Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 279

What’s in a Name?

Jessie: On the coast of Maine, happily soaking up every last drop of summertime

I’m working on a new project and new projects involve large amounts of one of my favorite parts of writing, naming the characters. I have no idea why it would be the case but I absolutely love naming things. If I weren’t a writer I think I’d love to be someone who dreams up the names for lipsticks, nail polishes and house paint.

Sometimes names magically rush fully formed into my head along with the characters who own them. Often those names and characters show up even before the story does. For the Sugar Grove mystery I completed in June the entire direction of the book grew from the name of the victim.

Other times I have a type of character in mind because of the story I have planned and I  set out to deliberately craft the name for that character. I start with the time period in which the story is set and the age of the character. Then I head straight over to the Social Security Administration website to consult their . Usually, I start by checking names by decade and then may move on to checking by region.

The database also lists given names by popularity. You can look at the top 1000 names and one of the questions I ask myself about the character is what sort of parents would he or she have had? Would they have chosen a popular or a more unique name of their child? As I decide on an answer this gives me some insight into the character’s background.

I like to use New Hampshire and Maine phone books for surnames. I think names commonly found in a locale in real life lend a sense of authenticity to the fictional world.

I use Scrivener for my writing and it has a handy character list that I can leave open in front of me. The list helps me to be sure I don’t choose the same initials for too many characters. Donald, Desmond and Douglas cause a lot of trouble if they are in the same story. So can too many surnames that begin with “Mc” or end with “son”.

I think about the way the name sounds when I say it aloud. I think about my personal preferences and how I react to the name. I look up the meaning and explore possible nicknames. I think about whether or not someone would like to be gifted with the name I am planning for them.

After I’ve got a name I am pleased with I google it to be sure I haven’t dreamed up an already famous name because I am ignorant of something historically or in pop culture. In the best case scenario there is no one with the name that turns up in my searching. The next best thing is for it to turn up frequently for many different people. Once the name has passed that hurdle it gets added to the list and the character begins to become real to me.  I can start to see her in my mind’s eye or hear his voice.

So what’s in a name? For me, the start of something wonderful.

Readers, do you like naming things? Children, pets, characters of you own? Do you love discovering the names leafing out your family tree? I’d love to hear some of your favorite names too.

 

 

Filed under: Jessie's posts Tagged:

Wicked Wednesday: Keeping it Light

It’s Wicked Wednesday, when we all weigh in on a topic. We’re talking themes in cozies, and last week we discussed some of the bigger subject matter in our books. This week, we’re talking about how we keep those stories enjoyable and light while still making the book meaningful.

Barb: Cozies are entertainment. I’m reminded of that regularly by fans who write that they enjoyed one of my books at the bedside of an ailing family member, or after a grueling eight-hour shift in the NICU, or in the ten minutes between when they pulled their car up at soccer practice and when practice ended, which were the only ten minutes they had to themselves all day. One way I think cozies in particular are entertaining is that they contain fantasy elements. Readers should fantasize that they want to live in a place like that, with people like that. I always keep this in mind when I’m writing.

Jessie: I like to use humor. I like including quirky people and funky buildings. I like kooky situations that are just bound to turn into family legends for my characters.

Liz: Animals are always great for lightening the mood. Their personalities are all so unique, and their antics alone are enough to ease the tension of a murder investigation. And who can resist laughing at a doggie costume party?

Sherry: It’s a delicate balance between light and slapstick — each has it’s place in the cozy world. I am working hard at creating characters that have realistic reactions to the crimes that occur. That said, no one is going to want to read (in a cozy anyway) about someone who’s going through a lengthy grieving process. I’ve really had fun writing one of my secondary characters. He has his own way of doing things and believes deeply that his way is right. He lightens the mood and reminds my protagonist, Sarah, the world isn’t such a bad place.

Edith: Rescue chickens! (Oh, have I mentioned them before?) Seriously, I love the inspiration to include chickens in the Local Foods series, because they’re so funny. I also have a couple of quirky secondary characters who lighten things up. In my second Lauren Rousseau mystery (out in November), we met Lauren’s friend Irene who runs the local Greek bakery and can always be counted on to tease, make a joke, offer a glass of wine. Sometimes it’s the protagonist’s sidekick – whether sister, BFF, coworker, or whoever – who keeps the balance from getting too dark.

Julie: All great answers. I would add a dash of romance helps keep them light, and entertaining. Pacing the romance so it doesn’t get boring is critical. And adding the ups and downs of a relationship adds conflict. Like all of this, it is balance.

Photograph by Meg Manion Photography!

Readers: What do you think keeps a book light?

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: animals in cozies, chickens in cozies, entertainment in cozies, humor in cozies, Keeping cozies enjoyable, romance in cozies, secondary characters in cozies

The real inspiration behind the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries

By Liz, wishing she was on a beach somewhere before the rest of summer passes us by

Last week was a tough week. I lost one of my best little friends, a cat named Tweetie. This little guy was a huge love and touched everyone he met – and even people who had never met him, as apparent by all the Facebook well wishers during his brief illness – but he was also the real inspiration behind the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries.

If it wasn’t for Tweetie, I may never have gotten so involved in animal nutrition. When I adopted him 11 years ago, he was a sick fella. Chronic upper respiratory disease plagued him, and the vets were concerned he would not improve. I had always been interested in homeopathy and natural medicine, and Tweetie was the perfect reason to jump in and figure it out.

I researched homeopathic vets in my area and found Dr. Martha Lindsay, a wonderful woman who has made such a difference in my and my animals lives over the past 11 years. It was she who told me that if an animal doesn’t have good nutrition, they will never reach their healing potential. She got me started feeding the cats “real” food, and also recommended a raw diet for those animals who were open to it. Some that weren’t healthy, she cautioned, might never adjust well to it.

Well, for all his health problems, Tweetie adjusted well to all of it. In fact, he was probably the only cat (next to Pumpkin, the orange one pictured above) who would eat virtually anything. Meat, rice, eggs, raw food, veggies..yes, veggies. He would often use his oversized paw to swipe broccoli, green beans, asparagus – anything green – off my plate. Veggies made him so happy, he sang songs to tell us how much he had enjoyed his helping. And the best part? His health dramatically improved. Ever since then, animal nutrition has been something I’m always thinking about. It’s funny how things work, because all these years later it became the basis for this series. 

Tuffy the Maine coon cat and Shaggy the schnoodle get most of the credit for being the muses of the books, but Tweetie was the real muse. Without everything he taught me, this series would not exist. That’s the kind of guy he was, though – he never asked for the limelight. He was just happy to be loved, have a nice house, some friends…and some broccoli.

Rest in peace, Tweetie Bird. xo

Readers, share your experiences with a pet that changed your life. I’d love to hear them.

 

Filed under: Liz's posts Tagged: animal nutrition, cats, Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, rescue animals, Tweetie, unconditional love

Marian Lanouette talks Jake Carrington and her love for New England

Liz here, wondering where the heck the summer is going so fast. 

Today I’m delighted to welcome Marian Lanouette, a fellow Connecticut author, to the blog. Marian writes the Jake Carrington Mystery Series. Here’s the blurb for the latest:

A botched missing person’s case.

A nervous mob boss.

Lt. Jake Carrington’s gut tells him Phil Lucci is being cagey-with good reason. Jake can see this case has been mishandled from the beginning. Sloppy police work? Or does Lucci’s hand reach as far as the WPD? It’s Jake’s job to find the answers.

Jake meets Kyra Russell, a woman with an unusual job-she runs the local crematory. Despite the heated attraction between them, Jake becomes more and more suspicious of Kyra. Her gambling problem has already cost her a marriage and custody of her son. More than that, she also happens to be friends with Phil Lucci. Kyra assures Jake that it’s just coincidence, but Jake’s experience and his instincts warn him not to believe in chance. Can Kyra be burning bodies for the mob? If she is, what will Jake do about it?

Marian spent some time answering a few questions for us here at Wicked Cozy Authors. Thanks, Marian, and welcome!

Tell our readers about your work.

Jake Carrington is so intriguing. Where did his character come from? I was working on another book when Jake popped into my head and  wouldn’t shut up until he wrote down his story. Once I started, I knew he’d take more than one book. Thus, the Jake Carrington Series was born.

What’s the inspiration behind these books?

I love mysteries, and wanted a strong, compassionate character who was flawed. Jake is that character. I also wanted this series to match the single Jake with a married partner. I thought the contrast strengthened the storyline and the characters.

Tell us about your path to publication.

I was lucky within six months of finishing the final draft, I found a small press publisher who wanted the first two stories in my series. I’m working on the third one now.

The Wickeds are all influenced by New England, and write books set here. You moved to New England as a teenager and stayed. What was it about the area that drew you in?

As you stated, my father was transferred here in my senior year of high school.  After graduation I started working and going to school at night, unsure where I’d settle. Well, I met my husband and knew that this was where I wanted to be. Thirty-five years later, I think I made the right decision. I based the Jake Carrington Series town on a Connecticut town and took liberties with it. I like the people and the area.

Do you write in any other genres?

I write romantic suspense as well as mysteries. I’ve also started a cozy series. It’s in the beginning stages so we’ll see where it goes.

What do you love to read?

I love to read mysteries, romantic suspense and biographies, inspirational self-help books…come to think of it. I like to read everything, but mostly mysteries ((wink, wink.))

What’s your next project?

I have three in progress. The third book in the Jake Carrington Series, Mated of Life is a few thousand words away from the completed first draft. I also have romantic suspense Heat Brokers I’m re-writing. I’m also re-writing my very first novel Loss of Power. This year time has been a commodity that I had little of, but I’m back to writing like a crazy woman and hope soon that they will see the light of day.

Marian, thanks so much for visiting! Readers, feel free to ask a question in the comments.

Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: Burn in Hell, Jake Carrington Mystery Series, Marian Lanouette, New England authors

Beat the Heat with Summer Salads

All the Wickeds love summer and we all love quick and easy salads to get us out of the kitchen and back onto the beach, the lake or even back to work on our latest works-in-progress. Today we’re talking about our favorite salad recipes.

Have you got a super salad recipe to share? We’d love to hear it!

LATE BREAKING NEWS: Vaughn C. Hardacker is the randomly selected commenter who won the signed copy of Ray Daniel’s debut mystery, TERMINATED. Vaughn, please email EdithMaxwellAuthor at gmail dot com your email address, and congratulations!

Jessie: My husband makes a great Brazilian-style salad. It is fairly quick, very healthy and is delicious with grilled foods. I think it tastes even better the second day.

A small head of Napa cabbage

2 tomatoes

a bunch of scallions

a lime

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste 

Thinly slice the head of cabbage, the tomatoes and the scallions. Mix gently in a large bowl. Squeeze on the juice of the lime and a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Mix thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Barb: My husband has made this delicious Tuna and White Bean Salad for years. The recipe is in Boiled Over, the second Maine Clambake Mystery–which also contains the recipe for the Tomato Salad shown in the photo.

Richelle’s Tuna and White Bean Salad

This is a light, fresh-tasting salad. When Richelle comes off a long road trip, she can put this dish together from items readily available in her pantry.

2 6-ounce cans light tuna packed in olive oil

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon olive oil

1-2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Drain oil from tuna and put in bowl. Flake tuna with a fork. Add onion and garlic and stir with fork. Add beans and gently fold together. Dress with oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Allow flavors to marinate at room temperature for thirty minutes to an hour. If refrigerated, best to allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Sherry: I love Greek salad. This is about as easy as it gets. Combine cucumber, tomato, red onion, and feta cheese with romaine lettuce  — add anything else you like to it too. For the dressing whisk together lemon juice (one fresh lemon is perfect but you can add more to taste), 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon oregano. We love garlic so I usually mash a bit in too. Pour over the lettuce and serve. This amount of dressing serves one but it’s easy to double.

 

Edith: Well, dang it all. I was going to include MY go-to Greek salad – which differs from Sherry’s by having gold cherry tomatoes, NO ONION, no lettuce, no dressing but good

olive oil, and has fresh oregano leaves. But since she dibbed it, how about this?

Who wouldn’t want to share Prosecco with cheesemaker Luca?

Caprese Salad

Wolf Meadow Farm fresh mozarella

Large whole basil leaves

Slices of large ripe heirloom tomatoes.

(Are you dying yet?)

Layer each trio into stacks, drizzle with good olive oil and spritz of excellent balsamic, sprinkle on some sea salt, and serve with crusty bread and a glass of Prosecco. Yum.

Julie: My favorite salad this summer? Watermelon, feta cheese, olives, a tiny bit of mint (optional). So. Good.

Sherry: Edith you need to tell us about your Greek salad too — there’s always room for more Greek Salad!

Readers: What is your favorite salad?

Filed under: Group posts, Recipes Tagged: Brazilian salad, Caprese salad, fresh mozarella, greek salad, Tuna and White Bean Salad, Wolf Meadow Farm

Opening Lines

Write an opening line for this picture:

 Edith: The fire started slowly, but as soon as it hit the gasoline I’d poured onto the water, I watched as the whole damn marina went up, and Kenny with it. Good damn riddance.

Liz: He needed a fast exit out of town, and one of these boats was it. Good thing there were plenty to choose from.

Barb: At at precisely 5:32 am, I heard a scream, and then a splash.

Sherry: I’d been wondering what the eerie white light coming from the boat was all night. This morning I headed over to find out.

Julie: They promised that she would eventually stop glowing. But here it is, day three, and she’s still a human nightlight. Next time some guy offers us Sparkle and Shine Moonshine out of the back of a van, we really need to walk away. The neighbors are starting to talk.

Jessie: Kevin should have thought twice before he drained our joint savings account to buy that sailboat. He knows darn well the trouble I have with sea sickness.

Filed under: Opening Lines Tagged: boats, marina, opening lines

Wicked Wednesday: Themes in Cozies

It’s Wicked Wednesday, when we all weigh in on a topic. This month, we’re talking about themes in cozies. The underlying, harder-to-talk-about themes, over and above the fun stuff like food, pets, farming, and the like. So Wickeds, what are your series really about?

Edith: I hate questions like this, but I’ll go first and give it a stab (uh … figuratively). The Local Foods Mysteries are about a woman having the courage to change her life and herself. Cam Flaherty is a geek who uses her smarts to figure out farming, but when she realizes she has to connect not only with plants but with the people who eat them, she goes deep. Even though it doesn’t come easy to her, she gradually figures out how to care for her fellow humans, one customer at a time. Is that a theme?

Barb: I love this topic. I remember a New England Crime Bake where Dennis Lehane said, “There are hours and hours  of police procedurals on TV. Every plot that can ever exist has been done. So if you’re going to spend a year writing a book, make sure it’s about something.” All of my Maine Clambake mysteries have examined themes of insider and outsiderness, of feeling a part of something and feeling excluded. I think the small town setting that is common in cozies really lends itself to that.

Jessie: Mine are about family and the complexities of those relationships. I write about finding ways to grow into the sort of person you want to be while keeping and deepening life’s most important relationships.

Sherry: I love the Lehane quote, Barb! One theme in the Garage Sale series is finding your way and who you are after a life-changing event, in the case of Sarah, a divorce. She has to figure out who she is after being a military wife for nineteen years. The series is partially set on a military base and it looks at what life on a base is like.

Liz: The Pawsitively Organic Mysteries tackle one of my favorite subjects: animal welfare. While good animal nutrition is the main theme, I also write about animal rescue in the books. It’s a topic that I feel very passionate about, and it’s fabulous to be able to translate that into mysteries.

Julie: The ClockShop series that will be coming out next year is about the importance of community. Like all cozies, there is a disruptive event that attracts that world, and the protagonist rights it. But she is also going to be building up the community over the entire series.

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: 'Til Dirt Do Us Part, A Biscuit A Casket, A Local Foods Mystery, animal nutrition, animal rescue, boiled over, cozy mysteries, families, farming, insiders, Maine Clambake Mystery, Maple Mayhem, military base, military wife, outsiders, Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, Sarah Winston, Sarah Winston Garage Sale Series, Sugar Grove Mysteries, Tagged for Death

Interview with Ray Daniel

Picture credit: Lynn Wayne

Edith here: I am so pleased to welcome fellow New England author Ray Daniel to the blog today. I met Ray at the New England Crime Bake a few years ago, and then kept seeing him: at Mystery Writers of America meetings, at Sisters in Crime workshops, and, of course, at the bar at every writing conference except Malice Domestic (most recently he bought me a tumbler of whiskey at Left Coast Crime in California. I retired to my bed shortly after!). I’ve also read his award-winningTucker short stories in more than one Level Best Books anthology of Best New England Crime Fiction and loved his male protagonist, which is a hard sell for me. His Level Best story “Give Me a Dollar” was a Derringer finalist this year.

And now – the most awesome news! His first novel-length mystery, Terminated, is out, featuring the same sleuth, Tucker. And listen to the tag line on his web site: First-Person, Wise-Cracking, Boston-Based Mystery. Don’t you love it?

So I wanted to let our readers get to know this guy with the infectious laugh and huge smile and help spread his great news around the world.

E: First, give us the short blurb of the book (awesome cover).

R: Uber-geek Tucker and his beautiful wife, Carol, developed security software together for MantaSoft until the day he was fired and she was murdered. Now, six months later, another software engineer is dead, bringing new clues to light in Carol’s cold case.

Haunted by the memory of his wife, Tucker is determined to track down the truth behind the killings. He pulls strings to get hired back into MantaSoft, but office politics turn deadly as Tucker takes on the FBI, Russian mobsters, and a psychopath known as the Duct Tape Killer.

E: You work in hi-tech in some capacity. What’s your job, how does it relate to Tucker’s particular skill set – because write what you know… – and how do you find time to write books while holding down a full-time day job?

R: I design computer chips; it requires a lot of problem-solving and debugging. Tucker is a computer security expert and hacker (which is more interesting than designing computer chips), so he takes that debugging aspect of engineering and uses it to solve crimes.

As for writing with the day job, I write for an hour every day before work. I can write about 500-1000 words a day, so I can write the first draft of a novel in six months.

E: Chips. Wow. Is there anything I might use or own that has one of your chips in it?

R: A USB stick is a good bet.

E: Who hasn’t used one of those? I’m impressed. Next question: I think you had an agent and were looking to sell the Tucker books for a while. Tell us how that happened, and how long it really took.

R: I can name the exact date that I decided to write a mystery with an engineer sleuth. It was on June 17, 2005, right after I had attended a high-tech trade show. I realized that a trade show would be an outstanding setting for a mystery.

I wrote the first draft of Terminated and brought it to the 2007 New England Crime Bake, got excellent feedback from several agents and decided to rewrite it. That took a couple of years, and I wound up rewriting it again before it was ready. Then it took a few years to sell it. It turns out the time it took to sell it had a silver lining. I have a three-book deal with Midnight Ink and I’ve already written the first three Tucker books.

E: You’re way ahead then. How did you come to love to mysteries?

R: My cousin turned me on to Robert B. Parker and Spenser. After that I was hooked. I used to tell people that I liked to read first-person, wise-cracking, Boston-based mysteries, so it was clear what I wanted to write.

E: And which female authors do you read? Which Sisters in Crime?

R: I’m an unabashed fan-boy over Karin Slaughter.

I recently discovered Elisabeth Elo and Louise Penny. I also read Hallie Ephron and Hank Phillippi Ryan’s books when they hit the shelves.

E: Same here! I was on a panel with Elo recently and loved North of Boston, too. How did you make the leap from reading crime fiction to writing it? Did you study how to write stories before you started?

R: Yes, I did. I organized Terminated using the first edition of a book named The Weekend Novelist.

As time passed, I built up my library, as you can see in the picture. I’ve read every book in there and they all helped me get to this point in my writing.

E: Tell us something you haven’t told any other interviewer, something that might surprise us about you.

R: I had no idea that I wanted to be a writer until I was 40. My late start was mostly due to a lack of self-awareness. After all, I got an undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering with a minor in English. The first book I bought out of college was On Writing Well by Zisner, and I once wrote a short story instead of a term paper while getting my MBA. You’d think I would have picked up the clues earlier.

E: What’s up next for Author Ray Daniel?

R: After nine years it’s finally time to launch Terminated! The launch is at the New England Mobile Book Fair on Wednesday the 6th at 7PM. Hank Philippi Ryan will be interviewing me. Hank asked me for my personal information so she could prepare for the interview. When I asked her which information she looked me dead in the eye and said, “Everything.” So that’s what she got. I have no idea what’s she’s going to ask. It should be fun.

E: And what comes after Terminated?

R: The second Tucker book is named Corrupted Memory and it will be on shelves a year from now. In that story, Tucker learns he has a brother when the guy is found murdered in front of Tucker’s house. I’m shipping the manuscript to Midnight Ink this month.

E: Congratulations, Ray, from me and all the Wickeds. Thanks so much for visiting us.

Readers, stop by all day and ask Ray a question! Ray is giving a signed copy of Terminated away to one lucky commenter, too.

And if you’re in New England, consider hopping over to the New England Mobile Book Fair (it’s not mobile and it’s not a fair) tomorrow night for Ray’s book launch party. The Wicked Cozys can’t wait to hear what our fabulous friend Hank Philippi Ryan will ask Ray.

Born in Boston, Ray graduated with honors from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in computer engineering and a minor in English. His debut novel, Terminated, launches from Midnight Ink this August. You can learn more at raydanielmystery.com

Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: computer chips, computer security, debugging, hacker, Midnight Ink, mystery, Ray Daniel, Ray Salemi, Terminated, Tucker, USB stick

Harping on Writing

by Sheila Connolly (who apologizes for the bad pun!)

I recently went to an event where eleven (I counted!) Irish harpers performed together. It’s the New England Irish Harp Orchestra, and they’re getting ready for a competition in Limerick, Ireland, next month: the Brian Boru Festival, which will honor the 1000th (yes, four zeroes) anniversary of the death of Brian Boru, one of the greatest High Kings of Ireland.

The New England Irish Harp Orchestra

I’ve heard harpers before, including the leader of this group, and I have to say the sound made by an Irish harp is quite lovely. At this event, held at a local art gallery that features Irish artists, we were treated to a brief explanation of how the harps work (and modern ones do not work the same way the ancient ones did, back in Brian Boru’s day when they were the principal source of music in Ireland and harpers were revered figures).

What does this have to do with writing, you ask? (Sheila, drop that metaphor. Drop it, I say!) For one thing, playing the Irish harp requires focus and skill. There are two sets of strings, one for the melody, one for the accompaniment. So the right hand and the left hand are doing different if related things. Then there’s the tuning: Irish harps have levers to change the pitch of individual strings. You can tune for each piece of music, depending on the key it was written in, which involves flipping a batch of the levers at the top. But in some cases, you need to change the pitch of a string or a series of strings during a song (and then switch them back again). Did I mention that all the players were doing this without written music in front of them?

So, you’ve learned what to do with your right hand, your left hand, and the pitch. Now try to do that in coordination with ten or more other people!

Yo, Sheila, the writing? I believe that sitting alone in a room randomly strumming strings on an Irish harp can be delightful. I can visualize learning a couple of songs, after much practice (confession: many years ago I played the lute, and I had a real thing for Julian Bream, and saw him perform several times, including in England, and still have a number of his vinyl albums. Alas, the lute is long gone.).

But the idea of sitting down with a group all of whose members are playing the same instrument and producing music that is all in the same key, and in synch, and manages to sound good, is daunting. And yet these people do it, willingly. They practice together at least once a week (and none are professional musicians, so they have day jobs). They schlep their large and unwieldy instruments around with them, even on airplanes. And they look like they’re having a good time doing it!

In a way this is the antithesis of what we as writers do. We often work in solitude, and we’re striving to find our own unique voice. Yes, often we write within a genre; we conform to generally accepted, stated or unstated rules (e.g., cozies must have small furry animals; thrillers must have blood). But we also try to stand out somehow. Which is more important: the similarities or the differences? Still, we are part of a broader community of wordsmiths, whatever our genre or style.

The Irish are known for their music seisúns (pronounced sessions). These are kind of haphazard events. Word will go out that the music will be happening at the XYZ pub that night at nine o’clock. You go to the pub before nine o’clock and order your pint and wait. Around nine-fifteen a musician wanders in with an instrument. Nine-thirty, two more. Maybe around ten a group of five or six people with a variety of instruments will start playing.

What is remarkable about this is that the musicians all share a common knowledge of the music—the same repertory, the same musical language. Nobody has sheet music. The players confer for a moment or two, and then they start playing a piece—that they all know. And half the local audience knows it too. Playing music is an integral part of the Irish culture. Some of the songs go back centuries, others only a few years.

And that’s what going to a writers conference or workshop is like. We are speaking the same language about writing rather than playing it as music.

By the way, I’ll be going to Ireland this month. I’m going because the pub that is the model for Sullivan’s in my County Cork Mysteries is reopening after a decade-long hiatus. Back a couple of decades it was, somewhat improbably, the center for contemporary music in West Cork. The music is coming back, and I’ll be there for it. And the name of the place? Connolly’s.

 

Connolly’s of Leap, back in the day

Filed under: Ireland, Sheila's Posts Tagged: harpers

Wicked Cozy Road Show

Edith, north of Boston and LOVING summer.

A couple of weeks ago four of the Wicked Cozy Authors took the show on the road (for Edith, it was only one town away, but the rest of us had to drive an hour or two. Or three.). Jessie, Edith, and Liz were on a “Delicious Night of Cozy Mysteries” panel at Jabberwocky Bookshop in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Julie moderated and several dozen folks turned out from all over the North Shore and New Hampshire.

And, if we do say so, we rocked it. Mostly due to having a tall, gorgeous, seasoned theater person (Julie) leading the discussion, but also because we’re good friends, we know each other’s writing and publication journeys, and we like to have fun. We sold books, we had a glass of wine with our audience afterwards (thanks to Jabberwocky’s Sue Little for that!), and we went home happy.

We realized we could do this again. And again! It would have been a lot better with Barb and Sherry along. Schedules and home addresses butt in, however, and next time it will surely be a different mix of four out of six.

Wickeds, what did you think?

Sherry: I wish I could have been there and hope next time I am! You all look fabulous!

Julie: First of all, a big thanks to Jabberwocky for hosting us. What a great bookstore. Well worth a visit. Secondly, I loved moderating. Third, we do have fun together, and I hope the audience had a good time too. I think they did. It was really fun to talk to folks afterwards. And last, I am really freakishly tall, aren’t I? (Note to self: take the glasses off your head before a photo is taken. Yeesh.)

Liz: Yes – thank you to Jabberwocky! Love this bookstore and this town and wish I could visit more often. I was the one with the two-hour drive to do this panel, and it was so worth it. I love being with my Wickeds (although we missed Barb and Sherry!!) and we had such a great conversation. And Julie, you look awesome as always.

Sherry: You were with the three short Wickeds, Julie. You needed Barb and me there — then you’d look normal!

Barb: I wish I’d been there!

Edith: We do, too, Barb and Sherry.

Jessie: It was really nice to visit with all of you and with so many enthusiastic mystery readers. The turnout was great and so many people stayed to chat afterwards that it made the event even more fun. The only way it would have been better was to have Barb and Sherry there with us!

Readers: Want to schedule a Wicked Cozy Night of Mystery at your library or bookstore? Just let us know. What questions would you ask at such an event? Curious about anything else? Ask away.

Filed under: Group posts Tagged: Jabberwocky books, Newburyport, Wicked Cozy Road Show