Sherry Harris's Blog, page 2

Welcome to Jennifer J. Chow!

Jennifer J. Chow is a friend of the Wicked Authors, and I’m delighted to help her celebrate her newest novel, Star-Crossed Egg Tarts.

Chinese Tea Ceremony

By Jennifer J. Chow

When I got married, one of the things we wanted to incorporate into our special day was a tea ceremony. This was a chance for us to express our respect to our elders by serving them tea. In return, we’d gain acceptance from our relatives. They would accept the tea and shower us with approval through their laisees and gifts of jewelry. Fun fact: My aunt gave me a pearl necklace after drinking her tea.

How exactly does the ceremony work? This long-standing ritual, which originated in the Tang dynasty, is historically conducted on the morning of the wedding at the homes of the bride and groom, respectively. In modern times, it’s held at a single location. The couple will kneel on the floor before the relatives, who sit in chairs. The beverage often contains lucky fruits to symbolize sweetness and fertility: red dates, longan, and lotus seeds. It’s also often served in an auspicious, red-colored teapot. 

My recent novel, Star-Crossed Egg Tarts, (book two in the Magical Fortune Cookie series) also features a tea ceremony. That part of the wedding goes relatively smoothly despite the disgruntled parents and in-laws. What really brings down the occasion is the dead body of a groomsman. And, of course, he’s found under the dessert table where my main character, enchanted baker Felicity Jin, has displayed tiered egg tarts. 

What is a tradition that’s important in your life?  

About Star Crossed Egg Tarts :

Felicity Jin returns in the second book in the heart-warming and deliciously mysterious Magical Fortune Cookie series from Lilian Jackson Braun Award-nominee Jennifer J. Chow.

Jin Bakery has been asked to cater the Lum-Wu outdoor wedding at Pixie Park. The day of the ceremony, Felicity is finishing the “cake” of tiered egg tarts as the wedding party arrives for the ceremony. When one of the groomsmen, Miles Wu, doesn’t arrive, Felicity’s best friend and local florist Kelvin generously steps in for him and the wedding goes smoothly―until cake cutting time.

That’s when Felicity finds Miles’ dead body beneath the table with her egg tarts display, stabbed by Kelvin’s gardening shears. With the detective’s sights on Kelvin, Felicity starts sleuthing away to prove his innocence, revealing dark secrets about all the wedding’s attendants. They each had something to hide―and a reason to quiet Miles forever. To make matters worse, Felicity’s powers of prediction are on the fritz thanks to the emotional turmoil of a surprise visit from her estranged father.

When the groom gets poisoned at the send-off party and winds up in a coma, the stakes are even higher, not to mention Felicity’s feelings for Kelvin are beginning to feel more than friendly. Will Felicity’s magic return in time to catch the true culprit and rescue her budding relationship with Kelvin?

Author Links:

Home

https://www.facebook.com/JenJChow

https://www.instagram.com/jenjchow

About the Author:

JENNIFER J. CHOW writes cozies filled with hope and heritage. She has been a finalist for the Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Award. Kirkus Review said this of her Magical Fortune Cookie mysteries: “Good things lie ahead in this series.” Star-Crossed Egg Tarts was highlighted in Book Riot, Criminal Element, and Fresh Fiction. Jennifer is a past president of Sisters in Crime and an active member of Crime Writers of Color and Mystery Writers of America. She regularly blogs at chicksonthecase.com. Connect with her online and sign up for her newsletter at JenniferJChow.com.

Guest- Julia Spencer-Fleming

Jessica: Just back from a trip out of town and glad to be home with my dog, Sam!

Today is the final installment of my conversation with Julia on the subject of goals. We had enormous fun spending time together and hope that you enjoy listening to the chat too!

YouTube

Podcast

Readers, we discussed what we hope to accomplish when we write each of our novels. What is it that you love to experience when you read a book?

More on goals with guest Carolyn Wilkins

Liz again, with more on goals!

This time I’m getting Carolyn’s take on how she sets them and achieves them – and she’s got such a great approach.

Check out our conversation:

Have we inspired anyone to take another pass at their goals and work some celebration in? Let us know in the comments!

Goals and Possibilities

Hey there! Liz here, weighing in on the topic of goals – which I have a love/hate relationship with.

I mean, I love setting goals and achieving them. I also know myself, and I can totally drive myself nuts in so many ways when it comes to goals – from setting to achieving them.

So this year, I’m trying to do something different with goals – which I’m talking about in the video below.

Readers, are you setting goals? How are you approaching them this year?

Chat with Julia Spencer-Fleming Part 2

Jessica: Grateful that the daytime temperatures have risen into at least the low double-digits!

Today’s post is the continuation of my chat with Julia on the topic of goals. Whenever we get together we tend to lose track of time and our conversation ended up going on long enough to span three podcast episodes. I hope that you will enjoy this second installment!

YouTube

Podcast

Readers, do you stay the course with any goals that you set, or does life get in the way and steer you along other paths?

Keepin’ It Light

Edith/Maddie here, writing from north of Boston on a frigid morning.

I’ve been taking refuge from the outside world in my writing again, as I did during the worst of the pandemic. I don’t know about you, but I’m finding the world particularly disturbing, bordering on terrifying, these days.

But when I dive into Cece Barton’s world on a sunny northern California weekend in late May, I can forget about reality for at least the morning. I’m writing the first draft of book #3, Poisonous Pour, and loving it.

During the worst of the pandemic, my fiction was the only thing I could control, and it was an enormous respite to live in my imaginary worlds. I feel the same today, this week, this month. When I can’t control my story are the times when my characters surprise me and I have to keep typing to find out what happens next. That experience always delights this author.

We’ve been talking about goals this month. One of my goals going forward in my life beyond my work is to keep things light, or as light as I can. To that end, I’m barely listening to the news. I’m enjoying cooking new recipes and spending time with friends. Every other week I spend forty-eight hours with my 15-month-old granddaughter (talk about a delight!) and her parents. I’m reading every evening, or howling with laughter at old Marx Brothers movies. Who knows, I might even take up water colors or start a new quilt.

I also have collections of small toys in my upstairs office, which is where I spend at least half of every day.

While I’m writing, I can gaze over at my Amelia Earhart doll and her vintage toy airplane. I can focus on the tiny Buddha to remind me to breath and that all things pass with time. Sometimes Tiny T-Rex hops up and supervises me atop my laptop. I never drink out of the Poe wine glass, but I love having it nearby. “Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore…” is my job, after all.

I have another collection of toys on a bookshelf behind me.

They all have significance and make me smile. The scorpion is for my astrological sun and rising signs, and it even winds up and crawls. The anteater is the mascot of University of California, Irvine, my undergrad alma mater. The lighthouse and starfish connect with my Cozy Capers series, and the green thing is a Puerto Rican coqui frog on a leaf. When I visited my son and his wife there, I loved the coqui chorus that starts up at dusk. Glancing at the larger Buddha wearing a Mexican hat makes me smile, as do the pictures of family that surround the toys.

In a window are a beautiful glass bird my bestie gave me years ago, as well as a murderous note pad, a gift from Barbara Ross.

They aren’t toys, per se, but are favorite things.

I also have my flying angels, Topsy, my childhood stuffed animal, the New England Crime Bake handcuffed lobster, a brass west African warrior princess on her horse, and more.

These things all bring me joy. Take that, Marie Kondo!

Readers: how do you keep things light in times of stress?

Goals with Julia Spencer-Fleming

Jessica: On the coast of Maine, grateful for central heating!

Recently, I had the good fortune to enjoy a chat with my friend and colleague, Julia Spencer-Fleming. In part 1 of our conversation, we talked about goals, if we like them, and how we apply them to our novels. I hope you will have as much fun watching or listening to the conversation as we did in having it!

If you would like to follow Julia on social media she can be found at:

https://www.facebook.com/juliaspencerfleming

https://bsky.app/profile/jspencerfleming.bsky.social

https://www.instagram.com/juliaspencerfleming

Readers, do you love to set goals, or do you prefer to see where life takes you without any fixed plans?

One Step at a Time: Tacking Goals

It’s the third week of January. How are your goals going?

I believe in setting audacious goals. And then breaking them down into manageable steps so that I can accomplish them. In this video I use seeing my book on a Times Square billboard as an audacious goal. A lot of that is out of my control. But writing a good book? I can do that.

But “writing a good book” is too big. I also discuss breaking it down into segments, and planning those out.

It’s not too late to set goals for the new year, and to make them happen!

Do you prefer listening to podcasts? Download the episode here, or listen on your favorite podcast provider. Be sure to leave a review so that other folks can find us!

Friends, how do you manage your goals?

Carolyn Wilkins and Wicked Memories

Liz/Cate here!

I have our friend and fellow author Carolyn Wilkins here today and we’re doing a look back on her first experiences with the Wicked Authors, with Barb and Sherry, and what this community has meant to her. Watch the video on YouTube or check out the transcript below!

Liz Mugavero (00:00.984)
Hey Carolyn, thanks for joining us here at the Wickeds.

Carolyn (00:03.979)
Hi, happy to be here.

Liz Mugavero (00:08.141)
So Carolyn Wilkins is, I’m talking with Carolyn Wilkins today and she’s been a friend of the Wicked’s for a very long time. You know, back in our way back days of all six of us. So as we kind of launch into the new Wicked’s 2.0 with the four of us, mine is Barb and Sherry, sadly, we miss them all the time, but we’re gonna make them come back a lot. We’re just talking to some people about, you know, their favorite memories of the Wicked’s, how the Wicked’s have, you know,

been a factor in the local community and in the writing community and that kind of thing because we’ve all known each other for a very long time. So I thought Carolyn would be a wonderful person to come on and talk a little bit about that. So I wanted to ask you, what was your first memory of meeting the Wicked or any of the Wicked?

Carolyn (01:00.235)
Well, yeah, I have a good story about that. I had just joined Sisters in Crime. I was just trying, I think I had won my very first murder mystery out on a small press, Melody for Murder, which was about a teacher on the South Side. Anyway.

Sisters in Crime had this event at a bookstore up in Newton where they would have a long series of tables and all the authors had their books out and it was my very first time I was feeling very shy. I didn’t know anyone. I didn’t really fullyown that I was an author deserving of a table of books. I only had one book, I’m pretty sure. And meanwhile, you know how it is, people got stacks of stuff and I’m like here with my one little book. And I’ll never forget, Barbara Ross said to me, come sit here. And she made space on her table with her 20 books or whatever.

She had all those Maine Clambake books and she made little space for me and she talked to me and she just kind of made me feel welcome and made me feel comfortable, asked me about myself and told me about her and what she did and told me about Sisters in Crime. And then she proceeded to introduce me to Leslie Wheeler who is the woman who is in charge of the Speakers Bureau at Sisters in Crime. She said, Barbara, to me, you should do, you can go and talk in libraries about your book. And I was like, ooh, I can. So she introduced me. In other words, she took it upon herself to kind of take me under her wing and just because she could see I’m sure that I was wicked, uncomfortable.

You know, not feeling very much like one of the crowd. So that was one cool thing and Barbara also on her way out of the Wicked’s was the one who gave me some very helpful information about my current publishing house and my situation once again advising me and offering me wisdom very generously.

I also was one of the other early experiences. Sisters in Crime also does a thing during the Boston Book Fair where they have a booth. And, you know, I didn’t know anything about how to sign up for that or whatever. And I saw it late in the game and all the slots were taken. And Edith just took it upon herself, she said, well, you don’t have mine. I don’t have to do it. I’ve done it a million times. You do it here. And once again, just made space for me when she didn’t have to.

And sure enough, I sold a couple of books and I got to meet some of the other writers, you know, part of it is just getting to meet people. And as a shy person, just getting comfortable with and getting to know other people. And another person who was super helpful to me is Julie Hennrikus. And she gave me tons of advice on writing. If I’m not wrong, she read one of the three trillion early drafts I did of the book that I finally sold and is finally coming out.

This summer, she read a very early iteration of it and offered brilliant suggestions. you know, as you may remember, the three of us were going to actually have an event in Somerville where we were going to help people write and give them techniques for breaking through writer’s block and stuff like that. But we knew.

Liz Mugavero (05:34.018)
Yeah. We need to come back to that. That was actually a really good idea. And yeah.

Carolyn (05:39.453)
Yeah, I think that the pandemic totaled it if I’m not wrong. We got derailed. So what I can say about the Wicked is every single time I’ve had a book to come out, which hasn’t been all that often compared to a creative, but I have.

Liz Mugavero (05:43.011)
Yes.

Liz Mugavero (05:57.476)
But it’s been plenty just because, right? Like a lot of people don’t have any, so.

Carolyn (06:02.719)
Right, well exactly. Every time I had a book to come out, you would generously let me come on and, you know, do my little song and dance about my book. And it’s always felt that a very supportive and warm environment of women. And last thing I’ll say about that, having worked at Berklee College of Music in a predominantly male environment for decades. It was so rewarding to find women colleagues who were supportive and open and helped lift me up. So that’s what I can say about the Wicked. I appreciate you guys.

Liz Mugavero (06:52.3)
I love that. And I have to just say, it sounds like your experience with Barb that first time was like her removing any of the high school trauma of not being asked to sit at the lunch table. Right?

Carolyn (07:03.263)
Well, thank you, because that’s what we and when you’re new in a situation, you know, you do feel awkward and you do feel uncomfortable and it’s nice and sometimes we who are now sort of the established, sometimes you forget how, you know, someone else might feel or how much it means to someone to reach out and just speak to them, you know.

Liz Mugavero (07:31.448)
Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that. And I think, you know, that’s one of the reasons, you know, before we jumped on the recording, you had asked me if we were going to, given Barb and Sherry’s departure, if we were going to, you know, continue and all of that. And I think what we had talked about was that, you know, aside from we all still want to continue to write and, you know, be out there and be part of the writers community, we felt really strongly that, you know, we had a role in helping people who are just coming up.

and giving them a place to be and a place to talk about their work and just people, like you said, to feel like you’re part of something. And so we wanted to make sure we still were able to do that.

Carolyn (08:08.813)
That’s right.

Liz Mugavero (08:13.624)
So thank you. Well, we’re not stopping having guests. So we’ll have you back when your book comes out. You have a book coming out this summer. So we’ll have you on The Wicked’s. We can do video. We can do blog. This is the beauty of the new version. We’re doing all different kinds of things. So if people want to do blog posts like we used to do, that’s totally fine. If you want to jump on and do an interview, that’s even better, right? So we’re going to do all kinds of things. And so I look forward or we all look forward to having you back in the summer.

Carolyn (08:20.109)
Perfect.

Getting out the News!

Edith here, writing from the deep freeze north of Boston.

Most authors maintain a list of fan emails and send out an occasional newsletter. We include news of events, book releases (our own and those of friends), thoughts about writing, a few personal tidbits, and sometimes special content only for our subscribers – a short story, the opening to a new book, a special giveaway.

I recently made a behind-the-scenes change to my newsletter and thought I’d share a few thoughts here about the purpose and process of newsletters.

Timing

Some authors send news on the first of the month like clockwork. The Wicked Authors as a group for many years have sent news on the second Thursday of the month.

Me, I get to about mid-month and say, “Woops! Time for a newsletter.” I scramble to pull it together and get it sent out. Should I be more organized? Sure, but I figure a newsletter at sent at a slightly shifting date is better than no newsletter.

Subscribers

We all know how ephemeral social media is. I might think I have thousands of followers on my Facebook author page and elsewhere, but the social media owner can change that or deny access in the blink of an eye. As Julie, FOW Ellen Byron, and others have said, you OWN your email list. Subscribers have to opt in to receive our mailings. Nobody can take that away except the subscriber.

So, we try to make it easy to sign up for our newsletters. I have a signup form on the front page of my web site.

When I go to author events, I always bring my newsletter sign-up clipboard.

And of course you can easily sign up for the Wicked Authors newsletter here or by clicking the Contact button and then the link under Newsletters – and we hope you do.

We’re planning on shaking up the format of the Wicked Authors newsletter a bit, so stay tuned for that!

Beginners might despair of ever getting more than a few hundred subscribers. How did I get nearly 5000 subscribers? Part of my list came from joining group contests where entrants are required to list an email address and advised that their contact info will be shared with each of the featured authors. Having my signup form front and center on my web site helps, as does reminding fans on my Facebook author page to sign up. But partly it’s having been published for over a decade. It takes time, Grasshopper – do not despair.

Content

So what do we write about? What constitutes news?

Of course we want to let our readers know when we’re excited about a new book coming out or a new series beginning. If we get a contract renewed for a series, that’s news, too, as is a new short story publication.

Events are news, too, whether in-person or virtual. A solo talk at a bookstore, a three-author panel at a library, and an appearance at a fan convention are all news.

I always like to include a bit of personal news, too. It might be a photo of my effusive garden produce in August. Pictures from vacations count. And I usually mention family gatherings. This is from my latest mailing:

If I’m doing a giveaway or sharing special content, that goes in, as well.

I end with a paragraph about how to find my writing and me, and a few ending words, such as the following from the recent newsletter.

I know other writers include different content or organize it differently, and I hope they’ll chime in in the comments!

Sending

I have been using the mailer software Mailchimp for some years. It’s free for a small number of subscribers and/or mailings, but the more subscribers I acquired, the more expensive it grew. Some of the other Wickeds had shifted over to Flodesk for cost and other benefits, and I planned to join them but never found the time.

I finally downloaded my subscriber list and made the switch last week. I’m happy to report that the first newsletter went out smoothly, with the same open rate as before. I was even notified of a new subscriber who signed up via my web site, so that part is working too!

The software offers options for scheduling the newsletter. Will more people open my mail if they get it on Sunday afternoon? The morning of the first day of the month? Thursday nights? Who knows? I tend to vary when I send mine out. Alas, I don’t necessarily track which time/day get the better open results (but the program lets me, should I get around to it).

I tend to get around a fifty percent open rate. It was lower until last year, when I deleted email addresses who hadn’t opened any one of my three newsletters. Still, I wonder about that other fifty percent!

Readers: Fans, what do you like to see in a newsletter? Do you open one as soon as you get it, or wait a while? If you prefer not to receive author news, do you unsubscribe or simply let it languish? Writers, how often do you send your newsletter and what do you include?