Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 145

A Wicked Welcome to Traci Wilton

I am delighted to welcome Traci Wilton, aka Traci Hall and Patrice Wilton, to the blog today. They have a new series that debuts on Tuesday with Mrs. Morris and the Ghost. More information about the series is down below, but first let’s hear about writing a book together!

Co Writing a Cozy Mystery Series

By Traci Wilton, aka Traci
Hall and Patrice Wilton

Thank you so much for having us on your Wicked blog—this is our first foray into writing cozy mysteries. Before this Patrice wrote romance, and I was all over the board with YA, medieval romances, contemporary romances, coming of age, non-fiction, and historical western romances. We’ve been critique partners since 2003 and so we know each other’s style very well, and most importantly, we trust each other with that vulnerable part of ourselves that you have to show when putting words to paper to create a story. Together we are nearing a hundred published works.

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We get asked all the time—HOW
do you do it?

A plot is key when working
together so that you both are literally on the same page when it comes to
writing. Each book gets easier because we know the characters…Charlene is
family, as are Jack, (the ghost) Sam, (the detective) Minnie, (the housekeeper)
and Silva, the cat. We know the house: how it’s decorated, and where Jack likes
to sit before the fire, and how much Charlene loves the big oak out back, and
the wooden swing in the tree. How the kitchen fills with the scent of whatever
delicious thing Minnie is baking.

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Charlene wanted a family but
wasn’t able to have one, and now her husband is dead. She’s starting over in
Salem and rebuilding a home for
herself and her guests. That is what drives her.

I think that sense of
searching for a place to make our own resonates with people, because it’s
something we all want at heart.

We chose to make our
detective very hunky. Jack is also incredibly handsome, and jealous of the men
in Charlene’s life. He can’t do anything about it but help keep her safe, which
is what Sam wants for her too.

Another thing that really
helped us with writing together was going to Salem and doing all of the things
that Charlene would do as a new bed and breakfast owner to get to know the town
and share events with her guests. Salem is quaint and filled with historical
tidbits that will allow us to create stories for as long as we have readers! Practically
every building is supposedly haunted though we didn’t see anything spooky, just
fun thrills and lots of possibilities over what could be…we stayed at the
haunted Hawthorne Hotel, toured the centuries-old buildings around the wharf, took
a night guided tour of the Old Burying Point cemetery, and much more. The folks
are so friendly and welcoming that we highly recommend a trip to Salem if you
haven’t been. Too bad you can’t really stay with Charlene, at Charlene’s Bed
and Breakfast, the most elegant B & B in town. We know she would take very
good care of you….and if you see something from the corner of your eye, it just
might be Jack.

Boo!

Thanks again for hosting us for our Mrs. Morris and the Ghost debut! Next year Mrs. Morris and the Witch will be available, and we have audio too.

You can check out our website
www.traciwilton.com for more information and updates for the next
release.

Traci Wilton

Traci Wilton is the pseudonym of Traci Hall
and Patrice Wilton.

From contemporary seaside romances to cozy
mysteries, USA Today bestselling author Traci Hall writes stories that captivate her
readers. As a hybrid author with fifty published works, Ms. Hall has a
favorite story for everyone. Mystery lovers, be on the lookout for her Salem
B&B Mystery series, co-written as Traci Wilton, and her Scottish Shire
series, which takes place in the seaside town of Nairn, as Traci Hall. Whether
it’s her ever popular By the Sea series or a fun who-done-it, Traci finds her
inspiration in sunny South Florida, by living right near the ocean.

New York Times, bestselling author, Patrice Wilton knew from the age of twelve that she
wanted to write books that would take the reader to faraway places. She was
born in Vancouver, Canada, and had a great need to see the world that she had
read about.Patrice became a flight attendant for seventeen years and traveled
the world. At the age of forty she sat down to write her first book—in
longhand! Her interests include tennis, golf, and writing stories for women of
all ages.She has more than forty books published on Amazon, and is best
known as a popular romance author. She is especially proud of her best-selling
contemporary romance series, Paradise Cove, and Heavenly Christmas and the
Wounded Warriors. Co-writing with Traci Hall, they have assumed the name Traci
Wilton for the Salem B&B mystery series published with Kensington.

Mrs.
Morris and the Ghost

Charlene Morris knew
Salem, Massachusetts had a spooky reputation. But when she decided to open her
B&B there, she expected guests—not ghosts…

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A grieving young
widow, Charlene needed a new start—so she bought a historic mansion, sight
unseen, and drove from Chicago to New England to start turning it into a
bed-and-breakfast. On her first night in the house, she awakens to find a
handsome man with startling blue eyes in her bedroom. Terror turns to utter
disbelief when he politely introduces himself as Jack Strathmore—and explains
that he used to live here—when he was alive. He firmly believes that someone
pushed him down the stairs three years ago, and he won’t be able to leave until
someone figures out who. If Charlene wants to get her business up and running
in time for the Halloween tourist rush, and get this haunting houseguest out of
the way, she’ll have to investigate. Though truth be told, this ghost is
starting to grow on her . . .

The Strangest Things — Guest Wendy Tyson

[image error]Last year I got to spend almost a whole day sitting next to Wendy at a book festival. Everyone should be so lucky! Her latest book, Ripe for Vengeance, just came out. Thanks for joining us, Wendy!

In our house, puppy makes three—dogs, that is. Or muses, as I like to call them. Only our most recent family member is a fluffy ball of eleven-week-old mischievousness who makes sure I’m using my limited writing time to watch him chase butterflies, clean up his potty messes, and say “no” over and over (and over and over). Sure, he’s adorable. And yes, I knew exactly what I was getting into when I brought him home. What I didn’t foresee was the extent to which little Finn would push me out of my head (and a recent writing funk) and back into the land of the inspired.

Readers often ask me where I find inspiration for my novels and short stories. I’d love to say I keep detailed binders full of interesting news bits and true crime articles, treasure troves of ideas that I can access whenever my mojo is running low. That would be a lie. The truth is much less tangible. For me inspiration blooms from the strangest things, and is sometimes fostered in the strangest places. The real trick is to cultivate a habit of openness. Over time, I’ve come to recognize that niggling feeling that means an idea is developing.

For example, in the first few pages of my recent release, Ripe for Vengeance, Megan is called to a local storage facility by her veterinarian boyfriend. A potbellied pig was found living in a storage unit, and the pig needs to stay with Megan on her farm. There’s mystery behind the pig’s sudden appearance: whose is it, why is the unit renter’s true identity hidden, and is the pig somehow related to a murder that occurs the next day?

The idea for Camilla the pig popped into my head back when I was moving to Vermont. We were renting a storage unit, and while the facility manager was showing us to our spot, I noticed dried corn on the ground in the elevator and along the hallway. I pointed it out, and the manager frowned—no food was allowed in the units, he said. Like that, my imagination was sparked. What if fictional feed led to the discovery of an animal being illegally stored in a unit? I asked the manager about his experiences, and he assured me that he’d seen that—and worse. A story was born.

In dissecting that experience, I realized I hadn’t been doing anything other than sorting and packing and cleaning for weeks. I was mentally wired and physically exhausted. Writing? Who had time to write? My life during that period revolved around trying to get the house ready for closing, which was to take place in just a few days. And yet in the midst of all of that, revelation came. That day, I took a few photos of the storage facility, fleshed out my thoughts with some quick notes, and a few months later, I started writing. I love Camilla, and I’m glad my packing fervor brought this little pig into being.

I have another book coming out in January. It’s a re-release from a new publisher, and the book is called A Dark Homage. It’s a grittier mystery about feminist author and philanthropist Miriam Cross, who disappears from her Philadelphia home and later turns up dead, having lived under an alias. Similarly, the idea for A Dark Homage came about when my mind was focused elsewhere. My husband and I were driving around a small town outside of Allentown, Pennsylvania and having a heated discussion (okay, argument) about potential career shifts. As we meandered through residential neighborhoods peppered with tiny bungalows and one-story homes, I noticed a boarded-up rancher wedged between two well-maintained properties. I snapped a photo and didn’t think about it again for months.

Then one day, I was looking through my photos, and I came across that picture. I wondered who had lived there—and why they left. I’d been working on A Dark Homage, and Miriam’s character was fleshed out already, but I’d been struggling with plot. In that moment, I realized that Miriam died there, in that small house in a small town near Allentown. My mind swirled with questions: Why was she there? How did she die? Who wanted her dead? Once that house came into being, the rest of the book fell into place. Miriam’s disappearance would be one piece of a complex and dangerous puzzle. The keystone to the story had come to me months earlier, when I didn’t even know I was searching for inspiration.

I firmly believe the fertile ground for storytelling occurs behind the scenes, when the mind is shifting sideways, quietly observing patterns and noticing the smallest of details. The key to unlocking the imagination is the mental freedom to watch and explore, something that often happens when the brain is busy doing other things.

So perhaps little Finn is a true muse after all. He keeps me busy, allowing my mind to wander.

Indeed, during our most recent walk in the woods, Finn led me to a knoll beneath a dark canopy of trees at a park near my house. He was drawn to a red bandana, it’s material marred by muddy boot treads. Looking around, I saw indentations in the leaves and dirt of the damp forest floor, along with the remnants of a tiny campfire, indicators that someone had slept in that secluded spot. It seemed like a strange place to make camp. Who had stayed there? Were they hiding? Running away? I was left to wonder.

And—quite happily—write. Readers: Where do your ideas come from?

[image error]Bio: Wendy Tyson is a writer, lawyer, and former therapist whose background has inspired her mysteries and thrillers. Wendy writes three mystery series, the bestselling Greenhouse Mystery Series, the Allison Campbell Mystery Series, and the forthcoming Delilah Percy Powers crime series. Wendy’s short stories have appeared in literary journals and two crime fiction anthologies, and Wendy is a contributing editor and columnist for International Thriller Writers’ online magazines, The Big Thrill and The Thrill Begins. Wendy and her family live in Vermont.

Here’s a bit about the book:

It’s late spring in Winsome, and Washington Acres is alive with the sights and sounds of farm life. The flowers are blossoming, the vegetable gardens are thriving, the pollinators are buzzing, and the Pennsylvania countryside has fully awakened from its deep winter slumber. Only this season, rebirth comes with a price.

College friends of Megan’s beau, the handsome veterinarian Dr. Denver Finn, are in Winsome for a corporate volunteer event. They will be mentoring troubled kids from a nearby school during a hiking and camping trip. When one of Dr. Finn’s friends is murdered at the state park, a student—a boy with a brutal history—becomes the prime suspect.

With a teen’s life at stake, Megan digs into the victim’s past to clear the boy’s name. She learns that the victim sowed conflict wherever he went. As Megan worms her way closer to the truth, she realizes her own life is at stake, as well as the lives of those she loves.

When Characters Have a Mind of Their Own

It’s Wednesday, and time for the Wickeds and all of you to weigh in. This week, let’s talk about those pesky characters who have an independent streak a mile wide, and won’t do what we want them to do. Wickeds, do any of you have a character who won’t behave?

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Jessie: My protagonists generally do not behave as society expects but they do seem to do things I approve of. After all, society expects citizens to call the police when a murder occurs! That being said, my sleuth Beryl Helliwell, in the Beryl and Edwina Mysteries, is especially devoted to following her own path in life. From racing cars to piloting planes to her many amorous dalliances she is absolutely determined to do just as she pleases. She is also inclined to encourage others to do the same which is probably the most frowned upon thing she could possibly do!

Sherry: Jessie, Beryl is one of my all time favorite protagonists and with Edwina one of my favorite dynamic duos. I love the contrast between them and how they come together.  Sarah surprised me in my upcoming release, Let’s Fake a Deal.  Sarah has been in plenty of trouble over the course of the first six books, but in Let’s Fake a Deal I’m up that a notch or two. Her relentless pursuit of justice takes a dark twist that she has to deal with. When I set out writing the book I didn’t see what happened coming or the resulting impact on Sarah’s life. 

Barb: When authors says their characters have minds of their own and won’t do what their author tells them, I always say, “I have enough people in my life who don’t do what I think they should. One of the benefits of creating these people and their world is that they have to do what I say. If they won’t, I fire them and get a character who will.” And that is really kind of true. People reveal their character by their actions. In my first drafts I’m always learning new things about the characters. If something they do is out of character, I go back and change the character, not the action.

Liz: It always makes me laugh when you say that, Barb. For me, it’s more about a character insisting they have more to say or do than I initially thought. For instance, in my Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, my main character Stan’s mother appeared in book one as an annoying reminder that nothing in Stan’s life is going the way it’s supposed to. I thought that would be the end of her, given that she and Stan didn’t get along anyway. Imagine my surprise when she showed up in Frog Ledge and got romantically involved with the mayor, and eventually moved in! It turned out to be a wonderful way to evolve Stan’s character arc, so I let her stay.

Jessie: I love the way you included Stan’s mum in your books, Liz! I think it added a lot to the series! I am often surprised by my characters! I don’t know that I expect to know anything more about my characters going into a relationship with them than I do of flesh and blood people. I feel like as I write about them they are whispering in my ear and telling me about themselves. I am never quite sure where it all comes from but it doesn’t feel like I am crafting them particularly. It is more like they are showing up for a nice long visit and we are getting to know each other. Such fun!

Edith: One of the very cool things about this blog is learning these behind-the-scenes bits about each others’ books. Last week, while I was working on my first draft, I was completely surprised by something that isn’t exactly a case of a character misbehaving. Instead Aunt Tilly let me know who exactly her ward Frannie (alas, the victim) was. Going in, I didn’t know, and midwife Rose didn’t either. We were both gobsmacked! For me, being surprised by the words flowing off my fingertips is part of the delight of writing.

Julie: Edith, your retreat sounds like a perfect place for the muses to visit! While I’d like to think I can get my characters to behave, and as a plotter you’d think I had control of the situation, I find that an action or motivation throws pebbles on my path that often lead to different routes. One example is Portia Asher in my Garden Squad series. Portia came into being when my friend Steve asked me to name a character for his mother, which I agreed to do, happily. But then book Portia took over her scenes and she showed up in the second book. And the third. She was not to be ignored, so I didn’t!

Readers, do you like characters with a mind of their own? Fellow writers, do your characters ever derail you?

Three (or more) Ways to Avoid Writing

By Liz, happy to have survived this weekend’s heat wave.

I’ve been working on some projects since I turned my next book in earlier this month. One is a suspense novel that I’ve been working on in some form or another for… well, I’m not going to tell you how long because it would be embarrassing. The other is my new business venture that is hovering just steps away from getting off the ground. And it’s more apparent than ever just how good I am at procrastinating.

I’ve known for most of my life that “Last Minute Lucy” is my alter ego. I remember in high school cramming for a major test the night before, trying to memorize the whole book; writing college papers the day before they were due; and other similar feats of pulling something off right in that window before it becomes a major emergency – or a giant screw-up.

I’ve unfortunately translated that to my writing life too, and I’ve been on a mission to bust through the procrastination blocks. In fact, during the writing of this last book (and the book right before that) I swore it would be the last time I put something important off.

So now, here I am with a project with no real deadline aside from the ones I’ve set (and those can be so easily changed, right?) and I’m watching this terrible habit fight to stay alive. I told myself this weekend that I was going to spend a couple hours working on the outline for this book.

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But first, there were a few things I needed to take care of. Here are some of the rabbit holes I fell down trying to get to my computer:

Before I could focus on writing, I had to put away the laundry I’d left sitting in the dryer. Then I needed to put it away. But I didn’t like the way the closet was organized, so that meant I had to fix it. Which meant cleaning out all my old T-shirts and tank tops, and starting a Goodwill bag for all the things that no longer brought me joy. It also meant taking inventory of my shorts, since I was now going to need to buy new tops given everything I was getting rid of. Which meant I had to try them all on. Which made me mad because I didn’t fit into some of them, so then I had to go downstairs to the gym for an hour.
Once I got back from the gym, I needed a shower. I went to get a towel, and thought those could also be organized differently, including the smaller towels which are in a cabinet in the bathroom. Which then meant I had to clean out and organize the rest of the cabinets, because things could definitely be a lot neater in there, and hey, there’s the eyeliner I haven’t seen in ages! Which made me think I needed to organize my makeup.
After all that, I was ready to sit down and write. But it occurred to me that I should do a quick refresher with one of my favorite books, Plot Perfect, since I was trying to re-outline this novel. But when I went to my bookshelf, I couldn’t find it. Which made me realize I was long overdue in organizing and cleaning out my bookshelves. No small task, if you’re like me or, I suspect, any of us reading this blog.
Four hours later the shelves were in way better shape, I had two bags of books to donate to the library, and Plot Perfect was in my hands. But then it was dinner time, and how can you write hungry? And since my refrigerator was kind of empty, a trip to the grocery store seemed to be in order…

Readers, what are your favorite ways to procrastinate a task? Tell me in the comments!

Taking a Break

Edith here, writing from steamy north of Boston.

I just got back from six days way, way off the grid, with no internet or cell service. I didn’t catch up on Facebook or email. I missed hearing that Strangled Eggs and Ham was a Fresh Pick over at Fresh Fiction. I couldn’t read and comment on this blog or on Jungle Red Writers, as I do every morning. I didn’t hear a single piece of news. And I survived.

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What made it easy was being at Pyramid Lake and the Women’s Writing Retreat. Picture eighty women from ages seventeen to ninety on a pristine Adirondacks lake. Imagine morning workshops, afternoon free time, and evening readings. Think about the prospect of grownup writers’ camp and you wouldn’t even want the Internet.

[image error]Lunch in the gazebo, which is built over a babbling brook.

Pyramid Life Center used to be a Catholic camp and is still run by Sister Monica, who takes care of everybody, including her delightful young staff, with a kind but firm hand.

[image error]Sister Monica, while JP, Eric, and Luke entertain us with a song on the last morning.

Activist and poet Sister Fran has been a regular teacher all along, often teaching journaling. I loved the time I spent chatting with her.

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Only three of us were given rooms in Cabin Three, and I was lucky to get to know the youngest writer at the retreat, Hanalei Clark.

[image error]The path to Cabin Three

Hanalei and I took the Flash Fiction class together at nine-thirty every morning, and man, can that girl write. She’s also already a skilled critiquer of others’ work, too.

[image error]Flash Fiction class (minus a few who couldn’t make the last morning). Hanalei top row second from right. Thanks to Carolyn Mills for the pic.

This young woman read two poems on the last evening, one a kickass treatment of women’s rights that blew our collective socks off. Keep your eye out for her name going forward. She’s going places.

[image error] With Hanalei and our other cabinmate, Betsy wearing an art-project hat

I had fun with flash fiction and our lovely teacher, author Lalita Noronha.

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Here’s a little draft I wrote the last morning, from the prompt, “first car.”

First Car

It was in my first car that I died.

I gave him one more chance. “Come on, Jose, come ride with me,” I yelled out the window of the baby blue Beetle at the cutest boy in the school.

His sneer sliced my heart in two. He turned his back and stepped onto the narrow bridge far above Devil’s River.

I gunned the engine for all it was worth and aimed the car at him. His cry echoed as he flew out, over, down.

The guardrail screamed, too, as we – my bug and I – crashed through and sailed down to join him.  

I also spent hours in my room working on Quaker Midwife #6, and managed to pound out 13,000 words of first draft.

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But it wasn’t all work! Swimming in the never-seen-a-motor lake was an afternoon treat. Hearing talented writers read their poetry, memoirs, and flash fiction was another gift, and several people performed songs they had composed.

[image error]Evening readings in the boathouse

After the readings we twice had bonfires, drumming (to bring up the full moon), and storytelling. On the last night we even had a Prosecco party (told you it was grownup camp…)! And the sound of loons around the clock? Haunting, beautiful, inspiring.

At every meal, the talking never stopped. I even got to hang out with another crime fiction writer, fellow Sister in Crime Rhonda Rosenbeck.

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I last went to the Women’s Writing Retreat in 2001, years before I’d completed a book. After I left that year, I wrote “The Taste of Winter,” my first published full-length story, as a result of a challenge (“Write a story about middle-aged romance”) from one of the writers.

[image error]Kayaks and canoes for anyone to use

I plan to make the four-and-a-half-hour drive to Pyramid Lake again next year. The price is SO reasonable – $300 for the week, including all meals. Will you join me? Readers, ask me a question about the week – this post barely dented the surface of the experience!

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A Wicked Welcome to Tonya Kappes! & Giveaway!

I am delighted to welcome Tonya to the blog today! Her career is amazing to watch, and I admire how she juggles several series at once. In today’s post she gives us some insight into how she makes it all work.

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If you know me at all, you know that for the past fifteen years, before I had written a single word…let alone a book…I’ve been super open with my readers. Wait. You just said before you even wrote a single word. 

Yep! You read that right. 

I wanted to write a book. I started a blog and talked about it. The entire time gaining followers. Which just so happened to turn into readers! 

Then came Facebook! We all started to gather there on a private Kappes Cozy Krew page. As we say in the south, “it was all she wrote!”

Why am I telling you this? Not only is the Cozy Krew page still going strong, I feel like I can go to them about anything. We don’t only discuss all things books, we also talk about our life that includes all amazing good and all the awful ugly. We are our little tribe of family over there. When I was asked to be a guest here on Wicked Authors, of course without hesitation I went to my Cozy Krew. I wasn’t sure what to write about and I knew they’d know. So I asked them…what would you like to read in my guest blog. 

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Kimberly K O’Hara Nunez, asked, “I’d like to know the day-to-day schedule you keep in order to keep up with your publishing calendar. How do you deal with writers block? Have you ever fallen out of love with a character/characters when you are contracted for several more books featuring them? How do you deal with that?”

Her question got my juices going and that’s the topic I’m going to talk y’all’s ear off today about!

My day to day schedule is pretty much the same Monday through Friday. I treat my writing career as a full time job. The only difference is how I work from home instead of going to an office. But the process is the same. 

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I get out of bed by six a.m. It use to be around five a.m. while I was raising four boys. Now they are all adults and no longer live at home, so six a.m. is a good time for me. I have two cups of coffee while I do some spiritual/soul work. By that time, it’s around seven a.m. and I get my walking shoes on and walk a couple of miles. Most days I’m just enjoying nature while other days I’m listening to a podcast or two. 

After my walk, I shower and get ready for work. That might include another cup of coffee and some breakfast, other days it’s just more coffee. I’m always at my desk by nine a.m. All of my friends and family know I do not keep my phone on me or if it is, I won’t answer it until the writing portion of my day is over. 

When I sit down to my desk, I immediately open my current manuscript. I’ll also open youtube on my Ipad. I have a few authors I like to follow who do word sprint videos. These videos are authors who video tape themselves doing live write in with other authors. They spend a lot of time talking in between a chunk of time, like twenty minutes, where they just tape themselves until the timer goes off. 

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I will do two hour sprints a day and can write three thousand words a day. That puts my time around eleven a.m. 

After the sprints and I’m satisfied with the amount of words I’ve written, I will move on to the business side of my job. I will check my email and zero them out. I will check and record my book sales or check to make sure my planned book sales are live. Every day is a theme or what is known as block schedule. Monday is always newsletter while Tuesday is social media, Wednesday is blogs, Thursday is reader birthday post cards,  etc…this means that on Monday, I only work on my newsletter. If any of you get my newsletter, you know I put a lot of work into it. It’s not a typical newsletter. 

When I say Tuesday is social media, it means that I know exactly every post and the time it will hit the social media sites. Remember, this is a business and it has to be run as such if you’re going to be successful. Everything I do, I ask myself, “how will this help my reader?” 

Nothing I do is without a lot of thought and process. 

I always eat lunch at one p.m. because I love Days of our Lives and I watch it. I also will return calls during this time. In the afternoon, I schedule any sort of appointments or friend time. If I’ve got nothing scheduled, I will work on the production part of the book, which a totally different part of the business. I check ads, create ads, touch base with editors, review team, etc.

At four p.m. I check email again, zero it out and turn off the computer. Eddy gets home about that time, so we cook supper and spend some time together before I go to my nightly Jazzercise class. I’m in bed by ten p.m. 

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I do this five days a week with little to no straying. This is my job and how we pay our bills and I treat it as such. 

I have to say that I don’t believe in writer’s block. Don’t gasp or roll y’all’s eyes! I don’t. If during the time I’m writing and I stop dead in my tracks, I will jump up and take another quick walk to get out of my head, which gets my juices flowing and I figure out what the next written words will be. Or if I get stuck, it means that particular scene isn’t working and it needs to be reevaluated.

As for falling out of love with my characters with long contracts…you know, I haven’t. Currently I’m writing four different series. I’m fortunate enough to be able to switch between these characters so I don’t get sick of writing them. My characters have so much personality, I really do truly enjoy visiting with them every single time. 

My question to y’all readers: Have you ever had to work from home? Did you keep a schedule? Or could you work from home?

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Commenters on the blog will be eligible for this great giveaway!

Tonya has written over 55 novels, all of which have graced numerous bestseller lists including USA Today. Best known for stories charged with emotion and humor, and filled with flawed characters, her novels have garnered reader praise and glowing critical reviews. She lives with her husband, a very spoiled rescue cat and grew up in the small southern Kentucky town of Nicholasville. Now that her four boys are grown boys, Tonya writes fulltime.

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Visit Tonya:
Facebook at Author Tonya Kappes
https://www.facebook.com/authortonyakappes

Kappes Krew Street Team
https://www.facebook.com/groups/208579765929709/

Webpage
tonyakappes.com

Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4423580.Tonya_Kappes

Twitter 
https://twitter.com/tonyakappes11

Pinterest
https://www.pinterest.com/tonyakappes/

For weekly updates and contests, sign up for Tonya’s newsletter Kappes Krew Weekly via her website or Facebook.

A Wicked Welcome to Molly MacRae!

The first time I saw Molly MacRae I was sitting at a table during Malice Go-Round, where authors go from table to table and pitch their books. It is exhausting for authors and for folks at the tables listening in. But when Molly came by and talked about her Haunted Yarn Shop series, she made laugh. I ran right to the book room to buy it. Later, when I got to know her, I was struck by how funny she is all the time. More than that, she’s very kind and a lovely person to get to know. I’m so glad she’s visiting the blog today.

Make it So? Writing as Wishful Thinking 

Fabricating is fun. Both in the sense of creating tangible things—with needles, yarns, and threads, or with woodworking tools, or with mixing bowls and baking pans, and in the sense of producing something out of whole cloth—with words, ideas, and a keyboard. There’s nothing quite like the kick I get out of dreaming up characters, setting them down in a place I’d like to live, and then complicating their lives with problematic families and friends. Even more fun, I like dropping the poor things into “situations,” putting words in their mouths they’ll probably or ought to regret, and then stepping back to see what happens. Having fun at their expense might sound mean-spirited, especially knowing that I write crime fiction, but the crimes I write about are cozy, so the characters are fairly safe. Except for the occasional dead body. There’s almost always a dead body. Or two (and sometimes three). Apparently it can’t be helped.

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I know I’ve done my storytelling job well when readers tell me they want to visit the towns I’ve created so they can hang out with my characters. One reader said, after reading the Haunted Yarn Shop mysteries, “I want to live in your books.” But when another reader wrote to say she’d taken a trip to Scotland, and been confused and disappointed when she couldn’t find Inversgail, I felt terrible. Inversgail, the town in my Highland Bookshop mysteries, is pure fabrication. Darn, because I’d like to go there, too. I want to sit on the harbor wall on a sunny afternoon, then browse through Yon Bonny Books, stop for a wedge of Mull Cheddar in the cheese shop, and finish the day at Nev’s with a half pint of Selkie’s Tears. Darn.

But that reader’s disappointment (and my own) set me to wondering. What else have I fabricated for the yarn shop and the bookshop mysteries that I wish existed in real life? 

Selkie’s Tears, for starters. It’s an ale you’ll only find in Inversgail. The local poetry form, too—Skye-ku. I’d like to find a volume of those poems at the library, or an illustrated edition for children that I could send to my grandsons. And then there’s the Haggis Half-Hundred. It’s an annual bicycle challenge/fun ride mentioned in Thistles and Thieves, the Highland Bookshop Mystery coming out in January. You ride fifty miles through the Highlands, with stunning views all around, and you’re rewarded at the end with a plate of haggis. I’d sign up today, if I hadn’t made the whole thing up. 

Some details in the two series are only half-fabricated. They’re things I borrowed and modified. In the Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries, Joe Dunbar’s watercolors are really my husband’s beautiful little paintings. And Mel’s on Main, the café down the street from the yarn shop, is really the Main Street Café in Jonesborough, Tennessee. If you’re ever in the area, be sure to stop there for lunch. I plan to the next time I’m in town. I also borrowed the row house the yarn shop occupies, but the Weaver’s Cat itself exists only in the books. I know how the shop is laid out, though, how the wool feels and smells, how the window in the kitchen sometimes sticks, and how a particular step on the way up to the study in the attic squeaks, and I wish I could climb that stairway myself. 

What I wish existed most of all, though, is not what, but who—Geneva, the ghost who haunts the Weaver’s Cat. I’ve never met a ghost, and I don’t believe in them, but I’m glad Geneva popped into the books, and I do wish I could meet her for real. 

In thinking about real and unreal, and how wishing—or writing—doesn’t make it so, I reaffirmed for myself why I like mysteries, especially cozies. They might be fabrications, and they might be unrealistic, but they satisfy my need to set things right after upheaval, and to prove goodness does exist.  

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” Thistles and Thieves, book 3 in Molly’s Highland Bookshop Mysteries, will be out in January 2020. She recently signed a contract for two more in that series. Crewel and Unusual, book 6 in her award-winning Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries, came out in January 2019. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine since 1990 and she is a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Molly lives in Champaign, Illinois. You can visit her at www.mollymacrae.com and www.killercharacters.com. 

Writing Your Own Path

Writers work independently. But we also make decisions to break the rules, to do things our own way. Wickeds, let’s talk about our independence as writers.

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Edith/Maddie: What an intriguing question, Julie! I’m not sure it was rule breaking, but when I wrote Delivering the Truth, the first Quaker Midwife Mystery, I didn’t have a contract for it, and my Kensington editor had already expressed his lack of interest. But the setting and characters were urging me to write the story, so I did, and now I’m about to start writing book six in the series. On the business side, I really admire how Jessie figures out innovative and independent ways to promote her work and then goes for it. I’m taking notes, Jessie!

Jessie: Aww, thanks, Edith! I am really touched! I think what I’ve learned most about independence is that it is vital to keep my own priorities for the books I write and the career I want to have firmly in mind even if they don’t line up with anyone else’s. There is a deluge of advice out there for writers and without a North Star of one’s own it is very easy to get jostled about. For my work I have a strict personal rule about following the fun. If I don’t think a book is fun, I don’t write it. It doesn’t matter that my idea of fun is researching minutia or imagining innovative murder methods. It just has to be fun for me. When it comes to career I have found it is vital to question everything, especially common wisdom, and then to take the actions that move me forward on my goals even if the experts say otherwise.

Barb: Jessie you are so inspiring! Carving out your own path and owning what is due you. I am such a little rule-follower, good-girl. I think the main way I show my independence is I don’t follow many of the “rules” you hear for cozies, or even for traditional mysteries. I have one book where my sleuth isn’t the one to solve the mystery, and one where the murderer does not appear in the book at all. No one seems to object (except the very occasional Goodreads reviewer), not even my editor. So I’m not sure it’s rule breaking if no one tries to enforce the rules.

Liz: Jessie, I totally agree with Barb and Edith – you are inspiring! I love your rule about following the fun – there aren’t too many rules I like otherwise. I have a Gabby Bernstein affirmation that I go back to often that’s similar – “I measure my success by how much fun I’m having.” For me, this means, like you, Barb, ignoring – as much as I’m able and as it makes sense to the stories – the rules that normally apply to traditional cozies. I tend to gravitate toward the darker side of mysteries and don’t mind if some of that seeps through into my cozy series.

Julie: You’re all inspiring to me! Jessie, love “follow the fun”! Sounds like a good mantra for all aspects of life. One way I’m trying to explore new rules is by writing a thriller this summer, to see if I can do it. There’s no contract for it, just my own curiosity. And yes, it’s fun!

Do you have rules for the books you read? Writer friends, how do you show your creative independence?

The Detective’s Daughter – Crab Town

 

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Kim in Baltimore packing for the beach.

 

Summer is officially here. I know many people believe that once Independence Day rolls around, summer is half over. That’s not true, its only just begun. Summer officially comes at the solstice which this year was June 21st. We still have over sixty days left in this season.

And what do we do here in Baltimore when the humidity is high and the blacktop is scorching? Well, hon, we sit in our air conditioned kitchens with an ice-cold can of Natty Boh listening to the O’s game and picking crabs. [image error]

We roll out the brown paper or news paper, bring out the crab mallets and knives and get to work. It takes a good hour or so to pick through the steamed crabs and I’m not ashamed to say I can eat nearly a dozen on my own.  A good steamed crab dinner is not complete without ears of Silver Queen corn and slices of red-ripe Maryland tomatoes. And, of course, beer.  You need something to wash down all that Old Bay seasoning.[image error]

When I was a child, Nana would get up early and steam the crabs in a big black pot on the stove. I would hide upstairs because I couldn’t stand to hear the clicking of their claws against the metal. To this day I cannot be around when crabs are steamed. I’m like Clarice in Silence of the Lambs.  My sister was so upset about the poor crabs [which were kept iced down in our bathtub] she would “rescue” a few and hide them in our sandbox in the yard. This was probably a worse fate for them. They were definitely easy to find after a day or two in the sun!

[image error]When the crabs were done, Nana would take  bed sheets and clip them from the clothesline to the fence to create a tent. There we would sit for our early dinner of crabs, corn and tomatoes. It was the only time I ever saw my parents drink beer. Pop-Pop would have the Oriole game on and, despite the heat, it was an enjoyable afternoon.  Nana always made crab soup with the left-overs. “Never cook crab soup during a storm, it will spoil,” she always said. I’m not sure if this is true or not because I wouldn’t dare disobey her, even now.

[image error]crab salad.

This past week we were lucky enough to have steamed crabs three times. My husband and a friend went crabbing on the Eastern Shore and, fortunately for me, the crabs were steamed there as well. I’ve spent most of my time making crab salad, crab cakes, crab soup, crab dip and crab omelettes. Everything taste better with crab.

Here’s to a happy, crabby summer!

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Dear reader, Do you enjoy seafood? What is your favorite summer meal?

Writer’s Best Friend

Jessie: Just back to the coast of Maine from a whirlwind trip to NYC

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Back in the autumn my family added a puppy to our household. For a lot of families that would not be a novel experience. But for us it was a big change. We had a couple of dogs when I was a teenager and I even brought one along with me when I moved out of my parents’ home. Years later I adopted a very senior dog and our time together was of regrettably short duration. My kids barely remember the toothless little creature.

Since I have an unpleasant dog allergy remaining a canine-free household always seemed wise. Besides, with four kids needing the things children always do I felt like I didn’t have much more to cheerfully give to another dependent creature. But, situations change. The kids got older and more independent. Two have become adults who live on their own. One is a college kid. The youngest will graduate from high school soon. My husband now travels for work incessantly. Suddenly, a dog didn’t seem like quite such a bad idea.

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Working from home can be lonely business, especially when the family has mostly flown the nest. Which brings me to Sampson. Since he is a poodle he doesn’t seem to cause an allergy problem even when he spends the day lounging about my office or enjoying some nightly cuddle time snuggled up with me on the sofa.

Besides an unfortunate proclivity towards stealing pens and sticky notes from my desk he has been a lovely addition to my writing life. He listens without interrupting when I tell him about an idea I have for a book. He cocks an expressive eyebrow when I read him a line from my work-in-progress. He insistently reminds me to get outside for some fresh air several times every day. He even inspires some of the behavior exhibited by Crumpet, the terrier in my Beryl and Edwina mysteries.

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Last Thursday Sam had his first birthday. I can’t believe that a this time last year we didn’t know each other at all and now he has become this writer’s best friend.

Readers, do you have any pets? Tell me about them! Writers, do you have an animal companion who keeps you company as you work away on your latest masterpiece?