Clicking Our Heels – Name a Characteristic You Admire in Your Antagonist

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Mary Lee Ashford – As I mostly write series mysteries, the antagonist often changes from book to book. However, in the book I’m working on I have to say the I admire the antagonist’s confidence. He simply assumes that everyone will go along with his plans as he is very sure he is right.

Gay Yellen – That’s a hard one. I mostly find them fairly loathsome. Perhaps, perversely, it’s the
ability to lie without compunction.

Bethany Maines – What I like about most of my antagonists is that they are often quite ruthless. Which I know doesn’t sound like a good quality, but ruthless means that someone commits to the most efficient way of reaching their goals. And I like efficiency.

Lois Winston –The most antagonistic person in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries is Anastasia’s communist mother-in-law Lucille. There’s really nothing I admire about the woman (who is based on my own communist mother-in-law,) but I have to admit, I’ve never met a woman with more tenacity.

Debra H. Goldstein – What I admire about my antagonists is that they blend good and bad characteristics in the same way real people do.

Judy Penz Sheluk – Well, I’ve had a few of those throughout my books and short stories. I suppose the one thing I admire about all of them is their tenacity. That said, I don’t like any of them very much. Which is why they are antagonists!

Kathleen Kaska – Too bold for her own good.

Saralyn Richard – I believe a great antagonist is someone who is so charismatic that he/she can charm anyone into doing or believing in almost anything.

T.K. Thorne – Jason is a jaw-dropping hunk, single-minded and determined to have what he wants, no matter the cost, even to himself.

Donald Moulton – In Melt, the antagonist is excluded from the family. I admire their vulnerability, their need to be accepted. (And I admire that without a personal pronoun, so no spoilers.)

Donnell Ann Bell – I love to read about an antagonist that is not 100 percent evil. Even during recreations of Superman movies, screenwriters had to go back and explain Lex Luther’s goal, motivation and conflict.

 

 

 

 

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Clicking Our Heels – Have You Ever Killed a Real Person Off in Your Books?

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Clicking Our Heels Featured ImageClicking Our Heels – Have You Ever Killed a Real Person Off in Your Books? If So, How and Why?

Teresa Thorne – Not yet, but watch out!

Saralyn Richard – I haven’t exactly killed off a real person, but in A Murder of Principal a maverick principal comes to an urban high school with an unpopular student-centered agenda and is victimized. Because I worked as an administrator at urban high schools, and one, in particular, for many years, I knew people would try to match up the murder victim with one of the real-live people in the school. I went to him before I wrote the book and made sure he was okay with the book’s premise and whatever assumptions people might make about his being the model for the character. His reply was, “I would be honored to be represented in your book, even if you kill me off.”

Donalee Moulton – All the deaths in my books are fictional, both interestingly by hanging. In Hung Out to Die, the victim’s death was intended to look like a suicide. In Conflagration!, the enslaved Black woman accused of burning down the entire lower town of Montreal in 1734 was sentenced to death by hanging. She was then burned at the stake. Reality can be so much more brutal that fiction.

Kathleen Kaska – No.

Donnell Ann Bell – No. But I have had people contact me and request to be the murderer in my books. I use their name (with permission) and they for some reason are delighted! 🙂

Debra H. Goldstein – Yes, but I’ll never tell because I’d have to kill you, too.

Judy Penz Sheluk – Gosh, no, though I will say I’ve been sorely tempted. I have managed to exact revenge in a two of my short stories. ‘Live Free or Die’ (included in Live Free or Tri) and ‘The Last Chance Coalition’ (in Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers) were both inspired by true events. It was very cathartic to get even all these many years later, if only on paper.

Lois Winston – Yes, but I held no animosity toward the person in real life and didn’t use his real name. He was a neighbor from about twenty-five years ago. I write humorous mysteries and couldn’t pass up the chance to immortalize his quirkiness in Seams Like the Perfect Crime, the 14th book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. When I began the book, I didn’t intend to kill him, but as I wrote, it became evident that he’d be the perfect victim for the book.

Bethany Maines – I don’t think I’ve actually killed anyone off, but I have made several real people be the butt of a joke or made them look stupid. One was an English teacher who said I wasn’t very creative.
/Gay Yellen – All victims from my mystery series are fictional, though some have characteristics of people I’ve known: a young woman from a small town who couldn’t cope with a highstakes
job in the big city, an egotistic journalist, and a male chauvinist.
Mary Lee Ashford – I have not killed a real person off. I’ve considered auctioning off an opportunity to be a victim but in the end decided against it. Though when I first started writing mystery, I was working on a project where the first line was, “It was a regular day at City Hall, except for the dead body in the lobby.” And I have to say the victim varied depending on who was behaving badly that day. Of course, none of that made it into the actual book. And my lips are sealed.

 

 

 

 

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Clicking Our Heels – Favorite Musical Instruments – One We Dream of or One We Actually Play

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Clicking Our Heels Featured ImageClicking Our Heels – Favorite Musical Instruments – One We Dream of or One We Actually Play

donalee Moulton – If I could play a musical instrument, and sadly I don’t, I’d like to think it would be something offbeat and out there, like the glass armonica invented by Benjamin Franklin. Most likely, when forced to make a decision, I would opt for something more practical and familiar, like the piano. But I would rest a wine glass in the corner to remind me of what could have been.

Mary Lee Ashford – I play piano – not well but I play – but only with sheet music in front of me. I very much wish I could play by ear. I envy those who can hear a song and pick it out on an instrument after hearing it. My husband can do that. And his late sister, Joy, was a master at it. What a gift!

Gay Yellen – I would have kept up my piano lessons.

Bethany Maines – I think if I was forced to pick, I’d like the cello. I love the deep, resonant sound it produces. That being said, learning any instrument just looks hard. My daughter took up clarinet last year, and I was impressed that her instructor got any noise out of them, let alone an entire classful of kids to make a recognizable song. I think music is one of the miracles of human existence.

Lois Winston – Piano, but I wound up taking violin lessons because a relative had a violin that wasn’t being used, and my parents wouldn’t buy a piano. After my husband and I bought our first house, we purchased a used upright for $75, and I began taking lessons. Then I became pregnant, and it was just too tiring to work all day and come home to practice in the evening

Debra H. Goldstein – I’ve always thought the harp has a romantic look to it, but being practical, I play piano.

Judy Penz Sheluk – I wish. In grade 9 we had to pick an instrument. By the time I sauntered in, the only one left was the viola. Let’s just say “resin your bow” became my teacher’s desperate plea. I’m sure he was grateful I dropped the class in grade 10. But since then I’ve seen fabulous violin/viola players in rock bands and folk groups. Maybe if I’d stuck with it…but then I remember that I always forgot to resin my bow.

Kathleen Kaska – I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the piano.

Saralyn Richard – I’ve played the piano since I was five years old, but not consistently, and not very well. I don’t have my piano anymore, but keep thinking that one day I will get another one and resume lessons.

T.K. Thorne – I play the piano, and I wish I could play it.

 

 

 

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Clicking Our Heels – Some of Our Favorite Things

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Clicking Our Heels

Some of Our Favorite Things

Welcome to 2026. This year, the gang wants to give you more insight into all of us. That’s why our theme each month will address something personal or share some of our favorite things. This month, the topic is what would surprise you, our readers, most about each of us.

T.K. Thorne: I am a short, grey-headed, sweet old lady, and I get a chuckle out of the typical disbelieving reaction when people learn I was a police captain.

Saralyn Richard: I’m super organized when it comes to my house, my closet, and my former work as a school administrator and consultant, but my writing desk and first drafts are rather chaotic. I can’t explain this dichotomy, except that creative work may involve the opposite side of my brain.

Kathleen Kaska: I’m a Yankees fan.

Judy Penz Sheluk: Probably that I listen to talk radio while I write. And that I can’t write if there’s music on in the background because I find it too distracting.

Lois Winston: I hate peanut butter! Can’t even stand the smell of it. It triggers my gag reflexes. When my kids were little, I had to hold my breath while making them PB&J sandwiches.

Bethany Maines: I think that most readers would be surprised by how instantly anxious I get when someone says those fearsome words “I read your book.” Because I never know what is going to come next.

Gay Yellen: Readers seem to love the passages in my books involving food. But I do not cook. I just like to eat, and so does my protagonist!

Mary Lee Ashford: I’m not sure readers would be surprised by much of anything because I share a lot of things about my crazy life and my loves with them. I guess I don’t talk much about what I did before retirement because boring… So I guess readers might be surprised to know I spent 30 plus years as a public servant, at first in Customer Service aka complaint central, then as a Management Analyst/Congressional Liaison, and then a Business Analyst, and finally as the Deputy Director of Information Technology.

Donalee Moulton: That depends, to a certain extent, on what book they’ve just read. If it’s Hung Out to Die, my first mystery novel, readers will be surprised to learn I do not drink coffee (at least with caffeine) and I do not like donairs. (I hope they would not be surprised to learn I am not a psychopath.) Readers of Bind and Melt might come to believe I have a penchant for PowerPoint presentations. I do not.

Debra H. Goldstein: That I’m shy.

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Clicking Our Heels – Jobs Each of Us Would Never Want

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Clicking Our Heels Featured ImageClicking Our Heels – The Job Each of Us Would Never Want

In addition to being authors, many of the Stiletto Gang members have or still are working other day jobs. Some of the jobs include government worker, judge, graphic designer, police officer, newspaper reporter, and realtor. Because most of us thrived with our chosen duo career paths, we thought an interesting Clicking Our Heels would be what job or profession each of us would never want.

Donalee Moulton – Cod dewormer. Really, really don’t want to do this.

Gay Yellen – Garbageman. Imagine smelling the stink of it all day, every day, for years and years.

Judy Penz Sheluk – Flight attendant. I absolutely hate airports and flying, not to mention that I’m a complete homebody. Plus, I’d have to put up with all sorts of rude or entitled behavior, and smile while doing it. Not sure I’d be equal to that task.

Anita Carter – Anything medical. I don’t have the stomach for it.

Debra H. Goldstein – Being only a retiree. I’d go crazy.

Mary Lee Ashford – I know some people say they would never want to waitress. Or work in retail. Or man a front desk. I’ve done all those and found them both challenging and entertaining. They are fabulous jobs for observing people. There are a couple of professions that I would not want to take on, though: Stockbroker – too stressful. Factory worker – too monotonous. And I think I’d be horrible at both.

Paula Benson – I admire greatly the women who were the “human computers” in Hidden Figures, but I could not imagine undertaking their responsibilities.

Bethany Maines – Anything in corporate middle management. The cubicle is not my friend.

Donnell Ann Bell – I don’t think I would want the job of a police officer. They require nerves of steel, a heart of gold, patience of a saint, and courage when they’re most afraid.

Saralyn Richard – When I taught public speaking to high schoolers, I challenged them to come up with an occupation that doesn’t require good speaking skills. To my surprise, one student said, “I know one! A fisherman.” I had to smile. Although I pointed out that the fisherman must use speaking skills to sell his fish, the student had a point. So, I wouldn’t want to be a fisherman. Hours of silence would not be healthy for a person with many stories to tell. Also, I wouldn’t want to bait my own hooks.

T.K. Thorne – A cashier has always seemed an awful way to make a living, but my cousin has done it for many years and enjoys the interactions with people, so maybe it is not as bad as some jobs where you are isolated from that altogether. Our world has changed with the ability to work remotely, but I think that may take a toll on us eventually. Like everything else, it has positive and negative consequences.

Lois Winston – I would never want to be a politician because no matter what you do or don’t do, you always have too many people angry with you.

 

 

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Clicking Our Heels – Our Thoughts on the Most Beautiful Thing in Nature

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Clicking Our Heels Featured ImageClicking Our Heels – Our Thoughts on the Most Beautiful Thing in Nature

Some of us are city folks, some love the outdoors and nature. Today, the gang members share our thoughts on what we each believe to be the most beautiful thing in nature.

Donnell Ann Bell – Banff Canada and the amazing waterfalls and hiking trails. Zion National Park in Utah for its colorful rock formations. The Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. The wildlife in my former neighborhood, everything from deer, bobcats, bears, turkey, geese, oh my!

Bethany Maines – Probably Bryce Canyon. It’s unforgettable, unique and different in every light. Go visit.

Gay Yellen – Almost any National Park will do, but back when there were actual glaciers in Glacier National Park, every sight was breathtaking.

Mary Lee Ashford – There are so many beautiful places and gorgeous spaces around us. I’m a beach person and the first thing that came to mind with this question was a particular sunset in Hawaii. The colors were mind-blowing, the sea air was so soft, and the sound of the waves so calming that it was like time stood still for a breath.

T.K. Thorne – I have written about beauty and how it is entirely a construct of our minds. It does not exist outside of our interpretation of the world. LOL, that is a “TK answer,” isn’t it? Most beautiful things I have seen: a baby’s first smile; missing my father and stumbling upon a field of sunlit blue wildflowers; the majesty of the Grand Canyon and New Zealand’s Milford Sound; and the ever-changing diversity of my little garden pond.

Lois Winston – A star-filled sky. Because of ambient light, it’s been decades since I’ve seen one.

Saralyn Richard – The calving of the Hubbard Glacier in Alaska. It was an extraordinarily hot day, and the pieces of ice literally exploded from the glacier, forming smoke, shapes, and splashes.

Paula G. Benson – A clear, blue, sunny sky—what my Grandfather called, “October’s bright blue weather, after Helen Hunt Jackson’s poem.

Judy Penz Sheluk – Watching the sun set while sitting on our waterfront deck on Lake Superior, especially in summer. It’s a new view every night, and it’s almost always spectacular.

Anita Carter – The Redwoods. It’s vibrant, lush, and surprisingly quiet. So quiet you can hear nature grow. Absolutely amazing.

Donalee Moulton – Sable Island, Nova Scotia, a thin crescent of shifting sand at the edge of the Continental Shelf that wild horses, grey seals, and one-of-a-kind plants, birds, and insects call home. There are also more than 350 shipwrecks surrounding this Graveyard of the Atlantic.

Debra H. Goldstein – Niagara Falls.

 

 

 

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Clicking Our Heels – Secret Passions

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Clicking Our Heels Featured ImageClicking Our Heels – Secret Passions

Judy Penz Sheluk – I’m addicted to watching competition baking shows, though bran muffins out of a boxed mix is about as adventurous as I’ve gotten. But I’d love to learn to create wonderful cakes and cookies.

Mary Lee Ashford – Not really a secret passion or at least not in terms of a hidden talent or something I could reasonably pursue. I love music and sure wish I had some talent there. But sadly, that gene skipped me. I will say that I’ve always loved to travel and while we took trips when we could, careers and raising a family took priority. So now in retirement, I’m hopeful that maybe that passion for exploring the rest of the world can take on a new life.

Debra H. Goldstein – To write the great American novel – or at least to keep writing books and stories readers enjoy for a long, long time.

Anita Carter – I enjoy cooking and baking when I have time, but I’m not great at either. Maybe when I retire I should take lessons.

Gay Yellen – I’ve done my share of exciting things in life, and I hope there are more to come. But if I had one wish, I’d love to win the biggest lottery in history and use all the money to improve education and healthcare in this country.

Donalee Moulton – I would love to be a rock star. One problem: I can’t sing.

Lois Winston – Two, but neither will ever come to fruition. I’ve always wanted to go up in space, but I’m too prone to motion sickness for that to ever happen. I also wanted to star on Broadway, but Broadway isn’t interested in singers who can’t sing, dancers who can’t dance, and actors who can’t act.

T.K. Thorne – I think I always wanted to be a visual artist. I never considered I could do it, actually. Until Covid, that was a dormant desire, but I tried it, and no one was more surprised than I was by what has come from it!

Saralyn Richard – My passion for writing had to take a back seat for decades, when I was a teacher, administrator, and school improvement consultant. Finally, in 2013, passion and aptitude met opportunity, and eight books later, I’m living my best life.

Donnell Ann Bell – Not really. I’m a pragmatist. I would like to meet a former critique partner who I lost contact with years ago. He was such a mystery in the first place I would have no idea where to start. He belonged to my online mystery critique group and simply disappeared. He was a great critique partner – helped many of us out, especially when it came to geopolitics and geography.

Bethany Maines – I don’t know about dormant, but I would like to do more travelling, but the budget does not always accommodate my desires.

Paula G. Benson – I’m fortunate to have indulged in my secret passion of performing, writing, and directing theater productions. I’m grateful my church allows me to organize its drama ministry.

 

 

Clicking Our Heels – Do You Prefer Amateur or Professional Sleuths?

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Clicking Our Heels Featured ImageClicking Our Heels – Do You Prefer Amateur or Professional Sleuths?

Lois Winston – I prefer to write about amateur sleuths because I find them fun to write. The amateur sleuth is the quintessential fish-out-of-water story, and as a writer, I can be very creative with that sort of character.

T.K. Thorne – I prefer professional sleuths because, as a former one, I get frustrated with how amateurs have to do things!

Saralyn Richard – Each has its place in the mystery genre. I love the fresh perspective of an amateur sleuth, who stumbles into solving a mystery, but I’m also intrigued by the many strategies a professional detective can use to find truth and bring about justice.

Donnell Ann Bell – It depends. Sounds wishy washy, right? But sometimes light reading is just what the doctor ordered. There are also times a cozy author surprises me by allowing an amateur sleuth to get into some harrowing misadventures (Lois Winston is a great example). But I admit I love thrillers and police procedures. I just finished Barbara Nickless’s The Drowning Game, largely set in Singapore, and I did a beta read for Author Joyce Woollcott whose police procedure is set in Ireland. These authors are so good I feel like I’ve traveled 😊

Bethany Maines – I personally find the research required to make a professional sleuth character believable daunting and prefer amateurs. I also like the element of uncertainty an amateur brings to the table. The reader doesn’t expect them to be Sherlock Holmes and have it all figured out. Being an amateur allows my characters to make mistakes and mistakes make for more interesting reading.

Paula G. Benson – I grew up loving amateur sleuths, but VI Warshawski convinced me that professional sleuths, particularly female ones, were fabulous. Now, I must have both.

Donalee Moulton – At present, I’m leaning toward amateur. I have more freedom and flexibility with how my characters do things – and how they can mess up. But there is a shift in the wind. I have been writing short stories with two new main characters: one is a lawyer and the other a private detective.

Gay Yellen – Samantha Newman, the main character in my mystery series, is an amateur sleuth. However, I enjoy reading other novels that feature professional detectives, too.

Judy Penz Sheluk – No preference. I’ve written and read both. Amateur can be easier, because the author can take more liberties with solving the crime. That said, professional sleuths can be both educational and entertaining.

Debra H. Goldstein – Amateur sleuths come more naturally for me because if the character makes a mistake (because of how I write), it happens. If a professional makes a mistake, I’ve missed something in my research and the readers can rightfully complain.

Mary Lee Ashford – I really do like both for different reasons. The amateur sleuth can fly under the radar on an investigation and often uncover clues that may not be apparent to the professionals. Often they are more adept at getting people to talk and so it can make for some very interesting investigations. On the other hand, the professionals don’t have quite the same restrictions as the amateur. The investigating detective has access to all sorts of intel that isn’t available to the amateur sleuth. Which is probably why so many of us pair the two in order to take advantage of the strengths of both.

Anita Carter – Amateur sleuth. I love reading and writing about the everyday person rising to the occasion and solving the puzzle.

 

 

 

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Clicking Our Heels: What is the Dream Book You Always Wanted to Write?

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Clicking Our Heels – What is the Dream Book You Always Wanted to Write?

Authors dream of the day their work will be published and hopefully, read. There is nothing as exciting as holding that first published piece, but sometimes it isn’t the writer’s dream book. In fact, the second and later published works may also not be the one the author hopes to someday write. Today, the gang talks about the dream book each always wanted to write. Maybe one response will become a New Year’s resolution.

Saralyn Richard – The story of my grandparents and the 1900 Storm.

T.K. Thorne – I’ve never obeyed the “rule” of choosing one genre and have always written whatever I’ve wanted, which has resulted in an eclectic set of books from the ancient past to the 20th Century civil rights struggles to a magical current day, to the distant future. Perhaps I could have sold more books had I obeyed the rule, but I don’t regret it. I’ve learned so much from each of them.

Barbara J. Eikmeier – I have three memoir topics I want to write. My army wife stories, my nurse stories and what I call the pie project which is about the year I baked 60 pies while teaching myself to make pies.

Lois Winston – The next NY Times bestseller.

Gay Yellen – I’ve been doing research for a historical fiction on a subject that grabbed me almost a decade ago and won’t let go. It centers on a critical point in history that has been underrepresented in literature but has affected greatly world cultures around the world.

Donnell Ann Bell – The one that is in mothballs right now. It’s so hard when it’s in my head and begging me to tell the story!

Debra H. Goldstein – A woman’s fiction book.

Debra Sennefelder – An epic fantasy.

Mary Lee Ashford – I’ve always wanted to write a big bold women’s fiction book. You know the type. Women overcoming big obstacles with grit and humor. And friends. I’ve got notes…maybe someday.

Donalee Moulton – Whatever one I am working on at the moment. Sadly (or gloriously) the moment passes, and there is another dream book waiting in the wings.

Dru Ann Love – I have none.

Anita Carter – A suspense heavy book with a complex plot. Maybe someday…

Bethany Maines – A high fantasy novel. I’ve been poking at one for several years. It’s not my genre, but it’s one that I love. Maybe one day I’ll move it to the front burner.

 

 

 

Clicking Our Heels – Wardrobes and Our Novels and Characters

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Clicking Our Heels – Wardrobes and Our Novels and Characters

When one thinks of the elements that go into a book, one thinks about things like characters, setting, voice, but the Gang members recently had a discussion about how wardrobe plays a role in our books and how we dress our characters. We thought we’d share our thoughts about wardrobe with you.

Lois Winston – Anastasia is too busy paying off the enormous debt her first husband saddled her with when he dropped dead at a casino in Las Vegas. Clothes shopping is the furthest thing from her mind these days. She’s most comfortable wearing her old Defy Gravity or NY Mets sweatshirts.

Saralyn Richard – I loved dressing Margo in Murder in the One Percent. She makes an entrance into the dining room for dinner in a smashingly elegant dress. I shopped for days online to find the perfect one!

Gay Yellen – One of the challenges Samantha Newman faces in my latest release, The Body in the News, is the “uniform” that her new employers force her to wear. The wardrobe directive inflames her natural rebelliousness and makes for a bit of humor as well.

Mary Lee Ashford – Fashion isn’t a big part of my current series, but in the Pampered Pets books Caro and Mel’s designer wardrobes were a big part of their characters. Because I’m not a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination, dressing Caro required a lot of fun research.

Donalee Moulton – One of the characters in the book I’m working on now, Bind, is a little out there, wonderfully so. She practices reflexology, is a certified yoga instructor, and may get messages from those in the great beyond. Dressing her — without making her a stereotype — is a challenge.

Debra Sennefelder – In my Resale Boutique Mystery series, Kelly Quinn is a fashionista and the backdrop of the series is her consignment shop, so I do pay attention to how the characters dress. Some are trendy, so I search online and follow fashion influencers and other characters really don’t care about fashion.

Anita Carter – In the Pampered Pets series, clothes play a large part in the characters. I’m not big into designer brands so had a subscription to Vogue, watched a lot of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and window-shopped the Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s websites.

Bethany Maines – Pinterest! Once I establish my character’s background the look becomes important and if I don’t already have something picked out Pinterest will ALWAYS be able to find me just the right outfit.

Barbara J. Eikmeier – Amanda moved from the city to a farm and I used her wardrobe to show how she is a fish out of water in the beginning. As she slowly gets accustomed to her new surroundings her wardrobe changes become an important indicator of how she’s trying to fit in. But I let her keep her stilettos because she’ll need them at the end.

T.K. Thorne – In my urban fantasy, House of Rose, Becca is always dressed well, in opposition to Rose, whose idea of fashion is a clean tee shirt and jeans. It was a fun way for the very different characters to express themselves, learn to love their differences and to recognize the deeper values that bind them.

Donnell Ann Bell – I think I’ve answered this question before. My characters are not clothes horses at this point. I garb them to suit the character. However, I occasionally write a secondary character that is well off and I describe that on the page.

Debra H. Goldstein – Wardrobe is more important for my secondary characters than for my major characters because it helps define their roles.

Dru Ann Love – No.