Thanksgiving – Past and Present – with recipes!

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Thanksgiving is coming up and I’m having some issues with the tradition of the friendly pilgrims inviting Native Americans to a community meal as a new light on the subject shows that’s false news. So, this year we will search for heritage-based foods that the Native Americans would have eaten, which includes wild rice and cranberries. I’m not talking about Uncle Ben’s version of wild rice or the cranberry sauce that you pop out of the can, though I’ve enjoyed both of these in the past! If you’re feeling the same, I’ve linked here a Native American wild rice company.

https://redlakenationfoods.com/product-category/wild-rice-products/

 

The author and her best
friend from second grade.

My family of three spends Thanksgiving Day with my best friend from second grade and her family. I can’t remember how many years this has been a tradition. Maybe seven? This year will be the first year without her mother and she will be missed. We’ll be a small party of six to eight adults, now that my son is eighteen, and we enjoy sitting on her enclosed back porch and talking. Sometimes there’s even a real fire in the fireplace, if the weather in the South Carolina Lowcountry is chilly, which is rare.  

 

The day after Thanksgiving a few years ago at
Santee Canal State Park in Moncks Corner, SC 


I take a Winter Fruit Salad and another side dish. I found this recipe online years ago. It’s super easy to fix, light, refreshing, and full of a lovely assortment of fruit.

 

Winter Fruit Salad

I “think” this is for six people, so if you are having fewer than that, adjust as needed.

Dressing                                                                      

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

3 Tbsp granulated sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 Tbsp honey

2 tsp poppy seeds

Salad

              8 Mandarine oranges, peeled and segmented

              4 apples (preferably 2 gala and 2 golden delicious)

            4 ripe kiwis peeled and diced

              4 pears, peeled and diced                  

1 1/2 cup pomegranate arils (from about 1 large fruit)

 

Getting together with my friend and her family reminds me of when my parents and their friends would meet up in a cabin on a mountain lake for a weekend. 


My daddy would make his Country Breakfast. It included; fried quail, fried fish, fried chicken, grits, breakfast shrimp gravy, biscuits, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, fruit, and more. Quite a Southern feast. 

 

Here’s a photo of one of those weekends where the majority of the attendees (not me) went to a Clemson football game. I’m the blond in the front row holding hands with one of my bonus dads who loved Clemson. Bless his heart. I set the camera and had to run to my place for the photo. 


 

Another bonus dad is standing on the far right. There’s a couple of bonus moms in the photo too! My daddy is in the brown shirt and my mom is directly below him in the blue jacket. My younger (but bigger) brother is standing in the grey shirt behind the lady in the orange sweatshirt. 

 

I just realized my brother and I had the same haircut. Oh my.

 

I also did the math and I’m now older than the age of the majority of the people when this photo was taken. Gracious, time does fly.

 

This group is a mixture of neighbors and SLED family friends of my parents. Did you have large gatherings in your past? And hopefully future? Reminiscing is making me want to plan a weekend away with friends.

 

Here’s my daddy’s recipe for Breakfast Shrimp Gravy. You may have heard of shrimp and grits, this is the origination of that famous dish. He probably got it from the Junior League of Charleston Receipts cookbook. My dad used bacon instead of Liquid Smoke but I don’t eat land meat, so I substitute.

 

         Bob’s Breakfast Shrimp Gravy with a Robin (pescatarian) Twist 

          

         Ingredients: 

         Grapeseed Oil 

         Liquid Smoke 

         1 sweet onion chopped fine 

         1 cup Bella mushrooms thinly sliced 

         2 tablespoons wheat flour 

         salt and pepper 

         1 cup almond milk  

         ½ pound raw shrimp (8-10 ct) 

          

         Instructions: 

         Chop each shrimp into three pieces. Set aside. 

         Sauté the onion and mushrooms in the grapeseed oil in a large pan. 

         Add a couple of drops of Liquid Smoke. 

         Move onion and mushrooms to a bowl. 

         Brown the flour in the sauté pan. Add salt and black pepper (the more pepper the better!). 

         Stir in almond milk and scrape the pan to make your gravy. 

         If too thick add some water or more almond milk. 

         Add shrimp and cook until done. It does not take long. 

         Add onion and mushrooms. 

         Serve over grits. 


          

         You can pre-cook the shrimp if you like. You can “popcorn” it by putting a very small amount of water in a saucepan and adding the shrimp. Cover and cook over high heat and “popcorn” it by shaking the pan until shrimp are cooked. Again, it only takes a short time to cook shrimp! 

 

How do you spend your Thanksgiving? Will it be different this year?

 

Did you have bonus parents growing up? Do you keep in touch with them?

 

 

—-

 


Robin Hillyer Miles is an alumnus and avid fan of the University of South Carolina and their Fighting Gamecocks. She lives in the Lowcountry of South Carolina with her husband and son and three dogs. She’s currently published with a short story in an anthology. She has finished the first draft of a new novel and it is with the editor. Hopefully, it will be published in the new year. Keep an eye out for “Cathy’s Corner!”

 

You can find her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/RobinHillyerMilesAuthorTourGuideYoga


Introducing Lois Winston!

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by Bethany Maines

Bethany Maines

  

Lois Winston

As many of you know, I’m a mom with a full time job as well as an author. And while all of that is challenging enough, the pandemic has brought many fresh and special new problems. To free up some of my time I’m relinquishing one of my Stiletto Gang posting days to the fantastic Lois Winston. Lois is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author who writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Lois will be posting on the second Wednesday of the month and I thought I’d sit down and find out a little more about her as she comes on board.

Q: What do you write?
I started out writing romance and romantic suspense and was first published in chick lit with Talk Gertie to Me in 2006. However, back in 2003, while waiting for that first sale, my agent suggested I try writing a crafting mystery. She knew an editor looking for one. With my background as a crafts designer, my agent thought I’d be the perfect person to write such a series, even though I’d never written a mystery. I gave it a try, and in the process discovered my true literary calling. My Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series sold in 2009. Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the series, came out in 2011. I’ve since published nine books and three novellas in the series, plus two books in my Empty Nest Mystery Series.

Q: What got you excited and
started you on your writing journey?

I’m not someone who always knew she wanted to be an author. In the mid-90’s I was going through an extremely stressful period, taking on as much freelance design work as I could because my husband was out of work for an extended period of time. One night I fell into an exhaustive sleep and had a very strange dream—strange for me because I usually don’t remember my dreams. Also, the people in the dream were all strangers. Weirdly, the dream kept unfolding night after night like chapters in a book. Finally, I decided to write it down. When I finished, I had a 50,000 word romance that spanned thirty-five years!

The writing bug had bitten me. Long story short, I joined some writing organizations, learned what I was doing wrong, honed my craft, and signed with an agent. After many years of rewrites, that totally unpublishable romance transformed into a 90,000 word romantic suspense and became Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception, the second book I sold.

Q: Do you solve the
mysteries in novels & movies or do you sit back and enjoy the ride?

I should have had an inkling that I’d eventually wind up writing mysteries because I have an uncanny knack for figuring out whodunit early into most books, movies, or TV episodes. I love when I’m wrong and fall for a red herring, but it doesn’t happen often. My grandfather was the captain of a large county police force and responsible for the apprehension of many gangsters and other bad actors back in the day. I figure I inherited a large dose of his detecting DNA.

Q: And of course, I would
be remiss if I didn’t ask… what are your favorite shoes?

At this point, any that are comfortable! I’m afraid my sexy heels days are over, thanks to foot surgery a few years ago after an injury and arthritis that developed in that foot as a result. So now my shoe closet contains mostly Sketchers with cushioning inner soles.

Gay Yellen: A Writer’s Thanksgiving

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The twining path…


Like a double helix, a writer’s journey can follow a twisty trail. One strand—the rational, professional one—involves studying the works of others, honing your own craft, unlocking a door to publishing, and eventually (hopefully) connecting with readers.

The second strand can be an emotional mind-trip filled with unsettling questions. Is my work good enough? Why is that writer so successful? How can I be successful, too?

This emotional trip is the tricky one. It’s easy to find lists of writers deemed better or more successful by certain measures. What should matter to a writer is how they respond to such information. With admiration… or envy? 

Author-envy can eat a writer alive and stifle creativity. On the other hand, clear-eyed respect for another’s success may lead to the discovery of what it takes to improve. Heartfelt admiration—and gratitude—can move us closer to our own dreams.

What makes writers so special?

When I became a full-time author, I was overjoyed to find the camaraderie and the willingness to help one another that thrives in abundance in the writing community. It feels like family here.

Successful writers form personal bonds, share professional tips, read and critique each other’s books, and genuinely root for one another. The Stiletto Gang is an example.

Here, authors come together to trade insights, bits of book news, and offer glimpses into our personal lives, as well as our professional wins and woes. And we introduce our own followers to the rest of authors in the Gang. Countless other bloggers do the same in other spaces.

It’s hard to find a profession that embodies such an open and welcoming ethos. Can you name another enterprise whose members so willingly share their secret sauce with the competition?
Gratitude.

I deeply appreciate my writing community, from the veterans who teach to the newbies who are eager to learn. I’m grateful to the people who manage our writers’ groups and who continue to support their members.

This year, when Thanksgiving celebrations may not be like those we know, there’s all the more reason to appreciate the things that continue to sustain us. So, here’s a huge thank-you to writers everywhere who generously share their knowledge and platforms and public spaces with colleagues.
And special thanks to readers…

Dear readers, please know that you are the most important part of our community. Thank you for reading our books, for leaving your reviews on our book sales sites, and for recommending them to your friends. We could not keep our writing spirits up without you. You brighten our lives.

What about you? What are you thankful for this year?

Gay Yellen was a magazine and book editor before she began the award-winning Samantha Newman Mystery Series, which includes The Body Business and The Body Next Door. Book #3 in the series is slated for release in 2021.


Gay would love to hear from you, here, on Facebook, or at her website, GayYellen.com.


When Ideas Have Ideas of Their Own

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While Linda Rodriguez continues her Stiletto Sabbatical, look for guest authors on the first Friday of each month. Today’s guest is a special treat – former Stiletto member Judy Penz Sheluk.

When Ideas Have Ideas of Their Own by Judy Penz Sheluk

People often ask where my ideas come from. Sometimes they
come from stories I’ve read in the local paper:

·      
The building of a megabox store, possibly
threatening the independent shops in a small town, and the vocal opposition
from residents and local businesses (The
Hanged Man’s Noose).

·      
A young man who left home fifteen years earlier
to “find himself.” No one, not friends or family, had seen or heard from him
since (A Fool’s Journey).

But sometimes, ideas come from watching television. Such is
the case with my latest novel, Where
There’s A Will, the third and final book in my Glass Dolphin cozy mystery
series. I was watching an episode of Antiques
Roadshow and I thought: That’s it! I’ll have an Appraisal Day at the Glass
Dolphin antiques shop. Maybe someone will bring an object (to be determined)
and later on it turns out to be a murder weapon. That could work.

But here’s the thing about ideas. They often start off one
way and, because I’m a complete pantser, they

end up going in an entirely
different direction. That was the case with Where
There’s A Will. The book starts off with shop owner Arabella Carpenter hosting
an Appraisal Day, but instead of a murder or a murder weapon, there’s a
mysterious young woman who has been watching the appraisals all day from the
sidelines.

Who is she and what
could she want? I wonder, happily pantsing away.

It turns out the woman’s name is Faye Everett, she’s
inherited the old Hadley house, and she wants to hire Arabella to appraise the
contents.

There has to be a
catch, I muse, still pantsing away. What if Arabella’s ex, Levon
Larroquette, has also been hired for the appraisal, meaning the pair will have
to work side-by-side? It’s always fun to write about those two and their
on-again, off-again relationship.

What if Arabella’s business partner, Emily Garland, is
getting married? That’s it. She’s been house hunting with her fiancé and, after
dozens of “not quite rights,” she falls hard and fast for the Hadley house. Could
the Glass Dolphin’s appraisal involvement pose a conflict of interest?

And what’s this about Miles Pemberton wanting the house for
his reality TV show, Pemberton on
Property? Can Emily compete in a bidding war?

It’s not much yet, but
it’s a start. And then I remember this whole thing started with an
inheritance. Where There’s A Will, I
think, and keep on pantsing my way to The End.

 

About the Book:
Emily Garland is getting married and looking for the perfect forever home. When
the old, and some say haunted, Hadley house comes up for sale, she’s convinced
it’s “the one.” The house is also perfect for reality TV star Miles Pemberton
and his new series, House Haunters.
Emily will fight for her dream home, but Pemberton’s pockets are deeper than
Emily’s, and he’ll stretch the rules to get what he wants.

While Pemberton racks up enemies all around Lount’s Landing,
Arabella Carpenter, Emily’s partner at the Glass Dolphin antiques shop, has
been hired to appraise the contents of the estate, along with her ex-husband,
Levon. Could the feuding beneficiaries decide there’s a conflict of interest?
Could Pemberton?

Things get even more complicated when Arabella and Levon
discover another will hidden inside the house, and with it, a decades-old
secret. Can the property stay on the market? And if so, who will make the
winning offer: Emily or Miles Pemberton?

Find the book

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KFLQ6KH

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/where-theres-a-will-judy-penz-sheluk/1137780682?ean=2940162992455

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/where-there-s-a-will-87

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/where-theres-a-will/id1533844283?ls=1

About the author: A
former journalist and magazine editor (including Senior Editor for New England Antiques Journal), Judy Penz
Sheluk is the author of two mystery series: the Glass Dolphin Mysteries and the
Marketville Mysteries. Her short crime fiction appears in several collections,
including The Best Laid Plans and Heartbreaks & Half-truths, which she
also edited.

Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller
Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where
she serves as Chair on the Board of Directors. Find her at
www.judypenzsheluk.com.

 

 

We Hear Voices

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 by Mary Lee Ashford

I recently came across this article that addressed a study of an interesting phenomena. The study looked at the idea that Most Authors Can Hear Their Characters Speaking to Them.

It was noted that Alice Walker while writing The Color Purple was often visited by her characters. Sometimes choosing their own actions. And other well-know authors such as Robert E. Howard (Conan the Barbarian) said they felt sometimes held hostage by their characters. 

This particular study, done by researchers at Durham University, surveyed authors attending the Edinburgh International Book Festival in two different years. The intent was to look at just how common the phenomena is for writers. What do you think the results were?  I’d be very interested in hearing from some of the other Stiletto Gang authors as well as other writers as to whether you hear your characters.

As for me, although I’ve long argued that the author directs the story, I confess I do sometimes hear from my characters. Often when I’m attempting to send them in a direction that fits me but doesn’t fit them. Caro in the Pampered Pets series, and Sugar in the Sugar & Spice books are both far braver than me. They are much more likely to insert themselves into other people’s business. Their backgrounds are not mine. And truthfully, I’m much more of an armchair detective. I don’t see myself chasing down a murderer. But that’s the fantasy, right? The characters we write about (or read about) are not us. Sometimes they have to remind me. 

Back to the study – the researchers found that two-thirds of the authors they surveyed hear their characters voices. And 61% feel their characters at times act differently that what the author has planned for them.  Interesting. 

So what’s going on? Are we delusional? Having hallucinations? Too much caffeine? The study’s lead, John Foxwell, a postdoctoral research fellow at Durham, says that what the authors who were surveyed describe is less hallucination and more like “inner speech.” Inner speech is what most of us experience when we think verbally and some of us are more aware of it than others. 

In conclusion, though this was a small sampling, Writers Inner Voices and it’s companion study, Readers Inner Voices, did come to some interesting conclusions and there are some additional studies being done around inner speech as well as imagination and the senses. So stay tuned! 

So what do you think? Writers, do you hear your characters? Do they sometimes act independently? And readers, do you hear the characters as your read them? I’d love hear your thoughts! 

Mary Lee Ashford is a lifelong bibliophile, an avid reader, and supporter of public libraries. In addition to writing the Sugar & Spice series for Kensington, she also writes as half of the writing team of Sparkle Abbey. She is the founding president of Sisters in Crime – Iowa and a member of SinC, MWA, and Novelists, Inc. She loves encouraging other writers and connecting with readers. More info here: www.maryleeashford.com

The latest book in the Sugar & Spice series is QUICHE OF DEATH which is currently a special deal at Kobo for $2.99. 

Mystery and Romance Authors – How Many Books Should You Publish?

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Antique Underwood Typewriter and Calla Lilies

Social media has swept instant and fleeting tidings over
us – the expectation of continuous news snippets. I wondered how this impacts the work of authors. In doing research, I found
an interesting quote from Donna Tartt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The
Goldfinch:

“There’s
an expectation these days that novels – like any other consumer product –
should be made on a production line, with one dropping from the conveyor belt
every couple of years.”

Every couple of years? I was astounded. Quite a few authors, including New York
Times bestselling ones produce at least one book a year, such as Stephen King, Danielle
Steel, Harlan Coben, and Jeffery Deaver. I also know writers who publish four
books a year – and happen to be USA Today bestselling authors. Probably none of
the ones I’m thinking of will be honored with a Pulitzer, but they are
satisfying their fan base by penning multiple novels per year.

 ca
Antique Printing Press

It gives the aphorism “publish or perish” a whole new
meaning. The impact on genre authors to keep
publishing new books increases
their fan base, improves their rankings on Amazon, and sustains their
visibility among readers within their genres.

Yet The Goldfinch author takes ten years
(that’s right – a full decade!) to write a novel. A literary genius, Tartt has
fans across the globe. Plus, she’s backed by big publishing houses and their
gargantuan budgets, here and abroad.

Most of us who write genre would “perish” if we only produced
one novel every ten years.

Selling novels boils down to two basic issues:

A. Storytelling ─ writing a compelling and fascinating
story.

B. Markets ─ how these “consumer products” that Tartt
mentions are advertised and distributed.

In 2018, more than 1.6 million books (both print and eBook
with registered ISBNs) were published in the US alone. You can dismiss a
portion of these as coming from aspiring writers or people doing a memoir for
family purposes. But the point is made ─ the diversity of choices for readers
contributes to the difficulty new authors encounter when trying to distinguish themselves
in a crowded market.

Despite the intense competition, I would not for a minute give
up my writing! It’s the most satisfying, and craziest, endeavor I’ve ever done.

Care to
share how you distinguish your novels in the crowded market?

***

Photo
credits: Kathryn Lane for Antique Underwood Standard Typewriter, Printed page
flying off antique printing press; Bobbye Marrs for Nikki Garcia Trilogy

Kathryn Lane started out as a starving artist. To earn a
living, she became a certified public accountant and embarked on a career in
international finance with a major multinational corporation. After two
decades, she left the corporate world to plunge into writing mystery and
suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn draws deeply from her Mexican background as well as her travels
in over ninety countries.

https://www.kathryn-lane.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathrynlanewriter/


A Look Behind the Scenes of Writing THE CORPSE WHO KNEW TOO MUCH

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 By Debra Sennefelder

I
thought I’d share with you a little bit of what went into writing my newest
release, THE CORPSE WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. It’s the fourth book in my Food Blogger
Mystery series, and it was inspired by my interest in podcasts and cold cases.
I knew I wanted to have an unsolved mystery in this book, and it seemed perfect
to add in a podcast that focused on such cases. The more I thought about the
story, I realized that the podcast’s host would be the daughter of the missing
woman. 

 


 

One
of the questions I get asked a lot is how long a book takes to write. Every
author will have a different answer. For me, it usually takes a year from when
I come up with the idea that generally is a few sentences to describe the story
to when I turn the completed manuscript into my editor. I go through four
drafts before I consider the manuscript completed. Then I received feedback
from my editor, and then the manuscript goes through copyedits. Finally, we go
into the final editing stage of proofing the manuscript before sending it to
the printer.

 

My
first draft is very messy, very sparse, and done very fast. It’s usually
completed in a month. Then it’s set aside while I work on something else, like
an outline for another book. When it’s time to work on the second draft, I’m
prepared to spend a longer time with the story. It’s here I rework sentences,
rearrange or add scenes if needed, cut what doesn’t move the story forward.
It’s intense and can take a whole day for one scene, depending on how long the
scene is. Once the second draft is done, the manuscript goes off to my
freelance editor, and when it comes back, I implement her changes. Then its
time to dive into the third draft, and that’s when I utilize the narrator
feature on my computer and have the manuscript read back to me. During this
process, I catch mistakes, typos, and awkward sentences. When that’s completed,
I then print the manuscript, using a different font, and read it one last
time. 

 

Since
I’m published by a traditional publisher, and they take care of all the
editing, book covers, and handle of lot of the marketing for my books. Aside
from writing the book, my most favorite part of the process is the cover
design. I’m very fortunate that my publisher asks for my input. So far, I have
not been disappointed by any of the covers. As I’m plotting the book, I begin
thinking about the scenes that could be depicted on the cover. For THE CORPSE
WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, I knew I wanted the Jefferson Library on the cover. I
compiled inspiration photos, described in detail what the outside of the
library looked like, and added in Bigelow, he’s Hope’s dog. He’s on all of the
covers. When I’m asked, I send this file to my editor, and the team at
Kensington goes to work to create the cover. Receiving the “cover”
email from my editor is one of my most favorite moments.

 

I
hope you enjoyed this glimpse behind-the-scenes of how THE CORPSE WHO KNEW TOO
MUCH was written. 

 

If
you’re an author, what does your behind the scenes look like? Readers, do you
have any questions about the writing process?

 


 Debra Sennefelder is the
author of the Food Blogger Mystery series and the Resale Boutique Mystery series.
She lives and writes in Connecticut. When she’s not writing, she enjoys baking,
exercising and taking long walks with her Shih-Tzu, Connie. You can keep in touch
with Debra through her website, on Facebook and Instagram.