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?

Authors Helping Authors: A Full Circle Moment

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AUTHORS HELPING AUTHORS

I’d been published a little over a year, maybe two, when I first met Emily Wood. I’d been approached by a regional library to talk about writing and getting published. As I recall, it was loosely related to the now defunct National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) held each November. Anyway, Emily was there, and at the time she was the Editor of the Base Borden newspaper, and worked part-time at the library.

I remember her sitting there, earnest, notebook in hand, dreams in her eyes. She asked a lot of questions. Good questions. Relevant questions. I answered them honestly, but I hoped, with cautious optimism. Yes, getting published was tough, but it could be done. And the one thing I believed in was authors helping authors. Emily might not have been a published author — yet — but in my mind, she was still an author.  I seem to recall she was writing something dystopian. The Handmaid’s Tale was big at the time, which may or may not have had something to do with it.

I went on to do a few other library events and presentations, mostly at my then-local library. Emily attended each and every one of them. I think, the first time, she was surprised that I remembered her, but I had been really impressed by her enthusiasm and ambition. I’d been her, once. Part of me still was, even if I’d become just a little more jaded. By 2018, after being “orphaned” twice, I gave up on traditional publishers (except for the odd short story) and had started my own imprint.

STEP-BY-STEP PUBLISHING GUIDES

Fast forward to late 2022. After 14 years in remission, I was diagnosed with the unwelcome return of breast cancer. Surgery followed shortly thereafter and suddenly the idea of trying to come up with a complicated mystery plot seemed impossible. Not writing also seemed impossible. But I was a former journalist. And I knew about traditional and self-publishing. What if I wrote about that, a sort of easy-to-read step-by-step guide? I liked the idea, but I knew I would need someone to work with me, an editor that was willing to review a chapter (or part of a chapter) every week. But who?

Then I remembered editor and aspiring author Emily Wood. I contacted her, and we came to an agreement whereby I’d pay her a fair hourly wage, and she’d return edited chapters to me on a weekly basis. It was a partnership made in heaven. Emily’s much more youthful perspective, and her recent efforts to find an agent, added meat to FINDING YOUR PATH TO PUBLICATION: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE, that otherwise would not have been included. That book went on to win the 2024 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Nonfiction AND the 2024 Writer’s Digest Award for Best Prescriptive Nonfiction (that one was nice because it came with a $1,000 prize). I followed up PATH with SELF-PUBLISHING: THE INS & OUTS OF GOING INDIE. Here, Emily’s lack of knowledge was instrumental in how I would explain the process that virtually anyone could follow.

A FULL CIRCLE MOMENT

Another fast forward, this time in 2024, when Emily was hired fulltime at the library AND informed me she’d landed an agent and they were shopping her book (a romance, which is what she loves to read). She signed a contract soon after and the book JUST MY LUCK, released in February 2026. You can find it on Amazon and other retailers.  And then, one day in March, a parcel arrived from Emily. Her debut novel, signed and personalized. A matching bookmark. A lovely thank you card.

And that’s what you call “a full circle moment.”

ABOUT JUST MY LUCK (by Emily Wood)

Sloan Sanders’ perfectly curated online life is in shambles. Dumped the same day her dream business collapses and rocked by a shocking DNA test, she escapes to her aunt’s farm to regroup.
Instead of peace, Sloan finds herself knee-deep in manure and butting heads with Parker, the annoyingly hot stable hand who seems determined to make her life difficult. She thinks he’s shady. He thinks she’s an entitled princess. But as sparks fly and secrets come out, Sloan realizes the line between enemies and something more is getting blurry.
When a chance comes to prove herself and reinvent her future, Sloan needs Parker’s help. Transforming a dusty hayloft into an Instagram-worthy event space might just change everything—if she’s willing to show the world her unfiltered self.
Perfect for fans of Jen DeLuca’s Well Met and K.A. Tucker’s The Simple Wild, JUST MY LUCK is a heartwarming rom-com about identity, family secrets, and finding love where you least expect it.

YOU CAN FIND EMILY WOOD ON INSTAGRAM @emilywoodwrites. 

The Past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada and a former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the multiple award-winning author of seven bestselling mystery novels, two books on publishing, and several short stories. She is also the editor/publisher of five Superior Shores Anthologies, including the 2025  Derringer- and Silver Falchion- nominated Larceny & Last Chances and the 2026 Derringer-nominated Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com

 

Every Little Thing

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Quarter 1 had a lot of things…

And Thing 1 and Thing 2 were not blue-haired pranksters. The things were both writing.  Last year, I blithely signed a contract with Varus Publishing to provide 4 books in 2026.  I had exactly 1.5 books of those four written when I signed.  Well, if you want to meet editorial and layout schedules, then you must turn in your manuscripts at a date that is not the last minute.  Then I took on teaching a new writing workshop (which means developing the workshop), being the Treasurer for the Mystery Writers of America Northwest Chapter, volunteering my design skills to a worthy-cause website, supporting my brother’s new business, and oh, yeah, my daughter’s birthday is in a week. Keep reading for the news breakdown.

Brainstorming Your MysteryThe Workshop Thing

The workshop “Murder Boards & Master Plans: Brainstorming Your Mystery” went from being hybrid to being all virtual due to the possibility of snow in the forecast.  While a bit of a curveball, the workshop still went well as we discussed how to pick which information we need to start outlining (or if you’re a “pantser – how to just start writing) and then broke it down to have some fabulous shared moments and help each other move our stories forward. It was so fantastic to see attendees have a lightbulb or a breakthrough moment on their plot.

The Treasury Department

Being a Treasurer is not particularly difficult.  What’s challenging is the bank who, despite non-profit boards routinely rotating all across the US, seem shocked that there is a new treasurer literally every time.  But it’s not my first time being a treasurer so I just gathered up all my bits and went down to the bank and talked to real person until it was mostly straightened out.  Sadly, I’ll be doing it again this week in order to set up online banking.  It never seems to happen all in one visit.  However, the rest of the job is going fine, and we’ve already started our programming for the year – Check out Mystery Manon as she discusses social media for mystery writers!

New Website Thing

As part of our MWA Chapter’s mission to support writing, this year we took on the support of Noir at the Bar Seattle. While a fixture on the Seattle literary scene since 2014, NATB has never had it’s own website. Until now.  With some graphic design wizardry and a little tech know-how, I was able to put together a NATB website.  It’s main goal is to share news of upcoming events, and keep track of past performers.  You can also sign up for the mailing list and listen to recordings of previous readings.  To learn more visit: https://www.noiratthebarseattle.com/

Picture of a green brownie thingBirthday Wishes

My daughter’s birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day and as per usual, we have picked out and tested a green dessert. This year it’s… Greenies.  Because they can’t be brownies if they’re green. If you’re interested in getting the recipe (and news about new books, giveaways, and author spotlights) then sign up for my once a month newsletter!  Visit: https://bethanymaines.com/connect/

 

And now… The Book Thing!

Book 1 of the 2026 novels is now out in the wild and being read and reviewed by real human beings – ack!  Look for Book 2 – Forged in Flame – June.  This one is a perfectly delicious second chance romance with dragons because… of course there are dragons in Hawaii — it’s got a volcano.

Heart’s Curse

Writing under the pen name Sirena Corebeau for Varus Publishing, Heart’s Curse is about Lucas Kane, a hotel boss who’s on his way up the ladder and his first shot at the big time in Vegas is The Lucky Heart Hotel & Casino.  There’s just one tiny problem… it’s cursed.  Charlotte “Charlie” Auvray has always been told she’s nothing special—just the magicless daughter of a powerful witch family. But when a disastrous spring break lands her in Las Vegas, she stumbles into the path of Lucas Kane, a dangerously magnetic casino boss with secrets of his own. Lucas is juggling mob ties, a cursed hotel, and powers he can never reveal. What he doesn’t need is a heartbroken college girl counting cards at his tables… or kissing him in front of her cheating ex. But when blood rains from the showers and guests descend into madness, Charlie proves she sees what no one else can—the curse that haunts the Lucky Heart’s Casino. To break it, she’ll have to embrace her hidden magic and trust Lucas with her heart. Because in Vegas, the stakes aren’t just money—they’re life, love, and destiny.

ORDER NOW: https://amzn.to/49fdeli

**

Bethany Maines drinks from an arsenic mugBethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She participates in many activities, including swearing, karate, art, and yelling at the news. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay). You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.  She has also writes under the pen name Sirena Corbeau for spicier paranormal romance novels. Learn more at: bethanymaines.com or sirenacorbeau.com 

See more books from the Stiletto Gang: BOOKS

Down the Rabbit Hole

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By Donnell Ann Bell

I’m glad I only blog once a month on The Stiletto Gang. Mainly because when I stumble on a topic I’d like to discuss, that’s how long it takes to condense the mushroom cloud in my brain into a few cohesive paragraphs.

Case in point, I recently read an ad in American Police Beat Magazine for a device called the MX908 mass spectrometer. This handheld gadget is portable, and because of its cost, (close to $60K per unit) is currently being used by elite first responders.

What does it do? The MX908 mass spectrometer is capable of detecting real time chemical identification (such as explosives, HazMat operations and priority drugs such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and more). 908 Devices – YouTube

I can’t tell you how happy I was to learn about this advancing technology. During ridealongs and citizens academies, I’ve learned that while cops live daily with the knowledge they may take a bullet, they and their fellow first responders, face a greater risk known as exposure.

Exposure to explosives, chemicals and toxic drugs. I’m excited about the advancement of this mass spectrometer. I believe it will save innumerable lives.

I didn’t mean my blog to be an ad for the MX908, however. My original intent was to pinpoint how and when the technology may have evolved and how fiction authors (in particularly science fiction authors) may have contributed.

That idea proved fruitless and of little merit.

DeForest Kelly as Dr. McCoy Source: Public Domain

Lois Winston and I are critique partners, and I told her about the device and quipped something like Gene Roddenberry, screenwriter and creator of Star Trek, would be proud. If you recall Roddenberry created Star Trek in 1964. One of his characters, Dr. Leonard McCoy, aka Bones, used a medical scanning device on patients to determine illness or injury.

Still, Gene Roddenberry can’t take credit for the spectrometer. As I dove further down the rabbit hole, I learned the first mass spectrometer was invented in the 19th century and before that Issac Newton and others were delving into the color spectrum, telescope, microscope and myriad other devices. Did you know Newton is responsible for calculus?

And please don’t get me started on Benjamin Franklin!!!

I did learn quite a bit about science fiction authors while I was researching but I’ll save that for another blog. There are some amazing authors I’d like to include.

Also, during my explorations, I discovered I was attempting to engage in what is known as Synoptic philosophy, which comes from the Greek word συνοπτικός synoptikos (“seeing everything together”). Add synoptic to the word philosophy, it means the love of wisdom emerging from a coherent understanding of everything together.

Obviously, although my curiosity knows no bounds, I have much to learn.

Does your research lead you down the proverbial rabbit hole? Have you heard the term Synoptic philosophy?

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.

 

book cover for Risky Biscuits

Judging a Book by Its Title

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book cover for Risky Biscuits

We often get asked about our book titles and we do have some fun with them. The Sparkle Abbey books sport titles such as “The Girl with the Dachshund Tattoo” and “Fifty Shades of Greyhound” and the Mary Lee Ashford books, “Game of Scones” and “Risky Biscuits.” As with most traditionally published authors, we had no guarantee that the publisher would keep the titles we’d created but in almost all cases they did.

Still, in this new world of hybrid publishing and ever more complicated methods of discoverability, we got to wondering about how much impact a title has for readers in finding the books they like to read.

Over time there have been different trends such as the X Y format – two word titles – “Demon Copperhead,” “The Maid” or “Gone Girl.” And then there’s the really long book titles. For example: “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” or a children’s favorite of ours, “Alexander’s Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day.” Or the lovely, “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.” There also seem to be some new trends with cross-genre type titles and a surge of retro-sounding titles. Though some of these are specific to particular type of books or sub-genres, most seem to cross the lines.

And as with all things in the publishing world, title trends are ever changing. So we’d love to hear your thoughts.

 

Do particular types of titles appeal to you? And how much impact does the title of a book have on whether you would buy it or maybe at least stop to take another look? 

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.)

They love to hear from readers and can be found on social media or contacted via their websites:

Sparkle Abbey: Facebook  Website

Mary Lee Ashford: Facebook  Instagram  Website

Kathleen Kaska

Treasure Hunt: A True-Life Indiana Jones Saga

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Treasure Hunt: 

A True-Life Indiana Jones Saga

When you hear the phrase treasure hunt, you might imagine a chest of gold or a legendary artifact. But what if the treasure was a bird—and the hunter an ornithologist?

In the mid-1990s, I joined a field trip to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas coast to see the endangered whooping crane. That experience changed my life. I became captivated by the crane’s story—and by the man who saved it from extinction. That fascination grew into a seven-year research journey and ultimately my book, The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane: The Robert Porter Allen Story.

In the spring of 1941, the whooping crane population had dropped to just fifteen birds. Written off as doomed, the species survived because one man refused to accept extinction as inevitable. Robert Porter Allen, an ornithologist with the National Audubon Society, launched a conservation campaign unlike anything America had seen before.

Long before television or the internet, Allen ignited a nationwide media blitz. Posters flooded public schools. Children wrote letters to lawmakers. Radio stations tracked the cranes’ migration from their winter home near Austwell, Texas, to a mysterious nesting site somewhere in Canada. Life magazine published a rare photo of a whooping crane family, and even an oil company altered its operations to avoid disturbing the birds.

By 1947, fewer than thirty cranes remained. Their nesting grounds—hidden somewhere in northern Saskatchewan, possibly near the Arctic Circle—had never been found. Without protecting that site, the species would vanish. After two failed searches, Audubon turned to its most tenacious ornithologist: Robert Porter Allen, newly returned from World War II.

What followed was a real-life treasure hunt—one that helped save a species and changed the course of conservation history, ultimately paving the way for the Endangered Species Act.

The story of Robert Porter Allen is best described as Indiana Jones meets John James Audubon—and it remains one of the most inspiring conservation adventures ever told.

I wrote the book to pay homage to a man who was all but forgotten. My research led me on my own journey from Texas to Florida to Wisconsin and beyond in an adventure I like to call “On the Trail of a Vanishing Ornithologist.”

Excerpt:

It was April 17, 1948, in the early hours of a muggy Texas morning on the Gulf Coast. The sun at last burned away the thick fog that had settled over Blackjack Peninsula. The world’s last flock of wild whooping cranes had spent the winter feeding on blue crab and killifish in the vast salt flats they called home. During the night, all three members of the Slough Family had moved to higher ground about two miles away from their usual haunt to feed. The cool, crisp winter was giving way to a warm, balmy spring. The days were growing longer, and territorial boundaries were no longer defended. Restlessness had spread throughout the flock. 

            As Robert Porter Allen drove along East Shore Road near Carlos Field in his government-issued beat-to-hell pickup, he spotted the four cranes now spiraling a thousand feet above the marsh. He pulled his truck over to the roadside and watched, hoping to witness, for the first time, a migration takeoff. One adult crane pulled away from the family and flew northward, whooping as it rose on an air current. When the others lagged behind, the crane returned, the family regrouped, circled a few times, and landed in the cordgrass in the shallows of San Antonio Bay. It was Allen’s second year at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. He had learned to read the nuances of his subjects almost as well as they read the changing of the seasons.

            In the days preceding, twenty-four cranes departed for their summer home somewhere in Western Canada, possibly as far north as the Arctic Circle. This annual event, which had occurred for at least 10,000 years, might be one of the last unless Allen could accomplish what no one else had.         

            The next morning, when Allen parked his truck near Mullet Bay, the Slough Family was gone, having departed sometime during the night. That afternoon, he threw his gear into the back of his station wagon and followed.

The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane was published by the University Press of Florida in 2012. It’s still available in bookstores upon request, Amazon,  Barnes & Noble, and University Press of Florida. It’s also from my website: Kathleen Kaska

Contact me at kathleenkaska@hotmail.com for information on my presentation of The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane: The Robert Porter Allen Story

Cheating and Scamming

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Cheating and Scamming

Image from Pixabay

Cheating and Scamming

People have been scamming the system since forever. Going all the way back to my days in junior high school, there were those students who didn’t bother to read the assigned book. Instead, these lazy cheats bought the CliffsNotes edition of the book and wrote their book report from that, often lifting the synopsis verbatim.

Back in the day, sometimes the thief was caught but depending how savvy or diligent the teacher, not always. I suppose if the teacher had a copy of the CliffNotes edition or more than one student had pulled the same stunt, he or she would’ve quickly caught on and handed the culprit an F. Otherwise, probably not.

Over the last ten years or so, publishers have been taking the easy way out to cut costs. They’ve either stopped hiring cover artists or dramatically cut back in their use of them. Instead, they generate their covers in-house, using stock photography. Think about how many mysteries, thrillers, and romantic suspense covers you’ve seen that feature a woman wearing a red coat or dress and running off into the distance, her back turned to you. Often, it’s the very same photograph slapped onto a new background.

When a book breaks out, publishers also glom onto that book’s success with their own versions of the title. Think about all the books with “girl” in the title that came out after the success of Gone Girl.

Not only are publishers doing this, but many authors are now trying to capitalize on the success of other authors by copying the series ideas, style, and even cover art of successful authors and/or books. Dragons are everywhere ever since Game of Thrones, including and especially in multiple middle-grade and YA series.

Once upon a time, writers were told not to follow trends. By the time your book was written and submitted, the trend would be on the downside. All you have to do is look at the proliferation of books in multiple genres that all take place in libraries to know that no longer seems to be true.

Cheating & Scamming

Fast-forward to the present, and we’re all contending with people who use AI to generate novels that are flooding the system. Does Amazon really think that by asking on their upload dashboard if AI was used to create any part of the book or cover that those who have used it will be honest enough to say so? If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Cheating & Scamming

Cheating and Scamming

image from Pixabay

Too many people aren’t interested in putting in the work to create original works of art. Big tech is stealing from authors, artists, actors, and musicians to train their AI using our copyrighted works without permission or compensation. They’ve now used AI to generate a “live” actress that an agency is shopping around for roles in TV and movies. And an AI generated country singer and song recently hit #1 on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart.

For those of us who expend the time and brain cells to write unique books rather than copying the works of others or resorting to AI to do the work for us, it’s depressing and demoralizing. But we continue writing because for most of us, we can’t not write. (Excuse the double-negative!)

New technologies play a role in the plot of Embroidered Lies and Alibis, the fifteenth book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, (currently available for preorder and releasing Feb. 10th).

Many ethical questions are being raised about the use of AI and the people who are profiting from it. What are your thoughts? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free audiobook download of any of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries or the Empty Nest Mysteries.

Embroidered Lies and Alibis

A Stitch in Time Could Save a Life…

When Anastasia’s mother Flora is offered a free spa vacation from Jeremy Dugan, a man connected to her distant past, Anastasia and husband Zack suspect ulterior motives. After all, too-good-to-be-true often spells trouble. Their suspicions are confirmed when the FBI swoops in to apprehend Dugan. However, Dugan isn’t who he claimed to be, and his arrest raises more questions than answers.

The Feds link Dugan to a string of cons targeting elderly single women across the country, but his seemingly airtight alibi leaves investigators stumped. Then, shortly after his release on bail, he’s kidnapped. A certain segment of New Jersey’s population is known for delivering deadly messages, and the FBI believes Dugan received one of them.

Meanwhile, bodies begin showing up in the newly created public garden across the street from Anastasia and Zack’s home. With two baffling crimes, no clear suspects, scant evidence, and every possible motive unraveling, both the FBI and local law enforcement are once again picking Anastasia’s brain. This time, though, her involvement is far from reluctant. Will she stitch together enough clues before she or someone she loves becomes the killer’s next victim?

Craft project included.

Buy Links:  Amazon  Nook  Kobo  Apple Books

~*~

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. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com. Sign up for her newsletter to receive an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery.

Full Circle Moments

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By Saralyn Richard

Once in a while in the writers’ journey, serendipitous moments occur, and they seem magical. I’ve had three such moments recently and will share them with you.

First of all, I’m writing an historical mystery that takes place in my hometown, Galveston, Texas, after the 1900 Storm, which is still the deadliest natural disaster in the history of America. In the information-gathering stage, I invited newsletter subscribers to send me names and/or stories of relatives from that place and time.

While I waited for responses, I worked on making burial arrangements for my cousin, Jill Jacobson, a Hollywood actress who grew up in nearby Beaumont, Texas. The plan was to bring Jill’s remains to Beaumont for burial in the family plot.

One of my newsletter subscribers sent me an email saying that I would be hearing from her friend, Betty, who had some 1900 Storm stories. Betty and I ended up chatting on the phone for more than an hour about her family’s experiences in the storm. During the conversation, Betty mentioned growing up in Beaumont, so I asked her if she knew my cousin Jill, and I told her what I was setting up with the cemetery.

To my surprise, and Betty’s, we realized that Jill is Betty’s cousin, too, on the opposite side of the family. So Betty is going to come to the memorial service, which she wouldn’t have known about if not for my work-in-progress.

The second full circle moment occurred last week at Then and Now Bookshop during ArtWalk. I was selling books at a table in the bookstore, when a mother and her nineteen-year-old daughter came over to look at my books.

The cover of Naughty Nana, the children’s book narrated by the real Old English sheepdog puppy, Nana, caught their eyes. “Oh, we remember Nana! We’re big Nana fans!” the mother said. “We were at the library when you brought Nana there to do a reading a long time ago, and we’ve followed Nana ever since.”

They were sad, but not surprised, that Nana crossed the Rainbow Bridge two years ago, but we reminisced about Nana’s many appearances in parades, on tv, at schools, etc. They purchased some of my other books, signed up for my newsletter, and left. The next day, I sent the mother an email with pictures from that long-ago library event they attended. Something made me include a drawing that one of the children did for Nana that day.

The next day I received a return email. The daughter was indeed one of the children in the picture, and she was the one who drew that treasured note to Nana. Thirteen years later, I still have the original!

The third full circle moment happened that same day at the same bookshop. One of the customers came up to my table asking if I was a local author, and if I was “BOI” (born on island). Being a BOI locks you into an immediate fraternity of special people. In fact, there are pregnant women who insist on delivering their babies in Galveston, so the babies can attain that status.

Turned out that customer was also a BOI, and she mentioned her connection to Dominican High School, a Catholic girls’ school here. I said, “I’m sure you knew my dear friend, Father Frank Fabj.”

That opened up a squealing that galvanized the entire bookshop. Yes, she knew Father Frank well. He was important to her and her family through several life cycle events. She was astounded to see that I dedicated A Palette for Love and Murder to him. She clutched the book to her chest, the same way I do sometimes when I think of and miss Frank’s presence.

The two of us, complete strangers moments before, bonded over the dedication in a book, and we ended up shedding tears and hugging together.

Recently, an interviewer asked me what surprised me most about becoming a writer, and I answered something about the network of readers and fellow authors I’ve met and the friendships I’ve made. The books that I’ve published are only the vehicles. The transmission of thoughts and feelings and ideas that comes from being a writer and a reader is what really counts—that is the basis for these magical, delightful, and, yes, thrilling connections with others.

I’d love to hear about one of your full circle moments.

 

Saralyn Richard writes award-winning mysteries, including the Detective Parrott mystery series, Bad Blood Sisters, Mrs. Oliver’s Twist, A Murder of Principal, and Naughty Nana, a children’s book. An active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, Saralyn has taught creative writing and literature. Her favorite thing about being an author is interacting with readers like you. For more information, check https://saralynrichard.com.

Bethany Maines drinks from an arsenic mug

Derringer Danger!

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Short Fiction Mystery Society logo showing a Derringer surrounded by the SFMS titleI’m Being Judged… by the Derringer Awards

Every year, the Short Mystery Fiction Society holds the Derringer Awards. Judged by volunteers from the society’s membership, these competitive awards recognize short mystery stories published that year.  The judging process and program management are a lot of work and I’m always impressed at the volunteers who bring the awards program to life.

Derringer Categories

  • Best Flash Story (Up to 1,000 words)
  • Best Short Story (1,001 to 4,000 words)
  • Best Long Story (4,001 to 8,000 words)
  • Best Novelette (8,001 to 20,000 words)

Derringer Judging

Each category requires three primary and one alternate SMFS members to whittle their assigned category down to five finalists.  Each judge is provided with a criteria sheet and a batch of short stories, and then the scores are totaled by the Derringer coordinator. And having judged before, I know that the quality of the stories is fantastic and that anyone who submits is up against some top-notch writers. I loved getting to read such a wide spread of stories with different mystery sub-genres and sensibilities.  Believe me, getting down to top five is hard!

Stiletto Gang Stories

Several of the Stiletto Gang are also SMFS members and have submitted their stories.  With the array of submissions below, I’m hoping that at least one of the Stiletto Gang can take home a Derringer Award medal.

donalee Moulton

donalee has three stories in consideration.  With a 2024 finalist spot, donalee is shooting for a repeat with one of her three stories. “Bon Ami” from the Signed, Sealed…Deceased Cozy Mystery Anthology. “Maladaptives Anonymous” from the Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers Anthology.  And “Zebra Finch” from The Most Dangerous Games.

Judy Penz Sheluk

Judy submitted  “Baby, It’s You” from Lunatic Fringe and “A Foolproof Plan” from the Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers Anthology. This fantastic mystery/crime anthology features 22 tales of mystery and suspense. Last year, the previous anthology, Larceny & Last Chances picked up a Finalist spot in the Derringer’s Anthology category, so we’re all hopeful for a repeat with Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers!

CrimeucopiaDebra Goldstein

Debra has “Candy Cane on the Case,” from Crimeucopia: The Not So Frail Detective Agency and “Opera Dinner Club, ” which was both a podcast and print story in Anything But Murder: Larceny and Lies. Like Bethany, her stories are falling in two different categories.  If you visit her website you can see her extensive list of short stories! Visit: https://www.debrahgoldstein.com/short-stories/

Bethany Maines

In 2025, I wrote two mystery stories that qualify to be submitted for the Derringers – “Front Desk Staff” (published in Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers) and “Love, Lefse, & Murder” (published in Cooking Up Death).  “Front Desk Staff” went into the highly competitive Short Story Category and “Love, Lefse, & Murder,” which clocked in at 9k words, will be in the Best Novelette category.

Wish all of the Stiletto Gang members luck as our precious stories make their way across the judges desks!

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Bethany Maines drinks from an arsenic mugBethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She participates in many activities, including swearing, karate, art, and yelling at the news. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay). You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.  She has also writes under the pen name Sirena Corbeau for spicier paranormal romance novels. Learn more at: bethanymaines.com or sirenacorbeau.com 

See more books from the Stiletto Gang: BOOKS

 

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.