Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 255

The Writing Brain

I think that mystery writers must have a very carefully suppressed criminal mind.

Apparently I look like a really innocuous person. Plus, maybe, a little foggy. I've ordinarily got my mind on other things as I'm wandering around.

I'm amazed at the number of times a stranger will get me to hold something for them or watch something for them while they hurry off to do something else. "Do you mind standing here with the car while I load it?" And their car is running while they run in the...

Gender Roles—Can You Write Outside Your Gender?

I've always taken gender stereotypes with a grain of salt.

I was tempted, even, to claim that gender roles were determined primarily by socialization and environment.

Keeping this in mind (and also having something of a cheap streak in me), when my daughter was small, I gave her all my old baby dolls…and I also gave her some of my son's toys that he'd outgrown (4.5 year age difference.) "Here you are! Here are some fun cars to play with! Look how fast they go!" And I left the room.

I...

You've Decided to Publish. Now What?

The biggest moment in my writing career came with the realization that I wanted to be published by a traditional publisher.

Once you realize that you really want to take that step…what do you do next?

It's my day to blog on A Good Blog is Hard to Find. Hope you'll pop over for some tips to help with your journey to publication.

Awards Day

Every day the online community of writers amazes me. I get so much encouragement and inspiration from the blogs that I read and from the wonderful commenters on Mystery Writing is Murder.

Among the encouragement I get are awards for my blog. To me, they represent a "Good job!"—which I really appreciate.

I decided it was time for me to throw another Awards Day since the last one I did was…oh…August or something.

And then I thought, "I don't know who has gotten what award." I nosed...

Book Club

I'm getting the most interesting reader perspectives from my new book club.

At first, I had no intention of joining this club. As a rule, I don't join clubs. I'm not really sure how I ended up joining this one. This, actually, was the book club that I based the disastrous club in Pretty is or Pretty Dies on. The club disbanded around the time that I described it (I'm sure those things are not connected.) It was resurrected a couple of months ago and I (feeling a little bit guilty...

Perfectionism—Resisting It

I've been reading a lot lately about problems that happen when we try to be perfect or apply Type-A standards across the board in our life.

I'm definitely Type-A. Sometimes perfectionism goes along with that (other times I can be more careless.) I have several methods of making my day more stressful than it would ordinarily have been. Before I leave the house for any reason, I go through a very complex routine of questions: Do I need to start a load of laundry before I walk out the...

Writing According to Mood

I'd had a wild day but was on-time, no…early!…for a play that my daughter's friend was in. I parked the car, opened the door, and—"Oh shoot! We were going to pick her up a little gift for after the play."

We climbed back in the car and drove to a nearby store. We grabbed a little something, then I checked out at the cash register and swiped my debit card. "Do you want cash back?" asked the cashier.

"No thanks," I answered, stuffing my card back in my wallet.

I was rushing out the store ...

Being Careful

My son told me on Monday that he might "ask out" his friend Mimi.

Once I picked up my jaw from the floor (and tried to banish the mental image of me chauffeuring my son and Mimi around town in my minivan) I said, "Honey, you're just too young to go out on dates!"

Uh-oh. I'd become infected with the condition I call "Instant Ancient" again.

"Mom! 'Asking out' is just what we call dating someone. We just wear each other's sweatshirts and stuff."

"Oh. We called that 'going with' when I...

What's Important

I was busily writing at home last week when my husband called me up and asked if I wanted to meet him for lunch. I hopped in the car and drove the 25 minutes over to his office to pick him up.

Usually when we have lunch, we eat at a sandwich shop or get some Chinese food…nothing fancy.

This time, though, my husband was interested in going to the City Tavern—a white tablecloth-type establishment.

It sounded good to me. But then my husband hesitated. "Do we look all right?"

I glanced o...

Exchanging Ideas

My husband spent five years working at Microsoft (the North Carolina division) before switching to his current corporation. It's easy to get burned out at Microsoft.

I'd drive out there once a week or more for lunch with him. They actually had a food court in the building with real chefs.

The interesting thing about Microsoft was that nearly everyone there was genius material. And…different in appearance and demeanor (lots of long beards, flip flops, unusual clothing choices...quite a...