M.E. Roche's Blog, page 2

Ever need a second set of eyes?

When a writer sets out to publish they're given two main directives: find yourself an agent and then be sure to have an editor. I did invest a great deal of time in looking for an agent, when I started writing as many publishers would not look at one's work without an agent; I was not successful. Times changed. Authors can now publish their work without an agent and many of those publishing entities have folded.

As to an editor: I've never felt I could afford one. First off there are several types of editors recommended. They cover not only grammar and spelling but also the composition of a work. Most editors will charge by the word count and it can be as low as 3-4 cents/word and anywhere up from that. My novels have been running from 50,000 to 80,000 words = $1500 to $3200 at the lowest. I've generally felt comfortable with my writing, but it is often pointed out that we become so familiar with our work, that we don't see our mistakes. I've had two recent experiences that may make me reconsider the value of that second set of eyes.

Here is the cover for my new book. Pretty nice, huh?

I wrestled with the title for a while. I sent my manuscript off to one person for formatting the contents and worked with a cover artist for this, all the while assuring each one that their work was great. I ordered a preview copy, flipped through it, and I was happy, passing it off to my sister for her to read. Killing time at her house that day, I picked up the copy and started reading. I suddenly realized the cover and the contents didn't match! The cover I had ok'd was "HIRE for FIRE", not "FIRE for HIRE"! I was in panic mode. I had already set up the publishing aspect but was dragging my feet on when to publish. There must have been an angel on my shoulder responsible for that hesitation. My cover artist, Mary Beth Lee, was very supportive--"we are a team"--but it wasn't the quick fix for her that I thought it would be. Such a little thing.

The second thing that makes me question my need for an editor: My novels have characters who often reappear in another novel. So, I'm working on this new book, with one of those reappearing characters, who I had introduced as Charles in a previous novel. But then I now went to look up a conversation he had had with another character--something pertinent to this next book. In that conversation, he tells the other character to call him "Simon". A dilemma. Which name should I use now? Did anyone else notice that? They say readers will be quick to point out errors. Maybe no one's reading that novel?

I'm sure there are writers with complex systems for tracking their characters, but I don't. The characters have generally become like my friends, and who ever forgets the name of a friend? Anyway, it may be time to consider an editor. Maybe a second set of eyes would be good for me. Maybe........

So here's the blurb for " FIRE for HIRE ":

In the sleepy town of Jacobsport, California, shadows from the past return. Bob Doyle, once the golden boy of the sheriff's department, who fled under a cloud of suspicion is found brutally murdered at the isolated fishing camp of Tom King, his former partner. Whispers of corruption and betrayal swirl through the pines when it is learned that Brian Lang, a former Jacobsport firefighter, has also returned. FBI Special Agent Conor Mayhew has pulled Tom and fellow detective, Nora Brady, into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse. Suddenly, the two find themselves deep undercover in Boston, infiltrating a shadowy world where firefighters moonlight as arsonists. With each flame that rises, so does the tension. As Tom and Nora inch closer to the truth, they'll discover why playing with fire is a game where even heroes can get burned.

And here's the wrong cover! I made it as small as possible!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!

I Cannot do Picture Puzzles . . . . .

...nor can I do crossword puzzles, the Rubik's Cube, Wordle, Words with Friends, or Soduko--all the things they tell one to do to keep one's mind active as we age. One friend gave me book 1 on Suduko; I couldn't get past the first puzzle where I had erased so many times the puzzle was shredded! I've tried the children's 300-piece puzzles I've found at thrift stores; could not complete--or maybe I just got bored and never finished. What amazed me was when working at an adult day care center, I found several mentally challenged individuals who were beautifully and completely finishing those 1000+ piece puzzles.

I remember taking various tests where they give you one image and then ask you to select one of several other images that matches that first one; I always had to look at that first one from multiple angles to figure the answer out, never getting feedback as to whether my answer was correct. I think the Stanford-Binet test calls it our aptitude for visual-spatial recognition.

Writing this, I was forced to Google what such a spatial-visual deficit was. While, it is too involved to get into, suffice it to say that those with strong spatial-visual skills are often architects, engineers, or carpenters; they can visualize what will be. They cannot, however, find that one necessary receipt in the mess on their desk; they likely would not have a messy desk! I would probably fall into that latter category as my tests and skills suggest--low spatial-visual recognition but I likely could, however, probably hand you that sought-after receipt! This spatial-visual skill is also related to the development of our language skills. Read up if interested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_intelligence_(psychology)#Komninos

While I can't do puzzles, I did learn how to produce an audiobook. My first one is for my first book: Mystery at Marian Manor. It's now up on Amazon and Audiobooks. Once I got the hang of how to do it, it was actually fun; I've even started on the next one! The other thing I've been delving into is how to produce ads for my books---marketing---an area I have been avoiding like the plague, or in our case, Covid! It is a challenge.

I'm fascinated with how our brains work and assume, like most factors of our being, that our brains can't be pigeon-holed. Our development as an individual is most likely a mix of many factors! In this past month, I've come across several books that speak to this issue: two non-fiction and one fiction (a mystery).

Sociopath, a Memoir by Patric Gagne (2024) I think I picked this up thinking it would be some kind of mystery. Written by a psychologist, herself, it is an informative look at what it means to be a sociopath, a diagnosis I always associated with criminality. The writer talks about the many stages of her life and her realization very early on that she was somehow different, but not a criminal. She describes sociopathy as being on a spectrum. It was a very good read.

10% Happier by Dan Harris (2019) Written by the former correspondent and host on ABC, this copy was updated after ten years, and again was an interesting look at the challenges of one we might think of as "having it all together." He traces his rise through broadcast journalism with numerous humorous anecdotes about those he met along the way before discovering his path to dealing with the stress of it all---meditation. It's a down-to-earth look at the practice which kind of makes me want to try again!

One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole (2024) This is a murder mystery, but with a very different slant. The central character has what was once known as a multiple personality disorder; now known as a dissociative identity disorder (DID). It took a chapter or two for me to figure out what was going on, and the personalities in this individual were not always aware of each other; they were often competing for attention, taking turns dictating the chapters. The descriptions of their inner life and how they referred to one another kept me interested, playing alongside the setting in an old castle on its own island in upstate New York, and, of course, murder.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

And if you're looking for a good ghost story, you might enjoy one of my own:

The Ghost of Gresham Green

or

A Haunting on Dunbar Lane

https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Gresham-Green-Adventures-Student-ebook/

https://www.amazon.com/Haunting-Dunbar-Lane-ghost-Mystery-ebook/

Move over Jack Reacher . . .

Meet Patrick Weill . . . Another author new to me, who offered his first book free to those who, along with me, attended the Public Safety Writers Association conference this summer. For those who have enjoyed Lee Child's main character, Jack Reacher, Pat's Park and Walker team of characters are like a double dose of Jack Reacher. No kidding. This first book in the series, The Mazatlan Showdown, was hard to put down!

https://www.amazon.com/Mazatlan-Showdown-Walker-Action-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0BXB6WGKH/

Pat grew up in Northern California reading and playing sports, then spent ten years in Southern California for undergraduate studies in psychology and a graduate degree in jazz performance. He no longer plays saxophone or any other instrument, but that passion hasn’t died; quite to the contrary. After moving to Mexico in 2005 and finding work as an English teacher and then as a translator, he started writing thriller novels in 2019, into which occupation he pours himself with even more heart than he did with music.

 

What prompted your writing career?

Great question! Two main motivations: hunger and thirst. Just kidding. I’d been doing well as a translator (of documents and literature, Spanish into English), but the combination of machine translation and the pandemic put a vicious dent in our family income. Like Lee Child, I found myself without a job and I’d been a reader for all my life, so I decided to give writing a shot. My first foray into publishing came at a young age, however. When I was twelve, my grandmother encouraged me to publish a book review in her local newspaper. I think I still have the clipping.

 

Current projects?

I’ve just finished an action thriller trilogy; think fast cars and bikes, babes in bikinis, twisty plots, and plenty of gunfights. So I’m working on promoting that. It’s called The Park and Walker Action Thriller Series. And since I’m a translator, it made sense to have the books rendered in other languages, principally German, so we’re a month or so away from publishing the last one in that language and the first one in Spanish.

https://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Park-Walker-Action-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0BXB8YRSJ/

https://www.amazon.com/Double-Threat-Walker-Action-Thriller/dp/1959866060/

Next up?

I’ll be pitching a new book to literary agents at Thrillerfest 2025. I haven’t started it yet, but the plan is that it should appeal to a broader market—to men and women alike, not just to action guys like me. Wish me luck!

Pat's already well on his way with two honors just in the last few months!

 

 Winner, 2024 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Readers’ Choice Award

Second Place, 2024 PSWA Writing Competition

 Congratulations, Pat! Best of Luck with Thrillerfest and your next project!

 You can connect with Pat on the following:

https://patrickweill.com/

https://www.facebook.com/PatrickWeillAuthor

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXMM68LX (The Action Thriller Trilogy)

 

 

Life After the FBI . . .

This past month I attended the Public Safety Writers Association conference in Las Vegas, a must for any writer of mysteries and crime---it was both informative and enjoyable. There I was on a panel of writers for a discussion about the fun and pitfalls of writing a series. For something like this, I like to familiarize myself with something my fellow panelists have written. I was particularly intrigued by the short stories of the writer I now want to introduce, partly because I had lived in Ohio and was familiar with the site of his stories, and partly because I both enjoy and have written two paranormals of my own. So without further ado,

MEET ALLEN GRIMES . . .

Allen Grimes, a retired Special Agent with the FBI and former Akron Police Officer, brings over 26 years of law enforcement expertise to his gripping narratives. As a child, Grimes was inspired by weekly visits to a mobile library where he consumed fairy tales and Gothic horror literature. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in mass media communication from the University of Akron and has since published works of science fiction and horror in magazines like Nightmares, Potpourri, and Lords of the Eternal Darkness. Crafting compelling tales featuring law enforcement protagonists thrust into extraordinary circumstances, Grimes blends his real-world experience with imaginative flair. His writing reflects a lifelong love for literature, justice, and the possibility of the paranormal. He brings all of this talent to his debut novel When the Lantern Swings. Grimes lives in Yuma, Arizona, with his wife, Deltrina.

Ed Freemen, a retired cop turned Senior Park Ranger, came to Lake Hope looking for a fresh start after shooting a teenage robbery suspect armed only with a BB gun. But his dream of writing citations and leading nature walks is soon shattered when the mangled remains of a young woman are found on the Moonville Rail Trail. It looks like she was run over by a train, but the tracks were removed forty years ago. As Freemen and his team investigate, he discovers the legend of a railroad worker run over by a train a hundred years before. The ghost returns every ten years to wreak vengeance on the guests of Lake Hope State Park. As more bodies are discovered, he is tormented by the voice of the dead teen. As his mental state deteriorates, Freemen must overcome the ghost of his past and stop the lantern-wielding menace before he reaches his diabolical quota and returns in ten years! On dark summer nights, visitors are warned to beware...because when the lantern swings Jackie Hudak is coming back!

                                                                   

                                                         

 When the Lantern Swings is based on one of many legends passed down through the years in the Hocking Hills. When my wife and I were newlyweds, I had little money for a honeymoon, so we spent a week at Lake Hope State Park in Zaleski, Ohio. During the annual “campfire night,” the park ranger told the true story of a miner trapped in the Moonville Tunnel when a train came. He used his signal lantern in a desperate attempt to warn the train off but was killed. Legend has it that park guests can see the miner’s lantern swinging in the darkness.

That week, I wrote the first draft of When the Lantern Swings. Later that year, I published it as a short story. The story stayed in my mind, and after retiring from the FBI, I decided to expand it to a novel. Though sub-plots and characters have been added, the story remains essentially unchanged from the original. I conceived of When the Lantern Swings as a trilogy in which the character transforms from a law enforcement agent to a paranormal investigator. In the sequel, working title When the Pieces Fall, Ed attempts to return to normal life by becoming a Captain of a small-town police department but soon finds that the supernatural world is not quite finished with him. By the time we see him again nine years later in When the Lantern Swings Again, Ed has now embraced his role as a paranormal investigator and has spent those years honing his craft in preparation for the return of Jackie Hudak.

Visit Allen's website: https://www.allengrimeswriter.com/ and find his books on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/When-Lantern-Swings-Allen-Grimes-ebook/

https://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Lake-Hope-chilling-author-ebook/

https://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Shall-Rot-Fontenot-Thriller-ebook/

Have a wonderful end to your summer!

My Aha moment . . .

Did you ever start a project, only to discover halfway through that you didn't know what you were doing? Think putting together a new piece of furniture, or trying to install a dimmer switch or that new shower head. You get to that certain point where you realize you should have read those directions a little more closely, or maybe...you should have called someone. You remember saying to yourself...or worse...to someone else: "Oh, this will be nothing...I can have it done in "x" amount of time (fill in the blank)".

It happens to us all. It's happened to me many times, but it really hit me last week when I realized this mystery I've been working on for the last year or so, wasn't really about what I thought it was. I am writing about a corrupt group of firefighters and I thought I was writing about fires. I had read quite a bit about arsonists, firefighting, and fire investigators. Mind you I just finished the fourth edit of this novel when I realized that I wasn't writing about fires or the investigation of such, but rather the people involved. My main characters are detectives who become involved with these arsonists, but they are not investigating fires! What to do?

At the same time, as I mentioned last month, I've been working on learning how to produce an audiobook, which led me to those who work with their voices, both in singing and narration. This led me to vocal exercises, which led me to Julie Andrews rendition of Rogers and Hammerstein's: "Let's start at the very beginning...a very good place to start...when you read, you begin with ABC, when you sing, you begin with Do, Re, Mi...", which led me to thinking how some of my favorite writers write.

Anyone who thinks about writing has been told somewhere along the line that the best thing to do is to read, read, and read more. Good advice, but there is also "how" one reads. My "Aha" told me it was time to go back and read those favorite writers not just for the stories I had enjoyed, but to figure out how they had done it. Much of what a detective relies on is really their ability to "read" people. The forensics in modern mysteries is certainly interesting, but the real talent of the detectives is what it has always been for the lead actors in mysteries: what are they able to see that others cannot?

Because I'm going back to some authors you probably know, I'll leave you with two recent books I've been listening to---one well known, and one new to me:

The Little Liar by Mitch Albom (2023)---well known for his Tuesdays with Morrie, which I had not read, but for which I had seen the author interviewed. This was a beautiful story of a Greek family during WWII and the Holocaust. It's the story of four main characters narrated by a character calling himself Truth. The story of each is cleverly entwined with the stories of the others and it held my attention throughout.

Miss Dreamsville and The Collier County Women's Literary Society by Amy Hill Hearth (2012). This is not a book I would have been likely to choose, but I live in Collier County and it is about Naples in the 50s and 60s---a very different place from the present. If you enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry, this is a book you will also enjoy. A colorful blend of characters dealing with all the prejudices you might imagine for that period, but laced with all the humor of a northerner attempting to live in the South.

HAPPY 4th of JULY !

PERSISTANCE . . .

Some of you might know that this is turtle nesting season here in Florida---one of my favorite times of the year. Our first nest was found on April 28, about two weeks earlier than last year. As of this week, we were up to 116 nests. What I'm showing above is something called a "false crawl"...well, three false crawls. A false crawl occurs when the mother comes to nest but doesn't. What was so interesting about the above is that there are 3 of these, relatively close to each other---something I've never seen. Whether this was by one mother or 3, we don't know, but I think of this as showing the persistence of one mother...and these mothers weigh something like 250-300 pounds. Imagine dragging oneself up the beach carrying all that! And I've yet to see nests close to each other that were made on the same night. Nesting seems to be a solitary operation.

Here's another look at one group of nests (all different times) with an Osprey mom and one of her chicks looking down, the chick getting bigger every week, but has yet to leave the nest.

It is tricky to see the tracks in the first photo, but if you look closely at the left upper quadrant, you'll see a circle of tracks made by the staff's vehicle, but just below that can be seen another set of tracks. In the foreground here are two more sets of tracks, the lower one getting rather lost in the upper one which is very clear. So, why does this resonate with me? Well, I am like many people, somewhat daunted by learning something new--by technology. I have to make myself work with it, learn to do whatever. I have to be like that mother turtle...hanging in there. If one approach doesn't work, try another. If that doesn't work, it may mean simply standing back and waiting for another day, like this mother turtle.

I used to think of fall as the time to plunge into learning something new---a hangover from schooldays, I guess. For the last two years, fall has been the time to take my trips to do some research for writing. I like learning something new, but that desire struck me earlier this year. I've spent the past two months taking the basic and then the advanced Citizens Academy with our local sheriff's department; it's been a great experience which I highly recommend to anyone given the opportunity. I learned a lot and probably what was most impressive to me was the amount of education that all these people within law enforcement have today.

My next undertaking is learning how to do my own audiobooks. From everything I've learned so far, it's a very time-consuming process. The preparation. The actual recording which involves about 5 hours between recording and editing for every 1 hour of the audiobook. This time-intensive demand makes hiring a professional narrator out of reach for most indie authors. The development of more user-friendly software and less costly equipment has made the process supposedly more accessible for authors. We'll see... Below is a picture of my recording set-up minus the computer: the microphone and stand, something called a pop filter and headphones. It's pretty compact as I will likely record in a closet once I get the process down--that helps eliminate any background noise when not in a studio.

Next month, I'm off to Las Vegas for the Public Safety Writers Association conference. That was a great experience last year and if there are any mystery or crime writers out there, I highly recommend it. There are writers from many areas of law enforcement, as well as firefighting and multiple areas of crime investigation, like forensic accounting! I learned so much and even made a few friends. Here's a link to tell you a bit about the conference:

https://policewriter.com/2024/06/05/pswa-newsletter-summer-2024/

Lastly...

I was late in getting around to reading/listening to two wonderful books, which if you haven't read, are well worth the effort!

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (2023) This is a beautifully written, multi-generational story of a family in southern India. There is history, romance, mystery, and tragedy. I had read this author's Cutting for Stone (2009) some years back and had really looked forward to this one. It doesn't disappoint, but it is a time commitment: 30+ hours of audiobook; 775 pages.

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown (2013) I put off reading this as I really had no interest in rowing or sports in general, but felt I should read, given it's recommendations. It didn't disappoint as it is another beautifully written book, covering the rowing crew of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Seriously...I was on the edge of my seat listening to their competitions both with teams within this country, as well as with those at the Olympics. It's also the story of the individual team members and their coaches. A wonderful book!

Have a wonderful JUNE!

Meet Sally Handley . . .

I’m always amazed when I read about authors who seem to have always known they

wanted to be writers and who also seem to have followed an unerring straightforward

path to publication. Me? Not so much. Oh, I dabbled a little with writing stories and a bit

of rhyming poetry as a child. But I was more of a reader than a writer. When I graduated

from college with a degree in English Language and Literature, I had a hard time finding

a teaching job, so I spent a year as a clerk/typist, a job that didn’t require any

imagination whatsoever. After work in the evenings, I again tried my hand at writing a

few short stories which I submitted to magazines, all of which were summarily rejected.

Easily discouraged, I gave up.

A year later I landed a job teaching ‘Language Arts’ to middle school students. (At least,

I hope I taught them something.) Of course, there is no time to write when you’re a

teacher--barely any time to even read anything more than the weekly compositions you

assign your 130+ pupils. After six years in the same classroom with the same textbooks,

I suffered burnout. I made the much-discouraged decision to abandon my tenured

position and take a job as an administrative assistant. After one year I was promoted to

the marketing department because—you guessed it –I could write.

I spent the next 25 years having any remaining drops of creative wordplay wrung out of

me as I churned out proposals, press releases, staff bios and project descriptions.

Eventually, I opened my own marketing consulting practice where I taught classes on

marketing to professionals. I even created a writing class for marketers. It was so much

fun that I got the brainstorm to look for other opportunities to teach writing. On a fluke, I

sent my resume to a local community college and got selected to teach English

composition as an adjunct faculty member. Well, I enjoyed that so much, that I decided

to shutter my consulting practice and devote the end of my career to teaching.

So, at this point, you’re probably asking yourself, what was Peg Roche thinking when

she invited me to do this guest blog. Well, I’m getting to that.

Picture it. The summer of 2011. My sister and I are sitting in the gorgeous garden of the

Daniel Webster Inn on Cape Cod. We were admiring the flowers and I said something

about Rosemary and Thyme, the PBS series that featured two women gardeners as

amateur sleuths.  Suddenly I got the spark of an idea. Wouldn’t an American version be

great…a series about two sisters who garden and solve mysteries? And so that’s where it all began. I started writing and quickly realized that years of business and academic writing had pretty much deadened any creative writing skills I had as a child. I needed help. I discovered the International Women’s Writers Guild, Sisters in Crime and Malice Domestic [BTW, I’ll be on a panel at this year’s Malice Domestic entitled: Love and Murder: " Rom-Cozies ".] Then I enrolled in a monthly writing class with author Lauren B. Davis. Slowly, my creative writing skills improved.

In May 2017 I published my first cozy mystery, Second Bloom, the first in my Holly

& Ivy mystery series. Last Fall I published The Mystery of the Bogus Blooms, the 6th

book in the series. I was on a panel at the PSWA Conference last year and we were

asked if there is an optimal number of books for a series. I don’t think there is. I just love

Donna Leon’s Guido Brunetti series set in Venice. Book 33 in that series comes out

later this year. I actually had to make myself slow down between books because I didn’t

want to reach the end of the series. Same with Elizabeth Peter’s Amelia Peabody

series. I read all 23 books and when enough time passed, I started reading them over.

So, no I don’t think there is an optimal number of books for a series, especially cozies.

The only limit is the writer’s imagination.

When Holly Donnelly gets invited to speak about home composting at Pineland Park Community College’s Eco-Fair, the last thing she and her sister Ivy expect is to become involved in, not one, but two murder investigations. Throw in a controversy over a student GMO experiment that yields unexpected results, and once again the gardening duo find themselves called upon to help those falsely accused.  Are the murders and the experiment connected? Can the stalwart sisters find the real killer and save the students’ scholarships? Not without a little help from their friends. Joining them to solve the mystery are trusted allies from past adventures, Kate Farmer and her neighbors, Benny and Razor, along with the plucky Peppy Alvarez and rookie FBI agent Nicky Manelli.

While cozy mysteries are my first love and I have plenty more ideas for Holly and Ivy

adventures, I do get occasional inspiration to write something different. After I attended

my town’s Citizens’ Police Academy, I wrote a stand-alone suspense novel, Stop the

Threat. The class was conducted by the local School Resource Officer whose topic was

the Active Shooter. Having been a classroom teacher, I always cringe when people say

the solution to school shootings is to arm the teachers. When someone in our class

suggested that, I asked myself what might really happen if we armed our teachers.

Once the ideas started flowing, I just had to write that book. Trust me, it’s no anti-gun

diatribe. I just wanted to show that arming teachers was not the easy answer some

might think it is.

Last year a friend gifted me with a book entitled Kindling the Celtic Spirit. I don’t

generally read non-fiction books, but I started on this one as soon as I got it. And BAM!

I immediately got the idea for a Celtic fantasy book that I’m now working on. And what a

lot of fun writing this one is! I can let my imagination soar and not worry about red

herrings and murder suspects.

So that’s been my writer’s journey, long and often circuitous, or perhaps more spiral-like

as the ancient Celts believed, winding in a continuous curve around a central point –

that point, for me, being writing. Not sure where this journey will take me, but for now

I’m just going to enjoy the ride.

Thanks, Sally, for your guest posting. You have had a fascinating journey! For those of you out there hearing all the discussions about teachers having guns in our schools, particularly those with kids still in school, Sally's Stop the Threat is a great look at the pros and cons from a teacher's perspective.

And to everyone out there ...

Happy Mothers' Day! and Happy Nurses' Week!

 

NOW AVAILABLE FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE . . .

TOOTS is the unforgettable tale of one woman’s path to self-discovery. From the time she traveled from the shores of her home in Ireland and crossed the sea to America at the age of ten, Annie Smith worked to support herself. And just when she thinks her life is settled, and it’s as good as it gets, she unexpectedly meets a handsome homesteader who sweeps her off to the plains of Nebraska for a life she never could have imagined. Brimming with silent strength, Annie learns to push through every obstacle life throws her way, drawing courage from the family that keeps her going, including her husband Michael, her sister Nellie, and her supportive brother-in-law Frank. A celebration of trailblazing Irish-Americans and the resilience of the human spirit, TOOTS inspires us all to face challenges head-on and fight for the lives we want to live.

Some may remember my postings from September of 2022 when I started my search into my great-aunt Toots' history, which took me cross country to Nebraska. The cover photo is actually the site of their homestead outside of Albion, Nebraska. It has been an amazing journey for me to track her journey. Her story is, of course, part fiction, but the framework is hers. I hope readers enjoy and learn a bit about this part of our history---homesteading, farming in the Dust Bowl era, wartime, and the endurance of our ancestors.

This month, I'll be adding a new section to the website:

Discussion Questions for Book Clubs

This will begin with TOOTS and to which I'll be adding for each of my seven other books. I will also be including a recipe that will be related to either the people or the setting of the particular book. I hope you will enjoy and find the additions of interest.

Law Enforcement Officers who write . . .

MEET: Frank Zafiro and Colin Conway

Colin and Frank have teamed up to write the Charlie-316 series, police procedurals with an injection of city-level politics. Charlie-316, the first in the series, examines a police shooting and its aftermath, following everyone involved—the police officer, investigators, leaders, and politicians—as the event causes seismic ripples in the community. The saga surrounding this shooting lasts four books before reaching an end to the story arc. The fifth in the series, The Ride-Along, is a contemporary, balanced examination of policing through two very different sets of eyes over the course of a graveyard patrol shift.

Currently, Colin and Frank are working on the latest book, The Silence of the Dead. This ambitious procedural features multiple generations of police investigators as they strive to solve a series of murders that take place over nearly six decades.

Frank Zafiro writes gritty crime fiction from both sides of the badge. He was a police officer from 1993 to 2013, retiring as a captain. After retirement, he taught leadership at police agencies across the US and Canada for four years, before retiring completely in order to write full-time. He is the author of over fifty novels, many of them crime stories, though he also writes mainstream fiction under his given name (Frank Scalise) and fantasy and science fiction as Frank Saverio.

Frank’s crime fiction includes his River City series (police procedurals with an ensemble cast). Currently, he is working on the fifteenth novel in that series, Nor Shadowed Heart. In each outing, the officers and detectives of the RCPD confront a major obstacle, such as murder, robbery, kidnapping, or other crimes. Meanwhile, the reader also gets a glimpse of their personal lives as they cope with the rigors of police work. In River City, the cops are the good guys and they usually win… but not always… and never without a cost.

 In addition to writing, Frank is an avid hockey fan and a tortured guitarist. He lives in Redmond, Oregon, with his wife, who remains simultaneously his biggest fan and critic.

You can keep up with him at http://frankzafiro.com. His books are available at:

https://payhip.com/Code4Press

Colin Conway is the creator of the 509 Crime Stories, the Cozy Up Series, the John Cutler Mysteries, and several others. He served in the U.S. Army and later worked as a police officer. Along with writing crime fiction, Colin is a commercial real estate broker and investor. He lives in Eastern Washington with his girlfriend and a codependent Vizsla that rules their world. He’s currently working on Cozy Up to Mystery. Imagine if The Sons of Anarchy crashed into an episode of Murder, She Wrote, and you’ll have the hilarious premise for the Cozy Up series. The protagonist, Beau Smith, is a former enforcer for a criminal biker gang. He’s in the Witness Protection Program and hiding in places like Cabot Cove. It’s not easy for him when he’s 6’3, 225 pounds, and covered in tattoos. Whenever something goes wrong, the townsfolk always point to Beau since he’s the new guy

Here is Colin's latest:

Private investigator John Cutler's newest client makes a shocking claim - her missing boyfriend is the father he never met. His life will never be the same.

Learn more about Colin at: https://store.colinconway.com where his books are also available.

Both Frank and Colin can also be found on Amazon.com. I would like to add another book to those mentioned: The Tattered Blue Line: Short Stories of Contemporary Policing, which Frank has edited, and in which are short stories by both Frank and Colin. A very interesting read.

Thanks to you both for guesting!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY . . .

Above is a photo of a flowering shamrock, which some may never have seen. Below is what's called a St. Bridget's Cross. While St. Patrick is probably the most familiar of the Irish saints, St. Bridget is probably the second most famous, being the patroness saint of Ireland. Her history seems to begin as the goddess of grain in pre-Christian Ireland, and only later did the history have her become a saint due to her good works. The cross was meant to be hung over doorways to prevent the entry of evil and to bring good luck into the home. There is also some thought that it later was meant to identify a Catholic house during the Protestant Reformation. The cross, along with the shamrock and Celtic harp has become emblematic of the Irish.

In California, I lived in a house that was built of stacked 2 x 4's of old-growth redwood. It was built by a former mayor of Eureka who owned a joinery (for decorative woodwork), but it was at a time when those who worked the mills could bring home leftover wood for their own use. My house, garage, and the six-foot fence surrounding the lot were all of stacked redwood when a 2 x 4 was a true 2 inches by 4 inches. As I did renovations on the house, I used reclaimed materials for my own woodworking. The photo below is a photo of the top of a coffee table I made, where the rails and inlay of the cross were of Port Orford cedar from a closet that was enlarged, while redwood shelving from my old garage provided the table top and legs.

This month, I thought I'd give you all a little update on my own writing, but first I wanted to also introduce you to an Irish mystery writer who is new to me:

John Banville - April in Spain (2021) is the eighth novel in the Quirke series about a Dublin pathologist who is definitely quirky. I don't know how I missed coming across his mysteries, but it was a great read. This author also has a wide reputation for his short stories.

As to my own work: I'm finishing up a novel I wrote about in several newsletters in 2022---my great aunt "Toots"---which will be the title of the book. She emigrated from Ireland at the age of 10 with my grandmother who was only 12. They came alone and worked as house servants, first in New York City, and then in Chicago, where my grandmother married a man who was second generation of Irish immigrants. He in turn introduced my aunt to a homesteader from Nebraska. How this happened was amazing to me. I don't want to give away the whole story, but my aunt had a fascinating history leading her from Ireland to Chicago to Nebraska to Florida before she came back to Chicago.

In the past year, I also finished the first draft of another Nora Brady mystery taking her from the north coast of California, all the way to Boston. There she is involved in helping to stop an errant group of firefighters in an arson-for-hire ring.

People often ask writers where their ideas come from. I don't think there is any simple answer. For "Toots", it was idly thinking about a story I had heard growing up, about a fire in her past where she had lost her family, which I thought was incredibly sad. For the arson novel, it began with a murder...that's all I'll tell you.

People often ask if I work with an editor. I haven't because I self-publish, where publishing is not without costs, and having an editor is a significant cost. There are different types of editing, but in general, copy editing is the cheapest, but can still run $0.04 or more per word. My novels are usually between 50 to 80,000 words = $2,000+, but there are different types of software to help with editing when it's DIY.

Finally: why self-publish? There are many reasons for this. Most people don't realize that publishing has gone through much downsizing in the last twenty years and many publishers won't work with an author unless there's an agent, so it's a multi-level process to find both the agent and then the publisher. Then, if you have a publisher, it may take several years for your book to be published, once it's accepted. Furthermore, there are limited perks to what was once offered. Writers often still must do much of their own promotion. All of this takes away from actually writing. Even self-publishing has become very competitive. Amazon published over 1000 new ebooks last year, and there are over 65,000 available there. One has to write because one has to write!

That's it for today's lessons. Hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

,SLAINTE !