Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 283

Facing Fears

 By Liz, outside of Hartford

Last week, I missed my train to New York because of a spider. I’ll tell you why that’s meaningful in a moment, but first, indulge me.

I was leaving for an 8:43 train out of New Haven to Penn Station, which was uber-convenient, since my meetings were in One Penn Plaza. Which meant I didn’t even have to go outside if I didn’t want to. Now, granted, I was already a little behind by about five to seven minutes, and nearly out of gas, because I haven’t yet learned the procrastination lessons I wrote about a couple months ago. But since I drive fast, I’m confident I would’ve made it as long as traffic was on my side. 

The incident, illustrated courtesy of Kim Fleck.

So I finally grabbed my ginormous bag, my coffee, my smoothie and my hard-boiled egg and opened the front door. And had a meltdown. There was a HUGE, FAT, FURRY, (did I mention HUGE?) spider on the front door, facing outside. I mean, it was hideous. Not as bad as the snake in the car, granted (I’ll tell that one another time) but still nasty. And I didn’t want to walk by it. I might’ve cried. Then I slammed the front door shut and willed it to leave. Meanwhile, a second, smaller spider had also come to visit. He met the bottom of my shoe. But I was stuck. 

By the time I gained the courage to open the door again, the spider was gone. I was free to go, no longer a hostage. But I couldn’t drive quite fast enough, and I missed my train.

Why am I writing a blog post about this? No, it’s not to humiliate myself. It made me think about facing fears. But more so, it made me think about the missed opportunities that come with not facing them head-on, in a timely fashion, like the brave warrior I know I can be. 

Aside from hairy spiders, one of my biggest fears is public speaking. It’s a terror that has dogged me throughout my life -  in my first speech class in college, in grad school, in my professional life. I’ve managed to hide from it for a long time. But now I’m a writer. A writer who has to promote herself, who attends conferences and speaks on panels, and is asked to give talks at local libraries and other events. When I first realized this, I may have contemplated NOT writing for a moment or two. But since that’s not an option, I sucked it up and started with baby steps, like small events.

Me and Shaggy at an event last year.

Partnering up with friends helps. Hiding behind my dog, who attends many events, does too. I’m building up to solo talks. I’ve had mostly positive experiences this past year since my first book came out, so my confidence has grown. Still, I know I need to push myself further.

In my “other” work life, this fear still dogs me. I’ve gotten better here as well, but I still have anxiety when I have to make any kind of work presentation. And there are days when  admittedly I would rather hide in a corner than speak in front of a roomful. I understand this unwillingness to put myself out there has probably resulted in missed opportunities in the corporate world. I don’t want to miss any in my writing career. 

Now, back to the train. Admittedly, all turned out well, albeit more work for me. Instead of an Amtrak to Penn, I had to take the next MetroNorth train to Grand Central, then hike to my original destination – right next to Penn – carrying my ginormous, 50-pound bag. Really, it’s not a long walk and it was a nice day to get some exercise. I love walking around the city. I still made my meetings and the day was fabulous, sore shoulder aside. But I could’ve avoided all the added aggravation if I’d JUST FACED THE DAMN SPIDER in the first place. Grabbed a broom and kicked him out of the house, with poise and confidence. Banished him. Asked him not to return. 

Just like I need to do with my public speaking fears. Acknowledge them, examine them and banish them to the dark place they belong. 

Readers, what’s your biggest fear? 

Filed under: Liz's posts Tagged: fears, Liz Mugavero, Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, spiders

Wicked Wednesday – Favorite Research Finds

It’s Wicked Wednesday, when we all weigh in on a topic. Today we’re dishing on our best research finds. Sometimes when we’re looking for one piece of information, we find something totally different – and better. And with it, perhaps, comes a totally new idea for a book, or story, or a predicament in which to place our characters. We love when that happens! So Wickeds, what’s your fave find that you can’t wait to use?

Jessie:Thanks for posing this question, Liz!  I just adore slipping down the rabbit hole of research and coming back up with something unexpected! Mine is a bit of research I already used. In my first book, Live Free or Die my protagonist is a postmistress. I had been considering having the mystery involve valuable stamps. As I began researching stamp collecting on the internet I stumbled across information about the privilege of franking which is the right to use one’s signature instead of affixing postage to a letter.

As I explored the practice further I discovered that it was said Millard Fillmore used this right to excess and even continued to do so after his term in office had expired and along with it the privilege. That tidbit made me curious about Fillmore and his character. The things I turned up in my further research sent my story in an entirely new and far more interesting direction.

Edith: Since I’m working on an historical mystery set in 1888, my life has been all research, all the time lately, and I love it. What fun to read about the new “safety” bicycle – you know, the one with two equal-sized wheels – and see pictures of women on them. To learn that fountain pens were also fairly new, so you didn’t have to dip again for every line you wrote. And to read that the knowledge of causes of infection was beginning to be widespread. Just this morning I added a mention of Annie Oakley (a Quaker, too!), since she was famous during that time. All of these bits have enriched parts of my story, even if they haven’t let led to a totally new story. Not to say they won’t, though!

Liz: In the first mystery I wrote (as yet unpublished), which took place in a funeral home, my character’s ‘friendship’ with a somewhat unsavory but completely irresistible guy led me to an interesting way to dispose of a body. Apparently, if you offer a person to a python of a certain size, it will swallow it and over the course of weeks, digest it nearly completely. In most cases, only some yellow discharge-like matter is the only evidence a person ever existed. I hate snakes, but I thought that was very cool. I also learned it was best to have a warm corpse, otherwise you had to “infuse” the corpse with the scent of rats so it would eat it. I’ll leave that part to your imagination.

Sherry: One of the most fun things I did as part of the research process was a police ride along with Julie’s cousin, Sgt. Patrick Towle, who is a police officer in Bedford, Massachusetts. My fictional town of Ellington, Massachusetts is based on Bedford. While we didn’t have any major crimes occur, Patrick drove us all over town. I lived in the area for five years and found out more in that few hours than I thought possible. Bodies have been dumped there, there are old missile silos in Bedford, there’s an urban legend that there are nukes on Hanscom Air Force Base. He showed us the house where an unsolved murder occurred. I’m using a lot of what he told us in my series.

Julie: I love this topic. I have become a receptacle of information about crime potential. Once people find out you write mysteries, the gates are open. Dinner conversations take a morbid turn, your friend who brews beer tells you the many ways that process could be used to kill someone, your sister texts you from a parking lot because of something she overheard. They all swirl around, waiting for a chance to be used in the plot.

Barb: In my short story, “Bread Baby” an executive assistant for a media mogul opens a package to find a baby, made of bread. As I wrote the story, I didn’t know, at least consciously, what was going to be in the package until the narrator opened it. Then I had to wonder, bread babies, is that a thing? It turns out (thank you Mr. Google) it is. The Andean Indians of Peru offer bread babies or Tantawawa to their ancestors on the Day of the Dead.

But most tantawawa look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

I described my bread baby as “perfectly rendered.” “Like a sculptor carved him.” So was that possible? My digging found a guy in Thailand  who created near-autopsy perfect renderings of gruesome body parts out of bread, like this.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, it is true. Everything humans can do, some human being is out there doing.

Filed under: Group posts, Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Carriagetown Mysteries, research, safety bicycle

The Detective’s Daughter — The Princess Shop Affair

By Kim Gray from Baltimore City where things are heating up

It was a typical Saturday, which meant market day at our house. My sister and I had finished our breakfast and were sitting around the table with Dad who still wore his pajamas. While Mom put another coat of hairspray on her head, Dad pulled a file folder of the buffet. This was a move usually reserved for dinner time.

In the evening as we ate supper Dad often shared a case he had been working on that day. And yes, these stories often included photos of a homicide. They were in black and white and he’d pass them around like wedding photos, pointing out the locations and people involved. Murder isn’t so gory when it’s not in color. I must have been at least sixteen before it occurred to me the people in the photos were dead. They all looked so peaceful spread out on the sofa, or steps, or wherever they had been.

I loved Dad’s stories. It was really the only time he seemed to enjoy talking to us. My sister, who was a baby, wasn’t allowed to hold the photos. I would pass them along to Mom and she studied the photos intently making helpful comments such as “Those drapes are hideous.” or “They’ll never get that stain out of that carpet.” Mom had a good eye for detail.

The photo he showed us that morning was different. This woman had her eyes open. Around her neck hung a board with numbers on it. She was young, had long hair parted in the middle and looked like a hundred other girls I had seen in the neighborhood. Dad said something about shoplifting. Mom shook her head and told Dad she hadn’t seen her around. Dad shrugged, put the folder away and we were out the door. I thought, what a nice lady, she must carry bags for people!

Our shopping was nearly complete when Mom pulled me out of the market before our Utz tin had been fully refilled. The man at the Utz stand still had the scoop in mid air filled with the chips that were supposed to be in our tin. Mom slammed the lid down before tossing it in our bag.The smell of the hot salty chips was left behind as Mom hurried me along the street. We stood for a few minutes in front of The Princess Shop as Mom peered in the window. I dreaded going in there and waiting as she tried on clothes, or worse yet, she’d make me try on clothes!

But instead we walked to the corner and Mom used the pay phone. Her conversation was short and soon we were back at the dress shop and going in. She made her way through the girls clothes and I sighed with relief. On the upper level we stopped at a rack of scarves. Mom put our bags down and began trying them on, all the while chatting with the lady next to her.  She was about Mom’s height with long blond hair parted in the middle and had a scattering of freckles across her nose that hadn’t been noticeable in Dad’s photo.

Mom began insisting this lady try on hats and jackets and anything else in sight. After about the third outfit Dad walked in. I couldn’t believe my eyes, Dad was in The Princess Shop. More surprising were the police officers he had with him. I was happy because I thought this meant Daddy would give us a ride home. The only one who got a ride was the lady and she went to Southern District.

Mom and I, along with our groceries, drifted out of the shop as they handcuffed her. Mom said we didn’t need to see that. On the way home we stopped at Muhly’s Bakery and picked up two jammed filled cookies as our reward. It became our Saturday ritual to look over Dad’s list of outstanding warrants before heading to the market. Mom never assisted in apprehending another criminal again, well, unless we count the time she caught me pocketing a pack of Juicy Fruit Gum. That’s a story for another day.

Filed under: The Detective's Daughter Tagged: Baltimore City, Baltimore City Police, shoplifting, The Detective's Daughter, The Princess Shop

50,000 Words

By Sherry Harris in Virginia where summer, judging by the traffic, is in full swing

The writing process continues to amaze and surprise me. I wake some mornings thinking the well is dry and then I go to my computer and words flow out of me. But for some reason when I hit fifty thousand words I feel like I’m done. It happened when I was writing Tagged for Death last summer and it happened again about a week ago. Unfortunately, fifty thousand words does not a novel make.

I know when I reach this point in my first draft, I haven’t written much description. I haven’t grounded the people talking – they are floating heads or talking heads. They don’t move or use their senses. I’ll go back and layer some of that in. But if I make up the whole 20,000 words I still need to write in this manner I’ll have written one terribly boring book.

After a bit of panicking, I turned to the Wickeds. This is what I wrote to them last July:

Well, I decided I’m done, Unfortunately, I only have 50,000 words – so I guess I’m not done. I laid out all my scenes on a calendar today. I have two days near the end of the book where nothing happens. So I hope those two days will take up a lot of the remaining word count. I’ve realized a couple of things. While the yard sale theme is fun it also requires some planning because yard sales are almost always on Saturdays so I have to work around that. And then I have to remember where I live isn’t where my book is set. I was going to have Sarah drive to West Virginia. It’s an hour and a half from here but not from where, Sarah lives in Massachusetts. Yeesh!

This is what Barbara Ross wrote back:

Things to check (you can send this back to me on Monday when I finish my first draft which will also be too short.)

Do you have enough red herrings—i.e. real true alternative suspects? Do some need to do something more suspicious to heighten their red-herringhood.
Does your heroine meet enough resistance—or do people spill their guts the first time she asks them?
Do any of the scenes need to be split up—i.e. some of the clue given earlier and some of it later? This will also give you more words because you’ll have more scene-setting to do.

I know you’ll get there.

I did get there last year and turned the book in on time. (I have the cover to prove it.) I pulled the list back out for this year. I realized I don’t have enough red-herrings. The ones I do have can be written off pretty easily – there is some obvious reason that they wouldn’t commit murder. My heroine does meet a lot of resistance. I almost wonder if it’s too much – if there can be such a thing. I’ll read back through the clues. I hope I have some. I hope they aren’t too obvious.

I’m adding this to Barb’s list – how does the scene end? I blogged last year about ending scenes. I’m going to take a look at how each scene ends, how it propels the story forward, does it leave a question in the reader’s mind that will make them want to keep reading.

I know I’ll get there — I have to get there but my, oh, my 50,0000 words.

What do you do when you feel finished but aren’t quite there?

Filed under: Sherry's posts Tagged: Barbara Ross, Ending a scene, Fifty thousand words, finishing your novel

Wicked Good Summer Reads

Here’s what the Wickeds are reading as we get into beach season. What are you reading?

Liz: I have a whole list going! Next up is Edith’s ‘Til Dirt Do Us Part. Also in the pile is Alafair Burke’s All Day and a Night, and of course Jessie’s Maple Mayhem upon its release date!

Edith: Thanks, Liz! I’m just finishing Tempa Pagel‘s They Danced by the Light of the Moon, a mystery set in northeastern Massachusetts (where she and I both live) and southern New Hamphire, and in 1901 and the present (she’ll be guest posting here at the end of the month). And it’s fabulous.

Next up is Holly Robinson‘s Beach Plum Island, also a kind of mystery. She’s a local author, too. Lots  and lots of talent up here north of Boston.

 

 

 

Jessie: I can’t recommend The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin enough. If I could have possibly found a large enough chunk of time it would have been a one sitting read for me.

And for a very summery read I am going to dive into Sea Glass Summer by Dorothy Cannell

Barb: Right now I’m reading a not-quite-yet  published cozy for a blurb and dozens of crime short stories for Level Best Books next anthology. The book anxiously awaiting me on my nightstand is Maria Mutch’s memoir, Know the Night: A Story of Survival in the Small Hours about the two years Maria’s son, who is autistic and has Down Syndrome, couldn’t sleep, and how staying up all night with him affected Maria and her family. Drawing on her son’s love of jazz and her own affinity with explorer Richard Byrd who stayed alone through the long polar night, this book is both elegiac and emotional. I can’t wait to get to it.

Sherry: There are stacks of books all over my house — it’s getting a little desperate here — some are beginning to teeter. Next up for me is Buried in the Bog and Scandal in Skiberdeen. I’ve heard such great things about this series by Sheila Connolly so I can’t wait to dig in. I’m also anxiously awaiting the release of The Black Hour on July 8th by Lori Rader Day.

Julie: Aside from my Wicked Cozy Sistahs books, I am going to be reading the Longmire series by Craig Johnson. Craig is going to be the Guest of Honor at the New England Crime Bake this year, and I have the honor of doing an interview with him on Saturday afternoon. I am a fan of the TV series, and looking forward to reading the books. You will all be hearing more about this as we get closer to November. A Crime Bake note: Barb, Edith, and I are all on the committee. All six of us will be there. It is a great conference, already more that 50% sold out. So if you are interested, do not delay.

So, dear readers, what is on your summer reading list?

Filed under: Beach Reads, Group posts Tagged: 'Til Dirt Do Us Part, Alafair Burke, beach plum island, Buried in the Bog, dorothy cannel, Edith Maxwell, gabrielle zevin, holly robinson, Jessie Crockett, Know the Night, Lori Rader-Day, Maple, Maple Mayhem, maria mutch, Scandal in Skibbereen, sea glass summer, sheila connolly, tempa pagel, The Black Hour, the storied life of a.j. fikry, they danced by the light of the moon

In the Name of Research – Writer’s Police Academy

Liz here. This month, we’re focusing a lot of our topics on research, so I wanted to share this ultimate research adventure! In September 2012, Edith and I had the pleasure of attending the Writer’s Police Academy hosted by the fabulous Lee Lofland and some of the best law enforcement professionals in the country. It was definitely a weekend to remember, and I wrote a guest post about my experience. The below article first appeared on The Graveyard Shift blog, Sept. 2012. 

I spent a beautiful September weekend in North Carolina being shot at by drug dealers, shooting (and killing) fugitives and uncovering a makeshift grave. 

It was one of the best weekends of my life. 

But I expected nothing less from my first Writer’s Police Academy. I’d heard only great things about Lee’s event, and every one of them was true. Being immersed in the world of law enforcement, experiencing what these brave men and women experience every day, getting hands on and seeing and hearing the reality of their job was incredible and sobering and endlessly fascinating. 

Crime has always drawn me (not committing it, I promise) as much as telling stories has drawn me. The first research paper I ever wrote as an 11-year-old detailed the Charles Stuart murder case in Boston. While my friends were reading Sweet Valley High books, I could be counted on to have my nose in a true crime serial killer account. Even then, I was fascinated with the “whys” of each story, a gift from my grandfather, who spent decades as a detective in Lawrence, Mass. and had the stories to prove it. 

Family and friends of police officers know: a large part of police work is retelling the war stories. I was always an anomaly in my family due to my outlandish imagination and obsession with scary stories, so my grandfather’s penchant for telling these narratives — both real and embellished — was a breath of fresh air. Those stories drew me into his world, like a key to a secret club. They fed my imagination and got me asking questions and gave me yet another reason to admire him. I ate them up and imagined the days when I’d get to tell my own. 

As an adult, I didn’t pursue the job. But I did the next best thing: I became a crime fiction writer. Which meant learning everything about how cops and sheriffs and FBI and DEA agents do their jobs to make it believable on the page. I read tons of books, wormed my way onto any crime story I could catch as a reporter and supplemented my interest with friends on the job. I collected stories from police captains, parole officers and corrections officers. I tried to weasel my way into ride-alongs and local police business.

And this year, I finally got to the Writer’s Police Academy. 

Lee and the law enforcement professionals who gave their time and expertise to our quirky group gave us an invaluable gift. We were privy to not only their firsthand experiences, but seeing and being part of those experiences. Crashing though doors with shields and rifles and learning how to sweep an apartment potentially full of lethal enemies, feeling the adrenaline rush to discover a person actually waiting behind the door (right, Edith?) and understanding how easy it would be for something to go wrong in a split second. 

Going through a firearms simulation where a mass shooter is killing innocent people and trying to gauge if and when you should shoot him. Traipsing through the woods (we were lucky the weather happened to be nice) and finding a finger in your path, and a few yards later finding the person the finger belonged to buried with leaves and twigs in a shallow hole. Imagining the insects swarming, the smells, the aftermath. 

Watching a live police chase and seeing what could happen when a traffic stop turns into something much more menacing. Learning how someone could slip out of their handcuffs and give a cop a really bad night. 

And the stories. As much as I loved being “shot at” by drug dealers and shooting bad people and everything else Lee had in store for us, what really grabbed me were the stories. Every officer and agent there let us into their lives. Some of the stories were funny, others were tragic, some were downright terrifying. But they were all real. I could’ve sat there for weeks and just listened, whether it was tales of a killer sighting his or her prey, the realities of gang violence, or how undercover cops avoid a drug dealer’s request to prove themselves by taking drugs. My grandfather would have been in his glory. 

Everything I did, saw and heard that weekend gave new meaning to the phrase “putting your life on the line,” and that’s what these people do every day. I was already grateful for the law enforcement officers who work so hard to keep us safe. Now, I’m indebted. 

Lee and all our instructors — thank you. I’ll see you next year, as long as you’ll have us. 

Filed under: Craft, Liz's posts, Writing Tips Tagged: Lee Lofland, writers police academy

Wicked Wednesday – Wicked Fun Research

It’s Wicked Wednesday again, and today we’re weighing in on a wicked fun type of research. Every now and then as we’re writing along, murdering people and getting our characters into all kinds of dangerous situations, we inevitably find ourselves describing a physical situation that is hard to imagine simply in our heads. So, Wickeds, when that happens, what do you do? Ask your spouse if you can push them (gently, of course) down the stairs? Enlist a friend to put you in a choke hold? Come on, ‘fess up! And what other kinds of fun research do you do for your stories?

Edith: All of the above. In addition, I visit chickens every chance I get and talk to people who keep them so I can get the details on farmer Cam’s rescue chickens correct.

I’ve just finished the first draft of an historical novel set in my town, with John Greenleaf Whittier as a secondary character, so I’m involved in research I can only confirm through old newspapers, property deeds, maps, and all manner of other sources. But material is everywhere. I went down to our local health center to have blood drawn, and sitting in the waiting room was a carriage from the period I’m writing about, the late 1800s. Of course I grabbed a pen and wrote a description of it. I’m a member of the Whittier Home Association and can wander through Whittier’s house, look at his desk, check out the accurately maintained herb garden, and best, talk to a dozen or two Whittier fans who know way more than I do (and one of whom will be reading a draft for me).

Liz: The good news is that I’m a klutz by nature. So when I needed to figure out how someone would land after a fall down the stairs, all I had to do was go back to the numerous times I’ve tumbled down on my own. Including one banner episode in my younger days where I not only fell down half the flight of stairs, but off the side with no banister in my parents’ basement and landed amidst my mother’s potato bin. Does that count?

Barb: Writing about coastal Maine, my research is often complicated by seasonality. I need to see blueberries picked, but it’s the dead of winter. I need to go to a clambake (yes my life is hard) but it hasn’t opened yet. For the next book in my Maine Clambake Mystery series, Musseled Out, I hitched a ride on a lobster boar with Captain Clive Farrin. You should totally do this if you are ever in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, by the way. It’s beautiful and informative and Captain Farrin and his sternman answered all my questions. Oh, how I suffer for my art.

Sherry: Oh, you poor thing, Barb! Since I’m writing a series with a garage sale theme I can indulge myself by considering going to them “work”. This week I’m visiting my mom in Florida. I headed out to run errands for her and after two right turns, there it was a yard sale sign beckoning to me with its siren song. I had to go. Sadly, for me (and happily for my husband who isn’t crazy about my habit) all of the things I liked were way too big for my suitcase. I had a lovely conversation with the man running the yard sale. His wife refinishes furniture or puts old things together in a new way — a skill I admire and lack!

Julie: I can get stuck in research. Right now, I am putting notes in my manuscript that say **find this out** so I don’t stop writing to find out something specific that turns into a three hour Google gorge. But two pieces of research are overarching for me right now. First, I am looking at and finding clock towers. And I am going to the Clock Museum this summer while I’m on vacation. Second, I need to figure out how to map a town. How long does it take Ruth to go to this house, or that store? What makes the journey’s different? And how does that impact the story? Again, right now I am working with a line drawing. But more details need to be sorted out. And I need to add a food element so I can do some research on that.

Jessie: I’ve ended up researching lots of different sorts of things because I write more than one series. In my first book, Live Free or Die, the main character is a volunteer fire fighter and I was lucky enough to interview three different firefighters to help that story come alive.  I’ve interviewed sugar makers and conservation officers for my Sugar Grove series. Right now I am working on a historical series and have really enjoyed reading up on the late 1800s, visiting museums and interviewing the town historian in the place I am setting a new series.

One of my favorite ways to assemble my research thoughts is visually. So much of what I do as a writer, of course, uses words. Images feel like such a luxurious break and I like to use Pinterest to help me remember things and to imagine extravagantly.

Readers: What kind of research have you done? Was it fun or painful? Ask a Wicked a question about ours!

Filed under: Group posts, Show and Tell, Wicked Wednesday, Writing Tips Tagged: Boothbay Harbor Maine, Captain Clive Farrin, choke hold, Lobster boat ride, Taming of the Shrew, writers group

Those 70′s Shows

I’m going to give you a little test.

What do Barnaby Jones, Frank Cannon, and Jim Rockford have in common?

How about Theo Kojak, Mike Stone, and Sam McCloud?

Can you hum the theme song from Cannon?

I have rediscovered parts of my childhood on METV. 70′s cop shows. Quinn Martin productions. I was young when these were on first run, and I didn’t understand them, but I watched them. Some of them covertly. I watched others with my grandparents. As I rewatch them now on this retro TV station, I think about the impact they must have had on my then forming mystery writer’s brain.

The formula. The 70′s didn’t have story arcs on shows, for the most part. Sure, Quincy may date someone for a couple of episodes. But generally, what happened in an episode stayed in an episode. And as a viewer, I expected that. What I learned: Stories need to be contained. What I had to unlearn: Story arcs are a good thing, and not everything gets tied up in a bow.

Where are the women? Watching these shows with a 2014 world view, I am really struck by the lack of women, and almost complete absence of people of color. In too many ways, little has changed over the past forty years, but when you watch the opening credits of Cannon, and every guest star is a white man, it gives one pause. And watching Frank Cannon hitting on a young woman does not age well. What I learned: The world has changed, a bit. What I have to unlearn: That the norm doesn’t have to have white men as the heroes.

Mystery matters. The shows that aged the best (IMHO) are the ones that pay attention to the mystery. Not all do–sometimes the “bad” guy is clear from the beginning, and catching them is the story. But others spend time setting up the mystery, and it still pays off all these years later. See Columbo as a prime example. Murder She Wrote (80′s, not 70′s) also stands up. As does Perry Mason. 50′s, not 70′s, but still oh so wonderful.  What I learned: My preference for traditional/cozy mysteries dates back to those days. Columbo remains a favorite. What I had to unlearn: When the story isn’t working, adding a plot twist out of no where doesn’t satisfy. And that playing it safe isn’t fun.

Secondary characters mean more and more. As I am working on my own series, and building a town and a cast of characters, I have been thinking a lot about secondary characters. And what role they play in overall stories. Over the course of a series, are some characters off limits for major story lines? Interesting to watch a show build up those secondary characters over the course of a series, and deal with changes. And also deal with how much we see them. Rocky is a great secondary character on The Rockford Files, but he isn’t in every episode. But what would Perry Mason be without Della and Paul? And Remington Steele benefited from the appearance of Mildred.

Watching old detective shows is a great way to pass the time, and to consider their effect on me as a writer. How about you? Any fond memories of those days? Any guesses on the quiz?

Filed under: Julie's posts

On Purpose

Jessie: Reveling in the magic of NH as the growing season unfolds

Lately I’ve been hard at work on the third manuscript in my Sugar Grove Mysteries series. And I’ve been doing quite a number of author events. This all needs fitting in around the rest of life, which here always includes appointments, trips to the grocer and frantic last minute birthday party gift purchases. Schedules have needed a great deal of juggling; there has been a rash of dragons that required slaying. Under most circumstances I am not a cheerful juggler or a blood-thirsty sword wielder. Mostly so much busyness leaves me feeling quite crotchety.

But I haven’t been surly in the least. In fact, every day as I settle into my desk chair and dig into the tweaks and wiggles necessary to guide a manuscript from where it is to where it needs to be I feel a sense of eagerness that is quite unlike anything else I’ve experienced in my life. Even on bad writing days, after a few minutes of picking away and evaluating word choices or rearranging text for better flow, I find myself keenly focussed and deeply content.

When I prepare for author events I am surprised to notice how much I am looking forward to them. No matter where they are, or how many or how few people I connect with, I end up having a great time.  I was a cripplingly shy child and I am astonished at how almost none of the author events I have done have given me even the slightest case of nerves.

All of this leads me to believing I am lucky enough to be “on purpose”. I think that when you are living your purpose and aligning with your dreams you do find time, space, complaints and insecurities all fall away. Purpose replaces burdens with passion, openness, joy and quiet confidence.

I am so grateful to have had so many people supporting me in following my heart to what it was I really wanted and for clapping and cheering as I took tottering baby steps in the direction of my dreams.

Readers, do you have a passion that puts a spring in your step even if it isn’t the one that puts bread on the table? I’d loved to hear about your purpose.

Filed under: Jessie's posts, Uncategorized Tagged: author appearances, gratitude, Joy, purpose, writing

Wicked Busy Authors Who Write Multiple Series

The Wickeds continue to celebrate Sheila Connolly’s book birthday for Razing the Dead. Today, we are going to talk about authors who write multiple series. As readers of this blog know, Sheila writes the Orchard Mysteries and the County Cork Mysteries in addition to the Fundraising Mysteries. Who else wears a few hats?

Julie: Well, historically, I need to give a hat tip to Dame Agatha Christie. Most people only think of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot when they think of her. But she also wrote Tommy and Tuppence mysteries, a couple of books that featured Inspector Battle, and a number of stand alones. She also had characters visit each other–Inspector Battle does some cross overs.

Jessie: I love all the series by Charlotte MacLeod. She wrote the Peter Shandy Mysteries, the Sarah Kelling Mysteries and the Grub and Stakers Mysteries. Charlotte wrote a lot of other things besides series though. She also wrote short stories, young adult mysteries and Had She but Known: A Biography of Mary Roberts Rinehart. She even wrote a book entitled Astrology for Skeptics.

Barb: I’ve often written here of my love for Ruth Rendell. Under her own name she’s written the twenty-four books in the Inspector Wexford series and  twenty-seven stand-alone novels of psychological suspense, plus countless short stories and three works of nonfiction. As Barbara Vine, she’s written fourteen additional novels. While the Wexford series has my undying love and devotion, one of the Barbara Vine’s, Asta’s Book (published here as Anna’s Book), is on my short, short list of desert island books.

Edith: I’m not ashamed to say that Sheila is my favorite multi-series author. I guess there are different ways to look at multi-series authors. Roberta Islieb had two series, her golf lover’s mysteries and her psychologist advice column series, before becoming Lucy Burdette and writing the delicious Key West Food Critic series. But those are sequential, not concurrent like Sheila’s. Catriona McPherson has an ongoing historical series featuring Dandy Gilver, and she’s concurrently writing standalone suspense novels, starting with As She Left It, and continuing with The Day She Died. But they aren’t actually series! Leslie Budewitz has the new Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries coming out to keep her fabulous (and Agatha-winning) Food Lovers’ Village series, so she’ll have two concurrent before long. And of course, Daryl Wood Gerber/Avery Aames has the ongoing Cookbook Nook Mysteries (as Gerber) and the Cheese Shop Mysteries (as Aames). So much reading to do, so little time…

Oh – and I write two concurrent series. Ha – kind of forgot about that. My next Lauren Rousseau mystery, Bluffing is Murder, will be out under my Tace Baker hat in November!

Sherry: I met Nancy J. Parra at Malice this year when she was on a panel I moderated. For the panel I read Engaged in Murder which is the first in her Perfect Proposals Series. I also just read All Fudged Up the first in her Candy Coated Mystery Series. I’m looking forward to reading Gluten for Punishment the first in the Baker’s Treats Mysteries which she writes at Nancy Coco. Her protagonists have great voices and I love her settings!

Readers: Who is your favorite multi-series author?

Filed under: Book Release, Group posts, Recommended Reads Tagged: Barbara Vine, Catriona McPherson, Charlotte MacLeod, Dandy Gilver, Grub and Stakers, Leslie Budewitz, lucy burdette, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Nancy Coco, Nancy J. Parra, Peter Shany, Ruth Rendell, Sarah Kelling