Book Game of Scones in front of cathedral

Sisterhood of the Traveling Book – Game of Scones

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Book Game of Scones in front of cathedralI’m excited to join the Sisterhood of the Traveling Book tour and though Game of Scones has done some extensive traveling, the most recent trip was a little closer to home.  Last week, I attended a three-day CozyCon in St. Paul, Minnesota. This wasn’t a reader event but rather an author intensive and so most of the time was spent indoors. However, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and after hours there was a little time to explore.

I’ve been to the Twin Cities umpteen times but had never actually spent time in downtown St. Paul. It’s the capital of Minnesota and sits at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. The Mississippi isn’t as wide there as it is where it runs along the side of Iowa but it offers some high bluffs and great views.

The Cathedral of Saint Paul sits on Cathedral Hill and overlooks downtown. The cornerstone was laid in 1907 and the first mass was held in 1915. It’s the third largest Catholic cathedral and the sixth largest church in the United States. The only National Shrine dedicated to the Apostle Paul in North America, a stone relic from the tomb of Saint Paul was given to the cathedral in 2009.

We stayed at the beautiful and historic Saint Paul Hotel which was both beautiful and charming. And with its downtown location, there were so many fun restaurants within walking distance as well as a park nearby with whimsical sculptures of Charles Schultz characters.

Schroeder and Lucy sculpture

Charles Schultz was born in Minneapolis but grew up in St. Paul. I’ve included Schroeder and Lucy here but there were also statues of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Marcie and Woodstock, and Peppermint Patty.

The conference itself was amazing and as it focused on cozy mysteries there were lots of great discussions among the attending authors. So I have returned home with a ton of knowledge and an extensive list of books to add to my to-be-read pile. Though “pile’ may be underselling it a bit…

While St. Paul itself was amazing, my favorite part of the get-together was the people. And thankfully there were lots of breaks with opportunities to get to know each other and share our individual author journeys. It was good to get home and get back to finishing up the next book in the Sugar and Spice series, but it also felt like we could have kept going another three days.

Veggie SnackOne of my favorite snacks for one of our breaks was this little vegetable bouquet. It was in a small glass (probably a juice glass) with veggie dip in the bottom and a baby carrot, a pepper strip, and a broccoli floret. Isn’t it cute?

And I’m definitely stealing that idea for the next party I host. Who knows, maybe it will even end up in a book. Speaking of which…

I’m excited to share book five in the Sugar and Spice series with you, but in the meantime Game of Scones is currently free in all ebook formats so if you haven’t read it please check it out and then it can add to its travels.  And if you’ve already read it, please share the special offer with a friend! Here’s the link: GAME OF SCONES

 

photo of Mary Lee Ashford

Mary Lee Ashford is the author of Game of Scones, Risky Biscuits, Quiche of Death, and Night of the Living Bread from Oliver Heber Books. She is also half of the Sparkle Abbey writing team. Mary Lee is a lifelong bibliophile, an avid reader, and a public library champion. Prior to publishing she won the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. She is the founding president of Sisters in Crime -Iowa, a member of MWA, and Novelists, Inc. She lives in Iowa with her family and her feline coworker, Zoey.

She loves to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Or if you want to be sure you know about events, specials, and that next book, sign up for her newsletter.

Biscuits and book cover of Risky Biscuits book

Coffee Shops & Books plus a #giveaway for June

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by Mary Lee Ashford

photo of interior of coffee shopI love coffee shops and so when one of my favorite local coffee shops asked if I’d do a pop-up book signing in the shop, how could I resist?

It was a busy Saturday morning. They made biscuits. I brought books.

Different waves of people came throughout the morning. Some people with their kids. Some with their pets. One guy carried a beyond adorable miniature dachshund in a sling, talking to it as he stood in line.

A lady with two young boys had her hands full as she waited to give her order. One of them leaned against her legs while the other twirled her long skirt like a maypole – wrapping himself up and then unfurling himself to scare his brother.  I had two boys and I’ve been there.

“Lady,” I thought to myself. “You’re going to need a really big coffee.”

The downtown Farmer’s Market was going on so some came with flowers and vegetables tucked in bags. People with their pets and produce. Families meeting up over coffee. Friends on a Saturday outing.  Biscuits and book cover of Risky Biscuits book

There was also a 5K going on (my husband was running that) and we weren’t far from the finish line so that brought another wave of people.

A lady stopped by to look at my books and we talked scone recipes and travels. A few readers of my series stopped by to ask when the next book will be out. Sign up for my newsletter, if you’d like to be notified when that happens.

Of course, I also had to have a Honey Bee Latte, which is my favorite from their coffee menu.

All in all, it was a wonderful time and a great kick off to June and summer events. Which speaking of…

Did we mention that The Stiletto Gang is doing a Summer Book Bonanza Giveaway?

Details are below:

Enter to Win the Summer Book Bonanza #Giveaway!

WHERE: sign up at https://www.thestilettogang.com/home-giveaway/

WHEN: June 1 – 30, 2026

WINNERS ANNOUNCED: July

 

Graphic of all books included in the giveaway.

Grand Prize Winner receives… 9 E-BOOKS

Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun by Lois Winston

The Second Shot by Bethany Maines

Murder in the One Percent by Saralyn Richard

The Body Business by Gay Yellen

Skeletons in the Attic by Judy Penz Sheluk

House of Rose by T.K. Thorne

Night of the Living Bread by Mary Lee Ashford

Deadly Recall by Donnell Ann Bell

With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying by Debra H. Goldstein

Two runners up will receive 3 e-books and may select from the list above.

What’s the big idea?

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One of my favorite lines from a film is during The Trouble with Angels when Hayley Mills who plays a troublemaker teenager says, “I have a scathingly brilliant idea!”

Mine may not be scathingly brilliant but for many a spark or an idea can be a figurative pot of gold. I got my idea for The Past Came Hunting after listening to Trisha Yearwood and Don Henley’s country song “Walk Away Joe.” The lyrics surround a seventeen-year-old girl who refuses to listen to her mother and runs off with her bad-news boyfriend. As the song goes, the girl waits in the car while the young man robs a gas station.

During a police ride-along, I asked the officer I was riding with what would happen to the girl?

“Seventeen. In the commission of a felony,” he replied. “She might be charged as an accessory—might even be tried as an adult and go to prison.” My kids were near that age at the time and I was appalled.

Later I asked him, “What’s the worst thing that could happen to you as a police officer?” Without hesitation, he answered, “If an ex-con moved next door to me.”

Boom! I had my story.

I researched how some authors came up with ideas and discovered:

J.K. Rowling got her idea for Harry Potter from a delayed train journey.

J.R.R. Tolkein, creator of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, got the idea for the Hobbit from a random sentence he wrote while grading papers.

Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games, was channel surfing and watching young people compete for a million-dollar contest.

Still, ideas can be nebulous and are often fleeting. Author Hank Phillippi Ryan and I discussed this during an interview. She said her muse show up at a restaurant. She reached for a napkin, then her pen and started writing. All I can say is if an idea or inspiration strikes, be ready to focus and find a way to jot it down.

Finally, my favorite anecdote about ideas and inspiration has to be from musician John Tesh who shared his backstory when he created Roundball Rock, the Chicago Bulls theme song, which in 2025 became the overall theme song for the NBA. The story as well as the score is breathtaking. Here’s the Youtube link and well worth a listen:

https://youtu.be/V_h7Lm7C9Nk?si=L-qVONhk5fTx3ej1

How about you? Got any goldmine ideas you’ve encountered to write a book or otherwise? Where do you get your ideas?

Donnell Ann Bell

Reading: The Panacea for What Ails Me

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By Donnell Ann Bell

When my children were small, I’d plop one kid on my left side, the other on my right, and open a book. I’d read one page, hand it off to the one on the left and say, “Your turn.”

My daughter would read one page and hand it back to me. I’d read the following page, then hand it off to my son, and the ritual continued.

Over the 2025 Christmas holiday, I was reminded of this special time when I learned the tradition continued. My son and daughter-in-law take turns reading to their children every night before bed.

Reading is the gateway that makes all other learning possible.

Already at age nine, my granddaughter has read nine of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. “Grammy,” she asked, “Do you want to hear me read?”

Nothing would please me more, so I answered, “Of course.”

Not to be outdone, her brother, age seven, cut in, “Grammy, do you want to hear me read?”

“Love to,” I responded immediately.

My grandchildren’s elementary school hosts reading challenges, and clearly the competition is working. When I learned my granddaughter was reading C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I reread it so I could discuss it with her.

On this trip, I listened to her read chapters from The Curious Tale of the In Between by Lauren DeStefano, which I found to be an amazing middle grade book. While she stumbled over some of the bigger words, when that happened, we paused and discussed their meanings.

It was such an important, joyous time for me. I can’t think of a better bonding scenario.

For the past few months, I’ve been busy updating my books to become a hybrid author. What I thought would be tedious has turned into a fun opportunity for me to correct, tighten, and the best part is, I get to reconnect with my characters.

Periodically, Stiletto Gang member and critique partner Lois Winston asks if I have time to read a few chapters or even the rest of an edited book before she publishes. In no way is reading her work a sacrifice. I love to spend time with her reluctant amateur sleuth and the rest of her zany New Jersey crew. 😊

I certainly can’t read while I’m driving, so I turn to audio books. During a recent trip to Colorado, I listened to John Grisham’s The Widow.  Audio books make long car trips fly by!

Back to the recent 2025 holiday, not everything was perfect. Christmas afternoon, I came down with the flu, which sadly cut my family visit short. The bug lasted well into New Year’s, forcing me to reschedule my planned company for New Year’s.

Don’t feel too sorry for me, though. In between sleeping I spent the time reading. Whether I’m healthy, sick or simply in need of escape, I turn to reading. It’s the panacea for what ails me.

Glad to be back, Stiletto Gang. Wishing everyone a happy and productive 2026!! By the way, what are you reading?

Donnell Ann Bell is an award-winning author who began her nonfiction career in newspapers. After she turned to fiction, her romantic suspense novels became Amazon bestsellers, including The Past Came Hunting, Deadly Recall, Betrayed, and Buried Agendas. In 2019, Donnell released her first mainstream suspense, Black Pearl, A Cold Case Suspense, which was a 2020 Colorado Book Award finalist. In 2022, book two of the series was released. Until Dead, A Cold Case Suspense won Best Thriller in 2023 at the Imaginarium Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Currently, she’s working on book three of the series. Readers can follow Donnell on her blog or sign up for her newsletter at www.donnellannbell.net.

 

People in background with text Better Together

Thankful for Connections

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by Sparkle Abbey
People in background with text Better TogetherAs we come to the end of summer and head into fall there are so many things happening in our lives and in the world. And so much going on in the publishing world. It’s hard to keep up with everything.

A new series is still in development but with happenings in our personal lives – family things, medical things, and life – things shift.

And wow, where do we even begin with changes in publishing? For us, a major change is that our original publisher is closing its doors at the end of the year. Which on the personal side makes us very sad and on the professional side means that we will soon own the rights to those first ten Sparkle Abbey books. Needless to say, we have a lot of decisions to make about what’s next for the Pampered Pets. It’s a different place than when we started and so many options to explore. And options that are preferable today may not be so attractive at the end of the year. Which is only three months away. Yikes!

In addition to the actual writing and the publishing part of things, it’s also a different world in terms of connecting with readers. Conferences are fewer but book signings seem to have picked up again. On the socials side, Facebook remains popular with our readers, Instagram has grown, Twitter is out, BlueSky is in. And BookTok, it depends on the day. Video is big, live is even bigger. And podcasts remain popular. Right now.

And then there’s AI and it’s impact on, well, everything.

There’s a lot of be sorted out. And while the ease of researching and gathering intel on the publishing world has become fast and easy, the reliability of the information you gather is harder to determine. Which is why we are so thankful for writing friends and the connections that being a part of the writing community brings.

We have each other here on The Stiletto Gang blog to rely on for advice and intel sharing. There are also a slew of connections via Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and people we’ve met there. As well as our local chapter and our long-time writing group. A wealth of information, education, and support that is truly priceless.

We’re not sure what the future holds but we know one thing for certain. There will always be change.

As we adapt to the latest trends, try new things, and keep telling our stories, we are tremendously thankful for the connections that make this rocky road easier and so much more fun!

 

sparkle and abbey

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don’t tell the other neighbors.)

If you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website

Clicking Our Heels Featured Image

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.

 

 

Decisions Decisions

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Donnell Ann BellBy Donnell Ann Bell

Some changes are in store for me in the upcoming months. As I write this, I’m about to join the ranks of hybrid author. After 25 years in business, my publisher BelleBooks/Bell Bridge Books/Imajinn is closing its doors. Debra Dixon, who has owned and operated the publishing house (and admirably I might add), will retire.

As far as this author is concerned, as a publisher and editor, Debra Dixon has been exemplary, following through on every commitment she’s made. And to have the author of Goal, Motivation and Conflict as my editor for my Cold Case Series, has been both and education and has made me a better writer. So, now it’s time for this fledgling duckling—I mean author—to decide what she wants to do next. As I await my rights reversion letter, I look at this transition as an opportunity. For the most part, I’m thrilled with the product that Bell Bridge Books produced that bears my name on the covers. Still, like most books, dare I say, every published novel contains surprise gremlins. These gremlins called errors pop up in spite of critique partners, beta readers, editors, copy editors and proofreaders.

My friend Annette Dashofy is famous for saying if a mistake makes it into our books upon publication, after an author’s painstaking review, followed by the numerous editorial eyes on it, that typo deserves to be in there!!😉While I think her philosophy is clever, I respectfully disagree and want that typo corrected. Being traditionally published, I haven’t had the luxury of fixing a digital copy after it’s published. When my books are returned to me, I plan to fix those pesky errors that have plagued me these many years.

Which brings me to something else I’ve been thinking about and would love your opinions. Over the years I’ve received both good and bad reviews. Some readers lamented I didn’t put enough sex in my books, while other readers appreciated that I didn’t. Then there’s the subject of expletives. My mother worked for a doctor who claimed that using foul language was a sign of a weak mind. Moreover, if the speaker did use expletives, it was because he  couldn’t think of anything else to say. As a young woman, I heard that story so many times, I came to believe the doctor had a @#$% valid point!

In my debut novel, The Past Came Hunting, I used expletives. Namely, because my protagonist is a cop. Further, the story begins with a rebellious seventeen-year-old in the process of making the mistake of her life when she hooks up with a California bad boy (later a vengeful ex-con). While my female protagonist cleans up her act (and her language), and the cop occasionally expels an oath, the ex-con absolutely refused to say, “Gosh” and “Darn.” Honest, I asked him!

My debut won several awards, was requested by agents and was responsible for my publication. I remember receiving one letter about the language while the book has hundreds of positive reviews and hit #7 on Amazon’s list as a new author. I’m pretty proud of that. Here’s another question for you. What is it about criticism that we can receive numerous accolades, but we continually focus on the negative?  Also, as I’m going over the book line by line and have the opportunity to sanitize this manuscript, I’m not sure I want to.

Do I still hate expletives? Absolutely. I try hard not to use them. But it’s not about me. It’s about the characters. Fortunately, my other books don’t include a truculent psychopath. Brooke Terpening, another Stiletto Gang member, sent me the following blog written by author Harry Bingham to help me weigh my decision: Click here (content warning).  Mr. Bingham has an incredibly interesting take on the subject. By the way, the article provides an “f-bomb” score. Believe it or not my index is 28/82 = 0.35 which means my book is “unsweary.” Seriously?

Meanwhile, decisions, decisions.

About the Author:

Donnell Ann Bell is an award-winning author who began her nonfiction career in newspapers. After she turned to fiction, her romantic suspense novels became Amazon bestsellers, including The Past Came Hunting, Deadly Recall, Betrayed, and Buried Agendas. In 2019, Donnell released her first mainstream suspense, Black Pearl, A Cold Case Suspense, which was a 2020 Colorado Book Award finalist. In 2022, book two of the series was released. Until Dead, A Cold Case Suspense won Best Thriller in 2023 at the Imaginarium Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Currently, she’s working on book three of the series. Readers can follow Donnell on her blog or sign up for her newsletter at www.donnellannbell.net.

Clicking Our Heels Featured Image

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.

 

 

Oops! After 15 Years I Killed My Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers Mystery Blog

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By Lois Winston

Sometimes the universe sends you a signal. Last month, I received one. It began when I was uploading a guest post to Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers, the blog I’d created in 2010 because my editor wanted me to join Facebook, and I had refused. I told her I’d instead join Twitter and create a blog.

I rarely posted on Twitter and eventually closed the account, but I kept up the blog. It changed over the years. At first, I posted new content five days a week. After a few years, I reduced my blogging to three days a week, then once a week. I began having more and more guests because coming up with fresh content, even once a week, is time-consuming, and I also belong to two multi-author blogs. I blog once a month here at The Stiletto Gang and once every seven weeks at Booklover’s Bench. For the last year, I was posting once a month on Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers and hosting guests the other weeks.

Then one day about a month ago, I was uploading a guest post, and Blogger wouldn’t let me add the jpeg of the guest’s cover. I rebooted my computer. Multiple times with no success. I searched the Internet and found various reasons why the jpeg wouldn’t load. I tried other jpegs with no success, and after eliminating all the other suggestions, I tried the only one left. I deleted my cookies. Suddenly, I could no longer get onto my blog dashboard, even after signing in.

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Google, leaning heavily toward the hate. Google doesn’t play well with my Mac. Never has. And, of course, it’s impossible to get human help from Google, especially for Blogger, which they stopped supporting years ago. Did I want to waste more hours, days, even weeks trying to get back into my blog, knowing the chances of success were infinitesimal? I’d already wasted hours, the result being that the initial minor problem had grown to a major one. I also wasn’t about to pay a tech expert hundreds of dollars, only to have him or her fail as well.

Maybe the time had come to bid a fond farewell to Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers. The fact that I wasn’t panicking about losing my blog, told me this was an option I should consider. Maybe Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers had run its course after fifteen years. All good things must come to an end. Would anyone even notice or care? Do I care? The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn’t. Instead, I was looking forward to the time it would free up in my writing schedule and my life.

So, fare thee well, Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers. I bid you adieu as you take your place in the huge expanse of dead blogs floating around somewhere in cyberspace.

Have you stepped away from some or all social media, either intentionally or inadvertently? Were you upset or happy about it? Post a comment for a chance to receive a promo code for a free audiobook download of one of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries.

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Her most recent book is Seams Like the Perfect Crime, the fourteenth Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website. Sign up for her newsletter to receive an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery.

Nixing the Crime Scene (Part 2) The Ladder Fiasco

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Nixing the Crime Scene (Part 2) the Ladder FiascoDonnell Ann Bell

By Donnell Ann Bell

Last month on my day to blog I talked about a broken coffee cup handle that led to my spilling coffee all over my carpet. Nixing Crime Scene Cleanup as a Career | The Stiletto Gang  I made light of that accident because though cosmetic, no harm was done. Today, I want to continue the saga because the accident that followed, e.g. the cleanup of said carpet and surrounding walls, was no laughing matter.

I’ve always been a “do it myself” kind of person. I clean my own house because I’ve learned that if I hire someone, I clean it before the housekeeper comes anyway. So, when I saw all the coffee that had splattered off onto my newly painted walls, I thought, well, this isn’t the great room with its twelve-feet ceilings, this was the master. The ceiling was only nine feet and the floor wasn’t tile, it was carpet.

Off I went to get our seven-foot ladder from the garage. I climbed the ladder, went up and down several times and completed the task with no problems. On the last fateful descent, however, I wrongfully assumed I was closer to the floor. Big mistake! I estimate I must have been closer to two or three feet off the floor.

I remember thinking when I landed, Thank God for the carpet because I could have been hurt far worse. When I hit the ground, it knocked the breath out of me, and as I lay there with my body parts screaming, I remember thinking Okay, I don’t think anything’s broken. But in the upcoming hours and days, I would discover bruises on my left butt and arm that were in a word Shocking! I’d never bruised so badly.

When I called my friend to complain, she said, “Oh, you didn’t count the rungs!!”

I did not. That was my second mistake. My first mistake was doing it in the first place without anybody home. As age creeps up on me, I’ve been in denial. I thought I was competent and in relatively good shape. You know that old saying about “Assuming,” though.

Source Vecteezy Free Graphics

I could have saved myself plenty of embarrassment and not blogged about my stupidity. But from what I’ve learned, I’m lucky to be here, and I want to share if it prevents another from making a similar mistake.

Falls are the second leading cause of unintentional injury and death all over the world.

  • There are more than 300 ladder-related deaths and over 130,000 emergency room visits related to ladders each year.
  • Ladders were the main cause of 161 fatal work injuries in 2020.

March is National Ladder Safety month. I wish I would have known and paid attention.

For anyone who will climb a ladder in the future, here is a vital link that talks about Safety First and the Three Point Contact rule when ascending or descending a ladder. Here is a great blog about the 3 Points of Contact  3 Points Of Contact Rule Of Ladder Safety

From the blog’s opening . . .The rationale behind this rule is that it ensures stability and minimizes the risk of falling off the ladder. Maintaining three points of contact distributes your weight more evenly. . . . I hope everyone who reads my blog about ladders will take a moment to study this blog and its in-depth information.

I will also add to this information to do as my friend suggested. Count the rungs when you’re going up and going down.

Everything a writer does is all material. However, this isn’t something I’m glad I experienced firsthand. Accidents happen, but this one could have been so easily avoided.

 

 

 

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