Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 288

Fun with a Purpose

Today begins the Wickeds’ Third Annual Writing Retreat! We are all delighted to be attending and each have some things we hope to accomplish over the weekend. All of us are enthusiastic goal setters or are trying to be and a writing retreat is perfect time to challenge ourselves and each other. So Wickeds, what do you have planned for our time together?

 Jessie: I am planning to write 10,000 new words. And I am looking forward to talking about the business of writing with all of you in the evenings.

Sherry: Just for the record I wanted to do an Opening Lines post today because I’m not good at setting goals. These women are trying to make me a goal setter — go figure. Here goes: my goals include writing some words, drinking some wine, laughing until my cheeks hurt, and climbing down from the bunk bed without breaking my neck.

Julie: Oh Sherry, I should be a good woman and say I’ll take the top bunk again, but . . .My goals are to relax (which hasn’t happened in a while), add at least 5000 words (though I have high hopes for more), sleep, nap, and celebrate being around these wicked cozy dames.

Sherry: I told you last year, I’d take it this year, Julie!

Barb:

Friday

Write
Imbibe adult beverages
Discuss book marketing
Imbibe adult beverages
Solve problems of publishing industry
Imbibe adult beverages
Solve problems of known universe

Saturday

Repeat 1 through 7.

Sunday.

Repeat 1 through 6. Leaving in the afternoon, so any remaining problems of known universe will unfortunately have to stay unsolved.

Edith: We should make Liz take the top bunk – she’s the youngest in the group! My goals are: 1) to write a bunch of new words on my historical, or maybe plot out the fourth Local Foods mystery. And 2) to eat, talk, and drink with my best writing buds. We do have an actual agenda this time beyond writing (and drinking). It includes a group photo shoot, scarf decoration and tying lessons, setting up the blog calendar, talking book marketing, and more. We might be stuffing goody bags for Malice Domestic. We might be walking on the beach. We’ll surely be exchanging tips and advice and experience six ways round.

Liz: Mine are pretty simple – finish Icing on the Corpse!

Filed under: Group posts, Retreat, Writing Retreat Tagged: Bunk Beds, Fun with a purpose, Laughing until your cheeks hurt, mystery, old orchard beach, opening lines, scarves, Wine, writing retreats

What Goes Around, Comes Around

Edith, high on a small bit of fame north of Boston.

When I was farming twenty-one years ago, a woman in Marblehead, Massachusetts contacted me. A small group there wanted organic produce, and they were willing to drive north for an hour to West Newbury to get it. Of course I said yes. Sarah-Lincoln Harrison joined my small CSA and one of the group picked up several bags of the weekly share every Friday.

That small group grew into the Marblehead Eco-Farm CSA with twenty-two families the next year, and my small farm was unable to meet their needs. Another farmer nearby could, though. Now the CSA has grown into a very large Farm Direct Coop with three pickup sites north of Boston, a couple of dozen supplying farms, and over 750 member families.

Sarah and her husband have acquired a farm of their own in Maine, True North Farms, where they stay from April until well into the fall growing their own organic produce.

Last Sunday the coop invited me to their annual meeting potluck in Marblehead to talk about my history with them, and to let them in on how that led to my writing a Local Foods mystery series. What an honor! I brought a dish for the potluck, some books to sell, and my smile.

It was a busy meeting with children running around and lots of delicious dishes. The members were friendly and devoted to local foods. Their primary farmers, Rob Lynch and Meghan Arquin (and their two darling little children) were there, and Rob spoke about what a boon the coop’s business is for their certified-organic Riverland Farm in Sunderland, Massachusetts.

After I spoke, I sold several books and enjoyed talking with members as well as some of the hard-working staff. It was worth the drive.

Readers: Share your moment of fame. Has some small thing you did in the past come back to you as an honor?

 

Filed under: Edith's posts Tagged: 'Til Dirt Do Us Part, csa, Farm Direct Coop, Meghan Arquin, organic farming, Riveland Farm, Rob Lynch, Sarah Lincoln-Harrison, Sunderland, True North Farms

#GoAskMalice–Crowdsourcing the Agatha Best Contemporary Panel Questions

by Barb

As of this writing STILL waiting for spring.

Hi all. We’re trying something experimental for Simply the Best, the Malice Domestic panel for the Agatha Best Contemporary nominees. (Friday at 3:00 in Waterford/Lalique. Mark your calendars.) We’re crowd-sourcing the questions!

So, fellow Wickeds, and commenters, is there anything you’ve always wanted to ask G. M. Malliet (Pagan Spring), Hank Phillippi Ryan (The Wrong Girl). Julia Spencer-Fleming (Through the Evil Days) or moi (Clammed Up)? Louise Penny (How the Light Gets In) is sadly unable to attend Malice this year–but maybe we can catch her in writing somewhere. Shawn Reillly Simmons is moderating, so you know she’ll be able to handle your toughest questions.

Jessie: I’d love to know from each of the nominees what was the original germ of the idea for their novels? Was it a character? A place? A situation? Was the title the first thing? And also, was this similar to other novels they have written? For example, does character generally come first or was this novel unusual?

Edith: As you proceed through your series, is it getting easier to come up with a new story or harder? How do you cope with Cabot Cove Syndrome: killing off way too many members of the village?

Sherry: If you can do it without too many spoilers, when was the moment in your writing you knew your Agatha nominated book was going to work?

Liz: Talk about character development in your books. Is it easy to see their growth in each book, or is that harder than coming up with the new plot?

Julie: What is your “I wish I knew then what I know now” tip for writers? And hindsight brilliance you would like to share? Anything you’d like a “redo” on?

 

 

So, readers, ask away!

 

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Agatha best contemporary nominees, Barbara Ross, clammed up, G.M. Malliett, hank phillippi ryan, how the light gets in, julia spencer-fleming, louise penny, Malice Domestic, pagan spring, shawn reilly simmons, Simply the Best, the wrong girl, Through the Evil Days

Picnics

I love picnics. I adore wicker hampers and the dish sets that fit snuggly inside them. I am charmed by cheerful cotton blankets spread on smooth ground. I delight in picnic foods. Crunchy pickled things layered into mason jars and sandwiches wrapped neatly in waxed paper make my heart soar.

I can trace my pleasure in meals enjoyed outdoors to an early age. When I was four years old I was awakened from an afternoon nap by my mother who unexpectedly insisted on changing me into a dress and shoes usually reserved for church. She brushed and ribboned my hair and was completely unwilling to give the smallest hint as to what the fuss was all about.

She led me out to the backyard where the small table from my playroom sat surrounded by its tiny chairs, all but one filled with little girls. Completely out of the blue my mother had arranged an outdoor feast of miniature peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and sparkling glasses of punch. But the most wonderful thing of all was a multi-tiered cake with pillars separating the layers and frosting roses festooning the edges. I was completely astonished that such a surprise had been created just for me.

Even now the magic of that early picnic lingers. Through the years some of my most memorable meals have been enjoyed outdoors. Lemon crepes on a sunny beach, skewers of beef over a fire pit, ice cream cones on a splintery table were nicer than any restaurant. I think I’ll take my lunch outside.

Readers, do you love picnics and the like?

Filed under: Jessie's posts Tagged: feasts, outdoor dining, picnics, sandwiches

Irish Cosies

by Sheila Connolly

When I’m in Ireland, I spend a lot of time in bookstores. This is easy because there are a lot of bookstores in Ireland. Just about every block in Dublin has one, ranging from multi-story upscale places to defiantly tatty little ones selling used books and leftist literature (that one’s named Connolly’s). And everything in between.

In Skibbereen (one of my favorite places ever) in County Cork, the fabulous supermarket sells books; there’s a small bookstore down the street (there is essentially only one main street); and there’s a wonderful antiquarian bookstore that actually expanded in the past year. If you’re looking for hard-to-find books and plays from Irish and European writers, that’s your place. I bought my daughter a 1950s Broadway Playbill there, go figure.

But back to the point. In the very nice Dublin bookstore Hodges Figgis (founded in 1768 and mentioned by James Joyce in Ulysses, I’m told), not far from the rather posh Saint Stephen’s Green (where the Irish Penguin offices are located), I came upon something I had not seen before: a rack of books dedicated to cozies, clearly labeled.

Well, sort of clearly. The label was given in both English and Irish. The English was simple enough: Cosy Crime. I all but applauded.

The Irish reads: Coirscéalta Tíriúla. Now, I’ve taken several years of Irish language classes, but my vocabulary is pitiful, and it takes me forever to construct a simple sentence. In this case, I knew that scéalta meant stories or tales (see? I did learn something). But what is coir? Logically enough, it turns out to mean crime, or alternately, justice. Great—we have crime stories (or justice stories—I kind of like that interpretation). Now for tíriúla. My well-worn Irish dictionary tells me that it means “homely” or “sociable.”

So the Irish version of a cozy (or cosy) mystery is a sociable crime story. Or a homely one, although I assume in this case homely means ordinary and everyday, not ugly.

And if you think about it, it fits. Cozies are crime stories that happen in ordinary settings among ordinary people. A crime in that setting is jarring, and it must be solved to restore order to the mini-universe of the tale. (For some reason I keep hearing Obi-Wan Kenobi saying, “I felt a great disturbance in the Force.” Well, you know what I mean.)

“Sociable” works too. Cozies are not about surly PIs skulking in corners and accosting thugs, or even about cops methodically assembling evidence. They’re about ordinary people talking to each other, sharing information and insights, until together they finally point to the culprit—by thinking, not usually by force. That’s what readers identify with: even they could solve the crime, given the evidence.

I was so happy to see the cosy banner flying in Dublin that I asked a sales clerk why they had a special section for them (in the middle of an aisle! In the front of the store!), and she said simply, “because people ask for them.”

Another reason why I love the Irish: they read. And they read cosies.

Filed under: Ireland, Sheila's Posts Tagged: bookstores, cosies, Dublin, Sheila Connolly. Ireland

Wicked Good Farm Tales

Liz here, again. We’re winding up A Biscuit, A Casket‘s launch week, and today we’re talking farms. In the book, Stan winds up spending a little more time than she ever thought she would on the dairy farm in town. We thought it might be fun to tell our own farm stories. Which I didn’t really have until I started writing this book.

I’m a city girl. I like high heels and coffee. I don’t like work boots and muck. And worse. I do remember accompanying my mother once as a kid to a local farm to get manure for her garden. The stench remained with me most of the day. When Stan’s next adventure became clear, I knew I needed to get the farm thing down. So I went on a tour of the local dairy farm. I met the cows, I stepped in muck, I even got to check out the milking tank. We didn’t tour the manure pit, thank goodness. Stan seemed to get used to the farming thing. Me? I’m good. Get me to Starbucks, stat.

Julie: When I was in college, my friend Jo-Ann’s family owned a dairy farm in Maine. First of all, I never understood real darkness until I went to visit her family for the weekend. No ambient light meant when you wake up on a moonless night, it is dark. “Darker than the inside of a cow,” Jo-Ann would say.

We went to visit during calving season. That meant three things. First, mud. Happily, my father had bought me a pair of green boots with yellow laces that were up to the task. I had had little use for them at school, but brought them with me. And I earned big points with Jo-Ann’s father for having them.

The second thing it meant was seeing pregnant cows. Yeesh. That is a sight for a city girl, let me tell you.

And the third thing? Brand new calves. We walked out and saw a calf literally minutes old. At the same time, the hay truck came out, so the new mother got up, left the baby, and went for a nosh. I was a wreck, waving my arms, keeping my distance from baby but convinced that s/he was doomed. S/he got up, and mama came back. And Jo-Ann’s father told the story for years, about the city slicker who was waving her arms in the middle of the field.

Edith: Great stories! In ‘Til Dirt Do Us Part (out May 27!), farmer Cam gets rescue chickens. I wasn’t really that familiar with chickens, since there were no animals except cats on my own farm. But my son JD was working on a local farm with chickens last summer, so I stopped by for a visit. And they are the funniest things! They make a gargling sound – none of the “bok-bok” you hear people make in imitation. They have personalities. Some are way smarter than others. I had a ball visiting them several times and asking my several farmer friends for their hen stories. I even met an attack rooster in Maine called Ruffles, who I just had to incorporate into Farmed and Dangerous!

Barb: My family used to endlessly tell the story of little me the first time I saw a cow. It was grazing on a median strip on a highway and my question was (allegedly), “Who winds it up?” I have no memory of this and I think the story is apocryphal. My Great Aunt Elsie and Uncle Pierre had a sheep farm in New Jersey and we spent every Easter there until I was about ten. Here’s what I remember: sheep are dumb. And finally, chickens. At sleep-away camp it was my job to put the chickens to bed. It was an awful job. I’d get half of them in the coop, then round up the other half, open the coop door and the first group would run back out. The expression shouldn’t be “herding cats.” It should be “herding chickens.” If you’re getting the impression I won’t be moving to a farm anytime soon, you’re on the right track.

Jessie: I have a summer camp farm experience too. The summer between fourth and fifth grade my parents sent me to camp for a week for the first time. The owners of the camp had six children of their own. They also had an enormous vegetable garden and a whole slew of farm animals to help feed their family. Because of this all “fun” activities at the camp revolved around farm labor. I remember feeding ducks before breakfast and spending the afternoons weeding the garden and lugging buckets of vegetables to the back of a truck. Needless to say, my parents sent me to a different camp the next year.

Sherry: My husband lived on a farm in Idaho for five years during junior high and high school. Another farmer gave his family a good deal on a calf every year in the spring. The calves would stay with the other farmer to be fatten and sold the next fall. One year a calf pulled a fast one on them by getting pneumonia. So Bob’s family brought the calf home to nurse her back to health and named her Buffy. Buffy liked Bob and followed him around nudging him with her head when she wanted attention. One day as he worked, he ignored her. She didn’t like being ignored. Bob bent over to pick something up and Buffy butted him right in the rear end. He went flying, found himself flat on his face in the dirt, and mad as the dickens at Buffy.

Readers: What’s your favorite farm story?

 

Filed under: Book Release, Farming, Group posts Tagged: 'Til Dirt Do Us Part, A Biscuit, A Biscuit A Casket, Buffy the cow, chickens, cows, dairy farm, farms, hens, Idaho, maine, Pawsitively Org, rooster, work boots

Four-legged Fun: Our Favorite Animal Mysteries

Hi! Liz here, still floating over the release of A Biscuit, A Casket this week! In the spirit of the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, which star a fair number of feline and canine characters, we’re talking our favorite animal cozies today.

I love any book that has an animal in it. A cat on the cover pretty much ensures I’ll read it. I totally love Spencer Quinn‘s Chet and Bernie Mysteries. Reading from Chet (the dog’s) point of view is hilarious, heartbreaking and completely amazing.

Clea Simon‘s books are fabulous too, most recently the Pru Marlowe Pet Noir series. And I have so many more in my TBR pile: Leann Sweeney’s Cats in Trouble series, Ali Brandon’s Black Cat Bookshop Mysteries…the list goes on!

Jessie: My absolute favorite animal mystery is a book I read as a child and then read to each of my own children. A Summer in the South by James Marshall makes for a silly and endearing read.

Sherry: The first series I read with cats in them was The Cat Who mysteries by Lilian Jackson Braun. I loved Moose County, Minnesota, retired newspaperman Jim Qwilleran and his smart Siamese cat, Koko.

Edith: I know they aren’t house pets, but I really like Sheila Connolly’s goats, Dorcas and Isabel, in the Orchard Mysteries. They haven’t gotten up to too much mischief yet, but they sure could if they get loose. Their picture is on the cover of Bitter Harvest, too.

Barb: Hmm. I’m thinking my favorite animal mystery is Jasper Fforde’s The Fourth Bear, in which Detective Jack Spratt and Sergeant Mary Mary attempt to solve the mystery of the disparate temperatures of the porridge while looking for missing person Goldy Hatchett, investigative reporter. The plot is complicated by Porribition and of course, the right to arm bears.

Julie: My sister Caroline would want me to plug Rita Mae Brown’s Sneaky Pie Brown series, which she loves. My choices for pet sidekicks? Spencer’s Pearl in Robert B. Parker’s books. And I like Miss Marple in Lorna Barrett’s Booktown mysteries. I haven’t read Krista Davis’s Paws and Claws series, but her Domestic Diva series featured some great pet sidekicks.

Filed under: Group posts, Recommended Reads Tagged: A Biscuit A Casket, A Summer in the South, animal mysteries, Chet and Bernie Mysteries, Clea Simon, im Qwilleran, James Marshall, Lilian Braun Jackson, Liz Mugavero, Moose County, Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, Pru Marlowe Pet Noir, Spencer Quinn, The Cat Who, The Cat Who Read Backwards

Favorite Mugavero Bits!

To continue celebrating Liz Mugavero‘s book birthday, today we’re contributing bits from her books that we particularly liked.

Edith: I haven’t read A Biscuit, a Casket yet, so mine will come from Kneading to Die.

Diane looked at Stan. Her face was pale, her eyes black. She took in the dogs and their captives. Stan’s torn suit, her bare feet and bloody hand. She slumped back and shook her head, wincing. “You get here and this town goes straight to hell,” she muttered.

Can’t wait to read the new one!

Barb: Like Edith, I’m eagerly awaiting my copy of A Biscuit, a Casket. So here’s a favorite bit from Kneading to Die.

He answered on the second ring. She pictured him sleeping with the phone next to him…..

“Hey.” Her voice came out hoarse and gravelly. She cleared her throat and started over. “It’s Stan.”

“Hey Stan. I was just about to call you. I can’t find Duncan. Is he over there with you again?”

“That’s why I’m calling. Can you come over right away?”

Sherry: I’m thrilled to have my copy of A Biscuit, A Casket. I always love going to  bookstores and seeing my friends’ books on the shelves! I don’t think an opening line get much better than this:

The chainsaw appeared out of nowhere, it’s wide arc narrowly missing Stan Conner’s head.

Jessie: Mine’s from A Biscuit, A Casket too. I just loved this look at devoted dog owner:

Nancy beamed. “Wonderful. Let’s do it before Nyla gets here.” She wrinkled her nose.

“Nyla?” Stan asked.

“The poodle from down the road. She competes with Benny for everything.” Nancy rolled her eyes. “I heard she’s dressing up like a mermaid.”

 

Filed under: Group posts Tagged: A Biscuit A Casket, Kneading To Die

Happy Book Birthday Liz Mugavero!

Liz Mugavero‘s second book A Biscuit, A Casket is out today! We are so excited to celebrate the second in Liz’s Pawsitively Organic Mystery series!

Edith: So many congratulations, Liz. I haven’t read the book yet, but Liz did lend me the synopsis for it so I could learn how to write a suitable one for our mutual Kensington editor, and it sounds like a great tale. I hope you’re taking the day off to relax, exercise, and drink some champagne!

 

Sherry: Liz, I am so happy that A Biscuit, A Casket is out for the rest of the world to read. I’m the lucky one as I read an earlier version. I can’t wait to hold this in my hands and have you sign it!

Julie: Already on my Kindle, and I am heading out to buy a hard copy for a friend. How great is it to follow the journeys of these wicked cozy authors, and to celebrate each benchmark of success. YAY Liz! Happy bookday to A Biscuit, A Casket! Can’t wait to catch up with Stan, and her latest adventure.

Barb: Happy Book Birthday, Liz! I hope you do something rewarding and fun. A little champagne, perhaps, to celebrate this wonderful achievement. Remember when being a published author was a dream?

Jessie: Happy, Happy Book 2 to You! Like all the other Wickeds, I hope you find a special way to celebrate the day. I am really looking forward to visiting with your characters again, so I may not find time for my word count today!

Liz: Thank you guys so much!! Having you guys to share it with makes the day even more special. Barb, I remember well when this was all just a dream. So amazing that it’s a reality for all of us now!

Filed under: Book Release Tagged: A Biscuit A Casket, Book birthday, book release, Happy Book Birthday, Liz Mugavero

Paths to Publication Report

Edith here, hoping for a warmer spring than we’ve had so far.

Sisters in Crime New England sponsored an all-day workshop on Saturday about the many paths to publication. Four of the Wickeds were on panels, so we made a pretty good showing. The schedule after meet-and-greet time was as follows:

Small Press Authors: Kate George, Marian Lanouette, Kevin Symmons, Ray Daniel, with Arlene Kay moderating. “Small press” meaning independent press that doesn’t charge to publish, does editing, publishes outside the family, and more. (I think that panel had the most fun!)
Legacy Press Authors: Edith Maxwell, Sheila Connolly, Jessie Crockett, with Julie Hennrikus (far left) moderating. “Legacy” meaning large, NYC, traditional publishing house, which requires an agent to get access.
Self-Published Authors: P.M. Steffan, Rosemary Harris, with Sharon Daynard moderating. Authors who either hired someone or did all the work of publishing without the connections of a press.
Hybrid Authors: Jessie Crockett, Kate George, Edith Maxwell, with Liz Mugavero moderating. Liz called it the schizophrenic session. “Hybrid” here meaning having your work published by several means: legacy press, small press, self-pubbed.

 

The Author-Editor Connection: Michele Dorsey interviewing Hank Phillippi Ryan and her independent editor, Francesca Coltrera

Lots of information, much networking, and new insights were achieved. The Wickeds (except Sherry, who we missed) are all going to chip in about their impressions.

Jessie: It was delightful after such a long winter to get out and about and to spend time with other writers!  I was so very impressed with the high turnout (around 60) and the animated and enthusiastic interaction of all the attendees. After the introductions it was clear there were many people who never before had attended a Sisters in Crime event. As I looked around the room as the day unfolded no one seemed to be shyly hugging the corners or looking lost and miserable. I think this speaks to the heart of the SinC organization. It is friendly, inclusive and fun. I felt a bright glow of gratitude yesterday for the opportunity to be a part of such a caring and generous group.

Julie: I am the president of Sisters in Crime New England this year, but we started talking about this event over two years ago, when Barb was president. (Or maybe even before then?) The idea was that with so many paths to publication, how do you chose? What should you know? And, most importantly, how do you ensure success at every level? I love that the day ended up with Hank Phillippi Ryan and her editor Francesca Coltrera, wonderfully moderated by Michele Dorsey (in this pic, left to right: Francesca, Hank, Michele). No matter what path you are on, your book needs to be really good, otherwise you undermine all of the other work.

And a hat tip to the wonderful Sheila Connolly, who is such a great part of our community. The panel I was moderating had a cancellation, so she jumped in and joined Edith and Jessie to discuss the path to publication with traditional companies. Whew. The three of them made my job easy.

Sisters in Crime, and especially the New England chapter, has made all the difference in my writing life. So glad to see so many friends at the event, and really, really thrilled to see so many new faces. The programming committee (Sharon Daynard, Michele Dorsey, Arlene Kaye and Liz Mugavero) knocked this one out of the park.

 Edith: One lasting point was Hank and her fabulous editor, Francesca. During the interview, Hank said that now, after six books, she writes with Francesca’s voice in her head, incorporating Francesca’s edits over the years into her latest first draft. I find that I, too, now produce new material with edits and critiques I have received over the years guiding my writing. Not that there isn’t always room for improvement: Francesca said she’s now a more severe critic of Hank’s work, but that she also sees it getting better, stronger.

When Liz asked us what we had learned, the first thing that popped out of my mouth was, “There is no one right way.” Big publishing houses get your book out there everywhere. Small houses let you get in without an agent. Self-pubbing gives you total control of the process and the profit. Some of us do all three!

Barb: We’re all hybrid authors on this bus! That’s what struck me. It seemed like everyone on all the panels had been published in multiple ways. Even P. M. Steffan, a highly successful self-published author, had received an offer including a mid-five figure advance from a traditional publisher. She turned it down, mainly for economic reasons, but it just proved the rule. Most authors working today will distribute every which way.

Liz: This was such a valuable event on so many levels. For writers just getting started, Edith’s lesson should be their main takeaway – “There is no one right way.” You have to find the path that works for you. And what works today might not be right tomorrow. Be open to change. Be flexible. Don’t hamper your own career by thinking inside the box. We are all schizophrenic! And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Sherry: I missed this great event but have to add without being a member of Sisters in Crime (both New England and the Chessie Chapters) I wouldn’t have a book contract. I continue to learn from the people in both of these groups and rely on their friendship and support.

Readers: If you were there, what did you think? If you weren’t and have a question, ask away!

 

 

 

Filed under: Conferences, Craft, Group posts Tagged: Arlene Kay, Chessie Chapter of Sisters in Crime, Francesca Coltrera, hank phillippi ryan, Independent editor, Kate George, Kevin Symmons, Marian Lanouette, Michele Dorsey, New England, P.M. Steffan, Ray Daniel, Rosemary Harris, Self-publishing, Sharon Daynard, sheila connolly, SINC, Sisters in Crime New England Chapter