catholic. I hope that church records will lead me to more answers someday.

I’ve visited my father’s and grandparents’ birthplace
Villa Nueva, New Mexico, my mother’s birthplace, Howard, Colorado; my
grand-parents birthplace in Alamosa, Colorado and found only memories. It’s all
I have. The Mexican Indian ancestors have very little documentation of their
existence in the history books.

I can trace the European ancestor back to Hingham
Norfolk, England. I discovered my mother’s ancestor, George Jacobs Sr., who was
born in Salem, Massachusetts and was hung in 1692, during the Salem Witch Trials.
George was brought to trial after being in
chains for several weeks. When accused of being a wizard (male witch) by the
magistrates, he stated “You tax me for a wizard; you may as well tax me for a
buzzard.” And his last words were, “Well
burn me or hang me. I’ll stand in the truth of Christ”. His headstone at
his grave states, “Here lies the body of George Jacobs, Sr., hanged August 19,
1692. His granddaughter, Mary Jacobs, was also hung. The remainder of this
family fled to Maine and eventually headed to the West and landed in New Mexico.

My great-great-grandmother, Abrana Quintana, was full-blooded
Ute and married Albert George Jacobs Sr. He worked as a Presbyterian minister
in Santa Fe, New Mexico to the Pueblo Indians. Was she sold to him? I’ll never
know. She had my great-grandmother who married my great-grandfather a full-blooded
Navajo.

My Ancestory.com DNA estimates my indigenous blood at
almost 53%. The remainder is a mixture of African, European, and Spanish. I’m
mixed blood. We are all related. We all come from Africa.

I have faced racism and bigotry all my life because of my
dark skin. I stand for Black Lives Matter. I am trying to educate my friends
and loved ones why I stand for Black Lives Matter. A few of them tell me all
lives matter. Claro que sí. Until the people no longer have to protest in the
streets and chant no justice no peace, I will stand for Black Lives Matter. I
will also stand for the rights of Indigenous people and all people of color. I
will also stand for the LGBTQ community. I will stand for the rights of people
who are marginalized and discriminated against and who are not treated equally.
  

If you don’t understand Black Lives Matter, don’t ask
your friend to explain it to you. Read a book. Buy a book. Buy a book from a
bookstore that is operated by a person of color, like Denise Chávez. She is an
activist in Las Cruces who operates the Casa Camino Real Bookstore and works
with the refugees at the border.  In her own words her bookstore, “Casa Camino Real,
began distributing books to local refugee hospitality centers where families
would be sent after being released from the ICE facility in El Paso, en route
to their sponsors somewhere in the U.S. by either bus or plane. I also began to
distribute books on Wednesday mornings at Peace Lutheran Church, in Las Cruces.
My husband and fellow book steward, Daniel Zolinsky, and I spread out a large
table of donated books, one side for children, the other for adults. After I
introduced myself and the program, families would join us. In time, I began
storytelling sessions and language lessons. I knew then that I had found my
call to service.”

“Casa Camino Real, in Las Cruces, hosts Bookends,
a program that allows visitors to creatively connect with the stories, art, and
culture of the borderland region. The program is currently gathering stories,
art, and photographs for a forthcoming anthology titled We Are Here to Represent. The anthology will address
the voices of the refugee, asylum, and immigrant families and those who
continue to work with and serve them.”  

“Casa
Camino Real, an independent bookstore, collects books for Libros para el Viaje.
Donors have included major publishing companies, including Penguin Random
House, HarperCollins, and many independent publishers and hundreds of
bookstores in the U.S., Latin America, and New Zealand. Authors, artists,
filmmakers, and countless readers have also donated. For more information about Libros para el
Viaje,
contact Denise Chávez at 575-523-3988, comezon09@comcast.net.”

“Border Servant Corps sponsors a Border Immersion program, which
brings high school and college students, as well as working adults, to the
U.S.–Mexico border. Such programs enable visitors to speak with
first-generation immigrants, visit local organizations working with immigrant
populations, meet government officials to hear about border protection and law
enforcement, learn about immigration law, and build an understanding of
economic policies and realities affecting people on the border.”

Denise Chávez fights for justice daily at the border. She
is my shero, and she gives me hope. I urge you to read about the real history
of this country. Not the history that was fed to us in school. The true history
of how this country was built on the backs of slaves and marginalized people of
color.

Please educate yourself and your children so we can end
this injustice and finally have peace in this country. No justice, no Peace.

And if you want to help Denise in her Libros para el Viaje
or Border Servant Corps working on the border, please, please consider donating
to their cause and don’t just pray for the man or woman with their neck under
someone’s boot. Do something.  Thank you
for continuing to follow my growth and progress as a human being. I am blessed
to have you read my work. Until next month, Juliana. p.s. I still have a dream.
Do you?

In The Mood For Writing…

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By Lynn McPherson

Today I want to address a question a lot of writers face at some point in their career. What should I do if I don’t feel like writing? The short answer is to write anyway. My opinion is not shared by everyone. For that reason I’ve decided to give you my thoughts on how to get it done and hope I will persuade those who disagree. Let’s get started.
1. Find your focus. Writing requires a clear head. With the turmoil and difficulties facing the world over the last few months, it is no doubt almost impossible to naturally fall into that sweet space where the thoughts clear and the imagination roams free. So how can one reach the level of concentration required to get their stories down on (virtual) paper? Here are a few ideas:
a) Meditate—I’m not talking hours, how about 2-5 minutes?
b) Get up early before the mind is clouded by news and chatter
c) Go for a walk. Simple yet effective.
2. Be Creative. Writing time doesn’t have to mean adding to the manuscript every time you sit down. Editing, Plotting, and Character Development are all essential elements that don’t always require the same level of concentration first drafts do. Why not use the time to work on other parts of your book if you’re not in the mood to push the story forward?
3. Eliminate distractions. For an hour a day, whether it’s early, late, or during your lunch break, sit down in front of your laptop (or whatever device you write on) and stare at it. Make sure your phone and wifi are switched off and put your email on hold. One hour. My guess is that blank screen won’t stay blank for long.

There you have it. My thoughts on how to write even when you don’t feel like it. I’m not saying you should write every day. That’s up to you. But it’s a good idea to figure out a schedule and stick to it—whether that means once a day, three times a week, or only on Sundays. What works for me is to get up with the sun and write every weekday morning. It gives me about 8-10 hours a week of concentrated writing time. It’s not a lot but it’s something.
What works for you?
Lynn McPherson has worked for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, ran a small business, and taught English across the globe. She has travelled the world solo where her daring spirit has led her to jump out of airplanes, dive with sharks, and learn she would never master a surfboard. She now channels her lifelong love of adventure and history into her writing, where she is free to go anywhere, anytime. Her cozy series has three books out: The Girls’ Weekend Murder and The Girls Whispered Murder, and The Girls Dressed For Murder.  

Reading and Meal Deliveries by Dru Ann Love

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Reading is my savior. Because I don’t have to commute to work, I miss that routine of an hour of reading before and after work. I lost my reading mojo when this global crisis started, as I couldn’t concentrate on anything. Words were just words to me.

I’m glad I got my reading mojo back, however, I’m struggling with it. Normally I would read two to three books in a week and now it takes me at least one week to finish a book. I think it’s the routine I miss.

No matter what, I continue to read and enjoy the stories being told for my reading pleasure.

How is everyone else doing with their reading?

So in between that, I’ve been trying out a few grocery delivery companies:

  • Amazon Fresh: I get 98% of what I ordered delivered.
  • Instacart: I get at least 85% of what I ordered delivered, so the shopping cart cost always fluctuate.

And home meal deliveries.

  • HelloFresh: The program wouldn’t let me pick my own meal for the first time, so I had to settle on their choice and of the three, the only one I like was the flatbread and that is if I didn’t put the stuff they wanted me to put on it. Plus I had to do prep work. And the reason for cancellation, they did not deliver the box to my apartment door. They left it where the mailbox are and if I would not have said, hey where are they and went down there, someone could have walked away with the box.
  • Now, I’m experimenting with Freshly now. The food is prepared and all I have to do is put it in the oven (it’s meant for a microwave, which I don’t have). In week one, I liked two of my choices. This week I picked something different and we’ll see if I continue beyond that.
  • The other delivery companies all involved prep – yes, I’m lazy like that.

So, have any of you tried grocery deliveries or home meal deliveries?

Clue – the Movie

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By Shari Randall

The pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives. It’s certainly changed my tv and movie streaming habits. I’ve never really binged before, movies or tv shows, that is. But now I’m binging with the best of them, and am currently on season four of Brooklyn 9-9. Yes, I’m looking for laughs. Back in March, I made a list of Oscar winners and other serious films that I intended to watch. Have I watched Parasite or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? Nope. Am I catching up with Agatha Raisin and What We Do In the Shadows? You bet.
After working through as many free options on Netflix as possible, my daughter mentioned that there was a movie version of the Clue board game. How did I not know this? One of my favorite games was made into a movie? With a cast starring one of my favorite actresses, the magnificent Madeline Kahn? In Clue the Movie, Kahn plays Mrs. White, a mysterious widow – not the cook/housekeeper of the original game.* On a dark and stormy night, she and several other suspicious characters are invited to a dinner party at the mansion of Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving). Boddy’s butler, Wadsworth (Tim Curry), assigns each guest a colorful name: Mr. Green (Michael McKean), Col. Mustard (Martin Mull), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), and Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren).
Before watching, I checked reviews. The critics were not kind, with most concluding that the game was more fun than the movie. Rotten Tomatoes said: “A robust ensemble of game actors elevate Clue above its schematic source material, but this farce’s reliance on novelty over organic wit makes its entertainment value a roll of the dice.” Translation? The “plot” doesn’t make sense, the jokes are of the boob, dog poo, and rimshot variety, and it could have been funnier. What does makes the film fun? The stellar cast flinging dignity out the window and giving the less-than-stellar material the old college try, plus three different endings. 
Why three endings? Different versions of the ending ensured movie audiences wouldn’t be able to give away the solution to the murder. (The streaming version has all three endings.) Though the solution brought to mind Raymond Chandler’s take down of Murder on the Orient Express (“only a halfwit could guess it”), I had to admire the writers.
Three endings! Granted, they were wildly, manically convoluted endings. But every writer knows devising one satisfying ending is hard work. Three? The movie isn’t Oscar material, but I gave Clue four stars for effort.
Have you played Clue? What shows and movies have you been bingeing lately? 
*Parker Brothers sold Clue to Hasbro. In 2016, Hasbro replaced Mrs. White, the housekeeper, with Dr. Orchid, a scientist specializing in plant toxicology. https://www.thewrap.com/clue-mrs-white-dr-orchid-hasbro/
Shari Randall is the author of the heartwarming and humorous Lobster Shack Mystery series. The first, CURSES, BOILED AGAIN, won the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery.

Calling Our Readers

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Calling Our Readers

By Cathy Perkins

The days leading up to a new release are always hectic for an author. Add in a nerve-wracking pandemic, wrenching racial and political crises, and life can feel downright overwhelming. Other members of our group have posted thoughtful discussions about this turmoil and I hope you will read through those posts and think about their words. Whatever your personal beliefs are, may you be a force for change, a positive note in the chaos. 


Ready for an escape? Without further ado, I bring you Calling for the Money! 

Cover of Calling for the MoneyHolly Price has it all—or
does she?

Holly
finally has the dream job at the top of her field, the money and prestige she’s
worked so hard to attain. But when a friend disappears while Holly is working a
make-or-break career assignment, she’s drawn into another criminal
investigation. A ruthless con ring will stop at nothing to extort its victims
and her friends are directly in their cross-hairs.

While
she’s searching for her missing friend, behind the scenes she’s wrestling with
a backstabbing boss, a hurtful family situation, and the devastating worry
she’s made a massive life choices mistake. When the gangsters target Holly,
however, facing certain death has a way of making her reevaluate her life.

Now
Holly must confront her painful past in order to redefine her future…and hope
she lives long enough to see it.
Available at all major online retailers: https://books2read.com/CallingForTheMoney

Note, each book in the Holly Price Mystery Series is a standalone
novel or novella. Although these books can be read individually, they are best enjoyed
chronologically.

Holly Price Mysteries:

So About the Money

Double Down

In It for the Money

Calling for the Money

Malbec Mayhem

Untitled Post

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Change
by Saralyn
Richard
In
my lifetime, I’ve witnessed a multitude of tragic, life-changing events:  hurricanes, assassinations, explosions,
riots, terrorist activities, and deaths. And now a pandemic and outrageous acts
of racism, both of which shake our value systems to their very roots.
The
phrase, “May you live in interesting times,” often attributed to the Chinese,
comes to mind. The first time I heard this platitude, it was meant to comfort
me after a devastating loss. I researched its origin and learned that its
meaning is misleading. Instead of consolation, the phrase is actually a curse,
the extrapolation of which is: “It is better to live in uninteresting times.”
In other words, times of peace and tranquility are uninteresting, while people
are more fascinated by times of trouble.
The
one aspect of life-changing experiences that offers hope for the future is the term
“change.” Events bring opportunity, in real life and in fiction. This fact has led
me to examine quotations about change, and I thought I’d share some that
resonate with me.
1.    
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it,
change your attitude. -Maya Angelou
2.    
I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across
the waters to create many ripples. -Mother Teresa
4.     
Every small positive change we make in
ourselves repays us in confidence in the future. –Alice Walker
5.     
No matter what people tell you, words and ideas
can change the world. –Robin Williams
                               

In
my opinion, authors have an extra layer of opportunity, an extra layer of
responsibility in troubled times. Our words, our ideas, our plots, our
characters have the potential to reach numerous readers. We may bring light to
readers in darkness, hope to readers in desperation. We indeed can change the
world.
In
conversations with my Muse these days, I ask for extra doses of inspiration,
sensitivity, compassion, patience, persistence, and good-heartedness. In
addition to good health and safety, I wish these same doses for you.
Saralyn
Richard strives to make the world a better place, one
book at a time. A member of Mystery Writers of America and International
Thriller Writers, she has won several writing awards, including the Killer
Nashville Silver Falchion Readers’ Choice 2019 award. Her children’s
book, Naughty Nana, and her Detective Parrott Mystery series,
including Murder in the One Percent and A Palette for
Love and Murder, have earned her a world of readers, both
young and adult. Look for A Murder of Principal, which will be released in January,
2021. 
Visit Saralyn’s Amazon Author Page at https://www.amazon.com/Saralyn-Richard/e/B0787F6HD4/ref
or her website at http://saralynrichard.com.

Announcing Release of the Heartbreaks and Half-truths Anthology!

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by Paula Gail Benson

I’m very proud to be among the authors whose stories are
in Heartbreaks and Half-truths, an
anthology selected (from over 100 submissions) and edited by Judy Penz Sheluk,
noted for her novels, for her anthology The
Best Laid Plans (2019), and for recently being elected the new chair of
Crime Writers of Canada Board of Directors. Available on June 18, 2020, Heartbreaks and Half-truths features
tales from different time periods and locations, all considering how half-truths
contribute to heartbreak and often lead to other consequences.

Here’s the description of the anthology found on Amazon,
where it may be pre-ordered as Kindle or Paperback:
“Whether it’s 1950s Hollywood, a scientific experiment,
or a yard sale in suburbia, the twenty-two authors represented in this
collection of mystery and suspense interpret the overarching theme of ‘heartbreaks and half-truths’ in their own inimitable style, where only one
thing is certain: Behind every broken heart lies a half-truth.
“And behind every half-truth lies a secret.”
Following are brief summaries for each story, just to
pique your interest!
KM Rockwood, “Burning Desire”– a jilted
bridegroom gets a 50th birthday party and hopes for cash gifts to
pay off his gambling debts
Peggy Rothschild, “The Devil’s Club” — a woman
being blackmailed by the man who helped her get rid of her abusive husband must
now find a way to be rid of the blackmailer
John M. Floyd, “Blackjack Road” — a man who lost
his family meets a stranger who makes him question his fate
James Blakey, “The Greatest Secret” — a PI
hired to track down a crime boss’ wife’s lover finds it difficult to reveal the lover’s
identity
Edward Lodi, “So Long” — the story, told in a
series of phone messages, reveals the relationship between a woman and a doctor
intent on making her into his greatest experiment
Kate Flora, “Afterlife” — a new widow watches
out her window as a love triangle develops between two lobstermen and a
beautiful woman
Buzz Dixon, “Tongor of the Elephants” — a “lost”
film in a movie archive reveals an actor’s death and more
J.A. Henderson, “The God Complex” — people
plugged into a quantum computer have the opportunity to relive the past, or a facsimile
of it
Christine Eskilson, “For Elizabeth” — unrequited
high school love has higher stakes when the two remain friends later in life
Robb T. White, “See You in Court” — a down on
his luck defense attorney has to prove his client’s innocence after refusing to
be involved in a deal
Rhonda Eikamp, “In the Halls of Mercy” — the
chief psychiatrist becomes another inmate in his ward of patients
Sharon Hart Addy, “Near Warrenton” — a woman
hopes for some monetary support by tracking down a former lover
Tracy Falenwolfe, “Exposure”– a former cop
turned PI is hired to find another suspect in a murder case, but he may have
some secrets closer to home
Paula Gail Benson, “Living One’s Own Truth,” — in 1931, lives change at a boys’ school due to a teacher’s daughter bred
to be a heartbreaker and secrets among the faculty
Susan Daly, “Deep Freeze in Suburbia” — a new
member of parliament has no time to enjoy her success before a secret from her
past comes to light
Chris Wheatley, “The Angel of Maastricht” — a
reporter revisits a case as the convicted murderer completes his sentence
Joseph S. Walker, “Pink Hearts Pierced by
Arrows” — after promising her mother never to let a man make a fool of her, a
woman tries to help her friend with a cheating husband
Blair Keetch, “Deadly Cargo” — a pilot
narrates his strategy for killing his wife, but reality deviates from his plans
Steve Liskow, “Ugly Fat” — two women, both
dumped by their husbands, confer over the yard sale of one ex-husband’s
personal items
Gustavo Bondoni, “Checkmate Charlie” — a
computer gaming system helps a wife to get rid of her husband
James Lincoln Warren, “The Short Answer” — two
1950s Hollywood PIs are mixed up with blackmail and murder

Judy Penz Sheluk, “Goulaigans” — a man returns an
empty canoe to the trading post owner, who stole the man’s wife

Judy Penz Sheluk

Whether you’re sheltering in place or taking a
vacation, this volume is the perfect summer reading companion. Just pick up a
copy, relax, and enjoy it with your favorite beverage!

Swiss Cheese Brain

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Swiss
Cheese Brain by Debra H. Goldstein
Sometimes
having a brain that feels like a piece of swiss cheese has its benefits. Some
of you know I had surgery, under general anesthesia, last week to remove the
hardware from when my foot was rebuilt a few years ago. Although I almost
immediately traded the opiate pain pills for over the counter medication, I discovered
my brain continued working in gaps. I’d have a thought and then it would fade
away as my eyes closed. I’d snap back into the moment before again losing time.
Not
exactly what a Type A personality wants to have happening. I fought against the
drowsiness and the loss of what seemed to be logical brain connections, but I
didn’t win. If anything, it exhausted me more. So, I decided to surrender.
Once I gave
up, I saw things with more clarity (except for where the holes were). I
realized that sometimes we can’t control the moment or what we want to do any more
than we can dictate the flow of a story or the behavior of a character. Pushing
against what the story or characters want usually results in flat writing or a
dead end. Better to give in until the flow begins anew.

I’m
still taking it easy, but my eyes are brighter and my mind not as
circuitous.  Those characters and ideas
better watch out!

Fashion Makes Sense but I’m Wearing Shorts and a T-Shirt

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It’s hot and sticky in the South Carolina Lowcountry. 

I don’t water my plants in the morning because the forecast calls for rain. I end up watering my plants that afternoon because the rain passed us by. Or it rains when I’m inside working, and the humidity leaches up all the moisture into the air. 

I’m obsessed with fashion. I put on QVC every morning and play it in the background while I’m working. The mindless chatter of the host and the brand representative filter out all the other noises in my head. 

Susan Graver, a designer, talks over the host most of the time. She’s a true chatterbox. I feel her. I’d do the same, plus her clothing line has some nice items.

Carolyn Gracie, a QVC host, and Gary Goben, the senior apparel designer for Denim & Company, have stuffed squirrels that talk with one another. I find it strangely comforting that a grown woman and man play with stuffed toys on a national television show. 

On QVC Martha Stewart shows up from her house and talks about her rather matronly line. Joan Rivers accouterments still look like they’re from her time period, but I’m oddly drawn to them. 

I’ve purchased metal slinky water hoses (see the need for one above). A pair of cute Earth shoes that remind me of a pair of wooden slides I owned for years that one of my dogs chewed a bit of one heel and I still wore everywhere. I can’t find them now. I’m glad I found a similar pair. 

Since I’m working from home, I’ve purchases skorts, T-shirts, and Cuddle Duds attire. 

I have quite a collection of fashion catalogs. North Style, Serengeti, Coldwater Creek, Soft Surroundings, Lands’ End, and Talbots. I’ve been trying to find outfits to take on our twelve-day cruise to the British Isles that will most likely NOT depart from London in late August. I have not purchased a darn thing but have dog-eared the pages of fifteen catalogs.

A dear friend of mine has a lovely fashion sense and her own Instagram account and a blog about fashion. She looks put together at all times. She never looks dowdy as I often feel. 

At eleven in the mornings on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Style Finder Boutique, a shop in Raleigh, NC, hosts fashion shows, tips, and sales via Facebook live. Michele and Michelle (or double L as they call her) seem to be around my age. Sometimes they aren’t that streamlined in their live show, but they handle mishaps with style. 

They explain fashion terms, color schemes, core closet, and what looks good on different bodies with different face shapes. I had no idea the shape of your face has anything to do with what clothing to wear. I have a symmetrical oval face according to the online eyeglass site I recently visited. When I had my “colors done” with a Color Me Beautiful stylist back in the day, I was told I am a summer. 

I’m wearing pull-on exercise shorts and a T-shirt I got for participating in the Charleston Yoga Fest two years ago. I am learning, just not putting into practice, obviously.

Do y’all like to watch fashion shows, flip through catalogs, and follow fashion pages and shops on social media? Tell me I am not alone. 

I’m going on a “dues cruise” with the Charleston Tour Association next Monday. We board a tour boat at 5:45 p.m., have cocktails and hors d’oeuvres whilst wearing face masks, and enjoy a cruise in the Charleston harbor. I’m a tour guide and the treasurer for this group. We’re allowing half the attendees we normally do for one of our most popular meetings. I have to wear a coordinating outfit for this event. I have not a clue what that outfit will entail. O.o

Robin

Charleston Tour Association: www.tourcharleston.org



This post, while silly and all about fashion, isn’t meant to be an escape from what’s happening around us, but perhaps a bit of a respite for the few minutes you’re reading. 
White privilege doesn’t mean your life has been hard. It just means the color of your skin isn’t one of the things that makes it harder. Please take the time to learn about more than what’s in our little bubbles. 

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Robin Hillyer-Miles writes romance of the contemporary, magic-realism, and cozy mystery varieties. “West End Club” appears in the anthology “Love in the Lowcountry: A Winter Holiday Edition.” She’s writing “Cathy’s Corner” a 45,000-word contemporary romance set in the fictional town of Marion’s Corner, SC.
You can find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RobinHillyerMilesAuthorTourGuideYoga
The anthology is offered on Amazon in paperback or e-book here: