Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 14

Birthday Month and #giveaway

Edith/Maddie here, loving full summer north of Boston.

Before you start wishing me happy birthday – please don’t. July isn’t my month, nor that of anyone in my family except my favorite toddler, Luca, who turned three last week.

But it is the birthday month of two very special people from the past, whom I fictionalized in A Case for the Ladies. Please read down for a special giveaway.

Dot Henderson‘s birthday was July 4, 1900, and Amelia Earhart‘s was July 24, 1897. To celebrate, the ebook of my latest historical mystery is on a steeply discounted sale all this month. How else are we partying?

On July 4th, I brought you Dot’s 18th birthday menu here. To celebrate her day, I recreated the fresh strawberry ice cream Dot had at her meal.

Amelia was born in Kansas, but ended up for a few years living in the Boston suburb of Medford with her mother and younger sister. The aviator was a bit cagey about her age, but history tells us her birthday was July 24, 1897.

I wondered what she would have requested for a birthday dinner, and I found a wonderful magazine page (doubling as a Royal Baking Powder paid advertisement, no doubt) with the recipe for her mother’s biscuits and fried chicken.

I don’t do much frying, especially in July this year, but I did make the biscuits. That recipe will be over on Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen this Friday.

So, let’s party. Leave a comment to win a tote bag, a recipe card packet, bookmarks, and a signed copy of the book! The contest ends July 24.

Readers: What’s your favorite birthday dinner? I’d love to also hear your knowledge or feelings about the legend that is Amelia Earhart.

Birthday Month and #GIVEAWAY!

Edith/Maddie here, loving full summer north of Boston.

Before you start wishing me happy birthday – please don’t. July isn’t my month, nor that of anyone in my family except my favorite toddler, Luca, who turned three last week.

But it is the birthday month of two very special people from the past, whom I fictionalized in A Case for the Ladies. Please read down for a special giveaway.

Dot Henderson‘s birthday was July 4, 1900, and Amelia Earhart‘s was July 24, 1897. To celebrate, the ebook of my latest historical mystery is on a steeply discounted sale all this month. How else are we partying?

On July 4th, I brought you Dot’s 18th birthday menu here. To celebrate her day, I recreated the fresh strawberry ice cream Dot had at her meal.

Amelia was born in Kansas, but ended up for a few years living in the Boston suburb of Medford with her mother and younger sister. The aviator was a bit cagey about her age, but history tells us her birthday was July 24, 1897.

I wondered what she would have requested for a birthday dinner, and I found a wonderful magazine page (doubling as a Royal Baking Powder paid advertisement, no doubt) with the recipe for her mother’s biscuits and fried chicken.

I don’t do much frying, especially in July this year, but I did make the biscuits. That recipe will be over on Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen this Friday.

So, let’s party. Leave a comment to win a tote bag, a recipe card packet, bookmarks, and a signed copy of the book! The contest ends July 27.

Readers: What’s your favorite birthday dinner? I’d love to also hear your knowledge or feelings about the legend that is Amelia Earhart.

Guest Leslie Budewitz To Err is Cumin #giveaway

Edith/Maddie, happy it’s Friday north of Boston.

I’m also so happy my good friend Leslie Budewitz is joining us today. One of my favorite series is her Spice Shop Mysteries. To Err is Cumin, the newest installment, came out in audio this week and will release in trade paperback and ebook August 6. Order your copy now!

I love the cover! Here’s the blurb:

One person’s treasure is another’s trash. . . When Seattle Spice Shop owner Pepper Reece finds a large amount of cash stuffed in an old chair, she investigates—never suspecting a wingback will set her off on a trail of deception, embezzlement, and murder, and put her own life in danger.

Treasure in the Trash

Mr. Right and I live in the country, with no trash pickup. That means regular trips to a dump site to drop off trash and recycling. Years ago, before the switch to controlled access and staffing, I spotted a beat-up wingback chair left next to one of the big containers. Too heavy for the former owner to lift? Or left in hopes that the right customer would come along before the big crushing machine? Sadly, I drove a Subaru Legacy—and had no cell phone to call my hunny to rescue me with his bigger rig.

I’m still in mourning.

Like my Wicked friends, I’m a squirrel when it comes to story ideas, tucking them away for who knows when. A while back, I read a streak of stories about people who found cash in a chair seat, or a diamond ring inside a hidden pocket in a purse they bought at Goodwill.

(Shown below is Leslie in World Spice, a shop that might or might not have inspired her series…)

Pepper Reece, the main character in my Spice Shop series, loves vintage. At least, that’s what she calls it. Others call it trash. Her dining room table is a cast-off round cedar picnic table her former mother-in-law found on the curb—by no real coincidence, we have one just like it in our yard. I didn’t scavenge it, but thanks to a close encounter with a pipe fence on a windy day, it is pretty beat-up!

But we don’t have the pink cast-iron chairs Pepper’s ex-husband calls refugees from an ice cream parlor. (I spotted this pair at a coffee shop below Pike Place Market in Seattle, where Pepper works, a few years ago.)

Coffee shop on Western #2

So of course, I knew exactly what Pepper should do when she and her pal Laurel come across a ratty old wingback on the sidewalk, left for the taking. Later, she finds a wad of cash—we’re talking serious green—in the seat cushion.

No wonder it was so lumpy.

But where did it come from and why was it abandoned? The discovery and the questions it raises set Pepper off on the trail of the young woman who may have owned the chair. Her path crosses that of a chef she’s encountered in the past and would rather not meet again, thank you very much. But the found money and her deep sense of justice merge into a feeling of responsibility that compels her forward—even when tragedy strikes.

Because when Pepper sees someone in trouble, she can’t walk away.

I just wish she’d been with me that day at the dump.

Earlier this week, I visited with the Jungle Red Writers to talk about one of my guilty pleasures, newspaper advice columns. A story I didn’t relay there ties in neatly here: A reader and her mother agreed that a particular ring the family owned was bad luck, so they deliberately left it in the pocket of a coat they gave away, knowing the find would be a lucky one to the recipient and change whatever cursed energy the ring carried.

You gotta love it. Pepper would.

Readers, what’s the oddest thing you’ve ever seen left for the taking? What have you picked up? If you found cash, or a ring, what would you do? I’ll give one lucky reader a signed copy of To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop mystery. (US or Canada addresses only, please.)

Leslie Budewitz writes the Spice Shop mysteries set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market and the Food Lovers’ Village mysteries, set in NW Montana. She also writes historical fiction—watch for All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection coming in September 2024. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody suspense. She cooks, reads, paints, hikes, and gardens in NW Montana. And yes, there are bears in her yard.

Read excerpts and more at http://www.LeslieBudewitz.com

Genre Hopping with Elizabeth Bunce

Edith/Maddie writing from a summery north of Boston, but at least the worst of the heat and humidity have broken for now.

It’s never too hot to welcome an author who is excelling in writing for a partly different audience than the Wickeds do. Elizabeth Bunce writes children’s/young adult mysteries, but she also authors books in other genres for other audiences.

Listen to this blurb: It’s Scooby-Doo meets And Then There Were None in the fifth volume of the Edgar Award-Winning Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries, Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity. When her governess inherits an estate on a Scottish island, amateur detective Myrtle Hardcastle couldn’t be more excited. Unfortunately, the ancestral castle is both run-down and haunted. Ghostly moans echo in the walls, and there are rumors of a cursed treasure lost on the island—an ancient silver brooch that may have cost the former lord his life. But who had the motive, means, and opportunity to kill him? 

Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity has garnered the series third Edgar nomination, fourth Agatha Award Nomination, and fourth Anthony Award nomination, making it one of the most-honored children’s mystery series of all times.

I was delighted with her answers to our set of genre-hopping questions.

What genres do you write in?

          I began my career writing young adult fantasy, veered into middle grade mysteries, and am kicking off my first mystery series for adult readers! But the one thing that hasn’t changed is my love for historicals.

What drew you to the genre you write?

          I always considered myself a fantasy writer—it was all I ever considered writing, from the time I first realized that being an author was an actual job. But when my first editor and I were working on on our third book together, she informed me that I was actually a mystery writer, that I was writing “mysteries in fantasy dress.” (Isn’t that a lovely turn of phrase?)—stories with fantasical settings, magic, and paranormal elements, but with mystery plotlines. So I think it must be in my bones! I also have a deep and abiding love of things that are a little dark and spooky—ghost stories, murder mysteries, all the things going bump in the night…

What sets your books apart from what is out there?

           I spend a lot of time trying to answer this question for myself (and for queries!). One of the things is my voice—why use a sixpence word when a £10 one will do? Another is the way I gleefully play with genre tropes—I really love digging into the essence of story types, figuring out what makes us love a particular familiar setting or theme, and then throwing everything I have at it. The Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries have allowed me to do that with my favorite mystery milieux* (murder on a train, murder in the English countryside, an Exceptionally Christmassy Murder, etc), viewing them through young sleuth Myrtle’s very specific (and fun) lens. 

*That would be a ten franc word, I guess?

Do you write a series or standalones? Why?

          Both have their appeal, and it just depends on what the story calls for. My fairytale retellings, for instance, don’t really have much to say past the happily ever after, so those are intended to stand alone (mostly ). But there’s such joy in writing a series, watching your characters grow from book to book, and it’s so much fun to get to know your cast and their world so well that you can’t wait to put them in this or that scenario, just to see how they’ll react. I love having the option to work on both—just as I enjoy hopping genres.

That’s great news! What are you working on now?

          I’ve just finished a draft of a YA historical fantasy, and as mentioned above, I’m working on a new adult Victorian mystery series (featuring some familiar characters…). And there are only about fifteen other ideas in various stages of development on my desk…

What are you reading right now?

          I’ve had an unusual string of great reads recently. I absolutely adored Melinda Taub’s The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch, a saucy, irreverant spin on Pride and Predjudice. Matthew J. Kirby’s Edgar-nominated Star-Splitter is a terrific classic sci-fi yarn, with a fabulous YA voice. And Jeremy Bushnell’s Relentless Melt was one of the best mysteries I’ve read in ages—I think Myrtle fans will enjoy getting to know another young investigator (it’s an adult novel but the content is YA friendly).

Do you have a favorite quote or life motto?

          I’m going to have to quote my first editor again (grumble): She said that a good protagonist must take Positive Forward Action to solve her problems. This is not only good writing advice, it’s so true in life, as well. I find myself muttering those three words to myself whenever I’m faced with an overflowing inbox (or laundry hamper) or a particularly thorny revision.

Favorite writing space?

          Underneath a cat!

Elizabeth and her cat accepting her Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Fiction.

Favorite deadline snack?

          Sadly, I try to inspire myself to work hard by promising myself a treat when I’m finished (NO CHOCOLATE UNTIL THE BOOK IS DONE!!), which usually leaves me with nothing interesting in the house. Consequently I end up scrounging through stale cereal or saltines. But in a perfect world it would be hunks of bread and some really good cheese…

What do you see when you look up from writing?

          Usually a cat.

Readers: What genres do you read in, and does your reading include juvenile fiction?

Elizabeth C. Bunce writes historical fantasy, ghost stories, and mysteries for young readers (and discerning adults), including the Edgar-winning Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries beginning with Premeditated Myrtle; the Thief Errant series; and the Morris Award-winning fairy tale A Curse Dark as Gold. She’s an accomplished needlewoman, historical costumer, and cosplayer, and blogs about Making and life in the Victorian era under the hashtag #MyrtleMondays. A lifelong Midwesterner, Bunce lives in Kansas City with her husband, pop culture journalist C.J. Bunce; their underemployed cats; and a boggart that steals books.

Wicked Wednesday: Five Movies

Edith/Maddie here, writing from north of Boston and hoping to catch up on some movies this month.

Wow. I just learned there are five movies named …” Five” – isn’t that amazing? According to my buddy Wikipedia, here’s the list:

Five (1951 film), a post-apocalyptic filmFive (1964 film), a Polish filmFive (2003 film), an Iranian documentary by Abbas KiarostamiFive (2011 film), a comedy-drama television filmFive (2016 film), a French comedy film

Have you seen any of them? I haven’t. But it’s summertime, and when the mercury pegs up and it’s too hot to sit outside, lots of us head into the darkened comfort of an air-conditioned movie theater.

Wickeds, what are your five favorite flicks? Include if you first saw them in a theater or some other way.

Edith/Maddie: I’ll start with mine, all of which I first saw in a theater. Bridges of Madison County, The Taste of Things, Dr. Zhivago, Casablanca,” and Sleepless in Seattle. Yes, they are all love stories, most of which include heartbreak along the way.

Liz: Ooh, good question – I haven’t seen these but I did see Harlan Coben’s limited series The Five – which was awesome! My five favorite movies – I’m woefully behind on movies, but here are some standbys: The Shawshank Redemption, Seven, The Breakfast Club, The Shining, The Secret Window.

Jessie: While I have many additional favorites, I loved Sleepless in Seattle, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Breakfast Club! Let me add You’ve Got Mail, and Pride and Prejudice (the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth version) to round out five choices.

Sherry: Sigh Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. Is it warm in here? My five favorite movies? That’s a hard one, but I’ll give it a whirl. One of my favorite movies, since my girlfriend’s parents took us to the drive-in to see it, is Shenandoah with Jimmy Stewart and Doug McClure (who was a crush at the time). Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire — the clothes are fabulous! Billy Elliott because of Billy’s defiance of the life he was expected to live. The Heat because it makes me laugh. Love Actually and last but not least Red with Bruce Willis. (And a nod to African Queen another favorite.)

Julie: I’m adding to my list! I don’t think I’ve heard of The Heat, Sherry. And I also love Red. Liz, Seven? You have a dark side, my friend. I have a long list of favorites, but let me pick five for today. Bandwagon with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charise is my favorite movie ever. It’s always on any list. Now, which other movies? When Harry Met Sally, All the President’s Men (or Three Days of the Condor or The Sting–anything peak Redford), Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Jaws.

Barb: This is impossible. Okay (deep breath), leaving aside the movies I re-watch every Christmas season as I address cards and wrap presents, I would say, Stranger Than Fiction, Parenthood,When Harry Met Sally, Some Like It Hot, Crazy, Stupid Love.

Readers: Favorite movies? (You don’t have to list five if you don’t want to.)

Welcome Back Delia Pitts

I’m thrilled to welcome back Delia Pitts! Her latest book, Trouble in Queenstown, the first in a new series, releases today! I love the cover and can’t wait to read this. It will pop up on my Kindle today.

Delia: Thank you for inviting me to join the Wickeds for a mid-summer dip! July here in New Jersey swelters, but to my nostalgic mind nothing compares to the intensity of summers in my hometown, Chicago. Heatwaves rippling above the pavement on the trudge home from the A & P. Sooty gusts direct from the prairies pushing charred scents of cook-out grease across our backyard fence. Cooling down after a round of double-Dutch jump rope by scampering through every lawn sprinkler on the block.

This summer, childhood memories of Chicago are on my mind because they provide the inspiration for my new mystery, Trouble in Queenstown, which launches today. But this contemporary novel is set in a made-up small town in central New Jersey. How does my childhood Chicago fit in?

Trouble in Queenstown follows a tangled case in which Private Investigator Vandy Myrick confronts the entrenched powers of her fictional New Jersey hometown to solve a racially charged murder. I invented Vandy and Queenstown to satisfy my longing for stories which reflected the people and places I knew best, the Chicago I remembered.

After years of reading American and English masters of crime fiction, I wanted to write a PI mystery of my own. But I wanted to festoon my book with trappings not found on hard-boiled urban streets or in secluded country manors. And I wanted a modern hero who looked and sounded like people I’d grown up with. A woman of action to wrestle with power in defense of neighbors she believed in.

To populate Queenstown, I dug into my own family for inspiration. My cousin, Esther Myricks, founded a small private security agency in the Bronzeville district of Chicago’s South Side in the 1970s. Our fathers were brothers, so as a child and teenager, I looked to Esther as an older role model. Esther, now in her mid-eighties, is smart, tough, funny, and determined. Her example of a Black woman tackling jobs in a rough neighborhood gave me the idea that I could accomplish whatever I set my mind to. Esther’s security agency focused on job verifications, property protection, insurance claims, and process serving, I’m pretty sure murder never crossed her docket. Vandy Myrick, the private investigator I created, treads a far grittier, violence-strewn path.

But I endowed Vandy with other features directly mirroring the real-life model. Though Esther is tiny in stature, she has a room-commanding presence. When she speaks, even if it is now a whisper, you best listen. And her sense of style made the most of her natural beauty. I remember she was the first adult in our family to wear an Afro and she did it with fierce grace. Even today, Esther drapes her still-slender figure with elegance. In the world according to Esther, sexy is the fused flip side of tough.

Where did I find inspiration for Vandy’s sense of social mission? Directly from her namesake. For decades, Esther worked as a community activist and civic organizer, sometime inside the fabled Cook County Democratic Party apparatus, sometimes outside its ranks. I borrowed Esther’s dedication to advocacy for the people of her neighborhood. In Vandy, this drive becomes a commitment to helping people whose voices are often dismissed.

I had a blast filling Vandy Myrick with Esther Myricks’ warmth and energy. I hope my cousin Esther is proud of this creation she inspired.

Writers, do you have relatives whose lives inspired your fictional creations? Readers, which distant relatives do you think about on a regular basis?

Bio:

Born and raised in Chicago, Delia graduated from Oberlin College with a Bachelor’s degree in history. After working as a journalist, she earned a Ph.D. in African history from the University of Chicago. She is a former university administrator and U.S. diplomat. Her newest book, a contemporary noir mystery, Trouble in Queenstown, was published by Minotaur Books in 2024. Delia is also the author of the Ross Agency Mysteries, a series set in Harlem. She has also published several acclaimed short stories, including, “The Killer,” which was selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021. Delia is an active member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Crime Writers of Color.

Delia and her husband live in central New Jersey and have twin sons living in Texas. To learn more about Delia and her books visit her website, deliapitts.com.

Instagram and Threads:  @deliapitts50

Website: deliapitts.com

Beat the Heat

Jessie: Grateful to be spending the summer writing on the coast of Maine.

I confess, I am not a fan of hot days and warm nights. For me, warm ocean temperatures are in the low to mid 60s. If it gets much higher I start to imagine any number of pathogenic horrors. Besides, I come from a very long line of New Englanders and we seem to be of the mindset that one needs to pay for their pleasures. If the sea is your heart’s desire, the price is numb extremities!

I know that the heat has been effecting people across the country of late and it has turned my thoughts to strategies to feel more comfortable when the mercury rises. Here is a list of some of my favorites:

Watermelon Salad: I cut up a melon into bite-sized chunks and place the pieces in a bowl large enough to stir it up in. I add the juice of a lime, two if it was kind of dry, a couple of large spoonfuls of rum or triple sec, and a generous sprinkling of fresh mint leaves. Stick in the fridge until chilled. Cucumber sandwiches on white bread with a bit of mayo and scads of freshly cracked black pepperReading in a hammock under a tree, bonus points if the book is set in a place that is even hotter than where you are! Dantes Inferno is a winner for most everyone! Clean out the basement, or at least go down there and think about how you would clean it if it weren’t too hot to move around as much as a job like that would require.Make an espresso tonic. This is my favorite summer beverage. Fill a tall glass with ice. Add tonic water, leaving just enough room for a double shot of espresso in the glass. Pull a double shot of espresso and pour it over the tonic. Gently stir it with a swizzle stick if it is slow to mix together on its own. Buy a box of ice cream novelties at the grocer. I love to choose favorites from childhood like strawberry shortcake bars and orange creamsicles. Don’t forget to pick up a box of frozen dog desserts for your favorite pooch! Watch a movie or show set in the cold like Fargo, Groundhog Day or Ice Road Truckers.Or, if at all possible, take a dip in the sea off the coast of New England!

Readers, do you have a favorite way to beat the heat? I’d love to hear it!

Wicked July New England

Edith/Maddie here, thinking about what’s fun in New England in July.

We haven’t run a post like this in years. It’s Friday in mid-July, so let’s go for it.

Photo credit: Andy Li, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Earlier in the week, we re-ran a post about summer activities from five years ago. Wickeds, share your favorite New England July activity for this year! Photos are a bonus.

Jessie: My wedding anniversary is in early in the month so I am always up for something special and celebratory in July. I cannot think of anything better than swimming in the cold Atlantic on a hot July day with my sweetheart!

Liz: Sitting my butt on the beach with a book, and jumping in the water when it gets too hot! Also some lemonade and perhaps an ice cream later if I really want to get decadent!

Sherry: I’m very jealous of all this beach talk and the fact that you all are in New England and I’m not. If I was in New England I’d definitely drive to Maine for a lobster roll, go to a Red Sox game, and get ice cream from Bedford Farms. And, yes, that’s a small cup!

Edith/Maddie: Sweet corn is high on the list! As is an early morning at beach with my notebook, hat, and imagination.

Julie: Summer concerts, ice cream, beach days, laying on the porch reading, eating seafood, meeting a friend for a drink at an outdoor cafe. Honestly, the heat is tough, but this is my favorite time of year.

Readers: What’s your favorite regional summer thing to do?

The Power of Memories and Music

by Julie, sweltering in Somerville

Liz Mugavero and I went to see a concert this week–the Triple Moon Tour with Alanis Morissette, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and Morgan Wade. The concert was at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA, an outdoor venue which was dicey during this heat wave. But we enjoyed the concert tremendously. The experience, and our conversations to and from the venue, made me think about the influence of music in our lives, and how memories meld. Let me explain.

The Xfinity Center used to be called Great Woods. We both only referred to it as Great Woods because we’d been there many times over the years. Driving there, we didn’t recognize the area. But once through the gates, familiarity started to roll towards us. We started to talk about the concerts we’d both seen there, and realized our paths likely never crossed. I remember Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, and some sort of festival. Liz rattled off the shows she’d seen.

Some of the details of the concerts blurred together for us both, but who we were with and what happened were clear. Shadows of the ghosts of who we were danced.

We also both remembered the nightmare that was/is leaving the venue. Honestly, that’s the worst part of seeing things, isn’t it? That’s one reason I prefer seeing things in Boston–you don’t need a car to get home. But I digress.

Alanis Morissette was the headliner. I know her music, of course. But I don’t have a visceral reaction to it. Liz did. Alanis Morissette was part of the soundtrack of her life during her 20’s, which means the music is usually loaded with a lot of life, changes, memories, and drama. I’m a generation ahead of Liz, so Joan Jett played that role for me. Her songs and her voice brought back floods of mingled memories. Dancing hard, cast parties, singing in cars.

The memories music evoke are powerful. Sometimes an artist provides a backdrop to a part of your life in a pondering way. Sometimes a song reminds you of that breakup, the first date, the minute you got the news that changed your life.

As a writer, I need words to bring up those same feelings. Without the music, that is tough. But at the same time, since specific music means different things to different people, evoking those memories with words can be more universal. Reming someone of being at a summer concert with friends, and let them fill in the artist and the venue. Dancing in a huge crowd with a good friend on a sweltering summer night–that’s a memory that transcends.

Readers, tell me about some of your summer music memories.

Wicked Wednesday: Five Senses

Edith/Maddie here, writing from north of Boston and loving the smells and tastes of summer.

This week let’s address the five senses in our writing. Wickeds, how do you work sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste into your writing? Do you try to include all five in each scene? Are there some you find easier to write than others? Examples would be great.

Julie: Jess Lourey did a great editing workshop for Sisters in Crime. She talks about levels of editing in the final polish, and how important it is to heighten one or two senses in a scene. For instance, there’s a baking scene in Lilly’s kitchen. What does the fruit they’re cutting up feel like? What do the scones smell like? What does the tea taste like? You don’t have to hit the reader over the head with poetic prose, but ground them in the scene.

Liz: I love this question and it’s one I’ve been trying to thing more about as I’m writing. I tend to skip past a lot of that stuff, especially in the first draft, so now I’m making more of an effort to slow down and really see/feel/hear/smell along with the character. I just found a note in my phone, actually, about how to enhance a scene – it’s a note about what summer activities at a campground full of kids sound like, look like, taste like (what foods they’re eating, how it relates to summer) as well as the summer smells. It’s an interesting exercise to really put thought into.

Edith/Maddie: Like Liz, I often skip the senses in my fast first draft. I love the editing pass where I enrich each scene with the details of the world as they relate to the action or a particular character. I have a lot of cooking and eating in my stories, so smell and taste are easy to add. Depending on what’s happening, touch might be harder, but I always want to ground the reader in my character’s world.

Sherry: I don’t try to include all five in each scene. I think that might bog a manuscript down. And like others, I usually add the senses in after the first draft.

Jessie: Sherry, I agree! I try to have anything I write add value to the story above all else. I use any of the senses to that end. A romantic scene may include more touch or smell. One that involves creativity may demonstrate sight. A scene that deepens bonds between platonic characters often employs sound in the form of words shared to create a connection.

Barb: For me, the senses are often there in the first draft as I try to get the scene in my head onto the page. Except for the food scenes, where Bill usually hasn’t created the recipe yet and therefore we haven’t tasted the dish. Those sights, tastes, and smells I add in later. And, as I said in my post on Monday, the senses you use should depend on the emotion you are trying to evoke in the reader.

Readers: do you notice when an author includes the senses? Have you ever read too much of them?