Lea Wait's Blog, page 138

Forks in the Road

Sandra Neily here.

It’s been a month of serious transitions.

I will start with the easy ones.

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Yes. close up of coleslaw.

I’ve made progress learning how to avoid the store by buying 3 weeks of food at once, letting dry goods “rest” to decontaminate, and (wearing gloves) “processing” the rest at the sink. My plan to have salads no matter what, works well with coleslaw to finish out the last week. (Red and green cabbage, shredded carrots, raisins, any dead veggies that need to disappear.)

Raven, our Labrahound (Lab and Blue Tick hound: lab indoors; hunting dog outside where furry things run from her), has taken to leaning against walls in what I can only think is regression from the two years she lived in a crate before she was rescued.[image error]

The used, small camper trailer we bought (before the stock market ate much of our retirement funds), arrived on a truck because by the end of February we’d read up on what was happening in China and Europe. Read up enough to know the virus was already a silent spreader everywhere we’d planned to go. Knew that people who did not have symptoms were spreaders. Knew that it could float in the air.[image error]

We were so right.

Much of the fun I used to have with my granddaughter, is now limited to various kinds of outdoor tag where I run fast enough so she really can’t catch me. Unless she’s on her bike. I miss our dress-up sessions and reading cuddles. (Yes, I am very lucky to live near enough to have outdoor playtimes, but she does not understand why her “Moomoo” can’t “come in and play.”)[image error]

In early May, it snowed on 3 cords of wood we thought we were so smart to get in before an early fall snow might catch us lazy and unprepared.[image error]

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Rupert Neily III

All that pales to losing my brother a few weeks ago. We knew it was coming. It was a long, cruel illness. Three of us have led exceptionally clean, careful lives in order to be with him as we knew we could not have hospice caregivers coming and going, and we were not going to send him to a hospital where he would be alone without family.

My last real chat with him was over literature. “Are you still able to read a bit?” I asked.

He pointed to a book and said it was “mush.”

Why mush?” I asked.

He could only do a few words at a time. He frowned.  “Too general.”

[image error]I picked up When We Were the Kennedys by Monica Wood. “I think you’ll like this one,” I said.  “It’s an unusual Maine memoir. Alive and real every time I return to it. Nothing mush-y about it. Everyone just leaps off the page. I’ll read it to you and see what you think.”

He loved it. We didn’t finish it, but he loved it the way I loved it: for its depiction of working-class Maine life in a mill town in the 1960’s. He loved it for how Wood essentially recreated all our own childhoods of that era, even as she gave us hers, unvarnished and full of life, confusion, and loss.

I read to him for hours that first day. And the next week, only a few days before he went on his final ramble (Rupert was a great rambler), I sat next to him and said, “I could read some more if you want.” He wasn’t talking by then.

“Or I could just read it and annoy you as I have for decades,” I said with a smile.

He heard the smile, raised both hands and gave me two thumbs up. I thought about skipping the parts where Wood’s father’s death exploded her family, but realized that was probably why he was also drawn to her story. It is very much a book about life and death.  And by the time I read it to him, his life and death were also delicately balanced.

[image error]That we could come together over the Maine we love and know … the Maine of small towns and big woods where much is lost, even as much remains that we must work hard to conserve … was very, very special. As people everywhere learned of his passing, they wrote to say how grateful they were for all his big-hearted efforts to conserve the best of Maine.

I will close with a few passages from what we put in the paper.

[image error]“Rupert’s first and enduring love was the Maine woods, lakes, streams, hills and coast. They were his botanical garden. He avidly explored them on foot, bike and rowing and sailing his beloved Whitehall, his eye ever roaming to an alluring ridgeline. He learned how to find his way in the woods as a boy hunting with his father. He learned how to find spiritual nourishment from the mystery of nature all on his own, most especially during his recovery from a bone marrow transplant from his sister Sandy for leukemia in 1998. …

Rupert was mischievous, loved to trespass, was perplexed by rules and so generally avoided them. He found signs everywhere, layers of meaning unseen by the rest of us. He collected “icons,” things he found in his path, put there for some reason that was his work to figure out. A favorite was a fork flattened by a car tire, which became “the fork in the road.”

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Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, Are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, The world offers itself to your imagination, Calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting – Over and over announcing your place in the family of things. (excerpt from “Wild Geese’ by Mary Oliver: one of his favorites)

Contributions in Rupert’s memory may be made to the Kennebec Land Trust (www.tklt.org) or the Boothbay Region Land Trust (www.bbrlt.org). A time for remembrance will be found in the future.”

Sandy’s novel, “Deadly Trespass, A Mystery in Maine,” won a national Mystery Writers of America award, was a finalist in the Women’s Fiction Writers Association “Rising Star” contest, and she’s been a finalist for a Maine Literary Award. Find her novel at all Shermans Books and on Amazon . Find more info on the video trailer and Sandy’s website.   The second Mystery in Maine, “Deadly Turn,” is available for pre-order on Amazon Kindle and the paperback will be ready for purchase July 1st! 

My Squirrel Regret

I’m in a battle with the squirrels and chipmunks in my neighborhood. They’ve destroyed my patio by digging beneath it. It’s cracked and uneven now. They climb my roof and threaten to nest inside my house. Because of that, I decided I needed to take action.

Using a pellet gun was out of the question. Not only is firing a pellet gun illegal in my town, but I also didn’t want to kill the squirrels. I tried spreading a noxious powdered solution around the perimeter, but that didn’t work. They still kept coming. Hordes of squirrels.

I set out a bucket filled with water with peanuts floating on the surface, but that didn’t work. I tried a rat trap out of desperation. That only succeeded in trapping a live squirrel by the head, which I ended up having to mercy kill. Actually, my daughter ended up mercy killing with a stick it because I was too squeamish.

I tried a baited trap. I was having some luck with that. The very first night I caught a squirrel. When I lifted the trap, the squirrel started to cry, which made me feel guilty. I carried the trap to my car and drove it over to Deering Oaks Park, where there are lots of trees and nuts. I let him go and the squirrel sprinted up the tree and disappeared from sight.

It seemed every night I caught a squirrel in my trap. I would drive it over to Deering Oaks and then release it. My methods of trapping became more sophisticated each night. I soon began to utilize a used-up toilet roll. I would spread peanut butter over it and then roll it in sunflower seeds. It worked like a charm.

I began to become obsessed with catching squirrels. It was a running joke in my family. I would stand by the window for minutes on end watching the trap. I was like Bill Murray in Caddyshack trying to catch those shifty gophers.

I felt like I’d been close to ridding my backyard of squirrels. Then the next night I caught a baby. It wailed terribly as I drove it over to Deering Oaks Park, and I felt terrible the whole ride over. I only hoped it might find its family and reunite with them. The previous evening, I’d researched the topic of squirrel relocation and learned that squirrels didn’t do well when moved from their home. But I figured it was better than killing them. At least they would have a fighting chance at a Deering Oaks.

I reached the park and released the baby squirrel. It was even smaller than I thought. It sprinted away and then climbed a tree while I stood there and watched. I tried to locate it, but it escaped from my view. A few minutes passed before I saw the baby squirrel again. It had climbed back down the tree and was now heading straight toward me. What was it doing? It’s eyes stared into mine. I ran around to the driver’s side and it followed me. I opened the door while trying to shoo it away, but it wouldn’t leave. It approached the door and looked as if it was about to jump inside my car. It took me a second to realize that it wanted me to take it back to its home. I quickly got in my car before it jumped inside, and I sped away.

I haven’t trapped a squirrel since. I felt terrible that day about taking that baby squirrel away from it’s home, which was near my home. I dreamt about it that night. Had I broken up that squirrel family? I still see it’s dark eyes staring up at me, pleading with me to take it home.

What had I done?

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Weekend Update: May 9-10, 2020

[image error]Next week at Maine Crime Writers, there will be a posts by Joe Souza (Monday), Jen Blood (Tuesday), Sandra Neily (Thursday) and Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson (Friday).

 

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

Congratulations to the finalists for the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction:

Gerry Boyle, Random Act

Katherine Hall Page, The Body in the Wake

Joseph Souza, Pray for the Girl

 from Kaitlyn Dunnett: the e-book edition of Kilt Dead, the first book in the Liss MacCrimmon series, is on sale at Amazon this month for $1.99.

 

 

 

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

 

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business. Contact Kate Flora

So Many Stars, Swooning and life is still shorter than you think

John Clark grateful for weather that allows me to work up a backyard sweat. No matter how much I love to read, enforced inside time results in literary antsiness every so often. Hell, even great coffee gets old when your routines have been shattered by something you can’t punch, burn, or shoot. Desperation can even result in hours of contemplating the veracity of Oxford commas, and vivid dreams the likes of which would have Fellini drooling.

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How things looked last Sunday

Anyhow, for those who write, every day offers plenty of fodder for dark fiction. I’ve already written and submitted a couple short stories with Covid-19 themes. I’m seeing rumblings that the concept might be overdone quickly, but we might as well enjoy the viral (pun fully intended) opportunities while we can. Imagine a blend of 50 shades and evil particles floating everywhere.

Back to the weather for a moment. Last summer, I battled a line of brush and the Browntail moth rash for over a month. When the dust settled, we were left with a very large maple that had fallen years ago. Most of it was on our neighbor’s property which is a small wilderness of dead trees, piles of brush and leaves, etc. I cut up what I could because it looks ugly and there’s still a quantity of decent firewood to be had. I reached a point where what remained was lying on the ground and I didn’t dare risk getting my saw caught. My 2.5 ton hydraulic jack fit nicely under one thick protrusion and had enough power to lift the remaining trunk sufficiently so I was able to keep cutting until less than five feet remain. The wood has been piled, most of the mess raked and moved back to one of the existing brush mounds and the view is much nicer. I met the fellow who owns the property behind us this afternoon. He’s thrilled to have me cleaning up and blessed my quest to rid that parcel of Asian Bittersweet.

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How they look now

We have stuff ordered for delivery next month to make things look even nicer. Two pear trees, a hardy fig, an early ripening seedless grape (that I hope will love climbing the uprooted maple stump), and ten raspberry canes will join the pair of dwarf Stanley plums we planted last fall.

As you know, I love to read and try to review every book. If you look at my reviews which are posted at Librarything, Amazon and Goodreads, you’ll notice I very seldom give less than four stars. There’s a good reason for that. With so many books out there, I don’t bother to finish anything that hasn’t grabbed me quickly and pulled me in. While some might argue that rating so many books highly lessens the value of the reviews, but I think differently. Readers who like similar themes to what I do can look at what I’m reading/liking and select accordingly.

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E Pluribus Pile

Another pleasure I indulge in is reading manuscripts that aren’t necessarily ready for publication at Swoon Reads (https://www.swoonreads.com/). If you like YA fiction, or know teens who are readers, this site is a great one to bookmark. Sure, some of the manuscripts are awful, but I find plenty of gems as well. You can create an account, start reading and if you lose interest, simply move on. Readers can catch typos, note poor passages and give feedback at several points. For those with no access to a library during this pandemic, this can be a sanity saver. Another advantage is that teens can learn to be better writers and editors while having fun. I just read two that were quite good even with warts. They were Jersey Revival and I Lost To A Girl. Take a look and let me know what you think. Who knows, you might help someone to become that next great YA author. It’s worth noting that several manuscripts are selected and published by Swoon Reads every year, and submitting manuscripts for readers to access costs nothing.

Helping With Hunger During the Pandemic

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is, in a word, overwhelming. The scale of our collective loss–especially of lost lives–is so enormous it’s hard to comprehend. Uncertainty about the future affects our mood, our sleep, our plans, our worldview. Still, I’m blessed. I have a loving spouse, a job, a home.  Lately I’ve been thinking about those in our communities who aren’t as fortunate, especially folks who don’t have enough food in this chaotic, frightening time.[image error]

Food insecurity was a big problem in Maine before anyone ever heard of Covid-19. Children and elderly people are especially vulnerable, but people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds can find themselves in need of nutritional support. Many dedicated people have spent a lot of time over the years building a statewide infrastructure committed both to providing food and overcoming the structural causes of hunger our communities. The organizations that are its backbone are being tested now.

What can we as individuals do?  Here are a few ideas about where you might focus your support, be it financial or otherwise, if you share my concern about this fundamental issue.

The Good Shepherd Food Bank distributes 25 million meals each year. Seventy percent of the food Good Shepherd gives away is donated by retailers, including restaurants, which are, of course, closed due to the pandemic. Its usual supply chain having been disrupted, in the first month of the Covid-19 pandemic, Good Shepherd was forced to buy $2 million worth of food to keep up with the need. That is almost twice what the organization spends on shelf-stable food annually. [image error]Last month the Harold Alfond Foundation stepped up big time with a $1 million grant to Good Shepherd, but according to an April 23 article in the Portland Press Herald, the non-profit’s director estimates Good Shepherd will have expenses of more than $6 million during the first six months of the pandemic. That’s a stunning number. Major donors are important, but small contributions add up, too.  Whether you can send $1, $10 or $100, you can be confident Good Shepherd will stretch that money further than you can imagine.  The website is here:  https://www.gsfb.org/


   In my community of Greater Portland, the Wayside Food Programs have adapted operations to continue feeding people in this time of social distancing. In place of the thirteen community meals it usually sponsors each week, Wayside  now is doing takeaway meals. It also is continuing to operate its mobile food pantries and a healthy snack program for children who are at high risk for hunger. In addition to monetary donations, Wayside takes donations of food. Its current wish list includes things like tuna, macaroni and cheese, rice and canned fruit. It also has a volunteer corps, if you have some time and energy to pitch in and help. For more information: https://www.waysidemaine.org/


Food banks and pantries are a critical aspect of the fight against hunger. Maine’s largest is run by the remarkable Portland resource center known as Preble Street.  A link to its web page is here: https://www.preblestreet.org/what-we-do/food-programs/food-pantry/ Clearly the number of people who are now out of work has increased the demand for food. Donations of food and funds are welcomed.  Here’s the link for that: https://www.preblestreet.org/you-can-help/donate/

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Of course, need exists in all sixteen counties, and Mainers have risen to the challenge. The state maintains a comprehensive list of local food banks and pantries. Here’s the link to that list, which is easy to search by town: https://www.maine.gov/dacf/ard/tefap/bytown.shtml  You can call for information about what they may need in the way of food donations, and also to volunteer. In my experience, many local food banks are run by volunteers who tend to be older and therefore more at risk if they contract Covid-19.  If you consider yourself to be at low risk, volunteering to box up and deliver food is another great way to make a contribution to the cause.

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 Since 1996, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry has collaborated with Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife on a program called Maine Hunters for the Hungry. Maine Wardens, biologists, Marine Patrol Officers, Maine State Troopers and caring, generous hunters supply lean, high protein meats to food pantries, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters throughout Maine. According to the website, the program accepts bear, deer and moose donations. Road kill donations are also accepted, provided the meat is not damaged. Hunters do not pay for the processing of donated meat. Meat processing costs are paid for by the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry or the charity that receives the food. You also don’t have to donate all of what you bag. Hunters can choose to keep some of their game and still donate a few pounds to the program. For more information, go here: https://www.maine.gov/dacf/ard/tefap/hunters_for_hungry.shtml

 

Kudos to the Meals on Wheels programs throughout the state, who deliver hot meals to homebound seniors, a need that has grown greater in this time of isolation because family members often cannot get out to assist with their loved ones. Volunteers power that program, so if you’re looking for an opportunity, call your local area agency on aging, which administers Meals on Wheels.  [image error]Southern Maine’s Meals On Wheels program is administered by the Southern Maine Area Agency on Aging: https://www.smaaa.org/wellness/meals.html The Midcoast is served by Spectrum Generations: https://www.spectrumgenerations.org/nutrition-services/meals-wheels  The agency in Western Maine (Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin County) is Seniors Plus:  https://www.seniorsplus.org/nutrition-services   Due to it’s vast geographical reach, Aroostook County has its own area agency on aging that runs a Meals on Wheels Program: https://aroostookaging.org/services/ Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis and Washington Counties are covered by the Eastern Maine Area Agency on Aging:  https://www.eaaa.org/meals-on-wheels/

 

Finally, major props go out to the hundreds (thousands?) of school food service professionals throughout the state who have worked tirelessly these past two months, putting together to-go food packages for students since the schools were closed by the pandemic. [image error]If worrying about where your next meal is coming from is stressful for adults, imagine how troubling that is for children. Schools in many towns will be keeping feed-the-kids efforts going during the summer. Please call your local school district if you’re inclined to help.

I realize there are many other worthy groups–both formal and ad hoc– working on this issue. If anyone wants to give them a shout out in the comments, please do, with links if you have them.

Every single organization working to keep people fed has more need than it has resources, but they are never short on gratitude for whatever help you can give.

Brenda Buchanan is the author of the Joe Gale Mystery Series, featuring a diehard Maine newspaper reporter who covers the crime and courts beat. Three books—QUICK PIVOT, COVER STORY and TRUTH BEAT—are available everywhere e-books are sold.  These days she’s hard at work on new projects.

 

Pretzel Man and Black Bean Woman: Can This Marriage Be Saved?

Kate Flora: I’ve written before about how well-suited the writer’s regular life is to [image error]quarantine. We’re solitary. Disciplined. And used to having our projects go on for months or even years at a time. Recently, I wrote about the problem caused by news about the looming virus weighing on us until our carefully cultivated attention spans falter and fail.

Today’s issue of the quarantine digest–or what I refer to as “being in captivity”–concerns the difficulties of constantly worrying about the domestic food supply at a time when shopping trips are limited and hasty and the media is crying shortage! Between our faltering attention spans being snagged by alluring cooking articles, and fear that the food will run out, I, and I am certain many of you, are thinking about or worrying about food too much of the time. This is made more difficult by living with someone who is always anxious about food and worried about whether I’ve bought enough.

While I am content with canned beans and dying to try a recipe for rice and lentils and crispy onions, someone else who recoils at the word “lentil” is worried about whether there are cold-cuts and whether the freezer is stocked. That same unnamed person, famous in his family for having built a wall of tunafish in one of his apartments, worries that the tuna supply is inadequate while the chef is thinking about vegetarian black bean chili or Helgard’s Pea Soup which can be made with a few simple ingredients. https://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/laura-vitale/butternut-squash-and-black-bean-chili-3279023

[image error]When the short attention span and a spouse worried about running out of pretzels collide, some strange things happen to the food supply. Want to order Pretzel Man some bagels a neighbor has suggested? Why not get some of their pretzels, too? Trying to order a thermometer when none can be found in the house? Got to get that order up to $35 for free delivery, so why not get some pretzels? This kind of thinking has resulted in four bags of pretzels from the bagel store and 60 mini bags of pretzels to get free shipping on that thermometer, along with 10 bags of pub snack mix, regular pretzels, 3 bags of honey roasted peanuts, and a big jar of mixed nuts. The thermometer has never arrived.

As long as we can live on snack food, we’ll be fine for a long time. But those snacks are not the only answer to obsessive food thinking and distracted recipe reading. Everyone, it seems, is baking bread but bi-weekly grocery order purchased for the over-70 couple one of whom has an underlying condition never includes yeast, though it is always on the list. A 14 mile drive results in a small plastic bag of yeast being shared by two masked and distanced friends. Bread is made. And then Mr. Amazon, who has become remarkably unreliable of late, finally delivers enough yeast to keep us in bread for the next year.

If those shortages do materialize, Mr. Pretzel is set for pretzels but may have to learn to like, or at least eat, Black Bean Woman’s cans and vegetables concoctions. There will also be homemade bread, of course. Assuming more flour is acquired.

[image error]I wonder how it is for the rest of you? Who out there is cooking or baking, and what are you making? Old standards? Recipes from the New York Times or the Washington Post? Are you reading cookbooks for fun? Are you stocked up on flour and beans and lentils and canned food for when the food supply chain finally breaks? Are you joining the thousands of others who are starting gardens? I have my mixed lettuce seeds, and cucumber seeds, and will buy tomatoes and herbs to fill my pots.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread?action=click&module=Local%20Search%20Recipe%20Card&pgType=search&rank=1

I will be doing a virtual author talk at the McArthur Library this Thursday at 6:30 and I hope some of you will sign up to join me.

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Coping With A Couple of Good Weeks

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Vaughn

Vaughn Hardacker here: I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to feel like a prisoner in solitary. What is really strange is that since the Covid-19 social distancing and isolation has been in place, I haven’t really done anything different. What is driving me crazy is that I am now being told to continue doing what I usually do! Many years ago my parents learned that the quickest way to make me do something was to tell me not to do it. Now the government is telling me to isolate myself. They’d be better off telling me to go out and be with as many people as possible–then I’d lock myself in a closet. What helps is that I live in a town with a single store and the closest town, Caribou only has three and they’re all so-called dollar stores.

However, in spite of all this the past couple of  weeks have really been good. First off, I learned that for a couple years now I’ve been telling people that there are no bookstores north of Bangor. Well, I learned that I was wrong. I discovered Bogan Books an independent book store about twenty miles away from me In Fort Kent. I’m not certain, but I think that it’s possibly the most northerly book store in the continental United States. I have been in there three times and Heidi Carter, owner and chief cook and bottle washer) has sort of taken me under her wing. Since then, I have not ordered a single book from an online big store. I have bought several from Bogan however.

Second. I finally got copies of my novel, Wendigo. For months my publisher has been telling me that it’s out of stock. When asked, they said they weren’t certain, but if they got 250 back orders they would do a printing. Short story: I ordered 250 (and get this: The government sent me a check to pay for them!). They arrived five days ago. So if you’d like to purchase an autographed hard copy as of right now, I’m your only source, contact me by email. Bogan will have copies tomorrow as I gave her a special rate.

[image error]Third. My new publisher, Encircle Publications,  sent me a copy of the cover for my next novel, The Exchange, due out in September.

Fourth. Lisa Gardner has agreed to read an ARC and provide me with a cover blurb. Enough said.

Fifth. I received the galleys of The Exchange. Ed Vincent of encircle asked if I could go over it and as soon as I finished he send out to the printer for ARCs. I did a line-by-line edit in a day and a half

Sixth. With the exception of a small patch where the plow-guy piled it up all the snow is off my yard. That may not sound like a big thing unless you’ve just come through an Aroostook County winter.

Seventh. You may recall that a while back I did a blog entitled: Where Are You Ronnie Jay. The blog included a poem Ronnie had written about being a writer for a writing group we were attending. Ronnie wrote the poem in 2003 and disappeared after that. We assumed that he had returned to Tennessee where he was a song writer. I have tried in vain to find him. Today, April 28, Barbara Ross forwarded an email to me that she’d received from Ronnie Jay. How did you find him, Barb?

What’s the moral of this blog? Even in the midst of a world-wide pandemic good things can happen–even if you’re a the glass is half empty guy. Oh, yeah, being retired and living on a fixed income isn’t such a bad thing–through it all I suffered no loss of revenue. That’s not mention that gas up here has finally dropped below two dollars. Now, if I only had some place to go… Frankly, I don’t know if I can cope with another week like these!

 

Weekend Update: May 2-3, 2020

[image error]Next week at Maine Crime Writers, there will be a posts by Vaughn Hardacker (Monday), Kate Flora (Tuesday), Brenda Buchanan (Thursday) and John Clark (Friday).

 

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

Vaughn Hardacker has submitted the self-edited manuscript of his novel, The Exchange, to his editor. They are hoping to have the ARCs ready in a week. The thriller novel is slated for a September 2020 release.

Maureen Milliken is one of dozens of authors taking part in Enjoyable Books virtual book fair, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. It’s being held to help out authors who haven’t been able to make in-person appearances. Information will be available to interact with authors through Facebook messaging, Twitter, and even Zoom. Check it out and meet some new authors! Click here to learn more about it.

Kate Flora is doing a virtual author visit to the McArthur Library on Thursday. Here are the details:

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An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

 

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business. Contact Kate Flora

So You Want to Write a Novel

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here, primed to offer some unsolicited but hopefully useful advice.

How often have you said, or heard someone else say, “if only I had the time, I’d write a novel”? Sometimes the adjective “bestselling” is included in that sentence. Well, here we are, practicing self isolation and social distancing. For perhaps the first time, a good many people actually have the leisure to pursue that dream. If you’re one of them but really have no idea how to begin, I’m here to offer a few suggestions.

[image error]First, just sit down and do it! On a pc or electronic tablet or by hand, you’ll soon know if you truly have the inclination and the dedication required to write fiction. If you do, then there are few guidelines that will help you as you go along, things it’s easier to incorporate sooner rather than later, especially if what you have in mind is eventually offering your creation to a publisher.

If you want to be a novelist, then you are almost certainly a reader of fiction. As such, you already have favorite genres. If you try to write, say, romance, thinking it will be “easy” and easy to sell, but you haven’t read widely in that genre or enjoyed what you have read, then you’re just asking for trouble. Write what you love to read.

Ask yourself what the authors of your favorite books do with regard to telling their stories. They’ve chosen a particular point of view, or maybe several. Which character or characters do you want to tell your story and how do you want them to do it? It’s best to use only one character’s point of view per scene. Head hopping is confusing. Pick one and give your reader his reactions—what’s going on in his thoughts as well as how he reacts physically.

You can do this in either first person (the character telling the story in his own words—”I knew I was in trouble the moment federal agents broke into my house.”) or third person (a narrator describing what’s going on from the outside, but still only revealing what he or she can be aware of—”Marcy Grabowski knew she was in trouble the moment federal agents broke into her house.”)

[image error]Most novels are written in past tense, as are the examples above. Present tense (“I walk down the street and see a man with a gun.” or “She walks down the street and sees a man with a gun.”) is also a choice but a lot of readers, myself included, absolutely loathe it. Whatever you decide to do, be consistent!! Avoid switching back and forth between past and present tense and, unless you have a very good reason for that choice, between first person and third person narrators.

[image error]Now here’s a biggie: show, don’t tell. What does that mean? “He woke up from the nightmare to a brilliant sunrise.” tells the reader what happened. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you use descriptive details to paint a picture of his leftover shakes from the nightmare, and maybe have the character’s bare feet hitting cold floorboards, and feeling warmth and light of the rising sun as it floods into the room, you not only reveal something about the setting, but also about the character. What makes him realize he’s been dreaming? You might have him describe some of his surroundings as a way to orient himself, not just as an information dump. If this is an opening scene and you want to describe the character’s appearance for the reader, you might compare the way he looked to himself in the nightmare to the way he really looks. And yes, you could even use the old cliché of having him see himself in a mirror. Or you could have him refuse to look at himself in the mirror because he knows what he’ll see. That’s showing as opposed to telling.

[image error]I won’t drone on and on. I once wrote an entire how to book on this subject (How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries), so if you really want all the details of my take on writing novels, you can download a copy.

I do, however, want to mention a couple of nit-picky points. First, using “said” is a better choice than moaning, growling, etc. at least 99% of the time. And rather than having characters speak in a soft voice or a loud voice or a sarcastic tone, try indicating that with their word choices and their physical behavior—a character’s stance or whether or not he meets another character’s eyes. Describing facial expressions or body language helps characterize how someone is speaking. Second, for those who are old enough to have learned to type before personal computers became readily available and those who, until now, have only written e-mails and posts on social media: leave only one space after a period.

I’ll finish this post with one last, very important piece of advice: If you’re serious about trying to write a novel, don’t let anyone talk you out of it.

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With the June 30,2020 publication of A Fatal Fiction, Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett will have had sixty-two books traditionally published. She won the Agatha Award and was an Anthony and Macavity finalist for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category. She was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor in 2014. Currently she writes the contemporary Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries and the “Deadly Edits” series as Kaitlyn. As Kathy, her most recent book is a collection of short stories, Different Times, Different Crimes but there is a new, standalone historical mystery, The Finder of Lost Things, in the pipeline for October. She maintains three websites, at www.KaitlynDunnett.com and www.KathyLynnEmerson.com and another, comprised of over 2000 mini-biographies of sixteenth-century English women, at A Who’s Who of Tudor Women

What it Took to Shower Lisa

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John Clark with another chapter in how we’re all getting through this crazy time. Beth and I are extremely blessed to have two smart and loving daughters, Sara, 38 and Lisa, 35. Sure, they had their sibling squabbles growing up, but as adults, they’ve supported and wanted the best for each other. When Piper was born six years ago, Lisa was thrilled to have a niece. She and Piper have had a great connection ever since. When Reid was born last November, Lisa was thrilled again, but she had her own secret that wasn’t ready to share until Christmas.

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One of our presents that morning was a copy of an ultrasound. It was our first inkling a second granddaughter was on the way. Sometime in mid July she’ll arrive in Port Chester, NY. A name, if any has been selected yet, hasn’t been shared, but that’s another thing to anticipate.

Lisa is a teacher at PS 236, Langston Hughes Elementary School in the Bronx. She began there several years ago, teaching fourth grade literacy. She has since changed to teaching fifth grade math. Her classrooms always look good, often modeled after a bookstore and in the years she’s taught, Lisa has given hundreds of books to her students so their reading skills don’t deteriorate over summer breaks. She even started a lunchtime book group for some of her students when they expressed an interest.

Both times big sister Sara was expecting, Lisa was integral in making certain she had a great baby shower. When it came time for Sara, Beth, and Lisa’s high school friend Miranda to plan one for her, darn near everything conspired to prevent it from happening. There was the distance issue. Lisa loves coming home with her first rescue dog, Tater, but early warnings about the Covid-19 virus threat, coupled with difficulty driving for seven hours without stopping, crimped any trip home, not to mention the extra time she had to put in preparing lessons and getting up to speed teaching online. The latter while husband Sam was tearing out walls so a nursery would be ready in time.

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It took a while to put Plan B in place, as it had to be done through a mix of phone calls, text messages and emails, but things finally fell into place for an online virtual shower on April 11th. Then mother nature decided to throw a monkey wrench in the works by dropping lots of wet snow, followed by high winds, leaving more than 200,000 Mainers without power.

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Hi from Sister Kate

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Even that wasn’t enough to prevent things from going forward. We had a generator and a hookup capable of meeting our electrical needs. Sara, Russ, Piper, and Reid came up from Belgrade because they had no internet access. The house was decorated with Lisa’s choice of a Harry Potter theme, and we soldiered on. Sadly, several of the people who wanted to participate weren’t able because they still lacked power, but folks from four states (California, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York) shared Lisa’s joy while she opened gifts, chatted with everyone, and had the best possible time given the circumstances. Hope you enjoy the pictures and stay tuned to learn our soon to arrive granddaughter’s name.

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Three generations here.