Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 254

Dog Heros

By Liz, on vacation from the day job this week and loving the freedom!

I knew sooner or later Shaggy would start getting invited to do events, and I would be optional. (No, I’m not jealous at all! I know she’s much cuter.) Anyway, we were delighted when the lovely Kim Mather at the Guilford Smith Memorial Library here in South Windham invited Shaggy to be a reading dog this summer.

Of course, Shaggy jumped at the chance. She loves attention, and especially loves being the star of the show. So last week, she got to go to her very first solo event as the library’s “Dog Hero.”

If we weren’t excited already, being billed as a hero made the event that much better. Shaggy was thrilled with the title, as she’s worked very hard taking classes and has a goal of being an official therapy dog. She’s already visited hospitals, nursing homes and schools and brought smiles to a lot of faces with her sweet personality. And to have the library recognize the important role dogs play in the community is huge.

The craft table while kids waited their turns to read.

That got us thinking about all the hero dogs out in the world. There are so many of them, from police K-9s, to military dogs, to members of a family who do something extraordinary. We read about them all the time – the pup who alerted its family to a fire and saved everyone, or the dog who rescued a human sister or brother from an attacking animal. We loved the recent story about the dogs who saved each other’s lives when they were spotted in a shelter hugging each other and were promptly rescued. The stories are everywhere.

Reading Green Eggs and Ham.

I’ve wanted Shaggy to be a therapy dog for a while, but never more than after the Newtown tragedy. The dogs who helped the community heal are true heroes, and they brought a level of comfort that sometimes can’t be reached even with a human counselor or therapist. Seeing the smiles Shaggy can bring to people’s faces just entering a room makes me feel good – and I know it makes her happy. She’s bringing good to the world just by being here.

So kudos to my local library for recognizing dog heroes like Shaggy. And hats off to all of you dog heroes out there. Keep up the good work.

Readers, do you have a dog hero in your life?

Filed under: Liz's posts Tagged: dogs, heros, reading dogs, therapy dogs

Welcome Cheryl Hollon!

Liz here, and I’m so happy to welcome one of my very first friends in the writing community – Cheryl Hollon, whose fabulous debut is coming out in September! I’ve known  Cheryl since we were eager beginners, looking anxiously ahead to the days when we would join the ranks of published authors. I particularly remember one pitch practice  session out by the pool at Sleuthfest, where Cheryl relentlessly had me revising and re-delivering my pitch. (Thank goodness I ultimately didn’t have to sell books from a pitch session!) But I was grateful to have such a helpful, patient, and wise friend. And now I get to help her celebrate her first novel milestone, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Here’s a summary of Pane and Suffering:

To solve her father’s murder and save the family-owned glass shop, Savannah Webb must shatter a killer’s carefully constructed façade. . .

After Savannah’s father dies unexpectedly of a heart attack, she drops everything to return home to St. Petersburg, Florida, to settle his affairs–including the fate of the beloved, family-owned glass shop. Savannah intends to hand over ownership to her father’s trusted assistant and fellow glass expert, Hugh Trevor, but soon discovers the master craftsman also dead of an apparent heart attack.

As if the coincidence of the two deaths wasn’t suspicious enough, Savannah discovers a note her father left for her in his shop, warning her that she is in danger. With the local police unconvinced, it’s up to Savannah to piece together the encoded clues left behind by her father. And when her father’s apprentice is accused of the murders, Savannah is more desperate than ever to crack the case before the killer seizes a window of opportunity to cut her out of the picture. . .

Take it away, Cheryl!

This has been a year of firsts for me as a debut mystery author. The first contract – first advance payment – first cover – first conference panel – and now my first blog! I am honored that I’m here today on Wicked Cozy Writers.

Liz Mugavero and I met at my first New England Crime Bake. We had become friends after participating in a manuscript swap organized by the Guppies Chapter (Great Unpublished) of Sisters in Crime. That first time your manuscript goes out into the world without your caring fingers in control is a scary occasion. I was in the best of hands with Liz. She was encouraging and supportive in her guiding remarks that improved that oh-such-a-beginner’s manuscript. After I learned a mountain of lessons, I put it away to work on the next mystery. This one caught the eye of my literary agency and eventually captured the attention of my agent.

Writing for a traditional publisher is an interesting mix of both solitary and collaborative efforts. The number of people who are working on bringing my first book to life is staggering. I met my wonderful editor, Mercedes Fernandez, who was kind enough to give me a tour of the offices of Kensington Publishing. What a treat!

One delight to share is how other authors have been wildly generous with their time and support. In fact, on the back of the paperback are quotations from Liz Mugavero and Sheila Connolly. It thrills me to my toes every time I see their names.

Although I’ve survived thus far, the ultimate firsts are yet to come. I’m anxious to experience my first review – first release day – first launch party – and finally the first book signing at my local independent, Haslam’s Book Store, located in the Grand Central District of St. Petersburg, FL, down the street from my fictional Webb’s Glass Shop.

Readers, what’s your best first? Leave a comment below!

Pane and Suffering releases Sept. 29th. You can find out more about Cheryl and her books at

http://www.cherylhollon.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cheryl-Hollon-Writer/357992230995844

http://www.twitter.com/cherylhollon

 

Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: Cheryl Hollon, Crime Bake, debut, mystery, Pane and Suffering, Sleuthfest

How I Learned to Relax About Being a “Cozy” Author and Just Write the Damn Books–Part III

Barb here, sitting on her front porch in Maine and writing on an flawless summer day

Back in February, I started a series of posts about how I came to terms with being a cozy writer. The first one talked about why this designation was an issue for me in the first place. The second, in March, was about how I came to be comfortable as a person with an identity as a cozy author.

Then life intervened. In April-May-June I was hit successively with Crime Bake website deadline-knee crisis-book deadline. But, though as a person I have many, many flaws, I am, at the end of the day (and usually literally at the end of the day), a completer. So herewith is Part III.

So when we left our intrepid heroine, she was happy to be writing a cozy series and comfortable adopting the image of a cozy author. Only one small issue remained.

Yes, I am going to say it.

Cozy mysteries often get no respect.

(She said it!)

There are a few reasons for this.

One is, there’s a bit of a hierarchy in fiction writing, and it looks something like this.

The literary fiction writers look down on the mystery writers
The mystery writers look down on the romance writers
The romance writers look down on the poets
The poets look down on the literary fiction writers
(cycle starts again)

Of course this is a weird, crazy exaggeration, but you know it’s there, right? And if I were more clever, I could probably fit lots more genres–horror, fantasy, YA, westerns, etc.–into the hierarchy. I remember vividly being at the Key West Literary Seminar and hearing just about every top name in the crime fiction world asked some version of the question, “So did you ever want to write a real book?” (My imperfect memory is that only Benjamin Black–who as John Banville is a renowned literary writer–and Joyce Carol Oates escaped this question.)

So there’s that.

There’s also a weird hierarchy within the crime fiction realm. It’s not as clear, but for sure “literary” crime fiction is at the top, followed by thrillers, traditional mysteries, noir, procedurals and suspense (in some order or another), with romantic suspense and finally cozies at the bottom.

So the question for me was not, can a mystery be good literature? [As pondered by so many, like Edmund Wilson in “Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?” (The New Yorker, January 20, 1945), Raymond Chandler in “The Simple Art of Murder” (1950) or even Dorothy L. Sayers in her Introduction to the 1928-1929 Omnibus of Crime.] That’s another discussion for another day.

The question was, can a cozy be good crime fiction?

Was it a reasonable question? I think it was. After all, a cozy has never won an Edgar® Award for Best Novel and most cozy writers believe one never will. So why would I want to work this hard at something a whole lot of people–to be clear, people whom I like and respect as writers–think can never be “good?”

Let’s take this apart. To do so, first we have to agree on what a cozy is. The most common definition I’ve seen is that a cozy is a mystery, usually, but not always, featuring an amateur sleuth. The cozy will offer a crime, usually a murder, and a solution, usually the identification of the guilty party and bringing of that guilty party to justice. The reader will meet the guilty party and all the suspects in the course of the book. The mystery will be anchored in a community, and the sleuth, suspects and guilty party will be a part of the community in some way -ie not just there to murder or to uncover a murderer.

Aside from the amateur sleuth bias, and perhaps a bit more emphasis on setting, I’ve just defined a traditional mystery. And no one would argue that a traditional mystery can’t be “good” or even “literary.” (Okay, a lot of people would argue that, including the aforementioned Wilson, Chandler and Sayres, but again, this is not about that. The point is, there’s no reason within our genre, cozy mysteries can’t be good.)

To that definition, many people append, “In a cozy mystery, cursing is kept to a minimum and most sex and gore are kept ‘off the page.'”

I personally chafe at this definition. But not because I have the slightest interest in writing something very gory or explicitly sexual. I don’t wander to my desk in the morning thinking, “Drat! Another day of not torturing children. I feel so restricted.” Because, believe me, I don’t. I just hate it that my subgenre is defined by so many people by what’s NOT in it. If what were important is what’s not in it, I could hand 350 blank pages in to my publisher and be done with it.

Is that final restriction why cozy mysteries can’t be “good?”

After all, if cozy authors deal with murder at such a remove that we can’t describe the horror or the sorrow, and can’t evince those emotions in our audience, then can we really be writing something “good?” I would argue we can, because I have seen many cozy authors very skillfully evoke the horror of unexpected, violent death by focusing on the reactions and emotions of the characters, rather than the blood and the guts. If anything, I think that’s harder and requires more skill.

So that’s not a reason a cozy mystery can’t be “good.”

Is it that cozies can’t be good because there is too much formula required? I don’t think so. Most crime fiction has to contend on some level with audience expectations as to form. As does most prose fiction. As did Shakespeare in his comedies, histories, tragedies and sonnets.

Nope, audience expectations don’t mean cozies can’t be good.

Is it that cozies usually deal with the small and domestic? Can a book that ignores the vast sweep of history or the maelstrom of current events or the conundrum of the human condition be “good?”

Well, first of all, most cozies don’t ignore those things. Almost all take place in a certain place at a certain time. While they might look at human issues from the inside out, or from specific to the general, instead of the other way around, that doesn’t mean they ignore them.

But also, lots of people have written lots of great, great literary fiction about the domestic realm. In fact, making big events real by showing the way they affect specific people is one of the hallmarks of great fiction writing.

So that’s not the reason cozies can’t be good.

So now let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Both of the subgenres at the bottom of the “respect” heap in crime fiction-romantic suspense and cozies– are primarily written by women for women. Is that why cozies can’t be good?

That is, of course, ridiculous. Or I wish it were.

For me, the best books transport me. They take me to a place outside of myself. When that happens, my problems, petty and serious, recede for a time, and the lives of others, the lives of characters, become primary. I learn about professions, human communities and places I can’t learn about from my friends. And I care what happens to the characters.

This is what I think of as the four Es of reading fiction–escape, entertainment, education and empathy.

You don’t need all four in every book, but you probably need three for a book to be satisfying. Or I do. I also need a level of complexity of prose, structure, plot and character  to engage me. I can’t be transported if any of those elements are so simply rendered that I can still mentally balance my check book while reading.

That’s my definition of a good book. Is there anything in my personal definition of a good book that says cozies can’t be good? Nope, not seeing it.

So that’s how I got comfortable with spending my time, blood, sweat, and tears writing cozies. And that’s why I say it loud and proud whenever people ask me what I write. Because there is no reason on earth someone can’t write a cozy that is also a good book.

John T. Irwin described literary mysteries as ones you can re-read and get something new out of each time, even though you know the solution. Do you think that could ever happen with a cozy?

I know I haven’t achieved it, but the fact that it is “out there” means there is something to aspire to.

Readers, have at it. Do you think cozies can be “good” books? Why can’t they get any respect? Does it matter? Does it matter to you?

Filed under: Barb's posts Tagged: cozy mystery, crime fiction, literary mystery, traditional mystery

Wicked Wednesday – What are the Wickeds reading this summer?

On Wicked Wednesdays, we all weigh in on a topic. It’s been a while since we’ve talked about what books are at the top of our TBR pile. Today, in true summer-reading-on-the-beach fashion, we’re talking about what books are keeping us company on the beach, the couch, in bed, or anywhere else we can grab some reading time. So, Wickeds, tell us – what’re you reading this summer? And the bonus question: Any new-to-you authors you’ve tried and loved, or are in the process of trying?

Liz: I’m guilty of having a few books going at once right now, so here they are by category:  For self-help, it’s The Tapping Solution by Nick Ortner on the benefits of EFT. I’ve also got The Confidence Code on my nightstand, to try to figure out that age-old question of how to be more confident. Also reading the second Longmire book, Kindness Goes Unpunished. For new authors, I finally got to read a Michael Koryta book, The Prophet. It was fabulous – I will definitely pick up more of his books.

Jessie: Since I’ve been away from my local library all summer I’ve been making a lot of use of the e-books consortium it offers instead. I’ve enjoyed Miss Buncle’s Book by the delightful D.E. Stevenson, dark and disturbing police procedurals by Camilla Lackberg and Karin Fossum.  I can’t recommend enough the utterly engrossing novel Church of Marvels by Leslie Perry.

Sherry: I’m trying to keep up with the TBR pile but keep adding to it instead. I just finished Fatal Reservations by Lucy Burdette. It’s the sixth in the Key West Food Critic Mystery series featuring Haley Snow. Come for Key West stay for the adventures with Haley! I’m reading a quirky book right now, Heads You Lose, by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward. It’s a mystery but it also includes the notes of the two writers. So you have not only a mystery to read but a view of how two authors work together. The inside jacket says this: When collaborators Lutz and Hayward — former romantic partners — start to disagree about how the story should unfold, the body count rises, victims and suspects alike develop surprising characteristics (meet Brandy Chester, the stripper with the Mensa IQ), and sibling rivalry reaches homicidal intensity.

Julie:I am rereading get some Elizabeth George in preparation for Crime Bake. Also have many friends books on my TBR pile. Next up is The Longest Yard Sale by Sherry. Tis the season to read lots and lots for fun!

Edith: I’m almost done with Leslie Budewitz’s Butter off Dead, which I’m loving. And Fatal Reservations is up next! But I’m also in a huge deadline situation (yes, it’s my turn to be in book jail), so I’m not getting anywhere near as much reading done as I’d like. And summer is slipping away!

Readers, what’s in your TBR pile this summer?

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Books, camilla lackberg, Church of Marvels, d.e. stevenson, David Hayward, Fatal Reservations, fiction, Heads You Lose, karin fossum, Leslie PErry, Lisa Lutz, Longmire, lucy burdette, Michael Koryta, The Tapping Solution

The Detective’s Daughter- What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Kim in Baltimore, lounging in the pool and sipping frozen drinks.

It was Connie Francis who taught me to spell every school child’s favorite word.

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N. My mom would spin her LP’s on the stereo that Dad had bought for her at Schoefer’s Furniture and I would kneel at the coffee table coloring in my book swaying my shoulders in time to the music.

Our family took vacationing seriously. Every summer there were trips to Atlantic City and weekends visiting my older cousins who had summer jobs in Ocean City, Maryland. I’d spend at least one week in the country with my Aunt Esther at her cabin that she and Uncle Charlie had built themselves. It was good for a city girl like me to get out and explore the wilderness. I loved picking blueberries and learning to cook the vegetables Auntie had grown in her garden.Our vegetables at home came from the frozen food aisle at the A&P.

I was not as fond of the outhouse we used or the family of black snakes that nested nearby. Summer was my favorite season and I looked forward to each of these trips.

One summer Nana announced we were taking, what she called, a real vacation. We were going to Disney World in Florida. It was a humid, sticky morning when we boarded the Amtrak for Orlando. Nana had reserved two sleeping compartments, each with their own bathroom. I was so excited I had to throw up before we left the house.

My parents, my sister and I shared one compartment while my grandparents and Aunt Betty and Uncle Charles stayed in the other. There was a connecting door between the two that remained open for the entire ride. We ate our meals in the dining car and watched the scenery pass by in the viewing car. It was all very glamorous and I felt like Barbara Stanwyck in one of those old black and white pictures Mom and I watched in the middle of the night.

The next morning we arrived in Orlando. Dad flagged a taxi and we all piled in. I was unimpressed. This place did not look magical to me, in fact it looked a lot like Richie Highway back in Baltimore. The driver dropped us at the Days Inn where we had two suites that were actually small apartments. Our bedrooms had sliding glass doors that led to a shared patio overlooking a wide pasture. Aunt Betty went out every morning to feed and pet the horses that grazed there.

Dad rented a car and we were off to the Magic Kingdom. Now, I’d watched Disney every Sunday night so I knew exactly how the castle should be with Tinkerbell flittering around, her wand dusting glitter over the roof. We pulled into an enormous parking lot. I’d never seen so many cars. I remember at that moment feeling both claustrophobic and exposed.

The tram took us from our car to the gate where people stood in calm, orderly lines and were greeted by friendly, smiling attendants. Finally, we were inside and I was overwhelmed with happiness. The joy I experienced at that moment of being with the people I loved most in the world in this truly magical place has yet to be matched. The park was much smaller then than it is today. It had only been open for several years when we went. I had more fun than I could possibly have time to write about in this post. We rode on the teacups, got stranded in the Small World ride for over an hour (Mom said she never wanted to hear that damn song again!), toured the Haunted Mansion, and had dinner at the Crystal Palace.

Aunt Betty, who was always a bit mischievous, slipped in as one of the band members and tried to walk with them in the parade on Main Street. Pop-Pop, who walked the entire park for five days with a cast on his leg, became entangled in a street vendor’s balloon display and nearly took out the poor man’s entire stock.

Too soon we were back on the train headed for Baltimore. Dad would be back to work the following day and the rest of the summer would go on just as all the summers before it.

Years later I would return to Disney World with my own children. We went to celebrate their birthdays. This time I was able to stay at a hotel in the park. From our room’s porch we were able to see a night launching of a space shuttle. A Beatles tribute band sang the birthday song to my daughter, and my son eagerly collected autographs from the characters. There was so much more to see and do five days was not enough this time.

Summer is still my favorite season. We spend a little time by the ocean every year and sometimes I have a chance to visit my Wicked sisters in New England. I love to visit new places or old familiar haunts, anywhere, really, as long as it includes time with family and those I love.

Readers: What was your favorite childhood vacation?

Filed under: Uncategorized

Authentic Enough?

By Sherry who is melting in Northern Virginia (why is it an ice storm suddenly sounds appealing?!)

As some of you know I edit manuscripts in my spare time. The most recent manuscript I worked on was Grilled for Murder by our very own Edith Maxwell. It’s the second in her new Country Store Mysteries written under the name Maddie Day.  I had a lot of comments on the way she had the police handle a crime scene. I thought they were too unprofessional, they mishandled the crime scene, and they took everything Edith’s protagonist Robbie said at face value.

Edith and I tossed ideas around until we came up with a solution that worked with her plot but wasn’t too farfetched. I told her I thought cozy readers were forgiving, that she isn’t writing a police procedural, and that the solution was authentic enough. Edith said authentic enough was going to be her new motto.

The whole process made me think about writing scenes where police are involved. In my writing I try to keep it to a minimum. I rely on two police officers to help out when I have questions. One of the police officers told me that I had most of it right in Tagged for Death except for when Sarah’s taken into a building that had potential for being a part of the crime scene. He didn’t think that was realistic. It made me change a scene in The Longest Yard Sale so after the body is discovered they talk outside the building instead of inside the building.

My conversation with Edith also made me think about describing dead bodies. Again, I try not to go into too much detail (for one reason I write cozies, and two, yuck) but I don’t want to be so far off the mark that I leave readers thinking, “no way.”

The same rule applies for legal matters. I’m not writing from a lawyer’s prospective but I want to be in the ballpark. My police contact in Bedford, Massachusetts told me that if you are arrested on a Friday afternoon in Bedford you’re stuck in jail until the judge can see you on Monday morning. And that you’d likely be eating McDonalds all weekend because they are too small a facility to have a cook. So depending on the circumstance, as a writer, you can make sure someone is locked up for a couple of days or out and about getting in trouble. Small details like that make a book realistic.

Barb recently blogged about the differences between her fictional clambake in her Maine Clambake Mystery series and the real clambake the series is based on over on Maine Crime Writers. It’s interesting that Barb wrote the first draft of her book before ever visiting the island. You can read her blog here: http://mainecrimewriters.com/barbs-posts/cabbage-island-whats-different-whats-the-same

All writers do a lot of research — lots and lots of research. But out of the mountain of amassed research, we have to pick out the bits that will make the manuscript shine without causing the reader to be buried in an avalanche of unnecessary details. My protagonist, Sarah Winston, eats a lot of fluffernutter sandwiches — I felt it was my duty to try them. In other words, we want to make sure the manuscript is authentic enough.

Readers: Is authentic enough a good enough standard for you?

Filed under: Sherry's posts Tagged: Bedford Massachusetts, Country Store Mysteries, fluffernutter, Grilled for Murder, Maddie Day, maine clambake mysteries, research

Wicked New England – Favorite Beach

New England has some of the most beautiful beaches in the country, from Maine to Cape Cod. We all have our favorites, whether they are childhood memories or places we frequent today. So Wickeds, what’s your favorite beach in our neck of the woods? What is it about that beach that keeps you coming back for more?

Liz: I live in CT, but never go to the beach here. Instead, we make the hour or so trek to Rhode Island and camp out at Second Beach, right down the street from Newport and the main beach. It’s a little less crowded, the water is beautiful, the sand is perfect, and I feel fabulous when I’m there. The only drawback – I always think I’m going to get some writing done, but something about the beach air makes me want to

Shaggy signed her name in the sand.

just sit and read! Shaggy’s even gone to visit a few times….

Edith: I love Crane Beach in Ipswich. When I lived there I had a resident parking sticker for a slim $20/year – and it costs more than that to park for a single weekend day in summer! You can walk forever – well, almost to Gloucester – and the waves are gentle and not as frigid as other New England beaches. I set several scenes of my (Tace Baker’s) second Lauren Rousseau mystery there, with the murder taking place on the bluff right above, so I have a special fondness for it

Julie: I don’t have one favorite. I just couldn’t. I grew up in Duxbury MA, until I was 14. That beach owns a piece of my heart. Singing Beach is accessible by train, and was my go to when I was in college. There is a very tiny beach down the Cape near a family home, and we have lots of family memories there–four generations worth. These are three of the beaches that mean something to me. There are dozens of others that I’ve visited, and been stunned by their beauty. Don’t even get me started on the lakes…

Jessie: My absolute favorite is Old Orchard Beach. Not only are there miles of sugar fine sand and human-built amusements, there is history here that delights me and sparks my imagination. The roster of musicians, aviators and merely wealthy that have gathered here for decades simply boggles the mind. I love to walk the beach and see in my mind’s eye women with parasols strolling beside me or early pilots using Grand Beach as a runway for their attempts to fly across the Atlantic. I love to imagine the looks of delight on the faces of children during the Great Depression as they caught their first glimpse of the Jack Rabbit Roller Coaster. Magical!

Sherry: We’ve lived near numerous beaches over the years. My first New England beach experience was at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. We ran over scorching hot sands into the water…freezing cold water. I only went in ankle deep and then hop, hop, hopped back over the very hot sand. After than experience I contented myself with finding places to view the ocean in places like York, Maine or Rockport, Massachusetts. And I leave the going to the beach for southern climes.

Readers, what’s your favorite beach?

Filed under: Group posts Tagged: aviators, beach, Cape Cod, Crane Beach, Jack Rabbit roller coaster, Lauren Rousseau, maine, musicians, New England, old orchard beach, summer, Tace Bake

Welcoming the Muse

I just hit submit on Book #2 of the Clock Shop Mystery Series. What an interesting process that final push is. Reading and rereading. Moving things around, and then going in and making sure the timeline works. Exorcising the bad habits I have–starting sentences with “well”, sighing, and using conjunctions in odd ways are my top three. By no means are they they only ones.

Towards the end of the process, I leave it  for a couple of days, and then I read it through, as a reader. Not as the author. Without my editing hat. As a reader. Each time I do that with my own work, I always have a moment where I wonder aloud, where did that come from?

Sometimes I don’t remember writing a scene. Other times, more often, I will add a character, or a prop, or a reference that plays a role I didn’t anticipate when I wrote it.  Yet the use is really good, and adds a layer of complexity that thrills me. I take no credit for those flashes of brilliance. Instead, I am grateful that I was sitting down at my typewriter when the muse came by for a visit.

Elizabeth Gilbert first introduced this concept to me. It gives me faith in my process of plotting and then writing the book scene by scene. No matter how prepared I am, when Rina shows up, fully formed, let her in. She’s going to make it a better book, one that I didn’t expect.

Enjoy this TED Talk. May the muse visit you soon!

Filed under: Julie's posts

Wicked Wednesday – Summer Writing Habits

It’s Wicked Wednesday, when we all weigh in on a topic. And it’s Liz here, thinking about how it’s hard to believe we’re well into summer. (By the way, thank goodness, and please let it last for a LONG time!). But it begs the question of summer writing habits. With longer, warmer days, the tempting waves of the ocean beckoning, and the lure of the ice cream stand after dinners at the picnic table, it seems only natural that our writing habits would shift along with the weather. While my day job makes it so my schedule is pretty consistent, I still find myself doing things differently in the summer, such as writing on my porch swing or writing later into the night because it just doesn’t feel as late as it is.

So Wickeds, what about the rest of you? How do your writing habits shift in the summer, if they do at all?

Sherry: Writing habits? I’ve confessed before that I’m notoriously bad at sitting down at the same time every day and writing. So the seasons don’t really change my writing patterns. And this summer I’m in that odd purgatory of not knowing if my contract will be renewed to write more Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries or not. I’m working on a short story but it wants to become a novel. And I’m dusting off my old books that have a gemologist as a protagonist. So in a way it’s been a summer of experimentation but just not at the same time every day.

Edith: If anything, I get up even earlier than usual because of that darn pesky sun. So I’m still at my desk every morning, and I never write at night. But I do make time to take an hour out to go blueberry picking a few times in July, and my daily walk gets shifted earlier, because it’s just too hot and sunny at 11 AM. I keep telling myself I’m going to the beach to sit and write, and yesterday I finally did! But I got there at 7 and left by ten-thirty. My Celtic skin just can’t take the sun anymore, no matter how much I love it.

Jessie: I seem to keep having September 1 deadlines which means my writing is in a completely different place in summer than it is the rest of the year. Just as the weather tries to convince me to take it easy, my conscience goes into overdrive. Also,since I have school-aged kids there are different demands on my time during the day while they are on vacation. I also enjoy entertaining in the summer so there are plenty of excuses to play rather than to work when we are lucky enough to have company. All in all, I have to be more disciplined and to awaken before there rest of the household in order to make things work.

Julie: I just hit submit on Book #2, so this summer has had a wicked schedule. In general, my writing rhythms are dictated by deadlines. But, generally, I find summer harder to buckle down and write. There is so much else to do! I am also in a lighter mood, which makes it challenging to plot death and destruction.

Readers, tell us about how your habits change with the seasons. Leave a comment!

Filed under: Group posts, Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Jenness State Beach

The Book Club

Susannah here, enjoying a cool Connecticut breeze and a cup of good coffee…

Last night I attended a meeting of a local book club. Not as a speaker, but as a potential member.

Um, big deal, Suze. Aren’t you a writer? Why wouldn’t you be part of a book club?

Well, it’s a question I’ve asked myself. And there are reasons why, up till this point, I’ve resisted.

I love books, that should be obvious. But all day (and often well into the evening, depending on my deadline status) I’m working with books in some manner: writing them, editing them for other people at Crazy Diamond Editing Services, reading critically for friends, doing social media and marketing, fulfilling obligations to my writers’ group (CTRWA), and, well, books or the business of books are in my head pretty much all the time. My pleasure reading time is drastically reduced from my pre-writer days (not that I don’t double dip in the pleasure-reading well with some of the above activities). Did I really want to add one more book a month to the mix? Especially one chosen by someone else when there are so many on my own TBR list?


Would the group want me? Now that I’ve “crossed over” into published author territory, would they see me as intrusive? A Know-It-All? Mercenary, just there to try to hawk my own books or my friends’ books? Would my presence at the group make anyone feel they couldn’t be perfectly honest about what they thought about the book being discussed?


Related to the above, could I be perfectly honest about what I thought about the book? The answer there is, probably not. While I could be honest (and usually am) with my very best writer friends about my opinions on a particular book, I would feel like I needed to censor my thoughts with a group of readers. No way am I going to break the Author Code and criticize another author–and yet, I did just that last night. Not for the book being discussed, but for a recent runaway best seller that really rankles me on a lot of levels. So I would always need to be aware to be on my Special Best Author Behavior.

As it turned out, only two people showed up to the book club meeting, the lovely organizer and one lovely reader/discusser. And we had a wonderful conversation about a book I hadn’t yet read (Maia Chance’s Snow White Red-Handed)–and now want to! Because this book sounds like lots of fun, and I probably wouldn’t have planned to make time for it if it hadn’t been personally recommended by other readers.

They asked me to come back, both as a member and an author later in the year, so I guess they want me. I’m still deciding whether to join the group officially. I may wait until the end of the year, when one of my other commitments will end. Nature abhors a vacuum, LOL!

Are you a member of a book club? What were/are your experiences? If you are also a writer, did it change your outlook or approach?

Filed under: Jane's posts Tagged: book club, Maia Chance, Snow White Red-Handed