Mike Befeler's Blog, page 10

Holiday Season

With Thanksgiving over and the leftovers eaten, we’renow getting ready for the December festivities. My wife has taken down theturkey decorations, and we’ve started putting up Christmas decorations. Thetree with lights is up. Next step, put on the ornaments. We publish a holidaynewsletter and that’s at the printer, so we’ll soon be able to mail it out. We’reold school and still mail vs. email our newsletter. Whatever tradition youfollow, have a wonderful family celebration in December.

Happy Thanksgiving

We’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving on Friday this yearwith two of our kids, two grandkids, our daughter-in-law and my wife’s brother.It will be a low key Thanksgiving but a chance to get together and give thanks.

Men of Mystery Conference

Here are some pictures from the Men of MysteryConference two weeks ago. I gave my one-minute pitch on the first two books of myOmnipodge Trilogy, Old Detectives Home and Last Gasp Motel. I signed books, metnew people and had a chance to chat with old friends.

Parent Teacher Conferences

I recently attended the parent teacher conference withmy daughter for my third-grade grandson. The teacher had very good feedback onmy grandson’s strengths and areas for improvement. I was impressed with herprofessionalism and knowledge of my grandson. Her enthusiasm in doing what’sbest for the students has passed through because my grandson is enjoyingschool.

Halloween

To prepare for Halloween, we purchase a large stash ofcandy. There is a carnival at a park two blocks from our house on Halloween evening,and we get a huge number of kids trick-or-treating on the way to the park or onthe way back. This year we set an all-time record for number of kids coming toour door: at least 334. It could have been more, but since we live on a cornerand have two doors to man for giving out treats, I race back and forth betweendoors and may have missed counting a few. We survived with a small amount ofcandy left after the evening’s festivities, and I got in a lots of exerciseracing between doors.

Cover Picture for Murder in the Museo Kircheriano

I have a historicalmystery novel titled, Murder in the Museo Kircheriano, which will bepublished by Mystic Publishers in March, 2024. Here’s a short blurb: Underthe backdrop of the Vatican in the mid seventeenth century and its manypolitical factions, Jesuit priest Athanasius Kircher, his assistant Filippo, andrecent convert Queen Christina of Sweden work to find a murderer. With everyintrigue uncovered the mystery grows and the body count piles up—but the triowill not be stopped. The drip, drip, drip of clues eventually leads to not onlywho committed the crime, but why.

Third Grade Homework

Most school days I pickup our eight-year-old grandson after school. He stays at our house until his momor dad comes to get him later in the afternoon. The order of business when hearrives is snack, homework and then play. His teacher gives him a list ofhomework topics that include reading an article and summarizing it, going onthe computer for a reading and math exercise and then reading a book of hischoice for twenty minutes. This takes about fifty minutes. I can’t rememberhaving homework when I was in third grade, but then again, I’m an old guy.

Good News

I’ve just signed acontract for a middle grade mystery novel. The title is The Adventures ofSure Luck Holmes. Sure Luck is an amateur detective in the fifth grade inthe fictional California town of Londonberry. The narrator and his assistant ishis friend Johanna Watson. Sure Luck gets his nickname from solving cases oftenby luck but not exactly getting the solution right.

Short Stories

When I started writingin 2001, I wrote a number of short stories. Since then, I’ve primarily writtennovel length stories, but periodically, I write a short story when an ideastrikes me. I’ve had more novels published than short stories, but I stillenjoy both types of writing.

Presenting to Book Groups

I enjoy the opportunityto present to book groups. I do this in person and through Zoom. I belong tothree book groups and like reading books I otherwise might not have knownabout. Next week I’ll be doing a Zoom presentation to a book group of lessons I’velearned as an author.