June Shaw's Blog, page 24
February 20, 2014
Writing about Death and Murder
by Jean Henry Mead
I wrote about death and murder on a regular basis as a news reporter, until I'd had enough and decided to use my experiences as a mystery novelist. My Logan and Cafferty mystery/suspense series then evolved with a bit of humor and romance to lighten the plot, but with death stalking my family in successive years it made me wonder whether I was writing in the right genre.
Following my niece's murder, my parents' and daughter's deaths from cancer as well as two of my youn...
I wrote about death and murder on a regular basis as a news reporter, until I'd had enough and decided to use my experiences as a mystery novelist. My Logan and Cafferty mystery/suspense series then evolved with a bit of humor and romance to lighten the plot, but with death stalking my family in successive years it made me wonder whether I was writing in the right genre.
Following my niece's murder, my parents' and daughter's deaths from cancer as well as two of my youn...
February 17, 2014
February 12, 2014
Romancing the Mystery
by Jackie King
Mysteries are my first love, but since Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, I decided to explore mysteries that have a love interest. Adding a touch of romance is something I do in my own mystery series featuring Grace Cassidy.
In her autobiography, Agatha Christie mentioned that if she added a bit of romance to her novels, the books to sold more copies. Now I think that most mystery fans will agree that writing romance wasn’t the great Dame Agatha’s strong suit. Her surprising plot tw...
February 10, 2014
Yet more Unsafe Acts
We learn from our books, and Unsafe Acts, the fifth in my Jack Carston series, gave me the chance to remind myself of how unsexy and ugly prostitution is at its lowest levels. One of the characters (who, I hope, is sympathetic) is forced into it to pay the bills. She’s not one of the truly hopeless cases whose dependence on drugs strips them of their humanity and allows others to treat them as objects with no worth, but she has to put up with some pretty unpleasant clients who pay pennies for...
February 6, 2014
An Ill Conceived Beginning
Welcome, L. C. Hayden to Murderous Musings. What prompted you to begin a new series.
I like to travel. So when I decided to start a new series, I knew my protagonist would not be the stay-at-home type—or even the stay in one place type. Each novel would find my character in a different city. Since I’m the author, I would naturally have to visit those places in order to capture the atmosphere that is so unique to each area. How convenient. I like this idea.Next, I had to decide: shou...
February 5, 2014
Sunrise
by Carola
A couple of recent sunrises over the Willamette River
I've done something to my shoulder--lifted the camera too energetically?--and typing is painful, so I hope you enjoy these views because that's all I'm posting this week!
A couple of recent sunrises over the Willamette River
I've done something to my shoulder--lifted the camera too energetically?--and typing is painful, so I hope you enjoy these views because that's all I'm posting this week!
February 2, 2014
A Coke was a Coke
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January 30, 2014
A Guest Blog by Stephanie OsbornThe first thing you shoul...
A Guest Blog by Stephanie Osborn
The first thing you should know is that I really am one of those rocket scientists you hear about. With degrees in four sciences, subspecialties in several more, I worked in the civilian and military space industries, sitting console in control centers, training astronauts, you name it; I lost a friend aboard Columbia, when she broke up over Texas. So yeah, I’m the real deal.
The second thing you need to know is that I’ve been a Sherlock Holmes fa...
January 27, 2014
You have been a grate riter…
by Bill Kirton
So began the message on a card my granddaughter had made to welcome me on a visit. She didn’t then go on to analyse my work or offer any criticism, constructive or otherwise, so I couldn’t really ask her to elucidate her choice of tense, but I found it an interesting one. ‘You have been’ doesn’t have the negative implications of ‘You were’. ‘You were’ means you’re no longer whatever it is, as in ‘You were a grate riter but now you’re rubbish’. But ‘have been’ still does give you...
So began the message on a card my granddaughter had made to welcome me on a visit. She didn’t then go on to analyse my work or offer any criticism, constructive or otherwise, so I couldn’t really ask her to elucidate her choice of tense, but I found it an interesting one. ‘You have been’ doesn’t have the negative implications of ‘You were’. ‘You were’ means you’re no longer whatever it is, as in ‘You were a grate riter but now you’re rubbish’. But ‘have been’ still does give you...
January 24, 2014
Enjoying the Cold Weather
by June Shaw
Will some of you throw things at me if I tell you I really enjoy our cold weather?
There are many benefits. You can curl up inside and read more books. Here's another one: Grab onto or find yourself a partner and snuggle up with him or her. Or even your pet dog or cat or some other critter. You can enjoy soups and gumbos and chili con carne and more enticing hot foods you wouldn't even look at in summer's steamy temperatures. You can don layers of various warm clothes that get litt...
Will some of you throw things at me if I tell you I really enjoy our cold weather?
There are many benefits. You can curl up inside and read more books. Here's another one: Grab onto or find yourself a partner and snuggle up with him or her. Or even your pet dog or cat or some other critter. You can enjoy soups and gumbos and chili con carne and more enticing hot foods you wouldn't even look at in summer's steamy temperatures. You can don layers of various warm clothes that get litt...
