Connie Johnson Hambley's Blog

WHEN A LITTLE MEANS A LOT

 

It has been a while since I indulged in some arts and crafts but I finally found a worthy project*. Judging by the signs I've been seeing at recent marches and rallies, I'm not alone. Parents across the country are raiding their kids' construction paper and markers. Crayons too.
And many are putting those Amazon boxes to good use.
As a writer, I'm fortunate to have my time be my own. I want to make my limited time count. But I'm just one person-a drop in a very large world. In today's cyclone of news, how can I make a difference? How can I make my voice heard?
Is being a drop in the bucket a bad thing?
An Aesop Fable tells of a thirsty crow who dropped pebbles into a bucket to raise the level of the water. The twist here is that this is rooted in fact. Take a look at this video of a crow doing just that.
I get emotional at the marches and rallies I've gone to as each has evidenced an All Hands on Deck urgency. Save Our Medicare signs were carried by folks with gray hair. Ukranian flags were waved by young and old next to the Stars and Stripes. I've seen mothers bring their young children. A baby in a stroller held a sign that read, "Nine Months Old and Already Sick of this Shit." A boy in a Harry Potter scarf declared himself "Part of Dumbledor's Army Against Trump." 
Each person was a drop in the bucket. Each raised the level of awareness and each strengthened a building wall of resistance. The signs spanned a spectrum of issues. USAID. Veterans. Education.
It's a bit ironic that one truth out of all of this is that the man in office is turning into the "Unifier in Chief" as he once declared himself. I doubt he envisioned just how he's bringing people together.
I get emotional at these rallies because there is so much at stake. Hundreds of people attended a town hall for our US representative and hundreds more were turned away as the auditorium had reached capacity and overflowed.
And that's the thing about drops in the bucket. 
*Oh, and it's a writer's thing to know that punctuation matters. It's amazing the meanings a tiny apostrophe can give.

NEWBURYPORT LITERARY FESTIVAL 2025

 

I'm thrilled to be moderating a panel of prolific and distinguished mystery authors. Join me for a lively dishing of insider dirt. Learn about inspiration and process and their favorite ways to kill people and hide a body...all on the page of course!

The Newburyport Literary Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary with three days filled with established and emerging authors. Specific sessions, venues and times can be found on their website.

DATE: APRIL 25-27, 2025

PLACE: NEWBURYPORT, MASSACHUSETTS 

WEBSITE: Newburyport Literary Festival

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

I’m not a big joiner. If I see a crowd of peopleheading in one direction, my inclination is to head in the other. On socialmedia, I’m more of a lurker. If I do post, I lean toward the positive and humorous.Supporting my author friends is important to me, too. The last thing I everwant to do is to add to the noise or the fear-mongering. We get enough of thatwithout my two cents.

This past week something changed. I recall a line inthe movie, NETWORK. You know the one. “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going totake this anymore.” Yeah. I felt kinda like that.

I needed to *do* something. For me, screaming into thevoid hardly helps for longer than it takes the post to load and that’s not verylong.

So, I did a couple of things. The first was to find aneasy way to call my representatives. Hunting around for phone numbers or tryingto craft a succinct statement or voicemail was going to take more time than Ihad. Plus, what is one measly phone call going to do?

I found a website and app called 5calls.org. It doesthe work for you by summarizing the issues, providing talking points, andlisting your reps and phone numbers by zip code. Don’t see your pet issue? It’sstill helpful to find your reps.

It takes a little over five minutes to make my threecalls to my two senators and one rep. I’ve mostly left voicemails but spoke tostaffers a few of times too. Shy? Call after-hours to ensure you’ll get intovoicemail. Your call still counts!

I still needed to do more than phone calls. I liveclose to my state’s capital and saw a nationwide call to march to yourstatehouse. I had gone to a handful marches in the past and wanted to be a partof whatever else was happening. The marches were to bring attention to theopposition to Project 2025. When? On 2/5/25 of course!

The first thing I noticed was that information wasfragmented. There was no clear direction of who was organizing or where andwhen to meet. Many posts talked about “false flag” or other misinformation todiscourage going. There are people smarter than I am about these things, so Iwon’t comment, but the logic was off. It felt like an organization that didn’twant a large showing of support was posting for a march that wasn’t going tohappen? Several friends urged me to be careful, but I went anyway.

And I’m glad I did.

First and foremost, democracy is about the support ofthe people. (I know, DUH!) And this means visible and quantifiable support. MayaMiller of the New York Times reported today that thecongressional phone system has been jammed with tens of millions of calls fromoutraged constituents contacting their representatives. Alaska Senator LisaMurkowsky said the number of calls received by the senate jumped from 40 toover 1600 per minute! And showing up at your reps office counts, too, aswell as marches at your statehouse. Even holding a sign on your town common canmake support visible.  

And when support is visible, it’s harder for politiciansto hide when they try to push through unpopular actions.

Yes, Wednesday’s marches were disorganized. In largepart I believe this was because of the short notice from idea to delivery, butthe two groups – one through 50501 and the other through Indivisible.org –found each other and the crowd grew to thousands. The mood of the crowd wasdecidedly “game on.” It felt to me that the people there were committed tobeing heard and knowing that the march was likely to be the first of many.

It was emotional. Some people covered their facescompletely. Perhaps they did so from the cold, but perhaps they did so out of concernfor future reprisals. Expressions of fear and determination creased the facesof the people I could see. The signs ranged from the typical pithy and funny toheartbreaking. By far, most were homemade with whatever tape, cardboard, glue,markers, and whatever else folks could find in the back of their closets orpilfered from their kids.

I poked my head up from my lurking and posted,emailed, and chatted about suggested actions. One author said, “We are thedrops in the bucket. That usually implies an action is insignificant, but hereeach drop helps fill the void.”

Find what works for you and do it.

Your voice matters.

NOIR AT THE BAR!

We all need a great escape into the crackling world of fiction. What better way than to join some of New England's best crime writers for an evening of noir? Each author will read a short piece and the night will guarantee your head will be filled with morally ambiguous characters in dark places. (Hmm. Come to think of it, maybe this sounds too much like our news feed.) Either way, come! Have a cocktail and some delicious food and discover your new favorite author.

When:

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20
DOORS OPEN AT 6:00 PM
READINGS START AT 7:00
(Oh, and I'm first up, so don't be late!)

Cafe Avellino's owners are terrific supporters of the local art scene and hosting a night of authors will create a cherished and memorable event.
CAFE AVELLINO
242 HUMPHREY STREET
SWAMPSCOTT, MA
(Venmo or Cash Only)

 

Making a Mystery With a Little Help From My Friends

Author events can take a lot of shapes. They can be a solo presentation or talk, a one-on-one interview, or a panel discussion on any number of topics. One of my favorites is Mystery Making put on by the New England chapter of Sisters in Crime.

The Mystery Making events I participate in are panels comprised of authors who write different genres of crime fiction. When the audience arrives, we ask them to give us character names, motives, weapons, settings, and occupations. From their ideas, the authors then create a new story on the fly. Think of it as jazz improv for the literary set.

It's fun for the audience to see where their ideas take us and it's fun for the authors to riff with our friends.

At a recent event in Manchester Vermont, we received the following ideas:

Settings: Vermont, dairy farm, Dunkin Donuts

Names: Mammie, Matilda, Anna Belle, Ronald, Llewan, Dr. Horatio Cornbliss

Weapons: dictionary, rake, snake venom, plunger

Motive: Cold coffee

Occupation: Poet, dog walker, farmer

We brainstormed, laughed, and decided what occupations folks had and who killed who and why. Then we put our prompt into Co-Pilot, an AI tool. Our story was a bit different. The biggest difference? We did not see that particular use of the plunger!

Here's the prompt we created:

Compose a log line and a short murder mystery story involving the following: 1) Characters: Anna Belle - a poet; Llewan - a Dunkin Donuts manager who makes weak coffee; Matilda the dog walker; Dr. Horatio Cornbliss who owns a pet Chihuahua; married couple Mammie (a volunteer and amateur sleuth) & Ronald (a professional farmer) who are joint owners of a dairy farm 2) Murder Weapon: can be either a dictionary, plunger, snake venom or rake 3) Setting: a Vermont dairy farm near a Dunkin Donuts 4) Motive: cold coffee. Include a one-sentence log line. Include a red herring in the story.

Sent by Copilot:And here is what we received:
Log Line

When a Dunkin Donuts manager is found dead on a Vermont dairy farm, a volunteer sleuth and her farmer husband must unravel a web of deceit, where the motive is as simple as a cup of cold coffee.

Story

On a crisp autumn morning in Vermont, the tranquility of Mammie and Ronald’s dairy farm was shattered by a chilling discovery. Llewan, the Dunkin Donuts manager known for his notoriously weak coffee, lay lifeless near the barn, a dictionary clutched in his hand. The cause of death? Snake venom.

Mammie, an avid volunteer and amateur sleuth, couldn’t resist the call of a mystery. With Ronald by her side, she began to piece together the events leading to Llewan’s demise. The farm, conveniently located near the Dunkin Donuts, had seen a steady stream of visitors, including Anna Belle, a local poet who often complained about the coffee, and Matilda, the dog walker who had a peculiar habit of carrying a plunger.

Dr. Horatio Cornbliss, the eccentric veterinarian with a pet Chihuahua, was also a frequent visitor. His expertise with animals made him a prime suspect, especially since snake venom was involved. However, his alibi was solid—he had been at a veterinary conference the night of the murder.

As Mammie delved deeper, she discovered that Anna Belle had a motive. Her poetry readings at Dunkin Donuts had been ruined by Llewan’s weak coffee, driving away her audience. But Anna Belle had an airtight alibi; she was performing at a local library at the time of the murder.

The red herring came in the form of Matilda, the dog walker. Her odd behavior and the plunger she always carried made her seem suspicious. However, it turned out she used the plunger to retrieve tennis balls from the lake for the dogs she walked.

The breakthrough came when Mammie found a hidden stash of snake venom in the barn. It led her to Ronald, who had been secretly experimenting with natural pest control methods. Ronald confessed that he had accidentally spilled the venom on the dictionary Llewan had been reading, not realizing the deadly consequences.

In the end, it was a tragic accident, but the motive behind the investigation remained clear: a simple cup of cold coffee had set off a chain of events that led to an unexpected and fatal conclusion.

Smiles Don't Fade.

Years slip away fast, but the smiles don't fade. My <cough cough> reunion at Vermont Law and Graduate School was wonderful.

 

Another day. Another Story.

 

I'm thrilled to announce that my short story, "Obscura Eclipse," has been selected to appear on the page alongside these other fine crime writers.

Thank you, Crime Spell Books, for another opportunity to have some fun and create a bit of mayhem!

OUTING THE FOG

 Sometimes you just need a little boost to get a clear signal.

My brain has been a lot like this picture; an antenna, encrusted in signal-blurring ice, frozen by elements beyond my control, engulfed in mists that shape-shift familiar landmarks into hunched and hidden versions of themselves. 

The don't-get-up-from-that-chair-until-you-hit-one-thousand-words goal doesn't apply. I'm still writing like a fiend but with real-life stuff. It's my fiction writing that's taking the hit. The problem is that I really want to be making stuff up and writing it down. I don't want to be consumed with the issues numbing me. But life can get complicated. It's an iceberg/Titanic kind of thing. My writing life was sailing along until crunch! Creativity sank but life's damned iceberg continued on its merry way.

That iceberg took a long time to form. Family dynamics chilled relationships well beyond cold shoulders and icy stares. The deceptive slick of lies like black ice made normal conversations almost deadly. 

You may think you've never heard writer's block described like this before. My writing isn't blocked as much as it has taken on a different shape like the trees in the picture. I want to make up characters and create the bad things that happen to them. Crystallized in that block of ice are good people frozen in fear because of the wrong turns made when familiar landmarks gave way to the weight of the cold.

So, I'm journaling and writing down events and thoughts because I know I'm at a point of transition. I'm at a point where the mist is lifting, more with the promise of sunlight than a break in the clouds.

The signal is getting stronger as the air warms. I'm no longer frozen into inaction. I've enjoyed the stillness of my artic world, but life didn't flourish.

[BTW: That picture? I took it with my cell phone at the summit of Mount Sunapee. It's full color, no filters, and I related to it way too much.]

EVEN MY KIDS LEARNED SOMETHING

Interviews and podcasts are part of the deal in being a writer. We often say we write for ourselves but it sure is nice to get our words out into the world, and being an invited guest on a blog, CCTV, or podcast is always an honor and a great way to expand our reach into new audiences. 

Each host has a theme or a vibe they adhere to. I've done interviews that focus on my experience as an equestrian, fiction author, journalist, or social connector. I enjoy learning what the host found interesting in my background for their readers/viewers/listeners. As fun as these interviews are, I always feel they are incomplete, there was more to my story. I wondered if anyone could get a complete picture of me as a person and as a writer.

Enter Candy O'Terry's podcast, "The Story Behind Her Success." Candy is a Boston radio icon and has interviewed over 1000 women including Mariah Carey, Crystal Gayle, Erin Brockovich, Valerie Harper, and so many more incredible, amazing, fantastic women. Candy does what so many interviewers don't; she delves into the alchemy of nature and nurture that made these women who they are.

I confess, I never thought of myself as a "renaissance woman." 
On a car trip with my son over the holidays, we listened to this interview together. Candy asked me about growing up on a dairy farm, law school, my career in banking, writing for BusinessWeek, and so much more. Afterwards, he looked at me with pride. "I never knew all that about you." 
I had to wonder how that could be so. I've never exactly kept my life a secret from my family!
Anyway, take a listen to my conversation with Candy here.

IT NEVER GETS OLD

It never gets old to see my name under the "Best New England Crime Stories" banner. This year, my short story "Wooden Spirits" appears beside other award-winning authors.
Wolfsbane: Best New England Crime Stories 2023 once again brings together many of the best writers in the genre in our region. These 21 stories cover the full range of crime fiction, from the traditional amateur sleuth to the cop in the world of self-driving cars and AI bots running your home. The award-winning authors take us to the streets of Boston where drug dealers congregate and yet show us the true character of some of those on the mean streets. A decent man goes undercover and learns a few lessons the hard way, and a lawyer faces his own hard reality. Every story brings new insight and fresh perspective to the world of crime, the criminals, and the victims caught among them.


Read the work of these award-winning writers: Jason Allison, Christine Bagley, Brenda Buchanan, Christine H. Chen, Bruce Robert Coffin, Michael Ditchfield, Judith Green, Connie Johnson Hambley, Sean Harding, Eleanor Ingbretson, Zakariah Johnson, Paula Messina, Susan Oleksiw, Robin Hazard Ray, Ray Salemi, Lauren Sheridan, Bonnie Spring, Gabriela Stiteler, Frances Stratford, Leslie Wheeler, Carolyn Marie Wilkins